Heart of Tyre: Episode 09

### Reddit Thread

***Heart of Tyre* Episode 9** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on September 15, 2020, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on October 28, 2020.

## Summary

Summary by av5hadow, copied from Verum Weekly: Sam, the Centurion, plays a video to the party. The video starts with the struggles between the Precepts of Azengolt, fighting against each other to rule over the pre-Depthar planet. As they were Eldar, they are immortals, and they always carry a grudge. They drained the planet for resources. Materials, land, and even lives. Due to this reckless consumption, the balance of the planet is lost. All planets have a “shell” which prevents things from entering or exiting the planet, and a shell’s strength is dependent on the planet’s balance.

Since Azengolt’s shell was weakened due to a lack of balance, a meteor containing the Depthar infection broke through the shell. Quickly and unexpectedly, the infection grew, and the Depthar spread, expanding its power and mind. Instead of joining forces to fight against the threat, the Precepts continued to fight each other. Some even captured the infected and attempted to replicate them. However, their efforts failed. Crowley was the first Eldar the Depthar encountered. With his mind set to climb in status, he brought his own brother into the darkness, and Crowley emerged with only a vial. A vial of strength. A vial of power. A vial of madness. The Depthar grow stronger as they live longer. With this in mind, Crowley then hid himself to work on his experiment, leaving the fate of his fellow Eldar to the Depthar. The fight between life and death continues through the generations. In the beginning, there were 12 bastion cities, but eventually, only three remain. One year after the meteor’s fall, Crowley emerged from his laboratory, no longer an Eldar.

He achieved what he sought for and released his experiment into the world. However, he was captured and imprisoned where he will never see the light of day and never will he be able to experiment. However, his experiment was successful, and the first overmind was born. The remaining cities held on what they had left against the overminds as the overminds are capable of overrunning the remaining life of the Depthar. However, the overminds vanished. They wish to cultivate the remaining cities as they will always need fresh stock. The Depthar knew that life had lost, and the infection turned its gaze towards the astral sea.

The video ends. Ives asks Centurion Sam who made the video. Sam states that its data banks were updated manually then proceeds to search itself before simply stating “Maltos”. Ives suggests that they should take the video’s contents with a grain of salt. The rest agree, remembering the various outdated information from previous documents they had gathered. Derok explains his plans to go to Band to the rest of the party. Derok shows his interest with angels of Band. Their next play would be to fight against Beta, so that they would have multiple trips. They have to kill the Beta either way, since they also want to travel to Azengolt. Before they go through with their plan, Derok has another question. Derok requests music sheets of the Song of the Seven form Sam. Centurion Sam begins to play the Song again. As his body begins to work, Sam suddenly splits into two. A crack of reality is opened before Derok. Being the most arcanic member, he reaches into the crack with a hand which then grasps onto a thread of fate. The Vega pulls, and the crack is expanded until it becomes a door. Derok decides to pull the door open, and mystical light floods into the room. It fades as fast as it arrives. Now there is only darkness in the open portal.Sam falls on the ground. Barely functional, he produces a scroll that contains the Song of the Seven. He repeats the words *“purpose fulfilled”* before powering down one last time

Knowing that they must not leave the door unattended, the party decides that they must close it. The party goes around, experimenting with ideas. Ives goes around the back and doesn’t see the portal from that side. Derok gives Neve the portal stone and hums the first few notes of the Song. The portal ripples in response. Neve places her fingers on the door from behind and sees them distort. Derok prays to the Seven, but nothing happens. Morc notices that Sam was destroyed when he played the Song alone, and he suggests that the party should join together to sing. Ives asks for the Portal Stone, and Neve complies. As Derok, Morc, Neve, and Seren sing, the portal begins to close. However, a violet light appears, and the chorus is stopped. A voice speaks. *“I...see...you...”*

Ives sees his party members all fall to the ground, unconscious. He immediately activates the portal stone, but it requires 10 minutes. Ives recalls that the Seven and the Enemy use the same power and knows that the Song exposed the portal to the violet. The Herald is able to use it to get to Kalkatesh quickly. Ives goes around to behind the portal again, thinking the violet wouldn’t be able to see the portal if he sings the song there, but there, Ives sees the truth. The Song of the Seven must be sung by a Seven. The violet eye and the cardinal are not enough. Ives leaps into the action and investigates the machine in the room. It appears to be similar to the one that released Sam. He sees a slot where he could place Sam in and three buttons: a speaking mouth, a fist, and a shield. Ives puts Sam in the slot and hits the speaking mouth. Sam is processed into what appears to be a spike by the machine. After analyzing it, he uses the spike on himself. While it felt like it attuned to something, it did not do anything else. He knows that he needs to use the spike on something else, but he is lost and then prays to Vavren for guidance. The god answers, and Ives realizes that he needs the help of the Fleshcrime Omega, as he is a Seven.

Ives heads out, seeing that he is running out of time. Fortunately, Fleshcrime Omega is close by. Omega appears to be docile, and Ives sees that as a chance to attempt to insert the spike into Omega’s neck. Ives leaps at Omega. Detecting an attack, Omega holds Ives in a psionic hold. As Omega crushes the assassin’s bones, Ives calls out to the Seven. Omega stops its psionic crushing and brings Ives closer. Ives will then slowly places the spike on Omega’s neck. Omega voices its doubts, but Ives calms it down and assures it that he does not want to hurt it. Ives then activates the device. Omega moves Ives on its back, and Ives feels he has control over the Fleshcrime. Ives gets Omega to move to the portal. Omega panics over losing control over itself, but once it sees the violet light, it stops its struggles. Omega moves up to the fallen party next to the door and moves each one away close to itself. Omega will then turn to the portal and speaks *“You...you will fail”*

The being responds *“Arrogant Seven. You have already failed.”* The machines in the room crack, spewing violet energies. Ives feels the energy breaking his body, but Omega psionically holds Ives in one piece. Ives and Omega begin to sing the Song of the Seven. As the duo continues the Song, the fallen Tops regain consciousness, one after another. Fleshcrime Omega screeches to the tone of the Song. The Herald, persistent in its efforts, tries its best to fight back and even floods the room with violet energies. However, as the last member awakens, the Herald is pushed back, and the portal closes. The Song swirls around the room, and flows into each member of the Tops. The spike shatters, and Omega places Ives on the ground. As it heads out of the room, it looks back at the party, fully aware that the party’s intentions to kill it in the future. Before the song fades and Omega departs, the Seven says, “I forgive you.”

Exhausted, the party all lay down on the floor. Ives tells the party that the portal stone will finish in a few more minutes, and informs the party of what happened. Seren, Derok, and Neve question their plans to kill Omega, and now they wish to save him. However, Morc believes that they should kill them, so that they can free his soul. Derok says that killing him should be the last resort. Seren, experiencing near-Verum-ending events back to back, asks for a group hug. The hug happens, and Seren casually asks them to cut off her tongue when they come back to camp. Morc says that he will, just like he did to Derok’s right hand (Burden) before. As the group hug continues, the party gains a level, and the portal stone activates.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Derok Dranf
* Ives
* Neve
* Madd Morc
* Seren

### Mentioned

* Crowley
* Fleshcrime Omega
* The Seven
* The Herald
* The Angels of Band

## References

1. ↑ Tweet by @gloriousArcadum. *Heart of tyre Ep. 9 ft. @SummersSalt @Russ\_Money @ScottJund @NaomiOop @msf\_actual at twitch.tv/arcadum*