Betrayal and Broken Bonds!

Summary of Events (11/23/2025):

After resting peacefully at Blustein Manor – where nothing disturbed their slumber, much to my DISAPPOINTMENT – our heroes ventured to the offices of Professor Sabine Wriedt at the Consortium. Where she awaited them, drumming her fingerless-gloved fingers upon her desk, EAGER to hear what they had discovered! Our party delivered DEVASTATING news! Dr.

Ritalsin’s experiments were even MORE MONSTROUS than imagined! Not only had he experimented on the living – he HARVESTED THE DEAD! Heinrich had carried the soul of a murdered gatewalker named Gerda! Seventeen victims – SEVENTEEN! – subjected to his mad science!

But Professor Sabine grew PALE when they revealed the TRUE horror: Ritalsin had been corrupted by OSSOYO THE BLACKFROST WHALE – the Dream Eater, the Shredder of the Veil! And now the mad doctor journeyed north to the Crown of the World, to the NAMELESS SPIRES where the ancient entity lay imprisoned by the Elves and Saumen Kar so very long ago! Sabine's mask of omniscience CRACKED! "How could I have forgotten?!" she cried!

"The Nameless Spires – where it all began, where it all ends, where time circles back upon itself!" She revealed ancient history: millennia ago, when Ossoyo first came from the black beyond the void, encountering the ancestors of the elves encountered and FED UPON THEM! Eventually they trapped him beneath the ice at the top of the world! Later, when he nearly broke free, the Saumen Kar – a noble yeti-like race – SACRIFICED THEMSELVES to rebind him! Their goddess gave up her existence to keep Ossoyo sealedcbeneath the Nameless Spires!

And Diana wore one of these SACRED CREATURES as a cloak! The very beings who gave EVERYTHING to imprison Ossoyo! How DELICIOUSLY ironic! Sabine warned of IMPOSSIBLE CHOICES!

Two cosmic threats – Ossoyo AND the Withering Man! Our heroes could not fight BOTH! They debated where to hide the Gilded Quill and Book of Unseen Currents – perhaps with the fey intercessors who had marked them or in Phasma's sacred vaults! But THEN – OH THEN! – came the BETRAYAL!

A woman entered carrying lacquered teapots made from black sand. One black with white veins and one black with white veins. Her name was Mei, dressed in flowing robes of crimson and midnight blue from distant Tian Xia! But something was WRONG!

The temperature PLUMMETED with unnatural cold! Her face was too smooth, too blank – like a porcelain MASK! "Professor Sabine," she purred with FALSE sweetness, "I have so enjoyed our conversations! But I cannot let you interfere with Dr.

Riddleson's work!" Mei had been SEARCHING for her lost sister Hanai across dimensions and dreamscapes! Ritlasin PROMISED that he could find her since Ossoyo knew all dreams, all hidden places! For this hope, she would BETRAY EVERYTHING! “Tea shared is peace, tea spilled is war declared!" she announced, pouring her teapots upon the ground! From the spilled BLACK TEA rose —Kurayami the Devouring Dark a massive oni warrior!

From the WHITE TEA emerged YUGAMI NO KAGEI – a nightmarish octopoid creature from the spaces BETWEEN! She tried to FREEZE our heroes in place with her sorcery! But Professor Sabine – wily old temporal mage that she is – SPLIT INTO THREE! Her younger self, her present self, and her ELDERLY future self appeared simultaneously!

"I'm so sorry, Mae, but you're a FOOL and I cannot let us be damned for a fool!" With their combined power, they SHATTERED Mae's binding spell! Mei vanished through a fold in space, trusting her bound, summoned servants to do her dirty work! As battle royale erupted! Charles – ever the merciful priest – used Liberate Soul to FREE Koryami from his magical complusion!

But the oni, drunk on VENGEANCE, cared nothing for his liberation and vowed that all mortal kind would PAY! With a sigh of FRUSTRATION Charles then unleashed Weapon of Judgment upon Yugami – a spell that struck the creature EVERY TIME it attacked! The tentacled horror learned quickly that aggression brought DIVINE RETRIBUTION! The battle was FIERCE but brief!

Our champions tore through Mei's servants as Mutu struck with blessed holy light! Kiren danced through shadows and HIM inflicted spiritual flames on the creatures! And Diana – oh, DIANA – struck a classic witch pose! Her crooked finger pointed at Yugami and dark energy ERUPTED from her as she called on patron to execute the one before.

The death magic, ripping the creature back to the spaces between spaces! As Yugami dissolved into nothingness, Diana sighed with SATISFACTION! But Mei had ESCAPED! Ritlasin continued his journey NORTH!

And our heroes stood at a CROSSROADS – chase the mad doctor to the frozen wastes, or pursue the Withering Man through dimensional rifts? The fate of WORLDS hung in the balance! What path would they choose? What NEW TREACHERIES awaited?