Session 6: That's Animist, That Is! Rocks Are People Too!

7/10
Recap:

• Session starts with us outside the temple of Doom.
• Aed teleports us to Xanadu's docks. (Huzzah, we don't die of teleport failure!)
• Janan and Kheriim argue about stones' sentience.
• Elsewhere in the temple district, a Clockwork Bearverine gets loose and causes mayhem. Soern claims no knowledge of said beast.
• We find Sigrid fighting and destroying the clockwork bearverine.
• Sigrid is debriefed on the cup-getting venture.
• Sigrid holds a conference with Soern, Ghalib, Aed, and Stavros about the cup. Janan and Halden hit the bars. Leif and Kheriim do their things. (?)
  The cup is only mentioned one other time in Ghalib's studies, and that in conjunction with the stone tablet we'd already found.
  The tablet had been a gift to the empire. Pre-Harrid but still subjugated Skaraavan wanted a place to hide it and keep it safe.
• Soern fills the cup with gold, as referenced in one of the scraps of info Ghalib previously found, and asks its powers, limitations, and capabilities.
  
• The cryptic answer: "Life. Death. Prophecy."
• There is then an argument over who should bleed in the cup, to test that aspect. Ghalib is irritated by powerful adults acting sillier than his youngest daughters, and cuts his hand to provide the blood. Sigrid slices her arm open to see if drinking the silvery elixir will cure her. (It does.) Sigrid then bleeds a pint of blood into the cup, and uses the elixir to heal Gannen of a terrible magical injury (previously unknown of to most present). Gannen is all better! And the Heart of the Sea is no longer acting weird. Oddly, Gannen and Sigrid disappear for the next couple of hours.
• The next part of the session was spent arguing about what quest the 11th levels would take up next. Possible choices included searching for Blank (lost somewhere in Gorzam), searching for possible Harrid scouts in Xanadu, going to deal with the Harrid problem in Skaraavan, returning to explore more of the tomb of Ozymandias, researching the shadowy bird who talked to Leif, ...
• Aed, Kheriim, and Leif talk to Soern about the magical shadowy bird. From what Soern says about the power involved, etc., we are Holy Hells! Monala must be behind this! And promptly freak out.
• We then decide to search for Blank in Gorzam, but by way of the tomb of Ozymandias ( a sort of compromise).
• Going through the tunnels, we make it to the ice cave without problems, only some strange noises off in the distance.
• Then we are attacked! And we do furious battle with shadowy crystaline porqupine-like humanoids.
• Leif nearly dies. A LOT.
• Leif ends up hitting Janan and Aed with a buffed up explosive crossbow bolt and nearly kills them both. Janan and Aed are Not Happy.
• HALDEN GETS KILLED OH NOES!!! D:
• We are finally victorious, but Halden is DED. So we decide to go back to Xanadu quick as can be to get him resurrected.
  

Notes:
Alession: God of Clockwork Beasts
Eliran: God of Sudden Death
Alanis: God of Not Actual Irony

Firing a ranged weapon through an ally's square is akin to attacking said ally. BAD LEIF.

We must now lobby for a cliched anime featuring time katanas. Because Time Katanas are More Awesome than you.

Quotage:
"ADVENTURER'S GUIDE FOR THE DUNGEON GUY!" -foole, re: craft (interior design)

"Katanas can freeze time!"-me
"No, no, they cut THROUGH time!"-foole
(re: discussion of why katanas are not as useful as western longswords and why anime style cleavage does not actually occur)

...distracted by time katanas. time passed. whoops.

"You appear on the docks. People give you some strange looks, but not too many, because people popping out of thin air is not the strangest thing to happen in Xanadu on a regular basis."-oddysey

"This is more of that verrik elitism, isn't it!"-me, Janan, re: kherriim's lack of respect for stones and/or earth elementals

"One of Soern's creatures got loose! Half moose, half platypus-"-Oddysey
"all deadly!"-me
(re: a clockwork bearverine getting loose in the temple district. Soern claims to have nothing to do with it.)

"Gannen! I have silvery elixir of awesome for you! Yes, it used to be my blood, but it's fine now!"-Artemis, Sigrid