Ep 20 Recap here

Episode 21 kicked off with an overview of how Rhea spent her time between the events between the weeks of the First and Second Hoof of the Fruit.

At her regular check-in with Nala[1], Rhea had a deep conversation about how Rhea’s been spending her time so far while walking around the soon-to-become-hostile[2] streets of Aquila- talking about what she’s learned, about what’s surprised her, and about what drives the structures and people of the city.

After their walk-and-talk, they returned to monastery, where Rhea decided to check in with Brandon. Another long conversation followed - where Brandon made it clear he was yet unwilling to give up his fight for the eternal night. But, he at least seemed open to continuing conversation, while Rhea seemed undaunted by Brandon’s determination.

Next, it was finally time to meet the resource that Lysta’s druid circle, the Hallowed Reynir, had sent to aid the fight against the Blood Tides - Ethren.

After getting caught up on the situation, Ethren suggested the party commune with his God - Ga’el. They made their way out of the city and setup camp - during which Sasha and Lysta talked about the group’s love life.

Then, after they had everything setup, Ethren began the communing. He took out his Guitar, and sang to Ga’el, who responded back with information about a counter-ritual. Seeing the way forward, Ethren made it clear that he would begin preparations for the counter ritual the next day, and that, in a week’s time, the party would have to confront the threat facing them - going into the city during the ritual and protecting Ethren as he performed the counter ritual.

With that sorted, we moved forward to the last big event of the episode: the meeting with The One who Watches the Fire[3]. Anananke - the woman behind the moniker - met them at the Boozy Ewer, Pyoter’s former employer. After exchanging awkward pleasantries (how do you introduce yourself to an apparently-omniscient entity?) they got down to business - Anananke explained how she could see Time’s Conflagration: The idea that time and life is like a fire, ever burning forward. While she spent much time trying to tend to this fire, making sure it neither burned too hot nor burnt out entirely, she recently began encountering distortions. These distortions - where the metaphorical-fire moved in erratic and impossible ways - seemed localized to Aquilla, and heavily centered around this very group.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) things became clearer after Ymitri mind-linked with Anananke, sharing context about The Ordemists. Anananke determined that these entities were the ones causing the distortions, and that great danger loomed on the horizon if their cause was advanced.

Finally, we left off on the road to the climax - the counter ritual aiming to bring Vallast into the world as an entity of the light rather than the dark. With the city and potentially the world hanging in the balance, will the Despicable Six be able to carry out the counter ritual and save the world, or will Vallast return and cause havoc and mayhem as The Fang originally intended?

Notes & Glossary

[1] Nala: Rhea’s mentor from the Temple of the 17 Sages. Nala is guiding Rhea through her Seeking, a coming-of-age ritual that will determine Rhea’s position in the monastery as she transitions into adulthood.

[2]: The party has had a bounty put on their head for crimes against the city. While momentum hadn’t really picked up yet in previous episodes, as time moves forward, more and more of the city will become aware of the very-substantial bounty on the party’s heads, making it increasingly difficult to move around freely.

[3] The One who Watches the Fire: The mysterious entity who had been sending the party concerningly prescient notes through various means. She had sent a note to Ymitri warning of his upcoming encounter with the ordemists, as well as to Lysta and Pyotr warning about some untrustworthy figures they had been associating with (Sarah and Morrahk).