Episode 182 - Lunarcy

## Synopsis

As Graist’s body turned to crystal, Mira sent a bolt of psychic energy straight into the Disciple’s head, knocking them backwards as blood started to pour out their ears. She then immediately ran towards Graist as Integrity raced after her to try and prevent her doing anything else.

Serinepth ran over to the Disciple and began to apologise profusely, asking if they were ok, and begging for forgiveness. During all this, Winsler took a few hesitant steps closer and looked around bewildered at the sudden chaos.

As Integrity tried to persuade Mira to calm down, she looked to the horns on the wall and noticed a pattern. The materials the horns were made of went in a repeating order: Wooden, Stone, Brass, Steel. After every two hundred horns before she saw one made of crystal, and a hundred after that was one made of bone. Seeing this she suggested to Mira that Graist was just part of the giant cycle now, to which Mira heatedly replied that that meant the Disciple had killed him, and they needed to do something.

While they argued, the Disciple stood up again as Serinepth continued to apologise. They furiously asked “What did you come here for?” Serinepth told them they just wanted to get back to the planet above, to which they told her it’s name was “Isb” (pronounced Ib).

and said that they could look past Mira’s attack if she atoned, as the students making it through the labyrinth was a clear sign of the blessing of Sésul. They walked over to Mira and demanded this atonement. She refused, yelling that none of them wanted to be there, and the Disciple had attacked Graist without reason, so why should she atone.

The Disciple silenced her, telling them that Graist was not dead, he was undergoing a metamorphosis to become the first in the new cycle. With this, Mira calmed down a little, and reluctantly agreed to play a song as atonement. She played a difficult piece from the end of her first year at Wildcliff, and after she finished they accepted the atonement.

The Disciple then addressed the whole group, asking how they arrived in the temple, claiming there was “*no such thing*” when Serinepth told them it was an accident. When she went on to explain the door in the catacombs, and the journey through the planes, they nodded, saying they had arrived through the Gate of Sésul.

After she had explained this, Serinepth told the Disciple that they just wanted to return to Isb. This made them start to laugh as they said “*I think all of us would love nothing more than to return to Isb*,” as they gestured to the spectral version of the planet above them, “*do you not see it there, spectral and untouchable.”*

Mira asked if this was to do with auxiliary planes, to which the Disciple looked confused and turned to Winsler. He explained that they wanted to return to the fake Isb, as it was where they had come from. The Disciple laughed again, pointing to the spectral Isb and saying, “*You did not come from the fake one, in truth all being were created in Isb as it was, and find themselves pulled against their will towards the fake.*” They gestured towards the coloured in Isb.

The Disciple mentioned that recently it had gotten worse, but then seemed to correct itself. Mira asked if they meant the smush, and they once again looked to Winsler for a translation. After he explained that they were involved in the merging of several potentialities, the Disciple nodded, and said “*No accidents, as I told you*.”

Integrity asked how long the Disciple had been in the temple, they told her since the first stone giants had been created by Sésul. She then asked if there was a way to return to the fake Isb. The Disciple told them that one other non-giant had been able to leave the temple, and glanced at the massive doors behind them saying, “*It has been sealed, made corrupt and desecrated by her*.”

When Mira pushed for details on this woman, the only things the Disciple told her were that she looked human, was pompous, and was impatient. When she arrived at the temple, she asked Sésul for power, which was apparently granted. She was sent back to the original Isb, and ever since then it had been inaccessible and corrupted.

The Disciple told them that unless they were willing to pray for power, and fight the corruption behind the doors, they would be stuck in the temple.

Mira asked why the doors had snakes on them, and the Disciple responded that Sésul took many names and forms. Integrity then asked if they’d heard of Sheora. As she mentioned it, Serinepth and Winsler noticed them start to speak before twitching and only saying, *“I have a passing familiarity, why do you ask?”*

Winsler told them they thought it was relevant to the fake Isb, and tried to persuade the Disciple to tell them more. They sighed, and told Winsler that the horns on the walls contained memories from the past, blowing into them would reveal those memories, though they would attempt to stop the students if they tried this. The Disciple told the students that they could help them more, but didn’t want to.

Serinepth asked if there was a way to prove their trustworthiness, and the Disciple pointed to the chained door behind them, *“If you want to help, help the goddess herself. Corruption lies beyond there, if you were sent for the true purpose that Sésul has ordained for you, if you are fit to bear the knowledge that I have, push back the corruption beyond those doors.”*

Mira asked what kind of corruption they were talking about. The Disciple told her that the last person to come through asking for power, they believed she had brought forth something *“beyond the light of Sésul”* that spread and began eating away at Sésul’s power. If the students prayed to Sésul for protection, and they were able to drive that corruption back, the Disciple said they would give them the information they wanted.

Serinepth stood up, and went to find a quiet place to pray. Mira then asked the Disciple if one of the names Sésul had used was Meaphidae, and they told her that she had. They also told Mira that if she met *“that thing”*, pointing at her arm, to tell them what happened in the temple as they were kin. Mira fell silent and went over to Serinepth to begin praying.

Winsler started to walk over to his friends, but was stopped by the Disciple. *“I thank you for your humility, and so should Sésul,”* they said, *“I wish you good fortune in your prayer.”* He continued to walk to Serinepth and Mira.

Integrity picked up some of the food on the cloth, and went to a different private place. In front of her she laid out the food, some coins, and a dagger.

As they sat in prayer, they felt filled with divine power, except Integrity. She felt as though there were daggers stabbing into her back, she looked at her offerings to find them wreathed in holy fire before burning. It seemed that due to her connection to the Progenitor, Sésul did not hear her prayer.

The chains on the massive doors crumbled and broke off, and the Disciple called for them to approach. Serinepth, Winsler, and Mira were surrounded in the soft glow of moonlight, while Integrity was notably lacking this presence. She tried to play it off, but the Disciple accused her of trying to bring more corruption. Integrity swore she wasn’t, and asked what would happen to her if she didn’t get the blessing. Though the Disciple didn’t answer her directly, he wished good fortunes for the others, and simply nodded towards Integrity.

They said they would keep the doors open for a short time, and that if the students didn’t come back soon enough, they would be trapped behind them.

The students walked towards the doors, as Mira passed Graist she saw a small flame flicking in his chest and said, *“Good luck buddy.”*

SWIM forced a slim crack in the massive doors, and slipped through into the adjoining space. They found themselves in a round room with beautifully made steps leading down a few feet. Above them was another skylight, however this one was covered with a stone cage. Behind them the doors slammed shut.

In the centre of the room was a statue of a serpent with two sets of feathered wings. It’s head was broken off, and the rubble beneath the statue looked as though it had been repeatedly smashed apart for centuries. As the students looked closer, Integrity and Winsler noticed the surface of the statue was undulating as thousands of grubs swarmed over it.

After a moment of them standing there, a haunting voice emirates from the grubs, *“Why have you entered into this place? You reek of others. Did you come to collect us as well, to bring us from this prison?”* The grubs began to squirm away from the statue, falling onto the ground and coalesce into two distinct forms. One massive behemoth, twelve feet tall with many arms, the other nine feet tall with spindly arms pulled a long staff topped with an only black stone from its body.

The smaller being spoke again, pointing its staff at Integrity and asking it she had come to bring them to *“rejoin themselves”*, and that on her it could smell their own stench. Integrity asked if it was a warlock, and inside her mind she heard the Progenitor say, *“These are parts of me that I left behind, it would do you good to bring them back with you.”*