Session Date: 04/20/2025
The Harengon
at some point gets sidelined by Kestrel St. Clair to help with something.
Dia, still holding some of the young woman’s books, chasing after her to return them. She manages to catch up and walks the young woman through the steps of managing a panic attack, asking what spooked her. She admits she’s easy to spook so that doesn’t mean much, and Dia offers to help her if she can help us. Dia explains that we’re looking at someone extremely proficient in transmutation spells, and she says yes, there’s a lot of professors. She seems to relax as she feels that Dia isn’t going to dig about what scared her.
Dia waves the rest of us over and we all dip into an unoccupied classroom. Dia introduces Inky, Arythas, and Iskra to her. Inky is excited that she likes books and starts going through them, asking what kind of books, and she hesitantly says they’re magic books. She asks to leave the books alone and Dia suggests that Inky leave the books alone, and Arythas explains that Inky didn’t take it? He’s just reading it.
Dia asks about the bruise around her eye, and she hastily starts to think of which teacher is free at this time. She leads us to an auditorium that is half filled with students listening to a rather bombastic (D&D) changeling professor, speaking about transmutation. The young harengon wishes to exit here, and Dia explains she needs to introduce us, still.
Dia looks her over and can tell the spot around her eye is new. Iskra reaches out and heals her with a spell, and Dia comments that she’s a healer and has interest in people who are wounded.
The young woman explains that it was an accident, and Iskra comments that this type of thing doesn’t happen. She explains it was an accident and he didn’t mean it, saying it was her professor. We all give her an alarmed look and she continues, saying that she went to visit him, and she wasn’t paying enough attention. She’s taking an astronomy class and her professor was charting the stars and got very upset and started flailing her arms and she juts happened to be close.
The professor was Virnoth, and basically she was too close when he got worked up seeing something upsetting. We decide it would be worth our time to visit them, and the young woman points out a nearby observatory.
We decide to go ahead and visit there as the transmutation teacher just started the reprise.
Professor Virnoth
We head over to the observatory and, on the way, Dia speaks to the party and comments quietly that she believes this might be more connected than we initially thought: that someone saw something catastrophic in the stars is a little suspicious given everything else going on.
When we enter the building there aren’t many people here, but Iskra smells oil (as in petroleum rather than lantern), and lots of it. It’s definitely the setup to light something on fire. We’re standing just outside of the doors and Iskra can tell that the smell is coming from upstairs at the observatory. We need to get the door open, so Arythas kicks the door open so that we can enter.
The young woman is confused and Iskra tells her to stay here, with everyone rushing up to see what is going on. Inky stays behind to keep her company as we rush to the observatory. We get up the first few steps and we’re already running through oil. Dia calls out for the professor and we start to hear blunt objects hitting something.
We rush faster and come upon a disheveled bugbear man destroying the telescope, his fur covered in oil. Dia tells him to wait, and he stops, saying there’s no use. He says that nobody has to know, he knows, nobody else has to know.
Through a mixture of diplomacy and intimidation, we convince him to tell us what’s going on. He explains that the sky is wrong: the stars are not right, and there’s nothing he can do about it. Dia asks in what way - like the wrong season? - and he chuckles, saying he observed it months ago: there’s a tiny point of light where there shouldn’t be. He thought perhaps he’d discovered something new, a supernova to put his name on, but it’s wrong: it keeps growing, and it keeps getting closer to here. He points at the bucket full of ash, saying he found proof of what this thing is.
Dia asks what it is, and he struggles, eventually saying we cannot be saved, so he doesn’t want to make sure there is no panic. He had to upgrade his telescope to see this thing, and Dia asks again what it is. He says it’s ancient, there are prophecies about it - they don’t matter, there’s actual research, and it’s called The World Born Dead, it’s name: Atropus. He says that it’s happening here. The notes are messy, but it brings death.
Dia asks how long, he says perhaps a year. It’s a planet that is coming to kill us. He starts freaking out and Dia starts speaking to him, explaining that he’s happened to run into the specific group of adventurers that has experience in this, and is working against this. He calls us delusional, that while we’ve dealt with some dead, this is an entire planet, and it will cause catastrophes. There will be death and destruction until we are all consumed by this; there is no way to stop this.
Dia commands him to freeze, and Arythas takes the lighter he has in his hand, and we tie his feet together and Arythas picks him up to take him out. We get outside and we ask the young woman if there is a nurse’s station somewhere. She says yes, of course, and she will take us there.
As we continue, Arythas can hear Virnoth counting down, and when the countdown finishes, the observatory still explodes.
At this point, the young woman is incredibly distressed. Iskra says something and suddenly she recognizes Iskra and hugs him around his neck tightly. He now recognizes her as well, and she’s crying and saying, “It’s you,” over and over. Iskra hugs her back tightly and apologizes, and she asks how it’s possible, and he ultimately pats her hat. She asks if everyone else knows and she is the last to know, and he says no, that’s not the case. He tells her that he’s done some horrible things, and she exclaims that correct, he didn’t call, and she calls him a doof and starts crying again.
Dia interrupts this heartwarming moment to comment that we have a lot going on right now. We make it to the infirmary and explain that Professor Virnoth had a mental break and his observatory is what had exploded. The doctor explains that he has to call security, and then he kicks Arythas out to sit in the hallway while Dia the “medical professional” stays to help. Between Dia and Iskra’s sister, they get his fur cleaned and Dia begins to explain that he is absolutely a danger to himself and possibly others.
They talk back and forth and Dia asks if there is a dean or head administrator for us to speak to about what has happened. The doctor explains that probably the explosion is the best place to be.
As we head out of the infirmary, Rdest asks if there’s any way for Iskra to never leave again. Arythas suggests that the two of them leave to go catch up and have some lunch while the rest of us go to talk to the administrators. Iskra comments that we can get ahold of him if needed, and we nod.
Iskra and Rdest
They make it to the cafeteria, Rdest holding onto Iskra as if he might disappear the moment she lets go. Rdest asks what has happened, and Iskra asks if she wants the long or short version, and Rdest asks what she tells mom and dad.
Iskra asks how Rdest talks to their parents, and she says letters: she’s about to write one to them. He says to tell her that big brother is alive, and then advises that they all stay away from anyone named Tristan. Rdest asks how he lost his memory, and he explains that Tristan took him, he turned into a lycanthrope, and hurt a lot of people, and the lost his memory. Rdest clarifies that Tristan made him the lycanthrope, and he confirms, and says that he is still diong it.
Rdest pulls a pen out of her hat and asks where to find Tristan, and Iskra explains he’s still looking. Rdest suggests they scry their parents together to talk about what’s going on, and then she can go on a sabbatical to help find Tristan - reasons of revenge is a valid reason. Iskra explains that this is very dangerous, and she’s not quite disuaded.
Rdest gives Iskra the names of their parents and Iskra asks where Wrzos is, and she explains she’s not sure, he’s been traveling. Iskra finally makes the connection of the bee token and pulls it out of his bag, sliding it toward her. She asks where it came from, and he explains that an annoying guy had it.
Iskra comments that he’s made friends with a gentleman that turns people into furniture, and he comments that perhaps she could learn something from him given her own skills and area of study. Rdest comments that before they hunt down Tristan as a family, they’ll need to find Wrzos, but it’ll happen.
Iskra does explain he’s not cursed anymore, and he has friends now, including the person that cured him on lycanthropy. He comments that she is special, and he can’t talk to her very much - in part because she’s from another plane. She says that this is a lot to take in. She promises she won’t go hunting for Tristan any time soon, but… He took Iskra away from them, and she won’t forgive that. Iskra reassures her that he is here, and he is alive. He took away other people in a way that they will never come back, to which Rdest says that a family hunt feels justified.
Rdest promises that she’s going to change her major and she’s going to become stronger and she’s going to protect Iskra. She has a friend that writes spells and she’s going to get an anti-Tristan spell going.
She makes him promise that he will keep in contact, and he says he will have someone help him write these letters to her, since he’s, you know, blind. She gives him the address to deliver to her, all the way to the specific room number. She also gives the directions for how to get mail to their parents as well.