Session 24: Ancient Sylvan Cities, Sun Knights, Mysterious New Magic Powers, Being Blown Up, Time Loops, Intermediary Forms, Doors That Won’t Open, Exploding Chests, Death, Talkative Sylvan Guy with Plans, Wait…What?

General Summary

Above us is shining this big dome that is reflecting like mirror, and all around us are stupid Sylvans losing shit and running around and screaming. For brief second it is very dark inside dome but then many lights come on all over, so many it is almost like full daylight again. We are standing in middle of street next to very nice looking cafe, but there is no time for refreshing iced coffee. I look around us trying to find if there is threat, and see across street from us is big military type building. Sticking out of front of military building, like big belly on rich old guy, is balcony, maybe it is thirty feet up or so. There are two of Sylvan assholes standing on balcony and one of them is pointing at Ingoria and screaming like little girl. Maybe she is cleaning butthole in public again. I do not know how many times it is I have told her…
Never mind this. Important point is that Sylvan pulls out gun thing like Grandfather has, and shoots at her three times, which seems like maybe is little bit harsh reaction to whole butthole thing. Skreek immediately is starting shooting at guys on balcony, which is also not very big surprise to anyone who has been reading journal, or ever met him.
Also, and I just want to make sure you are knowing this, there seems to be big sky ship which is cut in half by magic dome and is now falling toward city with much drama. This is also thing of concern.
I will tell you, I was very much excited at idea of kicking asses of Sylvans, but still, I am tiny bit concerned with how questionable is current position. It is not right away clear to me how I should go next. There are very many threats and unknowns, and position in middle of busy street is not best strategy for big fight. I am, for small moment, unsure of what it is I should do.
But then I feel cold that has been clinging to my skin since little visit to Czerno. It is ink that is dripping off me from tattoos and pooling at my feet. I hear echoes in head, and I remember thing which was said to me. I remember, and from cold darkness, I draw lines of shadow reaching out, reaching to Skreek and Ingoria and Grandfather. I tie strings around their hearts and offer up to that dark voice, souls of all who they may kill. Strings stretch and pull, like reins of panicked horses, fighting to be released from my control. I knot them around my hand and hold tight as I run over to wall under balcony. I feel power of tattoos settle into my fists as I squeeze them once, twice, ready to climb wall and do much murder.
Above me, one of guys starts yelling “Nightclaw assassin! To arms! To arms” which must mean Ingoria, and for moment I am jealous she has cool name and I am just savage dirt fairy. But there is no time to think on great injustices of universe. I hear sounds of magical nonsense up above and look over to where now Ingoria is frozen in middle of street. There is sound of more chanting, but it is cut off very suddenly, and I think maybe someone has put Silence spell on balcony, maybe Baermek.
And then I am up on balcony and hitting guy with stick. He returns favor by shooting me with stupid gun two times, and now I am in pain, and also I think it was maybe poison bullets because it is even worse than just regular pain. Mage guy runs down hall and does magic and now there are many copies of him in hall. But I do not care about mage guy anymore because coming up stairs is fucking Sun Knight!! Here he is walking slowly, dragging behind him big sword, and he makes little wave of his hand and now I can hear again, which is not so good. I do not even think when I see him, but throw out my hand and strange words come from my mouth. I feel…something… leave me, rushing toward him, something that sounds like terrible echoing bell, but it does not reach Sun Knight, and I feel cold burn in my veins through where magic has traveled, as it snaps back, wasted.
(Uh, I do not mean to state obvious, but I seem to be maybe some kind of magic guy now? This is little bit of surprise. I do not know how I am feeling about this.)
It does not matter anyway, certain death is coming upstairs and I am not stupid, even if I am now magic guy and usually they are idiots. I jump off balcony and run across street to find cover behind some bushes, where also Ingoria and Skreek are hiding. I take deep breath to rethink murder plan, but thoughts are interrupted by strange hissing, staticky crackle that grows louder and louder before, BOOM! All three of us are on fire. Also bushes. On serious, serious fire.
Turns out I am, in fact, stupid magic guy. Magic must do bad things to brain when it happens, because, what excellent target we have made, all three of us all bunched together like this. But it does not matter. This is only minor set back. It is motivation to…
Fucking tower of bright white flame lands on our heads — heads which are still on fire from last fucking spell.
And this is when I take very brief little well-deserved rest, before I feel Baermek’s magic wake me back up again. I turn head with great painful difficulty and see him heading into restaurant building. Skreek is giving Ingoria little wake me up juice and she is still sputtering and gasping when I pick her up and do step of wind into building behind Baermek. Others follow and we all run toward back of building where we find window leading into alley. Out we climb, and it is frantic run through city, but at least no one has time for getting in our way because Sylvans are still running around being worried about air ship which is in process of crashing into buildings. This is lucky break for us.
Ingoria finds us basement of building where we can hide away and there is much heated discussion about what in fuck is going on. But we do not reach any kind of decision because it is not long, maybe 45 minutes or so, when there is crazy bright flash of white light and booming shockwave sound outside of dome walls…
And then we are back out on street in front of military type building, and guy who was screaming at sight of Ingoria is just now turning head toward us, and air ship is back in sky, falling. Again.
There is briefest moment of shock before I see Ingoria’s body kind of make little fizzle and then she looks like Sylvan asshole. Skreek and I duck into cafe for second time, and rest of them are joining us as well, before assholes on balcony take any notice of us. After very quick, and maybe little bit freaked out, discussion, Skreek is made invisible so he can go scout out city, and rest of us head back to same basement where we hid before to wait for him.
It is not taking him very long at all – dome is not so big. At center of dome is military building where first we appeared. It takes up large part of total area and is full-service place with barracks and stables and many, many sylvans just looking for chance to kill badass assassin Drow woman from distant future. That is also where he sees crypotoporter room like ones we have found before, with checkerboard floor and everything. It is next to citadel and very full of nosy people. There is also, inside dome, little bit of neighborhoods like one in which we are busy hiding, with some taverns and shops and things like that. And at edge, mostly cut off by dome, is walled buildings that looks like maybe it is university.
We decide university is good place to start – lots of books and smart people, and probably less of heavily armed assholes. When we get there it is chaos like everywhere else, with students wandering around all confused or scared, and some have given up on life already and are lying in damp grass with bottles of wine, probably wishing they had spent more time getting laid and less of studying. They are right about this. A+ for loser students.
There is also group of professors and they do not know fuck all about what it is that is happening. One of them says that it cannot be spell, it must be artifact. Others are wondering what happened to people outside dome. One guy says, “I tried to dimension door to the other side and when I cast the spell everything near the dimension door started getting sucked into it.” I do not know this dimension door thing, but that seems like very bad sign, I am guessing.
Baermek casts little spell to see where is located a cryptoporter and it tells him that one of professors has one. Grandfather picks up couple of rocks and sticks them in secret pocket of his satchel so we can see if we still have them if time is resetting itself again.
We take quick look around buildings. Most of library is on the other side of barrier, but there is enough that is here that it is worth taking little peek. Part of life science building is here also. Math building is completely inside dome, much good that will be doing us. Magical arts building is partway inside, and most of engineering building is here, too.
We go first into engineering building and Grandfather is so excited he almost is smiling, but inside we do not find anything that is too interesting. Lots of places where people were making things. A big ass gun thing like we found back at our little hideaway spot (fuck am I wishing I was back there right now, just being quiet and maybe reading some of books which GG loaned to me. I am telling you, I am just as big of perv as anyone, but damn, gnomes are into some freaky, freaky shit. Very educational books!). Also, place where they were making things which are like Boris, only they are standing on two legs and are mostly people shaped! One of them has places in head and body for some kind of control boxes maybe to be swapped in and out. Also there is another target range and, just like back home, many targets are of bird people. As soon as I step into room and see this, I turn to stare at Skreek, who is losing his shit in very predictable and satisfying manner.
But that is all we have time to see before again there is great white flash and big boom and we are standing out on street, sylvan on balcony is turning toward us, and air ship is back up in sky. This time we know drill, even if this is all very mysterious and terrible. I mean, think about it – how much does it suck to kill someone, then have to kill them all over again only one hour later?! Nobody likes to eat same thing for breakfast every morning, and nobody likes to kill same old boring sylvan over and over again either. Anyhow, Ingoria does disguise spell and we all duck into restaurant. Again.
Back to University we go, and this time it is to life sciences building. In there we find room that has bodies. They look mostly like bird people we have seen, but maybe little less birdy and little more like normal person. “Intermediary form,” says Baermek while nodding and stroking chin, like he is so smart.
Then we find part of building which is locked with truly impressive super complicated lock. Like, no one could possibly get through… never mind, Ingoria has opened door. We notice as we enter that there were guard stations outside door. Outside? As in to keep in whatever is behind this door? Oh well, it is too late now to worry about that.
Inside we find place for demonstrations of surgeries and on table is body of tabaxi who is all opened up and very much dead. Ingoria starts growling under her breath and all her hair stands up on end, which is always bad sign. I move away from her, making sure Skreek is between two of us. Also, like bird, this is intermediary form, more cat-like than is Ingoria. Notes say it was “Nightclaw” and that they have no idea where it came from. Research seems to have something to do with military. We look around but there is nothing more to find here.
Also we have noticed that rocks Grandfather put in bag last time have disappeared, so we cannot take things with us from one jump to next, not even hidden away in different dimension.
White light. Boom. Street. Sylvans on balcony. Air ship.
This is getting old.
Ok, this time we are splitting up. Always, it is good idea to split up group for maximum efficiency. Skreek and Baermek go to library, while Grandfather, Ingoria and I are going to Magic school to hopefully find some cool shit. I have to care about this now because I am magic guy, but we do not find anything even little bit interesting. Being magic guy sucks.
I am not with Baermek and Skreek in library, but later Baermek tells us what they find (because Skreek is too busy pouting), which is couple of books about chimeras by Professor Naestra. Only thing that is exciting is finding out that chimeras are made from smooshing together elves and animals, and Skreek gets all puffed up when Baermek is mentioning this, and now I will only call him “Elfboy” from now to forever. Ha! Other thing that is mentioned is how they had to create eggs with magic rituals for second generation because stupid birds couldn’t figure out how to make regular babies, but instead they were all wrong and monsters. (I mean different kinds of monsters than are regular bird people.) Also there were rituals to make birds things do things like “come” and “sit.” But because I am very nice person, with excellent impulse control, I do not say first thing that comes to mind when we are told this, and consequently, we do not find out what happens if one of us dies during cycle.
Flash of light. Boom. Yadda yadda. This time we notice flash of light seems to be coming from citadel. Skreek tells us that when we went to University last time, there was invisible someone who followed us! Well, this is interesting thing. We will have to keep good eye out for invisible guy, even though you cannot see invisible guy because he is invisible. Skreek only saw them because of footprints in dirt and grass.
This time, for little change up, we go to citadel. We have clever plan where Baermek casts silence up on balcony before they are seeing us. Ingoria, Skreek and I hop up there and kill guard guy (Again. Sigh.) and then we all head into inner courtyard.
There are many sylvans, several dozen. At least one dozen are in front of central keep building. Sun Knight is there too, and he flies up to balcony on second floor of keep all la-di-dah. I make suggestion that I can take little trip through shadows to get inside and see what there is to see, but the torches outside on balcony are too bright. So, Grandfather makes Skreek invisible and Skreek goes over to put out lights. He gets one done, but then he is shot at by Sun Knight who, we think it is safe thing to conclude, can see through invisibility spell. This is unfortunate hitch in plan. Skreek decides enough is enough of this bullshit and flies off to University library to look for gnome porn or something. This leaves rest of us still in citadel. So Baermek does amazing impression of balcony guard yelling about intruders so that sylvan guards will run over there, and I use shadows to hop around outside of keep to backside where I am able to climb up and shadow hop inside through arrow slits.
On third floor where I am, is just boring storage room with trapdoor that goes up to roof where assholes with ballista are waiting to skewer poor innocent Drow if they are stupid enough to show faces in courtyard. Not that many Drow are so stupid, of course. Even most dumbass Drow is smarter than stupid sylvans. Not much smarter, but little bit, at least.
I go down spiral staircase to floor where is Sun Knight quarters with balcony. I do not try to go in right now because we still do not know what is answer about if we will live through dying. (Also, I am tired of doing it.) Instead, I go down to ground floor. This is where there is kitchen and barracks and also stairs going down. Nothing looks very interesting, so I go downstairs to cellar, and there I find sign of drag marks on floor that make me think there is hidden doorway, but is too hidden, and I cannot find it. Fuck.
So, I head back up to Sun Knight room and start poking around. He is very boring guy with nothing on his desk or anywhere else interesting, except this big chest. So, I check chest out, looking to see if it is trapped, like Ingoria does, and I do not see anything that looks like trap.
Boom! I quickly find out answer to burning question of how permanent is death. Turns out everyone else does too (except Skreek who is on nice little field trip to library). Sun Knight hunts them down and, well, they also are dead for little bit of time.
Light! Sound! Not that many of us are around to see or hear it. Until suddenly we are.
Back on street in front of citadel, everything is same. We duck into shop as usual and Skreek tells us amazing news. He met invisible guy while he was at library! And invisible guy is trapped in time loop, too, only he is from original city so he has been looping and looping and looping…
His name is Varen and he says he knows how to stop loops but he is needing help. We are first people he has since in entire time who are not repeating actions. This is very exciting to us because already this has gotten very old, so we all head to tavern which is called “The Golden Chalice” to meet up with guy.
When we go in tavern he is sitting there drinking expensive bottle of wine. Only other person in room is freaked-out bartender. Varen looks up at us, and when he sees Ingoria, even though she is in Sylvan disguise, his eyes get very big. Damn. It is like going to bar with super hot friend. (Not that I would know about this, because I am always hottest one. Also, I do not have friends.)
He asks us how much time has passed outside, and when we tell him, he has big sad. He is even sadder when we tell him Emperor is still alive. “So, we failed,” he cries. And I am like yeah guy, you suck, only I do not say this because I am so nice. We show him letters we got from Arryn and he reads them and starts crying even more, if you can believe this. This is very emotional guy! Then he asks us if there are still special sylvans, and at first we don’t know what he means, but when he describes sylvans with silver eyes who can do crazy magic stuff, we’re like, oh yeah guy, there is plenty of those assholes running around fucking shit up.
And then he is talking, talking, talking. So much talking. But it is not too boring stuff, and maybe there is way out of here, so I am trying to pay attention. This is what he tells us.
There were some “extraplanar” assholes who have somehow infected these special sylvans and given them extra asshole powers. Before, they are like normal sylvans, but afterwards, even though they have same memories and all, they are different people with exciting new purpose in life. It was fault of lunar knights, I guess. They apparently fucked around with some mysterious something and this is what happened. But now (which is really then) most of leadership of “knightly orders” has been contaminated and everyone who is not, is busy running away and hiding and hatching plots which do not work.
Speaking of which, Varen and Arryn and all their friends wanted to kill emperor, so that they could remove this infection from Sylvan people. I mean, this makes sense; nine times out of ten, murder is right answer. Problem was, Emperor has many copies of himself laying all around, just in case of emergency. One of them was here in city of Iallon, underneath keep where I, just little while ago, went boom.
Varen created dome over city. Dome was supposed to slow down time for everyone trapped inside – slower and slower until time came to total stop. Also, and this is important part of plan, Varen was supposed to be immune of this magic effect, so that once time stopped, he could swoop in and kill copy. But something went wrong, and time never came to stop. Instead, it is stuck in loop, always resetting before process is complete. Varen was somehow trapped inside this spell too, which sucks for him.
It did not take Varen too long to figure out how to get into vault below keep where emperor copy is hidden. Copy is much weakened from its normal strength, but still quite strong, and Varen could not defeat it. (I will be honest Varen does not look like very tough guy, and there was only one of him, so I am liking our chances.)
Second time Varen tried to do assassination, Copy was waiting for him; it remembered him! This was big oh fuck moment for Varen. After this he is waiting for so, so many loops for Emperor Copy to come after him, but never does it show up. Can it leave place under keep? Seems like maybe not. Does it know what is going on outside of where it lives? Who knows. Varen does not think any of sylvans in citadel are probably talking to it, except maybe Sun Knight (which Varen calls “Radiant.”).
So, this is part where Varen says we can all work together. He says he knows how to put down Radiant and Copy, but Copy can counter anything Varen can do when it is just him alone fighting it. But if we are all there hitting it with sticks, and filling it full of small metal balls, and eating its insides, and telling it scary stories and shooting it with arrows from safety of ground while hiding behind convenient stack of boxes or something, then Varen can probably kill copy and end loopty-loop.
We all agree that this is good plan. Then Varen tells us how he got in last time. Sun knight always casts spell so he can see invisible things if there is any sign of trouble, but no one else at citadel can do this, so we just need to stay out of his sight. Then we need to get everyone inside of keep. For him, he could do something like me where he popped in through arrow slits up at top and crept down, but not all of us are popping through shadows or magic doors kind of people. So we will need to figure out how to get all of us inside. From there he can get us into vault area where Copy is hidden, and hopefully take out Sun Knight and Copy while we keep heat off of him.
Do I trust this guy? Stupid question. Do I trust any guy? No, no I do not. But already I am so fucking tired of stupid city and time loop. And what is worst that can happen. Death? It is not all it has cracked up to be, especially not here in this place.
So we are agreed, And now I ask him question which is eating at me, thing I have wanted to ask since he started talking. I am wanting to know if can tell me anything about shape I keep seeing. You know, shape Aleorman carved into my skin. Aleorman, who was secretly Sylvan. Also, that asshole Triskian, in Yehlan, had it carved into everything all over his estate (before we burnt it down to ground. Ha!) So, it is obvious there is being some kind of connection between sylvans and this shape! And maybe answer is found back here in ancient history when this guy was busy, prancing around and blowing up world instead of saving it.
First, I try to describe shape to him, but words are hard to find, so finally I must take off shirt and show him. Everyone is clearing throats and looking away like they are embarrassed, and I must roll my eyes because I have been traveling with these assholes for maybe it is thousand years now, and there is nothing anyone has, that we have not already seen thousands of times – whether it is Little Hobgoblin, Ingoria’s butthole (not just thousands, millions of times!), Skreek’s terrifying cloaca, Grandfather’s skinny butt, or my, let us be honest, excellent rack. No mysteries between us. Physically, I mean.
And I am distracted for moment, thinking has there ever been time in my life when I have been so known to others as I am now? Mama, yes. Mama knew me when I was little girl, tiny Alyona who is nothing like Alyona that is now. Mama would not recognize me now. In small way, I am glad she is dead – no, no, it is true – and this makes my heart hurt, but it is old, old pain. And of course…but I cannot think of… no, not now. Later. Later.
My ring bites into flesh of my hand as I make fist, and pain from it brings me back to important conversation. I notice Ingoria is staring at me with concerned look. I snarl at her and wave hand toward where Varen is talking.
He shrugs and tells me he is sorry, but he is not researcher or scientist type, he is action guy. “I am a Nightshade of the Empire, a Shadow Knight,” he says after long drink from wine bottle. “We are… or were… the left hand of the emperor. We do that which must remain Unseen.”
And now, I can not stop eyebrows from shooting up into my hair and little gasp escapes from my mouth before I even know it has made break for it. I turn to stare at Grandfather, who is playing with some gizmo he has found at engineering school, snapping and unsnapping it. He does not seem to react. I turn back and stare at Varen.
“The Drowdenshein,” he goes on, apparently not noticing effect his words have on me. “...are secretive folk. We, the Nightshades, work throughout the empire, both above and below. Some of your folk serve the empire, or at least they did in my time.”
Unseen…nightshades…thousands of years…
I grab bottle from his hand and drink down everything that is left.

Report Date

03 Jul 2023