After the harrowing events at Mountview Institute. The party wakes up after a good night's sleep. Especially Cracuta who was finally reunited with his real parents.
In the early morning, they are greeted by the Blackstaff Vajra Safahr and her aide Albion Dusklight.
She kindly asks for some privacy to have a talk with them which in response the party start kicking all their guests out.
Vajra explains to them how the owner of the Snobeedle Orchard, whom they helped arrest after discovering her usage of necromantic fingers to create scarecrow minions (Session 04: The Snobeedle Orchard), was released from her curse causing her to not speak the truth about where she got those necromantic fingers from.
She finally managed to confess that she bought them of off Ectobius Rex, who's magic has now died along with him.
Vajra assumed that there could have been many people in possession of these deadly fingers, but they should no longer be an issue now.
She also lets the party know that she took care of the accusations against Xoblob for possibly having killed that young nobleman with a Scarab of Death. The murder has been linked to Ectobius thanks to her interference. To make sure no more victims fall to this magical item, she confiscated it from Xoblob.
As Vajra and Albion make their way out, Zardoz Zord comes walking through the door of the Trollskull Tavern.
He came to visit to go over their plans to throw a farewell party for Cracuta. He gives them a long list of possible acts and attractions he could invite for the party and urges them to choose a few.
The main act has already been decided by him though. As he's heard some rumours about a fantastic bard who was born to the most beautiful courtesan from Waterdeep's most famous establishment; The Rosemary and Thyme.
The party ends up choosing the following acts for their party:
- A Firbolg striptease in complete silence.
- Earth, Wind, and Fireball, a Gospel group dedicated to Lathander.
- Daft Flumph
- Gladiatoral Combat
- Xoblob fortune teller tent
- Nekrogoblikon
- uniKorn
Cracuta's Farewell Party
The party spends the next few days leading up to the party to rest.
They also go to visit Xoblob, who is now wearing an eyepatch after throwing away the fake eye Ectobius made for him, as he had promised them a reward. They end up choosing the Purple Mirror.
In their search for the keys to open Dagult Neverember's vault, they also decide to visit the temple of Lathander in Waterdeep. Here they take part in the morning sermon after which they are greeted by a young priest whom had always been kind and friendly to Nithgrea.
They ask the young priest about the Morning Rose hanging in the temple and he tells them everything he knows about it, including on where the head priest gets them from. Every year he has to take a pilgrimage to the Dome of the Rose not too far from Waterdeep.
They young priest also asks Nithgrea if she's aware of the rumours going around that there might be devil worship happening within Waterdeep's order of Lathander.
On the day of the farewell party, everyone manages to enjoy themselves. A large part of the main road has been blocked off for the party, with Trollskull Alley being the hotspot for food, drink, and merchandise stands.
The whole event grounds are lit up by floating Flumphs in all different kinds of size and colour. Every so often, one of the Flumphs would explode, causing a small burst of fireworks.
The party spend their time doing the following;
Nithgrea goes to visit Xoblob's fortune teller tent and she gets a premonition of fire, flames, and something too scary for Xoblob to look at. She also enjoys the show of Earth, Wind, and Fireball together with the young priest she invited earlier.
Skálmöld also goes for a Xoblob premonition, but she goes in while disguised as Victoro Cassalanter. There she see a vision of someone trying to kill Victoro, but he gets saved just in time by flames and a creature with wings and horns.
She had hoped that her father would show up for the gladiator fights she requested, but alas he didn't. She did however manage to sneak a note to one of the gladiators and asked him to deliver it to her father in utmost secrecy.
The note reads;
'I now stand where you once stood, in a great hall of black and white marble. Don't give up.'
Punko invited the Blackstaff to the party who ended up making some free time in her busy schedule to come and enjoy the festivities. She shared some drinks with Punko as they watched uniKorn perform. A band of halflings dressed up as unicorns playing music.
Quertex found the Goblin wrestling stand he had once before challenged and lost to in Session 08: Day of Wonders. Quertex managed to win 2 out of 3 rounds. But he was jumped by both goblins before he was able to get the win. After a short rumble, the two goblins invited Quertex to have some of their special goblin booze, which Quertex accepted as they formed a bond together.
Cracuta, the star of the party, enjoyed the event together with his parents as he tried to also spend as much time with all of his friends before he had to leave them the next day.
One of the most "special" but well received acts ended up being the "Silent Firbolg Striptease". A large scale silence spell was cast over the stage and crowd as a Firbolg walked on stage and slowly started to take off his clothes. The firbolg was crying during the whole performance.
As weird as it was, everyone seemed to enjoy the show for some unknown reason.
When it was finally time for the headliner act. Tinnitus Kakafonia walked up on the stage and gave one of the best musical shows Waterdeep had seen in the past decades. Even though it was Tinnitus' first actual large concert, he managed to keep his cool and give the best show of his life.
The party kept on going throughout the night. But at sunrise, The Trollskull Crushers gathered at the docks as they send of their friend and companion Cracuta in his search for his lost sister.
The Dome of the Rose
Now only a party of four. After another day of rest, The Trollskull Crushers head out to find the Dome of the Rose in hopes of acquiring a Morning Rose which they believe would fit one of the keys needed to open the vault, this being "sunlight".
Eszvele Rosznar had told them earlier that she would stay guarding the entrance of the vault instead of coming with them in search of the keys. In return, she gifted the party a horse and carriage which would make their travel a lot easier and faster.
While on the road towards the Dome of the Rose the party starts to notice a muffled noise coming from under their cart. They stop to check it out and find Tinnitus Kakafonia strapped and gagged beneath their carriage. They free him and offer him some food and drink while Tinnitus explains how his dwarven "friends" left him there before running off with all the money he earned for headlining the festival 2 days earlier.
Having already gone too far to turn back, they convince Tinnitus to join them on their journey.
After 2.5 days of travel they arrive at their destination without too much issue. They noticed a recently attacked caravan on the way but decided not to investigate.
The holy temple is left in a state of disrepair, being fully covered in overgrown roots and plants. Once inside of the Dome of the Rose, they manage to complete the temple's puzzles and challenges by directing sunlight through different mirrors and gates while every now and then being attacked by living thorny vines.
After they completed the last room by defeating a living suit of armour controlled by vines, the temple is filled by a loud high pitched scream. The source of this scream being a Rose Dragon which had concealed itself in the centre of the temple which they had been unable to access up until now.
They managed to calm the dragon down by redirecting all the sunbeam unto the dragon. When they make their way down to the centre room where the dragon now sleeps. They find a small grave which is now being bathed in all of the sunbeams they pointed to the dragon.
When Nithgrea places the black rose she picked up at the entrance of the temple on top of the grave, it turns golden and starts to give of a soothing aura of dawnlight.
Through the tapestries and paintings on the walls, they learn that this grave is of one of Lathander's lovers from the time where the gods were force to walk the earth as mortals (Time of Troubles).
Due to it already being dark outside, the party decides to stay the night in the temple.