The party wakes at the Rooted Burrow inn in Miraneen, recovering from the previous night's battle with [[Michelios]]. Tormin Mascari discovers new scars across his right rib cage and four knuckle-split lacerations down his right cheek, souvenirs from the fight. Emmy, who had been missing during the encounter, sneaks back into the shared room around 4am and cuddles up near AAA, briefly catching him up on what happened. ![[Pasted image 20260824131853.png]] Before the rest of the group stirs, [[Tormin Mascari]] attempts his morning prayer to Eldath but is met not by his goddess's voice but by a cold, monotone presence that tells him he was always meant to drown and that nobody is here for him. A clawed grip seizes his skull, pulling him backward before he snaps awake in a cold sweat at 7:55am. ![[Pasted image 20260824131818.png]] Through the window, he spots a cloaked figure departing southeast toward the rolling hills outside town. Tormin, AAA, and Rill sneak out the inn's window to follow the figure, with Dugby taking five points of fall damage on the landing. Solace the owl familiar is left behind with a note for Carlo, Emmy, and Dugby, who remain downstairs for breakfast. Over their meal, the three discuss what they know about Michelios — AAA recalls he may be from the abyssal plane, a demon or devil, and speculates he took Mildred's soul when he made her dance. Solace eventually delivers Tormin's note, and the breakfast group decides to head southeast to catch up. The two groups converge on a grassy hill topped by an apple tree, where the cloaked figure reveals herself as [[Saia]], a drow archangel of Eldath. She performs a palm-reading ritual with Tormin and AAA, their three forearms touching in a sandwich of hands, which reveals the name Levistus — one of the nine devils — as the entity blocking Tormin's connection to his goddess. Saya explains that an ancient pact between gods and devils prevents either side from intervening in the mortal world unless called upon. Each God created an archangel and each Devil created an Archdevil; Michelios is an Archdevil, though Saya cannot reveal which devil he serves due to the pact's supernatural binding. A heated argument erupts when Tormin pushes to use Detect Thoughts on Saya to circumvent her restrictions, arguing that devils would exploit the same technicality. Dugby fiercely defends his faith and Saya's privacy, while Emmy sides with Dugby, calling the approach against their beliefs. ![[Pasted image 20260824133815.png]] Saya consents to surface-level detection, which confirms a magical barrier forged centuries ago prevents deeper probing. She assures the party the knowledge they seek is obtainable through the temples in each country. Before departing by condensing into a ball of light, Saya tells Dugby to follow and cleanse the rivers in each country, revealing that Queen Coco is polluting Miraneen with a great tree squeezing the life from the nation. Rill, afraid of returning to the temple, is sent to Savahaa to seek refuge with Smithy and potentially retrieve Eldrin. The party plans their next steps: meet the cat people allies northeast of the tree, confront Queen Coco, find Sylvan, and visit the temple in Miraneen. They decide to travel to Rivera first, Carlo's father's homeland, arriving around 2am. Tormin and Emmy go to the river to bless it; Tormin feels the water flowing north toward the mountains and senses the clawing sensation approaching, but AAA's iron shell protection keeps him safe. AAA and Tormin sense an eveil presence following the river to the south... Shadow, Carlo's wolf, rolls a natural 20 on perception and detects a familiar blood scent near the temple in Rivera. He leads the party to a cottage where an old man named Paul is chopping wood. ![[Pasted image 20260824130640.png]] They introduce themselves as relatives of Constantine, and give the news that [[Constantine Mascari]] is not dead... anymore. After a persuasion struggle. Paul starts to come around, when his wife [[Esmeralda Mascari (Gigi)]] comes out of their small simple farmhouse and instantly recognizes her grandchildren through maternal instinct and embraces Carlo. After a brief catch up, Esmerelda she was given a package from a young man named [[Antonio]]. She retrieves Constantine's ornate wooden box from a secret hatch, which Carlo unlocks with the iron key he remembered was on his mothers journal, all on his own with no outside help. The book contains details of a temple. Inside are pages 1 through 7 of 10 containing detailed temple notes; pages 8, 9, and 10 are missing. The box was delivered by someone named Antonio approximately ten years ago. Dugby volunteers to teleport Paul and Esmeralda to Delor, packing their belongings in the Bag of Holding, and the session closes with plans for his return. As Dugby appears back at the Temple of Selune in Savahaa, a voice he swears he's heard before calls for his attention. A voice he's long forgotten.