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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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ARC VI: YANCAI

What was wet was wronged.

MAY: The party arrives in Sunken Yancai — a drowning, molding, port-side fishermen's village where memories are often jumbled and artificial to help native residents withstand the site's numerous fluxes in time. A council of elders says that the furtive witch coven of the ladies of the lake cursed Yancai to perpetually wander the past and future — and that newcomers, themselves susceptive to the memory games, must weather this out until the village arrives at a point in time when the currently defective transportation beacon is was operational. The dead of Yancai are set at sea in chained casket-ships in a distinct rite of burial that sees most vessels return emptied, if clawed and untouched — while the ladies of the lake allegedly steal away the village's strong, young dead. Six ghost-spirits (?) haunt villagers, compelling them to atone for their sins. Within days of the prophecy of Miang-Si, purported lady of the lake, the undead rise on the night of a dual bloody moon and assail Yancai — which falls back in time.

JUNE: As Yancai slipped three years into the past, the group encountered a village only partway sunken, wherein young Miang-Si has only just debuted. Pretending to be her suitors and matchmaker, Wrathion, Mo Ran and Caitlyn learned she is vain and ruthlessly ambitious — and that she has something the ladies of the lake want, in addition to natural talent. Five and Ruka unearthed a connection between the ladies of the lake and local washerwomen. As several villagers bemoaned the hauntings of the forest in the wake of a mysterious beautiful woman that enthralled all around her, Lockwood, Wei Wuxian and Wrath uncovered that this was likely the undead lords' herald, the Huntress, and that those behind the hauntings of Yancai, including the guileless Lumberjack, were pulled into a rite of the ladies of the lake that intends to fend against her. Heading below waters during the next sea burial, Xie Yun, Wen Qing, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng brought back sinister news that the ladies of the lake are holding the dead for safekeeping, so that the Huntress does not raise them. Meanwhile, those with a lunar connection couldn't help but feel drawn to the sunken palatial residence of the Storm's Stage, where an intruding Emilia found signs that the moon was trapped and used in the strange time sorcery of the ladies of the lake.

JULY: Yancai travelled backwards again, now arriving five years in the past, when a vengeful Huntress decided to unleash undead upon the village in retaliation for her mistreatment. Tearing her own heart out, she cut it in slivers for Miang-Si to hide — laying down the groundwork for magic that would bring back the dead to renew their hostilities. The ladies of the lake, decided they can only fend off the massacre by sending the village back in time, forcing residents to relive the same five-year period in blissful ignorance, robbing the moon of some of her power and sacrificing some of their own witch kind. A difficult gambit. Recovering from the first wave of undead, Yancai held an auction to raise funds at the House of Commerce — where the village’s beacon rests, entirely operational.

Through coaxing and conversation, the Doctor, Five, Wrath and Lockwood persuade the Man in Black not to participate in the time and memory rite of the ladies of the lake, with the Lumberjack also agreeing to discourage other witches from doing so. Wrathion and Caitlyn convince Miang-Si to speak to the ladies of the lake and also talk them down from their ritual — while Wrath, Emilia, Wei Wuxian and Beitang Moran disrupt the lunar sorcery, releasing mother moon from the witches’ thrall.

Many party members scavenge, procure and consume parts of the Huntress’ heart, destroying the anchors of the spell that would have unleashed fresh legions of undead upon Yancai. Unexpectedly, in exchange for Jon Snow’s information about her son, the Huntress agrees not to renew hostilities against Yancai.

The village’s fate might be unknown — but at least now it is free. The party’s sorceress Karsa summons everyone to the banquet of the House of Commons — where a transportation beacon can be accessed, after two keys were procured. They’re enveloped in sizzling, volatile magic, bound home —

Only to end up in a pocket time dimension.