Editing 12/17/2023 -- Operation Cannon Ball

* Commander: Thomas, Marshal: Peter, Quartermaster: Ryan, Lorekeeper: Caleb
* We start with Thomas walking into Kynaston’s cabin, shortly after receiving the quest information. He’s been aimless in the past, often just wandering about camp, but now he’s a man on a mission, deadset. Kynaston is already in a meeting with Bloom, Talisman, Varos, Andreas, and Koilos when he arrives.
* Kynaston says through a coughing fit that he received a bird from Corporal Blithe, and believed there’d be some connection to Thomas – Thomas affirms that that’s his son, and Kynaston points out the position on the map, a place called Haxley Hill. It’s in one of the more southwestern points of Bayuex’s land, and is in danger of being overrun. We’re to go there, relieve the soldiers, and get back the siege supplies if possible. He also tells us General Crane alerted him to a group of mercenaries sent there to scout, and says that if we find them, to tell them Crane is our new ally. Their codeword is “jackdaw”. He appoints Thomas as commander and dismisses us. We have a brief downtime.
** Bloom, Thomas, and Koilos go to the Rat Races. Talisman and Andreas go to the Bitter Swill. Koilos also reduces her corruption from 8 → 2 with recovery in this period.
* 2 intel is spent. A useful item would be something to create barricades/impede movement, and a challenge faced will be large hordes of creatures, including potentially hostile mercenaries. We decide to bring a supply wagon, 4 scap material to make 1 barricade, and expend a use of grey oil.
* Our position is very good [6, 6, 6, 2 rolled on engagement]. We make incredible time, and along the way, Koilos finds a disturbed patch of earth where clerics buried some relics [+3 relics]. As we travel, the weather turns to rain and fog, and eventually we see a column of soldiers pushing siege weapons. Thomas sees most of them are Brigade, but about 30-40% are dressed in non-standard (but better) armor.
* Leading the group is a man with shocking yellow eyes and dark hair, with a small smirk – he clocks that we’re from the Brigade, and introduces himself as Luther Gorst (sic?). He says he found some of our friends over on the hill, and tells us we’re gonna help him get the siege engines back to Bayeux. We tell him Crane is allied with us now and give the codeword, and he’s like great, we’re actually allies now, then tells us again that we should get moving, because there are lots of Impure in the area.
* Thomas asks if Corporal Blithe is here, and Luther hesitates and says he’s probably gone by now, because we needed a way out, and Philip volunteered to stay behind and help us get away. He then says again that we should get moving, and Thomas turns to the rest of us, telling us to help move the siege engines, and that he’ll catch up with us. Andreas won’t let him go back on his own.
** Luther clocks that Andreas is from Tpres.
* Luther gives up on us and says he’ll see whoever survives back at camp. We all agree to help Thomas, with Koilos in particular saying she’s happy to oblige another favor – Thomas says in response that if they get his son back, she can have all the favors she wants, and she gives a ''very'' toothy grin.
* Thomas sprints up the hill and makes a phys check at benefit ii, with 3 successes. On top of the hill, we leave most of our supply wagons with the people moving them. He sees a post in the middle of the camp, and strapped to it is a half-orc man with a noose around his neck, kicking and struggling – with the nature of the noose, he has to keep moving to avoid it completely choking him. Thomas charges forward and cuts him down, giving him a bone-crushing hug, and Philip asks him if he’s real.
* When Thomas asks, Philip says the mercenaries are the ones who tied him there – they had wanted to leave, but Philip had thought they could’ve held the position. A few other soldiers protested, and Luther disemboweled one of them and spread him below the hill to keep the Impure busy. Luther also strapped Philip up there before they left.
* Below us, we see a group of Impure drawing closer. We’re able to set up some additional barricades, and use them to block off part of the bridges to bottleneck the enemies. Combat begins, and we first fight some shadow-wrapped deer – we obliterate two of them right away with one of the siege weapons, and Andreas slams his shield into the ground, forming a translucent forcefield made of Primordial magic to further block one of the bridges.
* Talisman is finally successful using his magic, after he stops pretending he’s not using it – he draws a fire rune in the air in front of him and pushes it toward another two of the shadow-wrapped deer, engulfing them back in flame. He has ''very'' mixed feelings about his success here. Across the spike pit, it looks like more Brigade soldiers are arriving, but they walk with an uneven cadence – they take position on the opposite side of the pit and fire on us with crossbows [enemy: Prion].
* Eventually in the combat, we see two new arrivals – two wolflike beings [enemy: Howler], reminiscent of Damon. Koilos uses one of the siege engines to shoot a hole dead-center in one of the bridges. The howlers are able to jump the gap, and we found out they have resistance ii to normal attacks. Koilos takes a minor injury and falls prone, and Talisman takes a major injury, getting the dire condition. Thomas and Philip both try to stabilize him and increase his roll range to 3-6.
* Andreas kills one of the howlers, and it transforms into a middle-aged Dwarvish woman.
* Talisman fails his dire check. His last moments are staring up at the sky, replaying the decisions that got him here and realizing he didn’t regret a single one of them – that’s when his heart gives out, and he’s taken by darkness, the world flipping upside down. 
* Death approaches him, and says he’s here to take him home, Talisman is hesitant, and asks where Death thinks his home is – Death says he fought for what was right, and they’ll find someplace together. He leads him away. Bloom and Thomas see Talisman die, but the battle is still raging. Andreas runs toward an approaching group of reinforcements [more shadow-wrapped deer] and begins to take them out, ducking and dodging away from their attacks. Philip uses inspiring shout to heal everyone [15 SP] but Koilos, who he can’t see.
* Koilos approaches Talisman, and contacts her patron in a discussion that moves to Side 1. Jamie also gets invited into Side 1 after a few minutes. It’s great.
* To everyone else, as Koilos draws in power, the sky darkens, and power surges Talisman, his eyes flickering back to life. Another wing explodes from Koilos’s back, and she tells Talisman to stay put, and to stay safe. The remaining howler’s eyes land on Talisman and Koilos, and Bloom yells a warning to them, but it turns and flees on its turn. The prions also flee, and the remaining shadow-wrapped deer tries to, but Andreas kills it.
* With the battle over, Philip and Thomas hug again. Philip asks how Thomas found him, and Thomas tells him about the courier pigeon. Philip says there’d be times when he was hiding that he’d think he heard Thomas’s voice – he thinks he also heard John crying out one night, and though he doesn’t know how he knows, he’s sure he’s alive. Thomas says they’ll find him, but first they need to get Philip to safety, and he’ll have a “word” with the mercenary leader (though Philip can’t see his expression, it’s very clear to everyone else by Thomas’s face that a ''word'' is not what he’ll be having with Luther).
* Andreas asks if everyone’s okay, if anyone was dead, Koilos says not anymore, and says she brought Talisman back (the nature of the method/who helped is between herself and Talisman). She assures the group she’s only here to help, protect, and serve – she seems very genuine in this. Through this exchange, she is regarding Talisman very warmly, and sticking very close to him. Talisman seems distracted, but alive and alert.
* We head back, gaining +2 siege weapons and +2 supplies. Andreas also takes the dead dwarvish woman’s body back for identification. Session ends here. Everyone gets a level-up, and Talisman and Andreas become Aether Souls. It’s noted Talisman will die in 10 days unless he helps Koilos out on a mission.