MargardKazuki/SessionTwentyTwo

The group stands outside what was once the ice-covered demense. Now, the doors are thrown wide open, and they see that the formerly rough-hewn stone cavern has now been converted into a manse. There are obvious signs of blood splattered all over the room. There are seven distinct sets of tracks moving through the blood strewn floors; only one set of tracks is from a person wearing boots. The other sets are all barefoot. Three of the people moving ahead of the group are bleeding, all of them only slightly wounded, and one of the group is not actually leaving any tracks.

Ranka learns that something happened just outside the entrance that caused the blood spatter inside the room, but there is no apparent sign of combat.

Morning Frost Willow creates a whirlwind of dust that Judas walks through to trigger his defensive charms, while MOrning Frost Willow herself vanishes.

Kazuki walks between each of the members of his team, encouraging everyone to fight reassured, as he will do his best to protect them all from the front lines, and with that, he boosts Ranka, Mizugami, and the Dragonblood leading the fang of soldiers that accompanied them ability to fight. Mizugami also activates Jade Defense on himself, why J'hana protects Ranka, Kira, and herself with a whirlwind of defense.

Kira examines the drops of blood that have fallen to attempt to determine which of them belong to the Satrap to try to determine her current condition. Ranka also examines the blood and determines that some of the drops of blood are coming from ghosts -- at least one is continuously bleeding, and one is bleeding from the activation of a charm.

Judas crosses the threshold of the manse, which triggers the smoky form of Ferem Havelock to rise from the ground. The figure warns the group to turn back or face the consequences. Judas asks the shadow to relate back to Havelock that it is he that has entered the manse.

Meanwhile, Kazuki hands off his Dire Lance to Kira and asks her to keep an eye on things in case things go bad, as he wraps the end of the scarf around one of his hands. Kira has accessed the status of the tracks and determines that the boot-shod tracks belongs to the Satrap and that she is the one that has been bleeding since before entering the manse. She also learns that there is a set of footprints that have remained by the Satrap's side since she left Cherak. Those tracks indicate that someone stopped for a bit to speak with the Satrap before moving off to the side to move a rock to trigger something. She started bleeding as soon as she entered the manse. The eternally bleeding one is some sort of flying creature that was the one that splattered the inside of the manse, which occurred when it entered Creation.

Mizugami steps beyond the manse's threshold next to Judas and also addresses the shadowy figure, announcing that he is there on official business. The shadowy figure has yet to respond.

Kazuki calls on the power of the Wood around him, which infuses his skin with a poisonous aura. He absorbs this poison within himself, and turns the natural oozing venom instead into an antidote.

Kira determines that there are 5 War Ghosts that are likely very low on Essence. Unless their fetters are nearby, they are likely not regaining their Essense either. The flying, bleeding creature turns out to be a Nephrak. The other person who was with the Satrap is not a ghost, and is likely to be a non-Dragonblooded Exalt, whom Mizugami believes might be a Death Knight.

Kira relays her findings and activates her own aspect abilities in a flash of stock footage of a magical girl transformation scene. As that happens, Judas begins advancing further into the manse.

Ranka notices that an infallible messenger is summoned and instantly flies off in the direction of Cherak.

At that moment, multiple vine-like tentacles break out from the ground and fly at the group, one vine per person on the field. The vine misses Kazuki completely.

Jahana trades blows with her tentacle -- one of her flying blades nicks it as it wraps itself around her, restricting her movement.

Mizugami also trades blows with his tentacle, and gets wrapped up as well, but he damages it in the meantime.

Judas gets into a grappling battle with his tentacle and manages to damage it badly.

Ranka manages to damage her tentacle badly, but she too, is ensnared.

Kira's tentacle misses her, as all she can do is skitter out of its way. She powers up her movement Charms to race up the mountain, but the tentacle is close behind her.

Ferem Lysara, the Dragonblooded fang leader with the group fares well against her attacker, but her soldiers are all badly hurt as they all manage to do some damage to theirs.

Kazuki runs towards one of the tentacles ensnaring a mortal soldier, but forgets that his dire lance is still in Kira's possession. The momentum of his rush plucks the lance from Kira's hands and it flies forward, impaling the tentacle into the ground and destroying it. The one that is attempting to attack him misses again as Kazuki is still too dodgy for it.

Jahanna activates her fire aspect ability to destroy the one on her.

Judas utterly destroys the one he was on and aids Mizugami in destroying his.

Ranka activates her Fire Aspect ability and destroys her attacker, but not before its thorns dig in and wound her.

Lysara frees another of her men, and Kazuki notices that the thorns that were on the vines wrapped around the mortals have retracted and are simply holding them

Kira spins around in mid run, running up several more paces backwards as she fires a frog-crotch arrow, splitting the tentacle completely in half lengthwise.

Kazuki lurches forward, destroying the last tentacle encasing the mortal soldiers, while Lysara destroys the one chasing after Kazuki. With the combat complete, Renya, who has returned to the airship, shouts out to see if anyone else needs to return to the ship before it lifts off. The group decides to send the mortals back, as all are wounded, and two are unconscious.

The group proceeds down through the spiraling cave, tracking their prey ahead of them. Ranka, becoming hyper-aware of her surroundings, notices that a second Infallable Messenger has raced off towards Cherak. She also notices that the blood from the eternally bleeding creature is bleeding erratically from multiple wounds. Ferem Amosa is very lightly wounded, and that had it been bound, it would easily be staunched. The third bleeding individual is likely not actually wounded at all, and is probably dripping blood from its face -- which is the typical stigmata of a Death Knight, whose aspect mark is a bloody wound on their forehead.

The geomantic symbols on the floors and walls begin converging along the floor and spreads to the ceiling; some of the lines are glowing, providing light into the corridor. Some of the group notice that there are additional sigils on the walls and floor that are not part of the original geomantic design -- these additional sigils are actually wards that will trigger as soon as the party crosses them. Ranka and Kira see that these wards will put up a wall of water and freeze it before the group; the other will summon air elementals -- the Hounds of Five Winds -- amongst the group.

With the help of the group, Ranka manages to disable the wards and the team is able to move on. As the group moves beyond the wards, they begin to smell decaying flesh. Soon thereafter, a rumble begins to shake the manse and the lights turn off. There are cracks forming on the ice and the geomatic lines, which is what causes the lights to go out. These are not just average cracks in that they are moving along specific patterns.

These cracks extend through the floor as the group proceeds lower. Kira notices, before Judas steps on them, that there is a spell effect that has activated and formed chains with inward facing spikes that have formed under the ice in the floor, and the chains are trying to get through the ice in the floor. They are identified as flying guillotines, but there is something wrong with them. The chain, rather than being links of metal, appears to be made of vertabrae.

The group attempts to cross over the ice without freeing the guillotines. Jananaa's anima, however, melts the icy prison and the guillotines free themselves and attack.

Judas manages to parry his and shatters Kira's with a strike. Kazuki jumps into the middle of the streaming guillotines and through his deft movements, causes two of them -- his and Jaana's -- to get tangled up. Ranka, barely looking from her vigil down the hallway, turns slightly to zap the guillotine flying at her. Mizugami manages to shatter his with a counter attack with a little bit of encouragement from Kazuki, and Lysara barely manages to parry hers to the side. The group survives another trap, but barely.

Ranka notices, after a little study, sees that the flying guillotines were actually the last set of wards in a string of traps. There is an Eternal Flame ward and a Curse of Slavish Humility. THe Flying Guillotine ward has been irreverably damaged by the changing manse, while the Curse of Slavish Humility has been warped into a different spell altogether. Only the Eternal Flame is unmodified, and Ranka attempts to disable to wards. Just as she approaches the wards, the rumbling stops, and the light returns, but this time, instead of a soft blue, it is now an almost black light.

Realizing that the area has been converted and transported into the Underworld, Mizugami wants to send word back to the surface to pass word the Captain Reyna in case something should happen to the group. Kazuki, as the fastest of the group, zips towards the entrance to pass the message, while Ranka and the others attempts to disarm the wards.

Ranka is able to successfully disarm Eternal flame, but notices that the warped Curse of Slavish Humility is still active. After a little more study, she learns that the spell is something more to a reversal -- the Removal of Slavish Humility, she believes. Ranka attempts to disarm it again, but only manages to weaken it. She realizes that any more attempts to mess with it will trigger it. They decide to attempt to sneak past it at this point, and wait for Kazuki's return.

Kazuki arrives a short while later, having successfully delivered his message, and the group attempts to move through the trap. Unfortunately, Judas triggers the ward, but the group resists its attempts to destroy their intimacies.

The group continues towards the main room of the manse, which has now transformed into a cave of ice. At the center of the Manse is a pedastal with a hearthstone in it, but now there are what appears to be veins running through it. The Naphrek has been somewhat busy -- bones of dead animals and man, including the barbarians that were killed when the group first discovered this manse years ago, attempt to crawl from the icy pit that has formed from the earthquakes that has shaken the place. The Naphrek is concentrating intently on the hearthstone; what was once a crude barbarian magic circle has been reshaped, and it appears that hte Naphrek is attempting to open a portal within the underworld.

Five warrior ghosts stand between the group and the Nephrek, the ghosts of former Dragonblooded fighters, armed, but nude as the day they were born. Leading them is Ferem Amosa, still in her night clothes, but wielding her Daiklaive. Her skin is covered in a rash, and there is a small, knife-inflicted wound on her.

The knife that wounded her is being wielded by the last occupant in the chamber -- the Death Knight that the group was expecting to meet.

Mizugami walks to the front of the group in order to address the Satrap and the warrior ghosts, suggesting that the ghosts return to the circle of life and pass on peacefully, while attempting to make the Satrap realize that she has been mentally influenced. He succeeds in convincing Amosa to step down, but the ghosts resist his attempts to sway them.

The Death Knight reacts by following up with by attempting to turn the group by declaring herself to be the most important thing in their universe. Kazuki simply shakes the effects off through force of will; Jahanna snaps back, claiming to be better than her and resists the charm. Mizugami speaks of the Death Knight's inevitable demise and completely deflects her attempts. Judas gets angry, using his past deeds and his teammates' beauty as his shield, but he too must exert his will to block the attack. Ranka irks the Death Knight by simply stating that thousands of people celebrate /her/ birthday -- but she too must expend her willpower to resist. Kira, well, her grandmother is Mnemon. Enough said. Unfortunately, it's not quite enough either, but she is able to keep from changing sides.

Kazuki sees this as an attack and takes the opportunity to launch his attack against the Nephrek. As he approaches, however, he feels a familiar sensation of pain coursing through his body as his attack closes in -- one that he experienced with Red Fist Hayoo -- and remembers a scene of Kira's damage reflecting back on her. In midflight, he redirects his attack and destroys the magical circle that the Nephrek was working on instead.

The War Ghosts move -- one commands Amosa to kill Kazuki -- and they move to engage with the rest of the party. Lysara, J'ana, Mizugami, and Judas each get one, and Kazuki gets a Satrap alll of his very own. The party mostly does okay, though some blood is drawn.

Amosa's turn comes, and that side of the room literally becomes a whirlwind of activity. Amosa activates a suite of melee charms, forcing Kazuki to go into active defense. Six charged attacks later, Kazuki staggers back, bloodied by one hit.

Before anyone else can attack again, Amosa and the War Ghosts gets another strike. More blood is drawn again, but Kazuki does manage to dodge Amosa's next attack. The Death Knight casts a Charm that causes the dark lights floating about the room to begin swirling around the room, in and around the group. The lights drain Willpower from most of the party, but delivers an aggravated wound to Kira. Meanwhile, the Death Knight appears to be more refreshed.

The party is finally able to retaliate -- Jhaana spins around and whips one of her swords at her assailant, destroying it. Ranka throws a book towards the Nephrek, and casts a counterspell to destroy its damaging aura. Judas grabs the ghost on him and runs with him at the Nephrek -- the ghost is hurt, but it remains in existence. Lysara manages to dispatch with the War Ghost on her with a Dragon Graced strike. Kira runs up the dark lights as they draw back towards the Dark Knight and uses the height to gain an advantageous shot from an elevated position and fires off a shot using a fowling arrow at Amosa, knocking her unconscious.

The Nephrek finally finishes whatever spell it was casting before Kazuki disrupted its magic circle. Instead of whatever summoning it was trying to perform, black lightning shoots all around the hearthstone. Morning Frost Willow identifies it as a one-way portal, something can come through from the other side, but it won't be able to return, and vice versa. The Nephrek curses all existence and casts another spell into the ground, summoning bloody hands in the ground around the group on the other side of the room. The hands attack Jahhaana, Mizugami, Judas, Lysara, and the ghosts within range. Jahna is lightly hit, Mizugami and Ranka are hit moderately, but Lysara suffers a heavy blow. Judas is unharmed, but the ghost that he is holding is destroyed. The ghost on Mizugami takes a little damage.

The skeletons by this point, have crawled out of the crevice and scatter about the room hunting the various targets.

Jaana stikes down the ghost that had been hounding Mizugami, but not before he is struck down; Mizugami falls, dying.

Kazuki, in a rage, directs his fury against the Nephrek, and wounds it, while Kira follows up with a broadhead arrow that skewers it and destroys it.

Jhna runs over to the last ghost and stands back-to-back with it, exposing it to her anima banner and aspect aura. Instead of attacking the ghost, she focuses her weapons against the incoming skeletons. The Death Knight runs for the portal.

In a last minute ditch attempt to save Mizugami, the party throws every possible ability to assist Morning Frost Willow to attempt to revive him, and it is only with a little last minute divine intervention that Mizugami opens his eyes again.

without a Nephrek or Death Knight or the Underworld to support them, the skeletons crumble back into an inanimate state, and Jana's anima destroys the final ghost. Finally, combat comes to an end.

Kira and Kazuki return to the surface to call the ship back and to get stretcher-bearers to aid Mizugami in getting back to the surface. Ferem Amosa is wrapped up in artifact armor and hefted her via artifact weapon. As the group waits for their anima to die down, the Adventure on the Horizon go out to pick up the scouts that were coming up on foot to leave them to guard the cave. Also, Infallable Messengers come and go, and more troops are dispatched to guard the manse.

It is deep into the night when the group returns to Cherak. Reflections of Chaos takes a little time to help heal some of the more grievous injuries, though Kira requires bedrest. Judas takes up one of the guard rotations to watch over the Satrap, though it appears that aside from the injuries, she still has the rash all over her body. She is suffering from some sort of disease, and Reflections is sent for.

The Lady in the Darkness of the Blood Stained Robes is the name of the Death Knight, though the party does not know that.

Reflections, along with the Satrap's personal Dragonblooded physicians use the Disease-Banishing Technique on the Satrap in an attempt to remove the rash, but they are unsuccessful. An application of Seven Bounties Paste is applied in an attempt to aid the Satrap in recovering, and the Rose Black's personal physician is called for to assist. The Seven Bounties Paste helps, and on the third day of her return, the Satrap awakens.

In the intervening time, Kazuki speaks of what happened to his mother back at the Margard household.

Mizugami is waiting for the Satrap when she wakes up, along with Judas, Ferem Havelock, and several other important Cheraki figures. It becomes immediately obvious that her intimacies that have indeed been destroyed and reformed, so Mizugami, Ferem Malkator, and Ragara Takar set about rebuilding her intimacies to as close to as they once were. However, this is a very long and arduous process.

Kazuki faces a bit of a moral dilemma. He watched a friend almost die and that has affected him greatly, and he suddenly has become conscious of their mortality. All of his friends see his depression and try to help him cheer up -- Ja'hana even plans for a graduation party and Kira tries to get him to help in the planning -- but it doesn't seem to help to get him out of his uncharacteristically somber mood. Finally, in response, he decides to dump a great number of resources into creating a public hospital at the community center. In it, he finds some comfort and he is able to get over his moodiness after some time. There are multiple references for potential doctors from Judas and Kira, and anonymous donations come to the clinic at all times of the day.

After a substantial amount of time, the Satrap has been able to recover and is able to return to the public life. She acknowledges that Mizugami and his classmates were instrumental in her rescue.

At Jahanna's pre-graduation, pre-exam party there is dancing and refreshments, served courtesy of Kira's converted snow goons -- rather than being aggressive and combat capable, they are merely surly waitstaff that serve pieces of themselves with the drinks. Kazuki invites Quintero... just cuz. In response, because Kazuki is unable to hold his alcohol, Mizugami, Judas, and the other Idiots play a prank on him. They switch out the girl he'd hooked up with with a much older woman so that he wakes up next to someone old enough to be his grandmother, who also happens to be a professor at the college who had also passed out that night. They let the prank ride for a couple of days until the Idiots finally let him off the hook.

Some time later, Ferem Amosa sends a personalized letter to each of the class, asking for permission to name them as Champions of Cherak at their graduation ceremony. The style of the response is varied, but they are generally positive.

Now, it is only a few days before the end of the month. The students of the Palace of Len Occam are rearing to finish the year or graduating. As the month switches over, Crow pays a visit to the Palace of Len Occam during breakfast to make an announcement. There is little that the students and faculty can do -- though anyone with applicable skills would be appreciated -- but a 2nd circle demon appeared in Cherak last night at the home of V'neef Tegraat. Tegraat was among those killed. This was a man-sized, blade wielding demon specifically created for assassination. Such a demon could only have been summoned by someone at the power level of the Death Knights or perhaps Semmea...