Freaks & Facades: Session Twelve

Welcome friends. Welcome once more to Freaks & Facades!

It's the Second Arc, dear readers! Finally! (Thanks to everyone for being patient for this update. We are excited to share this story once more!)

[[ Spoilers Ahead for the First Arc! If this is your first time reading our adventures, check out our Campaign Index here for all the highest highs and lowest lows! ]]

When we last left our band of beloved Freaks [at the end of our Session Eleven finale] they had just departed the northern village of Campanula with much trouble in their minds. And quite a bit of blood on their hands.

The Black Dog (malevolent huntmaster Baron Montagne) was removed from power and the Material Plane, leaving the village without its leader and tyrant. Hoping the village can now thrive without a malicious noble pulling its strings, the party traveled to the capitol of Port-a-Lucine hoping for a chance to recover, relax and find answers to their many unanswered questions. (Hopefully without danger ambushing them while their guard is down).
In this urban jungle beset by raucous parties this time of year (due to the national holiday week of Primeur taking place) can our group of Freaks take a real breather? Can they think of their future in Dementlieu and beyond? Or is danger still stalking their every move, only hidden behind lace fans and pleasant masks?

Let us dive into our Second Arc here, dear friends!

Warning: this is a horror campaign setting, so please bear that in mind before reading on. Possible triggers include: creepy cats, injuries, brief drug mention, manipulation tactics, death and cremation mentions, brief necrophilia insinuation, dead baby mentions, etc.

*starts projector*

Our band of beloved Freaks makes their way southwards, towards the beating heart of Dementlieu. Port-a-Lucine, the greatest city on the western coast of the Core, awaits them now!

They leave the uncivilized wilds for the capitol, a wilderness of an entirely new and metropolitan kind.
Are they prepared to face the dangers hiding on both sides of the drastic class divide, or do they not suspect that danger is prowling the festive celebrations of Primeur?

It takes several days through the northern countryside to get to the capitol. And during that time our party pass their time in pretty resolute silence. No one wishes to speak about that last battle; especially everyone who heard Schrödinger's threats upon the newly traumatized Lord Isaac, son of the Black Dog... Left on the side of the road holding his monster of a father's head in his arms...

Fenri is the only one who did not hear those words, thus unable to fathom the malice behind them. So when Schrödinger approaches the halfling during the travel, she is happily surprised by his gift of a semi-fresh candy, shaped like a sunflower. Though a few petals chipped off since their time together at the Chaveaux racetrack, and quite a messy misadventure in between then and now, she is truly touched by his gift.

She sees his newly dark eyes much more kindly now, believing in the human generosity beneath the morally dubious exterior.
He has no idea she did not hear him. To Schrödinger, this is a peace offering between him and her.

Solange is one of the principal people driving the main wagon's horses. In between her shifts she begins to acquaint herself with the enchanted musket of the Black Dog. Though the fear that possessed her has passed days ago, she feels the need to arm herself with her opponent's weapon.

Oddly though, despite the slow but steady approach to the capitol, Solange decides not to send her nightly message. The Order of the Moonlit Vigil will just have to wait for her return after such an adventure...

Channa has been taking time to recuperate from the battle, getting lost in their mystery novel. "Professor Fortescue and the Handmaiden's Fingernail" is getting really juicy with its mystery. They're diving into fantasy, rather than confront the realities haunting them:

The occasional taste of fetid earth in their mouth...
And an ominous silence about her earth elemental Iggy--for both have tasted blood during this fresh misadventure...

Pryrrish does not wish to dwell upon the consequences of that last adventure. For the first time, Pryrrish keeps the Tome at arm's length, distracting herself by any means necessary. Being caught vulnerable during a violent encounter has them rethinking their reliance on her dark abilities... And without the need to constantly check its swirling pages, the elf actually has the opportunity to think on the past.

Songs of Pryrrish's youth are coming to them amid the peace of the wagon ride.
Songs she was taught by someone lost to the Elemental Dark so very long ago... Who taught her the fundamentals of arcane magic, without requiring a dread patron to fuel their own power...

Fenri has taken this time to pray. To ponder her place in this new irreligious realm. A land whose darkness is banished by a bright but oddly less warm Sun than the one of the Dawnfather...

She tries to hold onto the burning passion Pelor placed within her heart, trying to hear for any sign of his fiery will inside herself...

Claudine LaFitte, injured in body but not in pride, takes her saviors to her home: the LaFitte Boarding House. A large decrepit building, practically bordering the districts of the Quartiers Marchand and Ouvrier (the Merchant's and Workman's Quarters respectively).

The party's wagon and carriage arriving in the city late at night. Our band of beloved Freaks has missed out on the first two days of nationwide partying for Primeur. Their journey has been fully occupied by everyone putting work into themselves, planning their next moves. And avoiding talking to one another...
Claudine is helped into the unkempt building by her friendly housekeeper. The boarding house has only one tenant in the attic rooms, so the rest of the party can have their pick or resting place tonight.

Everyone can see how much Claudine was pretending to be upper class when infiltrating the young lord Montagne's inner circle--all her money's gone into her elaborate attire and accessories. This place could only charitably be called a dump. Especially compared to other offerings in this modest but pleasant neighborhood.
But hey, it is real estate in the greatest city on the Core; so there is some merit behind her posturing pride.

From the street they see a light on in the attic, spilling out onto a balcony practically swarming with street cats. The solitary tenant's room perhaps?

All but a few of the rooms are habitually kept clean, the rest are messy and overtaken by cobwebs. The party suspects Claudine doesn't really know how to run this place. Everyone is suspicious of the rooms, considering the last resting house they patroned had subtle horror going on.

Schrödinger notices on the second floor of the building there's a staircase leading up. His curiosity compels him to take this path to the attic. All manner of charms and wards are placed on the sides and ceiling of this stair...
From the darkness at the top step, the Lamordian noble is surprised by a set of brilliant, glowing blue eyes! They leap out at him and in sudden fear Schrödinger falls backwards!
The rest of the party rush towards the sound. Schrödinger is not hurt too bad but his ego is bruised. Sitting on the bottom step, hissing and glowering without blinking, is a large gray striped cat.

Fenri wants to pet this blue-eyed cat but Channa recommends not. It appears to be some form of familiar, though it's intelligence seems far beyond the normal capabilities the scholar knows.

The attic door suddenly opens up, unleashing a literal tide of cats rushing down the stairs. A figure rushes down to apologize for his cat's antics, suspecting what occurred.

The attic tenant is a handsome, dark-haired young man with hazel eyes. By the gods he is a looker! Solange recognizes he is at least partial Vistani, before then recognizing this man has come down wearing nothing but a silk dressing robe. A robe that cuts off just above the knees. (Solange cannot look away!)

The man scrounges trying to gather the hissing striped cat, apologizing for Nasty Nell. She is his worst cat it seems, and her name is a polite way to warn people of her troublesome personality.
The man realizes right then he is half-naked and covers himself as best he can, apologizing more profusely now. He was asleep in bed when the commotion woke him. With a snap of his fingers the clowder of cats running about everyone's legs knows to climb back up into the attic.
He introduces himself to the party as Pitivo Kondratienko-Cazenave, but asks to be called "Moody". He can barely make polite conversation because Nasty Nell is constantly trying to escape his clutches. So the handsome man Moody bows his head politely and follows his other cats upstairs.

Solange has never seen a man in such a state of undress. He has quite a cute butt, she ponders.
Fenri really wants to pet this Nasty Nell cat, but everyone warns her that would be bad news.

Everyone breaks up for the night.

Pryrrish makes herself comfortable in an especially cobwebbed room, where she think about the journey. How during the trek she though back to a time before the Tome. When she learned music from her older brother Waylon, who practically raised her in her people's home demiplane of Sildeyuir so long ago...

There is magic in the songs of the elven people. And Pryrrish has been humming tunes she used to know lately. It has been a comforting distraction from her obsession of the Tome--which she's been neglecting as much as she mentally can.
She seems to be afraid of it in an unfamiliar way. Possibly since it affected her during that encounter with the young Lord Isaac Montagne. She gave into its dark impulses and was actually physically changed by it (her skin still feels itchy and too-tight sometimes).
Perhaps it leading her to this strange realm is what allows the book to influence her more? Does it seek to take her over?

Fenri finds herself the cleanest room in the boarding house and rests easily. She is the only member of their party who did not near Schrödinger's words to Lord Isaac. When he handed the lordling his own father's severed head...
Meanwhile, Schrödinger finds a room that will easily double as a new laboratory once he acquires the implements. He doesn't exactly sleep these days.

He oddly has no urge for it on a biological level. A progression in his osteological self-experimentation? Or a physiological consequence of killing the Black Dog dishonorably, like his newly dead black eyes?
But no, he has no moral qualms about what he's done. His parents also have similar "mutations" due to their own scientific work. So Schrödinger has almost been expecting these signs to appear. But he dislikes how dead and lifeless his eyes look now...

Channa and Solange share a double bedded room tonight. Theirs is directly below the mysterious man's attic, and the smell of his clove cigarettes perfumes the air as they drift off. Cats climb up and down a bare trellis along the drainpipe by their window.

Channa sets Iggy outside to keep watch. They aren't exactly comfortable with the new changes Iggy has been exhibiting. A kind of eerie dread and watchfulness, rather than the stoic patience of stone. Iggy is also not exactly just stone these days--their treks in Campanula appear to have added fragments of bone and bloodstained earth to their elemental body.

Iggy is becoming something new. Channa has decided to ignore that for now, just like the changes they themselves are undergoing (still tasting deep earth soil in their mouth every now and then)...
Besides, the University of Dementlieu is just a short trek from the city. According to the late Baron's testimony during his interview over tea, another person claiming to be from Eberron was last seen there. Could it be who Channa has been searching for? Whose profane ritual they performed just a few weeks prior?

Solange feels the tug of Maman on her consciousness, but doesn't wish to be alone with her personal haunting right now. Neither does she report to the Order of the Moonlight Vigil despite now being closer to Saint Leonburg's Cemetery than she's been in weeks.

Rather, she is feeling the urge to visit her parents. It's been far too long and she's forgotten how worried they must be since her disappearance...

For the first time in weeks for many of our Freaks, they rest on proper (if not super clean) beds. Meanwhile the city of Port-a-Lucine is enjoying the climactic fourth evening of Primeur. Only three more nights before the nationwide wine and harvest festival ends!

Now in the city perhaps our band of beloved Freaks can rest and enjoy the city's festive delights for themselves?

Morning comes all too soon for our band of Freaks. Luckily, the housekeeper of the LaFitte Boarding House has a fine rustic breakfast ready for her guests. And some excellent, excellent coffee; the best Channa has ever had, in fact.

The party makes small talk at the table. Vincente looks much better now that he's had proper rest. This is his first time in the capitol too, and he is quite nervous about where he will end up with Claudine's connections hiding him.
Eventually the swarm of cats from upstairs descends upon the dining room, preceding the handsome Moody. But it seems Moody lives a nocturnal schedule; he trudges into the room and the housekeeper silently hands him a single cup of coffee. He barely acknowledges the dining guests, and really has no awareness of his continued state of half-undress.
Nasty Nell eyes everyone in the dining room from the doorway, refusing to go in. Fenri is enjoying all the cats playing and rubbing against her chair. The animals avoid Schrödinger at all costs, which disheartens him.
The housekeeper jokes after Moody leaves, she's never seen him at breakfast except for coffee. He is a writer apparently and has been working even during Primeur to finish some request.

Claudine sweeps in after all the cats and Moody return upstairs. Despite her not fully recovering from her injuries, being home in the capitol has greatly improved Claudine's outlook. She is back to being her confident self, and as she sits for breakfast she talks with her guests.

Everyone who contributed to the investigation (and unintended defeat) of the Black Dog/Baron Montagne is being given a free month's rent in the boarding house. After said time Claudine will happily work out a deal with anyone who wishes to stay.
Additionally, Claudine will be leaving that afternoon to deliver the Baron's dossier of incriminating evidence. Her mysterious faction of do-gooding nobles will be grateful for it. Vincente will accompany her, since she promised he would be protected by the group. Normally it is invite only but his skills could be useful in unmasking further corruption in Dementlieu.

Mentioning she will be giving a full report, Schrödinger asks just how much she'll have to tell; inferring if Claudine needs to reveal his osteological abilities. Claudine is hesitant to give a definite answer but promises that she will only tell them as much as they need to know.
Vincente is glad there is a plan for him, but he asks that he be allowed to deliver a letter before leaving. His cousin runs a cafe in the Quartier Publique (Public/Government Quarter) called The Blooming Rose, and she should know he's okay. Fenri and the group offer to deliver the letter.

The housekeeper delivers some letters for Claudine, additionally carrying in a special flower arrangement. It's an understated terracotta pot with a mound of grasses and flowers like a country hill. The flowers are pale pink with strawberry-like centers; a native wildflower called dappelwort.

It's from Comte Dominic d'Honaire, wishing her a safe recovery in the city. Instantly everyone in our band of Freaks has their hackles up. Considering their theories about the Councilor's manipulative powers--what with what happened to Fenri and Claudine both--they dislike him keeping tabs on them.

But Claudine is delighted by the bouquet; a bit pompous really in interpreting his interest. The group decides not to tell her the full truth of the Councilor's domination of her, since she is still fragile mentally despite her confidence.

Additionally, that dappelwort flower is considered a Dementlieuse delicacy. The berry-like center contains a potent honey-like nectar that makes people mellow and rather suggestible... Great for breaking down social barriers at parties, apparently.

So what does it mean that the Comte d'Honaire sends Mademoiselle LaFitte such a flower? That she's sweet but suggestible? Something's not right here...

Ignoring the red flags about her potential new beau, Claudine recommends the group enjoy the city. Primeur only happens once a year and there's so much to do and see. According to the local gossip rag, The Robust Lover, there's plenty of exhibitions, tourneys and tourist spots to enjoy.

The University of Dementlieu is putting on a campus-wide exhibition, perhaps our scholarly Freaks can enjoy the best in the Core's art, history and philosophy?

Channa wants to go because of the rumor that another person from Eberron is attending classes there. Could it be Destir, whom they have hoped against hope to find after so many years?
Pryrrish is interested in their music programs. It's likely there will be a concert or performers at the exhibition.
Fenri wants to speak with their Theology/Divinities teachers. Perhaps someone native to this land can explain the unusual disconnect of gods and men? (It is unusual to her specifically and it's starting to bother Fenri)
And Schrödinger is eager to see what medical knowledge is being studied there (although for a public exhibition it's very unlikely there will be demonstrations of autopsies or similar procedures).

Tours throughout the city go to many famous landmarks this time of year. Even stuffy old Saint Mere de Larmes Cathedral--lonely and decrepit home of the Erudite sect of Ezra (Guardian of the Mists)--is trafficked despite the Dementlieuse cultural disdain of religion.

Fenri is interested in how this land worships gods, and how they connect to them. Her time untethered to Pelor has

There is also a series of skill tourneys throughout the city with prizes, including dueling, spellcasting and even ranged firearms. Solange has been cleaning and training with the enchanted musket she stole from the late Baron, but her mind is elsewhere.
Solange brings up that she wishes to visit her parents. She has not seen them for months (even before she ended up with the party).

Fenri loves that idea!

Claudine points out that there's another famous attraction open during the festivities: The House of Wax. Supposedly it's a pretty famous wax museum showcasing stories from all over the world.

This peaks Channa and Schrödinger's shared morbid interests.

Vincente Quint, who has been silently writing the letter for his cousin this entire time, stands up and hands it to Fenri, thanking her for delivering it. He trots off to pack what little he has.

Pryrrish notices that he nabbed a few dappelwort flowers. Poor guy needs something to help him relax; he's been through quite a bit.

After breakfast everyone decides to hang out in the parlor. Fenri helps Solange rebraid her hair when Schrödinger comes in, asking for help with his own mane of red. Fenri is ecstatic to do so.

Schrödinger is embarrassed. As a noble he has relied on servants to do his hair for so long, and this unexpected journey has left him only able to cope with simple messy ponytails.
While hanging out like this, the group decides on how they want to spend the day. First they will visit Solange's family, who live in the southeastern outskirts of the city.

After spending the afternoon there, the party will go back into the city to deliver Vincente's letter.
And in the evening, when the city is in full swing for the holiday, they will go to the House of Wax if there's time!

The carriage is drawn for Claudine and Vincente to depart. Vincente comes in quite mellow but nervous from the dappelwort. But Claudine swishes into the room with a brand new travelling outfit and a big smile on her face (also kinda high off dappelwort). She takes Vincente in hand, eager to help him through both trips.

Everyone wishes Vincente Quint, disheartened ex-vigilante and horse whisperer, a safe journey wherever he goes. Claudine leads him to the carriage and off they go. She will return alone in about two days time, returning on the last day of Primeur.

[[ Goodbye Vincente! Hopefully the Dark Powers don't have any future plans for you. Hehehe... ]]

The group decides to head out around the same time. Solange drives the wagon, navigating city quite well despite the busy holiday celebrator-filled streets. She explains that her parents own and operate a bone mill along the Caronne River, grinding bone meal for alchemical and farming purposes.

Everything is rustic and jolly throughout the city, but not super crazy. Everyone celebrating through the city has decided to get a late start to their days during Primeur, due to the party not stopping until the wee hours every night for the week.

Cutting out of the city and driving along the suburban roads, the group makes it to the Charron Bone Mill by around two o'clock.

The mill is a large bone-white brick building with a waterwheel turning extensive large mechanisms. A tributary of the Caronne flows through the homestead property, separating the bone mill and a small one-room cottage by bridges--one stone on the main trade road, the other just wooden platforms.

Lining the boundaries of the property are a line of interspersed staves stuck in the ground. All of them are quite well carved actually; depicting vines, animals, and other occult symbols.
Sleeping in a hutch on the mill's rooftop is a large snowy owl... Possibly a familiar (or dread companion, as they are known in these lands)...

Unloading large cattle bones from a small boat (as well as one whale's rib), a tall, dark-haired man wipes his brow. A staff of white birch and red ribbons is tied to his back. He wears a heavy red coat lined with fur, the style from a colder and more modest region than Dementlieu.

The owl in its hutch wakes upon hearing the wagon driving up, and it gives a short hoot. The dark-haired man turns in response, his dark green eyes stoically taking in the sight. He spots Solange in the driver's seat and curtly welcomes her home with a "You're alive, girl?". This is Solange's Papa, the quarter-Vistani woodcarver and bone miller Tybalt.

Despite the stoic welcome, Solange knows her Papa Tybalt too well. He is clearly relieved at her safe return. The look in his eyes is practically him having an emotional outburst in front of total strangers.

Bursting out from the mill, covered in white dust and wearing goggles, Tybalt's partner Leon Charron waddles out in a fervor. He's a portly, rosy-cheeked type of obvious Dementlieuse peasantry. He immediately starts to tear up as he rushes to greet his daughter with a big hug. Solange hugs her Baba back, accepting his dusty, smothering embrace.

Pryrrish's magical eyes spot something unique on Baba Leon's belt: a red-hilted pistol and blackpowder horn.
Leon excitedly checks over his darling daughter, saying his owl empathically alerted him of her return. He apparently had nightmares wondering what happened to her!

Solange is rescued from her upset parent by the stoic words of Tybalt, who continues to unload the last of the bones. Their daughter has brought guests after all.

Unfortunately that does not temper Leon's enthusiasm. Instead, Baba Leon excitedly cheers that his daughter actually brought over friends for the first time ever. (Solange cringes hard at how true that is).
Leon welcomes everyone to their mill, giving hugs and shaking hands as the party wishes. Fenri enjoys the hug, while Channa really struggles with this idea of being held in such a friendly embrace (being an orphan after all). Pryrrish and Schrödinger accept handshakes.

Tybalt barely gives the party a nod by comparison. He seems more worldly and harder to impress than his husband.

Baba Leon refocuses to Solange, grateful she's okay. When she went missing during her last shift the Order came looking for her. Since they live just a few miles from the cemetery the Order Captain assumed she was visiting them (although she hadn't done so before in all the five years she's been away).

Solange cringes again at the parental guilt, but oddly is grateful to be hearing it once more.

Solange explains what happened, omitting some of the more gruesome and upsetting details. The husband pair listen, one emoting far more than the other. Tybalt recommends that Solange's friends receive a quick tour of the mill while he goes to prepare lunch. It'll be a simple affair but they are gracious hosts.

Leon suddenly gets a knowing sparkle in his eye, and tells Tybalt not to force a staff or twelve on their guests. Tybalt says nothing, but Leon continues to chastise some hidden urge in his husband: Tybalt keeps making them and they're literally starting to pile up. He's already banned from collecting any more wood--they are running out places to put them. (Hence the staves lining their property.)

Baba Leon leads the party into the bone mill, wearing simple bandanas to keep out the bone dust that's in the air. The mechanisms are rudimentary but fascinating to the party. The party has to walk on a series of conveyors to get to the back of the mill, where Leon reveals his alchemy lab.

Schrödinger asks about how they maintain the clockworks with so much dust; Mister Charron reveals they are quite laborious with cleaning. The last time they left the bone dust to collect for too long, supposedly they had to face a strange arm-shaped entity made of bone dust. Solange recalls helping wash that thing out with her parents.

Channa ponders if that entity was some form of latent elemental force, since this land has done strange things with her own elemental familiar...

The laboratory is fascinating to Schrödinger and Channa especially. Leon reveals he creates potions and other alchemical agents, even for the Enfants du Bucher--a funerary faction of Port-a-Lucine that cremates the dead.

Unlike those entombed at Saint Leonburg's Cemetery, most of the people of Port-a-Lucine cannot afford such lavish memorials, nor even the smidgen of land for a pitiable gravesite. Many are simply sent to the Pauper's Fields; buried with very little cost, in large pits with practically no rites performed. These pitiable souls commonly arise as undead through dark forces, or by cults of necromancers enamored with mastering death.

Apparently some twenty odd years ago a cult even attempted to take over Saint Leonburg's, so not even the nobility are one hundred percent safe in their noble gravesites.

In comparison to corporeal burial tradition, the Enfants du Bucher--the Children of the Pyre--offer ceremonies to put the dead to rest, and cremate the remains to prevent necromancy against their wills. They use alchemy to cheaply provide such a service and have been going strong these twenty something years.

Solange recognizes that with so many people in the capitol (and a hefty fraction of them dying every day) there was a need to expedite the disposal of dead bodies. Plus Port-a-Lucine is infamously known for its hedonistic ways. There are rumors of black market gravediggers providing for a tiny and taboo clientele... She's heard whispers of things like that while protecting the privileged dead.

While the science-minded members of the group are invested in the laboratory itself, Fenri asks Leon to share stories of Solange growing up. The more embarrassing the better. But Leon gives the halfling a very odd look at that, and he asks why he would ever embarrass his only daughter the one time she brings friends over.

Fenri is quite taken aback by this flash of fiery protectiveness. Halfling family culture is literally people clamoring over one another and sharing everything openly. But she recognizes the protective instinct of Leon with his only daughter.
Channa has very very mixed feelings about family. She was not lucky enough to have such protective parents. She has no charming anecdotes to share, nor anyone to tell them for Channa like Leon could for Solange.

Solange tells her father it's alright to share some things with them. He relents and recalls a funny series of events they went through as a family: the first five times they almost buried Solange alive as a child.

Everyone pauses at that, unsure of what this anecdote actually entails. Solange laughs about it though, clarifying that since she was born like she was--a banshee caliban--her cold, deathly appearance makes her look doubly so when she's ill. She was already a very weak baby when Leon and Tybalt found her, so when she got ill they literally thought she died.

Eventually they got better at recognizing Solange's vital signs; she's now a healthy (if still very creepy) young woman.
Fenri is dissociating upon hearing this backstory revelation...

The family can laugh about it now, but it seems to be a strange sore spot for leon

Schrödinger wonders what his parents would do if that situation had ever happened to them... Like most well-bred Lamordians, the patriarch and matriarch of House Schrödinger are quite reserved but resourceful. They might have looked into the knowledge to bring him back as he is their only son and heir. They're protective like that.

Leon changes the subject to another "funny story" about Solange's imaginary friend growing up. Solange actually hesitates to elaborate here; so Baba Leon explains that he and Tybalt used to hear her talk to some woman only she could see. At first Leon thought he and Tybalt weren't giving her enough of a feminine presence in her life (normal anxieties of being gay parents). But luckily after getting an acolyte of Ezra to examine her, they learned she was just talking to a spirit that hangs around her constantly.

This is actually where Solange reveals the existence of Maman. How she can communicate with the lady geist when she's alone (at a brief cost of life energy), and how it has helped guide them on this journey with the party.

Schrödinger ponders what this means, since he's been very up front with not believing spirits and ghosts exist. They are not in the scope of his very material, biological-slash-osteological science. But now he recognizes why Solange was so passionate about defending their existence back at the Vallee de Neige (despite what those apparent "ghosts" ended up being).

Maman's existence helped the Charrons connect young Solange with the Order of the Moonlight Vigil, who helped understand her unique talent for gravedigger magic. Now she's a Moonlit Gravekeeper and her parents could not be more proud of her!
Or at least she was until she vanished a week and a half ago... They do want to speak with her about that once they sit down to lunch.

Solange is struggling a bit now with said duty. It was easy to want to return when she was far away in Campanula. But now that the Order is just down the road...

She didn't realize how keeping her family at a distance, as well as the living population surrounding them, was hindering these new emotions she's dealing with.

The party crosses the wooden bridge to the one-room cottage. More staves are stuck here and there outside the property. They go inside and see where Solange grew up.

The cottage is quaint and very humble, with only a privacy curtain up beside the area designated for Solange's bed. Currently that space is being used to store even more staves, as well as all the large sticks Tybalt has snuck in to make more.
Tybalt is sitting by the simple wood-fire stove, melting some cheese in a pot and toasting bread for sandwiches. He's whittling another stave, and Leon immediately pounces on his husband's next project. No more staves!

Leon takes the newly carved stick outside and literally throws it in the river. His husband stoically watches this, appearing very used to this routine (as well as bemused by it).

Tybalt sighs and has the party sit down while he cooks. The luncheon is simple cheese on good bread with a wild green salad and some table wine. It is extremely rustic but so very warm and comforting.

Pryrrish eats and observes all the small little details of the cottage. She sees all the little bumps and marks of this home having been well-lived in over the years. There's even a spot by the back door where Solange's heights were measured. And the privacy curtain has patchy but well-intentioned felt flowers sewn onto it for the young Solange.
This is a true home, and Pryrrish feels oddly sad about it. She recalls the spotless and cold halls of her family's palace, and the eternal silver moonlight upon the sparse pale trees of Sildeyuir. Pryrrish, like most scions of her star elven people, were living history--and so their culture was about preserving rather than thriving and progressing as a culture.

She lived in an austere monument to a declining race, and grew up with no comfort but her much older brother. So when he disappeared and the circumstances had her flee from that cold place, Pryrrish never looked back. The Tome's words promised so many things... But without Brother Waylon she'd never dare think to return to Sildeyuir...
And it is likely now in this strange land, that Pryrrish could not return there. Even if the urge came to her...

Solange fully tells her parents about what occurred a week and a half ago. Tybalt only nods along while Leon asks clarifying questions. The adventure is quite the tall tale but they have no doubt of their daughter, considering the bevvy of corroborating new friends at their table.

Knowing how dangerous the adventure was, especially with how potentially dangerous the Black Dog's master could be; Solange chooses to withhold some of the more precarious details. She realizes that her parents enjoy an uncommon life of peace and humble desires--she should shield them from the consequences of her recent adventure.

She should shield the living, no matter the cost to herself...

Eventually, it is time to get back to the city. The party still has to deliver Vincente's letter, and they also want to check out the House of Wax. Leon fully embraces his daughter, glad to know she is well.

Tybalt gives her a shoulder pat and tells her to keep safe. But he seems very appreciative towards the people keeping Solange safe, even going so far to give Fenri a staff of her choosing, albeit behind his husband's back.

As he's about to give one to the short halfling woman, Tybalt ponders for a moment. Then he breaks the staff in half over his knee to make it halfling-sized. He hands it to her matter-of-factly and she just smiles, unsure how to react to that.

Best parent characters ever? Yes.

Our band of beloved Freaks departs on their wagon, leaving the Charron estate. This was only the first fantastic activity they have done in Port-a-Lucine and the day is only just half over. They have no idea what to expect for their evening ahead!

Now our merry group are ready to immerse themselves into the Primeur spirit of the great city! Frolics and fancies never imagined are now in reach for our misbegotten band. Delights and delusions aplenty give the city an air of thrilling anticipation.

And yet, beneath the surface of this gilded living city, a multitude of horrors within Port-a-Lucine stir. Our band of beloved Freaks made quite a splash in their first Dementlieuse foray. And all of Port-a-Lucine is slowly going to take notice of their presence. Can they forage for themselves in the great urban sprawl? Or will the predators in this metropolitan mire catch them while their guard is down?

Return to us soon my friends, to find out what happens next to our friendly Freaks, in Session Thirteen - Clashing Ideals!

Sincerely,

Aboleth Eye

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