The Final Test
As The Monk prepares to fight the party, she doesn’t attack. She just does a typical monk-flourish, and then the tattoos on her head starts to glow white, and she just stands there, prepared for whatever is to come. It seems like whenever someone attacked her while in this state, she could somehow get a read on their weakness or secrets. During the fight, the tattoos on her torso lights up instead, which seems to make her harder to affect with magic or anything really, and when her arm tattoos lit up, she seemingly could affect the fates to make others miss, or make her hit better.
In the first half of the fight, she merely just avoids the attacks, and only throws a few punches between the turns, but still being dangerous. She sweeps the legs of people, or punches them into the air, making them take fall damage, but nothing too serious at first. Her fluid motions make her extremely difficult to hit, and she moves with almost supernatural speed. They manage to get in a few decent hits, fill half the room with a fog cloud, forcing the fight to be close quarters lest nobody but Grannycan see anything, and at one point, Kal manages to actually shove her to the ground and her lightning powers shunts her into a corner, where Willowbark fries her with a moon beam. As the Monk lies on the ground, squirming in pain, all her tattoos suddenly light up, bright white light, and she gets up, with a smile on her face.
This time, she doesn’t hold back. She continues to sweep the legs of everyone she sees, and throws a few people into the air, but she is much more dangerous and attacks a lot more than she did before, taking down Granny and Willowbark a couple of times, even managing to hit Fie, which is an achievement in and of itself. Kal hits her with a shatter, but manages to catch Penny in the area as well, making her lose concentration on her Witch Bolt which was attached to the Monk. As things look bleak for Granny and Willowbark, Kal manages to get one final blow in, swiping at her feet (as payback for her swiping at their feet all the time). The Monk manages to dodge the final attack, grabbing her Lightbringer, and exclaiming “Wow! That was a good fight!”
Victorious
The Monk profusely apologizes for hurting the party, but it was important to test them, to see if they were able to face the challenges ahead. Her demeanour changes from serious to cheery, walking around the room helping people up, and using her innate powers to heal whoever took damage. Penny gives her a hug as she is healed by the Monk. She focuses on Granny, pointing out the fact that the Steps have taken their toll on her. He places both her palms on her cheeks, and the rest of the party can see that she noticeably gets younger, even more younger than she was before. “Oops, might have taken a bit more from the top than I hoped for, hope you don’t mind!”. Granny seems to be disappointed by this, maybe being prepared for her twilight years, which is now postponed.
After getting everyone back on their feet, she waves her hand, the door unlocks, and she brings them down a set of stairs to a room with a lit fireplace, and a table set with a proper heroes’ feast. She tells them to relax, eat, they’ve earned it.
During the feast, Penny finally tries out the Potion of Spirit. She regains some of her spell slots, as the potion was supposed to do, but the energy flowing back into her makes her very exhausted. She also notices a surge of wild magic, but it appears there was no noticeable effect for it.
They ask the Monk for her name, but she gives none, instead claiming to be an Avatar of Azuna, the creator and head of the pantheon, Goddess of Tranquility, Peace and Reason. Apparently Azuna has told her that things have been set in motion. She asks if they know what they found in the Cave. She explains that the Key has potential to be used for great evil, but it depends entirely on the wielder. In time, they might have to make a choice for how they wish to use the key. By picking up the Key in Wave Echo Cave, they have set things in motion. She also theorizes that Azuna herself placed the map in their path, hoping to lead them to the Steps.
As they are feasting, the Monk goes to pick up a box lying on a shelf, as well as a red scroll of some kind. She opens the box, and gives each person a ring, designed like interlocked arms, that she calls the Rings of the True Companions. It will help them keep each other alive. The scroll is a Scroll of Momentary Omniscience.
She is also very excited about the prospect of actually talking to people again. Last time was over 500 years ago, when the last person tried to complete the Steps. They ask how old she is, and she claims to be over 1000 years old at least. Before parting from her, she will answer three questions they ask, to the best of her ability. Penny gets a voice in her head, telling her to ask what she wants to know, but she shakes it off.
About the Key
Penny is very hesitant to give away the key to the monk. The voice in her head tells her not to do it. Kal notices that something is amiss. She asks to see the key, but Penny won’t let her hold it. The monk explains that Penny has made a deal with the "forgotten god". He is not the best person to give her what she wants. He is not an honest god. The key is the holy symbol of the Forgotten God. They trapped him when he betrayed them and tried to kill them. The monk reassures them that Penny should not be in any danger, but to be aware that they should let him go eventually and to keep the key hidden. Someone is probably searching for it. Penny emphasizes that she can trust everybody in the group to not take it from her.
About the Hags
Willow asks about the trio of hags; Morana, Hala and Selene.
She says the hags might be getting power from the corruption in the Jaded Wilds. By getting rid of the corruption there, they might weaken the hags and make fighting them easier.
About Tim
The group has not yet met the real Tim. There are about 3 or 4. The monk tells them that Tim puts on an act as a simple mind and that they probably know about each other. The group will meet another Tim if they go west.
The monk tells them to remember who they are and what they can do. She tells Kal “Your parents send you their love, they miss you a lot.” Everything suddenly turns black.
Gaining Power, 7th
Willowbark
Tavern. Her friends are having fun in a tavern. Meanwhile, a giant black dragon sleeps restlessly behind her. Her friends are being too loud, and will wake the dragon. She tries, and fails to get them to stop, and suddenly the dragon wakes up, looking at her.
Granny
Granny wakes up in the desert and sees another creature far away. They walk towards each other. Before they start to run and see that it is a tortle.They collide and are thrown back. It was a mirror. There’s a hole in the top of the glass hall. Sand starts falling. Before she is completely buried, she sees two eyes and a slight smile, but does not recognize the face.
Theren
He’s holding watch alone. Kal is not with him. Dark silhouettes come out of the darkness around them. They attack Theren, trying to take the ring from his finger. They are all copies of Theren. One of them manages to get the ring and runs away. Theren and the other Therens follow him into the dark.
Kal
Lying on something hard. She’s in a grave. Silhouettes crowd around the opening. A woman throws dirt on her. It’s the same woman as she’s seen before in her dreams, pleading for her life. She recognizes more people. They bury her alive. The end doesn’t come.
Penny
Walking through a corridor made of bright light. Behind a beutiful door, she finds a woman playing a harp, when she notices Penny and their eyes lock, her smile disappears. She throws her harp to the side, and starts moving away from Penny, further into the room, until she is trapped in a corner. Penny is walking calmly towards her. As she reaches her, her eyes are teary, and Penny chokes her to death. She notices her hands are not her own. Skinny, pale, with dead fingernails. The room has become dark, and she sees her reflection in the mirror. A pale, bald, skinny man with hollow eyes are staring back at her.
Demetrius
He dreams of being back in the hallways of Wave Echo Cave, near where they fought Nezznar Khalazza. Cobwebs all around, he hears something approach him. He goes further into the hallway, reaching the temple they had their final battle in. He tries to barricade the door, but whatever follows him comes bursting through. A massive figure, a spider lower body, with a elf upper body. Nezznar, with a massive wound at his neck where Demetrius struck him down. He looks down at him, saying “I told you, you would not end me”, before striking at him with his massive greatsword.
Awakening
As the group comes to, they are at first disoriented, everything is blurry, but they soon realize that they have woken up in the cavern where they first found the door. Gathering their bearings, they take a look around, and realize that the door, statue and riddle, are gone. What remains is just a solid stone wall.
As they exit the cavern, they see Verkenner standing there by the horses. He turns around to look at them, and asks if they forgot something, considering they’ve only been gone for a few minutes. Theren deceives him by saying that there wasn’t much to see, much to Verkenners disappointment. They do however set course eastwards, towards where the supposed Flail Snails are located.
After traveling for a whole day, and a little more, considering the difficult terrain they are facing, as there are no roads where they go, Verkenner stops them, and tells them he hasn’t been completely truthful. He knows about at least one place where they can find Flail Snails, but they are being kept as pets by a band of goblins. These goblins have apparently been harassing and killing travelers on the road between Thielheim and Jasperpost. He proposes that they get all the loot, and the flail snail shells, as long as he gets to get credit for solving the problem, as he promised this to the people of Jasperpost.
Monetary Payment
As they are walking between the mountains and the mists, Kal suddenly gets a message in her head. An unknown voice says: “Message from Gundren Rockseeker Follows: Have first payment. Which branch to send payment. You can respond to this message.”
Kal tells the voice to send it to Tempervale, as they will be going there next. A little bit later, she gets a new message: “Message from Gundren Rockseeker Follows: If visiting, come from the east. The West is not safe anymore. You can respond to this message.”
Kal asks what they mean, and after 10 more minutes or so, she gets one final message: “Message from Gundren Rockseeker Follows: Each sending costs a 100 gold pieces. See you soon. You can respond to this message.”
And after wards, she gets a final message: “Thank you for using Speedy Sendings. You can find us in all major cities. For easy long distance contacts.”
She tells the rest of the party about it, but they are not sure if he meant visiting him or Tempervale.
The Band of Goblins
As they are almost approaching the goblin hideout, Willowbark and Verkenner climb to the top of a ridge, to take a look at the opening. They see four cave openings of various sizes in the mountain wall. Outside of the righter most, there is a large snail creature, which is sliding along the ground, before being led inside by a small figure. The other entrances are being guarded by more small figures.
Verkenner tells Willowbark that they can either go in alone, or he wants part of the treasure on the inside. He really doesn’t want to approach them again if he doesn’t have to, as he has already been shot by them once. As they get back down, they make camp for the night, keeping watch as normal.
Willowbark and Penny discuss their gods a bit, after Penny has been studying the Key for a while, and asks Willow about her gods that represent decay and destruction. When Kal and Theren have their watch, they can hear voices from beyond the ridge, most likely from patrols checking out the area. They are not discovered, luckily. Theren tries out his books ability to cast sending by having Kal write her name in the book.
The morning after, Kal tries to ask her god by making an offering what the best course of action is if they want to take out the goblins, but she only gets a response of using the two middle openings. After asking her question, it starts to rain and thunder. Theren blames Kal for this, understandably so.
The group discuss whether to approach this diplomatically, or by using force. They won’t have an element of surprise, as it is a large open area, leading straight to a big stone wall, so there are no places to hide. Willowbark hopes to solve this peacefully, but the rest of the group is sceptical about this, but willing to give it a go. Granny points out that goblins respond best to force, and authority, so they decide Kal should be the one to do the talking. Best case, they can convince them to try to move to Honk, the goblin “capital”.
As they approach, the two guards aim their bows at them, demanding to know who they are. Kal demands to speak to their leader, intimidating both of them. One of the goblins tells the other to get “Harold”, and it runs inside. After a few minutes, a posse of goblins come walking out, one more bulkier and taller than the rest. They are sceptical about the prospect of just moving because some random travellers told them to, but after conjuring lightning, and with Penny summoning an illusion of a dragon, the goblins believe they are outmatched.
As the goblins gather their supplies, they move out of the cave, and the party can see that they have taken what they can carry of food, and they see women and children among the tribe, which tallies almost 50. The party has given them directions, and a stern warning not to attack other people on the way there, lest they will feel the party's wrath. Granny tracks them with their hunter’s mark, and senses that they have moved underground.
As they look through the cave, they find both entrances trapped, and search through the entire cave system, finding no goblins, but they do find a spider that is extra hostile towards Penny, so she turns invisible to avoid it. In the inner cave, they find a treasure chest, also trapped, but Demetrius has no problem disabling it. In the chest they find a wealth of gold, silver and platinum, along with a couple of sending stones, a spell scroll of scrying, and Oil of Etherealness.
As they search the leftmost tunnel, they find the poor souls who have lost their lives to the goblin tribe. Various humanoids in various states of decay, ransacked, and left to rot. The stench is unbearable. Willowbark druidcrafts some flowers, and leaves them at the entrance.
The party finally enters the rightmost tunnel, where the flail snail was seen going in. As they round a corner, Theren can see one of them feeding off the ground, and then sliding further into the cave, as the group is left to contemplate how to approach the situation…