Coulerain Campaign - Session 7 Recap

The Party watch as the forests around the peak shake with tremors. Lilith's army approaches, they must go. Dun'Istar will transport them east, to their last hope in wining this war, but Cammie must leave Satsumi behind for a time.

Dun'Istar takes them to his own realm, this time it isn't a library but an armory and the mage hands are fixing the weapons. Their transportation takes a while and Naergon and Dun'Istar go off into the curving corridor to speak privately.

Dio tries to take some of the daggers laying around but is stopped by the flying hands until he manages to beat one in speed.

Dio sees through someone else's eyes for a moment, gazing upon the scene of a group of elves gathered around a grand fireplace. One of them is playing a harp, beautifully. Before he speaks a word of his song the dagger is torn from his grasp.

Lilith's forces break through the defenses of Dun'Istar's realm, nothing seems safe from their relentless presence. They break through the walls and Dun'Istar is forced to transport the Party early, leaving them split apart.

Corporal Healbright and the Party find themselves alone in a vast desert of dry mud. Next to them is a trench with the marks of recent usage. They make their way to the abandoned officer's tent where Kai finds a spell scroll laying about the forgotten weapons. The Party see that their line has been withdrawn in order to better face the enemy in the west.

They hear tremors, a cloud of dust is marching east but it is not sandstorm. It's Lilith's Eastern Army. As they near the trenches fireballs plummet from the sky and tear them apart.

The Corporal leads the Party to the new front as fireballs fall around them. Jotaro and Jorian trip in the cracks of the dry earth and fall, unable to run from a fireball that falls on their heads and knocks them unconscious.

The rest of the Party run back to rescue them, Morrigan uses her druidic knowledge to turn into a horse and carry the wounded.

As they make their escape Kai falls behind and Linen runs back to shield him from a fireball.

After what seems like an eternity under this hellish barrage the Party reach the front and are pelted by bullets, one of which hits Morrigan's shoulder. Linen creates a shining light that makes the soldiers stop their assault. The Party run behind the front and witness the clockwork soldiers crumble before reaching the trench.

Doram Greyjay finds them and takes them back to the officer's tent. He tells them of the new weaponry the Bayfrontians have and how it allows them to fire spells at great distances, but even with that he sees that the Bayfrontians are losing, although they're adamant about their military prowess and success in the west.

The Party meets up with Dun'Istar and Naergon. Dun'Istar tries to cast a spell to cover up Morrigan before he turns her back into a tiefling but it has no effect inside the peculiar tent. Outside Dun'Istar manages to conjure a white curtain to allows Morrigan to get dressed, thanks to Cammie and Kai picking up her fallen clothes.

Inside the tent Jorian, exhausted, sits on a random chair but a man appears from somewhere and asks him to take his designated spot. The Party then wait for what again seems like an eternity.

Jorian questions Dun'Istar about Fate and he explains the concept of the straight spear of Fate that the Andunernilir follow and the snake that eats its own tail that the circular nature of time itself follows. And that they, the Amarthernilir, should be free from these constrains of a straight path and a repeating future. Or so he hopes, there are secrets even an Ara'Oronte does not have access to.

Dun'Istar closes by saying that the snake is used for a reason, you can't tell if Fate has made a mistake by chosing them, not before it finishes eating it's tail, and it never seems to get close.

He tells them another allegory, that which he told them before, of the Universe being one intricate clockwork, and as any clockwork, no matter how refined, it has defects in its gears. Those defects are the chaos and the evil of the world, and they are a permanent part of it. But everyone is part of the clockwork, and some gears can make up for the defects of others.

Morrigan tries to comprehend the runes on the table while they wait and she manages. Memories flash before her eyes, a grand city on the southern coast. Someone beckons to the figure through whose eyes she sees. As the gaze turns it falls upon a figure armored in red, completely covered in crimson.

The runes disappear as the vision ends. Now the peculiarity of the room is apparent, the tent is bigger on the inside, they're not in the Shro Desert, at least not for the time being.

The room fills with officials, diplomats, delegates and lawyers. One sits at the head of the table, takes out a pocket watch and watches it carefully as he begins the meeting.

Dun'Istar says he expected someone else, but the Representative says his Employer is busy with other deeds. What follows is a demeaning layout of the past events and the Party's failure to mend the mess they've created, even with the help of two Arasi'Oronte.

Jorian tries to appeal to the delegates' humanity by saying that every second they waste mean more lives are taken by the Clockwork Queen but the Representative grows angry with him, this is their work, the work of petulant children who let an unstable child get ahold of the Ring of Lorian. The Representative claims the armies of the Bayfrontian League would have no trouble marching over the Chernit Mountains and defeating Lilith but that would be a bad move for international relations.

The Representative builds this idea of the League being a beacon of stability for Coulerain. He offers a deal to them, three for three. They will help the Party take down the dragon, destroy Lilith's Army Factories on the island of Udun and then finally corner her at Kovacs so that the Party can take her down once and for all.

These do not come at a small cost. The Representative asks that the Party make an oath of non-interference when the Ring of Gozdor reveals itself. He asks that Dun'Istar's successor, both as Dun'Istar and Lightbringer of Tie Alta, the Path of Light, are chosen by his Employer.

The Representative asks that Naergon Naylor renounces his kingship over Tie Glind, the Path of Song, and live out the rest of his days not as the Storyteller, but as a mortal man. That includes his chosen Singers too, one of which Lumerin has already taken care of. He wants Doram Greyjay to step off of the Path of Song after Lilith Lumerin is defeated.

The Party begrudgingly accept, Dun'Istar tells them they are in desperate need of this aid. The deal is sealed by the blood of Andunernilir and Arasi'Oronte, it is binding, completely and totally, the Party feel this in the core of their being.

Along with this deal comes a lease on some gear, unworldly expensive gear. Sets of Mithral armor for them all as well as the latest in firearm technology. Combined they could purchase the land off a small principality in the Shattered States of the east.

The meeting ends and the delegates leave. Outside preparations are made to call forth the Clockwork Dragon.

The ritual takes the lives of those who build it as the gigantic creature of bronze falls from the sky, chained by light.

Along with the dragon comes another assault to the trenches and a squad of clockwork soldiers on its back. The Party scramble to wound the dragon while it is pinned down.

Grenades are thrown, bullets shot, spells cast and arrows flung. Bit by bit it's armor of metal falls but the chains falter and the soldiers around fall to the clockworks.

The dragon breathes a noxious gas that knocks the living soldiers out. Doram yells out as he fights, the Party must finish this, here and now. The dragon has a weak spot beneath its spine, they must climb on top before it breaks free of its chains.

The Party make their way on to of the dragon as they're surrounded by clockworks on the ground. Before they deal a lethal blow the dragon breaks free and soars high into the air.

Morrigan loses her footing and slides down the back of the creature, almost losing her grip at the last moment as she latches onto its tail, holding on for dear life.

The Party begin their final assault, the dragon soars higher and higher but eventually the clockwork mechanism inside its core is damaged enough by Kai's final blast of acid. The dragon stops, still as a clockwork toy. And it begins to descend, quickly.

The Party scramble for a solution, Kai tries to lift its wings with magic but he proves too weak. Cammie looks at the wings but they're too thick to be taken off and used as gliders. Morrigan thinks about using her wings but they're not strong enough for her to safely carry anyone but her own self.

Jorian's vision fades to black in the panic. The Party are faced with their fate for the first time, the dragon will fall and so will they. From this height nothing can save them, they'll shatter upon the hard dry mud below. Their lives flash before them, this is it...

And then a light envelops them. They hear the dragon's carcase crash upon the surface and dig out a crater for itself.

A man appears before them, aged but well-kept. He wears similar clothes to the Representative. He is Harn'Istar Vaktelear, The Southern Merchant, the Employer who had no time for them. He catches them in this predicament of theirs and offers a way out, for a price. He wants the boy, Valiar, when this is all over and done with.

Jotaro is not willing to betray Valiar, not even if his life depends on it. Vaktelear accepts this, and says this way he doesn't have to pick a sacrifice for what is about to unfold.

The light fades and the Party find themselves standing on solid ground, unhurt... With the exception of Jotaro, who is lying broken at their feet.

In the distance Linen Healbright is making his way to them but he is too far to help Jotaro. Kai kneels before his corpse and starts a spell while the Party asks Morrigan for the Flower of Lorian. She lies through her teeth, having hidden the flower in her coat, risking its death in the process. Jorian asks her to use it, but she refuses.

A shadow is torn from Jotaro and it melds with Kai's own, being dominated by his will and magic, but Cammie steps forth and draws a shard of pure light. "Place these upon the eyes of the martyr."

Dio shared the same dream, the same vision, on that ledge in the Chernit Mountains. He now sees that it was Cammie standing beside him. He draws another shard and both of them place them upon Jotaro's closed eyes.

The light grabs hold of the shadow and tears it from Kai, returning it to Jotaro. His body mends, the bones rearrange and fuse, the wounds close and heal. The blood dries off and falls off as white dust.

In the brief moments that Jotaro was torn from this world he sees his grandfather again. And another figure, another bearded old man, who looks up from his craft, a clock in the process of being assembled, and nods.

Jotaro draws breath once more.