Ecdysis

*Ecdysis* is the title of the twelfth episode of the second season of S.H.A.D.O.W. and the twenty fourth session of the entire game.

This session was played on March 4th, 2018

## Ecdysis

### Writer

Jonny Christie, Matt Christie, Rob Christie, Richie Maynard, Eric Rios, Corey Sexton

## Plot

Saint Hylophagous finally reveals his reason for ending Black Lotus.

## Synopsis

The ship arrives on the beach of Karton Island. Rathisi is the last on the ship and watches as Hylophagous just starts annihilating everyone else. Cal, Ela, Aragi, Sachayoj, and even Phylyco. He starts to walk towards Rathisi as he wakes up from the nightmare. The ship hasn’t actually docked yet so Rathisi rushes upstairs to make sure everything is okay. It is. And what he witnessed doesn’t come to fruition. He’s confused and cautious. Hylophagous pulls out his gem, Phylyco takes out his, and Cal pulls out Sachayoj’s. Rathisi then pulls out his and they all release them into the beam form it made previously. Cal still holds onto the gem. It’s obnoxious but manageable. They head out in the direction the gems showed them. The group run into a disfigured Hob Goblin named Jeez. He escorts them to Aktavlik, The Hob Goblin city and they rest there for the night. Aragi makes a lot of innuendos about his former cell mate, Girth. Cal loves it. The party gets a very minute amount of information about Greywater and the Saints before going to bed.

Rathisi wakes up to everyone dead around him. He follows the sound of someone getting stabbed and finds Phylyco decimating Aragi. He turns to look at the dragon and he wakes up. Rathisi slaps the Saint awake and accuses him of messing with his dreams. He denies it and that pisses the dream thief off. He then accuses Phylyco which goes nowhere also. He lets it go, for now. The group has a lovely hob breakfast until The Saint realizes the Tree is missing. Sachayoj is out in the forest, trying to figure out this mysterious island’s greenery. They continue their journey as he returns and get to a blood red river where the Saint admits it’s where they dump the failed tiefling corpses. They’re irked but follow it to a collection of floating mountains. Rathisi and Phylyco attempt to fly up but there is a magic barrier that shatters the broom and sends them back to the ground. Luckily, they don’t take too much damage. Rathisi decides to freeze the water fall so they can all climb up and they do. They make it to the edge of the cliff and have to scuttle across until they find a way past the barrier. They make it to a time shifting tree that is partially out of the barrier. As it shifts the barrier is open for a moment so they one at a time have to slip through. Hylophagous, Aragi, and Phylyco make it through easily however, when it is Sachayoj’s turn he misjudges the timing and gets knocked off the edge. He holds onto the root and the twins manage to save him, barely. He attempts to enter again and succeeds; the rest make it through no problem and arrive at the Temple.

Rathisi doses off while they rest and when he awakens he finds all of his allies with vines growing out of all their bodies. He looks down a way and sees Aguero, with flaming eyes staring him down. He is shaken awake by Aragi, and he is livid. He loses his cool on Sachayoj this time and they all take a breath and just need to chill out. Hylophagous thinks it has to do with the Gems and they all want to agree with him so they leave it at that. Hylophagous hands his gem to Aragi and his true injured form returns. They all decide to enter the temple and immediately have to deal with a militia of Time monks. The Twins finally fuse and become the Ebonscar which is startling but the rest keep their composure for now. They are pretty outnumbered so Hylophagous creates a door for them to escape through but Phylyco decides to stay behind. The rest come in contact with armored, more intimidating monks so Sachayoj, and the Ebonscar stay behind to fight them while the rest move deeper into the temple. They hold their own but Sachayoj decides to attack the Ebonscar because, he’s chaotic, and it splits them back into the twins. They both go down and it seems like He’s going to kill them but Aguero’s conscious takes over and he heals Ela. Luckily, Cal survives as well and they go to catch up with the others.

Rathisi once again awakens to Sachayoj running up to them telling them that the twins are dead as an arrow goes through his chest. Aragi begins to stab Hylophagous repeatedly and as Phylyco arrives he shouts copper and his yaka whizzes through his head. He prepares to say it again as Rathisi actually wakes up. He’s so over it that he decides to show Aragi and Hylophagous what he’s been witnessing. They also don’t take it kindly. Phylyco returns covered in blood, followed shortly by Sachayoj dragging the unconscious twins and one monk. The Saint asks if they are dead which the tree states no and he notices that Aguero is back in control. That is incredibly helpful to them so Hylophagous takes the monk and kills him, opening the door to the inner sanctum. They leave the twins outside and enter. Hylophagous takes Phylyco’s gem and places it in one of the designated spots in the center console. A Red smoke emits from the gem and reveals the shape of Di-Syl. He thanks them and a low buzzing begins. A massive Chasme attacks them. They try to hold it off and put two more of the gems into the console which awakens a Drider and a Vrock. They all hold there own as best they can and kill all three monstrosities before placing the final gem into the console. An invisible Stalker appears and takes Aragi down since… it’s invisible. Phylyco starts tossing oil around the room to find this creature and succeeds, placing the final blow and the last gem begins to glow with the rest. A large purple beam shoots into the sky and Aguero shifts back into his normal form. He realizes immediately that he can’t sense magic anymore. Magic is dead. They don’t have time to process it however because the mountains begin to fall from the sky. Cal wakes up just as the carnage begins so Rathisi grabs Ela and Hylophagous grabs Aragi and they bolt. The Saint and Rathisi jump with the Bodies to the surface and are unharmed. Aragi and Ela awaken from the sheer inertia. Aguero can’t see anything so Cal tries to lead him to safety. Phylyco stands at the edge of the falling mountain. He looks badass until Cal, with Aguero in tow, tackles him off the side to safety. Phylyco stabs Cal in anger. And they argue about bullshit until Hylophagous steps over to Aguero to comfort him. They head back to the ship where the Saint wishes Phylyco a happy birthday. They return to the Circus, feeling all sorts of emotions, and they spot a crowd formed. Lara runs to Aragi in tears, The Twins head to Mal to see what happened, Phylyco and Rathisi head back to their tents, uninterested, and Hylophagous and Aguero go to the Tent where Ximer steps out, disheveled. Aguero senses something and decides to go into the tent where he finds Mathite completely stripped of her scales and limbs, hanging by her Tail, Dead. He drops to his knees. The screen fades to black as a Dragon Roars in the distance.

## Cast

### Main

* Aragi Maxul
* Phylyco Brokenwhisper
* Lara Youngheart
* Aguero Cryhawk
* Mathite'Vomenos
* Elatherial Ebonscar
* Calapharious Ebonscar
* Mal Bloodjaw
* Rathisi'Defteros
* Saint Hylophagous

### Supporting

* Hayvard Ximer
* The Demon Sachayoj

## Trivia

* Season 2 finale.
* Mathite'Vomenos is the third major NPC to die and the first in the main cast.
* This session marks the end of the Black Lotus monastery.
* Di-Syl makes a cameo in this episode and is the first deceased player character to reappear after their death.