2/25/2024 — Operation Eye Contact

Eye Contact – Lionnir 69th, 715AR (2/25/2024)

STARRING: Andreas (A), Bee (Be), “Bloom” (Bl), Helmuth (H), Lavatera (L), Talisman (Ta), Thomas (Th), Zey (Z)… and more?

• We begin with Bloom. What is he up to?
  • It is currently 10:47AM. He would probably be walking about camp at this point.
  • As he is walking around– surprisingly stealthy for his size, Helmuth Von Grayz appears. He has a mission. He tells Bloom it needs to be done. Then he walks away.
    • Bloom doesn’t know him, but knows his reputation. He follows.
• The rest of us have already been assembled in the Training Grounds.
• He has a mission. We are going to do it. The Coronel looked him in the eye. He will make her regret that. He gives us an hour to get ready.
• We need the bridge and harpoon from Lavatera. Helmuth assigns Thomas to get that.
  • “Ah, did Von Grayz send you?” – L
  • She pulls a seemingly normal harpoon out of her cloak. It has an ambient glow to it, but it looks fairly normal to Thomas.
  • She says the bridge is right inside.
    • “Helmuth said you were strong? Could you flex for me?” – L
  • Thomas, who is mildly confused, flexes for her.
    • “Hm… okay.” – L
  • There are about 30-40 carpenters inside who are absolutely exhausted. There is a 30ft bridge made of black cherry tree wood inside. She smiles.
    • “I suppose you’ll have to be carrying this? Don’t scratch my walls.” – L
  • With great difficulty it could be removed without scratching the walls. Thomas is going to attempt to take the bridge.
    • PHYS CHECK DC 5 – 6 Successes
  • Very deftly, and very slowly, Thomas guides the bridge outside of the Guest House. Lavatera follows. Glancing up at Lavatera, she gives a wry smile.
    • “Good job.” – L
  • Then she closes the door. And Thomas brings the bridge to the Training Grounds.
    • +1 HERO POINT
• Zey goes and flops down in the Maidens tent. He needs to heal
  • +1 HB
• Andreas heads over to Lucky Eights along with Bloom and Talis.
• Thomas would like to do a Martial School test at the end of the session, of which he tests into the Land School.
• Bee wants to head to the Rat Races.
• We meet back up at Helmuths Training Grounds. He is looking over the Harpoon. He does not have his sword, Zey noticed its appearance in the Maidens tent. He is, apparently, only going on the mission with the Harpoon.
  • He asks if we are ready. We all are.
  • Thomas is to carry the bridge until we reach the Mine.
  • Pointing at Andreas, he instructs him to help carry the bridge.
  • Bee is instructed to scout ahead.
• Helmuth begins to depart from camp. From there… Bloom will be the Commander. Andreas will be the Marshall. Bee will be the Lorekeeper. Zey will be the Quartermaster. Talis will be Spymaster.
• Spymaster declines to upgrade the network. One assignment is changed to Emeralds. Three emeralds are obtained after a roll, which is the exact number Helmuth wanted to bring on the mission. Lucky for us!
• The Commander spends 1 intel.
  • On a scale of 1-10, how dangerous is this mission?
    • A solid 8.
  • Spymaster also has a question:
    • What is a good item to bring?
      • Helmuth is pretty much taking care of that (with the bridge and harpoon) so ask another question.
    • How do the Archfey feel about this mission?
      • Zetian is a little concerned as Helmuth is walking into what appears to be an unwinnable situation. He is not a fan.
• Quartermaster brings 1 grey oil, the binoculars for Bee, and two whistlers that are handed to the Commander and Marshall.
  • -1 GREY OIL
  • -2 WHISTLERS
• The Marshall assembles the engagement roll.
  • 4d6 – The highest roll is a four.
  • The DM rolls one extra die for Helmuth – three.
• Helmuth wishes to burn three emeralds before we head out, are we okay with this?
  • The general consensus is “Helmuth knows what he is doing,” so, obviously.
• As we are walking, we are spotted by a scouting party. A group of Crows stumbles by all of us as we make our way through patches of ground. After Helmuth chops a few down, the rest run away. The enemy knows we are coming– but Helmuth doesn’t seem to mind.
• Eventually, there is another cloud of mist from the Mist Heart in the distance that we seem to merge with. We stop at an abandoned mine where about 200 soldiers from the Brigade have been working. We aren’t sure what they are doing.
• Talis does see that they are hauling large chunks of ore from the mine. They are putting them in very large waterproof boxes. They are making sure it does not touch the rain at all. Hundreds of the boxes are stacked up.
• Helmuth instructs Thomas to put down the bridge. He asks if Thomas is tired, to which he says no. Two hundred men will take the bridge, Thomas will take the rocks.
  • Thomas looks a bit confused, but he will do it. He can definitely carry 2 tons of ore. He can carry a maximum of 3 tons.
• Andreas will keep the men in check. Helmuth says we are making poor time, he wants them dead by sundown.
• The soldiers are stacking boxes on top of Thomas and tying them to him. Helmuth faintly cracks a smile. He likes someone who can carry many things.
  • PHYS SAVE – 6 Successes, again!
  • Thomas will not gain any levels of tired lugging these rocks around. Very good.
• Helmuth gets us moving again. He walks up to Talisman during the journey.
  • “You have magic, yes?”
  • Talis answers that he has some. He knows fire spells.
  • Helmuth looks around at the rain, “how hot is fire?”
  • Talis hasn’t tested to see how hot he can make it. Helmuth says testing abilities is wise before battle. He must do this in the future. He must be hot enough today, or he is useless.
• The rain and the mist continue to linger over the group.
• Bee looks out with the binoculars.
  • 1 Success – Not seeing much through the mist. So when a group of Crows come back out of the mist and attempt to ambush us, Bee is spooked. She was sent to look out for them. A quick flick of Helmuths sword and they are dispatched.
  • Helmuth says they have been following us for half a mile. Bee disappoints him.
• We are trekking through an area of land that is about calf deep– boots and socks completely drenched. The endless rain from Zolona means we will be drenched all the time. Ahead, we begin to see it, there is a deeper body of water. Considerably deeper. As we all look ahead it begins to drop off into deep blackness. Maybe an eighth of a mile out there is a rocky structure that ascends above the water line. Upon the outcropping, there is a stone fortress there amongst vines and overgrown, corrupted trees.
• Andreas is at the front. He locks eyes with the fortress and determines that figures are swarming all over it. A fortress of this size and the number that we are seeing… there must be eight to ten thousand impure on this island. Andreas does not know how we are going to assail this thing, considering it is almost 4 in the afternoon. Helmuth wants this done by sundown.
• Helmuth instructs them to put down the bridge. This bridge is buoyant, it will not sink. Helmuth gathers everyone around him.
  • “Soldiers, take ore from Thomas. Your job is to begin dropping boxes with ore– boxes that are open, Jeremy, into water. Spread along sides as much as you can. Good, even spread. Zey– you have water powers, yes? You will begin churning water in clockwise pattern. Make sure water is moving in vortex around island. Understood?” – H
  • “Bridge will be put down in front, it will then extend and connect to island–” – H
    • He points to the elite members of the brigade
  • “You will bait impure onto bridge. They will attack across bridge. How you bait them is up to you, but you will do this. Andreas you will block arrows and make them fight on bridge. You will hold bridge until I crush spirit. Once I begin, leave bridge and trap enemy on it. They shall all die. Da?” – H
• He picks up one of the open boxes on his back like a backpack, hefts his harpoon, and walks into the deep water. He sinks to the bottom. The last thing Bloom sees is Helmuth take a deep breath. He is just walking across to the island.
• The Impure are beginning to watch the bridge. They think they might be under attack soon, but they do not see an army. However, Helmuth has given us orders… so what are we doing?
• Zey will begin making his vortex
  • MENTAL CHECK B1 – 2 Successes
  • It is a lot of water to begin to move. Zey is slowly trying to adjust the flow, but it is a lot. The water isn’t necessarily behaving normally. Bee begins to notice that as the ore is being dropped in– it starts to fizz. It is giving off gas. Some of the ore is beginning to react violently as it bubbles across the lake.
• The bridge has 30-40 feet until it can connect.
• We will use the whistlers to alert them, along with Bee using her Thalagar. Bee will have to cross some of the bridge to do so, but she is fine with this.
• All of us step onto the bridge. Walking across the grey world, this bridge is the only thing that has color. We observe the impure swarming. They are not moving towards us yet.
• Bee will begin first. She crouches low and runs across the bridge. She starts screeching toward the other side of the bridge. Behind Bee, Thomas winds back and starts chucking rocks. The figures moving along begin to be pelted, some chunks of the building are taken off. Bloom launches the whistler across the bridge. Talisman attempts to use a light rune to make it look like a larger force is coming behind us.
  • SPIRIT CHECK – 4 Successes
    • It will cost 10 resource points. This is fine. Talis has those to spare.
• Behind us we see the torches and glinting of armor as Talisman summons this illusion out of nowhere. Combined with Bees screams and the whistler it is no wonder we begin to see acid spit and arrows volleying from the Impure.
• Andreas summons a forcefield and calls us closer. Within a few moments, it becomes clear that they will not knock us off the bridge.  Bee looks up, and sees a horde of Firmins soldiers running across the bridge. They are looking to meet an enemy in battle.
• Roll for order!
• First round:
  • There are two separate groups of Gaunt, there is a normal group and a group marked in red. Andreas activates his Torvian and puts up a forcefield to funnel the Gaunts toward us. One Gaunt attacks the forcefield while the rest attack Andreas. Zey continues to churn the water and determines he is done with another 2 successes. He hexes the Gaunt attacking the forcefield. Thomas steps up behind Andreas and dispatches two Gaunt. Bee rushes forward and tears one Gaunt apart like a crocodile. The second batch of Gaunt rush forward and attack Andreas and the forcefield. Talis attacks one Gaunt with Pyromancy. Bloom obliterates a Gaunt with his flail and hexes another.
• Second round:
  • A group of Hate-Forged join the initiative (11), they dash forward and slot in wherever they can fit. Andreas buffs himself and Thomas before obliterating another Gaunt. The last Red Gaunt destroys the forcefield. Zey gives Andreas 10SP and hexes a Gaunt. Thomas punches through one of the Hate-Forged, dislocating the jaw and removing the head. He offhands another Gaunt. Bee bites through a Gaunt and consumes some of it. The lone Gaunt attacks Bloom. Talisman ignites Andreas’ sword with magical fire. Bloom smashes into the last Gaunt and obliterates it. He then hexes one of the Hate-Forged.
• Third round:
  • A group of Crows arrive and join the initiative (8). The Hate-Forged make their turn with one reviving itself. They all decide to jump Thomas, after being drenched in molten copper all creatures gain benefit I when attacking for the round. Zey is also attacked and covered in copper. Andreas runs a Hate-Forged through with his flaming lance.. The Red Gaunt runs at Bee and takes a swipe. The creature gurgles at Bee and she screeches in response, drawing the attention of the Crows. Two Crows surround her, only one makes its attack. One of the Crows dashes for Zey and another hits Thomas. Zey attacks and hexes the Crow that ran to him. Thomas punches through one of the Crow and sends it flying down the bridge before offhanding the previously dead Hate-Forged, dispatching it. Bee rips apart one of the Crows around her, which seems a little excessive to Talis. Talis spends more resource points to ignite Blooms flail and Thomas’ fist. Thomas watches his hands set alight, but they do not hurt him. This is probably fine. Bloom obliterates the Hate-Forged in front of him.
• Fourth round:
  • More Gaunt begin to run down the path along with other creatures. They are much larger than the Gaunt, standing about 9-10 feet tall. Each one has flesh covered in metal and chains. They are like an even larger version of the Gaunts we have encountered. We have heard rumors of the Iron-Bound, but this is the first time we have seen them. They join the initiative at (6). The Hate-Forged pop back up and make attacks against Bloom, Bee, and Zey. All of them gain the copper detriment. Andreas obliterates one of the Hate-Forged. The Gaunt move forward and attack Andreas, Thomas, Bee, and Talis. The Crow attack Bee and Zey. Zey fires at two of the Crow and hexes one of them. He puts a hole into one of the Hate-Forged and offhands one of the Gaunt. Bee, who has been observing Thomas, punches through one of the Crow as well. The Iron-Bound move forward and attack Thomas, dealing additional damage based on how much corruption the victim has. Thomas gains two points of corruption. The Iron-Bound slams Andreas as well. Talis uses his Dark Stone Battle Axe to attack the Gaunt ahead of him. Bloom obliterates a previously downed Hate-Forged along with a second one. He hexes one of the Iron-Bound.
• Fifth round:
  • Andreas offhands the Gaunt in front of him, killing it instantly, and moves up to give Thomas room to retreat. This earns him a hero point. The Gaunt attack Bee and Talis. The Crow runs up to Zey and attacks, before Zey immediately dispatches the last Crow. He hexes one of the Iron-Bound. After some discussion with Bee, Thomas punches into the Iron-Bound. He and Andreas both take acid damage as the blood of the creature spills out. Bee offhands the Gaunt and tries to use her Thalagar on the Iron-Bound, but it fails. The Iron-Bound attacks Zey, which gives him 2 corruption along with taking 2 health blocks. He has detriment I on damage rolls/skill checks, and for the next day all creatures gain benefit I on damage rolls. Bee is also hit for an AB and a HB. A chunk of metal breaks off and hits her in the eyes, blinding her. She also gains 2 corruption. The second Iron-Bound attacks Andreas and Bloom, giving them 2 corruption each. Talis pulls out his greatsword and puts it through the Gaunt in front of him. Bloom whacks into the Iron-Bound and takes damage along with Andreas. As the core is revealed, Andreas skewers the Iron-Bound with his lance taking more acid damage. One Gaunt attacks Andreas. Zey hexes the last Iron-Bound and takes a few steps back, holding his action until Bee goes. Thomas rushes the last Gaunt and dispatches it. Bee bites into the Iron-Bound but is not sprayed with acid, she then rushes as far back as possible. Zey launches his attack into the Iron-Bound. The Iron-Bound swings on Andreas and he loses 2 health blocks, gaining detriment I on damage rolls and all creatures gain benefit I against him for 2 days. He also gains 2 more corruption. It then swings on Bloom taking 1 AB and 1 HB; Bloom gains detriment I on all damage rolls. However, the Iron-Bounds arm sloughs off and it loses a health block. Blooms permanent K counter has increased by 1. Apart from the missing arm, the Iron-Bound is not very damaged. Talis makes an attack against it. Bloom rips a hole in the Iron-Bound and takes more acid damage. He hexes the creature.
• At the beginning of the next round, Zey, the light… it is growing brighter. At this point, it is bright enough where you cannot ignore it. The fortress is on fire. Somehow, Helmuth Von Grayz has set the entire island on fire. The Impure are now rushing onto our bridge to escape the flames. As this begins to happen, Thomas looks down at the black cherry wood below. It ignites with runes. The skies begin to flash with blue lightning. It is called from the sky, impacting impure as they step onto the bridge. And then… you start to see something else. As the lightning hits the water, the gas from the ore ignites. The entire body of water around the fortress ignites in flame. Some of the impure trying to run go into the fiery water. At the top of the round, the lightning automatically strikes all impure on the bridge. Zey and Andreas watch as the Iron-Bound is burnt to a crisp from the strike. At that moment, Talis feels a lightning strike close by. It impacts Bloom. Bloom goes unconscious. There is an instant blast– Bloom could not have handled 50 magical lightning damage. Bloom is at 0 health blocks, but alive.
• Thomas grabs Bloom and Zey picks up Bee. We rush to the other end of the bridge as the other soldiers meet us there. As we look, it is an absolute slaughter at this point. The Impure are trying to rush across the bridge, but most are cut down before they reach half way. The lightning jumps from body to body as they move. Most of them, like the Gaunts and Iron-Bound, are literally filled with metal. We watch as the plan of one Helmuth Von Grayz goes ahead. It slaughters this island. It takes about an hour or two, but by sunset we look out onto a place that is absolutely still and silent. We can see now why Helmuth wanted the vortex to be spread. The gas released from the ore and water began to circulate around the entirety of the fortress. We watch as a slightly beaten up Helmuth emerges from the water. The harpoon seems to be gone.
  • “You did job. This is good.” – H
  • Andreas asks how many Impure we dispatched. By Helmuths estimates, 12 thousand.
  • He looks to Bloom, “they are unconscious.” – H
    • He ordered that to happen, apparently.
  • Zey uses Mend on Bee. Bees eyesight comes back to her.
  • Unconsciousness makes it easier, Helmuth says. For going to the bell. He instructs Thomas to grab Bloom.
  • Helmuth smiles at Thomas. The fortress is cleared out and the flames are dying. He needs Talis’ help.
• We head across the bridge, Halfway through, Helmuth turns back. “We have struck great blow today. We have broken Elynas spirit. She will now lead us to many victories.” – H
  • “Lead us herself?” – A
  • Lavatera placed a curse on the harpoon. He now owns Elynas eyes. They can look through them at any time through a crystal ball that Lavatera has. He will take everything from her. She challenged him. Pathetic.
  • Andreas and Talis avoid eye contact. If they are ever to challenge Helmuth, they must be ready. Even when he has died, he has always won.
• As we enter the inside of the Impure fortifications– there are charred corpses everywhere. The fire completely permeated this building. Fire rises. Heat rises. Going to a staircase below ground, it is very cool. Cooler than it should be. Descending down the staircase we go down many hundreds of feet. Talis strikes up a flame. By the time we reach the bottom, we come to a door made out of a black metal. There is a rune on the door. Helmuth looks to Talis and instructs him to read the rune and open the door. The bell is within.
• Talis attempts to decipher the rune.
  • SPIRIT CHECK – 5 successes. It takes Talis a matter of minutes. Helmuth is surprised at the speed in which Talis deciphers it. This must be a rune for sound. Talis now has this rune as a part of his collection.
• If the correct sound is made, the door will likely open. He relays this information and is told to open the door.
• Talis uses the rune, the sound of a ringing bell, as the black metal moves apart. It reveals an interior chamber with an altar at the center. There is one small bell on a silver chain. Helmuth eyes it. He walks to it and picks it up. He orders Thomas to bring Bloom.
• Helmuth very gently places the bell on Bloom, wrapping the chain over his neck. He gives a nod.
  • “Mission accomplished. Great victory, eh? Now come. Much to do. Must head back to camp.” – H
• He says we have all impressed him. He will call on us for additional missions.
• Bee asks if they are leaving Bloom behind. Helmuth says no, and Thomas is instructed to pick him up and carry him.
• As we begin to walk out… we zoom in on Bloom. We go inside his vision.
  • Angel you are screaming. The screams that have now made your vocal cords raw. The might of the Dark Star, a small shard of its power, it still eats away at your body. They’ve done the ritual. It’s done. But it is still agony. But that same phrase, for Ilia. It is still on repeat in your mind. It is getting harder and harder to comprehend, let alone keep your mind and body together. And then… you come to this brief moment of consciousness. You are in a room. It has a singular bed to which they have been tending to you. Sitting across from you, you can see the Titan, Astodiea. The long, beautiful black hair. The piercing green eyes. The set of her face. She looks disappointed, Angel.
  • “You are not doing as well as we all had hoped. Perhaps you are a lost cause.” – As
  • He says he is not a lost cause. Tell him what to do and he will do better.
  • “I am your last chance then. You must now go and refine the power we have given. Only by perfecting the Endless Ones gift can Ilia be saved. Do you understand?” – As
    • He thinks so.
  • “You must know so. We will give you no second chance. From this challenge you must grow. Your blood must hold dominion over this power, else another will be chosen. They will save their son. Their husband. Their loved ones. This trial will move to another and you will be left with nothing. You do wish to save them. You wish to save Gunavar don’t you?” – As
  • Angel repeats that message. “For Gunavar. For Gunavar. For Gunavar.” It repeats over and over in his head. As Astodiea looks at you, what do you say?
  • “For Gunavar, I’ll do it.” – Bl
  • “Yes. Then follow me.” – As
  • Astodiea reaches down a hand– your body and mind are screaming. A single step is ten thousand agonies. But you go. You have no choice.
  • It is at this moment your eyes flutter open. You are being carried by Thomas, with a strange bell around your neck.
• Everyone can take a level up! Bee can level up twice!