Oh whoops, I never got around to posting last week’s journal. This was the session in which everybody fucked up, emotionally speaking.
Session 5 Journal
12th of Forta (Midnight), 1107
During the night, we were summoned by the Grand Inquisitor, Vryne. Deneb refused to wake up, as I later learned, due to a drugged cup of tea. Vyrne is the last obstacle between us and freeing the Nimhish, as she believes their rat-like behavior to be an act. She’d be willing to sign the paperwork, but she wants Deneb and/or her grandmother in return. Alas, as long as Deneb is asleep I am not making any deals with any scary gun-wielding ladies, even if she is very intimidating. Very, very intimidating. Thankfully, I was able to leave without anything horrible happening, so I’ve staved off some sort of horrible confrontation for at least one more day. Which means I can go pass out now, bye.
12th of Forta, 1107
Today went pretty well, despite my lack of sleep. During a brief hotspring episode, I got to meet Ryaan’s sisters, and they were nice. I agreed to be fake girlfriends with Beatrice, because much like Ryaan she’s been under constant pressure to marry. I guess a preference for adventuring runs through most of the family.
It didn’t take long for me to realize I was being watched at the party. Vryne, of course, took an interest, as did another party guest who I hadn’t met before. And given I still had Deneb, I decided to take a bit of a risky move. Koal seemed busy; during the party he ran up and requested the compass, then quickly returned to his table. Apparently his, uh, date, had some ups and downs that I’ll have to ask him about later.
Some of the guests, (though I couldn’t guess if they were invited before they invited themselves,) were a small group of fairies, headed by someone who may or may not be a/the Fairy King. In exchange for Deneb’s safety, he only wanted to know a bit about the Nimhish, (which, upon reflection, I’m surprised he hadn’t heard of. I distinctly remember a river that was in pretty close proximity to the encampment itself, so you’d think they would be a little familiar with it.) Either way though, he obliged, freeing me up a bit to enjoy the party.
The first competition was precisely my jam: the cooking competition! I started by making omelets, (special thanks to Beatrice for sneaking the good mushrooms and egg in. I’ve been dying to use those.) Second round I made burgers. Extremely good, mozzarella and bacon burgers. In the final round, though, I faced some difficult competition. This round we had to make ice cream, and my opponent had quite the fancy recipe prepared. Good as it was, though, my dad’s strategy of “simplistic but well made” was the way to go, and my mint chocolate ice cream (barely) won.
With Deneb safe and my competition won, I decided to speak with the very intimidating man glaring at me from the other side of the room. His name is Shrike, and he’s a Dragon like Caper and Pash. As a Black Dragon, he’s less interested in travels than the two of them. Speaking with Shrike was enlightening; he and Vyrne are still together, but it seems like he has an interest in other peoples’ stories, (read: ours,) as well. He also vagued about how stories help the dragons grow, and how there are many types of love Pash should be satisfied with. I’ll reflect on his words more when I’m not about three seconds away from faceplanting a pillow. That being said, we ended the conversation and, heroically, I managed to not wet myself.
It was about that point at which Deneb’s grandmother came in, Annabelle in tow. It seems the two had quite the argument, and Deneb’s Gran had a few words for Vryne as well. Beatrice kindly offered to kick the ass of anyone I needed, but we were interrupted by the second event: the dance competition. I was with Beatrice, Deneb had woken up and immediately found herself dancing with Annabelle, and both Ryaan and Koal were dancing with women I’m not familiar. Deneb won, but I think Ryaan and I should both get runner up awards for not making our partners cry directly afterwards.
Vyrne’s little argument had gotten heated by the time both Deneb and I had freed ourselves from the rest of the party. And by “heated,” I mean Deneb’s Gram was preparing to storm off when Vyrne pointed a gun at her. Reacting in the only way I could, I flopped straight into Vyrne just before she fired, and the bullet hit Wyserias instead. In response, Deneb and her Gram hexed Vyrne, so now she’s blind. I
checked on Wyserias, and oddly enough he didn’t seem to bleed. Personally I was so panicked I could have believed I just didn’t see it, but he wasn’t bothered by a bullet wound so something’s going on there. He only told us he wanted to speak with our group before he rushed off.
Before calling it a night, I asked Archie if there was anyone who would sign in Vyrne’s stead now that she’s blind. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t seem there is. He offered to forge a signature, but such an action would definitely come down on him, and as angry as I am with him for drugging Deneb’s tea last night, I wouldn’t feel comfortable throwing him under the bus in exchange for the Nimhish. Maybe now that Vyrne is under a hex we can all come to an agreement without anybody suffering. Any more than they have.