Previously: Chapter 42: The Phantom Menace
Rewards
In the morning after the party has woken up, and they have descended down to the lobby of the Lucky Duck to get breakfast, they are interrupted by a group of city guards entering the tavern, looking for them. They approach the party and asks them to accompany them to the castle after they have eaten, as their presence is requested by the king. They finish up their food, and are escorted through the streets, getting looks from bystanders, and are led into the castle proper. Instead of the usual entrance where they go to meet Bertram and Thervan, they are led to the main entrance, and up into the throne room, where the king, his daughter, Thervan and Bertram are waiting for them. As they approach the king, Fie, Kal and Penny bows, shortly followed by Dandelion, who tries her best to copy what the rest are doing.
The king, whom is a frail old man, tries his best to express his gratitude to the party for saving the life of him and his daughter during Glasstaff’s escape. They have talked about what a proper reward would be, and decided that giving the party land would be a just reward for the deed. They are given a cottage on the outskirts of the city, and it is delivered to them without taxes or charge, free for them to do with as they will. The king waves his hand for them to leave, the conversation having taken a toll on him, and Thervan gestures for them to follow him to his office.
He seats the party down, and hands them the deed and keys to the property. They ask him who owned it before them, which was a nobleman named Phillip, but he disappeared several months ago, so the house has been reclaimed by the city.
He also tells the party about their attempted interrogations of the corpses that was brought back after the attack, and the drow’s were unwilling to provide much information, but revealed that they followed “Malice”, and only described her as a “harbinger” or “vanguard” of the Forgotten One’s return. They spoke in an ancient drow dialect so some words have several meanings, but they get the gist. Malice is a clear and present danger to the world as a whole.
Thervan also asks how they are doing with the daughter of Ranesh, to which Fie tells him that they have a location, and are going to attempt to capture her tonight. Thervan promises to try to clear civilians away from the area to the best of his ability, without it being too obvious. They thank him for the help, and depart, to pick up their horses and belongings, to move to their new home. On the way there, Dandelion gets a proper lesson in colors of clothing, taxes, and how cities work versus forest societies.
A New Home
As the party head southwards out of the city proper, they wander past the local buildings which are situated by the river. Mostly dirt roads, and no bridges crossing the river, it feels quite different from the bustling metropolis inside the walls. After about one and a half kilometer up stream, they reach a cozy cottage at the edge of the city lines, before they reach the hills and forests beyond. A decent sized cottage, with a couple of trees in the garden, which is overgrown. Seems to be at least two floors, with a small stable for the horses to roam in. The group immediately gets started, and enters the home to see what they have to work with. Looking through, there seems to be 5 bedrooms on the top floor, a kitchen, dining area and living quarters on the ground floor, as well as a cellar, with one long room that leads to six smaller side chambers. Fie discovers that one of the rooms appear to be the start of a permanent teleportation circle, but otherwise it seems to be cleared out.
As Dandelion starts working on the garden, the rest tries to search through the house to look for what secrets it might hold. They discover a tunnel leading from the kitchen to a trap door hidden in the grass just beyond the fence, which would be useful if they need to make a quick escape. In the dungeon, Fie discovers that there are several hidden compartments in the walls of one room, and in one of them he discovers a dagger. It seems to be a peculiar dagger that can be used to heal as well as wound. He names it Caduceus, and takes it for himself. At the same time, he hides the Spider Staff that belonged to Nezznar in one of the compartments, and heads back upstairs.
Kal, having found stand to keep her armor at night, takes it upstairs, before heading outside, looking for a place to make a shrine for Udall. She discovers a set of natural standing stones beyond the fence, and starts working on it, hoping to make a shrine for everyone in time. Dandelion, having done what she can with the garden, also heads inside to check it out, and hangs up her old shield in the hall in the dungeon, a memento she doesn’t want to lose. Penny, wandering through the house, tries out the beds. Not nearly as comfortable as the ones in the Lucky Duck, but it’s theirs at least. She picks the room that gets the best view and sunlight, so she takes the southwestern room. At the end of the day, they prepare a small patio just outside the kitchen doors where they can have their meals in the evenings. When dusk approaches, they head back to the city to confront the daughter.
Ashes to Ashes
Fie, knowing where she is holed up when she rests, leads the party to the area. Kal, having already prepared by asking Udall what they should do, thinks it’s best to try to capture her where she rests, as attempting to lure her somewhere has too many moving parts that can go wrong. They take heed to alert the fire brigade that they might be needed in the night, so they prepare as best they can. When they reach the house the daughter resides in, the rest of the party hides, with Dandelion turning into a pigeon to look around for the target. She discovers that the house is empty, no lights or people, but she can see a pair of feet sticking out in the bedroom, someone is either sleeping heavily or dead on the ground. She returns and tells the party this through Penny. She then returns to the rooftops, waiting for the daughter to return.
They don’t have to wait too long, as after a few hours, Dandelion notices the flares that Fie described in the streetlights. A silhouette of a woman can be seen emanating and disappearing, going down the street to a torch outside a building, and the daughter emerges. She tries her best to hide her face, and returns to her home, and the party sees that the light turns on inside.
The party sneaks up, with Dandelion casting a spell to make them more stealthy. Kal approaches the window, and just as she is about to cast Magic Circle, Fie turns her invisible so she won’t be seen the moment before it is cast, and the spell goes off. A circle emerges in light and disappears, reaching just beyond the door. The daughter, who was resting in the middle of the house, looks up, and tries to find her assailant, just as Kal starts casting the spell to bind her to her service. Penny has started to cast Tiny Hut, so Kal retreats to her, as the daughter opens the door, demanding to know what is happening. Dandelion tries twice to charm her, but she manages to resist both times. Fie, still invisible, changes his voice to sound like Ranesh, telling her that they are her to bring her home. It is clear the daughter doesn’t want to come home, so Fie becomes visible, explaining that she has to, as he works with her father. This angers her, and she attacks Fie with her fire. Dandelion tries one last time to charm her, and this time, thankfully, it works. The daughter, now looking lethargic, begs the party to kill her or release her, because she does not want to go back. She claims she killed the owner of the house she is living in, and that she deserves to die for what she has done. The party is not convinced, even after she tells them that she faces eternal torture if she returns to the fire plane. She explains that she has wreaked havoc in the city to have someone come kill her, as she is unable to end her own life. She is in pain, and she tells Fie that she was like him once, that Ranesh promised her fantastic things, but she was relegated to be his slave. He will do the same to him. Fie assures her that this is not the case, as their contract does not mention this. Noticing that her words are not going to be heeded, she returns to the house, closes the door, as fire erupts through the windows. The fire brigade arrives to contain the fire, as the party waits the hour needed for the spell to be finished.
When they enter the house, the daughter bound to Kal’s service, she looks defeated, down at the floor. They surround her, with Kal telling her it’s time to come home. She looks at the party, and without a word, she disappears in a flash if fire, returning home to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Ranesh disappears from Fie for a short while.
Waiting for Ranesh to return, they use speak with dead on the man in the bedroom. What remains at least, as the fire has reduced him to a skeleton. He tells the party that he died of a heart attack, and that his last wish is that they look after his cat Kitten, that was with him when he passed. It seems that he doesn’t know about the daughter, and that she didn’t actually kill him.
When Ranesh returns, he thanks the party for their help in bringing back his daughter Saris. He tells the party, when they call him a bad father, that this is a great test for new recruits, hinting that he willingly allowed her to escape to have Fie try to bring her back. Dandelion gives him a stern look, but Ranesh doesn’t mind it. On the contrary. He tells Fie that for accomplishing this task, he will grant him a lesser wish, which can be redeemed in the next 30 days. As he departs, Dandelion calls him a bad god, but Fie hears him relishes in being called a god, so the insult is moot.
The party tells the city guard that the danger should be over, and they in turn tell them that there was a fire on the other side of the city, most likely Saris’ doing, but they have it under control. The party heads back to their home to eat and retire for the night. They spend the rest of the evening discussing Fie’s contract with Ranesh, and what it means to have free will. Dandelion is curious to know about their arrangement, and Fie explains that he provides Ranesh with secrets, and Ranesh teaches Fie magic in return. Noticing the ambiguity in the subject, Ranesh emerges to explain that Fie has nothing to worry about for now, their agreement is sound, and that Saris betrayed him for another genie that is “no longer around”. He departs once more, the matter dealt with.
Before going to bed, Fie checks Dandelion’s curse one more time. It has changed, but is unsure in what way. Kal promises to try to remove the curse tomorrow when she can prepare it. Dandelion asks the owl to watch the house for the first night, with Fie setting up alarms on the doors, and they go to bed, for the first time in their own home.
New Day Dawns
In the morning, the owls happily report that all intruders have been taken care of and killed. Mostly rats and bunnies who tried to enter the garden. Dandelion tells Argus that he has to be careful not to eat too much, and he promises to be better. Ira just cuddles up next ot her, happy to have her around. Penny goes to talk to the horses, and tells them that they have to go away again, but they will return shortly, they just have to take care of something important.
Kal tries once again to remove the curse laid on Dandelion. As she makes contact and the spell is cast, Dandelion gets a glimpse of Hala trying to claw at her, before she vanishes. Fie checks again for a curse, and finds that it is lifted, but is afraid that the flash might mean that Hala is not truly dead. Dandelion shudders, not wanting to relive the whole ordeal with the hags one more time.
After breakfast and saying goodbye to the horses and owls, they head to the castle, ready to depart for the mysterious temple that Penny is drawn towards. They first talk to Bertram, who arranges for a caretaker to look after their house when they are gone. Since they want someone to look after the horses, it will be more expensive, so they give him 60 gold which should pay for someone for a month. He gets one of their keys and tells them he will take care of it.
Thervan is delighted to hear that the party is finally ready to head out. Kal asks if he has any supplies that can help, so he gives them each a potion of healing, before leading them down in the crypts beneath the castle, away from prying eyes. On the way down, they tell Thervan about the unfinished teleportation circle that was started in their new home, and he promises that he can get them a license to get it completed, and offers to have someone do the casting, but that is expensive, costing upwards of 100000gp and takes about a year. Fie assures him he will take care of it himself.
In the darkness of the crypts, dimly lit by a lone torch on the wall, they gather around Thervan, who tells them that this might not go perfect, so they brace themselves. They all experience a teleportation mishap, and end up around a day’s march outside of Rivergrounds. Thervan tells them he can try one more time, after that they have to walk the rest of the way, or wait another day for him to recuperate. They gather around once more, and they all are pulled into the void, trying to reach their destination.
The Stone Temple
As they emerge from the teleportation, they immediately can smell the strong sea-smell, and hear the sound of seagulls flying above them. Looking around, they have reached a big cliff by the ocean, and they can see a temple looming not far away. It seems that they have reached the right location. Thervan looks relieved, and wishes the party good luck in their hunt, before preparing a teleportation circle to return home.
Dandelion wild shapes into a giant owl in order to get a good look at the surrounding area. Looking over the temple, she can see that a chasm has been formed, leading to the depths below the temple. They recall that a series of earthquakes was reported at the same time they first acquired the key, so there most likely is a connection. At the end of the chasm, near the beach, she can see a run down cart in the area. She returns to the party to tell them what she saw, with Penny translating. They decide to check out the temple first, looking around to see if they find anything useful.
When they approach, the rest of the party gets a better view at the ravine. It’s peculiar, because it appears that the ground just gave away, falling straight down instead of the earth splitting. Above the temple doors, in primordial, the name “The Stone Temple” can be seen engraved. The temple is run down, not being in use for hundreds of years. In the centre of the main room, which used to be the main room, and is now a courtyard of sorts due to the open ceiling, a big looking “well” can be found. Fie looks into it, and can see that the floor below has collapsed to the depths below. Dandelion, who is flying above, only sees darkness, so she descends to get a better view. When they walk around the opening, they can see several statues of people on the parts of the floor that did not collapse with the ravine. He immediately gestures for Kal to look after Penny in case she decides to jump into the opening, and then explaining that they might be where Morgan Lowblade is trapped. Penny assures the party that she’s not going to jump in, but wants to take a look. She can’t see Morgan, but she indeed recognizes the pattern on the floor from her scrying.
Hoping to be better prepared, they decide to take a rest for the rest of the day, so they can prepare in the best way for whatever they will find inside. As Dandelion and Fie flies around the ruins to try to discover what is lurking within, they find references to a monster that was worshiped a long time ago, but they can’t find what was worshiped, as the information is lost to time.
Afterwards, they descend to the entrance of the ravine, and Penny immediately recognizes the cart, and the carvings within. This was hers and Morgan's. Penny curls up into it, and starts crying. They make camp for the night.
The Monster Within
In the morning, Kal casts divination to ask her god what is lurking within the temple. She gets a short reply, that it is Ophelia, the serpent medusae. Medusae petrify their victims when they look at their faces, but their blood can cure victims for a short while. Kal asks Penny to be prepared to create mirrors. Dandelion summons a rat, badger and dire wolf from her bag of tricks, and the party prepare whatever blessings they can have and trek into the depths. They are being careful to avert their eyes as best as they can to avoid being caught in Ophelia’s gaze.
The entrance has collapsed, but the ravine has made a side passage available. They enter it, and eventually reach the massive chamber that collapsed from the temple above. Around them they can see several statues of people who have fallen victim to the medusa’s petrifying gaze. Everyone appears to be looking in different directions. Penny immediately recognizes the room from her scrying. Surprisingly, it’s not completely dark, as sunlight from above bounces around through a few openings, but they can hear some type of movement, like stone scraping against stone. Dandelion casts Pass without Trace again, hoping to cloud their movement, and Fie casts detect magic. He immediately notices a few magical items on a couple of statues, as well as a powerful magic emanating from a rucksack nearby. Dandelion sends her dire wolf to fetch it, and it returns to them, passing by a statue on the way back. Inside they find a violin, as well as Penny’s flute. Penny recognizes the violin as Morgan’s Harany Viol so they look around for him. In the middle of the room,, they see a man, intact, but petrified, a sword protruding from his chest. Beyon the temple boundaries, they can see another opening, which looks like it doesn’t belong. Like it was here long before the temple, and made of a different material.
As they try to sneak closer to Morgan, they can hear a voice calling out, surrounding them;
“You dare enter my domain… who are you?!”
Two arrows fly out from the centre of the room, where what they first thought was a statue appears to be the medusa, firing at them. They hit Penny and Kal, and she slithers away to the side, trying to hide. Fie immediately tries to fly away, but is held back by a statue that suddenly lunges at him, holding him down. The statue covers him with some sort of sludge, that weakens him. He uses his far step to escape it’s grasp, and manages to clear himself of the sludge. He stays in the air, to be out of their reach.
More statues enter the fight as the party tries to attack the medusae, and Dandelion sends her beasts to attack the main enemy. The dire wolf tries to attack Ophelia, but she manages to dodge it. In retribution, it forces it to gaze into her eyes, but luckily it manages to resist. Sadly, when Ophelia gets her turn, she bites the dire wolf with all her powers, and the dire wolf sadly disappears.
The medusa spends her time at a distance, but when she sees who is being the most troublesome, she emerges from hiding to attack Kal directly, manging to do a decent amount of damage. This proves to be her folly, as the party is prepared to resist her powers of petrification, and Dandelion manages to finish her off by casting a moonbeam above her, ending her terror.
Reunions
Penny, in the middle of battle, focuses only on Morgan. She sees that the medusa has been slain, and her blood is pooling next to her. She sticks her hand into the blood, and smears it on Morgan’s forehead. As parts of the blood droops down his face it reaches his lips, and Penny can see that his color slowly starts to reappear. The rest of the party finishes off the remaining statues that are present, with a terrible flash of how they died, tormenting the party when they do so.
As the danger recedes, Morgan collapses to the ground. Penny immediately pulls out the sword from her mentor's chest, and tries to heal him. He opens his eyes, and looks up at his dear student, with a smile.
She helps him get back on his feet. The rest of the party, having taken care of the dangerous statues, return to the pair. Kal introduces herself, and Morgan greets his “sister”, even though Kal refuses to accept that they are siblings. Morgan explains that “mother” predicted that they might meet each other, but she got some things wrong. She thought Fie, who introduces himself as the half-orc Keth might look different, and he thought there would be more people. Kal explains that they left the party to go on their own paths. Penny wants to know why Morgan left her. He explains that he was under strict guidelines from Mother and Father that he had to try to get the artifact that resides beneath this temple. He didn’t want to put Penny in danger, but he hoped (correctly) that if he took something valuable from her, she would do what she could to find him again. He is glad that he was right, but is saddened by the fact that it seems that Penny is under the influence of an otherworldly presence.
He explains to the party that he cannot go on. Mother cannot see what is beyond the doors, so he is not allowed to enter as he has failed. The party has to finish the task. His kind is not permitted beyond the doors. Penny asks why Kal can, and he simply tells them that she has fallen, so she is not bound by the same rules.
While this is happening, Dandelion has been walking around, trying to wake the other statues that is in the area. Most are broken and missing parts, unable to be awoken again. Luckily, she finds one lone statue that seems intact. She smears the blood on the lips, and slowly but surely, the color returns to the woman’s face, and she reanimates. A short, half-elven woman. She loudly asks where she is, before giving Dandelion a very awkward hug, as thanks for saving her. Apparently she has been trapped for over 110 years. She introduces herself as Arin, and tells the party that she was looking for treasure, but her companions fell to the medusae, and she was petrified trying to escape. She will gladly join the party to return to civilization.
The party decides to take a short rest, using the coffee pot to shorten the time. Morgan and Penny both help by granting their songs of rest, with Morgan giving each party member bardic inspiration before heading below. Morgan and Arin will try to piece together some of the statues to see if they can save more people.
When they approach the entrance, it seems to be a solid slab of a strange stone, no cuts or discernible markings. Kal suggests that Penny hold up the key, which she does. Nothing happens. Until Penny touches the door with her finger. A crack suddenly appears, and the doors swing open outwards. Inside there is a hallway leading even further below, turning around. It is illuminated by a blue/green light that lights up the whole area, with no visible light source. What they quickly notice however, is that Vuthul is with them. At this point they can all hear him, and sort of see him. They can only make out the shadows he casts on himself, not his whole being. It is disconcerting. The party can hear Vuthul being excited that they are so close to their goal. And since Vuthul has granted Penny her wish of finding her mentor, she has to do what she promised him. To free him. Dandelion in particular does not trust this being, and the party wonders what they will do when they reach their goal.
As they reach the end of the hallway, they are faced with a small room, with a huge triangular door. In the door is an indent in the shape of the Key. Before they manage to do anything, they notice a presence in the room with them. A small voidlike being, almost like a shadow, but more solid, emerges from the corner. Vuthul assures Penny that it cannot harm her, but she doesn’t want it to hurt her friends. Dandelion manages to get in a limited amount of damage, and as the rest of the party tries to attack it, they notice that it is immune to most magical damage. Force seems to work fine, as does regular mundane weapons. They manage to take it out, but Fie, which is what the being focuses on most can tell that it tries to drain both his lifesource and magic. Fie teleports away after being forced into a corner, and manages to finish it off after both Kal and Dandelion (who has wild shaped into a bear) wounds it. Penny slots in the key in the door, and it slowly descends into the floor, revealing the chamber within.
The Black Flame
Inside, a massive pyramid shaped chamber, lit up by the same ever present light, but lesser than before. The walls seem to be made of a dark stone of sorts, and the corners are lined with what appears to be gold. In the middle of the chamber, the only thing of note can be found. A pillar, with a platinum triangle hovering in mid air, surrounded by black flames emanating from the pillar below. When they enter the chamber, they can see Vuthul even more clearly, almost completely, but still transparent. He smiles as he sees the artifact in front of them.
Kal really doesn’t want Penny to grab the triangle, as they are unsure what Vuthul will do once he gets his hand on it. She tries to grab it herself, with Vuthul standing by, egging her on to try to take it, clearly wanting to see her make the attempt. She senses that the flames stop her from reaching it, and at the same time drains away her life force. She pulls her hand back, thinking a bit about it, before jamming her hand into the fire.
She feels that she quickly begins to become extremely exhausted, as her life energy is drained away. This does however cause the flames to shrink. Penny joins in, followed by Fie and Dandelion (still in bear shape). As they allow the flames to drink their lives away, the fire slowly but surely drains away at the same time. Eventually, Kal has to back out, as she feels that she will no longer be able to move or even survive if she persists. She pulls her hand away, and Penny, still holding on, can feel that the flames give way as the last life force that was needed is drained from her. Her hand makes contact with the triangle. Before the rest of the party even has time to react, she is compelled to combine the two parts of the key by her patron, who stands by, smiling. The rest of the party however, when this happens, can see the energy flowing from the key, up through Penny’s arms, into a point in the back of her head, which flares beneath her hair, before fading. They look at each other, and without saying anything, Kal touches her hand to Penny’s head, where the energy converged, and tries to cast greater restoration. Vuthul senses what is happening, and apparently tries to reach his hands out to Kal. Dandelion tries to take hold of him, but she passes through him. He’s not corporeal enough to be stopped. Kal focuses her divine powers to try to sever the connection, focusing with all she has left. She feels the spell take hold. Penny, feeling the energy draining from her body, and back into the key, drops it to the floor. Vuthul, mid lunge towards Penny and Kal, vanishes in a puff of smoke. Penny can hear silence for the first time in months.
A Bond Broken
Penny, having taken a lot of damage from the ordeal, is confused at first. She can’t tell where her patron has gone, and has no more voices in her head. She asks for a book, and tries to read it, but understands nothing. Dandelion tries to ask her what happened, but Penny doesn’t understand her. She is finally free, at the cost of her warlock powers.
Fie, being smart, uses mage hand to wrap the key in some wrappings, being careful not to make direct contact with it, and stuffs it into the bag of holding. As he holds the wrapped key in his hands, he can hear voices, which quickly snuffs out when he drops it. The Key is no longer attuned or attached to anyone, they are free of him.
Penny, Kal and Fie hug each other, with Dandelion joining in as a bear, slowly returning to her normal self. They think that Fie should find a persona which is fond of hugging, so he turns into an elven woman, kindly looking. They have to come up with a name for her.
All of them, having had their lives drained by the flames, are too tired to walk all the way back up to the top, so Penny uses her bardic powers to summon a table, which she animates to walk them all up the winding hallways. It goes much faster than they normally would in their condition.
When they reach the top, Morgan and Arin are trying to put people back together, but it proves an impossible task as there are too many parts and impossible to find which ones stick together. They give up, and want to head back to civilization instead. Morgan goes over to give Penny a hug, noticing that something is different about her. She seems happier. She gives him a hug back. Fie starts preparing a teleportation circle, to bring them back to Ravenforge. The rest of the party asks Arin if she would like to help out in their home until she can get back on her feet, to which she gladly accepts, as she realizes she probably has no relatives out there, considering she never had kids. As Fie finishes the teleportation circle, he shapeshifts into Lander as this is the form he is known as where they go. Arin points out that she has to be let in on what is going on with him, as this is the third shape she sees him as. Penny asks Morgan if he can help her regain some of her magic, as her Patron left her hollow. Morgan would be honored.
The Long, Short Way Home
When they return to Ravenforge, the weather is violent, a brutal thunderstorm looming over the city. Kal asks Udall if this means that he is happy, but she doesn’t really need an answer. Being lethargic, they hire a cart to take them to their home. When they reach the cottage, they slump down in whatever chairs they have left, with Arin making a simple stew that they all quickly scoff down. Fie goes to the cellar and hides the key in one of the hidden alcoves, and places an alarm on it, in case someone sneaks in. With NO exceptions for who triggers it. They eventually go to sleep in their respective resting places, waking up to the new day having grown more powerful after their experiences. Penny, having the best sleep she has had in several months.
End of Part Two