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- Date: 31 Knewidi 715AR. Starring Seth (commander), Fidelis (marshall), Zakai (quartermaster), Thomas (spymaster), Angel (lorekeeper), and Storm.
- We begin at night, with an explosion ripping through the area to the north of Widowstone Keep. We all wake up from the noise, the earthquake, the blasts of magic and energy swirling in the distance. As Seth stumbles to a window, he sees what appears to be a 300ft tall pillar of fire erupt miles out, and actually feels a bit of heat. These blasts of magic go on for a minute or two, and we watch as entities are thrown into the air, and the entire landscape changes and shifts. Almost all at once, it goes completely silent.
- As we look out into the distance, the sun begins to rise. A new day is here, and it’s up to all of us to make the best of it. The marshall rolls 2d6 and gets a 6 [2 & 4]. No random event occurs. We gain +2 supply, and the quartermaster finishes the therapy zone, placing it in the training grounds. We gain +1 morale.
- We spend -4 to find Enola, and find out she’s located on layer -14. The Blood Ocean. We also ask about Balek Bones, and find out he’s on layer -78 – False Eden. We use the intel 3 question to ask where Helmuth is, and roll 1d100 for it – 38. The spies think Helmuth is probably on -17, Ostrion. We’re told a good skill set for Omen War is someone who is very charismatic, and a useful item would be something representative of our moral stance.
- Storm wants to talk to Angel, and invites them on a walk, reassuring them he’s not there to arrest them again. He takes his helmet off, and they walk together around some of the more busy areas.
- “I wanted to talk about a couple things, first and foremost, I wanted to apologize for… the events a couple weeks ago, and the discussion, if we can call it that, that we had. It was unbecoming of me, not just as a member of the Ard Magos but as an actual person.”
- Storm says he wasn’t truly listening and allowing the others to voice their thoughts and reasoning behind their actions, and he knows it comes off as not only rude, but distrustful. That’s not the way he, Zey, or Andreas should have handled it, and he apologizes, saying he’s going to do better. Angel says they weren’t listening either, and lashed out because they were scared of how easily they might have just lost their friends’ trust, after working so hard to earn it. Storm says they shouldn’t feel like they have to earn the group’s trust, and while things are complicated with Angel, he doesn’t think there’s much they’ve done that should give everyone reason to lose all faith in them.
- Storm says he finds himself very steadfast in what he believes to be right, but that needs to change. What happened is fracturing the Brigade. Even if it’s just the leadership, everyone noticed the arrest, which is part of why he wanted to go on a public walk – so the Brigade can have the feeling things are being worked on. He wants to push for transparency, and in his pursuit of doing what’s right, he wants to make sure he’s not pushing too far to one side. He wants to create a small group with Charon, Ki, Fidelis, and Angel, to get unfiltered opinions and viewpoints he wouldn’t ordinarily have, since they don’t always see eye to eye. He’s spoken to Charon about the situation, but hasn’t brought up the idea of a group to her yet.
- Storm says that a question he’s going to open to everyone in the group is what some things that need to be changed are – it can be small, like if prison wasn’t humane enough (obviously they can’t make it luxurious). He wants to make the right steps to pull everything back together, and not be so worried about infighting. Angel mentions communication; part of the reason the situation happened was because no one was on the same page about the mission. Storm agrees to work on this. They part ways here, looking forward to working together in the future.
- Seth tries to go to the prison to get an upgrade from Lavatera, and an Ard Magos soldier approaches, asking if they can help him.
- “I’m here to see my wife, Lavatera.”
- “Ah, let me just add that to the records! I didn’t know she was married. Lucky man.”
- “Oh, she’s not.”
- Magion isn’t letting anyone visit her, but the soldier writes down directions to Magion’s office for Seth. Seth goes there to convince Magion, and Magion doesn’t budge, but says his artificers could do it, and for fewer relics (-6 instead of -8). He talks Seth into thinking Lavatera wouldn’t be mad, and says he can get it to Seth by the end of the day. Seth spends -6 relics, and asks his Spirit if it thinks Magion was lying to him. It says it doesn’t know, but will rip his throat out if he’s betrayed them.
- Fidelis wanders into the therapy zone, and sees Zakai.
- Zakai (Ryan) – A little red kobold. He’s really short, but he’s got a bow and hunting gear on.
- Fidelis isn’t very good at hiding his facial expression, but he’s trying very hard as Zakai introduces himself, and asks if Fidelis is one of those big shots he’s been hearing about. Fidelis says no, and Zakai makes a spirit check (and fails). Zakai says he’s kinda new here, and heard the therapy zone was coming up. He’s been separated from his village.
- “We had this dragon guardian, he was so nice.”
- Zakai says he was looking for a pearl because he was about to propose to his girlfriend, and stumbled upon the fortress. The Ard Magos took him in, and were about to let him go, but then the fortress moved, and people said he could stick around and help out while we’re here. Fidelis suggests Zakai could go to Koilos to get something commemorative carved, and offers to show him the Rat Races. Zakai agrees.
- As Fidelis and Zakai head to the Rat Races, they pass by Thomas, who’s finding stones for weightlifting. Fidelis tells Thomas that Zakai is “from where we came from,” and Thomas blinks, looking between the two – Fidelis is standing behind Zakai, quietly shaking his head. Thomas introduces himself, and Fidelis invites him to join them at the Rat Races. Thomas declines. He looks tired now, seeming perpetually exhausted. Zakai offers to cook him a nice recipe that might help with that, but Thomas declines again.
- After the Rat Races, Zakai and Fidelis go back to the therapy zone. Ryan is asked how he envisions it operating – they say Andreas has a little back office where he does the talking, and a waiting room set up in front. He’d like to have a front desk, but doesn’t know who to ask… he decides on Margaux, and asks her if she’d like to accept clients as well, or just man the front desk; after some talking, she agrees to accept clients, but proposes she does group therapy, so they have different types.
- We cut to Margaux coming out of her room and seeing her next group of people – Fidelis, a little kobold, and a hobgoblin who’s also there. Margaux introduces herself as an ex-exorcist and current mental health provider. Zakai says some weird stuff has happened to him, and he just wanted to talk about it; she tells him to come inside, and they’ll all talk about it. Fidelis is a little taken aback by this being group therapy, but goes along with it and joins them. They enter the room, and it has ten plush chairs in it, with Margaux sitting at the top of the circle. She opens a notebook and clipboard, and looks to Fidelis.
- “So, what has been on your mind? Don’t worry, share freely with us. At this point, we’ve all been through a lot, and we’re gonna try to help each other together.”
- Fidelis says he handled the incidents with Anahi poorly, and she asks why he thinks that – he says she ended up a personal servant to Bob, irreparably changed, and he made it worse by not acknowledging it as her own choice or listening. She asks why he didn’t listen, and he says he wasn’t very trusting, and thought it wasn’t her own will. Margaux opens the situation up to the floor, asking if anyone can provide experiences that have helped them through moments of lack of listening or attentiveness.
- Zakai says he can try, and talks about a time when he was a lot younger, and first starting out hunting. He was training with his father, who gave him all these rules, but because he was young and stupid, he disregarded them. His father and the other hunters were able to get him out and save him from the beastie, but he learned you’ve gotta ask why things are the way they are, and if you ask, you can understand.
- Margaux says that was beautiful, and asks Fidelis how he plans to move past what he did and grow from it. He says he’ll try to listen more, not make so many snap judgments. Communicate more – even when she was there, they didn’t speak too often. He would probably at some point attempt to reach out to Anahi to rebuild things. Margaux asks if he thinks that if he does just that, he’ll have learned from his experience. He says he hopes so.
- “Okay. So. I kind of want us to talk a little bit about you damning her to hell a bit more. Can you open up more about that?”
- Fidelis says he made a poor decision to bet her own life against his, and in doing so, greatly harmed the Brigade – she says to keep it at the level of him and Anahi, and not think about the Brigade. It wasn’t just not listening to Anahi, but many others, too. She asks if he got Anahi’s input, and he says yes, actually; not in the moment, but a long time before. Margaux starts to say consent needs to be given in the moment, and he cuts her off and says consent was not given. Anahi never wanted to go to Hell.
- Margaux asks what he feels about the situation now, and he says he wishes it had never had to have happened, and that he knows now he would’ve handled it very differently. Margaux asks if anyone there has ever damned one of their friends to Hell before, or has a similar experience that might help Fidelis if they share. Zakai speaks up, saying that as a hunter/trapper, you can feel trapped. Maybe you can think of ways you didn’t think were open before.
- Margaux asks Zakai why he’s here today, and he tells her what happened to him, and says he’s just been missing his family and friends, so he was hoping to talk to someone about all that. Margaux says that’s a very normal reaction to have, and asks Fidelis if he commiserates with that sentiment. He says he does, and talks about some of his own experiences.
- Thomas tries to work on his mountain, but gets frustrated, and starts just trying to work on weights and get his energy out. Eventually, he breaks the boulders he was using, and heads over to Journeyman’s, looking for comfort in something he knows. He sees Journeyman, who’s riding around on a pig, and very enthusiastically greets him. Journeyman says he looks energized, and asks if the shadow government has been slipping drugs into his food or beverages. They’re trying to create superhuman warriors, you know!
- Journeyman says he has a test, and runs inside, returning with a rotting piece of meat. If Thomas can eat the meat, it means the drugs aren’t expelling toxins from his body. Thomas apologizes, but says he doesn’t think he can eat that – Journeyman’s eyes go wide.
- “They can’t have found me here. They can’t have taken you.”
- Thomas takes the meat in one hand, and tries to discreetly flick a pebble/coin to make a noise to distract Journeyman. He gets 4 successes, and the rock he fires it at explodes. Journeyman exclaims that there’s a raccoon, and while he’s distracted, Thomas yeets the meat away and pretends to be chewing with a grim expression when Journeyman turns back. Journeyman begs him to swallow, and looking very pained, Thomas does audibly swallow. Journeyman tells him he’s so strong, and goes in for a hug.
- Thomas asks if he needs help with anything on his farm, and Journeyman says everything. Farms don’t stay intact. Thomas tells him he used to be a farmer.
- “We have the same heart, you and I. We know what the world is.” – Journeyman
- Journeyman asks Thomas to rip up some of the cobblestone, so he can expand the farm. Thomas helps out, not using his full strength, but doing it how it was before. He gains a hero point for helping Journeyman expand. Journeyman throws a shitton of dead fish in with the seeds he plants, and when Thomas frowns at that, he reassures Thomas it works.
- “In the Omenweald, they feed on the fish. And they give me tomatoes!”
- Journeyman points to a tomato plant growing tomatoes as big as watermelons. He bounces from task to task as they work, not staying too long on any one, and Thomas has to learn how to keep up with four different simultaneous conversations.
- Angel tracks down Margaux after her shift. She looks tired. Margaux immediately asks what’s wrong when she sees them, and they say nothing’s wrong, they just wanted to ask if she’d like to play cards. They ask if she’s alright, and she says there was a hobgoblin who had a hell of a story. She agrees to play cards with them, and they chat about normal, everyday things – Angel avoids bringing up the more dangerous/distressing aspects of any missions they mention.
- Storm approaches Fidelis to talk, mentioning Radovan and saying he wanted to make sure Fidelis was doing fine – from what it sounded like, Fidelis wasn’t necessarily too keen on everything that went down. He goes on to say that he feels like there’s been a fracturing within Brigade leadership, and he’s looking to see if they can’t heal that and come back stronger. He already talked with Angel, who agreed, and he’ll double-check with Charon, and talk to Koilos… he’d like to come talk to them when he needs guidance and differing opinions.
- Fidelis says he’s honored, and Storm says he’s looking for things he thinks the Brigade needs changed. Right now, he’s drawing up plans to create a public forum where the leadership can openly discuss and have the common people involved and knowing what’s going on, not waiting for us to come out from behind a locked door to tell them what’s happening. Fidelis suggests optional events, like some sort of game night, and Storm agrees to try to get that in the books.
- Fidelis asks how Storm is doing, since this has impacted him significantly, as well – Storm says not as much as the others. He’s fine, he’s doing good. He thanks Fidelis, and says he looks forward to being able to work with him. He asks Fidelis to let Corania know he said hello.
- Fidelis goes to talk to Corania next! She’s currently at the Hook, and gives him a small smile. She greets him as Talisman, before asking if it’s Fidelis – he says Fidelis, and she says that truly is his choice. She asks what troubles him, and he says he was hoping to continue their training. He also had a few questions about the history of the church.
- Corania says it might make more sense with some training, and asks him what the value of a gold piece is. He says whatever you can exchange it for, and when asked, that you can exchange it for services and goods.
- “Things that can’t be used for something are not worth anything. Therefore, if I tend to a dying woman, and I am to stand to gain nothing, then it is worth nothing. I can’t use it for anything, therefore I must use my resources elsewhere.”
- “You might not gain anything, but the woman does, just like if I come from a town that does not use gold, it would not have any use for me.”
- “But then again, we’re talking about worth. But why is something worth anything? You talk about action, but we talk about action all the time. Why are some actions worth more than others?”
- When Fidelis gives his answer, Corania says he’s forgotten the purpose of their church. He longer understands it. She asks again what she’s giving him if she gives him a gold piece, and he says potential.
- “I’m giving you work. I’m giving you effort. I’m giving you something that represents what it costs me to do something. Me and you. The worth of gold, as you said, is found in people, but you use people in such a broad and abstract term. The worth of gold is what Fidelis marks his work as, the same as mine. There is much I would pay gold for. A suitable aqueduct, perhaps even a worthwhile library. But some work, some effort, I don’t hold very high value in. Soldiers, weapon production. All this I find quite lackluster. You put so much stock into what you see before you, and you put very little in the people that surround you. I wish for people who are builders of civilization. My followers use flame to bend metal into structures, not as a blunt instrument of war.”
- She asks what he’d do with a gold piece if she gave him one right now, and he says he supposes he’d save it until the time is right and exchange it for something worthwhile. She asks if there’s anything worthwhile he could do with a gold piece now, and he supposes he could give it away – many people here are not well-off. Corania says gold could be used for them, or could be given to one of the smiths or alchemists. It could do so many grand things now, today. The worth of the gold piece is more than just exchange; it is labor, it is people.
- “You think about the world in terms of items, Fidelis. But if you were faithful to me, eternally faithful, would you not think about the world in terms of others? In terms of the hands that pass the gold, and not what is being passed?”
- Fidelis nods, and she holds out a gold piece to him. He takes it, and says he’ll invest it back into the people of the Brigade. He thanks her and apologizes, saying he’ll consider people more. She says it appears he can learn, and says she’ll begin to train him. Before she does that, she asks about the question he has about the history of their people.
- He says he was wondering why the Speakers left, and she says it was brought to her attention they were using Titanic magic, and they were perhaps corrupted. She was mistaken, and now it seems like a greater portion of her church has been infiltrated by those loyal to the Titans. She did not listen, and she erred. It is a mistake she is attempting to correct.
- “So it’s okay, then, to… learn from them, as well?”
- “Mistakes, yes.”
- “I was referring to the people.”
- “Learn from people? You should learn from people every day of our life. If you don’t learn from those around you, you are nothing more than a child, waiting to grow up.”
- Fidelis asks about their magic, and Corania says it’s absolutely Titanic. He asks if it’s safe for them to use it while we’re running, and she says she doesn’t know, but she’s listening. And as she’s listened and watched, she’s found that the Titans are not as monstrous as she once thought they were. She looks to some of our allies.
- “I look to the Maiden, I look to Charon, I look to Doaa. I look to so many. I see Titanic potential within them. But they are not my enemies. And the lesson that I’ve learned is that yes, while it is Titanic magic, it is also far more. Is it completely safe? I don’t know. But nothing is safe now. I will watch them. But I would rather trust them, learn from them, than to simply throw away anything they have to say. If I had listened to them all those years ago, we might be in a very different situation.
- Corania asks if he thinks the magic he’s been using is evil, and he says he doesn’t suppose so. She says she trusts his word, and asks what she should learn from him today. What’s her lesson about Fidelis? He says it should be that he’s capable of change. Of learning. She says it’s a grand lesson she’s learned about him, and that she must now get back to her work. He thanks her and leaves, and as he leaves, she gives a slight sigh, and a shake of her head. She keeps on working. We end the session for today.
- Zakai, Angel, and Fidelis get 3 hero points. Storm gets a level. Thomas gets 2 hero points, and Seth gets 2 hero points + his UAV upgrade. Seth also unlocks the student soul during his training.
