Sapphire:Sessions:20180210

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Chalker and Shawna each "awaken in a dream" to the sound of a young woman giggling. Chalker says "Emmy feels happy." He notes that Ahn-Lee's room is vacant. We pass through the common room where a dozen people are having breakfast.

The weather is springlike; when Chalker asks someone the date, the incredulous response is "You don't even know the date? It's Blooming Time 15, 2436!" We conclude we are in a 'virtual' version of Rosemill; colors seem brighter, and the weather is springlike.

A teenage girl carrying a water bucket stares at us. "We don't see many travelers like y'all. Strangers in town are not expected." Her mistress' name is Charlene, the Jewelry Maker. Chalker: "Does she have any nice emeralds?" "Yes, on consignment, being crafted for a lord." Chalker scans the girl's Aura; she is willful, idealistic, and a real person who has also been pulled into the dream.

We enter the shop. Charlene Mobley is an attractive middle-aged woman with bluish eyes and brown hair. Chalker pulls his emerald out of his pocket; it appears to have shrunk, and the "feeling" of Emmy is coming from elsewhere. Charlene explains, "Lord Zola wants an emerald set." Zola has ruled the area for a decade, since the Duke simply ceded this land to him. "He lives just outside of town, south, toward Ridell."

Back outside, a man is leaning against a wall. Neither of us recognize his heraldry. He wears light leathers which show as magic, and has a shortsword, a knife, and a crossbow. He says he was appointed as a guardian by the lord "and twelve Joes." In response to Chalker the man points in the direction of Temple Row; "You can't miss it."

We locate the tidy, paved path that leads to Lord Zola's manor. Shawna comments that the path is too narrow for a carriage. They have walked a half-mile from the main road when there comes the noise of dogs barking, then through the well-trimmed shrubbery crashes a large boar, its tusks dripping with blood. "May I borrow your cloak?" Shawna asks Chalker; she waves the cloak in front of the boar, then whips it away as it charges past and keeps running. Behind it come four large, slavering dogs, two of them with two heads. Shawna commands "DOWN!" and two of them submit, sitting at her feet. A two-headed dog bites Chalker's leg and a one-headed dog leaps at his throat and strikes his chest. Chalker grabs the one-headed dog and hurls it away, then knocks the two-headed dog unconscious.

After another quarter-mile we approach the three-story manor. The entire facade is magical. On either side of the front door stands a guard with a pike. Chalker addresses one, "Are you Joe?" "No, I am Edmund. Armsmaster Dana will escort you." Soon there appears a 6' tall warrior woman clad in scale armor, a hand-and-a-half sword strapped to her back, two shortswords at her hips. Her aura is not human; she is a 'dream construct.' Chalker: "We're here to see Lord Zola. Emmy sent us."

Silently, Dana turns and leads us into the manor to a huge ballroom, filled with the sound of musicians playing; men and women in formal dress are dancing. Our attention is drawn to a black-haired man who is dancing with a young green-eyed brunette wearing a green gown. Chalker taps the man on the shoulder, "Excuse me," and the man immediately yields the dance to Chalker and makes a beeline to Shawna.