|
As the decision is made to hold a celebration, and have Kadath speak to the people about Malar, Fix notices the remaining four council members are under a strong charm as they look to Zybella before answering any questions. Zybella instructs the council members to see to the setup and announcements of the celebration to take place that evening, and they all disperse. The group goes their separate ways, eventually finding themselves back in their rooms for rest. During this rest, Forsythe visits dreams of battle ending with a cry of death, as if from someone’s memories.
After they all wake, they find the preparations well underway and only an hour or so before the celebration is to begin. Zybella opens the celebration by calling on the people of Ephremon using her bell-toned voice, however this time not affecting the group. Kadath then speaks to the assembly about Malar and the Falgreen being the same god. Watching over the crowd, the group notices mixed emotions throughout the people, three individuals particularly stand out and eventually are determined to be possible threats. Kadath informs Zybella about the three and encourages her to invite them to council the next day. Evangeline, later that evening, follows them to a tavern in the Living Tree and listens in on their conversation. Just as she was possibly about to learn more information from them, one of the three hears Buckley come into the tavern and halts their discussion. During the rest of the celebration, Kadath contacts Erwin and asks that he join them in Ephremon. Fix also reaches out for aid from his mother, who agrees to send Lilian to Ephremon to aid Zybella in establishing her authority and guide her decisions. During the exchange, Fix notices his mother is withholding some information and after making him promise to use Kadath’s discipline, she informs him that Guidna, who is in Niliesh, is missing. The group reconvenes at the Owl’s Nest that after the celebration has died down and after discussing their findings decide to stay and finish the task at hand. They go to bed to get a good rest before the meeting at the council chamber in the morning. The next morning, before any awake, Evangeline goes to Joyve to learn about sending, and to have a message sent to Gavyn to ask him about Gidna. Gavyn also responds that their mother had forbidden them to search for her, but he did some anyway and discovered Gidna had left Niliesh. That morning early Forsythe is also contacted by Kosha. She lets him know strange things have been happening and mentions that odd things have been turned up missing. She also gives him the grim news that Lady Gaera has been seen on the move. After sharing this at breakfast, he leaves to go to the trees and watch the area of Fix’s potential date with Zybella. When Erwin joins them for breakfast, he confirms Kosha’s information and discloses that Evangeline’s boomerang and the bag he carried Kadath in as an infant were missing. He also informed Fix of the pendant that ended up with Gaera and confirmed with him that it was indeed Gidna’s.
0 Comments
The party arrives at Joyve’s where they learn some history of the town and the Vedrathi family. She informs them it took a great amount of time to work herself into the position she currently holds. She now has the ability to teleport the children being sacrificed to the Falgreen safely away from the city. She was once a councilor of Illarian Vadrathi who instructed her to guard his family after foreseeing the trouble ahead. She also confirmed that Farven’s father conspired to kill Illarian, Zybella’s father, citing that he had charmed his followers. The ‘gift’ to speak charm had been handed down from generation to generation further back than Joyve could remember. Fix, using the circlet, asked Zybella if she could join them at Joyve’s. When she arrived she informed the group that she had to shake off a couple of guards that were following her. Fix then asked Joyve to share with Zybella all she knew and, with this, the group learned that Zybella’s uncle, Elkian Cormier (aka Vedrathi) was the one receiving the children in Padun.
After discussing and formulating a plan, Zybella decides to stay with Joyve for the night and the group leaves. After exiting the home of the mage, the party decided not to return to the Owl’s Nest. Evangeline went invisible to scout the area while Forsythe, in bird form, perched in a tree to watch from above. Soon they spotted two darkly clothed figures moving about and determined they were searching for Zybella. Fix and Kadath, having found another cave of roots, were informed of the two guards lurking about and quickly drew them in, detaining them for the rest of the night. The next morning the group reconvened at the council chamber and entered alongside Joyve and Zybella. After a brief exchange of words Zybella spoke and commanded there would be no more sacrifices. As she spoke she charmed many of the council members and Kadath. Zybella then communicates telepathically with Farven, who grows agitated. Seeing his imminent demise, Farven and Lukas attempt to flee, but their efforts are thwarted as both are swiftly killed by the group. Zybella announces there is to be a feast for the city, then telepathically asks Kadath if he would address the people regarding the Fallgreen and her true identity as Malar. After intimidating some ratfolk to leave their camp alone, the party manage to make their way back to Ephremon. Juric, who was waiting for their return, lets Fix know that the council has been informed of their success, and that an area has been set up for his date with Zybella. He then guides them to the council where they are welcomed in and paid as agreed. When Fix mentions the bones of Illarian Vedrathi, Farven becomes tense. As the party questions the council they learn of the danger in the ancestry of the Vedrathi line. Zybella, upon request, speaks her consent to the date with Fix revealing the charming effect of her voice.
Leaving the council, the party split up. Fix prepares for the date, Evangeline works on getting the recipe for the Kiss, Forsythe changes form as he goes to a tavern within the Living Tree, and Kadath goes to the library. Kadath searches the library and discovers the ratfolk are infected with what is called a “biting curse,” which causes them to change shape. He also finds information about the Sky Station above Philolio. The people of Philolio were of great science and magic that drew unwanted attention which caused their destruction. As he looked for information on the Vedrathi family he discovered their family lineage had been removed from the books. Digging around though, he found a small book with the same title as a previous one, “Those They Missed,” and learned there were four other gods along with Malar. During his date Fix learns Zybella’s family had long passed and she was raised by Farven, rarely even leaving his side. She also shared that she had been asked to use her gift only once. That request was from Farven, to make a person leave town. After dinner Zyvella lights the pyre for Illarian, completing the burial rites. As the group gets back together they begin to discuss the oddities about the city and especially with Farven. Kadath leaves to commune with the Raven Queen while Forsythe goes to check for a thieves guild and discovers symbols which lead to a mage’s home in the roots of the Central Tree. He watched as the mage took an infant and a water skin to the basin at the statue of the Falgreen and seemingly killed the child. However, following her back to her home, he discovers the infant is still alive. She teleports the child away and then introduces herself as Joyve. Having confirmation from the Raven Queen by Kadath that Joyve could be trusted, the party decides to pay her a visit. Seeing the waters clearing where they are, the group decides to explore Philolio while they are nearby. While traveling northward, they see the waters in various pools clearing as they head out of the swamp and into the forest. Forsythe keeps an eye out from above, scouting ahead to guide the group. On the third day Forsythe spots ruins in the distance and, scouting closer in, confirms the ruins are of an ancient city long gone and reclaimed by nature. He also finds a large pit that appears bottomless.
Making their way into the area, the rest of the group spot a sign on one of the ruins carved out in ancient elvish. The sign commemorates the ancestors of the elder elves with a list of surnames. Among the names listed, they recognize a few from their recent stop in Ephremon: Kolleth (same surname as Genlan), Ollinn (Farven’s surname), and Vedrathi (Zybella’s surname). Moving on, they join Forsythe at the edge of the pit and send down TTC to take a look. TTC reaches the bottom of the pit and finds a 5’ hole that opens into a chamber below. Looking through this hole, they make out that it is the ceiling of a 35’ circular room dimly lit by a light blue glow. Deciding to investigate further, they each descend into the pit with little trouble. As they are making their way downward, a voice speaks about having a better view of the stars from here. Entering into the room, the group quickly finds a discarded elven skeleton under rubble and a machine that seems to be powering an unstable portal. The group uncover the skeleton and a ghost appears. This ghost encourages the group to go through the portal to see the stars and steps through the portal. After some investigation and tinkering they confirm the machine does power the portal and are able to fix it so that it is stable. They step through to find themselves in a sphere of dark metal and glass surrounded by what appears to be stars. After disabling a machine that responded quite aggressively to their arrival, they investigated the sphere and made a few unusual discoveries. They discovered a suit that was protected by a shield and a set of doors leading to the outside. They also discovered that they are looking down upon the world they know as if looking down on large maps, and soon realize they are much higher than even the sky. The ghost that they followed into the sphere then attacks, attempting to possess one of the party but fails. The party quickly causes the ghost to dissipate then turns their focus to the suit and door. As the shield is disabled Forsythe puts on the suit and with Evangeline’s help he is able to step through the doors of what is an airlock to the outside. Forsythe explores the outside while the rest of the group continue to explore inside where they find three salvageable numenera devices and a lot of obtainium. Satisfied with their discovery, they decide to return through the portal. Once inside the previous room, the voice speaks again. This is Illarian Vedrathi, a king and sorcerer who ruled the land, who was killed and left here by his enemies to wait untold years to be found among these ruins and laid to rest. Giving it a little thought, they gather the bones to take back with them for a proper burial and head toward Ephremon. As they leave the ruins they spot claw marks on the ground, remembering the ghost had mentioned ratfolk they make a cold camp and keep a vigilant watch. After Juric left, the group continued to travel deeper within the swamp, where the waters grew darker with the red and black liquids. Fix, using levitation, and Forsythe, using his eagle form, both saw gray patches among the pools of the swamps. Investigating one, they found it chipped much like slate.
Moving onward, Forsythe flew ahead to scout and dropped off TTC to scout from the ground. They both came across a construct with whips as arms. They also spotted one of the creatures described as being riders for the broken hounds and followed him to spot three others. Watching them for a moment, they seemed to be waiting on something, while the construct was guarding the area. As the party approached, rather noisily, another construct made itself known as it approached. As they fought these creatures, they noticed more broken hounds came up out of the hardened gray pond they seemed to be gathered around. Once they were able to kill all these creatures, they began to investigate the pond, which was now melting back into the red and black liquid. Between them they gathered that this liquid had necrotic and enchantment magical auras with a stronger concentration of necrotic magic deep in the center of the pond. They also discovered that this liquid would absorb fire and cause nanites to replicate. Fix used his decanter to send fresh, clear water down to the center of the pond and discovered the onyx stone which Forsythe had described seeing. As Forsythe changed into a tentacle to see if he could pull the onyx loose, Fix attempted to dispel the necrotic magic, discovering the crowned skull symbol of Velsharoon. Upon his second attempt, Forsythe was also able to pull it loose and drop it at the edge of the pool. The onyx broke upon hitting the ground. Fix touched it and received psychic damage as it caused an instant headache. Again, they investigated this stone to see if they could destroy it. Eventually, Kadath decided to use his sword, shattering the onyx into several pieces. Fix pocketed a couple of the larger ones, while Evangeline gathered the rest and placed them into one of her pockets. Forsythe then felt a nudge as Eldath asked him to again, “heal my land” and he tossed the aquamarine into the center of the pond. Soon clear water sprang up and cleared the pond of the red and black liquid. Forsythe then drank from the pool and received a blessing from Eldath. Seeing the pool clear, Kadath checked the Sun card again and saw it had returned to normal. With it completed, they placed it with the other completed cards. |
AuthorDungeons & Dad Jokes Archives
May 2025
Got a question? Ask our lore keeper.
|
RSS Feed