Previously: Chapter 97: The Tipping Point (Part 2)
Preparations
Before the party decides to go to bed, Penny grabs Thervan by the arm, and drags him along her to her mother, Leyla, telling him to tell her what he told Penny, about her true lineage. Thervan is clearly uncomfortable, but tells Penny’s mother about the Meadowstones and how they are Penny and Leyla’s ancestors. Leyla is shocked by the revelation, wondering what this means for their family, but Thervan and Penny both assure her that nothing happens yet, first they have a god to kill.
Penny says that she will be going away, unsure about how long, with Leyla making her promise to come back in one piece, especially considering what she now knows. Penny says she promises to try, as the mother and daughter embrace in a hug, before Penny eventually goes off to find a place to sleep.
Relic, wanting to be prepared for the incursion into Whitewall the next day decides to cast Mind Blank on himself, becoming immune to psychic damage, as well as being controlled by others. He then finds a quiet spot to himself, sitting down to recharge and recuperate before the party has to move out.
The next morning, the sky is still dark, but Brónach has summoned fireflies to light up the area, giving a cozy and comforting feel of the place. The party wakes up to the rest of the grove preparing for a communal breakfast. Penny uses her magic to summon a bowl required for the casting of Heroes’ Feast, with Kal doing the honors of preparing it. Elmroot, who has been sleeping next to Berry, Argus and Ira joins the rest of the party on the feast. The others in the grove look longingly at the delicious food that the feast provides, with the party letting Thervan, Raven, Brónach and a few others join in on the meal.
Over breakfast, Kal tells the others what she saw in her vision sent by Udall, and by the description it seems that the apartment is on the western side of the castle, which narrows it down significantly. They discuss how they will travel to the capital, with the party knowing that Nezznar’s hideout is nearby, but that would be costly. In the end, Thervan offers to teleport them to the city, but warns that it might be risky since he hasn’t been there in a while. Brónach offers to cast wind-walk on the party, so that if they do get off course, they can quickly make their way towards their destination.
Thervan goes on to tell the party that he relayed the information about Malice and Delphine being the same person, but the queen of the Akstan Kingdom, Alynna Venra, seemed unconvinced by the accusations, almost in denial. Hopefully, it won’t affect their mission, as Thervan would be surprised if the city has been left alone by the drow forces.
As the party finish their meal, Kal asks Brónach for a favor, pulling out the charred remains of Xara Ildrex from the bag of holding, asking if he can try to reincarnate her while they’re away. He says that he will give his best attempt, and when the party tries to hand him gold for the necessary material components, he declines, pointing out that he has no way of spending it, and they can deal with that later. He takes Xara’s corpse into his care, promising to do his best, but makes no promises.
Brónach then casts cloud form on them as promised, turning them all into whisps of clouds, after Relic has cast a telepathic bond, including Thervan in the casting so that they can keep in touch if something were to happen. The party confirms to Thervan that they’re ready to travel, as he casts the teleport spell on them, sending them off towards Whitewall.
Infiltration
Since it has been quite some time since Thervan last visited Whitewall, the teleport is not completely pleasant, with some arcane feedback hurting the party, before they eventually find themselves in the middle of a large battle in the middle of the city. The drow forces are invading, with several elven and human guards trying to hold a gate closed, as fire rains around them from arrows shot by the drow. Several guards notice the sudden appearance of the party in cloud form, firing at them in a panic, hitting them a few times before they manage to ascend to a safe altitude.
Looking at the city from above they see that it is fully enclosed by massive walls, where two of the gates have fallen, and the drow forces are rushing in. Large catapults shot from outside the gate are pelting the castle with stones and fire. Several of the towers of the castle are on fire or have been broken, so the party decides to immediately try to search for the correct tower, based on Kal’s description from the vision.
Relic is the one who finds it, noticing the telltale signs of a wizard's quarters with a workbench and some fairly high end furniture, indicating a person of importance living there. There also seems to be a bookcase in the right location, so Relic tells the others that he has found the place, but there are no obvious ways to enter the apartment from the outside.
Below them, near the base of the tower, they see a large hole that has been opened by the fighting, so they fly down to it, hoping it can lead them inside. They immediately notice fighting within, with a large group of city guards holding back a massive force of drow and driders, trying to get past them, but are hindered by a makeshift barricade from tables and chairs. The party decides to pop out of cloud form on the roof at first, before jumping down to help, but Kal doesn’t want to waste time, so she flies into the middle of the guards, trying to gesture that she means no harm.
The guards respond to the perceived threat, firing at Kal, forcing her to retreat, lest she be killed. The others have emerged from the cloud form, with Relic casting a fireball at the drow forces. Thistlethorn uses a thorn whip to pull one of the drow towards them, causing it to fall into the middle of the guards, who hack and pierce it to death. Penny casts a message to the one guard who seems to be in charge, telling her that they’re here to help put an end to the conflict.
Kal, who now has emerged from cloud form, summons a holy sunlight spell at the drow forces, killing a few and forcing the rest to retreat, giving the guards a short window to strengthen their fortifications. Several guards point their crossbows at the party as they emerge down the hole, but the head guard tells them to stand down, asking the party what they’re doing here, looking the firbolg, tiefling and warforged up and down in scepticism.
The party relays that they’re here to put an end to the fighting, but they need something that is hidden in Delphine’s quarters. The head guard scoffs at this, telling the party that the queen do not believe the lies told about her near confidant, but the party manages to convince the guard that regardless, Delphine has something that might help, and so they should help the party.
Reluctantly, the guard points towards a door, telling them that Delphine’s quarters are located that way, six floors up. Just as the party is about to run through the door, a window bursts open from the opposite end of the hallway, with more drow pouring inside, led by a cloaked figure the party recognizes. Lady Ar'alani is here, leading the charge. The party wastes no time, running inside the door as the royal guards tries to give them time.
On the way up they pass several other apartments that seem to have been abandoned in a rush. Thistlethorn casts a wall of thorns on the hallway, hoping to slow down or hurt the pursuers. Suddenly, the staircase explodes in a flurry of fire and stone, as a catapult manages to hit the part they’re in. The party pushes through it, hoping to reach Delphine’s chambers and escape before they’re cornered. As they reach her door, the party hears that the drow have entered the staircase, and are right behind them.
The door is sealed by ropes and wax, so that nobody can enter without revealing them being there. Penny immediately starts working on the lock with her lockpicks, making short work of it. She tears the ropes aside after breaking them, opening the door, revealing the luxurious apartment within. Kal closes the door behind them, hearing the drow forces getting closer.
The party immediately starts searching the room. Thistlethorn casts detect magic, finding the bookcase to have some abjuration magic on it, while there is some illusion magic coming from behind a set of curtains hiding Delphine’s sleeping quarters. She also notices a few potions on the workbench, which she quickly pockets. Penny uses Lady Kree's Monocular, finding the illusion magic to hide a secret entrance or exit, next to Delphine’s bed.
Kal and Relic both start working on the bookcase, quickly finding the right book to pull, but Relic senses a glyph of warding on it, so he tries to dispel it, failing the first time, but managing to push through the second time. They pull the book, causing the bookcase to shift to the side, revealing a hidden chamber within. A soft yellowish-green glow illuminates the chamber from a small shard, and a statue of Vuthul is seen behind a book hovering over a pedestal. The Liber Obscurum is theirs for the taking. Next to the entrance, they find a glass sphere filled with a purple liquid, containing one of Malice’s many clones, but this one appears to be deceased.
Penny and Thistlethorn both quickly join Kal and Relic. Penny walks over to the book, taking it from the pedestal, and feels the shard she carries bond with her fully, as she has stolen an item of great importance from a very protected place. She puts the book in the bag of holding, turning to face the others. Thistlethorn, in the meantime, looks at the shard covered by a glass sphere, takes it off, and then touches the shard. She manages to resist the forced bond, putting it in her pocket for now, as she feels she needs her other attuned items for the inevitable fight that will happen when the drow forces reach them.
On a desk in the chamber, they find pictures of themselves, presumably from Malice keeping tabs on them. There is also a torn up picture of Fie, as well as another tarot card of Shehemis. Relic pockets all of them, while Thistlethorn sees several other potions in the hidden chamber, pocketing them as well. The party then retreats back into the apartment, hearing the drow forces approaching. Thistlethorn casts a moonbeam in front of the door, which is opened by a very angry looking Lady Ar’alani, trailed by four driders behind her. She looks at the party, saying “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to leave with that book…”
She then dispels the moonbeam, stepping inside the chamber, using her bow to shoot a flurry of arrows at the party, restraining both Penny and Kal, while the driders make their way through. The party’s powers have grown considerably since last they faced Lady Ar’alani however, and within a few seconds, all the driders are dead, and Lady Ar’alani, gravely wounded, tries to retreat, seeing the fight is lost, but Relic stops her with a final fireball, causing the death knight to fall over just outside the apartments.
Kal walks over to her, ready to finish her off, but Lady Ar’alani, or the person she once was, turns to her, begging her to help her. Relic picks up the death knight's dagger, so that they can destroy it for good. The death knight tells Kal that since the death of Malice, her bond is… different, and she can feel that she has a chance to redeem herself, but she needs help. Penny walks over to them, using a wish to turn the death knight back to the side of good. The face of Lady Ar’alani bleeds away, as the face of a changeling emerges, saying a final “thank you…” before collapsing, dead.
Penny immediately summons some diamonds, handing them to Kal, who casts revivify on the deceased woman, who is pulled back to life as Kal feels the presence of Mova next to her, whilst summoning Udall’s power. The woman opens her eyes, and looks around confused, asking where Demetrius and Faeryl are. The party looks at her confused, then tells her that she’s in Whitewall, and that she has been under control of an evil wizard for quite some time. The changeling is annoyed at the situation, but thanks the party, introducing herself as Halá.
The party hears that the rest of the drow forces are making their way up the stairs, so they pull Halá to her feet, healing her with a cure wounds and pulling her inside the apartment, as they all make their way to the hidden door Penny and Thistlethorn found next to the bed. Penny makes quick work of the lock, opening the door, leading the group inside, then closes it just as the drow breaks through the front door, looking inside for the book.
The party finds themselves in a narrow dark hallway, with one door leading to the hidden chamber, and another door leading them, presumably, away from danger. Penny makes quick work of it, quietly opening it, finding a staircase leading down, as well as another door. Out of curiosity, she opens this door as well, finding a room filled with the stench of death and decay, as barrels upon barrels of discarded and rotted body parts and blood fills the room. The disposed remains of Malice’s victims.
The party wastes no more time, making their way down the narrow staircase leading far far below the castle, until they eventually find themselves in front of a door, which they open, leading them outside the city walls, to a hidden door in the cliff, with a pathway leading down to the beach below. The party briefly considers heading back up to help the city defend itself, but they decide against it, partly due to them not having time, and partly due to not wanting to risk too much when they are so close to reaching the end of their quest.
Halá thanks the party for their help, asking Relic for her knife back. Relic takes it out of the bag of holding, finding the distinctive whispering and cold touch of the weapon to have disappeared, leaving behind a magical dagger, with a single “H” inscribed on the blade itself. He hands it to the changeling, who puts it in her sheath. Relic asks if everyone is ready, as he prepares to teleport them to safety. Halá asks where they’re going, and when she learns they’re headed for Spiral Woods, she shapeshifts into a firbolg. Relic tells her to be prepared to run when they emerge, with Thistlethorn taking the changeling’s hand. He then casts the spell, causing them all to dissolve into spiders as they are pulled into the staff, teleporting them back to the grove.
Time for Study
As the party emerge back at the grove, they see that the drow forces are still surrounding the place, and seeing the destruction of Whitewall, and the pent up anger from years of fighting them, Relic can’t hold it back any longer, releasing his terror upon them, summoning four large meteors from the sky above, decimating the drow forces along the treeline, causing most of them to perish, and those who survived to flee. The other drows that weren't hit start to retreat in terror, as Relic apologizes for the outburst, as they all head back to the grove.
When they pass through the barrier they see that the rest of the grove are looking at the destruction on the outside. Kal summons a storm cloud to stop the flames from spreading, as Thistlethorn joins her tribe looking at the fires. As they go out, Thistlethorn plants her staff in the ground, while she joins in on a chant. Penny sits herself down nearby, looking on as a wave of growth emerges from the staff, healing and fixing the damage done by Relic’s spell. Thistlethorn can feel an invisible hand on her shoulder, as her god is close.
Kal and Relic both look around the grove, seeing a lone figure sitting next to a fire. A woman, human, with tan skin and golden eyes, wearing scorched and torn robes. Xara, reincarnated as a human, looks up at her killer. Kal sits down to join her, as they have a heart to heart. Xara tells Kal, reluctantly, about her past, how she met and helped Thaddeus Ildrex when they were both very young, but he wanted more power, and to be stronger, so he devoted himself to the goddess of war, Yana, which caused him to influence those around him. Xara has felt lost for quite some time, but couldn’t do anything about it.
Xara asks Kal if her husband suffered when he passed, which Kal confirms, prompting an unusual chuckle from the woman, who apparently is mixed about the whole situation. She’s glad to be free, but also saddened that she has lost the one person she loved most in the world, but realizes that there was little that could have been done to save him.
Relic takes out the pictures he found in Malice’s hidden chambers, walking over to Kal’s brother Valerion, asking if he is able to make a copy of the images, and also if he can make a group portrait of them as a “memory” of what has happened. Valerion takes the pictures and some paper from Relic, telling him that he will start working on it immediately, wanting to make it as heroic as possible.
As Penny watches the ritual with Thistlethorn and her family, she is joined by Valthrae, who sits down next to her. Penny turns to her, asking if she knows anything about seeds from trees, wanting to plant a seed of the large tree in the Emerald Earth Sanctuary. Valthrae tells her that she brought with her a few acorns from the tree when they were to leave, taking out a few of them, giving one to Penny to keep, so that she can plant it when she gets the chance.
Afterwards, the party sits down to look through the items they brought back with them. They see Halá sitting by herself next to a fire, not wanting much to socialize, which is understandable considering what she has been through. Relic takes out the Liber Obscurum, studying it, finding that it is a risky task to try to attune to it, and if you fail while doing so carries terrible consequences. He suggests that Penny should be the one to do it, as she has experience from Vuthul from before, and would be the most equipped to resist his power.
Penny reluctantly agrees, downing one of the potions they found in Malice’s chambers which gives her some extra protection. She focuses on the book, finding the same feeling she had when she was bonded with Vuthul, without the voice in her head, and actually manages to bond with it successfully. She sighs, feeling the power of the book take hold of her, as she opens it up, trying to look for anything that might resemble a name, but it’s a big book, so it might take several days before she manages to decipher it.
Thistlethorn stands up to walk over to a quiet place, as she takes out the Shard of the Observant, letting it bond to her. She feels it enter her forehead, as it places itself there like a third eye. She feels her barrier tattoo falter, as all her attunements end. Now she just has to find a way to unlock it fully before Penny finishes with her study of the Liber Obscurum.
Kal walks over to Thervan, wanting to know the situation of their allies, and how they can mount an effective counterattack. He tells her that he has been able to reach Ansgar, who has been imprisoned by the drow, but hasn’t heard from Bertram, who isn’t answering his sendings. He worries that he might have been killed, but there might be several reasons for his inability to answer. He hopes that Chester either was smart enough to disguise himself as a drow, or as a pile of bones, so that he might escape unscathed, but he has little hope for such luck. In either case, he worries about their allies, wanting to find a way to save them.
As for the rest of the world, it is also covered in darkness, but the drow forces seems to be focusing their efforts on the Rexendellian continent, most likely wanting to conquer it before moving on to the rest of the world. Things are looking bleak however, as many people might die of starvation or worse if the sun isn’t restored soon. All they can do now is wait. Wait for Penny to learn the true name of Vuthul, so they can take the fight to him directly.