04/21/2024 -- Operation H,ILYAEAEOOYII.DNTTW

• Date: 3 Knewidi 715AR. Starring Thomas (commander), Talisman (marshal), Andreas (quartermaster), Bee (spymaster), Angel (lorekeeper), and Storm.
• The party starts outside of the guest cabin with the Maiden, who’s looking a bit nervous. She apologizes and says she doesn’t know as much as most of us would like. She was trying to get more information, but the last time she saw Lavatera, Lavatera was very stressed, and her mood was… worse than usual. She encourages us to be very understanding and listen first, and ask questions in a very delicate manner, because we don’t know what’s going on right now. We agree, and she asks if we have any questions before we knock on the door, because she’s completely fine with stalling. After asking, we find out none of us have seen Lavatera in a while.
• Angel joins the group at this point, having been bedridden since the incident – the Maiden offered them a chance to come along, and they accepted. The party is seeing them for the first time since it happened. They fully remember the incident this time. The party asks how they are, and they say they’re alright, and that they’re glad no one was hurt. They apologize for not listening, and when Andreas mentions it, they break the news that Widowstone is going to be a problem. That’s when their deal ends, and they have no idea what happens to them after. The party decides that that will be a Widowstone problem. The Maiden knocks on the door, and Lavatera opens it. She says the Maiden’s brought quite a gaggle, and welcomes us, saying she made tea. She invites us in. The Maiden looks shocked and horrified at her good mood, but shrugs at us and heads inside.
• Enola is leaning against a pillar inside, and nods at us all as we find seats. Lavatera says it’s not a bad collection of folks – not the best, but not the worst. She tells us Helmuth has run off again, so she just needs a bit of talented help, and so she’ll be bringing us along. Andreas very hesitantly asks where we’re heading to, and she says that thanks to our help, she’s gone and tracked down her sister, Loveday. We’re going to go and fight her.

• After telling us we’re going to go fight a Blossomed, she tells us we’ll head out in about twenty minutes. She tells us the plan is to remove all her powers and suppress her aether, making her basically useless, and she’ll lead Loveday to the mine, where we’ll run her through the mine and make her dirty, and Lavatera will then get her powers back and defeat Loveday in an epic battle. Our job is to just make sure Loveday stays dirty.
• The Maiden raises her hand and, after stumbling over her words, points out that the plan revolves around Lavatera, and Lavatera has never actually beaten her sister in a fight. Lavatera gives the Maiden a death glare that makes even Enola shrink back, and tells us to just get ready, and leave her house. We all leave, and Talisman asks the Maiden to heal him – she looks at him blankly at first, then asks where he’s hurt, and heals him.
• Andreas, Bee, Angel, and Thomas go to the Rat Races. Thomas also takes the Elkhorn Armor.
• The spymaster switches Mark to gathering supply, and the spies come back with +3 emerald and +2 supply. The quartermaster equips us with grey oil and binoculars. The commander spends 5 intel to ask questions.
  • Two approaches to the mission? – We can take Lavatera’s approach and run Loveday through the mine, or we can attempt to surprise her in a different way.
  • Resources/benefits? – This particular mine is rich in gemstones and raw iron. If we do well, we might be able to get emeralds and scrap.
  • Lisette’s weakness? – She loves feasting on the flesh of other Gloomweavers, so we could use that to lure her into a trap, or we could starve her. If she hasn’t feasted on the flesh in a while, she might end up weaker.
  • Gold Hook’s weakness? – They tend to hang around Amis and other alchemists, so they’re often covered in lots of different alchemical materials that could be reactive. With the right proportion of chemicals, and a little chemistry, we could maybe use those byproducts to their disadvantage.
  • What’s Kynaston trying to do at Widowstone? – He seems to be bringing soldiers to attempt to break into it, but thus far they’ve been rebuffed by what we think is an occupying army.
  • (Spymaster) What is Loveday working toward? – Loveday seems to be managing a force of 500k Blossomed in a supply train stretching back to Tpres. She’s been orchestrating the movement of supplies to Widowstone this entire time, and the supplies right now seem to be full-sized pure platinum coffins. Her forces are moving them hastily, butchering any resistance in the way, leveling mountains to get there.
• We make the marshal roll – notably, the Maiden is distracted by Talis being there. We end up in a risky position [3, 2, 4]. As we move along the high road, Lavatera takes the lead, and we come upon a small mine entrance in the side of the mountain. There are 10-15 Blossomed zombies. Lavatera states that we’ll have to work quickly, and flicks her hand – pure metal spikes shoot from the ground and impale the Impure, before sinking back into the ground. The corpses all collapse to the ground. Lavatera tells us to take the moment to set up and do whatever we like, and she’ll begin suppressing her aether. She tells Enola to head inside, saying she already knows what to do.
• Bee gets 2 hero points for plugging up some of the entrance with mud, so that it’ll get dislodged when people run through. Talis tries to use his pyromancy to generate some ash, but doesn’t really have anything for fuel – Bee offers up her bag of (her own) hair, which she’d kept in case the fact that it was from an Impure would make it dangerous to scatter. Lavatera is delighted by this, and tells her she should keep it, so they can do fun things with it later. If we survive. Storm, Angel, Andreas, and Thomas cover themselves in mud. Talis coats his sword in mud, and uses his pyromancy to bake little slabs of mud into slate to write runes on. He gets +2 hero points for this.
• At this point, we feel something change in the air, something about Lavatera – a red glow begins to emanate from her, and we begin to stop sensing her aether. It dwindles down until we can detect nothing from her, like she’s not an aether soul. She’s muttering some ritual to herself, and pulls out a dagger and plunges it directly through her hand. She continues to chant as she rips the dagger out, and her blood flows on the ground, mixing with mud and rainwater. She opens her eyes and smiles, and says that now she supposes we wait.
• Angel hears shrieks on the wind, and Andreas uses his binoculars to see the land moving… hordes of Crows and Blossomed zombies begin to shamble up to all of us, and we all take defensive positions. Combat begins. Thomas immediately kills one Crow with a punch, and kills another with his dagger’s offhand. Some of the Crows move into position, one attacking Andreas for 30 dmg (stamina). Two of them run directly by Angel to attack into Bee, one missing and the other only doing 6 dmg (stamina).
• Talisman attacks one with his pyromancy, and does 12 dmg – the Crow backflips out of his way. Storm shoots the Crow south of him for 12 dmg. The Maiden gives Andreas Heal IV and tells him he’s doing great, and then uses her Allied Burst on Bee to give Bee a temporary armor block, and backs up to protect Lavatera. Andreas does a shield bash on the Crow he’s facing and runs it through. Bee rips apart the Crow she’s fighting, and beats it with its own severed arm. Two Crows head over to Storm.
• Angel kills one of the Crows with their flail, but the Crows all scream at once when they do that, sending out the call that Althara has been found. The one Crow left attacks Andreas, but it’s staring at Angel the entire time, and misses because of that. Talis cleaves its head off with his ax, and as it dies, we begin to feel the atmosphere changing. Something is approaching, growing ever-closer, and as we look at it, we see what might once have been a woman, but anymore. Her form is shifting, black hair turning into smoke, and vibrant power spins off of her. This is a true Blossomed of Althara, not one of the young ones like Kynaston. This is the first Blossomed, Loveday.
• Lavatera screams to run, and we turn and run into the mind, entering a skill challenge. Bee gets 3 successes [phys] keeping a lookout for debris, but Lavatera shouts not to tell her what we’re doing. Talis gets 4 successes [spirit] to keep everyone together. Andreas gets 2 successes [phys, DII] trying to use his shield and spear to set off Bee’s traps, he’s struggling to keep pace. Thomas gets 7 successes [phys] helping Andreas keep up with us.
• Lavatera looks back, and tells us it’s mirrored on the other side. This is where the talent comes in. She yells, “Enola, now!” And wind surges through the space, creating blackout conditions with the mud. The entire mineshaft is awash with degree, and now we have to find our way out without being able to see. Angel gets 4 successes trying to use their senses to navigate blindly and keep everyone together [phys]. Storm gets 5 successes [phys – four 6s and a 5, which was crazy] corralling people with his arms out to also keep us together, and we see the exit ahead of us. Angel gets 3 successes [spirit] shouting that the exit is ahead and encouraging everyone to keep moving. We fall short of the DC.
• We break the surface, and it’s no longer raining out there. Lavatera’s aether is starting to come back, but we hear her scream as her left arm breaks in 5 different places, blood shooting from her eyes and mouth, and her body is crumpled up and sent flying. Loveday emerges behind us, carrying a bident the color of the sky, dripping with black water. Her head turns toward Angel.
  • “Althara, I shall bring thee home.”
• We are told we need to survive for 2 full rounds. Loveday gets first initiative, and she smiles, reaching a hand out. She targets Andreas, Storm, Bee, Talisman, and Angel – we need to make a spirit save [DC 3 + the amount of corruption you have]. Failing by 3+ has a specific effect. All of us fail, everyone but Andreas by 3+. Betrayal of the Blood is triggered; on a failed save, you must make a dmg roll against a creature within range. If you failed by 3+, you have B1 and Sheer on the attack. All of our attacks are sent at the Maiden (except for Bee, who has no ranged weapon to do it with).
• Loveday then uses her Bident of the Blossomed on Andreas, Thomas, and the Maiden, somehow dealing exactly 56 dmg to each (all of them taking it on stamina) and +1 corruption. We’re told it’s close to, if not exceeding, Black Briar’s method of attack. Thomas activates the 1st mountain and punches her for 96 dmg, taking 2 health blocks, but it’s obvious she’s allowing him to hit her. He attacks again for 48 dmg, which she deflects with her bident. Thomas then decides to nope out of there. Talis tries to spend 24 resource points to flashbang her, aiming to do dmg and stun her. She gets 8 successes, but loses a health block, and gets one less attack on her turn.
• Storm makes a prayer to Zolona – “I know you have nothing to gain from this besides maybe swaying my loyalty, it’s at least in the air, and we have everything to gain, but maybe if you could just… tug on her leash a little bit, let us get by the skin of our teeth a little bit, that’d be nice.” He gets 1 success (mental). Zolona says she doesn’t know exactly where he is, and asks for a location. He says wherever Loveday’s been operating out of, this mine, and she doesn’t know, but says she’ll see what she can do. She asks if he wants to tug on the leash.
  • “It’s better than what the gods have done for me.”
  • “Well, I’m not one to leave a friend behind, Storm.”
• A growing aura radiates out of Storm, sending Loveday flying backward into the mine, and she lands prone. Zolona says, “That’s a yank on the leash, right?” And Storm thanks her. She tells him not to mention it. The Maiden slowly turns to Storm, and asks what he did. He says he called in a favor, that’s all. The Maiden then runs to Andreas, and tells him that Zolona knows we’re here – she’s gonna try to get Lavatera up, and asks him to just buy any time he can. She hits him with Heal IV (45 stamina), and moves closer to Lavatera, giving Talis an extra armor block on her way. Andreas activates his Torvian, white light surging out. He also makes a forcefield over the entrance of the mine. Angel moves up near him, trying to block the path to Lavatera. On her turn, Bee tries to patch up Lavatera, and gets 1 success (mental).
  • Lavatera says she thinks she’s going to blame the Maiden, who’s always slow, and Bee says, “Whatever you say, ma’am.” Lavatera says she knew she liked Bee.
• On her turn, Loveday uses her Radiant Pursuit, and teleports to the last creature that took a health block from her – Thomas. Storm, Angel, Talis, Bee, and Thomas have to make spirit saves. Everyone fails but Thomas. Bee is sent to attack Lavatera, and cries as she does so. The rest attack the Maiden, who loses 2 health blocks. Loveday then attacks Talis for 56 damage [stamina] and Thomas for 24 damage [stamina]. Loveday frowns. “This is taking too long. Althara is required for our ascension.”
• Thomas feels waves of energy flowing off of Loveday, and the world begins to shift and change. Rocks turn to dark, black ocean, and Loveday stands on it. Bee feels sinking as Loveday opens her domain. Welcome to the ocean. We also find out that starting your round in the ocean gains you 1d3 corruption. Thomas punches her for 96 dmg, which she burns stamina for, as well as for his dagger attack. She also takes Talis’s attack on stamina. The Maiden swims over to Lavatera, healing her and giving her a temporary armor block.
• Andreas wants to try to touch the stove to trap Loveday, and spends all his stamina, 1 health block, and 2 armor blocks. He gets to make a spirit or phys check at B1 – he gets 2 successes, and reaches out, trying to formulate that forcefield. Something in him wavers, and he feels like he’s being torn in half. A forcefield temporarily appears around her, but shatters as he falls to his knees, exhausted. He feels the power churning inside him, and gets the idea that his power is incomplete, held back for some reason.
• Angel climbs onto the rock, and calls out to Loveday that they’re not going back, and that they’re not that person anymore. Loveday says they’ll always be Impure, and they say they may not be able to fix the problem, but they’ll stop it from festering. Loveday says that it’s already done festering – the board is set, and they only require their queen. Angel says they’re not their queen anymore, but Loveday says they’ll always be their queen. Angel ends their turn there.
• Bee drags Lavatera up onto the rock, and Lavatera burns her bg action and movement, rolling some mystery dice [5, 3, 6, 6]. At the top of the 3rd round, Loveday stands above the Maiden, looking at all of us. Lavatera thanks Bee for the help, but tells her to move out of her way. Lavatera then begins to focus, throwing power at her sister, but Talisman notices this isn’t an attack – it’s a command. Grow. Spread.
• Loveday, atop the water, is covered in mud and soil completely infused with metals. We watch as the metal starts to grow, expand, change, and the Queen of the Radiant Hunt finds herself overwhelmed in her sister’s trap, the metal coating her and becoming a conduit for Lavatera’s power, creating a coffin of unforgiving metal alloy. She’s completely trapped, and slowly, the domain starts to pull back. Lavatera’s hand begins to falter, and she smiles to Bee, saying, “Now that’s talent.”
  • And falls face-first into the mud, completely unconscious.
• We see Enola now at the mouth of the cave, having been keeping the water away, and the wind moving. Bee takes Lavatera, telling Andreas (who’d also moved to get her) and Thomas to take Loveday, and we book it, with Andreas giving Storm a hard look as they go. Storm hears a voice asking where he’s going, and he says back to the Brigade. Zolona says Loveday was one of her best, very loyal, and Storm asks if she wants her free. Zolona says she knows she can’t ask him for that, and just needed to know. He asks what she does want from him, and she says just the answer to the question.
  • “I’ll have to change a thing or two, there’s been something I’ve been holding off on. Unfortunately, this puts it over the edge.”
  • “I’m sorry.”
  • “Don’t be, don’t be. My advice? Well… no, it’s not necessary. You’ll be fine.”
• Zolona breaks the connection, and we hear the cries of the Crows and other Impure we’re leaving behind. We book it faster, and Andreas and Thomas feel Loveday’s metal becoming squishy as she fights to get out. They wake up Lavatera as soon as possible, when we take a beat to stop. She asks if we have her, and calls us all impressive. She puts a hand on the metal, re-strengthening it, but grows a bit pale in the process. Bee heals one of her health blocks, and Lavatera thanks her. She says she’s been trying to figure out that one for years, but it worked. She caught her off-guard.
• “Okay, but how do we kill her? What, just something quick to the back of the head?” – Lavatera slowly turns, seeming shocked that of all people, the Maiden is saying this. She continues, “I’m sure we can do it quick, it…” Andreas unbuckles his shield, as Lavatera asks if she’s insane, and says we just got her back. We’re going to figure out how to cure her.
• The Maiden says this is different, that maybe we could have stopped whatever the corruption was, but she’s been under the influence of the Dark Star. We can’t save her now. Angel gets a hero point for recognizing she acted this way when she mercy-killed Oxal (the guy from Operation I’m Sorry, But I’m Not Really Good At Coming Up With Names). The Maiden insists that this is bigger than all of us, and that keeping her alive, much less in our camp, is too big a risk. She says Thomas might be the strongest human she’s ever seen, he can punch through her skull. The Maiden suggests we put it to a vote.
• Bee says she doesn’t want her to suffer anymore, and asks if Ari could maybe help, and find her spirit somewhere. The Maiden says she doesn’t think so. Thomas asks how the Maiden is so certain, and she just repeats that she’s certain. He asks Lavatera how long she thinks she could, with 100% dedicated certainty, keep Loveday. Lavatera says that, with 100% certainty, she could do it for months.
  • “I am the last storm witch, the earth-bone witch, Archfey in another life, another world, I will go for as long as it is necessary.”
• Thomas says there has to be some hope, and asks the Maiden how she knows. His son is still out there. Jonah goes into Side 1 for a while, and eventually, we watch as the Maiden begins to cry, with Thomas holding her. He looks to the raining sky, and we see silent tears of his own mixed in. He thanks her.
• We take the final vote – Andreas, Talis, Angel, Enola, and Lavatera want to keep her alive. Thomas and the Maiden still want her dead. Storm declines voting initially, but says that Lavatera and Loveday should leave, because Zolona will come knocking soon. Lavatera says fine, and tells Enola to help her get Loveday. Bee’s worried, but Lavatera says she’ll be fine, she’s always always been fine on her own.
  • “But I don’t want you to go. I just found you.”
  • “...It’s my lot in life, I suppose. Find a home, get kicked out, start again. This world, it will tear you down if you let it.”
• Storm says they’re not kicking her out, it’s for the safety of the Brigade, and her and her sister. Lavatera says her father used almost those exact words. Bee says she won’t have a doctor out there, and so her doctor’s orders are to come with her (Bee). We see a flare shoot up in the mountains, and Lavatera says that the serpent’s coming, according to Seth. After a little more talking, she agrees to stay, for a time. Bee offers to let Lavatera test on her, and she says she doesn’t test on people with talent.
• Andreas goes to pick up the Maiden, but Thomas keeps tight hold of her. As he passes Lavatera, he tells her that for what it’s worth, he hopes she’ll prove them wrong. She says that for all our sakes, she will. We make her our way in to cheers, having defeated a Blossomed, but the atmosphere is very different in our hearts. We end the session here.
• Everyone gets 2 level-ups. We get +3 morale, +2 intel, and our time decreases to 25.