Episode 184 - Many Moons Ago

## Synopsis (abridged)

The students returned to the Moon temple and encountered the Disciple, who expressed surprise at their survival. They discussed the power and history of the goddess, Sésul, and her waning influence. Mira inquired about past events, Empress Terassis, and the Ascendants, but the Disciple's knowledge was limited. Winsler mentioned a book from another plane, Isathil, which upset the Disciple. They revealed that when the duplicate version of Isb was created, six lesser divines (this plane's gods) emerged, scavenging Sésul's diminishing power. The false Isb lacked natural magic, hinting at the uniqueness of the original Isb.

The Disciple indicated that three planes had moved closer to Isb, suggesting an effort to reclaim power. The students considered potentially recovering Sésul's magic. They inquired about Terassis, who the Disciple recalled once approached them and begged them for power, speaking of the Hatch being used to kill people. The Disciple noted that the Progenitor came from a place known as the Deep Plane, and that the Hatch may be a pathway from there to Isb if powered by a potent arcane focus, such as the orbs.

While examining horns on the wall, Integrity learned from the Disciple about the cycle of giants' rebirth, including the lesser-known storm and hill giants. Graist was transforming into a storm giant, signaling a renewal of the giants' cycle on Isb. Mira sought clarity her arm. The Disciple, revealing themselves as a Couatl, a primordial snakelike servant of the goddess, explained that Mira's arm shared a similar nature; it was a Couatl that was not yet fully formed. Mira questioned why Neska, who claimed to be a disciple of the goddess, tried to take her arm. The Disciple suggested Neska wasn't a true believer.

After the students expressed their desire to return to Isb, The Disciple explained that praying in a corruption-free room might get them the goddess's attention. They each prayed, Mira receiving a comforting message from the voice of Sésul/Meaphidae, and their surroundings shifted. They found themselves back in the Sunken Hatch at Wildcliff. The group, recalling their absence, checked their sending slates, which were filled with messages of concern from Kurt. Serinepth and Mira texted back, asking for Angelika and their possessions to be sent back to Wildcliff. Amidst this, Integrity experienced disturbing visions of the Progenitor in pain and distress.

Crowe, situated in his Troisle office, reviewed countless messages in detail and took notes. Upon confirming that the students were safe and at Wildcliff, he instructed Osgool to pack up their rooms for transportation to Wildcliff. Anticipating a meeting with the students to discuss Sheora-related matters. Crowe continued his meticulous examination of the students' confidential slate messages.

## Synopsis (detailed)

The students eventually finished their group hug, and stood up. Together they pushed open the large doors, and walked back into the Moon temple.

They saw the statue of Graist now had a large blue flame inside his chest, growing larger over time. The Disciple was meditating facing the door. When it opened, they looked in shock as the four students all returned alive. "*I did not expect the four of you to live."* They looked pointedly at Integrity, who had failed to receive the goddess' blessing.

*"Yeah we seem to be exceeding that expectation pretty often,"* said Mira.

Winsler also looked at them and said, *"I mean it's done, we did it."*

*"Yes, thank you!"* The Disciple stood and walked towards them all, closing the door and they did so.

*"I cannot thank you enough for this."*

Mira wanted answers. *"You can start by explaining."*

*"Yes, I can explain to you. This must have been meant to be by the goddess then, there are no accidents then, you were sent here for this purpose."*

The Disciple moved back to the main part of the room, gesturing for the students to follow. They waved their hand and conjured another rug with food and water. *"Sit, eat! None of you look very well. What would you have me answer, what questions do you have?"*

Mira sat down. *"You saw everything right? About Sheora or you know, Sésul's old place, you saw all of that right?"*

*"I saw what I was told by giants who came here during that era. I did not go to Isb and witness that for myself. I only witnessed two cycles during that time, as well as the woman who came to me, well not to me but to the shrine, to plea for power, that is all I saw that era of Isb."*

*"Ok ok, two questions. That woman who came to plea for power, did she look like an Empress, did she have a jade circlet thing?"* Mira described Empress Terassis to the Disciple.

*"The woman was in distress, I remember that, and impatient and angry. She wore robes, like any of your kind would, and wore a covering over her face, that is all I remember."*

Mira thought back to the Loft of Elders, where she had seen Terassis wearing a face covering in the orb's memory.

*"Ok that's what I thought, and the giants, did they say anything about a woman named Neska or a thing named Neska? She's someone from that civilisation, someone who wants something from us, the orb I guess. We've killed her but she might still be around somehow, and I want to know what she wants, or what she can do, or why she's... Please tell me you know something about her, or the Ascendants in general, anything?"*

*"Were these servants of the goddess or were they a corrupting force?"*

*"Servants, I think, servants."*

*"Why would you kill servants to the goddess, to Sésul?"*

*"Well they wanted to kill us, it was really a survival situation. She killed a very good friend of ours and tried to kill several of us. I don't know why, I don't know what she really wanted, or why any of this is happening to us. Just, does Ascendants mean anything to you, does consuming orchid dust, The Sight, any of that?"*

The Disciple walked to the wall filled with horns, and traced their finger along the ledges until they arrived at a metallic horn that curved and flowed like a river that they picked up.

*"During the time that these people, this place, worshipped the Creator, the fire giants walked the land. This I can blow and see if there is anything there, but I don't mean to get your hopes up I have not heard of Ascendants. I know there were non-giants who did worship our goddess and called her by different names, but I have not heard of Ascendants. I will blow this for you, and see if it will illuminate anything else for us."* The Disciple closed their eyes and blew the horn, letting out a single, grating, low note.

After a moment, they stopped playing and opened their eyes. *"The memories given into this horn by whatever giant came here after the end of that cycle, there is tale of Ascendants, and an empire which took over their wood. Sacrifices given to priests in order to allow for Ascendance. Rumors of some creature from beyond the sky, I assume that to be the corruption yes?"*

*"Yes, it's the remnants of that creature."*

*"There is no memory of a person named Neska, or what they wanted, what they sought for. I'm sorry, I would give you more on this if I could. If you've killed her, then surely the risk has passed. Meaphidae, or the Creator's power wanes so servants of hers I don't think... I don't know, they might be without guidance."*

*"Ascendance is a form of unmortality we think. We think it's some way of sacrificing someone, and maybe eating a heart, and getting some special power, and they can make more bodies and... Is there anything like that? Do giants know anything like that even if they have a different name for it?"*

*"Cycles could present one with some sort of extended life, but I as Disciple to the goddess live through her power. If I were to die my soul would go before her, to bask in her glory, my body would rot. Given the power of the goddess, if she gave me the ability to, I could return to the mortal world yes. If this person you speak of is, as you say, a devout of the goddess, she might have that power too. But the goddess' power wanes, she would not give that out to simply anyone at this moment. This is why you fought that corruption there, it saps the goddess' power, took from her what little she had left. When the false Isb was created, this imitation world appeared in the sky, her power felt split to me. I saw no prophecy, I saw no omens of this. The woman came here and made a plea, she went back to Isb. In those moments her power, the goddess' power, waned."*

*"So the same power, divided amongst two Isbs, is that what you're saying?"* Mira asked.

*"No, her power is not in the new Isb. There's no remnants of natural magic in that world, it has not a figment within it."*

*"Wait, do you know what a month is?"*

*"Giants of old kept time, this was also thrown about when that appeared in the sky, I don't what you mortals do down there. Perhaps that would be something lost to time. It's just a word for time, why?"*

*"Well, when I was in a different plane a while ago I heard that word, and that made it sound like that was also something from another time, another plane, and I just... yeah. Thank you I appreciate it, sorry if anyone else has any questions I just wanted to know."*

Winsler spoke up. *"You said it was devoid of any natural magic right, the fake Isb?"*

*"Yes that is correct, it lacks a figment."*

*"Uh, I think we may have encountered something along those lines, some sort of left over piece of what you might be referring to."*

*"What do you speak of?"*

Winsler described the book he found in the Loft. *"It had some spells that I wasn't too familiar with, it was in another plane."*

*"Which one?"*

*"Isathil."*

As soon as Winsler mentioned Isathil, the Disciple gasped, and the horns on the walls shuddered.

*"We do not speak the names of lesser divines in these halls. I told you that her power fragmented or shrank in a moment. When the new Isb appeared in the sky, in my sky, so to did those six others. Lesser divines from the same place that the goddess might have emerged from time immemorial past. Swept up some fragments of her power, and created their own worlds. Not as powerful as Sésul's but nonetheless they created them. That one you spoke the name of, young gnome, sequestered much of the natural magic left over in these worlds, if in the space outside, and also took upon themselves the name of '*Deity of Creation*',"* The Disciple shook their head before continuing, *"there is not two deities who can create, there is a lesser divine who claims to, and the goddess of creation herself."*

Integrity also spoke up and asked, *"So these six lesser divines that you call them, they are not a part of Sésul?"*

*"No, scavengers who showed up in the aftermath of her power waning. Their domains have figments however, natural magic emanates from them, but not false Isb, for I think the goddess' power is to weak to create two planes in identical images, and both have such a thing at their centre. But, if there was perhaps only one Isb, if some miraculous people restored it in some way—"*

Winsler cut them off. *"Well you mentioned that before when we brought up that whole thing regarding the potentiality that we mentioned. You said that there was some changes in the sky right? Something had happened that was different?"*

*"Yes, three of those planes,"* The Discple pointed to the sky, *"three of those came more in line with Isb itself. Three remained where they were before but closer in a way, still distant though. I don't know if that was the world or the goddess herself trying to reclaim the stolen power from those divines, or something external acting, but it did change. The only three that did not were the plane of the thief which you spoke of earlier, that one with red lightning, and that of the brown cloud. The other three seem more controlled, less out of synchronicity."*

*"I wonder if there's a way that we could maybe bring those more in line with one another, I wonder what that would change."*

*"You could travel there, steal the magic back from those divines. You fought back the corruption in the other room, I'm sure something like that would be a simple task for the four of you yes?"*

The four students stuttered and hesitated, and admitted they hadn't had the best luck when they travelled to the Isathil. The Disciple looked disheartened.

*"In your time in the false Isb, do you know of any siphons of magic? I do not know where the power of the goddess went in your new Isb, that is an area that is not known to me. None of the giants of this world have engaged with, interacted with such things, their natural magics are gone. Have you seen anything like that?"*

Winsler thought back to his history classes at Wildcliff, trying to remember any unexplained areas of high magical concentration. He remembered the North and South Poles were filled with magic, as well as Wildcliff itself. Despite hundreds of years of students casting spells and harnessing its arcane power, it remained a hub of arcane and divine energy.

Integrity caught the attention of her friends, and mouthed the word *"Orbs"*. Making the connection between the Wildcliff and the Hatch, Winsler asked if the Disciple knew anything about it.

*"The woman I told you of screamed of such things, I did not listen to them, but she pleaded with the goddess herself. Beyond this, again I told you, giants from the horn,"* they gestured at the horns behind them, *"those fire giants gave up lives and sacrificed to Meaphidae innumerous times. The last one came here to renew the cycle, and was the last cycle of old Isb. When they were reborn they were sent to new Isb, but I did not hear of a Hatch from them. The only person I've heard scream and squawk about it was the woman who came here to gain power."*

*"What did she say about it?"* Mira asked.

*"She was screaming about it being used to kill people, to store things within it. I assumed it to be some small magical vessel of a sort. I don't engage with non-giant history quite often, like I said, the four of you are the most who have been here who are not of giantkind."*

Integrity asked, *"So it's seeming to me that this person that came to you and was asking for power, was asking Sésul for the power to create a Hatch?"*

*"I think it was power to stop something to do with the Hatch, it's been millennia."*

Mira had a thought. *"To stop the Progenitor, did she say Progenitor?"*

*"No, I've not heard the word. Is that the corruption, the name which it takes?"*

*"Yeah."*

*"It came from beyond the light of the goddess, a place far at the edge of our reality called the Deep Plane."*

*"What else do you know about it?"*

*"Nothing escapes from that place, that is what I know of it. It is the... I shouldn't say nothing escapes, things, creatures, foul beings at the periphery, they live there and cannot access our world. But things like time, matter itself, some emotions. They emanate from that place."*

*"Would it be possible to summon something from that plane, if they were invited in?"* Mira asked, *"because as much as I remember, I think it was the Ascendants or somebody, invited it in somehow."*

*"If you created a pathway or a bridge between those places, the same as what you would have walked on to come from Isb to this place. Yes, a pathway through the Astral Sea could be bent between the Deep Plane and Isb. Yes, sufficiently powerful person could do that."*

*"Like the Hatch, is that the Hatch? I know you don't know but if someone built the Hatch to bring the Progenitor here, then—"*

*"If it is a pathway then yes. A road, bridge, path, portal between places connected. Yes, that is a reality of what can occur in the worlds. Something foul could crawl from that yes."*

*"One more question,"* Mira looked over to Integrity, *"in order to create a path like that, it would probably need something powerful, some kind of arcane or divine focus, something that could be channelled into something—"*

The Disciple interrupted her, *"Arcane focuses would be preferred, the Deep Plane is... Do you not learn this on Isb? A figment is the source of natural magics. Divines, the goddess above or those lesser beings that call themselves deities, that is the source of divine magic. The Deep Plane, that which exists beyond the light of the goddess, that is the source of arcane energy, that is where the magics that you use on Isb come from. Yes, if someone had a source to channel powerful arcane energy, surely they could bridge that space between the two, easily, and allow something foul like the corruption to escape"*

*"Ok, that's what I thought, thanks."*

Serinepth had been sitting and eating the food, with the staff used by the Mage resting next to her. She raised her hand and said, *"The corruption was using this staff when we fought it, when we destroyed it it kind of fell to the ground. Do you sense if this is free of corruption, or was it something that was here in this room before or... Do you recognise it."*

The Disciple asked Serinepth to hold the staff in the air, which she did. They reached out their hand towards the staff. The spores coating their skin began to glow, and the staff began floating in the air.

*"This seems to be a worldly artefact, something created in Isb."* They pulled their hand back and the staff dropped gently back into Serinepth's lap. *"It seems not to be a foul creation of the corruption, rather something else. Were these people that you speak of, girl, were they friendly to the corruption?"* They pointed to Mira. "*Why would they give it gifts like this?"*

*"As far as I know, I think they were deceived."*

*"Foolish."*

*That's what the woman you said that you saw... If this is who I think it is, which I'm ninety percent sure it is, she's a spirit now in some way, and she told me that this thing promised—it said it was a god I think—it promised to bring progress, and to help them, and then it poisoned them, and killed them all. I don't know why, and then they had to stop it."*

*"Some being from beyond light, I don't know if it has rhyme or reason, thought behind its being, only destruction. You saw that corruption beyond those doors, I do not believe them to be capable of anything greater. The fact that you speak of deception on their part is shocking to me. The thought that they could manipulate something, well not giants I should say, but something else... The foul creatures, foul."*

Integrity stood up, and walked towards the wall of the room, and ran her hand over the wall. *"So, Graist here has his own horn but I'm noticing here on the wall that they're made of different materials, specifically six different materials, do they mean anything?"*

*"They're indicative of what a giant is to become, at the end of its cycle."*

*"But there's only four types of giants?"*

*"This is not true, there are six at the very least that I am aware of. Your friend was a fire giant, his blood was laced with magics, primordial and of fire. He is crystalline now you see"—*The Disciple was speaking very condescendingly to her—*"you see right?"*

*"Yes."*

*"Notice the crystal horn on the walls yes, you've seen those. If there are only four giants there ought not be six types of horns. The crystalline horn is—I won't lie—an ill omen of the era to come. The crystalline horn is that of storm giants. The cycle creates them when the time will be hard, again an ill portent. That is what your friend you brought here will be reborn as, and will be sent back to Isb to begin the cycle anew, create a home for storm giants there on your false world."*

*"But there's stone, there's fire, there's frost, and there's cloud—"*

*"And storm, and hill giants. A hill giant is a great omen, they are idiots. Lazy, they do nothing, there's no magic in their blood. The goddess creates hill giants for easy eras, for easy times. That is why there are so few of their horns on the wall, times are seldom easy. Does this confuse you?"*

*"No! It makes sense, it's just that I don't think that the giants that live on Isb right now knows of storm giants or hill giants."*

*"Well they will shortly, for your friend"—*they pointed at Graist, where the blue fire had almost completely filled his body—*"your friend's transformation, metamorphosis, whatever you would like it, will be at an end soon, and I will send him back to Isb to fulfil the purpose of renewing the cycle, and the world shall know of storm giants once more if they have forgotten. I have found that many of you forget easily, such as your friend with the months, or all these other things. Your lives are short, and things are not passed so easily when the memories die with the people. That is the purpose of this whole shrine, the memory lives, so that we do not forget. Each single cycle of giants that lives in these halls, their memories filling the horns around us. From the first until the last they will be here. Till this moon cracks into pieces I will remain here, and keep them safe, or until corruption comes and steals the rest of the power from my goddess, and then I will live on the moon alone until I die."*

Mira hesitantly asked, *"Um, I know you won't know this for sure, but you seem to know about the goddes better than me. Can I get your... I guess professional opinion or speculation on something? The goddess isn't on our Isb, that's what you said, her power doesn't reach the false Isb as you called it—"*

*"No, there is not enough of it."*

*"—If I had received a gift from her, that was specifically designed to protect me while she wasn't there, and then she was able to influence this plane again, would that gift go away do you think?"*

*"Are you speaking of your arm, girl?"*

*"Yes, I am."*

The Disciple smiled. *"I do not think your arm will disappear any time soon."*

*"I appreciate you saying that, but it has on multiple occasions. It did when we went to hell, and it did when we did a little tour of the planes and we were in her's—"*

*"The goddess'?"* Graist sounded surprised.

*"Yeah, or I think so, it was Sheora so I think so, and it does when I speak to the woman."*

*"You speak to this woman still?"*

*"Yes—"*

*"She lives?"*

*"No, I told you she's a spirit—"*

*"A spirit, where, on Isb?"*

*"When I dream, or it just happens sometimes."*

*"Does this spirit live on your Isb, or is it elsewhere?"*

*"She said her spirit, and the spirits of everybody else were in the Hatch, that same gateway that I think might have summoned the corruption, from the dark."*

*"That is curious. Your arm—this gift you've been given—I said it to you earlier, we are kin. If you ever are to meet them in full form, I would ask that you pass along my greetings, it's been many, many eons since I've seen one of my own."*

*"Are you saying this is a giant?"*

*"No!"*

*"I'm sorry, I'm just failing to understand—"*

*"What made you think that I am a giant?"* The stone giant asked.

*"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to assume I just thought you were a stone giant."*

*"No, I told you, I was fond of the stone giants, the original creations of the goddess. I take their form only to remember them by."*

*"Oh, so if I may ask, what are you then? Because if you're the same thing as this, I just really want to know what this is."*

The Disciple pulled away the shawl from their head, and over their body. The students watched as their body disappeared underneath it, until at the very bottom of their feet, it rolled up and shifted into a serpentine form. Orange, blue, and white scales shimmered as it grew in size to a large snake with two feathered wings.

*"I am a primordial being, a disciple of the goddess from before stone giants were carved from rock. I am a Couatl, as is your arm, as were many servants of the goddess throughout eons."*

*"Oh, the statues! They looked like you."*

*"Yes, we were created in a form that mimicked the goddess but was not."*

Integrity looked at them in awe. *"You look so cool."*

Mira pointed at her arm. *"Then why would a disciple of the goddess want this gone?"*

*"Gone?"*

*"Yes, ok so the woman I told you about—the other one—Neska, she said that she was a servant of Meaphidae, that she believed in the goddess, but when she found out that I had this, she tried to take it, why?"*

*"She does not sound like a true disciple of the goddess, that is all I can say. Or mistrusts whichever your arm is, I do not know the political field of this Sheora you speak of. I just know that as I exist, as all of us Couatls of this world, of the light of the Creator, serve her first and foremost above all others."*

*"I see, thank you for explaining."* Mira stared at her left arm, transfixed.

*"It is a shapechanger, to be clear. That is why it appears to you as an arm in this moment and might change to anything else in others. Can I return to my stone giant form?"*

*"Yeah of course."*

The snake unfurled into a cloth, and the stone giant form of the Disciple stood before them once again.

*Integrity looked up at them. "All of this makes sense, you say that you serve Meaphidae—no, Sésul— first and foremost."*

*"Yes, why?"*

*"What are your beliefs, when you serve Sésul? Like do you leave everything to serve Sésul?"*

*"I have given up my existence to Sésul, yes."*

*"And Neska was not an Ascendant before she became an Ascendant, and they let go of all physical things in order to ascend, right Mira? So to believe in Meaphidae or Sésul you must leave everything worldy, but Neska's not that, Neska is worldy."*

*"You describe a false disciple, a false priest of the Creator, of the godess. I don't know what more I need to say other than this woman that you speak of does not sound like one who would worship our goddess, or be truly held dear to her. Perhaps they are not and you have all misunderstood"*

*"Yeah maybe we have. Well that's something then, that's some kind of explanation."* Mira sounded relieved.

*"You've asked many questions while you've been here. What will you do, if you're sent back? Will you—as I've asked—somehow... Those divines have stolen power, power that has been siphoned away. I worry about the goddess, about what remains. You fear the corruption here, but it could be elsewhere, there could be more. You speak of it being on your own world."*

*"It warrants investigation and I think is worth our time to do just that,"* Winsler said. *"I think when when we have the opportunity to look into things where we can, we will see that we most assuredly do just that."*

*"I do not presume to see any of the rest of you in your lifetimes. But you have survived against the corruption, when even you young one"—*The Disciple looked at Integrity*—*"*The goddess did not bless you, yet still you survived. You came here and found your way through the labyrinth despite not being marked by the goddess, as any giant ought to be. I would ask that please, if there's something that you can do, even if only in your idle time, there's nothing I can do from here. But if the four of you go back, could you please try to—if not return Isb to what it was—then somehow restore the goddess' power to her, so that she might do it."*

*"We'll do what we can, that's as much as I can say at this point, is that we'll give it an honest try. The question is how do we even get back in the first place?"* Winsler asked.

The Disciple sighed. *"The angry woman went to the other room, and prayed to the goddess to return her."*

Mira looked at her friend. *"What about Integrity?"*

*"She has cleansed the shrine of the goddess, I am certain that she would listen to—of any non-giant—that the four of you she would listen to. More even than that other woman, who you say proclaimed to worship her. You've saved her from losing any more strength, any more power in this world, fought off corruption in the shrine. There would be no one else she would listen to I think, or be willing to listen to, at the very least."* The Disciple stood up.

Winsler sat in deep thought, thinking about everything they had just learned. Mira was holding one of the pieces of bread, not meeting the eyes of the Disciple. She had had enough of people asking her to do things for them, and now here the Disciple was, again asking her to do something for them. Serinepth sat exhausted on the rug, leaning on the staff and staring into empty space. Integrity back was still bleeding black blood, and she was fiddling with the food in front of them and thinking about what they could do. She put four of the small orb-like doughballs together.

The Disciple walked past the group. *"Your friend is ready."*

Mira looked up from the ground, and towards the statue of Graist. The blue fire filled his crystalline body. The Disciple placed their hand upon him, and in an instant the crystal melted, and the fire dispered. Left behind was the crystalline horn, hanging in the air, which moved away from the gleaming skeleton of the fire giant. The Disciple gestured with their hand, and the horn floated up to its alcove in the wall. Within seconds, flesh began to knit back onto Graist's skeleton as it grew in size. Light shone from light blue runes, tattooed onto his dark brown skin, his hair and beard curled and flowed freely. Integrity looked upon the runes, and saw tale of a great storm coming to tear the world apart. Graist the Storm Giant dropped to his knees, and gasped for air.

The Disciple looked to Mira and smirked. *"Satisfied that he's alive?"* They then turned back to Graist and said, *"Rise, storm giant, first of your cycle."*

Graist coughed. *"Give me a moment, I'm catching my breath."* Eventually, hestood up, unsteady with his new height.

Now having to look up at him, the Disciple told Graist, *"You are to be sent to the gleaming isles in your home world, in your material plane. You will be sent there, the others of your cycle will crawl from the ocean within weeks."* They held out their left palm, and spores appeared in a tornado around Graist.

Graist looked upon the students one final time, then vanished.

Integrity looked in awe. *"Woah, why can't you do that to us?"*

*"It would kill you, you're not giants. You can try if you like, but that might be pushing your luck for the day."*

Mira quickly responded, *"No I think we're good. So he'll be ok then?"*

*"He'll be fine. He'll be in the gleaming isles, I do not know if that is anywhere you have been or will go to, but should you find him he will remember you, and remember this place, and presumably other storm giants will begin to emerge and join him to create a haven of sorts and begin the new cycle."*

*"Well that's pretty cool. So um... We pray now, again?"*

*"Now you head to the other room, free of corruption, and pray to the goddess. I assure you, she will hear you."* The Disciple sat back on their pillow and looked to Winsler. *"I wish you great luck. Seeing someone like you, seeing that gnomes still run about the surface of the world, gives me great pleasure. I wish you all the best."*

Winsler nodded and stood up. He gestured to his friends, and they also stood up, and began to walk towards the doors. The Disciple closed their eyes, and resumed their meditation.The students pushed the door open.

The room was quiet, with no remnants of their fight visible. As the doors closed, they heard the chanting start to emanate from the horns again. Together they walked towards the broken statue of Sésul, and began to pray. Serinepth thought of her friends, the comfort of the Idleberry home, and how she wished to have that comfort again. Integrity held tight to her Winsler's hand, and begged the goddess to let her go home, despite not hearing her earlier plea. Mira looked up to the sky, refusing to beg, and simply told the goddess they had upheld their end of the bargain, and they wanted to go home. Winsler simply wished to go home.

Around them they heard a soothing voice, responding to Mira's silent words. *"All I can ask is that you will do this again and again, and so long as you do I will keep my part true."*

They all felt a warm hand on their shoulders. They blinked once, twice, and found themselves in a dark cavern. A beam of light shone down from the ceiling, hundreds of feet above them, shining onto a ten foot diameter hatch. They looked around in the silent room, no longer feeling the powerful flow of magical power they had in Sésul's temple, but instead the familiar sensation of Wildcliff's magic, as they found themselves in the Sunken Hatch.

Mira looked to her left arm, finding it oily black and in pain once again.

*"So much for our birthday presents, and so much for Angelika."*

Serinepth suggested they send a letter to Troisle, though Mira decided Crowe would already know as they had been away for two weeks, and school would be starting again soon.

Suddenly, remembering Kurt, they all grabbed their sending slates. It had been spammed with messages asking if they were ok, what should he do with Angelika, where were they, were they in the catacombs. At the end, one final message said, *"I had to give my sending slate back in to Crowe, but he said that you guys will be fine and turn up eventually, I really hope that's true."*

Serinepth immediately sent back, *"This is Serinepth Sinderman reaching out to anyone in Troisle. We are safe, we are at Wildcliff. Please bring our things back to the school, tell Crowe that we will explain when he returns, thank you."*

Mira also sent, *"Angelika counts as things."*

*"Yeah don't forget Angelika please, and also my pet please. He's very loving."*

As her friends sent message after message, Integrity felt her back was still bleeding, and she felt something pull on her hair backwards. In an instant, her vision shifted from her friends to the Progenitor, sitting on their throne, screaming in pain.

Winsler sent an avocado emoji.

She vision shifted to the throne room, the Progenitor was bleeding, snakes falling from his body.

She shifted back, her friends got a message saying, *"Just glad to hear it."*

The pull on her brain remained, the Progenitor lashing out every way he could in this area where he held a glimmer of power.

Crowe sat in his office in Troisle, the dark wood panelling and living glass of his own creation all around him. He scrolled endlessly back through the messages, taking notes on every conversation in a notebook. He looked at a gnome standing in the corner. *"Good news Osgool, they are alive in fact, alive and well. Go pack up their rooms, and I will take it with me to Wildcliff. I suppose I'll have a meeting with the four of them and ask them about this Sheora business and about this ink business. You're dismissed."*

Crowe waved his hand, and Osgool vanished in the shadows. He continued to scroll through the slate, recording every detail of the students secrets.