Guess who’s late? (It me.)
Session 8 Journal (18th to 22nd of Forta)
18th of Forta, 1107 (Continued)
With the Guardians preparing for battle, we set our sights towards freeing Deneb’s mom from that demon. For the ritual, we’d need four things: wine of at least fifty years of age, diamond dust, fairy dust and the demon’s name. Everyone seems nervous about that last one, but I don’t think it’ll be so bad. They’re probably just named after a sin or something. No matter the case, though, we decided to save it for last. The fairy dust would have to be obtained from a royal fairy, and the southwestern mountain is the best place to find one. But that’s not all; we definitely have a 50-year old wine in the cellar, and diamonds should be no problem to find in the region, so we’re going to the Fairy Kingdom!
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; Ryaan decided it would be faster if we traveled down the river by boat, and though both Koal and Deneb looked a little shaken, we made it to Bright Scale in no time, and we could continue for a little longer after a quick stop. When we later set up camp, we saw some baby turtles hatch and helped them reach the water. Alas, there were of course no adult turtles to be seen, so tonight we did not dine on turtle soup.
19th of Forta, 1107
Well, the good news this morning was that I snagged a turtle, and made a little makeshift tank for them. They’re too small to eat now, but I figured since we were swinging by Obsidian, I could drop this little guy off. The bad news is, as I was putting him on the boat a fairy drifted by, intending to key-scratch our boat, and got my leg instead. Fairy pranks.
Our journey towards Basin Pass wasn’t without incident; on the way, we were ever-so-slightly toppled by a passerby crocodile. Deneb and Koal were thrown in, (it seems like their luck around water is, as they say, bad,) but Ryaan and I kept our balance. I dove in to help, and it didn’t take long for that ‘gator to go down. Of course, we kinda crawled our way to Basin Pass at that point, and had to stay in the inn for a night.
20th of Forta, 1107
We began our search for diamonds to make into dust, and somehow that led to Ryaan falling into a barrel of brine. And so, we postponed our quest to find diamonds, and instead began a search to find Ryaan a good bath. And luckily for us, there was a rope that led right to the summit. Must be a recent thing. It was certainly priced high enough to be a tourist trap, I’ll say that.
I searched the wellspring for the Fairy Queen while my companions were doing… whatever else it was they were doing. But instead, it happened to be the Fairy King I found; the very same I met back in Flamewrought. He had little issue giving me the Fairy Dust, provided we first cleared the mountain of the ETE men who had recently infested it. Apparently they had found a way to block fairy magic, meaning they could prance about the inner caverns without fear of being pranked by the many, many fairies within. Given nobody likes the ETE, everyone in the group was completely okay with the request.
To develop a plan to oust the soldiers, we paid a visit to the hermit. They provided us with barrels of brine, with which we could basically gas the soldiers out of the cave. It didn’t matter if they could negate magic; that smell would be something they couldn’t ignore. After I bravely went down and accidently attracted their attention, my companions pummeled them with barrels. They barely had a chance to raise their weapons before they couldn’t stand remaining in the caves any longer. As for the fairies that dwelled there, who knows. I’m sure some of them appreciated it. The janitor fairies, perhaps less so.
With our task finished, we obtained the Fairy Dust. I still need to repay the Fairy King’s favor for me back at Flamewrought, but for the time being we can leave. Of course, it was pretty late so we just decided to pack it in for the day, (we could go over to Obsidian and stay the night I’m sure, except I can’t say Koal and Deneb would take sea travel at night any better.) Tomorrow, though, I’m going home.
21st of Forta, 1107
Provided you weren’t Koal or Deneb, sailing to Obsidian was a breeze. We arrived just after the breakfast rush, and I introduced my companions to my mother and my sister. Our request for a bottle of wine only met with a small complication; a bottle of at least 50 years of age is, naturally, something you don’t just use outside of special occasions. But Mom was willing to part with one provided we did a bit of work for the afternoon’s lunch rush, though she was a tad worried about how capable my friends were at restaurant service. Deneb and Koal both came in seasick enough to purge their guts out, so I can‘t exactly fault her for the concern.
All three of them did pretty well, and on a similar note they pulled off the maid outfits very well. And no plates were broken either! I didn’t think they’d pick it up so quickly; I’d say they did about as well as I did when I started out. I was underperforming a little, though. I was making a pretty mediocre meal, but luckily for me Ark turned out to be just as capable a chef as he is a warrior. I shouldn’t be surprised; my parents were the same way. But he really pulled out a good meal, and it’s a shame we couldn’t stick around to make dinner.
After the lunch rush finished, Mom went down and grabbed a bottle of Littleford Vineyard 1038, (nice.) As everyone else prepared to leave, I figured I’d check my sister’s room to see what she didn’t have, and get some ideas before her birthday. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it would have been. Provided I didn’t happen to knock a mirror off her desk. And had said mirror not been a priceless artifact from a civilization long past. And, well, deciding against just leaving without telling her what I’d done, I let her know. She punched me. Very hard. In the shoulder. Deservedly so, I’d say. I’m, uh, gonna need to make her birthday present a good one.
We traveled for the rest of the day, and it was fairly uneventful. Deneb made us some hammocks, though, so that was nice of her. I’ve never slept in a magic hammock before.
22nd of Forta, 1107
Things went smoothly on our way to the Fisher Kingdom, or at least as smoothly as it could have with half our usual entourage ill. Ark took his leave when we arrived, unfortunately. It’s not like this wasn’t the plan or anything, but I only just learned he knew how to cook, and I haven’t gotten to talk to him at all about the subject. Hopefully if all goes well, we’ll be able to meet again.
Things haven’t been looking great on the Pendel front; the ETE managed to take Littleford, and although the caverns back to their territory have been collapsed, they’re fighting tooth and nail to keep their position. The Fisher King is worried that they might be sitting ducks if the ETE decides to attack from the south, so Ryaan has promised to send in what aid he can. So, it’s just another day in war politics, I suppose.
We decided to stop by Pendel Town on our way north. Thankfully, the warzone hasn’t reached this area yet. Even still, the plaza is far more vacant than it was… nearly a month ago at this point. Caper wasn’t there either, not that I was expecting her to hang around. Nobody was in a particularly good mood; Koal was fuming, Deneb seemed continually worried about our upcoming demon encounter, and Ryaan was just… kinda sad. I myself had a chance to speak with Beatrice again, and unfortunately her friend Emerine is working with the ETE, who have promised to resurrect her former lover for her compliance. The ETE are notorious liars so I already know that’s not true, but I’m dumb idiot and I was stupidly noncommittal when I tried to speak with her, so she left in a huff. So that’s two days in a row of pissing people off, and I didn’t even have to break a priceless artifact this time! Good going, me.
I looked for the rest of my companions to discuss dinner for the night when I arrived at Ryaan’s house, or manner, or whatever it is. It had been the site of a small, one-person rampage, which may have continued if Deneb hadn’t intervened. Koal’s attitude and Ryaan’s general gloominess weren’t doing either of them any good, but when it came down to an actual confrontation they managed to talk to one another and come to an understanding. Both of them still seem uneasy, as one would expect, but I’m glad some of us are actually good at talking.