Session 2.2 - Fallback Report

General Summary

Camelot remains under siege.
Castle Caerleon, the proud monument of white brick and stone that has housed generation upon generation of Pendragon, now stands blackened by magic and surrounded by unconscious villagers who will wake to confusion, chaos, and a missing royal family. General
Daghda Descescu has formally introduced herself on dragonback to the people of Camelot along with Merlin, cousin Griflynn, and the Lake twins - with whom she has a particular bone to pick, and one of whom is seriously wounded after being run through with a broadsword. Following the surprise multi-front attack on Camelot, the Protectors of the Realm have gathered their wits and their belongings and followed King Arthur’s call to fall back to their sister city of Burgess. It is a long march in the twilight space where the late hours of night become the early hours of morning, further south than most of Camelot’s citizens have ever been. The group travels in almost complete darkness lest they alert any enemies who may be lying in wait midst the murk, led only by the gentle silver light emitting from the horns of each of the Pendragon unicorns at the top of the column. In the near distance, the skeleton of a city begins to sketch itself out against the skyline. From atop the northernmost of the gleaming opalus battlements, a hooded figure carefully surveys the chain of soldiers and civilians making their way inexorably toward the outer walls of Burgess. These are strange times indeed, when the passing shadows of dragons on the moon go screeching through the night and the men of Camelot march in droves to the free city at the threshold of all that is, but if the Once and Future King truly walks again, strange magic must also be at work - perhaps that’s just the twist of fate they need.

PART ONE
WELCOME TO BURGESS

As the Protectors of the Realm approach the strange, glittering gates of Burgess, Lady Lake turns to Princess Godiva and asks if she would like to 'do the honors' as a regular visitor to Burgess. The Scoundrel Princess draws back her hood and throws her head to the sky, letting loose a loud and primal cry which is shortly thereafter answered not once, not twice, but 12 times in total as each of the 12 Towers of Truth welcome their beleaguered friends within their walls. Lightheaded but still upright, Lady asks the Princess if she would be so kind as to lead their party to the company of the Rogue Sisters in the district of Rogue River, as the Lakes cannot be healed by the usual means - Ivy is kind enough to take the helm of their group and lead them on. The party breaks off from the royal procession and are to the West, stopping to greet seemingly familiar figures - in particular a woman with mismatched, glowing eyes - who are clamoring for her attention as she passes: "Ivy! Godiva! Welcome back!"

Unbeknownst to the little entourage making its way steadily toward the center of town, the hooded figure atop the walls follows a few paces behind.

The party arrives in Rogue River and finds themselves led deep into a temperate forest, stopping shortly after dawn at the base of a great white tree with golden leaves and an ornate house nestled high in its boughs. They do not wait long before a low, slightly accented voice echoes out into the forest shortly before a beautiful woman follows it out onto the balcony. Vivus Reminiscentia/enne Luster Rogue, the eldest of the famed Rogue Sisters: practitioners of cantec ratacitor, the Burgessian art of Delirium, and the old ways of Anima. She is tall and slender, hair of spun gold and distilled silver curling gently about her shoulders, a gown of glittering gems and starlight draped about her elegant form, and she is apparently not surprised to see Lady Lake bleeding profusely, nor her sister keeping a close distance, nor the Princess Godiva, whom she offers a warm smile...nor Vermilia, to whom she calls last and who steps sheepishly from a nearby thicket of trees.

Malcolm is both surprised and pleased to see their mysterious companion from the The Uncanny Valley once more, still awash with pride at the newfound control of his abilities. As a rope ladder is lowered for the Protectors of the Realm Malcolm and Vermilia step aside briefly to catch up, only making their way into the tree boughs alongside their friends when they are called by the woman within.

The interior of the home continues to surprise. The elegantly carved wooden walls slope cheerfully upward into proud eaves, each of them packed from edge to edge with dried herbs, living portraits, animated tapestries that silently boast of the effortless skill of the embroiderer, potion bottles of every shape and size, and gemstones beset with glowing runes and sigils. Further inside the party finds and is introduced to the middlemost (Minx, whose multicolored eyes and hair shift subtly in shade and hue by the moment in complement to the cloak of technicolor feathers she wears) and youngest (Clodagh, vines budding in her brilliantly teal hair and snaking gently across her luminscent skin, dressed from head to toe in shades of green and blue and teal, a gemstone thimble on one finger) of the Rogue Sisters, who happily greet their visitors and set about making them comfortable.

Lady is directed to a table by a diminutive and ghostly pale figure with glowing, pupilless white eyes who introduces himself to the party as Alabast Refractorre, a Pitic practitioner of Delirium and close friend of Luster - she is then, of course, directed to bite down on a length of leather, as the wound in her side must be dealt with. The process is quick enough, though potentially disturbing for the more Mortelle-adjacent members of the party - with incredible precision Luster shoves a glowing hand into the wound in Lady's side and cauterizes it with pure light. In little more than an instant Lady is drenched in sweat, exhausted, and whole once more.

As an old friend and her superior in The Reminiscentia Luster attempts to extract a promise from her that she will stop reporting in sans body parts (gesturing to her ever-present eyepatch) or blood volume (gesturing to her now sealed wound), but Lady promises only to try. Lady pauses briefly before asking if Luster 'still has her flute' - taken aback, Luster questions Lady as to whether she is certain she'd like it - it is at this point that the sordid news of the siege of Camelot must be shared: the finding of Excalibur and resurrection of the King, on which she congratulates the Pendragon twins; the surprise attack in the middle of the night, the bewitched villagers, the magical flame...the appearance of Daghda Descescu.

Adaleis joins Lady and the two explain that they have a much, much greater issue on their hands than the return of Mordred Pendragon and Morgause Lot - they, an order of academics and researchers and living memories, have missed the staggeringly obvious: Daghda Descescu is indeed the daughter of Demordeus Descescu, but Demordeus is not who he claimed to be. It is the alias created by none other than Magner Mallact to ensure his legacy, in one way or another. Daghda Descescu is Daghda Mallact. A creeping dread surrounds the three Reminiscentienne, who determine they must pull every instance of Demordeus' work from their archives at once, beginning with the nearest center here in Rogue River. Minx does indeed bring the flute in its bejeweled viridian case, which Lady opens only to greet the four segments of glass within as an old and familiar friend before assembling them and stowing the flute on her person. Given the size of their opposition, they are going to need all the magic they can get.

Lady and Adaleis go on to request a favor of Luster - their minds return to the throne room of Château Sempiternel and the portrait half-hidden behind the dais that seated the royal family. The third High Le Fay. The Lake twins remember a historical conundrum that has alternately perplexed and troubled their order for millennia - the Analul Nedefinit - The Indefinite Annal. They speak of a living journal that dates back to the first century of Anima's history whose author has never been determined - in fact, the journal seems to have done its best over the years to conceal the author's identity. The journal tells of a great corrupting power and the creation of the first malicorn, purportedly the author in question, and Luster issues a careful reminder that the Analul does not want to be known and is perfectly capable of trickery and subterfuge, which is why its translated pages have been separated.

Luster in her capacity as a Living Memory is holder of the first page, which she provides.

She goes on to suggest that while searching the archives for Magner's work they visit the Renitentia in nearby Tilly's Revenge, under the care of the famed Vivus Reminiscentia/enne Tiptoe Gilgeira, though she is infamous for her razor tongue and rapier intellect. She will send word along explaining what she may to ensure that Tiptoe assists them in their task, catching the eyes of her sisters, all of them nodding as one.

Despite not visibly having eyes in the back of her head, Luster arches an eyebrow and addresses Godiva on the other side of the room where she has stepped behind the glass case and begun helping herself to its contents. Neither of the remaining Rogues seem particularly perturbed, instead offering the entire party the chance to select whatever contents they feel they might need to assist them in their goal of restoring Camelot to its original glory under the assumption that at some point the Crown will reconcile the debt.

Ivy collects several healing cordials and digestifs in shades of periwinkle and violet, a spare phial of Síocracht, and a glowing distillation of Itsmy Moth dust Alabast promises will allow the drinker to hear "like him" in the event of emergency, while her sister Absabeth's eye is caught by a set of jeweled sandals unlike any make in Camelot that might just lend an extra burst of speed in a pinch and a beautiful veil of a gossamer thin fabric that seems to be barely-there but for the abstract patches of molten metal gracing it at uneven intervals. Alabast directs Absabeth to enshroud herself within the veil before hurling a burst of wild magic at her, which is harmlessly deflected against the material of the veil. Startled but delighted by her acquisitions, Absabeth accepts the items with a heartfelt thanks.

For Malcolm, a beautiful bottle beset with an incarnadine stone and filled with a paste that seems to reflect every visible color on the spectrum, shortly followed by a golden quill with razor sharp edges which Alabast pulls from his sleeve and directs across the room - the two combined will allow the artist to draw paintings that jump out at their audience, he says, gesturing to a piece of art on the wall: a rendering of Burgess from a distance, its gleaming edulis walls tinted by the roaring pink ocean it overlooks, each wave rising up and off of the canvas just before it crests, so real one can almost hear the crash of the waves against the cliffside. Alabast opens his mouth and a low, ringing hum echoes through the room - the sound seems to wake a series of tools in the room, as ribbon and boxes burst their way out of the cabinet containing them and elegantly wrap themselves around the gifts for Malcolm's mother.

While no item in particular catches Ser Griflynn's eye, she does note that the Hands of Truth have taken on a warm, pleasant red glow as if reacting to something nearby. Instinctively she hones in on the hum in the air and reaches for it for reasons unknown even to her, only to find that she is able to pluck the sound right out of the air and hold it in her gauntleted fingers as if it is a length of unwound violin string. It seems her mother's gift does more than she first believed, but without further data upon which to act the Knight of the Whispers files the information away for later assessment and lets loose the string in preparation to make way to Tilly's Revenge.

Minx vanishes briefly only to return with two bundles of deep purple fabric embroidered in gold and reminds the Lake twins that they must change into their Reminiscentia uniforms if they are to have any hope of stickler for tradition Tiptope's assistance before bidding them goodbye and shaking out her multicolored cloak, the cloak shrinking into a coating of feathers and gorgeous wings which guide her gracefully out the door and out of sight. Vermilia feels the gentle brush of a wing in her peripheral she sees where Malcolm has sprouted a number of multicolored feathers along his forearm. Silent and more observant than much of anyone realizes, she merely smiles and follows the chivalrous young knight and their friends back into the forest.

PART TWO:

CULTURE SHOCK

The district of Tilly's Revenge is as close to a metropolitan center as Burgess has - shifterfolk and legendary beasts of all kinds from all walks of life live side-by-side in (relative) harmony, slightly removed from the prying eyes of visiting Mortelle/Deminaturals who may find themselves surprised by what they see. From a distance the port town looks more like an anthill kicked and disturbed than the place where thousands of Bestiare make their home, the expertly-paved brick walkways positively teeming with life as figures in black and red adorned with muzzles and shackles of their own design, fine filigrees of rhodiu and ghol speaking without speaking of wealth and good standing amongst the fine folk of Burgess. Regular visitor Ivy is patently familiar with this area and easily spots a familiar dive she and Barden like to haunt in happier times. The eponymous "Tilly's Revenge" is a squat building with high, scalloped eaves and a sagging porch out front, but the modesty of the establishment doesn't seem to be any kind of deterrent judging by the healthy crowd within and the raucous cry that welcomes Ivy as she kicks the door in. That cry is closely followed by another, chastising Ivy for her dramatic entry: this is none other than Kauket "Tilly" Tilleul, the owner, operator, and namesake of the tavern.

The Lake twins, now appropriately garbed to walk amongst their fellow Reminiscentia in deep, porfyrean purple, promise to catch up with the larger party after attending to the unfortunate matter of the Analul Nedefinit. The walk to the Renitentia that purportedly houses Vivus Reminiscentia/enne Tiptoe Gilgeira is one they've made many a time before on the official business of Camelot and not much of a walk at all, perhaps 10 minutes from the noise of the tavern the elegant but understated stone building awaits them with its entrance attended by armed scholars who too wear porfyrean purple. They're nodded easily in for an audience with the Vivus, who looks remarkably young for her 6,000 and something-odd years in her deep purple gown, the rhodiu chatelaine on her waist swaying gently with footsteps that seem to be accompanied by an unintelligible clicking noise - Lady Lake will later attribute the fierce red of her hair to cinnabar, a substance Mortelles use to paint despite its toxicity, but in the moment she only inclines her head and asks if the Vivus might have a moment to speak with them.

In a viewing room far removed from the prying eyes of initiates, the Lakes explain that they must pull all of Demordeus' Descescu's work from all of their archives for immediate review and go on to breach the subject of the mystery-enshrouded lost Le Fay and their suspicions about the Annalul Nedefinit. Tiptoe, who has found herself close enough to Adaleis to bump her absent-mindedly with the whipcord-thin, barbed tail peeking out from beneath the hem of her dress, assures the twins that she will translate the page herself after warning them of the dangers that come part and parcel with trying to know that which inherently demands to remain unknown. Lady and Adaleis - or, "Princess," as Vivus Gilgeira seems to exclusively refer to her, agree to return in a few hours to collect the information and her thoughts on the matter of Magner Mallact/Demordeus Descescu.

Back in the tavern Godiva, Absabeth, Malcolm, Vermilia, and Griflynn have all made themselves comfortable (whether at the bar itself or tucked away at a small table with her back to the wall, in Griflynn's case) and been served a round of drinks the likes of which none but Ivy and Vermilia have ever seen.

Malcolm's thick, blood red Skeleriske Stout rimmed with skeleriske sucriere packs an unexpected punch, revealing another side of their friendly barkeep as the crown of short of platinum blonde hair, fair skin, and maroon eyes give way to horns, glimmering red scales, and a leathery wing which Tilly kindly extends to shield Malcolm's friends from the gout of flame shooting from his mouth to bounce harmlessly off the flame-retardant glass behind the bar.

Godiva's Siocracht Fizz is an old favorite of hers, vividly pink and bubbling or percolating slightly beneath a matching sugar cloud, while Vermilia's request is simply for "grass" which Tilly immediately understands and acquiesces to, pulling a bundle of verdant grass from beneath the counter and twisting it decisively over a glass to allow the pure green pigment to collect. Griflynn is sent a Querith Liqueur on Ivy's line of truth, a placid blue liquid streaked through with violent shades of purple and lavender, a golden compass and feather atop - though she tastes it cautiously to assure the absence of contaminants, she otherwise leaves her glass on the countertop.

Absabeth is last to drink and the only one to see the contents of her cup - a glittering golden Iala cider - though all see the effects of it as the jovial crowd cheers for her to drink: Absabeth's skin takes on a diamond luster and a bark-like texture, veins crisscrossing her exposed skin and filled with a molten silver not unlike that of Abi's missing veil. It is as this point that the Lake Twins return from the Renitentia with the news of the wait before them, but their party doesn't despair - instead, Godiva orders two Smoke and Brambles, one with an extra shot of Skeleriske, and invites the twins to join them at the bar.

The twins are happy to comply.

Rewards Granted

Borrowing a Cup of Sugar
+2 XP to all party members + Vermilia for being neighborly toward the people of Burgess

Miscellaneous Items Purchased from the Rogue Sisters with Neştiut Meșteșug - Burgess:

Absabeth - Nestemata-encrusted Sandals of Speed, Rhodiu Veil
Godiva - Standard siocracht (1x phial), Mavrodaphne Cordial (1x phial), Smalt Cordial (1x phial), Ecouteama Tonic (1x phial - USE WITH CAUTION)
Griflynn -
Lady - Eadochas
Leis -
Malcolm - Prysme Paste (1x well), Ghol Clinkhstone Quill (1x)