Mattiverse Next - Session 31

The Lance

• A very quick investigation and reference to their notes has them find the wand case.
• It has an exceptionally tricky lock, with a clever failsafe that will disable the lock on a failure.
• A very sweaty Bobwhite carefully does the needful.. and succeeds!
• Inside is a pink origami bird, a swan or goose.
• Bobwhite leaves it, but does take the wand.
• They leave the place exactly as they found it.
• Getting out involves silence and illusions, but the inattentive guards pay their shenanigans no heed.
• Bobwhite even manages to put the key back in its hiding place in the librarian's office.
• They pop out a second-story window and fly off into the night. The heist was a success!

Bethanalay

• Wiped, they figure the danger of staying is less than the danger of immediately absconding while spent.
• Four gets a message the next day, from Bethanalay, asking him to dinner. It is perfumed same as the origami piece. They go for it, but they are on their guard.

Her blond hair is pulled back in a tight bun. Her red roots are starting to grow in -- she clearly has not had time for personal maintenance amidst her management of the city's civil renewal. Bethanalay rushes forward and gives you a friendly hug. Four smiles and waves as she comes in, tries to gesture at a booth/table, something available. GM: I'm glad you made it! I am glad you didn't dress up! I'm dressed down, I hope you don't mind. Four returns the hug, somewhat awkwardly. Four: Dressed down? You look lovely! GM: Please, come sit down! Beth laughs nervously. You make light small talk. She seems nervous, as if she is talking around the issue. Her interest in you, however, seems genuine. Four: You want some wine or ale or... are you allowed to drink? I totally don't know. But some wine would help me. She claims to recognize you from before you got into trouble, and even remembers some of the basic details of the incident. She is a stonehauser and has only ever lived in Wydmoor. She is a little younger than you, so she remembers it as some kids getting into mischief. Beth laughs and nods. She orders a pitcher of ale. Beth: Oh that's awful! Beth: Her grey eyes soften. Her grey eyes soften. Beth: Are you back for good? Beth: The halfling way is the road, they say. Four: Yeah, though I do have fond memories of this place. Beth: It seems like a dream, just going free from place to place. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful and proud of my service here but sometimes... All I've ever seen are these walls. Beth: While all my friends were off at Dogmoot, I was in school working on my primary measure. Its hard not to wonder "what if" you know? Four (eyes-widening): The road is wonderful... have you not done the wandering? Four: Dogmoot was such an experience! Beth: Oh? Tell me about it! Beth: That's amazing! You know, the wise ones day that dreams have in them the grains of the future. I'm a diviner by specialty -- there's something to that. Four: Oh! What does your divining say about me? Beth: But.... Beth: They also say that dreams are protean. They change and shift and can't be trusted. They're not straightforward. You don't think she's only talking about dreams here. Beth thinks. Beth: My instinct tells me you have secrets, but I sense you have a good heart. Beth: Do you think you have a good heart, Four? Four: Sadly, I once trusted the day's expected calm rivers and it went awry... so it's hard to trust what's expected anymore Four: [SKILL] Persuasion: d20-1 = 15 Beth: Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Beth smiles. Beth: Here, let me give you something. Four: My family matters a lot to me, and they tease me for having such a big heart sometimes. I just know what it means to lose things important to you... I'm not sure they fully understand. Beth: That must be nice. I was an only child. I don't think it's natural for our kind to grow up without a pack. Beth: My great nan always looked out for me, after Maggr got executed. Books were my friends more than my cousins were my friends. Four: Ohhh? An only child? That's almost sad to hear. But it sure made you independent, I bet? She didn't say "dad". Beth: It did. I learned well. Lone wolf has to be cagey to survive, right? Beth smiles sadly. Four: Books... that sounds useful, but so... is it wrong to say "lonely"? Beth: It's just tiring, you know? And then I assumed I'd take over for Edi and... You know, sorry. This must be the wine, I shouldn't dump this all at once Beth: Keep it light, Beth! Beth lightly pops herself on the noggin. Four: Eh, time is too short for "light". Who else are you going to tell, the books? They don't talk back much and at least I'm being some wine Beth laughs Beth: Thanks, it's just.. after your family, talking about ---- frustrated professional ambitions is small potatoes. Beth: Anyway, here.. A little something to remember this weird night. Four: Well, it sounds like the church has become like your family Beth takes the scrap of paper she's been fidgeting with. She kisses the center of it and then folds it into an origami swan. She slides it over the table to you and looks at you meaningfully. Four picks it up and smells it, visibly. Beth laughs. Beth: Weird! Four: Oh, your note earlier smelled nice, too Four: So I was curious, sorry Four: How did you fold it like that? (uneasy) Beth: A vanity. It's in the blood, I guess. Four: Hmm? Beth: The same way I became the second most powerful cleric in Wydmoor, Four. Practice and patience. Beth: So... Do you think you have a good heart, Four? Four: Yeah, my bros tell me it's too big sometimes. Beth: A thief with a heart of gold, maybe? Beth: It's just too storybook. She knows. Four: Ehh, a halfling is a halfling, right? Four: What, have I stole your heart? Is that what you mean? Beth chuckles. Beth: You just might, if you're as capable a rogue as I think you are. Beth: Tell me straight, Four. What's your intent here? Four: I'm more of an adventuring brawler than those scrawny rogue types and their little sneaky fingers Beth: And I don't mean dinner and with me. (looks at you pointedly and, a little flirtaciously perhaps) Beth: What are you going to do with it? Beth looks at Four, straight in the eyes. She doesn't sober up, but clearly makes a show of trying. Four: My intent? It's 100% honest to god to keep my bros alive and out of trouble. They have wild ideas sometimes and I'm just keeping them from killing themselves. Beth: I don't leave my desk unlocked. I'm very meticulous. I don't make careless mistakes. Beth: When I get reprimanded for something, I remember it. Four: Look-- you sound really upset and the last thing I want to hear is you upset. If I did something to offend you, I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be reprimanded, I'm sure of it Beth: I happen to agree. I didn't make the mistake. Anyway, it's fine. Beth: I'm not a dummy, Four. You really think it's the vagaries of fate that kept that thing catalogued? Four: I'm sure if any bonehead did that, they surely weren't trying to make your life worse in anyway. Four: I don't think you're a dummy at all... I think you're sitting across from the dummy currently. I'm a bit lost. Beth shakes her head. Beth: Nobody doubts your sincerity, Four. But. this is DANGEROUS, Four. Four tries to remain composed. Beth: The history of this place proves it -- intent doesn't matter. Four: Dangerous? Like what do you mean? Beth: You're doing something DANGEROUS. Four: I'm just trying to keep my idiot bros alive. Four: Did you see something in your divining that says they're in danger or ...? I'm so lost. Beth nods. Beth: Yes. Beth: I just want to know that whatever you and your cousins are doing is for the benefit of OUR people. I don't think you fully comprehend what you're fooling with. Beth: You may intend glory or nobility or something else heroic. But, this is not a tool of heroes. Four: I'm pretty sure the only thing they've wanted to do since Dogmoot is talk about saving the world and stuff Beth: It was cursed by the gods of the old world. Not metaphors, Four. We live in an era of rhetoric and forget the dangers of real power. Beth: Save it from what? Dark days are in the future. Are you ushering them in yourselves? What threat do you seet that would require something so hateful to fight. Four: I don't anything about curses, but I do know that my bros and I have good hearts. Four: I definitely do not fully comprehend anything, but that's not anything new. Do you want to talk to them, I'm sure they can answer your questions better than I can? Beth: Honestly, it cannot stay here. I cannot delay the inventory forever. You have, perhaps, done me a favor. Perhaps. But, you could also be racing forward mindlessly to the doom of our own people Beth: No. I don't trust them. I trust YOU. Four: Oh, you mean in that way Beth: I trust your heart. I trust you to stand by it even if it means standing against your cousins. If you really are there to keep them safe, then you need to do that. Four: Oh, umm.. yeah, I think we have seen enough to know we're doing the right thing. Someone has to try to do the right thing, y'know? All these people and rules-- they don't usually do that. Beth chuckles. Beth: You have given me no compelling reason that this errand is for anyone's benefit. If you are smart, you would sink this to the bottom of the Stormchalice. Four: That would make me very happy, I think. Whatever it is you're talking about [not doing the best job hiding it] I'm in favor of not doing crazy things with crazy stuff. Beth: Consider this -- if you are.... doing something foolish. You and your cousins are making choices for ALL of us. Would I be willing to pay the prices required for your vision? Beth: The Southies? The Ags? Four: I didn't bring the storm that day. I didn't bring the storm today. The storm is here, I'm just trying to pilot the damned boat to the Landing. Beth: This can't fall into human hands, that much I think we would agree on. Beth smiles. Beth: Thanks all I can ask. Like I said, I trust your heart and intent, but the world is littered with the ruins of intent. Let me tell you this -- I know Roadies talk a lot of shit about the Stonehousers. Beth: But, here's something to think about. That narrative is, itself, constructed. WE HAD A CITY! Beth is getting a little drunkenly worked up, but not in a bad way. Beth: The Ubrekti tore it down, stone by stone. Beth: You road folk talk as if the dogs riding across the plains of wrath are our "natural state" Whats wrong with our state now? Just.... Think about it, Four. You're playing with things much bigger than you. Beth: MAgically and... otherwise. Four: As a halfling, I'm always playing with things much bigger than me. That being said, nothing anyone can say will talk me out of protecting my family. Beth: The fact you even came to dinner instead of scarpering off in the night speaks a little to your credit. Four: Well, I always had a good feeling about you. Beth: Okay, that's all I can ask. Don't just be fast. Be *quick*. Beth grabs at you. Beth: Dance with me, Four! Four is confused and awkward, but sure. Beth: You talked a lot about dreams, Four -- let me show you mine! The song is a lively and upbeat number, through the lyrics are dark. The dance itself is an estampee.