The Knights Who Fell Up

Historian: Caleb. Date: 01/20/2025

TLDR – God delivers a beautiful monologue about fairy tales, and we open with everyone falling out of the sky. They all land safely, except for Astranna, who’s impaled on a tree. After much fuss, the party gets her down and makes introductions, and we all start wandering in search of a town. We run into a new friend, Newton Gecks, who tells us the evil Dr. Quasit has disrupted the Breezestones and is currently firing up a doomsday device. We go off to stop him, and eventually disable his machine and teleport him away, after a few charlie horses. We go back and give Newton the good news, and invite him to come with us. He agrees, and we go marching off.

• Date: 1 Lionnir 777 AR(?)
• The power that a fairy tale has spans generations. From the moment its words are spoken, the core of the tale is unleashed upon the zeitgeist of the land. There is true magic in a fairy tale, stories of far-off lands, great heroes, and incredible feats are not what makes these tales special. That is what many people often forget. A tale woven in the facade of a lie while containing a core of truth is what allows it to impress its core upon the hearts of people. Fairy tales have warped societies with their wondrous magic.
• That’s why, when you have to take care of fairy tales, you often don’t realize what you’re taking care of. A story with a broken core can bring as much, if not more, destruction than a bomb or a bullet ever could. Yet, while arsenals are defended with vaults and soldiers, who guards the fairy tales? A question for another day, perhaps. But at this moment, it is time to begin to weave a fairy tale of our own. To do so, we must invoke ancient words.
• Once upon a time, there was a land that was lost in the clouds. It contained many, many wonders that had never been seen outside this world. And then, one fateful day, the world shook, and that caused five fated people to fall upward. Falling upward isn’t an ordinary thing that happens, but on that day, it was more common than any other day. As all walked through separate forests far away, they felt gravity shift as their feet drifted upwards, up, up, up they fell, past clouds and past stars, until new clouds and trees greeted them. The trees greeted the people as they fell, giving all but one safe landing. The unlucky one was, of course, very unlucky. Like always. And was impaled on a tree.
• Now, Caleb, can you please describe to me your character, as they have just fallen upon a tree?
• Astranna (Caleb) – A girl, maybe 19, with long, blond hair kept back by a pink bow. She has these bright blue eyes, and this comfy, baby blue coat with white trim, and little flowers embroidered along the waist and sleeves. She was cradling a very fluffy hen, but it must have bounced off somewhere in the fall.
  • She sees Henrietta on the forest floor below her.
• Astranna makes the first roll of the campaign, trying to unimpale herself from the tree. 0 successes.
• You are trying to struggle and get free, but you cannot! You begin to look down, and you can see another figure making their way below you at this moment, beginning to look up. Dalton, can you please describe your character?
• Jericho (Dalton) – A young male orc, skinny, a little lanky for an orc, but still an orc. He’s wearing a suit, waistcoat, tie, dress shirt, pinstripe pants and jacket, layered over top of that is a blue coat with gold buttons and gold and blue lining with a couple patches here and there, repair from being worn. Currently has a cigarette hanging limply from his mouth.
• He calls up to Astranna, asking if she’s alive, and she calls out that she is, and asks him for help getting down. She asks him to watch out for Henrietta – she likes to get underfoot. He’s confused, until he spots the chicken. The chicken says hello to him, and he’s taken aback that she can talk. She is also taken aback that she can talk.
• Jericho uses his Psionics to float a knife up to Astranna, so she can saw off the branch she’s impaled on. With 0 successes, she’s unable to. There’s some rustling, and another character enters.
• Gwyn (Anna) – A young lady, 25ish, pretty tall, kind of big, long unkempt black hair. Her coat is worn, patched, a little too big for her.
• Gwyn looks at the both of us. Immediately, she and Jericho sense something inexplicably strange about the other. She asks if we need help here, and when we say yes, she (2 successes) deftly scales the tree, and is able to rescue Astranna and carry her down. A similar strange sensation is noticed for Astranna. There’s also certainly considerable damage for Astranna, but the wound already seems to be healing over.
• Another character enters, seeing the scene of a 19-year-old girl bleeding all over a raven-haired woman, with an orcish man also standing there.
  • “Good gods!”
• Anja (Shannon) – Bright blue-purple dress, dark taupe cloak that glitters as she moves, covered in precious stones. Curly, wavy dark hair, very bright eye makeup, very well made-up. She has two different colored eyes, a tattooed neck, and completely blacked-out hand tattoos.
• Jericho asks for the knife back, saying it’s a family heirloom, and Astranna gives it back. As he suggests giving introductions, another character enters.
• Alphie (Jamie) – Ducking under a branch and wandering around, looking a little lost, a very tall, very slender person, 6’0”, wearing very finely detailed purple clothes, color-coordinated and matching, jacket has a collar popped up on it, wearing thick gloves as well. Adorned with very beautiful gold chains, jewelry, accessories, skin’s on the darker side. Very short hair, punk rock afro-semi mohawk-style.
  • “Oh. Do you all know where we are?”
• It’s addressed that Henrietta can talk, and that she didn’t do that before – Jericho checks, and finds out the white mouse he keeps in his pocket, Pierro, can also talk. The mouse is very excited about this.
• Anja shows off a calico cat with a matching cloak.
  • “What are you doing? Oh my gosh, stupid human.”
• The cat, Maple, demands food and scritches, and is given scritches. Pierro is hidden back in the pocket. Jericho introduces himself as Jericho Lachance, and gives us beaten-up business cards that say “Lachance Detectives and Fortune-Tellers”. Astranna asks to have her fortune told, and he says maybe later – there are required materials.
• Gwyn introduces herself.
  • “I’m Gwyn. I don’t have a talking animal friend. Um, pleasure to meet all of you, given the circumstances?”
  • “It is a pleasure to meet you. You, I see, have saved her, so very good. I am Anja Knohnaem, this is Maple, my muse, also an artist with her stomach contents, I must say. I have made everything I’m wearing.”
• Astranna asks Henrietta if she wants an outfit. Henrietta doesn’t know what that is. Astranna tells her it’s what Maple is wearing, and Henrietta says that’s a predator. Jericho asks how calm Maple is, and Anja says she’s a relaxed lapcat – an indoor cat, so this is all new to her. Jericho brings out Pierro again. Pierro tells Jericho he’s a real big fan of celery.
• Alphie introduces themself, and says they also don’t have a pet.
• Jericho says he was walking in the woods near Havell, and asks if we were also near there – Astranna says she was in the woods of Geldorf, near Zargeers. Alphie was outside of Zirn, a small town called Gzep. Gwyn also came from the woods, not where any of us are from. She was just “around”.
• We decide to look for water, and see if we can find a nearby settlement. We all make physical checks – those who make 2 successes notice dark storm clouds forming maybe a mile away from us. Astranna suggests we find shelter, specifically some sort of high ground to avoid flooding. Looking around, Jericho doesn’t see any very high ground, but we decide to head northeast, where there’s a bit of elevated ground.
• Gwyn leads us forward, and there’s some rustling off in the forest, like something is coming toward us, with a high-pitched whine – she signals for us to stop, and puts a hand on her sword. Just ahead of us, it stops, and a head pokes out of the bushes; this creature is… amphibian? Maybe a tad reptilian? And wearing glasses on the bridge of their nose. They peek out, and recoil.
  • “Oh no! Monsters!”
• They think we’re freaky and bald. He introduces himself as Netwon Gecks, and says he’s from the Tillages originally. He tells us we’re in the forest over yonder, and says we can’t go to any of the nearby towns, because the Breeze Stones went all wackity. He tells us that before Dr. Quasit did his thing, they helped to keep the Sky Bound Lands all safe and sound. He’s very perplexed about why we know so little until we tell him we fell from the sky.
  • “Did you fall for us?”
• We start to tell him we didn’t, but he points out our coats, and gives a deep bow.
  • “My apologies, I thought… this is tippin’!”
• Astranna’s Mind Reader activates, but she can’t get much of a read on him – she gets a general impression of awe, but it’s a wall of fanboying. Hard to get anything specific.
• He calls us the Tattercoat Knights, and says we’re prophesied to come and help them in their time of need. There’s some discrepancies between the Velkie (sic?), the Breeze-Born Gods, and some others, but the TK are beings that don’t look anything like them, have coats, are really powerful, and can survive injuries that would kill most people. When the Sky Bound Lands were in the most danger, the TK would save them.
• We’re told that Dr. Quasit’s scheme scattered all the Breezestones, making it so people couldn’t go to any of the islands anymore, leading Newton to get stuck here while he was looking for the perfect fishing spot.
  • The Breezestones are what helps to keep magic in the Sky Bound Lands, and were gifted by the Breeze-Born Gods. They’re supposed to keep the Breezestones safe, because without them, the islands don’t do so well. Right now, they’re scattered all around the different islands, and aren’t where they’re supposed to be.
• Newton tells us he had a map, but Dr. Quasit stole it from him just a few minutes ago (along with his money and supplies). He tells us Quasit’s technically starting his doomsday machine up right over there, and points over to the dark clouds. He agrees to give us his map if we stop Quasit, and we go off to do that.
• Ahead of us, we eventually see a great mechanical device situated beneath a pillar of dark smoke, spewing forth the dark clouds. In its center is a deep blue flame giving off sparks. As we approach, a long shadow falls across us, and we hear a voice.
  • “Who dares disturb my ritual?”
• We say we do, and introduce ourselves as the Tattercoat Knights – the shadow shrinks a bit, and we hear stairs being stepped on. A figure emerges, introducing himself as Dr. Ignatious Cuthbert Quasit (sic?). We see a strange otter-man on the platform.
  • “It’s brilliant! With this, my humiditymajigger, we’ll make it so there’s 99% humidity across the Sky Bound Lands, it will be so uncomfortable no one will go outside! With my anti-humidity bubble I’ll take over, and they will never know a dry heat again!”
• Jericho points his gun at Quasit, who doesn’t understand. As he goes to fire up the machine, though, we find out he forgot to charge it.
• He summons pressure elementals, and swirls of blue energy with dark red eyes begin to form. There’s a change in the air, like an adjustment in the world, and we all look down and notice that our coats are beginning to change and blow – in the light of whatever this is, we get some new items!
  • Alphie’s coat – When wearing this coat, they have Learn Emotional State, and can spend 1hp to refresh this feature before the session ends. They also have immunity to weather effects and conditions, and +3 to their shield rating.
  • Astranna – While wearing this coat, she has extra psion points equal to her ps+1, which refreshes after long rest. When she removes a health block from a creature, she can use 1 psion point to either Leech or set them on fire.
  • Anja – 1x/session, she gets +1hp for making a cat happy. As an action, she can summon a spectral cauldron within 10ft of her… the rest is redacted, but throwing things into the pot will do things!
  • Gwynn – She gets an additional 3d6 on checks to explore the world, speak with item (she can grant it limited sentience for up to 10 minutes, and can hear, understand, and speak with it) 1x/session. She can spend hp to recharge before session is complete.
  • Jericho – 1x/session, he can spend 1hp to get insight about the world or a person. If his order roll is above 12 in a combat, he can make a power-capped dmg roll against a creature within range at order 20.

Combat begins

• Jericho burns his bg action, gets to go first!
• Order: Jericho (15) → Astranna (10) → Alphie (10) → Dr. Quasit (10) → Anja (9) → Pressure Elemental x3 (8) → Gwyn (6)

Round 1

• Jericho shoots Quasit for 2dmg with his first shot. Quasit ducks out of the way, and the bullet goes just way. Very startled, he asks what that was, and Jericho replies “gun”.
  • “I will make you rue this day (whoever you are!)”
• Astranna sends Henrietta to go hide in a fallen tree, before trying unsuccessfully to talk Quasit down. Alphie looks to Jericho to confirm we’re fighting, before jogging up and taking the Guard action. Their attempt at using their bg action on Gwyn fails.
• Quasit begins to tap different parts of the platform.
  • “You dare fire upon me, your future overlord of the Sky Bound Lands?! Behold my charlie horse-majigger!”
• He pulls out a 3 foot long golden rod, which begins to glow with pale green light. It fires a beam at Jericho, who’s hit and gets a charlie horse in his leg (detriment equal to ps on next roll). Jericho drops to a knee and groans, before realizing he overreacted, and holsters his gun. Quasit shouts to his Pressure Elementals.
  • “Go! Crush them! Not to death, but to something not death! Unconsciousness!”
• Anja uses Curse of the Eyeless Terror on Quasit, who bats at his face before recovering. He calls that cheating, and Anja shrugs and uses Command on him. The PE rush the nearest person, who turns out to be Alphie – they pressure slap Alphie, who takes the first two attacks on sp before taking the last on a health block. They take Tired I.
• Gwyn takes a health block from one of the PE with her longsword, swinging for its core.

Round 2

• Jericho runs up behind Quasit (who compliments his speed) and offers him oysters.
  • “I don’t want oysters!”
  • “Fine. Then I’m gonna come up on your panel and start pushing random buttons.”
  • “No! You are not allowed! I spray painted! This is my square!”
• Alphie is given Know-it-All. Astranna’s mind reading ability triggers, as she wonders what Quasit thinks will happen… Quasit has 10d6, but somehow only rolls 2 successes, while Astranna rolls her max – which is also 2 successes. Because she did so well and Quasit did so poorly, the benevolent GM gives it to her, and she sees images of him being seated on a throne and being taken plates of fish, lobster, crab, etc. There’s a workshop for him, and people are chanting his name. Astranna tries to tell him fish will taste better and people will like him more if he’s nice and helpful, but he’s not sure why they’re talking about fish, and tells her to shut up.
• Alphie takes a smack at the PE Gwyn injured with their gold cane, and disapparates it. Quasit hits Astranna with charlie horse-majigger, and Anja tries to help her. The PE take attacks on Gwyn, who takes it all on stamina, and attacks the one to her north. She gives Alphie the ability to move 20ft.
  • “I can take these, you run!”

Round 3

• Jericho runs up to Quasit, trying to hit him with the blunt end of his knife. -2sp.
  • “You are trying to stab me with a knife! This is an escalation!”
• Jericho shoots one of the controls with his gun, and rolls to see what happens. On a 4, the machine’s lights start to blink, and a voice says the power is diminishing. Quasit shouts for the auxiliary power to turn on. The PE begin to sag, and lose their remaining sp. Quasit refuses to elaborate on his economic policy.
• Astranna tries to grasp the core of one of the PE and hurl it away… she moves it 5ft. She tries to convince it to stop hurting her friends, but it wants to keep its benefits (dental). It doesn’t care about getting PTO. Quasit attempts to punch Jericho.
  • “Alright, I didn’t want it to come to this, but I’m gonna have to put up my dukes – a good ruler knows when his subjects need to go down for a nap!”
• Quasit whiffs horribly. Jericho doesn’t even move. The remaining PE attack Gwyn and Alphie, and both completely miss. Gwyn stabs the heart of one of the PE, and it pops and dissipates in front of her. Jericho, whistling, walks around Quasit and shoots at the remaining PE… but misses (and gains 1 HP! Yay!). He uses Note Up The Sleeve, and figures out that Quasit probably has other plans in the works. Based on the efficiency of this, he’s probably built a lot of machines in the past… this is his regular M.O.
• Jericho kneels and asks Quasit how many times he’s tried this, and Quasit says he’s not good with the numbers, but verifies it’s more than 5. Jericho asks if he knows the definition of insanity, and tells him it’s trying the same thing over and over again. Quasit calls him an idiot and tells him it’s the state of being extremely mentally ill. Jericho is frustrated, and shoots the machine again, rolling a 3. The teleportation sequence activates.
  • “No, no, you haven’t seen the last of me, Tattercoat Knights!”
• It takes an embarrassingly long time for Quasit to disappear, but he does, and the last PE goes away with him.

Combat ends

• Astranna, Anja, and Jericho check on their pets, who are all safe. We discuss whether or not this is a dream – Jericho is convinced it is, but Astranna and Anja don’t think so. Alphie asks if any of us were aether souls before this, and we all say no.
  • Alphie did a few part-time jobs, but that was about it.
  • Anja made a lot of clothes for people and animals, and has her own label. She’s from Beacon, though she’s been around Zell.
  • Astranna is from a farm near Geldorf, where her family grew wheat, but also had some livestock. She doesn’t know where Henrietta came from – she says she just appeared in the chicken coop one day, and they were best friends ever since. Henrietta also doesn’t know where she came from.
• Maple wants to be pet by someone who isn’t Anja. Gwyn hesitantly reaches out to pet her, and gets bitten.
  • “I changed my mind.”
• We find Newton and give him his stuff back. He tells us if we follow the path, it’ll take us wherever we want to go – even though Low Falutin’s on a completely different island, it was only a 5 minute walk for him. We invite him to come with us, and he says it’d be a good time.
• A strange cuttlefish-like animal manifests above Alphie’s head, floating, its eyes moving independently. We all point it out, and Alphie’s confused, before looking up and back down. They say people usually can’t see him, and introduce us to Frank. Jericho says there’s nothing going on behind those eyes, and the eyes immediately focus on him. It slowly drifts down until it sits on Alphie’s shoulder. It’s mostly silent, until it declares “DEPARTURE” and leaves.
• We turn, and start heading north. Astranna rolls a d3, and gets a 3 – we all gain 3 levels. Turns out we roll for levels when defeating Quasit and similar entities!