Brokeback Laboratory

God this is such a great name thank you Jerry

Picking up from Wandering Stars, during Session 15!

## It's a Star, It's an Orb, It's A-- Oh Shit Oh God It's After Us

It is (still) the 24th of Fralas. After a few uses of augury from Creon, the Party decides that heading in the direction of Sylvion in order to find Hector Gilligan is our best bet, as he receives Weal. And we're off into open DSK space!

Right as we set off, Creon realizes he wants to write a letter to his mother to say he's on his way. We decide to stop on Orlin so that he can send one at the post office there. Creon casts augury to see if landing on Orlin is a good idea. He gets weal and woe; the party loses it when Creon exaggerates what this means, and gets excited that one of us may genuinely die. We Tokyo Drift towards Orlin, and can see it in the distance. Zephi notices the Horn of Secrets acting up; everyone runs over to see that it's pointed at Orlin. Gerome is a dick and jolts the ship in a very dad move; immediately after, he could swear he hears a small child laughing (1:09:00). He does not address this whatsoever.

As we approach Orlin, some of the clouds seem to shift and twirl, and a speck of light begins moving out. Smoke begins emitting from it and leaves the atmosphere, reaching out towards the ship as well. Vigil makes the call to make evasive maneuvers, and Sheevah begins to back up, but we're caught. We end up fighting a bunch of will-o-wisps and the concept of weather, essentially. This fight includes Sheevah and Creon pulling a Tarzan and Jane and swinging on a rope fully around the ship and pulling themselves back. Neat. (We have pages for fights now! Neat!!!)

We discover Jerry's d20 has an air bubble at 4, and he should really stop using it now. The #Cowblindness meme originates. Finally, we narrowly miss the storm, and coast onto the snow and icy surface of Orlin. Its a large open field, but in the distance, there are the tips of some mountains. Creon runs down and yells for Gerome to stop, and the ship grinds to a halt. In the distance, 25 of the will-o-wisp orbs pop out and then suddenly disappear. Creon puts on a coat, because he's cold. Sheevah, assuming the orbs are controlled by someone below, calls out into the snow, hands raised, and says 'we mean you no harm!' An old woman emerges saying "Well, that's a very good thing to know."

## Ice Ice Baby

###### Session 16

Elizabeth judges Jerry for ordering flan. Creon raises his weapon at the woman but Vigil hits his hand away. Zephi gets extremely close to the old woman, who asks her name. "Chip." Everyone introduces themselves, and the woman tells us her name is Agnes. She says she lives alone and she saw us falling from her window. As for our ship, there's Vedelken settlement not far up north to fix our ship, but she says we ought not head out now because the storm has been raging a few days already, and it's a few days walk there. She invites us to stay with her until it passes. Sheevah checks on Fuzzy Wuzzy and the hamsters. They all seem a little freaked out, especially Zephi's who lives primarily in her bag. Creon super casually checks on War Toad, who is fucking unfazed, and mutters "that's my boy", feeds him two (2) beetles, returning above deck.

Vigil inquires why Agnes lives alone and not in the village. (00:23:00) She says that the Vedelken are very particular, and "if you're not what they want you to be, they're not very kind to you. They're perfectionists. To them, seeking perfection is rather vital, and those who don't meet their standards are admonished for it. To them it's not seen as an insult, but to those with a kinder heart, it is." Creon is *extremely* into this. Gerome is not. Agnes sets off, expecting us to follow, and she's both graceful and fast, somehow, even at her advanced age. We set off, and Gerome deploys his Flamethrower buddy to wear like a sweater which keeps him toasty. The cold, however, gets to folks, especially Sheevah, who faints. Fuzzy Wuzzy is very concerned and Zephi cures her, and she wakes up to Fuzzy Wuzzy nudging her face. Sheevah heals Gerome a bit, who's still feeling the sting from the fight with the wil-o-wisps, and then uses the wand of rogaine to make himself covered in hair. Toasty. Creon quietly heals himself. Gerome tries to use the wand on Vigil, but he "sucks it back in". Gerome uses it on Creon as a prank, and he's also now covered in hair.

We approach a wooden shack at the foot of the mountains. There's a small, empty animal pen outside. Inside, it's a small cottage with a little kitchen, a little fireplace, and a loom by the window. Creon looks for a bathroom; Down a small corridor, there are two closed doors, and one open doorway which enters into a tiny bathroom; Creon pulls out a dagger and shaves his face, but the spell is still in effect and it grows back within seconds. Zephi lounges on the couch and Gerome looks for something to read, but mostly finds books of fairytales. Vigil does a vibe check but the answers are secret. Agnes has gone off to prepare the tea in the kitchen, so Vigil takes the opportunity to shoot Sheevah a look implying Agnes is not what she seems. Vigil asks if there's anything he can help with, and Agnes thanks him and asks him to put on the tea. Agnes asks if anybody wants some; Gerome and Vigil says they do, and Agnes says she'll put one on for Creon (still in the bathroom) as well.

Vigil inquires how she came to live on Orlin all alone; Agnes explains backstory! (0:51:45) Her parents arrived on Orlin to work at one of the Vedalken laboratories many years ago. They had her, and later passed, and she didn't feel as though she ingratiated well into their society but felt no need to leave the planet. Occasionally she'll bring her animals to town to sell when she has them, but overall, she's happy where she is. Vigil asks if her parents were part of the DSK, which she confirms, saying they were studying "alchemical processes or something like that". Vigil does a vibe check but the answers are secret, again.

Vigil asks where her animals are, and Agnes explains there's a "terrible beasty not too far from here" that's been ravishing the sheep. "The last one got taken this morning. Now I'm going to have to go into town later today and buy some new ones, and then the whole supply and demand chain is all fucked up." Vigil offers to help and Agnes says she can't ask anything of us. Gerome gets worried the monster might want to eat the animals back on the ship, but Agnes says it's interested in larger creatures.

Back in the bathroom, Creon tries to sneak out and investigate those closed doors. One of them creaks very loudly open, and Agnes seems to clock this and calls out to him. He checks anyway, but it's just a pantry full of meats and herbs. Agnes sits down next to the loom with tea-- Zephi looks at it, and can only tell its been used recently. She asks for a blanket, and Agnes leaves to grab some. Sheevah quietly asks Vigil if Agnes put anything in the tea. Vigil says it's a good question, and that she's a little too graceful for an old lady. (1:00:25)

In an incredible two seconds of this game: Creon casts 'Detect Evil and Good' and Gerome drinks the tea. I shit you not, this happens without even a breath in between.

As Creon casts the spell he feels a sinking in his stomach and, especially when looking at Agnes, gets the deepest sense of fiendish energy emanating off of her. Creon gently kicks Zephi's foot to get her attention and gives her a We Gotta Go look. Gerome slurps the tea loudly. Zephi nods at Creon, gets up, goes to the door, and says "Look for sheep? Look for sheep." Giving pointed looks to the rest of the party. Creon agrees. Agnes says thank you, gives us a vague pointer that it was last sighted up way north. We roll super high on being chill and not obvious. Zephi points out as we leave that we need to head in a roundabout way back toward the ship, or risk Agnes seeing us walk the wrong direction-- towards our ship, instead of North.

After only a minute or two, we lose our way. Everyone except for Gerome, who's still furry, is damaged from the cold. Sheevah steps forward, and after her eyes flash crystal for a moment she gets a glimpse of the ship in the distance. We start walking on the ice, and Sheevah notices that underneath the surface there's a long spindle of wood. And then another. And then fabric, and she realizes it's a fallen spelljammer, though not ours. It looks old. We see more and more fallen ships of varying ages, some that even have skeletons. There's a grinding noise up ahead; a ship is sinking. Wait--oh shit. *Our* ship.

Vigil picks up Gerome and runs towards the ship-- Gerome activates his hare legs and, with some inspiration from Zephi, manages to land all the fucking way on the ship, and runs down to the core. This fight is nuts; the ship is damaged as a landshark, (Bulette Boi), with glowing red eyes jumps aboard; Creon nearly dies, Gerome's beloved pets DO die, and the ship is damaged even further. When it's all over, nearly everyone has taken massive damage.

## Sloe Down Hoe Down, Karnitas.

###### Session 17

Immediately following the fight! (Darcy says it's the 28th of Fralas now, which makes no sense but I'll deal with that later.) Vigil looks to see if the massive hole in the ship is anything he can fix-- he uses some spare bits of Guildroman to patch up, which keeps things a little warmer for the time being. We manage to fly and reach Hitrivill, one of Orlin's only towns. Zephi points to an open field close to the settlement and makes Vigil play Hot and Cold to find where she means, and we land. It's around 6pm, by this point. Creon casts Detect Good & Evil, just to be safe, but doesn't pick up on anything. We make our way into the town, seeing a few people walking around, mostly Vedalken and Humans. Eventually, we come to the Sloe-Down, a pub/inn made entirely of ice. We walk inside greeted to some baroque music, and try to make a good impression-- there are some incredible rolls, and Vigil, Sheevah, and Zephi strut in, everyone looking on appreciatingly. Gerome trips.

There's a Vedalken bartender wearing a pair of pince-nez, so I fall in love immediately. Also, he reminds Zephi of Jacob. Zephi runs over and hops up on the bar, just watching him pour drinks-- he offers to pour her one, but she declines. Gerome walks up and orders "one room and a bottle of whatever, my guy. Your finest whatever." Sellis offers something wildly expensive and 'perfect', but Gerome pushes for 'whatever' and gets some cheap beer. Creon orders his 'finest Elven wine', a bottle from the Sellurus family, for 20 gold-- Zephi hears the name and it triggers a memory; being offered wine in an ornate halll, and for the first time in 400 years, sees: A human man, in a finely tailored red suit and is sitting relaxed, and grinning. It's Billy Velhiri. The memory ends.

Zephi points to the bottle and tries to convince Creon to let her have some, and he gracefully agrees, and pours a thimble's worth for her. The batender tells us we're a motley crew and asks about us; Creon says we're on Official DSK business and the bartender replies that makes sense given that we got through the storm. Vigil asks about it and the bartender says it's called "Raumo Nurrua", meaning "The Mumbling Wind" in Sylvan. Vigil asks if the bartender has heard of Agnes-- he's heard some stories of a woman, but most people tend to avoid that area. Zephi and Vigil prod for more information and he explains that there are folktales of a human family that worked at the laboratory and had a child that ran away into the snow. She wasn't seen from again, and when the parents were inspected, they were found dead not long after. But the myths and tales of The Woman in the Hut go back much further-- but most people travel that way "don't particularly come back". The bartender says some people think she's a witch, but he believes she's a hag.

(43:50) Creon tries to show off, and says we met her. The bartender is deeply uninterested. Creon falls in love. Timestamp drop cause it's a funny listen. He introduces himself as Sellis, and tells us that there are igloos out back to stay in, and hands Gerome his key. Gerome is like, kind of flirting on Creon's behalf? Wingmanning? Sellis is visibly disgusted. We ***LOVE*** Sellis. Zephi hands over some coins for a room and heads out. Sellis explains he built the Sloe-Down from the ground up; "No self-respecting Vedalken would inherit anything." (46:00). Creon subtly tries to seduce Sellis and convince him to join him in his igloo.

> Creon: Hmm... room F.
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> *\*Rolls a 7 charisma check\**
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> Sellis, *looking a lil grossed out*: Yes. F.
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>

Vigil gets a key as well and tries the same trick as Creon-- Sellis is used to our bullshit already, and doesn't look bothered. Zephi walks back in just as Vigil asks about the lab, and Sellis says it closed after the war ended-- it was used for developing transmutative magic of some kind, and says one scientist still lives in the town, named Drorena.
Okay. Momentous. (50:00). This is it, kids. Vigil says our ship took a bit of a beating, and asks if there's anywhere to fix it up. With a sigh, Sellis recommends The Frostworker. We immediately pick up on his tone and ask whats up, and Zephi is sure that it's his ex-- but we don't get much clarification before someone bursts through the doors; a Husky dogfolk in a large aviator jacket and a huge smile.

> Guy: How the fuck are ya?! How the hell are ya Sellis, get me whatever the fuck slop you got!
>
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> Sellis: Hello, Mr. Yank.
>
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> Guy (Mr. Yank): We've known each other for 12 years, ya still call me by Mister! I fuckin' love ya for it!
>
>

Sheevah asks for clarification on his name and he introduces himself as Barren Yank, saying he owns The Frostworker downtown. Introductions are exchanged. Gerome tries to chug something but vomits. Zephi flirts with Barren lightly, but he starts it! Vigil, Gerome, and Barren chat about repairing the ship, and Vigil asks for Barren's story. Barren said he's made some mistakes-- Vigil asks if he was chasing after a boy, and both Barren and Sellis try to sweep it under the rug, and Barren opts to tell some fun stories. He then invites us to a drinking contest. Game on. If someone can drink Barren under the table, he'll pay for our drinks and give us 50% off at his store.

Barren gets Sellis to give us some whiskey, and Sellis who seems exhausted by Barren, rejects joining the contest himself, as does Creon. We get to drinking. We have a truly, deeply wild drinking contest with LOTS of encouraged cheating, recounted here; most everyone, Barren included, pass out. At the end, it's only Sellis and Zephi left up; Zephi gives herself bardic inspiration, JUST passes the DC, wipes her mouth, flips her cup, and forfeits to Sellis. Sellis says he's going to take care of Barren and carries him out in a fireman lift. With Creon's help, Sellis gets Barren into an unmarked igloo, and Sellis sets some water out for him. God. The *yearning* of it all.

Zephi & Gerome have to drag Vigil into his room, and it takes so long Vigil's already waking up by the time he gets into bed. The two get Sheevah to her bed next, and Gerome wanders off to his room. Zephi starts to retreat back to her room before Sellis stops her, saying, "I wouldn't like it if... this is between us. I wouldn't like it if Barren knew that I *won*. Take the discount, tell him you won. He doesn't need that shame from me twice." An insight check revealed that this isn't the first time this has happened. We all go to bed.

## Bad Times, Cool Books, Weird Scientist

###### Session 17, 1:43:00

Gerome falls asleep. There's nothingness for a bit, but suddenly he's out on the ice field again; it's nighttime, and thunder cracks above him. A voice somewhere behind him cackles; he turns, but nobody's there. it's behind him now again, he turns, nobody's there, and on impulse, starts running. Terrified, he bolts down the road. The cackling follows him, and is behind him no matter where he turns. His max HP falls from 21 to 17; and when he awakes, he doesn't feel like he's had the effects of a long rest at all.

Vigil wakes up and is hungover as fuck. Sheevah wakes up very tired, but fine otherwise; Vigil sits at a table in the main area of the Sloe Down and gives Vigil a hard pat on the back and a cheery "Good morning, I slept great!" because she's 16 and it's funny, and Sellis says, "Oh good, she's a morning person." Y'all we were all ON IT with the RP this session.

Gerome sets his backpack up, and goes back to sleep. We make Ger(h)ome Alone jokes for a few minutes. Selis comes out to serve our table and looks completely fine. Vigil asks for grease. "Put it on something, I guess. A vehicle." Creon brags about being sober. Sheevah gets coffee, Zephi gets an omelette, Creon gets... porridge and lemon water. He says he's *indulging*. Barren comes in with his usual, "How the fuck are ya?" But he's definitely hungover and orders his usual, which turns out to be a plate PILED with sausages. He congratulates Zephi on her win (after asking who had won-- as by that time, was blind and had passed out) and laughs that Sellis "lost again". He invites us to stop by the Frostworker later, swallows that whole ass sausage plate, and leaves. Vigil follows and tries to sneakily follow Barren, but he notices, and they chat. Vigil is super casually suspicious that Barren got us drunk.

We go to The Nova Nook, the local bookshop, and pick up some books-- list on the Nova Nook page! Since the information we learn isn't shared with the group, I won't get into it. But notably, Vigil learns that there's never been a Githyanki who has lived past the age of 30, whereas Githzerai live until around 120; we note that Vega is a Githyanki, and looks to be in his late 20s. (2:16:40). We learn Rylance's backstory from a book. Creon learns there's no common ancestor between Elves and Vedalken. Zephi finds Billy Velhiri's autobiography, published 15 years after her disappearance.

Creon heads back to the ship. Vigil, Sheeevah, and Zephi decide to pay a visit to Drorena at House 12, which looks a little less taken care of than many of the others. Vigil says we're from the DSK and they ask for identification-- Vigil showing his shoulder patch is enough. They grudgingly welcome us in and, though it's about 2pm, they look as though they've just woken up-- they're wearing a bathrobe and are nursing a mug of coffee. Drorena claims they don't know who Agnes is at all, and her parents must have been before their time. Vigil asks about their history with the lab, and it's clear that it was their whole life until it closed. Vigil asks what the lab specialized in, and Drorena asks for our clearance level. A text to Rylance reveals it's DragonHeart Alpha. (2:35:40) Drorena says they were looking into the lifecycles of Gith-- (more in depth info here) and reveals some war crimes *extremely* casually. As Vigil goes to ask if there's anything left there, Drorena very pointedly interrupts to say that it was emptied out years prior, and there was nothing left. Zephi starts prodding them about morality, and Drorena seems not to have any regret, and would happily go back if given the chance, both in terms of money and resources, such as a gith to experiment on.

Before leaving, Zephi taunts Drorena that she knows where a gith is, and slams the door. We chat about how Drorena was definitely 100% lying a bunch. We write to Rylance who confirms that his clearance code changes at the end of every day-- but Drorena recognized it, meaning that the lab is probably still running and they're up to something shady. We peak around the Laboratory, which seems decrepit, but the security walls are all maintained, and a pair of footsteps in the snow walking right up to the door. The gate seems to be opened only by a hand on a stone.

   We head back to the Sloe-Down. Gerome hears a voice in his dream say "They're back early" and wakes up to War Toad sitting on his bed with a note on his head, Gerome writes a response, "Return to Sender"

## Down at the Frostworker

###### Session 18 (12:00)

Gerome wakes up, and all of us sans Creon head to The Frostworker, where Barren Yank awaits, nursing a hangover. We talk to him about making repairs-- Jerry remembers we need the rudder repaired, not just the hull, and we are all impressed-- Sheevah then reminds us actually everything but the canon is damaged. Oops. Even with our 50% discount from the drinking contest, it comes out that we need to pay 140 gold, 2 silver, and 5 copper to repair everything. Barren offers to drop it down slightly lower if we'd be willing to help him, which sounds like a great plan, at 88 gold.

We have banter about burly boys. Barren says he's heading out tomorrow morning at 6am to start work on it, and we should meet him there, and takes the price of the hull down to 22 gold-- it'll take about 4 days to complete. We also take some time to buy some outdoor gear; Zephi some Hide armor for 10 gold, while Sheevah and Vigil buy jackets. Then we buy supplies for the sail and the core, and agree to meet in the morning.

We go to check out the ship, and everything seems okay, but we should probably still stay at the Sloe-Down. Gerome casts Snare to leave a trap just in case. We start heading back to the Sloe-Down, and try to listen in to conversations from passersby and see if we hear anything about that weird laboratory. Vigil hears a hushed voice of someone older from down an alley, somewhat panicked, and tries to sneak down to hear what's being said; he sees Drorena speaking to a small stone and slips on the ice a bit in surprise. Drorena notices, and tries to play things off. Vigil tells them that we're consulting for the DSK and we're on the same side. Drorena says that they do check up on the lab from time to time to make sure nothing's going on there-- Vigil invites them to drinks and they shockingly agree, and say they'll be there in an hour.

Back at the Sloe-Down, Sellis welcomes us back and says Creon only said a few words before he left in a rush earlier. Also, he saluted War Toad before hurrying out. We pay for our rooms. Gerome requests a newspaper. This is when things start happening.

## Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon

###### 1:05:30

Sellis says he has a few copies of Major Arcana that just came in, if we'd like. Gerome pays for a copy and he and Zephi sit down to read. The major news is that Admiral Aldour Portant recently passed away. There's also an article on how to cook Starwhale liver ( :( ) and then an article immediately following on why you *shouldn't* harvest Starwhale, as they're endangered. Gerome gets curious about the Classifieds. Oh, Gerome.

He investigates; (gets a 26!) There's an opening for an Opinion Writer at Major Arcana for Magic Tech. There's a reward out for 300 gold pieces for anyone with information about The Starship Crimson, an old luxury Carnival Cruise style cruise ship, which went missing some time ago. The parent company is looking for it in the hopes of salvaging some of its parts. It went missing around 11,047.

Zephi hears Starship Crimson and falls back into a memory. Zephi sits across from her father as they discuss the dangers of an orb Zephi wants to look for. Jacob is mentioned. Billy seems agitated and frustrated, and also seems to imply that "home" for the two of them is not within Zamana, and the demand for the orb is high where they are from. The memory ends, but she realizes that the memory occurred in The Starship Crimson, and gathered that Billy either owned a large stake in the company, or owned the company itself. She rips out the ad from her own copy of the paper and runs over to Vigil, shoving it in front of him. He's confused, but Gerome says "300 gold!" so he gets interested. There's some really excellent banter about "no Zephi, we already have a Karnival Cruise at home. (1:15:00) I miss you guys.

Sheevah, Vigil, and Gerome get to joking about the ship. Zephi gets frustrated and uses thaumaturgy to boom, "LISTEN." Some of the ice glasses break. She insists to Vigil she needs this specific ship, she doesn't just have a craving, and uses prestidigitation to create the tree. He doesn't get it, so she takes out the autobiography of Billy with his face on the cover. She tries to insist, but Vigil keeps pushing back; "Why do we need this ship? Beyond anything that's, it's vaguely connected to your dad. I mean we could put it on the list absolutely, but we don't even know where to start." Zephi slams her glass down on the table, puts her book in her bag, and leaves.

Vigil: "I feel like I could have handled that better, but I don't know exactly what I was handling."

Vigil wonders aloud why the reward is only 300 gold, and why they're searching for it now after all this time. Gerome points out that maybe they've been looking for it ever since. Sellis wanders over and asks if Zephi's alright, and Sheevah says that's a loaded question. Zephi messages Sheevah something, and Sheevah quietly heads out, leaving just Sellis, Vigil, and Gerome. Gerome and Vigil conspire to make one of his new dangerous inventions, a Boom Stick; Vigil throws back a shot. Since it's so risky to build, Vigil throws back a second shot and suggests they get really, incredibly wasted, and then go out onto the icefield and try to build them so they don't damage anything.

### An Inquiry

###### Session 18, 1:23:30

By the igloos, Zephi listens for a ribbit, and hears it from Gerome's room. She doesn't have a key, though, so she just sits against the door for a moment, and sticks her fingers under the door. He licks her fingers, and she leaves for her room, and messages Sheevah requesting the sending paper to Rylance. When she arrives, Sheevah won't let go of it, so she sits next to Zephi on the bed while she writes, just writing "Starship Crimson??" with an endless amount of question marks. Yfrit responds saying Rylance is busy, but she knows the Crimson got lost years ago. Zephi asks if the DSK has leads, but all Yfrit knows is that it was lost in the Open Territories, which at the time was Haladesh territory. Zephi asks why, and if anyone was on board-- Yfrit says it went missing shortly after Billy's autobiography was published, that Bily owned the ship, and the standard crew had been left at the dock. Zephi asks that Ryance write back when he had time. Yfrit signs off, and Zephi pushes Sheevah off the bed. Fuzzy Wuzzy chirps concernedly.

Zephi curls up on the bed, and Fuzzy Wuzzy gives her leg a hug. Zephi sends a little lackluster heart. Sheevah scratches Zephi's head.

## Made From The Plunder of Whiskey

(1:31:00) Jerry says "No more of this emotion bullshit!" which is hilarious given what's about to happen.

There's about 30 minutes until Drorena shows up, so Vigil and Gerome decide to get Tastefully wasted and wait to make the two Boom Sticks until Drorena arrives, reasoning that their expertise as a scientist will make them less likely to blow up. Vigil calls over Sellis using a whole host of words that are Not his name, and asks what's on draft-- Gerome asks specifically for something "locally sourced". Sellis has a flash of realization, and says, "if you can drink this, you can drink it for free." The two get excited and Sellis brings out a rusty moldy barrel labeled "Barren's Beer."

Sellis clarifies it was a gift, and that he's never had it, so he doesn't know if it could kill them. But he kind of wants to find out; it seems dubious, but not poisonous. Gerome grabs a shot glass and takes a sip. It tastes like-- earthy is the kind word for it, but manure is a more accurate descriptor. Vigil winks, and takes a shot maintaining eye contact with Sellis the whole time, and then asks for the next rung up in terms of quality. Gerome and Vigil pay a silver and Vigil says, "I'd suggest [Barren's Beer] on your worst enemy, but it seems like he already gave it to you."

What follows is one of the best moments in the campaign thus far. Please revisit it here. Genuinely. A summary; Sellis admits that he and Barren were once together, but Sellis ended it because he couldn't bear to live past someone he was with by so long-- probably around 200 years. Vigil admits that there's someone from his past he wishes he had been with, even if it had been for a short time, and envies Sellis, who's love is just two blocks down. Sellis concedes, "...I'll think about going two blocks down. We'll see."

Drorena arrives, and Vigil guesses correctly that they're a whiskey kind of person, and orders it for them. Gerome invites them to join him and Vigil as they make the Boom Sticks, going so far as to lay out his blueprint. Drorena's convinced there's a 50% chance they'll die, but joins in after some convincing. Drorena says they ought to use their apartment, so the three grab a bottle of whiskey for the road and head out.

Drorena sends them up to the roof while they get supplies. It seems like they experiment with alchemical things up here, but pretty infrequently, and it's all covered in tin to protect it from the snow, and there's a big pile of snow on it, so it hasn't been moved in a bit. Vigil notices that some way off south, a tiny pinprick of light heads down as though it's landing, and the storm reaches out to it but seems to allow it to pass and retreats. Meta: "it's like customs let them through. A friend of the hag's."

Vigil also notices that one thing under the tin has been recently disturbed, and snow moved to cover it back up. Vigil kicks it aside and notices a cobblestone block is slightly loose. He moves it and there's a piece of paper that he grabs and puts it in his pocket, and covers his tracks just as Drorena appears. The three get to work; Drorena and Gerome work together super well, with Vigil providing emotional support by flexing in the background. Eureka! It is created! (1:55:00 for the description of boom stick. 2d8 bludgeoning, 1d6 fire.)

Drorena sends Vigil downstairs to get glasses for a toast, and Vigil subtly looks at the paper he found. It looks like this: - --- -- -------

He returns, and they all celebrate. "Here's to wild science!"

## Back at the Barnyard

2:03:00

Zephi picks up Billy's autobiography and starts reading. The book starts out strong, and was written contemporarily, as Billy moved through his life. Toward the end of the book, however, everything changes. After Zephi's disappearance, he appears to lose himself a bit, his words becoming rambling and nonsensical.

The tone feels familiar to Zephi, and for a second, internally, it feels like everything is normal, or at least close to it. As she keeps reading, Billy's writing changes. She gets to a glossy photo of Billy in the centerfold, and lingers, and shortly after sees her name for the first time and skips some pages. Sheevah watches Zephi reads, and watches Zephi start to realize what's happening in the book, his writing starting to sound like how her own mind is now. She starts, essentially, glitching. She goes through full-body twitches, and hints of magic come curling off of her, and bits of lightning shoot out from all over. Her eyes flick through different colors rapidly, her breathing starts to be more like hyperventilating, and all in all she seems like she's getting ready for fight or flight mode. She starts scratching at pillows, and herself, and Fuzzy Wuzzy moves behind Sheevah out of fear. She pushes the book away but continues to stare. She often looks lost, but this is the most lost she's looked in a long time, if ever.

Sheevah closes the book and goes to move it away from Zephi, who lunges for it. She manages to keep it away and knocks it off the bed as she sees Zephi reaching for it. Zephi rolls off the bed and huddles against the wall, hugging the book. She starts throwing it against the bed, letting it land, and throwing it over and over and over again. Sheevah grabs the book away, and Zephi starts screaming in horror at it, the type of screaming one might expect from someone watching someone melt before their eyes. Sheevah asks if Zephi wants it back, and Zephi finally shuts down, curls in on herself, pulls the pillows down around her like a barricade, and starts drawing her perfect circles. Sheevah puts a blanket over Zephi, which calms her down a bit, but there's still intermittent screaming. Sheevah pockets the book without Zephi noticing. Sheevah gets Zephi a glass of water and hands it to her with only one hand under the blanket. Instead of drinking, Zephi runs her finger over the edge of the glass to make sound, and repeats the same three notes she often does.

Sheevah stays until Zephi falls asleep, curled up and leaning on the icy wall. Sheevah reads the book.

As Zephi falls asleep, the vague creature she met before in the inky blackness in her mind she frequently falls into walks behind her. "So, you're not in a good place." The two try to piece together what happened with the orb, and Zephi learns that in order to keep her alive, the Voices sacrificed one of their own. The two argue about what it really means to lose. They end on a sour note.

## Rise and Shine and Chop Some Wood

Zephi wakes up early and sits down at the bar. As soon as Sellis walks out, she's saying, "Strongest. Strongest." Sellis obliges, and Zephi buys the whole bottle. He rolls a nat 20 insight, and not only passes her gold back to her (rough night) but also recognizes her name when she puts the lute on the counter. "That's a lot to unpack."

It's before 6am because we all have to meet up with Barren. Vigil comes out, cheery, and asks how girl's night was before slowly seeing the bottle. Sheevah pushes the question off. Zephi tells Sheevah she'll need the book back at some point. Gerome tries to figure out what the fuck to do with War Toad. He walks the toad into the bar and asks Sellis to feed him. Zephi offers him the bottle, but he spits it back out.

> Sellis: I'm going to be honest-- I've taken somewhat of a shine to you all, but you're very strange, you know that right?
>
>

We stress Sellis out and he agrees to make omelettes and seems glad he can do something. What a guy, you know? War Toad eats the omelette and seems happy. We debate whether or not to bring the toad with us out into the cold. Gerome uses the Wand of Rogaine on him, but he passes the con save. He tries again, and the toad is covered in hair. It looks like a really ugly dog. Gerome uses the last charge on himself. Zephi asks Gerome for a raise, and he slides her a gold. We try to tell if Sellis looks like he had sex the night before; he's hard to read. Zephi asks him to come for a field trip, but apparently he has an "inn to run" or something. Vigil tells everyone about the lights he saw in the sky last night. Sellis asks what our field trip is for and Vigil ~ very ~ casually says we're going to see Barren.

> Sellis: Why do you need me?
>
>

> Zephi: Friendship?
>
>

> Sellis: I'm touched. But--
>
>

> *Zephi reaches out and touches him. Gerome does the anime glasses thing.*
>
>

We head out.

We see Barren out in the middle of the ice, doing calisthenics. He says we're right on time, but he's been here for an hour! :) Just getting ready. :) cause he's a fucking JOCK. Sheevah and Vigil kind of hate him now. Barren asks if any of us have worked as lumberjacks. Of course we haven't. Barren brings us to two sleds strapped to two large moose. Vigil, Gerome, and War Toad on one sled, Barren, Zephi, and Sheevah on the other. Barren yells yip yip!! and our moose is off trotting. Vigil tries to get the moose to go, but it won't- Gerome also tries, to no avail. Zephi uses message to ask Barren what the deal is with him and Sellis without having to yell over the wind. Barren, who's been laughing about getting there first before the boys, slowly lets his face fall. He looks... really sad. And upset. "Uh.. um.. Let's not... do... yeah." Zephi rubs his back and tells him its okay to talk, maybe later. She tries to distract him by asking about the moose, but his whole demeanor has changed, charisma gone, and it takes him a second to launch into the story.

Gerome uses his mage hand to slap the moose butt. Vigil intimidates it and it sets off. Barren turns around and is shocked to see them not only catch up, but zoom past. Vigil has his hand on the reigns and Gerome gives the middle finger as they pass. Sheevah uses mage hand to pull on the reigns of the opposing moose, but War Toad licks it out of the air. There's more back and forth between the two teams as we quickly approach the trees. Sheevah seems completely wrapped up in the race and intent on winning, going so far as to try and push the other sled over so the moose will have to recorrect. She can't be talked out of it, and loses herself in the competition. the sled skids 10ft to the side. Vigil chucks his spear in front of Barren's moose and recalls it, just so it'll get spooked, but it doesn't even notice. The boy's sled tokyo drifts and manages to kick snow into Barren's moose's face, and they win by a slim margin.

Sheevah is. Upset. Barren leads us down and points out the trees to chop. Sheevah stalks off by herself because she's in a bad mood. She notices some fallen tress and disturbed snow. She slowly approaches, and the bulette jumps out of the embankment.

## Creon Off Alone

EARLIER! Creon is alone in his room at the Sloe Down, and uses his Sending Stone to contact Lt. Uthorim;

> Creon: Rylance sent us on mission to find Hector Gilligan, Military alchemist. Heading to Sylvion and then Nym. Any orders?
>
>

> Lt. Uthorim: Good to hear from you. What is your current location?
>
>

> Creon: Orlin.
>
>

> Lt. Uthorim: Interesting. I'm heading there now. Meet me by the stonecleft forest. This evening.
>
>

> Creon: I'll be there.
>
>

Creon enters the main area of the Sloe-Down and asks Sellis if the Stonecleft Forest would be a long trip. Sellis informs him it'd take a few hours, but he could probably do it in a night. It's south of the city. He recommends hiring a sled, and recommends talking to Barren about it, and he should probably take the weapons he's got. Creon thanks him, and heads to The Frostworker.

Barren greets Creon and says he's just missed the rest of the party. Creon asks to rent a sled but instead ends up just renting a single moose to ride. Barren tells him to be careful and Creon goes on his way. Creon tries to 'observe' the moose, Barney, but he gets kicked cause Julia rolled a nat1. Creon also 'rents' a jacket cause it's cold. He sets off. He gets lost in the snow before finally finding a high ridge. Still lost, he finally spots the tops of some trees behind him and heads there to take some cover before he sets off for the correct forest which would be farther away.

Suddenly there's a growl and he's tackled off the back of the moose. I'm not adding this to the fights page. Or like, I will, but it's super bloody and I'll come back to it when I have the Emotional Strength lmao. TL;DR, it doesn't go great, but he lives. The moose does not. He creeps through the edge of the forest, and sees a small opening in the snowstorm by a ledge. He gets over and manages to get a better view of things. He can see Hitrivill, the mountain range, and in a gulley, a small collection of trees growing out from strange angles from one large stone.

He approaches it, and can tell it must be the Stonecleft Forest, and it seems to be about a football field large. **He sees a flickering light flickering in the distance by the mountains, and the storm seems to approach the ship, but then turns away. This is the same thing Vigil saw on Drorena's roof.** Creon uses the sending stone to tell Uthorim he's been attacked by wolves but will be there soon; Uthorim responds that he's just landed. Mystery solved! It wasn't a shooting star, it was just a raging asshole!

Creon goes inside just enough to take shelter. The storm seems to pass as soon as he enters. It's warm in the forest, and as he passes through the first set of snow-covered trees and goes further into the forest, he soon realizes the trees further inside don't have snow on them at all. There's a warm ambient light emanating from all around and just seems.... pleasant. He takes off his jacket and eats some food he'd brought, and uses his last health potion because that wolf attack was Rough. He also uses mending on his coat, repairing the tear from where he'd been bitten by the wolf.

He wanders around, and eventually sees that there's a brighter spot to the light, though he can't see the source. Mace in hand, he slowly enters a clearing, with a number of stone pillars. In the center, there's a small stone dais, with a carving of a tree, which has a large grin on it. He notices some butterflies fluttering through, and there's just a general sense of calm. It's a completely different place than Orlin. He sits down against the dais to trance.

While trancing he experiences the usual sounds of war, or screaming, guns firing, blades clashing. But here, he can't seem to shake the sounds of birds chirping, either. It's more peaceful. It's calm. He sees Uthorim marching out of the forest toward him, wrapped up in a large fur coat. He sits down and hands Creon a piece of Elven bread, and they chat about what Creon knows. Uthorim asks if Rylance seems trustworthy, and Creon gives an almost offended, "no", though says the rest of the party seem to love the General, and Creon has convinced Rylance that he trusts him as well. Uthorim asks who Creon does trust, and Creon says the DSK-- Uthorim asks if Creon trusts *him*, specifically, and Creon replies, "Sir, you are my superior officer. Therefore... I'd trust you, even if it killed me."

**Oh *dear.***

Uthorim takes out a small gun and gives it to Creon, and says he's going to teach him something, an old trick, and he needs Creon to trust him. He tells Creon to fire the rifle at Uthorim's shoulder. The lieutenant starts chanting softly, and suddenly a black shield seems to appear over him, but only for a moment before it fades. He repeats the request to Creon. Creon goes to fire, but misses. Uthorim calmly asks him to try again. He fires once more and hits. But it doesn't seem to hurt him nearly as much as it should have.

Lt. Uthorim explains that he can teach Creon to better protect himself against firearms like this. He fires his gun at Creon's shoulder and lands a nat20. He takes 11 damage and falls backward. Uthorim tells him to calm himself by thinking of war. Creon stands, and focuses on the pain of the bullet already in him. The bullet impacts him, and hits, with nothing to protect him. Uthorim tells him to do better, and goes to fire a third time. Creon relives a moment with Elisar, and changes the memory in his mind. But Uthorim misses. He goes to fire A FOURTH TIME. Creon exhibits extreme calm by taking a step forward.

> *A vision: Creon is standing on the deck of a ship with Elisar's corpse, decaying and changed. Creon brings a sword up and cuts him down. Suddenly, Uthorim is there, staring him down. The vision fades.*
>
>

The bullet impacts and does damage but the black energy he'd seen on Uthorim bursts over his skin and absorbs some of the damage, and he now knows Lead Warding. Uthorim holsters the gun and tosses him a potion of greater healing. He asks what Creon's heard of the Conclave Eternal. Uthorim takes off his cloak and the top of his armor to reveal his chest and a large symbol of an infinity sign with a circle around it.

Uthorim says the group is one that has protected Zamana for a very long time. He says they feel Creon would make a valuable addition. Creon asks to confirm that this must be an extension of the military in some way? Lt. Uthorim lies and says it is. He seems overly focused, and older somehow. Almost dismissive. Uthorim asks Creon to come with him, and Creon stops him to ask about the ship landing and the Rauma Nura let his ship be. Uthorim tells him not to ask questions. Creon obliges, and follows. They come to a small skiff outside the forest, and they take off. Creon shit talks about the party trying to revive Karn. In the distance, Creon sees Agnes' cottage, and they come to stop right outside. Agnes greets them both. Creon hesitates, and in Elvish tells Uthorim that Agnes is a fiend. Uthorim replies in common, "No need to hesitate. Come inside." Creon heads inside, dragging his feet.

Agnes brings out 3 cups of tea, and Uthorim says the conclave has decided that Creon could be a suitable replacement, and Uthorim calls Admiral Aldour Portant, who steps out, saying he's been "like this" too long. Creon questions him, and Portant says humans age too quickly. Uthorim says everyone dies many deaths, but the Conclave can prevent that. Uthorim insists Creon drinks the tea, and resists but finally does so. He slumps back in his chair, completely paralyzed and limp. He calls Agnes over using the name Ulla, and Creon watches in stunned horror and a finger comes bursting through her face, pinkish/purplish hands emerging and pulling herself out. She stands and laughs menacingly, grabbing Creon and carrying him down. She waves her hand and a trap door appears as she begins to climb down into the dark.

## The Return of Land Shark

###### Session 19

OH BOI HE HERE AND HE BIG.

Anyway, I'm like very clearly still drunk from the night before at the beginning of this session. Yay brunch d&d!

The Bulette leaps out and wraps around Sheevah who screams bloody murder. Fuzzy Wuzzy falls off of her back and onto the ground-- the land shark dives down and brings her to a snowy cavern. Barren hears Sheevah and goes running after her.

Inside the cavern, we try alternatingly to fight and calm the bulette down, with several of us going down and coming back up in the process. Sheevah asks Aether for advice, and Aether says the bulette seems blind, and we needed to find its eyes. Meanwhile, after foolishly taunting the beast, Barren is snatched up in its jaws-- not being hurt, but being taken somewhere, as the bulette races underground, south toward Hitrivill.

We race off, Zephi continuously casting message to Barren so she can direct everyone and make sure we're within 120ft of them at all times. Barren can only reply with muffled yelling, but at least he's replying. She tries messaging the bulette, but it doesn't reply. As we travel over the ice, we have to slow down to keep pace, but eventually, come right back to Hitrivill. Barren is finally able to message back and says it's continuing to move, but he doesn't know where. he reiterates that it's not hurting him. We dart through the town astride these two giant moose, one with a sled in tow, morning beginning to break over the town. We eventually have to stop and pull up right beside the lab, and message finally fails as they slip out of range beneath the snowy ground. They were very, very clearly headed toward the lab.

We look over and Drorena's house is within 120ft, so Zephi messages them and says that we need into the lab, as a monster has nabbed our friend. Drorena responds,

> Drorena, *dryly*: I'm sorry. [*The door swings open to reveal Drorena standing there.]*
>
>

> Drorena: You understand that I can't let you in there, right.
>
>

> Sheevah: It's got Barren!
>
>

> *Gerome bends to look at the gate for a way in and takes out some tools.*
>
>

> Drorena: That's not going to work.
>
>

> Gerome: You gonna open it, or am I?
>
>

> Drorena, *soft and measured*: No one's opening that without proper clearance codes.
>
>

> *They stare at each other from across the road. A pause.*
>
>

> Gerome: Cover me Vigil, I'm picking this lock.
>
>

Drorena begins moving toward us and Vigil puts himself in front of everyone. Zephi looks up and realizes she can totally scale this gate if she's standing on top of the moose's back. Drorena pulls out a longsword. Oh, dear.

We move to incapacitate Drorena, who comes complete with a longsword and a bitchass attitude. While Zephi scales the gate and Gerome manages to pick the lock, we're also met with the lab's defense system, two turrets dealing fire damage set into the rocks. Sellis appears, an angel in the morning light, carrying a bottle of sloe-gin for some reason, and helps restrain Drorena after we tell him that we need to get inside to save Barren's life. We find out about Kobe Bryant. Zephi finally manages to cast sleep on Drorena, who falls unconscious, as Sheevah and Vigil immediately start to tie them up.

Sheevah and Vigil carry Drorena into their home quickly, Sellis following close behind. Sheevah fills him in, while also rifling through Drorena's pockets, nabbing their sending stone. Sellis looks a little shaken, and asks in a small voice if he can help, and Sheevah says hell yeah, the more the merrier. Sellis runs over to The Frostworker to grab armor for himself and any health potions he can find. Sheevah and Vigil return after finishing tying Drorena up, and Sheevah gives the sending stone to Zephi, who impersonates Drorena (with a 25!!) telling whoever's on the other end to call off reinforcements; it was just some idiots fucking around too early in the morning. A calm voice responds; "Right. Let us know if any of Creon's friends get in the way." (2:40:00)

## Breaking and Entering

###### 2:45:00

Zephi tries to message Creon, but gets no response, as he seems to be out of range. She tries again for Barren, but can't tell if he's also out of range. We try to figure out the code to the inner door, but Jerry's not here, tragically.

Sellis returns, potions in hand, and wearing some armor. Zephi creeps in through the other door, and finds a small control room (2:52:00) [MAP NEEDED]. Nothing seems to have an alarm on them, and Zephi messages Vigil to grab the weapons. Vigil grabs a heavy crossbow, and Zephi sneaks through the next door, but it's just the Guard's entrance. Zephi looks for signs of when people were last here, and after several minutes finds a small calendar; the 30th of Fralas is marked off, with a small note that reads "Prep for Aldour". She shows it to Sheevah, and asks her to go show the others. Other than this little area, the vast majority of the room seems untouched. The crossbows, table, and most everything else has a layer of dust on them. The wine goblets empty, either drunk from or evaporated over time.

Gerome runs back over to Drorena's house, where they fully awake and trying to get out of their ties. Gerome runs up the stairs, flipping them off as they go. Gerome look for where he saw Vigil find something the night before, realize he took the paper, runs back to the lab, and asks Vigil what he found there. Vigil hands Gerome the slip of paper, with one dash, three dashes, two dashes, and then seven dashes, and Gerome presses the corresponding buttons.

BINGO! The door slides open. Zephi goes in first, and Gerome tries to tell us we should bring Drorena with us, even all tied, up, but we don't listen. Foolish.

[MAP NEEDED] We head down a narrow corridor, maybe 5 feet across. Copper runs all along the walls, and we come to another door that immediately slides open. Inside the small room are three leather full-body suits with glass visors. They're hung up on the wall, and on the left wall, there's another door. Zephi's nervous, so she hangs back and lets everyone else in, and stands behind Sellis. After checking for traps, Sheevah takes one of the suits off the wall, and steps in, Fuzzy Wuzzy clinging to her back. Sellis offers to try one on, as the suits look too big for Gerome and too small for Vigil. There are no War Toad sized suits. Zephi also climbs into one, and the three suited up rescuers stand ready at the next door. Zephi tries to message Barren, to no avail.

As we approach the door, it slides open, and after the three of us walk inside it immediately closes, leaving Vigil, War Toad, and Gerome on the other side. A liquid sprays out of spigots in the wall directly on our suits, but it seems weak, as though the pipes have not been used in a long while. As it turns off, we get a clearer view of the 20ft long hallway in front of us, ending in a heavy stone door. Above it, there's a small selection of Vedalken runes. Sellis glances at it, and then asks us if we know what a combine is-- Zephi immediately says, "Uh, Spinny! Spin Gith!" There's a pause, as Sheevah translates the whole thing aloud; "Combine Chamber." "They spin Gith."

We walk through the hallway carefully and enter through the stone door.

(3:10:00) We're in the combine chamber, which is a circular room that's about 30ftx30ft. In the center of the room there's a raised dais, about 5ft across-- on top there lies a huge glass chamber tank, with what looks like dried matter coating the sides; green, yellow, and red, all now dried. Super gross. There's a doorway, and tubing running from it to different desks/work stations that have small assay chambers and other experimental equipment; tools, vials, everything else you'd expect on a desk. Past all this, to the back left, there's a doorway that leads off somewhere else.

(3:13:00) Sheevah looks for a panel to see if there's a way to turn off the liquid spray in the hallways so Gerome and Vigil can follow; luckily she finds a control panel next to the door, and presses the appropriate one to get the spray to turn off, and goes to get the others. Zephi looks to see when the last time someone was here was, and if she sees anything about Aldour. There's nothing about that name, but she finds 2 small bottles of green acid, and essential tools to make an alchemists' kit.

Zephi goes to Sellis and just says, "Aldour?" Sellis has a moment of recognition;

> Sellis: Oh! Wasn't he the Admiral that just died?
>
>

> Zephi *nods*. Have you seen Creon?
>
>

> Sellis: Oh, what did he ask me about yesterday. He asked me if I knew where the Stonecleft Forest was. But I haven't seen him since. I think I sent him over to  Barren to go talk to him about something.
>
>

> Zephi: When?
>
>

> Sellis: Ah, yesterday. Probably around 4pm.
>
>

So, we just missed him, because that's around when we left. Sheevah leads Gerome, Vigil, and War Toad to the Combine Chamber. Zephi heads into the back room, 3:18:00 which looks like it's meant for supplies. There's a large jar in the center of the room, about a foot tall, with ten bands of color; green, lighter green, amber yellow, orange-gold, off white, yellow-green, pure white, blue, blue with flecks of white, and crimson, with a stopper at the top. She leaves and tells everyone about it, and they all come to look at it. Gerome looks around the shelves and finds a potion of greater healing, and a potion of acid resistance; most everything else has decayed.

Sheevah leaves to investigate the tank in the center of the combine chamber. There's a terrible slight smell up close of decayed organic matter from inside. She steps up to the door that opens it and discovers that a stone under her foot jostles and is loose. Sheevah calls up her glave and goes to get everyone else.

In the storage room, Gerome can't tell what this fuckin jug is. So he pops the lid, and gives it a good whiff. He can smell acid, poison, beer, honey, mayo, oil, vinegar, ocean water, and red wine. He decides to carry it like a football. Sheevah snatches it from him (Gerome should not be trusted with this) and puts it on the top shelf. Everyone leaves and Gerome manages to climb all the way up, get it, and climb with it safely down.

Back in the combine chamber, Sheevah opens the door to the tank. on the top, there's a soft white crystal that emanates a soft light, almost looking like natural daylight. It's large, 2ftx2ft. There's a small sigil on the ground, one of general transmutation alchemy. Gerome knows that Transmutation and the studies associated with it aren't just about changing forms, but also what makes up forms, and how they change from one to another; what makes up those principle parts.

Zephi climbs on Sheevah's shoulders to get a better look at the crystal-- it's afixed to the top, and she can't get it down; after touching it she takes a small amount of force damage from it. "It doesn't like being touched," she says, and we choose to leave it be.

3:33:10 We gather around the loose stone that Sheevah jostled, and Gerome lifts it up. Underneath is a small symbol of an infinity sign, with a circle around it. "Ah. Boobs," Gerome says.

Sheevah touches it; it flashes, and black energy comes off of it, like alcohol ink in water. The transmutation symbol inside the tank, and like an iris it opens up to a black shoot. Zephi throws a copper down to see how deep it is. It falls... pretty far. She uses thaumaturgy to carry her voice, but it doesn't give a better idea. Gerome sends his turret down with his rope tied around it, and figures out its about 30 ft deep, and Zephi casts faerie fire so we can all see the bottom. All we can see is sand or broken-up rock, and see that it leads out into a tunnel.

We recall the turret, and use the rope attached to climb down, with the turret anchoring us up top. Gerome tucks his jug behind a desk. (It's an alchemy jug, by the way.)

3:41:00 we're in a small 10x20ft chamber, cave, maybe? But there's a 10ft diameter square stone jutting out from the groud at the other end, with sigils covering it. Gerome can tell they're transportation sigils; there's chalk lines and gems setting it up. Once stepping inside, you have 6 seconds before it activates and sends you to a predetermined location, with another transportation circle. It can only be used once every 24 hours.

Sellis asks if we know this leads towards Barren; Zephi says it's not, but it's our best guess, and he can stay behind if he wants. Sellis responds,

> Sellis: He was two blocks down. I'm not missing that chance.
>
>

Zephi makes the call, and steps in holding Sellis' hand. The sigil alights! We all jump in the circle; but wait! ***WAR TOAD!*** Gerome tries to get him to hop in time, but he's met with the tasteful neutrality only a Toad of the highest stature can manage. Gerome screams, "WAR TOAD, N--" And just like that, we're teleported out.

## Bridge Over Skeleton Filled Waters

###### Session 20, 0:01:25

The end of Gerome's call finishes, "NO!" and we're left in darkness, somewhere new, low, dirt chamber dimly lit from a light emanating out faintly from an open doorway across from us. The ground is almost that of tundra, and the walls have a faint violet color to them. Zephi creeps forward, letting go of Sellis' hand. Her foot slips slightly, and some pebbles fall out over the edge. THE EDGE??

The door leads out to a small landing. There's another small landing with an open doorway across from it, connected by a long stone bridge; 40 feet down in the chasm below, there's rocks and a faint violet glow, and some strange shapes at the bottom.

Zephi returns and gives them a vague description. Gerome goes to walk across the stone bridge, completely cavalierly, and the moment his foot touches down, he feels a stone underfoot depress, the stones across the pathway light up, the violet light from the ground winks out, and a torch on the other side of the bridge alights with the same violet-colored flame. Small openings in the wall appear, and ice water begins pouring down, filling the chasm below, and the stone doorway on landing opposite ours slams shut.

As the water begins to rise, we see the shapes on the ground begin to move, and suddenly can tell they're waterlogged bodies and skeletons. There's some worry, but after Sellis reiterates the point about the violet light changing places, Zephi uses prestidigitation to light the torch under the water. The flame above the door flickers out, and the water recedes. We cross safely and exit through the now open doorway. Gerome offers Zephi a bonus.

## We'd Like To Know A Little Bit About You For Our Files

There are two doors on the left, and in the middle of the wall on the right hand, there’s a third door, all made of rotting wood. There’s also a corridor that continues down straight ahead before curving. Zephi uses thaumaturgy to make all three doors creak open at once.

After a moment there’s voice, “Uthorim, is it ready?” from the right door. Zephi tries to impersonate a voice she’s never heard before and, predictably and understandably, fails; the voice clocks her immediately, asking who’s speaking. There’s a sloshing sound, Zephi shuts the door and we run in the nearest door on the right, which is a supply closet stocked with old potion ingredients. Gerome takes ginger root, sheep’s blood, and gnoll fangs off the shelves.

The door on the right fees open to reveal an old, haggard, human man who is nearly completely naked, save for a small towel wrapped around him. He’s also completely caked in mud, which makes him also moderately less naked. Moderately. He calls out to Uthorim to alert that there are intruders.

Vigil goes to tackle this guy but misses terribly, and Gerome says, “Wait! Uthorim? Did you say Uthorim? Oh, guys, he’s talking about Uthorim.” Darcy gives advantage on this roll because he thinks it’s funny. Gerome gets a 20. God is in our corner. 29:00

> Old Man: Yes, Uthorim… are you… friends of ours?
>
>

> Gerome: Yeah, we know Uthorim really well!
>
>

> Old Man: I mean I feel like I’ve been meeting most of the Conclave recently, but I— are these all-new forms for you?
>
>

> Gerome: Oh yeah. Brand new. Just a fresh… a fresh crop.
>
>

> Zephi: It’s why we didn’t say anything before!
>
>

> Gerome: Yeah just a little bit… a little startled but—
>
>

> Zephi: Getting used to things!
>
>

> Gerome: Yep.
>
>

> Old Man: I’m getting a new one today as well, this old thing’s rather… ragged. I was taking a rest in the pit if you’d like to join me.
>
>

We go to join the man in the pit. [MAP NEEDED. 10X10 ROOM] Gerome and Zephi slowly realize they recognize this man’s face from the newspaper they read together the day before— Admiral Aldour Portant. You know. The dead guy. He disrobes, (now SUPER naked, oh god, our eyes, our poor mortal eyes), and steps into a glowing mud pit, asking us to join. Zephi tries messaging Barren and Creon, but gets no response, just as Gerome immediately takes off all his clothes and gets in to join this guy. The mud is deeply relaxing. After some casual prodding from Gerome, Portant reveals that he was meant to be “transferred” into Creon’s body originally— but now they’re considering another one, which we assume is Barren. Uthorim apparently likes Creon, and wants to “use him for someone else”.
32:00 Gerome and Portant chat about Creon’s body. I’m sorry there’s no better way to say that. Portant also says Creon’s got ‘good family blood’; he’s “One of the Volmir’s” and that he could, if Portant took his body, advance further in the government. Sheevah doesn’t get in; Vigil does, but, blessedly, does leave his boxers on. Gerome really just didn’t, huh. Just fully stripped in front of his party, a stranger, and god. Zephi sticks her feet in, and Sellis gets in, too. Everyone who stays in long enough (about 2 minutes) takes the effects of a short rest.

> Gerome: Yeah, I dunno who they have in line for me, i’m just looking forward to getting two hands back, you know what I’m saying?
>
>

> Portant: How *did* that happen?
>
>

> Gerome: it’s a bit of a long story.
>
>

> Portant: Well we’ve got a few minutes here, why don’t you tell it to me?
>
>

> Gerome: Oh, I don’t want to bore you with the details.
>
>

> Zephi: He’s an inventor, and he made…  an accident.
>
>

> Portant: ….which members of the conclave did you say you were?
>
>

> Gerome: The new ones. It’s a new… new batch.
>
>

Portant is suddenly and inexplicably suspicious of us now. He goes to get changed, and Gerome whispers to the party, “Don’t let him leave,” but Portant seems to hear, though not what Gerome was saying. Zephi covers by asking him if she’d met him before and how long he’d been around— that she has a bad memory and that’s why she’s “getting a new one”. Portant seems to relate and chills out a bit. Portant says something about some “taking up the sister huts” (37:55? there’s a lot of background noise and I can’t quite understand what’s being said).

> *Portant comes to sit down again*: “I've been around as long as we all have, since… oh, I can’t even remember the year now. Well, since we landed at Tandor. From Primus.” *There’s a pause. (38:00)*
>
>

> Portant: “It’s been some time… I’ve had a few bodies, over the years.”
>
>

> Zephi: Anyone fun?
>
>

> Portant: Oh, what was his name. I was an Ironbane, for a bit.
>
>

> Zephi: Oooo, which? They were always fun. I mean, depends on which.
>
>

> Portant: Nudral, I was Nudral Ironbane.
>
>

> Zephi: I knew you!
>
>

> Portant: Right, well we’ve all known each other for quite some time.
>
>

> Zephi: I know but it’s funny because I can’t remember ANYTHING, but I remember that one!
>
>

> Portant: Ah, ah, yes, who were you at the time?
>
>

> (*Zephi flashes her eyes gold. Portant’s face falls.)*
>
>

> Portant: wait, then… Velhiri… you were one of the Conclave?
>
>

> Zephi: Mmhmm!
>
>

> Portant: You were never at any of the meetings… the assemblies.
>
>

> Zephi: I was really busy.
>
>

> *There’s a long pause;*
>
>

> Portant: I don’t trust any of this.
>
>

Portant stands abruptly to leave. Sheevah summons her glave, and just as Portant asks who we are, Gerome summons his most intimidating self and says, “I’m afraid we can’t let you leave, Admiral.” Unfortunately, Gerome’s most intimidating self is a 13 on a scale from 1-20, so Portant just says, “okay, the little one’s angry” but Zephi quickly gets right up to him and says, “I’m exactly who you think I am.” His towel drops. (42:00) Sheevah points her glave at his head, and demands to know where Creon is. Apparently he’s in the "transfer chamber", which is down the stairs. Zephi cocks her head and asks him “Why should I let you be okay? Just wondering.”

> Portant: **The conclave****… is everywhere. Should you strike against us, we will make sure you are never heard from again. […] You’ve come to the wrong place, and threaten our processes… [[[Creon]] was taken] for the good of Zamana. We *must* defend this galaxy. One way or another.**
>
>

> Sheevah: From what?
>
>

> Portant: You don’t know much, do you?
>
>

> *Sheevah moves her glave to point directly at his dick. Nat 20 intimidation!*
>
>

> Sheevah: From what.
>
>

> Portant: From the old master. From Vash.
>
>

> Zephi: Oh you know the WORMS! Fuck you!
>
>

> Portant: The worms….
>
>

> Sheevah: The Spawn.
>
>

> Portant: You’ve seen them here in Zamana?
>
>

> Sheevah: Yeah. Seems like you haven’t been around as much as you say you have!
>
>

> Portant, *in shock*: Oh my god… oh, he’s actually coming… oh, this isn’t good, this—
>
>

> Sheevah: Look, you sound terrified! We fought it, it was awful. Sounds like we’re on the same side; why don’t you give us our friend back, and we can work this out together.
>
>

> Portant: If he’s found his way out of Primus, everything, *everything* is subject to fall.
>
>

> Zephi: Everything is *always* subject to fall. Tell us what you know.
>
>

> *There’s a long pause.*
>
>

> Portant: You should kill me. I—if he’s coming, I don’t want to face what’s coming, kill me.
>
>

> Zephi: OH, great, so the worst punishment of all is to let you live? Then I guess we’ll do that.
>
>

(46:30) Gerome looks for physical marks of a transfer, and notices a tattoo on Portant’s right shoulder; an infinity sign with a circle around it; just like the stone we pushed to get down to the teleportation circle back at the lab.

> Gerome: Is Rylance part of this little group?
> Portant, *pissed off at mere mention of Rylance’s name:* He’s been a thorn in our side for ***quite*** some time. He’s been—he’s been difficult. We don’t know where he came from, he appeared recently and it’s been a difficulty. He’s been undoing a lot of what we’ve been working towards, a lot of the organization’s whole affair. The war made it easy and he—took that away.
>
>

Suddenly, Porant reaches for Zephi’s dagger; she just manages to sidestep him, and Sheevah buries her glave IN HIS NUTS the moment he moves. She’s aiming for castration here, and it uh… hurts. Portant begs us to finish it and kill him; “I don’t want to be here when he gets here; I don’t want to fight any longer.”
Sheevah pushes him over easily, and he splashes face-first into the mud. He starts choking, so Zephi pulls him up out of the mud by the scruff of his neck. Gerome starts filling up a bunch of jars with mud. Zephi tries to get more information out of Portant, meanwhile. 50:42

> Portant: The Conclave Eternal has been around for over 1000 years. That which occurs in Zamana is at our orchestration. That I am sure your friend Rylance is quite suspect of at this point.
>
>

> Zephi: Are you sure you’re a good to Zamana? It sounds like you started a war.
>
>

> Portant: There have to be sacrifices, you have no idea what we would have lost otherwise.
>
>

Portant climbs out of the mud, and curls up in the corner. Vigil, concerned about leaving him conscious, hits him with the handle of the Starfather axe on the back of his head, and Portant slumps against the wall, unconscious. Gerome rifles through his clothes, and finds 2 platinum pieces. Zephi takes all of his badges and insignias. Gerome uses a brand to put the tattoo on Portant on his own shoulder, and Zephi eggs him on to put the Gnome & co. brand over Portant’s. Which he does!

We tie the Admiral up, and head out to go rescue Creon. We peak in the one other door we didn’t look in originally—it’s just got this cot, formed out of decaying vegetation. Beetles crawl in and around it, and in the corner there’s a small rolled up piece of paper on a stool. Zephi grabs it, and as they leave, she unfurls it. [ITEM] It’s a map of Zamana, with 3 locations marked off; Orlin, Argar, and Krynn-5.

## Into the Hag's Den

(59:50) [MAP NEEDED]. We sneak down the stairs, and enter through a low hanging archway into a large open chamber. In the center, there’s a narrow pillar, atop which is a glowing red and white almost crystal looking object. It’s pulsing with energy and we can tell it’s organic matter of some kind; were it shaped differently it would be mistakable for a heart. Standing next to it is a figure—tall, 7ft at least, purple skin, and long, locked hair. Their robes, a purple and gold number, pull back from their hand to reveal haggard, knobbly fingers. Not far off is another figure, a tall Elven man, with a shaved head, wearing a DSK Military lieutenant’s uniform. He looks down at something--or someone--out of our line of vision, and says, “This is *not* one of Creon’s compatriots. And no one in the conlave would willingly inhabit *this* body.” The purple figure responds, “I see what I can through the creature's eyes, but it’s not perfect. My heartstone has limitations.”

> Elf: Stow your excuses, witch. It’s an embarrassment. I want one of the others! Perhaps the dragonborn. There’s sympathy for the plight of their kind, which could assist in positioning her within the government.
>
>

Sheevah’s scales flair.

Zephi manages to peak over the side of the entrance stairs, and sees lying on the ground the unconscious body of Barren Yank. Along the sides of the room, there are also four towers of goo; purple, white, oozing, pulsating, and opaque. They look almost like embryos, and give off a soft yellow light. On the other side of the stairs, Zephi also sees the Bulette, sitting silently and looking a bit down.

There’s a pause to order Dunkin and appreciate Darcy’s *amazing* map building skills.

Zephi sings to message the Bulette to soothe it, but it just gets restless. The two figures notice and the Elf tells to purple figure to find out what’s caused it, and sends the Bulette to go look. Everyone scoots back, and Zephi messages one more time, just as the massive land shark rounds the corner. It looks at us curiously, and almost looks hurt. We see the purple figure grab the heartstone in the middle of the room and suddenly the Bulette’s eyes flair, and it lets out a cry.

> Hag: We have intruders!
>
>

She can see through its eyes!

What follows is a battle that I think about to this day. You can revisit it in full here; but I'll summarize it for you, because I love you.

Immediately, Zephi heats the Elf's metal armor and Gerome grabs the heartstone. Sheevah keeps the hag occupied, Sellis leaps down to protect Barren, and Vigil takes out a zombie summoned by the elf. Gerome spreads the mud on Barren to help with his wounds. Zephi spies that the gooey embreyo things have bodies in them, and breaks the one closest to her to reveal Creon.

The other elf, revealed to be Lt. Uthorim, tells Creon to make a choice. He does. He defends Zephi and kills the lieutenant, immortalized here.

We all descend on the hag, who in turn, has descended on Gerome. Gerome really, genuinely, nearly dies. Vigil runs in to defend him and also nearly dies. Zephi throws a thunderwave after Creon nearly ends it, and finishes her off. Creon uses spare the dying, and we can all breathe a little.

We spread the mud on Vigil and Gerome, who slowly come to, their wounds and bruises mending themselves steadily. Sheevah slowly and carefully approaches the Bulette, who looks wounded and curls up in front of her. It coos softly. Sheevah pets it and tries to reassure it but Creon, who doesn’t have the history of what’s happened in the past day, raises his gun at it. He doesn’t shoot! Zephi and Sheevah talk him out of that, but he doesn’t lower the gun.

Zephi hugs Creon from behind as a thanks for saving her and for the Protection spell he cast. While he’s distracted, trying to push her off, she nabs his gun and pockets it, running over to Vigil. Gerome preoccupies Creon as they both go to look to pop the people bubbles. They investigate—it’s some kind of containment jelly? Darcy? you said the words containment jelly? It seems as though it can slow down the aging of a creature somewhat, almost like a less potent gentle repose spell. It can keep someone alive in order to use their bodies later for… something else. Ick.

Sheevah whispers to the bulette that it’s okay to go, that he’s free now! He’s his own land shark again! He coos a little more, before stepping back, rearing up on his hind legs, and leaping up--- and down to the ground, burrowing under the ice. *So long, space land shark.*

Sheevah whips out her glave, and Creon slices through the goo with his dagger, but it’s just too thick. Sheevah gives it a try, slicing through to reveal a masculine hand and wrist. We ask Creon what he knows about these….. containment jellies.

> Gerome: Hey, so uh… elf boy. So what happened.
>
>

> Creon: Oh you know. All the usual things… I think we have more important things to focus on, at the moment…
>
>

> Zephi: What is more important?
>
>

> Creon: Getting this poor person out of this… flesh cave?
>
>

> Gerome: Hey, better question—did you get abducted or did you volunteer for this?Sheevah: Mmmmm, that is a good question.
>
>

> Zephi: Hey, yeah.
>
>

> *Silence.*
>
>

> Gerome: How far will your kink take you?
>
>

> Creon: Which one?
>
>

> *Giggling from everyone*.
>
>

> Creon: No—It’s complicated.
>
>

Zephi approaches the already sliced goo blob and melts it, revealing a human man with thin spectacles, lab coat, haggard face, and small beard. He steps out, breathing heavily, and asks what’s happening. Fuck if we know. He asks who we are, and where his daughter is. Oh dear. We melt the final goo boy and a similarly aged woman falls out.

> Woman: I was with Harold in the lab, and then… something came up behind us, and… I don’t know.
>
>

> Harold: Margaret!
>
>

> *The man and woman see each other and run up for a deep hug. Zephi turns her back and walks away.*
>
>

> Creon: There’s nothing to fear. You’ve just been abducted, they were going to use your bodies… to give themselves eternal life, but not to worry… we have… momentarily calmed the situation.
>
>

Sheevah goes to look through Uthorim’s pockets, and finds not one, but two sending stones. Creon strides over indignantly and goes to snatch them away. Sheevah whips out her glave, and Creon shows his own sending stone in response.

> Zephi: That doesn’t look very good for you.
>
>

> Sheevah: Yeah, you wanna explain?
>
>

> Creon: … Quite right.
>
>

> *Sheevah pulls out the sending stone we grabbed off of Drorena, now holding three in her hand.*
>
>

> Creon: You only need two.
>
>

> Sheevah: Great, then clearly you don’t need any, and you should give me that.
>
>

> Creon: They come in sets, my dear. You can’t use three.
>
>

> *Gerome runs over and yells into the sending stones in Sheevah’s hand and yells,*
>
>

> Gerome: Creon you a dummy!
>
>

> *It echoes back through the stone Creon holds*.
>
>

> Gerome: See? You can use three.
>
>

> Sheevah: You wanna explain why you’ve been walkie-talkie-ing with these people?
>
>

> Creon: There’s nothing to explain! Uthorim was my employer, before I knew that he was… *evil*, of some sort, and we communicated.
>
>

> Sheevah: Mmhmm, mmhmm, cool! So it’s okay if I hold on to that one, so *we* can all communicate? Because now WE work together.
>
>

> Creon: Technically, it feels like that *is* DSK property which would mean you are stealing from the government.
>
>

> Sheevah: I AM stealing from the government! I’m glad you noticed.
>
>

Creon goes to grab the stones, but misses, and Sheevah figures out which line up to which. Gerome fills up two jars of the people goo. Zephi goes to check on Barren and Sellis; the two are sitting closely, talking in hushed tones and out of eavesdropping range. Barren looks at Sellis conflicted and almost hurt, before using Zephi’s appearance as a distraction. He stands and asks what happened, walking over and leaving Sellis sitting on the floor, alone. Zephi starts to fill him in, but Barren realizes he’s gonna need a few stiff drinks before he starts to process what just happened.

We all head to the mud room.

## Spa

Creon: I am…. concerned… the mud… is… dangerous.

Incredible. Sellis turns to Harold and Margaret—He hasn’t seen them since he was a child. They’re completely disoriented. Sheevah strips and gets in the mud. Zephi takes a picture of Aldour on one of her stones as proof for Rylance. Harold and Margaret are too nervous to get in the mud.

> Zephi: Do you need help adjusting to a huge time gap during which you were unconscious and unaging? I’m starting a support group. You may be entitled to compensation. Hi, I’m Zephi Velhiri. […] The mud is great for your skin-- overall health. I know this usually sounds like bullshit when it comes from celebrities, but I mean it. So, tell us about yourselves!
>
>

The two were scientists at the Vedalken lab, assisting on the technical machinery. Their daughter, Agnes, disappeared. We can’t give them exact answers on how they didn’t age, but to be fair, they’re already shellshoked enough, maybe keep the information overload to a minimum. We decide to leave via the Hag’s hut, so everyone in the mud redresses, and we walk until we come to a ladder. After a bit of climbing, we all emerge in Agnes’ hut. Everything looks the same, save the addition of a lump of cloth next to the loom. Sheevah goes to investigate, but quickly feels something leathery and realizes—gross, it’s Agnes’ flesh suit. He face is ripped to shreds from the inside. (3:28:00) Creon clears his throat and nods to it, looking at the human couple;

> Creon: Found your daughter.
>
>

Margaret and Harold start crying and hyperventilating, and Zephi lights a fire under the loom, controlling it until it burns down. She doesn’t know what it is, but it cannot fucking stay.

Gerome does some deep thinking about how Hags use magic, and remember that because the source of their power comes from their plane of origin (typically fiendish or fey), most of the items and weapons they use are handmade. He decides to steal some of the tea, and finds a small packet tucked into the box next to the tea itself and hidden—the tea isn’t arcane in any way, but the contents of the pouch, a fine green and yellow powder, absolutely is. It’s about two doses that can induce the sleep spell. He takes the tea, too.

Creon and Zephi take a peak around, but neither finds anything important. Gerome looks out the window just in time to see that not only has the storm passed, but also to watch the will-o-wisps drop from the sky, one by one. Creon breaks the news to Barren that the moose he rented has died—Barren says it’s fine, we saved his life, he’ll get another moose. Gerome tastefully inquires about the cost of repairing the ship, and Barren waves that fee too.

While Zephi hangs back with Sellis, Barren, and the humans, everyone else goes out to look at the ships we’d seen below the ice. Outside, the sunlight pours down onto an open field, the icy ocean still frozen nearby. Everyone starts searching for names or symbols on the sails they might recognize. Every so often, Vigil recognizes a ship beneath the ice that had disappeared. Sheevah is spending most of her time looking for the Starship Crimson, to no avail. The spelljammers are all of various ages (stretching back quite a bit), and some larger than others, but there are none of particular note. (3:24:00)

We decide to hunker down in the cabin for the night, and use the teleportation circle that connects to the lab in the morning when it refreshes.  Everyone settling down into their own areas. Notably, Barren and Sellis keep their distance from one another. Sheevah makes some normal non-hag tea for Harold and Margaret, who curl up together and cry softly.

## Out of the Den and Into the Prison Cell

The next morning, we set out. Gerome refills his jars with special short rest mud. Right near the teleportation circle we find Aldour, who has awoken, and has a lot of questions for us—what have we done, where Uthorim is, what happened to the hag—Sheevah points her glave back at his nuts. We inform him that both Uthorim and the Hag are dead. Aldour steps on a tile on the ground and the room begins to fill with ice cold water. Creon dives below the surface to get him back, and he tries to resist but can’t. Zephi puts him to sleep and Creon ties him up.

We all pile on to the teleportation circle quickly and are zoomed back to the lab. The first thing Creon feels is a wet tongue sticking against his face—it’s War Toad! A solid sentinel through the night. Good boy. Creon retrieves some very soggy beetles from his pocket for his boy.

We all begin to make our way out of the lab. Zephi catches up with Sellis. He says he's fine, but he clearly isn't, and clarifies;

> Sellis: Its—Sometimes you miss your window. You… You feel you’re protecting someone, and you hurt them. And that’s my fault, my cross to bear.
>
>

Zephi then catches up with Barren, asking how he is;

> Barren: Good! Yeah no, good night’s rest, you know? So. Pretty eventful few days. You all… You all certainly bring a lil bit of…
>
>

> Zephi: Flare?
>
>

> Barren: You bring the carnival with you.
>
>

We emerge out of the lab, ready to head back to the ship. But there, at the door, stands Drorena, longsword drawn, a DSK soldier at either side of them. We’re told to freeze, and we’re under arrest for High Treason, and the Endangerment of a Facility and its Members. Sheevah immediately brings out her paper to message Rylance to ask for help. Zephi moves to the front and tries to make the case that Drorena is actually the danger, as we just saved two people. Creon also tries to make a case but the guard hits him in the head for a bit of damage.

Rylance writes back and says there’s almost nothing he can do, and Sheevah also writes that Aldour is alive. Speaking of which, the Admiral IMMEDIATELY starts blabbing about how we’ve “taken him hostage” and whatnot. **Ugh**. The guards and Drorena raise their swords to our necks. A guard swings at Creon who blocks it, luckily. We’re lead through town, where people can see us—embarrassing! Awful! Hate it!

We’re brought into the jail, and there’s a man in a starguard uniform, who agrees to lock us up in the back. The guy in charge seems pretty chill, but Drorena seems furious, and says it was a mistake not to kill them.

Elizabeth says, “You guys want some real /fun/ news?”

We all say yes.

She says, “The possible first Coronavirus case was identified in New York City, and they are currently in Bellevue.”

We talk about how it’s not so bad for people our age, it’s just a bad flu.

## My Cousin Schwippers

##### Session 21, First of Lenay. Trigger Warnings!

Heads up; this session a bit dark. I’ve summarized things more than usual, or just left things as straight transcription, cause it was a bit for me right now. Sorry about the difference in detail levels! TW for suicide ideation, discussion, and attempts.

In the cell, we all argue about what we should do—break out? call a lawyer? WHOSE lawyer? What are the charges, really? ARE we technically guilty, or no? When suddenly, a cold shill passes over everyone in the cell. A spectral figure passes through the wall. The ghost of a firbolg, short, thick, heavy fur and a fishing pole in place of a right arm. Immediately, Sellis and Barren back up, and Barren seems to know this ghost—“Ah fuck, it’s this guy”

Zephi tries to touch the spectral figure, and she can, it’s just super cold. Barren greets the ghost, “Uh, hey, Schwippers. What do you want.”

Schwippers is apparently here to be our lawyer. Schwippers is a fucking delight. We are all enamored. Creon tries to deny Schwippers’ claim to be our appointed public defender, and says he’ll ‘defend’ us; he also says we should just accept whatever judgment the court passes down—we all reject this idea immediately and Zephi swats him. Schwippers tells us we have a day to prepare the case, and our trial is tomorrow morning.

(22:05) We’re formally charged with:

* 1 count of Assault and Battery,
* 2 counts of Breaking and Entering,
* and a Pending charge of High Treason;

if the first three charges going through, the pending charge will then be taken to the Echelon Court. If the first three counts are dropped, the pending charge may be as well. The 1 count of Assault and Battery was against Drorena. The first charge of Breaking and Entering was for Drorena’s home, and the second was for the lab.

We ask Schwippers what the move here is. Schwippers isn’t sure, not shockingly, because jesus, what DO you do in this situation? (33:00). Gerome asks if Barren’s been in a scrap like this before—he says usually you can pay your way out with a hefty fine, but it would be hard to pay our way out of high treason.

Schwippers decides he’s going with the “Friendship Defense”. IE, we did it because of the Power of Friendship. None of us feel particularly confident about this. Lawmaster Raúl approaches, a small human man with wispy white hair, and says he’s looking forward to our case, as they haven’t had one in awhile. Someone named Solicitor Haige Wesley, a tall Vedelken man in a Fantasy suit is also there, and is introduced as the man who will be prosocuting us. We absolutely hate this guy immediately. Haige asks Schwippers if there’s anything he wants to enter in as evidence or any witnesses he plans to call—Creon interrupts to declare he is in fact guilty of High Treason. He requests skipping the trial and being sent directly to death. No dice, unfortunately.

Schwippers asks if there can be a trial by combat. Raúl LOVES this plan. Haige makes it clear, it would just be him and Schwippers duking it out. Schwippers is all for this, as is the law master. Zephi tries to convince Hage to drop the case, but, not shockingly, it does not work.

The combat is scheduled at 6am the next morning.

> Schwippers: I’ve been waiting 6 years for this!
>
>

Hage decides to get his will in check. As the solicitor walks off, we ask Schwippers how he is in a fight, and he’s got a few weapons—Gerome figures, if we pool our resources, we can figure this out.

Creon writes a letter to Commander Thomas Soj, materials having been given to him by a Starguard officer upon his request. He writes quickly and the officer takes it away to be sent. Gerome spends the evening trying to help Schwippers prepare for the battle; Vigil lends his armor to Schwippers and Gerome sets to work making some adjustments so it’ll fit our Firbolg friend a little better. Vigil gives his Shield as well, and Gerome lends his Boom Stick, and a Shart. Gerome spends the rest of the evening hyping Schwippers up.

Once most everyone has gone to bed, Zephi uses Message to talk to Barren and tries to get him to open up about how he’s feeling. He’s clearly in a bad mood, and tells Zephi that the party doesn’t understand how we impact the people around us. Zephi intuits he’s not actually talking about jai, and asks him about what’s going on between him and Sellis, as they’ve seemed suddenly rather cold toward each other since the events in the Hag's Den. (57:00) She tries to prod him and points out how it seems he’s been feeling, and he says she’s not wrong, but;

> Barren: I don’t like the feeling of being someone who’s told to go away, you’re not wanted, and then to just be expected to come back, as though that didn’t happen. As though I just had to take a step aside for a person who needed their own space. I’m worth more than that, I should think, and he had his chance, he—
>
>

> Zephi: Okay. I’m just saying—think about it, because it sounds like yourself miserable, too.
>
>

> Barren: Yeah. Yeah.
>
>

And then rolls over to go to sleep.

## Honor & Cowardice

In the middle of the night, once everybody is sound asleep, Creon rises from his trance and quietly wakes Vigil up. Creon shows him his dagger. Like, not sex metaphorically, his actual dagger. 1:00:00

> Creon: I need you to do me a kindness. My mother would die of grief if she were to think I was a traitor. Which I am. I need to you battle me, and I need you to win. I believe that is the only way I will maintain honor and my family name, and I know you have experience with such things.
>
>

> *Vigil takes the dagger from Creon, and throws it out the window. They hear a soft, “Ow!” as it plunks Schwippers on the head, as he’s chosen to sleep outside tonight.*
>
>

> Vigil: I understand that this isn’t a good place for you right now, and I’m sorry you’re hurting more than us.
>
>

> *They debate about how to find honor, and Vigil promises there are other ways to find it outside of death.*
>
>

> Vigil: I know you don’t like us, […] but I want to give you the chance to find a new family. And that might not be with us, but we would like to ease your way in the stars, a little bit.
>
>

> Creon: I have been spying on you for a month. I have been reporting your actions to Lt. Uthorim. I have been working against you from the beginning. And I almost killed Zephi—nearly—yesterday… and I didn’t. And I need to be killed for that.
>
>

> Vigil: I’m genuinely sorry you felt like you had to. Why did you join us if you just wanted to turn against us? If that was the entire point.
>
>

> Creon: I was ordered to.
>
>

> Vigil: By who?
>
>

> Creon: Lt. Uthorim. You’re not following.
>
>

> *[Creon fills Vigil in on the particulars.]*
>
>

> Vigil: I have no idea what you’re going through, genuinely. I lost a crew myself, and part of it was my fault, but I never had to do what you did. And… I’m sorry it came to that. And, I’m honestly honored that it was—that you chose us. I know that it might not have felt like that in the moment, it might not feel like that now… *why* did you choose us?
>
>

> Creon, *softly*: I can’t quite place why, I felt, in the moment, like it would have been harder… to kill Velhiri than to protect her. And so, I protected her. Which, by all accounts, is cowardice.
>
>

> Vigil: But I think—for all your faults, I think that you have a very, very strong sense—
>
>

> Creon: Faults?
>
> Vigil: Excuse me, there are none. I think you have a very, very strong sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, and you *knew* what was right and what was wrong, and it was wrong what that elf was telling you to do. And it… and I’m sorry that he asked you to do the wrong thing.
>
>

> Creon: If you will not fight me—
>
>

> Vigil, *giving up*: Okay.
>
>

> Creon: --Consentually , I’m afraid I’ll have to force your hand.
>
>

> [*Vigil summons his bound spear to him, and it glistens in the faint light of the cell as it appears in his hand. He offers it to Creon.]*
>
>

> Vigil, *sounding completely genuine*: You can kill me, if you want. And if that will give you honor, but I think you know what the right thing to do is.
>
>

> [*Creon takes the spear.]*
>
>

> Vigil: Feel free. Because you know what? I’m hurting too, and whatever happens is gonna solve one of our problems.
>
>

> [*Creon pushes the spear toward Vigil’s chest, testing it, and feeling the pressure of it. Vigil leans into it. Creon casts Command, the word being, “Kill”. Vigil rolls ONE above the necessary Wisdom save. He grabs the spear and clocks Creon in the head with it.]*
>
>

> Vigil: Are you FUCKING serious? You don’t get to do that!
>
>

> Creon: I thought you of all people would understand.
>
>

> Vigil: You can do whatever you want to me, and you can do whatever you want to yourself, but you can’t force me to do anything to you. And, I gotta say, I really thought you knew that, and I lost a little bit of respect for you just there.
>
>

> Creon: Then you are of no use to me.
>
>

Creon goes to the other corner and sulks and falls back into his trance.

## BEEP BEEP MOTHERFUCKER

The morning comes. Lawmaster Raúl comes in and hits a gong to awaken us, and invites us to come watch “The Law Fight”.

> Lawmaster Raúl, gleefully: “You can all come out and watch just this once, before you get executed for your crimes.”
>
>

> Gerome: Uh, how would we get executed, again?
>
> Raúl: Oooo, I’ll decide! (*giggling*) I’m thinking Ice! (*laughs*)
>
>

We’re led out to the field between the forest and Hitrivill, near where the ship is. There’s a small area set up, marked by torches set into the ground in a 30ft circle. Inside is Haige, psyching himself up. There’s a small crowd, including Kara Tao and her daughter, Drorena, Sabrina, and other bar patrons and an area set up for us. Zephi plays Cotton Eye Joe.

> Lawmaster Raúl: Well, you know the rules;
>
>

> Sheevah: Nope!
>
>

> Raúl: There are no rules! Just kill each other!
>
>

The gong is rung. Sheevah covers Fuzzy Wuzzy’s eyes. Schwippers calls upon his magic item and suddenly, beep beep! An arcane vehicle made of copper and brass, with a small smoke stack at the back, comes erupting onto the battlefield. Schwippers possesses the car; Gerome begins to sweat with lust. He is completely taken. Schwippers floors it, and hits Haige with all he’s got, and Hage’s body goes flying and he skids on the ice.

Haige pleads with Drorena to drop the case, and Drorena coldly says no. Haige runs forward and tries to hit the car, but it bounces off easily. Schwippers tries to ram him again, but Hage knows better this time and scoots out of the way. He gathers himself, yells, and smashes his sword against Scwippers, fucking up the rims. Schwippers pulls back and goes for it one more time, but skids. Zephi lends more bardic inspiration. Creon tries to blast Schwippers with a damaging spell, but it bounces off the ice. The party looks at him in disbelief.

Haige takes off running, readying a crossbow and shooting, landing two pretty good hits on his back wheels. Sheevah heals him a bit, and Schwippers speeds up to hit him, and manages to just barely slam into him again, and wipes the floor with him. We hear an unsettling crunch, and there’s a stain of blood on the ice. We’re released from our chains, and Creon kneels to say a prayer for the body.

It feels, not gonna lie, pretty fucking weird. Lawmaster Raúl clears us of all charges. Drorena doesn’t even acknowledge Haige’s death, and walks off in a huff. Sheevah writes to Rylance and says nevermind—we’re okay. Rylance asks if we’re sure—he was going to send Yfrit to Orlin, but she’d take a week or so to arrive. Sheevah makes a case to the party that Yfrit should come, but none of us are sure we’ll be here for another week. Rylance agrees not to send Yfrit, but says she’s ready at a moment’s notice. Sheevah accepts this, and confirms with Rylance but looks noticeably disappointed that Yfrit won’t be joining us.

Lawmaster Raúl declares it’s time for a beer—good thing Sellis is acquitted! Sellis sighs deeply. Schwippers unpossesses the car with a beep beep! Barren comes over and thanks us, and excuses himself. We head to the jail and retrieve our possessions, and then are off to the Sloe-Down.

## Boom Goes the Dragonborn

When we arrive, Sabrina is already singing, and Lawmaster Raúl is standing on a table, drinking and dancing. It is 7am. Sheevah buys Schwippers a drink. The crowd in the Sloe-Down has mainly come from the trial; Barren is noticeably absent.

We all sit at the bar. Zephi checks in with Sellis, who asks why Zephi’s so involved with “all this”; Zephi dodges the question. Gerome does a shot of Barren’s Drink, and Creon has a pint of something. Schwippers is also getting ready to do shots while Zephi looks at the menu. Vigil slips away somewhere.

Sheevah pulls out a can from in her bag, chugs it before anyone even notices and... It’s bad. There’s a moment of calm and then suddenly, BOOM. Sheevah lets out a devastating Fireball, an explosion of flame ripping through the ice bar and icy walls of the Sloe-Down. We all take 17 damage, except Schwippers who takes 33, and goes down. Gerome also falls immediately unconscious, and we turn to see War Toad and Fuzzy Wuzzy do the same. Sellis is down to one hit point himself, and Zephi jumps over the bar to heal him immediately. Sheevah turns as well, healing Gerome and Schwippers enough that they regain consciousness. War Toad and Fuzzy Wuzzy make death saving throws, and both fail. We heal them before they have to again, falling all over each other in a mad rush.

Zephi helps Sellis up and she bolts out the door. Sellis, surveying the damage to the bar he’d built, owned, and operated for decades just says;

> Sellis: Um, right. Leave. Leave. Leave.
>
>

> Schwippers: But—
>
>

> Sellis: LEAVE. Leave, leave, leave.
>
>

> Gerome: We still have our keys, are we still staying—
>
>

> Sellis: No, you are not. Leave. LEAVE.
>
>

Schwippers invites everyone over to his place, or, at least, the pond he used to fish at. Creon heads back to the ship, and Sheevah as well. Gerome walks over to Barren’s.

## Off Alone

### Can You Hear Me?

Zephi books it to the forest where we were meant to chop down trees. She doesn’t stop running until she gets there, toes numb from the snow, and hears thunk. thunk. thunk. She looks over and Barren is there, digging his axe repeatedly into a stump. (2:00:00) She makes some small noises to let him know she’s there, before sitting down on an adjacent stump and saying, ‘hey’ while his axe is by his side. They get to talking. [Condensed]

> Barren: [...] Hey um—I’m sorry. Last night… uh, I was—You were right.
>
>

> Zephi: I don’t have to be right.
>
>

> Barren: You are though. I think it’s a pride thing? Its—I don’t know, Sellis is the first person that I’ve actually cared about. And wanted to see something with, and that required vulnerability I didn’t know that I had to have, and… when he said no, after that period of time, I just—that wasn’t something I’m… used to dealing with, and then you saying to go give it another shot was like saying, “hey, go get hurt again”.
>
>

He asks what her whole deal is, and she mentions knowing a boy;

> Barren: Whoa, no no no no, back up back up back up—[...] I like that. There was a boy? I wanna hear that part of the story. The rest of it sounds like—craziness.
>
>

> Zephi: There was a tree… and there was a boy… and there was a jammer… and it’s all coming back, but not enough. I would give you more, if I had it. But he was nice, and he’s 400 some-ought years gone… So I don’t really get to have pride.
>
>

> Barren: Do you miss him?
>
>

> Zephi: Yeah. I miss everything. No one expects to leave everything 400 years behind. You really never know what’s going to happen. Some days, you’re just out! Choppin’ wood! And then a landshark gets ya.
>
>

> Barren: Yeah. Yeah. That is how it goes, isn’t it. [...] I really hope you get where you’re going.
>
>

> Zephi: You too. But I think I know where you’re going.
>
>

> Barren: Yeah, where’s that?
>
>

> Zephi: Few blocks down?
>
>

> Barren: Yeah, it is. (*Barren turns, and begins walking off, before turning and saying,)* Do you regret.. do you regret any of it? The boy.
>
>

> Zephi: You can’t regret a person. You only regret what you did or didn’t do, but I find more often you regret what you didn’t.
>
>

He leaves. Zephi heads off into the trees. She takes her time and climbs up, trying to remember what it feels like to climb a tree. She reaches the top, eventually, and looks out over a snow-covered forest in the early morning light. She sits back in a crook of some branches, and begins practicing for a spell she wants to learn; sending Message up and out, into the stars, as if searching for a satellite. The wind blows through the trees softly, and she stays there for the vast majority of the rest of the day, also taking out some paper and scribbling some music down.

### Swords and Safehavens

Creon takes his warm clothes he bought at The Frostworker, and heads off to the Stonecleft Forest. The light is different now, coming from everywhere, stuck in a perpetual midsummer day. Creon sits with his back at the same tree as he had before. As he begins to rest, he could swear somewhere moving in the trees, he could see a flash of red hair. Then, a sword. He starts awake, and it’s gone. He raises his crossbow in the direction of what he saw, and softly calls out, asking who’s there. He feels metal clamp around his shoulder for a moment, seeing an iron gauntlet, iron, emblazoned steel, gripping his shoulder, before it moves away; he whips around, but stiil, no one’s there, and he finds himself firing aimlessly into the forest. The arrow sticks into a tree, wavering at the impact. Creon knows he's in a space controlled by the god Wukdite; but the one he’d recognize as being connected to what he saw—red hair, armor, war—those belong to Otia. Creon drops his crossbow and falls to his knees.

> Creon: What do you want with me?
>
>

The trees whistle with a faint wind blowing through them. All is calm, and quiet. Creon hears the sound of a sword clashing into metal, and then a calm, gentle laugh.

> Creon: That’s not an answer.
>
>

He relaxes into it, trancing against the tree, hearing the sounds of the forest as a background, but more closely hearing the sounds of swords; of iron against wood, the careful dance of a trained soldier; a gentle laugh; and the feeling of the sun meeting his skin. Whenever he tries to focus on any of these, they fade, and return as he allows himself to fall into the feelings, rather than hunt down their meanings.

> Creon: If you ever want to duel, wake me up.
>
>

He hears a deep, kind laugh, and falls into a trance.

Gerome heads off to Barren’s, and sees him walking across the ice toward him. They chitchat, and Barren agrees to let Gerome use the workroom while he heads off to the Sloe-Down. He spends his time making a mystery object, but it doesn’t work the way he’s hoping.

Sheevah goes to the ship and heads to bed, just after checking on Fuzzy Wuzzy.

### Mirror Mirror

Vigil grabbed a few bottles from the Sloe-Down in the rush, and wanders around town, drinking, ending up outside Drorena’s House. He bangs on the door erratically, and after about 20 seconds, the door flies open. 2:20:00

> Drorena: What.
>
>

> Vigil, *slurring*: Hey, wanna’nother whiskey at 9am? Just feel like we should be friends.
>
>

> *Drorena goes to slam the door shut but Vigil sticks his foot in it, and puts a whiskey bottle through the crack. A few seconds later it comes flying out their window, landing gently in the snow. Vigil sinks down, back to the door.*
>
>

> Vigil, *drinking*: Okay, I’mean if that’s how y’feel, I guess, jus’ feels really unsatisfying, y’know, an’ I feel like this whole *fucking* adventure to a place we didn’t ev’n intend to go to, ‘n, we just end up with all these fucking half answers, *(takes a deep breath in)* I jus’ feel like it was really unsatisfying, y’know, I was a scientist… while ago… sort of. Like you. An’ I just, felt like, maybe you’d be unsatisfied with a half answer too. ‘S kin’ what the kind of vibe I got from you. An—I feel like I’m unsatisfied, you’re unsatisfied—
>
>

> *The door flies open, and he falls into Drorena’s foyer, hitting his head.*
>
>

> Vigil: Oh god, hey, was up? Fuck.
>
>

> Drorena, *looking down*: What half-answers.
>
>

> Vigil: I just- we jus’—wha—I dunno—how far do you think we got into your lab?
>
>

> orena: How far did you get into my lab.
>
>

> Vigil: Based on my pretty spotty knowledge… pretty fucking far. Do you- how—into like, how deep into secret societies are you right now? If I tell you something, will you completely tell it to your evil master. I need serious answer.
>
>

> Drorena: Why don’t you roll those dice.
>
>

> Vigil: I dnno, I just—I saw your blender. I saw your gith blender. I gotta tell you, I did worse things to gith during the war than you ever did with your blender. And I just, I was gonna say that to intimidate you to let me into the lab. Guess it doesn’t matter. I guess what I’m trying to say is, ‘m sorry you got caught up in all of this. I dunno if you ever wanted to be or volunteered or something, I ne’r did, so I just wanted to apologize. On behalf of our coutry that you killed people for a living. A day job.
>
>

> Drorena: You understand what the entire purpose of the Vedalken is, right? Perfection. Figuring out how to be perfect. And if that requires sacrifice along the way to understand it, then so be it.
>
>

> Vigil: Mm, that’s murder. That’s not sacrifice. You don’t get to make the sacrifice of other people. That’s not just me, that’s a basic fact.
>
>

> Drorena: You can feel the way you feel. But kindness and empathy are not part of my perfection. Now get out of the way.
>
>

> Vigil: I don’t think you always believe that.
>
>

> Drorena: Well you can believe whatever you’d like.
>
>

> Vigil: Fine. well this is—honestly? I don’t know, but this could be the last moment you ever have to open up to someone who has any idea what you’re going through, for the rest of your life. If you live on an ice planet, and you’re surrounded by secret societies—
>
>

> Drorena: I can’t imagine I’ll be here much longer, after what you pulled.
>
>

> Vigil: What, like reclocated?
>
>

> Drorena: Probably.
>
>

> Vigil: To where? Where would they put you?
>
>

> Drorena: Who knows. It’s the military, you understand that, right. I’ll get orders in the mail, and then boom, I’ll be sent somewhere else.
>
>

> Vigil: Okay, well, have fun being a military brat.
>
>

Vigil gets up, leaves a bottle of whiskey, and walks off. The door closes.

### I Don't Know You; You Don't Know Me

As she wakes up from her nap, Sheevah hears Creon enter the ship. He starts giving a plan on what he thinks we should do next. Sheevah slowly rolls over to face him. (2:35:00) They banter about him being on the other side, and Creon establishes that he’s certain he missed something from Uthorim, and we must protect the DSK by torturing Aldour for information, and taking down the Conclave Eternal.

> Creon: I believe that you are possibly the most powerful person in this group—
>
>

> Sheevah: I’m sixteen!
>
>

> Creon: But you’re… mature for your age—
>
>

> Sheevah: You know NOTHING about me.
>
>

> Creon: Yes but you have been very helpful in trying—so far—
>
>

> Sheevah: NOTHING! You know NOTHING about me.
>
>

> Creon: You’ve been very clear on that. But I need help.
>
>

> Sheevah: You’re gonna have to give me more information about you, then. Before you want me to just gallivant with you across this planet, leaving everyone else here—
>
>

> Creon: What do you want to know? I’ll answer anything! But, only one question. And, I get to decide what I say. A question for a question. I don’t know you, I don’t know if I can trust you, so. We’ll do an exchange.
>
>

> *She pulls out the sending stone.*
>
>

> Sheevah: What information were you feeding him. What were you talking about?
>
>

> Creon, *gritting his teeth*: I told him of our, and I mean this quite literally, nonsense, we kept getting up to, with the absolute ridiculousness of our day to day lives. I told him all of it. The sum belief that it was all part of a larger plan. Because I’m a soldier, so what the fuck am I doing here! With you. People.
>
>

> Sheevah: What larger plan?
>
>

> Creon: I assumed there was one.
>
>

> Sheevah: You assumed! You just don’t—you don’t think for yourself in any kind of way?
>
>

> Creon: I think for myself—
>
>

> Sheevah: Doesn’t sound like it!
>
>

> Creon: As a sergeant should, which is—
>
>

> Sheevah: Not at all.
>
>

> Creon: More than the privates, but I defer to the lieutenants.
>
>

> Sheevah: So not at all.
>
>

> Creon, whispering, barely audible: I… might kill you.
>
>

> Sheevah: I’d like to see you try.
>
>

> Creon: And—the point of the mission was to spy on Rylance because he’s not trustworthy, and it is our understanding he is a traitor to the crown. Your turn. What’s your family name?
>
>

> Sheevah, whispering: I don’t have one.
>
>

> Creon, whispering back: Why not?
>
>

> Sheevah: That’s more than one question.
>
>

> Creon: I don’t think have time for this. I guess I’ll be going to solve all of our issues on my own, as I always do. And you will sit here on the ship.
>
>

> Sheevah: I’m pretty sure you just wander off and cause us more problems. I don’t think your plan is a bad one. I think eventually we do need to figure out what’s happening—I don’t think you should be in charge. In any kind of way.
>
>

They argue; Creon thinks he's the only one with the experience necessary to be the captain, Sheevah thinks he's not responsible enough. Sheevah climbs up to see Vigil lying on the ground. Creon follows.

> Vigil: Do you know if they’ve invented ibuprophen in this world?
>
>

> [...]
>
>

> Creon: Greyhide, I have a plan, if you care to listen, if you care to do anything about the situation that we are in—
>
>

> Vigil: The lip’s not helping.
>
>

> Gerome: Oh, do go on.
>
>

> Creon: We go back to the mud pits. We wait for the Admiral, we capture the Admiral, and we torture him. We get the answers that died with Lt. Uthorim. And finally, we can all know some peace.
>
>

> Sheevah: Real quick!
>
>

> Vigil: Yes.
>
>

> Sheevah: Just wanna say, for the record, I don’t think it’s a terrible idea. He was also been spying on us this whole time.
>
>

> Vigil: Yeah. he also woke me up and told me to murder him, so.
>
>

> Gerome: Hey! uh, how much does this one pay. This whole mission. What’s the pay on it?
>
>

> Creon: This would be the payment of knowing you performed your duties for the empire, and—and! Hear me out, hear me out. The greater good.
>
>

> Gerome: I’ve never heard of it.
>
>

> Creon: I understand, I understand you are a material based creature. You have very little principles or personality, you are simply—we will all pitch in. I will make sure you have your reward, as you are a little elf boy. Little gnome. Whatever. I have to offer you… two pounds of dead beetles.
>
>

They all argue about what the best move is. Gerome summarizes the result.

> Gerome: Alright. Creon’s gonna give me all of his gold, we can fix the ship for free, we’ll head to the mud baths, get some dope magic shit, and then, get me a badass new body.
>
>

> Vigil: You will have to change the company name, though.
>
>

> Gerome: Well…
>
>

> Vigil: We’ll workshop it.
>
>

### Alone on the Ice

Meanwhile, Schwippers went to the pond he essentially lives at, looking down at his reflection and beaming; he’s never had friends before! Wanting to procure a gift for everyone, he stamps on the ice with his foot, and uses his fishing pole arm and pulls out the biggest fish he can find, very proud of himself. He slowly realizes, looking down at the fish, that he doesn’t know where anyone from the party went, or where the ship is, and that technically, nobody even invited him. He sets the fish down on the ground and sits by the pond, just to be by himself for a bit, because he doesn’t know if anyone’s coming to find him. He starts crying.

High up in a tree, Zephi takes a moment to look back down at the snowy ground beneath her. And—is that? There’s no way. Is that—is that our lawyer? It is. She messages down, “Hey Schwippers.” He screams in response. Zephi makes a small flare with prestidigitation and Schwippers finally spots her. “hold on, I’m comin’!” she says, and comes down, plopping down onto the snow.

> Zephi: Fish?
>
>

> Schwippers: Oh, yeah! I got it for everyone, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted—
>
>

> Zephi: Come!
>
>

> Schwippers: What?
>
>

> Zephi: I don’ wanna go back alone to all the crazy come with me.
>
>

> Schwippers: Did you not just see me kill somebody today?
>
>

> Zephi: Yeah, figure it’s better to be your friend.
>
>

> Schwippers: Fair enough!
>
>

They set off, walking past the Sloe-Down. Inside, the bar itself is partially melted, and there are some people still nursing wounds. Zephi passes around, healing everyone left that’s injured. Sabrina is at the bar, and says Sellis is taking the night off, what with everything going on, and the events in his personal life. And, as she’s at the bar, and he’s nowhere in sight… she invites Zephi to silently make an assumption about where he might be. “Well, I’m at the bar, aren’t I?” So, is it all good? “Fingers crossed.”

Zephi hands Sabrina the music she wrote in the tree, asking her to play it and/or give it to Barren and Sellis when they return. It’s all love music! Zephi grabs Schwippers’ hand, and they run out the door.

Zephi hears Gerome saying the plan as she climbs over the side. “I brought Schwipperssss!!” who follows quickly after. Creon tries to convince Schwippers to drive out with us, and offers Schwippers a bunch of beetles and 6 copper, and says he’s a safe driver. Schwippers asks for a better offer, and we debate whether we should go back to the mud pits at all. Sheevah mentions the map Zephi found. Gerome maintains we should go back through the teleportation circle under the lab Creon goes on again about how we committed so many crimes down there, and he didn’t, and we should have known better.

Zephi and Schwippers start cooking the fish, and Schwippers puts the head of the fish on War Toad like a hat. He swallows it instead immediately, and he and Schwippers do a hand-tongue-five.

> Creon: Alright. I’m going alone. If any of you care about your own lives or the lives of others—
>
>

> Sheevah: I have an idea! Why don’t you go to the jail, and ask if they’ll tell you where he is.
>
>

> Creon: Why would they do that?
>
>

> Zephi: Because sometimes, when you ask nicely, rather than just do things behind people’s backs with sending stones, it goes pretty good!
>
>

Schwippers says he’ll ask in exchange for the 6 coppers and beetles. War Toad seems subtly dismayed. Schwippers immediately feeds all of the beetles to him, and Gerome and Zephi pat War Toad appreciatingly. 2:57:00

## A Spelljammer Masterpiece

Session 22

We plan for Elizabeth’s birthday!!!!

It’s around 5pm. Gerome makes a fryer and cooks up the toasty fish into beer battered fishsticks. We munch on some and they are, honestly, DELICIOUS. (Gerome rolled a 23!) Schwippers tries to eat one but it falls through him.

Gerome and Schwippers go to the general store to buy basic supplies and paint for repairs on the ship. (He wants to paint flames on the side). Gerome convinces this woman that they’re not called Spelljammers anymore, they’re called Sick Rides. He pays 25 gold for a few colors of acrylic paint, and two pairs of sunglasses.

Zephi heads to the Nova Nook. It looks like Kara is closing up for the night, and asks if Zephi knows what she needs. She does! She asks for two books on, “how to punch good, and how to cast good”. Kara gives her a book on basic self-defense and one on the basic theories of magic by Elvis Wirken. Zephi pays two gold for them and runs off to the Sloe-Down; the bar has been mostly repaired already, by a retired Vedalken lab tech with some special ice machine. Sabrina is still behind the bar, Sellis and Barren not in sight. Zephi asks for them, and llis comes out, seeming pretty out of sorts. Zephi apologizes for the rukus and Sellis says he was overreacting, he was just stressed and thought Sheevah was being a bit impulsive.

Zephi takes out the two books. “In case something bad happens again. Always good to be ready. One for each of you!” she wants Barren and Sellis to be able to take care of themselves. Zephi invites them to swing by the ship later if they want. Sabrina offers Zephi a free drink, and she leaves shortly after.

Vigil spends time trying to train War Toad. He’s already sitting, so Vigil looks at Creon like, hey. I did it. “I’m being a better dad. See look? We’re bonding.”

35:00 Gerome and Schwippers arrive back in their sunglasses and smocks and begin “visualizing the piece” on the ship. Gerome paints the port side, rejecting Zephi’s help, and its… not Phenomenal. On the starbord side, Schwippers has painted the most beautiful flames we’ve ever seen along with “Karnival Kruise” in gold letters. Schwippers LOVES Gerome’s side. Vigil looks over the side.

> Vigil: What the FUCK!
>
>

> Gerome: We made it better.
>
>

> Vigil, *pointing at Schwippers*: He did!
>
>

> Gerome: It’s faster now.
>
>

> Vigil: OH, fair play.
>
>

Scwippers adds “Schwippers + Gerome = Friends Forever” on the side.

## An Orb by Any Other Name is a Chess Piece

The night, Zephi drifts into sleep and into the blackness, and she can sense The Creature sauntering behind her.

> Voice: Hello Zephi. We Found something. We were digging, memories, and we found… we found the moment before it all went dark. Would you like to watch?
>
>

> Zephi: I think that’d be… prudent.
>
>

> Voice: Sure. Come with me.
>
>

He puts long, spindally claws on her shoulder.
Zephi is taken back to her last memory; her and Jacob locating the Orb of Universal Casting, which, in the center, has the image of a white tree. Zephi watches as the box the orb was found in starts to react, and Jacob rips a red crystal off his neck and tells Zephi he loves her before slamming the crystal into her, ripping her away from the action. Back in the blackness;

> Voice:  So. Interesting.
>
>

> Zephi, sardonic: Cheerful! Thanks, for that.
>
>

> Voice: He cared about you. Clearly. …I understand that.
>
>

> Zephi: Oh. Do you?
>
>

> Voice: I’ve done the same for friends. I’m doing it now. I gave up my life… to possibly save billions of others.
>
>

> Zephi: Yeah, well. At least you had the choice, you know. I don’t really get anything here, I’m just—you know. 400. Like he said, 400. And now we’re here, and so, what. I see it, I saw it now, I remember it now, and the box, and…
>
>

> Voice: Gah—we were looking for that, and… I know he wanted it, and…
>
>

> Zephi: Wouldn’t anyone?
>
>

> Voice: Well, sure, that’s why your father wanted it but it’s not why *he* wanted it.
>
>

> Zephi: Why do *you* want it?
>
>

> Voice: Bargaining chip. To save… everyone.
>
>

> Zephi: In your great, intergalactic game of poker, right? I’m good at those.
>
>

> Voice: Yes. Might even be why we chose you.
>
>

> *Two more sloping creatures slink out of the darkness.*
>
>

> Voice 2: I thought… I thought you had a tenacity that your father had lost.
>
>

> Zephi: My father never lost anything, except me. Ever. Thank you very much.
>
>

> Voice 2: Maybe. It’s too bad your mother didn’t see reason.
>
>

> Zephi: Yeah, about that, actually, I don’t remember—nevermind. Well. What happens if [something happens and] it’s another 400 years for me? Another 800? The people I’m with right now, I wouldn’t put it past them. They care, too. Would you be there on the other side?
>
>

> Voice: I don’t think I’d survive another pass. I don’t know if any of us would. 400 years… Vash could do a lot of damage. …Oh. I remember his name, now. That’s who.
>
>

> Zephi: Vash?
>
>

> Voice: Vash.
>
>

> Zephi: That’s a name I’ve heard. Recently! I don’t really know more than… you know if you could give me more of my memories back that would really help.
>
>

> Voice: Well we’re working on it. They’re ours too.
>
>

> Zephi: Oh, okay, just take command inside of me, of who I am and was, I’m not an individual person. Like I don’t matter.
>
>

> Voice: You agreed to it.
>
>

> Zephi: I don’t remember that. I don’t REMEMBER!
>
>

He steps back, and fades.

Level up to 5!

## Motivation (To Level Up)

### Gnomish Antics

It’s very early. Zephi goes on a walk. Sheevah thinks she hears someone leave, but isn’t sure. Zephi wanders around town, and ends up in front of the lab. There are now two guards in front of it. She walks back to the woods, climbing up a tree, and watches as the dawn light crests over Orlin. Zephi casts Sending, and yells “WHATS UP, FUCKER, GOOD MORNING! It’s time… to finish the ship. I’m in a tree right now, so I’ll see you later BYEEEE.” to Gerome, who tumbles out of bed. Gerome responds with only, “WHY?!?!?!”

As he’s already up ungodly early, Gerome heads to the post office. He asks if he has any mail which—no, definitely not, not under any variation of his name. He checks Gnome & co., and, still nothing. Well, all’s not lost on this morning jaunt. Gerome knows we need help on the ship, so he swings by The Frostworker to enlist Barren’s help.

1:00:10 Barren steps up behind the counter. “Hey! How are ya?” Gerome gives a greeting in kind and knowingly asks Barren how he is. Barren is all smiles and says he’s good. He is in a ridiculously good mood, even for Barren.

> Gerome: You wanna come work on a project?
>
>

> Barren: Oh! Fixin’ the ship?
>
>

> Gerome: yeah, we’re doin’ it! We’re finally getting around to it.
>
>

> Barren: Aw, fantastic. (talking to someone else.) Alright! You said you could handle the shop, right?
>
>

> Sellis, emerging from the back: Yeah, no, it’s fine. I should be able to… I don’t know what most of the prices are—
>
>

> Barren: Eh, neither do I.
>
>

> Gerome, *oblivious*: Oh! Sellis! You’re here too! Are you buyin’ ship stuff?
>
>

> Sellis: Oh, I’m, I’m just covering for, I’m covering for, for Barren, I, uh--
>
>

> Gerome: Oh! That’s really nice of you! The community here is so helpful.
>
>

> Sellis: It…. really is.
>
>

Gerome and Barren head out. They use a moose to transport some lumber, which wakes up the rest of the crew. Barren continues his great mood and swings Zephi around, and she hangs onto his neck while Vigil splits everyone into teams. Zephi’s in charge of motivational music, so Laura gets the AUX.

It’s a relaxing four days. Zephi and Barren spend a lot of time dancing. Once or twice, Sellis shows up and brings some refreshments.

### It's Okay to Be A Kid

Sheevah avoids Sellis at all costs—but Sellis asks Vigil if she’s alright, and Vigil takes the opportunity to high five Sellis for, you know, going two blocks down. Zephi tells Sellis Sheevah is below deck and everyone hears a “fuck you!” through the walls. He goes downstairs and Sheevah tries to look busy by picking up something on Geromes bench, but it starts glowing and she drops it. 1:10:00 Sellis tries to be polite and give her a sandwich and apologizes for yelling. Sheevah also apologizes.

> Sellis: You’re… on the younger side of all of them, aren’t you?
>
>

> Sheevah: You’d be the first to point it out, but yes, thank you.
>
>

> Sellis: I mean, you seem weirdly more mature than a lot of them, which is kind of alarming—
>
>

> Sheevah: Could you tell *them*?
>
>

> Sellis: You’re a strange lot, I’ll give you that.
>
>

> Sheevah: I’m guessing that’s a no.
>
>

> Sellis: …I’ve got a little sister. Can I… You don’t have to be… You’re a very mature person, you don’t have to be older to fit in with them.
>
>

> Sheevah: Have you met them? Who else is gonna do it?
>
>

> Sellis: Fair… you’re allowed to make mistakes.
>
>

> Sheevah: Could you tell /them?
>
>

> Sellis: Maybe you should. Anyway uhh… thank you for saving, um. Barren. And everything. Sandwiches are here… yep. Okay.
>
>

Zephi stays up late most nights, sitting in the crows nest and trying with prestidigitation to replicate the box she saw in her memory. Gerome tries to build his Box of Fun again, and with the help of that good good bumping music, he does manage to build his Handy Dandy Crank. What is that? I have no FUCKING idea. Gerome returns, his hand singed a bit, with a small box strapped to his side. He takes a crank and winds it, and slowly there’s a building sound of rolling ball bearings and electricity crackling; and red electricity zaps out, followed by a crack of green electricity; he seems to get a little hurt, and then healed. Gerome refuses to explain what it is.
Sheevah stays up late, practicing with her glave to take out her frustrations. In the last few minutes she’s awake every night, having exhausted herself, she tries speaking to Aether, and thinks over and over again about how she has to be better, and take care of the party. One night, Sheevah’s scales turn crystalline, and she responds.

> Aether: Don’t be so hard on yourself. I know the feelings that come with it, believe me.
>
>

> Sheevah: I don’t have any other choices.
>
>

> *There’s a long pause. More of Sheevah’s scales turn.*
>
>

> Aether: Why do you feel that you must control the situation?
>
> Sheevah: If I don’t, who else will, and if the situation isn’t in control, then what happens, and then… everything falls apart.
>
>

> Aether: I wish I thought a little bit more like you when I started. But, there’s also error in that as well.
>
>

> Sheevah: We’ve seen what happens when I can’t control the situation.
>
>

> Aether: We’ve seen what happens when you can’t control *yourself*. The situation is not your responsibility. You, are.
>
>

> Sheevah: That’s not how this started.
>
>

> Aether: Your goal is to be my eyes. And to be my hand. In a universe that has blinded me, and left me unable to act, because I would not when I could. This does not mean it is your sole responsibility to fix every wrong that comes your way.
>
>

> Sheevah: If I don’t, then who will? Because you can’t. Yet.
>
>

> Aether: No, I can’t. But the pursuit is what’s noble. The intent is what’s noble. Do not let it destroy you, in turn. If you let it destroy you, then you’re not good to anyone. Me most of all.
>
>

> Sheevah: I still have to be able to protect them better.
>
>

> Aether: Perhaps this will help.
>
>

Sheevah’s whole body suddenly glows crystalline, filled with magic, energy, and power, the legacy of the bloodline running through her, and Aether tells her to rest. Zephi tries to ask from the crows nest what that was, but Sheevah heads to bed, testing her magic, and feels stronger. Level 5!

### For My Dear Departed Teacher

The cabin light is also on late in the night, as Vigil stays up late, going over his notes about the DSK, feeling vindicated but not having every puzzle piece. It’s not a completely pure force, as he suspected, but all he has is a teaser. He’s got the first string of the tapestry, but no idea what picture it’s trying to make. Feeling a little jealous that so many of his party-mates have relationships with mentors of any sort, he scours his notes and transcriptions from Ghann, trying to see if he can piece anything more together. Through all the jealousy and frustration, he finally finds the transcript of a conversation he’d had once with Ghann, a rare occasion where he broke down, and spoke about how he was treated as less than a person on Krynn-5, and in the DSK. It’s validating! Finally, an emotional connection he can use for spell-casting, a memory of a father-son type bond he can draw on rather than his negative emotions.

There’s a line, there, that Ghann had said, and Vigil had highlighted and circled possibly years before;

> “Vigil, here’s the thing. Magic can be analyzed as a science. It’s how we function with it, right? But the end of the day, we’re still people! We still interpret the world around us in different ways. My eyes might see the color red the way your eyes see the color green. In the same way, in the way the threads of the weave represent to you make present themselves in a way that’s different than how they present to me. I can only teach you so much—for you to tap into this, to find power in this wealth of magic around you, you have to tap into it *your* way.”
>
>

Vigil notices, as he reads the end of that line, that the top of the axe in the corner of the room pings into life with a small, steady glow. He could swear for a moment he hears a hammer hitting something metal in the back of his mind, but the moment he tries to focus on it, it’s gone.

### The Common Language of a Good Meal

Gerome, below deck, is up early, early in the morning, and looks at the core—it’s a little damaged, flickering a bit. He shuts the door because he feels, as usual, pretty territorial about the core itself. He starts looking for where to start on the large crystal wrapped in brass straps, and doesn’t quite know what to do. It doesn’t have moving parts, it just kind of… does its thing.

He reaches out with a tool, and it reacts badly, and it goes flying across the room. “Okay, so you don’t like tools. What do you like?” It pulses a bit as he talks. He leans in and tries to kiss it, and it whirs a bit—affection? Does that work? Gerome gets up closer, and whispers, “How do I fix you??” and it pulses again, but Gerome does not speak crystal. Which, I think that’s fair, you know?

Then—he sees the brass straps. And the crystal. And his hand. And back at the core. And something clicks in his head—he remembers the ritual in the Ironbane Mine, where the Spawn was—where there was one crystal strapped to the ground with similar brass straps, and a few more brass straps ripped open where the crystals had been taken. And he realizes—Sheevah took that last crystal. He opens the door and yells for her, and she rushes down. What the fuck did he do now?? He asks for the crystal, and she holds it out, but way above his head; she won’t let him hold it. He says he's not certain it’s gonna work, but he’s not *trying* to blow something up. Sheevah hands it to him, and it instantly pulsates the moment it touches his skin. “It never did that for me!”

Gerome rushes back into the core room and shuts the door. As soon as he enters back in, the cores whirs and glows expectantly. “This is either a friend, or you’re hungry.” Gerome holds it out at arm’s length. At ‘a friend’, it hums softly, but at ‘you’re hungry’ it speeds up. *Can it-- it understands common?*

A white light shoots out from the core, and connects the two crystals from afar. Gerome closes his eyes and slowly approaches; two of the brass points open, and the crystal fuses to the core, as the straps clasp back down around it. And the arcane core is repaired! Not that Gerome knows it yet, but the speed of the ship also increases, by 30ft per round and 95 astral units per day. Gerome smiles, puts on his sunglasses, and gives the core a pat, and REVS IT. Just for a sec! but hell yeah.

## A Job Well Done

It's the last day of the build, finally, it’s done. Barren congratulates us, and Sellis brings out a bottle—we realize the ship's never been Christened! At least, not by us. To be fair, we got it used.

Sellis tells us to name it and Gerome complains Sellis has never even looked at the side decal?? They spent ALL DAY on it! It’s got flames and shit!! Sellis reassures him multiple times, “it’s—it’s really good!” Zephi breaks the bottle with a ceremonial, “We will see our friends in the stars!” Sellis invites us back to the Sloe-Down.

(1:43:00) Schwippers heads to the precinct to find Raúl, who’s futzing around with some papers trying to seem busy. Schwippers breaks the news; He’s leaving. He doesn’t wanna be a lawyer anymore. Raúl reminds him that do to, ah, recent events, Scwippers is the only lawyer they have left in town, but Schwippers doesn’t care! It’s not his problem anymore. He’s on a mission to find the person who hit him—to put an end to this. He doesn’t know where he’s looking, but he has some friends and a degree, so he’s going for it. Before he leaves, Schwippers asks about Aldour, but Raúl says he never heard of him. He pulls up the incident report, and the only records they have are of a minotaur, dragonborn, tiefling, gnome, and elf—plus, of course, Barren, Sellis, and the two humans. Nobody else was found. The humans are being treated for trauma, but there was nobody else mentioned. Fuck. FUCK. Schwippers takes the report with him, and Raúl wishes Schwippers a nice life.

(1:46:45) That evening, everyone gathers at the Sloe-Down. It’s an upbeat night—Sellis is back to slinging drinks, now that he’s no longer watching the Frostworker. Sabrina is back up singing on the stage, upbeat music. There’s a few spots reserved for the party up front, because Sellis is a darling. He pours everyone drinks and asks us where we’re going. Nym, hopefully. He, for the 5th time, says we’re a strange bunch, but he’s really glad we cam into their lives. Aw!! That’s so soft. Drinks are on him and Barren for the night, so Zephi requests shots, and we all do shots in real life.

Gerome casts Alter Self, and turns into… John Hamm. This whole time, this *whole fucking time,* I thought it was always John hamm but very small. But it’s not. it’s just John Fucking Hamm. God. Jesus fucking Christ. Okay. His clothing stays the same time so he’s just wearing a crop top and short shorts!!!! I guess!!!!! Schwippers turns and realizes it’s Gerome from the clothes, and he shrieks. Gerome says his new name is Hohn Jamm, and Schwippers faints. Gerome finds some strangers, to see if anyone recognizes him. Apparently Hohn Jamm has advantage on charisma, but still, he seems too confident, and everyone’s a little weirded out and try to ignore him.

Zephi goes into full Zephi mode, pulls her hair into a high ponytail, and lays down on the bar and starts being charming and probing into Sellis’ love life. He deflects by asking how she’s still alive, essentially; “I took a long nap. It was rejuvenating.” She goes to talk to Barren, who knows how to have a good time;

> Barren: Zephi, how the fuck are ya?
>
>

> Zephi: I’m doing wonderful! Feeling very much more like myself and how are you?
>
>

> Barren: I am fantastic. Can I say? You are ravishing tonight.
>
>

> Zephi: Oh thank you, I’m ravishing every night. But so are you!
>
>

> Barren *laughs. then*: You did a bang up job inspiring us all the last few days. I’ve been having the time of my life. I haven’t enjoyed myself that much in awhile!
>
>

> Zephi: Why thank you. And you’re doing a… bang up job in other aspects of your life I hear; how’s that going?
>
>

> *Barren laughs, and then gets right up next to her and whispers.*
>
>

> Barren: Very very very very very well. It’s been crazy. I’ll love that man ‘til the day I die, I swear to god.
>
>

> *He takes a big breath in and sighs happily. Guess it’s going well, then.*
>
>

Zephi goes up to the stage, and trips for a sec, but Zephi bends and snaps to recover and it’s… very good! Zephi joins in with Sabrina, and plays the crowd like a pro, and does her signature on the ceiling. Sabrina is very, very into her, and a little distracted. At the height of Sabrina’s flusteredness, after a few songs, Zephi kisses her hand, shoots her a wink, and heads back to the bar. All of the songs the rest of the night are sultry, and directed at her.

Schwippers is on the floor, watching everyone, having not gotten up from the floor after fainting. Sheevah chooses to only drink water, and takes it pretty easy. Hohn Jamm tells a very bad joke. More people like it than seems physically possible.  Zephi makes Barren walks her home.

The next morning, we adopt Schwippers as First Mate. First Lawyer? Zephi goes to say bye to Sellis and Barren, who are hanging out together in the Sloe-Down, cleaning up the bar. The rest of the crew follows behind. Gerome tries to convince them both to come with us, mostly because he wants a dog and knows they’re a package deal. Sellis says, “No… it looks like we’ve got a life here.” Zephi dies. Gerome is STILL oblivious, and then suddenly understands. “Oh! Oh! Guys, They’re—!!”

Sellis and Barren say they hope they’ll see us all again soon, and we say we’ll be back for the wedding. **Chaos erupts.** That’s a thing they have to talk about—Schwippers wants to be the flower girl—Vigil wants to stay and hear more about this—Sheevah is trying to drag us all out—Zephi is offering to pay for their honeymoon—Creon is silent, mostly because Julia isn’t there—Vigil is asking to be best man—Darcy is asking us not to talk over each other—Gerome is asking when they got together—Zephi is throwing them both kisses—Sellis wishes us well, and tells Schwippers to not get us killed. He won’t! And Sellis admits, at Sheevah’s point that, yeah, we probably DO need a lawyer with us at all times.

> Schwippers: Besides. I’m the best lawyer there is. If I don’t win, I’ll kill ya!
>
>

They wish us luck. We set off! In search of Admiral Aldour.

## Oh Shit, That's Cold.

We make our way to the Hag’s hut, let down a rope, and Schwippers writes up a permit saying we’re allowed to park there. We’re all drunk or tipsy at this point. Vigil cautiously leads us in. Nothing… *looks* different? We go through her underground chambers; the energy is different, lit only by our lights rather than her fiendish energy. We keep going to the mud baths, and Vigil finds some slightly more recent tracks. We manage to follow the tracks back through the cave, out into the snow banks. After about 100 yards or so, we see a frozen figure.

Oh, dear.

Kneeling in the snow, a naked, dickless Aldour Portant is frozen solid; it looks like he was resolute in the way he froze. He didn’t fall. He made the choice. Vigil looks out toward the horizon to see what he may have been walking toward, and spies a small spelljammer not far away.

Zephi takes an image of Portant there, wiping the one of him in the hag’s den. From this distance, we can’t see any defining features of the jammer, but it’s a walkable distance so we could head out for it. Sheevah thinks we gotta be sneaky, so once we’re on the ice instead of the snow, she casts Invisibility on Schwippers and Zephi.

It’s a lithe ship, only a skiff, really with DSK insignias all over it, and has blue and gold highlights. It has a large glass dome and, rather than typical sails, it has huge wings, with guildroman sections. It looks sleek and well-kept. The two look for an opening or to see if it’s been recently visited. All of our rolls are so, so bad. Schwippers tries to use his fishing pole arm to propel himself onto the deck, and Zephi hums encouraging elevator music to help. He tries to help Zephi up, but she keeps sliding down.  Julia arrives!

Schwippers looks through the glass of the dome; there’s a leather-bound seat, and a shoot that must lead to the rest of the ship. He can’t see anyone, Zephi sends up a flare to alert everyone that coast seems to be clear, and messages Sheevah for good measure. Everyone makes their way over to the ship. Schwippers tries to lift the dome, but can’t manage it. Gerome finally, FINALLY finds the door, an arcane sigil on the side, and a small trigger next to it. Vigil hits it and a small entry staircase comes down; Schwippers gets off the roof and joins us.

Inside, It’s clearly more advanced than our ship; There are large steel supports, and an entryway up to the cockpit on the side. On another wall, there are two basic cots, one looking about Aldour’s size, the other, Uthorim’s. Gerome notices there’s a small piece of paper on a nightstand. On one sign is the symbol of the Conclave Eternal, on the other, a number of scrawled messages in some sort of code. It’s in Common, but it’s nonsensical. (Darcy does not tell us what the words are.) One word that sticks out is Zarrius—the Prince Regent of the DSK. Hmm. Gerome hands it to Sheevah and moves along. **[DARCY tells ELIZABETH he’ll send her the coded message over the weekend—did this ever happen?? Wanna make a note of it]**

Gerome also finds a scroll in a small metal box; it’s a scroll of Identify! How nifty. Zephi looks around and finds logs for the ship’s course and intended course. They left from Keller, and landed on Dreshan Station; then they flew to Orlin, and next, they intended to fly back to Keller. She rips it off the machine it comes off of, and tucks it away. Zephi can tell the ship is more modern, advanced, expensive, and built to fly faster through space than the average ship. We all debate what we should do with the ship, while Vigil tries to turn the thing on. The ship glows and suddenly an automated voice comes on and asks for identification. Before anyone can react, Creon slaps his ID down, given that he’s a DSK solider and whatnot.

“You do not have clearance.” The door slams shut. A faint line around the edge of the door alights and powdered gold flies everywhere.

Roll initiative.

## I Thought We Were Leaving!! Now There Are ***Problems***???

###### SESSION 23 Lenay 5th

**Darcy promises to get Elizabeth that code. Can someone send me this code.**

Essentially, Creon and Zephi destroy the controls, Vigil tries to smash through the glass, Gerome tries to pick the lock, and Sheevah finds four tablets under one of the cots while the ceiling and floor zap us. Zephi finds a box under the grate floor that the tablets could fit in-- she melts the grate and Schwippers solves the puzzle, taking us out of initiative.

Vigil and Gerome strip the ship for parts, over the course of three hours. It could theoretically, fit over the hull. Zephi approaches Schwippers during the 3 hours;

> Zephi: Are all dead people ghosts?
>
>

> Schwippers: No. Only the special ones are.
>
>

> Zephi: Can you talk to the other dead people?
>
>

> Schwippers: Yes.
>
>

> Zephi: Can you get through a message for me?
>
>

> Schwippers: Who wants to be heard? What’s the ish, what’s the gossip?
>
>

> Zephi: If I write it down, can you do it? I don’t wanna say it.
>
>

> Schwippers: Fair enough.
>
>

> *Zephi scurries off.*
>
>

Creon trances. He hears the sounds of his experience with Otia; but this time, rather then metal striking wood, or metal, it sounds like it’s passing through liquid. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Otia bring her sword down through a roiling tendril coming out of a mass of blood. He feels something hot running down his cheeks, and he just keeps hearing that sound, metal passing through blood. It feels… defensive. There’s something unsettlingly comfortable about the blood—as though it’s a source of power he’d drawn from before without realizing.

Sheevah takes a nap, and plays with Fuzzy Wuzzy, who’s a little too rough. He’s learning.

Zephi gets the paper ready for Schwippers, and hands it over.

> Zephi: So, this? I have another one, if that goes through, or if it doesn’t? But this one is most important.
>
>

> Schwippers: Okay! Do you wanna do it together?
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> Zephi: Oh.
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> Schwippers: Yeah, just to put your little stamp on the note, essentially.
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> Zephi: I don’t know… how. What—What?
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> Schwippers: Well, we can put the note in between us, I can channel divinity, and we can hold hands, and pray over the note, and it could reach them!
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> Zephi: Cool.
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>

She plays her kalimba to calm herself and lends bardic inspiration.

Schwippers closes his eyes. He wills himself contact with Lem, the god who gave him a second chance. He feels their guidance, and that they are unable to reach out. Zephi asks if it’s going alright—sorry bud. No dice. Schwippers promises to try again, and after Zephi leaves, he breaks down and cries.

Everyone boards, and finds Creon sitting on the main deck, trails of blood running down his cheeks. Zephi sits right up close to him, and Sheevah tries to heal him. Schwippers gives a lil kiss on the check but gets blood on himself. As Sheevah heals him, everyone else sees some of the blood recede, and Creon watches as Otia lands a massive blow against the blood. The blood remains on his face, but doesn’t continue flowing.

(1:17:00) We talk about Orlin, and decide to set off. Schwippers knows he’s seen the name Nym somewhere—it’s on a piece of paper in the glove box of the Subaru. Schwippers summons the car, swinging onto the deck just before crashing into the still trancing Creon, whose eye is fucking TWITCHING. Zephi looks in the glove box and finds some kind of proof of invention; signed Hokposs McGlynn, with an address; 27 Crayside St. Crisphill, Guildhome, Nym. Zephi takes it.

Laura breaks down laughing trying to explain all the shit Sheevah needs to fill Rylance in about.

> Sheevah: Heyyyyyyy.
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>

> Rylance: So, you’re not dead.
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> Sheevah: ….No, but do you wanna guess who is?
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> Rylance: I await it with baited breath.
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> Sheevah: So, we found Aldour Portant dead and frozen.
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> Rylance: You found Aldour Portant DEAD?
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> Zephi: I have a picture as proof!
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> Rylance: Right, good. What are the circumstances?
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> Zephi: Dead, naked, castrated, kneelin’ on the ground.
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1:25:00 Zephi explains. Rylance says he and Yfrit will look into it, and to let him know if we find Hector Gilligan.

## To Nym, Or Whatever World Finds Us

We take off. We accidentially used the Horn of Secrets in the Subaru, so we can’t use it; we resume on our original course, toward Sylveon, the last major planet Nym was spotted near. We do still have to find Hector Gilligan, after all. Vigil makes the call to cut through the Open Territories, which will be faster.

At the end of our first day of traveling (woo!!), we see a small military ship patrolling the edge of DSK space. It sends up a small signal flare to us, pulsing three times; a request to halt for a routine check. It’s half an astral unit away, so it’s hard to confirm that they’re definitely DSK; Vigil makes sure to tell Gerome to keep alert, just in case we need to make a speedy escape. Creon subtly makes his way over to the canon, unlocking the movement as he leans against the side of the ship, and keeping a match ready in his palm, should he need to fire it. (Julia wants it known that’s VERY hot of Creon, for the record.) Zephi blows him a kiss which he’s of course annoyed by.

1:37:00 The vessel approaches; There’s a prim and proper human officer, curly brown reddish hair, and behind him, another officer whose lapels hang off, looking altogether disinterested. The first one introduces himself as Aud Rimmer, (we all scream at the name) the surveying officer; the officer behind him, Lister, tells him to just get on with it. It is apparently Rimmer’s job to inspect vessels intending to leave DSK space and head to the Open Territories. Creon is more than happy to let him inspect us; Vigil is not. This is immortalized here, but I'm leaving it here too. What the hell, you know?

> Creon, *a bastard horny for rules*: Officer Rimmer we are… more than ready for you to inspect us, we are more than ready for you to board us, and to just thoroughly and deeply inspect every cabin and room in this ship, sir.
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> Rimmer, beaming: You see Lister? THAT is the way one addresses an officer of the DSK!
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> *Creon salutes, even though both Lister and Rimmer are, he can tell now, privates.*
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> Creon: Private, what was it, Lister?
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> Lister: Yeh?
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> Creon: You should stand at attention when you are talking to a superior Officer.
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> Vigil: So you’re safe here.
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> Sheevah steps in between Vigil and Creon.
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> *Creon* *and Rimmer gossip about Lister. Vigil tries the wand of rogaine three times on Rimmer, stealthily, but nothing happens. Rimmer, assuming Creon is the Captain, asks to be shown around the ship to inspect it. 1:41:45 He starts going on about what he needs to see when Sheevah tries to step in to point out Vigil is the Captain—Creon tries to block her but;]*
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> Sheevah: Big guy’s the captain!
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> Rimmer: That one’s the captain??
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> Vigil: Frankly it is… **fucking** disgraceful that you wouldn’t assume that I’m the captain, *private*. I will have you court-martialed if you have a similar disregard of rank. You will remember your place! Sir! *(Slowly turning to Creon, who’s kind of into this;)* And as for you, *master gunner*, back to your post, sir!
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> Creon: Y- Yes sir…
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> Zephi, *from the crow’s nest*: What should I do?
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> Vigil: You’re doing **fucking** great. *(turning back to Rimmer)* I will have you know, Private, that our ship is tip top. And you better take my goddamn word for it.
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> Rimmer: Right! Well, uh, you heard him Lister, they’re all tip top! No need to insect them any further.
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> Lister: Ohhh, you’re not gonna follow orders anymore then, are you?
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> Rimmer: No no no no no no they’re done w- w- w- well enough, I took a look, you know, my surveyor's eye—they’re, they’re fine. You all have a lovely day.
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> Vigil: Private, I would ask you to trust your own judgment, if you didn’t have the judgment of a *snail,*sir! Good day to you!
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> *Sheevah stomps on the floor to let Gerome know we’re ready to fly. Vigil never breaks eye contact with Rimmer, as our ship sails past, and he can see a tear running down Rimmer’s face. Schwippers waves. Once out of hearing range;*
>
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> Vigil: God, it feels really good to be an asshole. *(turning to Creon)* I see why you like it.
>
>

At around 9pm that night, Zephi uses sending to say hi to Barren, and asks what his necklace means; he’s apparently a believer in Gitryx! Mystery solved! And now they will be pen pals. <3

I will cut Orlin off here. Wow, folks, what a ride. Look at where we started, look at where we finished! And just wait til you see where we’re going next!