Session 10: Once, Future, Forever Report

General Summary

 

Despite the capital city's location atop the Heights of Atavis, Atavis is considered "Avalon métropolitaine", or the city center. Home to over 1.2 million of Anima's souls, Atavis is the oldest populated city in all of Avalon with its founding in the first year of recorded Avalonian history. The painted stars of the Mantle scintillate high over the 1000 foot dropoff of the Heights of Atavis, a waterfall serving as a backdrop against which the Triple Moons of Avalon are set. The local star systems of Ephemeris and Coma Catena gleam with a special brightness, as if beckoning our arriving travelers to the mysterious city above the floating isle. In the distance, the incarnadine-streaked hills of Terremorte glow an eerie red beneath the the light of Limnoreia the Bloody. Beneath it all, a white castle of indeterminate age seems to glow in the triple lights of the moons, welcoming visitors from far and wide into its halls.

The pale halls of Chateaux Sempiternelle have stood strong atop the Heights of Atavis for more than ten and a half thousand years, raising generation upon generation of Le Fay and Mortui and Realtai alike to watch over the souls of Avalon. The Death’s Wives, too, found their start here, in the 9 daughters of Modwenna and Maghamhan Le Fay Mortui, though the millennia have seen the strength and number of their order swell to the thousands. La Genese walks the halls on the arm of her husband, headed toward the throne room in anticipation of their guests, who ought to be arriving shortly. The crystal shoes on her feet clink musically on the marble flooring inlaid with enamel renderings of unicorns rampant and accompany her as she thinks. Her husband makes no noise as he walks, despite the quick pace they’ve set for themselves. She can already feel her granddaughter crying out in her own mind, and there is little time to waste now that so many of her most distant progeny have returned to their origins. This day is one thousands of years of secrecy and trial and error and sacrifice in the making, and its cost has not gone without notice, but at last the Once and Future King will rise, ensuring peace between the realms of Anima and Mortelle. All will be as she saw in the days when the chateau was little more than marble foundations and moonbeams.

The pair say nothing to each other until they reach the door that allows their family private access to the Throne Room. Modwenna shares a look with Maghamhan, no words needed between them after 10 and a half millennia at one another’s sides, and with a breath that seems to pass from her body into his, open the door and step through.

Early this morning in the weak light of dawn the Protectors of the Realm made their way back to the throne room of Caslean Saol, where Queen Nimue wished them the best of luck and promised to meet them in Camelot. They then took the very same door through which they initially entered the realm back out of it. When they stepped through this time, they immediately noted the bracing but relatively passive wind denoting a great height and found too that someone had thrown the veil of night over Avalon’s sky, though they were reasonably certain it was still morning. You find yourselves standing in a circle antechamber, the floor inlaid with a unicorn rampant wrapped in a banner that reads “PAS DE NET APPRENDS MOI.”

As Mathilde recognizes the familiar sight of the home in which she grew not once but several times, that burnt smell accompanied by the taste of iron returns - however, this time the bouquet has a new note - the strong smell of vanilla and spice and just the faintest hint of baking bread accompanied by the taste of honey. A strange sensation takes hold of her - in the back of her mind she feels a searing pain bloom, occasionally thudding as if someone is hammering at a door, and Death's Wife crumples under the onslaught, her knees dropping out from beneath her as though her strings have been cut.

Lady Lake swoops in to catch her just before her knees slam into marble and slides an arm around Mathilde to support her: “We need to get to her aunts before her brain cooks itself trying to reconcile all her lives. It’s just through that door, please, someone?”

The group of spills out into a resplendent white throne room with floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights that reflects the glowing colors of the Mantle high overhead in swirling patterns across an inlay of 9 stampeding unicorns, 2 kelpie, and a single, regal undead. Mirrored in front of that is a massive dais-style throne with 13 seats, all of which are occupied but for the highest two - just as they all make it into the throne room, an adjacent door on the opposite side of the room opens with a whisper and the most beautiful individual any of them has ever seen steps through on the arm of an unnaturally pale, incredibly finely-dressed gentleman.

“Welcome to Avalon, visitors from afar. I am Modwenna Le Fay Mortui, the mistress of Chateaux Sempiternelle and mother of those beautiful children seated just there. I know there is much business to attend to, and we shall attend to all in turn.”

Modwenna waves her left hand, her nails glittering and crystalline, and fainting couch of pure moonlight slowly flickers into existence.

“If you would place my granddaughter there, please, we will see that she receives the help she needs.” She directs her attention to Mathilde, though it’s difficult to hear it through the war raging in her senses: “Hold on, child, help is coming.”

As Mathilde is whisked away to an antechamber by Cridhean priestesses to be attended by her sisters in the Uxores Mortis, attended closely thereafter by Lady, the rest of the Protectors of the Realm survey and are surveyed by the ancient children of House Le Fay. Close scrutiny of the throne by Grifflynn and Absabeth reveals what appears to be a mystery: a portrait of 3 figures in their youth lies partially obscured behind it - Queen Mother Modwenna, Cridhe Loch Fae, and an unknown young man bearing the violet eyes unique to House Le Fay. Absabeth considers the conversations she's had with Morgana Le Fay regarding Morgause Lot over the past few weeks, the air of secrecy that seems to enshroud her with regard to her family and the sense that she seemed to want to say more, but was nonetheless deterred by a thick rivulet of pure moonlight running from her nose. Absabeth and Grifflynn agreed to look into the mystery in relative secret upon return to Camelot, potentially enlisting the Lake twins if need saw fit. Meanwhile, Malcolm's attention remained on the Throne and, in particular, a woman of indeterminate age and the same relative regal stature as the others despite the slump of her shoulders, the skittish glances around the throne room, and the myriad of scars and bruises littering her face.

"Well?" The woman says when she feels the gaze upon her, a small smile spreading across her wan face the way a sunrise bleeds across the sky, "Let me get a look at you."

"Hi, Mom." Malcolm says, sheepishly approaching the throne.

While the remainder of his party gawps at the revelation that Malcolm's mother is not only alive, but a Le Fay, the young knight allows himself to be gently twisted and angled to allow his face to catch the light, revolving slowly on the spot to show off his new armor. After sweeping the slight woman into a bear hug, Malcolm inquires as to the origin of her bruises and is told that his mother has recently died, though her recovery has been swift and 'the hunt will always be on'. Malcolm can't help but let loose a growl that rumbles slightly in the space between them, but his mother smiles placidly, raises an eyebrow and suggests he might like to discuss some of the recent developments in his life. Before the two depart, Malcolm introduces her to the party: Princess Maudeleyn of House Le Fay. Maudeleyn is reunited with her goddaughters, Adaleis and Lady, and presented with a gift on behalf of their house and, more specifically, their father: a set of beautiful inks made from natural ore and water drawn from the rivers of Broceliande for use in her work. Lady then speedily says her goodbyes and rushes away to the antechamber her Sworn is in as Malcolm offers his arm to his mother, escorting her out of the massive room for a private conversation.

In the antechamber, surrounded by the undying witch-knights that call her sister despite the fact that she has forgotten them in this new body, Mathilde lies unconscious, stretched across a marble bier underlit by black candles. The witches and Lady join hands in a circle around her and use their magic to protect Mathilde while she fights a battle only she has the power to win. In the netherspace of her own mind, Eleanor De Gales stands fully dressed in her armor in the field she now recognizes as Lentre-Deux. Across from her are 4 women: a slight, blonde figure with pale purple eyes that is every bit the spitting image of House Le Fay; A curly-haired brunette in regal dress with the same purple eyes a curious look on her face, clutching a leatherbound journal; A much taller figure that is black of eye and dark of hair save for the patch of grey in the front, wearing gleaming silver armor and wearing two swords on her back; Another tall brunette with crackling blue eyes and a wry expression, a glaive with a glowing pommel loosely clasped in her outstretched hands.

In turn, each introduces themselves, though Eleanor already knows their names if she allows herself to remember:

Memoria Centurionne Le Fay Mortui, Languoreth Maysaunt Le Fay Mortui, Rhitilde Madelecte Le Fay Mortui, Mathilde Durand Le Fay Mortui...and her. Eleanor De Gales Le Fay Mortui. The eternal daughter of Morgause Lot and Riguardata Rhitilde Mortui. Mathilde steps forward and attempts to gentle an increasingly irate Eleanor, explaining that it is here she must join the pieces of herself into one force with all the memory and strength necessary to combat her greatest fear: her mother. Mathilde offers the handwritten letter to Eleanor, relaying their remaining mother's message, and just as Eleanor finishes reading it she tastes the familiar iron tang and smells the hint of charred smoke in the air that denotes her mother's arrival just as a figure appears far in the background of her view. As the figure approaches and solidifies into a concrete image it is, of course, her mother, who feels shockingly real despite the unreal nature of this entire exchange. Morgause questions whether she's really done so poorly by her daughter, freeing her from the confines of the endless cycle of death and rebirth in Avalon. Was she not a loving mother? Was it not her father, Ser Lamorak De Gales, who took her away?

Eleanor begins to question her own recollection of events, but her musings are interrupted by the sound of Lady Lake stepping onto the field, passing Eleanor to place her body between her and her mother. Lady holds her ground before her estranged mother-in-law, reminding her of the confusion and terror she saddled her daughter with as a result of poor, selfish choices. Reminds her that Eleanor's accomplishments in Camelot have nothing to do with her mother and that Morgause has no right to demand anything of her daughter, who is currently and already suffering the effects of being cut off from her heritage. Bolstered, Eleanor confronts her mother: she isn't afraid anymore, she realizes, looking around at all of the women she's been and thinking of the woman who wrote the letter clasped in her hand and promised to love her without knowing her or requiring anything in return, thinking of her father who is prouder of her accomplishments than any other living soul, than his own accomplishments - Eleanor is left to conclude that while Morgause did, in fact, give birth to her, she is a mother no longer. She is the malicorn, and a malicorn cannot love even for the sake of a daughter.

Lady gestures to the far end of the field, on which only she and Eleanor remain - this business is concluded, at least for now, and there is much to think about and even more to do in the waking world.

In that waking world, Malcolm sits on a modest but comfortable bed in a modest but comfortable room. In the corner a large drafting table is stacked with sheets of illuminated text, some hanging up to dry and others waiting to be bounded into a text. On the wall directly above the drafting table hundreds of inks in every color and finish are displayed in uniform bottles, the 4 gifted by the Lake twins recently placed on the lowest level. Beside him, his mother considers her youngest son patiently. Maudeleyn considers the stretch of his bones in the years since she last saw him, idly notes that she’s pleased to see that the armor fits him well and appears comfortable - Oswine eyeballed the measurements, after all - and knows his shifting must have started by now and must be troubling him. Eventually managing to draw the confession out of him she's surprised to learn that it's a bear he turns into, but informs him of the family trait: he, Ser Godwine Le Deux, and Oswine Le Deux have Therianthropy. Maudeleyn goes on to reassure her son, even going so far as to ask him if he's ever thought about what else he might be able to turn into. Assured that he isn't a dangerous monster, Malcolm feels safe ending his visit with his mother for the moment and rejoining his friends.



We return to the throne room of Chateau Sempiternelle, the party reassembled. Second row, second seat, a formidable figure dressed from head-to-toe in deep crimson. She is white of hair and lavender of eye like the siblings seated on either side of her, a sternness about her posture and the rigidity of her spine as she rises from her bejeweled seat. She carries soundlessly down the steps of the dais to none other than Grifflyn, for whom she spares a tight but genuine smile. "My name is Molaisse Le Fay - I'm your aunt. My husband Meridian is your mother's brother, and he has extended an invitation to you before you return to Camelot - there is, of course, no obligation to do so, but..." She points at the ceiling with both brows arched, and Grifflyn thinks unerringly of the expanse of stars above as the woman continues, "It'd be a shame not to meet your family when you're so close."

Grifflyn looks around at the assorted members of her party, locking eyes with Malcolm and bolstering herself, nodding her acquiescence with a heavy exhalation of breath. The party politely says their goodbyes to their hosts and follow Molaisse back out of the palace by way of a slightly different exit: it leads to a dirigible docking point, and it is this vessel that carries the party even higher still to The Mantle and the splendor of Quasar Citadelle. The sprawling starlit castle welcomes the party inside and they are shortly led into Grifflynn's ancestral home. Molaisse brings her niece and company to a drawing room of sorts, which appears to be filled not just with people, but with Grifflyn's people - the party finds themselves looking at the faces of assorted members of House Fuil na Réaltaí, all of whom are glad to see her and none of whom welcome her more fondly than her uncle Meridian, and apparently fan of her father's work as a painter(?), and her mother's mother, grandmother Mallory Merlot. The reunion is sweet but not overwhelming and thus Grifflyn has the energy to follow her uncle down a painted path of stars to the satellite city of Coma Catena, which holds further surprises still for the Knight of the Whispers.

The city is at first obscured by coma, or clouds of comet dust, but eventually break away to reveal the mining town set into a series of craters, littering satellite networks and comets across the Northern edge of the Mantle. Everywhere she looks, Grifflynn is surprised to find traces of her mother: the town is filled with iconography surrounding Balestriere, who gaveup her life’s work for her family and only returned to Anima because she believed a world with Magner in it was not a safe world for a child to grow up in. Pink lanterns glow at even intervals and guiding hands reflected in worship wear her gauntlets, the Hands of Truth; Chrysanthemums & Night lilies grow freely and wildly as far as the eye can see, and soft pink banners read "PULVIS ET UMBRA." The greater surprise, if possible, is the strength of the dedication to Balestriere in the modern day - a line in the distance coils itself around a building like a snake preparing to strike and it is, of course, there that Meridian leads the group. The line parts like the folds of a book to allow them through and they are greeted by Eerie, a stardust miner Imortui whose Pelenirage focuses on furthering Bel’s work and manages the forge while Vigore is traveling, as well as her mother's most trusted helpers, a collection of sentient embers called gleeds.

At the center of the room in which the massive forge is contained, a recessed pit spits blue and pink flame hot enough to warm the inhabitants no matter where they stand. Grifflyn takes a moment to marvel at the forge before a work desk in the corner catches attention. Upon it, as she had with her mother's desk at Quasar Citadelle, she finds plans for an unfinished toy, presumably for a much younger her. It is then that she does what she was always going to have to do and looks to the portion of the room she's put blinders to: a sleek metal dais rises to a bier on which Balestriere lies, looking just as she had the day she was laid to rest there. Grifflynn goes to her mother, thinking of the lost years and their most recent conversation in the Realm of Truth, marvels at the fact that this is her mother and she is real and she is alive, and she weeps for the unfairness of it all, telling her mother she loves her and straightening the crysanthemums tangled in her rose-colored hair.

It is at this exact moment that Lady Lake has a unique thought.

Lady quickly asks Meridian to paint her a path to parts unknown and promises to return shortly. It is a promise kept - Lady does, in fact, return, smelling of smoke and blood. She bears a few injuries now that she did not before, but any concern for those is quickly transferred to the figure on her arm, Ser Kay Toussaint. Kay's face shifts from confusion to grief at the sight of his estranged wife without even a whisper of effort, cutting his legs out from under him and leaving him at the mercy of Lady, who catches him and pulls him to his full height. He must be brave, she says, and he must trust her. Lady leads him to the dais and places him on the opposite side of the bier from Grifflynn. Father and daughter share an unintelligible and profound moment before Kay looks at last upon his wife. Stirred by emotion, or driven insane by grief, he tips his head to kiss her for the first and last time in 20 years.

The room erupts in light.

When the light dims, some of it appears to have found its way beneath Grifflynn's skin and made a place for itself. Behind her, Balestriere opens her glowing pink eyes and sits up in place, vision sharpening by the second as awareness comes in. True love, Lady begrudgingly explains. True love was the cure for the Sleeping Sickness of Aisling Milis. The reunited family enjoys the moment as the lost years drop away and leave only the glittering present, but a moment is all they may steal for now...

After all, there is one last matter to attend to.

The ritual begins.

As each component is added barely visible runes glow with pure white light and the requisite parts of the form of a man begin to take shape. As the image grows stronger, the twins grow weaker, but they are bolstered by words from Adaleis, Malcolm, Lady, and even Eleanor. Light floods the room as the twisting form of a body shaped from light and orchard bones slots into place in its own existence. When the light dies, the twins hear a voice they have not heard in two decades shakily utter, "These cannot be my girls. You've grown up so beautifully."

Standing at his full height and radiating power despite the plain white shirt and breeches he finds himself in, divested of all the symbols of his station and no lesser for their absence King Arthur Pendragon, The Once and Future King of Camelot and greater Albion surveys the room as in turn, all present bow before him. The ritual has been a success, and the Protectors of the Realm may indeed return to Camelot with its long-lost ruler in tow. On the arms of his twin daughters, King Arthur is escorted from the chamber and to the station where all the assorted soldiers of the armies of Broceliande and Avalon await them to depart back to the realm of Albion. They fill the sky by the hundreds, forming a caravan out of thin air whose very path lies in thin air, and they depart.

On the unintelligibly long ride to Camelot, Vigore passes on a gift from the crowns of Atavis, Morgana Le Fay, and Queen Mother Modwenna herself to aid them in the difficult battles which they must now face for the good of all who walk with the breath of life: the Martyr Blade, hewn from the blood of perfectly pure licorne.

Upon sight of Camelot the caravan is greeted by none other than Barden of Burgess acting on the orders of Princess Godiva herself, surrounded by a busy bivouac of tents and soldiers and common men alike awaiting the start of battle. Queen Nimue and Queen Morgana clasp hands and approach the barrier between all and Camelot, pausing for a moment to marvel at Merlin's work before bringing it town in a torrent of fractals and light. Within, the battle rages as if it has spared no thought to those who found themselves on the outside and it is not difficult to locate the mage and the Queen fighting side by side, her red armor all but glowing in the weakening light of the lowering sun. She turns on the backswing of a killing blow and catches the eyes of her children just as the body drops, eyes trailing over them in search of anguish or injury before finally, finally landing upon her husband. Guinevere drops her sword, sprinting in full armor to approach them. After proudly greeting her daughters she turns sternly to her husband:

"Don't stab me, please."
"You're late for dinner."

Guinevere's nose can just be seen wrinkling before her King scoops in to kiss her, no concern in his mind but for the loves he left behind. 

The fight will still be there in the morning. There are debriefs to be had, 20 years of history to catch up on, royal subjects to assure of his lineage and identity, a family to get to know, a throne to warm, adversaries to defeat...the list goes on.

War can wait. For now, they rest. 

Rewards Granted

Missions/Quests Completed

Character(s) interacted with

• Molaisse Le Fay 
• Maudeleyn Fay Ledoux 
• Balestriere na Réaltaí-Riviere 
• Ser Kay Toussaint 
• Sisterhood of the Nine 
• Galexia Vigore Fay Réalta na Maidine