Session 23 - "A Festival and a Funeral" Report

Jundar 2, 1246

The party approaches the outskirts of Vakwari tired and (in the case of Thais Argyri, Olena, and Foenix Stolnent) soaked to the bone. Thankfully, unlike their experience at the gates of Talak, they are not stopped or asked to pay a tax/toll upon entering. Instead they are let in without comment or note.

The city of Vakwari is colorful and bright - courtyards to let the air breathe and keep the area cool sprawl out like a strange grid all around them. Foenix and Olena, the most observant of the group, also notice the strange fashion of the people: almost all of the Vakwaran citizens have bare arms. No sleeves or bracers. Perhaps it is to keep them cooler?

It is quickly forgotten when the stranger affectation of the Vakwaran guards is noticed. Each has a brand on the back of their hand, with the divots of healed (but scarred) flesh filled in with a silver-y looking metal.

Micaiah Louvre takes it upon herself to ask where they can find an inn, and one of the guards points them to the Sunrise in the district of Lanihad. She thanks them and leads the group towards the luxurious neighborhood, where the Sunrise sits. It is a red building with gold accents, especially on the swinging sign above the door, which proclaims its name in Gnomish and has a rising sun painted on it. The gold used for the sun's edifice glimmers and catches the light in a way that makes it look like actual metal, not just a golden hue of yellow paint.

The party get themselves some rooms, and then they all take a long warm bath while the drenched clothing belonging to Olena, Foenix, and Thais are draped over chairs in the dining hall to dry. Then, clean and refreshed, they venture out into the city to try some local cuisine.

After asking for recommendations, they are sent to the Cavern, a literal hole-in-the-wall along the Two-Brothers Pass, a natural rock formation that makes a wall between the northeast and southwest sides of Vakwari.

While there, they try a variety of dishes: smoked amberjack, broiled pufferfish, and baked lettuce with glasses of widowmaker whiskey, citrus raspberry vodka, and yellow cherry brandy.

As the Fate-Steppers enjoy the food, Foenix prompts Olena to divulge her new predicament regarding the desert serpent she has promised to slay. She does, and the party considers the proposition. They have time, of course, and no one is strictly opposed to this new quest. But they do not have to make a decision now.

After dinner, they stop by a bakery in the same courtyard as the Sunrise, called Pure Bread. A few different items are bought, but the one that catches Foenix's eye is a loaf of bread known as 'flower bread.' He buys it, meaning to try and reverse engineer it at some point in the future.

While the rest of the party heads back to the Sunrise, Thais takes a longer route home (with Foenix accompanying her for safety). She stops at Bellahan's Finest to pick up veritable yards of a beautiful orange fabric, then to the People's Confluence, a temple to Politia in Vakwari. After speaking to one of the priests, she is able to procure some blessed oil.

Returning back to the hotel, Thais anoints Ali's body with the oil before wrapping it in the orange fabric - a shroud in their favorite color.

Then the party finds sleep - all but one.

Micaiah raises after everyone has gone to sleep, and disguises herself as a non-binary Karasan, keeping in mind the fashion trends of the bare arms, and sneaks out. She begins to ask surreptitiously around for a place dedicated to Incenderre within the city - and while most either do not pick up on or pretend not to understand her request, she eventually gets directions back to Two-Brothers Pass, where she enters into one of the caves.

It is dark, but with her darkvision she is able to travel quite far into the cave before even that fails her. But that is not the end of her quest.

The ashen brand, invisible on her hand most of the time, begins to glow, and the slight light is enough to help her find her way. Add to that the fact that it gets brighter the closer it gets to... something... Micaiah is easily able to find her way to a small cave with a single brazier. Hanging over it, cast in iron, is an icon of a singular eye that stares at her unblinkingly.

From her coat, Micaiah produces a piece of paper: a detailed account of her feelings about Ali. She tosses it into the brazier and as if it was a match and not a piece of parchment, the brazier roars to life, engulfing the paper and consuming it.

Micaiah stands, staring at the flames, and he moves closer until he stands so close that even his tiefling skin finds it uncomfortable. He can hear something crackling alongside the flames: voices. A myriad of them that tumble over each other, muffling and overpowering the confessions from across the realm of betrayals, bitter heartbreaks, and even worse lies. Micaiah strains to make out one individually, but is unable to.

So, he instead reaches out a hand, burying it up to the wrist in the red-hot coals before pulling his hand back with one such coal grasped in his fingers. The pain is immense, and as he reaches up to press the burning element to his head, crisping and burning his right ear, he hears a voice: "you are on the right path - do not stray from it."

When he pulls away the coal from his seared and smarting head, dropping it to the ground, on his hand is a symbol in the unburned flesh from where the wrinkles in his hand protected some of the skin: a circle with a line through it.

Micaiah douses the flames and returns to the Sunrise, but his return is not unremarked on. Both Thais and Jacob note his footsteps and open their doors to see who is up and about at this time of night. Even through the illusion, Thais is able to recognize Micaiah.

Micaiah plays it off as just wanting to see the city, and so Thais goes back to her room and falls into a restless sleep. Meanwhile, Micaiah and Jacob stand at the door of Jacob's room and talk. Micaiah asks Jacob why he doesn't wish to return to his hometown, but Jacob says that he doesn't miss it that much. Micaiah doesn't really seem to believe that, but drops it. They say good bye and head to bed.

Jundar 3, 1246

The next day brings with it the difficult task of delivering Ali's body to their family. The house is easy enough to find, and upon entering they meet Serenity Symphero, Ali's mother, and their siblings Brimo and Praxis and half-sibling Copernicus.

Serenity, Brimo, and Praxis take Ali's body to the backyard to prepare it, while Copernicus gives the party lanterns to write final messages to Ali on:

We are lessened by your loss, I look forward to seeing you when I join you on the other side. You are missed my friend"

— Foenix Stolnent

I will never add cinnamon to my tea... or eat bark soup... without thinking fondly of you my friend. Till the day I am honored to fight alongside you again, comrade. Rest easy.

— Olena

Forgive me.

— Thais Argyri

Thais also takes a scrap of fabric - torn from the banner of a Karasan gunmaster, and ties it on the lantern.

Then they join the family out in the backyard to say their final goodbyes. The lanterns are let into the sky, and the party watches as they fade into the distance.

Jundar 4 - 25, 1246

The party decides to stay in Vakwari, getting a short term rental for the next three weeks (up until the Festival of Still Sands) and dragon wyrmling-proofing it as best they can. It's a good thing they do too, as two more have hatched in the meantime and the party's hands are very quickly becoming extremely full.

Foenix spends the time learning how to read, write, and speak Draconic. Olena is a willing teacher, but learning a new language takes time, and he is only just beginning to grasp the language.

Jacob spends the first week researching storm sorcery. After poring over various texts and scrolls, he finds an intriguing story about a dwarf named Mohini who was born after their mother swam in the sea during a squall, defying the waves that threatened to dash her against the rocks. Mohini was born blue skinned, with "the storm in their veins."

The second thing he learns is in regards to cultivating magical plants. It is perhaps not a surprise to him that growing certain plants together helps them all to flourish - that is common even in regular gardens. The interesting thing that he learns, however, is that the actual way that the plants are planted matter, too.

It is advised, in one book that he reads, that specific runic designs be used as the guides for planting rows. It may look messy, but not only have plants planted in rows that invoke runes of fertility or strength grow healthier, stronger, and more potent, but the garden beds can be used for ritual work and either replaced or replanted each season.

The rest of the time he spends working at a nearby restaurant, earning 39 gold for his two weeks of work.

Micaiah spends his first week living it up and partying with the middle class Vakwarans, meeting a human named Kobaa Bain, who is a banker in Vakwari. The rest of the time he spends busking, earning 39 gold for his efforts.

Thais decides to help out at the altar for Syria, and the singular priest, a gnomish woman by the name of Junai, is grateful for her help. She spends the other two weeks working as a blacksmith under Master Kishor Bedi, earning 14 gold for her time. The one blight upon her time there is when the Bannercrushers, a local gang, stops by for their monthly payment.

Olena makes the most for her time, fighting in the underground pits that she very carefully inserts herself into. Each week, she takes on three new challengers. She wins the first two matches of week one, and then wins ALL her matches the next two weeks, leading to a hefty sum of 500 gold.