TRS12 - Dr Feelbad -or- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Share my Backstory

Dr Feelbad -or- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Share my Backstory is the twelfth session of the campaign The Red Star. In it, the party shares stories around a campfire.

Summary
After using the key to unlock the magic barricade, the party sets up camp to rest for the night. Malachi awakens, and the party tells him about what happened while he was knocked out. Malachi and Iago have a petty squabble about the chainmail, while Resmi repairs Flynn's sword, which had been damaged in the dungeon by a rust monster. Sarinak reminds the team that they recently lost a friend, and Eptol and Pyrria say that they need to move on. The group discuss plans to deal with Yir, while Resmi fashions a new cloak out of wyvern feathers. Pyrria explains that she was headed to the Tower of Nethys, where a so-called 'ultimate weapon' lies, in the hopes that it would be able to destroy Yir once and for all.

Flynn starts to make some food, revealing that he's apparently a good cook. Resmi comes back to the group and shows off her new, hoodless cloak. The party compliment it, though Flynn makes an unintentionally hurtful comment, and Resmi wonders what to do with her old cloak. Resmi hands around some ale, while Malachi grows a tumour. The tumour then detaches itself, turning into a small creature. Malachi tells the group that it is a compsognathus familiar, which he names Compy. The party is partly fascinated and partly disgusted by the thing, while Iago crafts some dice. Resmi tells the party that she feels responsible for Edus' death, and they try to cheer her up. Feeling better about things, Resmi perks up. Eptol asks Resmi what she knows about Nethys, and she tells the party that he is a god of magic who has two sides that balance each other out.

The group decides to share their stories, and how they came to be here. Eptol goes first, explaining that he does not have many memories left of his past due to some kind of spell. He does remember that he was adopted and trained by a 'great man'. He says that while he considered using the wish stone to bring back his memories, he feels that Iago's lycanthropy is a more pressing issue. Resmi inquires into Iago's past. He says that he, too, has memory loss, but this memory loss was only five years long, and produced by alcoholism and drug addiction. He says the only reason he stopped was because either orcs or goblins (he cannot remember which) raided his village, and killed all his contacts.

Resmi is about to tell her story, when two figures, Tersian Stornight and Furge Saymurr enter the camp. Tersian and Furge briefly tell the party about some of their own adventurers, and reveal that the fortune teller who had warned the party about 8116 had attacked them, and that they had killed him. They then say that a man in a mask told them to meet in the area outside the tower, apparently a proving ground for true heroes. They then hurry off to the north. Resmi then starts her story, telling the party that she was raised by her father, a human cleric of Apsu, Father Val'Rance, and that she never knew her mother since her tribe was wiped out. Worried that Resmi would be discriminated against due to her appearance, the Father made sure that she wore a veil when she went outside. She had one friend named Emily, who she thought was beautiful. When Resmi showed Emily her face, however, Emily screamed and ran away. The rest of the town became aware of Resmi's race, and bore down on the church. Resmi's father gave her his staff and provisions, and told Resmi to run away.

Flynn is next to give his backstory. He tells the party of his first and only love, a fellow paragon named Ellaria. They were an inseperable pair even on missions, and Ellaria reciprocated Flynn's feelings. Eventually, Ellaria became pregnant. However, the baby was 'born dead'. Ellaria started slipping in her missions, and was stripped of her rank temporarily. This was the final straw, and Ellaria succumbed to great evil, becoming the Blood Queen, a notoriously ruthless tyrant. When the party found Flynn in the forest, he was about to commit suicide. However, in Flynn's words, the party gave him a reason to live on.

Sarinak then gives his backstory - his clan was massacred by a cult of the Red Star. His goal is to find out information about the cult, and eventually destroy them. Meanwhile, Pyrria and Eptol speculate on how exactly the ultimate weapon destroys the Red Star, and how the Red Star keeps returning. Malachi is the last to talk about his backstory, discussing how his mother had killed his father, Mandor Pensile, and stole all of his research notes. He is on a quest to kill his mother.

In an attempt to cheer the party up, Iago uses the spell Pyrotechnics to create some fireworks. He summons his lute, and plays smooth jazz. The party rests for the night, knowing that the next day, they would finally reach the Tower of Nethys, where the fate of the world would be decided.

Trivia

 * Introductions: This session introduced the characters Compy, Tersian Stornight, and Furge Seymurr
 * Deaths: In this session, no notable characters died.
 * Notable Events: This session saw the party share their pasts.
 * This session is also known as the 'campfire session'.

Quotes
''"I don't want to bring down the party's spirits, Sarinak. I think that a good mood can be as useful in this journey as combat abilities." ''- Eptol

''"And hey, where better to get the next great epic than to be part of it yourself?" ''- Iago

''"I'm not searching for anything. I'm spreading the word of Apsu. Helping where I can. It's what Father would want." ''- Resmi

''"You people are my heroes... and... I love you all for giving me a reason to live." ''- Flynn

''"Each and every one of you. You're probably the most important people in my life." ''- Sarinak

''"My name is Malachi Pensile. My father was the late, great Mandor Pensile. I am on a quest to kill my mother." ''- Malachi

''"People get hurt around me, Iago. I care too much for the world and those in it to put them in danger. For what it is worth, I apologise for any danger I might have caused since we met." ''- Pyrria