Session 16

## Notable Events

* We go back and find out clarence is #comatose so we cant find out how he read it
* We tell Orianna whats up - she goes off to find Damaia
* Justice spied on both of them - witnessed damaia destroy the book, but is caught spying and assumed to be Haldir at first
* Meadow, Nova, Dimitri go to Orianna/Damaia’s house to see if they’re there - broke in through Nova’s window, and then dimi through their balcony.
* Justice tells Pearl about his pranking career
* Meadow conversation with Malar
* Meadow and Dimitri witness something they shouldn’t have -  Nova has a good night 😉
* Next day breakfast Haldir approaches Meadow, Pearl, Justice + damaia & orianna, gives them fetch quest for herb
* party asks around about the herb and nobles that visited - directed to Naz
* Party gets Nova, also some info from Ruvyn
* Meets with Naz - directed to forbidden area
* 🎶Into the woods to [mysterious building]’s house 🎶

## Details

After defeating the devil, Nova runs into the woods to check on the commune. Meadow follows after to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, and the rest of The Party follow after catching their breath. Meadow catches up and convinces Nova to slow down and wait for the others. On the path back, Nova wonders out loud how Clarence could even read the book, because infernal is not a common language in the commune. With this question in mind, they set out to find him again.

When they return to the school area where the children are, they are surprised to see a commotion happening. The party asks one of the group of children what happened, and one of them explains that Clarence collapsed and was sent to the Medical tent. The Party makes their way there to see Clarence's condition themselves, inferring that they must have missed something in the contract with the devil. When they arrive, they meet up with Orianna who is confused over Clarence's state. The Party explains what happened and Nova returns the waterlogged infernal book. Orianna looks dismayed, explaining that this was a theoretical book, and the rituals were never meant to be practiced. She makes The Party promise not to tell Haldir as she rushes off to find Damaia.

Justice asks Nova if she wants him to follow her. Nova asks him to, and he sneaks off after Orianna. The party enter the medical tent to see for themselves what has happened to Clarence. Clarence lies in one of the medical cots, dishevelled, comatose, and gaunt - as if his muscles had atrophied. Nova and Dimitri inspects him to see the extent of the damage, and he is unresponsive. Nova attempts to use Cure Wounds to see if that would help with his condition, however it seemed as if his body had rejected her magic, which she had never heard of happening before.

A medic from the commune, Butch, approaches to examine Clarence - The Party stands by. Nova asks what's wrong with him and explains what she tried to do. After examining him, Butch reveals that Nova's magic didn't work because Clarence's body had absolutely no magic in it. He then explains to the rest of the party the theory behind healing magic - how it reaches for the innate magical pool in everything to heal. He continues on to say that someone having absolutely no magic in them is unheard of, and sets off to find Haldir to see what his input would be in this predicament. While Butch leaves the tent, The Party tries to see if they can communicate with Clarence through other means. Dimitri attempts to communicate with him through his astral self - with a small amount of success.

Meanwhile, Justice follows Orianna to the redwood glade, where she meets up with Damaia. He stays a distance away, but enough to hear their conversation. Orianna relays what Nova explained to her, and expresses that she's worried about being kicked out of the commune for having books like these, and inadvertently causing Clarence's current state. In response, Damaia destroys the book, stating that they should be thinking of whats best for them. As they both go to leave the glade, Damaia notices someone following, initially thinking it was Haldir. Justice reveals himself, and promises not to reveal any of what they discussed to Haldir. They go their separate ways - Justice going back to the party, Damaia and Orianna going back to their house.

Justice meets up with the party. Nova explains what Butch told the Party about Clarence's condition. Not knowing what else to do, Meadow, Nova, and Dimitri decide to go find Orianna and Damaia to seek advice on what to do about the roaming devil in the forest. Pearl and Justice split off, wanting to rest a bit more after the difficult time they had fighting the devil.

Justice and Pearl relax and have dinner at a table together. Justice continuously places more food on Pearl's plate. He starts to tell Pearl a story he thinks Pearl will benefit from, as well as change Pearl's regard of him. He starts to tell Pearl about the annual horseracing competitions in Barrowbough. Since about fourteen years ago, there have been strange events happening every year. Since appearances are so important to nobles, and they are so pretentious about their horses, they get quite tiffed by these strange events. One year there was a continuous circle of excrement around the track, another year a horse started flying, another year all the horses ran backwards. Every year the nobles try to make precautions - some think the competitions are haunted. No one has any idea who it is or why. Pearl sees through Justice's thinly veiled confession of mischief. He tells Pearl that the moral of the story is that if you plan ahead, your mischief is more successful.

> "You did it didn't you?"
> ".....no, of course not. Why would I?"
> \*five seconds later\*
> "It was you."
> "Yes, of course it was me." - Pearl and Justice
>
>

> "Would you rather fuck someone over consistently every year, or only get them one time? Think and plan ahead. Play the long game. If you ever want help fucking someone over, I can help."
> "I'll remember that." - Justice and Pearl
>
>

Meanwhile, Meadow, Nova and Dimitri seek out Ruvyn and Marie to see if they knew where Damaia and Orianna were. The remaining members of the party reach their house, to an embarrassing situation for both Ruvyn and Nova, and a hilarious one for Meadow and Dimitri. Nova joins Ruvyn and Marie and abandons the search for her parents, leaving the rest of the party to their own devices while she enjoys Ruvyn and Marie's company for the night. Meadow and Dimitri, deducing that Damaia and Orianna have gone into the forest to probably seek out the devil, decide that their in no shape to follow and decide to relax for the night, eventually hunkering down in the communal dining area as they didn't really have anywhere else to sleep.

The next day, they are woken up by the hustle and bustle of everyone else in the commune waking up for the day - Dimitri once again volunteered to help in the kitchen, Meadow and Pearl meet up with Damaia and Orianna (who suspiciously look more tired than normal), and Justice gathers information by asking the people around about the nobles that visited. Justice finds out from one friendly person that one of the nobles dropped a rectangular item, but he was not sure what it was exactly, and that Justice should seek out the ranger Naz for more information about it. Meadow, Pearl, Damaia, and Orianna are approached by Haldir. He relays what he has learnt about Clarence's condition, and says there may be a way to heal him using a plant that "glows and is possibly blue", and asks the Party if they could possibly search for it in the forest. Damaia and Orianna are tense throughout this conversation, and after Haldir leaves, Damaia says that he is a "terrifying man". The party then goes off to find Nova so they can tackle finding information and finding this plant together.

Meanwhile, Nova is having a lazy sleep in, thoroughly enjoying Ruvyn and Marie's company after being away for so long. This is disturbed by the activation of the sending stones that Meadow gave her the previous day. Nova, having ignored this message, was then visited by The Party as they wanted to ask Ruvyn and Marie some questions as well, asking if they knew anything about blue plants, or the nobles that visited - but are then redirected towards Naz, and also that although they have never encountered plants like what The Party is describing, it could be because they only exist in the forbidden zones of the forest. Meadow heads off to meet with the others, and leaves Nova to follow behind after she gets ready. The three lovebirds reluctantly got ready and headed their separate ways, with Nova headed towards where Meadow said to meet and the other two headed off to do their jobs around the commune. - but not before telling Nova to be careful, and Ruvyn offering to keep an eye out for them while they were in the forest.

The Party reconvenes and manages to catch Naz before she goes on patrol, and asks about the nobles. Naz reveals that she was the one who led the party of Nobles into and out of the commune, and gives a description of the nobles themselves. She also confirmed that one of the Nobles did indeed drop a rectangular object, however she was not able to see which one did it. She also gave directions towards where the forbidden zone of the forest would be where The Party could potentially find their mysterious flower. With this information in hand, The Party sets out into the forest.

Whilst inside, The Party successfully navigate towards the forbidden zone, but Meadow and Nova find their surroundings suspiciously quiet for a forest, Furthermore, as they delve further into the forbidden zone, Nova inspects flora she is unfamiliar with, which was unusual for her as she had extensively studied these forests for most of her life, almost being attacked by one of the flowers as she was inspecting it. Pearl also find flowers that look somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place why - upon relaying this information to the others, they began to worry about if they were delving into fey territory. Pearl, in a bid to find out, discovers that he can communicate with his familiar, and converses on whether or not Cat knows various pieces of information - such as if he knew what Nova's father's name was, which Cat did not. The Party presses on and eventually stop at a stone structure that seems to have been a building once - but some of the walls had collapsed, and the interior seems to be dark. Nova, upon inspecting the structure, is shocked to find that this stone structure had a heartbeat. The party attempt to find more information about this place through various means - Dimitri and Nova peak inside, Pearl throws a rock into it, Justice throws a rock through it to see if it would reach the other side, and Meadow Finally decides to take a step into it to see what was inside.