View source for Session 40

== Factsheet: Reprise “give people a second chance” ==
'''Players present:''' Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.

'''Date:''' 27-03-2024

'''Date in-universe:''' Thursday, in the middle of the afternoon, in the fall 

'''Major developments'''

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'''Previously:''' [[Session 39|session 39 The deal of a lifetime!]] 

'''Up next:''' [[session 41]]

== Notes ==
As soon as we hear that Mi’Kal is in the inn, Ophelia rushes to put Virgil’s totem away & finish getting ready: 

* she’s fluffing up her hair and putting on the Springcrest crown 
* she’s smoothing down her new clothes & checking how well they flare out as she twirls 
* she’s adding some last-minute minor illusions wherever needed, a little blush here, some extra sparkle there 

Ezra and Storm use a lot of prestidigitation. Ezra looks stylish in their silk coat & even manages to make their satchels and backpack with their equipment look elegant. El checks their mask is secure before going out into the sun. Hali takes Aqueel to the childcare corner Wendy offers. The kid is a bit sleepy, so we figure letting him have a grilled cheese and a juice box, followed by a nap, is best. He speaks enough common now to play with the other kids Wendy caters to, both local and from other travellers. 

As we come down, we see Mi'Kal in his very clean, traditional clothes. It’s probably an outfit his mom kept ready for him in his childhood bedroom. We also spot Simeon in the tap room, looking a little cleaner, with at least a proper patch over his wounded eye. It looks like he was just talking to Wendy. With a quick glance at both men, Ophelia starts strutting like a supermodel, chin up, chest out, booty popped! People turn their head & Mi'kal blushes furiously. As Mi'Kal compliments Ophelia, Simeon pointedly tries to ignore her. 

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Head awkwardly twisted away from Ophelia, Simeon slinks over to Hali to ask for her help: he's looking for some singer Garald Mountainverse to deliver a message for his new patron, guild master Troien Rilke. He's checked at the dwarven eatery The Spoon & Fork, but this guy Garald doesn't have a room there, and his goat is nowhere to be found either. With Ezra sweating bullets next to her, Hali convinces Simeon to share the message: Rilke is looking for the dwarf Flint, a foreman in the dwarven mine. According to Rilke’s information, he leads the team on which Grewishka also worked… If Garald were to invite Flint to his performance, Flint might come to the surface where it would be easier for the guild to interview or interrogate him. 

Hali promises she’ll pass on the message if she should run into a short, hairy bard with a beard and a goat. 

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Meanwhile, Mi'Kal asks Ophelia if Simeon is a friend of ours? His mother had told him about a shady character loitering around town and trying to make suspect purchases in any and all respectable stores. With a tinkling giggle, Ophelia reassures him that we’ve never seen “that weirdo with his freaky eye patch” before. 

With a quick nod, Mi’Kal starts leading us to Sastruga's house, chatting how long it’s been since he walked these streets, and how much he appreciates that the Eladrin cultural leader offered his home for Mi’Kal’s welcome-home party. When Ophelia notices how hard Mi'Kal is trying not to stare, she asks if he'd like to escort her & hold her arm. With a renewed blush, Mi'Kal complies. 

As they walk, a relaxed conversation ensues: 

* Mi’Kal: are you still sure we shouldn't say anything about the various secrets? 
* Ophelia: oh, do you mean the thing with the weavers’ circle of trust and the cultus of the scissors? Or all the hidden magic we made at Koh’Shar despite the council’s edit? Or would you like me to come out during the meal as the real Fyllion? Would you like that, Mi’Kal?  
* M: my mom certainly likes that I know a girl like you
* O: she was very hospitable, but Sastruga seemed a bit weird… 
* M: you know he's 100s of years old, he must have a different understanding of the history and politics 
* O: he wasn't impressed, I’m surprised he offered his home 
* M: oh
* O: so, let's keep it subtle, I think that’s wisest, wouldn't you say? 

The others give a bombastic side-eye behind Ophelia’s back. 

Ophelia plucks the small handful of white goodberries from her crown & transforms them into a pretty little passel of beautiful flowers for the hosts. As we approach Sastruga's cottage, we take note of Mi'Kal's colouring & the flowers in his wreath. It looks like he's on the edge between summer & fall. It’s rather different from his parents who display solidly wintery colours, and from Sastruga and Loh’sa. 

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Before we can even knock, Loh'sa opens the door & welcomes us into their home. 

At Loh'sa's delicate gesture we put our bigger weapons in the hat stand, but most of us discreetly keep some weapons close at hand. El takes off their mask once inside. They keep it on their person.

Sastruga takes the lead in starting off small talk: 

* Hali and Ophelia chat to Sastruga about the different instruments they play, incl the new lyre Ophelia purchased from Sastruga
* Pandolf greets us too and lets us know that Lucerne is having a bit of a headache so she can't attend. El offers their healing skills, but Lucerne is resting right now, so maybe later. Ophelia wonders if Mi'Kal isn’t too disappointed? 
* Ezra mentions the flying carpet Mi'Kal made for us: it's so polite, and though only big enough for one person, it's been useful so far, even in combat! The Vale inhabitants are kind of stunned that we use that family transportation device for battle! Storm uses the opportunity to enquire if Mi'Kal's still willing to help Maya Ghorann, with broad hints that her commission of a bag of holding is for us. He sputters that he came home to see his family, as a pause in his century-long internship. Before Storm can be more explicit, Ophelia butts in to tut-tut that Mi’Kal doesn't want to talk about work on his welcome-home party, so Storm lets the subject go. 

When we hear that Sastruga had an equally long internship as basically all Eladrin do, and that’s where he met Loh’sa, actually, we clamour to hear more. Sastruga is all too happy to show off an old painting depicting their adventures. We don’t quite know what to say when he shows us a grandiose picture where Sastruga is sat astride a reindeer, with a swooning Loh’sa clinging to his shoulders. Sastruga is caught in an expansive gesture, creating an effect like an aurora borealis across the sky. 

.

We’re surprised to see Lucerne enter. She’s very prim and proper in neat clothes, panting that she feels fine now. She eagerly announces she brought an aperitif, a fine Fey wild wine! Mi'Kal is worried, what about her headache? And he brought a desert champagne for the aperitif. Lucerne waves that away, it hasn't had a chance to breathe. 

While most of us wonder why a champagne would have to breathe, Hali and Ophelia notice there's some tension between Lucerne and Mi’Kal, but she seems hale enough, just a little flustered that she's late. Ophelia gives her a welcoming hug, and Lucerne is pretty moved. Ophelia gives her bardic inspiration. Lucerne also compliments the others, esp. Ezra's coat! Ezra obligingly twirls when Lucerne asks. 

Without further delay, Lucerne pours her spiced wine for everyone. It's a dark and plummy drink, more fitted to a winter night than a fall afternoon. Ophelia is rather moved: as far as she remembers, this is her first exposure to Fey wild wine. We toast and it's a lovely drink. She offers us a bottle for the road, they always bring several when they visit the Midwinter Lands. It'll be a lovely token to remember this wonderful afternoon. 

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Pandolf ushers Lucerne into the kitchen for a private word, he's kind of worried about her effusive behaviour. Politely, none of us decide to listen in. 

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At Loh’sa’s invitation, we take our seats at the table (see IMAGES for the places we chose). Mi'Kal whispers to Ophelia that he's sorry for his ever-eager mother, he'll keep an eye on her. Ophelia reassures him it's no problem & we'll help if need be. 

Sastruga wants to know how we all met & how we met Mi'Kal. Storm and Sastruga convince Ophelia to sing some autobiographical songs, although Ophelia reads a wordless warning in Sastruga’s eyes that she mustn't repeat her trick from the performance where she tried enthralling several listeners. 

Sastruga offers his centuries-old personal lute. Hali makes a sweet joke about the bagpipes & gives Ophelia guidance. Ophelia decides to play “Fire and Fiends”: it's a folky storytelling song with quite a lot of details about our fight with the devil. It’s an entirely lovely performance, but Ophelia clearly isn’t in top form. While everyone applauds politely, Lucerne clutches her pearls over the brutality described in the really unsubtle song. Ophelia hurries to explain it’s just a metaphor she developed after seeing two desert mice fight. Mi'Kal is a bit confused, he wasn't aware of all these details. Was that what happened? Did he miss something? Is he really in the circle of trust? Or is it really a mouse-metaphor? 

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We keep chatting. Sastruga asks about our plans & when we're leaving. Ezra mentions we're bound to leave within the week, and Storm mentions that the Surya will leave on Sunday (as a reminder that we’re on a deadline to resolve the situations with Aqueel and with the werewolf). 

We talk a little about the various ways we’re connected to Rosaria & the Rosarian military in particular, but we manage to give mostly bland answers which seem to satisfy Sastruga’s curiosity, such as it is. 

Sastruga seems more interested in how we met: Ezra explains we met on the road. Sastruga asks if that means we're Ophelia's bodyguards. We have no other choice but to nod. As Pandolf and Sastruga dig into the details, esp. the financial part, Storm cheekily mentions Hali's loans to Ophelia, but with a lot of style, Ophelia pulls it off that art doesn’t combine well with maths, while Hali graciously adds that she’s fully convinced Ophelia will settle the debt with no problem. Picking up the thread that money isn’t all that matters, El shares with us that they spent the last few years of their childhood in an orphanage (or at least hanging out with the kids in the orphanage), and that they’re still in touch with the people there. El sends a donation to Thalm Sashari, whenever they can. Since it’s been a while, they’re relieved to hear Ophelia’s generosity confirmed, and Hali’s faith in our fortunes working out sooner rather than later. Tremulously, Lucerne insists on donating, despite our crew demurring & despite Pandolf and Sastruga’s hidden unease at her insistence. In the end, El accepts. 

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Loh'sa serves the food: the different sharing platters are very elven with foams, tiny skewers, delicate demi-glace sauces, delicately carved and sliced vegetables… It's very winter focused, but quite delicious. With a closed-lipped smile, Loh'sa accepts Ezra's complimentary comparison to the five-star buffet they once frequented. Loh’sa raises a delicate eyebrow: did the 5 stars mean that the buffet was dedicated to Lunaire? He’s surprised by that connotation, because he thought he’d picked up on the swirl of Clíodhna’s energies and Taurillon’s gift (Baaloo) around our intrepid young captain. Ezra, ever the worldly traveller and storyteller, doesn’t hesitate to explain that it’s actually a cartwheel maker who writes and distributes some sort of restaurant guide. It’s a bit garbled and confused: why doesn’t a cartwheel maker use wheels in his ratings? Or would that confuse people with distance to the restaurant? Oh, and yes, of course it couldn’t be a food item, that would give the impression that the restaurant only serves, like, bananas or pizza pies, right? With a cheeky wink to Mi’Kal, Ophelia adds that the judges have to be discreet, even secretive, about their work: they operate within the circle of trust, which is obviously round like a cartwheel! 

With an awkward smile, Ezra changes the subject by turning to Lucerne to compliment her mushroom dish, supported by Storm’s eager hamster cheeks. Lucerne titters (shrill as glass) that the secret is the crispy sage fried in brown butter. Sastruga immediately jumps in that sage is the mark of his dearly beloved Clíodhna, no wonder we all adore this dish. 

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Sastruga gushes about some of his adventures with his husband: some paint him as a dashing adventurer, some detail quite romantic moments with Loh’sa, like that time they had to hide under a frozen waterfall, and he lit a fairy fire which refracted in all the icicles… 

While listening, Ophelia makes a point of touching Mi'Kal's shoulder whenever she laughs. We notice how Lucerne gleams at her husband across the table: aren't they cute together? Ophelia picks up on a nervous undercurrent in Lucerne's behaviour, but it's unclear if she's just not feeling well again or if anything else is going on. 

After a while, Ophelia enquires about the restroom & Loh’sa points to the correct door. Ophelia closes the door & from her porcelain throne, she admires the decoration. Somehow Sastruga and Loh’sa have combined their favoured wintery theme with a lot of crystals and spiky plants, with a sense of comfort with a lot of candles and furs… Remembering Aqueel’s exhortation, Ophelia takes a second to wash her hands, and then lets a random copper piece tinkle. With a whisper she activates her spell “detect thoughts", right before she leaves the bathroom and returns to her place near Lucerne. Ophelia skims through Lucerne’s surface thoughts, looking for ways to help the subtly frazzled Elf.

* Lucerne (thinking): I must do something, this isn't right, we're out of time
* Ophelia (out loud): are you alright, dear Lucerne? 
* Lucerne (out loud): I might lie down after the dessert
* Lucerne (thinking): why did I say that? I can't just leave, can I? And waiting isn’t an option either. Maybe I should get them to leave 
* Ophelia (out loud): would you like to take a quick walk outside between courses? Some fresh air...? 
* Mi'Kal (out loud): mom, we could clean the dishes, have a last toast with my champagne & wrap this up? Then I can walk you home if you're not feeling well, mom
* Mi'Kal (thinking as he counts the clean glasses for the champagne): I hope she'll make it okay to the end of our luncheon 
* Pandolf (out loud): are you alright, dear? I said you don't have to be here if you don’t want to, or if you're not feeling well
* Lucerne (out loud): I'm fine, I just think we don't need another glass of alcohol, right?
* Sastruga: I for one am looking forward to this Koh'Shar champagne 

With that, Loh'sa removes the dishes & brings out champagne coupes. Mi'Kal introduces the drink: it’s more refreshing than The Vale’s typical vintages for the warmer climate, but still very elegant. 

When they're done pouring & everyone has a glass, Ophelia notices Lucerne now has an openly frantic expression on her face. Mi'Kal prepares to encourage us to drink, but Lucerne pops up and insists she can make a toast, to mixed results: 

* Ophelia tries to figure out how she’ll get out of drinking in case it’s poison
* El tries to figure out how they’ll shove yet another alcoholic drink off onto Ophelia, in case she’s too distracted with whatever she’s got going on
* Ezra tries to signal to Baaloo that the snake should be ready to catch Lucerne, in case she becomes so unwell she faints
* Storm tries to fill the weird silence by babbling about the way wines aren’t traditionally considered vegan because next to the substantial amount of bugs that some vintners just crush along with the grapes, several of the more alchemical processes like filtering and clarifying rely on animal products like egg whites or cow bile
* Hali maintains a polite smile and is just glad that Aqueel isn’t here to see all this social ineptitude 
* Mi’Kal seems a little frustrated at his mother’s running roughshod over his contribution 
* Loh’sa and Pandolf exchange a loaded look 
* Sastruga tries to stare Lucerne down. 

It’s all to no avail & Lucerne proceeds with her toast: <blockquote>Let’s raise our glass to thank our lovely hosts for their hospitality, to thank our lovely guests for their company, and to thank our guest of honour for his return: here’s to Fyllion Springcrest! </blockquote>We gawp at Lucerne; how did she know?! The Eladrin snarl at her: this is ridiculous, did she really have to do this, and did it really have to be so dramatic? Mi’Kal pouts at her: why did he try so hard uphold this charade if everyone already knows? And why did his parents doubt that he really knew an Arch Fey if they’re going to make such a fuss at the end of the meal? 

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With a demure gesture (for once) Ophelia changes into Fyllion. The laurel-and-cornflower crown looks entirely at home on his head, and Ophelia’s dress still hangs elegantly on his frame (that was 50 gold well-spent, those boutique ladies knew what they were doing). 

* Fyllion: if everyone knows, what is there to be nervous about? No need to scream and shout 
* Lucerne: I’m nervous, frantic, no, frenzied because what we’re doing to my boy’s friend is wrong! Don’t drink that champagne 
* Hali (dipping a finger into her glass to extract and taste a tiny sample): ah, yes, with my proficiency in alcohol and alchemy, I think I detect a paralytic poison. Aconite, perhaps? 

Sastruga leans back arrogantly: “well, that cat is out of the bag. Thanks, Lucerne”. He sneers at Fyllion: 

* S: did your "friends" know, your thralls, your meat shields?
* F: we were telling the truth about meeting on the road and wanting to keep travelling together. They're not really my bodyguards and they’re certainly not my thralls. I think I may speak for everyone when I say we view each other as a family 
* General nods of agreement
* S: you expect me to believe that? Don't think I didn't notice your trick last night. It's what you've always done, gathering sycophants and thralls! And you come here, in my land, as a manipulative little runt, invading the mind of my loved ones, trying to make them adore, love and worship you. Same as ever, you foul pretender! 
* El: don’t listen to this slander, Fyllion 
* F: I lost a lot of memories, both from my past life and from this life. Freed from that baggage I think I’ve become a better person. I even ran into a <s>satyr</s> someone from my previous life who commented on how much I’ve changed, and how much purer my emotions are 
* S: why don’t we ask your sweet little changeling? Oh, you can’t because you sent them out as a decoy & they died in your place! Were they as beloved by you as your own family, or did you sing a little ditty to enthral them first?  It's what you always do! You claim our assassination attempt gave you the opportunity to learn to be a better person, yet as soon as I see you again, you're weaving your magic again, to make people love you.  How bitter the wine fate pours us all: 30 years ago, I was sent here to the mortal plane by my queen the Morrigan. I had my orders: commission the drow in The Vale for a soul cleaving blade, so we could disrupt your cycle of reincarnation and keep you trapped, deliver the blade to our assassin and kill a bunch of drow because my queen wanted to weasel out of paying for the blade!  I hated doing that, but I’m loyal to my queen, of my own volition! That’s devotion, that’s dedication! I do it, despite the soul cleaving my beloved Clíodhna was subjected to, for nothing worse than becoming the most beloved member of the Gloaming Courts! At least as a reward I’m allowed to live here in the Vale, near the road to the underworld where my Lady of the Veil dwells as a spectre 
* Storm: we know Fyllion away from all these weird court politics. Look at the burn mark in my hand - he stopped the devil from doing worse, an actual devil, from the song "Fire and Fiends". He’s our friend, and he’s trying every day to be a… well, a mostly okay person 
* F: exactly, I work hard to live a life of whimsy and chaos without unnecessary strife, be it as a pirate or as my sweet halfling persona Tommy Lutish
* Sastruga: when I saw you dare parade around town with the Springcrest crown you wore when you dared pluck the changelings out of their natural place, under the Morrigan’s heel... then I thought you were still the same old brat from 30 years ago. Yet here you are, looking and sounding so sincere... 

Sastruga sighs that he has his orders to enact the Morrigan's revenge for stealing the changelings, although Fyllion can see Sastruga doesn't want violence per se. Fyllion repeats that he lost his memories, and his change will endure even if he should recover his memories. 

Sastruga is experiencing a conundrum, and his deliberations are only further complicated when both Ezra and Loh’sa speak up: 

* Ezra: all of us have lost some memories. We decided to work together to recover those memories, together. I promise I'll kill anyone at this table who becomes a sociopath, with or without their memories, of the level you’re describing, Sastruga 
* Loh'sa: half of my heart, it’s clear that they voluntarily joined that Lunaire-damned angel. They basically killed that part of yourself to forget it. doesn't that mean that the Fyllion who transgressed against the queen is already gone. 

Sastruga makes up his mind. He won’t attack us, he won’t try to kill us, he’ll let us go with one final warning for Fyllion: “not having your memories has made you naive about who you were. I should encourage you to find out about the arrogant and self-important, deceptive and manipulative person you were before you recover and re-integrate these memories. Let it strengthen your resolve to be a better person & don't use your magic to force people to love you, just be lovable”. 

With those words, he grabs his champagne coupe, sarcastically toast to the hope that his queen the Morrigan will accept his explanation of Fyllion being changed and no longer being the person on whose head she put a price above rubies. 

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With the tension broken, we drop back into our chairs. 

Storm and Ezra wonder about Sastruga's holier-than-thou attitude about despising Fyllion for being a sociopath yet being loyal to the Morrigan who gives psychopathic orders. Lucerne tuts once again that her sweet Mi'Kal wouldn't be friends with someone as bad as the original Springcrest prince. 

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As everyone tries to gather their thoughts, we learn a few more things, mostly inadvertently: 

* Sastruga confirms that the note Poinsettia brought him (in [[session 35]]) contained a renewal of his orders to help kill Fyllion, since the job from 30 years ago wasn’t finished: the Morrigan mentions that Fyllion was alive and had the audacity to show up in her court, right before the Grove’s portal between realms closed all those months ago (this lines up with the memory Lusídhe shared with Fyllion in [[session 31]]). Now the portal is open again, the queen’s undoubtedly re-establishing all her connections, just like she did with Sastruga.
* Storm asks after the changeling who was killed by the soul cleaving blade. Sastruga is pretty nonchalant about the way the stabbing revealed that the victim wasn’t Fyllion, it looks like they don’t even know what such a blade would do to a non-(Arch)-Fey person in the afterlife  
* Ezra and Fyllion try to ask after Viola: with Baaloo’s help they make a sand portrait of the half-elf, but Sastruga merely shrugs that he doesn’t know Fyllion’s allies. Obviously, this also stalls any questions Fyllion might have about his satyr friends, Cedar and Ifykon 

With a world-weary sigh, Sastruga cautions us that we should keep our private life more private. He points out that just from our blabbing he’s already gleaned a lot of info: 

* Fyllion Springcrest travels with an incongruous group, consisting of such exotic and remarkable members as a tiger shifter with a flying carpet, a water genasi who looks sweaty and/or moist even in the desert, a half-elf cosplaying as the love child of super Mario and Lunaire angel and a polecat in yoga pants 
* Fyllion Springcrest has an established alter-ego; the lute-playing halfling Tommy Lutish 
* When Fyllion Springcrest creates half-elven secret identities like Ophelia Summersong, he doesn’t bother to hide stuff like his instantly recognizable flower crown 
* Fyllion Springcrest isn’t shy about creating other personas, even stooping as low as pretending to be some short hairy dwarf with a ridiculous name like Garald Mountainverse… 

With his “you do realize I’ll have to tell my queen about all of this, right?”, we decide discretion is the better part of valour – let’s just let music do the talking. 

.

As they'd agreed before, Fyllion and Sastruga play together: a sweetly melancholy tune on Fyllion's new lyre "Dawnless" and Sastruga's centuries-old violin "Aurora". 

In a quiet aside to Ezra, Loh’sa repeats Sastruga’s oblique warnings: we should head north sooner rather than later. After all, the southern part of the Spine corresponds to the Winter zone in the Fey Wild, not exactly the place where we want to be. Perhaps we could gamble on the drow? On the one hand, they might still be furious over the theft of the soul cleaving blade and the murder of several drow, including the smith’s partner who shielded the smith with their body & any reminder might trigger their bloodlust. On the other hand, who knows, perhaps their policy runs more along the lines of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and they’ll let us use their teleportation circle after all (see [[session 37]]). 

Hali talks to Lucerne about the recipes she asked Maya for. Lucerne is eager to share that she knows how to make healing potions, pemmican and salves, how to extract acid from plants, how to mix up alchemist fire, how to make smoke bombs. With a pleased smile, Lucerne promises she’ll send over some recipes before we leave, but first Hali must promise she doesn’t have any plans a good girl like her shouldn’t have. 

The music seems to render Mi'Kal despondent, after all, his welcome-home party turned into a complete circus. When the jamming session has come to an end, he indicates that he'd like to talk to Fyllion in private, perhaps on the walk back to the Iron Oar Inn? 

Before we leave, Sastruga thanks Fyllion for the music: “your musical sensibilities confirm your new perspective on life, so you don't have to worry about us for the rest of your stay in The Vale. Just promise you'll keep bettering yourself”. Fyllion agrees once again he doesn't like the person he used to be, and he wants to be better. 

Pandolf suggests that for the sake of safety and discretion, it's probably better that Fyllion turns back into Ophelia. Fyllion doesn't really care: subtlety isn't his thing & being loved in many shapes and forms is a heady feeling. Ezra sighs that they would love to be loved as purely themselves, which incites Lucerne to talk about parental love and pride in Ezra's accomplishments. Ezra thinks back to seeing their father after 10 years and muses that some progress is better than none, but 3 steps in 10 years isn't exactly reason to roll out the red carpet for the parent of the century awards, you know?  

Strolling over to Mi’Kal, Ezra mentions that the bag of holding Maya Ghorann is working on as Storm hinted, is intended for us. It’s the key McGuffin for a prank we’re planning, so if he should find some time in the next few days, we'd be super grateful, but only if he has some time to spare! 

While Fyllion’s transforming into Ophelia, (s)he mentions to Mi'Kal that we do know Simeon, for the sake of transparency. It’s a little weird to her the voice modulations change as Fyllion transforms into Ophelia. 

We start saying our goodbyes. With the promise that Ophelia will come say goodbye, and that they'll have that extra bottle of Fey Wild Wine ready, Sastruga, Loh’sa, Pandolf and Lucerne let us go. 

.

In Mi’Kal’s company, we start the walk back to the Iron Oar Inn. 

On the walk over, Storm asks Hali about a feather ointment for Bella Swan. The Surya's commissary tried to cook her, the clinic's receptionist called she was a farm animal... Storm hopes Hali could learn to brew up something so his familiar looks more ''special'', you know, like she’s constantly “bathed in a divine sunbeam"? Perhaps a hyssop concoction could work? That plant has cleaning properties, as well as a long history of purity connotations. 

El hustles along, they’re eager to return to Madonna. Just because it’s fall and she’s not shedding because her winter coat (such as it is) is coming in, doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve a daily brushing, you know? And there’s that goat called Deception too, so of course Ezra is striding right along El. 

Meanwhile, Mi'Kal slows down & pulls Ophelia back from the rest of us for a measure of privacy. Solicitously, he asks how she’s feeling: “I didn't know this would escalate this badly, with attempted murder of you and all your friends”! Ophelia hurries to assert that she’s the one who should be concerned about how Mi’Kal is feeling. We kind of ruined his homecoming, after all, and a lot of lies were revealed… that’s something Mi'Kal didn't deserve: Ophelia underscores that Mi’Kal is our actual friend. 

After nodding his acceptance of Ophelia’s apology, Mi'Kal shyly asks for a hug. When Ophelia smiles agreeably at him, he gingerly embraces her in a tender hug. In her ear, Ophelia hears "I'm relieved Sastruga didn't have to resort to murder, but that doesn't mean I won't" as she sees Mi'Kal's face melt away into the featureless visage a shapeshifting doubleganger might show as their real face. 

Before Ophelia can react, she feels the sting of a knife sliding in her back between her shoulder blades! 

== Storyline ==
Previously: [[Session 39|session 39 The deal of a lifetime!]] 

Up next: [[session 41]]

== Images ==
[[File:Screenshot from Dins' Roll20 - inside Sastruga's cottage.png|center|thumb|Screenshot from Dins' Roll20 - inside Sastruga's cottage]]