#but ravenwing can go fuck himself

[fallowheart]

I think a character I actually hate in the broader WC canon is Ravenwing from Mapleshade's Vengeance. Fucker actually broke his healer vow to protect all cats equally for a situation that didn't involve him, not to mention whomever decided to send an omen to him and ended up getting those kits exiled. Like, everyone in that story sucks except for Reedshine, they can all go to Cat Hell in my AU, but Ravenwing specifically has my ire.

[bonefall]

Sorry, I'm a fucking idiot but what's Shadowsight's relationship with the Dakr Forest Peeps??? Somehow Don't know how to search properly 😭😭😭

OH dw djrhddj it's kind of an inside joke that just sorta happened based on this one scene

Here, I am handing you a bouquet of WIP material.

PREVIOUS CONTEXT:

In BB, Bristlefrost dies VERY early on. She is executed publically by the Impostor. She is a ghost for most of TBC.

Shadowsight has epilepsy, and since his birth in Heartstar's Rise, has had a really bad relationship with death and the idea of needing to "make his life worth it."

He's struck by lightning in early TBC, giving him a glowing blue scar that lights up his ear like radio antennae. This is a "gift" from Ashfur, essentially making Shadowsight a prophet-level interpreter. VERY powerful gift.

All Dark Forest residents manifest a "Land Mar" in the forest. An evil magic place based on the worst moment of their lives. If you live here long enough that it becomes home, you get one.

Anyway, cut ahead to the wip in question where the joke comes from;

Confronting the Impostor in the Dark Forest

Like canon, it is decided that Ashfur needs to be dealt with. He's escaped into the Dark Forest and it's not known what's happened with StarClan.

They just know that Ashfur is FREAKISHLY powerful and it's not known why. StarClan warriors can do many wonderful things, but possession? Calling down a lightning bolt to make a blessing?

The Clans are more concerned about StarClan than the dark forest though, and not super willing to stick their necks out to fight for... Hell. Or the soul of Bramblestar.

But Squirrelflight, in spite of EVERYTHING, argues passionately that they NEED to save her ex-mate. No man left behind means him too.

But I'm not sure if I'm going to have Shadowsight leave and re-enter the DF this time around, to go fetch these reinforcements, because I have a better idea.

So INSTEAD of escaping as Rootspring gets captured, Shadowsight also gets trapped. He's able to avoid capture, but injured, and not knowing how he's going to save everyone without reinforcements.

He manages to drag himself away where he finds a cave. It's the land mar of Ravenwing, the unfairly damned Cleric of ThunderClan... and he intentionally never seeks visitors. He has no idea what's going on out there with Ashfur. Man literally lives under a rock.

But Shadowsight is a young lad and he's injured. He needs help, so, he brings him deep into his cave to patch him up. That's where they have a little chat.

It's about expectations. What people want from you, vs the right thing to do. Ravenwing interpreted a sign from StarClan incorrectly, and three children died because of him. He thought he was doing what they wanted... but even if they did, it was an AWFUL thing to want.

And so he regrets it deeply. Even if it WAS their will, he should have had the spine to stand against it.

And then the subject turns around to Ashfur, Shadowsight sharing how he listened to him because he was a StarClan warrior, even against his instincts, how he feels responsible for this mess.

And yet.. how good it felt. How terrified he is that even if he beats him, he'll go back to living without him. Ashfur makes him special, this GIFT makes him special.

And how will anyone ever forgive him? So many people are dead because of him. Cousin Strikestone is dead because of him. All he ever wanted to do was be useful, but now his life is a net negative.

I plan to trim this down to be shorter and more "focused," but I do want to try and set up Shadowsight's feelings before the Final Battle in some other way.

Anyway, Ravenwing reveals that the Special Power of his Land Mar is that HE can send omens from the comfort of his own cave, very easily. With the power of his Land Mar and the Gift that Shadowsight still has, they're able to send a message to the Mortal Plane.

"STUCK IN DARK FOREST ASHFUR BAD SEND HELP"

I think it'll work better than the several chapters of arguing canon gave us, widely considered to be super frustrating. Just let Shadowsight see the "best hits" from Ravenwing's cave, like Squirrelflight’s Speech.

If I don't use the Land Mar idea, then Rootspring will break out of jail with the help of Hawkfrost's half-ghost and go get help.

Anyway. The joke

Shadowsight keeps getting put in the path of demons who aren't evil and angels who aren't good

So based on the Ravenwing Scene (which I've mentioned before but without much detail iirc) it just became a joke that people like talking to Shadowsight lmao

He'll take 2 steps and a new demon is like "oh i need to protect this boy"

Or suddenly traumadump on him

Or both

[warrior-frogs]

THIS IS NOT A DEFENCE FOR OAKSTAR. I JUST ACCIDENTALLY SPENT TOO MUCH TIME FOCUSING ON THE MAPLESHADE STUFF FROM OAKSTAR’S POV SO IT SEEMS LIKE IM DEFENDING HIM. HE’S BAD I SWEAR.

Everytime someone talks about how shit Oakstar is I lose it because everyone always talks about him exiling Mapleshade’s kits but like thats not even the only thing he did and I blame that less on him and more of just how bad the situation was for everyone. 

Oakstar believed ravenwing had gotten an omen about them and that they would bring thunderclan danger + he was pretty peeved that Maple had lied about them being the kids of his son who he was probably still grieving for when their actual father was the guy who he believed killed his son. 

With what was going on and the omen Ravenwing had recieved, the man only had a few favourable options, most of them being pretty cruel. Of course we know that the omen about the kits bringing danger was probably about Mapleshade going on a killing spree, but Oakstar had no way of knowing that himself. 

There’s also evidence that he learned his lesson later on and stopped punishing half-clan children. Windflight was a half-clan cat who was born during Oakstar’s reign and after Mapleshade’s novella takes place. While yes, his mother could have just kept it a seceret, we know that Thunderclan knows of his herritage and also she literally named him after the clan that his father was from. 

Obviously none of this fixes Oakstar’s actions, he’s still a piece of shit for exiling Maple and the kits, but you can see where he was coming from and that he changed afterwards. 

But do you want to know something Oakstar did that was actually irrational that everyone forgets? Do you? In Pinestar’s choice, Oakstar conducts a raid on the kittypet place to scare and injure kittypets. Why does he do this? Because a few kittypets crossed the border into the forest once. I get not wanting tresspassers but????? Like 3 kittypets crossed the border because they just wanted to take a nice walk and this man goes “Time to traumatize half of twoleg place <3″ AND I SEE NO ONE TALKING ABOUT HOW HE DID THIS???? 

Theres also the fact that I think there are implications that this is something that he just does sometimes (although i’m not too sure as I dont have pinestar’s choice anymore and cannot check) and that not even kits are safe but that might have just been Crystal being scared for her kits’ safety.

The Mapleshade stuff is bad but at least I can see things from his point of view and understand his reasoning, even if i dont agree with it. This??? No fucking clue what was going through this man’s head.

Anyways please include this man’s other crimes when talking about how he sucks not just the mapleshade things. He’s a bitch for more than one reason. 

[andallhisausterenhost]

After Action Report: Abate the Edge of Traitors

After going to all the effort* to write a fluffy intro to this battle, I then have had zero interest in writing a fluffy after action report. I think the problem is taking unpainted miniatures - it’s a bit hard to get worked up or invested in the death of Senor Greyskin and his trusty sidekick, Lady Dull Metallic, when I could instead get really into the clash of arms between, say, Brother-Veteran Hitoshi, warrior of the Mantis Warriors, and Matthias the Vicious, the dread serial killer of Nužudymas, cultist of Qyn Kraugeriškas, pirate-slave of Malachi the Surly, ya know?

It doesn’t help that @littlemangsofwar​ has some of the worst luck in recorded history.

My writer’s block is especially frustrating when Mangs puts a great deal of effort into his lists. Task Force Vengeance is fully named, from Librarian Cassiel down to the Land Raider Redeemer Purity Rolling.** I need to step up my game, both in terms of painting and in terms of, you know, writing. Things.

Anyway, this clash was really fun on paper. Mangs’s Dark Angels list is pretty mechanised, featuring a Nephillim Jetfighter (Caliban’s Wrath), a Predator, Razorback, a Rhino, scouts, a pack of Deathwing as well as officers. It’s not the most optimized list for 8th edition Dark Angels, as they actually really want to stand very still and get free re-rolls, but it is cool as hell to look at.

The Ravenwing were just here to scout the battlefield, then peeled away for another, more important mission elsewhere (he didn’t actually include them in the list! A mistake we’ve all made.).

I had a really bizarre list, swelled with unpainted units to try and match @littlemangsofwar​‘s cool Dark Angels. In the centre of the board, I massed my marines in cover, as well as some slightly forward scouts (including the new snipers and the Crusaders, who took up stances around an old console in the ruins). I had some attack bikes waiting in reserve, hidden behind buildings. On the right flank, the Radical Inquisitor took up position in his commandeered Razorback, behind a Tactical squad and some... uh... ash-camouflaged Assault Marines.

The blocks are actually a Daemonhost containing a warp spirit of Order, which I have some very cool ideas on, but they can wait until I paint more of the Inquisitor’s band of acolytes. The new Blackstone Fortress actually has a bunch of models that I was planning on converting for his gang, so that is going to be very hard to resist.***

I also had two squads of Ratlings, led by a Squat commander and accompanied by an Astropath, part of the Inquisitor’s extended retinue. The Mantis Warriors marching into battle accompanied by xenos, a daemonhost, and semi-humans! Not a great look, but they were here to fight the Dark Angels, who themselves have a less than savoury reputation.

We played a variation of Cleanse and Capture, which I’ll drop below the cut. Essentially it was the same scenario but we each had some bonus Tactical Objectives we wanted to achieve to give the thing a bit of flavour.

The objective markers were intended to represent archaeological sites that may contain information on + + + REDACTED BY INQUISITORIAL EDIT 7532/ω + + + which obviously the Dark Angels also sought.

I know I just wrote a lot of words about the scenario, but I’m afraid that I’m not up for a prolonged blow-by-blow of the game, so here are some highlights:

Despite a tremendous amount of possible mortal wound output from my three squads of snipers (two Ratling and one Mantis), I only killed about three Tactical marines from them all game. Of course, Ratling squads are only 45 points, so it’s still not a bad choice.

Early in the game, my attack bike with a multi-melta swung out and nearly one-shotted the Predator Silencer. In anger at this, @littlemangsofwar fired nearly his whole bloody army at the little bikers, only finally killing them with a plasma rifleman who then died in the explosion. What heroes.

There he is, tucked behind that barricade there.

The advanced (and second-most recently painted) sniper scouts that were holding the objective in the ruins were brutally cut down in a single round by a combination of Redeemer flamers and a Dark Angels Tactical Squad. Said squad would then hole up in that ruin for the rest of the game, sniper fire plinking off their power armour and holding my Assault Marines at bay.

The Inquisitor and his minions did very little. I’ll admit that I strongly dislike their rules in the Index - they get almost no character and kind of encourage the worst kind of spam. Take lots with plasma guns! Each one man unit is an Elite choice! And you can’t have cool models with twin swords or twin pistols actually count as those weapons! Lame.

Purity Rolling gets assaulted by the Mantis Warriors officer cadre.

In a pitched fight that goes to show why tanks don’t like urban battlefields, Purity Rolling got swarmed by my entire HQ and my teleporting Terminator Squad and got chipped to death. I was very lucky, getting off that 9″ charge, and it did come down to the power sword of the Sergeant, but it was still brutal.

Brother-Apothecary Jiyuna wimping out and refusing to charge Purity Rolling which is fair enough, really.

@littlemangsofwar kept the pressure on my Devastator Squad, but his fucking appalling dice rolling in this game meant that they lasted most of it. I don’t believe they did anything useful, but they just kept absorbing his fire.

pew pew

Beneath the Devastators, in the same ruins, were a Tactical Squad, which got assaulted by one of the Dark Angels Tacticals. The battle was fairly even, frustratingly, for several battle rounds, despite the assistance of my Brother-Apothecary Jiyun, Lieutenant Khan Nguyen Thi Kim, and the abhuman company commander in service of the Inquistion. The latter had a powerfist! He didn’t hit once!

His brothers cut down around him, Brother-Sergeant Kiraman fights against overwhelming odds.

An absolute beast who would. not. die. This caption refers to Kiraman, and not anyone wearing green, white, or blue. Jerks.

In the centre, my command squad and both units of Terminators kept wailing on one another for several turns. Between adroit use of psychic powers and @littlemangsofwar‘s gross luck, I came out on top, although my First Company warriors were annihilated to a man.

A glorious melee.

Chief Librarian Ahazra Redth channeling the Warp.

On the right flank, there is nothing much to report. Caliban’s Wrath was pretty wrathful, taking out my Inquisitor’s Razorback. Scouts and fire from various other tanks took down most of the acolytes, including the Slann and the exiled Aeldari ranger, but the Inquisitor himself was able to channel the powers of the warp and take out the scouts. The glowing cubic forms of the daemonhost did something between ‘nothing’ and ‘waste time’.

A rhino burns in the distance as Mantis Warriors Tactical Marines advance.

Overall, this game wasn’t as much fun as I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong, @littlemangsofwar is always cool to hang out with, but his luck was just so awful. It’s no fun watching your opponent roll ten dice and get two hits. 

I was using Raven Guard rules for the Mantis Warriors, as I do feel that it’s the best feel for their hit-and-run tactics in the fluff, but it’s also a very strong Chapter Tactic. Certainly light-years better than the terrible ‘you hit harder if you charge out of cover... for some reason’ rules they are reputed to have had two editions ago.

Hopefully, the next time @littlemangsofwar and I have a full game of 40K, our luck will even out. We did have two Kill Team games on Sun 28 Oct, and those went very differently!

I’ll leave you with at atmospheric**** photo of Squad Nakir of the Dark Angels...

Final score: Victory, Mantis Warriors. (Dark Angels withdraw.)

Men of the Match: Attack Bike with multi-melta. Toughness five, four wounds, baby!

Lesson to Remember: Dark Angels infantry get to re-roll ones if they don’t move that turn.

+ + + Thought for the Day: By the manner of their death we shall know them. + + +

Scenario: Maelstrom of War scenario Cleanse and Capture (see p.230 of the rulebook).

Modifications:

Terrain:

As traditional, whoever gets there first places terrain; second-comer can choose deployment side.

Placing objectives:

As I'm picking the scenario, you can choose whether to place the first or second objective. You may also choose which deployment type (p.216) we want to use.

Tactical Objectives:

As written (that is, we generate Tactical Objectives until we hold three), but we start with some at the beginning of the game in addition. Unlike regular TOs, we can't discard these, but they don't count against the maximum of 3 anyway.

You (Dark Angels) will start with 13 Confess! and 14 Seize and Interrogate in addition to rolling up/drawing three more.

I (Space Marines) will start with 12 Honour Your Chapter and I also have a made-up version of the Dark Angels 14 Seize and Interrogate by the Inquisitor (see below) in addition to rolling up/drawing three more.

(special) 14 Seize and Interrogate by the Inquisitor   Score 1 victory point if any enemy CHARACTERS, DEATHWING UNITS, or RAVENWING BLACK KNIGHT UNITS were slain by an INQUISITION unit in the Fight phase of this turn. If your opponent’s Warlord was slain by an INQUISITION unit during the Fight phase of this turn, score D3 victory points instead.

First Turn:

Rather than whoever finishes deployment automatically getting first turn (which can be brutal in this edition), I suggest we go with the system used in the Chapter Approved scenarios:

The players roll off, and the player who finished setting up their army first adds 1 to their result. The winner can choose to take the first or second turn. If they take the first turn, their opponent can roll a D6; on a 6, they manage to seize the initiative, and they get the first turn instead!

Everything else is the same as a standard Cleanse and Capture: Warlord, First Blood, Linebreaker; highest victory points is the winner; 5 turns and then start rolling for extra turns on a 3+; etc etc.

* Literally like five minutes before going to bed. ** A great blend of the sorts of names US soldiers give to their tanks and the 40K hellverse. *** Ratlings!!!!! **** Bad.

[thephoenixfields]

Session 7: Jailbreak

« SESSION 6 RECAP

The party, with Haroun and Gaer in tow, make their way the next morning towards Ravenwing Royal Prison. The group bluffs their way through the gate between the Merchant’s Ring and Lower Soraya by saying they are going to shop at Lord Crane’s jewelry store. On the way, the group spots a woman dressed in a black lace dress with pale skin, jet black hair, and lips painted a dark, plummy red. She wears a thin veil that is decorated with what looks like diamonds at the edges. While the group has seen some finery from just walking around the Merchant’s Ring thus far, this woman and her cohort are more than exquisitely dressed and equipped. The veiled woman is traveling arm in arm with another finely dressed woman who has on a black dress seemingly made from raven’s feathers.

“Darling, you must sample my closet more often,” the veiled woman smiles. “Thank you for accompanying me on my shopping trip today. I’ve run clean out of my unguents and am in desperate need of a new supply from my dearest Lord Crane.”

They are accompanied by two serving men of large build and girth. Neither of them speak at all.

“The arcanist?”

“A darling, truly.”

Turning away from the merchant’s bazaar, the group stealths towards Guardtown and the royal prison.

Upon arriving at Ravenwing, a disguised Julian picks the front door lock and sneaks into the front hallway of the prison. Fen joins him, having wildshaped herself into a mouse. The two of them discover six dead guards, some of them covered in blood, some of them frozen solid. Exploring the rest of the front hall has two holding cells: in one cell is a young child and an old man, in the other is a strange looking woman. Uninterested by the pleas of the child, Julian instead focuses on the woman in question.

“Hello there,” she smiles at him, and when she smiles, the edges of sharpened teeth seem to poke out from between her lips. Her fingers curve into dark, dangerous claws, while her wrists are bound by shackles. Two bars of the prison that holds her are frosted over.

“You’re Rassa?” Julian asks, approaching the cell slowly, like he’s approaching the cage of a wild thing. And maybe she is just that.

She nods. Julian explains that he’s here to spring her from Ravenwing, as sent by Haroun.

Rassa shrugs her shoulders slowly, lazily. “I’m less perturbed about being imprisoned,” she says, voice smooth as silk, voice unconcerned, as if she chose to be there, “as I am about losing my things. Both were...gifts.” She pauses. “I cannot leave without them. And I will have an easier time retrieving them from the inside than trying to penetrate this place from the outside.”

Julian picks the lock on Rassa’s cell and releases her shackles.

Fen explores beneath the locked door at the edge of the hallway and finds herself in a long, spiralled structure with a couple of crowded cells at the end of her eyeline protected by one guard.

Meanwhile, outside, the group worries about how Julian and Fen are doing. Sariel sends Mazrim to find out what’s going on, though through Julian’s rather poor animal handling check manages to nearly get jammed in the door. Aeleyn and Rowan approach the guard station, which abuts Ravenwing itself, and ask about giving prisoners within their last rights. Rowan, as a cleric of Pelor, is especially convincing. The two of them are allowed inside the prison with permission of the city guards. Aeleyn casts Locate Object to find Brendan’s shirt, and the spell indicates that Brendan is somewhere within the prison.

While Rowan and Aeleyn are distracting the guards, the rest of the group attempts to sneak into the prison. Most everyone makes it across very stealthily, but Gaer trips over a cobblestone and nearly eats it. Instead, with lightning quick reflexes, Haroun grabs him and Dimension Doors both of them inside the front door of the prison.

Safely inside the prison, the party decides to split into two groups: Aeleyn and Rowan scout ahead under the ruse of last rites, while the rest of the group disguises themselves as a group of guards and prisoners being moved to a more secure level of Ravenwing. Sariel and Rassa pose as prisoners (Sariel’s distaste for her shackles are more than noted).

Aelyen and Rowan make their way through the first level of the prison, first passing the cells that hold those who broke curfew; then finding the cells that hold thieves and cutpurses; and finally coming across the cells deep within the first level of the prison that hold the men and women who have committed acts of murder.

“Hello, darling,” a well-dressed man calls out to Rowan from the murder cells. “Fancy helping a man out?”

The prisoner introduces himself as Alder Strain: he is in his early forties, handsome, and slippery as a snake. He denies ever killing anyone, but Rowan can sense an air of untruth about him. Just as Rowan is attempting to move on, Alder holds out his hand to her. “Please. My last rites.”

Once he has his hands on her, Alder Charms Rowan into helping him escape. 

The two guards at the door of the prison cell don’t quite understand what is going on as Rowan attempts to smash the lock open with her mace, and when one guard strays too close to the cell, Alder reaches out and snaps his neck. Aeleyn shoots Alder twice with her bow, taking him out and shaking Rowan from his charm. Rowan, horrified, attempts to save the near-dead guard, which she does successfully. The uninjured guard drags his wounded compatriot off toward Guardtown for healing.

The rest of the group, upon hearing the commotion up ahead, race toward Rowan and Aeleyn only to find themselves arriving in the aftermath. They collect their friends and all together, the party moves to the stairway that lowers itself into level two of Ravenwing Prison.

The door to level two is blocked by six guards who seem less than impressed with the party’s lies. “No one goes beyond this door without clearance,” one of the guards snivels at them. The party subsequently slaughters the guards at the door save two lucky souls: one is knocked unconscious and one is left with barely the breath in his lungs.

“What’s behind that door?” Sariel asks him.

“You just killed all my bloody friends. You’re murderers. Fuck you.” He spits on Sariel and she nearly goes into a fury state right then and there.

Rowan attempts to ease the conversation but the guard turns on her as well, considering her complicit in the killings of his compatriots. “Rot in hell, the lot of you.” Rowan is affected by his words more than she lets on.

The group, holding their collective breath, watches as a figure passes by the slatted window in the door. It looks humanoid in shape, but seems to drip blood from its form as it walks past--no, patrols past you. As you take a closer look, its face looks rather strange to you. The face clearly once belonged to that of a human being, but it is as if someone has sliced that very face off and sewn it into the head of this strange creature. Little tufts of blond hair curl around its face like, in another life, this person had a mane to be proud of. Its nails are grown out like claws, and when it breathes, it lets out a rough moan. Regardless: whatever this thing is, it isn’t alive.

Fen deduces that the creature is a flesh golem, a construct made from dark magic and at least six different bodies. Disgusted, she informs the group that dark shit lies ahead.

The group sneaks inside level two of the prison to find two cells full to bursting of arcane casters arrested for using magic, as well as not one but three flesh golems. In command of them all is Guard Captain Ridley Stine.

A fight ensues: Guard Captain Stine gets taken out rather quickly, but the group is horrified to note that magic doesn’t seem to affect the flesh golems. Brute strength wins the day in this fight, while Fen finds herself on the brink of death.

Rowan sorts through the imprisoned and finds Ailis, Tristan’s sister. In a moment of clarity, she realizes that Ailis looks exactly like Agrona and just might be the missing daughter she’s been searching for.

Gaer sticks with Aeleyn as they continue to follow the course of Aeleyn’s Locate Object spell. Gaer gets rather excited as Aeleyn realizes she is close to finding him. Turning a corner, Gaer and Aeleyn are horrified to find not Brendan, but one last flesh golem wearing Brendan’s face.

“Dad?” Gaer asks weakly.

The flesh golem turns to face him.

SESSION 8 RECAP »

[thephoenixfields]

Session 5: Aftershock

« SESSION 4 RECAP

The Thieves Guild is in tatters after Harami’s death. Raphael is inconsolable at how he was used by his father for so many years, how he was controlled by his father in the fight against his sister and the rest of the party. He doesn’t want to talk to Dania, doesn’t want anything. Rowan finds a ceremonial dagger on Harami’s belt and picks it up, insighting that it is a dagger that belongs to the head of this subset of the Zhentarim. The party continues to loot Harami’s body before Dania says pointedly, “Is that not our inheritance?”

The party summarily backs off said looting.

Raphael runs to go through Harami’s things back in the thief king’s tent and finds a diary that confirms his plans about marrying Dania off to Karver, as well as details on the slavers who stole Agrona’s child away from her (details that Harami has kept from Agrona for some time now). “You two owe me some fucking reparations,” Agrona hisses at Dania and Raphael.

Rowan offers Raphael the dagger and he refuses it. Rowan gives the dagger to Dania who hangs onto it for safekeeping. Raphael retreats and Rowan follows him with Nemo in tow. The two find him in a tree house his father had built for him when he was a child. Rowan climbs up and Nemo stays at the base of the tree, looking out for any beasties lurking in the shadows of the forest.

In the tree house, Rowan and Raphael have a long heart to heart centered on their mutual feeling of guilt. “If you’re bad, then I’m terrible,” seems to be the theme of the conversation. Raphael feels awful that he hurt the party, that he hurt his sister, and that he was controlled by his father. Rowan is reeling at how her connection to Pelor, her Life Domain patron, has seemingly severed ever since she cast the necromantic spell during the battle with Harami. Rowan decides that she must find a temple of Pelor to reconnect with her patron and Raphael decides that he can make the Thieves’ Guild something different. Something better.

Meanwhile, Sariel and Aeleyn decide to rest after the long battle. Sariel in particular is pretty pissed at the rest of the group (Fen and Julian), who instead of making sure everyone is alright, wanders to a bar within the Thief’s Pocket.

Julian and Fen wander into the bar to get plastered and meet a dark purple skinned tiefling woman wearing what appears to be a grim reaper’s cloak. She also carries a large bag that smells like death and oozes blood and guts on the surface of the bar.

Mathilde, Tiefling Blood Hunter (played by Kendra)

Mathilde is curious when the group talks about using the tunnels from the Hellbor ruins into the city of Soraya and joins the group in getting rather wasted on fine whiskey. Fen is very interested in Mathilde and even druid crafts her a flower as a gift. Julian is confused by the whole situation but probably gets the most drunk out of the lot of them.

Rowan has a terrible dream that night about enjoying the necromantic spell she used during Harami’s battle.

The group gathers once more after a long rest, tensions high after a night of splitting the party up and miscommunications. Julian and Sariel argue about what to do with Harami’s sword, a seemingly dark item. Julian is wary about Sariel touching it, considering her fury powers, and Sariel is hurt by the idea that Julian thinks she would hurt the group. Agrona greets the group and tells them that, like she said before, only members of the Thieves Guild can cross through the tunnel that connects Hellbor to Soraya. Therefore anyone wishing to pass through the tunnel must be inducted by an enchanted marking ceremony.

Each member of the party gets a tattoo:

Fen gets an eye on her arm

Julian gets three birds on his shoulder

Mathilde gets a simple circle on her palm

Sariel gets the sigil of her family’s house, House Goldenstar

Rowan gets an embellished symbol of Pelor on her wrist

Aeleyn gets the word “family” in Elvish on her wrist

Nemo gets the standard Thieves Guild mark on his arm

Agrona pulls Sariel aside and tries to talk to her in reference to her rage-based powers. “I’m not an arcanist,” Agrona starts, poking her stick into the fire, which bites back at her with embers and smoke. “I don’t know magic. I’m trained in assassination, in slitting throats. I don’t know what you are.” Agrona pauses. “But I know the look on your face because I lived with it for years: the rage, the anger. I see the fury in your eyes just sitting here with you.”

Raphael accepts the ceremonial dagger from Dania and says he is going to try to make the Thief’s Pocket into something better. He also gives Sariel Harami’s cloak of protection as thank you for helping his sister. Dania warns the group that there is a riddle at the end of the tunnel that reflects the nature of the ruler of the Thieves Guild: one that measures what the leader of this sect holds dearest. Dania tells them that under Harami, the answer to the code was “Power, Money, Family.”

The group makes their way back to the entrance of Hellbor and instead of delving down into the depths where they traveled before, the group turns right and finds that they have free passage into the tunnel that leads into Soraya.

The sandbag puzzle at the end of the tunnel blocks the ascending staircase into Soraya. The group tries the answer that Dania gave them and it doesn’t work. After a few moments of deliberation, the group realizes that the puzzle must reflect Raphael’s ideals now that he has taken over. The group elevates family first, then money, then power, and the door to Soraya opens before them.

Once they get inside the city, the party disperses much to certain party members displeasure. Mathilde disappears to find her way to her contact within the city, Julian marches his way to the nearest bar with Mazrim and Nemo hot on his tail, and the rest of the party (Aeleyn, Rowan, Sariel, and Fen) all make their way to Grace Court, the area of Soraya that houses the religious sects within the city.

Julian, Nemo, and Mazrim find their way to the Silver Jackal. Nemo recognizes Selene, who is having an argument with a tiefling compatriot. “Orion, there was nothing we could have done,” she hisses at him.

“It’s just that he was going on and on about this group of powerful people who managed to get him inside the city gates so easily. He caught himself a lot of attention,” Orion says bitterly.

Sariel and Aeleyn accompany Rowan to the temple of Pelor. Rowan enters alone and begins a deep prayer in an attempt to reconnect with her god and her magic, a connection that has broken since the battle with Harami. She consults the priest of Pelor who lives at the temple, Father Smythe, who tells her that, “Power is about choice. Perhaps you aren’t connecting to Pelor not because of what you chose to do, but instead why you choose to do it. Are you certain these friends are good influences on your journey towards faith and the light?” After an afternoon of prayer, Pelor sends Rowan a vision of open arms and a sweet, welcoming smile. My daughter,  a voice tells you. You know what is right.

Fen, on the other hand, is drawn to the temple of Ioun by a young boy who stands in the doorway of the temple, beckoning her inside. The boy gives her a choice: does she want to know about her first dream, the one that drove her from her home (the Witchcombe forest) in the first place, or her second dream? Fen asks if Ioun knows anything about her first dream. The boy settles at the altar and begins to speak. “There are stories about an ancient, Chained God,” he says quietly. “Stories that have been kept in the zeitgeist by my god’s sheer force of will. You see, Ioun is the patron of knowledge and prophecy, and I believe your dream was prophetic in nature. We should all be scared if Tharizdun is awakening.”

Mathilde, on her own, makes her way to the gate that divides the bottom ring of Soraya, Lower Soraya, with the Merchant’s Ring (the middle ring of the city). She is looking for Solomon, her contact within the city, who has put out a bounty for the troll’s head she carries in the bag she has with her. The six guards standing watch there give her a suspicious look, and then offer to take her to Solomon’s shop. But instead of taking her to the shop, they deceive her: instead, they reveal that they have taken her to the Ravenwing Royal Prison. The guards draw their weapons on Mathilde as the session comes to a close.

SESSION 6 RECAP »