# 7. Session Seven — The Voices **In-game start:** Spring 68 | **Played:** 16 September 2026 [[The Rose of Igoda/13 - Session Notes/Session 06 - The Race Through the Mansion|← Session 06 - The Race Through the Mansion]] ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Between Places.jpg|780]] > [!abstract]+ TL;DR > - [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Rose|Rose]] is critically wounded when [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Edgar Sturron|Edgar]] drives a rapier through her chest. Tilly, Votoran, Sofia and Ahkai are pulled with her into a strange in-between place where **[[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Kathryn - Shadow Woman|Kathryn]]** shields Rose from silver threads while a colossal cloaked presence insists the child should be allowed to die. > - Rose sends the party first to the **Valley of Moons**. Ahkai alone hears her distant, strained breathing and prompts Tilly to call to her; Rose answers **“Too far.”** Sofia touches one of the floating jellyfish and is overwhelmed by a vivid memory of the accident. > - Back between places, Kathryn tells Rose to **find the voices**. Rose leads them into a cramped Torraxian tunnel, where Ahkai reveals that Rose has a brother in Torrax and recognises the word **Shuyet** as referring to deadly elite assassins. > - From the end of the tunnel, Ahkai alone sees a vast Torraxian chamber containing a small child, **[[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Nezphu|Nezphu]]**, and an adult figure he believes may be the Empress. He hears references to the **Architects**, **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/The Eterum|The Éterüm]]**, **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/The Divine|the Divine]]**, the **Seventh Iteration** and the **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/Ko-vatar|Ko'vatar]]** before his movement alerts the Empress and she cries **“Shuyet!”** > - Kathryn temporarily seals Rose’s mortal wound. The party are then transported into Elaris, where [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Boristov Sokah|Boristov Sokah]] returns to his office and catches Sofia in the open. Ahkai holds him at bowpoint, the party restrains him, and Sofia leaves with the green-and-gold chest containing a preserved white flower. Boristov had been ordering the **[[The Rose of Igoda/06 - Factions & Organisations/Kheldr Institute|Kheldr Institute]]** contacted regarding preservation and the **iceglass** prepared. > - Rose reluctantly sends them onward to **[[The Rose of Igoda/05 - Nations & Regions/Dharan|Dharan]]**. The preserved flower forces the fresh red-speckled corruption to recoil, allowing the party to move through the ruins. They enter the **[[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Eternal Chamber of Kelda|Eternal Chamber of Kelda]]**, where a vine-covered humanoid sits upon a throne with a pulsing red light in its chest. > - On the final transition, Rose brings them to a distant woodland camp. Her voice rings in the party’s heads — **“It’s her!”** — and is also heard by the short-haired blonde woman at the camp, who reacts and enters a meditative state before Rose pulls the party away again. > - Back in the mansion, Votoran and Tilly help keep Rose alive. The wound has become a **white flower-shaped scar with a slight iridescent flow**. Rose can hear the flowers, makes the preserved bloom open at her touch, says she can stop the bad plants, and tells the group: **“I chose you. I chose all of you. To help me. To help me stop the bad flowers.”** > - Rose returns to **[[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Thornhollow|Thornhollow]]**. The others escape the changed Bardic Circle mansion, note the unresolved **Aetherite shard**, and hide in a tavern in the **[[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Paxas Quarter|Paxas Quarter]]**, where they finally read the recovered records. > - Those records reveal years of experiments on Rose, repeated involvement from the **Kheldr Institute**, the written preservation term **[[The Rose of Igoda/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Eisglas|Eisglas]]**, plans to move Rose to a guarded safe house in **Dekinsza**, reports of another Rose of Igoda in Solland, and intelligence that Nezphu was brought out of Dharan by **[[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Yarid|Yarid]]**, is the son of **[[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Melina Glynn|Melina Glynn]]**, and has a missing twin sister. The documents do not name Rose as that sister, but the implication is difficult for the party to ignore. > [!star]- Memorable Moments > - 🕵️ **Mystery — Ahkai:** In the Valley of Moons, Ahkai is the first person to hear Rose at all — distant, strained breathing nobody else can detect. He realises she may answer someone more familiar and prompts Tilly to call, leading to Rose’s faint **“Too far.”** > - 😂 **Funny — Tilly:** Crawling through a cramped tunnel after learning there may be Torraxian assassins ahead, Tilly finally cracks: **“I was just trying to be nice to a little girl. I was just trying to do right by her, you know?”** > - 😱 **Oh Shit — Sofia:** Sofia touches one of the floating jellyfish and is instantly slammed back into a painfully vivid memory of the accident. Her advice afterwards is considerably simpler: **do not touch them.** > - 🏹 **Badass — Ahkai:** Boristov walks into his office and finds Sofia standing in the open. Before the Minister of Defence can call for guards, Ahkai rises from behind the desk with an arrow already levelled at him. > - 🎯 **Clutch — Sofia:** Carrying Boristov’s stolen chest through Dharan, Sofia becomes the centre of the party’s moving safe zone as the white flower forces the red-speckled vines to recoil around her. > - ❤️ **Heartfelt — Votoran / Tilly:** Tilly finally sits down in the last woodland and refuses to be thrown anywhere else; Votoran crouches in front of her, grounds her and gets her moving again because **Rose still needs them.** > - 🔥 **Defiant — Kathryn:** With the silver threads closing around Rose, Kathryn refuses the colossal presence above them: **“You will not have her. Not today.”** > - 🌹 **Heartfelt — Rose / Ahkai / Party:** Ahkai kneels beside Rose, promises to protect her and gives her the desert-rose coin. Rose answers with the truth that reframes the whole journey: **“I chose you. I chose all of you. To help me. To help me stop the bad flowers.”** ## Session Notes ### Rose Between Life and Death The session resumed in the instant after [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Edgar Sturron|Edgar]] drove his rapier through [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Rose|Rose]]'s chest. [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Tilly|Tilly]] caught her as she fell and felt the child's breathing weaken until Rose seemed to take her final breath. Then the room vanished in a violent wash of purple, red, gold and black. Tilly, [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Votoran|Votoran]], [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Sofia|Sofia]] and [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Ahkai|Ahkai]] found themselves somewhere that did not behave like a physical place: their bodies were present but hazy at the edges, vast clouds surrounded them, and beyond those clouds lay stars, distant worlds and flashes of other places moving at impossible speed. Rose was there, still desperately injured. A shadowy woman hovered over her, long-haired and indistinct, wearing what looked like some kind of diadem. Fine silver threads descended from above and rose from below, all converging on Rose, while the woman tried to cradle her away from them. A far larger presence formed in the clouds overhead and addressed the woman by name: **Kathryn**. The immense figure told Kathryn not to interfere. Kathryn refused, insisting Rose would not be taken today, that the child still had a purpose and that another power surrounded her. As the threads closed in, Kathryn urged Rose to use that power and take them somewhere far away. Rose did, and the world vanished around them. ### The Valley of Moons They appeared in a humid alien valley filled with shallow running water, low rocky rises and countless waterfalls. Blue-glowing plants grew between the rocks, two moons hung above them, and enormous luminous jellyfish drifted silently through the sky. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Jellyfish Valley.jpg|780]] Rose was nowhere to be seen. Ahkai began calling her name as the group searched, and after a while he heard something so faint that at first he was not sure it was real: distant, strained breathing. Nobody else reacted. He called Rose again, then asked whether the others could hear anything; when they could not, he suggested one of them try because Rose knew them better. Tilly called out to her and, after a long pause, Rose answered inside Tilly's mind: **“Too far.”** For Tilly, the important part was simply that Rose had answered at all. As they searched, Ahkai spotted a strange rat-like creature with a bright red line running along its back. It noticed him and scampered away before he could get closer. Sofia meanwhile became curious about one of the smaller jellyfish drifting low enough to reach. Ahkai questioned whether touching an unknown floating creature was wise, but Sofia tried anyway. Its surface felt wrong — almost furry, covered in tiny prickling projections — and the instant she touched it she was dragged back into **the accident**, reliving the fear and trauma with overwhelming clarity. She tore her hand away and warned everyone else not to touch the creatures. The group still had no idea where Rose had sent them. Ahkai began questioning the nature of the popping itself, comparing it with his own experience of disappearing and then arriving elsewhere much later. While he was still trying to understand whether this kind of transition was normal for the others, the valley disappeared around them. ### Find the Voices They were back beside Rose and Kathryn. The silver threads had continued to advance, while the enormous presence above reminded Kathryn that she had made a choice long ago and asked whether it was not time to let go. Kathryn ignored it and told Rose to listen: there were voices, and Rose could hear them. Ahkai drew his sword and tried cutting the approaching threads. His blade could appear to split one for the smallest fraction of a moment, but it immediately reformed; he continued anyway, buying no more than instants. Rose concentrated. Her faint voice reached the party again: there was a boy, someone she needed to find. The world shifted. ### The Tunnel — Rose's Brother and the Shuyet The party appeared inside an extremely narrow stone tunnel, barely high enough to crawl through. A faint light came from behind them, darkness stretched ahead, and wind rushed through the passage towards distant voices. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Air Shaft.jpeg|780]] When the others questioned what Rose might have meant by a boy, Ahkai said there was one possibility: **her brother**. Tilly wanted to know how he knew Rose had a brother. Ahkai told them it was a long story and that he would explain it properly, but crawling through an unknown tunnel towards unknown people was not the right time. He did give them the part that mattered immediately: Rose's brother was in [[The Rose of Igoda/05 - Nations & Regions/Torrax|Torrax]], and stories there treated the boy as something extraordinary — almost a god-child. They continued in single file with Ahkai at the front. The voices ahead became clearer, and he recognised the language as Torraxian. Then he heard a particular word: **Shuyet**. Ahkai immediately told everyone to be quiet. When asked why, he explained that Shuyet referred to deadly elite assassins in Torrax; whether any were physically present or merely being discussed, it was reason enough to move carefully. ### The Empress and Nezphu Only Ahkai, at the very front of the tunnel, initially reached a point where he could see into the enormous chamber beyond. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Torrax Interior.jpg|780]] The tunnel opened roughly five hundred feet above the floor of a vast interior space. Two figures stood below: one was an adult figure that caused an immediate realisation in Ahkai as he tried to place who he was seeing, while the other appeared to be a small child. The conversation was difficult to follow in full, but Ahkai heard talk of the world as one **iteration** among others, of powers beyond ordinary gods and of the **Architects**. The adult also spoke of **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/The Eterum|The Éterüm]]**, saying they answer only to **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/The Divine|the Divine]]**, and referred to the **Seventh Iteration** and the **[[The Rose of Igoda/03 - Cosmology & Divine Structure/Ko-vatar|Ko'vatar]]**. The meaning of those terms was not explained, but they were clearly part of the same much older cosmology surrounding the child. The child was addressed as **[[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Nezphu|Nezphu]]**. The speaker placed enormous importance upon him, connecting him to Torrax's future and to something described in relation to the **Emerald of the East**. As Ahkai listened, he increasingly believed the adult below might be the **Empress of Torrax** herself. Then Nezphu looked up — directly towards the tunnel. Ahkai jerked backwards, struck the stone and made enough noise to carry into the chamber. The Empress reacted immediately: **“Shuyet!”** Before anything else could happen, Rose pulled them away. ### Kathryn Seals the Wound The immense figure above Kathryn now insisted openly that Rose should be allowed to die: her time had come. Kathryn refused. She admitted she could not truly heal Rose, but she could stop what was happening. Kathryn placed her hands over the wound in Rose's chest; white light spread beneath her palms and an iridescent sheen formed across the injury, sealing the place where Edgar's blade had passed close to Rose's heart. It was not true healing — Kathryn had bought Rose time. She urged Rose onward. There were still more voices. ### The Emerald City and Boristov's Office The next transition placed the party inside an ornate green-and-gold office. The room immediately recalled Rose's fragmented memories of a great green castle, suggesting they might be somewhere in the [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Emerald City|Emerald City]] of Elaris. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Boristov Office.jpg|780]] A loud male voice approached from outside, giving orders. He instructed that the **[[The Rose of Igoda/06 - Factions & Organisations/Kheldr Institute|Kheldr Institute]]** be contacted regarding preservation and that the **iceglass** be readied. He spoke of a great boon for Elaris and of Elaris rising again; most importantly, he declared that **Dharan would be theirs**. Ahkai moved quickly, grabbing two random papers from the desk before hiding behind it. Votoran slipped behind the door and Tilly found a hiding place elsewhere in the room. Sofia was not fast enough. The door opened and [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Boristov Sokah|Boristov Sokah]], Elarisian Minister of Defence, stepped inside carrying a small green-and-gold chest. He finished his conversation outside, closed the door, turned around and found Sofia standing in his private office. Boristov demanded to know who she was and moved to raise the alarm. Before he could shout for guards, Ahkai emerged from behind the desk with an arrow levelled at him. The subterfuge was finished, so Ahkai told the others to come out. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Characters/NPCs/Boristov Sokah.jpeg|780]] Boristov kept glancing towards the chest, around which there was a faint crystalline, almost singing sound. Ahkai noticed how much Boristov cared about it and told Sofia to take it. Boristov reached for the chest as well and warned them they were making a mistake. Ahkai gagged him and tied him professionally and efficiently. His reasoning was straightforward: if the chest mattered this much to Boristov, mattered to Elaris, and could affect the outcome in Dharan, he could not simply leave it behind without knowing what it contained. Sofia opened it. Resting upon velvet was a single white flower with a faint blue iridescence. Then Rose pulled them away again — and because Sofia was still holding the chest, it came with them. ### The Flower and Dharan Back between places, Kathryn's attention snapped directly towards Sofia and the flower. For an instant her face seemed strangely doubled, one version fixed upon the white bloom before fading back into the shifting shadow. The flower mattered. Kathryn told Rose to find the next voice, but Rose did not want to. She was frightened now and deeply reluctant to keep searching through these places. Kathryn nevertheless insisted it was important and tied to whatever purpose Rose carried. Eventually Rose gave in. The party appeared in the ruins of a city almost completely swallowed by vines and roots. Some of the growth was old, dark and dead; other sections were fresh and covered in distinctive red speckles. They knew where they were: **[[The Rose of Igoda/05 - Nations & Regions/Dharan|Dharan]]**. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Dharan.jpg|780]] The city was the sort of place used in Elarisian stories to frighten children. Tilly had grown up hearing what had happened there, and now she was standing inside it. The vines began reacting to Sofia — more precisely, to the flower she carried. Rose's voice reached the party: **“It doesn't like it.”** The corruption did not like the flower. The red-speckled growth recoiled from the chest, opening a small space around Sofia, and everyone immediately stayed close. Unfortunately, the flower did more than repel the growth: it seemed to wake it. Dormant roots began moving, fresh tendrils emerged through cracks and descended from above, and behind the party the route closed almost as quickly as it opened ahead. Tilly became increasingly frightened as the vines pressed closer. When a tendril came too near, panic took over and she bolted towards the one obvious place that might offer shelter — a huge stone doorway ahead. She tripped and fell, the air around her thick and difficult to breathe, and for a moment she was on the ground with the corruption closing around her. The rest of the party immediately rushed after her. Sofia brought the flower closer, forcing the growth back long enough for the others to get Tilly to her feet. As they continued towards the door, Ahkai questioned the change in her. Inside the mansion, Tilly had been strong enough to threaten him with both knife and bow; here she seemed like a completely different person. Tilly made no attempt to hide why: she hated this place. Dharan was a nightmare she had heard about since childhood, and now she was inside it. Ahkai reminded her why they were there. Rose needed them. Whatever was happening, Rose needed **Tilly** there. **Be brave for Rose.** ### The Eternal Chamber of Kelda An inscription covered the enormous stone doorway. Ahkai used **Comprehend Languages** to read it: **“Here is the Eternal Chamber of Kelda.”** The vines had become a wall behind them. Votoran forced the heavy doors open, ancient air rushed from the darkness within, and the party slipped inside before closing the entrance, catching some of the pursuing tendrils in the gap. The passage beyond contained worn flooring and old arcane markings; Ahkai identified several as traps, although many appeared to have been triggered long ago. The route eventually opened onto a vast circular balcony. Below stood a throne surrounded by fresh red-speckled vines. A humanoid figure sat upon it, almost completely consumed by roots and wood, with something red and pulsing glowing inside its chest. Then its head snapped upwards. Old wood cracked around its body as it looked directly towards the party. Rose pulled them away. ### Kathryn's Convergence and the Last Voice Back between places, Rose was terrified. She apologised and said she did not like what she had seen. Kathryn continued to insist that Rose had to keep going, then something seemed to change in her understanding of the child. Kathryn folded herself over Rose and her shadowy form began flowing into her. The immense presence above reacted immediately: **“Kathryn, stop this perversion.”** Kathryn did not stop. Rose's voice became stronger: she could hear another voice — the last one. The final transition brought them into an ordinary woodland. After the alien valley, Torrax, Elaris and Dharan, the normality of trees and earth was almost strange in itself. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Wendell Woods.jpg|780]] Tilly finally sat down and refused to keep running blindly from place to place. Votoran approached her, crouched in front of her, talked her down and reminded her that Rose still needed them. Slowly, she got Tilly back onto her feet. Ahead, the party found a campfire. Several people appeared to be sleeping around it, while one small figure with short blonde hair remained awake. As Rose reached for the final voice, her words suddenly rang inside the party's heads — and were heard by the blonde figure as well: **“It's her!”** The woman reacted at almost the same instant, her head snapping upwards before she became still and settled into an almost meditative state. Before the party could reach her or understand what they were witnessing, Rose pulled them away. ### Back in the Mansion — Rose Wakes The party returned to the hidden room beneath the [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Bardic Circle Mansion|Bardic Circle Mansion]]. Furniture had been overturned, papers were scattered across the floor and the [[The Rose of Igoda/06 - Factions & Organisations/The Hot Shots|Hot Shots]] were gone. ![[The Rose of Igoda/99 - Attachments/Scenes/Session 07/Bardic Circle Secret Room.jpeg|780]] Rose lay nearby, breathing incredibly shallowly but alive. Sofia rushed to support her head. Votoran used **Spare the Dying**, then **Aid**, strengthening the child enough to keep her from slipping away. Tilly placed her hands over the wound beside Rose's heart and used her own healing magic. Rose gasped and colour returned to her face. Where Edgar's rapier had entered, a pale white scar had formed in the shape of a flower, with a **slight iridescent flow** moving through the mark and echoing Kathryn's strange sealing light. Rose suddenly sat upright and grabbed Tilly. Tilly held her tightly and demanded to know why she had come back to Berran after being told to remain safely in [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Thornhollow|Thornhollow]]. Rose apologised. When Tilly admitted that she had thought Rose was dead, the word frightened the child enough that she held on even tighter. For a few moments none of the mysteries mattered: Rose was alive. ### Rose Hears the Flowers — “I Chose You” Once Rose had calmed, the group tried to understand what had happened. Rose remembered the voices and Kathryn. She believed Kathryn cared about her, and that Kathryn wanted Rose to do something she had been unable to do herself: **stop the bad plants**. Sofia still had Boristov's chest. When Tilly asked whether Rose could hear the flowers too, Rose said yes. She approached the white flower and touched it. It bloomed beneath her hand. The group had watched the red-speckled growth in Dharan recoil from that same flower; now they watched the flower respond just as strongly to Rose. Rose believed she could stop the bad plants. She could fix the city. Ahkai had remained slightly apart, visibly relieved that Rose had survived. When she began talking with complete certainty about stopping the bad flowers and fixing Dharan, he laughed — not mockingly, but with some of the tension finally leaving him. He knelt beside Rose, promised that he would protect her and help however he could, then produced a coin. When held one way, an illusion of a small **desert rose** appeared upon its face; when turned, the image disappeared. Roses were special, he told her — and so was she. Rose answered: **“I chose you. I chose all of you. To help me. To help me stop the bad flowers.”** Whatever had happened during the visions, the people travelling with Rose had not simply been dragged along at random. Rose had chosen them. ### Back to Thornhollow The adults agreed Rose needed to return somewhere safe. Thornhollow remained their best option — not simply one building, but an entire hamlet filled with retired adventurers and other capable people who had already shown they were willing to protect her. Rose worried [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Cassa Redwillow|Cassa]] would be angry. Votoran reassured her that if Cassa was angry, it would only be because she had been frightened and worried for Rose. Tilly remembered the present she had promised and gave Rose a child-sized set of wind pipes and a small book of lullabies, telling her to rest, recover and practise so perhaps next time they met she could play one of the songs. Before Rose left, Ahkai asked whether the strange mental whispers could be used deliberately — if Rose were ever in danger, could she call to them in the same way? Rose did not really understand how she had done it. Whatever allowed the communication during Kathryn's intervention was not something she could consciously repeat. Rose returned to Thornhollow. ### A Conversation for Later — Edgar and Veska With Rose safe for the moment, Tilly reminded Ahkai that there was still a conversation to be had. He had known Rose had a brother, understood Torraxian, recognised the word Shuyet and knew enough about Torrax to understand the danger they had witnessed. Ahkai did not refuse; he repeated what he had already said. It was a long story, and he would explain it once they were somewhere safe enough to actually have that conversation — preferably with a drink. Tilly's relief then gave way to anger. She knew exactly who had put the sword through Rose: **Edgar**, and she wanted him dead. Votoran had not initially realised Edgar was responsible, and once Tilly clarified it her sympathy for that position increased considerably. Tilly's anger also extended to [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Veska Falrom|Veska]], whose race for the mansion had helped create the situation. Ahkai warned that deliberately making an enemy of the wider Thieves Guild was dangerous when they already had enough enemies. Tilly immediately pointed out the irony: Ahkai had just held the Elarisian Minister of Defence at arrowpoint, tied him up and stolen a priceless-looking object from his office. He was not in the strongest position to lecture anyone about avoiding powerful enemies. ### Four Missing Days and a Changed Mansion Ahkai then raised a question that had been bothering him: what day was it? His last clear memory before his earlier popping had been on the **64th Spring**. From his perspective, disappearing and reappearing had felt almost instantaneous, yet the current date was the **68th Spring**. Four days had passed. That left the group with no reliable way to know how much time had passed during Rose's sequence of transitions, or whether every place they visited was even simultaneous. The mansion itself made that concern more immediate. Rose's old cell stood open; the nearby barrel had been knocked over, a lantern lay on the floor and rags had been scattered as though someone had searched the area. There was blood. The drawn archway surrounded by cherubs remained visible, but the rooms around it had been disturbed, keys lay across the floor and fresh indentations scarred the wall as though someone had repeatedly tried to smash through the place where the magical route had once been. Some effects remained active: the strange eye still patrolled part of the mansion, while bluish, ice-like ripples could be seen in one room where three figures now appeared to stand. The party did not approach closely enough to identify them. The front entrance, however, had been smashed open. Four guards remained near the gate, so the party decided not to use it. ### Escape to the Paxas Quarter They crossed the gardens instead, moving away from the guards and using the darkness for cover. At the outer fence, Votoran helped the others over before following herself; Tilly cleared it spectacularly. They dropped into the streets of Berran at night, free of the mansion but still wanted. The group also remembered another unresolved problem: the **Aetherite shard** they had intended to deliver to a Harper contact. Nobody could immediately find it, and they suspected [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Asher|Asher]] may have been carrying it when he disappeared. Ahkai lent Votoran his black cloak to make her less recognisable, and the group abandoned the idea of returning anywhere they had already stayed. They eventually found a small, dingy tavern tucked down a narrow lane in the [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Paxas Quarter|Paxas Quarter]], noticeably rougher than the wealthy district around it. A female halfling ran the bar. There were no proper rooms, but there were drinks — ale, wine, rice wine and whiskey. After some improvised negotiation, the halfling somehow found a sleeping arrangement after all, with breakfast included and a price that appeared to be invented as the conversation progressed. Nobody cared. Ahkai went towards the fire, Tilly took her drink to the darkest corner she could find, Sofia joined her and Votoran kept an eye on the room. At last, they sat down with the documents. ### The Bardic Circle Records The records described years of experimentation on Rose. Fresh specimens of the **Dharan plague growth** withered in her presence until they appeared dead, while ordinary plants and animals showed no comparable reaction. Researchers had also tested Rose near a preserved white rose kept within a preserving material the party had heard spoken aloud as **iceglass**. In the written documents Tilly recovered, the term is spelled **[[The Rose of Igoda/09 - Items, Artifacts & Documents/Eisglas|Eisglas]]**. Even without direct contact, the specimen showed signs of flourishing when Rose was nearby. Direct contact had been proposed but repeatedly rejected because removing the preserved flower from the Eisglas might kill it. Rose herself had been subjected to repeated physical testing — blood samples, saliva, swabs and other examinations. The [[The Rose of Igoda/06 - Factions & Organisations/Kheldr Institute|Kheldr Institute]] appeared repeatedly throughout the records, matching Boristov's earlier instruction to contact the Institute regarding preservation. Researchers had tried to determine whether Rose's abilities were arcane, biological or something else and attempted **transference, duplication and replication**. Nothing worked. Whatever Rose could do, they could not reproduce it. ### The Asset, Dekinsza and Solland One letter referred to Rose only as **“the asset.”** Her location had become known and contracts had been placed upon her, believed to be Torraxian work after an earlier failed attempt. A secure location had been prepared in [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Dekinsza|Dekinsza]], protected by the [[The Rose of Igoda/06 - Factions & Organisations/Emerald Legion|Emerald Legion]], and Rose was to be moved there. The Kheldr Institute was also ordered to bring the preserved **Dharan Rose**. Elaris wanted the child and flower together. The risk of direct contact had previously been unacceptable; now the King himself had authorised it. The party had just watched Rose do exactly that — and the flower bloomed. A second letter contained intelligence from **Solland**. Reports suggested that the **plague of Dharan** had appeared there, along with reports of **another Rose of Igoda**. The information was preliminary but serious enough that preparations were being accelerated. The Elarisian King was growing impatient and wanted Rose ready for another expedition to **cleanse Dharan**. The group now understood that the white flower was not merely a useful magical plant; it was part of the same mystery as Rose. ### Nezphu, Yarid and Melina Glynn The remaining intelligence concerned Torrax. Elaris had struggled to infiltrate the country or get close to Nezphu. He was moved frequently, his real location deliberately obscured, and protected by elite assassins fiercely loyal to the Empress. Rumours claimed Nezphu could **command the Dharan plague growth**, causing it to spread or grow according to his will. Torrax was again speaking about ancient claims to Dharan, and Nezphu appeared central to those ambitions, treated with almost religious reverence. The records then gave part of his history. Nezphu had been brought out of Dharan as a baby by a woman named [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Yarid|Yarid]], who was **not** his mother. His biological mother was [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Melina Glynn|Melina Glynn]], who died in Dharan, possibly after being affected by the curse. Nezphu also had a twin sister, and she was missing. The documents did not explicitly name Rose as that sister, but the implication was impossible for the party to ignore: Rose caused the plague to wither, Nezphu was rumoured to make it grow, both children were tied to Dharan, and Nezphu had a missing twin. ### Grey, Not Simple The documents complicated the party's view of Elaris. Elaris had imprisoned Rose, treated her as an asset and subjected her to years of experimentation; nothing in the records made those methods acceptable. At the same time, the documents showed that Elaris genuinely believed Rose and the preserved flower might allow them to cleanse Dharan. Their motives were not purely charitable — they wanted Dharan reclaimed for Elaris — while Torrax appeared to have an ancient competing claim and a child capable of doing something very different with the same corruption. The situation was not simple. It was grey. ## Supporting Notes > [!question]- Theories / Unconfirmed > - The identity and nature of [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Kathryn - Shadow Woman|Kathryn]] remain unknown. > - The identity of the enormous entity trying to claim Rose remains unknown. > - The silver threads have not been identified. > - The alien jellyfish valley has not been identified. > - The figure on the throne in the Eternal Chamber of Kelda remains unidentified. > - The documents strongly imply that Rose is Nezphu's missing twin sister, but they do not explicitly state it. > - It is unknown whether Rose's ability to suppress the Dharan growth and Nezphu's rumoured ability to command it are opposite expressions of the same phenomenon. > - How much time passed during Rose's transitions remains unknown. ## Session End State > [!success]- Where Things Stand > - **Rose is alive** and has returned to [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Thornhollow|Thornhollow]] to recover under the protection of [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07b - Non-Player Characters/Cassa Redwillow|Cassa]] and the wider community of retired adventurers. > - **Tilly, Votoran, Sofia and Ahkai** escaped the disturbed Bardic Circle mansion and are hiding in a small tavern in the [[The Rose of Igoda/08 - Locations/Paxas Quarter|Paxas Quarter]]. They remain wanted in Berran. > - The party possesses **Boristov Sokah’s preserved white flower**, the Bardic Circle records, and the two papers Ahkai grabbed from Boristov’s desk. Boristov is alive and has seen the party. > - The **Aetherite shard** intended for the Harper contact is still unresolved; the group suspects [[The Rose of Igoda/07 - Characters/07a - Player Characters/Asher|Asher]] may have been carrying it when he disappeared. > - The group now knows that Rose’s abilities are directly connected to the Curse of Dharan, that Elaris believes she may help cleanse the city, and that Torrax protects **Nezphu**, another child tied to the same corruption. Intelligence says Nezphu has a missing twin sister, with the evidence strongly pointing towards Rose without explicitly confirming it. > - **Kathryn, the silver threads, the cloaked presence, the Valley of Moons, the figure in the Eternal Chamber of Kelda and Rose’s wider purpose all remain unresolved.** > - **Milestone:** the party levelled up at the end of the session.