Colostle: Session 1- Searching for Answers

A Restless Dream

Jaiyana awoke with the smell of smoke filling her nostrils. She rose quickly, breathing a sigh as she sees the smoldering remnants of her campfire from the night previous. "Only a dream... A nightmare more like." She slumped up to a seated position, rubbing sleep from her eyes. It had been one month since the Black Army decimated her village. The smell of burning huts and blood still filled her with dread every morning. "These won't be nightmares I'll easily shake I suppose. Either way, will give me more and more reason to keep pressing on... And those Rooks. Their eyes burning with Purple Flame. I've seen nothing like it before. Sorcery. It must have been. No difference. I'll find a way to stop them from wreaking such havoc ever again." After the destruction of her village, Jaiyana the sole survivor, she pledged to discover the secrets of the Rooks of Purple Flame. Somehow controlled by the Black Army, they were a destructive force like no other in all of the roomlands. They must be stopped. And as the only one left alive to stop them, she took on the task of finding their secrets and putting a stop to them. She quickly ate from her meager rations and broke down her camp. Readying for the day ahead, she shouldered her pack, grasping her massive greatsword with the Rook arm she had been blessed to have for these last many years. Standing and looking at the long road ahead, she pressed forward on her journey of vengeance against those that took everything from her...

Exploration Phase 1

Exploration Score: 3
The Draw: 2 ♦ A Dangerous Animal; 2 ♠ an Intact Door; 10 ♣ Abandoned City

There was a trail that Jaiyana was following. Some rumors of where the Black Army was going, and where they came from. To get to the bottom of their power, she decided it would be best to find where they came from first. She hoped that they would not cause any more hurt before she could find out more about their origins, but that was a very slim chance. She put the thought out of her mind, focusing on the road ahead. As she progressed down the road she had chosen to follow, she heard the telltale sounds of wildlife in the forest on the edge of the road. She whipped her heavy steel shield out in front of her, her Rook arm holding her greatsword in a threatening manner above her head. "Can't go hungry on the road. Whatever made that sound was big enough for me to hear them... Means I should have meat for a few days yet." Trudging into the forest she quickly found the source of the sound. A massive boar with a scaly hide was rutting at the ground in search of its own breakfast. As she pressed forward towards the boar, it jerked its head up, looking straight at her. Turning its body it readied to charge!

Combat

The Enemy: A wild boar
Intention: Kill you
Weapon: Melee
Combat Score: 1

My Combat Score is 5; I draw 5 cards

The Boar: 3 ♠
My Response: Q ♥

The boar turns and charges, head down and dangerous tusks leading straight towards Jaiyana. Quickly she side steps the charging boar, keeping her shield in place between herself and the boar. As it runs by her, the massive greatsword held by the rook arm protruding from her back swings down, severing the boars head from its body.

Jaiyana quickly sets about processing the boar meat. Wrapping the chunks of meat in sheets of magical leather made specifically for storing such stocks of raw rations, she quickly packs away the meat into her pack and presses forward. "I was running low on food anyways. Glad that food ran into me instead of having to search it out." A grim smile flashed across her face as she trekked onward.

Heading back to the road, she could see that a wall was looming above her directly in her path. That was the trouble with the Roomlands. Sooner or later you hit a wall. Hopefully the road you took was towards a doorway, or at least a crackway, so that you could continue on. She pressed forward, hoping that her road didn't end in a coin flip of heading one way or the other along the wall until she found a way through.

Luckily for her, the road did lead towards a door. And even as far away as it still was, she could see that it looked to be intact. At least she hadn't followed a road to a crumbling ruin of a door that she'd have to get around some how. As long as this door wasn't locked, or at least too hard to pry open, she'd be through to the next room in no time.

After a few more hours of walking, Jaiyana found herself at the base of a massive wall reaching up into the sky farther than the eye could see. Some said that above all the Roomlands were the Rafters, a place only occupied by such myths as the Gargoyles. No one truly knew what they did up there, at least no one amongst the village knew what they were... But all the same, the Rafters were well out of her mind. The door in front of her loomed over her, towering at least 10 feet higher than her head. "Whoever made these damned doors... I swear they must've been giants, the creators of the Roomlands. The doors are never made for normal Roomlandian heights" Shaking her head with a sigh, she tried pressing the doorway open, hoping beyond hope that they would be unlocked and let her free passage beyond...

Oracle: Is the doorway open or locked?
The Draw: K ♣; Yes with a Bonus!

Jaiyana's heart nearly skips a beat as she begins pushing against the door. Not only is it unlocked, it slides open with ease that she did not expect! Thankful that this didn't delay her further, Jaiyana slips through the door and into the next room. With a sudden realization, Jaiyana halts. "This... This is the first time I've left the Room of my village... After all this time. And still, I've never been beyond the borders of my home." She bites back the heavy feeling in her chest before any tears well up in her eyes. She is about to press forward when a symbol on the wall catches her eye. Covered in a mossy overgrowth, Jaiyana quickly scraps the detritus from the wall. After the realization that she was leaving her home room for the first time, she was not prepared for what she found emblazoned on the wall. A symbol in the shape of a flame with crude and fading purple paint. Instinctively she took a step back, but quickly steeled her resolve. "The Purple Flame... I must be on the right path then. Whatever lays ahead could give me the answers I'm looking for. The way to stop the destruction of those damned Rooks!" Gathering herself, she quickly continues on, the fact that she is on the right path hastens her steps as she moves on into the next room...

The doorway opened up to more forest, appearing as if the wall cut the forest in half. Jaiyana thought nothing of it. Having never been through a wall to another Room before, she didn't know what to expect. Some said that after passing through a door into another Room, one could go from forest to desert, or even the Tundra! It was widely unpredictable, what would be found on the other side of the doors of the Roomlands. For instance Jaiyana was not prepared to see a city off in the distance through the thinning forest that she found herself in. It was unusual for towns to be so close to doorways. Making for the city, she pressed onwards.

Oracle: Was this city also destroyed by the Black Army?
The Draw: 9 ♦; Straight No

Once arriving, Jaiayana's heart sank slightly. The city was not very large, no larger than what one would consider a small village. But the size was not what disappointed her. It was obvious that the city had been abandoned for quite some time. She spent some time wandering through the abandoned streets, making sure that it would be a safe space to rest for now. The sunlight was disappearing as the softer glow of the moon began to rise from the rafters above. "Well its safe enough for camp tonight. I'll explore it a bit more before setting off again in the morning. There has to be some connection to the Black Army, with the crest that I saw by the doorway... Hopefully I'll find even just an inkling of a clue tomorrow." With that Jaiyana pulled the pack from her back and set up her camp for the night. A fire set, she roasted meat from the boar she had run into earlier that day. Settling in for the night, Jaiyana fell into a deep sleep. Though deep, it was still haunted by the same nightmares that she had every night. The destruction of her village weighed heavy on her still, and so she would do all she could to thwart whatever the Black Army and the Rooks of Purple Flame were trying to do... 

Jaiyana searches for answers to the painful violence that was wrought against her village. Hopefully the clues she is looking for will be found in this village, otherwise she'll simply have to keep pressing forward next time!

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