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Session 138: Day 11 of Saeden (4/19)

Mastery is avoiding looking at Endurance’s head hung at Galowen’s hip. A few of the passerby notice this and look at Mastery, who shrugs at them, and they move on. He says that he’ll explain stuff at the bar tonight, which makes Audacity point out he has a broken horn.

Mastery says that it’ll make him look cool. Diana asks if having two broken horns make him feel lighter or off-balance. Mastery admits it does, but not a lot.

Audacity says before everyone gets scattered to the wind, they should discuss the whole pact thing Endurance was trying to force on them. Does Mastery know if he did that to anyone else?

Mastery doesn’t know, but everyone looks at the kids, Ricky, Jasani, Kalia, the advisor to the queen, the bugbear, the halfling, and Solace. Yolov reminds Galowen about him being able to sense fiendish auras back in Nestling.

Galowen casts divine sense to see if anyone besides Ricky is a warlock. He discovers that the princess of Previdian, the bugbear, and the elf child have been forcibly turned into warlocks. Kalia gets uncomfortable at his inspection and tells him she just wants to go home.

When she says that, Galowen says he doesn’t think that’s a good idea. She exclaims that she’s being kidnapped, and Hava says that no one’s kidnapped, they’re going to brunch. Kalia says she would like to have a bath before a meal, and Yolov says that he’s sure that can be arranged.

Diana pats Kalia, who stares at her before she tersely says that she wants a change of clothes.

When they get to the Axemight Estate, Leandra greets them with wide eyes and says she’ll get a kettle on and get some water boiling. She also says she’ll figure out some clothes for everyone as well.

They are put in the parlor and given basins of water for washing up. She looks at Galowen and asks if he wants the first bath, and Galowen says he doesn’t mind getting washed out back before going upstairs with her.

Kalia immediately leaps at the chance of a bath, looking damp but clean when she returns.

After Galowen tells the group about the warlock pact situation, they decide to talk to Jasani about Rial and then the bugbear and Kalia separately.

As everyone washes up and begins to eat, Yolov asks the rescued prisoners about their situations, trying to figure out if they’re in the same situation as Jasani and Flick. Solace explains that he was part of a temple that Elathias visited trying to recruit them. When they refused, Elathias slaughtered them all and kept Solace.

The halfling woman is named Lily. She worked for a rival mercenary group and was being held as hostage to keep her group out of town. She says she doesn’t think they stayed out to protect her but because they didn’t care about her and now considers herself unemployed.

The bugbear introduces himself as Viallo and is very quiet for a moment. He says his issues with Elathias are of a personal nature, and not one he’s comfortable with discussing further. Yolov doesn’t push but does say they know a little about what Elathias has done and that they have a nearby haven.

Viallo says that he appreciates that but he has to get home. When Yolov asks if they can help, he puts a hand to his chest and looks at Galowen, asking how far they are from home. Galowen says they’re on the same continent, but it’ll be a long walk north.

Yolov says they might be able to help him get closer.

Viallo says that he’s able to walk, but he has to get home to his wife. He has to get home in time for a ritual of Kelfemma, one dedicated to Caletras. Looking between Diana and Gallowen, he explains that he was kidnapped with a group trying to make peace with the terrible beast harassing their borders.

He invites Diana and Galowen to come home, even as Diana’s stomach sinks and she remembers where she and Adrin were forced to live near Kelfemma. She worries she knows who this terrible beast is. She says she doesn’t want to go home.

Viallo puts a hand on Galowen’s shoulder and says that his children would be honored to meet him. Galowen says he would like to come and asks when this ritual is happening. Viallo says in a few weeks. Caletras will be calling to them on their twenty-third birthday.

When he remarks that Caletras calls to people at times of her choosing, and rarely paladins. In all his life, he’s never seen any. Galowen says that they live in interesting times. Viallo says he never thought to see a naming of a paladin to Caletras, but he also never thought he’d seen a cleric but he did, and he married her.

He will leave for Kelfemma in the morning, wherever he goes, but if they have any questions for him, he will answer them.

The Kastvari advisor, Taema, says she was kidnapped shortly after the attack on Radiscune. She was meant to be blackmail to the queen, but she doesn’t think the queen is doing what she was told to do.

The elf child Rial and the orc child A are from Thumbhook, but the tiefling child sits on Jasani’s knee and explains that she came from a place with a lot of water and a tall statue where she put coins in the mouth. Az recognizes this as Bo’rava. She introduces herself as Kay-Key and asks Az about their home city.

Kalia snidely remarks that they know why she was kidnapped. Yolov says they do, and stares at her when she prompts him to ask her. Galowen stares at her, making her straighten her shoulders and stare right back. She tells him that she’s not scared of him, and Galowen says he thinks she should be.

Kalia says she’s not scared of him, she’s scared of Elathias and her father. Galowen says he’s glad that she’s not scared of him then, because they suck.

The group approaches Jasani and asks about the three kids. Jasani says both Rial and Kay-Key came into the prison with their parents, but their parents went into Endurance’s office and never came out. He thinks they’re orphans, and he doesn’t think A ever had a family.

They explain about the warlock pacts, and Jasani gets visibly upset over Rial before Yolov assures him that they have a nearby sanctuary run by a man who might be able to help Rial or at least explain things. They make plans to explain the warlock pacts to Kalia and Viallo as well later.

Meanwhile Krystal sidles over to Diana, who is uncomfortably eating her way through food. Krystal compliments her on how cool she is, and Diana says she’s not compared to her friends. Krystal looks at Yolov and looks back at her. Diana says they’re all weirdly scared of trees.

Krystal says that is weird, trees are normal. She used to love to go camping. Diana says camping is great.

Hava, witnessing this and realizing Diana is oblivious, takes Diana aside and explains that Krystal likes her and probably wants to kiss her. When she asks if Diana would want to be kissed, Diana says she might like to. She pulls out Colby’s suggestions.

Hava takes these, reads them, and asks if she can do some revisions. Diana cannot say these over the top things to Krystal. Hava says this stuff is intense, maybe just be herself and take a walk with Krystal. She returns to flirting with Ricky as Diana invites Krystal to take a walk with her under some trees.

Diana immediately apologizes for being bad at this, and Krystal says she is too.

She looks up at Diana and asks if she likes to climb trees. Diana says she does, though she’s horrendous at climbing sometimes. She says she’s not as strong as she looks. Krystal laughs and says she’s really good at landing. If they get stuck in a tree, she’ll shimmy down and catch her.

Diana says she’s never been caught before. Krystal offers her some finger guns and says she will before she admits she needs to sleep. Diana tells her to rest, and watches, surprised, as Krystal just lays down on the floor and falls asleep.

Hava sighs loudly and resumes flirting with Ricky. Ricky asks if he works for all of them or just Az. Hava says that’s not how it works. Ricky says cool. He asks if they do this a lot.

Hava says they do. Ricky says it’s crazy how they pulled everyone out of there. She says that was the plan, the Hooligans try not to miss. He says it doesn’t look that way. She asks how he got here, and he says it’s not as cool or dramatic. He worked for the Hellfire Thorns before Elathias came, he was working for Endurance since he was thirteen back when it was a proper mercenary group. He wasn’t part of the hit teams, but he’d steal things, and then one day Elathias came and it was different.

He says he couldn’t leave, if they left they’d died. Endurance told them that they were testing something to gain more power and he needed five volunteers. No one raised their hand, and Endurance said until five of them volunteered, he’s going to start picking and killing someone until he got five volunteers. That’s how Ricky got there.

Hava asks where he’s from. He says it’s Port Zalfar, a big port city in Striog. It’s a great place if you’re into music and crime. Hava says they do love music and crime. Ricky says it’s kind of a shithole and rains all the time. He asks where she’s from.

Hava says Alu’daar. Ricky recognizes the name and says that’s cool. He says he knew someone who was there once. He says it was a short, dark-haired tiefling and Hava tells him to be a bit more specific. When he describes the tiefling, Hava recognizes them as someone who married an islander, but who left shortly afterwards, around the same time Maeve disappeared. She remembers overhearing a brief conversation between her parents wondering if the tiefling was involved.

Ricky says the tiefling moved back to Port Zalfar and Ricky moved later out of Zalfar. Small world. Hava says it’s a little boring down here and asks if he wants to get out of here. Ricky says he needs to ask his boss.

Ricky sidles over to Az and asks what he’s supposed to do. Az says he can do what he wants, just don’t leave town, pretending not to notice Hava winking at him. When Ricky asks if he can get out of here, Az tells him he can, repeating to just not leave town. Hava tells him he’s the best boss ever.

Audacity has been talking with the group, but he circles back to Mastery and Ambition. Mastery is bandaging his wounds, but Ambition looks up and says she didn’t think she’d get caught. She asks how he’s doing, and Audacity says the last few days have been a lot. She says it’s been a lot here too.

Audacity says he has a question. Before Galowen killed Endurance, Endurance said something about finding their mom. Is their mom not dead? Mastery says it doesn’t mean anything because Endurance might have been lying but Endurance did tell him that she was dead.

Audacity says Ambition went to the grave but couldn’t remember where it was, which is weird. Ambition points out that it was in the middle of the desert. Audacity says that they wouldn’t be the first person in the last two weeks who had their memories messed with. Mastery says when he first went to the grave, there was definitely something buried there.

Audacity says he just wanted to check. Mastery says he doesn’t know whose body it would be in otherwise. Audacity asks how long ago that was.

Mastery says twenty years ago, but he remembers her being dragged back, the shouting and screaming, and that she was gone. He remembers being really mad at her, which is stupid.

Audacity says he gets it.

Mastery says he asked Endurance what happened, and he said she was gone. He took Mastery out there to where she was supposedly buried, which is right by where Mastery’s mother was buried as well. If Endurance lied to him, that’s nothing new. She could have run away again.

Audacity says if she did, then Mastery has a right to be angry that she left him behind twice. Mastery says he wasn’t her kid, he doesn’t blame her at all. Audacity says he blames her a little. Mastery tells him not to worry about little old him. Audacity says Ambition can tell him, but he’s their brother and that means worrying about him.

Mastery says he’s the big brother, which means he should be worrying about them. Audacity says that’s not how it works. When Mastery says that he wants to revoke his brother card, Audacity gives him a middle finger.

Then Audacity asks what they want to do next. Mastery says that the Hellfire Thorns don’t have a leader, not that there’s many left. He only has a certain skill set, so he figured he’d go to the office and clear out the demon shit.

Audacity says he’s asking because he kind of has an in with two, possibly three, possibly four, thieves guilds, including the Col’Far. Mastery exclaims over the Col’Far and Audacity explains they killed a person that the Col’Far didn’t like. That makes sense to Mastery as Audacity adds that the last couple of weeks have been weird.

Audacity knows Ambition doesn’t want to go home, but if they want to, he can get them in with the Col’Far. Mastery says that’s terrifying and he would love that, as Ambition glances between them.

Audacity says they have connections to people in Stagheart, Port Vestan, and Radiscune. Ambition says that Stagheart would be as far away from the monastery as possible. Audacity says that it sucks a little, and Ambition says that she’ll take the Col’Far.

Audacity says he has to take the Hooligans to Port Sci and teach them how to behave. Mastery says he does have to deal with some stuff in town first. Audacity leans in and tells him that family calls him Ignatius. Mastery also drops his voice and says before he was Mastery, he was Kawreen. When Audacity asks if he wants to be called that, Mastery says he’s not sure, the last person to call him that was his mom.

Audacity promises to test it out.

The investigators return to their place for the evening, coddling Voren as they go. Ricky has his own place. Everyone else is found a place to sleep at the estate.

Galowen, Audacity, and Yolov seek out Viallo, who is fiddling with flowers for the lack of anything to do. He greets them.

Audacity sighs and says before they all leave tomorrow, Endurance was testing out forcing warlock pacts on people, and did it successfully to Viallo. Viallo says he never agreed to that, and Audacity says that’s Elathias’ thing.

Yolov says there is a safe haven a day’s journey away, where a man can potentially break the pact before Elathias can use any small influence when Viallo returns to Kelfemma. Audacity adds that they don’t even know whose pact was forced upon him, it could be Elathias’s or Endurance’s or something else entirely.

Viallo says he didn’t think Elathias could do worse than he already has. He asks them what they know of Elathias’ departure from the Grove, and Yolov says their friend told them a little, that Elathias was in love with a woman who chose duty and her home over him.

Viallo says her name is Adraetha. He explains that children are rare in Kelfemma, but Adraetha and Elathias were born in the same year and grew up together. There are leaders among the people of Kelfemma, but there is sometimes a cleric chosen by Caletras in times of great calamity. The ones who were chosen before Adraetha involved a war and a fire that took out most of the woods.

When she was chosen as the cleric, Adraetha and Elathias had planned to leave together. But she chose her people, knowing that they would be facing a great strife. She didn’t choose to stay for power, but to protect her people. Elathias didn’t take kindly to her choice.

He asks if they know the story of Caletras. When Audacity says no, Viallo explains that within the first great forest came a great fire that destroyed all but a single oak tree. Relatya brought forth the first wood elf from that tree.

This was Caletras. The Woodshaper, the Wildheart, the Defender, she created the goliaths, wood elves, and firbolgs from the stone and oak trees. She was born from that oak. What Elathias stole was her quiver. She ascended back to the Celestial Plane once she had created these creatures, but left behind her quiver and her crown to Kelfemma.

Audacity blinks and asks if they kept the crown. Viallo says that they have it. Az wonders why Elathias didn’t steal the crown too, and Yolov asks if he was caught in the middle of the theft. Viallo explains that he was, and killed several people, almost killing Adraetha when she tried to persuade him to stop .

Audacity sighs and says that Elathias gets worse every time they hear about him. Yolov says that Elathias cannot stand being told no, not from the Col’Far, not from those druids in Previdian, not from anyone in Kelfemma.

Yolov asks if the loss of the quiver will affect the ritual. Viallo says it will, but they cannot do anything about it. Yolov tells him they’re going after Elathias for a myriad of reasons, and if they can return the quiver they will, but at the very least they will stop Elathias.

Galowen has a question. He points out that there’s a ritual coming that involves the holy relics and might be attacked by Elathias. He asks if the cleric knows what calamity will fall, and Viallo says no, not until it happens, but Adraetha has been restless the last few months after one of the Tombkeepers was killed. He says he was surprised Galowen doesn’t know more as the son of the Tombkeepers.

Yolov freezes and doesn’t look at Galowen as he carefully says that Viallo said only one tombkeeper died and asks about the second one. Viallo says she’s back tending the tomb and Galowen says of course she is.

Galowen asks when the ritual is, and is told three weeks. Viallo hands him a flower he crafts from magic, and Galowen realizes Viallo assumed that Galowen knew his mother was alive. He walks outside to collect himself.

They go to Kalia last, who is braiding and unbraiding her hair. Audacity explains that she had a pact forced upon her, and Yolov explains about Kaspian and the dangers of removing the pact but also that the pact could drain the life from her.

Kalia says that her father is going to be furious about her being a warlock, furious about her being kidnapped, and furious about all of this. They realize she’s worried about getting in trouble with her father.

Audacity points out that kidnapping usually ensures one can’t escape. He says that he doesn’t really like her, and she retorts she doesn’t like him, but he tells her that she can’t blame herself.

Yolov points out she got kidnapped in the middle of a crowd of mages and other powerful people. He adds that when they spoke after her kidnapping she wanted revenge. He and his friends are going to stop Elathias, and they might get there first, so if there’s anything she wants to tell them about him that would be helpful, she could tell them now.

Kalia says that Elathias would be lucky to die to them and not her. She can’t tell them anything else before she speaks with Lord Halca. Audacity sighs in frustration and walks out. Yolov asks if Lord Halca can reach out to her magically once he’s cast Sending in the morning. Kalia says he should be able to, he’s a powerful sorcerer.

Az, studying her, realizes that she realizes she is not as important as she thought. If the king of Previdian and the king’s advisor couldn’t find her in these weeks when the Hooligans found her instead, then they probably didn’t even look for her. She is not as useful or protected as she thinks she is.

Az puts his hand on her shoulder in a comforting motion, and says that he suggests she go home and rest and keep herself sequestered in the royal grounds for a while once she gets there.

Kalia says that she expects he’s right, but she also didn’t fancy being kidnapped. She looks up at Az and says, “He’s going to betray him, you know. I don’t think he knows it yet, but I haven’t decided if I’m telling him or not.”

Az says that’s not his problem to deal with, it’s up to her.

Kalia says it’s funny, isn’t it. She wonders why people get so confident that no one will turn on them. Az says from what he’s seen of men like him, it’s over-confidence. Kalia says they don’t think anyone can touch them or get close to them. It’s funny, when men like Elathias aren’t in positions of absolute control, they seek it, so it’s funny watching people be blind to it. She says she doesn’t think she’ll tell him. Depends on how fast he comes to get her.

Az realizes she’s deliberately using as few names as possible, but he remembers Iceclaw mentioning Goldilocks and remembers Halisin is a tall sun elf who wears a lot of gold, and realizes she means her father Halisin. What reason would Elathias have to betray him, if Lord Halca wasn’t his boss? Lord Halca has been funding the Sworn Edge and Elathias.

This is the information that could restart the war between Previdian and Valnore.