Turn of Fortune's Wheel (Gnomes' game)

As I imagined the scene, Eithne addresses Kopoha in particular - but not because she wants to exclude the others but because she believes they can join freely if they want, without the need for special invitations.

So, since we have no idea what's going on, I wonder how many of us will join Kopoha in having a meal first...

(OOC - If the question was is to me, Britari was only talking to Kopoha. But it's not like she is preventing others from hearing.)

As others chip in with comments, Britari subtly grabs the rod she carries. (I'm not sure she's cast any spells around the group thus far. She casts Message and whispers first to Eithne, "Don't eat the food."

She would prepare to cast it again if anyone else seems about to partake in the feast. 

Rogferr moves slowly to the fallen menhir while keeping an eye on the deathly looking man. He will search the menhir for any symbols or writing. Speaking to Kopoha.

“Is this a game that others are invited to play? Earlier we joined a game involving Celestials and Demons. That was a fun time.”

Eithne thinks: 'Enough with these irrational and uncontrolled fears! Why shouldn't I eat the food? Britari advised it...'
'It wasn't us who spoke to you, Eithne' the Vocies in her head retort.
'It was your friend Britari... she spoke to you with a spell.'
'Perhaps you'll listen to her more than to us...'

Slightly embarrassed by her mistake, the Lone Survivor realizes what has happened and gives the tiefling a faint nod. Evidently, the other is up to something...

Kopoha shrugs at Rogferr, "Everyone here is having fun, it looks like fun too, we'll find out!" She stops though when Britari comments on the unguarded feast. "Oh? If you say so..." Kopoha then walks over to the feast and picks up some of the food, looking back at you all and smiles, "To godhood!" She takes a bite and instantly vanishes, the rest of the food falls to the ground with a dull thump.

Faith panics, "What happened to Kopoha?"

Eithne raises a brow, puzzled, turning her azure eyes to Britari: "Where did you send her? I'd hate to leave her in trouble... she could make a fine goddess, with just a little help..."

"You know, things must not always be easy for the gods..." the Savage Wanderer meditates, calmly "Mortals, when things get tough, can always pray to the gods. But when you are a god, who can you pray to?"

Britari looks at the others, staying quiet for a moment.  "I may have misspoke. This is a Widow's Henge rather than Champion's Henge. Legends say that anyone who eats from it vanishes." There's a pause. "I'm sure it's harmless though."

She starts to walk away from stones and fallen menhir. "If you think about it, it means our mission is accomplished! And as I told Kopoha earlier, you deal with what comes and through sorrow you become greater. I really think this moment is the thing that will truly start her journey to greatness!"

Moving back towards where they started, she says, "Now we just find the portal and we're on our way! Well, unless we want to find a few more parties."

As you discuss the disappearance of Kopoha the winds suddenly rustle the trees faintly, and the scent of earth and life floats your way as Danai, the Spiritor who met you earlier, appears through the trees. Her face belies more than a hint of concern. "Where is Kopoha?" She asks in a firm though unaccusing manner, far from the relaxed brightness of before.

Faith answers, "Britari suggested that Kopoha eat something from this feast, and when she did, she disappeared!"

"Yes." Britari replies firmly to Danai (OOC - Whom I don't think we've met? We met the Spiritor Kallista earlier. Or maybe we met both and I've forgotten?). "We attended a few parties with her. Danced with dryads and partied with pixies. We all had fun! And then, we came across this feast here, she ate something and immediately disappeared."  She pauses a moment. "So, Kopoha got to enjoy your festivities, and I guess she won't get in your way now!" She tries to make it sound like a big positive. 

"Personally, I've no idea where she's vanished too, but I think is a great moment for her to take an epic voyage and truly become a renowned goddess as a result!" 

So focused on investigating the menhir it takes a moment for Rogferr to notice Kopoha’s disappearance. At the realization he jolts back and looks towards the food. 

“What kind of food can make someone disappear?”

Rogferr will look back towards the deathly looking man to see his reaction to the current situation.

(Good question, sorry this wasn't more clear! Danai is the Spiritor and thus has no actual physical form, so she inhabits willing persons when she needs to in order to interact with others more directly. The satyr she is inhabiting is named Kallista. It's like...happy ghost possession, and all 7 Spiritors can do it.)

There is a coldness that settles over Danai at your explanation as she looks at the fallen menhir. The deathly looking man and his retinue of skeletons and some other...guests...seem unbothered by what has transpired, focused on playing their game of bocce with skulls on the open lawn. Danai waits a beat before answering. "A Widow's Henge," She answers Rogferr, "It appeared some time ago, when this stone fell." She turns aside, "Follow me."

Religion or History, DC 15:

Danai leads you in a steady pace back through the woods, skirting the main areas you saw and visited before. She stops at an overgrown well just outside town. "Do what you came to do, then leave, and do not return."

(OOC: Feel free to go ahead and make your recording with the mimir now as well)

Eithne's History: 11

Quote from Painted_Beyond >>

Eithne's History: 11

Eithne doesn't quite understand what happened—but she does understand something: Britari's ploy evidently proved far from innocuous and, consequently, made the party unwelcome. She is now gravely concerned for the Empyrean, a creature of such remarkable power... and yet, in some ways, almost childlike in her worries about how her parents might regard her.

"Do you think Kopoha is in danger?" the Savage Wanderer, visibly worried, asks Danai. "And is there no way to help her?"

'Another?' the Lone Survivor thinks. 'Another death on my path? Will her soul also come to take up residence in my mind?'
'No, Eithne, we don't think so' the Voices in her head promptly reply.
'We dwell within you because we were your people.'
'There's a kinship between us, Eithne.'
'Or perhaps it has something to do with how we all met our ends.'
'Kopoha, even if she's dead, she died somewhere else...'
'Or maybe she's not dead at all!'

Whatever Danai's answer (if she answers at all), Eithne meanwhile makes her recording with the mimir: "Sylvania is a place of joy, celebration, and fun. It's difficult not to find peace and rejuvenation among its carefree diversions, capable of calming even the most powerful storms. Yet, it seems, even in such a place there's room for some threat or danger—so, while lightheartedness may be welcome, it's probably best not to inadvertently cross the threshold of recklessness."

Britari eagerly follows Danai through the woods.  Stopping at the well, she's a bit surprised at the abrupt command to leave and never return. "You disapprove of us, do you? A city of unlimited festivities can't condone taking a chance? You blame us for a hazard that you as rulers of this place blindly ignore? Hardly the paragons of goodness. Arborea is a chaotic place of wild frivolity as well as sorrow. But you evidently can't see that."

She looks at her companions. "Well, if we've completed what we need to do, I guess we should go from this place."

Faith asks, "Britari, did you know Kopoha would disappear if she ate something from the table? Is that why you didn't eat anything?"

Danai pauses briefly. "That depends. If Kopoha perishes from her actions, she will be reborn by her parents. But if she is forced to languish to the whims of a dark fey, it may be millennia before she is seen again, if ever." Her gaze flickers to Briatri for a moment. "It's not taking a chance. We know what happens. Everyone here does who stays here regularly. It is not blindly ignored. Curse fey magic is not easily undone. Lest we spread the curse, we leave it be." Her tone grows cold for a moment. "No one said we were paragons of goodness." Then she turned away and slowly disappeared through the trees.

(Gate towns left: Faunel, Glorium, Curst, Excelsior)

Britari blinks as Danai disappears through the trees. "Not the embodiment of goodness?" she mutters. "In Sylvania, the very city that is the epitome of chaotic goodness, but they aren't that?"  She shakes her head. "Yea, we should probably just move along." 

When Faith asks her question, she turns to her. "Well, I didn't know she would disappear. I suspected what the food might be. And I had heard legends of people disappearing. I figured there was a chance." She pauses, "I wasn't going to let any of us eat the food. I warned Eithne."