Bree asks if Isabelle can watch and report on the next attempt to merge grumpy Brand into her. This has been re-engineered to be safer, segmenting off emotional pieces from the factual memories. Jericho gets a notification from the guards that Isabelle has wandered off and gone missing (again).
Brigid keeps to herself that she has bad vibes about something. An ominous song distracts her from her surroundings.
Silas suspects there is another door to Amber. He's seen plans for a keep there. He decides to search for another door in Nedra.
Jericho assembles a small squadron of commandos and goes to the Sorcerer Kings' land that has the manufacturing facilities for the virus. ("Red shirts would be there if you need ablative armor.")
Bree was rather shocked and dismayed when she saw Gerhardt die, so she makes sure to check on him once he recovers. He explains, "There is a difference between actually dying and appearing to die. I don't like actually dying, so I made preparations."
Suddenly around Isabelle a column of flame shoots down. Jumping back, Bree loses her grasp on Isabelle. The flame speaks to Isabelle… tree destroyed, 3 seeds are all that remains. She reaches through her satchel and puts them safely in her closet.
The blast destroyed the room, knocking people back and unfortunately providing the distraction for grumpy Brand to escape. A scream rings out from the hallway. Bree is in hot pursuit. Guards are incapacitated in the hallway, some of whom no longer have their weapons.
She continues to follow the escapee and suddenly she has a feeling of dread. A circle appears on the floor and her connection to Brand flares. Does she accept this or fight it?
Isabelle gets directed to where Bree is. Upon entering the room she finds Bree curled up on the floor in the middle of a dimming circle. She appears shaken (not stirred) but explains that she absorbed him, albeit in an unexpected manner. The spell he trapped her in only left her with two choices: merge or die. Bree comforts Isabelle, saying she thinks she's mostly ok and probably not a threat to herself or others.
Brigid calls Isabelle to let her know about the unknown impending doom. Great, that's helpful. At least it's getting quieter. Must have been the Brand thing??
Jericho arrives at the facilities and attempts to blow it all up. The explosives don't work here, so he uses Umbra to adjust them to work. He chooses to use the unstable but more violent tweak. The team infiltrates the facilities and they place the charges. One of the remotes didn't work, so the team member stayed and manually set it off. The facility is completely annihilated.
The girl appears to him and says that her brother's soul has persevered. It turns out that the Hunger… is his soul. And the Red King has it right now. If he reunites the boy with his soul, it could potentially stop the power to the Sorcerer Kings but not kill Lowen.
Silas hasn't been able to find a door in Nedra.
Jericho contacts the Chaos Ambassador and then trumps Silas from there.
Bree is feeling much better. She talks to Clarissa, who assures her she was always strong enough to do this, and she is even stronger now.
Brigid offers to hold the pendant for Fey Oberon during the party. She sneaks off to show Oberon Actual that she's guarding it. Brigid begins to mention the song — Oberon interrupts and says it's fading. They agree to take the pendant back and she returns it to FO after the party.
Silas and Jericho talk to the Red King and ask if they can get it back. He asks if they know what it is — "the essence of what makes us who we are". They were shroudlings until they stopped the carnage of the Hunger by capturing it in the orb. Their contact with it, however, changed them and made them dependent on it. The original vampires were made from contact, and subsequent ones have inherited lesser power from the orb through their makers.
Bree seems okay and heads off. Isabelle goes back to the ranch. Bree goes to check on Gerhardt and finds Dworkin has grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the ground. "It's DEAD. They KILLED IT AND ITS GUARDIAN," Oberon fumes. She sees the trump Dworkin is holding, and it's where the tree was that the flame was guarding. They all go through and Dworkin says, "THIS WAS THEM!" (Who is them??) They explain that Isabelle had contact with the Flame.
Dworkin trumps Isabelle and pulls her through and GRILLS her about the Flame and the Tree. She fumbles through and explanation, trying to incriminate herself as little as possible and escape the inquisition. He finishes with her and she escapes back to her spa for an immediate deep tissue massage.
Elodie and Gerhardt continue the conversation with Dworkin. He wants to know how they found it, so he trumps Isabelle. She explains that she melded with the Green and it gave her powers and then just asked that she reunite it with its children. It seemed like an innocuous request, and even sweet. Dworkin explained that it was very dangerous. In the 3rd Diaspora, several ancients banned together to stop The Green. Now there aren't as many available to do it. We'd have to deal with the courts to get their assistance.
Dworkin performs a ritual all over Gerhardt with the knife. He whispers something to Bree and explains that the knife will find him and kill him as long as it can reach him if she says that word with the intent of killing him. He MUST die before he is fully activated. There will be time when he is able to fight it off, and during that time it must happen.
The Flame feels like both a power source and something that can be imbued/externalized.
Natasha goes back to Amber once the party is over.
Oberon commands Jericho and Silas to prepare for a retaliation but also negotiation to end it. Silas explains that this might upset the Shroudlings, but Oberon doesn't seem that concerned about them. The Heart Queen is the most difficult one. She wants to have a game rather than a contract negotiation. "Have you heard of Axe Roulette?" Silas delegates Jericho as the proper authority for Amber for the purposes of the game.
They play Spin the Bottle with Axe Decapitation. Jericho preemptively moves his brain into his knee. She swings at Jericho across his torso and blood spurts everywhere. He inspects his weapon, stalling slightly as he pulls himself back together. He swings at her, slicing her head clean off. Her body wiggles a little and her head rolls back towards her. She picks it up and re-attaches it. She giggles like a lunatic and signs the agreement.
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