Kathool, Dzeza and Elodea

In the Sunken City, Holothurian greets you as a changed collective: twenty more sea slugs have joined their body. The Adeptus Kathooli celebrate the lost city as Kathool's gift and a place to absorb visitors, knowledge and new sensations. Their creatures embody that welcome. Necro Adipocere lure hungry beings into themselves, Merdraconians merge into Merdrathoolians, and a mollusk and lamprey consume the dead princess to become the Nereid Princess, inheriting her self-loathing. Meanwhile, Dzeza's recruiters promise mortals ascension and power.

The two cults' influence reaches Battleon during Mogloween. After fighting living pumpkins with Thok and Juvania, you help a young woman pulled from the river. Calling herself Elodea, she tells you that she fled biting pumpkins and recruiters who tried to drag her away, then stays close as Arcana and Metrea join you in investigating the town. Dzeza's influence drives uncontrolled growth through plants and human bodies; Kathool's followers offer food and an end to loneliness through joining their collective. Even the houses have become dangerous, leading the trainers to conclude that neither competing force is confined to the cultists themselves.

Questioning rival recruiters, you and Arcana discover that both ceremonies require a girl whose hair matches Elodea's. After defeating Harvest Acromegalia, a human overwhelmed by Dzeza's growth, you shelter at Metrea's shack. Believing at first that the cults intend to sacrifice Elodea and learning that their reach extends far beyond Battleon, the trainers plan to investigate while you protect her. Elodea begs not to be left waiting at home again, and you decide to take her along and teach her as you go.

Your investigation follows the cults from Ashray through Necro U, the Sandsea and the Yokai Isles. Food and companionship draw vulnerable people into their promises, while unchecked growth displaces the lives already there. For Elodea, the journey also offers things she never knew: Juvania's memories of caring for a pet, the Sandsea's care for its dead, and Thok's assurance that looking after a small creature is worthwhile. The evidence finally brings you to evacuated Swordhaven. There, you and Elodea hear a cry the others cannot: Dzeza has spread through Lore's crust.

Beneath Swordhaven, Dzeza's manifestation tells you that it grew across galaxies until nothing could make it feel alive. The pumpkin you kicked during the riverside fight was one of its spores; that small pain drew its attention. Now it threatens to take Elodea, calling her a daughter of the Depths. She tears through the roots enclosing you and recognizes a sorrow like her own: she once mattered so little that she merely existed, while Dzeza grew until nothing else mattered. Despite her companions' warnings, she offers to live with it. Before it can answer, an immense shadow devours the manifestation.

Back in Swordhaven, Holothurian credits Kathool with destroying Dzeza's seed to protect Elodea. When the cult reveals that it needs her alive and loving the world so Kathool's call can join mortal minds across Lore, the frightened crowd turns on her. On the docks, Elodea reveals that she was an unwanted goldfish thrown into the river, where Kathool gave her a human body. You refuse to abandon her and set out for the temple rising from the sea with Thok and Juvania. Arcana and Metrea remain behind, divided over the risk, but begin searching for another answer.

The temple's welcome uses Water Elf voices and presents Elodea with distorted girls like herself, others transformed for Kathool's ceremony. Their invitation to hate the surface nearly overwhelms her, until candy in her sleeve and her friends' care remind her what she loves. Even after Kathool takes hold of her as the Child of the Depths and Arcana and Metrea return with Dzeza's remnants to help pull her free, the connection remains. Elodea then leaves the group and steps into the dark of her own accord, where green light and an outstretched hand meet her. When Thok discovers her alive as a goldfish back on shore, you credit Dzeza with the rescue, though your friends differ over its motives. Juvania carries Elodea safely in a bowl, and the trainers promise to seek a human form that will not restore Kathool's ritual.