February 15, 2025

Hook

Winterfall V - Pthora, Cahyali

Plot Synopsis

The party wakes up in their tents and gets ready to return to the city. With a simple use of the Teleportation Keys, they return to the city and speak with Volkov, who lets them know that the - very boring - meeting they missed secured them a place at an exclusive gala being held in the Ember Army's palace in 5 days. Their job will be to infiltrate the gala, get into the palace at large, and search Zimina's personal quarters to find information on the source of her immortality.

The moment they arrive, the city seems on edge: they learn that there had been 4 murders the previous night. Three civilians died in the tenements, and Silvis Xaris - the doctor who had hired them - was also found dead. They seem to have had the magic drained out of them, with no physical injuries. Simultaneously, Misha panics and runs to his girlfriend's house. Volke follows him. Iskra is missing from her apartment, and Volke finds evidence of Iskra having suffered from some form of magical disease that made her need to consume large amounts of magic. The party reconvenes and talks about the situation. They decide to find the medical supplies outside of town first before managing the Iskra situation.

They leave town, searching northwards where robberies on cars and construction equipment was reported, and from where a foul smell of oil and gasoline could be smelled. There they find a camp of weasel beasthides, working on building a ramshackle mech with the professed purpose of blowing up the Pthoran palace and killing Zimina. There is only one problem: the mech doesn't turn on. The party helps them with their engineering, fixing up the metal beast and arranging to coordinate the weasels' attack with the gala to cause a distraction. With new allies made, they return to the city.

Iskra had been a member of a battlemage fight ring, and Sadie signs up for one of the fights to find out if she might still be there. She isn't there, but during the battle, she retrieves a strange potion from her opponent, a frost mage. She wins, winning the party - who bet on her - 300 gold. Volke's investigations disguised as a janitor reveal that the potion is called "Stardust", and it's becoming more and more expensive during the war. Fans of Iskra, fight name Nullbolt, mention that she left the battlemage fights several years ago after being scouted by the military. The Watcher analyzes the potion later on at home, finding that its purpose is to allow people to cast more high-level magic faster at the cost of draining them.

It grows late, and the party resolves to go to bed and find Iskra the next day.

Noteworthy Postgame Events