Astrid's Broken Formula

The portal waited upstairs, but Astrid's story came first. When the party freed her, she explained what had happened inside the Little Shope of Horticulture while they were buried under Gravenhurst. She had not been attacked at random. She had been working on something dangerous and valuable: a chemical formula meant to sever the unnatural tether between Witchborn corruption and the Void. If it worked, it could become a countermeasure. That made it a target. Astrid described the experiment in progress: potent magic, ground herbs, distilled metals, and a final stabilizer dose about to bring the formula together. Then came the sound of small clawed feet. Not rats. Not sewer things. Imps: clever, malicious, organized, and delighted to smash her work apart. They swarmed the shop. Astrid fought back with whatever she could reach, even shattering a vial against one of them, but the imps were only the opening act. The true leader was a tall horned woman, theatrical and predatory, who treated Astrid's work like a fascinating mistake that had to be stopped before it succeeded. She bound Astrid, ruined the experiment, and turned the shop into a lure. Maine tested the explanation against the Power Nine book. The woman was not Trixie as Astrid had seen her, but that did not clear Trixie's orbit. Devils had hierarchy. Games had players. Maine remembered the warning in the book: those who defy Trixie risk becoming unwilling players in a game they do not remember starting. Winning could mean legendary prizes. Refusing might not mean escape. That made the portal upstairs feel less optional. Victor's name was still written into the invitation. The hit-list thread had already made him a target, and the portal was not subtle about wanting him. The party could try to refuse, but refusal itself might be another move in the game. They chose to go together. Nobody wanted Victor entering alone. Jonah still worried about Podon, but he would not abandon Victor to a trap with his name on it. Ash argued that splitting up after the last portal disaster was exactly how people lost limbs, lives, or worse. So they linked up and stepped through as a group. Behind them, Astrid's shop held the remains of a destroyed anti-Void formula. Ahead of them waited the Game Master's territory.