Editing 02/15/2024 -- Special Operation Enola 3

* Date: 59 Lionnir 715AR. Starring Andreas (commander), Bloom (lorekeeper), Charon (quartermaster), Koilos (spymaster), Zey (marshal).
* We pick up in camp, with the boat ready. Zey goes to get everyone.
* Bloom hasn’t been doing too hot recently, and has been having a nonstop flurry of random visions. Zey finds him sitting in his tent, eyes forward and glazed over. After checking to make sure nothing is touching Bloom, he slaps Bloom. Bloom is in the middle of a vision of taking Ilia to school when Ilia is sucked away by an incredible wind, like a vacuum. Bloom calls out Ilia’s name, and Zey, confused, says no, and asks if he’s alright. Bloom says he’s alright, and Zey reminds him they have a mission; he asks if Bloom needs a minute, but Bloom says he’s ready, and Zey leads him out of the tent.
* Ki steps out of her tent, and finds a letter from Varuz on the ground. She reads it privately at first, but shares it with the others later. It’s the prophecy of the Xeroxixia [included at the end of the document]. The letter exploded after she read it.
* The party is gathered together, and given the rundown. Charon tells us the Maiden said the water will be ~9ft where we’re headed. Our plan is to sail to Dernier, find our target, and extract them if possible. We break into pre-mission prep. Bloom, Charon, and Zey go to Lucky Eight’s. Andreas and Ki go to Helmuth’s training grounds.
** Helmuth is waiting for Ki with a two-handed greatsword, and gives it to Ki, saying he’s forged it. She says it looks amazing, and he says he knows. He then addresses Andreas, and asks why he’s here. Andreas says he wants training in a combat school, and Helmuth agrees to administer the test (done after session).
** It’s noted that Lucky Eight’s is dreary after Hester’s disappearance – the house is winning more, but everyone’s lost their spark.
** In addition to Helmuth’s training grounds, there are two more places to go in camp – the Maiden’s tent, where you can restore a health block, and Margaux’s tent, where you can go to gain resistance i to all magic & spiritual dmg on the next mission.
* The spymaster leaves 2 of the spies on supply, but switches one of them to emerald. She rolls [3, 3, 2] and gets nothing. The commander spends 1 intel to ask about a useful item, and we’re told something to launch objects with, or something to help us float. The spymaster also gets a question, and is told she can’t ask what two approaches are. She instead asks if conflict should be avoided, and is told no. The quartermaster takes 1 grey oil, binoculars, 2 whistlers, flotation devices (-1 scrap), and 1 siege weapon.
* The engagement roll is made [5, 4, 4]. As we set sail, Zey gets the wind and rain at our back. We plunge through the mist, and Andreas pulls out an emerald. It pulls in the mist for us, and we get ¼ mile worth of mist following us. We’re warned that the emerald will die in 24 hours.
* It tastes a while to navigate, and we pass sunken landscapes as we approach Dernier. The water line is above the first floor of all the buildings, and we see corpses of those who couldn’t escape floating in the water. We make physical checks [3 successes for Andreas and Bloom, 2 for Charon and Ki, 1 for Zey], and we all see that under the water are trees standing 6-7ft tall. The vegetation seems to be beginning to take over, one tree sprouting out of the window to a home.
** Charon gives us Enola’s description – olive-colored skin, hair green and mossy at the ends, color-changing eyes, a scar on the right cheek.
* We’re told the setting is “like Venice, if Venice was really depressing”. Charon makes a phys check at benefit i [3 successes] to spy if any windows are boarded from the inside. There are some boarded-up windows on the eastern side of town, and we see some of those houses are missing roof shingles. There’s a lot of bubbles beneath one of the streets.
* Bloom makes a physical check [detriment ii] to look for movement under the water, and gets 1 success. He sees a fruit vendor waving at them from below the water, and isn’t sure if it’s real – he nudges Charon and asks her if she sees anyone over there. It only sees corpses.
* We see a few houses collapse and fully sink, and decide to sail for the debris, before investigating the still-standing houses. As we get to the debris, we see the final stones sink, and some wood and furniture floating up. The water is churning and bubbling, with a line leading west of us. Charon takes the binoculars and flies up to look around, casting illusion continuously to cloak itself from one direction. It sees a figure, 7-8ft tall, with bony protrusions and taut muscles, running past a few windows before Charon loses sight. Charon flies back down and tells us Rav is already here, in the buildings.
* Another building explodes out, and we go to investigate it. Zey steers the boat, with Andreas at the sails, and Charon keeps an eye out at the back. Bloom and Ki help her. Another set of buildings shakes, and we see the beast move past a window, and it sees our boat. Ki fires the siege weapon at him – 12d6, dmg rating of 20, dealing 100 dmg. We see it summon a sword of bone and shear off the side of the building. Charon casts a chain hex on Rav, and Rav looks down just in time to take the ballista center-mass. He’s launched back into the house, and we hear the cries of more Impure in the house. This building also explodes, and from the top of the building, a humanoid figure is ejected.
* She tells Ki that that was a good shot. We ask if she’s Enola, and when she says yes, Andreas introduces himself and says we’re with the Brigade. She’s not familiar with the Brigade, but asks if we want to go to this nearby church. She tells us to follow her, and asks if our ship is fast. When Zey says he can make it faster, she backflips from the mast to a rooftop and starts running to the church. 
* We enter a skill challenge. Zey uses his water power to boost our speed [mental check, 2 successes]. Andreas positions the sails [physical check, 3 successes]. Rav yells at us that he’s going to rip out our spines. Ki channels Helmuth’s energy to make sure everyone is focused and on task, disregarding Rav’s threats [spirit check +1d6, 4 successes]. Charon creates illusory buildings that appear to collapse on Rav and his forces [spirit check, 5 successes]. Two death-riders skewer themselves on hidden poles.
* We drift to the base of the cathedral, and Enola is standing at the steeple, yelling at us to get up there. Bloom aims the ballista at the enemies [physical check -1d6, 2 successes]. He gets a perfect shot against two death riders, the bolt going through two of their midsections. There’s a burst of butterflies that probably isn’t real.
* We climb up (Charon grabbing Bloom and flying him up after he launches the ballista). We tell Enola we’re from the Brigade, and she says we lost big-time – Andreas tells her we’re still kicking, like cockroaches. She reaches into the steeple and pulls out a big sack, asking Andreas to hold it. She addresses him as Muscles. He takes it. She asks if we’re responsible for the mist, and then tells us to hang on, before activating her Torvian. The air around us all begins to spin, and she takes off into the sky. She’s temporarily granted us all the Fly power.
* As we fly up, we enter the mist, leaving Rav behind. We’re all a bit clumsy, but Enola is as graceful as a ballerina. We make it about 200ft up, and she warns us that she wouldn’t go any higher than this, because “it feels icky up there”. She tells us we certainly know how to make an entrance. Andreas introduces us all by name, and she asks if Charon’s a ghost. She’s like “sweet” when Charon says yeah.
* She gives us all nicknames: Muscles, Red Eyes, Ghostie, Frazzle. She can’t think of one for Ki, so she’ll just call her Ki for now. She says she has some work she was trying to get done, and that the Impure can go out into the light. She asks if we know what’s happening, and Andreas says the Sky Queen summoned the Titan’s dark god, and is shining light on the Primordial Ring. It’s really bad. She tells us we fucked up.
* She asks for her bag back, and pulls out a 4-5ft long rod of pure copper. She says she’s been trying to shove this thing in his ass for the past few days, and says her mistress wants her to shove like 6 of them in him. She got 1 or 2 in before, but he’s just so slippery. We ask who her mistress is, and she says she’s technically a storm witch. Ki says her friend Bee was looking for the storm witch, and that Bee had an item for her, but the item is gone now. She says her mistress has been incredibly busy, and that they were supposed to start her training more in earnest, but her mistress needs more of these big monster-thingies, and that the rods will help immobilize it. 
* We tell her that Cordell is at camp, and she’s shocked that we know her, but is pleased Charon spilled paint on her. She’s not sympathetic about Cordell missing her, but we talk her into coming back to camp after telling her we’ll help with Rav, and that we have the mist at camp, along with Ki’s friend wanting to speak to the storm witch. She tells us we drive a hard bargain, especially Andreas, and she spits into her hand for a shake. Andreas does the same, and she compliments his grip. She says he wears a lot of armor, though, and asks if he’s thought of going a bit lighter (and does some loop-de-loops in the air).
* She tells us Rav is hard to pin down, but if we come at him with a chopstick method, he can’t dodge both at once. She passes out copper rods to all of us (5ft range, dmg rating 3). She asks who wants to act as bait, and Charon volunteers. We dip the rods in grey oil. Enola has an empty rapier hilt, and she whispers to it – bright green energy sparks to life, and formulates a rapier. She’s very amused as she dips the rapier in the grey oil.
* Charon divebombs toward a roof, using illusion to make it sound like they landed hard. Rav appears, and Enola drops us all into a freefall, stopping us maybe an inch above the roof Charon is on. Rav is fully healed, and we find out he gets extra d6s against people who have corruption, equivalent to their amount of corruption. Ki and Bloom have 9 corruption, so this is not good.
* The rod gives people benefit ii attacking Rav [not counting the grey oil]. Bloom deals 88 dmg on his first turn, but the rod does not stick, and Rav does a counterattack that deals 60 dmg to Bloom [which is when we find out that losing a health block to this particular attack adds corruption if they already have it], which is taken on stamina. Zey gets his rod in the left tricep, launching it as a water missile.
* Andreas activates his Torvian, and asks Rav if he remembers him, and says he killed Rav’s friend, the Choir. Rav’s eyes go wide, and he recognizes us as “those Brigade dogs”, and says Firmin will shower him with glory for giving him our spines. Andreas spears him in the groin, and it turns out that’s the one place he can feel pain, so he briefly doesn’t get his counterattack.
* Rav begins to heal over – the copper rods are still in his body, but he’s not injured in the same way. Charon smells something chemical in the air that it can’t identify. She tells Rav she ate the soul of his body, and plunges the copper rod into his lower torso. He attacks back, and Charon uses an armor block, but the weapon has malicious, so 10 sp gets burned, and Charon gains 2 corruption.
* Bloom uses Emancipate Zero, and reduces his corruption to 3. Enola drives her rod into Rav and calls him a dummy, before flying 40ft up in the air. Ki gives her copper rod to Zey, and then takes a crossbow shot at Rav, dealing 21 dmg and taking off a health block. She yells that she stabbed the Choir in the foot.
* Rav starts to pull into his body, crouching over, bone spikes growing all along the body. He uses his flesh cyclone to hit all creatures within 10ft, forcing a physical save. Bloom and Charon make the save [DC: 3 successes], but Andreas, Ki, and Zey take 50 dmg each and are pushed away. Andreas and Ki burn armor blocks, but Zey burns a health block [minor injury: detriment i], and all three of them end up in the water. Enola is the only one out of range for this attack.
* Charon uses another hex to produce a skeleton with sharpened bone ends, and sends the individual pieces flying into Rav. She flies up higher, where the chlorine smell shifts to ozone. Bloom uses Nihilate Zero on his turn, and holds up his hand, concentrating – he wishes for Rav to become immobile. He feeds as much energy into Rav as he can, and something terrible happens. Rav screams and grows, flesh becoming roots, twenty more sets of arms sprouting from his body, his head becoming the center of something horribly eldritch. Enola and Andreas are flung even further back.
* Bloom is asked if he wants to keep fighting, or go unconscious – he chooses to keep fighting. His eyes become beacons of orange light, and the rest of them hear Bloom give a furious howl. Rav begins to shake and thrash in all directions. Andreas yells for Enola to get the rod, and Enola tries to take it from Bloom. They make a contested check. Bloom rolls 5 successes [benefit iii] and keeps hold of it.
* Zey yells, “I’m Zey the fucking blood priest, and I’ll have my pound of flesh!” [earning a hero point] and spears the copper rod Ki gave him through Rav’s midsection.
* Andreas uses alethic pull, and asks what the best way to get Rav’s attention is. He’s told it’s to shout the name “Ilia”. He does so, and both Rav and Bloom focus on Andreas with murderous intent. Andreas bunkers down, and gets three bone pillars launched at him – he takes each one on an armor block. His armor is dented, parts broken and falling off, but anyone looking at him still sees him shining there, not bleeding at all.
* Charon tells Bloom he needs to wake the fuck up, and also tries to get the rod from him – she succeeds, and though he’s actively frothing at the mouth, his attention is elsewhere as Charon throws the rod to Enola. On Bloom’s turn, he is given the choice between three attacks to make on Andreas; he chooses Blood Burst, and deals 325 dmg at sheer ii. Andreas loses a health block for the first time in the campaign.
* Andreas looks down at his chest, feels a pressure, and then his stomach explodes, blood coating the outside of him, his armor crunching, cracking, breaking as he hears screaming in the back of his head. Enola attempts to stab Rav, but is not strong enough to impale him, and her Invulnerability does not kick in for Rav’s counterattack. She loses a health block [minor injury: blindness] and her body, including her eyes, is covered in bone spurs.
* Zey launches the copper rod, sending it through Rav’s head. Rav loses a health block, but his eyes still settle on Zey, and we realize we’re not sure if he can be stopped. Andreas looks to everyone, telling them to retreat to the ship and get Bloom and Enola out of here. He’ll hold Rav off, and if he’s to die here today, then he’s to die here today.
* Out of the corner of his eye, Andreas sees more and more trees popping up on the ground. Because he’s a native of the Primordial Ring (as far as he knows), he knows of a tree that only grows here – as color grows in the area, he recognizes these as black cherry trees. There’s a clicking next to him, and a voice says, “Darling, your sacrifice, your speech, it’s just to die for.”
* The woman asks Enola what she’s doing, and Enola yells that she’s fucking blind, and the woman says that that happens sometimes. The woman is dressed in a long, dark robe, with dark makeup under her eyes, dark lipstick, and a perpetual smug look. She tells Rav when he roars that her aether realm has been positively charging his ions for the past few days, and asks Andreas if these are his friends.
* Andreas says yes, that Bloom’s doing something weird, but we’re his friends. Lavatera asks if Bloom is “the one with the eyes”, and Andreas says yes. She says this isn’t a storm, and that she’ll show us what a real storm is. The earth-bone witch begins to concentrate – she has control over the metal within these Rings, and that makes it especially easy to create lightning rods. The blue lightning we’ve seen occasionally flashes down, and strikes Rav 6 times.
* We’re all blinded for a few seconds, but as the air clears and the smell of ozone fades, we see the beast is still standing. Bloom is unconscious [a few bolts having been directed his way], and Lavatera smiles to Andreas, telling him he can come out now. We realize she’s not only shut the nervous system of Rav down, but lobotomized him. He stands motionless.
* She asks if we’re the dumb little soldiers running around, and Andreas says that after what Bloom just did, yeah, he’ll take that. She looks him up and down, calling him a smart one, before waving everyone else over. Zey moves to heal Andreas, and Charon picks up Bloom. Ki guides Enola over, and Lavatera says she thought she taught Enola how to dodge. Enola gestures to where she thinks the creature is, and says that it’s big and she tried her best. Lavatera says her best obviously isn’t good enough, and draws a rune in the air, which expands and then condenses down into Enola’s eyes. The bone shards pluck themselves out.
* Lavatera says that since we made her prey bigger, she assumes we’ll also help transport it – we agree. We ask where we’re transporting it, and she asks where we got the mist, and we say we got it back at camp. We invite her to come with us, but she says we don’t have anything she wants. She asks how she can get some of the mist, and we say with emeralds. She asks who thought of that one, and we say the Maiden.
* She opens her mouth, closes it, and says the Maiden always takes in strays, but she supposes she has, too. She says she can’t come, though, she’s looking for her army. A man, 7ft tall, angry at times. Huge sword.
** “Helmuth? Von Grayz?” / “Son of a bitch.”
* We tell her we have him, along with two of the archfey. She says she’ll come back to our little camp, have a chat with Helmuth about responsibilities, and with the Maiden about picking and choosing her pets. She sends Andreas and Charon to get Rav’s head, and is pleased about Charon being prepared when Charon whips out its scythe.
** When Charon sets Bloom down, Zey checks him over. Bloom seems better than fine – great, better than great.
* Enola grants everyone the Fly power, excluding Lavatera, who walks on the water. Zey is visibly jealous, and she asks if he wants to learn how to do it. He says he ''is'' curious, and Lavatera says the first thing you have to do is have talent. She then walks away. We loot the area as we go, and gain some scrap, +2 supplies, and +1 emerald. Brandon and Ryan roll 2d6, and roll a 6 and a 2, respectively. Pressure is reduced to 0, and time is reduced to 24.
* Lavatera causes a few lightning bolts to strike the ground as we enter the camp, and the Maiden comes running. She starts to greet Lavatera, but Lavatera shuts her down.
** “You people have disrupted my activities, while you. Stole. My. Himbo.”
* The Maiden stumbles over her words, and Lavatera asks if there’s a place for her to stay. The Maiden says we built a guest cabin, or Lavatera can stay with her. Lavatera starts what’s probably going to be a very mean remark, but cuts herself off and says she’d rather take the guest cabin for herself and Enola. The Maiden suggests Enola go see her mom, and Lavatera says Enola will do it. Lavatera has had a long day and has a head to analyze, but she says she’ll call us if she has any other needs, and we will come running. We agree to this.
* The Maiden sees Andreas is missing his stomach, and heals his missing health block, before pumping him full of stamina. Lavatera asks if she can do a few more of those, and the Maiden heals Andreas further. Lavatera asks Andreas which way he swings, and he says “either/or, honestly.” Lavatera says “Good, I’m stressed,” and drags Andreas by the collar into the guest cabin. Andreas doesn’t stop her.
* Enola decides to visit Cordell, and we point her toward Cordell’s cabin. It seems perfectly normal, no briars at all. She heads inside, and there’s a beat or two, before we hear a bone-chilling scream from inside. Charon rushes in first, and sees Enola backed against a wall, looking at Cordell’s desk. Zey follows, and his heart drops as he sees the book Unravel on the desk, with a new entry in it. As we all enter in, we see the unraveled form of the archfey, broken apart by the dark grimoire.
* The session ends here! Everyone takes a level-up. Post-game, Ki uses 9 recovery, and Andreas discovers that his martial school is the sky school.

== The Prophecy ==

* [Also pinned in the server.]
* In the bloodline of warriors, a legacy unfolds, Man of kin, a tale yet untold. Heir to hope, his spirit bold, The bearer of Xeroxixia, its secrets to behold. / Three omens foretell the power's embrace, A celestial dance, a starless trace. The first, welcoming the Dark space, Signaling the dawn of the Xeroxixian embrace. / The second omen, the earth shall quake, A tremor foretelling the power's wake. In the quake's echo, the destined shall hear, The call to wield what fate holds dear. / The third omen, the mirror’s death, Glass shivers, truth unbound, Echoes whisper, scenes confound. Faces warp, reality frays, A distorted tale, in spectral displays. / Once the power within his grasp is won, Three deeds by Man shall be done. First, unite kin, under one sun, Guiding warriors, battles to be won. / Second, mend lands, torn apart, With Xeroxixia's might, ignite their heart. Healing wounds, lightning and thunder, Bringing peace, a sacred wonder. / Third, safeguard the legacy, in hope’s name, Protect the power, its fiery flame. Forge a dynasty, untarnished by shame, Man with Xeroxixia, forever acclaimed. / If he should fail, the cycle end, All that was, Man shall never amend, And from that thing he cherished the most, Shall come once again the Titan Host.