Edicts and Echoes
The Veiled Vanguard descends into the city at the roots of the colossal Qyrakwarm, only to be seized, stripped of their magic, and tested by the cautious Dragoon guard. Released after an elaborate ruse, the party learns the shocking truth of Thalia’s condition as a living bioweapon while Emelyne grapples with her exile from the Sun Keepers and Sanasha struggles with the cursed pocket watch fusing into her body. As dreams of past lives, looming trials, and new assignments weigh heavily, the group faces the impossible choice of whether to serve, subvert, or escape their Dragonborne hosts.
From the journal of the Druid Naoki, discussing recent events
We take the fight to the skies against the Aerosaur very angry to find some unwanted guests in its nest with a KAKAW echoing out into the still air. The fight was rather vicious watching my friends get blown away while Percy enters a door to exit stage left quite literally with Shasoth and Renatus in tow. Back to being blown away Thalia falls off the cliff, but is saved thanks to Emelyne’s quick thinking. I cannot say the same for my dear guardian Sanasha however after destroying the eggs and thoroughly pissing off the Mama Aerosaur, it grabs a hold of her and drops her down the side of the cliff about to lose more than just a spear in this case. Thankfully she’s able to lasso onto the creature saving herself while we continue to batter the creature. At last Thalia pulls back extra far on her bow kneeling to ground before loosing a powerful arrow felling the beast as it collapses down below. After tending to the wounded, I look over to see Emelyne feeding food to the baby! I thought I had cooked it alive with some of my big hurty lightning, but its alive! I immediately run over to talk to the adorable thing~ It says its hungry and I give it some food and lie to everyone that it wants to come with us. After a big argument we ended up deciding to leave it with Zorna to take care of and feather fall down the mountain.
We see Percy and Renatus and give them an earful about leaving us when we were already in too deep to simply climb down. Me and Percy bicker but resolve we should get everyone back in fighting condition bonding over tending to the wounded comrades…at least I thought so. We make it back to Zorna and she tells us to leave Shasoth with her as she knows certain herbs that have the ability to recover and regrow limbs once lost but it would take quite a while. We set off to the exit with Percy leading us, however we make a pit stop at this temple that was overgrown with weeds and overgrowth. Upon further inspection we realize the inner part of the sanctum reflects light. After an hour of brushing it off (I wish I had the ability to the plants to grow elsewhere alas…) ahem we make the sun shine and it points right into a crystal shining brilliantly lighting up the brasier of Silnor and Aolnor. Upon doing this it felt like the whole temple was bathed in such a nice warmth like a hotspring almost causing the overgrowth and plants to retract revealing the true grandeur of the temple and in an explosive manner the situation starting crumbling to reveal…. A shiny silver man with wings and eyes lining his body.
We find out that person is an Oracle to the gods and is named Zorindale and he offers one truth to us in exchange that we reveal who we worship. I admitted I don’t really worship anything rather Mother Nature herself. Satisfied with our parties answer he offers us the one truth that we decided on being “How do we save the world from this entity of mass destruction.” He tells in order to defeat it the Gods powers are needed, but the mortals must also step up to the plate and change our destiny together. After saying this he says his final task is to guard the heart of Bjorn til the ends of time. He also reveals we may find our answers in the land between life and death before vanishing in a flash of light. We gather our resolve and make our way to exit to see some type of strange contraption that is able to lift the stones up and a door opens once we reach the top. We all step inside and it slams behind us with no way back in and before us a large tree bigger than any tree ive seen stands. We have arrived in Draelwyrm as the pocketwatch coldly ticks in Sanasha’s side affirming this. Man am I glad i didnt keep that thing…
With 12 days remaining on their deadline with Contras, the Vanguard descended the mountain as morning light illuminated the silver and gold leaves of Qyrakwarm, a vast central tree whose divine blessing protects Draelwyrm from Fey and Infernal intrusion. Approached by Captain Andrad of the Dragoons aboard his Dragonelle, Sally, the party learned that Draelwyrm is governed by five major noble families serving the god A'rutkahem, the Dragon King—whose divine power endured even through the Edicts of Casmir. Over-sharing details of their travels, the group accompanied Andrad through the city gates of Fryllmyr, only for massive alarms to blare. Stripped of their gear (save for Ro’Zaad’s hidden lockpick and earpiece), fitted with magic-suppressing gemstone necklaces, and separated into cells based on race, the party was interrogated by an elderly woman named Ms. Prim. After threatening emotional support puppies with a prop knife, she tested their motives before releasing them—revealing the entire arrest was a security precaution. Moving to the luxurious Roosting Claw tavern, they learned that party member Revalor (Renatus) hailed from the elite Purebirch shipping family.
At the tavern, a leathery Tortle named Siegra examined Thalia’s chest, uncovering a horrifying truth: Thalia was altered by the Weirfell into a living bioweapon. If she dies and fails a saving throw, her body will detonate in a 10-mile radius, dealing 100d10 force damage. Emelyne also received a letter confirming her expulsion from the Sun Keepers, though she remained in denial about her standing. During dinner, Contras froze time to rudely interrupt the party via Sanasha's pocket watch. Revealing that the monolith's destruction weakened the Edicts, Contras clarified their true target: stealing the Eye of the Dragon King, the heart of Qyrakwarm. Intrigued by Thalia's status as a biological weapon, Contras offered to fine-tune her condition, granted the group one extra day (12 days remaining), and promised no physical harm would come to them during the heist, though it would be emotionally devastating.
Later that night, Emelyne and Sanasha investigated the pocket watch fused to Sanasha's ribs. Attempting to pry or cut it away caused the internal chains to constrict tightly around Sanasha's heart, causing her to cough up blood as a demonic eye glared back from the wound. Meanwhile, Renatus slept for the first time in ages, experiencing a vivid vision of his past death on a foggy battlefield at the hands of a knight riding a flame-maned horse. The next morning, Captain Andrad tasked the Vanguard with destroying a Frankenstein-like creation made by religious zealots. In exchange, Ro’Zaad requested rapid Dragonelle transport to Qyradell, while the party sought a blessing for Thalia's sword from Lady Veosis—a powerful Crystal Dragon lord of Pyremoa.