Session 22 — Urs the Therapist

Urs enjoyed his time in the Feywild. There were fights all the time, new friends and foes presented themselves on a regular basis. He got to help Tobias achieve their purpose. All in all, it was a glorious time, one that he would cherish forever. If he had to guess, the rest of his compadres felt the same way.

We were given the gift (or curse) of foreknowledge. We now have the ability to prevent (or make) those events from ever happening. Truly, the burden on our minds is greater than any of us had ever considered. Desmond has a Mother who is set to die. Aengus has a former love who is set to marry someone else. Vara’s Archnemesis is set to take power in Lo’thar. All of these are severe, but which one to take action on first? We are physical beings, we cannot be everywhere and do everything. Doing any one of them may prevent us from accomplishing another. But there was one party member immune to the crushing weight that this knowledge has placed on the rest of the party; Urs, ignorant as the day he was born, decided that it was time to have some fun.

So while Desmond ran to be with his former lady of the evening, and Aengus ran to have an illicit affair with a married woman who wasn’t his fiance’, Vara kept Urs company. They went big and got beads, booze, and a kickass bedroom, and partied hard. Urs was still young, he was only 16, and growing up in the wilderness, there were a lot of things he had never experienced. He had his first drink in what he knows as “Ranchville”, he had his first kiss when trying to play tag with a bunch of gnomes, and during that party, he got a good understanding of what a party is.

While Urs rested, the other party members formed a plan. First, they would speak with Leon to see what has been going on in the city since we were gone. This led to several revelations:

• Someone was spreading rumors about Leon and Madge not being faithful to each other.
  • This by itself was not overtly damaging, but with it were murmurs of discord and class struggles between the Upper and Lower class
  • Also, during a late night tryst with Madge, Aengus learned that the rumors may be being spread by a pimply faced guard.
    • This information immediately led Vara to believe that the nefarious Tommy Bahama may be involved.
• Also, Germier (sp?) lost his arm in a freak boating accident, but his memory of the occasion is extremely limited.
  • This apparently occurred while in the company of Vitus
  • Vitus also has very little direct memory of the event, or at the very least had little interest in sharing what happened.

With this new information, several things ended up transpiring:

• Vara and Aengus decided to work on the Germier situation believing that he would have information from the other guards about whom is spreading the destructive rumors
  • They worked with Vitus to try and magically return his memory, and then went to the outskirts of town where they found a Cult/Commune Leader, who through the power of music, was able to bring back Germier’s arm.
    • Sadly, this did not bring back his memory fully, but he remembered pieces, mainly that they were beset by a large vessel coming from the direction of Hi’thar
• Meanwhile, the dynamic duo of Desmond and Urs went to question Tommy Bahama regarding his possible involvement
  • Desmond worked on his speech the entire way there, and eventually they found Tommy with several “friends” hanging out, presumably after a long day of work. Desmond asked if Tommy would like to talk, to which Tommy, very calm and friendly in nature for the first time, said he would love to talk. Desmond’s fear of public speaking seemed to take over, and he just kept asking if Tommy wanted to talk. This confused Urs, who sided with Tommy as they mutually had no idea what was going on. Desmond ended up walking away out of stage fright and confusion
  • After Desmond left, Tommy offered Urs some beer, which Urs graciously accepted. After a brief conversation, Tommy told Urs to come back if he was ever interested in getting some work.

The group met back up to correlate this information. Unfortunately for the storyline, this regrouping and advancing of the storyline took a slight detour. In a Monty Python-esque way, the group managed to spend the rest of the day apart. As Aengus and Vara tried to continue their investigation, Urs took Desmond to Death’s Door and they partied. They partied hard. And they invited Tyresha to join up, and she did. Through the use of nature magic, and the beats being laid down by Puffy the Gnome and Biggie the Dwarf, they went until nearly dawn. Desmond and Tyresha went back to the Aquatic Concoction, Urs went back to On Your Dime, and everyone rested.

Back to the group meeting back up and correlating the information. The group decided the best course of action given everything they knew was to confront Tommy Bahama. But sometimes the best approach to such a situation is the simplest approach. And there are few simpler minds out there than Urs’. He believed that he could go to Tommy under the guise of needing work, and then Tommy would lay his plan out and the group, which would be hiding nearby, could pounce when the moment was right. Surprisingly, the group was fine with this idea. Desmond turned into a squirrel so he could be nearby, but discreet. Vara hung back, knowing her pent up rage would not be helpful in this situation, and Aengus accompanied Urs as the money man. But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men do oft go awry.

Urs and Aengus find Tommy after several hours, and while Tommy is interested in working with Urs, he wants to speak with Urs alone. Aengus hesitantly acquiesces and waits outside. Tommy and Urs quickly got done to business and Tommy laid out that he wanted Urs to kill someone. Urs wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, he just didn’t understand what Tommy was asking. Tommy was trying to speak carefully, so as to not give away too much, and Urs was not following any of it. Just as Urs was getting ready to do what he does best, swing his hammer with reckless abandon, he felt something in the air. Something changed. All animals are naturally empathetic, and while Urs doesn’t always tap into that side of himself, it triggered right then and there. It was not hate that was permeating from Tommy, it was fear. He was an animal that had been backed into a corner and was doing what he needed to in order to survive. So Urs just started talking to Tommy, trying to get him to confront his pent up emotions. This surprisingly led to a confrontation with Vara.

Tommy and Urs stormed over to Vara, where Tommy spoke what was on his mind. Urs made sure that Tommy had the chance to speak, and Vara had the chance to retort. They explained the animosity between each other, and they took the time to see each other’s point of view. From this, they formed a legitimate understanding of one another, and perhaps this will lead to a turning of the tides, and a changing of the fates as they know it.