Summary (Full Account is Recommended): Mercutio has a hellish vision of eight bloody pillars holding eight devilish weapons, one being shown in real time to be owned by Varis. A small scouting group consisting of Varis Ravara, Mercutio Makari, Sojobo Gatani, Cake Charlotte, High Priest Jeremiah, Jarxan, the Matron Mother Keziah, Delphine Forest, and Olokas Feytorii head out to find Blassout Burgendy Senior's archives where the ancient dragon is said to have been stored. On the way they encounter and roughly escape two frost giants. They open the vault to the archives and are questioned by a warforged called DMB-01 and all pass through only to have another trial to get to the dragon and other powerful items, which all except Sojobo, Jarxan, and Keziah pass. They find four objects: the ruby containing the ancient dragon, a shard of darkness, a dodecahedron of possibility, and a strange hellish warhammer. Cake takes the dodecahedron and the shard, Varis pockets the ruby, and Jeremiah takes interest in the warhammer. The warhammer is identified by Mercutio from his vision as one of the hellish weapons and he recommends caution. Sojobo is dejected as he has been thrown out and no longer is allowed to take from his dream library anything of value, but with Blassout's voice telling him redemption is possible, he rethinks his worldview. Sojobo decides he should stay behind at the archives for a good amount of time to learn and study to better himself for the group and disconnect from being power-hungry and invested in a power-centric world. Mercutio counters this with various reasons which mostly boil down to the fact that the war won't wait for him and that he's needed now, in the moment, and especially needed by those who care about him– himself and Cake primarily. Cake breaks down into tears and says she'd miss him and that he should do what he wants, but that she'd be sad if he wasn't there. Sojobo ends up making the hard choice and staying with the group, breaking down into tears himself at the revelation of a found family. Blassout's voice confirms that he made the right choice, and grants him one magic item from the archive as an investment in his betterment. As they all leave Mercutio approaches Varis and the two have a heart-to-heart in which Mercutio is told of the successorships related to the Heavenly Seven's artifacts and how if they all die the successors will gain that power. Sojobo is one of them, and Cake is presumably one of them as well. Varis also explains Lucius' hellish weapon and his own hellish dagger, of the same batch as the warhammer, are sentient and controlled by insanity-provoking entities. He reveals Lucius' mace to have been controlled by a being named Abaddon. Mercutio explains his situation with Abaddon and it is figured that Mercutio is, essentially, an engineered human weapon of sorts. The two end up having the conversation veer off back towards Varis again when Mercutio calls him out for being so far away from the moment, distancing himself from anyone in his life previous or present, that he's living a life that, though long, isn't worth living, and that he needs to bring himself back to closeness with the people around him again. With that Varis is a bit flustered by the honesty and deflects, thinking about it but kicking off to get going back to camp.
Sojobo meets Fleur in the astral plane on the way back to camp, and she assures him he is her successor and she is the one who sent him down the path of the Seeker. She ends up pulling two tarot cards for him: the fool and the world. Sojobo addresses the Seeker and expresses his new revelations and that he needs to find knowledge and skill on his own terms and with his own hands. As such, the Seeker ends up revoking his warlock pact and sending him falling through the astral plane towards the material, and as he falls through the void Sojobo loses not only his body's portal and tattoos signifying of it, but his earned voice, and all the powers he'd acquired as a warlock. Sojobo plummets back to his own body and falls from his horse in the material plane, and Cake and Mercutio rush to help him wake up and make sure he's okay. The group carries on post haste, worried for their friend who can not speak and is weaker than they've ever seen him.