Chapter IV: In My Heart of Hearts
General Summary
- Cecil quietly interrogates Mot, who says he doesn't care about Noble's plan anymore; Noble (Riss Nil Fan) lied and told them this was the best way
- Then Cecil psychologically tortures Mot until he dies and turns to ash; he does not tell the rest of the group that Mot was ever there
- Vivian confronts Cecil about hiding something, and they have an argument
- Eventually Vivian and Cecil set about tunneling out from underground using earth elementals and the tower
- When we get to the surface, we find Spite!!! Alive and okay!!!!
- We make our way to Gan and Gendd, who were worried about us
- Gendd is acting odd (though it's likely a sign of trauma), and says he feels satisfied
- He takes a walk and sunbathes on a rock out in the desert, watched over by Spite
- Cecil attempts to find a rat for Gendd to use as an assistance animal (or possibly as a test subject)
- When Thaw goes to find Gendd, he appears to have sunk into the ground and disappeared (leaving traces of violet magic), but he shows up back at the inn room unharmed and protesting being followed
- Vivian and Cecil's argument comes to a head as Vivian calls out Cecil for taking her choices away from her, both at the Bright Seed and in the tower with Mot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yVXJHLMW-Y
- We pack up and head back to Livson
- Cecil and Vivian continue their argument; only Vivian sees Gan spying on the conversation
- Cecil confesses to Vivian finding and killing Mot, as well as revealing Noble's identity
- Vivian gathers the group and we all discuss everything
- We talk about death and what to do with Riss Nil Fan
- We make plans to head to Tathur to look for Riss Nil Fan and then to the tree in the Megalio
- Then we make plans to make dumplings
- Cecil confesses to Vergil that he feels no remorse for torturing Mot; Vergil confesses to feeling useless over a lack of power and agency, partially because of Cecil
- Then we try to fold dumplings
- Back in Livson, Thaw goes to check on Loro and finds a nearly-impenetrable webbing shielding the room; when he looks inside, he sees the cocoon cracked open and no other signs of life
- Vivian goes to check in at the Tai'Jei building updates Subcommissioner Gada Shion, who gives us a note to deliver to Warui Hito and asks us to tell Commissioner Thoma that she's here
- Then they go to get food while Vergil and Cecil talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ScIU2UMIIg&list=PLRR-wL_Y-fbygEpEiCSYQa4PZDY786jPY&index=13
- Cecil and Vergil make up and ask about dockyard sanitation
- We run around and look for Loro, who appears to read to the tracking spell as one of us, but as soon as we figure that out, he disappears
Cecil dispels the magic on the boat, and it collapses in on itself, sending all of us and the crewmates into the ocean- Avery uses a Rift Break
- We make a plan to send the message to Hito via Animal Messenger while we stop off at For Xath so Cecil can get more spells
- On the way to For Xath, white birds swarm through the air and surround Vergil, who seems to be welcoming them, in a greenish light
- When pressed by Vivian, he simply explains that "we needed a leg up"
- In For Xath, Vergil, Cecil, and Gan go to the library while Thawsayer, Vivian, and Gendd go to the witshop
- Thaw and Viv get Gendd a little wooden great horned owl figurine, because he says its his favorite animal
- Cecil summons his new familiar, a flying snake named Iamb with inverse coloring to Troche, and gives him to Gendd
https://youtu.be/MDzsy3TAE0U
- Eventually, we make it to Kier, but no one is out on the streets
- We see dead goblinoids and dead elven soldiers dressed in the colors of the Order of the Red Fox, a powerful peacekeeping group in the Empire called upon by the Imperial faction of the elusive Empress(as opposed to the scholar faction)
- We go to Kilind's house (Vivian gives her the gift) and she tells us the Order came across the water; Vet Kane, The Red King, is in the back
- Four days ago, about 60 Red Fox soldiers appeared in the center of town, and soon after, a group of goblins attacked them and the fighting began; Vet Kane escaped the palace but the other two did not (The White King is in the palace while The Green King is being held in the Tai'Jei building)
- Vet Kane tells us that Riss Nil Fan has been hanging around the court speaking to The White King, Sin Tho
- Cecil goes to scout invisibly, and he finds a great dwarf in Thoma's office giving orders and the Tai'Jei employees on the first floor
- Thoma tells him to escape, and Cecil sneaks The Green King out and back to Kilind's place
- Vivian, polymorphed, sneaks into the palace and finds The White King and Riss Nil Fan; she overhears them getting barrels ready to bomb
- Cecil tries to put a plan in place for the Tai'Jei people, but they see barrels being placed around the city
- We grab The Green King, Kilind, and some civilians, and rush to the ferry
- Behind us, Kier explodes in a giant mushroom cloud, and large purple-and-yellow dragonflies swarm the boat
- Cecil turns into a giant eagle and goes to rescue the Tai'Jei people; Therin and Den are there, but Thoma is not
https://youtu.be/QGtdIf69IKc
- We soothe the kids and take a moment to break down, before setting off to Tathur to drop the Green King off with the White King's family
- We drop anchor off-shore and walk to approach Tathur to find a crowd of armed people and warboats being constructed
- They want us to make shore so they can commandeer our boat and the people for war
- Sin Tac, who has deemed himself the new White King, doesn't believe us when we tell him what happened and Riss Nil Fan's involvement; Riss Nil Fan is a trusted advisor
- We leave for Livson by way of For Xath with the Green King, Dav, the crew, Ket, Taya, Yand, Therin, Den, Kilind, and the Fucklings
- Thawsayer briefly runs out of yarn; Cecil finishes his paper
- Vivian scries on Shion, and sees only darkness with the sounds of crying, so we send a message to her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DwlS1_x7NE&list=PLRR-wL_Y-fbygEpEiCSYQa4PZDY786jPY&index=16
- We head to For Xath, and Cecil teaches Gan a new spell and Thaw how to cook some food
- Den tells us that we've met her before, in Kier, but we don't remember her
- Vivian and Thawsayer gamble
- Thawsayer teaches Gendd how to use the blowgun and gives it to him
- Vivian flirts(?) with Kilind
- Dav is hunched over and coughing, and the whites of his eyes are light purple; Cecil quickly removes the curse, along with the ones on some of the other crewmates
- Cecil and Vivian begin to fight over paper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvxW6eVJpNs
- Vivian distributes berries for food and Cecil electrocutes himself to check if he will seize or not
- We dock at For Xath, which appears untouched and unaware of the chaos in the northwest
- A random passerby explains that a handful of people in the city have the same "illness" or curse that Dav had gotten
- Vivian wants to stab the fang into the tree
- We dock and meet the dockmaster, who has purple-tinted eyes and is very old
- He tells us to speak to the mayor, a hobgoblin named Tir Xant
- We tell Tir Xant about what happened to Kier, and he brings back a group to escort the Green King to a safe place in the mountains
- Cecil hides some papers in the library, and the group gets rooms in the inn while Thaw and Gendd stay on the ship
- Vergil reaches out to his patron, who gives him a dream about a gathering of nymphs and kodama all stepping over him heading in one direction
- The next day, Thaw wakes with purple eyes, but Cecil cures him
- We take a vote what to do next, and end up going to Roos to try to stab the fang into the tree
- Kilind tells us that dragon's bones have the property to resist corruption, and that the tree might be part of the Origin Forest Theory, a theory suggesting certain plants have a connection to certain species on Viridian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6HktYp0F4
- Vivian and Kilind talk, and Kilind alludes to wanting to date after the deal with the tree
- Thawsayer digs a tunnel into the spider room and somewhat cleans it up
- Cecil continues to teach Gan Lightning Lure
- Vivian continues to exist
- The next morning, too many people are affected by the curse for Cecil and Vivian to cure; Thawsayer and one crewman are repeat offenders
- The fang easily clears away the rest of the webs, but contact with it does nothing for the crewmen
- Vivian teaches Gendd to gamble, and he wins
- Cecil invites everyone to a pierogi dinner and we chill out the night before we plan to set out; Vivan and Kilind share a cheese platter
- We dock the ship on the island and bring everyone over, before heading out to walk over to Roos
- Before we leave the island, we find Riss Nil Fan, slumped over and with a purple, tendrilled lump on the left side of his chest
- He is smug, as the Empire is facing a trade crisis and civil war
- He says he was used, as he used others, and gives us a compass pointing towards someone on a shell
- We go to kill him, but before we can he is stabbed through a tree through the chest by a spiral piece of wood from an irritated Gendd
https://youtu.be/paZm3-ZkvXk
