Sapphire:Sessions:20180210

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.

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. "I didn't think you'd come!" At Shawna's frosty reaction, he finally introduces himself as Lewin Zola and asks her to dance.

Emmy tells Chalker, "I'm here because I was invited, and he's been the perfect gentleman, and I didn't think you were coming." However, she denies bringing Chalker here. "Events on the road strengthened me. The elven warrior pushed most of it aside, but I got enough."

Chalker gets a good look at Zola's Aura and is strongly taken aback, experiencing sensory overload. Zola is 'at core' human, a 'powerhouse', high magery (4 or 5), strong psi, 'ageless but young,' greedy, megalomaniac; some thing or event once did great hurt/damage to Zola, but he recovered. He is very dangerous, and 'not a benevolent being.' Chalker realizes that somehow Emmy is accelerating some process, "making it better" for Zola. Chalker: "Emmy, he brought you here and you brought me here. If I left, you would go, therefore he will not allow me to go." Emmy: "I could live here forever. He likes me. You didn't want to mix auras. Just give him my physical form and you can leave." Chalker: "I'm glad you found someone. When I wake up, I will go give him -- something."

Chalker asks Zola, "How did you get hurt?" Zola goes into a rambling, disjointed 'explanation'. "People don't appreciate my innovative ideas. ... They beat me within an inch of my life... They are all jealous... I had to flee until I found sanctuary... I came here from south of the Isles..."

Chalker asks Emmy, "Which of us, Zola and me, is the more evil?" Emmy unhesitatingly says Chalker is more evil. Shawna: "Emmy, you have begun to develop a soul, but you don't yet comprehend good and evil."