Heart of Tyre: Episode 07

### Reddit Thread

***Heart of Tyre* Episode 7** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on August 24, 2020, and premiered on Arcadum's YouTube channel on October 29, 2020.

## Summary

Our heroes venture forth through a door to the east. As soon as they step into the room there is a shift in the air, everything feels almost unnaturally clean from the air to floor. It is eerily quiet. Cautiously they move further into it, Derek hears a mechanical buzzing from one room. They open it and see a massive contraption covered in arcane runes and working at something, blood is pouring out and being collected from it. A couple of crystals are around it; they are concentrated soul energy.

Derek walks into the room, something starts to glow and follows his movements through the room. A circular structure begins slows down and a panel opens from it. The others go in, Seren going in last. Derek drapes his nurse clothes over one of the detecting lights and Never does the same on the other one. Derek investigates the arcane runes, he recognizes that some are written in a Taladonian language, there are a lot transmutation and necromancy runes. He tells the others.

On the other side of the contraption, they see a hatch. They believe it to be some sort of soul refinery. Neve tries to make sense of what is written on the runes, and though she can make out words, they seem to be written as a formula and not really a language. Derek rolls under the contraption to the other side of it. He sees a massive emerald, swirling with arcane power. Madd Morc and Neve look closer at the blood being collected, it seems to be deep and being stirred by something from below.

Derek investigates the circular structure; it appears to be a control panel, and he is able to decipher that it is a device that uses bodies to create something else - something unnatural. The refinement process seperates the meat from the soul energy and then places that meat in sort of super slurried blood coagulant, in which it can then be magically infused to create viscera and flesh to the practitioner's will.

He notices many logs; attempts at using the machine. As he reads them, they are not dated but signed; Tyre. The research notes reveal that Tyre was indeed trying to recreate the Depthar. But not simply because of its power. He was not attempting to recreate them, he was attempting to recreate the Seven. Tyre was trying to use the "versatility and the malleability of the Depthar" to recreate the Seven themselves. He believed the highest being to be the Depthar but he also believed the only ones, who could stop the Enemy were the Seven.

He was especially interested in what he believed their power to be; the refracting of the souls. By artificially refracting souls and putting it into the Depthar, who were to his belief, the only beings who would be able to handle the artificial refracting of the souls - he was trying to create an infinite supply of Sevens. The issue, he kept running in to was that the Fleshcrime could not house the soul of a Seven, for the souls of Seven were unpredictable, changing and shifting, not calculable, a concentrated dose of chaos. His experiment consistently resulted in failure - except one, the last entry of the logs, the Fleshcrime Omega.

There also seems to be a current experiment, not yet finished. It is named "*Operation: False Maiden*" and under it the following options: "Synopsis", "Initiate", "Cancel", "Eject Ingredients". They chose "Synopsis" and read Tyre's notes on it:

> I believe the colors of the key. The Enemy is violet but there are yet other colors, that form the spectral. And I believe I have uncovered one such color; the color red. I have already tuned the machine to its specific hue. However, my research has been blocked in several methods. I can not find the star nor can I find these weavers. So I will have to use what information I have in order to attempt to recreate these so-called maidens. Perhaps with a maidens assistance, I may be able to control the Fleshcrime Omega.
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The groups discusses what to do next, and they decide to click on "Eject Ingredients". A warning comes up: "*All items that are perishable will be destroyed with this option. Are you sure you wish to eject?*". They press "Cancel" instead. The experiment is powered down. Madd Morc notices cables, who supplied it with power, coming from somewhere else. Neve looks at the control panel again. There is a list of other experiments now. She reads the synopsis and notices each has a different symbol. "Operation: False Maiden" with a symbol of a red star. "*Operation: Grazie*" for perfect cloning, with a symbol of a castle. "*Operation: Lazarus*" for immortality, with a symbol of a black star. "*Operation: Genophage*" for biotic purging, with a symbol of a large tower.

Seren looks out the door and sees the Fleshcrime Omega. The creature seems dazed, confused. Seren, Madd Morc and Neve inch closer to it and Seren tries to speak to it. She asks if it remembers what happened here. It continues to make incoherent sounds. Madd Morc notices that the air is no longer clean, but the others don't noice a change. Seren tries to establish a psionic bond with the creature and suddenly it talks to her.

It says that it didn't expect to meet someone like her in his prison. It asks why she is here. She asks if it is the Seven and it replies that it was, that it's soul is. But it can not see as it once did. It says that something is always coming and that they tried to stop it. Seren asks why Tyre did this to the creature, if it was just to make them stronger.

> The wizard is desperate. We were desperate. I was infected. Time was already against me. We thought to gamble what we had. When they fought the Enemy, I was not able to be there with them. I failed them.
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It goes on to say that it was supposed to fight but most of it is incoherent, saying things like "trapped within". Seren asks how they can help it. And as it tries to respond, tries to explain what it wishes for, it fights against itself and starts losing. Seren tries to cut the bond between them but she can't. It says things like "*Must consume*" and "*Kill the depthar*" and becomes more erratic.

Derek presses the button to prepare the experiment and the connection severs. It walks away. They go back to the room and Morc falls to his knee, out of nowhere, feeling exhausted and sick. His nose starts bleeding. His heart beat loses rhythm. It is not his eye, but something else, something inside of him. Seren is able to determine that it is a disease. She heals him and though he gets a little better at first, a substance leaks from his nose, tiny spores. They conclude the machine is purifying the halls. Seren collects the spores and Ives believes Morc is poisoned. Seren can not identify it.

They realize that there were ventilation in every part of their wing of the labyrinth and that it purifies the air, while also numbing the Fleshcrime. They theorize why Morc is the only one affected; his connection to the Seven or perhaps because he is an orc. Whatever is inside of Morc reaches his lungs, and he falls to the ground, blood spluttering out of his mouth. They give him green, red, and gold herbs. Morc stops breathing, his body cracking into gold as he turns into a statue, made out of gold. They hear the Fleshcrime closing in, trying to get into the room. A liquid seeps from underneath the door. It is melting itself to get it. Never unlocks the door with mage hand and it comes in. It looks around, at the blood and at the contraption, and the it leaves.

They pick up Morc, carrying him as they leave the room. With him they move further down the hall, hoping they will find a cure or some mention of it. Ives puts a nurse's hat on Morc. Derek opens a room and there are a couple of machines and a table with a bunch of herbs. Another room, Seren saw in her vision, she notes that there was growling in her vision. They find an array green herbs, red herbs, yellow herbs, white herbs, silver herbs, blue herbs, black herbs, gold herbs, and *one violet herb*.

They read research notes on the herbs and learn that green herbs have restorative properties, red herbs enhance the properties of other herbs, yellow herbs provide enhancments to combat and violence, white herbs purify toxins and such, silver herbs provide mental acuity, blue herbs provide sleep and physical enhancement, black herbs have concentrations of infection and combined with other herbs can provide specific infections, (replicating depthar traits), gold herbs deal with wealth. There is no research note on the violet herb, because only one has been created; at the same time of the Fleshcrime Omega's creation.

They rub the white and red herbs all over Morc and he turns back to flesh. He is also cured of the disease. Ives checks the machines and learns that they are three processes to refine the herbs into different properties. There is an electrofire, which infuses the herb with energy, a refiner, changes the herb into a more focused variety, and a toxin extratant, which separates the toxic functions of an herb and turns it into an essence.

Derek suggests putting the violet herb in the toxin extractant but is unsure himself if that's a good idea. Ives puts the black herb in the toxin extractant, he then takes the essence. He sees the liquid moving as if it is alive. Seren's psionic powers make her hear sounds from it. Ives puts it to the side. With a green one, Ives goes to the refinery. He gains a refined green herb, a verdant herb. Verdant herb heal for trice the amount the green herbs do.

Ives combines the red and white and then puts it in the refinery. He obtains crimson glass, which is a cure-all heal, it removes all toxins and all deficiencies, even purging the soul. Seren wants to talk to The Brass King and Morc ties her up as a precaution. As she enters the connectons, she feels that it is being watched, because she also re-enters her connecton with the Fleshcrime Omega. While communicating with the Brass King, who is a Depthar, she outputs Depthar energy, and the Fleshcrime sees her as foe. As the Brass King is about to speak, Ives shoves silvered crimson glass herb in her mouth, and her mind shatters into pieces. She falls to the ground, unconscious. The Fleshcrime walks past the room.

Seren responds and she sounds completely the same but something is off. Neve tries to talk to Stompy but he doesn't respond. Something feels very wrong. Her tongue is still infected. The ropes untie themselves around Seren, and starts floating. She begs Morc for help, and then whips her tongue at him and suddenly Morc is off too.

Ives, Neve and Derek try to run but the door slams. Derek casts Hold Person on Seren. Morc's eyepatch shatters off, and the Violet Eye turns on its own accord. And then Morc is fighting the something in his mind. Derek gives them white herbs. Neve tries to feed Morc, but he grabs her. He lifts her up and crushes her against his chest. Ives grabs the herb from Neve's hand and shoves it into Morc's mouth. Morc is back to normal again.

Seren force chokes Neve and Morc. Derek shoves the white herb in Seren's mouth. Morc and Neve are released. Seren seems back to normal. Stompy seems off. Seren breaks free of the hold and whips her tongue at Ives. Ives hides. Morc tries to knock Seren out. She whips her tongue at him. The Fleshcrime bangs on the door. Derek uses Dimension Door to go back to the control panel. Morc tries to make Seren snap out of it, telling her she is a friend, his family. Seren awakens.

The Fleshcrime moves in, closing in on Ives but can't find him. Derek prepares the False Maiden experiment and the Fleshcrime leaves. He runs back to his friends. Derek asks Ives for the secret word and as he says the wrong one, Ives is able to break from the grasp, back to normal.

The group discusses and wonders why that happened when the crimson glass was supposed to purify Seren's soul. Perhaps it only amplified Seren's psionic ability. Morc wants Neve to take out his eye and Derek is against it - especially considering they are here. Derek mentions that when Braktor took out his eye, it turned into a Shard of Oblivion. At that the violet herb starts to bloom amethyst flowers. It is now the refined version: *Blooming violet herb*.

As Morc looks at it, he gets a vision. He sees a room with a green crystal and circular contraption. He sees an image of Tyre walking to a circular contraption, and in a panicked state pressing his hands on it and it opens. The group has unlocked the binding agent on the Fleshcrime Omega. When the time comes to face the creature, they know where to release the seal to fight it. They have also found the way to the second floor.

Ives makeshifts an eyepatch out of a hat and puts it on Morc. Derek tries to make sense of what just happened. Seren tells them to just kill her when this happens again but her friends refuse to listen to it. As Seren hugs Morc, she feels her tongue shift but she bites it back. She is in control for now.

Ives tells them that Stompy did something to the toxin extractor, they ask Stompy about it and he tells them Ives told him to open it. Stompy doesn't remember much of it. Ives dumps out his pockets and finds the black vial. They discuss what to do with it and also the blooming violet herb. They cover the blooming violet herb, preparing to leave it there; at least until they come back for it.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

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