Session 21

Fact Sheet: It’s a peaceful morning in the village and you're a horrible beast

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart and Vinnie. Dins was our GM. Tuur was excused.

Date: 26-04-23

Date in-universe: it’s a Friday morning

Major developments:

Lots of lore!

Previously: session 20 Arrival in Damanhour

Next episode: Session 22

Notes

As we're heading over to the temple, looking for the Lunaire Warden Saumi, accompanied by Aqueel and Chalcedony:

Storm refreshes Aqueel's vocabulary, making sure he knows stuff like punch and bite, but also remembers retreat, mercy, escape… Ezra supervises
Ezra drops off their letter for Enza (see image below)
Storm hands over the gift for Ezra: the navigator set, accompanied by the bloody arrow they used to kill Danzig (see image below)… Hali quickly cleans off the dried blood with some water magic & Storm mumbles about the sextant and the compass being useful to guide us on our way, as Ezra has been doing for our crew in Captain John Magpie’s absence. Ezra is really moved by the gift & our crew’s appreciation.

As we traverse the bowl in which the village is nestled, we keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary: signs of struggle, perhaps footsteps leading off the beaten path… alas, nothing remarkable catches our attention. After a while, we reach the temple: it’s a well-maintained building of modest size, more than fitting for a village the size of Damanhour. A small corridor leads from the front door towards the main body. There are no windows in the building, though we can see the roof has an opening, undoubtedly corresponding to the moonpool typically found in Lunaire’s temples (see image below). It’s a little out of the way, after all, Sharm told us they only use it about once a month during their mini-festival for the full moon.

As we draw nearer, we notice a strange cloud of black smoke seems to hover in the building, mushrooming out the opening in the roof! As they frown a little, with their sensitive eyes in the morning light, El(drin) notices it's not smoke, it's more like a void energy! Their sword seems to vibrate, like a tuning fork responding to a pure note of the same frequency. El(drin) shares this info. Fyllion complains a little: can nothing ever work out the easy way for us?? (artistic licence)

As we’re milling around the door, it’s clear the smoke or void or whatever it is, reduces visibility to zero. Still, we can hear heavy footsteps from within, accompanied by a weird grating sound like claws on stone, as well as wood splintering… and a weak voice calling for help!

Hali sends a pawn from the magical chess board into the darkness to check it out. The little wooden servant pipes up it’ll be its pleasure, it can see in darkness, even if that darkness is magical in nature. Barely a few seconds after the pawn has tottered off into the darkness, we hear a swish and a crack, as if something lashed out at the pawn, and smashed its tiny wooden body into a wall, till it broke. We don’t hear anything else…

We decide how to proceed:

El(drin) goes first with devil sight, to see in this magical darkness
Ezra holds their shoulder & is next
Hali is next
Storm has Aqueel on his shoulders (to keep our baby safe) & brings up the rear with Fyllion.

Nervous about the darkness, Storm activated comprehend languages in order to understand Aqueel without problems. Added bonus: Aqueel can also see in this weird darkness, so he can guide Storm. They’ll keep each other safe. Storm is amazed to realize he can understand the bellows of the being that is clearly hidden in the darkness: where is it, his soul, it belongs to me! The traitor, I will eat his rotten heart right out of his chest! Storm informs the others that this is more than just a weird beast hanging out!

As El(drin) and Ezra step into the darkness, they disappear from our view. We see them rear back in horror. Immediately, El(drin) shares what they saw: it’s an unidentifiable beast, like a moth got mashed together with an ant, and then grew as big as a horse (see image below)!

We can’t put this off any longer, so it’s time for action!

Storm tucks Aqueel’s ankles in his armpits to steady the child firmly on his shoulders. Then he clangs his rings together. From the sparkle, he creates dancing lights and sends them into the room. Alas, they disappear in the darkness without any effect. Working with Aqueel on his shoulders, he sneaks into the building. Aqueel points him where the beast is stomping around, near the moonpool. It doesn’t seem to respond to Storm’s sneaking
Fyllion sings a song for El(drin) and launches dissonant whispers into the building, hoping the being is within range. Alas, the creature can resist this spell and only takes half of the intended psychic damage. We hear an inhuman roar from the darkness, the being is in pain! Fyllion quickly sidles back outside, disregarding the sweet whisperings from his waterbag where Virgil offers darkvision
Ezra asks Baaloo to form a tether between them and El(drin), initiates hail of thorns and gets ready to move with El(drin), planning to shoot as soon as El(drin) targets the being
El(drin) heads over to a bench, where Ezra can hide and defend their position. El(drin) hexes the creature and follows up with a quip about El(drin)’s blast... which the creature deflects without any problem! El(drin) warns us that Lunaire magic doesn't work on the being. Like Aqueel, they notice that the creature doesn't really pay attention to us. Ezra follows up and takes aim at the area where they hear the noises coming from... and they hit! The hail of thorns activates but Dins rolled a NATURAL TWENTY and Ecchima a NATURAL ONE, so the damage was minimal! We hear it roar in pain, and El(drin) and Aqueel nervously report that it does seem to focus on Ezra, now that it’s been hurt
The creature is in a frenzy, clearly as much angry as it’s hurt. El(drin) sees it vanish in a glittering burst of shiny scales and sparkly dust, misty stepping next to Ezra. Ezra feels its warm breath, a heartbeat before its two forelegs slash at them, hurting Ezra badly. Aqueel screeches in panic when he sees Ezra hurt & launches a water jet at it from atop Storm’s shoulders! Alas, with another NATURAL TWENTY the creature shakes off most of the damage. Its wings are wet, but they're chitinous anyway, like a dragonfly, so it's probably not really effective
Hali had mostly followed Ezra in, and now cowers behind another bench. She gets out another chess piece, which crawls onto her head... to steer her Rat-Ratatouille-style! Hali hopes the pawn will be able to help her aim in the next round. The pawn suggests the smarter play would be running away, but Hali is clear that’s not an option. Hali activates their starry form. This pulse of light illuminates the beast for a second: El(drin) hadn’t exaggerated! It's the size of a grizzly bear with a maw bigger than Chalcedony’s full body (who's cowering outside)

1. Running through his options, Storm decides to find Saumi. Storm's polecat senses, combined with Aqueel's slaps and whispered instructions guide Storm in a quick and elegant dash over to the back wall of the temple, easily vaulting over ruined benches and broken floor tiles despite the total darkness (for Storm). Storm and Aqueel manage to find Saumi near the back wall of the temple.The scent of night blooming jasmine almost covers the scent of blood. Though Saumi is wounded and panicked, Aqueel and Storm manage to calm him down sufficiently, explaining he's with a crew sent by Sharm to find and help him, and he's a polecat like Santiago. Saumi recognizes the local troublemaker & the name of his village peer, so he's willing to follow them to the exit

2. Virgil tells Fyllion it's a Celestial guardian who's gone insane... we should just unshackle it from this plane, talking to it won't even help. Fyllion sings a ditty to inspire Storm & then runs outside to cower with the cowering Chalcedony. Nearby, Madonna is still resting where El(drin) settled them, pseudo-ruminating in the way camels do

3. El(drin) prepares their turn and Ezra's turn. El(drin) casts a minor illusion: a scream coming from right above the creature, allowing Ezra to take aim correctly. El(drin) chooses a new position & asks Ezra to retreat...

4. Ezra pulls back a little, as El(drin) asked. They unfurl the magic carpet and politely plead for it to float near the ceiling and carry them back to the entry way. The carpet is eager to collaborate & soon Ezra hovers near the door opening

5. The creature remains angry, leaping forward with a bizarre grace. As soon as it's near Ezra, who hurt it, it viciously unfurls all its wings at once, slamming the Arms of Hadar into Ezra, Hali and El(drin).

6. Hali checks in with the chess piece on her head to aim a starry fireball. Despite their best efforts, they miss! With her outstretched hand Hali looses an arrow, which also misses. The pawn is apologetic, they’ve never fought a battle that wasn’t on the chess board, and it repeats its plea that the smarter strategy would involve fleeing for their lives

In broken Aquan, Storm and Aqueel plan to have Aqueel lead Saumi to safety, outside with Fyllion and the animals. They’ll be as careful as possible, especially given Saumi’s wounds slowing them down. Storm will stay and fight alongside the others. Storm tries to light a candle, but of course the sanctum of the god of the void resists that intrusion of light!
Virgil keeps taunting Fyllion: why won't Fyllion just grab the powers Virgil is offering? His hesitations are the reason he'll forever remain mortal, and he'll never ascend to arch fey status. Fyllion doesn’t even respond: he’s focused on his friends! Fyllion sneaks to the door opening and casts a minor illusion of the moon, about halfway into the temple & several feet of the ground. The creature is surprised and quite fascinated by this sudden apparition, trying to paw at it with its tibiae and tarsi
El(drin) has their sword drawn and just decides to just attack! Lunaire's gift doesn't work on the sword right now, so El(drin) realises they might have to call on Soliman...El(drin) had promised themselves they’d never do that, and when they met Lunaire in their vision (in session 16), the divine entity warned them that using Soliman’s gifts for violence would be detrimental. This memory strengthens their determination and focus & they do manage to hurt the creature, since the sword is still a sword, after all’s said and done. El(drin) sees the creature isn't doing very well, so they order the others to retreat
In the heat of battle, Ezra shoots at the creature before they can respond to El(drin)’s order. Thanks to a NATURAL SIX they hit true: their arrow pierces the creature's forehead. As the creature crumbles, its wings disintegrate, its scales peel off, the echo of its last roar dies down… and the darkness lifts!

As the darkness lifts, we see a dark orb stutter to the floor. We recognize the item that gleamed in the envoy’s forehead. Now it’s all that remains of the creature… As it slowly rolls over the floor, it seems to swallow the light around it, it's so dark it looks like a hole in the world. Without touching it, El(drin) analyses the orb. It's got a familiar, ice-cold sensation.

El(drin) flashes back to the last time they saw an orb like this:

In a luxuriously carpeted, dimly lit room, plush with cushions and pillows, El(drin) is addressing an Ifrit. They realize it’s an influential merchant in the city of brass in the plane of fire. Some part of their present-day mind understands that this vision is showing an earlier moment from the memories we recovered during the fight in Nawa…
The Ifrit, bedecked in an expensive robe and fancy jewellery, leans back to gesture expansively at El(drin): go on then, show me. Without looking down at it, El(drin) feels how their hands in the memory set down the agreed-upon artifact on the coffee table between the painted tea glasses with gold filigree. With a delighted laugh, the Ifrit grabs the item and, without even looking at it, lobs it over his shoulder, where it lands on a treasure pile like a dragon’s hoard full of coins and bullions, gemstones and pearls… With a dramatic gesture and a cheeky grin, the Ifritan merchant reveals a small velvet pillow, on which are nestled 3 crystals of moderate size

2 are the same deep black which El(drin) recognized from the envoy’s orb in Damanhour

1 is a pearlescent opal whose gleam seems to illuminate the room
Each of the crystals seem to radiate with power. If we could ask, El(drin) would swear they feel like they hold sentience within their crystalline lines. Back in Damanhour, El(drin) realizes these crystals are the reason Eluviel guided the Wandering Isle to the plane of fire, this is why we came to the city of brass, this is why Ezra was stealing the pouch, this is what we fought and died for…this is what Eluviel used to power a particular spell.

As we look around the modest temple, we see

a handful of benches for the worshippers, a few of them overturned and splintered by the rampaging beast
walls embedded with gleaming twinkling crystals charting constellations (see image below)
flowering plants of jasmine dispersed throughout the space
the typical moonpool, filled with inky black water, with an instrument panel nearby, allowing the opening in the roof to be opened or closed
on the raised dais at the back of the temple, a row of statues of angels with hands clasped, and heads bent. They have mothlike wings, as is typical for Lunaire's angels… and in their forehead, we spot a black gem, exactly like where the creature had the orb

El(drin)

Reminds us of the memories we recovered when we were in Nawa (session 11 and session 12)
Explains their vision of Lunaire again (session 16)
Shares the memory they just recovered

It’s hard to let all of this information sink in, so Hali and Ezra take the lead in patching up Saumi. His wounds aren’t too bad, so Hali gives him a goodberry and hands out the rest (to Ezra and El(drin)). As he’s calming down from his unexpected adventure, Saumi shares his theories: he thinks the creature was the guardian Lunaire sent to keep watch over Damanhour's temple. But why would it suddenly manifest physically? He doesn't understand why that would happen, nor why the guardian was so enraged all of a sudden? Saumi is worried the scamp Santiago went too far & stole something from the temple. But what? Everything looks normal, except for the disturbances from the fight!

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Hali picks up the broken chess piece, which is no longer animated now. With a sigh, Hali pockets the piece. Perhaps we’ll be able to repair it somehow? Or at least honour it for its help…?

Speaking of honouring, Hali gathers the remains of the Celestial envoy, intending to throw them into the moonpool as a way to send it back to Lunaire... El(drin) feels a vibration coming from the moonpool, but from underneath it, somehow. As she's sweeping, Hali spots there's blood drops leading from the moonpool to the entrance!

Storm and El(drin) wonder if there were something hidden in the moonpool? Saumi doesn't think so... but Hali notices there's also a smear of blood on one of the crystals in the wall. Hali decides to close the aperture in the roof, so the subtle soft shine of the crystals in the walls will be more visible. In doing so, she reveals the gems are organized in a star chart! They’re mapping out the constellations as they wind their way through the sky over Damanhour! Saumi nods, that’s the idea.

As we’re marvelling at this wonderful decoration,

Ezra, our astute navigator, notices the constellation of Gemini is not glowing at all, did the bloody handprint somehow damage the crystals?
Several other stones are randomly also extinguished

Hali pushes the stone under the bloody handprint, and it lights up! Quickly, Ezra and Hali push the other stones in the Gemini constellation. With a deep grinding rumble (thank you Kenko) the inky water in the moonpool swirls away & reveals a series of steps leading down… into the darkness!

Saumi pales and stutters that this is not part of their sanctum. El(drin) interrogates Saumi’s faith, if he never found this mechanism... but Storm asks about Sampson and his father who built this place:

Samson came a few months ago, offering his worship, as most mages do, since they get their power from the gods through a more dedicated contact than the prayers even the most devout worshippers offer. The village didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, they just thought it was sweet a son came to honour his father’s work
Apparently neither Saumi nor Ridwan (session 20) remember anything remarkable about Sampson’s father who built the temple. Saumi obviously has no idea about whatever’s under the temple

We decide we need to explore it. If there are any answers about the envoy’s rage and demise to be found, that’s where they’ll be. We send Saumi back to town with Madonna and Chalcedony, where he’ll be able to get the medical attention he needs, see Hasjra his wife and pass on a message to the village and our patron, lady Gladiola Faraday.

.

As Saumi limps off outside, we hear him befriend the animals outside. Meanwhile, El(drin) has been mulling over the different revelations they’ve heard and posits their theory about divine balance and the complementarity between Lunaire and Soliman. They figure both gods are the different sides of one coin: if something is wrong on one side, how does that affect the other side? We should be prepared for complicated answers as we go down.

Before we go down, Hali checks over the statues: they're roughly hewn from local stone, with dyed black disks as a halo behind their heads, fresh flowers at their feet and a black gem in their forehead. The central figure has spread wings, which are indeed mothlike. For the rest, there's only a few papers with liturgy songs or sermons. It's just a local place of worship for the village’s petitioners, none of whom are invested enough to be granted magical powers (unlike, say, Sabor in Koh’Shar, who received some divine gifts for his devotion as Soliman’s priest in town)… there appears to be no reason why this place would have a hidden area under its moonpool.

Storm sends the newly visible dancing lights into the stairwell, and we also light several torches. Cautiously we head down the stairs. During several minutes we wind our way down. As we descend deeper into the earth, we realize this place was created with magic. It’s clearly not something that could have been dug out manually, especially not without drawing the attention of Saumi or other villagers (even though they only tend to come here once a month).

Eventually the stairs end, in a small circular room. As a dimly flickering light draws our eye to an arch leading away from this little room, we walk into another room. It’s dedicated to 3 statues:

2 statues depict angels
The 3rd statue, in the middle, commands the room

Crafted from black stone, it shows a floating angel with four mothlike wings and a tarnished silver mask (with an emblem of the moon) hiding its face (see image below). The statue is almost as tall as Storm and in its hand, it holds a lit torch. The magically smokeless fire casts a comforting warm-golden light in the space. That’s what drew us to this space, like moths to a flame!

When we take in the sight, it’s unavoidable we notice the tremendous amounts of blood in the room. It’s been splashed all over the torso of this central floating statue, and over the floor. On the floor, a lot of footprints seem to have dragged the blood all over, eventually leading back to the stairs.

El(drin) is quite shaken by the violence implied by this amount of blood: in their vision, Lunaire complained about their temples being desecrated. El(drin) notices the mask is the origin of the sensations they've been having. It looks a lot like Eluviel's mask (see image below)! It sits a little crooked on the face of the statue. Under the mask, it looks like there's both blood and soot on the face.

As Ezra gently takes off the mask, we recognize the face: it's Eluviel, Lunaire's envoy in the mortal plane! The forehead has a hole where the other statues had a gem (see image below).

The hole is the origin of some sort of explosion, the cause of the soot on the face
There appear to be traces of a glyph left in the indentation under the gem. As she samples the energy left behind, Hali realizes it’s an evocation glyph…

Though she can’t tell the effect of the evocation glyph, Hali realizes that someone triggered it as a sort of mystical boobytrap as they removed the gem. Whoever it was, got burned quite badly and lost a lot of blood. Is this where Santiago burnt his hands and arms? With mounting horror, we remember a black opal hanging from a necklace, gleaming amidst Santiago’s many jewels (see session 4).

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As we wrestle with these questions, Ezra notices the statue is wearing knee-high golden gladiator sandals. Ezra nods at Storm, they look like they might fit. With a little plea to Lunaire, insisting he means no disrespect, Storm gently tugs the sandals off the statue’s feet. Pricking up our ears, we feel like we can hear Lunaire cheering “yaaasss slay”. Right as our literal-minded friend El(drin) prepares to slay Storm on Lunaire’s command, we hear the god correct to “yaaasss queeeeen”. Relieved, Storm finds the boots slide on his feet with grace and elegance. He feels wonderfully light on his feet!

Meanwhile, the mask thrums with power in Ezra's hands. They're wary about putting it on, but El(drin) vibe checks the mask. El(drin) recognizes it as a Lunaire artifact, radiating the god’s power. As long as you’re respectful, it should be safe. Ezra figures it would be best if El(drin) handles it & hands it over.

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While El(drin) and Storm are preoccupied by the sandals and the mask, Hali takes a closer look at the 2 flanking statues:

one angel was sculpted in black stone. It has four wings referencing moths, as ever. It’s got a black halo behind its head and in its hands a sculpture of a small flame. Its eyes have white irises with black sclera, and it looks like a younger Eluviel
the other angel was sculpted from white stone. It has 2 feathery wings whose white-and-gold patterns reference a sunburst. It’s got a golden halo with whirling flames and in its hands, it’s holding a sword - is this Eluvelon?

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Shortly after, Ezra guides our attention the 5 paintings behind the statues. They seem to show a rather vivid depiction of a sequence of events (rather like the Tapis de Bayeux (see image below)). Thanks to a close observation and Storm's spell-assisted translations of the inscriptions (which seem to have been added later on), we discern:

A human man in Rosarian battle-regalia, flanked by 2 angels (see image below). One angel is a mage, wearing a silver mask, holding a flame in his hands. His moth-like wings trail behind him. The other angel wears a golden mask and is holding a golden paladin’s sword. His white-and-golden feathered wings trail behind him. With a soft gasp, Storm indicates he sees a family resemblance to his friend princess Lydia, her brother king to be Mordecai and their recently deceased father, the late king Balthazar. Is this the Rosarian king Aldrich?
A view over a battlefield at dusk. Many flaming arrows soar through the sky, obscuring the moon hanging low in the sky. It’s a view from the Kharkhorin war 50 years ago, depicting the Kharkhorin leader advancing on the Rosarian position. He is flanked by many Elves, using magic. This is surprising because the Rosarian Elves mostly declined to take part in what seemed a human affair…
A diptych with a mirrored depiction. On the one side we see a boy with golden hair, again bearing a strong resemblance to princess Lydia and prince Mordecai. In his arms, the king from the first painting lies dying, from a gaping, bleeding gash in his chest. From the crowd around them, someone is already trying to crown the young man, barely 14 years old. On the other side of the diptych, mirroring the boy and the king, we see Eluviel cradling a dying golden angel, whose torso has been pierced by a sturdy arrow. Eluviel is holding a lit-up white opal in his raised hand, with a whirling flame or halo around it (see image below)
The second to last painting echoes the first: it’s a portrait of the newly crowned king from the previous painting, flanked by 2 figures. One figure is Eluviel. Around his head, 2 interlinked haloes float, one his original black halo, the other the shimmering flaming gold halo we saw on Eluvelon in the first painting. The third figure has taken up Eluvelon’s position in the first painting. It’s a large and looming figure, leaving us unsure and vaguely repulsed…
In the last painted scene, we see Eluviel shrouded in a sickly light as he leads the charge against the Kharkhorin army in a landscape Storm and Hali recognize as the area around the old Rosarian capital The Perch. He is calling down meteors from the sky, decimating the Kharkhorin troops and the Kharkhorin magic-using ranks

Ezra wonders if Eluviel is like El(drin), granted powers by both gods...? El(drin) repeats they believe the 2 gods are different sides of the same coin. Ezra, once again stepping up into the role of Captain John Magpie helps us visualize the concept: they often embroider with different strands of thread at the same time. In order to achieve harmony and create beauty with one’s fibre art, one has to weave together the different strands and colours, each stitch in its preordained place… Riffing off Ezra’s metaphor, Storm points out that currently there's a lack of balance, since Soliman appears to get more devotion, and Lunaire is disrespected a lot. Remember

how Ishmael Ghorann used a Lunaire temple as his hide-out to store a mimic, as soon as the hermit guarding the place was conscripted for prince Mordecai’s war plans
how Frei called Eluviel “that Lunaire guy” since apparently, she only recognizes his name as part of the classic Lunaire blessing, not as the revered war hero Eluviel is/used to be
how Frei is embarrassed by her full name Lunafreia
how Na’Dir desecrated a Lunaire temple, using it both as a base of operations for The Sable Serpent & as a space of worship and workings for Sangrün the blood god… did they wait till the temple’s steward was called away for the war, or was it more sinister still…? Either way, Na’Dir desecrated Lunaire’s space
how Sabor feels all Koh’Shar’s blessings are solely linked to Soliman
how Lunaire didn’t get a lot of respect anymore during king Balthazar’s funeral (according to Mondregen’s report – but if anyone pays attention to tokens of someone’s social status, it’s bound to be Mondregen, right)

Together Ezra and Storm conclude if there's a knot in one of your embroidery strands, it'll pull the entire pattern out of whack! Is that why Eluviel travels with Laithe, a priestess who dedicated herself to Soliman? Is this why Lunaire entrusted this mission to El(drin)?

El(drin) shifts uneasily, they're just a humble mortal. Granted, they feel the gods' influence, but they don’t even compare to dignified priests, never mind royal advisors. They feel they’re in no way on the same level as an envoy, divinely created to enact the gods’ will in the mortal plane! Bonus: they won’t be driven mad, right? At that moment, El(drin) recalls Lunaire’s message (during session 16): the dark is something to be feared, and Soliman’s passionate gifts can leave you fried!

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Storm investigates the inscriptions over the paintings. They look like they were added later… Thanks to the last traces of the spell comprehend languages, Storm realizes it’s a poem, written in Celestial:

Opposite though they may be, now light and dark both live in me.
But I must spurn the fair moon’s light, I must ascend and turn the tide.
For land and crown, I’ll stand alone, with no more stars to guide me home,
But for this power I must go, not up above but down below
Where heaven-sent becomes hell-bent, the last of all my virtues spent
And as I’ll walk among the dead, the sun will light the path I thread

The inscription, the paintings, the statues, the whole situation stimulate our speculations:

Ezra notes that it's remarkable that this was hidden behind the Gemini constellation, Castor and Pollux… did Eluviel choose that as a metaphor for his (now lost) bond with Eluvelon? Would that be a recurring pattern that we might perhaps use as a hint or clue?
El(drin) recalls Kharkhorin marched under Lunaire's banner: perhaps Eluviel had to turn from Lunaire in order to kill a lot of Lunaire's followers on Aldrich the Rosarian king's orders? That ties into “for land and crown” in the poem, right?
We’re all unsettled by the war crimes depicted in the last painting. Ezra especially feels a little sick at the decimation raining down on Kharkhorin. Granted, Aashvi led her branch of the Saree family from Kharkhorin to Thalm Samut in Thalmiria when her fashion empire started to flourish, but Ezra remembers some Kharkhorin cultural practices, and they know they probably have aunts and cousins and cousins and grandparents impacted by this violence… was Aashvi simply power-hungry and manipulative as ever when she started working with the Friends of the Weave to betray the Rosarian crown, or is this destruction a factor in the strong-willed matriarch’s decision?
We’re surprised to see so many Elves on the Kharkhorin side. Why did they get involved, when Storm grew up with the story that Elves don’t really care about such human affairs? Was the war in fact a human affair? Why did Kharkhorin decide to attack? Why did they use more magic than Rosaria? Neither Storm nor Ezra nor El(drin) can really answer Hali and Fyllion’s questions (nor their own, frankly)
Thinking back on the inscriptions, Storm wonders where Eluviel got the power, was it linked to the looming figure in the fourth painting?
Ezra points out the puzzle pieces: tides, on the young kraken, hell-bent and down below when we went to hell...

As we’re pondering these many mysteries, El(drin) shifts the mask in their hands. By accident, their sightline falls through the eyes of the mask… and El(drin) notices the eyeholes function as sunglasses! Drawn in by that possible protection for their sensitive eyes, El(drin) puts it on.

Exactly at the moment we turn to El(drin), in consternation at his sudden act, we hear a voice titter from upstairs: “Hello, is anyone here". Gladiola Faraday has arrived!

Images


Ezra writes to Enza from Damanhour	the crew recognizes Ezra's excellent efforts at leadership	Lunaire's temple in Damanhour, preview from when the battle ended

Lunaire's envoy to Damanhour	The crystals embedded in the wall seem to gleam and twinkle in Lunaire's darkness	the Gemini constellation (from https://littleastronomy.com/gemini-constellation-for-kids/)

the face of the central statue in the cavern	When El(drin) removes the silver mask, Eluviel's face is revealed!	Our first impression of the paintings in the cavern

The fourth painting in the cavern: Eluvelon dies in Eluviel's arms, during the Kharkhorin/Rosarian war 50 years ago