Chapter 3, Session 1: Sanctuary Found
General Summary
You talk well girl, just like a fucking Peridotan or Vallean(ethnicity:ec05b26b-720d-4987-a3e7-c3273f0a8a0d)... but I was hoping to speak to a true part of @[The Kae.Session opened, like all great sessions, with an argument with a town guard as Peregrine was desperately trying to get the guard to allow her to search for an honour blade named Honour Blade Xanthier. After arguing for a time, Peregrine was persuaded to follow the rest of the party into the city.
- Emperor Honour scolds Peregrine for her diplomatic attempts.
The party saw parts of the city had been hit by the same attack they had fended off outside the walls, although further in the destruction lessened. The party had a brief discussion about the choice of tavern, before all agreeing one with a good bath was preferable. They went to the The Diamond Boat - a very fancy location! Peregrine and Mallus Somnium arranged free accommodation in return for their entertainment routine (with the agreement that should any realisations take place, Peregrine would be expected to leave due to her connections with the Cirque Arcadia). At the same time, Esmerae and Hermione of Vallea paid for everyone else (as well as paid for the party’s names to not be recorded). Esmerae began to withdraw a little to avoid drawing attention as Peregrine worked to be more attention-grabbing to act as a distraction. After speaking with the barman at the tavern, he stated the party had to speak to the boss to agree to anonymity in their booking. A goblin missing an eye was brought out, introducing himself as Quincy Quince, the boss. Quincy Quince asked why the party requested anonymity and Peregrine bluffed by claiming she was trying to avoid an ex - when pushed to say who the ex was, after a quick Subtle-cast Message to Esmerae, Esmerae advised Peregrine to use her name. Quincy Quince laughed when hearing Esmerae was the supposed ex, but accepted the information and the agreement to anonymity, adding that Esmerae’s brother came in now and then to put up a missing person poster for her. After paying for rooms for 7 days and bathing, the party learned that Esmerae’s family thought she had been kidnapped and killed by vampires, rather than running away with one. Taking a moment to herself, Peregrine sent a messenger to her contact, Honour Blade Xanthier, as Esmerae took a moment to take in the view of Sanctuary and her old home. Sigholdt chatted to Hero and went to speak to Hermione, asking her to remove the Bright Concord sigils from the armour and weapons the party had looted from their earlier ambush. Hermione spent most of the day successfully removing the marks so it looked like they had never been there, while also doing some reading from her magic book. Not too long later, Xanthier arrived at the tavern and immediately proposed to Peregrine in front of the crowd. He was gently denied and the two began to catch up and drink. Peregrine filled Xanthier in a little of her journey, whilst learning more than one assassination attempt had occurred on Emperor Honour. As the conversation turned more secretive, Peregrine took Xanthier up to her room to introduce him to the rest of the party and involve them in the discussion. The party told Xanthier everything about Artur Coric, the Satyr gunblade and other related information. Xanthier in turn told the party of one of the assassins being a member of The Stop - he had the marks and tattoos on the back of his hands, although this was rather surprising as all Stop members were believed to be dead. Xanthier also shocked the party by telling them a lot of Honour’s court had been disbanded, including The Celeste Family (except its matriarch who was the leader of the Dusk Mother’s worship) and Sennic Synapse! At this, Peregrine mentioned Sennic had been scrying on her, prompting Xanthier to warn her to be VERY careful, as Sennic’s interest often led to death. After further discussion, Xanthier agreed to get the party a meeting with Honour, as he and Peregrine gently joked about saving each other. Xanthier only agreed to get the meeting however, if Peregrine agreed to let him call her his new wife in an attempt to put off eager suitors - at Peregrine’s hesitation, Xanthier suggested going with Hermione instead but Peregrine revealed her jealous side and agreed to the deal quickly. With the discussion ended, Peregrine walked Xanthier out and took a moment to ask what was wrong, as she had noticed how tense he had become. Xanthier admitted that his Oath was gone - after the first assassination attempt about 1 month ago (around the same time as the attack on the Cirque in Bloomwilt). He stated he woke up and his oath was gone, and insisted Peregrine tell no one of this. Peregrine promised to keep his secret, and promised to help him, though Xanthier seemed reluctant to accept the help. After a parting kiss, Peregrine returned to the group and, after a little gossip, seemed to shock Hermione by revealing how many suitors around Kaechaek she had. Hermione mentioned she only had one that had been arranged for her, as was the custom for royalty/nobility in Vallea. The next morning, the party met up with Xanthier who warned them there would be multiple security checks. The party were able to pass through them easily enough, including the final checks. In order not to be recognised, Esmerae kept her face hidden by her deep hood, going by the name Esther, a priestess of the Dusk Mother who was under a religious oath to keep her face hidden. Hermione also went by the name Harmony to keep her identity secret. After passing the final security check, th party entered the chamber to see nobles arguing: Mikhael Solitsev (a bugbear) and Victor Blackthorn. On being noticed, the arguing was ceased and Peregrine tried to dance around questions Honour asked after the party introduced themselves. Seeing through her artful dodging, Emperor Honour sent away everyone in the chamber except for the party, before proceeding to make it very clear he knew everything. Honour knew who Esmerae and Hermione really were, that the party had successfully killed one of Niles Five Eyes ‘people’ in Bloodsport, and had fought Light Bearer Signill (something he approved of). He also knew of our nightmares. Emperor Honour explained he had started to scry on the party via Sennic due to Hermione’s presence (as Vallean royalty), and had scryed on Peregrine specifically as she was the most likely to fail the save against it. This scrying stopped after the party realised and protected themselves from it. On the topic of Niles, Emperor Honour showed the party the letter from him regarding the ‘job’ he had for them in Sanctuary. It was revealed the job was to be indentured servants to Honour in an attempt to get Niles a place in his court.
Honour instead offered the party a job, to look into and deal with the issue of the Dream Veil - a new group that could synthesise Dreambark into a substance that forced dreams to happen and manifest - a substance now rife in Sanctuary. Whilst the job would require working with a member of The Venator and Mikhael Solitsev, if successful the party would get 1000g each OR 1 item from Honour’s personal armoury. Finally, Honour revealed he had no intention to reveal Hermione or Esmerae’s identities. When Sigholdt Sofiasson asked if The Spooks were getting involved in the Dreamveil situation, Honour admitted they were not, as he didn’t like the one situated in Sanctuary at the moment (the party learned the Spook in Sanctuary was the same one that had failed to deal with The Unwaking Coven issue in Bloomwilt’s sewers- Spook Kerouak ). After a short discussion, the party agreed to take the job. Honour informed them that while the leader of the group creating the Dreamveil had never been seen, they were known to wear purple dreambark gloves, play the flute, and their right hand was a member of an Unwaking Coven believed to serve him faithfully. Before the party were dismissed, Sigholdt inquired about finding someone who could remove curses. Honour recommended Sigholdt visit the Godmaker, who could slowly turn him into the God of Broken Curses, thus removing his Unwaking Curse. After that, Honour brought back the rest of his court and guards and seemed to give a nod of approval to Xanthier over Peregrine. The party were thusly dismissed and headed out to start the job Honour had given them.
Report Date
05 Dec 2023
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