Gerhardt is working on the railway, which is going well. Air strip landing area is a go.
Need to talk to local authorities and find Phil. What else should the team do? Call Gerhardt! Silas explains that Malign just sort of "appeared" after a celestial event. Malign doesn't seem to be moving forward with any mission in the absence of leadership/formalities completed. It has some fairy-like qualities, but it's not exactly like anything with which Gerhardt is familiar.
Gerhardt doesn't find much info so he goes ahead to join the group in the Star Hotel in Malign. Gerhardt does detect a few places of power here. There is a small library here that might be useful. Jericho makes sure to share some knowledge from Alice: Osric may be doing the ritual to drain an Ancient of its life force for some nefarious means. (Eternal life? Creating Dwimmerlaik? Unsure…)
Euryale from the Cathedral stops by to ask if everyone is ok. (She's wearing sunglasses and a hood as being a Medusa can be socially problematic.) Apparently she brought us back after she found us. She's still looking for her sister. She didn't see the monster that escaped but she did feel the sense of dread.
Gerhardt makes the great suggestion to Isabelle to try and restore memories from the blackout. Jericho volunteers!
Silas asks Euryale if she closed the door on the stairs (she sheepishly confirms she did) and if she's from there. She says she and her sister are from very far away. She's been looking for her for about a month, much longer than Malign has been here. One of her snakes peeks out curiously from beneath her hood.
"You're some of Celeste's brood, aren't you?" she asks. It turns out that Celeste is her aunt, so Stheno is also family (something like 4th cousin twice removed). She asks that if we run across her sister that they please let her know.
She hands Silas a small white oval river pebble as a means to contact her. He takes it and puts it in his pocket. She wishes everyone well and departs. Jericho senses she’s powerful, but not dangerous.
Alex goes to meet Nellie at the cafe she mentioned earlier. The group goes along with him. She’s wearing nice clothing, a corset with an over jacket and a circlet adorning her head. She looks so different — confident and attractive. Prior to being "chosen" the Citadel was unknown and invisible to her. She doesn't know if she is capable of bringing anyone else there. Alex says it's worth a try since she wasn't explicitly told not to.
Gerhardt looks with the Eidolon and sees a large central courtyard with a central fountain and gardens around the periphery. At the base of the fountain he sees 3 steps, but then nothing more. There is definitely a connection between her and the steps.
Jericho gets an odd sense of a nearby threat and sees someone approaching. It looks like Fenrir, who Alice recommended for further training. Jericho stands as the man comes over. "You are Jericho, correct? I've been told you have some potential. There are three creatures that have been following me. I haven't had time to deal with them. Remove them." Jericho agrees, amused.
A rumbling commences. Jericho gets in position and looks to be waiting for something. Natasha asks Jericho what he's up to. He shares what he knows, which is next to nothing. Natasha and Isabelle decide to stay nearby in case they're needed, just in case. Isabelle orders whatever the man is having. Natasha takes up a more strategic position.
Three spinning tentacled monsters arrive, bounding from building to building. As he fights, they seem to ablate and reform. Everyone runs except for Fenrir, who continues sipping coffee. Jericho throws caution to the wind, laughs in the face of danger, and takes on all 3 with blatant disregard for himself.
Jericho's right leg is broken, his left arm is dysfunctional, and there's a gaping hole where spleen was. Monsters defeated! Fenrir is unimpressed. "You did fulfill the minimum of what I requested. I do appreciate that. That does show some amount of talent. Judgment is lacking, but talent is there."
The town gets back to normal surprisingly fast. Fenrir continues, "It seems that things like this have happened before. At the center someone is in charge, but they're making sure nobody knows who they are." He decides that Jericho is worth his time and tells him to continue improving. Learn from mistakes. He will give lessons from time to time.
Fenrir: We're going to have to start getting you ready.
Jericho: For what?
Fenrir: The battle.
Jericho: What battle?
Fenrir: There is only one battle that matters.
Silas takes Jericho and Isabelle to his new fast-time medical shadow to get fixed up. As they get ready to do this, Nellie offers to help, but they decline and proceed with the plan.
Alex proceeds to the staircase and Natasha follows. She goes up a few steps and starts to vibrate. Alex goes up and starts to get a horrible headache as he, too, starts vibrating. Blinding auras crash through his vision as the stairs come up to meet his face. The coolness feels good. He's not out, but he's down for the count.
Gerhardt suggests that Nellie tries out her healing on Alex. She takes out a teacup, takes a sip, and ponders. Then she dips her thumb in her tea, draws a shape on his forehead, and the headache suddenly becomes manageable. She looks drained, but it worked!
Back in the new medical shadow, nanites work on healing Jericho. It will take a few days here, but that's not long outside. Since this is Phoenix Empire adjacent, there is psychoactive technology here. While Jericho is hooked up and stable, Isabelle takes the opportunity to go probing.
Flashback: A pale, dark-eyed humanoid smiles horrifically and Jericho falls apart (think Infinity gauntlet). He sees others falling apart, too. He wakes up, naked, on a concrete slab. Everyone else is there, too. "This isn't your time," another figure complains. Darkness consumes him again and he wakes up in the hotel room with everyone else.
Encouraged, Isabelle tries the same process on herself. It's mostly the same outcome, but felt more intensely. She was awake the longest, and the bad entity that got loose is amused with her. He suggests that there is more to come for her, "a relation". Was this an unmaker??
"M'lady, is this what you wish, to finally rest or go back to your friends?" The man kisses her hand. A gown manifests and flows off of her as she rises to join the man and his wife for tea. "I've so looked forward to seeing you!" A vignette ensues where she looks totally at home in this weird situation. After a casual friendly conversation, they bid each other adieu and Isabelle appeared back in the hotel.
Having recorded the visions and printed a picture of the possible unmaker, the trio returns to the hotel. Isabelle starts work on the trump of the tea party with Proserpina and Clymenus. It's strange she remembers their names, and it seems like those aren't their only names. Are there nicknames she has for them? Hard to remember.
The other group (Alex, Natasha, Lowen, and Gerhardt get to the top of the stairs and see a guard in armor. Through the armor they can see there's a face, so it's not an automaton. He has a metal polearm tucked away. He speaks in a foreign tongue. Nellie tilts her head, "No, they're my friends." He looks them over and points at Lowen. “You can go in, but you have to be on your best behavior. You (she points to Lowen) must not break the peace, whatever that means.”
When they get inside, everything looks normal. They arrive in an archive area. A goat looks up from behind a desk, bleating as he glances up behind pince-nez glasses. It is peculiar that they cannot understand the goat. They must not have entered through a door that is connected to the place. Nellie shares her agreement, as she doesn't have access to any others.
It's a normal contract to take on the mantle of Prince of Teacups with normal obligations outlined in exchange for her gifts. Alex looks at the contract through the Eidolon and senses a connection to something. The other contracts are connected to the same source. Could he make some sort of magical divining rod? Alex senses a door somewhere in the vicinity.
Natasha trumps silas and the group comes through what feels like a long distance. isabelle works on a trump of the place.
clarification: isabelle does not have pattern. trump is now fire-powered. she probably does have warden of the stairs.
alex talks to a glass swirl and asks for directions. it says the door is in a private area not open to the public. "these are my friends, yes! i've already said that". they're allowed through. a "runner" escorts them. 2.5 ft hedgehog. locked down doors… tiny keyholes for him. winding path. barred doors, armory. reflection of other side with large hall, more guards, fewer people. nellie asks alex why this is important. he explains about the staircase and doors and his language ability. alex shows her a pic of a dwimmerlaik and she says she saw one with the king who gave her the powers.
they go through the door and come back, and soon they can understand the local tongue.
silas finds that time passes at EXACTLY the same speed as amber standard.