Session 5 - Life and Undeath

Moments after Gab's saving of Onika, the party plus Arraz runs off in the direction of Saile. As quickly as they can, they scout for somewhere safe to stay, seeing the Maius looming in the distance. It moved slowly in their general direction, but they all managed to duck behind a low hill, the ruins of some old farmhouse or stable at its base providing a small degree of shelter. Arraz throws his belongings away from him as he takes a seat leaning against a pillar. The whole party sits down in these ruins and begin to ask questions. But of course not before cashing in their nine gold bet they had going.

Arraz once again confirms himself to be a member of the Whitebloom Seekers. He doesn't reveal a ton, but does mention that Felitol was part of an old mercenary group that he had been a part of, and they still work together from time to time. Arraz says that they went out to the felled Maius to "make sure other people were doing their job and to verify what the Crawlers found". He explains that they were the final trigger to reviving this dead Maius--which he knew what/who killed it, refusing to elaborate--and that it was to march directly toward Saile. Arraz himself said it was kind of a lunatic plan, but he trusts the others in Whitebloom so he would play his part in "setting the stage". What stage would that be for? A show, of course! This operation is supposed to be diplomatic. He tried to assure the party that nobody innocent would be getting hurt, and that the Seekers would make sure of that. They chose this colossus because it was a lesser Maius but still wouldn't be easy to kill. The local Maius hunters may struggle with it or the militia, but a select few people could deal with it no problem. Arraz says the primary reason why him and Felitol had attacked the party is that they didn't want their plan to get out. And now that it has, he somewhat sheepishly asks them not to raise the entire militia in the meantime. He also offers to let the rest of the Seekers know not to mess with any of the individuals in the party so long as they won't get in the way.

Patch attempts to voluntary vomit in response to Arraz saying he kinda likes the party and fails.

A bit more arguing ensues, but the party decides to let Arraz go so they could not worry about being a target for other Seekers. Before he goes, he asks Vordia if she'd ever wanted to reach the heavens, and to pull someone down from there. She responds yes, and Arraz tells her to consider seeking out and joining the Whitebloom Seekers then. The dragonborn starts to walk off, wishing everyone luck before quickly glancing at Toni and saying "Just remember tabaxi that Qifall hates you!". With that, he sets off.

The party takes the rest of the night to just relax. They discover the remnants of whatever this ruin used to be. Some sort of cozy farmhouse in an old life or maybe a stable, its inhabitants long dead and forgotten from history to anything but a safe spot for curious travelers. During the evening, Patch observes the Maius walking along in the distance, and feels something at their legs. They look down to see Onika who seems to have absentmindedly wandered over to the automaton inspecting the metal plating. When Patch questions what the goblin is doing to them, they look up and realize that they never asked permission. Apologizing, they ask if Patch might have any smithy markings like the bangle that they took from the Maius. This question triggers a vision as Patch's eye goes deep red and their sight shifts to that recurring nightmare of a war. Patch is fighting alongside many like them against various humanoids. Locked in battle with a powerful figure, Patch is thrown to the ground. Just before the figure lands the killing blow, a massive horn blares as the figure gains a massive smile... that begins to bloat and bloat as the body begins to transform into some grotesque horror. At which point an allied automaton dives in to save Patch, giving them one last look as they explode into infinite colors. And the vision ends.

Their sight returning to normal, the red eye turns teal once more to see Onika with a look of fear as they ask "Patch... are you okay?" Patch responds saying they are okay as Gab runs up, noticing these events transpire. He brings the two of them down to the campfire that's been set up and the party rests for the night.

In the morning, the party orient themselves and march back toward Saile at a quickened pace. On their travel back, they find a group of hunters out gathering for their shop back in Saile. Untrusting of them at first, they do end up deciding to camp with them for mutual safety. During this time, Toni discovers how to play Rollies and loses all of hers and some of Vordia's money in the process. In the following days, the party make it back to Saile, Onika catching a brief fever from the adrenaline wearing down.

Late at night the group walks into the loose gates of the city. Onika offers for them to stay for a night in their house, despite how cramped it may be. The five of them walk that direction, and Patch notices something lurking in the shadows. They follow it briefly into an alley and see nothing. Into their head they hear a raspy voice sayinng, "Hello there, little ancient one...". Patch promptly leaves the alley and rejoins the group. Aside from that, everyone makes it to the small two-story house. Onika pays the group each five gold, saying it was their entire graduation fund and apologizing for how little it was. Onika pulls down two pull-out beds from the walls, but for some reason nobody takes them.

Vordia goes to clean up at a faucet behind Onika's house and feels the tug of her god wishing to talk. She finishes up and ascends the ladder inside the house to get to the roof, seeing Onika profusely writing notes in two books with mage hands, eyes closed, sitting in the corner of the lab. Atop the roof, Vordia gets a glimpse of the surprisingly beautiful nightscape of Saile, all the little lights in various homes, and voices in the distance. She begins her communion with Myrcia, the Raven Queen. The Queen expresses worry about Vordia, saying she felt her thread strum. She also mentions of Filtar's soon-approaching arrival in the city, as well as urging her to keep looking into the Whitebloom Seekers, and to keep an eye on Patch. Finishing their communion, Vordia returns to the first floor and rests up against the wall.

Toni curls up on a little loveseat between the two beds and nearly drifts off to sleep. She feels some presence crawling into her mind as yet again the voice now pops into Toni's head. It claims to know exactly who she is, and when Toni asks if she can just go to sleep, the voice turns harsh, yelling "YOU KILLED HER!!" before vanishing once more. Toni does not go to sleep that night.

As the suns turn, the party rouses and Onika, simultaneously full of energy and completely exhausted, asks everyone in the group what their next steps might be. They all come to an agreement to keep working together for the time being since most of their interests align. They all fumble over trying to figure out a party name and fail fairly miserably. Nevertheless, they all sit in each other's company now as friends and allies, and not just associates.