#i ddid enjoy writing Sashja so maybe he'll come back. i left a door for it

[raviollies]

Small summary cause this session fleshed out Raha's character & some plot hooks for Lorelai, so I wanted to share!

Party got attacked by a monster hunter Sashja, who turned out to be Raha's childhood friend (& Ex) on a contract to capture Lorelai (more on that later) They reconnected & he spilled a lot of beans about Raha's childhood from when they lived in the same village much to the party's delight (like the one time he got bit by a crayfish or licked a hallucinogenic toad)

He also has a pet companion named Nara who is a Displacer beast he raised after having to kill her mother for a job (He felt so bad about there being a kitten but what can you do if it's attacking people). Unfortunately despite encountering Fell Brambles in passing before, he has never heard of anyone finding a cure for it, and is rather upset at finding out Raha is infected.

Lorelai's contract was to capture her alive & unharmed and to deliver her back to someone in Berdusk...when shown the contract, Lorelai recognizes the name of the housekeeper as the facilitator and her mother's handwriting...it appears her mother wants to see her, & Lorelai isn't sure if its to reunite or to pay retribution... She is deciding if she will go through and face what happened with her family

As compensation for Sashja decidedly not getting paid for Lorelai's contract, party offers to help him with a different one, which he accepts in hunting a Basilisk in the area, which he wasn't planning on doing since it's not recommended doing it alone. Party learned that the hard way as it kicked our ass, petrified two party members who had to be Greater Restored, but also managed to knock half the party prone with one Singular tail swipe, like a strike in bowling

At the end, before departure, Blythe gave Sashja one of Poe's feathers so he could summon him to deliver a message to her if he manages to uncover anything related to Fell Brambles to help with Raha's condition. He naturally agrees, as they parted on good terms and he does consider him a close friend despite how long they've spent apart.

They part once more, but both are glad to see the other is happy having found their place in the world, albeit opposite than the they anticipated.

Their relationship is fun to me because it is meant to be as the natural progression of people that spend so much time together that they believe that romance is the natural progression, but learn that they are incompatible in such a way. Sashja is someone who is very extroverted and does require a lot of communication and open-ness, and while Raha's quiet reservation is fine and dandy for playing or being friends, it caused a lot of tension when in a more intimate setting, where Sashja had no idea if enjoyed their relationship or not. Ultimately, neither is at fault, and both have their methods of communication, and it was just not feasible for their personalities to mesh in a romantic setting, so they went back to just being friends.

I wanted to write different relationships for characters, all of them without a specific bad guy and just matters of different perspectives, where each person is entitled to their experience, and approaching it from an adult and mature angle. I don't know if it always reads that way but that's what's important to me :}