4.5 Mothers of Light and Dark

The group spent some time considering
Albert's offer of getting the people of Tirisea out before Voidspawn killed everyone. Certainly there was no way they could guarantee a
defeat of Bartos, but how likely to succeed was his plan? There was
far too much uncertainty to trust him they decided. For starters,
were was the “ship” he promised coming from? Where would it go?
Would whatever place it went even be habitable? There were far too
many questions to abandon a a course they believed actually had some
chance of success- even if they knew almost as little about it as
well.

 That decided, the group began making
plans to move into the Void Spawn world. They spoke of it cautiously,
deliberating what they might expect and when they would go. First,
they made an effort to contact Marcon from the early days of their
travels, believing he might know something of use. They were unable
to find him, though whether that was due to some potent divination
shield or because he happened to be dead they could not say. They
also spoke to Baygrith and the Architect about the plans for a
'spallcasting device' that could complete the binding of the Void
Spawn without sacrificing the life of one of their party members.
Unfortunately, the Architect revealed that Kron was missing, so they
and the would likely make no progress on Baygrith's thinking machine
without him. Despite several attempt at divination, they were unable
to uncover Kron's whereabouts.

 Untimely though it might be, Sajaina's
baby chose this time to be born. Thain (and Mui'thel) returned to the
ship to provide support, working alongside the Archbishop and Adelon.
Unfortunately, they were unable to prevent Sajaina from the partially
Laputi birth. As the Life Stone was pushed from her, her life fled.
The Archbishop, however, was willing to try the one things he had
sworn he would not, due to the special circumstances. He wove about
her a spell of resurrection, calling into being a tesseract of magic
that drew her soul back to her body without the need to pay Steave's
price. Thain and Adelon worked to re-shape Sajaina's organs to
accommodate the loss of the Life Stone, eventually managing to
stabilize her. When she was finally conscious, they presented her
baby to her. He was of predominantly Sun-Elvan cast with broader
shoulders, olive skin, and a weightier physique than might ordinarily
have been expected. Additionally, from certain angles his skin was
faintly metallic and a faint sheen of gemstone hues could be seen on
his joints. He bore the Life Stone in his stomach. Anyone watching
carefully could see a subtle glow emanating from his skin as well,
rendering him brighter and more vibrant than the dim room might
otherwise have. After a round of congratulations, the group left
Sajaina to be with her child, husband, and family. Timmeron in
particular seemed put-out, leaving before the birth was even
completed out of fear of his “condition” harming the baby.

 The Archbishhop, despite having just
performed a miracle, was more than willing to help Travize with the
problem of his possession. A spirit lingered in him from the Tower of
Apotheosis, potentially malevolent in intent. They were able to force
it out, revealing it to be a aged dwarven ghost. It begged them not
to destory it, offering in exchange to teach someone how to 'steal
skills' from others. Remembering that Timmeron had a similar skillset
already, but not yet ready to remove options from the board, Travize
swept the ghost up in his Mayonnaise jar.

 Things shortly thereafter became more
turbulent when a colossal rift tore itself open in the sky to reveal
the Void Spawn Queen. She dove towards the ground, positioning
herself above Amalgama where she began to siphon energy from a swarm
of Void Spawn that landed on her. The Collective fought back, drawing
together their Swarm Casting to invoke a shield to stave off the
coming attack. They were just able to teleport the majority of
civilians from the area before the tremendous blast of energy the
queen fired tore through the barrier, carving a sigil of war into the
very landscape. The Queen became invisible, then, and flew off into
the distance to engender some new horror upon the world.

 Realizing just how pressed for time
they were the Chosen of Astor set in motion their plan to invade the
Void Spawn world. They spoke in earnest with the Archivist about the
requirements and consequences, planning to depart later that evening.
Albert returned again, asking if they had considered his offer and
letting slip some new information. He told them that his conjuring of
the Void Spawn had been to ruin the “experiment” that was Tirisea
in an attempt to trigger a “break-glass mechanism,” which he
claimed would cause the arrival of a vessel they could leave on. He
could not say if any of the “overseers” would be aboard it. The
group was still uncertain, however, deciding they would deal with
their business in the Void Spawn land before committing to an action.
But Sajaina decided that she would stay behind to help Albert with
his plan. “As a safety measure,” she said, “In case hope really
is lost.” Travize gave her the Skein of Soulsight to aid in her
questioning of Albert as the group prepared to depart.