Die At Anchor
| "Die At Anchor" | |||
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| Campaign 1 session | |||
| Session no. | Session 49 | ||
| System | D&D 5th Edition | ||
| Session date | January 14, 2023 | ||
| Timeline | |||
| Start date | February 8, 354 WSK | ||
| End date | February 9, 354 WSK | ||
| Starring | |||
| Bean – Pine GuardianAngel – Gael Nixup – Versa and Bunnies as the Dungeon Master | |||
| Narrative chronology | |||
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| Session order | |||
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| List of Campaign 1 sessions | |||
"Die At Anchor" (1x49) is the 49th session of the first campaign of Itora.
With the city plummeting, the separated party members take what action they can. Versa executes a risky plan with great success, but at the ultimate cost.
Synopsis
The Sky is Falling
With the complex rattling and crumbling around them, Zeribor orders the guards to take the tour group to the secure bunker nearby. He then heads off in the opposite direction he instructed the guards to take the students. Gael heads with the group, finding himself in a gyroscopically stabilized room. The guards explain that there are many such vaulted bunkers throughout the city in case of emergency, and while this is an unprecedented disaster in progress, everything has gone as well as it could. Gael then huddles in a corner and attempts to contact Versa and Sela.
Pine and Sela find themselves surrounded by armed guards at the behest of Moptop Lemonhop. Rather, they were surrounded until the ground tilts and the guards lose their footing. Seeing an opening, Sela makes an escape with Pine towards Comet with the plan of taking flight above the doomed city. Receiving the call from Gael, Sela confirms to him that they are not heading towards a vault, but that he should remain put.
Versa, invisible, travels deeper into the facility, pillaging some tossed laboratories that were recently evacuated. She acquires scattered documents, some trinkets, and a glowing cracked orb. She finds the orb fixed in place on a desk, presumably for study, with many warnings about handling it without proper safety precautions. Pocketing it, she makes her exit back to where she split off from the tour group, encountering Zeribor on the way. The engineer is incredulous at the absence of the Ancient Phoenix, and frantically enters the control chamber through a hidden passage. Versa leaves him be as he fiddles with the controls, and makes her way back.
With no soul in sight, Versa finds herself alone on the engine's observation deck, where the tour had been cut short only a few minutes prior. She uses the Ring of Masks to call Magpie, apologizing profusely, and fearing this was her end. Magpie and Lure attempt to walk her through how to stay safe, even while Magpie begins to hyperventilate. Then, in a stroke of ingenuity, Versa remembers an item she acquired months before at Magpie's hideout[1] - a small golden feather token, imbued with the ability to halt the movement of a vessel for a full day. Versa activates the token, pressing it to the floor of the deck. While a flying city is on a quite larger scale than a pirate ship, the fates smile wryly upon this act nonetheless.
At Anchor
Versa's plan works, and the city instantly stops in place. Unfortunately for her, the sudden stop jarred loose a bulk of rubble from the ceiling. She has a split second to regret giving up her acrobatic skill to the Tolltaker as she fails to dodge a falling beam that immediately knocks her out, followed by the rest of the ceiling and whatever was above the observation deck. She once again meets her end, this time buried in a tomb of fallen steel and concrete.
Now airborne on a winged-mammoth Comet, Sela and Pine notice something strange below. They call Gael to check in, who simultaneously receives an update from the guard who confirms - the city stopped falling. The guard opens the door and steps outside, deeming it stable but still unsafe. Gael, unable to reach Versa, uses his Misty Step to reach the hallway and book it towards where Versa might be. He notices the pile of rubble, with the very end of Versa's treasured hand-made scarf visible in the wreckage.
Inconsolable, he pulls apart the debris with a mix of manual strength and telekinetic ferocity. After nearly 20 minutes of excavation, he frees her from the suffocating pile. He picks her up and puts her aside, attempting to heal her over and over, despite knowing the truth deep down. Eventually he starts to understand that she's truly dead, and that it's too late to give her the revivify potion. He picks her up in a bridal carry and starts heading back to the teleportation circle. On the way he attempts to call Pine and Sela to ask for help, but is too distraught to make out any words.
As they walk, Pyre manifests himself on Gael's shoulder. He nudges Versa, and then attempts to communicate with Gael without success. Gael watches as Pyre hops down onto Versa's chest, spreads his wings, and combusts. A moment later, Versa shudders and starts to draw breath once again. After some healing, Versa regains consciousness, though with full-body blackened bruises.
The two attempt to make sense of the situation - as much as one can be expected to. Versa activates Disguise Self again, and the two make their way to the teleportation circle, Gael supporting Versa with one of her arms over his shoulders.
Recovery
Back on the surface, Sela and Pine land and attempt to help free and heal civilians in the surrounding area. Moptop appears once again, insisting that Sela give herself up, to which she criticizes him for doing the goodwill work that should be expected of someone of his position, not an exile. With his honor hurt, he withdraws, and Sela continues her work.
Underground, Versa and Gael wait. After 15 minutes, the tour group and its guards appear, and begin to question Gael and Versa as to what happened. Versa attempts to explain that she stopped the city from falling with the feather token, and the guard requests that she hand it over; begrudgingly, she does so. The group then travel through the circle back to the surface. Versa attempts to convince several people along the way that the city will start moving again in 24 hours and that they should leave with everyone and everything they value; the majority of civilians take heed.
The two groups reconvene and set off on Comet to leave the city. Deciding to land and rest before chartering their next course, they find a clearing and make camp. Sharing their individual accounts of the events to gain a complete picture, the group struggle to decide their next objective. Noting the absence of an egg or tattoo, Versa cautiously begins to re-summon Pyre.
The group call Magpie back through Pine's Ring of Masks, and debrief her on the calamity that both was and very nearly was. Versa completes the ritual, but Pyre does not manifest. She begs to Amilyos to know if Pyre is still around, and receives a warm feeling. Unsatisfied, she pulls a Magic Cookie from the Boulangerie de Beaucoup. asking whether Pyre is gone, and receives a chocolate egg that looks similar to his. Still distraught over the apparent loss of her familiar, she assumes the worst.
Dreams
The group retire to sleep, once again entering the realm of the Tolltaker. For Versa, the spectral form in her image appears with a closed, outstretched hand and bestows upon her the Token of Humility for her actions that day. The form does not explain what specific action led to this token, nor does Versa understand what it even means as Gael never explained it to her previously. Versa then chides the Tolltaker for granting her a boon, yet requesting a toll despite losing her familiar, which she considered a fair toll already paid. Nevertheless, she decides to temporarily relinquish her Performance skills. Pine relinquishes his knowledge of Nature.
Gael, immune to the minor tolls, instead receives an audience with an avatar of Cordelia. Together, they talk at length about Gael's insecurities with how Versa does not appear to trust him despite his constant efforts to earn it. Cordelia also asks what Gael feels about his encounter with his father, to which Gael replies simply that he "wishes [his father] was better". Cordelia pauses, and declares that since the man walks upon her domain in ignorance of the gods, she believes there's something she can do about it.
Planning
Freshly rested, the group attempt again to figure out what to do next. Versa and Gael are keen on attempting to free Cynthia Morris from her imprisonment in the Summer Citadel, but Sela insists that the city's current state makes that operation even harder than it was before.
Gael reveals the djinn lamp he has kept for the last month, suggesting that if he can use the Wish contained within selflessly, that it would still have enough magic for an additional selfless Wish. With this additional resource, several potential plans came into being:
- Go in Guns-Blazing, take the place by force, and leave with Morris
- Act as Morris’s Lawyer, and if they lose the case, take the opportunity of her being out of the cell to leave with her
- Use the Djinn lamp to teleport Morris to the party, then find the Lark’s portal home (while likely being chased by angry fey, but with the party having a head start)
- Use the Djinn lamp to teleport everyone but Gael out of the Feywild, leaving him to make his own way out to the Lark’s portal, alone
- Prisoner exchange: Sela for Morris
- Prisoner exchange: Versa for Morris
- Fake death of Morris to get her out of the cell to teleport her out
While mulling over their options, Versa and Gael have an honest discussion about their strained relationship. Versa is puzzled and slightly concerned that Gael was so distraught at her death, when she had been under the impression that Gael didn't care much about her. Gael confesses that he is worried he's going about things all wrong, since he's managed to upset her and allow her to be killed in a short period of time. Versa tries to explain that she doesn't HATE Gael, even though she's incredibly angry that he kidnapped her into another dimension without any care for her free will; just because she's pissed off doesn't mean she doesn't recognise that Gael has some wonky social skills, meaning he probably doesn't realise when he does something wrong. She says that she thinks he has the capacity to learn which is why she still cares and would be upset if something happened to him. Gael expresses doubt, deeply insulting Versa, who asks what kind of person she would be if she DIDN'T care. She then storms off in a huff.
Versa calls Lure to apologize for putting Magpie through this whole ordeal, and Lure does her best to assure Versa that Magpie will be alright under her care. Lure suggests that Versa not do it again, as Magpie spent several harrowing hours pacing in her quarters while waiting anxiously for an update. Versa guiltily agreed not to call Magpie if she's in another near death experience.
Featured characters
Friend and Friends
Companions
New
Returning
- Zeribor
- Unnamed Minotaur Tour Guide
- Sela
- Comet
- Magpie (via Ring of Masks)
- Moptop Lemonhop
- Lure (via Ring of Masks)
- Cordelia
- Tolltaker
Mentioned
Quotations
References
- ↑ See "Vice's Vices" (1x11).
Art:
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