Showdown on Golden Ridge Peak
As the group stares down the cultist, the main lady repeats her question, whether the group is here to join their cause, or they are free to leave. The group makes it clear that they cannot simply leave, with Kal clarifying that she is on a mission, and the cultists are in their way. Behind the leader, they can see the massive obelisk, with the symbol of Udall, covered in arcane chains, with the symbol of Vuthul carved in over it, glowing green. The other rocks seem to be spouting out some sort of necrotic energy. Weirdly, at this point, Penny is not seeing her patron in her peripheral. He is suddenly standing clearly in front of her, observing the cultists. When talking about the Forgotten One, the leader notices that this makes Penny uncomfortable, so she asks her if Penny is “marked”. She dodges the question.
Kal, being tired of not getting anywhere with the leader, tells them that they have one more chance to leave, and she tries to be as kind as she can be, but the lady won’t budge. Kal responds by calling a lightning bolt on her. Udall had difficulties reaching the area, but with Kal present it seems he finally has a way in.
The battle seems to be fairly balanced at first, with the cultist having the party covered due to sheer numbers, but the party being slightly more powerful, managing to take down most of the followers before moving onto the biggest threat. Literally. As the lady suddenly increases back into her regular size. Kal recognized her as an Oni, this just confirms it. The lesser cultists are simply frightened young adults who seem to have bitten of a bit more than they can chew, while the two “lieutenants'' seem to be more hardened, but they are also more powerful, managing to pull Dandelion and Fie closer to the battle, as well as hexing Kal and Penny. A quick fireball from Fie however manages to take them out of concentration, while Kal pummels them with lightning strikes and her spiritual weapon. Penny focuses more on support, and on finishing off the lesser cultists.
After most of the cultists are taken down, the leader turns to guerilla tactics, turning invisible and striking down Kal several times. Dandelion is the only one perceptive enough to know where she is hiding, and so tries to attack her, showing the others where she is. Kal, in the meantime, having been healed by Penny, starts hammering away at the chains surrounding the shrine, but this only angers the leader, who comes out of hiding, straight for Kal, striking her down once more. Kal, however, fueled by the fury of Udall, throws back her wrath at her, severely wounding her, and pushing her back. The leader desperately tries to escape, and turns invisible, but before she has a chance to fly away, Fie swoops down, noticing the blood dripping from the invisible creature, and shoots his Eldritch Blasts at her, striking her in the chest, as she falls to the ground. Penny finishes her off with a few blasts of her own.
Breaking the Chain
As Kal comes to, being healed by the rest of the party, she and Dandelion resumes trying to break the chains that surround the obelisk. Curiously however, is that when Vuthul speaks to Penny, it appears that everyone can hear him, not just her. He is surprised by this, and decides to keep quiet. It seems he doesn’t feel comfortable with everyone hearing his conversations. Penny and Fie go to loot the tents and bodies, finding some magical treasures, a new book of sorcery, some magical rings, and a few potions. They also find what Fie identifies as an Adean Stone of Religious Knowledge. Handy!
As Dandelion and Kal keep attacking the chain, Kal finally manages to break the shackles that contain the energy, causing it to flow out in an upwards direction. This also causes both Dandelion and Kal to be thrown backwards from the surge, and a massive boom rings out of the pillar, as the trapped energy in the surrounding rocks flows back into it. The clouds that were blocked from entering the area also flows into it again, causing a flash that momentarily causes everyone to be discombobulated.
When they come to, they see the obelisk and surrounding stone glowing in it’s regular glory, and the symbol of the Forgotten God is suddenly being erased. Over the obelisk, they can see a massive hulking figure, made of clouds and starry skies, with thunder and lightning surrounding it, flowing out of its eyes. Udall stands before them. He simply stares at the party, not saying anything. Fie gives a respectful bow, with Penny copying him. Kal gives a respectful salute to her god, with Dandelion just gawks in awe. After a moment, he puts forth his arm, and lightning shoots from it, striking each of the party members in the chest, throwing them back yet again. As they come to, Udall has vanished. Yet they can all feel the gift he has imprinted on them; his blessing, for purifying the shrine. The rest of the party can no longer hear Vuthul after this.
The Descent
After coming down from the combat high, and standing face to face with one of the gods (which is a first for most of the group), they decide to take a short rest, with some music, coffee, and a light snack, before setting out to descend the mountain. Dandelion has spent some time gathering up the bodies on the southern shelf of the peak, doing her regular ritual of respecting the deceased. As she asks herself if they did the right thing, a wind blows one of the pebbles from the chest of one of the cultists, and it tumbles down the side of the mountain. Dandelion interprets this as the gods wanting her to go south, maybe return to her forest, but the party says they have more important things to do. They have to get to Ravenforge, both for Chesterssake, and for Penny.
Descending is done mostly the same way as the ascent; flying. Fie activates his flying abilities, while Dandelion turns into an eagle and ferries both Kal and Penny down the mountain on her back. As they reach the base, she scouts ahead, noticing several dangers that the party might face, so they take the other path, avoiding any more encounters. The journey back takes three days in total, and Dandelion scouts out the best path ahead, making the journey back an uneventful trip. They can see when resting for the night that the peak is back to its normal function, with the blue glow shining brightly through the clouds. Kal can also notice the faith resonating through the ground, returning to the peak.
Fie picks up one of the rings they found on one of the cultists, a ring of Mind Shielding. The soul of the cultist who wore it has been transferred to it, so Fie puts it on to have a chat. He manages to convince the cultist to tell them why they corrupted the shrine, and he is told that they were “paving the way” for the Forgotten One. He is either unwilling or unable to elaborate. He does however give the name of their leader after Fie confirms that they killed her; Tamasi. As the cultist has lost everything, he just starts shouting at Fie, who calls him immature, and takes the ring off. A bit later, Penny asks if she can try on the ring, but changes her mind when Kal asks if it’s a good idea to introduce a god and its disciple who appear to have evil intentions.
The Road to Elvenroth
As they reach the bottom of the mountains, they approach the homestead to retrieve the horses. It seems the horses have been treated nicely, fed and watered, but they have been pretty bored. Seems like going on adventures have caused the horses to be a bit spoiled when it comes to mental stimuli. Dandelion thinks that they should get some balls that the horses can play with when the party are doing stuff that are too dangerous for the horses. On the road heading west she asks several of the travelers if they have balls for sale, but it turns into some innuendo that Dandelion was not prepared for. The rest of the party convinces her to wait until they get to Elvenroth, they might find a shop there that sells toys for the horses.
On the road, Kal remembers that they found a sending stone among Nezznar’s belongings. She asks for it, ponders her decision for a moment, before asking whoever is holding the other sending stone “hello? Anyone there?”
A moment passes, before she gets a response:
“Who is this? Are you the one who killed him?”
As these stones are once-a-day use, the next day, the voice, which Kal describes as “nondescript, female, elegant”, asks again “who killed him?”. Kal simply responds “not me, and the person who did isn’t with us anymore.” She gets no more messages.
After talking about the afterlife, concerning the spirit residing in the ring they found and what plane it would go to, Penny asks her patron what plane he resides in. He is unsure exactly what plane he is currently in, and that is partly why he needs Penny. To help him be free. Fie repeats what he said when they first found The Key, that it is probably literally a key to a lock. They will have to find out where it leads somehow. Penny says that the key is leading her east, towards one of the two ruins on the map, so they have to go there someday as well.
The Crossroad City
As the party crosses the ridge, they can see Elvenroth before them. A big, walled city, with a river running through it from east to west. Each corner of the city has a road going out of it, leading to the rest of Moroxia. A true crossroads of all walks of life. In the skies, the party can see drakes flying around, and at first they think they might be under attack, but as they get closer, they can see that they are being ridden by what appears to be city guards, clad in royal blue and gold. The party waves to them, and they wave back. Fie tells the party that the city guards of Elvenroth don’t ride horses, but fly around protecting the city.
When they reach the city gates, it is a very busy affair. The city guards walk around collecting tolls for entering the city, 1gp each, and Fie is unfortunate enough to be taken to the side, as a random security check. A middle aged man is sitting in an office, with a notepad. He asks Fie when he enters about his name, race, occupation, reason for visit and duration of stay. Fie (with Chester, whose head Fie is carrying around as Lander) answers the questions as fits his current persona, but the clerk is none the wiser. He gets out of there without any suspicion. When he exits, the rest of the group is waiting for him, and decide to first of all board their horses on the far side of the city, as they will at one point travel towards Ravenforge. Having placed them in a stable, and paid the stable owner 1,5gp each horse to keep them spoiled (and asking about Tim, who does not work there), they return to the city, to figure out what to do next.
Getting Down to Business
It is pretty apparent that each member of the party has something they want to take care of, so they decide to split up for the day. Kal wants to find the Generous Queen Inn to talk to “Enhana” that Sister Garaele told her about, while Fie, Penny and Dandelion head to the Emerald District to see if they can find a magic shop and maybe something for the horses.
Kal
After asking a bit around, Kal is pointed to the Generous Queen Inn. A fabulous tavern and inn, located near the southwestern gate of the city. As soon as she enters, she meets a halfling named Fargas Tosscobble, who asks her if she requires a room. She tells him that she is looking for Enhana. He suddenly goes pale, big eyes, and tells her “aah yes, a room for one, right this way miss” and leads her to the back into a waiting room. He then berates her for just throwing that name around willy nilly, but she just tells him that she was told to ask for her. He tells her to wait in the room, and he will go ask for Enhana. Shortly after, Kal can hear quick footsteps approaching, and sees another halfling lady, stern-looking and taller than average.
The lady quickly asks her who she heard the name Enhana, and Kal tells her about sister Garaele who approached her in Ruins of Phandalin and told her to seek her out. Enhana, whose real name is Alexis Gellfarer, tells her they lost contact with Garaele a while back, most likely due to the undead that now plague Phandalin. Someone will have to deal with it soon, as the dwarves have too much trouble already. Alexis tells Kal that they are a shadow organization who wants to keep hidden and dangerous knowledge from the world, and that they work from the shadows. When Kal tells her that she is a cleric of Udall, Alexis scoffs, saying that Udall doesn’t have clerics, and asks her to prove it. She slices her own hand, and asks Kal to heal it using something only a cleric could do, so Kal says a word, causing her wound to heal. Seems like she believes her.
Alexis offers Kal a quest, to bring a parcel from Elvenroth to her contact in Ravenforge, if she wants to prove that she can be one of The Veiled Protectors. Kal is hesitant, but accepts, being told not to look into the package. When Alexis asks Kal how much she actually knows about what’s going on, she gets shocked when Kal namedrop The Forgotten God, and asks her to definitely bring her package to her contact, as they might have something to talk about. She reveals who she is to deliver the package to: Bertram Honeypot, the man they were already going to meet.
Eventually, Alexis admits that she knows a bit more about her and her party than she originally led on, having observed their doings over the past months. When asked why Garaele approached Kal, she says that it was because of everyone in the group, a tortle, a pink tiefling, two suspicious half-elves and a green forest being, she was the most anonymous. Ironic. She tells Kal that Garaele was in Phanadlin, looking for Nezznar Khalazza, but they have lost track of him. They heard about the supposed demise of Nezznar in the Temple of Dumathoin, but when they searched the caves they found no drow body, just bugbears and undeads. Kal clarifies that he is a drider, but Alexis says they found no half-spider, half-drow body either. Kal confirms that they did kill him, even destroying parts of the body to make sure, but he still disappeared. Curious.
Alexis asks Kal if they are traveling by road or teleporting, and tells her that she may be able to arrange for them to use the teleport system, if they wish, but it would take a few days to set up. Kal tells her that she is going to talk to her group about this to see what they think. Alexis will wait for her response before moving. She gives Kal the parcel she is to deliver to Honeypot, and she leaves.
Penny, Dandelion and Fie
The trio venture to the other side of the city, in search for both balls and magical items. After looking around for a bit, they come upon a magic shop next to a park called The Sky’s Eye. Dandelion decides to go check out the greenery while the other two enter the shop.
Inside, Penny and Fie are met with various customers, but most noticeably, five kobolds who are walking around assisting shoppers or looking after the store. They greet them as they enter, and ask if they need help, in that case they can ask their “dad” if he can help. One of the female kobolds goes to a back room, and after a short while, a massive loxodon emerges. He talks a bit slowly, but is happy to help. Penny tells him she is looking for some armor, and he tells her that he has many different armors or charms of protection, but it seems all of them are a bit outside of her price range. She eventually settles on a mariner's studded leather armor, giving her a bit more protection, and which will help her if she ever goes unconscious underwater. After reserving it, she goes to the cheap pile to see if she can find some interesting magic trinkets.
Fie on the other hand is looking for a specific rod that might help with his Warlock abilities, but Vrendol sadly doesn’t have it. He does however carry an Immovable Rod, which Fie picks up, as it might come in handy.
Penny, going through the trinkets, comes across a single old tarot card, identical to the rest of the cards they have found. It’s priced at 1gp, so she barely manages to afford it.
In the meantime, Dandelion is sitting in the park, talking to the plants and grass, getting glances and looks from people passing by. It seems the flowers are treated fairly nicely, but winter is soon coming. Luckily, the man with the big nose helps protect the plant during the cold. Dandelion wonders what kind of nose the man has.
After the discussion with the flowers, she gathers some rocks and sticks, and sits down in the middle of the park, meditating like a true druid. She doesn't get to focus too long before she feels a tap on her shoulder. A city guard is standing over her, with his drake companion in the background, wondering what she is doing. She simply explains that she’s meditating, and he apologizes for disturbing her, he just had to make sure she wasn’t casting any dangerous spells, as it is not allowed in the city. She assures him that she means no harm, and he is glad to hear it. The guard introduces himself as Ilanis, and they talk a bit about where she’s from, before he welcomes her to the city. He also allows her to meet his drake companion, Phaldrex. Dandelion can’t speak to it, but she can understand some of the things it’s trying to convey. They eventually talk about Phandalin, and how sad it is that Khuzunzan can’t do anything about it due to their own problems. She asks him what problems he’s talking about, and he tells her about the dragon plaguing the travellers to and from the city. First she’s heard of it. But before she can ask any more questions or converse with him, he has to depart, and take off to the skies. Dandelion watches him for a bit, noticing that most of the drakes come to and from the north of the city, before heading to the shop.
As Dandelion enters the Sky’s Eye, meeting Fie heading out, she is overwhelmed by the size, and finally comes face to face with Vrendol, commenting on his nose, asking why it’s so big. They banter a bit, before asking if she needs help finding anything. She tells him that she has a hard time sleeping, and she can’t see that well at night. He can luckily help with both, showing her some EarPlugs of Silence™, and Goggles of Night. She wants them both, and Penny haggles them down to 325gp. As they leave the store to meet up with Kal, Dandelion realizes they forgot to look for balls for the horses. They will have to look some more.
In the meantime, Fie has been wandering around the city, looking at the different temples, before reaching the Temple of Adea, in the Amber district. He notices that the core of the city has way more guards, and not as many people. It seems that the poorest are being kept away from reaching it, but luckily, Fie has the look of a scholar, so he gets to pass. Chester is just loving every sight, taking it all in, but can’t remember this particular city. Fie does not know enough about the history of Elvenroth to give Chester an idea of what was here before, if anything. He pays his respects to the goddess of knowledge and magic, before returning to the group.
After meeting up with Kal, she tells the rest about the possibility of having a faster way of traveling. They will have to think about if they want to teleport, which will be expensive, or if they want to take the long way. In either case, they return to the Generous Queen Inn, taking two double rooms, paying 2gp per person per night, and retire for the evening, waking the next morning, stronger than they were before.