a slip of time and loyalties...
Plot Developments
- After three days of waiting, Kzas came to Rogar in disguise and brokered a secret meeting between the Archwarden and Dajin Ikkirul, one that would save both their honors and preserve the fragile order her mate had worked so hard to maintain despite Reedthagn's month of silence and Anoximoia's foolish rule.
- Anoximoia, it seems, most powerful of Reedthagn's daughters, was chosen to rule Reh'na'thagnatar in the wyrm's absence, the first of many slights against Ikkirul, who was publicly ridiculed for not being up to the challenge. She has grossly mismanaged the mountain's resources and driven off, even killed, many strong sons and daughters, Ezark among them.
- As an aside, Ikkirul mentioned not being sorry to see Ezark go, powerful though he was, and mentioned something about his dark god.
- Though not entirely convinced, Ikkirul did agree to support his little brother, and even decided to share command of the Eight Gate for future endeavors, should Reedthagn truly prove as false as claimed.
- Meanwhile, Raina and Auro entertained the dajira, or perhaps she entertained them. Gifts were exchanged and Auro in particular seemed to bond with the sole mate. However, in their conversing, Kzas offended Raina, bringing up a touchy unknown: whether or not Raina could in fact have Rogar's children.
- The dajira also admitted to Auro of having encountered another genasi, a male, who was of sand and fire and wind, a living desert of sorts. He passed over the mountain briefly, killed all who got in his way, and was gone again.
- Meanwhile, five thousand years in the past, Narra and Nalua found themselves out of their own time, after a botched ritual and a very skilled mimicry by the Summer Prince. They'd arrived in the last hour of Chenussean, in the little tholos, under the protections of a prestigious mage-priest known as Legathriwan of the Sistered Monarch.
- Upon Nalua's request, he told them what he thought important about fallen Chenussean, what the future could use against its destroyer, about the Firstborn, Iluvistria, and the Grand Temenos of Life, the shelter of Mother's remains, even as his wards fell and the delicate structure with it.
- Before Reedthagn broke through the final seals, Legathriwan gave Nalua three potent artifacts in efforts of recovering Mother, a circlet and two rings. The headpiece was named a beacon, and the rings keys, whatever that might mean...
- When the Saviors were finally reunited, much had occurred. Narra and Nalua now had a new level of hatred for the green wyrm, and a better understanding of what could be gained on this summit. Rogar and Arinew had managed to forge a pact with his brother and supplies, drakes and a guide. Auro and Raina befriended the dajira and learned of a new brother genasi. What differences might have cropped between any of them were settled, and Narra insisted on showing both draconic brothers what she had seen, proof of their father's evil.
Experience: 2000 (111,200 total)
Worldly Resources
Dajin Ikkirul Thagnbrood made clear that his brother Rogar's command would be as his own, and once the word is passed on through the Eighth Gate, the Archwarden will be in command of no less than five thousand troops, a combination of kobolds, lizardmen, dregoi and drakes, trained, armed and well-provisioned.
Personal Resources
treasure: Robes of the Sistered Monarch; Parlothon's Key, Iluvistria's Key, Iluvistria's Crown [artifacts]
New NPCs
Legathriwan of the Sistered Monarch (Ancient Chenussean; dead): A mage-priest of the Temple of Iluvistria, Firstborn Sidhe sprung from the decomposing divinity of the fallen Mother. Before he perished at the claws of Thagna'redathra (Reedthagn in Sylvan), he offered his four most prized possessions to Nalua for safekeeping and the future's sake, a robe, a circlet and two rings. He sang at his last that the circlet was a beacon, and the rings keys, and that Nalua should use them to find Mother. And in doing so, history was changed...
Returning NPCs
Dajira Kzas: The dajin's mate, and the most compassionate dregoi any of the party have ever met, she proved a curious, blind beauty who'd perfected a form of echolocation by rumbling her gizzard. Without vision, she judges people on the whole of their character. She loves Ikkirul greatly, fears Reedthagn and Anoximoia equally so, and considers Raina and Auro sisters for the love Rogar seems to share with the sorceress. She offered both girls necklaces as gifts and accepted a massage in turn. However, she accidentally offended Raina by asking whether or not genasi could have children, a question without an answer for the time being... Most importantly, though, she set up a secret meeting between Rogar and Ikkirul to reconcile both their honors and maintain the fragile order the dajin had managed despite Reedthagn's month of silence and Anoximoia's foolish leadership.
Dajin Ikkirul Thagnbrood: The proud, serpentine dregoi was not so proud that he did not agree to meet with his little brother in the dim confines of the resurrected Chenussean tholos. Despite Arinew's less-than-cordial demeanor, Ikkirul showed unimaginable patience given his rank and nature, and Rogar convinced him to support a bid to make things right and confront their father on the accusations brought before him. At the very least, even honorable Ikkirul questioned the wyrm's decisions of late, not of the typical unknowable nature, but appearing instead a full retreat from battle and abandonment of his brood and troops, things which, if proven true, would turn Ikkirul into his father's bitter enemy. As it stands, Ikkirul is content to help his brother forward, though still has his doubts as to the validity of all charges brought against Reedthagn, if just for the fact war demands action without mercy (and his reputation as Feycrusher only reaffirms that).
Lore
- The ancient Seelie city atop Emshambara's summit was once known as Chenussean, a stunning faerie metropolis dedicated to the Mother, populated by druids, shamans, clerics, invokers, wizards and mages of all types. Legathriwan spoke of many wonders, small and large, but most notable the Grand Temenos of Life, THE greatest temple dedicated to the goddess of life and fey in all the known worlds.
- The Grand Temenos of Life housed what was left of the Mother's physical remains in four canopic jars: primordial ooze, placental fey goo, divine blood and tears, the single most potent collection of Primal and perhaps Divine essences left in Creation. It's what changed the arid planet She crashed upon into the over-verdant Wyld.
- Legathriwan hoped the maenads were able to escape with the jars before the temenos was sacked. If Reedthagn does not already possess them, any chance of recovering the Mother's essence lies in the maenads, represented as fire in the swirling Element. Their opposite, the oreads, were represented as water.
- Firstborn were the first fey of their kind to spring from the decomposing corpse of the Mother, sprawled over the Wyld as she was. Those of the head and face were born beautiful and with sparkling intelligence, those from the heart compassionate and courageous, those of the feet and many festering wounds ugly and hunched, and so on.
- Iluvistria was the Firstborn Sidhe, a demigod in her own right, and a powerful queen of the Seelie Court for many centuries, until the great war with the Unseelie, and the eventual devolution of the Wyld into a much more feral and xenophobic place. She had a religious following after her death, the Order of the Sistered Monarch, based in Chenussean, which was destroyed along with the city.
- Chenussean was indeed destroyed by Reedthagn and his ilk, both Narra and Nalua witnessed it, making him at least five or six thousand years old.
Next Session
109a: With supplies, drakes, a guide and Ikkirul's blessing, the Saviors fly further up Reh'na'thagnatar, daring the howling rise of the Grim to escape Dajin Varlasun Thagnbrood's notice.
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