The Reflection Forest

"**The Reflection Forest**" is the fourth session of the first WGA campaign. With a clear goal, the Red Thread heads into the Pearlbow Wilderness to fetch the stolen book.

> I'd rather stay out in the light than die in the darkness.
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## Synopsis

### Preparation

In the morning, Agatha is nowhere to be seen. Kismet returns from one of his regular night time walks, finding Agatha in a nearby alley inspecting her weapons. They speak briefly, and it's clear Agatha does not particularly like wielding so much armament. Kismet asks a few questions about her age, where she's come from, and manages to unsettle the Zemnian with more of his strange metaphors. After this exchange, they gather everyone together.

### What's up with Savas?

The party talks about their employer, Agatha and Florian remarking on the elf clearly hiding something. Kismet is visibly uncomfortable with the discussion, as he already suspects Savas to be affiliated with the Dynasty. Valac discourages the others from looking to much into it - if he has something to hide, it's for a reason, and it's not their problem.

### Into the woods

The party enters the wilderness, and toward evening Arabella begins to behave differently. Standing taller with a clearer gaze, her hair completely straightens out. Her affect changes, and she speaks more calmly. As they set up for camp, Arabella heads off alone into the woods to reacquaint herself, Agatha following behind.

After a short while, Arabella sees a vision of her younger self. Agatha does not see this, and with a word, Arabella walks off alone. This apparition of her younger self asks, 'Are you happy?'. Arabella responds calmly. In some ways she is, but she is disturbed by some of the people she has met. The apparition asks, 'What do you treasure?'. Arabella says she treasures Exandria, this world. She expresses a dislike for where she came from, the darkness. Another question: 'Have you finally found something you love?' She isn't sure yet. She's found many people, and it's fun, but she's not sure yet. A final question. 'Are you afraid?' Arabella responds, "I'd rather stay out in the light than die in the darkness."

### Savas approaches Kismet

After dinner, Kismet receives a Sending from Savas. He's asked to step away from the others alone, and when he does so, Savas appears before him. Savas admits his apprehension that the group does not trust him. He drops his disguise revealing himself as a drow, and reveals his true name to be Sarven. Kismet panics, and Sarven reveals he knows he's from the Dynasty. Sarven had cast a Detect Magic spell, and recognised the magic of his ring. After assuring Kismet he doesn't care for why he's in the Empire, he asks Kismet to back him up, making sure the book returns to his hands. Sarven hands Kismet a ring of sending, allowing him to contact him any time.

### Asriel's dream

Asriel has a dream, and sees a boy with white hair and golden eyes. He asks if Asriel feels fear, and he doesn't reply. The child touches the bracer on his arm. "There's no going back," Asriel says. "Why won't you let me help you?" the child asks. Asriel says there's nothing to look at, that it's his fault. "How Jodi would judge us now." The dream ends in chaos, and Asriel whispers to himself, "I cannot doubt this memory. Master Ikithon was right."

### Kismet and Agatha night watch

Agatha asks about Kismet's association with the Raven Queen, and whether he deals in confessions. She admits she has seen a lot of death, and Kismet suddenly understands something though Agatha is asking about lives she has taken. Kismet talks a little about the Raven Queen, trying to make her understand that death is a natural part of life.

Unlike previous interactions, Kismet directly asks Agatha why she speaks Undercommon. A subject close to the Dynasty, he normally skirts this topic, but the conversation turns toward consecution and dreams. Agatha asks him if he has Dynasty ties, and he alludes that he does, in a way. It's during this conversation that Agatha reveals the name of her past life, Zeker Bylan, and as soon as Kismet hears this name he shuts the conversation down. Kismet recommends they do not speak of this again.

### Agatha's dream

When everyone settles to sleep, Agatha only finds unrest. She's a child in a familiar place, chaos around her, and she's standing in front of an alleyway. There's a body, mangled and bloodied, that she recognizes - she knows what happened here, and this is the corpse of Zeker Bylan. The next time she blinks, she's suddenly standing in front of it. The cold, dead eyes open as the corpse asks her if she feels regret. Agatha responds, "Everyday. You never did."

She laughs, but Zeker tells that they're different, then asks if she's going to become him, or he's already her. Agatha denies that she'll ever become him, and he mocks her, saying that they're stuck together. Enraged, Agatha grabs a dagger from Zeker's corpse and completely mauls him. The last thing she hears before it is incapable of speaking is "See? You already are", and then she wakes up sobbing.