Summary
(Note that I may have missed bits out. Will check when I do the transcript)
The group find themselves in the Astral Plane with Ularan Mortus. After Pine gives him the low-down on all the information they have found out about what's going on with the Talos cult, the tower, as well as the Three's command to him ("Find the power that made the Mere, and make us whole."), Ularan shares his own plans.
Ularan is trying to create a God of Death in order to reinstate order and stop the end of the universe. He needs power and a ritual to do this.
He intends to gather enough power to create one merged God out of the Three, but is open to the idea of trying to create all three if they have the means, or create a different God out of someone else as a template.
He is on a time limit as Jergal is showing an interest, and that would be bad.
Problems facing these plans:
He is being constantly attacked, both by the Talos cult, as well as the Bramble Queen.
He does not have a way to get to Merdelain currently
Time limit both in terms of resources, but also because of the destabilisation by the Talos cult, and of Jergal's interest.
Things the group needs to help him do:
There is a broken ship at the Lighthouse where the restless shade of Emberloss is bound. The Talos cult are trying to break his spirit, and that would be bad. The ship that Emberloss is tied to would allow the cult to take over the Mere and stop the ritual to create a god. They will succeed in converting the soul given time.
The complete destruction of the Talos cult. They have the means, due to a loophole in the situation with death, that let them revive their leaders one day after their demise. The more this is done, the more things destabilise.
They need power to fuel the ritual. He believes that putting the souls of ancient Merdelain to rest would do the trick, but Thundertree could also aid in that power. Merdelain has been moved to the Shadowfell by the elves and all there have been corrupted etc.
The group need to find a way to Merdelain. The Bramble Queen knows, but she is an arch fae and unlikely to be willing to help as she considers it hers.
He offers the group a boon each to show his good will:
Idris: wants to know the ritual in order to secure his soul from drifting away if he gets separated from his body.
Pine: Wants to know how to fix the souls that had been broken, but there is no way. He gets offered to be healed from the wound by the wraith and agrees, but Idris argues that it was Ularan's problem in the first place and he should get another. Pine defers the boon until a later time since he doesn't really know what to ask for.
Siax: Wants information around the fall of the Elven empires that have now become the lost guilds etc.
Effie: Wants something that will bring her luck in combat, and gets an upgraded fancy rapier
Arya: Gets her ring fixed as much as Ularan can. It gains teleportation skills, but is not fully restored.
The group return to the Material realm to find a bloodbath all around them. Siax's moonblade protected them from being attacked by the troll, chasing it off.
The group then decide to head for the lizard camp, after Pine scrys it, in order to try and negotiate the humans from them. They get attacked by alive and mostly undead snakes on the way.