Editing 02/10/2024 -- Emergency Operation Star Shield

* Date: 54 Lionnir 715AR. Starring: Andreas (commander), Ari (lorekeeper), Bee (briefly), Cain, Charon, Koilos, Shape, Talisman, Thomas, Varos, Zay.
* We begin with the Roost, Varuz’s ship. Varuz teleports Ki, Ari, and Bee back, and smiles at them, asking how their trip was. Ki is panicked and very hurriedly explains that the Dark Star is here, the Queen is back, etc., and that they have to go warn everyone. Varuz says “okay”, and sits back in his chair, reading a book. Ki, Ari, and Bee hurry out the door to begin warning people to avoid the light of the Dark Star.
* As they run, there are changes to the atmosphere – it’s been raining for days on the Ring, which is normal, but a massive earthquake begins to shake the Ring, the heavens crackling with red lightning. Thomas sees a beam of red energy shoot into the heavens to the south, and sees an eye of the storm effect. Charon, within their book, feels one of their pages fall out. It realizes it’s slowly becoming unbound.
* Everyone assembles outside of the Archfey’s cabins. Cordell and Zetian walk out, with Zetian barely standing, supported by Cordell, whose briars have begun to fall off. Ki hurriedly tells them that the Dark Star is here, Zolona’s back, and they’ll be corrupted if they’re touched by the light. The Archfey exchange “oh shit” looks, and Talisman notices the water level is still rising – dry land will become scarce soon.
* As we talk about what to do, a voice says, “Silence. I am in charge now.” A large, hulking man appears from behind, and Ki recognizes this as the individual she’d escaped from before – she takes a step back. The man now wears a pale blue cloak, and has a sword in one hand, and a guitar case in the other. He introduces himself as Helmuth Von Grayz, and says we’re all under his command now. No one objects to this.
* He says the enemy is attempting to release their god, and they will succeed, but we must block its light from touching this place, or we’ll become slaves to madness. He puts down the guitar case and opens it, saying he’d hoped to save the item for another time, but no matter. He shows us the Mist Heart, an orb swirling with spectral vapors, the surface glowing, hungry tendrils extending from it. It’s cold and unsettling, but also pulsing with life. He confirms with Zetian that they have a scroll, and when they confirm, he says we’re going to use it. He cuts Zetian off when they try to talk more.
* Charon says it can read the Scroll of Meropis – it hasn’t before, but has been told she can. Helmuth says it won’t fail (“If you fail, we shall all die. Therefore, you will not fail.”), and compliments its name when it says it’s named Charon. He says he’s set up a fortress northeast for the camp to move to. He then turns to address Cain, and asks if he can use a sword – Cain says yes.
** Cain (Eli) – Average soldier build. 6’, 200lb, blond hair, 30 years old.
* The Mist Heart will allow us to cover our camp (protecting roughly a mile) in the mist, shielding us from the light of the Dark Star, but on its own, it will take several hours to activate – we can use the Scroll of Meropis to speed it up, but because of the wards in camp, we must do it outside of camp. Zetian tries to caution Charon about using the scroll, but Helmuth tells them to shut up, before running off. Everyone follows, with Charon transforming in the process.
* As we go, the water begins to rise around the camp. We stop on top of a higher hill outside camp, and Helmuth tells Charon to read the Scroll, and that their goal is to release the power of the Mist Heart and cover the sky (and try not to destroy the Primordial Ring in the process). He opens the Scroll for Charon.
* Charon needs 10 successive spirit checks to read the Scroll – on the first roll, they get 5 successes. Energy begins to leak from the Scroll, and it realizes it’s accidentally affected the world a bit; gravity is now 70% less, and everyone starts to rise up in the air a bit. We hear roaring coming from the nearby streams, and see creatures emerge. We witness the return of the Aboleth, massive multi-eyed creatures with tentacles running the length of their body. Strange frog-like reptilian creatures (Slaad) also emerge. Helmuth tells everyone to form a line, don’t let the enemies reach Charon, and don’t let the enemies touch you. Combat begins.
* Ari, Thomas, Cain, and Talisman are first up, and all hold their actions until the enemies come closer. The Aboleth approach, and we see they have tentacles lined with wasp-like stingers. They target Cain, Talisman, Shape, and Ari – everyone except Ari spends stamina points or armor blocks to reduce damage. Ari loses a health block, taking a minor injury (Detriment I on all dmg rolls), and is injected with toxin. He is enslaved.
* On Ki’s turn, she cries out Ari’s name, and runs to him – with his delayed action, he attacks her [though he rolls very poorly]. 
* Andreas summons his armor – his hand glows green and white light, and his body is covered in angelic-looking white armor with stylized feathers, arcane power shining off it. He creates a forcefield below the group, blocking enemies from approaching that way. 
* On Charon’s turn, they make 3 successes on the scroll, bringing them up to 8. Helmuth calls out, “Keep reading, Nyx!” and Charon replies that she ''has'' a name, but in the process, it accidentally focuses on itself, creating 14 new skin books across the Ring.
* On Helmuth’s turn, he drives his sword into the ground. Volcanoes begin to rise as he brings us into his aether realm, dealing 10 fire dmg to all enemies within, and regaining that himself.
* On Ari’s turn, he attacks Koilos again, taking a health block – he succeeds on his spirit save [after spending a hero point], and realizes he stabbed Ki. He’s horrified and apologizes. When the Aboleths have their turn, he loses another health block, and is enslaved again. He takes the dire condition for his major injury. Varos and Ki are also taken over.
* On their turns, Varos and Ki both attack Charon. Varos pours a ''lot'' into his attack, including sacrificing sp for an ability and spending hero points (ending up with a dmg rating of 18). On Zay’s turn, he goes to take out Varos, using his water magic to attack him – he goes for lethal, and the attack shoots directly through Varos’s skull, killing him instantly.
* Shape polymorphs into Helmuth Jr.
* Charon makes another roll for the Scroll, and gets 2 successes – exactly the amount she needed [in the process, she creates 13 more skin books]. Her goal is to use the Mist Heart to cover us in mist, to protect us from the Dark Star. Helmuth chucks the Mist Heart into the air, and the Scroll draws on the Ring’s ancient primordial magics, adjusting reality. The Mist Heart cracks open at the top, mist flowing up and up and up, keeping everyone who’s within a mile of the Mist Heart safe.
** The power in the Scroll feels almost natural to Charon now as they interface with it.
* Now that we’ve completed our task, we still need to run, but the people of the Brigade’s camp will no longer be subject to the madness of what we unleashed. Cain takes a health block off of one of the Aboleth, and he shouldn’t be able to cut it in half, but he does – then it falls into 4 pieces, 8, 16… as the Banker arrives on the scene. He demands that we give him his book, his Scroll, his guitar, and if we do, he’ll end us quickly.
* Helmuth tells Charon she doesn’t need to do anything, and that we’re not the ones who must be afraid – the Banker can’t imagine the depths of our victory. He tells us to annihilate this filth.
* The Banker tries to leap at us, but impacts Andreas’s barrier and bounces back. He’s very unhappy with this. We begin to attack him, and he loses a health block immediately as he’s attacked with fire, but doesn’t seem the least bit concerned. We quickly find out that starting a turn within his aura deals a minor injury.
* The Banker taunts Charon, saying they’ll make the world beautiful together, and that Charon hasn’t even begun to see what he can do. Charon says, “I don’t like when you talk like that, Nicholas.” He’s extremely upset by being deadnamed. On Ari’s turn, having been commanded to save the Aboleth, he uses his Thalagar to receive Illusion II, and creates an illusion of “Nicholas” being repeated to the Banker over and over again. He’s enraged even further. Thomas charges the Banker on his turn, with Cain hearing him mutter, “I’m so sorry. I wish I was a better father to you both.”
* The Banker calls Helmuth a stubborn fool, and uses his Eviscerate ability – he deals 325dmg at Sheer V, and Helmuth’s stomach is ripped open, the Banker tearing out his organs. He burns all of his armor blocks, but they aren’t enough. The Banker then slams him into the forcefield, before pinning down Helmuth to Eviscerate him again.
** “Look at you fools, I am destined to hold a Scroll of Meropis. I will get my revenge on these blasphemous rings. I will destroy every high god. I will make my own world.” His fingers inch closer to Helmuth. “Besides, even if you win here, by the time you’re finished with me, Zolona will have already won. You do not have the time, the aether, or the guts to kill me.”
** Helmuth coughs up some blood. “Da, probably true, but there is something else, fool – I am not trying to beat you. Beating you is stupid. We all know this is about pride and honor. And gaining true victory over you. I am Helmuth Von Grayz, and I have never lost a fight. I will not lose this one. I am not trying to kill you. I am waiting for her.”
* The Maiden has been trying to get into position, and was able to finally find us because of the Scroll’s explosion. “Nicholas, what do you think you’re doing?”
* The Banker screeches and dives at her, but Helmuth drops his aether realm, and the Maiden brings up hers. The world shifts, and we find ourselves in a place we barely recognize, with a stone ground, and a light mist in all directions. The Banker’s claws pass directly through her, and she tells us he’s harmless – nobody can hurt anyone or be hurt here. 
** “Um, you can’t deal any damage here, nobody can, you’re locked in here now, and I’m pretty sure I can hold this until the heat death of the universe, Nicholas, so we’ll just ask, can you wait that long? I don’t know if you can wait even 10 minutes without trying to tear something to pieces.”
* The Banker begins moving from person to person, desperately trying to claw into us. The Maiden says she’s sorry, but they don’t have time to help us right now – she opens a portal near Andreas, saying we can go through if we want, but she just has to- and the Banker interrupts her, running headfirst into the portal, which happens to lead straight into Vermatos.
** “Oh, dear. Well, I hope the rats will be okay.”
* Now that we’re safe, Zay heals some people up. The Maiden asks us what’s going on, and the group relays that Ki, Ari, and Bee told them the Dark Star was here, and that Zolona was free. She’s understandably upset by this, and we leave the realm to take care of things back at camp. The Archfey are barely standing, but are pleased the Maiden is here.
* We’re told that the Church of Corania have risen up against us to the north, and that on other sides are Impure and Titanic forces – Helmuth says we’re only going one direction, and there will be less to kill this way. Andreas is made commander, and we enter mass combat.
* We beat the enemy in the roll-off [51 vs 40, making them fail their morale check automatically], and are able to successfully push through the Church’s forces, making our way to Talgon Forest. We roll for time, and it increases by 5 to 26. Our pressure is also reduced to 5, our new permanent minimum. Bob takes his tax – 5 morale, all the supplies he can, and 1 intel. The session ends here.
* Everyone below level 10 gains 2 levels, everyone level 10+ gains 1 level.