The Delinquents - Session 22

This is the twenty-second session in The Delinquents campaign and the first and only session in the Dazed and Confused storyline of the Consequences arc. Player feedback ranks this session at an 8.25.

Notable Events

 * Maple, Marcus Johnson, and Gorrn all learned of Cecilia's death, revealing that they still remembered that she existed.
 * Lamhach, Gutter Snipe, and Agvahl were all invited to a party on Saturday, October 6th, 995 by Hermes.
 * Gorrn returned to meet the party in their dormitory, revealing that he had returned to Squidsiddie for a compulsion unknown to him.
 * The party learned of the Department of Arcane Studies' recent downsizing.
 * Mace, an old Gnomish woman, joined the party as their now roommate.

Summary
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 995: Returning from the Parliamentarian, the Delinquents were faced with the difficult task of breaking the news of Cecilia's death to Maple after meeting her in the hallway. Ishim attempted to soften the blow with a lie about her leaving to visit her family, while Erin, frustrated, told Maple the truth about Cecilia. Maple laughed at their words, believing that they were just joking like Gadway had earlier, but soon realized the reality of the situation. Palmer suggested that Maple come into the room as the shock of the news faded and she begin to weep uncontrollably. Over a painfully long period of time during which Maple continued to break down, Lamhach tried to explain that Cecelia was trying to save them and retrieved Cecelia’s small gift tree from maple to attempt to comfort her. Unfortunately, this only made her more upset as she slumped down against the wall. Ishim also attempted to console her to no avail. The room grew quiet as the weight of the situation sat heavily upon their shoulders. Eventually, Maple announced that simply could not believe that Cecilia was gone, but had calmed down enough to leave. Ishim and Erin ended up arguing on how the situation should have gone, with Palmer eventually stepping between them to mediate as Lamhach dragged Cecelia's old bed from their room.

While the other members of the group went to sleep, Eren left the dormitory to sit outside in the University's promenade to contemplate the night's events. Pondering what had caused him to momentarily lose control of Barilus, Eren was unable to pin down a specific cause but wondered if other mysterious recent events had anything to do with it.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 995: In the morning, the mailman delivered a letter from the University, showing that their records indicated a vacancy in their dormitory. Because of this, the party would be receiving a new roommate, to be joining them soon. Agvahl brought Snipe and Lamhach to go to Gnomeball practice while the others attended their classes for the day. The team practiced new defensive strategies to combat their next opponents, the Mountaineers, during which there was some "friendly" roughhousing between Corwin and Lamhach. Unfortunately, Lamhach messed that up by attempting and failing to punch Corwin, instead lightly caressing him below the belt and causing him to awkwardly back away. After practice, Hermes invited the group to a party off campus on Saturday and shared some sentimental words about his family back home.

Later in the day, upon returning to the dorm, there was another knock at the door. Assuming it was their new roommate, they opened the door to find a Gnome with a very large backpack who asked if "a small green man, a bird, a big guy, a smaller green guy but he only wears green, an ever smaller green lady who also only really wears green, a sad Elf, and some lady" lived there. Saying no, Ishim closed the door on him, but Lamhach returned to open the door and ask if he was their new roommate. He responded that he was only there to help someone else who was looking for the group. After a further conversation, Lamhach peered over the Gnome's shoulder to see that Gorrn was the one looking for them, carefully peeking from behind the bathroom door at their room.

Gorrn motioned for Lamhach to clear away from the doorway before slinking inside and toppling over Ishim. He then announced that he had been looking for where they lived for around 3 days, informing them that after they woke up in that crumbling building, he immediately fled from the area but as he was scaling down the mountain, he felt some unexplainable compulsion to return and search for them. Luckily, he was able to find them and asked if he could stay with them while he figured out what he needed to be there for.

Upon questioning where Cecilia had gone, Gorrn learned from the party that she had died, surprising them with his knowledge of her existence. In a rare display of introspection and solemnity, Gorrn expressed his condolences to the party and learned of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. The group discussed the possible connections between all the strange events as of late before finally retiring to bed, Gorrn having taken Cecilia's old bed and bringing it into the other room to sleep.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 995: With Cecilia gone, Eren and Ishim were left as the group's only magic-affiliated members and left in the morning to attend their Magic Fundamentals course. Noting the lack of activity in the halls and the empty classrooms of the typically busy department, the two discussed Ishim's father, Harkem, and if he had anything to do with the state of the department. Upon arriving at their classroom, they found a notice posted by Professor Farah stating that "due to temporary department downsizing, the Magic Fundamentals course shall now be held in Lecture Hall 1 on the 2nd floor". The two proceeded to the classroom to find over a dozen unfamiliar students segregated from their usual classmates. They learned that the new students were members of Director Johnson's Intro to Magic course that had been meeting in this classroom. Ishim and the student briefly discussed the different between rods and wands.

Agvahl, Lamhach, Palmer, and Snipe also left to attend their Intro to Magic course. They were overcome with a sense of déjà vu as they gazed at the many cracks and blemishes in the walls, unable to relate the structural damage to any concrete memories but wondering if it had something to do with the incident involving Director Johnson. Distracted by the sound of chatter from a nearby classroom, they entered to find several unfamiliar students segregated from their usual classmates; amongst them were Ishim, Eren, and Marcus Johnson. Before they could find a seat near them, a blue Dragonborn woman zipped by them carrying an almost comically tall stack of tomes and parchments before perching herself at the front of the room.

Introducing herself as Professor Farah, she explained that due to department downsizing because of their director, she was required to take on the instruction of several more courses, which forced her to have to combine the Intro to Magic and Magic Fundamentals courses into one lecture with two sections. She apologized for the confusion and expressed that they would get things figured out as soon as possible regarding the staffing of the department. She then admitted that while many details of "the incident" (regarding how the department became damaged like it was) were unknown, the running theory was that a lab experiment gone wrong caused the damage they saw.

Farah started the lecture with reintroducing the subjects the two courses were covering: Casting Techniques for the Intro to Magic students and Refining Application Techniques for the Magic Fundamentals course. As the lecture went on with Farah occasionally asking questions to both groups of students (almost all of which were answered correctly by the party and class), Palmer and Lamhach discussed their impending meeting with Dello, while Marcus, Ishim, and Eren discussed Cecilia, learning that Director Johnson was still living at home with Marcus, and that Marcus did in fact remember Cecilia. These conversations ultimately led to Palmer stating that he would go with whatever decision Lamhach makes, and that Marcus would meet with them very briefly after class so that they could explain what happened to Cecilia.

After class, the party and Marcus entered a nearby classroom and explained to Marcus some of the details of Cecilia's death, skirting around their involvement with Professor Half-Pint's kidnapping and telling him that whoever perpetrated it also attacked them and killed Cecilia. They further explained how the world's memory of her had somehow been altered, hoping that his uncle had anything to do with the mass amnesia and worried that the same thing that happened to Cecilia may happen to them. Marcus quietly contemplated their words before characteristically deflecting his feelings and offhandedly mentioning that he would talk to Guybrush about it before he left.After Marcus left, Lamhach mentioned that she and the other Gnomeballers had been invited to a party off-campus, prompting a long discussion on the group's understanding of what a party actually is. Each member shared their gross misconceptions regarding parties, with Ishim relating them to incredibly high-class galas and Eren to a "party of necromancers" and an event where one "sacrifices pigs". Palmer came in as the voice of reason, relating a time when he had witnessed a nobleman's party in Paradeen and attempting to explain that it was probably a more casual event. Eren further failed to relate to what a party actually was, describing his time back home where his kin would "send out parties to kill".

Lamhach further relayed that the party was "BYOB", prompting further horrific relations from Eren on the use of an organ-removing tool of a similar name and from Ishim on bird bones. Palmer suggested that they simply asked, before Lamhach explained that it was probably similar to a festival. Learning that the party was on Saturday, they further discussed whether or not they would actually attend the party before they were politely asked by another magic student to leave the room so he could use it.Now back at the dormitory, the group prepared to head to bed when they heard another knock upon the door, the third time this week. Lamhach opened it up to reveal a small, older Gnomish woman standing at the door, wearing a white tunic and tan breeches, and clutching a rolled parchment and a large bag. Around 4 feet tall, with shoulder-length silver hair and straight-cut bangs, big round blue eyes, and a wide smile across her face, she introduced herself as Mace, the group's new roommate.