Session 76

General Summary

Here, Kitty Kitty - HAIRBALL INBOUND!

Magma kitty seems perfectly at home amidst the rolling magma. With paws braced on the exposed rock, Magma kitty generates a Wall of Fire and seems content to chill at the other end of the cavern, wagging its tail and waiting. Rani and Declan charge forward valiantly, but Rani turns invisible leaving Declan to stand alone beyond the wall of fire. Dark ashen smoke fills the area around everyone else. Ghilani stumbles back, but Moira grabs him and begins to ascend, allowing them to get a view of Magma Kitty. Declan gets fireballed (or hair balled) as he seems to be a pristine target and Newt rises above the smoke just in time to see Declan partially singed and covered in bits of flaming hair.

puppeteered for a brief moment before she stabilizes. Moira and Ghilani – who had just left another round of smoke – sink right back into it as Ghilani flops and goes limp.

The fire within the three-headed hound slowly choke and sputter with a noise akin to a hiss and a whine as the creature begins to slump. Before it can fully fall to the ground, however, there is a puff of dark smoke and the fires reignite... an eerie shade of gray-violet that feels cold rather than hot. From the cracks in its form, you can feel the sensation of a pull, can feel the cold, and can see the swirling blackness as it fills the crumpled form of the hound and begins to rearrange its parts. The two peripheral heads are blow open, their "bones" splayed out in an arrangement that looks vaguely like a 6-pronged jagged crown. It stands back up on four legs, stomach and chest filled with churning black smoke and violet fire.

Vanishing out into the magma, this cold swirling entity creates a fissure of gravity that attempts to rip and pull on everyone in and near its path. Declan moves in quickly and finds himself a prime target before... gender swapped. Rani, riding her new BEE-spa moves to join him with Newt who flies around to flank. A large pull of gravity tugs on the very being of every individual and all but Rani and Declan are pulled towards the creature. It then lashed and lunged outward, tearing into Declan, Newt, Ghilani, and Moira. Cyrus is pulled more into the magma, managing to somewhat grab onto Declan only to pull back when... boobs? Moira WANTS TO GET HIT so she doesn't disengage. And she does get hit... bu tit also seems to be reverberating and captures her next attack against it.

Oh WOW, look at that wizard over there all by himself! The creature decides to go say hi... and it seems hellbent on killing. It focuses fire on Ghilani, bringing him down quickly and seeming to heal form his unconscious body. Declan charges forward to try and divert attention, thunder damage doing some work. Moira asks her buddy and pale to help. Anything you can do? Just go for it! And so Moira's weapon arm is encased with swirling black-violet smoke and her weapon transforms into an elongated jagged sword. She appears between Declan and Ghilani. As she heals Ghilani with one hand, the Dread King stabs into the creature. A jagged crown appears on Moira's forehead... as exhaustion settles in.
Declan then becomes the target and, when he fell unconscious, Ghilani rolled under Moira to heal him. Newt blasts the creature and shatters its "crown" into the aether. Moira comments that she would have let the Dread King absorb stuff anyway and as the Dread King raises an arm – from the ground beneath Moira – Ghilani also lifts a hand. Bits of the creature are drawn forth towards them as the rest of it vanishes into a swirling vortex.

In the Aftermath - Congrats, You've Made the Sending List!

Declan convinces everyone to rest after the fight and for Moira to preserve her spells. Cyrus asks if Newt could fake his death? Ghilani says he could PRETEND to be Newt and PRETEND to be dead. Cyrus says no... it has to be real not just pretend. When pressed, he mentioned that Cordelia had wanted to end Newt as she seems to have it out for him. Rani speaks with The Dread King. He is... glad... that everyone is... fine. Rani is happy that he helped, but man, Moira really killed it back there, didn't she, right? Yes... she is an... adequate host. The crown of horns and black arm slowly rescind, but Moira's black eyes and black veins linger for a few hours more.
On his horse, Cyrus ascends with the rest of The Deep End. Newt is turned invisible and to avoid dealing with everything, Cyrus injects himself and promptly falls unconscious. Cordelia eyes the group, but doesn't seem to make any move to do anything as they pass. Rani steals a hair off Cyrus's head before he's roused back to consciousness. What a way to avoid dealing with things.
Cyrus inquires as to if the group will be leaving. If he learns anything of importance, he should pass along the information! Cyrus will if there is a means to do so- OH, don't worry... you're like second or third on the sending list now. With Cyrus gone, Declan attempted to reach out to Thera after their silence earlier. They seem to be... distraught. It feels slightly off for them when they tend to usually be quite forward. Newt prays to Ah'Shal. How are you? How's it going? Any new memories? Anything new happen? Yes. We should probably go speak with her.

The Father, The Mother, The Sister, The Brother

As Moira falls into the darkness of sleep, it slides open revealing a flash of light that fades into a room with wooden floors and walls composed of almost thin paper. The far wall is open, revealing a familiar starry sky over steep mountains. A simple low-set table is accompanied by two dark blue cushions on the ground, one on each side of the table. Two teacups sit on the table, steam rising. One of them lifts, tilts, and then is set back down with poise and grace.

Welcome, Moira. I confess this is not where I prefer to meet, but I thought perhaps you'd be more comfortable in something... familiar. The desert rat may have obscured herself, but... all things in time, like sands through an hourglass... Tick, Tock. Regardless, I wanted to speak to you. No, not you... that great power within you.

Moira calls the voice a coward. The tea cup settles. Allow me to explain something. I know a good deal about you and your companions, but you know oh so very little about me, what I'm capable of... do you really wish to push like that? So, would you call me that again? Moira calls her a coward again, but this time with more GUSTO. With a light laugh and no immediate trace of anger, the voice comments that she thought Moira was wiser... how disappointing. Very well... The Father, the Mother, the Sister, or the Brother? If you had to choose one, which would you choose. Moira refuses to choose. She'll just choose whatever she wishes anyway! The Lady of Dread laughs. Very well, all of them, then.
The voice seemed to turn to the buddy within Moira. Do you see this? She will break and fail you, but I can offer you assistance with your memories... with what you hold most dear. Moira, still confident, bit her a good "we'll be seeing you". Oh, I imagine we will see one another one day. For now... Moira's brain is wracked by images and memories, sensations that seem alien. Something sifts through her memories, an uncomfortable feeling. The Lady of Dread's voice echoes one final time... and Moira dreams.
Although Dysis' words remain unintelligible... the chants and cheers of people are clearer: