Narrative

Day 52 began at Stonedown. Dothral wanted to know more about his father and thought the answer might be Aneurascarle, making Dothral an Excellency, with Squeall, god of the lost, as his grandfather. A memory showed dragons talking about a beehive being poked and why the dome had been created. Questions arose about Eliana fully regaining memories of being a Hartwall. Recovering what was lost would not be easy, because the memories aligned with broader memories tied to the pact with the god of the lost. Dothral saw snippets of Eliana’s true form and the need to do something with the J.

The notes state that a price was paid by dragonkind, and it was not taken well by those who remained and still had power. Payment was not asked for because the party had not given her to the goats. The party asked whether looking at the night sky and feeling serene was part of Valentinhide. The answer suggested it was. Reuniting that part with her would not completely change Valentinhide, but would soften her edges, making her a goddess of destruction again rather than a being who mindlessly murdered people on the road.

The party understood the released or protected piece as a small shard of a powerful creature. They asked whether destroying the dome would cancel all pacts. The answer was yes: the pacts were linked to the dome, and if the dome ceased, the pacts would cease. Removing the dome would also release all of the prisons. Geldrin tried to show the shard her sister Bridged by communing with Bridged and opening a pathway to her domain. The party decided they needed to protect the shard, because Valentinhide might be able to get her. They discussed an oath of holding elemental and dome energy, and promised to release her regardless.

The party entered the pathway. The walkway stopped partway and turned left, but each member went a different way: Invar forward, Geldrin right, Dotharl left, Eliana up, Dirk down, and Morgana behind. After ten minutes they lost sight of each other. Wind rose and they struck walls. The walls appeared linked in pairs: Invar with Morgana, Geldrin with Dotharl, and Dirk with Eliana.

A Knock revealed a line, and a door opened. A cricket-headed humanoid appeared, said they were busy, and asked how long the party wanted to wait. Two minutes was accepted. He also appeared to Dirk and gave the same timing. The notes say, “She is not really yet.” The cricket-headed figure gave the party a screwdriver and said he was waiting for Medinner. A bird person was asked to ask Bridged if she was taking visitors. Geldrin placed a red crystal in a divot, then went to Dotharl, where a raven opened the door and said the crystal was for a dwarf. The screwdriver removed a curved blade; it went to Dirk, who found a button where the blade had been.

Invar’s room held cages with a cricket and a raven on plinths and a steaming bowl of gruel on a third. Plaques instructed: “Honour me first” for the cricket, “Honour me second” for the raven, and “for a song” for the bowl. Dotharl met a raven-headed lady, who told him to go away and said there was always a choice. Geldrin asked about Bridged; the answer was that this person did not know where Bridged was or how to get to her, but her friend did.

Invar tried to feed the raven gruel, but the raven did not want it. He opened the cricket cage, and the cricket jumped onto the bowl and began eating. The raven then became interested. The cricket sang, a door handle clicked behind Invar, and Invar opened the bird cage. The raven flew out to eat the cricket, another door clicked, and Invar opened it. The cricket came through and was named Cedric. Morgana needed a way back; the party asked Cedric to ask Bridged to make a door for Morgana, and Bridged did.

Geldrin asked Medinner for a door, but Medinner said she could not because her show was on. Geldrin asked to see the show, and she let him in. Three silver dragonborn on a screen reenacted Eliana realising Avalina was her mum and putting her in the ground. A woman covered in roots appeared. A robot man or copper dragonborn in plates pretended to be on guard duty, with powder around like snow. After an explosion, another figure came and said, “rise my son,” and the robot man got up and walked away. Medinner said to use the broom to get to Dotharl. A wall looked like a stone door with the knob at the top; it rotated but did not open, and rotated to match Geldrin’s.

Morgana returned through the door. Another room held plinths with playing cards, a bowl, and dice. The party rolled dice, drew cards in order, shuffled and dealt six piles of eight cards, and played magic poker. Morgana trick-dealt a good hand. Twenty cricket/raven gold coins appeared. The gruel tasted bad. Further dice rolls moved Geldrin to a chessboard square twenty squares aside, then Dirk to the far side, with lights appearing on the board. Morgana threw gruel off the platform; Cedric caught and ate it like ambrosia. Bridged would see the party but would not tell them how to get there. Geldrin and Dirk dealt with orbs, [unclear: geesie?], and a scythe. When the objects were pushed together, the floor disappeared and they landed with Invar and Eliana.

Medinner told Dotharl the party needed to go soon and stepped off the edge. An orb was a present from Bridged and needed to be kept until they did not need it. Cedric and Medinner were Bridged’s closest followers and could speak more freely and directly than Bridged. Bridged needed a favour. The party was told to remember that Bridged had given them a present when they were about to feel angry, and to remember how they had honoured her.

The party appeared back where they had started, with a door behind them. Beyond it was darker sky and no platform, with a bouncy-castle feeling underfoot. They realised they could move by intent. Invar and Dotharl sped toward a storm; Dirk decided to move where they needed to go; Eliana went to Dirk; Geldrin went to Invar and Dotharl. Dotharl heard a voice in his head saying he had abandoned them, left them behind, and that mortals were inferior. The voice said he could set Dotharl free if Dotharl asked him to be set free.

Dirk imagined a cloud tent house and Bridged on a throne, and the images merged with other imaginations. Bridged would take the gold Valentinhide, smash the orb, and release her to Bridged. Bridged wished to be honoured a second time. She said the gods had agreed not to interfere unless asked, but some kin had interfered greatly. Her kin was trapped and wished to be freed, perhaps Dotharl’s granddad. Part of Dotharl was Bridged. The notes separate Dotharl’s dad being trapped, his granddad being lost, and Squeall. Bridged liked freedom and trickery. Her husband liked lucky fortune, weather, change, and loss. Whatever her followers needed, she could get within reason.

The party’s questions included whether the trapped being was in Snowsoreen, the order city, or trapped in the dome as order from all the chaos outside it. Bridged said there were many paths and nothing was written in stone. The party had chosen to be constrained to the walkway, though they could have walked off, because of fear of the unknown. Bridged named choices for each party member. Eliana could keep the identity they had now or the one they once had. Dotharl could keep his humanity or rejoin Bridged’s realm. Geldrin was offered power, perhaps too much to resist, and was told there was much unknown about Brownings and that he may need to see his people. Invar, a man of faith who was only beginning to learn it, needed to give him a crystal, the one Geldrin lost, and use it if they returned to his city. Dirk was on the path to free his people; more steps and friends would be needed, not only spirits, and he should not forget the fishing expedition. Morgana’s choice to help the party carried great cost, and those who sought to train her also came at great cost.

Page 263 then starts Day 53, so Day 52 is complete before the party goes onward to the Bridged / Domain events that follow.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

People and name-like figures mentioned include Dothral / Dotharl, Dothral’s father, Aneurascarle, Squeall, Valentinhide, Bridged, Geldrin, Invar, Eliana, Dirk, Morgana, Medinner, Cedric, Avalina, Dotharl’s granddad, Bridged’s husband, Brownings, and Eliana’s former and current identities.

Groups and factions mentioned include the party, dragons, dragonkind, goats, gods, Bridged’s kin, Bridged’s followers, silver dragonborn in Medinner’s show, mortals, Brownings, Dirk’s spirits and people, and those who seek to train Morgana.

Places mentioned include Stonedown, the dome, the night sky, the prisons, the elemental planes by implication from the shard’s protection, Bridged’s domain, the pathway and linked wall rooms, Invar’s cricket/raven/gruel room, Dotharl’s raven-headed lady room, Medinner’s show space, the chessboard space, the darker-sky realm, the storm, the imagined cloud tent / throne, Snowsoreen, the order city, Dotharl’s or Invar’s city by instruction, and Dirk’s future fishing expedition.

Creatures and creature-like beings mentioned include Valentinhide as goddess or powerful being, the small shard of a powerful creature, cricket-headed humanoid / Cedric, bird person, raven, cricket, raven-headed lady, Medinner, silver dragonborn performers, woman covered in roots, robot man / copper dragonborn in plates, Bridged, Bridged’s trapped kin, and the voice trying to tempt Dotharl.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

Items, documents, and physical resources mentioned include the dome, pacts linked to the dome, prisons linked to the dome, broom, oath or holding-elemental protection, dome energy, pathway to Bridged, screwdriver, red crystal and divot, curved blade, button, cricket cage, raven cage, steaming bowl of gruel, playing cards, bowl, dice, magic poker setup, twenty cricket/raven gold coins, chessboard lights, orbs, [unclear: geesie?], scythe, orb present from Bridged, gold Valentinhide, the crystal Geldrin lost, and the fishing expedition reminder.

Spells, visions, and magical effects mentioned include memory retrieval about being Hartwall, true-form snippets, opening a pathway to Bridged’s domain, Knock, magically linked rooms / walls, Bridged making a door for Morgana, Medinner’s reenactment show, movement by intent in Bridged’s realm, telepathic or intrusive voice to Dotharl, Bridged’s ability to take and smash the orb, and divinely framed choices for party members.

Strategic resources and plans mentioned include the implication that destroying the dome would cancel all pacts and release all prisons, the plan to protect and ultimately release the shard, Bridged’s offer to take gold Valentinhide, the trapped kin’s requested freedom, Dotharl’s humanity choice, Eliana’s identity choice, Geldrin’s possible Browning-related power and people, Invar’s future crystal obligation, Dirk’s route to freeing his people, and Morgana’s costly aid and training thread.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

Dothral’s possible father Aneurascarle, his status as an Excellency, and Squeall as god of the lost / grandfather remain unresolved family and divinity clues.

The pact with the god of the lost appears tied to Eliana’s lost Hartwall memories and true form. The J mentioned in Dothral’s snippets remains unexplained.

Dragonkind paid a price for the dome or related pact, and the remaining dragons still have power. The exact price and consequences remain unresolved.

The serene night-sky part of Valentinhide can soften her into a goddess of destruction rather than a mindless road-murdering force, but what full reunification would cause remains uncertain.

Destroying the dome would cancel pacts and release all prisons, creating a direct strategic conflict between freeing prisoners and maintaining existing world-order bargains.

Bridged’s domain tests appear to reward honouring her, but the rules of Cedric, Medinner, the raven, gruel, cards, dice, chessboard, orbs, [unclear: geesie?], and scythe remain only partly understood.

Medinner’s show reenacted Eliana, Avalina, a burial, a rooted woman, and a robot or copper dragonborn being raised after an explosion. The meaning and reliability of this reenactment remain open.

The voice to Dotharl that disparaged mortals and offered freedom if asked may be Bridged’s trapped kin, Dotharl’s father, or another bound entity; its identity and trustworthiness remain unresolved.

Bridged’s kin wishes to be freed, while part of Dotharl is Bridged and his father is trapped / granddad lost. Dotharl’s choice between humanity and rejoining Bridged’s realm remains future-facing.

Eliana must choose between the current identity and the one they once had. This directly continues Eliana Hartwall identity thread.

Geldrin’s offered power, the Brownings, Invar’s crystal task, Dirk’s path to free his people, and Morgana’s costly aid all remain active personal quest hooks.