(July 28)
Deadforged
Myrwood
Autumn 60 & 58
Ava's Campfire Synopsis (partial)
Esmund, Kibeth and Ava rejoined their friends within Myrwood with timing that could either be described as ‘perfect’ or ‘the worst imaginable,’ depending on the who you ask. Coinciding with their arrival, a pile of discarded weapons and armor revealed itself to be an undead abomination; cobbled metal pieces stitched together with dark magic and threaded with writhing, nauseated snails.
The armor protecting the vomitous snails was nearly as impenetrable as the freshly acquired greasy snail stains in Sal’s clothing. After multiple attacks failed to penetrate The Deadforged Blacksmith, and as the town square filled with the animated corpses of Undead Townsfolk, Esmund called for a retreat. Sal and Kibeth moved to engage the Deadforged Blacksmith to allow others time to flee. Kaisi, however, had no intentions of fleeing. Standing his ground, he relentlessly attacked the monster, bolstered by Aureya’s successful attacks with her radiant magic.
Still, after a few close calls, the group mostly began to flee… until the Deadforged Blacksmith used Misty Step to catch up with a part of the group. Aureya, Kaisi and Esmund managed to work together to eventually penetrate the creature’s armor and bring the abomination to it’s knees. Sal and Kibeth protected others by throwing themselves in front of the creature to distract it from harming their friends; they were mostly successful.
After the fight concluded, it was revealed that Vathedrian had died from complications with his mechanical implants.
Fall 58
Those left behind find Vathedrian in his underwear in the snow, ranting about what the purpose of it was if it ends, it was the only way but what was the point if they don’t finish. Esmund and Kibeth recover Vathedrian and he returns to a bit of his senses, enough to tell Ava some things:
Before the kingdom of Lux, when it was merely a city, they found a clockwork artifice, a masterwork unlike any other, that laid out a design for a society that would become the kingdom of Lux and laws that would guide it to prosperity. It held the three ideals that the Verdicts were created to uphold:
- Long live the Queen, for the dead must never rise.
- Long live the Queen, for time must always turn.
- Long live the Queen, for the age of Men must end.
The magic of the Givers held a secret: it would slowly, over time, reduce the number of human children born. Humans made it impossible for the Great Peace the makers of the artifice saw. The work would have been completed in four generations, but now the kingdom is gone: what was the point?
Ava suggests there may still be time, the tower might be averted. He says, “Still time… still time… Esmund…” and dies.
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