Previously: Chapter 57: Secret History
Catching Up
When the party wakes up in the morning, Kal and Elmroot both spend some time preparing spells that could be useful against the horde of shadows that lurk in the tower. Penny, being eager to get moving so that they can start moving south towards her home, is standing by the door, ready to go. Relic suggests they bring Arin along so that they can sit in the carriage, with Arin bringing it back home when they’re dropped off. After a while, having eaten breakfast, they depart, Arin being their driver. Dandelion tells her to not overfeed the owls when they’re gone, as they need to stay fit in order to be able to fly properly.
Sitting in the carriage, the party sees that the city, which is normally quite colorful and vibrant, is now bleak and dark, with black flags hanging where the kingdom’s usually hung, signifying the month of mourning the capital is currently in. People still seem to be going about their business as normal, but there are still buildings damaged by the attack that are in the process of being rebuilt. As they are about halfway into the city, the door of the carriage suddenly opens, and Delphine enters, sitting down with the party. Penny instinctively takes out her dagger and points it at her, but Delphine calmly lowers it, reminding her that they are allies now.
Delphine goes straight to the point and asks how it went with their skirmish in Equinfjord, as her “eyes and ears” have revealed to her that the party made their way to the ruins. They tell her that they managed to kill Glasstaff and took his research and body with them, whilst managing to avoid encountering a resurrected Nezznar who were mere seconds away from hindering their escape, and also that Glasstaff was working on research to find the rest of the Key. Kal notices something off about her response to this, but doesn’t say anything. Delphine goes on to ask the party where they’re headed now, and they reveal to her that they are going back to the tower to clear it of undead, before heading south. Penny asks if she has any way of helping, and with her turning on all of her charm, Delphine can’t help but cast tongues and comprehend languages on Penny, giving her a small boost.
When they approach the castle, Delphine tells the party good luck, before leaving the carriage and disappearing. The guards lead them inside after they say their goodbyes to Arin and the owls, who make their way back to their house. Inside the castle they see Bertram organizing and looking through the thousands of pages of research that Glasstaff was in the possession of, and he looks at them, tired. Thervan stands in the doorway of his office, waiting for the party to arrive, and gestures to them to go inside. He tells the group that he will be unable to join them, as he is far too busy doing research on the key, remarking that Ansgar is taking a rest, having read through most of the night. As they prepare to be teleported back to the tower, Penny asks Thervan if he too could give some assistance, and so he provides them with a small gemstone, telling them that it is a one time metamagic use. Dandelion also gets one after asking nicely.
The group gather themselves around Thervan, and tell him to try to get them close to the center of the chamber. He replies that he will do his best, and touches one of the books that the party brought back from the tower, as an anchor for his teleportation. The party feels a tug in their abdomen, as they are pulled through space, and emerge in the dark chamber of the tower once again, surrounded by shadows.
Fighting in the Dark
The undead that surrounds them are caught completely by surprise, and so is not a match for the wrath of the party. Dandelion summons a moonbeam, while Kal uses her divine powers to destroy most of the shadows that surround them. This also spooks the Banshee that lingered in the north of the room, but Dandelion’s moonbeam snaps her out of it. Relic throws a fireball, hoping to take out one of the monsters that is growling from the intrusion, but it is too strong. Penny runs to the staircase to get a good view of the room, and spots two shadow mastiffs that she casts bane on, along with the Banshee. This merely angers them, so they run to attack her, managing to maul her while holding onto her with their teeth.
Kal summons her spirit guardians as the Banshee gets closer, with Dandelion moving the moonbeam to interfere with the banshee and hound that is holding on to Penny. From the corners, two more shadows approach, who start draining Penny’s strength. Dandelion feels a malevolent presence from the banshee, and can feel that she is being cursed.
The banshee lets out a howl, which causes Penny to go unconscious, but the others manage to bring her back by healing her, while trying to take out the banshee that lingers high in the ceiling. When Penny comes to, she uses her magic to steel wind strike at all the remaining foes in the room, taking out the shadows, the mastiffs and almost destroying the banshee, before she feather falls down to the floor. The banshee flies down to attack Relic, who has mind spiked her, but as she gets close, the spirit guardians hold her at bay. The damage too much to handle, the banshee goes docile, floating high up in the room, unable to attack the party further. They have won.
Final Rest for the Banshee
Dandelion quickly runs over to heal Penny, who was gravely wounded in the fight, and sits down with her while she takes a short rest. Relic looks around the chamber, entering the bedroom they didn’t have time to look into last time, and finds that the drow have already ransacked the place thoroughly. All that remains is the ruined bed and the chamberpot, along with Glasstaffs robes that hang loosely in the cupboard. He returns to the study area, and begins examining the desk that Glasstaff was working at. After going through the inside and outside, knocking on all surfaces, he finds a hidden compartment below the surface, and out slides a notebook. Looking inside, he finds it to be encoded, but it seems to be what they came for.
Kal, in the meantime, stares up at the undead elf that peers down at the group. She knows that ghosts and banshees cannot be destroyed by conventional means, and needs help to move on, either by giving them their final rites, or helping them with whatever unfinished tasks they have left in the world. She asks the banshee who she is, and what she remembers. The banshee replies that she remembers the drow invading, and she was released from her prison so she could try to escape, but in the commotion she was trampled by the other escapees. She knows nothing of the tower, as she was held in the chambers below. Kal asks for her name, and she replies Elira, after thinking for a moment.
Kal tells Elira that she wants to help her rest, and asks what she needs to do to move on. Elira tells her that she wants the mad mage to die, properly. Remembering what Relic told them about Theonius Grim, Kal wonders if he managed to become a lich after all. She asks Elira if she knows where he is, and she tells them that she can still feel his presence in the tower. Penny suggests that he might be behind the locked door on the third floor. Kal promises Elira that they will either take him down, or come back and give her her final rites, either way, she will be allowed to rest. Before heading downstairs, Kal asks if she has any family that they can reach out to. The banshee mentions that she had a son, Aaron Whisperleaf, and that she wonders what became of him, considering that it’s been two and a half millennia since she saw him.
The Vault
Descending the stairs to the lower level, the party is once again faced with the imposing golem that stands in the middle of the chamber, guarding the massive vault that hopefully holds some interesting treasures. Penny takes out her wand and immediately finds that the door is trapped. Relic goes closer, and when he stands in front of the door for a couple of seconds, he can see that it starts to glow, as three rings surrounding a keyhole become apparent in front of him, with the keyhole being behind some kind of arcane shield. On each of the rings is inscribed a text, but he does not recognize the language. Penny, still under the effect of the spell Delphine gave earlier, touches the rings, and finds that they are inscribed with three poems, or riddles. On the outermost ring the following is written:
In heavens' light, pure and grand,
A force that's cast from mortal hand.
A flicker that holds a sacred score,
Give this and the ring shall seal no more.
On the middle ring, this is the message:
Seek and you shall find,
In the depths of the mage's mind.
Beyond a mere novice's sight,
Reveal secrets held so tight.
Finally, on the inner ring, they find:
Dabble in dark, where others fear,
Unveil the power some hold dear.
Mysteries of life and death are your chore,
A third of your might will unlock this door.
The party ponders over the riddles, and discusses what they might mean. Penny thinks that the first riddle seems to point to radiant damage, and when she touched the rings it felt like the ring of spell storing, so the spells probably have to be cast into it. Dandelion takes a deep breath, and casts a guiding bolt from her staff, touching the ring with it. The light travels from the staff, and dissipates into the ring, which causes the outermost shimmer over the keyhole to fade.
The second ring stumps them at first. Kal thinks it might mean that they have to cast a spell that deals psychic damage, but Relic thinks it’s more likely referring to divination. Penny is almost ready to cast identify at the ring, before Kal shoots in that it refers to magic beyond a mere novice, so it will have to be stronger. Penny instead casts detect thoughts, a second level spell. Once again, the magic dissipates into the material, and the shimmer fades yet again.
Finally, Kal casts Speak with Dead, a third level spell, at the ring, which causes the final shimmer to vanish, revealing the keyhole. Penny takes a close look at the mechanics, and realizes that it will be an extremely difficult lock to pick. They take out the mysterious key they found way back when, and try to use it, but it does not fit. A much bigger key is needed. Not wanting to risk waking the golem, they think they should try to find the actual key. Penny suggests that it might be behind the locked door, but Kal wants to be sure, so she sits down to do a divination. As she lights the incense and is transported to the Stormfather's realm, she looks up at him, asking him for guidance on where the key is located.
The key can be found on its owner. Currently stuck between two realms…
On the third floor.
The party continues downwards through the circular staircase, and tries to be as stealthy as possible. In the opening in the center of the tower, they can see several shadows below moving about, but only on the second floor and below. When they reach the third floor they see that the southern wall has caved in from a neighboring building collapsing into the tower. On the north side of the room, they see the door that they were warned against entering. Heavy chains of drow design hold the door at bay, and in the crack below they see a weak shimmering light shining through. In the room beyond they hear a faint screaming from an otherworldly voice.
The party wastes no time, and starts to remove the chain from the door, which makes some noise, so whatever is within will probably be alerted to their presence. They put the chains in the bag of holding, hoping that it might come in handy at a later time, before standing in front of the door. Dandelion, who is the most protected of them all with her fancy barrier tattoo goes in the front, with Relic to the rear. She pulls the door open.
Grim
An intense light draws Dandelion’s attention, as she sees what appears to be the beginning of a portal to another plane within. A skeleton is frozen in time in the middle of it, probably Theonius himself caught in an accident. But something else lurks within the room. A lone skull with crystal eyes emerges from the light, and approaches the doorway where the group is standing. A demilich, the remains of Theonius Grim himself. It lets out a blood curdling scream when it gets close, which causes both Dandelion and Kal to immediately collapse, but Penny uses her ring of the True Companions to keep Kal alive. The ordeal shakes both Penny and Relic, who both are still standing.
Kal gets back up, and tries to heal Dandelion, whilst concentrating on aura of life, to prevent more people from dying. A couple of echoes, floating skulls with necrotic flames, tries to hurt both Penny and Dandelion, but they manage to resist. The demilich chatters its teeth in a disturbing way, almost causing Kal to lose concentration, but she manages to resist it. Relic casts an area of sickening radiance within, with Penny taking out a sword and animating it, hoping to draw some of Grim’s attention. The demilich causes the dust to flare up, obscuring the party’s view of it, while Kal, Penny and Relic try to retreat to the south of the room. Dandelion stays behind, and manages to get in a hit on the demilich as it comes out the door. It bounces around the room from the attack, and ends up near where the trio were trying to escape to.
The Demilich drains the life from Relic, Kal and Penny, which causes Kal and Penny to go unconscious yet again. Relic runs over to Kal, being smart enough to try to revive the healer, shoving a healing potion into her mouth. He uses his telekinetic powers to push away the demilich, but it manages to miraculously resist. Dandelion, seeing the seriousness of the situation summons one of her rarer spirit totems. A beautiful unicorn emerges in the center of the room, which allows Dandelion to enhance her healing powers, saving Penny in the process.
The demilich, along with the echoes in the other room, seems to be too much to handle: Luckily, Relic’s sickening radiance manages to take out a couple of the echoes, but something worse emerges from the room. Two shadowy whisps enter the chamber, and one tries to lure Dandelion towards it, while the other flares its light, causing the shadows of the party to attack their caster. The demilich however keeps siphoning the life force of Penny, so she goes down yet again. Kal summons all her might, trying to grievously hurt the demilich, and releases a shockwave of radiance and thunder that takes out the wisps, and wounds the demilich, but not enough to kill it. Relic finally shakes off the fear that he has felt since the demilich emerged, and casts a barrage of magic missiles at it.
Penny, having been healed by Dandelion once again takes out her wand of wonders, hoping to get lucky by targeting the demilich, but it causes her to become invisible instead. Luckily for her, this means the demilich can’t siphon her life any more. Dandelion gets drained once more, before she uses all but one of the charges from her wand of magic missiles. The whole party can feel the wind of nature emerging from the staircase, and flows through Dandelion, as the spectral arrows leaves her wand, and makes impact with the demilich, causing the gemstones in its eyes to crack, as it falls to the ground, and crumples into dust. Theonius Grim is no more.
Closing the Gate
The party takes a second to gather their breaths, with Penny becoming visible again as she heals herself. Nothing remains of the demilich, as the winds that accompanied Dandelion blow the dust away. Inside, they see the unstable portal, with the skeleton of Theonius Grim stuck in a suspended animation. Relic and Penny step inside to examine the room. finding little of value, seeing a dead drow lying just inside, probably a victim of the previous inhabitants' attempt to ransack the place. Relic and Penny both feel the gloom that emanates from the portal, and realize that it probably was supposed to be a permanent gateway to the Shadowfell, but Theonius tried to enter it before it was stable.
Relic examines the skeleton and can see that there is a key hanging around its neck. It is also wearing a golden glove of sorts on its right hand. Relic uses his telekinetic powers to try to pull the key free, and with Penny’s musical prowess, he is inspired enough to succeed. The key clatters to the floor, and so Relic picks it up, and looks back at the unstable portal.
They realize that it must be closed, and seeing that the energy appears to come from four crystals embedded in the base of the portal, Relic tries to cast magic missile to take them all out at once. Sadly, only one of the crystals shatter, and a vibration starts going through the tower, as the portal grows more unstable. Penny quickly casts a shatter at the portal, which causes all the crystals to crack simultaneously. The remaining energy coalesces in the core of the portal, shrinks smaller and smaller, before finally bursting with a loud boom, cracking the base, and diffusing the danger. The portal is closed, permanently, and the party takes a sigh of relief.
The skeleton was disintegrated by the shatter, but the glove remains. Penny picks it up, and identifies it with her wand, finding it to be a tool to cast sacred flame, most likely commissioned by Theonius Grim in order to be able to open the vault. Relic puts it on, as it doesn’t require attunement, and they search through the portal chamber, but finds nothing of value. They instead decide to sneak back up the stairs to finally open the vault.
When they round the corner and face the golem, they see that the shimmer has returned, so Relic quickly casts sacred flame on it to hold it back, and slots in the key, turning it. Heavy and intricate machinery can be heard whirring and activating within the door, as it slowly slides up, revealing the treasures within. The party gathers up whatever they can find of use, which consists of a bunch of weapons, some useful armor, and a bunch of spell scrolls. On the table directly within lies a greatsword, which Penny identifies as the Magician’s Judge. Most notably, is a pouch of the mysterious substance residuum. Only found in the Crownshield Kingdom, this material can replace any material components, and the party just found around 2500gp worth of it.
Cleaning House
After ransacking the vault, they head back to the chamber on the top floor to see if the banshee is finally at rest. The place is completely empty, as Elira has finally been allowed to move on. Kal doesn’t want to leave the tower full of undead, so the party takes some time to clear out the remaining undead forces, which is a trivial task after having dealt with a demilich. Spending about an hour making sure that nothing undead or alive remains, they finally make their way back home, with Kal using word of recall to bring them back to the shrine of Udall in Ravenforge. Tired, cold and mostly out of resources, they make their way back to their house.
On the way there, Penny uses her stone to send a sending to Morgan, telling him about what happened, that they defeated a demilich, but she’s fine. He doesn’t respond, but shortly after he emerges by teleporting to them. He tells them he’s impressed by their accomplishment, and asks Penny for a word in private, a bit away from the group. He takes out a small box, and opens it, revealing a silver bracelet within. He tells her that he had it commissioned. It’s a way for him to be notified if Penny were to meet with an unfortunate fate, and he has a matching bracelet, so she will know if he is in danger as well.
Penny gives him a hug, which he reciprocates. Turning back, they see the rest of the party have continued walking, and enter their house. Morgan follows Penny to the doorstep, and says his goodbyes to her, asking her where they’re going next. Penny tells him that she’s going back home, as her friend is in danger. Morgan wishes her luck, and promises to , before teleporting back to wherever he came from, as Penny enters the house to join the rest for lunch.