After Lauran enters the party’s dreams to offer them a dark deal, the stakes rise as the party tries to find out The Atracidae’s plans from Mei before it’s too late.
Characters Interacted With
Lauran: Appeared to the party in a dream, showing a flashback of the Caochuan Science Fair and Expo terrorist attack and Nadyn’s attack on Donovan. Appealed to them to capture Donovan for his studies. Was turned away.
Nadyn: Appeared in the morning with Anahe to deliver the Calabash Containers to the party.
Anahe: Accompanied Nadyn to see the party.
Mei: Tearfully talked with the party about her worries in an emotional conversation, and reported her knowledge of The Atracidae’s plans to the best of her ability.
Gui Ying: Helped shelter Mei according to the party’s plan.
Donovan: Present at the plant construct fight. Seemed to be avoiding the party.
Other Characters Mentioned: Altair, Thien’s parents, Tigers of Nam, Michael, Laseen and her brothers
Locations
- Ljubica & Iskra’s Inn
- Shengdu Shopping District
- Ginkgo Tree Park
- Eastern Shengdu Temple
- Shengdu Colosseum
Session Overview
The session began with the party going to sleep. In their dreams, they relived the moment the terrorists attacked the Caochuan Fair, watching as bombs went off and the maroon-clad Ondinian terrorist group pilfered valuable items from the fair. They also watched the moments that led up to Nadyn attacking Donovan. As the scene played out, Lauran appeared to the party, requesting a favor once again: Bring him Donovan.
The party was not very receptive—Amanti thought Lauran wanted Nadyn at first, then also forgot when Lauran appeared to him before in the Ethereal Plane. Thien refused to talk to him, and Brooks dodged the question. Fanna tried to entertain conversation with Lauran, but merely mocked his former caretaker, telling him that he needed to let things go. During the conversation, Fanna remembered a small tidbit of Lauran’s past: He had a brother named Altair whom he seemed to have a close bond with, but died in an unknown tragedy before Fanna’s creation. In the end, Lauran left empty-handed, but not before telling the party that it’d be better for him and Donovan if the party accepted the deal.
The party woke up, long rested, and prepared to start the day. As they were getting ready, a delivery pigeon came to them, with a letter from Thien’s parents. They were asking if their beloved son could come back to Nam, as the Tigers of Nam’s territory was growing closer to their business and they were worried. Thien’s parents also extended an offer to shelter the rest of the party, encouraging them to enjoy their time in Nam, as they seemed to be Thien’s good friends.
After reading the letter, Nadyn and Anahe arrived at the inn and restaurant. Nadyn made small talk with the party, telling them how his apprenticeship has been going, and gave the party four small calabash containers. He said Michael had told him to give it to the party, saying that they’d know when the time is right to use them. He also mentioned that Michael wanted to meet up with them the next morning, at the boba place by the Ginkgo Tree Park that had a cat. Having completed their mission, Nadyn and Anahe set off.
Before the party headed to the Shengdu Colosseum to fight the plant constructs, they decided to stop by the shopping district to buy potions. After buying a health potion, they noticed Laseen and her brothers weren’t in her usual spot. They found out from a neighboring shopkeeper to Laseen that she suddenly stopped showing up a couple weeks ago, and had suddenly pulled out of the Shengdu Colosseum’s gladiator fights for some kind of “vacation.” The party, recalling the Tigers of Nam’s fondness of Laseen, theorized they had kidnapped her, and resolved to investigate once they reached Nam.
Then the party headed to the Ginkgo Tree Park to try and talk to Mei. They desperately wanted her help, knowing she knew that The Atracidae were planning to interrupt the plant construct fight in some way, and wanted to warn her about Lauran’s interest in Donovan. They found her sweeping the path in her usual spot, where she appeared to be very weary with dark circles under her eyes. The party greeted her, trying to approach the topic softly at first. After catching her up to speed with Lauran and how he wanted Donovan, they noted her clear concern for him. That’s when they finally asked her to help them protect Donovan from The Atracidae’s upcoming attack. A pained Mei, after some hesitation told them that she couldn’t—She had taken a Binding Vow preventing her from discussing the plans with anyone besides a select group of people.
She started tearing up, and the party desperately thought of how they could try to glean information from her. She told the party about how even if she could talk, now in the public eye was not a good place to discuss such topics. The party pleaded with her to speak, as it was critical to saving Donovan other potential innocents from harm, but she merely cried, lamenting how she couldn’t prevent the Taotie from killing Yinghua, Donovan from leaving her, nor could she prevent herself from going through with the mission.
The party was prepared to give up and go to the plant construct fight. That’s when Mei asked Fanna about if they could transform into other people. Fanna confirmed. After some more hesitation, Mei quietly whispered that if Fanna transformed into Donovan, it might throw a wrench into The Atracidae’s plans. Now having somewhat of a lead, the party decided to try questioning her again. Fanna “offered” to treat her to some tea at a local cafe, while Thien took it upon himself to chase around all the animals that were watching the party and Mei. The “animals” now distracted, the rest of the party members sat with Mei.
Mei explained how the Binding Vow worked similarly to the spell Zone of Truth. Fanna then gave her a spoon and asked her if she could answer questions by tapping the spoon—Twice for yes, once for no. Mei, after some thought, tapped the spoon twice. Finally having a way to ask Mei about the plan now, they started asking her questions. They asked if Donovan was a target, which Mei tapped twice at. They also asked if there were any other targets. Mei asked what counted as a “target,” and Amanti replied it was any humans or other humanoid-adjacent beings. Mei then tapped once. Amanti concluded that meant that Donovan was the only target, which Mei suddenly shook her head at. The party, after some confusion, realized this meant the plant constructs were probably also a target—they were not humanoid or humanoid-adjacent beings.
Finally, the party asked if there would be any plans to destroy things in the plan, which Mei tapped once at. After some silence, she grew despondent again, tearful over how she had no one left besides The Atracidae, and yet she couldn’t stop herself from going on the mission and hurting someone she still loves. Fanna proposed that they maybe create a reason that Mei couldn’t go to the mission, such as a kidnapping or freak accident. After some deliberation, the party decided to use Major Image to disguise Mei as Liu, bring her to the Eastern Shengdu Temple, and have Michael or Gui Ying hide her. Before leaving, Fanna bought Mei some tea and pastries to try and comfort her, and promised her that they would not let any harm come to Donovan.
When they got to the temple, they found Michael had gone out with his apprentices Nadyn and Anahe, but Gui Ying agreed to the plan. Secure in their mission, the party left to finally go fight the plant constructs, as an exhausted and despondent Mei curled up on the couch.
When they arrived at the Shengdu Colosseum, they found a large crowd of anti-plant construct protesters who were handling out pamphlets. The party glanced at the ones they were handed, finding it contained a snippet of the documents about the plant constructs that leaked, along with arguments how the plant constructs had potential to be used unethically in war and against the people of Lingguo. Once inside and giving the receptionist the code word, and were led down to the arena.
When they arrived, they found the arena to be empty save for a few people sweeping the seats and battlefield. After a moment, a hidden trapdoor in the battlefield’s floor opened, and Donovan, several government officials, researchers, and armed guards funneled out. One of the officials apologized for being late to the party, saying that they had to go through the tunnels to avoid being followed after giving a press conference. Fanna asked about the security for the event, and the official pointed at the pairs of armed guards that were guarding every entrance and exit. After quickly checking to make sure there weren’t any animals present, the party was satisfied. Amanti passively watched Donovan converse with some of the government officials, including some upper-ranking members of the military, but Donovan merely avoided him.
Once the battlefield finished setting up, the fight began. The battlefield was in an ocean setting, the only standable land being tall rocks and spires that jutted out of the deep water. The party quickly made their way to the center island, which was 50 ft. above the water, and one of the plant constructs waited them. Combat soon merged onto the central island. With several of the other plant constructs climbing up and dipping in and out of the fight. The party managed to dispatch two, though the plant constructs retaliated with special attacks of their own, such as an HP replenishing attack and spraying caustic, burning sap that blinded those who were unfortunate to be caught in the crossfire.
During the battle, Thien’s hand crossbow whom he bought off a random shopkeeper glowed, before Thien himself was brought back to a flashback. In it, he witnessed the destruction of a kingdom of old, as it was consumed by flames and Frayed Threads. At his side was a man also in robes of a previous dynasty, and who appeared to be a tinkerer of some sort. He remarked how Thien had gotten himself into quite the situation, but Thien confidently replied how he was fine. The mysterious man commented how the hand crossbow seemed to be serving him well, which Thien enthusiastically agreed with. The man smiled, saying that he took great pride in his work, and that he strived to make his weapons the best. The man ended the conversation by giving Thien a blessing to aid him in battle. As the vision faded, Thien was overcome with a silver, glowing light, and his class was changed to that of a Fey Wanderer ranger.
The session ended with Thien using a Ki Technique to turn a 1d4 penalty to rolls back on a plant construct, the party anxious for when The Atracidae would make their move.
Key Learnings
- Lauran had a brother that died before Fanna was created. His name was Altair, and he was incredibly gifted with magic, and was favored heavily by many of the High Elves. Despite Altair taking most of the spotlight, him and Lauran still had a close bond. Lauran stated that he used some of his brother’s essence in Fanna’s creation.
- The Tigers of Nam’s territory was expanding.
- Michael wanted to meet up with the party the next morning to discuss something.
- Laseen and her brothers have been missing for the last couple of weeks.
- Mei confirmed several key points to The Atracidae’s plan: They were targeting Donovan and the plant constructs, and they did not plan for any unnecessary destruction or harm to innocents.
Items Of Importance
- 4x Small Calabash Containers
- 1x Healing Potion (purchased in the shopping district)
- Tea & Pastries for Mei