Session 11: Tiran's Mom¶
Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2022 @ 9:00 PM CT
Audio: MP3 (2h41m)
This session signifies the start of Chapter 2 in this campaign.
Synopsis¶
After taking a short rest and eating Hurq's stew in the boys' cave, you went outside and saw the crater that used to be Cauldin's Point for the first time. Distantly, you noticed two figures pulling a body from the water and take it to the survivors camp south-west of the crater.
After Hurq and Mike fetched their stew, and loaded it into a cart, you all went over to the survivors' camp where you saw a bulletin board with the names of the missing and the dead. Amongst them, Tiran, with a note that his mother was looking for him.
Heading into the camp, a man wearing an Aldarion Unlimited uniform standing on a small podium was trying to calm down a crowd of rowdy people. He told them that there wasn't much he could do since the local government decided that they should now focus on rebuilding the town instead of finding survivors.
After the speech concluded and the crowd dispersed, you noticed a strange time keeping device near the podium. It resembled a clock, but it also had a timer, seemingly counting days, minutes, and hours since an event. You later found out that this was counting the time since the sun had stopped moving in the sky, the exact moment when Amalchi ascended.
Approaching you on crutches and encrusted with black obsidian crystals, you saw Londrina who recognized Sah-Sauj as a cleric of Brother and connected him showing up with the unleashing of the deity a year before. She immediately went over to Captain Weslan Stillwater, who is in charge of the camp, the same man who spoke to the crowd earlier.
After introductions, some convincing, and explanation, Weslan was persuaded that you weren't a threat and Wolf told Londrina to get lost. He mentioned that Tiran's mom, Sophia, was waiting for him at the Ironstone Forge, which she was able to reacquire. Also, he said that he met Phillipe in Marram. Though, he should have been back in Korbantir by now.
Weslan also asked about the events surrounding Dauriel's party and you told him everything. He bought the dagger and cloak you got off Borlok's body for 50 gold, and said he was going to look into more details about this stuff. He also mentioned that if you needed more money, he had a gig for you involving eviction.
On your way out of the camp to the forge, you ran into an annoying Halfling man, leading a group of disaster tourists around the crater in a cart pulled by a giant goat. The goat immediately recognized Wolf, and after a quick, but brutal confrontation involving a cigar being extinguished on the halfling's forehead, Ramona was reunited with her rightful owner.
On the road to the forge, you ran into a familiar situation. There was a tree blocking the road and one of the men who had robbed Wolf on the first night in town came staggering drunkenly from the woods, holding a hand crossbow in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. After accidentally firing a bolt towards you, he began reloading, but never finished. Sah-Sauj smacked the man unconscious and you all robbed him of his belongings except for his glasses and hat. You continued to the forge and left him soiling himself in the middle of the road.
Arriving at the forge, the fence surrounding it was locked shut and there was a painted sign proclaimed that it was closed for private business. After deliberating to climb the fence or pick the lock, Gadot picked the lock so expertly that it practically dismantled itself in his hands.
You met Sophia, Tiran's mother, as well as a man named Agorius who was helping her create the time keeping devices you noticed in the camp. After she took you to the house on the property, she caught you up on why Tiran's father wasn't present. He also spoke with Weslan and became worried about Phillipe. He and a Tabaxi woman set off for Marram a few months ago to try and find Phillipe. Sophia also hasn't heard anything from her husband since.
On the mantle in the living room, you noticed a piece of a glass tube, the same kind that fed blood into Moreus. Sophia told you that one of the forge buildings was converted into a glass furnace, which is where she found pieces of this tubing. A portrait of her, her mother, and father was also missing from the wall, likely disposed of while Phidippus owned the forge. Though, she said nothing else like that was missing from the house.
Currently, you're getting ready to go to bed even though the sun is shining outside, which seems to be the new norm. Wolf and Sah-Sauj plan to sleep outside, Tiran and Gadot will share the guest bed, and Pasha is taking the couch in Hanlar Ironstone's old office.
This is where we left off.
DM Intro
For the last hour or so you've been enjoying Hurq's turkey stew in the boys' cave and it honestly tastes pretty good. Though, you're not entirely sure if the chunks of meat are actually turkey, as he claims.
While you ate, the boys caught you up on what happened during the time you were away. The blue dragon rose from the center of town, and destroyed it entirely on its way out. It seemed to take a special interest in obliterating Dauriel's mansion. A thousand people are dead or missing and a camp has been set up south-west of town that houses both survivors as well as family members waiting to hear anything about their loved ones. Every day, bodies have been pulled from the crater where Cauldin's Point used to be, though fewer lately (🔐 Cauldin's Point Crater).
Hurq tells you that when you're ready, he'll take you to a spot where you can properly see what happened.
DM Flavor
Adapted from 🔐 Cauldin's Point Crater.
Piles of rubble emerge from the calm surface of the water that fills the crater before you. One of the oldest and most historically significant places in Korbantir now lies broken at the bottom of a water filled hole, overgrowing with plantlife which thrives in this age of perpetual sunshine.
You can clearly tell that during his ascension through the bowels of the town, Amalchi made a point of making an example of those who dared to exist in his path. The level of destruction didn't nearly have to be this extensive. Innocent or guilty, old or young, nobody was spared the wrathful fury of this deity.
To the west, you see a group of people pull something from the water onto a shallow beach. "They found another one," says Mike. "I wonder if any of us knew them."
So much destruction. So much death. But, signs of life remain. In the south-west, against the edge of the ancient forest you see plumes of smoke trail into the bright sky from what you assume to be the survivors camp that the boys had mentioned.
"Do you want to go back?" Asks Hurq.