Session 86

The party is blackmailed by Orphesia, and then go into Xelbari's mindscape looking for Asmodeus' high priest Caius, hoping for information on the demon lord's deal with Vecna. 
== Summary ==
While the party waits for Haziz's men to capture Cecily and the others who attacked Kiono, Kiono settles down to copy Banishment into her spellbook while Teer does some woodcarving. Belle watches; Sors pops back into existence. Teer catches Sors up on the current happenings. Sors suggests they Scry on Cecily to see if she was actually the one who attacked them. Teer attunes to the Crystal Ball and does that. She is in Oceanside having supper with Julian. Her appearance is significantly different than the Cecily they encountered earlier that day. Sors tries to gather information in order to go after their attackers, but Teer attempts to convince her that sometimes it's better to let the authorities find their enemies so they can face justice rather than just outright murdering people. 
The next day, a guard calls the group and leads them to a detention center below the palace. He leads them to a small room and has them step in, then goes in with them and drops their glamour. It's Orphesia, frick. She's annoyed that the party is there, and recommends Haziz not find their attackers. The party's goals would be hampered if "Cecily's" group's motives came to light. She offers to transport the opposing group to a secondary location if the party agrees to cease meaningful contact with Haziz. After way too much conversation, they agree, asking the opposing group to be allowed to live their lives and whatnot in a village somewhere away from Oceanside and Wolis in exchange for stopping meaningful communication with Haziz. Orphesia reveals the had already captured the others, who she snaps away. The party leaves a note in their room stating that they were leaving. They head to Life is Pain where they discover that Alan is Overloaded. They tell Xelbari as much, and he sends Alan on vacation. They then go into his office, where Xelbari shrinks them down and pops them in his mouth. They find themselves pretty immediately in his mindscape. 
Pale pink, springy and soft like cotton candy. The sky is sort of rusty color. Random pieces of buildings everywhere, set up lie theatre sets, a stone path lined with candy cane posts with lanterns hanging off them. Blue Xelbari kneeling across an empty black baby carriage, stabbed through the heart with a chain connecting the spike to the carriage. Before them dances an anthropomorphic muffin named Muffalo. Caius is with the Scary One. The blue one, he explains, is the Sad One. He's here because he's always at the forefront of Xelbari's mind. There are other Emotion Ones. Belle asks blue Xelbari what is wrong. He says that it's his fault that she's gone. He is now six years old, explaining that he was supposed to watch her, but he got distracted and when he came back she was gone. They looked for her but they never found her. The party offers encouragement, but step away and agree that it's best to talk to Xelbari outside his mindscape. Half a dozen winged custard cream pies swoop down at the group and move on. 
Further down, the candy canes begin to catch fire, and a very bright red Xelbari is seen. He is yelling at two distorted tiefling figures. After some discussion about the nature of Xelbari and how much he might care about them interacting with his mindscape, they interact with the scene. Xelbari is yelling at presumably his parents. He is upset that he's the only one that seems to care and is still looking for her. He threatens the party, telling them to get out of his way. They do so, allowing him to leave. 
They continue and find Pink Xelbari walking alongside another distorted tiefling. The scene shifts and he's sharing a meal with another tiefling. Belle approaches, and Xelbari, his normal boisterous voice resumed, is bragging to the tiefling. After some discussion about whether he's dating or searching for his sister, they move on. The scene changes as they leave to a third scenario, also presumably not a date. 
Pale blue-ish gray Xelbari is in a double bed with a cat on his chest, who he's petting. In bed with her is a blonde woman with definite features. The party debates whether this is love or contentment, but tries not to interact. Belle realizes that he's actually melancholic. The party is generally saddened by this realization. Teer gets stuck to the path, his foot in the mouth of a taffy alligator. It bites down on him. Ephemera and Belle extract Teer, who still has taffy stuck to his leg. 
The next Xelbari is a yellow-orange, and he is fighting a bunch of dudes. He is standing over an ambiguous tiefling, apparently protecting them; Xelbari summons a wave of fire and kills at least one enemy, causing the others to flee. They listen in as the two tieflings move on. The unknown tiefling expresses his annoyance that he's attacked sometimes for being a tiefling; Xelbari didn't have to deal with it where he was from. They note that this event seemed to take place in a general Augustinian location based on the architecture. Teer realizes that he had been initially racist toward tieflings when he first woke up and expresses regret about that. 
They then encounter a royal blue Xelbari, sitting in a tavern with a band playing. The only other well-defined figure is another tiefling with red skin; white, buzzed hair; and slightly curved horns. He approaches her, and the party follows him. After an awkward conversation, the woman declares herself not his sister. She is an adventurer, preferring to be kept out of town for long periods of time. Xelbari asks to join her on adventures. She agrees, and they do that. She introduces herself as Kaida. The scene changes to a rainy scenario, Kaida on the ground at Xelbari's feet; both of them and the red dragon standing over them are messed up, but it's still a red dragon. Kaida says something to him, then goes limp. He sobs, places her body on the ground, stands, raises his hands, and summons a white hot light that drowns out the scene. In the aftermath, the party takes a bunch of damage. 
Mosaic censor of "graphic violence and nudity." 
Yellow Xelbari is sitting in his office, humming and making tea. Heck checks the time and says, "Just about right." Belxari bursts in a couple minutes later wearing her armor and covered in black webbing. She complains about The two banter playfully while they drink tea. The party is generally pleased that there are some happy moments in his mindscape and move on. 
Gray Xelbari is on top of a castle turret watching a crystal ball as a group of people including a younger Belxari is in battle with a paper mache dragon; he smiles as he watches. Belle approaches and asks him what is going on. Xelbari says he's not sure he's allowed to be happy or if he should be. He had spent a long time looking for his sister, and he thinks he's found her, but he can't be certain whether he can be sure. If he stops his journey and is wrong, he wonders what would happen. He isn't even needed, because she has a family of her own. He wonders if he should just continue traveling the world instead; Belle suggests he do both, though it might be difficult. He returns to watching the fight against the "dragon." The party ponders Xelbari's struggles, observing that his identity up until this point has been pretty focused on finding his sister, 
The world distorts, becoming jagged and rocky and hellish. A very tall, slightly orange Xelbari sits on an obsidian throne jutting up out of the ground. He has four flaming eyes and a crown. Beneath his boot is a man in a black cloak and a shattered porcelain mask. Surrounding them all is a pit filled with people trying to climb up, pleading with him for help. They approach, Ephemera quietly commenting that this is the one she was afraid would be the Scary One. He questions why they would be afraid of him, that he is still recognizable. 
Caius is missing pieces and has feathers growing out of him. He explains that he was Asmodeus' high priest, sole confidant. He did know that Asmodeus had dealings with Vecna, collaboration on a project. Asmodeus' workings with Vecna was to get Asmodeus on the material plane, but his plans were thwarted about thirty years prior to the campaign. Once he had the information he needed from Vecna, he broke his deal with Vecna, thus allowing himself to be broken for his own plans. He does not elaborate on Vecna's fate, requesting his resurrection in return for that information. He gives the party a chunk of the mask, which was a portion of a raven skull. 
Before leaving, the party attempts to Shenanigans. Sors attempts to cast Bane, Zone of Truth, and Command on Caius to attempt to get the information by force. While he does fail his Zone of Truth save, but Caius does not fail the Command save. Caius, annoyed, transforms into a huge, grotesque raven form for combat fun. 
== NPCs ==
=== Introduced ===
=== Returning ===
* Cecily (Scried on)
* Orphesia
* Alan
* Xelbari
* Kaida (Xelbari's mindscape)
* Belxari (Xelbari's mindscape)
* Caius
=== Mentioned ===
* Varren
* Haziz
* Asmodeus
* Vecna