Quén Dreams
THANK YOU LILY FOR TAKING NOTES ILY
- Quén passes out as soon as their head hits the pillow
- They open their eyes to find themself sitting in the familiar pews from their first interaction with their god. The church looks much different, more faded.
- At the end of the pews, they see a white door with white whisps coming out—they can deduce from passive insight this door is the only exit and entrance.
- Quén decides to enter the door and just to get things over with.
- As they walk through, they are flashed with blinding light. They blink it away, and see they are in an open room at the top of a huge tower in the middle of a city.
- They see forests, trees, ocean, and glowing rocks in the distance. Insight roll suggests they recognize the glowing rocks from the Underdark.
- The city is bustling, and in the center of the city they see a large glowing rock next to a statue of Amadeus Wolfgang.
Meeting Amadeus
- They hears a voice behind them: “Excuse me, who are you?”
- THEY TURN AROUND AND IT’S AMADEUS
- Quén introduces themself as “Dax”, but notes that they prefer to go by Quén (reactionbaiting fr)
- Amadeus looks shocked 👀
- “You are my Dax… I mean, you are my Quén.” (thank u for not using their deadname king)
- Amadeus states that he needs a drink, calling for a servant. He gets a drink and Quén is offered one as well (they take it)
- Amadeus IMMEDIATELY figures out that Quén is from the future, and states that this is “troublesome”
- HE ALSO CASUALLY DROPS THAT HE’S THEIR DAD???
- Quén is like ?!?!?!?!? and then AMADEUS JUST SHAPECHANGES INTO HIS TRUE CHANGELING FORM (all white) (in Lily’s words: holy balls)
- Quén’s brain breaks 💀
Amadeus’s Deal (and HELLA exposition)
- Amadeus states that he needed to modify Quén’s memories before he sent them to the future
- REASONING: Amadeus made a deal with an unknown devil, and once he realized the severity of what it would mean for him to keep his end of the bargain, he and Quén’s mother agreed to send Quén to the future to keep them safe
- When talking about devilish deals, Quén inquires about Asmodeus and Amadeus is like “ew don’t associate with him”
- Because of the nature of the deal, Amadeus can’t explain EVERYTHING, but he can tell them about portions of it
- Eldoria (during the “present”, i.e. the point in time where Quén is meeting with Amadeus) is currently in a time of peace, and Amadeus is a political figure during this time
- There was a civil war that occurred within Eldoria, and Amadeus made a deal with an unknown devil in order to end the war
- The deal resulted in Amadeus acquiring The Crown, which he used to wish for the “power to unite many” (though he explicitly states that he didn’t take away anyone’s free will) — he made this deal specifically to save the kingdom.
- With this power, he was able to bring the people of Eldoria together, and no Eldorian lives were lost
- (Lily’s notes mention that “the invaders were killed”?)
- Amadeus just casually drops that he’s the demigod of changelings??
- Also Quén’s mom is a goddess of time???
- Quén’s like “who is she” and Amadeus is like maybe it’s best u don’t know who or where she is🤫
- Apparently Quén’s mom is maybe possibly dead — Quén is also immortal?? Genuinely what the fuck is going on dawg. (NOTE: they can still die, but are unaging and can’t die from old age)
- AVANDRA IS THEIR GRANDMOTHER???
- Quén fumbles and uses past tense when referring to her and Amadeus is like D:
- Also Quén’s mom is a goddess of time???
- BACK TO AMADEUS’S DEAL
- Amadeus had 10 years to make good on his end of the deal, and the unknown devil just wanted “a favor”
- The war ended after 5 years, shortly after which Amadeus and the Time Goddess realized they were going to have a baby. Then of course, like good fanfic, he sent his fucking baby to the future. Tea and shade.
- Quén alludes to future Amadeus being a total fucking dick
- Amadeus explains the complexity of the vessels (i.e. the incarnation of Ihys and Asmodeus) and how he is the (re)incarnation of Asmodeus
- AMADEUS WAS FRIENDS WITH VALLEN???
- VALLEN OF THE PAST KNEW ABOUT HOW HE’S THE INCARNATION OF IHYS. WTF IS GOING ON.
- Quén connects the dots and realizes that - based on what we learned from Dr. Pope, Amadeus died 10,000 years ago.
- They look over the city and - despite understanding why they were sent away - they would’ve liked to stay and grow up here. This is super fucked up.
- Amadeus tells them that he doesn’t know how far into the future Quén was sent — because if he knew, he knows he would’ve gone looking for them. I’M SAD!!!!!! FUCK THIS STUPID BAKA LIFE.
- Amadeus expresses that he has reservations regarding the gods, specifically because they refuse to help during times of need
- Lily: very Cordelia-core. Too bad she’s gonna toaster in the bathtub
- Quén’s vision begins to narrow, and realizing this, he and Amadeus say their goodbyes
- As they leave, Amadeus tells them: “I love you, be safe, enjoy life, make friends, and please: be yourself.”
- BITCH I’M GONNA TOASTER BATHTUB. THEY COULD’VE BEEN SO HAPPY WITH THEIR DAD FUCK MY LIFE.
Btw Lily drew this between taking notes (artistic queen 👑)
QUÉN IS REELING!!!
- Quén opens their eyes and SITS STRAIGHT UP IN BED
- They’re laying in Vallen’s bed!! Vallen himself is sitting off to the side, reading a book
- Quén FREAKS OUT!! They basically tell Vallen that:
- They met their father
- Vallen KNEW their father ten thousand years ago
- Vallen also knew that he was Ihys ten thousand years ago
- The Father is their father
- Vallen says that he will get Quén a cup of coffee, and offers them an empty page in his journal + a quill so they can get their thoughts onto paper while he’s away
(Most of) the party meets up
- Cordelia is at the bar, reading a book with a cup of coffee in front of her. As Vallen approaches, she pours two shots into the cup
- She greets him good morning
- Vallen asks if he can grab two cups of coffee — Cordelia says who is she to stop him
- Cal enters the room, grabs one of the cups of coffee Vallen’s holding, and dumps it on the floor
- He holds it up in the air and asks for someone to fill it with alcohol
- Cordelia pulls a FULL BOTTLE OF RUM out of her jacket and offers it to him
- Kaya enters the room and witnesses this whole thing 💀
- He holds it up in the air and asks for someone to fill it with alcohol
- Cal and Kaya are like “omg why do you need two cups… did you and Quén???”
- Vallen is like “what? no. they just had a dream about their father ten thousand years ago” AND LEAVES
- YOU SIMPLY MUST BRUSH UP ON YOUR SOCIAL SKILLS KING!!!
KAYA FUCKED!!
- Cal’s like 😏😏😏 at Kaya
- KAYA GRABS TWO CUPS OF COFFEE TOO (for sexual reasons)
- She starts walking back to the stairs, but before she leaves she turns around, winks, and goes “I got laid, what about you? 😏“
Cordelia and Cal??
- Cordelia sits next to Cal??
- Corinthia: when have they ever hung out???
Vallen returns with coffee
- Quén has written down (in scrawled, messy text) everything that they remember from the dream in Vallen’s journal
- The final bullet point reads: “He was nice.”
- Quén decides to loop the rest of the party in, and calls each of them with the request that everyone meets at the usual table at the bar
- They also decide to call Ozwin, who’s scared awake by the message they send to him 😭 my b king
The Gang Recaps
- Quén tells the gang (+ Ozwin) everything they know from the dream
- Cordelia is WASTED
- Quén states that they feel like she’s not taking things seriously enough, but she claims she’s taking things as seriously as everyone else
- Ozwin states that this kind of works with his theory that the Crown was used to cast a Wish spell at some point
- Quén theorizes that - whatever happened to make the Father evil - started when the unknown devil called in the favor that he made a deal for
- The rest of the party theorizes that he underwent something that turned him into the reincarnation of Asmodeus
Ozwin’s thoughts on our next move
- Since we know where the Crown is and that it’s in Nexus — Ozwin suggests that we go after the Crown
- His logic is that we can catch the Father off-guard
- Quén asks why we need the shapes before we go for the Crown. Ozwin is like 🤔 idk
- We currently have 1 piece of the Pyramid (he knows where another piece is) and 2 pieces of the Orb
We scry on Julian
- Vallen agrees to cast Scrying, and borrows the silver mirror from Quén
- Julian gets a -17 to his save because:
- Quén drew a really shitty picture of him (-2)
- CORDELIA JUST HAS A LOCK OF HIS HAIR??? DON’T ASK (-10)
- Vallen is “familiar” with him (-5)
- We see Julian in the middle of a desert, dotted by a few buildings
- The scrying eye zooms in on Julian, and as it does: we see that the buildings were constructed recently — it looks like the Blood Hunters took over a small town recently
- There are prison cells, with a few pathways between each of them
- Julian is sitting up against a corner in a cell
- His hair is longer
- He’s in standard adventurer’s attire, rather than the noble garb that he wore when he was with the party
- He’s very dirty
- No weapons
- A few people sit nearby Julian, in the same cell. They look sickly and are also covered in dirt and sand
- On the other side of the cell, there are a dead bodies
- The bodies look cut up (there are gashes and lacerations all over them)
- A lot of them are shirtless — the lacerations look like whip marks
- Julian is looking at the other people, and they look back at him. They seem to come to a silent understanding.
- A few guards open a gate, and a single guard dumps a body into the cell before leaving.
- As the gate closes and the guards walk off, Julian goes to flip over the body and inspect it
- One of the other prisoners asks: “Is that him?” (Julian shakes his head)
The gang discusses what to do
- Quén considers reaching out to Julian and offering assistance in Scrying on his mysterious Eldorian ally
- The party discusses what to do regarding Julian
- Quén wants to help, but isn’t sure how to
- The rest of the party questions whether or not he would want to hear from us, or would be willing to receive help
- Cordelia says that - if Julian had the choice - he would never see us again
- The general consensus is that we go to Nexus now, and if we run into Julian we can help him out
- Quén suggests that we talk to the crew (especially our new companions) and let them know what our plans our AND that they can back out of our Nexus trip if they don’t feel like putting their lives on the line
Speaking to the crew
- Kaya offers to speak to the crew, and Quén casts Enhance Ability (Eagle’s Splendor) on her to give her advantage on CHA checks
- She’s nervous!!
- Quén tells Kaya that she will have to do this a LOT when she wears the crown, so she can consider this to be training
- Everyone that we know who’s named shows up + a few other people we’re not terribly familiar with
- Kaya addresses the crew, telling them that we’ve chosen to Nexus and that this is a VERY dangerous endeavor
- We will either face an army that wants us dead, or a magical forest filled with dangerous creatures (dragons)
- This entire time, Cal is parroting what she says in a hype man way
- Kaya says that - if the crew wants to back out - we can always find another ship or another mode of transport to get to Nexus
- We will either face an army that wants us dead, or a magical forest filled with dangerous creatures (dragons)
- Kade raises his hand and asks if this is a good idea
- Cordelia - at the back of the crowd - scoffs at this and says “obviously not”
- Kaya replies and tells him that there is no other option, especially if we want to get a leg up on our opposition
- Quén states that we have good reason to believe that there are some Eldorians on Nexus, and that if some in the crew are missing their loved ones, we’ll probably find them there
- If someone wishes to opt out but is still looking for a loved one, they can let us know and we can keep an eye out for them
- Opal is like “IS EVERYONE ON THIS SHIP AN ELDORIAN???” (whoops 😜 sorry that we forgot to tell you queen)
- Captain Seamus speaks up, saying that he’ll get us to Nexus and that he’s not going to back out now. The rest of the crew follows suit!!
- Kaya closes out the meeting by offering everyone drinks!!
Quén pulls Kade aside
- They ask him how he feels about our Nexus plan
- He’s fine with it, but also doesn’t feel like there are many other options
- Quén emphasizes that he doesn’t have to leave with us, and that we can always drop him off at a nearby port before leaving for Nexus
- Kade restates that he doesn’t think Nexus is a very good idea, but he doesn’t want to leave us high and dry (since he’s the only Solmaran on board with any knowledge on the rest of the world), and that it’s better than taking the “dragon route”
- Quén tells him that we haven’t decided on our approach, so the dragon route is still likely
- They wrap up the conversation with wondering how Kaya’s conversation with Opal is going
Kaya talks to Opal
- Opal walks up to Kaya, and asks if she’s from a fairytale land that’s actually real??
- Kaya responds affirmatively
- Opal asks if we’re from where the patch of fog is. Kaya responds affirmatively again
- Opal states that she thought the fog was just. a patch of fog 💀
- Opal is fine with going to Nexus, and says that it sounds like an adventure. It’s also better than the alternative (sitting in a hot springs in a ruined temple for the rest of her life)
- IT’S REVEALED THAT - BECAUSE GEMSTONE DRAGONBORN AGE SO QUICKLY (ADULTHOOD AT 7) - OPAL IS LIKE. 13
- THERE ARE A LOT OF JOKES ABOUT PEDOPHILIA 💀💀💀
- Kaya gives Opal the down-low
- The ship is filled with illegal Eldorians
- While Kaya was raised in Eldoria, she is of Solmaran descent
- Kaya’s full name is Meril Erin Solmara (Opal knew this but it’s worth stating)
- Opal asks Kaya how old she is
- Kaya’s 26!
- Opal is 23 (🤨)
- Kaya tells Opal that we have a lot we need to catch her up on. Kaya agrees.
- Opal asks if we have an armory
- Kaya responds that “we can get some shit made”
- Opal needs a spear 👀
In the Evening
Vallen seeks out Cordelia
- In the evening after the previous events, the gang splits off for the night and retire to their individual rooms
- While Cordelia is winding down for the night, she hears a knock on the door — it’s Vallen
- He asks her if she’s busy. She responds that she is not
- Vallen tells her that he figured he should check in with her, since she seemed a little “off” (i.e. drinking in the morning when she usually doesn’t)
- He asks her if there’s anything she wants to talk about
- She says that there isn’t a lot to talk about, even though there is “crazy shit” going on (which she says that Vallen can probably attest to that)
- Vallen says that she can be upset about “his” death, and that he would rather her not drink herself into a stupor
- Cordelia bites back, asking him: “Don’t you have Quén to worry about?“. Vallen responds by saying that he has a lot of people to worry about.
- Vallen poses a rhetorical question, asking Cordelia what the old her would do in this situation
- He says that she would sit in his room until he was ready to talk, so he will do the same here since he sees an open space at her desk
- He sits down and pulls out his book
- Cordelia sighs, sitting on her bed and pulling out a book. She doesn’t say a word. (Lily states that Cordelia isn’t ready to talk yet)
- About 45 minutes later, Vallen closes his book and sets it down
- He says he’s left a note for her, and that she’s free to read it if she wants
- He closes by telling her that if she wants to talk, he will be in his room.
- The note’s contents are a secret 🤫 (i.e. CJ hasn’t finished writing it yet)