===== Genesis - Session 17 Recap =====

The party regrouped at Donny’s Bar after their assault on the Viroc Arcane Affairs building. St. Petersgrad remained unstable, with the air thick from residual magic and raw emotion following the dragon’s attack. While the city struggled with a newfound heaviness, the group began a series of high-stakes investigations into the remaining names on Harold’s list, leading to a miraculous manifestation and a confrontation with an otherworldly entity.

==== The Second Angel and the Bar of Light ====
During a scouting phase, Lusat’s familiar investigated the Graybridge Apothecary and reported the presence of Kaz Vetrov. However, a second scouting mission to Grigor’s Exchange ended in the familiar's death. Before departing Donny’s Bar to address these leads, Lusat used the Radiant Transmuter to summon a lesser angel. The being, a corporeal entity of radiant light with piercing green eyes, marked only the second recorded angelic appearance in history. Bogdan used this divine backdrop to preach a message of hope to the stunned patrons; while many fled in terror, others were deeply moved, taking his words to heart as the angel eventually faded into a path of light through the clouded sky.

==== The Burning of Graybridge Apothecary ====
Unnoticed by the rest of the group, Viktor traveled alone to Graybridge Apothecary. There, he confronted Kaz Vetrov and his wife, Lenadra. The encounter was interrupted by a ripple in a cursed mirror behind the counter, out of which an entity began to manifest. Viktor moved the couple to safety, casting Sanctuary as the mirror shattered. During a brief interrogation, Kaz insisted he was targeted merely for speaking out against orders, eventually handing Viktor a journal containing his knowledge of the Drekanovs’ cruelty. To cover their tracks, Viktor instructed the couple to burn the shop and disappear, providing them with a signet to seek help in his name.

==== Confrontation with the Mirror Entity ====
Viktor faced the creature that emerged from the glass alone. The entity proved to be a drain on his very vitality, reducing his maximum hit points with its unnatural touch. Using Fire-Eye Whiskey to ignite the room and his Channel Divinity to empower his strikes, Viktor fought a brutal battle amidst the flames. He eventually split the creature in half with a radiant glaive strike, receiving a vision of the Vetrovs escaping safely as the beast died. As he retreated across the bridge, the city felt colder, and the distant screams echoing through the streets suggested that this mirror entity was not the only horror unleashed that night.

==== Reflected Ink and Morning Grief ====
The party reunited at Anya’s tattoo parlor, where Bogdan continued to debate philosophy and hope with the skeptical artist. His words triggered a brief, visible magical flare in Anya’s tattoos before she suppressed the reaction. By morning, the sky over St. Petersgrad was unnaturally clear, yet the city felt hollowed out by grief; for the first time, the industrial forges remained unlit. While Viktor reviewed Kaz’s journal, Thorun and Lusat spent the downtime preparing equipment and spells for their final target: Grigor the Ghost.

==== Grigor’s Exchange and the Shadow of Crux ====
The party traveled to Grigor’s Exchange, a shop tucked beneath the Argent Spire that was protected by potent illusion magic. After negotiating with a surly, partially undead clerk and testing a volatile proto-draconic reagent, the group’s core members were escorted into a back room to meet Grigor. Inside a surreal, magically isolated space, Grigor expressed delight at the news of the Drekanov deaths but denied any role in the dragon's release. He warned the party of "Crux," an island of immense Shardisite wealth tied to Harold Drekanov’s ultimate ambitions. Refusing to simply die to satisfy Harold’s list, Grigor instead prepared to propose a counter-offer: a new target for the party to eliminate in exchange for his cooperation.