Quest: The Truth Lies Hid (Wings of the Goddess)
-Back to Bastok. The Mythril Musketeers plan to search for Captain Klara, and since she seems in league with the Beastman Confederate, we head to Castle Zvahl.
-Nicolaus feels uneasy working with Zeid now, knowing now that he’s a murderer.
-We arrive at the castle and see an Allied party fighting demons. They haven’t seen Klara, but suggest I try talking to the imp they have cc’d nearby.
-The imp is cagey. She says she doesn’t know anything, but tells us to find her friends deeper in.
After we leave: “Good thing those three have a coupl’a tricks up their sleeves. They’ll be sure t’ tell those meddlers everythin’… Everythin’ but the truth.” Frigging imps.
-The three imps (Rikke, Rokke, and Rakke) deeper in are like that riddle about the three guards. Two lie and one tells the truth. I have to find the honest one.
-Rikke swears she knows where Klara is. Rakke swears Rikke is telling the truth. The third, Rokke, says not to trust Rakke.
It’s confusing, but I think Rakke is lying, which means Rikke is lying. I choose Rokke.
-Success! She tells me where to find Klara. The “boss” (Odin? Shadow Lord?) is using her for his plans.
-We find Klara, but she quickly teleports away. A “mouse sprung a trap.” OH SHIT, it’s that Hydra Corps party we saw! They ran into some trap of hers.
-Zeid and I head off to find her while Nicolaus and Five Moons stay behind to investigate the connection between Klara and the “boss.”
-We find the Hydra Corps in another room. Captain Klara summons some demons to attack them, and we take those demons out together.
-Klara prepares to attack when she falls unconscious.
“It seems we’ll have to settle—URRH!” Seems more and more like possession.
YUP, POSSESSION! A pool of darkness flows out from Klara. A demon emerges from the pool, draws a scythe, and starts using dark magic to vacuum us in.
-The now un-possessed Klara gets up, tells us to save ourselves, and charges at the demon. I fall unconscious.
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Quest: Bonds of Mythril (Wings of the Goddess)
-Zeid, Volker and I regroup. Zeid wants to pursue Klara alone, still ashamed of his past. We persuade him to share.
-Flashback. Six years ago, on his vengeful murder spree, Zeid lost himself, lost his purpose.
-He left Bastok, wandering through the northlands until he met a demon. Marquis Amon.
-Amon tempts Zeid to go all the way. Give in completely, and swear allegiance to the Shadow Lord.
-It was then that Captain Klara arrived. She had been pursuing Darksteel Hurricane to arrest him. Amon summons a ring of fire around Zeid. The war for Zeid’s soul is on.
Klara begs Zeid to remember his cause, his comrades. To redeem himself. Amon wants Zeid to forget who he was and join the Shadow Lord.
Amon’s strongest argument is trying to isolate him. Nobody believes in Zeid, nobody ever will.
KLARA: “He lies. And I shall prove it to you.”
-She charges into the purple fire. It causes her agony, but she does it anyway to extend a hand.
Zeid takes it.
-Amon throws an eye-like gem at Zeid and flees. Klara shatters it before it reaches him, but a shard lodges in Klara. So THAT’S how he possessed her.
-Klara feels hanging Zeid will be letting him off easy. Instead, she offers him protection. The chance to face his countrymen, his comrades, and do better.
-Back to the present, the story told at last. Let’s find Klara.
-We join up with Nicolaus and Five Moons deeper in the castle.
-Marquis Amon emerges. He offers a deal: he’ll give up possessing Klara in exchange for Zeid joining the Shadow Lord. Offers him the power to sate his rage... and yet, this won’t tempt him. Not anymore.
-Klara’s life is a different sort of temptation. He owes her his life, his soul… and says yes to Amon. They disappear.
-DAMMIT. “Wings of the Goddess” my ass. “Pacts with the Underworld” is more like it.
-Nicolaus has a plan. It sounds like that jewel is the source of Amon’s power. If we destroy it, we remove Amon’s power over Klara, and his leverage over Zeid.
-We make our way to the Throne Room. Amon is presenting Zeid to the Shadow Lord. A new servant.
-The Shadow Lord accepts this pact. Lifts Zeid, moves to finalize this pact by zapping him with power.
-We bust through the door and the Shadow Lord leaves Marquis Amon to take care of us.
-Shit. Amon orders Zeid to attack us, and he draws his blade.
LOLOLOL GET REKT AMON – ZEID WAS FAKING HIM OUT. HE TURNS TOWARDS AMON AND CHARGES! He nearly gave up his soul six years ago – never again. He resisted the Shadow Lord’s offer.
-Amon returns to Klara’s body. The fight is on, against possessed!Klara.
-Midway through, Klara fights back against Amon! She stalls him, taking back control of her body. Zeid uses the delay to break Amon’s gem with some spiritual/shadowy move.
-Marquis Amon emerges and we take him down. Captain Klara is okay – yay!
-Before we leave, the Shadow Lord reappears.
“You would truly forsake power unfathomable for the company of mortals? Then you are a fool, no better than they, and I do not suffer the company of fools. Begone from my sight.
“But know this, mortals: where there is light, so always will there be shadow. For so long as hatred and rage festers in the hearts of Altana’s children, e’er will my power grow.”
-Back to Bastok. President Prien understands what happened. He doesn’t hold it against Klara that she threatened him. She couldn’t help it.
-The Mythril Musketeers are reinstated in full. While Captain Klara recovers, Zeid will serve as captain.
-The president gives me an especially badass title: “Mythril Musketeer Zero.”
-We get a nice little outro of the Mythril Musketeers charging out towards the battlefield once more, as a narrator’s words play across the screen.
“And so it was that the Mythril Musketeers set off for the battlefield once more.” He relays Klara’s words, how bonds of friendship stronger than mythril are our true strength. It’s from the perspective of one of the musketeers – Zeid maybe? Volker? Not sure.
-This was an optimistic break from last session. This seems to wrap up this expansion’s Bastok storyline.
-I’m so happy that this city is my home. I have honest affection for its struggles and triumphs, despite the systemic Hume oppression. Slow progress, thanks to the efforts of Humes trying to do better and Galka fighting for the place they deserve.
And I love the lens through which this expansion showed Bastok’s path: through this old version of the Mythril Musketeers. How it centers the pain of Five Moons and Zeid, struggling to find their place within a society that treats them with such violence. How they should act, how they should respond.
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Next time: Back to the primary story.
