Editing 11/15/2023 -- Operation Flapjack

* DATE: 17 BEOCHT AR
* [Quick rest achieved]
* We pick up at the camp, Andreas, you have been summoned by Zetian – it’s been a few days since arriving at the camp, you have yet to meet Zetian, it’s a bit surprising they’re summoning him, since they’ve never met him
* Waiting outside the cabin are a few individuals he recognizes – Bloom, Damon, Talisman, Thomas. They affirm they were also summoned here, and have never met Zetian
* Andreas tries to knock on the door, it becomes a flock of doves and flies away – we assume Zetian knows we’re here, and go in, Damon last
* Hallway spirals upward on a ramp like 30ft, then we’re walking down, up, down, etc – just as we’re about to give up, we see the ramp ends at an archway
* Strange-looking being, indeterminate gender, flowing robes, no hair, balancing on a feather on one foot
* They call us the Wolfgang, “hello all and none”, say we have a mission – some time to do it, but not a lot of people. It requires stealth, precision, and flapjacks
* Locked in a clerical vault under temple of Ever-Glory, town of Viossons, important dangerous creature, we need, enemy wants but cannot have – we must get the creature without being seen or captured, or grabbed in the clutches of evil beings, which would result in corruption
* Bloom asks if the creature needs to be brought back alive – Zetian says yes, that life is precious, and Bloom should know this, because he has two lives
* Zetian then asks for Thomas’s shoe and sock, because he has big feet. They give him some kernels of corn, and throw the shoe in the air, then stretch the sock out and pull out a majestic deer [Brandon], holding a sword and ready to mingle.
* The deer nods when asked if it’s been to Viossons, and sheathes the sword in a little neck sheath. It eats the corn offered to it.
* Zetian warns us that when things smell wrong, the universe is wrong, before grabbing the shoe and pulling out a massive bone, which it says is from the Sphinx of Tralamere, and that we should use it to bind and bring back the beast [by waving it around and shouting “Flapjack” at the vault]. It gives this to Bloom, who’s relaxed after looking rattled by the “two lives” comment.
* It said some more ominous things before zipping off. Andreas had a brief telepathic conversation with Deer, but we got yeeted through a hole in the ground when we talked about finding our way out. We decided to head out for our mission after dark.
* Andreas spends 1 intel, and we get a 5 on the engagement roll, putting us in a risky position.
* Andreas talks to Deer a bit more, finds out Zetian helped him and he’s just kinda here now.
** Also finds out it costs energy for Deer to telepathically message more than one person at a time.
* After a like 3-4 hike, we make it to the church, avoiding traps – there’s a putrid, pungent smell as we observe it, seeing a basically empty courtyard, graves here and there. Talisman makes a spirit check, and senses a dark magic, aside from some activity and noise inside the church.
* Damon tries to walk around the perimeter, at one point begins to be choked out, unable to breathe – he backs up, and is able to breathe again after a moment. He then scales a tree to look into the church, and sees a Blossomed zombie pulling a dead rabbit. He also notices the shadows on the ground don’t look right. 
* Bloom climbs up to look at the shadows, sees the wrongness radiating from a central point, a specific grave – on further inspection, it has a single black candle with a green flame, and being in its light causes the choking. A mental check has us recall rumors of strange candles being found lately by members of the Brigade, belong to Gaston the Chandler, works for the Blossomed Dionysa, the candles he creates are fonts of dark magic.
* Water isn’t as effective against the candles, seems it’s best to snuff them out directly – we discuss whether to try to put them out or just book it, and Damon makes a run for it, making it to the church wall unscathed. While we’re arguing, Deer follows his path, and does so flawlessly. Thomas breaks chunks off of a few graves, and stacks them in front of the candle [giving us a slight bow], before crossing to join them. The rest of us follow.
* We peer inside, Blossomed zombies making their way all about the interior, 5-6 of them – appear to visit a room to the far left wall sometimes, in the center there’s a massive boiling pot that these Blossomed zombies are throwing corpses in, the pot is rendering the fat from the bodies, causing the air to have this intensely pungent odor
* Woman, long, dark mangled hair, hands stained red, a body with multiple strange and twisting runes tattooed into the flesh, churning the pot with a long wooden spoon to render the ingredients, incanting something
* Other side, room with a closed door, a set of stairs at the far end [goes down]. The  room’s fairly large, 350ft across, stairwell 300 ft from us
* We debate on how to sneak by, and decide on causing a distraction – Deer sends a swarm of 20-30 rabbits flooding from its mouth, and the Blossomed + the woman begin to chase them down to get “more flesh”, Deer commands them to run outside and away from us
* Andreas peeks into the far left room, sees a litany of dead animals, a pile of random objects from the church that the Impure don’t seem to need – he grabs a relic, a harp that belonged to a famous satyr cleric
* Bloom peeks into the righthand room, which has a bunch of maps and documents – he makes a rummage check, and makes /some/ noise, but picks up 2 Intel with the regional maps he grabs
* We decide not to linger longer, and head downstairs, into the catacombs – the smell of rendering fat is worse down here, and we hear another Blossomed shuffling up ahead. Thomas also hears a disembodied voice – “You lost two sons. What a terrible father you are. Two sons lost, and not a battle won”
* Deer sneaks us around the Blossomed, and we make it to a sealed vault door. We realize the door will be noisy, but decide to open it anyway – there’s some debate on how many of us need to shout “Flapjack”, but we settle on all of us doing it
* The Blossomed hears us, but the vault door also begins to slide open, and a dog with a sword trots out. Bloom gives it the bone, and Andreas gives it some pets.
** We’re also attacked by the Blossomed – it goes for Damon, and he’s hit, but Deer and Flapjack (dog) take it out together.
* Deer makes a telepathic connection with Flapjack, Flapjack asks why we’re here – it doesn’t recognize the name Zetian, but is happy about the bone
* Upstairs, the woman has realized we’re here – Deer and Damon break down a boarded window, and everyone runs out, with Andreas going last to help the others. He gets struck by a bolt of shadow, but keeps moving, and we enter a skill challenge.
* 10 successes needed – we have 2 for breaking the window, Andreas gets 1 for protecting us from the blasts, 1 success from Deer for firing locusts at the lady, 2 successes from Thomas lifting gravestones to chuck at the Blossomed, Bloom gets 1 success leading us away from the Blossomed [used 1 hero point to reroll, now at 3 hero points], Talisman throws up a flame shield to defend us, but it also makes a beacon for them to follow
* Damon transforms – he starts to get angry, grows hairier, taller, bigger, longer arms, sharper teeth, red eyes, sharp teeth and claws, howling, tells us to follow him
** We’re all bewildered, but follow him, though Deer is scared shitless
* Damon loses 2 health blocks fighting off the Blossomed to keep us moving, but Flapjack teleports him closer to Deer, who’s able to scoop him up and bolt off. Thomas and Andreas help cover the escape, and we don’t stop running until morning.
* Deer thanks Damon, who mentions his kind eat Deer’s kind. Deer hasn’t met a werewolf before.
* Andreas asks Damon about werewolf stuff, with Damon saying he shifted to save us – he also realizes at this point only him and Damon have heard the deer, though he doesn’t seem fazed by this.
* Talisman asks what Zetian meant when they said Bloom has two lives, and Bloom’s dodgy about responding, saying Zetian said a lot of things– Andreas gets the party moving again.
* We get back to Zetian stacking scarecrows vertically. They greet Flapjack as your majesty, and direct him to a bed waiting inside. We give our report, and they’re happy about the relic. Bloom shows them the maps, but they say they don’t do maps, because the words don’t make sense, and tells him to take those to Cordell. Andreas is questioned on why it’s good to be of service, and he doesn’t have an answer [at least, not before Zetian gets impatient and leaves].
* We leave off bringing Damon to the health tent, and spending 2 recovery on him.