#i looooooove rhododendron and Verrix’s relationship aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHH

[orderofthedyingstar]

RECAP: Session 7

SESSION SEVEN

(Hi Danny!)

Rhododendron and Jun continue to eat their breakfast, while Jun hedges around the fact that he’s curious about the angel’s strange request. The two go outside, where Rhododendron (annoyed) yells at the angel to tell them who they’re looking for.

Rhododendron: “Who did you want us to kill?” 

Angel: “There’s an aasimar I’d really, really like dead.” 

Rhododendron: “Why? Are they ugly?” 

Angel: “Rather not say. Look, just kill any aasimar you see around these parts, there aren’t many of them.”

The angel, in lieu of a description, offers 100 platinum to the crowd to hunt any aasimar they see. They make a few platinum coins and disperse them into the crowd for incentive. After the angel leaves, Jun immediately catches onto the fact that Rhododendron wants to help this random aasimar, despite not knowing who they are or anything about them. Rhododendron asks Velanna and Leo if they’re going to participate in the aasimar hunt, but they respond that they’re not going to get involved because it seems dangerous. Rhododendron thinks there’s something off about the whole circumstance.

Rhododendron pulls Jun aside and tells him that she knows an aasimar, a friend she met a while ago and hasn’t seen in a few months. She decides to look around the area on the off chance the angel is looking for him. (She uses her hands several times to count to numbers less than ten.)

OF NOTE: “rhododendron doesn’t know anything about  magic, because all of her magic comes from the earth. That’s why it’s bullshit”

Verrix has just arrived at the Snaketail Crevice Trading Post, concerned about the strange aggressiveness the people here seem to be exhibiting - they’re searching around the whole area, and several people are fighting over a platinum coin. He heads to the local tavern and hides in a dark corner, watching as Rhododendron walks through the tavern door and immediately spots him staring at her. She asks Verrix what he’s doing here but he fudges around an answer. 

Rhododendron: “Are you lying to me? You’ve already done that like eight million times.” 

Verrix: “You definitely can’t count that high.”

Rhododendron tells Verrix that he needs to leave the outpost, catching Verrix up to the situation at hand with the angel and the enormous bounty. 

Rhododendron (to Verrix): “You could really use a shower.” 

Jun: “Rhododendron, when was the last time you showered?”

Rhododendron (as Verrix is audibly snickering): “Listen, some people look beautiful with leaves in their hair. Verrix is not one of them.”

The trio tries to sneak out of the outpost but fail miserably (another nat1 from Rhododendron), but Verrix manages to salvage their mess by convincing the crowd that some random citizen is the aasimar they’re looking for - Rhododendron is also convinced that Verrix really did point out another aasimar. They decide to try to meet Donny (and possibly Raz) on the road between Dynafell and the outpost rather than chance staying in the frenzied crowd of people. They decide to cut through the grasslands to save time. 

Rhododendron: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you read a book.” 

Verrix: “A what?”

While they’re traveling, Rhdodoendron tries to make Verrix tell Jun the story of how they met (Verrix: “do I even remember?”) but then gives up and tells the story herself: while she was walking home after dance rehearsal, some stranger grabbed her hand (while trying to pickpocket the guy next to her). When he started running away, Rhododendron chased him down (they argue about whether Verrix was crying or not) and shot his cape into the ground.

Rhododendron: “I didn’t confront him the crowd, psh. I waited until he was cornered and alone.” 

Verrix: “Like an animal.” 

Rhododendron: “Yeah! Like an animal! (…) I have a perfect memory, I can recount any tale.” 

Verrix: “I bet you do that on your hands too.” 

Rhododendron: “ANYWAYS, he can’t pull the arrow out because he’s weak as hell, so I felt bad and tried to help him pull the arrow out of the ground.”

Verrix: “No you didn’t. You were laughing.” 

Rhododendron: “I was laughing a little bit. So eventually I felt bad and sat down and helped him pull the arrow out of the ground, but he tried to run, so I shot him for real this time. (At Jun and Verrix’s scandalized looks) In the leg!”

While Verrix recovered from the arrow wound (and ran away, with Rhododendron saving his life) he lived with Rhododendron for a few months. Before she can fully catch Verrix up on the situation at hand, Rhododendron hears voices from a nearby grove of trees. She makes Verrix and Jun wait while she investigates the source of the noises, finding that there are a few bandits arguing about what to do with a captive aasimar that they have tied to a tree. Among the bandits is a fire genasi (Umbra, c’mon) that seems to be the leader of the group. Rhododendron tries to cut the aasimar free of the ropes, but ends up loudly scratching the bark and alerting the bandits to her presence.

Umbra: “Who are you?” 

Rhododendron: “Uh, Romeo.” 

Umbra: “What are you doing here?” 

Rhododendron: “It’s, uh, hard-eth not to.” 

Umbra: “Right, well, I’m going to kill you now. Nothing personal.”

Rhododendron: “It seemeth personal!”

When they hear the bandits go quiet, Verrix and Jun realize that Rhododendron might be in trouble. They head over to where the bandits are to help her.

Verrix: “I don’t think her plan worked.” 

Jun: “She had a plan?” 

Verrix: “Good point.”

As Rhododendron shoots Umbra, it seems like they instantly heal the wound, yanking the arrow out without flinching. During the fight Umbra singles out Rhododendron and hits her using their own blood, causing her to go into a blood rage. Rhododendron is fully taken into her Romeo schtick in her frenzy, tearing at the bandits with her swords. One of the dwarven bandits (rolling a poorly timed critical miss) accidentally kills himself with his own war hammer. Umbra sends out a blast of necrotic energy with a scream that hits everyone on the battlefield, blood flying out from them and blinding Rhododendron and Jun. Right after Rhododendron sustains heavy damage from another one of the bandits, the other aasimar wakes up, punching one of the dwarven bandits straight in the face. 

Umbra causes Verrix to go into the blood rage. Meanwhile, Rhododendron’s blood rage ends, giving her a point of exhaustion. The strange aasimar heals Rhododendron a little, asking if she’s okay. Verrix manages to work through his blood rage to finish off most of the bandits. The other aasimar, while Rhododendron and Jun are still blinded, unfurls a pair of skeletal wings, Frightening the remaining bandits. Rhododendron finally manages to wipe the blood out of her eyes in time to see a tree that Jun accidentally set on fire, a stranger with creepy wings, and Verrix practically frothing at the mouth with bloodlust. 

The party manages to finish off the last of the bandits and realizes that the fire genasi disappeared sometime in the middle of the fight. (Rhododendron is at two hp, they short rest.) The strange aasimar keeps his distance from the group, eyeing the ashen remains of the majority of the bandit group. Verrix and Rhododendron have both taken one point of exhaustion. 

Rhododendron: “Hey! New guy! Why’d you get tied to a tree?” 

Inigo: “Uh, someone knocked me out.” 

Rhododendron: “What did you do? Very few people get knocked out without deserving it.”

Rhododendron properly introduces the group to the other aasimar, and asks if he knows any angels - he says he wishes he didn’t. He then dances around answering any questions that Rhododendron asks other than providing his name. After finding out he doesn’t have any memories - and after Inigo inadvertently name-drops ‘Umbra’ (followed by a lot of “um, bruh” jokes) - the party convinces Inigo to come with them, with Rhododendron telling him that she knows him (and that she’s his mentor). Rhododendron recruits Inigo to go join their party, keeping the details of her goals in the mountains vague.

While continuing their trek towards Dynafell, Verrix tells Rhododendron that it’s a little hard being on the run since he “can’t run very fast”, to which Rhododendron casts Longstrider on him. When Verrix starts walking too far ahead of the group, Rhododendron warns her that Umbra is probably still running around somewhere nearby. As they get closer to Dynafell, Rhododendron fills Verrix in on the reason she cannot go back into the city. Donny pops out of the grass, threatening Verrix with her great sword before realizing that he’s with Rhododendron. She reveals that she got Raz to come along with her, and that angels also appeared in Dynafell to offer a huge reward for killing any aasimar in the area. 

Rhododendron: “Huh, weird. Anyways, I don’t know any aasimar.”

Rhododendron persuades Donny to stop harassing the rest of the party after she finds out that 1) two of them are aasimar and 2) Rhododendron was in a fight where she was pretty badly hurt. Donny is still disappointed by the additions to the party (and that Jun is still there). Donny is convinced that Inigo is lying to the group about not having any memories.

Rhododendron: “Do you see that big bump on the back of his head??”

Donny: “I can make it bigger.”

After realizing that Inigo and Verrix aren’t safe anywhere nearby, the group decides to head towards the closest other city: Tszar, a coastal city a few days away. Along the way, people in the small farming villages they pass through also mention the appearance of the angels and their enormous bounty. Verrix disguises himself, Rhododendron helps Inigo put a disguise on to avoid suspicion as they move through these villages and telling the rest of the group to ‘lie low’. 

Rhododendron (in a bad fake accent): “Ah, Donyah, silly girl.” 

Donny: “My name is Donny! DONNY! Did you forget already?” 

Verrix: “It’s okay, it took her two weeks to stop calling me Ferret.”

As they pass through a few more villages, Rhododendron realizes that it might not be safe anywhere for the aasimar she’s with, further confirmed after Jun falls asleep and says that the angels are looking for two aasimar. He also mentions that their best chance of avoiding one of the aasimar getting killed is to pass back through the Snaketail Crevice. 

Donny: “It seems like you’re doing this to avoid addressing the personal problems in your life. That’s why you’re fixating on helping strangers and killing dragons.” 

Rhododendron: “……I’m not killing any dragons.”

After Donny continues to annoy Rhododendron and make vague threats at the rest of the party, Jun casts Silence on her, happening to trap Raz in the sphere of magic as well. (Rhododendron, to Verrix: “Is this what love is?”) The party heads back towards the crevice in relatively more peace, but Rhododendron and Donny get trapped by a bush that they have a lot of difficult setting on fire - and Raz refuses to help with. Rhododendron manages to cut herself free (Jun slows her fall with Featherfall) while Donny takes a little while longer to wrestle out of the bush’s vines (Jun just watches her fall, Inigo reluctantly catches her). The party eventually manages to defeat the bush after sustaining a surprising amount of damage.  The party decides to trek a little further before taking a long rest, getting rid of Verrix and Rhododendron’s exhaustion.

The next morning, Donny scavenges a few birds from the nearby trees for ‘breakfast’, throwing one at Verrix when Rhododendron tells her to share. Verrix takes a bite out of the raw bird, (rolling a nat20 CON check) and keeps eating it to the collective horror of the party minus Donny, who offers him another bloody bird.  As they pass through more villages on their way back to the Crevice, Rhododendron and Jun notice that the people are still frenzied in their search for the aasimar, with Jun pointing out that it’s an unnatural frenzy, similar to the blood rage Umbra had inflicted on the party the day before - and that, if allowed to continue, people might die from the unnatural frenzy. Jun wonders if the angels are trying to kill all aasimar rather than anyone in specific. Verrix tries to get answers from the voice in his head but there is no response; Rhododendron asks Inigo if he’s heard any voices in his head since waking up, but he denies hearing anything. Rhododendron offers everyone in the party (except Verrix and Inigo) an out from the party if they want it, but no one takes her up on the offer. Donny wonders if killing the person/entities responsible for cursing people with their blood-frenzy will end the spell, but Jun says it isn’t guaranteed. Rhododendron decides to split the party up to search for answers, or a cure. 

Rhododendron: “Me, Inigo, and Verrix are gonna go - well, no. We all have the intelligence of a paper bag.” 

Verrix: “Has that stopped us before?” 

Rhododendron, Jun, and Inigo: “Yes.”

Verrix, Raz, and Donny are one group; Rhododendron, Jun, and Inigo are the other - Donny is horribly jealous. Before the groups split up, Jun Sees that the cause of the aasimar hunt is personal, but can’t identify the individual behind it. The groups enter the canyon, the first group taking the top level while the other one walking along the bottom path - Rhododendron, Inigo, and Jun can hear everything that the group above them says. Donny (unsurprisingly) makes a lot of noise in the canyon, causing a bright streak of radiant light to come down from the sky and hit her. An angel much like the one from earlier lands in front of Donny, engaging the party in combat. Rhododendron, hearing the angel land and threaten half of her party, climbs up to a higher level to join the fight (still below Verrix, Raz, and Donny), while Jun is tasked with babysitting Inigo on the lower level and keeping him out of the fight (although he still throws a few Firebolts up at the angels). After a few rounds of combat where the party (minus Verrix) has trouble hitting the angel, the party manages to finish it off, with Donny beheading the angel. The angel’s body turns into dust as Verrix pushes it off of a ledge, with Verrix remembering just enough about celestials to know that ‘real’ angel’s bodies don’t turn into dust when they die. 

Rhododendron: “Hey, do tieflings have wings?” 

Jun: “Some. Not me, I don’t even have a tail, ha.” 

Rhododendron: “I’m…sorry?” 

Jun: “Don’t be. It’s a personal choice.”

As the group travels further into the canyon, Jun and Rhododendron try to speculate about the angels’ purpose and what the cure might be, while Donny grills Verrix about Rhododendron - mistaking his responses to mean that they were involved while he was living with her.

Verrix: “So how do you and Rhododendron know each other?” 

Donny: “Oh, we’re like BFFS, and someday - RAZ, COVER YOUR EARS! - we’re gonna *vulgar hand gestures*” 

Verrix: “Uh, you guys are gonna walk a dog?” Donny, winking: “Yeah, we’re gonna walk a dog.”

Rhododendron yells up at Donny that she can hear everything she’s saying, and that she still won’t forgive Donny if she hurts Jun (or Verrix). Inigo starts to regain a little bit of his memory, and Jun offers to charm him into forgetting again ‘in case he turns on them’. The ground starts rumbling further down the canyon, and a giant crack appears in the canyon floor as a giant purple-centipede-thing crawls out of the hole. Donny falls from the overhead bridge she’s on all the way to the canyon floor, taking a large amount (27 points) of bludgeoning damage. During the fight the monster casts an illusory meadow over the battlefield, making it difficult for the party to tell the different height levels in the canyon and where the giant hole in the ground is. Rhododendron, Verrix, and Donny manage to land solid hits on the creature; Jun freezes a part of the battlefield, outlining part of the terrain through the illusion. During the fight the creature spits out what looks like another of the green angels at the party. 

When Inigo engages the angel in combat they get annoyed, calling him by his name to the surprise of Inigo and Rhododendron. They try to interrogate the strange angel, who says that she was ‘looking for her son’ and confirms that it is Inigo, who looks completely baffled. She also says that she’s going to kill him. After some more hesitation, Inigo finally starts to attack the angel.

Rhododendron: “Why are you attacking him?! He’s never done anything to you!” 

Angel: “He’s done plenty. Don’t get involved in this, he’s my responsibility.”

Donny gets swallowed by the worm during the fight. Rhododendron is horrified, but keeps fighting the angel; Verrix gets close to finishing off the monster. Inigo is distracted from the fight, clutching his head as a few memories start to fall back into place, his mother still trying to kill him.

Angel: “Listen, you were a mistake. I’m just trying to fix that. You’re not mad, are you?” 

Rhododendron: “YES, YES YOU ARE.” 

Inigo: “I…I…? OF COURSE I’M FUCKING MAD.”

Inigo rages (finally becoming competent in combat like he was meant to), although he’s still having trouble with his returning memories. Donny manages to get spit out of the worm, only for it to swallow Jun soon after. Inigo’s rage ends, and he sits out the rest of the battle, too confused and exhausted to continue fighting. As the creature’s health gets whittled down by Verrix and Donny, it spits up Jun - straight into Raz, damaging them both. Donny takes Jun’s dagger and uses it to finish the worm off, partially (and sloppily) decapitating it. Rhododendron finishes the angel off, shooting an arrow straight through her mouth and dissolving her in a shower of gold. Donny cuts off quite a few of the worm’s legs to keep as trophies, while Jun confirms that the worm and its illusions were the cause of the widespread frenzy due to it having swallowed an angel. Donny tries to eat one of the legs and pukes blood. 

Inigo: “We don’t know each other, do we?”

Rhododendron: “Does it matter that we don’t know each other?”

Inigo: “Ugh….”

Donny tries to shove legs into other people’s bags, and the party heads back to the trading post. They’re relieved to find that the people at the outpost aren’t in a frenzied rage anymore, with most people assuming that the aasimar that the angels were after is dead. When they return to the tavern, Donny tries to barter some of her worm legs for food/drink, nearly getting kicked out of the place in the process. 

Rhododendron: “So…dragon tomorrow?” 

Everyone: *groans* 

Donny: I wanna nap! I wish I knew what sleep was!”

Donny (followed after a little while by Raz) ditches the table the party gets to sit at the bar and continue to try to barter off her worm legs, while Jun and Inigo fall asleep at the table. Rhododendron asks Verrix if he wants to stick with her and the rest of the party for the foreseeable future, to which he responds that he ‘might as well’. Verrix hears the chime of bells and laughter in the back of his mind. Rhododendron rents two rooms for the party to rest in, then looks over her strange group of acquaintances + Verrix and sneaks out of the tavern, overwhelmed. Verrix catches her leaving but doesn’t say anything. After a few minutes spent brooding and staring at the mountain range, Rhododendron drags Verrix outside to talk. During the talk Rhododendron does that YA-novel/anime protagonist thing where she convinces herself that she’s responsible for bringing danger into the lives of the people around her, much to Verrix’s concern.

Rhododendron: “Are you sure you want to do this? You almost died today.”

Verrix: “You could die so many ways at this point.” 

Rhododendron: “Exactly, you almost died today. Like a lot. And you could be safer if you were not chasing dragons.” 

Verrix: “So could you, but is that gonna stop you?” 

Rhododendron: ”You were never really involved in this until I dragged you into it…” 

Verrix: “Wouldn’t be the first time.” 

Rhododendron: “Hey! Technically, you dragged me into the other stuff. The stuff with your -” 

Verrix: “Shut up!” 

Rhododendron: “You tried to rob me!”

Verrix: “Nuh-uh, the guy next to you. Your hand was in the way, flailing all over the place.”

Rhododendron asks Verrix if he wants to go with her, without the rest of the party, into the mountains to find the dragon. She also asks Verrix to tell Donny and Jun not to go after her if he stays. Verrix repeatedly tries to convince Rhododendron to stay with the group, to little success, even though Rhododendron admits that she would miss him, Donny, and Jun.

Rhododendron: “Jun is…weirdly feels like my other half, I guess? That’s way more romantic that I meant to put it. He gets what I’m saying even if I don’t make any sense. And Donny...”

Donny, Raz, and Jun are playing cards when Rhododendron heads back inside, Inigo still fake-sleeping at the table. Rhododendron kisses Donny on the cheek before she goes to bed.