All My Friends Are Dead (BA002)

**“All My Friends Are Dead”** is the second session of the Belazon’s Agents/Barcie and Clydesdale game.  Melanine, after waking up to his second day in Delirium, is sent on his task to retrieve the first of the seven pieces of Merroweigh’s staff, with Barcelona acting as guide and healer.

# Synopsis

Again, thanks to time dilation between Convergence and Delirium, time will be measured in days spent on Delirium since Melanine’s arrival.

## Day 2

Melanine and Barcelona wake up the next day, finding that pixies have brought in bowls of water to freshen up, as well as very nice tailored clothes… that have Belazon’s symbol emblazoned on them.  Both Barcie and Melanine refuse to wear them, and meet up at the foot of Belazon’s throne.

After asking if the clothing was not up to their liking, Belazon explains their mission: a hag by the name of Lachan had gotten her hands on a piece of Merroweigh’s staff, and had declared a fiefdom in Belazon’s territory without asking first.  While he wants Lachan dead, that is secondary to the goal of getting the staff piece back; he can handle Lachan at his leisure.  Melanine noted his distaste for serving as Belazon’s executioner, and Barcie again questioned his competency (in a coded way), asking why he didn’t just take care of it himself.  Belazon again noted himself as the *Stag Baron*, and that he could take care of it if he wanted.  Regardless, after picking up some potions, the duo left the Grotto.

They passed through thick woods for a couple of hours, before coming across a little meadow.  Oddly enough, in the middle of the meadow, there seemed to be a circle of trees, surrounding a fallen trunk.  As the two came up, Barcelona picked up that the sap leaking of the trees were actually tears: these were living trees that had moved their dead friend and were saying goodbye.  Barcelona left a flower on the fallen log, sent up a prayer to Cornaith (which sped up the process of the earth beginning to take the fallen tree), and returned to a *very* confused (but quickly acclimating) Melanine.

## Day 3

On their second day on the road, the sound of something *massive* in the forest sent both Barcelona and Melanine to the bushes on the side of the road.  Barcelona immediately relaxed however when the source was revealed: an adolescent elk… albeit one native to Delirium, and therefore about twenty feet tall.  He ran off the second she emerged from the bush, and seemed bemused by the fact that elk from Loctet seemed miniscule by comparison, according to Melanine’s reaction.

This prompted Barcelona to give Melanine a brief history lesson.  As was already mentioned, each archfey reported to one of the four Seasonal Monarchs: the embodiment of the four seasons, and full on gods.  Yalda the Winter King and Cornaith the Autumnal Warden are siblings, as are Sabine the Spring Herald and Theria the Summer Queen.  Yalda and Theria used to be in love; however, the fundamental differences in their personalities led to a rift.

## Day 4

As twilight began to set in, the two finally arrived at the foot of Lachan’s Pools.  They prepared for the next day, when they would actually enter.

As the two were gathering supplies for camp that night, Melanine and Barcelona heard a rustling in the bushes nearby.  Melanine readied his crossbow, before Barcie placed a hand on him, stating that, in many cases, there were easier ways of handling these things.  They called out to the source of the noise… and out of the bushes walked Aine, Lemmy, and Lath.

Aine immediately beelined for Melanine, stating they were so happy to finally find him!  They had apparently found another portal to Delirium, and had been hunting high and low for him.  Melanine, for his part, was caught off guard and *utterly horrified* that they had found him after not even a full four days of being separated.  Aine insisted that Melanine come with them back to Convergence, grabbing him by the hands.

Barcelona, immediately suspicious, cast a spell to detect magic, and saw that all three of Team 3.5 was covered in illusion magic.  After a couple of questions, Barcelona followed this up by casting a spell compelling them to tell the truth.  Aine and Lath remained silent as Lemmy, seemingly unaffected by the spell, continued to encourage the group to return to their camp nearby.  Tension began to build step by step until it finally spilled over, with Barcelona making the first move against Aine.

The battle raged between Barcelona, Lemmy and Lath, as Aine made another overture to Melanine to leave with them.  Melanine’s reluctance (and growing conclusion that, given what little he knew of them, this seemed oddly out of character for all of them) led him to try and step away, as Aine made a very aggressive grab at him.  Firmly convinced now, Melanine entered fully into combat alongside his elvish companion.

Over the course of a protracted battle did the members of Team 3.5 fall one by one, revealing themselves to be doppelgangers as their bodies expired.

# Dramatis Personae

* Barcelona: elf cleric
* Melanine: centaur fighter
* Belazon

# Game Data

* Date played: 3/23/2021
* Time played: 2:26:00
	+ As of playing, this is the longest session of the Belazon’s Agents game