10/02/2024 -- Operation Goode Storm

• Date: 41 Knewidi 715AR. Starring Bee (commander), Koilos (marshall), Fidelis (spymaster), Angel (lorekeeper).
• Bee gathers the team.
  • “Thank you guys for coming. Because of what happened yesterday, um, there’s not a storm witch around right now, and I… I was told how to do it, and I need some help getting there. Um, I have to tame a storm where lightning has struck twice, so we’re looking for bad weather, or Goode weather, either way. Is that okay?”
• She tells us she maybe just needs people to watch her back. Everyone agrees, and she goes to speak to Karina, whose door is open. Karina asks how Bee is, and Bee asks if that’s supposed to be funny. Karina says it’s a genuine question.
  • “Bad. Um, but today’s going to be really important, so I have to keep it together.”
  • “I see.”
• Bee says she’d like to ask for her help with something, if she’d be willing. Karina says that if she goes west a few hours from here, she’ll find the corpse of an ancient dead giant. Wait there – a storm should be passing. Bee says she had another thing, too, and delicately takes Tre'Dauthin off of her back, setting it on the table with both hands. She asks Karina if she could teach her how to use it.
  • “I could. Better, at least. But part of it is up to you and your use of it. Weapons and their magic, they must be grown with the user. Often an enchantment fades over time, only to be reawoken by the power, the strong aether of its new wielder. But I will train you the best I can.”
• Bee also holds out the bones she had carved for the hound, and said she’d been going to offer them to it as a trial of the symbol. She thought they would like it. Karina takes them and says that once this is all over and we head back to the Omenweald, or perhaps even return for a third time, she’ll present these to the hound.
• Bee makes sure Manatee is all set up, then goes to see Magion, who’s back in prison; she tells him that Storm is back, and about the <week timer Bob gave him (she doesn’t say the name, but mimes the horns). She also tells him about what she’s doing today. Angel goes to Karina (perk: all successes on a roll), Fidelis goes to Lucky Eight’s, and Bee and Ki train, before Bee gathers everybody up.
• We burn -1 scrap for +1 supply. Bortis and Luger are put on emeralds, and we get +2 supply +4 emerald.
• We spend -4 intel, and are told there are signs of previously seen enemies (reports indicate creatures that look like Arnyr, though some report creatures far larger). The Brigade is on layer -43 (Deseral). The Titans appear to be continuing to fan out across the cosmic stack. There’s more of a lean toward the upper half, but they’re snaking their way all over. As for Bob’s weakness… he’s a very prideful, confident being. Now, his confidence is somehow overshadowed by his power. Otherwise, he feeds on despair, but Thomas hooked him up with all the despair he could ever need.
• We make the engagement roll [5, 3, 5, 5]. We see an area of twisted and gnarled form, one that’s seen the rise and fall of perhaps hundreds of different civilizations… there’s an accretion, where one civilization has been simply built atop another, only for that too to fall and eventually be replaced. This place seems to have character, features… the collapsed buildings sometimes look like ears, the trough and sway of the landscape a great eye. It is unnerving and not easy to traverse at all – we all lose -30 sp.
• Bee tells us that if something goes wrong and she’s corrupted, she wants us to kill her – she doesn’t want to be taken. She tells Radovan to take Tre'Dauthin back to Karina if something happens to her, and Radovan says that nothing will happen. When she insists, he gives his word that he will show precaution if this thought experiment comes to pass. Bee says it’s a hypothetical, and he disagrees.
• Bee’s book doesn’t talk about this ritual at all – she says Lavatera told her it’s been done in an unbroken chain for years. There’s no more storm witches, so she has to become one; then maybe we can get Enola back, and maybe Miss Elise will want to train. She then makes a phys check to look for flora/fauna… with 1 success, she sees no real signs of flora. There might be signs of perhaps insects that have moved bits of dirt, or it could just be the wind. Bee tests if she can fly on Tre'Dauthin – it’s a bit more sluggish, but it works just fine.
• A scattered, cluttered landscape unfurls in front of all of us, and in the distance we hear something like a crack of thunder, but it’s strange – it seems to be in the wrong key. It’s supposed to be a bit more bassy, and it’s just not. Eventually we see something in the distance, a large… humanoid, certainly, though we’re not sure exactly what the biology was. It seems to be wood and bone, but it’s difficult to tell where wood ends and bone starts. It’s tall, 200ft up from the rubble beneath. We’ve reached our dead giant.

• Bee asks Radovan if he’s ever seen someone that big, but he’s not looking at her – he’s looking around the area. He says he’d like to go and check something, and that he’ll be back. And he just starts walking away. Angel makes a spirit check to tell if he’s concerned about something, but with 3 successes, he’s hard to read.
• As the storm is building up, Bee suggests we get familiar with the scenery, maybe say hi to our friend. It might be polite. She starts clicking around, looking at the area. It’s all rubble and detritus, apart from one thing – a femur, made of a very strong metal, about 150 ft long. She also finds a bit of a bowl, perhaps the lining of a book, and a sewer system about 6ft beneath us, and another beneath that… her clicks can’t go far enough down, but there’s probably another below that.
  • “I bet there’s diseases we haven’t even heard of down there.”
• Angel suggests that if we get in trouble, we can try to burst the sewer pipes to create an explosion/distraction, but Bee worries about knocking over the guy. Angel also inspects the femur, trying to figure out if it’s hollow or solid metal – they knock on it, and with 2 successes, can tell that it’s not hollow, but filled with something other than metal.
• Bee inspects the guy more. Bones fold into bones at the abdomen, like a fucked-up crochet. The wood seems to have taken over this thing, intermixing with the overall landscape. Bee suggests that maybe they just sat down and couldn’t get back up.
• The first drops of rain begin to fall, and it eventually gets heavier, the sky alighting with lightning. Bee tells us to keep our eyes peeled for where it hits, and realizes Tre'Dauthin might be conductive. She sets it point-down into the ground, and the party helps her lodge it into a bit of a flatter section amongst twisted and corroded metal and spongy, long-decayed wood. She hugs the standing Tre'Dauthin and presses her forehead to it. She thinks about Lavatera, Raymas, the people she cares about.
• She rolls 2d6 [1, 3] – off in the distance, lightning strikes, but it doesn’t seem to be getting drawn to this point. Fidelis asks if it’d mess up her ritual if he tried to draw the lightning here, and she says yeah, probably. Bee tries to use Storm Strike to increase the static electricity in the area, by shooting it directly into the air. The electrical charge up above senses the quickest route down, a way to complete the circuit; lightning strikes, connecting through Bee’s lightning and channeling down through her, and she’s struck with 200sp of normal lightning dmg [taken on an armor block].
• Ki asks Bee if she’s okay, and she says “never better”. Lichtenberg scars begin to form and fade away, due to her being an aether soul. Angel tells her to be careful and not get hurt, and Bee says she thought she told them that’s not her middle name.
• Bee rolls 3d6 this time [4, 2, 2]. As the sky begins to surge, she’s struck with another blast of lightning for another 200 normal lightning dmg – she takes this one on a health block. She wants to feel the burning. And she does. But it’s only a nasty-looking wound, and nothing more. She’s cracking with electricity, this primordial energy.
• She pulls Tre'Dauthin out of the ground, raising it up into the air. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, but she’s hoping it will offer as some sort of lure, a connection between herself and the storm that she can try and hold. Tame. Understand. It feels imbued with power… there might be a connection there, but she’d have to act on it.
• Bee gets on her weapon and coasts off into the dark clouds. Ki shouts to be safe, and she smiles. She’s got her friends down there. She doesn’t need to worry about this. The wind and rain are strong, biting, intense. But she is here amongst it all.
  • “Hello, storm. I am Bea Goode. I’m a storm witch in training, and I– I wanna be your friend. I wanna work with you. Would you give me a chance to try?”
• She makes a spirit check, 5 successes. It’s not a sentient entity, but it’s not necessarily fighting her – perhaps it’s about enforcing her will using some magic… she’s not sure asking it will do anything, because there’s no one left to ask, no one left to help her.
• She closes her eyes, trying to recall the characteristic movements of storm witch magic that Lavatera has taught her, tries to move it like she’s pushing aside water. She makes a spirit check at B1 [6 successes].
• She goes through the motions, and bursts of magic start to radiate out from her. Magic leaps off of her, and more and more, and those on the ground see flashes of blue amongst the sky. Those on the ground also see a single flash of red lightning cut across as the firmament… but Bee feels something growing, and opens her eyes to see these small bits of electricity radiating off of her, spinning like a cyclone. The lightning shapes itself into Lavatera. Bee pulls back on Tre'Dauthin to offer her more space.
  • “Lady Lavatera…”
• Lavatera tells her a good job is in order, depending on how long it took to do this, and forewarns Bee that this is a premade enchantment, and that if Bee’s trying to talk back, she can’t hear her.
  • “But I suppose now I can reveal to you the true nature of the test. It’s the same test my former teacher gave to me. I only wish that I could’ve been here, and who knows, perhaps I will have had the time to peek in on your little attempt. There really was no way of you taming an actual storm now, but that really wasn’t the point. You came to do it anyway, and for all the important matters, you attempted it on your own. And if you’re hearing this, I believe that you used your own lightning spell that I taught you, so bonus points. Resourcefulness. I’m glad. Ah… I always try and teach my students how to be independent. They must be able to face the world without me. This is one thing that all storm witches must do to stand against the dark, the wind, the rains that howl and threaten to cast you down, and dark as it may be, not blink.”
• Lavatera’s face curls into a wry smile.
  • “Good job. I’m proud of you. Now, if you wish not to disappoint me, you have something else that you must do, because I have left something for you in your room. It’s custom-written for you. A guide, my own personal notes for how to read your book of spells. I had to manipulate primordial energy. It’s not so academic, only gets to what you need to know. You will teach yourself, be independent, grow. I will help sharpen you when I can. Because this is the way of the world. But I look forward to seeing you grow, and to see you continue to make your own way in the world. Good job. Now I suppose you can finally start calling yourself a storm witch, if you get back to me. Bea Goode, I swear on the high gods, if you kept me waiting for more than a month, I will electrocute you when you get back–”
• We hear Seth’s voice go, “Heyyy–” and a bolt of lightning gets sent off somewhere. She turns back.
  • “Heh, I suppose we’ll have to see. Times change. See you soon.”
• Lavater’s visage flickers out in the sky above her.
  • It is only the rain now. You are still alone.
• Bee cries.
  • “I’m going to get her back. I’m going to. I… I know I will. Thank you for having me, and being the best.”
• Bee descends in slow circles. The rain slows, the rest of the storm gone. Now it’s just the aftermath. Once she gets done, she puts her forehead to the body of Tre'Dauthin, to center herself for a second. She tells the group she got a new task – she has to teach herself code-breaking. The group tells her about the red lightning.
• We wonder about Radovan, but pretty soon see him coming back to us. We ask if he was successful, and he says unfortunately, yes, and that there are concerns we must address. He asks if Bee’s task was successful, and she says it was. She’s a storm witch. He’s very pleased by this.
  • “Learning never stops. This is wonderful.”
• We ask what he found out.
  • “There is red lightning here. However, it is likely caused by a red spiral event. The clashing of magicks. And from what I witnessed, it is spreading. Soon it will likely turn into the crimson storm. This, what we’ve seen here, it is a building cell. Dozens, if not hundreds across this dimension as we speak…”
  • “I like to think I know a thing or two about crimson storms. But the source of the instability is not coming from this dimension. I believe it’s coming from beyond. Tthis is spread all across the cosmic stack for all I know. This is certainly a problem.”
• We ask how much time we have before we need to leave, but he doesn’t know, though there are counter-methods. With enough blood, time, and a few materials, he could keep any crimson storm or the beginnings of a true red spiral away from Widowstone for a time, but that’s if he’s free to do his work without any other undue disturbances.
• On our way back, Fidelis pulls Bee aside.
  • “I hope this doesn’t bring up anything too bad for you, but I think Anahi would be very, very proud if she could see you right now. When we would talk in the camp, she’d always talk about the great progress you were making.”
• Bee says that means a lot, and thanks him. Fidelis offers a shoulder bump, and she bumps it back, and thinks about Anahi as she walks. When we get back, she stops by Karina and Magion to update them, before going to find her notes – when she enters her room, the enchantment reveals a small, invisible book hanging in the air. She flies up on Tre'Dauthin to get it. It’s a small custom-made guide in Lavatera’s own hand, teaching her how to read the book… Basic fundamentals and skills, everything she’d need to learn how to be a storm witch herself, independently. As she flips through the book, she has a larger list of spells she can attempt to learn.
• Bee goes to tell the Twelfth about everything, and takes Manatee with her, because she loves her rat. Ki and Fidelis help clear the rubble of Widow’s Home for rebuilding, and both get +3 hero points, and community raises by +1. Angel goes to the medical tents to help tend to people who were injured in the chaos, and also receives +3 hero points for this.
• Everyone who’s not Bee gets +5 hero points, and Bee gets 2 level-ups; one for succeeding on the quest, and the other for making her own lightning and fulfilling that side objective. We get +3 morale, +5 intel, and lose -2 supply for the destroyer tax. Session ends here.
• Net gains/losses: +3 emerald, +3 morale, +1 community, +1 intel, +1 supply, -1 scrap