Session 95: 24th May 2022 - The Lotus Witch
There are scratch images into the walls - they seem to show words using images as the characters. Xan stares intently at the pictures, willing them to make sense.
Hipofilius steps forward and addresses the sphinx.
“We have come to seek wisdom, but also to seek people who have come before us”
She stares back at him. He step forward again.
“Do you know who we are and what it is we are tasked?” The sphinx looks annoyed, she is disturbed. She stares up and down the line.
“Do you all have questions?” The sprinx addresses Hipofiluis by name. But he has not told them his name. The sphinx alludes to a warning, that they must know their history, or be doomed.
Braz speak ups, telling her they are students of history. The sphinx smirks, and says they will be tested. Xan grumbles under her breath - she does not test well.
But the question - is of her own history. Each of the party answers a question in turn, but it seems one of the questions was answered incorrectly. They get six questions.
The party go back and forth for what seems like hours but all Xan can see is flashing lightning in her head. Why did she die? Why did she die? Why did she die?
The sphinx splits into six and darts across the floor, separating into the spaces around the room and following each member of the party. A sphinx winds towards her.
As they tumble through the window and her body is thrown side to side, Xan gains her balance floating on a small raft just off the shores of the Island of Exiles. She can see the people moving about.
She spots her mother, Pandora, walking through the bustle of the town.
The sphinx says she will answer two questions for Xan, as she enjoys answering them for her; Why her mother died and why she was sent to the Isle.
Queen Vallus sent her here. But power only has certain limits. It was safe here, up until a person’s power grew beyond it’s limits.
Their influence encompassed the island and she was no longer safe.
Xan’s eyes are fixed on her mother, she looks different from Xan’s memory. Less kind, less warm and more hardened and angry. Her face seems fixed in a furrowed position as she navigates through the crowds. Xan stares at her, trying to will the joyful smile from her memories, but her eyes are redirected to the other dock by the witch. Captain Gold is stood, shaking the hand of an older women that Xan half recognised. On the Isle Xan never paid attention to the others on the island, especially those of a more advanced age. They tended to mind their own business and Xan minded hers.
The witch says her name; Idylla. Acastus’ mother. Xan’s grandmother. But it means little to Xan, unless there was a link. A threat to power. A threat to Vallus.
The sphinx says that although she never really noticed, Idylla was behind most of the goings on on the island - she had power within their exiled world.
Why Acastus would exile his own mother was another question. And Xan has run out of hers. A wave pushes the raft over, tipping Xan into the water and before she can grab at the wooden planks, Xan is back in the tower. She wipes her tears away from her face with her shirt as she realised her friends are returning but stays quietly stood by the window she came through.