Previously: Chapter 37: Beneath the Library
Leaving Elvenroth
As the group wakes in the morning, the day after traversing the library and having a hard time with mysterious shards and murderous sword-hallways, they quickly decide that they want to head onwards to Ravenforge, finally. They talk a bit about checking out one of the stables to see if they can find more Tims lurking around, but decide that the cultists of the forgotten one and the key are more pressing matters for now.
As the party head to the teleportation chamber, they overhear some town crier talking about a mysterious hooded figure traversing the rooftop in the night, and if anyone has any information they should contact the head of the City Guard, Keyleth Liadon. Still not enough to keep them around Elvenroth.
As they reach the chamber, the Royal Incinerators scan their badges, allowing them passage. Horses and Owls in tow, Penny goes first, her body disintegrating in a whirlwind of dust, causing Kal and Dandelion to be taken aback. Fie have seen this before, so he just walks straight through, not giving it a second thought. Arriving on the other side, they reach a much larger than expected chamber, and they figure that this was probably a temple at some point, now being refurbished to house the teleportation chamber for the city. Several Royal Incincerators surround the circle, but they scan the arrivals, doing them no harm.
Exiting the chamber, they are greeted by a young half elven man who gives them directions to lodgings, the castle, and the stables. Having put the horses away on the outside of the city walls (no Tim here), they return to the recommended inn: The Lucky Duck.
Playing Dress Up
As they enter the establishment, they are taken aback at the bustling scene before them. In the middle of the breakfast/brunch rush, the inn is filled to the brim with guests and diners, with food flying out of the kitchen at a steady pace. They go to check in to the front desk, and are greeted by Sanira Greengood, the owner of the place. She recognizes Penny, as does several patrons in the bar, agreeing to let her stay for free for the night if she provides entertainment. The rest of the party have to pay, and they end up with two double rooms on the same floor. A halfling bellhop takes their belongings, and leads them to a back hallway, into a small room, and closes the doors. The whole room shakes, as the halfling operates some mechanics on the wall, and when the doors open, they are in a different place. Most of the party is astounded by the experience, and wonder about how these… elevators(?) work? No matter, the party decides that they are called Levitators now, as they bring people up and down. They get no protests from the halfling.
As they enter their rooms to put their things away, Penny tries out the beds. It is the most soft, comfortable, wonderful bed she has ever experienced. And they even Fie must admit that it is pretty close to the best he has had as well. Dandelion talks to the owls, and asks them to come back to the rooms at night, but they can travel as they please through the city.
Since the party is going to the royal castle, Fie hints that they probably should dress a bit nicer, particularly looking towards Dandelion and Kal. They decide to use the clothes they bought from the goblin back in Tempervale. Dandelion does not find the clothes comfortable at all, but goes along with it. Both she and Kal bring their shields, just in case. Fie points out that they are in one of the safest places in the world at the moment, and they don’t need their shields. As the words leave his mouth, a town crier can be heard outside saying “people keep disappearing in the night, city guard is not doing anything about it!”. At least it’s daytime now says Fie.
The Woman
On the way through the Cloud Ward, Dandelion spots a most beautiful looking woman on a side street. She even had a halo on her head. Penny quickly asks where she saw her, and runs after her. The rest of the gang follow Penny, asking who she is. Penny says she knows where Morgan is. They follow her through the streets, and she enters a smoking den. They are stopped by a big half-orc bouncer at the entrance, but Penny manages to deceive him by saying they are with the woman they are following.
In the smoke filled den, Penny sees the woman entering a private booth. Penny tries to sneak up, but as she stands outside the curtains, the woman quickly tosses them open, having noticed being followed, but when she sees Penny’s face, her eyes widen and her skin turns pale, as she tosses the curtains shut, and tries to escape. Penny takes after her, as does Dandelion, while Kal and Fie run to the side, hoping to cut her off. Dandelion and Penny tries to use their spells to stop them, but Kal manages to grab onto her, holding her back. She manages to convince her that they mean her no harm, they just want to talk. The chase have brought some attention to them, and the half-orc bouncer comes lumbering over, and tells them to leave immediately, and scuttles them all through the front entrance, telling them to not come back.
They are taken to a side street, and the woman tells Penny that she is not allowed to talk to her, as she is not supposed to interfere, Mother's orders. Penny asks if she means Mova, and Dandelion exclaims that Kal never told them about her sister. Kal denies she has one, she only has two brothers.
The woman, who introduces herself as Alina Brightstar, tells them she has been waiting for Morgan to return, but he hasn’t made himself known, meaning he has either failed or someone has succeeded in his place, which would be much worse. Penny tells her she scryed on him, and that he is petrified with a sword running through his chest. Alina is distraught by the news, and doesn’t know where Morgan is, as she only was in Centahelm to tell Morgan to listen to Mothers requests. The party inquires if Kal can’t talk to Mother because she now follows Udall, and Alina explains she isn’t allowed to talk about that. She begs the party to leave her be, as she is not allowed to interfere or influence, and that they should not seek her out, but she is convinced to give them a heads up if she finds out where Morgan is. She puts on her hood, and leaves the alley, not to be seen again.
Bertram Honeypot
Walking through the Cloud Ward, they reach the castle gates, and are stopped by a few guards holding them back. It appears that several people try to enter to talk to Bertram, Thervan and even the king, and no matter what the party tries to do, the guards won’t let them enter. The head guard grows tired, and sends a runner to ask Bertram if he knows anything about this. The runner returns after a short while, whispers something to the head guard, and he tells the party to follow him. He leads them into the entrance hall, to a side passage that leads to an octagonal waiting room, with couches and chairs, and tells them to wait.
After sitting around being patient for about 10 minutes, a halfling man, with a strong family resemblance to Halander Honeypot appears, introduces himself as Bertram Honeypot, and asks the party to follow him to his office. They are led down a long hallway with many doors leading to several offices, and walks past a tanned wizard who greets Bertram. When they enter Bertram’s office, they get a glimpse into the opposite office, that has a big glowing fireball suspended in the air, providing light and heat.
Betram asks the party to sit, summoning a few chairs, and asks them what their business is in Ravenforge. Kal first takes out the box that Enhana entrusted her with, and he opens it, says “good!” and puts it in one of the drawers in his desk.
Next, they tell him that they were told to go to him by Sildar Hallwinter, and Betram recognizes the name, saying it must be important if he told them to go here. Penny takes out the Key, and places it on the desk. Betram’s eyes go wide, he starts sweating, and starts shouting for Thervan and Raven. Two people enter the room, a blonde youngish elf, and an auburn haired human woman. They both stare at The Key, and the elf asks if anyone touched it. Everyone looks towards Penny. The woman casts a spell at Penny, which fails, so she brings out a few chains, and Penny allows herself to be restrained by her. She goes limp in her chair, unable to move.
Thervan, the elf, uses mage hand to lift up the Key, examining it closely. He says it is obviously missing parts, and asks them what date they found it. Fie tells them it was the 24th of Ilus. Betram, Thervan and the woman all lock eyes. They tell the party that on that day, the whole plane shook, as a massive earthquake was released. It didn’t do much damage, it just made its presence known. It seems that picking up the key was a catalyst for something, but the party points out that they didn’t notice any earthquakes, but they did hear some talk about it days after they left Wave Echo Cave. Kal tells them that they have already faced a cult that seemed to follow him, and Penny tells them she sees him in the corner of her eyes at all times, and he talks to her. The woman and Thervan seem distraught by this, telling her that they have no way as far as they know that can exercise him from her, as he most likely is now tethered to her very soul.
They tell the party that the earthquake opened up a few locations, lost to time, and that they have sent people out to examine the shrines, with some returning, some not. Penny tells them that she has felt a pull to a certain location when she focused on the Key, and Bertrams brings out a few maps, for Penny to point out where she feels it is. It leads to a location near the coast. Bertram makes a few notes about this.
As they have no way of exercising him, Raven leaves the office and returns swiftly with a silver necklace, slipping it on Penny. She tells her that this will help her resist his influence, and release her from her shackles. They realize that they haven’t had the time to make proper introductions. The elf introduces himself as Thervan Avalast, head wizard in Ravenforge. The woman is introduced as Raven Stormbringer, a paladin of Udall, much to Kal’s surprise. Lander introduces himself as Fie, with Thervan and Bertram picking up on his full name, with Raven seeming confused. Dandelion introduces herself as being from Faunus’ Forest, with Bertram actually having heard of it, and even met Clementine at some point. He has studied the local deities, seeming to believe in them. Kal introduces herself as a cleric of Udall, and has to make him do a rumble outside to prove her point. Raven seems utterly taken aback by this. Penny sits in her chair, quietly observing the interactions, not saying too much.
Bertram points out that the journey must have been difficult, and fraught with dangers, as it took them so long to get here. The party admits that they took a few detours, visiting the Steps of Aranon, and meeting a monk there that gave them directions. They also tell them about the coven of hags that plagued Faunus' Forest and the Jaded Wilds. They concede that this seemed to be important, so they understand the time it took.
Bertram asks Thervan to give them a short rundown on the history of the forgotten one, since it seems that the group is in the middle of something important, so they should know what they are up against.
The History of The Forgotten One
Thervan tells the party about what led to the Betrayal, that they have heard referenced a few times now. Seems that when the Drow emerged for the first time, they lived in relative peace with the rest of the races, but at one point, they attempted to take over the dwarven kingdom of Krunbar. The dwarves were driven from their home, and fled to find a new place. But the Drow was still not satisfied with not being equal, so they did a ritual to ascend one of their own to godhood. The being now known as the Forgotten One. He was accepted into the pantheon, to hopefully finally bring peace, but he betrayed the other gods, killing Roshan, the sun goddess, plunging the world into a 10 year darkness, in which the Drow seemed to almost take over the world. But they were somehow driven back, and Ilene, the goddes of the moon, took over her sisters mantle, to become the goddess of the sun and the moon, restoring light to the world. The Forgotten One was imprisoned, his holy symbol turned into a key, locking him away, before the key was divided and spread across the plane. Worship of the Forgotten One was made forbidden, and the Veiled Protectors now work to keep it that way, but it seems that someone is working actively against them on this. A group Thervan refers to as the Children of Vuthul This also caused most of the gods to retreat into the other planes, separating them from the material plane, some of them for good. This caused the drow to be nearly exterminated and forced into hiding.
Going Forward
Thervan asks if they can be allowed to study the Key for a few days, hoping to learn something new about their foe. Penny wishes to allow this, but her patron has other plans. He manages to take control of her, and “she” snatches the Key and tries to leave. Raven, Kal and Dandelion tries to hold her back, with several spells being cast, all being opposed by Penny and her patron. In a desparate attempt, Raven manages to wrangle the Key from Penny, and tosses it to the side. Thervan picks it up, and Bertram grabs a chest to put it in, getting it out of sight. The Forgotten One lets go of his hold on Penny, and she relaxes. She can hear his muttering of frustration. They promise to return it to them in a few days, as they most likely will need it if they are to find the other pieces. They do seem a bit concerned with the fact that Penny has made a pact with him. Raven and Thervan takes the box with the Key with them, with Raven saying she would like to have a chat with Kal about her unique situation.
As they are left alone, Kal goes to the next order of business, and brings Chester out of the bag of holding. Bertram seems fascinated by this being, and asks about where they are from. He tells Chester that he would be honored to have him as a guest, as he researches his “condition”, to maybe find a way to help him. In the meantime, he gives Chester a hat of disguise, to help him blend in. Chester turns himself into what he apparently looked like when he was normal. A pale redheaded man with freckles. Nude at first, and then with clothes. He goes back to the waiting room, hoping to find a purpose in life once more.
Betram gives the party a writ of passage, giving them access to the castle if they need to talk to him, making it easier to enter next time. Kal and Fie asks Bertram for a private meeting, without Dandelion and Penny.
As the duo leaves the room to snoop around the other offices, they ask about the box that was delivered by Kal. Bertram shows them that it was a springlocked device, to check if it had been opened. Seems it was a test to see if they could be trusted. They passed. Fie lets Enhana know that they have made contact with Bertram in Ravenforge, and she replies that they should do whatever he says if they want to help out. They talk a bit about the Veiled Protectors, and Bertram hope that they will become obsolete at some point. It is imperative that the Forgotten One ends, as if he returns, the world will be plunged into darkness once more. They suspect that his followers have a spell in place that tracks anyone who says his name, which is why he was so tense when Tervan told them the name of the cult. He also talks about a setback that the cult had a while back, a book that was stolen from the cult. Bertram asks Fie and Kal to keep the Key out of the wrong hands, as it might lead to the fall of the gods, and even fall of magic itself. Kal asks for access to the teleportation circle in Ravenforge. Bertram gives them four pins, one for each person in the group. Seems that the pins are of the city crest, showing where they have access. Kal tells Bertram that they will be staying in the Lucky Duck, and Bertram tells them that he will arrange for the crown to cover their stay for the duration.
In the meantime, Penny and Dandelion have been snooping around the offices, after being told to find their own way out. They open all the doors that they can find, with most of the offices being devoid of people, but most have familiars telling them to leave and get out. At one point they meet the wizard they saw in the hallway earlier, he asks them to be left alone, as he is working on something. Eventually, their snooping around leads them to the throne room of the king. Penny tries her best to explain Dandelion about thrones and that a king is above tribal leaders, something Dandelion finds preposterous. A guard suddenly appears behind them, giving them a short cough, asking them what they are doing, before leading them out the proper way.
Awakenings
As they exit the castle, and return to the Cloud Ward, Dandelion tells the group that she needs to return to the inn so that she can finally awaken Argus properly. Kal makes sure that she reaches the right place, before joining Penny, to look for a fancy shop or something. Dandelion figures she should eat before attempting an awakening, as the spell takes a full eight hours to cast, so she orders a salad from the front. It seems the lunch-rush is finished, so the cook brings out her food personally. A big muscular half-orc, with lots of tattoos, telling her he hopes she enjoys her meal. Dandelion finds the food quite delicious, even reminding her of how Kal prepares her food. She thinks nothing more of it, before retiring to her room, changing into more comfortable clothing, and sits down with Argus preparing to cast the spell.
Fie has other plans. He tries to find out if there have been any instances of arson, and it doesn’t take long before he overhears a town crier yelling about four arsons that have happened in as many nights. He asks around and a guard tells him that it has been happening near the Cotton Wharf. As he reaches the area he can see the latest incident, with a couple, probably the owners, crying over their burned down establishment, a crowd surrounding the area looking at the burned down remains. Fie casts detect magic, looks at the crowd, and can see a woman just bursting with evocation magic. She seems to stand a bit out, with flowing red clothing, and an appearance that points to her being from the south. As the crowd disperses, he tries to follow her, and she doesn’t appear to spot him. As evening approaches, local lantern-keepers can be seen lighting the street lamps. The woman turns down a side street, and Fie can see that she approaches one of the street lamps, and enters it, before traveling through the fires down the road. He tries to follow her, but loses track of her fairly quickly, being unable to find where she was heading. He returns to the street, and is approached by a group of guards, telling him that it is not safe at night, due to the influx of disappearances in the area. He si led to a more populated street, and returns to the Lucky Duck. He does however note that the streets near the Cotton Wharf seem to be overrun by rats, more so than the rest of the city…
Penny and Kal are looking for the weirdest shop that they can find, and eventually come across Emma's Sugary Emporium. They spend quite a while there, with Penny tasting most of everything, eventually leaving with a tummy ache, and 5 gp lighter. Kal, after telling Penny she shouldn’t eat so much in one sitting approaches a local bounty board. She immediately takes note of Theren’s bounty poster, telling her that he is wanted, with a 10,000gp reward for his capture. There also seems to be a bounty for rats, with the city guard offering a 1cp reward for each killed rat. One thing that seem to stick out is a note from someone asking for help from “smart people”. They say they can’t pay much, but promise that it would be worth it for the story. Penny really wants to meet them to see what the fuss is about.
They head to the outside of the city, in the Sunset Grove on the western side. The address leads to a small house, with the lights on. The doormat is covered in mud, and when they knock on the door, a small dwarven man greets them. This is Elfred, a local gravedigger in this part of the city. He tells them that for the last 10 days he has buried the same man 10 times in a row. Each time the body comes to him with different causes of death. After the third time he checked to see if the man was truly dead, and it appeared that he was. Kal finds the whole situation very enticing, and asks to see the graveyard where he works. He leads them to the outskirts of the city, and he points out the graves. Elfred suspects that he might be brought back to life, but the graves seem undisturbed. All ten of them. They agree to help him discover the truth, and he tells them he will switch shifts with the bloke who usually takes the night shift so they can remain undisturbed, and they will meet him the following evening at the morgue, to examine the body. They take their leave and head back to the inn.
Back at the Lucky Duck
As the party eventually returns to the inn, Dandelion is finally finished with the awakening of Argus. He seems a bit taken aback from the experience, but it seems the spell worked. He thanks her for awakening him, and she tells him how he should behave to avoid too much attention. Mostly, don’t speak to others at random, only the group, and tells him about who the others are. He asks Dandelion if she is going to awaken Ira as well. Dandelion sees that Ira looks at them from the window, seemingly left out as he can’t understand them completely, and she promises she will, but she needs gold to get another stone to use as material components. She leaves them both in the room, and goes down as she can hear that Penny have started playing. She promises to be back shortly.
When she gets down to the dining area, Dandelion joins Fie and Kal. As Penny finishes with her set, she joins the group as well, and gives Dandelion some chocolate that she bought from the Sugary Emporium. This is much more tasty than the other dark chocolate that she tried.
Eventually, Raven arrives, having finished with the research for the day. They talk a bit about Kal’s supposed cleric powers, and Kal tells her she just had a dream and woke up as a cleric, and that Udall have been pestering her to go on an adventure ever since. She told him she didn’t want to, but he persisted. Raven struggles to believe Kal, as the last cleric of Udall was 2500 years ago at least, when he needed someone to do his bidding, as he couldn’t do it himself. It might be a similar situation now, and Raven is just glad that it is a woman that has been tasked with this. Dandelion points out that Kal used to call Udall “annoying bastard”, much to Raven’s shock, but Kal says she’s accepted that she has to do this task she is set on before she can go back to her normal life. He’s told her that there is evil in this world that needs to be dealt with before other people get hurt. Raven gives a glance at Penny.
Kal writes down a name on a note, and gives it to Raven, asking if she knows anything about where this person might be. She tells her that she knows he is retired, bu still active. Last spotted at a party at Anton Galvani’s manor. He might know more. If you can think of a bad person, they were probably at that party. Galvani might be able to give her the information if she knows anything about a half-elf that stole something from the party. He doesn't have a good description of the half-elf, only that they were slick, spoke highly unusually and had a punchable face. Wonder who it could be.
Kal and Penny tell Raven about the gravekeeper, and she responds that people have been disappearing for a time. Randomly, without any particular pattern, as it happened all over the city. It died down a little over a month ago, but it has started happening again, but now mostly in Cotton Wharf, and now much less frequent. It used to be several a day, but now it’s at most one every two days or so. Fie points out that rats started appearing more frequently about a month ago. It might be connected. Raven tells them about a man who claimed he saw his wife the day after she disappeared, in the streets at night, but she thinks he must be mistaken.
Raven also asks about the report form Wave Echo Cave, where the party killed Nezznar Khalazza, but they never found his corpse. Kal says she did do a gentle repose on him, to stop him from turning undead, but the Veiled Protectors were there not three days after they left, and there was no trace of him. Seems to be something shady afoot. Dandelion and Kal look around the room to see if anyone is listening in on them and Dandelion spots a man in the window. As soon as they lock eyes, he runs away. Seems they are being watched. Raven tells them to be careful, and not go around alone, before taking her leave, and going back to the castle.
Dandelion asks why Kal and Fie threw out her and Penny when they were talking about Bertram. They say it was to protect them, that someone in the party is always listening in, and Dandelion can sometimes be an open book, so they wanted to keep it on the down low. While this is happening, the Forgotten One is whispering into Penny’s ear, telling her that they don’t care about her, that she should just leave them, and that if she doesn’t, they will eventually betray and kill her. She tries her best to ignore him.
Retiring for the Night
As the party goes back up to their rooms, Dandelion wants to introduce them to Argus, but first they go to the other room, to avoid telling Argus something that he shouldn’t hear. Fie tells the rest of the party that there have been a few instances of arson around town. As he says this, Ranesh exits the ring, suspecting this is about him. Fie transforms into the lady that he saw, and tells the party that this is Ranesh’s daughter, and that he has tasked Fie with capturing her, as she has escaped. Dandelion scolds Ranesh for his bad parenting, as the woman is walking around setting fire to things, but Ranesh is mostly just flattered by Dandelion calling him a god. To prove a point, Ranesh turns Dandelion and Penny into children. He tells the party that by doing this for him, there might be a boon in it for them, Dandelion asks if he can cure her of her curse, which he cannot. He tells the party that he cares little for what his daughter does, but knows that people frown upon arsonists, and fears for her safety. He doesn’t want to help them with telling them what to do, as otherwise they would not learn anything from the experience. As he retreats to the ring, Fie knows that the spell Magic Circle might help by trapping her, as the woman is considered an elemental. They will have to think a bit more about what to do, and they go to the other room to meet the newest member of the party.
When they open the door, they can see that Argus and Ira have caught a badger, and are sitting on the floor, eating it. He greets the party by giving them a bow, which they return. Argus feels guilty from eating the badger, as he now is more intelligent. Kal responds by giving him some jerky, which he gladly accepts. Ira seems noticeably left out, but Dandelion gives him cuddles, promising again to awaken him as well. Penny gives him a gold coin, and he returns it to Dandelion, implying that she now only needs 999 more to awaken him. Kal tells them about the bounty on rats, but Dandelion is uncomfortable with the idea of killing creatures to awaken him. Ira goes out of the window, and returns with a live rat, so the party may interrogate it to find out what is happening in Cotton Wharf. Fie has had enough of this and goes to bed.
When they try to interrogate the rat, it seems it doesn’t have any information to give, and the party realizes it most likely is because this rat is not from the same area. It tries to bite Dandelion, so she takes it outside and releases it. Dandelion and Kal discuss animals, the circle of life, and how all things kill other things in some way. Penny has had enough and retires to her room, with Dandelion and Kal going to sleep as well, wondering about what tomorrow will bring.
Next: Chapter 39: Death Loop