(May 9)
Show & Tell
Days 16-17, Month 5
A Cavern Deep in the Daggered Rise
End of Day 16
Ethan tells Peach that Bax is single, as far as he knows, but is also deeply oblivious and needs to be told things directly several times.
Ashen reveals to Merrick where he was brought up, in Moraeth, and Merrick returns the info, saying he was brought up in Jhorlon. Ashen gives the +3 plate he got to Merrick. He says he can’t return home because he’s failed his goddess and must atone, and Merrick says he’s learned there’s much out in the world, and it could be that Ashen doesn’t have anything to atone for.
Sal tells Hark’ul of the Angel of Doors ripping his arm off and his wife replacing it, and approves of Hark’ul’s cooking. Hark’ul reveals he’s also from Lux, and that he was in the Shivercourt to try and grab a ship north to join the army at the White Tower, but failed.
Sav clears up with Talith that Astarael was not cheating on him with Sav, there was absolutely nothing between them, and is more shocked that he thought there was anything; she apologizes for her initial reaction maybe leading him to think that, just that it’s embarrassing to admit having feelings. She adds that it’s all kind of moot now, but points out he’s still wearing the silver amulet Astarael gave him so he must still have feelings, and he agrees with that.
Day 17
Bax asks Sav for help on reaching out to Danica, since he was thinking about what they said about the constellation being a link to her. Without delay, they chivvy all of the Dreamers into standing in a creepy ritual-circle around Bax while touching him, which embarrasses him deeply, and tells them to think of the feeling of connection and disappearing (except for those who knew Danica, they tell those to think about Danica).
This goes poorly.
Everyone involuntarily shares an experience or a memory they’ve never revealed to anyone before, with everyone experiencing it as though it were their own:
- Salinger remembers the thing hungering between worlds - immense, overwhelmingly frightening, like a predator panting on your neck while you’re helpless
- Peach remembers asking Miranda about her father, and Miranda telling her, “We don’t need to talk about that”
- Hark’ul remembers returning, covered in blood after a battle to defend his hometown, disoriented and lost with the few surviving members of his town
- Sav remembers their first kiss with Lenn, how awkward and yet thrilling it was (a youth with a medium ragged mess of black hair and sable-dark eyes, pale skin, throat a ruined mass of scars)
- Talith remembers almost dying during a mission with the Red Wardens, dreaming of telling The Suffering that he will get rid of it, but then wakes up with his friends around
- Ashen remembers being back in Moraeth, calling the charge against the undead troops of the Dark Queen, who are the bodies of children; he sees a figure floating in the air with short white hair, Astarael Belree, who’s taken the land in the name of her Queen, Tyr Isendel
- Yev remembers coughing silt and sand on a rocky shore, terrified, because he’s swam further than anyone before trying to find her, but if he can just find her surely everything will be okay again
- Gwin remembers standing over a crib with a baby Esmund, resolved to save him
- Bax, trying to remember Danica, instead remembers returning to Aelorean’s Crossing, smelling the smoke, feeling the heat of flames, and flinches away from that
- One more foreign memory: the angels moving overhead, nearly 200 men dead; the White Tower in front, impossibly tall; she catches sight of Ethan, and knows they’re going to lose, that they’re going to die, so she flies. (Within the memory is the awareness of the existence of the other constellation-bearers; there is also overwhelming grief and the devastating fury of vengeance, knowing he will die if she cannot save him.)
Bax finds himself on a stone floor with a magic circle around him; everything is translucent. He hears, “Frequency’s unstable, it won’t last” from someone; a woman crouches in front of him with blonde hair and blood red eyes, before it fades and he’s wrenched back to the cavern. Salinger remembers this moment, unlike anyone else, recognized Lil’lith in it, and also caught sight of a machine behind her with a wolfish figure filled with stars.
Only the starred saw these, and Sav explains what happened in a few words; Ethan is furious about something.
Bax tells Sav never to take one of his ideas again and walks away, but Sav follows and tells him it was a good idea, even if it didn’t turn out how anyone expected; they still learned something from it. Obviously there is a strong link there, and that something about Danica lingers and is connected to the stars or the Whiteness they snap to when they disappear. Bax names himself a coward because he ran away from the memory of Aelorean’s Crossing burning instead of pushing through and trying to find Danica through it. Sav attempts to counter this, incoherently. Bax asks them to sit with him for their logical vibe(?).
The Relicors, only more deeply convinced that they’re all madmen, pack up and start to push through the heavy but now-open dwarven doors. Everyone travels through, making their way through the abandoned ruins of a dwarven city, where only stone and metal remain—all organic materials have rotted away.
Hearing a crash, they enter a vast chamber where one wall has fallen, letting in sunlight and fresh air. A shimmering translucent image of a man forms, who looks exactly like Esmund with one wing. He says:
Cite
You wander this place, ancient beyond imagining, entire stories, people’s kingdoms have risen and fallen here beneath the earth. Imagine the secrets. Imagine the stories lost in a place like this. The only troubling part is - did it ever actually exist? Did we just make it, based on something you had dreamed?
My name is Zephyrus.
There was a time I was something I’m not. I’m not here to hurt you. So close to the Night, I can’t touch you and you can’t touch me. In fact, I’m looking for you. Something happened just now, not long ago. I can see you now - all of you.
Sav: Aluvyn’dralor. Where is she?
Cite
I am no King. I am what some of you will remember me to be, and now too something more. I speak for them that you might hear.
Theravyn’dralin is destroyed, and at no trifling cost. The wound she has left in this world may yet still beget its destruction.
You think us your enemy, but it is we who have saved you, and we save you still.
The interference of the Elf and the Boy are not without its consequences. Nothing is as it was meant to be.
Come to the gates of Aseraphal and bring with you the relics you have found here—and I will show you the truth about this world.
Episode navigation
Back to: