Chapter 8, Session 8: The Ever-Thinning List of Places To Hide
General Summary
And you thought a half-baked wig and haircut would be enough to trick me? ME? I am both unimpressed and unsurprised.The session opened with many of the party starting their dances during the ball of Xan Prayerkeep. Mimsi danced with Reporter Kovir who told her more rumours about Xan Prayerkeep and further expressed his interest in completing an exclusive tell-all article with Persicorum. Ez danced with Lord Alastair who complemented Ez on their appearance and, more importantly their grace in dancing, he then quizzed Ez for a short time on their adventures and the life they have led before warning them that they must more readily lie in order to make it like their 'armour' in Blackstone... he then also told Ez that he would be waiting in Deepest Desire if Ez wanted to see him again or if Ez's allies wished to cahs in their good faith. Finally, Kodo danced with Queen Frey and they shared a decidedly jovial dance with one another.
- Xan Prayerkeep dances with Mimsi and confronts her with his knowledge.
The next round of dancing took place and, at this point, Fen and Anastasia managed to sneak into the ball and joined the crowd of dancers under the guise of a lord and princess from far-off lands whilst Thordak and Temptation shared a dance as well where they talked about their ideas and feelings for one another.
However, with that, the third and final round of dances started as Ez danced with Head Crownsguard Sylvia Poirot, Kodo moved off to try and get into contact with a wandering Lyren Killian, Thordak stayed at the bar and shared a drink with the members and Anastasia fell into a coincidental dance with Hook as Mimsi began her dance with Xan Prayerkeep...
As Mimsi danced with Xan Prayerkeep, he kept to his love of games by proposing they each tell a truth and answer a question one at a time... this went on for a short time until Mimsi realised Xan knew who they were and she became more frank with her questions; learning alot of key information in the meanwhile, most importantly she learned that Xan Prayerkeep saw her as the 'reasonable' member of Persicorum and that he believed the two should join forces as their goals are aligned even if their approaches and morals are different. She also learned that Xan had a specific interest in whether any of the party that had become keys of The Entities had had a dream of a door unlocking. Mimsi did not reveal whether or not that was the case but did agree to speak to her party about joining forces... though clearly was relucant.
Meanwhile, Anastasia kept up the appearance of the meek 'Umala Princess' (definitely not Japanese!) and managed to use that guise to convince Hook to let her see Xan Prayerkeep's study (especially after she claimed that her father was a man of influence and Hook claimed Xan Prayerkeep and the rest of The Elected Crown of Alturis. were trying to build an agreement with the Umalla Pirate King as the dance came to an end, the rest of Persicorum watched as Anastasia was led into the inner home of Xan Prayerkeep by Hook. Notably, Lyren Killian tried to intercept this but Kodo managed to interpose himself and have a conversation with Lyren though (thanks to a natural 1 insight check) was not recognised by his old friend. They had a quick conversation which bought Anastasia and Hook enough time to be unimpeded on their way inside Prayerkeep's estate.
The two cut off from the rest of the ball as Hook guided Anastasia to a study that was filled with portrait, papers, parchments and diaries that all depicted a blue sky and white clouds. Hook revealed that a dispel magic or Xan's 'paper trick' removed the illusions and that he would show Anastasia the plans in a moment... with that, Hook got closer and ominously closer to Anastasia and attempted to remove her mask. In a moment of fight or flight, the Elf bounty hunter used her fan blade to slash Hook's throat, killing the tiefling in quick time before he could teleport away. In a moment of panic, Anastasia turned herself invisible and ran back to the ball; notably stealthing straight past Lyren who was patrolling, and told the party that they needed to leave immediately as Hook was dead; with that the party beat a VERY hasty retreat with the exception of Kodo as he was elsewhere in the building... Fen sent Kodo a message that they were leaving and the Firbolg started to make his own way, but the escape wasn't as clean as possible as Kodo (with a botched stealth check) was stopped by Xan Prayerkeep who expressed his desire to meet with the group the next day. Prayerkeep tried to express that he was not an evil character in his own mind and believed he was doing all he could to protect Alturis. He also revealed to Kodo that Lyren came to him for help because Persicorum were not there to protect him when he was in The Mammoth Peaks. As the two of them agreed to the possibility of meeting. Xan revealed that Lyren had just notified him that Hook was killed in one of his offices... something that made Xan immediately suspicious of Persicorum due to their attacks against The Hook and Knife Foundation in the past. Kodo tried to assure Xan that he knew nothing of this taking place and Xan made it clear that, WHEN they meet the next day, he will conduct a check to see if the party are responsible. With that, the party made their back to Xatannah's Gifts to rest for the night as Anastasia tearfully defended her actions and the party reassessed what they were going to do next... meanwhile, Kodo wandered the city of Blackstone itself in an attempt to calm himself and not despair at yet another setback for a party that were seemingly running out of allies, avenues and spaces to find safety in.
Missions/Quests Completed
The party enacted half of Mimsi's vengeance plan by killing Hook.
The party additionally learned a small amount about Xan Prayerkeep and successfully built up a small array of contacts and opportunities.
Report Date
13 May 2023
Primary Location
Related Characters
Comments