Last time, the adventurers explored the city of Talon Gorge, finding a place that had been torn apart by a civil war, and they helped to rebuild parts of the city. They checked out a clocktower at the center of town and found signs that it had been inhabited that pointed to a very private estate to the east of the city. As they left the tower, they met a curious woman named Ollie, who insisted on learning what they were up to; Ollie grew agitated when they did not talk to her directly and abruptly left. They checked in with a contact in the city guard, Amber, who directed them to one of the city's new leaders, an orc named Tru'usk, who was weary of the group's silliness and questions. Brokk went to leave a note at the estate they'd seen and was approached while he hid outside by a half-elven woman, Jarvia, who requested that Brokk bring Aurora and Lethanin to meet with her the following morning. Meanwhile, Lethanin and Aurora tried to figure out what was going on with Ollie, who was marked as supernatural when Aurora tried to identify her to find her. Brokk returned to town and met a helpful smith named Moira, who made him a beautiful battleaxe in a miraculous amount of time, and as he left her smithy, he ran into Lethanin and Aurora on their way to a tavern next door.
When we picked up for this session, none of us knew what to expect, which we all remarked on. I was very up-front about improvising everything, and the players were nervous about their meeting with Jarvia as well as some of the other encounters they'd had. At the tavern, the adventurers ordered a variety of meads from a stern bartender named Urgin, who said he kept a quiet tavern so that people had a place to relax without getting chaotic. The players sat at a table and all took a turn speaking with Urgin, convinced that there was something significant about ending up here together. First was Lethanin, who learned that Urgin's father had been an amateur dragonhunter who had spent his life trying to track down dragons but never found one. Then Aurora spoke to Urgin, learning that Urgin resented the very idea of dragons, as his father had been absent for much of his life in the pursuit of dragons; Aurora sensed that Urgin was holding back something, perhaps out of politeness, and let Brokk have his turn. Brokk ordered an orcish berry wine where the others had ordered more mead, and spoke to Urgin about orcish life. Urgin became more animated and spoke to Brokk in orcish, divulging that he had been close with an orcish woman who had taught him the language. Brokk and Urgin laughed about the orcish tendency to not apologize for things and shared an orcish handshake. Eventually, slightly tipsy from their drinks, the adventurers decided to return to their inn and call it a night, but Brokk and Aurora spotted a strange symbol burned into the wood outside their rooms. Aurora recognized the symbol as a glyph, part of the magical language she uses for her spellcasting, but could not identify what it meant. Brokk managed to get a rough translation of the glyph using Comprehend Languages, learning that it could mean a certain sense of pleasure, like that one gets from revelry or excitement from playing a game. Aurora tried to do further research on the glyph but sensed that she was being blocked from ascertaining its meaning and developed a nasty headache when she tried to dispel it, which made her choose to go to sleep rather than fight it. Lethanin simply passed out in his bed, and Brokk sat in the inn's tavern and read a book that his friend Hannah from his home had recommended (Brokk does not need sleep and allowed himself time to relax by reading).
In the morning, the group gathered in the tavern for breakfast. After eating, they went directly out of town and marched to the hermit, Jarvia's, house. Jarvia let them in, gave a tongue-in-cheek tour of her estate ("To your left, a field. To your right, another field. Behind the house, a field. You're currently standing in . . . a field."), and gave them tea. Brokk made conversation about tobacco preferences as Jarvia consistently smoked cigarettes while talking to them, and when Jarvia asked whey they'd come Brokk told her everthing--about the dragons Thomas and Aurix, about the prophecy and their role in it, about their findings in Talon Gorge, and their hope to get her help finding the silver dragon. This was the beginning of a conversation that lasted for a full out-of-game hour. After a tense conversation in which Aurora was very direct about her suspicions that Jarvia was the silver dragon and Jarvia was evasive about responding, Jarvia asked the adventurers directly whether they intended to do the right thing and then did acknowledge that she was in fact the silver dragon but felt she was entitled to a measure of privacy. She grew more relaxed after getting their assurances that they meant to help. Jarvia explained that she was a bard and knew about the prophecy and how they would need to travel to the gods' realm and speak directly to Boccob, creator of everything, in order to do anything about the damaged barrier between worlds. Jarvia was insistent that the group ignore Thomas's desire to destroy the barrier and Aurix's desire to leave it damaged (which would empower the mightiest beings in the physical world) and instead repair the barrier. She explained that aside from empowering mighty people, the leaking divine energy also forces people to be more aligned with what they are, meaning that good people are more good and evil people are more evil. As a result, repairing the barrier would mean freeing her from being compelled to act in ways she doesn't choose herself. Jarvia explained that she'd inherited the mantle of the former silver dragon over a thousand years ago and become disillusioned by the rules of dragonhood and the pressures of protecting people who hated her. The group was confused about what she meant, and she explained that dragonhood is like a title, where the powers and identity of a dragon pass from person to person at the former dragon's choosing. She also gave a quick explanation of the other dragons, both chromatic and metallic, suggesting that gathering the metallic dragons as Aurix suggested could be helpful and that Wing, the bronze dragon, could be a good next step; she also said that Vuthiejir, the black dragon, was the most reasonable of the chromatic dragons and might be helpful as Vuthiejir knows more about the heavens than anyone else and could be helpful. Together, the group decided to try uniting the dragons by finding Wing, the bronze dragon; Hriskin, the brass dragon and a former arena champion; and the copper dragon, who Jarvia was unfamiliar with and didn't know even existed as she'd been in hiding for hundreds of years.
As the conversation continued, the group began to plan with Jarvia. At their behest, Jarvia explained that Boccob had created reality and the gods' realm and then later created the physical world and allowed the gods to work with it as they pleased, retiring to a private dimension for more than ten thousand years. It was their job, she told them, to find a way to approach Boccob and plead for the case of people on Evanoch that the barrier be repaired. Looking for a way to stay in easy contact with Jarvia, Aurora created a looking glass transmitter in her backyard, and the success of her spell meant that physical objects could also be passed through the transmitter. Jarvia, hoping to stay on top of communications, installed a magical bell that would alert her to messages. The group decided that Vestry, capital of the gnomes and home to Wing, would be the best next step. Aurora hurried back to the inn to get her familiar, Pumpkin, who Aurora had feared would exceed Jarvia's instructions that only the three of them come to see her, which made Jarvia truly smile for the first time in their meeting--the idea that Aurora followed her instructions to the letter struck Jarvia as thoughtful and kind. While Aurora was gone, Lethanin and Jarvia played a song together, Lethanin on the violin and Jarvia on the lyre--they played competing but complementary melodies in turns, demonstrating that Jarvia was a wildly talented musician, and she said that it was lovely to play with another person after centuries of solitude. Aurora returned to find Lethanin exhausted from the song, and Jarvia teleported the group to Vestry after stressing that they speak to Wing about Jarvia as little as possible.
The group appeared in an alleyway just inside Vestry and set out to find Wing. But first, Brokk sought out a bookstore that would allow him to find information on the gods and more reading material for the sleepless nights; he found a primer on Boccob which explained that Boccob has never been known or understood and that even their followers have largely given up on contacting the deity. Meanwhile, Aurora purchased books of poetry, information on the gods, and a book about supernatural beings like fae. The group knew that Wing was an inventor and set out to find a guildhall for inventors. On the way, Aurora noticed a pair of gnomish women staring at Lethanin, who was uncomfortable being back in Vestry after pointedly leaving a long time ago. Aurora improvised, diverting the group to a vendor selling carbonated pickle juice and alerted Lethanin to the women. Lethanin recognized one of the women as an upset audience member at an old show who'd disliked his music. The group hurried past the women and found their way to the guildhall.
The guildhall was in the middle of a meeting. At tables, hundreds of gnomish inventors sat discussing navigating Vestry's complex legal system and economy, new ideas for inventions, and other matters related to operating in the city. The group approached the leaders of the guild and asked if they were familiar with a Wing. One of the three leaders, a red-haired gnomish woman, grew very uncomfortable and insisted that she didn't know a Wing among the group. Aurora pressed further, saying that this Wing was especially known to them as an expert in working with bronze, hoping to covertly tell the red-haired woman that they knew Wing was the bronze dragon, and the woman grew even more uncomfortable. She introduced herself as Glint, and when Brokk asked her to keep an eye out for Wing, she agreed and asked where to find them to let them know if she did find this mysterious Wing. Lethanin sighed and gave her directions to his parents' house in Vestry, and the group left the guildhall suspecting that they had found Wing and would soon receive a visit from her.
That's where we called the session, in part because it was a good ending point and in part because we were all exhausted. One notable thing about this session was just how much of it was conversation. The characters talked amongst themselves and to Urgin at the tavern, then briefly investigated the glyph and slept, then spoke to Jarvia at length, then spoke to the bookstore clerk, and then to Glint. I would estimate that about 85% of the session was just talking. I'm excited about that--that's what I was hoping would happen for a lot of this campaign. In particular, the conversation with Jarvia went on longer than I anticipated, though to me, it absolutely flew by. I think that there's an important reason for this. The players first met Thomas, who they later learned was the red dragon, and he bullied them and insisted on a tactic they were immediately suspicious of. Then they met Aurix, who I deliberately roleplayed as awkward and uncomfortable, and he asked for something that the group was also skeptical of. But Jarvia was a more personable and direct character, and she asked the group to do something that they were inclined to think was a good idea--repair the barrier between worlds. The group asked Thomas relatively few questions, and only a few more of Aurix before leaving, but they spoke to Jarvia for a long time. This is one way I know that the characters and roleplaying hard--they actually trusted the person who seemed the most trustworthy--and that my playing of the dragons so far has been what I wanted it to be.
To that end, I'm intrigued to see how they handle Wing. Wing is kind and gentle and idealistic if a bit eccentric, which is also unlike anyone they've encountered yet. Part of Jarvia's reasoning for sending the group to Wing is the suspicion that Wing will believe that the barrier should be repaired like Jarvia does, and whether or not that's true, Wing is a very different person from Jarvia. Jarvia, in the moment, was a tired, somewhat depressed and disillusioned person who was frustrated with the feeling that she was overwhelmed and outnumbered. But Wing is not. Wing is sprightly and hopeful and motivated who believes wholeheartedly in the power of good intentions. So whether Wing agrees with Jarvia that the way to proceed is to repair the barrier or not, the players will have to contend with yet another angle on this campaign that they haven't encountered yet.
That is, to me, the beauty of this campaign. In this world, there are ten dragons and almost twenty gods. Each of them are distinct personalities with distinct motivations and ideals and aims. Speaking to any one of them could mean a drastically different conclusion the players and their characters may come to. So even though the characters feel really set on cooperating with Jarvia and the plan to repair the barrier, nothing is necessarily set in stone. So many campaigns, including those I've run that have catered to what I thought my players wanted and expected, are about fighting and goofing around and a mishmash of things, but I've always wanted to do one about ideas. This is that campaign. All thirty of so of the main NPCs have big ideas and plans and thoughts, and while the barrier between worlds is the inciting incident of it all, the campaign is really about the characters and their ideas. Let's say that Glint is Wing is the bronze dragon--then the players have met four dragons. Less than half. They've only spoken to three in any direct way, and even then, only Jarvia had a real conversation with them. That means that this is all still up in the air, and not only have only a fraction of the ideas at play come to bear, but also that so many of the moving parts in the campaign are still unknowns.
If I had to guess, I would say that the players feel strongly about repairing the barrier. The way they spoke about the plan and expressed their support for what Jarvia was saying was very solid and confident. What that means for the long-term is that dragons and gods affiliated with repairing the barrier will be likely to be allies, and those who have other plans will be either targets for persuasion or outright enemies. But even then, there are so many ways that things could play out. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, and I am wildly excited to see how it goes.
Next time, the players will continue their mission in Vestry and hope to meet with Glint to learn whether she really is Wing. Last session, I was very unsure of how things would go with Jarvia given who she is, but I know who Wing is and how she'll respond to the group, and that gives me some idea of how this might all go. But as I've said, there is no knowing for sure, so it will all come down to the game and how it happens in the moment. I love it, and I can't wait. Until next time, happy gaming!