Day 59 (S42-45)

The day of the finals of the Everbleed Bowl finally arrived.
The Bound, Knights of Light, and WhatTheHecks were all awaiting the time that they would be in the arena.
Alice woke up first, nervous about the day ahead - she had a huge responsibility on her shoulders, and she was feeling the weight of it.
"Alice..." Rina whispered as she awoke to her Tiny Hut dissolving, "I know sometimes I don't act like it, but I truly believe in you. You're a strong person, you are capable of this. No matter what happens, it will be fine."
Alice looked at her - surprised, "Th... thanks, Rina..." Alice was slightly comforted by her words.
The rest of the party woke up and got dressed for the fight. Rina opted to not wear her Clothes of Mending so that no parts of it would get destroyed in the fight. Blanke flexed in the mirror. Lloyd put the armor polish from Mother Epogra on his armor. Neely practiced her distraction song quietly on her harp. Alice stared at the little jar of silver dust that Roy Richmond had given her.

Mari then entered their room, "Right! Today's the day!"
"Where's my morning cheesecake?" Blanke asked her.
Mari gritted her teeth a bit, "I have yer cheesecake right here."
Mari then placed a cake on the living room table. Blanke then carefully cut it open to find a knife was baked into it.
"Cool! New, free weapon!" Blanke said as he ate round it. "Here, Alice, you can have it!" He then handed the small dagger to her.
"The Bound, you all need to get down to the lobby and wait to be called on," said Mari.
They all got as ready as they could be, then followed Mari down to the lobby.
"Hey, Mari," Rina started, "are you from The Kingdom of Bolgroth?"
"Why dya want to know?"
"I plan to visit there soon, I was just curious with your accent."
"My mother was from there, but escaped with me to come here," Mari answered.
"Escaped?"
"Bolgroth isn't known for its friendliness..." said Mari.
Rina nodded.

They reached the lobby to see hundreds of people surrounding the building, waiting to see the teams walk to the arena.
In the lobby, many of the other teams gathered to cheer on their favorite team.
Darrian was there with a sign to hold up for Rina.
"Kid, please tell me that doesn't say Lloyd's boys," Rina said to him.
"That's what everyone told me your group name was," Darrian responded.
"Well... thanks for the support, Kid. But it is The Bound."
Lloyd walked up and signed Darrian's message, "The Lloyd's Boys will triumph!" he yelled, and the crowd cheered.
Guntherand Marie came up to hug Rina, and Blanke hugged everyone they knew.
Rina also whispered to Estella Parstelo that she wished to share more information after everything was over.

Lloyd then went to mingle, and was speaking to one of the Knights of Light. "Have a seat with us," one of the knights said to him.
"I would be honored!" Lloyd said.
Rina started walking over to sit with them, too. They were at a round table surrounded by a single bench, with barely enough room for all 7 of them. But Rina forced her way into end next to one of the knights. He was balding, with just a ring of hair that hung lower around his head.
"So, what's your name?" Rina asked him.
"Uh, Burtrand."
"So, Burtrand," Rina started, "at what age did you start balding?"
"Wait, what?" he said, confused.
"Actually, how old are you?" She asked, "I don't know when human men start balding, but you seem... young for that."
"This... is an awful way of introducing yourself," he said, quite offended.
"Oh, no? Well, then it's a good thing this isn't our first meeting," she said, "weren't you the ones who tried to psyche us out a few days ago?"
"Heh, well, that's just the spirit of the game!"
"Or you know you'll lose if you play fair," she retorted.
"Well, at least I wasn't unconscious on the field the while fight, like you," he said, "You old hag - you're like a million years old."
Just then, the leader of the Knights of Light stood up. He was a tall man, stood over a foot taller than Rina. He picked up the glass of water in front of Burtrand, and splashed the water into Burtrand's face.
"You will apologize," he said to Burtrand, "we conduct ourselves with honor."
"That's not necessary," said Rina, as she used Prestidigitation to clean off the man's face, "I was baiting him."
"Well, I... apologize for... taking the bait, then," said the tall man, "I am Gewain. Gewain Lothian. I would very much like to meet your team. I like to know the names of the people I defeat on the battlefield."
"Then you will have to talk to them yourself," said Rina.
Gewain then got up and walked over to the other party members, the other Knights of Light followed him. Gewain held out his hand to shake Blanke's, Blanke shook his hand and gave his name, "Blanke Theiele."
Alice leaned back with her arms crossed, "You already know who I am, why do you need to shake my hand?"
Gewain pulled his hand back, "Then I suppose I'll just say that its nice to meet you, Alice Moondance."
"And I'm Neely!" she said excitedly, "It's nice to meet the reigning champs!"
"Yes, we are hoping to continue the trend," said Gewain, "we want to give our wish to the church."
"If you have won all the others, why do you need yet another wish?" Rina asked.
"This is the first time the wish spell has been offered," Gewain said, "it was unearthed by Luminus only recently. The Queen believed the best way to determine who deserved it was to make it the prize for the Everbleed Bowl winners."

Outside, guards began to line the streets from the entrance of Tower 4 to the arena.
Simon walked in, "Who wants to be announced first? It's time to go to the arena."
The Knights of Light moved away from the conversation with The Bound, and lined up at the door, "We're going first," Gewain said to Simon.
Simon opened the door and stepped out, and announcer said loudly, "Presenting the reigning champions, The Knights of Light!"
"Whose up next?" asked Simon.
The WhatTheHecks were nowhere to be seen.
"I guess that's us," Rina said. The Bound lined up and walked outside.
"Now presenting, The Bound... er... Lloyd's boys?"
"It's The Bound," Rina said to him as they walked out, but the crowd was going to cheer for who they wanted. About half of them cheered "Lloyd's Boys!" and the other half cheered "The Bound!" - either way, everyone was cheering for them.
They all arrive at the arena lobby, Simon was directing them all to the lounge area.

"Alright everyone, there's about an hour before you all need to be in the arena," Simon said, "If anyone needs anything, now's the time to tell me."
The Champion of the Eyeless Kindness was there, standing in the corner. Blanke went up to Simon, "Hey, so, Neely is really sick and cannot fight. We request a substitution for that guy," he gestured to the Champion.
"You want to substitute right before the fight?" one of the Knights of Light interjected, "That's unheard of!"
"We will not contest this," Gewain said, "We have, too, needed substitutions in the past."
"You are allowed to make a substitution if your bard is sick," said Simon.
Neely looked around and began to cough, "Oh... oh yes, I'm so ill. I absolutely cannot fight."
Neely somehow convinced everyone she was sick, and the Champion joined their party.

It was getting closer to the time of the fight, there was still no sign of Mayoay or her party.
"10 minutes before you all head to your individual rooms for the arena entry!" Simon yelled.
Rina was keenly watching the Knights of Light, and saw Burtrand fiddling with one of his gauntlets. It looked as if it wouldn't fit. He took it off and Rina could see a large signet ring with a "G" on it - exactly like the one on the sack from Mother Epogra.
"Alice, Blanke," Rina whispered, "that's the symbol that Epogra told us belonged to the guy who bought the Deception scroll that set off the disintegration spell."
"We have to tell Simon," said Blanke, "maybe we can even get someone kicked out."
Rina took the sack from Blanke, then walked over to Simon, "We have a serious issue here. We know that Burtrand is the one who killed one of the Thundersteps."
"You're just bringing this up now? It's just a few minutes before the fight."
"We just now figured it out," Rina answered Simon, "by seeing the signet ring he has on. Mother Epogra of The web gave us this." She showed Simon the sack with the G on it, "She gave this to us and told us that the member of the Knights of Light who had this family symbol was the one who bought the disintegration spell."

Just then, Gewain walked up, overhearing the conversation, "What is this? You're accusing my team of something now?"
"This is highly unusual, and we are running out of time," said Simon, "What do you expect me to do now?"
"We expect you to remove the problem," Blanke said, now backing up Rina.
"I know how to solve this," said Gewain, "Get someone over here to cast a truth spell."
Burtrand began shifting nervously, still fiddling with his gauntlet. Gewain ripped off the gauntlet and looked at the ring, then looked at the sack of threads in Rina's hand.
"Did you do what they accuse you of? Did you disobey the law?!" Gewain yelled at Burtrand.
"Um, well, I just wanted to ensure-"
"Stop!" Gewain yelled as Burtrand was stuttering, "That's enough of an admission for me. Simon, I'm afraid we, too, will be asking for a replacement. Seems Burtrand, here, has broken his arm." Gewain then lifted Burtrund into the air by his arm, and broke it with his other fist. He then dropped Burtrand onto the ground and ordered one of the other men in his group to find a replacement.
"I... apologize for my subordinate's actions," Gewain said to both Simon and The Bound. "This is not the an action that I would ever condone, it does not represent who we are."

In the meantime, Alice spoke to Pip about the latest special bet, "Special bet? Heh... today it's a hard one. Make The Queen cheer. Really cheer. She likes to watch, but she rarely ever gets truly excited during a match anymore."
"Make the Queen cheer, huh? Noted," said Alice as she walked back to the others.
"Okay, okay, it is time for you all to get to your arena rooms," said Simon just after another man in armor walked in to join the Knights of Light, "I see the Knights of Light have chosen a replacement so let's get you all ready to go."
"The WhatTheHecks aren't here, though," said Blanke.
"We cannot force anyone to show up on time," Simon responded, "Now let's go - the show is about to start!"
The two teams were escorted to their private rooms adjacent to the arena, The Bound had both Neely and the Champion with them, "I don't care that you have both here, but remember that only one can go on the field," said Simon.
Just as the teams got to their rooms, Rina saw the WhatTheHecks running down the hall to their room as fast as possible - all looked exhausted and covered in dirt and sticks.
"Mayoay?" Rina said, "What happened to you?"
"Oh! Good to see you. Looks like someone completely cleaned out all stores of spell components yesterday, we were up all night looking for what we needed in the woods last night."
"Good luck out there," Rina said to her.
"Thank you, you as well!" Mayoay answered as she ran off to her arena room.

Alice began looking at the Eyeless Champion up and down, trying to figure out what his deal was.
She walked up to him, "So, who are you anyway?" she asked him.
He turned toward her, but stayed silent.
"What are you really doing this for?" she continued to push.
He leaned down, and got very close to her face, "I do not need to justify myself to scum like you. I have my duties, and they're not for you to understand."
"You're being quite the asshole to someone who you're fully relying on to get you what you want," Alice responded.
He then stood back up, "I... apologize... for my actions," he said in the exact tone as the leader of the Knights of Light.
Alice and Rina both recognized his voice, but could not quite place it, and didn't have time to talk about it.
"Come on, Alice, you and Neely need to get into place," Rina said as she cast Major illusion to create an image of Alice for the battlefield.
Alice became a dragonfly, then Neely caught her in her hands and cast invisibility on her.
Fireworks began going off outside, the crowd cheered and stomped so loudly they could barely hear themselves think.
Rina cast Fire shield on herself and then regained a spell slot with a Rite.
Neely then gave everyone bardic inspiration, and she began running down the hall to get to the bathroom with Alice in her hands.

"Now presenting the final match! The Bound, The Knights of light, and the WhatTheHecks - may the best team win!"
They all stepped out onto the battlefield. Lloyd, Blanke, and the Champion stood in front of Rina and the fake Alice to protect them. Queen Loanna Staffon raised her hand, then dropped it as a signal to begin the fight.
Mayoay's group began by pumping all their magic energy into Mayoay, who then cast a spell of reverse gravity on the Knights of Light. They all floated into the air for a few moments, and Blanke used his shortbow to target the newest - and weakest - member of the Knights.
Rina used her action to make the fake Alice appear to be casting a spell, then she had Volvagia attack the smaller Knight, as well.
The leader of the Knights, Gewain, threw a spell at Mayoay that broke her concentration - which sent the Knights of Light falling to the ground, doing a lot of damage.
Rina then planted a fireball right in the center of the Knights, taking the newest guy down entirely - and regaining her spell slot thanks to her Warlock Death Ring from Drake.

In the lobby of the building, Neely was running toward the bathroom. She tried to open a window, but it wouldn't budge. "Hey, Alice? Is it more important that we get out quietly, or just get out?"
"Just get out!" Alice conveyed.
"Okay, I can do this..." Neely then planted a powerful spell on the window, and completely destroyed the entire wall.
"That's one way to do it..." Alice said.
Alice was then free to catch up with the caravan, and Neely was heading toward the main circle of the city to set up a distraction.

In the fight, the Knights of Light all began casting a spell together. It created an aura all around them like a bubble. Mayoay, now pumped with the magic of her allies, flew into the bubble at high speed. Immediately upon entering, she fell. She tried to cast a spell, it didn't work. She realized that this was an anti-magic sphere, and all she could do was try to run back out.
Gewain was faster, he threw the stone with the magic of the sphere in the air, ran to her, and handcuffed her with anti-magic cuffs.
The Champion immediately ran up to break the cuffs, and used all his actions to do so - successfully.
Rina had the fake Alice cast the Tidal wave spell from the scroll from the Web. Though only Lloyd was injured, now the arena was soaked. Volvagia, once again, tried to attack one of the Knights of Light, but failed.

Alice made her way to the caravan, and Neely got to the town square. Neely began playing a song very loudly, and a crowd began to form.
Anna Talley was on the roof, and - for just a moment - looked over at Neely playing her harp, "I really like that song, actually. Nice to hear it played by a harp."
Alice then had a clear way into the carriage. She pulled out of wildshape and began looking for the Cylinder of Liquid. There were almost a hundred little potion bottles to look through, but thanks to Roy Richmond giving her some of the Cylinder, she was able to Locate Object and find it. While looking, however, the carriage shook just a little.
She cast Pass Without a Trace, went back into wildshape, and began to leave through the top as a dragonfly, once again.

In the arena, Lloyd, Blanke, and the Champion were all directly attacking the Knights of Light. Rina made sure the fake Alice was still moving around the field, so she was having her dragon attack for her. The WhatTheHecks began buffing each other with stat boosters, and Mayoay did the same for the members of The Bound who were closest.

Alice escaped through the top of the carriage, and saw Alric Ravenwood jump out of his carriage into hers and use Spirit Guardians. She narrowly escaped the attack, and Alric had nearly destroyed the entire center carriage.
"Alice Moondance! I know you're there! I know it!" he yelled as she buzzed her way back toward the arena to join the fight.

End Session

Alric looked around - seeing the dragonfly as it buzzed away, he got out a new, huge hammer made of gold with white trim. Not only did he now have a new weapon, but ethereal wings sprung from his back as he floated. Fortunately for Alice, there were many dragonflies this time of year in Everhelm, and he was unable to determine that it was her.

In the arena, Mayoay was in the center with the Champion beside her. The WhatTheHecks were on the far side of the arena, and Lloyd was with Blanke between the Knights of Light and Rina. Rina had carefully placed the fake Alice on the edge of the arena with the fewest number of people.
The round started with the stage changing again, this time all of the fireworks were aimed at the arena. They shot off in a bright glow - blinding half of the people fighting.
Two of the remaining Knights of Light ran up to attack Blanke while Gewain went for Lloyd - both of them getting hit hard. One of the Knights tried to Banish Blanke, but failed.
Lloyd fought Gewain with all his might, but Gewain was stronger - taking Lloyd out within the anti-magic sphere. The crowd then found out that all of Lloyd's money wasn't real - it just had his face on it and was gold-plated.

Just then, the arena changed again. The pillars on the side began to rotate, then the floor began to spin. It spun faster and faster, until everyone was thrown against the walls of the arena. Rina was able to keep the fake Alice in-tact, and Alice yelled "Forward" through the blending to alert Rina that she would be there on her next turn.
Rina used a few eldritch blasts to hit the knights near Blanke.
The WhatTheHecks continued to buff themselves and each other, still unsure what else they can do with no magic able to hit the knights.
Blanke used his new sword to launch himself up into the sky, and tried to hit one of the knights on the way down - but missed.
Alice finally got to her body, and fell out of whildshape immediately. Now that Rina's concentration was back, she put up a wall of fire behind the two knights of light near Blanke, burning them in the process.

The arena changed again, but this time 10 giant bears entered the arena from cages on the sides. They were armored, and trained to fight. The WhatTheHecks, not knowing what else to do, decide to focus on the bears first. Mayoay tried to hit one of the Knights of light who moved out of the way of Rina's Wall of Fire, but missed him.
Rina used a Fireball on the cleric of the Knights of light and he goes down, along with one of the bears.
The other Knight near Blanke tries to move, but Blanke uses his trees to pull the guy back into the fire, burning him more.
Gewain headed straight for Mayoay. Despite the champion trying to stop Gewain, he took her down while in the anti magic circle. The blue bubble did not burst, she is doing death saving throws.
The WhatTheHecks were shaken, but continued to fight the bears, and one of the Knights begins to beat Blanke.
Rina used Witch Bolt on him, dropping the wall of fire she had up previously, and the knight went down. Rina made the crowd cheer after.
Alice tried to hit Gewain to break his concentration on the anti-magic field, but failed. Volvagia did the same many times, until Gewain slashed her down and she disappeared off the field.

The queen then decided to add more bears, making the crowd chant "More bears! More bears!"
Gewain focused on the Champion, hitting them over and over again, until the Champion also went down. Along with Mayoay and Lloyd, they were in the anti-magic sphere and all were making death saves. Despite the arena supposedly having staff to heal people, they could not be healed while in the circle.
Gewain then turned his sights to Rina, who had already downed two of his party members. "Take this and go," he said to the Knight closest to him as he handed over the stone with the Anti Magic effect. He attempted to hit Rina, who was just barely able to stop him with her Rod of the pact keeper - which shattered in the process, giving her one extra spell slot.

The stage then began to spin around again, throwing bears and people everywhere. Blanke jumped toward Gewain to protect Rina, but could not hit him.
Alice ran over to the Champion now that the Knight had moved the anti magic over just enough, and she healed the Champion with a potion she had. The Champion then saw the shining Cylinder of Liquid on Alice's belt.
"Give it to me," they said.
Alice suddenly remembered who this voice belonged to, and so did Rina.
"No, not right now," Alice said, "I don't know what you'll do with it."
"I'm going to drink it!" the champion yelled.
Alice then pulled up the Cylinder and pretended she planned to drink it to taunt the Champion.
"You wouldn't dare..." the Champion said.
Alice did, in fact, take this as a dare.
The last remaining member of the Knights of Light - aside from Gewain - then stabbed the champion in the back and made sure they were in the magic circle. He then stabbed again, and again... until the champion was dead.

Alice then drank the potion.

The liquid was thicker in her throat than she expected. It was viscus and hard to swallow, but she couldn't stop. With each gulp her body began to change. Stardust seemed to pour from her eyes in a dark but sparkling stream, she began to float off of the ground, and her skin pulsed with a white glow.
Her head felt like it was splitting in two, as did her heart. She was flooded with memories that were not hers... or, were they?

The Knight who killed the Champion began to run away from the scene, taking the anti-magic sphere with him. But it was too late for the Champion, and for Lloyd. Mayoay held on, but only by a thread.
Gewain had Rina in a corner trying to attack her, but Rina looked past him to see what was going on.
Alice was floating 4ft above the ground, pulsing with light. The Champion lay dead near her, who was also pulsing with the same light. The last time Rina saw this light was in the depths of Mt. Ivatim - when Gabrielle returned from Niktalia.
With fear that Alice may explode, Rina changed her focus and used Far Step to teleport 120ft into the air.
Gewain stopped, looks around, and saw what was going on.
The energy from Alice began to spray out hundreds of feet in every direction, cutting through the floor and the towers around the arena.
"No!" yelled Gewain, "Stop her! Heal her or she will die!"
He then ran toward Alice, dropping concentration on the Anti-magic spell, and tried to heal Alice.
Touching her hurt him, and did not seem to heal her.
"It will kill her! Someone stop it!" Gewain yelled again.

Alice realized in this chaos she was creating that she was... dying. She saw visions of two lives, while it felt she was swimming in an ocean of memories. She pulled on one of them:
A baby born with angel wings, with loving parents holding her. "She is the savior reborn," her parents said as they held her softly.
Another baby then came into view, born in darkness. "Being born under the two comets is a bad omen," one parent said to the other.
Another memory flashing back, the child - no longer with wings - was now in Kay'Lend, but many years prior to the current day.
Her father approached with a cake, "Happy birthday, sweet heart!" he said, as they all sat down to a nice meal together.
Then she saw another child... herself. On one of the few birthdays she remembers with her parents. "Look up at the stars," her mom said, "When you were born, there were two comets between those two stars. You know why it's important to remember there's two?"
Little Alice shook her head, "Because you need to share life with someone. Share the joys, share the burdens."

All of the remaining bears ran back into their cages, the floor began to move as the gravity of Alice started to pull everything in toward her.
One of the towers began to fall toward the arena, underneath were a hundred people or more. Gewain saw it happen first, "I must go help my people!" he yelled at Blanke, "You take care of Alice!" Gewain ran up into the crowd and put a massive magical shield up to save the people.
In The Queen's box, Rina could hear a woman's scream. Fireworks were blowing up around her, so she could not see the arena, or into the box. Just then, a stream of energy from Alice sliced the queen's box in two, and Rina far-stepped into the Queen's box to help her.
The floor panels of the arena began to twist and move up toward Alice, the bodies of those who had fallen were all rolling into the water below.

"Share the burden..." Alice thought to herself. She looked down to see Gabrielle's body still pulsing with light. Her helmet had come off, now showing her long, flowing hair. Alice reached down and grabbed Gabrielle, pushing the energy into her. The two of them both began to float. Gabrielle awoke, revived by the power that Alice was pushing into her. They were both experiencing the same memories now.
A young Gabrielle fell down when trying to climb a tree, her mother there with her, "It's ok sweet heart! Let's get you back home so your father can put some healing ointment on it." She was carried off by her mother through the woods.
A young Alice stood at the edge of a forest, with her mother hugging her tight, "I'm sorry, Alice, but you have to go. It isn't safe for you here." A mob of people were near her home only a few dozen yards away. "Find some witches," her mother said, "they may be able to help you figure out your powers." Then, Alice ran into the woods, alone.

Rina's eyes came into focus through the dust of the rubble. The Emperor's Whiskers were in the queen's box, with knives aimed at her husband - Edmond Staffon. Rina quickly realized that this was an assassination attempt, and saw Queen Loanna Staffon laying under a pile of rubble. Without hesitation, Rina ran to the queen, "I'm sorry to do this, your majesty," Rina said as she touched the queen and opened a Dimension Door for them to go through. They opened up in their arena room where Neely now stood. "Neely! Heal her with everything you've got," Rina said.
The queen, not realizing where she was, stabbed Neely in the shoulder with a dagger. "Oh... oh, I didn't realize I was in good company again. Reflexes, I guess," the queen said to Neely.
"Ow! Oh! Oh my gods, it's the queen..."
"Yes, and she's your responsibility now," Rina said as she quickly ran back onto the field.
"What?!" Neely responded in shock.
"You can uh... keep the dagger if you want." said the Queen.
"Th-thank you," said Neely as she pulled the dagger out of her shoulder, "I will always treasure it..."

Alice and Gabrielle were spinning in the arena, their gravity pulling everything in. The memory of the baby with the halo reforms. Angels took her in secret to a lush forest to raise her, "This is the only way to save the other side," said the person carrying her.
Another baby was shown, born in a fiery hellscape to be reborn as the World Ender, the Pradhana.
Gabrielle's memories came into view. As an angel, she sacrificed herself and put her memories onto the Shepherd to be found by her human self when she was reborn.
Alice's former self was sacrificed in oblivion, and many hoped she would not be reborn at all.

Blanke ran toward them and tackled Alice as hard as possible, bringing them to the ground. The black hole of energy was still pulling everything in. The last Knight of light on the field tried to stab Alice and Gabrielle, but Blanke stopped him.
"Alice! Pull out of it!" Blanke yelled at her.
Alice hears him, and begins attempting to focus on being herself again. Gabrielle does the same, and the two of them finally come to. The moment they both open their eyes, a huge burst of energy shatters away from them in all directions. Every person on the continent could feel it.

There was now a feeling around the world that something was... different.

"Were those... your memories?" Gabrielle asked Alice.
"They weren't mine... at least, not all of them. So, some were yours."
"That... that was so much."
The two of them held their heads as the headache was splitting.
Once some of the dust settled, Blanke went to look for Lloyd's body. He could see the shining, golden armor at the bottom of the water - along with many other bodies of witches and knights who had died - and jumped in to get him. Using his sword, he catapulted them both back on land.
Rina used the last revivify that Kin had left them, and Alice dropped a diamond she had stored away. Lloyd was saved.

The crowd was silent, even Gewain who now sat in the stands.
Rina stood in the center and sent up two eldritch blasts. The two giant icicles collided in the air like a firework, spreading powdered snow all over the crowd and the arena - covering everything in a thin layer of snow. The crowd cheered louder than ever before.
"Was that good enough for you?" Rina asked as she replied to the queen's earlier sending.
The queen walked out onto the arena, now healed thanks to Neely. She stood there, a bit slumped over, then fell to her knees. She began breathing heavily as if she might cry, but then she burst into laughter - nearly yelling with every laugh. She picked up the snow and threw a snowball in a random direction, which caused some people in the crowd to do the same.
Rina then spoke loud enough for many to hear, "Behold the power... of Agronoch."
A cool breeze whispered through the arena. Rina could feel her hand raise, it was being grasped by another, very cold hand.
"The power of Agronoch, indeed!" Enoch stood there with her, holding her hand in the air. For the first time, he could actually physically touch her.

end session

The moments after the tournament seemed to slow down - the colors around them went white until they could see nothing. The light then faded to a blue-green coloration, and as they opened their eyes, a new view came into focus: the sky. They were looking up at the sky through the bright green leaves of a large tree. The ground they laid on did not feel like grass, however. As Alice tried to run her hand through grass, she realized that she actually laid on a hard and woody surface.
"This... what is this? This wood doesn't feel smooth like a floor. It's almost spongy," she remarked.
They sat up slowly and looked around, "I don't think we're in Everhelm anymore," said Blanke.
Neely got up and looked around, "Guys... I think we are in the tree. Look at the 4 branches going off from here."
Sure enough, they were in the cradle of the largest tree they could have ever imagined.
"Hey... Where's Rina?" asked Blanke as he looked around.
"Blanke, a better question would be, 'where are we?'" said Alice.

Just then, they heard a flapping sound - very similar to what they could hear in the Taste Tree Forest. These flaps seemingly belonged to a large creature.
"Oh no," panicked Neely, "are we in one of the big trees in the Taste Tree Forest?"
The flapping sound got louder and louder, until a familiar sight came into view - Volvagia landed gently on a branch near them.
"AHH!" yelled Blanke, "When did you grow to be so huge?!"
Volvagia answered, "It is not me that is large, it is you who are small! You're all about the size of mice now!"
"No! No, I don't want to be small!" Blanke yelled as he started to panic.
Volvagia smiled with all her little pointed teeth, "Hello, friends of Rina! Phesoi has put me in charge of entertaining you today. So! Solve my puzzle to get into my home, and maybe you will find something there you will find... useful."
Neely leaned over to Alice, "Um, I don't remember this thing's name, do you?"
"Something about a... volva?" Alice replied.
"Why did Rina name her after a body part?"
"And in a different language that none of us speak," said Alice.
"Ahem!" Volvagia interrupted, "It seems the three of you will need more help than I realized. So, while you are here, you can speak to any animals that live in this tree and they will be able to speak back to you. Oh, and... one more thing," Volvagia then gestured to an almond in the very center of the cradle, "that might come in handy on your quest. Tata!"
Volvagia then flew off and disappeared.

"So, um... why isn't Rina here?" Blanke asked again.
"Last time I was here, Kin was still in our party and he didn't get sucked in either."
"Yeah, and last time I was here, you weren't here, Alice," said Neely, "This is Phesoi's Realm, and They typically leave one party member behind it seems."
"Well, what should we do?" Blanke asked.
"There's 4 branches going off of this trunk's top, they look like we can walk on them," said Alice.
Blanke then just starts to walk south.
"Wait Blanke!" Neely shouted, "I see movement to the north, we should try there first!"
"North?" Alice asked, "I wanted to go west - that branch goes at a different angle from the rest."
After some squabbling, they all settled on going North.
"Guys..." started Neely, "what time do you figure it was when we got here?"
"The sun was low in the sky to the East, so it had to be early morning," Alice answered.
"But, the sun is in the west half of the sky already," said Neely, "It feels like it's 3pm... or maybe even later. But I don't feel like we have been here that long."
They all agreed that this was odd, but continued walking up the North branch until it came to a Y.
"Ok, there's two directions... Where do we go?" asked Blanke.
"The movement I saw was in the northwest," said Neely, "I say we take the west route."
"But maybe we don't want to go toward the movement," said Alice, "maybe we should try the quiet side first."
Alice and Neely argued a bit, and finally, Blanke charged on toward the northwest side.
But the sun had already set, and time was moving faster.

With a flash, they awoke yet again in the middle of the tree - the same breeze blew in the air, the same rattle of the same leaves.
"Wha- What happened?" asked Neely.
"We're back?!" Alice yelled with a questioning tone.
"We didn't take the almond," said Blanke.
"I don't think that was the issue, Blanke," said Neely, "We ran out of time."
"This time I think we should move toward the movement sooner," said Alice, "we spent half the day arguing on where to go the first time."
"This time, I'm going in style!" said Blanke as he cast dancing lights above his head, "See? I have magic now!"
"Um... Blanke," Neely started, "Nothing happened."
"What?!" Blanke exclaimed.
Neely then attempted to give a bardic inspiration to Blanke, "That didn't work either..."
"Didn't we just see this happen?" said Alice, "We just saw that anti-magic stone in battle with the Knights of Light. This feels the same."

"Ok, no wasting time! Let's get to the northwest as soon as possible," said Alice.
The three of them decided to run on the branch. About half way to the Y, Blanke slipped and fell.
Volvagia swooped in and dropped him off to the center of the tree again, "You really gotta be more careful! Running on these branches is dangerous!" She then flew away once again, and Blanke walked to catch up with Alice and Neely.
"Took you long enough," said Alice.
"Blanke, I'm thinking we should not risk running," said Neely, "Let's just walk there."
They walked to the Northwest end of the branch, and there, hanging upside-down, was Luna - Alice's pet bat from The Web.
"Alice!" Luna exclaimed upon seeing them, "Alice I'm so happy to see you! I'm really hungry... when will you feed me again?"
"Do you happen to like almonds?" Alice asked her.
"Almonds? No, I can't eat almonds... I like berries though!"
"Do you know where we can get berries?" asked Blanke.
Luna thought for a moment, "I know there's only one animal in the tree that gets them. They are straight south of me."
Alice and Neely looked toward the south, but didn't see anything moving in the tree. They did, however, see some blackberries in the hedges there.
"Why don't you get your own berries, Luna?" Neely asked.
"I... I can't get into the hedges. They're covered in thorns - it hurts my wings."
"Well, you won't get them with that attitude!" Neely said, trying to be encouraging. "You can do it! You go, girl!"
"I...I don't know, Neely. It's also day time, I can't fly well - the sun hurts my eyes."
"Come on! I believe in you!" Neely repeated.
"O...Okay. I'll try," Luna said hesitantly.
She let go of the branch and glided down toward the hedges, "Ow! I got caught on the thorns," Luna complained. "I don't think this will help, Neely. I can't reach the berries!"
"Neely!" Alice scolded, "Why did you do that? Why did you pressure her into doing something she said she wasn't comfortable with?"
"I... I didn't know she'd get hurt!"

The day got darker, and they knew they did not have much time to complete their task.
"Okay, so... we went in the wrong direction," said Alice, "We need to talk to more animals. Let's try to visit the animal on the other side of the Y on this branch."
They left toward the northeast end of the branch to find a small blanket of leaves, held together by some sort of slime. They could also see some of this slime in a trail leading under the little blanket.
"You mean to tell me... there's a snail trail leading under the blanket?" Neely said as she and Alice giggled.
Blanke walked up and lifted up the little blanket of leaves, "Hello?"
A salamander lifted his head and responded, "Hello? What do you want? What's all this commotion?"
"Sorry to disturb you, sir salamander," said Neely, "we were wondering if you knew who had berries."
"Why would I know that?"
"Because... you live in the tree?" Alice said.
"All I know is that my favorite food is found in rotten berries, mealworms. Now that you have woken me up, I'm hungry. Unless you have mealworms, I don't wish to speak to you."
"What would you give us if we got you food?" Alice asked.
The salamander then nudged a half of an almond shell full of slime over to them, "This can be used like glue, I made my blanket out of it. But until I get lunch, you don't get this."
"Ok, thank you mister salamander," Neely said as the three of them began to walk away.

Just then, the day reset again. They awoke in the center of the tree with the almond once again.
"So, the north has animals that need a berry and a worm," said Alice, "and Luna told us to go south to find the animal who can get berries."
"I say we go that way," said Neely.
Blanke was already on his way in that direction. They arrived at yet another Y in the branch - Southeast and southwest.
"Which direction?" asked Neely, "Luna just said 'south'."
"Straight south of Luna would be if we went west here," Alice said, "Let's try that."
Blanke the marched in that direction and the girls followed.
At the end of the branch they saw a squirrel, flipping her tail as she looked for something.
"Hey, squirrel!" Blanke yelled as they approached.
"Oh! Little people!" the squirrel exclaimed, "You are all so small! But I see... I can see you have an almond!"
"Yes!" Alice yelled, "Yes, we have an almond. Can you get us berries in exchange for it?"
"Oh yes! Yes! I'm the only one in the tree who can get them without getting hurt. Hold on a minute!"
The squirrel jumped down to the hedges and slinked through the thorny vines. She then came back with to black berries, one in her front paw and the other carefully in her mouth.
"Here are two whole berries! Thank you for breakfast!"
"Thank you for berries," said Blanke.

"We may have time to see which animal is on the other end of this branch. Maybe one of them would want a berry," Neely suggested.
The three of them picked up the berries and walked in the direction of the other side of the Y on this branch.
They arrived on the other end of that branch and saw a robin hopping around his nest very nervously.
"Hey! Bird!" Blanke yelled as he approached.
The robin flew up out of fear, "Oh! Oh my! You scared me little human!" he then landed in his nest again, "What are you doing here?"
"Do you want a berry?" Blanke asked as he raised one up.
"Oh! No, no thank you. But if you happen to have a worm, I would love that! They say 'the early bird gets the worm' but I woke up late today, heh."
"Ok," said Blanke as he walked back toward the center, defeated.
The night grew dark as they headed back to the center, and the day reset about half way back.

They awoke again in the center of the tree, with just a nut.
"Oh my gods..." said Neely, "Will we have to do that with the squirrel again?"
"The days are moving really fast," said Alice, "I think we really only have time for one branch each day."
Alice tried to speak to the tree to get an idea of what they needed to do. The tree moved a bit in the breeze, and Alice could feel that the west branch moved a bit differently. Actually, it barely moved at all with the wind, as if it was being held down or held still.
Neely and Blanke yelled out at the animals in the tree, "Anyone want a nut!? Anyone in the tree?" They could see the tail of the squirrel they already spoke to flip a bit far away, but no other animals responded.
"Okay, let's get to the squirrel again, and get berries," said Blanke, "Maybe we need to end the day with them in the center."
They went to the squirrel, she got them the berries once again, and then they returned to the center.

They awoke once again, to find two berries with them.
"It worked! Oh thank the gods," said Neely, "we made progress!"
"Well I'm not letting go of this berry," Alice said as she grabbed one, "This one is for Luna."
"So, do we want to go straight to Luna? Or explore a new branch?" Neely asked.
"We know that a couple of animals was mealworms," said Blanke, "maybe we find mealworms."
"Maybe we need to wait for these berries to rot," Alice said, "the salamander did say the worms are drawn to rotten berries."
They waited out the rest of the day, and the day reset once again.
When they awoke, they had two normal berries.
"Dangit!" Alice yelled in frustration, "Let's just get this one to Luna, then we will figure the rest out."

They b-lined it to Luna, who was ecstatic to have a berry for breakfast, "Thank you, Alice! I needed it!"
Alice could see that Luna did not have any wounds from being in hedge thorns, so they knew the animals were resetting, too.
"What can you give us for the berry? Do you have anything?" Blanke asked Luna.
"Oh! I have some old berries over here I didn't eat the other day," she said as she pushed a half of an almond shell full of mealworms over to them, "I don't like worms, I think they're gross... but someone else in this tree might like them!"
"Thank you!" Alice said, "Now I want to get to the Salamander."
Blanke looked at the berry he had in one hand, and the shell full of worms he had in the other hand. Then he looked down. "I have an idea," he then jumped off the ledge and fell out of the tree again.
Volvagia swooped him up, then placed him in the center - the girls did the same.
"See? I still have the berry and we also got the worms to the center! Shortcut!" Blanke exclaimed.
"We may have time to get a berry or a worm to another animal, then have Vol...vag... what's her name again?" Neely said.
"It doesn't matter, let's go to the Salamander!" Alice said as they took the worms up to him.

Blanke immediately lifted up the blanket, "Hello! Worm here!"
"Worms? You have a worm for me?"
Blanke then shoved a worm toward the salamander, "Slime, now."
"Slime?"
"I give you worm, you give me slime."
"Okay, okay," the salamander said as he pushed the shell full of slime over. Blanke then threw himself off the edge again and Volvagia took him to the center.
"Now we have slime, one berry, and two worms left," said Blanke.
"And we know the robin wants a worm," Neely responded, "Why not do that first?"
They jump off the branch to get back to the center quickly, and the day ends and resets once again.

They awake with a berry and two worms left, and a shell full of slime.
"We have one more berry, and a couple of worms. Who else needed a worm, again?"
"The robin did," said Alice, "Let's just get rid of these bugs and take them there. That way the north and south branches will both be taken care of."
They headed south, then to the east, and Blanke lifts up one of the bugs, "Here!" he yelled as he approached.
"Oh! Oh my... tiny human! You are giving me breakfast?"
"Yes, for whatever you have."
"I do have something! Something I think you tiny people will like!"
The robin flew off and came back with a smooth, Y-shaped stick.
"This just seems so perfect!" said the Robin, "I know you humans like stuff like this!"
"... a stick?" Neely said with sarcasm, "What are we supposed to do with a stick that 2 of us need to carry?"
Blanke then tried to pick up the whole thing, and almost dropped it off the edge.
"Blanke! I think we should just both carry it," said Neely.
"But I am strong!" Blanke responded.
"Yes, you are. But... we need to just get this back to the center."
Blanke just jumped off the edge and let Volvagia carry him back.
Alice sighed, "I guess we should go, too."
The girls jumped, and everyone returned to the center.

"Ok, so we have a Y stick, some slime, one more bug, and one more berry," Alice said as she took inventory, "Maybe we check out one of the other branches."
As they looked around, they saw a bit of movement to the east and slightly south, "I think we should head east," Neely said, "there is definitely another animal over there. And nothing is moving to the west at all."
Blanke walked in that direction immediately, carrying the berry and the bug.
"Should we take the stick or the slime?" Neely asked.
"I don't think we need to stick for anything," said Alice, "of all the things, that's the one that couldn't possibly be food."

They make their way to the east, then head in a southerly direction at the Y.
"There's definitely more movement this way," Neely said.
They arrive at the end of the branch, and a raven stood - staring at them - as they approached.
"Do you like berries or worms?" Blanke asked.
The raven looked at him and the girls out of just one eye, "You a small people. It seems Phesoi is up to some weird stuff again. I do have something you will be interested in."
The raven flew to another place out of sight, and came back with a golden key. "This is shiny, and I know humans and other people use these. Now, I will take my berry, please."
Blanke laid down the berry, and the raven flew away without another word.
Blanke threw himself off the edge again to get to the center, and the girls followed.

"There's still some time in the day," said Neely, "but not enough to really go anywhere. What do you want to do?"
Blanke got upset at the tree, so tried to set it on fire with the stick. Alice whipped his hand, "Stop it! This tree isn't to blame!"
Blanke hesitated a moment, "...The dragon is to blame. She put us here!"
"Yeah, the dragon! Val...vol... What's her name, again?" asked Neely.
"The dragon is Rina's familiar," said Alice, "I think we should blame Rina for this."
"I will make sure Rina knows how upsetting this is," said Blanke, "Not only am I small, but now no one knows I can use magic!"
"It's okay, Blanke," said Neely, "Magic is hard and takes a long time to study."
Blanke began to sulk and mumble to himself, "Now Neely doesn't know I'm magical... Rina will pay for this."

The day reset, and they opted to head toward the east, once again, but turn north at the Y. The area grew dark and the leaves appeared to be a funnel almost.
Alice noticed a little glimmer in the corner of her eye, but Blanke and Neely did not. Before Alice could warn them, they both walked directly into a spider's web.
The spider - three times their sizes - could be seen above them, and Blanke flailed in fear, trying to grab is sword. Neely seemed paralyzed.
The spider moved slowly toward them, but Alice held up a mealworm to her, "Here! I have a worm!"
The spider looked at her, then continued to move toward Blanke, who was closest to her,
"First I need to clean up the mess you've made," the spider said.
Blanke continued to flail, he was able to get one arm and one leg out, but could not reach his sword.
The spider reeled back, not wanting to be hit by blanke, and she clipped the web around Neely, freeing her.
"Blanke! She's friendly!" Alice yelled, "Just let her do her thing!"
Blanke continued to flail, and got both legs loose. The spider then clipped the webs around him, and he fell backwards. She then held out one leg out to Alice, who placed the mealworm directly into her claw. The spider quickly skuttled to the top of her web, wrapped up the bug, and hung it up in the corner.
"Do you need more from me?" the Spider asked, "You at least gave me lunch for the webs you've taken. Those can be used as elastic ropes, you may keep them in exchange for the food."
"Thanks miss spider!" said Blanke, as he unwrapped himself and put them around his waist like a belt.

"Ok, back to the center!" said Blanke as he jumped off the edge, the girls followed.
In the center, they looked over what they had left.
"We have slime, webbing, and a stick," said Neely.
"We also have a key," said Alice, "Whatever we need next, it must be in the west."
When the day reset they attempted to carry everything they had.
"Ok, Blanke can carry the key on his own, but it will take at least 2 of us to carry the stick," said Neely.
"What if we... put them together somehow?" Alice asked.
Blanke remembered his past in the circus - a phrase they would say a lot: "Kill two birds with one stone."
"I don't like killing birds," said Blanke, "but I know how to make a slingshot!"
Blanke then used the slime-glue from the empty shell to attach the webbing to the Y-shaped stick, and put the shell on his head as a hat.
"See! Now we can do... something."
"I have another one of those hats!" said Neely as she placed another almond shell on her head, "The bugs were in this one!"
"I see that I don't have one," said Alice, "Kinda feels like I should."
They laughed, but headed west on the final branch - carrying a slingshot, a key, and 2 halves of an almond shell.

As they reach the end of the branch, they saw a large door. Well, large to them, but it was only about 16 inches tall, with a large keyhole about 8 inches up.
"Okay, so we are supposed to get up there with the key?" Neely asked.
"Maybe we shoot the key into the lock!" said Blanke.
"I think we should check it out first," said Alice, "Maybe we can see through the keyhole."
They all piled up on each other's shoulders with Alice on top and Blank on the bottom.
Through the keyhole, Alice saw a wall of twigs and vines with a lot of little trinkets inside. Paper clips, earrings, buttons, pins, coins, rings - all things that were in this little hoard. One of the buttons looked just like the ones on Abagail's cloak, and one of the earrings was definitely one they had seen Rina wear before - though, not lately since one went missing.
"This is... This is the Dragon's nest!" said Alice.

After much deliberation, they decided to launch Blanke toward the keyhole while he held the key. He missed the hole, but was able to swing the key up into the hole after he grabbed onto the bottom of the keyhole. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the key, and used his weight to turn it. The door then opened.

Inside, they could see an extremely tall nest full of little trinkets and money woven tightly between vines and twigs.
Neely looked up, "Guys! I see a chest up there! It's hanging from a spider's web!"
They all looked up to see a green and gold chest, far too high for them to reach.
"What if we have to shoot something up there again?" asked Blanke.
Alice looked around, nothing was able to reasonably be launched that far up. Until she looked at Neely and Blanke.
"Guys... your hats," Alice noted, "They are almond shell halves, and one of them is really sticky! I think we could glue them together with that's left of that slime and shoot it up to cut the web!"
They both took off their almond shell hats, Blanke's almost now completely stuck to his head, and they stuck the two shells together.
Together they launched the shells at the web, slicing it perfectly, and the chest fell to their feet.

Volvagia then crawled up over the edge of the nest, and entered it with them. "I see you solved the puzzle! I spoke to all the animals, and they all agree that you deserve your complete reward."
"Wait..." Neely hesitated, "You mean, they remember?"
Alice scowled at Neely, "She will remember that you hurt her!"
"I didn't mean to hurt her! I was trying to be supportive!"
"All animals agree you did not hurt them, at least not on purpose," said Volvagia, "Please, take what's in the chest. You deserve it all."
Alice opened the chest. Inside were a compass, a bar of endless soap, a flask of endless water, and a piece of ever burning coal.
"If you had harmed any animals, these would not have all been in the chest for you. But, since you have respected the animals, nature, and this tree in the center of Phesoi's Realm - you get everything we had to offer this day. Tata, friends of Rina!"

The three of them saw white once again, and awoke once again on the battlefield. No time had passed. Rina's snow was still on the ground, she stood - still - in the arena with Agronoch holding up her hand, having no idea what they just went through.