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OUR STORY

Arc-based summaries of our story played out over three years.

Previously...

ARC VII: HATTHEVAR

JANUARY: on the footsteps of undead creator Matthias, the party arrived in Hatthevar, former seat of mysticism, Oracles and wish granting, now turned into a citadel of ghosts. Hatthevar has been under siege from Rathakku, conqueror of Alem and warlord of the Brotherhood, and undead wind lord Anurr, unaffiliated with the coalition. Matthias, meanwhile, has been working the five local beacons and calling upon all of his power to try to bring in and revive spirits from various points in time and space — in a bid to summon and resurrect his long lost daughter, Cosette. At times, he senses her close, but she shortly disappears from the citadel. Desperate, he offered the party all of his power over the dead, in exchange for being reunited with his daughter.

Benedict, Emilia and Wrath defeated some of Anurr’s frost wyrms and Rathakku’s demonic scorpions and sand lurkers, preventing them from entering Hatthevar. Rathakku withdrew his forces, while Anurr continued to attack with his blizzards. Vanessa took over one of the beacons, guaranteeing the party an exit point. From the Hatthevar lagoon, Red recovered a substance from a cauldron typically used to eliminate memories. Along with supplying access to some of Matthias’ recollections, the liquid also enables the party to retain their memories of Akhuras upon departure. Five and Wen Kexing learned two possible locations suspected as Matthias’ hideouts.

Several party members also investigated the whereabouts and fate of the dis- and reappearing Cosette, whom Matthias described as a young blonde child. No such girl was seen wherever he sends the party. A puppet master, who worked at the bazaar when Matthias sensed Cosette was present there, says he was possessed to put on a play of a father-daughter quarrel, at the end of which the daughter ran off and was killed.

The party learned that Matthias, formerly a technological and magical scientist of Ellethia, extracted two presumably shameful or painful memories: one was of him giving permission for his team to create a fierce magical storm and recover a power source, endangering nearby ships. The second memory was of running into a young blonde woman who disdainfully said she had not admired him since she was a child.

At one point, a woman seen where Matthias felt his daughter present traded a memory in which she was on a ship in the middle of a large storm, arguing with Matthias. River suspects Cosette may not have been a child at the time of her death. If the woman is Cosette, she does not wish to return to her father.

FEBRUARY: The party pursued Matthias at the two lair locations unearthed by Five and Wen Kexing — aboard the haunted ship, the Headless Dancer, and in the Whispering House of the foremost Wish maker of Hatthevar. Aboard the Headless Dancer, the group found out that the vessel was once used by the Ellethian court of governance, which was attempting to reach a powerful artefact sunken offshore Ellethia before the institute of technology might achieve the same. Cosette was one of the representatives on board during this venture, when Matthias obliviously authorized the summoning of a deathly magical storm that was initially intended to scare away all other rivals for the artefact (later revealed to be dark water). She and her crewmates perished, Cosette told Benedict during a ghostly encounter, stressing she wanted nothing to do with her father. Wrathion meanwhile discovered a tool that the spirit of Cosette vengefully stole from her father — the knife with which he has been cutting off his limbs to make magical anchors, and one of the few instruments that can harm him.

In Hatthevar, wind master Anurr attempted to take advantage of Matthias' distraction and launched a last-resort attack, using his blizzards to corrupt several party members onto his side of the warfare. They did not open him the gates.

Faced with the dark truth of all that Matthias has done to his family, the spirits of Hatthevar and the world of the (un)dead at large — several party members lured him out with illusions and false appearances of Cosette, before Emilia dealt a final killing blow with the knife facilitated by Wrathion. With some inheriting the remains of Matthias' magic, several party members made a last use of the dark water's overwhelming power to isolate and seal Anurr in his human body, trapping him once more and preventing him from seeking to usurp what territories the Brotherhood once held.

Free of their dead, their curses, their nightmares, their wishes and long grief — the living of Akhuras may tend to their own and heal.

As the party, finally possessing strong and stable beacons, may choose to head home with or without their memories.

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INTERLUDE: ELLETHIA

The Merchant arranged a detour into his native Ellethia — the first site conquered by the undead. The citadel-island is encircled by feral and highly aggressive mermaids and has been sundered by sea into the twin regions of Ellethia-Allayar and Ellethia-Hamsour. Vegetation is lush and rampant, but lacks a human population. Exposed animal and human beings are subjected to a horrifying acceleration of their ageing processes. Local animals are born fresh at sunrise, age over the course of the day and die by sundown, only to resurface alive and well, come next morning. Special gear provided by the Merchant has spared the party the gruesome consequences of ~~radiation~~ exposure. Travelling to the island by sea runs the risk of encountering dead sailors, who climb boats and ruin the shores they reach.

The party was drawn to an undocumented 'lighthouse' on Ellethia-Hamsour, whose premise was immune to the rebirth cycles. The spire homed several curious and enthralling broken mirrors, magically-entraptured Sleepers and their attendant — the haze-minded Zenobius. Obliviously, the man used the lighthouse to daw a nearby distressed ship towards fog-hidden sirens and its untimely doom. The incident was barely prevented by Akira, Anduin and Lily Evans — to Zenobius' own later gladness. Kaneki Ken and John Connor encountered a mysterious doll down a dark well hiding the entranceway to a safehouse. Five and Daenerys, alongside the unfortunate Jon Snow, helped patch together some of the elusive mirrors — only for Jon to be drawn into the blood-curdling, dark mirror world by a pale white man and subjected to the horrors of an eerie thing attempting to make a house of his body.

Eleven, Yennefer and Moiraine were meanwhile pulled into the memories of the Sleepers, and, convinced they were suffering victims of the mirrors, agreed to euthanise them.

Characters have been able to learn:

■ Ellethia was racing to outdo the feats of Taravast’s Attaryl witches, who prevailed to extend lifespans.

■ The Sleepers of the lighthouse, known to the Merchant and attended by caretaker Zenobius, were technicians overseeing mirror experimentation in Ellethia's Institute of Technology. Ellethian civilians were conscripted for trials.

■ Zenobius once gifted a doll to fellow technician Matthias Lemaitre — a ‘pale man,’ newly returned from mourning.

■ The previous lead technician resigned, citing ‘ethical concerns’ and ‘national safety.’ They were grudgingly replaced by Matthias.

■ The undead appeared at the institute between midday and sunset of the same day. Fleeing slaughter, Zenobius was pushed into a well by Matthias. He returned after the Sleepers had already engaged with a destroyed 10th floor mirror.

■ The institute was converted into a lighthouse, which a thralled Zenobius used to lure ships to their mermaid-driven doom. Hundreds of sailors’ bodies lie in the coastal seas. There is no death on Ellethia. The close lighthouse premises are unaffected by Ellethia’s accelerated life-rebirth cycles.

■ The lighthouse thrives off granting wishes.

■ Parts of the broken mirror on the 10th floor are thrown into waters to pacify mermaids. Party members were lured to rebuild the mirror. Upon completion, a man fitting Matthias’ description briefly dragged Jon Snow into the amorphous, dark and aquatic mirror-realm, where a creature hungered for shape.

■ The mermaids obsessively covet the lighthouse and mirror despite their wishes or exhaustion.

■ Zenobius’ ‘duties’ ended when the Sleepers died. At that time, he also fell into Sleep, and the lighthouse premises lost their self-replenishing sustenance.

Full details on all the uncovered information can be found in the February plot roll write-ups, here and here.

Wei Wuxian and Anduin pledged to look after Zenobius, taking the new sleeper along the journey east, to cursed village Ke-Waihu. The curious doll remains in the possession of Kaneki Ken.

As the party fled Ellethia, the infrastructure of the lighthouse fell apart, leaving behind only the bones of the institute tower. A blurred figure appeared atop it, but made no attempt to engage.