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Session Forty-Five | Daddy Issues
Chapter 5, Session 45 | Palace of Fallen Stars
Characters Present: Aziza, Silka, Shaw Ishi, Kaya, Alcyone, Aa'ida
XP Earned This Session: 1,900xp
RP Bonus 1500xp
Session Notes 400xp
Total XP: 281,955xp
Next Level: 315,000xp (Level 13)
Loot Acquired: Scroll of detect radiation, scroll of technomancy (party)
Summary: To be submitted as a comment here by any party member to earn further XP for the party
Characters Present: Aziza, Silka, Shaw Ishi, Kaya, Alcyone, Aa'ida
XP Earned This Session: 1,900xp
RP Bonus 1500xp
Session Notes 400xp
Total XP: 281,955xp
Next Level: 315,000xp (Level 13)
Loot Acquired: Scroll of detect radiation, scroll of technomancy (party)
Summary: To be submitted as a comment here by any party member to earn further XP for the party
no subject
Alcy tries to go back to the edge of town and leave. Silka drags her back.
Shaw: How do you know this place?
Alcy: This is where we're from.
Silka: Alcy and I grew up here.
Kaya: I didn't.
Aziza: I was just passing through.
Alcy roasts Seven-Drink Sanvil multiple times.
Val recognizes Aziza in the bar. She looks for other people.
Val: Aziza right?
Aziza: Yes. Person who is from here.
Val: Val.
Aziza: Val. It was on the tip of my tongue.
Val: Weren't you traveling with Alcyone?
Aziza: Yes. She needs a little bit of encouragement to come in.
Val: She's here.
Aziza: Yeah. She's right outside.
Val: Is Silka here?
Aziza: She is.
Val: I wanna go see them!
Val goes to the door. She hugs Alcyone.
[...]
Silka: Where's your dad?
Val: He was finishing up dinner in the house.
Silka: We kinda need to talk to him.
Alcy: Did you know he's evil?
Val: What???
Alcy: Did you know that he's with the TL and he has been with the TL the whole time and no one ever knew because he's EVIL?
Sanvil [hand on Alcy's shoulder]: We need to talk to him. Maybe you'd like to be there too.
Val: I think we have a lot to talk about.
Kaya: I'm Kaya!
Val stops before the door. She turns back to look at Alcy.
Val: Before we go in, I feel like I should say something. Khonnir did the right thing. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.
Val has been in town as long as Khonnir. They came to town together.
Alcy: What does that mena — wouldn't be here if it weren't for him?
Val: I mean he saved my life.
Alcy; From the TL?
She nods.
Aziza & Shaw: Is she an android? Cyborg? Hologram? Has anyone ever touched her before?
Silka puts herself between Val and Alcyone. Sanvil gently steers Alcyone in. Val gets drinks for everyone. Khonnir stands and comes to Alcyone.
Khonnir: Thank goodness you're alright.
He tries to hug her and she gets all weird and nudges him back. He invites everyone to sit.
Khonnir: Good to see [Silka]. Can you tell me what you've learned on your travels?
Sanvil is standing against the wall with his arms folded.
Alcy: Yeah, we learned something kind of interesting, Khonnir. We learned you were with the TL.
Khonnir: I assume you have some questions.
Alcy, nodding slowly: WHAT THE FUCK
Khonnir: My name is not Khonnir Bane, my name is Paldrous Gray. I once lived in Starfall, for most of my life. And I did work as a low-ranking assistant to the TL, yes, for many years. I knew going into the work there that the TL was unconcerned with matters of morality, but I was young and foolish and had my reasons for believing it was the right thing for me to do at the time. But, as I became more and more involved with their activities, that changed. I came to realize from the inside that the TL was the cause of, not the attempt to stop, many of the inequalities and atrocities that I had witnessed growing up in Starfall. By that point, I was too enmeshed in league affairs to abandon my post without repercussions. Until a certain point, where I could take it no longer ... Val had been captured from her tribe as a child by my lieutenant, Garton. He was planning to use her as a resource in the creation of an alchemical homunculus. It was a particularly cruel experiment, and he would not listen to my pleas to release the girl. So I staged an explosion in the lab, got Val out safely, and assumed I had killed Garton in the explosion. I hoped to fake all of our deaths, so the league would assume we perished in the accident. We went on the run. We lived for months in Chassit. There, I learned Garton survived the blast, and that I now had a bounty on my head from the TL. I changed my appearance, and Val's, and we lived as vagabonds for some time along the river, doing what we could. I got her the best education I could because they were looking for a kellid child, and I didn't want her to stand out as a member of a barbaric tribe. Living that way held no appeal for either of us. We came here to find new lives and make up for what we had done. I tried to keep a low profile, but as you're well aware, that didn't happen. My business was more successful than I expected, and with my new techniques, and improvements to the water supply, I was unanimously nominated to the Council. I feared it would lead Garton to our doorstep. Then that TL Sanvil came to town and I was afraid they'd come for us. That is the reason I did not go with you. I needed to protect Val. I'm sorry that I could never explain any of this, but it was for her safety. I hope you can forgive me for the deception, and for my past crimes.
Alcy: But you hid it from us. You didn't trust us. You made us into your disguise and we didn't even know.
Khonnir: It wasn't lack of trust. You would have become a target. But this has become more my life than my life before ever was.
Alcy: We need your help getting into Starfall.
Khonnir: You're going to Starfall?
Alcy: We're not going to run away like you did. We're going to fight.
Khonnir: the TL?
Alcy: in a manner of speaking.
[Explanation.]
Sanvil: Unity is in Silvermount.
Khonnir: [sizes up Sanvil in his new body] You're trying to get inside of Silvermount?
Alcy: Yes.
Khonnir: That's why you need to fight TL?
Alcy: Yes. And also bc they suck. You need to understand that when we went to Scrapwall we became gangsters. We earned street cred killing so many rats and painting 'don't fuck with our gang' on people. SO when I say we're going for the TL, I mean it's gonna be a gang fight.
Khonnir: Are you bringing an army?
Alcy: Laughs
Khonnir: After the lieutenants then.
Silka: There's one who is on the fence I guess???
Khonnir: Xernabeth is a technomancer and a wizard. If there's a chance of getting help, it's from her. She's a cold woman, from Reign of Winter land.
Alcy: Did you know her? Were you friends?
Khonnir: I was low ranking, but I can tell you a few things about her. She is recognizable because she has cold sycatite bonded to her flesh. No one else has replicated the experiment. It makes her skin blue. She studied Numerian ruins and sacrificed her companions to stay alive, it made her infamous enough to have trouble finding willing help for her expeditions. The TL provided it. I heard rumors that she lost power that she had accumulated and was bitter and unhappy with her position. That bitterness might be a weapon to turn against the TL. She also knows SIlvermount. If you're planning to go into it, she was known as a Silvermount Survivor. She lost quite a bit — her right leg and arm — in an expedition there. They're cybernetic now.
Alcy: Sorry, can we talk about Silvermount? And why you get called a survivor for going there?
Khonnir: [suspicious of Sanvil]
Sanvil: Good question, waht do you know about Silvermount?
Khonnir: I never went there but I heard reports it's dangerous. I can fill you in.
Alcy: If anyone else knows something about Silvermount they could also tell us that information whenever they're ready.
Khonnir: There's quite a bit of ship that makes up Silvermount. Many decks are destroyed, and there's many robotic defenses that they have tried to overcome to get their hands on the tech inside.
Alcy: Oh my god there are gonna be sphincters.
Khonnir: What?
Alcy: We found this alien ship and it had ... Its walls were throbbing. And all the doors were sphincters.
Khonnir: The ship in Starfall is an androphan ship.
Kaya: LIKE ME.
Silka: Hey Khonnir, when you left, did you keep any of your keycards?
Khonnir: I didn't.
Silka: Do you know how to make any?
Khonnir: I could mass produce them if we could get our hands on some.
Alcy: Where do we find Xernabeth?
Khonnir: Get inside Starfall and get her attention. I wish I had more updated information for you. If you make it known that you are opposing the TL, she'll probably find you.
Silka: What if we show up with someone with blue skin and claim it's the same experiment?
Khonnir: That might be enough.
Shaw: Would it be enough to sneak past the guards? Could we survive in the city?
Khonnir: There's a large population who merely live there but aren't TL associated. Entry is regulated, but you can avoid drawing attention to yourself. Or you could just pay the taxes.
Alcy: we're not paying the TL money
Shaw: How much?
Alcy: WE'RE NOT PAYING THE TL MONEY.
Khonnir: idk anymore lol.
Shaw: How do you join the TL?
Khonnir: You're treated as an expendable peon for some time. It's not a pleasant process. They want to know you'll be loyal. They task you with things they know will be unpleasant.
Alcy: WAIT WAS IT SUPPOSED TO BE UNPLEASANT FOR THE TL PEOPLE WHO CAME HERE
Sanvil: Not Torch specifically. It was grunt work to not be allowed to stay in Starfall at all, to take missions traveling from town to town, keeping tabs on activities and discoveries of artifacts and skymetal deposits through the land. Obviously Torch was a source of interest, given the obvious signs of technology here in this town.
Khonnir: Who's this guy?
Silka: Oh, right, you don't know.
Aziza: You don't recognize our old pal Novem?
Khonnir: Oh ... Novem?
Alcy: No. It's not Novem. Aziza's lying. She's being snide. It's — itssanvil.
Khonnir: What?
Alcy: itssanvil.
Khonnir: Sanvil? [stomps towards] What happened?
Sanvil: I died several times and I got put inside an android. Now I'm trying to take down teh TL I guess.
Alcy: he's helping.
Khonnir: You trust him aftr everything?
Alcy: He's been helping for months.
Khonnir: Silka?
Silka: Oh, no. But I keep him in line. He's not gonna hurt her.
Sanvil: Garton was my lieutenant too.
Khonnir: That bastard needs to die.
Sanvil: I'd like to see that.
They share a moment.
Khonnir: You wanted to know more about TL recruitment? They don’t actively recruit new members except in cases where a highly knowledgeable candidate is discovered. People submit themselves for membership and the L considers if they possess useful skills. They need a sponsoring captain, who submits their name before a council. The candidate must demonstrate magical ability and be tested on their arcane knowledge. Rejecting a candidate will cause a feud, so approvals are a formality. Rejected candidates are offered lesser positions with the promise of reconsideration. A few are killed for knowing too much. The most important part are the loyalty tests, designed by the sponsor, and examine whether they will put the TL interests above all else.
Alcy: What was your test?
Khonnir: Brutal, and cruel by design. It involved betraying a friend. Either way, it makes it so it’s difficult to go back.
Alcy: I’m still stuck on Silvermount Survivor.
Khonnir: Most expeditions into Silvermount didn’t come back.
Alcy: did anyone find pieces of them?
Khonnir: Sometimes.
Sanvil: That hasn’t changed. Access is restricted. Only captains have the authority to send men into their deaths. I’ve known plenty of agents, such as myself, who headed in never to return.
Alcy: But Xernabeth did return.
Khonnir: Yes.
Alcy: So we sneak in. We announce Aa’ida. We try to recruit people to help us overthrow the TL.
Sanvil: It will be difficult to take down the whole org. But if our goal is to stop Unity, maybe we should put that first.
Khonnir: i am LOOKING …
Alcy: But we need to find Xernabeth no matter what, because Unity is in Silvermount.
Khonnir: And she can help you destabilize the league, by ousting its leader.
Sanvil: Osmond? Not a bad idea, actually.
Alcy: JUST BECAUSE I’M MAD AT HIM DOESN’T MEAN HE’S NOT THE SMARTEST PERSON I KNOW “ACTUALLY” SMDH
Shaw: Smart enough to trick all of you. Anyway, what is the defense at the gate like?
Sanvil: usually a contingent of four gearsman at all times. Any fights near gates would escalate — robots, etc.
Shaw: How well-trained are they?
Khonnir: Gearsman aren’t well-trained, they’re programmed.
Silka: The best way to get in is to pretend to be selling.
Aziza: I should have brought my guns.
Silka and Alcy: YOU DIDN’T WANT TO GET RID OF YOUR GUNS.
Khonnir: Getting passes would be helpful. Destabilizing the TL would also do a lot to draw their attention away from your attempts to get into Silvermount. Classically, there’s been sufficient treachery between the captains that it should not be an impossible task. [to Sanvil] You’re going back there?
Sanvil: They won’t recognize me. Ha. What about you?
Khonnir: I’d like nothing more than to be able to be part of what you’re doing. But I don’t think it’s wise.
Silka: For you or for any of us?
Khonnir: I believe you can do this. I think I’d be more help here in Torch.
Alcy: You’re doing nothing. You’re hiding. You’re just sitting here while they’re kidnapping more children like Val except there’s no one like you to help them anymore.
Khonnir: The work I do in Torch, with the water supply, is important.
Silka: So we can just walk in to sell stuff?
Khonnir: as long as you pay the taxes.
Alcy: I don’t like taxes.
Silka: But Shaw’s plan won’t work bc it’s a jedi mind trick. We need to go in legit like.
Alcy gets up and leaves because she doesn’t have a good answer. Sanvil is like mmm I’ll … just a sec. I’ll handle that.
Khonnir: is there anything else I can tell you that might be of use?
Silka: Other than using Xernabeth to unseat the leader, what other actions might we take?
Khonnir: If you’re trying to limit the TL power, there might be one other way. It might be of interest to you, Silka.
Silka: Yes?
Khonnir: The black sovereign, the kellid leader of Numeria. Leader in name, but a puppet controlled by the TL … If you could break their hold on him, he could assert some dominance over the city/country and break the iron grip they have. That would involve finding a way to get to him. You’d be on your own trying to discover a way to do that once you get to Starfall. It might be worth doing.
Sanvil, outside: The taxes are just ten gold, Alcy. It’s okay. I’ll cover you.
There are four districts in the town. Gritforge (SE) is the industrial district: salvage, shops. Inner Sector, restricted (open hilltop): palace of fallen stars, black sovereign, TL compound. Kill Box (W) heavily populated neighborhood, swath of slums and desperation, where Khonnir grew up. Scrap Hole junkyard. Sovereign’s Watch (N) oldest portion of city, where powerful kellid leaders dwell, rich place, engineers/artisans, Skywatch which TL uses to monitor the area.
no subject
Khonnir: They’re only selling tech to TL. They think they should control all the tech. The one thing I don’t know much about is the actual founder, Sidra, she rapidly attracted a cadre of arcane spellcasters, preaching that tech was not to be feared. It was originally a secret society bc in the early days, the barbarian tribes were less tolerant of tech than they are today. [he tries not to look at Silka] Sidra’s second, Mulrakzier, was a commander. He demonstrated enthusiasm for Sidra’s teachings, but he was a grasping, fearful man who longed for greatness and power. Over many years, the group attracted members and artifacts, and planned an expedition into Silvermount. Shortly after arrival, Molrakzier assassinated Sidra and declared himself Captain. No one knew more about tech than he, and no one wanted to walk away from the power of Silvermount, so they went along with the treachery and established a culture of it early on. It took three years with the doors. During that time, TL experimented with fluids and chemicals from the structure; the mages discovered that ingestion caused strange effects.
[...]
Arcanists and mages presented themselves as civilization vs barbaric tribes. In time, lust for power transformed its members into slave masters of the region. 4690 (24 yrs ago) a man threw off the TL yoke, Cole of the Blackhorse Tribe, waged a two-year campaign to unite the barbarian tribes. Two years later, he strode into Starfall with an army. It was a successful show of power, and the TL surrendered unconditionally. Cole never realized it was a trap; the TL pledged fealty to him and they crowned him the black sovereign. He was put in command of the TL resources, but they found some way to control him. That’s the one I think you, Silka, might make an ally. You must get through to him again. You’ll need to look into this more once you’re in Starfall, because neither I nor Sanvil will know a great deal about these parts of the power structure.
As far as I know, he has no heirs, no partner.
[Something about how to sneak Kaya and Sanvil in happened while I was in the bathroom I think?]
no subject