Porcelain

"Porcelain" is the 5th session of Season 2.

 

Aella recovers, and a new party member awakens from inside one of the buildings.

 

It was played on May 23, 2023.

The date in-game is the 8th day of Fall DST.

Synopsis

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Plot

  • Aella is sobbing with Mariana outside the building basically sitting on the ground, Rey and Aster back by the camp
  • Rey and Aster are sitting by the fire, Daisy Daisy walked up to them asking about how Aster isn’t stone anymore
  • Rey doesn’t think that the person who attacked her wasn’t Aella
  • Astraea mentioned how Aella was going on about the tempest queen when she was attacked
  • Rey realized she almost let Aella hurt her and that she didn't fight back, saying that she just let it happen to her, she was so scared, and she could have done something about it
  • Rey gets up and walks over to Aella and Mariana, Daisy Daisy follows, Aster stands up and turns towards where they are going but stays behind
  • Aella is still crying on the ground, her right hand is shaking uncontrollably, she asks Rey to stay away from her
  • Rey-“you are a tremendous asshole but I don’t believe you are a monster”
  • Aella is staring at the ground, reusing to look up in anyone's direction, to afraid to make eye contact with anyone
  • “I can’t even trust myself, I'm just a monster, please, stay back”-Aella
  • Aster walks up and mentions how even they could tell that it wasn’t Aella
  • Aella insists that everyone stays away from her, she says she doesn’t know what she is anymore, Rey says she needs help, Aella insists that she’ll just hurt them again
  • Rey says she won't let that happen again, Rey mentions she could have stopped it but she didn’t
  • Aella tries to get up, stumbles and tries to run, Mariana tries to grab whatever arm is closest to her, she grabs Aella by her wrist
  • As Mariana grabs Aella’s right wrist, it tremors a bit, Aella drops to her knees and essentially tries to stay away from her arm, she wants to stay away from everyone
  • Daisy Daisy says that if Aella leaves she will most certainly die and Daisy Daisy isn’t sure that they want that
  • They are all saying that they are going to help Aella through this
  • Aella saying that she hasn’t shown that she can be trusted
  • Rey-”just because someone does something bad doesn't mean they don't deserve help.”
  • Mariana mentioned how she knows how much worse everything is when she isn’t with Aella
  • Rey is yelling at the gods for not helping, they brought one person back, the least they could do is help Aella when she is struggling
  • Aella mentioned that they helped by taking her powers away
  • Aella, still crying, looks around at the people trying to help her, for once, she doesn’t have a quip or petty remark or insult, she is just silent. She does not take Mariana’s outreached hand, she stays sitting down
  • Aella is just staying on the floor, looking down in shame, that's all she can really feel. “I just need some time”-Aella
  • Mariana stands up very slowly and very slowly trudges over to camp and to her shit
  • Daisy Daisy backs away but also tries to maintain attention on Aella but also trying to remain in between Aella and the other awake people
  • Mariana grabs her stuff, her bed roll and bag, she trudges back to Aella and sets them down, she sleeps/looks through notes for things on possession
  • Astraea heads back to the center of camp to have a bit on an existential crisis, you know how that is
  • Rey goes over to Aella and knees down next to her, she doesn’t want Aella to be alone, she has spent a lot of time alone, Aella starts writing on a piece of paper as she is trying to come up with words
  • Aella says she is sorry for everything, everything she said and did
  • “Everyone deserves a second chance”-Rey Aella starts crying after that
  • Rey is going to tell a story, nobody hears that Rey is telling a story, Mariana is looking at the notes and not really paying attention but also paying attention
  • Aella thanked Rey for the story, she said they didn’t have stories like that where she comes from, she said they talked about the great wars and glory and the power of her kingdom. About how you can only protect those you care about if you’re strong enough
  • Aella was taught that the only way to ensure safety is to hurt the people who seek to hurt those you care about in order to protect them
  • Rey says that with Aella’s help somehow, she has realized how stupid she’s been, how she has just been making the stupidest decisions she could, thinking they were smart and being scared every step of the way. She says she is a lot stronger than she thought she was, and that her and Aella might have something in common
  • Rey offers a deal, learning together, her learning to not be afraid of the world around her and Aella learning not to be afraid of herself, Aella agrees to it
  • Aella looks up at Rey who is smiling at her, Aella with very puffy eyeballs tries to make a slight smile and thanks Rey (Such a wholesome convo!!!)
  • Rey gets up and leaves
  • Aella gives the crown to Rey, asked her to give the crown to Aster, Rey said she should give to Aster herself
    • Aster put the crown in one of their many pockets
  • The short rest concludes
  • After a really long time of eyeing nervously what Astraea is doing, Aella finally gets up and slowly walks over to them and hands the crown, she says that she thinks Astraea would wear it well
  • Aella is telling Astraea about what happened, Aella thinks maybe Aster could help her figure out how to control whatever it was that happened
  • Aella’s hands are closed together and is trying to stop her right hand from shaking by holding it tightly with her left hand
  • Aella takes a second then gets up really fast then falls back down, trying to be a more chipper version to focus on figuring out how Astraea became destoned and how to destone the rest
  • Aster mentions she doesn’t know how it happened
  • Aella tries to go back to her old Aella ways 
  • Aella goes over to orchestra to investigate, she is trying to take her mind off of things
  • She notices that the drum isn’t incased in stone, just surrounded by stone like the rest of his stuff
  • Aster can’t cast identify because Mist still has the pearl so it is stone
  • Aella suggests that aster may be able to use the yellow gem but it doesn’t work
  • Aella kicks the crystal away, nothing interesting happens
  • Aella runs over to Mariana who can tell that her sister being more cheery is a mask of some kind
  • Aella tries to ask how to destone the rest of the party
  • Aella puts her shield back on her arm
  • Aella goes back to the building with the skeletons and rug, she silently kicks the bits of rug
  • Mariana follows and her eyes wander to the cloak, Aella wants to reach for the gem
  • Mariana pulls out her dagger and pokes the cloak, it doesn’t do anything, she picks up the cloak slowly and carefully
    •  A slightly worn black silk cloak about 4 foot long, a little frayed on the ends
    • Mariana folds it up and runs out to her bag and puts it in there, returning to the building after running off
  • Aella’s smile fades a bit once Mariana walks off, she goes to inspect the prism, she picks it up
    • A rose quartzite prism, on the reverse side it has initials, it is LT+RE
    • She hands it to Astraea 
  • Mariana tells Aster about the obsidian skulls that were in the statues
  • There are two more building left that they haven’t explored
  • Next building over
    • Same as the last one
    • No skeletons
    • The roof is up but not doing great
    • Clearly also a residence of some kind
    • Aella is not going inside, she says she is going to stand guard
    • Aster and Mariana enter the building, under her breath, Mariana asks if Aella is opening up about anything, saying she thinks Aella seems not quite herself, like there is something more going on that she isn’t really ok
    • Astraea and Mariana are talking about gods now, Aster says they don’t follow any and Mariana says she doesn’t really either, she follows something but she doesn’t know what
    • They find a chest shoved in a corner, it has a lock built into it, Astraea opens it, there are six glass spheres about a cannon ball each and a pouch, the glass is clear and inside you can see a fist sized chunk of a green stone
      • It is not a natural stone, it is a crystal of some kind but they have never seen it in nature, it has a rough hewn form to it like it came from the ground but it has never been in any sort of collections, it seems magical in some way
      • They don't remember what its called but they’ve heard of something like this, they think they are holding a bomb
      • The green stone most likely explodes with contact to air or water
    • The pouch is intricately embroidered, a forestry scene
      • Slightly jingly
      • There are a bunch of coins, they remind Aster of home a bit, they are elven
      • There isn’t a large sum inside
      • Remembering that one of the statues was an elf
      • Wondering if the pouch belonged to the statue
      • Thinking that the statues may have been once like our party, finding a place to stay
    • Aella is outside the building on the ground messing with her sword and shield, she stands up once she hears footsteps
    • Aella goes in and to the chest then grabs a ball, Aella wants to throw the bomb behind the building, the opposite direction of the party
      • “It's a magical molotov” (OOC)
      • [The orb is hurled, sails gracefully through the air, it hits a stone, a crack goes through the glass then it explodes, everyone needed to do a dex save
      • Aella and Astraea took a lot of damage and it almost insta killed Mariana]
    • Aella got a vision of what happened if they were to test a bomb (above)
    • One more building to check, Mariana leaves Aella and Aster to search it alone, Mariana is extremely tired
      • This is the building with a kiln out back
      • It resembles a makeshift workshop
      • There are tables covered in unfinished projects
      • The roof has been caved in, there is a large bronze barrel that has embedded itself in the stone
      • There is some kind of a lid that is popped open on the barrel
      • Aella slowly approaches and knocks on the side, no response
      • Aella tries to get up on a table to try to get to the top of the barrel
      • She looks into the barrel 
      • Crumpled at the bottom of the barrel almost looks like a humanoid, their skin is weird and their clothing is weird
      • It seems like they are either dead or catatonic, they are definitely not breathing
      • Aella tumbles into it, the slop takes Aella down to them, Astraea and Rey get on the table too to see what's inside
      • Aella casts cure wounds, the figure jumps to life and pulls a dagger in Aella’s general direction, Aella tries to lower the dagger
      • He stands up, a warforged that is completely covered in white porcelain with blue scrolling up it, in places where its cracked, it's been filled in with gold, his eyes glow electric blue and his hair flickers into existence
      • There was a sandstorm so he found shelter to stop his gears from grinding
      • He introduces himself as Sir Dorian Page
      • Aella introduces herself with all her titles
      • Aella seems so happy being addressed properly
      • Behind Dorian is a bank of levels, he thinks one of them operates the hatch
      • Rey is intrigued, she asked where he got sir, he says he received it for his arts from Ancord(Everyone passed through the Ancord strait)
      • Aella starts to climb out the barrel and Dorian follows
    • Aella is giving the rundown of the area and what happened to the party members
    • They are back at camp now
    • Dorian is examining one of the stone party members, nat 1, they are stone
    • Aella takes out the healing jar to examine to see if there might be restorative properties more than just for healing, their primary function is to mend wounds and ease pain but you could try to see what happens if you put the whole jar on someone
    • Aella hands the jar to Astraea and tells them to put the whole thing on one of the people
    • Aella is going to the skulls and going to spend an hour attuning to the one that looks more elven. She drops her mask after Rey voices concern saying that it is fine and that if it can help the others then she doesn’t mind the consequences
    • Aella wants to let herself take the risk to not risk the others. Rey reminds that the skulls may make the thing come out again. Aella takes the skull and walks away
    • Aster has the jar and might be able to use the ointment in a thin layer to coat an entire person
    • Aster is going to try to coat mist with the ointment, they try their best to get it all over the statue but isn’t able to apply it everywhere, at the end left with a sticky and dusty mist statue and empty jar
    • (If days have been flowing properly it is day 238 of the year, 8th day of fall)
    • DM stole Aella's player to run through Aella with the skulls, so many dice rolls

Quotes

Trivia