Heavy is the Head - Campaign thread

Upon receiving the magical message, Saoirse jolts awake. Tesfaye! She had forgotten about him! She takes a moment to collect herself and finish waking up - it had been a very short rest, but she had managed to sleep deeply - and tells the rest:

- I've just received a message from Tesfaye! Says things are getting tense there. The HMC is moving against the locals. We need to return soon.

As she says this, she looks at the sleeping shape of Fitzwhistle:

- We need to wake him up, do whatever he wants us to do and leave as soon as possible. Meanwhile I'll answer Tesfaye. Let's see... what do you think of this reply: "Artificer charmed to forget knowledge and cannot abandon tower. Wants to die by blood magic and his soul transfered to overcome this. Be there ASAP".

Hemlock looks over at Saoirse from where he is brewing tea as she jolts up.

”We were just talking about asking Tesfaye for advice, weren’t we Lam? Make sure to mention the transfer is to an automaton, I think that is important”.

He then wanders over to Sha and Fitzwhistle, and starts to gently shake them awake.

”Fancy some tea?”.

- Okay. Then I will send this: "Artificer charmed to forget knowledge and cannot abandon tower. Wants to die by blood magic and transfered to automaton to overcome this. Be there ASAP."

Once they are sure of the content and that it matches the 25 word lenght, Saoirse uses the sending stone to send the message. Then approaches the rest.

- Can I have some tea too, please? It smells delicious.

She waits for Fitzwhistle to wake as she takes short sips, waiting to see what the next steps are.

When Lam sees that Saoirse is awake, he leaves his post by the window to join her and Hemlock in conversation. His breath catches slightly when Saoirse relays the message from Tesfaye. He nods when Hemlock brings up their earlier conversation about Tesfaye, and he stays to confirm his approval of Saoirse’s drafted response to them- then he starts to pace around the room as he waits for next steps.

Hemlock pours Saoirse a cup of tea, "I think that message is perfect".

"What do you expect Tesfaye wants us to do about Hammerstone and the locals? Do they want us to join the fight, or to try and calm things down? We aren't exactly in the good graces of those at Hammerstone".

Sha-gravis wakes with a terrible headache and a drool spot on his arm.  He gratefully accepts some tea.  And waits as Saoirse communicates with Tesfaye.  He sits and examines the harpy egg and hums a little as he gently cradles the not-yet-hatchling.  The real miracle of life, perhaps Fitzwhistle’s ideas can produce a miracle too.

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

"What do you expect Tesfaye wants us to do about Hammerstone and the locals? Do they want us to join the fight, or to try and calm things down? We aren't exactly in the good graces of those at Hammerstone".

- Hmm ... - Saoirse meditates the answer, as she stirs the hot tea with a teaspoon - Tesfaye and Rhys will want us to try to calm things down, but I'm not sure about Cylence. Knowing him, he will probably want to fight. But I think the real question is: what do we want to do? Despite we are not in good graces with the HMC, I think we should try the peaceful approach first. You all saw what happened between Jonah and Samantha. If we were able to make Jonah see that we are on the same side - that is, against Strixwell - ... If we could do that, we would gain a formidable ally. 

"I am not so certain of Jonah's allegiance, I thought the company he worked for had dealings with Strixwell?", Hemlock replies.

"But I agree we should try for a peaceful solution. There is also the issue of Safi, and her captivity there once again. We can do nothing until we are able to leave here though, so getting Fitzwhistle has to be our first challenge".

Fitzwhistle sleeps on. The sky continues to darken. The tea is delicious, but offers no answer or course of action.

In my generous reading of sending stones, it is possible for you to send a second message, allowing an immediate response.

Once Hemlock suggests a thing to do, Lam walks over to the conversation again. In a low voice, he asks, “Do we wake Fitzwhistle? Are we going to try to… move his soul?” He seems ready to gently wake the gnome up once he has permission.

Ali takes this moment, as the party seems to be awake again, to push for answers. "By the Platinum Dragon, I demand to know what Wyrm you serve, and what their motives are."

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

"I am not so certain of Jonah's allegiance, I thought the company he worked for had dealings with Strixwell?", Hemlock replies.

"But I agree we should try for a peaceful solution. There is also the issue of Safi, and her captivity there once again. We can do nothing until we are able to leave here though, so getting Fitzwhistle has to be our first challenge".

 - Yes, that is true. But that seemed to change the moment Samantha messed with his mind. Or perhaps that is just my wish, I don't know. In any case, yes, our focus should be Fitzwhistle now. 

Quote from MakingMerryMusic >>

Once Hemlock suggests a thing to do, Lam walks over to the conversation again. In a low voice, he asks, “Do we wake Fitzwhistle? Are we going to try to… move his soul?” He seems ready to gently wake the gnome up once he has permission.

Saoirse just shrughs, unsure of what is going to happen to the gnome and his soul. But nothing will happen if they don't wake him first, so she nods and motions Lam to go ahead and wake the sleeper.

When Ali demands to know about the dragon, the genasi tenses. Hamza had stated that her existence should be kept secret, and she's not sure they can trust the lizardfolk just yet. She eyed Hemlock warily, not sure of how they should proceed. 

Hemlock stands up to his full height, which is impressive despite his slender frame, and looks down at Ali.

"You demand knowledge, Ali? You demand that we break an oath made to a dragon? I think you forget yourself", he says a little shocked. "You are far from having earned our trust and until you have, and we have ensured you are worthy of such knowledge, our lips will remain sealed on the matter".

He turns to Lam, "I think it wise to wake Fitzwhistle. We do not know how long this process will take, or if it is safe. Saoirse, is there any way to get Tesfaye's thoughts right now?".

Lam allows Saoirse and Hemlock to handle Ali’s questions, remaining quiet to go along with Hemlock’s words, and goes to gently shake Fitzwhistle awake.

Ali's nostrils flare, and he stares evenly at Hemlock as the firbolg chastises him. "The gem you hold is from a sapphire wyrm, yes? I would not ask you to break such an oath - which you had not told me you made - but I must know more before I follow you blindly! Do you know that the gem dragons serve their own ends? Usually aligned with freedom, but some are swayed by Tiamat's call. All of the great dragons are wise masters to be heeded, but not all are good. So no, flesh-birther, I do not forget myself. You have much to learn."

The gnome wakes fairly easily, and blinks uncomfortably at the fading light through the windows, as though even that feels bright to him in this moment. He brushes a few black tabaxi hairs out of his beard, and takes in his surroundings. "Well, you're all still here, and I'm feeling sober again. So I'm pretty convinced you're all real. Did I say anything embarrassing? Oof, the last bit of time before that nap feels like a bit of a blur. Did you catch the wizard woman who took my multitool? It's a really good multitool, I'd hate to have to rebuild it from scratch. Oh! Poor Cubert! Come over to the workbench. Papa's got you, you'll be alright. It looks like you've got some broken tiles here - you're leaking arcane energy all over the place. Careful, guests - he might toss out a cantrip accidentally any time now. These tiles get a little wild when they crack. Let's just say I went without any eyebrows for a few weeks after some of my early experiments with these things. Speaking of experiments... are ya'll going to help me take the next big leap in artifice, and create / become a fully sentient automaton? I do believe I've worked out all the kinks. Course, with a pressure-differential cerebral network, first of its kind, you can't be certain. Such is the way of progress!" As he goes on, he leads Cubert to a workbench and begins fixing the cracks in the tiles, carefully patching with the same metalwork you saw on parts of the tower, seeming to poor the metal as a liquid and shape it in a combination of magic and metallurgy. From everywhere in the room you can feel heat emanating from his process - though much less than what would be required for non-magical forgework.

Hemlock shrinks a little as he relaxes his posture after the chastisement from Ali.

"It is true I had not told you of the oath, but now you know. It is also true that our experiences of dragonkind are few, and we may be a little naive in that regard. We did take an oath not to reveal anything of the dragon to whom we are allied, but I do not believe that extends to letting you know that their motives align to our own, which are good. We undertook trials to prove ourselves to the dragon in question, and they also had to persuade us of their good intentions as well in order to form an alliance", he responds a little more meekly.

He turns to Fitzwhistle, "We reclaimed your mutlitool, and before you slept you told us that it has information regarding the places you have visited. I suggest you show us how to access that so we can do so without your presence, otherwise it might cause you further headaches".

Saoirse stands next to Hemlock while he replies Ali and though she says nothing, her demeanor indicates that she fully backs the druid's words up. In the end, he choses to reveal just the necessary info, and that seems to satisfy the lizardfolk for the moment. Time will tell if they'll all trust each other enough so that more information can be revealed.

Regarding Tesfaye, Saoirse says:

- I can send them one more message yes, and they can reply back. But perhaps it is best to wait and see if we can examine that multitool, and what we can learn from it - she turns to Fitzwhistle and ask - Can we do as Hemlock asks? Can we use your multitool without you around, so it doesn't hurt you further?

Lam watches Fitzwhistle fix Cubert for a minute with fascination, still feeling bad about his part in breaking the construct so badly. He makes his way back over to the window to see if anything has changed with Eliza. He says out loud while staring out the window, “Fitzwhistle… how do we make you into… how do we do that?” He figures he is unlikely to play a part in the actual process, but still doesn’t understand how Fitzwhistle goes from being a gnome to being an automaton.

Ali nods at Hemlock. "I will follow you for now. But be wary. And I will not be a party to necromancy."

Thanks for getting that back! Like I said - it's me favorite. As for getting it to show where I've been - his hands go to his temples again - , I sure don't remember can't won't remember putting anything like that in it. If I were to design something like that for it now though... I'd need to have a physical map, preferably stone or metal, and a permanent place, preferably high up - like a tower or a cliffside. Then I'd build a receiver in there. No such thing in this tower though, I can tell you that for sure. If I were to build such a thing, I'd prpbably go for the abandoned watchtower above weretown. Ouchi ouchi o god it's back, the pain is back; I've never been to weretown never not ever nope...

Once Fitzwhistle calms down, he quickly shifts focus to talk about his proposed ritual. "It should be simple enough. The prototype body is ready to go, I've run every test I can think of. You just need to cut my throat or stab my heart, use my lifeblood to inscribe this symbol - he shows a piece of paper with an intricate circular sigil drawn on it - onto the inside of the construct's breastplate (don't worry, I've already drawn out the lines on him, you just need to trace them with my blood), and use the magic of a blood curse of binding on the inscribed sigil to hold the blood still, enchanted, and in place. Finally, you've got to target the construct with healing magic in the exact moment that my spirit leaves my body. Oh, and we have to do all of that while I'm linked to the construct body." - he gestures towarda a large intricate helmet that he obviously intends to wear during the process -  so that the pressurized neural network can copy my brainstate while it happens. I want to create the experience of continual consciousness, partly for my notes later. You got all that?"

Sha stands and stretches, he then raises his arms links his hands makes a circle overhead using channel divinity to harness Divine power regaining a first level spell slot.  “I am ready my friend if Saoirse and you are.”