The party returns from their mission in Anshan and gets up-to-speed in the capital.
Characters Interacted With
Mei Yu: The Atracidae druid that had accompanied the party upriver to the Anshan Nature Reserve.
Lady Zhenyi: The High Elf residing and watching over the Anshan Nature Reserve. Later present at the meeting with the other High Elves, testifying how she’s noticed unnatural activity in the Anshanese Nature Reserve.
Puppeteer Spirit: A mysterious Spirit that appeared to the party in the forest ruins on their way back from the Anshan Nature Reserve, revealing a vision of his people meeting their demise at the hands of the Frayed Threads. Left behind an intricately carved, multi-layered ball of ivory when the vision ended. Hypothesized by the party to be an ancestor of Donovan.
Donovan Lufei: Spotted hurriedly trying to dodge a bunch of anti-plantbot protestors on his way back from grocery shopping.
Joanna: Seen by the party while on their way to the Eastern Shengdu Temple. Briefly conversed.
Gui Ying: Welcomed the party back from their mission.
Nadyn Donaurkos: Was present in the eastern temple when the party came back from their mission.
Anahe: Was present in the eastern temple when the party came back from their mission.
Master Hua: Mediated meetings between the party, an investigative agent from the federal government, and the other High Elves.
Unnamed Investigative Agent: Reported on the results of the investigation into the entities mentioned in Ayer’s letters, took down testimony from Fanna about what the party witnessed in Anshan.
Lady Sangshu: Present with the other High Elves at the meeting. Testified how she’s noticed an imbalance in The Weave farther west.
Sir Haishan: Present with the other High Elves at the meeting. Explained how the visions Fanna were receiving with them interacting with the Tigers of Nam might be due to their soul splitting after overexerting their magic.
Liu: The Aarakocra that appeared at the end of the session, begging for help saving his party which was lost in the Spirit World.
Other Characters Mentioned: Yinghua, Kasha and the Kobold Tribes, Iskra, Ljubica
Session Overview
The session began with Fanna being visited in their dreams by their dreaded father, Lauran Howl. He pestered Fanna about Donovan, as he seemed to be a matter of interest in Lauran’s quest for the perfect way to revive the dead. He eventually departed, dodging Fanna’s attempt to get one last attack on him with Psychic Lance.
Fanna then received a couple more visions: One, of them seemingly torturing a Tigers of Nam member, and the other, of the Taotie escaping containment under Lauran’s ownership.
The party and Mei all eventually had breakfast, cooked by Lady Zhenyi, before setting back for the capital again. On their way back, they stopped at some ruins that Mei showed an interest in.
At night, as the party was sleeping, Mei woke up Amanti, exclaiming how she could hear flute music playing, and it was keeping her up. Thien woke up too, and everyone investigated the mysterious music. The melody was the same one played by the Spirit Musician the party encountered on the river. Amanti’s Wildfire Spirit noted how there seemed to be a lot of history in the ruins, and that tons of people lived here before.
Eventually, the forest transformed around the party to one of a lively festival at night. The party noticed a man watching them from a distance, in plain earthy toned robes, before he disappeared into a nearby building. The party followed him, heading inside the building, which was a large theater. Inside, the man was waiting, holding the same marionette doll that Donovan had stored in his apartment. He beckoned Mei to come on stage. After initially hesitating, she grabbed his hand and climbed onto stage, where all the audience members seemed to be watching her intently.
Then, everyone in the theater was attacked by a swarm of Frayed Threads. The man watched mournfully as the events unfolded, and when Thien asked if what they were witnessing was a vision of his kingdom’s demise, nodded. Then, a fire started in the theater, consuming everything in its path and burning the Frayed Threads. Just before the flames consumed the man, he looked to the party and bowed. The vision then disappeared, and in the place where the man was standing, was a multi-layered ivory ball carved with detailed patterns.
The party finished their trip back to Shengdu, stopping to briefly reconnect with Kasha and the Kobold Tribes. She reported how her shaman received an ominous vision of the Ming River’s water running blood-red, but otherwise had no other concerns. Upon arrival to the capital, the party saw in the newspapers that a Leferinese general was visiting the capital as part of negotiations between Leferin and Lingguo. There were also articles about the protests against Donovan’s Plant Constructs, and a person matching Fanna’s appearance continuing to terrorize the streets of Nam.
The party received a message from Master Hua summoning them to the Eastern Shengdu Temple, and Mei took her leave, promising to contact the party again soon. After reading Master Hua’s message, the party decided to deliver the plants they received to Donovan as well.
The temple happened to be on the way to Donovan’s apartment, so the party stopped there first. On their way, they witnessed Donovan himself being chased by a crowd of the aforementioned anti-plantbot protestors. They also briefly conversed with Joanna, and saw Iskra, Ljubica, and Laseen and her brothers going about their daily business. When they arrived at the temple, Gui Ying welcomed them happily. She went to go fetch her father, and in the time she was gone, the party reconnected with Nadyn and Anahe.
When Master Hua arrived, he had a government official accompanying him. He brought the party and the woman to a private tea room, where he used his magic to quickly prepare tea for them all. There, the woman explained the findings as a result of looking into the companies mentioned in Ayer’s letter. Ayer, who already had connections with the Ondinian terrorists and several Ondinian tech companies, had reached out to a couple of Leferinese companies in addition, which were associated with the visiting Leferinese general, General Durand.
At the encouragement of the Wildfire Spirit, Fanna also produced the letter the party found off the dead body in the nature reserve, testifying about the tragic events that happened there and the vision they experienced of the Taotie’s escape from Lauran. The woman looked very concerned, as the mining and processing of Pourronium, the mineral mentioned in the letter, is heavily regulated and monitored in all of Lingguo, as it is the primary mineral used in the processing of Leferinese weapons. She resolved to pass this information further on, and thanked the party again for their contributions, before leaving.
Master Hua then took the party to one more meeting in his demi-plane, this time to discuss Lauran. The other High Elves the party had seen or interacted with before were also present. Lady Sangshu the tailor and seamstress, Lady Zhenyi the caretaker in the Anshanese Nature Reserve, and Sir Haishan, the executioner that helped lead the death row criminal the party saw previously to his place of execution.
There, Master Hua explained how Lauran’s presence seemed to be far west, likely within the borders of Ondinia. A first-generation High Elf that was the guardian of a village near the Ondinian-Lingguoren border revealed that there was increased aggression from the Ondinian border, an increase in Frayed Threads activity and overall instability in The Weave, and corpses of Ondinian and Leferinese descent tattooed with Leferinese holy symbols being found at the base of the mountains.
At the insistence of Fanna, the High Elves decided to allow them to use a Scrying spell on Lauran. Using a crystal ball supplied by Lady Sangshu, they peered into Lauran’s whereabouts, discovering he was in a plain room constructed of sedimentary stone operating on a Leferinese man, and that there was a small idol of a Leferinese god on his desk.
Fanna received another vision, once again of them seemingly attacking Tigers of Nam members en masse. Fanna asked Amanti to check if they had a scar on their back from an injury they sustained in the vision, but there appeared to be none. An interested Sir Haishan also investigated, seconding Amanti’s opinion. He asked Fanna if they had been strenuously using their magic and Spirit lately, as overexertion of magic can sometimes lead to the fragmenting of people’s souls. He theorized that the visions Fanna was receiving was a result of Fanna’s soul splitting, and a fragment of their soul was manifesting a life of its own. Fanna, ruminating on what they learned, asked Sir Haishan if he’d consider them a High Elf. Sir Haishan replied by asking Fanna what they consider himself. Fanna answered that they didn’t really consider themself much of anything, and Sir Haishan concluded that in that case, they are not a High Elf.
Master Hua dismissed the party, telling them he’ll update them by letter any more decisions him and the other High Elves come to. As the party walks back into the temple’s entrance hall, they witness an Aarakocra barrel into the room, looking heavily injured. The Aarakocra was the same one the party witnessed in one of the other adventuring parties that Michael mentored, Liu. He stumbled over to Gui Ying and begged her to know where Michael was, but she said he had went on a trip to the Spirit World to take care of important business. The desperate Liu asked Anahe and the party about Michael’s whereabouts also, but they all confirmed he was not around at the moment. Now in tears, Liu admitted his adventuring party went into the Spirit World to try and vanquish a vengeful Spirit, stating there was a large monetary reward for doing so, but they were attacked by the Spirit while there, and he was separated from his party as a result. The session ended with Liu begging the party to help him rescue his party, as Michael was nowhere to be found to help him.
Key Learnings
- The party learned that the letters Ayer had in his pockets linked him to several Ondinian companies and a couple Leferinese ones. The Leferinese ones were connected to the visiting Leferinese general, General Durand.
- The party also learned that the mining and processing of Pourrounium is heavily regulated in Lingguo, making especially concerning that the note found on the dead body mentioned it.
- The High Elves informed the party that Lauran appeared to be further west, possibly deep in Ondinian territory. There was also unrest near the Ondinian-Lingguoren border, with increased aggression by the Ondinian side, a rise in Frayed Thread activity, and dead bodies being discovered at the base of the mountains. The bodies were of Ondinian and Leferinese descent, and were covered in tattoos of Leferinese holy symbols. There is reason to believe that Lauran is connected to these events.
- The party learned from Sir Haishan that when one overexerts their magic and Spirit, it’s possible for the soul to start fragmenting from the strain. The consequences range from total death, to minor malaise and pain, to even pieces starting to split off from the soul and manifest life of their own.
Items Of Importance
- Note Found In Anshan (given to government official)
- Taotie Mask (stored in Laseen’s handbags)
- Taotie Mask Shards (stored in Kirin plush)