Suihkulahde: Session Ten

In  order to understand what's about to happen we need to talk about Akseli, the Elf Who Remembered. Akseli had been a captain of the Sword Singers, who were dedicated to keeping The Nameless away from the planet Heranyt.  Akseli was not the best warrior against the Nameless, but he was certainly more than competent. He was certainly well-known. He had fallen in love with Makirta, who had helped him become a better person and warrior, not to mention a better friend. All was well.

Until Makirta revealed herself to be a dark elf agent of The Lone Keep. Akseli's goodness had driven Makirta to repent of her ways. She asked for help in atoning for her crimes, especially against Akseli. Enraged, Akseli drove Makirta away. She pleaded for forgiveness and was refused. Shortly afterwards Akseli threw himself recklessly against several Nameless and "wiped", a process wherein all your memories are removed from the person. For most humans this is an instantly lethal process. For elves they may live, but they will never get their memories from before the attack.

Except for Akseli. He came back.

Akseli's best friend, Yngvar, would not give up on him. Over the course of several decades Yngvar helped Akseli get back almost all of his memories from before the Nameless attack. This included most of Akseli's memories of Makirta, who had been missing for decades. Akseli looked for her, but was unsuccessful. He was heartbroken.

Decades later Akseli met Mikansia, Makirta's daughter by her brother, the vile Krakeru, who had accidentally become a member of his Sword Singer unit. Miksansia abandoned the Sword Singers to try to kill Krakeru, which is when Akseli realized who she was. After Mikansia had killed Krakeru, Akseli abandoned the Sword Singers to help her discover who in the elven nations was helping Krakeru and The Lone Keep. This investigation led to Yngvar being killed by an elf called Zaina.

Akseli was devastated by the loss of Yngvar. He got the chance to meet Yngvar in Dream, the world between the living and the dead, where Yngvar asked Akseli to let go and grieve as he should. Akseli refused; he had lost too much. While in Dream Krakeru attacked Akseli, and forced his own memories into Akseli's mind, corrupting Akseli at his core. Akseli, however, worked to fully integrate the corruption, attempting to become a new person. Instead of succumbing to his new influence he resolved to integrate it. He asked for Mikansia's understanding in this unique transition.

She was unable to give it; Akseli died in her arms, his sorrow disintegrating him. Mikansia was able to face Akseli later and accepted his forgiveness, as well as help free Makirta, who had been used to keep The Lone Keep in the sky. Akseli had last been with Mikansia, helping her destroy Zaina and save Kotae Mah.

With the debacle of last session's mistake past us, we all got ready for a nice and simple beat down. Lena in particular has a taste for violence as a way of venting, which we always have a good laugh about. "Murder!" is usually the cry we start up. It's great.

So Fingar had welcomed The Nameless in, swearing revenge on Anneli. Nomi, no matter how mad dai was at Anneli, would never allow Fingar to kill dail sister. It was a very short conversation. Everyone thought they knew what they wanted.

This is what came back to me:

Anneli

B1. Indecision brings disaster; I will never hesitate again.

B2. I had a hand in Fingar's pain; I will relieve dai of it.

B3. Something strange has happened to Nomi's grief; I must uncover what.

I1. When in doubt, lie.

I2. Always command the hesitant.

I3. Always give Nomi a space to speak.

Traits: Call of the Island, Righteous, Mortally Wounded in the Head, Shaky Hands, Slightly Clumsy, Haunted, Commanding Aura,Driven (Pilot)

Nomi

B1. I can’t forget what Anneli did for Constantine, but Fingar will not be allowed to deal with dai. 

B2. There is no time for moral grandstanding: Fingar and the Music must be stopped quickly by any means before we lose the entire crew. 

B3. Grieving doesn’t get things done. 

I1. Always bend the truth for personal advantage

I2. Never worry about others’ personal feelings

I3. Always act towards my own goals first.

Traits: Educated, Call of the Sea, Spite, Deceptive, Compulsive Liar, Callous, Charismatic, Memory’s Influence, Bitter, Guarded

Fingar swore revenge. And then ran into the forest by the beach. Anneli and Nomi collapsed under the weight of The Music that began, only for the Prostitute to take over Anneli's body and begin to sing along with The Music. Nomi slapped Anneli as they both came out of their respective stupors. Remus, Brutus, and Aloisio lay screaming on the ground; The Music always hurt humans more than it did elves. Nomi said they needed to kill Fingar, immediately, as dai was clearly the source of The Music. Anneli disagreed; Fingar was in pain and needed help! Both agreed there wasn't time to argue and they'd figure it out when they got there. The Music changed, somehow, almost like Fingar had begun to manipulate it. Anneli and Nomi went in after Fingar.

I had called for a Steel test... which Andy failed by three heartbeats and Lena by one. Andy gave the idea of The Prostitute singing along with The Music. This concept caused Lena and I to shudder. We'd had a lot of experience with The Music in the story and the idea of anyone singing with it was a bit stomach-churning. I had Andy roll a Tracking roll to go after Fingar. He failed. Horribly.

Fingar's shadow, now on its own, ambushed Anneli. Anneli didn't see the shadow in time and was stabbed by a mysterious blade the shadow wielded. Anneli's eyes lost their color and dai went. Fingar jumped out at Nomi and tried to stab dai in the back; dail blade bounced off Nomi's armor. Fingar had poised the blade dail shadow had used against Anneli. It had been intended for Nomi, but Fingar wasn't disappointed that dai had to take on Nomi; this was better. Nomi swore revenge.

This was where I started to spring my trap. Andy and Lena didn't know it yet, but Fingar had been greatly empowered by The Nameless. I made a quick roll to poison Fingar's blade from an orc power I'd found. I had pumped up the skill test at six dice. I threw in Intimidation as dai was manipulating The Music. 

I rolled all successes. 

That was plus seven on power.

Dear God. 

So at that point it was up to Andy: was he going to pass that Tracking test, or not? Well, Andy wasn't trained. And Andy bombed the roll. Horribly. So Fingar's shadow got a good jump on Anneli. I just needed to scratch Anneli, even barely, to deal a B10 wound.

How on earth did I roll all successes again??????

That bumped it all the way up to a G8 wound. Andy and Lena balked, while I stared at my usually unlucky dice. This was supposed to be a simple "gang up on the sub-boss and barely scrape it out". 

Yes, sub-boss. Thungal's coming. The players were happy with that idea too. Anyway.

Andy immediately had an idea and asked if we could get to see Anneli on the other side. Lena and I had done quite a bit of stuff with the other side, so we were excited to see what he had cooked up.

Anneli came to on the banks of a river; the Prostitute was beside dai. She told Anneli she couldn't get on the boat. Just as Anneli was wondering what that meant a bored ferryman appeared, along with his boat. He asked them to hurry up, he had more passengers to collect. There was a coin in Anneli's hand; Anneli wasn't sure when it was never not there. Anneli gave it to the Prostitute, saying dai would find another way back to the land of living and dai wasn't in the mood to die anyway. The Prostitute thanked Anneli and finally introduced herself: Flavia. 

The boat left Anneli alone on the shore.

And that. Was. Awesome. Anneli letting Flavia go was quite unexpected and Lena and I really thought it was cool and said so. I said I had an idea, one how to get Anneli back to the land of the living. Lena was excited; she knew where I was going with this. 

Anneli was not alone for too long. Merry-making could be heard from afar. Up came that strange elf who'd dropped off Nomi in the first place, surrounded by elves, half-elves, and a human with some elven heritage. The elf asked if Anneli needed help, and where was Nomi? Anneli said Nomi was in trouble and that dai needed to get back.

Mikansia introduced herself and then Akseli, who she said could help Anneli. Anneli knew who Akseli was: the Elf who Remembered. A bit of a rockstar moment ensued. Akseli told Anneli that dai could be sent back to help Nomi, but that Anneli would be different. Anneli accepted. Akseli handed Anneli a white stone with a name on it in gold letters; that stone was part of Akseli and would help "glue" Anneli back together, allowing dai to continue on in dail body.

Andy was a bit... overwhelmed. He'd not read The Undertow, and didn't know about white stones, not to mention Akseli. Lena and I had to explain who Akseli was how everything worked. Andy was a bit reserved at first, but once he realized that this was a well-established fact of the world and not us trying to weasel him out of a Mortal Wound he accepted excitedly.

Anneli asked if Mikansia had any words for Nomi. With great warmth Mikansia said 'Tell Nomi dai has what it takes. And always has." Anneli came to, looking up into the dark trees of the island.  Dai heard the exchange between Fingar and Nomi and phased out, white stone cool in dail hand.

It was already a bit strange role-playing Mikansia. I'd offered to Lena the opportunity to play her old character, but Lena was way too pleased to see what I would do with Mikansia. No pressure, not at all! I knew I needed to make it good, particularly with Andy's request. So I said the only thing that came to mind. It wasn't until later that Lena let me know I'd nailed her old character completely. Way to go making me wait to find out, Lena!

When we got back I asked Andy what he wanted to do. Andy said he wanted to Lena to take point. If she didn't take out Fingar he would join in. I asked Lena if she had an idea, and she said she did. She wanted to try to use the Fugue of Discord to temporarily separate Fingar from dail bond with The Nameless. I'd honestly no idea, so I looked it up in the Codex, decided Obstacle 5 was more than high enough to at least try, and told her to roll.

Nomi sung the Fugue of Discord, a tune that normally made people fight and disagree with each other. Dai hoped it would separate Fingar from the Nameless, even if for a moment. Fingar's eyes widened in surprise; The Music stopped for a moment. Nomi knocked Fingar over and ran dail head through with Sydanelma.

Lena crushed the Obstacle 5. Dear God. She also crushed the roll against Fingar, stabbing dai with the grey-shaded sword.

Anneli finally got dail bearings and sat up. Nomi didn't expect that but didn't show it. Anneli told Nomi Mikansia's message, which affected Nomi deeply. Anneli tried to show the stone to Nomi, who couldn't see it, but had known about it from Mikansia.

Anneli mourned over Fingar's corpse. And realized that Nomi just... wasn't. Couldn't. Anneli pointed it out, that Nomi couldn't mourn. Nomi said that Fingar had it coming. Anneli didn't disagree; there was a comfort in this ending, that it couldn't be done again. They couldn't go back. Nomi remarked coldly that was such a neat and tidy bow.

I called for a Perception roll from Andy as he and Lena described their character's reactions to Fingar's death. I had been dropping Andy's belief about figuring out what had happened to Nomi for three sessions. That needed to stop. I needed to get it done.

They heard the humans screaming for help, so they rean to the beach. Aloisio was screaming over Brutus's corpse. Anneli managed to calm Aloisio down with song, as well as Remus. 

They all saw a blue glow on the ocean; an army of strange blue humanoids, walking on the water. Everyone somehow knew Thungal was at their head. 

I mean, it wasn't a "feeling" for the players: I told them.