Rebirth

"Rebirth" is episode 63 of SuperQuest Saga. The party has finally made it back to Arcadia with the holy waters of Thalassia in tow. The Singers stand ready. The Song of Rebirth is at hand.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your verdant dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, The Forsaken.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the galactic druid.
 * It’s sha’boi. He plays Echo.

Recap
Last time a lot of things happened. The party journeyed to the planet of Thalassia and they visited a very powerful primal named The Lady of Sunlit Shallows and sought to gain some of her holy waters. They traded the dankest rope, a sapling of the Seldarine tree, and Persephone’s staff, and in return they received a magic orb that resembles a small planet reflection of Thalassia itself. Persephone is holding it on her person. Then Sebastian had a call with a guy who is so, so mad at him. Archduke Ramazal l exacted his retribution, took out half Sebastian’s face, robbed him of his warlock powers, and is putting out a hit on the party. Echo had a talk with Sebastian and it was good. Echo had a heart to heart with his dad. Persephone decided to meditate and visit Primina’s spiritual sphere. She noticed some odd things; the waters were solid and not liquid on top, and when she descended deep into the darkness, Persephone found that Prim has become a prisoner of her own pain and emotions. It seems impossible to help her.

Olympic Power Walking
The Starling arrives above the planet Arcadia and the city Haven seven days after leaving Thalassia. The party lands The Starling on a grassy knoll outside of the city outskirts next to an enormous umbrium dragonforged ship that they left there. They see a welcoming party; the Council of Seven led by Jendrick, a group of Singers in green-gold robes with Rohorn, Echo’s sister, and a crowd of folks from Haven.

Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian step out to greet them. Jendrick speaks, “Hail, Arcadion. We are pleased and solaced at your safe return home. We trust you were successful in your mission?” Echo confirms and gestures towards Persephone and the orb. The crowd whispers in awe, Jendrick is about to speak but Rohorn interrupts. “Jendrick, drop the decorum. We have little time.” Rohorn turns to the party and instructs them to follow him; Prim is alive but she is not faring well. Her body is atrophying and he thinks time is short.

As they make their way into the city, Rohorn walks next to Percy and tells her that she will have to serve as the cynosure. She is inexperienced in the ways of the Singers, but she is the only one of Singer blood who knows Prim personally. He asks if she is willing to do this, and Persephone tells him she will do anything. He nods as if he expected her to say such, and says “The cynosure acts as a spiritual connection or guiding light for the Choir as we focus our intent and energies with the song. I can explain as we walk.”

Echo sniffs the air and inquires whether it rained recently. One of the Singers speaks up and explains that a summer rain came through last week. Sebastian asks if there is anything he can do to help out with the process. Another Singer addresses him and says that his presence alone should help, if he was close to the patient. The Song will do much of the work, and as he is a living thing and part of the world, he will be a part of the song whether he intends to be or not. Sebastian will do what he can to help.

The Sun Gardens
Primina has been kept in the Sun Gardens, a walled off and sacred garden of Seldarine trees; their white trunks and blue-green leafage along with the sound of running water make this place feel separate from the rest of Haven. Between the majestic and migrated Sylvan life, are lush bushes, ferns, and brooks. A white walkway leads the group past fountains to one of the five bridges crossing a flowing waterway to a sizable island at the center of the gardens. There are two major points of interest on this island: one is the monarch tree of the garden, Ryu-Oh; towering above, its expansive branches form a canopy over the Sun Gardens. Primina, in her draconic form, lies upon the meadow of the island; curled in a sleeping position, her breathing is ragged and her form appears to be somewhat emaciated. The hue of her metallic blue scales has dulled to a grayish blue, white feathers litter the area and her wings look frayed and thinner than before. The smell of burning herbs fills the air as Singer healers pray and hum healing chants over her.

Sebastian moves close to see first-hand how Primina is doing; she looks rough, she has been unconscious for weeks and it looks like she is starving. Sebastian gets close to her ear to tell her that they are there for her, and she’ll get better soon. Echo casts Detect Magic to better understand the process of what is going on here. The first thing he notices is the Seldarine tree Ryu-Oh is a beacon of magic, then all the prayers from three Singers are emitting evocation magic, though it seems not to be taking. Primina reads as divine energies, and though there is no curse or spell on her, the szuldar on her body are all entangled and no longer symmetrical. The sigils have moved and they are a mess. Persephone asks Rohorn what she needs to do, and he says that if she is ready, the Song of Renewal is close at hand. He gestures to the eighteen firbolgs in gold and green rows, and they form two rows on either side of Primina. Rohorn stands between the Seldarine and Primina, and instructs Persephone to stand opposite him.

The Song of Rebirth
Rohorn looks at Percy and tells her to hold the waters aloft. “Remember what I said to you before; listen to the sound of your heart, the sonance of your breath, feel the harmony of your emotions and the emotions of those around you.” Things he taught her when she learned the Song of Remembrance. This time they are singing the Song of Renewal, known in some circles as the Song of Rebirth, and it is a powerful song, though not pleasant for those it is being sung about or to.

There is a moment of silence for the space of a breath. Rohorn raises his hands, and as his hands rise, so does his voice along with the voices of the bass and deep baritone Singers making up the two back rows of the Choir. A rising pulse of notes, both vital and stirring, vibrate the air within the grove. Strong and deep, the Singers intonate in turn and in harmony. Then, like rain falling upon stones, cascading arpeggios issue forth from the tenors and sopranos of the Choir. The sounds are contrasting, but complementary, overlapping and building on each other. The song is spirited and powerful; it builds and builds until, in a sudden crescendo, the four voices of the Choir come together. A single resonant note in perfect harmony, a parting of the clouds like a golden beam of sunlight shining through the storm.

Persephone feels a strong desire to protect her friend and learn this new magic. She lets herself get taken away in earnest. The feeling is familiar to her, she’s felt the thrum of the Song resonate through her being before. With the Song of Remembrance, it was a tender and solemn kind of emotion vibrating through her, and this time it is a vibrant and energized feeling; a song of life. Percy begins to sing, her mezzo-soprano voice joining the chorus.

The orb of the Waters of Thalassia begins to shine, the Waters of Life charged with this Song of Renewal. Persephone remembers what Rohorn told her, she is the cynosure. She is the one who is supposed to guide the light to Primina via the spiritual realm. Percy finds herself on Primina’s spiritual sphere in the blink of an eye. She holds the orb aloft, and the sapphire crystal beneath her breaks into water. Persephone passes through the deep darkness to Primina’s cave again, and finds Primina chained with her fears leering at her just like before. All is silent. They do not hear the song here.

Persephone walks over, kneels down, and puts her hand on Primina’s cheek. Cradling her head, Persephone begins to sing the Song of Renewal. The orb shines brighter and brighter until it bursts in a blinding light, and along with that burst is the entire chorus, the entire Choir singing on the material plane, echoes through the chamber. The shining light beats back the darkness and the fears leering over Primina evaporate like smoke. Primina lets out a sonorous cry of pain and of sorrow, but also of renewal.

She begins to heal; the iron spikes get pushed from her skin and fall to the ground, and she stands. At this moment, water begins to fill the cave and Persephone is washed away in a rush, out the cave and back into the open darkness, which is now light, and up through the waters, out of the surface, and back out into the void. Just like that, Persephone stands on the material plane where she was, holding the orb in front of her. The light transferred into Primina.

Echo and Sebastian witnessed this from the outside. Echo was studying the magic process with Jhank on his shoulder watching in awe, and Sebastian tried to sing along to help. They saw the orb’s glow transfer out into the open space of the grove and into Primina’s body.

Primina’s draconic body begins to glow; the song fills the grove, the great Seldarine tree seems to react to the song itself and thin strands of light issue forth from some of its leaves and onto Primina. Slowly at first, then at an accelerated pace, effects begin to show on Prim; her scales begin to luster, her body appears less emaciated, feathers grow on her wings, and her tail lights ablaze. All around her, and the Choir, on the island grove, blossoms begin to grow by the hundreds at everyone’s feet. Then, with a shining flash of light, Primina awakes with a sound that is the blend of a roar and a single, sonorous note of music. She stands before Echo, Persephone and Sebastian in all her majesty, magnificent and terrible. Her eyes look fearful, but also thankful, and she gives a nod to everyone present before suddenly spreading her wings and blasting off into the sky, out of sight. The Choir breaks off and she is gone. Persephone is exhausted.

Sandstorm
The crowd murmurs a mix of celebration that the song worked and confusion about where Primina went. Echo teleports to the location where Jendrick and the Council were watching from a safe distance away, startling one of the Council members, and asks if it is possible to get eyes on Primina. Jendrick will scramble some pilots and see what they can do, but it will take some time.

Echo reports back to Persephone and Sebastian, and Percy says that they have to find her. They decide to chase Prim in The Starling, Echo draws a teleportation circle to get them back quickly. They’re about to take off when Echo notices a random Singer in the ship who accidentally got teleported. The Singer accidentally knocks something over on her way out, and Echo teleports over to catch it. Finally, they are ready to take off, following Primina south and keeping an eye on The Starling’s scanners.

After about ten minutes and nothing in sight but sandy dunes, Persephone casts Commune with Nature to see if she can get a read on Primina’s energy. She feels a great disturbance to the south, it’s as if the winds and the earth are active in an unnatural way. There seems to be a lot of activity almost like a beacon straight ahead. As they get closer, she senses a mixture of very powerful celestial, fey, and fiend energy that could be Primina coming from the same source. Soon, they all see a swirling sandstorm focused on a single location. Echo is familiar enough with the area to recognize that the sandstorm is centered on a plateau.

Wombo Combo
Echo suggests they land since it might not be safe to fly into the sandstorm. Persephone is able to cast Control Winds to ease their passage, and they land The Starling on the dusty plateau in the eye of the storm. They don’t see anything at first glance but upon further investigation, Echo finds the hole of a tunnel. Sebastian moves forward to take the lead and jumps into the hole, a 10-ft. drop, and discovers that it intersects with a larger catacomb of tunnels below.

Sebastian reports to his friends that it looks like a maze, but suddenly Echo pops up behind him and gently shushes him. Echo sends a whispered Message to Percy asking if she wants to do the “wombo combo” and she doesn’t know what that is. Echo explains it is the combination of Invisibility and Pass without Trace to make the party extra stealthy. Persephone asks if that’s necessary. Echo mentions that he picked up one big life form on the scanner, and Percy insists that she’s pretty sure that’s Prim.

Persephone and Sebastian look around for tracks to follow through the maze, but they don’t find anything. Percy believes that means Prim entered the plateau from a completely different area since she hasn’t been through here. Sebastian starts moving forward but realizes pretty quickly that the path they’re on is ascending. Percy thinks Prim is down below and offers to dig a path down using her Garburias Wild Shape. She shifts into the form, which looks like a cross between a shark and a dragon made of obsidian, and starts burrowing towards the heart of the plateau. Echo and Sebastian follow the path that she creates, clearing the debris out of the way.

Percy breaks through a few tunnels, descending a couple hundred feet, and finally senses Primina’s energy through one last wall. As the Garburias burrows through, everyone hears the sound of wind when she breaks through into a large, open chamber. The ground here is sandy and wind is swirling through this dimly lit room. At the center of the room stands a fully formed Primina; she does not seem to notice their presence.

Hey Guys
Echo calls out obnoxiously to Primina, but she doesn’t hear. Persephone drops the Wild Shape and starts moving towards Primina. Echo casts Message and tries calling “Ey!” again. Primina turns and stares at them. Echo asks if they’re cool, but Primina only makes a sonorous, melodious sound in response. Persephone looks at Sebastian and suggests the two of them get closer to her. The pair approaches with their hands out in a comforting manner, calling to Prim.

Primina doesn’t appear fearful or timid, she just stands there, staring blankly as Percy and Sebastian approach. Echo casts Detect Magic to check the status of her szuldar; they are still messed up but not nearly as tangled as before. Persephone runs up and hugs her; the wind instantly stops. Only Echo sees that when the wind stops, Primina’s szuldar lines break like chains and disappear. There is a blinding flash of light, and Persephone is holding a naked Primina in her arms. Primina looks timidly at Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian and says “Hey guys.”

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: a half-orc paladin/former warlock. Totally knew the words to that song.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: an albino firbolg druid. Unfairly talented at singing.
 * Codename: Echo: an elf wizard/rogue. Good at scaring the Council members.

NPCS

 * Jendrick: a human male, First among the Council. Loves his decorum.
 * Rohorn: a firbolg member of the Council. Provider of a crash course in the Song magics.
 * The Choir: a group of Singers who perform the Song magic.
 * Primina: a genetically engineered young woman. She's back!

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

Nat 20's (1 total)

 * Special Guest Jake (Investigation)