Present Party: Claudia and Emori
World Setting: Typical D&D medieval fantasy world with various Greek elements, seen mostly in temples. The gods in this world are part of the Greek pantheon. This session takes place alongside the events of the previous session due to the fact that the two players who were unavailable last session were the only two available this session.
After receiving their visions, Claudia and Emori found themselves separated from Steve and Aria. They were in a city, with huge gray cliffs in the distance. In the center of the plaza they were in was a fountain with an interesting center feature. It was a series of statues of "The Heroes of the Darkening." (These are the same people that Steve and Aria were learning about in Theanus at the time, and their names and descriptions can be found in the previous session summary.) There was a young child selling newspapers on the side of the road. They bought one, and discovered that the town is called "Ozryn" and that the local museum had just had its murals redone.
Mod appeared, and gave them the same warning about gods walking among mortal men, and being able to sense a transmigrator easily. They also informed Claudia and Emori that Steve and Aria were okay, but in another city about two hundred miles away.
"What causes that?" Emori asked. "For a group to be split up?"
"One of two things," they explained. "Either there was a glitch, in which case I'd be able to tell. And... I don't see a glitch. Or - the more likely scenario - you being here will help you get the Shard in some way. There's something important here. You just have to find it."
They gave them the same rings, and disappeared.
The two of them decide to stop by the local general store in an attempt to locate a map of the area. Upon arrival, they met up with a familiar face: Confidence Milton, who was laughing hysterically with the shopkeeper about something or other. Claudia went to look at a few spell scrolls while Emori asked for a map. The shopkeeper disappeared into the back room. While he was gone, Emori said hi to Confidence and insisted that they'd met before in passing. When he asked where, she dodged the question, claiming that she only remembered his name and face. He seemed a little suspicious, but let it go. She asked what brought him here, and he claimed he was working, but didn't know what he was really meant to be doing. So he was going to the museum, hoping to find out some history. He believed that would point him in the right direction. Emori asked if they could tag along, and Confidence didn't mind at all.
Claudia picked a few scrolls to buy and the shopkeeper came back with the maps. He also came back with a scythe for Confidence - black with a green blade. Confidence insisted on paying for all of it, but when he did, he simply shook hands with the shopkeeper and everything was considered paid for.
They made their way to the museum, which was down, at the base of the cliffs on a rocky beach. They entered the main hall, which had these elaborate and colorful murals, depicting the story of The Darkening, and the heroes who ended it. Confidence told the story to them (the same story Steve and Aria were told by Erasmus and Lyre in Theanus) but added that the heroes were actually friends of his. One of them, Ike, had recommended that he come here to get the answers he was looking for. He gestured to the hall leading to the left, claiming he was there for the stuff in that exhibit, all about Hekate. Emori went with him that way. There was also a separate room off to the right that acted as more of a shrine to the heroes who had achieved godhood at the end of their journey. Claudia decided to investigate that side of the museum.
~~~~~
On Claudia's side, she found four statues (although one statue depicted two people.) Each statue has names carved into the base.
- The first was of two young people - a man and woman - with very similar facial features. The base read: "Phoebe & Achaeus - Day."
- Then, there was a statue of a man holding a sickle. The base read: "Ike - Kronos."
- The next one was of another man, holding a quarterstaff. The base read: "Conah - Eros."
- The last statue was of a man holding a violin. The base read: "Echo - Night."
A boy, the only other person in the museum, was seated in front of the third statue. Claudia approached to speak with him. He has bright pink skin and curly black hair. He was holding a quarterstaff too, across his lap. When he spoke, he spoke using sign language and a cuff around his wrist that said aloud what he was signing. He introduced himself as Callan, Conah's son. Claudia asked him a few questions about what really happened with The Darkening, if anything wasn't true or was left out. He claimed that everything here was pretty accurate.
However, in exchange for that information, Callan pointed to Claudia's pendant - given to her by her fiancée back in her home world - and said, "Tell me about your fiancée."
When Claudia asked how he knew, he laughed.
"My dad is the god of love and sex... There are some things I just know."
~~~~~
Meanwhile, in the other room, Emori started humming a song she'd heard Confidence sing and play in the last two worlds. When he heard it, he stopped. Suddenly, he seemed angry. He kept insisting that Emori couldn't possibly know that song, and eventually he got fed up and demanded to know:
"Do you work for the System?"
This was the first time any iteration of Confidence had known anything about the System. This was new.
Emori admitted they had the same boss, and that Claudia was a transmigrator too. Confidence seemed baffled by this, and claimed he was the only one (at least that he knew of.) She told him that they'd met before... in every world she'd ever been to. He seemed even more confused and said that they'd have to talk later. Right now, he wanted to focus on learning more about Hekate. (From this exhibit, Emori and Claudia learned what Steve and Aria did about Hekate, including the fact that Ike takes care of her when she's reincarnated.)
After that, the four of them met back up and Confidence and Callan caught up briefly. Emori asked Confidence if he had any other leads as to where he should go or what he's meant to do.
"Well, I heard about one other thing near here. The fields. I've heard that people go there and have strange visions or see flowers and plants that don't belong." He shrugged. "Right now that's all I've got, but it also sounds like... previous jobs I've had."
Callan was also invited, and he walked there with them before taking his leave, claiming that he had to check-in with his father.
Once he was gone, Claudia, Emori, and Confidence sat down to have a conversation. They asked him where he was from.
"I'm from a world called Roglovar. Where... there's a war going on, against dragons. It's been going on now for over a hundred years. I joined the army when I was 18, so... eight years before my current physical age. I fought... blue dragons, specifically." He gestured to his blue dragon pendant, which they'd seen a couple times in other worlds.
"So... what's your one thing?"
"I want the war to end," he admitted. "I... want it to end because... I don't want to be one of those fathers who watches their child join the ranks, and then... outlives them."
"Are you a father?" Claudia asked.
He nodded very slowly. "Yes. I... have a daughter. She's five years old. Her name is Venus."
Emori and Claudia also informed him of the other times they've met him in other worlds. Emori told him how close the two of them had been historically. She also talked about how one iteration of him had been a rock star with a song called "Venus." Claudia also opened up about the first time she'd met him, in her very first world with the party she'd been with before. Confidence had spent all seven years of their time there hunting them down to try and kill them for, apparently, no reason. That last story seemed to shake Confidence, and he seemed very genuinely distraught about it.
Once they had the whole conversation, Claudia and Confidence both attempted to nap, hoping to bring on some of the weird dreams. Confidence woke up after a nightmare, and Emori comforted him. His hand found hers, and his other one touched Claudia's shoulder.
The world stopped for Emori. A warm feeling flooded her chest. The dagger at her hip burned for a moment. She touched it... and in front of her was Confidence... from the last world: the rock star version from Icarus. He looked at his other self, and muttered, "Holy shit" before he disappeared and everything started moving again.
Claudia had a strange dream, where she was floating in a red void. Confidence (referred to as Eight in the following conversation) was standing beneath her... alongside another Confidence (referred to as One in the following conversation) - the one who'd tried to kill her in her first world.
One stared at Eight. "You... You know more than I do about us, huh?"
Eight gaped at One. "I... I guess. You tried to kill her... why?"
"Because although you know more than I do, you don't know about all this. And it's all a lie."
Claudia's vision flashed red, white, and green. She heard someone yelling, like a battle cry, and every bone in her body ached and burned as though it was being pulled apart.
Then, she woke up.
The ground shook, and an area of the ground about twenty feet away erupted. The three of them investigated, and found a white egg, that looked like it had ridges like dragon scales.
"Is that Hekate?" Emori wondered.
"Well..." said Confidence. "If it is, then... we really shouldn't touch it because-"
There was an earsplitting roar, and they looked up to see a huge bronze dragon, a slightly smaller red dragon, two even larger gold dragons, and one absolutely enormous black dragon. They flew over and surrounded the three of them and the egg. The bronze dragon growled.
Confidence gulped. "I think her dad is here to pick her up."
~~~~~
Credit to @ijaymendell inspiring this awesome campaign!
Credit to @bandcat5313, for the creation of the character: Venus Milton. Additionally, thank you to her - the original homebrewer and DM for the world of Eushora. This setting and some NPCs were inspired by hers.
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