Arc 16: It’s Just a Phase

## Episodes

* Episode 168 - It Started With the Hayloft
* Episode 169 - Be Our Guest
* Episode 170 - Into The Bubble
* Episode 171 - Mira Marchand was Here
* Episode 172 - Hot Off the Press
* Episode 173 - Thank You Kurt!
* Episode 174 - Saviours of the Stew
* Episode 175 - Beastie Bashin’
* Episode 176 - Like Burps on the Wind
* Episode 177 - Cat-acomb Crawlers
* Episode 178 - Total Eclipse of the Heart
* Episode 179 - Fighting in the Moonlight
* Episode 180 - Oh The Places We’ll Go
* Episode 181 - One Small Step
* Episode 182 - Lunarcy
* Episode 183 - Bad Blood
* Episode 184 - Many Moons Ago

## Synopsis (abridged)

Post Autumn's End festival, SWIM prepared for internships at Crowe Mercantile in the northern fire giant town of Troisle. Notably, Winsler confronted a defensive Chudley, and Serinepth was branded a traitor to the kingdom after Phillip Maisel attempted to duel the Prince for her hand and she revealed that she did not love him. She narrowly escaped, reuniting with Integrity in Dry Falls. They journeyed to Troisle through portals and icy landscapes, escorted by a fire giant, Graist, evading an unknown beast below the ice, and settled into their new living quarters. They then discovered their magical tattoos received during the festival had animated and disappeared overnight, leaving their rooms in disarray. The students embarked on a quest to find their missing tattoos. The search led them to the outside of the city, where they were attacked by a Remorhaz and Graist was killed. Mira revived a fallen Graist, and the others returned to Troisle to find Kurt mysteriously unconscious.

After the reveal that revivification is not taken lightly in giant culture, Mira was taken to a central tower by Graist to investigate a possible divine connection to the giant’s goddess, 'Sésul'. Meanwhile, the others, having found Winsler's lost cat tattoo in a boiler room, stumbled upon a hidden room filled with a dissected Ari and a blank journal. They were plunged into a celestial labyrinth on the moon where they spent two weeks, learning of hidden projects and reaching an enormous temple guarded by a giant, The Disciple. They discovered that they were on a facsimile of their home planet, Isb, and that the true Isb was a spectral entity in the sky.

In the temple, Graist underwent a transformation and became a storm giant, foretelling a great storm. The Disciple guided them to face an ancient corruption behind the temple's doors, which turned out to be remnants of the Progenitor. After a narrow victory, they were given further information about the origin of Sésul, learning that she and Meaphidae were the same entity, and that this current world's gods gained their power through scavenging hers. They returned to Wildcliff after praying to the Goddess. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them Crowe was revealed to be aware of the students' secrets, including knowledge about Sheora.

## Synopsis (detailed)

After the events of the Autumn’s End festival, the students returned home to spend time with their families and prepare for their internships with Crowe Mercantile in the town of Troisle.

Mira and Integrity settled into their old lives at home, reconnecting with siblings and helping their parents. Meanwhile Winsler kept a close eye on his parents new farmhand, Chudley, and Serinepth was forced to flee the capital after a near duel between Philip Maisel and Prince Frederick ends in them being declared traitors. Serinepth and Philip separate, with Serinepth staying at the Idleberrys until the internship starts.

The day before the internship started, a large crow arrived for each of the students, turning into a letter welcoming them to their new job, and instructions for getting to Troisle. Mira and Integrity received birthday presents, and Mira brought the unconscious Angelika Lindeman in a wagon.

Following the letters instructions, the students walked through portals to a large hallway, where they shared stories, and Winsler met up with Kurt. They were introduced to Graist, the fire giant Kennel Keeper for Troisle, before beginning their sled journey to the town of Troisle.

Successfully avoiding an encounter with an unknown beast below the ice, the students arrived in Troisle and were greeted by Headmaster Osei Crowe. He told them about some of the projects being worked on before they are showed to their rooms. Each student was given a gift basket containing clothes, food, and a ‘*Sending slate*’ (iStone) to allow them to communicate with each other. After settling into their rooms, the students fell asleep and failed to notice the magical tattoos they got in the festival animate and run away.

They woke in the morning to find their room trashed, and their tattoos vanished from their bodies. After using Kurt to distract Osgool Parm, their escort, Mira used a *Locate Creature* spell to find her crow tattoo in a nearby workshop.

They arrived to find a library, with several giants operating a book press, and an old man trying to placate an angry and haughty elven woman. SWIM is able to learn that something had destroyed a prototype illusory book, and confessed the tattoos might be responsible.

They promised to help Mr. Hannigan—who ran the workshop—and Mira distracted the elven woman by taking her outside for a picnic. She learned that her name was Miss Ables, and she represented the publishing house of Mira’s favourite book series, which instantly made Mira very invested in her happiness.

After clearing out the library, SWIM successfully found and fought the Crow tattoo, who had been leaving the message ‘*Mira Marchand was here*’ everywhere kept saying it was Mira. They apologised to Mr. Hannigan for the mess, and quickly left when it seemed like he wanted to accuse them of sabotage.

Winsler went over to his and Kurt’s golem lecture, will the other students went to look for more tattoos. On his way to the lecture hall, Winsler was attacked by an inky Cat with purple eyes. However, he was able to make it to the hall where he was rejoined by his friends, and successfully told Crowe how to make golems.

Afterwards, the students went to check out the mess hall. Winsler helped a dwarf save his stew, while the others found evidence of the tattoo’s presence.

As they discussed what to do next, a large Remorhaz attacked the glass dome above the city. Luckily it was unable to get in, but the attack was highly unusual. SWIM went to the kennels to find Graist about to leave the city. He said he would check on the Soothing Stone, an totem made of severa stone pieces that placated the Remorhazes around the city to prevent such attacks.

On the way to the cave containing the Stone, their sled was attacked by a Remorhaz. They were able to fend it off, and arrived at the cave. Going inside, they found the Fox tattoo had taken part of the Soothing Stone.

The students tried to get it back, with Serinepth trying to convince it to drop the Stone to play fetch with her trident. Part way through the encounter, both the Hound tattoo and a Remorhaz emerged, and joined the fray. Together, SWIM was able to restore the Soothing Stone, which caused the Remorhaz to retreat, and the Fox and Hound to vanish, reappearing on their respective owner’s skin.

Mira rushed outside the cave to find Graist lying dead, and quickly *Revivified* him. He seemed confused and in awe as to how she did this, but told her he needed to talk to the other giants about what had happened.

When they arrived back in Troisle, they found Kurt stuck unconscious to a wall. After prying him off and returning to his room, they set off to find the final tattoo’s. Mira was intercepted by Graist, who asked her to join him in the central tower of Troisle.

Mira was led to the tower, where she was asked if she was an oracle, or had some kind of divine connection to the giant’s goddess ‘*Sésul*’. Though she denied it, the giants asked that she and Graist travel to the catacombs to search for any possible connection.

Meanwhile, the rest of SWIM found their way into a boiler room, where they met a Cat with green eyes. After trying to convince it to rejoin Winsler, it refused, and began to attack them alongside the Cat with purple eyes.

They managed to escape through a maintenance tunnel that led into the central tower. Part way through, the tunnel collapsed, and they fell into a pool of water, with Winsler falling unconscious.

Mira had found a room deep underground, with a trough of water illuminated in moonlight. As Winsler fell unconscious, a spectral version of his soul appeared in the water. Afraid her friend was dying, Mira reached in to heal him. She was successful, Winsler woke up, and Graist became even more convinced that Mira had divine favour.

Serinepth, Winsler, and Integrity continued through the tunnels they found themselves in, eventually reaching the catacombs. They found a hidden room containing a portable hole, the dissection of an unnamed clockwork golem, an apparatus for making health potions, and a box that seemed to leak shadows. They also found a blank journal.

They continued further into the catacombs, and arrived at a room very similar to where Mira and Graist were. After realising that their touch caused the stone to glow with moonlight, they inscribed an indented half-moon above a sealed door. This caused spectral versions of each group to appear to the other. As they caught up on what had happened, the Squirrel tattoo entered the room where Mira and Graist were.

It began to attack them, momentarily distracted by the moonlight holograms before focusing on its corporeal prey. The students ran around the pillars, and discovered that by touching them in the order of the cycle of the giants: Stone, Fire, Cloud, Frost, all of the students became corporeal in the same room. The sealed door warped inwards, and all of SWIM plus Graist dived into it to escape the rampaging Squirrel.

They found themselves transported through a series of illusions of the divine planes: Isathil, Siltran, Estar, Stivus, Rell, Lem, and finally what looked to be the empire of Sheora frozen in time. The students were then spat out in a similar, yet different, room to where they had began, and the door once again sealed behind them.

They walked for two weeks through a labyrinth, Mira and Integrity’s birthday’s passed, and Serinepth found the journal actually contained notes about the projects in the room, by Osgool Parm. They at last arrived in an enormous temple. Lining the walls were horns made of six kinds of materials, and sitting in front of them was a large stone giant, who looked very surprised to see them. Behind the giant were two massive stone doors, in which were carved pictures of snakes, crowns, shields, and moons. They looked above them at a large skylight, and saw in the night sky their home planet, surrounded by the six divine planes. To the side was a spectral, grey copy of the planet.

The stone giant introduced themselves as The Disciple, and welcomed the students. They made them wood and water, and called on Graist to join them. They created a crystal horn out of spores in the air, which Graist blew into. Immediately, his body turned to crystal, and Mira attacked the Disciple for killing Graist.

Integrity tried to calm Mira down, while Serinepth apologised profusely to the Disciple. She told them they were just confused, and wanted to get back to their home planet. The Disciple laughed, telling her that the planet’s name was Isb (pronounced ‘Ib’), and that the Isb they came from was a fake. The true Isb was the spectral copy, floating in the sky.

The Disciple told them that Graist was alive, and was simply transforming into the next giant in the cycle. Mira apologised, playing a song to appease the goddess. The students tried to get more information from the Disciple, but they refused as they couldn’t trust them. They said that if they drove back the corruption behind the large stone doors, they would tell the students what they wished to know.

The Disciple suggested they pray to Sésul, to ask for her blessing. After looking at the doors, Mira asked if Sésul and Meaphiae were the same deity, and was told that she was correct. The students all prayed for protection, or simply wished to be done with the whole situation. One by one they became sheathed in a holy aura, except Integrity, who felt a stabbing pain in her back, as the goddess felt the Progenitor’s power.

SWIM entered the rook beyond the doors, finding a similar looking temple, in the middle of which was a broken statue. The statue was of a serpent with two sets of wings, and crawling all along its surface were thousands upon thousands of grubs. The grubs formed into two separate beings, one massive and hulking, the other spindly and holding a staff. The Progenitor whispered into Integrity’s mind that they were parts of him, left behind.

The students fought the Mage and its Hulk, narrowly defeating them. They returned in victory to the Disciple, who proceeded to thank them repeatedly and answer questions they had to the best of their ability. They also revealed themselves to be a Couatl, and told Mira that her arm was one as well, though not fully emerged.

Graist emerged from his metamorphosis, and became a storm giant. His arms were riddled with tattoos that spoke of a great storm coming to the land. The Disciple sent him back to the Gleaming Isles, and told him the other storm giants would begin to emerge soon.

The students prayed to Sésul/Meaphidae one last time, and were returned to the Sunken Hatch in Wildcliff. They celebrated their return, sending messages to Kurt to let him know that they were ok, and to bring back their stuff from Troisle. Integrity felt a pull on her mind, and was shown flashes of the Progenitor, screaming in pain and anger, while desperately reaching for her mind to try and hurt her.

Back in Troisle, Crowe scrolled through the countless messages the students had sent, making note of all the secrets they had shared, including Sheora. He told Osgool Parm to pack the students things, as he would bring them back when he returned to Wildcliff to question the students.