Session 8
“The brownies that saved the world” - B
“This is DnD, we are trying to think ourselves through this, we are bound to mess up, it makes the game fun when we do, when I mess up, when y’all mess up, it creates drama, it creates antics…” - DM
“I push past a child to get to my seat and flop down in exhaustion” -Enoki
“More people means more of a split means more people’s goals we have to meet, different situations, different ideals.” -Aydriann
“I don’t know, they bring different skills to the table and it looks like we are now set on a different path with this letter and coins.” -Ember
“We have two decisions here, we can either follow this fairy tale and get stuck in some grand ole adventure and wind up dead or we stick to what we are doing.” Ember quickly replied, “Which we wind up dead anyway.” -Ember and Aydriann
“You know a lot more than you’re letting on. Question, what do you think about the whole winter herald thing?” Stranger, “This is something that people say that you are. Do you believe in what people say you are or are you one to look inside yourself and find out who you truly are.” Victor, “I think I am who I am regardless of what people think.” -The Stranger and Victor
With Aydriann on Victor’s shoulder, both Ember and Victor peek outside to see if anyone is watching. Victor spots a black figure in the trees. Putting their escape that much harder to pull off, they discuss their next steps. Enoki suggests kicking up snow with his quarterstaff and making a run for it. Seeing no other good options, they elect for snow.
Enoki makes a great display of white powder and makes a run for it along with everyone else. They are stopped short by a black hooded figure at the back of the train car. He tells Enoki to stop running, they only want to talk. Another voice from the other end of the car tells them that they have the win, don’t run. As the others file out of the train car, five more figures appear from the woods by way of hook shots which sink into nearby trees, allowing them to swing in to surround.
The group gives in as Ember, in a frustrating yell, tells them fine, but we need to get out of here. These creatures that surrounded the group are soon revealed to belong to a criminal organization called The black masks. They lift their hoods and reveal what seems to be a black mask that encompasses the entire head, each with a different number, 1-12, and the 13th one having a moon crest. The black mask with the moon crest tells the group to head into the train tunnel and the group follows suit.
Ember starts to recall some information about this organization, The Black Masks. The ones with numbers are the enforcers, part of a group called a hood, led by a messenger, the one with the crescent moon. Further recollection, Ember knows that the enforcers only talk to the messenger, who only talks to scribes, who only talks to jesters, who only talk to the envoy of the Joker. And, with the black flower she noticed early, the enforcers, commonly seen, are also known as black lotuses.
As they made their way down the train tunnel, they found an auxiliary tunnel not in use. The Messenger asks if the group has the book. Ember tells the Messenger, they were set up, there is no book. The Messenger, eyeing Ember carefully, sees that she is telling the truth. Ember quickly asks in reply, why the Messenger wanted the book. To come to a mutual agreement of no retaliation and not to speak of this to anyone, the Messenger tells Ember that the Eldon Order were their client in retrieving the book. The Messenger is also curious why Ember and her group wanted the book. Ember says she doesn’t know which at first isn’t good enough for the black masks as they unsheath their swords. Ember puts her hands up and tries her best to give a good face and lie that they really didn’t know about the book, in that it was one of the enforcers who spilled the beans about the book.
The Messenger, convinced that she is telling the truth, starts to walk away, telling Enforcer Number Nine to do better. The healing potions are given by the Enforcer Number Nine to Enoki and Ember. Enoki tells Number Nine that he won’t apologize for what he did but is agreeing to walk their separate ways. Number Nine says that they didn’t expect him too, it was just business, nothing personal. Ember wipes the blood off of Number Nine to which he replies, thanks, and may we never cross paths in the future.
Now the adventures, left with a plant and some coins, travel back to the train station. They do this by traveling further into the tunnel eventually getting to a large spacious area inside the mountain that seems to be a loading dock for minerals. Workers don’t pay any attention to the group as they seem busier with other tasks. With Enoki leading the group based on his sense of direction, they are able to find their way back to the train station.
Tired, the group splits into two’s, Enoki and Victor head to standard class of the train and Ember and Aydriann head to steerage. Enoki flops down into a seat in a display of exhaustion while Victor finds a seat close by. Aydriann, in the other car, asks Ember if it is a good idea to work with more people. He liked it when it was just the two of them. He says to Ember, “More people means more of a split means more people’s goals they have to meet, different situations, different ideals.”
To her reply, “I Don’t know, they bring different skills to the table and it looks like we are now set on a different path with this letter and coins.”
To Aydriann’s confusion, he hadn’t read the letter as it was in a language he didn’t know plus was unconscious during this time. Ember told him of how it explained that there was someone called the Dead One who signed the letter and explained that the four of them won’t find the book as it wasn’t theirs, nor anyone else’s to begin with but this entity’s. Aydriann had heard, from a creature, telling a folk tale about the Dead One, that he was one to not be commonly seen but only when death was in the air. The creature telling the folk tale had more to say but was cut short by having to run off from someone coming their way.
“We have two decisions here, we can either follow this fairy tale and get stuck in some grand ole adventure and wind up dead or we stick to what we are doing.”
Ember quickly replied, “Which we wind up dead anyway.”
Aydriann, “Honestly, I’m getting a little tired, maybe it’s time to change things up.”
Ember, “Haven’t you wanted to see the world outside of Volaris, can’t be a criminal forever.”
Aydriann, “I don’t know, It’s a life I’m comfortable with but I’m going to stick with you.”
As Victor is sitting in his seat on the train, he takes in the events of today. A stranger walks up from behind and asks if he can sit with him. Victor replies with a polite but suspicious yes. A hood figure, with his blue hand wipes the dust from the seat. The Stranger tells Victor that he suspects he had a rough night. Victor agrees, saying that things aren’t going the way he had planned. The Stranger looks at Victor and says, “I used to know a Tiefling, by the name of Malith, who was pragmatic at times when I talked with her. She would always find a way to steer back to the task at hand, Victor I believe you’re meant for great things, you might want to stick with this group even if you’re not getting paid.” Victor is surprised as the Stranger says his name as he hadn’t divulged this information before.
It hadn’t been the craziest thing though, he plays along and asks, “You know a lot more than you’re letting on. Question, what do you think about the whole winter herald thing?”
Stranger, “This is something that people say that you are. Do you believe in what people say you are or are you one to look inside yourself and find out who you truly are.”
Victor, “I think I am who I am regardless of what people think.”
A smile from the stranger can be seen as he gets up and says he had had a nice conversation and walks off.