Back in the Second Age! Here's last time.
It's been three years since our heroes liberated Khem from the Pharaoh and set up a democracy. They parted ways, and have been pursuing their own interests.
Akala, for instance, has been attempting to get the leadership of Curracurrang, the Flying City, to aim it towards Khem (it needs a resting place before it crashes). Said leadership, however, is concerned about the political upheaval there, and aren't quite certain about it.
Thanos was visited by some Lemurians interested in trading Vril tech. He told them about the underwater city of Elapi and its Vril pyramid, but expects them to share as well, which they're happy to do.
Eithne travels to Mongala, pursuing Sarangerel, the Blind Naga Queen of Tu-holo. She nearly kills her, but Sarangerel comes prepared with underlings and allows them to die as she escapes.
Imani has been dreaming of the god Eloah, and in the dreams the god always asks her a riddle. She has been unable to answer it, however, and it's beginning to nettle her. But then, as the year 515 MK draws to a close, she receives a message sent to her in Haru-Seti. Her brother, Mosi, has been executed in Gorgos.
A bit of Imani-related backstory: Imani fought in a war between her home country of Nubia and the island nation of Gorgos. As part of that way, her family - father Imamu, mother Desta, and brother Mosi - were captured, along with her, and imprisoned by the Queen of the Gorgons. Imani escaped with the help of Amara, the princess, and later returned with a magical artifact that allowed her to buy freedom to travel to and from the island. Her family, however, remain political prisoners. Imani herself married Amara, making her technically part of the Gorgon royal family. However, part of this agreement was that no harm would come to her family, so Queen Uzoma has broken that promise.
Imani sends word to her friends and they all meet on the island of Bogador, the largest island in Gorgos, in the capital city of Ogara. Imani has a palatial estate there, and each of the heroes gets their own suite. No one is exactly happy, though. Gorgons openly worship Set, and men are sacrificed and enslaved here. The Queen commands a giant serpent called Apep. During the five nights of Wayeb (the last month of the year, known as the Month of Terror), Apep roams the city, feeding on anyone it chooses. It's considered a sign of a prosperous year if Apep choose to eat one of your slaves. Tonight is Nightensoul, two nights before the first night of Wayeb.
The heroes discuss what's happened, and Imani makes her intentions clear - she means to kill Uzoma, topple the government, and install Amara as queen, with the understanding that she'll change things around here. She has an army ready to go in the personage of the Mercenary Queen (whom we met waaaay back here in the pilot). She's also intending to get help from Hesperia (which once controlled Gorgos and would like to again). Doing that, though, means not only besting Uzoma but disabling or destroying the Vril circles in each city. Powered by human sacrifice, they are capable of burning an enemy fleet to ash as it crosses the sea.
The characters talk with Princess Amara, and despite being kind of disturbed by her forked and blackened tongue (that's just how they do here), she's informative. She tells them that Mosi wasn't executed, he was sacrificed, and she wasn't permitted to know why. She does know that it wasn't near any of the existing Vril circles, but near the beach. Imani theorizes that Uzoma is trying to access part of the tunnels beneath Ogara, a labyrinthine city built by the Ophidians centuries ago. Amara tells them roughly where she saw smoke rising up the night of the sacrifice, and the heroes dress in simple Gorgon clothing to go have a look.
They find a group of Gorgon soldiers standing on a rise guarding nothing obvious, and Imani approaches to find that they are standing on the lip of a crater. It's nearly 25 feet deep and the floor appears to be a disc of black glass. The Gorgon soldier inadvertently reveals that it's called "the Lock" and that the sacrifice was an attempt to open it. Imani tells her that there's trouble up the road and convinces the soliders to go have a look, and Eithne (in the form of a seagull) and Akala descend to have a peek.
Akala feels fugue tickling at her mind and Eithne realizes that there is powerful magic here. The ground is black glass, but etched with cracks and markings and arranged into huge concentric circles. It seems that the circles might move, lining up in a particular way, but it's too dark and too intricate to tell how. They also find a charred corpse, a Taurean, in the center of the disc. Its limbs are outstretched and it has a nose ring - not something that a Taurean would ever choose to wear. It also has ropes tied to its wrists and ankles. Worst of all, its horns have been broken off. This is Mosi's body.
Up top, Imani and Thanos find four stakes with ropes tied to them, but the ropes are burned off at the end. They're not spaced properly to lower anything down, so their function isn't apparent. In the pit, Akala and Eithne hear a voice whispering in Massawa, the language of Nubia. "Water," it cries, "I thirst."
Akala mentions to Eithne that this is the language the Imani's family uses (she's met Imani's father, in fact), and the voice grows louder. "Imani," it whispers. "Sister." Wind picks up around them. They decide to leave, and Eithne, still a gull, heads for the sky. Akala tries, but the body sits up and lashes out with one of the ropes, tying up Akala's ankles. She kicks free as Eithne reaches the top. She assumes her Jinn form and tells Imani and Thanos what's happening, and they jump into the pit.
The corpse stops moving, and a spectral Taurean appears and lowers itself into a charge. Imani begs with her brother to stop, to talk to her, and it pauses. Up on the lip of the crater, Eithne conjures up a bucket of water, but just then, the guards return and leap into the pit as well.
Once of them reaches into her sleeves and throws a handful of black serpent scales into the air, summoning up snakes made of wind to hold the Mosi-spirit fast. What was her intention then? We'll never know, as Thanos strikes his gladius on the ground and throws fire at it.
Mosi screams in pain and burns, crumbling away to nothing. Imani screams in agony and a single tear falls from her face and strikes the ground. One of the circles moves and locks into place, and a man's shape walks out of the darkness. "Thanos?" it whispers.
Some Thanos-related backstory: Back in Nazca, years ago, Thanos was involved in the gladiatorial games. He eventually came in second, and the warrior that beat him was a Netherman named Inti. Inti spared his life, and the two of them were friends and companions until Inti died under the fangs of Zaramamma, a Naga. Thanos is fated to kill her, and she vowed to ruin him.
And now Inti walks out of the shadows. Thanos recognizes him, but is horrified - Inti died years ago. "I am free tonight," he says. "It is Nightensoul. I am let out tonight. You will see. You will learn, to see from the inside of the Dark Lord." He gasps and falls, shattering like glass.
Imani approaches the Gorgon soldier/priestess and informs her that she'll be taking Mosi's body out of here. The soldier offers no objection, and even offers to help. Over the next couple of hours, they rig up some ropes to help folks climb out, but when they emerge, none other than Queen Uzoma is waiting for them.
She greets Imani warmly; Imani makes no pretense about her hatred for her mother-in-law. She demands to know why Uzoma violated her promise and killed Mosi, and Uzoma says that her promises to beings on this Earth never supersede her vows to the Dark Lord, Set. Set demanded Mosi's horns as tribute. Uzoma invites Imani and her "servants" to dine with her, and then proclaims to everyone listening that Imani, her daughter-in-law, and Imani's servants are under royal protection. Anyone raises a hand, blade, or fang to them will see the inside of Apep.
The Queen and her retinue slither off, and Imani and her friends take Mosi's body and burn it the rest of the way. She brings her parents as well, and when the funeral is done, they discuss what's to be done. Imani wants to get her family off of this island, kill Uzoma, and end this nightmare. Thanos, of course, notes that freeing the slaves and upending governments is kind of what they do.
Exactly how, of course, is a different question.
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