Editing 04/03/2024 -- Operation Potent Health

* Date: 25 Chy-sa 715AR. Starring Zey (commander), Charon (marshal), Storm (quartermaster), Koilos (spymaster), and Fleur (lorekeeper).
* We begin in camp, with Zey heading to Mace Crane’s cabin. He’s taken up the mantle of commander for this mission. He steps into Crane’s office, and sees a few of his compatriots are already here. Crane nods at him, and tells him to sit down, because they have a situation to discuss. Zey sees Fleur for the first time, and gives her a nod – she gives a nod and a little wave in response.
** Fleur (Caleb): A young woman, maybe 18 or 19, with cool-toned brown skin, and softer features. She has dark hair that falls to about her mid-back, and brown eyes ringed with green. She wears a white-and-gold uniform, and you can see the cord of an amulet worn beneath it. She wears a longsword at her hip, and has a nervous expression.
* Crane tells us that he’s recovered an item from the Impure that allows corruption to grow at an increased rate, but he believes we can reverse-engineer it to strip away corruption. Lavatera, the Maiden, Doaa, and Zetian have gotten every other puzzle piece but one. Nearby is a pilgrim site housing the Spindle of Paradise, once visited by a celestial entity known as a Ki-rin that aided a starving family and granted them blessings. One of the blessings was the Spindle of Paradise – specifically, a piece of its mane was wrapped into the spindle. The site is 7 miles east of us in a town called Tash. He assumes this will be no problem for all of us.
* He tells us to leave when we’re ready, and to bring back the Ki-rin – the spindle itself is inconsequential (though we can bring it back if we want), we just need the hair braided into it. We debate on which NPC to bring along, and almost choose the Maiden, but decide on sending Ki to invite Claudia.
* Charon asks what Fleur is doing, and Fleur says she was going to go gamble. Charon says she was going to do the same, and they agree to go together. Fleur’s happy to hang out again, since Charon has been busy – Charon throws an arm around her and gives her a noogie.
* Storm goes to Margaux, and Zey and Ki go to Helmuth. Zey works on his Aether Realm, and Ki does some Torvian training to improve her Torvian’s accuracy. She’s successful [rolling a 5 on a d6], and is now pinpoint accurate, but has expended her uses of the Torvian for this session.
* Ki goes to Claudia next, and accidentally startles her. She looks a little shaky and drained. Ki apologizes for startling her, but Claudia says it isn’t Ki’s fault, she’s just used to having better hearing than this. She accepts Ki’s invitation to go on the mission before Ki can even finish making it, saying she’s just happy to get out of camp for a bit. They link arms, and Claudia seems happy as they go off to meet with the others.
* The spymaster assigns all the spies to gathering emeralds, and we get +6 emeralds. The commander spends 1 intel to ask how dangerous the mission is, and the GM makes a strange noise before telling us it’s a quantum state between 2 and 9. The spymaster asks what a useful item would be, and is told something that would obscure vision. The quartermaster equips us with a supply wagon and the binoculars.
* We depart from the Fort Galax camp [marshal roll: 5, '''6''']. Nothing bad happens, and we gain +1 intel from looking at Impure patrols as we pass. Around 4pm, we see a small town on the hillside, about a quarter mile out. A strange blue glow seems to be passively emanating from the town, and on the opposite side of town, there’s a small shrine containing the Spindle of Paradise. At the precipice of town, Charon uses the binoculars [phys: 1 success], and sees no Impure, just a tourist trap sort of town full of gift shops, inns, and themed bars and restaurants. The town is deserted, but shows signs of the Dark Star’s influence.
* We decide to go straight for the spindle, and sneak around the outskirts of town to get to the shrine. We get the choice between mental or physical stealth checks, and everyone passes [3 successes for Fleur, Ki, and Zey, 2 for Charon]. We come up on a raised hill on the northern side of town, and see that the decades-old birch trees have long since turned to gnarled, twisted versions of themselves. Their leaves almost resemble butterflies, weird and shimmering, unsettling Fleur.
* We see the one-story shrine, just big enough to keep people out of the rain, and a tunnel leading deeper. We see large chunks of blue gemstone being driven into the ground, some 6 or 7 feet tall, giving off the dull blue glow we noticed earlier. We see about 10 Blossomed zombies driving them into the ground, pulling them from covered wagons of ore and other goods. There’s one Impure guiding them – Gold Hook, one of the Infamous of Amis.
* Charon activates its magical transformation, and tries to cloak us in an illusion, while Zey uses his water powers to dampen the sound of the rain. They have to make a spirit and a mental check, respectively. Both of them get 3 successes, and then we all make more stealth checks, with everyone succeeding. We move silently, with Zey parting the waters just enough to avoid us splashing through stagnant waters, and Charon weaving illusory veils around us to obscure as we move between the Impure. We disappear into the tunnel.
* Going deeper, we enter a gaudy welcoming chamber that once held statues, beautiful imagery, benches, etc. Everything has been destroyed and shattered, the statues smashed, and appearing to have been wielding real weapons. A passage continues deeper at the far end.
* The statues are made of granite and marble, and have carvings in them every now and then. They’re encrusted with rubies and other gemstones, and have arcane glyphs. Charon inspects the glyphs [mental check – 1 success], and figures out they’re to animate the statues, and that the statues probably operated as temple guardians. The air is noticeably very open and clean, not musty.
* We see two paths – to our right is a sealed oak door in good condition, with stylized bits of engraved ivy. Ahead of us is a room with an art gallery, and we decide to check there first. We see the walls are covered in mosaics. There’s another passage leading deeper in.
** The first mosaic, to our left, depicts a starving satyr family, their crops failing. There’s a skinny father, two daughters, and a tiny toddler. They have a log cabin, and a tree has fallen on the house. The second, on the far wall, is a mosaic of the skies opening up, with an orange unicorn with a white mane flying down – the Ki-rin. The third wall, to our right, depicts a spindle, the daughters using it to create new clothes and heal an injury their younger brother had. The father is running off to greet their mother, who appears to be coming back from war. It’s a happy ending.
* Zey asks Charon to check the other door. She puts her ear against it and hears nothing. The knob is unlocked. Zey throws open the door, and we see a room of shelves with offerings and donations, things pilgrims have given to the site itself. There’s a large container filled with gifts, like small knicknacks and medicine. Zey wants to loot, but the rest of us are nervous about that, so we decide to check out the room again on the way back. Fleur leaves 5gp as an offering.
* We go into the hall found in the gallery, and see there are pressure plates already pressed into the ground, and poison darts litter the ground. There’s a boulder at the end of the corridor that seems to have dropped from the ceiling and rolled down. Charon makes a check to see if all the traps have been sprung [0 successes], and thinks they have been. The sides of the passageway look like they once contained a door, and we guess we’re in an area normal people weren’t supposed to come back into.
* We try to move the boulder aside, and we all roll like shit, but with Claudia’s help we’re able to get into the next room. In there, there are floor-to-ceiling shelves with small, 1-inch cubes with faces painted on them. There are four altars pulsing with dull green energy, and each has a cube on it. Just past the altars, we see an open set of double doors leading deeper into the shrine. Charon gets a hero point for asking if it’s the satyr family on the four cubes (it is). We look at the cubes on the shelves, and don’t recognize anyone, but they are photorealistic, and there are easily thousands of them.
* We go through the doors and find some twisting hallways, and eventually a set of golden floor-to-ceiling doors, encrusted with sapphires, rubies, and beautiful onyx gemstones. We’re able to hear the spinning of the spindle on the opposite side of the door. Storm draws his crossbow, and insists on having it out in case the person inside tries to jump us. Zey inspects the door [3 successes], and finds that it doesn’t seem magical, but he can detect a lot of magic on the other side of the door. 
* Zey peeks inside, and sees a room of golden finery, with luxurious silks hanging from the wall. Incense and myrrh fill the air, and we hear humming. In the center of the room, a woman is wrapped in a cloak, and seems to be working on something. Zey gestures for Storm to follow him, and readies some water, before sneaking into the room to try to get a better look. Storm and Charon follow, and make stealth checks – Zey trips a bit and pushes Storm, who stumbles and makes some noise. Silence falls, and the woman cocks her head to the side, and stops humming. She appears to be making a dress of some kind.  Storm prompts Charon, since it suggested speaking to her earlier, and Charon says, “Um, excuse me.”
* The woman says, “So… you are Charon.” She spins around, and Ki sees an old and familiar visage. She’s within thirty feet of Zolona the Sky Queen, Queen of the Titans, in her vessel. She smiles at all of us with her weird, eldritch smile. She says she’s heard of Charon. Charon says she hopes it’s been good things, and Zolona says all good things. She asks if that’s Koilos and Claudia back there. Ki doesn’t respond, and just has a deathgrip on Claudia’s hand, turning very pale.
* Zolona says it’s interesting that we got past Gold Hook, and asks if we’re coming for a simple chat, or if we were looking for the spindle. Storm asks if we can do both, and she says we absolutely can, and that she doesn’t want to hurt us – if she wanted to, she would have already. Storm says her tone doesn’t reflect that, and she apologizes, saying tone is difficult, because she hasn’t inhabited form in quite a while. In a manic voice, she asks if we’d like her to take on a happier tone, something more appealing.
** “I stand corrected, you were doing fine, ma’am.” ( – Storm)
** “I’m so sorry then, I just wanted to find something… [in her normal tone] cordial.” ( – Zolona)
* Charon calls her “my lady”, and Zolona says we don’t have to use my lady, and that they’re not as pompous as our gods. Besides, she should be thanking Charon. Charon says it doesn’t know what she’s thanking her for.
** “You have grown powerful, you have safeguarded my dear friend Niorax, you have journeyed to me here, and you’ve brought me an Oracle. A great boon indeed. I will be sending Koilos back. I don’t think you wish to stay. Am I right, Ki? Or have you reconsidered?” ( – Zolona)
* Ki says she won’t be going back with her. Zolona says that that’s fine. “I will send you back, and I want you to tell my daughter something. Can you do that? I want you to go back to her, and tell her that I have her people. I want you to say that I have Charon, I have Fleur, and Storm, and Claudia. And if she does not meet me here, in 48 hours, then she shall force my hand. Now go, Ki, unless you wish to stay. I can have one of your friends send the message, but the message will be sent. A mother must parent her child, and Ataxia has been rogue long enough.”
* Charon looks pissed at that, and when Zolona asks if something’s wrong, Charon says she just respects the Maiden greatly. Zolona says that once we see the truth, we’ll know how misguided she is. Charon asks what she wants from her, and Zolona says she needs her power, that this reality needs a rewrite, something more than she can manage in this vessel. She promises we’ll save them all.
* Charon asks if Zolona wanted Nicholas to make it, and Zolona laughs, asking Charon who it thinks gave him the idea. Zolona then says she’s grown tired of Charon, and must talk to Fleur. She snaps, and the book closes, flying into her hand. Charon disappears immediately, and she sets the book on the spindle. She tells Fleur to come closer, so she can get a better look at her. Fleur walks forward a bit, but says she’d prefer to stay where she’s at, and Zolona floats her closer. Fleur resists for a moment, before stilling. Zey is asked how he looks when he sees this – he’s barely recovered from stumbling, and has an “oh fuck” face still.
* Fleur stops 5ft before Zolona, and sees her strange, twisting and knotted flesh. Zolona looks deep into her eyes, and Fleur sees row after row of white teeth smiling. “Ah, yes, truly an Oracle. Thank you for making the journey. I want to have you know all your needs will be met. While I do require your services, we can both benefit. This is war, but we can still be civilized.”
* Fleur says she doesn’t know what Zolona’s talking about, and that she’s just here to help the Brigade. Zolona tells her to look at the world, and that working with her is the only way to help them now. Zolona tells her she can see the plans of the gods, and she would like to know them – more importantly, she needs Fleur’s sight at a particular date and time. Fleur says she can’t control the visions, and Zolona says she can help her with that, but Fleur says she just wants the visions gone, that they’re horrible and she doesn’t like what she sees. 
* Zolona says she can make the visions go away, and stands from the spindle, her wings beginning to flare outward. She walks closer to Fleur, reaching out a hand and slowly touching her chin. Zey watches as she grabs Fleur’s chin, then picks her up quickly, slamming her into the ground with such force that her head is splattered on the ground – dead, just like that. “Ki, you have to amend the previous statement. Unfortunately, Fleur has chosen another path.” Ki says Zolona said she meant no harm, and Zolona says she didn’t, but Fleur wanted the visions to stop. She says not to worry, and that Fleur’s soul is still there.
* At this point, the world rewinds, shifting and arcing and changing, her fingers again to Fleur’s chin. This time she moves her hand up, brushing it over Fleur’s eyes. Fleur’s vision goes dark, and she can no longer see. “Your visions can still come, but… I have guarded you. You don’t need your vision, correct, Fleur?”
* Fleur says she’s still a soldier, and can’t fight blind, can’t rely on her other senses – Zolona touches Fleur’s ears, nose, and skin, and her senses quadruple in sensitivity. She hears the beating of Ki’s heart, smells Storm’s sweat, and feels the air moving across her skin. She can even hear the individual footfalls of the Blossomed outside. Zolona says she can fight like this, and though she speaks softly, the words still rattle painfully in Fleur’s head, like an explosion of dynamite.
* Fleur is standing by Zolona now, looking at herself from the third person, and seeing both hypothetical futures play out at once. Zolona asks which option Fleur prefers for the solving of her visions, and Fleur chooses blindness. She is transported back into her body, and the future solidifies. The others are none the wiser to the other future, but Fleur gets a sinking feeling – how many other futures have passed? Is this the first time you’ve done this? Was closing Charon’s book impulse, or was it the best of all possible futures?
* Zolona asks Storm and Zey to approach, and they do, Storm going first. “You are powerful soldiers. I would like to offer you a place in my army. You will be generals. You will be at the front lines. I see great potential in both of you.” To Zey, she says, “I would say that this would give you purpose, Zey. Don’t you want to know what the blood is for? Don’t you want to know something better? Don’t you want my blood? Don’t you want to see what happens?”
* [At this point, Ki goes into Side 1 with the GM for a good few minutes.]
* Zolona looks to Storm, and says she knows he wishes to save his friends and allies. He says he thinks she misinterprets, and she says perhaps, he’s such a bundle of questions, with very few answers. She’s not sure even he knows some of them. He says he’s loyal to Magion and the Ard Magos.
** “Magion has fallen. What did you think happened with the coming of the glorious truth? Do you think Magion could pry their eyes away? Do you think they could stand against it? Do you think that there’s an Ard Magos left? I mean, there is, but they’ve seen the truth. Those who have not, will. It is… open to them. All who see the truth, Storm, they know it. They cannot turn away. But unlike the gods, you are free to choose, with us.”
* Ki starts to sidestep around the room, and some of Zolona’s eyes follow her. Zolona asks Storm and Zey what they say, before telling them they’ll have time to decide later. She flicks two fingers, and both of them are knocked unconscious. Ki shouts for Claudia to grab them, before using her Torvian to open a hole between Zolona and us, placing the hole a foot beneath the stone floor and raising up a 15ft dome of stone.
* Ki moves to grab the hair from the spindle and Charon, while Claudia rushes toward Storm and Zey. Zolona doesn’t move, and looks idly toward her, saying she can have her friends, but not the book. “I still think of you as one of us, Ki. Don’t do this. I don’t want to have to parent you.”
* Ki says Zolona’s just mad, but she still thinks there’s some good in her. Ki is then prompted to roll for order. On her turn, Ki grabs Charon and the hair from the spindle, and books it. Claudia lifts Storm and Zey, and tries to follow. On Fleur’s turn, she hears Zolona’s voice in her head, warning her. Zolona says this is already going to be bad, and to not make her have to make things worse. Fleur still tries to run, and has to make a physical check – she magically transforms, since she’s at Detriment IV, and makes it closer to Claudia. She calls to Claudia that she can take Zey.
* Zolona raises a hand, and uses her sword of the skies on Claudia – there’s a slicing sound, and a cry from Claudia as she falls unconscious, but Zolona is doing it nonlethally. Zolona catches up to Fleur, and rests a hand on her shoulder. Ki tosses the book down to let Charon out, and says, “Charon, I’m so sorry,” before picking up Zey and Claudia, and trying to run away. 
* On Fleur’s turn again, she says she won’t try to run, and reluctantly agrees to help Zolona as long as she doesn’t hurt the others. Zolona flips Charon’s book shut with her foot, and warps reality to make a wall behind Ki, Claudia, and Zey as they flee. Storm, Charon, and Fleur are left inside with her.
* Outside, Gold Hook and the Blossomed zombies are waiting, but they’re just watching Ki. Zolona is letting her go. We end with Ki going to the Maiden to deliver the message.
* Using 1 recovery now removes 2 corruption, though! Yay for that.