The Next Step

After the dragon fight(4:46), Fate's Chosen moves to carve up the dragon. Leona and Kesra have a hard time, both puncturing the dragon's ice breath sac, and getting blasted with cold breath. Eventually, though, they manage to harvest a fair amount from the dragons. Alexander teleports them all back to Wolfecrest to recover.

In Wolfecrest(19:12), Alexander takes Ronnie down to his lab and waits for him to wake up. Kesra asks Leona to see if Aureo will let them use the war room after they all rest up. Meanwhile, Atlas goes and finds Aureo himself, apologizing for having broken his trust, and offering him a coin with his own blood pressed into it as a marker of a debt that he owes Aureo.

After about an hour and a half(27:48), Ronnie wakes up. Alexander talks to him a bit, making sure that the lesson about his foolhardiness has sunk in, and learning a bit about the boy's background and goals. Alexander advises him to temper his goals with some patience, and join the guard.

Elden gets a visit from Aureo(35:08), who takes him to an empty room with a mirror on the back wall. He tells Elden it's a Distance Mirror, which allows him to communicate over a long distance, and says there's someone who wants to speak with him. It's Val. She's injured, but will recover. She tells him the fight for the capital was one of the worst fights she's ever been in. She lost her stone somewhere along the way. The two both express their care for the other, and look forward to seeing each other again.

Fate's Chosen re-assemble(46:49) in the war room. Kesra slides Echo's Lament onto the table, and they discuss it. Rey mentions that the stories say that attuning to it can potentially kill you. Alexander identifies it, saying that it's a powerful item, especially helpful for healers. This leads to a wider discussion of the gems of the Veldahar, and Kesra leaves to get her horse and bring her to tell the others what she knows.

Meanwhile(59:55), Rey tells Leona that he needs to go to the capital tomorrow, and he's planning a trip to the hell in 6 weeks to rescue his mother. Elden pledges to go along, as does Atlas. Alexander asks Rey about his brother, Zane, and Rey says that Zanalore Sylvarian is the one to speak to about that.

Kesra and Red chat(1:05:09) about the Veldahar while Kesra is on her way to go find her and bring her into the castle. Finding that Fate's Chosen has been asked to leave the War Room for a council meeting, they head into town instead, going to Malamir's magic shop. They show Malamir Deirdre's dress, which he tells them is worth at least 50,000 gold pieces. He says that he can't take it in trade, because he'd never be able to sell it, but they can take it to the City of Brass, where he knows an Efreet woman named Fita who would buy it from them. Leona asks about if she could get the Armor of Agathys spell put into a necklace. Alexander also asks about an item with the Shield spell, but both are too expensive. They wind up just buying the Animated Shield that Elden had seen previously.

After the shopping trip(1:33:06), they reconvene in the War Room with Red. Kesra tells them that Red knows where the pieces of the Veldahar were originally left, but doesn't know for certain where they are now. Thus far, other than Lorekeeper, they have all ben where they were left, though. Echo's Lament had been left with a halfling lineage close to the Macierre family. The Sun Stone is in I'olynne, in the Dunes of Dread, under a pyramid. Atlas knows of this temple, and it's highly cursed. The Jewel of Heaven is guarded fiercely at a temple of Kord in Quan'Mal.

The crown itself(1:38:48) Red believes to be protected by a Tome Archon on Mt. Celestia. Red tells Kesra she can't go to Mt. Celestia, as she was banished from there. She used to serve a Tome Archon, but messed up. She used to serve Quan'Mal himself, but Asmodeus killed him - he hid all the pieces of the Veldahar first, though. She is sentenced to serve 100 heirs to the Veldahar, and is imprisoned when she's not serving one. She's served 6 heirs before Kesra, and has been at this since the Dawn War. She feels that she deserves the punishment, though, and is willingly serving it.

The group discusses(1:49:33) what their next move should be. They discuss going to I'olynne next, and that Captain Amelia Burke could take them, but they might have to wine and dine her a little bit. They also talk about possibly returning to McGrath's tower and using the telescope there to get to I'ollyn. Alexander points out that McGrath may already be back at the tower. Alexander reaches out to Captain Burke, who is clearly not happy with them. They decide that a fancy dinner party is in order to get back in her good graces. In preparation, they purchase some fine alcohol, and a very fancy captain's coat.

In the meantime(2:16:51), Alexander reaches out to his mother, admitting that he is, in fact, familiar with the magics his brother is saying he is. She responds that his brother is saying a lot of things, but she still loves Alexander. It's probably just as well that he's away for a little while - his father and Dawn are not in a place of reason. He also gets a sending from his brother, Apollo, who says that he's there for Alexander.

Elden, in his room(2:27:10), is remembering lightning strikes in an old decrepit farmhouse, and strange visions of an oracle, as he chooses the word "Malrian" as the activation word for his shield.