# 40. Session Forty — Aetherite Well Earned **In-game start:** Summer 11 | **Played:** 25 March 2026 [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/01 - Sessions/Session 39 - The Laboratory (Part Two - Brogax Hungers)|← Session 39]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/00 - Campaign Overview/Campaign Overview|Campaign Hub]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/01 - Sessions/Session 41 - Appeasing a God|Session 41 →]] ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Items & Artifacts/Aetherite 1.jpeg|780]] > [!abstract]+ TL;DR > - **The Maw of Brogax:** Around them stretched a cosmic storm of blue clouds, floating debris, and collapsing fragments of reality. > - **The Death of Brogax:** [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] spotted a glowing chunk of [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] embedded within Brogax’s slime-covered form and attempted to wrench it free during the chaos of battle, though he failed to gain purchase upon it. > - **Escape from the Collapsing Dimension:** Even as they ran, they managed to snatch fragments of [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] from the collapsing chamber: > - **The Quarry Shore:** They had entered a laboratory buried beneath a lake, fought a cosmic horror within its own pocket dimension, escaped a collapsing black hole, and emerged alive. > - **The Aetherite:** [[Pipe|Pipé]] studied the material academically but quickly discovered that [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] existed outside any recognised school of magic. > - **Raphius and the Second Heartbeat:** The crystal could be used as fuel, consumed like [[The Order]] used [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]]. > - **Pipé and Mealla:** “Sometimes a small leap of faith can get you a long way.” > - **Watching Them Change:** Whatever “[[Time-Touched]]” truly meant, it was no longer theoretical. > [!star]- Memorable Moments > - ⚔️ **Badass — Raphius:** As the platform disappears beneath him, Raphius launches himself straight into Brogax’s maw, drives his blade into the creature and hangs on over the void. > - 🧠 **Clutch — Pipe:** Raphius cannot wrench the embedded Aetherite free in the chaos; Pipe calmly succeeds with Mage Hand while reality collapses around them. > - 🌀 **Chaos — Party:** Brogax implodes, the dimensional space caves in and lake water explodes through the failing laboratory, sweeping the party away through darkness and debris. > - 😂 **Priorities — Persephone:** After surviving a collapsing pocket of reality, a giant rift-creature and a subterranean flood, Persephone’s immediate complaint is that her armour is **wet**. > - ❤️ **Heartfelt — Mealla / Raphius:** Raphius struggles to understand the crystal without trying to dominate it; Mealla simply holds his hand, steadies his breathing and reminds him to listen instead of waiting for his turn to speak. > - 🫶 **Support — Party:** The crystal exercise becomes one of the rare moments where everyone stops trying to solve the world and helps each other learn what being Time-Touched actually feels like. ## Session Notes ### The Maw of Brogax The party stood upon a narrow bridge suspended within impossible space. Around them stretched a cosmic storm of blue clouds, floating debris, and collapsing fragments of reality. Ahead, somewhere within the madness, Brogax waited. The creature’s hunger pulled at the world around them. This was no ordinary battle. The bridge itself was vanishing piece by piece behind the party, forcing them ever forwards toward the maw of the interdimensional entity. There would be no retreat. Only momentum. As combat began, floating eyes and writhing tentacles erupted from rifts around them. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] moved with ruthless efficiency, destroying the floating eyes almost as quickly as they appeared, while [[Pipe|Pipé]] unleashed volleys of arcane power into the chaos. Mealla’s arrows pierced tentacles as they lashed across the battlefield, retreating through dimensional tears only to emerge elsewhere moments later. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and [[Elena]] charged directly toward Brogax itself. At one point, [[Elena]] was seized by one of the massive tentacles, dragged toward the abyss before [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] reacted instantly, severing the limb with a well-placed arrow. The battlefield continued collapsing beneath them. Every moment mattered. ### The Death of Brogax [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] spotted a glowing chunk of [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] embedded within Brogax’s slime-covered form and attempted to wrench it free during the chaos of battle, though he failed to gain purchase upon it. [[Pipe|Pipé]], however, succeeded where [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] could not, manipulating the shard with Mage Hand amidst the collapsing platforms. Meanwhile, [[Elena]] drew deeply upon the terrible powers granted to her by [[Nyxthys]]. She struck Brogax with overwhelming force, but was forced to leap backwards moments later as the platform beneath her dissolved into nonexistence. With space running out and the bridge collapsing around them, [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] drove himself directly into the creature’s maw, plunging his blade into the slimy flesh and hanging on desperately as the platform beneath him disappeared entirely into the void. He dangled there above oblivion while debris battered his body. Still, he refused to let go. Eventually the shifting platforms reappeared long enough for him to regain footing. Together, the party finally overwhelmed Brogax. But the creature’s death unleashed something even worse. As the final eye closed, Brogax began collapsing inward upon itself. A black hole-like rift tore open beneath the creature, dragging everything toward it. ![[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/99 - Attachments/Locations & Shared Scenes/Brogax Rift Shifter of Ovk.jpg|780]] Stone. Water. Debris. Reality itself. ### Escape from the Collapsing Dimension The party fled immediately. Even as they ran, they managed to snatch fragments of [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] from the collapsing chamber: - [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] recovered a cobble-sized shard - [[Pipe|Pipé]] secured a pebble-sized fragment - [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] claimed a gravel-sized piece Behind them, the dimensional space imploded into infinite darkness. The group sprinted back through the laboratory as corridors collapsed and reality unravelled in their wake. By the time they reached the Adaptive Engine chamber, the powered wall mechanism had jammed halfway shut due to the earlier damage. Working together, [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and [[Elena]] hurled the others over the ten-foot obstruction before climbing after them with rope assistance. The escape became increasingly desperate. The pull of the void clawed at their cloaks and armour as they forced open the final hydraulic hatch leading back toward the reservoir above. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] illuminated the darkness with the light of his shield while debris tore through the tunnels behind them. Then the hatch failed. The immense gravitational force crushed the metal inward as lake water exploded down through the collapsing passageways. The party were swept away in darkness and violence. Then suddenly— Silence. ### The Quarry Shore The group surfaced within the quarry lake above. The water level had dropped dramatically, much of the reservoir having been consumed by the collapsing rift before it sealed shut forever. Exhausted, battered, and soaked through, the party dragged themselves onto the muddy shoreline and simply lay there beneath the warmth of the evening sun. Then they started laughing. Not because anything was funny. But because they had somehow survived. They had entered a laboratory buried beneath a lake, fought a cosmic horror within its own pocket dimension, escaped a collapsing black hole, and emerged alive. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] complained bitterly about wet armour. [[Elena]] laughed almost manically. [[Pipe|Pipé]] immediately began taking notes. For a few brief moments, the absurdity of survival outweighed the horror of what they had witnessed. ### The [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] With their meeting with [[Myvendra]] approaching, attention turned toward the recovered [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] shards. [[Elena]] and [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] both declined to use them. [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] already seemed to be awakening new powers of her own, while [[Elena]] believed [[Nyxthys]] had already granted her strength through loyal service. Instead, the shards were given to: - [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] - [[Pipe|Pipé]] - [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] The group agreed not to experiment within the mansion itself, deciding instead to attempt understanding the crystals beforehand. [[Pipe|Pipé]] studied the material academically but quickly discovered that [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]] existed outside any recognised school of magic. It did not behave according to known arcane principles. It was something else entirely. ### [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] and the Second Heartbeat [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] sat apart from the others beside the quarry, holding the cobble-sized shard in his hands. At first he attempted to force understanding upon it. Nothing happened. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] remained nearby, watching over him quietly. Drawing upon wisdom once given to her by a druid named Ashwynn, she advised him to stop trying to command the crystal. Instead, she told him to listen. To breathe. To surrender. Eventually [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] allowed himself to simply feel the crystal rather than dominate it. The connection formed instantly. A surge of energy flooded through him. His senses sharpened. His skin prickled. Deep within his chest, something awakened — like a second heartbeat beginning to pulse alongside his own. Then came a choice. The crystal could be used as fuel, consumed like [[The Order]] used [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]]. Or— It could be absorbed. Something only the [[Time-Touched]] were supposedly capable of doing. Without truly understanding what he was doing, [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] chose to absorb it. The crystal dimmed to inert grey as its power flowed into him. Something fundamental within him changed. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] held his hand through the process, calming his breathing as he struggled to articulate what he was feeling. ### [[Pipe|Pipé]] and [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] Pipé’s experience proved much more difficult. His mind constantly fought the process. His academic instincts clashed violently with the natural, almost living nature of the [[World of Tarin/06 - Items & Artifacts/Aetherite|Aetherite]]. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] again offered guidance: “Listen, rather than waiting for your turn to speak.” [[Elena]] added gently: “Sometimes a small leap of faith can get you a long way.” [[Pipe|Pipé]] and [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] sat together with their crystals in hand, breathing slowly. [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] slipped into harmony easily. Eventually, [[Pipe|Pipé]] forced himself to stop thinking. His enchanted quill beside him began frantically scribbling notes across parchment of its own accord, reflecting the constant pressure of his restless mind. [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]] approached quietly, placed a hand upon Pipé’s shoulder, and simply said: “Calm.” For perhaps the first time since the group had met him, [[Pipe|Pipé]] truly let go. The tension left his shoulders. His expression softened. The frantic urgency that constantly drove him quietened into stillness. Then the crystal answered. Power surged through [[Pipe|Pipé]] violently, electrifying and terrifying all at once, while [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] experienced the same awakening in a far gentler, more tranquil form. Both crystals faded to dull grey as the energy transferred into them. For a brief moment, all three of them glowed faintly with internal light. Not magic. Something else. Something older. ### Watching Them Change [[Elena]] watched the scene unfold with an expression almost resembling pride. She remarked quietly to [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] that she hoped [[Myvendra]] could now see the potential within them, wondering aloud what abilities might eventually manifest from these awakenings. The entire group understood one thing clearly now: They were changing. Whatever “[[Time-Touched]]” truly meant, it was no longer theoretical. Something had awakened within [[Raphius Sunward|Raphius]], [[Pipe|Pipé]], and [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] beside that drained quarry lake. And none of them yet understood the consequences. ### [[Vosandra]] Arrives As the sun lowered and evening approached, a portal finally opened nearby. [[Vosandra]] Umbra stepped through calmly from the mansion beyond. She looked over the exhausted, soaked, mud-covered party with her usual unreadable expression and asked simply whether they were coming or not. The party rose together. Battered. Exhausted. Changed. And prepared at last to face [[Myvendra]] once again. ## Session End State > [!success]- Where Things Stand > - They had entered a laboratory buried beneath a lake, fought a cosmic horror within its own pocket dimension, escaped a collapsing black hole, and emerged alive. > - It did not behave according to known arcane principles. > - [[Mealla Glynn|Mealla]] remained nearby, watching over him quietly. > - The frantic urgency that constantly drove him quietened into stillness. > - She remarked quietly to [[Persephone Amoransia Damnari|Persephone]] that she hoped [[Myvendra]] could now see the potential within them, wondering aloud what abilities might eventually manifest from these awakenings. [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/01 - Sessions/Session 39 - The Laboratory (Part Two - Brogax Hungers)|← Session 39]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/00 - Campaign Overview/Campaign Overview|Campaign Hub]] · [[Lineage of the Veiled Kin/01 - Sessions/Session 41 - Appeasing a God|Session 41 →]]