1. Journals

16. Let's be Vulnerable!

March 1, 2026

9th Sypheros, 998 YK

  • nobody wants to do the recap cos it was a long one
  • I did the recap, so nobody gets an advance
  • Charlie still hasn't gone to see Luca Syara since the fiasco in Fort Bones. He needs to do that
  • He wants to bring the gang, but he wants to speak to her on his own first.
  • Damien's been pretty absent, Charlie can't find him. He tracks down everyone else though.
  • Ban has met Luca before, and Yashira is aware of her, but the others aren't.
  • Charlie mentions he wants to introduce them to someone who is a big part of his life, who he probably doesn't appreciate enough
  • Nerys asks if its Charlie's mom?
  • No, she's not his mom
  • Nerys asks if they need to bring gifts? Wine?
  • Charlie says probably no booze, actually
  • What does she like?
  • Ban's cooking
  • Hmm
  • She's also a playwright, so stationary would probably be appreciated
  • Nerys is like, :O a fellow playwright!?
  • Yeah, she's doing pretty well at the moment. Her play "Five Lives" is in the Diamond Theatre now
  • Nerys has a fangirl(them?) moment, Charlie's friend is the writer of FIVE LIVES!? THAT LUCA SYARA!?
  • Nerys gets a chair to get up to the Charlie's height, and shakes him by the shoulders
  • Charlie what the fuck!
  • "Why didn't you tell me!?"
  • Damien enters the room while this is going on, with a bottle of wine
  • "Oh no, what is wrong with them?"
  • Nerys found out that Charlie is friends with a playwright that Nerys really likes
  • Oh, Damien is drunk
  • "I don't have time for Damien's self destructive depression alcoholism, I want to meet the playwright!"
  • "Oh you're going to watch a play?" he says, slurring his words
  • Yes, Charlie needs to apologise to Luca and she's at the theatre!
  • Damien is on board, "let's go drink!"
  • No, no no no
  • Ruckus tries to take the bottle off of him, and he teleports into a nearby table
  • Nerys grabs him and yells "look at me! Look into my eyes! I need this, give the bottle to Charlie!"
  • Damien drops the bottle, it's empty anyway
  • "We've fixed Damien, now we can go?"
  • "It's gonna take a bit more than that to fix Damien, I think, but we'll deal with it later"
  • "No! We can't meet THE LUCA SYARA with a drunk Orien boy!"
  • Charlie takes hold of Nerys' face and says it'll be fine, Luca has seen way worse than a drunk Aundairian. "Just be your fun, effervescent self"
  • Ruckus mentions he's never been to the threatre before. Huh
  • Yashira would probably have stuff to say too, but her player is currently MIA
  • Charlie asks if they're okay to go, or does anyone else want to yell at him first?
  • "Why would anyone want to yell at you?" - Nerys
  • "Maybe because he left a note for the people who want to kill us" - Damien
  • "Honestly I feel like all of us have fucked up pretty bad. We deal with it" - Nerys
  • "I was dealing with it, but now I'm out of wine"
  • Charlie informs Damien that it's fine, The Kind said it would be fine!
  • Oh, the necromancer said that? Then it must be true!
  • "Look, Damien, I know I fucked up but you don't need to be like that, I trust him"
  • And if anything does happen, Charlie will take the fall for it.
  • "You're a good man, Charlie, but you make silly choices. We all do, I guess, look at me"
  • "Oh I am looking at you"
  • It got weirdly horny for a second, but they brushed it under the rug and then go to see Luca.
  • Nerys offers Damien a potion to make him not drunk, but he says if he didn't want to be drunk, he wouldn't've drank, would he?
  • Nerys says this wasn't the character arc they expected for him. He says "then you haven't been paying attention" and boops them on the nose.
  • Charlie herds his strays to the Diamond Theatre.
  • They arrive, and see that the next play is Lost in Mourning. The staff ask if Charlie is going to be watching?
  • They will, it's free! It's who you know, you know?
  • Ruckus asks if these are always free? That seems like a bad business model
  • No, it's because of Charlie
  • Damien's hang over has begun, his metabolism, like everything else, is fast
  • Nerys offers another potion, but he doesn't want one. "You're about to watch a really sad play with a hang over"
  • They sit down, and watch the play.
  • Nerys is SO excited. They have an old manuscript of Luca's that they want signed.
  • Damien asks why Luca is so important to Nerys? Nerys explains that they didn't use to like plays or theatre, but Luca's work inspired them to leave the Mror Holds and gather stories.
  • They've learned so much while they've been travelling! It's very scary, but the world is such a big and wonderful place
  • They quiet down as the play begins
  • It's particularly rough for Damien, with his hangover and the very sad story being told. He particularly struggles during the part where the play depicts Aundair turning away the refugees, as the actor looks a lot like Damien's dad
  • Nerys cries throughout, but does so quietly. They're so enraptured by the play that they just let the tears fall, they can't look away to sob
  • Ruckus is really impressed and moved by this, the first play he's ever seen. He particularly relates to the 7 year old girl who gets separated from her family during the Mourning
  • Charlie's seen this play a few times, but it still gets him misty eyed.
  • At the end, staff members come around with tissues to wipe eyes, and donation boxes gathering funds for High Walls. Nerys drops a bunch of gold in, they aren't even sure how much through their tears
  • Damien also donates, giving a single platinum coin.
  • Charlie then takes the others back stage, but tells them he needs to speak to her on his own first.
  • "I don't think she's gonna hurt me, it'll be fine"
  • What!?
  • Damien asks if they should come in if they hear the sounds of violence?
  • Charlie says if they hear violence, they should leave
  • Anyway it'll be fine, Charlie goes into Luca's office
  • "Hi"
  • Luca, writing something, says it took him longer to come see her than she thought it would
  • Yeah...sorry. He's been doing a lot of soul searching. Is she okay?
  • Luca is fine, she projected as much of her self as she could given the time she had to save his life, but it didn't harm her
  • "You can't bring me joy if you're dead. You got in over your head, you all did"
  • This isn't being made easier by the aura of palpable despair that Luca projects
  • He's really struggling with the guilt
  • Luca puts down her pen, turns her chair to fully face him, and tells him she's fine. She's unharmed.
  • He hugs her, and she freezes, unsure how to respond
  • Nobody's ever done that to her before
  • Ban is crying, somewhere
  • "People should, you deserve it. I know you're the embodiment of an idea, but I can't help but try to make you smile"
  • Nerys is crying, somewhere
  • Anyway! He's brought some people who'd like to meet her
  • Nerys is shy all of a sudden, and hides behind Damien
  • "What are you doing? You were so excited a few seconds ago"
  • "Help me out, okay? Just be taller than me and stand here"
  • They all come face to face with the saddest girl in the world. Damien's smile immediately drops when her aura hits him.
  • He pushes Nerys in front of him
  • "Umm, hello. We're friends, um, of, we don't want to bother you"
  • Oh Nerys
  • "Your play was very beautiful"
  • "Thank you, Nerys"
  • she knows my name
  • Nerys asks Luca to sign their manuscript, an old version of The Broken Sword, one of Luca's first plays. It's clearly been well loved, and read many times
  • Luca signs it wordlessly. Nerys loses their shit
  • Nerys hugs it and presses it against their chest
  • The aura of despair cannot dampen the fangirl
  • "We hope we're not bothering you too much!"
  • "This is putting me out significantly less than saving you from a giant bone construct"
  • Oh, right! "Thank you so much!"
  • Damien says it was pretty impressive magic for a playwright
  • "Yes, it is"
  • Okay, she doesn't elaborate
  • Nerys says "she is the voice of a generation, you heathen!"
  • "That doesn't mean you can just transport yourself halfway across the continent"
  • "Of course it does, what else would grant such an ability?"
  • "House Orien"
  • Nerys tells Damien off for being sassy with THE LUCA SYARA
  • Damien apologises, and Luca says "there is nothing any of you can say that could dampen my mood"
  • Somehow it's less reassuring than it should be
  • Nerys asks if she accepts their thanks? Luca looks to Charlie, and asks "is that wise?"
  • Charlie didn't tell them the rules...
  • Charlie tries to recover the situation, "maybe we should thank the cast and crew, yeah!"
  • Damien has cogs whirring in his head, being from Aundair. He draws the connection, that sounds like fey!
  • He looks at Charlie, then to Luca, and thinks to himself "you motherfucker"
  • Damien says "yes that would be good! I think we've taken up enough of Miss Luca's time!"
  • Nerys doesn't understand, and thinks they've caused offence
  • Charlie says no! He should've better prepared them
  • Damien mutters "that was a pretty important fucking detail, Charlie"
  • They forgot about Ruckus, who is crying. Damn Luca is a downer
  • Ruckus is stuttering, unable to really cope with Luca's attention being directly on him when he speaks, it makes the despair so much worse. He just goes silent.
  • Damien ushers him out of the room, along with the others.
  • Nerys is upset, did they say something wrong? Did they offend Luca?
  • "No, but you need to be careful what you offer when speaking to A FEY!" as Damien looks at Charlie
  • "A what?"
  • Charlie shushes him, "not so loud! Somewhere less public"
  • "Okay but we're definitely talking about this"
  • They head somewhere quieter to talk about this
  • Charlie asks Damien to keep it quiet, not everyone knows about that
  • Nerys is confused, can fey not be playwrights?
  • No, but when dealing with the fey, deals and offerings hold power. If you offer a fey your thanks, you owe them a debt.
  • Nerys knows that, but they've never met a fey!
  • Actually, you just did
  • Oh
  • Nerys asks if that's why they felt so sad when Luca looked at them?
  • Damien asks Charlie what kind of fey Luca is?
  • ...an archfey
  • "You're friends with a fucking archfey!?"
  • "Well, she's my patron. She finds me funny, and in return for being funny, she helps me"
  • "Oh my gods, Charlie, you don't mean financially do you? What are you doing!?"
  • "Look, it's a good deal. I don't want moralising from you! I do funny things and I get power, and she gets cheered up a bit. Who doesn't want that?"
  • Damien isn't going to tell Charlie his business, he's a smart man, but this worries him. Wow.
  • "How come everyone I've met has ended up in a gingerbread house or something, and you get powers?"
  • "Luca's nice I guess"
  • Charlie tells them how he met Luca, she went to one of his shows as Trixie Towers.
  • Anyway, Charlie wanted them to meet her because she's a big part of his life, and they're a big part of his life (Nerys says aww) and he doesn't want any more secrets
  • Damien agrees, he appreciates Charlie putting his trust in them.
  • It's a shame Ban wasn't here to meet her!
  • "Oh, Ban already met her"
  • "What!? When!?"
  • She tried his curry and she liked it
  • She ate Ban's food? Wait, she eats?
  • Charlie asks if Damien remembers one of their first adventures, in the caves in Droaam, when Damien woke up with a cold shoulder? That was from Luca, and she tried some of Ban's curry. Charlie took Ban to see her after that
  • Nerys asks for more details about the bargain. He tells her jokes? Like...a clown?
  • "I guess"
  • Nothing hurts worse than when Luca doesn't find him funny
  • That's why he occasionally just does stupid shit, because Luca is watching
  • Nerys asks if he has a complex about this? He says he has a complex about everything
  • Damien asks if that one was meant to be funny? Nerys hits him and tells him to stop being mean
  • Damien then asks if anyone else has any secrets they'd like to reveal?
  • Charlie is also getting into the Blood of Vol
  • No other secrets, as he stares at Damien
  • Nerys asks if Charlie needs some water? He looks a bit thirsty
  • Oh yeah, Damien has a bottle of water!
  • ANYWAY
  • Nerys says thank you to Charlie for trusting them with this
  • While they're clearing the air, Damien wants to apologise for earlier. He was really shaken up in Karrnath, and he was working through his feelings.
  • "When I'm sad, I like to run, and unfortunately I ran into a bar"
  • Nerys says he could've talked to them about it
  • Damien says he knows that, he's realising how close they've all become and how special they all are to him
  • "Let's just try not to do that again"
  • Damien also apologises for belittling Charlie's relationship with The Kind. "I guess not all Karrns are horrible undead fuckers, as my father would say"
  • Damien is also unpacking some generational bigotry, it seems
  • Nerys asks if anyone else wants to be vulnerable?
  • Ruckus says no thank you
  • Okay then
  • "What about you, Yashira?"
  • "I think you're all fucking idiots"
  • Yep, that's what she would say
  • "Now that we're all emotionally healed, what's next?"
  • Waiting to hear from Lhara, I guess
  • Oh shit look at the time! Ruckus has to get back to work
  • Work? What?
  • They thought adventuring was their job?
  • He just leaves
  • "Hey! Stop walking away from us, we're talking to you!"
  • "Someone stop that goblin!"
  • Ruckus explains that he does odd jobs around The Cogs
  • Charlie asks why he needs to do extra jobs? Clifftop Adventurer's Guild pays pretty well
  • "I have my reasons"
  • "No, we were just all opening up stop being a mysterious little bitch"
  • Ruckus pauses for a bit, and then sighs.
  • Okay, he asks them all to follow him
  • They already were, actually
  • Now they're doing it with his consent, though!
  • Ruckus takes them to the orphanage in the Cogs, that took him in as a child. The building's seen better days, with parts of the building having collapsed.
  • Ruckus leaves a bag of coin at the door, knocks on the door, and returns to the group.
  • He just starts walking off, without explaining anything.
  • Damien comments that this smells of more sadness than Luca's room
  • "How is that possible?"
  • Once they get far enough away, Ruckus explains that's where he grew up, and also his biggest regret.
  • Why?
  • Ruckus just goes quiet for a bit. "Because a young goblin who didn't know his place in the world tried to dip his hand into a profession he didn't have the skills for yet, and now he's paying for it"
  • Nersys asks if something happened with one of his inventions?
  • "You saw the collapsed side of the building?"
  • Oh, Ruckus
  • "I fucked up, and ran away"
  • He feels indebted to his caretakers, for taking him in and for the damage he caused. He donates everything he can.
  • "It's funny right? I fucked up and then ran away. And then we did it again in Fort Bones!"
  • Charlie is taken aback, Ruckus can't blame himself for what happened at Fort Bones. They wouldn't have been able to escape without Ruckus
  • "We'd be rotting in some Karrnathi prison"
  • "Prison? We would've been built into the fucking wall"
  • They have another vulnerable moment. Ruckus didn't want them to see how he'd fucked up because he wants to seem useful
  • Charlie wordlessly walks back to the orphanage and leaves three full pouches of coin
  • Ruckus is stunned-3
  • Nerys does the same
  • Followed by Damien
  • and probably Yashira but we can't confirm
  • Nerys offers to help Ruckus with his odd jobs.
  • Charlie asks if he's paying rent. "Actually, where are you staying?"
  • "I have a little shed"
  • It was an abandoned building that he just moved into
  • Damien informs Ruckus that part of their guild benefits is rooms up in Clifftop...
  • "What?"
  • "You don't have to live like this"
  • Charlie also has an empty bedroom in his apartment
  • Damien offers to do some fundraising! He has connections with a bunch of nobles
  • Ruckus says they don't need to help him, this is his burden to bear
  • "We don't need to help, we want to. You're our friend" says Nerys
  • "Yeah you made a fucking grenade launcher, that was sick"
  • Damien taps his bracelet, "consider it payment"
  • Charlie says that Lan Hazal told him to put his money to use, to do something worthwhile with it. He was gonna throw it in his dad's face and call him a cunt, but this is a more worthy cause.
  • Yashira also has noble and merchant contacts, but she's temporarily lobotomised and can't provide that information.
  • Charlie does a Ruckus impression and says "it's not your burden to bear"
  • Ruckus says that's not what he sounds like!
  • Ruckus gets out a tiny wooden carving of a goblin.
  • "Oh my god you were so cute."
  • It's life sized
  • "I could put you in my pocket"
  • "Don't"
  • Ruckus gives up, he can't deter them from helping
  • Charlie marks Abandon on his "Big Ambitions" theme
  • We lose the plot a little bit joking about sending Fumbus to call Charlie's dad a cunt


13th Sypheros, 998 YK

  • They all get a letter from Lhara, detailing their next mission and telling them to meet her in Thaliost. Lightning Rail tickets are enclosed.
  • They get the train and make their way there. Nerys informs Charlie that they don't really like the Blood of Vol or necromancy in Thrane, so he probably shouldn't bring Warren (the actual rat, not Warren)
  • Charlie has Warren deep in his bag, it'll be fine
  • Damien has feelings about Thaliost. It used to be Aundairian, but Thrane took it during the war. He's trying to work on his prejudices though, so he doesn't voice them.
  • He appreciates the Aundairian style buildings though!
  • Charlie asks him about it, and Damien mentions that his mother is from Thaliost originally
  • Charlie's mother currently lives in Thaliost...
  • "Ah, the city of mothers"
  • Is that a bad thing?
  • Damien has a good relationship with his mother. Charlie doesn't really, he hasn't seen her in a long time. She ran away with his dad's brother...
  • Woah
  • Nerys mentions that they were told a drinking game, which was to take a swig every time someone tells you that Thaliost used to be Aundairian. They've counted twelve times so far
  • They meet up with Lhara, and she explains their new job. Nigel has corresponded with a member of the Church of the Silver Flame in Thaliost and arranged to borrow an artifact from their collection. The group will need to liaise with the contact, collect the item and transfer it safely back to Sharn via the Lightning Rail. All above board, all legal.
  • The artifact they'll be transporting is called the Duskgate Crucible, which is connected to Lamannia
  • Father Calemi Iridanci can be found at the Temple of the Blessed Ascension, which is visible from the plaza.
  • Nerys asks why Lhara is...here? In Thaliost?
  • Lhara says she just wanted to see the city. Nerys thinks there's something more that Lhara isn't saying, but they don't push it.
  • Nerys does recommend a teahouse though
  • They start walking to the temple, and Nerys whispers to the others that she's suspicious that Lhara held something back. She usually gives them their next job in Sharn
  • Maybe she's got some personal business? She doesn't snoop on their lives
  • The last job where they met her on site was the Fort Bones job, and we all know how that went
  • Maybe she just wants to sight see?
  • "Who would want to sight see in Karrnath?"
  • Xenophobic Nerys strikes again
  • "It's all just woods and snow!"
  • "Even decay has a sort of beauty to it" - Charlie
  • Well, even if the rest of them aren't, Nerys is suspicious
  • Okay
  • As they walk, they're hailed by a gnomish bookseller who tries to sell them a threadbare, secondhand books. Damien asks if they have any crystals for the Sivis Scribl?
  • "What the fuck is a Sivis Scribl?"
  • Damien goes to show him, and accidentally plays a segment of some smut book he had been reading. He quickly tries to turn it off and fumbles it.
  • The bookseller kicks him out of his shop
  • Charlie pretends he doesn't know them. He buys some raggedy ass books
  • Jebbedo tells him not to read em too quickly
  • "why?"
  • "cos then you'll be done with em, and I ain't buying em back"
  • Charlie says why would he do that? He's gonna read em and then read em again and again and again
  • Jebbedo asks if he's on drugs?
  • Why?
  • Moving on
  • They walk a bit further down the street, and go passed a dwarven pub called the King of Sypheros
  • A drunken goblin points at Nerys with his walking stick and yells "hey! fuck you!"
  • Nerys yells back "fuck you!"
  • "NO, fuck YOU!" he yells as he lunges with his walking stick and sprawls out on the street
  • Nerys tries to help him up and he bites them "hey! don't fucking touch me!"
  • What is going on?
  • The goblin complains about "the fucking dwarves kicking me out of their pub, saying I've had enough"
  • "And I have had enough! but not of the booze, of their fuckin 'tudes!"
  • Nerys asks if they need help?
  • They need booze
  • He says "fuck you" again and Damien says he's gonna let one more slide and then he's gonna punch him in the face
  • Nerys says he can't do that
  • The goblin asks again for Nerys to go in and get him some more booze
  • They refuse, and the goblin says "fuck you" again as he gets up and starts walking away. He's gonna go to a different dwarven bar
  • "If you had other options, what was the problem?"
  • "fuck YOU!"
  • got it
  • Most of them are pretty confused by this interaction, but Charlie is used to it. He clocks out pretty late usually as Trixie
  • Nerys didn't like that guy
  • They hear a distant "fuck you!" from a couple streets over
  • Nerys says they feel okay not making this their problem. Charlie says good, it's not their problem.
  • They walk on, and a street vendor flags them down. She's selling necklaces and bracelets, and "pebbles from The Face of Tira!"
  • Genuine
  • Trust
  • Nerys calls it out, these pebbles aren't even the right material! This stone isn't even from remotely the right area, they're from Zilargo!
  • The street vendor tells them to hush down, what the fuck? They're gonna cost them customers
  • "Actually, get the fuck outta here. That goblin was right about you"
  • Nerys is starting to feel pretty self conscious, maybe they are the problem?
  • The others would tell them if they were being an asshole
  • Charlie is getting the jitters, this all seems too easy
  • Nerys is expecting a dragon to just pull up on them
  • They decide if that happens, they should give the dragon the artifact
  • Damien doesn't believe in dragons, he's an Argonnesson Truther
  • "What the fuck?"
  • They'll unpack that later
  • Yashira is getting an unsettling feeling like they're being watched, makes her soul itch. She looks around but doesn't see anything unusual, but Thaliost kinda sucks
  • Nerys becomes concerned that this is all a set up because they started asking questions
  • They should just try and get this done as fast as possible
  • They enter the temple and see a portly half-elf man with salt and pepper hair praying
  • Hopefully Charlie doesn't adopt this old man too
  • Nerys beckons him
  • He doesn't know who they are, but Damien presents the letter of introduction.
  • Father Calemi Iridanci's demeanor becomes more businesslike, and he reads the letter. He seems a bit incredulous about the group, but if Nigel trusts them...
  • He leads them into the undercroft, and knocks on a door before calling out "Jeffi! Jeffi! Open the door, our...pilgrims from Sharn are here!"
  • There is no answer, and we end the session