8-19 The City Gates Report

General Summary

Zulex and Lokir drop Karyb off at the gates of the city who assists Lieutenant Meles. They then fight their way through the city, seeing Opal and Flare battling aberrations in their draconic forms. Partway through they find Escher and Sona fighting against more shadows. Escher directs them to the aberration, but Lokir stops to save a family. Zulex carves open the aberration. Inside is smooth pearl like material that he forges into a crown for himself and shield for Zulex. They manage to get the aberration flying and go to rejoin their allies. Serenade, Brio, Bolero, Alder and Hazel face off against the incoming army with Prince Calem at its core. They had seen that the prince is being manipulated by the Ephemeral forces. Hazel summons a storm to slow their approach as Alder builds a device to launch them into the fray. With a ward created by Alder and Hazel, they land safely among the army. They manage to push through the army and distract the Prince enough to slow him down as he fights against the deep forcing him to fight. Alder launches the rest of them to the Owlbear that the prince is mounted on as they find out the Prince sent demands for the city to bow to him and his forces.   As they fight to control the Prince and the Owlbear continues pushing towards the city, they devise a plan to separate the shadow from him and allow Serenade to share some of the burden. Brio and Bolero grab the prince and hold him in place as Hazel pours pure light into him, forcing the shadow out. As the prince and shadow scream in unison, the shadow starts separating into static, appearing sometimes as the prince and sometimes as Legato; but reforms just as quickly. They continue trying to pull the shadow apart while it fights against them. During this time, Alder is attempting to slow and talk down the approaching werewolf leader.   As their attempts to separate the shadow are stalled by its power, it attempts to level the Prince's rifle at the city, a massive amount of ephemeral energy behind the blast, but Alder sending Reginald at it pulls it away at the last moment. As the shadow prepares to fire again, Zulex and Lokir arrive with Lokir dropping from high in the sky onto the werewolf leader, killing him. With the assistance of Lokir, Zulex, and Alder, Hazel pulls the shadow fully away from the Prince allowing Serenade to push herself into it, dissipating the shadow.   Flecks of the shadow spread through the army of beasts and into both Serenade and the Prince. The Prince returns to his senses and parlays for peace and assistance in quelling the danger with Lieutenant Meles in exchange for safety for his people. Many of the beasts go into the city to help with the shadows attacking through the streets, but many are driven wild by the ephemeral influences.   Frane and his mental dopplegangers arrive, willing to assist in exchange for a guarantee of safety, and with the help of the Prince are able to start gaining control of the battle at the wall. During this time, Lokir receives a message that Opal is in danger and suggests for the party to rush to her aid. They see the fighting in the streets as they fly to the port where both Flare and Opal lie unconscious. At the water's edge they see the two massively damaged aberrations with monsters and shadows of man approaching. At the back of the force, Mercury is walking along the water as he lifts into the air to reveal the Leviathan, Gigas of Water, under him. The gigas seems to not be fully under control of the ephemera as the shadows pull at it and it struggles to move. The cult members stand with their arms wide at the port's edge welcoming the creatures that gleefully devour them.