The Agate Seekers return back to the city of Argentis, and make their way to the A Taste of Home. However, after noticing a distinct lack of guards at the front door the party looked through the window and saw "Jenny", Crysta Damanti, Furnando and Winter all sitting together, being serenaded by Norben Holton... Then, they noticed the note on the door: "Due to unforeseen complications, the restaurant is closed for today". Volk Lesnoy quickly opened the door to ask what happened, and the employees sitting inside sighed a sigh of relief. Apparently there's a rat problem that Punchy, Prioz Bronzefield, Kilbi Leaftooth and Galto were dealing with outside in the backyard... and the party should probably see for themselves.
There, the party finds their employees, currently trying to fight back a practical tidal wave of rats. Initiative is rolled, a fight is had, and Sooty realizes over the fight that they're fighting Doppelrats; a magical pest that can multiply itself, originally created by a wizard when a clone spell on a rat went wrong, and used to inconvenience rivals. However, they have since become a rare but well-known pests in cities with high concentrations of magic, which Argentis definitely is. Thankfully, the party is eventually able to deal with those pests quite quickly.
After everything was dealt with, the party had lunch. Kilbi, with the help of Galto, presented the party with a new item on the Menu, Potato Salad and a huge rack of Ribs... which Dareth Lion'el Griffmane and Volk immediately dug into. After lunch, however, Volk heard a voice in his head... a familiar voice of Limni Diluvi, who has gotten an answer to his inquiry from a while back and invited Volk to his home, with some friends. Mikhail and Philomena Snapdragon decided to come along, while Dareth, Sooty and Zora decided to stay behind.
Upon arriving at the Diluvi Estate, the party was welcomed in by Limni, who showed Volk a letter from his father, Pelagius Diluvi-Imber. It talked about how he sent a person called Amnis his way to perhaps council him, but also how, even if he can't be there right now, he hopes to look at his condition himself someday, and that perhaps some people working at the Central Temple of Argentis may be able to help, as they survived The Great Wasting like himself, and thus are about Volk's age... Most notably, Arilki Rayshine's name was dropped, and Mikhail offered to introduce him.
That's when Limni's younger-but-taller brother Amnis Diluvi came into the living room, with a mouth full of cookies. The two had a bit of a talk, most notably about how Volk feels about his situation with the Forest Garnet. Volk feels powerful, but also like he may not be truly himself. Amnis, to the best of his abilities, reassured Volk. During the conversation, the memory of Volk touching a necklace with a crystal came up, as this was the last memory of "the garnet" before his consciousness re-awoke. Limni showed him a similar crystal, and it was revealed that he likely touched a Moonlight-Ena-crystal, which, interacting with the Moonlight-Ena of the Forest Garnet, may have resulted in a sort of "short circuit", which brought his soul back to the forefront. Before leaving, Volk made some plans to perhaps meet up with Amnis again; either in their restaurant, or Amnis' tribe in the Calmwater Woods.
The party then said their goodbyes and made their way to the Central Temple to meet with Arilki. Going inside, Mikhail noticed him praying in front of the statue of Merikira te Ruvea, the Illiadian mother-goddess of Dorro. The party started a conversation, and just when they wanted to sit down to have a proper talk, Mikhail noticed him speaking to a "Rami Ventarida", another priestess at the temple... Mikhail immediately remembered the incident at the Planar Research Lab near Patasa (here and here), where the party found her name in one of the Pads as the author of a log, and confronted her. She had completely forgotten about the reactor and monster-problem, which the party thankfully dealt with, and was embarrassed about losing the Larimar of Power and ran away, embarassed. Arilki sighed, noting her scatterbrainedness for a follower of Itah.
Volk then had a talk with Arilki, who noted that he knew about the Forest Garnet, as it was under the care of a Priest of Farrina he knew, who sadly passed during the wasting. He however noted that he had a student, a Draco-Homunculus girl with brunette hair and green eyes, whose name he sadly didn't remember... But Volk immediately noted a resemblance to a certain woman from his dreams and memories who placed the Garnet on him. Over this conversation, the possibility that she may have been traveling across Medweda in order to search for Fey, as Farrina had some connection to the Queen of the Summer Court in The Feywild before the Wasting.
Either way, information was thought about, some questions were answered but even more came up. In the end, Arilki noted to Volk that perhaps he should see the Garnet as a blessig and a second chance at life, and that maybe just because his current form is an illusion, it's still based on his self-image, so perhaps it's just his personal truth, and maybe that's what matters most. Volk thanked the priest and the party made their way back to the A Taste of Home to start their week of downtime.
SESSION END.