Session 38: The Gang Sees A Psychic

"Follow," Wulf tells us, and begins to lead us back to the cat, where it sleeps on the man made stone obelisk with the feather in its mouth.
 
Quell casts message and tries to see if it'll reply. The cat seems to know it was her who spoke, but the most reply she gets is a blink and a sneeze. Jade detects magic, and senses the same kind of magic Quell has, coming from the stone obelisk. Quell tries sending a message to the cat again, but is again left on read.
 
We begin investigating the obelisk, and with a 6, Cali learns that this is a sun-warmed rock with a cat on it. Jade determines that the obelisk could be a headstone of sorts. The meadow seems well maintained enough to either be magical or kept up by people. The cat has a magical aura too, and Jade determines that this is a regular wildcat who has been magically imbued with higher intelligence.
 
Cali looks through the gem of seeing and finds some writing that used to be there, and tells Jade, who looks through the gem at it. It's hard to make out words, but she can read "Queen" and "Remember". Quell tries to get the cat to let her look at the feather, and the cat hides the feather under its belly and glares at Quell. She asks it a few more questions but it's focused on her trying to take the feather, so she tries and fails to persuade it that we are not trying to take the feather away.
 
Quell offers to ask her lady about the obelisk if it seems important enough but isn't confident that it'll work. She and Wulf decide to look around the area for more information first. They notice that they're being watched closely by birds that would normally fly away, and then they find an old abandoned campsite. It seems to have been abandoned for several weeks, and they find a ball of twine that has been buried. Quell determines it is probably the same twine as was wrapped around the metal bottle from the cache. Wulf suggests she uses the twine to get the cat to give up the feather, but Quell says she doesn't think it'll work.
 
They return to the obelisk and show us the twine, and Quell keeps it because it's "perfectly good twine". Cali keeps the metal bottle from before in their bag and have it looked at later, and then fulfills a childhood desire by letting the cat sniff their hand and then giving them lots of head scritches before they go. Wulf is alarmed at this and is sure Cali's arm is going to get taken off, but Cali beams at their success. Wulf then hesitantly follows suit, before following us back onto the road.
 
In the evening, there are enough storms that Quell decides to finally cast "commune" and speak to her Lady. She asks "am I following the right path?" In a band of rain, she hears a faint, hesitant "yes". She asks "are you really dead?" She hears a very faint "no" and a rumble of thunder. She asks "do we need to go back to the obelisk place?" There's an eventual, faint "no" that takes longer than the last one did. She takes this to mean that later on down the road we can return. She heads to bed.
 
Cali uses the gem of seeing on their barnacle bracelet and see nothing different. We sleep, and hit the road again in the morning.
 
Eventually, we make it to the river and the encampment surrounding it. We head through this surprisingly bustling small town, and go to the docks. We hear a shanty on a schild ship that piques Wulf's fancy, and Jade rolls for history of boats. She learns that one boat is bigger than the others.
 
We follow Jade to the bar, where she orders wine to be polite. Wulf orders whiskey. Jade asks the bartender about passage to Vlotdok, and she tells us that the group of northeners nearby are headed that way. Wulf immediately strikes a conversation with them and asks if they have room for us. The man replies in Schild, introducing himself as Viktor Audson, and Cali watches the conversation, impressed by how well Wulf is doing in this social interaction. Jade is confused because she does not speak Schildling, and does not understand how Wulf just knew which boat was theirs.
 
After they finish their drinks, we head to the boat. Captain Olav is there, calling out orders. Wulf approaches and plays the part of our leader while speaking with him. He switches to traders cant. It's 50gp a person, and Wulf will need to prove he can work. Jade asks how long the journey will be, and they say it'll be about a week or so, depending on the weather. More, if the "sea of souls" gets us, which Jade knows is a patch of sea between Armos and Vlotdok that's known for ghosts and disappearing ships. Jade is unbothered by the ghosts, but dreading the trip itself.
 
Jade and Cali give their 50gp right away, and they head off to go shopping. Except Wulf, who jumps up on the ship to help with repairs. Cali gets their hair done in a tight, long lasting french braid, reinforced with oil that will protect their hair from the sea salt. Jade is supportive of the hair care, but Quell seems confused by it. The three of us get supplies for the trip, like rations and blankets, and Jade successfully haggles her way into some nice hair oils for pretty cheap. Cali gets a nice bottle of wine for the four of us to share on the trip. Meanwhile, Wulf has the time of his life helping repair the ship.
 
Towards the end of shopping, Cali spots a weathered sign that points to a town psychic, and is followed by Quell and Jade as they approach. They give her, "Old Mama Vera", one of the green crystals from the rock spider and 5gp for a reading, after Jade and Quell step in to make sure Cali isn't getting scammed. She tells Cali that the bracelet was a gift from one of her ancestor spirits who drowned. Cali asks about their mother, and she says that bond was severed long ago, but that they "came from" the siblings in the woods who miss them. It makes them sad and guilty. She says that their mother is still alive though, and Cali needs to go back south where Koili and the kids are, and the water will tell them how to find their mother. When asked how they will know, she says three sisters in the water will help them know. She suggests that Cali stop trying so hard to look into the past, and focus on the present. Cali nods but is largely unconvinced. On the way out, Quell asks Mama Vera how she knew about her Lady, and informs her that she is not dead.
 
We all decide to stay in the inn here, and Cali is very quiet. They're sitting silently on their bunk, overthinking things, when Quell comes and sits beside them and asks about Cali's mother and what they're trying to do. Cali explains that they want to know why they were taken--did their mother want them and someone stole them, or did their mother willingly give them up? They also want to know What they are. They know they're part elf, but the other part has never been explained. They aren't sure if they even want to go back to Koili and their siblings, not even briefly to figure out which direction to go, and Quell suggests that we can all go there together and demand answers. Cali says that they DO miss their sister, Willow, and maybe it would be a good idea. But they feel bad and are worried that Koili is mad at them.
 
Quell offers to send Willow a message for Cali, and after some hesitation, Cali agrees. They describe Willow to her--2 years older than Cali, short brown hair and a steady aim, the closest sister Cali had. She taught Cali how to hunt and gather and do their part, and she used to always braid Cali's hair to keep it out of their face, after lovingly teasing them for refusing to cut it off. Cali also reveals that their name, known to their siblings and to Koili, is actually Ivy, because of the way they used to climb trees. Willow's name came from a time she fell out of a willow tree trying to catch a squirrel. She still has a scar from that fall on her left bicep.
 
Quell sends the first message, telling her that Ivy is still alive, and hopes she's okay. Ivy is sorry for leaving the way they did, but maybe will see her again soon. And don't tell Koili. At first, Willow responds with disbelief, stating that Koili claims to have found Ivy's dead body, and told everyone that they were dead. She demands to know who Quell is. Quell replies that she's Ivy's friend, and promises that it's not a trick. She reminds Willow of the time she&Ivy pretended to poison Koili's cup with dirty water and he didn't seem to notice. It was fun, wasn't it? Willow responds, still panicked and seemingly in denial, but promises to not tell Koili.
 
Quell tells Cali what happened, and they're in shock and angry. Quell says we can still go there, and that maybe it's more important to do it knowing what they do, and that maybe they should do this first. Cali says no, we're already on a course and doing something important. But after... we should definitely go back after. They thank Quell, and we all rest.
 
EOS