Session Sixty Six: Talking, but not at Len-th

General Summary

A punchy start to the session

  Upon arrival Cody and Corinne move straight to Griff, who has a dorky smile on his face. Corinne begins to talk to Griff, even though he can’t hear, and introduces him to her baby griffon, Rowena (who has a raven torso and a snow leopard rear). Meanwhile, Grace hangs back and looks at the amulet in her hand. She realises that she's holding Iron Claw and asks where Jossac is.   Jossac is still in her corner, now on her knees and crying as she looks at Corinne. Noticing Jossac there, Grace immediately casts Hold Person, Cody then rushes over to punch her. Grace then demands for Jossac to wake Griff up again but Edward steps in to explain that they used the last drop of wine to help wake Tristan up. This infuriates Grace even more as she was not aware that Tristan was even in Il'Lashtavar. Upon Corinne and Tristan’s urging, though, Grace reluctantly releases the spell.   Edward explains that to help Griff, the group would need to get blue label Mai Yasha Wine within a day of Griff falling into the nightmare. Jossac, however, says that ‘they’ made sure there is no longer any wine to be found anywhere. While crying she adds that she has failed Corinne, and was trying to protect her family. Meanwhile Malak begins informing April, Jurian and Cissa that the group is in need of Mai Yasha wine. He also informs Kiasuh about what happened to Griff.  

Questioning Jossac

  Grace, Cody and Corinne begin to question Jossac in earnest. She tells of the ‘fallen ones’, people who are held in a sleep state as hostages. Their bodies are being held somewhere in Karrnath. Grace wonders if this could be Loom Keep, a place she has an informant looking into. Tristan also recognises Loomkeep from a list the group has come across before, adding to this suspicion. Jossac could not confirm this as it was information that was withheld from her. Jossac also speaks about wanting to protect Aundaire with her actions; she fears that now she’s betrayed the Eyes, they’ll start to pick off Aundairian soldiers one by one. She is certain that the Sky Kings or other Vadalis family members will be the first targets. Concern for Wrogar, who has a Sickle Mark, is specifically mentioned.   Edward asks about Griff’s dumb smile and is informed this is normal for Griff. The reason he asks is that he’s never seen someone smiling while in the nightmare, they always look to be in pain normally. This difference is attributed to the protection Griff gets from the silver flame and Keya. Emir checks Len for a focus, which he finds along with a (small) spellbook. Malak meanwhile retreats to the bathroom for…. stuff.   Edward asks if the Eyes have something on Altor as well. It turns out they do, which might be good in him not caring enough to rat out Jossac to them. Corinne asks Jossac what she is going to do now. Jossac states she intends to fully cooperate. While Corinne wants Jossac to work for our side now, Grace is very much against this idea. The group is asked their opinion and largely (sans the absent Malak) seem to agree on letting Jossac work for them.  

Tula on the toilet

  Malak has meanwhile called to Tula in the bathroom, who answers by appearing directly to him as a humaniod in a silver feathered cloak. Tula is unable to provide Mai Yasha wine for the group, but does tell Malak that Keya’s body is being taken care of by Harengon. When asked for any further wisdom, Tula says to protect his friend, to not focus on the wine but on protecting the body in the same way that Myri is being protected. Tula indicates that there are others who can help with this. Malak concludes that the Princess might be one such person.   When he returns, Grace asks for Malak’s opinion about letting Jossac help. While he is very much against this idea and calls those in favor ‘naïve’, he does abide by the group’s decision. Tristan does mention a possible complication in that people in the nightmare seemed to already know about Len being captured; thus they might also know about Jossac being captured or even flipping sides as well. Edward agrees with Malak that it may be unwise to let Jossac go for now, but that she can be an asset later. Grace suggests Jossac be taken to Flamekeep, where they can keep an eye on her and have her help when the time calls for it.   Silmer asks what we know about how the Eyes communicate. Edward is familiar with them using Sending as well as coded letters. They also have a method to send an alert where Sending isn’t possible; they can make the Sickle Mark ‘burn’, giving a painful sensation to their wearer. He also shows us that Len has a different but similar-looking mark on his arm. Elves who wear this mark can’t be put under the Sickness, but can control people with a ‘regular’ mark.  

Keya’s crystals

  Malak apologises for his earlier outburst calling people naïve, and asks Corinne if she will be able to help safeguard Griff’s body. She is unsure how she would do that, and would like to be able to talk to Griff about it.   Chantilly asks Malak if he’s still looking for someone to take care of Griff, and mentions she and the Knott might be able to help. This reminds Tristan to relay Keya’s thanks for taking care of her body over the past decade. Chantilly explains the Knott has many pretty crystals in many different colors. It also turns out that Keya is holding onto a Kloinjer crystal in her hand.   Finally Chantilly states that when they put Keya into the room it started to glow, and they were given some ‘lullabies’ to sing to Keya, including the Traitor’s song and a song about Bacon and Eggs. Tristan explains to her how a song that means a lot to a person can help ward off Quori. When Grace suggests Malak take Corinne into the Dream to consult with Griff, Corinne says the group should focus on finding wine for Griff before doing that.  

Len wakes up, Len goes to sleep

  As Cissa informs Malak that Corvus will be there soon to pick Len up, the good General begins to wake up. Emir takes a look at the man’s thoughts. Surface level thoughts seem to be that of fear mixed with some excitement and apprehension. Diving deeper, he finds imagery of moons aligned in the sky over a pit of silver flame, which snuffs out. As Len’s thoughts put it: “They have no idea what they’re in for!”. Emir shares this information and Malak says that he will inquire if his mother knows anything about any alignment. Tristan and Cody then knock Len back out, to great satisfaction of both.   Edward checks on Gisleia, who still seems shaken, and asks her what she thinks we should do with Len. She just wants him far away. It turns out he visited her circus from time to time and would ask her and her siblings questions about their dreams and nightmares, but would never be satisfied with the responses. Emir and Chantilly conclude that she is half-elf/half-kalashtar Kalashtar, due to what she is explaining and her tell-tale physical traits (strange eye colour and white roots under her coloured hair). When Emir attempts to kindly say "Stay Safe" in quori to her, Gisleia gets unnerved. She explains that Len sometimes spoke in those words to them, expecting her and her siblings to understand what he's saying but they never did. She is assured that she is safe with the group.   Corvus and Jurian arrive. They have been unable to locate any Mai Yasha wine. Jurian is quickly bullied into talking to his sister by several people. Meanwhile Corvus gets briefed about the Len situation. Taking a look through the General’s possessions, Corvus finds potions of sporing, invulnerability and vitality, which he passes on to Emir. Upon being asked how Len will be secured, Corvus explains he’ll be turned over to Luscinia. After this hand-off, he will go to Aundair by request, to keep an eye on how the situation develops there as well as to keep an eye on Wrogar. Corvus and Jurian then depart.  

Home is where the heart is

  Ms Chose, the housekeeper, suddenly appears and takes food orders (mostly for Edward, who is still desperately grabbing onto any food he can). This reminds Cody he had brought something for Malak. The box of dolphin cookies however has been chewed, by sharing a backpack with Rowena. Cody goes on to explain that since the group had left Flamekeep, he’d spent a lot of time with Kiasuh and has become close with her. He imagines this might be what it feels like to have a mother. Malak is happy Kiasuh isn’t left alone in his absence and hugs Cody, calling him ‘son’.   With the time turning to late afternoon, Tristan realises his internal clock feels off and asks Emir how long he’d been in the nightmare. Being told it was only around 5 minutes, he tells the group that for him and Griff it was hours. As time goes it is also becoming more obvious that his behaviour is off. For one he is avoiding eye contact with Grace, who is becoming increasingly concerned and explicitly tells him that. He says he needs some more time before he can talk about it.   Emir inquires with Edward about where he’s from. He relays that after the war he’d come to consider New Cyre his home, while he worked there as a doctor for a while. He was studying the sickness there, and had noticed a specific Elf being nearby every time someone succumbed to it. He was taken shortly after he had noticed this. It was a few months ago that Elizabeth and her burly, bearded friend appeared looking for Genti. Edward was unable to go with them because he didn’t have his book of Mercy with him; a book in which he’s listed all the people who had died in his care.  

Of Sickle and -marks

  Silmer asks about the Mai Yasha wine; does it only cure or does it also permanently protect Tristan now that he’s had some. Regrettably, Edward informs the group the wine has zero preventative effects. Questions are then asked about the nature of the sickle marks and triggering the sickness. All the marked Elves can trigger the sickness, but only some of the sicklemen. It is an ability that is gifted to some of them. Triggering the sickness is untargeted in a radius around the one who triggers, to which Jossac adds she suspects the Elves have a larger radius. Malak concludes that the latter is what must have happened to Myri as she was in their home with no people around them to harm her.   Edward explains that Sickle, the Elves, and the Inspired all don’t really seem to like each other. In the end they all appear to be in it for themselves, with their alliance being one of convenience up to the point where they might screw the others and take everything for themselves. Of Sickle specifically he knows that the beholder wishes to take the power of Illashtavar for himself, and he is looking for a way in without being affected by the nightmare. The Elves are more cagey about what exactly they’re after.  

The Dance of the Dolphin (cookies)

  In between all of these goings-on, when he first hears about them Edward decides to grab the dolphin cookies from Cody’s backpack. Hearing that Cody did not actually have a mother figure, that Kiasuh is probably the first real maternal figure in his life and Malak accepting him into his family right as he’s about to do so, however, Edward hesitates with a sad look on his face and decides not to act. Chantilly has no such reservations and ends up snatching the box, only to hand it to Edward. When people begin to leave the Spire later, Edward sneaks the box back into the backpack without even having eaten one of the cookies. Silmer watches all of this happen. He is not surprised, but perhaps a little confused.  

The moon is made of cheese

  As it is starting to get later in the evening, Silmer suggests taking Edward out for some proper food, to which he agrees. Tristan states he has a thing to do and will not be joining, though he doesn’t get into the why. When people begin to joke about it being a ‘fifty animals thing’ (to Edward’s confusion), he doesn’t snap back as people might expect. Grace will go with Tristan, not comfortable with him wandering around town alone in his current state. Corinne and Malak (and Cody) will stay behind with Griff (and Jossac) for the Dreaming. Piesk and Gisleia want to go dancing, so they’ll all go together to find a good place for dancing and eating, with Emir and Chantilly joining this group as well. Emir shifts into Vence before exiting the room.   While descending the stairs, Vence receives a sending from Genti. G: I have an odd question: Elizabeth could not sense her brother, is Tristan okay? V: Tristan is alive and moving around. Was forced to Illashtavar, but back. Can she sense him now? G: That does explain it, because she can sense him now. Thanks. Are you all safe? V: Not in immediate danger. Unsure about impending risk. Leaving Spire of Inspiration to enjoy the festival some. If you want to exchange info, you know where to find us G: Good to hear. We will stay in then. Always good to share info V: Small thing of note: we captured General Len   Vence bumps Tristan to get his attention, and relays that Elizabeth knew he was in Illashtavar. Tristan considers this ‘must be the moon’. When Vence mentions that while he and Elizabeth ‘are moons’, Tristan is not. He agrees, but rather casually mentions that he did speak to a moon while he was in the nightmare. Since their current public location isn’t the best place to discuss this further, both Vence and Grace heavily underline that this must be properly explained later.   Edward and Silmer meanwhile discuss cookies and food. Realising that Edward must not have money to buy any food, Silmer gives him some. Upon exiting the spire, Molly tells everyone goodbye as usual. Being named together in succession, it is noticeable that while Piesk has a last name, Thaen does not.