Donovan’s already suspect health takes a turn for the worse, and Louisa’s reunion with Amanti and Nadyn ends up not as well as it could’ve been.
Characters Interacted With
Gui Ying: Allowed the party to stay at the Eastern Shengdu Temple, helped with stabilizing Donovan.
Nadyn: Present during the conversations about his family and what happened to Louisa during the years she was missing.
Donovan: His life is in danger after Louisa stabbed him with a magical weapon. Seems to have used his remaining strength to make his way to the temple, before collapsing at the entrance. To make matters even worse, Lauran placed a curse on him, meaning that he will die in a week without intervention.
Master Hua: Used his medical expertise to stabilize Donovan.
Michael: Acted as watch while Master Hua and Guiying were stabilizing Donovan and offered some insight to the party.
Louisa Donaurkos: Reconnected with Amanti and Nadyn after having been missing for years. War has changed her.
Mei: Arrived with Louisa to the temple, seen grieving over Donovan’s condition.
Lauran: Appeared to place a curse on Donovan, sapping his vitality. Taunted the party over their inability to help Donovan.
Other Characters Mentioned: Anahe, Amanti’s Wildfire Spirit, Soup, Mei Mei the cat
Locations
- Eastern Shengdu Temple
Session Overview
After the uneasy ending to last session, the party stopped for a quick dinner, and then went to the Eastern Shengdu Temple, as Mei had said she’d meet the party again there the next morning with Louisa. Gui Ying welcomed them and had a temple worker lead them to the side room they had stayed at last time, where they set up for the night. Before the party went to sleep, Amanti decided to break to Nadyn the news that Louisa was still alive—Thien deciding to eavesdrop on the conversation while Fanna and Brooks let them have some privacy. Nadyn was happy, albeit a bit confused about how she got into a “fight” with Donovan and that she needed to cool down after it. He asked if she knew anything about his missing older brother Matas, but Amanti didn’t have any answers.
After sleeping for the night, the party decided to go to Donovan’s apartment and return the plant construct parts whom Fanna had collected into the Bag of Holding. When they exited the temple, they were blocked by a crowd who was standing on the outside steps, gawking at something. When they asked what was happening, they were told that someone had collapsed at the base of the steps. The party saw, to their shock, that the person in question was Donovan. Fanna and Amanti rushed to his side to investigate what happened. They saw that the flesh on the right side of his chest, his right shoulder and upper arm, and part of his neck on the right side had turned black. They also saw he had vines wrapped around his torso and arms, partially embedded into his skin, including the parts that had turned black. The parts that were embedded into the blackened flesh were brown and shriveled up, as if they were dying too. Fanna gently picked up Donovan and started carrying him inside the temple. A person from the crowd ran inside and alerted Gui Ying and the other temple workers, who ran to fetch Master Hua and Michael while Gui Ying ran outside to attend to grab Donovan from Fanna and rush him into the infirmary.
The party followed Master Hua, Gui Ying, and Michael to the infirmary, where Gui Ying set him on the bed and Master Hua quickly got to work. The party saw him hold his hand out and use his magic to try and discern what was wrong with him. Michael asked the party if they could excuse themselves for a moment and give them space to work, which they obliged with, and waited outside.
As they waited outside, they asked Amanti’s Wildfire Spirit if it knew what could be wrong with Donovan, bringing up how they saw last session that his soul’s fire was cold and not warm like it was supposed to be. After some thought, the Wildfire Spirit explained that it appeared something had directly hurt his soul, causing it to start fraying and damaging its connection with the Weave. It also noticed how his soul seemed muddled. Most people’s souls are very distinctly someone’s being, like how Amanti’s soul is distinctly Amanti’s, Fanna’s was distinctly Fanna’s, etc., with no overlap between the two. It used the analogy of water and tea both having their own distinct tastes and smells that made them unmistakably water and tea. With Donovan’s however, there seemed to be no clear distinct “Donovan” to it, saying it was quite homogenous in comparison. Thien suggested it was like Orappilk, to which the Wildfire Spirit agreed with. If most people’s souls were individually orange, apple juice, and milk, Donovan’s was a muddled mix of them. The party asked if it was possible to isolate an individual part, such as the milk, out of this “Orappilk soul”, and the Wildfire Spirit shook its head. Just as it’d be difficult to isolate any individual beverage out of Orappilk, it’d be difficult to isolate a “Donovan” part out of his soul as it currently stands.
Eventually, Master Hua let the party back into the room. Donovan was still lying on the bed unconscious, with bandages now wrapped around his chest. Master Hua asked the party if they knew anything from the day before that could help him treat Donovan, as Nadyn told him that the party had interacted with Donovan the day before. Before explaining what happened, Thien quickly told Master Hua about how they noticed that something was wrong with the flame of Donovan’s soul, which he admitted he had noticed. He was unsure of what the cause of that could be, but of what he could tell, it seemed like something damaged the threads that made up his being, echoing what the Wildfire Spirit had said. The party then told him about everything that had happened with The Atracidae, and how Donovan got stabbed in the chest at the end of everything. They told him how they were going to talk to the culprit that day. Master Hua requested they try and get the weapon that Louisa had used, as he wanted to examine it to see if it could help him figure out what happened, and the party agreed.
Thien also told him how there were many people out for Donovan’s head right now, referencing the substantial anti-plant constructs crowd. He suggested that they keep an eye out in case one of them decided to do something extreme. Master Hua nodded, saying he had the same thought, and asked Michael to go keep watch with his Wolf Spirits. Michael obeyed, and went to the temple entrance to keep watch.
The party followed Michael into the entrance, where they saw three of his Wolf Spirits circling around keeping guard. Fanna made small talk with Michael, expressing concern over Donovan, and saying how they were “friends.” Michael raised an eyebrow in doubt at this, and Fanna clarified that even if they weren’t close, Fanna still cared for Donovan like a friend. They also asked Michael how long he had known Donovan’s whole fight with the anti-plant constructs crowd was going on, and he answered since it started. He mentioned how Donovan was also very stubborn when he first met, but he had gradually warmed up on their journey upriver a while back. It was when the plant constructs were leaked to the public when he retreated into himself once again. Fanna answered how it made sense he had that reaction after having people hound you and call you a “shithead” constantly.
After some time, an owl flew into the temple before transforming into Mei. She told the party that Louisa was ready to meet Amanti whenever he was ready. Amanti then went back to the infirmary, where Anahe and Nadyn were sitting, to grab Nadyn so he could reunite with his mother finally. The remaining party, after debating whether to tell Mei or not, decided to tell her that Donovan was also inside. Immediately wanting to talk to him, she asked where he was. After some hemming and hawing from the party, as they didn’t want to break the news directly to her about Donovan’s dire condition, Michael brought Mei aside and told her. Panicked, she ran into the infirmary, and seeing the state Donovan was in, starting crying and wailing, with Amanti and Nadyn quickly shuffling around her to go meet Louisa.
Louisa, Nadyn, and Amanti all shared an emotional group hug after finally being reunited in around half a decade. All three went to a side room where they could converse and catch up with each other, the party following. Louisa asked how Amanti escaped Yumaly, to which he said how he left after a few months, when it was clear it wasn’t safe anymore. He also lied and said how Nadyn left with him, even though what actualyl happened was that Nadyn was forcibly enlisted onto the Modernists’ side of the war. Nadyn asked Louisa how she escaped capture in return. He was under the impression that she had disappeared because she was captured. After some hesitation, and agreement with Amanti, her and Amanti decided to break the truth to Nadyn—She actually left of her own will, to try and find a better place for them to live. Shocked and hurt, Nadyn asked why the two of them lied to him. Amanti and Louisa tried to reassure him by telling him it was for him and Matas’ safety, but he became quiet and stopped participating in the conversation.
Louisa took a deep breath and began to tell Amanti her story: Seeing the rising radicalization and violence of both the Modernists and Tradionalists, the unspeakable tragedies she witnessed, returning to their home, only to see that it was destroyed, and fleeing to Lingguo and joining The Atracidae. It was here that she met Mei, and learned a little of her past: She was raised in an abusive village and ran away when she was an adult. Shortly after, she met Donovan, and the two dated for some time, but the relationship turned sour eventually. She said how Mei admitted that at one point, Donovan went so far as to yell at Mei and tell her that all she did was get in his way. Louisa felt that Mei deserved someone far better than him, even though she still had feelings for him after their breakup.
With the topic of Donovan being brought up, the party decided to touch on the elephant in the room—Louisa’s attempted assassination of Donovan. Louisa was adamant that her decision was correct, pleased that “however this ended, he wouldn’t pose a threat anymore.” When Amanti asked her to reconsider and that she might have been too harsh on Donovan, she still didn’t budge. The rest of the party chipped in, saying that someone worse might take Donovan’s place if he died, and that if she saved him, he’d owe her his life, something that she could use to her advantage. After being reassured that he wouldn’t be a threat ever again if she complied, Louisa handed over the weapon she had used to stab him, a Needle dagger. Needle weapons had the power to directly damage an individual’s Threads in The Weave, causing their body, soul, Spirit, and everything else that made them who they were to start unraveling. Needle weapons required special ceremonies and magic to be imbued in them for them to achieve this potent affect, or else they just functioned as regular weapons. Having recently used it, Louisa’s Needle dagger didn’t have a charge, but was still helpful to the party’s cause.
The party returned to the infirmary and handed the Needle dagger to Master Hua. Its presence confirmed Master Hua’s suspicions about Donovan’s condition. Fortunately, Donovan was finally awake again, though he refused to talk to the party. As the party was standing in the room, Fanna felt their Bag of Holding start shaking. When they checked it, they saw the parts to one of the plant constructs magically reform in the bag, and the plant construct soon tried getting out. Fanna ran into the entrance hall to try and contain the creature, but it remained persistent. Michael noticed what was happening and followed to assist. He also pointed out how it looked like there was a minor Spirit in the plant construct. Despite Fanna attempting to intimidate it with the threat of a Fireball, it eventually escaped and ran into the infirmary. It ran around at the base of Donovan’s bed, much to his shock. When he leaned over to look at it, it put its two front legs up onto the bed and gave him a gentle headbutt, then laid down at the end of the bed. The party asked him if he knew anything about this behavior, but he admitted that their behavior had always puzzled him, as their intelligence was for more complex than what they were originally programmed for. Fanna tried making conversation with him again, but Donovan ignored them once again. Frustrated, Fanna gave them an ultimatum: They could either choose to be a scientist, or a soldier. They then, along with the rest of the party, left the infirmary again.
Amanti decided that he had to break the truth to Louisa about Nadyn’s fate during the civil war. However, when he returned to the room her and Nadyn were in, he found her comforting a crying Nadyn, after he had already told her what really happened. The party wished Amanti good luck, giving him some magical aid in case he needed it, then quickly scurried off to go buy some treats. Amanti tried explaining how he knew the decision wasn’t right, and that the regret tore him apart to this day, but Louisa simply left with Nadyn, leaving Amanti alone in the room. Finally, after some time, he got to his feet and went outside, where he met the party on their return from buying pineapple cakes.
The party then went to sleep again, ready to head to Nam the next morning. However, they were awoken in the middle of the night by a commotion in the infirmary. The air was cold, and when they entered the room, they saw Lauran standing at the end of the bed, staring over Donovan’s sleeping form. Fanna tried throwing a pineapple cake at his head, but he raised his arm and caught it at the last second. He then twisted his head around, calmly greeting Fanna and asking if they wanted to join him and Donovan. When Fanna refused, he strode across the floor in the blink of an eye, grabbed them by the neck in one hand, and lifted them off the ground, flashing a ghoulish grin and growling the words “You can’t save him.”
The party awoke with a start again, the scene they had just witnessed being the work of Lauran’s dream communication again. Concerned about Donovan, they rushed to the infirmary to check on him, and found that Master Hua, Michael, Gui Ying, and Mei had already run in. They also saw Mei Mei the cat pacing around yowling, and the plant construct was running around making stressed beeps. Master Hua, Michael, Gui Ying, and Mei crowded around Donovan’s side, faces growing dour with what they (and the party also) saw: The areas of blackened, dying skin on his body had rapidly spread, and now reached the right side of his face and his right hand. Master Hua muttered about how he recognized this aura, and that he had to “discuss this with Brother Chunfeng immediately.” Quickly, he mixed together a salve to put on the dying skin, and Gui Ying prepared a medicinal soup to pour down Donovan’s throat. After this immediate first aid, Master Hua ran out to make preparations.
Meanwhile, as the others stood around shocked and at a loss of what to do, the plant construct kept going to the edge of the bed and nudging Donovan’s hand, trying to get a reaction, but Donovan did not wake up. The plant construct, after pausing, then leaned forward and gently pressed its head against his hand. It became surrounded in a blue aura, which gradually transferred over to Donovan. Slowly, the parts that made up the plant construct started falling apart again, and soon, the creature was nothing but a pile of bits and machinery on the floor. On Donovan, meanwhile, the areas of blackened skin that had changed after Lauran’s arrival returned to normal again.
Everyone stared at what happened in silence, slowly processing the plant construct’s sacrifice, with Gui Ying commenting on how it gave up its Spirit to heal Donovan. Mei knelt down and picked up one of the pieces, looking at it mournfully. Even though the plant construct had staved off some of the damage to Donovan’s body, Gui Ying and Michael were still incredibly worried. They had noticed a while back that the star that represented Donovan’s destiny in the night sky had disappeared, meaning that his fate was not being tracked by the Gods for some reason.
Master Hua then returned and pulled the party aside. He told them how he needed a special herb called the Maiden’s Bell in order to lift the vitality-sapping curse that Lauran had placed on Donovan and save his life. It was incredibly difficult to acquire, Lingguoren tradition identifying it as one of the herbs that the goddess Meng Po used in her soup, though the exact recipe was a tightly held secret by the gods. Unfortunately, the Tigers of Nam had been hoarding Maiden’s Bells for some time now. He further told them how tomorrow, when the party woke up, he would teach them to fast travel via the elements, so they could get to Nam and procure the Maiden’s Bell as fast as possible. Fanna asked how long they had, and Master Hua told them about a week.
In an attempt to get information about him before their journey, Fanna used Scrying on Lauran. The session ended with Fanan witnessing Lauran talking about his chimeras to two shadowed figures, one in an Ondinian military uniform, and one in a Leferinese military uniform.
Key Learnings
- The weapon Louisa had used on Donovan when she stabbed him was a special Needle weapon. These objects were super powerful magic weapons which relied on primordial Threadworking magic to damage their victims’ connection to The Weave directly. Because they were so powerful, requiring constant magical upkeep to retain their magic, and misuse of them could have major consequences, such as the creation of Frayed Threads, they usually were only used by powerful beings like High Elves or other Immortals.
- Subsequently, it appeared Donovan’s condition was a result of the Threads of his body to being damaged and starting to unravel, hence his flesh turning black and dying. It’s more or less the magical equivalent of his body being hit with radiation poisoning and disintegrating on the cellular level.
- In addition, his soul’s flame being cold was likely because of it being muddled and not pure. Instead of his soul being distinctly “Donovan”, it was diluted and not wholly him. (See: the metaphor of people’s souls being like different beverages, while Donovan’s was like Orappilk)
- Finally, Donovan’s star in the sky, associated with his destiny in life, had disappeared. This meant that for whatever reason, his existence wasn’t being tracked by the Gods anymore.
- The plant constructs, or at least the one that came “alive” during the session, had Spirits inside them.
- Lauran appeared to have placed a curse on Donovan, slowly draining him of his vitality and worsening his condition. The plant constructs’ sacrifice was able to stave off some of the damage, but if he wasn’t healed in time, he would perish.
- There was a special herb Master Hua needed to heal Donovan, called the Maiden’s Bell. The Tigers of Nam had been hoarding them for some time now, and so the only way to obtain one was to go to Nam.
Items Of Importance
- Louisa’s Needle Dagger (pocketed by Master Hua)
- Pineapple Cakes