GM: He seems jovial.
Nate: Does he seem...  supernaturally jovial?
GM: ... Roll sense motive.

Session 5 notes:

We resume our session in the ebony castle of the swamp witch and black dragon priestess Mordelwen.

Simone has notably refused to take a magical item from Mordelwen's hoard.

She apologizes to Simone for her prior behavior, and implores Haroun again to consider staying with her.

Mordelwen teleports the blue party to Terminus, which takes her two jumps.  She refuses to teleport the party any further north along the river (toward the feywild), because "that way lies death".

Simone has disguised Gwenvyth and Haroun prior to the journey to Terminus.  Upon arrival at the city, Simone walks up to the gates, and is hailed by the guard.  She opens the gate.

Immediately, the party notices that the nexus within Terminus is pulsing oddly at irregular intervals.  Haroun thinks that the nexus feels unstable, as though it's going to collapse somehow.  Simone raises an eyebrow, but the guard is too far away to notice.  Sahrit yells up "what the hell is wrong with your nexus?"

The guard replies "Oh, nothing to worry about.  The geomancers say they'll have it fixed in a day or two.  In the meantime, it's totally safe to refresh as normal."  He pauses for a moment.  "Are you all geomancers, that you're so sensitive to the nexus?"

Arwel laughs at this suggestion.  "Where's the best beer in town?"

The characters with Knowledge (local) immediately begin engaging the guard regarding which inn is best, and the consensus opinion is eventually determined to be the Blustery Badger.

In the meantime, Sahrit was considering entering the town, and was having trouble holding on to his dark essence.  He begins to vent it off, giving 10 essence to Gwen, and pumping a large number of essence into a dead body in his bag of holding.  However, it's not enough.  Simone and Haroun notice him channeling dark energy, and Haroun approaches, fascinated.

Suddenly, there is a dark energy explosion centered around Sahrit.  Everyone takes a bunch of damage, except for the roguey types, who can eat it.  Haroun heals himself, Gwen heals herself and Sahrit, and everyone else is pretty fine.

The guard asks "What was that explosion?  What happened here?"

Sahrit states, "It might have been because of your nexus."

The guard responds, "Oh, no, it couldn't have been.  It's only a minor instability."

After a brief awkward silence, Haroun invokes Perfect Phrase, seeking a phrase that will induce the guard not to report this incident.  "I agree, it is most disconcerting.  We're here on business with high Geomancer Vartarra.  We will seek him out immediately and ask him about this."

The guard is surprised.  "Oh, you know High Geomancer Vartarra?  Well, if it's all right, once you figure out what's going on, could you come back and tell me?  This is just for my personal curiosity."

Haroun nods. "If the High Geomancer deems the information fit to be shared, we will come back and inform you."

The guard nods sympathetically.  "I understand.  Secrecy and research and all that.  Now, I need to close the walls.  Can you move inside?"

The party moves inside Terminus.  The pulsing is notably uncomfortable to Sahrit and Gwenvyth; every time they feel the pulse, it's like refreshing a tiny bit.  Haroun appears to be becoming overcharged with energy; his coughing gets worse.

Simone, Arwel, Invisi-Kith, and Barnabas head in the direction of the nexus, and are intercepted by a man from Kith's past.  In the past, however, he was a bit of a drunkard who met Kith in dark alleys for some undefined purpose.  Now, he is sober, presentable, and played by Jason.

He claims his motivations are to prevent war between the Empire and everyone else after the death of the Emperor.  He claims to be the contact we have come to the city to meet, and offers us the use of his gnomish flying device, which has been fortified to withstand the ravages of the wild.

Kith does not trust this man, but they have agreed to travel together on a tentative basis.

Guards are posted around the nexus; interestingly, they are facing inward.  They allow the characters in, telling them if they see anything, to simply leave, alerting the guards along the way.

The pulsing causes them to refresh rapidly.  Inside the nexus, there are armed guards in full Delphian armor, lounging about the place.  

The third pulse since they've entered feels notably different to Kith.  He recognizes the feeling from an earlier battle, when he was camped near a nexus.

"Something's coming."

The guards seem doubtful, but they brace.

Pseudonatural things emerge from the nexus, and a fierce battle ensues.  At least, I assume it was fierce, because I wasn't really paying attention.  I was sitting in a bar, safe and far away, discussing things quietly with Sahrit and Gwenvyth.  We were most certainly not planning to take over the world; the very notion is absurd.

During the battle, one of the guards was struck by a pseudonatural creature; he sprouted tentacles and joined their ranks.  Simone was also struck in such a fashion, but managed to draw upon reserves to not transform.  Barnabas simply passed all of his fortitude saves.  Otherwise, there were moderate casualties amongst the guards.

After the battle, Kith tells the guards that the bodies must be removed from the nexus as soon as possible, lest they regenerate.  The guards are immediately suspicious, "How could you know that?"

Kith states that they have encountered these creatures before, at a nexus in the feywild.  The guards ask "Was that nexus compromised, as ours is?"

Kith: "No, it was not."

Guards: "This must be reported to the high geomancer!  It is fortunate that he is visting the city this week."

Kith: "I am not sure, but I would recommend burning the bodies."

The guard reaches down, and uses burning hands (one handed!) to incinerate a corpse.

Jason's character, who will henceforth be referred to as 'Cid' based on the fact that he owns a friggin' airship, states that the party are his associates, and are remaining in town while his vehicle is being repaired.  He invites them to sleep at the geomancers' guild headquarters.  Kith and Simone accept, then go off to find the High Geomancer; Cid comes to the Blustery Badger to meet the rest of the group.

Haroun is very suspicious of Cid; how do we know we can trust him?  He seems to be allied with the technoprophets, and he somehow knows that Haroun is a prophet.

Meanwhile, Kith, Simone, and Barnabas have wandered off in search of High Geomancer Vartarra.  They encounter him; he is moving rapidly toward the nexus, to study the corpses.  Unfortunately, the corpses have been burned, which perturbs Vartarra greatly.  

The only exception was the guard who was struck.

Vartarra notes that the nexus's current problem was caused by "overdrawing" it, but declines to give further information to outsiders.

He's very interested in Kith's descriptions of the earlier encounter with these creatures.  Kith notes that the residents of Intempestivus were informed of that event, and were cautioned to tighten security and be on guard.

Vartarra states, "I recall hearing something about that.  We did increase security here, and in Arx.  Perhaps we can do something here to stabilize the nexus similar to what we did in Arx...  But I do not wish to speak too much of it here, in front of the common people."

Vartarra attempts to set up a meeting with all of Kith and Simone's companions, doubly so after he learns that we are the travelers that Cid was looking for.  Kith agrees that he and Simone will meet with him in his office in two hours.

Vartarra also has some kind of arcane abilities, and is somehow protected against Simone's visions.  He fortifies the dome with a holy-testicle-tuesday-load of walls of force.

Simone and Kith head back to the Blustery Badger, where the rest of the party is interrogating Cid.  Haroun pulls Kith aside, and discusses his concerns about Cid.  Kith lets him know that he doesn't trust Cid either, but they seem to be legitimately going in the same direction.  Haroun reluctantly agrees to travel on the airship, but doesn't want to meet the high geomancer.

Gwen and Sahrit are also not interested in meeting the high geomancer, but Cid and Arwel will attend.

At the meeting, Kith negotiates for additional equipment for the "mapping expedition", specifically featherfall chutes, and for Vartarra to share any information about the attack and measures used to prevent further attacks upon the party's return, should the party return.

Arwel goes to speak with Engineer Patriana Waddlesticks, who is working on the airship.  After a brief conversation, Arwel notifies the engineer that she is going to report for duty aboard the airship tomorrow, to fix anything that might go wrong along the way.  Engineer Waddlesticks is less than enthused about this news, but is ultimately bargained and intimidated into coming along.

Time passes, and night falls.  Sometime in the middle of the night, while Sahrit and Gwen are still drinking at the inn, the pulsing of the nexus stops, and is replaced by what is, for them, a pleasant feeling.  Haroun (also at the inn, hanging with Arwel) and Simone (at the Geomancers' Guild with Kith) feel it too.  Everyone heads toward the nexus.

Upon arriving, the nexus is no longer filled with white energy; it is instead filled with a flickering black and red energy, like staring at a low-burning fire in the middle of the night.  Simone and Kith arrived first, since the Geomancers' Guild is very near the nexus (astonishing!).  Simone notices a female eladrin geomancer, who she recognizes from the Fochluchan College, leaving the "fixed" nexus.

Simone negotiates with the guards to allow entry, and goes into the nexus; she appears to be unharmed by the energy contained within.  Sahrit also arrives and tries to negotiate for entry; while he is talking to the guard, Gwen pushes through, and the guard, exasperated, gives in and allows Sahrit in as well.  Invisi-Kith is at the periphery of the nexus, watching.  Presumably Barnabas is somewhere around as well, but this was not explicitly stated.  That bear.  He crazy.

Haroun and Arwel, on Arwel's magic horse, stopped short of the nexus; Haroun could not get near it.  Haroun dismounts.  They watch the following event through the arch of the nexus entryway.

As Sahrit enters the nexus, he feels the walls pulse and move outward, and a number of figures appear in the center.  It is Graz'zt and a small guard of demons.  Graz'zt speaks (and it is as yet unclear to whom), "We have come to serve you in the coming days."