Session 34: Trial By Combat

It is with the beginnings of an energy drink-infused psychosis that we began our Trial by Combat session

* We began in the Scientist’s Tower, where Daelynn sat in disbelief beside a friend she had mourned for oh so long
	+ She discusses her heartbreak, her uncertainty at everything she knows
	+ It’s alluded to that Tato and Daelynn are siblings though it is clear Daelynn does not recognise the name ‘Lyza’ as her own.
	+ Daelynn asks that they take Ecath somewhere safe without being seen whilst she gets ready for combat
	+ Ramzi deposited Ecath in one of the spare rooms in their corridor, completely missing the chaos that came to erupt moments later
* As Tato and Morgan began descending the castle, Tato spotted their fiance, Clara down the hall. At that moment, as they ran towards each other, Clara passed out, leaving Tato to frantically freak out
* In the Astronomy Plane, Marcus, who had been reading at Lunari’s pond the last few weeks, found himself face-to-face with the dreamself of Lyza. Lunari explained that there was some awful things occuring in the Material Plane, one of which was the Facility trying to force Lunari into taking a Vassal
	+ By forcing Lyza or, as we know her, Daelynn, to sleep for days on end, her body and mind would begin to wither away without the support of a deity’s contract
	+ Lunari asks Marcus to return to the Material Plane and take down Faephine for good. While she would love to have him remain with his friends, Clara’s sacrifice of half of her heart meant that only one of them could exist at once
	+ In the last moments before Marcus returned to the Material Plane with Bant, his snowy owl familiar, he watched as the contract between Daelynn and Lunari was cemented, the Empress now bearing a crescent moon upon her back.
* Marcus awoke to the sound of Tato’s frantic cries, being discovered by Morgan who ended up aiding his friend to his feet. Marcus explained the situation to his companions, easing some of Tato’s worries but not their longing to see their fiance.
* After a bit of catching up between them all, the group retired to fit in a long-rest before the Trial that evening
* Morgan, needing significantly less time to sleep, went down to see Voldi who was, unsurprisingly, down in her workshop with her two fiances.
	+ Voldi informs Morgan that, while the gun is not yet complete, she is making some good progress with it, just needs a few more components she is trying to source
	+ They nerd out a bit, they’re both gun nerds
* On the way out, Entari catches his brother and asks if he would prefer he keep their mother away from the arena. While Morgan does assent to her being there, he does ask that his brother stop her from interfering should anything bad happen to him
* Making their way to the arena with Daelynn leading them, the party uses the opportunity to show off a little
* In the stadium, Daelynn announces to the crowd about the fight, introducing her mother as the defendant for all of her crimes to the nation and its people.
	+ Speaking from her heart, she announces that she will not be fighting as the creature she has been made out to be, releasing the magic that had enchanted her for many years. She stood before the crowd as a scarred barbarian, wielding a large, intimidating war axe
	+ As combat continued and the party took down Faephine, the remnants of her mortal form flaked away to reveal a disturbing lich robed in tattered black, skin sallow and falling away.
	+ With a single, garbled word, Morgan hit the ground, dead, after a powerful Power Word Kill. He was later revived by Ramzi however the brief time on the other side allowed him to see his deity, the Warrior.
* Finally, taking the lich down, our party stood breathing heavily, watching and waiting to see if she would get up for a second time. When she didn’t a roar swept over the crowd and our party knew they had finally won.

And that was it for our session! Next sesh is 24/08/2022.