Takara turned to see his attacker: the Scarlet Empress. She allowed him to deal with Feot -- to whom, surprisingly, he gave a merciful death -- before facing him herself. She told him to get his comrades out of "her manse"; when he essentially refused, she vanished and the world started attacking him. Fern, in the Manse, managed to bleed off the excess Earth and Water Essence before the streets-flowing-like-water could do too much damage. Takara had to evade some Dragon-Bloods, but they stood precious little chance.
The Manse began showing interference, and then trying to shut it down. Fern tried and failed to stop it; when Amber and Takara arrived at the doors, they found the Scarlet Empress raising a sword over an unconscious Fern. Amber interrupted. Before two minutes were out, the four of them were locked in combat. A particularly powerful Holy spell caused the Empress to retreat, her wedding ring shivering: she vanished in a flash, leaving behind a befuddled and slightly fearful ghostly figure.
It was a Deathlord, they quickly realized: none other than the Eye and Seven Despairs, most pathetic of the lot. (He was actually afraid of them, Amber realized!) Some very pointed questioning, veiled threats, and a thin veneer of politeness let them follow him back to his home, where he assured the party that the Empress would be waiting for them.
She was indeed there, and before long she and the party were again attacking each other -- only this time, she had ensnared Takara and turned him against his allies. He attacked Kai, whose phoenix resurgence helped knock him back. Fern aimed that holy spell at the wedding ring again... and somehow, the blast of Solar energy let her recognize and begin to fight the Ebon Dragon's bonds. She knew somehow that she would never succeed without the Sun's personal blessing, though.
No problem, the party decided. Up they went to Yu-Shan, breezing by the lion guards and rocketing to the Jade Pleasure dome on a gold boat. Urgent explanations earned them not only Sol Invictus' blessing for his daughter, but also another brief glimpse of the Games of Divinity.
What now? The Empress, it seems, had a plan. Via Shahra, the party called for a parlay with the First and Forsaken Lion. Largo's impassioned speech, calling on the Lion to remember his past self, convinced that adversary to join (at least for now) with the party against all the other Deathlords. The session ended with the party beginning to plot a truly massive clash of armies -- a final attempt to put the Deathlords down.