Session 12 - "Family Rites" Report

General Summary

Kona 32, 1246

The party gathers of the morning of Babette's debutante, and swap stories of what they accomplished over the week. Thais and Foenix both spent some time pit fighting, but Olena, Aglaia, and Micaiah are tight lipped about what they got up to. Jacob Sterling did nothing, simply staying at Luca's and enjoying the food.

The Glowbugs have done as the party asked, looking for Ali's father Henry Avon. While they were not able to find him in the city, they did find evidence of him performing at the Merry Wheel (a theater in the city) about a year ago.

They discuss how to get to Ali's home city of Vakwari to deliver their body to their family. Ultimately, it is decided to travel by land through Dopplefen, and they decide to travel by cart. The grocery list that is put together is as follows:

• wagon
• 2 draft horses
• 2 insulated tents
• 10 days of rations (total) each
• a disguise kit

The journey from Brillante to Vakwari is 708 miles - about a week and some change, but the party plans to be on the road for two or three weeks.

Meanwhile, Thais has let her intrusive thoughts win and has started poking Aglaia's cheek, curious about the consistency of a genasi's skin. It is odd: cool and without much (though not no) give. Micaiah also notices and becomes fascinated with Aglaia's hair - but she does ask permission before she touches it. It is fine and soft with the same cool smoothness, like the daintiest of metal strands. Thais experiments speaking to Aglaia in Ignan - a dialect of Primordial - and though Aglaia does reply, it's not in the same dialect (she uses Terran instead).

Micaiah, Foenix, and Aglaia go to meet Babette in a park in the city (Foenix disguising himself) to avoid the guards still looking for the arsonists of the Théâtre du Chant while Jacob, Olena, and Thais go shopping for everything on their list.

Those meeting with Babette tell her the plan: Aglaia will be posing as a noble from the Islands of Atropae (not difficult as that is essentially the truth), invited by Babette to experience the Brillantan culture and debutante ball as part of her tour of the city. Thais is her hired Cactsian guard, and Micaiah as her esteemed advisor. Olena, Foenix, and Jacob are her servants. Babette is eager to agree to this ruse, even promising to send official invitations and servants' garb for the three.

Aglaia is suspicious of Babette's motivations, and is sure that she's holding back information, and questions her on it. She apologizes and reveals that a certain Monsieur de'Bete will be in attendance, saying that she didn't want to scare off Micaiah. This causes both Aglaia and Foenix to watch Micaiah's expression and body posture carefully - and they most certainly notice the surprise before he schools his expression.

Babette tells them that the sacrificial lamb (see: man) will be held in the laundry room next to the kitchen.

She asks how she's supposed to recognize them if they're in disguise, but Foenix teaches her how to say "hello" in Thieves' Cant (using sign language), and they determine that that will be their signal.

She thanks them and hurries home to prepare for tonight. As they walk back, Aglaia questions Micaiah on his connection to this "de'Bete." Micaiah admits that she is worried about his presence at the ball, but suggests that he can distract de'Bete if things go pear shaped.

They arrive back at Luca's and get to work. Thais gives the eyes of minute to Foenix just in case, while Foenix and Micaiah disguise her as a tiefling. Jacob calls up the Glowbugs and has one of them sit with the wagon and prepare for a quick getaway out of the city. Micaiah uses disguise self to make herself look like a human, going by the name "Stavros."

Thais, staring at her new self (hair sleeked back with white powder, skin reddened, and clay nub horns affixed on her forehead) in the mirror originally wants to go by the name "Isadora" - her mother's name, but Aglaia convinces her to take the name of an Atropaen poet of great renown: Clio.

The party arrives at the de'Louvre estate, and as soon as they enter, Micaiah is inundated with faces he never thought he would see again: Renard Lafon, the half-elf tutor to the Louvre children; Verrin, a fellow child of the Louvre family and his good friend; and, of course, Beauson de'Bete himself. Micaiah sends out Jonquil to keep an eye on Renard as the rest of the party file into the sitting room, where Babette and an unknown elf man are sitting.

The elf man, immediately taken with Thais, introduces himself as Achille Chazelle, and begins to flirt with her intensely. It irritates Aglaia, who breaks in and reprimands Achille for his laser-focused sight on her servant, rather than the actual noble.

Meanwhile, Foenix and the other "servants" creep into the kitchen. Olena busies herself gathering up drinks to take back out to the sitting room while Foenix sneaks about. He discovers the laundry room pretty quickly, but it seems to be locked. No problem for an arcane trickster, and he conceals himself in the corner while using his mage hand to pick the lock. Then, he knocks a milk jug onto the ground in the kitchen, distracting the halfling cook as he slipped into the laundry room to find... nothing.

It's completely dark inside, but as his eyes adjust, Foenix finds no hostage. He turns to leave, but the door is closed and locked again. No problem, he can just pick it again. Except... he can't. The lock is somehow more difficult - or even impossible - to unlock. Foenix takes a step back, and sends out a message to Aglaia about the situation, warning that this is a trap.

Babette approaches Jacob whilst this is going on, staring cautiously at him. She attempts the signal, which Jacob reciprocates.

"Micaiah?" She whispers, and Jacob realizes she has mistaken her for the disguised tiefling. He shakes his head, using his eyes to lead her gaze to the real Micaiah. She seems to understand, and whispers to Jacob to have Micaiah follow her.

He nods, and Babette leaves the room, heading towards the dining room. Jacob gets Micaiah's attention, and tilts his head to indicate Babette's request. Micaiah nods and begins to follow. Aglaia and Thais immediately move to join him, hairs on the back of their necks already raised. They send Olena and Jacob to go help Foenix.

Olena and Jacob, heading into the kitchen. But they are soon waylaid by the house guard, who immediately attempt to arrest them. Jacob tries to talk their way out of it, but the guards are (strangely) rather uninterested in hearing out his explanations. As the manacles are being placed on his wrists, Jacob lets out a thunderwave that knocks back two out of the three guards, critically injuring them.

In the dining room, the echoing blast makes everyone jump and turn, and Micaiah sees the faces of Genouise and Pierre de’Louvre. They approach and greet Aglaia, with Babette being pulled by Pierre to stand in front of him with his hands on her shoulders.

They speak for a bit with Aglaia, with her asking questions about the Brillante debut balls, and Pierre being... frustratingly vague at first. Finally, though, she presses enough for him to explain that their patron asks for sacrifices of life and blood. When she retorts back that she worships a god and that they don't ask for such a sacrifice, he snidely states that she must worship a rather weak deity then.

Genouise, meanwhile, has been staring right at Micaiah until he begins to squirm, wondering if she can see through his illusions - which, unfortunately, she can success, and she eventually just calls him out by name.

Pierre, while he hadn't noticed at all who Micaiah was failure, has already been informed by Babette that these are the ragamuffins that are working with his traitorous child, and as such attempts to press Aglaia into sitting down.

When she refuses, Genouise tries to use hold person, but she resists - and then Pierre tries to use Evard's black tentacles to pull her to the ground. Aglaia dispels it, and Thais tackles Pierre, dragging him into a headlock.

Genouise sends out five motes of magic missile, threatening another volley at Thais if she doesn't let her husband go. Monsieur de'Bete, watching from the doorway, attempts to help by dominating Thais's mind, but she shrugs it off like it was nothing, which he compliments with a calm, "your mind is strong."

Micaiah steps forward, attempting to get between everyone, and manages to calm the situation enough to get everyone to sit down for some sort of diplomacy...

Character(s) interacted with

• Achille Chazelle
• Beauson de’Bete
• Genouise de’Louvre
• Pierre de’Louvre

Notes

Quotes of the Session

Caspian: "Who is the most edible party member, that is the question."

Aglaia: "I do not have a fire genasi in my vagina!"