Session 21 - Geri & Freki

The Watchers of Cloudwatch

The session began shortly after Ulrich Lamora transformed into a golden pocket watch. Winry picked it up and began examining it closely. After removing the glass covering protecting the image inside, she discovered a small engraving hidden beneath it: “So you’re never late. S.”

The group eventually settled for the night. It was quiet, cold, and uneventful. By morning, Winry was gone.

SUN-E remained at the camp, but there was no sign of her. Searching the surrounding area, the party found a trail of small footprints leading away from camp, across the hanging bridge, and toward the main structures of Cloudwatch.

Before following, Scarlet disguised herself as Winry and attempted to enter SUN-E. The moment she pressed a large red button inside the construct, the pilot chair launched directly into her face, knocking her backward and breaking her nose. Despite this, she continued experimenting with every lever and switch available. SUN-E began moving erratically, shifting its arms, fingers, and legs before eventually collapsing face-first into the ground. Scarlet narrowly escaped by accidentally activating the machine in a way that allowed it to push itself upward slightly so she could crawl free.

The group abandoned the attempt and focused on finding Winry.

They crossed the hanging bridge one at a time. Rollo crossed first, followed by Chloe. Scarlet attempted to use Misty Step to bypass the crossing entirely, triggering an immediate reaction from the sky above. A sphere of red lightning descended toward her, narrowly missing its target and striking the bridge instead. The structure was heavily damaged, though everyone managed to cross safely.

Beyond the bridge, the path split in two.

The right path descended away from Cloudwatch and deeper into the mountains. The left path led inward toward the heart of the structure itself. They chose left.

Before them stood a massive observatory and astrolabe surrounded by six towering structures. As they climbed further inward, they discovered a circular formation of three concentric rings carved into the ground, each covered in runic markings. Blood drops stained the snow nearby, leading deeper into the ruins.

Further ahead, they discovered a large pool of blood and a stone slab that had been removed from the ground. Beneath it rested a perfectly preserved mummified corpse, frozen by the extreme cold and elevation.

Not long after, they found Winry seated near the entrance to Cloudwatch itself. She held a circular silver cipher in her hands. Her fingernails had been torn away, and her hands were covered in blood. The blood trail they had followed belonged to her.

Chloe attempted to heal her using her staff.

The sky reacted instantly.

A bolt of red lightning struck the staff directly, destroying it in the explosion and throwing the party backward. The Staff of Healing was completely destroyed.

Above the entrance doors was a chaotic arrangement of letters and symbols. Using the cipher, the group eventually deciphered the mechanism. The doors had no visible handle or keyhole. Instead, they realized the six watcher statues surrounding the observatory had to be positioned so they faced one another correctly.

The party separated and climbed the towers.

Each tower was hollow, containing spiral staircases built into the inner walls. At the top of every tower stood a stone watcher statue holding a mirror. They eventually discovered the statues were not truly stone. The exterior was only a shell protecting a hollow glass interior. Rollo discovered this by using his grappling hook to reach an opening beneath one of the statues.

At the base of every tower was a circular pane of glass.

As the group experimented further, Winry attempted to manipulate one of the statues while inside SUN-E and cast Grease to assist.

The sky answered again.

Another sphere of red lightning struck directly into the automaton. The impact catastrophically damaged SUN-E. A hydraulic pipe burst through Winry’s leg, severing it through the femoral bone. The limb remained attached only by muscle, tendon, and fragments of tissue.

Winry immediately lost consciousness.

Cael and Rollo heard the explosion first. Cael descended immediately to alert the others while Rollo moved directly toward Winry’s tower. Scarlet and Chloe followed shortly afterward.

As Scarlet approached the tower, her Ferryman coin began growing hotter.

Winry was close to death.

When they reached her, they found her body mutilated and covered in blood. Chloe’s staff was destroyed, leaving the group with almost no means of healing. They attempted crude treatment first, creating splints and tourniquets to stop the bleeding while Winry drifted in and out of consciousness.

Scarlet eventually took the risk and cast healing magic herself.

Lightning gathered again.

The first spell partially restored the leg. Scarlet cast a second time, and as the lightning prepared to strike once more, it suddenly halted and dissipated before impact.

The leg was saved, though badly damaged. Winry was left with a severe scar and a permanent limp. Infection and gangrene remained a serious concern due to the length of time the wound had remained open.

As night fell, the watcher statues changed.

The statues, inert during the day, became movable after sunset. Their limbs and heads could now be repositioned freely. The group eventually solved the sequence, aligning the statues correctly and opening the entrance to Cloudwatch.

Inside was a vast circular chamber illuminated by pale blue constellations projected across the walls and ceiling. Two doors stood opposite the entrance. One was stone, matching the exterior architecture. The other was entirely black, darker than anything around it.

At the center of the room stood eight platforms. When standing on them in the correct arrangement, the stars above formed words. After experimenting with the sequence, they completed the sentence:

“Stillness came first, but motion made it world.”

Upon completion, the floor beneath them opened and a massive telescope emerged upward from below the structure.

Beside it stood a familiar command console identical to the one discovered in Barhum Drakhal.

The group replaced its depleted battery with the charged one they had been carrying. The observatory came to life.

Soon after, a humanoid figure composed entirely of stars and pale blue light emerged from the wall itself. It walked through the party and stood beside the telescope.

The figure answered their questions calmly.

It claimed this was the thirteenth iteration of these events. That the group had already stood here before. It stated that the Fifth Age would be the final age before the Creators returned to destroy and remake the world once again.

The revelation shook the party deeply.

Chloe questioned the figure regarding Seidr and the Seidrkona. After receiving her answers, she put on the Mask of the Seidrkona and immediately saw through the illusion.

The figure was not real.

It was actually Geri and Freki, disguised through illusion and magic. The two wolves admitted they had fabricated the entire story simply for entertainment after “their mother” entered their domain. The group reacted with anger, confusion, and relief in equal measure.

The atmosphere eased somewhat afterward. The wolves played with the group, though their spectral nature prevented them from physically interacting with objects properly. Scarlet attempted to feed them meat despite this limitation.

Winry later examined the constellation displayed through the telescope and discovered that it perfectly resembled the frozen continent of Grimhold.

Further exploration beneath the observatory led to another discovery—a bronze compass capable of revealing the ley lines of the world itself.

At that point, the group finally understood why the skies reacted violently whenever magic was cast near Cloudwatch.

They had been standing directly atop a massive vein of raw, unrefined magic powering the world itself.

The party eventually left Cloudwatch and began making their way toward the dormant teleportation circle they had discovered earlier, now understanding its purpose.

Before leaving, Chloe noticed something disturbing within her journal. A previous drawing she had made of Thirio and Needles now depicted Needles engulfed in flames.

Concerned, she sent Geri and Freki ahead to investigate and report back.

While the group rested and waited for their return, Winry finished studying her book and unlocked a new core stat: Axiom.

With it, she gained the ability to craft magical items.