CW / TW: Description of severe injuries and sickness due to an unknown cause.
This section will be written in blue text, so you can skip it easily if you would like.
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Present Party: Aria, Claudia, Emori, Harmony, and Steve. In addition, this party has a guest player. This player's character is Amaya, an air genasi grave domain cleric.
Setting: An old western European style city, called Meloire, capital of the kingdom Vesperion. The party spends most of the session at the royal palace.
Amaya had been wandering the System Space, grieving, for longer than she could ever hope to keep track of. It had given her much time to think, perhaps too much.
She felt someone press their hand against her shoulder, and a calm washed over her. She turned to see Mod, standing there. They told her, "Boss has decided to give you a second chance... but this is your only one. If you fail, you come back here. If you succeed, you can keep going with your contract or you can quit."
"What about Cal and Selsei?" she asked.
"Both were transferred to new teams. Calnan completed his contract."
"Of course he did."
"Selsei has not yet. I have not seen her, and I do not know where she is."
Although this concerned Amaya, there wasn't much she could do about it now. She accepted the offer for the second chance... even though what she had once wanted was now obsolete.
~~~~~
The party found themselves in their tenth world: a city similar in style to the old villages of western Europe. People were dancing in the streets and throwing flowers, celebrating. Purple banners hung from windows, displaying three golden fleur de lises in a triangle with a white rose in the middle of them. All of them were dressed very opulently in ballgowns and suits. It seemed that the majority of the population here were small folk: gnomes or halflings, specifically.
They were surprised to find that they had someone new with them again: an air genasi. Emori, Aria, and Steve had seen this woman once before. They'd met her as she wandered the System Space, crying out for her wife. At the time, she'd been too far into her own mind that she didn't even notice them. They were told that it was better not to ask questions when it came to her, but they learned that her name was Amaya. Now, she was here, in front of them, to their surprise.
The Moderator appeared in front of them, and handed Amaya a piece of cardstock, saying, "I'm sorry, but the boss thinks you're the best one for this."
It was an invitation to the 40th wedding anniversary of the king and queen: Calnan and Felicity Everhart.
The Moderator also told everyone, "You guys reach out to me and my co-workers for help a lot. Honestly, I think it's great and it's always good when transmigrators succeed. But we're all a bit busy at the moment. If you do reach out to us, there's a larger chance we might not answer, but that doesn't mean that we won't at all. If you need it, try."
They disappeared. Amaya suggested they all go to a tavern quickly to talk about why she was here. They also stopped at a tailor, mostly because many of the outfits granted to the party were not to their taste. Once at the tavern, Amaya gave the party a lot of information about herself and their contracts:
- Amaya had been a transmigrator as well. Calnan, the king here, was in her party at one point. Amaya knew that his wish had been to marry the woman he loved: the princess here, who was now the queen.
- The two of them had a major falling out. They'd been in a world for an extended period of time, and Amaya had fallen in love with a tiefling woman named Oath. When they finally found the Shard, at the center of a volcano dungeon, they'd taken Oath too, since she was a capable fighter. The ground beneath them started to give way, Oath had started to fall. Rather than help Amaya pull her up, Calnan ran to collect the Shard. When he did, they left, and Oath fell to her death.
- Their next world hadn't gone well either; their group wasn't working together. Calnan threw Amaya under the bus and blamed her for everything. She was doomed to wander the System Space... until now. She explained that Mod said it was her last chance.
- Amaya told the party more about Calnan in general. He's an Oath of the Crown Paladin. She mentioned that he might feel guilty about what he's done, and that she believed him to be a selfish bastard. He has a dog - a mastiff - named Wrinkles that was gifted to him by Admin. The dog was incredibly dangerous to anyone it perceived as a threat.
- Amaya also explained the importance of wording with the System. The System takes everything very literally, and that includes their wishes. They can ask to see what the System is going to give them, but they shouldn't be surprised to see that it might not be what they expected. They'll get what they wanted literally and / or in the most logical and direct way possible.
- Claudia could also confirm this. She'd already been told how her wish was being interpreted by Hacker, and she was getting what she wanted, but not in the way she wanted it.
Needless to say, that last bit of information was terrifying and a little demotivating. Knowing all this, the party decided to make their way to the ball, and see if they could confront Calnan. If anyone knew where the Shard would be, it might be him. Mod had given them that invitation for a reason, as well. Getting into the castle for the ball was no problem.
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| King Calnan Everhart Former Transmigrator (Art made by me, using Heroforge) |
Steve was the first to attempt to talk to him, to see if he'd be able to tell if they were transmigrators and see if the rings Mod had given them in their eighth world still had an effect.
"I was just curious," he said to the king. "What breed is your dog there?"
"A mastiff," Calnan replied evenly.
"Never seen one that big."
"Special breeder. He comes and goes."
With no immediate hint that Calnan could tell who they were on their own, they sent Amaya. He was certainly surprised to see her. Calnan's wife, Felicity, asked if she was from The Guild. Calnan said that she was.
"Can we talk?" Amaya requested.
"Yes, and I suggest you bring anyone else you've brought with you."
"You have to do this tonight?" Felicity asked him. "On our anniversary, really?"
"It won't take long," he assured her. "I'll be back in a moment."
The party was led from the room. Claudia and Harmony stayed behind to shoot some additional Messages at the queen, regarding the poor character of her husband. This seemed to fluster and anger her.
When they arrived in a small dining room, Calnan invited them all to sit, where he told them what he knew, and his beliefs regarding the System:
- He knew where the Shard was. In fact, he was in possession of it. He'd be willing to give it up if the party could defeat him in combat. Twelve other groups of transmigrators had come before this one. All of them, thus far, had failed.
- The party asked him why he'd do such a thing, especially because Calnan knew what failure meant. He knew how terrible it was. Amaya and Harmony did too, from past experiences. He claimed that he was protecting what he had. Too many transmigrators had lost what they had to other transmigrators. It was a terrible cycle. Amaya demanded to know why he would perpetuate such a cycle, and Calnan told her he did it for two reasons: he worked to hard to let what he loved go, and he believed transmigrators needed to learn what happened. They needed to know what they were truly working for.
- His only stipulations about the combat or attempts on his life were that his wife and children were left out of it.
- He expressed the same sentiments Amaya did about his wish. His wish had actually led to the deaths of dozens of potential suitors for his wife, leaving only him: the man she loved. He'd never planned for that.
- Calnan very genuinely believed that it was better for transmigrators to quit and go home. If they did, however, he warned them that they would never achieve what it was they wanted. It didn't matter how hard they tried, if they quit, they'd never get it. At least with the System, they would, even if it's not exactly how they perceived it.
- "Free will exists," he reminded them, "and it's not only transmigrators who can mess up your wishes. There is no guarantee that you keep what you want when you get it."
- Calnan also explained the concept of "deletion" and claimed his dog could do it. To "delete" someone meant to erase them from the System's multiverse forever. No one who was not a transmigrator would remember them.
After all of this, Calnan offered for the party to stay in one of the guest suites they had in the palace. He sent someone to escort them there, where the party had a few drinks while they relaxed and attempted to figure out their next move.
Claudia attempted to reach out to Hacker, but received the nameless "Red Void" instead. Unfortunately, Claudia had very little questions for the Red Void, but they gave her one small piece of advice: "Remind your friends that some of them have a graduation present from me. I don't know if they remember they have it, but they do."
Harmony also pulled Amaya aside for a short time, and asked her if she actually got to say goodbye to Oath when she died. Amaya admitted that she did not. Harmony didn't believe that was right, and she cast Modify Memory on Amaya. She granted her a memory where she got the chance to actually sit, where the two of them knew what was going to happen, and where she actually got to tell her wife how much she loved her before they left. Harmony left Amaya to relive this moment and cry tears of joy. When she was ready to rejoin the group, she did so and gave Harmony a hug.
At Emori's request, and with Sending, Amaya also contacted Calnan to see if he knew anything about Confidence Milton, to see if he'd been in this world too.
Calnan replied, "He's here, actually. In my infirmary. He's very ill. I've tried everything, nothing has worked yet."
She also requested diamond dust for Greater Restoration. Calnan said he would give it to her in the morning. He had no reason not to.
~~~~~
That morning, Emori and Amaya went together to see Confidence. On the way, they ran into one of Calnan's sons: a gnomish boy appearing about thirteen. They never got his name, but he was also on his way to see "Sir Milton." He was going to read to him. He claimed that very few people went to see Sir Milton, and he wasn't sure if Sir Milton could hear him reading, but he did it anyway.
When they arrived, the young prince went to go and get breakfast, to see if maybe Confidence would eat. He left Amaya and Emori with him, and he was a sorry sight.
~~ CW BEGINS ~~
Confidence was paler than usual. His eyes were missing, and there was nothing there but two empty sockets. His hair was falling out in places, and he had terrible burn marks on his chest and face. The rest of his body was hidden to them, under the sheet. He was visibly malnourished, and had so little muscle. It was impossible to discern his age too, with the burns and the fact that he looked so impossibly tired. Each breath heaved, and exhaled shakily.
Amaya cast Greater Restoration, and some of the aging washed away. Some of the burns looked a little better. His breathing eased for a moment, but then pinpricks of green light lit up his eye sockets, and he fell back into that raspy breathing again.
~~ CW ENDS ~~
The two of them started to talk again, and Confidence said quietly, "I can hear you..." Emori tried to talk to him, but all he seemed to be able to say was "I can hear you."
They decided it was best to leave him for now. The young prince would be back with breakfast, and maybe eating a little would help improve his condition.
Amaya asked, "Do you want to go for a walk? Get some air?"
Emori shook her head. "No... let's go back to the others and figure out what we're going to do about all this."
~~~~~
Credit to @ijaymendell inspiring this awesome campaign!
Thank you to my friend @bandcat5313 as well for joining us on this leg of the campaign with her character: Amaya.
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