The session began with Brakken and Monk floating in the Void, a black, seemingly empty space, with no proper laws of physics. They were floating, but there didn’t seem to be an up or down, and when Brakken threw a handaxe it just kept travelling into the distance before disappearing out of view, only to come flying at them from the opposite direction, on the same trajectory, shortly after. At least their flying carpet worked, in the sense that it could transport the two of them around, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be anything they could do.
Searching inwards, Monk meditated and spoke to the flame-haired woman, whose name he finally asked for and learned was Ruby. She explained that, when they fought, Oldfather and the Primordial nearly killed each other, but as the only beings with the power to do so, no one else could finish the job. So, two demiplanes were created, one to keep the Primordial safe and give him time to heal, the other to keep Oldfather imprisoned with no means of escape. However, Mithral (Tim) was the only one who knew the specific details of the gates to these demiplanes, since he was the Primordial’s second-in-command, which is how he was able to manipulate and deceive everyone – not just the party but Ruby and Adamantine as well (as they thought they were going to unleash the Primordial’s power, which the party would be able to use to defeat Oldfather and his minions once and for all). Ruby also explained that, because this was a prison designed to contain one of the two most powerful beings to ever exist, the only way to get out was to be let out.
During this time, Brakken was summoned to speak to Adamantine, who mentioned speaking to Ruby and that Monk was getting the lowdown at that moment, before going on to say that he had seen the half-orc he chose for the first time in a long time when Brakken sacrificed what could have been his only chance (as far as Brakken knew, though it wouldn’t have worked) to get his body back by resurrecting Seri and then turned down Oldfather who could have given him any and everything he wanted, and that he was a being of his word. Stating that what was about to follow would be the most pain Brakken had ever felt, he reached out to touch his chest, but hesitated just long enough to say: “none of us are gods”.
As his hand connected, Brakken woke back up in the Void, feeling no different but for a dull ache in his chest. Monk was waking as well, and he explained their situation and that there was literally nothing they could do to get out. Accepting this, the duo settled in for the long haul.
And then Brakken grew his body back. It took an indeterminate amount of time and an incalculable amount of pain, but eventually his body grew back in its entirety, leaving Brakken a regular, plain old half-orc, just as he was in the first few sessions of the campaign before everything went so very wrong. He also returned to being a fighter, as the Oathbreaker powers that had been bestowed on him in Oldfather’s name were also lost when he turned him down.
More time passed, though the party had no means of keeping track and it didn’t follow the normal rules anyway (they weren’t getting hungry, tired, anything like that) before, one day(?), a sudden, gaping hole of light appeared in the blackness. Taking this as their chance, Monk flew the carpet towards it, emerging through the portal back into the Temple of Mists. What was left of it.
After crashing into a large block of masonry, Brakken and Monk discovered that the temple had collapsed or been destroyed, leaving only a small open section where the portal was created and a tunnel that had been excavated to get to it. The portal had been opened by two people: a human, golden-haired paladin who seemed quite familiar with the duo, and whom they quickly guessed was Duck, though he explained that he had been reincarnated and was now called Mallard; and a kobold ranger/rogue called Kipth.
Mal and Kipth led Brakken and Monk out of the ruins, where they discovered that the world had changed. The skies were permanently darkened by heavy black clouds, and the wasteland was now marred by dark crystal shards that had erupted from the ground, turning it into a razor-sharp maze. It was also hinted to them that some time had passed since they entered the Void, though they weren’t given an exact number.
Before they could go any further, the party heard the clinking of glass or crystals knocking against one another – based on Mal and Kipth’s reaction to the noise, someone or something was coming. Because Brakken and Monk were heavily exhausted from coming out of the Void, Mal instructed Kipth to get them to Fallen Star, and that he would cause a distraction and meet them there. Summoning an aquamarine staff reminiscent of Monk’s obsidian one (it bore a carving of a sea serpent running down its length, with one end a dragon’s head and the other a sea serpent with an open mouth, out of which a spear blade emerged), Mal then ran off towards the noise.
Kipth led Brakken and Monk through the shards until they came upon a pair of, basically, Star Wars speeder bikes. Hopping on one while Brakken and Monk hopped on the other, they took off across the wastelands, Kipth and Brakken both having enough of an aptitude with land vehicles to not crash through the incredibly-dangerous-to-traverse-at-high-speeds crystal maze.
Over the next three days, as Brakken and Monk slowly regained their strength, Kipth led them to Fallen Star. He explained that the ruins of the bunker-city, which had been destroyed by Oldfather early on in his conquering of Brightwind, served as the headquarters for the Resistance, the last bastion of folk still struggling against Oldfather’s iron rule. Brakken and Monk also discovered that they had become some sort of fabled heroes in the time they were gone, believed to hold the key to defeating Oldfather once and for all.
They also learned, as Kipth pointed out, that the rest of the cities had been raised into the sky and now floated over the blighted land below.
Arriving at Fallen Star, the trio were lowered on the elevator and found themselves in the city, which was now half in ruins. Kipth led them to one of the old manor houses, where they met the Commander of the Resistance, an older half-orc with salt-and-pepper hair and beard and heavy scarring on one side of his face. He greeted them cordially, though he seemed a little sceptical of their status as saviours, and then explained that the former commander would want to see them.
Leading them to a different room, the party entered to find a large bed dimly lit by candlelight with the elderly half-orc former commander lying within. She, of course, was Seri, holding on in her old age out of hope of seeing her younger brother one last time. After reuniting with Brakken, Seri properly introduced him to the Commander, her son, also named Brakken. And then, with a smile on her face, she slipped away.
The following day, a funeral was held and a celebration the likes of which the Resistance had never experienced was thrown to honour their fallen founder. Brakken learned that, of the half-orcs in the Resistance, he was related to many, mostly through Seri (since he also learned that much of the old clan Wartooth died in the early days of Oldfather’s return). He and Monk also realised that they had been gone for 73 years.
The day after, a meeting was held in which the party determined that, in order to defeat Oldfather once and for all, they needed the Primordial’s power. That meant they needed to find the gate and the keys to open it. Upon certain hints from the soft female voice that occasionally whispered in Kipth’s ear – belonging to Amber – it was determined that seven shards locked one gate and seven staves locked the other. With Monk and Kipth in possession of their own staves and having seen Mal’s (who had not yet returned) they realised they only needed to find another four.
Upon reflection, Brakken realised that Tim had been in possession of a silver staff, probably the mithral one they needed. That meant they only needed to determine the location of the remaining three: adamantine, opal, and amethyst. Based on Kipth and Mal earning their staves in temples (much like Monk did in his temple-like monastery) the party figured they would need to find temples for the remaining three (although Adamantine did take this moment to tell Brakken that he had no temples) and learned that the most likely help for finding these was someone called Freb.
Freb was a dwarven wizard whose home/workshop was separated from the rest of the Resistance’s dwellings by a little distance – with good reason, as the party discovered, when they went to visit him and he suddenly came bursting out of the door, followed by a massive cloud of black smoke. Kipth introduced him to the others and they explained their situation, with the dwarf agreeing to help but suggesting they come back in the morning since he had his hands a little full at that moment. Agreeing, the party returned to the manor.
In the final moments of the session, however, a spanner was thrown into the works. Seeing that Mal still had not returned, Brakken used the party’s crystal ball to scry on him, just to make sure things were okay… and he got nothing back. This indicated that Mal was either dead or on another plane of existence, with Brakken getting the feeling the latter was more likely. In either case, suddenly their possession of the third staff wasn’t such a sure thing anymore.
And on that bombshell, we ended the session. Considering the events of the last session and the circumstances the party found themselves in in this one, this session felt very much like a breather. A few big things did happen (like Brakken regaining his body and Seri’s passing), but there was no combat, there wasn’t much dice rolling at all, actually, and there was a lot of learning what the new status quo was. Consequently, we didn’t really get to see what Kipth can do, though I’m excited about that in the sessions to come.
But yeah, we are now in a Brightwind that is 73 years removed from where we were in the campaign up to this point, and honestly, we’ve barely scratched the surface on everything that’s new or changed. I’m looking forward to seeing how the party navigate their way through this new world/get accustomed to working with two heroes who are practically mythical in stature (and, perhaps, just a touch exaggerated in ability). If you are too, then be sure to tune in next week to see how things go.