Synopsis
- Discussed leaving the caravan un-Exalted and decided to leave Brink and Grayn to guard the caravan
- Early the next morning some distance back from the x-roads, found Daring Failure wandering, confused by a camp of men, holding 6 lariats, 1 for each of the men he figured he had lost but forgotten; he also had an arrow wound he could not explain.
- They found a horse gutted and devoured by some great beast, and Onyx heard it breathing, hiding in the grass.
- They went to the Crossroads and discovered a sort of construct that seemed to be containing strange essence flows in the lands beyond, holding them back from the road.
- The group argued about free will, the safety of the caravan, and the holding back of knowledge by the Night Driver.
- They had a conversation with Second Efficient Gathering of Loam, who had one of their injured men. She was communicating with them through another gull construct (analog), and used the creature to guide them through the perceptual distortions plaguing the area.
- Second Efficient Gathering of Loam was an Exalt of Autochthon, on a mission to gather materials (loam) in creation. Some local distortion and the theft of one of Autochthon’s locator beacons from a dead city further in the Sea of Grass (that had been brought to the local port city) prevented her from exiting Creation though the Elsewhere back to Autochthon.
- Returning to the crossroads with 2nd Efficient Gathering of Loam and the wounded Outrider, they awaited the arrival of Brink and Grayn and argued about free will, the safety of the caravan and the holding back of knowledge by the Night Driver.
- Grayn and Brink arrived, Grayn injured by the ‘chameleon cat demon’ that was lurking near Daring Failure’s camp.
- They arranged a bargain with 2nd Efficient Gathering of Loam to guide them to the 1st Age Manufactorum (and its entrance) in the Dead City which she could find once they had retrieved the beacon. She would then follow the strictures of the compact between the Solar Deliberative and Autochthon and return through the Elsewhere.
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Brother Father couldn’t be seen anywhere close, so they got a day of good, restful sleep…
– It’s breakfast time. Sanction goes to check on Brink and the elementals, Onyx and Chain go to check with Krill. Krill makes Chain sweat (literally).
– Brink saw himself in a dream trying to escape from a storm. Quite a vision for an dragonblooded of Air.
– Silver Ash informs that Grateful Bitch doesn’t want to report to anyone but Chain.
– Talking to GB, we learn that there was a sighting of a battle offshore. A ship with a flag of a black board on a white field faces an Imperial ship. The latter catches fire and sinks, but no firing was to be seen.
– We move forward to our meeting at the crossroads. We arrive a campfire covered by a lingering aura of magic. Our horses recognize a horse on the camp.
– Daring Failure is at the camp, confused and forgetful, steaming out essence, probably recovering from what affected him. He’s an arrow wound on the shoulder, caused by misfire of one of his men. We explore the area nearby and find signs of the slaughter of horses and probably humans. Something big has made the grass change color. We spot a giant dragonfly automaton looking for something, but it escapes our sight.
– Onyx feels a presence and hears the noise of a creature lurking that he cannot see. He decides to go back and report.
– After we return, Daring Failure’s memories seem more stable. He says the peril lies on the way to the port, past a scarecrow at the crossroad with the white road.
– The group fears the monster who attacked the heard troop may come back for Daring Failure. Sanction summons an earth elemental to accompany him safely back to the Caravan. Daring Failure is to tell them to stop so that they don’t reach the “forgetfulness” area.
– We keep going and reach the crossroad with a metal scarecrow three times the height of a man. The scarecrow is redirecting the flow of essence in the are so it doesn’t flush into the roads. The scarecrow’s head talks to us, asks us if we are part of the Solar Deliberative in High Realm. Sanction answers and tells it that the Solar are no longer in Creation and we speak for them. The scarecrow head ignores us.
– After some talk, a seagull automaton hits the head of the scarecrow, which starts talking to us. It introduces itself as the voice of Second Efficient Gathering of Lohm, an exalted of Autocton.
– Its Efficiency tells us that she(??) has been trying to fix the flow of essence. She cannot return to the Underworld until an obelisk/beacon is returned to its original location. She believes (her working hypothesis) that the obelisk has been taken to Oakmont, where someone might be using it to help summon demons and who knows what. She believes there is a manufactorum that is corrupting the essence and causing the forgetfulness. If we can retrieve the obelisk, SEGL should be able to find the door to enter the manufactorum for us. She also tells us that she rescued one of the heardmen, seriously wounded. If we want, we can meet her ahead in person and attend the human.
– We send a message to the caravan telling them to circle the affected area around the crossroads and ask for Grayn and Brink to join us.
– We move on and travel through a weird zone of grass that seems enclosed in a bubble of essence. We abruptly exit the bubble to find ourselves in SEGL’s “camp”, surrounded by automaton wonders such as a giant beetle or the dragonfly we had seen before. The human is beyond hope, the nanobots couldn’t help him.
– We go back to the crossroad to wait for Grayn and Brink to join and help the human pass out.
– A new conversation with SEGL reveals that the obelisk is probably to be found inside the statue of the Lady of Change, wife to the first Shogun.
– Reunited, we march forward to find the obelisk.
one correction, the flag of the ship that was facing the Imperial ship showed a black boar on a white field.
Also,
Second Efficient Gathering Of Loam = (SEGL or SEGOL) = seagull
O
M
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(squeeeeeee)
That’s really frightfully clever.