Frederick Dines is defeated, his plans thwarted by the great efforts and brave sacrifices of the world's heroes, but the world is not as it once was.
The information that has made it back to Acryn is sketchy and drips in a bit at a time, but efforts to contain the news fail as panicked rumours leak information. The Builder, Tender and Warrior walk among us as mortals. Triskelion turns against her children. The peace with Serradis is broken, perhaps irreparably. The Pivot of the World crumbles into the ocean, and perhaps most concerningly of all, a large patch of Stasis emanates out from where Frederick Dines was defeated, engulfing the Acryn camp and spreading considerably far from it. None caught in it have emerged. All is not yet well.
As Acryn's heroes take stock of the new situation, a call for help reaches the ears of adventurers from a village somewhere between Acryn and Liarus beset by bandits, with an offer of 18R for assistance. Some things, it appears, never change.
The Acryn party of Zip, Krodd, Leila and Pazuzu depart Acryn before the events of Oblitus Mundi and meet with the returning party of Elias and Henrietta. They are told of the village that needs assistance with bandits and head into the Flux to go investigate. Something's not right, though, as they find themselves in the Flux under attack from cloudy stormy beings wrapped in chains and bleeding that are certainly not Flux. They're vicious, but the party drive them off and head onward to the village.
Closer to the village, they come across a sign in the Flux that appears to mark the line of Flux and Consensus, but Henrietta (and the Flux scarecrows and crows nearby) confirm that the sign itself is well and truly in the Flux: something that should not be the case. Henrietta and Elias hypothesise that Dines's ritual has caused the boundaries of Flux to be re-drawn, something which seems to be confirmed as they get closer to the centre of the village and find the Flux reaches a lot further into a civilised area than expected.
The party meets with villagers who explain they've been under attack from bandits in the last week, bandits who are usually a nuisance but not constantly problematic. Their Wayfinder disappeared to investigate something falling from the sky near a Mage tower a week ago and hasn't been heard from. They also note their farmers have gone missing and the village Leader Priest has locked herself away. Krodd theorises that the bandits are Flux, and urges the villagers to evacuate. He goes investigating only to encounter the crying Leader Priest, Essie, who believes she's done something to get herself excommunicated. The party explain to her that all priests have lost their power and she simply needs to return to Acryn. They also stress the urgency of protecting the village in this time of crisis.
The party head to where the bandits are coming from and sure enough they are Flux. They are dispatched and the party rescue a pregnant Gertrude and return to the village with her. They eat and head out toward the Mage Tower but find the Flux Bandit Camp has reset: something Henrietta classes as odd. She also notes that the new Flux boundaries are less consistent than before - as if the tide has risen around an island of Consensus, but also with areas where the Flux seems to have lashed out.
The heroes find themselves in Flux once more and are attacked by beings of impossible geometry. They're beaten up badly and decide to retreat to safer Flux as they determine the area is draconically possessed by Dragons / Trolls. When they return having repaired their armour, however, the area is once again flooded by Carlaeon. They fight through and head on and find the forest thickening. Henrietta shapes away the physical forest, but discovers there's forest that isn't Flux that she can't shape: forest that's Dragon. It gets deeper, and eventually so thick they can't push through for Dragon, but they spot Tara, the village Wayfinder.
Tara pushes out the Tuireann in the Flux, shaping the Dragon-Flux like it's normal Flux and parts a way through. The party make it through a tight corridor of Tuireann vines, but the dragon latches into some of their legs. Henrietta attempts surgery to cut it out of Leila's leg, but the surgery is invasive and leaves Leila limping. The others who were poisoned decide to wait.
They approach the Mage Tower through the Dragon-Flux in a bubble shaped by Tara through the Dragon and Henrietta through the Forest. Henrietta is fascinated by this ability to shape against Dragons. They arrive at the tower and find a Star has fallen near it: out of which pale, stout and eyeless being come and try to grind the party for their bones. They dispatch the Sightless Ones and investigate their alien biology and crafting which makes no sense. Krodd tastes them and determines they live underground and are focussed on digging to make their civilisation.
Inside the Mage Tower, the Mages are annoyed because the Sightless Ones have stolen all their Mana and sealed themselves beneath it. The party eventually open a way down, and despite Krodd's protestations head down and meet the Sightless Ones. They exchange information and set up the potential for trade. Pazuzu uses a Touch of Divinity to attempt to understand their alien crafting, but has to concentrate to make it stick, but it's Elias who really gets the hang of it as he is presented a dagger reforged from his own. As he accepts it, the Sightless One becomes static, and they quickly make to leave.
Up top, the Mages have decided they've had enough of the Star and its trouble and perform a large Fracturing ritual to get rid of it. Half the party tries to stop them, but without the other half helping it's not enough and the ritual goes off. The star rises into the sky, but the Mages freeze in place and Stasis erupts as the party flee.
With the Mages stuck in Stasis, Zip brandishes a contract that the Mages have now technically failed to uphold and consequently declares that the damages are “everything that's not nailed down”. They begin dividing things up (though mostly it's useless Mage equipment, there's a good number of mana crystals that they recovered from the Sightless Ones).
They head back below to inform the Sightless Ones of what's gone on and to tell them to be careful of the Stasis. Back up top, those afflicted by Tuireann's vines part with 1 mana crystal each as Krodd performs a ritual to drive away the foliage infestation and to repair Leila's leg. Krodd becomes a little confused about Leila's intentions when she talks about aesthetic and with the intention to help her ramps the ritual up to 3 mana to help transform her skin. Leila knocks together a master-crafted grieve to support her and cover up the scarring, but as the ritual kicks off its shown to be rather unnecessary as Leila's skin is transformed to a shimmering state that she finds herself able to control to adjust her appearance.
Zip gives Elias his card in case he wants to file a law suit against the Strossbourgian Mage who sold him a dodgy potion and fused him with his armour.
With the Mage Tower suitably looted and an understanding reached with the Sightless Ones, they return to the village, guided through the Dragon-Flux by Tara and Henrietta's combined shaping abilities. Upon return, they announce to the village that staying is simply unsustainable and with Tara's evidence and Essie's need to be blessed by the Leader, they all return. The coffers are raided and the village is able to pull together 18R each for the adventurers who bravely helped them. They return to Acryn, and the villagers are directed by Watchpeople organised by the Council to a camp being set up by the city that appears to be filled with equally displaced people: some who look like villagers, others who are dressed more obviously as people from the City itself. There's smoke rising consistently from the East side of the city, and news reaches their ears that the city is under siege from the Dragon Gate: from Triskelion herself. Pazuzu's heart sinks as there are recognisably people from Sleepy Hills in the large camp too. He goes to help take care of them and make sure they are alright.
Henrietta gives a full report on the newly found problems in the Flux to the East Empire Company and the Council's Crisis Team. She notes in particular the Draconic incursions into Flux, the encroachment of Flux into Consensus, and the dangers of Stasis. The information is noted, and passed around to all relevant authorities, and Henrietta is brought in for more rigorous questioning as her story starts to line up with the experiences of bedraggled Wayfinders who have also been investigating the Flux. Their fears are confirmed: the Flux that was appears to be vulnerable, if not infested, with Dragons, and there's a new spread of Flux into the Consensus.
Essie gets blessed by the Leader and returns to her people. Pazuzu gets together with Leila and Elias to study the Sightless Ones' crafting some more. Elias is hesitant due to the generation of Stasis previously, but as they study the crafting they find it's not spreading any more Stasis. Pazuzu puts some effort into better understanding crafting this way and all three gain an insight into the bizarre manner in which this is forged, though a lot comes from Elias explaining his understanding to them, as well as through the ritual Krodd performs to allow them all to share their understanding.