The Collective - Session 50

This is the fiftieth session in The Collective campaign and the first and only session in the Breakdown storyline of the Current Arc. Player feedback ranks this session at an 8.2.

Notable Events

 * Rosanhi went to the refugee camp, learned of their disdain towards the party, and spoke with Belanor about helping them.
 * Rosanhi returned to the Second Chance Orphanage, learning that Madelyn Harris was pregnant, and that the orphanage was in much better circumstances due to several donations during the party's absence.
 * Flynt was introduced to the wonderful absurdity of Human markets, where the two failed to have the dark metal ingots identified.
 * Gorrn officially lost his job as cook at the Shaky Cabin Inn.
 * Gnorbitt attempted to murder Gertrude, burned her house to the ground, and swore his service to Cencaela, being defeated by Gorrn in the streets of Paradeen's harbor district.



Summary
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 1001: Shocked and unable to properly process the revelation that his meaningful time spent with Gertrude was nothing more than a fantasy, Gnorbitt began to stomp through the city high on crimson, causing havoc and evading the guards while headed in the direction of the Triangle Market. At the opposite side of the city, the rest of the party, accompanied by a depressive Calhoun, departed from Alyrite Castle to head towards the market and purchase various supplies and luxuries after their journey. Upon reaching the market, Calhoun left the group and returned to his home, offering Rosanhi and the others a weak goodbye before entering his house. While Badger, Gorrn, Flynt, and Roscoe decided to shop at the market, Rosanhi split from the group to visit the refugees from Ène Ono.

Strolling through the city, Rosanhi eventually walked into the camp openly, expecting to find Padithar, where she was instead met with cold, familiar stares from many of the refugees upon her arrival. Realizing that quite a few of the refugees blamed her and her friends for the deaths of their fellows, Rosanhi apologized to the two guards that had confronted her and went to leave, before being intercepted by Belanor at the edge of the camp. Belanor, unlike the others, thanked Rosanhi for her help and admitted that none of them would be alive had they not left. While the Elves are much too stubborn to admit it, they desperately need assistance, and he is willing to facilitate her helping them without the refugees having to interact with her. After leaving the camp, she headed to the Second Chance Orphanage nearby, where she met with Madelyn Harris, who was delighted to see her and, upon turning around, revealed that she was expecting a child. The two caught up on recent events before Madelyn informed Rosanhi that the orphanage was in much better shape than when she had last seen it, following the success of the benefit concert and a sizable and unexpected donation from the King. Rosanhi proceeded to enter a playroom, where she briefly spoke with orphans new and familiar, before attempting to communicate once more with Belkin, learning that he was, in fact, fully mute and not just unable to speak Common.

Inevitably, Gnorbitt and the party crossed paths, with Gnorbitt spotting the party near the market and trying to hide. Having noticed him, Badger informed the party that he believed he had seen Gnorbitt, and the four of them headed around the corner, where Badger was jumped by Gnorbitt in a frenzy. They managed to subdue him, concluding that he was clearly under the influence of some drug. After failing to fully communicate with him but having calmed him down somewhat, Gorrn and Roscoe decided to accompany Gnorbitt to ensure he did not hurt himself or anyone else, while Flynt and Badger would purchase supplies at the market. Flynt, overwhelmed by the strangeness of Human commercial culture, spent most of his time following around and asking Badger questions about the events happening around them. First, the two purchased some small crates of food, before heading to a shop called Archibald's Oddments. Inside of the shop was, as expected, shelves upon shelves of strange items like bird skulls, beads, incense, and all sorts of other things. Behind the counter stood a tall man dressed in furs and a glass eye, who spoke with a thick Naravutian accent that Flynt could not recognize as Common. There, they purchased several crates of incense for Rosanhi, as well as the glass eye that the man (Archibald, from Coldwater) wore in his socket. The two then went to the Broken Hammer, the market's blacksmith, speaking with Rodric about the strange black metal ingots they had received from the Cult of the Blue Oyster. Unable to either identify it or shape it, Rodric could not help them with the ingots but did provide them with other weaponry and tools to purchase.

Following Gnorbitt to the Shaky Cabin Inn, Gorrn and Roscoe watched him take a seat at the bar and begin drinking. Roscoe sat at the bar, while Gorrn headed back into the kitchen to speak with his boss and return to work. The barkeep immediately recognized Roscoe, both from the benefit concert and from having seen him perform in Harron over 20 years ago. The two joked about the old earl of Harron being morbidly obese and wearing strange pants, the man having unfortunately died due to his poor health. Roscoe explained that they were looking after Gnorbitt while he dealt with his problems, which the bartender acknowledged as he poured Gnorbitt another drink. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Gorrn pushed his way past two small Human men to confront Herman, the portly cook of the Shaky Cabin Inn, who told Gorrn that he had disappeared for half a year and was presumed dead, so the inn hired another cook. Gorrn failed to grasp the concept that he had been fired, but after further conversation, began to understand why it was bad that he had abandoned his post. Herman offered him his back pay, which he accepted, but after beginning to intimidate Gorrn, he stepped away from Herman without harming him, displaying his development from the man he was when he was originally hired.

*** POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE CONTENT AHEAD***

Secretly plotting to commit the unspeakable, Gnorbitt calmly stepped down from the bar and exited the inn, immediately breaking into a sprint down the alleyway upon exiting the building. Gorrn and Roscoe realized that he had left and ran away soon after, searching for his whereabouts aided by Roscoe's magic. Having a head start on the two, Gnorbitt proceeded to Gertrude's home, pounding on the door in an attempt to break it down. The door quickly opened to reveal Gertrude there, who expressed surprise at Gnorbitt. Gnorbitt, wasting no time, immediately attacked Gertrude with his whip, whipping it around her neck with a sickening crack. Then, throwing her presumably dead body into the house, he set it alight before exiting through the door, having been spotted by a few citizens during the act. Worried that Gnorbitt may have done something terrible, Gorrn leapt across the roofs of the harbor district aided by magic as Roscoe trailed behind. Seeing Gnorbitt in the streets departing Gertrude's burning home, he jumped and landed behind him 40 feet away.

While walking away, Gnorbitt's vision began to fade as, like when he had encountered the party at the market, the figures around him began to morph into red amalgamations. Unlike his previous experience, however, the red quickly faded to black as his mind cleared somewhat and he began to see flits of color, reds, blues, greens, and yellows dance around him before hearing an all-encompassing voice addressing him, tempting him to join her: Cencaela. Offering him power unimaginable and a chance for total control of his life once more, that which had been taken away from him many years ago when they first met, she manipulated his damaged psyche and successfully drew forth a pledge of service from him. Flashing back to the material plane and armed with a sacrificial dagger, he turned to face Gorrn. Feigning ignorance at first, Gnorbitt attempted to trick Gorrn into believing that he didn't know what had just happened, but could not deceive him. The two argued briefly while, behind them, Roscoe braved the burning building to drag Gertrude's body out of the wreckage and to aid attempts to pacify the people and extinguish the flames. The two battled verbally, Gnorbitt cutting him with broken, tattered memories of Squidsiddie and the Delinquents. Pushing these, and Cencaela's temptations, down, Gorrn shed a tear for his friend before engaging him in battle. Unparalleled in physical combat, Gorrn bested Gnorbitt due to the latter's still undeveloped control over his new powers, dealing the final blow with his maul as Gnorbitt fell crippled and unconscious to the ground.