"Excellent show Epine!"

"You look really tired, why don't you head back before me?”

Epine replied, “I don’t want to leave you to walk back alone!”

“Oh, I will have Rogelio walk me back!” Beryl said, trying to suppress a smile as she fiddled with her dress coyly.

“Oh… I see.” Epine said carefully. “I will leave you to it.”

​She seemed to fold into herself a bit as she stepped into the brisk night, headed for home.

Epine spent the night fitfully, listening for the door. When she awoke, Beryl’s bed was empty, and Epine felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I guess she spent the night,” Epine said aloud to herself. She went about getting ready and ended up in the mess tent.

After the third person asked Epine where Beryl was, Epine started to worry. She asked Rogelio’s roommate where the strongman was. Bastien shrugged and assumed he had spent the night at Epine’s bunkhouse.

When Epine informed Bastien that was not the case, they both became worried. They figured they would find them as they broke down the circus to move to the next site.

After the cleanup had finished and they were getting ready to board the caravan, Bastien and Epine realized that Beryl and Rogelio were nowhere to be found. The only thing out of the ordinary that was found was a single feather the color of dusk.~

The vision shifts to a Technohaven office.

“I still don’t know what is more surprising. The fact that an island popped into existence, or that the Compass Rose beat us to the punch.”

Admiral Tiberius Shriver's voice drips with both exhaustion and sarcasm as your vision solidifies to a digital map of the dreamworld. Four rectangles take up sections of the image with some familiar faces in them.

“But before we agree to help them with any of their operations, we should review our status to see what resources we have available. Admiral Green?”

“We finished purging our systems of the wasteland scrap code about a week and a half ago. All systems are green in Telhamra Harbor.”

Pratoria Green’s voice is confident, but the bags under her eyes betray the long hours and months of effort that went into this win.

“Excellent news! Captain LIV, any updates on Ellerus?”

Blue LIV leans toward her camera and the picture gets a little fuzzy from interference before the image settles out again.

“Well, we’ve been picking up the slack for all of y’all for the last two months while you’ve been cleaning this mess up.”

There’s a small pause before the short silence is broken by Rus.

“And the scrap code?”

“Absolutely! All instances of code have been eliminated from systems ahead of schedule. But then again, it’s a little easier to handle when you grew up dealing with stuff like this.”

“Glad to hear it,” replies Rus, “and thank you. We’ll be sure to get some relief sent over your way soon. Sounds like everyone has had more than their fair share of overtime.”

Blue LIV nods in agreement and leans back in her chair.

“Ok, that leaves Paladin Greg. Have you finished your audit of our remote locations?”

Fishin Greg’s camera is entirely too close to his face. Focused entirely on his eyes and forehead, his mouth is completely off screen. You see his hair sway side to side and you can tell he is emphatically telling this story with his whole body.

"Ohyeaheveryoniscomingcleanlikeananteaterbuffet, ceptthisonekindanotsosmallproblem."

“What kind of problem?”

"thepantsdepartmentiscompletelyouttacahootsrightnow."

“How compromised are we talking?”

"welltostartthehousingsystemsarealittleoutthere, supressionsystemsactivatingspeakersblaringsomenewfanglednoisebotsgoingalittleloosey-gooseybutthatsatleastjustthesmallfireworks. Lookslikeforsomereasontheframesjustdecidedtothrowapartyonthereownandnoneofuseareinvited. Yeahicanfixitbutiprobablyneedsomefriendstohelpdistracttheframesfromoutrightattackinme."

“Well, that’s not good.”

Fishin Greg grunts in agreement.

“Ok, here’s the plan. Admiral Green, restart operations from Telhamra Harbor. Focus on re-establishing standard routes before moving to offer relief to Ellerus. Captain LIV, pull back to standard operational patterns for Ellerus over the next week. Hopefully we’ll be able to time the ramp-up from Telhamra Harbor with Ellerus’ ramp-down to make sure we don’t leave any gaps in service. In the meantime, Paladin Greg, move to checking in on our more isolated outposts. They likely won’t be affected by the scrap code, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate the friendly face after the extended radio silence. I’ll get together a group to handle the Exo Frame facility. Any questions?” Admiral Shriver speaks with authority through the slight rasp in his voice.

“What about the request from the Compass Rose?” asks Admiral Green.

“Unfortunately, we’ll need to pass on this opportunity to help. We’re spread thin as is. And besides, we aren’t exactly experts on the problems they’re seeing.” The disappointment in Rus’ voice is palpable, but his words are resolute.

“Well, if we can’t handle it ourselves, maybe we can get it to someone who can,” responds Admiral Green.

Rus squints a bit and cocks his head to the side.

“I’ll contact our outpost outside of Fort Aetherloon,” continues Admiral Green. “They can at least pass the request along to their neighbors. We might not know how to stop a ritual, but I bet someone in Solstice does.”

“Ok, reach out as soon as we can. Don’t want to keep their ground forces waiting.”

The conversation continues, but it fades further and further away as your vision begins to shift.~

A man in a blue postal outfit waits patiently for the Soldier to finish his conversation with a small lizardman. 

As the bluescale clan member skittered off clutching his clipboard, the postman stepped forward, handing the Soldier a letter with a smile. The Soldier looked down at the envelope, which unhelpfully simply stated “The Soldier” in generic handwriting, and Bob was gone by the time he looked up. He shrugged and opened the letter, catching the small cherry blossom charm without really thinking about it.

The letter was written in small, neat print, and the soulforge resituated your view so you could read over his shoulder:

The Soldier,

It has been some time since we spoke—well, with both of us knowing who we are. Sadly, now is not the time for reminiscing, but we will catch up soon, I promise. I need to finish one last thing from my old life.

To that end, I need a favor from you. I hid an item of great importance to my friends who gave me safe haven when I needed it. The time has come for me to return it. I have been assured that you can steer the Hope to any destination. I have a series of coordinates that I need you to bring her to; they are recorded in the memory I have enclosed here.

This way, once the Dreamwalkers arrive, they will be present to help ensure the item’s safe passage, as I know it is as important to them as it is to my friends. I can explain more once I get aboard.

Trust me, it’s important,

Revelry

He flipped the charm over in his hand. A small smile crossed his lips.

“Well, I guess I could use a favor from an old friend.”

He turned toward the bridge of the Hope, holding the charm up to look through as he walked.

“Wait.”

He stopped and watched the memory from the charm again.

“Is she taking us to a spot in the unformed dreaming? What even is there?”

He hurried to the bridge and consulted the maps, then the charm, then the maps again.

The point Revelry wanted them to go to was right smack in the middle of the unformed dreaming—nothing for miles but roiling mists and the monsters that lived there.

“What is she thinki… I guess some things never change.” He sighed. He hemmed and he hawed, then pulled up the controls for the bridge and input the coordinates. Sometimes, in strategy, you needed to trust your gut.~

You feel the temperature drop as an ornate room seemingly carved from ice comes into view.

The Winter King sits behind a desk thumbing through an old book while a young winter fey stands before him finishing their report.

“...And the final report comes from Fort Aetherloon. All is quiet on the North West front, but they have received an interesting communication from the Technohaven base.”

Without looking up from his book, the Winter King makes some small circles with his hand, encouraging the assistant to continue.

They clear their throat before reading from a small scroll.

“Leaders of Solstice,

I would like to start with a gracious thank you for the use of your lands to the North West. The proximity to your kingdom and our established trade routes has helped immensely with our recovery efforts over the past few months. Without the support of your representatives at Fort Aetherloon, the Technohaven Company would not have recovered as well as we have. We are grateful for your assistance and look forward to what else we can accomplish with each other’s support.

This does lead to some information we’ve received. An island named Lorehold has recently risen above the unformed dreaming. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is the first instance of new land forming in the dreaming in hundreds of years. While we have not been in a position to assist in the exploration of this new island, the Compass Rose has made landfall in our stead.

Lorehold is solidly in Nightwalker control, and the Compass Rose is making moves to rectify that. Unfortunately, the Nightmares do not wish to give up this land and have taken to a defensive campaign, entrenching themselves in several locations to hold against the Compass Rose's initial push. In one of these pushes, the Warbringers found evidence of a ritualist in the enemy ranks attempting a powerful spell.

Their experts were able to deduce that the ritualist intends to sink the island back below the unformed dreaming. While the existing forces on Lorehold lucked out by their first attempt failing, they are sure the Nightwalkers will attempt it again soon. The Compass Rose is requesting any assistance they can get to help stop this and capture the ritualist if possible.

The Technohaven Company would normally send support in a heartbeat, but given how stretched thin we are at present, we must extend this call for aid to you. We hope your expertise in the arcane can assist the Compass Rose. If you can, please meet our representatives outside Fort Aetherloon. We will provide transport to and from Lorehold.

Thank you for your time.

Admiral Pratoria Green”

When the fey messenger looks up from the note, the Winter King’s book is closed and he is intently paying attention.

A small smile spreads across the King’s face as he responds, “Clear my schedule. I think it’s time to take a little field trip.”~

Before the Soulforge even focuses your vision, you smell straw and warmth.

You realize you are in a hatchery. The eggs are large and mottled to look like lumps of moss. You are certain this would be fantastic camouflage on a forest floor. These eggs, however, are neatly tucked into individual, well-maintained nests that are clearly large enough to house whatever would hatch out of a moss-patterned egg a foot in diameter. The hazy heat of the hatchery makes you feel drowsy, but when you hear a scratching from behind you, you turn to see an egg jostling around in its nest. You barely hear a slight click of a door closing and are startled to realize a cheetah is next to you, nuzzling the large egg.

“Little one, is today the day?” the cheetah purrs in a soft voice.

The shell cracks, and a tiny claw pierces the inner membrane of the egg.

“There you go, little darling, you can do it.” The cheetah continues nosing the egg to make sure the creature inside can break out easily.

As the shell is peeled back by the emerging baby, you realize it is not a bird specifically, though it has some feathers in a crown on its head. It is more reptilian in aspect. As the cheetah nanny cleans off the hatchling, it cries like any newborn, a piercing screech revealing its razor-sharp teeth.

The nanny gets the hatchling together, making fussing noises at the delighted baby, moving it toward the door you heard click earlier. She sweeps the hatchling through the door, and before it quietly clicks shut again, you hear the tiny screeches and first attempts at roars from the nursery beyond.

As your vision pulls away, the soulforge imparts just one word:

Samsauran.~

The Soulforge pulls your vision down, past the waves of the unformed dreaming.

Swimming through the flowing colors, you zip past husks and scattered nightmare beasts. The unformed Dreaming breaks before you, revealing a sunken bubble, impossibly large. Through the mists of the unformed Dreaming, other bubbles can be seen in the distance. Your vision is dragged back to the bubble in front of you. As you near, gates appear with several animals standing on their back paws, holding various weapons, standing watch. Your vision continues forward through the gates and into a lush forest. A path with more patrolling guards of every type of animal leads to a grand hall made of living wood and vines. A warm light spills out of the open doors, and the sounds of merriment and drinking can be heard.

A warmth floods through you as you enter the doors to the hall. Looking at the tall ceiling, one wonders how the lights are floating almost in time with the singing and dancing of all sorts of animals around a rousing fire that dominates the center of the hall. Through the flames, you see antlers crowning a wild face. A sharp sound echoes through the hall as the antlered figure strikes the ground with their staff twice.

“My friends, let the feasting begin! To the health of Sanctuary. May all who dwell here find peace, and may all those who seek otherwise find their swift end.”

A great cheer goes up as the collected crowd howls and screeches in approval.

Tables and chairs to suit all shapes and sizes are grown from a living wooden floor, and gayly dressed animals appear with plates of food to suit every taste. The wine and mead cups are filled as more toasts continue, and the merriment of the party slowly melts your consciousness into the Dreaming.~