Saturday, 30th of July
Session XXX
3rd day of the center rule in the State of Dominance.
Day of Charity (continued).

Aquariel heals us all. We haul the Jabberwoky out of the caves and the water as Aquariel sings. The bloody water gathers together and she moves it slowly to the beach.

I ferret the loot from the Lair. Sir Toves, Chryseis and Ludvik move the bodies out. They find 4 or 5 gnomen (in pieces) and many more animals 1/2 eaten and left to rot in the lair. Eki gets naked and starts to dredge the muck pond.

Something bubbles up out of the muck. It's a head with tentacles and wings, but no body. It launches itself at Eki as soon as it clears the tar. Ludvikd drops the load of dead and pulls out his sword, attacking it quickly. It slams into the wall and sticks there. Another comes through and starts screaming. Its voice is ear-spitting and loud. Eki, joined by Sir Toves, starts to try and slay these things. Eki identifies them as Vargoyles. A third comes out of the muck.

Together they are able to defeat them, but not before Eki is bit. Apparently some catacombs in the dead district get infested with these things. Dustmen pay a bounty of 2gp/head for them.

Eki returns to dredging the tar pond, but it's obvious even to me that his wound is infected. Sir Toves tries to heal him, but the pestilance remains. Aquariel kisses him... I mean heals him, but still the poison remains.

When Eki is done dredging the tar pond, the heftier people bring in rocks and fill up the pond. The task takes up the better part of an hour. Outside we build a cairn for the Jabberwoky's victims. By the end of the afternoon we are all weary. Aquariel invites us into her pond. She also calls the birds to her and tells them the news.

After a long soak, we're clean enough and decide to head back. Sir Toves calls forth a dire badger as his mount. We gather up Gallumps-a-lot, say our goodbyes and get going. We take along the Jabberwoky's head as proof, and a handful of the jubjub bird's feathers.

We travel back to the Borogroves farm. Mr. Borogrove is taking to three armoured gnomen on the road. The armoured gnomen are each riding a dire badger. One is a woman, the second a younger man, and the third an older man who bears a strong resemblance to Sir Toves. We are introduced while the woman runs up and yells at Sir Toves.

The younger is Kilwald, Sir Toves good friend. The woman is Belwin and the man is Borhold the Slithy. We learn that Sir Borhold is a reputed Snark killer. It seems Sir Toves was supposed to depart with a group of gnomen to find and kill the Jabberwoky; and not go off alone. Unfortunately, Sir Toves can't recall why he left on his own and uses the lack of memory as his only defense.

We have a nice dinner outside with the Borogroves. Chryseis tells our tale and we have a mellow evening. We sleep in the barn (The only place big enough for the humans). And it gives us a chance to go over what we gleaned from the cave:

* 4 Silver trade bars (each weighing about 1/2 a pound) worth 25 sp/ea.
* 13 amethyst chips (royal purple) worth 10 gp/ea.
* 7 gold nuggets - 50 gp each.
* 120 gp misc coins
* 340 sp misc coins
* broken jewelry (5 lbs gold) or 250gp in broken bits.

We give 3 silver ingots to the Borogroves to help pay for the pigs that the Bandersnatch ate, and divide the rest by 5 for even shares. It works out to 178 gp and 8 sp per person.

4rd day of the center rule in the State of Dominance.
Day of Diligence

We return to Whisperleaf that morning. The people are out in numbers. Forest gnomes com out to greet us. As we approach the settlement more and more gnomes come out to greet us and see the Jabberwoky's head. Eventually our way is blocked by gnomes. And then the party ensues. It's amazing. People, total strangers, offer us drinks, food, a place to stay--you name it.

As the crowd presses around us - an illusionary display starts to form. At first it's just the Jabberwoky swooping in and a mile-high tall Sir Toves cutting off its head. The illusion repeats, each time subtlety different; and eventually we appear in supporting roles in the tale of Sir Toves. We use this time to escape.

Eki's injury is healed by a dozen gnomen druids all trying something different at once.
Ludvik is given a lot to drink and is pressed into dancing with buxom gnome women, and offered many places to sleep.

Chryseis gets nervous as many gnome men gather around her and start poking curiously.
Local raccoons are glad the beasts are gone, but are anxious to flee the party; but like us they are boxed in by the crowd.

Somehow we make our way through the crowd and into Whisperleaf's shadow. We travel up the tree via the basket to the branch with the portal. It's easy to laugh (especially after drinking so very much), and then it's only a few crawling steps to home.

We arrive back in the late afternoon. There's a light haze and the visibility is about 3 miles.

Since we're already in the Lady's district, we go to the mint to get our money exchanged.
When we return home we learn that Dirk;s forge was robbed last night and Dirk was killed. It's got the neighborhood riled up.

Over the next few days I stayed at home and helped out. Chryseis embeds the gem in her helm with the feathers of the jub jub bird.

A few days pass.
7th day, Center rule, State of Dominance, 127 FHR

We dream.
Chryseis dreams for the first time.
I see the dream reflected in the pool in the Ever forest.

Chryseis dreams of the time before waking where she sees herself facing a quickly angered Athena. She turns and falls onto a table in a room where children enter via the cold hearth. Ludvik sees the same scene in the quicksilver of his knife.

We all hear Svana's voice, but only Ludvik can understand it.

She is frightened and confused.
"Am I awake or am I dreaming? If I'm dreaming, tell me - I don't ever want to wake up.*"
(*Translated from the Celestial by a very gracious GM.)
"Svana! Where are you, I can't find you."
The room fades away into a sea, which resolves into a white face which pulls back and we see Svana as she was when we last saw her, perhaps younger.
"Ludvik! Is that you"
"It's me Svanna. I need to find you."
"I can help you . I need you to beleive in me."
"I never stopped."
"If you believe in me -- if you ask for me, I can help you. I can find you."
"Where are you?"
"Harbringer house. Mother's here. She says you sent her."
"I didn't."
"Mother doesn't look right. She's scary. She says terrible things. She talks of the others. The ones we're not supposed to. Use the shard I gave you. The gray men are coming. Follow the shard and believe in me, but don't listen to what mother says."
The figure turns away. The pool froths. Ludivik tries to keep talking with Svanna, but hte blade reforms and contact is broken."

Out on the street yesterday (on the 6th). 3-4 Dabus showed up to paint the two-story tenement building white. This morning there's some upset women at the well. The Dabus are now repainting the building blue. The paint's not even dry yet from the first coat.

We gather together and chat; trying to figure out the dream. Ludvik tries to concentrate on the knife but it doesn't seem to point in any particular direction. He explains that Svana refers to the dagger as a shard. Mom was made out of shards, could the dagger be part of Mom?

As we're talking, Chryseis sees Aurelius fly into the Athenium. She goes to check it out then returns to tell us that Linni's been murdered at the Ascension drinking hall!