Cloud Empress Q1 2026 session 8 - The Cure

An episode of the Playing at the Hearth podcast, hosted by The Open Hearth Gaming Community, titled "Cloud Empress Q1 2026 session 8 - The Cure" was published on March 3, 2026 and runs 135 minutes.

March 3, 2026 ·135m · Playing at the Hearth

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Summary

We start back at the breeding grounds, right as Prince Bug is lifting the battlefield into the air. Bodies, debris, everything is spiraling up toward him. The fear checks go poorly. Stormmy basically freezes and is lost in the chaos. Rook falls back and prepares to defend. Nagi makes their entrance by animating a corpse and, in true form, immediately tries to pick Rook’s pocket in the middle of all of this.Horns reacts very differently. Instead of running, they’re captivated. Through the noise of Prince Bug’s song, Horns gets the sense that he isn’t just some rampaging force. He feels compelled, almost distressed, like he’s being driven to do something larger than himself.When Horns starts drifting upward with the debris, Rook improvises a rescue line and manages to anchor them. Eventually Prince Bug drifts west, taking the worst of the battlefield with him.Afterward, the surviving imago are in rough shape, sick and leaking blue ichor. Horns carefully collects some of that fluid from a dying one, planning to use it to help Neus.Back at the library, Neus continues offering shelter to Cloud and Skull. Skull is tense and protective, especially when the rest of the party returns, but Neus keeps things from escalating.They decide to attempt the ritual using the blue ichor and chalk magic to stabilize Neus’s organ. It’s dangerous, but there aren’t better options.The spell miscasts.In the middle of the process, Horns realizes the poison will spread and kill Neus unless someone absorbs it. So Horns pulls it into themself and gives up their own soul to complete the transformation.Horns dies physically, but rises as a Wanderling.The miscast tears open the slip, and ash starts falling sideways outside the library. Wanderlings begin appearing. They’re cold, desperate, and drawn to “ancient flame.” They start taking books from the shelves. As they take them, the books ignite. One by one, the ghosts burn through volumes before finally fading.By the end, around fifty books are destroyed. The library smells like burned plastic. The librarian is understandably horrified, while Mama points out that, over time, she can reconstruct the lost knowledge.Neus survives, but altered. From now on, he only takes damage when doubles are rolled. Horns is now a ghost magician who can pass through walls and ignore normal harm, but is vulnerable to magical forces and drawn toward slip energy.With the expedition likely devastated and the library feeling less secure, the group relocates Cloud and Skull to the abandoned city-god complex under Rust Bucket. Rook destroys one of Vonnie’s proxy corpses and absorbs a flood of memories about what the place used to be: a maintained transit hub before the fall and Little Oregano’s descent into madness.They clear out a filthy but defensible room and settle in for the night.By the end of the session, Neus is stabilized but changed, Horns exists in a new and uncertain state, the library has suffered real loss, and Cloud and Skull are tentatively integrated into the group. Prince Bug remains out there, and Tooth the Clown is still an unresolved thread to the north.Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL7ABUfsBKg ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode Description

We start back at the breeding grounds, right as Prince Bug is lifting the battlefield into the air. Bodies, debris, everything is spiraling up toward him. The fear checks go poorly. Stormmy basically freezes and is lost in the chaos. Rook falls back and prepares to defend. Nagi makes their entrance by animating a corpse and, in true form, immediately tries to pick Rook’s pocket in the middle of all of this.

Horns reacts very differently. Instead of running, they’re captivated. Through the noise of Prince Bug’s song, Horns gets the sense that he isn’t just some rampaging force. He feels compelled, almost distressed, like he’s being driven to do something larger than himself.

When Horns starts drifting upward with the debris, Rook improvises a rescue line and manages to anchor them. Eventually Prince Bug drifts west, taking the worst of the battlefield with him.

Afterward, the surviving imago are in rough shape, sick and leaking blue ichor. Horns carefully collects some of that fluid from a dying one, planning to use it to help Neus.

Back at the library, Neus continues offering shelter to Cloud and Skull. Skull is tense and protective, especially when the rest of the party returns, but Neus keeps things from escalating.

They decide to attempt the ritual using the blue ichor and chalk magic to stabilize Neus’s organ. It’s dangerous, but there aren’t better options.

The spell miscasts.

In the middle of the process, Horns realizes the poison will spread and kill Neus unless someone absorbs it. So Horns pulls it into themself and gives up their own soul to complete the transformation.

Horns dies physically, but rises as a Wanderling.

The miscast tears open the slip, and ash starts falling sideways outside the library. Wanderlings begin appearing. They’re cold, desperate, and drawn to “ancient flame.” They start taking books from the shelves. As they take them, the books ignite. One by one, the ghosts burn through volumes before finally fading.

By the end, around fifty books are destroyed. The library smells like burned plastic. The librarian is understandably horrified, while Mama points out that, over time, she can reconstruct the lost knowledge.

Neus survives, but altered. From now on, he only takes damage when doubles are rolled. Horns is now a ghost magician who can pass through walls and ignore normal harm, but is vulnerable to magical forces and drawn toward slip energy.

With the expedition likely devastated and the library feeling less secure, the group relocates Cloud and Skull to the abandoned city-god complex under Rust Bucket. Rook destroys one of Vonnie’s proxy corpses and absorbs a flood of memories about what the place used to be: a maintained transit hub before the fall and Little Oregano’s descent into madness.

They clear out a filthy but defensible room and settle in for the night.

By the end of the session, Neus is stabilized but changed, Horns exists in a new and uncertain state, the library has suffered real loss, and Cloud and Skull are tentatively integrated into the group. Prince Bug remains out there, and Tooth the Clown is still an unresolved thread to the north.

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL7ABUfsBKg ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★