Chapter 1, Session 11: A Dream Deferred
General Summary
'PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MALLUS! PEOPLE ARE STARING!'The session started with the party, freshly rested from their brutal battle, and defeat of, Sinnich Uldyne deciding what their next plans were. The group found they did not have any other reasons to stay in The Wheel and so decided to resolve their cashing-in of the token for The Wheel Spoke Scar and then get some equipment and gear for travel before leaving the Wheel behind. Seeing no time to waste, the party travelled to the outskirts of The Wheel to find the Wheel Spoke Scar. A crashed metallic with technology that the party did not recognise or understand. The ship was ploughed down into the ground and half exposed to the open air. As they approached however, Mallus noticed a familiar figure and spotted, setting up a stall in town, the man known as Nemeis Barrow-Drawn... a hunter and recruiter for The Black-Blooded in Mezzatli. This sent Mallus into a panic and so, in an attempt to allay his fears, Peregrine and Hermione visited the stall and spoke to Nemeis to see if they could learn why he was in The Wheel as Fionn ensured Mallus wasn't drawing attention. Peregrine and Hermione spoke to Nemeis and learned he was in the Wheel to discuss a deal with Niles Five Eyes on behalf of the Black-Blooded. Learning that, the two of them purchased a couple of wares and also donated blood to Nemeis who remarked that Peregrine had 'old' and 'magical' blood. Implying that she was likely a sorcerer or bard with innate magic as a skill. Notably, Hermione bought some animal parts to use potentially in future crafting after Nemeis revealed they were creatures he killed on his journey down to The Wheel. With that business resolved, the party finally made it to the Wheel spoke scar and saw several cases laid out that contained strange items they did not recognise and that did not appear to be from this world. After much deliberation, the group decided to use their ticket to claim a palm sized black box that they learned (through Hermione's Identify spell) was a transmat deck, an extra planar space to store their loot and goods. With that, the party decided on the route they would take as they decided that the Peridot barony of Garnet would be their short term target before they make their way to either Sanctuary or The Diamond. However, to make it that far, the group realised they would need food and a tent or other camping gear so that they do not rest exposed to the elements every night and so they decided to focus on getting enough food to quickly travel to Bloomwilt where they can truly rest and Fionn can check in on Mariah Calcus before they then move from Bloomwilt. Keeping that in mind, the party split up with Peregrine organising food and rations for them to use over the course of the journey, Fionn going to a trader for some new tools and gear and Hermione, Esmerae and Mallus handling the procurement of a tent. This endeavour started well, with Peregrine collecting enough rations to last the group the trip (hopefully without complication) to Bloomwilt... during this time Peregrine also found Sarai, a gymnast from Cirque Arcadia who gave Peregrine a gift basket from the acrobats team who regretted the way she was treated by Madame Precision. Sarai expressed that she would miss Peregrine but hoped that one day she could rejoin the cirque and take her old place as an acrobat. Meanwhile, Fionn visited a shop in the wheel called Tools for A Need. Within there was an eccentric Goblin hoarded named Blixklik who sold Fionn several paints that could work in repainting a Sand Speeders general and transformed state... all easy work... It was with the tent group that everything went spectacularly, gorily and dramatically wrong. Whilst tent shopping, Mallus began to hear those phantom drips of water and watched as their tattoos began to morph and change. As a result of this, the boy went into a full panic in the middle of a Raiders Market and screamed that they felt a nightmare coming as well as begging dramatically to be kept awake by Hermione and Esmerae. Hermione did her best in that moment to help Mallus pull himself together but he continued to panic... leading to her dragging him away from the markets and the attention he was getting, she managed to drag him a short way down the street before he collapsed to the floor unconscious and entered his nightmare. Esmerae stayed behind for a time in an effort to dissociate herself from Hermione and Mallus but, during that time, she watched a member of The Bright Concord running a stall there start to dash away from the scene. Suspicious of this, Esmerae followed this individual and watched them run toward the Bloodsport arena and tell Nemeis Barrow-Drawn who was in a deep conversation with both Niles Five Eyes and the masked, rather lithe figure of Light Bearer Signill. Esmerae watched the soldier accept a pouch from Nemeis and tell him that he saw 'a blonde/white haired boy panicking about nightmares in the centre of town'. As soon as he was told that; Nemeis and Signill both started moving toward the town centre but, before Esmerae could move away. Niles spotted her and dragged her to his offices so that they could have their 'chat'. During their conversation, Niles continually addressed Esmerae as Viktor and looked back on scars Viktor had allegedly given him... Esmerae tried to explain to Niles that Viktor was gone to which Niles seemed unconvinced. Eventually, Niles gifted Esmerae with a wooden puzzle box he claimed Viktor had asked him to hold onto until he visited again and he also revealed to Esmerae that a lawmaster within The Diamond had put out a bounty on the lost princess of Vallea for 25,000gp and he advised Esmerae that The Kaechaek Party should be more careful with their aliases as it did not take much for Niles to figure out who Hermione really was... despite her disguise. With that, Niles told Esmerae she was welcome to leave and that he hoped they had a fruitful exit of the barony. He also warned her that if she assaulted Nemeis he would take that as a personal insult. Mallus had his same dream as usual... the tentacles, the water, the grappling... but this time things were different. Mallus, in his battle with the tentacles, managed to over power them and escape the creature! As he did so, he watched the creature protest and, in the language of The Nocta Mori it screamed that he must return as he was not safe moving forward... in a strange moment of empathy, Mallus saw the creatures suffering and returned to it's grasp only to hear it mutter 'safe, safe, safe' as it slowly engulfed and drowned Mallus. With Mallus waking, the party were now in a state of panic, knowing the scene he caused, Hermione left Mallus with Peregrine and they went to find Fionn whilst Hermione returned to the stall market in an attempt to buy a tent. Upon reaching the space, she was immediately cornered by Signill, Nemeis and several bright concord soldiers who recognised her as the one who dragged Mallus away. When they questioned her she immediately became aggressive and claimed she just wanted 'to buy a fucking tent'... to which Nemeis agreed to give her a Bright Concord stall 10-man tent if she told him everything he wanted to know... to this, Hermione explained that Mallus was consistently dreaming and 'had control over them', however when she claimed she did not know where he is, Nemeis retraced her steps and Signill gave her a set of tent equipment as they continued their pursuit. Luckily, Hermione left Jolly with Peregrine and Mallus who managed to get in touch with Fionn and told him everything. Hermione used Jolly to cast message and warn the group that their pursuers were coming. At which point, Peregrine went to distract Nemeis, Signill and their soldiers whilst Fionn and Mallus hid in a nearby home of a friend of Fionn's. That is where session was ended, with the party scattered five ways and all being pursued...
- Hermione of Vallea desperately tries to keep Mallus calm as he spirals into a nightmare-fuelled panic.
Rewards Granted
- A 10-man tent (given to Hermione by Light Bearer Signill
- Sapphire scales (purchased by Hermione)
- A transmat deck (taken by the party from the Wheel Spoke Scar)
Report Date
24 Jun 2023
Primary Location
Comments