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Session #33

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Tue September 26, 1178 (22:00) - Sun October 8, 1178 (21:00)

- The priest in Stump, named Grass, shows the party the resistance saferoom / temple in the town - The saferoom has a giant mural of Zerendar on the back wall and an altar with 4 books on it, one of which has Zerendar's symbol, and the other 3 are introductory textbooks on Abjuration, Chronomancy, and Enchantment. - The books are, along with the bookshelves and the mural, the only parts of the room that survived a massive fire during the original gnomish invasion where the people found the room - Grass explains that the people of Stump stumbled upon this temple almost 2000 years ago during the "gnomish invasion" <<Learning about the Resistance in Stump>> - Grass and the people of Stump believe Zerendar (who they call Zed because his name wasn't written anywhere) to be a god, and they worship him. He called the gnomish pantheon the "gnomish pretenders" - The party probes his beliefs a bit to see how this religion works - The people of Stump teach their heretical religion to anyone interested and try to spread around to other villages, but have a hard time doing so without being noticed - They teach magic from the introductory magic textbooks found on the altar - They have a written record from all of the high priests of Zed since the discovery of the room - They believe Zed (Zerendar) to be a god because of the "miracle" of them finding this temple during their time of greatest need, and it sheltering them from the gnomes - The high priests have for a while been writing a book titled "A Manifesto on Gnome-Havgnot Equality and a Representation Form of Government to Bring Equality to All", the current work-in-progress copy is on a desk in the middle of the room <<Investigating the Mural>> - The mural has a keyhole in it, with no key in sight - The party reads the delicately-written forewords on each of the three textbooks to try to learn what they need to do to open up the mural - They spend a while chasing various ideas before finally deciding to rip all the pages out of the book with Zerendar's symbol on it (all the pages were empty) and find a key hidden in the book's binding - Once they open the mural, they find a mirror right behind it - They have to remove all their weapons and threatening objects before being able to pass through the mirror into a secret room beyond <<Entering Zerendar's Vault>> - In the vault is a sight very similar to the original one the Executors first found at the start of their journey - They find a glowing ward on the ground, with a pedestal holding a pocketwatch (one of Zerendar's Anchors) in the middle - Most of the party knows this ward hits them with the Curse of Zerendar, but Carnage does not, and Grass does not - Fang convinces Carnage to step inside and get hit with Zerendar's curse - Carnage casts Shocking Grasp on Fang in response <<Taking Apart Grass' Entire Religious Belief System One Piece at a Time>> - Grass has been absolutely convinced that the Executors are four "prophets of the new age" brought to him by Zerendar (who he now knows the correct name for) - The Executors explain their entire story to him, and suggest that Zerendar might not really be a deity - Here, everyone in the party starts to argue whether or not Zerendar is worth bringing back into the modern day and how they should proceed, and Grass gets really confused and caught up in all of it - Astrid really tries to contest Grass' worldview and belief in Zerendar as a god, causing him some intense internal debates as he grapples with this new understanding - Each Executor presents their specific beliefs about Zerendar: --- Carnage: Believes they need to bring Zerendar back, and doesn't really care whether Grass believes Zerendar to be a god or not, but suggests that he is not any sort of deity --- Fang: Actively tries to dissuade Grass from beliving in Zerendar's divinity, and suggests they need to continue the resistance work but with less of a religious angle to it. Also believes they should be extremely careful with bringing Zerendar into the modern day, and that Zerendar is probably a bad and dangerous person. He's only working with Zerendar here because of the curse. --- Astrid: Believes Zerendar is not divine and just a powerful mage, and absolutely does not want Zerendar to be credited for all the work the Executors are doing. --- Teemo: Believes Zerendar has only brought danger and risks into his once-peaceful life. All of this anti-gnome conspiracy and resistance talk is also dangerous, and maybe there's a reason the gnomes are up on top of this world because it keeps the world at peace. He says that Grass should just go away from Zerendar entirely. - Grass comes to understand that there is no clear, correct answer being presented by his Four Prophets, and plans to write his great contribution to his religion, "Disgreement of Four Prophets". - Fang suggests using the last of their Sovereign Glue to reassemble the empty book they found in the vault all those years ago and write into that book, so that it can be protected using all the magical wards already placed on that book. - The Executors pick up the pocketwatch they found in the vault (The last one they need to bring Zerendar back into the present) and go to take a rest. <<Taking a Rest in Stump>> - The party finally takes a well-earned long rest in their guestrooms in Stump - They look around for useful information in the resistance safehouse, finding a sheet with additional resistance contacts to what they had before: --- Jendan, Monport Cisterns Guild --- Grolka, Bentham Grand Library librarian --- James, Wenport dockworker - The party starts making some plans for spreading the resistance around the world - they want to make a more recognizable name for the resistance, and mass-print pamphlets with their discoveries to disseminate among the population and build up dissent against the gnomes - They decide to do this once they have access to a printing press (hoping they can find one in Monport using their favour from the Monport Cisterns Guild, which is the black market) - They also want to meet with Jaggena, the blacksmith in Aurium who first told them about the resistance, to discuss these plans - With all those plans made, they set out to the town of Birchwood to get back on their boat <<In Birchwood>> - They find some anti-heresy posters, encouraging people who know of heretics or anti-gnome sentiment to report it to their local gnomes - Astrid rips down some of these posters <<Sailing to Monport>> - The party sails across Lake Arik to Monport - This is their first time crossing the massive lake in the middle of the world - Astrid takes an hour each day to turn into a fish and explore the lake itself, since they know it didn't used to exist - She finds several massive metal pipes on the lake bed, one carrying steam, and the other carrying rushing water - they go from Friport all the way to somewhere in the middle of the lake - Not quite sure what these are, but they plan to blow them up when they can - They take this time to plan out their pamphlet a bit more <<Reaching Monport>> - In Monport, the party finds Reginald's boat with some guards keeping it safe, and tie up their boat next to it for safety <<Reaching Argentium to Meet with Reginald and Dirt VII>> - They finally arrive in Argentium 11 days after setting out from Stump - On their way into the city, they're approached by two different Beasting Contest teams who are recruiting - They enter the inn they were told to go to and get ready to find their friends