Session 19--(Please excuse my switching between past and present tense)

End of the Day

Session 18 ended with a coming together of the party and their friends sharing information and resting after a lot of shopping. Loneil suggests that they enjoy their last night (for the forseeable future) in nice soft beds, and leave early the next day. Since these are high class rooms, there are nice baths drawn up for them in their rooms. When Thalia undresses for her nightly bath, she sees a purple bulge in her lower right abdomen. Seven light blue tendrils extend outwards, moving like a growing root across her, and her full memories from Nylana come back.

As Ahnrik falls asleep, he is visited in a dream by Luzak. She greets him with a pout, saying "Ahnrik, my pretty little Saurian boy, why haven't you told me what you learned about Kathelia? I asked you so nicely..."

Arrival of Mocaeis

In the morning, Mocaeis arrives at the inn, out of breath and in a rush to speak to Amisha. He bursts in on her, and gives her a token in his colors, with five glowing segments on the edge of it and one dull segment. He explains that he has been on the run since the Day of Woad, and his priests are in mortal danger from anyone tied to another god, should they know their identity. The segments signify his last priests, and should they die, the world is doomed. He needs his True Secret to be discovered by his priest before then, or he is powerless to stop it. The only clue he offers are to find The Godly Tomb, and to trust Yaalasar for advice.

A screech is heard in the distance, and Mocaeis runs, pure terror in his eyes. The assault begins right after.

Assault of Audrock

The Liad assault happens without warning, as a war tree throws a boulder that smashes a nearby building, and the party runs out into the streets crammed with other people who also want to get out.

The Liad attack with an army consisting of 400 Liad Soldiers, 2 War trees, and 20 earth elementals. Mixed among them are priests of Jousus.

As the party flees, the ground begins to quake, and arrows fall from the sky. Phillip took one in the arm, and was downed (but not killed!) by it. Enicha soon also was hit, and while she was still able to keep going, she was quite hurt.

After a while of fighting the Avions sent out several clunky flying ships to pour burning oil on the war trees, which deals them 3d8 fire damage, with a chance to catch fire. When they reached the gate, Anira threw all her ingredients together into the biggest possible batch of teleportation potion, and got the whole party through the gate, just as the city tears away from the earth, flying upwards until it's stopped by a giant chain tethering it to the ground.

The Liad army was encircling the city at this point, and noticing the party trying to escape made a run to cut them off, but unsuccessfully. Once they got far enough to rest for a minute, Loneil and Ahnrik set to healing people, and got the whole party back to full health.

The Trail to Highpeak

Fortunately for travelers brave enough to risk the road by foot from Audrock to Highpeak, thunderbirds are visible from the path, but rarely come close enough to be a concern. Eli gets  There is a shelter on the path, about halfway through the trail. It's cold up there and some of the party members were uncomfortable. They passed the shelter and made camp much closer to Highpeak.

Near to morning, Akari noticed three orc scouts coming up the trail from Highpeak, and woke everyone. They turned out to be from the Rocg Tribes, and were surprised and disappointed to hear about Audrock. One of them turned back to tell the news to his tribe, and the others continued on their trail to deliver a message to Audrock.

The Liad-An epistle from General Estvein

The Liad are a people recognizable by their light blue skin and green hair.  They seem to be plant people made in the age of the other races—they are male and female and they nurse their babies as the other races, but they wilt and die if locked in the dark, and they have a sweet sap-like nectar instead of blood. It is rumored that this nectar is what Liad mothers nurse their children with, rather than milk, though no one has found proof of this.

In combat they are fierce opponents, as capable as our own soldiers, and possessing a retractable, thorny spine on their forearms which they can administer a paralyzing venom with. They seem to greatly fear fire, however, and use of flaming arrows has proven effective in skirmishes with them.

Shades

Shades are dead souls brought back to the world either by very powerful necromancers or by Jousus himself, and are bound to whoever summoned them. They look as they did in life, though darker, as if black pigment was mixed into their skin and clothes. The most telling cue is their eyes, which are black where they should be white.

They return to the world of the living with all the skills and knowledge they had in life, as well as with newfound sorcery.

They are not truly ethereal, but can remove their physical presence to the ethereal realm at will, and while still visible, are invulnerable to physical attacks, which simply pass through them. A young shade may not be able to fully go incorporeal, and may be somewhat affected these attacks.

Shades can be forced to remain fully in the physical realm if they are dusted with salt.

Session 18

Having gotten the Eye of Issald, the party decided to go to Velg, and to pass through Cloudholle to save time, rather than going around the mountain range. Audrock being the first city in the mountain pass, they headed there.

On the first day of travel, they found an abandoned church being reclaimed by nature. After a quick search, Amisha found a rotting and rusted chest with bound steel plates. From what was legible of it, it turned out to be a cross of scripture and the ancient priest's journal. The journal revealed that it had been a church of the God of Life, and the last plates were filled with despair about the disappearance of his god.

The day after that, they met a young hermit and his pig. He was excited to see them, and invited them to come in and eat his honey barley portage. he introduced himself as Phillip, and his pig as Gretsa. After a some conversation, he decided to come with them to experience a party and a city.

Audrock is being overrun with elven refugees, mainly farmers, hunters, and miners.

Audrock is a military base, where Cloudhollen scouts and spies are especially prevalent, due to the city's access to other nations.

 Avions have an empirical attitude, with a large, disciplined military, and a classist attitude, evident in their clothing. Avions wear a tightly wound strip cloth, which wraps around the torso and individual legs. The higher classes wear longer, thinner cloths that are embroidered and decorated with beads, multiple colors, or other embellishments, while the lowest class wears simple wide and undyed cloths. These cloths are called teipen, and to not wear one in public is seen as indecent and an indication of being below the lowest of society.

Refugees were lined up to get into town when the party arrived. They sent Enicha into town to investigate, and she quickly returned with teipen for everyone. She informed them that refugees were being put to work mining out the ground on all sides of the town, and a goblin blacksmith had been hired to make a massive chain.

Akari told a bunch of refugees all about everything. Most of them were from Theretsa and Thelsinosa, and those who were close enough to see Enicha with her stolen crown believed it. That night, an elven man attempted to steal the crown, which Enicha had given to Gretsa to guard. The party (and refugees) were awakened by the combined screams of Gretsa and the elfin man, whose arm the pig was chomping down on. 

With some persuasion from Amisha and some healing from Ahnrik (along with a bribe,) everything got cleared up.

A few minutes later, an Avion patrol come to investigate, and as the party was wearing their stolen teipen, they were invited to skip the refugee line and come in the city. They directed to an inn, and the evening adventures were ended.

The following morning, Thalia got Enicha to take all the teipen back in exchange for a really expensive one, and she did. 

Loneil did some talking to learn about the mysterious goddess Traia, and came up with nothing, except that Nogrum has been established as her hearkener, and his generals and military men established as priests. 

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