Lost Legends | Episode 2 - Carabossa
Two 'months' since joining Director Octave, these Lost Legends have been living peacefully in personal pocket dimensions created for them. When Octave receives a dire warning about 'space-time disturbances', he reluctantly decides to pull them from retirement.
He begins by visiting Legend Hríd, finding him luxuriating in an extravagant bath surrounded by animated statues and dragon servants in a rainbow-lit chamber. Hríd agrees to help convince the others, and together they recruit Legend Morub from his autumnal forest and Legend Thordan from his peaceful farmstead, where he's been tending crops and cooking with "Sizzling Sarah," his enchanted cast-iron pan. The group then travels to a hellish realm to retrieve the irritable Legend Belial, who agrees to join when promised the summoning of his demon officers.
At Octave's theater, they learn that mysterious books are emitting purple smoke and vibrating ominously, indicating an outside force has invaded these story-worlds. When another tome begins behaving strangely, Morub and Hríd accidentally summon a fifth Lost Legend Valentine, a disoriented former prince with fragmented memories and lost perfume magic. Octave explains that Valentine is an idealized version extracted from his world and asks him to join the quest. The group reluctantly agrees to inhabit their enhanced Einherjar armor and enter the corrupted book, which contains a dark fairy tale about a town whose children were stolen by a stranger. Before entering, Hríd privately discusses with Octave the spreading corruption that is extinguishing worlds throughout the Void.
The five legends awaken at the edge of a twisted forest overlooking a fog-shrouded town with a distant castle. As they journey toward the settlement, Valentine shares his backstory as a prince from the islands of Aidror who once fought evil alongside companions. They notice an old chapel in the distance and decide to investigate the town first. At a farmhouse, they discover brutally murdered animals and corpses inside showing signs of violent struggle. When the dead begin rising as undead, the party fights them off and discovers a terrified woman and her children hiding in the attic. She reveals that an evil woman in the castle has unleashed a plague of undead upon the town, and that Captain Adam of the town guard had directed survivors to take refuge in the chapel. She also tells them a chilling tale: years ago, a stranger rid the town of rats but then stole the children away, until Adam executed him from the tallest tower—a story echoing the legend of Hamelin.
At the ruined chapel, surrounded by fresh corpses and makeshift barricades, the party is shot at by an archer before convincing the defenders of their good intentions. Inside, they meet Adam, the heavily armored guard captain, who explains that the mayor made a pact with a witch who transformed him into a monster and now commands an army of undead from her castle. After debating whether to search for more survivors or confront the witch directly, the group decides to assault the castle immediately. Following a short rest, they set out with Adam, moving cautiously through devastated streets. Thordan's failed rooftop jump awakens undead, forcing Hríd to conjure a protective barrier. At the bridge, they find heaps of corpses blocking a palisade wall, which they overcome by covering the bodies in magical plant growth and forcing through the blockade.
Suddenly, a star-shaped rift tears open the sky, and through it steps Queen Carabossa—a regal figure in a dark purple dress with five glowing gems floating above her head. She radiates power and speaks of conquering worlds and reshaping existence. Strange auras appear around the party members, with some glowing blue indicating purity while others shine red or purple, hinting at corruption. Carabossa tempts them with promises of returning to their home worlds and reveals that mysterious beings called Custodians are their true enemy, claiming these entities have been manipulating the legends and lying about ever sending them home. She portrays her actions as necessary for creating a just world free from the Custodians' exploitation. Though some sense deception, her words sow doubt. When Valentine attempts to Command her to kneel, she effortlessly counters and vanishes through her portal, inviting them to her castle to prove her claims.
Inside the castle, which appears pristine and well-maintained, Valentine dispels an illusion to reveal the horrifying truth: piles of rotting corpses and pervasive corruption throughout. In the mayor's office, they find the transformed mayor—his body fused with grotesque armor, wielding a massive warhammer—while Carabossa briefly appears before escaping through another star-portal. The party battles the monstrous mayor and summoned ghouls in a brutal fight, eventually prevailing. When the mayor falls, the purple corruption dissipates. Among the papers on his desk, they find one written in an alien, unreadable language radiating unnatural energy. The world then drains of color, turning blindingly white, and the party finds themselves back on Octave's stage.
Octave appears relieved that the book has stopped emitting purple smoke, but grows deeply troubled when the adventurers report everything: Carabossa's presence, her illusions, her seizure of an Ascellan star that grants teleportation between worlds, and their conversation with her. He warns they should not have spoken with or taken anything from Carabossa, expressing concern about how legends can become corrupted through despair or manipulation. When Hríd demands to speak with a superior and the group questions the unfulfilled promise of summoning Legend Belial's officers, Octave offers to try providing aid and include their accounts in his report. The party retreats to the bathhouse to recuperate, but one of them notices Octave slipping away toward his study. The group remains together, discussing the deepening mystery and steeling themselves for whatever comes next.