Session Two
The shock of Ash’s father dying is just starting to set in as the rest of the villagers complete the grim work of burying the cultists — all save their leader, who is still smoldering.
“We’ll take these two back to town for Father Skot to question,” the blacksmith says as he points to the captured cultists. “Don’t push yourselves to get back to the village too quickly. You all did great work rescuing us like you did.”
He turns to look directly at Ash. “Your father was a good man. Mysterious as a new moon, but a good, trustworthy man. We can take him to the village for a ceremony, or we will help bury him here.”
Ash isn’t able to respond as he’s still in shock from his father dying in his arms. The blacksmith says, “It’s ok, son. We’ll take him to the village for a proper burial.”
The villagers finish making small cairns for the slain cultists but leave the leader smoldering; some mutter about “leaving him for the animals.”
Wend lithely walks over to the corpse, reaches into a pouch, and pours some seeds over the man’s body. She says a few words in an arcane language that sounds like a whisper in the trees.
While giving final rites to the man, she notices that he is covered in intricate but disturbing tattoos and also shows signs of implants in his body.
“Ves, do you recognize this metal? It makes me think of your stories,” Wend says to Vesper.
The diminutive bard peers at the corpse and says, “It certainly has the makings of the Great Machine, but it has taken my faith and twisted it. These implants look like what I remember metalflesh to be.”
She turns to the rest of the party and pauses before saying, “The culture I hail from — the tech nomads — wouldn’t allow such implants to go to waste. It was customary to make use of such wonders after a person’s passing. But I don’t wish to offend if that is not your custom here.”
Celia and Ash barely say anything back to her as they’re still deep in shock. Yara perks up and walks over to the body before saying, “That sounds super macabre, but I don’t take issue with it. I’ll watch it if you don’t mind.”
Vesper does her best to explain the pathology to the budding ranger as she does her best to salvage the metalflesh from the cultist’s remains.
“So do al you guys have metal in you?” Yara asks Vesper.
The bard shakes her head and responds, “I do not, but some of the elders did. It was a sign of being blessed by the Machine Gods. Often times the older members of the tribe would get implants to keep them alive. Others would get metalflesh to augment their abilities.”
“I have metal in me, but it is not the same,” Wend says with a wink as she points to her earrings.”
After about an hour of work, Vesper discovers that two of the three implants are burnt beyond being usable. The third still appears to be in working order, but she doesn’t know what it is or does.
The third is a rectangular bit of flexible metal. It has intricate markings about both sides. However, while one side feels smooth, the other is rough to the touch. Vesper tries to give the piece of metal to Ash to help jolt him out of shock.
“Perhaps in your father’s laboratory, we can find out what this device does,” Vesper says.
Ash grimaces and says, “I wasn’t allowed in my father’s lab much,” before breaking down in tears.
He throws a fit for a bit and curses his father, the cultists, and life in general before regaining his composure. Ash apologizes to the group and says it’s time to get home so he can prepare for his father’s burial.
“We should check out the lab, though,” Yara says, hoping to learn more of all the strange tidings that brought them together. Meanwhile, Celia has been sitting alone off to the side, staring at her blood-stained spear and the cultists’ graves.
Before leaving the ruins, the party manages to salvage some gear that the villagers piled together from the cultists. Taking one last look at the site of their first battle, the teens set off back to End’s Meet.
“Do the three of you remember seeing of their flying vessels?” Vesper asks everyone while walking home.
“They can fly?!” Yara exclaims.
The otherworldly duo explains how they were taken by men in flying craft back in their forest home.
“They make you feel very nauseous,” Wend before asking Vesper if she can get the device to work. “Poke the buttons!”
Sighing and worrying about the danger, Vesper looks for buttons to poke. She doesn’t find any, but she discovers that the rectangle’s rough side adheres easily to the skin.
“Hmm, this reminds me of velcro. It was a technology for clothing the ancients employed. Impossible to make and hard to come by in our forest,” Vesper says. “I would be careful putting this on your skin just yet, though. That cultist might have been a good man once before possibly being corrupted by technology.”
With a rumble in her stomach, Wend realizes they haven’t eaten in some time. She asks the group if they know of a safe place she and Vesper could stay for the night. Ash offers him his home for the time being.
“You helped me kill the guy who killed my father,” he says with a growl as he walks quickly forward, not wanting to let emotion overtake him. The rest of the journey to the village is made in silence.
Upon arriving at the gates, a guard calls out to them and says they are requested at the temple. He says Father Skot wants to speak with them urgently.
“I guess we should go,” Yara says with a sneer. “Should we take Wend and Vesper?”
“I think you should stay with us right now,” Celia says as she protectively motions to them.
Arriving just in time to hear blood-curdling screams followed by gurgling, Vesper interjects, “Are these typical noises associated with your practice of worship?”
“No, something is very wrong,” Ash roars as he kicks in the temple doors.
The party is met with the shocking visage of the cultists’ bodies twisting in agony and foaming at their mouths. Father Skot turns to them quickly and yells, “Stay back! I’m not sure if the poison will affect us, too.”
The venerable priest waves his hands, along with a holy symbol, and a gust of wind and energy bursts forth, sweeping the foam and smell from the bodies.
“That should do it,” Skot says. “Been a while since I had to use my magic. We tried to interrogate those two once they woke up, but we couldn’t get much out of them before they just started spouting numbers — like some kind of code. Then they started screaming and died just as you arrived.”
Ash is angered at the priest’s display of magic and yells, “What the hell, Father? Now you can do magic? What about the summer I broke my arm? Where was the healing then?”
Father Skot nods and says, “There is a time for spells and a time for nature to take its course. If I had healed your arm quickly, you wouldn’t have learned anything. Pain is nature’s greatest teacher.”
“Really,” Ash says exasperatedly. “That’s the last fucking thing I need to hear from you right now.”
The old priest winces and says, “Yes, a poor choice of words. I’m sorry for your father’s loss. He and I were fast friends, and we had many great talks. I will miss him. Rest assured, we will help with whatever you need, Ash.”
Hoping to get past the tense exchange, Celia pipes up and asks, “Were you able to get any answers out of them Father Skot?”
He responds that he wasn’t able to get much out of the zealots. He says the cultists spoke of a “Karra Karra” and “the crooked hills” but started screaming numbers shortly after that.
The mention of “Karra Karra” jolts Ash into action. He remembers his father speaking of a “Caracara Fair.”
“Yes, that could be it. Their speech had a strange accent to it,” Father Skot says.
Meanwhile, Vesper is busy investigating the bodies. She doesn’t find any implants but sees more tattoos on their bodies, albeit much less ornate than their leaders. She then asks the old priest if he can take a look at the arcane metal strip.
He gingerly picks it up along with his holy symbol. It is apparent to Celia, Vesper, and Wend that the priest is unnerved by Vesper’s visage and her talk of “Machine Gods” but is trying to be respectful. Vesper isn’t bothered as she’s used to her people being outcasts.
Father Skot stares at the item for several moments and appears lost in thought. Eventually, he hands it back to her and says, “While I cannot tell what it does, I don’t get any inklings of evil or corruption from it.”
Another cleric comes into the room and whispers something to the old priest before handing him a package. Father Skot sighs and walks over to Ash.
“I hate to do this now,” He says. “But this was found on your father’s body. I’m sure he’d want you to have it.”
He gives the boy a monogrammed silk handkerchief and a metal ring. The monogram bears the initials of Ash’s father, while the ring features an inlaid circle of cobalt blue running the entirety of the heirloom. Ash accepts the ring and places it in a pouch.
Turning to the party, Father Skot says, “Vesper and Wend are welcome to stay here tonight. The rest of you should get home and prepare for the funeral tomorrow.”
Before they all leave, he continues, “It’s not my place to tell you all what to do. That is the job of your parents. That said, you are of age and can make your own decisions now. It would pain me to see you leave the safety of the village, but I would understand if you feel the call of adventure and mystery.”
Ash, Celia, and Yara return to their homes exhausted from the day’s adventure. Vesper and Wend are taken to the temple’s central area and given cots, blankets, and food for the night. The pair discusses their next moves.
Vesper is wholly intrigued by the mystery of the cult and their capture, while Wend would like to get home. However, the druid accepts that solving the mystery and stopping the cult may be their best chance to get home and to stay safe.
“If you kill a small bear, its mother will come and attack you eventually,” Wend says.
When Ash gets home, he shuts the door and immediately breaks down in tears. He tears through the house looking for this “lab,” his father spoke over but comes up empty. Eventually, he puts on the ring while cursing his father.
That’s when everything goes white, and soon he’s met with a vision of his father at a desk. The image beckons to him before saying, “The mystery is yours now, and so is the lab.”
“Where the hell is this lab of yours!” Ash screams as he kicks an old chest in his father’s workspace. He immediately winces in pain, but as he opens his eyes, Ash notices the chest has moved, revealing a trapdoor below.
“What the heck, dad? This is just goddamn like you!” He exclaims.
Lifting the door, he looks down into the darkness before closing it again. “This is too big even for me,” he thinks out loud. “Always a lesson with this guy. He couldn’t just come out and involve me.”
Ash composes himself before racing out to gather his friends. He finds Celia outside her home, practicing with her spear. He breathlessly tries to catch her up on all he saw and the vision he had.
“I don’t think you should investigate this alone,” Celia says calmly. “I’ll get Vesper and Wend if you can get Yara. We’ll meet back at your house.”
Ash leaves her to find the strange travelers while he runs to Yara’s home. Astounded, he sees her practicing complex martial arts on top of her roof.
“What brings you here this late?” She asks. “I could hear you running all the way from Celia’s house.”
He barely gets half of the story out before she energetically yells, “Let’s go!” The surefooted ranger bounds off the roof with a majestic leap.
Soon, all five make their way back to Ash’s home. Before pulling the trapdoor, Ash says, “I don’t know what’s on the other side of this. My dad never told me about it.”
He explains the vision that the ring gave him before saying, “This is just too much of a coincidence. I get the feeling this is all tied together. I’m going to see where this leads me, but the rest of you don’t have to.”
Yara is the first to speak up. “If this can help Vesper and Wend get home, I’m in! Plus, I hear they have delicious berries, and I want to see their forest.”
Celia ponders the matter for a moment and responds, “I feel like I need to see where this goes. I don’t feel I can stay here anymore knowing that people like that are out there.”
Vesper and Wend nod appreciatively at their three new friends. Vesper asks Ash if she can take a look at the ring. He hands it to her while fielding her questions about the experience.
“I’m familiar with some magic, but I’ve never experienced anything like this,” he says.
The bard inspects the ring, and as she suspected, it had similar markings to technology she saw back home and on the cult leader’s body. However, the ring is much less intricate than what she is used to.
“Perhaps your father was a great practitioner in his own right. “Vesper says. “I’m impressed he was able to craft such a device with just the tools we’ve seen so far. I don’t mean to offend, but it would be like a monkey creating a siege engine or writing a play.”
After deciding on a marching order, the party sets forth down into the darkness. Ash believes the stairway they climbed down runs for about 20 to 30 feet below his home, but it’s hard to tell in the dark. Somewhat abashedly, he remembers the lantern he has before setting it alight.
The group eventually finds the end of the stairs, and the passage continues in a straight hallway. On one side, Ash finds a set of double doors, and the hallway ends with turns to the left or right.
The group opens the doors to the right first and find themselves in a large study. The room is filled with bookshelves, tables, and pinboards all strewn with books and papers. An eerie green glow can be faintly seen in the room’s back, coming from the floor.
Striding confidently into the room, Yara quickly finds a map on one of the tables. Pouring over it for a few moments, she learns that it could be the current location of Caracara Fair. Ash finds more mentions of the fair on the pinboards, all of them marked with the word “infestation.”
Searching the rest of the room, the adventurers discover the glow comes from a pool of green water set about 5 feet below the room’s floor. The pool is covered in metal and glass while it pulsates with power.
“This is beautiful. Do you think we should touch it?” Yara asks.
Vesper mentions that she’s heard of “power coming from pools of radiance,” but she isn’t sure what the impact of touching it would be. Yara lays on the glass and listens. She hears a slight hum and feels the pull of energy coming from inside.
Meanwhile, Celia has trouble processing the torrent of strangeness she’s experiencing. First, it was the cult’s raid, then this unnatural laboratory has her on edge. She is put off by the unfamiliar nature of everything and is scared of it.
Leaving the study, the group heads to the left at the fork in the hallway. They find a greenhouse of sorts this time, but none of the plants are familiar to Ash, Celia, or Yara. The two main bushes are both otherworldly, but Wend vaguely recognizes the pair.
“These are similar to plants in my forest,” she says. “They could be cousins. I think the first one is ‘Essex Incepta’ and the second is ‘Shrike’s Nest.'”
The druid explains that Essex Incepta is a succulent that is useful in healing salves. The spiky, cactus-like plant oozes a milky, red substance when its leaves are cut or broken. The Shrike’s Nest plant is a bush with spiky thorns and slender, yellow leaves. The leaves can be dried to make a lovely tea but provide no medicinal value.
“These are nowhere in the forest I’ve seen,” Yara says as she pokes at the Essex Incepta.
As he continues to search the room, Ash finally finds something legible. It’s a potion that reads, “Prototype: Potion of Healing.”
Vesper asks Ash quizzically, “It seems odd your father would come across alien plants? Did he ever mention planes walking?”
Ash can’t remember his father mentioning anything of the sort and is just as mystified as everyone else.
In one corner of the room, Yara finds another green, glowing item. Shaped like a lantern, the metal and glass structure contains more of the bright liquid.
“It’s just pretty,” Lara says as she tries to take the enclosure apart. Ash stops her and reminds everyone that they’re dealing with unknown and possibly dangerous items.
Yara looks dejectedly at the light and marches off into the hallway. While the party finds more writings in Ash’s father’s handwriting, it all appears to be in some sort of code. Even Vesper’s magic is unable to glean many insights from the parchments and books.
“He couldn’t just leave instructions? This guy, really,” Ash mutters.
Leaving, the group heads the other direction and finds another set of double doors. Inside, they find a large room filled with a massive astrolabe. Posted to the walls and on the shelves are more parchments with notes. It seems Ash’s father was aware of the cult’s movements before arriving at End’s Meet.
Celia notices something in the middle of the astrolabe and motions Ash to investigate it. Walking up to the stand, he sees that the item is a beautiful bow quiver. It is filled with arrows are made of metal but are as light as normal ones made of wood. When he picks up the quiver, there is a flash of light, and an image of his father appears in a corner as it starts to speak.
“If you’re seeing this Ash, well, I’m probably dead. I leave the house, all my belongings, and my responsibilities to you. Something isn’t right in our world. There are forces at play that are inscrutable, an ancient power that I believe is corrupting everything. I’m not the only one who knows this. Take the quiver. Not only will it be useful, but allies will see it and help you. Follow the numbers, my son, unlock the ciphers, but beware of the Numenara.“
“What the hell is the Numenara!” Ash exclaims.
Wend and Vesper light up at the mention of the word and explain that it exists from their lands. It refers to “technology beyond understanding.”
Vesper expounds on this. “Perhaps this is the same technology your father employed.”
Ash shakes his head before notching another set of doors at the end of the room. Yara interjects and says, “I hear something. It sounds like scratching coming from the other side. I think something is in there.”
When the party throws open the doors, they find a sickly-looking goblin strapped to a table. The floor below the goblin is marked with arcane markings of protection. On top of the goblin’s head, a weird-looking horn appears to be growing. At first glance, the protuberance looks like it’s a cross between metal and fungi.
The goblin turns to look at them, but its eyes are milky white. It says in a rasp, “Release me, please…”
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