The Black Sun
The Swan fort in the mountains
64 Winter 217
The party enters the fort, finding blood, ruin, and soldiers affected by the Suffering. Everything is rotten, but not even flies are present to feast upon the remains. They find imprisoned Swans, whom Tarth/The Boy Who Was Bax accidentally inhales the souls of as Ethan executes them. They find an imprisoned soldier that Vanja heals; he looks briefly thankful before smashing his head against the wall, killing himself.
In a larger central chamber, they discover Talith overcome by the Suffering as well, surrounded by dead soldiers pinned to the ceiling and strewn around him and evincing godly powers. During the following battle, Astarael manages to Command him to drink a vial of power-suppression made from Eirlys’s blood, which suppresses the Suffering for a few seconds. He tells them to run, that they cannot do anything.
by Sen SouvannavongAs he slips back beneath the control of the Suffering, Astarael breaks a jar of dirt on the table he’d been cosseting, and Sav snatches the leathery heart revealed within and runs. Roux stalls and staves off Talith until an enormous hand of blood reaches out of a chasm that opens up and pulls Talith down. With their last moments together, as Astarael clings onto him, they finally get to have that kiss.
The building collapses while the party escapes, Roux physically hauling away a catatonic Astarael. As they catch their breath, Astarael attempts to let the cursed vial simply leech her existence away forever; Sav, upset, cries about this and calls her dumb, which makes her revive a bit, whether from the tears or the insult.
They discuss what to do about the heart; attempts to stab it and blow it up yield nothing but a little battering. Vivian shows up and says it’s their mother’s heart, then asks if she can stick around with them, as she can no longer feel Talith. They agree.
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