Season 1 Game 3 - November 2023 - Enter The Declination!

Friday Night

Documents found during the event.

The night began with a visit from The Watcher of Thresholds to check in with the Heroes regarding the outcome of their time on LLAFEE: Linmouth Lower Academy For Eminence & Esoterica.  The Heroes presented the glowing cube to the World Beast who informed them that it was a Tesseract, an object that contains the temporal coordinates of Tesseracted periods of time.  Those periods of time, once created, have the outcome of the actions that take place in them determined but the details of how those things are accomplished are ambiguous and nonexistent until someone visits them and lives through the Tesseracted time.  The Watcher was able to sense 5 or 6 distinct Tesseracted time periods and offered to manifest them using the Dark Waters.  The Heroes requested that The Watcher do so, and over the next day and a half the Heroes experienced 3 of the 5 or 6 events.

Of note, The Watcher informed the Heroes that The Travail was not docked at another world and there was no immediate plan for it to do so.

A number of new Heroes arrived, experiencing the same “calibration” and direction to meet the Old Heroes of The Travail at the tavern.

Professor Tintin, a guest lecturer for a Speleology 101 seminar at LLAFEE,  returned to The Travail to take Heroes on their spelunking practicum.  For many hours Heroes ventured into the revealed caverns combating monsters and harvesting components that the Professor exchanged for coin and materials.

Some Heroes visited another of The Travail’s vaults and found another door that they were unable to pass through.

A representative from the Mail Guild arrived and asked for aid from the Heroes in holding a funeral service for the representative that was killed the gathering prior.  The representative also informed the Heroes that there is a Ceremony that can be cast at the location someone died to speak with the dead.  The representative also had stamps available for purchase.

Simon brought a device made of crystals to the tavern that was recovered and serves as a notification system for some of The Travail’s surveillance capabilities.  It can light up with different colors and sound off different klaxons to alert the Heroes to locations on The Travail that require their attention.  This device would alert the Heroes twice in the next day and a half when incursions occurred and The Travail was under attack.

Over the course of the night, aggressive Undead creatures, Scarecrows, and constructs were found wandering outside the tavern.  They were dispatched by the Heroes.

Late at night the first Tesseracted event manifested in the tavern.  Two Prime Heroes, Kor’Tullogh and Thomril, entered and were aware that they were within Tesseracted time.  They told the Heroes that they had specifically created this Tesseracted time in order to interact with, hopefully, whoever found the Tesseract on LLAFEE and was now inhabiting The Travail.  They detailed some of the additional rules surrounding Tesseracted events.  Most importantly, no physical objects can be exchanged through Tesseracted events, but information can be transferred out to those visiting the event (in this case, the New Heroes).  The Prime Heroes would not remember anything that happened in the Tesseracted event: the magic cannot retroactively create memories for them.  So, if the Heroes ever met the Prime Heroes in the future, the Prime Heroes would have no memories of meeting them.  The Prime Heroes were unaware that they were not on The Travail in the present and had no knowledge about The Interdiction (it had not yet taken place for them) but came with specific tasks that needed to be completed.  The first was to organize various items, materials, and resources into a series of vaults with the intention of the New Heroes being able to, in time, access these vaults.  The results of this can be found here.  The second was to determine the priority that additional Trials would become available to the Heroes.  The results of this can be found here.  These tasks were completed by the Heroes.  The Prime Heroes, after some additional discussion, vanished.

Saturday

In the morning Captain J.H. Windy and Swabbie Salvamarro, representatives of the Navigators’ Guild and part of the crew of the Mobius, visited to encourage the Heroes to form ship crews.  Crew charters were drawn up for various crews that the Heroes intended to form and the guild would return at dinner to collect the charters. Ship crews are required to be officially documented and sanctioned by the guild post-Interdiction Age. Once charters were drafted and a crew was sanctioned, the guild said they would act as mediators in facilitating the Heroes acquiring ships to be used for heroic voyages to other worlds. J.H. Windy also mentioned if there were any Heroes who wished to become more involved in the guild as potential members, they would be happy to assist in the process. The Navigators’ guild is eager to support their fellow explorers.

A LLAFEE professor, Lorelei Mistgaze, who was unable to teach the Introduction to Tracking class the previous gathering due to the Malevolence attack on LLAFEE students came to teach the class.  A number of Heroes participated and various tracking techniques were covered.  Of note, the professor was suffering from wounds that could not be healed by any conventional means, mundane nor magical.  These were inflicted by the Malefactors that attacked LLAFEE and are known as Malefic Wounds.

For the first time, the crystalline alert system lit up and sounded an alarm.  It was interpreted as an incursion happening at The Travail’s Gate.  When The Heroes arrived, Undead, Scarecrows, constructs, and a giant Scarecrow had arrived through a covert portal and were attempting to destroy The Travail’s Gate.  The Heroes ultimately dispatched the attackers and, when they did, the portal closed.

While the attack was taking place, The Travail facilitated a number of Heroes to attempt to track the World the portal originated from.  Those Heroes were able to use a form of projection to explore various possible worlds of origin and collect clues to lead them to the answer.  In the end they found a single word as the solution: “Declination”.  The true meaning of which would not be revealed until that night.

The second Tesseracted event then manifested.  Six Old Heroes arrived at the Tavern.  Three were Prime Heroes: Kor’Tullogh, Elara Ravenshadow, and Thomril.  The others were Beata Elladri, Amelia Jeffries, and Kethra.  They had come to work with the Heroes and determine the process that can be used to be temporarily recognized as a Prime Hero of The Travail.  The Heroes separated into 6 groups, one with each Old Hero, and worked through one piece of the process.  The results of this are located here.  By completing this process, a Hero could be recognized by The Travail as a Prime Hero for about one gathering.  The Old Heroes were able to share some additional information about The Travail and other important matters:

  • At the time of this Tesseracted event (by the Old Heroes’ reckoning), The Travail had not yet manifested any World Beasts.
  • The vaults built in The Travail’s underground were made intentionally complex and well protected.  There was no standardization to how they were sealed and what defense mechanisms they have in place.  Some vaults or parts of vaults can only be accessed by Prime Heroes.
  • There is a very special material called a Memento Mori that is left behind when a World dies.  In the natural process of the life and death of Worlds, another world would consume the Memento Mori left behind by a World’s death.  If it is instead claimed by another entity, such as a person, then it becomes impossible for that Memento Mori to ever be consumed by a World and it can instead be used for other purposes.  One Memento Mori can be split into 3 splinters.
  • In the past, The Travail provided the excess Source it was fueled with to the Heroes.  It was unclear why this was not currently happening.
  • An important part of what makes The Travail special is the sacrifices the Prime Heroes made to create it.  Each of them sacrificed something of great significance when they created The Travail.  These secrets are locked away in the vaults and can be retrieved if one knows where to look.
  • What makes Prime Hero access so unique and meaningful is that it forges a direct connection between the Hero and The Travail.  This is not dissimilar to how World Beasts are connected to a World and draw power from them.  Unlike World Beasts, Prime Heroes can continue to draw power from The Travail even when they are on other Worlds.
  • The Travail’s vaults house a large number of powerful relics and artifacts.  The forbidden, Malevolent, and most dangerous of these are stored behind locks that would be very difficult to recreate if they were to be opened or broken.  Part of the impetus for creating The Travail was to have a place to safely store and seal away these items so they could not be used for nefarious purposes.
  • Beyond The Travail’s ability to share knowledge of combat techniques and schools of magic, the Prime Heroes each have a connection to the consciousness of the world that they use to store practical knowledge and make it available to other Prime Heroes.  A temporary Prime Hero can access a limited amount of this knowledge.
  • The Prime Heroes were once the crew of a ship and learned how to turn their ship into a World.  That World is The Travail.
  • The process for temporary Prime Hero Access mimics the steps the Prime Heroes took when they created The Travail.

The third and final Tesseracted event saw Kethra returning and asking Heroes for help infiltrating a vault to retrieve one of two dossiers.  The contents of the dossiers were unknown apart from basic descriptions and it was unclear how this would impact other events.  Kethra indicated that the Heroes should look in her “usual hiding places” in their present time for more information, though she also told them they would need to figure out what those places are on their own.

At dinner, representatives of EPOCH Corporation from the World of Ordination were looking for Heroes to sign letters of intent and gauge interest in future business.  They also had clerical evaluations for willing Heroes to work through to figure out what Worlds shipments wound up on.  They said they would return to follow up on business opportunities and complete paperwork.

Also at dinner, the Navigators’ Guild representatives returned and collected completed ship charters to be filed with the guild for sanctioning.

With an air of uncertainty hanging over The Travail, Gwendolyn gathered the Heroes and organized everyone to participate in a Tradition that is part of the school of community-oriented magic she practices.  This Tradition involved creating and gifting Amulets of Solidarity.  These amulets imparted power after being gifted to another Hero.  It was fortunate that these amulets were created, they soon proved vital.

The crystalline alert system again came to life with light and sound.  The two Helpers present were confused as they had never seen this combination of colors and sounds before.  Concerned and confused, the two rushed out of the tavern telling the Heroes that they would return as soon as they figured out what was happening.

A short time later, two new individuals entered the tavern, both wearing black and white tabards.  One appeared to be some manner of sapient Undead and the other a maggot Hive.  The Hive greeted Mortimer by name before telling him off, “I’ve never liked you.”  The Hive’s name was Kitalika and they introduced themselves as a “Hero of The Declination”.  The pair took responsibility for the Undead and Scarecrow attacks that had been taking place since the New Heroes arrived on The Travail, including the destruction of the Hedgewinx and the attempt to create an artificial Scarecrow Hedgewinx in its place.  They then said that if the Heroes were going to keep interfering with their plans that they would have to complete their work themselves.  They said that they were going to start ripping out The Travail’s leylines and that if the Heroes wanted to stop them they would have to come and get them.

As the battle with the two Declination Heroes and their Undead/constructs waged across The Travail, glowing leylines were torn from the ground and Kitalika told the Heroes that they were on the wrong side of this fight.  That The Travail was an abomination cobbled together from dead Worlds’ Memento Moris and that if the Heroes knew the truth there is no way they would be taking up the mantle left to them.  The Heroes were incredulous, determined, and fought until the Declination cohort was defeated.

Meanwhile, in the tavern, The Travail employed the Heroes that were not pursuing The Declination Heroes to help it defend against baleful spells that were being cast into out, presumably by other Heroes of The Declination.  The projection of another of The Declination’s Heroes appeared to harry The Travail’s defenders.  Ultimately, this attack was abated and the projection vanished.

Back outside, with the two Declination Heroes defeated, it was unclear what to do with them.  The Undead was seemingly unkillable and eventually faded.  Kitalika’s body was continuously animated by some outside force and slowly plodded its way to The Travail’s Gate.  Once there, another voice spoke through the body, claiming itself a Prime Hero of The Travail and creating a portal to The Declination.  Kitalika’s animated body passed through the portal which then closed and vanished.

After the dust had settled and the adrenaline subsided, some of the Helpers returned to the tavern.  When they left to check on what was happening they found themselves unable to return to the Heroes at the tavern.  In the process, they encountered a Helper that had not shown back up since The Interdiction ended.  Her name was Fi and she worked closely with Strategos Lattlona, an Old Hero and one of The Travail’s former tacticians.  Fi had a letter from Lattlona that was intended to be read after the New Heroes encountered The Declination for the first time.  It would seem the Old Heroes knew about The Declination.  The Helpers urged the Heroes to be critical of The Declination’s claims and not trust anything they said without verifying it for themselves.  The night ended, as most nights on The Travail, with more questions than answers.

Sunday

In the morning, while various Heroes were taking care of personal matters, a familiar face from Midnight Accordia visited, Trill.  Midnight Accordia had been alerted when The Travail’s leylines were assaulted the previous night by The Declination.  The Old Heroes had hired Midnight Accordia to create The Travail’s leylines and had paid them to monitor the leylines in perpetuity.  The Old Heroes had not paid Midnight Accordia to directly repair the leylines should something happen to them, but Midnight Accordia provided the Heroes with the materials and manuals needed to repair the leylines.

In discussions with Midnight Accordia, it became clear that The Declination should not have known how to damage The Travail’s leylines.  Interactions with leylines are a Midnight Accordia trade secret, and they are the universal specialists on that topic.  The exact explanation was unclear, but theories were discussed.  Midnight Accordia also provided information on the exact items needed to attract a new Hedgewinx to the now-vacant Wild Locus on The Travail.

With the repair materials and manuals in hand, the Heroes set out to repair The Travail’s damaged leylines.  While doing so, they were also able to clear out the remainder of The Declination’s minions that were lingering on The Travail.

The Heroes also faced off with a creature that had not been seen before.  When it was defeated, they found a note on it.  The note was written by Olti Vesper, one of the Old Heroes who had been a researcher on The Travail during The Interdiction.  It was entirely possible that this creature was the transformed Olti Vesper.

With the leylines repaired and The Declination thwarted the Heroes could breathe a sigh of relief.  They had a new adversary to be wary of, but The Travail and its New Heroes were the strongest they had been since The Interdiction.  With more tribulations and triumphs on the horizon, The Travail was quiet.  At least for now…