Alex and Jon each took notes this session. Alex’s notes are below. Jon’s notes are on a separate page.

Note from Alex:

These are still crap. I haven’t had a chance to fix ‘em up yet. However, Curtis said it would be better to put whatI had, so it’s there before the final session, and edit them for posterity later. Enjoy.

It is the night of Saturday, July 22, 2299. The rite has been completed; Lilith has been created. The Void is coming, the echoes growing louder and louder until thought of nothing else is possible, and the party is advised by Alfadir to flee the system.

Brice has collapsed, wracked with pain, and Jasmine is gone. Lilith continues to pour an unfathomable amount of mystic energy into . . . somewhere.

Nikolai looks around briefly, and disappears. He attempts to convince Big Daddy Void not to eat Sol, but it doesn’t look good. He returns to the grove, and sees Ariona at Brice’s side. She begins to play her flute, but though the music pours forth beautifully, nothing else seems to be happening. Unity is also near. Vittorio is preoccupied with Meera, and Adam is arranging the escape of all the awakened AIs on Luna.

Nikolai appears near Ariona, who shouts, “Is there any way you can take him away?” Nikolai appears doubtful, but Ariona continues, “Because I can’t!” He agrees to try, and asks if anyone else is unable to leave on their own. Unity says that they are not able to go, so Nikolai reaches out with a tentacle, wraps it around Unity and Brice, and disappears. Ariona leaves a moment later, bound for Lupus.

Vittorio, who also has no way to leave on his own but was not near enough the rest of the party to respond, is currently watching Lilith. She continues to channel enormous amounts of mystic energy into an unknown source.

ADAM TAKES SCARY DARK WOMAN THING

Nikolai returns to ‘‘The Grey Storm’’ with Unity and Brice. The echoes are still pounding in their skulls, so Nikolai orders the ship to get the hell out of Dodge, and rewraps Unity and Brice. He draws them inside of himself, and steps into the Void.

Ariona finds herself on a street in Lupus. After a few moments of research, she discovers that she is about five miles from the compound in which she met General Khan and Merlin. She begins walking toward the compound, despite the warnings that “No Citizens are Allowed.”

A hover-droid buzzes down the street, nearing Ariona. “Ariona Cassyon?” it chirps. “Package for you!” Ariona is extremely puzzled, to say the least.

“Um . . . from whom?” She receives the package information from the droid, and is shocked to find out that it comes attached to a note from Rudolph. He says that he found something interesting, and he’d like her opinion on it. Ariona takes the package, discovering that the AI has been holding it upside down, and the droid buzzes away. Her thoughts turn to finding out what’s inside the box, but she does not want to open it on the street, given the source. She finds a nearby hotel, rents a room, and plans to investigate.

Before she can do so, however, she is bombarded by news of the Sol system in chaos as mystics flee the echoes and no one remains to run things. Terror grips the home system as the echoes overwhelm Earth. Shocked that she has forgotten her family, she immediately opens a transparent portal to her parents’ home. Seeing only a seething black maelstrom, she is upset but unafraid . . . until the portal begins to bulge. Hurriedly, she closes the portal, and arranges to check on her parents in person. She prepares an effect to return her to the hotel if her mind is rendered useless.

It doesn’t work. Nikolai senses that somehow Ariona has entered the Void. Not wanting her to be lost forever, he creates a duplicate of himself to go after her. A second Nikolai appears, grabs Ariona in a tentacle . . . and somehow merges back into the original Nikolai.

Nikolai feels “really funny.” This is not how he thought the whole time duplicate things would work. The duplicate collapses, and somehow Nikolai is simultaneously holding three people in two tentacles . . . at the same time . . . but not at the same time.

He steps out onto Lupus, on a random street, and drops three unconscious bodies to the ground. His tentacles recede into his body once more.

Aboard the dreadnought, Dio, Adam and Vittorio are transported away from Sol by DEE. They are transported to a system two light years from Sol, and a short while later return to the Laboro system.

Laboro is currently under attack by a strange alien virus that has somehow merged with nanites. x

After eight, Adam discovers that Dio’s main goal from the beginning was to halt the Deus rite. He was not just sent there as a mission; it was his entire mission. On the ninth day, Adam learns the name of the scientist in charge of Dio’s project: Sagittarius. He also learns that two decades ago there was a white substance that was used to suck away the energies created by Miller 2. It was the only thing that could keep the energy from seeping back into the world. Adam examines it, and realizes that this white substance that eats mystic energy is the same virus that has attack Laboro – but unadulterated with nanite technology.

On the tenth day, DEE informs Adam that there is an anomaly in the lupus area, but that he intends to remain near Laboro. He wishes Dio to remain with him as well, and asks that Adam or one of the other disciples goes to Lupus and investigate. Adam says that he will go himself.

DEE reminds Adam that aiding the society of the humans could be a good political move.

Meanwhile, Vittorio spends a week and a half trying to coax Mira out of her shell. She never speaks in words, but gradually she begins making more noises in his presence. Eventually, he touches her mind with his Divination energies, and begins to communicate with her more fully.

Though her intelligence is limited, she is certainly more than just a beast, and Vittorio learns about her life as time passes. He discovers that she was born on Luna, the child of two werewolves, and that she had no name until Adana named her. She is very fond of Adana.

SPACE TIME DISTORTION

WANTS TO GO TOO

Back to Lupus, Nikolai and Ariona are clutching their heads. They don’t know how long they’ve been doing so. Unity just stands there. Brice is unconscious, but no longer twitching.

Unity decides to stand there and look threatening, in case someone decides to approach them in a threatening manner. A few people look over, and quickly walk the other way.

A strange compression in the air occurs, and suddenly Adam is standing there. Adam notes the appropriateness of fate bringing him back to these other individuals. Unity quickly tells him a disjointed version of his perceptions of the last ten minutes.

Slowly Ariona and Nikolai come to their senses. They quickly discover that apparently, ten days have passed for the rest of the universe, while only a few minutes have passed for them. Nikolai says something about how great it is that it’s only been ten days this time. Ariona cries, “What do you mean, `only ten’ — what the hell happened?!”

“Well, the last time, I went back two weeks.”

Ariona, Nikolai, Brice, and Unity try

July 23 – Vittorio receives an email with this date. Nikolai also receives an email from Max. Ariona receives mail from Zee: “We have recovered your grandfather and hopefully restored him to his original self.”

In the news, an alien threat hit Laboro. Lupus is the next target, and as the party looks around they realize that the streets are surprisingly empty. Unity remembers that the people who shied away from him were all wearing military uniforms. They are pleased.

Nikolai tries to contact Huntington, and gets a rather cold, formal response. He thanks them for their offer of aid, but he believes that he already has all the help he needs.

Adam suggests that they simply remove all the mystic energy from the planet, and the alien entity, the Fearful, will probably just go away. This is met with a rather dubious reaction from the mystics and psychics.

DISCUSSION WITH ADAM ABOUT VITTORIO

“Okay, so what do we want to do?”

“I’m going to open the box.” In the box is a book. A real, honest-to-God, old-fashioned book. It is black with blue trim, slightly faded, and on the spine it says, “The Blue Rose.” Ariona realizes that the book has an aura around it, and uses Divination to find that it is an arcane lock. She destroys the effect, and opens the book.

There is a bookmark inside. Ariona opens to that page. There is an illustration of a woman, who looks familiar. She realizes it is her mother, and sees that the caption reads, “Erica Banyon.” Suddenly the pages begin to flip, and the book opens to a different page. Another picture appears. The caption under this one reads, “Ariona Cassyon.” Ariona is unable to take her eyes from the picture, and as she stares at it she feels herself being sucked into the book.

Brice tries to reach Ariona through her neural jack, but can’t find her. It feels almost as if her server is down. Unity asks if anyone else saw what just happened.

Vittorio steps out of Adam at this point. “Should we destroy the book?” he asks. Adam replies that this would be unwise, as it appears that their compatriot is inside the book at this time.

Within the book, Ariona’s senses are muted away.

Unity tries to open the book and find the page where Ariona was. Vittorio yells not to open it, and tries to keep it closed magically. Unity capitulates, and Vittorio tells him to listen to Brice, who might know things.

Brice’s first words are to not destroy the book. “Damnit! Don’t listen to Brice!” Vittorio yells.

Nikolai steps out of Unity’s back, and the situation is explained to him. He begins trying to figure out what’s going on. He begins reading the book at the beginning. The first chapter is entitled “Baba Yaga.” It tells the story of a witch who kidnapped children, and was eventually tricked into the book.

The second chapter is entitled “Erica Banyon.” It is the story of a woman’s life, a woman who Nikolai slowly begins to realize is Ariona’s mother, though he met her under a different name. Nikolai returns to one particular page, the cover page for the chapter, which seems to draw him more. It is a picture of Ariona’s mother, the way she truly appears, complete with white feathered wings. When he concentrates on this picture, Erica begins to speak to him. “Hello?! Hello, is anyone there?!”

Vittorio is very, very vocal in his desire to destroy the book before it might suck in anyone else.

“Ariona is in need of help. Are you willing to go?”

“What?! Who is this?”

“I am an associate of Ariona, and she is currently in trouble, and the trail leads back here. Are you willing to help?”

“What kind of trouble?”

“She got sucked into a book.”

Brice throws the tracking information up on the screen. Bernstein appears confused and a bit defensive. He claims that he had nothing to do with the package, and says that he is of course willing to help. Brice says he will be there in a minute, and take Bernstein to Ariona.

Bernstein appears pretty scared about the idea of Brice showing up; he claims over and over that it’s a bad idea and they’ll know if he shows up. It’s a high security facility, and he would need clearance to get in there. Brice claims they won’t; Bernstein returns that they ‘‘will!’’

Brice goes anyway, invisible, and pops into Bernstein’s office. Waves of distortion begin rolling over Brice, who is nauseous and deafened. Bernstein takes one look at the waves, says, “Oh, dear,” and disappears. The door to Bernstein’s office is opened, and a large silvery creature appears. It has no apparent features, but turns its head this way and that. It clearly senses Brice on the floor.

Vittorio flies towards the heart tree. He sees Lilith, Alfadir, and the dragon channeling energy. Two pixies block his way, crying that he will distract them and disrupt everything.

He talks to the

Brice awakens looking at a very sinister-looking doctor-type. He immediate hops into the Net. The doctor appears confused

Adam tries all the ways he can think of to break a traditional, folklore-ish curse. He holds the book up to a mirror. He tries crossing out “where she remained forevermore” and substituting “where she remained for approximately

Brice and Bernstein appear at Ariona’s home. Bernstein appears rather dubious, and then grows shocked when he realizes that Ariona really is in the book. He begins aiding the party in figuring out how to get Ariona out. He remembers that Reginald Pipwhistle.

Bernstein continues examining he book, keeping it open to Ariona’s page while flipping through other parts. He discovers an arcane mark at the beginning of the book. When he shows the sigil to Ariona, she recognizes it as the elven letters for “VW.” She immediately realizes that the book was likely sent to her by Vondre’ Willowtree.

“Did you say Vondre’ Willowtree? She’s my superior!”

Ariona explains her family history a bit, and Bernstein appears shocked. He cannot believe that she would be guilty of such a thing. Perhaps Ariona is jumping to conclusions!

Eventually it is established that it is likely she really did do this.

STUFF

Adam asks Ariona

Erica attempts to divine the answer to the question, “How do I get out of this book?” She receives the answer, “Unknown.” She explains that this either means that Vondre’ is blocking divination, or that she actually doesn’t know.

After a bit more discussion, Brice runs through the Net and enters Vondre’s home. She is drinking tea, and staring off into space, smiling a bit. Brice is invisible. He sets the book on the table.

Vondre’ screeches at Brice. “What have you done?! Let me out of here!” Brice says that he would if he could, but they don’t know how. She yells that she doesn’t know either, because the page was missing. Adam, across the room where she can’t see him, asks who took the page. Vondre’ says she doesn’t know, but Adam realizes that she is lying now.

“Otherwise, we’ll have to experiment. And guess who’s the guinea pig?” Brice suggests.

Adam attempts to intimidate her into telling everything

“Perhaps, but I am above such ethical considerations.” He gives Vondre’ a lopsided grin. Nikolai tells Adam that he’s starting to get scary, but he just gives Nikolai the same lopsided grin.

Nikolai continues to protest the tactics of Adam and the fervent Vittorio. “It appears we have a good cop. You’re lucky,” Adam tells her.

The debate rages on, but finally they wear Vondre’ down a bit. She begins to waver on her refusal to ever tell them anything. She says that she might tell them something, but she would need some guarantee that they wouldn’t go back on their word to release her.

They offer Bernstein, but he’s too wishy-washy to actually be of use to either side. She demands that he tell his superiors about this, and the party demands that they should get some information from her first.

That discussion is tabled for a time when Adam closes the book. They reopen to Erica, and get her to divine who stole the page with the rules of the curse. She tells them that the name was Nald Pipwhistle. Brice determines that Pipwhistle is currently on the grounds of Erik Lensherr’s private mansion. He is studying a file on Deblin Gaddlesmocks.

Brice brings up a message on his screen, “Vondre’ Willowtree needs your help.” Pipwhistle basically freaks out. He demands that whoever this is get out of her head. “The page. ‘‘Where is it?’’” Brice continues.

Brice explains the situation to Pipwhistle, who keeps saying that he warned her that the book could be dangerous in the wrong hands. “Who could be dumb enough to write their own name in the book?” Brice switches back to the page on Willowtree.

Pipwhistle is getting increasingly agitated and worried. He wants Brice to quit harassing him. Brice persists, and eventually he says he’ll give Brice more information if he bailed

I said that I was unhappy with how they were using my research and that if they didn’t stop I was going to tell the press. And then they fired me. And they said that I was a Brotherhood spy. Which I was, but it didn’t matter.”

Brice unfreezes Nald’s accounts, and uses them to get Deblin released.

“Super Ultimate Top Secret Classified Information On The Substance Found At A Dig By StratCo Twenty Years Ago, Also Known As The White Goo, Properties Of – AKA Properties of the Juice”

Adam checks on Meera for Vittorio, and the answer is that she is stable. More time passes, and after several hours, Ariona is released from the book.

She speaks with her parents, and they suggest that someone more neutral might be a good

TALK WITH ADANA

Ariona sends Adam a message asking the rest of the party to meet her and her grandmother in half an hour. Her parents are also invited.

Ariona then attempts to contact

Her next action is to contact Baba Yaga inside. She is pretty bent, and alternately demands release and begs for it. Ariona is very unsure what to do. Baba Yaga was pretty bad in a lot of stories, but on the other hand she has been trapped in a horrible fate for a long, long time. Then she offer Ariona a wish.

Nikolai discovers that Jasmine can communicate with him from inside the Void. She tells him not to be afraid of his powers. “'’Deus ex machina.’’”

Brice feels as if he is being drawn to a particular location in Netspace. He thinks of it as the Quest Arrow, and follows it. He eventually finds the Node. It was the node where Adana Cassenti was kept after her rescue. Now, however, it is the Node. It is somehow a nexus-point for something larger. There is a message waiting there. “Brice, I’m sorry for everything, for abandoning you. Please wait for me.” Brice realizes that it is no longer exactly a location in Netspace, and he sees the archway.

Simultaneously, Nikolai

Skinny man, with white shirt, overalls, and five days’ stubble. His jowls sag, and he appears infinitely sad. The other is half his height, cloaked in a white robe with a hood. Joe and Myara She appears to be a gnome. Joe says, “Soon, a portal will be opened to reality’s end.”

“Myara says, “It is not fated that you open this portal, but that you ‘‘are’’ the portal.”

Joe continues, “So it’s our sad duty to tell you that you’re faced with a terrible choice.”

Myara follows, “Either end your life . . .

Joe finishes, “Or become the means for the universe’s destruction.”

Myara concludes urgently, “You must act quickly!”

“Thank you. Now! We can open it! We can send the Destroyer away!” Nikolai appears uncertain, and she replies, “It is the only way!”

Brice is left with an agonizing choice. In the split second left to him, he decides to trust in Jasmine. He feels himself being pulled apart and twisted into a different shape.

He now finds himself standing at the End of Time.