Party of Seven is the first episode of season 10, The Seven.
Introduction[]
“In the world of Spyre, did the prophecy foretell that the dragon Kalvaxus would rise to power when once more were seven maidens chained at the mouth of his cave. What the prophecy could not predict was what the seven had in store for the world. United by prophecy, bound by friendship, the seven maidens would quickly become one of Spyre's premier parties of teen heroes and all-star students at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy!”
Synopsis[]
Danielle Barkstock wakes up and discovers that she is manacled by the wrists on the top of a large mountain. There are six other girls in similar chains, but Zelda Donovan is the only other person awake. The two introduce themselves and Danielle explains to Zelda that she was aware of Penelope Everpetal’s plan to kidnap girls in order to fulfill a prophecy, although she wasn’t onboard with all of it.
Ostentatia Wallace is the next to wake. Zelda explains that they were being kept in palimpsests, or crystals that have been scraped of all of their data. Ostentatia blames Aelwyn Abernant for her capture. Katja Cleaver begins to stir, and immediately frets about her beloved horse, Cinnamon. The group discusses the fact that they were all targeted because they are all virgins. During this, Penny Luckstone comes to. She was the first to be kidnapped, so has been on the mountaintop the longest of all the girls.
Sam Nightingale awakens and begins thrashing in her chains, trying to escape. Following her is Antiope Jones, the final girl to wake up. She immediately pees herself and several of the girls follow suit in solidarity. There’s a pulse of energy as golden smoke begins to emanate from the cavern and along the horizon. The girls take a moment to take in how long they have spent trapped in these palimpsests; Katja, Antiope, Danielle, and Penny have all been here for over a year.
Humans wearing red dragon scale armor appear out of the cavern. They introduce themselves as servants of Kalvaxus. Danielle wild shapes into a corgi-sized tardigrade, and with no wrists in this form, she is free from her shackles. Sam casts Tidal Wave and pushes the Kalvaxus groupies off the cliff’s edge. Danielle shifts out of wild shape and begins unlocking the others’ shackles. When Ostentatia is freed she casts Animate Objects and the metal chains pop themselves open. Danielle, in an attempt to soothe Katja’s Cinnamon worries, casts Locate Plant and Animal and the girls see that Cinnamon is on her way to find Katja.
The group decides to investigate the cave before descending the mountain. Antiope recognizes the space as a dragon’s lair. Sam and Penny move further into the cavern. Penny looks for supplies to make friendship bracelets for the group and finds broken mirror shards. While she’s crafting, Sam finds her and drags her out of the room towards the exit, but they hear echoing sobs from a far away room. They locate the source and find more mirror shards, with one intact mirror set into the stone wall. As the pair stand in front of the mirror, a woman appears to them. They give her fake names. The woman is trapped in the mirror and asks about her sisters, who were trapped like her.
Sam looks into her mirror of the past, which reveals that the woman in the mirror has been trapped for millenia. Her name is the Ending of Things. Penny asks if the woman’s sisters went to Aguefort, and with that information she is able to make eye contact with Penny, whereas she couldn’t see out of the mirror previously. The other five girls pour into the room, and from where they stand further back, they see the Ending of Things as a non-humanoid figure, clearly not a mortal woman.
Antiope uses Hunter’s Sense to detect the being’s vulnerabilities, but the figure in the mirror is able to grab the magic and use it to pull Antiope towards her. Sam attempts to Counterspell but it doesn’t work, and the being grabs hold of her magic as well. Danielle, seeing Sam and Antiope being pulled towards the mirror, casts Erupting Earth on the mirror. It shatters.
As the girls collect themselves, they hear a voice from the cave opening. Zelda recognizes Sandra Lynn Faeth, the mom of student Fig Faeth in her year at Aguefort. As the group moves towards the exit, Ostentatia and Danielle take a moment to survey the shattered mirror. Yelle feels that something big has just entered the world, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ostentatia casts Mending on the friendship bracelets and they become magically connected. Antiope’s ranger instincts give her the sense that the being marked her and Sam in some way when it took hold of their magic. Sandra Lynn shepherds the girls out and updates them on the Kalvaxus situation in Elmville.
Time jump: a year and a half into the future!
Danielle, Zelda, and Ostentatia are starting junior year while Sam, Penny, Katja, and Antiope are seniors. Since escaping the palimpsests, the group has become a well-respected adventuring group in the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, known as the Seven.
At the Jones compound, Antiope’s father, Hector Jones works out while her mother, Athena Jones, makes Antiope a breakfast protein shake. Antiope’s four much older siblings have all moved out, but photos of them and their accolades cover the walls of the Jones house. Antiope’s sister, Corsica Jones arrives to give Antiope a ride to school, where Corsica is a teacher. She brings news that Principal Aguefort wants to meet with the Seven before school, but refuses to say why. Athena brings up an internship at the Council of Chosen as a possible route for Antiope to take. While Corsica and Antiope head to school, they talk to their brothers Ajax, Prospero and Ulysses on video message through Antiope’s crystal. The siblings commiserate on having to live up to high expectations.
At the Everpetal home, Sam gets ready for school. She passes Penelope’s old room, which has been emptied of all furniture and decor. In the kitchen, Penelope’s mom, Rebecca Everpetal, has collected some luggage and boxes. She tells Sam that she and her husband, Gideon Everpetal, are getting divorced because he has been having an affair. Since she will be moving in with her sister in a town far away from Aguefort, Sam will have to stay in the Everpetal home, essentially on her own. Rebecca tearfully reassures Sam that she considers Sam her daughter. Rebecca also reports that Sam’s mother, Camille, called to encourage Sam to make a re-entry into show business, but Sam wants nothing to do with her. Rebecca and Sam set some of Gideon’s things on fire.
Zelda has texted Sam asking for a ride to school, so Sam sets out in her car, named Sebastian. The Donovan house is covered with debris from a party the night before. Zelda hesitates to take shotgun, so Sam asks Sebastian to embroider Zelda’s name on the seat. The pair discusses the Everpetal’s divorce and Sam’s mother.
The Luckstone home is in a state of organized chaos, as Danny and Bonnie Luckstone attempt to corral their 20 children before school. Bonnie takes a spare thirty seconds to let Penny know that she received a letter from the Society of Shadows inviting her into their apprenticeship program. As the school is not in Solace, Penny would have to move to attend, leaving the Seven. Bonnie reminds Penny that the apprenticeship offers a full ride, but maintaining an adventuring party would require finding a sponsor. Sam and Zelda swing by in Sebastian to pick up Penny.
Skullcleaver Manor is an enormous mansion with sprawling grounds, and Katja is in the stable with Cinnamon, as well as the family’s farrier, Gertrude, and the butler, Lockwood. Katja and Cinnamon share a breakfast of hot, dry oats. Katja receives a video message from her father, Karl Cleaver. He is a career adventurer currently in a dungeon in the extraplanar Abyss. Karl tells Katja that he might not be home in time for Katja’s graduation. Along with Katja, Gertrude and Lockwood are clearly disappointed by this.
In the Wallace household, Ostentatia greets her mother, Lucia Wallace, and her grandmother, Nonna, in the kitchen. The older women are concerned that Ostentatia is shaving her beard to fit in at school. Lucia asks Ostentatia to pray to the forge god for a miracle on behalf of her cousin, Chenzo. Ostentatia notices her father’s mithral tools are missing. Lucia informs her that negotiations to reopen the mithral factory have ended, so her father is still out of a job. Ostentatia heads towards the factory on her way to school, but spots her father, Carmine Wallace, in town on the way. He hands her gemstones for Revivify, but when Ostentatia asks him how he got the gemstones, she discovers he pawned his mithral tools. Ostentatia casts Animate Objects and the tools make their escape from the pawn shop window and jump into Carmine’s car.
The Barkenstock family lives in a yurt in the forest. Danielle greets Alyria Hempstock, her Elven mom, and Winona Barksdale, her human mom. Bud Cubby, postal worker, appears to deliver the mail and thank Yelle for her help in burning down a crystal extraction pipeline. When checking her email, Yelle sees a photo of her Druid classmates after they awoke the Ash Grove without her. She sends a message to the Druid group chat, but nobody responds.
All of the Maidens receive an email from Principal Aguefort, asking them to attend a meeting in his office before school starts. They all arrive at the campus, and greet each other lovingly. Principal Aguefort appears in a poof of smoke, and announces that their adventuring party will be broken up at the end of the year.
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Seven Maidens[]
- Danielle Barkstock
- Ostentatia Wallace
- Katja Cleaver
- Penny Luckstone
- Sam Nightingale
- Antiope Jones
- Zelda Donovan