CALLING WORTHY CITIZENS
Magister Idris of Rom calls for aid. A particularly unusual Perfection conjunction has caused a great Tower to appear on the outskirts of Rastaban. This Tower must be investigated immediately before it fades again. Favour bestowed will be dependent on how far up the Tower the citizens are able to ascend.
The party meet on their way to the Tower and discuss what they expect from the climb. Accompanying them is Factotum, the familiar of Magister Idris. They find that the Tower cannot be climbed from the outside and even attempts to jump from the ground beside the Tower hit some kind of invisible ceiling. Entering the tower, they find themselves locked in and surrounded by whirling brass spikes and smiling golden angels. A voice sounds throughout the room: “THOU SHALT NOT USE THY RIGHT HAND.”
As the party fight the metallic figures, they find that disobeying the command causes them to experience a substantial amount of discomfort. After defeating all of the metallic entities and finding the path upwards now unlocked, they discover that each floor of the Tower has its own rule:
“THOU SHALT NOT MOVE BACK TOWARDS THE ROOM’S ENTRANCE.”
“THOU SHALT NOT TALK LOUDLY.”
“THOU SHALT NOT HEAL ANOTHER.”
The party push through waves of bizarre Perfection-aligned entities, including twisted pewter figures with expressions of agony who warn them against defying the Law of the Tower, long pyrite chains which constantly tell parables of Perfection, and clay soldier figurines which joyfully proclaim that the Tower is holy ground and that to reach the top is to be purified by “Tenmei”.
As they ascend, the party learn that Factotum has been bound to their form and is incapable of disobeying Idris without being harmed. Carmen suggests to Jasine that Factotum should be freed; after consulting the Wheel, she performs an Embrace to achieve this. Magister Idris, Carmen, Jasine and Alessia all experience a psychic combat in which Carmen tries to pretend she has nothing to do with this, Alessia tries to hide, and Jasine is informed by Idris that this will have consequences. Still, Idris eventually loses the struggle and the metal rings around Factotum's wrists and neck begin to loosen. While it is implied that more would need to be done to completely free Factotum, they are grateful for the help and promise greater assistance in later rooms.
Progressing through “THOU SHALT NOT EXPRESS EMOTION,” “THOU SHALT NOT ATTACK WITH THY LEFT HAND” and “THOU SHALT NOT RUN,” the party eventually find themselves at the top floor. Accompanied by clay soldiers and inquisitor-like guards wearing copper masks is Tenmei, the Perfection denizen who resides at the top of the Tower. Tenmei declares that their will is unbreakable and their laws are absolute, before issuing the final command of “THOU SHALT NOT HURT TENMEI.”
The Wheel is called to witness as a second Embrace is used to release the command preventing running, and with a final act of help from Factotum, the party launch an attack on Tenmei and their soldiers. However, after a long battle during which Eli is prevented from healing her allies, Tenmei appears to be about to succeed in destroying the party. Eli, refuses to allow the entire party to die and so makes a deal with Tenmei: she will be healed but must attack her own friends.
Eli gets back up and stabilises the rest of the party but is forced to knock each of them back down when they try to keep fighting. Despite this, Tenmei is finally defeated and the party seems to have been saved from the brink of death for now, but the Forest appears to have taken notice of Eli's actions. While Eli negotiates with the Forest, the rest of the party fight pairs of Dreamers until finally the Forest retreats.
Following a tense argument between Eli and the others about her choice to make a deal, the majority of the party seem to accept that she did so to save them, not to expose them all to the Forest. As a kind of peace offering, Eli offers to use an Anointment to remove Jasine's green-ness, which was introduced to her when Garrek unleashed the Painter in the centre of her Mind. The Painter proves to be a difficult influence to remove and Eli and Jas are eventually knocked down, but Eli manages to secure a somewhat Pyrrhic victory by stabbing the Painter with a thorn shard at the last moment. They return to their bodies (which for Jasine is now no longer green) and Eli assures her that nothing bad will happen as a result of this. Definitely not.
IN PROGRESS
Upon emerging from the tower, the party find that a sizeable portion of Rom surrounding Magister Idris's domicile has been seared to a circle of glass, presumably as retribution for Factotum's binding. Many hundreds of people are missing. Jasine asks to be issued full responsibility for this, seeing as it was her Embrace that freed Factotum, and Carmen is more than happy to approve this as the official story. Each of the party are questioned separately, and Jasine is not seen for several months.
IN PROGRESS