#which told us nothing we didn't know already but just made Caden more stressed out :P

[blackjackkent]

We completely sidelined the actual plot for a while last time because Aerie had got dead and we had to deal with that situation bc Caden was not handling the idea of his girlfriend dying very well. But we also, as a result of killing Bodhi, have access to an elven lantern we were trying to get, which is a tool necessary to bring back the city Irenicus is in, which has been whisked off to another plane or otherwise hidden by an illusion that can't be dispelled. (Convenient.)

I only meant to briefly stop at the inn because everyone in the party was exhausted...but lo and behold, there's another dream sequence waiting for us!

These are always good and emotionally devastating. o.o

The sharp scent of oak and pine registers in his senses. Beneath his feet he feels the gentle rasp of his boot heels on rough tree bark. The nostalgia this evokes is like a punch to the gut; he remembers clambering up trees in Candlekeep, always a little faster than Imoen with his extra height, calling down to her with a laugh, "Keep up, slowpoke! I can see the whole keep from here!"

But this is no such tree as they had back in the gardens of his home, so far away now. It is an enormous tree, the branch stretching like the arm of some great monster out into the distance ahead of him. Behind him, the great trunk of the tree has been abruptly lopped into a stump just above the level of the branch he stands on, and is adorned with some elaborate structure he cannot quite see.

And the voice whispers in his ears, a soft woman's voice, a counterpoint to the constant low murmur of Bhaal's darkness in him. The speaker wears a green cloak that half blends her with the leafy shadows around them, and moves with the light tread of a ranger or a spirit. He does not recognize her face, though she clearly recognizes him.

"Awaken. Awaken and hear me. I bring visions of warning, of what is happening now and what may happen soon."

Whatever it is she wishes to speak of to him in this strange dream plane, it is urgent. Her tone and the look in her eyes conveys that intensely, and even through the flat apathy that has consumed him since his soul was taken, he cannot help but focus his eyes on her and listen.

"This image will speak true, for you are of two sides, and the liars have said their part. You travel in search of yourself, divided, splintered. There is a piece of you missing."

He hesitates, then nods slowly. Who she is, how she knows what has happened to him...it doesn't matter; he feels that empty place in his chest ache in answer to her words.

"The hole inside you fills with death, with darkness, while another -- Irenicus -- kills you with your strength. Look. Look at the destruction he has wrought. See the corruption that he brings."

Visions elsewhere in this enormous winding tree. Irenicus -- cloaked in darkness, a shadow among the shadows -- emerging onto a group of elves, a burst of fury and violence and death.

"He has stolen your future to replace his own, avoided his proper fate. This must be undone! For your sake, and theirs, you must take back what has been stolen. If their lives are not enough, then think of your own. You will lose yourself to the hole within."

He wants to speak, to explain that he is trying, so terribly hard. That he would gladly die at this moment if it weren't for Irenicus continuing to live, and the destruction he will cause. That he is acutely aware of the spreading emptiness where his soul used to be.

Help me... he wants to say. But the words will not come out. And hers continue, soft and implacable.

"Yours is the potential to be your own worst enemy... or your own savior."

She reaches out, lays a hand on his shoulder, and as the soft touch presses through his armor, he snaps awake, a ragged breath choking in his throat. He is in Trademeet, in the inn bed he is sharing with Aerie, who is wrapped around him tightly enough almost to bruise. The sheets are tangled around him and the darkness seems to have a thousand eyes watching him.