Session Date: 12/9/2023
I was gone for session 18, which was mostly a shopping session.
For this session Opal and Hiera is gone.
Opal had stormed off to be alone, with Hiera tending to them, after growing particularly offended by a question that Valentine asked. Killian spends his evening studying the constellations and making notes for Alleli about how the stars look from Golarion, eventually falling asleep on the book. Yuna waits for Opal to come back, and Valentine pampers himself and then sleeps in late the next morning. Ria wanders around sightseeing.
Later on the next day, Alleli has a wizard friend of the name Jenthiel come over. She explains he is here to help us get back home. Killian speaks up and says that it’s a great idea and asks what we can do to help.
Jenthiel and Alleli ask how we got here and Killian and Valentine look at each other. Killian finally speaks up and explains that they went through a portal and were in the Netherworld, then found another portal and ended up on this planet. From there they saw the gondolas and rode it to the city. Jenthiel explains that he’s glad we made it here because it’s the largest civilization on this part of the continent.
Ria is still outside and feels that someone is following her. She turns into an alley to try to confront them and realizes they are at a different level, and looks up to see a humanoid wrapped up in cloaks and such above her. They are humanoid and have an almost primal way of moving and acting, and Ria understands if she is caught noticing them or moving towards them they will run away. Ria calls up and asks what they want, and they jump down to talk to Ria. She reveals herself and is a wiry jungle cat with dark fur, and a weird tendril coming off her shoulder.
The woman says she would like to stop this form, and asks if Ria can help her. Ria says that she isn’t sure, it’s natural to her. The stranger explains that the senses are too much: too much noise, too many scents, she can’t focus. Ria does her best to convey how to shift and change form and the stranger focuses, putting her hand on something metal, and the metal starts to rust. She starts to shift back to being an elf and it’s clear that this is painful for her but she manages it.
She introduces herself as Tadra and she was a guard here, explaining she has no clue why she was turning into a half coeurl. She explains that she turned into this half coeurl about the time that Ria entered the city - not blaming her, but that sure is fuckin’ weird. They talk a little more and Ria explains where she’s staying while in town if they want to talk more.
Ria does return to us and walks in on us talking to Jenthiel and Alleli. Ria asks, without using these words, why we haven’t shared about the key and by the time Killian starts considering sharing, we hear a strange warbling and the smell of ozone before the wall explodes and we see the fabric of the material plane starting to tear open. We can see a figure in an old timey diving suit tearing the plane apart and Ria jumps and attacks the hands, managing to swipe at them and push them back. Killian manages to ask if they come in peace with a message spell. The male voice responds: “I am coming for my brother,” and then the hole shuts closed violently. Ria and Killian could tell that the sigils on the “diving suit” were infernal and hellish. We’re all very certain that this was Opal’s brother, Onyx.
We discuss, then return to the topic about the Shadewither key. Killian pulls the key out of his stomach and hands the key to Alleli and she looks it over, then starts coughing. Ria takes the key from her and we all recognize it as the Obnubilate Curse, which we start to explain what it is and apologizing because we didn’t think it was on the key itself. Jenthiel sends a psychic call for help and then asks to look at the key without touching it, and he looks at it and mutters that his mother told him he would recognize it. He says the signature is like Osoyo, the Blackfrost Whale.
He explains that we might need to find his mother as she was part of the campaign against Osoyo and that Osoyo was a great threat, to the point that information about it is restricted. This being seems to be connected to the curse and that knowledge has to be vital to curing Alleli. Ria asks where his mother might be and she explains she’s been dead for hundreds of years. He explains that there is a place called the memory cache that is a sacred place where great scholars of the past are laid to rest. Their memories are preserved and watched over by guardians, who use their powers to keep the knowledge from fading. The route there is very dangerous so they only dispatch people in times of great need. The route to the entrance Is straightforward but after that he’s unsure.
We do some shopping to stock up for the travel to where we’re going.