Session Eighty Report: Hiding Dan's mind where the moon doesn't shine

General Summary

Hot night

The group decides to take a long rest in Edward’s card house after having bound the paladin and put him inside. Vence takes the first watch followed by Tristan who goes outside and spots odd sticks in places he did not remember. He hears Dan and Jan snoring and notices the horse. He goes back inside and watches Ecanus when he smells smoke.   The house of cards has caught fire and Tristan wakes up the group. Edward recalls the flaming cards into his deck while Tristan uses a wand to extinguish flames. Dan and Jan seem fine as Edward notices the Twigs which seem to be sticks not coming from the nearby area. Ed has a sending stone on him he found while searching Ecanus. It has an eye on it and Malak quickly determines it’s been used using detect magic. He also notices Dan and Jan have different dragon marks. Dan is of house Orion and Jan ofhouse Deneith. The horse seens gone and on Vence’s request Edward investigates the tracks. He notices heavy boots and that the horse took of swiftly. The ropes that seem cut are also collected by Vence.   Vence casts Sending to Briar explaining that their tent caught fire and asks if she can send a horse. Briar tells Vence she is on her way. Vence tells them house Deneith is sending a horse and Malak comments that Jan is from house Denieth and Dan from house Orion. Tristan than prompts Vence to check the checks as one was from a Dan d’Orion. Vence returns Dan’s check who mentions he’s just regular Dan but this is his cousin’s check who he refers to as regular dan. He tells the group he is Special D which makes jan tell them he’s D’licious. Tristan asks if they need to keep they away from Briar and the couple explains they are newly married, only last night. They are not very bright and still very young.  

Rest of night

Ed decides to sleep in a tree as Malak takes his turn to watch and reads his book. As Ed takes the last watch he decides to read his book and notices a Jan d’Deneith in it. She could be the sister of Maria. She would have been about 3 to 4 years older than Jan. She told Edward to tell her “It’s still the 2 of us”. Edward takes the rest of his rest to ponder about how to tell her this. I’m on a horse! At the sound of hooves Edward wakes up the party and Tristan and Vence move onto the road. While Malak readies Eldritch blast Edward hides in a tree. They see Briar arriving on a horse. Vence offers to teleport Briar back realising she would otherwise have to walk back and briar seems interested, in awe and impressed. Briar seems a little confused and Briar and Jan awkwardly great eachother. Malak, Vence and Tristan woulder who should tell Jan about the house rules. Tristan decides to ask Briar to do it.  

Bad news

As the group muses about what to do about house rules Edward asks to speak to Jan and Briar about Maria d’Deneith. Jan tells him she is the reason they are on the road. They are looking for her. Edward then informs them how she passed away from the sickness under his care and that she asked him to tell Jan her final words, being “It’s still the two of us”. Briar hols her hand as Jan seems in denial. She demands Edward to bring her back and blames him for her death. Edward tries to explain and reach out but she leaves into the woods. Briar tells him it’s not his fault and tells him she just needs a moment. Edward tells her he knows. But knowing is always better than not knowing. Briar leaves to check up on her and Vence informs Dan about what’s going on. Malak asks Edward if he can give him some advice. He tells Edward to be very clear when telling them people have died and to not use metaphors. To be compassionate and strong, they need that as their world is about to collapse.  

Dan

Vence tries to explain what happened that tells Dan he needs to be there for his wife. Dan does not seem to get it to a point where it frustrates Vence as he casts detect thoughts to see what the fuck is going on with Dan. Dan’s brain seems empty except for horses. He seems to be riding through empty canyons calling out Dan having calls for Dan echo through the canyons. Vence turns onto an adult Dan and tries to communicate with him explain what happened. He connects with Dan who asks if Jan got happy, excited and then sad? And asks where she is. Vence hugs him as he points where to go and Dan leaves. Vence shouts that they need to examine Dan and Malak does a magical checkup as Edward does a physical. Edward finds nothing and Malak using detect poison and desease also finds nothing. Malak asks Vence to maybe have Briar check if Jan is ok also.  

Jan

Briar checks jan by asking if she can count the fingers she’s holding up. Vence puts his hands on her shoulder and asks if he can check her out but Jan seems reluctant telling him she does not know him. Vence explains what happened with Dan and why he wants to check up Jan. Briar shares that she trusts Vence. Jan shares she noticed a chance when Ecanus joined. She trusts Briar and allows Vence to cast detect thoughts. Inside the mind of Jan vence see’s a whirlwind of houses where he sees two girls holding eachother tightly. He senses loss and confusion. Vence dives into the storm and experiences more memories. Earlier ones of the other sister. Them playing, her saying goodbye to her sister when she went of to war, family reunions, her wedding with an empty seat for her sister. Vence leaves her thoughts and tells her she is seemingly ok. Malak ponders and remembers that his mother had told him of people within the Silver Flame with such skills.  

Tristan + Briar

Tristan talks to Briar on the side and mentions he never knew about the rule that houses can’t mingle. Briar jokes but then tells him that there is no point to marry without any of the physical perks. Tristan asks her to escort Dan and Jan back and Briar tells him she will. Tristan tells her he suspects a paladin they met on the road did this and tells Briar to be careful around Thranian Paladins.  

Calling home

Malak using his book asks Kioasuh to check with his mother if the paladin might be affiliated with Derrek. She asks him how he’s doing. He shares what happened and informs her about Briar and Vence. Kiasuh tells him she will handle things on her side, tells him to be carefull and to fix Briar and Vence quick. She also shares that Grace came back from Dallian’s, smiling.  

What to do about Dan

The group discusses what to do about Dan. Vence asks if Malak can use other spells, they joke about using I-dan-tify on him. Tristan wants to check with Jan what she feels and Edward wonders if house Jorasco might be able to help him with greater restoration. Malak tells Jan he’s from flamekeep and its where they have the biggest spire of life and he has connections there that can help them. Jan agrees to this and Briar offers to escort them there.  

A horse by any other name

Tristan finds out that the horse Briar arrived on has been bought and is in Vence’s name. They wonder what the horses name is and Malak decides to use speak with animals to ask it. The horse tells Malak he’s called Moonshine and Malak introduces Moonshine and Vence to eachothers. Moonshine tells Malak he wants oats and to not go into the cavern they are about to travel to. Tristan gives Vence the paperwork for Moonshine. The group decide to borrow the cart for now and return it to House Orion when they have the opportunity. Vence gives Jan some gold and Briar tells Vence she hopes to see him soon again and jokes to Tristan she’ll meet up with Grace to plan his wedding. They all say there goodbyes and after Vence opens the teleportation cirle to flamekeep they move through.