004.009 Session 48 - More Gifts

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: After depositing Yendaya's unconscious form in the sleeping area, Scotty felt the weight of her own tiredness and succumbed to sleep. She found a corner and passed out. She finds herself in a dream. There is a tremor and a slight breeze, a whisper barely discernible within the vibration of stone. It grows into a voice, long and rumbling. It says "My child, my child of stone. How is your walkabout?" Scotty replies that she has been learning new things and having new thoughts. Learning can be uncomfortable and she has also been unlearning a good number of things. She asks the great voice for a name. It replies: Lithos, stone giant, an ancestor. He is the Rephím, Stone Brother, though Scotty doesn't make this connection immediately. Scotty is asleep but not asleep, dreaming but not dreaming, having a vision but not really. Scotty is confused. Lithos says that his brother is trying to find something and he's going to help Scotty, his child. He tells her to talk to Vaela to have things explained in a way she can understand and to reach into her belt. Scotty does and discovers a leaf-shaped clasp. He says Vaela will understand this too. The belt feels warm, changes to fit as she's always imagined it should. She feels strong and healthy. Lithos tells her to use her gifts well. Scotty wakes up.

Vaela reenters the tower through the portal and finds Scotty. Scotty gives Vaela the leaf-shaped clasp and Vaela recognizes it as a piece of the elf maiden Ímrä'vān's talisman. Vaela puts it in a pouch with the other piece they had previously recovered. Scotty talks about feeling stronger and relays the events of the dream to Vaela, who tells Scotty that the ancestor she spoke with was Stone Brother, one of the Rephím we've been looking for.

Talia then finds Scotty and asks if she wants to join the talent show. Scotty refuses on the grounds that she doesn't need the money.

We head to the Water's Tooth tavern, which has a max capacity of 55 and is likely exceeding that. Talia, Yendaya, and Danior let the bouncer know that we're the talent and the other party members pay 5 copper for admittance.

Our act is introduced as "The Talent". Moments before going on stage, Yendaya whispers to Danior and Talia, "wouldn't that be a good group name??" and they enthusiastically agree! Yendaya goes first. She uses her magic to play with the lights and her lute to play the Cha Cha Slide. It's a resounding success, the crowd goes wild! She rolled a 26 on performance. Talia suggests Danior go next. He has not prepared anything . He wings it, crashes, and burns. He Danior'd too close to the sun. He does close up magic, which works but it's not the right crowd for such a thing and- objectively- magic tricks lose some of their appeal in a world where actual magic exists. And he rolled a 6, so Talia is the final act and she kills it, absolutely the number 2 acrobat of all time. She does a tightrope act, flips, disappears! She rolls a 22. We're paid + tips. A sleazy guy approaches. Danior wonders if he's a scam artist, then is distracted by the guy's charisma. This guy seems cool, he reminds Danior of himself. He wants to set up a recurring show for us on the main street, name in lights, very Vegas. Talia can see through it, she always knows when Oñar is fucking with her.

We're a bunch of geezers so we head back to the tower to go to bed, except for Vaela who asks the bartender about brothels in town. Vaela gets some ass. Atlia follows her there and stands guard outside because she doesn't want her wandering around alone, NOT because she likes to watch lol

They return to the tower and Atlia sees Vaela go inside with her. That's not really Vaela. As the image continues into the tower, the real Vaela continues walking, drawn by some unknown force. She finds a temple and enters. It is filled with sheer curtains and glowing candles. There is a large book with runes on the surface. In the book, there is an illustration of an elaborate staff of precious gems and metals. She reaches into the picture and pulls out a physical staff. It automatically adjusts itself to her size and she finds that she can now read the runes. She discovers that she was drawn here by Pythōnäs, goddess of magic, prophecy, and luck, patron of the arcane. In the book, runes appear and spell out "Hello Vaela, been looking for me for a long time?" The goddess says that she and Oñar were responsible for Vaela's changing form. Oñar thought it would be funny. Vaela didn't think it was particularly funny when it happened but she's pretty chill about it now. The goddess says that proves Vaela's worthiness. The temple fades into a dark emptiness. Vaela heads back to the tower.

Yendaya dreams about a song, it's trapped in the corners of her memory. As the dream continues, she recognizes it as a song her mom used to play and can't believe she'd forgotten it. She wakes up but she can still hear the song, coming from down the stairs. She quietly gets up and follows, down, down the stairs. She makes it to the treasure room and is drawn toward a magnificent lute. She reaches out to strum it lightly. Symphōniä appears and says that the lute and the song are all she can give her of her mother right now. The song is one that her mom used to play a lot when Yendaya's dad and brother were missing and it brings great comfort. Symphōniä says Yendaya should play it when she wants to contact Symphōniä. She says she's tried to get ahold of her using the auto-filling wine goblet but all that's gotten her is the earliest stages of alcohol dependency. Symphōniä is largely unapologetic- naturally, she is a deity- but she says that's the way of it when your god is the patron of partying. She says that Yendaya isn't alone, even if she's too hammered to show up, the Muses are there to help her. They'll help her create music that will touch the world and bring people peace and inspiration. She also tells her that Ōlōrin is the one that saved her when she died, but to watch out for him because he's one of the Old Gods and therefore unpredictable.

LONG REST

Danior gets up and approaches Atlia, asks if she can help him be a "spear guy." Atlia is a harsh trainer, but compared to the way she was trained she's practically Sesame Street. Danior says he responds better to positive reinforcement, this is a lie. Atlia's approach reminds him of his dad. Danior doesn't make progress, in fact he regresses. Yendaya tries to be supportive but he keeps yelling at her not to look at him, it's embarrassing to have her watch. When Atlia and Danior take a short break, Yendaya shows off her awesome new lute. She woke to discover the old one was gone but this one is extra special. It does a lot of powerful stuff and increases her AC (higher than Ranmin's haha). Danior and Atlia go back to training until she gets tired and tells him to let her know when he can hit the target with the wooden spear. She does some impressive training with her own weapons.

Yendaya goes outside and runs into Vaela. They compare cool new magic items. Vaela uses the staff to cast reduce on Yendaya! They talk about the meddling of the gods, what with Vaela's life essentially being a trick played by Oñar for funsies. They both express concern that the powerful magic items must mean we're up against something really bad. Then they have a veggie picnic while Yendaya gently strums her lute.

Alessia has been avoiding everyone since her argument with Yendaya. She's up on the roof. Talia deftly scales the tower and joins her. Alessia confides in Talia that her memories have returned but she's hesitant to tell Yendaya when the timing might suggest she had been lying about not having them the day before. She says that Baziel saved her when she was at her most destructive, revealed that she had been adopted by her human family, and gave her a new name. She named her Ímrä'vān, but not for THAT Ímrä'vān, for Bäzíel's first champion. Alessia is Bäzíel's third champion. Alessia reveals that she's worried that Yendaya might have permanent damage from the Díō'koi wounds, but she suspects that she might be okay as she seems to have been healed by a god. Talia reveals that she is originally from a kingdom that neighbors the one that Alessia/Clara is from. Talia says she's a little lost as she hasn't been with us long, but she has a strong desire to help and make up for past mistakes.

Ranmin gathers the wood he's been aggressively chopping to avoid conflict and hands it out the people in the town for free. He's been silently sort of following behind us and cleaning up our messes all day.

Danior finally hits the edge of the target with the wooden spear! He turns to pick up his magical spear where he had set it against the wall and it appears in his hand. He sets it against the wall again and crosses the room to experiment. It appears in his hand from across the room. He turns and throws the magical spear toward the target, hitting dead center. "That's cheating," he says as he retrieves it. He wills the spear into a pocket dimension and back, thankful that he won't have to walk around with a big golden spear strapped to his back.