Freaks & Facades: Seventeen

Hark, gentle reader! For Freaks & Facades has returned, continuing to tell a tale of Friendly Freaks navigating a world of deception and dastardly evils! Welcome back, beginning at Session Seventeen - Faith and Hope!

This particular recap might confuse readers, as we are picking up right where Session Sixteen ended. Might want to give that a reread, but here's our usual brief summary:

Our misbegotten wanderers enjoy a festive and educational excursion to the University of Dementlieu, during the nationwide festival days of Primeur. The outlanders in our group have seen marvels of science and the arts never fathomed in their own worlds, and have come to find answers to their burning questions about this strange world they were dropped into. Our Ravenloft natives are along for the ride, also impressed by the advancement of their mist-swaddled lands.

Fenri has gotten dissatisfying answers to the absence of divine grace in this land, and Channa was unconsciously reunited with their long-lost friend Destir Smith. But the group, especially the warlock Pryrrish, have more they wish to know of this land and its mysteries. So we return, a second act of their day at the University exhibitions.

Warning: this is a horror campaign, so please bear that in mind before reading on. Possible triggers include: deals with dark powers, recollections of physical trauma, endangered children, loss of life, public scandals, and more.

*starts projector*

We return to Fenri and Pryrrish in the dilapidated shell of the Divinities college at the University of Dementlieu. The group just had coffee with the elderly Dean Frederica Demaret, who has enlightened Fenri regarding the Divine in this world (Ravenloft's Hollow Place theory). Here the Gods speak none to their followers; their gifts are a reward entirely for blind faith. Some Unspoken Pact prohibits their agents to interfere with this hollow place...

Additionally, Channa has left the building to hash out an angry reconnection with the Arcane Sciences student Destir Smith. They were followed by Solange and Schrödinger for moral support.

Fenri ponders what she's learned from the Dean. The hollowness she's felt, the absence of Pelor Dawnfather, is not because he's abandoned her. She still can enact the divine miracles of her god, after all. No--the Divine seems to be incapable or hesitant to manifest in this strange land...
Pryrrish finally has her say with the Dean of Divinities; she asks about the nature of her own powers. She reveals that she and her brother Norfaer, her elder by fifty years but still a child himself (elven lifespans are fun like that), uncovered a mysterious ruin beyond the known lands of her people. They uncovered an ancient room by accident; within was a mysterious book on a plinth, wrapped in burned black leather. Upon touching the book, the boy who had practically raised Pryrrish was suddenly enveloped by dark energies. The darkness swallowed him, and he was taken away from that place, abandoning the child Pryrrish.

Already this is a lot to reveal, and Fenri understands how difficult it is for Pryrrish to unburden herself like this. She stays quiet as the star elf continues.

Pryrrish's people discovered her in the ruins, and upon revealing what happened she and the offending tome were cloistered away back in the silvery willow halls of Sildeyuir. They feared she was tainted by this mysterious darkness--if they allowed her to live, it would hunt the elves in their cloistered demiplane by her mark and finally eradicate them as they always feared would befall the star elf race! Damned to be destroyed, with no one else in the world to aid her, suddenly the Tome whispered to the young elf.

Flashes of places and people and symbols flooded her mind. Images of the world beyond stagnant Sildeyuir, which the Tome wished to guide her through. A vision of her brother, wandering a dark wood, struck her with terrible guilt and heartbreak--but also hope! Norfaer still lived!
With no other option, Pryrrish took up the Tome and read it for herself. The cryptic words wriggled upon the page and made her eyes cross, but she recited what she could understand and invoked its power. She escaped her confinement and used these new powers, these eldritch shadows and sudden keen sight, to escape Sildeyuir!

Over the next fifty years Pryrrish wandered the lands of Eberron. Friendless and frightened, the elf followed the whispers of Tome of Darkness until she ended up in that blighted desert of the Mournland. Ended up in that mysterious tunneling stairwell. Ended up at the Ravens Loft Inn, and eventually here now.
She looks to both Fenri and Dean Frederica for answers: recently the Tome attempted to claim her flesh with chain-patterned scars. Its gifts in this strange world, in Dementlieu and these lands of the Hollow (as she has learned from the Dean's theological insights), the Tome is becoming something she is frightened of. She cannot part with it, or else it will reappear by any violent means necessary before her. She cannot destroy it; she fears something lies within the Tome that could escape her careful control.

It is both her source of power and her greatest burden. She's sought out its destruction from this world, only she strong enough to do so; but at the same time she's followed its clues to come to this land. The Tome has kept her from engaging with the world, with time and progress, until now. It is too powerful to be left alone.
But perhaps in this land, with these powerful new allies to support her and use their own gifts, she can be freed of the relic chained to her soul!

Fenri comes over to Pryrrish and hugs the elf. The warm embrace of the sun cleric, bare of any judgement or hatred, brings solace to Pryrrish.

Dean Frederica has listened all the while, sipping her coffee and digesting all that Pryrrish unburdened herself of. She wipes her glasses on a handkerchief and speaks plainly to Pryrrish: she believes she knows what the Tome is.

It is not just a magically empowered book that instills madness and insight. It may very well be a token of some dark external power. By taking up the Tome and wielding its powers, she pacted with this power and now carries its anchor: a fiendish phylactery.

For a moment, the Dean wishes to examine the book for herself. Pryrrish stoically hands it over--internally screaming against it! She cannot help but allow any to read it, despite knowing what its power does to eyes other than her own!
Perhaps this compulsion is itself a torment ingrained in her so-called pact with the dreaded book? She cannot stop herself from offering a glimpse onto the leathery pages of madness and dark knowledge freely? But she dreads it all the same!

Luckily, the Dean is strong-willed enough to resist opening the book properly. She merely turns the black scarred Tome around in her hands. If the cover had any writing on it once, it has long since been burned or corroded off. Others have seemingly attempted to destroy this book in the past...

The Dean of the Divinities programs returns the tome and stands up. She walks to her desk and opens up books from several scattered piles. Plainly she tells Pryrrish that there is a chance she may be free of it. The Tome may once have been too powerful in the realms beyond Dementlieu (this Eberron place sounds weird to her), but it is has become an anchor not only to Pryrrish but to the fiendish presence as well. A contained object of power that can no longer receive the dangerous directions of its maker.

She waves her hands at Pryrrish, pointing out all the magical augmentations she is using. The swirling eyes of keen vision, the veil of shyness muffling her presence, and any others she has access to are tethers to the fiendish entity's own. Like a cleric beseeches prayers from the divine, her invocations are borrowed power. She needs to sever these ties, staunch the flow of power and cauterize them from ever reaching her again.
Fenri sees where the Dean is going and chimes in; perhaps if Pryrrish stops using the powers of the Tome, it will wither and die without her reliance on it. She must strengthen her own soul to resist the decades-long instincts to pull upon its dark powers!

The Dean continues on, however, she must not only cut out the greater powers. She must drop every single invocation. Even the tiniest flow of power, the inherent charms and enhancements she's uncannily made a part of her everyday life, must be cut cold turkey!

Pryrrish becomes agitated--every gift has been useful to her. The eldritch powers have helped her survive and live for decades in her ruined world. Even in Dementlieu, she has powers most creatures have no way to combat! But the hard truth comes from the Dean, who approaches and gently puts a hand on the elf's shoulder. She's lived decades, yes; but what life has she led with the Tome weighing her down?

Fenri sees the Dean's words hitting Pryrrish, disheartening the elf. She is right, of course, but it's impossibly tragic how she could have maybe done so all this time. There was always some danger to outrun, a secret to uncover or a destination to journey towards that justified use of her warlock invocations. And there always will be dangers and secrets and destinations.
But she's been burdened by the secret for just as long... To keep the relic hidden from dastardly plots and the wrong hands seizing it, she lethality spent her young elven years bereft of the tenderness and comfort of friendship.
Fenri offers a more immediate solution: destroy the book! Purge it with a grand ritual and sacred fire! The Dean smiles condescendingly at the halfling's idea: Pryrrish is still bound to it, and the Tome currently is at its full power. Doing harm to it might lash out at the warlock, or worse summon the fiend who it is anchored to.

But if she undertakes the challenge of restraint, regardless of threat or danger; and if Pryrrish strengthens her own soul to live a life unburdened by the Tome, then perhaps there is a chance!
A ritual will be needed once her connection is at its weakest though, the Dean amends with Fenri. Once Pryrrish feels she can stomach to destroy it, and has struggled and survived without a single touch of its power, the Tome may be destroyed. They must beseech a powerful cleric to conduct the rite, one capable of great miracles in these Hollow realms. Fenri herself is not strong enough, one needs true faith in these godless lands to sustain them to enact a ritual powerful enough. In a place of great holiness it must be done.

The Dean points to a framed piece sitting on the floor, covered by a tarp. She holds it up, pulls off the covering and reveals it is a sunset painting of Port-a-Lucine. Painted in the peach and scarlet and daffodil colors of the setting sun, the great hill of Ste. Mere des Larmes Cathedral and its marble edifice stand out above the smoky city. There, in the heart of the Erudite sect of the Faith of Ezra, Pryrrish will find the person who can help her when the time is right.

Pryrrish agrees to the undertaking, but is still anxious to start. She looks to her faithful friend Fenri and meets her eyes. Fenri's are unclouded by doubt or illusions--this will be a true fight the elf will have to struggle through. It will be brutal and leave her in the weakest state she's ever known, but Fenri has faith Pryrrish can do this.

Bravely, after a long series of deep breaths, Pryrrish disables all of the instinctual invocations of the Tome of Dark Shadows. The strange swirling patterns in her eyes dissipates, revealing her natural black-violet eyes. She squints to meet Fenri's eye, realizing she's used the sight invocation so long that Pryrrish never knew she was near-sighted! Her aura changes as well, no longer as easily overlooked. There is more weight and presence to the elf--which terrifies her to be so seen.

The elf and the halfling stand to leave, thanking the Dean for her insight. Dean Frederica thanks them as well--their experiences with divine powers and their travels in lands beyond are useful to her own search for the truth about the gods. She hopes they enjoyed the coffee and enjoy the rest of the Primeur festivities. They leave her ramshackle offices to find their friends outside.

Channa and Destir appear to have made peace, and Channa introduces her oldest friend to the elf and halfling. All in all, when he's not yelling at his friend's metaphorical "following him off a bridge", he is a charming and sunny young gentleman. His own elemental companion, that figure of living Mist the group saw earlier, hovers on a nearby roof; lurking at a respectable distance.
Destir relays that he currently needs to report to his mentor for a standing luncheon, so he invites the group to meet Professor Altir LaRue, Dean of the University's Arcane Sciences department.

In the last month or so, Destir joined the dean's program on arcane sciences and has been taken under his wing--due to the latter's interest in Destir's corrupted element ritual theory. The same theories he used in that elemental ritual he (and later Channa and their previous mentor) performed. Due to Destir's own circumstances, when brought to this realm, the student and professor now have a unique insight as to how this ragtag group came together.
For Destir was not only broken down and "reassembled" like Channa was through his experimental ritual of Grave, Blood, Pyre and Mist; he and several other misfits also came together in a mysterious Inn and found themselves abroad (including others from entirely unknown worlds). They awoke the next morning in the wilderness of western Falkovnia, apparently.

However, upon that country's mention, Channa can see her friend is hesitant to elaborate further there... All Destir is willing to say is that they got out, but not everyone made it...

Everyone agrees to the excursion to get back into the Primeur spirit. With Destir as their guide, he shows them the areas of the festival most would never get to see.

While the festivities in the main square are the biggest draw, those that live and study at the University have displays happening just out of sight. The crowd at the peasant dance by Dean Frederica's residence is one such space.

The College of Medicine, with its imposing marble columns and steps, has begun a performance of some sort with the College of Theatre--a play about death courting a young maiden, the actors' costumes seemingly festooned with real human bones.

Schrödinger is extremely eager to see if the College of Medicine has any demonstrations. Destir unfortunately has to explain that the medical college is being used only as a backdrop for a play on its front steps today. Maybe someday he can be invited to view an experimental surgery, after all the University does have a surgical auditorium for such experiences.

Before leaving this section of the campus, Destir requests a brief moment to stop at the College of Military Sciences. He rushes forward to meet a weathered old man in poorly fitted clothes drinking with several students in front of the squat building. The man has prematurely gray hair and mustache, with enormous bangs poorly hiding a Falkovnian brand on his forehead...

The pair go inside briefly, leaving the group to speak with a representative of the war college. Military strategy and history are taught in this program, and a special scholarship appears to be funded by the Council of Brilliance. Specifically, Marquess Josephine Chantreaux, Marshal of Dementlieu... Colloquially, she is known as the Gunpowder Saint; she is famous for successfully organizing defenses against the Falkovnian invasion and establishing the Treaty of Five Towers that ended the incursion years ago.
Destir exits the building with a small package. He ignores attempts to ask about it, however...

Circling the outer ring of the campus, the group finds themselves passing between an enormous manor-style house, left as a great burnt husk, and a more modern house by the wall with a large plaza. Elegantly dressed nobles enjoy fancies and sparkling wine handed from passing servants, gossiping amongst themselves and clinking glasses. Unlike the country dance just a few blocks away, the nobles dancing in this square are precise and poised to an elegant waltz.

Seated before the modern manse's steps is the obvious guest of honor: a short man in a gray curled wig, portly and old. A family crest is embroidered in silver and gold upon his jacket: a watchful snowy owl holding two golden snakes in its claws. He sits and watches his guests with extremely aware, pale blue eyes; while leaning on a silver-tipped cane. A pair of identical young men, who share a resemblance to the old man, stand next to him and bicker quietly.

On a perch next to the old man sits an owl identical to the old man's crest, enjoying bits of meat handed to it by laughing guests.

Destir gives the old man a nod as he hurries the group past; the old man's eyes are directed elsewhere but the group is eerily sure the gentleman is aware of their path in his periphery... This is the private party of the President of the University: Lord Balfour de Casteelle. The de Casteelle family founded the University generations ago, and to this day is one of the most powerful families just outside of the city below. The gentlemen beside him are his sons, though Destir doesn't know which is which. Lord Balfour is extremely learned in the arcane sciences, and takes special care with the courses students like Destir are taking.
When Destir is asked about the ruined mansion across the street, he reveals that it was the original family home of the de Casteelles. It mysteriously burnt down when Lord Balfour was a youth, leaving him the head of his entire family with his parents demise. He has been obsessed with their deaths ever since and refuses to allow anything to be changed or removed.

Supposedly there is a great reward should anyone uncover anything new in the rubble, after he has had decades of investigators and experts brought in...

Eventually, the group crosses the campus' canals again. Destir points to one particular building, unveiling the College of Arcane Sciences headquarters. A flagpole juts out from the second floor, waving a purple flag with a silvered crest of the University above the street. A small food hall across the way has put out tables and chairs for visiting guests to enjoy a cup of chocolate or other refreshments, away from the main square's hubbub.

But an awkward altercation is seen before the building's steps. A woman in a very fashion-forward shoulder-less dress has linked her arm with a tall pale gentleman's own--and he appears very eager to be released. The woman has up-styled brown hair with gem-encrusted ornaments designed like white feathers, and on her breast is the snowy owl crest of the de Casteelles. The gentleman has slicked and shiny black hair, and he is at least two feet taller and several stones thinner than the curvaceous lady.

People are glancing at the encounter as the gentleman politely flounders to release himself. Destir pauses and has to hold his forehead suddenly. He ashamedly reveals that the man is his mentor, Altir LaRue, the Dean of Arcane Sciences. And, awkwardly, he then states that the young lady is the wife of the University President, Cassilda de Casteelle.

Everyone in the group cringes at that reveal. Clearly she is both very young to be the wife of Lord Balfour (or else she's aged exceedingly well) and she is inappropriately and publicly demanding attention of a college professor. Destir looks to Channa and the group; he wants to extricate his mentor from Lady Cassilda, but he doesn't have the influence to tell her off without offense.

The group agrees to assist him in rescuing Dean Altir. They approach the misaligned pair.

Dean LaRue is exceedingly happy to see Destir approach, and he tries to point out the approach of his student and other festival patrons to the lady. Lady Cassilda refuses to acknowledge them with anything except a pointedly polite smile, hinting in her greeting that she wishes to go to her husband's party with the professor alone. Fenri steps forward to try and appeal to her better judgement, since she's causing a scene. This is seen as an affront, however, and Lady Cassilda merely glares at the insinuations of the halfling.

Channa looks to Schrödinger, hoping the nobleman knows what to say in polite society to get their point across. The Lamordian unfortunately can say nothing; he is disarmed every time by the brazenness of these Dementlieuvian aristocrats.

Solange hears the crackling sub-noise of Maman in here ear, directing her to look upwards. She does so. In one of the Arcane Science building's upper windows, half-hidden behind some curtains, she sees someone is staring down at this exchange.

A figure that at first appears to be like a living china doll--a shined porcelain face, unblinking dark blue eyes, and fine silvered hair with blue ribbons. But far more life-sized! The figure shifts the curtains back, vanishing from view...

Channa notices a group of people turning the corner onto this street; their obvious wealth and status compelling other fairgoers to stand aside. The man at its heart, surrounded by attendants it seems, is a thin bearded man wearing the golden sun sigil of the Council of Brilliance on his side capelet. Channa points it out to the group, hoping the obvious status of the man will distract the noble lady.

It is exactly the circumstance Channa hoped for. Lady Cassilda immediately flings away Altir LaRue's arm, straightens her jewelry and then glides over to greet them. She is received warmly and she takes the councilor's arm, leading them down the street towards her husband's party across the canal.
Altir is grateful for the release, and he thanks Destir and his companions. Introductions are made and the Dean invites the group inside to take tea in his offices.
When asked which Councilor the passing man was, it is revealed that that was Claude LaGrange, the Treasury Master of the city. Everything to do with trade and coinage, including the colonies across the sea; it all is signed off by him. Wealthy beyond measure, with meager origins, LaGrange can bestow ruin or fortune to anyone he desires with merely a suggestion.

No wonder the University President's wife was eager to greet him. His favor must be important for the maintenance and improvement of a national university like this.

The Arcane Sciences building is rather plain and normal, unlike the classic wizard's study most of the group expects. The dean takes them into his second floor offices, more like a private college library for paperwork rather than magical experiments and study. A perch by a polished desk and massive wardrobe holds a black-furred bat, hanging upside down. Upon entering, the bat is startled awake and it flies about screeching for a few moments, startling everyone until Altir calls for it. His dread companion, he calls the creature, is a paranoid little thing during the day when she sleeps.

A massive array of tea sandwiches and pastries is already awaiting in the sitting area. He was expecting Destir to return to this feast, but he is excited to meet his companions and share the bounty. Fenri immediately is eager for snacks; coffee with the Divinities Dean ignited her appetite.
As the young dean serves tea and offers delicacies, Destir goes over to a small stove and pours water into a separate small teapot. He opens his mysterious package to pull out a handful of dried herbs and add them. Channa asks and he admits that its a special medicine. He contracted a... medical condition from his time in Falkovnia. The dean of the Military Sciences he met has a similar condition and acquired the medicine for him.
Altir is about to sit down to drink when he suddenly remembers something. He asks Destir if he'd like to offer his other friend something to drink, if she drinks at all. Destir looks to the wardrobe in the corner and knocks on it. Something much larger than expected seems to stir within it. He calls to whoever is inside and offers tea; the door opens a crack and a hand snatches the cup and saucer from his hand.

Solange realizes that this must be the figure she saw outside; for the hand is plated in delicate, blue-painted porcelain instead of human flesh!
Destir sees the group's confusion and reveals that this is one of his companions from the mysterious Inn and his Falkovnian misadventure. She despises company and is currently cross with him for reasons... They should just leave her be for now.

With tea finally served and our group slowly ravaging the spread of fancies, Dean Altir is told by the group about their coming together. And how it was similar to Destir's appearance in these realms as well. Destir has been studying elemental magics with the young professor, and they have learned much together.

Channa has secretly worried about something ever since the group came together... That her enacting Destir's experimental ritual caused the other Freaks to be pulled from their lands and thrown together. She's blamed herself for potentially ruining everyone's lives all this time.
Destir sees his friend's worries and pats their hand reassuringly. He had the exact same worries when he came, but with Channa's appearance in his life again has given them more evidence to work with. The Dean reveals that his theory is that due to the corrupt nature of the Four Dread Elements, they are actively seeking outlanders across lands far and wide. The ritual perhaps drew their attention, but it seems these groups are coming together by forces far beyond their comprehension--Channa and Destir are not to blame for how these groups came together.

Perhaps the ritual merely added the practitioners into the already ongoing machinations of the Dread Elements. They are much more alert and malignant compared to the other classic elements, and they are still a complete unknown to most scholars in Dementlieu and other realms.

Channa is reassured successfully. Destir says that now that they are together again, perhaps they can study once more into the secrets of the arcane. Dean Altir is rather interested in exploring these facets of arcane science, and he offers Channa an opportunity to join his program.

Everyone is quietly stunned for a moment. The others look to Channa, who seems to be dumbfounded. This has been an incredibly surprising day for them. Finding their decades-lost friend again, seeing the wonders of a truly modern university, and now being offered a place in this world (one that seems pleased to welcome her); it is all too much.
The rest of the group lets Channa have a moment. But until now, no one had thought about what next for them all. The native residents may have places to go, but the outlanders have become irreplaceable to their lives. And the outlanders Channa, Pryrrish and Fenri have felt similar feelings (although tempered by the expectation that they may never return to their lands and homes, if they so desired). They each imagined having many more adventures together...

Channa politely asks for time to consider the offer.

Otherwise the rest of the group's visit to the University is unremarkable. Tea with the Dean of Arcane Sciences is pleasant; and his obvious discomfort for the Lady de Casteelle's constant attentions are politely empathized with.

After drinking his medicinal tea, Destir takes the group to one final place of interest. The afternoon has started a lull in much of the festivities, so the group gets a private tour of the campus' Guignol Museum. Magical and historic artifacts are on display, leant by the Lord-Governor's estate; they're each interesting in their own right. However, the question of Channa departing hangs overhead, and no one wishes to bring it up first.
Destir sees the group reclaim their wagon and bids them all goodbye. He gives Channa a great hug and says he hopes to see her again, which further conflicts the elemental mage's loyalties. The drive back to the boardinghouse is quiet. A full day of exploring the University has worn everyone out...

Luckily, this is not how our Friendly Freaks end their day! Upon returning to the city and reaching home, the group enters to find no one about. There is noise coming from the back gardens, however; exiting the house through the back kitchen, they find the housekeeper Madame Rousseau seated before a private performance! Moody, the half-Vistani upstairs tenant, is performing a magnificent juggling act for her!

Madame Rousseau welcomes the group's return. She reveals that Moody came down this evening in grand spirits: he finished his latest manuscript and is finally free to enjoy Primeur! He rarely performs the skills of his Vistana tasque (the famed Boem entertainers), but tonight he is in rare form.
With his audience grown, Moody ramps up his juggling by adding in a spark of magic. His daggers fly higher and higher, and arcs of sparkling electricity make unique patterns between the flying blades! It is quite a sight to see!

Moody wraps up his performance with a grand explosion of glittering magic, falling like snow. He drinks in their applause and wishes them a grand evening. His night is only getting started, and he struts out of the boardinghouse to enjoy his first full night of Primeur!

Everyone's spirits are lightened, realizing that there is much more wonder and joy to be had together. Primeur is only one week out of every year it is a special time because it is rare. If every day were Primeur it would have no meaning; but it will come around again if you remember the past times it brought you joy.

And tomorrow is the Primeur Ball at the manse of House Descartes! There is plenty more to see, and more fascinating people to meet in Port-a-Lucine!

With that, we give our Friendly Freaks a well-deserved rest. Many revelations and opportunities have opened themselves before them today. And Primeur is only half over!

What splendor will our group find at the Descartes Primeur Ball? What will everyone be wearing?

Where is Claudine during all this? She surely wouldn't miss such a party of a lifetime, right? Are we getting a grand return of the incorrigible debutante and social spy?

While they are at the mansion of House Descartes, perhaps they may learn more about the family's young scion, Ambrose? He did mention, only days ago, that his father is not who he says he is... What exactly did he mean?

Find out next time, in Session Eighteen: The Ball Awaits [WIP]!

Author's Aside:

Thank you all for your patience, and for reading this recap tonight! I had a massive hurdle in writing to fit the blog formatting, and other projects have pulled me away until now. But I am excited to finally return to Freaks & Facades. There is much more mystery and adventure ahead; so stay tuned!

-- With thanks,

Aboleth Eye

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Freaks & Facades: A D&D Campaign Recap

Freaks & Facades: Seventeen - Faith and Hope