• 3E467/03/03 - Vasirr reaches Ammba, and rents a room in the Stitched Scales under Milis.

• 3E467/03/18 - Zahn and V get the contract on Vin in Kasaaq, and locate him via some intel to the city of Ammba. Getting paid as security for a caravan heading there, they head out towards the city.

• 3E467/03/23 - During the 'Blinding' ritual, Caeles becomes a warlock of Sol while Lucine passes out. He steals some money from the Church, and the two escape the cult. Flagging down a nearby merchant on the nearest road, they pay him to get them to the nearest big city- getting into his wagon towards Ammba.

• 3E467/04/05 - Caeles and Lucine finally reach Ammba, and talk in an alley in Rethvils. Eventually, they head over to the Moldy Forge Inn to get a room for the night.

TotSD Chapter 1 - Urban Chimera

• 3E467/04/06 - Early in the day, Vasirr wakes up and meets Milis. She tries to repair his tattered cloak, but just opts to replace it. As all this happens, they hear a scream and a roar outside- heading out and seeing two weak lions ravaging the market. After casting speak with animals, Vasirr finds out that the lions were trapped. Taking them down and knocking them unconscious, they are knocked aside by a large tiger leonin and a halfling, who thanks them, pays them some gold and then takes the lions away locked in a cage. They head back to the shop to have breakfast and rest up. Meanwhile, as they're leaving the inn, Caeles & Lucine see a human rogue girl run by clutching a bag, and an old man chase after her who starts to get beaten up by some thugs. The pair manage to scare away one of the thugs, and knock out the other- But not before getting surrounded by police. They meet Inspector Raktii Tribashi, who almost arrests Lucine but lets them go after Dr. Jiveki- the old man- vouches for them. He explains that the thief stole expensive dragon bones that he ordered from overseas. Raktii tells them not to interfere, and then she takes the doctor to his home as the pair rest up in the inn. While this happens, V & Zahn's caravan reaches Ammba, entering Baker's Heath. As they get paid by the caravan, they get flooded by a stampede of goats. The herder is headbutted by a giant goat, who turns out to be a human druid guy. He wildshapes into a vulture and flies towards the city, but not before stealing from the herder and releasing a swarm of wasps that attacks everyone. The pair manage to kill the wasps, and ask the herder if he's okay. From Rethvils, Raktii heads over to the Chattan Market afterward, interrogating Milis & Vasirr about the lion incident. While she doesn't want them getting involved and getting more hurt, Vasirr convinces her that he can be useful, and that he can track them down. Caeles & Lucine head over towards Old Town, meeting a dwarf rogue named Boraed who tells them a bit about the trafficking ring. They head to the Senaghar, but Raktii isn't there yet- however, they do see a wanted poster of themselves before leaving. They decide to investigate on their own, heading towards the Fairy Caves. Raktii, Milis & Vasirr track the trail of the lions to Old Town, before it runs cold. Raktii sees some commotion go down, and heads off, telling Vasirr to track them down but not initiate. Raktii reaches the Senaghar where she meets V & Zahn. She sits down with the two, explaining about Volnik's animal trafficking ring. She leaves them, and as they leave, they pick up Caeles & Lucine's wanted poster. Vasirr & Milis ask around a bunch, before picking up the trail towards the Fairy Caves. V & Zahn eat kebabs in Old Town, before heading towards the Fairy Caves. Vasirr & Milis talk about their secrets while investigating the border between Old Town and the Fairy Caves, while Caeles & Lucine discuss fake names while eating cheap kebabs nearby. In the same general location, V & Zahn interrogate a young cobbler boy. The three groups all converge at a dusty locked warehouse, where the three all unlock different doors and enter sneakily- finding a Chimera of a lion, dragon, & a goat inside. A minotaur seems to be in the desert. His magic flies up into the air and disperses into the air. One of them leads right into Ammba. Humans and dwarves chant defiantly in Ammba, protesting against the government. A vulture flies into the hands of a halfling, as a human and leonin stand by him. In the warehouse, combat begins against the chimera as the party slowly initiate the fight and reveal themselves. The party combats the chimera in a close battle. V and Zahn hold the frontline as Vasirr and Millis support them with ranged attacks. Caeles makes it a point to be as less involved as possible and claims to be a healer. Lucine steps in with her own spells. The chimera goes down eventually. Everyone introduces themselves and Caeles and Lucine hide their names. Zahn and V pretend to not realize this. Lucine takes the horns from the dragon for Jiveki, as Vasirr and V inspect the body. Millis keeps a watchful ear on the periphery. V uses Detect Magic and notices transmutation magic was used to sew the chimera together from the goat, the lion and the dragon related to their individual stories. She notices a bag of holding and distributes some of the items within it accordingly, while keeping it for herself. Zahn and V find a kept record of animal smuggling and various customers with coded names to hide their identities, written in Lunar. The police forces rush in and secure the area as the party informs them of the situation and hand in the records but they are to remain in the town until they are questioned by Sheriff Rakti. Millis is advised to house them. They head towards Millis' home/clothing store where she offers to allow them to stay while they wait. On the way they see government officials, namely Balch'ast brutally punishing the protesting civilians. Millis advises them not to discuss it. Finally they settle inside her home, as they question each other.

• 3E467/04/07 - Millis cooks for them and helps repair the clothing of Caeles and Lucine. The party slowly begins to build relationships and form bonds. As Caeles goes to change his clothes it is revealed he has scars and markings on his body. They tell a bit about each other's history like how Caeles and Lucine escaped from the Church of the Black Sun and how Vasirr is from the House of Aklim. Zahn talks about how Lunars gave him a second life with mechanical implements. Millis talks about her family for a short bit too. V does not reveal anything of her past. They spend the night there. Caeles is confronted by Sol's voice. She seems to be angry at him for avoiding combat. Morning comes, Raktii enters the home. She asks for the full story so she can vouch for the party. Balch'ast follows her in and is much less friendly. Lucine woke up with a different lunar phase active and was in a much more unpleasant mood. She clashes a bit with him but overall, the pair decide to trust the party and tell them the halfling, dark skinned human, the druid man and tiger leonin led by Volnik are a gang that appeared in town recently. They say they are investigating the others but direct them to go for the halfling. Raktii gives Vasirr a sending stone to keep in touch, having the most trust in him. V and Zahn head out to the Department of Dungeons to find out more. Millis goes for a delivery before joining Vasirr and the rest who head to a temple of Jakuna, the Jaku Mandir. Failing to get through to the priestess there, Vasirr turns away but Lucine convinces him to push further and be more persuasive and she manages to get the name of the halfling: Kajai Karishi. V and Zahn find out Boraed Anvilhand and Fritz von Ehrmann took the bounty of Kajai. They find out there is a bounty on the leonin: Beon as well. They register a bounty with the human druid. The party reconvenes and discusses the information. V insists that the party does not mess with Fritz who is apparently of the Clan Blackreyne, known for hunting the supernatural. They head towards Boraed whom Lucine and Caeles had encountered the day before. They ask in a food stall about his residence and go there. He says he was initially confident but the gang, led by the leader had intimidated him so he tries to dissuade the party from pursuing them. Lucine manages to charm him however. V also tells him they will not be backing off as the rest of the party chimes in agreement. Finally convinced, he says he will lead the party to a hideout he knows of. Caeles is noticeably saddened and is approached by V and Millis who comfort him a bit as the party goes on ahead towards their next objective. The party is led into the Fairy Caves by Boraed. V and Lucine confront Caeles about his lack of participation but Caeles promises to fight from here on. They head into the warehouse and see it is a makeshift chilling location as well as an animal storehouse. They head further in and see many animals in captivity. Vasirr uses Speak with Animals to communicate with a shiba inu and ask about the whereabouts of the gang. Lucine burns apart a door and checks an office room but only finds similar masked records and nothing more. Milis and Vasirr free a shiba inu dog trapped among the animals, Cheems. They investigate until they hear a sound and start hiding. Caeles casts an illusion to mask the missing door. Volnik, Nisii, and Kajai come in and discuss the dealings of the animal smuggling before taking a flying monkey out of its cage and leaving. Caeles nearly gets caught but they do not seem to suspect anything until they head out, and lock the party in using a gate mechanism, claiming they know they're there. Two small yellow creatures drop from the ceiling and open up cages and begin attacking the party. One releases a hippopotamus that comes out and combat ensues. The yellow creatures also allow a serpopard to come out and begin attacking but the pair are dispatched swiftly. The party also slowly neutralizes the beasts without killing them and approaches the gates. A heated exchange happens where Volnik tries to buy them or pacify them while Lucine tries to charm him into letting them out but it fails and they destroy the lever. Volnik also invokes duplicity that uses Inflict Wounds on Boraed, causing him to perish for good. With this, they escape. The party looks around the area, returning the animals to their cages and Zahn finds a hidden wall leading to a sacrificial ritual circle to Nosos, goddess of plagues. There, Lucine also finds a corpse of what must be Fritz with his Blackreyne locket. V decomposes the body using magic and prays for all the fallen. The party merely waits it out as Raktii appears and is caught up to speed. Tired, the party returns towards The Stitched Scales, but on the way, Vasirr drops off the corpse of Boraed at the catacombs beside the Vertu Mandir. On the way, V and Lucine talk about her past and her lack of understanding about the moon phases and how it messes with her behavior. Once there, V and he have a conversation about death as Vasirr is clearly upset by the passing of Boraed. Milis comes in to console him with her take but Vasirr is not fully in agreement with it. V steps away and talks to Zahn about their first kills. Zahn talks about the fear in his victim's eyes before he soiled himself in his last moments. V mentions she had to put down a close family member and feels guilty about it and fears the judgment from it will catch up to her. Zahn encourages him and tells him to enjoy the company of the group and not worry about the judgements of the past. They head back home finally, as the tired party settles in. Milis and Lucine go shopping and get cake and minced mutton. Everyone winds down, discussing recent events and enjoying their meals with tea brewed by Milis. Raktii comes in out of her uniform, and comes to discuss things with the party, mentioning a group called Nemesis. Zahn and Milis also speak of their leader, Countdown. The whole gang they pursued are of the Nemesis and things are serious. As the party continue talking about Caeles and his abnormalities, Raktii's tiredness takes her over and she falls asleep. They let her be as the rest of them also settle in and sleep. Caeles seems to wake up and attempts to use a dagger on a sleeping Lucine but holds himself back and falls asleep by her. In a dark room, real wafty with incense, Volnik is seated and healing Kajai's burn marks. They discuss the party pursuing them and decide to lay low. Things are going according to Volnik's plan and suggests not to engage with the party, and that the next big job could be the last one for Kajai and the rest.

• 3E467/04/08 - Caeles seems to wake up in the night and attempts to use a dagger on a sleeping Lucine, but holds himself back and falls asleep by her. Everyone wakes up as Lucine, in her new Lunar Phase, decides to talk to Caeles. Vasirr opens the front door to a half-vedavin child who seems to be looking for her mother. Raktii wakes up hurriedly and goes off with her, trying to shield her from the dark discussions they've been having. This seems to visibly bring up some sad emotions in Vasirr and V who remember their mothers. V missing the love of their adoptive mother and the other mourning the lack of any love at all. Milis happily agrees to be their makeshift mother and support them upon hearing all of this. Lucine tries to talk to Caeles who gives vague and strange answers about being under the influence of the supposed Goddess Sol that the Church prays to. Not finding enough answers, she comes out and tries to discuss it with V and Vasirr who are religious themselves but they also have no idea due to the nature of Sol. Having no set solution, they decide to get back to it later. V and Vasirr continue their talk of family and settle on the common point of earning the hate of their birth mothers. Vasirr begins writing a letter while Lucine wants to go out for a walk. She doesn't want Caeles to accompany her so V volunteers. She also asks for a place to get alcohol and heads out towards The Jealous Wife with Lucine. Vasirr goes to the post office and sends the letter to his "master". Lucine and V try out wine and beer respectively. Lucine hates the taste while V gets drunk and goes on a rant about Kasaaqi history. Caeles tries to catch up on sleep while the rest run the shop. Balch'ast appears at the shop and talks to Zahn about them volunteering for a job. He says an up and coming model has gone missing and they need to investigate in the Kawari Art Museum. The job was assigned by the curator himself. Balch'ast also talks of another job where a bard named Fakiro promised to perform but ditched last minute to be mute. Zahn convinces Balch'ast to give them both the jobs. Meanwhile, V decides to head back when Lucine questions her about her Blackreyne amulet. They have an interesting interaction where V reveals some of her past. They head back to the Stitched Scales where V continues her drunken stupor but eventually sobers up as Zahn discusses the jobs. They decide to head to the Kawari Theater from where they are led to the home of Fakiro, led by Milis who used to have him as a customer. The party is led in by the maid Liila who is very protective and loyal to Fakiro. They question D'ahn Fakiro about the event as Liila tells them the story. Apparently the ghost of his prior lover, Monika Holmm cursed him as he took another man to bed in a few weeks. He seemed to see her spirit that night. V thinks the ghost curse is not an excuse and may be likely. Milis uses her psychic link to telepathically communicate with him and ask in more detail. Caeles seems enraged by Liila's stern behavior and confronts her but the situation is defused by the others. The party excluding Lucine heads to the various rooms where the ghost was supposed to have been seen by Fakiro. They are unable to find much until they detect a presence in the playing room where Fakiro does performances in private. The presence vanishes swiftly though. Upon singing "Hey Monika", the ghost does appear though in ethereal form which is why she was undetectable prior. After a short while, she turns to this realm and the party begins fighting against this enraged Monika. Her presence causes fear amongst a lot of the party. With some aid from Fakiro, the party is able to damage her enough with physical attacks and spells like Moonbeam. She has failed attempts for possession but is weakened. She summons some undead skeletons for support but they are brought down. In this while, Lucine is scared by her supernatural powers causing her to age by 2 decades. With radiant magic, V and Lucine damage her enough to completely destroy her. Seeing her aging condition, V suggests going to a priest to undo that. Fakiro's curse is broken and he is extremely happy and thanks the party and gives them free passes to any of his performances. Parting on great terms, the party heads to the Jakuna temple they had visited prior and the dwarven priestess, Dhorruna Kayari, helps them out by curing Lucine. V seeing the peaceful atmosphere of the temple itself however, asks Kayari if she can pray here sometime. Kayari suggests that she may connect more with Thetus in an abandoned temple of Moros at the top of the mountain. V thanks her and leaves. This whole time though, Caeles continues mocking Lucine in an effort to lighten the mood but Lucie is only angered the two bicker. V and Zahn comment on this. Milis has a hard time trying to pacify either one and neither Vasirr has luck. V tries but Caeles insists on being unreasonable. Zahn goes looking for parts to produce a handgun and is very successful in his endeavor and gets to work on it. Milis continues providing food and drinks in breaks. V gets to a blacksmithy called Jaro's Weapons of Fire, led by a fire Efreeti called Jaro who sells a breastplate to V. Lucine heads to a magic shop called The Final Form where she procures healing potions and a Boots of Elvenkind that she grants to Caeles. Caeles and Vasirr head towards it and Caeles shows his amulet and sword to Jaro but his religious zeal brings discomfort so Jaro moves on to Vasirr. Jaro takes his request to produce magical daggers. As they head back, Vasirr suggests Caeles to be careful about being so blatant about his religion.

• 3E467/04/09 - Early in the night, V heads out to go and pray at the abandoned temple. Taking directions from the guard outside the house, she makes her way there through a dark cave leading into a mossy graveyard with a broken statue of Moros. There is a carving of a dragon on the statue, indicating Thetus. Taking this as a good sign, V begins communing with her goddess. She talks about her past mistakes but feels herself growing stronger despite the initial rift that mistake had caused, and expresses gratitude. She falls into a meditation and it occurs to her that this cave is where Abara and Sorya stole away shared moments and it may be that the desert began from this very mountain. Feeling at peace, and feeling a connection, V can feel her old strength return. As dawn breaks, Caeles realizes his strength as well taking the vows of the Oath of Conquest. V returns from praying and runs into Caeles after he too was done with his vows. They talk a bit before V retires for a nap. Early in the morning, Milis and Vasirr prepare food and wake everyone up. Even Zahn is awoken from his work induced sleep and he shows the fruits of his labor. He procures a revolver that impresses everyone, especially Vasirr. Everyone changes into fancier outfits made by Milis and heads out. They arrive at the museum and notice beautiful decor and amazing paintings. The party introduces themselves to curator Rethi who proceeds to give them a tour guide leading them around until they can discuss in secret. She leads them to a halberd wreathed in green flame belonging to some legendary hunters riding six legged horses in the sky, called Dark Hunt. Vasirr knows of them. Eventually she leads them to the last person who saw the model alive, Ekash the Sculptor. He was also responsible for sculpting his newest model after Morii. They all head into a hall of sculptures that is a private area consisting of all sculptures made by Ekash. They mention the model, Morii Kittal. Caeles jokingly accuses him of murdering her and putting her inside the sculpture. Followed by this, the party sees the sheer craftsmanship of the Morii statue. Caeles criticizes the sculptures and Lucine also wonders if she can have her own sculpture but Ekash laughs it all off. When Caeles talks of "true beauty" to him, he mentions a wife of his that passed away long back. The party, having a lead on Morii likely disappearing after her last session, head towards her home in the Fairy Caves. They go to her home which has rather meager conditions and V locates her journal and reads it. Morii came here from Dibayad, leaving behind her family and wanted to have a successful life as a model. It wasn't going well until this recent gig. It seems likely she disappeared on her way back from this last session so the party decide to ask around and retrace her steps. V notices a thief trying to mug Milis and casts Hold Person to paralyze him. They question him and realize he works for a gang boss named Namkeen Bhai, and the party decide he may have information on Morii. Being led into a hideout they see it is not just for the gang of Namkeen bhai but a neutral ground for the relaxation for shady types. Vasirr notices the male druid that had attacked V and Zahn when they entered the city. The thief, Kariis explains the situation to Namkeen Bhai. They temporarily decide to ally up with each other due to having a common enemy in Volnik's gang. V tells him about Volnik's devotion to Nosos and in return he informs the party that Morii was never seen leaving the museum. With these news, the party begins heading back but Zahn decides to mark the human druid with the smelly needle. This goes wrong as he is spotted immediately. Though no fight breaks out, he makes a note of all the party members who now surround him. Due to being on neutral ground and them worrying they may not have time, they decide to pursue Morii's lead and walk away. Going back to the museum, they discuss with Rethi about security and about possible breaches in the museum itself but she guides them to the offices. In Ekash's office, V sees that this was his workspace. Zahn finds a locket with the image of a Medusa and he deduces and realizes something. The wife mentioned before was likely this medusa, and since his hair was always hidden behind his headpiece, he is possibly a Maeder. V also notices illusory magic. The talk is interrupted by Ekash entering the room. With an unsubtle line of questioning led by Lucine, he is aware they know the truth. He calls out a Basilisk in the room who was likely hidden with the same illusory magic V detected. They begin to fight as everyone has a hard time combatting the two while keeping their eyes averted. Lucine is downed and in a reckless effort to save her, Milis is also downed but is brought up by V's healing. Caeles attempts to terrify the two using his Divine prowess but it backfires horribly as he is completely petrified in the process. Caeles, Zahn, Vasirr and V manage to damage them enough with their weapons and spells, with Lucine taking down the Basilisk with a Chaos Bolt. Finally, seeing this, Ekash surrenders. Rethi comes in and is scared by the sight but calls the clergy and the sena to the location. Ekash is taken away as he takes it all in grace while saying this was all vengeance for the unjust slaying of his wife by mortals. Zahn returns his locket. Caeles and Morii are restored by Dhorruna as the two are heavily confused. Morii is topless in her present condition, so V rushes up and gives her the jacket and brings her up to speed. The party, their job now over, decides to head home, discussing the recent events. Vasirr notices that V has heavy scars all over her back. They have a decent talk with Rethi regarding security for all the future guests and employees. She expresses gratitude. As Morii is taken to another room and clothed, V takes back her jacket and heads back and reassures Caeles who is doubting his skill and luck. Outside, Raktii greets the party and congratulates them on a job well done, providing them with a lot of gold for the job. She informs them that they should continue laying low or picking off the stragglers, and gives them a brief on the Volnik gang. With this news, the party starts heading towards the Chattan Market for some shopping to conclude the day. V is stopped by Vasirr who tries to make a joke of the conversation but Vasirr is supportive and tells her she may open up about her past. V does not explain the scars or anything else but mentions she worked for the Blackreynes but left eventually and still follows their laws. The party enters the market when Zahn notices something and points out to the party of the two gang members before them. Kajai and Beon are just as surprised as they look back at the party. Beon rages and rushes into battle with axe in hand. Kajai reluctantly joins him. Vasirr, Caeles and Lucine are all brought down by a raging Beon, while Caeles uses his Warlock magic to cause fear in him. Zahn tries to distract the enemies by using his Thunder Gauntlets, while Lucine uses Blinding magic along with Chaos Bolts. V continues attacking with Vol Hasta and healing. Milis utilizes her psychic blades to pierce through Beon's defenses. Finally, the battle comes to an end with the pair incapacitated. Vasirr had put out a call to Raktii who had sent soldiers to the scene. They are arrested and the party is finally free, however V and Caeles decide to go on to the Senaghar to help with proceedings. Zahn goes to Jaro's smithy where he acquires Splint Armor. He begins hammering on the piece in that workshop itself to make it his fit. Meanwhile Vasirr is granted enchanted weapons from the Plane of Earth called Emerald Cutters. Lucine goes to the Final Form from Zaleria and gets a big tattoo that runs all across her back. It will provide her with magical protection. V and Caeles start interrogating Kajai. V plays "good cop" while Caeles plays "bad cop". They are slowly but surely able to get through to him. He agrees to speak in exchange for protection from Nemesis. Inspector Harosh Kawar presided over the interrogation and approved. They next try to get through to Beon but the fanatic love for their leader Volnik prevents them from revealing anything. Caeles hurts his eyes using his magic as V protests, but they leave. Raktii enters and is brought up to speed. They talk a bit with the inspectors, and Caeles points out that Kawar is related to the royal family, which he admits. They return to the Stitched Scales where they decide to go drinking. This is when Caeles tells them he will reveal the truth. He reveals his past: the Church had a ritual in place that would kill many and Caeles had a choice. Let them all burn painfully or slay them himself. Caeles says he saw his goddess Sol and his actions may be guided by her and that this may put him at odds with the party. There are rising tensions in the group as they try to make peace with this. After much deliberation, V realizes he has not done anything evil in her name. As such, she chooses to temporarily ally with him. V insists Zahn join her for drinking as she needs a distraction but everyone joins in. There is a drinking competition where Vasirr, Lucine and Zahn all drop one by one until V is victorious. V convinces Lucine that maybe Caeles can redeem himself. Vasirr is extremely drunk but sticks around. Zahn and Caeles stand by as V pays the musicians to play slow music and he dances with Lucine. Their revelry done, the group starts heading back. Meanwhile, Milis who remained at home is suddenly ambushed by Nisii and Jikah. She attempts to fly away but Jikah turns into a giant vulture using Wild Shape and chases her down to the ground. The party comes back to see the guard outside their home slain and begin to track her but the trail goes cold. Raktii is informed and she arrives with a force of senas. She is on edge and so is V, and Vasirr is visibly very upset by the turn of events. Caeles also chastises V for being merciful to the captured people when their gang showed the party no mercy. Finally, Raktii decides that they should spend the night at a safe house and begin the search for Milis the next day.

• 3E467/04/10 - Caeles has a dream where he wakes up in a desert and speaks to Sol face to face, an eclipsed sun overlooking them. They speak of a grand plan and say Lucine Lunaa is key to this plan when the "stars align". Caeles promises his faith and fealty to her. Milis wakes up in a cage in front of Volnik who exchange pleasantries. He says he was of a clan Feydew that protected a gate to the Feywild. He was from Aurial and got lost in the Feywild and spent time there and when he returned centuries had passed. He speaks of "the noble rot" and his devotion to Nosos. He also talks about his team members and their purpose. His being a production of a Gate. He leaves, warning Milis not to try and escape as he has a guard in place, a clockwork cobra. The party is left anxious and desperate to follow leads to save Milis. Vasirr is convinced by Lucine to eat something as V is fed by her, albeit reluctantly. Vasirr and Zahn decide to go to Namkeen bhai for some leads. V accompanies Lucine and Caeles on their way to talk to Jiveki. On their way to Jiveki, Lucine pleads with Caeles to split away from the party if they are ever at odds who agrees to be fair in his treatment. They rebuild their trust a little as V listens in and she and Caeles nod to each other in acknowledgement. Jiveki is introduced to V as he thanks Lucine and Caeles. He rewards them with a Dragon Flask. Zahn and Vasirr visit Namkeen bhai who was unaware of recent events regarding the kidnapping. Vasirr is angry and wants a lead. Namkeen bhai agrees to give them an address to follow through but will cash in a favor with the party in the future. The party reunites at the safe house assigned to them by Raktii, and she herself awaits them there, tired and bloody. She says the higher ups have deemed this operation unfavorable due to a poor warehouse raid, so the party won't get police support but she will join them. Vasirr tells them about the address and she leads the way immediately with no hesitation as the party follows her there. At the river warehouse, Milis manages to pick the lock to her cage and evades her captor to the next room and barricades the door. The party rushes in through the entrance, guns blazing. Milis takes to flying and begins to escape. A Meenlock tries to jump her by teleporting above her but fails and Milis is able to flee into a river path. The party slays all the random goons and begins investigating the warehouse. V notices a vulture descending to attack from the shadows and warns everyone. Raktii gets stabbed by Nisii, who also ambushes them. An intense fight ensues where Zahn and Caeles hold down the front line. Jikah takes many hits but retaliates with earth shattering spells against the party as Raktii is also downed by Nisii's sneaky attacks. As things get increasingly dire, Nisii takes this chance to make a show to V by shooting Lucine. This enrages V, who cannot attack at this moment so she desperately prays and heals to ensure Raktii does not die and brings up her allies. After many blows are traded, Vasirr knocks out Jikah who mouths 'Nemesis' to Nisii. Nisii sees this as she aims for Lucine again. Caeles steps in between them and attacks her. V heals Raktii who contributes to defeat Nisii. As the tides turn, Nisii decides they cannot be interrogated and shoots Jikah and then tries to kill herself but fails. V in a fit of rage and to ensure Nisii does not fight back uses Inflict Wounds to rot away her arm. Lucine tells her to calm down as Vasirr comforts her. Lucine ties up Nisii and they take her away to interrogate her in a safe. As they begin heading back to the Stitched Scales, they see Milis and there is great relief as she embraces everyone else. They return home and place Nisii in the wardrobe closet room. As Zahn, Vasirr and Milis wind down and recover, interrogation begins. Caeles, Lucine and V attempt to intimidate her to make her speak. V tells her about her revenge for hurting Lucine. Caeles suggests a lot of torture as he kicks her wounds. She continues to remain silent and does not speak at all. Raktii heads inside and seems to almost agree with the party's harsh methodology. It seems she had a dark past as a mercenary and knows of the dark side of operating. V cannot stomach more torturing so she uses a bolt to end Nisii's suffering and steps away. She is sickened by putting up a front and barely holds in her vomit as she steps away to drink, away from the rest. Vasirr notices this and goes to comfort her. V does not open up and is evasive, but she hugs him for comfort and walks away. As they reconvene in the main room, they talk about recent events and how they will strike Volnik's warehouse tomorrow early morning. They discuss religions, gods and crises of faith as Vasirr seems to be having many doubts and fights with his reluctance to kill. V also explains her harsh actions and how she acts as a judge for her goddess, Thetus. So she admits one gets used to killing. Raktii speaks up and talks about her clan and their sick rituals. She reveals her clan worships Varkanus and blood-let her as a child. This grounded her dislike for religion and gods. She wishes the party good luck for their attack tomorrow and leaves. As it becomes evening, Milis receives a letter from her husband who tells her of the upcoming Artisan's Fair and where they would meet. The party unites in deciding that once Volnik is defeated, they may celebrate by heading to the Fair. Finalizing their attack on Volnik early in the morning, they decide to retire for the night.

• 3E467/04/11 - It is early in the morning, the party awakens, ready to fight Volnik in his warehouse. They feel they are prepared and they cannot delay further lest the police get involved. As they arrive, they see both parties were expecting each other. Volnik addresses the party before challenging them to one final battle. He is accompanied by his mechanical snake and two meenlocks to aid in the battle. He rushes in head first, initiating Spirit Guardians which causes dark spirits to cause necrotic attacks all around. He is able to badly injure almost everyone in the party, namely Caeles and Zahn who are nearly killed. V tries to escape but he nearly kills her as well. Vasirr and Milis hold their ground. Vasirr heals the others and tries to slay the Meenlocks with a little help from V's Vol Hasta. Milis continues her psychic blade barrage on the big bad in an effort to disrupt the spirits. V somehow manages to rise up and takes off her jacket, revealing retractable wings that she uses to keep distance while safely healing the fallen. Zahn uses Magic Missile to keep attacking Volnik until his concentration breaks, and eventually succeeds. Vasirr is able to destroy the snake with a lot of combined attacks from the others. Volnik invokes duplicity and continues his attacks, but the party wears him down as V flies above him and shoots a Guiding Bolt that opens him up for the final blow from Vasirr's daggers. Finally, Volnik admits the party was a worthy adversary who managed to defeat their gang because they split up and left themselves vulnerable. He wishes them well and is knocked out. V hears crying from deep within the warehouse and the party discover a wyrmling Moonstone dragon whom Milis is able to bond with well and take care of. This brings a lot of paranoia in Caeles who is eager to kill the dragon immediately but eventually comes to accept her, though he is still wary. The party head back, Volnik captured and handed over. As they are resting, Raktii comes over to congratulate them and tell them Volnik will be locked away probably forever and talks a bit with the party. She is informed of the dragon and keeps it secret. She tells them the Ranaji wishes for them to arrive at his palace tomorrow and that the group should have a name so that they may be presented as such. With that, she leaves. The party has a thorough discussion about the name, not being able to finalize on anything all together until they realize their varying backgrounds and lack of commonality itself would be the basis. Out of nowhere, they are able to finalize on the name: Chimera. They decide they might have common goals and decide to travel together under this name. Once this discussion is done, V realizes her drink is depleted. Milis takes her to get more but takes this chance to show concern for V. V appreciates it but remains guarded, yet compliments Milis.

• 3E467/04/12 - The next day, they dress up in fancy clothing courtesy of Milis and go to the palace. Many guests of honor are there, such as D'ahn who is happy to see them and advises them about etiquette. The party does not much appreciate being here but are mostly here by compulsion. They meet a drow named Azol Darkmorn who was once King Sombra's apprentice ages ago but was petrified. Still catching up on all that lost time, he is not too happy with how Sombra had a change of heart and is now considered a hero. The party tells them they believe in second chances. Finally, the party meets the Ranaji who introduces them and shows them off center stage, rewarding them with gold and is willing to grant them any other help. He offers the party to become royal guards and protect the city from here on but V realizes it may be detrimental to their goals and politely declines which he seems to be okay with. Caeles asks him out of nowhere if he is ready and accepting of a change of authority and if he is sure of the royal family's place and strength. Ranaji tries his best to give a diplomatic answer. Lucine asks the Ranaji for a carriage and camels for transportation ease. Vasirr requests his part of the rewarded gold be granted to the Temple of Aklim. Both are granted. Drained by these formalities, the party is done and decides to head back and take the week off to tie up all loose ends before heading out towards the capital city of Kasaaq for the festival. At the Stitched Scales, they meet once again with Rasmii and Cheems. Cheems and the wyrmling seem to be equally scared of each other but Milis manages the situation. Vasirr is also given a letter by Namkeen bhai saying he has a mission for them in Nanun's pub in Kasaaq. Supposedly, Nemesis' influence is throughout the Kav'orra Desert and Namkeen bhai will likely be directing the party towards more of their operations so they can oppose them. Lucine goes around the Chattan Market for hours but eventually manages to catch a scorpion.

• 3E467/04/13 - Caeles visits Jaro who recalls Vasirr owed him a favor and tells him that the ruins of an ancient city of Fire Giants was discovered on the way to Kasaaq, called Agunskil. He tells them to get any items of value and bring it to him and he will consider the debt to be paid. Caeles agrees and conveys this to the party. Zahn also hears of an upcoming railway technology that seems to be connecting parts of the desert as he goes about his business throughout the week. 

• 3E467/04/16 - Through the week, Vasirr does many odd jobs to get some money. Milis is kept severely busy producing her best work for the Artisan's festival while also taking care of the dragon wyrmling whom she has allocated residence in her own bedroom.

• 3E467/04/17 - All the while, Lucine prepares for a date night with V who accepts. She takes Lucine near the mountain top of Absorya Parbat where they spend the night having a meal, drinking and talking. This time, they talk about their situation, the party and how they fit into this group. V also takes this chance to tell Lucine her real name: Viera. They spend the night cuddling.

• 3E467/04/18 - In the morning, V is in a dazed hangover and refers to Lucine as someone from her past named Kenzo. This hurts Lucine who runs away with tears in her eyes. V goes after her to apologize. V finds her at the tavern where they danced and they have a heavy talk about V's deep rooted trust issues and how alone Lucine feels. They both decide that this group might be good for them. It is a difficult conversation, but Lucine manages to convince V to at least reveal her real name to the rest of the party which she finally does. The party is happy with how well they've bonded. The night before they head out, Viera has a dream. In that dream, she sees her friends, both old and new dying. She holds the corpses of Zahn, Lucine and finally Kenzo as she is in denial about their deaths. She gets an unspoken message from Theratis who wonders what Viera wants now, after their disconnect. Viera gives her honest answer and receives a blessing in return that could undo death.

TotSD Chapter 2 - Sands of War

• 3E467/04/19 - Their business resolved and the week passed, the party is finally ready to head out towards Kasaaq, dragon in tow. At the gates, Raktii meets them and wishes them well as they head out. With their first chapter coming to an end with a grand victory, the party decide to continue their heroism in the rest of the Kav'orra Desert as they head out into the desert heat. They have one carriage and two camels leading the carriage, two at the side. They make camp at a rocky outcropping where Lucine sets a campfire and Viera and Vasirr keep watch.

• 3E467/04/20 - As they travel next morning, they follow the road and notice many people resting along the road and a priestess of Sol is giving a sermon. Lucine and Caeles cover their faces and go to blend in the crowd. Viera is told about the priestess and she wants to hear it as well. She talks about the sun and the boons granted by it. She talks about how there would be darkness without Sol. Viera notices that she casts some spell to let people resist the heat. Caeles questions why she won't embrace the heat. They talk about where they are from and recognize each other as believers. Viera, Lucine and Vasirr join in and question some of her prophecies. She clarifies that Sol is a reincarnation of Sorya, the ancient sun Goddess. They learn her name is Jua Zoha and she is headed towards Ammba. Their talks done, they head towards their destination and take another night of rest. Vasirr keeps watch first followed by Viera who spends the night in Lucine's company.    

• 3E467/04/21 - The next day as they are riding further, a sandstorm approaches. Viera is blinded and buffeted by the sand while Vasirr and Milis manage. Viera heals herself but the party notices an approaching party of raiders called Sand Chasers coming to pick them off. Lucine produces a destructive Fireball to thin their forces. Caeles uses Eldritch Blasts, Zahn uses his revolver and Vasirr uses his daggers. Milis tries to rush ahead to move past them as Viera uses Vol Hasta and Toll the Dead to weaken the brutes. Lucine uses her staff to produce an Insect Plague to clear out even more of the raiders as the others continue their attacks. Viera rushes in with a swarm of spectral  ravens from her Spirit Guardians. The leader jumps into the caravan to go down swinging. He is severely wounded by Milis, Vasirr and Zahn's attacks before Viera, enraged by her spell being disrupted, shoots a Guiding Bolt through his head. As they loot and acquire their riches, they head out and set camp anew. Caeles seems to be confused by his new Eldritch Beam powers. At night, Viera wakes up Zahn and Lucine and discusses her visions from Theratis, her new reviving powers and warms them to take care.

• 3E467/04/22 - The journey continues as Vasirr asks about the church of Sol to Lucine. Later, Lucine requests Viera to teach her to be a better fighter. Vasirr notices a small earthquake or shifting of the sands at night.

• 3E467/04/23 - Heading into the eastern Kav'orra Desert, they come across a group of Tlincalli. Milis tells the party they are no trouble. They seem to be having some trouble- the earthquake opened up a crevice where a young one fell. Milis heads the talks and offers to help. Everyone ties their ropes together as Milis flies down and ties it to the child. Everyone pulls and tries to bring the child up. Milis notices the rope about to slip and manages to fix it in a timely manner. They cheer as the child is saved and one of them offers a spiked chain as a reward. The party continues. At night, Lucine offers to keep watch but does not notice a sandworm that goes by which Vasirr does. They discuss their pasts and how they were left by their families and joined their respective religious temples. She talks about how her church's ritual has ruined and killed many people. She seems to appreciate her life and her friends, especially Viera. As Viera switches for the watch, she mocks Lucine a bit for skipping training and sits down. Caeles joins her for this. They talk about Lucine and Caeles gets serious and tells Viera to take care of her. They talk about their pasts and Caeles' uncertainty. Viera tells him she doesn't hold anything against him for the people he had to put down and understands. The night passes.

• 3E467/04/25 - Two days later, near sunset, they finally arrive at Wa'sadak. They park their cart and walk around town and see a crowd gathered. Two well-dressed people seem to be arguing: a human and a dwarf. Zahn recognizes the dwarf as Prince Simbon Kawar of Ammba. Caeles inquires about what seems to be happening to a female dwarf miner. A collapse happened recently and many dwarves are trapped. She introduces herself as overseer Uzoma. The mine is acknowledged to be Ammba territory and made the city state rich. The miners of the location belong to the Swarna Guild, from the western part of Eqos. They hold control over the flow of gold. Zahn asks about the two people arguing: Prince Simbon who was sent by his father and Prince Kirina Mathii of Mem'mala. Uzoma hires them to go save the miners and agrees to pay them. Zahn wants to cut a deal with Simbon. As Caeles is about to approach the prince, there is a disruption. Giant glowing scorpions called Twilight Dune Scorpions appear. The princes join in to fight, as Kirina rushes in with a spear and Simbon reluctantly draws his ceremonial battleaxe. The party also joins. Vasirr is almost immediately grappled but Lucine summons a scorpion of her own and blasts a firebolt to free him. Milis flies up and uses psychic needles on a scorpion while the other is slain by Vasirr throwing daggers. Viera also takes to the skies and summons Vol Hasta. Simbon manages to muster up courage and attack. Caeles enforces his frightful presence to scare the enemies. Kirina uses his spear to take down another one of the spears quickly. Zahn uses his gun to completely destroy another scorpion as Kirina compliments the party. Simbon is quickly taken down. Finally, Viera uses Vol Hasta and Guiding Bolt to drive the spear into the final scorpion, clearing the field. Kirina congratulates the party and says he accepts their help for the mines and heads on to prepare for the mission. Simbon is suggested to head back but he says he cannot but agrees to speak with the party a bit. Zahn recognizes these were conjured creatures and some trickery is afoot as the scorpions dissolve into this sludge. They track it to an alley and Lucine recognizes some runes that were set up to produce those scorpions automatically. Zahn licks the sludge and realizes it is wild magic that makes him cast grease on himself and leads to some jokes. Lucine also tries and turns into a sheep leading to more jokes. They do scoop up some of the remains to use or study later. Once it is done, Uzoma and Simbon lead the party into a high end inn to discuss further about the mission at hand. The party takes a seat in a fancy high end place with Simbon and Uzoma. Lucine in sheep form is left outside. Simbon thanks the party. A young miner who had escaped, Awa, approaches the party with their story. He says he was excavating a newer tunnel with his mother and some manner of collapse happened. He is hesitant but speaks of some snarling eight legged beast that Vasirr recognizes as an Aurumvorax, that dragged his mother away. They are supposed to be extinct according to Vasirr, but considering the scorpions that attacked, something is clearly off. Uzoma suggests the party to prepare and research before meeting at the gates before heading out towards the mine. Simbon tells the party that Kirina and he are here to be impressive so that they can be viable candidates for the Mahataraja's daughter. Simbon suggests the party visit High Priest Kedjou to find out more about the Aurumvorax as he may be knowledgeable. At Anisa Academy, the party arrives before him with Simbon. Introductions take place. They ask about the beast who marks the mines as territory. They should be extinct, but they were very troublesome for the Swarna Authority. They discuss what may be the cause. An Aurumvorax is usually small but some of them can grow up to humanoid size. They have a hunger for metals. Viera and Zahn notice that he has a lot of parchment regarding Conjuration magic so Zahn hands him a sample he picked up. As the party leaves, Viera suggests Milis to steal a bit of his notes while Zahn distracts him. Viera tells everyone about the notes. Zahn studies the bit of notes and realizes he was researching conjuring powerful creatures for large amounts of time. The time to head off is here. Lucine and Viera travel with the princes while the party travels in a separate caravan. Lucine talks with Simbon about his situation as Viera talks with Kirina. There seems to be some drama with the princess' younger brother with Kirina. Lucine talks to the two princes eventually and tells them she will cede all credit for this operation if they both owe her favors and they somewhat agree. Meanwhile the rest of the party discuss the potential alliances with these princes and who may come out superior. Viera tells Simbon she can relate with the pressures of being an heir and talks about having her own pressures in her old organization.

• 3E467/04/26 - As the carts arrive at the mine, Viera studies Zahn's custom revolver, interested but inexperienced. Caeles does tricks with his sword. The miners had cleared out the entrance rubble by morning, so the operation is proceeding. Awa mentions his mother's name is Zihaya if they need to find her. The party heads on inside the mines as the princes have some bickering amongst themselves. They reach the turntables and see many paths are full of debris but some are open. Vasirr grabs some gold and tells Kirina it may come in handy. Viera and Zahn notice a body nearby that has scratches, supporting Ava's theory that there is a monster present. Suddenly there is a sound of burrowing as Aurumvoraxes come out of the ground and begin assaulting the party. Vasirr tries his best not to get them killed as the party continues their attacks on them who are now grappling nearly everyone. Having dealt with them, it is clear they were summoned with magic. Viera notices tracks leading deeper in and the party goes. The path divides into many further paths. Vasirr checks one and notices a strange lizard. He uses Speak with Animals to talk to it. It seems to be a trained beast working for the miners. It is also hungry so Vasirr feeds it rations as they go further in and check around. Further investigation reveals a path behind some rubble that Viera notices and Milis checks it out and finds a glowing gray stone. Vasirr follows and takes it. They go further in other paths and go deeper. They notice another group of Aurumvoraxes. Vasirr and Milis lead the attack with sneak attacks. Suddenly a Den Leader appears that burrows through walls and appears in the midst of the party to attack. Even more of them appear through walls. Everyone continues their attacks but Kirina distinctly seems to stop Simbon from killing them in an effort to make him seem weaker. Caeles uses Hex curses to weaken and kill off the Den Leader as the rest continue to take down other Aurumvoraxes. They call out for people. Viera specifically asks for Zihaya. She appears with some other miners. They are promptly rescued. Viera and Caeles noticed Kirina's active sabotaging and tell him off on it. He seems to be affected by their words. Zahn finds a parchment dropped by Kirina with the same symbols that the scorpions were produced with. They realize he must have set all of it up to make himself seem the hero and reveal this to Simbon. Simbon agrees to bring light to Kirina's foul play when they reach the Capital. The party also convinces Simbon he is a more worthy ruler than Kirina. They head outside and see people celebrating that survivors have made it and Swarna Guild members are there talking to Kirina. The party allies themselves with Simbon and swear their support to him. Simbon also talks to Uzoma and fills her in on the truth. As they rest in front of the mines, Viera recognizes that stone as a Summon Earth Elemental stone but if one loses concentration, it would go wild. They hand it to Zahn but decide not to use it until things are at their worst. After resting, they head towards Agunskil Ruins.

• 3E467/04/27 - As they arrive at the ruins, the last few rays of sunset light up the buried pyramid. Caeles hears Sol's voice telling him it holds a sword of hers. The party heads on towards the entrance. It is adorned by large statues of fire giants. There are skeletons all around that died of starvation. Caeles rushes in and keeps looking for the sword, as he seems to be pulled by a sense. On the way they see a statue of Upsilus. Deeper in, Caeles checks some tombs but mummies erupt from the tombs and the party fights them. Lucine notices with her fire magic that they are especially weak to fire. They are swiftly dispatched by Zahn and Lucine. They head deeper in and find vases of gold. Following that a rolling ball trap is activated that hurts everyone but Viera heals everyone once it is done. In the next room, there is a pit with a chest in the center. Caeles feels a pull to it and jumps in and finds a sword whose very blade is of sunlight. It is only a moment for everyone else but for Caeles, he appears before Sol in a desert who takes away his old blade and blesses him. Back at the pyramid, the blade glows red and Viera notices it as Sol's blessing and talks about how good the blessing feels. They decide to head outside but another ball trap is triggered that manages to hurt a lot of the party on the way out. They go past that and notice chests containing armor and other goods. Past that, they come to a gigantic chamber. In that chamber, a fire giant stands there who is against pests invading this tomb of his ancestors and is ready for combat. Lucine and Caeles head up in order to parley with him but Lucine misspeaks and enrages him and he attacks immediately. In the ruins, the party combats the Monnos, the Fire Giant. He seems to roll and spin a lot and hits with a gigantic blade. Lucine and Caeles are hurt but not down. Vasirr summons a magical animal spirit to aid in combat. The rest bombard him with spells and implements. Viera uses her magic to form a magical revolver inspired by Zahn and blasts a radiant beam at him. Caeles uses smites to keep pushing offense. The giant explodes in fiery rage and begins tossing lava. The party continues their offense with Lucine finally finishing it off with intense blue fire. The party collects themselves before exploring further and finding a Giant's Coal that might be what Jaro was looking for and pocket it. They explore further with Viera and Zahn leading the way, Viera flying to prevent floor traps. They find hidden walls. Viera finds in a chest the Giant's Seal which is an impressive spellcasting focus that she asks Milis to sew into a wrist implement. Meanwhile Lucine callously wanders around and uses her summoned Scorpions to trigger traps that inconveniences the team. They continue exploring into a room with a pit with a Giant Diamond that Zahn picks up with mage hand but it triggers a trap. They are trapped in the room as sand fills in. Milis and Lucine use Fire Breath and fire magic from the seal to glass the sand. Lucine uses Binding Ice to freeze the other sand outlets. After much brainstorming, Zahn teleports out and finds a lever to disable the trap. Once again, Viera and Zahn lead the way ahead inspecting traps and such. They move ahead and locate a Fire Dervish Cloak that triggers the trap. Mummies emerge and the party go in to fight against them. They nearly kill Milis but with the fire spells and relentless attacks. The party continue exploring the remaining corners and find a Giant's Earring that is actually a Bloodwell Vial. The party leaves and splits the loot.

• 3E467/04/28 - They continue their journey towards the capital city and notice a sandworm traveling nearby. They continue traveling.

• 3E467/05/01 - They run out of food, but Vasirr forages enough for them to get by until tomorrow when V can prepare create food and water.    

• 3E467/05/02 - On the third night, Vasirr notices a carriage rushing towards the capital, driven by a man in a red cloak with golden embroidery. He informs Vierra who takes the next watch. At this time, Lucine also steps out and seems to be zoned out. Viera talks to her as she feels a lack of purpose and feels lost but with Viera and Caeles talk to her and help her figure it out. As Caeles and Lucine head back to sleep, she sneaks in a quick kiss to Viera to show how grateful she is and she is taken aback but appreciates it.

• 3E467/05/03 - Vasirr has a dream that night- He's in Wa'sadak where citizens go about their business. He looks up and notices riders. These dark riders ride in the very clouds. They seem to have pupiless eyes and pointy ears. They fire down spears and magic onto the city.

• 3E467/05/04 - Vasirr wakes up from this dream, clearly disturbed and tells everyone about it. He speaks of the riders as "The Dark Hunt". They are Unseelie Fey from the Feywild lead hunts on eight legged horses. Viera connects this to ancient ruins where their last hunt began. They decide they will head to the capital to find any news. Vasirr sending stones Raktii to ask about Wa'sadak as he had his concerns. Finally they arrive at the city in the Gutterdune region where all the waste is dumped and is home to extreme poverty. Viera leads them from the city walls to the southern riverbank city of Renara where her apartment is, where the party may rest. They also go past a heavily crowded and bustling temple of Magmus and go past the riverside into some alleys. As Lucine and Zahn settle in the camels at a stable and Milis parks the carriage, the rest are led into Zoshi da Dhaba. Viera's apartment is on the upper floor of the location and her landlord is the owner of the restaurant, Asman Zoshi. Milis sneaks in the wyrmling. Viera introduces her friends and leads them upstairs and shows off her home which everyone, especially Milis, appreciates. Zahn and Lucine also join in and join the party as Zoshi prepares methi ke parathe for the party as they wind down and eat. Viera and Zahn tell a joke story of how they had a romantic union with Vin's bounty and how they made pinky promises. They further discuss how they met as Milis tells the party how she found Vasirr at his doorstep, down on his luck, and let him rest there. Viera tells in return about how she actually teamed up with Zahn for a bounty job and then worked together since for the last month or so. Vasirr now gets a message from Raktii who states that her contacts in Wa'sadak say that all is fine and there is no concern. Having traded stories and settled in at the apartment, Viera sets out bed rolls for her guests and the party goes into a restful sleep.

• 3E467/05/05 - The party decides on their respective clothes and discuss the same with Milis. They all finalize on some designs and head out shopping. At Heimlok Custom Ironworks, Viera gets the Adamantite Breastplate back. Heimlok seems to be very busy in the current season. After some arduous searching, Milis does find a nice clothing/fabric store where they get the required materials for everyone. Milis and Caeles start heading back carrying all the materials while the rest head to the castle to do their early scouting. While returning, Milis spots her husband. It is Scirios, a black dragonborn. Though taken aback she surprises him. He seems tired after traveling. Caeles introduces himself to him. They decide to head back where he can take residence nearby. While the others are walking, Viera tries to pay Lucine back for the amulet but she insists it was a gift. Viera is grateful for it. This other half of the party look around locate Kirina's residence in the Mathii Estate. They decide to have a talk and gauge him. Vasirr looking at the guards and banners realizes that the speeding rider he saw in the desert was of the Mathii House. Lucine talks to the guard and the party introduces themselves as Chimera and they head into the estate's pleasant environment. They notice two young women seated near the fountain. One of them is Sirina Mathii and her friend Kanat Aylarov. Lucine talks to them about the rider but Sirina seems not to know anything. Kanat tries to get some vibes from the party. They introduce themselves to each other. Viera realizes Sirina is not trustworthy of the party. Kanat is more casual and fun-loving. They discuss the conversation and the people they just met before they decide to now investigate and scout out the palace. Caeles and Lucine ask around and find out the palace will not be the site, but a ballroom nearby. It is a gigantic building. The ballroom is very fancy with a glass dome with many servants. Viera cases the joint by walking around. She notices it is a three floored building. It is a hotel as well as a ballroom and there are entrances at the back for servants. That being done, they head back as Scirios joins them and they discuss the events. They also see the pet snake Nathair who talks. The dragon seems to be mischievous and takes a bite out of Caeles' clothes. Vasirr and Vierra inform him that it was deliberate. He is irritated by it which scares the dragon to moonstone breath into the room. Many fall asleep, save V, Vasirr, Zahn and Caeles. Viera takes the dragon away and feeds her nectar trying to comfort it and reassures her she will be safe and go back home. Staying up late to work on the clothes, they eventually finish them.   

• 3E467/05/06 - Waking up late, they begin to prepare for the ball and dress up. Lucine confidently gets into her new attire. Viera is a bit uncomfortable about provocative clothing, but Lucine eases her into it. Milis also helps her into her new clothes. Lucine notices Viera's scarring on her back and asks about it which Viera says is a religious form of self harm due to her past mistakes. She promises not to do it again and says she is better off. She slips into her new dress with Milis and Lucine's help. Zahn dresses up in traditionals with no trouble. Same goes for Vasirr in his new attire. Caeles struggles a bit. Milis goes to help him along with Vasirr and Zahn and finally with that, the party is ready in their new formal wear. Viera wears Siceois' horn ornament which she appreciates and thanks Scirios and Milis for. They also discuss their daughter. They finally head towards the innermost walls where there seems to be quite a crowd forming. Simbon is also in Milis' designed wear. With some Guidance from Viera, Zahn is able to sneak in his gun. Vasirr is also sneaky and gets his daggers in during the pat down. The party follows behind Simbon. They reach the giant gates where the entrance is adorned with gigantic angel statues in Jakuna's style. The announcer declares the entrance of the party. They head in and Viera immediately notices a man with the Aylarov crest. Simbon leads them towards a feminine looking man called Ina Rethi, Simbon's friend. He recognizes the party as the heroes. Ina also introduces the headmaster of Zrari Academy, Archmage Zoman Buyuu. The party is then met with D'ahn Fakiro. He talks a lot as the party asks about him and Caeles inquires about his assistant. Lucine notices the tiger leonin next to him and asks him to introduce them, and D'ahn introduces Raja Grios Vokiro Sahib, and then goes on to point out his son, Preos Vokiro who is a warrior of some renown. Grios takes note of Vasirr and asks of his origins. Grios also asks Lucine if she is a sun priestess due to Caeles' markings. They discuss the rail line being built as well. Viera tries to make conversation and ask about the religion and Sol but Grios does not seem to be willing to be open about it. Preos looks to be toting about a greatsword whom Viera asks about his weapon of choice and he talks about his fighting style. Lucine talks to Preos and drops the line "The sun never sets". In response, Preos says it back, indicating he is a clear follower. Meanwhile, Simbon bumps into Alxis Heyvar while Milis tries to calm him down. He is of Koorah, from where local dragonborns originate. As this ends, the Lunar Delegation is announced. Captain Zurikov and Commander Zykova of the Copper Fleet, Bolt Yarkiy Neon, and Can Vanadium of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. Viera shuts down looking at Can, who was her childhood friend from her Blackreyne days. Lucine, Caeles and Milis reassure her. With Caeles keeping an eye, Viera finally gets the strength to go and approach Can. Can is speaking to some girls with Zurikov. He is completely taken aback when Viera approaches but they decide to speak away from their allies and he is dismissed. Viera asks about the status of the Blackreynes, who are now basically sellswords for the Lunars due to Zmeya's leadership. She asks about Ethera's funeral, followed by asking about her friends. Can says he left along with Otto, but Kenzo left a long while. Voriak and Fieldor continue to work for the Brotherhood but are unhappy with the leadership. Can has been busy for 2 years. Apparently Kenzo left for Alphanim where she hunts with such ferocity that undead fear to walk in their own city at night. It is rumored that the hunter by the nickname of 'Snarl' has made the city her hunting grounds for the past 6 years. Viera makes a note to visit Alphanim for her. She thanks Can and hugs him who returns the hug before returning to Zurikov. The Zaaba nobles Rajkumar Zavii and Rajkumari Raktii are introduced as their talks continue. Lucine and Vasirr continue talking to the Vokiros. Vasirr admires the greatsword of Preos. Meanwhile, Lucine keeps dropping hints. Preos is tired of pretenses and openly talks about how the Church of Sol has been very active in Dibayyad during difficult times. Preos is definitely frustrated with Lucine's approach and gives a half hearted invite before walking away from the conversation. D'ahn talks with Lucine and Vasirr about Dibayyad's past and how it was formed. He also mentions that Preos is a dangerous person. Dibayyad was destroyed in a prior Rebellion as House Dabull were defeated and replaced by House Vokiro. With that, Lucine parts. Vasirr asks D'ahn if he knows anything about the dream he had. D'ahn speaks of lore songs. D'ahn says there was a song about the world freezing over in an apocalypse. But he does not know anything about the Dark Hunt. Caeles keeps tabs on the target all this while and recognizes him as one of the most suspicious people there. Can is called away by his friends and he says he will speak to Viera later. She and Lucine fill each other in about their conversations. Finally, Simbon is nervous about meeting the Rajkumari and asks the party to accompany him. They talk to the group that has formed. Babrich seems noticeably nervous and excuses himself and sits elsewhere on the upper floor. The party talks before leaving. They decide to talk to each other and decide on a plan where Lucine talks to Babrich to distract him while Zahn poisons his drink. Babrich looks at Kirina who shakes his head. Milis sees this, forming a psychic link with the party so they can hear about this. Zahn and Vasirr wait at the bar while Viera keeps tabs on Lucine talking to Babrich. She seems to be making some headway. But as things go on it seems Babrich lets his guard down. Lucine offers to grab a drink for him. Zahn sneakily poisons a drink. Lucine gets it from him and then heads back to Babrich. Before drinking, Babrich reveals he knows of the assassins from yesterday. With that being said, Lucine tries her best to deceive him and make him lower his guard but he seems to be unmoved. He decides to exchange the poisoned drink with Lucine's as a show of trust as he begins to doubt her story entirely. Zahn notices this and uses Mage Hand to cause their glasses to spill over. Babrich seems to immediately get worked up. Lucine offers to lead him to the bathroom where she can help him clean up. He agrees but seems to have another plan. He wields a necklace with a red orb that he seems to take particular care of. Viera gets suspicious and strats trailing them. Zahn also notices the orb and realizes it may be used for a potentially dangerous summoning. Viera yells at Lucine to back away. At this point, Babrich crushes the orb, initiating the summon. Kirina's eyes widen as he rushes to leave with his sister. There is a great panic in the ballroom as the glass ceiling shatters and the lights go out. Caeles stops Kirina leaving and either way it seems to be too late to run. A light appears from the ceiling. A large angel descends down and as he appears, the divine undead Khenra by the name of Eternals appears as his army. The angel declares himself as the Angel of Knowledge, likely of the god Gunian. He also declares the Zaabas as false rulers. It is clear this is an attempt on their lives. He continues to state that he is here on behalf of the Binder of Angels. This Binder of Angels appears to be the "sixteen legged spider", Zaran Zehir of the Calamity Covenant. As this happens, Viera suggests Vasirr and Zahn to just knock out Babrich as they can interrogate him later after this fight. As many nobles rush to safety, the Mathiis and Zaabas are in front of the angel. Milis and Caeles step up to protect them. The Eternals swarm in and many of the guards are engaged in combat. Caeles draws Eventide and defiantly challenges the angel. Lucine immediately tosses a blue flame Fireball into the swarm of Eternals, severely weakening them. Zahn jumps to the bottom floor and casts Mirror Image as he begins blasting at the Angel and the Eternals with his revolver. Vasirr summons his beast spirit to also attack the Angel. Viera dives off the upper floor and takes flight, summoning Vol Hasta. The party continues assaulting the Angel and the Eternals with their weapons and spells and Viera mocks Kirina for prior interceptions. The Angel summons a powerful beam from above that hurts almost everyone in the party. Milis retaliates with psychic needles. Lucine uses her magic to Mass Healing Word and bring back those who were downed. Caeles continues slashing with Eventide. -Milis keeps the nobles safe by continuing her psychic needle assault, all the while berating Kirina for his vile plans for heroic praise. Meanwhile, Preos comes to Zahn's aid by slicing at the enemies with his greatsword. Can uses blood rites to savage the Eternals. Can also seems to have a form of blood magic with which he animates a downed Caeles to attack the Angel. D'ahn Fakhiro does not cower but rushes in with his rapier and then even follows up with a Mass Healing Word. The Archmage Zoman summons a protective bubble over the other nobles as he strikes the Angel with Lightning Bolts. While flying, Viera summons her spectral ravens and uses the Giants Seal to set them ablaze as they tear at the Eternals and the Angel. As the intense battle continues, Viera finally uses Inflict Wounds to produce void tendrils that completely rot the Angel's body. So the angel falls apart into several pieces and there is finally some calm restored to the room. Everyone catches their breath. Preos kneels before Zavii Zabaa who thanks him and the party for their aid in this battle. Guards also rush in to escort the nobles. Lucine tries to warn the prince Zabaa but cannot get the opportunity to do so as they all begin to leave. All the while, Vasirr and Zahn rush to drag an unconscious Babrich out of the party through the back entrance. Meanwhile, Viera gets a moment with Can. They both ask each other about his blood magic and her dark magic. Can merely says that they must do what they must to survive. He will remain here for the week and V agrees to talk later. The prince requests everyone in the room to not speak of the events that transpired until the end of the fest. With that, D'ahn also speaks of the recent events and offers his residence but Prince Simbon says he shall house the party. The Sitara Qila sector goes into complete lockdown and Preos addresses the others saying these are the last few days of peace, as this was a declaration of a war. As the innermost sectors are in lockdown, the party is led to the Kawar estate by Simbon to rest out the night. Zahn and Vasirr expertly sneak away with Babrich into the night and sneak him into a small room in his Estate. Viera uses Sending to contact Zahn and the party reconvenes in the store room and decide to interrogate Babrich. Initially, Viera does a Fast Friends to ease the target into talking and asks him about motives and people involved. He mentions Kirina is involved but he does not know the scope. He himself is convinced of doing the right thing. Nemesis and The Calamity Covenant are sharing a goal and therefore they work together and his task was to declare war. Lucine asks if he knows if he knows Kedjou. He seems to not know. Vasirr and Caeles put pressure on him with threats. He seems to not have any worries about his family, and is convinced this will lead to a crushing defeat of House Zaaba. Caeles continues to question him, more forcefully, but he seems to be unwavering in his faith and belief. Viera cues Milis in to ask more questions, but Vasirr wants to torture him. He uses his daggers and rope to form a makeshift rack. He asks about what projects he may have funded for Nemesis. He continues to deny that he knows anything of it. He says that Nemesis represents "Anarchy" and he wishes for a return to a more chaotic state of life compared to the order now. Lucine can no longer bear to listen to his deluded thoughts and uses her magic as Vasirr uses his daggers and turns him to ash. The party discusses the upcoming war and the morality, but they decide to ally with Kasaaq against Nemesis and the Covenant.

• 3E467/05/07 -  An emergency council meeting of nobles is taking place. The party accompanies Simbon to it but does not partake in it. Many airships appear and many many guards are present. It seems to be a grave situation. After the meeting ends, Simbon appears with Tarajkumar Zavii who appears before the party and thanks them for saving his sister and him in the attack. Simbon says the dynasty had info of the free cities allying together but they were assuming it was against the Lunars. The Calamity Covenant are not only rallying against Lunar oppression but also behind Zaran Zehir, the Binder of Angels. Though they are fighting against Lunars, they are also allying against the Zaaba dynasty. The war seems inevitable. The prince notes the party was seen dragging Babrich away and the prince acknowledges the party dealt with an enemy. He agrees to deal with any suspicion and requests the party to join a small covert group that will be going south in an airship. He says that they will be accompanying a noble on a "peaceful" mission in an attempt to possibly end the war before it can begin. The party discusses it and whether it be for money or for their morality the party agrees that they will join this mission. Zahn for example, is more inclined for a good payout, while Viera and Vasirr are more focused on protecting the people. Milis says that she will not be joining this time and will be straying away so she can find her daughter who is in the free cities. The party is sad, especially Vasirr, but Milis reassures them and says they will surely reunite once her family is safe. With that settled, the party decided they will make the most of the artisan's fair and they will make it a point to celebrate to the fullest. Before approaching the prince, Viera does ask about Zahn's past in the south and he agrees, the free cities were treated harshly. He says he feels guilty about what he did with the Lunars to oppress the people but Viera reassures him that he is different now. They go back to the prince and Viera tells him the five will be joining this mission but Milis will be backing out.  Caeles looks at the prince and says that this celebration of the Artisan's Fair should be grand enough to distract the people. Lucine talks to Zavii and says that she does not care for money, but she will call on his aid once all is said and done. The prince agrees to all their demands and says he will be willing to pay them all back in any way he can for their aid. With that, the party now goes on to rest up and prepare for the day of the Artisan's fair and then finish any outlying talks.

• 3E467/05/08 - Milis and Scirios work together to prepare clothes for their stall in the fair and their work seems to be going great. The rest of the party go to Nanun's Pub to inform him of the successful assassination. He is satisfied with the party's work. He does add that Namkeen Bhai may not be as happy as the assassination was meant to send a message to Nemesis. They discuss their future plans and Nanun remains vague about his. He does offer help to them down south. He tells them to seek out a person called Fast Fingers Wess in the city of New Hope where the party will likely go. He then says that the party will be accompanying a rather eccentric and infamous individual: Rakaash Zaaba IV. Caeles and Vasirr know of him but Viera and Zahn know of the rumors about him in the underworld social circles. Viera says that he is known to be a reckless type who is general only due to nepotism and due to him being the king's brother. She continues that House Aylarov's navy had once sailed to the isles of Anila Khai, led by Raakash, to end their trade disruptions. Rakaash was said to fight and defeat Anila Khai one on one, though he was likely not in his prime. It is still an impressive feat. With that discussed, they head off. Lucine takes Viera to go shopping for Flight Boots from Nightfall Coffin. However, it is not in stock so they head out. Meanwhile, Vasirr mails the Giant's Coal to Jarro to hold up his end of the deal. Caeles seems to be able to summon some manner of fiery feminine spirit not dissimilar to how Viera summons Vol Hasta.             

• 3E467/05/09 - In these days, Viera also meets with Can before they go their separate ways again. Viera agrees to fully trust him. They discuss the war and Can says he will be called to a Blackreyne meeting while Viera will go on a covert mission. He tells her to be careful about her reputation. He won't rat her out but the others may come for her. Viera says she is prepared. He also says Zahn was noticed by his Lunar friends and they say he may have been significant and to be careful. Viera says she trusts Zahn but she will let him know. They tell each other not to die, and wish each other good luck.

• 3E467/05/10 - Finally, the day of the fair arrives. The party roams about in the many stalls and cut back and have a memorable day. Viera goes up to Milis, and asks her to help find a nice shop that sells ornaments where she buys a moon hair ornament. Viera tells her about how her mother was proposed to and she wanted to mirror it. Milis encourages her to go for it. At Milis' stall, Lucine uses her charm to draw people in, Caeles helps out and tries not to be intimidating to customers. Vasirr pretends to be a good luck charm cat while Zahn uses his mage hand to float around clothes and get people's attention. They spend the rest of the day continuing their celebrations and Milis and her husband have immensely successful sales. Milis, Scirios, Lucine and Viera join a dancing celebration as the day turns to evening. Vasirr, Zahn and Caeles also join in. As the dances end and the night slowly comes to a close, Viera holds Lucine and tells her the story of her mother's proposal. Her mother's fiance at the time had no ring to give, so he found a hair ornament at a carnival and put it on her as their symbol. Viera takes out a purple crescent moon hair ornament and puts it on Lucine's hair and Lucine prods Viera to confess her love. Viera tells her they must make the most of their time before war is declared, so they kiss and finally make love. As they rejoin the group, they see that the fair has come to a close as a general of the Zaabas comes to announce something. He makes it clear that an attempt was made on the royal family from the alliance of cities to the south: The Calamity Covenant. He also announces that war is to be declared and that all banners have been called. This turns things exceedingly grim as the positive mood dies down and people become more and more concerned. They head back and rest for the night.

• 3E467/05/11 - In the morning, it is time for Milis' farewell. The party is saddened deeply. They all express gratitude for all Milis did. Milis says she will come back to the party once her mission is done. She hands a sending stone to Zahn so that he may contact her and talk to her more often as he is the quiet one. They also decide that the moonstone dragon should follow the main party as Viera may soon learn to return her to the feywild. With that decided, there is a bittersweet parting as Milis and Scirios head off south to rescue their daughter from the warzone. Before heading out, Viera and Mr. Zoshi bid each other farewell and she pays him and tells him to take care in the war. The party head over to the docks where they are supposed to set off for the mission. Their guard is wary of the dragon. Inside the ship, they are greeted by Captain Krencir, a brass dragonborn who welcomes them to the ship Turantahkrin. The ship is a combination of tech and magic, it is not particularly large, thus fitted to the purpose of a covert mission. As the ship takes flight, the party meets Rakaash who hangs on to a wing and now jumps to the floor above the party. He also makes introductions with the party before questioning if they are fit to defend him. He challenges them to spar. While the party is mostly reluctant to fight, Caeles jumps before him and draws Eventide, ready to fight. Viera says she doesn't mind a good spar as long as the ship isn't damaged, which Rakaash mirrors. The captain approves. The fight begins as Rakaash uses his golden swordspear to begin raining attacks on Viera and Caeles as they were more willing. Caeles uses Eventide to attack in return and summons that fiery spirit to aid in his attacks. Vasirr uses his cutters. Zahn uses Mirror Image to become evasive and returns fire with his revolver. Lucine uses magic to try to Blind Rakaash. Viera summons Vol Hasta and follows up with a Hold Person where purple chains hold Rakaash in place. This completely puts him out of the fight and stops his relentless assault on the party. Everyone begins wailing on him now. Caeles' Divine Smites prove to be especially devastating, but then Lucine uses Bestow Curse as well for insurance. This completely continues to keep Rakaash frozen in place as Viera uses necrotic magic to form a sword and slash him. The fight ends with that and Viera helps him up and they all acknowledge each other's strengths in combat. He asks for a drink which Viera provides. Followed by that he accepts that he will certainly need the party's help. Though he asked in the fight, Vasirr asks about his unique weapon which he can only name but not explain: The Swordspear. Finally, the airship continues along towards the south as the party can see the Edeni Expanse. As the airship flies over the river near the  Edeni expanse, the soldiers and crewmen on the ship seem to be sending messages among the many messenger pigeons flying around. Viera takes a moment with Zahn to tell him about what he heard about his reputation from Can and asks if he remembers more. Meanwhile, Lucine questions Caeles about his visions and dreams of Sol to know if Sol has said anything about her. Caeles seems to evade giving any answers and Lucine believes him. Zahn reassures Viera about his memories and past. As both conversations conclude, Viera also tells Zahn that she has made love to Lucine. As they discuss it, others join in. Viera diverts the topic by asking if anyone has any messages to send to families. Everyone says that they do not. Zahn and Lucine make suggestive comments about the relationship consummation which causes Caeles to question it. Lucine slyly walks away, as Zahn tries to divert Caeles' questioning. Viera really appreciates it and keeps him in the dark. As night slowly falls, Vasirr and Zahn check out the cannon at the front of the ship, beside which a soldier keeps watch. They ask questions about the arcane cannon and its working involving a "battery", which the soldier elaborates on. After this, Viera brings up the dragon wyrmling and says that the party should at least name her, so everyone thinks on it. Vasirr tries to communicate with her in draconic and asks if she has a preferred name but she only mentions the moon. Viera suggests that since the moon is a celestial body, a name on that root: Celeste, may be a fitting name for her. Everyone seems to agree and they try to get her to get used to the name and she seems to understand it. Once all this is done, they continue their talks but Viera notices wings above her for only a moment and warns everyone. Upon asking the guard keeping watch, he says even he may have noticed something below but chalks it to fatigue. Zahn, Viera and Vasirr decide to get some rest. Lucine and Caeles talk at this time and Caeles opens up about the truth. He mentions that Sol has talked about Lucine having a big part to play, and that he will try his best to protect her. He also says she reminds him of his past killings, and if she is gone he would forget. He does not want to forget it. As they talk, Lucine notices black lightning nearby and is on edge. She begins to alert Krencir, Rakaash and the rest. At this point the others have stepped out and Viera also notices the lightning and makes the connection. She states that it is like the calling card of abominations called Hunting Horrors who usually come after a target. As she states this, one does arrive on the ship and begins attacking the party. It grapples and grabs Viera. It proceeds to attack Rakash. The rest of the party tries to retaliate with everyone drawing weapons and spells. Viera tries to escape and stab the creature with Vol Hasta but to no avail. After being attacked by Vasirr, it screeches out in a psychic channel that causes all the lights to be snuffed out on the ship, causing total darkness. Krencir begins steering the ship away from the Horror who still has Viera in its grasp, so Lucine and Vasirr are enraged. They begin to question Krencir's moves who says that the prince takes priority. The prince himself is relentless in attacks. Caeles draws his sword and shoots out eldritch beams and Viera uses Light Strike to attack instead of breaking free. Eventually the creature is weakened severely and teleports away using Plane Shift. Viera begins to fall but flies up soon. She makes it to the ship, but half of her is wreathed in the inky shadows she produces during her Necromancy spells. The shadows cover her skin and hair and even reform her broken horn. Everyone is alarmed by this sudden shift. Lucine and Caeles specifically realize that they had learned in their church teachings of this: corruption of the soul. Viera seems to have been turning her Necromancy into Soulmancy inadvertently due to the boon of Theratis. This has started to take its toll, and a creature whose soul is worn away eventually turns into a being called Acribus. This would cause total loss of mind and would turn her into a monster. This might happen in a year or so. Lucine relays this to everyone. While she is concerned, Caeles says that should Viera lose control he would euthanize her without hesitation. Viera only drinks and smiles and says she appreciates it and she would not like to have done bad deeds after losing herself. Lucine thinks on it and says that mages of Alphanim are well versed in Soulmancy and may be able to solve this. Everyone agrees that this is one more reason to go to Alphanim after this, aside from going to save Kenzo.

• 3E467/05/12 - The days pass by as the party talks to each other about upcoming events, the state of the war and the past. In this midst, Lucine is very vocal about her hate and determination to burn down the churches dedicated to Sol. The others talk to her about this and tell her to stay her hand. They will investigate the religious ones together. Should they prove to have violent or extremist methods, then they will all work together in bringing them down. Rakaash clearly does not condone his father's brutal actions of ending so many nobles who stood against him.

• 3E467/05/13 - During the second last day, as the ship is going over the river, northern winds begin to shift it towards Kaitzur. It being a city in the enemy territory could actually mean trouble so the party begins to work the sails to help. Most of the party are not very good at it but Rakash almost single handedly is able to help the ship go back on course. Viera, in a drunken stupor asks when Rakash got into drinking. He says it was at the age of 14 due to his elder brother. Viera also says she appreciates that though he is reckless and headstrong, he is not uncaring and wants to help. Rakash is happy to hear it and then talks about the possible struggles that await in the Vyzum Wastes. The party will be landing in Dibayad and take the rail to the south to ensure it remains a covert operation. Rakash also mentions that they are away from any news of the land and chances are war may have broken out. Viera offers to use Sending to ask but he says it is best to remain in ignorance and get the news directly upon landing.

• 3E467/05/14 - On the final day of the journey, the party sees the ruined tower where the Dabull seat used to be. But the city itself is grand. Though the city is partially ruined it is steady in its recovery and appears to be a bustling city regardless. As the airship begins to arrive in the city, the party braces themselves for any news as well as the upcoming mission. The party arrives before the grand Graos Qila of Dibayad, seat of House Vokiro. The Labyrinthian Tower still looms much higher. Many soldiers have camped outside. The party is told to take a tent and wait until they are summoned. Lucine and Caeles decide to go check out the church of the Black Sun and the rest of the party accompanies them. The followers of the Black Sun are very commonly seen in the city since the religion was commonly spread after the war a hundred years ago, and the Church helped in the rebuilding efforts. Zahn asks about the artificers who may have worked on the railway system and they are presently near the riverbank. Caeles recalls that once the war was done, the tower was granted to the church due to how much the people liked them. Vasirr notices a Caravan of Tabaxis and decides to approach them and ask a bit about them. Vasirr and Viera warn them of how the war may hit here first and they should take care. Vasirr asks of his own clan. The old tabaxi salesman they speak to tells them the Goldheim clan is near Varkunast. Vasirr buys fruits and leaves. The party reaches the ruined tower which is held by supports. It seems to have been turned into a makeshift temple. The building seems to be better off than the Koorah branch due to the funding of Vokiros. A statue of Sol is present, black marble with ruby accents. A fire genasi priestess approaches the party and recognizes them as the heroes of Ammba, saying they were expected. She introduces herself as Varkaa and she is the head of this sect. She lets it be known that she knows Caeles and Lucine and the church will not be looking for them anymore. Lucine is enraged by how the church operates and the people sacrificed by the Koorah sect, where she was sold. Varkaa clarifies that those actions are separate from what they believe in and they do not condone that. Everyone who takes part in the ritual consents to do so and is not forced. Lucine asks about her Lunar Powers. Varkaa does not seem to have an explanation but the ritual often has unexpected results. Lucine is frustrated. She wants more clear answers, so Varkaa offers a test to further make contact with their connected deities. While Caeles tries to mediate, Lucine's agitated responses wear thin on Varkaa. Vasirr tries to salvage the talks. While Vasirr convinces her to let the test happen, Viera tells Lucine to collect herself and accept the offer. She also tells her that she will be there to support her in this, as Varkaa has stated the process may be painful. Varkaa says that no outsiders will be allowed to be involved in the test so only Caeles will watch over Lucine. They head further higher up the tower to perform this test, it seems to get warmer and warmer. Varkaa mentions a demi-plane meant for meditation, where one day is equivalent to one minute to the mortal realm. She leads them into a dark circular room where 22 priests sit in a circular formation. Varkaa and Caeles sit down. The priests and they occupy the 24 faced room. Lucine takes a seat in the center of the room and the demi-plane activates. The priests start chanting and their magic pours into Lucine. This process goes on for days. The other side of the party is wondering what is happening. Viera feels a great power at the tower. Zahn senses her discomfort and suggests they do not leave this to chance and instead sneak in for insurance. Viera uses Pass Without Trace to cover the party in shadows as they begin sneaking upstairs, though the path is confusing. On the way, they notice some of the younger acolytes who seem unhappy. Vasirr steals a religious book from a plinth. As time passes and it feels like months, Lucine and the rest are in these pink tinted dunes that seems to be Sol's realm. Lucine sees lightning in the skies and she senses a whole new presence. The chanting and sounds go silent. Lucine threatens to end her life if this presence does not make contact. She hears a feminine high pitched voice. It calls for help and asks who Lucine is. She says she is no longer a person due to some girl's acts. She asks if Lucine serves Sol. Lucine begins to ask questions and finds out this voice seems to be Lunaa, and she claims to be an ordinary person. Lucine says that she is worshiped as the moon and wonders if Sol is responsible for her condition. Lunaa agrees. Lunaa says they were all normal people but all of this occurred due to Sol's plan to take over the world. Lunaa says that she has been long dormant but this ritual awakened her. Her voice fades and she asks Lucine to not forget her. The priests and Caeles did not see anything, they just saw the realm of Sol and then nothing more afterwards. Varkaa says that contact was made, if not with Sol then some other deity. Lucine pretends nothing happened. She seems to believe it and says the debt is paid. Lucine disagrees, but Caeles waves it off. Lucine asks for more. Lucine asks about the devouts of Koorah but Varkaa says the head of that sect is most religious and the ritual was miraculous. Lucine angrily storms out. Caeles tries to explain her perspective to Varkaa but she says Lucine must be defended. Caeles unexpectedly takes Varkaa by the face and kisses her. He apologizes saying something in him is thirsting. Though Varkaa is disgusted by the kiss, but she seems to almost understand how Caeles feels and is not slighted. As the party reunites, Lucine and Caeles seem visibly disturbed. Caeles is confused about his relation with Sol and how little power he may have. Lucine swears to remember Lunaa. When the party returns, they are called to the General. He has had a change in hair and style as his attempt to be undercover. Rakash says that he has met with Commander Zexaa, the sister of Preos, who has informed him with the latest updates. Rakash mentions that the plan has completely changed. He demands a war table and map to explain the mission. On the map he points out that Dibayad, Kaitzur and New Hope will be the front of the war. Most of the enemy army is in New Hope. Peace talks are out of the question now so the party will be traveling via train to the south to a temporary station. Then they will go on foot towards New Hope. They will keep the front of being travelers from Kaitzur to go by. After clearing their doubts, Lucine approaches Viera and tells her about the truth of her encounter with Lunaa. They decide to inform everyone except Caeles. Vasirr shows the book he picked up and Lucine checks it out. It seems "The Holy Book of Sol" is only reserved for the higher priests and it would be something to study through the days. The party is given a discount for medical supplies and all of them stock up heavily for the coming mission. Viera takes this chance to go to a temple to vent to Theratis in her prayers while thanking her for her guidance. Zahn meets with an artificer to ask about the railway and the technology, as well as her role in the operation. Zahn asks her if there is a location where he can get more artificer use parts and she notes his arm is of Lunar make. She asks to take a look at his tech. She notes it is from House Iron, Skion Labs. Zahn admits he was of the Lunar army. She introduces herself as Viranii. Zahn asks if they have firearms, but Viranii says swords will reign in popularity. Zahn shows his revolver and asks how he can have a longer range weapon, she suggests him to make alternate weapons. Caeles studies Lucine to see if she is hiding something but he is unable to sense anything and remains unsuspectful.

• 3E467/05/15 - In the early morning, the party is woken and there is a lot of hustle bustle and trumpets blow in the background. Celeste is annoyed but goes along with the party. Viera helps her ease down as Vasirr offers a fruit to her. Rakash calls the party to the front of the carriage. As the party settles into the front, the train leaves Dibayad. The train taking the party goes over the river bridge. The party is granted a private room away from the common soldiers. Vasirr seems to be suffering from motion sickness. Lucine and Viera discuss Lunaa and her influence and power. Lucine asks if Rakash can reveal the plan to the party but he says it cannot be done as it will compromise everything. Rakash says though he is a general, it is so in name only and he only leads and fights, but no plans are made by him. Fruits are provided to the party for sustenance. Vasirr leaves to throw up and Viera takes his fruit and offers it to Celeste. The train continues to move past the bridge and into the Vyzum Wastes, a much different sight to the other desert. At this time, the party discusses Rakash's spear and he goes on a small rant. He also talks about Zahn's revolver. He also mentions that the Vyzum Wastes have many people wielding guns due to the abundance of gunpowder. They discuss the Wastes and Viera and Zahn say they've been there once but don't know that much of it. Rakash mentions that he once saw a Red Dragon abroad during a journey. He wonders about Celeste traveling. The party realizes dragons are territorial and Celeste's scent may bring in opposition. The desert has Blue and Brass dragons. Rakash mentions Moonstone dragon tears are mithril and some of the party members ask for a sun elf soldier. He tells the party of various legends related to the Moonstone dragon but all of it seems too far fetched. But he does say the tears may be an alchemical component to produce Mithril. The party decides to collect and study it. As evening comes, they are provided army surplus food but Lucine complains about it so Viera produces magical food. Rakash asks about Milis and Viera tells him about Milis and how she went to save her daughter in Jamre in the Edeni Expanse. Rakash says he has a daughter named Chikuu in Jamre from his marriage alliance with Adeaa Vanem, but they separated. He has not seen the daughter since she was 4 and it has since been a decade. Viera reassures him about her safety. As night falls, Viranii appears and is heading towards the engine room to switch out with someone. Zahn follows her to study it. Viranii tells Zahn all about the working of the engine. Zahn tells her about their mission and she is headed to New Hope. Zahn senses she is not being fully honest, but she says she is from Varkunast and went up north to fix her arm. As they talk Zahn notices there are inconsistencies with her story. As he questions her the train completely stops. A gigantic creature has stopped the train as a bunch of outlaws seem to have held up the train: a train heist. Viranii seems to be allied with these outlaws and says she was going to stop the train to what seems to be their leader. Zahn calls out Viranii and gets up on the roof of the engine and takes out one of the people trying to decouple the engine. Many bandits begin shooting at the party now. Viranii addresses this elf, the leader, who says he had to call the big guy to stop the train. Viranii attacks Zahn. Brandishing her greatsword in her mechanical hand, she tries to go for Zahn but Zahn's shield protects him. The leader seems to be using some enchanted guns to shoot at Vasirr. Lucine tosses a fireball at the gang at the front. The giant makes its way towards the front of the coach now. Rakaash is nearly mind controlled by a bandit bard. Resisting it, he also enters the fray. Caeles summons his fire atronach named Astra and Eldritch Blasts the boss. Lucine tosses a fireball towards Viranii and the bandit bard along with some lackeys but it sets the coal ablaze. Vasirr attaches chains to his daggers and attempts to grapple the leader, tossing his daggers towards him. The boss orders his men to toss a flammable barrel into the midst to cause a violent explosion, decoupling the engine. Viera rushes to help Zahn and uses her magic revolver to take down another bandit. Caeles and Vasirr rush the leader. Lucine produces another fireball and tosses it towards the bard and Viranii, but the second one sets off the engine. A violent explosion occurs, completely disabling the engine now. The bandits are definitely demoralized. Many of their men are dead and their target is unattainable. Vasirr and Caeles continue their assault on the boss. Zahn, Viranii and the bard fall to the side now, and the giant approaches and picks him up and tosses him towards V. Viera prays and restores him to life with great vitality. Rakash rushes the giant and relentlessly attacks him. The giant grapples him but Zahn uses his magically buffed revolver to finish off the giant, who yells out for his friends to escape. Viranii and the bard try to flee. Viera sighs and drinks in defeat but then vomits out ichor that seeps towards the running pair and takes shape. Her soul corruption has granted her the ability to turn the ichor into a twisted creature called shadowspawn. Zahn jokingly congratulates V on her childbirth. The shadowspawn's aura completely slows down their escape. The battle against the boss rages on as Vasirr and Caeles keep trying to bring him down, but he prepares a spell. Vasirr catches this as a teleport spell and he uses his hemp rope to gag him to prevent his teleport spell. Caeles hesitates. The bard polymorphs into a mammoth and grabs Viranii and begins to flee. Lucine hits them with Chaos Bolt. As the mammoth tries to escape, the shadowspawn hears V's commands and shrieks violently, frightening the bard. While they are frozen in fear, Viera uses Toll the Dead to completely kill off Viranii. The mammoth drops her now. The boss meanwhile, uses Stride to escape in a fiery trail and then teleports to the mammoth to help her out. Vasirr and Caeles attempt to give chase and Viera flies up and tries to use Hold Person but he evades all of them. The party's attacks wear down the mammoth, so she transforms back and tries to flee in human form. Zahn uses Vortex Warp to bring the leader closer and Viera uses her magic revolver to knock him out totally. The bard surrenders seeing this. Viera rushes up to Viranii and asks Zahn whether she should bring her back to life. Zahn dissents. Viera prepares to decompose her corpse but the bard pleads with her to save her life. V relents. She uses her soulmancy to revive Viranii. Rakash looks at the fire caused by Lucine and is enraged by it. He demands that she pay for this but she continues to refuse. Things are tense, but finally the fight ends.    

• 3E467/05/16 - In the aftermath of the battle, a higher ranking member: Major General Seona Balori begins yelling commands to make a perimeter and manage the damage and so on, as the leader of this army. Seona requests to talk to Lucine. The rest of the party goes to interrogate the captured Deathscourge members. In a mostly emptied train car, Rakash and Seona argue before Lucine walks in. She goes off at Lucine harshly. The party talks with the gang remnants. They are tense in their exchange, but they are not related to the covenant. Caeles leads the questioning. The objective was mostly just stealing the tech from the engine rather than any political agenda. Zahn takes the leader's gun and studies it and he is able to notice that the leader is in fact an Ex-Lunar likely. Viera talks with Viranii and tells her that she revived her and asks if she saw the afterlife. She asks to be cool with them. Viera also asks the names of the others. The bard is Rena. The leader is Lachon. They try to cut a deal. They say they want to be let go and once the party reaches New Hope, they will provide them aid and guidance. After much deliberation, the two parties settle to let Lachon and Viranii, who was a little out of it, teleport away. Zahn smashes his own face with Lachon's gun to be more convincing. Viera asks Lachon to watch over Viranii. As Seona and Rakash return from their talk, they notice this. Vasirr talks to them to give a false explanation. They also suggest that Rena be taken with them to the south. Viera and Vasirr make the case and Rakash is convinced. Seona begrudgingly agrees. Time passes into daylight, and Lucine goes to Zahn to apologize. He seems to be quite okay. Though he is harmed, he was more grieved about the machine's loss. He says an artificer can always fix him up. She goes on to Viera who says that she had begun to let her guard down and last night made her reconsider it all. Disappointed, Lucine goes to Vasirr to check up on him and apologize. With that over, she watches over Viera. Caeles comes up to her and seems especially happy. He talks about mercy and death and his duties for Lucine. Lucine seeks a paper and quill. As night falls, V takes a cloak, dyeing it and puts it on Lucine, giving mixed signals. Finally, the new locomotive arrives and the party continues on again. Lucine now apologizes to Rakash as well. Vasirr, who has begun training Celeste now goes and talks to both of them to mention their plan with Deathscourge. Viera says she appreciates Rakash's trust in them and it goes both ways. He seems to mirror the sentiment. Finally, the train arrives and they go full speed. Milis and Scirious also reach Jamre on this date, but find the city to be closed, but sneak in through the walls.

• 3E467/05/17 -  The party speeds through the tracks until they arrive at Traintown, a scrappy and hastily built town full of armies. Rakash gives the party a small window to prepare and look around before the reconvene and set off for good. Vasirr buys potions. Caeles talks to locals and scouts out the highest point: a windmill as a vantage point. Lucine goes and buys sweets at a local store. She leaves an apology letter and a cupcake for V who dejectedly burns it. Caeles stands atop the windmill and says he is coming for someone, but it is unclear what his meaning is. Rena is unbound and has her guitar again. V tells her to not break trust and she asks for her name and laughs at it. Rakash addresses the party and tells them all that their cover is that they are merchants from Kaitzur. Viera and Zahn are mercenaries accompanying them. Rakash goes by the new nickname Ali. They head out. Vasirr covers Celeste in apple juice to cover her scent. Viera suggests to "Ali '' that their team should be Ali's Alliance. Rakash seems to enjoy the name. After traveling for the day, Vasirr and Viera find a camping spot where they chill. Celeste seems to be adapting to this new environment and appreciates the moonlight of all three moons being full. Vasirr checks up on her. She gives off a green glow that Viera and Vasirr notice but they cannot understand what it means though. Rakash talks about how the Vyzum Wastes were ruined by a Tarrasque once and now it sleeps beneath them. Viera asks Caeles if he is disappointed this legend does not involve Sol, and he says yes. Then he goes on. He says he wants to be Sol's equal and that she is not "his goddess". The party is weirded out by this talk. Lucine looks at the moons and tries to communicate with Lunaa. She talks about the three moons to the party. Lunaa - the white large moon, Hirana - the brown desert moon, Strari - the small blue moon, rarely visible. Viera watches the skies with Lucine making ambiguous flattering comments before walking away, confusing her. Vasirr keeps watch on the desert at night and notes the disparity of the Wastes compared to the last desert. Rena hums a song about the Tarrasque and Vasirr asks about the song and its contents. She talks of the legend. The Tarrasque that supposedly completely ruined Vyzum. The god Magmus came to fight it but could not kill it off. The other gods fed the beast and put it to a slumber far beneath the surface of Vyzum. Such goes the folklore. Lucine has a dream where she hears a voice in unknown languages. Then she hears Lunaa speaking to her. Lunaa asks if Lucine has forgotten her, she says "Never". Lunaa then asks if she will protect her as Caeles does Sol. Lucine agrees. Then she wakes and joins Viera in her night watch. She keeps a watchful eye but nothing happens. 

• 3E467/05/18 - Day breaks and Viera wakes everyone up asking Lucine about her dreams. Viera realizes she may be making a pact. The talk is interrupted as Rakash asks for Viera's sharp eyes and she notices an army squad walking up to them. They are stopped. Rakash wants Lucine, the best talker, to speak up. Viera grants Enhance Ability to Lucine. The squad has 3 of the Calamity Covenant and the rest are ordinary soldiers of the south. One of them approaches. Lucine as "Lydia" says they are just merchants and they must pass to New Hope from Kaitzur due to the war. The one talking is initially reluctant but comes to see reason. Viera hears clicking sounds and notices Driders. She recognizes them as religious Drow who partook in some test and upon failing were cursed to become this. The half-spider, half-Drow seems to insist they turn back. Lucine keeps making her point. The drider begins to prod. Another drider notices Celeste and asks about her. Lucine comes up with a story but it mentions Kav'orra locations. But she also mentions they came back post Artisan's fair, the Drider seems to agree but wishes to take the dragon. Lucine tries to make her case, Rena also steps in to help. It is tense, but they seem to let the party pass by. Everyone is grateful to Lucine for her smooth talkin and are glad a fight did not happen. They walk on ahead. Rakash asks Viera to send a message back to Seona. She says she shall do it at dawn. The party discussed this. They talk to Rena about the city and possible help. They also ask about Nanun's contact, Fast Fingers West. Rena says she dealt with him once. He is of a gang called Pluggers and is creepy and incel-y. His gang does tech. Night falls and Viera finds a nice camping spot. Celeste seems really on edge and cozies up next to Vasirr. As Vasirr keeps watch he feels goosebumps and senses something approaching. Everyone is awoken by him. Viera notices wings in the skies and takes a swig. Everyone prepares to fight this Blue Dragon, Qoraankul. Rena is reluctant but Viera tells her to just stay back and heal as much as she can. Vasirr tries to protect Celeste. His lightning breath proves devastating for most of the party. His presence causes a lot of fear in the party too. Celeste bravely tries fighting by using her radiant breath. Rakash also charges in to fight with no fear. Lucine casts Faerie Fire to cover the dragon in fey dust, thus making it an easier mark for the rest of the party. Caeles manages some shots of Eldritch Blast, Zahn lands some hefty shots with his arcane enchanted revolver. The dragon takes flight and blasts the party with electric breath again, causing immense damage and destruction. Lucine lands a more controlled Fireball now to weaken it further. Viera blasts it with her Guiding Bolt revolver. Vasirr, in his concern and rage over Celeste channels his focus and notices the weak spot of Qorankuul's neck. Finding Viera's bolt to be a threat, the dragon lands before her and claws and bites her but she tanks it all. Vasirr climbs up the dragon's body to the neck and slices the neck with his twin daggers, blessed by Aklim. The dragon struggles and releases one last breath before finally falling dead. The party begins to recover. Vasirr checks up on Celeste. Viera heals her before going on to Lucine and having a short but tender moment. Viera checks up on Rena as well who was terrified, but is in awe of the party and plans to write a song about this. Vasirr tells the party that his master had slain a dragon himself and this was his own right of proving and calling. Vasirr and Viera check on the corpse of the dragon and they decide to scavenge the bones for dragonsteel. They scavenge the horn for a possible lightning based implement and finally they get the heart for a divine sacrifice. Rakash walks up to Viera and hugs her, thanking for being vigilant, keeping watch and saving lives. V appreciates it. Viera then decomposes the dragon corpse into bones and flowers with vines growing atop it.    

TotSD Chapter 3 - Nightmare Wastes     

• 3E467/05/19 - Viera asks what message Rakash wanted to be sent over to Major General Seona. He says to inform her of the enemy platoon not far from Train Town. Viera does so and receives an affirmation. Vasirr offers the heart of the dragon to Lucine as an offering for Lunaa, saying his own religion was thrust upon him. Caeles has a disagreement with Lucine about who should have the heart. Lucine's pact with Lunaa is hinted at. Rena notices the tension and lack of trust in the group and says the party should learn from Deadscourge. Viera clarifies the dragon heart would make a bad offering to a draconic goddess. The party sets off to Newhope. Zahn notices smoke rising from a settlement in the distance. It is known to be Newhope which Rena talks about. Viera keeps watch and notices two riders, one stays back while the other in heavy black armor rides to the party. The black rider takes off his horse and comes closer to the party. He does not say a word but wants to fight. Viera notices that the person is clearly a construct. From behind his ally also begins firing corrupting bullets. The rider behind is in Vyzum clothing but distinctly undead in appearance and aims his musket to the party. The construct seems to be completely immune to magical damage. As Rakash and Vasirr try to hit him with weapons. He seems to be immune to their steel as well as Vasirr's psychic power. Viera notices Lunarian text on him. He seems to bear the name Dieterich Drei and V jokingly asks Zahn if some long lost family has come looking. Zahn recognizes that this armor is a heavier version of what he wears, and it gives immunity to all damage. Viera checks the supporting gunner and recognizes him as a legendary bounty hunter named Moghroth. Zahn notices that there is a stone arch above the party and begins firing at it to possibly bring it down. Viera uses Stoneshape to totally dissolve one side of the stone arch. Dieterich keeps beating up the party. His punches and strength are immensely powerful and very difficult. The party cannot hurt him at all it seems. Finally, Zahn and Vasirr work together to take down the other pillar of the arch and it crushes the enemy. He is not dead however and his partner, Moghroth fires at V twice before a sandstorm swallows him seemingly. The party discusses this new enemy and how he may be related to Zahn's past. They begin to run away at a steady pace towards Newhope. They consider if this was assassination or something. Lucine summons horses using magic where the party rushes ahead towards Newhope and makes great progress. Viera notices a hut that seems abandoned. She advises the party to rest there, which they do. She stays guard. As they sleep through the night, Viera notices Moghroth and Drei rushing along the road past them to the city. Vasirr comes in for the second watch and as he wakes up Caeles asks him if he would give him the dragon heart. Vasirr thinks on it. As he switches out with Viera he also asks her about it who says Lunna may deserve it. Vasirr prays to his deity and asks them to guide his decision. It seems that the signs point towards Caeles. In the night, Zahn has dreams. The details are unclear but he recalls himself bloody, in pain and without limbs. He is in a laboratory, hearing muffled voices as people work around him. He hears the Terrosi accents of scientists. The terrosi accent says Zahn has a will to live and he can work with it. A lunar female voice says "As you wish, my Bolt."  

• 3E467/05/20 - In the early morning, Vasirr gives the heart to Caeles who sacrifices it to Sol. He asks for her heart in return. Her spark almost seems to return and she is joyful towards Caeles but then he says he deserves a lot more. This seems to anger Sol who says that she is doubtful of his devotion. She demands that he end his own life. Caeles takes out his blade and willingly pushes it to his neck and completely separates his head and ends it. Out of this realm, in reality, Caeles just seems to totally drop dead. Vasirr notices this and yells out for Viera. Viera rushes up to Caeles and revives him. The process is painful and it burns Viera but he does come to life. He sprouts red wings and it seems he has resurrected as a protector Aasimar. This kind of Aasimar is blasphemous in nature. Viera reprimands Caeles for this, Vasirr as well. They argue. Viera just asks Caeles to not make her regret reviving him. He agrees to it and says he will live for her sake then. Lucine notices all this but does not get involved. Zahn watches on from afar. He comments that his life has been too eventful. Viera agrees and wishes they could just be simple bounty hunters. She then looks at Caeles and comments that she has saved many lives to atone for her past. Zahn reassures her. They finally reach Newhope, a sprawling city of mechanical advancement. It appears dirty but industrious. They walk past a zone of junk tech where people live. She makes classist comments that Vasirr objects to harshly. Viera apologizes but puts her faith in Rena. In the Scrap Bazaar they notice stores of many varieties of technology, captured animals and many other things. A man offers to buy Zahn's arm off him but he declines. He says he can acquire tech if the party so desires. Zahn seems to be looking for some kind of tech and offers Lachon's gun to the salesman but Rena stops it. Zahn asks Lucine to step in. She attempts to pose as an expert and Charm Person's him to reduce the pricing. The animal salesman protests but Lucine scares him into submission. The exchange is made and Rena leads away. Viera shares some of the price with Zahn and notices a magic tech store called Juncana Emporium on the way. They head into Smoketown where Rena makes for their accommodations at a location called the Sunset Motel. Caeles bunks with Rakaash. Their accommodations disappoint Rakaash. They are advised not to go outside. Vasirr ignores this and heads out for a walk in the city. He gets lost but finds his way to a temple to pray. Vasirr finds the temple and also notices a blacksmithy attached to it. He goes inside and his emotions take hold. He breaks down addressing Aklim saying he trusted him and he is unsure of his path. A lizardfolk sees this. He checks up on Vasirr. He seems to be a Blacksmith and a priest in service to Vertum. Vasirr talks to him. He offers up the dragonsteel. Vasirr asks for dagger infusions. He sticks around to watch his smithing. Viera takes Zahn's advice to produce a magic bolstering artefact from the Dragon Horn. He says it is possible. Viera takes Lucine to go find a priest who can help make this. As they leave, Zahn decides to work on his tech. Suddenly the door to his room bursts open and Dieterich rushes in to punch him but Zahn's shield repulses him down to the lower floor. Zahn rushes to Caeles and Rakaash who decide to run out the window. Caeles activates his wings, Zahn tries to destroy the window. Caeles flies out to get shot at. Moghroth is outside watching the street who begins firing. Zahn also rolls out, gets healed by Caeles and falls. At this point, Vasirr, Viera and Lucine return from their outings and see this chaos go down and join in. Vasirr climbs up a building to gun at Moghrott, lacking his daggers. Viera summons Vol Hasta and rushes. Caeles and Lucine use their eldritch blasts at Moghroth. Dieterich also goes out the window and knocks Zahn. Zahn uses Vortex Warp to teleport him to an alley far away. The pair wait in the alley where Viera sends a Shadowspawn to hold the line. Vasirr also summons a beast. Moghrott takes a wispy, shadowy form to prevent his demise and Vasirr's beast is unable to hurt him. Zahn hides. Viera flies up above the alley and forms a golden revolver to blast Moghroth dead, saying it's nothing personal. Viera then goes above Dieterich and uses Stone Shape to block his way with rubble while also crushing him. It is not particularly effective but it blocks him off and lets the party escape. Vasirr also grabs Celeste quickly. On the way, Lucine goes through some plans that could possibly defeat our enemies as the party is anxious. Viera, having studied Moghroth's magic, says he will respawn in 24 hours, so they must prepare accordingly. Having nowhere else immediate to go they go to the temple smithy of the lizardfolk priest for introductions. Viera shows her Dragon Horn to the priest asking if he can alter her focus. He says he can do that in some time. The lizardfolk introduces himself as Father Druqitrozk, but goes by 'Father' for simplicity and offers them help. Lucine asks if he would have some spell scrolls for some plans she has to take down Dieterich for good. Father does not have any, however. Vasirr asks if he can offer shelter to the party temporarily as they recover. Viera uses a Sending spell to inform Rena of recent events and to warn her about not returning to the motel. The temple of Vertum is hallowed ground that offers a lot of peace to Viera. She goes up to Lucine to talk. Lucine is disheartened by this loss but Viera chastises her saying she is giving up too early by one loss. Viera says that her atonement has to continue, but Lucine should look into retiring if she has grown weary. Lucine seems to consider these words as the rest of the party decide to rest up before the upcoming conflicts.       

• 3E467/05/21 - The party awakens at the church in the city. Viera is thinking hard on Moghroth's undead status and mechanics. “Ali” addresses the party saying he will meet with his contact and tells them to take care and meet Rena's gang. Father D approaches Viera and Vasirr and gives her a Blue Draconic Seal and gives him Dragonsteel Cutters. The Seal allows her to harness and use lightning magic. Vasirr's twin daggers are infused with lightning too. Father D warns the pair that due to their shared origin in their weapons, they may see side effects of this. Viera calls Rena using Sending and she tells them to wait and she arrives later to pick them up in a Crawler. They arrive at the Industrial Zone where they're led into the Deadscourge Warehouse. Lachon greets them. He also brings in Viranii as they discuss Dieterich and Moghroth. Viera quickly checks up on Viranii post-revival. Once that is over, Viranii talks about the Vortex Program to produce super soldiers from the Skion Labs. Zahn talks about Doctor Stali who made him how he is from his memories of Skion. Viranii suggests Zahn's memory was deliberately wiped and he may have a tracker in his machinery as well. Zahn offers to have it removed by Viranii. Viera asks about Moghroth's "immortality". A new person is called- A flesh-construct hybrid being called COG072 or "Cogo" introduces himself to the party. He is a Modron. He offers to lead the party to the Gearyard. There seem to be rogue constructs there but the party says it will be no trouble. They agree to go along. Aside from Viera and Zahn, the party is fascinated by Cogo and asks him about his origins and operations. Viranii notices the shield deployer of Zahn is enchanted to cast Scrying on him. She takes it out of him. A plan is made to lure Dieterich to the Gearyard where they will fight with the pair and attempt to finish them. Lachon does suggest the party to run if things do not go well. Viera shakes hands with Rena, thanking her. On the way to the Gearyard, Cogo offers one of his inventions, a grappling hook, to Zahn. No haggling is allowed, Zahn buys it. The Gearyard is full of automatons called Guardians that can go berserk. The party decides to eliminate them. The area they decide to spring the trap in has some Guardians. Viranii uses her Pistol, Cogo uses his Shortbow. As they fight the Guardians, the scrapyard shifts revealing a gigantic Titan automaton that also attacks. They work together to destroy all the automatons and clear the area. They set up the trap and prepare. Viera sets up glyphs, Viranii sets up the scrying, and they prepare for the upcoming battle. Night falls as they wait. Dieterich appears at the spot and begins addressing the party in hiding. He asks Zahn if he's realized the truth, and wonders why the party fights. Suddenly Moghroth appears behind Viera at point-blank, telling them to stand down as Zahn is the only required target. The warnings are not heeded and the battle begins. Viranii tries to Heat Metal on Dieterich but he shakes it off. Vasirr tries to take Dieterich's attention. Moghroth is fighting Lucine, Viera and Caeles a little ways away. Lucine activates her new Form of Dread, a skeletal and astral form. Caeles uses his blade to keep up pressure. Vasirr tries to defend Viranii while using Healing Spirit. As Vasirr is smashed down by Dieterich, he notices the floor may collapse soon in the junk pile: a big fall. Moghroth shadow teleports away and tries to go towards Dieterich but Viera blasts him with a Guiding Bolt. His hat falls off and he screams saying it doesn't matter how many times they're defeated, they will not stop. Viranii and Cogo clear off as Vasirr tries to manage his own escape. Zahn shoots the ground and it crumbles. Vasirr and Dieterich begin falling right to the bottom of the city through the collapse, a long way down. While Dieterich falls completely, Vasirr barely hangs on an iron bar and stops halfway. Viera dives into the pit to save him. The party recovers from combat and discusses the battle and how they can potentially stop the pair for good. Viranii suggests that researching in the Department of Dungeons can help about Moghroth. Viera decides to go. She goes on to say Dieterich's armor may be damaged beyond repair eventually if they can keep doing this. The party decides they may use a molten junkpit or forge to push Dieterich into it. Viranii looks into this. They return to the church where they fill Father D in on events and thank him for his aid. Late at night, Rakash returns and says they have to go to Erumaltu next but he seems to be very frustrated. He fears this is no covert mission but a false plan to keep him away. He talks to the party about his doubts. He says that should this be a false plan, he will go save his daughter from Jamre and the party agrees to join. But for now they will be seeing this mission through and end Dieterich and Moghroth before they set off. As Rakash sits down to wind down, Viera joins him and the two have a heartfelt talk about trust and belonging. Rakash says he does not fit in with his family and status and Viera left her own family after making mistakes. So he suggests that she not overthink and appreciate the group. He also suggests that she and Lucine "bang". Viera thanks him for the talk and tells him he will always have a place in Chimera. He says he will consider it. As the party goes to sleep in the pews of the church, Viera crawls in with Lucine and apologizes. They embrace. In the dead of the night, Zahn continues working on his gun modifications and produces a long barrel revolver. Milis hears about Rakash's issues and leaves Jamre on an airship towards Erumaltu.

• 3E467/05/22 - Vasirr dreams of leaping through trees in the middle of a misty forest. It feels disorienting and hazy. There is an inky blackness around. This is seemingly the Shadowfell. He sees things through Aklim's point of view who unhooks a cosmic bow. She approaches the corpse of an Acribus. The corpse looks exactly like Viera, and she is eaten into. There is a shadowy stag-like being ahead. The stag represents Gammus, leader of the Dark Hunt. He speaks something in Sylvan. Aklim aims at him. She replies in Sylvan. Gamus accepts this and prepares to be shot saying the Hunt is inevitable, but he is shot in the middle of his monologue. Vasirr approaches Zahn telling him about the dream. Zahn initially misunderstands him as dreaming of V. But Zahn reassures him and tells him not to overthink. Vasirr considers approaching Viera to talk. Father D has awoken and he also asks Vasirr about this religious vision. He says he too has had visions. He says it is not a sign of devotion however, it is a message signifying major events - whether good or bad. Viera and Vasirr discuss the dream as he makes special mention of her state in that dream. Once this is done, Rakash tells the party to split up and prepare for the next confrontation with the duo. He offers to stay and watch over an exhausted Zahn who will be sleeping during the day at the church. Lucine and Caeles decide to go to the Pluggers' base where they will talk with them to use their forge. Viera and Vasirr decide to go to the library to study up on Moghroth's condition and Vasirr's dream. They find the Department of Dungeons where they introduce themselves to the receptionist. They also hear that refugees from Kaitzur are headed to the city. An ibis-headed female receptionist greets them. Viera introduces herself as Ethera and Vasirr as Samwise. She grants them access to the library where they look around for more information on Moghroth. They overhear people discussing that Kaitzur is under siege by Kasaaqi forces and refugees have come. With a lot of searching they find out that there were Lunar experiments about undeath that are related to this. This inexplicable state between life and death that Moghroth has is called VOID. Similar occurrences exist. They find The Aethian Tome of Vismancy. Vismancy are spells of life, death, healing, necromancy. Later this became the term for all sorts of Soul spells that people in service of Aethys were using. They find out about a temple in Forevermore where they can find out more about this phenomena. Lucine and Caeles go to the Industrial Zone where Rena has called The Pluggers for talks. Fast Fingers West talks to the party asking just why the party wants to use their forge for this plan. Lachon helps ease talks with him and he seems to agree to allow the use in return for compensation. Lucine negotiates with him despite his misogynistic traits and they settle on 500 upfront, 500 later- and a 100 per casualty. Lachon and Lucine agree that all debts owed are done. She tries to find a potion store along with Caeles. The two get lost and appear before Juncana Emporium. A goblin salesperson seems to be handling a crowd. He talks to Lucine and they haggle a bit and purchase potions along with a potion of invisibility as well. Back at the church, Rakash and Zahn wait. Rakash wonders why Zahn is being looked for so much. Suddenly lights go out and smoke fills the church. Moghroth appears half-phased in on a pew to talk. He addresses Zahn. He says he was paid 40,000 gold from Skion Lunars to bring back Zahn alive. He also seems to know who Rakash is. Zahn wonders about his methods. Moghroth seems to dislike Dieterich. He says he had a bit of a falling out and will not be helping Dieterich. He will be relying on the party now. The hunt is not called off but he will merely go at it alone at a later date. He will not intervene tonight. The party returns and they fill each other in on the details. They decide to make the most of this opportunity. They reunite with Viranii and finally arrive at the Pluggers' hideout. West is rude, implying Viera is ugly- but he provides help to them. They plan to lure Dieterich into the forge and use the Repulsion shield to push him into the molten metal. Viera talks with Zahn about their past struggles and now. She magically grants him Freedom of Movement. The party remains in preparation as Viranii and West and his men try to distract Dieterich. They hear screams. Dieterich is unfazed and rushes through the wall near Rakash and enters the forge room, ready for battle. They prepare to weaken his strength with Ray of Enfeeblement. Lucine will try to Bestow Curse on Dieterich. She grabs his face and uses her eyes to transfer the Curse into him, invoking the name of Lunaa. Dieterich relentlessly rushes forward, uncaring about the other people, only going for Zahn. He punches Caeles and Rakash off to the side. Zahn tries to position himself so he can repulse Dieterich. After a lot of difficult maneuvering they are able to bring Dieterich to the edge where Zahn repulses him, and gets punched back himself. He falls into the lava and begins to melt away. It seems the party has won but suddenly Vasirr notices it. The adamantine skeletal remnants rise up from the lava and jump up to the ledge for revenge, now destructible. He seems to have a still beating heart. He is much faster and has a slew of new abilities to use. The party begins using their weapons now. Zahn enchants his gun. Viera summons Vol Hasta. He hits Lucine with a hefty blow but Viera uses her Grave powers to protect Lucine's soul. He also punches Caeles into the lava, but Rakash jumps in to save Caeles from melting away. Zahn removes his shield and turns his gun into a long barrel and begins firing at Dieterich now. Dieterich does electric bursts. He rushes Lucine and Zahn, downing both and then goes to Rakash to take him down as well. Viera uses up all her magic to heal the entire party and continues her Vol Hasta assaults. Caeles hexes Dieterich and Eldritch Blasts him. Lucine follows suit doing the same, hurting him badly. As Dieterich goes for another assault, Viera blasts him with a Bolt before descending on him with her bident. His heart is pierced through and he is finally defeated. She rushes swiftly to heal Vasirr and Rakash. She exerted herself so much her soul corruption has gotten worse, her shadow is more powerful. Vasirr tells Viera that he wanted her to be careful but she says there wasn't much choice. He agrees. The party discusses how they must cure Viera as well as find out the roots of Zahn's pursuers. Caeles is very grateful to V and Rakash, whom he promptly thanks vehemently for saving his life. Zahn also feels guilty that the party struggled so much for pursuers that came for only him. He apologizes to the party saying they did not have to stick by him through all of this, but they did. But Viera says their partnership is for life and the gang seems to second that notion and reassures him. West and Viranii enter the room to see the aftermath of the fight. West is angered because of 3 deaths. Viera pays him the full amount. Viranii suggests the party to leave overnight due to the chaos caused.The party agrees. Zahn restores Viranii's hand to operation as a gesture of thanks and they shake hands. The party returns to the church to collect their stuff. Father D seems to know of the party's true motives. The group thanks the Father and Vasirr asks about the town of Forevermore where they may go next. Rakash tells them he has tickets for a late night train out of the city, but they are not fancy seats. Father D warns the party that those entering towns will be checked and they should take care. He says that instead of stopping directly at the town they will be stopping nearby and going on foot. The party sets out now, Celeste in tow. They are in a passenger train among other refugees as it sets off. Their new destination now being Erumaltu, the party settles inside as the town of Newhope is left behind.

• 3E467/05/23 - There is a dream of the past. Viera sees herself before her mother, Ethera's office as she overhears an argument. Ethera argues with Zmeya, whom Viera fears immensely. They discuss "Brighthunt" and some experiments. They mention someone who may have died and that Brighthunt is not supposed to do things of this sort. Zmeya walks away as mother and daughter talk to each other and Ethera reassures and comforts her. Viera catches a glimpse of documents mentioning a sun elf named Roston Räuchermann who turned to smoke. Looking back now, it occurs to her that Brighthunt is an immoral squad of Blackreyne hunters beyond law. Their suspicious members do questionable and dark things and it seems that Ethera had signed off on them. The party awakens in the train with refugees from Kaitzur. They are having difficulty adjusting to the heat, but they are making do. Even Celeste seems to be more or less managing. Caeles and Zahn may have trouble due to heavy armor. Viera thinks of the dream that she had and what it might imply now that she looks back on the events. Within the Blackreynes there existed a sect called Brighthunt who were allowed to operate as they pleased. They are a morally questionable group who operate with barely any rules and their members are suspicious. Viera asks if the party knows of anything else about the Dark Hunt considering the naming of the group. They do not. Zahn does know the Brighthunt is associated with Blackreynes every now and then, that's all. Lucine has been reading the Sol Bible and it claims Sol had a sibling who fell ill and was never mentioned. The myth of Sol wanting to turn the world into a desert was brought in much later and not initially there. Time passes but unexpectedly there is an inspection by Covenant soldiers who pass by their car. The soldiers are on alert by their presence and seem to be suspicious before they check their papers. The papers mention the party was supposed to deposit the dragon at Newhope but they did not do so. They are especially determined to take Celeste from the party. Lucine tries very hard to talk them down. It does not work and as she tries to use a charm spell, an altercation breaks out in the midst causing panic. Immediately, Vasirr and Viera are able to tap into their weapons' draconic magic in the midst of the fight. They produce a powerful lightning blast that completely eradicates the captain of the soldier squad. One of the soldiers tries to call for backup but Lucine casts a Hypnotic Pattern that charms many of the men. More men do step in from another side. Caeles and Vasirr begin their melee against the enemy forces. Caeles uses his frightening aura to scare away at least some of the enemies who are now fearful of him. Rakash breaks a window and tosses one of the officers out. Celeste also breaks another window and flies out. Rakash suggests everyone to start fleeing instead of continuing to fight. The party agrees to this. Rakash and Vasirr swiftly jump off. Viera follows behind, taunting enemies as she leaps out and flies. Zahn is hypnotized by Lucine's spell but he is released when Lucine goes down. Caeles heals up Lucine and she jumps out. Caeles is grappled by an enemy but Zahn Vortex Warps him out of there before leaping outside himself. After a bit of time, the party finally reunites in the desert. Lucine uses Phantom Steed to produce horses. With the horses of their choice, the party rides them in pairs and begins to head towards Erumaltu. After making a good bit of progress they find a small clearing to rest up. Viera makes love to Lucine. In the night she dreams of the same incident again. The name of the man turning to smoke rings in her head.

• 3E467/05/24 - In the morning they continue. Lucine seems especially happy now. She summons horses and they continue. In the evening, they reach another spot but it goes dark. It appears that Moghroth has finally tracked the party down. As it goes near pitch black, Caeles' drawn sword brings light. The party is surrounded by undead. Moghroth seems to have summoned them all. He says they were easy to track and commands the dead. Vasirr summons a Healing Spirit as Caeles uses Eldritch Blasts to snipe Moghroth. Moghroth himself fires. Lucine uses Fireball to cause many of the undead to burst into flames. Viera uses her Spirit Guardians. Moghroth shoots her and breaks her concentration. They rampaging undead and exchange of shots continues. As zombies swarm the party even more intensely, Viera raises her amulet and Turns Undead, turning the tides. The weaker zombies die immediately, many of the stronger ones flee. Moghroth summons a shadow blanket. Caeles, Rakash, Vasirr and Zahn thin down the rest of the stragglers, leaving just them and Moghroth. Amidst the fighting, much of the party is brought down. Moghroth exchanges harsh words with the party. Moghroth claims Viera is the worst Blackreyne hunter he has seen. This confirms he worked with them. She addresses him with the name she recalls from her dream: Roston Räuchermann. He is caught off guard. He says he hasn't dealt with the Blackreynes in a long time and wonders who V is, before disappearing. The party can barely collect itself after the tough battle, but they realize they do not have the luxury of time. Caeles says that the constant fighting and struggle is tiring him and he is frustrated that he wasn't left to die. Viera tells him that he is not alone in the suffering. Pushing herself again in this fight, her corruption worsens. Vasirr attempts to get some food for the party but the desert proves difficult. Lucine summons horses. They ride off through the night in pairs as usual, hoping they can reach Nevermore before another incursion.

• 3E467/05/25 - The party rides through the night through the wastes. Suddenly, Zahn's sending stone rings and Milis says that she is in Erumaltu and may yet meet up with them. She is asked if she met with her family but apparently she says she will talk to the party upon meeting. Viera addresses Zahn asking his opinion about the Alphanim situation and Kenzo and their time limit. The party says that once they've done this they can immediately rush there, for now they should focus. Finally, the party seems to reach something new: a place where thousands of swords are impaled to the earth. Vasirr and Viera check out the place. It seems to be a memorial where some fighting had stopped long ago. They finally arrive at the city of Nevermore, a grim looking town that is thick with this restless air. Before them is Milis. The group embrace together and they are very relieved to see each other finally. As they traverse the town together and talk, they hear an ominous choir, the people appear distressed. A random townsperson screams out that he needs sleep. It seems that no one in town is able to sleep. As the party sits down and eats somewhere. The waiter tells them of priests who came here in town. It seems they arrived here to resolve this strange nightmare inducing epidemic that is in and around the city. They discuss a lot about what they could do but Viera and Rakash are especially frustrated and decide to go. A congregation of various religious people and species seem to sing in a synchronized choir of sorts. A dwarf addresses the party and notices the religious symbols and Blackreyne amulet, taking them in. He leads them to a water genasi cleric of Sigmus named Janore who tells them about the nightmare plague. The story may upset the women but the party reassures her. She goes on saying the town worships Jakuna. A single mother with a tiefling son came to town. She was rumored to be an adulterer or partaker of dark rituals. Janore says tieflings are considered a fiendish dark influence. Viera smiles knowingly hearing of the prejudice. The mother was so ashamed of her child that she mutilated and killed her own child and kinslaying is a great sin. This killing has caused a severe curse upon the town that causes this nightmare plague, becoming grave. They are singing prayers to prevent this. They also protect the mother now as her death will make it permanent. She asks if Milis or Rakash have children, Milis says yes but Rakash is silent. She says they need a steel will. She says she can send people to the nightmare of the mother, where they can end the curse for good. But anyone she has sent there has not returned. So she explains the party about the Dreamplanes. She says that in dreams, people metaphysically connect to the plane of Dreams called Dreamplanes. Vasirr seems to be doubtful about going through and taking on another quest and talks to the party. Lucine, Caeles and Viera seem to be onboard. Milis seems to be motivated to help this mother out. The party wonders if they can rest and she asks a priest to remove some exhaustion from Zahn and Caeles. The party is led deeper inside by Janore now to be teleported into the Dreamplane and finally end the nightmare. Before them is the mother, feeble and chained, dreaming the nightmare. The party prepares to go inside. Janore hands them a crystal that they can shatter to return back home and teleports them into the plane. The party appears in the dream realm where the sky and the area shifts constantly, it is grim and oppressive. They finally notice that Rakash was pushed aside and Celeste made it in instead to join them on this. They see a fiend whom Zahn recognizes as a Nightmare Shepard. He is surrounded by Shadows. He is some deadly being beyond the realm of dreams who has appeared in this nightmare for the curse. The Shepard claims in infernal that physical people have no right to be here. The Shepherd and his shadows put up a fight. The party is able to hold the line though Zahn is knocked out. Lucine transforms into her undead form and fires eye beams from afar. Caeles is momentarily possessed by Sol who unleashes the full power of his radiant magic through Eventide. This destroys the Shepherd and the dream seems to get more violent. Everything turns dark and crimson. Monstrous manifestations of the mother and the child appear before the party and they must fight yet again. Their screaming voices sound very similar to real humanoids which makes them seem particularly eerie. Now healed, Zahn takes shots at the new enemy and the Mother rushes towards him in retaliation. The mother is vaporized by Viera summoning her swarm of radiant ravens. The Baby is now enraged. Lucine with her beams, Vasirr with his daggers and Milis with her psychic blades keep attacking from afar. Viera and Caeles hold the line against the Baby's assaults until Viera apologetically shoots it dead with her gun. The party gathers now and the dream begins to violently crumble and fade. Viera smashes the crystal down. It does not shatter immediately so Celeste bites into it, shattering it for good. However, she activates it instead. So instead of teleporting the party to their home, it teleports the party to Celeste's home, the Feywild. Though it is a new and strange environment, the party is relieved to finally catch something of a break. Viera and Lucine take watch while the rest of the party sleeps. Vasirr tags her out and Milis cares for Celeste. In both their watches they see strange occurrences, like shifting mountains, living trees, strange flora, fauna. Vasirr actively senses his own goddess Aklim in this realm and feels a strong connection towards her. After being hounded and chased, and not having any sleep, the entire party finally rests up and sleeps.

• 3E467/05/26? - The party is resting in this place where there seems to be no night. Celeste seems to enjoy the location. Caeles seems to be particularly bothered by the "second chance" Viera gave him. They discuss this situation. He seems to be afraid that he may have to turn against the party if Sol demands. Viera reassures him. Vasirr relays his studies of the feywild and the bright daylight that is persistent, he seems to like the place too. A slimy slug creature seems to want a hug whom Milis picks up and it sticks to her. The party checks it out. Viera and Zahn recognize it as a HugSlug that gives a bit of vitality but once detached poisons the "host". The party locates a giant lake on the way. The reflection seems to show all beings as aged when investigated. Lucine casts Alter Self and gains aquatic body features which help her swim to the bottom of this lake. After a good bit of struggle she takes some manner of crystal from it and insists on attuning to it magically. Viera paralyzes her with Hold Person and magically identifies the crystal - a Shadowfell Crystal focus. They keep following the path and run into goblins. The party tries to hide from them but Vasirr is unable. Lucine casts Comprehend Languages to learn they are speaking of fucking and killing apparently. Vasirr is addressed by them and asked if he wants to join them in their upcoming deity-killing spree. Vasirr feigns interest but when they ask if he has steel, he says no, and they call him useless and move on. As the party keeps moving, following Celeste, Viera notices the sweet scent of a venus flytrap plant. Viera flies up and grabs Celeste to save her but the plant grabs Viera who deftly lifts herself out of it. The flytrap seems to be able to speak and complains. Celeste leads them to a dark canopy called the Shadow-Wild that Vasirr recognizes from his Aklim dream. As they go further in they see a shadow-y version of a Moonstone dragon that may be Celeste's parent. Near it is a Dark Huntsman standing nearby attempting to mount it. Vasirr recognizes the Huntsman's motions: he is casting Soul Magic. The dragon seems to loyally fight for the Hunter. Lucine attempts to dispel the enchantment on the dragon but fails. He proceeds to do a Wave of Weariness that seems to cause a psychic blast of energy on everyone. The dragon comes up and does a beam breath that does a lot of immense damage to everyone in the party. Milis is downed but the hug slug seems to somehow keep her up as she tries to attack the hunter with needles. Finally with a decisive blow from Zahn's gun, the Huntsman is immediately taken down, undoing the control. The older dragon goes towards Celeste in a daze and takes her into her wings and the pair soon disappear. While this happens, the party sees many of the Dark Huntsman approach all on their own mounts. Due to overwhelming odds, the party decides to run away. As they approach the edge of the shadow forest... A leonin sabretooth tiger appears before them with a gigantic winged wolf as his mount. He has the Blackreyne sigil on his clothing so in response Viera shows her own medallion as a peace sign. He indicates the party to ride on the back of the wolf and taking them in tow, he flies away from the Hunt. Viera recognizes him as Daraza, a hunter who was posted over at the Feywild. He asks about the status of the Blackreynes and whether Leonhardt is still in command. He tells the party to grab the very clouds. They seem to enter a new domain lit in twilight. This town is called Thither, controlled by Yarnspinner- this gigantic story-telling spider who politely addresses the party. He asks them to tell him a story. The party seems a bit wary of this offer but he offers to help them out. Vasirr asks about his collection of stories and wonders about the conversation of Aklim and Gammus. While he dives into his ditch of webs... Daraza tells him they will have to leave. He takes the party away, explaining his stories may take days. The party understands. Daraza talks about an escape route and asks the party if they are all capable of flight. Most of them are incapable, so Daraza says that his regular portal to the material realm will not be working. He does suggest another portal in the shadow forest. He does not know how safe it is but the party seems to agree that it is the only possible way to get out. While the party moves away, Viera has an aside with Daraza as they discuss the situation of the Blackreynes. He mentions he had made a report of a possible return of the Dark Hunt but this seemingly fell on deaf ears. The party arrives at this unnamed Inn and the innkeeper seems to be a peculiar sort who asks for names. He then asks for a strange payment, requesting the spit of the party. Viera gets a read on him and on not sensing malice, suggests compliance. With that said and done, they retire to 2 rooms allotted to them. Viera asks Milis about her daughter. Milis says that they could not find her anywhere and even her husband awaits news from her now.

• 3E467/05/27? - After a bit of rest, Milis asks the innkeeper about her Hugslug and the innkeeper suggests burning it off. After a lot of moral deliberation, Milis finally chooses to cut it loose and uses her fire breath to set it loose. At daybreak, Lucine attempts to sneak out of Viera's embrace which she senses and confronts Lucine about. Viera is fond of Lucine's innocence and naivette but her consistent heedlessness seems to frustrate her. She says she does not like the way Viera pushes herself and decreases her lifespan by using soulmancy. The party all fully awaken and head outside the inn to be greeted by Celeste's family. The large moonstone dragon introduces herself as Briinov. She thanks them for saving herself and her sister. Briinov offers to give them a gift. Milis and Vasirr embrace, cuddle and pet Celeste for a good while for possibly the last time. V also pets her. Caeles addresses her and softly says that she shouldn't return to the material realm lest there be trouble. Briinov asks if her sister has a name. Upon hearing the name, she gives in to sentiment and agrees to it. The farewell done, Briinov offers to grant the entire party several boons as a way of showing her gratitude. With that, Briinov vanishes along with Celeste. This loose end now wrapped up, the party must now get out. Caeles dreams of the desert again where he talks to Sol regularly. The eclipse seems to be waning it seems. Sol stands before him saying a long time has passed. She tells him today is the day of reckoning. The party sees the goblins appear in the party with their steel and weapons. They talk of killing the fey queen. Daraza suggests the party to gather up and they will be walking together to their destination, not flying. At the inn, Viera apologizes to Lucine. She casts Death Ward on Lucine, managing to incite her anger. Viera proposes to Lucine to join her to settle down at a beach side house, if circumstances permit them to. They exchange a profession of love and kiss before rejoining the rest of the party, so as not to waste more time. Daraza says he saw Aklim in this realm, to Vasirr's surprise. The party continues walking through a cave. Viera hears the sounds of Displacer beasts and tells Daraza. He says the Dark Hunt draws near and prepares. A Dark Hunt Bleed Killer, a humanoid being with a goat skull head wielding blades appears to lead the pack. Zahn draws his rifle and with two well placed shots he blows off the Hunter's horns and he goes down. Lucine is worried about the hunt. Viera says she acts like she's going to disappear. They reach the Shadow Wild in a forest that is exactly like it was in Vasirr's dream. He follows Aklim's path. The party follows with Daraza and Caeles at the vanguard. Viera takes Lucine's hand asking her to stay close. After a bit they see Aklim herself, on the ground, wounded. Vasirr rushes in as Milis worriedly follows. Aklim says she just fought Gammus and is offered a potion by Vasirr. Her wounds seem to heal at a fast rate. Caeles blinks and appears in the dream desert, as Sol talks of how it is finally time, elated. Sol asks if Caeles will help her and she demands that he kill her now in the subconscious realm. Caeles complies, but does not look back at her corpse. In reality, Caeles seems to have stabbed Lucine's heart. Time seems to freeze, and Lucine can feel herself going. In her last breath she manages to say Viera's name. Right after, her eyes glow gold and a fiery explosion happens where she stands, and time seems to unpause. Everyone got blown away but Viera and Zahn manage to catch what is happening. Lucine seems to transform into Sol, though her voice and clothes are the same. She absorbs Aklim's divinity, changing her voice. Having gotten back her divinity, Sol in her newly attained body seems to revel in her newfound powers. Viera can sense that there are not two but three souls within the body: Lucine, Lunaa and Sol herself. They exchange some words but Sol sets off flying, Viera and Caeles try to follow but they are unable to. The forest is set ablaze in this chaos. As the party reels from the events, the two descend and join them. Viera snaps and the shadows cover her. She flies into a berserk rage, blaming Caeles for what just happened. The rest of the party try their best to calm her down and bargain with her but Viera is unwilling to listen. This whole while, Caeles does nothing to retaliate. He almost seems to accept if Viera is to put him down. Aklim watches this and says that there is a chance to bring her back and that all is not lost quite yet. The party retaliates and finally knocks her out. Milis offers to carry her as they decide to flee the forest. With that they regroup at the outskirts of Thither, discussing the events that just transpired before them. Viera agrees to spare Caeles, because Lucine wouldn't want it. She is extremely bitter towards the party. Aklim says that her master Deltus is having a picnic in Summermeet and they shall have to go there for aid. And following that she offers Viera a chance to learn Vismancy from Theratis herself from Azydos City. Viera is very openly vitriolic towards almost everyone, especially Aklim and Vasirr, but she seems to listen. She calls out Zahn for not standing by her, but Zahn clarifies that in truth, today everyone stood by her. Viera talks about her connection and love for Lucine, and she says she is tired of letting loved ones suffer. While the party decides to prepare for this new journey, she leaves to pray, asking for some sign from Theratis. Theratis suggests her to believe in Aklim for now. Having asked this, she swears that she will save Lucine.

• 3E467/05/28? - The party slowly recovers in the grassland. Aklim goes around talking to people, seemingly talking of passage. The goblin party approaches near them and they talk to Vasirr asking what has happened to them. They are fascinated by Zahn and his alloy metallic body and Zahn tries to explain to them the concept. They offer Zahn a chance to become their group's leader, who briefly considers it before declining. The party runs into this tiefling boy who appears to have a bunch of painting supplies. His name is Viridiano. He seems to be a fan of the party looking for subjects to paint. He saw the party fight and operate and enjoys it. He reveals himself as a changeling, turning into Milis before turning back. He merely wants to shadow them. The party discusses it but agrees he doesn't seem harmful. He says he can protect himself and he joins in. He shows Viera a painting of Chimera chilling together and Lucine is in it; he sees her grief and gives it to her. Aklim appears before the party. It seems as if she has sewn her own wounds and taken off accessories. It seems she is ready to fight as a mortal with the rest of the party and is dealing well with her loss. Aklim leads the party into a tree that splits and seems to be a portal. They step through and come outside. They appear before a grand city covered in moss. It seems to be much more fancy than the rest of the wild. The city is filled with noble summer Eladrin. They all bow before Aklim. Deltus seems to be busy, but while they wait the Eladrin will lead them to a place for rest and food. As the party is led through skyscrapers, the architecture reminds Milis of stories her husband told her. She is reminded of the Crimson capital, Sombus. It seems across realms, locales have parallel equivalents. The party is taken to a rooftop garden where they are offered food and drink. Viera says to Milis bitterly that Lucine and her no daughters of her in a drunken stupor and heads out. Aklim comes to escort the party towards Deltus, saying the court of gods is busy and heavens are closed. They also tell Aklim about the angel of knowledge they fought and she is in disbelief that the angels intervened. Appearing before Deltus and during the picnic, his aura seems to affect the party (sans Milis) and relax them. Deltus apologizes to the party for their losses. He waves a hand and turns Viridiano into his true form. Deltus waves his hand and takes in this purple energy. He claims it was Nosos' curse affecting them. He suggests that their best bet is to use an Eladrin pool to teleport into the first layer of hell to climb up to Azydos. He says that Aklim's lack of influence means she will have to earn her godhood back. He leads the party into a glowing pool with these celestial objects. He says if he opens a gate to hell, devils may slip through and the party will have to deal with that. Viridiano paints a sword and pulls it out of his canvas to use it. Powers of his patron, The Fairy Queen. The moment the portal opens, devils pop out of there. The great horned devil complains in infernal about fighting gods, Viera offers him to challenge her. Viridiano uses his Hex teleporting skills to drop on top of the horned devil to slice him in half. With that, Deltus commands the party to go quickly. They do so and on the other side of the portal is Acheren. A place of fire and brimstone with deadly fortresses and such in the distance. Here, the party continues questioning Viridiano's motives. He insists it is all for a great canvas and for procuring art for his patron. They see souls of Covenant and Kasaaqi soldiers being whipped by devils being led to the structures. Aklim says they must be careful as this is a chaotic realm and after leading them to a spot asks them to rest. Vasirr keeps watch in the first half and Viridiano chooses to paint instead of rest and continues boldly. Viera has a nightmare, seeing Ethera, Kenzo and Lucine who call her worthless, call her a failure. Vasirr sees her disturbed when waking her up for the second watch and they talk about being hopeful. Viera keeps watch and talks to Viridiano, wondering if painting may help her relax. She tries her hand at it. Viridiano guides her and helps her improve. Meanwhile, Milis has a dream of the psychic agonies of hell. She hears this psychic thought of some brass dragon's soul saying he is worthless. She tries to reach out. It seems to be a brass dragon that is stuck in this realm after accidentally making it here and it can't leave. Milis considers if she can save the dragon but it is corrupted by hell and probably cannot leave. She does realize she can connect to this creature and may be able to interact with it in reality out of dreams.

• 3E467/06/01? - When everyone wakes up, Milis discusses this with the party. She recalls a story of a disappeared brass dragon. Aklim says as they have no direction, any sense of direction may be useful such as Milis' connection. The party arrives towards this location that seems to be a gate. They try to find out what the dragon is warning them about but he only warns them of the one who binds him. They arrive before a stone plinth to which a shadow dragon is chained. Something is draining the power of the dragon steadily, and it looks at the party. It talks in celestial. He is a large humanoid with a thousand hands as wings. He warns the party to not approach any further. The dragon seems corrupted badly by this realm. The corrupted angel agrees to let the party use the gate, but it says it will not let the dragon go free. Milis is unable to let this go so she says she will stay back to save the dragon. With a relentless barrage, Milis happens to take down the fallen angel sneaking in hits with her needles. The angel drains the dragon of almost all its life to restore himself and continues to attack the party. Viera wills her Shadow Spirit through her binds to go for the angel's face. Vasirr capitalizes on this attack. He uses the draconic lightning link with her to phase near the spirit and use the lightning to finish him off. Milis approaches the dying dragon and he asks her about his reputation in the mortal realm. Milis tells him. Acknowledging that he remains a cautionary tale, he fades away granting one last blessing to Milis. She feels her psychic blades get stronger and she seems to have found a peace in putting him to rest. With that the party settles on to the plinth, Aklim looks upwards and requests Theratis to bring the party up. The sky seems to part as divine energies glow and in a white flash, the party seems to be engulfed. They appear in Azydos, a seemingly underground locale - a sprawling and chaotic city under a roof of stalagmites. The whole location seems devoid of color much to Viridiano's worry, but he is reassured by the party. Viera seems to sigh with relief, saying Theratis may be angry at her and she may be smited as a result. Aklim tries to correct her grammar but her Common is weak. Aklim leads the party through the city. The city has extremely chaotic architecture from modern day and past. Many souls live in the city who take notice of the party. There is a light drizzle all over due to the stalagmites. The party arrives before Theratis' palace. Khenra guard the gate but Aklim talks to them to allow them in. They enter a great hall where many souls are in line to be judged before a great desk where Theratis sits. She appears to be a gigantic draconic humanoid with ebony scales, wearing a large veil. She pauses the judging. She exchanges some words with Aklim initially. Viera tries to speak up but she says that she has a lot to say and will come to her once the party is seen. Then she asks the party to appear before her one by one as she gives them a judgment or some insight. She reassures Vasirr that he is faultless about his family leaving and tests his loyalty and conviction to Aklim. Vasirr also speaks up on Viera's behalf attempting to defend her, but she keeps telling him not to do so. She looks at Viridiano speaking about the sheer versatility of changelings before letting him pass as well. She tells Milis that her family is safe, comforting her about the pains of her past, telling her she is a good soul. Before she can even tell Zahn anything, he says he does not wish to hear of his past. She smiles and complies. On Caeles, she reassures him that he was manipulated into killing Lucine. He is not as bad as he believes. Finally, she comes to Viera and has a lot to say. She scolds Viera for having run away and her inaction. Despite all this, she still has belief in Viera, that her heart is in the right place and she is steadily improving. Viera is overwhelmed by the words but she manages an apology to Caeles, realizing her hate was misdirected. With that Theratis says that she can teach Viera Vismancy, or soul magic and help them bring back Lucine. But she requires a test for Viera to prove her strength, but she will need to put her life in her allies' hands. Theratis teleports the party elsewhere. The party members are isolated. Everyone seems to surrounded in a small arena covered in a thick impassable fog, save for Viridiano. In everyone's little arenas, they are faced with an adversary whose death they caused directly or indirectly. Vasirr sees Boraed and Babrich, one whom he led to his death and buried, the other he tortured and killed. Milis sees Nissi and Jikah who were slain by the party as a result of her getting captured by them initially. Zahn sees Dieterich, whom he was instrumental in killing and has relentlessly been pursued and hunted by. Caeles sees Lucine, his most recent kill. He seems to be deeply affected by seeing her but steels his will. Viera sees her mother, Ethera. It takes a toll on her as well but she realizes she must do this to move forward. After the battles, they appear before Theratis who seems to be pleased by their strength. She implies to Viridiano that he was not to be tested but she set him up to aid the others. Viridiano, Vasirr, Zahn must go to the creation god Quanus and convince him to create a replica body for Lucine. Viera, Caeles, Milis must go with her. She will teach Viera Vismancy for killing Moghroth and saving Lucine. She says that Caeles' mind is connected to Sol through the dreamplane and Viera can travel through it. Lucine's soul can likely be extracted through these means and stored in a newly made body by Quanus. Theratis leads the second half to the Tree of Souls where she procures a scroll of basic Vismancy for teaching. Before continuing, she tells Milis that it is imperative she remember to bring Viera to Alphanim for her cure. Milis says that other things took priority but Theratis enforces that even if Viera forgets, Milis must remember. Theratis turns to Caeles commanding him to be her blade and strike down Viera if she succumbs to the Acribus. Caeles is reluctant to blindly obey the commands of another goddess and expresses his dislike for the task. Viera turns to him and says that if not a god's command, let it be her own. She wants to be slain if she succumbs. Theratis begins her lessons. Meanwhile, the first half of the party arrives at The Hall of Life, a large structure with a single isle in the sea. Quanus appears to be an insect-faced humanoid in fancy clothing, working away at some strange "workbench". He is displeased by their aesthetics and with one wave of magic he alters or cleans some of their clothing. He suggests they go through the proper channels but Viridiano and Vasirr put up a good argument. They mention Sol and how she may affect his vital work and Lucine would bolster the forces that fight her. He seems to see the logic of it with Viridiano's persuasive words and seems to agree but he is also curious. He asks to look at Zahn's gun and inspects it. He says he is always impressed by the work of mortals. Having heard all of them out, he says that he will have the body ready once they come with her soul. The halves reunite in the city and find a place to rest for the night. Viera takes this chance to address them. She speaks of how Lucine never had a happy childhood and this is the only family that she has ever known. She reassures Caeles of how both her and him were manipulated but they can undo their mistakes finally. Now they finally have a way of saving their friend. She channels her words into a spell to empower everyone. Throughout the night, Viridiano continues to paint while the party rests. The next day, their mission awaits.

• 3E467/06/02? - It is night time, Viridiano works away at his paintings when a sleepless Viera joins him to practice her art. She makes a painting with his guidance of something she deems as beautiful. She stores it as a gift for Lucine. In the morning, Aklim speaks to Vasirr. She says that she will be climbing up to the high heavens soon. It will be against Theratis' wishes but she cannot afford to wait any longer. Vasirr nods and swears loyalty. As she cannot grant boons, she does give him a staff that can help him channel his druidic magic better. With that, the party heads to Theratis' hall where she has kept the queues empty to attend to the party. She asks if the body will be prepared, if Viera has learnt the vismancy spells properly. She proceeds. Asking Caeles to stand at the center, she puts her hands to his head and asks for Viera to stand to the side. Caeles asks Viera if she should go, considering it may be risky. He says that he does not want to lose her. Viera reassures him that he should not bear any guilt for anything that befalls her and that she chose this. With that, Theratis casts a spell that sends Viera into Caeles' dreamscape and time seems to stop for all. Within the dreamscape, Lucine seems to wander the very same desert where she once talked to Lunaa. She seems to lose any sense of self and is rather dazed and confused. She does see visions that are likely Sol's memories from her initial life, many scattered images appear to her. Sol sees Lunaa being born a Nokrborn, a blue Omniborn - in the Queendom of Stearra, deep below Eqos. She also sees this very sister being her downfall. She says she will save her sister and steals her soul through fire, but it seems only part of her soul goes. With these visions done, Lucine comes to, still adjusting to her own death and trying to make sense of it all. Suddenly, the skies part and light descends. Viera comes before her, wings outstretched, reaching her hand out. Lucine smiles, saying she knew that she would come for her. Viera notices her speaking in Infernal. Viera tearfully welcomes her back, calling her darling. She tells her it will all be over soon and takes her soul. Storing it in her vessel, she kneels down to pray to Theratis so she might take her out of the dream plane. Suddenly she is struck by a flaming fist, it is Sol who seems curious about what Viera is doing presently. Viera says that she has no quarrel and only wants to save an innocent girl who got caught up in her schemes. Sol does not seem to be bothered, believing she has already won and says Viera is free to do what she pleases. As Viera is let go, she merely says that one's deeds have a way of catching up to oneself, no matter the time. V is brought back and holds up the vessel holding Lucine's soul triumphantly as Theratis swiftly brings them to Quanus' hall. Quanus says there shall be no theatrics and he will be swift and he begins to create a new body for Lucine. Though it is an impressive sight as he utilizes the mechanisms of his hall, only Zahn notices the finer details. Lucine comes to, now readjusting to her rebirth. She looks around before her eyes seem to settle on Viera. With a cheer she tackles into a hug with Viera who openly weeps, apologizing and thinking she had lost her. Lucine is as cheerful as ever, saying there is no more reason to cry. They kiss and share a tender moment. The rest of the party joins in with Caeles also crying tears of joy as he looks upon her. Before they can continue, Quanus expresses his annoyance and says to clear his work station immediately. Viera takes Lucine's hand who in turn calls her a "savior in silver armor". Now in Theratis' hall, the goddess also seems happy at the turn of events and briefly claps upon their return. Viera asks Theratis why she never cut her off. Theratis says she sees all and she still deems her worthy. Viera hopes that Theratis may look at her with pride instead of disappointment and she will try her best. Lucine tells Caeles to not feel guilty. Caeles says he cannot look her in the eyes, and she jokes about it. At this chance, Viera brings out the painting she worked on with Viridiano: a beautiful portrait of Lucine. She seems to truly appreciate it, accepting the gift. Viera points out that it was possible thanks to Viridiano. Viridiano himself steps back and shows his magnum opus to the party as he paints himself out of there. Though he is gone, the large canvas shows the party's tearful reunion with Lucine at the Hall of Creation. The party is in awe of the masterpiece, wondering if he is satisfied. Theratis says that Viera's duty remains to bring Moghroth to justice now that all is said and done. In this brief moment, time seems to stop for all but Lucine, who appears in her Form of Dread in a dreamplane. In this plane, she is addressed by Lunaa, the supposed deity who asks if Lucine remembers as she asked. Lunaa obliges saying that she has a different sort of divinity where she is not immortal, but is reborn via avatars. Lucine is her current avatar. Her last Avatar was slain by Sol and part of her soul was taken into Sol's body. But Lucine held the other half of the soul that was able to become complete due to Sol choosing this body. It was due to this complete coincidence and the party's actions that Lunaa is now free, and so is her avatar. Lunaa says that due to her new freedom, Lucine can be granted further powers from the pact they have. She is given a magical circlet as well as the ability to fly in her Form of Dread which she graciously accepts. Lunaa suggests that there are many things to be done, to which Lucine agrees, saying she must kill a god. Lunaa continues by saying Sol should have died but she chose to cling to life and become a divine final avatar. Theratis teleports the party to his last known location: the town of Forevermore, however, many months have passed outside.

• 3E467/06/15 - Moghroth defeats and captures Rakash, taking him to the Lunars.

TotSD Chapter 4 - Flame & Family

• 3E468/02/08 - Post feywild timeskip, the party of Chimera comes to. It does not seem that the world has drastically changed, nor has the war progressed to this town yet. The party asks a passerby who gives them the idea that roughly nine or ten or so months have passed since they left. The man also says to them that a skeleton man, likely Moghroth is in town and if they are to do something. They are pointed to a tavern as they discuss the possible status of the war and what may have transpired. Briefly, Viera casts a Sending spell to Milis' husband who still has no trace of their daughter but works as a doctor in Jamre. Having that assurance, they head towards the tavern. Inside Moghroth seems to be seated, facing away. The party announces their presence and Moghroth says he is unsurprised and had a dream of their arrival. He mentions that he hunted down Rakash and implies he died, before truthfully revealing he is imprisoned. He is imprisoned in some Lunar Prison and the reason is unknown to Moghroth, whom Lucine scolds and mocks. The barkeeper requests that they take their fight outside. The party and Moghroth seem to agree on this. Viera says to him that though the Lunars asked him to find Zahn, an even higher authority asked her to kill him. They both agree that this should come to an end, here and now, to prove who the better hunter truly is. Outside, people close their windows and run into their homes as Moghroth stands in the streets with undead. The party faces him down as the sun shines directly overhead in the dead of the noon. He takes many deadly shots at the party before utilizing his signature smoke cloud and ethereal teleport. Lucine uses the Shadowfell Crystal she picked up in the Feywild to empower her blasts and curse Moghroth. Viera notices that the crystal is not in her pocket and realizes Lucine must have picked it up during their hug. Moghroth is able to create a lot of distance and summon more undead, but the party continues their charge. He even uses the Eldritch dark version of fireball which the party mostly tanks as they keep fighting. His backpedaling is stopped entirely by Lucine and Caeles' Eldritch Blasts and Viera's Shadowspawn's aura. He makes a desperate attempt by shooting relentlessly at the entire party who seem to be able to tank it. Finally, Zahn enchants his gun before placing some well placed shots on Moghroth, bringing him to his knees. He keeps his gun drawn but puts it down before stepping in front of him and nods to Viera at this moment. Moghroth slowly turns to smoke saying the party cannot possibly stop him. Viera tells him about Theratis. She says that the goddess herself wants him dead and that she taught her Vismancy to ensure this happens. She quotes religious scriptures of Theratis as last rites, summoning her revolver. Zahn and her rapid fire at him. As he dissipates completely, Viera captures his soul with her Vismancy and crushes it in her hand, freeing it. She can sense that his soul has finally reached Theratis' hall and hopes that she is headed down the right path. With their old foe finally defeated for good, the party must now head towards the Lunar prison to save Rakash. They see a comet in the sky as they celebrate. The townspeople seem relieved to have Moghroth gone and the party heads into the tavern for a meal. The barkeep is confused about what happened and said Moghroth supposedly came here led by a dream. The party discusses the situation with him before resting up and enjoying some meal and some drinks. Viera talks about her shadow tendrils and ichor - how it protects her but causes rot in others, and the potential. She lets the tendrils on to Caeles and Vasirr to form a protective network on their body, and it seems to work. Lucine casually decides to mention that she is in fact Lunaa's avatar and relays the memories she saw. The party discusses the two avatars of sun and moon but wonder if there is a third avatar of the earth somewhere. The party also debates whether to go rescue Rakash or focus on curing Viera by heading towards Alphanim. They decide to focus on Rakash. Viera casts Sending on him to find out that he is held at Fort Angelroost. As they talk, a gold dragonborn priestess named Ammir appears at the tavern to deal with Moghroth. Seeing him gone, she makes introductions with the party, leading them towards her Church of Aethys to talk. She hears the party is headed towards Angelroost and suggests the bartender take them along the river. The bartender owns a boat that he agrees to let the party hitch a ride on once the Comet Rise Festival is over. Inside the church, she mentions how members of the Black Church were looking for Lucine and Caeles. As the party heads back to the streets, it is nearly nightfall. Before them is a group of cultists led by an old sun elf. The sun elf addresses Lucine and Caeles as his children. His name is Surya Naur Glawar, the 'father' to the siblings. While Lucine was the neglected child, Caeles was driven to pursue perfection. Both abused in different ways. Caeles seems fearful and frozen up while Lucine is openly defiant and fires an eldritch blast at Glawar. Viera asks if this is someone who hurt them and they tell her. She too joins Lucine's offensive and others follow. Zahn proceeds to fire at him saying he has fought harder "punkass bitches" and won. Viera has acquired a new spiritual weapon influenced by Lucine and Theratis' talks, called "Crescent Wing". Glawar draws two sunblades calling Caeles unworthy of his own, saying his and Lucine's favors have run out. A very difficult fight breaks out as everyone trades blows but Glawar and his cultist mages prove far too strong. Caeles seems to have been trained by him and believed himself Sol's first, but it was Glawar all along. Milis realizes that they are out of their league and suggests escaping. Lucine refuses. Milis turns to Viera. Viera looks at Lucine and says as long as she desires to fight, V will keep fighting Glawar, even if she dies. Finally, realizing the threat that is the Avatar of Lunaa, Glawar asks a final time for Lucine to stand down. Lucine continues to defy him and declines. He says he mistook her for a disappointment but she is far more. With that he transforms into a gargantuan dragon: an Ancient Red Greatwyrm that towers over the town. He breaks free of the thorn dome and flies above shooting down with his fiery breath and engulfs the entire town. Everything is set ablaze and most townspeople likely die in this fire. Vasirr and Lucine are downed. Milis deftly dodges the flames, Zahn uses his Boon, Caeles is saved by Death Ward and Viera merely tanks it. Milis once again brings up the idea to cut their losses and run to which Viera agrees and they begin to run. Caeles notices that his sunblade was heavily damaged in the fight and is no longer in working condition. Caeles picks up Vasirr and starts walking. Viera takes Lucine in a bridal carry and follows behind, disassociated. At the river shore, the bartender is there on his boat, awaiting the party and he begins to sail along the river. Glawar, in his dragon form glows bright as the sun saying that all who oppose him will eventually burn.                             

• 3E468/02/09 - The party rests up on the boat and Caeles falls into a slumber. He appears in Sol's realm, but there is a clarity. He sees visions of himself being trained by Glawar in his childhood followed by visions of a draconic Glawar. Sol caresses his head lovingly. It confirms the kind of relationship he once wanted with her, she shares with him. Followed by this, Caeles is addressed by a voice that says that he does not deserve Heaven as Theratis claimed. He appears in a dark, dimly lit chamber with red lighting and a huge throne before him where an archdevil sits. This archdevil is none other than Krros, the greatest dark lord himself. He chastises Caeles' poor judgment. He says that though Caeles was wronged, he did a lot of wrong himself. Despite all this, he sees potential. He offers a pact to Caeles who is expected to kill Sol or destroy her soul to ensure she is brought to hell. She once made a binding contract with Krros that she failed to follow up on and he wishes to use Caeles now. Caeles says that he does not want to forsake his free will but does desire to be free of Sol and kill her finally. He draws up a contract in a fiery script that will give him powers, but he is condemned to hell after his death. He asks Caeles if he is willing and he agrees, signing the contract. Krros draws a sword from Caeles' forehead. It is a dark seemingly rusty greatsword with chainsaw-like serrated edges on one end and a red crystal hilt. As this sword is drawn out, Sol's brand on Caeles' forehead is wiped clean and Caeles is finally free of her. His Warlock pact goes from Sol to Krros, whom he thanks for the powers and agrees to follow through. Caeles awakens and informs the party of what just transpired, showing his new weapon to everyone. The party is concerned and unsure what to think but they do agree that this is better than his prior situation. Zahn is frustrated by how many pacts and  vows the party forms. Lucine reassures Caeles through this. V says that she too may be going to hell if things do not change, so Caeles will have some company at least. Vasirr meanwhile is deeply affected by the deaths in the town and seems  to have a mental breakdown. He is very afraid of this new enemy and unsure how they could possibly beat him. This frustrates Lucine. Lucine knows how Glawar is the ancient dragon that Sol rode to battle in her past eras, she knows his crimes. She says that they need to get stronger and they need time and crying now will not change the casualties. Lucine says that many may die but his downfall must happen. She seems scarily unbothered by the deaths. Milis comforts Vasirr. She says Lucine is not wrong but he does not need to hear any of it. V offers him a drink. V clarifies to them that she has nothing to go back to, like Lucine and Caeles and does not mind dying in a fight. Lucine steps away at this point while Vasirr collects himself. V asks Zahn if he is afraid but Zahn is confident. He says he too has nowhere to return to and he will join the trio in their reckless battle against this foe. Milis is frustrated by Viera's suicidal ideations and asks for her flask, taking a significant drink herself. Viera walks up next to Lucine asking if she is okay. Lucine says she will be but she has something to discuss. Lucine says that she hates how little Viera cares for her own life and wishes she would care just a bit more. Viera says that she has a lot of guilt about her past and despite Theratis' talk, she struggles with it a lot. Lucine says she led a sad and lonely life and never has she found a person worth saving more than Viera. With that she hugs Viera, casting a unique sort of Death Ward that seems to bind their very souls together. Viera is moved by this and cries, saying how she dreams of a life with her. Lucine asks her to fight for this life. Meanwhile, Zahn notices Caeles' broken blade and the two have a very suggestive exchange about it. Zahn realizes he can fix it and thus Caeles gives his broken "sword" into Zahn's "big baggage" to be repaired. Milis and Vasirr realize the bartender has lost a lot but still helps them travel so they pool gold to pay him. As they go along the river they finally reach the town of Starkford where the party decide to rest up for now. They head to a general goods store where Viera buys a pair of silver rings to be used in a spell she is thinking of. She wears one and heads to Lucine to show it to her. She mistakes it for a marriage proposal and wonders. The party also buys almost the entire stock of the store's healing potions before moving forward through the night.

• 3E468/02/10 - The next day, the bartender continues to lead the party along and into the green Edeni Expanse proper. Here he says he must head back. The party thanks him, giving him gold and reassuring words about the future. The party continues to travel to Angelroost across the plains, a much more pleasant place than the desert. The town of Angelroost is a dense but significant city atop a plateau, reachable via lift for the ordinary person. This place comes under Lunar Territory, thus there are many men of House Copper, some of House Vanadium. The guards talk to the party before letting them onto the lift, believing them to be travelers from Varkunast. The long ride up, Lucine seems visibly frustrated saying she could probably fly up faster than the lift. Finally they arrive in the town which seems to be a pleasant sight, big in size and decently guarded too. Asking around and looking around they see that there is a temple built into a cave that has many guards. Lucine is confident about leading her way in, Viera wants to accompany her, knowing Lunarian herself. Vasirr discloses his wildshape powers that allow him to transform into an animal and joins them as a small rat. Meanwhile, the other three decide to get a lay of the land with Zahn taking charge due to knowing Lunarian. Lucine uses Alter Self to appear as a bearded male Lunar guard, heading inside with Viera in custody apparently. She is stopped right at the entrance by guards who are heavily suspicious and ask for their ID number. Lucine is stumped by this and stalls while Vasirr sneaks inside using Pass Without Trace to avoid detection. On the other side of the city, Zahn and the rest arrive at a tavern where he is surprised to see Dr. Stali. This is the same doctor who made Zahn what he is after his accident. He himself has 3 mechanical limbs. He notices Zahn and is very extroverted and friendly, talking with him, leading him outside the tavern. He learns of how Zahn lost his memory but seems to have expected this somehow as well. He especially mentions how valuable Zahn is to House Iron and though there are few of them here, there is risk. He says Zahn's arms are worth a lot. Caeles briefly suggests to Milis about selling Zahn's limbs for Lucine's debt. Zahn is able to sense that Stali genuinely cares for him but is also not telling them the full story of things. Stali says that the temple they spotted is the Fort Angelroost and that there is work on building something. He asks Zahn and his allies to trust him. Zahn nods to Milis and Caeles and the party head towards the fortress. They are not stopped by anyone due to Stali's powerful status and they make their way inside with no trouble. Vasirr heads inside, still as a rat. He sees that the temple is big and the Lunars have set up a military base here. He looks around spots in the basement where the jail cells are. Promising a tiefling freedom, he asks about Rakash. The tiefling is heavily confused by the talking mouse but gives some directions to the back of the corridor. Vasirr does not open the door and moves on to a door at the end that is about to be closed by a guard. He barely makes it inside and sees a grizzled Rakash doing sit-ups. Rakash spots him and grabs him to eat him. Vasirr speaks up explaining the situation. Vasirr suggests he can attempt to break them free but Rakash tells him to reunite with the others and be safe. He agrees and says that they will surely rescue him soon before returning upstairs to hopefully join the party. Meanwhile, seeing Lucine so puzzled, Viera attempts a gambit by claiming to be a victim of this impersonator. She questions the disguised Lucine and accuses her. The guards shoot at her and she attempts to keep the ploy. Viera pretends to be a mere civilian and puts on a facade as Lucine takes the hint and teleports away. Some guards give chase but she continues to teleport away before blending into a crowd in an alleyway. She transforms back to her normal self and avoids detection, heading back towards the gates for Viera. Viera is now the next target of suspicion and is about to be arrested when she notices Captain Zurikov. She saw him at the ball in Kasaaq, a close friend of Can Vanadium. She invokes Can's name to get his attention. He asks the guard to let go of Viera so he can have a chat with her inside. Lucine sees this and attempts to join. The guards are wary of her and Viera makes up a false story of how they got separated. Zurikov is not convinced. He is not that bothered as he remembers both of them bravely fighting the angel at the ball and lets them inside. Viera and Lucine are taken by Captain Zurikov to some manner of planning room with maps and such like. Inside is Captain Zykova whom they also met at the ball prior. The pair begin to question the party's motives. Viera shows her Blackreyne medallion and speaks of the nightmare situation that was affecting Nevermore. She says that after dealing with it she was stuck in the Feywild alongside her allies and just made it out here. The two girls request an update on the war situation and find out that the Lunars are choosing to be neutral. Zurikov is curious and asks what V's name is to which Lucine gives up V's full name, much to Viera's chagrin. Zurikov seems surprised because he does not remember Can mentioning her, but he cannot deny her deeds. The captains of House Copper very reluctantly buy into the story and discuss what to do with each other. Meanwhile, Zahn and the rest are led by Stali into a lab within the fortress where they begin to talk. They see Nacht Null, an automaton made by Stali that has recently acquired sentience due to some power. Under the fort is an arcane reactor, a well of seemingly infinite arcane energy that gave Nacht this sentience. This same technology was used to create Dieterich's Aegis, which was what led to his invulnerability. He says to Zahn that this same energy is what was used for "Project Vortex" of The Skion Labs of Lunars. Zahn, Dieterich, Nacht and many more are part of this same program to produce supersoldiers called Vortexes. Zahn was a soldier enlisted from the Edeni expanse into the Lunar army, and Stali was rather fond of him. A battle against some insurgents went wrong and Zahn was critically wounded. Stali worked on him to save him. His superiors and House Iron forced him to turn Zahn into a Vortex, giving him his biomechanical implants. Zahn took to his role well, doing about 40-50 missions over the course of 4 years for the Lunar Collective. On one mission that he was part of with a changeling Vortex named Viktoria, they were tasked to find a weapon. This legendary axe called Zaenokr. In an attempt to get it, they were brutally beaten by its wielder, likely Fek. Zahn was downed and Victoria only barely survived, taking him back to the labs for repairs from Stali. Stali saw this as a good opportunity: he deactivated some of his modules and wiped his memory to save him. He teleported Zahn to Edeni, claiming Zahn went rogue and escaped. The Lunars did not let this go. Stali also says that Nacht is fully loyal to him but the other Vortexes will surely come for Zahn sooner or later. Caeles reassures Zahn that his life is now his own and he should make something of it, free of influence. Stali wishes to show Zahn and the party something and leads them out. Zahn spots a document with his name. He takes the document which Nacht notices but does not seem to comment on. The party begins to head out. Amidst this talk, Vasirr in his rat form manages to find the party and Milis picks him up and hides him. On the other side, Zurikov and Zykova decide to teleport Viera back to Fort Blackreyne which she declines. She says she must find her allies and as Lucine and her step out they run into Zahn and Stali and the rest. The party is finally reunited. They head deeper into the fort when Vasirr reveals his human form and joins in. As they talk Zahn fills in the party about the information he was conveyed and he reads through the document. The document talks about six Vortexes and the roles that they fulfill in the missions that they are sent on. In the deep underground, there seems to be a gigantic room with a reactor core of some manner in the center. The core is a well of pure unfiltered magical energy that Stali harnesses for a multitude of Lunar technology. The bayonets and rifles and other military equipment as well as the Vortexes were born of this power. Zahn and Viera can immediately recognize the eldritch and alien nature of the device before them. He exemplifies the strength of this power in Dieterich's Aegis and guesses he was slain by them using lava. V questions the safety of this but Stali tells her that very few higher ups and House Iron and Copper know. He explains further that this may be the energy source for some Spelljammer ship from beyond the stars. Or alternatively this could even be a generator or some weapon of mass destruction meant to be utilized. Stali clarifies that misuse can cause an explosion big enough to destroy thousands, and a heated debate begins. Caeles expresses his rage at how this uncontrollable power is being recklessly harnessed, questioning Stali. Vasirr reluctantly admits that it may be necessary to fight threats of a huge scale like Surya Naur Glawar. Stali continues to defend his stance, saying that the other nations themselves wield great magics and weapons. Lucine takes a bit of a naive stance saying that they should not give in to this trend and not fall down this slope. Stali says that they simply do not understand. He understands that they do not condone weaponizing this. He only requests Zahn to help him turn this into a battery and while he does so, he will unlock Zahn's modules. Zahn is fascinated by the technology as well as unlocking his past powers, which he felt denied out of. A guard comes in to say that the party is requested to leave the fort now. This guard is intercepted by Nacht who seemingly freezes time to walk up to the guard as a protective instinct. Viera is the only one who notices this and hints at it but Nacht does not respond. The party then walks out. The guard leads them to the exit, but they realize this is the perfect time to put their plans into action. Caeles asks Viera to step aside to go up to the guard and headbutt him into unconsciousness, but it fails. The guard begins to draw his weapon but Vasirr ties him up using magical vines. Lucine steps in with a smack. Viera considers using her magic but opts to just cut him with a dagger so as not to end up killing him. Milis finally knocks him out with her psychic needles and the party then begins to discuss a plan. Vasirr casts the spell Viera once did that uses shadows to cover their movement, using his new druid staff. Lucine and Caeles sit down and begin to play cards to pass the time. Viera blesses everyone with "Cat's Grace". With that the trio begin sneaking towards the jail cell and have no trouble at all with all these spells in effect. Expertly making it to Rakash's cell, Vasirr and Milis take down another watchful guard and unlock the cell door. Rakash is pleasantly surprised but keeps it down as Viera gives him a quick hug before making him invisible. With that, they begin sneaking back out to the entryway corridor, still avoiding detection with a lot of ease.  Meanwhile, Caeles distracts Lucine in the card game with the mention of an undressing V, much to her annoyance. But they realize it is time and cease their game and head outside, but Caeles' armor causes him to be spotted. A guard questions them. Lucine expertly gaslights him into believing the bulk of the party has already left. Both halves now meet in the hallway and casually begin to walk outside. At the very end, Zurikov awaits. He says he has a lot to discuss and he overlooked a lot of questionable things due to the love he bears Can. He does clarify that the party is requested to stay in the city Inn in a room that will be paid for by the Lunars. He sees the party is in a rush and lets them pass and thus they are able to sneak out Rakash rather peacefully. Right as they are leaving though, Lucine leaves a Clairvoyance spell to keep a track of any Lunar discussions. Meanwhile, Zahn works with Stali and Nacht on producing portable batteries containing the arc energy. Stali unlocks some of Zahn's modules granting him a Lesser Aegis for defense, and a harmful Atomic Aura. Stali talks about how the life of a Vortex is not a happy one, they remain in stasis most of the time. They have some fun on missions but that is all, hence he is very glad Zahn was able to make it out of there. He asks Zahn if he is attached to his friends to which Zahn agrees. Stali says his loyalty is to science and the nation. He goes on about Lunars being colonizers who now await the two sides of the war to wear each other out. Following this they will be taking over whichever side they can, and will conquer both if it seems possible. He notes how "neutral" Zahn is, but Zahn says he prefers it that way as long as he can maintain that stance. Stali refuses to reveal too many secrets seeing that Zahn is not loyal to the Lunars but elaborates on Vortexes. Aside from the ones they already knew, he mentions that Eins Ermin is a sniper while Viktoria is a spy. Thus he says that while each is a strong combatant, they all have specific fields they specialize in. Zahn wonders if he has evaded them for good but Stali says they are busy on missions, but that may change. Sooner or later they will come, but he will stall them as long as he can by leading them away from Zahn. He distinctly mentions to Zahn how the Lunars have a hard time letting go of any of their investments. They also discuss how independent Zahn is and how much he has faced, like fighting off dragons thrice. Nacht finally talks and mentions how he can reduce arcane energy into this portable form but needs help. Zahn helps in making this "battery" and takes a rechargeable one to use to enhance his own weapon attacks. With this done, and their talks finished, Stali and Zahn have a somber farewell before Zahn too heads out. On his way out, Zurikov catches him and asks about a prisoner of importance going missing and if he knows. Zahn is unable to deceive him. It is a tense moment but Zurikov says he does not care but Zykova does. He says the party is requested to stay here but come nightfall, their heads will be on spikes if they don't flee. He also mentions Rakash was captured on request of some Kasaaqi family members due to a lack of trust. So he was not some hostage but just another prisoner of war, but suggests a lot more is going on politically. He says he will let this all slide due to Viera' s connection to Can but suggests the party to leave by night. This whole conversation was heard by Lucine's clairvoyance spell, who kept on giving updates to the party. They have a warm reunion with Rakash. Vasirr says he's glad while Viera tearfully shares a drink with him. Rakash fills in the party on what happened in these months. He says that the party did stop the nightmares. But he waited for them long and they did not return. Janore said that they lived, but were lost in the plane. He begins to head towards Erumaltu on his own but Moghroth came to capture him. He had fought well. But eventually it became a battle of attrition. He gave up and was sent to the Lunar prison where he waited. He says his mission was to defeat some general of the Covenant, who is a dark figure related to Alphanim. The party now in turn, tells him of the heavy events that they had suffered through in this short time frame. With their exchanges done, they sneak out of the city in the cover of the night sky, getting past all guards. They leave without event, escaping the Lunars.

• 3E468/02/11 - The party travels up through the western Edeni Expanse. At night, they see a meteor shower as Viera talks about her past through these nights. Rakash talks about his goal and his thoughts, and asks them to help rescue his daughter.

• 3E468/02/12 - On the second day, they meet a traveling merchant with a triceratops who sells them a bunch of things including the Deck of Many Things.

• 3E468/02/13 - At night, Viera finishes telling her backstory. At night, the party is woken up as Vasirr spots a meteor impact. They are surrounded by aberrations called Whistlers, who pose a big threat and can counter many psychic abilities. Milis is driven slightly mad, but the party eventually beats them.

• 3E468/02/14 - The party reaches the Temple City of Oxrock, and meets a loxodon merchant who brings them up to date with the world and Jamre’s lockdown. They also meet a death shaman, who at first doesn’t want to let Lucine or Caeles in due to their overflowing life. The shaman talks about Acribii, and then Viera prays to Theratis. Using the merchant’s contact, they head up to Jamre.

• 3E468/02/15 - The party reaches Jamre, and uses the contact to hide in barrels amidst cargo going into the city. After a few close calls, the party enters the city, and spends the day getting to the middle city where they finally reunite with Scirios.

• 3E468/02/16 - Milis's husband informs the party about the utmost importance of staying covert and staying off of anyone's radar, after a discussion the party agrees trying to hide is gonna raise more suspicion than just existing in the crowd of millions in Jamre. The party starts discussing the main issue at hand which is figuring out a way to get into the inner wall of Jamre as both Sciocis and Chikuu are both there. Milis's husband informs the party about a Kassaqi spy that has been here since their mission with general prince Rakash started; he was the one who got info about Milis’s daughter in the first place. After a long discussion the party decided that the best way to approach this is to call the spy at the clinic itself and have a discussion there with all the cards on the table. With Milis’s husband out all night the party decides to rest, during the night Viera, Lucine and Milis have a discussion about the nature of fire magic and fire as an element as they both try to help Viera learn some fire magic. The next morning Milis’s husband wakes up the party and calls them to the basement where they talk and wait until the spy shows up. Milis’s husband walks down with the spy with him, the spy is a dark colored tiefling with red eyes and average looking clothes, he is introduced as Tarot to the party. He introduces himself to the party ending with General Prince Rakash Zaaba as he bows in respect to him, he tells the party that he has been waiting for them for a long while as he catches them up on some more information about the war, the north wall of Jamre and south Kasaaq wall are under siege constantly but both are holding very well. After getting the war info the party starts discussing the situation at hand with Rakash’s daughter and Sciocis, Rakash is very on edge about the whole matter and wants to get his daughter out, the party agreeing to help him tells him that it might not be the best course of events. After much convincing and discussion Rakash agrees for a reconnaissance mission which he won’t be joining on for the betterment of everyone involved. Tarot flips a bag of holding spilling 9000 Platinum coins which are a reward from Zavii Zaaba for getting this far, Lucine after much arguing is told her debt is not forgiven and even this reward is mercy. The party decides to go shopping for magic items and get some upgrades. The party makes their way towards the sewer entrance where they see Tarot already standing waiting for them, Lucine, Viera and Caeles go in a party taking Tarot along with them, that group names themselves Team White Boy. Zahn, Vasirr, and Milis go in a group together. Emerging on the other side with sewer smells covering them, with some magic and perfume from Milis they get ready to go out and start exploring. Milis , Vasirr and Zahn approach the dumbest guard they could stumble onto to question about Milis’s daughter. After some close calls in the discussion Milis with help from Vasirr smooth talks her way out of the situation where they find out her daughter is in a nearby garden chilling. Team White Boy starts making their way through the main entrance with Tarot leading them, meeting some random nobles along the way Team White Boy finds out Tarot's alias here is a noble who goes by the name of Xhegu. Walking for a while Lucine zones out as the party is approached by a loxodon, Braal, who seemed to recognise them to some level from the Kasaaqi Ball. After some expert deception Caeles cuts a path for Lucine and Viera to introduce themselves as well, Viera takes on the name Valerie Vanadium and Lucine takes on the alias of Sir Lucien the Scholar. The party is also approached by Lady Chieftess Adeaa Vanem-Zaaba, Rakash’s wife. They mingle for a bit as she seems to be busy with something and is in a hurry to leave, before she leaves Lucien pops the question of wanting to interview the youth about their approach to the culture and how they see it, even if as an empty statement she gives Lucien a time for the following day and mentions that Chikuu might be in the garden. Milis establishes a connection with Viera and catches her up on their side of the info and how they are heading to the garden as well. Both teams converge as Milis sees her daughter uses her psychic whispers to catch up with her, her daughter excited to meet her tells her she will come to meet the following day sometime in the afternoon. Lucien approaches Chikuu to ask her some general question about her view on the lockdown and the whole situation, the questions get a bit too much for Chikuu as they part ways and start making their way back to the sewer gate avoiding any issues with her. Going through the sewers they run into a Covenant patrol with someone they saw on the outer wall leading the patrol, Captain Piotr who seems to recognise them and a fight breaks out. Tarot opens with some crossbow shots followed up by Piotr instantly charging in the midst of the party hitting Milis and Viera on the frontline. He charges again going through the whole party this time hurting everyone. Surviving the attack, the party fights back with Vasirr swinging his daggers making some deep cuts followed up by Caeles doing some huge damage to him with his sword and divine smite. Viera uses flame strike with some help from Lucine burning the people behind them to a fine crisp. Every turn Piotr seems to be healing himself with something, with him continuously charging again and again through the party causing Milis to get downed, Lucine takes to the air firing some spells disabling one of the soldiers with Viera following after she brings Milis back to a fighting state. Milis ceases the opportunity and teleports out to safety as Cales and Vasirr are left alone with Piotr and Zahn surrounded by soldiers, Zahn dodging each attack followed up by Viera dodging Piotr’s attempts at shooting her out of the sky. The party stabilizes as Lucine follows up on what Zahn says and tries to use her spells to curse Piotr and hit his weakness Poison. With a swift cast of poison cloud Piotr’s Healing is stopped, the party goes all out one attack at a time with Vasirr getting the final blow and the party cleaning up the stragglers. With Caeles protecting Vasirr they both survive the ordeal of being up against the monster that was Piotr, Milis lives to keep fighting and take care of the party thanks to Viera’s healing. With everyone doing their best it comes to an end. Escaping, the party makes their way safely back to the clinic. However, that night chaos breaks out as angels appear in the sky hovering over the city, looking for someone. Disturbed, the party rests regardless.

• 3E468/02/17 -  The party meets up with Sciosis, and decides to teleport to Wesamala as the final course of action, heading up to Alphanim after. Tarot calls Viera and Zahn to a club in the outer city, so the party splits again. The rest of the party enters the inner city and then splits off. Milis and Vasirr sneak through the barracks to get to a restricted library, where they manage to steal a scroll of teleportation. On their way out, Vasirr has a harsh conversation with his father, Commander Blazestrider. Viera and Zahn reach the club, where Tarot reveals to them that Nemesis has sent their assassins here, and they are still looking for them. After a tense conversation about their loyalty to the Dynasty, he marks them with the Zaaba sigil with magic, and reveals to them that the Covenant general they were sent to assassinate was Vin all along from the beginning. Meanwhile, Lucine and Caeles meet up with Sciosis and Chikuu, and go up to talk to Adeaa. She is at the rooftop talking to an angel, and immediately suspects them. Casting zone of truth, she finds out about everything. After a tense conversation, she banishes the angel who was not going to forgive and forget back to the upper planes. Telling them to run as the other angels fly inward, everyone makes it back to the clinic where Rakash and Chikuu finally reunite. Everyone finally together, Lucine casts teleport using the scroll, and the party vanishes off to Wesamala leaving Scirios behind.