Episode 42: Life, the Universe, and Everything

General Summary

Quest Log	fin	What's up with that?	fin
Explore the Atlas of Kings' connection to the Stone Circles		Head in a jar
Explore the divine Raiments' connection to the Stone Circles		Who was Elias talking to?
Claim your land in Arctiax		Project Lazarus

Clocks

Event	Segments
Valan's card expertise (weeks)	1 of 100
Valan's smithing proficiency (days)	45 of 70
Pharos' goblin lessons (days)	17 of 70

Recap

Vinum 28 to Springtide 1, 3033: Year of Liberation

Following their loss at the Sentinel, the Flamebringers took a week to gather themselves. Jules moved out of the shared quarters he had with Callisto, opting to convert one of the storage rooms into a workshop. Aisha remained uncharacteristicly quiet, seeming almost to avoid the party. Vanderlith asked to borrow the Atlas of Kings, then began to pour over maps in the meeting room off the atrium.  

Nine by Nine

The Flamebringers took stock of where they were in tracking down the holy Raiments of the gods:

Monarch, Dawnfire, with Pharos

Archivist, the Mercurial Mind, with Olette and by extension the Nightbringers (boo)

Muse, Creation's Song, with Aengus Etaine

Tribunal, Stormdancer, with Charles

Stranger, Unknown, theorized to be with Peter Montauk

Wanderer, Respite, with Valan; however, he has yet to attune to it, if he ever does

Devil, the Morningstar, with the Omens; an... ecclectic adventuring group the Flamebringers met in the Winter Court

Rider, Unknown, Unknown; Pharos is praying to the Monarch for guidance, and will continue to do so until they recieve a vision (3 of 7 attempts completed, unsuccessful so far)

Bedlamite, Melody, with Jules

With that knowledge in mind, they plotted out a potential course of action, taking Respite to the circle the Atlas of Kings marked as for the Wanderer. As far as what they would do once they got there and discovered how to enter the gods divine realm, Their Harmonic Sphere. Valan suggested that they talk to the god first, before attacking Them, even though they know that killing the god would empower Their raiment.   The group also took a closer look at the door set into the root of the Sentinel. It looked to have a single rising star icon in the center, surrounded by eight sword-shaped inserts. The note in the Atlas that accompanied the artist's rendition read "This is the door, where are the keys?"  

From Aurelia with Love

On the first and third days of their respite, the Flamebringers received a series of Sending messages from their allies in the field. Ilyana Dawnbreaker and Leonidas crane reached out on the first day, and Dahlia reached out on the third day. The Flamebringers sent a message to Aengus Etaine on the second day.     *Valan remembered that between their in-person conversations and the letters the two exchanged, there had been romantic undertones (or overtones) passing between Callisto and Dahlia.    

Dialogues of Heart and Mind

Following their message to Aengus, the Flamebringers got a knock on their door, but from a surprise guest. Rather than Aengus, it was another bard showing up at their door responding to the ad Valan put out for a live-in bard.   The man who appeared was of average height, in simple all black clothes, and sported a shock of white hair on the top of his head with black hair in a messy undercut style. He introduced himself as the legendary Legerdemain; friends call him Virgil, enemies call him Dante. Lovers call him Voltaire. The Flamebringers may call him Ledge. His vibe struck the group as a little odd, he seemed to not require payment or anything normal that a live-in bard would need, so Tyra examined him with their Divine Sight. Evidently, poor choice.   To a soft exclaimation of, "Oh, wait, no don't do that," from Ledge, Tyra's eyes burst into flame as they beheld Ledge's true form, and it was like looking into the sun, and would later be described as a rolling, turning cloud of light in vaguely humanoid shape. Tyra, while now physically blind, is still able to see through their Divine Sight, which may be a touch overstimulating at times but is a passable replacement for standard sight; perhaps even an upgrade.   Pharos picked him up by the scruff of the neck and placed him on the kitchen table to interrogate. Ledge allowed it, and sat crosslegged in the middle of the table, answering their questions, though his answers tended to leave the group feeling like they had even more questions for him.   He is being older than time; he said that he had been around since "before the beginning." In a time before time, when there were just two beings in the universe, Ethos and Logos, and he predates even them. He gave them his rendition of the Dialogues of Heart and Mind and Tyra speculated that he may have been the Voice, but Ledge neither confirmed nor denied that.   The most important takeaway from what Ledge had to say is the semi-revelatory nature of the Dialogues. While not an exceedingly well known myth, they have been passed down through oral histories by at least one traveling bard throughout time, so it isn't unknown. But the ideas contained therein are sometimes viewed as heretical by some religious sects; not only there being two additional dieties above the pantheon, but the idea that there is even another that is somehow beyond Logos and Ethos is too much for some. That, and that some of the gods have their sights set on their own death.   He also said that he was there to check in on them, it seemed like they had a rough go of it recently. He said that yes, gods can die, some of them even want to, but when pressed, he said that he cannot die in any way that is meaningful to the party. He also left pretty swiftly, making way for another bard; Aengus Etaine, who appeared at the end of the third day. Legerdemain disappeared from his seat on the table when the others answered the door.

Downtime

The Flamebringers have one week of downtime, the first three days of which have passed. Pharos is praying for divine intervention.

Missions/Quests Completed

 Explore the Atlas of Kings' connection to the Stone Circles: The Atlas of Kings marks in fine detail the god and the Astral Coordinates of the Harmonic Sphere each circle is related to. However, it does not contain there precise coordinates on the Mortal Plane of the stone circles, nor does it embelish on the relationship Raiments had with their associated circle; the connection that Pharos discovered. Perhaps whoever wrote the Atlas of Kings didn't have access to a Raiment for testing.

Notes