Star & Scale #13

Star and Scale faced off against Farrow and the Consulate, but Zeb was quickly dispatched with a single blow from Farrow, turning their plans of victory into a desparate bid to escape with everyone alive

• The Consulate stripped the flesh from the horses to create inky shadow creatures to close in ranks around the group

• Nefaria seemed disinterested in leaving survivors, but as they went in for the killing blow, two malformed, burned combatants entered the fray, which turned out to be illusions created by Tula from a distance -- the illusions were strong enough to fool Nefaria but cost Tula all of her strength and ruined the puppets she used to create the illusions

Star and Scale escaped with Ezekiel and Tula in tow, Nefaria more concerned with getting to Hemlock Bastille than chasing them down once the illusions expired

While recooping, Ezekiel threw up a gob of blood filled vomit which acidly ate in the ground

• Ezekiel claimed he felt lighter and when a devil arrived via portal to inquire as to why the Nightmare he'd given Ezekiel was dead and spur him to commit the massacre Ezekiel had come back to do, Ezekiel pushed back

• At that moment, and angel also arrived, seemingly drawn by the incursion of the devil onto the material plane. The angel claimed this was his territory and while at first tried to kill Ezekiel to release the devil's stake in the world, soon realized, with the help of Gift, that Ezekiel had purged a bit of the evil inside of him through the execution of good deed

• The angel and devil departed with the words of encouragement and condemnation for Ezekiel respectively, and Ezekiel realized he wanted to continue to do good to rid himself of the contract with the devil

The group traveled back to Lantern Light and said goodbye to Tula, who was headed back to Caim to meet a man who made her puppets, which she called her "friends."

Star and Scale then headed to the Home Away Barracks to report on the most recent activity with Nefaria, but were assured all was well in hand

The group was unable to rent more horses from the stable but were directed to a woman who lived near the River Swift south of the city

On the way, Gift's chest opened, revealing a cavity in which it seemed something was missing, and Gift heard the supposed voice of his creator rehearsing the histories of the gods with him

• Gift also felt like a part of himself was missing and could feel it out in the world somewhere, but the feeling soon ended

Upon arrival, they found a curmudgeonly old woman who hated visitors but had a gorgeous wild flower garden in which she worked, which Eden found serene and perfect

• The woman, named Rivalynn, could smell certain things about the party, like that Gift had stardust upon him, Zeb was a Drakewarden, and that Eden and Zeb were Changelings. She also mentioned something about the Final Sea and a Vast the Immeasurable when discussing the siblings' parentage

• Rivalynn also informed Zeb about the flower he sought for the Drakewardens in the Scaleback Mountains called the Spectral Lily, which was invisible and was planted by a lover with the hopes that only their true love could ever see and pick the flower

Rivalynn gave the party flower mounts which hovered 40 ft in the air when infused with their life essense -- these flowers sped them onward to Hemlock Bastille

When they arrived, they found hundreds of petitioners for prisoner release and communication camped outside the bastille. Apparently this was a normal occurence but they soon saw these people as fodder for an undead army for the Consulte

• Star and Scale spent the day convincing the people Traegavul Moors's Lowland Games was hosting all of them and if they left now, they'd get free admission and food. It succssfully convinced all but a dozen or so people, removing ammunition for Nefaria

Cellmaster Turin, a dwarven man committed to duty, was impressed with their drive and ability, so showed the group the prison transport arriving that May was on

• Upon seeing May, she and the group all apologized to each other aand May was taken into the prison. Meanwhile, the group rested but was awoken when multiple unscheduled prison transports were fast approaching by Turin

  • At the same time, an unschedued maintanence on the outside wall was also taking place

Smelling a setup, Star and Scale followed Turin to the transports to find a group of Abishai emerge from the lead transport, attacking the prison.