# 19. Session Nineteen — Party Politics **In-game start:** Spring 69 | **Played:** 10 September 2025 [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/13 - Session Notes/Session 18 - Freeing Voran's Well|← Session 18]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/00 - Home & Navigation/Campaign Home|Campaign Hub]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/13 - Session Notes/Session 20 - A Familiar Face|Session 20 →]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Locations & Shared Scenes/Campfire Rain.jpg|780]] > [!abstract]+ TL;DR > - Meanwhile, [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] helps [[Elena]] to her feet and gives her a hug, asking if she is ok. [[Elena]] thanks her and her vision and thoughts begin to clear, and as the memories of the fight just moments before come flooding back into her, she remembers what she witnessed [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] do. Her face loses its colour and her mouth drops in horror as she utters "NO!", with 🐭[[Myst]] almost cawing out the same utterance. > - She demands that he swear an oath right here right now that he will no longer wield this blade and will do everything in his power, even if it means his own death, to free the souls within this blade. > - He finds no sympathy in [[Elena]], instead further berating him for knowingly wielding this blade, knowing what it did to his master and his comrades. > - [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] finds the graves he saw the men digging yesterday, and discovers rather morbidly that they buried themselves alive. > - “Here lies [[Lem]]. Killed by [[Raphius Sunward]]. Oathbreaker.” > - She finishes her funeral rites, assisting the souls to be ferried to the beyond and she places her hand on [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] shoulder and tries to steer his soul back in the right direction, back towards its alignment, without the influence of the cursed blade. > - [[Elena]] admits to not really caring or judging the actions of the living, but only tasking herself with ensuring the souls of the dead reach [[Nyxthys]] doorstep. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] finds this offensive and sighs in an exasperated fashion and drops back. > - As the group are calming down and about to head back to bed, they noticed a cloaked and shadowed figure, silhouetted in the moon and rain. > [!star]- Memorable Moments > - 🧠 **Sneaky — Pipe / Mealla:** Mealla blocks Pipe from touching the cursed ring, so he creates a Minor Illusion copy; in the heartbeat she spends checking the fake, he darts in, grabs the real one and Identifies it. > - 😱 **Grim — Raphius:** Raphius finds the graves the villagers had been digging and realises the controlled men **buried themselves alive**. > - 💔 **Heartfelt — Raphius / Persephone:** Raphius learns the man he killed was Lem and that Lem has a wife. Persephone goes inside to tell Clara while Raphius quietly starts digging the grave himself. > - 😨 **Temptation — Raphius / Elena:** At Lem’s grave Raphius admits the worst part: **“It felt good.”** Elena makes him swear again that he will not let the blade turn him into what Vhail became. > - 🕯️ **Ritual — Elena / Raphius:** Elena surrounds the dead with Nyxthys’ runes and places Raphius at the centre, trying to guide his soul back towards itself and away from the blade’s influence. > - 🔥 **Argument — Mealla / Elena:** On the road out, Mealla finally confronts Elena about her sharp tongue and how little she seems to care about the living; Elena’s answer makes the moral gap between them painfully clear. ## Session Notes As the rain pelts down on the group, the sounds of villagers screaming and coming to their senses in the background, [[Pipe]] and [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] stand over the final remaining ring of [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Aetherite|Aetherite]] on the floor. [[Pipe]] tries to pick up the ring, but [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] intervenes, blocking him from picking it up. She tries to warn him that people are suffering and that they need to destroy this immediately. ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Session Artwork/Session 19/The Misty Peaks Vorans Well Ring.jpg|780]] He reasons that they should at least examine it and try to understand it, as potentially this could help them locate or destroy more and work for the greater good. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] pleads with him to destroy it to end the suffering of the wailing villagers behind them, but [[Pipe]] sees only logic and reasons that to delay the end of suffering by only a few minutes, they could potentially learn valuable information that could help many more. He again tries to reach for the ring, and again she blocks him. [[Pipe]] casts minor illusion to duplicate the ring on the floor, and in the split second of Mealla's confusion, [[Pipe]] darts for it and snatches it and casts identify, putting the ring on and learning of its nature and of the connected consciousnesses. Meanwhile, [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] helps [[Elena]] to her feet and gives her a hug, asking if she is ok. [[Elena]] thanks her and her vision and thoughts begin to clear, and as the memories of the fight just moments before come flooding back into her, she remembers what she witnessed [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] do. Her face loses its colour and her mouth drops in horror as she utters "NO!", with 🐭[[Myst]] almost cawing out the same utterance. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] stands emotionless, vacant, Vhails blade still in his hand, rain pounding against him. Still leaning on [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]], [[Elena]] begins to stagger over towards [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]]. Before she can get to him, [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] gets there and places her hand on his shoulder. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] snaps back into awareness. He sees [[Elena]] and [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] heading over. He sees Vhails blade in his hand…he sees the man laying across from him. Motionless. Dead. He drops Vhails blade into the dirt and collapses to his knees. Broken. Mealla offers her comfort, saying that this wasn't his fault. She turns to the group and looks at them pleadingly, feeling that the group is breaking. She emplores [[Elena]] to go easy on him, but finds no sympathy. [[Elena]] tries to cast spare the dying on the body, but finds that there is nothing to spare. She watches [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] go over to the corpse of this villager and drop to his knees, weeping over him, he apologises to him. As [[Elena]] walks over to [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and the corpse, she suddenly feels the gentle caress of [[Nyxthys]] walking besides her, whispering in her ear. She gently says that she has noticed yet another soul be denied to her, failing to make it to her realm. She addresses [[Elena]] as her hand and asks how she fares with completing her task. [[Elena]] replies that she has identified the object that houses these souls and is working on finding a way to remove the curse and free the souls withing. [[Nyxthys]] approves and almost comforts her, saying that she has faith in [[Elena]] and knows she will do all she can to accomplish this. [[Elena]] swears that she will do everything in her power to do her duty and free these souls before striding over to the kneeling paladin. She kneels down besides [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and locks eyes with him. She spits out through clenched teeth that he has defied the gods, perverted the natural order of things and committed an abomination so heinous that there can be no forgiveness. She demands that he swear an oath right here right now that he will no longer wield this blade and will do everything in his power, even if it means his own death, to free the souls within this blade. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] so swears he will do everything he can to free the souls and apologises for his actions. He finds no sympathy in [[Elena]], instead further berating him for knowingly wielding this blade, knowing what it did to his master and his comrades. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] then picks up the body and heads off into the village, as [[Elena]] turns to [[Pipe]] asking him if he recalls the conversation they had about [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and the blade. She says it is happening as she feared. She asks him to take the blade and study it, asking him to share anything he discovers that may help her break the curse. Whilst they are having this conversation, [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] goes over and picks up the blade. [[Elena]] spots her doing this and asks her what she thinks she is doing and asks her to hand the blade over. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] refuses, saying it belongs to [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]]. [[Elena]] thinks it is a bit rich that she of all people is getting high morals on ownership of items and asks what her motivations are for caring about this blade, saying she has no idea what she is meddling with. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] for some reason seems to care greatly about the blade belonging to [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and suspects that [[Elena]] will not give it back to him. [[Elena]] tries to get her to understand that she has given her no reason to distrust her and that everything she has done has been for the good of her and the rest of the group. She just rescued [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] and her dagger from this cult, why would she not trust her now. But [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] continues to refuse to hand the blade over. [[Elena]] tries to explain that [[Nyxthys]] has entrusted her to free these souls and that it is her duty to free these souls and [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] understands this and has sworn to help. Yet this seemingly falls on deaf ears, with the young eladrin stubbornly refusing to hand over the blade. Eventually she agrees to give it to [[Pipe]] to study. [[Elena]] seems to accept this.... for now. [[Pipe]] examines the books of the red robed cultists. It details some of the experiments they pushed the villagers to do, to test the limits of the mind control to see what would cause the control to break. The horrific details of their experiments on the villagers make it clear that they have honed this technique to be almost undetectable, having people act normally until instructed to do something by them and the ring. The dates suggest [[Merric Veil]] is up to date with all of this. There is some concern over his absence and they plan to leave the village soon to see if he requires assistance. Meanwhile, [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] chases off after [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and finds him desperately pleading with the villagers if anyone knows the name of the dead man he holds in his arms. Villagers are scared, they are coming out of their stupors and so flee from him. Persephone tries to convince him to give up finding who he is and to bury him, but he wont. He killed this man, his soul is now trapped within his blade. He must know his name, he will be remembered. He hears voices coming from the tavern and heads towards it, hoping to find someone who may know the identity of this man. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] enters the tavern carrying this man, and is intercepted by [[Borron]] the tavern keeper, who ushers him outside again, not wishing further distress to harm an already traumatised village. The big elf identifies the man as [[Lem]] and sees the ravaged body, and asks what happened to him. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] says he killed him. [[Borron]] is taken aback at first, before [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] offers an explanation and explains the events of the fight in full. ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Borron Tyber.jpg|780]] [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] asks if he had family, and [[Borron]] looks inside, and says "a wife". He cautions him against going inside with the body and upsetting [[Clara]] further. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] convinces [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] that it would be better if she broke the news and [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] says he will go off and dig the grave. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] heads inside and breaks the news to [[Clara]] who crumples and wails with grief, sobbing uncontrollably. She is soon comforted by her friends and the other villagers. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] finds the graves he saw the men digging yesterday, and discovers rather morbidly that they buried themselves alive. As he digs lems grave his says - “My blade, i dont know how many souls it contains. Names I do not know. But your name I do know. [[Lem]]. I will not forget it. I will carry you with me, a reminder of my broken Oath. But I do make this Oath to you. I will not forget you, and I will free you from this blade, this I swear. [[Elena]] speaks with [[Pipe]] back at the hut and asks if he has learned anything. He shared what he learned with her and she says she must now head off to attend to the dead. She asks [[Pipe]] if he would perhaps run an errand for her and retrieve some powdered silver from the blacksmiths for her. She heads off into town and speaks with villagers, identifying herself as a cleric of [[Nyxthys]], eventually speaking with [[Borron]] and asks him to bring her all the dead, including the ones in the jail in the basement of the tower. He agrees to help arrange all of this. She heads off to the cemetery and slowly, people approach carrying loved ones, bringing their dead to the cleric. The body of Kiro is laid at her feet as she offers her prayers and condolences. She sees [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] digging a grave nearby, scratching words into a makeshift wooden cross. “Here lies [[Lem]]. Killed by [[Raphius Sunward]]. Oathbreaker.” As he works, [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] says to [[Elena]] "it felt good you know" and tells her of the lust the sword made him feel. She tells him that she warned him of this, that he himself had spoke of how his master surrendered to the madness and what it made him. She cautions him to not allow that to happen to him and again has him swear that he will help her break this curse. She tells him of her visit by [[Nyxthys]] and asks if he trusts her. He says he does and she says that she would like for him to participate in her ritual this evening. She thinks that perhaps her blessing can help him to find the right path. As the evening draws in, the bodies are lined up, and [[Pipe]] brings her powdered silver that he found from the blacksmith, who is alive but distant. [[Elena]] draws runes into the soil around the bodies, with [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] kneeling at the centre, going through the motions to appease [[Elena]]. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] grasps onto his broken pendant of [[Serapha]]. He feels distant from his Oath, distant from his God, and now he sits within a ritual for another God. He is uneasy, but he trusts [[Elena]]. She dusts the runes with the powdered silver and continues her chanting and recitation of the scriptures. As she draws to the end of the ceremony, the powdered silver erupts in a black flame, 🐭[[Myst]] cawing on her shoulder, her pale face uplit by this sombre light. She finishes her funeral rites, assisting the souls to be ferried to the beyond and she places her hand on [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] shoulder and tries to steer his soul back in the right direction, back towards its alignment, without the influence of the cursed blade. The ceremony does not seem to resonate with [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and as the evening draws in, the party head back towards the tavern. He sees [[Pipe]] struggling with the blade and asks if he can help him carry it. [[Pipe]] questions whether or not he intends to use it and asks how long he has had it for and why he does not use a different weapon in combat. He says he has had the blade for 3 years, but not intentionally killed a person with the blade. He states that it doesnt matter if he wants to withhold the blade from [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]], the blade will return to him, but not by his will. He is cursed to carry the blade, it is his curse to carry. The gnome returns the weapon, but also cautions him to never again wield this blade in combat. They discuss leaving and [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] asks [[Elena]] if she is strong enough to head out this evening. She looks offended saying of course she is, whilst wincing and holding her wounds. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] reaches out and touches her, intending to heal her, but nothing happens, so she asks him if there is a reason why he is touching her without her asking him to. He says he was trying to heal her, but seems unable to. She looks at his sword, and says she knows why, and gives [[Pipe]] a dirty look. She sighs, and heals herself. The group agree to leave town and head to the blacksmith to get [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] a new sword before leaving. They enter the blacksmiths to find it vacant. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] finds a suitable sword, and with his knowledge from working in a blacksmith himself left 15g and a note for the blade. As they leave town [[Elena]] asks the three that voted to go back whether or not they feel they did the right thing. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] confronts [[Elena]] and accuses her of being too judgey and having a sharp tongue. She questions her morals and is a little taken aback by what she finds. [[Elena]] admits to not really caring or judging the actions of the living, but only tasking herself with ensuring the souls of the dead reach [[Nyxthys]] doorstep. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] finds this offensive and sighs in an exasperated fashion and drops back. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] speaks with [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] and they discuss [[Elena]] and her beliefs. They both feel she concerns herself too much with godly affairs and not enough of mortal affairs, of things that matter in the here and now. A sombre mood affects the group as they sit around the campfire. [[Elena]] contemplating the events of the day, Mealla's words, [[Nyxthys]] touch, and as she absentmindedly scratches [[Spada]] with a dagger, trying to trace runes into the blade, the wind stirs, flicking her tome along two pages and a passage on how to carve runes reveals itself to her. [[Pipe]] and [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] discuss [[The Opus Codex]] and she asks for it back so she can read through it. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] plants the blade in the ground and begins to recite the names of the souls trapped within, vowing to remember them and to free them. As he finishes, Pipe’s glow lizards appear next to him (a As the group head to bed [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] spends his watch reflecting on his oath, his actions and their consequences. He thinks back on all the deaths of those he could not save, but today he was able to save the entire village. Does the deaths of those he was unable to save balance out by the lives of those he saved today? He thinks back on his oath, to the crown, to his responsibilities. He thinks on the conditions of this oath and what would constitute its breaking. His power does not come from a god, or divine entity, it is his belief in himself, his commitment. He supposes that the decision lies with him, on his internal sense of morality. What does he find permissible? Can he forgive himself? If so, if he can live with the decisions he has made, perhaps he can once again return to his oath. [[Elena]] spends her watch scritching 🐭[[Myst]] finding comfort in his presence. She loses herself in reading the passage on the carving of runes, all the while staring at the blade [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] plunged into the ground. It is staring at her, mocking her. She eventually wakes [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] for her watch, who busies herself with various herbs and scents, before waking the gnomish wizard for his watch. He passes the time tending to his glow lizards and pondering over the qualities of [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Aetherite|Aetherite]] and opening up Vantar's Sanctorium to again study its mysteries. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] spends her watch looking at the pictures in [[The Opus Codex]], trying to piece the imaging inside together with that of her tattoos. She finds her eyes wandering over to [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail's Blade]] and reaching out to touch it, as suddenly a gust of wind and water sprays up in her direction as a large creature squawks out and flaps, flying westward. ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Items & Artifacts/Vhail's Blade.jpg|780]] As she yelps out in alarm and surprise, [[Elena]] jolts up and out of sleep, grabbing [[Spada]], asking what happened. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] says she was startled by the screech of one of those bat things that was flying west. [[Pipe]] looks at [[Elena]] and says he KNEW there were two. [[Elena]] smiles and says looks like he was right indeed and thank goodness they didn't open the second tube. As the group are calming down and about to head back to bed, they noticed a cloaked and shadowed figure, silhouetted in the moon and rain. As their eyes focus, [[Fink]] steps into the campfire and says he's found what [[The Order]] has been using to track them, and hands [[Elena]] the letter she first received back in [[Gambon]]. She seems surprised by this and tosses it into the fire. [[Fink]] turns his timer over and asks [[Pipe]] to do the same and says "We need to talk." ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Characters/Felius Orlon.jpeg|780]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Locations & Shared Scenes/The Misty Peaks Felius.jpeg|780]] ## Session End State > [!success]- Where Things Stand > - [[Elena]] admits to not really caring or judging the actions of the living, but only tasking herself with ensuring the souls of the dead reach [[Nyxthys]] doorstep. > - [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] plants the blade in the ground and begins to recite the names of the souls trapped within, vowing to remember them and to free them. > - As the group head to bed [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] spends his watch reflecting on his oath, his actions and their consequences. > - He passes the time tending to his glow lizards and pondering over the qualities of [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Aetherite|Aetherite]] and opening up Vantar's Sanctorium to again study its mysteries. > - She finds her eyes wandering over to [[Vhail's Blade|Vhail's Blade]] and reaching out to touch it, as suddenly a gust of wind and water sprays up in her direction as a large creature squawks out and flaps, flying westward. ## Session Gallery > [!note]- Additional Artwork > ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Locations & Shared Scenes/The Misty Peaks Vorans Well.jpg|780]] [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/13 - Session Notes/Session 18 - Freeing Voran's Well|← Session 18]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/00 - Home & Navigation/Campaign Home|Campaign Hub]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/13 - Session Notes/Session 20 - A Familiar Face|Session 20 →]]