Session 32: The Stars

## Location

Temple of Stars, Death, and Truth, Asphodel

## Summary

After opening their doors, they open the final one. They get a vision of two siblings on a familiar coast. A star falls towards them, and they catch it. The sister’s hair flows into a galaxy, and the brother gets a cape of screaming souls. Together, they build a palace out of stars and bone.

The party walks into a big room projected in galaxies that they can’t see any walls or a floor. In the center stands a big, circular platform, where a woman stands, arms serenely stretched out. Shade throws a rock at Nonamé’s instruction, but the woman catches it and says, “Alas, you have come.” They respond with a joke. “Yes, mortals, just as I remember, all the same.” She introduces herself as Deva, queen of the cosmos. She is sealed in this temple of her own volition and remains here to test the mettle of those who come. She collapses Delirium in crystal, as people can only take the trials once. She sadly announces that the party, despite doing well on the first two, failed the third trial. The fouth is of combat against her, to survive. Five stars drift around her, initiating the fight. She says, “It was nice knowing you all, sort of,” before sending forth her stars as attacks. Two were destroyed and three were used, but in the end, everyone survives. Deva sadly mutters, “I never seem to get all of them,” before telling the party of her brother, to give him her regards. She advises Annora and Alastor that “[she] wouldn’t hit it.” She gives them a star which Noname takes. She also tells them to tell her brother that he is a twat and should do his job properly as the guardian of the truth. She then brings Delirium back. The party immediately interrogates him about his prior knowledge and his promise, which he assuages. They open another door, getting another vision of a meadow, where a peasant village resides. A manor sits above on a hill. The door opens, and a man in a fancy coat walks out as a pale star flies across the sky. At a second glance, the man is the Silver Man, however, lacking silver skin and horns.

The party enters a circular room, which resembles the entrance, except the archway does not lead anywhere except a wall. Delirium begins to introduce himself. It clicks that he intends to kill them. He reveals that this building is both the gateway to the dead and the temple of truth. As long as anyone dies in this room, they are granted access to the land of the dead, and by escaping, break any contracts. Still, he was hired by Ivy and the Court of Amber to kill them, but as long as they know their trivia, they will survive. The party finds bombs strapped onto pillars, and while Cryllos tries to diffuse them, they go off, killing everyone. Metis shows up in front of Nonamé and simply remarks, “told you so.”

They wake up on a patch of grass, a faint murmur of voices in the distance. At least their effects are healed. They sit up to see a monochrome world, where only they are in color. They confirm that they are on the same moor they left, but it's barren, gray, and off. Everything dissolves into ash when picked. Truly the land of the dead. If one dies here, their soul shatters, returning to the void. The whole world is almost exactly like the living world but not. Cryllos immediately points an arrow at Delirium, hurt from betrayal, again. He merely responds, “trust is highly overrated.” He leads them to a field, knocks on some air, creating a ripple, and walks through and vanishes. Through it is a massive city in grayscale, made up of tall, ramshackle buildings. They catch the attention of a few people, whose eyes are blank. They must talk to the king of the dead to return to life, but the path is varied. On his last time, Delirium talked to a gatekeeper, who lead him to the king to be tested. But since Alastor and Cryllos caused this specific gatekeeper’s death, it may not be smooth sailing. His memory got foggy after leaving, but he remembers that the gatekeeper had blue flowers. He then expresses excitement about the nightclubs, the shops, and the hats, which everyone is irked by. Especially Nonamé.

## Misc.

* Deva's attacks
	+ Shining metal: Large weapons
	+ Mass of bubbles: Sleeping gas
	+ Rainbows: Slicing rainbow light
* Unused Stars
	+ Ice and fire: Turns battlefield into half-fire, half-ice
	+ Shards of glass: Duplicates self, making following attacks more powerful
* Gifted Star
	+ White Lightning: Unknown