8/24/24

BEGIN SESSION
 
Valorant City lies in the domain of Radiant Rhogair (golden adult dragon), the youngest of the Cabinet - the ruling organization of the dragons. As the youngest, he is considered the most benevolent. The other two I know exist - Eclectic Erend and Bloody Charring, both ancient in age; green and red in color, respectively. The only other large city I am aware of existing is in the territory of Burnished Bromand, an ancient bronze.
 
There are ships in port, and I recognize The Greasy Cog, a goblin trading caravel. Guards are waiting for us as we dock. In the air around us, there is an oppressive weight of magic that settles on our shoulders. In the guards, the highest ranking person appears to be a dragonborn (golden). They are all armored lightly or not at all, and seem to be casters. There are no gnomes, goliaths, or aasimars in sight, but every other race seems represented in the crowds around us. There are all kinds of rifts to other planes around the island, but they're always in the territory of a very old dragon and we would need to secure permission in order to enter territories other than the one Valorant City exists in.
 
Gail and Bellia show their documents for immigration. Yun and I have everything ready since we've travelled enough, Marda and Melfine have some from the Sanctum, and thankfully Max has everything for Druss, as Druss apparently lives off-grid in his own mind. The captain of the guard, Captain Larkin, wants to know why we're here and Yun, as Dr. Darwinstein now, says we're here on vacation. That doesn't go over, so they pivot to research, then to asking for an inn to stay at. They somehow don't cause an international incident, then Gale steps in to cover our asses and kill the fun.
 
Entering the city, we're told we have 48 hours of access but have to file petitions to stay longer. We also cannot leave the city without gaining more permissions and filing more petitions. The city smells heavily of magical smog and the crush of bodies. I lead the way to the agency so we can ask for longer access right out of the gate, and the office seems pretty empty. Most people around the island just kinda live here, not a lot of tourists. We find and fill out the forms, getting a 14 day visa for the island. We still can't leave the city, and don't know where we'd go first anyways.
 
We find a hotel, more like a B&B, on the 30th floor of one of the towers. We book 5 nights for 25 gp. Since the towers are magical spaces, opening extradimensional spaces (e.g. the handy haversack) would be very bad. We're going to a seafood restaurant at the top of the tallest tower, and along the way we see several laundromats, wizard sublets, and a beautiful antique shop which is on the base floor. We intuit that the antique shop owner owns the tower, otherwise why would that shop be there? There are all sorts of magical wonders to behold: time-wimey fuckery, gravity fuckery, a botanical garden, and an aquarium building.
 
Everyone wants to check out the antique shop, Genie's Wayfair. I am concerned about some of the crew getting us in some hot water, so I keep an eye on everyone while they shop. Druss goes for arms and armor, and Yun also looks for fashionable armor. Yun nearly falls into a deal with the Genie, but Druss is suspicious and tries to stop them from accepting the fetch quest of writing a Yelp review for a restaurant at the top of a tower. We're going to do it though, despite the possibly nefarious intentions of Genie.
 
We head off to the restaurant, and it's not excessively packed. The buffet is split between regular food in the outer strata and the dessert items in the center of the circular space. A host greets us and takes payment upfront. We all smash a good quantity of food, and I don't eat a single vegetable, it's a waste of space. Through the windows, we can see the expanse of the city abruptly end where a primordial forest takes over. Below a waterfall, we see something that very well could be another city. Something is swimming around out there, something very large. A massive shadow overtakes the building for a second, then screaming and cheering thunders from street level. Fireworks start going off, depicting elementals, dragons, and other beasties. The last few shapes are a bridge, a dragon, and an egg. Yun asks about it, and they are told Radiant Rogair has shown himself.
 
Yun then submits their Yelp review to the Yelp kobold that appears through the window. We get back in the elevator, and it takes us down below the ground, despite us pressing the button for the ground floor. It takes us to the 5th sub-basement, where the armor is sitting on a stand under the only lit lamp in the room. All around, it is extra super magically dark and very spooky. A Mage Hand from Yun disappears immediately upon leaving the elevator. Melfine tosses her chain dagger to grapple the armor to us, and needs a hand pulling the armor toward us. It comes, and the cursed book that is bonded to it charges to us, disappearing into the darkness. We duck and brace, and after a few seconds the book thuds against the back wall of the elevator, chomps around a few times, then falls still. We head back up to the ground floor for real this time, and are met with the suitcase Marda purchased. All items are delivered and the deal is complete, we hope.
 
We get back to the room, and settle in for the night. The spellbook belonged to Vaughn Varegoth, Yun discovers. It also changed languages for them. VV made a soul stone, and left it with Bloody Charring. We are going to need to get some permission to go to Charring's territory, the volcano area. I cast Identify on all the nice new things they purchased today. The armor is a +1 mithral shirt, plain and simple, but it's bound to the book and that's what's odd. That binding is now paired to Yun as well, and in that binding pulses necromantic power. The book will heal itself by drawing life from its bond. There is no sentience, but it does want to be bonded always. The book will also try to defend itself. No one can read the book that doesn't have permission, and it is a really well-made spellbook.
 
We go to bed. I dream of running from a lobster I had been eating, which is hard because I'm very full but also easy because I ate some of its legs. I run and run and get tired, then ride a shrimp like a horse, then circle back to eating the lobster, and repeat the loop until I wake up, let out a monstrous belch that reverberates throughout the city, and return to sleep. Yun wakes up missing their left eye, and the binding tattoos are more intricate.
 
In the morning, I dump it out hardcore, then sweat it out at the spa.
 
To get to Charring's domain, we have to go through Eclectic Erend's, Rusty Quail's (not in the Cabinet), and Copac the Clever's lands. We file the papers for the journey.
 
END SESSION
 
INSP Inventory: INSP, +d6