Session 34 - "A Homestead in a Field of Skulls" Report

Venen 5, 1247

With the dust settled, Foenix Stolnent gets down to business. He strips the bodies of the bandits that attacked the party, while Thais Argyri tends to her holy duties.

She begins to bury the bodies, blessing them and dedicating their souls to Syria. But when she gets to the corpse of a tiefling blademaster - one who insulted her heritage as a Cactsian - she can't help but to spit on his body in derision.

After the bodies are both stripped down and buried, the Fate-Steppers take a moment to breathe. The short rest allows Foenix to use the decanter of endless water to clean off the adventurers. It leads to a horrified Olena to find out that Foenix doesn't wear socks - and hasn't been - since they met!!

But eventually, the party packs up and begins to travel along the road towards a village they can see in the distance. It is unfamiliar to Thais, so it is understandable that she doesn't recognize where they are. But when she recognizes a tree in the fields, all the memories come flooding back: this is the site of the The Gunpowder Massacre, where she nearly lost her own life and DID lose many friends.

She stands there in shock for a long while, staring out into the fields, and her party has to bring her back to herself. Foenix notices, as he approaches to attempt to shake her, that her holy symbol has cracked lengthwise. It hasn't snapped in half, but it's clearly broken. That stuns Thais even more, and she doesn't even notice when another memory slips through her fingertips: of her friend Dimitris finding and caring for her as she lay near death after slaying a Karasan gun master.

The party is none-the-wiser about their paladin's memories continuing to drift away from her, so they continue to the village nearby: Ghani's Ground.

The Fate-Steppers get two rooms at the Red Boar Inn, and Foenix flings a few more coins in the direction of the tavern owner to keep them in good standing with her, and they all retreat to one of the rooms to check in with Thais.

While the others check over their paladin, Micaiah Louvre slips out. She begins to walk around Ghani's, pausing by the well with cracks inlaid with gold before walking south until she comes by a shrine where a hooded supplicant empties ashes over it. However, she pauses as she approaches - the face is one that she recognizes. A Cactsian diplomat that once visited the de’Louvre household. The most beautiful person that Micaiah had ever seen.

Though when they turn to address Micaiah, it is immediately obvious that this is not the diplomat, no. They are a messenger from Micaiah's patron, Beauson de'Bete. In fact, they say that Beauson wants Micaiah back before the eclipse, for a party that he intends to throw.

Micaiah smiles prettily and agrees to return to Brillante, but the smile drops as soon as the messenger departs. She returns to the inn soon afterwards and retires quietly.

Before entering the village, Micaiah had disguised Thais to make her less recognizable as Cactsian, hoping to avoid harassment from her country's bitter enemies.

She takes advantage of the disguise to walk down to the large mausoleum on the far side of town, dedicated to Joshua Ghani... the gun master who's face she recognizes as the man she killed on the battlefield (though she now cannot remember what happened after that encounter). Staring up at the edifice above the mausoleum, she opines to her enemy. Thais bitterly congratulates Ghani on the town named after him, the statue and large monument to his life and sacrifice... things that she will never get and is still suffering for. She may have won the battle between them, but she surely lost the war.

She looks around for a bit before finding her way to Bellatan's altar, and kneeling in front of it she pours out her heart to the god. She begs for forgiveness for what she has done, thinking back to her wilted marigold and the splintered holy symbol. Thais feels the shame for her actions, the desecrations of corpses (the elf she allowed Foenix to throw to the gelatinous cube and spitting on the tiefling's corpse) that has lead Syria to retract her blessings from her paladin. As Thais silently cries, begging for Bellatan to speak to his daughter, she hears a caw.

An eagle sits on top of the mausoleum, looking down at her. As it suddenly takes flight and swoops away, Thais notices that it has two sets of wings: an omen from Syria. She has forgiven, but she has not forgotten (critical success).

The rest of the party begins to awaken, and Micaiah comes out early.

She sits down and begins to play a song: a song that sings the praises of Joshua Ghani. It endears the townsfolk, earning her 20 gold pieces. But when she notices a furious Thais watching her, Micaiah offers four pieces to her - but the paladin refuses sullenly.

Micaiah shrugs and pockets the change. As they walk back to the inn together, the first thing they notice when they open the door is the music: lively and cheerful, and a young man dancing across the table.

It doesn't take more than a moment for them to recognize Felisis, and Rochambeau as the young woman playing the lute. Felisis notices them and invites them to sit cheerily, and Thais does so. Micaiah rushes off to wake the others, and upon returning Felisis asks them how they are doing.

You see, he pushed the odds on their last bout (the one with the bandits) to challenge the party and help them grow more powerful. No one is exactly happy with him for doing that, but he seems unconcerned with it.

Thais asks him about Dharma, and Felisis confirms that their friend is well on his way back home. Vakwari is, unfortunately underneath martial law for the moment (and Wishbacker survived Foenix's blade, which irritates the rogue).

Even more upsetting for Foenix is Rochambeau, who recognizes both him and Micaiah, directly mentioning the most humiliating, painful nights of their lives (when they were used as entertainment for Brillantan parties). He goes out to saddle the horses rather than talk with the gods, and Felisis takes over the conversation.

He warns them that they only have about three months before Beauson's plan comes to fruition - and he wants them to succeed, and encourages them to hone their talents - but that they cannot delay too long if they should hope to arrive in Brillante before the eclipse.

Thais rolls her eyes. Eclipses always spell trouble. Felisis agrees, noting as a deity of the sun he will not be able to assist them during the eclipse, but wishes them luck.

He gathers Rochambeau (who has supplied the table with sweet, fluffy pancakes and shimmering iridescent whipped cream) and leaves, disappearing into the ether as they exit into the village. All that is left is the unsettling feeling of the gods' presence and delicious holy treats.