Heart of Tyre: Episode 04

### Reddit Thread

***Heart of Tyre* Episode 4** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on August 3, 2020, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on October 29, 2020.

## Summary

After Fleshcrime Omega leaves, the party get their spoils of battle and find six wooden tablets with transforming runes. Neve reads the runes and it spells out "key". The party then go back to the first room to portal back to camp and see that the flesh door that was closed earlier is now open. The party decides to head back and delay exploring the room to the next run.

As they activate the portal stone, it doesn't work and Seren gets a painful migraine; images of parts of the labyrinth bombard her mind and she falls unconscious. The party tries to save Seren by giving her a mix of the white and silver herb for mental acuity and clarity. Suddenly, Seren mouth starts foaming and she goes into a seizure; the pupils in her eyes become tentacle-like and change into a spiral.

Meanwhile, a voice calls to Seren and asks who she is. Seren answers and the voice introduces himself as The Brass King. The brass king continues saying how they are the same and how they are inside of everything. Then a towering robed humanoid figure in bright brass and golden hues demands Seren to stare into his brain. The brass king then warns Seren of those who know the enemy and question if her mental stability can handle for what is ahead. Seren asks the Brass King for his intentions and he responds "**without us there would be no after**." Seren agrees to work with him and the Brass King advises her to train herself before Seren wakes up from the trance.

The portal stone in now functioning again and they head back to camp. As they step out of the portal, Seren instantly looks at Vizier and invade his mind for her psionic power had suddenly activated. Vizier falls to the ground bleeding out of his nose as Seren uncontrollably starts to feast on his mind. Seren tries to stop herself but the pure ecstasy of the feast overpowers her will. Neve tries to stop Seren but she is pushed back and her mind reverberates from Seren's power. Neve rushes to Erin for help while Morc carries Vizier away from Seren. Vizier is then able to recover from Seren's mind attack and Seren's trace is released. Seren gains a +1 intelligence from this event.

Erin comes in and true sights Seren to see the Brass King stare at his Leviathan like two apex predators standing on the same mountain. Erin and Seren move into a nearby tent to talk about what happen. Erin suggests ways to calm Seren mind, one of which is Tyre's tin foil hat, while Seren explain what is happening in their part of the Labyrinth, including the Depthar. Out of nowhere, Seren's psionic power activate again and try to invade Erin's mind.

Erin realizes that the only way to save himself is knock Seren out and he uses his Leviathan to clash with the Brass King. As their minds crash into each other, it stuns both Erin and Seren and creates a shard shining a violet light. The shard cracks like a hatching egg revealing the location of the *Heart of Tyre* in Azengolt as well as a group of adventurers from Verum near its location. Erin determines that the shard is a Shard of Divinity left by The Seven and immediately hides it. Now the beings inside Erin and Seren respect each other and made a temporary alliance. Seren also notice that her mask has changed to a brass color and the expression on that mask is now a symbol of a cartoonish corpse's eye ("X\_X") and that when she wears her new mask, her psionic powers activate but they are weak for she needs more infection to make it stronger.

Seren relays the information to the rest of the party and they decide to talk to other parties in the encampment. The party goes to the *Shadow of Tyre* party and asks if they recognize any of the names they found on the guest list they recorded in the Arcane Labyrinth. Seren also tries to ask the Babylon members in the party about the stone, a representation of one of her oaths, but as Eustace tries to look at it, Avadecci stops him and warns him (through his nipple) about messing with other people oaths; he also says (also through his nipple) that his brother's face is on route to the camp.

The party recognizes Derok Dranf from one of Zetor's vision after being unleashed by Eustace using the covenant. The party said that there were six bindings had to be undone for the seven to emerge and Derok Dranf did the second. As a changeling, Ahst also takes a form as Derok Dranf and appears exactly like Antonius. Antonius memories suddenly come back to him. He remembers when a terrible atrocity happen to his sister by would-be paladins of Glory and him calling to Crowley for revenge. He remembers when he went into those caves and slaughtering every person who did those horrible thing to his sister and he remembers when Crowley gave him his true form to who he is today. Antonius finds out that he is Derok Dranf and he becomes a Cardinal.

From this interaction, Ahst and Neve also finds out that changelings are actually living mirrors. They are attempts by the Hagmothers to replicate the power of the traveler, Tomen, as he is now officially "unlocked" as a deity in the Blue Pantheon. Derok takes Ives into the forest to contemplate what has become of him. Ives suggests that he should go to Braktor and ask him for advice.

After Derok finishes the conversation, he leaves to find Braktor while Ives stays behind. In this quiet, secluded area of Camp Last Stand, the winds blow through the leaves and a trail opens to which Ives follows. As Ives reaches the end of the path, which is know known as "*The Trees of Revelation,*" he starts to reflect on those he has murdered. Ives' sees a small shrine that catches his eye. It represents Vavren. Ives wonders if what he is doing is enough; can he be redeemed or even forgiven. A soft hand is placed on Ives shoulder, and he expects to be killed. As the hand lets go and Ives' turns around; he sees Vavren. Vavren gestures a greeting and Ives nods in response. The red autumn leaves gently swirl to surround the both of them. Vavren takes one of the leaves, puts it to his chest, changing the color to green as he lets go. He gestures for Ives to do the same. Ives' gently plucks a leaf out of the air and stares down at it.

*As one walks towards salvation, before they can be forgiven by others, they must first forgive themselves.*

Ives, thinking about his sister, smiles and lets go of the leaf as it changes green. All the red leaves now turn green and Vavren disappears leaving an arrow laying horizontally on the ground, engraved with the mark of the crow. Ives picks up the arrow with both hands and, looking up at the sky, says, *"Thank you"*. Ives places the arrow inside his Top Hat quiver, providing him the use of *Crowstorm,* a volley of arrows that will rain down in a 30 feet radius. Ives then heads back to camp, brimming with purpose.

Meanwhile, Ahst and Neve also go into the forest to talk about their revelations. They talk about why they feel incomplete and as try to imitate each other. However, they feel like they need a third changeling to complete the trigram (when completed could reveal humanity's origins). They then see a vision of a third changeling and hopes they can find her one day to complete the trigram.

The party then goes the *Soul of Tyre* party. Derok talks to Braktor about what happens and Braktor gives advice on how to be a Cardinal and The Seven were flawed beings themselves that were dragged into this mess just like themselves. Renewed, Derok and Braktor come back to the rest of the group where Belanovan gives Seren one thousand golds worth of diamond dust.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Derok Dranf
* Ives
* Neve
* Madd Morc
* Seren

### New

* The Brass King
* Avadecci
* Vavren

### Returning

* Braktor
* Erin
* Eustace
* Belanovan
* Ahst

### Mentioned

* Nox
* Tysk
* Terryn
* Glory

## References

1. ↑ Tweet by @gloriousArcadum. *Heart of Tyre Ep. 4 ft. @NaomiOop @ScottJund @msf\_actual @SummersSalt @Russ\_Money at twitch.tv/arcadum*