The Wandering Isles: Session 95

Isolde Thorne returns to the museum with the blueprints, having marked the locations of the vaults. Dash tries to gather information nearby, but there are no useful conversations to overhear. Instead, he is startled when Amaedrianna suddenly appears. She asks Dash and Weslyn what is going on, and they explain the significance of the blueprints.

Weslyn adds that Dr. Harrow is presumably somewhere nearby and may have some interest in either the museum or the item within it. He remembers her saying long ago that she was waiting for him to find something. Amaedrianna is reassured that Weslyn has not yet found whatever Dr. Harrow is looking for, or whatever he himself may be searching for. She agrees that she also has not found what she is looking for.

Dash brings Amaedrianna fully up to speed. The plan is to move the Egg tomorrow. It is currently fifty feet underground, locked away in vault #2.

When the group gets back to the ship, Hatsu suggests they may be able to infiltrate the museum as guards. A few of them can shapeshift, and that might be enough to get inside. Amaedrianna proposes a different approach: enter the museum, hide until it closes for the night, and steal the Egg while the building is empty. Dash clarifies that an event is taking place tomorrow — a gala. Ramseth, The Sun King, is expected to attend and exchange The Crown of Continuance for the Egg.

Amaedrianna, unusually, compliments Dash and suggests that he could steal tickets to the gala. She emphasizes that the group should avoid chaos where possible, making stealth their best option. Dash asks whether they are supposed to replace the Egg or simply steal it, but the question goes unanswered as Hatsu suggests smoking out the vault and forcing the guards to leave, since they must be getting air from somewhere.

Dash tries again to ask whether they should swap the items, but Hatsu circles the conversation back around and asks whether Dash is confident he can steal it. Dash answers by holding up one of Hatsu’s powerballs, proving that he can steal without even showing his hand. Amaedrianna suggests that the group work together to draw attention away from the stealthier members so they can make the real move.

Weslyn asks why they cannot simply use magic to move directly into the vault. Amaedrianna worries about what that would entail, especially the danger of blindly entering and potentially becoming trapped in a wall. She wonders aloud whether the gala is truly their best opportunity. The group decides to press forward, though Weslyn remains silent.

Then Amaedrianna collapses. Her eyes glow, she yelps in pain, and a parchment appears in her hand, while another appears in Hatsu’s. Amaedrianna is dazed as Hatsu helps her up. Weslyn asks whether she is sure she is fit for the heist, since this is the second time something like this has happened.

Hatsu studies the parchment and sees a map. There is a faint glow marking himself, Amaedrianna, and Weslyn. They can see the map, but Amaedrianna can see them on hers, allowing her to find them as long as she has their corresponding parchments. She does the same for Eos and Dash. When she tries Boreal, nothing happens, so she assumes she has reached some kind of upper limit to whatever this magic is.

Dash takes Eos aside and tries to cover her purple skin with makeup. The first attempt makes her unintentionally look like a clown, but the second attempt, with Weslyn’s help, gives her a much more beautiful design.

Meanwhile, Amaedrianna and Hatsu move to the front of the boat and sit together. She begins teaching him talki-talk, a silent language that thieves commonly know, built around a kind of morse-code-like system. She teaches him the word "danger".

Hatsu then asks permission from his captain, Amaedrianna, to go on a supply run. She agrees, wanting to know that he is safe. Amaedrianna accompanies him and manages to secure a significant discount on his supplies. As they leave, she looks at her map and sees an unknown entity marked on it. Her concern is immediate. Hatsu tactitalks "danger", and Amaedrianna nods.

They hide and follow the unknown figure. It is cloaked, but Amaedrianna quickly realizes it is dressed exactly like her: the same mask, the same armour, the same overall appearance. The only difference is the red eyes, something historically associated with Amaedrianna when she is upset. Hatsu and Amaedrianna split up and follow the figure from either side.

The figure, already hunting prey, suddenly stops and turns slightly toward Hatsu. Hatsu walks past, trying to make himself a target. The figure moves inaudibly. Hatsu attempts to lure them into an alleyway, but the hunter is too skilled. They walk past him instead, like a hungry lion trying to trick its prey into leading it back to the pack.

Amaedrianna tries to overtake the figure while Hatsu uses his map to find her. She finally steps into the figure’s path, and he says, "good to see you again, May".

Only a few people have ever known Amaedrianna by that name. She greets him by saying, "I thought you were dead."

As they talk, Amaedrianna learns that he needs something from The Archon and is working for him until he gets it back. She calls him a fool for trusting him. He asks if she can take him somewhere to talk, explaining that he has been searching for a long time, as seen at the end of Session 52. They take him to the inn.

At the inn, he asks what Amaedrianna learned about the tower. She says she learned nothing and that she was searched. He does not believe her. He says he has some things to do first, referring to killing her old crew and dealing with a rival faction in the city. Amaedrianna seems indifferent and simply tells him that she mourned him.

Hatsu asks whether this is one of the people they burned in the house, referring to their time trapped in Vathros’ book back in Session 59. The man steps back, spreads metallic wings, and tells Amaedrianna that The Archon, her father and his boss, is making more of her. More like her. Better than her.

Amaedrianna tells him about the heist. He asks why they do not simply kill everyone and take the item. She says she will not kill innocents. He says she has fallen far from the family tree, wondering how The Viper, her mother, would have handled it. Amaedrianna says she is not her mother. Instead, she tells him to sneak into the gala tomorrow night. She asks whether he still spends time on rooftops, and he leaves by saying "almost exclusively" before vanishing into thin air as he walks away.

Hatsu asks whether they should warn Vale, the person who planned the heist and hired them, that Threadknife is hunting him. Threadknife had said he needed to deal with a rival faction that owed them money, referring to Vale. Hatsu and Amaedrianna suddenly realize why the heist was set up in the first place: Vale needs to pay off a debt.

Amaedrianna says she does not care whether Vale lives or dies, as long as they get what they are owed. Hatsu reminds her that they made a deal. Vale did not have to trust them or help them, but he did. Amaedrianna argues that Vale only helped because Hatsu walked through the door and because Vale was afraid of The Archon sending someone to collect what was owed. To her, it was unintended fortune.

Hatsu pleads with her to send Albi, or to do anything at all, even if it is only a tacitalk warning. Amaedrianna remains reluctant, but eventually takes out her dagger and carves the word "RUN" into the table in the room, assuming Vale will return there and keep an eye on it, since he gave them the room when they arrived a week ago. As Hatsu and Amaedrianna leave, Hatsu loudly says the table is disgusting and needs replacing.

Night ends, and a new day dawns. The 27th of Harvestfall begins.

Amaedrianna says they need to get into the museum before it gets busy. Eos, Hatsu, and Boreal prepare themselves while Dash and Amaedrianna do Eos’ makeup. When they arrive at the museum, Hatsu looks inside and suddenly vanishes into smoke, appearing inside and alerting the guards. He quickly sneaks away and vanishes into the shadows. Using magic, Eos appears in the same shadow. Boreal takes a simpler route: he checks whether the window is open. It is, so he climbs through and hides. They take their positions for the night.

Amaedrianna and Dash return to the boat to collect Weslyn and find their own way in through a more obvious approach. They adopt aliases: Dash becomes Raphael Caulderwell the Fifth, Weslyn becomes Bono Caulderwell Jr., and Amaedrianna becomes Anna Caulderwell. Dash and Amaedrianna then head out to find people with tickets.

They sneak into the gala, and for the first time, Amaedrianna is seen without her armour. She has pale skin, bright blue eyes, a beautiful gown with a slit in it, and long pointed ears hidden beneath her long white hair. Inside, Amaedrianna casts a spell to detect magic and sees red magical strings protecting the Egg, along with a great deal of Dunamantic magic surrounding it.

She asks Hatsu to cast darkness over the Egg on cue. Amaedrianna prepares everyone and triggers the plan. Black darkness spreads over the Egg as Dash releases the last animals trapped within his coin, the same coin he found and used in Session 38 and that Amaedrianna used in Session 72. A massive herd of animals bursts into the room, creating complete chaos.

As the chaos unfolds, Weslyn grabs the Egg and switches it for a fake. He teleports out, lands in the jeweller, and robs 114 aurems’ worth of gems for himself, the party, and the bastion with all of those people aboard it.

The animals nearly trample Mirelle Vaudrelle. Dash, Amaedrianna, and Threadknife knock the animals aside, and Dash saves Mirelle. Outside, he says goodbye to Mirelle while still in disguise, so she does not recognize him. He tells her that their mutual friend Dash would want to know some information. Mirelle says she wants to see Dash. She will give him information, help, anything, but only in person. She gives the unknown man a card with lipstick on it.

Amaedrianna says goodbye to Threadknife and, in her own words, offers him refuge and friendship. She uncharacteristically hugs him. He teases her about her smell after being in that armor for so long, and they part with the understanding that they will find each other again.

Weslyn asks the others to take the ship and leave, saying he will meet them above the city. Then he goes to the forest.

The forest finds the Egg disgusting.

The forest finds Weslyn.

Weslyn runs into the forest, avoiding the pit and heading to the clearing where the rites are usually performed. This time, he does so without an offering, something he has notably brought every time before. The grass is moulding, the trees are withering, and the land is now forsaken.

Weslyn pulls out the Egg and presents it to the forest. Rain, thunder, and fog begin, and he feels a painful presence enter his mind. The forest asks whether he thinks himself immune to their traditions. Weslyn apologizes, but the anger is already gathering around him.

The forest says the Egg is something far older and newer, and it finds it disgusting. It calls the Egg a corruption of sacred rites and rituals. The forest explains that they do not carve their legacy into flesh unceremoniously or hide magic within it. Their words and rites are the only magic they need.

Weslyn says the Egg should be destroyed, but the forest says it does not have that power. Perhaps he does. Weslyn says he has no blade and no way to offer blood, but the forest says it does not want him to. Instead, it rebukes him. He is the last of a long line and should carry respect for those before him. He is not immune to the rites his family obeyed for countless years.

Weslyn says it has been a long time since the forest asked him to let something grow, and he has wondered what that meant. The forest says he is bound to this place, and that his disrespect seems to bind him here. It says Weslyn brought people in who made a mockery of the sacred rites, while he himself walks the woods without honouring them. He seeks answers, but does not deserve them.

Weslyn says he is just a boy, but the forest answers that arrogance does not compensate for ignorance. It says his siblings came as children and asked for their names, and they were granted them. Weslyn now walks a finite path, not an infinite one. He is the first in a long time to plead for a name and not deserve one.

The forest tells him to return when he is willing to follow the rites. Until then, it will hide the stones within its reach, tired of people taking what they believe is theirs. Weslyn says he thought he was answering a call, but clearly he was not.

The forest repeats: “Let it grow. The gift. Plant. Seed. Your path home.”

The forest explains that Weslyn’s path is fragmented and disordered. He will get the seed, plant it, grow the door, walk through it, travel with his family, seek them, and get lost — and he has already done all of these things, just not clearly. The forest says he has always been on the right path, but he keeps avoiding his responsibilities.

The forest tells Weslyn to stop running from his destiny and stride toward it. He is a Theiwyse, and he must choose what clan walks with him now. It warns that if he burns the forest to the ground with the people around him, it will burn the world in return. Its rage is bound by his clan, and its rage is infinite, while Weslyn’s path is finite.

The forest forgives today’s transgression and the mistakes made by the innocent, but says Weslyn and those walking with him are out of forgiveness. It says the group is converging on a single point, whether they try to avoid it or not. Long ago, the islands were one, until the sky, space, and weave fractured. Something of biblical power was sent into the world, while also creating many others.

The forest warns that the party is going to meet things cosmically disproportionate to them. If they remain disjointed, fighting, arguing, and bickering, it will end as quickly as it began. If they unify and accept the fates in front of them, paths will open and difficult tasks will become easier.

The forest says the cosmos itself will no longer defend them. Every safety net is being ripped away when they need it most. Forces are moving against them, and they should pay attention to the few forces moving with them.

Weslyn says he is needed and that there is little time. He says there is a place for the forest on The Pearl, where there is new life and growth. The forest warns that whatever granted that life did not do so for free. What is given is taken, one way or another.

The forest says it has left something in Weslyn’s backpack, borrowing a traveller to put it there. When he is ready, he must open the package carefully. The item inside is as old as all of them put together. The forest explains that its anger comes from frustration, not rage, because these lessons must be taught again and again.

The forest tells Weslyn that he does not need to be in this forest to speak with them. He only needs to be among trees, but he must seek counsel properly. Weslyn asks what to do with the Egg. The forest tells him to get it away from them. It damages the magic around it and harms both time and space.

The forest calls the Egg a filthy abomination, made from corrupted rites, religion, ceremony, arcane magic, blood, and corruption. It says the Egg should never exist, and now that it does, it should be hidden from everything. The forest warns Weslyn that it did not put him on this path. Other forces are at play, and all of them are being manipulated. Every piece of the world wants something, and the party are useful stepping stones.

Weslyn bows and leaves the forest, heading north toward the shore. The rain does not stop until he vanishes from the land. Once he lands upon the ship, the sky clears into a beautiful sunny evening.

Weslyn appears aboard the ship, where the others are presumably celebrating the successful heist. As they set sail and leave Anbudon behind, the session ends with Weslyn wondering how many legs of the journey are left.