068. Doom 3

The motley bring Talus to the point of no return.

***"It's become popular to rename "easy mode" as "story mode"… but what if you are the narrative?***

The motley may have defeated the shades of their friends from The Spark, but Quiet Word is still surging with Glamour atop the Fountain. Talus has been thrown to the ground, trying to get back up. As Patches mooches away the Rocket to prevent its misuse, Sophia creates a Well of Life, which explodes with force as a tree starts to grow out of the ground… and shows no signs of stopping.

Quiet Word's Abyssal anima flares up, sucking in light from the room. Patches catches Talus in the air with a cantrip, giving him the ability to fly; the portal beneath the fountain seems to be taking shape, strange voices singing out from within. Sophia notices that Mab seems to be transformed in some way: while she has regrown her tail, she is also iridescent. What could this mean? The sidhe uses the Dance of the Five Kings to become an elemental master, drawing rocks away from Starlight Dove's body and hurling them at Quiet Word. Braum climbs Sophia's tree as Patches creates the illusion of Valeria guarding the portal, and the troll takes the opportunity to leap down into the Fountain at the Abyssal. A never-ending rush of Glamour enters Braum as he grapples Quiet Word, who whispers that his strength won't save him now. The Abyssal grows diamonds over his skin as he uses the troll as a shield against Sophia's rocks, and then begins to crush him with superhuman strength.

As Braum's life flashes before his eyes, his Remembrance of his previous self, Rey tells him that he may get knocked down, but getting up again his what he does, no matter the odds. He awakens back in Quiet Word's grip, but with his grip on his Fae heritage slipping, Braum understands that it's do or die. He unleashes Skycraft to blow both of them out of the Fountain while Patches unleashes as well to keep him away from the portal; Sophia, for her part, tries to heal Braum, sealing over his foot stump.

Talus begins to charge up for a huge cantrip, encouraged by the motley: he must be the one to destroy Quiet Word and end his influence over him. Sophia gets the unmistakable feeling that the portal forming in the fountain does *not* lead to Arcadia; when she helps Starlight Dove up, she asks the woman where it leads, and she tells him that it leads to Malfeas, the Underworld. Braum rushes towards the only operational machine in order to destroy it and slow Quiet Word down further; Sophia watches in horror as a blast of necrotic energy from a freed Quiet Word disintegrates Starlight Dove before her eyes.

Braum smashes open the machine just as Sophia confronts Mab again, now starting to change shapes. "What are you?" she asks, just as her chimerical companion morphs into Heart's String, Jorek's old bow, gifted to him by Starlight Dove. As she draws the newly-formed bow, music appears in the stead of an arrow, and Sophia fires at Talus to inspire him; the satyr finally unleashes a huge blast of fire, and the motley pass out.

When they awaken, Quiet Word is gone, and Talus is out cold. The fountain seems to have returned to normal, and as they check the satyr's body, his Dauntain brand is nowhere to be seen. They did it! Patches uses her nocker skills to reattach Braum's foot, noting that once they leave the Dreaming, it will break again in some way. Suddenly, Starlight Dove reappears, congratulating them on creating a miracle. While she isn't sure that they can bring more Dauntain back in the same way, the motley is firm that it is not their place to do so: they've merely proven that it's possible. Talus falls into a deep sleep, and the motley go back through the Deep Dreaming the way they came. On their way they encounter the hooded figure again, now revealed to be Ember, who congratulates them on a job well done, and returns Kaylie to them as well. Returning to their ship, there is no sight of Hirgo, and Patches leaves a monument to the fallen hero. Using Sophia as a guide, they return home.

Finally back at the Spark, the motley step out of the Somnambulus to greet Zistor. The nocker is wide-eyed as they present him with Talus' sleeping, cleansed body. He starts to tear up as he carries him away, telling them that "no one can ever know about this", before revealing how much time has passed: it is now Beltaine!