Session Four

Note

Session date: 14th March 2026

Infobox

Mal’s Questions

• Vesta if she’s around - try to find out about her past and her relationship w her sister & kivia (however she’s going to want to be super Delicate about this and not tip her off that she’s asking questions so probably it’s gonna be a lot of magic/research about the void talk???)
• Kaylin - similar stuff but more sincerely interested about the void and what he’s discovered about how it came about, what the voidstuff is, what his actual research entails
• Juno - quastions on the conspiracy board - is he actually for real juno, what’s kivia Got on him, what happened last time he came down and why did he decide to do that in the first place
• Parriston - where the dzemaels came from, what their relationship was to the royal family, what he knows about sebastian

Session Four

Camp

• We’re told to pick tents & the whole group immediately heads for the corner - Myla starts building herself a little nest in the cave:)
• Time for RP moments

Fletcher

• Vera calls Fletcher on her sending stone:
  • She overhead Renoir and Sebastian arguing - it sounds like Sebastian might have had something to do with Renoir’s eldest’s murder
    • Sebastian denied this vehemently; Vera isn’t sure if Renoir fell for this
    • He left, saying he had to find his wife
  • There’s been another murder in town - someone’s been carved to bits in an alley, and it looks like the same killer who took out Art Dzemael
  • Fletcher asks her to look into extratemporal statsis effects that might have been caused by the Collapse

Fugue

• Fugue attunes to his Medallion of Detect Thoughts

Pan & Mal

• Pandemonium comes to visit Malachi - tells her about Fugue mentioning the House of Grief
• Mal shows them the Sharran artefact; mentions that she got it out of Venus’s office. Notes that the wife of the most powerful man in town is now with the Sharrans, and Venus has wound up with a Sharran artefact.

Dinner

Infobox

Fugue: Do you ever take it off? Not even for…

Malachi: Not even for what, Fugue?

• People (Fugue & Tiel) nose into the situation with Malachi’s armour; she doesn’t reply
• We talk to Kaylin about the Void:
  • What’s here on the first level is the remains of the capital (Korvald) and the Underdark that used to exist beneath
  • It gets rearranged with each attack on the surface, making it difficult to navigate
  • Because of the merging of Underdark and surface, a lot of the structures down in the Void are amalgamations of the original buildings
  • Every rearrangement is something new, but it’s made up of the outer rings of the city; the Palace and central district vanished into the shaft boring down the centre of the Void
  • Void Matter: Kaylin believes it to be part of the Void itself; it makes constructs, which it uses to lure the curious down into the Void
    • When it comes into contact with surfacers, it crawls into their head and makes them more susceptible to the Void
    • It also causes severe nightmares when carried around
    • Kaylin thinks it’s trying to return to its main body, somewhere in the centre of the Void
  • Insight Check: there’s something else Kaylin knows about the Void, but he’s not comfortable sharing: “You’ll understand when you get to the second level, and you’ll understand why we had to keep it secret.” ← official ominous statement
  • We show Kaylin the leg - his eyes light up, he examines it. Mal is cagey about where we found it, but Kaylin says we should show it to Venus
    • Vesta is on the 6th & 7th levels, and can’t be contacted directly; we have to connect via Venus (sus)
• Venus opens comms with us - matrix-style, we’re in her office:)
  • Venus: It would be unfair of me to let you go on uninformed. We know what the Void is: each layer is the result of a mass sacrifice, and to each layer is tied an immortal soul as a result of that sacrifice.
  • Mal: Is that what the Void takes people for, with the Void Matter?
  • Venus: You’re following someone down here, aren’t you?
  • Mal: :| SO THIS LEG.
  • The leg belongs to one of the immortals - reuniting it with the rest of the body will cause that person to regenerate ← probably not good
  • Venus also wants her cube (hashtag hercube) back: the soul tied to layer 6, Eilidh, wants it badly
    • Flash of a woman with short ginger hair, strange clothes (& I ran out of time to get the rest of the description down)
    • Our best option if she shows up is to kill her before she kills us - she’s a powerful caster
  • Mal: I’ll keep an eye out for it. How come only you can contact Vesta?
  • Venus: We’ve always had a connection.
    • Insight Check: Fugue senses it’s not that simple.

Team 2 Arrival

• Team South shows up, minus Cassiopeia; everyone looks unhappy
• Fletcher runs over and asks where she is - apparently she vanished without a trace almost as soon as they arrived
• Cassie is missing, Sebastian had the person who was meant to go down (Rion) killed, and he’s been receiving things from down in the Void somehow - likely linked to Hex and their gang.
• Paris freaks out - Sebastian and Renoir were going to kill Kivia and Art (fullname) was supposed to take over the Crownguard; now Art is dead, killed by Sebastian, Ameliance is missing and Renoir is losing his grip, leaving Sebastian primed to take over
• Paris thinks it looks like this was his fault, he storms off
• Malachi asks Fugue to talk to him, to ask about the family history of the Dzemaels and how they got into power in Luden’s Rest so quickly
• Fugue goes to chat:)

Fugue & Paris

• Fugue activates Detect Thoughts on approach - he rolls a 5 on Stealth but Paris only rolls a 2. Boyfailures<3
• Fugue: Consider this a peace offering on behalf of my team.
• Paris: I know what it’s like to have a weird team (looks at Riza meditating nearby). Thank you, it’s good to know not everyone down here is out for my throat.
• Fugue: I met your mother shortly after the tragedy.
• Paris: (Fake disdain shattered by mention of his mother) You know where Mother is? She’s safe?
• F: It was a difficult time for her at the start. Lord Renoir was no help.
• P: I know. He’s a piece of shit.
• F: Even the strongest of us cannot stand alone. She came to me for help and I helped her.
• P: (Suspicion overshadowed by relief) Thank you. She deserved better than the family she ended up with.
• F: She talked about you, and your brother.
• P: (Surprise that she would talk about him - second son, used to being an afterthought). What did she say?
• (They go inside the tent and sit down five feet apart because they’re not gay)
• F: She was very much overridden with grief, it was all sadness that you and your brother left her. From what I witnessed, she loved you very much.
• (Flashback: Renoir looking down with contempt. You stupid boy. If you hadn’t gone- if you hadn’t made our family weak-)
• F: If it’s any consolation, she’s doing much better now.
• P: Where is she?
• F: Still in the city, but she’s doing good work. She’s helping others who have gone through the same pain she has.
• P: Thank you for looking after her, picking up my dad’s slack. He should’ve been there for her.
• F: She came to me, after all. Just doing my work. Have you always lived in Halia?
• P: Since I was born. Are you from Halia?
• F: No, I’m from… far away.
• P: There’s a settlement to the east called Madura. That’s where I grew up. My family were nobles there but then the Collapse happened, and I guess my father saw an opportunity.
• F: I suppose life has been much better since you moved here?
• P: It wasn’t that hard of a choice, I suppose - around that time there was quite a lot of rebel activity, noble houses weren’t safe.
• F: Were you ever a target?
• P: Not really.
• F: That’s good:)
• P: Our family weren’t that important until Luden’s Rest.
• F: If it’s not too much to ask: why did you leave? You could have anything you want.
• P: I don’t want to talk about it.
• (Detect Thoughts: Feelings of jealousy, inferiority, of lack of recognition; he feels stupid about it)
• F: That’s fair. We all have our reasons.
• P: Well, it means a lot that you came over and told me about my mother.
• F: Of course.
• P: What was your name again?
• F: My name is Fugue.
• P: Right- well, thank you, Fugue.
• (Fugue squeezes his hand. It’s not gay if you’re manipulating!)
• F: If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.

Fugue & Eros

• Upon returning to his tent, Fugue gets a knock - it’s Eros
• Eros: Do you have a moment?
• Fugue: Can I help you?
• E: Why don’t you tell me about that goddess of yours?
• F: At this hour?
• E: (Knowing look). It was for your comfort that I decided to come now and not in broad daylight.
• F: Why don’t you come in.
• E: (Makes himself comfortable inside the tent). You know, I’ve always wanted to pen a ballad about Shar, but your people are so secretive.
• F: With good reason.
• E: Does she talk to you often?
• F: (Confused and uncomfortable) Um. Okay. Have you never met a Sharran before?
• E: One or two. You don’t like to talk. I get that. Your secret’s safe with me.
• F: You just said you were going to write a ballad.
• E: Sometimes art is more for the artist.
• F: Secrecy is part of our practice. It’s our code, loss is private. Grief can be an intimate thing - I wouldn’t want my darkest moments proclaimed to the world, would you?
• E: No, I wouldn’t. If you don’t mind me asking, does she speak to you often?
• F: Her nature is not to talk, but I feel her presence. If I close my eyes I can feel her embrace. Here in the Void, I feel it more. Haven’t you mentioned that your god told you to come down here?
• E: He did - did yours?
• F: Kind of. Isn’t your god - who is your god?
• E: Milil - god of music, song, worship. I have a fascination with religious practice [missed some of this but he talks about worship & intimacy creepystyle]. Don’t you think?
• F: …sure? (apprehensive) Your god of music told you to come down into the Void there’s no coming back from?
• E: I’m not the only one. I’ve talked to a few people whose gods told them to come down here.
• F: It’s good we’re not alone, I guess.
• Insight Check: Eros is about to ask something else, but decides against it.
• E: This has been [INCOMPREHENSIBLE]. Like I said, your secret’s safe with me. Let me know if I can do anything for you. Oh, and a word of advice: if you want to hide your god, lying is a lot more effective than secrecy.

Dreams

Malachi: Before things went wrong, when your family was still together. Pyr, tiny in your arms, Shiax’s hair brushing your cheek as she bends over him. The dream warps, empty nothingness reaching for you. Black tendrils seize Pyr, drag him from your arms. They form the shape of a Goliath, who drags Pyr wailing into the dark.

Fletcher: You’re at the pub with Rion, watching the bartender slide him a drink. Watching him knock it back, watching him turn purple as he struggles to breath, vomits blood. Two eyes watch you from the Void, sickly pink ringed in red, and a voice speaking words you can’t make out.

Pan: Dreaming of the sky, grass beneath your back, your family nearby. The sky is blue and studded with clouds - then it gets dark, and you’re propelled to your feet, the only light glowing from your sword. You see Elin’s eyes in the dark, laughing, mocking, always out of reach. Then they turn bright, flickering blue.

Fugue: You hear distant music, a familiar figure beside you. An aasimar man, with grey eyes and long dark hair, delicately pointed ears - he’s familiar, in a way you can’t place, his face obscured by the dream. He leans in, places a hand on yours, his other one your chest. His fingers dig in, and in, beneath your ribs to squeeze your heart, the music swelling as life and blood flow back into your lifeless body.

• Wis saves all around! Fletcher wakes up with the vial of Void matter in her hand.
• At breakfast, we’re given a map of an area to explore; Mal delegates map reading to Fugue<3

The Honeybee

• Perception checks in the area the map highlights: Pan and Fugue spot what looks like bits of leather hanging of signposts, moving in a wind that’s not there - there are cloakers hanging around the entrance to the inn
• After some scouting, we find two back entrances; Mal fails to open the cellar, but in her rattling she hears something skittering and creaturous down there. We go in through the back door instead<3
• Inside are several undead - including a tiefling dancer who Fugue (?) notices looks a lot like the First Prince
• Mal approaches the bartender, orders a drink, and mentions Vincent
  • “He’s on his way, right? Why’d he send you?”
  • Mal brings up Venus & Vesta, which flips a switch - there’s subtle recognition there
  • We get taken into a back room with two more undead:
    • one pale, bloodless, and sloppily dressed, with a stark black brand under one eye
    • one ginger, sharply dressed and sleek, highly aware
  • Their way into the Palace is indeed Venus, Hal & Ellion will be inside by now
  • Lady Caroline Drayer (sp?) is on their side, makes getting people in easier
  • She’s helping to keep Lady Lenore Fane’s pet telepath, Harley, occupied
  • Sebastian has Fane wrapped around his finger
    • The Apothecary’s Guild didn’t seem to exist back then, or at least Seb wasn’t in charge of it - he’s advisor to Lady Fane, and associated with the Blackstaff in Waterdeep
  • Hal & Ellion can get the job done if they can get past the telepath
  • Vesta had a vision of something going wrong, something terrible happening
    • Venus can cast Gate (mal voice oh we’re fucked)
  • Cordelia presents problems - she’s dragged half the palace into her orbit, and Kivia is her favourite
  • Mal: Some of your lot kicking up a fuss to the east is enough to drag the head of the Crownguard and half the army out of the city on the night of a royal ball?
  • Answer: Kill enough nobles and they’re forced to pull out the big guns.
  • Fugue: Was it just the King they wanted to kill?
  • Answer: Ronan, Cordelia, and the First and Second princes, ideally; anything more is a bonus
  • Mal & Fletcher: And then what?
  • Answer: It’s an easy question to ask and a hard one to answer. We want the best for the people of this country.
  • Mal: Whose plan is this? Who brought you all together?
  • Answer: Hal and Ellion.
• Perception checks: something’s moving behind the curtain
• Mal checks - it’s a tiny yellow sprite, she goes invisible
• Fletcher activates her See Invisibility, we give chase
• Mal Ice Knifes her
• Fletcher persuades her to stop
• Her name is Teasel - she’s spying on us for Hex

Session Three