The previous session ended with Jyn being led off to jail. Chaka did not like the idea of Jyn being imprisoned. “Jyn killed bad man. Why should he be punished for doing right thing?” While everyone else went back to the inn, Chaka tried to find ways to bust Jyn out of jail. Ciara snuck out to keep an eye on the guardhouse (they did just cross a loan shark, after all), and Draco eventually went to check on Chaka. Anais got drunk at the inn’s bar, and Rainstorm, concerned about the late hour, left to follow up on Draco.

Chaka’s first attempt was to summon a mouse and use it to sneak a note to Jyn. Unfortunately, Jyn had not eaten for a while, so he ate the mouse without reading the note. Once he figured out that the mouse wasn’t coming back, Chaka summoned another mouse to steal the key. The guard rolled a Nat 1 on his Perception check, and the mouse crawled up his leg and got the key undetected. Jyn, however, did not fail his Perception check and pointed the mouse out to the guard.

Suddenly, an explosion erupted near the edge of town. The Sheriff brought Jyn with him to investigate and they regrouped with Chaka en route. They tracked the source of the noise to an alleyway. Guards were already in position, and a crowd had gathered near the entrance. They passed through and walked further into the alley.

Three things greeted them:

1. A man’s body lying by some broken crates. The Sheriff identified him as Dray Cole, the loan shark they had been looking for. A Seven-Pointed Star, identical to the one on Jyn’s newly acquired amulet, had been carved into his chest.

2. Draco, wrapped in a blanket and rocking in a fetal position. The Party noticed a bloody blotch on the blanket that prompted them to check him thoroughly. A Seven-Pointed Star had also been carved into his chest.

3. Rainstorm, lying in a puddle of blood, dead.

Draco was in shock and relatively unresponsive, but when a Black Fox slunk in and curled up on Draco’s lap, the warmth calmed him down enough to talk (no one really questioned where this fox came from, so either they knew what it was or were too focused on the traumatized orphan).

According to Draco, he had gone to make sure Chaka hadn’t caused too much trouble. However, he heard a noise in the alley and went to investigate. There, he saw a Red-eyed Man in a cloak dragging a body and doing something with it. Draco failed a Stealth check, and the red-eyed man attacked and overpowered him. He said something about, “If I use you, it could bring her to me!” and carved the star into his chest.

Before he could finish the deed, Rainstorm, who went after the long-absent Draco, found them and came to Draco’s aid. She made as much noise as she could, busting crates and creating a loud explosion, until the red-eyed man killed her. Although late, the noise drew attention to their location and the red-eyed man escaped into the nearby river.

The Party was disturbed and distraught. They weren’t sure what to make of all this.

Then, without warning, Rainstorm’s body burst into blue fire. Inside the ethereal flames, her corpse broke down into ash, then reformed again. When the fire dispersed, a Samsaran woman, shorter and with different features and physique than Rainstorm, sat up in her place.

Turns out, Samsarans are pretty much humanoid phoenixes. When they die, they reincarnate instead of decompose. Personalities and physical features are often vastly different than their previous forms. Some memories carry over, though often vague and fuzzy.

Rainstorm, the motherly bookworm with a penchant for eating, was officially gone, and her new self, Ymir, the snarky Blood Rager with a penchant for drinking, had taken her place. Needless to say, Draco wasn’t sure what to do with his very confused emotions. Ciara later offered him a sip of scotch (which Ymir encouraged), but Draco, rather conveniently, rolled a Nat 1 on his Fortitude save, gagged, and spilled the rest of the alcohol on his chest wound. (We also got a good laugh later because Ymir said, “I could use a tall cup of gin,” and I heard it as a tall cup of Jyn.)

A day or so later, the Sheriff called the Party to his office at the guardhouse. Rainstorm’s “murder” was not the only one they’d had in the last few days. Another killing, the third reported, had been discovered at the lumber mill that morning.

What’s worse, the killer appeared to have a connection to the Party. A note had been pinned to one of the victims with a splinter of wood, and it was addressed to Ciara.

“You will learn to love me as she once did. Give yourself over to the pack. Only then will it end.

Sincerely, Your Lordship”