Astvanor Session 112 (6/9)

[cinaed]

Session 112: Day 26 of Veksdan (6/9)

The day of their return from the Shadowfell, Hava throws herself into Maeve’s arms, crying that Yolov had died. Maeve spends most of the day comforting her, wrapped around her during the night. It isn’t until the next morning that Maeve asks about the hand.

Hava assures her that they found it, and Maeve says that she needs to take the hand to someone in Previdian, and then will receive a cloak and take it to a terrifying woman in Previdian, who will get her what she needs to bring to Kastvar for Aria’s resurrection.

The party all looks at the hand a little closer, but they can’t tell if it’s the Archfey’s hand itself, an eladrin’s, or a warlock’s. When Az reaches out and takes the hand Yolov hastily says Galowen might have to stop Az.

Galowen grabs him and Az attempts to cast Thunder Step away and Yolov counterspells it. Galowen pins him to the ground as Maeve tells him that the hand is hers and kicks him in the stomach. Hava snaps at her to stop and then asks Az what’s going on.

Az says that his patron has ordered him to track the other Archfey and this is the first thing he’s found that could help him track them down. He needs it.Hava, seeing the glossy look in his eyes, realizes he’s under some sort of curse as Yolov says the hand seems to have a compulsion over him.

Hava apologizes before she touches Az’s forehead and casts Remove Curse.

Az immediately feels regret and embarrassment. He doesn’t loosen his grip on the hand immediately, but finally flings it onto the snow. He apologizes and Yolov assures him it was the hand that controlled him.

Yolov explains the Boon of the Unnamed Summer and then looks at Maeve. He starts to ask her about who hired her to steal the hand, and she says she wasn’t exactly hired for the hand, she just took the fur traders job so she can do her series of tasks to be able to convince Lady Sayla in Previdian to join a certain organization.

The party easily pieces together that Lady Sayla, the head of the Sanctuary, is being asked to join the Col’Far. Audacity remarks in Aquan to Hava that he keeps running into people working for the Col’Far. Maeve replies in Aquan that the Col’Far are everywhere.

Yolov begins to wrap the hand up again to hide it from Az’s view and says that they know Maeve left Radiscune quickly and that people are angry with her. They’d like to help her because he knows Hava wants her safe. She admits that she stole something from the Crestiana family and pulls out the top part of a sword.

Galowen studies it and realizes it is a magical sword whose blade appears and adjusts to what the wielder wants. He almost hears whispering as Hava asks more about who asked her to steal it. Maeve says she was hired to steal it but admits when Hava asks that she took the half of the money up front and then planned to fence it.

Yolov offers to Identify it and Maeve says she could just bring it to Cross Bridge City in Kastvar and the original person who wanted her to steal it. Audacity recognizes this as the heart of the Col’Far and the most corrupt city in the world.

Hava looks at Maeve and says she’s really dumb. Maeve says hey, but admits she knows it. She asks what else she was supposed to do. Hava says not steal from the Crestiana family, and Galowen offers to exchange the hand for the sword.

Maeve quickly agrees and says she already got 3,000 gold to steal it. As long as she gets the hand and passes along the cloak, she can convince Lady Stayla and get Aria back. She explains that it’s either selling her soul to the Col’Far or doing this job.

As Yolov hands the hand to Maeve, she tosses the sword hilt at him, which Galowen catches and hands over. He identifies it as the Hilt of the Shadow, a magical weapon, and the party tucks it away in the bag to decide who should use it later.

When they get back into town, Maeve says she has to meet with Mommy, which makes Hava groan and tell her she hated that and Audacity remark that her sister is a terrible person.

Hava is invited to spend the night with her sister’s crew at their place in the city after Maeve is done with Mother, where Kresh flirts cheerfully with Hava all night. Travesty plays music and Maeve drinks with her. They clearly have a tremendous amount of fun.

Hava sees a relaxation to Maeve that she doesn’t think she saw even at the island, as she leans against the bed and listens to Travesty and Kresh argue about the hottest barkeep in Port City. Hava steps outside briefly to weep before she returns to her sister’s side.

The morning of the twenty-sixth, she is hungover. She makes her way back to the Silver Captain just in time to watch Asa and Yolov leave for their brunch date, hand in hand. There, Diana and Galowen are still looking at the invite for the ball.

Hava asks what they have and Galowen says it’s a piece of paper, an invitation to a ball in their honor. Hava asks for what, and Galowen reminds her that they did kill a dragon. She realizes that she is expected to wear shoes and can have a plus one and hands the invitation back.

She firmly says she’s not wearing shoes. Then she asks Galowen if he saw Yolov going on a date, and Galowen says he doesn’t believe it. Hava says she’s telling the truth, she only lies to Az.

Galowen squints at her, and then looks out the window. He catches sight of them, holding hands as they turn around the corner, and curses in surprise. Hava says she knows. When Galowen says that at least Yolov’s plus one is covered, Hava says she can invite Taion.

She says it’s exciting to have a ball in their honor, though weird. Then she looks around and wonders where Audacity and Az are.

Meanwhile Audacity has gone to the post office and mailed off two letters home. He also searches for an Asalorian temple, and finds a very small one. Asalor is not one of the main deities here, but there’s a small temple dedicated to each member of the pantheon in the city.

When he goes there, it is very quiet and empty, so silent that for a second he thinks no one is there. Then an extremely heavily pregnant tiefling woman waddles out of the back and looks surprised, since most people don’t come to this temple.

Audacity apologizes for disturbing her, and she says it’s no problem. She offers room and food and explains that the temple offers assistance to anyone who needs it. Audacity says he’d love to but his friends would not want to stay here. He says he was hoping just to feel like he was home again.

She says the service isn’t for another few hours but he’s welcome to stay, though it’s usually just her and her husband. Audacity hesitates and then says he has a weird question to ask. When she says ask, he pulls down his shirt and shows off Asalor’s hand print.

When he starts to explain that he died, she says she knows. She pulls up her shirt slightly to show a similar print on her skin and says she died briefly a very long time ago. They begin to talk, and the woman says she grew up in Previdian where her family owned a shop before she got in trouble and had to leave, traveling before she found Asalor.

She and her husband live here now, since she wanted to avoid anyone she got on the bad side in her previous life. Even if she does miss the warmer weather and the way the flowers last longer in Previdian. She introduces herself as Lucky, which isn’t her virtue name, just a nickname.

Audacity asks about her death, because he’s never heard of this happening to anyone else. Lucky says that she thinks everyone does, but it’s just that some people forget or most people stay dead. She likes to think everyone gets a personal experience with a god who cares for them. She just thinks she and Audacity are the lucky ones who came back and remembered.

Lucky lays her hand over Audacity and says that the important thing is that he knows it is real and happened and that it means Asalor loves him. She asks if that makes him feel warm, even if it’s fucking cold outside.

Audacity agrees and sits there quietly for a while. Lucky brings him tea and cookies. He also meets Jessie, her half-elf husband, who drifts past without making much eye contact. He attends the service, which is just Lucky and her husband, and then goes to visit Juniper.

Meanwhile Az has spent breakfast with Genesis and then went straight to Juniper’s with Margo’s notes. She immediately begins to pour over Margo’s notes as Az asks her questions about theories and other people who might have died to this.

Juniper clears off four tables and sets to work. As she’s clearing them off, saying that it’s important work and she’s honored he brought this to her, Az notices her setting aside poison vials and a little puppet of herself. She’s clearly gone to visit Esrani.

The notes, as expected, are horrific. Juniper explains a lot of it to Az is about weaponizing the disease that killed Movia and drain a person. From what she can gather, this illness that drained Movia and by extension the same illness that killed Az’s mother, is a link between a patron and a warlock where the patron is siphoning the life of their warlock. Sometimes it is on purpose, the patron purposefully draining the warlock’s life, and sometimes by accident, the pact is ill-made or the warlock isn’t strong enough for the bond.

What happened to Movia is that the entity she was bound to deliberately drained her. Margo’s notes focused on how to force people to become warlocks to be able to drain them, which was part of her experimenting with flesh and blood and flesh golems that were fruitless.

Az looks at her and asks if she’s sure it could only be a warlock pact.

Juniper says she’s pretty sure. She knows that Movia tried to break off a connection with something and failed at it. Az thanks her and excuses himself under the guise of needing fresh air.

He steps outside into the alley and summons Medrash. He looks directly into his eyes and says that he needs to talk to his patron immediately. Medrash blinks slowly and then Az is in the tower.

When Az flips a table, his patron says he’s feeling feisty. Az snarls at them that they couldn’t have done it on purpose, that it was a mistake, it has to have been a mistake. After a long moment, the patron admits it wasn’t supposed to be like that. The pact was passed on to Az as an infant, and he wasn’t able to handle it.

Az says he was a baby, how could he handle it. His patron says that some children are able to. They reach out their stick fingers to touch Az’s face and say they needed power, they thought he could handle it. Az is the one who is meant to end this, the one who was supposed to stop this for them and their companions. Az is the one meant to save them and rule beside them in the Courts.

Az sputters and asks what.

His patron asks what he means. Az says he can’t come to the Feywild to rule in the Court, he has a life in the material plane. His patron says that this is how it’s meant to be, and Az says they’ll have to talk about it later. He asks how to stop it, and the patron says only by breaking a pact. They ask if Az would break their pact and Az says no.

The patron says that this wasn’t what they wanted, but his mother chose this to save him.

Az sighs and then starts to tell the patron about the Archfey boon they uncovered. Az says it cursed him when he touched it. His patron advises him not to do that again and says that it might be the hand of the Summer Fey’s daughter. Az asks if she’s in the material plane and the patron says they hope so, they hope that she made it out alive.

Az says they found it in the Shadowfell so who knows what became of her. He admits to using his powers in the Shadowfell, only briefly, and his patron says they weren't able to reach him.

Troubled by that, Az says he has notes to get back to, and his patron tells him that he is their chosen knight, he should hold himself like it. Az picks up Medrash and nods before he and Medrash return back to the alleyway. He breathes hard before going back inside.

It’s at this point Audacity gets to Juniper’s shop. He walks in and looks at Az, who looks haunted, and asks if he’s okay.

Az laughs with a tinge of hysteria. Audacity says not fine, and Az asks if he wants to help with the notes. Audacity says he came to drink poison, looking at Juniper. She says they’re doing a lot. Audacity says he saw the terrible experiments and then asks what they figured out so far.

Juniper says that the Sworn Edge is trying to figure out a way to forcibly create warlocks and then drain them of their life force. Audacity says that he was under the impression that warlocks choose their pacts, and Az says that sometimes people can be tricked into the pacts but otherwise most patrons will want cooperation.

Juniper says they were trying to create flesh golems to experiment with, but golems don’t have souls. She apologizes for interrupting and says that Movia tried to break her pact with her patron and failed. Az adds that some warlock pacts can be genetic or generational, though it doesn’t seem to pass to every single child.

Audacity asks if it’s trading a child to the Fey like he’s heard in stories.

Az shrugs and says he’d have to ask, but deals might be able to be made on other people’s behalf. He wearily tries to figure out how long they’ve been studying the notes and Audacity says it’s almost four in the afternoon.

When Juniper says there are some edible plants here, Audacity carrols her and Az into eating a very late lunch before they go back to examining Margo’s notes.

When they return to the inn, Asa collects her books on the Shadowfell and she and Yolov escort Hava and Galowen to the library, the latter two coming along at the chance of meeting the werewolf they heard about in Little Nest.

It is an enormous, towering library five stories tall. There are floating platforms that rise and seek out books on different levels for waiting students. Yolov visibly relaxes as soon as he enters, moving with the same confidence as when they first arrived in the Colma on the sixteenth.

There is a triton woman at the front desk named Visaj, who Yolov recognizes because she's been at the desk for the same shift every time for the past five years.

She stands up at the sight of Yolov and beams. She exclaims that she’s so excited to see him. She’d heard he got banned from the campus but then maybe unbanned since she heard they killed a dragon, but she can pretend not to know about the ban if that helps.

Yolov points at Galowen and says that he’s the one who killed the dragon. He also assures her that he and Hava are no longer banned from the campus and that it was a misunderstanding. His face is faintly purple and he doesn’t look at Asa, who is looking intrigued.

When Visaj tells him that the master is up in his office and has been busy with a hush hush project with Rian Tazkani but she’s sure he would love to see him, Yolov says that’s why he’s here: to visit and to introduce his friends to Master Tes’vala.

Visaj waves goodbye and then her ear flattens and she wheels around to yell at a student trying to drink coffee in the library. Galowen is impressed by the ferocity in which she tells the student to go ahead and chug the coffee, just don’t come crying to her when they need to pee later and lose their prime studying spot.

Yolov brings them up to the fifth floor and knocks on Tes’vala’s door. There is quiet for a moment before a firbolg even bigger than Galowen opens the door and greets Yolov in a slow, calm voice.

Yolov says he understands Tes’vala is busy, so if it isn’t a good time, he can come by another day, but Tes’vala assures him that it’s fine, he and Rian have just been discussing the future and Rian has just put on a pot of tea. He steps inside into an office that is built to accommodate a firbolg.

Rian, a brown-haired man, is leaning against the desk, looking agitated.

Tes’vala gestures for them all to sit and says it’s always nice to meet friends of Yolov, especially one from the homeland. He nods towards Galowen. Yolov introduces Hava and Galowen.

Next to them all, Rian gets increasingly twitchy before he asks Yolov to talk sense into Tes’vala because he’s talking about retiring.

Yolov looks shocked and looks at Tes’vala, who says that he’s been thinking of retiring at the end of next year, buying a cabin in the woods, or maybe buying a home in Valnore. Yolov can piece together that he mentioned Valnore because his ex is Pages, the head librarian of Solray Academy.

He says that he’s sure Rian would be a worthy successor even if everyone would miss Tes’vala immensely, which makes Rian sourly ask him whose side he is on. Tes’vala has been the head librarian for over 150 years, no one can run the library like him.

Tes’vala expresses confidence that Rian will be able to handle things but also adds that perhaps this conversation shouldn’t be in front of others.

Rian agrees that this conversation is going to continue another day, clearly still determined to convince Tes’vala not to retire. He adds that he’s been here since 4 in the morning and is going to leave and have a couple drinks. Hava and Galowen ask where, and are told the Dusty Stacks. Galowen sighs at the book reference before Rian says that it is a reference to having sex in the stacks.

Hava whispers to Galowen that she didn’t know they could do that, which Yolov hears and firmly tells her they’re not supposed to, with Tes’vala adding that they strongly discourage it in their public libraries. Galowen asks if they can do it in private libraries, and Rian says they can do it in his.

Hava and Galowen agree to a drink with Rian, pausing just long enough for Galowen to give Yolov a thumb’s up, which he confusedly returns, and Hava to tell him that she and Yolov are going to have a talk later.

They leave as Yolov begins to tell Asa and Tes’vala stories of the Hooligans’ time in the Tessvar Forest.

As Rian leads Galowen and Hava to the Dusty Shelves, he talks a mile a minute about the way the school is run and how the funds should be better allocated to the library and scholarships and reaching underserved communities that could create incredible wizards if given the chance.

He clearly knows a lot about the college and people who could be reached in other countries and invited to Radiscune. He explains that Kastvar has the highest number of known sorcerers.

When Hava and Galowen point out that it sounds like he knows a lot about the way the school should be run, Rian says he knows a lot but not as much as Tes’vala. Hava says that he has time to learn and shouldn’t be so down on himself, experience takes time.

Rian says he’s not down on himself, and Hava and Galowen say they’ve learned a lot about adventuring from their experiences, they’re sure that he will be a great head librarian. They buy him a drink, and a few more before he takes them both home to his private library, where they all enjoy the night together.

After their conversation with Tes’vala and time within the shelves reading etiquette books together, Yolov walks Asa to the teleportation circle in the supply closet. She’s holding both his hands and looking at him, saying she had a great time at brunch and the library and she’s going to get a dress now that they know the fashion. She squeezes his hands.

Yolov turns lavender and stammers out that he had a great time too and wonders if she wants to make a day of it the day of the ball, visit the house before coming to the Colma and the ball. He quickly adds if it wouldn’t be too much time away from her shop, though he’s sure Trixie is capable.

Asa says that’s a wonderful idea, and then asks if there’s anything else.

He assures her that the house has so many interesting things he thinks she’s like, and then stammers himself into silence, still blushing and squeezing her hands back before she steps onto the circle and disappears back to Stagheart.