Saving Grace(lyn)
| "Saving Grace(lyn)" | |||
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| Campaign 1 session | |||
| Session no. | Session 39 | ||
| Session date | September 17, 2022 | ||
| Timeline | |||
| Start date | January 15, 354 WSK | ||
| End date | January 16, 354 WSK | ||
| Starring | |||
| Bean – Pine DMarty – Ricoril 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 | |||
"Saving Grace(lyn)" (1x39) is the 39th session of the first campaign of Itora.
Winding down after an exhausting day of competition, the party peruse F&F themed merchandise and mingle with their fellow competitors. On the way home, Gael confronts a figure tailing the group, who gives them an urgent letter to deliver to Pine.
Synopsis
Still on the field after their intense battle, Gael expresses displeasure at being hit so often with Eldritch Blasts while Ricoril is wondering why everyone is so upset with Nohbody, who terrorized the team throughout the match. He apologizes for knocking out the weasel she conjured from her Bag of Tricks and she apologizes for taking out Pyre and Gandalf.
Merchandising
To decompress before watching the final match of the day, the group head out to the merchandise peddling area around the arena to scout out anything branded with their team's likeness. Sure enough, Ricoril comes across a bootleg-quality t-shirt operation using Fabricate to mass produce shirts of various teams. He notices several that feature an artist's rendition of the faces of Friend and Friends, their team name, and individual names as they chose upon signup. He makes the request for a shirt that says "Furry Explosion" with a chimera in the middle and the shop obliges. They give it to him for free once they realize he's one of the competitors in exchange for a favor of spreading the word and letting people know where he got the shirt. It's an objectively awful shirt, even by bootleg standards.
Versa comes across an artisan woodworker in the middle of crafting a figurine of Versa bursting through the doors with her Thunderwave. Considering it has only been about half an hour since their fight, she's impressed at how quickly something has popped up. The artisan claims that all her works are hand-made and usually fetch around 50gp each, but she might offer a deal to Versa as a tournament competitor if she spreads the word about her stall.
Devil Slayers vs Gloryseekers
The final match of the day ends up being the most competitive. Despite seeding low, the Gloryseekers go toe to toe with the Devil Slayers as they exchange blows and fire off high level magic the likes of which much of the crowd has rarely seen. In the end, however, the Gloryseekers had a much harder first match, and lose the war of attrition, eventually falling to the Devil Slayers.
End of Day Mixer
As in the beginning of the day, all competing teams are invited to an end of day mixer to decompress, mingle, and say farewell to participants who would be exiting the tournament after the day's matches.
Versa approaches House Woodmere with the intent to harass Peregrine, however he is not present with the rest of his group, who seem in oddly higher spirits despite being out of the competition. Lorena provides Versa with the paperwork she requested, as well as an addressed and stamped envelope that will ensure the application finds the right people within the House.
Pine is entertained by yet another set of generally mundane card tricks from Dharts.
Versa also approaches Seda to rub in their defeat, implying that her own cult is better. Nalyta gently reminds Seda to refer to it as her following instead. Seda, ignoring her, retorts that the measure of a good cult is not their combat prowess, but rather the number of followers, of which she boasts "nearly twelve". Versa, reading that she may be intentionally inflating those numbers, reaches out to shake hands, looking a little bemused. Seda takes Versa's outstretched hand and shakes it with an iron grip, declaring "Don't worry, we'll catch up in no time; we're just getting started!" and gives Versa a big grin.
As the group are ogling Ricoril's new t-shirt, Nohbody creeps up and peers at it from behind Pine. She compliments the shirt, spooking Pine, who turns and steps back instantly. She sarcastically thanks Pine for knocking her out of the fight, to which Pine apologizes, but tells her "fuck you for constantly nixing my shit" with Counterspells. Gael has Friend perch on Nohbody's head. She gently reaches her hand up and grabs at Friend like a squeak toy just as they become visible. Suddenly realizing this was the creature who was blowing magical breath at her during the fight, she greets Friend and asks them if they're the leader of the group, to which Friend nods. She lets out Nyarla to play with Friend, who then climbs up Ricoril's shoulder on command. Nohbody tells Nyarla she can go play with Friend and Friends for as long as they want and takes her leave.
| — Nohbody to Pine, about Pine knocking her and Dharts out of the last match.
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Encyea approaches Gael, congratulating them on advancing to the next round and lamenting that their first day of matches was not as challenging as she had hoped. She wishes Gael luck and tells them she looks forward to their match tomorrow.
Kal congratulates Versa on a successful match, lamenting his own team's loss. He promises yet again to gather some intel on F&F's next opponent, the Devil Slayers, in the hopes that this would result in a Grand Finals of F&F against the Gloryseekers.
Homeward Bound
Before heading home, the group swing back through the merchandise stalls, where Pine purchases a copy of the same shirt Ricoril bought earlier. Versa checks in on the Versa figurine to find out it's finished carving but still needs painting. Ricoril also sells his morning star that disappointed him so thoroughly in the previous match against Always Sunny.
Walking back to the Yeltsa residence, Pine calls Sela on his Ring of Masks to check in, wondering if she is still in town. She replies that she is, but may be leaving before the end of the tournament, and that the party should let her know if they have need of her. Simultaneously, Versa has a breakdown over the concept in her mind that Dandy could, due to her lack of knowledge of the subject, potentially be her child. The rest of the group try their best to assuage her fears.
Family Calls
Gael notices a figure tailing the group and attempts to use their invisible Mage Hand to de-hood them, but the figure takes note and flees down an alley. Gael abruptly announces they're going to do more shopping and runs off to pursue the figure. They manage to keep pace, only to be startled upon turning a corner and coming face to face with the mysterious figure. The figure takes a step back and says he has a letter to be delivered to Gael's dragonborn compatriot, and that it's important he receives it tonight. The figure takes their leave and Gael opens the letter enough to read the header addressed to "Neth" - Pine's birth name. Very confused at who that is, Gael doesn't read any more and heads back to the house.
They give the letter to Pine, who reads it in the presence of the rest of the party. The letter explains that the writer was surprised to hear of Neth's involvement in the Grand Tournament, and requests that he meet under the west bridge at midnight tonight to assist with the last stage of the hunt for their greatest mark - The Shrew. Finally, the letter is signed Gracelyn Therisn - Pine's bounty hunter father.
The party discuss how they want to proceed because Pine seems keen on investigating what his father is up to and what the Shrew did to attract his attention. Ricoril recalls that The Shrew is the most infamous criminal in the city, the leader of a group called The Deserted, and that the Shrew was often used as a bogeyman to scare kids into behaving, lest they kidnap them for ransom. Eventually, the group decide to all travel with Pine to this meeting, with Ricoril by Pine's side and Gael/Versa tailing from a distance to make sure things don't go sideways.
Pine meets with his father as planned, where Gracelyn immediately goes into "Mission Mode" describing the plan, despite not having spoken to or seen his son for nearly a year. He explains there will be a prisoner exchange between The Deserted and the Rottian government in a nearby warehouse in about an hour. He plans to intervene, turning this neutral exchange into one favored by the government, capturing the Shrew himself and immediately handing them in to the already present federal agents. Throughout the conversation, he consistently provides Pine with backhanded compliments at best, manipulative insults at worst.
The group head to the warehouse, where Gael takes point above a skylight, Versa hides amongst the ground level boxes. Pine, Ricoril, and Gracelyn scale a latter to reach the catwalks above the warehouse's main floor to wait. Right on cue, a boat approaches from the river to the west and a cart from the east. The Deserted, entering from the west, The groups enter the building, send a delegate to the middle to discuss and sign some sort of document, and then head back to their respective parties.
Gracelyn holds out a smoke bomb, telling Pine that he plans to throw it down towards The Shrew once the prisoners begin walking towards the center and become out of range. In this moment, Pine agonizingly decides to give the signal to Ricoril to help him prevent his father from throwing the bomb.
Featured characters
Friend and Friends
Companions
New
Returning
- Lorena Woodmere
- Dharts
- Seda
- Nalyta
- Nohbody
- Tae
- Hondo
- Encyea
- Kal
- Sela (via Pine's Ring of Masks)
- Magpie (via Versa's Ring of Masks)
Mentioned
Quotations
References
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