The party talks to Louisa, and after an emotional conversation, manages to convince her to divert the anti-plant construct activists somewhere else. The party and Donovan learn the terrible truth behind his near-death experience from the Caochuan Fair.
Characters Interacted With
Mei: Present when the party confronted Louisa. Broke down once the Binding Vow’s true nature was revealed.
Nadyn: Present when the party confronted Louisa. Upset his parents won’t get along, but slightly hopeful. Broke down once the Binding Vow’s true nature was revealed.
Louisa: Humored the party as they tried persuading her to divert the anti-plant construct activists somewhere else. Seems like her and Amanti have some irreconcilable differences.
Donovan: Snuck out of the temple to meet Lauran. Broke down once the Binding Vow’s true nature was revealed. Underwent an excruciating transformation.
Michael: Discussed Donovan’s ailing health with the party. Listened to Mei as she confessed the Binding Vow she made to stop Donovan’s death.
Lauran: Appeared to the party for brief conversation. Told Donovan the truth about his life and death.
Other Characters Mentioned: Soup, Master Hua, Guiying, Government Delegation
Locations
- Eastern Shengdu Temple
- River of Life/Ming River Shoreline
- Caochuan Fair (mentioned)
Session Overview
The Beginning
The session began several days after the last one ended. The party walked around for a bit, then went to find Michael to ask him how Donovan was doing. They found him taking a brief break from patrolling the temple eating a sandwich. He explained that Donovan was still alive, thankfully, but still in pretty bad condition. The party asked what exactly was wrong with him regarding the Frayed Threadness and the plants. Michael explained how the rotting and corruptive powers of the Frayed Threads was destroying his body. Ordinarily, the purification process would be straightforward, but the magical plants Donovan had put around his limbs threw a wrench in things. They embedded themselves in his body as a response to the rot, and at first were helpful in fighting it, giving Donovan enough time to make his way to the temple before he collapsed. Now, however, they had become so entangled with his body that a safe removal of them was impractical. In addition, the rot and plants were interacting with each other, making each force more aggressive and causing more disruption in his body. The strange “vine” Donovan vomited up at the end of last session was the result of this.
The party tried offering their help, such as having Amanti use Speak with Plants on the magic plants to convince them to stop growing, but Michael told them not to worry themselves over it. The presence of the Frayed Threads caused spells to either not work as well on Donovan, or not work at all, making stuff like Cure Wounds or Major Restoration not effective. Whatever the party came up, Master Hua, Michael, and Guiying probably would have already thought about it. Now it was just a mix of waiting, monitoring the situation, and trying to think of more solutions.
Michael went back to his patrol duties, and the party went to go find Mei and Nadyn so they could initiate the conversation with Louisa to try and stop her damaging crusade against Donovan. As they walked down the hall, they heard the sound of someone playing a Xun, and saw an apparition of Lauran leaning against the wall by the infirmary entrance. He exchanged greetings with the party, asking if they’ve thought about bringing Donovan to him. The party once again declined, and he accepted this, but remarked how it’d be a terrible shame for him and Donovan to miss out on meeting each other. Despite the party’s continued distaste of him, he asked Fanna if they still had the damaged Leferinese rifle they got off a guard in Nam. Fanna confirmed they do. Lauran stated how he’d heard the party had gotten themselves in quite a predicament regarding Donovan, and said the rifle might be helpful to them for their purpose. With that, he gave one last glance towards the infirmary, then disappeared, escaping another attempted Psychic Lance from Fanna.
The party continued on their way, finding Mei in the courtyard. After a brief conversation, she waited there as the party grabbed Nadyn, despite her annoyance at him being present once again. Now ready to summon Louisa, Nadyn set down the incense, and, using a technique he practiced with Michael, lit it to summon his mother.
Speaking to Louisa
After waiting 15 minutes, Louisa arrived to the courtyard in the form of a bird, before transforming back to her human form. She appeared annoyed that Nadyn had brought others in what was supposed to be a secret between the two of them.
Amanti proceeded to rip into Louisa, accusing her of being a bad parent, putting Nadyn in danger, and having a vendetta against Donovan to fuel her own ego. After clearing up a miscommunication over whether Louisa had personally sent the group of rogue adventurers that broke into the temple a couple sessions ago, Amanti reiterated that she was putting Nadyn in danger. Nadyn interjected after, upset that Amanti was yelling at his mom, and exclaiming how he hadn’t told him that he was going to go after her like that. Louisa remained unmoved by Amanti, countering that Nadyn could simply stay with her if things were so unsafe with him. The back and forth continued, with both parties accusing each other of not doing enough to reunite the family: Amanti saying how he had spent years looking for her, and that she did not do the same, and Louisa saying that when she had come back to their village, him and the rest of the village was gone. Amanti even took out the rhododendron necklace he had bought in Nam to prove his point. Nadyn became even more upset, as the broken relationship between his parents was becoming quite clear.
The party was unconvinced when Louisa said the end goal of Donovan’s death would be discouraging others from weaponizing natural resources in the future. After Louisa and Amanti’s continued arguing, Fanna pulled out the broken Leferinese rifle Lauran had reminded them about earlier, and said that Louisa might be interested in it. It immediately caught her attention, as she recognized the model and the scent of Pourronium on it from her experience in the Yumalyan Civil War. She demanded to know everything about where Fanna had found it, but Fanna said that they wouldn’t hand it over until she sorted things out with her family.
After some frustration at Fanna’s demand, Louisa, trying to prioritize her son, asked Nadyn what he wanted, since he was a victim in all of this too. Nadyn talked about how he would love for his family to be perfect and together again, but he understood now that that was probably not possible, and the war had changed them too much. He talked about how he had an amazing mentor now (Michael) who was very sweet, showed him kindness, and together with Anahe made him feel like he had a family again. Louisa showed interest in meeting this mentor, since Nadyn spoke so highly of him. Nadyn said he was fine with still talking and meeting with his parents, though maybe separately since things were heated at the moment. Louisa went and gave him a hug, and the two stayed together for a while. Amanti went up to Louisa holding up the rhododendron necklace, but she turned her head away from it.
In the end, it was decided that Fanna would give Louisa a piece of paper detailing everything they knew about the Leferinese rifle’s discovery, and Louisa would call off the swarm of protesters around the temple. Amanti said he was fine with Nadyn and Louisa meeting first privately after this, and Nadyn could tell Louisa whether he thought Amanti had truly changed or not. After taking the paper full of information from Fanna and the broken Leferinese rifle, Louisa told Nadyn that she’d meet him again within three days and flew off in the form of a bird again.
Mentally drained, Nadyn decided to turn in for the night. Mei said the same, though not before admitting, half to herself, that she probably needed to find a new career soon, because Louisa would not be pleased finding out that Mei had made a Binding Vow with Donovan. She thanked Bachariel for sharing his popcorn with her, then left as well. Soon, the rest of the party also went to bed.
Donovan Missing
Several days passed by at the temple. One day, another delegation arrived from the government, embroiling Michael, Master Hua, and Guiying into yet another important meeting with them in Master Hua’s demiplane. The party was milling around in their room, when Nadyn showed up knocking at the door. He asked the party if they had seen Donovan, and when they said no, Nadyn looked scared, before asking them if they could help him find Donovan.
The party went to the infirmary to investigate, but found the bed—or what was left after it after being exposed to the rot-inducing powers in Donovan—empty. The only other notable things present were indents in the ground from the plant constructs, dried droplets of blood that Donovan had coughed up earlier, and dried up bits of plant matter, also from Donovan.
Mei then showed up, asking what was going on. As soon as the party mentioned that Donovan was missing, she also immediately started fretting. Everyone considered trying to contact Michael, Master Hua, or Guiying, but they were deep in their important meeting with the government delegation, and communication was hampered by them being in a separate demiplane. After an Augury confirmed that trying to contact Michael and the others would be no use, the party decided to try and keep looking. Eventually, the party made their way to the rear courtyard, trying to see if he had escaped that way. Amanti casted Speak with Plants on the grass in the courtyard, and the grass cryptically confirmed that Donovan, with the assistance of the plant constructs, had scaled the wall recently.
The party still wasn’t sure what to do, so Mei scaled the wall and confirmed the plant constructs had gone off in one direction. The party came over and saw her point to indents in the grass and ground, where the plant constructs had stepped. Together, the party, Nadyn, and Mei followed the indents, which lead towards the river. They found spots where Donovan had taken time to rest, as all the plants in the places he stopped were withered.
Finally, after walking for a while, they spotted Donovan sitting near the River of Life, back facing them. His plant constructs were knelt or pacing around him, and the started beeping at him when they detected the party and NPCs coming. Confused, he told the plant constructs he couldn’t understand them. Then, Fanna stepped out of the woods, calling to Donovan.
Donovan looked surprised, then asked if Master Hua, Michael, or Guiying had sent the party to drag him back to the temple. The party told him they had not, just that they were looking for him and were worried. At this, he asked the party “what their plans were” for him. Fanna gave an evasive question, saying how “they” could refer to any number of people.
Bachariel stepped forward, telling Donovan how he made some progress on his magitech phone, and that he was looking for a second opinion. Donovan, weary and broken down, told Bachariel that he didn’t think he could help Bachariel with that. Bachariel insisted that was alright.
After a moment, Donovan started talking about how he’s had the suspicion that something is deeply wrong, noticing all of the protective talismans in the infirmary, the way everyone spoke in hushed voices around him, and how the monks all averted their eyes from him. He even talked about how he saw Jinli yelp when he saw him walking down the wall. Though both Bachariel and his plant constructs tried comforting him, he seemed unmoved. When the party tried convincing him to come back to the temple, as it was better for his health, he dismissed them, saying that it was fine, and he knew he probably didn’t have much time left anyway.
Mei stepped forward, trying to convince Donovan to think differently. He replied by telling her that she needed to stop worrying about him. He apologized for what happened during the past and how he regrets it, but further reiterated that they should stop trying to seek each other’s presence. Mei held her ground, insisting that she cared about him, and that she wanted to be there with him.
Bachariel spoke up again, telling Donovan how having other people care about you was an important treasure, one that he shouldn’t give up on so easily. Donovan muttered about how from what his Dad had told him, his home village would do fine without him. Taking a different approach, Bachariel started musing about how water in many cultures represented the liminal space between life and death, and that he understood why Donovan wanted to come out here and try and relax in such a peaceful spot like by the river. He was hopeful that Donovan could come back at a later date and visit the river if he liked. He finished by telling him that he’d step back and give Donovan some space, but also warned him how it wasn’t safe for him out here, and that something could happen to him.
The rest of the party, taking a cue from Bachariel, stepped back a bit as well. Then, the river started glowing. Mist appeared on the river’s surface, which quickly formed into the apparition of Lauran. He turned to Donovan, saying how he told Donovan to come alone, revealing that the two also had contact in the past. Donovan mumbled an apology, saying that he had tried to sneak away. Mei, Nadyn, and the party immediately became hostile. Lauran rebuffed them, trying to convince Donovan to ignore them, and that they didn’t understand him like he did. When Nadyn and Mei continued to warn Lauran to keep away, he gave a hideous grin, before telling Nadyn that his words were “rich, coming from the guy who killed Donovan”. This caused everyone to freeze for a moment, before a confused Donovan went “What?”
Lauran turned to him again, and explained the truth: Donovan had actually died back at the Caochuan Fair, when Nadyn hit him in the back of the head with the rock. He said that if he doubted him, that he could ask Mei and Nadyn. Mei grew angrier, while Nadyn frantically pleaded it was an accident.
Lauran further explained that the reason Donovan’s life was so terrible lately was because the Gods were angry at him for escaping death. Donovan, who had become increasingly distraught, screamed at Lauran, saying that he was lying and necromancy was impossible. Undeterred, Lauran said that Mei had made a Binding Vow back at the Caochuan Fair to grant him a second lease on life. Now terrified, Donovan begged Mei and Nadyn to tell him this wasn’t true. Mei, heartbroken, told him she did it to save his life, while Nadyn tearfully apologized.
Lauran’s words confirmed, Donovan froze up. Lauran leaned in to whisper something to him, before throwing his head back and laughing. Donovan vacantly muttered a few words about wondering if he was ever alive, before suddenly being overcome with pain. The party and NPCS watched in horror as his body underwent an excruciating transformation, the muscles in his right arm rotting and falling off the bone, the plants within his body growing out of control and tearing out skin and flesh, and vines wrapping around his arm before ripping his elbow out of its socket and crushing the bones in his hands.
Lauran was gone, leaving the party to fight the transformed Donovan. During the fight, he looked to be in unimaginable pain, showing signs that he wasn’t fully in control of his actions, stumbling around, and struggling to even speak. Mei vomited from the trauma, while Nadyn started having a breakdown and scratched at his arms until they bled. Bachariel told Mei to prioritize herself if she couldn’t fight, and told Nadyn to go grab his master, which he ran off to do.
Though the Frayed Threads influence in Donovan made it so spells weren’t as effective on him, the party managed to cast Polymorph on him, turning him into a relatively harmless frog. Though the frog was still clearly in egregious pain, writhing around and gasping for air in the party’s hands, the party was now able to take Donovan back to the temple.
Back to the Temple
The party, and a disgusted Mei, ran back to the temple. There, they found Nadyn frantically running around, saying that he needed to get into contact with Michael immediately. The monks hastily obliged, but said it would take some time for him to show up. Bachariel found a monk and reiterated the urgency of the situation, demanding the monk get Michael here immediately, while the party raced Donovan, in frog form, to the infirmary. After the monk’s protests, Michael popped in next to him, and asked what the issue was.
Bachariel lead him to the infirmary. There, the party frantically explained what happened—Lauran appearing, Donovan’s transformation, and how they had turned him into a frog with Polymorph and brought him back here. Fanna tried explaining how apparently Donovan had actually died at some point and then came back, but Mei tackled them to the floor and told them not to speak about it, reiterating how necromancy was the biggest taboo in Lingguo and Michael couldn’t hear about it. Fanna insisted that it would be best if Michael knew the full context, but Mei begged them to just let her have this, since she had lost so much already.
Michael, suspicious, asked them what they were talking about. After Fanna gave an awful lie about them “discussing Fanna’s new shirt”, Michael grew serious and demanded what exactly was going on here: He was pulled from a very important meeting only to find out Donovan had gone missing, was turned into a frog, and the party running around like headless chickens.
Mei still was hesitant to say something. Seeing this, Michael revealed some of his vulnerabilities of well. He was far from perfect, and had skeletons in his closet as well. He admitted that there was an incident in his past, which Mei probably had heard of, where he had killed an innocent woman by his own hands. He said how he couldn’t take it back, and that it continues to haunt him to this day.
After Michael’s heartfelt talk, Mei was finally convinced. She proceeded to spill the truth about the Binding Vow: How she witnessed Nadyn hitting Donovan with the rock, him collapsing, and his pained death throes. She ran forward and cradled his body, sobbing and begging him to not leave her. That’s when a Spirit appeared—A beautiful young woman with bright red hair, skin white like a pearl, and robes from a dynasty long ago. The Spirit gave her a proposition: If she gave up half her life force in a Binding Vow, the Spirit could use it to bring Donovan back. Mei agreed, and the deed was done. She couldn’t stay for long because of her duties to The Atracidae, so she laid Donovan gently against a wall. When the party encountered her, she made them promise to bring Donovan to get medical attention, and the rest was history.
Because of this Binding Vow, if one of them died, then the other would as well. She tearfully exclaimed that she shouldn’t have made the Binding Vow, and how she was a coward, because she couldn’t bring herself to put a man who would never stop suffering out of his misery due to fear of dying herself. With this, she broke down in tears and cried into Michael’s arms.
Right as this happened, Master Hua and Guiying showed up, the government delegation behind them. Fanna hastily stepped in front of the delegation, telling them this was a private matter, and even threatening them with violence. After a short exchange between Master Hua and Michael in High Elvish, Michael told the party they would be bringing Donovan to Master Hua’s demiplane, before him, Master Hua, Guiying, Mei, and Donovan all teleported away. The session then ended there.
Key Learnings
- Donovan’s recovery was especially difficult due to the presence of both the magic plants and rot in his body. The two were interacting with each other and making their effects worse.
- Louisa agreed to divert the anti-plant constructs activists and protesters’ attention away from Donovan and the Eastern Shengdu Temple. In return, Fanna gave her information on the Leferinese rifle they got from the party’s time in Nam.
- Fanna told Louisa of the following:
- Describing the abilities/how good the rifles are; they’re seemingly mass produced, etc.,
- How the party encountered them in the Truong Giang docks, with a captain wearing a full set of Leferinese armour, including a sketch of the captain’s face
- Describing their sort of shaky relationship with the Tigers of Nam
- The research the scientist within the Tigers of Nam was doing, including a sketch of the scientist
- Telling her how the Tigers already knew about the plant constructs and that there was definitely more connections
- Detailed sketches of the armour, etc.
- The Tigers didn’t have enough resources to make the plant constructs themselves
- The party knows there’s a direct connection with the Leferinese, Lauran (like directly working with them for weapons), and Lauran targeting Donovan as a guinea pig
- Donovan actually died when Nadyn hit him from behind with a rock at the Caochuan Fair. Through a Binding Vow Mei made with a Spirit, he was able to live again. However, if either of them died, then the other would die as well.
- Michael spoke of a dark incident in his past where he killed an innocent woman.
Items Of Importance
- Broken Leferinese Rifle (given to Louisa)