From the journal of Knight Justicar Percival, Order of Daybreak:
Feb 23: Bastia. Claims of great evil are intriguing and we will do all within our power to destroy it. Met with Bala Soto, a priest of a heathen and mysterious god Sirlios, the same that touched Zimon after he pressed the button. It's an austere faith, with little in the way of pomp or ceremony. Practical, pragmatic, uninspiring.
The un-aligned Sirlios spawned this evil by her followers tampering with the cosmic balance. In their folly, these heathens attempted to erect a pinnacle of good and succeeded, but a sinkhole of evil appeared to balance it. Any right-thinking man of proper (Lawful) faith can see the relation. You cannot have your cake (benefits of Lawful metaphysical power) and eat it too (remain Neutral). My opinion of this Sirlios is reduced by every interaction with her. I wonder if her followers are not dupes in some plot of Chaos.
When the sinkhole of evil sprung into being it sucked one of the priests of Sirlios through a portal or time warp or...? Soto was able to divine her location, a volcanic island far to the east. He wants us to rescue his follower and cover up the damage he has done by his meddling. A lot of vague and evasive talk of timelines and dimensions and choices and paths and whatevers. Maybe Fr. Cassian or Sanji can grasp the intricacies, but it sounds like the reaping of what's been sown to me. Ultimately, the danger we face is mostly unknown. Pelor will light the way.
An expected long voyage on Soto's ship was cut short by interaction with a great elemental of water. June was able to communicate with it and after convincing it that our cause was pure, we traded several hymns of Pelor for its aid. It sped us unnaturally along and we arrived at the target destination within a day.
Landfall, seemingly deserted island. Jungle. Volcano. Wildlife appears to be unfamiliar with men. Camp.
Feb 24: Soto's pathfinder Buck led us through the jungle in search of a way into or onto the volcano. Zimon flew on his magical steed to scout. We found two ways in, a cave and a walking path to the top. We opted for the cave.
The environment was evil and clearly supernatural within, natural caverns that warped and bent at each branch as though time and reality itself were uncertain. We fell to old tactics, choosing the same direction at each junction to keep our bearings. We fought bat demons in one chamber and a massive spider demon in another. Wounded and low on resources, I called for a retreat, but going back was not an option. At each branch, our choice mattered not, the outcome of a chosen path decided by fate or worse.
We pushed forward instead, reaching the caldera of the volcano, a bowl with a winding path and several landings or plateaus along the rim. Advancing brought us to a landing with a great bronze statue of an ancient warrior in the center. Suspicious of possible animation, we tried to skirt it. It staggered towards us as expected and we fled, attempting to reach the rim of the caldera and hopefully a way down. It was slow and we outran it.
An elemental guarded the next landing, this one of fire. Taking a cue from June's interaction on the sea, I burned my hand on a torch in order to connect with it and speak. It was willing to allow us to leave but warned it was tasked with guarding entry into the place and would be compelled to battle should we return. We broke onto the slope of the volcano and began our descent.
Our ship is missing. Crew gone. The brains think we've passed beyond our reality into another. I again suspect this Sirlios of perfidy, a petty fiendish god meddling in the world we are sworn to safeguard. Some explanation will be owed, some oaths required, once we've overcome this evil and returned. For now, we camp on the beach and lick our wounds. We'll have to re-enter the volcano in search of our targets.
Musings:
Soto is a Patron player, a known entity to our table who never fails to produce interesting NPCs and environments to work with. I quite like the vibe of the growing port of Bastia with it's weird, foreign religion and pseudo-Libertarian presentation.
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| Live look at Bala Soto and Patrick when they get blamed for this mess |
A Neutral cult tampering with Lawful divine mechanics is an interesting thing and I'm glad that repercussions for it are showing in the game. Conflict is bred on the messy nature of Neutrals trying to claim the benefits of Lawful society without paying the price so we're bound to have a lot to work with. I don't really want to go on a holy crusade to exterminate the followers of this goofy faith, but if they keep fucking around, they're gonna find out. Maybe this is a learning opportunity. There's definitely more going on we aren't privy to.
The dungeon was all probability rather than a set environment, which is an interesting convention. Consider a random encounter table consulted at each intersection of a dungeon, with little to no emphasis on the physical environment given that it simply warps and changes as needed. It makes it quite difficult to determine a logical course of action, leaving the players to stumble forward. I of course don't know every detail, but that's the gist. I don't know if things restock or if we have to stumble through the entirety of the place before reaching the McGuffin. We have yet to see the same room twice, even backtracking. Our pirate crew had a much smaller, similar experience in a time-diluted dimensional space around Halloween. This is clearly more involved.
We paused the session but considering we're in some dimensional reality-bending scenario I don't think it's a problem. There is precedent with Ravenloft and Castle Amber for tinkering with time keeping so I'm not gonna stress it. Hopefully we can power through next session and save the girl and kill the evil and purge the heretic return home safely.
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