The Original Rune

The Original Rune
Date	11/17/2023
Storyteller	Doug
Tier	Trainee
Player Characters	Orion Argyros, Kasumi, V, Liminal, Terog Shalesmiter, Lunaris Nightbloom, Amani Hashmi
Rewards	Rune of Superbia
Result	Success
Author	Orion (Dag)
Downtime	7

The party humbles the runelord of pride.

Log

Things were tense, at the start. Though Bees was not to attend this mission, V was wearing an exceptionally tall hat, which she kept speaking to. I'm almost positive the deadly little sprite was under there. Fortunately the dog nor gun anywhere to be seen.

The coffin had once again been altered, this time with teleportation runes. Despite the risk, curiosity got the better of V, who stepped in. We all promptly followed.

We were brought to a tower, long abandoned, as everything else has been. We reached the top, and were greeted with a surely once-grand observation deck, perfect for a night of stargazing. Unfortunately, there was no salvageable equipment.

There was one of the desiccated undead seated at the desk. We assumed him to be inanimate, but he began to speak at our approach. He- Ivar, first advisor to the emperor, father of the runelords of pride and wrath- told us of the empire of Thassilon. Last in a long line of empires risen and fallen. A breaking of tradition, in order to become greater than that that came before. To do so, the emperor brought on seven advisors to take on his sin. Of them, Ivar, who took on pride. Without sin, the emperor would be a perfect leader.

The people also needed guidance. Seven runelords were gathered, each of whom embodied the virtue counter to the sin they would take on. Instead of the sins of the emperor, the sins of the people. In the beginning, only the sin of five thousand. By the end, seventy thousand. As the people grew, so did their sin. And the burden on each of the runelords.

As the calamity neared, the emperor built Asland Mountain, a home that could house a hundred thousand, and teleport the entirety of the empire elsewhere- with the power of the seven mages, of course. But each of them reached their own breaking point, and never reached the emperor.

He asked for us to gather the runelords. In this case, us; each of us with a sin tattooed or carved into our flesh.

First, we have to defeat his daughter. In preparation, he gives us a necklace she made, and a ring belonging to her mother, then warned that she would be too prideful to go down without a fight.

We approach the city below, and it's perfect. Nothing out of place. Our destination is a graveyard, and we hear her singing. She calls us failures, and the statue animates.

In the fight, Liminal bizarrely begins a long-winded speech about the wonder of Thassilon, drawing some of the husks to us. The runelord is unaffected, and Liminal gives up. Terog lands a particularly brutal hit on one of the husks, and there's envy in Lunaris' eye. The husks have an effect on those nearby. One reaches out for Terog, and soon he is swinging at V. Another reaches for me, and though I feel that familiar wrath building up inside my chest I manage to push it away just long enough to avoid striking out at V. I was not so lucky moments later, when my knife flew past Kasumi. She got her revenge soon after, burning me along with our adversaries. Just to be safe, I beg for her forgiveness.

Amani sent Samir bravely to the heat of the battle with the runelord, and he was the one to bring her to the ground. Kasumi soon approached, presenting the ring and necklace.

The runelord finally yields, and the statue behind us brings the sword down to finally put her to rest. I manage to grab the rune from her chest before I run. Liminal uses his magic to help along Kasumi and Terog, but Kasumi is caught by the edge of the blast, and is none too happy about it.

Terog takes on the Rune of Superbia. I hope it does not cause him much suffering.