Roaming around the temple, I was hit by two blasts from Dan’s past. The first was running into a man among the cult who seemed to recognize me. Imagine my shock when I learned that it was Georgie, now grown into a man after being abducted by evil forces in Dan’s statue period. The funny part was that he recognized Dan as the old statue.
Dan also ran into the skeletal remains of a person in the back room of the temple. When he examined it closely, he found a note addressed to Maria. It was written by her brother hoping for her happiness and safety. This was the same guy who helped set Dan, Harry, and Maria free, but here he was, now dead. It was good to see the conclusion of both of these tales, even if this one ended on a sad note.
The team entered the labyrinth and met up with its boss, King Korol (more chess theme!). Defeating him revealed that Dan’s mother was being held in the underworld, Nadira. Dan’s mother tried to make him promise not to go after her in Nadira, but the gesture is obviously going to be futile. He’s dedicated to rescuing his mother, especially since his entire life has been defined by the mission to save her. To let her languish in Nadira would dishonor Pankraz’s memory.
On the way out the team finally ran into the petrified statue of Debora. One quick Zenithian item usage later and the family was finally reunited after ten long years of struggle. The family returned to Gotha to celebrate, Beca made some jokes about how Debora seemed to have softened up based on stories she heard from Sancho, and Dave fought back tears of joy at finally being reunited as a family. Dan ran into Dave at another point in the night and he told his father that, despite Madalena’s insistence that they didn’t, they had to go rescue her from Nadira. There was no argument from Dan, so the party was ready to head into the underworld the next day.
At the portal point to Nadira, there was a fantastic moment as it was revealed that Dan and Debora’s wedding bands were the key to opening the portal to Nadira. Their incapacitation as statues all made sense now as it kept the rings separated and far away. The party stepped through the portal into the shadow world and saw a vast purple, foreboding, dark land.
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