Tough As Dirt #20

Varsmak awoke on the Gateway Clipper anchored in the River Still just north of Galdarion Forest to find Yella and Babbit yelling across the decks to a ship passing them, a bone ship from Othrund with a skeletal figure in charge

• Varsmak was threatened that if the ship was still there my nightfall, bad things would happen

• In an effort to get them moving, Varsmak went to Ology and found the rest of Tough As Dirt, minus Gideon, who had been sucked into Mount Celestia through the device

In Mount Celestia, Gideon happened upon a funeral of sorts for an important unicorn figure. They were transitioning to a new realm, and their body was slowly failing

• The ceremony was being overseen by an angel named Ravaliel, who welcomed Gideon and showed him how the unicorn population had come to pay respects

In Ology, the group packed up the device and removed it from the city, but ran into its creator, Lillium, outside, who explained they could retrieve Gideon through the Banish spell, which Brother Moor had prepared

• Brother Moor followed Gideon to Mount Celestia, and happened upon a radiant dragon named Geneva. 

• Geneva gave Brother Moor a ride to the ceremony where he met up with Gideon, and Ravaliel sat with them and talked

  • Ravaliel, upon learning they were from Vault, talked about how a being known as Vast the Immeasurable has set its sights on that world

  • Apparently Vast is the embodiment of chaos, and its counterpart, a being known as Ordnung, who would normally keep Vast in check, has been missing for thousands of years, allowing Vast to run unchecked across many worlds

    • In each world where Vast enacted its will, a group of that world's denizens rose up to push Vast back, and Gideon considered Tough As Dirt could be those people for Vault

  • Ravaliel also noted the dead Dragon Stones in their posession and regretfully informed them that their dreams of becoming gods of a new world were dead with them -- the Watcher, Enoch, had to be deceased, and a new Watcher would be chosen, and in turn, that new Watcher would choose new candidates

  • In parting, Ravaliel gave them one of his feathers in case they ever went up against Vast, they could call upon him for help

Gideon and Brother Moor left Mount Celestia, but also found a pair of dead dragonborn bodies where they had come in, leading them to believe they weren't the first people through the gate made by the device

Back in Vault, the rest of the group made it back to the Gateway Clipper and moved it out to sea

• Gideon and Brother Moor returned, and Lillium was forced to stay with the crew, as Ricco was unwilling to part with the incredibly powerful device known as the Healing Bell

• Gideon brought up the two dead dragonborn in Mount Celestia, and Lillium, a dragonborn herself with the same color scales, broke down.