Heart of Tyre: Episode 23

### Reddit Thread

***Heart of Tyre* Episode 23** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on January 18, 2021, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on April 29, 2021.

## Summary

*Summary by av5hadow, copied from Verum Weekly*

The Tops return to camp, and Seren immediately undergoes metamorphosis; the three Depthar Overminds attempt to embed themselves in her mind as the Depthar on Azengolt are being wiped out. Seren’s survival aspect, her strongest, forgoes sealing herself which would prevent the Depthar from spreading at the cost of her life. She crumples to the ground and turns into a fleshy mass. The Green Pantheon rejects her as she turns full Depthar. Seren has to choose which one of the three Overminds to embrace: the Brass King, the Silver Queen, or the Emerald Jack. Seren chooses the familiar Brass King; her form shifts to one of an Eldar, and she is given a new surname: Ethune.

The Tops take a moment to observe the changes in the encampment. Above them they see Azalon and Los dueling it out in a swirling sphere of energy. An exhausted Vizier approaches the group and catches them up to speed. The Colors have returned with the Traitor’s Blade, which prompted the Violet Herald to rapidly approach Kalkatesh. The original Seven are now summoning prismatic strength to shield the encampment, and their Yellow and Blue companions are soon to be awakened. In addition, Soul has completed their section. The Vizier then expresses his concern; if Azalon falls, the weapon and knowledge locked within the Labyrinth will be lost. Morc notes that Ives is now a Herald, but the Vizier says that Tyre’s knowledge is needed as well.

The party acknowledges the time crunch. The Vizier also informs them that the remaining Eyes are coming to the camp, but one is beyond his reach (Guy). The Chapter Masters of Kalkatesh have provided supplies to the camp, but he is afraid that it’s not enough. He also tells them of the Violet Rain and the famine that followed it (at this time, the famine hasn’t been cured), and that the camp now houses refugees. Upon Derok's request, the Vizier heads off to gather the supplies.

(Bookkeeping time. Arcadum writes up the new abilities, races, etc. for the party. Neve receives special scale mail made out of Osirian's scales, which TOPS skinned themselves. The scale mail doesn’t have a STR requirement and doesn’t impose disadvantage on Stealth. Both Seren and Derok receive stats for their new races. Seren class changes into a Cleric of the Undead Domain. The Sinister’s Sept book from the library describes a legacy of the Second Iteration’s Seven. The book specifies a Legacy of Shadow but doesn’t describe the item or its location)

The party heads into the portal to reenter the *Heart of Tyre*. Soon after Seren and Derok go through, Neve stops Morc, and the two have a talk about their past. Neve compliments Morc on his relentless nature against the numerous seemingly hopeless situations in the past. Then she tells Morc something. “I’ll be damned if I let fear keep me from saying it now...”

“I love you.”

An astonished Morc visibly blushes, confessing that no one has said that to him before. The two talk about her feelings, and eventually Morc opens his mouth and points to his fang. Neve responds with a “It’s a very nice fang.” After an embrace, the new couple pinky promises each other to not die down in the labyrinth, and they proceed to enter the portal, holding hands. As per usual, Ives is the last to enter the portal, saying softly, “God damn it.”

They find themselves in front of the temple where the portal stone was last connected to the Labyrinth. They reenter the temple, concerned about the Indigo book that’s connected to the Scar. They fashion an amber arrow into a seal which is then placed on the book. Skipping the unexplored temple rooms due to a time crunch, the party returns to the “slappy hand hole” with the Starlight Book open. Derok tosses the Book down the hole; upon landing on the floor, its light shines up the hole. The hands form a ladder, but Morc refuses to use it and simply utilizes his cape’s wall climb to walk down the hole. Everyone else hops on that Mad lad.

**Content Warning: Gore, Agoraphobia (more specifically the trapped feeling), Pedophobia (more specifically the unbirth).**

The Tops find themselves in a maze whose walls are hanging corpses of varying sizes, races, and ages. In the room in front of them are large bone stalagmites, each engraved with mad runes that cannot be read. It’s as if the bones are piercing through the fleshy ground. Stillbirth creatures are scattered around the area, and “afterbirth” and viscera covers the ground. This is a wrong place. Seren hears voices from the walls, indicating that the corpses are not fully dead. Derok places a stale donut on a nearby bone for him to focus on to give himself a sense of direction.

After the party combines all of their rope as a means to find their way back, Ives suggests to head to the left entrance of the labyrinth, and Seren leads the way. The party hugs the left wall, and they soon hear children’s laughter. Eventually, Ives notices that a wall corpse is staring at the ground, unlike the others which gaze at them. Partially covered, a well-preserved dead woman is in its gaze. Once Ives covers the sight of the wall corpse, the woman is sucked into the floor, and the wall corpse adopts the behavior of its brethren.

The party moves on and notices that the laughter is getting louder. They hone in on the source which is a pile of female humanoid remains. On top of this pile is a ledger which is picked up by Neve’s Mage Hand. The ledger contains a record of tracking, trafficking, distillation, upkeep, and logistics of an experiment. The women before them were used as fuel for the experiment. The party soon realizes that they are in a false womb. Ives notices that some corpses are sucked downwards, implying that the dead flesh is not being wasted. The ledger also notes that there is a control mechanism, several storage containers, ritual circles, and a “nearly complete” entity.

The party continues deeper into the maze. They soon see that all of the wall corpses are facing in the same direction. The party follows their gaze and comes across a room containing a large circular dais leading up to a floating red sphere, an unborn child within. Underneath the sphere is a ledger which the usual Mage Hand grabs hold of. This record tracks the results of fetal experiments; all were deemed “Fated = Failed”. The last experiment however said “Unfated. Awaiting Synopsis.” As Derok steps closer into the room, the party notices the entity in the sphere is moving.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

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

### Mentioned

* The Brass King
* The Silver Queen
* The Emerald Jack
* Azolon
* Los

## References

1. ↑ Tweet by @gloriousArcadum. *ITS TIME FOR HEART OF TYRE Ep. 23 ft. @ScottJund @Russ\_Money @SummersSalt @msf\_actual @NaomiOop at twitch.tv/arcadum*