Adventure 8

**Previous: Adventure 7**

We explore Kasavarina's memories to learn more about what she did in the Obscurati. In the process we also learn more about Nicodemus and Alastor, and how all three became the people they are today.

## Arc Retrieval Arc

### Session 1

Between-adventure intermissions: Hoya and Ottavia travel to Crisillyir to retrieve an orphaned Alice. Gatria employs Bree at her factory, ostensibly as security but really to protect Heward and look out for duplicants. Finona gets her payment/retirement fund, and is more thankful than she knows how to express. Cleone grieves, but finds a little hope when Alexander informs her that Floyd has gained a soul.

Thanks to Alais’ connections, the party is able to talk to Asrabey Varal about Kasavarina. He’s willing to let us see her, on the conditions that we 1) help her regain her memories and 2) prove ourselves by fighting a ten-headed lion that guards the Sentosa/Rumah Terakir enclave. We additionally ask Asrabey to stay away from Kasavarina and head off on his own for a while, since the Ob is tracking Kasavarina through him.

Asrabey mentioned that Kasavarina hates mentions of Borne or the other golem teens, which is weird enough that we pay a visit to Alexander. Supposedly her role as mother was her own doing, which is kinda weird. On Gatria’s direction, Linus also teaches Marcel one of Kasavarina's songs.

As we head to the enclave and transition into the Dreaming we meet Celeste, Mona’s fey half, and everyone is slightly weirded out.

> **Celeste, to Marcel:** Oh drop the act, I know who you are and I know your schtick.
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> **Marcel:** You’re not Mona.
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> **Hoya:** Um, technically I think she’s been here the whole time…
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> **Celeste:** Correct on both counts.
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Gatria one-shots the guardian, handily proving our capabilities and getting us entry into the enclave. We meet Kieran, an ancient half-elf bard who’d like to escape his semi-imprisonment inside the enclave, and then Kasavarina.

Kasavarina asks us to help her regain her memories and destroy her old self’s legacy in the Obscurati. To do so, we need to steal an eladrin relic called the Arc of Reida that’s under the protection of some lycanthropic eladrin close to war with some Clergy. Bit of a problem because the local matriarch hates her and won’t let her leave, probably because of the past that Kasavarina can’t remember…

### Session 2

Kasavarina tries to get to know the party a little better.

> **Kasavarina:** The last time we met, I was not in a position to ask you more about yourselves. … I’ve told you about me, but only feel comfortable traveling with people I know.
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> **Party:** *(silence)*
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> **Gatria:** That narrows it down.
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Kasavarina ends up going around in a circle and asking questions, though Cleone requests to talk about herself later and more privately (not wanting to talk about being a deva or former Obscurati where people could overhear).

Upon inspection of Caius’ Ob ring, Kasavarina remembers that something is up with Methian stone. Kasavarina remembers it as an area of wild magic, but Cleone knows it should be a total dead magic zone. We ask Kieran about Methia, and he gives us more information about how magic decidedly does not work in Methia and it’s pretty cursed. Also interesting is that Methia isn’t even where Srasama died - she fell in Alais Primos, corroborated by Cleone’s memories. Weird…

We talk to Athrylla for a while, trying to convince her to let us take Kasavarina off her hands. She still hates Kasavarina and wants to keep her miserable, but eventually we convince her that it’s in Sentosa’s best interests given the threat of Borne’s pursuit. Athrylla agrees on three conditions: 1) decolonize Sentosa; 2) Aodhan gives shelter to the people of Sentosa if the demiplane is threatened; 3) we come back to Sentosa with the Arc of Reida.

### Session 3

To retrieve the Arc of Reida, we go north to the Refuge of Ingatan. Gatria and Hoya stealth into the Temple of Ingatan and experience four memories as their trials:

Distant past: A very young Gatria is being held by her father: “There’s my strong little kitten.” He holds off soldiers from the Cult of the Steel Lord while her mother escapes with Gatria, only to be surrounded by more soldiers. Her last words are “LUCITA, GO!” (Flashback to meeting Gatria’s familiar for the first time: *You’ve known my name since the day you were born.*)

Near past: Reliving the confrontation at the Isla dola Focas volcano, with the fun detail that the REAL GRADIAX is here via the temple recreating a real duplicant. (“Gradiax got butt dialed”) He tries to get some info and is rebuffed, then stabs Tinker a bunch for fun and Hoya trauma.

Near future: Gatria’s wedding to Antonia??? The sky is black. Everyone is very deferential to Hoya. Antonia cries about somebody (Morgan?) keeping secrets, and Gatria tries to comfort her despite lacking the context. Gatria later talks to Morgan, who tells her that “There is no day, there is no year.”

> **Hoya:** OH MY GOD WAS THAT YOUR WEDDING?
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> **Gatria:** I DON'T KNOW?
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> **Hoya:** THAT LADY WAS TALKING ABOUT A WEDDING!
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> **Gatria:** WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!
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> **Hoya:** WELL, CONGRATULATIONS!
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> **Gatria:** *(stalks off to continue)*
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> **Hoya:** Well, congratulations anyway…
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Distant future: Thistle Palace in the Dreaming. Marcel is giving a speech somewhere when everything goes to hell: stars and asteroids fall, the devils in gold chains from Crypta appear. Hoya tries to find Marcel in the chaos, but spies her parents in the crowd and has to decide which to look for; she chooses Marcel. Chunks of ground fly up to blot out the stars, and everyone loses consciousness.

So that was traumatic! Gatria and Hoya grab the crown after completing the trial and book it out of there, stealthing away from all the weretigers (including Betronga Sidhon, who will show up in three more adventures) congregating to find the intruders. They make it back to the rest of the party, drop the Arc in someone’s lap, and refuse to talk about what happened. Marcel gets mad about their refusal and Cleone argues that he shouldn’t press given the Chair Incident in book 4 with her best unimpressed aunt vibes, but the fighting only distresses Hoya further. :(

Kasavarina tries on the Arc and Hoya can see her soul leaning in the direction of important memories, like a compass.

## Memory Quest

### Session 4

Athrylla confirms that we have the Arc and haven’t started any wars. On the other hand, she won’t let Kasavarina check out memories in Sentosa…? Gatria pushes on that, pointing out that it’s a breach of the contract just newly forged between Risur and Sentosa. Celeste uses her height to play keep-away when Athrylla tries to physically grab the Arc off of Kasavarina’s head, bapping it on Athrylla’s head for an interrupted memory (when Athrylla tears it off) and then Kasavarina’s head for a proper one about readying for an assault on Rilego after Launga’s kidnapping. Nothing obviously incriminating for Athrylla, but she’s clearly feeling guilty about something.

After a memory where Kasavarina rebuffs Asrabey’s affections after sending him on a mission, Kasavarina asks the party if any of them are married. Marcel admits to being married, and everyone else with a significant other (RIP Cleone) secretly thinks of their partner. We also notice that Kasavarina’s soul hardens upon reliving memories, becoming a bit more like her old self, and look for measures to help her maintain her current frame of mind. Kasavarina believes she’ll be fine, but Cleone argues that it’s a continuous effort and makes her a necklace to serve as a grounding memento during memories.

Gatria webs a more-or-less willing Kieran to smuggle him out of Sentosa, and he is JAZZED to be free.

Once out of the enclave, Cleone talks with Kasavarina privately and tells her about being a deva and her history with the Obscurati - hence why Cleone believes that it takes active effort to maintain distance from a past self. Cleone also admits her fear of Nicodemus and his desire to take her back into the Ob - she fears becoming like Alastor again. Kasavarina vows to protect Cleone from Nicodemus, and Cleone promises Kasavarina to help her stay true to her current self. Cleone makes a twin necklace to Kasavarina’s as a symbol of their promise.

> **Cleone:** I understand more than anyone not wanting to be your past self. I don’t want to be him. I’m trying, everyday, not to be the person I used to be.
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> **Kasavarina:** Thank you for telling me. You understand that I know what you mean. For one ugly moment, I was so angry [when you told me you were a deva]. But we’re not those people anymore.
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> **Cleone:** We aren’t today. And every day, we have to make the decision not to be the people we once were.
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We head for Resal, Kasavarina’s hometown, but first stop by Seobriga where there’s another memory. This one is of the assault on Rilego, where Latika and Sor Daeron betray Kasavarina over her betrayal of the eladrin and ally with Rilego to kill Kasavarina’s daughter Launga. The party agrees that whatever Kasavarina did, it didn’t justify killing her daughter.

In Resal, today Airone Azzurro, we find our first memory at a farmhouse. We pay the owner a bit of gold to step out for a bit, start a memory of Kasavarina with her daughters, and…

Oh, the owner was Nic. Nic is here. “Kasavarina, Constables, I assume, it’s time to put an end to this.”

### Session 5

After the memory, Nic threatens the party. Kasavarina steps in front of Cleone before addressing him, shielding her from sight. When Nicodemus brings everyone to the Bleak Gate and instigates a fight with some golems and undead eladrin, however, he gets a look at Cleone and instantly figures out who she is: "Don't kill this one." Cleone gets knocked out, Kasavarina roasts Nic's host with Fireball to try and prevent him from grabbing Cleone.

After the fight, Hoya talks to the ghost of Nicodemus’ host and apologizes for his being caught up in everything. Kasavarina relives memories with her husband and children in Resal, ending with his death in the war against the Clergy.

> **Gatria:** Sometimes you’re better off not knowing what you’re missing. *(Hoya shoots her a dirty look)*
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> **Kasavarina:** I think I turned my grief into hatred. I hated humans so much.
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> **Cleone:** How do you feel now?
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> **Kasavarina:** Intellectually I do believe everything Nicodemus said. It’s not individuals that are responsible for the holy wars, it was the institutions. And yet…
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> **Hoya:** Understanding something and feeling it aren’t the same thing.
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The last memory we see here is after Srasama’s fall. The people of Resal hold a mass funeral for the women who died with Srasama, in which Navras and Vekesh perform the original Song of Vekesh. Kasavarina dances, but instead of feeling grief in the memory she feels guilt.

### Session 6

Since the Ob knows we’re alive now, we decide to head to Ushanti next. On the boat ride over Hoya asks Kasavarina not to kill, and Kasavarina agrees to do so except in emergencies. Hoya tells her a secret: she got married to Xambria in the fall, before ObCon, and only Marcel knows.

Kasavarina is given a script to stick to and using her influence gets us to see Ajit, the current patriarch of Ushanti. He’s shockingly agreeable and helpful to the party, and therefore extremely suspicious. He’s absolutely putting up a front, so we gotta do our business briskly.

Three memories at Kasavarina’s house. Two involving Nic, one where Kasavarina begrudgingly associates with him and a later memory where she rejects him so she can focus on running Ushanti, and he’s dragged off screaming for her attention. (We also find a map indicating where Pala is, so we can check that out later!) The third memory involves Alastor: Kasavarina’s handmaidens found his past life and killed them in hatred, so now she feels responsible for his current life. To that end, she’s ensured him safe passage in Ushanti and the rest of Elfaivar.

> **Kasavarina:** I want to ask you something.
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> **Alastor:** Yeah?
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> **Kasavarina:** Do you remember anything of Srasama?
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> **Alastor:** *(Pause)* I’m not sure I do.
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> **Kasavarina:** Hm…I see. Okay. *(Tense smile)* Pardon me. *(And she leaves.)*
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At Kasavarina’s prompting, Cleone puts on the Arc and finds that she has many minor memories in Ushanti: Alastor spent a lot of time here. There’s one particularly significant memory in an abandoned house in Flint. This was an assassination by Alastor, killing two men and arranging the scene to frame them for each other’s deaths before disposing of a third witness’s body. Cleone relives the full memory with horror, and we see the context at the temple: one of the men had suggested Kasavarina find a regent, and she had Alastor kill him while providing her an alibi.

As we make a commotion at the temple, Gatria spies on Ajit and sees him send a messenger for Cula. Gatria kills the messenger (disposing of the body not unlike memory-Alastor just did) and signals for everyone to move out.

### Session 7

We make it out of Ushanti without being caught, and head on to a memory on the Isle of Odiem. Gatria meets with Morgan via Dream Sendings and uses a favor to get the Isle cleared out before our arrival…but when we get there, there’s two people anyway, Inquisitor Serafima Saveli and a friar. Gatria smells blood and finds a bunch of dead bodies, some Ob and some from a different faction. Serafima and the friar are looking increasingly suspicious, but in the end we go on with the memory while they hang around because they’ll be subject to the same problems we’ll be anyway.

The memory details Kasavarina and Nicodemus’ imprisonment in the Crypt and their meeting with Ashima Shimtu. They want the secret that must not be lost, the method to summon a god into an avatar so that they may kill the god of war and end the ongoing war between clergy and eladrin. Ashima Shimtu gives them the ritual for the Sacrament of Apotheosis, at which point Serafima tries to Start Some Trouble. Attacking her and the friar reveals them to be magical simulacra, so they got away clean. Oops.

Once the memory concludes, Ashima Shimtu says good morning to everyone but Kasavarina.

> *"Mona Faellen-Brizside, Lover of Vihan and sister to Leo,*
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> *Marcel Beaumont, the Knight who has risen above his station,*
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> *Hoya Ipswom, who has come to resemble the Humble Triegenes, just as Ashima Shimtu had foreseen,*
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> *Cleone Weld, she who may come to regret what she is to learn,*
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> *and Gatria and Lucita, who holds power over Ashima Shimtu, now, that she perhaps does not wholly understand.*
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> *Kasavarina Varal, she who convinced Ashima Shimtu to commit a deep and horrible sin. She will give you no more."*
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Ashima Shimtu allows us to use her pool to go to Alais Primos. She also asks for someone’s blood so that she may see beyond Crisillyir, and Mona does so. Once everyone but Mona and Gatria have left, Mona warns Ashima Shimtu (in Elven, so Gatria can’t understand) that Morgan Cipiano is investigating her. In exchange for the blood, Ashima Shimtu tells Mona the identities of the two intruders: Grandis Komanov and Leo Faellen-Brizside.

### Session 8

Backdated conversations with Ashima Shimtu. Hoya asks about Triegenes and the Sacrament. Ashima Shimtu turns the question back on her: if given the chance, would she become a god? (Technically she had the chance with the Urn. Nah.) Mona offers to spread Ashima Shimtu’s blood in more places so she can see further, but Gatria stops her before she can collect any.

Once everyone is in Alais Primos, Cleone talks with a shell-shocked Kasavarina about guilt, responsibility, and avoiding the mistakes of their past lives. She’s a little closer to understanding Alastor now, both his love for Kasavarina and his motivations within the Obscurati. Both Kasavarina and Cleone are glad to have each other on their explorations through their pasts. Cleone shares some of her fears regarding Danor’s future, and cries in relief when Kasavarina says she believes Danor can be saved.

Meanwhile Gatria sends a panicked Sending to Morgan, having heard his name in Mona’s conversation with Ashima Shimtu. Dream Sending conversation to come.

The first memory in Alais Primos is, aptly, of Alastor and Kasavarina. Alastor has remembered his first life and Srasama’s fall (and, as is later recontextualized, Dala’s part in it). He apologizes in tears, and Kasavarina affirms that he wasn’t the one responsible - but if he wants to help make the world better, make some of their losses worth it, there is something he can do. Alastor accepts, and this is how he’s invited into the Obscurati.

> **Alastor:** But those were my hands. I was the one who helped kill her.
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> **Kasavarina:** *(Squeezing Alastor’s hand)* Can I tell you something? *(Looks at the deva patterns on his arm as he nods)* Once in a while, I look for her inside of you.
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> *(Alastor brushes his hand over the patterns)*
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> **Kasavarina:** There is a little bit, just a small amount of likeness, you know.
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Other memories inside the city detail how Kasavarina and Nicodemus met from opposite sides of the Clergy-eladrin war and were eventually arrested by the Clergy as conspirators. At the field outside, Kasavarina relives the moments after Srasama’s fall: walking through ash and the dead bodies of eladrin women, she eventually reaches the charred remains at the epicenter where Srasama once was.

On advice Kasavarina leaves before Cleone can relive what happened from the perspective of Lanza, the Clergy soldier. In her memory, the future Roland Stanfield advises Lanza and the other soldiers to remember the name Dala as it will bring them victory; Lanza is the first to injure Srasama, and instead of a goddess’s face they see a scared girl who is soon to be killed.

### Session 9

Cleone and Kasavarina discuss what happened during Srasama’s fall, and Kasavarina’s conviction in going to Methia. Nicodemus will likely be there; both women talk about his influences on them and their determination to stay free of him. Afterward, Cleone chatters about her friends and family to relax them both while Kasavarina braids her hair.

> **Cleone:** ...I’m not sure he’s in this for anything but his own ego in the end, since he doesn’t see good in the world anymore. This job has taken so much from me, but there’s so much I want to save. Holding on to that will remind me why his vision will never overlap with mine…
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> **Kasavarina:** I think it was so easy for my other self to forget that there was something good left…that the world had anything left worth defending. I think it does, now. Do you think the world will get better, if left like this?
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> **Cleone:** I believe it’s up to all of us to try.
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Pala next, and on the way Gatria has her dream chat with Morgan. They discuss what happened at the Crypt, including Komanov’s appearance and Mona’s conversation with Ashima Shimtu. Morgan wants to know what the Secret That Must Not Be Lost is, though Gatria has reservations telling it given how it killed half the eladrin. They agree to meet when the party comes by Flint: “In spite of everything, Gatria, you are doing incredible work at the moment and know that I am still thankful to have you… Remember, it’s impossible for someone even as clever and careful as you to be infallible.”

In Pala we see Kasavarina and William Miller as Miller chooses to martyr himself rather than flee with Kasavarina and be happy together - oh and by the way, Miller is also Nicodemus! Cool. Kasavarina reflects that Pillai wasn’t the only love of her life after all, but despite her hopes William/Nicodemus was never the same after that.

Unfortunately the commotion has attracted a big Wriggling Nope, and more fortunately a member of the Fists of Pala, modern-day followers of Miller’s teachings. Awed to meet someone who knew Miller, he invites us to their monastery.

### Session 10

Hoya geeks out at the monastery and manages to get herself a real fancy copy of Miller’s works. Don’t forget to breathe, Hoya. Or drink water.

We swing by Trekhom on the way to Flint to see another memory of one of Kasavarina’s husbands, whom Kasavarina installed here to be Abiera, But With More Murder. They were a terrible match, both in terms of relationship and work. We leave the current-day man alone.

We arrive in Flint having just missed Fey Fyre Fest, RIP. We see our first memory in the Cloudwood: Kasavarina finds the aftermath of Amielle’s lynching, and rushes to find her daughters and arrange them safe passage to Danor. Cleone is horrified, seeing her own potential future in this memory; Marcel wants to argue that Flint has improved since then, but can’t quite convince even himself.

We check out the Bleak Gate facility next, which is thankfully empty and generally ours to browse. We don’t stick around long, especially since Kasavarina has bad memories of this place. The memories concern Alexander’s spying and Kasavarina’s interactions with Borne trying to convince her “little spark” that his father is having doubts but he should trust his mother.

> **Gatria:** Wow. You have terrible taste in men.
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> **Kasavarina:** For your information my relationship with Alexander was platonic.
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> **Cleone:** Okay let’s go, let’s go–
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> **Gatria:** That’s not the way he made it sound.
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Our last memory is at the Navras Opera House, in which Navras decidedly does not want Kasavarina butting into Flint let alone his opera house. We see him perform the Song of Vekesh, which enchants everyone’s favorite items to give them Restoration: Hoya’s wedding band, Gatria’s dragon scale pin, Marcel’s wedding band, Cleone’s Floyd, Mona’s engagement ring, Kasavarina’s necklace from Cleone.

Gatria hears something after memory and finds Navras living in the rafters like a steampunk Phantom of the Opera. He super doesn’t trust Kasavarina, which. Fair. He also mentions that she twisted the Vekeshi Mystics for his own ends, RIP Alais. Gatria agrees to keep his secret as best as she can given her company, and tells the rest of the party she lost the trail she was following.

### Session 11

Gatria talks with Morgan Cipiano about what happened at the Crypt, the foretellings about the end of the world, Mona’s association with Ashima Shimtu, and preparations for Methia.

> **Morgan:** It seems we’ve had many interlopers that have not been in our control recently, though I guess it’s a good sign when you develop powerful enemies.
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> **Gatria:** Well if I have any undisputed talent, it’s that I can piss anyone off.
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> **Morgan:** Really? But you are so charming :3
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Both are concerned about the demonocracy, and Gatria has a plan to put Mona in a portable hole if needed (with Marcel’s help). Gatria also admits to seeing a vision of her kidnapping by the cult as a child, and Good Dad Morgan is genuinely concerned. Between favors with dockers and the Family, we’ll be able to get into Methia relatively easily.

Before we leave, we meet with Delft to update him on the mission. On a tip from Gatria, Cleone asks the Family to smuggle a letter to a friend in Danor letting him know that she’s alive, if in too much danger to contact him openly. Gatria convinces Marcel to help her hide Mona in the hole if they suspect her new ties to Ashima Shimtu could become dangerous. Hoya checks on Tinker, anxious to see he’s okay after the Temple of Ingatan. (Also, Cleone and Nathan become an official couple thanks to Kasavarina's encouragement!)

Before we head out to the next memory, we look for the current-day whereabouts of Sor Daeron to see what he knows. Luckily Alais happens to be from an enclave in the Anthras Mountains where he remembers a 1000-year-old one-armed eladrin man going by Abuelo Juhu, a name which all the players promptly hate.

At the enclave Sor fakes senility, but when called on it genuinely doesn’t remember how he and Latika got the idea to kill Launga as revenge on Kasavarina; only that he regrets it. On a hunch, Cleone nudges to Marcel to light up a cigarette - and Sor remembers that the person who told them what Kasavarina did had been smoking.

Goddammit Nic.

### Session 12

After learning Nicodemus was the origin of the plan to kill Launga, Kasavarina goes to town on a tree with her rapier and eventually gets us banned from our third enclave. She then proposes becoming a double agent and going back to the Obscurati to leak information to the party, but everyone shuts that down for a variety of reasons (safety, stability, risk/reward).

> **Kasavarina:** I was a founder. I created the Ob. [I can convince Nicodemus.] I will do everything I can to destroy it from the inside out.
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> **Cleone:** Do you think you can keep that up?
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> **Mona:** Do you think that they’ll believe you?
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In Shale we see a memory of Kasavarina blinding Chatwood, a young eladrin woman who’s become Risur’s royal skyseer and wants to leave the Obscurati, and imprisoning her in an asylum. We arrest the Ob agent in charge of the asylum, free Chatwood, and Hoya cures her blindness.

We can find Chatwood shelter somewhere, and given some options she’s interested in hiding out with Nathan since he’s an astronomer. Mona and Chatwood share notes about their skyseer visions, and Chatwood notes that the Voice of Rot and other fey titans will only be a threat if Risur lacks a monarch. Does the king have a planned successor? We…should check in with him, so onward to Slate.

Also now that we’ve befriended Chatwood, the Humble Hook is pleased enough that Hoya gets people’s names and life stories now! Including…Marcel’s and Gatria’s birth names, and more about Cleone’s lives than even Cleone knows. Cue information overload.

### Session 13

We visit Slate to see the king, and Harkover with him. Mona, on suggestion from Gatria, uses Glimpse of Truth and sees that Harkover is in fact a red dragon! Thanks to the Hook, Hoya can also see his name is Inacht the Hex-Eater.

The King is aware of what will happen with the fey titans if he dies. He originally hoped to make Lya his successor, but that's no longer possible for many reasons. ("Damn, what a hot bitch") He has a different successor in mind, but is holding back because the nobles want a different successor (Nigel Price-Hill).

> **Aodhan:** Well, I have no intention of dying any time soon.
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> **Hoya:** Respectfully, most people don’t, um, plan on dying ‘any time soon’, but it still does happen…
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> **Aodhan:** Are you referring to my advanced age?
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> **Hoya:** Well I wasn’t, but…
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> **Cleone:** There *is* also the Obscurati.
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> **Aodhan:** So is your concern the next successor that I name would be an Obscurati agent?
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> **Gatria:** Considering how many we’ve weeded out of the government in the last six months? Yeah.
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We talk to Harkover alone, and Hoya lets on she knows who he is. Harkover tells us about the pact he and Gradiax made with King Boyle 200 years ago (which Gradiax immediately broke). Gatria is extremely unamused that Harkover knew about Gradiax’s activities, baby kidnapping and indoctrination included, and did nothing about it. By the way, Harkover also has offspring hidden around the country. Given the rarity of dragons and increasing interest in the Sacrament of Apotheosis which requires dragon blood, that’s pretty dangerous! Hoya nearly names the Sacrament aloud, but Gatria silences her out of fear of implicating Morgan.

We bump into Nigel Price-Hill on the way out. He’s not happy that we associate more with the Family or directly with the king rather than ever talking to him, but he also can’t stop us right now.

## Methia

### Session 14

Onward to Cherage. Mona takes the opportunity to use the Arc and revisit an old memory of her family visiting here, knowing her time is short. We find the memory at a restaurant/museum honoring Amielle, of Kasavarina setting up Amielle’s role in Bonds of Forced Faith; Marcel is also unhappy to discover that his home has been engineered by the Obscurati. Gatria pilfers a Latimer’s Amulet (Necklace of Fireballs) from the museum.

From there, finally time for Methia. Marcel’s docker friends smuggle us into the city disguised as Danoran soldiers. (How do you disguise a catfolk and gnome for an army that contains few of those? Don’t think about it too hard, says Pathfinder.) We stealth towards the tower at the center, avoiding the tank and related crew…but not avoiding Florette, who’s lying in wait for the party on the inside of the Lance of Triegenes.

Florette has poisoned weapons, but thankfully Gatria is able to resist the poison. Cleone tries to take Florette down without harming her, but in the end has to resort to knocking her unconscious. Ah, the irony of taking down your best friend/sister figure with exactly the training she gave you, because you’re both fighting to protect Danor from opposite sides. :’)

We continue on and further up the tower we find…Nilassa Hume?!

### Session 15

Nilassa isn’t here to harm us, which Hoya tests with a dare. Methia flattens the planes together, so ghosts from the Bleak Gate can manifest here. She has a short reunion and a sweet hug with Gatria before sending us on the way.

> **Gatria:** I miss you.
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> **Nilassa:** I don’t have much time left. I wanted you to know, I’m not the only one that’s come for you.
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> **Gatria:** What else is new?
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> **Nilassa:** I want you to know that I love you, and I want you to say the same to Toni. Give my father my regards.
>
>

More ghosts and more memories up ahead. Duchess Ethelyn screams at Mona and Marcel; Luc sobs with grief, but is glad to hear that his cousin and wife are safe and out of Han’s hands. Lorcan Kell gets the drop on Gatria and blinds her permanently, so Hoya takes on the role of seeing-eye gnome. Zo mournfully gives Hoya a warning about their spirit medium powers, and asks Hoya to take care of her daughter.

From memories we see different meetings of Obscurati leadership. We learn that Roland Stanfield is among the Obscurati, and that the Romana twins were recruited to help install him as king with particular plans relating to the Rites of Rulership. Marcel, recognizing Irwin Romana as the future Gideon Ambrose, is livid - especially when he realizes Hoya and Gatria already knew something.

Several memories involve Jierre sovereigns dating back to a few hundred years ago, which underline the Obscurati’s influence on Flint and Danor via truths about the Yerasol Wars and the Danoran sovereigns’ direct participation. A few memories involve Alastor, including his initial meeting with Nicodemus and Kasavarina's anger in the aftermath of his murder by Nicodemus. (The second time Nic has killed Kasavarina's family!) Turns out Nicodemus has the ability to help devas regain all their memories of their past lives, which he did for both Roland and Alastor - and now Cleone gets the same, full memories of the 480 years before her birth. Kasavarina admits in a memory to messing with the planar seals and damaging the Avilona seal, affecting flight, and Nicodemus screams at her.

### Session 16

Mona gets a vision from Nem’s presence involving the Voice of Rot, a vortex of stars, and skeletal people - including Rock Rackus.

More memories show that Jierre, Danor’s founder, was himself a founding member of the Obscurati and that he, Nicodemus, and Kasavarina started it to take revenge against the Clergy and other oppressors. Realizing that Danor has been serving the Obscurati from its origins, Cleone starts to snap.

> **Kasavarina:** In just a hundred years Nicodemus became everything that he was fighting against. Maybe I didn’t work hard enough to keep him from it.
>
>
> **Cleone:** Maybe he was destined to become like that all along.
>
>
> **Kasavarina:** Well. I don’t believe in destiny.
>
>
>
> **Cleone:** *(Shaking)* He said himself, power corrupts. No matter what any of you did, it’s been him all along.
>
>

The party rests to heal up before the final memory at the very top of the tower. Gatria raises the question of how to get down, and Marcel proposes using a card he has that bears the same symbols as the planar icons. Marcel later confronts Hoya and Gatria about Gideon, who defend him as Marcel claims he deserves death for having ever been Obscurati at all. He turns on Cleone when she points out she used to be Ob and could have been re-recruited, and Kasavarina slaps him for acting like a child. Marcel backs down when Cleone points out that entire cities or countries shouldn’t deserve death, and starts to reconsider his life motivations beyond killing Obscurati.

Florette wakes up thanks to Cleone’s care and they have a talk. Florette wasn’t quite aware of the Obscurati or its relationship to Danor, but she wasn’t entirely unaware either. Regardless she felt a duty to obey the sovereign, though she confesses in doing so she might have lost sight of her original motivations. The two of them reaffirm their mutual desires to protect the people of Danor, and Cleone confesses her fears for both the country’s future and her own ability to handle everything that’s happening. The outlet allows her to stabilize a bit before what comes next.

At the top of the tower, we see the final memory entailing the Clergy’s reversal of Kasavarina and Nicodemus’ plan to kill the god of war and the transformation of Dala into Srasama’s avatar, sent to her slaughter through a portal to Alais Primos. After memory-Nicodemus jumps through the portal just in time to be caught by Srasama’s death blast, present-day Nicodemus shows up and makes threats to the constables and Borne: give him Kasavarina, or die.

> **Cleone:** You already killed me once.
>
>
> **Nicodemus:** It’s good to see you again, Alastor. :)
>
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> **Cleone:** It’s Cleone now.
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>
>
> **Nicodemus:** I suppose it is. :)
>
>

He tries to appeal to Kasavarina, but when she reveals she knows how he killed Launga he attempts to justify himself while emphasizing his righteousness. This guy sucks.

### Session 17

The confrontation with Nicodemus continues, the party talking in circles with him as neither side manages to convince the other of anything. Cleone accuses him of doing his work for his own ego, not the world, while Nic continues to see her as Alastor; Hoya calls him out on his philosophies; Gatria calls him a failure, hiding behind a council to avoid taking responsibility for his mistakes; Mona tells him he ought to retire. Nicodemus accuses the party of trying to take credit for his work, if we believe the Obscurati will function better without him. Mona does manage to get her copy of Miller’s writings signed for Vihan though.

As things break out into a fight, the party convinces Borne to help protect Kasavarina and eventually he does so. Thankfully the party is able to continually prevent Andrei’s regeneration with fire and acid, and eventually Nicodemus is forced out of Andrei’s body. He claims to be an idea and a god before disappearing, his soul gone.

Kasavarina barely gives Borne a thought and goes through the portal with the party. We tell Borne to go to the Dreaming; we’ll be able to find him there.

Coincidentally, the Voice of Rot interferes when we go through the portal (taking Florette and Andrei’s body with us). We end up not in Alais Primos, but somewhere in the Dreaming as fey ready to attack us.

**Next: Adventure 9**