Previously: Chapter 62: The Bloodwoods
In Troubled Waters
As the party faces down Nezznar, who makes another attempt to reason with the party to give up the Arachnostaff, Dandelion notices that a presence is to her right side. Across the water, she can see where the water is being disturbed by invisible spider legs. The Nezznar standing in front of them is not the real one, a distraction. She subtly nudges Kal, who notices as well. Penny can see that the others are preoccupied with something, and also sees the deception, but Relic is staring Nezznar down, too focused to notice. Nezznar puts forth his claim one final time, but is rejected. Nezznar points out that his ancestors fought with Relic’s makers, and won, and hopes that history will repeat itself today.
Suddenly, the illusion in front of the party vanishes, and the real Nezznar appears to the right, sword in hand ready to attack. A shroud suddenly appears around him, rippling through the air, disturbing the light, but it doesn’t hurt the party. Dandelion tries to cast a spell at him, but her spell just fizzles out, due to the shroud. They all move out of the way of the shroud, hoping that it will help them attack Nezznar. Relic is sadly not fast enough, and is struck several times by Nezznar, both by his eldritch blasts, and a few swipes with his sword. Dandelion places down a moonbeam, burning the enemy, but he moves out of its way, and attacks Relic once more.
But then, something disturbing happens. Nezznar looks at Relic’s fancy orb that he is holding in his hands, and attempts to draw power from it. Relic tries to resist, but is unsuccessful, and so Nezznar absorbs the magic within, breathing it in, and taking some of the properties from the orb, protecting himself and granting him a small boost of health. The party is shocked by this, and realizes that this could turn ugly if they are not careful. Penny does a reverberating jump to get out of range, hurting Nezznar in the process, and Kal takes a stab at him by throwing her new spear. The spear flies through the air, trailing a visible layer of electricity behind it, and as soon as it hits its target, it shoots back to Kal’s hands with a bolt of lightning.
A Few More Allies
Dandelion realizes that the situation is more dire than first assumed, and so uses a healing word on Relic to keep him afloat, and pulls out a beast from the bag of tricks. Wolfsleigh appears, and immediately pounces at Nezznar, managing to make him lose his balance, and falls prone. Kal also summons an ice storm, but Nezznar manages to resist the effect with little effort, and casts a spell to get away from the center of attention, moving closer towards Dandelion. He then shoots another eldritch blast, pulling Penny towards the water, making her lose her balance, and then says a word in the drow language at Relic. The warforged is suddenly wrought with terrible pain from the power word, causing him to have difficulty doing everything, and nearly putting him out of commission. He slumbers away from Nezznar, who now focuses on Dandelion and her staff. She tries to resist, but he is able to absorb its magic as well, causing the staff to wilter slightly, as it becomes mundane. He then focuses on his real prize, the staff in Relic’s hands.
He teleports over towards Relic, and nearly manages to take him down, but Penny uses the ring of the true companions to keep him up, greatly angering Nezznar. Dandelion takes the opportunity to heal Relic a bit more, seeing that Nezznar isn’t letting up. She then summons another beast from the bag of tricks, and a massive elk stands in front of them. Master Elk has returned, and charges at Nezznar, but with his strong natural armor enhanced by the stolen power of the orb, he is unsuccessful in damaging the drider. Penny tries to help her friend shake the pain that he is experiencing by giving him some bardic inspiration, and then tries to contact Morgan with her sending stone, asking him to come help.
Nezznar then casts a spell at Relic, preventing him from being healed for a short while. Kal desperately tries to reach him, but with all the beasts in the way, she cannot get through, so she jumps on the Elk instead, and tries to attack Nezznar, but fails. In the meantime, Dandelion has summoned more allies in the form of a boar and a draconic spirit, who is attacking Nezznar to the best of their abilities. Relic tries to cast another spell at Nezznar, but is unable to concentrate through the pain, but with Penny’s help and Kal casting bless, he manages to push through, shaking it off. Too little, too late. Nezznar strikes him down with another spell, and then walks over to the unconscious body of Relic, and the prize.
A Turn of Events
The drider picks up his prize, and holds the Arachnostaff in his hands, relishing in its beauty. But then, suddenly, it starts to vibrate, and glow. Nezznar looks at the staff with concern, as it suddenly bursts into thousands of spiders, who bites and wounds Nezznar before quickly crawling over to Relic’s body, reforming in his hand as if it never left. Seems that Lolth provided a way to not have the staff taken away from whoever is worthy of wielding it. Nezznar stares at his mangled hand in disbelief, and rage begins to fill his eyes. He swings his sword at the Elk, slicing open his throat in a shower of fire and blood, causing the beast to disappear. Kal falls to the ground, but manages to stay on her feet.
Growing weary from the constant barrage of the heroes and their summons, Nezznar summons the help of his patron, transforming partly into a visage of Vuthul. His eyes and hair are gone, and his skin grows pale. He stares back at Penny, mocking her by asking if she missed “him”. The shroud that has been flowing around him intermittently grows larger, covering most of the grove. Penny tries to use a steel wind strike at him, but finds that her attacks are ineffective, as he has become immune to force damage. Kal also tries to wound him by summoning a destructive wave, only affecting him, but finds that he seems to be resistant to all spells as well, so the attack is less effective than she hoped. He then teleports away from the center of attention, and turns himself invisible.
The draconic spirit and all the summons follow him, trying to strike at him, as Penny polymorphs herself into a tyrannosaurus rex, lumbering over towards where they see his legs disturbing the water. He is difficult to hit, and Relic uses sickening radiance to hurt him, but Nezznars constitution is too strong, so he shakes it off. He then moves towards Dandelion, attacking her, Penny and Relic with the eldritch blast, trying to drag her closer to him so that he can finish her off, but with her gift of the forest, she roots herself into the ground, stopping him from moving her. In anger he screams at the party for their tenacity, but they can all sense that it seems that he is holding back, not attacking with full force. Penny runs over towards Nezznar and makes a devastating bite attack at him, wounding him greatly. She then hears him speak to her.
“You have grown powerful, and have fought well. Perhaps we shall meet again in the future, and then I will defeat you all.”
He then teleports away to safety, as his contingency goes off. Penny lets out an annoyed roar, and drops the polymorph, turning back into herself. She gets a sending from Morgan, telling her that he tried to teleport in, but had great difficulties as he was unfamiliar with the area, and ended up in a completely different grove. Penny tells him to go back home instead of risking coming to her, as Nezznar has already escaped.
Dandelion, who had cast a unicorn totem, uses it to heal the party to full health, before looking at Galen’s old staff, mundane and non-magical. A small piece of it falls off. Relic is fidgeting with his orb, and so she asks him if he has any idea if or how the weapons can be fixed, but Relic is unsure, as he senses absolutely no magic coming from either item. He ironically advises Dandelion to not be so materialistic, as they are strongest together, magic items or not.
Kal wanders over to the grave once more, and gives a final salute to it, before putting her hand on it one last time. She can feel the warmth of the energy within flow, the faith of the area coalescing into the tree. As she turns back towards the party, ready to head back to Eilian, she spots a figure in the clearing of the woods. The others turn towards it, and they can all see the same figure. Relic waves at it, unsure about what it is, and the figure turns its head towards him. Kal asks if it liked the show, and as she says this, the figure just fades away. Penny is amazed, having never seen the figure herself, but have been told about it from the others who saw it.
Dandelion turns to the boar and Wolfslee who survived the battle, asking if they would like to come to Eilian with them to see the city. They look at eachother, and declines, saying they would rather wander the forest until they are whisked away. The boar heads out, with Wolfslee following, before giving a final turn towards his summoner, giving a final bow with his head in a way that says “until we meet again”. They both then vanish among the trees.
They all gather near a fitting tree, ready to return to Eilian. But just as Dandelion casts the spell, the entire area goes silent. Every noise they make, the rustling of the clothing, every breath they take, the dried leaves beneath their feet, they all make a deafening roar in comparison to the silence surrounding them. Worried, they turn around to see what causes it, and can see a massive dark figure springing straight towards them without making a single noise. The party hurries through the portal just in time, as the Silent Guardian is left behind.
Familiar Faces
The party stares back at the closed portal, almost expecting something to burst through, before they relax, noticing the music playing behind them. They turn around, and find themselves in the middle of the Moonlit Pavilion, and most of the patrons are looking back at the new arrivals, as the musician is playing center stage. The party looks around at the faces staring back at them, and way in the back, both Kal and Dandelion notice a familiar face. Sister Garaele, who they met in Phandalin, is sitting enjoying a drink. They wave at her, and she waves awkwardly back, gesturing for them to come over to her.
Several people make note of the spear Kal is carrying, but she just owns it, not shrinking it down into a more compact size, and confidently walks with her companions over to Garaele’s table, joining the cleric. They ask her how she is, and what she has been doing since they last saw her in Phandalin, and Dandelion asking how the town is doing. Garaele looks at her with a surprised look, telling them that it was destroyed. The others in the group look at Dandelion in a way to say “what are you doing?”, telling Garaele that they know about the destruction of the city. Garaele tells them that she barely made it out, managing to escape with a few survivors, but the attack was fast and devastating.
Kal tells her that she will be glad to know that they took out the wizard that was the cause of the undead, but wishes that they had taken the time to check out the rumor before they moved on, but Garaele eases their guilt by saying that Daran, the old half-elf who told them about it was getting old, so even she didn’t take him seriously. What happened happened, and they cannot do anything about it now, other than move on.
As they sit there and talk about belief and faith, Kal realizes that she is a cleric of luck. Which means she is a cleric of Shehemis. Kal grabs Garaele by both shoulders, saying she is SO glad to see her, and then takes out the cards they have found during their travels that carry the symbol of Shehemis. She examines the cards as the party asks if she knows anything about it. She looks at the cards in a mix of awe and terror, and tells them that she believes they might have begun collecting the cards from the Deck of Many Things. Apparently, Shehemis likes to toy with people, and so from time to time leaves a trail of cards for someone to find. The party is seemingly on his radar, as he has placed them in their path, and once they have enough cards, the deck will reveal itself to them. This can be both a great boon or a terrible misfortune.
On Gods and Mortals
Continuing on the topic of the gods, the party considers telling Garaele about the mission they are currently on, when it comes to stopping the Forgotten One. Garaele already has taken note about the spear once carried by Maravin, but admits that she knows not the whole story, other than that she fell fighting “the darkness” during the Betrayal. She has never heard about the Forgotten One or what happened, and admits she is more of a recruiter for The Veiled Protectors, without having much to do with their mission herself. Kal tells her that she found Enhana, and was led to Ravenforge, so even though she didn’t end up joining the organization, their goals are aligned.
Garaele asks them if she should be worried about their mission, as they are being vague so as to not burden her with too much information, so they just tell her that the same darkness that caused Maravin to fall is returning, and they are doing their best to stop it. Garaele says that she will prepare as best as she can, but knows not how she will do it. Dandelion notices a few people trying to listen in on the conversation, so Penny starts playing along with the performer, meeting her eyes and playing in tune, deafening out the conversation to prying ears. Most of the eavesdroppers go back to their own business, but one of them seems to strain himself to listen in, but eventually gives up after the rest of the party lets him know that they notice what he is doing. Dandelion gets the impression that he was listening for more than just curiosity’s sake. In either case, Garaele is disturbed by the development, but is confident the party can overcome it.
They talk some more about various topics, and accidentally begins talking about innuendos when Relic mentions polishing his metal, which causes Penny to start giggling. Dandelion is confused about it, not understanding the euphemism, so she tells her about the birds and the bees, and rubbing dicks. Dandelion tells them that she has never felt those emotions, so Kal asks her if she has ever been in love, but Dandelion doesn’t think so. Kal then asks Penny if she loves Morgan, but Penny says that he is like a brother to her, and so would never do that. She likes to have fun with people she encounters in the taverns they perform in however, so she isn’t unfamiliar with the concept of sex, telling Dandelion it’s “fun”, but Dandelion says it should only be use for procreation, and she has no time for that at the moment.
Kal asks Garaele if she has heard about any shrines being corrupted, as they have come across a few so far. Garaele tells them that she has heard about a few in the Akstan kingdom, but is unsure if they are taken care of or not, but one that is seemingly having trouble is along the coast between Arcanharbor and Elderdocks to the east of where they are now. Kal is annoyed at the fact that only Udall’s shrines are being corrupted, but Garaele points out that Udall mostly has shrines away from civilization, so his shrines are more exposed. And also, since his Cleric was seemingly part of the cause of the Forgotten One’s downfall last time, it would make sense for him to target his shrines. Kal cannot disagree with this assessment, but doesn’t like it.
Garaele asks Kal how her god communicates with her, and is jealous to hear that Kal gets to “talk” with him, as her god, Shehemis, only makes himself known by placing misfortune in her path, with chairs breaking beneath her and random birds shitting in her hair. Dandelion points out that having a bird shit on you is a sign of good luck, something Garaele admits is true, but it doesn’t feel lucky. Relic suggests giving a proper offering in the spirit of Shehemis to take a jab back at him, and gives Garaele a bunch of fake gold coins that Fie got from the Deck of Certain Things, telling her that this would do the job. Garaele takes a close look at them, examining the jester in the place of the regular raven motif, and thanks Relic for the idea.
Afterwards, Garaele says that she is getting tired, and is heading to bed, and that the party should too, since they look exhausted. They agree, and get a new room on the Leafwarden’s bill. This time it’s a bigger room, with more hammocks looking over the forest floor. Dandelion heads down to the stables to retrieve Argus and Ira, who both are sleeping happily on the back of Speed. As Dandelion carefully wakes them by scratching their beaks, they are overjoyed at seeing her again, and comes with her back to the room of the inn.
As the party lies down to sleep, with Relic sitting in a chair to recharge, they all dream of various things relating to their journey and history, with Penny being told that she won’t be able to save everyone, even if she will try, Dandelion longing for the forest, but her path will shape the fate of her friends as much as her own and Kal being told by Maravin and Udall that Stormseeker is a catalyst for change, and tool to change destinies, but she will have to find her own path towards either the light or the dark. Relic unlocks a new memory, of his dwarven life, where he and a group of warriors tried to disrupt a drow supply route, but were ambushed. In the distance, high above the battlefield, he can see a shape staring down at him. He knows this figure, but cannot place him. As they all wake the next morning, they have become more powerful once more.
Next: Chapter 64: Rekindled