079. The Last of Us

The motley ventures off the Silver Path.

***"Some games are known for their endings… and some for their beginnings."***

At The Spark, Zistor informs the motley of the new and improved Somnambulus, which can now venture off the Silver Path… although Patches better be ready to take over the manual controls if the autopilot fails them. They are seen off by all of the residents of The Spark, as well as Kaylie, who tells Braum to be on the lookout for the Red Star.

Taking Ramzia into the craft and "plugging her in", she begins to dream of her love in order to guide them. Sophia creates a halo of Flicker Flies around the pooka's head in order to deepen her feelings of love… and to provide them with a path to their target. As they start to turn off the Silver Path, Sophia notes that she'll have to help Ramzia dream of home once they have rescued her love, in order to guide them home. Patches is trying to track landmarks to help them return, but realizes that it's futile, and turns instead to Zistor's built-in compass. The forest beneath them thickens and darkness, with fog rising up around them, as well as the very branches of the trees.

Suddenly, they arrive: Sophia hops into Ramzia's dream and learns that she is maybe headed into danger, represented by distant snow, but she restrengthens her resolve to rescue their target. The motley tether themselves to the ship and hop out, rappelling down through the clawing branches of the trees, down towards the ground where a triangle of chimerical fires burn. Sophia spies some faint flicker flies and knows them to be near; Braum discovers a spyglass and a knife, old artifacts that point to someone having been there recently. Suddenly, two birdlike creatures appear from the trees and rush at Patches, desperately hungry: as she blows one away with her rifle, the other one starts to feast on its flesh. Patches discovers a figure hiding in the tall grass, and is momentarily taken aback to discover that it has large dangerous claws; on closer inspection, the claws were built onto gloves, and the figure is revealed to be an eshu with eyes as dark as the night. She is only able to communicate in an unknown language, but Patches knows this must be the woman they're looking for.

As Patches starts to ascend back towards the Somnambulus, the chittering of hundreds more of the beaked creatures comes out from the trees. Sophia tries to close them out, but they burst through, chasing the motley up into the sky. They manage to slam the craft back into gear as Sophia enters Ramzia's dream. She tells Ramzia nothing of the status of the mission, only to think of home, the Spark, so as to get them back. Sophia notices that the snow has moved closer, and has surrounded her with ice. Re-emerging into the Dreaming, the three become aware that the birds have followed them, and are tearing panels off the ship! Exiting out into the screaming air, Patches moves to try to repair the panels while Braum hurls lightning at the birds, trying to drive them off.

Sophia senses a presence directing the creatures: on top of the craft, an old crone stands, waiting for her: Marley is the woman present at Sophia's Chrysalis, the creature who gave her father his "wishes". She snarls at the sidhe that she is here to reclaim her wishes, and will stop at nothing. She casts a Faerie ring around them and the two begin to hurl cantrips at each other. Sophia tells her that since she's "lost hope about the world", she now finds the woman to be nothing more than a sad figure, and calls on the Dreaming to "banish her".

As Braum jumps back to the craft's controls to try to slow its descent, Patches imbues herself with flight, tethered to the craft but able to move around it. She punches a bird, fixes a fuel lines, replaces a panel: she is everywhere at once, determined to get them home. As Sophia destroys Marley's Faerie Ring, she is able to let the Dreaming carry her off: on her way, Marley shoots a giant fireball towards them. Both Braum and Patches try to speed the craft out of danger, Braum with the power of a storm, and Patches with Quicksilver. Together, they manage to escape the conflagration, crash-landing right back on the Silver Path, next to the hot springs from their previous visit.

Ramzia was injured in the craft, but Sophia's Well of Life stabilizes her. As she gazes up into the eyes of her love, she names the eshu: Lal, the last Siochan.