Difference between revisions of "December 18"

Revision as of 04:34, 28 January 2019

Maybellina and Kunoh return, conveniently right near where the companions have ventured to. We are now a few days from the capital city of Zanji, on our way to deliver the mysterious ink.

Tranq has business elsewhere, so he rushes off, calling out in his haste that he will catch up.

On our travels, we discover there have been 2 earthquakes in the region, as well as a lot of stars falling in the last 4 weeks - "Night of a Thousand Falling Stars"

Ruben, who has been thinking of little but the ink and his inky arm, comes up with an idea. He decides to write out a scroll, using his inky finger instead of any sort of pen. It works a little too well. Immediately, Ruben watches the future rewrite itself and realises he has just inadvertently altered the course, in Ruben's favour, of a future battle Ophion will be engaged in (+1 advantage to Ruben, -1 advantage to Ophion). Ophion remains unaware of Ruben's accidental treachery.

Ruben, not realising the dangerous path he is walking, keeps on writing. With a start, Maybellina realises something's not right just in time to stop something magical and very sinister affecting her. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to realise it is Ruben's scribing that is the cause.

As Ruben keeps writing, he realises the warning signs of his words affecting others, and he tries to put a stop to whatever is happening as it happens again, this time to Atala. He is too slow. Atala loses ... something, but Ruben does not receive whatever it was, due to his attempting to stop it from happening.

And again! This time the sinister magic is directed to Maybellina, who does not realise this time, and her future is now irrevocably changed for the worse with Ruben benefiting this time as the rewards become harder to refuse. (1 of Maybellina's future hits will automatically miss, and 1 of Ruben's future misses will instead hit)

Atala realises something's not right. She wanders over to Ruben, noting he is on his third scroll, but she was sure he'd only started with one piece of paper. She peers over his shoulder, discovers he has written up:

1) Prestidigitation, cantrip 2) A spell that would create a sigil, the elder magic sigil for luck 3) Another sigil spell, the elder magic sigil for consume

Atala tries to communicate with Ruben but he is unresponsive.

Meanwhile, Kunoh notices the world darkening, and he sees an old warrior in a ghostly form. He recognises from previous visions, it is his grandfather. The old man whispers urgently to "get him out of it". The vision then changes to Ruben falling to the ground, with a bloody nose. The vision clears. Kunoh rushes over to Ruben and smacks him in the face with the butt of his axe. Ruben falls over, nose bloody, just as Kunoh had seen in his vision. Kunoh thinks the troubles over and then ..

Ruben stands, and suddenly he is surrounded by hundreds of tiny little blood red flies everywhere.

Maybellina realises Ruben has allowed through a being from the Otherwhere. She realises this being is a single creature, but made up of a billion flies. She recognises this as a Diver.

Ruben collapses unconscious as the flies spread towards the rest of the party.

Heian suddenly falls over, taking ill with no apparent cause. He crawls to safety with Onai's help, and Onai remains on guard to protect him.

Atala uses her lantern oil and fire, spraying it all over the Diver. The fire spreads to Ruben, Mayb and Ophion, causing minor damage. The blood flies seem to get angrier in response to this, moving into a humanoid formation. The Diver swats at Atala and Ophion, surrounding them, biting and stinging them.

Kunoh roars and summons his ancestors with his axe. He swings at the flies, raging and smashing at them. Ophion follows up with some more fire, Mayb with eldritch blast, Atala with her cross bow.

The Diver splits and begins to surround everyone in a last-ditch effort to win the fight. Mayb and Ophion both cast hellish rebuke, weakening the flies, and Kunoh finishes them off with his axe.

Panting, the companions check themselves for lasting damage. Kunoh roars again, and seeks out the Professor. He is livid and he seeks answers. Ruben is disinterested and petulant in response.

Meanwhile Mayb collects the scrolls up carefully. She assures Ruben this is a temporary measure, but he is not placated, and retreats further inside himself.

The party rests.

The next day, we head off towards the next town. After a couple of days' travel, we reach the outer suburbs of Zanji. We notice many individuals - advertising themselves as prophets and psychics and such - calling themselves "the Prophets of the Revelation", talking to and ranting at the local folk about religion.

Approaching the town gates, the companions close the travelling distance between them, and it quickly becomes apparent that Nick Furry and Onai both are uncomfortable towards Ruben, perhaps even frightened. This is the final straw for Mayb and Kunoh who have already expressed their concerns to each other, and Mayb finally admits what she had been dreading, that she thinks perhaps Ruben has a "passenger".

Kunoh tries to talk to Ruben again, demands to know what is going on. Ruben reacts badly, panicked and agitated, and acts like he is being attacked. At this time, Mayb notices a sigil appearing around Ruben and she becomes even more alarmed.

The party reaches the outer