MMC Summary: Sessions 24 & 25 - There's Nothing In This World I Wouldn't Do

CW / TW: Homophobia Insinuated.

This subject is only mentioned, and while homophobic language is not used, the act of being homophobic is slightly implied.

This section will be written in blue, and you can skip over it if you like.

~~~~~

Present Party: Keviks, Lupan, Nana, and Wren were all present for session 24. Nana and Wren were present for Session 25.

Setting: The city of Lanti, in the kingdom of Midtia. Briefly, the hills to the north of Lanti.

Free from their political obligations, the party was now better able to actually enjoy Lanti and the ongoing festival, celebrating the end of the Dragon War. There were two days left of the festival, and the party was eager to continue exploring it.

Keviks and Wren both entered an archery contest, where they tied for first place. As a tiebreaker, they were asked to split an arrow. Wren was the first to do so, earning her first prize. The party was also anticipating a noble ball tonight, hosted by one of the noble families, but they were made aware of a dance happening in the city as well. Lupan, rather than going to the noble ball, opted to go to the city dance. He was the only one.

Keviks went to find Finch while the party was out at the festival, and found him at Hero's Way... reunited with his adventuring party, who'd come from Dragon's Valley. All of them had decided that they'd be attending the ball. Later that day, Nana had gone to help them with shopping and brought up the idea of allowing everyone to attend the ball as plus ones, rather than having Finch's invitation amended to include three additional people. Finch agreed, and the arrangements were made.

Obsidian Pyros
Fire Genasi, age 18

On the street, busking, the party noticed a peculiar fire dancer: a fire genasi. He spun a long staff through the air as fire burned on either end of it. Upon closer inspection, Wren and Nana recognized Obsidian Pyros, the youngest son of Baron Pyros of Siham - a Midtian city far to the northeast. Wren recalled his name on the guest list for Orion's engagement party. After he finished and the crowd dispersed, Wren took the opportunity to speak with him. He was brusque, arrogant - quite unlikable overall. He claimed to be coming to the ball, and said that he likely wouldn't stay long. He was vague, but the party was suspicious of his tone of voice. They wondered if this young man in black with an attitude might cause trouble.

~~~~~

Lupan attended the people's dance, which took place in the center of the city. It was filled with drinking, music, dancing, and the throwing of flowers all through the street.

Confidence Milton
Tiefling Knight of Midtia
(Art made by me, using
Heroforge)

Confidence Milton, the tiefling knight Lupan had met in the brawl two days ago, was also there. He and Lupan played music together and caroused merrily. Both of them were looking for dance partners and drinking far too much. They also ran into Veers, who was being accosted by a very drunk young lady, and Lupan had saved him. Veers, being a changeling, was easily able to change his appearance and slip away into the crowd after that.

Meanwhile, at the ball, several notable people had arrived and multiple things were happening at once.

- Wren decided to catch up with two old friends: Aurora Aendyr and Minerva Castillon. They spoke with her about a frightening rumor they'd heard: four prominent adventurers from Lanti had gone missing, and no one had been able to find them for almost a week. Rumor had it that they were sent on a suicide mission by the guild, but nobody's quite sure what exactly it was. The party had seen their missing posters up in town.

Alton Coldhide
Lightfoot Halfling, age 28
(Physical age: 19)
(Art by Paolo Puggioni)

- Prince Fang, in his time going about and meeting with his eligible bachelorettes, also met one Alton Coldhide, the older brother of one of the bachelorettes: Hani. They seemed to get along well. Fang also spent time with Sebastian Mulcaster and Lysander Soriena, who were also in attendance.

- A woman by the name "Delphina Brasidio" attended the ball, bearing the same last name as one of the legendary Dragon Lancers: Tylfine.

- When Wren asked Quest about it later, (considering he had also been a Dragon Lancer) Quest said that she knew she wasn't a descendant of Tylfine. He guessed that she was probably descended from her elder sister, who was still in the family. Tylfine had been disowned by her family when she joined the Lancers.

Mirabelle Cromdor
Human, age 20
(Art by Svetlana Tiaga
on Artstation)

- Fang attempted to convince Mirabelle to dance with Orion, but both she and Wren decided it wasn't time yet. He wouldn't be comfortable. Instead, she went to talk to him, and Fang insisted that he'd just wanted to help Mirabelle, because he knew she loved him. Wren reminded him, "You may want to offer help... but she doesn't have to take it."

 ~~ CW BEGINS ~~

- Obsidian Pyros arrived very late to the party... and he made quite the impression. He came in with someone Wren recognized: a local high-end escort who she'd seen at many parties. Obsidian's escort was male.

- The gossip surrounding this went through the party almost immediately. This made Obsidian Pyros the second openly queer noble, and many were loath to approach him. Prince Fang studied Obsidian and his date, as many did, but said nothing. 

- Wren was the only person who approached them rather than being approached. She spoke very cordially with Obsidian, who seemed surprised that she'd even bothered. 

- When Wren left the conversation, she felt her father's eyes burning into her skull. She could tell he'd been watching, and that he didn't approve of the decision she'd made to speak to him.

~~ CW ENDS ~~

In between their duties of the night, Finch had managed to steal Wren for a few dances, and they made plans for dinner on another night, after seeing Sebastian perform. "Dinner and a show," they'd assured each other.

Kressa Aryna
Aarakocra Monster Slayer
Ranger
(Art made by me, using
Heroforge)

Keviks had stuck to Kressa, the aarakocra ranger from Finch's party. Neither of them had experience at these kinds of parties. They ended up in the courtyard, where it was private enough that Keviks could remove his disguise for a moment. He admitted how worried he'd been about her, when Finch mentioned that she'd been hurt in Dragon's Valley. Kressa brushed it off, casually, insisting she'd recovered well. A bit later in the evening, the two of them took to the skies to dance. So they could dance as themselves.

"The two of us in the night sky again... this seems to be our place, don't you think?" she'd asked him.

Keviks agreed, and then asked, "What do you plan to do? Once you're... finished with your mission? Finished hunting the human traffickers?"

"I don't know... Maybe... Find a small place, in the forest... Secluded, put a small cottage there. Live like how I grew up. Where it's peaceful."

"Is... Is that something that I would also be able to have with you?" he asked. "Because... it's something that I want with you. When we're both done. When you've stopped the traffickers, and I've stopped Erdia."

"I'd like that," she confessed. "I really would."

There, in the sky, surrounded by stars and basking in moonlight, they kissed.

Nana, perhaps most surprisingly, did not stay at the ball for all that long. She made her way back to town, and found Lupan. She'd been to so many parties in her life, and Cornelius (the small blue flame in a jar around her neck) had encouraged her to go, try something new. Lupan took Nana dancing for the first time, and although it was something new to her, she'd enjoyed it.

Dragon Lancer: Axel
Changeling Form
Way of Mercy Monk

Lupan and Nana also met up with Quest again, disguised as the half-elf Eon. He'd returned from Bervuo with Axel, his fellow Dragon Lancer, now fully reincarnated and out of the staff. Right now, he was disguised as an elven man, and when he spoke, he had a heavy Irish accent. Quest had procured a letter of recommendation from an academic institute in Siham for Axel, with the intention that he would accompany the royal family back to the castle as the temporary history teacher for the young princes in Nana's absence. They would tell this story to the king, and tell the queen who Axel really was. Queen Wisps could decide how much she wanted to reveal to her husband outside of that. Before Axel left, he had to speak with Lupan, but he decided that was better done when Lupan was sober.

The ball ended, and the party met up again in the city, where they all made their ways back home. Finch walked Wren home, and received what he considered to be a very surprising goodnight kiss from her. 

"I'm having quite a lot of fun doing things I think my father wouldn't approve of tonight," she told him.

Finch didn't seem to mind.

They assured each other again: "Dinner and a show."

~~~~~

DM's Note: At this point, the party has entered into a two week period of downtime. If certain things seem disjointed, like there are large time skips, or as if events are occurring simultaneously, that is intentional.

Nana and Wren were the only ones present for this session, so these events surround them. Any events surrounding Lupan and Keviks will be completed next session.

King River and Queen Wisps left the following morning, with Axel in tow. He'd disguised himself as a half-elven professor, figuring such a disguise would not draw much attention. The queen knew his true identity, and Axel had been warned not to trust Riot Guard Captain Eli Hawks, or any member of the Riot Guard for that matter.

Royal Custodian Castilian
Nana's Eidolon
(Art by Danila Kalinin on Art
Station)

Nana made a short call to Hugo DeMarco, the lich guildmaster of Hero's Way in Kystad. She wanted him to come to Lanti to interview Quest, as per the deal they'd made previously. He arrived within the hour, and Nana made sure Castilian was in the room for their interview. It took multiple hours, because Hugo had many questions, mostly about every previous copper dragon god before Quest. Quest, having access to all of their memories, was able to give him such information.

Towards the end of their conversation, Hugo turned to Castilian. "I suppose I can consider you a pair of eyes and ears..."

Despite that, and receiving confirmation from Castilian that the details of the conversation would be given to Nana, Hugo continued.

Dragon Lancer: Quest Carron
Tiefling Form
College of Satire Bard
(Art by @guttertongue on Twitter)

"When you died, Quest, did you happen to know if Turnuroth, the dragon, had a book?"

"A book?" Quest raised an eyebrow. "What kind of book?"

"Would have been small, red leather bound... almost like a journal really."

Quest scoffed. "No. I was a little bit too concerned about the entire cave crashing down on my head to think about a book."

Hugo wrote something down, and then nodded. "Noted."

He moved to leave after that, and Quest called after him, "You know, you're damn lucky Nana offered you an interview with me. Because if it had been Variel, or Dharvas, or Axel... they'd have smote your ass to Kingdom Come and back."

~~~~~

Finnegan "Finch" Pomeroy
Human, College of Whispers
Bard
(Art by Claparo-Sans on
DeviantArt)

Wren's date with Finch to Sebastian's concert came in the next few days. He met her at her family's estate and brought her a small bouquet of wildflowers, which Casper - the young half-tabaxi boy that traveled with his party - helped him pick. Wren had also gotten Casper a gift: a leather ball with wings that he would be able to chase. Finch jokingly remarked, "Oh wow... so none of us will be getting any sleep tonight..."

Finch told Wren very much about his life, including many stories about his time acting in Rockland, his home city. Being the son of a nobleman, it was something he had to pursue in secret. Everything he knew, he'd learned from a local theatre troupe that did plays for common folk more than nobles. He mentioned one particular title - Moulin Rouge - which Wren had heard of. It was considered inappropriate by her parents for a lady of her stature. Finch had been in it, several times in Rockland. He also informed her that the play had been written by Quest Carron.

Sebastian Mulcaster
Human, age 18
Wren's younger brother
(Art by Charlie Bowater)

Sebastian's concert had been excellent, and Wren couldn't help but feel immense pride for her brother, onstage, performing his own pieces. The audience was just as impressed. When the concert was over and Sebastian was giving his bows, he looked at the box that Wren and Finch occupied. When they'd arrived, all Wren had to do was give her name. The usher had informed her that Sebastian always saved this box for his family, and this was the first time he'd ever brought anyone there.

Sebastian waved at Wren, and she leapt from the box, using Feather Fall to float herself down to the stage. She held her brother and as the curtains closed, he gasped, "You came... You actually came!"

Sebastian walked Wren out to meet Finch again, and they continued their date to dinner.

Finch walked Wren back to the Mulcaster Estate at the end of the night... and ended up staying the night with her there.

~~~~~

Cassandra Mulcaster
Human, age 18
Wren's younger sister
(Art by NibelArt on DeviantArt)

The party was continuing their round of dates and interviews in the city of Lanti with Wren's sister, Cassandra.

She was late to her interview, and after fifteen minutes, Wren grew worried. She found her sister, sobbing in her room. It was clear that the stress of the Royal Selection was overcoming her. Even before the ball, she'd asked what Wren thought Fang would like. Now, faced with her moment to try and impress the young prince, she felt inadequate.

Wren went to find Fang, and she asked him if she could tell Cassandra that he was gay. Fang, hearing how distressed she was, gave Wren permission to do so under two conditions. Firstly: the information never left that room, and secondly, that Wren told Cassandra with Sebastian.

Fang explained, "Sebastian knows... and he and I have actually had many long conversations about it in our spare time together. I think it would help."

Sebastian agreed to accompany Wren, saying very quietly, "Don't tell our father about this... please."

Wren agreed she wouldn't, and the two of them came into Cassandra's room. Hearing what they had to say, knowing Fang's intentions for the Selection, shocked her.

"I'm... relieved in one way," she admitted at length. "But in another way, I'm so... incredibly angry. Not at him, but... I'm angry at something."

Cassandra would still have to do her interview, still have to go on her date, but now it was all about appearances.

"Keeping up appearances?" Cassandra remarked. "Well, I can do that; I've done it my whole life, haven't I?"

Despite her anger, overall, the information really seemed to have comforted her. She relaxed, and that was what she'd needed.

~~~~~

When the royal family left, and King River had implored the party once more to keep his son safe, Nana had said, faintly when they were already leaving, "I will... I can only hope that the world will forgive me."

Nana spent much time studying over the next two weeks. She was looking to change her main school of magic, focusing less on divination and more on ritual magic. In these new forms of study, she looked very specifically for ways to summon devils, in the hope of making a contract with one. She found a ritual that summoned forth devils for the explicit purpose of making contracts. It required blood (any blood) and the sacrifice of a material object of value to the caster. That object would be consumed by the spell.

Nana retrieved a goat for the blood required, and planned to offer up her clockwork amulet - a magic item she'd had for a very long time, and her last tie other than one spell, to altering fate with magic.

On the way to the hills north of Lanti, where she planned to perform this ritual, she spoke again to Cornelius, the elemental she kept in the jar around her neck. She presented him with an ultimatum: he would be sacrificed to whatever devil she summoned, for the creature to do with as it pleased or he could be let out of the jar and given a ring which would put him under her direct control. She presented him with the Rings of Servant and Master, which she still held in her possession, after the trial.

Nana gave Cornelius until the end of the ritual to make his decision, and placed the jar on the ground, beside the Ring of Servitude. She attuned to the Master's Ring immediately, and began casting the ritual.

An archdevil, of all infernal creatures, answered her call. This one was large, towering nearly 7 feet, with skin made of stone that broke into cracks of lava. He was a creature from the layer of Malboge, named Amviron. The two of them negotiated a contract in three pacts. Nana was considered the recipient, and Amviron was considered the scribe.

- The first pact was to be completed upon the signing of said contract. Amviron would send a servant to assist Nana in completing a pair of items to be used as a method of communication between the two of them. The servant would take one item and a gift back to Amviron.

- This "gift" ended up being the name "Hugo DeMarco," referencing the boss of those listed later in the contract. Cornelius had been intended to be the gift, but decided to put on the ring instead.

- The second pact had to be invoked. Amviron would supply Nana with a small army of constructs led by a Cornugon when she required them. The constructs would follow only her, the Cornugon, or a member of the Midtian royal family. The constructs would be in place until the royal bloodline died out. The Cornugon would be relieved of its duties after one month. In exchange, Nana would install two servants of Amviron's choice in a place of holy worship (again, Amviron's choice.) She was not allowed to interfere with any affairs regarding that holy site after that installation.

- The last pact involved Amviron granting Nana great power. In exchange, she would collect the souls of three specific mortals who'd been a pain in his side: Veers, Elicia, and Liam. Once she had them, he would come personally to take them from her. The three of them had been stealing souls from Hell, and many devils wished to be in possession of their souls.

Finding these terms agreeable, the contract was signed.

Cornelius, having made the decision to take the ring rather than be given to the devil, was released from his jar for the first time in over 150 years. The little blue flame crept out and as it did, it melted the jar. It could no longer be contained there. Its fire slipped into the ring, and then expanded into the form of what could best be described as a fire genasi, but with blue flames. He wore an eyepatch over his right eye.

Nana gave him a series of rules, which, at the mercy of the Ring of Servitude, he was bound to obey without question.

~~~~~

ART LINKS:

https://www.paolopuggioni.com/

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qArgRe

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lxnKoV

https://twitter.com/guttertongue/status/1045505333265924097

https://www.deviantart.com/claparo-sans/art/Edricane-547043882

https://www.instagram.com/charliebowater/

https://www.deviantart.com/nibelart/art/Olivia-FFXIV-Com-792159212