Heart of Tyre: Episode 21

### Reddit Thread

***Heart of Tyre* Episode 21** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on December 28, 2020, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on April 14, 2021.

## Summary

Summary by av5hadow, copied from Verum Weekly:

Before the Tops prepare for the next fight, the Enemy makes its move to prevent a Herald of the Indigo from rising to prominence. A bolt of Violet light pierces Morc’s back, and Violet Energy wraps around the half-orc. His top hat falls and Violet Crystals encroach all around his body, locking him out from this fight. If the Tops fail this fight, Morc will Violet Death.

Since the Neverend is restored, the consumables from the Requiem Rose fight are returned, including the herbs. As the others buffs themselves, Seren takes the time to accept the Depthar within her. Stompy turns into a pool of blood, and her infection surges. Two duplicates of her upper body emerge from her chest and her back. She gains the Depthar Doppelganger form, changing her appearance permanently. Including her original torse, each one embodies one of three emotions: happy, angry, and sad. In addition she gains two psionic abilities. The first allows double casting a spell once per combat. The second is a modified level 1 Shield spell that can be used on herself or an ally within 15 feet. But Seren now has a psionic hunger that must be fed to avoid going berserk. When feeding her infection has a chance to grow, but if she goes berserk and feeds, her infection will definitely grow

The four party members all turn to their summoned opponent, Marissa the Moonsworn.

The fight starts off with Marissa’s Moonlight Greatersword slashing at Derok Dranf who reacts with Shield. Neve takes a step towards Morc and throws her Shadowblade at Marissa. Ives however activates his boots and flies straight up, yelling “STOP THE FIGHT!”

He explains to the Neverend that this fight should not continue because the Violet is right there on the Indigo Scar. They however answer that the trial has begun and cannot be stopped. Ives responds saying that they need to stop the fight to survive the greater threat, but the response is again dismissive. He aims an arrow at the point in the void where he thinks the Neverend is and asks if they want the Violet to exist on the Scar. They answer: “What I want is irrelevant” Ives doesn’t buy that the trial is what the Neverend wants and mentions her words before the start of the trial. This iteration is the last chance. But they only answer with “It is”. Dissatisfied with the answer, he switches to an amber arrow and fires.

(The arrow does not hit the Neverend but instead takes a journey through the Astral Sea. It travels into the Shattered Gate which then teleports it in the Haates Nebula. The arrow has gathered enough dust to survive the descent to the surface of Azengolt, and it ends up in the Quivering City.)

Ives yells: “We have to break the cycle” as he launches a cocaine arrow at Marissa, but she isn’t coked up. Suddenly, as she was a freedom fighter in the past, she walks towards Morc and strikes at his crystal prison which cracks and strains. She gazes at the void, defiance in her face. However, Indigo light envelops her and her eyes turn dead, and she re-enters her combat stance.

Neve runs up to Marissa and shakes her by the shoulder, pleading for her help. She then carelessly runs up to Morc, ignoring the Moonlight Greatsword that misses her. She falls to her knees and screams out in agony. Ives shouts at the Neverend to wake up and to break the cycle. He aims at the half-orc and an Indigo Torrent of 10 amber arrows shatters the Violet crystals. Though Morc is now free, he has been severely hurt and his soul is in jeopardy. Without the crystals (and with a soul check of 27) he fails to fight off the Violet infection and is left with two options. He may accept Violet Death or he can burn his soul. By burning his soul, he is allowed to join the fight against Marissa but with a time limit. Once the limit is reached, Morc will become corrupted and will end the Tops. However if Marissa falls before then, Morc can be saved.

The soul of Madd Morc starts to burn.

Ives fires another arrow at the Moonsworm, again with cocaine. Now the drug takes effect, and it pushes her into a Berserk state, compelling her to only attack with her weapon. Neve brings Morc back up. He states: “I am running on borrowed time, but there’s so much damn work to do” and joins the melee with the Lord of Donuts. Seren psionically double casts Hold Person, paralyzing Marissa. Seeing an opportunity, Morc enters his Iass form and targets the helpless Marissa. With the aid of Iass’s spear, the Tops barrage Marissa with attacks. During this time, Derok uses Scatter to bring Ives closer to Marissa, causing an Indigo Event. Narwhals start falling from the sky! Seeing his minions in danger, the Lord of Donuts negates the event. Immediately after the flurry of blows, Marissa breaks free of her magical paralysis. Seren lands another Hold Person, and another barrage slams against Marissa, downing her. However, she gets back up with Final Revelry. She doesn’t stand for much longer as one last Iass spear appears.

Shortly after Marissa dissipates, Morc falls to a knee. The Violet almost takes the half-orc, but by pushing his body to its absolute limit, Morc survives the ordeal. Everyone runs up to Morc and hugs him. Derok wonders how the Violet reached them. The Neverend then descends, attached to Violet tendrils akin to puppet strings. “You did well, but not well enough. One final challenge awaits you” The Neverend is released, and her body crashes into the ground. A shadow moves at the edge of sight and darts towards the strange Violet tendrils.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Lord Antonius Volnaris
* Ives
* Neve
* Madd Morc
* Seren

### Returning

* The Neverend
* The Herald