Moran Thil hurried back into the clearing with an armful of herbs and plants. He began tearing, mixing, and applying the plants to the minotaur woman, but he said that these were not cures, they were merely keeping her alive. He told The Rectifiers they would need to find a flower with glowing blue petals and golden bulbs. The councilor urged Duma Van to take the lead, even though he told Thil that he could not remember the forest. Moran Thil reassured him, saying that minotaurs will never truly forget the forest. With time working against them, Duma Van decided to lead the way into the now ghostly forest he once called home.
Through winding paths, large creatures of the forest, and watery reed beds, Duma Van found the plant the woman would need. When he plucked it, his memories came rushing back. He remembered who he was, what he had done in the past, and why he had left the Mythical Forest in the first place. The reason he remembered was the flower; he recognized the blue petals as ones he had sold in his past life. For a large sum. As he considered the flower, a hooded figure waded out of the reeds. He wore a nobly sewn black robe with a hood that came to a sharp point behind his head. His doublet and trousers were equally noble, with some colorful accents here and there. On his hands were magical gloves that held glowing runes.
The figure spoke with a smooth voice, though the group could not hear what he told Duma Van. Eventually, the minotaur seemingly came to a decision, and the figure glided back into the reeds from whence he came. Offering little explanation, Duma Van led the way back to the clearing, flower in hand.
When they returned, Moran Thil took the flower and mixed it into a poultice. Once applied to the minotaur woman, she eventually came to. She could not remember what had happened, but she was now safe. Moran Thil would guide her back to Minos, for he said he could not even find the city of Mythos since the woods had warped. Before departing, he confronted Duma Van. He told the younger minotaur that he had grown immeasurably since leaving the Mythical Forest. The councilor removed his green glowing ring and offered it to Duma Van. He nearly ordered Duma Van to keep it as a promise that he would return to Minos and serve as councilor when his heroic mission was complete, for it was what he was meant to do. Duma accepted, and with that, the party was whisked away back to the looming tower.
The Recitifers chose the “Chained Beach” next. Through this door and portal, they were sent to an island beach in the dead of night. On the beach was a shipwreck, sailors, and a siren. The siren they recognized as Marathena, sinister councilor of Atrae, the island of the allegedly murderous sirens. She held enchanted chains in her hand, connected to several collared sailors. She explained that the ship had “mysteriously” crashed and she just happened to be nearby. She urged the party not to worry, for the sailors were in good hands. The Rectifiers did not believe her.
Marathena even offered the chains to Amy, a fellow siren. She told her that Atrae always welcomed other sirens of her particular “skill set” to join them. Despite Amy wishing to claim power, she did not wish to do it this way. She refused Marathena’s offer. With yet another strange offer of power to a Rectifier refused, battle ensued. The Rectifiers were caught off guard fighting against a siren’s abilities, but they were able to emerge victorious without having to kill any of the enchanted sailors. With Marathena defeated, her sinister power refused, and the sailors free to choose their own path, The Rectifiers were sent back, yet again, to the tower to face their final challenge.
The group journeyed through the door labeled “Winding Brook”. Here, they were met with an unexpectedly pleasant atmosphere. They were in a serene wood, leaves falling and changing colors with the coming of autumn. A small stream flowed a short ways away. They could hear jovial voices in the distance, so they followed them.
They came to a trail leading over a wooden bridge to a clearing. In the clearing was a man in pristine, white-gold kingsguard armor sitting on a log with a woman in lightly colored mage robes. A few knights of Luxen stood lazily at guard around the clearing and at the bridge. The group approached the knights guarding the bridge in an effort to speak with the couple in the clearing.
Through speaking with the knight, they discovered that the armored man was in fact Lord Saren, and he was not to be bothered. The party saw now the slightly younger Saren, his hair still dark blond, his eyes uncorrupted by Doom Magic. As the party tried to think of a way past the Luxen knights, the hooded figure Duma Van spoke to reappeared, though it did not seem like the knights could see him. He seemed to be toying with the party, stating he wished to be a part of their “stories”. He introduced himself as Weaver, and his dragon as Render. His intentions seemed to be to pit The Rectifiers against scenarios (some more real than others) to see if they bent or broke. Trying to ignore the pestering, Duma Van finally decided to flash the ring Moran Thil had given him in order to gain an audience with Saren. The knights allowed them to pass.
In introducing themselves to Saren, The Rectifiers discovered the woman sitting next to him was in fact Audrea. Saren frequently bragged about her magical abilities, and he even urged her to display one of her spells. She conjured glowing, angelic wings that gave her some ability to levitate off the ground, an ability the Audrea the Recitifers knew did not even have. Through conversation and spotting a diamond ring on past-Audrea’s finger, The Rectifiers learned that Audrea was once betrothed, if not eventually married, to Saren. Saren even added that he had invited her to join the, then, Queensguard, though she had not given him an answer.
Once Saren’s patience with the group’s stalling had grown thin, he stood with Audrea to leave. Once they had stood, the group noticed a book sitting on the log. The book was similar to the white-cover book Sarin Kor had toted, but this one had a black cover and seemed to be giving off a purple glow within the pages. The title runes were similar to Sarin Kor’s book, but the subtitling was written in runes they had seen tied to spells of Doom. Knowing at once this book was bad news, Gale attempted to stealthily grab it, though Saren noticed this move. Saren’s charismatic charm faded almost instantly, demanding the book back. Even once he had retrieved it, he was extremely suspicious of the party, eventually deciding to have Audrea demonstrate a spell within if they were so damned curious.
Past-Audrea began reading from the glowing purple pages, being put in a trance. Current Audrea’s head began to split in pain, feeling the might of the book through the years. Weaver stood over her shoulder, urging her to let her past self finish reading the spell, to learn and gain its power. Standing by her principals, Audrea refused. Azalea fired an arrow at the book, but it disintegrated it in purple flames. Recitifer Audrea rushed forward and slammed the book shut. With these acts of aggression, Saren drew his blade and called his knights over. The Rectifiers began a bout with four knights of Luxen, an Archmage, and the Lord of the Queensguard himself…