Quick Summary
The Callidae arrives on Ambar. The team protects Koratana during the re-tuning of A4. Belladonna and Chicory lead Arye’s friends and chosen family through the All For One incantation, curing Arye’s discarnation. Chicory, Ellsee, and Solstice connect with their loved ones. Paz is given an unexpected second chance at life. The strike team takes off from Pentalimani.
Session Recap
Session opened with the team on Pentalimani, welcoming the Callidae to Ambar. Ellsee looked over the afflicted and determined that healing magic, such as cure wounds, would not benefit a person with the Necrotized condition, and may actually harm them. Solstice mediated between the Avani and the Solturans and delegated the further investigation of Pentalimani to a team of specialists, in the hopes of finding some way to defend Soltura. Chicory helped organise the transportation of the Avani to the mainland and created an inventory of needed supplies.
From there the team journeyed to the location of A1, getting off to a rough start with a minor teleport mishap and needing to traverse mountainous jungle. On the way, they fought off a giant aurumvorax and developed a better dynamic with Koratana, and despite Koratana’s weakened state Solstice was able to anticipate her needs and assist her practically. When Atropus manifested a swarm of malleable, the team defended Koratana but damaged the surrounding cavern in the process, which offended the resident fey spirits. Solstice lead the diplomatic apology and made an agreement to send someone to serve in defence of the cavern for a year and a day, perhaps Ames, allowing the team to leave without delay.
When the team returned to the city, they found the sky dark with red cloud cover and Atropus’ power continuing to manifest in increasingly dangerous ways, and evacuations were underway. Clarion sent them a message indicating they could keep the Planosure for now, and Solstice sent back the preserved nothic eye. From a cumulative effort to outfit the strike team, Gunnar’s was provided with bags of holding, six potions of necrotic resistance, shieldstone amulets, and a +1 upgrade to any one weapon or piece of armour, and the team acquired some consumable components for their spells.
Chicory also received word that the completed all for one incantation had been approved and then turned their attention to preparing for the ritual. They visited Firalene and Hugo the Hollyphant to ask for one of his feathers as a component, which Hugo was happy to give. The ritual was prepared at Inglenomé, and those in attendance included the whole Gunnar’s team, Jerem, Alsephina, Zandra, Nolina Peachcreek, Prisma, Arye’s fighter mentor Saulo, and Belladonna acting as the lead caster.
The ritual was lengthy and draining, but everyone willingly gave a part of their lifeforce to Arye out of love and care. At the climax of the incantation, Belladonna successfully cast the spell, but the bond between themself and Arye was too strong and too much of their lifeforce was pouring into Arye. Aided by the brief spiritual presence of Valera, Chicory interceded and drew on a little more energy from the participants to re-balance the ritual and safely sever the link between Belladonna and Arye. Arye woke, revitalised in body and soul, to embrace Chicory; the whole team gathered for an ecstatic celebratory group hug and to congratulate Chicory on curing discarnation.
Inspired by the new hope of Chicory’s success, Ellsee decided to contact Elanor. They stumbled upon Ellie, and the siblings connected and shared their feelings with each other in a sweet moment. Ellie revealed her suspicions that Laetus was family to them, which Ellsee was able to confirm. They also told Ellie of the discarnation cure, about which Ellie was proud and optimistic. When Ellsee cast sending, they told Elanor not to worry about them, but to sit tight in the Revel and take care of herself. Elanor responded to let Ellsee know she was okay, and to speak a prophecy: “Remember that it was an effort of many; a whole world effort.”
Meanwhile, Solstice borrowed Ishanii’s communicator to reach out to Atlas. The reconnection was meaningful for them both, as Solstice had some comfort and a moment of peace amongst the constant activity and stress, and Atlas was able to check in with her and update her on Jupiter’s condition, which was stable. He let slip the good news that Solstice would have twin siblings, and Solstice shared her and Ellsee’s plans to have a big wedding after all was said and done. Freshly reminded of what she was really fighting for, Solstice told her dad not to worry about her, and to take care of the family.
As the time to leave for Pentalimani approached, Chicory sensed that Paz wanted to speak to them. Paz expressed how proud he was of them, but also how scared he was, more for them than himself now that he knew there was an afterlife awaiting him. He wondered if continuing to use Kairos was worth the risk, and pointed out that Chicory had family and good friends that would miss them if they took his place. Chicory was torn on what to do, until they had a eureka moment and ran to find Koratana.
Koratana was in Jerem’s workshop and willing to help, offering to sever the soul link between Chicory and Kairos so that their soul would not enter it on dying. They also offered to release Paz from the soulgem embedded in the weapon, and Chicory wondered if she could put him in something else. That sparked an idea as Koratana looked at Jerem’s incomplete nimblewright, and Chicory convinced him to attempt it. Solstice and Jerem integrated the soulgem into the nimblewright’s brain, and Ellsee assisted Koratana in psionically bonding Paz to the nimblewright body. Despite the time crunch, the team was successful; Paz had a new life, and Chicory would be able to continue to use Kairos, though without the soulgem it would no longer be able to enter its ascension state.
Session ended with the strike team climbing aboard the magitech spaceship, including Basumo who would pilot, and Jerem who would serve as on-board artificer in case anything needed repairing. The sun was setting as the team launched from Pentalimani and broke through Ambar’s atmosphere, flying at full speed towards Atropus, with all of Ambar’s hopes behind them.