Session 132

General Summary

• Most of the party went to start shopping, but Dazki and Theran stayed back to go through the Bag of Holding.
• Dazki used this opportunity to make it crystal clear that he believes Theran should go home, and to warn him about the depths of what they face.
• He gave a brief overview of all the horrors they'd seen and let Theran read his mind to see the worst of it.
• While reading his mind, Baxton chimed in, causing Dazki to also remember the moment he killed Baxton.
• Theran will stay with the party, but he's grateful to Dazki for making sure that it's informed consent.
• The full party reconvened for lunch, Dwardazik hauling some new magic items that he bought for the house and for the other party members.
• They went back out to finish the rest of their shopping, when they encountered Kelly, Jim's zombie companion, at the bazaar.
• Only Dazki noticed that it was even Kelly, though, because Alice was there and immediately vaporized him.
• This triggered an impromptu search for the necromancer who was responsible for it — Jim was nearby, and so the party helped him escape.
• Theran had used a "Friendship Beam" to charm Alice, which Dazki mentioned is a huge problem because she will know what had happened later.
• After finishing the rest of their shopping, they returned home, only to see Jim and Rosalin in a tense discussion, Rosalin holding a dagger near his throat.
• Jim made it abundantly clear that he was trying to help, and making sure that Rosalin knew that she held all the power.
• Dwardazik tried to charge in to defuse it, but Theran cast "Time Out!" to stop him.
• Blurdrake knocked Jim out with a couple of arrows he shot from the balcony, and they discussed what had happened.
• Rosalin insists that Jim was trying to help, and she seems to have taken at least some of what he said to heart.
• The party had a chat with Jim to get more information about what he's doing here (and for other purposes).
• Jim is here because he's curious about what the deal is with Annu.
• According to Jim's stories, Annu was defeated long ago when Scaldor assembled a strike force to take him out.
• They couldn't quite destroy him outright because his phylactery was in an awkward location, but they did manage to subdue him with a three-pronged artifact that constrains his Body and Soul to render him mostly harmless, and his Mind to prevent him figuring out how to disable the other two.
• Jim is mostly surprised that Annu even can be a member of government, since that means that his captors can apply variable pressure to the various constraints, allowing him to be able to move around just enough to do government work, etc.
• There's a general agreement that the party can try to get Jim some documents, hoping that he might be able to help him a little on their own quest for Annu while they press forward with some of their other commitments.

Full Recap

Dwardazik, muttering to himself: I wouldn't have thought he'd have such an impact...   Dazki: Well, you know, Marvin told quite the story about him, and rumors continue to rumor.   Theran: So, you guys aren't normally this famous?   Dazki: Last time we were here, we weren't. But we should head back and actually get ready for the rest of the day now, if everyone's feeling up to it?   Dwardazik: Yeah... I've got some things I need to sell off. Remember those vials I picked up? Gonna have to go and get those appraised.   Dazki: OK. I think we all need to pick up a few things and, Theran, you wanted to go through the Bag of Holding to go through Grogery's things today, right?   Theran: Yeah, I was also going to see if I could get some spell reagents for some things.   Dazki: There should be places around here for that.   Kesmet: You know what? I'm going to start out the day with Mage Armor. I have a bad feeling about this.   Dwardazik: Ohhhh yeah. Me too.   Marvin: You always have bad feelings, Kesmet.   Kesmet: You know, you'd think they'd subside now that we've taken care of Dennis, and everything is fine.   Marvin: ...   Kesmet: Well, not everything, but most things. We've removed a key player from the opponent's board. But though I'm loathe to admit it, I don't believe Dennis was actually the mastermind-mastermind behind the whole thing. There is a chance — however slight — that he was maybe below the top rung.   Dwardazik: Wait, does that mean you have a new archenemy?   Kesmet: Yeah. The dude that killed Grogery. The Big Bad™ we're goin' after. Mr. Ghosty, or whatever his name is.   Dazki: Mirage Prime.   Kesmet: Right. Marjorie.   Dazki: All right, you guys can go start shopping, I'll go through the Bag of Holding with Theran. We'll meet up back here at lunchtime?

They split off, leaving Dazki and Theran in the house.

Dazki: All right, Theran, why don't we go through the Bag of Holding. I want to talk to you about a couple of things too, while we do it, if you don't mind?   Theran: Sure! ...am I in trouble?   Dazki: No, no you're not in trouble. But we definitely need to have a little bit of a conversation.   Theran: It sounds like I'm in trouble.   Dazki: You're not in trouble.   Theran: OK.   Dazki: I promise, you are not in trouble. I will ask you to first just let me go: I have something I worked on last night to talk with you about, and then once I get through my little spiel, then we can have a conversation, and then I can get your opinion. All right?   Theran: OK.   Dazki: So, Theran, I want you to go home. Now, wait. You've only seen the best of what we've been through so far. Yes, I know, your brother died, it was horrible. But a good man died a noble death saving the world from an ancient monster. It's tragic. It hurts. It hurts all of us. But that's a pain that could easily be understood. Dealt with. You saw a dragon, raging at the loss of Grogery. A high priest who saw beyond what Grogery was to who he was. And that high priest presided over his funeral. You saw an archlich in government doing his job. You saw the Phantasmagoria. You saw another world with monsters that looked awful but were easily dispatched.   Dazki: That's the best of what the stories of noble knights and adventurers are. And that's not really what adventuring is. That's not what our mission is. I never thought... (sigh)... I never thought the one reason I envied most of the other races would go away. I've always wanted to be able to dream. It sounds like so much fun, these wacky situations every night, completely unreal and fantastic. Even nightmares sounded interesting, like reading a scary story or a ghost tale over the fire. But now? Now I'm glad I can't dream. Because according to most people, their nightmares are just seeing the worst things you've ever imagined, over and over again — and the more horrible things you see, the more you have nightmares.   Dazki: In this past year, I've seen so many horrible things — I've done horrible things. Even now, I still see them a lot. When I close my eyes, when I meditate. Even though I have some control over my meditation, I still... (he shudders)... I still see them. I've seen torture, on a scale you can't imagine. Torture for no reason, other than some sick, twisted art. Rooms full of bodies just barely being kept alive so they can be tortured again. FOR FUN. A village razed and dead used as weapons, as bombs. A city in panic "plagued" by a false disease, all so a corrupt man could gain power. An entire community, destroyed. Ripped apart — people crying, not knowing what to do or where to go.   Dazki: This isn't a good, easy, noble quest, Theran. This is going to be suffering, plain and simple. Pain and suffering that will haunt you for the rest of your centuries. Now, it isn't that I don't think you can handle this! I just don't want you to have to handle it. I'm doing this to prevent others from suffering, just like Grogery did. What's worse, when this is all over — if I'm still alive — I have to go back and pretend everything is fine! Pretend I'm OK, and disseminate this knowledge that I've gained to help better others. Grogery wouldn't want that life for you. Your friends wouldn't want that life for you, and yes, even your parents wouldn't want that for you. No matter how cold they may seem, I'm sure at some level, they still love you. If you come with us, you may never get to see that, or you may never get to see them again.   Dazki: So, before you make the decision if you want to continue with this quest we're going on, I want you to — and oh, gods, I can't believe I'm saying this, but — I want you to read my mind. I'm going to think up some of the worst memories I've had in this past year, and let you look at them, and see if you want to continue. If you do, I won't stop you. I'll work with you just as I would anyone else. But if you do choose to continue, there is no backing out. No matter how hard it gets — no matter the pain, no matter the suffering that you see / that you cause / that you have to endure — if you continue, you cannot quit. It will hurt. You will suffer. You will want to quit — gods know I do! — but you can't. If you continue, you can't quit, no matter what. So, go ahead. Whatever you need to do, read my mind while I think of the awful things that I have seen.   Theran: Are you sure about this?   Dazki: (Sigh.) It's not the easy thing to do, but it's the right thing to do. Yes, I'm sure.

Theran casts Really Good Insight at Dazki and (Wisdom Save 5) gets a little more than he bargained for:

Baxton: Why burden this son with things you have seen and done? What purpose does this serve? To scare him away? To leave one soul untainted by the real world? The pain and suffering will happen either way, whether or not you are there to witness it. Torment is always eternal. And that can make us sad to think about, yes, but why shy away from the ugliness, just because it is hard to look at? Difficult to understand? Being blind to the situation helps no one but yourself. Being selfish is the natural state of all of us, yes, but don't you strive to be the pinnacle? To set a good example for the monsters? You are being selfish in hiding the real world from "purity".

Dazki: All right, so, it's your choice.   Theran: Is there a second voice inside your head?   Dazki: The ring I'm wearing. Someone else I killed. That one, I would still make the same decision given the circumstances, but... that one is difficult. Very complicated.   Theran: You've seen a lot of horrible things. I don't think you need to pretend you're still fine after all of that.   Dazki: I just want you to be well informed when you're making this decision. Yes, maybe the voice was right, maybe I'm trying to push you away from it. Because I want to protect people from the horrible things. But ultimately, all I can do is give you the information you need to make a well informed decision. So, like I said, if you choose that you still want to come with us — you still want to fight the evils of this world with us — that's your choice. But I'm not letting you go into it blind.   Theran: Thank you for helping to provide me with this knowledge, but the way that I see it, if I were to go back home, then things like being told to marry someone that I hate, or that I need to make a hard decision that will hurt a lot of people on the land that I am overseeing — those are things that would still feel like the end of the world. The stuff that you actually experience doesn't change how hard you feel about it, or how bad the nightmares feel. So if I can help to make the world a better place, I want to try doing that. I still need to think on it a bit and process what you've shown me, but I don't think I'm going to be able to necessarily live super easy if I go back and know that I could have helped, but didn't. It's almost worse, not knowing what could have been. Does that make sense?   Dazki: Yeah. And like I said, it's your choice. I'm not going to prevent you or work against you once the choice is made.   Theran: Plus, ...before I left, there might have been some lines that were crossed that aren't so easy to go back from.   Dazki: Is it something you'd like to talk about? If not, that's fine.   Theran: I don't think it's something that would help you to know.   Dazki: That's not what I asked. I asked if it's something that you would like to talk with someone about.   Theran: Maybe one day, but not today.   Dazki: OK. And with that, I suppose we should go shopping now?

The Shopping Block

Editor's note: I'm mostly just going to summarize things for a bit, since most of this is not story-relevant... and also, I'm trying to speed these recaps up for me.

• Theran suggests that he will need an expensive book, which Dazki uses as an opening to tease The Book of the Mirage a little. Theran is interested in trying to read it, and Dazki is fine with that as long as Theran is careful with it.
• Marvin inquires at The Paradise Casino about what happened with Yacht. Nobody knows precisely how she died, but they suspect one of her various exes. Her "shadier business" has been kept under wraps. He jots down she was laid to rest, and he goes there to pay his respects.

---

They meet back up at the house for lunch. Dwardazik comes wheeling along a hand cart full of some expensive magic items.

• One is a Cleansing Stone and a pedestal he can place it on. There's some discussion over where to place it: Dwardazik thinks it makes more sense to put it right next to the door, whereas Dazki is concerned that this might be taken the wrong way.
• The second one is a Chest of Preserving, which he describes.
• The last one is a set of homebrew variations of Earrings of Message, one per party member. The variant here: these can only be used to send messages between others who are also carrying the other earrings from the same set, and they must be activated by using a shared, agreed-upon somatic gesture.

After Dwardazik is done giving out the earrings and explaining what they do, Dazki asks Marvin to send a message to Dr. Perry trying to get as much of this as possible:

• let her know that they have some closure over what had happened to her father
• those details are too much to explain over Sending, ask if/when she can be near Ashport
• the party has some of her father's belongings, so if nothing else, at least those should be delivered

He slightly bungles it up ("in Ashport instead of around Ashport"), which Dazki gives him a little bit of grief for (remembering that E.D. would stop her from getting in, which she also mentioned bits of in her response), but her response is ultimately very frantic and dismissive.   Theran also gives Marvin a diamond — as his resurrection spell is better than what Theran can produce — and then uses his new book to help him "Instantly Figure Out Stuff", which gives him temporary proficiency in Arcana to identify any extra characteristics of some items that were only partially identified. The Rings of Shared Suffering and Necklace of Adaptation are confirmed to have no additional properties beyond what was already known.

Dead to Rites

The party decide to leave again, some needing to wrap up shopping that they couldn't quite do before lunch — and all needing to get their ears pierced for the new earrings that Dwardazik got them — when something happens.

Dazki:

Dazki quietly lets the rest of the party know what happened.

• Theran immediately shapeshifts into an owl to fly around and let the rest know where Jim is.
• Marvin sends a message to Jim warning him of the danger and advising him to get out of here, as quickly as possible, in any way he can. Jim's response politely points out that the warning is maybe a bit superfluous. Theran does roughly the same thing, with roughly the same result.
• Dazki (Persuasion 21) is able to distract Alice for a little while, making himself as obnoxious as possible. Dwardazik tries the same thing with some of her clerics, (Persuasion 7) not quite getting the same reaction from them.
• Kesmet makes a Major Image of "a nondescript necromantic-looking dude that looks nothing like Jim" appear a little ways away from where Jim started. He has it go, "oh no, my zombie!" and run the opposite direction of where Jim went.
• Marvin casts Friends on guard who's closest to seeing Jim, pointing out the "nondescript necromantic-looking dude" that went the other way. Theran has a similar idea, casting "Friendship Beam" on Alice to help convince her to do the same.
• Dwardazik pulls out his mace and shield, urging the rest of the crowd to remain calm. This causes a bigger panic.
• Jim escapes, and Kesmet has his illusion act as though it teleports away by dropping concentration.

They all exit the area as the guards shoot out signal flares asking for reinforcements.

---

Dazki asks what everybody else did to clear up the situation. He's pleased with Dwardazik's and Kesmet's moves, but he is not happy with how Marvin and Theran used mental manipulation, in the heat of the moment — especially Theran, as he explains who Alice is and her relationship with himself and with Isaiah. Dwardazik floats the idea of Marvin using Modify Memory, but Dazki shoots that down.   Theran's thought is that he should just apologize, and the apology can be him saying that he's a kid who got excited about hunting for a necromancer, and he overdid it. He thinks that at least one or two other party members should tag along to "make sure he does it". Dazki agrees that this is probably the best course of action, though he's not thrilled about it, and he believes that the party should focus on getting Jim out of the city first, as the guards are still on high alert looking for "a necromancer".   They take the time to finish wrapping up their shopping — including getting their ears pierced — and come back home, finding Jim and Rosalin in a delicate situation.

Mission: Jimpossible

Dazki leaves to run up the stairs, and Dwardazik begins to charge at the pair to interrupt them. On his way, he hears some of the conversation:

Jim: I understand it. Logically, I understand it. The disconnect, the fear, the helplessness. I do not quite FEEL it, though, as you must do. I believe wholly that most do not. It is incomprehensible on a fundamental level. And that's a good thing!

Jim: Shh. You are the one in control here. You are in control. I want to help. Will you let me help you?   Hearing this, Theran casts "Time Out!" on Dwardazik, stopping his charge.   Jim: Please. Most people are just people. Most people wouldn't fathom it. Your soul needn't suffer silently. We are both people, here.

---

Dazki reaches the balcony, just as Blurdrake fires two incredibly precise arrow shots directly into Jim's back. Jim immediately falls over in a terrible cough, as the arrows slam into him. Rosalin, startled, instinctively kneels down to attempt to help Jim. Theran releases Dwardazik, who continues his rush forward (but with a lot more profanity).

Dazki, shouting from the balcony: Aathu, what the hell are you doing?!   Barry: I don't know what happened! She seemed in danger! (He drops the longbow.)   Dazki: All right... yes... (He shouts down below) Someone down there, see if you can help Jim!   Marvin moves to cast a Cure Wounds.   Dwardazik: Jim, you motherfucker, if you're not dead, you're gonna wish you were!

Jim coughs harshly as he tries to get back up after Marvin's healing. Dwardazik grabs him by the throat and lifts him up.

Marvin: That's not how we deal with people who are hurt, Dwardazik.   Rosalin, putting a hand on Dwardazik's shoulder: Don't hurt him!   Dwardazik: What in insanity's name drove you to drag your ass, and your zombie, into the fucking bazaar, huh?   Rosalin tries to push Dwardazik to get him to let go of Jim, but he resists.   Dwardazik: Do you realize that you've put our lives and our generosity in danger by doing that stupid action? Now you've got Alice, the most insane fucking paladin in the city, on your ass! What do you have to say for yourself?

Jim just continues to cough and choke. Dwardazik drops him roughly and walks away.

---

Dazki: Barry, thank you for trying to protect our home and the people who live within it.   Barry, panicking: I didn't mean to kill 'im! I didn't mean to!   Dazki: No, it's OK. I know you didn't. We've just got to go down there and sort this out. It's OK, I understand why you did what you did. In most situations, it would not be a bad thing. Let's figure out why there was a knife to our friend's neck and see what's going on.

Dazki and Barry head down to the courtyard, Dazki thanking Dwardazik as they pass by him.

Dazki: OK, now who wants to tell me what's going on here?

• Theran explains what he saw go down. Dazki suggests that he be much more reserved in his use of magic going forward.
• Rosalin says that she doesn't quite know what Jim was doing, but she thinks he was trying to help. He was "trying to make everything better" because "apparently, he owes you a bunch of stuff?". It sounds like he started doing that soul-reading thing he does, unprovoked. She says she's fine.

Dazki asks Rosalin what she needs to do for herself, and she responds that she needs some time to "think through some insights", and that she just wants to do "something normal", to get a break from all the chaos that's been happening, pointing out that Dazki's father coming over might help bring back a sense of normalcy. She takes her leave, muttering "most people are just people..." under her breath.

---

Theran pulls the arrows out of Jim, and he stands back up. Dazki invites Jim into the dining room, and they sit around the table. Jim notices Kesmet, tilts his head to the side, and looks through him.

Jim: Why are you so conflicted?   Kesmet:

  Jim: You feel like your revenge should have been fulfilled, but it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel fulfilled. Do you think you will ever feel fulfilled, or will you always feel hollow?   Kesmet: I mean, I feel a little bit... less hollow... after the revenge. But it coincided with such a heavy cost that it left a bitter taste in my mouth, you know? What about you, are you OK with your friend getting disintegrated or whatever?   Marvin: uh... the answer to that is "no", Kesmet...   Jim: I've been failing a lot of those who depend on me, recently. I haven't been sleeping well. But those are my burdens, not yours.   Dazki: We all have burdens. It's not bad to occasionally rely on people for help and support.   Dwardazik: So what're you doin', some kind of reading?   Jim: I took a little bit of time, after the loss of Kelly's body, to look to my god for advice. I asked him desperately why he would indulge my curiosities, and what could I do to pay good respects forward?   Dwardazik: And what did he say? Did he say to bring Kelly to the bazaar so he could be ambushed and killed, and... everything else that just happened? All this?   Jim: He did not answer me.   Dwardazik: You gotta explain to me why we were in the middle of the bazaar, and Kelly's corpse just got vaporized right there. I don't follow the logic.   Jim: I was attempting to do as suggested. I needed time alone to commune with those powers above, and Kelly does so wish for people to hear and smile at him. I wasn't far away, but I have let him down.   Dwardazik: This is one audience you severely underestimated.   Jim: I'm aware of the challenges. I'm aware of the dangers here. But that doesn't scare me away from fulfilling what I said I would do.   Dwardazik, slamming his fist on the table: Dammit, Jim! You do what you want to do by yourself, but you put all of us at risk by the actions that you've just done! Necromancy is illegal here!   Jim: How did I endanger you? I apologize, I might still have a concussion from yesterday, because I don't understand the logic.   Dwardazik: Dazki, what's the chance that Jim would've been dead right now if we hadn't intervened?   Dazki: We were in the area, and we tried to intervene gently on your behalf to give you the opportunity to escape.   Marvin: To be fair, he didn't ask to be saved, Dwardazik.   Dazki: Yep...   Jim: I have lost many followers on my journey here. I have let many down. They still haunt me at night while I rest.   Dazki, suddenly forcing a laugh: HA! Oh, join the club, man. Join the club.   Dwardazik: Marvin, what you say is true, and I agree. We were never asked to stick our neck out to save Jim. And Jim, I would still try and save you. However, what really bothers me is the fact that you were invited to come back here — I believe, at Dazki's request — so we could sort some things out. You are our guest here in Ashport. And as our guest here in Ashport, you decide to go and bring Kelly — who is now dead, because of your actions (or undead, or moredead? — and now, the most zealous of paladins is now searching for a necromancer in the city. And we just so happen to have one sitting in our dining room!   Jim stands up forcefully, bowing to ask for forgiveness, but he does speak, much more assertively than he has been recently.   Jim: And for that, I am greatly within your debt! But I do believe that, as a body and a soul combined, you have autonomy, do you not?   Dazki: We do.   Dwardazik: Yes.   Jim: I was merely trying to do what was best. And it hasn't been going well, I'll admit. I will pay this forward, I will help you in what you need. But under no circumstance are you to blame me for you getting yourselves into my troubles.   Dwardazik: I already clarified that. The fact is, you got in trouble in the bazaar, we intervened, fine. However, even if Alice and her clerics hadn't found you otherwise, she would still be on the search for a necromancer.   Jim: And?   Dwardazik: That leads back to us, and then we are "harboring a necromancer".   Jim: Why would it have led back to you?   Dwardazik: It could, if you were followed. I'm saying you're putting us at risk. It was an inconsiderate thing to do, if you want to be more polite about it.   Jim: Well, I greatly appreciate the aid you have given me. I can only do what I can, not what I wish I could. But I will work hard to repay you for the wonderful gift you have given me.   Dazki: You don't need to do that.   Jim: I will do it.   Dwardazik: What are you thinkin', huh? If Dazki doesn't want to take it, I understand, but what are you thinking of trying to do? We don't need a soldier.   Jim: And I am not a soldier.   Dwardazik: Are you a cook?   Jim: I know a cook.   Kesmet: A tailor? Tinker? Spy?   Dazki: You "know a cook". Living?   Jim: Undecided.   Dazki: ...I see.   Dwardazik: ...I think we'll probably pass on that one.   Dazki: Yes, I'm sorry, we —   Jim, seemingly taking offense: I will not bring any corpses into your house, I am not some sort of savage... I understand the civility that you are forced to live your life here.   Dazki: I'm sorry, I thought — the reason I became hesitant is that I thought "undecided" was the term that was preferred for those who chose to remain on this earth in body?   Jim: Which gives me an interesting idea. I will speak to my god about it later. I wish to help you, though. Why are you keeping me around?   Dwardazik: Because you did us right when we were in Overlook.   Dazki: You helped us, you helped the people who needed it.   Dwardazik: Do I even need a reason to do half the things I do? Besides, Kelly had good music last night.   Dazki: And really, who needs a reason to do the right thing?   Dwardazik mutters something under his breath about Alice.   Dwardazik: So, Jim, I just don't understand. What are you looking for, man? You came to Ashport, are you on some kind of religious quest? (He looks around to the other at the table.) Did he mention why he's here?   Dazki: Not to me, at least, but I also didn't ask.   Dwardazik: I mean, maybe we could understand the things you're doing a little better if you kinda told us why you're doing them?   Jim: I'm not so sure, myself. But I can't shake this curiosity of mine.   Dazki: What "curiosity"?   Jim: The lich. The one in the government.   Dazki: Annu?   Jim: Annu Adabra, yes. Altzmyr did work closely with liches in the past, I suppose that could be piquing my curiosity. The theory goes that there can be liches of non-evil alignment. In fact, Altzmyr guarantees there are.   Dwardazik: Uh... ...OK?   Jim: So how does an entity with a known negative perception — a lich! — end up being enslaved as a government official?!   Kesmet: I mean, have you seen the government?   Dwardazik: I have to agree with Kesmet over here. I mean, if we're gonna talk about it in such black-and-white terms, as part of the government, you only really have to be lawful. And frankly, you know as well as I do that some people in the government would do anything for a little bit more power. Hell, I'd say it's easy to be evil!   Jim: If Annu were not a lich, but a powerful more-living wizard, then would not his treatment be looked down upon here? Or, perhaps, is it something else entirely? Research, document-wise, has been thin... but I've many souls I can ask about it, and they have many stories to share.   Dwardazik: You're talking about the fact that he's basically a slave?   Jim: I don't know if he is or not.   Dwardazik: That's a good point. Is he a slave?   Dazki: He seems to have very limited control. His memories have been removed or altered, somehow. It's really not good.   Jim: I've heard many tales, and I'm looking for evidence on if these stories that I've heard are true, or just exaggerated fabrications.   Dwardazik: You're just looking for information on Annu, or on liches in general?   Jim: It's complicated.   Dwardazik: Then I'm just gonna assume you're looking for information about liches in general. I can't help but feel like we've talked about this once before, though.   Dazki: As a coincidence, Annu has asked us to help find out information about his past as well.   Jim: He has "asked" you?   Dazki: In a moment where control over him slipped, slightly.   Jim: ...that shouldn't be possible.   Dazki: It wasn't a direct request. He didn't say "please help me find the memories that have been lost".   Jim: So, you have information, then? You have firsthand accounts?   Dazki: Yeah, we have seen and spoken with him.   Jim: Do you know of his intent? Is his soul good or evil? I have yet to figure it out from the stories.   Theran: It's difficult to say, because a lot of the times, his actions are not of his invention. His mind is messed up.   Jim: That's the problem. The problem is the Constraints. But what do you mean he asked help of you?   Dazki: I believe some of his statement was, "My current state of servitude is voluntary, as per an agreement. The losing of my mind is not.", and, "I have lost my mind. Can you help me find it?"   Jim leans back in his chair and thinks for a bit.   Jim: Perhaps I can help clarify? Or else, you could help clarify the stories I've heard, since you seem to have more facts.   Dazki: We can certainly do our best.   Jim: The spirits speak of a long, long while ago, with a new threat upon the countryside. Not outwardly hostile, this individual was callous. Uncaring. The entity, willing to disregard the lives of others to gain its own. It craved power. Knowledge. Its power grew slowly, but eventually, it became a threat. A threat that had to be dealt with — especially when one was about to found a country, for example, although this happened before that, even. It's a little tricky for me.   Jim: They attempted to find the lich's phylactery. The one weakness that everyone knows a lich has. But they were unsuccessful. The lich was clever: instead of hiding the phylactery in some long-forgotten cave or buried deep underground, he embedded it within himself, able to perpetually look after it. A strange semblance of a soul disjointed, but still connected. The firelord at the time — Scaldor, I believe his name was — eventually saw it necessary to remove the threat from the table. The lich had grown powerful enough to do what it saw adequate, to achieve what it believed to be perfection.   Jim: And so he assembled a strike force and a team of artificers. The grand architect designed such a disabling device. Unable to kill the lich outright — being unable to reach its phylactery — they could instead disable it in three key ways. They were called the Constraints:

1. One, the Constraint of the Body limited the movement of the lich, effectively paralyzing it.
2. One removed the soul. Theoretically, removing the connection it had with the soul limited the amount of power it could draw, and the abilities it could cast or use.
3. The third —

Dwardazik: Hold up, hold up, hold up. It split into three?   Jim: Three prongs of a singular artifact, driven directly into the base of the lich's skull.   Dwardazik: No, I understand that, but... into three? How do you split a living — or I guess living? I kinda understand the concept of a phylactery for a lich, but —   Jim: The prongs merely interact with an already intact phylactery buried deep within the lich itself.   Theran: So one prong disabled the body, one disconnected the soul, and the third probably had something to do with the mind?   Jim: It disconnects the mind. This was thought to be important, as something as clever with knowledge as an ancient lich would be able to figure out how to bypass the other two. Apparently, the battle was epic. Scaldor's task force was ultimately successful, the lich buried away in some secure location, the three commanding rods — each going to a prong of the Constraints — split up to god-knows-where.   Jim: ...and now, he's a member of government! I'm missing a bit, there, understandably!   Dazki: Yeah.   Theran: Well, you can imagine that the government, if it had a tool like a lich that was actually controllable, they'd probably want to use it?   Dwardazik: Yeah, but there's a little bit of a leap of logic there. The only thing that makes sense to me is the idea that they want to keep a close eye on the lich and what he's doing. Where closer than to keep it right next door?   Jim: Well, apparently they can put variable pressure on the prongs — which I did not know about — because if I'm to be believed, you'd need to be able to think and move to be able to do government work!   Kesmet: He doesn't really move, he just kind-of like... floats.   Dazki: It does seem like the pressure can be variable. Not quite sure why or how, but we do know the general locations of two of the control rods. The one that controls his mind, we don't know.   Jim: I don't understand why he's a member of government, though. Why was he released? Is he a slave now? What is his current alignment?   Theran: Whatever the government wants him to be?   Jim: Is he still with himself? Does he willingly work for the government? What does he want? Is he OK?   Dazki: He entered some type of agreement to work for the government. So, at least initially, this was... consensual, I guess would be the best way to put it.   Dwardazik: Perhaps he decided to work for the government instead of being destroyed?   Dazki: Yeah, I'm not saying there wasn't any coercion involved.   Dwardazik: You think your god is guiding you here? ...there's no way... destiny doesn't work like that, does it? That you're supposed to help us on Annu's quest?   Dazki: There's no such thing as destiny, Dwardazik. We all make our own.   Dwardazik: This is crazy...   Jim: What is crazy?   Dwardazik: That we found you, you found us, and Annu's helped us, and Annu's doing what he's doing... I just... I almost feel like we're pawns.   Jim: Well, you told me of this individual before.   Dwardazik: I don't know. For some reason, at this exact moment, it just feels... strange, to me.   Jim: Well, I wish to gather more info.   Dwardazik: And how do you do that? Do you need to get inside the royal library, or however you'd call it, in the House of Crystal? Because I'm pretty sure we're gonna struggle to bring you in. And I'm pretty sure that having a bunch of, (uh... ... ...) wandering around the city with a crazy-ass paladin trying to find you isn't going to be ideal, either.   Jim: Perhaps you can, I don't know, bring me some documents or something? I apologize, I'm not the best at this sort of decision-making. I'm a leader-type, yes, but planning wasn't really my part.   Dwardazik, addressing the rest of the party: So, folks... it looks like Jim can help us with our Annu quest. And Jim — even with his "unwise" decisions — is still a guest of ours. Perhaps we can come to some kind of mutual agreement, here? It would be nice if he could work on this issue so we wouldn't really have to focus any effort into it. Frankly, he would probably know best how a lich operates. Maybe just let him commune with his deity tonight and see if that provides him some insight as to what to do next?   Dazki: And we can head to the House of Crystal, also see if we can get any records related to The Albatross, because we know that Annu was stored there for a time.   Dwardazik: Do you think it's going to be dangerous if we start asking those questions, leaving a trail of requests for things around necromancy, Albatross, or Annu?   Theran: I mean, we'll be looking for other stuff, too! Like, I want to see more information on this Red Desert place.   Dwardazik: I'm just concerned.   Jim: I apologize for causing you any concern. I'm fine with the stories thus far, if this is too much of a trouble.   Dazki: I think we could probably look into stuff on Annu without raising too many eyebrows. We are working with him, after all. It would make sense that we would want to know more about the... person? creature? thing? (not sure what the proper word would be)... we're working with.   Theran: Trust, but verify.   Dazki: Exactly.   Kesmet: "Entity"?   Dazki: "Entity" seems good.   Theran: "Being".   Jim, looking through Dazki: You are... disproportionately concerned about something. That seems to worry you, because it seems mundane in comparison. I don't know if "afraid" is the correct word for it? I sense a familiarity. You have a family member coming?   Dazki: Yep, and "apprehensive" would be the best word. Not necessarily afraid. Trying to push it out of my mind because I have bigger things to deal with.   Jim: I think, often, it is best to focus on little things when big things become overwhelming. And I sense you are overwhelmed. The way you flit from topic to topic... it is only delaying thinking about things, yes, but think of it as a vacation from the more serious ventures. You need it.   Dazki: Yeah, but... no sleep 'til Brooklyn, right?

Jim looks confused.