Previously: Chapter 72: Breaking the Cutie
The Wizards Tower
The party wanders through the streets of Elvenbridge, getting closer and closer to the tower, passing merchants and refugees on both sides. When they eventually reach their destination on the edge of the city, they are faced with a large metal door at the base of the tower, bearing no handle or discernible way of opening it. The owls take flight as the party knocks on the door to request access. After a few seconds they can hear movement on the other side, and a small part of the door separates, revealing a small creature looking up at them. Relic recognizes the creature as a homunculus.
In simple terms, it asks the party why they are knocking on their door. Penny explains that they would like to talk to the wizard Leshanna Lathalas in order to get access to her teleportation circle. The homunculus retreats back inside, closing the door behind it. After a couple more minutes of waiting, the door opens again, this time big enough to allow access to the party, who happily enters. The homunculus servant leads them upstairs to a waiting room, as it heads further up to retrieve his master.
Looking around the room the party can see a vast array of furniture, coming from near and far. Thistlethorn is intrigued by a particular chair which is made of a type of wood she has never seen before. It feels cold to the touch, but still has the look of wood. Relic recognizes it as ironwood, a rare tree type which isn’t found in Rexendell. Kal also comes looking at the chair, as Thistlethorn seems to be so intrigued by it, but thinks nothing more of it. Before they get a chance to examine it further, a woman appears, with long red hair and a stern look that could only belong to a woman interrupted in the middle of her busy schedule.
She asks them what they want, with Penny explaining that they would like to get access to her teleportation circle, as they are in the business of dealing with the ancient black dragon that is plaguing the roads to the east, and would need a quick way to get back to the city after the deed is done. Leshanna looks at the party, thinking about their request, offering up a counter-proposal. Apparently she is in the middle of working on a device, and needs test subjects that are “robust” enough to make it through. Relic asks her to clarify further, but Leshanna says it would be easier to show them.
She leads them all down into the dungeons of the tower, and as they pass, she tells her homunculus servant, Pippet, to not let any more strays inside the castle, giving him a stern look. Thistlethorn leans down to comfort the creature, seeing that it looks to be terrified of Leshanna, but the wizard turns around asking her not to talk to or touch her servant. Thistlethorn glares back at her, saying that she should be nicer to it, but Leshanna says she has no time for niceties.
The Device
When they reach the dungeon they find that Leshanna has excavated a cave even further down, reaching far below the streets above. They eventually reach a large chamber with a platform on the floor, with a smaller stone circle above it. It sparks with raw magical energy, intriguing Relic. Leshanna explains that she has found a pocket of energy beneath the city, something that can only be described as raw natural magic. She is hoping to siphon and channel this energy, unlocking the magical potential that can be found in most creatures that usually goes undiscovered. She needs a test subject to work out the kinks of her machine, and would like one or more of the party to volunteer, as her homunculus servant isn’t the most useful test subject, albeit one she has used extensively.
They all look at each other, curious but cautious. Kal asks if people have died because of it, and Thistlethorn wants to know what types of power people have gotten. Leshanna explains that nobody has died, but there have been side effects, explaining that one man got the ability to move stuff with his mind, while also going mad for a time. The telekinetic powers persisted however. Relic is very intrigued by the whole idea, trying to examine the energy emanating from the device, but it is difficult to get more information without going through the process.
Kal decides to volunteer if it means that they can get access to the circle. Leshanna asks her to remove her armor and items, but she can of course wear her clothes still. After doffing her armor and leaving her items in the hands of her friends, she steps on the platform, as Leshanna reaches down to activate the device. The pain hits immediately, as the party sees the energy starting to course through Kal up and down. She screams, but she can’t hear it herself.
Penny does her best to help by playing soothing and inspiring music, while Kal tries to withstand the power surging through her. The whole process takes about a quarter of an hour, with Leshanna observing intently. When the process is complete, Leshanna exclaims her satisfaction, while Kal feels drained. She does however get a small effect, being able to absorb magic that targets her, but only once a day. She also feels a bit weaker, permanently.
Thistle decides that she too would like to try, after Leshanna asks if more would like to have a go. She removes her items, stepping on the podium herself. Leshanna activates the device once more. Thistle tries to hold on and persevere, but finds that the energy is simply too much, feeling like an ocean trying to force its way through a tiny hole, even with Penny providing inspiration to her, and Kal using an aura of life to protect her. After the process is complete, she collapses to the floor, unconscious. Kal and Penny both rush over to help, finding her alive, but knocked out. After a few seconds she comes to with a splitting headache.
Satisfied, Leshanna says that they have held up their part of the bargain, and suggests that they should take a short rest before continuing. In the meantime, she offers Penny to come see the teleportation circle, but Penny points out that Relic is the one who would be able to use it. They all head upstairs, as Relic registers the circle on the way, then joining the others in their rest, spending the time to attune to the golemheart core, giving him an extra boost in constitution. Thistlethorn’s headache won’t go away, and she feels quite annoyed at the device doing permanent damage to her.
After the rest, Relic decides that he wants to have a go at it. Penny stands by, playing music once more, and Leshanna is intrigued to see how a warforged handles going through the device. As she activates the energy, Relic can feel the power surging through him, but finds it surprisingly manageable. Whereas both Kal and Thistlethorn were locked in, unable to do anything other than scream, Relic can be seen observing the device from within, curious at its workings. When the process is complete, he finds himself more resistant to magic.
Penny, not wanting to be left out, also decides to have a go at it, but isn’t optimistic about the outcome of her test, seeing as nobody can help her by inspiring her. Kal puts up the aura of life once more, as Penny ventures into the machine. When the power activates, she too feels the surge of energy, finding it to be overwhelming, and at the end of the process, she collapses, feeling the pain Thistlethorn felt. Both are now vulnerable to psychic damage.
Leshanna applauds the party for their efforts, saying that their contribution will allow her to make adjustments, making the process safer the next time, offering both Penny and Thistlethorn to have another go at it if they so please. The party, Thistlethorn in particular, is not happy with Leshanna, saying that she is a horrible person for forcing Pippet to go through that. Leshanna says that Pippet is her property, and so she can do with it what she likes. Pippet just looks down on the floor. Penny says that they would appreciate any help to fight the dragon. Leshanna ponders a bit, then heads up to her office, returning shortly after with a scroll of absorb elements, giving it to Relic. Their business concluded, the party emerges back on the streets, regrouping with Argus and Ira.
Towards the Bog
Standing in the streets, Kal remembers that they once met a very helpful bear called Sigmund that sold them some cheap and helpful potions. She sends him a sending, asking him where he is and how they can find him. He replies that he is at home, in a small town outside of Arcan City, and that he doesn’t know how to get to her. Kal asks if Relic can get them to Arcan City, but Relic has never been, and warns that a teleportation mishap could send them several thousand miles off course. Penny decides to ask Morgan if he knows of Sigmund and if he can take them to Arcan City. He replies that he can bring them to his hometown, but it is a big place, and doesn’t know how to find the bear. They decide to leave it for another time.
Not wasting more time, having precious little time left on the wind walk spell they cast earlier in the day, they all turn themselves into fine smoke clouds, taking off to the looks and awes of the surrounding citizens, heading south towards the Dying Mire. After a couple of hours Thistlethorn feels the spell fading, and begins to descend, prompting the party to follow. They all emerge a few miles north of where the mire starts, near the mountains. Having spent most of the day traveling, and not wanting to exert themselves too much before facing a dragon, they decide to make shelter on the mountainside, using the thermal cubes to keep warm, as they watch for movement and danger.
Penny takes first watch, as her curse makes her slumber, unable to be awoken, so best get it out of the way quick. She watches the mire, seeing several lights in the distance, and finds something walking in front of them. She imagines that the lights themselves are Will-o’-Wisps, which they have faced before, but is unable to discern what the shadow might be, but it is clearly walking in front of them. Before lying down to rest, she awakens Thistlethorn for the next watch. She sees nothing of note, other than large, heavy clouds approaching silently overhead, bringing a downpour with them.
Kal takes the third watch, observing for any sign of danger, or the dragon. They tried to make their presence hidden, but the area is bare, and with few obstacles to hide behind, she feels exposed. Suddenly, a large shadow looms overhead, as a gargantuan black dragon comes flying over them, just barely scraping the tops of whatever trees are around them. Thistlethorn is awoken by the sound, and the party, bar Penny, sees the dragon looking back at them, but continues onwards towards the mire. They follow its path, observing that it seems to land in a heavily fogged area. Most likely where it has its lair.
Relic takes the final watch, not seeing any approaching dangers, but is quite discouraged by the rain that has arrived, worried that it might impede their progress. When the rest of the party comes to, except for Penny who needs to sleep a few more hours, they prepare breakfast and snacks, getting ready to head out into the mire. Thistlethorn wonders if there is any plant life she can talk to. She also decides to do a commune with nature, finding that there are some powerful undeads in the mire ahead, but no dragons that she can feel. Kal does a divination, asking for advice from Udall. He suggests catching the dragon by surprise, but Kal fears it is too late for that.
Relic has some reservations, saying that the weather isn’t ideal, and suggests they wait it out, with Kal going as far as suggesting to wait until the dragon leaves its lair, removing its home field advantage. They spend quite a while discussing how to approach the problem, as Thistlethorn feels through her druid powers that the rain isn’t going to let up for many days, and Penny points out that if it knows they are here, then it might not want to leave the lair anyway. She offers to send a sending to the dragon, asking it to come out, but they decide against it. They reluctantly decide to head into the mire, hoping to catch it by surprise anyway.
The Dying Mire
When they reach the edge of the mire, Thistlethorn sits down to speak to some of the moss. It tells her that it does sometimes see a large shadowy creature, and the winds flare up around it, but doesn’t know what a dragon is. The moss doesn’t seem to be that useful, but Thistlethorn gets it to tell its friends or family to scream out if they see a large shadow. As she does this, she feels the afterimage of the corruption that once plagued this place, knowing that this is what would have happened to her forest if she had not intervened with her friends.
The owls are quite nervous about the prospect of entering the mire, and agree to stay back. Thistlethorn says that if something were to happen to them they should head back to Elvenbridge and wait on the top of the wizards tower, but not to speak to her, as she would probably put them through the machine, something Thistlethorn doesn’t want to happen to anyone else. The owls take flight, watching for dangers from above, with Penny sending up Riff to do the same. They then start venturing into the mists, hoping to reach the lair sooner, rather than later.
The trek is arduous, but Kal casts water walk on all of them, allowing them to walk across the many bodies of water in their way, shortening their travel time immensely. Thistlethorn has pulled out some animals from her bag of tricks, in case they face danger. From overhead the owls and Riff warn of a large looming figure ahead of them. Through the fog, Penny sees what she recognizes as a froghemoth, surrounded by several smaller frog-like beings, holding it on a leash. Not wanting to fight unnecessarily, they decide to let the beings pass in front of them, before continuing.
After a couple more hours, the party is surrounded by insects, impeding their ability to stay stealthy. Kal and Thistlethorn quickly come up with an improvised solution, with Kal giving thistle some ingredients to combine with her own. Thistlethorn joins the ingredients in a flask, and as soon as she opens it, the bugs start to flee from the stench of citrus and elderberry. The party smears themselves in the improvised bug repellant, continuing onwards.
Thistlethorn manages to keep them on the right track, thanks to the help of Argus, Ira and Riff, but suddenly the party finds themselves surrounded by lights that bob gently in the foggy rain. They realize they have wandered straight into a horde of Will-o’-Wisps, and know that they can lure the party into danger. They play it safe, making sure not to look at them, averting their gaze. Kal leads in front, only looking at the ground, as the rest of the party holds on to the person in front of them, with Penny looking through the eyes of Riff to guide them. Suddenly, she holds Kal back, seeing a figure of sorts not 20 feet ahead. It is crouching, and doesn’t seem to have noticed them.
As they try to retreat however, they make a little too much noise, and the creature suddenly starts moving, making a horrible croaking sound as it starts to move towards them. Penny recognizes the creature as a Bodak, a terrifying undead that literally eats souls, and can kill people with a glance. She tells them not to look at it, as it moves in to attack. Relic tries to use a lightning bolt through Bimble, managing to take out a couple of Will-o’-Wisps, but the bodak seems to be immune to lightning. The bodak attacks Kal, draining some of her life force, so she desperately tries to banish it. She looks into the face of the undead, managing to hold her composure, and the bodak suddenly disappears with a pop. For all they know it is native to this plane, so taking no chances, they quickly make their escape before it inevitably returns. When they are safely past the field of Will-o’-Wisps, they can finally use their eyes again, seeing that they are getting closer to the lair.
Around them there seems to be several ruins of long destroyed buildings, and they realize that there must have been a city here at some point. Relic, with his extensive historical knowledge, deduces that this city probably is from the time of the betrayal, so 2500+ years at the minimum, judging by the deterioration and reclamation of the wild. They continue onwards into the city, trying to be as stealthy as possible, but they begin to feel exhaustion creeping up on them, so they decide to make camp. Relic takes out his silverware, summoning the portal to the magnificent mansion, as they all head inside to rest for the night.
Penny gets some help from Kal with her studies, and creates a gem encrusted bowl out of nothing, allowing them the benefits of a heroes’ feast, to prepare for the fight the next day. Thistlethorn sits in her chambers for a while, to take in the nature that hasn’t been corrupted. They all feast with delicious foods, and retire to their chambers for the night, waking up to a new dawn, ready to take on a dragon.
The Lair
When the party emerges from the mansion, Thistlethorn sits down to do another commune with nature, as they are getting closer. She senses a few undead ghouls surrounding them, and also a powerful dragon somewhere to their southwest. She also senses a large building, possibly a temple, in the same direction. Relic deduces that the temple most likely belongs to either Azuna or Adea, and would be a fitting lair for a dragon. They decide to head towards it, trying to be as stealthily as possible to avoid any ghoulish encounters, finding it difficult due to the return of bugs and rats that surround and stalk them.
Thistlethorn talks to the beasts, who seem to be entirely devoted to the dragon. She is told that Gundraag will protect them, and no matter how hard she tries to convince them that they can protect them too, they don’t relent. But Thistlethorn has prepared pass without trace, allowing them to more easily approach the lair unnoticed. They eventually reach a temple, surrounded by a thick dead forest, with a small lake next to it.
They look around carefully, not seeing any signs of a dragon. Thistlethorn sends the owls away as she can sense the trap, while they all walk closer to the temple, downing their potions of acid resistance as they go. There is a staircase leading up to it, and they see that it was once a quite beautiful temple, now deteriorated, only the tower itself still standing, albeit broken at the top. Penny walks in front, taking out her monocular in case the dragon is invisible, but as soon as she steps onto the temple proper, they all hear a voice inside their heads.
“My, my, visitors. Heading straight for my lair. You must be very brave, or very foolish.”
Not finding the source of the voice, they decide to converse with it, saying that they are here to stop him pestering the travelers on the road. The dragon replies that he was warned that they might try to stop him, as “she” told him about them. They all realize that Malice has had a hand in these affairs, and is determined to stop him. The dragon grows tired of the conversations, saying that it’s time to get this over with. Gundraag suddenly emerges from the small lake next to the temple, and prepares to destroy the party.
The Lord of the Black
The battle is fierce, with the dragon being able to resist most of their attacks on him, either from his thick armor or extremely robust constitution. Thistlethorn had summoned a couple more friends from the bag of tricks, but they are frightened by the imposing figure of the dragon. Gundrag flies high above, out of range from the feeble attacks of the party.
Suddenly, large tendrils come sprouting out from the cracks in the temple, restraining Thistlethorn, as Gundraag flies down between Kal and Penny, striking at both of them, managing to grapple Kal, before flying high up into the air with her in his claws. She desperately tries to intimidate the dragon by bamfing out her wings, but Gundraag isn’t impressed. After flying another 80 feet straight up, he drops Kal, but is enraged to find her just slowly falling to the ground due to her feather fall token. Relic in the meantime is pelting the dragon with fire bolts and lightning bolts, but Gundraag manages to resist.
The lair rumbles once more, as Penny and one of their furry friends is pulled towards the lake, lying prone on the water. Gundraag then casts circle of death, affecting everyone except for Kal who is too high up. The furry beasts from the bag of tricks all perish due to the necrotic damage, and the party is left to fight Gundraag alone. Penny manages to get in a hit on Gundraag with Harmony, but they have a long way to go to take him down. Kal uses a reverberating jump to get back up to Gundraag’s level, like a dark vengeful angel. Thistlethorn heals Penny, before wildshaping into a young topaz dragon, using the statue they discovered in the tomb of Greenwarden, flying up to face Gundraag as well, but it has descended, wanting to attack Relic.
Penny tries to get back to the fight, using her performance of creation to make a platform that can take her up into the air. Relic tries to mind spike the dragon, but is counterspelled by it. Relic uses the brief window to get away, but is stopped by a massive pillar of murky water that bursts out from beneath him. Luckily, with water walk, he is just pushed to the top of it, much to the dragon's annoyance. Thistlethorn flies down, using her breath weapon on the black dragon, wounding him, but he retaliates with a tail attack, while also attacking and grabbing Relic, hoping to drop him from a height. Kal uses her now holy weapon to strike at Gundraag, getting in a fine hit, before the dragon ascends to the skies again.
Penny gives Kal a bardic inspiration, before animating the platform she created, bringing her up and closer to the fight. Gundraag continues flying up, but Relic escapes his grasp by using a dimension door to land on the roof of the tower. He desperately tries to get out of sight from the dragon, climbing down into the broken part of the wall, finding a wealth of gold and treasures within. Standing in the dragon’s horde, he prepares to strike from the shadows. The lair summons a sphere of darkness around Bimble, as the dragon flies towards Kal, ready to strike. He flaps his wings, causing Thistlethorn to fall, but relic luckily uses a feather fall to bring her safely to the ground. Kal is hit by Gudraag, who grabs her, bringing her down to the ground, ending the feather fall effect, once and for all.
Desperate, prone, and grappled, Kal does another reverberating jump, landing on Gundraag’s back, holding on for dear life. She manages to get in a critical hit on the dragon’s neck, and Thistlethorn, who eventually is forced out of the wild shape by the dragon’s vicious attacks, also makes her way on top of the dragon, holding on, ready to attack it. They get in a few hits, with Gundraag trying to use his tail to strike at them, getting in a few hits, but not enough to push them off.
Seeing that he is losing, he flies high above, away from Relic and Penny, with Thistlethorn and Kal still on his back, and then teleports out of their grasp. Relic casts feather fall on Kal as she falls, which prevented her from falling to the ground, unconscious, but this gives Gundraag an opening to fire at them with his breath weapon. Kal manages to prevent all damage by using her shield, while Thistlethorn manages to resist the brunt of the damage, barely getting singed. The dragon then tries to escape, flying as fast as he can to the north.
Seeing that their quarry is getting away from them, Penny takes aim with Harmony, firing a final, well placed shot that pierces the dragon’s heart. He goes limp, and falls from the sky into the lake below. In his death throes, he releases a burst of energy, which gives the party the benefits of a long rest immediately. Kal shouts “should have used water walk!” at his corpse.
As Kal and Thistlethorn descend gracefully, Relic comes down to join them, while Penny, still shocked at her aim, looks at the cindering corpse of the dragon sinking beneath the surface. The Artifacts of Harmony start to change, morph, becoming stronger. Waking up. They realize that they have proven their worth to the gods. They see that Gundraag is emanating something powerful, so they make their way over to claim the power. At the end, they are standing tall in the middle of the lair, weapons held high, and are granted the draconic senses of the dragon, providing blindsight for all. Now all they have to do is go through the horde, before making their way back to civilization.