Session 86
- Ember and Tess talk for a while
- Ember is mainly curious about Tess, asks about her past, and what she knows. Tess answers most questions and reveals that she has been on the ship since Aydriann came back from Paridis
- Tess says she is worried about Venoxyin. She saw her take care of Aydriann that day he leaped from the crow’s nest. But Aydriann didn’t do the same for her after she messed up. Worries about herself since she is prone to messing up.
- Tess says she likes to dance. She said she liked to do it when she was hidden away in the conclave due to her being useless and dumb.
- Tess is remembering a lot more of her mortal life and the brief time she was in Paridis
- Her distance from Aydriann causes her to fade from existence.
- Tess is 13
- Orianna is tempted by Lalune
- Aydriann reads the Painted Journal
- The group heads to Seryna to talk strategy and decides to heist or distract
- Seryna tells the group that either way is dangerous.
- She reveals she is attracted to Orianna by her blood and says that vampires have a hunger that she says is a curse. It is Orianna’s innocence and Seryna’s will to resist biting Orianna that gives Seryna hope and is hopeful for the future. Peach suggests trying to help and rid the vampire curse with the help of LeSoleil. Seryna tells Orianna that she’d like to get to know Orianna not being a vampire.
- Seryna warns against Lalune.
- The group decides heist
- The group heads to the library
- Aydriann and Peach fly around to recon, but don’t find an easy way to get in, so they suggest they enter the front door.
- Prism is an automaton and is the receptionist. Dax disguises himself as Seryna and says, in the likeness of Seryna, they are there to look at books in the common library. Prism lets them in.
- He has to deal with 8 guards. Aydriann and Dax create distractions for Peach and Aydriann to sneak up to the north door of the common library.
The blue wisp glided through the air like a ghost’s sigh, trailing a thread of azure light that shimmered and danced as it moved. It traced a graceful, curling path through the dim hall, its glow etching ephemeral calligraphy against the air, the strokes looping and swirling as if spelling out some half-remembered tale. For but a heartbeat, the delicate lines lingered, hanging like silken threads spun by moonlight, before fading into the darkness.
Tess, the wisp, the echo, the lost spirit…..whatever it was or once had been…darted forward with the fervor of a messenger bearing tidings too urgent to be delayed. It flitted past somber faces drawn long by weariness and suspicion, slipping between the heavy pillars like a thing half-real. All eyes were elsewhere, preoccupied with their tangled plots, their own stories that throbbed beneath the chamber’s high, arched ceilings like veins beneath thin skin.
Aydriann was not there, but the wisp cared little for such absences. It had another to seek. Another it had always sought.
It swerved and danced through the shadows until it found her…Ember, standing alone where light faltered and gloom clung thick as fog. Her red skin retained its vibrancy even in the dim room, the deep crimson hue made richer by the shadows curling at her feet. Eyes like molten amber burned beneath the low hood she wore, restless and alert. Ember was nothing if not vigilant. The past nights had made certain of that. Paranoia, some called it. Prudence, she called it.
This hall held secrets like a wound held infection. Whispers coiled in the air, slithering between breaths, the aftermath of recent treachery still raw and festering. Ember could feel it pressing against her ribs, a dull ache that would not be soothed by mere words of caution. She would be the one to know if things went south, the one prepared when all others turned blind. Until that moment came…as she was certain it would…she remained vigilant, a blade unsheathed.
Tess circled her, a gleaming thing amidst the gloom, its glow throwing fleeting light across the somber stones. The wisp trembled as if with eagerness or relief, spinning in tight spirals before hovering just near Ember’s ear.
Tess said, “So you see me?”