Session List
Notetaker: Erin
-When everyone is settled, the master of ceremonies’s demeanour and his intense amber eyes quietly command silence on all present.
-Then, with an imposing voice, he speaks, welcoming all to the joyous occasion. He states: “The ladies have the great honor to host one of their offspring so that our houses may learn from one another”.
-William is enthusiastically clapping to this declaration, and it slowly dawns on him that everyone at the banquet is staring pointedly at him.
-Once it gets awkward from the amount of staring, there is a slight flicker: for an instant, the shadow is visible behind William again.
-Unphased, the master of ceremonies continues, listing among the illustrious guests the “fledgling coalition”, inquisition and integration branches. The fact that the coalition is called “fledgling” is indicative of a problematic timeline.
-Among the guests there are 3 of the 12 Grand Aylas, envoys from the Diutian empire and Merchants from the Shogunate have come, the latter perhaps for commerce of ichor.
Dancers burst forth; merriment and clapping ensues.
-Evander plans to test his food for poison cause he’s suspicious. William is just happy to eat.
-Conversations ensue around the group, with people mentioning how an offspring is rare, wondering who the third Ayla representative is, who’s with the coalition.
-It is stated that one of the cerberus and one of the firebirds are present. There is confusion as to whether there are representatives of the Diutain or not.
-All-moon is just surveying the room, impassible and unreadable as ever.
-Lye checks out Reikiya and Doreyaka , sees Reikiya staring at Will.
-Lye points it out, thinking she’s got some interest for Will or something but she snarls when Will waves.
-Evander thinks she’s snarling at the shadow behind him.
-The door is throw open again, as the first course is presented: a stag roasted with the antlers still on. It’s quite a statement.
-Servers at the front of the table slice meat for each person. Evander confirms there is no poison; regardless, All-Moon barely eats.
-Evander says they’ve been running for days and someone behind asks about the running, if there is a problem outside.
-Evander doesn’t entertain the gossip, much to the guest’s disappointment. The belief is to share as little information as possible, when prodded.
-William feels as if he’s growing a third arm as it reaches for more food but he stamps the feeling down. Lye pilfers food in case it will be needed later. Golo is enjoying the revels.
-The second course is a massive deep dish pie, with smaller pies on a bigger pie, like a crown of amber. (THIS IS A PIE WITH LITTLE PIES, NOT A PIZZA)
-A man on the table opposite the group’s smirks at Korrin, straining and messing with the connection Korrin has with his hounds, who start howling and are clearly unhappy.
-Korrin tries to counterbalance this malevolent influence, but fails to assuage his hounds.
-Lye notices the woman behind him is very angry, the air heating around her as she stares at the man opposite William.
-At the end of second course but before the third, she just roughly but not loudly puts her utensils down and starts stomping around the table.
-As she steps on the rug, there are smoldering footprints. It seems like her mouth and nose have elongated as if becoming a beak and feathers seem to appear at her crown, so she’s clearly a firebird.
-Across the table, the man’s head has grown canine and split in 3. Cerberus superimposed on top of his normal face. She stops in front of his table, and as she does the dancers move back, parting. Shit’s about to go down.
0She stands in front of him and seems to tower even at 5’2’’
-“You’ve been mean mugging our side for 3 hours, Vaushmar I’m tired of your shit.”
-The man’s left face cackles while the middle one says “whatya gonna do about it Xandi?”
-Immediately she fires directly in his faces. They fight while people clap and cheer.
They fight for about 20 mins; he seems to rip of her arm, and half of his face is torn off.
-The master of ceremonies brings the fight to a halt: “That’s enough of house feuds, please return to your tables and don’t do it again”
-They act blasé and cauterize or rub their wounds, causally tending to injuries that would kill normal people.
-Golo gently encourages the firebird and offers his healing skills. She smiles and says he’s cute, but she’ll be fine.
-She’s confused at the mention of having lost an arm, as if the concept itself of having an arm is alien to her.
-The third course comes through: the biggest sturgeon ever, covered in ginger and parsley.
-Once more, it is spread out among the guests.
-William feels his hand with the fork rise above his head. He hears a chomp. The head of the fork is missing as William fed the shadow behind him.
-As soon as it happens, a new fork is presented,. This happens 3 times.
-The lantern is nixed once more, both by Evander and All-Moon.
-4th course is brought out, but this time on individual dishes that are covered.
-The master of ceremonies promises “a delicacy that lady Reikiya has managed to hunt” in their reserve. The group is prepared to fight whatever might jump out from under the cloche.
-Waiters reveal the dish with a flourish. A monkey is sitting on each plate, its brain exposed and prepared for consumption.
-Some monkeys are doing the “hear no evil” pose, others the “see no evil” and “say no evil”.
-All-Moon, Golo, Evander got the “see no evil” monkeys
-William got “hear no evil”
-Lye and Korrin “speak no evil”
-William is unimpressed and slides the monkey over to Lye, who is unbothered by the presentation or nature of the meal.
-As Lye eats, but the others of the group don’t, people begin to stare. Doreyaka begins to rise slowly off her throne and strides to William.
-She’s an 8 foot tall hottie in a blue dress and completely ambered skin.
-Will politely greets her with “hello ma’am”
-She’s looking just above his head as she speaks: “would you mind all too much to give a toast from your family?”
-Will, surprised, replies “you know my family?”
-She waves him down dismissively, saying “please?”: she’s clearly talking to the shadow.
-Will raises his glass (and fails a save). He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out.
-Then, when he stops trying, he feels a deep, reptilian rumble escape his throat, far louder than what he can normally speak (or anyone his size normally can) and he rasps out something in a language William doesn’t know.
-Those who do understand do not share the information, much to the notetaker’s renewed, though not surprised, chagrin. (Specifically Evander understands deep speak but doesn’t tell the group what he hears because Evander is being a dick.)
-After the speech, a rattled William says “The shadow is taking over me”
-As Evander asks “do you want me to take you out of your misery”, many eyes lock in on him from across the room, leading to a hasty “Just a joke” reassurance.
-“If anyone is an ancient dragon, got to tell me right now” Evander whispers. Nobody replies, which doesn’t necessarily mean that nobody is an ancient dragon to be honest.
-The fifth course is brought forth: a sweet dish of plums in rose water.
-Everyone at the banquet has changed in appearance, except for the group.
-The gentleman behind the group mean-mugging All-Moon swells and inflates as purple scales become visible on his skin
-The Other Coalition officer looks like he’s half human, half Black Demesner (which is apparently supposed to be impossible, but Evander didn’t say that openly)
-Vaushmar’s heads are fully canine, with no illusion of a man’s face.
-Reikiya of Ichorbrood appear monstrous, with amber nails, seven inches long, and three row of laser sharp teeth akin to the smile the shadow has.
-The shadow, by the way, is getting stronger as it flickers, as if standing in the light of a dying lightbulb.
-Golo takes off his eye patch cause he’s had enough of this shit.
-The individual behind Moon reaches an unnatural size but has splotches of dragon scales.
-Some people have scale patterns that are matching behind the Cerberus Vaushmar man
-Coming out of Lye’s back, directly where the heart would be, dark red spectral chain and then just disappears, and hovering around the head, fluttering between the ears, a small speck of something with dark, crackling red energy.
-Evander casts detect good and evil on Lye and he’s blinded by it.
-After a few minutes of flickering around, the entity goes into Lye’s head.
-Korrin tries to grab the chain (which is headed north west) and gives a tug. It hurts Lye’s chest significantly, and Lye thinks it’s heartburn from the too-rich food.
-Korrin isn’t exhausted anymore because the food is so good.
-Evander is panicking looking around: Crow is sitting on top on the archway, watching, but something is different…
-Everyone but William and Korrin notice that the crow, Corvin, is sitting upon the edge of the archway but his regular form is different: he has 2 sets of wings and eyes of bright orange that cover his body. The eyes burn of straight malice. Corvin starts crow-cackling
We’re still eating the plums cause yum.
-Lye freaks out at the crow though and turns on the lantern, revealing the true appearance: a woman with tan/sand-coloured skin, all black tattoos turned to white, a mane of wild, curly white hair; the amber eyes are unchanged.
-Everything around them... Rots
-Everyone collapses like puppets on a string.
-Reikiya is a skeleton of pure amber.
-Doreyaka's corpse seems like a shed skin made of amber, like a cicada's
-All the servants etc are skeletons too, with giant amber eyes
-Vaushamar is a mutated houndskull on a human’s body
-The little speck emerges from Lye’s head, the hint of lips are almost against Lye’s ears, whispering.
-Korrin says talk about a devil on the shoulder. The flicker smiles sweetly at him.
-Korrin confirms to himself that this is why Lye’’s batshit crazy.
-He speaks in abyssal and says “how do you do?” Lye replies in a language Lye doesn’t understand, as if repeating words heard elsewhere.
-All-Moon has covered themself with a scarf, to hide as much of themself as they can.
-Superimposed, Moon is a little more than 2 feet taller than they are, and the baggy clothes aren’t baggy anymore. Big person. Biggest in the group.
-Golo sees the food is rotted and makes himself vomit so as to not get sick, which Lye finds odd. Golo warns that the food will not be good for them, but Lye shrugs, saying he’s eaten rotten food before.
-A portal opens when Lye turns the lantern off. Everyone stays rotten and dead, however: the puppet show is over.
-The group walks around, some examining the bodies. Notably nobody actively wants to go into the portal.
-Xandi had wings, one was ripped off.
-The coalition representative is a perfectly preserved mummified half human half demesner. Evander opens a portable hole and pockets the mummy.
-Lye gets pulled to the portal, William tries to help and is pulled over, too
-Evander grabs Lye and tries to cast distort gravity and tries to reverse gravity from where we are instead of pulling down to out.
-Evander saves Lye, William is still being pulled
-Golo tries to dispel magic.
-The shadow forces william to fail
-Evander plants his hands on the floor and erects a slab of stone in front of William blocking the wall
-William feels the mouth opening, and he slaps it shut. William then runs away from the portal.
-One of the skulls starts levitating and the lower jaw moves, then looks at the portal and tries to speak. This goes on for quite some time.
-The group is chilling from the freaky portal, thinking about what to do next while William slaps down the levitating, mute skulls. It’s the shadow lifting the skulls as if trying to get it to talk.
-William absolutely wants to get rid of shadow.
-Korrin casts invisibility on self and leaves. He whispers something:
“Hi love! Glad you’re safe! Tell father and Ms Tyranny I said hi. Ask if father knows Lord Cassius for me. I love you more!”
-Korrin reappears and everyone is staring at him.
-Golo wants to leave. Understandable.
-Evander wants to identify the portal’s origin
-Evil or good? Evil. Abberration
-Corvin is gone. Pulled in by the portal?
-Evander sighs dramatically. The patriarch is probably still alive and wishes to meet the group…. Specifically William.
-William smashes another skull
-Lye wants to go to the portal.
-Evander uses the shell “what do you want” to the shadow
-Evander hears the answer, face palming.
-Shadow says: “OH HELLO. CAN I PLEASE GO SEE MY UNCLE? MY DAD TOLD ME TO SAY HI IF MY SOIL EVER MEETS HIM.” Feral golden retriever kind of energy.
-William is ichorbrood or a soil for one. Yay!
-William is ok going. Lye is next. Golo joins. Evander isn’t convinced. Lye asks him if he isn’t even a bit curious. Of course he is! Evander ties rope to self and a solid anchor point.
-Korrin checks corpses for identification papers
-They all go.
-It’s dim light on the other side
-Curled around a giant throne is a massive wyrm with amber details
-It lifts its head, moving like an eel. Amber eyes and looks around.
-Its whiskers twitch and touch the ground, then it lifts its head up, and there is no portal anymore.
-An invisible force pulls William forward, Golo sees the shadow pulling to the Wrym.
-Others try to keep Will back.
-The uncle sniffs and whiskers flail, then it roars and the fires all go out.