E V E N T ☆ F I N A L E

One week after returning from Port Heritage and the Fortune Temple.

It’s not even been a full year since you watched a red fissure tear the ground asunder at the Godsgoing Festival.

For several long months, you have sailed to the far reaches of the Godsea. You’ve stolen away on ships. You’ve learned dark truths. And you’ve persevered despite the challenges and trials set in front of you. These experiences have changed you. Broken you, strengthened you. Even killed you.

But in spite of it all, you are here – with many moments where your story could have ended for good.

You survived the events of Godsgoing. As you sat in High Hall, HYLAINE presented you STORM’S key. Your first-ever brush with the gods you assumed to be long gone. If only you knew.

WILL quelled the anger and pain of the Goddess HARVEST. It gave ELSIE time to pluck HARVEST’S key from the ancient pomegranate tree in her temple.

EIR crawled across the floor of the Righteous Dawn to cover the burning light emanating from the SUN key around HARTLEY’S neck. You were able to kidnap an entire Red Dynasty military commander by the end of that mission.

AUDRA died in the temple of SUN, but came back with the Goddess’ blessing, reborn. And those who worshiped the warrior Goddess stood in her rays after completing her trials and earn her favor. Even if you were trying to use her brother’s sigils in her temple like SIL did. Even when warped in mind, you managed to uncover MOON’S secret. VLAD and V worked together to rip the MOON key from the crafty God’s neck; though it meant they needed to look into the milky eyes of certain death to do so. WISH’S quick prayer to STORM changed the tides in the final hour.

MARTY leaped to take hold of DREAM’S key, after you bore your deepest and darkest secrets in the reflective halls of her temple. Even with her guardians against you, the Goddess entrusted you with the key so that you could make things right. And it’s here that BLATHNAID chose to give her life over to the Goddess in return; as a priestess in training and a new guardian.

SLOANE reached into the ribcage of HAWKEYE for FORTUNE’S key. And with the fragments reunited by your party, you watched as he screamed one last time before crumbling away. And with it, a ghost from the past for many in your group was exterminated for good.

And lastly, you were able to recover the KEYS from TENTACLINO’s golden lair at cost of life and limb. KAS delivered the ultimate resignation… in the form of a massive bomb.

You did all of this and more. So much more. Somehow, whilst having every odd stacked against you and your mortal souls-- you’ve prevailed. Despite coming from different ways of life. Despite the wrath of an entire empire pursuing you and the death warrants on your head… You’ve made it to the end. You all set course back to NICK to steel yourselves over and prepare for the inevitable. The full moon would be coming in several days time.

---

An ever-present feeling of finality has weighed heavy on your minds as you prepare to make the journey to the gods’ conclave.

It inspires a tying of loose ends – wherever they can be tied.

Letters fly in from the Royal Docks, doubling in number as the day of reckoning grows closer. ELSIE is there every morning without fail, parchment clasped in hand, watching as her notes are carried off by a flutter of wings until they’re just specks against the blue sky. CHESTER is often beside her, chatting idly about his grandkits as though they were beside him right now. JAMAL reaches a hand to tie his own letter to a carrier dove, before quietly pulling it back and returning it to his chest.

Those fortunate enough to have their loved ones nearby reach out, making the amends they can with the benefit of being able to hold them one last time. SUNNY tracks down their siblings still aiding the revolution, finally coming clean to the ragtag group of kittens— so they can be smarter. Protect themselves. JULIA winds her hand together with her partner’s, cutting off the ambient red glow from the circle on ESHA’s palm; knowing that even in death this moment may be their last together.

Those who have remained devout find themselves praying. It is common to see the expected faces of ones like VEZU and KESTREL giving pledge to their goddess under the revealing light of day. Only once are their voices joined by EIRENE, clasping her hands over the piles of rubble left in monument to a long lost god. The lingering sound of ADELAIDE’s music can be heard like a distant ghost.

With the end drawing near, the party makes way for the docks tethered to the turtle they called home.

Many pirates choose to sail with MAYTHIAS on their native vessel, stepping aboard the Golden Traitor’s vast decks. Their first and second mate, ASH and KALANI, take the lead — walking side by side with those who have trusted their lives to them. Others, like ULRICH, take refuge on ELSIE’s newly acquired frigate, choosing to trust instead in the bonds forged regardless of faction along their journey. This includes the fresh faced god of FORTUNE, reveling in the promise of adventure ahead with their heroes.

No matter the vessel, they all head toward the same destination.

---

The whirlpool is more violent at night.

The scarlet light is still shooting into the sky, making midnight as bright as day and dying everything crimson. Your skin, hair, weapons, the ship – all of it a deep blood red.

Salty, wine-red spray showers over you, illuminated by the shine of ISMENE’s light at the ship front. The waves rock the boats of the party, anchoring one by one around the gaping hole in the sea. The locks at the bottom – where there should be seafloor, but instead, there are iron bars, and a black pit descending into endlessness – look like they always have: loosened, but firm. HARVEST’s is still corroded.

Occasionally you see the flicker of wings above, followed by SLAG BEAST’s great head looking up to follow them. Red eyes meet red eyes. Demons flit behind the clouds, but it seems that most of them have long since dispersed around the Godsea; here against you, they are outnumbered, and they don’t dive.

But it says a lot about your trauma that the demons aren’t even what make you most nervous.

Your eyes stay glued to the nearly-full moon.

You don’t need a ticking clock. You’re holding your breath, counting the seconds in your mind.

And when the moon finally reaches fullness, the relief that rushes over you is so strong that your knees feel weak. You reach for the ship’s railing for support.

And magic ripples across the Godsea.

---

It shimmers into existence like a mirage. One moment, there is nothing. The next –

The land of the gods appears.

The island floats directly above the whirlpool, casting a shadow that almost conceals it. You watch as glimmering marble stairs appear one by one – six flights of the stairs leading down from the island and into the ocean.

They look great, but admittedly it’s a little awkward hopping over the edges of your boats and onto the slick, wet surfaces.

As you climb the stairs, you feel vulnerable and exposed, no more than insects. Luckily, you reach the top soon enough.

The island is relatively small. It’s a circular marble platform, ringed by white pillars, intricately carved with holy imagery – bells, pomegranates, baboons.

Six giant thrones sit around the perimeter of the island, plus a seventh crumbled one. For now, each chair is empty.

With the whirlpool rumbling below and the wind whistling through the pillars, you look into the faces of your friends, tense and alone in this god-made structure.

This is it.