I Hate to Leave; I Have to, Though

As Vorach slowly comes to, groggy from death, and is startled by Zeal's gravelly voice and covered body. Sidna called out to him, but seemed to lose her words when he turned to look at her. Zeal confirmed to Vorach that he had died, and that Zeal had made some sort of deal to bring him back. He tried to summon his magic, realising that he was having trouble seeing, and Serafina handed over a lantern to help him as Sidna helped him up.
 
As we all turned to leave, ready to get out of the swamp, Serafina noted some movement from the corner of her eye and turned to see an enormous flower blooming atop the fae tree, from which a bark-skinned Zeal (naked, but in a ken doll fashion) emerged, explaining that he used the beauty he won from Zeal as a vessel for movement. He kisses Serafina's hand and introduces himself as Specht, not bark-Zeal.
 
Specht is interested in the dragon's egg, but Serafina won't trade it, and he explains that even without that, she has plenty of value for him to trade for: her name, her allegiances, etc. While she is considering this, Vorach and Sidna call out to try and dissuade her from making a deal, but she reaches out a claw to shake.
 
Specht grabs onto her hand and the rest of us see Serafina buckle, a blanket of moss covering her from sight from which a single flower sprouts. After minutes of frantic pasting, the flower blossoms to a fruit, turning into a strawberry that Specht plucks and consumes: claiming that to be Serafina's magic. He begins to sing in a voice that sounds like a mix between Zeal and Serafina's voice, which heals Vorach by a small amount as he casts healing word.
 
Serafina now comes to, recognising sensation, and feels something like a blanket over her, and she begins to take it off. The rest of us see a creature with skin that shifts and dances with colourful fae magic, and Serafina is reborn as a changeling, though she feels a complete loss of her magical ability. Splecht asks if she is satisfied with the offer, and she touches her face. She realises all she has to do is think about changing her body and it does, as she thought of claws her hands shifted, and she seems...satisfied. Her curse isn't broken, but this magical gift allows for her to no longer share the form of a dragonborn.
 
As the magic settles, her skin in its natural state turns into an alabaster, marble white that makes her look almost like a mannequin.
 
Sidna and Vorach realise that her choice was her choice, but that her choice may have been influenced by the fae magic hanging in the air. She turns and rushes away, with Vorach running after her and asking for confirmation that Zeal had also made a deal with that fae to bring him back. Her shoulders tense and she slows enough to confirm that, leaving him to quietly say that we won't be able to kill it then and free Serafina from the deal she made. Sidna says that it was their choice to make and not for the orcs to interfere with, though Vorach threw a snide remark back about Zeal's choice. Sidna, unusually softly, said that was true, but not for the reason he thought.
 
Zeal realises that the water in the swamp is continuing to freeze around him, though not fast enough for him to naruto run over water (yet!). He turns and asks Serafina if she's satisfied, and she says that she's worried about Connie's curse still being there, if the fae didn't break her curse, and Zeal says they can worry about that after they get to Hesjingmajak, pointing out that the frozen disaster in the south where Connie's from could potentially be related, and worth investigating. He asks how she's doing without her magic, and she blithely comments how she doesn't use it as much in her daily life, only when she's in absolute need. Zeal says that they can figure something out, if she wants, and she shrugs, saying she should be able to make do without it.
 
She turns the questions back on him, asking how he is doing in his bundles and with the deal he made. He says that the dragon gave him knowledge that his current body is a rental, and so he was happy to trade its beauty for the life of a friend. She asks if that meant he was planning on "not paying rent" on this body until it was repossessed, and he shrugged, saying he was hoping one day he'd find the body that matches his soul, and if he couldn't then he'd at least try to find a way to change his form in a less animalistic way that he had.
 
As we arrive back to Moonspring, we pause briefly as Vorach actually sees Serafina, eyes wide as he realises how different she looks, and even wider (and slightly nauseous) when she changes into the form of a tall man with pale skin, dark hair, and blue eyes, and Sidna leads us towards Poppy's. Outside, we see Gio is standing guard, and he cheerfully greets "Lady Sidna" before saying we made new friends. He lets us inside after they explain our companions are actually still themselves, and he heads up to wake Poppy up after we confirm we only want to speak with her, not the envoy right now.
 
While he goes up, Vorach moves to the kitchen to start making tea for everyone, and as he offers one of his smiles the party sees he's not in as much pain, even if he doesn't realise it, and they turn and quietly thank Zeal as the half-orc vanishes into the kitchen. Poppy makes her way downstairs, and Sidna apologises for the hour, but that the party wanted to check in. Sidna first explains Serafina is really herself, and gestures to her, where male-Serafina waves back at her. Poppy is a little too confused to consider that, but is grateful Serafina is okay.
 
Sidna moves on to Zeal, who is little more than a bundle of blankets and scarves, clutching a steaming mug and sipping through a tiny slit. Poppy asks if he needs healing, and when Sidna says that he doesn't, she says she'd rather not know what's underneath. Vorach emerges from the kitchen with more tea, and she remarks she's glad to see him alive and unharmed, to which he gets a small thousand-yard stare.
 
The party continues to report in, and we suggest that Poppy and only people she trust make contact with the fungimen in the woods, Vorach recounting their struggle with the frost and that they might appreciate some mental security in knowing they have an ally nearby. Sidna agrees with this and the two also share directions, making sure she won't tread too close to the Faewild. It turns out her son can speak Undercommon, so she'll be taking him to help her.
 
Poppy heads back up to bed, tired and confused, but grateful for the help and offers us lodging for the evening. Sidna moves to the workshop and begins to set up tables for the bed, while Zeal takes clean-up duty from Vorach, who heads outside, saying he'd like to camp under the stars tonight. Serafina helps briefly with clean-up before moving to join Vorach, while Sidna sits at the window watching the backyard. Taking advantage of the distraction, he moves to Poppy's make-up table and looks himself over in the mirror. He believes himself to deserve this, if he truly betrayed his Queen, and that at the very least he helped Constantine, which is good...right? He heads outside to take some night air and consider things, Serafina briefly finding him to commisserate.
 
She, too, has lost her beauty, and she wants to offer him a shoulder in case he needs it, but he seems entirely content and urges her to "go get some orc". Vorach, simultaneously, is staring at the sky and realising that his eyes are completely shot, he can't see in the dark like he's been used to for years, and so he just slowly closes the lantern at his side.
 
Serafina approaches, and asks after him, changing from her man-shape into her more familiar purple dragonborn self. She asks how she looks and he answers, she's beautiful but he's not used to her, it's like looking at the sun too long when she changes and he can't look away in time. Of course, she's flustered, and as the two talk, she tells him that she wants to share her past with him but is worried he'll hate him. He says he can't promise he won't, because he don't know what she'll say, but he promises to think for a while before reacting, and to not react angrily.
 
Back in Chantiso she was well known for being pretty, well-connected, and she had suitors aplenty. However, out of all of the men who were interested in her, she only had eyes for someone she couldn't have: Adrian, another man with a love of his own. Seeking him for herself, she brewed together a potion to put his love to sleep so she could disguise herself as her and renounce the love's interest in Adrian. It seemed to work, but when Adrian came to visit Serafina she found herself drugged and then woke up tied to a chair, where he interrogated her until he found the woman's whereabouts. Unfortunately, Serafina's alchemy was potent, and the deep slumber was instead death, so Adrian placed a hefty blood curse on her that turned her into her "dragonborn" shape, decrying her as a monster and running her out of town.
 
Vorach asks her how old she was, and if she learned her lesson. She answers it was a while ago, and that every time she looks in the mirror she's reminded of the lesson: that because of her selfish desire, another person lost their life. She seems genuinely remorseful, and Vorach assures her that he doesn't hate her. He's glad she learned, and he's concerned she might be in danger, and he promises to help her and be by her side, but asks for the rest of the evening to himself: he's still coming to terms with the change. She nods, and lets him be, heading back inside to her own rest.
 
Sidna can't sleep at all, overcome with thoughts of Vorach and the deal Zeal made, and she turns her symbol over in her hands. She gets dressed and goes out into town, walking somewhat forlornly before stumbling across a shrine to Thrae, and when she makes a move to step away she feels a wind on the back of her neck instead and turns back. The shrine is little more than an open-element stone on a small, raised pedestal with the symbol of Thrae carved on it and several, empty plates and a few scattered coins scattered around it.
 
"Mighty Thrae, Your breath is like. No wait, that wasn't it. Ugh... Your. Fucking hell. Look, Thrae, this whole prayer thing isn't really my thing, or religion. But. There's no denying that what You've done for me and for her has had great affect and has helped me greatly. I don't know how it works, or worked, and I heard her voice praying clear as day. So I hope that You will hear mine; let me try this." She peeks an eye open, closes it, and then continues, "Mighty Thrae. Your voice is the wind, let mine be carried alongside Yours. Mighty Thrae. Your voice brings rest, ensuring my safety to my flower. May she blossom strong still in my absence. I thank You, for Your guidance; now, in the past, and I hope in the future, too." As she finishes the prayer, she hears the lightest echo of her own voice and feels the wind blowing, and she gasps and looks up as if to trail her voice on its way into the sky before pulling out her satchel of felsoul and sprinkling a bit on a plate nearby.
 
Walking around town some more, Sidna realises that she can hear the faintest echo on snatches of wind with another voice. Realising this, she quickly detours to find a nearby low building that she can scale to try and get a better feel of the wind. Unfortunately, no matter how she strains, it's impossible to catch more than she already has.
 
With the thought of a brazier of ice holding flame, Zeal conjures the image of echo in his mind and prays, "Merciful goddess, mother of the forlorn, who watches over all those who have no place to call home. Fire for Argeth, Fire for Argeth, and I the ash to kindle the flame." In this moment of respite, he takes self-stock, and feels his pride and determination of his actions through the day, and ends up trying to pick together any piece of his "other self", the one that doesn't belong to this body. In cold air, out fire, and the meditation continues in simple repetition before he finds himself at rest.
 
For the briefest of moments the fire in the brazier in his mind takes on the shape of a face, a single tear rolling across its cheek, before the fire goes out, leaving him to flop on his back. We all get our long rest!
 
During the night, Vorach is woken by a coughing fit, as bad as when his disease was at its worst: and it starts thick and black, tar-like almost. While he's racked by coughs and can't sleep through the rest of the night, the blood does slowly clear up from being entirely black and turning into a super dark crimson through the hours.
 
In the morning, Zeal is the first to awake from his short slumber, seeing the younger male guard who'd been accompanying the envoy approaching with the reins of their three horses, Zeal happily seeing Greg, though Greg is a little bit unsure about wtf happened, which is quickly explained in a flurry of neighs and whinnies. Heading inside, he finds Connie sitting in the kitchen, exhausted and ill, with a bucket and a bowl in front of him. Dropping his staff with a clatter he lunges forward and seizes Vorach, asking how he is.
 
Vorach starts to answer but is interrupted by another coughing fit, blood escaping his mouth. He looks to Zeal and quietly says, "I don't feel so good," before passing out. Zeal catches him and takes him back to the workshop, setting him down before Sidna and Serafina can wake up and turning to clear up the bowl of black blood and the bucket of mixed blood. He readies breakfast while Sidna and Serafina wake up, Serafina both defaulting to her neutral state and noticing a faint glow in Sidna's chest.
 
Zeal says they should let Vorach sleep, that he had a rough night, and explains he theorises that Vorach was expelling the last of the shadow from his body, and explained it had come out super violently with a mix of blood and vomit. But since he only put him to bed an hour ago, they're content to let him rest: especially since Serafina points out Sidna's glow. Along all of her ribs, she notices faintly glowing glyphs. She asks if they have any idea what this is, and Zeal casts detect magic, noticing that it looks like Life magic, the runes looking very familiar to Zeal. He can actually read it, it's Primordial! It's a spell to redirect Shadow, and blessings against Shadow, looping in on itself to reinforce its own power. As he says someone probably put this on her, she feels a sense of relief and allows herself the faintest smile.
 
Serafina is a little upset about Connie still being asleep, but since Sidna appears to be staying here, she agrees to go along with Zeal so that way he can have a guard while he cleans himself up. He jokes that perhaps they can scare some children on the way back, and she laughs before turning into a darker skinned woman, slightly southeast-asian looking with dark eyes and hair, about 5'10. The two head out towards the inn to attempt a private bath, and while some try and dissuade him towards the river instead, they preservere and he manages to get a bath at the inn (where the innkeep didn't recognise him in the slightest). Serafina grabs a drink in the inn while she waits for Zeal, asking the barkeep if they know about the situation happening in the south.
 
Apparently it's gone to shit, he responds, with a massive ice storm that's blanketing the land. Apparently it's *spreading*, too, like the ice itself is crawling across the ground. It hasn't gone further south than the Silvertooth mountains, but it keeps going north, and so the innkeep is readying a holiday. Woodside, Veiltown, and Roverdam have all been evacuated - Marshport is currently being evacuated. (search for Marshport in general chat, displayed map shows what's iced.)
 
Zeal is able to pick up letters to deliver, 2 to clearwater, 1 to hesjingmajak, and 3 to mornhaven. He asks if Serafina's thought of getting something for her boy, and she wonders what he might like. He suggests that as a half-orc, it needs to be either useful or meaningful. She considers this, and in doing so realises that she should probably pick up a new outfit for herself as well, since she's no longer covered in a bunch of scales. Fortunately, she's able to pick up some pretty nice clothes for herself in multiple forms. Zeal asks if she's considered picking up Vorach something, but she thinks about it and says she has something at home.
 
Over the next few hours, Sidna has had her morning workout and is setting Poppy's workshop in order when she realises Vorach is waking, groaning and shaking. Worried, she runs over and is distraught to find out he is sore, and then annoyed when she finds out he left the room quietly and didn't wake anyone when he was ill throughout the previous night. She attempts to cheer him up, but finds that he's sullen and unresponsive, and she grows angry as he begins to tell her that he believes it would be better if he'd stayed dead, and how he was sad that he'd been brought back to life.
 
She "yelled" (more of a sternly worded loud whisper) at him that he didn't know what he was talking about, and that he should be grateful he's surrounded by people who care about him enough to go through that sort of endeavour for him, and he snaps back that it's another choice that was made for him about his life before storming out. With tempers flaring between the orcs and the obviously heavy weight the topic of death and resurrection brought to, Vorach ended up making food while she finished cleaning (angrily).
 
Serafina and Zeal return to find Vorach sitting at the kitchen table, crying motionlessly as he stares down at a plate of griddle-cakes with strawberries. They clear their throats and he wipes his face before turning and offering them both a genuine smile and a cheerful hello, asking Serafina if she'd like to help him finish his breakfast. Zeal and her are worried at first, but he casually lies to them and says that he already ate, and these are extra.
 
Honestly, he explains that his senses have returned and he's not...numb anymore, so it's all a little much. Zeal, fortunately, understands overstimulation and with this encouragement Serafina happily and hungrily digs into Vorach's food (he's definitely doing the cooking in their relationship) before Sidna storms out. When Zeal notes that, Vorach just says that we probably should be moving, it's a long journey, and that he'd get the horses ready.
 
Zeal tries to stop him and tell him to eat, but Vorach falsely assures him that he's eaten all he can and just doesn't want to be sick on the journey, he'll eat more when they make camp. Zeal seems to accept this, but warns Vorach to think about what else the bargain could have been made for, and to be careful and gracious with the extra chance at life that Zeal gave him. Vorach nods, with a strangeness to his smile before leaving and slamming the door behind him - only forgotten by the arrival of the envoy who wished to see us before we were off.
 
After some small discussions and determining that after they get their stock of healing potions they're also heading to Mornhaven, Zeal gave the envoy a letter to deliver on his behalf. ["Well, it wouldn't make much sense to deliver my own mail, would it?"] Ready to move to Mornhaven, he goes out to saddle his cart (Sidna's in the larger, ready to go) while Serafina quickly grabs Connie's attention. She pulls out an intricately twisted pendant on a rose gold chain, and after confirming that it's a gift in his culture (friendship) not hers (betrothal), he gratefully accepts and asks if she's willing to sit up front with Sidna today, explaining that they had a small tiff and just need some time to cool off.
 
Session ends as we load into the cart, ready to be off!