Editing Silence of the Greek Choir

''Historian: Caleb. Date: 09/08/2025''

TATTERCOAT KNIGHTS: ACT 4, EPISODE 6, CHAPTER 34

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧  SILENCE OF THE GREEK CHOIR ✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

24 Knewidi, 777 AR

ONCE UPON A TIME, the Tattercoat Knights woke up in a castle. As they gathered, Alphie relayed the previous night’s dream, before summoning Inora. Inora appeared, in strangely high spirits, and with notably different eyes. Through a panicked turn of events, Alphie found out there had been other changes to the residents of their galaxy. The party debated on what to do about Inora, and decided to try to restore her to her previous state by pressing harder on the issues that had seemed to make her break before. Inora told a rather chilling story, before going comatose, and releasing the power of the Gelid Engine when Alphie tried to warm her. The party fled to Anja’s fabric room, and was interrupted by a very friendly man, whom Prudii decided to attempt to kill.

* Anna gives the recap!
* We pick up in the morning, with Jericho. He wakes up to a knock on his door. A pixie flies in holding a cup of coffee – he takes it, but doesn’t drink. Practical tells him the weather is beautiful today, and that most of the Honorable Government is discussing muffin laws. Otherwise, his schedule seems clear today.
* Jericho dumps his coffee in one of the potted plants, and asks how Piero’s doing, and if the color thing takes effort. Piero thinks he’s gotta wanna do it.
* Jericho then looks for shells. He finds none.
* As the others wake up (minus Astranna, who is still on the roof), Anja comes out and sees the others. She asks if they remember yesterday, and Jericho says he does. Anja’s glad to confirm we aren’t in a Groundhog Day situation.
** Jericho does feel sluggish from the drugs.

* Astranna uses her magic to finish creating Inora’s spirit shell. She focuses, and her body glows, pinpricks of light connecting. She closes her eyes for but a moment, and as she opens them, there’s a small, spherical device on the ground in front of her. She rejoins the party.
* Alphie tells everyone they had a dream they wanted to bring up. They recap the previous night’s dream.
** “So I… just wanted you all to be aware of that before I summon her. So we can together, see if, how she is– from last time, because last time she seemed off.”
* They summon Inora. There’s a beat where their energy builds, and then she pops in front of them and looks around.
** “Oh! Oh it’s morning, oh are we gonna go explore today?”
* As we talk, we notice her eyes are more of a deeper blue, almost these pinpricks of light – like we’re staring into a deep blue galaxy spinning with stars. She says she’s feeling great. Astranna offers up the spirit shell, and she’s happy, but doesn’t know if she needs it; she almost feels, like, a stronger connection to Alphie.
* Alphie suggests she try it anyway, and she agrees to later. There’s a panel on the back to tune the spirit to a particular soul or spirit (she asks Astranna if she can mess with it, and Astranna allows this, as if it doesn’t seem like it’ll be easily broken). Astranna starts to explain how it works, but is cut off by Inora giving her a big hug.
* Inora takes Alphie’s hand and starts wandering off to breakfast. Astranna looks to the others to gauge their reactions.
** Gwyn and Jericho are uncomfortable.
** Anja’s confused, but glad the problem is solved.
** Though not asked, Alphie is upset and uncomfortable.
* Prudii speaks briefly to the others, and thinks Alphie could have made Inora her own body – he hopes it’s ignorance as to why she didn’t.
* We get to the breakfast table. It’s a pretty dope line-up.
** Alphie isn’t eating much – Inora asks if something’s wrong, and Alphie says there isn’t. Inora encourages her to eat more.
** Jericho isn’t digging in, but eats ''enough''.
** Astranna’s eating like normal (better than normal, technically), but is observing them closely.
* Gwyn works on her project at breakfast – she makes a phys check, power-capped (3 successes). She makes surprisingly decent progress as she’s idly tinkering, doing more of the monotonous tasks as her mind wanders. She’s now 75-80% of the way there. She shows it to Inora while she’s working.
** “You guys have shown me so much kindness today. Is there anything I could make for you? …I mean, you’re always making so much for us.”
* Gwyn says it’s her job, and it’s what she likes doing.
* Anja summons her cauldron. She goes to the quiche pan, scraping off crusted bits for the cauldron, and pours a little bit of coffee in there. When she thinks Practical isn’t looking, she throws a plate in.
** D10 (2) – Anja is asked to call odds or evens. She incorrectly calls evens.
*** There’s a dead gecko floating in the bottle, amongst some orangey liquid. The label on the potion says it increases your skill by 15% or more (gain +1d6), but that there’s a chance the gecko won’t sit right in your stomach.
* Maple gets some sausages, and some scritches.
** “Yes, this is the place we should be staying in. This is what I deserve.”
* The party talks some, and Astranna uses her Poincar magic again to create a map showing us where the Land of Mists is in comparison to the rest of the Skybound Lands. Her skin begins to glow, with constellations momentarily connecting before disappearing. The party asks about her magic, and she says she just has to ask the stars. There’s no cost that they’ve asked her for.
* Alphie tells Inora they’d like to check on Fred, and asks if they can swap Inora out to check on him. Inora agrees, and is switched with Fred.
** “This is scaring the fuck out of me, can we please figure out how to make it better. It’s not helping and it’s not going well, she is not… what I– how I’ve known her for so long.”
* We realize we can see and hear Fred, which hasn’t happened before.
** “FIXED.”
* No one is happy about this. Astranna worries about what’s happened to Zenais (if she’s somehow even scarier), but the others want to focus on Inora. Jericho says that Alphie’s actions in the galaxy are probably like the butterfly effect on steroids.
** “I only ever want to do what is best and to help.”
* Alphie wants to be separate from Inora.
** “I don’t know how to describe never being alone.”
** Before they knew it was a galaxy, it was dreams and feelings.
* They say they want Inora to have her own body more than anything, so they can be friends. The party argues about what to do about Inora – Astranna wants to use her magic to revert Inora to the state she was in before the ball, so that she can actually consent (or choose not to consent) to any tampering with her, pointing out that Inora ''can’t'' consent to anything right now. The others feel that this is more invasive than psychologically tormenting her and forcing her to talk about clearly very painful experiences. Eventually, it’s pointed out that we should bring Inora back into this (especially since she’s likely witnessing it anyway), and Inora is resummoned.
* Jericho tells Inora she seemed low last night, and asks how she is today. She doesn’t know what he means. He asks about her state of mind today.
** “Excited to explore this wonderful castle with all my friends!”
* We ask if she’s disappointed – she is, but Zenais got to go out, and meet us – and she hasn’t been out yet. She says she’s in a better headspace now.
** “And much stronger! So strong!”
* She raises a hand, activating the Cryomancer’s Grasp she got from Alphie.
** “I just feel more connected.”
* Alphie preemptively announces that they are not returning anyone’s gaze. Astranna and Prudii are both glaring at her.
* Inora continues, saying she got to see it all, which is almost as good. Jericho says it’s okay to be disappointed, and she says there’s no need – she got to see us all be happy, and meet some people.
** “You were really funny high, Jericho.”
* Jericho asks if she’s looked in a mirror today. She says no, and she asks if she looks okay. We show her her new eyes.
** “Ooh, that’s new!”
* She asks if Alphie did it, and Alphie says that if they did, it wasn’t on purpose. Inora says it looks great. 
* Jericho asks how she’s feeling toward Alphie today.
** “I mean, they’re my best friend, and we’re gonna go around and explore the castle. I feel great.”
** FACT CHECKED BY REAL MEROPIAN PATRIOTS: TRUE ✔️
* Gwyn says that Inora seemed upset with them earlier, and asks if she still feels that. She was a little concerned, but…
** “I didn’t understand that Alphie was just trying to help me. In the moment, you can have these emotions, but I know they would never try and hurt me, or anything like that. I guess I just needed time to process.”
* Gwyn says she’s allowed to be upset with Alphie, and Alphie adds that hurt comes in a lot of different ways. She says she knows that.
** “Not resentment, just confusion – just the fact that I didn’t understand – they took me away – and I didn’t wanna be away.
** “I… was sad… cause I’m not a person… I’m… I’m Alphie’s shadow… [...] But– you know– it’s just the existence I was born into! And everyone has their own ups and downs, but I’m a part of Alphie!”
* Astranna asks if – if their roles were reversed – Inora would send Alphie into the dark.
** “I did… but that’s wrong, and I know that now.”
* This is news to everyone. We ask her to elaborate.
** “Well, this morning, I woke up, and I remembered more things, you know, when we first arrived here, and you gave me control. And I remember things like that, but me summoning you, it just felt wrong, and I know now that that wasn’t right, that’s not the relationship we should have. [...] Y… You helped me remember… and I helped you remember…”
** “Remember what?”
** “The lake… No…”
* We press further.
** “When– when Alphie took my body– when– I remember– gave it back– and– mmmh– but, you know, that’s something that we agreed not to talk about, because that’s a bad memory. But I’ve had my time, and, ooh, does it feel chilly in here?”
* Apparently, the two of them promised not to talk about the lake. Alphie tries to ask more about it.
** “You– cry– when we talk about the lake, and I love you, and you love me, and– I don’t– I don’t want you to cry– I don’t want you to feel bad?”
* Astranna asks if she’s upset she has to carry all that weight alone, and Inora says she ''is''.
** “Let me share that weight. Let me help you.”
* With permission granted, Inora begins the story, speaking with difficulty.
** “I… we… were taken… you were taken… in the woods… by the lake… I remember… and… they were all around us… at the lake… that surface… like… weird… glass… the magic…”
** “Like a layer of oil over it or something, a shimmer.”
* A tear runs down Alphie’s face as they speak.
** “Yes… the glittering… the colors… and the cold… I remember… they were taking people… so many people…”
* Alphie asks who “they” are.
** “I remember… there was… a beast… something… it was black… a person… with white eyes… I remember he shed… black smoke… I felt… a power… in the air… I remember… I saw the lake… and it was shimmering… they were taking people… they were looking at me… they were chanting… they kept on throwing people into the lake… one after another… and they would freeze… and there would be nothing left…
** And then they came to you… I remember… I remember… that they looked to you… and they began to chant… and they threw you into the lake… and I thought you were gonna die… but you didn’t… you crawled back out, shivering and cold… I tried to run and help you, but they held me back… and then… I saw… they put a ladle in your hands… they told you to drink from the lake… and you drank from it… 
** That strange thing… saw that… you were crying out… and I watched… I watched… as… someone came… they drew back a bow… made of darkness… and twilight… I saw Apophis draw back the bow… I saw you turn… he saw the arrow was coming… I didn’t want you to die… I ran forward… and I jumped in front of the bow…
** And then… I was on my back… and I was there… beforehand… you told me your name… when we were captured… I screamed at you to run, Alphie… I screamed at you to run… but you didn’t… You didn’t run… You held me… And I felt myself break… and then… the next thing I knew, I was in the dark… I was in a new body… I don’t… I felt… strange… It felt wrong… I floated there for a long time… I don’t… I don’t know what happened after that… it’s like… an awful, terrible dream… and… I remember… 
** They whispered to me… they whispered…”
* And then Inora goes still. As we watch in this moment, her eyes, her pupils, develop cracks in them, like the shattering of glass. Astranna takes her hand, trying to use her magic to warm her, but the magic doesn’t work.
* Alphie holds Abhidha’s necklace up to Inora. It explodes. Phys save (6+).
** Gwyn half-saves with 4 successes. Everyone else fails.
** We take 1k points of cold dmg – Gwyn takes it flat, and the rest of us take it at Sheer III, dropping everyone but Gwyn down to 1-2 health blocks (no injuries taken).
* The heat is drawn in, and starts this reaction – her eyes shatter, and there’s cold, intense cold. The cold of a Gelid Engine erupts outward. We raise up our arms, and a torrent of cold erupts out. All heat dies, and frost spreads for 1k feet in all directions. Snow begins to fall from the inside of this room.
** Alphie rolls a d6. +6 to their cold score.
* Inora is sitting still in her chair, the epicenter of the cold. She’s comatose, her eyes staring straight forward. The pupils still have those shatterings to them, drifting as if suspended in liquid, moving like ink in water.
* Astranna uses her Poincar magic to reset Inora to her state before the ball, but she gets a 0 on her roll – as she reaches forward, the lights on her body do not glow.
* Gwyn looks for pieces of the necklace, and finds a few small fragments – maybe 70% of it. She collects them and starts walking to the forge.
* The room reached absolute zero in a split second, and wreaked havoc. It’s warming up, but frostbite is still coming. Alphie is unaffected by the weather.
** “You are unfazed. This is perfect for you, Alphie.”
* Alphie goes to pick Inora up, carrying her to the forge.
* Astranna checks on Henrietta (who is untouched), before making a mental check.
** Mental (4 successes) – For lack of a better word, this was like a defensive response. The warmth drew closer to Inora in that state, and her body reacted. This strong barrier, this wall of cold, came forward, destroying the heat.
* Astranna suggests we don’t take Inora to the forge – an open source of heat seems to be what caused the reaction. She suggests a bedroom instead, and Anja pitches her sewing room, as it has lots of fabric.
* Alphie speaks to Inora, trying to reassure her, and from Inora, they hear their own voice tumble out.
** “It’s okay. I’ll take care of you. You’ll be okay.”
* Like a lightning rod, it ignites.
** The first words that Inora ever heard from you.
** Alphie stops dead.
* We cut to Gwyn, who’s raced to the forge with the pieces. She’s putting it back together with whatever she has, using the gems she found to give it more of a magical push. She looks for something that creates heat.
** Anna doesn’t recall what gem fragments she has to use, but the GM allows Caleb to interject and list them.
* Gwyn chooses rubies, which are great for heat. For the materials needed to fill in the broken 30%, she uses mithril.
** Artificing (phys) – 14 total successes.
* Gwyn is able to reconstruct the necklace from the ground up, repairing flaws and improving on core design faults she didn’t have access to.
** Abhidha’s Necklace – upgraded to level 6.
* She slumps back, looking at it. It’s beautiful and gleaming, with veins of mithril running through it. She’s done all she can.
** +5 HP for her efforts.
* Gwyn takes a second to breathe, before grabbing it and running to Alphie.
* We cut back to Alphie, as they’re holding Inora. We’ve seen them come to a dead stop. Jericho tries to talk to them, and puts a hand on their shoulder.
** “She… I meant what I said. I meant it back then, and I mean it right now. I will take care of you. You will be okay.”
* Alphie keeps moving toward the sewing room. Anja throws open the door, and gets the fabrics ready for Inora. Gwyn comes rushing in with the necklace, and Alphie asks her to step back, so Inora doesn’t explode again.
* They ask Jericho to use his divination to figure out the best course of action.
** “A lot of this apparently stemmed from me doing the wrong things.”
* Augury: “How can we best help Inora right now?”
** Jericho, you blink, and you feel yourself fall backwards into dream and into vision. As you do this, and you feel waves of power rush through you, you see yourself walking through mist. You see yourself entering a tower. You see yourself going through the tower, level after level. You find chests. You open them. You see keys. As you remove the keys, the vision cuts, to you and the party walking towards a temple.
** Then you see a shift. It’s almost like time rewinds, Jericho, and you see a three-forked path. You just took the left fork. Now you go towards the middle fork. You see yourself walking up a staircase, a staircase that goes to nowhere, and then you see yourself in nowhere, a realm of madness. You see yourself in a graveyard, and you see yourself raise a spear made of mithril, with a tip of zostrium. The vision cuts. Walking through a hallway in this castle, toward a door of shimmering gold and silver, with a slot for the spear to be inserted in.
** Another rewind. And then you see yourself walk down the rightmost path. You see Alphie alone in this sewing room. You see Alphie with all of your coats wrapped around them. You see Alphie then, in front of a great pillar of floating glass, as Alphie shines together, putting together all the broken pieces of glass. Then you see Inora waking up.
** Rewind. He’s standing in front of three paths. He breathes out heavily.
* Jericho opens his eyes.
** “Feel like we have work to do.”
* We ask him what he saw.
** “Well, I had a vision. Showed a three-pronged road. Seems we have options in front of us. But every time I got to the end of a path, I was brought back to the fork. I’m not positive what that means. But the guess I have is that if we fail on a route, maybe we lose our memories again? Or maybe only one of these options can be done. Or maybe we have to do all three.”
* He tells us the three routes.
** “The third route seemed to be what we were looking for. We give Alphie all our coats. Not just connection to one person, but connection to all of us?”
* Astranna disagrees that this is the best course of action. She wonders if the tower is in the Land of Mists – it was built on the side of a mountain, made of grey and burgundy stone tapering up to a point at the top. Caleb asks if it sounds similar to the view of the karsts Astranna saw from the window, and the GM gives a noncommittal “Maybe”.
* Alphie wants to use Prophetic Dreams to try to contact Inora, and have someone use the dream sand to join them, so they aren’t alone. Gwyn volunteers.
* Alphie also wants to talk about how Apophis tried to kill them, and is now in the castle. Astranna admits she may have had a… chance encounter… with him, and after reminding everyone that she’s not the one who smoked meth, says that she met him on the rooftop. He seemed to be under the impression the ritual was for Inora – it seemed like he either helped, or was aware of it.
** Astranna suggests that maybe it was like Bran and Olwen – he saw something magical be put in them, and tried to put a stop to it.
* Prudii expresses (for the second time) that he wants to fight Apophis.
** “I would not advise fighting ''me''.”
* Apophis has walked in!
** “Why can’t we be friends? I’m a very friendly man.”
** “I’m not making it out of this fight if I wanted to.”
* Keenan activates ''Falcon Diving''. Prudii draws his sword and rushes forward. Apophis is flat-footed and smiling. The rest of us, eyes wide, our hands on our weapons, as Apophis starts to laugh. Prudii tries to bring down his katana on Apophis… and it is here where we end the session today!
* Next time, we pick up with a fight against Apophis.