Session Seventy Three: Daddy Issues
General Summary
Salenar's lost children
Chantilly follows the groups of people back on the road towards Wroat. When they reach the bridge inside the city they seem to snap out of their stupor and go about their business. Chantilly briefly observes but heads back to the carnival tent upon learning that there isn’t much more to the enchantment than this.
In the meantime Edward is having an overdue conversation with Sontar and his cousin. Ed explains about what happened to the man’s family, that he was there when they died and that it was all General Len’s fault. The man’s dark clothes seems to engulf the room in a black cloud and he tells Ed to choose his next words carefully. Ed explains his involvement with everything that happened, how an underling of Len accidentally put them under, he explains that some of them might have been saved but Len chose to kill them instead. He then credits Malak with saving Gislea, albeit as kind of an accident. Ed also relays their last words to the man as he was their keeper, one of whom seemed to allude to knowing that the man was their father, after which the man dispels the cloud of blackness. The man turns to Sontar and queries; “Why did you think Malak Ishim was the villain?” and is answered in turn; “The eyes always say that it’s Ishim’s fault!”
In the meantime the friendly dog that has been by Malak's side in the circus tent, beckons him towards the tent where Ed is. Malak decides to follow and Tristan, Vence (who looks like Carly), Niklas and Talia follow suit.The tent is a bit crowded however when they enter so they decide to talk further outside, where Silmer was waiting patiently. The man (Salenar) bows to Malak and Malak and Tristan explain that Gislea is fine and in the last lantern. Salenar asks them to collect her on which Vence inquire’s what if she doesn’t want to be “collected”. Seeing as Vence was "Carly", Salenar dismissed her from the conversation as this does not concern her.
Ed indicates that because of what happened to Gisleia it’s best if he monitors her for a short while longer. During this conversation he also reveals he has a 9 year old son. In the meantime Malak has an aside with Tristan wondering why Vence isn’t here to help? The group agrees to come to the carnival with Gislea in the morning but when they ask Salenar about his connection with the eyes he doesn’t wish to share more.
After the conversations have wrapped up Malak quickly contacts his wife to tell her he’s ok. This goes about as well as expected and he promises to stop by in person as soon as possible to discuss what happened in person. After this he sends a message to Jurian to thank him and Corvus for the help they no doubt provided in locating him. However they respond that they were not aware of his kidnapping and while they are glad he’s safe he should maybe have a word with VETT.
For some reason, we named an NPC Regina George...
Chantilly in the meantime is on the way back to the circus however she gets the feeling she is being watched. She hides behind a rock and sees dark robed figures heading back into the woods. They might be dark elves so Chantilly decides to be cautious and waits five minutes before sneaking her way back to camp. There she runs into Regina George who asks her who she is by the way. She quickly explains she is a substitute for Chesmin but no such girl works at the carnival according to Regina. Vence (Carly) jumps to the rescue however the real Carly is approaching too and VETT quickly shifts their face and finds a hiding spot to shift into Piesk. Chantilly finally finds their way back to the group and hugs Malak, Tristan wisely suggests not overstaying their welcome and the group heads back to town.
While walking back to town Chantilly alerts the group of the dark robed people she saw go into the woods and asks for help to investigate (mostly for light). Tristan walks on with Niklas and Malak and Edward take a look at some tracks in the forest for Chantilly. There is no one there now but it seems like people walk here more often.
The Sunshine Children
In the meantime Tristan and Niklas are deep in conversation, Tristan asks how Niklas met Ellie. Niklas slowly pulls out a leather strap from around his neck that has a locket and a wedding band on it. He explains he met Ellie the night he lost his wife, Stefania. He is from traveling folk and his family was trapped on the other side of Cyre after the war and he met his wife there. They had a son Floris 4 years ago. Traveling to Lakeside from Irontown when bandits attacked them, they fled into the woods (Tristan goes pale at those words) and rode for hours until they stumbled on an abandoned cabin where his family took shelter as he went out to hunt for food as the sun was setting (Tristan goes even paler). When he returned, however, the door was ajar and the lights were off. He opened the door and saw Floris devouring the remains of his mother, he quickly shut the door and rode back to the road where he ran into Ellie. (Tristan looks terrified) She agreed to help him and they returned to the cabin, where Ellie tried to soothe Floris with some music however he bit her. (lights go out in Tristan's eyes) However soon the sun rose and Floris turned back into his human self. (Tristan is about to rage but encourages Niklas to keep talking).
Ellie gave Niklas her feather and all of her gold as she was never going to need them again. She asked him to make sure it wasn’t all for nothing. He needed to stay alive. Go to the Gold Dragon Inn in Iron town and wait for news. She had him say goodbye to his crying toddler and then mounted the horse with the child and rodes deeper into the woods. (Tristan is trying to keep it together) This is also where Niklas saw Tristan for the first time and why he’s apprehensive towards Tristan. In the meantime Ellie had contacted Lucinia and kept Niklas appraised every day by sending, this went on for a month. Then suddenly in the middle of the night she showed up in a red cloak at the inn. (Tristan is confused) Apparently she never turned nor did Floris attack (or any of the others) her. It appeared she was a sunshine child. This means she is the product of a normal birth by a lycanthrope and a human parent. (TRISTAN IS CONFUSED)
A stiff drink and some words
In the meantime the group has caught up and Malak catches the tail end of the conversation and exclaims “I knew it!”. The group is updated a bit and decide this evening deserves a stiff drink to end it so they head to the last lantern. In the meantime they have also run into Gislea and Piesk who they update on what happened in the carnival. They do explain to Gislea that Salenar can’t make her stay and they will make sure of that. While Malak and Ed go to the bar to get the required lubrication for everyone’s spirits Talia’shana asks Thean in his head what’s on his mind. They have a short conversation about ending suffering and the hypocrisy that the feathers bring upon themselves with their sacrifices.
Ed in the meantime asks Malak about being a dad and explains his situation. He’s unsure if he should go to Sharn to make it known he’s still alive. Malak however quickly calls him out on this and says it's bull and even if he were to die later his son would want to have met and seen him. Better yet Malak messages April and asks her if Elijah is available to teleport some people to Sharn? Elijah talks to Malak and then messages Ed directly, who refers to him as the man with the hat. Eventually it’s agreed that Elijah will come by tomorrow to pick people up for Sharn. Tristan in the meantime also chimes in and talks briefly about his father to Ed and how you don’t want your kid to resent you. In the meantime Thaen talks to Talia about not being able to go back to Sharn and that this hurts them a lot. Tal understands their pain and talks to him about it. As Niklas stands up to leave he tells Ed about his son, to be in Ed’s position is a luxury to Niklas and he gives Ed a hug. Niklas leaves and Ed joins him to say goodbye to Ellie, Malak sends a message to Niklas as he leaves to thank him for the help as Tristan runs after them to ask Ed not to mention their dad to Ellie.
Thaen sends a message to Grace who thanks him and says Kiasuh already told her about what happened and she’s working on calming Kiasuh down. Thaen asks Malak for advice on accomplishing this but Malak says the best thing is time. He does ask Thaen to talk to Vence at some point because he wants to know why they didn’t inform Corvus of his predicament. Thaen explains that Niklas was nearby and had the abilities to help.
Thaen and Edward leave with Talia and Tristan with Malak. In the meantime Ed tells Ellie that he has a son and is meeting them tomorrow. Tristan told him also not to tell Ellie certain things, Ellie says then he shouldn’t. Ed however breaks even without prompting and tells her that her dad is alive and that Tristan only wanted him to be quiet so he could tell her himself. Ellie reminds herself that he has his reasons and not to be angry.Ellie tells Ed to tell Tristan she now knows and she loves him and is not angry and understands. Ed asks Ellie what to bring his son as a present and she tells him to give him a piece of himself like a book he loves. Ed also promises to double check if Tristan has any children for Ellie and they say their goodbyes.
Talia and Thaen
As Talia and Thaen walk they have a silent conversation. Talia explains it’s confrontational when talking about feather when someone outside the know but also that they were surprised by Thaen’s reaction especially since he has a feather. Thead says he promised to do anything to see her safe and Talia asks him why he didn’t move on when he learned about the sacrifices. Thaen explains sometimes people do things they don’t like even if they are good things. Talia seems reassured and Thaen asks what she know about the d12 it’s history etc. Talia explains she knew a bit before Lucinia came to her, life is cyclical as is magic. The SS is the time when it is all reset. The d12 pivotal role is bringing magic back and rekindling the silver flame when it goes out, but she doesn’t know how. Thaen explains what he knows about the elves and the duchess.
They chat about Talia’s journey the past years, Cissa was hard to find, the Inspired were on the prowl and, Thaen being a changeling, she could never be sure whether she'd accidentally bump into him. So Talia was hiding a lot. Movement became easier when Emir became a thing but the inspired were after her too, but ‘flamingo’ helped her a lot. She didn’t even know her brother was alive until recently which is why she wanted to see him. And Valdis still needed to find a safe way to get them to Korth. She asks why she couldn’t feel her brother during the parade and Thaen explains it was because of Silmer (she didn’t know yet he was a tortle).
Talia says he is lucky to have such friends to which Thaen says they are better friends to him than he is to some of them. Talia notes she’s never seen him so open before and he says it’s hard to get rid of the paranoia. Thaen says he thinks he started to change when he met Tristan and he did him a kindness. He has Tristan change after that it reminded him of learning Talia was safe the first time. They reach the building and fly up and she invites him for a drink.
Another drink and a walk home
They find Ed and everyone inside, Ed asks Thaen if he can join him on the way back for a safe walk. He needs to avoid Tristan for a bit, he says. They have a drink together and just before leaving Talia asks Thaen if she’ll see him before they leave, Thaen explains he will swing by around noon and he will keep her informed. They say their goodbye’s and Ed and Thaen leave, as they walk Ed asks if there is anyone important to him in Sharn and if he needs to deliver any messages. Thaen says he will sleep on it he says there is a potential issue with Ed being bombarded with questions if he delivers the message and Ed considers bringing Malak.
In the meantime Tristan receives a sending from Grace asking how today was. He half drunk tells her he’s a half lycan. Grace doesn’t understand and has never heard of a half lycan and asks if it’s related to eating Malak. Tristan isn’t sure and mentions she can look into sunshine children. Grace promises to take a look and they say their goodbyes.
