Session 16: The Scale's Precipice

We had an… interesting session to say the least!

* While investigating the ice-covered, hexagonal room, Tato received a brief vision of themselves in white robes trimmed in gold with a strange symbol on their forehead
* They all are able to see that there had once been a book upon the altar but it had been recently removed
* Ramzi examines the horoscope symbols carved deep into the iced floor, finding that it used to be an ancient, sacred temple to the followers of the Wyvern and, more than likely, would have been a sort of home destination for it
* In the reflection of the ice, Tato sees the flickers of memories:
	+ Broken earth, magma flowing freely to the surface
	+ A pale, silver woman snorting beside you at the edge of a pond, so much smaller than you with a headdress of moonstones
	+ A small elven girl, staring up at you in open defiance, scar down her lip and a bandaid across her nose. Her knuckles wrapped and held up, ready to fight
	+ You, standing at the altar, a book before you written in a language long lost, the letters glowing a faint violet
	+ You laying down to rest, eyes closing as frost slowly began to surge over you, a deep blackness closing in beforeー
	+ The visions are gone and the sound of someone approaching reaches your ears
* Elphira steps into the room, Midnight at her heels
	+ She holds a large frost-bitten tome in her hands that she snaps shut upon greeting them all
	+ She mentions that research was never her thing but someone else’s, though she lets the sentence hang in the air
	+ She speaks like someone completely devoid of emotion and free-will, backing it up with her own strange reasoning for why she is okay with it
	+ She’s found the lab that belonged to the Facility, saying it must be at least a few hundred years old
* Tato asks about the book in her hands. Elphira explains that Tato has lived a lot of lives before and always leaves notes for himself to take up where he last left off
	+ Instead of giving them the book, Elphira burns it to smithereens, taking the punch that Tato throws at her
	+ Tato is rightly furious but Elphira, with the most emotion she’s shown yet, venomously says that she hated Tartaros and would not allow them to come back
* Dropping the blazing book to the floor, the heat slowly melts the outermost layer of frost to reveal a black frozen abyss beneath them
	+ Within the ice, a slumbering, golden wyvern lay, the supposed ‘other half’ that Tato had been depositing her memories into over the last few life cycles
* Elphira turns to Caelum and says that it's time for him to earn his gold by killing the party to test whether they will rise again
	+ Marcus nearly convinces Caelum to join them instead but ends up shooting Pogo
	+ Fight ensues, Elphira and Midnight try to leave, Marcus Suggests that Caelum go after the two of them. In the end, they hit Caelum with some spells because they believe he has turns on them but he inevitably flees
	+ Combat ends
* Confronting Elphira and Midnight outside, Ramzi and Marcus are able to catch a strange moment where the gold of her eyes gives away to reveal a blue similar to Midnight’s own
	+ They get a bit of information out of her, that she’s a sorceress as well and that she has to follow the orders of someone called ‘One’
	+ She emphasises again that she was scared, that she couldn’t take it if Tartaros came back, before the gold returns to her eyes and she walks away
* Meanwhile, Tato and Allegra have a bit of a conversation back inside, the two finding comfort in knowing they aren’t alone as children of the stars
* When everyone gets back together, Ramzi cures Pogo of his rabies before everyone begins the 4 day trip home
	+ One night, they call up Morgan to inform him of everything going on, watching in glee as he hides in a tree, fails at stealth and is caught by Entari
* Once home, everyone gathers to see Morgan’s ridiculous work outfit, losing their minds in laughter at seeing him
	+ It becomes apparent that the empress has been giving him the run around the last week in some form of revenge and refusing to let him work on defusing the war effort
* The Empress dismisses them all to go and rest but expects a full report in the morning
* Dismissed, everyone heads to bed and gets a long rest

And thus our session ended! Our next game will be held on the 2nd of February, 2022!