The party’s first full session in Shengdu since their excursion into the Ethereal Plane. The atmosphere has gotten considerably tense since last.
Characters Interacted With
Liu: Rested with the party at the Eastern Shengdu Temple overnight, accompanied them as they received their bounty reward for killing Michael’s Echo.
Michael: Overheard conversing with Gui Ying about Nadyn’s apprenticeship, and his hesitation on returning to Amanti.
Gui Ying: Offered the party shelter at the temple. Conversed with Michael, expressing concern about him and asking how he’s been.
Master Hua: Took care of the party’s wounds and updated them on the government’s investigation into the corruption in Anshan and Lauran.
Donovan: Spoke to the party briefly once they returned the plants he requested of them. Promptly kicked them out of his apartment after the party offended him.
Ljubica, Iskra: Welcomed the party to their now converted restaurant and inn, where it was revealed Daina was working for them.
Other Characters Mentioned: Nadyn, Mei, Anahe, Lauran, Tigers of Nam, General Durand.
Session Overview
The party, having just returned from their strenuous journey in the Spirit World, settled down to rest in the Eastern Shengdu Temple at Gui Ying’s insistence. Master Hua also attended to their injuries, quietly revealing to them in a hushed tone about the status of the government’s investigation into Lauran and the events that had happened in the Anshan Nature Reserve: Pourronium production—the material that was mentioned in the letter of the corpse the party uncovered in the rice terraces—had been halted entirely by the government. They had sent investigative parties to the Anshanese nature reserve. Master Hua made sure to emphasize the Taotie was a result of Lauran, but he unfortunately had not heard anything promising back.
He also reported how the High Elves’ ability to reach beyond the borders of Lingguo had been fading recently, limiting their ability to track down Lauran. The government and High Elves have been trying to negotiate with Ondinia to allow the High Elves to enter, but Ondinia so far has refused cooperation. As he talked, Fanna reassured him everything was fine, and they didn’t care about Lauran anymore. Surprised, Master Hua asked them what prompted this change. Fanna merely replied they realized they wanted to prioritize other things in their life now.
Once the party wrapped up with Master Hua, they all settled in for the night. As they laid in their sleeping bags, Thien and Brooks overheard Gui Ying assisting Michael with moving the petrified adventurers to a saferoom for the time being. They engaged in casual small talk, but Michael also mentioned his worries with Nadyn: Though his apprenticeship with Michael was almost over, he didn’t want to return to Amanti. Immediately, Thien rolled over and reported to Amanti the truth of how his son didn’t want to return to being under his care. Amanti was devastated, but sadly understood his son’s decision. The party came together to try and comfort him, saying how this didn’t have to be the be all end all for their relationship, with even the Wildfire Spirit chiming in on how it was not too late to try and form a close bond with his son once again.
Everyone eventually fell asleep, and quickly rose the next day. They set out, ready to tackle the day. First, they wanted to cash in on the large bounty that was on the Michael Echo’s head, Liu accompanying them for this task. After filling out the relevant paperwork, they were assured their money would be delivered to them within a few weeks. Then, Brooks, who had a substantial amount of gold on them at this point, went to the bank to open an account to store his money in, much to the chagrin of the rest of the party. After, they headed to the tailor—Lady Sangshu—to pick up the clothes they had commissioned from her a while back. While they went about their day, they heard of the tense news percolating throughout the capital that day: There was rising unrest in Nam, the Tigers of Nam have been attacking Leferinese trade ships, diplomatic negotiations between Leferin and Lingguo had stalled, and there were a number of border skirmishes with Ondinia in the past couple weeks. Finally, they had one last stop they wanted to visit: Donovan’s apartment, to return the plants he requested they gather for him in Anshan and warn him of a threat on his life.
When they arrived outside his door, no one answered their knocks. After a moment, the door slowly creaked open by itself, and the concerned party stepped inside. His apartment had been entirely consumed by the living vines at this point, not a bare spot of ceiling, wall, or floor to be found. They found him asleep on the couch. As they debated on who should wake him, one of the vines reached out from the wall and smacked Donovan awake. Startled, he quickly got up, welcomed the party, and stumbled over to the kitchen to make himself tea. The party told him how they got the plants he wanted, and handed them over. Donovan thanked them, and confirmed with them that they’d be present the next day to battle his plant constructs once again at a demonstration. They affirmed they would be, but after a moment of silence, asked the clearly frazzled man if he was okay. He quickly said that he was fine, but the party was quite doubtful. Fanna, in an attempt to be helpful reached out to touch Donovan’s shoulder and cast Life Transference using their Equivalent Exchange Ki ability, but Donovan immediately recoiled at their sudden touch and glared at them.
Thien then asked Donovan if he had eaten today. Donovan replied that he had not, casually sipping his tea as he did so. Thien conjured some Goodberries and implored Donovan to eat them, but he insisted he was fine. After some back and forth that got nowhere due to both men’s stubbornness, a fed up Thien attempted to lunge across the room and forcefeed Donovan the Goodberries. The rest of the party all quickly reached out and stopped Thien, but the damage was already done. Donovan jumped onto the couch away from the party and screamed at them all to get out. The party, having no good defense of themselves, obliged. The living vines from the wall, to ensure Soup would not linger as well, quickly wrapped around Soup’s body and threw them out the door as well, where they bounced down the hallway and down the stairs.
The party argued with each other briefly in the halls. After Donovan stepped outside his doorway to chide them over how he could still hear them, they fled the scene with their tails between their legs. Once they got outside, they realized to their dismay that they forgot to warn Donovan of the perceived threat against his life they saw from the vision in the Ethereal Plane. They hastily penned a letter to him warning him of their findings, being briefly interrupted by a bird that flew down and tried to snatch the paper away from them. Thien managed to shoot the “bird,” and it fled, but the party quickly realized that the eyes of many more suspicious “birds” were watching them from the surrounding trees. As the rest of the party went up back to Donovan’s doorstep to slip the letter under his door, Fanna stayed behind to keep an eye on the suspicious birds, though made a fool of themselves when they tried teleporting on top of a tree branch only to lose their balance. When the other party members walked up to Donovan’s door, the vines loomed at them with hostility, quickly snatching the letter from them and snaking back under the door.
Having done the best they could do, the party decided to stop somewhere to eat and maybe rest for the night. They made their way to Ljubica and Iskra’s restaurant, now also converted to an inn. To their pleasant surprise, Daina also worked their now, and was able to take care of her baby in peace under Ljubica and Iskra’s guidance. As they happily ate and caught up with them, an owl watched on far through the windows, before flying back to the Ginkgo Tree Park and transforming back to Mei, who despondently held her head in her hands. The session ended with the party resolving to talk to Mei next time.
Key Learnings
- Nadyn seemingly did not want to end his apprenticeship under Michael and return to Amanti. Whether Michael would tell the party in person remains to be seen.
- The Lingguoren government has halted all production—including mining and refinement—of Pourronium. This substance was mentioned in the letter found off the corpse in Anshan, and its harvesting from the mountains of Yumaly was of great debate in Yumaly before civil war broke out.
- Investigative parties had been sent to the Anshanese Nature Reserve, though nothing notable has been reported back to Master Hua.
- The High Elves’ abilities to reach beyond the borders of Lingguo were fading. Attempts to negotiate with the Ondinian government to allow the High Elves to cross over into Ondinian territory in an attempt to track down Lauran have been unsuccessful.
- There has been rising unrest in Nam coinciding with Tigers of Nam attacks on Leferinese trading ships.
- As General Durand’s diplomatic tour of Lingguo has continued, diplomatic negotiations between Lingguo and Leferin have stalled.
- There have been a number of border skirmishes with Ondinia in the past couple weeks.
- Daina has found employment with Ljubica and Iskra, and has been able to take care of her half-Spirit son Mateo thanks to their help.
Items Of Importance
- None