C2 Session 10: The Void Report
General Summary
29th of Haelynir 1545 Continued
The group now takes a moment to have a short rest. Margaret and Ana do one ritual before starting their short rest. Ana detect magic and Margaret identifies the bracers. The braces are Bracers of Defence. They are instantly given to Brin as they would benefit him. He will attune to them over the short rest. They finish their short rest at 9:10am. The magic users use their range magic to destroy the zombies that are still chained to the walls. Afterwards Margaret looks over the altar in the centre of the room. A large silver seal depicting a phoenix spiralling around its own tail is inset into the top of the altar, but the seal is blackened and appears half-melted. Also Margaret can see the signs of a hidden panel. Margaret takes a moment to copy down the image before pointing out the hidden panel to the others. They try to use fire to trigger the opening of the panel, but the blood smeared across the altar makes Ana drop the torch and runs out of the room and retches very loudly in a corner. Jamal follows Ana and gently rubs her back before offering her his water skin. Margaret grimaces and magically puts out the torch before tapping at the hidden panel to try and find a release mechanism. She finds it and opens it to reveal inside is a shield engraved with the image of a phoenix and whippoorwills taking flight. There is arcane script inscribed on the inside of the shield. Margaret slides the shield out to look at the arcane script to try and parse what it’s about, but the smell of the altar is very off putting. Brin enters the altar room and starts heading to one of the doors. He picks the right one and checks it over, deeming it to be not trapped or locked. He opens the door to see female figures clothed in spidery robes and masks stand with arms outstretched at either end of this wide, short hall. The tiled floor is a detailed mosaic starscape. This room is 60 ft wide and 10 ft deep with double doors to the North in the centre. Margaret looks inside without entering and notices a trap. The entire 10 ft in front of the North door in the centre of this new space is trapped. Looks like a pressure plate. The group discusses the trap and throw a dead body on it to set it off. When it is set off rubble falls from the ceiling, crushing the body and blocking the door to the North. Looks to be about 2000 pounds of rubble. The group takes the time to slowly move the rubble out of the room to access the door.At 10:30am the group has cleared the rubble enough to access the door. After checking the door they open it to see a hallway that goes left and right for 35 ft and is 10 ft wide. They both turn to the North at the end and Brin can just make out a door on each end. Brin heads to the left to look around the corner. It goes on about 60 ft and turns right. There is a door about halfway down on the right, a door near you to the left and near the end to the left. They open the first door on the left with Brin at the front. He opens the door to a room with relined stone biers that are holding open sarcophagus engraved with spirals and flying night birds. Perched on one of these is a hideously malformed, hairless, pustule-covered corpse that snarls at Brin as he opens the door.
30th of Haelynir 1545
During Brin's watch, he takes the time to talk to Jamal. He questions if Jamal has any Drive or if he's just being swept along. Jamal is confused by the question as he is the one that set up the team in the city. He has no drive to be a hero, that is just a consequence of doing the right thing. Brin didn't mean to upset Jamal, juts wanted to know what his angle was. Jamal responds with confusion. He's been honest for a while now. Revenge is his drive. Seeking it and justice for the crimes committed by the Red Kings and the Khirdai temple. Brin throws ideas around about the Silver Chained being involved, but Jamal dismisses the idea of the thieves guild being involved. The black market and fighting pits brings them good profit. Killing entire villages doesn't do that. Jamal reveals to Brin he's been working for the Silver Chain in the fighting pits. Brin doesn't think he'll be welcome back, but Jamal isn't sure as they've only seen one person from the Silver Chained involved and they killed him. After the long rest is complete, the party gets up and is ready to head downstairs. Brin helps the group to be quiet as they move. Before they move out, Ana spots something and gets everyone back into the room. She's spotted a scrying sensor. After waiting for it to go past, they quickly head for the downstairs. The stairs are carved from the bedrock. They descend down 80 ft. An immaculate chamber tiled in blue ceramic lies at the bottom of along flight of stairs. Large bronze double doors exit the room to the south. As the group come within 30 ft Brin notices two things. One, the tiles don't seem properly grouted in place. It's strange. Two, there is a concealed door. As they come to the base of the stairs one of the tiles starts to shake before lifting into the air, spinning and flying at Brin. The group quickly starts to move as the tiles fly at them. They open the hidden door to find a while room of spare tiles. In the end Jamal magically unlocks the main doors so they can run through and close them behind them. On the other side of the doors it is a 15 ft long hallways that is 10 ft wide. They check the next door before opening it. A fifteen-foot-tall statue of a matronly woman with long, flowing hair stands in the centre of this chamber between two large stone tables. Ten curtained alcoves break up the hieroglyph-covered walls. Enormous bronze doors stand to the north and south. They carefully check each of the closed curtains. Behind most of them are small altars for private prayer. One of them though does have a short hallway with a curtain at the other end. One of the private areas has a human-sized skeleton wearing dark robes sit there and gets up as the curtain reveals it. The creature claws at Ana, almost getting taking out but Margaret summons a sheen of white light to protect Ana from the worst of the attack, then help Ubek with his next attack. It doesn't take much to destroy the skeletons. Afterwards they continue to check the other curtains. More private prayer areas but two reveal hallways that lead off. One to stairs heading down and one heading to a room that they can hear something moving around inside. They decide to sneak up on whatever is in the last room. Brin sees a female undead creature with armour by a table. They're muttering to themselves as they're looking around for something. Brin strikes her from behind and she screams at him as she attacks. Brin is clawed for his efforts and paralysed. Ana uses her magic to help Brin, but is confused that the ghoul can talk. She's so hungry and is only interesting in eating the group, not talking with them. Hearing this the group quickly destroys the ghoul. The group quickly raids the body of the ghoul. Her breast plate looks good and Margaret finds evidence of Mumia on her. They take the breast plate. They then look around the room they're in. Carvings of sombre women and vulture-headed angels adorn the walls of this chamber, and the smell of cedar, onions, and myrrh is overwhelming. Viscous amber fluids fill glass reservoirs, while stone bins of sand, sawdust, and salt crowd the floor. Hooks, knives, and other grisly-looking tools are neatly stored on several worktables along the walls. Margaret looks over the jars to see rare salts, alchemical reagents, and exotic herbs. That seems to be it. The group considers their next step and head for the short hallway with another curtain at the end first. Brin leads the way. He sees a long table, some seating and a small table, but can't see the whole of the room. There are many more curtains in this space. Brin is disgusted when he finds corpses in beds behind the curtains. It looks like this area is a rest area. All the curtained areas have beds behind them. Ana look over the corpses. The most obvious thing is that the bodies don't look that old. They look like they died only hours ago due to exposure. The bodies are both wearing fine Khinasi silks and Masesian Jewellery that would be work a lot of gold. Margaret takes the gold. They believe they could have been harems or courtesans. The only unique living space is at the far end of the room, where rich silks and pillows cover a bed surrounded by a mess of discarded books and notes. Margaret looks over the notes. She finds the ravings of a mad man. He proclaims himself to be above the base needs that plague mortals but is obvious through his writings he craves being adored and worshipped. It mentions two of his followers dying in the heat of the desert and orders to have their bodies magically preserved so they can be brought back to a new way of serving him. Once the magic on their bodies wanes, they will join him once more. It becomes harder and harder to understand the writings as they get more random in thoughts and change mid sentence at times. All Margaret can get from that part is a peak into what might be the writer's current mindset. No undead will disobey him. No dead will resist his call to stand. Afterwards the group heads for the double doors to the South in the room with the private altars. They check it over and find it magically locked. Ana tries to unlock it but in the end Jamal uses his magic to do so. They enter the next room after opening the door. This chamber is deathly silent, its vaulted ceiling absorbing any sounds from the surrounding area. A broad walkway leads through, flanked by deep pits. In the center of the walkway stands a quietly bubbling fountain filled with clear liquid. The group discusses wedging the door open to stop it closing on them. They use the skeleton bones to try and stop the stone door closing. Brin heads over to look at the fountain. As he does so the statue behind the fountain starts to move.
- Bracers
- a rapier
- spellbook
- 2 wands
- a rod
- 2 potion vials
- a scroll
- a ring
- spellbook
Mask of the Forgotten Pharaoh Attunement required Dormant The wearer gains +2 in intelligence, wisdom or charisma Gains proficiency in one skill based in the improved stat Sense life and death through nondetection spells or items Once a day can cast speak with dead. Alignment effects the outcome of the abilities. Evil Can cast animate dead 3 times a day. Good Immune to disease and once a day can cast death ward. Neutral Must select from good and evil, but struggles to use the spells and as such any save is given advantage to the target or if a spell attack is at disadvantage from the spells the mask gives them access to. Special property Send out a Ka pulse. Gains control over undead and can cast animate dead to a radius of 1 mile. channeling the energy of his fractured soul to animate huge numbers of undead creatures in a wide area, though doing so is rumored to destroy the wearer’s own ka, thereby denying the wearer access to the afterlife and enslaving his will to that of the Forgotten Pharaoh.Margaret tells the group about what the mask does. She thinks it should be returned to where it was found. They resolve to talk to Mistress Everhand about it. Brin reminds the party about the other unexplored stairs. The group will time to identify the magical items but Jamal has yet to wake. The group argues about priorities when done between securing the mask outside the necropolis, getting Jamal out and making sure that other room doesn't have a remaining threat. Suddenly Ana has an idea and heals Jamal, which causes him to finally wake up. Jamal feels better with no more headache, but still feels a little funny. He tells the group that it felt like his mind was being torn in two and doesn't actually remember what happened in the final fight once the force grabbed him. There was a lady he saw that he knew but couldn't remember from where. He's disturbed by the more claw like nature of his hands as the tips are now blackened. The group filled him on what happened. With that settled the identifying finally begins with Jamal helping. Meanwhile Brin inspects the perimeter of the room. Going around the edge leads Brin up some stairs to a catwalk that then goes all the round and has stairs that go back down again. A raised, pyramidal platform in the centre of this large, circular chamber holds an opulent sarcophagus, bedecked with human skulls and profane symbols scrawled in blood, standing between two braziers burning with blue flame. There are a lot of crypts below the pyramid with hundreds of desiccated bodies. Looking more closely at the opulent sarcophagus Brin sees the blood is fresh but the skulls are all polished nice and clearly with runes on the inside of them. They are not fixed in place. When the identification process is complete for those doing that, Margaret goes up to take a look at the runes Brin found. However they're a mysetery. One looks a lot like the symbol for soup. She resolves to identifying the sarcophagus and the runes. It's a dampener. The skulls were trying to suppress the powerful protections on the sarcophagus. Ana helps Jamal up and he is grateful for her support now and keeping him grounded in the fight. Ana comes over with Jamal to look over the runes. Ana can see that the runes are designed to desecrate this area, however it wasn't complete. There are missing runes, so cleaning it off shouldn't mess with anything. Brin smashes the desecrated skulls. Afterwards they head to the bed area to take a short rest. Afterwards Brin sneaks down the unexplored stairs to scout out the area. It's a long way down the stairs. When Brin arrives downstairs he hears the gentle sound of lapping water echoes off this chamber's towering ceiling. The floor is covered in sand, and tiny stone replicas of buildings and streets fill most of the gallery, creating a room-sized map of Shoufal. A stark black pillar rises from the center of the room. Brin's axe had warmed up on the way down, as Brin catches sight of a of a purple shadown of sorts sitting on top of the black spire the axe grows deadly cold again.
At 10am the party makes it to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth without issue. Ana takes the city in as they move, trying to get an idea of how the city is doing. She notices that things are tense in the city. There is still evidence of recent undead activity. Only a few shops have indication they're open currently. They head around the back rather then going in the front. They knock and need to wait after saying they're there to see Mistress Everhand. After 20 minutes Mistress Everhand arrives to invite them in. They head downstairs and see Ptemenib sitting downstairs in the meeting space. They discuss what has happened. She believes the creature to be a bad omen that Brin saw. She explains that the black pillar might be symbolic. In the Masesian age they used them to represent power and places of significants as either a waystone or destination depending on what's on the stone. Margaret gives the journals to Mistress Everhand that they took from the libraries they explored. Mistress Everhand agrees the Mask should eventually go back to its hiding place, but probably not before they guarantee this cult is completely dealt with. Tephu is brought up and Mistress Everhand says they will need time to look into the vanishing city. For now the mask is left in the care of Mistress Everhand. The party leaves the Hall of Blessed Rebirth at 11am and heads back to their guild.
The party arrives at their guild at 11:30am. Oryn is behind the front desk and is happy to see them return in one piece. He reveals there was an attack overnight. Everyone is okay, but many are getting some well deserved rest. Selene had some trouble getting to sleep since she's having one of her bad days. The group goes to look over the items they found in the last few days and arrange what they will keep, split and sell. Tomorrow Jamal will take care of selling the magical items and such. He will also arrange for interviews to get some hirelings working at the guild. Brin wants to offer the Four Lanterns a job here at their guild and the others are open to this. Margaret and Brin leave at 12:30pm to go see the Four Lanterns. Meanwhile Ana relaxes and makes a scroll of Identify.
Brin and Margaret walk to Terkh's Hunting Lodge without issue. However when they arrive, they are not allowed to enter. Brin wants to talk to the four lanterns but the doorman makes it difficult due to being worried about safety. He doesn't want a revolving door due to the attacks they have sustained overnight. This frustrates Brin and as a result he withholds information about the job offer which means the Four Lanterns will have to take a leap of faith to leave, no knowing they would have lodging or not as they would not be permitted to return here. Brin and Margaret leave when Brin is unable to bribe the doorman with 2 gold to forgot his safety measures. Brin considers making a fuss, but Margaret convinces him not as they don't have work for the Four Lanterns until the city starts to open back up again. They talk about the idea of using the Four Lanterns to scout out the fighting pits in the city see how deep they are with the silver chains. As they walk Margaret notices some movement on a nearby roof top. She sends Luna to scout it out. She sees there re nine of those spiders that seems to appear out of nowhere following the pair of you via rooftop. They seem to be following the pair on the street. Margaret whispers this to Brin. They continue to causally walk after this is noticed and the spiders attack. The pair are quickly overwhelmed by the spiders. The spiders find it hard to hit the pair, but when an attack hits, it is a heavy hit. As soon as Margaret goes down, Brin lets out a might "Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku!" to call for help. It takes a bit of time but the Four Lanterns do come running. They do help hold off the spiders for a bit but Brin doesn't make it to the end of the fight, going down as the numbers of the Four Lanterns start to dwindle.
At 9:30pm Ana finishes her scribing and realises her friends have not returned yet. She goes to look for Jamal just as he returned to the building. They discuss the issue. Jamal has been out looking for them. He has discovered Margaret and Brin arrived at Terkh's 8 hours ago and no one he knows has seen them since. Ana pulls her hood up and asks in a serious tone how Jamal feels about cats. Jamal is confused by the question. Animals don't tend to like him, but Ana reassures him that she will tell the cats to be nice. She sends Jamal to get them some backup as she uses her bloodline to summon a horde of cats. She asks them if they had seen her missing friends. Thankfully one of the cats had and the cat army is able to lead the group to where the spiders had attacked her friends. There they find Luna who hoot at the group and flies over to building that looks like it's had its door kicked in recently. There are drag marks leading that way. Some of the cats eagerly chase the owl as they lick their lips. After scowling the cats for their behaviour, the group covers Ana as she opens the door.
Margaret is the first one to come to. The room is pitch black when she wakes. All she can hear is the sound of very pained and ragged breathing coming from nearby. The ground beneath you feels like stone. It's hard and cold. Her backpack has been removed but she can feel her staff next to her. She grabs it and casts light, making the orb at the top glow silver. A small whimper is heard as the area feels with light. Looking around Margaret sees the bodies of Brin and the four lanterns. One of them is curved up on their side, having turned away from the light when it was cast. Margaret grimaces and stands up, stretching out a bit, and looks around to see what sort of room they are in. This is a stone room that's about 30x30 big. It has wooden crates and barrels in it and a bit of stairs going up. Looks to be a basement of sorts. She goes to the four lanterns member who turned away from the light and tries to tap them awake. He whimpers and flinting from the touch. He's trembling/shivering. Touching him Margaret feels that he's sweated through his clothing. She checks on Brin next and finds him unconscious. She feels for her connection to Luna and goes upstairs to investigate. She learns that one of the four lanterns exploded in some way that killed the spiders and brought everyone to hide here. However, quickly stops at an idea as she goes back to get her stuff to try and cure the man of a possible poisoning. He tries to warn her not to, but he struggles to speak. Luna notifies Margaret of Ana's arrival and Margaret heads upstairs to unbarricade the door.
As ana opens the door, Margaret clears the past of the barricade and they see one another. Margaret does her best to explain what she knows about the situation. One of the four lanterns apparently had something weird happen to him. He ended up exploding in some way, killing the spiders, then apparently brought us all down here. He’s now super sick, but lesser restoration couldn’t help him. Brin is okay, but unconscious. Ana looks the man over. He's probably got a migrane. He's suffering from several levels of exhaustion and if ana didn't know any better blood sickness. Looking around at the rest, they are badly hurt, so Ana casts a Beacon of Hope to help heal everyone. Ana and Jamal go round to start applying healing.
As healing magic flows through the room, Brin comes to. He'll laying on a hard, cold stone floor. Only Margaret's staff is acting as a light source. Ana is here with Jamal and the sunrise fellows. And... a whole hoard of cats. As Brin comes round, the group does their best to fill Brin in. He realises how reckless he was. He forbids the group from telling Terkh. They get everyone up and head back to the guild. As the party sneaks through the streets after everyone picking up their gear on the way out. Brin notices one of those bird reaper looking psychopomps with the dog/crocodile ones. The thing is they have also seen your group. Thankfully they seem to have taken notice of the fact you are alive but for a moment, they looked unsure of that fact and ready to attack. They're able to avoid a conflict by hurrying off. When they arrive back at the guild Brin offers his room to the fallen Lantern to allow him to recuperate. With that settled, everyone heads to bed.
When Ana heads to bed, she thinks about Xeldarix and is drawn into the familiar jungle as if her thoughts were answered. Ana tells Xeldarix all about her adventures and about the mask. She is very upset to learn that Anubis has corrupted a bird. Ana learns that Anubis has visited Xeldarix at some point in the past since she became a god. They talk about finding a second dragon. As far as Ana was told their weren't any left. Xeldarix corrected her to hardly any native ones left. Dragons are drawn here to try and balance magic. Without them the weave would start to come loose. After a long chat about all that has happened, Ana is about to wake up when she mentions Jamal being a shade and Xeldarix yanks her back sharply into the dream. Ana does her best to explains when she knows about Jamal to calm Xeldarix back down. She is concerned about a shade being on the plane. She promises to speak to Ruonil about this. Then she allows Ana to leave her realm when they're done.
Overnight, Brin dreams. He's moving through his hometown, but it seems completely empty. Brin checks down another side street. He wanders and knocks on random doors. No one answers the doors. It's so quiet. Brin is the only thing making noise. After a while Brin starts to call out and he is answered by a voice who speaks of how lonely it is to be abandoned. Brin tries convince the voice people change and it is normal for people to move on. The voice agrees to a point, but he does not like it when those who leave him die, only to return and still leave him. The creature speaks of knowing Jamal, but in a previous form and shows Brin what Jamal has looked like in the past through many lifetimes. The creature Brin saw in the map room is unlikely to be there. He will seek another means to the end of all things. This creature is who made him an axe and his will has persisted. The voice reveals the creature in an aberration. The axe was once a person named hrain Ironheart over 1500 years ago. He wants to stop the void from achieving their goals. He explains the coldness around Jamal and to the dead is his idea of giving them the cold shoulder. Brin convinces the axe to not be cold around Jamal. Upon waking, Brin sees his axe looks different. On the axe head knotted dwarven designs have appeared and the handle has become slightly more ornate.
As Margaret sleeps, she dreams. The moon is over shoufal and there are no screams or blood. The city is peaceful. There is a large shadow cast over the city, but overall a significantly better dream then previous ones.
31st of Haelynir 1545
At 6am, Brin and Ana run into one another in the kitchen this morning. Date Palm is in there at the table with Selene. He's just finished making her a hot chocolate and is cutting up some fruit for her. Brin asks Selene if she's ready to play darts, but she says it's her bed time after food. He teases her and she teases him back about trying to cheat while she's tired. The banter draws Ana in and she bets a silver that Selene will win the game. Brin makes pancakes for himself and others, but not for Selene as they are for breakfast and not for dinner. Selene pouts and commits that to memory. Not long after Date Palm takes Selene to bed. Ana tries to convince Brin that pancakes are a dinner food too, but Brin doesn't budge as Selene doesn't run the run the guild and it's the principle of the matter. Ana warns him that if she gets real hungry she might eat them and Brin nods. He's confident he could outrun Ana if it came to that, though Ana is sure Selene would ignore the smaller meal in favour for the later one. With pancakes ready, they eat and talk a little about the changes with Brin's axe and the dream about it. Afterwards Brin heads to his room to check on the four lanterns.Brin arrives in his room to see one of the members awake and tending to the injured one. The member and Brin talk about how the injured one is doing. He fell asleep a few hours ago and is really unwell. Rest will help but it will take time. Brin feels remorse for what happened and it leads to formal introductions. Brother Kurooom Kellainen has been tending to the Four Lantern's leader Bonsen Pontiago. Their group came to the city for the lottery. Bonsen recruited them each of the members. They talk about the fighting pits and Brin's concerns there due to the Silver Chain's perceived involvement with the city's predicament. Brin goes to make the group some eggs while Kuroom goes to check on his fellow Lanterns.
At 8:20am Margaret comes downstairs to find Ana in the kitchen having some tea and some snacks. Ana tells Margaret about the up and coming game of darts between Brin and Selene, and about what Brin told her from his dream. Magaret explains that aberrations are a fairly wide category of magical creatures, sometimes from other planes, other times they’re from here, but they’re always strange and unusual. At this point Brin arrives and starts to cook some eggs. The party discusses what they should do today. They do agree they should go back into necropolis to see if the aberration is still there. Brin shares the full history of the axe and what it said about Jamal since he is currently absent. As he goes into what Thrain thinks the creature from the map room wanted, Ana and Margaret realises that this is starting to sound like void problems. Margaret shares her peaceful dream last night. Not long after that the three hungry lanterns come into the kitchen looking for breakfast. It's a bit cramped in the kitchen so Ana directs them to the rooftop garden. Brin goes up with them as Ana and Margaret stay in the kitchen.
The lanterns stop when they find the large tables on the balcony to have breakfast and more introductions are done. The remaining member are Dame Uvory Zitre, Knight of the Autumn Court to the Lord of Forgotten Dreams. She's a tomboy who could easily be mistaken for a man. The other is Ustrad Kaighter and is a scholar. The group talks and Brin tells them what has been happening around the city lately and the party's involvement in all of it. He gives the group the task of finding out if the fighting pits is still running or if things went sour. They promise to do so when things have gone back to normal for the city. Afterwards Brin leaves to find the girls while the group finishes their breakfast.
While Ana and Margaret wait for Brin, Ana goes looking for chocolate. Margaret tries to carefully ask about how old Ana was when she lost of parents. Ana claims that she doesn't remember them and was always in the orphanage until she ran away. Margaret shares she was raised by the cloister as her parents died after she was born. Eventually Brin joins them. They confirm they are not taking the day off. They collect Jamal and Ubek before heading out. Brin's axe is now piping hot in Jamal's presence. Obvious, Jamal tells the group about what he's been able to sell this morning to ensure people can have shares. Jamal is filled in on the dream, excluding the parts that applied to him. When they get Ubek, those who haven't met Keld and Thessa do so. When the group leaves they head for the same way they have been entering and exiting the necropolis for the last several days.
By 11am the group makes it to the observatory and head down into the basement area and down to the map room. They are being careful but not sneaking. Brin goes down to the map room alone to check it out. Brin smells something bad and gestures back to the group. They can't smell it and eventually everyone comes up to the map room. They find it destroyed. The obelisk in the middle has been removed and it looks like it was used to carve out writing in many languages. In the languages the group can read it says "This city will make a beautiful anchor." The body of the man who originally had the mask has been moved down here and respectfully arranged. Margaret looks around the room while Brin investigates the body. As Brin approaches the body a glyph goes off. Ana tries to help Brin, and does pull him back to avoid some of the magical attack. Ana sees a target appear on Brin's back before it fades and he suffers necrotic damage. Around the room they hear "I know you, I see you" being whispered before it fades. Ana heals Brin up a little before before Ana and Margaret do some rituals to try and work out what just happened. The magic is fading on Brin, there is divination magic on Brin. They will be able to scry on him despite wards. They make a plan for Ubek to look for sensors. He tells the group there is one here now. They leave the room and it follows, Brin tries to run from it and it follows. Eventually Margaret dispels it with Ana's help. Afterwards they decide to go to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to look into leads and to discuss the current predicament.
By 1pm they arrive at the Hall of Blessed Rebirth. They go through the front entrance today. They speak with a receptionist and are taken to Mistress Everhand's office to wait while she's in a meeting. They agree to use the codeword "peanuts" if Ubek sees a sensor. They wait there quietly for Mistress Everhand. After about ten minutes Mistress Everhand joins them. They tell her all about what happened today at the observatory and about Brin's dream with the axe. This includes the details about Jamal. Mistress Everhand examines Brin's back. Her mummified hand goes into Brin's back as she examines him. She explains she will need to check him regularly for a while for a void seed. It is less like a plant and more like a child when Brin asks about it. She explains there are two types of seeds. One is corrupting and drives the person made as they seek out the void, while the other slowly involves repeatably exposing them to the void to strengthen the anchor. She is not sure which one of these he has yet. The guild of Rebirth is still looking into the lost city and how to get the group there safely. They will hopefully have more information in a few days. Jamal had previous asked about getting people to interview for their guild hireling positions and Mistress Everhand will arrange for them to arrive tomorrow morning. Just before the group leaves Ana talks to Mistress Everhand and takes the mask for her own personal use. Ana arranges to have legend lore cast on the mask tomorrow before she attunes to it. Afterwards the group does a lap of the Golden Lake with the crocodiles. It is currently lacking crocodiles, the market doesn't look open and there are few people out cleaning up the streets. Brin realises that the obelisk was where the Khirdai temple was. However, the Khirdai temple is a recent history thing unlike how old the map room is. Then they head back to the guild.
They arrive back at the guild at 3pm. Margaret asks Ubek to make her a divining bowl from silver. She gives him the gold for it and he starts working on it. Margaret spends time attuning to one of her new magical items. Then she will practice with her items. Jamal sorts out shares and ensures everyone has their share. The only two items that are not included are the Rapier of Warning and Ring of Free Action. The group doesn't want to sell them and they are too expensive to claim currently. Ana goes through the spellbooks to try and find any rituals she can copy in the library. Margaret joins her after an hour to start copying Tiny Hut. Brin unattunes from the cloak of elvenkind and instead attune to the Belt of Dwarvenkind. Then he checks in on the Four lanterns and get to know them better. Brin learns:
- Ustrad is from the coast. He's spent most of his life on a ship and has since been trying to stretch his legs on this latest adventure. He was a navigator. He's the mapper and survival expert while working on his arcane abilities.
- Brother Kuroom is a follower of Sera. He came into the group by luck and took that as a sign to stay with the group.
- Dame Uvory is tight lipped. She has fought in a war of sorts that she is famous of being lucky. She is famous in the faelands for being lucky. She doesn't care about gender. As long as she's addressed politely she could not care less.
- Bonsen is unconscious so the group says what they can. He's their leader. Good at getting them in and out of problems. Sometimes he can pass himself off as someone else to allow them to get what they need at times. He had a back up plan to steal another teams spot if they didn't arrive in time for sign ups. He was very set on doing the lottery and the group isn't 100% sure on why. He was looking for magical items and to build themselves in power as a group. He looks after the group and only ever takes from people who can afford the lose what they take, specifically with gambling. He won't gamble with people down on their luck and in need. He is reckless and always looking for that one big score. Talks like an old man despite his age.
At 5pm Selene is up and excited to play darts with Brin. Ana secretly uses her magic to help Selene and to hinder Brin. Margaret marks the darts for Selene and a line for them to stand behind. The first throw Selene gets close to the centre and Brin misses the board entirely. The second throw Selene has another good throw but as Brin goes to throw he can feel something messing with his dart. This throw he gets on the board but Selene was closer to the X. For the last throw Selene gets it on the board, but Brin had deliberately distracted her. Selene tries to distract Brin as well and is successful. He misses the board again. Selene wins! Margaret throws a dart for fun, practicing casting True Strike. Brin gives Selene the darts and she is so excited she phases through the wall to go show Date Palm. Brin asks the girls who interfered but no one confesses so he guilt trips them a little due to the void baby. Margaret gives Ana 250 gold for when they go to the Hall of Blessed Rebirth to get her supplies for writing. Just before bed Selene comes to see Brin. She wants to teach Brin how to play boulder toss and gives him a desert flower as a thank you for the game. Margaret tries to bring on a moon dream but doesn't get anything new when she sleeps.
