Interlude: Lucia

Interlude: Lucia was a set of events relevant to the Night Guard that transpired on the 15th of Third-Summer 994 AC.

With Dain investigating Wester Caine in Allport, Debt, Wervell, Eye  and Ash  are taken to High Celsus by Rubrik, with the intent of meeting the Daydreamer. Barbosse, now free, takes care of Dain's house. Debt and Wervell convince Calico to watch the Cat's Cradle in their absence. With Maya and Rubrik, they teleport into Lucia.

The group meets with Atilia Nero, one of the Cella Solaris. She welcomes them, though it comes out that the organisation uses cats in the laboratory for 'equivalent exchange' ('the ratio for rats to cats it about 5 to 1') - which she says is a price for keeping High Celsus fed. Atilia leads them to the resting place of the Daydreamer, where they find him resting.

The group falls asleep and joins him in his Dreamscape - a boundless field which the dreamer affects into different seasons around them. Though initially skittish, he opens up more to the group, advising Wervell to find her own, and Vlal Zio's, harmatia - the source of a Dream Eater's and their weakness. They muse about the meetings they have had. Their best dreamscape was that of the Unyielding - one of the three gods of the old empire. The worst was that of Erhan's, who the Daydreamer says was 'an awful man' who 'tucked himself into bed' in 'the space between space'. They also mention knowing the Evil Eye, an entity called Prelude, and, apparently, the Abyss. Additionally, they say that the most powerful Dream Eater they met was someone who could 'turn back time'.

He also tells Debt about a recipe for Dreaming Wine, a kind of broth made from specific tree branches that enhances other foods (including alcohol). Eye hands him an evil eye charm on her, and says that he will give it to the actual Evil Eye. Noticing Ash's dreamscape, he remarks that it is from the 'Obsidian Citadel' - or 'Mancynnes Bael' (humanity's fire) - some kind of organisation related to humankind now destroyed by the Cascade.

Despite his initial trepidation, he tells the party that he can get lonely, and that it would be nice for him to be friends, saying that he will talk to 'his friends'. With their relationship formed, the party awaken, but not before Wervell says 'sweet dreams'.

Afterwards, the party go around High Celsus. They buy strange, polygonal food (that isn't as bad as they thought it would be), and Wervell gets a postcard for her family. Rubrik finds a winery recommended by Presto called the Ruby Flask, and the party buy wines: bottles of golden-red Diviso, and a bottle of dark blue Turchino. In the evening, the party get drunk in their room. Rubrik takes a Pictograph picture with his Mage Hand and drunkenly explains Spellbinders. Maya cries because she feels that she's not a good guard, but Debt consoles her, saying that she wanted to be like her.