Session 034: Summer's Champion
General Summary
We pick up in the Tinderwield, the temple of the Summer Goddess.
North Wind spends more time gnawing on the puzzle of the gemstone animals. Eventually Aphid casts divination to ask the gods what they're missing here. The Spring Goddess responds sounding a touch exasperated and explains that the group really needs to focus on the curses. After some more deep thought the group figures out that they need to speak aloud what each others' gemstone curses are. And they also figure out a loophole by just writing the curses down.
Things go a bit more quickly after that.
The party moves on to a cathedral with large windows that let in somewhere's sunset. The ember in Zenith's chest floats out once more and morphs into a creature of light and flame. The rest of the crew look on from the sidelines and call words of encouragement as Zenith engages the angel in battle.
Zenith passes the final test with two points of health remaining.
Then he is a boat. Floating upon an endless ocean with the Summer Goddess across from him. Are you ready, Zenith? she asks. He wants to wake, she says. It is a battle we have been fighting for a long time and it is the same as it has always been and it is different, he wants to wake, she says. I can't do much directly, but I promise to make sure your waking isn't too hard, she says.
Cool thanks, Zenith says. (Pretty much... I'm paraphrasing)
The Summer Goddess says she has a few surprises waiting for Zenith... and then pushes him off the boat.
Zenith surfaces in dark, stormy waters with pitch black above and stars in the water around him. He finds himself next to a boat that is quite clearly different since Verity is looking down at him. The two share a tender moment of confusion and reunion and a bit of sorrow. Verity teases Zenith for his braiding. Zenith offers to braid his hair as many times as it takes. In their final moment together before waking, Zenith bravely leans in to place a kiss upon Verity's lips. As the dream fades, Verity says that it took him long enough.
Everyone comes back to themselves to find they are standing on the shore next to the oasis. Zenith finds that there is now fabric draped across his shoulders, embroidered with red and gold. The party exits the dome of ice, discussing how best to bring it down since Zenith knows it isn't supposed to be there. Fittingly enough, Zenith casts fireball at a weak point Talasea had cracked earlier. The ice crumbles before their eyes in an eruption of fog and sand. They bed down for the night next to the oasis as the ice begins to melt.
Before they sleep, Tal and Jack make sure to update their families that Zenith and Verity kissed and oh yeah they also made it through the temple of the Summer Goddess. But mostly the kiss thing.
That night they dream.
Zenith dreams of Verity, as he had hoped he would.
Aphid dreams he is a mouse in a den much like his home. The Spring Goddess visits in the guise of a rodent and challenges his assumption that he'd have to hide once he got home. She informs him that before he is done, he will have traveled to all four kingdoms, will have faced gods, will have helped countless people. Aphid takes in this perspective, thinking about whether or not he can really stand up to his grandmother.
Mohr dreams of the ice fields where she began her journey. The Winter Diety visits in the familiar guise of the Snowmother and takes her hand. They discuss the antics of their "sister." Mohr asks the Snowmother whether they like their sister. The Snowmother pauses, caught a bit off guard. In many ways, I am her, but I suppose that the whisper of sand over ice, the mingling of the cold of desert nights with the heat of desert days, is the two of us speaking to one another.
I wish I had that, says Mohr.
You do, the Snowmother tells her.
Jack dreams, as he so often does, of a dark room with a darker doorway. He turns and sees the face of Avarice for the first time, shadowy and unsettling. Jack informs Avarice that he intends to stay with him, but he wants to see the contract and he reserves the right to exit if he wishes. Avarice promises to get the contract for him (apparently he has to file paperwork for it, it takes some time). When Jack states he'd like to wake up, Avarice sneers that he doesn't have to like it. And Jack passes the night with uneasy almost-nightmares.
Talasea dreams of the deck of a ship that is unfamiliar to him. They watch as a star above him grows brighter and brighter until it seems he could reach out and touch it. So he does. The light feels warm around his fingers and he encounters a hard surface within that feels smooth like scales. He feels an emotion from the light deep in his soul: hello. Talasea reaches to pull himself up and feels a hand grasp his forearm and pull. hello he feels again. Talasea says hello. who? he feels. Who are you? Tal asks. who you? the feeling insists.
I am Talasea, he says. I am a sailor, I am a bard, and I can tell you a secret, I'm a mermaid.
!!! goes the feeling. Talasea feels his other arm grasped and he is pulled aloft. He asks again: Who are you? and in response he gets a rush of sensations, of joy, of curiosity, of sorrow. And he gets one last complicated emotion that he struggles to unravel.
same
He feels it in his soul, in his bones. And then he is falling.
And then they awake.
North Wind faces a new day in the Desert of the Shifting Sands. The sun rises, shining down upon the surface of the twin oases, with no ice in sight.
North Wind spends more time gnawing on the puzzle of the gemstone animals. Eventually Aphid casts divination to ask the gods what they're missing here. The Spring Goddess responds sounding a touch exasperated and explains that the group really needs to focus on the curses. After some more deep thought the group figures out that they need to speak aloud what each others' gemstone curses are. And they also figure out a loophole by just writing the curses down.
Things go a bit more quickly after that.
The party moves on to a cathedral with large windows that let in somewhere's sunset. The ember in Zenith's chest floats out once more and morphs into a creature of light and flame. The rest of the crew look on from the sidelines and call words of encouragement as Zenith engages the angel in battle.
Zenith passes the final test with two points of health remaining.
Then he is a boat. Floating upon an endless ocean with the Summer Goddess across from him. Are you ready, Zenith? she asks. He wants to wake, she says. It is a battle we have been fighting for a long time and it is the same as it has always been and it is different, he wants to wake, she says. I can't do much directly, but I promise to make sure your waking isn't too hard, she says.
Cool thanks, Zenith says. (Pretty much... I'm paraphrasing)
The Summer Goddess says she has a few surprises waiting for Zenith... and then pushes him off the boat.
Zenith surfaces in dark, stormy waters with pitch black above and stars in the water around him. He finds himself next to a boat that is quite clearly different since Verity is looking down at him. The two share a tender moment of confusion and reunion and a bit of sorrow. Verity teases Zenith for his braiding. Zenith offers to braid his hair as many times as it takes. In their final moment together before waking, Zenith bravely leans in to place a kiss upon Verity's lips. As the dream fades, Verity says that it took him long enough.
Everyone comes back to themselves to find they are standing on the shore next to the oasis. Zenith finds that there is now fabric draped across his shoulders, embroidered with red and gold. The party exits the dome of ice, discussing how best to bring it down since Zenith knows it isn't supposed to be there. Fittingly enough, Zenith casts fireball at a weak point Talasea had cracked earlier. The ice crumbles before their eyes in an eruption of fog and sand. They bed down for the night next to the oasis as the ice begins to melt.
Before they sleep, Tal and Jack make sure to update their families that Zenith and Verity kissed and oh yeah they also made it through the temple of the Summer Goddess. But mostly the kiss thing.
That night they dream.
Zenith dreams of Verity, as he had hoped he would.
Aphid dreams he is a mouse in a den much like his home. The Spring Goddess visits in the guise of a rodent and challenges his assumption that he'd have to hide once he got home. She informs him that before he is done, he will have traveled to all four kingdoms, will have faced gods, will have helped countless people. Aphid takes in this perspective, thinking about whether or not he can really stand up to his grandmother.
Mohr dreams of the ice fields where she began her journey. The Winter Diety visits in the familiar guise of the Snowmother and takes her hand. They discuss the antics of their "sister." Mohr asks the Snowmother whether they like their sister. The Snowmother pauses, caught a bit off guard. In many ways, I am her, but I suppose that the whisper of sand over ice, the mingling of the cold of desert nights with the heat of desert days, is the two of us speaking to one another.
I wish I had that, says Mohr.
You do, the Snowmother tells her.
Jack dreams, as he so often does, of a dark room with a darker doorway. He turns and sees the face of Avarice for the first time, shadowy and unsettling. Jack informs Avarice that he intends to stay with him, but he wants to see the contract and he reserves the right to exit if he wishes. Avarice promises to get the contract for him (apparently he has to file paperwork for it, it takes some time). When Jack states he'd like to wake up, Avarice sneers that he doesn't have to like it. And Jack passes the night with uneasy almost-nightmares.
Talasea dreams of the deck of a ship that is unfamiliar to him. They watch as a star above him grows brighter and brighter until it seems he could reach out and touch it. So he does. The light feels warm around his fingers and he encounters a hard surface within that feels smooth like scales. He feels an emotion from the light deep in his soul: hello. Talasea reaches to pull himself up and feels a hand grasp his forearm and pull. hello he feels again. Talasea says hello. who? he feels. Who are you? Tal asks. who you? the feeling insists.
I am Talasea, he says. I am a sailor, I am a bard, and I can tell you a secret, I'm a mermaid.
!!! goes the feeling. Talasea feels his other arm grasped and he is pulled aloft. He asks again: Who are you? and in response he gets a rush of sensations, of joy, of curiosity, of sorrow. And he gets one last complicated emotion that he struggles to unravel.
same
He feels it in his soul, in his bones. And then he is falling.
And then they awake.
North Wind faces a new day in the Desert of the Shifting Sands. The sun rises, shining down upon the surface of the twin oases, with no ice in sight.
Rewards Granted
The Sparkmantle
Report Date
16 Sep 2022
Primary Location
Comments