May/June 19
Darksun explains that if Ruben stays with the Ruby Imperials, he can have unlimited access to their library and they will provide whatever resources he needs. However, he would need to swear allegiance to them, and be at their beck and call, prioritising what they want and need done at all times.
Ruben cannot decide on the spot, even after seeking council from his friends. Darksun gives him 24 hours to think on it, and he instructs Ruben that if he wishes to join the Ruby Imperials, he must present himself to the court the same time the next day.
We are dismissed.
We're taken out through the halls and we notice many rooms with beautiful elaborate metal screens covering the openings. We see some stone tablets with draconic writing on them, they are very old and have clearly been chiseled out of where they were originally found without removing more of the surrounding stone than was necessary, and then brought to the Palace for examination.
Ruben is very excited. He asks Mayb to use her special ability to read some of the writing. Much of it is obscured but Mayb concludes these are very old artefacts, reading references to the Great Ones and the Old Ones (the Elder Gods), and names like Shevan, Zorasastra, and Chromus Major (which are recognisable as draconic names) and something about them being "apocalypse class artefacts used in the current Probability Wars". Ruben feels like the term Probability Wars rings a bell but he can't recall details. He thinks these tablets may be over a million years old, maybe as much as 100 million. Kunoh picks Ruben up and carries him out of the room as he explains this to the party.
On the way back to Coro's Court, Ruben sums up that as far as we have been able to work out, there are 18 Elder Gods now completely extinct. That leaves 13 remaining. 2 of these, anything about them, even their names is completely unknown to us. Of the 11 remaining, it is generally believed that 9 of these are active and 2 are unaccounted for, it's just not clear which are unaccounted for.
We also discuss Darksun's invitation to Ruben, trying to help him work out what he should do. We know from experience that there is not a lot of racial diversity in Semudan, and some, like the Golden Brazier, have a policy of humans above all others, but as far as we know, the Ruby Imperials didn't seem like that - they had a number of people from different races in their ranks, so if they do want something nefarious for Ruben, it may (or may not) have anything to do with his being a dwarf.
We near Coro's Court by mid afternoon. Suddenly Ophion leaps for Mayb in his exemplar form. Mayb ducks and Ophion flies over her, missing whatever he was reaching for. Everyone except Kunoh sees a blue imp appear out of nowhere, giggle and then disappear. Ophion explains he was reaching for the imp, that it was on Mayb's shoulder, he noticed it a few minutes ago and was trying to catch it unawares.
Mayb knows imps are often used as spies, running errands for evil infernal masters. The imp did have the sigil for Mephistopheles on him, but we have no way of knowing if that was fake.
We decide to head for the edge of the city where Tranq saw the Orchids disappear. The riots from previous days have died down, but the mistrust in the air is still palpable. There are still groups of people hanging around, looking like trouble, one wrong glance away from brawling. We manage to make it past without encountering further trouble.
