The council was taken to see the Empress. There they met up with
Lyra and
Xandra and were instructed to wait. The empress was having a discussion with a group of oracles, focusing on the leader of the oracles, a woman in her 60s and a bit overweight. The empress is unimpressed with the lack of progress regarding a prophecy from someone called Selene. After an intense exchange, the high oracle seems to fall over and is dragged out of the throne room.
After recomposing herself, the empress calls for the group. The Setessan council women were clearly hostile towards the Andrios council.
Elaida wanted the empress to execute the council and be done with the matter simply. However, the empress allowed the council to explain what occurred. As the council began talking, Kaliaros mentioned
Gaius's name. As that happened, the Empress ordered everyone else to leave the room, including the guards. Once they were alone, the council continued to relate all the events, from meeting
Venat to the latest encounter with
Gaius in the Setessan palace.
The Empress was calm and collected. She mentioned she was surprised to hear the council wasn't a part of
Venat's pattern. She also shared that a ritual was performed to ensure stability for the kingdoms which resulted in the rulers of Setessa, Skophos and Akros not losing their memories and also becoming immortal. The council had a lot of questions and throughout the conversation, the Empress shared:
- The king of Skophos has been missing to close to 100 years;
- Akros is in a state of disarray. She hasn't heard from the King for over 2 weeks which was just before the attack on the Autumn Sanctum. She also lost contact with her spies in Akros. She had planned to send Lyra to Akros to marry the King as a ruse to get her, Xandra and a small group of warriors into Akros so they could investigate;
- She doesn't trust Meletis. The city presents itself as a bastion of progress and learning but it's just a facade to hide how it treats most of its population;
- Her younger sister was Anain, one of the Archons;
- She doesn't know if Venat is corrupted as Gaius claims. But she has seen increased signs of corruption in the land;
- She believes Gaius' plan may work. But it'll turn Edinia into a battleground between gods and titans which will leave to mass destruction and the death of millions;
- The Empress will take ownership of the final seal in the Spring Sanctum in order to protect it.
After a long discussion, the empress suggested they rest after the ordeals at the Winter Sanctum. The following day at noon, they would meet once more to discuss the next steps. Before leaving, however, Kadmos showed the Empress his medallion that was with him since he was found by
Torakas. The Empress was quite surprised to see it, the medallion bore the sigil of the royal family of Miridin, Miridin was a country to the far east of Edinia that was destroyed by the Sundering. She didn't have answers but she also noted surprise to see
Krinos with someone bearing the sigil of Miridin, the Zheng were native and revered by the people of Kamigawa. The Kamigawa warlords often gifted a Zheng cub to the young descendants of Miridin as a symbol of their continued alliance.
At the end of their conversation and before the Empress summoned the guards and the Setessan council back, she made the council swear secrecy about the nature of her immortality. The cost of breaking the vow is death. The council agreed.
The Empress then publicly announced Andrios as allies of Setessa, the council were to be treated as special diplomatic envoys and were to be given access to the ambassador wing of the palace.
Elaida protested by the Empress quickly shut her down. The council then retired to their rooms where they ate, explored the wing and finally rested for the night.
The next morning, the council bathed and enjoyed some relaxation time before meeting the Empress. They also very quickly visited the local Temple of Nylea where the red rabbit was forced to beg for forgiveness, nothing happened however. Now well rested, clean and well fed, they made their way up to the throne room to meet with the empress once more.
The empress,
Lyra,
Xandra, the Setessan council and the Andrios council met in a war room adjacent to the throne room.
The conversation was a lot more tactical than the previous day. The goal was to put together a plan on how to stop the corruption but also prevent the death of millions in the process. After some brainstorming, the groups concluded that they needed more information. The Andrios council mentioned their previous goal of speaking with Nylea or Karametra since they had behaved suspiciously. The Empress agreed and shared concern for their safety given that
Gaius was made aware that they had some memory of their previous lives.
However, in order to contact the gods, they couldn't just go to a random temple. The temples were places of worship but didn't necessarily have a connection to the gods. They'd need to head to their Place of Ascension. These were the locations where they had taken on the roles of gods. The Place of Ascension for Nylea was deep in the Nessian woods, a dangerous area of the woods consumed by unknown darkness. The Place of Ascension of Karametra was somewhere under Meletis. The current Meletis was built over Karametra's old hometown. In order to navigate the Nessian Woods, the Empress offered Kadmos a medal that would allow him to manipulate the forest's maze.
The plan was to speak with Nylea and then return to Setessa to discuss next steps. The Empress gave each member, including
Krinos, a pouch and mentioned that the travel to Nylea's Place of Ascension would be dangerous and they should go well prepared. With this, the meeting came to an end and everyone began to leave. Nir requested a private conversation with the Empress.
Once the Andrios council and the Empress were the only ones left in the room, Nir showed the Empress her claw weapon and asked if she knew anything about it. The Empress immediately went into guard mode, bringing up her golden spear in a defensive stance. The Empress demanded to know how did Nir come to own that weapon and how is she not dead. Nir was very confused but she shared that she simply found the weapon in Meletis.
Now a bit calmer, the Empress explained that the weapon Nir held was called Riptide, one of Ars Armigers. The Ars Armigers were extremely powerful weapons forged in a time before memory that only can only be wielded by those with hereditary right or those who have had a legendary impact on the world. To become an Archon, you had to have an Ars Armiger. Riptide belonged to
Siren, one of the Archons. The Empress also shared that her spear was an Ars Armiger called Sunrise which belonged to her sister. If Nir wanted answers, then the Empress recommended reaching out to Thassa, as she was
Siren's apprentice before the Sundering.
With that, the council left to prepare for the upcoming adventure.
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