We begin at the home of The Grandmother, Edwyna Clavell, one of the unaffected Seamstresses. The party sets about planning how they're going to protect the young Clara Clavell. They take a look at Clara's cluttered bedroom and determine there aren't many hiding spots in the small home. They decide not to alert the Thornguard. Edwyna invites the party to dinner and tells them to bring ingredients to add to the vegetable stew.
The group discusses the possibility of obtaining a thousand gold spell focus for Mohr to use for scrying. Her idea is to scry on Onoana. Ideas are floated to steal the gold, steal the focus, or possibly ask to borrow a focus from a local Winterian temple. The official decision is to remain law abiding for now.
North Wind decides to investigate other things while they wait for the midnight meeting with Joyce Romanovna. Tal does Sending to the Primrose Queen, aka Elder Alvia. The Queen tells them to come talk to her right hand and they'll be put on the list. The party swings by the castle and get escorted in to speak with Sir Kerria, Right Hand of the Primrose Queen. Everything's going normally until the party sets eyes on Sir Kerria. She is a severe but beautiful woman, with black hair tied back in a bun and piercing blue eyes.
Jack hears in his mind:
This one.
Meanwhile, Sir Kerria asks what she can do for them. She adds them to the list without fuss. They leave with nary a word.
Back at the market, Talasea cons a merchant into purchasing a tiara from him for 450 gold. The merchant throws in a fidget spinner that goes "wheeee" when spun.
Mohr decides not to scry on Onoana just in case she can see invisibility.
The party decides to check out the demon quest. They head to Spring's Horizon temple, where they met Priscilla Seymour earlier that day. Priscilla introduces them to Priest Jackamina, who begins to explain the demonic activity she has been tracking. A series of deaths:
- 911 AD, the Morn, a kobold turns up dead at the docks. Tattoos invoke the demon Callous.
- 911 AD, the Zenith, Kettlebell Chantry, a genasi person, found dead in her home in the slums. Summoning circle painted on floor invoking Wrath.
- 911 AD, One Who Walks With Sunlight, a tabaxi person, found dead outside castle walls, symbols painted on wall invoking Avarice.
- 911 AD, the Night, another Genasi found dead in their home. Summoning circle invoking The One.
Demonology run down - major demons embody negative emotions; debate about what exactly The One is and why that is what they are called, but they are definitely the leader of the demons.
Would expect signs that something had occurred as a result of the summonings and invocations, however there's no hint of brimstone, no outward demonic signs. It's like all demonic interference in the Greater Vivarian Area completely ceased after the last murder last year. Upon asking, Priest Jackamina confirms that the murder was the 20th of the Night, so it potentially was something that would take a year to manifest.
Jack abruptly asks to speak to the group Outside. Jackamina gives Tal a thick packet of handouts. Once outside, Mohr casts See Invisibility as they convene next to the water and lower their voices. Jack confesses the deal that he made with Avarice and that Avarice wants him to murder Sir Kerria. Jack says that he plans to do it at the masquerade, because he's not sure when else he could do it. Mohr gets pretty upset, insisting that she wouldn't have wanted to exchange another life for hers and that they won't be doing this.
The group decides that it would be better for Jack to stay away from Sir Kerria. They're concerned about the potential for Jack to get possessed. They brainstorm ways to learn more about Jack's connection to Avarice, including asking Priest Jackamina more questions and teleporting to Halitara to find Ikaika Vorachith.
Back inside Spring's Horizon temple, they ask Jackamina what info she has on... All of the demons. She tells them that there are little creatures that run around and can make contracts. The major demons are known as the Five Hundred Strong Legion, so there are approximately five hundred of them. They embody various
shades of negative emotions, different strengths. So there's Wrath, but there's also Revenge and Pettiness. They have an internal hierarchy and politics, constantly jockeying for position, not the most cohesive bunch. There tend to be key major players that pop up a lot and then there are the rest.
Jackamina offers literature on the demons that have been connected to this: The One, Callous, Wrath, and Avarice. Avarice is established to be different from Greed. Avarice having a connotation of materialism and monetary greed as well as extreme greed. Jackamina gives them some little pamphlets. She says if she knew of any demonic warlocks in the area, she would have taken them out. She tells them to bring her proof of any success.
On their way out, they stop to ask Priscilla if she knows of any warlocks around. She says there are some warlocky types in the Silver Thread but they aren't really organized. She says they sometimes consult a magical person who's in and out of a storefront called the Flint and Fire. Intrigued, the group heads straight there.
Tal does some shopping and picks up some books:
Magical Lagoons and You, Coral as Spell Component, There's Always Another Fish In The Sea: Finding the Right Sea-Based Substance to Substitute for Other Magical Spell Component. Jack finds
The One and Only: the History of the King of Demons.
Ikaika arrives after an hour or so, a message having been left for her. She says that she hasn't interacted with Avarice herself and doesn't think she's heard many stories about him. Demons will typically target people who display their embodied emotion. Demons will also end up in contracts with people to whom they've been summoned.
The group asks about the deaths they learned of from Jackamina. Ikaika notes that these deaths were likely attempts that didn't work since the arrays and symbols were still there. Otherwise they would have burned up or otherwise been affected by whatever resulted. She says she would want to know why, if someone else killed these people before they could do what they were trying to do, they didn't clean up after themselves. Unless the demonic markings were left on purpose to imply something was happening or distract from what was actually going on. Ikaika's main guess though is that these were attempts that didn't work.
Talasea appears to be watching Ikaika with a strange expression, trying to figure her out or possibly slightly disliking her.
Regarding what happens if Jack doesn't do the murder, the patron didn't specify a time frame so it could possibly be put off for a while. At the end of the day, only the patron can say what the consequences will be if the contract is broken. Avarice is powerful enough to give life, so he theoretically would be powerful enough to take life. However, a lot of the time demons have to be given a permission of sorts to interact with the mortal world. Life is an on and off switch, not a rug that can be pulled out.
Jack asks about possession as a concern. Ikaika says that it's tricky, because if the target is unwilling it's difficult to hold up for any significant length of time. In remembering a brief possession early on, Jack remembers that Avarice said that what he wanted was to live. Ikaika idly notes that the cracks would affect the demons too. When Talasea asks for clarification, Ikaika expands that it's the splintering of reality as a result of the Dreamer waking up, how groups across the kingdoms are trying to either stop it or encourage it.
Tal asks how Ikaika knows all this. Ikaika says that if you ask the right questions of the right people, you learn a lot. Tal asks if Ikaika is from this world or from a crack. She asks what Tal thinks.
Tal senses that Ikaika is amused by the conversation more than anything and says that he thinks Ikaika was a dryad turned into a person. Ikaika notes the benefits of being forthright and says she's absolutely a tree.
Then she asks how they're going to do it.
Jacks hesitates but says they were thinking they would try not to do it. Ikaika clarifies that she's not talking about the murder; whether they kill the Right Hand or not, the Right Hand will be replaced. Jack notes that he didn't mention a right hand. Ikaika agrees: he didn't.
But what Ikaika is asking is how they're going to stop the Awakening.
Have you heard about the Great Lullaby? Talasea asks.
I've heard a lot of things, Ikaika says.
...including the Great Lullaby? Talasea asks. And then we fade to back. We shall see next time whether we will actually make it to midnight...
