[18e01] Two Vondals, One Pipe

The party’s time in the changeling village of Alye’adu centered on Vondal’s mysterious temporal instability, an affliction causing him to skip through time and space without warning. After the villagers diagnosed his condition, Vondal underwent a profound ritual bonding with the dying changeling Sima, whose physical form slowly merged into him over the course of an hour, exchanging fragmented memories before separating into an entirely new individual named Ladnov — an exact mirror of Vondal who thanked him warmly for saving his life. The bond required monthly syncing rituals in Alye’adu, with strict warnings never to draw on flux energy during the process. Ayina offered a stunning personal revelation of her own: her changeling partner had fallen to infernal corruption and now served as a cleric of Asmodeus among devils in Trell, kept sane only by their monthly link — the true reason behind her devotion to the moon goddess Sehanine.

Back at SPI headquarters, Cassandra successfully tested a soul extension magic theory, briefly unifying with Bec to cast spells beyond her normal reach, while the party debated and stored a latent emergency spell within Callie. Callie also discovered that the protective amulet around her neck was a near-perfect counterfeit — dubbed a “shamulet” by Ozborn — possibly originating from an alternate version of herself. Ozborn combined two deadly poisons into a lethal contact substance he called Murder Oil, Freki permanently enhanced his physical capabilities through a rare tome, and Vondal acquired a Feywild Shard crystal for his spellcasting. Mallory then briefed the team on the Aecus Concord nominees, including the troubling Frokim Stillwind — whom Ozborn immediately marked for death — and three Arallu vampire candidates, from whom the party ultimately selected the charming harpist Etria Leduc for their branch. The session closed with the team rushing toward Trell for a meeting with new administrator Vex Loradine, spurred by the unsettling detail that the mysterious client had asked for Callie by name.

The party’s time in the hidden changeling village of Alye’adu began with a small but meaningful act of kindness. Ayina, a devoted cleric of Sehanine, used her considerable healing gifts to restore Vondal’s missing pinky finger, the one he had lost in a previous ordeal. With that matter settled, the villagers turned their attention to the far more pressing concern of Vondal’s condition. After careful study, Anorje and the others concluded that Vondal suffered from a kind of temporal instability, a mysterious affliction that caused him to skip through time and space without warning, often reappearing somewhere entirely different from where he had vanished. The villagers explained that as long as these episodes never stretched beyond a week, the bond he was about to form could still be maintained safely, provided he returned to Alye’adu once a month to perform a ritual syncing with his changeling partner.

The rules of the bond were laid out with great care. Vondal was warned above all else never to reach for his flux energy during the syncing ritual itself, as doing so could have catastrophic consequences for both himself and his partner. He was also told that if he ever suffered new corruption from the flux, he should seek to cleanse it before attempting to sync again. Ayina then offered a quiet and stunning revelation about her own situation: her changeling partner had long since been corrupted by infernal influence and now served as a fallen cleric of Asmodeus, operating among literal devils in the city of Trell. It was only their monthly link that kept her partner sane, which was precisely why Ayina had devoted herself so completely to the moon goddess Sehanine — not out of personal calling, but out of love and necessity.

With all of this understood, Vondal chose to proceed. The villagers gathered in a wide circle around him and the dying changeling, Sima, for emotional support and ritual tradition. Vondal and Sima clasped arms, and then something extraordinary and deeply unsettling began to happen. Sima’s physical form started to flow into Vondal like slow-moving molasses, creeping up his arm, coating his neck, and gradually consuming her entirely into him over the course of an hour. As she merged with him, a fragmented torrent of her memories washed through his mind — her childhood in the village, her horror at witnessing this very ritual performed on someone else, and the foundational moment when she had fled Alye’adu entirely. In return, Sima absorbed Vondal’s own broken and scattered memories, the pieces of himself that had been shattered by his experiences with the flux and the terrible eye that had once peered directly into his soul.

When the two had fully unified, a strange peace settled over Vondal — and then the process reversed. Over another long hour, a new form began to flow outward from him, slow and deliberate, until at last it separated completely from his fingertips. Sitting cross-legged across from him, in every physical detail an exact mirror of Vondal himself, was someone new. He introduced himself as Ladnov, and he thanked Vondal warmly for saving his life. The party learned that every month when Vondal returned to sync with Ladnov, their memories would flow between them as well, meaning that nothing Vondal discovered or experienced could truly be kept from his new counterpart for long — and vice versa.

Back at SPI headquarters, a different kind of experiment was underway in Cassandra’s laboratory. The researcher had a theory about soul extension magic, and she had crafted crude but bejeweled statuettes of each field agent in hopeful anticipation of her hypothesis panning out. When she finally tested the magic with Bec, it worked. The two women briefly became one — not in the sense of losing themselves, but in the sense that something celestial and shared within them expanded outward, allowing Bec to cast magic she could normally only use on herself onto Cassandra instead. The group then attempted to extend this link to three people simultaneously, with Bec holding Callie’s statuette and Cassandra clasping both of them, so that a powerful latent spell could be stored within Callie to trigger automatically under a specific condition. The party spent some time debating the most useful triggers — defensive escapes, retaliatory forces, emergency healing — before settling on their choices.

During this discussion, Callie made a quiet and unsettling realization. She had given her protective amulet to Sophie Steelboots before Sophie fled into the night, and yet here it was, hanging around her neck. When she examined it closely, it was clear this was not her amulet at all — it was a near-perfect copy, right down to the smallest detail, but unmistakably a knockoff. Ozborn, with characteristic bluntness, declared it a shamulet, and the name stuck immediately. The group speculated that it might have originated from one of the alternate versions of Callie that had been folded into existence during her harrowing time in the afterworld, a mystery that added yet another layer to the gnome cleric’s already complicated spiritual situation.

Downtime at headquarters also brought more practical preparations. Ozborn reached out to a shady underworld contact who revealed that the two poisons he had been carrying — Black Lotus and Belladonna — could be combined into something far more lethal. Boiled down into a syrupy oil, the resulting substance was a contact poison of terrifying potency, capable of dropping even a hardy creature to the edge of death on a failed resistance, or dealing grievous harm to those who managed to resist. Ozborn dubbed it Murder Oil and carefully produced two doses, storing them in separate vials with the full intention of putting them to use. Meanwhile, Freki spent his downtime with a remarkable tome that permanently strengthened his body beyond what most warriors could achieve, and Vondal acquired a rare Feywild Shard through Callie’s magic emporium — a warm, sunset-colored crystal that could enhance his spellcasting in unpredictable and wondrous ways — for the reasonable price of three hundred gold.

After roughly ten days of rest and preparation, Mallory called the team together for a formal briefing. He informed them that Xaryuvia had nominated three representatives for the Aecus Concord: a shady character named Frokim Stillwind for the diplomatic arm, Sophie Steelboots for the military arm, and a man named Wrendle Thistledown for the SPI branch, of whom Mallory spoke with cautious optimism. The mention of Frokim’s name triggered a flash of memory — Freki had spoken that name at the vampire ball in Arallu, and the party recalled him as the trader who had delivered Sophie to be hunted. Ozborn stated plainly and without hesitation that he wanted to kill that man, a sentiment that was not entirely discouraged.

Mallory then delivered the more complicated news: Arallu had also sent three representatives of their own, apparently motivated by a desire not to appear politically outmaneuvered by Xaryuvia. The three were Etria Leduc, a Toreador vampire and skilled harpist the party had found surprisingly charming; Meerlinda Descant, a Crispic vampire with unsettling dominion over the realm of dreams; and Bilbo Dragonsworn, a halfling the party had previously left tied up and invisible in a locked room. The party was given the authority to choose which of the three would join their branch. Mallory acknowledged his own deep misgivings about all of them but argued that keeping such individuals close was a strategic necessity, and he asked the team directly whether they could control their impulses long enough to let these potential enemies reveal themselves on their own terms. Ozborn agreed, with the caveat that he would gladly dispatch any of them the moment a legitimate reason presented itself.

The debate over which candidate to accept was lively. Meerlinda’s dream manipulation made her an immediate liability — the thought of someone who could reshape reality through sleep living in the same building was unanimously rejected. Bilbo was suspected of being a sleeper agent still under the vampires’ control, though some argued that keeping him close, where they could monitor him, was preferable to sending him somewhere less watchful. Etria, the hedonistic harpist who had shown a certain flair and approachability during their time in Arallu, ultimately won the vote. The party chose her, and Mallory agreed to make the arrangements, warning them gently that vampires were known to offer their blood to living companions in exchange for regular feeding — a corrupting arrangement they would need to watch for carefully.

The meeting was briefly interrupted by a bizarre domestic incident when a three-headed entity named Roger phased through the wall of Mallory’s office to complain about a half-eaten sandwich left on the kitchen table. Mallory handled this with the weary patience of a man who had seen stranger things, and the matter was resolved without further incident. With the briefing concluded, Mallory presented the team with their next assignment. They were to travel to the Trell branch office and meet with a new administrator named Vex Morradine at one o’clock that afternoon — which, as the party noted, was alarmingly soon. Most intriguingly, Mallory revealed that the client behind this new request had asked for Calumnystra Rockwell by name specifically, and he tasked the team with reporting back their impressions of Vex once they had met him. With barely enough time to gather themselves, the party set out toward Trell, carrying with them more questions than answers.

Last we left off, the party found themselves in the hidden changeling village of Alye’adu, where a moment of grace preceded a moment of transformation. Ayina, cleric of Sehanine, restored what had been taken from Vondal — his missing finger — before the village turned its full attention to the far stranger matter of his affliction. After careful study, the changelings determined that Vondal suffered from a temporal instability, a condition that sent him skipping through time and space without warning. A solution was offered: a sacred bond with a dying changeling named Sima, one that would require monthly syncing rituals back in Alye’adu and demanded that Vondal never reach for his flux energy during the rite itself. Ayina offered her own quiet revelation in kind — that her changeling partner had long since fallen to infernal corruption and now walked among devils in the city of Trell, kept sane only by their monthly link, and that her devotion to Sehanine’s light had been born not of calling, but of love. Vondal chose to proceed. In a ritual both extraordinary and deeply unsettling, Sima’s form flowed into him like slow-moving molasses, her memories washing through his mind — her childhood, her horror, her flight from this very village — while she absorbed the shattered pieces of Vondal’s own broken past. When at last the process reversed, a new figure separated from Vondal’s fingertips and sat cross-legged before him: Ladnov, Vondal’s counterpart, who thanked him warmly for saving his life.

Back at SPI headquarters, the days that followed were filled with preparation and revelation in equal measure. Cassandra’s long-held theory about soul extension magic proved itself true when she and Bec briefly became one, their shared celestial nature expanding outward in a way that allowed Cassandra to cast magic she could normally only use on herself onto another. The group worked to extend this link further, storing latent spells within Callie to trigger under carefully chosen conditions — though the debate over what those conditions should be was anything but brief. It was during this discussion that Callie made a quiet and unsettling discovery: the protective amulet she had given to Sophie Steelboots was somehow back around her neck, except it wasn’t — it was a near-perfect copy, unmistakably a knockoff, immediately and permanently christened the shamulet by Ozborn. Elsewhere, Ozborn combined two deadly poisons into a syrupy contact poison of terrifying potency he dubbed Murder Oil, Freki strengthened his body beyond ordinary limits through a remarkable tome, and Vondal acquired a warm, sunset-colored Feywild Shard to enhance his spellcasting in wondrous and unpredictable ways.

When Mallory finally called the team together for their formal briefing, the news was layered and complicated. Xaryuvia had nominated three representatives for the Aecus Concord — among them Sophie Steelboots and the immediately suspicious Frokim Stillwind, the very trader who had delivered Sophie to be hunted at the vampire ball in Arallu, a man Ozborn declared he wanted dead without a moment’s hesitation. Arallu had sent three of their own: Etria Leduc, the charming Toreador harpist; Meerlinda Descant, a vampire with dominion over dreams; and Bilbo Dragonsworn, a halfling the party had last left tied up and invisible in a locked room. After considerable debate, the party chose Etria — Meerlinda’s dream manipulation was unanimously rejected as too dangerous to house under the same roof, and Bilbo’s loyalties remained deeply suspect. With that settled, Mallory delivered their next assignment: travel to the Trell branch office and meet with a new administrator named Vex Loradine — and do so by one o’clock that afternoon. Most intriguingly, the client behind this new request had asked for Calumnystra Rockwell by name. With barely enough time to gather themselves, the party set out toward Trell, carrying with them more questions than answers…

In Alye’adu, Vondal clasped Sima’s arm tight, Her form flowed to molasses in the light. From him Ladnov emerged, Their memories merged, A twin born from flux on that mystical night!

Cassandra’s statuettes glowed with a hum, Soul magic linked Bec, Callie, and some. A shamulet appeared, Its origins weird— A copy from afterworld echoes had come!

Ozborn brewed his poisons with gleeful delight, Black Lotus and Belladonna combined right. He called it Murder Oil, Ready foes to foil, While Freki grew stronger and Vondal found light!

Mallory briefed them on Concord’s new cast, With Frokim and Sophie and shadows amassed. From Arallu’s dark hall, They chose Etria’s call, And Roger complained of a sandwich harassed!

To Trell they now raced against one o’clock’s chime, A client sought Callie—a curious sign. With Vex to be met, The stage had been set, The party pressed onward through mystery and time!

When last we left our intrepid agents, they were neck-deep in the kind of downtime that somehow manages to be more exhausting than actual combat. Vondal got his pinky back, which is lovely, and then immediately had a mysterious dying changeling slowly absorb into his body like sentient molasses before re-emerging as an exact copy of himself named Ladnov — you know, as one does. The two are now cosmically bonded, sharing memories monthly, which means Vondal’s secrets have a very strict expiration date. Meanwhile, Cassandra proved her soul extension theory works, Callie discovered her protective amulet is actually a knockoff that nobody can fully explain, and Ozborn — bless him — spent his vacation time inventing a contact poison so lethal he simply called it Murder Oil and called it a day. Freki got swole from a magic book. Vondal bought a sunset crystal from the criminal underground. Truly, a restful ten days.

Then Mallory called everyone into the briefing room and made things considerably more complicated, as Mallory does. The Aecus Concord is taking shape, and somehow the guest list includes the trader who sold Sophie to be hunted, a dream vampire who can reshape reality through sleep, a halfling the party personally left tied up and invisible in a locked room, and a charming harpist vampire who won the team’s vote mostly by not being the other two. Ozborn has already filed a mental request to murder at least one of these people at the earliest legal opportunity. And if all that weren’t enough, the party’s next assignment in Trell has a client who asked for Callie by name specifically — which is either very flattering or very ominous, and with this group, it’s almost certainly both.