Robert Bohl's Demihumans Playtest :Session 6 Competing Magics Mystify the Company

+Robert Bohl's Demihumans Playtest :Session 6
Competing Magics Mystify the Company

The Flower of Human Antipathy sheds another petal, and the Company doesn’t know what magic to
trust!

The Company has sparked some of the demihumans of Bilgeton to prepare for a more direct and violent encounter with the humans from Florageist. The tavern at the center of the enclave has become the headquarters. During the start of this tale, the imprisonment of the elf Eforis-Nei (who is in the clutch of the cruel Squire Prador) was foremost in the company’s mind

The company drew upon the help of Neris, a young female halfling whose family is involved in petty burglaries in Florageist. (Neris is a new character being played by the player who had been playing Eforis-Nei). Neris and her family live in a particularly run-down section of the enclave, and she has a curiously close relationship to Zuk the troll (Neris is helping to raise a human orphan named Lily, and Zuk periodically takes Lily on outings into the swamp).

Zuk, Neris, and two other halflings set out to invade the barracks prison where Eforis Nei is being held. There are clear indications that a major storm (a literal tropical storm) is in the process of ramping up as they set out.  As they approach the building, Zuk’s pseudo-sentient algae radiates some vague type of unease. Neris uses “assess the situation” and gets a reading on the probable location of the prison, but also suspects that something strange is up in the barracks, which is oddly quiet. The three halflings make their way up to the second floor, and they discover a number of soldiers unconscious. Making their way to the prison, they discover the cell of Eforis-Nei open. Inside, she discovers Wycraft, a mysterious elf, who is engaged in some type of strange magic. Eforis-Nei is seated on the floor, but non-responsive.

Meanwhile, Zuk is waiting out in the swamp (using Unseen Sentinel). Ugluk, a half-orc female, appears on the scene: She is weak and delirious. Ugluk had previously been severely injured by Kain the Traitor, and was on the point of death, but had been healed by Zuk’s Fruiting Bodies move. Zuk makes itself visible, and notices that the large wound in Zuk’s shoulder is now inhabited by a colony of glowing pseudo-sentient algae--the same type of algae that Zuk treasures and keeps secured in its mouth. Zuk feels the algae she holds radiating a sense of rightness, and suspects the colony is a result of the Fruiting Bodies move.

Neris talks to Wycraft who says that she is there to free Eforis Nei, and that she has been successful. “Eforis-Nei is free and will always be with us,” she says. She then asks Neris and the other halflings to join her and to exit. Neris (using Fathom a Soul) feels that Wycraft is being genuine, but also realizes that there is much that is being left unsaid or unexplained. Wycraft seems intently interested in establishing some affinity or trust with Neris.

Neris meets up with Zuk, but Zuk’s algae prickles at the appearance of Wycraft. Neris, meanwhile, is quite suspicious of the half-orc with a colony of glowing algae sprouting from her shoulder wound. Other members of the company had previously been suspicious of Zuk's attachment to a magical algae. The tropical storm continues to build  . .  .that can’t be good for an enclave mired in a swamp, can it?