Session 17: Lucius' True Origins Report

Ambush on The Ethereal Plane

On Bifrost the Ethereal plane, a transitive realm of shadows and ghosts manifests. Doorways to other worlds and places open up and the people of the Zone are free to enter and explore at their own risk.

The Patrollers enter, exploring when they come across a group of dark elves attacking a half drow/half spider woman, a drider. They immediately notice that the dark elves wear the eight-rayed Sun of Rampol covering a spider. As they approach the woman calls out, "My son! At last I found you! Be careful, these hunters want to bring you back and give you to Tambanokua, the lava spider!"

The Patrol cautiously approaches and as they get closer, Lucius feels an undeniable kinship with the woman and the hunters. As he looks in her eyes, he feels that they are indeed related.

He decides quickly that they must help her. The patrol successfully fights off the group of dark elves, but the drow woman is grievously wounded in the process. She says, "I am Maricelia Guimatao, and I was your mother!"

The Wardens of Tambanakua

Finally, Lucius learned the story of his birth. He was the son of Mariciela and the chained angel known as Solara. In the Talin Islands on Barong, the Island of the Sun, the Wardens of Tambanakua watch over the Spider's Volcano. They ensure that the Lava Spider does not rise out of the caldera to eat the lights in the sky that it envies. In order to accomplish this, they have confined the angel Solara on the island.

This angel is the father of the Wardens. Any aasimar children that are born among them are given to the spider. The annual ritual of "Merienda sa Araw", Snacks of the Sun, keeps the Spider satisfied enough that it has not yet left the volcano.

Recently however, Tambanakua has grown restless in the magma and the volcano has come closer to erupting than ever before. The babaylans have determined that this is because of the "Merienda That Got Away." Twenty-six years previously, a particularly special child was born amongst the Wardens to the rebellious young priestess Maricelia. She could not bear the thought of giving her child to the spider. She arranged for a group of traveling white wizards to take him a continent away to live his life in safety.

As punishment for her transgression, Maricelia was cursed to become like the spider that they hated. Now a drider, Maricelia lived on the outskirts of town, feeding on animals and stray villagers that fell into her clutches. Over the years, she kept an eye on the hunting parties that left the Warden's Compound. Finally she overheard a group leaving to track down the "Missing Merienda". She followed the group into the Ethereal and attacked them before they could reach her son. That is when they met.

Solar Sacrifice

Mariciela let her son know that the Wardens sacrificed an aasimar child to the Spider every year on the Summer Solstice, the 21st of Kielmagem. That date was a month away. The Spider was growing increasingly hungry for Lucius. She theorized that perhaps a piece of the Sun touched by Lucius would appease the Spider for the year. But it would also make Tambanakua hungrier for her Missing Merienda. Lucius decided to sacrifice his Ring of the Burning Sun. Mariciela took the Ring back to the Volcano to offer it in place of the life of her son.

Under the Banana Gem Tree

As she departed, she let the Patrol know that they should keep an eye out for the Banana Gem Tree that hid in the Ethereal. It was said that the Banana Gem could grant great power to those that could catch the gem as it fell before it hit the ground.

Using the drider's hints, they found the banana tree covered with fruits and a woman, Giselle, already waiting for the gem to fall. They all agreed to play cards to determine who would have the honor of eating the banana.

Surprisingly, T-R01d won the card game and the right to eat the gem. As the sun set, the banana began to spurt forth it's treasure. As they were watching the tree, Giselle began a horrifying transformation. Her torso tore away from her legs, revealing herself to be a manananggal. The fruits on the tree unfurled wings and flying heads attacked the Patrol.

They fought off the aswang and T-R01d caught the banana gem. D'Wat noticed that there was a possible second fruit and he magically forced it to drop a second gem that he also caught!