Session: Feb. 19th, 2024

I'm shaking as I write this. She knows. All of them know. I knew there was a high chance of that happening, but I had really hoped we'd be able to get the jump on them. They don't know that we know, so that's a small advantage, but it's one I'm not sure is going to be of real use to us.
 
I suppose I should back up. We got into the house just fine. Not much seems to have changed, other than some tasteful renovations, and the fact that Mother is using the bedrooms on the main floor now instead of our rooms on the upper floors. I wasn't surprised by where we were put, it was all standard procedure. Zun, Mud, and I did a thorough check of the rooms; we didn't find anything suspicious. We also went on a little walk to the kitchens, but that just got us some ale and a couple baths for Zun and Mud. I did notice that Dolores is still there as the kitchen mistress, which was interesting, but she and I were never close. She arrived when I was 12 after the last kitchen mistress passed away, so I didn't have a lot of time to get to know her. I also asked after Kyel, but the staff gave me some vague answer that his family might be part of the servants at the stables.
 
I had hoped that all of us would get to go to dinner, but it turned out that only Elegant and one other could accompany him, so we decided it would be best if Zun went. Mud, being Mud, wanted to be extra cautious and decided to accompany them as well, just to be able to check the people and the room. And I just sat with Saanes. I debated scrying on the dinner, but Saanes cited it as being risky, and it's not like he was wrong. If she noticed someone scrying on them , it would have put them on high alert immediately. So I opted to send Father a message instead. I just...I couldn't wait any longer. I haven't seen him in over 2 years now, and I've missed him so much. And now he's finally in the same house! All he replied with though was to tell me that it wasn't a good time. I was hoping that the dinner conversation would be distracting enough that I could get away with it. When Elegant and Zun came back, apparently that was not the case, and I made things worse. Sigh.
 
When everyone came back to the room, it turned out that several interesting things had happened. Mud decided to "get lost" and wander the mansion, which yielded him little. I literally could have told him where things were, but whatever. Now he's on the guards' radar I'm sure, since he got caught. Zun and Elegant came back saying that someone named Cordyn, who's the head of the city guards, is now the heir delegate, and that she plans to legally adopt him. I have never heard of this man before, and our scrying only showed us that he seems to be dedicated to his job, and is not Dan'or'avil in disguise. It's...strange to me. When I lived there, she tried to teach me all of her manipulation tactics, how to be cruel to others, how to be just like her. But from what Zun and Elegant said, and what we've seen, this man seems to be both normal and a little boring. He does not strike me as someone she'd want to take over for her when she dies. He does not seem nearly cruel enough.
 
They also said that both Cordyn and Mother said the way I'd originally disappeared was that I'd been kidnapped by a group, and so she sent a group of people after me, and that one of the kidnappers had essentially rained down hell on them. They said they managed to kill most of the kidnappers, but at a heavy cost to themselves, and then they retrieved one of them. But...it was just Father and I. Father was the "kidnapper" they caught. I guess she wouldn't want that news getting out, and it would make sense to make the story more sensational...but I still find it strange. Especially given that Cordyn was there, but didn't seem to be lying about there being a group of kidnappers. Another mystery that needs to be solved.
 
Then, even worse, it was confirmed that Father is wearing one of those awful collars that Tilly had. Which means if we kill Mother...we kill him. And we have no idea if what she has is a bracelet like last time, or, given that Father's collar was significantly different looking, what she wears might be some other jewellery entirely. We don't even know if she has it on her person, or in her room, or somewhere else. I would have no problems just chopping off her hand, but I don't know if that would also kill his hand. We know the pain transfers, and I'd feel bad about that, but it would be worth it for his freedom. I don't know if losing a hand would. I'm hoping I can message Father in the evening and get more information from him.
 
The final thing of note was that one of Mother's direct messengers came to speak with her, and it was interesting enough that it drew them out of the dinner. So when everyone got back to Elegant's room, we decided to try a little scrying. Dan'or'avil's didn't work, and Mother's didn't work, but neither of those were really surprises. BUT...the tiefling's worked. Oh did it work.
 
Turns out the tiefling was someone named Lodern, which raised immediate red flags, because that's the name of a tiefling on one of the wanted posters that Garrin gave us. Also a red flag because we know he's a mercenary for hire. And he was conversing with Mother. Then it came out that Lodern had been pretending to be Kyel the entire time, which was what I was afraid of. The entire time we were trying to be cautious, he was right there watching us. Not only that, but he saw me practicing with Mortalis, and told Mother he and I are stronger than she thought. So she knew the entire time I was Eirlyssia...pretending to be Kyra was practically for nothing. She said she's going to try to convince me to come back, and then dispose of my party, which is EXTREMELY concerning. She also said they have an easy way to control me, which has me nervous. I'm hoping it's the obvious "stay in line or I'll kill your father" and not something like the collar that Father has on. Or even worse, G'Vath'Haz.
 
Then there were the parts we don't understand - Lodern is working on "contingencies" with other men he's hired, who don't totally know what they're working on, that are apparently going to be ready to go tomorrow morning. Don't like that one bit. And apparently the guards have all been given some kind of interesting weapons in order to deal with us, which, again, is very concerning. We truly are at a disadvantage here.