System Agnostic/Episode Four: Secrets in the Smoke

X Add worldbuilding credits now!

Episode four picks up at Aaron Duscalla’s abode as he’s presented with a mysterious package on his doorstep and no delivery driver in sight. The camera trains once again on the tent painting.

Rooney, Kyuri, and Chonnnk, still caught in the effects of Artagan’s “vision” smoke, watch as Domus appears next to them. As they discuss where he’d been, a growl sounds from behind Chonnnk. Domus notices a large snow leopard, but as he tries to warn the barbarian another leopard approaches behind him as well. In short order the group is surrounded.

Chonnnk curls into a ball and tries to roll away from the leopards, but is stopped by a much larger snow leopard tabaxi who accuses Chonnnk of running from battle. It starts rattling off almost impossibly long words, causing the Ursin to cover his ears and try to block them out.

Rooney tries to look for the haft of karavox, but only sees the snow leopards closing in on the barbarian. Sensing how the situation could turn ugly fast, Kyuri moves closer to Chonnnk and Domus try to interpose himself between his friend and the leopards.

The tabaxi unleashes another unnecessarily complicated word at Chonnnk, who shuts down mentally. Kyuri attempts to distract the smaller leopards with a Minor Illusion, but to no avail, while Rooney readies his bow in anticipation of another attack against the barbarian. Domus casts Calm Emotions, but only manages to affect Rooney.

The tabaxi pulls a long stick from behind it, which Rooney immediately recognizes as the haft, and attacks Chonnnk. Rooney unleashes his arrows, but in his calmed state he accidentally hits Chonnnk instead. He tries again, but the tabaxi catches the arrow mid-air.

The other leopards close in on Chonnnk and attack. Kyuri manages to use his connection to the dragon spirit Iirtem to cast a pair of protective wings around the barbarian, but several blows still land and he falls unconscious.

Kyuri casts Cure Wounds on the Ursin and tells him “Please stop doing that.” Rooney Misty Steps behind the tabaxi in preparation to grab the axe haft, and Domus unleashes his Eldritch Blast at it, dragging it away from Chonnnk. It simply turns and, using its own abilities, materializes next to its quarry again and attacks with the haft. Kyuri notices a series of flashes with each hit, and it suddenly occurs to him: if Chonnnk is hit astrally with karavox’s handle enough times, he may not physically wake up on the other side of this trip.

Chonnnk interprets Kyuri’s words to mean “stop getting hit”, and prepares to grab the haft when the tabaxi attacks again. But the other leopards take him down first, and the sorcerer has to cast Cure Wounds a second time to revive him. With the tabaxi back in place Rooney again prepares to grab the haft; seeing this, Domus casts Sanctuary on the barbarian and tries—but fails—to grapple the tabaxi.

Initially unable to strike Chonnnk, the tabaxi turns to Rooney instead and lands a blow. Turning its attention back to the Ursin it attacks again, but misses. Chonnnk takes the opportunity to reach for the haft and succeeds, but smacks himself in the face with it. Regardless, upon touching the haft, Chonnk’s enemies melt into the darkness—but not before unleashing another terrifyingly long word. The ordeal leaves Chonnnk exhausted.

The party winds up in the graveyard where Domus first found the spear he uses to fight; they’re inside one of his memories. The area is vaguely familiar to Kyuri, but very familiar to Domus, and the latter is met by a centaur who asks “Who grabs my flag?” Domus responds that he is. The centaur warns the paladin there’s a price for wielding it, and Domus accepts. The centaur declares he is now Domus’ “direct commanding officer” and introduces himself as Brodin.

As Brodin speaks, Domus hears a piercing sound from behind the centaur that he doesn’t recall occurring during this memory. A metal monstrosity vaguely resembling a carriage has upended and now sits ablaze. Domus runs towards it, but is stopped by Brodin. The centaur asks “Do you see it?” Domus responds affirmatively. Something sounds in the shadows, but no one in the party picks up on it.

Brodin tells Domus things are in motion that the paladin will never understand “till the end”, but acknowledges he accepted the price, and tells him to seek out the genasi and “do whatever she asks.” He retrieves the haft from his holster and holds it out to Domus, who takes it. The world, once again, fades to black.

The party awakens to the (relatively) familiar surroundings of Artagan’s tent, holding the haft and recalling the journey with varying degrees of detail. Kyuri asks why Artagan didn’t accompany them as promised, and the linguist responds that he was in a memory of his own, translating a tablet with Syr—yet the memory didn’t feel like his own, as a few of the others had also picked up on during their own trip. The elf finishes with “I am not Artagan, for are any of us truly who we think we are?”

Artagan breathes in particularly thick smoke before exhaling into the faces of the others, and they hear a voice declare:

“The head of karavox lies encased in bone

where the Horned Redeemer guards alone.

Crystal spires mark the site

where haft and blade may reunite.

Pay each price, unseal all doors,

and karavox’s power can be yours.”

The four adventurers contemplate this. Chonnnk becomes convinced the “crystals” must be found in the Underdark, while Kyuri vaguely recalls stories hailing from Breme of a dangerous creature that “redeems” evil-doers by quite literally hugging the evil out of them.

For a brief moment Rooney’s vision darkens, and he becomes aware of something that sounds like massive footsteps across brickwork. After a second, he suddenly finds himself able to smell every scent nearby individually and clearly, including the various items Artagan has been smoking the past several days. The stench of vomit brings him back to reality, and he notices Chonnnk has emptied the contents of his stomach.

Artagan poses the question of what happens if a basilisk and a medusa stare at each other, and if they understand the connection they have before turning to stone.  Domus asks if he’s met any “crackly” genasi with skin issues. Artagan says no, although he “knows one with knife issues.” He again reiterates nothing is real and is merely a construct of their collective imagination. Domus asks if Artagan has a map they could use, and the elf responds by drawing a cube in the dirt with several stick figures inside.

The group agrees to get some rest before anything else. Back at the Nested Tiger, they rejoin Syr and relay what they’ve learned, mentioning the Horned Redeemer and the crystal spire. Syr tells them of the Legend of Krampus: a horned creature that can’t see those who are “good”, and doesn’t care about (but can see) those who remain neutral, but will capture those who follow an evil path, detain them in a Sack of Holding, and eventually “hug” them into a state of lawful obedience. He concurs with Kyuri’s recollection that the legend stems from Breme, and the group starts to make travel plans.

Several methods of transport are tossed around, until Syr mentions a floating city by the name of Gol Zenagi, stating its citizens are more familiar with an aerial view of Quelmar and may be familiar with the crystal spires in question.  The tabaxi describes the eclectic population comprised of individuals who are—or feel—out of place in the rest of society, and admits they nearly settled in the city were it not for the desire to help the disenfranchised of Pteris. They offer to reach out to their contacts within Gol Zenagi for transport, to which the others agree. Domus once again asks the tabaxi if they know a genus with “skin problems”, to which Syr says no.

Syr adds one request to the deal: for the party members to behave well, as the tabaxi is risking their reputation for the transport to occur. Rooney takes the opportunity to mention that Artagan had briefly indicated Syr was not a tabaxi. Syr seems surprised, and assures the party they have always been a tabaxi.

Most of the others retire for the evening and wind up collectively dreaming of Chonnnk, who had been experiencing a rather unfortunate bad luck streak earlier in the day and is now getting ready for bed. They watch as he attempts to knock himself out, accidentally spinning himself around. He trips over his own feet and crashes through the window onto a mining cart below. In an almost seesaw-like effect, the contents of the cart lift upon impact, only to fall back into the cart and launch the Ursin back through the now-broken window. He lands heavily and rolls out of his room, down the tavern stairs straight into the hearth, and his head slams into the cauldron located within. It didn’t occur quite the way he’d anticipated, but he did succeed in knocking himself out—the word Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia ringing in his ears as his consciousness fades.

To add insult to injury, the cauldron promptly tips over, the contents inside spilling onto the bear’s prone form. Shortly after, a scraggly-looking cat with black fur meanders into the room, climbs up Chonnk’s body, claws his face and belly, then lays on top of him. The bag the barbarian normally carries with him has been set ablaze, along with one of the books contained within.

The camera pulls back from this tragic scene to find Aaron on his doorstep, peering around a final time before finally picking up the package and retreating once again into his house.