HEARTHOLME Chapter 4: Fact in the Fiction

"We were last in the forest just south of Nexus," Iris starts to recall their adventure, "Ty's elder sister Alberta amassed an army and brought the city-state under assault with his amassed forces of loyalists, mercenaries, and elves."
"Did we ever figure out why Alberta was doing that," William asks Iris. She shakes her head, "No, I think we were busy with other things the past few sessions. When Faelor showed up we were exploring why he was helping us at all. Is he an ally? An enemy spy? Speaking of which," she looks over to old man Ryan, "Is Pauline going to join us to play Faelor?"
"Ehh," old man Ryan scratches his beard, "she is still busy with the shop today. We agreed that if we had four of the five we could play without and someone would have to fill the missing person in."
"Got it," smiles William, offering up his services to help where help can be offered, "I'll let her know what we got into." Both Iris and the elvish Kyrin look at William who doesn't understand the context of the gaze. An elbow from his older brother causes him to cough, "What?!"
"Nothing. Glad we are giving you an opportunity to talk to her, is all," Kyrin idly insinuates the sort of schoolyard drama that William detests.
"Grow up, Kyrin," the silver scaled dragonborn replies as hues of red rush to his face. This problem does not exist if you were blessed from a red dragon, but silver highlights every little embarrassment under a metallic magnifying glass.
"Man up, William," Kyrin maturely sticks out his toungue and thbbtts back. Iris closes her fist and gently bonks Kyrin on his head. At the table, Iris is quite a different person and Kyrin looks back to his affectionate partner with a sheepish look of 'sorry'.
"Anyway," Iris composes herself, "all of us were on the way when we were beseiged by lizards the size of houses!"
"Dragons," Kyrin asks, as he wasn't paying enough attention to the session to recall what was attacking them.
"No, Apex beasts. Creatures that showed up at the start of time," Iris explains as she goes over what equates to angry dinosaurs. "I'm confused," Kyris says with a laugh they've become accustomed to. He munches on a fresh snack as Iris continues on. "They were not after us. They were fending off these creatures made of metal machinations! We simply were in the middle of a three way battle. We helped out the beasts and defeated the machines. Fortunately Faelor and Nasdamn were able to pull on their affinity for the wilderness to keep them from attacking us as well. "
"Beast and Beauty alike cannot resist the great Nad-Dam-In," Kyrin says in his suave in-character accent. There is always one at the table and it is Kyrin.
"We met the elder druid of this area from the Stag tribe," Iris continues on, "who offered to take us through the forest quickly and safely. The forest held many secrets and dangers. We would have to be under a spell as we traveled for our safety and that of the forest. It left us hazy and disoriented. When we came out of the spell, we were separated."
William fills in some gaps in the retelling, "When we were under we heard and saw parts of a struggle. I don't think the druid meant to cross us but something happened when we were not lucid. When the effect wore off, we were short one Ty."
"Which is bullshit, by the way," Tywin says to Ryan. Then the group collectively groans as they remember how the session ended. It ended as most did with a fight between a stubborn dwarf and a hot headed dragonborn. "But," Tywin holds up his hand, "its what happened in this story regardless of how unlikely it would be that someone would just kidnap Ty."
"Yes, we know, Ty is very strong and brave and other such things," William quietly says, sipping his tea with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Shut up," Tywin laughs, settling back down so that the new session can begin.
"And," the Maze Master begins as his voice drops to a dull rumble, "that is where we shall pick back up." The four cast their eyes to the old dwarf as he sets the stage. "Ty, you find yourself apart from your traveling companions as your eyes return to focus. A hot, dry wind brushes against you. Your arms are shackled behind you."
"I try to break free," Tywin immediately interjects.
Ryan taps the able with an impatient tap tap tap, "Your chains rattle and you find yourself unable to break out. There must be a chain behind you that has you anchored to the ground. You are still outside but on a high cliff overlooking Nexus. It is burning."
William takes a deep breath, "Its official, your elder sister is insane." He is one of the few at the table that could say it without causing contention between the reality of their actual sister in life and the one in the game.
"I think there is more to it than that," Tywin says in a moment temperance. His violet eyes meet the stony gaze of the dwarf as if to tell him to 'Do go on'.
Old man Ryan continues, "There is more to it, you are right. On the far end of the cliff is your old steward, Talion Greene, in similar bonds."
"Wait a second," Kyrin says, interrupting the Maze Master, "I thought we saw him die. Like. Bunches of times."
"Thats right," Ryan says, raising a finger as if to make a point.
"I'm confused," Kyrin says, slumping down. Iris scritches behind his long, pointed elvish ears. Even when Kyrin isn't a wolf, it still feels good.
"Between both of you is Thomas," Ryan says, "someone you remember from your time at the Academy, Ty. An old rival of your sister, Alberta. Son of the head of Hearth and a von Wulfengeist with a penchant for flagrant dramatics. He paces between the two of you while the city burns in the background." The mimicry of a human voice is a higher pitch than that of the dwarf's naturally low tones. "At last the two of you awaken. Just in time for both of you to fall into despair!"
"I'm sorry, who are you again," Tywin says for his character, Ty. The silver dragonborn stops Ryan before he can ask him, "Out of character, yes I know who he is and I want to mess with him." Ryan ahs and nods.
"I am Thomas!" the Ryan-Thomas character squeaks, "Eldest son of the von Wulfengeists. Deep rival to your sister, who should be here any moment now. And when she does she will be forced to choose and despair upon her own stubborn will." The Maze Master provides the context that Thomas is doing the dramatic pacing that a villain may do in such a cheesy ploy. "Will she pick the faithful steward that she left for dead numerous times over in an attempt to redeem her past failures? Will she pick her own brother to save him from an ill placed fate? Or, and I am counting on this one, will she ignore all that is merciful and good and take her one and only shot to take me out before the final confrontation?"
Tywin coughs to denote the same for Ty, "Thomas, you said?"
"Yes?" the improvised human voice responds.
"Never heard of you," Ty grins wide.
"Augh," both Ryan and Thomas reply in a fit that causes the table to laugh. "Then know it now as you are sent on your way to the Nine Hells! For your sister, I see her now. Alberta!" A hand gestures beyond the table where no one exists. "There is time but for one. Make your pick and seal thy fate. Hah hah hah!" The Maze Master continues the plot of the quandary between who lives and who dies. In instances up until now the players had more choices in the matter as they developed the alter egos they wished to present. Here the tables have shifted to the outcome of characters they have influenced. Having spent little time exploring this particular part of the plot, the four sit in anxious attention as to how this will go. Alberta has already shown herself zealous enough to burn a city down. Is Ryan going to kill Tywin's character off? Is it because Ryan is tired of Ty's attitude at the table?
Its all unfounded as the female dragonborn makes her way onto the scene in the mind of those playing the game. She is as cold as ice, decisive, and powerful. In what seems to be a full attempt to take out Thomas, just as he predicted, Alberta changes course and averts her attention to Ty. "No time," she shouts, blasting off Ty's chains in a ray of pure frost that leaps from her hands like shot of cold mist. It makes Ty's chains brittle as he strains and breaks his bonds. "Catch," Alberta yells at her brother as she picks up Ty's greatsword and tosses it to him. The two connect together in a tackle that sends both of them off of the cliff before the fires rage over on the opposite side. "Can you fly?" Ty asks his sister as the two descend at a fast rate. They have narrowly beat the fire but gravity soon approaches them.
The scene, as Ryan depicts it, reminds Tywin of two things. First, that gravity appears to haunt him even in his fictional world. Second, that this is how he remembered his sister. Brave. Fearless. Impressionable. The later makes him pause. Impressionable? That doesn't quite fit. As he begins to think it through, the Maze Master yells loudly to draw him back into the story.
"I can't," Alberta says to Ty, "but, I can float." The sorceress of ice casts a spell that makes them descend at the pace of a feather while clouds of cold trail away from the familial dragonborn. It isnt until the two touch the ground when Ty realizes that something is wrong with his sister. Her eyes look heavy. "Whats wrong," Ty asks, shouldering his greatsword and starting away from the raging fire behind them. It threatens to overtake them if they don't start running right now, but his sister is sluggish. "That damn worm," Alberta says as she starts to run, "cursed me with a sleeping spell." The running woman yawns uncharacteristically as they otherwise act as action heroes fleeing an explosive fire at their heels. "But it'll take more than a little spell go keep me down." She grins with the sort of pride that Alberta Targarius is known for.
There it was again. Brave. Fearless. Impressionable. Why did Tywin think his sister was impressionable? His head was not in the session as he let his companions know what Ty was doing in the action packed moments that followed. He was the leader of this fantastical party. It meant that he had to break up disputes that kept arising within the ranks. It meant he needed to keep everyone on course for what they wanted to accomplish. For someone that was breaking all the rules hours earlier, it instilled a sense of responsibility that the dwarf running this show knew he could coax out of the angry dragonborn. So when Ty slipped away mentally, Ryan didn't think it was because Ty was reconciling and inconsistent memory. He thought the youth wasn't paying attention.
"Tywin!" old man Ryan shouts from across the table, "Your action?" A pair of dice rattle threatening in the dwarf's hands ready to dispense fate and justice.
"I attack," Tywin responds, overlooking the critical detail that the action of the scene has subsided.
"You attack what, exactly," William asks. When his brothers eyes begin to dart, the younger of the two slips into the character of his worldly elvish ranger, "I parry Ty's exhausted attack after the melee, seeing all the blood that has caked our leader's eyes. 'Not a foe,' I tell him, staggering back from the force of his blade."
"No, I wasn't paying attention," Tywin meant to admit out of character.
"I know," William says in the voice of Faron, now with a fresh new accent that didn't exist a week earlier. "We need to get Alberta out of here." The party begins to cover over the last minutes that Tywin missed out on. The party was separated from Alberta and Ty and there was a grand encounter at the center of a battlefield on fire when they met. Everyone survived it, but Alberta collapsed towards the end. "I'll carry Io back," Tywin says as the room goes silent.
"Alberta," Ryan quietly steps around the gaff, looking more concerned than jovially judgmental at Tywin's behavior, "is fortunately very light for you as you carry her back to the war camp. She has amassed quite an army all sailing her banners. You are met by an advanced guard that greets you on horseback." The dwarf's thick lungs expand into his barrel of a chest. Exhaling he coughs into one hand, "And after a brief explanation they take you in. That'll be enough for today." In unison all but one groans out.
Iris pleads. Just a little while longer as Dahlia is all she wants right now. "But we have so many questions."
"Yeah," Kyrin adds, sufficiently in step to the game now it is over, "like why did Alberta have an army?"
William replies, "Thats where she took the Targarius loyalist from. Also the Duodecim mercenary companies. Add in these elves from Xan'theril and its the largest force on the continent."
"Thanks Will, but why," Kyrin repeats, "so she can burn down a town? It doesnt make sense. People don't act like that."
The wooden chair grinds against the ground as Tywin pushes out from the table. "Maybe she got it in her head it was something she had to do," the big guy says as the mite in his mind gnaws. "Maybe old man Ryan is running out of plot devices." A half hearted grin is given to the dwarf. It takes a lot of energy for Tywin to hide when he is feeling like this. He blames himself for what happened to his sisters and his mother. The illness wasn't penalty enough for his crime. A hand is placed over his chest as he rubs the thick muscles. Strong body and a weak heart is the sort of irony that makes him so irrate with this town. Without waiting for Ryan's retort, the young silverscaled rebel makes his way out. He has in his head that there is something he needs to do. Getting distracted with this game isn't helping.