Session 6 Recap: Roughin' up Relos

Picking up right where the last session left off, the party marched off to the Academy to find Caesar’s precious book. We got into the library without incident used Caesar’s key on the locked door at the back to find a secret staircase leading downwards. It led us to a network of underground passages full of monsters and possessed floating books and, weirdly enough, a small zoo of sorts. There were many cages of varying size with exotic labels like “zebra,” but the only animals we found were a bunch of rabbits and a lone giraffe. The rest of the cages were deserted with no sign of where the animals had been taken. We debated releasing the caged animals, either as a distraction or just on principle, but ultimately decided to leave them where they were for now since they looked healthy enough.

Our explorations deeper and deeper underground led us to a secret second library, where we found Caesar’s Old Book Vol. 6 (Intro to Warfare by Leon Silverberg, autographed). Mildly concerned that our future chief strategist was seeking a book called “intro to warfare,” albeit one written by a Silverberg, we nevertheless secured the book and took a secret shortcut that Royce found back up to the main library.

In a stroke of luck, we noticed before barging blindly into the upper library that it was now occupied by two old men speaking in conspiratorial tones. One of them was none other than Rodin Relos, a member of the Harmonian Order of God and the man who had thrown Kuarjav in prison thirty years before. Relos addressed the other man as his brother. We eavesdropped on them for a while and heard some things that we (or at least Daisy) couldn’t fully understand about recruiting people and getting rid of others who didn’t conform, possibly referring to students at the Academy. What piqued Daisy’s interest, however, was mention of the Star Dragon Sword. Relos said that a man had been captured in Harmonia carrying the sword, which contains the Night Rune, one of the 27 True Runes. This sword previously belonged to Victor, Daisy’s father, and one of Daisy’s many goals in life is to reclaim that powerful sword for herself. Unfortunately, Relos did not give any clue as to where the man or his precious sword were being held.

Once the team decided that we had eavesdropped long enough, it was time to make our exit. While most of us snuck quietly towards the door out of the library, Harold threw a potch against a far wall and booked it out through the stacks. Relos had locked the library door behind him, but Caesar’s key still worked and we all made it out of the Academy before Relos caught up to us. We ordered the NPCs to run to the inn to find Caesar while the PCs stood and fought the powerful mage. Harold tried to stall Relos with nonsensical talk, but that didn’t last long. Relos’ first spell was almost enough to wipe us out by itself, but through a combination of healing medicines, Harold’s wonderful spell to raise DB, and Kuarjav cancelling all magic immediately after Harold’s magic was cast, we managed to best the Harmonian villain. Relos retreated into the Academy for reinforcements while the rest of us fled. The party met up with Caesar and the others outside of town, and we beat a hasty dragonback retreat.

Once more at the Liberation Army headquarters in Belhurst, we consulted our brand new strategist as to how we should proceed. Caesar stated in no uncertain terms that it was high time we had a solid, permanent, defensible base to call our own, and presented us with three options, a Suikoden first. One possible base used to be a dwarven castle up in the mountains and now stands abandoned. It’s difficult to reach for Harmonia, surrounded by dwarves who hate Harmonia and treacherous mountain paths, and our dragonback travel would allow us to come and go unhindered. Option two is an old Sindar ruin that sits on an island in the middle of one of the largest and busiest rivers in Harmonia. The river connects the Crystal Valley itself to at least four other major Harmonian cities, so while Harmonian ships could reach the base easily enough, so could we sail into the country’s very heart if we had a navy of our own. Plus, Sindar ruins are always cool. Finally, option three is an abandoned Harmonian naval base in the far north, built into the very rock. With defensible cliffs and an abandoned port just waiting to be filled with a revel fleet, this base would make as fine a headquarters as all the rest.

Unable to reach consensus, we decided that the best course of action would be to explore each of the three possible bases in turn to see for ourselves how suitable they would be. We flew to the Sindar ruins first and started hacking our way in past the monsters who had necessarily taken up residence there. The team got all the way to level 3 of the ruins, but just as we were about to meet a new recurring character, we decided to call it a night. Our adventures in the Sindar ruins will continue after the New Year. Happy Holidays, everyone!