Editing Spreading Fractures

''Historian: Caleb. Date: 06/09/2025''

'''TLDR –''' We completely deforest Fairfield to reduce Alphie’s cold to -2. Anja makes some potions, and Gwyn reveals she’s the one who brought us all here. Astranna talks Newton into leaving. Alphie dreams of the Gibbit, and we pivot our focus to saving it. We make plans to get to the Farmer’s Temple. Jericho uses the dream sand to try to relay our best wishes to Newton, and runs into an extremely attractive man who is sure to be our best friend forever. He definitely isn’t the BBEG. With a name like The Necromancer? No way.

* Date: 25 – 27 Lionnir 715 AR
* Caleb gives the recap!
* Newton has been brought back. Dark clouds are on the horizon. Anja goes to check on Alphie, who is still down and ice-cold. She tries to stabilize them with a mental check (1 success), and manages to barely rouse them at 0 hb & 0 sp.
* Astranna and Newton have a mutual vice grip on each other. Astranna invites him to check on Alphie with her, and she tries to get them a bit warmer (without scorching them)... they get a ''bit'' more comfortable, but they’re at 6 cold, so it’s not much.
* At Alphie’s request, Anja mixes the two health potions with the sunfire resin. She rolls a d10 (10). She brews a bubbling vat of bright sky-blue liquid. With this potion, for 1 minute, you gain stupidly good luck.
** “Well, I don’t think it had the intended effect, but if you drink this, it should make you very, very lucky for one minute.”
* We clear out… pretty much the rest of the trees around Fairfield LOL. Alphie rolls 3d6 (8), and decreases their cold by that amount, going down to -2.
* Our blazing fires go cold, and the sun goes down over the Tillages, as the stars are just beginning to peek out through the sky. Jericho is able to see that more out to the west, the dark clouds have only grown and thickened, as we see across the land that the wheat is beginning to fold in on itself. We also see great caravans of people with wagons walking down the road in great trains, passing Fairfield and seemingly making their way east.
* Gwyn tells us her name stands for General Warframe Yoking Nightmares. She doesn’t know quite what that means – she thought she picked her own name. She promises us no more updates, no more nothing. She doesn’t know when we’re being watched.
* Anja suggests maybe she’s only been in the Skybound Lands, and her memories were implanted.
* Gwyn has more access to her memories now, and is able to ask questions to find out what she knows.
** She knows she was made via the artificing prowess of her mother, her creator, using special materials from her trips to Shah Vaedin in the aftermath of her daughter’s death.
** “Where was I before the Skybound Lands?” – She was in her mother’s workshop on the Titanic Ring, located in the county of Drenth. This workshop is just a few miles to the northeast of a place called Wrensburg. It’s in the corner of the world, away from most things. It was there where her mother installed the Breezestone and, with it, had her open a portal to the Skybound Lands.
** “Do I know if that portal was how we all got here, or just me?” – The specific target of her portal was Alphecca Coreális. It just so happened that with only one Breezestone, the effect was scattered. Something went ''wrong''. Based on the data in her memory banks, it should have been very easy to pull herself and Alphie into the Skybound Lands, but others were intertwined, as there was interference. This interference, to the best of her knowledge, caused a kind of blowback to her, like throwing a wrench in the engine of a ferrari.
*** When we all crash-landed, she was back with more autonomy. That’s not to say all her memories were fake – she has her memories of going off and at it alone, experiencing life. She doesn’t think she was away from her mother for all of that time, though. She thinks she probably checked in, and worked on her here and there.
** “Do I remember why she wants Alphie?”
*** All she remembers at this point is that Alphie’s propensity for storing large amounts of heat and making things very cold is of particular interest to Morgen, and she remembers something about a great heat drain. She doesn’t know what that means, but her mother wants Alphie pretty badly, and wants Alphie ''here'' in the Skybound Lands.
* Gwyn speaks to the group.
** “I can remember a few more things now. I know before I got here I was in one of my mother’s labs, and I was the one who brought us all here. I used the Breezestone to open portals here. Itt was in an attempt to bring me and Alphie here, it got the rest of you, and it… didn’t quite work as intended on me. I think I was just supposed to bring Alphie here and get them the way you all just saw me.”
* Alphie asks why, and Gwyn says she doesn’t know – she wants her for some great sink.
** “Is it okay that I’m still here?”
* Most of the party reassures her that she’s fine, including Newton, who says he’s okay if she stays. Astranna is vocally worried about her turning against them again.
* Anja tells us she was confronted by a strange force who told her a little bit more about herself.
** “It said something about me being its greatest creation, and… it said I was its magnum opus. It could return me to battle at a great cost, accept power for something in exchange. that’s how I returned so powerful, but I imagine the consequences will come back for me.”
* We ask what the cost was – she says it was just ''more''.
* Anja brings out Maple, who just sits on her lap.
* Astranna is keeping an eye on both Newton and Gwyn. Newton is just poking at the fire… Gwyn is sitting away from everyone else, looking at the clouds.
** She sees clouds idly rolling in the distance. Occasionally light comes from within, but no lightning, no thunder. They just hang, and even now, as the stars are fully out in the sky about 10pm, the caravans still move under torchlight, trying to make as much distance as they can.
* Astranna goes to sit by Newton. By him is a hawk made of metal and bone that’s just sitting on a tree above him. He’s glancing up at it. Astranna asks if that’s a friend of his. He thinks it’s a friend… he’s pretty sure.
** “How long has it been watching you like that?”
** “He’s been here for a few minutes, just kinda chatting. Apparently he came since I, you know, well… I guess he kinda knows stuff like that.”
* Astranna calls out “hi there” to it. It flies down and looks up.
** “Oh, um, he says I guess, hello, his name is Michael. Michael David.”
* Astranna introduces herself, and asks if he’s alone, or has other friends in the area.
** “He’s alone, kinda lost his friend. I guess he kinda knows a thing about dying, and so he came over and he knows I was alive, we got to talking. He’s kinda interested in what’s been happening.”
* Astranna tries to vibe check it (spirit – 1). It’s not breathing, so she doesn’t think it’s really alive in a traditional sense, although it doesn’t appear hostile or anything.
* Astranna says she doesn’t understand why she’s here with the others – Jericho and Anja have special stuff going on, but she’s just… Newton aggravatedly points out that maybe it’s because she has ''fire powers''.
* Astranna makes a little butterfly in the fire, and goes on until he interrupts and says he ''died'', and she apologizes. She says she wishes he hadn’t died for her – she just doesn’t think or anyone else should be getting hurt on their behalf. She makes a spirit check (9 successes – exploding).
** “Yeah, well, um… I promise that I’ll be more careful, and I won’t put myself in that position.”
* Astranna goes in to hug him, but he puts a hand out to stop her, saying he’s not in a hugging mood. He thanks her, and excuses himself for a walk. Michael David goes with him. Astranna stares into the fire, and waits for him to come back.
* Anja mixes the tears of a widow, starlace web, and void ember into her pot (2d10 – 12). The brew bubbles and boils, twisting and shifting over and over and over. She takes a step back as it starts to flash iridescent colors, until it becomes this deep violet with sprinkles of starlight within. It compresses into the form of a potion. When someone drinks it, they cannot see or talk, and are completely invisible for 4 hours. It completely erases their mind.
** “I’m beginning to think I have no talent for potionmaking unless I’m making a horrible potion that does awful things to you. Except for that one time.”
** “I think that’s called poisoning.”
* Anja asks Maple if she wants cuddles. Maple demands them.
* We discuss watches – Jericho volunteers for the last watch, and Astranna volunteers for the first. Gwyn volunteers for the second, but Astranna volunteers Anja in her place.
* As Jericho goes to bed, Piero pops up.
** “Whatcha thinking, boss?”
** “One of the things is that I am so proud of you.”
* Piero asks if he’s gonna try to go home, and Jericho says yes. Piero suggests Gwyn could get us home.
** “Maybe. She doesn’t seem to know how she got us here, but maybe.”
** “Hmm. Okay. Goodnight boss.”
* On Astranna’s watch, she keeps an eye out for Newton. He doesn’t come back, so she lets Anja know. Newton doesn’t return on Anja’s watch, so she tells Jericho. At this point, he’s been gone for 6 hours. Gwyn uses Searching Subroutine for his glasses, but he’s not within 1 mile of our location at this point. She relays this.
* Augury: “Where did Newton go?”
** He sees flashes of a road heading east, thorns growing as someone makes his way down it. There’s a flash of Low Falutin, and a flash of a family of leopard gecko people sitting around a table and eating and laughing. He thinks after Astranna’s conversation, Newton is going home.
* Jericho tells Gwyn this, and she says maybe that’s for the best.
** “I can’t believe I did that to him.”
* Jericho wants to ask her a question.
** “You brought us here. Or was that your mother?”
** “I mean… she was the one who wanted me to do it, but I think I opened up the portals that took us here, so I think that would mean I did it.”
** “Then I have two more questions. Can you get us back?”
** “I will.”
* He asks if she knows how.
** “I think I can open up a portal again. I don’t know if it’ll bring us home, but I might be able to open up portals if I can figure that out. Might just be within the Skybound Lands.”
** “Where is ‘here’?”
* Gwyn goes through her memories… she doesn’t know much about the Skybound Lands, she just knows it’s away from the Rings of Meropis. She says she wants to see if she can talk to the Breezestone, now that she can use magic to speak with items. Maybe she can give it a voice and talk to it – it’s a part of her.
** “Regardless of everything else and the facts we’re just going to have to start dealing with going forward, I am glad you’re back.”
** “I don’t know how to make it up to Astranna, I feel terrible. She’s never looked at me like that, and…”
** “I mean, it was a bit of a shock. [...] I… I have no idea what… what we can do about that except give it time.”
** “I just wish I knew who I was. What I was. What I am.”
** “I wish I could give you those kinds of answers.”
** “Unfortunately I feel like the only one who can give me those sort of answers is Morgen, and I don’t know how to feel about her anymore. [...] I don’t know what she’s gonna do to me when she doesn’t have any use for me. ‘Cause I’m not her daughter.”
** “Do you know anything about her daughter?”
** “Not really. I’ve always been told that I am Olwynn, that I’d remember with time. But I never could.”
* Gwyn tries to recall information about Olywnn – she knows she was murdered, but to her knowledge, not by Morgen. By someone who used to be a friend.
** “I kind of wish I knew her. Cause it feels like she’s kind of my sister, and I’ve just never met her. But sometimes I blame her for everything.”
** “Well, part of everything is you existing.”
** “I kind of blame her for that, too. Sometimes I hate her, sometimes I miss her, and sometimes I wish I was her. [...] I miss someone I’ve never met, and I miss the person who’s trying to kill all of us.”
* Jericho goes on.
** “I don’t distrust you. You and me, we have no issues. It’s uh… it’s what’s around you. But, uh, hey. We’ve all found ourselves in equally strange environs, so, maybe I’ll get used to that too.”
* Gwyn asks to speak to Piero for a moment. He climbs out.
** “Thank you for shutting me down. You’re very great.”
* Piero apologizes for if it hurt, if it’s her… heart, or?
* As the conversation wraps up… We find Alphie’s dreams.
** Within them, they’re standing amongst this great landscape filled with blood-red crystals that rise from the ground. As the sky occasionally thumps with light, they see this great swathe of land filled with strange creatures. They have almost black, dessicated flesh on them as they stride forward on two limbs, with faces almost made of mycelliae and bioluminescent fungi material. There are hundreds of them as they roll through towns and villages, wheat absorbed into their bodies as they trudge forward and onward. As they go forward, they’re heading east.
** Alphie’s vision moves, and they’re standing in front of this massive tower constructed almost in the form of a great windmill. The doors are shut, but from it she hears this, “Meh! Meh!” coming from the windmill.
*** “Gibby?”
** They try to open the doors, but they’re so hot they burn her palms at the touch. They try to use cryomancer’s grasp to try to draw the heat in, and the entire tower becomes ringed in this ice. And then it’s cool.
** They throw open the doors, and are carried into a lab unknown. They see electricity running through this place, as a series of machines run hot. All about, they see incense and piles of materials, and in front of them is a great device with a sphere inside it. They see the Gibbit. Energy runs through the body of this creature. They watch as the silvery black surface is constantly stretching out, moving, shifting, spasms of different forms. Alphie kneels in front of them.
*** “We’re gonna try to get you out.”
** They hear footsteps, and a familiar woman walks in, hitting different runes and contraptions. She pulls some levels, and as bursts of this bright orange energy start to course through the Gibbit, it shrieks awfully, parts of it pulled apart like cheese, strands trying to hold this creature together. Different bursts of energy go out from this device and into different chambers, and weapons made of gold start to be made, along with various mechanical parts. Morgen nods.
*** “Very well, very well. Here, we need more production, let’s turn this up to 5.”
* Alphie sits bolt upright in their tent, in a cold sweat. It’s 7am. They go to wake the party, explaining to Jericho, who helps stir everyone. They tell the others about the Gibbit, and Jericho breaks to everyone that Newton went home. Alphie(?) asks if he’s okay.
** “What do you think? He died yesterday.”
* Gwyn tells us she might be able to teleport us closer – she can teleport somewhere she’s already been. We decide on the base of the mountain. A brilliant blue light begins to extend out of Gwyn’s chest as the breeze around us increases dramatically, and space begins to shift and alter, as all of us fall. Into the sky. ''SHOOMP!'' We twist end over end, going into that bright cyan blue.
** Alphie sees Fishing Pole baaaing. 
** Henrietta points out to Astranna that they’re in the air, and asks if Astranna will get impaled again (Astranna says probably). She wants a bug. Astranna tells her she’ll get one when they land.
** Maple is screaming that she didn’t consent to this. She’s an indoor cat.
*** “I AM THE MOST OUTDOORS I CAN BE, ANJA!”
*** She vomits. It hits Fishing Pole.
** Jericho is trying to keep Piero secure and look for something soft… but we’re teleporting to the base of a mountain.
** Gwyn grabs Jericho and activates her anti-crash update (Spirit – 12 at B2 [exploding]).
* There’s another pulse from Gwyn’s chest. As the wind rushes up to meet us, our coats give an iridescent glow, and easily and softly we all glide down to the base of the mountains on our feet. Fishing Pole is set down on the ground too. He walks in a circle.
** ““Bugs! Bugs! I like bugs!” – Henrietta
* Astranna gets a hero point for guessing we could only travel through the Breezeway because we had Gwyn. We decide to try next session to have Gwyn teleport us to the Breezeway, and from there use the Breezeway to get to the temple. Piero asks Gwyn if the flying could be a bit more… next time…
** “I’m not a bird.”
* Alphie sends an update prayer to the Gibbit, then gives us the full details of their dream. We also discuss the Scrimbimbolo – it seemed to have been built by Morgen, but was also an existing folk tale… was it because of her, or did she capitalize on an existing folk tale?
** Jericho suggests the tree “weakness” for the Scrimbimbolo wasn’t really a weakness, but a false hope for people.
* Jericho asks where Gwyn’s mom got the Breezestone from. Gwyn doesn’t know, but she remembers she was on her own, wandering, when her mother approached her and activated protocols. She switched in this new power source that she stole, and was hoping that with this power source she’d remember. Come back. That Olwynn would come back. It didn’t end up happening, but from then on she’d reveal her experimentations with this new place, how she discovered this new world, and perhaps with its new magic, she could finally make the right circumstances for her to remember.
* Gwyn’s been significantly more powerful after receiving the Breezestone. We discuss replacing her power source, and Astranna offers to help when it’s time. Jericho asks Gwyn some more questions about Morgen, before using Note in the Sleeve on Morgen, specifically her methodology. Is she aiming for dominion, trying to remain isolated, etc?
** He thinks her first attempt, Gwyn, at reviving her daughter, was moreso an attempt to just build something to house the spirit, to bring her back. But Vaeden is a very weird place, and what happened to that daughter might just go beyond a physical death. The methodology is to build not just a case, but almost like a prison to trap the soul, to rip it out, reform it, to finally contain it and bring it back into fruition. That takes a lot, and it seems like Morgen is iterating, piece after piece, trying to get that next leap in tech to get that soul prison just a bit better. She needs Alphie to iterate.
* He asks if, in this iteration, she has abandoned the platform of Gwyn.
** That would be a significant loss, and based on what Gwyn has said, Gwyn was always supposed to be with Alphie. Gwyn was never specifically attacked by the Scrimbimbolo or anything of that sort, it was always helped in different ways, almost kept safe.
** If the platform is gone, what’s this all for? And always the most panicked person that you encountered, Jericho, when you were hunting someone down, was someone backed into the corner, who felt they had no options but one. That is the most dangerous person.
* Jericho tells us we need to be careful.
** “Surgical, if possible, because we’re about to walk into a lion’s den, but worse than that. It’s a lion who is starving, who is trying to protect her cubs, she’ll tear us apart without a second thought. So we gotta be ''careful''. [...] Right now, she– listen, she activated Gwyn. Gwyn was… went full retrieval. There’s no more hiding behind ifs or maybes. Gwyn now knows what she’s trying to do and why and how. Which, Gwyn, means that she thinks that you don’t trust her anymore. Which is true (I hope), meaning she’s lost you as an asset, and that has unsettled her, to say the least. She’s backed into a corner and she’s desperate, so this is a thing we have to do. [...] We gotta be careful. Because if she made Gwyn, the Scrimbimbolo, I have no idea what this woman is capable of.”
* Jericho wants to try directing Alphie’s dreams. They’re open to it – that’s what they tried to do last night, aiming it a bit more to the Gibbit. Jericho wants Alphie to aim for the building, and maybe find traps before we get there.
* Alphie also wants to use the dream sand to contact Newton, to tell him he’s safe and loved, and that we’re glad he’s okay and recovering, so he doesn’t feel like we don’t care that he left. Gwyn wants to, but doesn’t know if he’ll want to hear from her. Alphie suggests either Astranna or Jericho, and Astranna suggests Jericho.
** “My last conversation with Newton was… he had a lot on his mind.”
* We decide to put in a day of hiking, and then after that, Alphie will go ahead and try to focus on the location. They make some sunfire tea to lower their cold in the future, and make a mental check to see how well they can focus (1 success). They’re able to look at it, and over the course of our travels, for the next real-time week we’re able to ask Colin one question each about the defenses of the Farmer’s Temple (one for each success rolled).
* Jericho uses the dream sand for Newton… he’s pulled into a very nice dream of Newton at a small fishing hole on the side of a mountain. From about 100 ft away, he sees a person talking to Newton. The person has two black crows on his shoulder, and is sitting next to Newton, laughing, pointing at the water, generally being super charismatic. Jericho tries to listen in, but the sound is muffled. He tries to approach, but can’t progress… at some point, Newton freezes, completely still. The man who’s talking to him does not freeze, and in fact, slowly turns toward him.
** “Jericho! LaChance. Or is it Shigara? Hello. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
** “Just came to check in on a friend.”
** “Unfortunately, I don’t think he wants to see you.”
* Jericho asks for his name.
** “You can just call me the Necromancer, and I’ll just call you Tattercoat Knight.”
* We end here, with everyone taking a level-up.
*

=== Defense Questions ===
'''Astranna'''

Q. On what level/floor of the temple are the defenses most concentrated?

A. The bottom 2 floors have the most defenses and wards. Most of the Scrimbimbolos are prowling around there. So far, at least 8 have been seen.

'''Gwyn'''

Q. What kind of defenses are there outside of the temple that would try to prevent us getting inside?

A. The Farmer's Temple possesses an array of sensors and wards. Magical wards along with advanced artificing create an exceptionally strong outer shell. Additionally, a range of motion, heat, and magical detectors liter the area around the temple providing for 360 degree coverage of the perimeter. Finally, roaming Scrimbimbolo and guard patrols sweep the grounds attacking ''any'' living or ''unliving'' thing they can find. 

In recent days, many Scrimbimbolos and other automaton guards have been moving south toward Limerick so the guard patrols have somewhat lessened. This does not mean that the temple is undefended by any means.

'''Alphie'''

Q. Helpful items?

A. Items to disable the traps or to avoid detection would be good. Others that lock on to a strong magical signature as well. Maybe something to help you get away from multiple Scrimbimbolos.

'''Anja'''

Q. What material was the Gibbit’s box made of?

A. The original box was an alloy of lead, zinc, and magnesium (but 90% lead). We have no way of knowing about its current container, but we’d know it’s being housed in a magical container with many wards and protection runes.

'''Jericho'''

Q. What is the route of least resistance from the outside to where the Gibbet is being held?

A.  The path of least resistance is the front door and the pathway, with signage, showing the Tattercoat Knights the specific route to the Gibbit. Big yellow arrows point the way once you're inside. Can't miss it.