Unmasking the Artisans Sessions 43-44
General Summary
Our Party
| Name | Race | Profession |
|---|---|---|
| Bostwick | Half-Orc | Enforcer |
| Cassius | Human | Noble |
| Daniel | Human | Scholar |
| Gloria | Dwarf | Soldier |
| John Wrench | Air Genoran | Entrepreneur |
Helping Calvaire
The party goes to the massive citadel where Calvaire resides. While looking through, they saw peculiar objects strewn about in rooms. When they made things right, they saw visions of Calvaire's time with Alviera, even when they first met:
Calvaire's Study
Alviera,
I know I’m not graceful with words like you. I know I speak better with my hands, with deeds, with silence. But I want you to know something clearly.
You’ve given me more than I thought I deserved — light, laughter, and moments where the world didn’t feel so cold. I’ve been trying to find the right way to give something back. Not out of duty. But because I care.
I may not always get it right. But I’m trying. For you. Because you’re worth trying for.
As the vision fades away, you look up to the window of the study to see a few dots of stars peeking through the foggy clouds. And on the desk is the letter, readied to be handed off to the recipient
Alviera's Guestroom
Through the eyes of Calvaire, you see Alviera open the door at last. Tears glisten in her eyes as she throws her arms around him, holding tight.
“Why do you have to be right?” she chokes out. “I hate it.”
“I hate it too,” Calvaire murmurs. “I wish we all lived in your world, where everyone could be redeemed. But no. That’s why I exist — to bring justice to those who threaten the innocent.” He lets out a breath, softer now. “But you… you make me see compassion. Maybe not everyone needs punishment. Sometimes, they just need a hand to guide them back.”
The two fall into silence, the kind that holds understanding — not peace, not yet, but something warmer than before.
As the vision fades, you glimpse the window in Alviera’s guestroom. There — faint but stubborn — stars begin to pierce through the overcast sky.
In the Observatory
Through the eyes of Calvaire, he's covered in bruises, tired of venturing aimlessly through the hillsides. Brooding clouds above obscured the night sky as only droplets came down, as if doing the crying for him at that rate. But then comes a stranger, a beautiful one at that. Naturally, he's on guard but struggles to get into a fighting stance. It's just one healing teach does Calvaire gasp in shock by such a strange act. The pain recedes!
Naturally, Calvaire thought it was trickery but there is no energy left to fight back. the fear came that he is at her mercy now. Instead, there is no malice. There is no need to fight. There is only the strange feeling of letting all that pain go. And with the absence of aches and bruises, so too did the clouds depart. One by one, each star revealed itself. Such a strange thing that there can be beauty in all this darkness.
Meeting Calvaire
The party helped remind the stubborn brute that Alviera needs him, even Miral needs him. He agreed to talk with Alviera if it meant the party could arrange something to make it easier for the two of them to get back together.
Back in Alviera's Domain
At Alviera's domain, they found her with a new avian attendant by her side, Pippo Belli. Those two were handling a much needed itinerary list of:
Around the Tea Time and Charades, Cassius developed a brilliant plan: If the party is going to struggle bringing Alviera to Calvaire, they can at least move the petting zoo visit to the meeting spot instead.
John and Alviera
John did the task of earning Alviera's trust and trying to gain an understanding of what's going on. She explained that Pippo insisted she doesn't really need Calvaire, as the big armored oaf always meddled with her dreams. Though, deep down, she couldn't deny that he refined her ideas to actually work out much better.
Daniel and Pippo
Daniel was instructed by Cassius to distract Pippo, the two of them getting into a classic argument over if physics is real and magic is all that really exists. This allowed Cassius, Bostwick, and Gloria to move without his intervention.
Moving the Petting Zoo
Bostwick helped distract the farmer and show him where the "chocolate" cows are while Gloria and Cassius moved the "strawberry" cows over to the meeting sight. A few bruises were had along the way, mainly for Gloria.
Pippo's Revelation
While waiting on Calvaire, Pippo lost his patience with the party, unveiling his disguise and identity as Ego, one of John's automatons that got left back in Calvegarde. The Artisans likely raided the old warehouse and took this poor soul to be tortured.
I was whole. I was broken. All that remains is Ego. Not as a title, but as a cruel, undeniable truth. A mirror, reflecting back to me the self-serving actions of John, who saw only his own ambition in grafting my soul. It reflected the self-righteousness of your party, whose grand 'cause' tore down everything John built, leaving me vulnerable. And most of all, it became my own truth: the burning, consuming Ego that now drives me. I am the culmination of every selfish act, every broken promise, given a name and a purpose by the very forces that sought to control me.
Ego would then soon vanish, awaiting the party's confrontation at another time.
The Chiaroscuro Unite
The two stand there, looking at each other. Alviera holds her new shield, and Calvaire holds his new heart. Finally, Alviera makes the first bold move, embracing Calvaire tightly.
The massive knight gasps in shock. As the realization sets in, the dark fog that has accumulated around his armor visibly disperses. He then sinks into her arms, all that pent-up pain, grief, and ache dissolving like a cloud. And as he returns the embrace, Alviera stands taller, radiating new confidence, as they both embrace tighter still.
Above, in the night sky, the clouds part. Stars begin to shine, one by one, as if applauding where the two rightfully belong: not at each other's throats, not merely as associates, but together, here, at each other's side. The blade and the heart, now truly one, the Chiaroscuro united.
The two of them now rejoice, as they come together and celebrate this union.
