Session 31: Interlude

The battle was done, we were still in the aftermath of the fight for the ruined fortress and the chase through the portals. And there were still so many questions that would not stop racing through my mind.
 
As we rested in the ruins of the fortress, I tried to make sense of my companions, my fellow senior officers. We had been through so much together in the past months, but we knew so little of each other at the same time. The traditions of the Scales said that our life before the Scales did not matter once you joined. It was something so many of us clinged to, a port in the storm that let us move forward, instead of remaining mired in the past. Or did it?
 
Our first order of business was to answer the riddle of Reaper’s return from death. Unfortunately, there was little he could offer to solve that puzzle. He had died. He heard a voice he could understand. He was offered the helmet, which he claimed, and then was returned to us. The problem was, his other body was still present. That wasn’t how resurrections were supposed to work.
 
Bait tried to Raise the other body, the new Reaper appeared to be pulled by the spell, but resisted. Absent any other revelations, we are just holding on to the other body for the future.
 
I did mention that this made for two mysterious resurrections during pressing battles (this and Scar’s raising while we fought Mari, the red dragon).
 
Discussion then turned to what to do next. The two most prominent topics were investigating the troubles in the Fey, something closely related to Grace, and further progress into the Ringwell.
 
I tried to point out that we had lacked contracts for either of these endeavors, and that even our arrangement with von Glauer may put us in a position we did not want to find ourselves in.
 
We talked about Scar’s goals of conquest and establishing something different in Ptolus, we spoke of Grace’s connections to the troubles in the Feywild. St. Wagner appeared to be making a play for dominance on more than one plane.
 
Grace had some resistance to opening up about his past, per the Scales’s traditions, but I argued that if we were to start doing more things off contract, act more as independent powers as opposed to mercenaries, that we needed to understand more about the reasons and risks we were taking. Grace did give some information about his past, his relationship to the Fewwild.
 
Grace also attempted to contact his father to get an update on the situation in the Feywild, but received limited information for his efforts, except that he apparently knows the aspiring ArchFey that is apparently being supported by St. Wagner. He also told us that the House of Eiluned was no more, whatever that means. We were also directed to a Druid Circle as a possible transfer point into the Feywild.
 
I tried to ask about folklore I had heard about the Feywild, about what was true of the stories telling of the dangers of the plane and its inhabitants.
 
As I tried to inquire as to others motivations, many were cagey, but I did get some insights I had not previously enjoyed.
 
Grace seems to be motivated by some goal of gaining enough power to return to the Feywild and raise his name and noble house above its current station.
 
Points seems to be motivated by some notion of Justice. He felt that the Scales contracts had allow him to pursue this in some way. I suppose he has been satisfied with the honor of the Scales and the choice of contracts to date.
 
Scar seems to follow his Oaths of Conquest, yet he was not more forthcoming about what that might mean in a solid vision, except for gaining strength.
 
Reaper, I knew, had motivations not unlike my own, with a strong desire to protect his brothers in arms. There was some new information about his past, being a soldier in another company before the Scales.
 
I still could not get a read on Pyre, and Bait, while alluding to a greater detail about his past (a storm, and a seaside village smoking), did not give a lot of detail.
 
Overall, I am still torn. My instincts and my Oaths tell me that we are not prepared for the steps that seem to be ahead of us. I have fears that we will wake a sleeping giant with our actions, and I don’t know why we are seriously considering some of these goals. Perhaps I have grown too cautious, too analytical of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but I cannot shake these feelings.