Chapter 1, Session 7: That was a LOT of exposition
General Summary
It's funny how they always have a way of finding you... how you just HAPPEN to cross their paths at every turn... isn't it?Session began with the party, clean but still not 100% condition, leaving Emerald Quick-Wick's Mayoral Housing and figuring out what to do next... eventually deciding, as a group, that they should rest for a short time and let Da'Shaw Zalnyx know that they were ready to accept his job.
- Sabria Lilk reveals just how much danger Hermione is really in.
Fionn revealed to the group during this time that he needed to finish binding Grand-Daughter Tiana so that she was no longer a threat and Hermione then revelaed why she was actually in Bloomwilt, she was looking for a woman named Sabria Lilk who could give her some help learning magic... at which point Hermione revealed she had trained herself as a wizard and had never actually been formally trained.
Hermione returned to Emerald Quick-Wick and learned that Sabria Lilk was staying in a tavern named The Smiling Rock which was owned by Nashien Calcus. Afterwards Fionn also returned to Emerald and was given a mechanical seal of Emerald's approval for Fionn to collect the necessary components at a hastened speed for his binding of a witch. Stating he required heavy quantities of salt, iron, tar and Cobalt for the pit to be completed effectively.
While Hermione spoke to Emerald, Peregrine spoke to Esmerae and revealed the strange dream she had when fighting The Quori hunter. Realising that Esmerae's eyes turned a yellow when casting spells she described her dream and Esmerae realised that Peregrine was describing her former traveling companion Viktor though Esmerae was not willing to discuss him further.
However, realising now that Peregrine had clearly shared or taken a dream from Esmerae, they asked Fionn for assistance, with the spook realising this could have happened for a variety of reasons but most notably realising that Peregrine was showing a skill at manipulating dreams that was similar to The Unwaking Coven... when Peregrine pushed him on this, Fionn revealed that she shouldbe very concerned and that OTHER members of The Spooks would likely bind her in a pit to avoid all risk but he was trying to help her instead.
At that moment of discussion, with Hermione returning, Auriel urgently called attention to the rest of the party as Mallus was gone and a private chat was had with Steven.
The party found Mallus about 300-400 feet away from where they left him and he revealed that he had another dream; with Auriel immediately checking him for damage and trying to determine if this could be seen as normal behaviour for someone who sleepwalked but she couldn't be certain.
Auriel and Fionn resolved to tie a rope around Mallus to keep him close at all times and the party began to urgently discuss their dreams they were all having and the fears attached to them; at which point, Fionn noticed the group had garnered alot of attention due to their loudness and eccentric appearances and he tried to play it off by showing his Wardstones and acting like the whole conversation was an elaborate advert for his services as a Spook. This was a mixed success overall for the group though, as Fionn placed down his wardstone, he received a message from a local stating that she and her wife were both haunted by a recurring nightmare of a wolf chasing them through a forest before baying at the moon and screaming their names. She revealed her name was Mariah Calcus and she lived in the Bloomwilt middle ring. The party decided to find some privacy after this fumbled conversation and chose to stay in The Smiling Rock so that Hermione would get the chance to find Sabria and possibly receive help.
Upon arriving, the party were served by Xauna, the magical Nightmare adopted daughter of the inn owner Nashien Calcus. The group ordered a variety of fish dishes and cocktails, with all but Mallus partaking due to him not needing to drink and Fionn refusing to eat and drink as he was still 'working'. Hermione learned that Sabria lived in the Smiling Rock and was given a free room in return for agreeing to train Xauna as a mage and so Hermione moved upstairs to meet this mage whilst the rest of the party waited for their food and drinks to arrive.
Upon reaching her door, Hermione found it opened of it's own volition and she looked into a VERY dark room with all lights extinguished. Within the room she met Sabria Lilk, a drow mage from Peridot who was surrounded by magic, with a filled bookcase containing stores of knowledge, a variety of magical trinkets and, most importantly, her own arcane potency clearly displayed. Sabria was initially hostile to Hermione, clearly lacking in patience with the girl and clearly disinterested in Hermione's desire to be taught.
However, that changed when Hermione showed her real talents to Sabria, revealing that she had invented a brand new school of magic, using her skills to display spells that she called 'Graphomancy' as she took one of Sabria's magical items (a driftglobe) and used a simple spell to turn the entire magical object off... even making it vulnerable to being broken; which she displayed as she then dropped the globe on the floor. Sabria was clearly amazed by this display of new magic and agreed, immediately to tutor Hermione.
However, Sabria then revealed the truth of matters to her. Sabria knew who Hermione 'really' was and warned her that Nashien Calcus was a part of a group that the young wizard had apparently antagonised and that Hermione's days were numbered before the one hunting her would arrive. This put Hermione into a panic, though Sabria was not quite done as the drow gave Hermione a single book and told her to study it; Sabria would find Hermione in due course and test her. If Hermione passed the test she would receive more aid and knowledge... if she failed then Sabria would reveal her location to her hunters and the people of Vallea. With that, the drow gestured for Hermione to leave and she did so. Rushing downstairs and telling the party that they needed to leave this inn urgently as she was no longer safe here. Hermione moved to a nearby bathroom and cast a disguise over herself (taking on the appearance of a human man) and the party asked for their meals and drinks to be placed in takeaway boxes as Fionn and Peregrine settled the bill with Nashien.
The innkeeper then made clear to the party that he would be willing to give them free rooms if Fionn agreed to help his sister, Mariah Calcus with her nightmare problem. Fionn stated that he would have to return later as he had more urgent spooks business to complete first.
With that, the party paid for their meals and drinks with a pair of shoes from their recent sewer fights that they gave to Xauna and a pair of diamond earrings that Nashien accepted for Xauna... Peregrine also notably left him her autograph as Xauna revealed herself to be a fan of the Cirque Arcadia.
The party agreed to move locations so that Hermione could explain what was going on, with Peregrine notably pressing her for more information whilst the rest of the group worked to keep a low profile. At this point, Fionn told the rest of the group he would find them soon but had to run errands.
The group visited The Blade and the Basilisk and bought another set of cocktails and stayed in a private and concealed booth. In this more private space, Hermione revealed her true appearance to the party, that of a purple half tielfing/half dragonborn Vallean(ethnicity:ec05b26b-720d-4987-a3e7-c3273f0a8a0d) as she revealed that she was the daughter of @[Queen Agliai Vallea who had allegedly been sent to Grim Hallow. Hermione revealed to the party that she became a wizard after adventuring in The Hidden Isles of Vallea and stumbling across a book that taught her magic... she then explained to the party that being a wizard in Vallea carried a very high price and so when she was discovered her mother faked her being sent to Grim Hallow and instead sent Hermione to Kaechaek to start afresh.
However, within Kaechaek Hermione soon learned that she was being hunted by a Vallean(ethnicity:ec05b26b-720d-4987-a3e7-c3273f0a8a0d) assassination group known as @[The Woven Providence and that they were hunting her relentlessly, forcing her to run across Kaechaek in the hope of evading their endless pursuit.
With the truth revealed, Hermione watched as the group rallied around her and agreed to keep an eye out; rather than leave her behind as others had in the past.
At this point, Esmerae explained that she did not have any enemies looking to hurt her or the party but she was squarely hunting others and the group would have to be amicable to that if they were to travel together.
Auriel admitted that she wasn't sure if she was being hunted or not.
Mallus then off hand revealed that he was actually an escapee from The Black-Blooded organisation in Mezzatli as they were hired by his parents many years ago in an effort to cure Mallus' nightmares. Mallus explained that he was experimented on at length by them during his childhood until he managed to escape and that, during his experimentation, he had taught himself to no longer need to eat, drink, sleep or even breathe (something that greatly confused and concerned Auriel especially) but now he was always concerned that the Black-Blooded were searching for him.
Meanwhile, Fionn paid a visit to First Mountain Forge and gave them Emerald Quick-Wick's seal of approval so that he could have the ingredients he needed for binding delivered to the mayoral housing that evening.
With that. Fionn rejoined the party and was caught up on the truth about Hermione. The party agreed that they needed to move with urgency and decided to visit Da'Shaw Zalnyx early where they accepted his job and stated they would be ready in the morning provided he was willing to give them rooms and board for the night so that they could rest in relative safety, Zalnyx agreed to these terms and most of the party rested.
That was with the exception of Fionn, he visited Emerald's house and, seeing the ingredients were delivered. He used two of The Drifters guards to help him bring down the salt, iron, cobalt and tar to the pit below the mansion where he found Tiana, still chained and forced to watch as Fionn painted the pit with the tar mixture and prepared the bars for covering and binding her. The drifters watched as Fionn then, tearfully, beat Tiana to unconsciousness and dropped her into the pit; claiming his chain at the same time. With that, Fionn walked away from the pit and spoke to Kindness gaining her reassurance that she would ensure the town was safe from Grand-Daughter Tiana.
Report Date
08 Mar 2023
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