Gwynfaren Session 8

Our adventure continues as we exit the death trapped doors of the magical-weapon arsenal. The large statue begins to move and stand its ground pending an attack. Each of our party fight hard and take much damage along the way. Both Aenas and Tilaries nearly lose their lives in the fray. As the situation looks more dire, Torrent looks to a deck of cards he had found precisely that seemed to contain powerful magic. He pulls a card from the deck to reveal “The Fates” which gave him the power to erase or avoid one event, as it had never happened. He chose to erase the erecting of the statue and its entire existence. The statue magically dissolves and disappears from existence. In the fountain of the Hall of Heroes a Diadem appears among the crystalline water. Til immediately grabs the diadem and hands it to Elryn, stating that "a princess ought to be in charge of a crown". (She’s the one with pull during this age)
 
The party then travels to “The Golden Tankard” where they meet Nebula, the contact that Nerada mentioned to Grin. Nebula is a fun loving bartender with memory loss. She has no idea who Nerada is or any of her life before she arrived at the inn. She tells us that she is an orphan who was taken to the inn by an old lady about a year ago. That’s all she recalls.
 
Grin and Nebula continue their chat while drinking. Many of the party drink as well. Torrent and Til swig down a sludgy clam concoction and Cipher a firewhiskey. Til follows suit with a fire whiskey as well. Elryn asks for her native drink, but Nebula has no idea what she’s talking about. Grin challenges Nebula, asking what the strongest drink in the bar is. Nebula puts two glasses and the pair starts drinking Everdark. After some snippy repartee, Til and Grin play nice at the bar.
 
As she pours more drinks called, “Sylvan Sluts”, Nebula shares that she woke up in this bar all alone. She had no memory of who she was. The desk clerk told her that an old woman left her in the room with a shiny cloak, a healing potion, and a book. Til asks if she could look at them, and Nebula agrees to showing her sometime after her shift. The party asks Nebula if she would be willing to see a cleric to possibly recover her memories. She agrees. She also lets it slip that people from the lower levels are going missing. She suggests if we want to know more to visit the artisan district.
 
Grin and Nebula continue their chatting and then start drinking more Everdark, getting ever more rowdy at the bar, then getting upon it! Grin dons her trusty ukulele Belinda, and gives an incredibly skillful performance for her level of intoxication. Nebula dances as Grin alights the stage with her tantalizing tunes. Neb tries to woo Cipher as she dances but is gently let down. Til tried walking Nebula to her room, but Neb is on the hunt, and Aenas is her next victim. He helps Til walk Nebula to her room, but is even less amused by the flirting than Cipher, and he throws her in.
 
After putting Nebula to bed Aenas brings Grin to her bedroom, and the inebriated Grin asks Aenas what his daughter was like. He says, “She was mischievous, young, and she loved stories.” He used to tell them to her before bed. Grin reaches out to Aenas and thanks him for trusting her and keeping the beasts alive in the Feywild. She tells him that her mother, Nerada isn’t her birth mother. Her parents gave her up as a baby to Nerada in exchange for immortality. She says she wants to be brave and save her home. He tells her she is brave and that she should talk to Til and find out what is bothering her. Aenas then lets her fall asleep and leaves her there.
 
Til returns to the bar and finds Cipher there still. She happily sits next to him. He asks the new bartender for a drink, and buys Til one as well. Make it a double. They’re called “Mage’s Secret”, and they sip on them to enjoy the flavors. One “Mage’s Secret” and a “Sylvan Slut” later, and Til is sharing about her life as a bastard in the fairy court. She says that King Oberon was loved by all, but treated her less than. He was cruel to her on more than one occasion. In fact, all of the fairy courtiers were, excluding her aunt, Titania. They all looked at Til as an unfortunate other. She tells Cipher that she too had to pretend to be what other people thought she should be, and that she admired him for sharing his similar past. She admits she has been thinking of him a lot, and how challenging it must have been to share his identity after having to continually start over in a new life.
 
Aenas joins Cipher and Til as they continue to imbibe and share the mage’s secrets. Aenas says he has put Grin to bed. Cipher asks Aenas if he is saddened that he is not a palace guard in this timeline. He responds that he is a bit. He is proud of his post. Aenas shares that in his past he was called “The Golden Bull of Virtue” and that he used to be a fighter in a colosseum for money. He was never beaten, leaving the ring undefeated. He is 35 years old.
 
Torrent is in bed attuning to his new magical staff. Elryn is in the room adjacent to Torrent, and Til goes in to speak with her. Til said that she is sorry that Elryn is having to relive a time she has tried hard to put in the past. Elryn plays cool and explains that in the current timeline Princess Elryn is young and carefree with no cares in the world. She tells Til that this Elryn will not get to have that for much longer. She will meet her master and learn everything she can from him. She will then meet the Queen and become an ambassador who will journey to Zenith City. Til offers Elryn the use of her brooch, saying that it will allow her to be someone other than Elryn for a while. Elryn is touched by this and breaks down on Til’s shoulder. The two embrace for many tender moments and leave each other with an understanding and an admiration.
 
Til heads to bed and finds a spot on the floor in the corner adjacent to Grin’s bed. Cipher walks in as she is laying her bed roll out. He offers to sleep on the floor so Til can sleep on the bed. Til says that Grin probably won’t want to look at her when she wakes up. Cipher protests and insists that she should have the bed. Til relents and Cipher takes the corner spot instead. The party drifts to sleep.