Blood's Awakening 06/22/2023 session recap

♣ Blood's Awakening: the party
♣ Blood's Awakening recap - part 1 - part 2 - part 3
♣ Previous session- Next session (to be added)

• We left on a CLIFFHANGER!! The party encounters five automatrons, one of them being an iron golem.
• With no hesitation, The Rose of Winds attacks. However, stepping into the room triggers the spell Reverse Gravity and now everyone is slammed against the ceiling. Caliban recognizes the spell and Polvere tries to dispel it but fails; Alexander’s magic is almost too powerful for us.
• The fight against the iron golem is tough as heck. At some point the iron golem breathes a poisonous cloud that severely wounds Vittorio, while Celio can’t stand it and simply faints. On top of that, magical lightning zaps everywhere in the room. YAY!!!!!!
• From another room, a child is calling for help. Caliban and Edna immediately rush to help her: she’s inside a room that’s being rapidly flooded from a hole in the wall.
• Caliban casts Rope Trick and invites the child inside, but as he reaches out his hand to touch her, he realizes she’s incorporeal. It’s another spell, probably Major Image. Caliban and Edna make their way back as fast as they can.
• The rest of the fight is still tough, but thanks to a bunch of buffs, debuffs, and a couple of clutch smites from Serpico, Polvere manages to kill the golem by making it explode with Guiding Bolt.
• The party is in the middle of their celebratory hug when the effect of Reverse Gravity ends and they’re slammed against the floor. It hurts, but they can finally rest. They know they could’ve asked for help or take some more time to complete the dungeon, but the Rose of Winds wanted to prove their words to Alexander: when they said they could manage Mohkvaris’ threat, they meant it.
• The Rose of Winds gets out of the dungeon and they’re offered a warm bath and delicious food. They rest for an hour or so, collecting their thoughts and relaxing, then they join Alexander and his entourage back in the Council Room: this time there’s fewer people, it’s just Alexander, Aidan (who’s currently eating lunch, busy man) and the Iron Falcons.
• Both the Iron Falcons and The Rose of Winds did well on their trials and are still adamant on taking down Mohkvaris. Alexander has a task for each group: The Iron Falcons will infiltrate Mohkvaris’ army and locate his lair without being noticed by him or his cultists, while The Rose of Winds will look for the bronze dragoness Azraloth (Anducar’s mother) or what remains of her. In the meantime they will also help the population of Latavium with their own means.
• Much to Polvere’s joy, Alexander conjures a magical map of the region. He suspects that, since he couldn’t see Azraloth with Scrying, she (or her remains) could be hiding somewhere either near the Old King or  the Ruins of the Howling Coast. Both of these places are surrounded by magic more ancient than the current recorded history, especially the Old King: it’s a millenary tree, its properties are a mystery that many scholars have tried to decipher without success. It’s also protected by a secluded community of dryads, who show themselves to the local population once a year for feverish festivities.
• It’s time to talk about Mohkvaris’ treasure. Some of it will go back to the people of Latavium, some of it will go to Alexander, and the rest will be divided between the adventurers. At that point, Michele (from the Iron Falcons) dares a joke about Vittorio stealing The Rose of Winds’ share of the loot, which promptly gets shut down by an intimidating Aidan (eyes emoji???? Gay??? LGTV??????). Vittorio appreciates it.
• The Council is dismissed. We see a very scared Zolrath (another member of the Iron Falcons) following Aidan somewhere else, and we can’t resist but to pry. Morgana (Celio’s black cat familiar) is turned invisible and, through her eyes, we follow them inside a private, rather empty room.
• Zolrath is agitated. He sweats profusely and he assumes that Aidan is there to kill him, but Aidan is reassuring instead: the Boss is happy with Zolrath’s work, and he will receive what the Boss has promised if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
• Aidan orders Zolrath to make sure that nobody, neither The Iron Falcon nor The Rose of Winds, puts their hands on Mohkvaris’ treasure before he does. Then he leaves to get ready for tonight’s show at Bender in the Center: he walks past us and asks if everything’s alright, if we need anything or something. Aidan doesn’t seem to suspect anything, so The Rose of Winds simply leaves the castle.
• Before we’re out of the door, we learn that Alexander will speak to the population later today, around 4PM.