Session 072: Moa-tivation
General Summary
We begin by seeing if the DM can break the record for how many times a person can say um in one session. Moa has failed her saving throw against a Detect Thoughts deep dive. The party learns that Moa gets to save after every question and that upon a successful save, the spell will drop.
Tal starts: what does Isfara want with us?
He waits for five seconds while Zenith gleans what he can from Moa's mind.
Zenith gets:
Panic.
Feeling the course of her thoughts shift like the inevitable drift of the tide rolling out.
Confusion... Isfara?
The first time it is ever said in her presence, she is a child in a snowy land, looking up at adults that she doesn't understand as they speak a language that she does not speak. Ending with Isfara. She is a teenager in a classroom setting with two other young people. A teacher drills them in identifying other members of their order and how to use the ever shifting codex of their language, the key to which changes regularly. The one thing that stays the same is the bookend phrase that indicates something is either beginning or ending: Isfara.
Contempt... Using the word without understanding what it means.
Tal casts Gift of Gab, making her forget that Tal said Isfara, instead hearing "What do you want with us?"
Zenith gets:
The first time it is ever said in her presence, she is a child in a snowy land, looking up at adults that she doesn't understand as they speak a language that she does not speak. Ending with Isfara. She is a teenager in a classroom setting with two other young people. A teacher drills them in identifying other members of their order and how to use the ever shifting codex of their language, the key to which changes regularly. The one thing that stays the same is the bookend phrase that indicates something is either beginning or ending: Isfara.
Contempt... Using the word without understanding what it means.
Moa is at Ivaran preparing for The Trials to begin. She gets a message in her mind: "It has begun."
Moa is following the North Wind in Ivaran, then in Halitara, then suddenly in Vivaria.
Moa is receiving coded letters.
Moa is a young adult speaking to an older woman who says, "Ours is not to question. Ours is to carry out the will of the Dreamspeaker."
Waiting on the precipice of something... being so close to a goal that you've been working towards for a very long time and the deep fear of it slipping out of your control... feeling that they are very close to something and the North Wind is the key to unlocking it in a way that Moa doesn't necessarily understand because she does not have all the pieces...
Zenith asks: where will Onoana be?
Zenith gets:
Waiting on the precipice of something... being so close to a goal that you've been working towards for a very long time and the deep fear of it slipping out of your control... feeling that they are very close to something and the North Wind is the key to unlocking it in a way that Moa doesn't necessarily understand because she does not have all the pieces...
Moa is a young child, being led with a young Onoana and another child into a room, told to remember these faces, even when the face changes.
Moa is in a training room with a young Kima on one side as they are told that there will be safe spaces anywhere you, it will not always be the same safe spaces, but when the objective goes awry, you retreat and regroup.
Moa is standing above the map of Vivaria, planning shifts following the North Wind with Onoana. Her gaze catches on locations on the map, recognizing memorized locations.
Moa is deep beneath the earth and trapped in the teeth of Tyranno-Talas Rex, hearing Onoana call her name. She is reaching out to Onoana, recognizing that she won't be able to get to her, and accepting that she may never see Onoana again.
Zenith knows that there are safe places in Vivaria and that he could ask a question specific enough to get the exact locations.
Zenith: What is your exact involvement in the Red Hand?
Zenith gets:
Moa is rendezvousing with another agent. Moa greets them with a bow of her head. Moa says, "Dreamwanderer, what are my orders?" The other agent responds, "Dreamactor, your orders are to continue the initiative of furthering the aims of the Raywalkers. The Dreamspeaker commands that you liaise with Dreamactor Onoana and work together for both of your aims. Onoana will tell you about her past as the Red Hand. You are to use that past for your goal with the Raywalkers."
Moa is greeting Onoana, hugging her tightly. She is listening to Onoana talk about her past originating in Vivaria when she was older, feeding Moa the information she needs to use the Red Hand identity. She is carrying out the Red Hand activities posing as Onoana.
Contempt. Brushing this off as something that doesn't matter. Not caring about whether the Raywalkers succeed or not.
Tal does a quick Read Emotions. Moa is doing her best to appear flat and unaffected, but feels a deep panic directed towards Zenith since she can feel him in her mind. She feels a sharp self-loathing over her failure to keep her secrets safe. She continues to feel flashes of contempt over questions she perceives to be of little value.
For a moment, Moa almost manages to push Zenith out of her mind, but Talasea stares Moa down and with a flare of magic, forces her to re-roll her save which she, of course, fails. Now there is anger towards Tal.
Zenith asks: Why is there a such a specific interest in the champions?
Zenith gets:
Contempt. Brushing this off as something that doesn't matter. Not caring about whether the Raywalkers succeed or not.
Moa is once again a young woman alongside Kima and Onoana, back in the classroom with the older woman teaching. The woman is reviewing past times that they failed to wake the Dreamer. This time we were foiled by the agents of good. This time we had the ritual wrong. This time we were once again foiled by the agents of good. The Dreamspeaker believes that they have figured out a method of waking the Dreamer that will be impossible for the agents of the Somnolent Movement to interrupt. The details are not for you to know. Know only that as the Dreamspeaker says, you must follow, and we will succeed this time.
Moa is older. She receives an instruction in her mind, with a vibrant awareness in her mind that it is the voice of the Dreamspeaker themself, a rare interaction at this point in time. It is the same voice that, earlier, said it had begun. Now it says, "Follow. Anticipate. If we weaken where they go, it will be easier to collapse when they leave."
editor's note: agents of good was the wrong term, should have said agents of somnolence
The group discusses (above table, I assume) what this last message could mean. They talk about checking in with places they've been.
Jack decides, at this moment, to cast Truesight.
Talasea, of course, appears to be a mermaid.
Vermira appears to be a condensed form of pure arcane energy, with whispy, golden threads maintaining the general shape of the creature that she's in at the moment and a core of floating arcane runes that are the basis of the spell holding the shape together.
Bri is different. In her space crouches an elongated humanoid form, a wretched rabbit person with horns that seem to be trying to mimic jackalope antlers but are broken and jagged. The ears are torn from many past fights and the teeth are overgrown. She is wearing tattered clothing covering an emaciated form with sunken eyes. This person appears to be doing their best impression of what a jackalope should be, but in this gaunt form curled into the space that Bri generally occupies, is unable to get as small as Bri appears to be. Shackles are locked around her wrists with chains trailing off into nothingness.
Sir Kerria is too bright to look at.
Oh, and Kima stands off to the side in the Ethereal Plane, arms folded and watching dispassionately.
Jack: Kima's in the Ethereal Plane watching us, y'all.
Kima looks over, sighs, sinks into the floor and disappears.
Tal: YOU GOTTA HAVE TRUESIGHT UP ALL THE TIME, JACK.
Jack: Well I can do it once per day, so.
Mohr: See Invisibility can see into the Ethereal Plane, so.
Jack: Oh, and we have the lamp.
Tal: WE CAN'T DO ANY OF THAT ACTUALLY, GUESS WE'RE STUCK Y'ALL. Oh wait I failed the save for Zone of Truth actually. Just gonna imply that the lamp isn't a thing, but it's still gonna fool Moa because my deception score is through the roof.
Jack: Oh yeah, what lamp.
Zenith: They can't keep getting away this.
The group thinks through magic allowing access to the Ethereal Plane. They think of Blink as an obvious one but that it is inconsistent and unpredictable. Zenith (on a nat 20) recalls the 7th level spell Etherealness, which allows a person to stay in the Ethereal Plane for 8 hours. It also occurs to him that in the Ethereal Plane, someone would be able to move through walls and floors, and that exiting the plane would make it appear that they were appearing out of nowhere...
Zenith considers that maybe it's a matter of tattooed spells, but knows that there are a number of ways that someone could get access to high level magic like that, including spell scrolls and warlock pacts like the perk for Jack that gave him Truesight.
Moa nearly ejects Zenith from her mind again, but Tal flicks another Silvery Barbs at her.
Zenith pulls up an image of the older woman that was teaching Moa in her memories.
Zenith: Hey what's the name of your teacher?
Zenith gets:
Moa is very young, being brought into the classroom for the first time with a gaggle of other children. The older woman bows to them and says "I am Instructor Yemelyanovna." The woman teaches them, everything from history to language, turning the children over to someone else for combat training.
Moa is having a private moment with Yemelyanovna and Yemelyanovna says, "The bond you have with your fellow Dreamactors is valuable, but never forget that our allegiance first and foremost is to the Dreamer." There are complicated feelings. Moa is torn, a young person grappling with being told to follow this thing that feels too big to grasp. She knows that she loves her friends and she doesn't know how to align that with allegiance to this larger thing that she doesn't seem to fully understand. Moa is fond of the teacher but feels a formality in that relationship as well. There is care there, but also distance.
Tal does another Read Emotions. There is again a touch of confusion and a deep panic regarding the confirmation that Zenith is deep into her mind.
Zenith asks: How do you contact your Dreamwanderers?
Zenith gets:
Panic.
Gibbering panic, too close, too far, too deep.
For a moment even memories are lost under the wave of terror and failure. It subsides.
Being contacted. Almost always being contacted. By design, the people most likely to be caught meddling in the affairs of the world are not often reaching out to the core organization. Moa is sending a letter with a clear protocol of what can be sent via letters as opposed to what must be communicated via magical means or in person. She places the letter in a location and then Sends to notify her assigned Dreamwanderer of where she has put it. Moa is being trained. She is being drilled on appropriate locations to leave letters, distinctive locations that can be communicated in 25 words or less. It should be a different location every time. If you must reach out to a Dreamwanderer it should be with a concise clear question or it should be to give a unique location a letter has been left. A lesson on the importance of conserving your spell slots so even though you might be tempted to send multiple sendings one after another, you should not, because you never know when you might need to use spells in the middle of night. Moa is being contacted periodically to convey a new Dreamwander has been assigned to her. If it is someone she does not know, they will meet up physically so that they are familiar enough to Send, not always giving names.
Talasea: don't yip yap? What kind of lesson is that?
Zenith asks: what are some locations important to you and this organization?
Zenith gets:
Being contacted. Almost always being contacted. By design, the people most likely to be caught meddling in the affairs of the world are not often reaching out to the core organization. Moa is sending a letter with a clear protocol of what can be sent via letters as opposed to what must be communicated via magical means or in person. She places the letter in a location and then Sends to notify her assigned Dreamwanderer of where she has put it. Moa is being trained. She is being drilled on appropriate locations to leave letters, distinctive locations that can be communicated in 25 words or less. It should be a different location every time. If you must reach out to a Dreamwanderer it should be with a concise clear question or it should be to give a unique location a letter has been left. A lesson on the importance of conserving your spell slots so even though you might be tempted to send multiple sendings one after another, you should not, because you never know when you might need to use spells in the middle of night. Moa is being contacted periodically to convey a new Dreamwander has been assigned to her. If it is someone she does not know, they will meet up physically so that they are familiar enough to Send, not always giving names.
Moa is a young child and moving through a city that is much larger than her.
Moa is a young adult approaching a large Summerian style building: The Quinseat.
Moa is moving through the Allspace hovering over the intersection between the kingdom.
Moa is coming to the Primdawn Palace with a mission in her mind. Moa is returning to the Primdawn Palace with a mask affixed and a gown swirling about her legs.
Again and again, memories hover within a distinct part of Covalac. A tunnel system that feels like home, like headquarters. A run down part of a snowy island, smaller buildings, shady deals, shopkeepers barking on street corners. Covalac is a trading island, lively, chaotic, but polished for the most part; the rundown part of it is a distinct area that encloses Moa's youth.
At last, a wave of terror and self-disgust and panic washes Zenith out of Moa's mind for good this time.
Mohr and Tal collect hair from Moa for future usage and they begin to escort her back to the high-security room.
Walking down the hall back to the high-security room, Jack notices that a pair of guards coming down the hall towards them is odd. One of them is moving like a guard, is holding the weapon of a guard, but is not dressed like a guard.
When this is pointed out to Sir Kerria and Sir Kerria questions the pair, it is revealed that Guard Waltham replaced Guard Stockton about a half hour ago. Upon being told to switch out with the guards at the top of the dungeon, Waltham hesitates then charges the party. Moa goes limp, becoming a dead weight on Sir Kerria, breaking free of the grapple. She rushes to meet Fake-Waltham who casts Dimension Door. Zenith Counterspells, leaving them as sitting ducks. Zenith Suggests Fake-Waltham hold Moa in place. The guard fails to save against the Suggestion, but also fails to grapple Moa. Tal tosses a net on Moa and drags her a bit away. Jack casts Mind Spike on Fake-Waltham and he goes down, his Disguise Person spell dropping as well. Everyone is startled by how quickly that happened.
Moa kicks desperately and begins to bash her head against the floor in an attempt to injure herself. She is wildly snarling, deeply frustrated and upset. Sir Kerria steps forward and hauls Moa, still kicking and spitting, up off the floor.
Sir Kerria: every time we think we've managed to fix the holes they keep finding their way into, they manage to find new ones.
Sir Kerria does something to Moa's cuffs that cause her to slump into unconsciousness. She is placed back into the high-security chamber.
The party reconvenes with Sir Kerria in another space to review what Zenith gleaned from Moa's mind. Sir Kerria gives the party a note with her seal on it vouching for the fact that they caught the Red Hand and that she should stay in Sir Kerria's custody.
Mohr: Think it's reasonable for us to keep looking for Onoana?
Sir Kerria: I think it's a matter of how you want to spend your time. There is a world in which maybe you can catch up with Onoana, but she will likely have recovered by the time you do and you will likely have to spend some solid time laying a trap. Might be worthwhile but it will take time.
Tal: We gotta get to Winter, my family is kinda stuck in the Reverie.
Zenith: We gotta fulfill what they're trying to stop.
The party takes a mo' to touch base on what they are going to do next. They need to meet up with Mohr's brother, with Swallow, with Sasha, get a ride on a ship to the Winter Kingdom, murder Sir Kerria real quick, get Aphid married (?), stop by the meeting with the Red Hand.
Sir Kerria says that tomorrow would be a good day to die, so they will come back the next day.
Zenith Sends to Mildred to get the location for the meeting with the Red Hand: the Weave Center.
The party finds a place to get some tea real quick and takes a short rest real quick. They then head to the Weave Center, deciding to sneak over the wall around the back. They keep an eye out for Mildred Mason, making sure to check for invisible or ethereal people.
They are overcome by a smell of rot and decay, then hear a snorting sound, then roll initiative and fade to black.
Report Date
02 Aug 2025
