Elara quickly explains the situation through the speaking orb. Apparently she was taking a report from one of her students, Urza, stationed in a fort near Riverside Crossing called Westvalley Fort. Suddenly, the bells of the fort started to ring, and there were a lot of commotion, then she suddenly heard something like wet tentacles bursting through a door, and everything went silent. She says that she is packing her things to head there immediately, but hopes that the party can join her.
The party replies that they have some loose threads to tie up in Starfall Basin before they can leave, but that they will make their way towards the fort as soon as they can. As Elara leaves the conversation, they begin packing their belongings and discuss how they will go forward with stopping the kidnappings and brainwashing happening in Starfall View. Seeing as they don’t have a lot of time, Gaia asks her god if merely ruining the vat of liquid that they’re clearly using to infect people is enough, she gets a vision of Petra simply throwing up into a new vat, starting all over again.
They come to terms with the fact that they need a more permanent solution, deciding to burn down the inn, hoping that everyone makes it out in time, forcing the infecting of people to be halted. They make their way out of the inn, saying goodbye to the innkeeper, as they will have to leave as soon as possible, making their way towards the Starfall View. As they’re talking, they realize Nibblet is still with them, and he almost spills the beans of what happened between Raenerys and Zhaun, before she stops him, telling him that he should not tell anyone what happened in the cabin. He nods, and they continue onwards.
As they walk through the city they spot a couple of familiar faces, Hazzek and Ulvira, sitting on a bench. They walk over to greet them, and quickly learn that they did find the cult members they were looking for. Apparently they were holed up in the old mines a little south-west of the city, five of them sitting in a circle. When asked what they were doing, the cultists simply said that “you are too late,” and that the deed was already done. They put up no resistance, so the pair put them out of their misery. There was a big spider mural, as well as a written message that also said “he is here”. Hazzek and Ulvira hope that the cult is now dead, although the cultists said there were more of them.
The party figures they should check out the caves, and warns the pair to stay away from Starfall View, before learning that they have already stayed there for several days, eating and drinking. Ulvira doesn’t drink wine, so she has been unaffected, but when the party tells them of Legion and the danger of the infection, Hazzek reveals that he felt something when he drank the wine. The party tells Ulvira to be careful, as he is most likely infected, but she replies that she can try to cleanse the blood, as she is a blood hunter. The pair immediately goes to the Granite Cup after the party recommends it, hoping to rid themselves of Legion’s taint.
The party continues onwards to the inn, taking their positions nearby. Quill disguises herself as a new cook that has been hired in Starfall View, going to a nearby general store to buy a large amount of oil, claiming it is for the kitchen. They then have Miryks go into beastform as a bird, holding a waterskin full of oil that she pours over the roof of the inn, blending in with the other birds nearby. After a couple of hours, the roof is coated to their satisfaction, so the rest of the party heads to the stables to retrieve their horses, while Miryks lights the flame.
They are greeted by the orc Orvik who has tended their horses for the last couple of days, and as he is finished preparing them for travel by bringing out their saddles and taking payment, the bells of the city starts to ring out. Turning around, the party sees the massive flames pouring out of the Starfall View up the river, with Orvik looking on in shock, asking if the party has anything to do with it, but stops himself, saying that something had to be done anyway. He says goodbye to the party, running towards the inn to help survivors. Nearby, Miryks emerges from an alleyway, smoking and clearly singed from the intense fire.
𐡸
The party decides to check out the old mines before they leave, in case they can learn anything from the bodies and the chamber, before they head north towards the fort. They ride through the city, and can see the flames from across the water engulfing the Starfall View. There appears to be several people lying on the ground, some moving, some completely still. Quill looks away in shame, Gaia and Miryks clearly ambivalent about the whole situation, wondering if they did the right thing, while Raenerys doesn’t even sacrifice a glance towards the victims, continuing through the streets to reach the mines.
After a short travel south along the path, they find the opening of the mines, with several tracks leading in and out of it. They hide their horses, then enter the mines, wandering through, hoping to find what they are looking for. After a short while, they see light coming from a nearby chamber, and within they find the scene pretty much as described. Five cult members, crouched around the decayed corpse of a naked woman with a knife piercing her chest. The emblem of a spider is drawn in blood, overlooking an old altar dedicated to Eysus, while the message “HE IS HERE” is written on the wall.
The headless corpse of the woman in the middle is lying over the symbol of Vuthul, with several cracks emerging from beneath her. The altar has several offerings lying on it. A lock of white hair, a bone, a drawing of a knife, which Raenerys and Quill recognize as the one that once belonged to Vuthul, as well as a dead spider. It was clearly used for the ritual, some offering to bring back Nezznar Khalazza.
Gaia goes to work, leaning down to reanimate each body, using her divine ability to speak with the dead. As each corpse is finished, they turn to dust, but they learn several important things about the cult. Apparently, there were about fifty which took part in the ritual, and ten of them got killed performing it. The five in the chamber remained in case the one they resurrected returned to them, while the remaining 35 went out to search for them in the world.
The leader of the cult is a wizard named Malgus, who gathered them in the city of Sconosciuto, a bit south of the Ghal’dum Mountains, which they are already hoping to visit. Apparently Malgus desires to be one of the Elder Archmages, filling the void left by Malice. Their goal is to use the blood of Nezznar to get the powers of Vuthul, as even though he ascended after Nezznar’s birth, the blood of Vuthul’s descendants are now and forever divine. More disturbingly, there appears to be hundreds of cultists out there, all of them of mortal races who desire to live eternally, with Malgus wanting to lead them there.
The party looks at each other, worried about what this could mean. Gaia then leans down to the woman, after they found her head behind the altar. She puts it at the woman's neck, then asks her to tell her story and which god she belongs to. She calls herself Jevrah, hailing from the Heart of the Forest, following Elios. She lived in a small cabin in the outskirts of the city with her child, and was taken one day and brought to this cave, but she remembers nothing about what happened after that.
As the woman turns to dust, the party gathers whatever useful items they can find. Raenerys goes to the altar, putting the items in the bag of holding, except for the lock of hair, which she puts in her own bag, separate from the others. Quill and Miryks spot this, but don't say anything about it. They then exit the cave, as there is nothing more for them there. Quill brings along one of the candles which seems to be enchanted somehow, but is disappointed to find that it extinguishes itself the moment it leaves the cave. Gaia says a short prayer for Jevrah, then joins the others.
𐡸
After gathering their horses and heading back towards the city, Raenerys declares that she wants to speak with Hazzek and Ulvira one last time before they depart. Stopping by the Granite Cup, Gaia and Miryks wait outside, while Quill joins Raenerys. The innkeeper points out the room, and Raenerys goes to immediately knock on the door. Ulvira answers, opening the door for them, letting the pair inside. They find Hazzek exhausted and covered in blood, but looking all right otherwise. Ulvira says that they did find something in the blood, and managed to expunge it. Raenerys tells them about what they learned in the caves, so Hazzek and Ulvira declares that they will make their way towards Eldenspire when they are satisfied the cult is gone from Starfall Basin.
Returning to the others, they head north. As they pass by the Starfall View, it is nearly completely burned down, with the flames dying out. Some nearby buildings were caught by the fire, but extinguished in time to avoid permanent damage. Several bodies are carried away, but the party has not time to think about their actions, traveling out of the city, on the road towards the fort. Gaia decides to update Elara about what they learned about the cult, but Elara doesn’t know this Malgus, so he is clearly using an alias.
On the road north, Gaia takes time each day to ask more questions to her god about their journey ahead. To their surprise, they learn that Nezznar has not been resurrected, so they wonder who might have been brought back. It cannot be Malice or Vuthul, as their souls are sundered, unable to return. They also learn that the Ilithids are responsible for the attack on the fort, confirming their suspicions, and that Urza, Elara’s pupil, has been infected by the Legion.
After four days, they cross the river, passing by Riverside Crossing, when Gaia decides to ask Elara how far away she is through the speaking orb. To her horror, she gets no response. They try again and again, but nobody answers. Worried, they push their horses to travel to the fort, hoping to learn what has happened.
A few hours east of Riverside Crossing, they spot the fort up in the hillside. There is smoke billowing out from the center courtyard, and bodies litter the field outside of it. One of the bodies is that of an illithid, riddled with arrows like the others, all coming from the fort. The other bodies appear to be humanoids of various races, but no warriors amongst them, mostly farmers and commoners.
Gaia takes to the skies to look inside the fortress from above, finding four people moving around, two of them carrying bodies to the funeral pyre in the center of the courtyard, while the two others seem to be removing the armor of those that have died. She descends to the rest of the party, as they carefully make their way towards the broken wall.
The surviving guards immediately draw their weapons as the party approaches, but they manage to talk them down, promising that they are friendly, having been told to come by Elara. Apparently the four remaining were out on patrol when the attack happened, and returned to the fort finding it already abandoned by whatever attacked. Looking at the hole in the wall, it is clear something big came through with force.
Gaia asks permission from the leader of the guards, Garrick, to ask the deceased what happened, and that the bodies will turn to dust when she is done. With his approval, she goes to work again, learning that the fort was attacked in the night by a large group of people led by four tentacle-faced creatures and a massive brain with big legs made of sinew and flesh. Small creatures emerged from the brain, flying through the air, infecting people, who immediately turned on their allies. One of the bodies, who was left bleeding out after the attack, said the brain and the newly acquired troops headed east through the valley.
They go out into the field, finding the dead illithid, asking why they were here. The illithid says that they were gathering warriors and soldiers, and then heading to take “your great coastal city, where we will spread our seeds, force you into servitude.” Gaia asks how the infected can be cured, but the illithid simply says that they are eternal, and that there is no cure. As it turns to dust, Garrick kicks the spot where the illithid lay, before heading back towards the fort.
They decide they have to warn the settlements on the way, as well as Goldenworth, their target. Quill writes several missives in Elara’s name, to convince the recipients of their importance, while Halden, one of the soldiers, gathers the ravens from the aviary, sending them with the missives to warn of the coming attacks. Legion has at least 4 days head start on them, but the party needs rest, being allowed to use whatever bunks they may find in the fort, as the dead have no use for them anymore.