In the morning at breakfast, the usual representatives from The Navitgators’ Guild, Salvamaro and Captain J.H. Windy, visited the tavern and set up a table in the middle of the room with a sign reading “Any Question Answered - 5 Silver”. Salvamaro said this was part of his requisite community service to the guild but readily answered all questions asked to the best of his ability. An edited transcript of the questions asked is available here.
Mail was delivered, as usual, and stamps were made available for purchase the following morning. Of note, Gwendolyn received a letter from her uncle, the Old Hero of The Travail named Celegald Karn.
The letter instructed Gwendolyn to come and find him on The Travail. Gwendolyn led the Heroes into the wilds of The Travail and, ultimately, found Celegald. He was in the process of transforming into a tree in his garden. He shared kind words with Gwendolyn and the Heroes. His consciousness and life quickly fading, his final act was to offer Gwendolyn the position of becoming his Helper. She accepted and, with a tearful farewell, the Heroes left Celegald to his fate in his garden. Of note during the conversation with Celegald, it was revealed that the Old Heroes were aware that The Interdiction was coming before it happened.
Some of the Heroes visited Redcaps on Osterath in order to obtain the Bloodstone needed for the work with Midnight Accordia to attract a new Hedgewinx to the unoccupied Wild Locus on The Travail.
The Heroes were informed that The Travail was docking at Hutilion, the world that had twice reached out to them for aid with the Chronosplit, an event that was destroying their world. The Heroes were told that it was too late to save Hutilion, but that there was still time to save as many people as possible before the world inevitably died. Representative councilors from Hutilion, including Eldria Valenar, came to the Heroes with tasks they could complete to help refugees flee Hutilion. The Heroes were also informed that they would be asked to make difficult decisions regarding the fate of resources that Hutilion’s refugees would be able to take with them and cultural artifacts that would be preserved.
The Heroes quickly got to work, helping in every way they were able. The outcome of their decisions regarding specific matters can be found here.
Simon arrived and told The Heroes that he was being summoned by his boss, Dr. Oops. Confusingly, Heroes accompanied Simon into the depths of The Travail where they met the doctor, a Sock Puppet Fashioned, and found him working on keeping various systems of The Travail up and running. The Heroes learned that Simon is a helper to both Dr. Oops and his brother, Dr. Gasp, the Sock Puppet Fashioned necromancer Hero of The Declination that they encountered on The Haberdashery. Because Simon is a Helper to both of them but one of them is no longer a Hero of The Travail, combined with the unique nature of Sock Puppet Fashioned existing in “pairs” (like socks, get it?), Simon’s impaired behavioral state was caused by being both a Helper and an Intern (a Helper without a Hero). Dr. Oops mused that either his brother needed to be brought back into the fold and become a Hero of The Travail again or that he would need to abdicate his position as a Hero himself in order to resolve Simon’s condition. Dr. Oops did indicate that if he had to leave The Travail someone else would need to perform his work in maintaining and repairing The Travail’s systems.
Various Heroes attended to personal matters but, of note, there was an unexpected interaction with Kor’Tullogh by some of the Heroes that had received invitations to The Travail prior to their arrival. “Helper” led them to one of Kor’Tullogh’s vaults and, in that place, Kor’Tullogh was able to use “Helper” to communicate with those Heroes. The conversation was brief, but Kor’Tullogh verified that he and some of the other Old and Prime Heroes were alive and doing important work elsewhere. He said that it wasn’t important right now for the New Heroes to know where they were, as that would only distract them. He said they “weren’t ready for that yet” and encouraged them to focus on following The Travail’s directions like they had been. In time, they would hopefully meet. He also urged the Heroes to resist and thwart The Declination whenever possible, and that the end goal of The Declination was somewhat nebulous, even to him. Another matter, he indicated, that would only distract them for the time being. He told them that, in time, they would meet. He thanked them and then the communication ended. “Helper” indicated that this particular vault could likely never be opened again.
At and around dinner, the newly-appointed Helper Gwendolyn led the Heroes in a Tradition to create hand drums that would hopefully help them with the final push of saving refugees from Hutilion. Because of Hutilion’s native time magic, rhythm instruments seemed to be an appropriate choice for a Tradition.
After dinner, the Heroes were informed that The Declination was attempting to interfere with the last of the refugees fleeing from Hutilion. The Heroes, with the help of the drums they had made, fought against The Declinations minions, who were being aided by the flaring Temporal energy Hutilion was shedding in its death throes. Simultaneously, Gwendolyn took Heroes to help her recover special ingredients from her late uncle’s garden. Their value would become apparent in the near future. The Heroes were successful in both endeavors, seemingly putting an end to the long day of doing what they could to save the inhabitants of a dying world. Of note, no “Heroes” of The Declination were present during the attack, a detail that some of The Travail’s Helpers would later indicate may be significant.
To close out the night, The Travail held a candlelit vigil for Hutilion. Many Heroes shared their thoughts on the events of the day and what the death of a World meant to them. They offered kind, encouraging, and hopeful words to Hutilion’s survivors and displayed a resolve that would ensure that Hutilion’s fate would not befall other worlds.
At this point, it was apparent that outside influence had led to the death of Hutilion. Combined with tragedies that are befalling other worlds that could lead to their deaths, the assumption is that The Declination has put events in motion that might lead to the death of countless worlds. The Heroes of The Travail have a sobering and terrifying task ahead of them: unraveling the secrets of The Interdiction, the Old/Prime Heroes and what they’re currently doing, and saving Worlds in mortal danger.
The night ended with heavy hearts and complicated feelings about the Heroes’ collective future.
