Quick Summary
The team convinces The Light to step aside. Basumo rejoins Gunnars. A series of visitors provide helpful gifts and emotional support. Ellsee and Chicory oversee preparations in Soltura; Solstice takes Basumo and Jerem to Tradingway to help Koratana. News from the Callidae and a display of Atropus' power follow the successful activation of A1.
Session Recap
Session opened with Rin leaving to visit his mother and the rest of the team returning to the shop. Laetus showed Chicory the spell circle to teleport into the headquarters of the Kaliesh’erai and told the team about the location itself, which is a retrofitted alien ship below the waters of the Solturan harbour.
On arriving on the bridge of the ship, the team looked around the large chamber until The Light bid them join her. They found her that her intellect was undulled by the extraordinary length of her life, but she was dispassionate and unaffected by the recent death of Ishalba, and the team was unable to tell her anything she hadn’t already seen through her clairsentience or considered in her many centuries of life.
The team attempted to convince her of the wisdom of their plan to stop Atropus and the potential value in Ambar’s rejoining with the wider universe, but despite their strong arguments, Yannril was unmoved. Even the fate of the Callidae did not seem to overly concern her, though she had thought herself the last survivor of Kementari for so long. They finally reached past Yannril’s melancholic apathy when Solstice shared the loss of Cecilia and spoke of her love for Ellsee. In turn, Ellsee shared the loss of her parents and Elanor’s discarnation, and Chicory shared the loss of Valera.
When Yannril expressed regret for the unforeseen side effects of the Arxtuary Protocol, Chicory pointed out that was no comfort to those who had lost loved ones to discarnation, or the souls that were caught between the planes. Yannril countered that neither were the potential benefits of ending the Protocol a comfort to those who had died in its creation, and she stood by her belief that maintaining the Protocol was the path of least harm, which was the heart of her oath.
It was then that Chicory gained insight into Yannril’s motivations. She was ascribing to a created narrative like Ellsee once had, was living for grief like Solstice had, and had lost herself in becoming The Light as Chicory had once lost themself to become Valera. The team all agreed that it’s extremely difficult to change, but that Yannril could live again. When Chicory realised that Lossëa was one of Yannril’s descendants, they allowed The Light to telepathically see for herself that she was not alone, and that the story of her life had not ended when Kementari fell, but continued on. With Chicory’s gentle assurance that “coming back to my own life was the best choice I’ve ever made”, Yannril stepped out from under the burden of responsibility that she had shouldered for thousands of years, breaking her oath as she agreed not to interfere in the ending of the Protocol.
On their way out of the headquarters, the team encountered Basumo, who had no idea that they had been worried about him. The team didn’t take Lashlazuli’s bait to fight and just scooped Basumo on their way out. Although Solstice offended him by calling him a fool, he still showed the team what he had been working on for the Voices, which was reverse-engineering the Annulli.
Back at the shop, Solstice sought out Laetus to ask him about the circlet she had removed from Ishanii, which was now an orb of active-unstable mesarthium. She also met briefly with Mara Blackstaff, who came by the shop with four potions of superior healing and a countermelody charm bracelet for Solstice. Over the course of the evening, the rest of the team received visitors and gifted items to help in their mission. Brigid Kildare gave Ellsee a “spell scroll” from Twyla and her moonstone hairband, and Nolina Peachcreek gave Chicory an abjurer’s gilder and pulled some strings to get Tryfa and Reverie spots in a teleport to Tetra that night.
With the team reunited, everyone got a well-deserved long rest. Solstice was awoken by an early sending letting her know that Koratana was ready for her. With a teleportation scroll from Dean Tultaima, she travelled to Tradingway with Basumo and Jerem. Back in Soltura, the shop and neighbouring building became a hub of activity. Chicory helped with the development of shieldstone amulets to protect against Atropus’ necrotic shroud, and Ellsee oversaw preparations and received a small crate from Inglenomé, which contained five verdant bulbs from the evolving society of awakened vegetables.
After a long day of work and with some help and some bolstering encouragement from Jerem, Solstice was able to help Koratana finally finish and activate A1. As A1 activated and the cloak around the planet lowered, celebratory communication from The Callidae came through Solstice's focus, but also the news that the amil-tana was suffering a similar cursed sleep to Jupiter. At the same time, Atropus manifested a number of malleables at the sight of the energy surge, which the muscle of The Vault’s organisation were able to help fight back.
Session ended with Solstice purchasing a potentially useful pendant of initiative from The Vault and then heading to Pentalimani to meet up with the rest of the team.