Sydney White's page

Sydney nods. “I will let you know of any other memories that come this way. I only hope that regaining our memories will not stop these dreams. One further note of discovery, i did look up the name Duranu. He was a General for Thrune’s army. But more importantly, he was a General when Thrune came to power in Cheliax. I believe that these dreams are showing Thrune’s taking of the crown. ”

Sydney nods. I thought that as well. But we'll come back to that in a minute, there's another memory.

The elf stands with his back to you, gazing out a window. 'I apologize for doing some of this work through Alana but if Thrune is to ever have some success the first step is to keep Alana busy trying to figure out what the plan is. If I gave her all the details, she might puzzle it out by the time it doesn't matter, but with only half the details she is busy and Thrune gets its way. You are to proceed to phase two. I am sending you and a few of our other spies to the front lines, or rather our front lines. I need you to withdraw our troops from the front line and bring them here, to Egorian. Do everything necessary to keep it from the captains and generals on the lines. Tell the troops themselves that Duranu needs their service; you will be given notes with my seal to convince them that you are indeed my messenger. You'll also need to change the captain's troop sheets; a little enchantment might help with that as well. If you think of anything else while you're there, do as you feel is necessary. Just make sure that nobody in command, even our own command knows the troops have been withdrawn, nobody. I'm sending you to the troops on the Isger front. I'll need 10 banners to be returned, split evenly among footmen and crossbowmen. Ten banners? That's a quarter of the Isger front! I have moved back your next meeting with Alana by a week, so you have about ten days to get this done. I trust you'll have no difficulties. You turn to leave. And remember, this is your chance to impress me.

Lady Rosalie: “Did you say someone had a weeks worth of memories removed? What were the circumstances of the study?” .

Sydney: “That is the claim. But that is where i differ with the Lady here.  I think that for the sake of discovery it is acceptable to have removed the memories from the subjects without their prior knowledge. The Lady has a different view. .


Ziera: While I do greatly admire the discovery, my dear, I don't think that any discovery can obviate the need for the discussion of the ethical considerations. I mean, certainly, as you say, sacrifices need to be made for progress, but imagine a future where a woman discovers her husband's dalliance, and he just pops off to the local magic shop for a memory potion, permanently wiping out a week of her life, and all consequences of his actions. The mages in Tadloton seem to think that discovery is above both law and societal impact. Surely you can't agree. .

Sydney: A potion to remove a week's worth of memories! That's ridiculous."

Lady Rosalie: "That's what you got out of her comments? The reality of a hypothetical potion that she proposed. I agree, the subject should be aware of the study that is occurring." .

Sydney: Ok, I guess we don't need to debate the ethics of it anymore. What I am more interested in, anyway, is how they managed the memory removal? A whole week! I only know of spells that can manage a few seconds, maybe a minute." .

Ziera: I don't personally know of anything longer either, although the eternal quest of finding new ways to apply permanancy to things has always been there. I wonder if that is what they are trying, or if it is something else, like quickening a spell, but supercharging it instead, or ... maybe tying the spell to a different measure of time somehow? Oh, I don't know. There seem to be so many possibilities, but I don't know enough about magical theory to even guess well. .

Lady Rosalie: Actually, Ladies, the theory on memory modification magic is now very sound. Time in memories is not the key driver. It's often subjects that are the focus. Think of it, if a charlatan wants to make you forget something, he tries to wipe your memory right away, because he knows what you're thinking. Theoretically, if you had a person focus on a memory from years prior, you could erase it in the same manor as any standard memory modification spell. The only constraint is time and understanding. It takes time to work through multiple memories. The other problem is that it is almost entirely theoretical. As much as people might proclaim that they want to forget, very few are willing to part with more than one or two memories. ".

Ziera: How interesting. That makes total sense, but then how are they erasing an entire week? Surely they aren't working through the subjects minds memory by memory. That would be an enormous undertaking.
Would they be able to do a more generalized erasure by focusing on one person or even an occupation perhaps? If they know someone is a carpenter, could they erase everything to do with carpentry? Although that wouldn't really work the way it was reported from Tadloton. Of course, we might not be getting all the details, but what they say is a full week's memory of everything, not just selected memories. How do you think that would fit in with the theory? .

Lady Rosalie: Those are good questions; everyone these days seems to be curious about memory modifications. You touch on the problem where theory ends and practice ends. Without more studies on the issue, we can't be sure how the theory will hold up on an extensive memory modification. I would think that if the an entire week was erased, either touching on a subject extensively can erase the subject and connections, or the modifier would have to be extremely patient and thorough." .

Ziera: How interesting. I'm not sure I would ever have the patience to do so much extensive work for a spell, but perhaps it would be useful in a therapeutic environment... to help the victims of depression or past catastrophe to erase the memories that still haunt them.
I do apologize though. ... You say that everyone is curious about this? I do not mean to be repeating questions you have been asked before. Perhaps I should satisfy my own remaining curiosity by consulting someone that you have already enlightened instead? .

Rosalie: “Yeah, i just had a conversation about it with...Um, it was… I believe that i had a conversation about it but i cannot remember the conversation. The be studied it enough to recognize when someone has modified my own memory. ” .

Ziera: oh my goodness! How horrible for you! Can it be that the consequences that I predicted as far off are already before us? Is this something that can be undone? How can we help you to regain your memory? Whoever has done this must be stopped! ... But quietly and carefully, for we are all in danger from someone with this power. .

Rosalie: “It can be restored, but only if the original modification moved the memories to a new host instead of erasing the memories. I don’t know why something would keep the memories though instead of just erasing them. I fear that conversation will forever be forgotten. ” .

Sydney: “Another note from this study is that one of the subjects started having strange dreams. Have you heard anything like that before with memory modifications?” .

Rosalie shakes her head.

Sydney shakes her head. “I will meet up with everyone tonight. ”

Sydney frowns at the comments from Lady Rosalie. “Anothrr note from this study is that one of the subjects started having strange dreams. Have you heard anything like that before with memory modifications?”

Lady Rosalie shakes her head. Sydney face remains impassive. “Ah, we’ll, no matter then. Thank you for your insight, we had not realized their would be someone so knowledgeable about the subject here, though i uses this is House Leroung.” She urns back to Ziera, “Lady Imbrex, i think we have troubled the lady here long enough. Besides, after all this glum talk i need another drink.”

She offers another hurried thanks to Lady Rosalie before moving off towards the drink area.

Sydney refills her cup from flask in her pocket, and then turns and stops, steeling herself before approaching Lady Rosalie. “She directs a quick comment to Ziera, “You should be able to keep up. ”

She then beckons Ziera to walk with her as she slowly weaves her way through the crowded floor. Just as she nears Lady Rosalie she starts talking. “But honestly, Lady Imbrex, you have to admit the discovery of the memory modifications far outweighs the morality of the matter. These reports out of Tadloton are fascinating, even if they haven’t been verified. An entire week’s worth of memories, even noteworthy events, just erased. It’s groundbreaking. ”

Lady Rosalie doesn’t seem to hear the comment though, or st least she doesn’t acknowledge it. Sydney frowns and repeats herself a little bit more loudly. The Lady still doesn’t turn, though a nearby noble looks over at the pair of you and frowns. Sydney mutters a quick curse and moves so that she is right behind Lady Rosalie.

1d20 ⇒ 1

1d20 ⇒ 9

1d20 ⇒ 5

1d20 ⇒ 1

1d20 ⇒ 9

Sydney nods, and directs you to a noble among a crowd of others. It seems to be a tight knit group of Leroung nobles.

"How about a small measure of trust? I will talk to Rosalie and report to everyone at the meeting. You can hold onto my familiar until then. fair?"

Nothing out of the ordinary for you dream wise.

Sydney gives a simple nod to your question about Tarken. She frowns when you tell her about a lack of dreams.

When you finish talking, she sighs. "I understand. But I can't trust anyone right now. This whole thing, it feels, off. You have to feel that too. And If I can't understand why that is, I must do things on my own for now."

Sydney smiles. "Thanks to my familiar, I know everything that your cell knows. So that has no value to me."

She hesitates, and then lifts a hand to her head and rubs it absent mindedly. "For now, there is something I want to know. Have you or anyone else been having dreams? " She pauses. "You can have one question in turn for answering that."