Rescuing Julien wrap-up--Hazlan

General Summary

Rose sent the air elemental to break the orb, and you figured out some way to retrieve the box (TBD on how, but I'm willing to handwave it as long as you come up with something reasonable). Vanya, with great effort, was able to push himself away from Julien. Julien was flushed and breathing hard, but looked less wild-eyed and more grounded now that he'd fed. He recognized Vanya, and asked in horror how Vanya had gotten "here" and how long Julien had been "here" for Vanya to have arrived already. He asked where they were and was extremely confused when Vanya said they were in Hazlan and that it had only been a few hours. Vanya let Julien look into his mind so he could see the last few hours, then asked Julien where he thought he'd been. Julien said that Iskander had compelled him to tell everything he could about the plane that demons came from, and since Julien had the Sight, telling "everything he could" meant looking. He mentioned what Vincente Travatello had said about the Sight--that it was different from other forms of divination because to a powerful Vistani seer, all times and places were as one. From Julien's perspective, looking into the Abyss was indistinguishable from being in the Abyss, and if all times are one, that meant he was there for no time at all and for an eternity.
Rose assured him that he was safe and that you were proud of him; when Julien saw her, he panicked because he hadn't wanted her to see him looking so demonic. Vanya tried to assure him that this wasn't anything about him that you didn't already know, but Julien kept panicking; as he did, he shrank until he looked about eight years old, which he hadn't been since Mordent. He said he'd had a nightmare and didn't remember anything after staying with Vincente (when you prodded him, he also remembered some of the more pleasant things that happened in Barovia but seemed to think they'd happened before Borca). Vanya's theory was that he was repressing everything that had happened in Hazlan and was regressing physically as well as mentally. (Side note: Rose had tried to get a sense of whether he was emotionally and mentally an adult when he was physically an adult, but he was so traumatized that it was impossible to tell.)
When you got back to the inn, you each had a perfect rose on your pillow. Tied to Rose's was a note:
I am not too proud to say thank you.
Rose made sure no one was looking and pocketed the note. This is fine.
You decided to share a room, the better to keep an eye on Julien. You agreed that you'd have to help him remember what had happened at some point; not only were the repressed memories likely to resurface at the worst possible time, but the Gentleman Caller was sure to turn any dishonesty to his advantage. You didn't want to worry about it until the business with the Circle of the Black Grove was over, though. You were also heartened by the fact that when the chips were down, he'd chosen you over his father.
Rose, being Rose, decided to get her mind off things by looking for ways to reduce the collateral damage from the treants as much as possible. You wanted to see how easy or difficult it was to get hold of potions of cure disease, because the less attractive a plague was to the treants, the happier you were. Whatever you ended up doing, you were going to use Lalam, the woman without a mouth, to spread the word to the lower classes about how to escape whatever the treants were doing. You hoped that you could at least convince the treants that their best course of action would be something that attacked the wizards rather than the commoners.
While Rose was out, Vanya tried to sleep off his negative levels. He woke up to find Julien in incubus form, perched on his footboard like a gargoyle. Julien told him that he'd sold his soul for music, but there was no music where he was going. Vanya said he figured there wouldn't be, and Julien crawled into bed with him, shrinking back down into a child, and fell asleep.

Downtime Considerations

• How did you get the box?
• Is there a way to speed up Vanya's recovery?
• How hard is it to get cure disease stuff in Hazlan?
• What course of action are you going to recommend to the treants, and how are you going to sell them on it?

Rewards Granted

Token of the Gentleman Caller's affection. That won't be a problem later!

Related Reports

Previous session: Rescuing Julien--Hazlan
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Notes

Vanya's got two negative levels.

Report Date

22 Nov 2022

Primary Location

Hazlan