Escape
Staying awake through the night, the party watches dawn rise above the now desecrated Lubellum. They meet a mysterious figure by the name of Anthro, who they found again in a strange workshop they identified as a pocket dimension. They take the town’s waypoint out as shadowy tendrils chase them, vying to dissipate the light; they see Anthro once more as they are whisked away, watching as he is stabbed by a shadow and takes a lifeless expression as the party arrives in the quaint Kingdom Town.
After spending the night by the campfire, the party seeks for a way out of the town they find themselves in. As they begin to survey the town, recollecting what they have seen over the past day, they realize that no people actually inhabit the town. Of the persons that they have seen are only the smith, the shopkeeper, Carter (the innkeeper and bartender), the Fortune Teller, The Informant, and the strange man sitting alone at the bar. Their view shifts from a quaint little village to a horrifying place of isolation. An inspection of the boathouse only further reveals this, as all they found remaining of it was the torn, colorless remanence of what was.
Faced with this revelation, Æ was sent into a state of shock. He began to see even further beyond the realm they inhabited, almost into another plane or level of existence entirely. He saw something so cosmic and so eldritch to him in his current state. It was but a glimpse of true freedom and of complete power. In that moment, he understood everything — but it was only a moment. Left in confusion, his own being began to fragment, the shatter-points already present from his name ever-changing. As a result of this encounter, Æ has gained the feat “Force of Will.”
A Strange Figure
Afterwards, the party makes their way back to the Room and Circle, and as they enter the inn, they feel the cold eyes of the mysterious figure watching them, almost knowing they would enter in that exact space, at that exact time. After a quick scan of the room, Æ notices a secret trap door in the back of the room, right behind the innkeeper’s desk. While Inbad, Jaime, and Æ all walk to examine the area around the door, Zephyr approaches the mystery man.
They engage in rapid dialogue of abstract thoughts, the man challenging Zephyr’s capacity of information. After a series of futile attempts, Zephyr finally asks a question the man will answer: “What is your name?”
The man responds that he is known as Anthro; from the back of the room, Æ notices that there is something unusual about the name, but can’t quite figure out what.
After watching Zephyr being unable to get any more information out of Anthro, Inbad and Jaime decide to take matters into their own hands, and charge Anthro in the middle of conversation, daggers and swords in hand. Both fail to even touch him, with Jaime humiliatingly tripping and falling, scratching himself with his own blade. Æ, now oblivious to his surroundings, snuck behind the bar and as Anthro was rushed, managed to steal 2 pints of ale, only to waste them by dumping them on the barkeep’s head. For his actions, Æ gained the feat “Moonshine I.”
In an instant, everyone within the “Circle” of the Room and Circle begin to feel a strong push as people seem to suddenly materialize, transforming the tavern from a tense scene to a classic, loud, and cheerful gathering. They could no longer make out Anthro in the crowd, but could still feel his eyes on them.
A Strange Room
With no other options, they decide to descend into the chambers below from the trapdoor. While there, they find something completely displaced form the quaint town from before. They discover a workshop: a desk in one corner, messy stacks of paper all over, an alchemistic set-up with potions and supplies scattered about, and a central dome with a soft but bright glow shining through.
Inbad, upon investigating the room further, realizes that it can’t be possible for there to be a light when the path took them under the inn. Using his foundation of royal knowledge he once knew, he deduced they found themselves in a separate plane; perhaps a pocket dimension or a different aspect of being all together — the exact location was unclear.
Afterwards, Inbad and Æ looked around the multi-colored vials and bottles lying about the floor, each choosing one to drink. Inbad may now, on any one roll, add or subtract 1d6 from the total value. Æ received no effects, but when he started to drink the bottle in his hand, a spectral, astrological unicorn burst out, trotted around the room, before dashing off in a cloud of mist.
As Inbad and Æ play with potions, Zephyr feels a warm radiance in his pocket. Pulling out the journal, he notices a faint light emitting from it. He approached the workbench, and almost as if the journal came to life, bright red words started writing themselves on the cream-colored pages. In neat cursive glowed the following:
Page 1
“A room, a circle, a pawn,
With one left, …”
Link to original
The words trailed off the page, but there seems to be much more to the foreboding message that seems to be intertwined with the fate of the party.
After the words started to dim, everyone being distracted by these new findings, only Jaime noticed Anthro slowly walking out of the shadows and into the light emanating from the clear dome above. He felt unkempt rage building up, seeking to protect some honor long forgotten.
Though civil conversation was attempted, it quickly turned into Anthro maligning the House of Lancaster. As he introduced himself once more, Jaime recognized that his name was not simply Anthro, but a hybrid between ’Ανθρο and ☥ro (pronounced An-thro or ankh-rho), embodying both the spirit of man and of life itself. He charged, managing to but touch ☥ro, pushing him out of the light. Only then he understood the devil lying behind those eyes.
Suddenly, ☥ro pulled Jaime and the rest of the party, forcing them around the light formed by the dome, himself walking in the center. He greets them all by name, and when asked who he is, he responds, pointing to each individual, “I am you. I am all of you.”
He tells the party that when they inevitably reach a point of failure and of no return, once they reach that point where they have no more hope, only then should they call his name, beckoning for help. This offer rings in the back of the party’s head. You will need his assistance at one point or another, but be warned the price you must pay. All you have to do is call his name.
After telling them this, he adds that he knows of their kingdom, a place that each member of the party is slowly starting to forget (while some are only beginning to remember). It is unclear whether you can trust ☥ro’s word that this far-displaced place is in danger, but you are left unsure whether it is safe either.
He then, in a trail of mist, disapparates through the domed ceiling above, leaving the party alone
A Strange Exit
When they return to the outdoors, the sun is nearly set. They can start to see the black wisps materializing once more, signaling their impeding doom. In a last-ditch effort, the party makes their way to the Waypoint, where they are encountered with the fortune teller from the night before. She warns them about trust, about power, and about the self. But more urgently, she instructs that to get where they need to be, they must be completely clear in their thoughts, or their destination could be many moons away from where they need to be. You feel this isn’t the last you will see of her.
They enter and see a dazzling cosmic world in front of them. They notice the red void, the large mountain, the bustling capital kingdom, and some quaint farming towns.
Set on travelling to the mountains, the party locks in their destination. Almost ready to travel, they begin to feel their forms moving, but not before they see ☥ro standing in the doorway, not moving, but just looking at them. He no longer has the evil gleam in his eyes, but now looks at you with pity, almost as if knowing your fate — or what your fate once was. He mouths the words “kingdom,” disrupting your concentration by placing worries and memories into your minds.
As you begin to travel away, you see his face transform into a shocked and pained expression as a black tendril stabs him through his stomach. They climb rapidly against the walls, pulling the Waypoint apart from its very source of power. ☥ro’s form begins to dissolve, slowly losing its anchor to reality. No one knows what his fate was, or if they will ever see him again.
A Strange Town
The party then finds themselves in a town, aptly named Kingdom Town. Much larger than the previous, they can already tell this area is much safer, and much more genuine, than Lubellum. Inbad visits the smith (who calls himself Will) and purchases handcuffs. Then, the party makes their way to the alchemy school, where they purchase a supposed cure for Æ’s schizophrenia, from the cosmic horrors he witnessed. While it did not cure him, it allows him to control his identity at the cost of entropy. Unable (or unwilling) to pay in full, they instead offer to take a vial to the mage’s grandmother in the mountain (their original destination).
Unable to go any further, the party takes rest in the inn. The mage knew the innkeeper, so it was easy to get a discount. But at night, the party shares a collective dream (unknowing that each member experienced this). They saw a large tower out in the distance, towering over plains. Darkness plagued the edges of the world, but this was so far displaced that it felt safe from any wave of shadow that may attempt to conquer it.
Almost as if viewing through a bird, they approach the tower from above, zooming inwards, and looking through the window on the side. Inside the room, there is a round table with scattered items about it, the exact identities unclear. There is plenty more throughout the room, but you could not see, or not remember, it. Then, the door begins to open, and you see the figure of a man begin to enter.
As you are about to discover his identity, your dreams cuts to black, and you hear a door shut, causing you all to awaken at the same time, and the new day to begin…