The Grim Marches
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The Grim Marches
Grimwild
W. V. Churchyard
•
We met Brahm on the outskirts of Bastion in one of the old neighborhoods abandoned from the effects of the cataclysm. We knew the luminaries were coming and it was only a matter of time so we secured ourselves how we could. Xoreos went to bait them away and give us more time. Magnus set up some defenses in the area. Brahm took to a tower and pulled out his rifle. I changed some settings on my pack to alter the natural leylines in the area, dampening magic around us.
We saw the golem first charging towards Brahm's position. It must have been 12 feet tall at least. The skirmish ensued and it was over almost as quickly as it began. Brahm fired some shots at it. Someone destroyed its antimagic eye with an arrow. I missed my first shot at it with my pistol, underestimating its speed, but managed to pull its arm off target when it tried to fire a beam at Brahm. The other two knights surrounded and attacked as well. Xoreos got hurt badly and I think Brok got caught up in a rope. I nearly got crushed by some barrels. Seeing our damage affecting the golem I rushed behind it, pried open a panel on its back and fired my pistol in there to seize its internal machinery
With the golem taken down the knights seemed less inclined to risk their lives over Brahm's book. One went off after being rebuffed that the book would not be returned until Brahm finished transcribing the ritual he wanted to test. The other knight stayed and expressed his admiration for what our guild has managed to accomplish with the theft from the Luminaries' library, destruction of the golem, but ultimately the gumption to impose our will on the wrongs in Bastion. He (I think his name was Labyrinthian) mentioned he had also attempted the ritual Brahm was trying to do and it did not deliver what he expected. Brahm wants to use it in conjunction with the aetherforge the old capital to bring his wife back.
I approached Brahm after Labyrinthian left and mentioned that I was working on a similar project maybe from the opposite side, trying to explore how different extraplanar entities move through the planes and are affected by them. I showed him the book I had stolen from the Luminaries library for my own research and offered to help in anyway I could. He seems set on returning to the old capital and making use of the powers of the bloom to finish his project. It seems incredibly dangerous and risky to me and I expressed as much. I want to go the slow, methodical route of recreating the science and magic of the old kingdom through hard work and experimentation. He said he doesn't have anything to lose with such risks. I told him I thought he did, but that was his business.
I left with a new respect for him. I hope I can be of help, both to his research and also his own peace of mind.
Omen Rathmore (She/Her)
•
The Bloom Amalgamation is a slime-like creature that lumbers around, trying to consume more. The party meets it fast, staying far away as they discuss their plans of action. Melcho suggests those with melee expertise hold the frontline while the others provide cover fire from range. Clement asks Omen to join him on a higher spot, and she agrees to do so after setting up. Clement, the Wizard, casts a potent protection spell, Silent Bubble, on his two melee-oriented allies. Melcho, Rohan and Brok rush ahead. Everything the Amalgamation is left in purple spreads. Rohan quickly identifies the amalgamation as he rushes in; it's a physical manifestation of Bloom, usually in the form of a cocoon that tries to eat everything around it. It's from the Fey Plane.
Melcho trips off the rough terrain and causes corruptive spores to coat him, which he quickly scrapes off. Brok chains off Melcho's strike, hitting it works. The creature tries to retaliate, but Brok has some anger to vent. Some corruption bursts out. However, Brok was able to scrape them off fast enough to be unaffected. Rohan goes third, damaging it successfully too, as Rohan's Patron intervenes. The Blood Amalgamation stops consuming and changes its focus to the party. Corruption quickly spreads in the party as the Amalgamation flattens itself before bouncing back, creating a giant wall of miasma that waves forward through their formation. Omen quickly calls out another weakness of the Amalgation, the Core, which shows when the monster changes its shape. Clement casts Freezing Air, forcing the Blood Amalgamation to turn to crack some of the frost. Melcho takes advantage of the temporary frost on the Amalgamation, piercing through the frozen surface as a burst of holy energy fills it.
The Bloom Amalgamation reshapes itself from a horizontal mass to a vertical one. After Brok hits the Amalgamation's core, it retaliates and quickly absorbs him into its body. Rohan casts a spell of a magical chain, which works very successfully. He rolls it before throwing, latching onto Brok's leg just perfect and pulls him out with the aid of Clement. While he leaves the Amalgamation's body, his hand holds onto its core strongly. Clement tries to take advantage of the situation, summoning a Crystal Gate. However, it only managed to pull some fractions out as the rest stay strong. Brok pushes on his advantage, squeezing the core. It works well, but the Corruption spreads onto him as an exchange. Once the party is ready, except for Omen, they gather together to try to collapse a building onto the Blood Amalgamation.
As the building crushes the Amalgamation, those with Magic Sense see a giant mix of a wolf and a tiger descend to the ground and snarls at the party. It is very big, retaining the same size as the slime-like Amalgamation. The three melee characters, Brok, Rohan and Melcho take a strong hit. Then, the creature snaps to Omen, but she was able to dodge out of the way. It releases another wave of corruption, which the party suffers from, except for Rohan. Melcho prepares Freezing Air and fires it ahead. However, the Amalgamation's bloom Aura quickly corrupts the magic and absorbs it, spreading the Corruption. Rohan goes after, holding his magic chains in hand and changes the leyline around to dampen the Fey's power. Having given way more than enough time, Omen activates her perfectly laid out trap, which greatly damages both of the creatures' paws, freezing them solid.
Brok and Melcho worked together with Rohan's gift and got up onto the beast. They dealt damage before being forced off for the moment. The creature's corruption erupts from the pain. Omen feels her connection to the Plane of Fey intensifying as she stays in the combat. Brok jumps onto the Amalgamation's back as well and swings his hammer into the creature's spine, trying to crush it. Omen is flung off to a wall, crashing into it as the Amalgamation spit it out. She quickly traced the seams of the wall, setting up a jury-rigged trap that explodes in a cloud of potent acid, attempting to melt the Amalgamation's material body. Then, Omen goes blasting off through the wall that the Amalgamation slams her through. In the battle, Brok strikes the Amalgamation once more, greatly damaging its head before it slams itself against the wall. The impact Bloodied Brok and Melcho. The two persist, working together to deal a final strike to the head with another Divine Smite to worsen its Critical condition to Death. The miasma floats up to the sky before dissipating.
[ Non-canon, Omen got blasted to Nicholas' Gift Workshop. ]
From the rubble, a humanoid creature rises and rushes the closest target, which is Melcho. A very long tendril coils around Melcho and pins him as a tiny mouth at the tip tries to bore into him. However, he was able to dodge the bite. Then, it whispers into Melcho's ear, "Would you like to join me?" It then splinters itself, shooting wooden stakes at everyone else. It then moves quickly with Melcho still in its grasp. Clement is quick to react, slowing the humanoid down greatly with Freezing Air, while Rohan takes the chance to pursue. The creature's Leech Arm is badly damaged before it's regenerated while reaching out to Rohan. The Leech latches onto Rohan, absorbing the corruption within him until the corruption is transferred to its bark arm, converting it into a metal cannon. Omen quickly analyses the situation and refreshes her breath (Critical, Remove a Mark). The humanoid absorbs Brok's corruption too, turning his Leech Arm into a Blade Arm, very white, slightly curved and filled with tiny teeth. Brok tries to strike, but the humanoid dodges and whispers farewell. It pushes Brok down to the ground before fleeing the scene. Melcho suddenly comes up with a bright idea to restrain the humanoid with one of its torn-off body parts, more specifically, a Leech Arm. It successfully escape after giving everyone a smile.
Brok
•
An amalgamation comes into town and starts destroying stuff slowly,
The party comes around to help making a quick job of its first phase setting up a hit and run attack with the rangers/mages at the back and the melees keepign the creature busy.
During it's second phase the amalgamation was more difficult, using the Hunter's Mark the party were able to find the core and destroy it from his weak point.
When it went down, a cocoon erupted and created a tiger x wolf monster. Oman set traps under its paws making the creature motionless and destroying a paw in the process.
Meanwhile Melcho and Brok went on the back of the creature to start destroying its body. The party together with a mix of magic and minimal damage were able to get the creature on its knees and finish it off with a Smite from the Paladin.
The party then moved to celebrate in the tavern where another creature got revived from the remains. Kidnapping Melcho, Clement was able to use his magic to stop the creature super speed allowing us to catch up. Giving a chance for Rohan to try and free Melcho. The creature kept transforming into a more powerful version of itself by absorbing the corruption from the player.
The monster ended up fleeing the scene the party unable to contain him.
Clement Candleswick
•
Clement's Report:
Rohan
•
The cursed creature looked like a giant amalgam of various things, a mixture of slug, cocoon, pieces of land, and building debris. It was as big as a house and just as slow. A creature formed by the Fey plane, which consumes everything to strengthen itself.
Brok, Melcho, and I went after the creature while Clement and Omen stayed behind. Clement used a protective bubble spell and Omen set a trap.
After a barrage of attacks from the team, the slug began to rise.
Brok started climbing the slug to attack its core but began to be consumed. With my chains, and a little help from Melcho, I pulled Brok out of the creature. After a few attacks, we decided to knock down a building on top of the creature.
After the dust settled, we saw that a creature, a mix of tiger and wolf, still the size of a house, had emerged from the cocoon.
I used my power to weaken the creature's fey magic. While Clement cast spells, I controlled Brok and Melcho to jump on the creature in a joint attack. The cursed miasma corrupted everyone, but I managed to hold on. After a long battle, spells, and a great trap, Omen ended up being thrown far away but Melcho landed a decisive blow on the tiger.
I absorbed the creature's essence, Melcho opened a bottle of wine, and we all thought our mission was over. But it had been too easy to be true.
I felt the magical movements of the miasma reshaping itself. The tiger became a humanoid creature, but with one plant arm, one lamprey arm, and insane speed. The lamprey arm captured Melcho. Clement used an ice spell to stop the creature. I cut the lamprey, but it regenerated, and Melcho was still released. However, the lamprey attacked me and began to suck me dry. Strangely, it seemed to remove the curse from me. My arm returned to flesh and blood, although it still had strange marks. But my happiness was short-lived, as the lamprey became a large golden cannon that shot at all of us.
Despite our efforts, our strength was practically exhausted and we couldn't touch the creature. It attacked me and broke my chain while purifying me. Then it used a piece of the chain to attack and purify Brok.
Eventually, it decided to leave. We tried to stop it but failed.
All we could do was return and report to the guild.
I am frustrated that I failed to stop the creature. But I am fascinated. Its first forms consume everything, cursing all who approach. Its most powerful form consumes the curse to strengthen itself. A strange but intriguing life cycle. I need to find it again and absorb that power for myself. It may be what I need to end the Bloom. Even if I have to keep it all inside me, I will be the sacrifice to save this world.
Xoreos
•
Another page in Xoreos' journal
Well, Fairbrook is free and protected again from the Bloom. I'm glad that we were able to help get them protected again. I've spread the word that Carol Miller isn't one to be trusted.
I got to drop kick a rogue aetherforge. It was so cool.
Alan Bannel (They/Them)
•Testing... The feedback seems correct. Alan Bannel is speaking now.
We were all at the tavern when it happened. Forgemaster Erik showed himself to be a bald, 40-year-old, heavily built man. The steam backpack he wears is very interesting, spitting out smoke which complements his multi-tool battlehammer. He cut to the straight, asking us to follow, which we did. He briefed us on the past week's advancement. During one of the Break of Dawn's weekly trips, they lost the villagers, and a new forgemaster found them disappear into the Break of Dawn's engine. Other than that, they know not of what happened. Forgemaster Erik reminds us to prioritise the protection of the ship's engine and core. Three villagers were found missing, one at the engine, core and boiler room each. Forgemaster Erik passed us a map of the ship quite easily; it seems he trusts the Bastion or the Two Silvers quite a bit. The boiler room is at the bottom. The party quickly discussed what to do.
The party arrives at the Break of Dawn, where a spiral staircase is let down, allowing us access to the first floor. They, as in the forgecrafters, seem oddly nonchalant about the fact that the villagers are melded into the ship. The party was informed there was a witness, so Magnus went to question him. He was busy, but fortunately, he made time to answer. Apparently, the villager just melted after touching the copper engine, turning it into gold. While the party made their way to the boiler room, Alan surprisingly found no one knowledgeable about the boiler room.
When they reach, they realise the room is suffocatingly hot. Additionally, it seems the golden boiler is spreading. Rohan leylines the boiler room, reducing the Plane of Order's influence. Magnus followed up with an inspiring speech, which somehow worked in commanding the melted villager to recede from the boiler room. Alan tried to peel the rest of the gold off, which worked, but a golden parasite tried to make its escape. Brok managed to catch the gold parasite with his bare hands somehow, extra successfully too, with Magnus' aid. Rohan tries to chain it, but it doesn't really work, and Brok seized the opportunity to yeet it off. Magnus produced an interesting container to hold the parasite, and it worked.
The party then moved to the Core, which is locked behind a wheel-mechanism door. The room behind it is just gold, in a way worse situation. The core is a giant Aetherforge (About 3 Bald Eagles and a Half?). The Core is protected in a metal cage with four pillars supporting it and glass walls that go all the way to the top. The floor and the ceiling connecting to the Aetherforge are gold, and it seems to be controlling the Core. Rohan tries to leyline this place as well, succeeding, which causes gold to bubble. Brok pops one of the bubble then some liquid gold replicates the form of Brok, which charges at the party. Rohan quickly reacts and charges back at it with Arcane Absorption. The creature dodged out of Rohan's path, purposefully leaving an arm which corrupts Rohan who touched it. Brok charges it as well, making contact. Using the commotion, Alan quickly identifies the energy pipes connected to the Core and starts removing the gold-transformed part he knows is safe from any fragile parts. The Core reacts weirdly, causing great harm to the party and causes another golden egg to hatch into a young gorilla. Rohan tries to fend the creature off with his magic to a very bad aftermath, being Bloodied and corrupted further as the creature jumps onto Rohan and covers him from head to toe. Brok rushes his doppelganger instead, barely succeeding with Magnus' inspiration.
Alan quickly grabs the rope dangling from the ceiling to reposition himself to where he needs to be and away from the Gold Gorilla's ranged attack. With the vital parts already marked, he quickly carves out all the transmutated parts and learns how the energies are transferred within the ship. Down the floor below, Magnus draws his bow and shoots the Gold Gorilla, which eliminates it. After all the active hostilities are removed, Rohan works on the Golden Egg. He was able to remove it, though a bit of time was spent. Before the party leaves the Core, Alan quickly uses his understanding of the Core to empower his healing barrier and patches Magnus up.
The party finally arrives at the Golden Engine, which is raining gold inside. The Engine is a giant turbine with gold seeping down in front of it before sent flying outside into the forest. It seems the Bloom is purposely trying to spread the corruption. P.s. Rohan wanted to eat the engine. Nevermind, he does try to eat the engine. And Magnus thinks it's a spellcaster thing. Wow. (He ate it using Chains as his platery, Magnus helped him dine, apparently. GM Mystic is taking all the Suspense.) It's done, and the party heads to Forgemaster Erik for a final report.
As the party tries to leave the ship, on the deck, the Golden Corruptors kamikaze the party. The party tries to fight back. Magnus tries to coordinate the people to achieve a certain success. Alan fired his Prismatic Rifle, but had a hard time aiming. Brok uses the ships' cannons. Magnus broke the cannons. Alan fixed the cannons. Brok used the cannons. All the cannons.
Brok
•The players found themselves aboard a ship (kinda like aircraft carrier).
The boiler, core and engine room all had "gold corruption" spreading across the ship.
The party decided to start with the boiler room, inside, they found that the room was covered in gold.
The mages of the party were able to contain and remove the threat which then "ran", Brok caught the creature before it could flee too far and put it inside Magnus's bag.
The party then moved to the core, where a fight ensued, a copy of Brok, an egg that turned into a gorilla. and the core spewing gold. The group was faced with a fierced challenge, after 3 of the party member got bloodied the members finally achieved to get the room under control and move to the engine.
Inside the engine the gold was maintaining control solely on the engine and not spreading, as opposed to the other rooms. After a wee bit of magic and patience the party was able to regain control of it.
Screams could be heard from outside, the group ran up the stairs leading outside, to find that golden corrupted horrors and corrupters were spreading fear amongst the crew, many had already died when the group came up ( a bit more than half the crew ).
The party manned the cannon and used their spells to first destroy the horrors. The corruption taking hold of many of the party members, making it harder and harder to resist it.
Soon after Magnus was holding on with all his might to fight the corruption the party slayed the last corruptor. Saving the remaining of the crew and themselves.
Walked away victorious.
Magnus
•
Rohan
•Cursed mission. We had to deal with the cursed villagers we tried to save from that village affected by Bloom, on that mission where I started to be cursed.
The mechanical villagers began to merge with the airship's machinery.
First we went to the boiler room. It was so hot that I don't remember exactly what we did. I tried to weaken the effect of the Order's magic in the place, luckily my Patron didn't notice.
I think Magnus tried to talk to the villager or something. Magnus seems to be a former imperial. I'm glad he learned. Alan did something that removed a golden parasite. I tried to contain the parasite with my chains, but I couldn't. Magnus contained the parasite in a container, and I believe this will cause a problem in the future.
The core room was almost entirely golden. I reduced the effect of local magic again. A golden creature similar to Brok appeared. And there were some golden eggs too. We started a battle. I went all out on the golden Brok and he started to corrupt me. With Brok's help, I got a break and sucked the creature's powers.
I think Magnus defeated a gorilla that emerged from an egg, which was strange. I destroyed one last egg. Alan took care of the core.
I think I was still affected by the heat and the corruption was distracting me. I don't remember many details.
Finally, the engine room. Golden liquid was leaking out of the ship. With great effort, I absorbed the gold from the engine.
After receiving payment, as we were about to leave the ship, two large groups of golden, flying creatures attacked us.
A great battle ensued, with the crew helping us. With many cannon shots, rifle shots, Bloose horn blows, chain cuts, and axe cuts, we defeated the horde without any casualties among the crew, but we did suffer losses among our group: Magnus had his eye cursed, while I had my arm cursed. Now it looks like that of a golden forged. I thought my patron would protect me from the Bloom, but it seems that his wishes align with the Bloom on certain occasions. This is not right. I cannot depend on the power granted in this way. I must not serve a being who aligns himself with the Bloom.
Xoreos
•Blood drips all over the diary page.
I got to fight these bug rat things in the sewer. They are the worst. They almost bested me.
I will get my revenge.
W. V. Churchyard
•Brahm teleported Church and Xoreos into a luminaries building with some kind of potent arcana from a nearby rooftop. We made our way down to the sewers to use those to stay out of sight and make our way to the library. Found Bloom in the sewers, so covered up and tried to move quickly through it towards where we knew the library was relative to where we started. As we rounded the corner to the ladder leading up, a chitin rat and horde of smaller ones were in our way. Church tethered the big one with his pistol and pulled it off balance giving an opening to Xoreos to attack. As Xoreos attacked the big one, the horde swarmed Church and began biting at his ankles. Church focused on stomping on the critters trying to get them off while Xoreos 1v1ed the big chitin rat. Xoreos got thrown around by the chitin rat, but a roar from him scared off some of the rats allowing Church to finish stomping out the horde. Just as Church was about to assist in tangling up the big chitin rat again with his pistol, it jammed and Xoreos was thrown down again. Xoreos, being the stubborn fighter dug deep despite looking really bad and tore the chitin rat apart single handedly.
The party continued up the ladder into a storage room where Church took a minute to repair his pistol before they continued. They found the doors to the library locked. Church pulled out some tools and unlocked it lickety split pocketing a mold for the key to the library for future use. They began exploring the library getting the organization figured out. Some of the books were flying around and Xoreos made an attempt to catch one, but hurt himself in the process. Church found the book Brahm needed and pocketed it before taking a look around and finding a book for his own use on arcaneering/artificing and extraplanar entities. Hopefully, this will give him some help in improving his arcana. As they were leaving the library they encountered a young clerk walking in. Church mentioned they were doing a quick errand for the eccentric Dr. Bevin and cautioned the clerk to be careful in there. The books were in an especially bad mood. The clerk understood and let them go but kept an eye on them so the party had to find a window to climb out down an abandoned hallway.
Once outside, Xoreos lead them through the darkness to an outer fence that got them back into greater Bastion. Xoreos hurried back to the inn to rest while Church delivered the book to Brahm reporting the events of the mission.
Alan Bannel (They/Them)
•Everyone was chilling at the Two Silvers until an old woman walked in to the counter, wearing thick clothes despite it being summer. The woman is named "Brenna", and she asks the party for a favour after hearing someone has not been around for two days. Husband of her friend, stuck in his workshop, requests that the party check it out. Apparently, the lady is named Loxa Kremmel. The family name is quite well-known and has widely contributed to the community. The husband, Mr Nicholas, has the habit of gifting children toys.
His workshops are guarded by ELFs. Three-storey building, a utility building with empty spaces around it, which clearly had buildings before. Very few windows, they are round and can only be barely squeezed through by a child. Upon a more specific look, there are actually four floors. The utility building seems to be a large furnace, built out of clay bricks. Pretty sturdy. Heavily wooden-studded door with a small peek window beside it.
When the door is knocked, the party hear metal footsteps before a small figurine peeks out of the window. It's very thin and looks like a bolted-together little tin man. A lot of beeps and mechanical voices. The figurine disappears for some time and slaps a piece of paper on the window. "Beep beep beep." Jett expands the peek window with magic, and immediately after the wall is a set of stairs leading up to the side.
A dozen or so ELFS are having a party, which freezes the moment the Aetherforged walks in. The sound of alarm and panic rings throughout as the ELFs rush at Jett, then past Jett, up the stairs with everything left behind. On its hands are claws bolted onto the ELF, clearly made or added after. The ELFs magically animated a child-sized action figure. Alan can discern that a lot of modifications are slapped on later, hazardously. The ELF the party caught starts to lose battery, but Alan was able to get it to lead him upstairs to the proposed leader.
On the second floor, the other ELFs immediately deemed the persuaded ELF a traitor and aimed at the party with a giant pencil ballista. Jett tries to create a rift under the Ballistaes to swallow it. It works, but before the effects take place, the party realises there are also bigger ELFs with fancy crown-like hats indicating their status. ELFs from the glasswork area throw a glacier bomb at the party, and everyone dodges the brunt of it as they try to run to the second floor out of the affected range. They don't reach the stairs yet, but the party is now at the centre of the room. Banners hang from the ceiling, "Independent Elf Republic" written with ketchup. A simple grate gate with a giant metallic lock seals the other half of the floor away from the party. Alan creates a barrier against the person working on the gate while Jett stasis the Glasswork ELFs that were throwing ice bombs. Clement quickly works through the lock.
Delaney immediately weaves through the open door only to be forced to roll an Agility Defence Roll. To the left of Delaney is a conveyor belt with a giant gift machine. The Giant Gift suddenly bounces at Delaney and swallows her. Jett rushes forward to try to pry the Gift Packer open. There was a metal window to the Gift Packer; the window ripped itself half apart and swung around. There are many arms inside, wildly swinging like an eldritch horror mimic. Belaney transforms into a horrifying lizard and lands on Jett's shoulder. Alan quickly runs towards the other party members. He almost made it, but an ELF stopped right in his path. He backed away just in time, however, to avoid the worst. Clement quickly followed up with a freezing spell, buying Alan enough time to reconvene.
Delaney the Lizard scouts out the third floor; it's an old man's garage filled with stuff. A labyrinth storehouse. It's just a large "The Pile". On the second floor, Jett expands, hitting the ceiling before smashing the giant gift packer against the wall, shattering it. However, as the Gift Packer is torn away, Jett is damaged too. Then Alan quickly clears out the ELFs on him with his prismatic beam attack, major arcana shotgun, and blasts them away so he can join the others on the other side of the gates. The garage also smells of cabbage. As Delaney crawls above the ceiling, she finds the exit and the Head Elf lying in ambush with a spear. She crawls just above the Head Elf and turns into an alligator before dropping right on the ELF. The Head Elf got squished, really hard. Delaney then shifts back and summons the rest to the exit to the fourth floor. The Glasswork ELFs made an explosion, the intention unclear, and further affected the workshop's stability.
After climbing up the ladder, the party finds themselves in an Artificer's Laboratory. There are a lot of inventions here, some with a purpose, others not. There's a life-sized boy puppet and a cannon named Super Gravity Something aimed at the ceiling with a hole in it. Its objective is to send something far away quickly and safely by blasting it. The Artificer is nowhere to be seen, but there are notes indicating experimentation. The landing spots seem to be just outside of Baston's non-recovered zones, like the Slums. Alan test-fires the cannon, and it works well. After Feather Flower Jett and Delaney transforms into a bird, the cannon fires with Jett inside a box and holding open a pocket dimension holding Alan and Clement.
On the landing spot, there's another crate that crashed into the wall, and the lid is stuck shut. As the party emerges, they find themselves surrounded by a dozen or so thugs. Jett and Alan play the good cop and bad cop to try and intimidate the thugs away. After they left, the party freed the Artificer, and he was a genuinely nice guy, but not Santa.
When the party returned to the workshop, it had collapsed. The ELFs pretend to be nice, but Alan partially revealed their evil nature by influencing the ELFs to forget Nicholas was present. Nicholas then promises to look into it.
Clement Candleswick
•Clement's Guild Report:
Rohan
•"Mission of the day: capture a graffiti artist.
I met Ruv, the bee guy, when I went to pick up the mission. We decided to recruit some more people to help: Clement, a Lightkeeper who might know more about the magic of the arts, and Xoreos, a victim of the Cursed Miasma who seemed to be quite strong.
At the indicated location, we found a large plant that attacked us by releasing pollen. Ruv turned into bees again and started collecting the pollen. Clement cast a spell and disconnected the plant from reality, then managed to find traces of magic, which we followed.
We arrived at a building that had already been graffitied with a giant knight. Xoreos tried to attack, without success. With the power of Bloose, I damaged the knight a little. The inky metal seemed more resistant than I had imagined. The bees painted a small knight with a shovel that helped in the battle. Clement finally destroyed the knight with another spell. This wizard seemed perfect for the mission and earned my respect.
The little knight with the shovel began to walk in a direction that seemed to be where the graffiti vandal was. We followed him to a graffitied protective pylon that was shooting lightning bolts. Clement repaired the pylon with our help. I tried to absorb the electricity but failed. I wasn't strong enough, but I almost was. Xoreos then absorbed the wounds that Clement and I suffered from the electrocution. The lion seems kind.
We saw a figure watching us. Xoreos and I decided to follow him while the others dealt with the storm.
Halfway there, I was stopped by two Imperial Core guards. Fools who wanted my Aetherite. I tried to send them away, but they knew it was in my possession; some equipment detected it.
They attacked me, but I managed to stop them both. I counterattacked with the power of Bloose, throwing them both against the wall, but one of them clung to me. Clement appeared and ordered the guards to release me because I was “under the jurisdiction of the Lightkeepers.” They left, but this will cause problems for the order. Clement didn't seem to care, so it's not my problem.
We caught up with the others, and apparently they let the graffiti girl go. They already had enough evidence and knew who the real culprit was. I didn't care, I'd get paid anyway.
I didn't get power, but at least Core left me alone for now..."
Ruv
•
Ruv wakes up the next morning in an unfamiliar bed on the only floor of a small studio apartment in Bastion. He looks around in confusion, muttering to himself, "What the hell did I drink last night..." His brain is a jumbled mess of memories and dreams. Images of bees, honey, flower pollen, and a small, shovel knight flash through his mind as he tries to process what happened and where the hell he is. Realizing he is grasping things in his hands, he flinches and drops them to the bed. A deed of ownership to the apartment flutters down alongside a paintbrush and a vial of shimmering paint.
The camera transitions to a series of blinking vignettes from Ruv's perspective of the previous day.
A giant plant monster grapples with Xoreos, the lion man, as Ruv buzzes through the air as a cloud of bees. The vision is fractured as if through a million lenses, each getting up and personal with the chunks of pollen oozing off the monster. The sounds of Clement, the wizard, casting a spell, followed by the plant suddenly splashing to the ground as an inert painting.
The vision shatters as the thousand lenses of a swarm coalesce into the singular stereo vision of Ruv. Beside him, a small shovel knight pulls itself out of a hastily drawn painting. Nearby, Xoreos grapples with a much larger knight as Rohan gores the knight with the massive horns of the famous Bloose.
The scene fades to black before an arc of lightning breaks through the very air molecules themselves, grounding itself through the shovel knight. Xoreos's words to the knight echo, "Your sacrifice will be legend". Ruv turns to look at what he is doing, as he and the rest of the team attempt to quickly scub away yet another painting. The battle to contain the lightning and reactivate the protective city pylon is intense, as both Clement and Rohan are bloodied as they try to absorb the power of the lightning.
Xoreos and Rohan yell to Ruv and Clement to finish the job as they run off. Ruv is too focused to check, as he and Clement finally save the Pylon from certain destruction using some elbow grease and powerful magic.
Ruv's memories start getting fuzzy... the rest of the memory appears in barely understandable flashes. Xoreos comes flying off a roof and crashes to the ground, carrying a mysterious woman... a paintbrush and a vial of paint seem to disappear...
Ruv looks back at his bed, once again seeing the paintbrush and vial of paint. "Well, that's one mystery solved, I guess. But what the hell have I gotten myself into?" He wonders aloud. A bee alights on his shoulder. He absently pets it before jerking away and turning around.
An entire wall of his apartment is covered in layers of honeycomb and thousands of bees. They all pause as one as Ruv turns his attention to them. Then they start buzzing low and ominously as the camera fades out.
Clement Candleswick
•Clement's Report:
Alan Bannel (They/Them)
•The party is given a hand-drawn cart with an Aetherite (Bigger) on it. When the party reaches their destination, the Bloom is already very thick and is swirling around the ground. The villagers follow their previous jobs, though they are not mentally present. Some villagers appear to have protrusions growing out of their backs, covered in a metallic sheen. When the villagers get into the Aetherite's range, however, they instinctively follow it and break out of the charm as long as they are within the Aetherite's aura. As Alan tries to urge the villagers to seek the Aetherite's protection, he quickly realises the Bloom here is affected by the Plane of Order. Alan attempts to move their job destination into the crystal's affected area. Still, the villagers' hands grow rapidly to drag him deeper into the village while returning the baskets to their original spots. Rohan tried to help him escape the villagers' grip, but he was flung out of the Aetherite's protection range, too. Reggie stepped in, intending to shock the transformed villagers, but it struck Alan instead. Emit tries to cut the pole-like arm, but it bounced off harmlessly. Alan removes himself from the assailant's senses using an Arcana, causing their focus to shift to Reggie, who promptly deactivated them with a smash. Emit seeing that, quickly replicated to successful effect. Everyone quickly returned to the Aetherite's side while the Forgemaster made a quick examination of the transformed villagers. Then, rough sounds emerge from within the village's depths. There are approximately 5 giant war machines that resemble an amalgamation of cats, dogs, horses, and other farm animals. At their torsos are cages, with one cage holding a villager that is connected to the machine itself. The party quickly set up an ambush, and Rohan initiated the first strike as the giant war machine aimed to retrieve one of the deactivated villagers. With his magical abilities, he immediately crushes all four war machines with empty cages in that singular strike. The remaining one went over to the deactivated villagers and turned them into four new giant war machines, each of which detains a villager. Alan tries to make a run, but Rohan, controlled by the original order beasts, stops him in his tracks. Emit then tries to strike one of the order beasts, but it's barely effective. Reggie tries to follow up, barely succeeding as well. Rohan, after reclaiming himself, goes for another ram, causing some effect. Alan, after analysing the situation, sees himself out due to his existing injuries and lack of functioning arcana. Unbeknownst to Alan, Emit was able to cut a tube, finding it to be much more effective despite being difficult. The war machines retaliate, wounding Emit and Reggie as Rohan pushes forward and causes a Wild Surge. Dead birds dropping from the sky. Reggie slams the ground with his electrical gauntlet, damaging all of the War Machines, dropping one and damaging two. Emit continues his effort in trying to cut a war machine's tubing from the one imprisoned by it. He succeeded, and the party quickly left the place as they heard mechanical birds approach. The corruption from the Bloom was sticky, causing both Reggie and Rohan to be corrupted. However, the mission was a success overall.
Emit
•
Emit didn't want to travel with the group but was concerned so he followed. When the group was in trouble he waded in trying to cut the villager but failed. After some more scuffling Reggie's desperate attack gave them key information. They were some kind of automatons different from Aetherforged, more mechanical than magical. Forgecrafter William finds them fascinating and has not seen them before.
The group has a hard time trying to corral the villagers but does so. They hear metal on metal and Emit goes to investigate, he sees Five Horse/ Dog creatures with cages for torsos, villagers connected by tubes. They do their best to prepare for an ambush.
Rohan unleashes his chain and decimates four of the five horse creatures. Rohan was ensorcelled and stepped in front of Reggie taking the brunt of the damage but he uses the chains to protect himself. The creature ignores the group attacking it and spews some gas on the unconscious villagers who begin to change into four new horses who begin tubing the villagers.
They scuffle, Alan runs away from the fray, Emit attempts to cut the tubing and it seems severing the connection was a good way. The horse turned back into the villager and the villager lost the horn (button) on their back. Birds in the sky began plummeting, they continue to scuffle and they feel corruption around trying to take hold. They manage to dispatch the horse and have to try to transport the villagers. It's a difficult journey but they manage to make it back to Bastion.
Rohan
•"This time, the mission was to save people from the cursed miasma. The kind of mission I wanted.
Reggie was in the group, so it seemed like it would be easy if Alan's arcana didn't cause any surges.
The villagers seemed strange, not reacting to us, just going about their lives. Some were talking about following the Order. It reminded me of my Patron. Alan was attacked by one of the citizens and was being dragged away. I tried to help but suffered the same fate. They were strange, with metallic skin and arms that extended. Reggie saved Alan, and Emit, who appeared out of nowhere, saved me. The villagers fell and, with a click, seemed to deactivate like machines.
We then tried to rescue as many villagers as possible to the protection of the Aetherite, which brought them back to their senses.
A group of machine horses appeared, five of them empty and one with a villager inside a cage. With the power of Bloose, I destroyed the five empty ones. The remaining one turned some villagers into more horses with cages.
Alan decided to run away like a coward. They are not very reliable.
The first horse seemed to have control over me, making me protect it when Reggie was about to destroy it. I managed to absorb the impact without damage. The three of us then defeated the horses. Emit with precision, cutting the wires that connected to the trapped villagers. Reggie and I used brute force. But we discovered that brute force caused the eventual liquefaction and death of the villager. It's a shame.
After defeating the horses, we heard the noise of several metallic birds that appeared because of an surge caused by me.
After defeating the horses, we heard the noise of several metallic birds that appeared because of an outbreak caused by me. I'm ashamed of this, but I think my chain didn't react well to the static from Reggie's gauntlets.
We returned to Bastion, but not 100% okay. Reggie and I were affected by the miasma, corrupted.
I didn't gain any power or knowledge on this mission, Ætheraxis seems to be losing patience, and I feel like I'm about to be found by those who are hunting me.
But at least we saved some lives from the curse."
Reggie Smiles
•
I saw some some people turn into god-damned metal men today. And not the clean, smooth aether kind, they had wires and gears like a fucking watch.
Has stuff like this always been happening?
I mean, here I am going toe to toe with human metal cage monsters shooting their god-damned bones at us when all I can do is side-step and jab, and not even because of some weird magic or artifact, but just because I learned to fight as a kid.
I don't know, man.
Anyway, we arrived in town with the crystal, and we're pretty much ignored by everyone living there. Doing their old jobs without thinking. Couldn't find any council or leadership, just work-work-work.
Turns out the plane of order was seeping in or something, so we had to disable as many beings and cage people as we could to take them back with us. It went alright, except that I spent too much time unprotected in the Bloom, and got what looks like a circuitry tattoo crawling up my neck. Not sure if I should embrace it, or hope it goes away. At any rate, I feel like a need a stiff drink after every single one of these.
Emit
•Met with Mr. Griffin of the Luminaries, some were stamped as official helpers tasked with finding the scavenger for him. The group split up to investigate, Emit checked with contacts that he knew but the situation was too hot for most people to be involved in. They regrouped and shared that the scavenger fled to an area of Bastion that still has Bloom.
Emit ran into a person he did a job with ten years ago that didn't quite go as planned who informed them that the Forgemasters are also interested in the relic. They continued on and ran into some Lightkeepers "fixing" a pylon and Alan tried to get in with them which didn't go well. Delaney ran into Gina, a person she knew in her youth who told her to be on their way. Strider was curious about the pylon and wanted to look into it but the group all wanted to move on and convinced them otherwise.
The group was able to locate the scavenger thanks to Delany talking to an older tree who sensed the changes caused by the relic. Strider approached the Kelpie (a horse, fish hybrid creature), it looks at the group giving them a sense of dread.
While that was happening Emit moved to try to retrieve the relic (a sextant) which was in the scavenger's hand clearly draining him. The bag he used to try to protect himself disappeared when he touched the relic and suddenly he was holding it and feeling as if he was being drained.
Alan tried to go to Emit to help in and the Kelpie (Nightmare) came to them and licked their face, drawing on their most recent nightmare which was of the demonic bear that he encountered with the Verdant. Emit tried to figure out and deactivate the relic with Delaney's help which they were not able to do and they possibly made it worse.
Serpent tried to use electricity to hurt the relic but instead it went through the water harming everyone. Alan teleported in and is working to understand the relic. Emit tried to redo his amazing strike to knockout the bear and did so but the fact this is a dream made the act not go as it did before. Strider and Alan began to try to just destroy the relic, in the chaos Delany changed into a wolf which helped bolster the group. Emit took the relic from the air and was able to smash it, ending the magic.
Alan took a few pieces of the sextant for themself. Delaney and Emit returned the destroyed sextant to Mr. Griffin, they both were cold in their conversations and he was not pleased with the relic being destroyed. With the relic destroyed Strider returned to studying in the Two Silver.
Alan Bannel (They/Them)
•Arcana Test... It's working. Alan Bannel speaking.
I was busy approaching Delaney to obtain the Demonic Seed passed into her hands. It's a valuable item that will definitely solidify my business reputation or net me a lot of money in the underground market. However, the plan was disrupted by a sudden incident in town. It seems a Smuggler was able to secure a Relic from Sorrow's Harbor, very interesting. It'll be a good signature item for my Business if I'm able to obtain some of its core parts. Not to mention the Forgemaster potentially bidding a high price for it, and I get to form a friendly cooperative or business relationship with them.
The Two Silvers sent out its own people, joined by a Luminary who goes by "Your Brilliance". He went for a drink after offering the job request, which is supposed to be good for us. [Addendum] Too bad, we botched the quest quite hard, and to my personal anguish, I contributed a lot to the mess. [Rewinds backwards] We spread out at first trying to track down the Smuggler. Using my Energyweaver, I followed the Relic's lingering magical field. Others contributed in their methods, such as turning into a tracking hound, summoning an air spirit and using their relations.
We reconvened at the "Slums" of Bastion, immediately running into Emit's friend. Emit used his favour and got him to drop the possible score, and we learnt the Forgemasters are paying high prices for the relic too. Makes a lot of sense thinking about it. Shortly after, we ran into a few Lightkeepers who were likely bribed. They purposely kept a stabilizer off, I suspect it's to help the Smuggler of the Relic to get by, but it's unconfirmed till today. Note to future self. And another person used her relations to settle the problem, this time it's Delaney's highschool classmate. Strider almost created a ruckus but we were able to stop him in time and move on.
Then, after talking to a tree, we were led straight to the Relic. It's a very interesting one, connected to the Plane of Dreams and perhaps also related to the Plane of Water. Its shape being a Sextant, and the Smuggler was under its thrall or heavily affected by the relic's magic. I'll skip through the combat, it was embarassing. (Definitely didn't summon a nightmarish Demonic Bear after being licked by a Kelpie which also rammed into me twice when I tried to modify the Relic to temporarily shut it down). Nonetheless, the end result was messy. Although the situation came into control and we were able to complete the Luminary's request, the relic was permanently destroyed. I was able to source a few parts to research myself, will add more to that once I've made progress.
Terminating recording. Alan Bannel out.
Strider of Six Paths
•
=Aftermath for #"A Friendly Dispute"=
The door to the Two Silver opens, the tall and inhumanly thin figure of Strider pauses for a second, before six hands clasp the edges to help with stepping inside. Body of Aetherforged sparks, and whirs, big dent on chest plate gives off arcane energies. Strider quickly finds a table and sits down, for a second they just sit still, like a statue, before many arms begin working with machine-like precision. Four of them remove the chest plate, and start tending to the damage, while two more open a small journal and begin writing.
"Our venture, however suspicious, went relatively well. We managed to retrieve most, unfortunately, of the captives, for some troubles have befallen us.
We managed to reignite some of our magic, auspiciously so, as the spirit of water that was brought to our aid managed to save the life of a luminary, who was heedlessly stabbed by one of our companions. Spirits are still as mischievous as we remember them, wonder if We'll be able to call the rest.
Worth mentioning, there was an unfortunate incident where We set in motion a physical object, that ended hurting another compatriot, who seems like a very promising dabbler of arcane. It wasn't disastrous in consequence, but the incident still left a sour taste, and We should make up for it somehow. At the very least, avoid trying to strain this new body to achieve unpropitious physical tasks."
Rest of the writing muses on Arcane theory
Omen Rathmore (She/Her)
•Dear Diary, I'm writing you so I can prove to my parents the outside world isn't as bad as you two have said... I'm sure this is only one instance of people not being nice, and I don't have to fight everyone I meet like you two, so I can have things my way!
Entry #1
I joined a new Guild or Faction named the Two Silvers. It's a new organisation in Bastion and is accepting everyone! Nice! I already have one evidence to prove my family wrong. In there, I overheard a request to investigate another faction, named Luminaries, so I can save people. I'm sure doing that will keep me in people's good graces and make them like me despite me being a Wilder.
Boring parts, skip skip skip. Me and my friends arrived at a lonely building outside of Bastion, and the people who were kidnapped were just escorted into the prison. The Wizard with us was very smart and outsmarted the smart door. Damn, I just realised how smart people on the surface are. If only the sun isn't that prickly on my skin [Random Babbling...]
Back to the topic, we walked in and came face to face with a very special being they called a Sigil. And as their name implies, their weaknesses are also Sigils. They are like smarter golems and much more fancy. Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned how interesting the Luminaries' magic is. I'll write more on them on another day. The Rogue went and erased the Sigil's sigil and caused it to shut down. After that, we all went in deeper. They felt uncomfortable, but I was not affected. Maybe because I don't use or sense magic. [Scribble of Herself Thinking]
Oh yeah, killing people is still bad. Somehow, they hold the same opinion as you, mama. Is it because all five of you are old? Nonetheless, my party members brought him from the brink of death after I accidentally stabbed a dagger near their neck. We then see something not nice, a lady in the prison was complaining about being detained for weeks, like you two always try to do to me, mom and dad. She was forcefully put to sleep by another Sigil as my other party members got into the open room and start having fun. There were explosions, and I remember seeing a cute water otter. Too bad I can't witness the chaos first hand because no one was thinking of how they would leave after making the mess, so I had to do that for them.
I went back to the entrance and played with their large magical stone squares. Pressing them was fun; they make things appear and disappear on a large blank wall. I got it to show me a map, which I was able to read and use. It's so much simpler compared to the mapping of the underground tunnels. If I do come home one day, I'm stealing one of these large blue computers, I believe they call it. It'll be very fun to play with!
Ok, to close this entry off. I did something you would be very happy to hear me do. I blew up the support pillar of the building, and it caused all the protection to shut down. Hip hip hooray! The stone crumbled onto the Sigil like how our dwelling fell on you, dad. I almost mistook the Sigil for you; both of you are ugly. Alright, just know your daughter is having the time of her life and won't be coming back anytime soon!
Emit
•The group went out to investigate the mystery of the goods going to the disappearing keep, and after a bit of time found the site of the Night Keep. They began doing what they could to investigate as quietly as they could. Emit was able to sneak close to one of the containers finding that they had been moving plant seeds. Each member investigated what they could before things escalated. The leader mentioned a mana forge, a powerful device which is used to refine raw aetherite. Rohan tried to stop whatever magical device they were using with a caged grizzly bear and did until the bear itself knocked the two materials together.In the resulting confusion Emit was able to take the demonic bear out with a well placed strike with knock out poison.
From there they all fought to help each other escape while battling against the Verdant forces. Thanks to some well placed uses of magic and outright deception they were able to fight them off until the keep disappeared leaving them with just the few stragglers and the Verdant who went after the loose horses. A standoff occurred that was tipped in the group's favor thanks to the demonic bear waking up and being directed through some obscuring magic by Alan to attack the Verdant.
It took longer to get back to Bastion since their prisoner refused to speak and tried to escape any chance she got. Led by Clarrissa they shared their stories and got a better picture of all that happened and what threats these people will possibly pose in the future.
Rohan
•"It was supposed to be a simple mission to investigate and possibly intercept a wagon belonging to the Verdant Fools.
I manipulated the ley lines to scare away the fools' demonic horses. Emit took advantage of the opportunity to investigate the cargo while Clarissa went to investigate the Keep. I didn't know what a journalist would add to the group, but then I discovered that she is very smart and has a silver tongue.
Emit was almost caught, but I used my patron's influence to save him at the last second.
Alan decided to use a weird arcana that caused a burst of fog. Then they used another arcana and freaked out.
This caught the attention of the enemies. I don't trust them very much.
I decided to move forward since the fools had acquired the pure aetherite lost in the last session. It was going to be used in a contraption that would connect the pure crystal with a demonic crystal, above a bear cage.
I used Bloose's power to destroy the contraption and open the cage, which worked temporarily, but the bear came into contact with the aetherites and became demonic.
I think Alan activated a protective spell, but it only made the bear more nervous.
Emit, under my influence, attacked the bear with a poisoned blade, which tore through its hide and caused it to faint.
I tried to finish off the bear, but the fools stopped me.
I believe Clarissa was tending to the plants in the Keep while Alan dealt with some fools.
Clarissa convinced a group of fools that the Keep was under attack. After they entered the Keep, it disappeared. It was a clever strategy.
Emit took a hostage, but the fools who went after the horses returned and refused to surrender. The bear woke up. Clarissa decided to flee, a dangerous decision, but Alan used an arcane spell to block the bear's vision. Since everyone decided to flee, I ended up retreating as well.
The hostage was useless. I wanted to use her to get the Imperials off my back, but I don't think it will work. I feel like they are even closer on my trail.
Terrible job."
Alan Bannel (They/Them)
•Testing 1, 2, 3... The recording device is active—Alan's speaking.
As you can see, I, Alan Bannel, have arrived at the target location where the Nightkeep is observed spawning during the night. The records have been verified as true. Additionally, one can spot groups of Wilders, ones influenced by the Demonic Plane around, as informed. It seems the transport animals they use have been affected by the Bloom as well, gaining demonic features and changing to carnivores, maybe omnivores. More data is required for a complete analysis. They transported their goods through carts, Emit and Clarissa went ahead to scout. I was not able to listen to the Wilders' conversations due to my strategic location of being on this cliff, so I'll obtain their information later. [Edited Addition: Seeds, Mana Forge, a Bear]
While the two are busy doing that, I've noticed some of the Wilders investigating the base where the Nightkeep would spawn. One would suspect the landing platform has to be maintained through that act. If push comes to shove, destruction of that landing zone could give the Wilders a lot of trouble when they wish to spawn in next time. [Edited Addition: The Nightkeep's Appearance is NOT time-fixed, but controlled through a Pylon in the basement.]
After the Nightkeep spawned, bearing some unfortunate incidents I wish not to mention. [Redacted Footage & Records of Wild Surges]. I've confirmed a good portion of the Wilders live in the Nightkeep semi-permanently, or at least long-term. They managed to corrupt the seeds, granting them the ability to grow demonic trees in the material plane. Furthermore, it seems they are capable of producing a variant type of refined Aetherite capable of creating intense Bloom and granting demonic transmutation to living beings (For Now, Lacking Information) caught in it after coming into contact with the standard Refined Aetherite.
Ok. We're busted. Terminating recording...
After-battle Report: The Wilders caught our identity, especially Clarissa's, after she caused a bunch of demonic plants to grow from within their keep. Ask her for more information regarding the Keep's interior. The mutated Demonic Bear's last status cannot be confirmed, as we are forced to retreat after suffering considerable losses. Fortunately, Clarissa was able to force the Nightkeep to despawn from the Material Plane for now, but it's likely they'll return soon and be more prepared against the other remaining factions in the material plane.
Clarissa
•
I'm still not entirely sure what transpired outside of the Night Keep. As Emit snuck to the crates, I took the long way around the Keep's foundation--it handed manifested, yet! Near the river was a wheel similar to those used in water mills, pre-cataclysm tech. Sadly, I couldn't quite determine its purpose before the Keep appeared in a massive puff of smoke. I took a peek through the windows and saw more Verdant hauling crates of blistering seeds towards their carriages. When Rohan charged the caged bear, they decided to join the fight and left the crates behind. A golden opportunity, so I made my move.
The Night Keep had multiple levels. I never left the ground level, so I have no information about its basement or upper levels. On the ground level, I found a large inner room containing a massive machine, which I later learned is a Mana Forge. A mean-looking Verdant remained near the Forge and locked the doors to the room, so I turned my attention to the crates. I moved them to a dead spot and tried burning the seeds. Little did I know that fire would cause them to sprout. Within a few seconds, I was entangled, all the windows and doors were blocked with thick thorny vines and the remaining Verdant was approaching me. Luckily, I had heard noises of fighting and could convince the Verdant that an attacker outside of the Night Keep had shot the seeds with their rifle. He freed me and ordered me to go to the basement to disable a pylon and bring the Keep to safety. I refused and convinced him to do it himself. Once he descended to the basement, I slashed my way out of the Keep and joined my companions. Emit and I convinced a few of the Verdant to hurry to the Keep and defend it from attackers inside, seriously reducing the Verdant force. Finally, I joined the battle and landed a few fateful hits on the unsuspecting Verdant commander...
Ruv
•"So you turn into bees?" Reggie says to Ruv in the train car after the heist.
Ruv thinks back on the events of the last hour, shaking his head in wonder. "I'm just as confused as you are..."
It was only a few days ago that Ruv arrived in Bastion, with nothing to his name, his home destroyed by the bloom. The train job was supposed to be easy. Just a ride out to Highcliff and back.
"It's never easy," Ruv mutters to himself as Reggie looks up to see Sal walk past, shaped like a Gorilla.
Soon, Ruv is sitting alone at the Two Silvers Inn, nursing a beer and thinking about bees. Did he really turn into bees? How the hell is that possible! He remembers the moment that the Bluewater thug punched him, hanging off the side of the train. His body seemed to disincorporate around the thug's fists. If it weren't for that explosion, Ruv's not sure he would have ever turned back into himself... Shaking his head, he drains his cup and looks around to see if Sal or Reggie are in the tavern. Maybe they can help him find some answers...
Reggie Smiles
•Reggie talking to a someone at the bar, one hand coming out of a sling, the other holding a shot of dark liquor.
"...and he straight up just turned into a rat. I mean, know there's some crazy magic out there, but that's a new one for me."
He throws back the shot and slides the small glass into a small collection of them. The camera pans down as the glasses change to mountains, a train howling down the tracks in the distance. A flash of thick red lightning strikes down onto the trailing airship with physical force, splintering a section of the ship.
"And one of the new recruits—Miwa—absolutely crazy. Summon hellfire lightning on the Blue's Sloop. They're supposed to be fire proof, but this shit... this wasn't fire. It was more."
We see Reggie leap from the train to the airship.
"I saw some faces I recognized on that ship. Steele one of them. He was never just going to let me take over, but he was fighting like it was personal."
In the bar, Reggie swirls his 6th drink, watching a mesmerizing little whirlpool form in the middle.
"No idea what I did."
There's a pause.
"I didn't really know what to expect on a job like this, but..."
He seems like he's lost in thought for a moment, then remembers something.
"Oh, and did I tell you about the fuckin' BEES?"
Miwa and Aramasa
•Thunder roars afar
Transgressions future and past
A streak of crimson
- Reflection upon Justice.
"It was the journey most tedious in its irrelevance, no glory to be gained, not even the refreshment of a nice mountain stroll. Whelp got stuck with companions wondrously not fully incompetent, and somewhat amusing. One of them managed to hit himself on a head with thrown bucket. Anyhow, wretched pilferers managed to get ahold of cowardly charms to avoid confrontation with even lowlier commoners, disgrace the likes of which I haven't seen. I scared them off when finally a beast worthy of a challenge appeared, but darn whelp was preoccupied with saving the peasants, rather than carving her legend...can you imagine? At least she dealt with that thief right..."
- Ramblings of Aramasa, possibly few drinks in.
Rohan
•Rohan's mental notes as he tries to lie low for a while:
"I thought it would be a simple escort job with some weird companions. Suddenly, all the other passengers were in stasis. I thought there was a traitor among us. I went to check the cargo with Sal, a poor victim of the Blossom. He looks like a salamander but can transform into a rat and a gorilla.
Opening the cargo locks was easy, if a little time-consuming. Meanwhile, chaos was happening on top of the train, I don't know the details. I heard explosions and Ruv almost fell off the train but barely survived. Someone was shouting something about bees.
A guy tried to release the last car, but Ruv convinced him not to do that and to help us instead. He seems like a good man. I would have killed the guy, or controlled him so he wouldn't get in my way.
Some scoundrels got to the cargo before me, my cargo. I knew it would be something important, but I didn't know it would be pure Aeterithe. I chose the right job.
I took the spoils from one of the enemies, but the other died after being attacked by a Bloose, a creature with the power to cut through even steel. I wanted that power for myself.
I attacked the creature, but it was tough. Reggie finished off the cursed creature with a punch. He's a reliable companion.
After that, everything was resolved. I don't know what Miwa did during that time. They say she blew up the enemy aircraft or something. And she cut off the arm of one of the prisoners. The rest of the people reacted badly, but I didn't care much.
The rest of the people reacted badly, but I didn't care much. I just need to stay out of her way and away from that cursed sword.
I kept one of the pure Aetherite crystals for myself. I think I can extract power from it. Maybe forge something. I didn't think anyone would notice, as some of it had already been lost anyway. I think someone ratted me out. Was it Sal? He's kind of a rat. But it was probably the guy I looted. I should have killed him.
That's why I'm laying low, damn Imperials.
Anyway, great job. Easiest shard ever."
Sal
•
Dear Diary,
I tried to make some friends today. I think it went okay?
They were all at the Two Silver Tavern and were in need of extra hands for a job. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get to know some of them and learn how the people of Bastion act. We were tasked with guarding a cargo shipment, which turned out to be some sort of magical crystals. A group of vagabonds froze the whole place (!!!) and tried to steal the cargo, but we were ready for them. More or less. A large creature - one afflicted like me - was drawn to the train and struck down. I can't help but wonder: is that my fate? I hope not. I like the way I am. Most of the time.
Anyway.
My possible new friends.
I think I made Reggie uncomfortable. He seemed caught off guard when I turned into a rat. Maybe he is afraid of rodents? Ruv was attentive to my changes and wanted to talk more about them. I do not think we share the same powers, but I will have to discuss with him nonetheless. I couldn't get much of a read on Rohan, but he gave me no reason not to trust him. Perhaps I can try to have a conversation with him when I am not in rat form and perched on his shoulder. Miwa... made me nervous. She is dangerous. I will have to observe her further. Maybe she just needs friends, too.
It has been a long day, and I must rest. At least down here in the sewers I am as cozy as a rat in a cargohold. I could use a couch, though.
Sal