[b]Kazelia![/b]

There is a moment where it feels that everything is over. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Your father, defeated for all time, never to hurt your world again. But it’s not enough to stop him from continuing harm; you have to mend what has been broken, too. And it is at this moment that Argossa begins to crack.

At your feet, polluted magic begins to leak through the cracking bark, ice-cold and fierce. Great wounds begin to open in its sides, threatening to pour this poison into the sea, to drown the world in his last act of foolish spite and arrogance.

What artifact has he placed deep in Argossa to pollute her heart?

***

[b]Adila![/b]

The smaller branches overhead begin to splinter and fall in great splinters of stone and crystal, still large enough to seriously hurt anyone caught underneath them; lanterns, smashed to the ground, start catching the wedding decorations alight.

You lead your friends back down into Argossa, where great gouts of wicked magic burst from walls and hang like a miasma in the air— but at least you’re less likely to be crushed to death. Ourania, freed by Alina and Rita, hangs on the shoulders of Dandy, who has her in a fireman’s carry.

As you delve through the palace, which is shaking itself apart, Azora Howl takes the magic swirling all around you and redirects it; she’s making everything around you more turbulent and dangerous in the name of clearing a small path for everyone. Kazelia, too, helps— but Azora is clearly very comfortable commanding and redirecting this kind of magic.

You remember anxiously patrolling through this palace, unable to trust Ourania. Where do you find the artifact?

***

[b]Alina![/b]

“We’ll have our wedding in your castle,” Rita says, half walking with you, half holding you. “But the [i]reception[/i] at my family’s castle. And, and everyone is going to be invited! It’ll be a celebration, not just of us, but of Hyperborea!”

“Let’s focus on surviving, first.” You jump, startled and guilty, as Diana emerges from the storm of magic swirling all around. She’s had your lights for all of, what, an hour? At least some of that unconscious? And she’s already figured out how to make a hazmag coat and closed helmet out of them.

“The ramifications of losing Argossa alone,” she says, her voice clipped and angry. “Not to mention the attacks in Feloria, Jedad, Ilumina...”

She might be being bitter, but also... she has a point. Happily ever after may have to wait until you’ve worked even more, even harder, to fix things.

What price needs to be paid to stop the artifact from hurting Argossa any more?