Close call

Fix and Kadath watch closely as the scarab begins to come out of Gidna. It extends its antenna to Forsythe (who looks like Gaera), but once it is able to make contact, it retracts. Darling flips over, catching Fix and pulling him down to pin him to the ground.  In the struggle, Kadath grabs her and Fix is able to force feed her the poison. The scarab leaves Gidna and Forsythe gathers it into a vial. After some healing, Gidna wakes. After being given an antidote, she is taken to the Crown’s Tavern where it is emptied of all other patrons. Forsythe stays in the inn to post a watch. Fix also makes connections with the Jagged Dream to post additional guards outside.

At the time, there were only two other patrons. Both of them Forsythe recognizes from White Lake as messengers of the court. They are directed to the Oily Quill with expenses paid. Neither show concern about the change, and with duties to Gidna first, Forsythe lets them leave.

When Evangeline finishes with Giselle, she returns to the Trentson estate. She decides to focus on her crystal ball and discovers that certain pulses become more prominent as people come nearer to her. She focuses on one and saw Arais, much younger, holding a baby drake. She seemed to be running from something. Evangeline then turns her focus to Fix and sees the large Trentson family at the beach. She watched Gidna save a very young Fix from his brothers’ prank. Evangeline finally takes her focus to Ederic. She watches him, along with another man, book passage on a ship at the docks of Qi.

Evangeline later learns that the other man with her brother is Mercen Shargo, one of the men who had been watching the Forge family since the Durkhal. That evening, she tracks down Ederic and, not being able to convince him to stay in Qi, she gives him a few items for his travels. She also learns that Mercen is familiar with Beyond the Steadfast as he is an elf. 

Kadath takes the scarab to the Order of Balance and speaks with Cedric. He confirms much of what the group already discovered about the scarabs. Kadath also mentions the possibility of blood magic being used against Gidna. Cedric lets Kadath know that a message will be sent to the High Priest Ralet, and he could arrive in Qi as early as the next day. Meanwhile, Cedric allows Kadath to use the temple’s library where two books about blood rituals are pulled. Kadath takes those back to the estate for the others to look into as well.

One book is more directly related to the order, while the other contains more about other blood rituals. One of the rituals listed had handwritten notes that Kadath recognized as Erwin’s. This ritual is one for gaining god-like power with a blood sacrifice. There are other rituals listed, but one that stood out was one for domination. The group now awaits Ralet’s arrival.

**There are two parts to this episode as we experienced some technical difficulties during the stream.
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Episode 72 (part 1)

Episode 72 (part 2)