NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7830364" data-attributes="member: 79141">Session 240, Part ThreeLamentationA well-kept footpath led from the lighthouse into the verdant tangle, and half a mile later reached the grave of Srasma. Beneath a high canopy, the body of the eladrin goddess lay with her six arms crossed over her chest. Srasama’s body seemed vividly alive despite numerous wounds. She neither breathed nor bled, but she looked capable of standing up at any moment.Shafts of shock quartz, six feet tall and roughly hewn, circled the grove, and each sparkled like a stream in sunlight. Touching one of these obelisks summoned a wash of memories of thousands and thousands of eladrin women who perished in the Great Malice. This was their graveyard, crafted by Miller as penance and as reminder of his hubris. Gupta discovered that by concentrating it was possible to speak with a specific spirit and learn her story. Leon did so too.Uru nudged Rumdoom and nodded at the goddess. “One hell of an end!” he said.“That’s how I see myself going,” Rumdoom replied.Back at the lighthouse, William Miller, having apologised for his emotional reaction earlier, resumed their conversation in an attempt to confirm a suspicion he had. He asked them what made them come to the Gyre, given that they were unable to return.Uriel said, “I know we will return.”“How?” Miller persisted.“I have seen it,” Uriel said cagily.  There was an aspect to what he had seen that he did not want to share with anyone. Perhaps if he didn’t say it out loud…?“When did you see this?”“Before we came to the Gyre I undertook a Skyseer vision.   It confirmed that we will return to Lanjyr.  And since we came here I, we…we all had a vision of our return.  It matched my own.”“But can you be sure that is you?” Miller asked.  “Forgive my persistence, but I have a theory which may explain what you are seeing. I think you’ve been reflected too. Av, the moon. It’s a plane of mirrors, and the realm you pass through when you’re stepping through a portal. Its power tore me in two five hundred years ago. And when Av shattered a few days ago, the same thing happened to you. One version of you is back home, and the other version is here. Nothing you do here can change what happens there, and nothing the other versions of you do there will make a difference in saving your world, unless you are able to transfer what you have learned.  This is a way to do that, but it requires a drastic course of action. You must throw yourselves into the Gyre.”There was a lot of consternation when this suggestion was shared. Uru threw up his arms and lamented that it had all been a waste of time, visiting planes, gathering icons…“Not so,” said William Miller.  “There may be a way for you forge an even stronger link with those back home…” His eyes bored into Uriel, as if he knew the deva were hiding something…Meanwhile, during this conversation, Kasvarina had arrived at the eladrin burial site. She approached the goddess and the obelisks with great reverence. When she touched one of the obelisks, the ghost of a young eladrin woman appeared:It was Dala, Kasvarina’s daughter.  They greeted one another formally, with tears in their eyes. It was Kasvarina’s turn to make sorrowful apologies, before Dala questioned her appearance before her in spirit form.“I am not dead,” she said.  “My body resides on our homeworld, until such times as my enemies find me.”“And what of Launga?”“Launga perished at their hands.”The two women sang an eladrin lament.  When they were done, Dala spoke excitedly, suddenly remembering something important. She touched her three-piece amber pendant and asked Kasvarina what should become of Srasma’s legacy. As she spoke, the faintly visible, skeletal-faced ghosts of other eladrin women appeared alongside her.“As you are living, the ranamandala wish for you to carry Srasma’s token back to Lanjyr. There you may decide how to use what remains of her power. …”Kasvarina raised her hands, interrupting her daughter.“A far worthier choice would be this woman here,” she gestured to Gupta. “You would not know of the Vekeshi Mystics, daughter, though you of course knew of Vekesh. The Mystics arose in the centuries following the Malice, and seek to bring about… justice… revenge… retribution for our downfall. Gupta Porras represents the Mystics here.  She should make this choice.”The Vekeshi had told Gupta they foresaw a great role for her, and accepted her eagerly into their ranks, knowing she would travel alongside Korrigan into the Gyre. In this moment, Gupta understood why Ascetia had beckoned her so strongly.Dala turned to her.  “Very well,” she said. She took off her necklace and held it out in a clenched fist, offering first vengeance – Srasma’s aid in the final battle against Nicodemus. Then she shifted the necklace to her open palm, offering resurrection – the power to restore to life the women slain in the Great Malice.“Vekesh left a gap,” said Gupta.  “You offer me the choice between maiden and mother. What of the crone?  The empty verse?”Dala frowned and began to withdraw her hand.  In that instant, Gupta realised her third choice and took it: she snatched the necklace from Dala’s hand.</blockquote>

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