Previously: Chapter 85: Collision Part II
The Guardian
Seeing the awesome destruction the Guardian can bring, the party decides to take a step back and make a proper plan before running straight into a battle they might not win. Penny decides to summon Riff in order to get a better look at what they are facing, particularly the pit into darkness. It eventually gets out of Penny’s range, but after a few minutes it returns, relaying what it saw. Apparently, there are several pits leading to the same place, and it seems like a dumping ground for unfortunate travellers who have met the Guardian without surviving. Piles upon piles of corpses litter the caves, but none seemed to be “recent”.
Disturbed by this, they become even more adamant that they should avoid conflict with the guardian if possible, so Penny sends him forth again to investigate the entrance. After about an hour he returns, relaying that there seems to be a statue holding a bowl, with a knife lying next to it. The entrance seems to be a solid wall, with no discernible way to open it. There is little cover there as well, meaning they will be exposed if they stay there.
While Riff was doing his recon, the rest of the party retreated back to the previous chamber. Kal wants to find out more about the being that is hunting her, and does a divination. She is taken to Udall’s domain, and learns that a Blood Fiend is hunting her. Relic and Kal both know that Blood Fiends are to fiends what vampires are to them. They live on blood, and when they have a target in sight, they stop at nothing to kill it. And it can also heal relatively fast.
Worried that this blood fiend might disrupt their plans for the pyramid, Penny asks her coin if it is close enough to reach them within the next day, but luckily the answer is no. In either case, they don’t want to wait too long, so when Riff returns they make a plan, where Thistlethorn and Penny will sneak up by using wild shape and invisibility, trying to get back the guardian. Penny will then create an illusion of the front of the pyramid, hiding them from view, while Relic dimension doors himself and Kal to the entrance, where they hopefully can quickly find their way inside.
Thistlethorn places Argus and Ira in the bag of holding, wild shaping into a little spider, while Penny turns herself invisible once more. They stealthily make their way up to the pyramid, skirting along the edges. At one point the Guardian almost steps on Thistlethorn, but she manages to barely avoid it. Penny is worried that she has been spotted when the Guardian stares right at her hiding spot behind a rock, but he quickly looks a different direction, apparently just looking around for intruders.
Safely across, Thistlethorn waits while Penny positions herself behind one of the large statues of Vuthul standing vigilant at the feet of the pyramid, and then subtly casting an illusion to hide the entrance behind an image of a false entrance. They immediately see that it will not fool the Guardian forever, so Penny quickly stealth over to Thistlethorn who is coming out of wild shape. The statue next to the door starts moving, whispering a low message to them.
“Only those who surrender a part of themselves may pass”
They can see that there are small flecks of blood on the knife, as well as markings where the blood pooled previously in the bow, so it has clearly been used by several people before. Relic and Kal dimension door in, and as they don’t want to waste time, they one by one slice their hands with the knife, allowing blood to pool in the bowl. They can feel a draining sensation as their life force is drawn from them, lowering their overall health a bit. Penny decides to sacrifice more of herself so that Relic doesn’t have to. As each member offers up their blood, the wall at the front of the pyramid becomes translucent and fluid. When Relic confirms that Penny’s sacrifice was accepted and that he too can see the wall change, they all hold hands as they walk into the pyramid itself.
Inside the Pyramid
Within the door, entering the pyramid, the air immediately feels more stale and dry. The diamond shaped entrance room is dark, except for a single glowing crystal hanging from the ceiling, slowly turning and pulsating with light. In front of them they see a staircase leading up into the pyramid, and the walls are covered with intricate murals. Next to the stairs they see a deceased dwarf, extremely well preserved, with a broken bottle, a shortsword and a diary next to her. Thistlethorn lets out her owls, telling them to stay close.
Looking at the murals, they see what appears to be a figure, most likely Vuthul, surrounded by his followers as he stretches his hands towards the sky. Three figures can be seen behind him, one of them a female holding a book, with a male and another female next to her. They recognize Malice holding the book with Nezznar standing next to her, but the third figure is unknown to them. In the sky they see a lone dove flying, and at Vuthul’s feet there is an image of a shattered stone. The party doesn't know what to make of the image, but see that there are more murals in the staircase ahead.
The body of the dwarf next to the stairs is clearly a woman, and her hand carries a wound much like the one the party just placed on themselves to enter. Relic picks up the journal, skimming through it, seeing references to the rest of her companions and their travels here. The final entry in the journal reads "...We've made it to the pyramid. I don't know how much longer we can last. The others have gone ahead. I will wait here—my strength is gone."
Kal wants to know more, and so sits down to cast speak with dead on the dwarf. The body inhales breath, and her eyes open, grey and devoid of all life. The dwarf meets the eyes of the aasimar, and gives her a sad look, almost as if it knows what has happened, and expects Kal to give her answers. But it is Kal who asks the questions. They learn that the dwarf's name is Lempi Stoutale, and she hailed from Tempervale, leaving her husband and child behind. She went on her journey to find a way to protect her son, as there were rumors of a powerful artifact being hidden in the pyramid, which could both protect them and make them rich at the same time. A blade that could kill anything, without the possibility for resurrection. She doesn’t know what happened with her companions.
Relic recalls that they met a dwarf in Tempervale whose family name also was Stoutale, so there might be a connection, an ancestor perhaps. As Lempi falls back over, the spell extinguished, an amulet becomes visible, previously hidden behind her lapel. Kal carefully takes it off her, and puts her armor and sword in the bag of holding. They know from history that around the time where she would have passed based on the journal is around the same time the Thax’ning Tribes invaded, so it might be related to that.
Before moving on, Thistlethorn does a ritual for the dwarf, in honor of Faunus, while Relic and Penny take a closer look at the crystal in the ceiling, to see what it might be about. After careful studying, after Penny almost touched it which she felt would hurt terribly, Relic can see a very faint beam emanate from the crystal through the door towards the Guardian, that moves with him. It might be a power source or control matrix, but they decide not to mess with it too much until they have to.
Ascending up the staircase, there seems to be more murals depicting Vuthul on the walls. These ones appear to depict hum surrounded by ten followers as he stands in what appears to be a teleportation circle, but Relic thinks it looks “off” somehow. Vuthul appears to be casting a spell, and the world around him appears to be torn apart, as if he is tearing away a piece of it. The skies above rips apart as well, revealing a new starry sky beyond it. Six of the surrounding figures have no discernible differences, but four of the figures are more prominent, once more recognizing Nezznar and Malice, still clutching a book, with the unknown woman, as well as a male drow standing next to them. Relic sees the strange markings on the book, and believes it might be the Liber Obscurum, an ancient book commonly associated with Vuthul. Nezznar is holding a shattered rock, and Thistlethorn immediately thinks it looks like the soul stones they found in the hag’s hut in Faunus’ forest.
The Drow
Reaching the top, they emerge into a triangular room shaped like a pyramid. A dais on top of a staircase dominates the room, surrounded by three braziers attached to the floor, alight with a dim green flame. There are a few bodies scattered around, one of them halfway up the staircase trying to reach the top, where they see a drow clad in purple robes sitting on a throne. He appears to have some sort of amulet around his neck.
Around them on the walls, a final set of murals can be seen. One of them appears to depict ten people surrounding an altar where a man, presumably the man who became Vuthul, lies. His eyes are hollowed out, with a thin line of blood pouring out of them down to the altar, with his arms stretched out. Above him stands a bald drow holding a blade, the same blade they saw in Thervan’s papers and that Raam showed them, ready to pierce the chest.
The second mural shows 5 figures standing among 5 corpses littered about. They stand at the edge of a void, surrounded by infinity all around. Nezznar stands in front, flanked by Malice holding the book. They recognize the man on the throne as one of the other figures, as well as the bald one who held the blade. Nezznar is holding the mysterious amulet in his hands, but where it is cold and dark around the drow’s neck, in Nezznar hands it is glowing.
The final mural opposite the entrance shows a newly risen Vuthul, ascended to godhood, blood still dripping from his eyes and the blade sticking out of his chest, with his arms stretched out in front of a vast starry sky with a planet far below. Tendrils comes slithering out of his backside as he looks at the observer with a knowing smile.
Thistlethorn takes a few curious but cautious steps towards the throne. When she gets up there she sees that there is an unfinished teleportation circle around the throne. The corpse itself looks extremely well preserved, almost fresh. Penny casts detect thoughts, discovering that the drow on the throne is alive, but also that there are several other thoughts scattered around the room, hidden in the shadows. She tries to warn Thistlethorn, who backs away, just as the drow tries to grab her hand. She manages to pull it away, taking a decayed finger with her. He looks at her. His mouth opens.
“Is it time? Have you come for it?”
Thistlethorn replies “yes”.
“Will you use it? Will you stop him? We made a mistake… take it. Take it before they come.”
Thistlethorn sees the drow slump over in his throne, as Penny finds no more thought emanating from him. She walks closer, and takes the amulet from his neck. Penny suddenly hears the whispering grow and become frantic.
“NO! They must not take it! Stop them!”
Several beings emerge from the shadows, and from the littered corpses around the room. The same creatures they saw when they found the second part of the key. Nihilaks. They remember that they are of Vuthul, and so are immune to most magic, the only thing being able to affect them is raw magic itself, force.
Relic realizes that the teleportation circle is important, and so runs up to start studying it. The rest of the party tries to protect him, with Thistlethorn summoning Wolfsleigh and a badger. Relic summons a couple of spiders to help protect him, but the nihilaks begins to drain his magic. They all realize that they have something they didn’t have last time, that being the Artifacts of Harmony. Luckily they appear to be able to penetrate their magical resistance, allowing the party to fight back. With a hawk totem from Thistlethorn and an Aura of Life from Kal, the party is able to eventually dispatch of the nihilaks without taking too much damage.
When the final nihilak falls, Relic finishes up studying the circle, but the party sees that the nihilaks are not dead, merely delayed, as they once more begin to converge in the shadows, as the whispers return. Penny sends a quick sending to Karga, telling her that they are returning home another way, and so she does not have to wait for them. She replies that she looks forward to seeing them again. Not wanting to stay when they re-emerge, they quickly take with them the body of the drow, as Kal casts word of recall, bringing them all, Wolfsleigh included, back to the shrine of Udall in Ravenforge.
Speak With the Dead
Emerging at the shrine, the party spooks a couple of worshippers who were making an offering, scaring them off. They discuss where they should go, thinking that their home might not be safe anymore, they decide to head towards the castle. Kal points out the awkward situation of carrying around a dead very old drow through the city. Relic solves it by casting invisibility on the corpse, while Penny makes an illusion of Kal carrying around a bag of swords, just so it looks natural.
Walking through the town they get a few looks from curious townsfolk who have both gotten accustomed to seeing their heroes, and also wondering about Kal’s haggard appearance, as she was the one who took the hardest hits from the nihilaks. Penny tries to distract them by playing a performance on harmony, accompanied by Thistlethorn on her flute, while Wolfsleigh, Relic and Kal follow behind. They gather even more looks, but this time from entertained city folk who clap and dance along with the music. Some even begin to follow them on their path towards the castle.
They get stopped by the gates by a new captain of the guard who tries to stop them, but Kal immediately says “we don’t have an invitation.” The new captain has apparently been briefed about them as he says that he figured they didn’t letting them pass, but tells them that he cannot let the rest of the crowd through. Relic beelines towards the door to get away from the embarrassing display, while Kal, Penny and Thistlethorn all turn around to greet the crowd. Kal offers a blessing to the townsfolk, as Penny spots a familiar face. One of the people she saw while sneaking around through Riff in the warehouse by the dock. One of Unknown’s men. As soon as their eyes lock, he disappears in the crowd.
When they are finished, they turn around to head to the castle, see Thervan standing outside waiting for them, shaking his head. He gestures them inside, meeting Bertram on the way to the office, who remarks that Kal looks different, wondering if she has gotten a haircut. She replies “something like that”. Ansgar is waiting in Thervan’s office working on something, but retreats as soon as the party arrives. Thervan asks a guard to bring them some refreshments, which arrive shortly after.
Thervan summons four chairs for the party, as well as a dog bed for Wolfsleigh, who sits down while licking his wounds. Penny and Kal both cast a healing spell on him, helping him back up to full health, and then Kal asks where she can place whatever she is carrying on her shoulder. Thervan gestures to a desk, but says he has little use for swords. Relic drops the invisibility as Penny drops the illusion, revealing the drow beneath. Thervan comes over, curious, and begins examining him.
The party tells Thervan about what they encountered in the underdark, giving a proper description of the murals as Penny uses an illusion to recreate them, allowing Thervan to write down and draw the details about it. They also show him the amulet, with him asking Relic if they have identified it yet. Relic has not, but decides to do so. He finds it to be a wayfinder of sorts, which will cast the spell Find the Path, but it requires a soul stone to function.
Thervan, having just finished examining the body, deducing that he probably died of old age, says that soul stones are rare and hard to come by as it is quite dark magic, but says that he knows of one place where they might be able to acquire one. He tells them to head to the Temple District and visit a shop called The Lodestone, and tell the shopkeeper that they are looking for a “Fine silver robe for a midnight meeting”. They don’t know what this means, but says that they will.
Kal leans down to the drow, examining him as well. She wants answers, and so casts speak with dead on it. The magic takes effect, causing the drow to inhale and open his dead eyes, looking at Kal. Through asking, thye find out that his name is Rine, and he was a close friend of… he cannot remember the name. But he was present during the ascension. He originally took the wayfinder away to hide it from Vuthul’s enemies, but seeing what happened after the ascension, he instead hid it from the drow, hoping that someday someone like the party would find him.
Rine goes on to say that Vuthul lied to them. Kal wants to know more, so he explains that they helped Vuthul ascend so that they could have peace, a place among the gods meant that the drow could have a proper patron, and not just a demigod like Lolth. But Vuthul betrayed them all, attempting to kill all the gods as his forces continued his campaign. It nearly caused the extinction of the drow, so he locked away the wayfinder along with his grief. When the teleportation circle is completed, it will lead them to the place where he ascended, but without the wayfinder they will not make it there.
They then ask about the final person in the murals on the wall, the woman who was seen next to Nezznar. Rine tells them that it is Nezznar’s daughter, but he knows not her name. He then lets out a final exhale, as his body goes limp, inert once more. Kal rises, looking over at the others, and they wonder who the daughter might be, and if they have met them.
Thervan offers to have the party stay in the castle like they did last time, offering to have the quarters prepared, but Kal is unwilling to stay in the city, explaining what they know about the Blood Fiend that hunts them. Thervan agrees that it might be a bad idea, figuring that it probably is to the east considering their travels. Kal says that she has had second thoughts about Xara, that since she herself was under Ildrex’ influence when she did those horrible things, she wonders if Xara might have been innocent as well. And if she is as powerful as she appeared, they could use her help in the coming conflict.
For closure, Kal suggests heading back up to the Thax’ning Tribes so that they can be sure about Xara, and at the same time face the Blood Fiend in a place where it will not harm more innocents. As it already probably has a few minions already, it’s better that they take care of it sooner rather than later. Thervan agrees, and tells the party to gather around so that he can teleport them back. With a whirlwind of magic, they leave Thervan’s office, emerging in the overcast landscape where they last saw the mansion. Their own footprints are where they last saw them, and hidden beneath a thin layer of snow lies the half-burned corpse of Xara Ildrex.
Next: Chapter 87: Vampires