Caelynn breaks from the group momentarily to locate an employee she can order room service from, paying whatever price they give her as long as it isn’t completely exorbitant. Once she’s handed over the coin, she lets the others know and leads the way down to the room.

Aimon seems to be slowly coming out of his funk.

"I know she wasn't a person, but Dawnbringer had feelings and emotions. She was scared until we rescued her," Aimon says. "If anything can be done to bring her back I'll do it."

He collapses into the sofa nearest the door when they get back to the room. Aimon raises his head after a moment or two and looks over at Eldeth.

"Eldeth, your people have more than their fair share of gifted smiths who have been known to imbue all sorts of power into their creations. Have you ever heard of one who worked with swords with consciousness?"

Then he laughs to himself.

"So other than finding out that our friendly neighborhood dragon has someone monitoring her at all times, that outing was a bit of a bust." 

Frila walks and then just drops on a bed face down
"So small question: could you guys tell me the story of Dawnbringer? Maybe you might remenber something to help? Idk, for example if the feelings came from somewhere maybe we might be able to bring them back?"

Oak tucks in to the room service when it comes. He is so very sad about Dawnbringer. He might suggest asking at the magic item shop too, to see if they have any ideas about maintenance for similar items. 

Room service will cost 3 silver per person for a total of 2 gold and 1 silver (excluding Stool).

About ten minutes after you enter the suite, there is a knock at the door, and a dwarven server opens the door as he pushes in a small cart covered in steaming plates of food. He says as he turns to leave, "I'll be back in an hour," before he leaves and closes the door behind him. Dinner comprises of sauteed asparagus (surprising for being underground), another platter of spidery crab legs with a variety of dipping sauces, some side of stringy squash that tastes sour, mushrooms that pop when you eat them, and a soup with fish eyes that taste surprisingly good of you eat it. A pitcher of spiced dwarven ale compliments the meal. 

Feel free to continue any conversations.

That night as you lie in bed, you cast your thoughts over the events of the day. You nearly died, and that sparks a determination within in you. You vow that will not happen again.

Everyone is now level 5.

Caelynn nods at the idea of the magic shop, eating her meal mostly in silence unless someone else initiates the conversation. Before she goes to bed, she'll find a place separated from the others to sit. Closing her eyes, she begins speaking quietly. "Your majesty. Queen Titania. I don't know if you can hear me, or if you're even paying attention. But if you are, then you know what's happened. Who we've met. What position he's put us in. It seems like no matter what we choose, someone gets hurt. We need guidance. If you could send some sort of sign of the path we should take..."

Trill doesn't feel much up for extended conversations, but assists in getting everyone cleaned up and smelling less charred, and has a quiet dinner.  After, she tries playing a bit of a song to honor what Dawnbringer did for them, but her heart isn't in it, the party's a bit to beat up and weary after the day they had.

Performance: 8

She gives it up and retires to a corner, softly playing to herself and making notes. She eventually turns in, arising the next morning, excited. She goes into the suite's common room and spends a while singing softly to herself with her pearl bracelet and Tear of Sorrow at hand, seeking to try our the spell she's been developing to figure out just what it is capable of doing.

That accomplished, she'll sing the same song while studying the ring they'd cooked in the fireplace that she was sure had something else going on. An abundance of caution had kept her from attuning to it the previous day, but it would have been quite handy when dancing with a dragon.

Aimon nods over at Oak's suggestion. 

"That magic shop we went to before," Aimon says while he nods. "Yeah, they might know something. It's worth asking at least."

He stretches his legs out a bit and takes out his mother's ring from his pouch, turning it to catch the fire light. He then looks over at Frila.

"It feels like a lifetime ago, but after we escaped the drow, we were still on the run and came across a ruined city. Something devastated it and left almost every building in ruins. But that's when I first heard Dawnbringer in my head. She was imprisoned in an old castle. We ended up having to deal with the wraith like ghost of some wizard or sorcerer named Brysis. I think she might have been responsible for the destruction of the city. She kept Dawnbringer locked up. Once we freed her, she seemed pretty happy to be able to shine brightly. We never learned how she was made or who made her intelligent. Maybe I'll find that out someday and be able to bring her back."

He stretches and yawns.

"If I suggest talking to the dragon again tomorrow, slap me."

"I actually have a crazy plan that involves talking with the dragon again, it´s not pretty, but it will work, maybe, worst result we die but we take whoever we want with us"
"From a sorcerer.... hhmm... aahh my head hurts too much to think. I must leave Dawnbringer to them, only magic thing I know is a bit of the light and the that thing.... but that´s useless"
She goes up grabs some food, put it in her mouth and went back to her face down lied in bed position, and falls asleep

Oak is quiet and unusually reserved through the evening. He eats to refuel but doesn’t take the joy he normally does from the food...

He enjoys Trills songs. They comfort him no end. And he even smiles as Aimon recounts their successes in the ruined castle, where they found Dawnbringer. But his heart drops again when he remembers what has befallen Aimon’s living weapon.

When Frila mentions confronting the dragon again, facing certain death this time... ... he comes to a kind of realisation. He moves over to sit with her, and confides in her. He doesn’t care who overhears, “There were days gone by, that I would have relished what you suggest... facing certain death... taking down those that’ve wronged me at the same time... death or glory!!”.

”Facing that dragon today... I feel like something has broken inside me  -  Or mended?!  -  For the first time in my life I don’t care about revenge, or fighting, or rage for rage’s sake. Blind rage has gotten me this far, but it won’t help me find my mother, or my herd.... it won’t help me to protect you, or any of us”.

He looks at the floor and into the distance, ”When I fell to the flames, I saw the face of my mother. I could almost smell her hide next to me... I heard thundering hooves.... I saw the faces of my forefathers.... I felt them calling to me..... .... Just a trick of my mind... I know! ......But........”.

He stands and speaks around the room, “We just have to save each other. We have to save Dawnbringer... We have to save Trill’s crew... Safety in numbers. There’s strength in the herd... ....WE, are the herd. YOU, are all my new herd!.... ... We protect each other”.

”I can’t go on chasing my own petty grievances and indulging in my blind fury”.

“I’ve found a new duty here... a new purpose here.. with all of you...”. He realises he’s speaking. He comes back to himself a little. Unsure of what he’s just said. He looks confused and retreats to a corner of the room, unsure.

((something fundamental seems different with Oak))

Frila woke up just enough to hear what Oak said
"T...mo...e....ak" she tried to say"tomorrow we speak" but was muffled by the pillow
And shut her eyes

Oak snorts and smiles to himself, and to the sleeping Frila, and he cautiously moves across to Caelynn. “Say a prayer for me too?” He asks her, only half joking...

”Can you show me your armour? The work you’re doing to it? Do you mind if I ask what all these embellishments mean??...”. He feels for the tiny braid behind his ear completely subconsciously but it too comforts him without really realising it.

And he feels his injured right arm and chest where the hide has burned right down to the bare skin in large swathes...

"mmMBbwaauu-u-u-uurrrr, We protect each other.", Trill says softly, patting his hand.

“You’re not wrong, little one...”, Oak says, patting Trills hand right back, he’s genuinely touched, ...as he moves across the room towards Caelynn.

"I'll put in a good word for you if she decides to hijack my dreams again," Caelynn says with a small chuckle. She only half heard Oak's speech, focused on meditating and reaching out to the fey queen, but she gives him a reassuring smile anyways. "We're here for you, too. We protect each other," she repeats Trill's sentiment.

At his request, she takes off her breastplate and sets in in her lap, patting the ground next to her for Oak to sit down. "Most of it is made to match my bow. Traditionally when you get your first weapon you choose a design, and stick with it for life. I picked this one... must have been fifty or sixty years ago. These flowers were my mother's favorite. I thought it would impress her." As she speaks, she traces her hand over the swirls, leaves, and five-petaled blossoms that encompass most of the design. "As for the writing, some of it is old mantras, meant for protection. But most of it is names." She points out the Elvish script interspersed among the carvings. "My parents. My siblings. My commander." Her voice gets a bit quieter as she reaches a clump of four names towards the center. "My old squadron."

Oak sits close to Caelynn, where she offers him a seat on the ground. “You are quite the artist. It’s beautiful and meaningful.... “. He takes her hand in his for a second.

”Could you do the same for me? I don’t wear armour, but...”. He places her hand on his chest, over his heart, where much of the hair is burned away.

He forgets to let her hand go as he speaks. “There are things I wish to remember... and things not to forget....”.

“Do you recall, as a soldier, it would be called a field-tattoo? Could you do this?”.

"It wasn't common where I'm from, but I've heard of the practice. I could try, if you like, but it's going to hurt." Caelynn flips her hand around in Oak's so she can give his a gentle squeeze. "Did you have anything specific in mind?"

@DM

Oak describes ideas for what he wants, to Caelynn, (to begin with at least). It’s something between hieroglyphics and tribal patters. Maybe even what might be a chart or a map in there somewhere, but linked in a way that might depict a story....

Great horned creatures, a family, and warriors... chains and an ocean...  icons: a bow, a beak, a blade. All of this iconography almost lost in the overall geometric design. Maybe only Oak and Caelynn would eventually see the images hidden in the design by the end... Some of what he describes it’s clear comes from his memory. Other bits come from... he has no idea where.

Perhaps the two of them can work on it over time. It’s just an idea for a design. To start with though he describes to her the form of the Minotaurian glyph for ‘mother’, which is made up of two symbols interlinked: the characters for ‘ancestor’ and ‘guardian’.

Caelynn listens carefully to Oak's description, borrowing Trill's notebook if she'll let her to sketch the design and make any tweaks before she attempts it for real.

If they have time and Oak is ready, she'll very carefully start creating the actual tattoo. Her progress is slow - it's necessary to keep her hands from shaking - and she'll probably only get through the first couple glyphs and shapes before they head off to bed. She checks in frequently to make sure the pain isn't too bad, and she'll stop any time he wants her too.