A Blaze Of Glory

"**A Blaze Of Glory**" is the third episode of Windrose Everlasting. The party finally meets up in full as a bear-shaped catastrophe ravages the once-quiet woods

## Summary

After hearing explosions in the distance, Velvet and Atticus make their way towards the site of the train crash, along with a single Aranean guard. Atticus attempts to use his noise-making machine (which he has dubbed the "Yak-Bak") to attract the chimera with machine and bear noises. With Velvet's assistance, the lure actually manages to work, and a large, hulking metallic bear moves out of the fire, dragging an unconscious Aranean guard behind it as it lifts the guard into a cage on its back. The Aranean guard explains that it was trained to be a taxi and, in the chaos, must have had some of its wiring disturbed. He also explains that, as an experiment, the chimera outranks him due to its value to the Aranean research division.

Velvet attempts to subdue to taxi bear with a sedative by strapping a syringe to one of Atticus's rockets and firing it at the bear. Her attack is followed up by the Aranean using a faulty self-heating skillet as a grenade and Atticus mixing the Yak-Bak with flowers to create a sensory overload grenade. The combined assault disturbs the bear, freeing a trapped Aranean guard. The bear attempts to attack Velvet, but her surprising strength stops it from overpowering her. In the struggle, Delphi falls out of the cage. She remarks that Velvet is a doctor and asks her to fix her broken arm. Velvet pushes the bear away and leads Delphi to some nearby stumps to inspect the broken arm. Atticus and the Aranean guard continue subduing the bear.

After briefly inspecting Delphi, Velvet returns to subduing the bear, and attempts to create a loud ambulance noise with the Yak-Bak that could force the bear's taxi programming to make it pull over. The attempt does actually manage to briefly disorient the bear, which gives Velvet the opportunity to set Delphi's arm and put it in a sling. Meanwhile, Atticus stuffs one of his rockets with nearby mushrooms and flies into the air, dousing the bear in hallucinogens, further disorienting it and freeing the rest of the kidnapped survivors from its cage.

Selene and Ned drop out of the cage along with another Aranean guard. Before the bear can attack, Selene uses her Magic to create a portal that drops her and Ned near Velvet, who helps ease their wounds with the help of a magic sheep summoned by Delphi's own magic. As Atticus and the Araneans continue confronting the bear, Selene attempts to use her fireworks to assist, but most of them miss the mark. Following this, she attempts to use her magic in conjunction with Delphi's to trap the bear in a portal loop, but the spell fails and they're both rocketed to either end of the clearing. The bear then attempts to claw at Atticus, but Ned distracts it. Atticus uses the opening to jump on the bear and hotwire its mechanical parts, finally staggering it enough to bring it to unconsciousness.

The Aranean guards leave, leaving the group alone in a still-burning clearing. They inspect the wreckage of the train and conclude that the bear did actually gather up all the survivors. Atticus inquires as to the nature of Delphi's sheep, and she explains how it's more of an arcane construct based on the philosophical pinnacle of a sheep. Delphi then invites the group to rest at her inn back at Crossroads, which they accept. As the group departs, a piece of paper that Selene is holding is magically emblazoned with a message to lie low. She complains to herself about it and then follows the group.

## Characters

### PCs

* Atticus
* Velvet
* Selene
* Sprout