Skypiercer Part 1

Long before the arena, a young warrior named Elusia defended a city that was not her own. The first chapter of Skypiercer drops the future Grandmaster, the necromancer Kaja and the shield-bearer Atalantos into a siege of Cor’thun, where they face a silent, regenerating giant called the Cursed Juggernaut. It is the origin story the Void never knew it needed: a royal escape paid for in blood, a monster brought down by a lightning arrow in the butt and a short sword shoved up after it, a feast with almond wine, and a scholar from her father’s court arriving with terrible news.

The Story

Long Before the Arena

The tale opened with a promise of deep history: “Long before the arena, before the Arbiter or his betrayal, long before Doug or even Gerald, before she was the Grandmaster, she was a warrior.”

That warrior was in the middle of a war. Cor’thun was under siege, with trebuchet fireballs arcing over the walls, explosions in the streets and gates crashing down. Horns sounded the alarm that the Eastern Gate was under attack. Atalantos led his soldiers through the streets, Kaja raised skeletons from the dead in the market square (“You will make excellent additions to my army”), and Elusia took to the air on her wings, her blue-teal hair streaming and her bow of knotted black root sparking blue.

The Night of the Long Shadow

The story then reached back three hundred years, to The Dread Fortress. Screams rang through the halls that “the Golden King is dead.” Elusia’s father, Faucius Golden Shield, had been assassinated. Mercenaries burst into her chambers and were cut down by the Knights of Chaos, her father’s emissaries and the protectors of the fortress. Elusia grabbed her obsidian dagger, which had been her grandfather’s and was a gift from her father.

Sir Boros, a large orc in black and red armor whom she had known for a long time, broke the news gently: “I’m sorry to tell you this, but your father is dead.” This was, he said, the king’s plan. He escorted her to the Ceremonial Chamber, behind twenty-foot iron doors under fanned arches. Elusia protested that only her father could open them. When she asked after her mother, nobody answered.

Inside the chamber she drank a bowl of thick, golden liquid. Then the knights slit their own throats. They stayed on their feet until every last drop of their blood had spilled, and that blood opened a portal beneath her.

The City Under the Singularity

Elusia landed in Cor’thun, a realm outside The Void. It is a city of white stone spread across miles of sloping hills, full of columns, aqueducts, ornate fountains and statues. It has both stairs and ramps (“It’s an accessible city, there’s both”). Above it hangs a black-hole singularity, and the light streaking into it gives Cor’thun an eternal sunset.

Three centuries later, that city was burning. The Cursed Juggernaut smashed through the Eastern Gate. It stood twelve or thirteen feet tall, wore a metal raven mask, carried a scythe and never said a word. It killed one of its own soldiers to claim the fight for itself. Elusia called out a challenge anyway:

Elusia: “Come, silent warrior, tell us your name so that we may know who it is that we will defeat today.”

It did not answer.

Into the Fight

Kaja went first. She took on her form of dread, described as taking “the void of space… a vacuum,” shoving it into a compressed space, cutting it open and yanking out the threads, leaving “something hungry and empty.” Fear washed over the whole area, and the Juggernaut did not react at all. She wrapped herself in a shroud of black shadow that hardened into needles and blasted it with a gaping spectral skull. It didn’t flinch.

Elusia snared it with a vine that planted a black seed and wrapped around its body. It broke free with a single flex. Her next arrow bounced off its metal mask and killed a random enemy soldier instead. She climbed a statue for the high ground, so the Juggernaut headbutted the statue into rubble and pounded her with its fists in a cloud of white stone dust. Atalantos banged his spear against his shield until it glowed with divine light. His spear couldn’t pierce the creature’s hide, so he planted his shield between it and Elusia.

Kaja changed tactics and raised five fallen soldiers as zombies, choosing “the ones that either look really hot or they’re like super strong looking.” Atalantos bled for his allies, charging two of the zombies, Elusia and himself with crackling crimson lightning. The first zombie landed a perfect hit, and the watching crowd promptly named two of the undead Kevin and Enderdan.

Shockers and Spears

The Juggernaut charged straight through Atalantos and Elusia and slammed into a wall. Elusia answered with a lightning arrow that buried itself in the monster’s butt (“Give him a shocker”). It clenched, snapped the shaft off and regenerated.

Then it tore a chunk out of a wall, which became a stone spear in its hands, and hurled it at Kaja. The wound was necrotic and kept festering. It donkey punched Atalantos flat. Atalantos directed Elusia into another attack and taunted the brute: “You seem to be a juggernaut. Let us put that name to the test.” The Juggernaut accepted by charging Kaja and hitting her so hard that she bled thick purple blood, like syrup. Her next blast missed, and her wound kept hurting her.

Elusia climbed a thirty-foot building and rang its bell to lure the monster in. It worked a little too well: the Juggernaut smashed the building and obliterated the zombies. Atalantos used his blood curse to raise Kevin one last time (“Rise and strike”) for a final swing. Kevin delivered, and Atalantos honored him: “You had the heart of a Corthunian.”

Tonight, We Dine in Hell

The Juggernaut’s scythe cut into Atalantos twice, one of the blows savage. He dropped his shield and spear and drew the greatsword he saves for the direst moments, roaring “Tonight, we dine in hell!” One eye blazed gold and the other purple, and the blade burst into divine fire.

Elusia rang the bell nonstop from above: “Bear witness to him and his glory! Final breath or not, you are witnessing glory at its finest!” Below, Kaja made a spectacularly bad shot. Her blast went through the smoke and hit Atalantos square in the back.

The Final Blow

Elusia dove from the rooftop with both short swords and drove them into the Juggernaut’s shoulder blades, putting the full force of her fall into the strike. Then she finished it from below. She slid between its legs and drove a short sword straight up through its butt, pushing the lightning arrow she had planted there earlier in deeper still. The Juggernaut pulled off its helmet, revealing a distorted, bruised face, and fell face-first onto the tip of Atalantos’s spear.

Its honor guard fled and were shot down by Cor’thun’s archers. Victory bells rang, and the Champions of Honor shouted “FOR ORDER!” “Relentless juggernaut,” Atalantos panted. “We are still standing.” Elusia noted that the body could be salvaged. Kaja sat on the corpse and sipped from a travel mug.

A Special Relationship

Once things calmed down, Kaja let slip that she dies “all the time” and comes back. “There are forces, of course, at work beyond our comprehension at all times … And I merely serve one of them,” she explained. Asked to elaborate, she only said: “We have a special relationship. We’ll leave it at that.”

Elusia admitted she had always thought death was permanent, so Kaja had Elusia shoot her through the heart to prove it. Kaja came back with a compliment: “I typically don’t fall at the hand of someone so beautiful.” Elusia carried her up the hill afterward and found her cold to the touch, with no body heat at all.

A Feast for Generals

In the palace’s long, gold-inlaid throne room, laid out for a feast, Emperor Thornos asked for the tale, and Atalantos told it. Thornos was an older man with a long white beard who confessed he longed for the days of battle. He recalled that Elusia had arrived “some 300 years ago,” in the time of his forebear Empress Juntikar, who first taught her the sword. “And the bow,” Elusia added. “As you’ve been here, undying, even as we have perished around you,” Thornos said, “and yet we treat you as an outsider.”

He named all three Generals of the Champions of Honor. Atalantos pledged himself as Cor’thun’s spear and shield: “I am a weapon, and I am your weapon, and I am honored.” Elusia’s oath was bonded in blood, so Thornos cut her neck to seal it, and declared her “Princess of the Void, refugee, stranger no more.”

At the feast, Elusia sipped from Kaja’s goblet and pulled back, embarrassed. Kaja turned the cup and drank from the same spot. Flustered, Elusia claimed the wine tasted of almonds, and from then on it did. She confided that she was still seen as “a guest” with no shared history. People in the hall muttered that Elusia was drunk again.

The real drunk was Lucien, a soldier from the Western Gate who had been sent home to sleep it off. He claimed great heroics, though another soldier said he had spent the battle passed out in the stables. His gloves were on the wrong hands and his armor was suspiciously spotless. He tried to sign Atalantos’s chest in gravy as an autograph, then fell asleep in Atalantos’s hand. Asked why he fights, he said, “I guess because my dad told me to.” The hall placed bets on him: whether his boots were on the wrong feet, whether someone had died because of him, and whether he would kill someone in his next fight. Atalantos drafted him anyway (“You will die a warrior, or you will die worthless. The choice is yours”), and training would begin at four in the morning.

Then came Glotun, a portly, balding politician in loose robes who used to fight. He offered favors (“if you ever need a favor, you come to Glotun”) and finally revealed his real purpose: “I come on behalf of Plintos.” Plintos was one of the richest men in the city, with his name on buildings and statues of himself, a fortune made off the southern district’s workers, and rumors of a mine cave-in outside the city caused by cutting costs. He wanted the emperor’s ear to divert the southern aqueduct, which fed the poor district, whose nearest other fountain was a mile and a half away. The party turned him down.

The Scholar at the Door

A portal opened, and a tall figure with black wings, a purple cloak and an impressive mustache stepped through. “My name… is Vythorn. Once, I have been called the Endless Scholar.” He was the man who would one day become The Arbiter. He said he had served Elusia’s father, and her uncle Agdrel too, in the Dread Fortress.

His news was grim. “It was your uncle. Agdrel, the one they call the shadow.” Agdrel, Vythorn’s own former mentor in magic, had killed Faucius on the Night of the Long Shadow. Every Knight of Chaos had died that night. Many in the realm had welcomed the change, he admitted, finding Faucius “weak and greedy.” Elusia was not moved: “That is no reason to take his life.”

Now The Shadow King ruled with an iron fist. He had built a mage school of thousands and siphoned the power of mages across the realms. But “no one man can contain that much chaos,” and he was losing control of it, unleashing tornadoes, earthquakes, eruptions and dying harvests across the Void. Vythorn had spent decades mastering the magic needed to find her, and crossing out of the Void had taken the blood of a titan. “The people need you.”

Elusia doubted she could rule people “who have not seen me in 300 years,” and asked to be called just Elusia. But she accepted. Kaja, who dies all the time, was in. Atalantos was too: “Then I know that I die in the heat of battle knowing that all I have done was for this land.” Vythorn needed three days to recover and could take only Elusia and her two companions.

Thornos, who had listened to the whole thing leaning on his sword and eating popcorn, gave his blessing: “Your oath is to serve Cor’thun. Cor’thun stands for justice and hope.” Elusia told her friends to say their goodbyes and plan as if they would never return. “And I am taking you to my home.”

The chapter closed with a familiar farewell: “Acolytes, we will see you next week on D20 Deathmatch.”

Notable Moments

• The Knights of Chaos slit their own throats and stayed standing until every drop of blood was spilled, opening the portal that saved Elusia.
• The Cursed Juggernaut died the way it had been wounded: Elusia drove a sword up through its butt to finish off the lightning arrow she had already lodged there.
• Kevin the zombie was raised twice, landed the last swing of his short life, and was praised for having “the heart of a Corthunian.”
• Kaja proved she couldn’t stay dead by having Elusia shoot her through the heart, then flirted about it.
• Elusia invented almond-flavored wine on the spot to cover her embarrassment, and from then on the wine had almonds in it.
• Emperor Thornos ate popcorn through Vythorn’s revelation of a centuries-old royal murder.

Memorable Quotes

• Sir Boros: “Don’t worry. This is all planned. We’re going to get you to safety.”
• Atalantos: “Tonight, we dine in hell!”
• Elusia: “Bear witness to him and his glory! Final breath or not, you are witnessing glory at its finest!”
• Kaja: “I typically don’t fall at the hand of someone so beautiful.”
• Emperor Thornos: “And you, Elusia, Princess of the Void, refugee, stranger no more.”
• Lucien: “My cups, his cups, her cups, everyone’s cups.”
• Vythorn: “No one man can contain that much chaos. It’s not possible.”
• Elusia: “Say goodbye to your loved ones. Close anything that you must. Plan as if you will not return. And I am taking you to my home.”

Who and What Appears

Characters

Elusia (Caustic Phoenix). Later the Grandmaster.

• Called “Princess Elusia” by Vythorn and “Princess of the Void, refugee, stranger no more” by Thornos (1:55:07). Wants to be called “just Elusia” (2:42:55).
• Blue-teal hair (0:06:07), wings, bow of knotted black root that sparks blue (0:06:32), two short swords, obsidian dagger.
• Daughter of Faucius Golden Shield (0:08:34); niece of Agdrel (2:32:06); asked after her mother in the flashback and got no answer (0:12:29).
• Sent through the portal 300 years ago; refugee in Cor’thun since; trained by Empress Juntikar; “undying, even as we have perished around you” (Thornos, 1:50:31).
• Named General of the Champions of Honor; oath sealed in blood (1:56:02).
• Thinks of herself as a guest: “I don’t bear the same history” (2:02:25).
• Kills the Cursed Juggernaut (1:26:03). Flirts with Kaja (drinking from her cup at 1:59:43, carrying her up the hill at 1:37:29).
• Agrees to return to the Void to take her “rightful place” (2:47:34).

Kaja (stellaluna).

• Warlock; necromancy; “form of dread” (0:23:51; described 0:24:03); resistant to necrotic damage (0:55:48).
• Purple blood, thick like syrup (1:03:47). Cold to the touch, no body heat (1:38:06). High heels. Pointed, dagger-like fingernails (2:21:37).
• Dies often and returns: “there are forces … at work beyond our comprehension … And I merely serve one of them” (1:32:35); “We have a special relationship” (1:35:01).
• Courtly bow “that just evidences my time in court” (1:43:06).
• Thornos: “you have served Cor’thun well for many years. Even in death, you have fought for us” (1:52:42). Named General.
• Elusia calls Kaja and Atalantos “legacies” (0:19:39).

Atalantos (sensei_suplex).

• Shield and spear; greatsword “the only time I use” it (1:16:07). One eye glows gold and the other purple when he takes up the greatsword (1:16:29). Scars and a small mohawk under his helmet (1:42:23).
• Shield sentinel of the Order of the Sacrificent (1:46:21). “I bleed for my allies.” Uses the Rite of Revitalization / Crimson Rite and a blood curse that raises the fallen.
• Grew up in the gladiator pits (2:26:54). Commands “an army of only several hundred” (2:01:28). Elusia: “everyone studies your words. You are the standard for the training” (2:01:51).
• Thornos: “a pillar, a rock … a cornerstone of this city and its defense” (1:53:36). Named General.
• Battle cry: “Tonight, we dine in hell!” (1:14:31). “The only eyes I fancy is the gods, specifically the gods of death” (1:42:50).
• Drafts Lucien into his brigade; “Training begins at four in the morning” (2:13:02). Pledges to go to the Void with Elusia.

Faucius Golden Shield, “the Golden King”. Elusia’s father; assassinated in his own throne room in the Dread Fortress 300 years before this episode (0:08:34, 2:34:07). Vythorn: “many in the realm welcomed the change. They found your father to be weak and greedy” (2:35:41). Had planned for his daughter’s escape (0:10:24).

Agdrel, “the Shadow,” the Shadow King. Elusia’s uncle; killed Faucius (2:34:23). Taught Vythorn magic: “He was my … mentor in the arts” (2:34:49). Built a mage school of thousands (2:38:17). Has ruled “with an iron fist”; siphons the power of mages across the realms; is losing control of his chaos energy, which causes tornadoes, earthquakes, eruptions and dying harvests across the Void (2:37:29–2:40:17).

Sir Boros. Knight of Chaos, a large orc in black and red armor whom Elusia had known a long time (0:10:00). Led the sacrifice that sent her away.

Knights of Chaos. Faucius’s emissaries, protectors of the Dread Fortress (0:08:34). Vythorn: “There are none that remain. All slain [on] the night of the Long Shadow.” (2:35:14). The Night of the Long Shadow is Agdrel’s coup.

Emperor Thornos. Emperor of Cor’thun. Older man, medium build, long white beard, white-gray hair pulled back (1:41:47). Misses battle: “I’m an old man … I long for the days of battle” (1:44:41). Descendant of Juntikar. Gives Elusia his blessing: “Cor’thun stands for justice and hope” (2:46:40).

Empress Juntikar. Thornos’s forebear; empress when Elusia arrived; first taught her the sword (and the bow) and let her stay (1:49:12–1:49:44). Dead by this episode.

Lucien. Cor’thun soldier, chronically drunk; stationed at the Western Gate until sent home to sleep it off (2:09:31). Claims heroics; another soldier says he spent the battle passed out in the stables (2:09:05). Fights “because my dad told me to” (2:10:01). Joins Atalantos’s brigade (2:12:07). Likes Kaja’s “thick blood” (2:12:37).

Glotun (spelling confirmed by Mudcat). Portly, balding, brown, loose toga-like robes; a politician who used to fight (2:15:20–2:16:17). Offers favors; lobbies to divert the southern aqueduct for Plintos (2:19:54).

Plintos. One of the richest men in Cor’thun; merchant guild leader; name on many buildings, statues of him; “charity” benefactor; made his fortune off the southern district’s workers; said to hold himself above the emperor; rumored to be behind a mine cave-in outside the city caused by cost-cutting (2:23:16–2:24:24).

Vythorn, the Endless Scholar (= the Arbiter). Tall, black wings, purple cloak over one shoulder, high collar, large mustache, hair pulled back and shaved at the sides (2:29:03). Served “your uncle, Agdrel, in the Dread Fortress in the time of Faucius Golden Shield” (2:32:06) and also says “I once served your father” (2:33:26). Survived by serving the Shadow King’s court. Spent decades mastering the magic to find her; crossing took “a blood of a titan” (2:39:44). Needs three days to recover and can only bring Elusia and her two companions (2:47:52).

The Cursed Juggernaut. Named in initiative (0:25:40). See scene 5. Killed by Elusia.

Kevin and Enderdan. Two of Kaja’s zombies, named by chat (0:45:24). Kevin is raised a second time by Atalantos and lands a final hit; Atalantos: “you had the heart of a Corthunian” (1:11:27).

Places

• Cor’thun (outside the Void): city of white stone, several miles across on sloping hills; has stairs and ramps (“It’s an accessible city, there’s both,” 1:39:31). Eastern Gate (vital, drawbridge, besieged); Western Gate (Lucien’s post); market square; business district; lower district near the gates (destroyed); southern district (poorer, working class; fed by a common aqueduct, nearest other fountain ~1.5 miles away); palace with gold inlays and a long throne room used for the feast. Mines outside the city (cave-in).
• The singularity over Cor’thun: a black hole that creates an eternal sunset (0:17:25).
• Dread Fortress (flashback): Elusia’s chambers; the Ceremonial Chamber; the throne room where Faucius died. Walls Elusia calls unscalable and unbreachable (2:40:40).
• The Void: Vythorn calls crossing out of it a great feat (“an incredible amount of magic to break out of the void”).

Groups

• Champions of Honor: Cor’thun’s champions; generals sit on the war council; cry “FOR ORDER!”
• Knights of Chaos (see above).
• Order of the Sacrificent (Atalantos).
• Mage school built by Agdrel.
• The attacking army is never named.

Items

• Obsidian dagger: Elusia’s grandfather’s, gifted by her father.
• Elusia’s bow: knotted black root that sparks blue.
• Bowl of viscous gold liquid used in the escape rite.
• Blood of a titan: what Vythorn used to cross.

Timeline facts stated in this episode

• Faucius was killed and Elusia fled 300 years before this episode (narration 0:07:48, 0:13:41; Vythorn 2:34:07; Elusia “who have not seen me in 300 years” 2:42:06).
• The Shadow King ruled 300 years before Skypiercer (confirmed by Mudcat). The coup is the Night of the Long Shadow, when Agdrel killed his brother Faucius.

Full Round-by-Round

Every beat of the episode, with timestamps (click to expand)

1. 0:00:05 — Cold open. “Long before the arena, before the Arbiter or his betrayal, long before Doug or even Gerald, before she was the Grandmaster, she was a warrior.”
2. 0:00:36 — Siege of Cor’thun. Explosions, trebuchet fireballs, gates falling. Horns signal the Eastern Gate is under attack. Atalantos leads his soldiers through the streets; Kaja raises skeletons in the market square; Elusia flies over the city.
3. 0:07:48 — Flashback, 300 years earlier, Dread Fortress. Screams that “the Golden King is dead”: Elusia’s father Faucius Golden Shield has been assassinated. Mercenaries burst into her chambers and are cut down by the Knights of Chaos. She grabs the obsidian dagger (her grandfather’s, gifted by her father). Sir Boros (large orc, black and red armor) says it’s “the king’s plan” and escorts her to the Ceremonial Chamber (20 ft iron doors, fanned arches). She drinks a bowl of viscous gold liquid; the knights slit their own throats, stay standing until every drop is spilled, and their blood opens a portal under her.
4. 0:17:00 — Cor’thun described. White stone city, columns, aqueducts, ornate fountains and statues. A black-hole singularity dominates the sky; light streaking into it gives Cor’thun an eternal sunset.
5. 0:20:35 — The Cursed Juggernaut breaks through the Eastern Gate: 12–13 ft, metal bird/raven mask, scythe, silent, regenerates, throws a necrotic stone spear. It kills its own soldier to claim the fight.
6. 0:39:47 — Kaja raises five zombies with Danse Macabre. Chat names two of them Kevin and Enderdan. Atalantos uses the Rite of Revitalization (Crimson Rite on allies) and later his blood curse to raise Kevin for one last strike (1:08:33).
7. 1:26:03 — Elusia kills the Juggernaut by driving her short sword up through its butt, from between its legs, pushing in the lightning arrow she had already shot into its butt at 0:51:00. It pulls off its helmet, showing a distorted, bruised face, and falls face-first onto the tip of Atalantos’s spear. Its honor guard flee and are shot by archers. Victory bells; the Champions of Honor shout “FOR ORDER!”

Fight log: the Cursed Juggernaut (0:24:58–1:27:27)

• Kaja takes her form of dread (0:23:51): “you take the void of space… a vacuum, and you shove it into a compressed space… cut it open, yank out the threads… something hungry and empty.” Fear washes over the area; the Juggernaut doesn’t react.

• Kaja casts Spirit Shroud: black drops of shadow harden into needles; her Eldritch Blast forms a gaping skull that hits for 15. The Juggernaut doesn’t flinch.

• Elusia’s ensnaring strike: a vine plants a black seed and wraps the Juggernaut; it breaks free with a flex. Her next arrow ricochets off its metal bird mask and kills a random enemy soldier.

• Elusia climbs a statue for high ground; the Juggernaut headbutts the statue to rubble, then pounds her with its fists. White stone dust fills the air.

• Atalantos bangs his shield with his spear (divine glow), can’t pierce its hide, and puts his shield between it and Elusia.

• Kaja casts Danse Macabre on five fallen soldiers, choosing “the ones that either look really hot or they’re like super strong looking.” Atalantos uses Rite of Revitalization, bleeding to put electric Crimson Rite on two zombies, Elusia and himself. The first zombie rolls a nat 20; chat names the zombies Kevin and Enderdan.

• Legendary charge: the Juggernaut sprints through Atalantos and Elusia into a wall (0:47:01).

• Elusia’s lightning arrow lands in its butt (“Give him a shocker,” 0:51:00); it clenches and snaps the shaft off, then regenerates.

• It rips a chunk from a wall that becomes a stone spear and throws it at Kaja; the wound is necrotic and keeps festering. It “donkey punches” Atalantos prone.

• Atalantos uses commander’s strike to give Elusia an attack; Atalantos taunts it: “You seem to be a juggernaut. Let us put that name to the test.”

• Its charge hits Kaja for 44; she bleeds thick purple blood (1:03:47). Her next blast misses and her wound hurts her.

• Elusia climbs a 30-ft building and rings its bell to draw it in. It smashes the building, obliterating the zombies. Atalantos raises Kevin once more with his blood curse (“Rise and strike”) for a final swing; “Kevin’s arc has been intense this session.” Atalantos: “You had the heart of a Corthunian.”

• Its scythe hits Atalantos twice (one crit). “Tonight, we dine in hell!” He drops his shield and spear and draws his greatsword, eyes glowing gold and purple, sword lit with divine fire.

• Elusia rings the bell nonstop: “Bear witness to him and his glory!” Kaja’s nat 1 Eldritch Blast hits Atalantos in the back through the smoke.

• Elusia dives from the rooftop with both short swords into its shoulder blades, taking fall damage to add to the hit, then finishes it from below (see beat 7).

• Atalantos: “Relentless juggernaut… We are still standing.”

• After the fight Elusia notes “the body could be salvaged.” Kaja sits on the corpse sipping from a travel mug.

8. 1:28:33 — Ten-minute break (cut from the mp3).
9. 1:31:59 — Kaja reveals she dies “all the time” and comes back: she serves a force “beyond our comprehension” and has “a special relationship” with it. She has Elusia shoot her through the heart to show it.
10. 1:39:31 — The palace. Throne room prepared for a feast. Emperor Thornos (older, medium build, long white beard) asks for the tale; Atalantos tells it.
11. 1:49:12 — Elusia’s history in Cor’thun. Thornos: she came “some 300 years ago … in the time of my ancestors,” when his forebear Juntikar was empress; Juntikar first taught her the sword (Elusia: “And the bow”).
12. 1:52:17 — Kaja, Atalantos and Elusia are named Generals of the Champions of Honor. Elusia’s oath is “bonded in blood”: Thornos cuts her neck.
13. 1:57:16 — The feast. Elusia sips from Kaja’s goblet and pulls back embarrassed; Kaja turns the cup and drinks from the same spot (1:59:43). Elusia makes up that the wine tastes of almonds, and from then on there are almonds in the wine (2:03:20). Lucien’s armor is spotless, he tries to sign Atalantos’s chest with gravy for an autograph and falls asleep in Atalantos’s hand. People in the hall mutter that Elusia is drunk again (2:13:05). Bets on Lucien (5 copper: boots on the wrong feet; a silver: someone died because of him; a gold, lowered to a silver: he’ll kill someone in his next fight). Lucien is drunk, his gloves are on the wrong hands, and Atalantos drafts him into his brigade.
14. 2:15:20 — Glotun the politician offers favors, then reveals he wants the emperor’s ear to divert the southern aqueduct for Plintos. The party turns him down.
15. 2:28:12 — Vythorn arrives through a portal. He tells Elusia her father was killed 300 years ago by her uncle Agdrel, the Shadow King, and asks her to come back to the Void. She accepts, with Kaja and Atalantos. They leave in three days. 15b. 2:46:08 — Thornos has listened to all of it leaning on his sword, eating popcorn.
16. 2:48:43 — Sign-off: “Acolytes, we will see you next week on D20 Deathmatch.”