Session 11

October 28th

As they make their way back through town, V tells Ophelia he wants to go to the house of healing himself. Once again, she’s not thrilled, but understands his reasoning. They catch up with Eden, both exchanging what they learned. Despite her hesitance Ophelia insists on going with the two of them, explaining her concern that maybe the monk in question wants to institutionalize V rather than answer their questions. Eden assures he considers that and thinks it won’t be an issue.

As they approach, V pauses before the gate and mimics taking a deep breath.

Durz is still sitting on the same bunch, now with his legs folded beneath him. He seems unfocused, but comes back to attention when he sees the party, and even greets V in Elvish. As V returns the greeting Ophelia asks Eden if he and Durz are related, which earns a small smile from the cleric as he says no. He tells her and V that Durz is the elf he met prior.

V asks who Durz is and he calls himself a man lost to his own wishes, and goes on to chide V gently for asking him such vague questions. He explains more clearly that he just wanted to speak with V as he doesn’t see any kin often, and finds their appearance in town curious. At one point Durz smiles with his sharp teeth showing, and when V asks why he calls them a gift he was permitted to teeth. Ophelia mutters to V telling him to maybe back up, which Durz hears.

He turns his attention to Ophelia and asks her how she got here. “I walked,” she replies. It earns a single bark of laughter from the elf. The conversation tapers off from there, and Durz bids them goodbye. He does watch them as they go inside, however, making Ophelia that much more unsettled.

They go inside and greet the same dwarf woman who had been there earlier, who seems mildly surprised to see Eden again. She calls for a gnome named Kallaren to fetch Monulf and tell him of Eden’s arrival. As they wait for Monulf, the receptionist asks for their names. Monulf is a human man in his late 30s, pale skin, receding slicked back hair.

The vibe seems to be surprise at Edens return, especially with the party.

Monulf beckons them back to his office. From his tone Eden and Ophelia can tell he’s surprised V is actually a real person, and standing in front of him. He asks V to repeat what he saw, and after grilling him for a bit relents. There’s apparently a celestial creature he knows of with similar attributes, but doubts it would be residing in the head of an animal. He asks if the party knows of Zabriel, the archangel of truth and the former servant of the god of knowledge, Typharia, which Eden recalls. According to Monulf she routinely sends other seraphs out to seek and document truth.

When asked if there is anything else they wanted to discuss, V asks where he might go for healing of the body. After some unhelpful back and forth, Monulf says as politely as possible that he can’t help V if he won’t actually say what’s wrong with him, but wishes them luck.

Eden finally asks about the quartz palace at the top of town, and he tells Eden that it’s occupied by zealots who still believe in the gods. Furthermore, he strongly recommends against visiting. It was once a temple dedicated to Galt, the deceased god of order.

depart after that and head to the common room, and suddenly they hear horses bellowing. There’s a man in the common room doubled over, clutching his head, screaming at everyone to get away from him, that he can’t control himself. Someone throws something at the screaming man's head and several workers come over to try to deescalate the situation.

Durz is standing near the front of the common room, and as they pass V asks him in sylven what he knows of the undead. Durz replies, only how to kill them. V puts a hand on his shoulder and asks what of the kind who don’t need to be killed, but Durz grabs his forearm and assures there is no such thing. He goes on that he doesn’t know what V is, but he can smell the rot on him. V asks if there is anyone he can seek out, and Durz tells him to go to the Black Stag to ask for Iban. He also warns V to be careful leaving the city, but can’t say who or what exactly to be wary of. Only that they can tell he is corrupted.

V bids him goodbye, Eden does likewise in elvish, and the party begins walking back to the inn.

October 29th

Above Della is a scraggly dwarf with wild hair, looking down at them with contempt. Della is obviously confused, but more than worrying about being bound they immediately apologize if they hurt anyone. The man scoffs. He says they didn’t hurt anyone too bad, but it doesn’t matter, confusing Della.

After a moment they ask if he would tell them where they are, and how they got there, to which the dwarf says he dragged them down there. Della tries asking more questions, promising they won’t try to leave if it’s safe for them to be here, but they could leave if they wanted. The dwarf scoffs again and assures them they won’t.

Another person walks into their view, an equally unkempt human who asks the dwarf why they’re letting Della live. They ignore Della and talk amongst themselves about getting information out of them rather than killing them outright. Della tries piping up that they may know something! But the human snaps that they don’t remember anything, they doubt Della has any idea what’s going on, and they seem like just a poor unfortunate soul. They crouch in front of Della and carry on asking what Della is, which they admit not knowing how to answer that.

The human sighs, and rephrases, asking if Della knows who bit them, or if their curse was self-inflicted. Della admits to not knowing, and tells them they did tie themselves up prior to turning. Taking this in stride, the human explains that they reek with the scent of the beast, moreso when they turned, and that was how “they” found them.

At that point the human turns to the dwarf, addressing them as Adrem, and says talking to Della is proving a waste of time as they don’t know anything. Ardem calls it a damn shame and goes to leave, but Della tries to pipe up asking if it would make any difference if they were useful. Ardem says no, and continues walking. The human remains talking to Della, and the topic of their party comes up, he tries to ask their names but they refuse. They do explain they’re out here hunting the beast and their help could be useful. He asks why they’re looking into the beast when it’s right there in front of him, asking if it’s a matter of revenge or what.

Della tries to reason with the man and explain why they’re looking for the beast but he remains unconvinced. Eventually the human leaves, telling them he’ll return later if they’ve “changed their mind”, though Della is unclear what he means by that.

After a while, Della begins the very dignified process of calling out into the cave, saying they’ve changed their mind or remembered details. Finally another dwarf comes out of the darkness, not Ardem, and tells them they’re sad to look at.

They ask for their name and Della gives it, but she is much more polite and acknowledges that “the boys” can be mean. She straightforwardly asks about how much control Della has when shifted, which is nonexistent. Della tries to ask if the group of them are also like that, but she quickly corrects that they are nothing like Della. She describes the group of them as “hunters” who hunt corruption, and the beast, wherever they can.

Della tries to explain that they and their party want the same thing, they’re trying to do the same thing, but the dwarf tells them the most helpful thing they could do for the greater good right now is to die.

She tells them they are one of the most twisted living creatures she has ever seen under the light of the full moon.

hurts, but Della isn’t surprised. She promises they will wait one more night to see what happens, but it’s hard to say what will happen after that. Della says they still think they can do good, they want to find answers.

There’s more back and forth, but the dwarf remains resolute in their response.

October 28th

While eating back at the Black Stag, V wanders off to the bar to start weirdly and in a roundabout way for Iban. When he finally gives the name she asks why he’s looking for them, if that’s someone V knows, to which he gives vague answers. She drops her voice and asks who sent him. V gives a description of Durz, which makes her sigh. She tells him to give her a moment and goes back into the back of the inn for several minutes. The barkeep returns and says she can arrange a meeting with Iban, but doing so won’t be without a price.

V promises he is willing to pay whatever service requested, but doesn’t want Ophelia and Eden involved. She tells him to come back tomorrow night, two hours after sundown, and she’ll lead the way. He returns to the group then and tells them of his meeting, but that he’ll handle it by himself. They accept that, a bit warily, and with that V heads out to take a walk.

Eden and Ophelia make their way to a bathhouse in town, with Eden excited by the variety of oil and soaps that come with the small fee. They take their individual baths and reconvene in the communal bath.

October 29th

As time passes, Della begins worrying that trying to remain compliant is going to get them killed. Taking a deep breath, they close their eyes and decide to shift into a lizard. They begin their scampering up the wall and not long after hear yelling, and then howls echoing around the cave. They’re eventually able to find their way out, but all the while they hear wolves running around beneath them, searching. Unfortunately this leaves them without their supplies.

The moon hasn’t risen yet outside the cave, and without any other clue where to go, Della picks a direction and runs.