# [[020_20210928 On the way to Vermeillon]] ## Session Summary > [!abstract] [[020_20210928 On the way to Vermeillon]] > We go to Cleff Tinkertop's house to ask him about Nihana Chist. He gives me a prototype of an orrery, which is a device that he developed according to Nihana's specifications. he says that Nihana still owes him money, but that she has not returned in the last three months. He created a full-scale orrery for her that seems to show the position of planets and the moons at certain dates. > > Wally, Xenia, and leave the cart with Braedon Easterling, and then join the tiefling and me at Cleff's. Some of us (excluding the tiefling) buy mules from Aby McKraken at the stables, and we then talk to Zendasa, the herbalist. Zendasa tells us that after the mine disaster, some people began disappearing while others, like her mother, started to have nightmares. > > Just before we go, Lukas reminds us of his request to get the necklace from his wife's grave, and to leave a flower on her grave for him. He also gives us a map and suggests that we try to go to the house of the Vermeillon starosta, Lei Duvizin. > > We head up the mountains, following the trail and then taking one of the shortcuts, as marked in Thieves' Cant on trees along the side of the road. We stop for the night at an abandoned hut, and battle two giant spiders that came to attack Wally as he was tending to the horses. > > Reya talks to me for a while about what it was like to live among elves, and eventually went to sleep, leaving me meditating alone by the light of the moon. Sehanine comes to me, encouraging me to continue with the Vermeillon quest. I ask her why people at home say her teachings were one thing, but people here say another, and she counsels me to follow my own path and not worry about what others say. She also mentions a runechild who might be able to help. ^summary ## Recap of last session ![[019_20210921 The tiefling and Crownsguard Douche#^summary]] --- ## Log [[Floyd Hemsworth|Floyd]] left - it's 26th of Quen'pillar. We wake up. Wally tells us that [[Disaster at Vermeillon|the mine accident]] in [[Vermeillon]] was not really an accident. There were powerful forces from the Empire and the Cerberus Assembly at bay. I cast Lesser Restoration on Reya. Hupperdook to Vermeillon: 3 days up the mountain and go east along the Silberquel ridge. Hupperdook to [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Zadash|Zadash]] oun[[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Zadash]]y want to go to [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Zadash|Zadash]] to drop off exp[[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Zadash]]hen go to Zadash straight afterwards. Wally, Xenia, and Reya get someone ([[Braedon Easterling]]) to bring the cart and horses to Zadash. - 60+ miners were there that day and half of them died. ✅ - 15 gp now, 15 gp when we meet him again. He will stay two or three days after he gets there to wait for us to show. ^39b96f We go to [[Cleff Tinkertop]]'s house. Metallic sheets with rivets in it, chimney. Sign out the front: [[Tinkertop Inventions]]. [[Risania Tinkertop|Rissa]] comes out (brownish red hair). Wall-to-wall clocks, some working and clicking, some broken with springs hanging out. In the center, there's something with sticks and balls on the end that revolve. Partially made pulleys, some wood, some metal. Lots of clockwork things. Cleff has white hair, white beard trimmed to a point like Andy's. He's got an Irish accent, talks about a Vox Seeker. Stahlmaster's design, but he didn't do it well and Cleff has improved it. [[Vox Seeker]]: Brass crab. 15 gp. Cleff knows [[Nihana Chist]]. She is a scholar from [[The Cobalt Soul]], an important person in Zadash. She was building an observatory on a lake past Vermeillon. She was mysterious about the gods. She mentioned the sun and [[Raei|The Everlight]] and the moon and the [[Sehanine|Moonweaver]]. She wanted him to build the parts for an [[Orrery]]. ^5906db ![[nihana_chist-commission_from_cleff.png]] Half a meter - it's half-sized. Real one is twice the size. He had to put on a special thread. She was going to attach something to it and still owes him for some of the money. He gets the feeling that it's some sort of arcane device. The tiefling can't tell what was supposed to be attached to it. Cleff goes rummaging and holds a semi-circular bracket that fits on it and would hold a pole. Everything revolves around and there's a dial there. When twice the size, it would hold something about 10cm in diameter - something you could hold in your hand. The other thing would be flatter, 1 cm. She owes him 1,000 gp still. She took the real thing with her. There are dates on the bottom. Cleff likes Nihana but says she's eccentric. Nihana brought charts for him. You can set a date and it starts to turn on itself. If we can return with money or the device, he'll pay us a few hundred. [[The Stahlmaster]] was in league with the [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Kryn Dynasty]]. He was a bastard (says Cleff). Go up Hupperdook, up the mountain. There's an old trail there to deliver platinum to Hupperdook, but it's not been used for a while. It takes about three days. Rissa says her unsavory friends say there are shortcuts. Xenia gets Cleff to draw some sort of map telling us where trhe trail is. The thing is called an [[Orrery]]. 11 miners were never found. There was a horror where one or two disappeared, and in a week or two more disappeared as well. ^0ed814 Bright orange sun in the middle. [[Catha|A white moon]], larger, and [[Ruidus|a red moon]]. Vox seeker How do we get up the mountain? Walk, horses, mules. Go and see [[Abie McKraken]]. Lower Hupperdook at the stables. Aby is an old man, craggy face. In the stables. 1s per day, 8g. We all bought mules for 8g each except for Milla. They already talked to [[Zendasa]] the herbalist. Smell of incense and fungi. There's a woman who is a druid. She has a long, green cloak. She's "well-fed" and is nibbling away at a breakfast roll she's got. Zendasa's mother did not disappear, but she did lose her mind. Zendasa was younger when her family left Vermeillon after the catastrophe. Even those who slept with weapons at night went missing. She remembers the disaster. Her mother would have nightmares and wake up really terrified. She said she saw spiders, snakes, and strange creatures with long fingers. Her worst fears. Sometimes her mother would wake up thinking she was being buried underground. People would disappear. The ones that didn't, got nightmares. The mother died one day. Disappearances happened *after* the mine disaster. It's been 20 years since Zendasa was there. [[Lukas Gosvenor]] says we should try going to the starosta's house. [[Starosta Lei Duvezin]]. And he reminds us to go to his wife's grave and get his necklace. He also gives us a map. ![[map_of_vermeillon.png]] We set off! After 2-3 hours, I notice some markings on a tree and some sort of pathway made by a creature, running off the main path. I can't tell which creature it is. I see triangles and circles but I don't know what they are. Reya says it's Thieves' Cant and they mention shortcuts. There's an old hut we see that looks delapidated. The roof has fallen in. [[Spider Hut at Silberquel Ridge]] Moons. Catha - 3/4 full and Ruidus is starting to wane. It was full a few nights ago. The hut looks like the campfire is out. There were people here like a year or so ago, but there is nobody there now. There is a workbench and some tools, a bucket. Canopy of a tree is a thick spider web. There is a big spider above his head! [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/Giant Spider]] 22 Reya 21 Xenia 16 Milla 9 Wally 6 Scura 6 Giant Spider -31 -10 | Character | HP | Conditions | | --------- | --- | ---------- | | Reya | | | | Scura | | +5 HP | | Xenia | | +5 HP | | Wally | | restrained | | Milla | | +5 HP | Tiefling finds a pouch with gems in it. Tiefling might be scared of spiders. Catha is casting a lot of moonlight. It's mesmerizing. [[Sehanine]] talks to me. There's something not right in the world. something trying to extinguish my light. ^283d70 walk unbridled and untethered and forge new experiences. Sometimes that means righting wrongs, but other times it means leaving them behind and starting anew, just like the moon does every month. ^0764c1 She mentioned [[Karmilla Duskbloom]]? She said that I'm doing a good thing with the party, and that I should continue on this path and help them, especially the Runechild. We're in the middle of the [[Silberquel Ridge]]. ```ad-info title: DM's Notes - You awoke the worse for wear with Reya suffering a grim hangover. Scura cured it with Lesser Restoration. - Then you went to visit Cleff Tinkertop who told you about Astrologer Nihana Chist who is a scholar of The Cobalt Soul. She was building an observatory up past the lake at Vermeillon. She mentioned it was on the ruins of an old temple, but was mysterious about the gods. Sometimes she would mention the sun and the The Everlight, sometimes the moons and The Moon Weaver. - Nihana became more obsessed by tracking their movements and ask Cleff to build her the parts to an orrery. He showed you the prototype at half size made out of cheaper materials. The real one is twice the size, about 1m in diameter, made of brass, gems and stones. There are screw holes in some of the bars and feet that look like other pieces are meant to be affixed to it. Cleff doesn't know why. He thinks they are for items that turn the orrery into some kind of powerful arcane device, but Nihana never told him more. The last he heard of her was about three months ago, but she has not been back since she picked up the final pieces he made for her. He's still owed 1,000 gp and offered you 200 gp if you could find her or recover the orrery. - Cleff also repaired your Vox Seeker, which you now have in your possession. - Milla awoke to a note from Floyd. - Wally spoke to Errin about finding someone to drive the cart and Matt to Zadash for you. She fetched the odd-job man Braedon, who agreed to the job for 30 gp. 15 gp in advance, 15 gp on delivery. - Wally disarmed the cart. Reya writes a note to Kalani in Orcish about delivering the cart. - Wally, Reya and Scura went to buy mules for the journey. Abie McCracken from Abie's Stables sold Wally 2 mules, Reya one, Scura another. - You went to the Lay of the Land Herbalist and spoke to Zendasa, who told you about them leaving Vermeillon when she was a child. Her mother had started having terrible nightmares after the mine disaster, so they decided to move to Hupperdook, but she died not long after. - Scura bought a raspberry potion of healing. Reya a lucky dip potion of healing. - Then you headed off with your mules to find the path to Vermeillon, which was overgrown but still possible to find. Scura casts Aid on Milla, Xenia & herself. - As you made your way through the forest, you saw some markings on the trees. These turned out to be Thieve's Cant symbols for shortcuts that went up between the bends in the main track. - With evening drawing in, you decided to stop at a derelict hut in off the side of the main track, shrouded by trees. - In the twilight, two giant spiders thought they had found some rare prey and started attacking. One fired a web at Wally immobilising him, but you made short work of them. Xenia killed one with a firebolt. Milla the other with ice knife. - Searching an old treestump, Milla found an mouldy old leather pouch of gems in a treestump, but otherwise no other dangers. - Settling in for the night, Scura took watch. During her meditation in the moonlight she felt a familiar presence, hearing that she should aid those she is with, especially the Runechild who is on an important quest. Then she heard the commandment to seize your own destiny by pursuing your passions and walk unbridled and untethered, forging new memories and experiences. Sometimes that is righting past wrongs, sometimes it is leaving them behind and starting a new, just like the moon the renews itself every month. ```