Session 41
Fact Sheet: Do you know where Yu is?
Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM. We played a shorter session to accommodate our health.
Date: 10-04-2024
Date in-universe: still Thursday, early afternoon
Major developments
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Previously: session 40 Reprise "give people a second chance"
Up next: session 42
Notes
- Ezra heard a scuffle and a cut-off scream of pain & starts coming back
- Storm heard it too & starts hurrying back. He feels a warmth rising from the boots, like a golden glow enhancing his speed to dizzying levels. Calling out to Ophelia and Mi'Kal what’s going on, he launches Bella Swan as far as she’ll go. Her panicked fluttering and flapping indicate there’s a real problem!
- Hali calls out that Fyllion is a pain, sorry, in pain! She hurries after Storm as fast as she can
- Ophelia sees Mi'Kal's face melt away as the doppelgänger is revealed. She screams "guys, this is not Mi'Kal, I repeat, this is not Mi'Kal". She misty-steps onto the roof of the shed that kept them out of sight of the others & viciously mocks the doppelgänger "it's good your face is melting, because you're ugly". Thanks to Dins' NATURAL TWENTY, the doppelgänger shifts into Fyllion's face and with a smirk on her stolen face, she asks "what's that, boy"? Ophelia quickly scrabbles to the top of the roof & starts urgently waving to the rest of us
- El runs back as well & they can see Ophelia is on the roof. Looks like she's bleeding...?
- as the masquerade falls away, Ophelia sees the typical blobby doppelgänger face. Then it shifts into the face this doppelgänger habitually uses (see IMAGES): a very pale woman, with white pupilless eyes ringed in black, and with black lips. The pallor on her face is ever shifting. For a second, she looks surprised that her blade didn't strike true, perhaps luck is on Fyllion’s side? She snarls: “you've robbed me of a pretty ambush, so now I'll take your pretty pain when you die. Take off this face and give me a good fight”! With a flourish, she twirls her weapon again: the colourless crystalline sickle in her hand (see IMAGES) radiates a pale and sickly glow, it seems to cut the air itself! She climbs onto the shed as well & swings her soulcleaver at Ophelia! It hits, but only for a NATURAL ONE of damage. The wound feels icy cold, and Ophelia's skin turns white around it. As Ophelia mocks "you’re still not hitting true", the doppelgänger takes partial cover
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- Ezra hurries back as fast as they can & gets out the flying carpet to get closer
- Storm leaps onto the roof. Upon seeing the stranger, he tries to shove her off the roof with a brutal kick à la THIS IS SPARTA. It doesn't work, but when Ophelia confirms she's in danger of getting murdered, Storm roars out to everyone that they need to hurry up
- Hali warns us to keep a little bit away & with her fingers crossed Storm was right about his familiar being comparable to Brighty the land shark, she activates her moonbeam. Hali hurries closer while yelling out instructions to keep the doppelgänger in place
- with bleeding hands, Ophelia picks a tune on her lute to cast hold person. She notices that her Arch Fey magic somehow doesn't seem to have an effect. She gets out a healing salve and starts applying it in a hurry, although it clearly doesn't work as fast as a potion!
- El chooses a new position to get a better line of sight & throws 2 El(drin)'s blasts in quick succession. They call out to Ophelia: “I see your blood on your lips, I see your blood on your hands, please refrain from biting the sands”
- The doppelgänger grits her teeth fiercely from the hits and the moonbeam: she melts slightly into the shapeless, mouthless blob & tries to keep focus on Ophelia. Her sickle slices again, and she causes Ophelia to fall unconscious (with a NATURAL FOUR for damage). Storm sees how the blade sucks a wispy strand of energy out of Ophelia’s body! Next the doppelgänger tries to shove Storm off the roof but Storm resists (with a NATURAL TWENTY). Before fleeing, the doppelgänger leans over Ophelia’s groaning form and spits in her face: “I can't let this blade fall into your hands, but I have proven what I wanted, namely that you're never safe”. With those words, she pulls a tiny vial from somewhere and as soon as the content touches her lips, she turns invisible
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- Ezra comes closer
- flustered and worried, Storm falls on his knees next to Ophelia & applies a strong pressure to her wound. The contrast between Ophelia’s hot and sticky blood and the cold wound freaks him out further, so much so that he barely notices that Bella Swan disappears, even though the moonbeam also dissipates…
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Hali cures Ophelia from a distance, and as soon as she’s a bit more stable & the others have arrived, Storm hands her down. As she sits on the ground to catch her breath, El cures Ophelia as well. Ophelia is glad to be healed & El remarks she should thank Soliman. Ophelia wants to protest that she doesn't want to thank (another) god... but refrains.
Shaken by this sudden fight, we try to collect our thoughts about what happened:
- a doppelgänger is a shapeshifter, it's probably the Morrigan's favourite assassin who also killed Fyllion 30 years ago
- the real Mi'Kal is probably still making his way from Koh'Shar to The Vale through the Wild Forest around The Grove
- that soulcleaver is a formidable weapon – two good hits would have taken out Ophelia and a coup de grâce would have cleaved Fyllion’s soul from his body, stopping him from reincarnating ever again
As we ponder those implications, Storm uses prestidigitation to remove the blood from Ophelia's dress, inspiring Hali to use mending to repair it impeccably. This quiet show of support and care helps Ophelia calm down. Storm asks if there's a way to identify doppelgängers.
- Lutiel told us salt doesn't work. Only El appears eager to try-a alla the ‘erbs-e, like pepper and oregano, and basil!
- a password won't work because anyone with detect thoughts can read it from our minds
- we could show our magic items or special skills or hidden scars on demand, that’s not something a spy or assassin could just randomly copy
- we should take care to never split off alone so no one can secretly be replaced by a doppelgänger without someone else from our crew noticing
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When Storm and Ophelia stammer at the same time “Sa-Sa-Sastruga and the others” with a shared look of dawning realization, we quickly decide to head back to Sastruga's to warn them. When we arrive, our four hosts are still chatting on the porch. Ophelia quickly explains what happens & distils what’s essential for them:
- Mi'Kal isn't here yet
- the Gloaming Court's assassin was present when Sastruga committed treason by putting his own judgement above his queen’s orders and betrayed his being especially partial to Clíodhna, still, after all this time.
They pale in horror: Sastruga knew it was a doppelgänger and informed the others. The choice seemed obvious: Mi'Kal couldn't travel here this quickly and going through with the celebration Lucerne had already invited us to, seemed the easiest way to allow the agent of the Gloaming Court to administer the poison she’d brought. Sastruga directly defied his orders, so hopefully he's the only one in trouble. We overhear a whimpered whisper from Loh’sa, expressing his hope that the assassin will be too busy fighting us, or even better chasing us, to really pay attention to his beloved husband.
While holding Loh’sa’s hand for comfort and support, Sastruga sighs:
- The doppelgänger is called Yu, and as a symbol of her loyalty and dedication, she’s got a crow's skull tattooed on her forehead
- The soulcleaver has been entrusted to her, she’ll be very protective of that weapon
- We should avoid crowds where she can easily shift from one face to another and it’ll be too hard to track her, but we should also make sure we’re never alone, because that’s her preferred ambush set-up. In short, we should stay around people who're likely to help us
- We should shield our mind as best we can (either magically or alchemically)
Sastruga will try to sniff Yu out but can't promise anything.
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We’re a bit at a loss what our next step should be. Flee The Vale as fast as possible, in the hopes that the assassin isn’t gifted at tracking & doesn’t have back-up? Set a trap?
El adds their suggestion: we find a spell to make Ophelia look dead & hold a burial. Then Fyllion can transform into someone else as we travel on & hopefully the trail goes cold. Storm points out that the assassin is bound to check on the remaining crew, and will certainly investigate this random new friend travelling with us, who also happens to sing, the exact same repertoire to boot. Ophelia dramatically sighs "if I can't sing, just kill me now". El draws their sword. Ophelia screeches she was joking, and El smirks back that so was he, can't half an elf have a sense of humour around all you sarcastic geniuses? Ezra shakes their head: imposing a music-free disguise on Fyllion is like cutting off a fish’s fins.
Sastruga has a warm look in his eyes: he feels validated in his choice to back Fyllion.
Lucerne is still grumbling: she can probably help us with a potion, but she only has one question, namely that we don't involve her boy any further. Ophelia’s eyes flit around the room in meaningful eye contact and soon enough, she nods our agreement to Lucerne. With silent regret, Storm prepares to abandon the bag of holding, but Mi’Kal’s life is of course invaluable compared to such an item and a random prank on Jacob Saree.
Hali and Ophelia brainstorm: tomorrow Hali could use her spell "locate object" to track the soulcleaver.
Storm insists we start walking away from Sastruga's cottage, so they're not aware of our plans & can't be forced to reveal anything.
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Before we leave, Ophelia has one last question for Sastruga. She’s visibly a little embarrassed, so Sastruga takes her a few steps into his cottage to give a bit of distance from the others.
O: I am under the impression that we elves don't have to sleep, we just meditate?
S: we arch fey don't sleep at all.
O: I sleep 8 hours a night?!
S: have you gone native? This is most peculiar, but I wouldn't experiment with fatigue right now. You’ve got trouble enough, don’t you think?
Sastruga is explaining that 30 years ago, the assassin killed someone else with the soulcleaver, and theorizing that perhaps something else happened to the real Fyllion, causing him to forget the 300 years of his first life… that could be related to this sleep issue too, or maybe that satyr Ophelia mentioned taught him this filthy habit… Meanwhile Ophelia is struggling with her contrarian nature – maybe stopping her sleep is just what she needs right now to stop this assassin? Or should she heed Sastruga's words of wisdom?
Ophelia tunes back into Sastruga’s words when she hears him say: “have you ever been able to shift into your true form”? Ophelia shifts into Fyllion, does Sastruga mean this form? Turns out no, Sastruga is talking about Fyllion’s true Arch Fey form. He’s guessing Fyllion don't know.
Sastruga leads Ophelia deeper into his home & reveals a hidden room. Inside there are some supplies, several bookshelves, an easel and a chest. Inside the chest lies a tall, sculpted idol: a strange female figure with elongated limbs and antlers growing from her head, she has insect-like wings & very long elf-ears, as well as very long hair. It's Clíodhna's true form whom Sastruga worshipped before she was killed on the Morrigan's orders.
Ophelia calls the others over, with Sastruga's permission, while Sastruga scuttles over to the easel to quickly cover the sketch he’d started there – from the corner of her eyes Ophelia can just glimpse Loh’sa posing like a French girl before the cover comes down.
Waiting for the others to arrive, Ophelia concentrates very deeply and tries to call forth this inner truth about her true form. She just looks constipated. Sastruga comforts her that northern Eladrin will probably have an idol or a painting or at the very least a description. He's pleased that Ophelia is ready to start from humble beginnings, but can she please stop straining like that before she poops her pants?
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After we take in this new information, we leave to make our plans in privacy, and to check on Aqueel as soon as possible.
On the walk back to the inn, we pass by an armoury shop. Since the danger has increased, and since El has decided to dedicate themselves fully to Lunaire’s crusade, we get El some chain mail. Storm enquires about armour for a swan, and the snooty guy unbends to reveal he has a capsule collection of hamster armour, but that’s for his own pet.
We also make a stop at Maya's to put a rush on Hali's herbalist book. She's been gathering recipes, so she'll have it ready tomorrow, no extra charge needed.
As we exit the shops to continue to the inn, Ophelia mentions she wants to meet up with Simeon, to apologize. She adds that she didn't want to just sneak off. Ezra's lips twitch both with pleasure and with the reflex to tease Ophelia, but they restrain themselves. Storm grips Ophelia's shoulder to shake her gently for her character growth. Ophelia puts up her fists and we execute our first anti-doppelgänger test: Storm uses the divine sandals to leap 5 meters into the air. When he lands, Ophelia grins in delight & they hug.
Meanwhile, Hali pins a black pawn of the tiny chess pieces & asks it to use its blindsight to check if there are any invisible entities within 60 feet.
Ophelia's surface thoughts flit from Aqueel to Fyllion's mysterious true form. Would there be someone listening in?
Her thoughts are interrupted when the tiny pawn squeaks out “hey boss, there’s no one invisible around”.
In a funny echo, we hear Kekoa say “hey girl, glad to see you around”. He reports that the ship he was telling Hali about, has pulled into the harbour. They’re a little later than Kekoa expected, but that was because there was a huge Rosarian delegation, making a big deal of this prisoner they want to take off one ship and put onto another ship…
K: I was planning to check it out. We can go together, that could be a thing, us going to look at the dog and pony show, or you know, just us walking together across the bridge.
H: I don't really hang with criminals, so I don’t think I want to go see that dangerous guy
K: well, you could always just look
at meH (interrupting before Kekoa can shoot his shot): say, do you draw? Could you make a drawing of the guy I don’t want to go see? Or wait, is that weird? I don’t know yet, I’ll let you know, but do you draw?
K: erm, no not really, sorry
Storyline
Previously: session 40 Reprise "give people a second chance"
Up next: session 42
