Chapter 4, Session 9: Nothing happens, everything happens

General Summary

After settling in at the new tavern, Peregrine took a moment to acknowledge her new, permanent scar, before regrouping with the party. She thanked them for saving her, before telling them about her visions in death and her meeting with Walker/‘She Who Walks the Line/They Who Speak to the Rest’. Peregrine explained instead of seeing the rainbow tunnel, she fell into a pitch-black pit with fire at the bottom, however when she hit the flames, she felt no pain or fear, just warmth like a heart. She felt a presence whisper in her ears: “I’m sorry it had to come to this. But you’re doing the right thing. You have to live”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, and everything I do brings pain”
There was a softness/freshness to the voice - vastly different to the voices in Peregrine’s dreams. It reassured her she was doing things right, and had done the one thing others have not: gained allies willing to fight for her, allowing her to try and come back. Peregrine learned Walker was an adversary to the dreams, and was represented on Peregrine’s magical totem by the bone side. Walker is the end of dreams/nightmares and is similar to the Duskmother. Walker confirmed Peregrine hadn’t lived multiple lives, just others of her ilk. When Peregrine asked who she was, she was called a cog but told to treat the title with respect. Walker seemed kind, encouraging Peregrine to follow her guts, and agreed to try and take more control over Peregrine’s dreams. During the conversation, Walker showed Peregrine visions of Esmerae and Malus rushing to get her to a healer to bring her back to life.

Between Hermione and Sigholdt, they learned Walker is a folk tale/myth, and was a legend once but had been lost to time. She is seen not as benevolent, but also not malevolent or evil, which is a rare thing in Kaechaek. She’s also known to be very passive in stories about her - she probably had a mortal name but was now known for her story/symbolism. Walker is believed to have dwelled in Luyarnha with the Sleeping King, and their stories were often linked and they were implied to be antagonistic to each other.

After this discussion, the party agreed they needed more healing potions, and would need to be more careful in future combats. Peregrine took a moment to thank and reassure each person individually, making sure to tell Sigholdt and Malus she didn’t blame them for what happened. The party paired up to sleep, and for once, Peregrine had no dreams. Hermione took some time to remake Joly, and Sigholdt took Dreambark drugs before sleeping.

In his dream, he returned to the burning house and the stones with writing: Stone 1: What do you treasure? I don’t know Stone 2: Why did you stay? I don’t know Stone 3: Why do you stay with these new ones? Sigholdt answered, “I just want to move on”.
The stone halted and did not crack, and the fourth stone question appeared: What will you do now? Sigholdt was plummeted out of the dream. When he woke up, he saw Hero had changed back a little away from his bloodlust, and Sigholdt’’s Lay on Hands had returned to normal.
The next day, the party went shopping at the Copper Alembic. The shop was run by robot servers - adorable bicycle helpers. Hermione asked who made them and was told if she wanted to meet him (the owner of the shop), she would need to fill out paperwork as he would have to travel from Peridot - Hermione’s racism got in the way again and she didn’t bother with it. Sigholdt tried to be a Karen while Hermione learned of the robot’s self-destruct abilities, but the party somehow managed to leave in one piece with potions. Sigholdt also bought platinum rings for Peregrine and attuned to his item that prevented scrying. The party then went to the Arcane Cog so he could sell items like the Bahamut Crown.
Malus kept feeling like he was being watched, even when no one else sensed or saw anything. But, via Joly, as the party walked, Hermione saw a 4-legged creature sticking to the shadows and following Malus, its shadow seeming to loom ominously. Joly moved closer and saw a stray cat with a strange shadow. Malus cast Speak with Animals and called to the cat. It approached, stating Malus smelled like fish and it felt right to follow him. It told the other cats this, and they had said it was deluded, so it killed them. Sigholdt, via detect evil and good, could sense the cat was SOMETHING, but not sure what, though he felt it wasn’t a threat. The cat revealed it had been following the party since Sanctuary, and didn’t like Peregrine as she killed the ‘big bald cat’ (the pig that was on the cusp of dying miserably anyway). Everyone but Peregrine got to pet Mr. Cat, and he joined the party.
The party headed back to the tavern, though Sigholdt stopped by the guard’s office first. Mr Cat was barred entry to the tavern, so the party paid extra to cover him. Hermione cast Detect Thoughts on Peregrine, but there was no new information or visions triggered - she only got a sense of the guilt and shame Peregrine hid from the party. Meanwhile, Sigholdt asked the guards about Peregrine’s Stretched Ink visitation request, updating them on which tavern the party was now in so they could send the message to the right place - she could visit Stretched Ink in a day. Sigholdt also told the guards the party were the performers in the vampire attack. He was given a Sending stone to contact his mother before telling the guards what happened during the attack. Sigholdt was given privacy to call his mother, asking her to come to Diamond and asking what the Dreamwoven were. His mother stated she would arrive in two days.
When the guard returned, he interviewed Sgiholdt on what happened in the vampire attack. Sigholdt was… Very honest, including the fact the attack had been the party’s fault, as well as mentioning the party being harassed by the Woven Providence and the Black Blooded. It became clear the guard very much disliked Sigholdt, though did seem to appreciate the information on the Black Blooded. The guard stated an Emerald Rank guard would come by the tavern to speak to the rest of the party. Sigholdt asked how people were doing after the attack, learning that many were injured, but many survived, thanks to the Kae’s resilience. There were deaths, but most were successfully evacuated.

Report Date

15 Oct 2024