Session 113

Letter to Her Majesty, Queen Jesmyn II … Sovereign of Volaris. Long may she reign.

Your Majesty,

I write to you not out of defiance, but of duty … and sorrow. We are failing those who suffer from what the scholars have named the Weeping. A term too simple, too fragile, for the depth of what it truly is. It is not merely sadness, nor madness. It is a fracture of the soul … a slow unmaking that steals the light from within a person’s eyes.

The old physicians insist upon their cruel traditions: confinement, dim light, and silence. They believe that misery starved of stimulus will wither away. But I have seen what grows in that darkness. Despair does not fade there… it festers.

Your Majesty, I beg you … speak to the Senate. Turn their attention, their funds, their brilliance toward understanding this affliction. There must be a better way. Let Volaris be known not only for its gleaming towers and its machines of progress, but for its mercy.

… In devotion and hope, High Mindwright Aristol Vennhart

The manor library is quiet, its shelves heavy with forgotten tomes and the Vitralith floor warm underfoot. But Muvara is bleeding out. She crouches on all fours, her breaths ragged, flesh peeled away in places to expose the black bone beneath.

“Hurry… Ember,” she rasps.

It’s a lovely day…

The group find themselves without the help of Ember and Lilith as they’ve ported away to the manor’s library in hopes Ember can summon a teleportation circle to New Moonshire to get Lilith to safety. The remaining Ruun guards attacked the Melanthas, except for Jakarin, a guard whose accidental shift change had led him to this very bad event. Jakarin remains out of the fight as the others engage.
Petra finds himself in dire straits as he is knocked down. Dax is able to heal the party very well and keeps Petra up until one of the large Ruun guards finds a fatal opportunity. The large Ruun guard drives his large sword into Petra’s chest, killing him. Dax dispatches the guard shortly after the blow but Petra’s corpse now lay on the hall mirror vitralith floor.

In for all

More of the group fall unconscious but are able to be picked up. Rosibynne falls multiple times but is able to rise and deliver hellfire turning the tide of the battle. The last of the Ruun guards falls and Jakarin is able to call off the city’s alarms. Aydriann gets Garthos’s corpse to be carried to their next destination. Dax persuades Jakarin to join and the group travels to the treasure room.

The cost

Ember in the library starts to summon the teleportation circle while noticing Muvara’s wounds. Parts of what would be flesh is gone, giving way to black bone. Muvara, heaving on all fours, begs Ember to hurry. The guards on the other side of the door of the library don’t seem to have noticed them being in there, allowing Ember to cast a teleportation circle and getting Muvara and Lilith to New Moonshire. Ember sends a magical message to Zaelira telling her Lilith will be arriving and to take care of her. Zaelira responds back with an affirmation but asks about the second one which sounded like she meant Muvara and that Zaelira was able to see the goddess of death. Ember, not able to respond, decides this can wait and heads to the group.
She is interrupted by Edmeera’s voice who taunts her and says that Garthos’ spirit now resides in something more terrifying and more capable of delivering pain.
Meanwhile Peach tries to inspect the Sol blade and talk to Tavina. The star blade shows damage and Tavina isn’t responding. Peach decides he better not use the blade till he knows more as Peach grows concerned over his friend’s silence.