(A quick note here, I've added these synopsis for people to go back and remind themselves about what happened or if people come in later and don't want to start at the beginning, they can read these really fast, but they are not a replacement for watching our videos as they are not full descriptions. If you don't want to video, you will miss most of the comedy and all of the fighting as I am not going to do a play by play of each attack. So, please check out our videos)
Day 17 2/28/2023 Episode 20 and 21
Episode 20
In the Esoteric Fortress
Caleigh heads back to the room with the journals and asks her deity why she met the elf now. It seemed to have been an accident but there were plans that were messed up and she is pleased that they were messed up. Caleigh also asks if all three were the same being, the tiefling, elf, and lirasa. Through her head flashes hundreds of faces, including the three she saw. She also noticed the face of “that” valkyrie. It lingers on that face for a moment longer before going to others. Then it stops on the face of the other deity that she’s speaking of, Atae. Then it fades, with a sense that all are one. Caleigh rests.
Abcde and Rayvvin check the portal that claims to lead to the library. As we are studying it, we get the feeling that this portal has not been used in a very very long time. There’s definitely varying lengths of time since each portal has been used, but this one has not been used in over a thousand years, maybe two or three or more. It is currently not active, though it does have magic currently present. We also find a magical trap. It is an incineration trap and if we were to set off this trap, there would be no survivors. It was not particularly hidden though and we also find a way to disarm it. But in order to actually use this portal, we need a key, a magically enchanted something with the power to dispel it or unlock it. We are not currently aware of the enchantment or thing that would do it. We rest.
Caleigh wakes up and comes back to the group. Chodrak and Artimious are both awake as well when she gets back. Rayvvin wakes up as well. Abcde is still asleep. Rayvvin says it’s time for us to talk a little more about ourselves. Caleigh looks around while Rayvvin reads a book. Caleigh finds nine active and charged portals, one of which is the one the elf went through. Chodrak takes some time to meditate on how much he recalls and how much he’s willing to share from what he recalls. As he meditates, he gets a vision, where he is in the body he last remembers being in. He stays where he is after finishing meditating. Caleigh, from her study, is not able to get a lot. She is able to get that of the ones that are currently active, three of them are local (within Taba), three are not local (in other countries), and the other three are a mystery. She is also able to gather that they have been used more recently than the others, within the last thousand years, none sooner than a few hundred years. For Chodrak, something clicks, so he grabs his quarterstaff and meditates with it. Chodrak determines that this staff was physically created by him. It was enchanted by someone else, though he provided the power while someone else provided the words. He gets that he knew this person quite well and knew them for many years. He gets the image of a face briefly before it fades away.
Abcde begins to wake up. The whole castle around us begins to shake causing Abcde to wake all the way up. Everlee stays unconscious. And then it stops. Chodrak gets the feeling something just ended. Everything appears to be in place. We talk a little amongst ourselves. We construct a little sling for Everlee to stay on her wolf. Chodrak starts scooting toward the portal. He tries to be stealthy but fails. Chodrak arrives next to the portal, and pokes it with his staff while trying to remember his most recent experience, all out of curiosity. He gains no new insights beyond what he already gained other than a stronger feeling of truth/validity. Chodrak comes back to the group.
We finally sit down to talk as Rayvvin suggested. Chodrak tells us he was recently reincarnated into this baby doll and was able to bring the staff. Rayvvin tells her story about her clan, mothers, and that her brother, Dairren is who she is looking for. Caleigh tells us that she came here from another realm, and the person we saw yesterday was someone who doesn’t want Caleigh to succeed in being the champion, and was given orders by someone powerful to get rid of her. Caleigh is trying to prove herself. Abcde wants to know which one she knew, and she said didn’t recognize the faces but the feeling, every champion having a stamp on their souls and that was what she recognized. Abcde, from Caleigh, is able to garner that nothing that has been told to them is a lie, but there’s a lot of omission, though they don’t know where. Rayvvin checks Abcde and can tell they are trying to avoid talking to us. They finally talk and say they knew the elf that went through the portal to Omadano. The elf was one of the members of the board, one of the ruling members of the school, who are also the rulers of the country. They recognized the lirasa because she enslaved them for twenty years. They are also on their way, trying to get home to reconnect with their family after being gone for so long. We all have heard of the academy of Omadano and understand that the only people let in are those with great magic. Usually, this is only ten or older, but Abcde showed by five, which is common. Caleigh informs us that through prayer and questioning she was able to tell that this person could change on a whim if they like, and she believes there's a lot of forms she can take. Abcde asks what deity this person is the champion for, and she replies that she is a champion for Maris. Caleigh is the champion for Atae.
Note: the connection that Caleigh felt when we entered the barrier was strong, but it was hard for her to tell exactly who it belonged to. Could be Maris or Atae. Rayvvin does remember what deity Caleigh said the pinpoint connection is to. Chodrak and Abcde just remember that she said, but not who.
Abcde asks why the champion of the husband of her deity is trying to kill her, and Caleigh responds it may have been her but they are also trying to tie up loose ends and she is that loose end. That’s not the whole truth. They ask Caleigh if she’s still in training if it’s been put on hold, and she is, but maybe just for herself, she doesn’t know. We ask Artimious if he has anything to tell us, especially relevant. He has a friend who is a deity (Satan), an enemy who is deity (The God Called God), a friend who is the wife of a deity (Lilith), and a friend who is the kid of the wife of the deity (Kosiku). (Nate and Jaimie’s War on Heaven campaign - find the link at the bottom of this post). Caleigh has interacted with Satan and Lilith when they visited the Dawn Realm, and they visited the Celestial Realm, and Caleigh visited them in Hell once. She also met the kid there, who is also a vampire sometimes. Artimious said about dealing with the champion of Maris, he could call in favors.
We talk about what to do with Everlee, and Rayvvin mentions that if we clear this place out, The Esoteric Fortress might be a good place to leave her. It might be a good time to explore the rest of this place.
Episode 21
In the Esoteric Fortress
We are in the room with the portals, and we all leave to start exploring. As we leave, we stick together. We head down corridors and check out rooms. It’s exactly what we think a castle would look like. Everything of value was left, but everything of use was taken, the armory is empty but the art gallery is still there. Some of these are quite ancient and would be worth a lot. We continue and see no other signs of living beings. We come across the grand entry where we see the large front door. It does not appear to be warded on this side, though it was on the other. Rayvvin studies the door and there is no enchantment currently active on this door at all. Someone turned it off. Caleigh checks to see if anyone is following us, but she doesn’t see anything that would indicate any other living beings. We’ve probably got 75 percent of the first floor. Chodrak touches the door with his quarterstaff, nothing happens. It is still closed and latched, physically locked. Nothing had been triggered with the touch, though. Caleigh opens it, and is staring back out into the courtyard.
Rayvvin calls out for Marla and Jaren through the now open door. They come over, and the five who were alive come running up to the door. Harlon comes up to us. We speak with them, asking them to watch Everlee and that we haven’t found their commander yet. There should be 45 other people in the castle, but we haven’t come across them. They may not actually even be here. He noted that we dispelled the barrier but didn’t think to mention it as they only used the tunnel. Sheltran refused to take the barrier down because it was an homage to an old friend. The barrier on the door was more along the lines of a very powerful spell that persisted regardless of the caster's status. We continue our hunt, and the last thing we come across on the first floor is the throne room. It’s sparsely decorated, but there is a throne, which is identical to Kazel’s. Chodrak sits on the throne, and his eyes look more like glass than normal. Caleigh puts her hand on his shoulder after thirty seconds. Chodrak comes out of the meditation state he was in. He now knows where to find the orc. He doesn’t want to talk too much about it, as he wants to speak to Sheltran first. Abcde asks if Chodrak has been here before, and Chodrak says he thinks so, but there is a lot he doesn’t remember from his past lives.. Chodrak says it’s important for him to find Sheltran because he knows more than Chodrak does.
We continue our hunt through the castle, coming across more of the same. We find what was likely an enchanter's room, and we find a library, etc. We go through four more floors and find the same throughout, devoid of any living life. We ask Sterling to keep an eye on Everlee, and look at a map to see where we are going. Artimious pulls out the map, looking 200 miles east southish. There is a capital called Carruron. As we look, we notice that it’s inside the Relescian Empire. It used to be in Taba before the war, but was taken during the war and has been under Relescian rule since. It will take us about ten days on horseback at a good pace, quickly we could do a week, and leisurely, about two weeks.
We head back outside, and it’s getting into the evening. The five left behind by the basilisk are at the house, just sitting down for a meal. We are invited to join. We sit with them and tell them that there are no signs of life in the castle but there does seem to be an indication that they all left together. There are no bodies. She asks where they might have gone, and Harlon says he isn’t sure. He asks Skuld, who says if they left, it’s unlikely they would have walked out the front, because they would have seen them. Whyever they left, they probably left through the teleportation room, which Harlon doesn’t know about. Skuld doesn’t know where they’d all go, only Sheltran knew that, though he might not remember. Sheltran said he was ten thousand and had helped cast the teleportation circles. He knows someone he calls Lord Master Kazel. Kazel would visit Sheltran, as they were good friends from eons ago. Kazel is the most powerful mage he’s ever met, but Kazel kept to himself, so Skuld doesn’t know much about him.
Abcde asks about Carruron, and is told it’s a Hold capital that was lost in the war. They tried to stay out of it. Skuld is not sure who put up the barrier, it could be Kazel or Sheltran but it’s been up as long as the Esoteric Fortress has existed. Skuld says that if we find a grave to Sheltran, we need to look for who he is masquerading as, and if he is actually dead, we need to flee because something that will end the world is coming. They say they will keep an eye on Everlee. Caleigh says we will be checking the teleportation portals to see if we can find one that will get us to Carruron, and if not, we’ll leave in the morning. We return to the portal room. Chodrak and Rayvvin find that the three portals we don’t know are long distance, 1000 plus miles away. One of them we can tell is definitely over the 5000 range, it’s pretty far, somewhere to the southeast. Caleigh and Abcde find that one of them will take us to Quetares, one looks like a place called Alve, and the third will take us to Carruron.
We rest for the evening. Caleigh takes first watch, while the rest of us sleep. Chodrak meditates on the staff when he wakes up. When Rayvvin wakes up, Caleigh goes to bed. Rayvvin checks a staff that they are holding. Chodrak tries to reattune with his staff, and finds that it resisting him some, and is actively doing so like it’s expecting someone else. But it does also give in just a bit and he gains a bit of information from it. We wake up the next morning, and collect our horses, before heading to the portal. We step onto the portal, activate it, the world swirls and fades away before rematerializing around us in entirely different scenery. Sterling and Everlee have been left at the fortress.
See some names or information you don't know about, check out our other blog post "Who Are These People? Character Names" here: https://neko-maoh-games.wixsite.com/home/post/who-are-these-people-character-names
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