Isle Imperium: Episode 1.24 -- Sister of the Sun

Despite various complications, the party is able to recover not only Sister Moon but an imperiled shard of the Emerald Legion, the Phantom Herald.

• CATALINA discovers that there are no less that seven sisters of the sun, two at two different Castles Nimbus, one at the Tomb of Yishangang (sp?), one at the Shrine of Asha Iyaki, one destroyed, and two corrupted.
• Through the Keeper of the Five Winds, VARIAN makes the acquaintance and compels the service of the local wind ENENI, as well as many of her “windlings”, including the Honorable Administrator CHENG.
• ALECTO, Cat, and THESSALY recover the Phantom Herald from the body of its deceased mount Anar. Aly transforms into a dragon and Cat accepts the shard’s offer to join their number.
• The men journey to the nearer Castle Nimbus, where ARCTURUS, as Brother Sun, makes short work of a horde of kappa just before LADY INVIDIOUS appears to decapitate MANTIUS, slash at Ian’s throat, and send VINDAR to report to the Army of Shards, sparing the latter two on the grounds that they are “beautiful boys”. Arc remains behind as Brother Sun engages Invidious in single combat.
• Chasing after Vindar, who tries to command a local blue creature to attack Invidious, Ian contacts Cat to apprise her of the situation. Despite Vindar’s desperate desire to return to the battle, Cat orders the pair to recover Mantius’s body without engaging, and then to secure their extraction point, which they do.
• Via one of Ian’s windlings, the women enter Castle Nimbus, where Cat and Thess’s Fellmind abilities allow them to move through the castle unmolested, notwithstanding a tense moment with the Esteemed Princess FURATO (and her five-shard necklace). With first the opposition and then the assistance (through Cat and Aly’s persuasion) of the Black Dragon Martial KENJIRO, they are able to free Sister Moon.
• At Cat’s signal, Varian has his winds bring back the women as well as Arc, who has barely eluded finally being killed by Lady Invidious thanks to the enormous wooden creature controlled by Vindar, which stomps on Invidious just as she seems ready to overcome her reluctance to kill the mount instead of Brother Sun.
• The party is prevented from leaving by the Wicker King. Upon their tendering the appropriate respect, however, he not only refrains from harming them, but summons both Invidious and the LORD OF THE WASTES (who seems to have some negative history with the Renegade Warder, which is fortunately offset by his apparent enmity toward Lady Invidious) to restore Mantius to life and health.
• The group returns to the Citadel of the Warders, where they report to INEA and NIKOMEDES, in the process overhearing what may be an assignation of the latter’s. Mantius is ordered to Temple Mount for examination.