Session 59 Double Cross
996, Flavum 7th
The next morning, Gomruss and Firien discuss their meditation with the Six of Steel. Firien explains that the Church choose to believe Caelum reached Lathander’s realm of Morninglory in Elysium, despite his 1,000-year-long hiatus. Bantonio confesses that the Church in Diamante teaches acolytes to accept Caelum’s miracle as an unquestionable truth. Contrarily, Gomruss theorises that Caelum never reached Elysium. A trip to the library was in order! Meanwhile, Blythe disguises Guy as his father, ready to pay a visit to Bertrand Magnier.
Locke and Quay Lodge
Guy’s performance is accurate enough to fool the receptionist. She provides Magnier’s room number without question. After all, Iandithas likely owned the establishment. Answering a knock at his door, Magnier stands mortified when Iandithas strides in and immediately makes himself at home. The pair begrudgingly exchange pleasantries. Magnier comments on Iandithas’ youthful appearance. Guy quickly dismisses the comment before getting down to business.
“It’s a nice place you’ve got here, Bertrand. Tell me, who do you think made this chair?”
“Oh, a local carpenter perhaps?”
“Wrong. The CSCA made it. And what about that window, Bertrand?”
“I suppose… the CSCA?”
“Exactly. Now, through the window, Bertrand. Who do you think made that church?”
Guy deceives Magnier.
With immutable confidence, Guy explains the importance of maintaining an alliance with the Church. By withholding Prefect Blackflight’s money, Magnier was threatening that alliance. Magnier concedes to Iandithas’ point, but upholds that breaking the original agreement would set a precedent for further exceptions. Without hesitation, Guy suggests that instead of relinquishing the money, Magnier should make a donation of the same value to the Church. Under pressure from Iandithas’ guards, Blythe and Bantonio, Magnier agrees to make the donation.
Sullivanwick Library
Meanwhile, Arti, Gomruss and Firien turn the library upside down in search of answers. Firien discovers several references to Caelum’s Light, a holiday celebrated across the Relief on Adventus 1st every leap year. A solar eclipse marks the day Caelum ascended to divinity. The Ascensus claims the eclipse is a blessing from Caelum, its colours representing the pride or shame he may feel for his people at the leap year’s end.
According to Knowen and Witana’s Encyclopedia, scholars believe that a new earthmote appears somewhere on Fio during every Caelum’s Light. Gomruss strokes his chin. He recalls the morkoth called the phenomenon the alignment. Perhaps in his bid for ascension, Caelum created a planar portal intensified by the solar eclipse. Investigating further, Gomruss finds a curious book by Khymez Ta’rol of the Planar Cartographic Society. The mercane author claims to have travelled across the multiverse.
The mechanism by which earthmotes are transported to Fio is unique among the worlds of the Material Plane. I posit that Caelum’s Light is, in fact, a planar portal with a “hunting mouth.” I hereby coin this term to describe a portal with one or more apertures that move randomly across the multiverse. It is therefore possible for Caelum’s Light to capture earthmotes from other planes every four years, when Fio passes through the tethered aperture.
While the Relief’s foremost scholars postulate that the portal was created to facilitate Caelum’s rise to divinity, I would cite more prominent examples of apotheosis, noting that neither Mystra nor the Dead Three required a portal to ascend. It is more likely that Caelum opened the portal to force his way into Elysium. Furthermore, the fact that the portal still exists today, in my opinion, suggests that it has not yet fulfilled its purpose.
An extract from Extraplanar Perspectives on Fio.
Gomruss’ jaw hangs loose. Could his theory be correct? If Caelum was denied entry into Elysium, he could be trapped in the Astral Sea, forever timeless. Was this the meaning of the dreamscape he shared with Firien?
Tamar Bridge
The evening grows cold as Blythe becomes frustrated with her contact’s tardiness. While Guy keeps vigil atop a looming tree, Bantonio plays a nearby drunkard to avoid arousing suspicion. When Blythe hears approaching footsteps, she turns to greet a figure emerging from the shadows. The tall, scantily clad aasimar offers her a ham and cheese sandwich. Blythe spies an eyepatch beneath his unkempt auburn fringe. The pair prevaricate for several minutes before realising neither of them are part of the Crosscut Circle.
The aasimar introduces himself as Faust and examines Blythe with his good eye; a ring of gold on black. Judging her and her friends to be sincere, he recounts how he discovered the dead drop and learned that an agent known as T had recently pilfered resonite from the bank of Sullivanwick, presumably to fuel the submarine. After some investigation, he discovered the ship hauling the resonite was bound for the Farwest archipelago.
Faust admits to having encountered Bhaldrom Anchorheart as both friend and foe. When he learned of Anchorheart’s plans to attack Sullivanwick on Flavum 1st, he engaged the Umberlant and told him the submarine’s approximate location. Guy recalls the elemental’s sudden course change occurred on the same day. That meant Anchorheart had a seven-day head start to Farwest.
“Why would a self-proclaimed scoundrel like you want to save Sullivanwick? Who are you protecting?”
“Sullivanwick is my home. I… I have family here. My little brother.”
“Would that be a certain stressed prefect by any chance?”
Blythe questions Faust. Bantonio spots the resemblance.
Blythe explains how they were able to trick Bertrand Magnier into donating to the Church, relieving Prefect Blackflight of his debt. Faust’s eye glows with admiration as he chuckles. In return for helping his brother, he offers the services of his ship, the Lady Firehair. With the fastest ship in the Manyshells, they may be able to reach the Crosscut Circle before Anchorheart.