#moral of the session: valko is most useful when he's not doing anything

[verbjectives]

team rood session 27 holy shit

my dudes the first like...third was the most stressed i’ve ever been in a session and i wasn’t even playing it

shout out to @druid-faylen for being fucking amazing and thank the dice gods for rolling in her favor when it counted

faylen, the king, and the king’s wizard (zinnis) managed to infiltrate the castle thanks to some invisibility potions and a potion of gaseous form

they made it to the king’s office without much of a hitch and they managed to get the king’s seal as well as blueprints to the castle so they can navigate the servant’s tunnels

they did get into a scuffle with some blackguards that almost ended badly but they managed to run back into the servants’ tunnels and managed to lose them for just long enough

the three of them made it to the area above the throne room where they were within range to dispel the anti-magic runes that protect the throne room.

in order to successfully dispel the runes both faylen and zinnis had to roll the same number 

they both rolled a 5 and it fucking WORKED

faylen cast thunderwave to break the glass beneath them so they could drop into the throne room

they jumped down

faylen casts a wall of fire around grisha, burning part of his throne and his robes

“THIS IS FOR VALKO”

suck it grisha

and once they’re within 10 feet of eryk, zinnis teleports himself, eryk, the king, and faylen outta the castle, out of the city, and to a village a few miles away.

meanwhile...

ovak’s soul got stuck in her ring, so she spent some time stuck in a domed room, looking out at the world from inside the little red jewel on it.

she headbutted her way out breaking the gem and her soul ascended to moradin’s forge

where she had a chat with moradin (who was in his god form rather than the form ovak is used to seeing because grisha had severed her connection to her god)

iirc he told her that his son (nerull) was up to no good

i believe he also told her to watch out for valko because he’s gonna be feeling particlularly lost

she asks if she can expect any further betrayals from him

to which moradin replies that if there are they would not be his true intent and to “look to the elf” for answers.

And then she’s brought back!

...and in a pile of dead bodies...

also meanwhile...

valko...went to hell...or started heading that way

his soul started to get pulled apart so that was fun

pelor was unable to help him because grisha had severed his connection to his god 

which honestly was fine because he didn’t really expect pelor to come to his rescue again

but then the raven queen plucked him out of there and informed him that her father (nerull) is back on his bullshit

she gave him the option to come back if he promises to make sure that the dead remain dead (??? icr the exact wording n it was kind of vague so i’ll have to listen back to that at some point)

he agrees because as much as he wants to die, he knows he needs to take responsibility for what he’s done

so she brings him back

and he’s in a pile of dead bodies

SO

the running theory of grisha being the champion of nerull is heavily implied if not #confirmed

ANYWAYS

before finding each other both ovak and valko ended up wandering around the tunnels under the city

valko ended up setting off the alarm zinnis had placed on the trapdoor that led to his office

which ofc lured some patrolling blackguards that way

he rolled a nat20 acrobatics roll to essentially scott pilgrim jump over them and book it outta there and into another tunnel

he ended up making his way back to the place where they had fought the 50 goblins. he tried to find the secret door they had come through the last time they were there, but couldn’t find it because he’s got shitty investigation and i had shitty rolls

ovak literally sniffed him out and found him in there

they took a short rest there because it was relatively safe and both of them were only at 1hp so they really needed to take a breather and roll some hit dice

valko went blind for 10 hours at the end of said long rest

that took him out of commission and ovak had to carry him like a sack of potatoes

which is probably one of the best things to happen because it meant that he had little opportunity to fuck something up

ovak successfully navigated the two of them around the city without being seen by the patrolling blackguards and managed to pick up her hammer

well...

there was one point where ovak flung valko over her shoulder and he grunted because of the wind getting knocked out of him

which a blackguard heard and he found them.

he ordered them to come with him in deep speech. valko was able to piece that much together with his knowledge of undercommon

so he repeated the order back at the blackguard and ovak was holding her hammer out as a sort of offering (because the blackguards were looking for where it went/who took it)

both valko and ovak rolled an 8 on their persuasion rolls

the blackguard rolled a nat1 

they lured him back into a corner and knocked him out

onward they went to the house of enchantment to try to get their magical items back

and they were pretty damn successful in that endevor

ovak got her fancy armor and her cloak of the bat back

valko got the oathbow back and he also got the belt of dwarven kind back

along with some other misc items that will probs come in handy

ovak rolled a nat20 to find the bag of holding!!!!!!

N THEN OVAK DRANK A POTION OF FLYING THAT THEY FOUND WHILE IN THE HOUSE OF ENCHANTERS, BUSTED THROUGH THE ROOF, AND THEy FLEW OUTTA THERE

blind valko didn’t take to flying terribly well

they camped out and rested in a nearby town (that was abandoned due to the activities in the city)

also worth mentioning: every single time valko has ended up with a quiet moment and left alone with just his thoughts he’s broken down crying 

MEANWHILE

faylen informed the king of how everything went to shit so quickly

which is to say, now the king knows that valko sold out eryk

she also offers to be an ambassador to the elven country (where she’s from) to try to gather forces to fight against grisha and take back the city

LATER...

faylen rolled a nat1 while trying to cook breakfast and accidentally made some potions of poison instead

ovak and valko finish their rest and started heading towards ovak’s hometown (which is where faylen, eryk, the king, and zinnis are) because it’s the next closest village

grisha makes a little radio broadcast into their heads and says something antagonistic because that’s who he is

valko gets his vision back and gets a massive headache

he and ovak talk about some of the weird things that have been happening to them

they bond a little bit n it’s nice

they make it to ovak’s hometown

ovak gets a happy welcome

valko not so much

the king is fucking PISSED

and i think valko probably would have lost use of his hand (if not lost it entirely) if ovak hadn’t stepped in and come to his defense

ovak brings up that grisha probably cursed her and valko and so faylen casts greater restoration on them which brings their magic back (YAY)

faylen and valko go with zinnis to look for anti-scrying spells or items to try to help cloak them from grisha and valko fills faylen in on what happened from the time he died to the time he and ovak arrived in the village

there was a little bit of bonding there too

“maybe someday i’ll tell you the whole story” (re: grisha)

“i’m always here to listen”

valko sends a message to eryk’s mom to tell her eryk is safe. 

she’s ALSO pissed at valko because she knows what he did

he also sends a message to his parents, hoping that they’re safe

silence...but then thanos answers

“thank the gods...”

the gang starts packing up an abandoned vegetable cart to use as transportation to get them down south to either Port Town or Ships Haven

iirc i think we’re heading towards Ships Haven since that’s where the lord of another town/ally of the king fled to

session ended with ovak loading eryk (who has been unconscious/asleep the entire time) into the carriage part of the cart.

and just as she’s doing this, his eyes open

“ovak?”