Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps - Revision history

Psuvillager: /* Session 43: The Hermit: Koro's Account */ Transcluding the journal page into The Story So Far

2026-08-17T08:39:12Z

Session 43: The Hermit: Koro's Account: Transcluding the journal page into The Story So Far

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:39, 17 August 2026
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	While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:		While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:

			<onlyinclude><!-- The onlyinclude markup selects the excerpt to be transcluded into 'Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far' -->
	<div id="journal"></div>
	<blockquote style="max-width: 65ch;">		<blockquote id="journal" style="max-width: 65ch">
	done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?		done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?

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	Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an		Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>
			</onlyinclude>

	There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>		There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>

Psuvillager: Spelling

2026-08-17T08:08:23Z

Spelling

Psuvillager: Link

2026-07-27T23:26:03Z

Link

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:26, 27 July 2026
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	While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:		While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:

			<div id="journal"></div>
	<blockquote style="max-width: 65ch;">		<blockquote style="max-width: 65ch;">
	done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?		done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?

Tsamps: added Koro's account of session 44

2026-07-23T13:13:59Z

added Koro's account of session 44

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:13, 23 July 2026
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	She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.		She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.

			===Session 44: Wrong Turn in the Underdark: Koro's Account===
			'''DM:''' Chris

			'''PCs:''' [[Koro]], [[Rhogar Dreel]], [[Syl Vipershade]], [[Avel]], [[Voscaera]], [[Ollie Ollivine]]

			'''NPCs:''' Frankie

			So apparently there are these four altars placed in the dunes a good ways out from the Arboretum, surrounding it. It was a little hard to grasp but the party told me that if activated, they would rejuvenate the tree in the Arboretum and terraform the Badlands into a lush paradise...using ''all'' existing biomatter in the wastes to do it, including us. Already a good reason to not let that happen, but apparently there are demonic forces that are trying to get to the altars, so even more so. Three of the altars have been discovered, and we've got some info on where the fourth is. So that's the job: find the last altar and lock it down so the demons can't use it. The team was comprised of only familiar faces; I think that might be a first for me.

			There was some archeology corps that discovered a temple entrance to the west of the Arboretum, around the area that the fourth altar was speculated to be. Apparently Syl and Avel had been there before and discovered how to unlock its massive door, so getting in wasn't an issue. Turns out there was a passage to the Underdark inside, a good omen surely. We had been given a week's worth of rations, so we were confident as we entered the passage, but man were we not prepared for the agony of days and days of just walking down dark tunnels with no end in sight. I was able to figure out that some of the mushrooms growing down here (Barrel Stalks) were edible ''and'' water-storing, but they grew in insufficient amounts to sustain a group of our size. We had to backtrack the days-long trek we just made to request more supplies from the base, it was agony. While we were waiting, we decided to get one of the archeology guys to translate the text we saw at the crossroads in the Underdark (we had just decided to go left without much reason when we came upon it originally, thus leading to the days of uneventful tunnel-walking). That alone took three more days, but we figured we'd rather know where we were going before spending gods know how long just ''walking'' down there again. We were told that the sign pointing left read "Coastline" and the one pointing right read "Great Tree". We figured that if the altar that interacted with the Arboretum's tree would be anywhere, it would be down that right path, so we geared back up and re-entered the dark.

			Turning right this time, it was a shorter walk down the tunnel before we actually came upon something, but not a very good something. It was a mile-long chasm choked with nothing but spider webs. We attempted to burn away at them to try and construct a rope bridge of some kind, but they were just too numerous and the distance too vast. The webs seemed strong enough to support our weights though, so against our better judgement, and in the name of expediency, we decided to just walk across the webs. Nothing happened in our crossing thankfully, but the next chamber was a different story. A cavern absolutely caked in webs, chutes of stone leading off to places unknown. Crawling out of one before we could decide where to go next was a giant...something. It had many legs, a long neck, it was spider-y but it had scales...and spoke. Abyssal first, not that I could understand it, but then...Draconic I think Rhogar said? I don't know, it was freaky, and it came at us almost as soon as it saw us, so our course of action was clear.

			Rhogar, Voscaera, and Avel charged the thing while Ollie, Syl, and I hugged the walls to snipe at it from a distance. Its movements were unhampered by the difficult terrain its web-filled home made for us, and so it scuttled right over to our group before we could split up and...breathed a swarm of ''live spiders'' from its mouth. They engulfed our melee fighters in quite the horrific display and reformed themselves into an autonomous swarm afterwards to continue attacking us. But, the party worked together like a well-oiled machine. Rhogar and Voscaera activated their runic magic to grow large and lock down the creature in melee combat, Syl weaved magic to reduce its defenses as Avel teleported in and out of melee to bestow curses upon the creature, and Ollie and I peppered it with our arrows while staying out of range of its spider breath. It was a harrowing scene though, and I found myself making a quick plea to Vela, asking her to guide my hand. I didn't hit ''every'' shot...but the ones that landed seemed to hit pretty hard...so yeah.

			Voscaera was knocked out by a point-blank deluge of spider breath before Syl was finally able to dispatch the creature with a well-thrown psychic blade, bringing silence back to the chamber. I brought Voscaera back up with one of my healing potions and we decided to search the lair. Within it we found some enchanted items: a magic sword with spider web pattering and a hilt of arachnid mandibles, and a pair of slippers with spider webs embroidered upon them. Syl and Avel claimed joint ownership of the sword while I got the slippers. They allow me to walk on walls and ceilings in defiance of gravity, keeping my hands free, not a bad find for an archer. The creature seemed to have resistance to any damage that was dealt to it by non-enchanted weapons, I noticed it when Ollie's arrow tips weren't piercing as far into the creature's armor as mine were, and she was using a bow with a much greater draw weight than the Hellfire Shortbow (gifted to me by Voscaera) I was using. I had recently been testing out imbuing by arrows with some of my elemental energy, and I think I can reproduce an effect that would allow me to bypass such resistances in the future without the need of an actual enchanted bow. I also heard that she was going on a mission with the Scrappers in the near future, so I decided to give her the Hellfire bow, believing it'd be useful to make sure more of us can make use of magical damage against the threats to come...and maybe it'll give her some good rep with the Scrappers, who knows?

			The mission ended when we did not find the altar, but instead a passage of the cave that seemed to be caved in. Rhogar and Syl recognized where we were: a Shend camp beneath the Arboretum that had been cleared out and claimed by the Federation some time ago. At the very least, we now had another access point to the Underdark that was closer to home and more secure. I guess the altar must have been down the other path. Hopefully the next team that goes for it is well prepared for the grueling journey...

	[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]		[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Psuvillager: Corrected Session number

2026-07-21T17:09:40Z

Corrected Session number

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:09, 21 July 2026
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	Back on the war rig, Raegina paid us some gold for the information we unintentionally gathered for her and prepared teleportation circles to send the injured back to the Arboretum, an offer which I gladly accepted.		Back on the war rig, Raegina paid us some gold for the information we unintentionally gathered for her and prepared teleportation circles to send the injured back to the Arboretum, an offer which I gladly accepted.
	===Session 44: The Hermit: Koro's Account===		===Session 43: The Hermit: Koro's Account===
	'''DM:''' Cat		'''DM:''' Cat

Psuvillager: Punctuation

2026-07-21T16:30:51Z

Punctuation

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:30, 21 July 2026
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	And no, I won't talk about Kicyr's death. Not yet. She has not passed into the Kami yet.		And no, I won't talk about Kicyr's death. Not yet. She has not passed into the Kami yet.

	=== Session MEGAGAME 2 Online: ===		=== Session MEGAGAME 2 Online ===
	'''DM''': Chris		'''DM''': Chris

Psuvillager: Added session numbers

2026-07-21T00:14:12Z

Added session numbers

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:14, 21 July 2026
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	Yuki was just here to get a paycheck and fulfill her duty to her sister. Sir Anthony said something about saving some druids from demons, which seems right up Yuki's alley. "Remove all demon's and allies by any means necessary" he says, like she wasn't going to do that to begin with. Pulling up to the Grove and see some vulture-ish looking dudes who get taken down easily (just got cursed in the process no biggie). The group heads over to the room where they could hear a ruckus. Yuki knocks on the door, and a vulture guy opens the door. The group gangs up on him and releases the jackel druid prisoners from their captivity inside. They find the bodies of almost every other druid in a pile and the druids break down. One of the druids leads the group to the center of the grove in hopes that the Archdruid is still alive and fighting. She has been turned to stone, but isn't broken, and has a Minotaur harassing her. (I will finish this at some point)		Yuki was just here to get a paycheck and fulfill her duty to her sister. Sir Anthony said something about saving some druids from demons, which seems right up Yuki's alley. "Remove all demon's and allies by any means necessary" he says, like she wasn't going to do that to begin with. Pulling up to the Grove and see some vulture-ish looking dudes who get taken down easily (just got cursed in the process no biggie). The group heads over to the room where they could hear a ruckus. Yuki knocks on the door, and a vulture guy opens the door. The group gangs up on him and releases the jackel druid prisoners from their captivity inside. They find the bodies of almost every other druid in a pile and the druids break down. One of the druids leads the group to the center of the grove in hopes that the Archdruid is still alive and fighting. She has been turned to stone, but isn't broken, and has a Minotaur harassing her. (I will finish this at some point)

	===Session ~~???~~: The Qonsortium (and the Eversmoking Battle): Koro's Account===		===Session 42: The Qonsortium (and the Eversmoking Battle): Koro's Account===
	'''DM:''' Mercedes		'''DM:''' Mercedes

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	Back on the war rig, Raegina paid us some gold for the information we unintentionally gathered for her and prepared teleportation circles to send the injured back to the Arboretum, an offer which I gladly accepted.		Back on the war rig, Raegina paid us some gold for the information we unintentionally gathered for her and prepared teleportation circles to send the injured back to the Arboretum, an offer which I gladly accepted.
	===Session ~~???~~: The Hermit: Koro's Account===		===Session 44: The Hermit: Koro's Account===
	'''DM:''' Cat		'''DM:''' Cat

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	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

	There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:~~<div style="width: 75 ch">~~<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.		There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>
	</blockquote>

	The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.		The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.
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	She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.		She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.

	[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]		[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Psuvillager: Set the width of the journal page to match the original, and made a minor plot correction: the meeting with Chrissy happened elsewhere, not at the artisans' guild

2026-07-20T23:06:03Z

Set the width of the journal page to match the original, and made a minor plot correction: the meeting with Chrissy happened elsewhere, not at the artisans' guild

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:06, 20 July 2026
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	This one was weird: small team, important names, bigger plan. I thought this was going to be relatively straightforward based on what I heard when I signed up for this mission: there's an amulet formerly belonging to this demon from the BR era named Toi'Viral. Apparently, they were actually some kind of hero back then, and this amulet can be used to make contact with them. From what I know, this info came from some demonic criminal some of the others did business with named Vice, and they apparently left them some info pointing us towards someone name Chrissy in the Arrafell Artisan's Guild. The amulet allegedly acts as a beacon for demons due to its abyssal energy signature, so we needed to find a way to muffle that before we went and found it. So that's the job: go to the guild, get their help with creating the suppressor thingy, find the amulet; but it ended up being much more complicated than that.		This one was weird: small team, important names, bigger plan. I thought this was going to be relatively straightforward based on what I heard when I signed up for this mission: there's an amulet formerly belonging to this demon from the BR era named Toi'Viral. Apparently, they were actually some kind of hero back then, and this amulet can be used to make contact with them. From what I know, this info came from some demonic criminal some of the others did business with named Vice, and they apparently left them some info pointing us towards someone name Chrissy in the Arrafell Artisan's Guild. The amulet allegedly acts as a beacon for demons due to its abyssal energy signature, so we needed to find a way to muffle that before we went and found it. So that's the job: go to the guild, get their help with creating the suppressor thingy, find the amulet; but it ended up being much more complicated than that.

	For starters, there were only three of us: Patches, Anthony, and myself. I was surprised that the leader of the alliance of factions was getting boots on the ground with us, but I wasn't going to look that gift horse in the mouth given our small roster. Patches was a new face to me...and an odd one at that. He was like Cilvdy: composed of a patchwork of body parts all with differing origins. He was heavily armored like Anthony, maul at his side, but he also was keen on carrying around this creepy looking doll that he...talked to sometimes. I don't know, I've seen weirder honestly, and he seemed nice enough if a little spacey. So it was up to the three of us to get the job done, and so we were teleported to Arrafell by the Shepherds (second teleport since the war rig circles and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it). We ~~used~~ ~~the password~~ to ~~enter~~ ~~into~~ ~~the~~ ~~guild,~~ ~~got~~ ~~ushered~~ to ~~meet Chrissy, and began~~ negotiations. The guild was not able to create this suppression device we needed, but they had info on someone who might: a hermit living out in the wastes about a day's travel away from Arrafell. In exchange for this information and an object that was instructed to be given to us by someone, we were asked to hand over the created device to Chrissy after we had used it for our purposes. Patches blurted out that he sensed that Chrissy was a fey, which she did not deny. The deal seemed favorable though, ownership of the suppressor would transfer to her after we deliver it to her or after a year and a day had passed. Seeing little other option, the three of us agreed to the deal, swearing the oath by eating these strange berries. After doing so, Chrissy gave us some kind of replica infernal puzzle box and sent us on our way.		For starters, there were only three of us: Patches, Anthony, and myself. I was surprised that the leader of the alliance of factions was getting boots on the ground with us, but I wasn't going to look that gift horse in the mouth given our small roster. Patches was a new face to me...and an odd one at that. He was like Cilvdy: composed of a patchwork of body parts all with differing origins. He was heavily armored like Anthony, maul at his side, but he also was keen on carrying around this creepy looking doll that he...talked to sometimes. I don't know, I've seen weirder honestly, and he seemed nice enough if a little spacey. So it was up to the three of us to get the job done, and so we were teleported to Arrafell by the Shepherds (second teleport since the war rig circles and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it). We got ushered to meet Chrissy and used the password to begin negotiations. The guild was not able to create this suppression device we needed, but they had info on someone who might: a hermit living out in the wastes about a day's travel away from Arrafell. In exchange for this information and an object that was instructed to be given to us by someone, we were asked to hand over the created device to Chrissy after we had used it for our purposes. Patches blurted out that he sensed that Chrissy was a fey, which she did not deny. The deal seemed favorable though, ownership of the suppressor would transfer to her after we deliver it to her or after a year and a day had passed. Seeing little other option, the three of us agreed to the deal, swearing the oath by eating these strange berries. After doing so, Chrissy gave us some kind of replica infernal puzzle box and sent us on our way.

	While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:~~<blockquote>done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?~~		While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:

			<blockquote style="max-width: 65ch;">
			done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?

	But before we found Feng and everything went sideways, we met Mae Tadaka in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.		But before we found Feng and everything went sideways, we met Mae Tadaka in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.
Line 199:		Line 202:
	We were in no position to be taking prisoners inside the enemy's stronghold, so Lee did what had to be done. Oriella says Tadaka was Troverth's highest-ranking demon binder -- she did experiments trying to give people demonic abilities. It's hard to square that depravity with the woman I met.		We were in no position to be taking prisoners inside the enemy's stronghold, so Lee did what had to be done. Oriella says Tadaka was Troverth's highest-ranking demon binder -- she did experiments trying to give people demonic abilities. It's hard to square that depravity with the woman I met.

			Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an
⚫	Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an</blockquote>There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.
			</blockquote>

			There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<div style="width: 75 ch"><blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.
			</blockquote>

		⚫	The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.

	We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group of captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground		We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group of captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground
Line 205:		Line 214:
	We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae Tadaka spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. We explained our need for a device to suppress the energy signature emanating from that amulet. Tadaka dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that ''used'' to hold the demon-suppressing magic if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.		We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae Tadaka spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. We explained our need for a device to suppress the energy signature emanating from that amulet. Tadaka dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that ''used'' to hold the demon-suppressing magic if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.

	She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly ~~led~~ her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.		She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.
	[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]		[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Tsamps at 00:22, 20 July 2026

2026-07-20T00:22:41Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:22, 20 July 2026
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	While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:<blockquote>done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?		While Anthony acquired some horses for us, Patches and I tried to open the box. I was never a puzzle guy, but Patches managed to figure out the first step and pulled a central part from the box free. I was able to figure out the second by rotating small circles with animal faces on them to the right orientations, and the box opened. Inside were two pieces of paper and an orb made of reflective glass. The smaller of the pieces of paper explained that the orb was a chronosphere that, upon saying the command phrase "Dardin Sucks", would display an image that could prove to the hermit that the amulet existed. The small scrap told us that we had to convince the hermit to help us, not mention the writer's involvement, and to burn the note after we read it. It was signed with the name "Ototo", though this clearly read like it was coming from Vice. Whatever, not relevant to the job at hand. The note also explained that the other piece of paper in the box was a journal entry written by a soldier who met the hermit "on the last day of her life". I tried my best to write down what it said as closely as I could here, just in case:<blockquote>done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?

	But before we found ~~feng~~ and everything went sideways, we met Mae Tadaka in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.		But before we found Feng and everything went sideways, we met Mae Tadaka in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.

	If we'd stood down, maybe I wouldn't have been the only one to make it back -- but of course that was out of the question, obviously. Still, Oriella assures me Tadaka spoke the truth: Project Dominion would not win the war for Troverth -- it would end the very capacity for violence, for everyone. (She said she told Feng it would only affect his enemies).		If we'd stood down, maybe I wouldn't have been the only one to make it back -- but of course that was out of the question, obviously. Still, Oriella assures me Tadaka spoke the truth: Project Dominion would not win the war for Troverth -- it would end the very capacity for violence, for everyone. (She said she told Feng it would only affect his enemies).

Tsamps at 00:13, 20 July 2026

2026-07-20T00:13:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:13, 20 July 2026
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	Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an</blockquote>There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.		Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an</blockquote>There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadaka was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.

	We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group if captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground		We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group of captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground

	We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae Tadaka spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. Tadaka dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that used to hold the demon-suppressing magic ~~and fulfilling the deal~~ if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.		We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae Tadaka spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. We explained our need for a device to suppress the energy signature emanating from that amulet. Tadaka dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that ''used'' to hold the demon-suppressing magic if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.

	She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly led her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before we could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.		She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly led her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.
	[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]		[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:08, 17 August 2026
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	'''PCs:''' [[Koro]], [[Patches Vanderburg]]		'''PCs:''' [[Koro]], [[Patches Vanderburg]]

	'''NPCs:''' Koschei, Mae ~~Tadaka~~, Chrissy, Anthony		'''NPCs:''' Koschei, Mae Tadako, Chrissy, Anthony

	This one was weird: small team, important names, bigger plan. I thought this was going to be relatively straightforward based on what I heard when I signed up for this mission: there's an amulet formerly belonging to this demon from the BR era named Toi'Viral. Apparently, they were actually some kind of hero back then, and this amulet can be used to make contact with them. From what I know, this info came from some demonic criminal some of the others did business with named Vice, and they apparently left them some info pointing us towards someone name Chrissy in the Arrafell Artisan's Guild. The amulet allegedly acts as a beacon for demons due to its abyssal energy signature, so we needed to find a way to muffle that before we went and found it. So that's the job: go to the guild, get their help with creating the suppressor thingy, find the amulet; but it ended up being much more complicated than that.		This one was weird: small team, important names, bigger plan. I thought this was going to be relatively straightforward based on what I heard when I signed up for this mission: there's an amulet formerly belonging to this demon from the BR era named Toi'Viral. Apparently, they were actually some kind of hero back then, and this amulet can be used to make contact with them. From what I know, this info came from some demonic criminal some of the others did business with named Vice, and they apparently left them some info pointing us towards someone name Chrissy in the Arrafell Artisan's Guild. The amulet allegedly acts as a beacon for demons due to its abyssal energy signature, so we needed to find a way to muffle that before we went and found it. So that's the job: go to the guild, get their help with creating the suppressor thingy, find the amulet; but it ended up being much more complicated than that.
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	done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?		done, but I can't stop thinking -- what if we'd been just a little faster?

	But before we found Feng and everything went sideways, we met Mae ~~Tadaka~~ in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.		But before we found Feng and everything went sideways, we met Mae Tadako in her lab. We couldn't even question her at first -- she just wouldn't stop staring at Koschei. I guess she recognized him from when she was a kid and thought she owed him her life. Then she tried to warn us off the mission, saying we didn't understand how Feng was, that he'd torture us mercilessly, and that her project wasn't a weapon at all.

	If we'd stood down, maybe I wouldn't have been the only one to make it back -- but of course that was out of the question, obviously. Still, Oriella assures me ~~Tadaka~~ spoke the truth: Project Dominion would not win the war for Troverth -- it would end the very capacity for violence, for everyone. (She said she told Feng it would only affect his enemies).		If we'd stood down, maybe I wouldn't have been the only one to make it back -- but of course that was out of the question, obviously. Still, Oriella assures me Tadako spoke the truth: Project Dominion would not win the war for Troverth -- it would end the very capacity for violence, for everyone. (She said she told Feng it would only affect his enemies).

	We asked her what about the goddamned demons? And she said Troverth wouldn't risk summoning them anymore after that. And that demons rarely reach Quelmar on their own. And that Troverth had some crazy prophecy about the gods putting an archdevil in charge of protecting people...terrible pitch really, but Mae ~~Tadaka~~ honestly did believe in peace.		We asked her what about the goddamned demons? And she said Troverth wouldn't risk summoning them anymore after that. And that demons rarely reach Quelmar on their own. And that Troverth had some crazy prophecy about the gods putting an archdevil in charge of protecting people...terrible pitch really, but Mae Tadako honestly did believe in peace.

	We were in no position to be taking prisoners inside the enemy's stronghold, so Lee did what had to be done. Oriella says ~~Tadaka~~ was Troverth's highest-ranking demon binder -- she did experiments trying to give people demonic abilities. It's hard to square that depravity with the woman I met.		We were in no position to be taking prisoners inside the enemy's stronghold, so Lee did what had to be done. Oriella says Tadako was Troverth's highest-ranking demon binder -- she did experiments trying to give people demonic abilities. It's hard to square that depravity with the woman I met.

	Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an		Then we had to fast talk more guards, but finding the prince was less of an
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	There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>		There was also a note in the margins of this entry fragment:<blockquote>Troverth's finest demon binder modified herself with her own techniques, enough that the Abyss claimed her when she died -- but she survived.</blockquote>

	The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae ~~Tadaka~~ was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.		The names didn't mean much to me, but from what I cared to remember of the old man's incessant war ramblings, this sounded like Realm War era. Given how prominent she was in the entry, I was led to believe that Vice was telling us that Mae Tadako was this hermit; a demon binder would make sense to be someone who could develop the suppressor we needed, but how was she still alive after being claimed by the Abyss? We assumed we would find our answer at the location we were given by Chrissy, so we mounted up and galloped into the wastes.

	We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group of captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground		We encountered a group of hobgoblins on horseback pulling a group of captured vulpine behind them in a cart. Patches said it was not his concern, but Anthony and I made the assumption that this was likely a Shend transport, and we didn't want to leave those prisoners to a fate as slaves if we could help it, and so we laid an ambush. It was a close call, but we were able to dispatch the slavers (I even managed to end two of them with the Hellfire Shortbow Voscaera gave me, which I believe means the souls of those hobgoblins got sent to power Raegina's war rig? Good. A fitting fate if I do say so myself). We freed the vulpine and looted the equipment from the slavers, leaving their mounts to the prisoners to help them make their way to Arrafell. After that, we continued towards the hermit's location, eventually finding a crevasse in the ground

	We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae ~~Tadaka~~ spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. We explained our need for a device to suppress the energy signature emanating from that amulet. ~~Tadaka~~ dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that ''used'' to hold the demon-suppressing magic if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.		We found mortal-made structures in the crevasse, and found ourselves navigating a paranoid recluse's dream. Inclined hallways slick with oil and rusty spikes, long winding pathways, dead ends, pits; the place was designed to confuse. However, we persevered, and eventually came across an ancient underground horticulture chamber, a petrified willow tree growing out from the wall at a diagonal, empty growing pots with oxidized bronze scaffolding snaking around them everywhere we looked. But there were signs of recent habitation, and as we called out, the voice of Mae Tadako spoke back. We explained ourselves, activating the chronosphere with the command phrase to reveal an image of some kind of collector's gallery, filled with valuable artifacts; one of them being the amulet. We explained our need for a device to suppress the energy signature emanating from that amulet. Tadako dropped her invisibility and approached, and asked us what assurances we could give her that we would be responsible with such a device if she made it. We mentioned the fey deal, and said that we got Chrissy to agree to still taking the object that ''used'' to hold the demon-suppressing magic if said magic happened to be consumable in nature. So, if she simply didn't make it a permanent enchantment, but rather one that would be used up after we were done with it, she wouldn't need to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. This got her to agree to help us.

	She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.		She said she needed two things before she could make this device though: alchemically refined cold iron and power from a real demon to enchant the object; and for both of these issues, she had a plan. She said she knew of a demon that she believed would willingly lend her their power, and also had the capability to break into a vault she knows of in Balabag that contains all the cold iron she would need: a demon by the name of Koschei. We assisted her in setting up a ritual to summon this demon from the Abyss (Patches had to teach Anthony and I some Abyssal to help with the chanting, creepy stuff), and it was successful, but Koschei seemed in distress. Turns out, some sort of orange ooze was attached to him, suffocating him, and it came through the portal with him. He managed to get it off as he arrived, but he was confused, and Mae had passed out from the strain of the ritual before she could explain the situation to him. Before ''we'' could try to explain as well, the ooze attacked us, engulfing Anthony and emitting an aura that muddled the minds of those around it. It took some doing, but we managed to wear it down and kill it (after having to pull both Anthony and Patches out of it so they didn't take half of the damage Koschei and I would throw at it, though Patches was kinda handling it pretty well and smiting the thing from within). Mae awoke and we told her that we would send friends of ours her way to assist in her plan to raid the Balabag vault, and Patches and I left to sell the Shend equipment off and head back to the Arboretum.