Broken and Scared

> The battle is over... but at what cost?
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## Summary

Sybl's doll is destroyed by the wraith's attack. It's successful and several black spirits are launched into the sky. The wraith goes after Caius but it misses. Hoshimi walks up to the wraith and burns away the edges of her dancing fans to reveal that they are bladed. She strikes the wraith while muttering the same phrase. A fiery image of a nine-tailed fox appears behind her as the fans decapitate the wraith. The wraith fades away.

Hoshimi is surprised at the flames on her fans that she drops the fans and begins muttering in her native tongue. Boulder helps Xaillen get up while healing him. Hoshimi begins healing Seven as a black miasma pours out of the feet of Sybl's destroyed doll. Xaillen and Hoshimi grow terrified as Sybl begins whimpering and asks where something is. He begins digging through the snow as Adrian Tanlaial remembers the spirits that left Sybl's doll. He takes the scroll of spirit sense and decides to give it to Hoshimi.

As Olwen Edgeworth tries to talk to Sybl, Seven helps snap Hoshimi out of her fearful daze. Sybl finds a fragment of the doll that remained. He cradles it but is still terrified. Flint gets Xaillen to snap back to reality while healing him. He then helps Flint gather the pieces as Hoshimi mentions that the spirits aren't gone and that they've gone to Optimarr. Olwen tries to carry Sybl but he yells not to touch him. He then finds a white hair that was a part of the doll and puts it with the other fragments. Hoshimi recognizes that hair as hers and offers her hands. He's nervously grateful to Hoshimi for her kindness. Xaillen recognizes Sybl's calmness and asks if everyone can give him a piece of themselves be it hair or feathers.

Sybl then notices Boulder and decides to tell Boulder his story because he remembers. Sybl talks about his childhood and how he had a family and friends. After a devastating attack, he was the only survivor. He didn't want fear anymore and his prayers were answered. Sybl them mutters a prophecy:
*I Can see what you see not
Vision Milky, then eyes rot
When you turn they will be gone,
Whispering their hidden song
Then you see what cannot be,
I Shadows move where light should be,
Out of darkness, out of mind,
Cast down, into the Halls of the Blind.*

Sybl collapses into the snow after the prophecy from exhaustion. Olwen, Xaillen and Flint help wrap Sybl in a warm cape and decide to take him back to the Kobold village. Caius interjects saying that Optimarr is literally a stone's throw away. Xaillen interjects saying that a friend is back there and demands that Caius go with him. Eventually Hoshimi submits to going to Optimarr first to make sure Sybl's okay before going back to the fox.

As they get to Optimarr, Boulder bumps into something resembling a force field. Boulder thanks the group for their stories as this is as far as he can go. Yuto comes over the mountain as Xaillen mentions going back for Yuto. Flint thanks Boulder for his help and hugs him while also giving him a small stone carving. Boulder awkwardly hugs back, takes the form of an elk and runs off. Xaillen gives a salute before everyone goes inside the dwarven city.

## Notable events

* The Wraith is killed
* Sybl's fear is released with hairs of the group calming him down
* Sybl tells his story to Boulder
* The party arrives in Optimarr and says goodbye to Boulder