Session 14: For just as the flower dies in winter, so it is reborn in spring.
General Summary
Flamesday, 15 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
The human that Lem had been tending turned out to be Morran Decannith , whose name Spark remembered from the Works of Onatar the party had recovered in Eston. The party made short work of packing up Lem's and Morran's belongings and, as carefully as they could, they escorted the forged and his charge back out of the sewers. In Ashblack, Zer shrouded Morran with the seeming of a damaged forged being hauled back for repairs, and the party crept quickly through Khyber's Gate. They didn't stop watching over their shoulders until they had returned to the Heart and Hammer and barred the door. Even then, the psionicist immediately set about crafting a small dimensionally-isolated space akin to Leomund's tiny hut into which both Lem and Morran took refuge.
Both physic and patient began making lists of supplies they would need. In addition, Morran wrote down -- from memory -- the publication number of his dissertation on arcane healing at Morgrave University, provided it hadn't been disappeared by his family. Bell and Spark immediately set out to visit Leali in her office at Morgrave University to see if she could retrieve Morran's dissertation, then left a message for Rakela with the Watch, asking her to visit the Heart and Hammer. Meanwhile, Relic and Milli went back to the House Jorasco clinic in Lower Dura.
There they asked after Cora Greenleaf again, who confirmed that if the producer of dust was no more -- as the head of Cinnabar proved -- then she could consider Milli's end of the bargain "kept" and fetched a copy of Jorasco's entry-level arcane healing guide. Milli made every plan to study it as soon as she returned, but Morran thrust a sheet of paper at her muzzle as she and the monk returned. The list of supplies he requested included a number of rarities they might have trouble finding, but Morran seemed to know nothing of prices or scarcity, and he insisted they had to be available because he'd never been at a loss for them before. Milli grumbled at the ex-scion's privilege, but Medya calmed her mate down and agreed to come with her to market and help carry supplies.
Everbright in Tavick's Landing had extensive apothecaries and magewrights. Even still, it took the pair from Everglow most of the afternoon to recover what was on Morran's list. On their way back, they stopped for a small bite to eat, when Medya whistled to Milli in Sylvan that they'd picked up a tail: an orcish woman that had been following them since they'd left the last shop. The two sat down and watched, and their pursuer walked right past them both, dropping a note on the ground. Medya lifted it, finding Common in loose writing: You have friends. Be careful.
The two rushed quickly home by skycoach after that. Back at the Heart and Hammer, though, Leali had stopped by with a copy of Morran's dissertation. She was amazed to see the man himself, alive and stripped of dragonmark. She'd heard of excoriation, but she didn't believe it was done any more. Morran confirmed it was, and not just to him. She warned the group that she'd had to dig the document out of a sealed archive, meaning that someone had wanted it gone. Merrix the First, Morran speculated. His grandfather, and the previous Grand Gorgon. Milli shared the note with others and asked if anyone recognized the description of the woman who'd dropped it. Lem said it sounded like Takren, another of Cavallah's lieutenants that he'd heard had committed suicide-by-Watch.
Bell then got a smile, remembering that she had a job to do, and she wanted to know if Leali wanted to be part of it. They had a unique forged design to deconstruct and study, and they'd need all the help they could get with notes. At that, Medya and Spark immediately ran out for coffee, incense, and other comfort supplies while the alchemists cleared their workshop. Once the two returned, Milli and Bell began to break down the body of their fallen foe to learn its secrets. And, along with Leali, Lem, and Morran, they learned much.
The metamatrix was new, twenty years old tops, and clearly built on some new principles Morran didn't recognize. Much of the craftsmanship, though, very clearly looked like Merrix the First's work as well. Merrix was called the father of the warforged, and he did a lot of custom one-off designs reminiscent of Cinnabar to keep his mark in shape. Morran, however, knew his grandfather had reverse-cast the workings from his own son Aaren's creation, a "forgeborn" his father had made when Morran had been just a babe. He said he remembered being seven when he last saw his father's creation; the only thing they'd said to him as they were taken away was "I forgive you."
As Bell and Milli got closer and closer to the center of Cinnabar's shell, the repair manuals from which they'd been working began to reference "the Whitehearth" manuals more and more for fine detail work. Morran explained that Eston was Cannith’s “political home,” but Whitehearth was their family workshop, also lost to the Mournlands. At the center of the broken forged's chest was her core, a metal harness constructed to support and draw power from a cylinder of crystal so black the light seemed to vanish into it and clearly otherworldly all on its own. Zer peered at the crystal with inner vision and identified it as Mabaran obsidian, a literal heart of night.
Bell saw a few drops of the purplish glow that Cinnabar had called "raw" in her diaries inside the metal casing, and similar in the hand crossbow she'd been carrying. The forged had been the source of dust, or at least of its precursor. That explained much of its effects on both forged and grown: for those with whom Cinnabar saw solidarity, dust was comfort, safety, and disinterest in fear. For those whom Cinnabar despised, dust was disquiet, pain, and a craving for more. Equal parts smugness and cruelty, a perfect blend of disgust.
All this led Bell to remark, “I feel like I’m putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and I just found a fifth corner piece.”
Bearsday, 16 Blooming, 998 Y.K. After the autopsy, near dawn, Leali and Lem both left — the former for home and sleep, the latter to send a message to his boss about what had happened — and Milli gave them both alarm tokens as a safety precaution. Rakela came by as Leali was leaving, the two sharing a bemused grin as they passed one another before the Khorvaran turned her attentions to the forged alchemist. Bell had a number of questions, of Cinnabar and Cazha and apothecaries in Khyber's Gate, and she asked what Rakela knew of any of it. Of Cinnabar, Rakela said that when the Sands of Time opened, they were a lot more careless about dust. They'd had a shakedown, found some leaks, fired some forged, and all was good, but then the Watch wanted to know where dust was coming from, so they tried backtracking along the distribution chain. They'd gotten as far as a forged named Grit that had named Cinnabar, but she was gone by the time they could follow up. The Watch figured Grit had tipped her off, but since dust had stopped being an issue, they didn't follow up any further. Of Cazha, Rakela said that until about a year ago, the criminal gang known as Daask had been low-profile, staying mostly in Khyber’s Gate and thus out of the Watch's gaze. Then around the time things started getting nasty, a new name started being whispered among goblin contacts: Cazha Bloodwing, Cavallah’s latest lieutenant, fresh from Droaam. The officer asked if Cazha was involved with those recovered items, and when Bell nodded she said she’d ask the Watch for some extra attention around the Heart and Hammer. Takren she recognized from the description and said that the orc had gotten herself killed during a hostage situation. If she was up and running around, that sounded like necromancy, but she couldn't rule out other causes. The sign for the apothecary Bell mentioned on behalf of the Quiet Folk, Rakela recognized immediately as the Wounded Dragon, a well-known front for Daask in the city. Even if the party had agreed to go there as a favor, she suggested they consider whether they wanted to visit a known Daask front with Cazha looking for them. Bell said that was an excellent question, and Rakela left with a reminder that the party had a reward to claim at the Sewer Reclamation Project office for the leads on those cases. Later that afternoon, Transom came by the shop, alone, to talk to Bell about a job. They said they were tired of being towel-rack and punching bag for Gears’ crew. They knew enough magic theory to put together some basic spells but they needed better training if they were ever going to be a real mage, and what better way to learn than on the job? Bell agreed to put Transom on desk duty, then set about showing Transom around her workshop. As Bell taught shop to Transom, Milli sat with Morran in the hut, the unicorn watching the human work on his arm. Milli could see from its design that it had been made with precision, but no real artistry. It was as if someone had reduced the workings of a limb to mere stencilwork, missing all the fine subtlety that came from uniqueness. Milli tried to explain that this was part of what was hurting Morran and why the join wouldn’t heal right, but Morran insisted that there was nothing wrong with the hand itself. It just wouldn’t obey his will sometimes, and the mana bleed was clearly just feedback from the failing aetheric resonance. In “aetheric resonance,” Milli heard “emotional response,” and quickly agreed; that was exactly the problem. Morran scoffed that Milli’s forelegs were mere prosthetics and not even proof-of-concept. Milli snapped back that she already knew that and was actively building better, and that these were more for embodiment in the temporary, so she didn’t feel tempted to rush off and make such obvious mistakes. Morran thrust out his forged arm at Milli and declared it the pinnacle of alchemical theory and dared her to tell him what he’d missed. Milli spoke very quietly when she responded. “Morran, you don’t love that hand like part of you, and from the look of you, you don’t love you. That’s what’s missing.” In response, rose from his seat and staggered out of the hut, and out of the Heart and Hammer, passing Transom and Bell on the way. Spark and Relic both rushed after him to keep an eye on him, while Milli stepped out and approached Bell about repurposing one of Cinnabar's arms as a demonstration model for Morran, to show him how he could look, if he could learn to love being who he was. Morran wandered the streets, half-staggering, half-snarling under his breath at the audacity of the unicorn. He scowled at his "escorts" and complained to them both that he wished to be alone, but Spark said only that she happened to be walking in the same direction, and that it was a good time for a walk. Relic equally demurred while showing no signs of departing, and Morran grouched at them both that he'd taken deep umbrage at what their so-called friend had implied. Spark laughed and said that Milli had a way with words, and that if she said it, it was probably the most uncomfortable of truths. Relic agreed that Milli was, indeed, a very observant unicorn, if not a very tactful one, and Morran stopped in his tracks and looked down at his arm. Though Zer's illusion still held, they all knew at what he was looking when he remarked that the first time he'd asked his grandfather if he could grow up to be a forged, he'd gotten hit. The tears began to exacerbate Morran's mana bleed, and the human slumped heavily against Spark in pain. She and Relic carefully helped Morran back to the Heart and Hammer, and as soon as he was inside he began clutching his arm in obvious pain and calling out for Lem. The party then realized that, with all the other excitement, no-one had seen Lem since he left to talk to his boss that morning. About that time, Transom called out that a hobgoblin was here to see Bell, by the name of “Zhakil.” Bell left through a back door and went around to see Cazha’s lieutenant. Zhakil told Bell that Cazha had some of her loyalists grab Lem when he got to the drop-point for contacting his boss, and they had him stashed in the backroom of Shamukaar while she took the alarm token with her to Malleon’s Gate. She figures even if she loses the fight, you’d go rushing in hammer-high and convince everyone you broke the oath of neutrality first. She then told Bell she probably had an hour before the summons would come, and the forged had better not make her regret her choice.
Bearsday, 16 Blooming, 998 Y.K. After the autopsy, near dawn, Leali and Lem both left — the former for home and sleep, the latter to send a message to his boss about what had happened — and Milli gave them both alarm tokens as a safety precaution. Rakela came by as Leali was leaving, the two sharing a bemused grin as they passed one another before the Khorvaran turned her attentions to the forged alchemist. Bell had a number of questions, of Cinnabar and Cazha and apothecaries in Khyber's Gate, and she asked what Rakela knew of any of it. Of Cinnabar, Rakela said that when the Sands of Time opened, they were a lot more careless about dust. They'd had a shakedown, found some leaks, fired some forged, and all was good, but then the Watch wanted to know where dust was coming from, so they tried backtracking along the distribution chain. They'd gotten as far as a forged named Grit that had named Cinnabar, but she was gone by the time they could follow up. The Watch figured Grit had tipped her off, but since dust had stopped being an issue, they didn't follow up any further. Of Cazha, Rakela said that until about a year ago, the criminal gang known as Daask had been low-profile, staying mostly in Khyber’s Gate and thus out of the Watch's gaze. Then around the time things started getting nasty, a new name started being whispered among goblin contacts: Cazha Bloodwing, Cavallah’s latest lieutenant, fresh from Droaam. The officer asked if Cazha was involved with those recovered items, and when Bell nodded she said she’d ask the Watch for some extra attention around the Heart and Hammer. Takren she recognized from the description and said that the orc had gotten herself killed during a hostage situation. If she was up and running around, that sounded like necromancy, but she couldn't rule out other causes. The sign for the apothecary Bell mentioned on behalf of the Quiet Folk, Rakela recognized immediately as the Wounded Dragon, a well-known front for Daask in the city. Even if the party had agreed to go there as a favor, she suggested they consider whether they wanted to visit a known Daask front with Cazha looking for them. Bell said that was an excellent question, and Rakela left with a reminder that the party had a reward to claim at the Sewer Reclamation Project office for the leads on those cases. Later that afternoon, Transom came by the shop, alone, to talk to Bell about a job. They said they were tired of being towel-rack and punching bag for Gears’ crew. They knew enough magic theory to put together some basic spells but they needed better training if they were ever going to be a real mage, and what better way to learn than on the job? Bell agreed to put Transom on desk duty, then set about showing Transom around her workshop. As Bell taught shop to Transom, Milli sat with Morran in the hut, the unicorn watching the human work on his arm. Milli could see from its design that it had been made with precision, but no real artistry. It was as if someone had reduced the workings of a limb to mere stencilwork, missing all the fine subtlety that came from uniqueness. Milli tried to explain that this was part of what was hurting Morran and why the join wouldn’t heal right, but Morran insisted that there was nothing wrong with the hand itself. It just wouldn’t obey his will sometimes, and the mana bleed was clearly just feedback from the failing aetheric resonance. In “aetheric resonance,” Milli heard “emotional response,” and quickly agreed; that was exactly the problem. Morran scoffed that Milli’s forelegs were mere prosthetics and not even proof-of-concept. Milli snapped back that she already knew that and was actively building better, and that these were more for embodiment in the temporary, so she didn’t feel tempted to rush off and make such obvious mistakes. Morran thrust out his forged arm at Milli and declared it the pinnacle of alchemical theory and dared her to tell him what he’d missed. Milli spoke very quietly when she responded. “Morran, you don’t love that hand like part of you, and from the look of you, you don’t love you. That’s what’s missing.” In response, rose from his seat and staggered out of the hut, and out of the Heart and Hammer, passing Transom and Bell on the way. Spark and Relic both rushed after him to keep an eye on him, while Milli stepped out and approached Bell about repurposing one of Cinnabar's arms as a demonstration model for Morran, to show him how he could look, if he could learn to love being who he was. Morran wandered the streets, half-staggering, half-snarling under his breath at the audacity of the unicorn. He scowled at his "escorts" and complained to them both that he wished to be alone, but Spark said only that she happened to be walking in the same direction, and that it was a good time for a walk. Relic equally demurred while showing no signs of departing, and Morran grouched at them both that he'd taken deep umbrage at what their so-called friend had implied. Spark laughed and said that Milli had a way with words, and that if she said it, it was probably the most uncomfortable of truths. Relic agreed that Milli was, indeed, a very observant unicorn, if not a very tactful one, and Morran stopped in his tracks and looked down at his arm. Though Zer's illusion still held, they all knew at what he was looking when he remarked that the first time he'd asked his grandfather if he could grow up to be a forged, he'd gotten hit. The tears began to exacerbate Morran's mana bleed, and the human slumped heavily against Spark in pain. She and Relic carefully helped Morran back to the Heart and Hammer, and as soon as he was inside he began clutching his arm in obvious pain and calling out for Lem. The party then realized that, with all the other excitement, no-one had seen Lem since he left to talk to his boss that morning. About that time, Transom called out that a hobgoblin was here to see Bell, by the name of “Zhakil.” Bell left through a back door and went around to see Cazha’s lieutenant. Zhakil told Bell that Cazha had some of her loyalists grab Lem when he got to the drop-point for contacting his boss, and they had him stashed in the backroom of Shamukaar while she took the alarm token with her to Malleon’s Gate. She figures even if she loses the fight, you’d go rushing in hammer-high and convince everyone you broke the oath of neutrality first. She then told Bell she probably had an hour before the summons would come, and the forged had better not make her regret her choice.
Rewards Granted
- 1500xp each
Report Date
11 Aug 2019
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