======Session 12====== This session was played on 2025-09-14. [[pc:clark_dubois|Clark]], [[pc:gaia_dynko|Gaia]] and [[pc:maelle_kurimoto|Maelle]] join [[npc:Mauto]] in a journey to [[place:Kesizma]] proper, but the way is trickier than expected. ======Plot====== Clark, Gaia and Maelle find themselves still in the palace, waiting for Mauto to recover enough for them to actually do the journey to a place where they can open a portal to Kesizma proper. They take advantage of the time by trying to get a better grasp of the local language and traditions: Clark slums it out in the outside city where he gets to know a little of how the lower-class citizens live, Gaia spends half her time trying to find metalsmiths that would be interested in buying empty cans and the other half trying to get Dream Amanda to teach her some stuff, and Maelle finds themself learning the local epics and visiting scholars where they discovers that these people have access to anagusi books, capable of revolutionizing several fields back in their original timeline. In the middle of this, [[npc:Ariyadna]] comes to say good bye and explains that she will see them later this month, because that is how the future will be and she has already seen it. This confuses the party a lot. Some days later, the entire city is shocked to learn that there has been a clash between their warriors and [[org:Rigasian Army]]. The party is asked again to appear in front of the court to explain about the rigasian military and tactics, which they are quite happy to do. As Mauto nears closer to recovery, Gaia loses the last of her patience and decides they have to go now. She manages to convince the [[place:anagut|anagusi]] woman that they should leave before the rigasians have more time to do damage, and the court agrees, providing small cavalry escort. Sadly the situation has become direr than they thought: in a lonely stretch of the river road, they hear gunshots and believe themselves ambushed. They dismount and see two running rigasian soldiers that they shoot, only to discover that they were not running towards them, but from a handful of giant [[mob:hairy crab|crab-shaped aberrations]]. Seeing one of the aberrations start to devour the corpse of one of the soldiers as the [[npc:corporal schidera|other]], incapacitated, screams for help, Gaia shouts to leave, but Maelle refuses to accept yet another death in their head and runs towards the aberration to save the still living soldier. Clark freezes the ground under the aberrations, make two of them slide and fall, but this is not enough to save Maelle. Derek, seeing Maelle running towards the danger, charges too. This greatly upsets Gaia and she jumps to the grassland, being left behind. Derek reaches Maelle and rams the aberration about to kill them. As Derek defends them, Maelle and Clark barely manage to load the wounded soldier on the giant wolf, then they mount and run away as fast as they can. Gaia is rescued by Mauto, and they likewise run away. Maelle and Clark barely manage to tourniquet the leg of the wounded soldier, that was quickly bleeding out from the shot. ======Cast====== * [[pc:Clark Dubois]] * [[pc:Gaia Dynko]] * [[pc:Maelle Kurimoto]] * [[npc:Ariyadna]] * [[npc:Amanda]] * [[npc:Derek]] * [[npc:Ja'far ibn Faraj]] * [[npc:Mauto]] * [[npc:Corporal Schidera]] * Palace Day Servant * Palace Night Servant * Palace Courtiers * Cavalrymen * Rigasian Soldiers ======Quotes====== * **Ariyadna**: Meet you later this month. I know it, because it has already happened. * **Gaia**: What? * **Clark**: I'm sorry, what? * **Ariyadna**: I know stuff that's gonna happen because it has already happened. You don't have to worry about it, because it will happen as it happened. * **Ariyadna**: Any asshole can jump between //lazankú//; the problem is finding the one you actually want to jump to. That takes a lot of effort and I manage it twice in my entire life. * //Relating to the dream journal, Gaia is been having quite a lot of nightmares for a bit, and now that she started taking note of them she notices how many. She keeps dreaming of such "fun" stuff as the soldiers she killed during the hunt for [[npc:Maal]], of what could have happened to [[npc:iorena sevel|Iorena]] if [[npc:victor vituska|Vituska]] had been more skilled… and what Vituska could have done to her. The last one has her waking up in a cold sweat.// * **Gaia**: What did Circle Woman mean by it already happened… in the future? * **AMANDA**: YOU ANSWERED YOURSELF. CIRCLE WOMAN MOVES IN A CIRCLE IN TIME. * //Ja'far explains the description of the intruders to you three and clearly either Rigasia has come to this timeline with weapons or there's an alternate universe that uses the same weapons and similar uniforms. You're asked about the particulars of rigasian weapons and tactics on detail.// * **Gaia**: They shoot with guns. You can't escape those. * **Maelle**: Wha---yes you can? Evasion and agility to throw off their aim. * **Gaia**: Yea, good luck. * **Clark**: If they see you first, it's gonna be likely they kill you so, hide-and-ambush is the better strategy. * //As you are getting ready you notice that the servants that were attending you are headpatting Derek.// * **Clark**: Aww, cute; may I too? * //Maelle joins in the headpatting inmediately, not asking.// * //Clark looks visibly saddened by it.// * //Maelle waves Clark over to headpat too.// * //As Clark is tentatively putting his hand on Derek's head he's interrupted by an angry Gaia who pulls everyone towards the gate.// * **Clark**: Oh, sorry, yes, we don't have time for that. * **Maelle**: Wait, are we talking about the giraffes eating that tree over in the distance or Kesizman forces? * **Clark**: Carnivores need to calculate the risk since any injury to them means they can't hunt and starve, but herbivores will attack because you looked at them funny. * //It's a very big crab, with pincers that could probs cut a human in half, and all its back and most of its extremities are covered in coarse hair that looks vaguely glittery. Its eyes look like glass spheres set into its head and it has several of those, not entirely symmetrical.// * **Gaia**: Clark, Maelle! We're getting out of here, come! * **Maelle**: Gaia, fucking get Derek to run the damn crab over! * **Gaia**: Why is all of this happening? * **Amanda**: Maelle is a sword that saves people; they have seen too much death and has decided that's enough. * **Gaia**: Why couldn't the hunt just stay normal like always? * **Amanda**: Oh, that is just… life. Normal is fake. It's just something you invent to make yourself feel better. * **Gaia**: I wanted to hunt beasts, not search for some timeline people. * **Amanda**: Yea, I wanted to find more acorns for winter, but then I found a girl. I don't regret it, though. * //Gaia cries.// * **Maelle**: Alright then, Schidera: my friend here, Clark, is gonna try fixing your leg. we'll make sure you live, okay? * **Schidera**: Your friend… shot… my leg. * **Maelle**: Yea, sorry about that, mate. * **Maelle**: Gaia, hey! Can you tell Derek to stop moving real quick so Clark can treat this guy?! Schidera is his name, by the way! * **Derek**: I do not believe touching these things was a wise choice. I feel faint, but I believe I can go on; in the worst case, you can move without me as you should. * **Gaia**: Nuh-uh? Kesipeople can probably heal you! Hey, Anagusi! How long until Kesizma? * **Derek**: You… think I would be worth that? * **Gaia**: What's wrong with hunting aberrations? * **Mauto**: The problem is not the hunting, it's that your world is such that hunting is needed. * **Maelle**: Blame Rigasia for that. * **Clark**: Rigasia sees an infected finger, and cuts your arm at the shoulder. ======Trivia====== [[pc:Rose]] had one-hour lag. Ariyadna seems to know enough Shon to sprinkle a word here and there when she speaks of some topics. Maelle has now a very basic understanding of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Sundiata|Epic of Sundiata]]. The scene in which Gaia's shouts to run and abandon the rigasian soldier were ignored by Maelle to charge and try to save him anyway was actually triggering for Gaia's player herself. We managed to talk out the situation and channel the thing towards better Gaia roleplaying. [[place:Maçodel]] is not playing the timeline game because they are busy building a jupiter brain this century. Apparently, Maelle relaxes by geeking out about stuff; in this session it was astrophysics.