The Attack of Evil Sexy Rose

General Summary

Vanya was getting ready for bed when Rose came to his room and said that she was looking forward to doing some druidic rituals that involved other people, heavily implying that they were sex-based. Vanya, taken aback, asked if she had done rituals like that before, and she confirmed that she had, likely giving him a mental image of her and Emyr that will never leave him. She said she wanted to try some of that with Vanya, and when he said it was complicated and started to explain about the sexual trauma he'd undergone in Falkovnia, Rose interrupted him by saying that maybe just this once things could be simple, and that if he didn't want to do it for himself he could do it for her. (We also got a super creepy bit where she offered to just do to him what had been done for her the first time: "lie down and tell me when to stop.")
Vanya, seeing countless red flags, turned her down, and "she" sighed and said that it was intended as a thank you for saving Julien; Vanya wanted Rose, after all, and this way he could be with her. Vanya was all the more squicked by the fact that the Gentleman Caller clearly did actually intend this as a generous, no-strings-attached thank-you gift and rejected him again. The Gentleman Caller told him that they no longer needed to be at odds because they both wanted the same thing. He revealed that he'd been the one who killed Iskander, and that while Iskander had still been capable of coherent thought, the Caller had seen in his mind that Julien had vanished from the summoning circle before it was broken; Vanya confirmed it. The Gentleman Caller asked what Vanya wanted most in the world, and when Vanya said that he just wanted to go to sleep, the Caller said that he thought Vanya wanted never to see him again, and that was exactly what he wanted also.
What he revealed about his plan (or what he wants you to think his plan is):

• Julien is The Dukkar. All times and places are one to him, and that includes places outside of Ravenloft. When he vanished from the circle, he was physically traveling to the Abyss because Iskander had compelled him to tell everything about it that he could and you can learn more by actually being there.
• Your world is a prison, and the Gentleman Caller wants to get out and go home. Julien doesn't have to take him to the Abyss itself; he can take him to literally any other world and the Caller can go home from there, and Julien can come back to you.
• If he leaves before his appointment with Vanya, he won't be able to come collect Vanya's soul and Vanya can live his life in peace. He claims not to even know whether Vanya's soul will go to the Abyss at the end of his natural life.
• He does have a few affairs he wants to put in order before leaving (like banging Rose, presumably), but then he intends to call on Julien, and if Julien helps him willingly he won't come to harm (he said something similar to Rose at Ivana's Dinner Party--Borca) 

The following morning, after a lovely, restful, uneventful night, Rose went to meet with the druids. Most were elves, but one was a very cheerful human who looked like he was just tickled to be with all these cool elves and who eagerly asked if Rose could join them for the winter solstice celebration in two days. The leader of the druids, Grovesong, flinched at the suggestion but agreed with a pasted-on smile that they would love to have Rose with them. 
What you've learned about the solstice ceremony:

• The dryad in the Mother Tree, half alive and half undead, cares more for her undead children than her living ones in autumn and winter. The ceremony is to remind her to love and cherish her living children as well.
• The Darkonian druids seem to accept the undead as part of the natural order; they claim that the world originally belonged to the dead until the living wrestled it away. Most of their undead-related rituals seem to revolve around appeasing the undead rather than revering them.
• Grovesong has absolutely no reason to believe that this winter solstice in particular will be different from any other. No sirree, no different at all, nopity nope nope.

Rose asked about whether there were any trustworthy wizards in Nevuchar Springs who could look at Vanya's hide shirt; the GM Grovesong couldn't think of any off the top of her head but promised to get back to you. Rose also wanted to look 
Rose came back and cheerfully told Vanya she had met the most suspicious woman that day. Vanya made his knowledge: genre savvy role and warned Rose that they may have wandered into a folk horror movie.
Vanya told Rose and Julien about the Gentleman Caller's visit. Julien immediately panicked, saying he didn't know anything about seeing other worlds or anyone named Iskander, so his father was clearly lying. He started to mumble apocalyptic gibberisn and to grow horns until Vanya calmed him down. You agreed that while you couldn't possibly trust a word the Gentleman Caller said, this was huge news if true. Vanya said that he had no idea what the Caller was talking about and that he wanted to talk to Isolde (whose page I apparently haven't done anything with). Isolde had mentioned in a previous session that she thought Rose might be able to contact her through Rose's ring, so you decided to try that.

Related Reports

Previous session: Arrival at Nevuchar Springs Next session: The Mother Tree falls ill

Report Date

11 Aug 2023