Session: Jan. 8th, 2024

It felt very familiar to be on the road again. I've spent 15 years doing it, after all. It was very...nostalgic. Though this time it's for a purpose I've been waiting to accomplish for years. As much as I knew I'd be heading back here, it feels strange to finally have the time arrive. I spent so long being angry...so long trying to stay away...it feels bizarre to be willingly walking back into Mother's hands. However, it's not as if I'm unprepared. We haven't really begun to plan what exactly we're going to do when we get there, and that's a requirement, but still. We're strong. We work together well.
 
We're already a week into our trip too. That's what's making me a little on edge - we're that much closer to this happening. We've only got a week and half left, give or take.
 
Part of the trip has been spent getting to know Kyil a little better. He's the...butler? Servant? Who's been assigned to help us out on our journey back. We very quickly realized after a couple days of silence that that wasn't self-imposed - my mother cut his tongue out. Which, sounds about right. She fed my nanny to wolves, after all. Apparently he can't read or write either. The good news is he seemed very confused about who Orthek was, when we confronted him with the name - though I'm hoping it's not just that Orthek is being a fabulous actor in this case. I also haven't checked in with Mortalis yet to see if he senses Dan'or'avil's presence from him. Mortalis told me a while ago he'd be able to sense that, so I'm hoping he would have warned me, but I still figure it's good to check in.
 
The only that makes me question Kyil a little is that I don't remember him at all. According to him, he's been serving Mother for as long as he can remember, and he's in his forties. That would imply to me he was there while I was there...but I have zero recollection of him. Which, I could of course, just be forgetting him - we did have a lot of servants after all, and I was only close with a few of them. But still, it makes me a little uneasy. However, assuming he is who he says he is, I want to ask him a few things. Like, why he stays with my mother if she's so awful? And if he knows anything about Father and Chompy's family being held there. And if the reason he freaked out so hard when I spoke into his head was because G'Vath'Haz or Mother has done that before and he associates it with something bad. Many things to discuss.
 
The journey itself has been rather unremarkable, other than one strange stop. There was a statue of The Black King, and a plaque reading 'The Black King's Final Show'. When Mud activated the axe, it started an illusory play. A THREE HOUR LONG play that Yll'sid had created; a very obvious vanity project. There was no sound, but it seemed to detail the story of he and his wife drifting further apart as he grew crazier, then they both took lovers, then the wife's lover tried to kill Yll'sid, and he had them both killed. An interesting final moment was Yll'sid's lover handing a bag of gold to a masked figure though. Curious, but no point in dwelling on it, since it currently means nothing to me. I'm hoping us activating that didn't somehow apprise Yll'sid to our location, though.
 
Other than that, I got to cast Sending to Rayan, he's doing well. I miss having him around...he was a nice distraction. And then Mortalis and I got some good practice in! I gave him the usual half litre of blood, then tried a healing potion to see if that would fully restore what I'd lost. Sadly, it only seemed to half return, as I felt woozy after just giving another quarter litre. However, Mortalis was able to almost fully become a humanoid! A bit concerning was when he said he'd missed that feeling though...as if he'd been humanoid before. I'm wondering if it's the part of the god in him that's remembering that, since he's a combo of their personalities? That, or Mortalis has been lying to me the whole time, which I don't love. We'll see I suppose. He was even able to pick a pillow up - he had full use of 'hands', which is also exciting. A little concerning that he did the 'hold onto the thing just a little too long to the point that my discomfort became greater' as he usually does...but he was probably excited too. So I can't hold it too much against him. I was excited too. Just have to make sure I don't offer any sort of indication I've been practising again to the group. After our last conversation I'm very aware they would not enjoy that. Sigh.