Session 009: Gray Areas

Continuing from the chaos the week before, we start en media res with Zenith and Jack finding Swallow in the depths of the Raywalker base with two knocked out guards. They decide to spring the other prisoners (whom Aphid had oh so helpfully failed to mention) and let them out of their cells. In one is an older man (Sonny). The next holds a child (Ninth) with patches of dark green mottling his skin and little nubs of horns as well as a human woman (Nava) who stays silent as Ninth speaks for them both. Ninth agrees to go with the group after telling them they were too late to save his mother. Sonny, however, is not convinced. He tells them he is where he is supposed to be and goes back into his cell. Swallow imparts that he thinks the man might be a "Grey". Zenith talks to him more and trades a favor for a safe way out. The man makes an odd request involving a brick, then tells Zenith to take the largest path as it will get him to a safer way to exit eventually. Zenith, Jack, Swallow, and their new charges Ninth and Nava head out, pretending to be transporting prisoners. They start walking down the side of the large tunnel, where a path has been worn. However, Ninth breaks away from the group and runs to the center where he promptly disappears. Jack goes to investigate and disappears as well. Zenith reluctantly follows and with his go ahead, Swallow runs full tilt. And with that they are all out of the Raywalker stronghold. Presumably.   Meanwhile, Talasea and Mohr have been following the individual who spoke to Duan earlier that morning. The person heads towards a seedier part of town, heads down an alley, and disappears from sight. They struggle with the decision of whether to follow the others into the tunnels, but ultimately decide it would be better to go wait for their friends. They trudge back to the courtyard of the Hooked Tower to find Aphid nervously waiting outside the secret guest entrance. They settle in to wait together and so are perfectly positioned to see Jack when he emerges, barefoot and bewildered, from a shop across the courtyard. No longer invisible and no clue how he ended up there, Jack joins the group. They spot Swallow come out of a door up on a rooftop a couple buildings out from the courtyard. No sign of Ninth the patched child, Nava the silent woman, or most importantly, Zenith.   Uncertain of what to do about the missing Zenith, the group heads back towards the Inn. Upon arriving they see Thonemany officials asking folks who leave the inn if they've seen any of the group of royals who visited Oke Thonemany's office, but Aphid in particular. They sneak Aphid into the inn in mouse form and hole up in his room, unsure what to do with his awkward refusals of help packing up his tiny sewing supplies. Recognizing that they've now crossed the Raywalkers a second time and have the Thonemany family out looking for them, the group decides to skip town. Tal, Swallow, and Jack head back to the arena to see if they can find anything on Zenith's whereabouts, leaving Mohr and an increasingly awkward Mouse Aphid behind. There, Talasea finally gets a ping on Zenith, who is trudging out of the desert where he had emerged from the doorway of a ruin half buried in sand about two hours before. They pick up Zenith's commissioned spell discs and head to Bertie the Bookie to pick up some betting earnings. He seems to take a while to find their earnings, stretching it out. They leave empty handed, and Mohr looks up to make eye contact with Duan and watches as he nods towards Swallow.   Returning to the inn, the group waits til nightfall to make their exit. Aphid continues to act strangely, but maintains his mouse form as they leave so as to escape detection. The group heads out through the common room of the inn and are waved down by the Grit and the Grind. They pause to talk to their friends, who want to know why they weren’t at their match today and also why there’s a hunt for them as the alleged masterminds behind rigging the Ringed Roses’ match. They decide to walk and talk so they can leave the crowded inn, Oswin pressing them further and further as they walk, asking them if they’re cheaters, what’s going on, what they’ve done. Ultimately, he asks if they’re in trouble and tells them they should ask for help if they’re in over their heads. He tells them that they aren’t the only ones who are more than they seem. He tells them to trust him.   And we fade to black as our heroes follow the Grit and the Grind down a dark alleyway, uncertain as to whether trust was the right choice or whether they just made their last mistake…