The Sacred Waters of the Seven Griefs

Ahhhh, the companions emerged VICTORIOUS from the sacred pool!

The petroglyphs blazed with NEW visions! Seven Saumen Kar saints descended the stairs, each drinking from a bone-white cup! Blue light bloomed over their foreheads – the blessing that would shield them from the FORGETTING! Three saints entered the left alcove, three the right, and one stood BETWEEN as guardian!

Then SHE manifested! Tavara – the Shrine Maiden! Horned and terrible, clad in ice-blue plate mail! Her spear struck stone and the cavern RANG like a bell! She spoke not in words but in MEANING itself – a language before language!

“One soul’s truth does not purchase passage for all!” she declared! “You come as a company – I test you as a COMPANY! Offer a memory you treasure, or a burden you carry! Choose HONESTLY – the pool knows the difference between gift and PERFORMANCE!”

Diana offered her most precious memory – the first time she met her lost love! The loneliness of standing between life and death, belonging fully to NEITHER!

Durst surrendered his burden – the solitude carved into him when his village was destroyed by Ossoyo’s ripples! The crown of the world had shaped him, given him strength, but left him ALONE!

Kiren offered both memory AND fear – her lost sister, the terror of not knowing which of them was real, which was SHADOW! The ache of incompleteness that had driven every step she’d taken!

Even Geist was forced to bare his soul! The pompous teddy bear raged about the INDIGNITY – but surrendered his centuries of hatred for Moira Dawnwhisperer! “She gave me back my memories! She gave me five minutes of speech each day! She gave me to Kiren and Mutu! I give up my hatred – the last thing WHOLLY mine!”

The Shrine Maiden accepted ALL their offerings! The blessing of Aqakaru’s Covenant settled upon them – protection against the FORGETTING curse of the Nameless Spires! Armor against Ossoyo’s psychic dominion!

They rested – then turned toward Ritalson’s crashed ship! The Gossamer Drift – shattered against the ice like broken ribs! Its hull torn by the Arctic Kraken’s claws!

Horror upon HORROR awaited! The ship’s engines ran on STOLEN GOSSAMER – dreams ripped from victims and weaponized! Worse still – Kiren detected shadow plane frequencies! Ritalson had learned FORBIDDEN shadow walking techniques through SACRIFICE!

They entered with Diana’s anti-magic field suppressing the magical maelstrom! Frozen corpses littered the deck – their spirits rising as blue-tinged specters!

And Diana, in her INFINITE wisdom, summoned aid! She called forth “Bunny Foo Foo” – which manifested as Lord Lapine the Blue Rabbit himself, FORCED into the humiliating form of a children’s story character! Complete with squeaky hammer and field mouse!

“This INDIGNITY!” the Fey lord raged, squeaking his toy hammer against the undead! “DIANA!”

Battle erupted aboard the ship of STOLEN DREAMS!

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!