Aurelyth’s Eggs

The Eggs

Act 1 - The Three Eggs of Aurelyth

Inside the ribs of a dead mother, three hearts still beat.

When Aurelyth, the Goldenrod Matriarch, died under Shadowhearth, her skeleton became stone and her eggs turned to rock. They were not dead. They were petrified, waiting. Draconic mothers and their unborn are one soul, and her soul had nowhere to go without theirs.

For centuries they slept in a bricked-up crypt no longer on any map, until picks cracked the binding.

Act 2 - The Gnarl, The Bright, and The Last Heart

Egg One - Wrymn, The Gnarl: He hatched moons ago. He is the runt. The size of a large dog, stunted wings with one bent backwards, gold scales bleeding black, milky eyes, a section of infernal chain fused to his left foreleg. He is a feral toddler who learned Common through the castle pipes.

To save him, the party must go to Kethos to have the chain removed for the price of a sunless scale, brew tea from the sewers with a willing drop of Blaidd's blood, and have Ignis sing the heart-song. If he is killed, he will turn to grass. If saved, he imprints, can smell Gilded Rot, and becomes a companion who loves fiercely.

Egg Two - Ysil, The Bright One: The middle egg, perfect. If Wrymn lived, she hatches when Ignis sings. Horse-sized at hatch, bright gold, chatty, furious - she felt her mother's murder through the shell. Her breath purifies Rot. She loves Wrymn obsessively and hates Ferrum with a depth that frightens even her.

If Wrymn died, she hatches twisted, screaming, and Kethos will offer to help put her down for a price. She can still be saved, but only with grass from Wrymn's body.

Egg Three - Sol, The Last Heart: Barrel-sized, pressed against Aurelyth's heart, holding her remaining soul. He will not hatch until the end. He thrums like a war drum and makes infernal chains rust just by being near.

When Sol hatches he is instantly Young Adult size.

If his siblings were saved, he is gold and kind. If one died, he is half gold and half black, and the party must convince him that the world is worth saving. His first breath will burn Mammonax's contract off the sky over Aurum.

The Mother remains. Her children are waking up.