I really like the application for cosplay, though!

by Jenny Dolfen

by Shara Mae

As you crest into the sunset of the day, as jumping to this side of Exandria, it is quiiet. Far later in the evening; a dull change of color begins to creep in. Essek, incognito, leads you to the edge of the Pentamarket, looking for a place to stay. The first place you stumble upon, the name of the locale is The Lodge of the Eclipse. It is quite a decent-sized inn. You can already hear laughter and conversation from the exterior, as well as some undertones of music playing, not gently, but more of a fiddle and a drum and sure we’ll say jazz flute. Why not? It’s fun.
As you step into the interior, the smell hits you before anything else. This floor is deeply ale-stained, mixed with the smell of bodies, and it is fairly crowded here. You get the sense that the establishments that offer alternatives to reality in these times of strife and fear tend to be very popular once the end of the workday concludes. A number of the Pentamarket populace are folks beyond within the city of Zadash are here, or in the process of gathering into the crowded interior of the tavern portion of the interior of The Lodge of the Eclipse.
As you push through the crowd a bit (Essek leading the way over towards the edge) there’s the folks that are running the bar, and you can see there is a clerk desk that leads to a staircase that heads upstairs and to the right, you can see there’s actually a sitting pit with a number of benches set up and some other extension of the tavern tables and a small stage. The curtains are closed, there’s no lights on it yet. You do see here, with one of the raised smaller platforms (less of a stage, more like a platform) you see three musicians that are playing the atmosphere. They’re playing and bantering to each other. Most folks aren’t paying attention to them directly, but just enjoying the atmosphere.
Essek goes up to the clerk (and you can see there’s a halfling man, probably in his early 50s ro so, massive mutton chops that are mostly gray at this point, with streaks of dark brown, his hairline is deeply pulled back to what could be almost described as a skullet at this point) and he leans up towards Essek and the rest of you.
“Oh, right! Hello there. You’re looking for a place to stay for the night? We’ve only got maybe two rooms left at the moment. Lot of travelers comin’ through. You’ll have to pay a premium on that.”
Essek raises a hand to stop him, “We’ll take both, whatever you have.”

• 02:32:56 Liam:“I want him to float and I want him to be purple.”
• 02:33:33 Matt describes Essek as svelte and likely has to do exercises to improve muscle tone.

Liam:(Essek voice)“Time to bake those cakes.”

• 02:37:10 The burlesque show starts to set up. Dorian and Chetney head for a good seat.
• 02:38:10 You take a moment to look at the crowd around. You can see most folks in here, as deep into the cups they might be, there is definitely an air of necessary escapism. You can see the sinking of posture. There’s a certain energy after people suffer trauma. You can see a lot of these folks are engaging eagerly at this opportunity to celebrate art.
  Essek’s still sitting in the back with Imogen. As much as he’s standing frumpily, you can’t help but catch him occasionally softly clap.
• 02:39:25 Fan Art Moment Laudna:(casting Thaumaturgy with scary amplification)“Appreciate the performance.” and causing at least one attendee to lose bowel control.
• 02:40:24 Essek:“I understand more than might have long ago. In years of late, I’ve come to appreciate the necessity to carve moments of joy. I think that’s maybe something those of us that live longer lives have a harder time appreciating…I felt that way for a long time but I don’t believe that anymore. It feels that way only because so much of our history tells us that pain is what gives purpose. But as a wise man once told me, 'It is not pain that makes people. It’s love.”
• 02:44:50 Travis:(Chetney voice)“Chetney’s sitting in the front row, legs out, slumping in the chair, baguette in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. Fucking riveted.”
• 02:45:52 The way Marisha says “she would be ‘of age’” (referring to Kiri) looks like she’s almost ashamed to be making the point.
  Matt:“Not everything is connected.”
  Marisha:“She could be working her way through college at this point in time.”
  Robbie:“Every NPC is a cameo!”
• 02:47:14 Matt accidentally says handling the Wench rather than Winch. Chat establishes the new book at the Chastity’s Nook Handling the Wench.
• 02:47:54 Matt:“Hupperdook’s The Best.”
• 02:49:36 Ashton preps himself for an examination by Essek with a rage to activate his strange abilities.
• 02:52:38 Essek:“Dunamis is a particular pillar of esoteric magic within Exandria. It is a speciality of the Kryn Dynasty and is (in essence) derived from…where to begin? There is an entity (believed within Dynasty circles) to be called the Luxon, that (long ago, before the gods and spiritual elements even took this world for their own creation) divided itself amongst Exandria into a number of artifacts. These artifacts (whether or not the myth holds any particular anchor to it) are extremely powerful sources of dunamantic magic. It is magic that tugs at and manipulates the very fabric of reality. Time becomes malleable. Gravity and entropy become weaponized and altered. The very space fabric becomes a weave to pull and stretch and fold. It is a very primal and rarely understood magic. Elements of it have been borrowed in other more conventional practices. But dunamis, the basis, the energy of this magic is primarily a Dynasty focus and my particular life’s long study. What you hvae, whatever this is, is a unique, organic source of dunamis…You are a dangerous entity.”
  Ashton:“People keep saying that.” Ashton gives one more Rage and gets the rainbow sparkles of the Probability enhancement.
  Essek:“Now you’re just showing off.”
• 02:58:36 Chetney:“She gave me a feather!..the goddess noticed meee!”
• 02:58:57 Ashley:“What does it smell like?”
  Robbie:“A feather! What do you want me to say? Cloaca?”
  Matt:“My favorite incense.”
• 03:03:12 Imogen:“You’re kinda like his dad.”
• 03:03:19 He goes and begins to craft this weird glow of ephemeral magical energy in his palm, and then he flicks it in the air, and you see this illusion appear of a 12-sided relic that sparkles in a similar cosmic way as your (Ashton) head does.
  Essek:“This is a beacon. These are the supposed fragments of the Luxon, and it is a mystery as to how many of these exist across exandria, but a number of them have been long under control of the dynasty and considered the most holy of relics. They are the most powerful source of dunamantic power in all the world. Since the Assembly has acquired one or perhaps more since, they have exploited it in ways, been able to distill some of its power into a multitude of devices. This vial you speak of, they are one of the numerous byproducts of the Assembly’s research.”
  You do very much recall seeing something of a similar shape and design at the core of the Key right before everything fired the bridge off to the moon.
  [Liam trying not to have a meltdown for choosing (as Caleb) to give a beacon to the Kryn Dynasty (which may be the same one used for the Malleus Key by Ludinus).]
  Essek:“…you continue to realize how long and wide the ramifications of your actions might be.” (MFMM twisting the knife)
• 03:05:50 Ashton:“I got enough blame for us blothe.”
• 03:06:56 Essek mentions his “partner” again
• 03:08:07 Essek:“If I could assemble a few other dunamancers who can see past my previous infractions, and I have a few ideas, together, we could disrupt, theoretically, the beacon that resides in the Key. Now, to do so would cut the moon free and end this bridge. That would mean nobody on or off.”
  Laudna:“Well, we sort of found a little back door portal to the moon…”
• 03:09:53 Essek:(about his “partner”)“…but he is kind and he is smart, and he is so strong…”
  Liam:(doubtful)“Eh.”
  Essek:“…of heart.”
  Travis:“The smell…”
• 03:11:36 Imogen:“I want to float everywhere.” casts Fly
  Dorian:“Oh! That’s so neat! (I’m still a little tipsy)” casts Fly on Chetney “Go! Do it, too!”
  Chetney thuds hard into the ceiling “Fuck!”
  Laudna:“You stole fizzy lifting drink…”
• 03:12:51 Lore Drop How Ashton met F.C.G. in a mine shaft.
• 03:14:28 The unstoppable force of “moody Laudna” meets the immovable object of “drunk Dorian”
• 03:15:10 Liam:“…and lays the blade across his legs, this sword that he’s seen at three pivotal moments in his life…the day he saw this sword run his father and his husband through…watching Laudna and Fearne struck down…watching from the ground in a cave on the moon F.C.G. erupt into light…”
• 03:19:12 Liam:“I can still hear the music from the burlesque playing from across the road, and I can’t help but think of the people just trying to live their lives in the face of the impossible and how that’s something worth fighting for.”
• 03:21:54 Fan Art Moment Laudna casts Animate Object on Sashimi, her backpack hut sprouts legs in Baba Yaga style, and a series of other items animate to assist with crafting.
• 03:23:23 Dorian meets the upgraded Pâté
• 03:26:36 (drunk) Dorian:“What are you two doing out here? Hi. I feel like it’s been so much of them and not a lot of us. Hello…Is this a group hug? I’ve been waiting for this since the moment I saw you. 17 strength. I’m giving it everything I got!”

(continued)