Previously: Chapter 67: In the Belly of the Beast
Victorious
When the party finally emerges from the Starlit Stage, Harmony in hands, Tamsyn is waiting for them in the foyer. She is quite ready to leave, and comments on the sounds, both musical and thunderous, coming from within, and congratulating them on their success, pointing to the lute Penny is holding. Trailing Dandelion is a small weasel and a dire wolf, the creatures from the bag of tricks. They quickly realize that Wolfsleigh won’t be able to make it through the crack leading outside, so he instead decides to head through a part of the ruins, and if not, he will see them the next time he is summoned. Kal asks what the beasts experience when they are not summoned, with Wolfsleigh saying that he roams a large field, surrounded by a forest. They all think it sounds quite nice, and wish him the best. He gives Dandelion a lick on her face, before disappearing within the ruins. The rest of the party exits through the crack near the entrance.
When they get outside, night has already come upon them, which is odd, considering they weren’t inside for that long, but Relic figures it might have something to do with how the place has been preserved so well despite being over 2000 years old at this point. In either case, their task is done, and while they discuss the possibility of there being a treasure horde somewhere beneath the city from all the adventurers that Rumblejaw has eaten throughout the years, they have more pressing matters to attend to, and leave it to maybe come back to later at some point. Also, Tamsyn seems to be quite shaken by the experiences of the day, almost having died, and just wants to get back home.
When they get back to Tamsyn’s house, Argus and Ira are perched on the roof, while Prowler is sitting on the lintel of the window, wanting to play with them, but the owls are having none of it. Dandelion tells prowler that he has to be careful with birds as they are quite delicate creatures, but Prowler doesn’t see the problem. Tamsyn turns to Relic, mentioning how weird it is for them to have talking birds, as a segue into saying that she liked the company of the party, despite their short time together. Relic suggests that she comes with them back to Ravenforge at least, and make her way from there, away from the ruins. She likes that idea, as she does not look forward to traveling through bulette-infested dunes.
Tamsyn quickly runs inside, and the party can hear things breaking and falling, before she eventually emerges with her rucksack filled with the food she got from her care package, as well as a bag on her side with whatever didn’t fit inside the rucksack. Prowler jumps onto her shoulder, while the owls flies into Dandelion’s bag of holding. Kal gathers everyone around her and uses her word of recall, bringing them all back to Ravenforge, accompanied by a thunder in the distance, letting out the owls as soon as they emerge.
Tamsyn is about to say her goodbyes, but the party tells her that she can at least stay the night, considering that it is quite late, near midnight, so she can head out the next morning. They also think that Thervan would like to talk with her about Rumblejaw and her experiences, so she joins them home. Relic summons a steed and takes off ahead of them, while the rest of the party procures a carriage.
When Relic gets back home there is nobody around, apart from the horses and Rod. He lights the fire and the candles around the house, waiting for the rest to return, as they do shortly after. No Arin is present, but the party thinks she’s probably out with her friend. Rod immediately reacts to the newly arrived feline presence, and is unimpressed, but Dandelion tries to make peace, unsuccessfully, but at least she keeps them apart. Tamsyn, being extremely tired from the experiences, asks to retire for the evening, and is led upstairs to Dandelion’s bedroom, which she isn’t using anyway.
Outside, Dandelion speaks to the horses, telling them that they will probably go out on an adventure soon, but for now they are heading to Spiral Woods, which could be difficult for the horses, so she recommends them staying behind. They are fine with it as Arin takes them out on runs, in addition to them being allowed to roam freely.
Parting Ways
In the morning, Dandelion wakes to find Tamsyn sitting on the couch with Prowler, having eaten some fruit for breakfast, with Relic also awake reading some notes. Kal also wakes up early, and begins making breakfast. When Penny eventually wakes up, they eat, prepare their spells for the day, and then head towards the castle. They tell Tamsyn to just leave her stuff in the house for now, they can pick it up later.
They procure a carriage and head into the city, and by the castle they are led inside by the guards who recognize them more easily now, considering their newfound status in the kingdom. They don’t have to wait for long in the foyer, as Thervan quickly comes to collect them. He leads them to his office, which is met by wide eyes from Tamsyn. They tell her about her accomplishment and service to the kingdom, which Thervan says must be commended, and asks Tamsyn to stick around for a few days so they can have a proper chat about her last few years. Tamsyn accepts, and is told to procure a room in The Lucky Duck, on their coin.
Afterwards, they move on to the matters of the shard now embedded in Penny’s clavicle. The wizard goes to his desk, procures some diamond dust, asking Kal to do the honors. As she casts greater restoration on Penny, the shard falls to the floor. Thervan picks it up with his mage hand, holding it close, studying it. The others remark that this must be the third shard they have found for him, and he confirms that this is one of the six. Along with the three in their possession, Thervan knows of the location of two more, with one of them being in the hands of Calamity. Kal remarks that they will probably encounter the others, as their journeys take them far and wide, and they apparently are magnets to these types of things. Thervan laughs at this, before placing the shard in a box, leaving it on his desk.
He then asks the party where their journeys will take them next, and they tell him that they plan to go back to Faunus' Forest to check out the rumors of the corrupted shrine of Faunus, and his “fanatical” followers. He wishes them the best of luck, and reminds them that they are making good progress on their… project, as he puts it, not wanting to say too much in front of Tamsyn.
He leads the party outside, and when they pass Bertram’s office they can see that he, Delphine and Ansgar are in deep discussion about something. Dandelion manages to pick up something about how to approach “it” when they manage to decode the entire circle. Delphine gives the entire party a look when they pass, but says nothing. Afterwards, they show Tamsyn to The Lucky Duck.
Seems that after Sanira’s death during the drow attack, Throk has taken over as innkeeper, and greets Kal warmly. He seems saddened by the situation, evidently he and Sanira were close, but what happened happened, and he has to do his best with what he’s got. He helps Tamsyn find a room, and leads her upstairs using the levitators the party so lovingly calls the magical rooms bringing people up and down. Tamsyn gives everyone a hug before she leaves, and the party tells her that they will have her stuff brought to the inn for her. Outside, the whole party debates if it’s better to use the word “levitator” or “elevator”, much to the annoyance of an older man sitting enjoying his pipe.
After sending Tamsyn her belongings, Kal gets a message sent to her through magic, telling her that her armor is done, and she can come pick it up when she is available. The rest of the party decides to join her to Elvenroth, as they can head straight to Faunus’ Forest afterwards. They say their goodbyes to the horses and Rod, and then are transported to Elvenroth by Dandelion through a tree near the shrine of Udall. On the other side, the weather is cold, raining, and windy.
Ink and Ashes
As their point of entry is close to the Sky’s Eye, they run inside to get out of the rain, with Relic using a spell to make a magical umbrella to avoid it instead. Inside, they are once again met by the massive multi-storied shop filled with magical items, and a few patrons who are looking for stuff to buy. A few helpers wander around, with some kobolds organizing the items. Behind the desk, the loxodon wizard greets them, asking how he can help. Kal tells him that she ordered a suit of armor a while back, and as he looks at her amulet from Udall, he quickly remembers her. The others stay behind as she is led to the back.
Walking past a couple of kobolds working on some new magical items on order, Kal is soon faced with her old armor, originally made by Granny, now lit by a single spotlight on an armor stand. As she looks closer, there seems to be a subtle sheen running across it, with the solid metal parts shifting like sand in the wind. Vrendol tells her that the idea came from the desert dunes of his old homeland in Manath, and it took him a few tries to integrate, but it will allow her to manipulate time once a day, giving her more time to attack, or making it harder to hit her. He helps her don it, and Kal can feel the energy flowing through her.
She thanks him for the job, asking how much it will cost, and he tells her as this was a finicky job, and it doesn’t require her to attune to it, the price is a bit higher, at 18000 gold pieces. Kal pays the man, and then asks if he has something else she might have used for, telling him about their horses and how it would be nice if they could be kept in a magical chamber to take with them at times. When she asks if it is even possible, the loxodon and his kobold “children” laughs in unison, telling her that everything is possible, but he will need some time to do research on how to accomplish such an effect. It will be costly, especially if it is for three horses, but he will let her know.
When Kal and Vrendol return to the others, he writes down in his ledger that the transaction is completed, and has Kal sign for delivery of goods. The others have perused the goods, but are looking forward to moving on, and so they walk over to the teleportation hub, where Relic can mark down the address of the circle found there, as he has inherited the ownership from Fie. Seeing as they are already here, they decide to head over to Tempervale in order to maybe get some useful spell tattoos from Deacon Ember.
They all decide to get a variety of useful spells, with most at least getting one for revivify, in case something were to happen where everyone but him is down, bleeding out. The tattoo on his metal skin is of a beautiful dwarven design, and surprisingly, not an issue to imbue on him, as his body adapts to accept the change. Dandelion gets a few spells to misty step away from danger, while Penny refills some of the spells she has spent, in addition to getting a Revivify tattoo.
After they have all gotten their respective tattoos, Penny wants to check out the ruins of the house of Lady Kree, and is accompanied by the rest, as they are all a bit curious about what happened to the elderly kenku. Getting there, they see that, like last time, there seems to be a perfect outline of the house, even the stairs leading into the pavement, is just sucked into the ruins beneath the city. It has been fenced off, but not rebuilt, and it is very deep. They immediately concede that this couldn’t have been a natural occurrence, and feel there must be some kind of curse involved. The theater is now taken over by the city, so there seems to be no motivation to take her out.
Kal casts a divination, hoping to get some answers, asking if this is something they should use their time on. She gets a response that more people might die in time if they leave it be, but there doesn’t seem to be an immediate danger. They decide to pay Kirrus Mericious a visit, as he might be able to shed light on the situation, especially with the possibility of there being a curse that could hurt people.
When they reach the guard barracks, a city guard fetches the minotaur captain, who greets them warmly. They tell him about the situation, and that they have it on good authority that people might die if they don’t take care of the situation soon. He seems unconvinced, especially since they mention a curse, but writes an official note letting them take ownership of Lady Kree’s belongings. He wishes them luck, before returning to his work. They then head to the temple of Mova, where the dead are buried.
As Lady Kree was cremated, there is no chance of speaking to her, but they decide to check out her grave anyway, as it might give some clues to what is happening. A priestess of Mova leads them down to the crypts after they deliver the official note, and takes them to her tomb, giving her condolences, and then leaving them to it. They open the tomb, finding an urn inside, along with a box. Opening the box, there are some jewelry, as well as some coins. Relic uses detect magic and finds a ring within to be highly magical.
He carefully picks it up with mage hand, but eventually grasps it, as he has to touch it in order to identify what it is. After using the ritual, he learns that the ring is called the Spleen of the Dream Ender, which can cast a spell similar to Finger of Death, but at great cost. Kal uses a ritual to do a commune with Udall, to learn more about the ring.
As the incense enters her nostrils, she is taken into a trancelike state, and asks her patron three questions: Is the ring connected to the curse that killed Lady Kree, yes. Should they dispose of the ring in a safe manner, yes. Did Lady Kree kill her husband? Also yes. Figuring that by using the ring the curse will activate, they decide to not wield it, instead vowing to destroy it. Kal sends a sending to Gundren, asking if he could dispose of the ring if they needed, getting a positive reply, as they usually dispose of “failed” magical forgings.
Penny sends a sending to Kirrus, telling him that they managed to solve the case of Lady Kree, and gets a response that he is pleased, but surprised at how quick they managed to do it. Wanting to protect the ring until they can destroy it, they head to The Unseen Arcanity, asking Claira Aloro if she has any items for containing dangerous artifacts, but she does not. She has a lead box however, which should protect it well enough. They pay for it with the coin left behind by Lady Kree, and put it into the bag of holding, taking a mental note of destroying it when they can.
Into the Wilds
Heading back outside, over to one of the nearby parks, Penny casts another sending, this time to Wren, asking him if he knows where their tribe currently is, as they are heading their way. He replies that they are where the Ancient and Green rivers meet. Dandelion scries on him, getting a vision of a fitting tree they can use to transport themselves there. She then opens a portal, and the party find themselves on the outskirts of where the tribe sits. Relic remarks that the forest seems… unruly.
Sage, having been told about their imminent arrival, goes over to greet Dandelion, embracing her, and introduces himself to the rest of her group. As Dandelion already has told him about them last time she was here, he recognizes the names, shaking all their hands firmly, asking why they have returned. Dandelion tells him that she intends to seek out the fanatic tribe to the south, much to his disappointment, but indicates that they should talk later, before leading them to the rest of the tribe. There they are almost accosted by the others who are happy to see Dandelion again. A few familiar faces, Wren and eventually Droop also greet them, and the party is introduced to Dandelion's blood-mother and blood-father, who seems particularly protective of her.
Hawk eventually emerges from the perimeter, fondly embracing Dandelion, offering her and the others some berries he picked in the morning. Much larger and juicier than the berries that are found in the city, Dandelion feels more at home than she has in a long time, and even the others must admit to the perks of being in the forest. As soon as Dandelion points out Lark, Penny beelines over to him, and they spend most of the night playing together, with Gold listening on intently nearby. They also find that Corn has gotten offspring, so they have a whole flock of chickens roaming with them now. Wondering how Corn got offspring without being fertilized, she uses detect magic, finding Corn to be a mundane chicken, but notices an essence in the air surrounding the tribe. Nothing malicious, but something has changed, for the better.
The party spends the evening with Dandelion’s tribe, feasting and laughing, playing music and having a good time. Kal asks Penny to play the Ballad of Rumblejaw, and Lark even joins in, playing second fiddle.
As the evening comes to a close, Relic summons the magnificent mansion, inviting Sage inside to talk, as he indicated earlier. A few brave firbolg venture inside to check it out, but are spooked by the unfamiliarity of it. Sage looks around, puzzled, finding the thought of actually living in such a place overwhelming, asking if this is what is called a “house”. Relic points out that it is more like a mansion, but Dandelion and Sage don't really know the difference.
They head to one of the chambers where there are some chairs placed, but Sage finds the chair uncomfortable and pointless, so he sits on the floor along with Dandelion. They ask him why he seems to oppose the idea of going to see the fanatics that Dandelion was told about, and he replies that he was warned by Clementine to stay away, as they have shown themselves to be dangerous. They apparently claim to have Faunus in their midst, and react violently to anyone who suggests otherwise. Dandelion tells him that they suspect that the being going by Faunus might actually be the legendary druid Brónach. Sage has heard the name, but is unsure in what context. In either case, he hopes that they are careful, but Dandelion points out that they have to do this. Kal and Penny both say that they should be fine, as none of them would be here if it wasn’t for Dandelion. Sage points out that it probably goes both ways, knowing her as he does.
Sage accepts that this is part of Dandelion’s quest from Faunus, and as she has told several others this night, it is the will of Faunus, sage agrees that Faunus guides them on the path they need to travel. He then wonders what they hope to accomplish from finding Brónach. The party tells him about the artifacts, and that they will be needed to quell the coming darkness. The others show off the artifacts they have acquired already, and the only one missing is Dandelion’s. She feels it was destined for her, as Brónach was a shepherd, like she is, and that he carried a staff. Sage asks what will become of the staff she currently carries, pointing to Galen’s old staff. She tells him that if they manage to find the final artifact, she will return this to the tribe, much to his relief. He does however say that it is hers to carry as long as she needs, but will happily accept it when the time comes.
Having spent a while talking, Sage says that he will leave them to it, noticing the need Relic has to share something with the others, asking Dandelion if she will join the others in the night, which she confirms. He then smiles at them all, and leaves.
The Deck
Relic then says that as they are finally alone, he can show them what he picked up in Swellingstrum, pulling out the thirteenth card, matching the rest of the deck. Intrigued, Kal pulls out the other twelve cards, and as Relic puts the final card close enough, it is sucked into the deck. It then starts hovering, flailing around in a circle, before coalescing into a glowing spectacle, finally surrounded by a leather pouch with an intricate golden, silver and platinum design. A voice is then heard from behind them, in a strange accent.
“Took you long enough!”
Shehemis needs no introduction, congratulating the party on finally managing to complete the deck. He tells them that he has been quite frustrated for some time, having to almost throw the cards in their faces as they have carelessly missed a few of them. Having heard the story of the cards, they wonder why he chose them. He replies that they got his attention as they were the first to give an offering to the shrine of luck in Phandalin. Kal remarks that it’s no wonder the town was overrun by the undead…
He tells them that he quite enjoyed the fake coins they gave as an offering, as it was right up his alley. They then ask if he intended for the pair in the bloodwoods to die, to which he replies that things got out of hand, but he has made amends with the rest of their families, who won’t miss them. Shehemis then goes over the rules of the deck, as throughout history he has heard people complain about the deck being too dangerous and imposing to draw from, so he decided to try a new approach, making some changes so that none of the cards, well, most of the cards weren’t deadly, as he finds the chaos they bring quite entertaining. There are other cards to find, which can be added to the deck, but he will not “place them in their path” anymore.
He then shuffles them cards, asking if anyone would like to make the first draw. Dandelion pushes Penny forward when she sees the look in her eyes. Penny meekly pulls out the top card, with an expectant look. She drew Euryale, and Penny can tell that it will make her very unlucky unless a wish spell or divine intervention can reverse it. Seeing as Penny wasn’t sucked into a void of nothingness, the others also take a card each, as Shehemis eggs them on.
Relic draws the Star card, making him weaker, but also more intelligent. Kal draws a card called the Flames, and sees Shehemis groan, telling her that she has awoken something that will chase her down. Dandelion draws the fourth and final card, picking the Moon card. Shehemis laughs, telling her that she can now cast a single wish, any time she needs to. As Relic and Dandelions cards, the good ones, are not placed back into the deck, but the bad ones that Kal and Penny drew were, they point out that it made the deck less attractive to draw from.
Shehemis offers to put them back, if he can choose one more card to put into the deck as well. He promises that it will not be a dangerous card, but one of the more fun ones that he himself has chosen. The party shares a look, and agrees to the deal. Shehemis then summons a card from nothing, carefully placing it along with the others, and then throws the deck back to Kal, telling them to have fun, and that he looks forward to the chaos. He then wanders over to the kitchen, grabs a plate, putting various foods on it, preparing to leave. Before he goes, they ask him if he is the hooded figure that has been observing them, but he is not. He knows who it is though, but won’t disclose their identity, giving a short chuckle at their curiosity. Before they can ask any more questions, he gives a wave, and disappears. Penny asks if he knows that the food will disappear if it leaves the mansion, but Relic asks “do you think he cares?”
Dandelion says good night and exits the mansion, joining the rest of her tribe. Many of them have already fallen asleep, but Sage is still sitting up, waiting for her. Back in the mansion, Relic points out that he made some changes based on the feedback they gave. For instance, the mansion now has a toilet, but it is not placed in the bathroom. Also, Dandelion’s room is now more… random, but not in an organic way. Kal suggests just copying a part of the forest that he can see outside, which he thinks is an excellent idea, and takes a note of it, before Kal and Penny both retire for the night as well.