The couple of adventure writeups I’ve posted have been pretty self-contained – but this really isn’t how a lot of Empai Tirkosu’s “standalone” adventures play out. I’m juggling so many storylines and characters it’s often hard to keep track. I flit from one group to the next, creating more of an anthology type narrative than what would be the norm. The one exception would be the giant, Avengers-like crossover adventures, but even they can feel disconnected until the final acts.

So I decided to dump the entirety of this month’s writings here instead of having them be standalone posts. Bon appetit.

Reconciliation

Elion: Okay so, last time we were at the portal… It was kinda broken? A little bit?

Melody: How much is a little bit.

Elion: Like, not working at all, kinda little?..

Mel: You broke it, didn’t you? Why am I not surprised…

Maisie: *passes by with a stuffed backpack* Be surprised. It wasn’t him, it was some weird dudes. Hopefully they’ve fixed it now.

Elion: Yeah… About that.

Natina: *worried frown* If did fix, Nivak may not still come through.

Mel: Wait, wait, hold up. What happened?

Elion: Basically?..

Natina studied magic in the halls of the Archomental Nivak. When she returned there after her reincarnation as a starborn, she was brainwashed by the elder elemental’s archmage into thinking Nivak was the one who had reincarnated her. Elion intercepted Nivak when he was leading an army towards Tirkosu, with Natina at his side. they couldn’t enter the deactivated portal before Elion helped break the archmage’s spell. Now, it was just a question of what they’d done once the route had been reopened.

Rolling fields unfold from the airship as they fly northwest, billowing fluffy clouds resting comfortably over the sunkissed scene. Up ahead, Mt. Tirkosu looms like massive thorn sticking up the island’s surface. The dreary weather has dissipated, leaving nothing but clear, saturated skies from hereon out.

Elion’s wearing his full Mindspace suit, carrying his backpack-form Feytouched suit, and starting to realise why people like Prince Lundal stick to a single hunk of wearable metal. Natina and Melody are both at the prow of the smallish airship, staring off at the snowy peaks before them – the latter wearing a warm smile, the former open mouthed in increasing awe as the mountaintop draws closer.

The portal’s open. Elion and Nat share a quiet look.

Natina: Is likely went home…

Korolev Nivak is thankfully close by the permanent interplanar portal – just short of two day’s travel. The crew breaks out their cold gear long before passing through the giant golden ring into the plane of ice. The province of Maslokia stretches as far as the eye can see: which isn’t much, to the vision unaccustomed to the glare of the snow.

Elion: *heads up onto the half frozen deck where Natina is watching the horizon* Hey. So, serious talk; if your primordial dude is still fezzed at you, which he probably is… What do you wanna do? Talk to your parents, let them know you’re okay, and then…?

Crunch MUNE intervention: Advance plot (Reconcile with Nivak)

Natina: *Shakes her head firmly* If did not follow, he not angry. If angry, he break Tapuk. (NB: Tapuk is the ice village on Mt. Tirkosu)

Elion: Or he just couldn’t get through, and decided to go home?

Natina: You not know Nivak. If truly he wanting, he get.

Elion: *shrugs* Aight, I’ll take your word for it. *Returns to the lower deck while casually muttering a prayer to the Supreme One*

Soon the craggy mountains give way to sharp, needle-like spires of ice, clustered together like uncut crystals. In the middle of this hazardous terrain stands the palace of the archomental Nivak.

Crunch Hah. Rolling for a new order of themes on The Adventure Crafter kinda implies what king of adventure we’re going to have –

1-4 Tension

5-7 Action

8-9 Personal

10 Mystery/Social

Sooo, it’s not likely that this is gonna be a happy-friendly reconciliation chat. Now for the damn I’ve pulled a muscle in my thumb. Now for the Turning point:

Turning Point

Plotline: Let Nat’s parents know she’s okay

Plot points (characters invokes):

1. Something exotic

2. Prized possession (Natina)

3. Doing the right thing (Nivak)

4. None

5. None

Wow. Okay, TAC sUbVErTed mY eXpECtaTioNS. Noice.

The pilot docks the airship while they head into the tiered walls of the city. Nat is ecstatic about being home, bouncing around and showing them all the sites. She gives a random mage a bear hug as they pass, leaving him looking very bewildered.

Before long they’re knocking on the dark oak door of her family home. Fear clouds her eyes when there’s no reply, but Maisie notes the thin smoke rising from the chimney – they must simply be out.

Elion: Uh, ok. So… What does anyone want to do while we wait? Is there a place we can get out of the cold?

Nat: Ooo, yes! Aparin place is open today, am thinking

Aparin’s place turns out to be a wine vendor that doubles up as a more artisanal pub than what usually springs to mind. They spend a happy couple of hours leisurely tasting the invigorating beverages – all except Mel, who doesn’t like the taste.

Crunch MUNE intervention: Entity positive (Nivak)

* * *

In the elemental geode located at the heart of the palace, a mage hurries Aparin’s son into the presence of Nivak.

Mage: Ancient one, this boy speaks truth. The starborn has returned!

Nivak: *Rises, blue eyes gleaming cold* (Iconan) Lead me to her.

* * *

A voice like the roar of an avalanche startles the group in the wine store.

Nivak: (Iconan) MAGEHEART!

Nat: … Oh.

Elion: *takes a peek out the window* Yep. That’s the archomental.

Mel: *Scoops up her battleaxe* We can take him!

Elion: Yeah, uh, how about no?

Nat: You not hurt Nivak! Not able. *She heads towards the door, staff in hand* I talk. You be staying here.

Maisie: This is such a bad idea. Like, wow.

Nat slowly exits into the snowy streets. Nivak, flanked by two mages, towers above the store. His eyes flare as they rest on her – but they don’t wear an expression of anger. Far from it; the archomental appears to be smiling.

Nivak: (primordial) You return home, starborn.

Nat: (primordial) Yes. My service is still as of yet offered to thee, ancient one, according to my oath.

Nivak: (primordial) Loyal one, your allegiance does not go unnoticed. Aguvuthe is archmage no more. When I learned of his treatment of you, his life became forfeit.

Nat: *Bows* (primordial) My heart is glad. I could not believe you would think so little of my loyalty as to ensure it with a charm.

The archomental grants Nat and her friends safe stay within the walls of his palace, only asking in return that she retake her position as handmaiden and grow her power under his care. She happily accepts.

Nat’s parents show up and they have a tearful reunion. They’d heard the rumours that she had gone rogue, and are relieved to hear the truth. They invite them over for dinner, where Nat finally gets to say hello to her pet tressym.

Elion: I guess this is full circle for you, then? You died, reincarnated, and stopped an apocalypse. Now everything’s back to normal, just… With more stars.

Nat: *Shakes her head* Is different. Never normal, cannot be now. But… is where I should be, yes?

Elion: Yeah.. *Pause* You know he’s probably playing you, right? Nivak, I mean.

Nat: What is?..

Elion: He was totally okay with letting you think your starry-ness was caused by him. So, he knew your story didn’t add up – but still let you believe it.

Nat: *Shoots him a reproving look* All are making mistake, even Archomental.

Elion: I get that, just… Be careful, okay? I don’t wanna have to come save your ass over again. For the third time.

Nat: You won’t. Am careful.

The four partake in a hearty meal courtesy of Nat’s family, sharing stories and laughter as the pale sun disappears. The next morning she sees them off as they embark on the short trip back to Tirkosu. Elion and Maisie are headed for the plane of life, the uncertain political climate promising ample opportunity to test their skills. Mel is torn – there’s so many places she wants to see, too many planes to visit.

Elion: If you wanna see, like… A condensed version of everything, then you just stay on Tirkosu. That has pretty much every element crammed into one.

And so, they part ways.

Sightseeing

Mel decides to go on a trip of all the island’s biomes, stopping off at the corresponding village if it exists.

First off is Tapuk. The Golath village isn’t particularly different from the city she just came from. The locals don’t seem impressed by her music, however. She moves on the next day to D’Okai on foot.

The Great Chimney marks the village’s location long before she reaches it, sending puffs of smoke shooting towards the sky as the ever-burning thurible swings methodically in its depths. She checks into a tavern and asks whether she can play some music for the patrons – She’s declined, but the owner says she’s more than free to play in the street outside. Elkore are usually happy to encourage most kinds of art.

And holy Tiamat’s whiskers, they love it. She draws a pretty significant crowd with a heart-pounding, quickly-plucked piece she’d learnt back on the infinite city. The villagers have never heard anything like the sound of an arcanalute before, the synth-like tones and heavy bass strings painting an eerie picture of life under the shadow of the Valkeesh.

One dude approaches her saying she should play at the music jam in the village centre – they have one every week. She gives it a go, and they love it – but some of the feedback says she should ease off on the aggressive chords a little. It looks like Tirkosu isn’t ready for a full-on technopunk music revolution.

Next up is the water village of Hepthurai, passing through Paku (which she’s already visited, albeit briefly).

As she leaves the ashen mountainside and descends into the western jungle, a message magically cuts into her mind. The sender is Cahlun, the lead of their small troupe on the infinite city. He explains that the refugee situation isn’t going smoothly, but hints that Lenien (their former drummer) has a way to get the former slave class settled. As the face of the resistance, she would be a massive help in negotiations – and he’d be willing to pay for her time.

Sighing, she sends a brief acknowledgment back and returns to D’Okai – it looks like the sightseeing trip will have to wait.

Return to the fey isle (again)

Elion: You have GOT to be pulling my leg.

Leena Nopera, head of the Secret Elvish Intelligence Agency, explains she is not, in fact, pulling his leg. The worrying appearance of a shadow portal on an island deep within the plane of life is a pressing issue, one that requires a proper task force to take down – and Elion, being the one to discover the island’s existence in the first place, is the perfect agent to lead them.

Elion: I… Actually, I don’t know what I was expecting. Anything but this. Intrigue. Infiltration. Mingling with people of importance, not trekking across shad-blasted terrain for days.

Leena: Toughen up Torli. If this rift isn’t closed, we’re all in danger. Not just elves and elementals, but the other planes as well. Besides, isn’t this what you signed on for? Saving the world?

Elion: Actually it was the paycheck. Which now doesn’t exist, because…

Because SEIA officially doesn’t exist. It’s a subcell of EIA, who answer to the Ashkagogh Concordance – the people responsible for the shadow portal. The entire secret organisation is run out of a few investor’s pockets.

Leena: You know that’s beyond anyone’s fault. If you really want out, all we need from you is the circle runes. But tagging along would be a monumental help – it might even save lives.

Damn it to hells and back. Elion finds himself prepping the runes to the ancient teleportations circle he’d discovered on the island. Maisie stands with the rest of the squad, looking nonplussed.

Maise: I really don’t think this is what my instructors had in mind. They probs thought you were more of the political espionage type, not black ops.

Elion: Yyyup. That’s me, full of surprises. Okay, ready.

The circle activates, glowing blue. One by one they run across the portal, appearing in what once used to be a dense jungle. Now the trees are dead, blackened with rot. The ground is a web of decaying ferns and bracken, and the sun hardly shines through a haze below the clouds.

Elion: Portal’s on the western tip. Let’s move!

The shoreline was an easier walk even back when the island was alive and not infested by the most dangerous elemental type known, so they decide to head north and reach the tip via the beaches.

Their march takes them the entire day to get close to the west tip. Maisie and Elion keep trying to recognise landmarks from their previous stay – to not much success, given how twisted the landscape has become. The closest they’re able to get is one of the giant trees they’d rested in during their return to the dryad grove.

So far, they’ve been extremely lucky with the lack of shadow creatures to contend with. But as the sun dips below the horizon, the unearthly baying of a shadow hound sends shivers down the agents’ spines.

Three of them burst from the dying undergrowth, skeletal creatures shrouded in billowing darkness. They charge past a fireball from Maisie and savage her, flitting in and out of the shadows like ghosts. Elion manages to land in a few solid shots to the alpha, finally punching it to mist while the other elves take out the remaining two.

Maisie’s still conscious, but it’s definitely time for a break. They rest close to the shoreline, black waves licking the sand as they share some rations. Then they press on – the faster they find and close the rift, the faster they can get off this nightmarish island.

The walking starts to get to the agents as they approach the crevasse on the northwest tip. And it’s not just the miles – the pale disc that was the sun has now sunken into the horizon, leaving only shadows where Maisie’s flames can’t illuminate.

They carefully climb into the abyss, and head for where Elion and Maise discovered the portal. The stone dish is active, runes… glowing? deep purple. They seem to suck the light out of their surroundings, yet still retain colour. A handful of Mirlings lurk nearby.

Crunch Wasn’t sure what they were doing, so I asked for a portent and got “Irreversible bunker”, which is pretty perfect.

The shadowfolk have hacked a rough rocky stockade around the rift’s perimeter, creating a kind of fort. The team doesn’t see it until they’re within earshot.

Agent: I see two of them. Could be more. Most likely, a lot more.

Elion: Okay, so.. You stay here, we’re gonna sneak around the back. Take a shot once we’re out of sight, and draw them out after you. Then we strike from behind.

Which would have been a decent plan of attack, had they been at all in a state to go sneaking around. One of the agents trips, tumbles, and drops his crossbow with a clang. A harsh bray from the fort says it all – they’ve been spotted!

As the Mirlings charge, a dismal whisper assaults the team’s ears, seeming to resonate from the portal itself. The agents and maisie quickly dispatch the rabid creatures, while Elion goes hand-to-hand with a buffer one wielding a jagged blade. The whispering fades as the final Mirling falls.

Elion: Oh-kay. Give me a second, I need to get a good look at the base.

Elion: Yeah, this does not look good.

The magic imbued into the stone is unlike anything he’s seen – power on a scale even BAT wouldn’t have access to. As far as they’re concerned, it’s impossible to close. Maise pipes up, explaining to the agents;

Maisie: The first time we visited this island, when the fey were still living here, they said a shadow sorceress fell from the sky and opened the rift. I’m thanking the smoke we didn’t bump into her, if she was this powerful.

Elion: The power comes from the runes.. But it looks like it’s also made the rock unbreakable. *Turns to Maisie* You, uh… Wanna try seeing if your crazy magic can do anything?

She gives him a “you brought this on yourself” eyebrow raise, but steps up to the dais. As she focuses, smoke begins to pour from her fingertips, encircling the shadow rift. The whisper rises up again, seething as the ash and gas slowly suffocates it into closing. Sparking illusionary duplicates step out of Maisie to aid the collapse, while Elion and the other agents flicker and become invisible.

Elion: Okay what. I did not expect that to work.

Maisie: It’s chaos magic, anything’s possible.

Elion: No, you don’t get it. You should not have been able to do that. I thought you might be able to disrupt the planar flow, but disable the entire thing?

Maisie: *Shrugs* Doesn’t matter, does it? It’s closed, we can go home.

Agent: About that…

The rest of the team is close to exhaustion – they’re gonna have to take a proper rest. Luckily they should be less likely to encounter shadow beings now that the portal’s closed down. They catch some sleep on the rough ground inside the fort, listening to the cracking of the tainted rock as it crumbles away into the crevasse: The fey isle is slowly returning to normal.

* * *

The journey back to the teleportation circle is a gruelling one. Not so much due to the few animals twisted by shadow energy they encounter, but by the life-draining nature of the corruption. The agent’s last remaining drops of energy dwindle, forcing them to a halt not one mile from their destination.

Thankfully they brought enough supplies to last them one final night. The shadow has slowly lifted from the skies, allowing the pinpricks of multicoloured stars to light the sky above them.

The peace doesn’t last long – a huge beast radiating shadow corruption charges into their midst, killing 3 of the exhausted agents. As they struggle to fight it off, a Mirling charges the creature from out of the bushes and gets in a good stab before being impaled on one of its horns. After dispatching the threat, Elion hesitates before bandaging the unconscious shadowfolk so he doesn’t bleed out.

They drag the agents to a more hidden spot, and manage to pass the rest of the night uninterrupted. However, as the first hint of a morning sky starts to climb over the horizon, the bandaged Mirling staggers into view. He hurriedly surrenders, explaining that he wants to escape the island too. But they must hurry: An elite hunter has been stalking them, and he draws close to his prey.

They struggle through the last mile, getting within view of the teleportation circle before the agents’ strengths die again. Elion carries two of them with the aid of his mechsuit, while the Mirling takes the other – only after being threatened with abandonment. Two hundred feet, one hundred feet… A shrieking roar followed by heavy footsteps spurs them on faster. Maisie turns to see a tall silhouette in spiked armour crashing through the undergrowth behind them. She sends a wall of flames to block the path, but the hunter simply rolls through it.

They reach the dais. One of the agents fumbles with their return spellcard, opening the circle as the Mirling leaps into it. Maisie and Elion drag the remaining three agents through just as the hunter leaps up onto the rock, purple eyes flashing behind the black metal helmet. It brings its heavy blade down in an arcing sweep – but the portal has already closed.

* * *

Back on the SEIA airship, agents on standby aim their weapons at the Mirling.

Elion: Wait! Don’t loose! He’s… *Gives a hesitant look to the shadowfolk* …We can use him. He knows what was going on back there.

The Mirling returns his stare, glaring as he’s restrained and frogmarched away by the agents.

Elion gets a metaphorical pat on the back from Nopera, as does Maise. Mentally exhausted as well as physically, he asks for some leave to visit his family and reconnect, which Nopera grants.

Maisie approaches him before he embarks.

Maisie: Hey, you know what happened back there wasn’t your fault, right? We were in a terrible position, facing… like, the worst things ever. I’m surprised we didn’t have more casualties.

Elion: Yeah.. Yeah, I know. *Kneads his temples* I just feel like it could have gone differently. If I hadn’t pushed, if we’d conserved energy.

Maisie: *Folds her arms* Or we could have been ambushed by a fezzing black hunter thing. Just, don’t beat yourself up too much, alright? There’s plenty others in line for that already.

Elion: I guess.. Thanks. *Gives his strangely glum but sincere smile* Stay safe.

I kinda want to do a timeskip here, because we’ve been dithering about with little self contained subplots and tying up loose ends from the previous main adventure, but I also want to wait for Descent Into Avernus to come out – there’s been trouble brewing in the nine hells since the archdemon Solvanoth was slain (not to mention the influence they appear to have on the modrons and their plans for the “Great Reckoning”). But the book’s release is still half a month away.

Have to see how it goes. In the meantime, everything is slowly, deceivingly returning to normal in the world of Empai Tirkosu.