The Gala at Morgrave (Naomi)
From Toosigma
| Title | The Gala at Morgrave |
|---|---|
| Author | Philip Mann - Naomi |
| Campaign | Convergent Threads |
| Session | The Gala at Morgrave |
| Posted | |
| Game Date |
The coach came exactly on time to collect Kayli and I for the Morgrave Gala, and the night I hoped she would enjoy was just beginning. On our way out the door I heard my brother say something to himself about hearts breaking tonight, and I winked up at him. He was right, of course, beautiful Kayli dressed in some of Himmel's finest, not a man at the event would be able to look away from her for long. I wondered briefly on our trip whether or not Thea would be there and if she would avoid Kayli, but I tried only to imagine that she would remain the strong woman that I have come to know. In truth, I suppose it did not matter as I would give Thea whatever space she required for as long as she wanted it, and I would welcome her company regardless as well.
We arrived and were announced as I imagine all of the other guests were. Veril met us straight away, gushing about the wonderful gift I had helped to bring to the collection. I told him that I just did what I do, and smiled while I introduced Kayli. Hero was already in attendance, and he approached us as well. After some socializing, Hero asked Kayli to dance and the two moved out to the dance floor, leaving me alone. I recalled briefly that this is how I imagined things would be when I first came into her life. In those days, she used to talk about Hero often and she always seemed in the verge of expressing her interest to him.
Across the room I saw Thea motioning for me to follow her. I looked to make sure Kayli was enjoying herself as I circumvented the dancers toward the Thea. She told me that she had something that I had to see as she led me away from the gala and into the library. On a table, she cleared away a pile of articles to uncover one that was dated some eight decades past. The picture was a riot in Cyre, with a hoard of people apparently protesting something relevant at the time.
“Do you see anything strange?” she asked.
I looked at the picture, but did not notice anything right away. She then slid a magnifying lens on top of a corner of the picture and I was amazed to see myself there. I was in the middle of a riot of some kind though I was too in awe of the picture staring back at me to read the article. Thea commented on the age of the picture, inferring that I had not aged a bit in over eighty years. Indeed, it could have been produced any day in recent memory. Neither of us had any answers, but this picture exposed another part of my history that we will research in the near future. I thanked her for showing me and then I returned to the celebration.
Once I returned upstairs I expected to see Kayli still dancing with Hero or maybe mingling, but I was shocked when I saw her dancing with a man I thought I had killed in Xen'drik. He looked confident, even cocky as he made eye contact with me and then looked down at Kayli. I was immediately struck with an icy fear that I had somehow endangered her, but that was replaced by the need to put myself between her and harm, if only symbolically for the time being. I looked for Hero who I half expected to be looking after Kayli if from a distance and, not able to locate him right away, I politely cut-in to allow her to get away from him without making a scene.
When I found him, I told Hero about the shadow of our past that had found Kayli. I believe that Hero went to confront him, but I did not see him again until the presentation.
After speeches and other formalities, Veril Navahn prepared to unveil the statue to the crowd. When he pulled the cord, however, there was a crash of glass behind everyone. In the span of time that the attention of everyone drifted to the sound, the statue vanished. I investigated within the room to the best of my ability, but I soon realized that the only way out was through the Landscape in the vaults. Also, because Sergeant Dolom asked me if I could identify someone and showed me a picture of Hero in his natural state, I presumed that I might be alone in my chase. I knew that I needed to speed myself into the vaults before he got away with the statue forever.
As I turned to take that course of action, I found that both Kayli and Thea had joined me on the stage where I tried to assure Veril that I would recover the statue. Unsure of what else to say under the circumstances, I introduced them and asked that they stick together and with Veril until I returned. I only hoped that my presumptive introduction had not caused more harm than good.
I raced through the painting and across the landscape as fast as I could after the tracks. I did not feel that I had the time to wait for Hero or Maerin to assist me. The thief had a head start, but I was confident that I could catch him. That confidence was just momentarily derailed when an ambush of the large insectoids that I recalled from before. I chose to evade them rather than engage as time was far more precious at this moment because, if the one I sought had encountered these creatures then evasion was certainly a priority to them.
In the distance, I saw a huge gate. As I approached I saw Lady Karastelle tied up and laying on the ground. She told me that she had been kidnapped by the person I was chasing. Something told me that her story could not be the whole truth even if part of it was, but I could not leave her here bound and helpless either. Just as I finished helping her to her feat, Hero and Maerin caught up with me. Before we could exchange more than a few words, however, a huge insect-like-creature emerged from the sand in front of the gate followed by many more of the smaller ones.
They fought ferociously, but even their collective could do little more than slow us down. Soon, we were through the gate and in a huge corridor with doors on both sides. Karastelle was no longer with us, so I suppose my suspicions were confirmed to some degree, but they were still suspicions rather than facts. In time I may confront her about what happened, but the task at hand demanded all of my attention.
Oddly, after going through a door, I reappeared in a similar hallway, but the other two were not behind me. Suspecting magic of some kind, perhaps illusions, I studied the structure of the doorways and walls, finding a pattern where they replicated and decided to use that to find a way out. I circled through illusionary walls and into doors several times, but a pattern eventually emerged where the colors of the doors changed.
Several circles and another door, and I found myself in a different hallway. I waited for a moment to see if Hero and Maerin were close behind, but it appeared that they were either already through or far behind. No matter, I knew that I had to continue and be prepared to engage the thief on my own if needed. I stepped into a room an was immediately attacked by some sort of stinging that I perceived to be invisible insects of some kind. I could not imagine how many there were, so I found the door out and isolated myself from them with a Wall of Stone. Just after I opened the door, I heard a mechanical thumping on the wall. I pulled the wall down and watched it crumble to the floor, revealing my two companions on the other side.
The room we entered through the door contained a note that led us to our next destination: the clock tower at Morgrave University. At least we knew that we were back in Sharn if not exactly when or where. However, we raced toward the scene of the crime with all of the speed that we could manage. I saw the thief high above us and my mobility allowed me to purse him, but that also meant that I was now going where Hero and Maerin could not follow. We ran and leaped from tower to tower and balcony to balcony as he tried to lose me, but I stayed close to him. A fiery footprint in the sky told me that he had far more powers at his disposal than I had, but at my limit I was still able to keep up. Soon, we were both inside of the clock tower, bounding about the gigantic gears and weights as we continued our chase. Eventually, we both met on a beam and I was able to drive him over the edge. However, my strike also knocked the pouch from his belt, a pouch just the right size to be the statue we were looking for.
Thinking only of recovering the statue, I hurled myself after it. Twisting through the air to avoid hitting the machinery on my path, I put a hand on the pouch just as I realized Hero had also attempted to catch it. I had just a moment to think to myself, “Sorry, Hero, but this is going to hurt...you.” before we collided. The impact sprawled both of us toward the ground, but I kept hold of the pouch and managed to land on my feet. Hero was also relatively unharmed by the impact. Now, we had but to depart the tower and return the statue to Veril, but another assailant had other plans.
The ghost had apparently been on Maerin's heals the whole time, attacking him and Hero as they tried to follow my trail. The spirit attacked with spells and Maerin fired back with arrows, but to little avail. His spells still impeded our path, so I had just one option: attack. Evidently, my one acrobatic strike let the ghost know that we were not going to stand by and let him kill us, so he fled through the ceiling the same as the thief who was now gone.
We returned the statue to Veril, and he thanked us for again helping him. I left Hero to handle his problems with Dolom, but I would not expect him to do anything more than run and hide. For now, I expected that there might be some fallout from the abrupt meeting between Kayli and Thea...
