As the Circle prepares to depart Great Forks, they are given boons.
Start Date: 8 Descending Air
The mysterious Rani turns out to know Xylanthe, though Xylanthe barely remembers her. Rani was around when Imtari Ashat was, and apparently left about the same time.
As the Schnellvogel leaves Great Forks, the Exalted are contacted by the three spirits that rule the city, and given gifts as thanks for their part in solving the recent crisis.
Weaver of Dreams of Victory gives Tonanti the knowledge that the nightmares he is suffering are not natural (which will hopefully enable him to put a stop to them), and points out that he has not suffered them within the city, nor will he if he returns. The rest of the Exalted are gifted with dreams of their triumphs for the next week.
Dayshield grants them protection, in the form of the eponymous “Shield of a Different Day”. This takes the form of a tapestry depicting the airship flying in a sunny sky. The angle and coloring of the scene vary between dawn, noon, and dusk, and the tapestry is blank at night. This is because the shield can only be used once in morning, once at midday, and once near evening, and it cannot be used at night.
Spinner of Glorious Tales looks at their “stories” and gives them the gift of information. He tells them two things about their journey: “the Warden of Night is the key you must seek” and “Expect aid from a strange quarter”. Since the circle is heading to a place about which those of Great Forks do not speak, he cannot elaborate further. However, to make up for this, he allows each of the Exalted to ask three questions, either about themselves or about their companions. The questions and answers can be private if desired.
Xylanthe leads off by asking if her father, Arskelos, is alive. (He is.) She asks for the full story of Sethos and Shardis/Shadris, which reveals that he betrayed his wives because he was unable to trust. Finally, she asks “who here is trustworthy”, which gets her the enigmatic answer “all of you are worthy of trust, when you are yourselves”.
Ourna asks what happened to her father, and is informed that he “was delayed by conflict. He fights, in his own way.” She asks for information on contacting the Unconquered Sun, and is informed that she needs the rites and prayers of a priest of the sun, and will find what she needs at the Spire Invictus. Finally, she asks which man is best by her side (out of “those who came before”, “two two”, and “one yet to come” … all but the last describing Aniam, Melchior, Tremaen, and Keriam). The answer is “the half-fey”. Ourna immediately interprets this to refer to Tremaen. [OOC-ly, several mintues later we realized that that answer could potentially refer to ANY of her alternatives, as far as Ourna knows, and the only one Jenna actually knows would be right out is Aniam. The GM notes that Ourna also didn't realize that she's failed asked whether any were actually good for her, merely which was the best of those choices. And that she didn't consider the possibility that someone she has already met (and thus not “yet to come”) is better than her options.]
Tonanti asks “is she alive”, to which the answer is “yes”. He asks why Develan was in his nightmare with Umbra and Tonanti's dead relatives, and is told that his Hearthstone interacted with the nightmare to drag the sleeping Develan in. Finally, he asks about their relationships in the First Age, and is told that, though the time span in question is broad and they were not always together, there was a time when each of them was associated with the others in much the same fashion as they are now.
Develan asks after his family, and is told that they work much as they did before, though in service to another. He asks “can we win”, and is told, “Yes, you can win. But which conflict should you win?”. Finally, he asks “Am I him (sethos)”, and is informed “You are both him and not him. You walk the edge of a knife between these two, and which way you fall depends greatly on your choices.”
Albrecht asks after his nemesis, Herr Geuber Schickle, and is told to “Seek Vanileth”. He asks what funds they will need for the coming conflict, and is told “Money will not buy you what you need.” Finally, he asks how the Exalted must go about avoiding what happened to them in the First Age, and the response is “You must avoid becoming what you fight, and help one another to resist or contain your aberrations”.
As the airboat returns to normal, each of them notices the discomfiting fact that, excepting only Albrecht (who asked all of his aloud), everyone asked all or most of their questions in private… a fact which Ourna's inner Rozacia is quick to grab onto as evidence of conspiracy.
End Date: 8 Descending Air
This session was short because I was trying to get character creation done for the Abyssals portion before we started playing, and because the Q&A took longer than I anticipated (about an hour and a half to two hours for 15 questions). Other than that, the question seemed to go over well enough … glad Pete suggested it. If I had to do it over with, I would have said that Talespinner could only give the two pieces of info about the future that he provided, and could only answer questions specifically about the past or present story of the PCs. This would focus the information more on what the characters are or have been, than on what they will do or what they may learn later.
Converted from old log.