Quill looks on in horror as she is unable to do anything about what is about to happen, but Miryks luckily manages to jump out of the way just in time, causing a full on chase around the restaurant of several servers and cooks trying to find and kill the big spider that they think has made a nest in their restaurant. Miryks sneaks under tables, while Petra joins the search. Quill thinks fast, grabbing the steak from her plate, putting it into the bag of holding, and then spots Miryks the spider under a nearby table.
Wanting to leave as soon as possible, Quill puts two fingers down her throat, forcing herself to throw up, both to purge whatever is in the wine that is infecting her, and also cause a distraction and give her a reason to leave. Miryks jumps onto her leg, as Quill gets up and walks out of the restaurant, along with a group of other patrons that have decided to take their leave, considering the chaos that is unfolding.
Safely outside, Quill and Miryks make their way over to an alley, where they are quickly joined by Raenerys and Gaia who was ready to jump in to help defend them if things were about to go down, luckily avoided. Miryks turns back into her own self, proudly showing the others the vial of bile that she acquired, with them now wondering who would be the best one to help make some sort of antidote.
They use the sending stone to speak to the Archmage Elara, who suggests Maude, the hag, as the party mentions they encountered her. She has little faith in the wizard Kreel, as he is more of a gatherer of magical artifacts than a crafter or brewer, but if the party is uncomfortable with using Maude for this, she would be more than happy to see what she can do herself, as long as the party can bring the sample to her. They agree to meet one of her emissaries in the valley they reached when crossing the pass, and will let Elara know when they are about to head back north, so that she can send someone.
As they stand there, having said goodbye to Elara, Quill takes out the steak she put in the bag earlier, wanting to check if it was also infected. She chomps down on a piece, tasting the sauce, and finds it to be a delicious piece of meat, and that it is absolutely not infected by Legion’s poison. She kicks herself for wasting a good meal, but now they know how they select people at least.
𐡸
The party figures that they are getting low on funds, so they go through the list from the bounty board. Most of the quests require them to either travel for several days or invest more than they can afford, so they decide to try to go for the sanitation guild’s request of exterminating whatever is eating people in the sewers.
After asking around, they eventually find the sanitation building, so they knock on the door, being met by a grumpy, elderly drow who asks what they want. When they tell him that they saw the notice on the bounty board, they figure they might be able to solve their problem. They ask him to describe the scene, and by the sound of it there might be an otyugh lurking in the sewers.
The drow says that the funds aren’t great, but as they have lost people they need it solved, so he leads them over to the entrance to the sewers, unlocking the gate, and lets the party inside to search for whatever lurks in the darkness. The gate shuts behind them, and they soon find themselves in complete darkness. Raenerys leads the party as she can see in the darkness, while Miryks beastforms into a rat in order to sniff out the monsters.
After wandering through the sewer for a while, they begin to hear a scraping sound around a corner after finding a half-chewed hand on the ground. Raenerys peeks down the hallway, and sure enough, a large otyugh is eating some garbage in a makeshift nest it has made by tearing down some walls and begun digging into the ground. They think they have it caught in a surprise, but it suddenly finishes its meal, and begins to wander towards their position.
The party springs the trap, running straight at the otyugh, managing to catch it in entangled roots, but its long tendrils grabs hold of Gaia, and begins to eat her, but her skin is hard and difficult to digest, so it has a hard time swallowing her. As they have the upper hand, things are looking good, with Miryks keeping it contained using her roots, before she too is suddenly grabbed by another set of tendrils coming from the side, as another otyugh appears. Quill and Raenerys uses their magic to force back the otyughs, giving the rest a chance to finish them off, and after a short fight both otyughs are laying dead on the ground.
They look around the lair, finding that the pair had made a nest with four eggs in it, so they put the eggs in the bag of holding, hoping to sell it for value when they get the chance, then uses a spell to levitate both the otyughs back to the entrance as proof for the sanitation guild.
Safely back to the entrance, they go fetch the head drow, who wanders over, surprised at the sight of the dead monstrosities, before he whilstles for the others to go back to work. Three more drow appear from a nearby shack, bringing their tools and entering the sewers, passing by the otyughs, kicking them to make sure they’re dead, before disappearing into the darkness. The party has already begun harvesting the bones to make potions, while Raenerys goes to fetch their reward, a bag and a half of gold each.
𐡸
The party, completely spent from the night's activities, decides to call it, heading back to the inn to get a good night's rest. Raenerys on the other hand is adamant that she wants to find the little one eyed creature, so she decides to take a short trip to look around while the others head back. As she heads up towards the area where it was spotted, she sees two familiar faces sitting in a nearby alley.
Raenerys stops in front of Ulzar and Lorzim, and they do recognize her, greeting her like they have done no wrong. She decides to let bygones be bygones, taking the opportunity to ask about some explosives, as the party is considering blowing up the basement of the Starfall View in order to hinder their operations. They are about to discuss a price for their services, as the pair knows a few gnomes that might have what they need, before they both look at something passing by behind her. She turns around, spotting the little creature walking up the road towards the lake. She immediately takes off after it, leaving the brothers behind.
The creature is not easily caught however, and she soon loses it, finding it again way ahead of her. She decides to follow it by looking through its eye, like she used on Quill before, waiting until she has located its home. She sees it jumping across rooftops, through various houses, before it ends up far in the outskirts of the town, running towards a small cottage that stands alone. As the door opens, she sees a very old looking drow, but just as the creature crosses the threshold of the door, the connection is broken. Raenerys takes off towards the cottage.
Meanwhile, in the inn, the others are worried that Raenerys hasn’t returned yet, as it has taken an unusually long time. They decide to head out looking for her, with Gaia taking to the skies to search from above.
Raenerys has reached the cottage, and knocks on the door, saying that she wishes them no harm, but that it is very important that she speaks to whoever is inside. She can feel the presence of her patron behind her, watching her. She hears a voice telling the creature that it’s all right, and then the door cracks open, revealing the meek looking creature looking up at her, while the old drow sits next to a table inside. He gestures for her to enter, saying that he has been looking forward to meeting her, glancing down at her ring.
As she steps across the threshold, the world goes silent, as her connection to the patron is severed. She looks startled, but the old drow assures her that she is all right, the wards he has put in place shields the cottage from both eyes and ears, so “he” cannot hear them. He gestures for her to join him, so Raenerys goes over to sit across from him on the other chair. The room is sparsely furnished, with a simple bed, a small kitchen area, and the table. Next to the bed is a small blanket, presumably for the creature to sleep.
Raenerys asks the old man if her ring used to belong to him, so he holds up his hand, revealing his severed finger. He has been waiting years for another “listener” to appear, so that he can bring on the message he carries. He talks to her like he already knows who she is, and when she introduces herself as Raenerys, he asks if that is truly her name, but she does not answer. He introduces himself as Zhaun, and says that he once met her father, before the end, but he had little more to do with him, their goals merely aligned for a short while. She shudders, not wanting to speak of the man, so Zhaun moves on.
He tells her that the being she is working for, is not a god by any means, but he is a powerful entity nonetheless. He does however assure her that he cannot bring people back from the dead, as he cannot control what he doesn’t truly understand. He can tell by her look that she hasn’t fully fallen under his control yet, which is good, because then they still have a chance to stop him. Raenerys looks at him, puzzled, beckoning for him to continue.
Zhaun tells her that Athreos, the being she follows, wishes to take the throne of Death from Mova herself, and he is using his listeners to build a ledger to do so. Once he has enough final moments in his possession, he can ascend to the throne and cast out the Goddess of Death, and this is what Zhaun wishes to prevent. Through his journeys, he has learned several vital things, most importantly, Athreos is not omnipresent, so he cannot hear or see everything that happens, but when death is near, so is he, and he can attach himself to his listeners when they allow it, letting him enter their world.
The other thing that he has learned, is that Athreos has built himself a path, but that path also has a vital rule: the ledger he keeps must be correct, and if he is shown that he has made a mistake, then the ladder to the throne will crumble, preventing him from ever ascending. But it is not as simple as just telling the being that it has been mistaken, they have to “compare notes”, so to speak.
There is apparently a place between this world and the next, where Athreos keeps his ledger. All Zhaun knows is that it is called the Sanguine Halls, but he does not know where it is or how to reach it, only having heard that when the veil is at its weakest, that’s when the path will be revealed. The trap he wants to set is to have Raenerys take his last words, and then give Athreos a fake set of last words, letting them set the stage for his downfall.
Raenerys worries that if she betrays Athreos, her powers will be taken away, but Zhaun promises her that it won’t happen, as when the gift has been given, it cannot be revoked. He takes out an ornate dagger, putting it on the table. The beautiful green gem inlaid in the hilt is dull, and Raenerys knows that this is it. He says to tell Athreos that his last words were “My last words are yours, my Lord, carry them with pride.” He then looks at Nibblet, and says his true last words.
“He chained his own divinity to a book. One error in those pages, and he will fall short of the throne he covets.”
Zhaun then nods at Raenerys, before grabbing the dagger, stabbing himself in the chest. Raenerys looks shocked, but knows this has to be done. As Zhaun keels over, she hears his breathing stop, as life leaves his eyes. She pulls out the dagger from his chest, and the dull gem is now glowing faintly. The creature, Nibblet, looks on, not appearing to be sad, but like he expected this to happen. He tells Raenerys that if she renounces her patron, Zhaun can teach her what Athreos won’t, pointing to the dagger.
Nibblet says that he was looking forward to this in a way, as Zhaun was both old and very demanding, but kind nonetheless. He then says that Raenerys is now his owner, as she basically killed his master. Raenerys says that she will help him find a kind wizard who can take him in, as she has no intention of owning another life.
Gaia, who has been flying around, finally spots Raenerys as she walks out of the cottage. She lands in front of her, spotting the deceased Zhaun slumped over the table within, with Raenerys cleaning the blood off the dagger. Gaia begins a short prayer for the drow, but Nibblet tells her that he is already with “her”. He then closes the door, then goes over to introduce himself properly to Gaia. She looks at him, surprised, but agrees with Raenerys when she tells her that they’re gonna find him a new owner, suggesting Elara as a fitting patron for him. They all make their way back to the inn, where the others are waiting.
When they get back, Raenerys tells the others about what happened, as she now knows that the patron isn’t listening in. Nibblet lays himself down to sleep at the foot of Raenerys’ bed, while she sits down to meditate, letting in her patron, who comes walking through the wall as the color of the world bleeds away. Her friends stops breathing as time stops, and he stands in front of her, expectantly.
Raenerys decides to relay the false words, and Athreos is overcome by joy, saying that he has waited decades for his lost sheep to return to him. Raenerys chooses her words carefully, saying truthfully that she knows that what she does is important, and that she will see it through, but Athreos does not suspect a thing, fully believing that he has a dedicated follower at last. He thanks her for the words, and retreats into the shadows, as time resumes. Raenerys lays herself down to sleep.
Early in the morning, they are woken up to the voice of Elara, coming from the sending stone.
“Hello? Is anyone there? Something terrible has happened!”