Session: 8/20/2023
Inky is searching for the memoirs of his father. There are five tones — fortuitous for their kind. Shadowbane is the ancestor. Inky learns his ancestor’s full name and learns that there are turns of phrase that are things his grandparents still say. There was a war between hobgoblins and elves and he mentions fighting in it, but he doesn’t mention who he was fighting for. Inky gets the sense he was an adventurer in his younger days.
The dream that Rohan is having is not his own. He sees a young, hot, muscled ifrit before hearing himself speak, though it’s not his own. “Father, you know this isn’t right!”
Looking up at a giant throne made with precious stones and literal flames. A sultan sits upon it: an older gentleman looking down with sadness in his face. He says there is no other way.
The subject says he knows the other way and it won’t be pretty but someone has to do it. The father exclaims no, and the dream shifts.
Rohan feels cold and he is chained as a demon stands before him, saying Taraaq will work for the demon now. Taraaq is in a cubicle, a worker that is no longer his own. He is covered in snow, no longer muscular, no longer on fire, covered in snow. He lives in a small apartment with items that Rohan doesn’t recognize: an older video game console, a tv dinner (uneaten).
Iskra has a gentle dream. He comes to awareness in a kitchen, sitting by a table. Someone is working in the kitchen, singing softly to themself. She is standing next to a stove with an apron. When Iskra comes in she is surprised and say hello, she says she wasn’t sure it was going to work. She asks him to help with chopping some veggies. She gives him a proper chopping knife and Iskra apologizes saying that he doesn’t recall the last time he was in a nice place like this.
She asks how Iskra is and says it’s a loaded question, then apologizes and says that she knows she’s not supposed to check in on us but she couldn’t help it. She’s the woman that cured Iskra of his lycanthropy, and Iskra asks if she’s cured others and she says she does when she can slip out. He asks why, she asks why not, and he says I don’t know — she asks why wouldn’t she? Iskra says he wouldn’t, and she asks why he wouldn’t help others if he could. Iskra asks how you’d know and how you can tell the difference between someone doing this on purpose, and someone who isn’t.
She is excited to have a name and says she will have a beautiful and powerful name, then decides her name is Phoebe. She says that if Iskra meets a Phoebe on the road then she has to change her name! Then she realizes that’s rude.
She says that Iskra will need to apologize to everyone because when she does this it causes powerful dreams. Iskra will pass the message along. She explains that her family isn’t a big fan of her reaching out because mortals have to do their own things but she feels like she can’t just leave them alone. There’s a long conversation about how she’s creeping but definitely not creeping. She explains she’s a shiradi - basically an angel. Iskra isn’t sure what that is, he’ll ask Inky later.
She explains that this is her first job: not Iskra specifically, but those that Tristan fucked over. She’s trying to help everyone infected by Tristan specifically. Iskra starts to overthink things and she explains that she’s making stew right now and Iskra doesn’t need to so anything harder than that.
Iskra says that all he thinks about is not existing and she says that’s not very helpful, actually.
Dia has had this experience once before, a while ago. There is snow and wolves all around her, Bertram is here. He’s been hit by somebody and he falls down, wearing rags and there’s a lot of cloth around his fingers and feet so that he doesn’t get too damaged by the cold. There’s a big Goliath man standing over him saying:
“When I say give me your rations for today, I mean give me your rations for the day!”
Bertram curses and agrees with some complaint. He hands the Goliath a bowl of something watery. Dia stands between Bertram and the Goliath and yells at the Goliath to stop it. Bertram hesitates and seems to just about hear her and mutters saying he hopes he’s not losing his mind and calling out for Dia. She asks if he can see her and he says no, but he can hear her. She says she thought she was dreaming and he says he thought he was. She asks if this is normal and he says it is now.
She explains this isn’t normal and she asks what’s happened to him. He explains he won’t make her worry and she calls him a foolish man. She tries very hard to heal him, managing to succeed at it.
She finally asks where he is and he says he doesn’t know: he was kidnapped. She asks a bunch of questions and Bertram reinforces he doesn’t know. Dia realizes that Bertram doesn’t know what happened and he says of course not, he was kidnapped. She asks for a reason to stay or a reason to go or a reason not to go and what she’s saying culminates in that the Family didn’t count on the fact that she was just tired of her entire family.
Dia explains everything that has happened with Rafferty. She explains that Rafferty and she and the Bloodsoaked Banner are all looking for Bertram and Bertram says that Dia better be in a safe place. Dia says she’s on a ship to Usval. Bertram says that he’s rather far up north and Dia looks around and recognizes a country’s flag nearby and she realizes where he’s at.
Dia explains that Captain Kearney is the captain of the ship they’re on and SHE’S the friend mentioned. Bertram is feeling a certain way because she’s an adventurer and he’s in prison now. Dia mentions that Prudence is aware that Dia is looking for him, and she mentions the whole arranged marriage with Lord Liyon and how it was being arranged (Bertram will punch father in the face) and Dia tries to explain that she ran, but Bertram mentions he has three dead wives and he’s not sure why Lord Liyon would be chosen for Dia.
Bertram says he prefers Dia not come to rescue him but Dia says that she’s going to be. Bertram says this is now a competition and he’s going to have to organize a prison break. Dia says to make sure the big guy can’t impede on his plans, then! Bertram says he has two shivs so don’t worry about it.
Bertram is just so glad to hear her voice, real or not. He’s going to organize a prison break because he can’t have Dia or Rafferty saving him: his pride can’t take it! He’ll die out of shame!! Dia says he better be ready to die out of shame because she will win. He hopes he’s not going crazy and she doesn’t think he is. She lets slip the whole undead thing and Bertram questions it, then asks if she’s ALSO met undead, and he reassures that he’s aware of it and there’s a story to share when they meet up in person. Dia demands the abbreviated version right now.
Bertram explains he’s been sent into the mountains to dig and once they dug out a temple(?) that was extremely old. Inside there were skeletons and he ran (faster than the big guy that hates him). Dia asks if he saw any symbols or heard any ominous whispers from beyond the void. He says not really.
Dia zones out for a moment and wonders if everything is connected. She ultimately explains everything that’s gone on and mentions Captain Kearney is a pirate and also they kissed.
There’s a legion guy there and Dia explains to tell him that a friend of Valtar is on their way.
Bertram says the next time they see each other he’ll be a warlord of the wastes.
They say their goodbyes.
Country: Reclesau
Arythas’s dream is him as a kid playing hide and seek with the other kids, and he’s hiding from an older kid. The memory proceeds mostly correctly, but something seems out of place: there is a canary on a windowsill near the tree I’m hiding behind. The bird is singing. I forget about the game and approach the canary, which keeps singing and isn’t afraid of me at all. I get very close to it and look at it and the bird hops over and hops on my nose — I sneeze and it flies away.
A hearty laugh is behind me and I turn around to find a silver Dragonborn man behind me, the canary flying toward him. Several more literally fly around his head and he’s still laughing. I wait to see if he says anything. I know that this isn’t something that happens very often, especially not Dragonborn, but one of the titles and forms that Bahamut uses is an old man with the canaries. I recognize this and suddenly I’m an adult again and Bahamut comes up. He asks how I’ve been enjoying it, and I say I haven’t and this journey’s been hard.
Bahamut says that he’s been able to slip in and is talking to one of Samhain’s people — he likes her, finds her feisty, but don’t say that out loud wink wonk. Bahamut says that there are hard times behind and ahead of me. He wanted to do something nice, especially since he can’t always reach out.
Bahamut does tell Arythas to watch over Inky and keep eye on him, as there are others around Inky that aren’t good company.
Arythas ultimately asks how he will know if he’s on the right path. Arythas says he’s not sure if he is, and Bahamut says that he has a lot of anger, and too much can damage those around him. Bahamut recognizes that the people around him may not be what Arythas wanted, but we can’t always pick who is around you. Arythas asks about Taraaq, and Bahamut explains that these two have been through a lot and they have suffered much. Bahamut reminds Arythas that a paladin isn’t just about smiting evil, but also stoking the fire of good in others. Both of them have potential, and Taraaq isn’t the worst influence there is. Even in the heart of the worst criminal and monster is a small kindling of goodness.
He reminds to be vigilant and kind, always give people a chance to repent before they smite.
We all wake (Arythas pretends to be asleep as he savors the memory, which he can now recall on command). Iskra asks about the Shiradi and I recall what it is, but Dia speaks up to explain. Arythas confirms it and explains it’s not quite a guardian angel, not quite so direct. We all realize we hard weird dreams and Rohan thinks that it wasn’t his own dream, Dia doesn’t think she had a dream — she saw Bertram and talked to him, but he wasn’t asleep, he was awake. She doesn’t know it was real or not.
Inky explains he didn’t sleep but was reviewing his history and trying to get in touch with his ancestry.
Rohan finds a quiet place and asks Taraaq about the dream and Taraaq asks why he asks, and Rohan explains it was the dream he had. He says that he doesn’t want to be a prince or anything, he just doesn’t want to be a demon. Rohan asks what happened, exactly, and Taraaq says that what happened is painful. It happened a long time ago but it’s a painful memory. Rohan apologizes, then persists and asks if Taraaq was trying to do the right thing and Taraaq says he doesn’t know.
He ultimately says it WAS the right thing. The city had a deal because there was a war and they brought demons for help, and that meant that some ifriti had to join demons after the war. He says that he did this instead of ten random sons and daughters, he went in their stead.
Rohan says this changes so much, he thought that Taraaq was evil or something like that. The two have a very awkward bro moment and come to a better understanding of each other.
Rohan goes to being with the party and Dia catches ahold of him and drags him to a private area, asking to talk to Taraaq. She tries to broker a pact with him to help Bertram but Taraaq absolutely refuses to do so because it can absolutely destroy her life. She begs and he says that she is Rohan’s friend and he will not hurt her brother and attaching Bertram to a demon will hurt him in the long run and Taraaq begs her to understand that this is bad. He promises Dia that he will ask around and see what he can do to actually help, but he absolutely won’t promise anything. She gives his smoke visage a kiss on the cheek.
Taraaq goes back into Rohan and says he will call his buddy and explains that the second buddy is intense but he’ll give it a try.
Dia is sitting and eating and staring at a wall and Rohan comes up and says he doesn’t think that this is a good idea at all. He says Taraaq will look into it but he thinks this is a very bad idea. He does say he really wants help killing a demon and Dia says that’s a very tall ask. She’ll help, then she apologizes for acting so rashly.
Arythas gets breakfast and coffee and takes it to Inky because he knows Inky sometimes forgets to eat when he gets super into learning. Arythas does a check with him to make sure he’s okay (he’s great) and asks about what he’s studying (his ancestry, how to get more POWER!, which is fine). Arythas nods and goes to get breakfast for himself. He helps around the ship.
Dia goes to the library to search for information on genie and how to make a deal — she finds a pamphlet called “how to make a deal with a genie for prophet”. She learns that it’s a ritual but the information on the ritual isn’t included. She does know she has to perform a ritual and there are different kinds of genie - some are more agreeable than others, with an ifrit probably being the worst of them, and there’s one that grants wishes and combines all of the elements that might be the most agreeable (djinn). She knows we’re going into a swampy area and the wood genie might be most accessible (kizidhar).
She goes to Inky and asks for help researching something. Inky asks what she needs help with and Dia asks if it’s possible to make a deal on someone else’s behalf OR have them talk to her brother so he can make a deal. Inky knows that’s possible but it’s usually to fuck someone over, or selling a firstborn toward it. She also wants to know how to dream walk or communicate to someone through dreams — Inky says those are two very different things, so pick one. Dream communication would be easier for her to achieve as she already has a connection to him, but having a genie talk to him might have a bigger impact.
She decides she wants to find out how to convince a genie to talk to Bertram so that he can make his own deal. Inky decides to get her a guest pass to the library so that they can camp out and research it.
Dia feels uneasy in the library. She doesn’t feel like she should be in there. Mattai shows up and jump scares Dia intentionally. Mattai asks for the paperwork for Dia, reviews it, and decides that this is acceptable. She instructs Dia not to take anything out from the library.
She figures out that it would be much easier if they had a name for a specific genie, and it’ll take more than just Dia to perform the ritual. People performing the ritual don’t need to be trained. She also learns what a genie is not.
Iskra goes to find the captain and tells her about the angel, about the woman who healed him of his lycanthropy. Captain asks not to be healed and Iskra explains that he thinks she is only helping those that don’t want the curse. She is relieved to hear that. Iskra explains he reached out to his religious friends for help because he doesn’t have much faith, though he’s been surprised to not be met by horror at the fact that he’s a lycanthrope. Captain explains most of the “good” religions are not those that discriminate against people who were victims.
Iskra asks if Captain Kearney had any weird dreams and she said she had a few good memories.
Captain Kearny is glad that Iskra decided to share this with her, and she expresses that she hopes to see Iskra again in the future.
Iskra does ask if there’s a way to keep in contact with Kearny and she gives him a list of places they often dock.
We arrive at the dock for Usval.