Dorean crumples to the ground, a puff of black smoke-like substance escaping her briefly as she falls. Two huge constructs approach the party, engaging them in combat. Vera, overcome with rage and grief, feels something with in her slip loose within her. She allows it to overwhelm her, and the room grows dark and cold. Vera transforms into a skeletal black dragon, flesh stretched taught over its gaunt frame; this form looks unwell. Dorean, meanwhile, is adrift in darkness, voices calling her name in the distance—her sisters or perhaps Invicta. She is falling, slipping away, and before allowing herself to go, she hears a voice much closer whisper her name, Merely, holding out a hand. As she takes Merely's hand, her eyes snap open, awake and alive on the floor of the lab. Merely's claws are dug rather painfully into her neck and side on her bad side, a faint pulse traveling down her arms into Dorean, allowing her to join the battle. As the director flees, Vera, consumed by anger and rage, deploys her breath weapon, catching Mira, Ward, and Dorean in the crossfire. When the blinding light clears, Vera is unconscious on the floor, and Ward, Mira, and Dorean are all unable to continue fighting. As the dust clears, the party gathers themselves, retrieves some key cards from the bodies of the scientists who did not escape the fight, and begins their escape, using Suggestion to make one of the guards to let them back up the elevator.

Back with the ghostly knights, the party decides that they need to rest before they try to tackle the problem of the weakening seal. Ward also cautions the party against telling Vera the whole truth about what happened, telling them about his conversation with her where thinking about her dragon form caused her pain. They agree that they need to talk to Cecily about things sooner than later, and return to the airship to rest. Vera is passed along to Sapphire, who fusses over her. Talthis restores Luna's missing health, but he assures that they will otherwise recover from vampire health drain with good rest. The rest of the party talks to Cecily.

They tell Cecily that the director is probably dead and that Vera turned into a giant dragon and blasted the director and accidentally hit the party. Cecily explains that that while she had not witnessed it herself, she was aware that it was an issue when Vera was young. In situations of extreme stress and heightened emotion, Vera would lose control. The dragon was sealed, and there were no further incidents. Eck clocks this as very strange. She clarifies that Vera describes the sealing as a curse. Cecily confirms that it is related to who her father is, but would not tell them about them if she had that information; she does explain they are hard to get ahold of. Vera requested that Cecily not contact her mother; Vera also was not given any rules about not sharing information by Cecily.

Vera remembers her memory, a wall of force between herself and her mother. Vera is looking down at her. She is the threat that her mother is defending against.

The next morning, Dorean goes to check on Vera. Vera's raven friend has set up checkers and challenges her silently to a game. The raven wins, and challenges Wrath to a match next. When Vera wakes up, the two discuss what happened, Dorean only explaining that Vera handled the director and that the fight was difficult. Vera tells Dorean that the last time that happened, her mother had been scared—and her mother doesn't get scared. Reassured that everyone is okay, the two meet the others for breakfast.

Mira is late, but responds to the summons while the group discusses their next steps. They debate various options for dealing with the ghost knights, the elevator blocking the path to the seal, and the demons itself.

Returning

• AF
• Merely
• Ser Liscena
• Ser Telluros - the Foundation
• Ser Aphelia - the Distant Star
• Sapphire
• Talthis Vim
• Cecily Cardew
• Suspicious as heck raven