A pair of strange figures lurked with the darkness, what seemed like animated skeletons with comically elongated jaws, their eyes alight with purple flame as their bodies were wreathed in the same energy. Weiss alerted others in the party to the threat, who swiftly rallied to assist Weiss and Yuuto. The light of Loric’s armor was able to ward away the darkness, and with the party’s combined effort, it didn’t take too long before they reduced the strange skeletons to shattered bone and powder.
The party took whatever items of note they could find within the chamber before electing to move on. They headed into a small storage area to the south packed with crates and other supplies. Having now cleared the southwestern wing, the party considered their next move. They elected to return to the wardstone they had left behind, in the area with winding corridors. As they made their way there, Weiss could still see it radiated powerful abjuration magic in her magesight, though she could detect two distinct effects. As Yuuto had determined earlier, the energy was directed towards celestial creatures, and an identify from Weiss revealed it to have a spell-like effect similar to the forbiddance spell. The party was beginning to run low on resources for the day, and they wondered how they would tackle this next wardstone.
However, Lucille volunteered to help restore the wardstone. She stepped up to the black obelisk and laid a hand on it, as she clasped her symbol to the Raven Queen in the other. She silently prayed for her Queen’s aid, beseeching her sincerely to help rid the corruption to the obelisk, amid this once noble place that had now been profaned with the forces of the undead. As Lucille prayed, she felt her mind and spirit being taken elsewhere. She saw herself moving along a road, approaching a great and massive tower ahead. Other travelers were on the road beside her, their faces and forms shadowed to her. Above in the dark sky was what seemed like a cloud, but Lucille realized that it was in fact a countless array of ravens. The ravens in the sky began to swirl, forming a massive hand that began to descend downward. As the hand descended, Lucille did not feel a sense of panic, but instead awe as the hand enveloped her.
As the darkness surrounded Lucille, she then suddenly found herself back to where she had been before, her hand on the obelisk. The obelisk now glowed with golden light, fully restored by the power of the Raven Queen. Lucille felt her deity’s gaze linger on her for a moment, and she felt a fleeting sense of approval of Lucille’s actions. The sensation faded, though Lucille now also felt stronger and more revitalized than she had before. As had happened when the other wardstones had been restored, the party had felt the melancholy of the Shadowfell abate from within the room, light shined as it did normally, and in Weiss’s magesight, she could see glowing cords of energy wafting from the wardstone and attempting to extend beyond the room, but it quickly faded from view.
At this point, the party had restored three wardstones, but they did not know how many other wardstones remained. The party elected to return to the caverns they had explored, with piercers littering the ceiling. A door they had not opened lay within, and as Yuuto moved to examine the door, he could feel that the door was deathly cold. Yuuto warned the party to prepare themselves for a possible major threat, and with Loric and Yuuto working together, they pushed the door open.
The party could now see a small chamber lit by an eerie azure light. A black lake dominated the area, the water opaque and its true depth unclear. In the center of the lake was a small patch of land upon which another black obelisk lay: a wardstone. The wardstone was covered in runes that glowed with icy-blue energy, filling the area with its light. The air was chill, to the point of freezing, and the party cautiously stepped forward. Weiss considered using a spell of see invisibility to detect any unseen threats, but Yuuto pointed out that Lucille already had the capability of doing so. The pair bickered for a few moments, before at last the party agreed for Lucille to scout the area.
As Lucille walked up to the water’s edge, she was alarmed to feel several somethings beneath the surface, as a horde of zombies and skeletons burst out from the depths!
Weiss raced forward to reinforce Lucille’s position, her rapier coruscating with thunderous force, as Sleet simultaneously sent out a bolt of flame. It tores into the undead ranks, but the party watched with astonishment as something else and far more dangerous emerged from within the lake. It was a huge being of pure black, with large antlers. Its body was vaguely humanoid in shape, with a lanky yet muscular form, shadows seeming to waft off its very body, which may well have been formed out of the shadows themselves. Its black gaze only portented death, and the party could feel as if their very life essence was being drained away just by standing next to the thing. Yuuto and Loric instantly recognized what the creature was, for they had fought one before: a nightwalker!
The nightwalker approached Lucille, walking on sheer air as it raised an enormous finger to point at her. She felt her heart seize for a moment, though she remained standing. The nightwalker then slammed a fist down on atop of her, and Lucille could feel her vitality beginning to be drained away. Loric invoked his oath, an aura of sunlight shimmering into being around him. The light was attenuated by the energies of the Shadowfell, but it proved potent enough to begin to overcome some of the weaker undead.
Yuuto also joined the others in the frontline, unleashing a flurry of sword slashes and kicks at the undead in reach. The swarms of zombies and skeletons surged towards the party, enveloping them in a deafening cacophony of decayed flesh and rattling bone. Lucille found herself grabbed by zombies within reach before she was knocked down and nearly trampled underfoot. Held down by the pile of undead, she unleashed an acidic claw to rake at and dissolve undead creatures within reach. She then enspelled herself with a warding spell meant to keep herself from harm.
Weiss and Loric continued to cut down the horde of undead around them, beginning to stem the tide. The nightwalker was not difficult to hit, but it proved hardy and resilient, shrugging off elemental energy in particular. The nightwalker’s attention shifted to Loric, who was emitting radiant light that burned at the undead creatures around him. The nightwalker attempted to bring down its fists on Loric, but Loric was able to ward off the assault. As Lucille struggled beneath the pile of undead creatures, the presence of the nightwalker continued to tug at her, draining her very life away. Her ward was intact, the undead menace repelled away as soon as they tried to attack her, but simply being near the nightwalker itself was a promise of inevitable death.
She found breath harder to come by, as sensation in her body began to fade. Her vision and hearing went first, her sense of feeling not long after, and Lucille at last succumbed to oblivion. She breathed her last, her heart no longer beating, and her empty eyes still open, sightlessly staring at nothing at all. Lucille had perished.
The party stared at Lucille’s corpse before they renewed their assault on the undead creatures which had slain their comrade and friend. Weiss was particularly incensed, as she pointed a finger in turn at the nightwalker, angrily snapping off a spell. Green light flared from an arcane sigil and the nightwalker staggered as beam of disintegrating energy nearly ripped it in half. Sleet sent out a swift followup blast of fire at the nightwalker, which was now significantly weakening with the party’s attention.
Yuuto and Loric joined Weiss’s focused assault on the nightwalker, the remaining party working together to bring down the nightwalker. In the end, the nightwalker proved unable to survive the party’s fury, with Weiss landing the final blow as the entity of death itself died. The nightwalker dissipated into smoke and shadow, no trace of its body remaining. The swarm of zombies and skeletons remained, though significantly fewer than before. Loric, Weiss, and Yuuto persevered until at last not a single undead creature remained standing in the room.
The party rushed to Lucille’s side. The cleric of the Raven Queen had fallen, her body still and cold in the embrace of death. Her skin was as white as a sheet and cold to the touch. The party considered retreating from the Citadel for the time being so to bring Lucille back. They recalled the scrolls of raise dead they had found, but they collectively decided it would be best to attempt such a spell in a more secure location outside the Citadel. However, leaving the Citadel would be more complicated than simply walking outside. The party had entered the Shadowfell through a shadow crossing, and it was often much harder to leave the Shadowfell than to enter it.
Had Lucille been alive, she would have been able to return them instantly to a shrine to the Raven Queen she maintained, but she had perished. Weiss offered to use a spell of wish in order to transport the party through the planes themselves. However, as Weiss began to tug on the weave of magic to do so, she came to a sudden realization that it would be better to attempt such a spell outside the Citadel, as magic was warped and altered within its halls.
Weiss cast a preservation spell upon Lucille’s body before the party elected to head outside the Citadel and across the bridge with Lucille’s body. Before doing so, they examined the wardstone in the area. They determined it had a powerful evocation and necromancy effect, specifically producing a spell-like effect that resembled the hallow spell, and designed to weaken others against necrotic energy. The surviving party considered restoring the wardstone, as it may well be the last on the first level of Bright Crown Citadel. However, they elected to leave it be lest something catastrophic or even more dangerous happen, as there was no way to tell just what the outcome would be.
The party made their way outside Bright Crown Citadel the same way they had come in, taking Lucille’s body as they traveled all the way across the bridge. They took one last look at Bright Crown Citadel before Weiss cast a spell of plane shift via wishing for it. The party vanished, before reappearing just outside their destination: the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, back on Toril.
A group of monks and acolytes were outside, and they took notice of the injured party and the body of Lucille with them. They recognized the party, who had just left the monastery the day before. The party explained that their friend had fallen, and they requested shelter and a place by which they could attempt to bring their friend back. The acolytes readily agreed, saying that though the Grandmaster of Flowers was still busy meditating, the party was welcome to rest within and avail themselves of a ritual chamber to resurrect Lucille. The party mentioned that Lucille had been slain by a nightwalker, to see if any of the acolytes knew of the creature. Most of the acolytes had not heard of such a creature, though one monk seemed shocked at the news. As the party learned from the monk, they were known to be fearsome creatures of the Shadowfell, imbued with the energies of death itself, though the monk did not know more beyond that.
The party entered the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, immediately making their way to one of the ritual chambers. They set Lucille’s body atop a stone slab on a raised dais, as Loric took out the scroll and began to cast a spell of raise dead. The hour passed in tense silence, as Weiss paced and Yuuto watched Loric’s casting. At the end, Loric said the final word, as the scroll burned to a cinder in his hands, the energy of the spell flowing into Lucille’s body.
However, as the party looked on, Lucille’s body remained still and unresponsive. She remained dead. The party was at a loss as to what to make of the situation. Lucille’s body was intact and by all reasons they could consider, the spell should have worked. Loric felt he had successfully cast the spell, and from what Weiss could tell, he had correctly cast it. All the same, it did not return Lucille to them.
The party began to consider their options, wondering just what would be needed to return Lucille to life. Weiss contacted Velu Velu, seeing if the bard had heard anything in ancient lore and in the adventures she’d gone on. Velu Velu and Weiss communicated back and forth via spells of sending, and the party gained a some understanding as to the nature of what they were dealing with. As they learned from Velu Velu, the Negative Plane was where necrotic energy originated. The barriers between the Shadowfell and the Negative Plane were particularly thin: it was possible for one to step from the Shadowfell into the Negative Plane, and possibly vice versa. In addition, Velu Velu relayed that nightwalkers were entities whose very nature is that of death that hail from the Negative Plane and enter the Shadowfell where they can be often found. Finally, given the nature of nightwalkers and the plane they originated from, it was possible that when the nightwalker slew Lucille, it had damaged her very soul in some way.
The party digested the information they had received, but the question as to how to revive Lucille remained mysterious. They elected to rest the night off to tackle the problem anew the next day. The next day, Weiss coordinated efforts with multiple spells of sending off to contacts the party was familiar with.
However, as the party looked on, Lucille’s body remained still and unresponsive. She remained dead. The party was at a loss as to what to make of the situation. Lucille’s body was intact and by all reasons they could consider, the spell should have worked. Loric felt he had successfully cast the spell, and from what Weiss could tell, he had correctly cast it. All the same, it did not return Lucille to them.
The party began to consider their options, wondering just what would be needed to return Lucille to life. Weiss contacted Velu Velu, seeing if the bard had heard anything in ancient lore and in the adventures she’d gone on. Velu Velu and Weiss communicated back and forth via spells of sending, and the party gained a some understanding as to the nature of what they were dealing with. As they learned from Velu Velu, the Negative Plane was where necrotic energy originated. The barriers between the Shadowfell and the Negative Plane were particularly thin: it was possible for one to step from the Shadowfell into the Negative Plane, and possibly vice versa. In addition, Velu Velu relayed that nightwalkers were entities whose very nature is that of death that hail from the Negative Plane and enter the Shadowfell where they can be often found. Finally, given the nature of nightwalkers and the plane they originated from, it was possible that when the nightwalker slew Lucille, it had damaged her very soul in some way.
The party digested the information they had received, but the question as to how to revive Lucille remained mysterious. They elected to rest the night off to tackle the problem anew the next day. The next day, Weiss coordinated efforts with multiple spells of sending off to contacts the party was familiar with.
Weiss decided to contact the atropal she had seen before in the Astral Plane, feasting upon the corpse of the dead god Haemnathuun. She cast a spell of contact other plane, extending her consciousness through the planes to beseech the atropal. As she learned from the atropal, it was familiar with nightwalkers, and how to return one who had died to them. The atropal gave Weiss permission to contact it via sending, and Weiss began an extended conversation with it.
Weiss explained the situation and her desire to learn how to bring back one who had died to an atropal. The atropal said it knew the knowledge Weiss sought, but it had no plans to provide such valuable information for free. Weiss inquired what the atropal desired, and the atropal replied that it had grown tired of Haemnathuun’s corpse. The dead god’s well of divine energy was feeble, and the atropal something more hearty and hale for it to engorge itself upon and to take as a vessel for its own. The atropal wished for Weiss to reveal the location of a freshly dying or weakened divine being or god that it could feast upon and to take as a new vessel. Weiss considered what remained of the titan Bohu in Hellgate Dell in her mind before she hesitantly relayed the atropal’s demand to the party. Yuuto immediately replied not to take such an offer, and Weiss did not send a further reply, as the party was at a loss as to what to do.
The situation seemed grim, with no indication as to how Lucille could be revived. While a few in the party and in the guild had faced nightwalkers, none before ever had perished and needed to be returned beyond the grave. Just what truly was the answer to the mystery remained unclear. The party had a few more gambits to try and contacts to reach out to, but whether or not they would prove fruitful remained to be seen…
Session 10
- After Lucille was slain by the nightwalker in Bright Crown Citadel, part of her soul was recovered and materialized in the Fortress of Memories, the demesne of the Raven Queen, with the rest of her being hurled into the Negative Plane. She met with Markella, the Arbiter of Memory of the Raven Queen, and was given three tasks to fulfill on behalf of the Raven Queen.
- Lucille summoned Velu Velu and Theodore from the Material Plane into the Fortress of Memories using her memories of them to reconstitute them in the Shadowfell. The pair joined Lucille to accomplish her first task, which they successfully completed. They went into an area of the Shadowfell known as the Rotted Heart wherein a skull lord named Ghorilath ruled. Ghorilath was a former general of Vecna and he had acquired the Conspirator’s Visage, a mithril mask belonging to a former shadar-kai servant of the Raven Queen who later betrayed her. The shadar-kai was imprisoned in her own mask as a punishment, and Ghorilath had sought to use the memories within the mask to find a means to breach the Fortress of Memories so that Vecna could take it over. The party ambushed and defeated Ghorilath and retrieved the Conspirator’s Visage before returning to the Fortress of Memories.
Lucille lay amid a pile of animated undead, feeling breath harder to come by. The sheer presence of the nightwalker seemed to drain away at her life essence, her body growing cold and all other sensation beginning to lift her body. Her last breath finally left her, her world narrowing into the black oblivion of death. But Lucille did not simply feel as though her spirit had passed beyond - instead, she felt an incredible sense of pain unlike anything she had ever felt before. It was not a pain of the body but something worse, as if her very essence were being torn asunder, worse than any heartbreak or sorrow she had ever experienced. It left her with a sense of loss and disorientation, drifting in the void as something now even less whole than before.
In time however, she felt sensation returning to her once more. Lucille’s vision and hearing returned her. She found herself adrift amid clouds of pure sensations of sound, sight, feeling, emotion, and more. She was cast into a sea of memories and experiences made manifest, seeing some as mere spectator and viewing others as if she had been the one in the experience all along. Some of the things she experienced were familiar to her, but many, many more were entirely new and of perspectives not her own. Besides the ephemeral landscape, she felt as if she were standing in a great hall, with the foundations made of the same tumult of experiences and memories she was overcome by.
The hall was vast, as concepts of physical distance did not seem to truly apply to a place such as where she was now. Lucille saw a great veil of diaphanous black feathers before her. The veil seemed at once a great distance away, indicating the size and extent of the hall, and yet not far away at all either. Beyond the veil and concealed behind was a shadowed shape of something that lay beyond it. On the one hand, the shadow’s size and extent seemed to indicate that it was not much larger than Lucille herself. But at the same time, the shadow seemed to loom with an enormous extent, larger than almost anything else she’d seen, filling the hall with its presence and weight. Before the black veil was a female shadar-kai unfamiliar to Lucille. The shadar-kai did not wear a mask though she lacked the withered look of most other shadar-kai.
The shadar-kai introduced herself as Markella, the Arbiter of Memory. Markella said that she had heard much of Lucille from Shantelle, a shadar-kai agent of the Raven Queen that Lucille had worked with before. Lucille’s great deeds on Toril had been watched with interest and approval by the Raven Queen and her agents. Markella intimated that she wished she and Lucille could have met under more pleasant circumstances, but fate had dictated otherwise. As Markella explained, as the Arbiter of Memory, it was her task to interpret the signs the Raven Queen provided and to act as her voice. Lucille had found herself within the Fortress of Memories, the stronghold of the Raven Queen, and a place where memories throughout the multiverse came to pass through and be collected.
The presence behind the veil shifted, its full attention on Lucille, and Markella commanded Lucille to kneel before her Queen. Lucille felt the weight of the entity’s gaze upon her, and she knelt before the deity. The Fortress of Memories, as its name suggested, was rife with memories from across the multiverse, and more than sheer physicality was at play within its halls. For every sound or sensation or emotion, the Fortress would whir and shift in an almost dizzying fashion, with corresponding memories coming into the fore as appropriate.
As Lucille knelt, Markella explained that Lucille had been slain by a nightwalker, a dread creature of the Shadowfell that hailed from the Negative Plane. However, as Lucille had directly invoked the power of the Raven Queen only minutes before, the Raven Queen’s gaze had been drawn to her location. When Lucille had died, the Raven Queen had been able to preserve a fragment of Lucille’s being, but the rest of her was split from her and hurled into the Negative Plane. She had truly lost the part of herself she had left behind, that of her old life, and as Lucille could now see, she lacked a shadow entirely, and her body was shadowed and pale, as if almost ephemeral. In her fractured and damaged state, only the most powerful of magics stood a chance of returning to life, and even then, she would likely never be truly whole again.
However, as Markella continued to explain, the Raven Queen had preserved Lucille not simply for Lucille’s sake, but that the deity required Lucille’s service. Lucille was among the mightiest of the Raven Queen’s agents in the multiverse, and she was uniquely suited to fulfill three tasks for which the Raven Queen had summoned her. Lucille was indeed dead, but in some ways, that would be an advantage, not a hindrance. Lucille decided to accept the duty laid before her, and she felt as if the literal weight of duty now rested upon her.
Markella explained however that Lucille need not and was not expected to accomplish these three tasks entirely unaided. In Lucille’s time with the Raven Queen, she had formed bonds and memories with trusted friends and allies, and if Lucille wished to draw upon their aid now, she merely need bring them to mind. Within the Fortress of Memories, the Raven Queen could draw on that thread of memory and reconstruct them anew within its halls, formed from the very memories Lucille brought to bear and to pull on their psyches within the Material Plane.
Lucille then proceeded to think of her friends and allies of times past. She thought of the druid and noble Theodore from the Hawthorne Guild. She recalled the time she had spent together with him: the bashful smile he’d had when they’d been in Waterdeep, the time they’d visited the Outlaws Hangout together, or the laughter she’d given when he’d accidentally slammed into the Ruby Wager back in town. Lucille felt a warm sensation, as the memories within the Fortress of Memories responded to Lucille’s own memory and emotions, the world around her taking the form of the memories she recalled. Lucille then thought of another one she considered a friend, the sly and secretive bard Velu Velu. She remembered the time she had to help Velu Velu catch her own errant and escaping hair and the sense of humor and laughter she felt after; she remembered venturing into the temple of Tezcatlipoca with Velu Velu together along with other adventures of the Hawthorne Guild, and she remembered facing down Black Tezcatlipoca with Velu Velu at her side. Once more, the Fortress of Memories responded to Lucille’s recollection.
As Lucille thought of her friends, she watched to her astonishment as a pair of figures materialized by her side. They looked like Theodore and Velu Velu, but their forms were also shadowed, and as Lucille gazed upon them, she saw within them all the shared memories and experiences she had with them. Theodore and Velu Velu were caught by surprise: from their perspective, they had just recently been having a pleasant dream about their time with Lucille, and now they found themselves right before her, in a strange and fantastical place.
Markella introduced herself to Theodore and Velu Velu, and Lucille in turn rose and began to explain the situation to Theodore and Velu Velu. The pair had had their psyches pulled from the Material Plane and had reformed in the Shadowfell, their new bodies made of the very memories Lucille had of each of them and that had been collected in the Fortress of Memories. Theodore and Velu Velu spent some time catching up with Lucille, as well as coming to terms with the fact that she was dead and in addition, that they had been summoned into the domain and presence of a deity. After hearing from Lucille and Markella, the pair agreed to assist Lucille in her tasks. As they agreed, both also felt the weight of duty come upon them, from what they had given their word to do within such a place.
With the party now joined, Markella then began to explain to all three just what the First Task consisted of. Some distance away from the Fortress of Memories lay an area known as the Rotted Heart, a fetid place of evil and foulness. It would be within there that the party would find a sect of cultists devoted to the Whispered One, Vecna, god of secrets. The cult was led by one of the deity’s former generals, an undead being known as Ghorilath. In recent times, Ghorilath had acquired the Conspirator’s Visage. The Conspirator’s Visage was all that remained of a former shadar-kai servant of the Raven Queen that had betrayed her ages ago. As punishment for her treachery, the Raven Queen had imprisoned the traitorous shadar-kai within her own mithril mask for eternity. Ghorilath sought to utilize the secrets and memories with the Conspirator’s Visage to find a means by which to breach the Fortress of Memories and in so doing to allow Vecna to perhaps fulfill a long-held ambition of his: to overtake the Fortress of Memories for himself and usurp the Raven Queen.
The party was to make their way to the Rotted Heart to eliminate Ghorilath and to retrieve the Conspirator’s Visage to bring back to the Fortress of Memories. Lucille, Theodore, and Velu Velu prepared to set off, but there was one complication: they had no possessions or items by which to aid them! Those remained within their bodies back on the Material Plane, and while each was a mighty adventurer in their own right, it would be difficult to venture forth into such a task entirely unarmed. As the party contemplated their predicament, Lucille quickly formed a theory that she spoke aloud. If the Fortress of Memories was indeed a place of memory so potent as to even recreate the bodies of her own friends from memory, perhaps the same could be done for magical items? Markella smiled at Lucille’s pronouncement, noting that Lucille had deduced the matter correctly, and that the Raven Queen did not intend for the party to venture forth helpless and unarmed.
Within the Fortress of Memories lay memories of items from across the multiverse, and that the party need only bring them to mind or ask if memories of any particular one were present for them to be created anew within the Fortress. The party then spent some time outfitting themselves, opting for magical equipment they were familiar with as well as treasures and items they had simply either heard of or dreamed they could have possessed for themselves. Within the Fortress of Memories and with the power of the Raven Queen, such things were possible, and after some time, the party was at last ready to set out. In blessing of the task before them, the Raven Queen imbued Lucille, Theodore, and Velu Velu with a boon designed to improve their resilience and inure them against the forces of death they would face.
With that, the party departed through the black gates of the Fortress of Memories into the Shadowfell beyond. The tumult and ephemera of memories faded, as they gazed back upon the great black tower that was the fortress, one that seemed to ascend towards the sky without limit, and whose true extent was difficult to grasp if at all. An endless unkindness of ravens swarmed throughout the sky, and the party could see that a settlement lay not far from the Fortress of Memories. However, their task directed them elsewhere. Each member of the party now had an instinctive understanding of where the Rotted Heart lay, and within the plane of the Shadowfell, concepts of physical distance were often more malleable than they were on the Material Plane.
The party considered how they would transport themselves towards the Rotted Heart, with Theodore offering to transform himself into a quetzalcoatlus for Lucille and Velu Velu to ride upon. From what the party knew of the Shadowfell, there was no inherent danger in flight beyond possibly being detected by airborne hostiles or those below. Theodore transformed, also casting a spell to conceal the party’s presence and approach, before he made himself invisible via one of the items he had obtained from the Fortress of Memories. The party then set off, swiftly making their way towards the Rotted Heart, a group of ravens trailing after them.
As the party closed in on the location, they could see a teeming mass of undead below. They encircled a macabre, hemispherical structure in the shape of a dome of ill-fitted stone brick amid muck, rotted vegetation, and other grotesqueries. It was the Rotted Heart, as they had been looking for. Thanks to Theodore’s enchantments, the party remained unnoticed, and they risked approaching a bit closer to get a better view of the area. From what the party could see, the hordes of undead were some distance away from the Rotted Heart itself, and a single tunnel was all the party could make out as an entrance into the structure. Standing at the mouth of the tunnel were a group of strange and more alert looking guards.
Three of them seemed to be robed and cowled individuals wielding staves, their forms skeletal or otherwise having at best bits of desiccated flesh loosely clinging to bone. Beside the three was what seemed like a shadowy creature, its form flickering with sights and memories, reminding the party of what they’d seen in the Fortress of Memories. However, the party could only make out torment and agony, the creature’s form overcome in a rictus of pain. Velu Velu recognized the creature to be that of an allip, a being whose body had been annihilated and transformed into as they were now after having come to learn a powerful and forbidden secret of the multiverse. Even for a seeker of lore like Velu Velu, she knew that there was some knowledge best left untouched lest one find themselves confronted with the same fate as the being the party saw below.
It would be difficult to enter the tunnel unnoticed, given the four guarding it directly. After spending some time in conversation and discussion, the party decided that Theodore could assume a different form to scout the area out. He dropped Lucille and Velu Velu at the top of the dome that made up the Rotted Heart, safely out of view atop the very roof of the structure that they meant to infiltrate. Theodore then swiftly turned himself into an invisible bat as he whirled away to investigate the tunnel for a means to enter undetected. Theodore was easily able to fly above the guards at the tunnel’s mouth unnoticed as he continued down the path.
The tunnel widened out into a chamber, with walls of uneven but finished stone. The chamber itself seemed devoid of any decor or furnishings. The walls continually dripped with some kind of strange, cloying muck in thick rivulets that pooled along the ground, and the air was thick with the coppery tang of blood and the sickly-sweet stench of rot. A single door lay to the south, barring further entry. Theodore elected to rejoin the party at this point, finding Lucille and Velu Velu once more atop the dome.
Theodore described what he had seen to the others, and after discussion, the party came up with a plan to infiltrate the area. Theodore cast a spell of Rary’s telepathic bond to telepathically link the party before he invisibly made his way back to where he had been. He gave Velu Velu and Lucille a telepathic signal, and Velu Velu used a spell of dimension door to take herself and Lucille to Theodore’s position in the empty chamber below. The two immediately found themselves ankle-deep in the strange muck, the ground audibly squelching with each step.
With Lucille and Velu Velu unable to easily move without generating a lot of sound, the group telepathically agreed for Theodore to scout ahead. Theodore transformed himself into an air elemental, still remaining invisible, before he flowed under the door and out the other side. Theodore stealthily began to explore the rest of the complex, relaying what he witnessed back to the party as he did so. In the area beyond the closed door, he found a chamber wherein a variety of bookshelves were present, containing hundreds of tomes. There was no respite from the muck in the area, with books on the lowermost shelves heavily stained. Arranged around the room were five moldering wooden chairs, seated in each of which were more of the cowled skeletal figures. A narrow passageway to the southeast lay as the exit out of the chamber into the next, guarded by a floating allip. Theodore used his air elemental form to its fullest extent, narrowly flattening himself against the roof as he continued to slowly move about quietly and unseen.
The next chamber was more elaborate than the ones seen before. Raggedy bookshelves were set against the wall, with a large, squat slab of black stone resting along the western wall. A smaller and flatter slab of gray stone lay near the southern wall. A quartet of wights were present in the chamber, with one of them kneeling before the slab of black stone. As Theodore could seen, an engraving of a hand with splayed fingers was present on the surface of the black stone, with an emerald the size of a fist in a shallow depression in its center.
Theodore then headed further north, proceeding carefully to remain undetected, where he found a partially caved in chamber. The area had the remnants of various bookshelves strewn about, now rotting in the muck. A pair of allips lay within, but beyond that, the area appeared to be a dead end. Theodore continued to carefully examine and explore each area, communicating everything he saw back to the party telepathically. As the party contemplated the layout of the Rotted Heart, it quickly became clear why it was so named: the four chambers roughly correspond to the shape of the atria and ventricles of a humanoid heart.
However, in spite of Theodore’s careful investigation, there was no sign of Ghorilath or the Conspirator’s Visage, with no obvious further path forward. However, Theodore had seen the two strange slabs in the right ventricle room. The slab of black stone seemed to serve as an altar, with one of the wights kneeling and paying respects before it, as it was engraved with the symbol of Vecna, the Whispered One. The party wondered if there was something they had to do to open a path forward, perhaps laying a hand along the symbol or manipulating the emerald in some way. As the party debated their options, they also considered the stone slab to the south, if perhaps it concealed a pathway below it.
Theodore rejoined the party in the original chamber, as the party did not wish to simply barge in and have to deal with the horde of undead creatures that lay beyond. Instead, they figured out a new plan, with Theodore transforming into an earth elemental. As it turned out, the “floor” of the Rotted Heart was not truly worked stone, and Theodore in earth elemental form was easily able to merge into the earth unnoticed! Theodore used his newfound sense of vibration to explore underneath the Rotted Heart, as he began to approach the area beneath the gray stone slab. He found what appeared to be an area of solid stone, forming a rectangular shape: a stone shaft lay beneath the slab!
It seemed Theodore had indeed found a hidden path that lay beneath the surface of the Rotted Heart. After informing the party of what he had detected, Theodore descended further down before he struck at the wall of the shaft to break open a hole. He was able to strike accurately enough to create an opening, but controlled his movements carefully enough to avoid alerting those above. With a now narrow opening created, Theodore swiftly transformed into an air elemental and slipped through the gap. An instant later, as he communicated his newfound position to Velu Velu and Lucille, the pair joined him with yet another dimension door.
The party was now at the beginnings of a dark hallway winding over towards the north. The muck remained ever present, with the scent of rot and blood still thick in the air. To the far east was another chamber filled with all manner of bookshelves and tomes. A teeming horde of zombies could be seen within. The party stilled, but due to Theodore’s veil, they had not yet been noticed. A trio of voices could be heard whispering ahead around the corner. Lucille and Theodore were unfamiliar with the language, but Velu Velu was able to translate. Three distinct voices expressed frustration regarding the Conspirator’s Visage, saying they had tried to crack its secrets, but it had unmade those that had donned it before. The party realized they may well have indeed have stumbled upon their objective.
Each member of the party steeled themselves, readying themselves for battle. They charged forward an instant later, with Velu Velu striding into the chamber’s entrance. She saw, beyond the zombies present, were a pair of cowled skeletal figures from before. However, at the head of the chamber was an armored figure wielding a staff made of bone in one hand, and grasping a strange mask of mithril in the other, the mask flecked with pale-blue and dark-red crystal, wafting shadows all the while. The armored figure turned to face Velu Velu as she burst forward, as she saw to her astonishment that it bore a trio of skulls, as the three voices had in truth been the three heads of the creature, the skull lord Ghorilath!
Velu Velu’s eyes hardened, and she took advantage of the ambush by calling down pillars of flame to descend upon the undead present in the room. The tomes and papers burst alight, as she heavily damaged those within. However, Ghorilath was instinctively able to move out of the way of the worst of it, his armor only scarcely singed by Velu Velu’s flame. Velu Velu shouted a word of encouragement to Theodore, who came charging around the corner with Lucille. Lucille presented her holy symbol to the Raven Queen and invoked her power. The horde of zombies quailed at the display, shrinking back into the corners of the room, while Ghorilath and the cowled figures remained unaffected. Theodore followed up Lucille’s opening by attempting to conjure a beam of pure sunlight—however, the dark energies of the Shadowfell interfered with his working, and the magic frayed apart before even a spark of light was emitted.
With the party’s initial salvo now spent, Ghorilath began to command his undead minions to counterattack. Velu Velu shot out forked lightning into the room to bounce between those present, but again, Ghorilath nimbly avoided Velu Velu’s spell. The skull lord retaliated by conjuring an obscuring cloud of noxious and poisonous gas, intent on finishing them off. However, while such a tactic might have worked on the typical band of adventurers, the spell failed to have any true effect on the party. Velu Velu was naturally immune to such toxins, and with Theodore’s elemental form, poison held no sway over him. Lucille ordinarily would have found the toxins dangerous, but as she was already dead, it held no sway over her either.
Ghorilath raised a hand, and zombies rose from the muck to stagger towards the party amid the cloudkill. At this point, one of the skeletal spellcasters finally joined the battle, with one raising a finger to send a surge of necrotic energy at Lucille. Lucille however now a measure of protection from the energies of death, as she was already dead, and the spell barely made her flinch. She responded by summoning a celestial knight of the Raven Queen to stride into the melee, using a mace of radiant energy to smash undead creatures nearby. Theodore let loose a burst of confusing psychic energy to envelop Ghorilath and the spellcasters; the skull lord continued to evade the party’s offensive magic, though the two skeletal spellcasters were now disoriented.
Ghorilath realized that the party was significantly more able than he thought, as his spell of cloudkill had proved entirely ineffectual. He sighted upon Lucille, a cleric of his own god’s hated enemy, and he shot out a ray of green force to reduce her to dust. However, whether by luck or due to fate, Lucille ducked the green ray at the last second, as a portion of the wall simply ceased to exist behind her. The zombies Ghorilath had summoned tried to attack those among the party within reach, but their attacks proved too feeble for the able and experienced adventurers. Ghorilath in turn tried to muster the turned horde of zombies, shocking his own minions to fall in line and attack the party. However, Lucille responded by invoking the Raven Queen’s power once more, reducing several of the zombies around her to ash, and causing the other zombies to retreat back once more.
By this point, the battle had devolved into a confusing and back and forth melee, with Lucille wading amid hordes of zombies that tried to drag her underfoot. Her celestial knight meanwhile was at the forefront of the battle, trying to take down Ghorilath and the skeletal spellcasters single handed. Velu Velu remained at the battle’s outskirts, trading spellfire with Ghorilath, while Theodore alternated between casting potent spells to divide the battlefield at one point with a wall of fire and also smashing at anything within reach in his myriad elemental forms of air, earth, and fire.
As time passed however, the battle was steadily shifting in the party’s favor. Lucille’s celestial knight had just finished destroying one of the skeletal spellcasters, while Velu Velu caused the other’s skull to burst apart with a psychically enhanced jape. Ghorilath attempted another powerful spell of disintegrate, this one aimed at Velu Velu, but the bard nimbly dodged it with ease. Seeing that his position was overrun, the former general of Vecna began a tactical withdrawal, leaving his horde of undead to cover his escape. However, he had scarcely made it to the mouth of the tunnel when Theodore rose from the earth in front of him, in his earth elemental form. He hit him with a bone-shattering uppercut on the way up with a stony fist, literally shattering Ghorilath’s three skulls as the skull lord was destroyed. It did not take long afterwards for the party to finish off the surviving undead within the area, as the battle at last came to an end.
In its aftermath, Ghorilath’s chamber was a burning mess, the bookshelves, tomes, and reams of paper now largely charred and destroyed from the flames and spellfire that had been traded during the battle. However, the Conspirator’s Visage remained intact. With the party’s objective complete, Velu Velu used another spell of dimension door to get herself and Lucille out of the Rotted Heart entirely, with Theodore swiftly following after them stealthily much in the same way he had arrived before. The party reconvened atop the dome of the Rotted Heart, Theodore transforming once again into a quetzalcoatlus, and with that, the party set off for the Fortress of Memories once more.
The party was able to return to the Fortress of Memories without incident, having infiltrated the chambers of a former general of Vecna and pulling off a successful assassination and smash-and-grab. They were able to enter through the black gates into the ephemeral landscape of the Fortress of Memories once more. Markella and the Raven Queen were still waiting within, the deity still behind the diaphanous curtain of black feathers. Markella proclaimed that the ravens had witnessed the party enter and exit the Rotted Heart successfully. Lucille presented the Conspirator’s Visage, which drifted from her hands before dissipating into smoke and shadow as it approached the veil.
Markella congratulated Lucille and the party on successfully completing the first task, and Lucille could feel a sense of approval emanating from the Raven Queen as her gaze rested upon her. As the party began to take respite within the halls of the Fortress of Memories, Markella informed them that the second task awaited. This task however would be far more dangerous and difficult than the task they had accomplished earlier, with the consequences for failure dire…
Session 11
- Lucille faced and came to reconcile with the shadow of her greatest regret and regained her lost self. She earns a point of Persona, and with the point of Fate and point of Persona she expended, her current total Artha count is 3 points of Fate and 1 point of Persona.
- Theodore faced the shadow of his greatest regret and gained a new goal and hope. He earns a point of Persona, and with the point of Fate and point of Persona he expended, his current total Artha count is 1 point o Fate and 1 point of Persona.
- Velu Velu faced the shadow of her greatest regret and reaffirmed her decision to continue down a different path than she had walked before. She gains a point of Persona, bringing her current total Artha count to 6 points of Fate and 4 points of Persona.
- Theodore and Velu Velu assisted Lucille with her second task on behalf of the Raven Queen, which they successfully completed. They went to the Fortress of Regrets, a mirror of the Fortress of Memories located in the Negative Plane that acted to house the regrets and buried misdeeds throughout the multiverse. Each member of the party was confronted with the shadow of their greatest regret. Velu Velu faced herself as she would have been if the ritual to turn her into a yuan-ti abomination had succeeded. Theodore faced his father in his crazed and bestial form. Lucille faced her own shadow, the part of herself she had forgotten from when she had served as her father’s phantom and shadow before her execution. After facing the shadows of their greatest regret, the party retrieved a bronze sphere from the Fortress of Regrets, containing the ancient memories of a nameless being who had betrayed the Raven Queen and committed an unforgivable misdeed eons ago to bring back to the Fortress of Memories.
- Lucille learned of her third task: to defeat a servant of Vecna that had taken over Bright Crown Citadel. She was told that the being who had claimed Bright Crown Citadel was an Eater of Secrets, an entity similar to a lich but even more powerful and personally blessed with power by Vecna himself. However, Lucille would need to be alive for the final task, and Lucille and her companions departed from the Fortress of Memories as Weiss was completing her resurrection spell on Lucille back on the Material Plane.
Story Consequences:
The party has gained the following story consequence.
The Raven’s Respect: Fortress of Regrets. Your actions in defeating Ghorilath and in retrieving the memories of the Nameless One from the Fortress of Regrets were noticed by servants of the Raven Queen as well as by the Raven Queen herself. Tale of your actions and deeds have spread among the servants of the Raven Queen, and you may find aid and assistance from servants of the Raven Queen and those associated with them in the future.
Velu Velu acquires the following story consequence.
Secret Lore: The Nameless One. From tales you’ve heard from drift in from the corners of the multiverse, you came to hear hushed rumors of a nameless being said to have once sought out the greatest of the Gray Sisters to separate his own mortality from himself. It is said that he had passed through and for a time resided within Sigil, the City of Doors, and the weight and extent of his actions carried consequences that echo throughout the planes even to this present day. The ultimate fate of this nameless being is unknown.
Lucille has gained the following ideal.
Ideal
- Memories, even with cloudiness and fractures, are worth something to someone. After facing my fears and regrets, I have learned to accept these imperfections in order to make more memories
Theodore has gained the following bond and flaw.
Bond
- I will do everything to bring my father back and pacify him from his maddened state.
Flaw
- I am afraid of developing deep personal attachments for fear I will end up like my father.
Velu Velu’s traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws have changed as follows:
Traits
- Every person has a story, and great tales can come from anyone, from any place or station. We write each chapter under our own power, and only we can decide if that is the power to do evil, or the power to do good.
- Failure is the greatest teacher. It is never final, and by learning from it I can achieve great things.
Ideal
- It is good to be open minded. I am happy to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one.
Bonds
- I have done some terrible things in the past, and I hope to someday redeem myself.
- I hope to teach other yuan-ti about what I have learned, and to show that our race can change.
Flaws
- I have shown sympathy for others, which is unusual for a yuan-ti.
- I worship a god that would have me killed if other yuan-ti found out.
As the party rested within the Fortress of Memories in the wake of the first task, Markella began to inform the party of the second task that lay ahead of them. The second task would be far more dangerous than the first, and it was one that Lucille was uniquely equipped to handle. Markella began with a lesson of history, to provide context for the next task.
As Markella had explained, eons ago, there had been a being whose name had long since been lost, with the being himself no longer recalling it. This nameless being was once a mortal creature, but there had been a time where his path had crossed with that of the Raven Queen and the Fortress of Memories. Of what transpired exactly is unknown, only that the being proved traitor in the end, betraying the Raven Queen. On that day, he committed so black a deed that none speak of it to this day, and all memory of it had been either erased or sealed away. This nameless being went on to seek a means to become immortal, and he succeeded in a most foul and profane fashion, having his very mortality separated from him. In the aftermath of this nameless one’s crimes, a counterpart of the Fortress of Memories was created in the Negative Plane, a place that came to be known as the Fortress of Regrets.
The Fortress of Regrets had come to house the regrets and lost and forgotten misdeeds of those throughout the multiverse, not just that of the nameless one. It was now an eternal monument to the regrets laden within the multiverse. In recent times, this nameless one returned to the Fortress of Regrets to recover what of his own being and name he had left behind, before he passed on to a fate of which none speak. Before the nameless one met his ultimate fate and left the Fortress of Regrets however, he left behind the final memories of his ancient existence within the Fortress in a simple bronze sphere.
As Markella spoke, Velu Velu was reminded of obscure rumors she had picked up, originating from far-flung corners of the multiverse. She had heard scant tales and rumors of this nameless one. She recalled she had heard that the nameless one once sought out the greatest of the Gray Sisters to separate his own mortality from himself. It is said that he had passed through and for a time resided within Sigil, the City of Doors, and the weight and extent of his actions carried consequences that echo throughout the planes even to this present day. The ultimate fate of this nameless being however was unknown.
Lucille meanwhile surmised that her second task would be to retrieve the bronze sphere containing the memories of the nameless one. Markella nodded, saying that was indeed Lucille’s task. The memories of such an ancient being were doubtlessly rich, varied, and vast, and the Raven Queen desired to have such memories in her possession. The party would have to enter the Negative Plane to reach the Fortress of Regrets in order to retrieve the bronze sphere. The barrier between the Shadowfell and the Negative Plane was thin, and one could slip from the Fortress of Memories to its shadowed mirror in the Negative Plane, that of the Fortress of Regrets.
Ordinarily, entering the Negative Plane would be tantamount to a death sentence, even in Theodore and Velu Velu’s altered states. And even if one could survive the deadly energies of the Negative Plane, a nightwalker would be released from the Negative Plane into the Shadowfell, taking the place of one who entered it. Until that nightwalker was lured back into the Negative Plane, there could be no escape from the Negative Plane. However, Lucille’s circumstances were anything but ordinary.
When the Raven Queen had tried to save Lucille’s being when the nightwalker had killed her, the god had only partially succeeded. She had preserved the part of Lucille that had existed since Lucille had joined with the Raven Queen. However, the rest of Lucille’s soul, the part that contained her essence and memories from before, had been hurled into the Negative Plane. And given the nature of that aspect of Lucille’s being, it was hurled likely into the Fortress of Regrets itself. As such, a part of Lucille’s being was already invested in the Negative Plane, and her nature and circumstance not too dissimilar from the nameless one in the end, who had also lost a portion of his very being and had locked away his deepest regrets. As such, Lucille could enter the Negative Plane without releasing a nightwalker in her wake and risk trapping her in the plane. In addition, as Lucille was already dead, she was naturally inured against the energies of death and the hostile environment of the Negative Plane. This made Lucille unique among the Raven Queen’s agents as possibly the only one who stood a chance to successfully enter the Fortress of Regrets to retrieve the bronze sphere.
As Theodore and Velu Velu are also tied to Lucille's being, being formed out of Lucille’s own memories, so long as Lucille was not destroyed, they could enter the Negative Plane with her without releasing a nightwalker either. The Raven Queen would provide each of the party with a token to grant them protection against the denizens of the Negative Plane, and to allow Theodore and Velu Velu to survive the Negative Plane for a time. However, they were warned that: if Lucille were to be destroyed in the Negative Plane, she would likely be unable to reform in the Fortress of Memories, and moreover, her companions would be stranded there, fated to an inevitable and perhaps nigh irreversible doom. With the cessation of the spirit, that of the body would follow not long after.
The party was also warned that the Fortress of Regrets was different for each who entered its halls. The Fortress of Regrets housed the accumulated regrets of the multiverse, and the party would likely be confronted with the shadows of their own regrets within. Such confrontations were unlikely to be pleasant and could prove difficult to resolve while remaining sound of body and spirit afterwards. Lucille in particular was warned that she would likely encounter her own shadow within the Fortress of Regrets: just what the outcome of such a confrontation would be would depend entirely on the choices Lucille would elect to make.
Lucille and the party contemplated the awesome task before them, unlike anything they had ever done before. Lucille in particular felt a sense of trepidation with the knowledge that if anything were to happen to her, Theodore and Velu Velu could be lost to the Negative Plane forever. However, the pair reassured Lucille, saying that they were there to stand by her side and see the matter through. With that settled, the party agreed to venture into the Negative Plane for the second task.
Now prepared to set off and having declared their intent to depart for the Negative Plane, each member of the party found a flat, black disk forming in the palm of their hands. The disk lacked substance altogether, with no thickness or third dimension whatsoever. As Markella explained, it was a negative token, designed to allow one to survive the Negative Plane for a time and to protect one partially against the denizens of the hostile plane.
Markella gave the party one final warning. Upon retrieving the bronze sphere, they were informed not to open it under any circumstances. The tumult of memory and sensation of such an ancient being would likely shatter their minds irreparably, regardless of whatever protective enchantments they had enspelled themselves with. Mortal minds were not meant for such things. With that last warning provided, the Raven Queen raised her hands behind the veil, as a portal of sheer black appeared.
Each member of the party took a deep breath, and all three walked through the portal together. They found themselves exiting the portal into a place entirely distinct from what they had seen before. They were on a walkway of dark stone that stretched west and east. Battlements, turrets, and other structures rose around them, suggesting they were in the midst of a great fortress, and beyond, the party could only see the black oblivion of the Negative Plane. No wind blew—in fact, there was no air at all! It was only due to the negative tokens that Theodore and Velu Velu did not immediately begin dying of suffocation, let alone whatever effects the plane may well have had on the living.
The black portal remained, but the party had a mission to accomplish. They began heading westward, and more and more of the fortress began to be revealed through the gloom. The party could see the walkway terminate in a great circular door, with serrations at regular intervals along its surface. As the party approached the door, the door began to rotate, the serrated surface formed flat blades that swiveled and folded up. The open door revealed the black nothingness beyond, and the party entered the Fortress of Regrets.
As the party passed within its halls, they felt disoriented, as if their sense of distance were being disrupted. The door may well have been more than just a door, but perhaps yet another portal once more. The party now found themselves entering a broad but enclosed chamber. At the center of the chamber lay an upraised basin, filled with some kind of clear liquid. Arranged around the basin were a trio of statues, though each member of the party saw a different statue in turn.
For Lucille, the left statue depicted her as the phantom she had been before, her father’s personal and prized assassin, a dagger in one hand and a smile that didn’t reach her eyes on her face. The central statue depicted Lucille at the moment just before she was executed, kneeling over with a look of desperation, despair, and defeat in her eyes. The statue on the right showed Lucille as she had been just after she had become a servant of the Raven Queen, a sash around her neck to conceal the evidence of her execution, a symbol of the Raven Queen upon her person, one of her arms reduced to naught but bone, and a solemn expression on her face.
Theodore saw an entirely different triad of statues. The left statue to Theodore’s eyes depicted him as he had been at the time of his Joining, in a feral, half-bestial and crazed state, caught alone in the wilderness to fend for himself as part of the harsh training he’d received from his father. The central statue depicted Theodore as he had been when he had decided to leave home to follow after his brother, an uncertain expression in his eyes, not knowing what the future held for him or if he was truly making the right choice. The third statue on the right showed Theodore now as the veteran adventurer he had become, a mask upon his person to conceal the wounds he’d received while adventuring, a look of pain but also determination in the shadows behind his eyes.
As for Velu Velu, the statues she saw portrayed a different journey. The statue on her left showed her as she recalled she had been before, a young yuan-ti pureblood, thirsting for power and privilege The middle statue portrayed Velu Velu as something between humanoid and some kind of snake-like monstrosity, caught in the throes of the ritual meant to transform her into an ascended state amongst her kind. The final statue to the right showed Velu Velu as a full blown abomination among the yuan-ti, with a snake-like visage and body, a cruel and arrogant smile on her face.
What also lay within the chamber were a variety of figures. Their forms were blurred and shadowy, but Velu Velu recognized an assortment of those among the yuan-ti who had witnessed her attempted ascension into an abomination—the ritual that had ultimately failed and left her as she was. The priestess who had attempted the ritual was among the number of the shadowy yuan-ti gathered, but at the head of the group was a figure that Velu Velu’s gaze could not be drawn away from. Leading the assorted yuan-ti was a large abomination, a female with a sinuous, serpentine body and countenance, matching the third statue Velu Velu had seen. A familiar cruel gaze lay behind its eyes, a likewise all too familiar smirk upon its face. Velu Velu had come face to face with herself, or rather, what she could have been.
The monstrous shadow of Velu Velu sneered, proclaiming that Velu Velu and her companions had traveled far to have come to this point. However, it mocked Velu Velu for her weakness, as she had forgotten much of the ways of her people in time, now taking up pathetic distractions like “friends” or valuing worthless things like “empathy.” She attempted to tempt Velu Velu by telling her what she saw now was what could have become the case, and while Velu Velu had spent some time away, it was time to come home and return to the fold.
Velu Velu was for a few moments caught at a complete loss for words, caught with a sense of trepidation as she stared at her former self. It was like gazing into a mirror, but finding your reflection to be uncanny and just as unfamiliar as it was familiar. Velu Velu took a moment to steel herself, her spell of mind blank allowing her just enough leeway to find her voice. Velu Velu replied to her shadow, saying that she had found a value in what her shadow deemed worthless and weak. She had come to experience much of the world, and the monstrous form her shadow occupied was nothing unique in that regard—Velu Velu was more than capable of using magic to replicate it herself.
Velu Velu’s monstrous shadow sneered at Velu Velu’s response. She said that Velu Velu’s actions had taken her well beyond the pale of her society, and while she might be gallivanting about, there would be those who would seek retribution or seek to rightly end Velu Velu. Concepts such as “empathy” or “friends” would not assist her in such matters, and Velu Velu would do well to heed the consequences coming for the choices she’d made. Velu Velu replied to her shadow’s words by declaring that she no longer followed the monstrous deity she had been dedicated to before. That had been a path that would have led to only ruin, as Velu Velu could see clearly now, and her newfound faith in Qotal may have its dangers, but it had also opened new horizons and new opportunities. She would seek to teach other yuan ti of the path she had found, and other paths in the world existed beyond what their society dictated.
Velu Velu’s shadow attempted its most potent gambit, declaring that Velu Velu had proven in the end to be nothing more than a failure, a disgrace to her race. Velu Velu had dedicated everything for the goal of ascending, and she had fallen well short of the mark, the very regret of which had materialized in the Fortress of Regrets no less. The power and prestige Velu Velu had sought could still be hers, if she was only willing to return and to claim it for her own.
Velu Velu felt a seed of hesitation take root in her mind at her shadow’s words. However, she considered her shadow’s monstrous form and contemplated the events and choices that had brought her to where she was now. Velu Velu spoke aloud, replying that it was true she had failed, but having gone through and lived through that path, perhaps failing was better. There had been a lesson and a value to her failure. As Velu Velu explained, it was due to the failure of the ritual that Velu Velu had been able to extend beyond the strictures of the society she had come from and was able to learn more, experience more, even learn how to feel emotions like empathy, sympathy, compassion, and more. She had come to learn and appreciate the stories of others, that everyone had a story within them to tell and to weave. If she had become an abomination and remained another part of that society, she would have never discovered all she had and would have simply been limited. She had come to learn that failure was a teacher all unto its own, and if failure had brought her to this point now, then she was all the more glad for it.
With those final words, her shadow’s expression became truly furious, but Velu Velu’s last rejection had solidified Velu Velu’s feelings and her grasp over her regrets. The shadows of the yuan-ti, including Velu Velu’s own shadow, faded from the room until only the party was left standing within. Velu Velu could now also see that the statues in the room from her perspective had changed. The leftmost statue depicted Velu Velu in a rictus of pain, in the midst of the pained ritual that had attempted to turn her into an abomination. The middle statue showed Velu Velu setting off by herself, a failed abomination and now leaving her kin to venture beyond. The rightmost statue showed Velu Velu displaying the holy symbol of Qotal, having learned and experienced much, with a new hope and newfound purpose for the future.
All the same, Velu Velu thought back on her shadow’s words. She wondered if she had taken the right approach about things, in rejecting her shadow as she had. A lingering question remained if she truly was walking the right path. However, she believed at the same time that there was a value to what she’d experienced and witnessed, things she never would have seen without her failure. In that regard, Velu Velu was determined to continue to learn more of the world beyond and to show others of her race that they were more than what their culture dictated of them.
At this point, the basin in the center of the room began to glow with a pale blue light. The light began to fill the chamber with its soft glow, pulsating and undulating like a heartbeat, but slow and sickly. There were no obvious exits from where the party had entered, and thus they approached the basin. It was still filled with that same unknown transparent fluid, seeming as nothing more than water. After a few moments of hesitation, Velu Velu elected to drink from it, while Lucille and Theodore immersed themselves in it.
As each member of the party came into contact with the fluid, they felt a slow chill pass through their bodies. Their muscles locked, bodies now frozen and after a moment of silence, each felt a sharp pain splinter through their body like fractures—they felt as thought their very being had been turned to ice and then shattered.
As sight and sensation returned to the party, they appeared within an open chamber, the walls jutted with spikes, while above they could see the black oblivion of the Negative Plane. A single stone slab lay in the center of the room, with a figure atop the slab, and another slumped against it. Theodore realized that the body atop the slab was that of his own mother, while the body slumped against it was the bloodied and tattered form of his own brother, Phineas. Both were pale and still in the coldness of death.
What was also present in the area was altogether intimidating sight. A great white wolf prowled around the slabs. Its form was also shadowy as before and Theodore looked into its yellowed eyes to see a maddened swirl of rage and grief. He knew at once whom the wolf was: it was Victor DuPois DeVigne, his father, and the one he had left behind when he had gone to Hawthorne.
The wolven form of his father growled menacingly, demanding to know just why Theodore had shown himself now. Theodore momentarily felt a thrill of fear course through him, but he summoned his courage as he strode forward, though he struggled to find his words. Victor continued to gaze hostilely at Theodore, saying that the boy had proven to be nothing but a failure to the legacy of the DuPois name in the end, running away from his responsibilities and leaving his own father behind as he was now. Theodore said g that he had not known what to do for Victor, and he had left out of concern for his brother. He had not meant to abandon his father, and that he still cared for him, and that he intended to live up to the legacy of the DuPois name.
This temporarily made Victor pause though he once more demanded to know why Theodore had not ever returned in the time he had left, just why he had delayed as long as he had. Theodore indicated that he had gone for the sake of his brother, and that while he cared for his father, there had remained a sense of trepidation about returning home. He admitted he was wrong to have never attempted to have made contact again.
Victor sneered at Theodore’s words, saying that he cared not and did not have any use for the boy’s love or sentimentality. He had sought only a legacy for himself, something that had proven a failure now with Theodore’s departure and his brother’s death. Theodore spoke of grief, but he did not comprehend even an inkling of it. Theodore protested, calling up the memories of his brother and the bond he had shared as evidence that he very well understood grief and loss. This reply only seemed to enrage Victor, who berated Theodore and remained unconvinced of his words.
Of what did Theodore’s temporal loss matter against the scale of centuries? The bond Victor and his wife had had measured on that scale, and against, Theodore’s loss of his brother scarcely qualified. Victor demanded if Theodore could even comprehend the idea of living alongside one for decades, centuries, indeed even a millennium and on, bonded together all the while. As Victor spoke, his eyes became more and more crazed, and in a maddened roar, he proclaimed that Theodore must have been the one to have slain Eleanor, his wife and Theodore’s mother. She had never been the same after giving birth to Theodore and had died when Theodore was young. Victor cruelly proclaimed Theodore as the murderer of his own mother, and the wolf reared up, ready to pounce.
Theodore quietly denied his father’s words, saying that he had not slain his mother, and that in the time he’d known her, he’d loved her, just as he’d loved his brother and had sought his father’s love. Victor glared at Theodore before his stance relaxed. The wolf bit out that perhaps Theodore had not done so; after all, Theodore had proven the sentimental sort.
Victor remained dissatisfied with Theodore’s distance from his own legacy. He had spent a long time away from home, away from the traditions upon which the DuPois name and heritage were founded. With the death of Phineas and with Theodore’s own self-imposed exile, no hope for the DuPois name remained. Theodore replied that he did intend to live up to his legacy and of the DuPois name, and that in time he would return. He had learned and gained much in his time away from home, as he had been able to experience more and more of the world beyond. He intended to use that knowledge for the sake of the DuPois name, to make its legacy brighter and even greater than before. He sorrowfully admitted that it was wrong for him to have not attempted to make contact with Victor again after so long a time, but it was an error that he sought to correct.
A tense moment of silence passed, before Victor’s eyes softened for the first time in the conversation. The shadow of Theodore’s regret admitted that Theodore had grown by leaps and bounds in power, and perhaps there was a value to be had in Theodore’s journey beyond home. Victor was unsure if things could be as they were before, but the shadow at last indicated a willingness to try to make something of it, and see perhaps if there was a new path forward. With those words, the shadowy wolf closed its eyes, and its form faded, along with the forms of the bodies on the slab. In the end, only the party was left standing in the room.
Theodore contemplated the words the shadow had intimated, as he had come to a realization having confronted his regret as he had. He felt dizzied, in a state of shock from the encounter. He’d always been afraid of Victor, and had thought he was too far gone to do anything. In that, he’d given up hope, and he’d never thought of going back, both out of despair and fear. But now, Theodore felt a feeling of hope and confidence that there was a way back through this.
At the same time however, for as much hope as Theodore had gained, he also saw just how far gone Victor had been, and the lack of remorse he’d shown for how he’d treated Theodore. Theodore wondered if the same fate would await him in time, and a seed of fear began to develop within Theodore that perhaps such close attachments were not worth their potential cost, seeing how it had affected his father.
As Theodore was recovering from the experience, another portal appeared, this one also a black oval of nothingness. After a few moments, Theodore indicated he was prepared to continue, and the party pressed forward through the portal. The three found themselves on a rooftop, with the black void of the Negative Plane stretching endlessly around them. The roof was of an odd shape, shaped like that of an irregular, four pointed star. As the party advanced forward, they saw at its central point was a patch of blackened stone, atop of which rested a simple bronze sphere. It seemed they had found what they had been looking for.
However, the party was not alone. The party could also see a variety of shadows on the rooftop, and Lucille’s stride froze momentarily as she comprehended what it was that she saw. She saw the shadowy form of a figure who looked exactly like Lucille, but as she had been as a phantom, holding a dagger of darkness in a hand. It was as Markella had warned: Lucille had found the missing part of her essence, her very own shadow, which she had forgotten a long time ago. Flanking her shadow were five others. Lucille could make out the shadows of her sisters behind her own shadow, but her gaze was drawn to the shadow standing beside her counterpart.
It was the shadowed form of a male figure in red robes, a long staff in hand. His hair was the same color of white as Lucille’s, and there was a gaze of confidence and surety in her eyes. It was a shadow of her own father, the one she had one time worked under, the Red Wizard Ketir Astora. Gazing upon the gathered host of the shadows of her own regrets, Lucille felt a surge of fear, her instinct to scream, but she managed to still her tongue. She felt a sense of shame all the same that two of her closest companions were present to witness the personification of her greatest regret. There had been times when she had reached out to the lost part of herself when alone, but never before an audience like this. All the same, Theodore and Velu Velu quietly encouraged Lucille, spurring her to have the strength of will to meet the challenge before her.
Her shadow gazed at her with hateful eyes all the while, remarking that Lucille had arrived at last. She spoke of her hatred for the choices Lucille had made, the choices that had left her and her sisters dead as a result of it. Beside her, the shadow of Ketir Astora spoke, echoing her counterpart’s words, and that Lucille could have done better under him. He claimed that the opportunity still existed, were she to seek him out and swear her fealty once more.
At these words, Lucille’s sense of trepidation was replaced with anger and rage, and she coldly declared that she would never do such a thing again. She gazed upon her shadow, and she began stride forward to confront her regrets. Lucille entreated to her shadow that Ketir had never cared for them or their sisters. They had only ever been a means to an end to him, and their father never had had any love reserved for them. The shadow acknowledged Lucille’s words, but pointed out that even if that were the case, they had a position of power and respect under Ketir Astora. It was not perhaps the freedom Lucille had now, but Lucille’s counterpart simply indicated the shadows of her sisters. Lucille could see that each bore a horrible gash across their throats, and her shadow cruelly remarked that such was the price of Lucille’s freedom. Was it truly worth its cost in the end?
Lucille hung her head, acknowledging such had been the case, but she replied Ketir Astora all the same was not one they should owe any loyalty or fealty to. In the end, it was his fault that Lucille and her sisters were executed as they were. She had always cared for her sisters. Lucille’s shadow contemplated her words before carefully asking if Lucille considered her kin as well. Lucille replied that she had, and fury bloomed behind her shadow’s eyes as her counterpart demanded an answer as to why Lucille had abandoned her as she had in the end?
As Lucille tried to formulate a reply, but the shadow indicated that what had happened to her had been Lucille’s choice in the end. The truth of the matter was that it was Lucille herself who had asked for her memories to be removed and her past life locked away by the Raven Queen, so that she might seek a new life for herself. It was Lucille’s own decision to turn away from herself.
Lucille felt a sense of sorrow within her, but a part of her had already suspected that was the case. She had known for a long time that a confrontation like this had been coming. She stepped closer to her shadow, admitting that she had wronged her counterpart. The time they had spent apart had given Lucille time to think and learn from the experience. At this, her shadow laughed mockingly, and despite everything, Lucille began to chuckle as well. Lucille approached closer, the atmosphere growing more tense. Ketir had been speaking all the while, but his voice was growing muted as Lucille’s attention remained on her own shadow.
Lucille spread open her arms, and at this, her shadow tensed, the dagger of death ready in her hand. Lucille smiled gently and asked what the shadow thought she was doing. At first, the shadow was suspicious and angry, saying that it must be yet another lie and ruse on Lucille’s part, that she sought to seal her away or destroy her. However, Lucille’s shadow knew in truth that Lucille was holding upon her arms for an embrace. At this, Lucille’s shadow mocked her again, saying if Lucille thought things could be resolved so neatly. Perhaps it was time for her shadow to take the fore, that perhaps Lucille would remain in this Fortress of Regrets in her place, and it would be her shadow that would enter the waking world.
To her shadow’s vitriol, Lucille chose to respond with empathy and restraint. She shook her head, saying that she did not want to return to how things were before. She wanted to become whole again, not as one against the other or more dominant than the other, but a whole being once more. She said that she knew her shadow did not know the comfort of an embrace, for such desires were stamped out by Ketir. However even so, both of them knew that they had wanted all this time was for someone to acknowledge them and validate that their efforts had meant something at the end of it all.
At Lucille’s words, the first cracks in the shadow’s composure appeared, as she hesitated. She asked if Lucille sincerely meant to become whole again, the two one person once more, no longer one trapped in the shadows of the being of another. Lucille affirmed that she did, and that she would not throw herself away or leave her to rot once more. She was willing to take up her discarded self and weave herself anew, a whole person once again, she and the shadow of herself side by side and one being.
At Lucille’s impassioned and sincere words, the shadow sagged, the hostility vanishing to be replaced with a sense of resignation. It was clear that the shadow was not entirely sure if things would work out exactly as Lucille had said, but it seemed the shadow was willing to try. She allowed herself that much to hope. With that, Lucille embraced her own shadow, and she could feel the lost portions of her being reknitting themselves once more, memories she had once discarded becoming her memories again. The time and separation had allowed both to grow distinct from each other: Lucille was not becoming the person she was before, but neither would she remain the same person she was now. She was becoming something new, but something formed of her own choice and in reclaiming what had been lost.
In the end, Lucille found herself standing in the center of the roof of the Fortress of Regrets, the other shadows having faded. Lucille felt a sense of surety and inner contentment she hadn’t even known that she had lost. It was the sense of knowing who one was, and for the longest time, Lucille had sight and sense of it. She had found it anew, creating a being for herself that was formed out of the disparate experiences she had encountered, but one that was ultimately a sum greater than its parts, as a person now reborn.
It was at this point that Lucille examined the blackened patch of stone on the ground. The scent of sulfur and brimstone hung heavy, even despite the total lack of air in the plane. The bronze sphere lay on the ground. It was simply and unremarkable and even slightly tarnished, but Lucille picked it up reverently, as she came to an understanding of just why the Raven Queen may well have prized an object such as this. Like the Nameless One, she had lost her own being and self, and it was only with that sense of loss and the sense of reclaiming it that she understood that such memories and self-knowledge was priceless. Even with such imperfections, it was a jewel worth valuing, and one that Lucille would never take for granted again.
Lucille turned to face Theodore and Velu Velu, both of whom could now see Lucille was changed, even if she outwardly seemed the same. There was a sense of a lightness to her being now, the shadows in her eyes having retreated. She approached both of them and sincerely thanked them both for aiding her as they had, and for being comrades at her side. She gave Velu Velu an embrace, which the taller woman returned, and for Theodore, she asked for him to remove his mask. Theodore hesitated but did so, revealing the myriad scars beneath, but Lucille took the opportunity to kiss him on his cheek, and Theodore could not help but chuckle at Lucille’s antics. At last, their second task had been completed, and each had undergone trials of both the body and spirit, and the bonds of fellowship which tied them together now only renewed stronger than before.
Another portal of black awaited where the party had entered from, and they stepped through it to find themselves having returned to the walkway outside the Fortress of Regrets proper. The portal back to the Fortress of Memories remained, and the party stepped through to leave the Negative Plane behind, returning to the Shadowfell once more.
The party found themselves once more in the Fortress of Memories, standing before the black veil that separated them from the Raven Queen. Markella, the Arbiter of Memory, was present as before, and she was pleased to see that the party had succeeded in their task. She noted that each of them, and Lucille in particular, seemed changed by their experiences in the Fortress of Regrets. In the case of the party at least, it seemed that regret could change the nature of a man. Her gaze lingered on Lucille, the latter of whom now cast a shadow once more, having reclaimed her missing being. Lucille replied she had found what she had been missing within the Fortress of Regrets, finding the experience fulfilling in spite of the harrowing stakes and the locale.
Markella nodded at Lucille’s words, and at this, Lucille lifted the bronze sphere in a hand. The sphere drifted away from her to approach the veil, wherein it entered and vanished from sight. At that, Markella turned to Lucille and the others, saying that one final task awaited Lucille. Lucille remarked that she suspected this one had something to do with Bright Crown Citadel. At this, Markella smiled, as Lucille had astutely guessed at the right of it.
As the Raven Queen’s gaze had been drawn there, it had been discovered that a powerful servant of Vecna, the Whispered One, had taken over the citadel to be as its own fortress. Lucille’s final task would be to rid the citadel and the Shadowfell of the undead abomination and end its existence forever. However, to accomplish this task, Lucille would need to be alive once more, something that her friends on the Material Plane were in the process of completing as fate had decreed. As Markella spoke these words, Lucille began to feel her body in the Shadowfell start to fade as she began to drift away, the Fortress of Memories fading from view. She took one last glance towards Theodore and Velu Velu and to the Raven Queen as she felt herself being spirited away, this time from beyond the veil of death and back into the land of the living.
Back in Hawthorne, in their own respective beds and abodes, Theodore and Velu Velu awoke. It had seemed they had just awoken from a restful sleep, and they contemplated on the memories of what they had experienced. It had all seemed like just a dream, albeit an intensely vivid one. As they pondered whether or not what they’d seen had truly been real or something that simply happened in their own heads, they felt a slightly chill sensation on their chests. As they lay their chest bare, they were astonished to find something new there: a mark of a raven on a spot just above where their heart would be, proof of the journey they had undergone.
Perhaps after a fashion they had been right: in a way, all they had experienced had been something that had occurred within their own mind. But of course, why on earth would that mean it was not real?
Session 12
- The party conducted research on a variety of matters and learned the following information:
- - Concerning the Negative Plane. From what Yuuto researched regarding the Negative Plane, the party knows that (1) it is a plane of death and is the source of necrotic energy, the energy that animates the undead and destroys the living. (2) The Negative Plane is an extremely hostile plane to all living creatures who enter it. Undead and other terrors can be found residing within the Negative Plane, but there is almost no hope of survival for a living creature that enters the Negative Plane as the plane’s nature and environment are inherently inimical to life. (3) In the contemporary Great Wheel cosmological model, the Negative Plane is the counterpart to the Positive Plane, which is the source of radiant energy. The two planes form a ‘dome’ encapsulating the rest of the known multiverse. However, it is known that the planar barriers between the Negative Plane and the Shadowfell are thin: it is possible to step from one into the other and vice versa.
- - Concerning Dead Gods. From what Weiss researched regarding various known dead gods, the party knows that (1) it is known that there was an atropal in Chult that was powering the Soulmonger and the cause of the Death Curse that had plagued the land and threatened to spread across the planet. It is known that this atropal was nourished by a powerful being for the aim of the atropal achieving godhood. In Chult, there are a variety of nature spirits known to have dwelled in the land, some of which are said to have power approaching or even equalling godhood. (2) In the Astral Sea, the great githyanki city of Tu’Narath is founded upon the corpse of a dead god. The name of this god is unknown but to scholars and planar travellers it is called the “One in the Void.” It is believed that Vlaakith the Lich-Queen and ruler of the githyanki has been trying to utilize the One in the Void to her own ends in some way, for some unknown purpose. (3) Gods that die often appear as massive petrified corpses floating in the Astral Sea. Scholars and planar travellers have reported of a being known as the “Dark God.” The origins and exact nature of this being are unknown, but it is believed to be linked to forces of darkness and decay. It is said that while this being’s body floats in the Astral Plane like other dead gods, it is not truly fully dead, but somehow eternally just on the very verge of it.
- - Concerning Nightwalkers. From what Loric researched regarding nightwalkers, the party know that (1) nightwalkers are entities that hail from the Negative Plane that step into the Shadowfell, and are among the most feared creatures of the shadowed plane. Their nature is that of death itself. (2) Nightwalkers are part of a broader class of beings that hail from the Negative Plane, known as nightshades. Nightshades are powerful undead creatures that draw upon the energies of death from the Negative Plane and can take a number of different forms. (3) Creatures slain by a nightwalker have never been known to be resurrected by any traditionally known means of resurrection magic or spells. It is believed to be impossible to return someone back from the dead by such means if they were slain by a nightwalker.
- The party learned that nothing less than the power to reshape reality, whether by one’s own will or that of a god’s, was necessary to resurrect one who was slain by a nightwalker.
- Weiss used a spell of wish to resurrect Lucille. Lucille was successfully resurrected, and Weiss retained the ability to cast the spell.
- The party learned from Lucille that she had been through an ordeal beyond death, having met with the Raven Queen herself. As Lucille was being resurrected and leaving the Fortress of Memories, she had received information pertinent to the party’s quest. Bright Crown Citadel had been taken over by and become the fortress of a powerful servant of Vecna known to be an Eater of Secrets, an entity similar to that of a lich, but even more powerful due to being personally blessed by Vecna himself.
- The party finished preparations and set off for Bright Crown Citadel once more, arriving along the bridge just outside the entrance of the Citadel. It has currently been 11 days since the party initially made their foray towards Bright Crown Citadel.
With Lucille dead and unresponsive even after Loric’s raise dead spell, the party was unsure how to proceed. It was clear that something strange was happening with Lucille, as the spell by all rights should have worked. The party considered the option presented by the atropal: if they did provide such information to the atropal so as to receive the knowledge of how to resurrect Lucille, they would be responsible for anything that happened as a result of such an action. The party decided that more information was needed, with Weiss and Yuuto to head for Candlekeep, and Loric for the Silent Tower in Chult, so as to research information that may be used to resurrect Lucille.
The party first returned to Hawthorne, leaving Lucille’s body there to reside safe and sound while they each made their way to their respective destinations. At Candlekeep, Yuuto decided to research the Negative Plane, and Weiss decided she would research about dead gods that were sufficiently removed from Toril, in case they truly did not have any other options available but to accept the atropal’s offer. Loric had made his way to the Silent Tower, which was the first time he had visited the location. He met with the kenku Murmur, who maintained the library present there, and received a library card. Loric spent his time researching nightwalkers.
At the end, the party reconvened in Hawthorne to trade the information they had received. Yuuto related what he knew of the Negative Plane to the party from his research. There was little by way of concrete information that could be found regarding the Negative Plane, as its nature made it difficult to say the least to receive firsthand accounts or reports of it, but a few scattered bits of writing and scholarly theories Yuuto had read provided the party with an idea of the plane’s nature. As he reported, the Negative Plane was a plane of death and is the source of necrotic energy, the energy that animates the undead and destroys the living. The plane was extremely hostile to all living creatures who entered it. Undead and other terrors can be found residing within the Negative Plane, but there is almost no hope of survival for a living creature that enters the Negative Plan due to the plane’s nature and environment being inherently inimical to life. In the contemporary Great Wheel cosmological model, the Negative Plane was the counterpart to the Positive Plane, which was the source of radiant energy. The two planes formed a ‘dome’ encapsulating the rest of the known multiverse. However, it was known that the planar barriers between the Negative Plane and the Shadowfell were thin: it was possible to step from one into the other and vice versa.
Weiss had found it difficult even in Candlekeep to find any truly concrete information on dead gods, but she did find a few potential leads. The topic of dead gods had arisen in recent scholarship due to the Death Curse incident in Chult. As it had been discovered, there had been an atropal powering the Soulmonger there which was the cause for such a potent curse, and it was believed that a powerful entity that been attempting to forcibly raise the atropal to godhood. In the land of Chult, while Ubtao had vanished from its lands, it was known that there were a variety of nature spirits said to dwell within it. Some of these spirits were believed to have power approaching or some cases even equalling that of the gods. Weiss did learn of one specific dead god which was rather well known: the being known as the ‘One in the Void.’ The One in the Void was a dead god whose petrified corpse floated in the Astral Sea, but it was known that the great githyanki city of Tu’Narath was founded upon. Scholars theorized that Vlaakith, Lich-Queen and ruler of the githyanki, had been trying to make use of the One in the Void in some way, but it was unknown to which end. Gods that died or were slain frequently appeared in the Astral Plane as massive petrified corpses. One such being Weiss found a few bits of scholarship on was regarding an entity simply known as the “Dark God.” The exact nature and origins of such a being were unknown, but it was a being thought to be linked to forces of darkness and decay. While this being’s body reportedly was among the divine corpses of the Astral Plane, it was believed that the Dark God was not truly dead, but rather on the precipice of death, having remained so for eons.
As for Loric, he found a bit more luck. Nightwalkers were rare creatures of the planes, but he had found a few pieces of scholarly information concerning them. As he reported to the party, nightwalkers were entities that hailed from the Negative Plane that stepped into the Shadowfell, and were among the most feared creatures of the shadowed plane. Their nature was that of death itself. Nightwalkers in fact were part of a broader class of beings that hail from the Negative Plane, known as nightshades. Nightshades were powerful undead creatures that draw upon the energies of death from the Negative Plane and could take a number of different forms. Most ominous, Loric reported that from what he was able to find in research, creatures slain by a nightwalker have never known to have been resurrected by any traditionally known means of resurrection magic or spells. It was believed to be impossible to return someone back from the dead by such means if they were slain by a nightwalker.
The party contemplated the knowledge they had accrued, finding it to be a difficult puzzle to crack. As they considered the matter more and consulted other resources, the party realized that truly mighty magic would be needed to resurrect Lucille. Specifically, the power to reshape reality itself would be needed, whether by one’s own will or that of a god’s.
At this realization, Weiss came to a decision, as she considered Lucille’s body, the body of one she considered a friend. She declared her intent to undo the wrong that had been done, to attempt to reweave Lucille’s very soul with a mostly fervently expressed desire. Weiss spoke words of power, declaring her desire to the universe and attempting to make her will manifest. Weiss cast the mighty spell of wish, and immediately sagged in the aftermath of the potent spell.
Loric and Yuuto supported Weiss as the party gazed upon Lucille’s body. They watched as after a moment, Lucille’s eyes opened, and she took a breath. Lucille got up to sitting, gazing upon the party with familiar but also different eyes, a mysterious smile on her face. Weiss’s spell had worked: Lucille was alive once more!
The party now reunited feel a sense of cheer and relief overcome them. Weiss gave Lucille the bottle of Evermead she had drunk before, which the cleric downed cheerfully and gave the latter an embrace in return. Weiss, though gladdened that Lucille had returned to life, also felt enormously exhausted. She at first denied it, but as she attempted to cast a spell, she felt an intense sense of backlash, and she admitted she might need some time to recover from the powerful working. As the party spoke on, Lucille found a moment to speak to the party at length, saying that she had not been idle while dead. As the party listened in astonishment, Lucille explained that she had been summoned to the domain of the Raven Queen where she had been charged to complete three tasks. Two of them she had already completed, but the third task had to do with Bright Crown Citadel itself.
As Lucille explained, it seemed that Bright Crown Citadel had been overtaken by a powerful undead entity that was a servant of Vecna, the Whispered One, and god of secrets. This being was known as an Eater of Secrets, like that of a lich, but even more powerful and personally invested with power by Vecna himself. It was Lucille’s task to eliminate this Eater of Secrets and rid the Citadel of it.
The party solemnly processed Lucille’s words, as they realized the stakes they were dealing with were greater than before. If such a being had taken over the Citadel, that would help explain some of the strange and profane sights they’d seen in Bright Crown Citadel. However, liches were known to be powerful spellcasters, and with the long delay the party had had since Lucille’s death, it would have likely shored up its defenses once more. The party wondered how to proceed further, as they were still yet unsure as to how to reforge the sword of Dawnfire. The party theorized that perhaps this Eater of Secrets was holding captive the angelic spirit that had once inhabited the sword, and perhaps that would hold the key to reforging Dawnfire.
The party spent the next few days in preparation, selling off various treasures they had acquired, and restocking their supplies for the trial to come. Weiss had gone to borrow a tuning fork to the Shadowfell from Scooter, and once the party had fully prepared, she cast a spell of plane shift targeting Bright Crown Citadel.
The party found themselves on the large and extensive bridge once more, and they could immediately see they were not alone, as a flock of flying horrors came diving in towards their position. The party rallied together to fight back against the airborne threat, but more enemies from both the north and south arrived: a quartet of eternals led by a death titan each, as the party was swiftly getting surrounded in a pincer formation!
However, at this point, the party was a well-oiled machine, as they worked efficiently to dispatch the threats around them. Several of the undead creatures tried to strike down Lucille specifically, but the party was able to keep her from succumbing from the combined assault. In the end, the party proved victorious, having cleared out the undead guards at the gate. The entrance into Bright Crown Citadel awaited once again...
Session 13
Having cleared the bridge leading up to the entrance of Bright Crown Citadel, the party took a few moments to recover from the battle, using various potions to do so. They then approached the door to the citadel. It was barred by an iron portcullis, and the door itself was locked. The party spent time examining the door, checking to see if it was magically trapped or warded in any way. Weiss was able to detect a powerful abjuration effect on the other side of the door. The party elected to utilize various performance enhancing potions to allow them to lift the gate together, while Lucille tried to smash the door open with an adamantine weapon. Though she struck at it several times, nothing appeared to happen to the door itself.
Unsure what to make of the situation, the party attempted to use a pot of Nolzur’s marvelous pigments to attempt to create a new opening. However, nothing happened to the door either. Finally, while the rest of the party held open the gate, Yuuto elected to carefully unlock the door. As the door was opened, the party saw what appeared to be a curtain of gray fog and mist before them, completely obscuring any path forward.
Loric attempted to send his pegasus through to enter the Citadel, but it refused to do so as before. As the party contemplated this new circumstances, Lucille was able to determine that there were creatures inside waiting ahead for the party. While she could not directly see them, she had an awareness of her environment even in the midst of darkness thanks to a magical item. With the party now alerted, they prepared themselves for potential battle, with Loric creating a protective bond between himself and Lucille. Weiss swiftly dispelled the mist, and the party could see a set of steps ahead that ascended up into darkness.
The party charged up the steps, moving to take the battle to the hostile forces of Bright Crown Citadel. As the party went up the steps, they found themselves in the entry area of Bright Crown Citadel once more, four pillars supporting the ceiling. The pit trap that had been activated last time seemed to have reset itself. Within the area were an assortment of eternals, but at the lead was a massive undead creature with a humanoid form and dark blue-gray skin. It flew on a pair of enormous wings, holding a wicked looking staff in its hands that was shaped like that of a shepherd’s crook. A palpable aura of dread could be felt emanating from the creature, as if the very shadows in the room responded to its movement.
At the same time, multiple sigils in the room flared to life, and the party felt various magical enchantments upon them fade, with Sleet ceasing to exist as the simulacrum was dispelled! The party scrambled to get into defensive positions, as it was clear that the entry area had been warded to prepare for the party’s assault.
The nightmarish undead shepherd conjured shadows to assault the party, while the eternals focused in with volleys of arrows, often trying to shoot down Lucille in particular. As the battle progressed, it became clear the undead shepherd was rallying undead around it, allowing them to strike more accurately and more fiercely with each blow. In addition, various glyphs in the room went off at periodic intervals, shooting at members of the party with spells of disintegrate or countering their spells with spells of counterspell.
As the battle progressed, the combined assault of the eternals, the nightmarish undead shepherd, and the various glyphs began to wear on the party. Lucille and Loric in particular found themselves particularly wilting against the combined assault, with Lucille’s blessing from the Raven Queen only barely allowing her to remain alive. Loric waded into the fray, a nimbus of holy light around him, while Yuuto nimbly darted around the battlefield, striking fluently with his katana. Weiss attempted to breach a path out of the enclosed area along the western hallway, but another glyph triggered, and she found herself engulfed in choking and intensely hot smoke. Weiss summoned her will and dispelled the incendiary cloud as she rallied the party to leave the enclosed area.
However, at this point, the various glyphs in the room were beginning to run dry, and the party was proved to be more resilient than the undead host which had assaulted them. The nightmarish shepherd was slain by Lucille’s own hand, and the remaining eternals began to fall before the party’s counter attack. In the end, a pair of heavily injured eternals were all that was left, and they attempted to break away from the party, heading north and east. Yuuto swiftly ran them down, longbow and sword in hand.
As Yuuto ran north, he too was engulfed in a cloud of intensely hot smoke, but he withstood the heat as he destroyed the fleeing eternal. He then quickly doubled back and finished off the remaining one, and with all adversaries defeated at last, the party regrouped at Weiss’s position. The various glyphs in the entry area seemed to have been spent, and the incendiary cloud that had formed along the northern path soon dissipated with time as well.
The party took time to recuperate from their injuries, and as they quickly determined, magical healing was dampened within the Citadel once more. It seemed that their efforts to restore the wardstones may well have been undone. Realizing this fact, the party decided to start making their way back to the wardstone in the tomb of Alanus du Lac, which previously had warped the effects of healing magic.
The party made their way back into the area with winding corridors, heading north to where the hall filled with pillars dedicated to the ideals of heroic chivalry were present. The party proceeded cautiously down the corridor, on the lookout for traps of the mundane or magical kind. As they approached the door to the tomb of Alanus du Lac, they saw that it was closed once more. As they opened the door, they could saw the wardstone within as before, though it no longer glowed with golden light. However, it was also clear that the tomb was occupied.
A massive fiend from before stood within the area, with huge hulking claws, an exposed rib cage, and a cruel smile on its face. Four eternals also were around it, bows raised and readied to fire. There was a brief moment of hesitation, and an instant later, the battle was joined. Loric strided well into the fray, holding the door to stop the fiend’s approach towards the party, as the rest of the party supported him with spellfire. However, both the area within the tomb as well as the hallway proved to be warded, with counterspell and disintegrate spells firing at periodic intervals.
In addition, as the battle progressed, a pair of massive shadows swiftly revealed themselves within the tomb, stepping through the shadows to teleport past Loric and directly assault the party within the hallway, as they struck out with powerful bursts of necrotic energy, with the very shadows within the hallway lashing out at those within reach. The fiend also created a vortex of life-sucking energy around it, sapping at the vitality of those within reach, while the eternals shot at either Loric or those outside the tomb in the hallway.
Lucille bore the brunt of the combined assault of the shadows, slipping into unconsciousness. A disintegrate glyph nearly ended her existence, but Yuuto dove into the way, knocking her aside at the last possible instant.
Despite the odds, the party rallied back, with Loric invoking his holy symbol to cause the undead creatures around him to quail at its sight. Even the powerful fiend was forced to flee in the wake of Loric’s power. Having now split the enemy forces, the party worked together to single out and defeat each undead creature one at a time. The prepared glyphs in the area began to run dry, and in the end, only the fiend was left standing. Lucille struck it with a potent spell to strike it down with the very energy of death. The fiend tried to strike down Lucille in response, but Loric intercepted the strike with his blade and struck down the fiend instead. The unholy creature fell before Loric’s blade, as battle at last had come to a conclusion.
The party gazed upon the wardstone within the tomb, wearied but victorious. The first wardstone awaited them once more, no longer restored, though perhaps it could be restored once more. Whether or not the other wardstones proved as difficult to reach remained to be seen…
Session 14
Having cleared the area, the party was left alone in the tomb of Sir Alanus du Lac, the wardstone they had seen earlier before them. The wardstone seemed to have returned to how the party had originally encountered, back in its corrupted state. The party spent some time examining the wardstone as well as the tomb itself. Weiss approached the sarcophagus at the western end of the tomb. The sarcophagus had a depiction of a knight wielding a hammer in two hands in relief on the surface of the sarcophagus’s lid, which itself was ajar. Inspecting the interior of the sarcophagus revealed only an empty container. Opposite the sarcophagus was the symbol of the Order of Dawnfire on the western wall, that of a drawn sword before the image of the blazing sun. Also affixed to the wall was a plaque that Lucille had seen and read before:
Alanus du Lac, knight of Morwel the Faerie Queen and wielder of the Dawnhammer. Squired under Lady Alisandra Solina, and defeated and sealed away the archlich Nekron, Devourer of Secrets and Thought of Vecna, in open combat. He died defending the citadel to his last breath.
The party took the time to imbibe several performance-enhancing potions as they then began to utilize the mason’s tools Weiss had brought along to alter the runic array on the wardstone. They then enacted a similar plan to as they had before: Loric used his command over radiant energy to supply a steady influx of radiant energy into the wardstone, while Lucille attempted to siphon away the necrotic energy from the wardstone. At the same time, Yuuto struck several pressure points along Loric’s back to open his chakra pathways to allow for more optimal energy flow, while Weiss acted to coordinate the party’s actions using her knowledge of magic. In the end, with the party’s combined efforts, the wardstone was once more restored, with Lucille holding the amassed necrotic energy at her fingertips.
The wardstone glowed with golden light that filled the area, and Weiss could see cords of golden energy emanating from the wardstone in her magesight, as it attempted to extent beyond the tomb. The energy dissipated and died away not long after it began to exit the tomb. Within the tomb, the party’s light sources returned to their full intensity, and the oppressive and melancholic weight of the Shadowfell seemed to lift from the party’s hearts. At this point, with magical healing no longer dampened, the party took time to imbibe several restorative potions to recover their energy before pressing forward.
They exited the tomb, intent on finding the other wardstones to handle. They passed through the Hall of Remembrance first however on their way back. The walls and ceiling of the hall had faded murals depicting deities and other entities of the Upper Planes gazing down from the heavens, while ten pillars of blue marble were spaced at regular intervals along the hall. The pillars were carved to depict a variety of figures, each figure bearing the symbol of the Order of Dawnfire, and each with a plaque naming the pillar and bearing testament to the one the pillar depicted. The party took time to read from each pillar in turn.
A pillar depicting a male eladrin knight wielding a crystalline sword and garbed in delicate armor made of leaves had a plaque that read as follows:
Pillar of Bravery. Odaenathus Kayn, guardian of the green glade, friend of the fey, bearer of the Emerald Sword of Summer. Single handedly slew the young green dragon Crinnanmorax, and defeated the Unseelie champion Shay Duindae tel’Orin.
Pillar of Justice. Meiryn Iarlynn, Watcher of the Night, who sought to bring those who thought themselves beyond approach to justice. Brought the Council of Twilight to justice before passing on from this plane, may your name ever echo in these halls.
A pillar depicting a male, kindly-faced robed aasimar wielding a shepherd’s crook had a plaque that read as follows:
Pillar of Mercy. Zalron Lightcaller, healer of the sick, giver to the destitute, and redeemer of the Once-Shadowed-Lord. You showed the power of the spoken word and a sincere heart where a sword would have failed.
Pillar of Honesty. Advaran Yllavaris, knight of the Faerie Lands who sought to strive tirelessly for the sake of others. You never hesitated to speak the truth, even when it wasn’t to your own favor, and traveled the Twilight Lands to ensure that good prevailed.
Pillar of Perseverance. Varisha Vihara Karith, first drow knight of the order, exemplar and greatest of us during her time who overcame much, inheritor of the Moon Tear Crown. Huntress of glabrezu and vanquisher of he whose name shall be forgotten.”
Pillar of Empathy. Zhaska of the Scales, who broke from his own kind to teach others to value the lives and viewpoints of others. Wielder of Undying Fire, as you sought to cherish and nurture the fire in the hearts of others.
A pillar depicting a solemn-looking male tiefling knight wielding the sword of Dawnfire and a shield emblazoned with the symbol of the Order of Dawnfire had a plaque that read as follows:
Pillar of Temperance. Galaith Sunstride, once wielder of the sword of Dawnfire, and mentor of Alisandra Solina. You led our order with wisdom and forethought, seeking the golden mean by which to guide the Order from your time and all times thereafter.
Pillar of Discretion. Jalin Majere, spellfire wielder, and consummate pessimist, may the lessons you learned with us guide you on whatever plane you find yourself wandering in now.
Pillar of Selflessness. Gwendolyn Baerthel, once wielder of the Dawnhammer, defeated the death giant Sturmgeist and his cohort under her command, and gave her entire noble inheritance for the sake of those who had lost everything. Sacrificed her life during the Fiend Wars so that the innocent and her knights could survive.
Pillar of Humility. Shay Duindae tel’Orin, former knight of the Unseelie. You chose to walk a different path in defeat, seeking light where once all you saw was darkness. Friend and bond-brother to Odenathus Kayn, and wielder of Sapphire Sword of Winter.
The party contemplated the information they had gleaned from the pillars, wondering if some of the weapons mentioned were still kept within the Citadel, and if this “Eater of Secrets” had captured them. The party elected to continue moving forward through the temple. They returned to the area of winding corridors, where another wardstone had been. As they approached the area however, they quickly realized that the area was not unoccupied, as multiple eternals stood guard! In addition, a flameskull was among the combatants present, along with a strange robed skeleton, with a pair of gemstones for eyes!
The battle was joined, with various glyphs of warding present in the area periodically shooting off beams of disintegrate rays or otherwise counterspelling the party’s spells. The flameskull proved elusive, shooting off a fireball before darting out of the fray as it rained down spellfire from above. The eternals used a combination of longbow volleys and longsword strikes to attempt to take down those within reach, while the robed skeleton either clawed at nearby targets or simply stared at someone in the party, causing them to burst into flame!
The party rallied, with Loric and Yuuto leading the charge, while Lucille and Weiss remained near the edges of the fight at the start. Working together, the party wore down the eternals, before at last destroying the robed skeleton and the flameskull.
In the wake of the battle, several in the party were injured, but they persevered. The party’s attention shifted to the wardstone, which they recalled had a spell-like effect resembling the forbiddance spell, but targeting celestial creatures. They attempted to restore the wardstone following the same procedure they had before. However, they were unable to successfully alter the runic array on the wardstone.
The party decided to go with an alternate plan instead. Weiss would use her knowledge of conjuration magic to try to directly affect the magic of the wardstone, while Loric and Lucille worked together to create an influx of radiant energy to give an anchor to the magic Weiss worked. Yuuto created a magic circle out of salt and holy water around the wardstone, to help contain and purify the energies. In the end, the party was successful in restoring the wardstone, which glowed with golden light. As before, the party’s light sources shone with their normal intensity, and the gloom of the Shadowfell seemed to lift from the area. The party wondered if someone would occur if they managed to restore all the wardstones, but they did not know just what would happen yet. The party elected to take the opportunity to rest and recover their strength, with Lucille cooking a fortifying meal for the party.
The party began to move further south, attempting to find the wardstone in the torture chamber. However, as they proceeded south, Loric could hear something massive stomping around. Suspecting it was another death titan, the party readied themselves for battle as they rounded the corner, indeed finding a death titan, wielding a greataxe as before. However, the massive creature stood near the foot of stairs heading upwards, flanked by a pair of eternals: the party had found the stairs leading up to the next level of the temple, not the wardstone they had been searching for!
The enemies took notice, and the death titan charged into the fray, moving towards the party on one side, while the eternals called up along the stairs. Another creature began to descend down the stairs, revealing a skeleton knight with eyes that glowed with purple flame! The skeletal knight and the eternals moved in another direction, attempting to pincer the party. The party found themselves facing a battle on two fronts, with the death titan on one side, and the large skeletal knight and eternals on the other. Meanwhile, as before, the area had been enspelled with various glyphs providing even more complication for the party.
However, the party focused on the death titan initially. Despite its resilience and might, it quickly fell before the party’s combined assault. The eternals and the skeletal knight charged into the fray, but the party worked together to defeat the undead host until only broken corpses and shattered bones remained in the hallway. The party realized that they had gone the wrong way, and that they needed to backtrack to the central area of the temple’s first floor. Before returning, the party spent a few minutes investigating the secret armory they had uncovered before, finding it to be empty and looted since they had last been there.
The party made their way back to the central area where they had entered. They now began to take the eastern pathway, which curved around to the south to where they had found the torture chamber. However, as they proceeded down the hallway, a glyph on the wall flared to life, and the party was engulfed by an incendiary cloud! Lucille, Loric, and Yuuto were caught in the midst of the cloud, and thanks to Weiss’s quick reflexes, she managed to dispel the cloud before anything worse could occur.
With the cloud dissipated, the rest of the hallway was clear, and the party could see the door to the torture chamber before them to the south. However, unlike the last time they had come to the area, the door was solidly shut. Just what lay on the other side and what possibly may be guarding the wardstone within remained to be seen…
Session 15
The party continued to the south, back towards where the torture chamber and the wardstone within had lay. As the party approached the door, they could hear sounds of something shuffling about within. As the creatures inside became alerted to the party’s presence, they began to barricade the door, barring the party from advancing further. However, Loric was able to force open the door all the same in a surge of strength, shattering the wooden barricade on the other side and revealing what lay within the torture chamber.
The party could see the wardstone as before, along with another horde of zombies in the area as earlier. However, a quartet of eternals also stood guard, along with a pair of creatures in spiked armor that seemed to have stitched together flesh and linked together via a chain.
By now, the party was well aware of the various defensive enchantments that been placed near where the wardstones lay, so they chose to try to lure the enemy combatants into the hallway instead. The armored flesh golems walked into the hallway, with the horde of zombies swiftly following afterward. As Loric and Yuuto fought the armored flesh golems, as each one was struck in turn, they could see cords of spectral energy running along the length of the chain, as it seemed that their animating force was linked.
As the horde of zombies began to surround the party, Lucille invoked the power of the Raven Queen, causing the entire horde to wilt before the invoked power and be destroyed. Weiss darted in and out of the battlefield nimbly, using a combination of spells and steel to cut into flesh golems. Yuuto and Loric remained near the front lines, dodging rays of disintegrate fired from various glyphs inside the room.
The eternals inside the tortured chamber largely chose to fire back at the party with longbows within the confines of the room. As the tide of the battle began to turn however, they drew their swords and charged into the fray, meeting the party in melee in the hallway. However, even they were ultimately felled by the party’s combined effort and in the end, the party stood victorious.
In the battle’s wake, the party cautiously proceeded forward inside the torture chamber. The wardstone was present as before, but the party noticed quite a bit fewer bodies were stored in the area. The party knew that the wardstone acted to amplify necrotic energy and dampen radiant energy. From what Weiss could see in her magesight, the wardstone had indeed become corrupted once more, choking with necromantic energy. Loric and Lucille used available means of energy transfer to draw out the corrupting necromantic energy that affected the wardstone while also providing a steady supply of radiant energy.
Ultimately, the party succeeding in restoring the wardstone once more. Lucille stored the necromantic energy she had drained with a vampiric touch at her fingertips, concentrating on keeping the energy secure. The restored wardstone radiated golden light, and the party’s light sources returned to their full vibrancy as it had in the Material Plane, and the weight and melancholy of the Shadowfell seemed to lift. From what Weiss could see in her magesight as well, threads of golden energy snaked out from the interior of the room to extend beyond, but it rapidly dissipated away.
Having successfully restored another wardstone, the party took a moment to recover from the battle, imbibing several restorative potions before pressing forward. They began to backtrack all the way to the central area before continuing west towards where the caverns had been: back towards the site where Lucille had died. As they traveled down the western hallway, Yuuto noticed a strange seam in the southern wall and pushed it aside to reveal a stairway in a darkened corridor. The party elected to leave the secret path be for the time being, resealing it and continuing into the caverns.
The piercers in the ceiling were still present. Lucille moved forward quickly to lure them out, and the party followed after in her wake to advance up to the door leading to the fourth wardstone. The party prepared themselves before they opened the door. Inside was the dark, opaque pool as earlier, with a patch of land in the center where the obelisk lay, filling the room with dim azure light. In the center however was also a robed skeletal figure, with a pair of gemstone eyes! It turned to face the party, its eyes gleaming bright with eerie light.
As the party set themselves for battle, the shadows in the room coalesced to form multiple wraiths that immediately began to flit about. The robed creature sighted in on Loric, and the paladin’s entire body burst alight into flame as a result. Yuuto fired back at the creature with multiple longbow shots, the arrows sinking into the robes, but the creature remained standing. As that happened however, several shadows in the room coalesced to reveal the presence of multiple wraiths, which immediately went into the walls!
The wraiths reappeared in the hallway beyond and homed in on Lucille. Lucille could feel them striking out at her with their fell touch, the necrotic energy nearly overwhelming her. They then retreated back into the wall, as they employed hit and run tactics. The party clustered defensively around Lucille, trying to ward off the encroaching threat focused on Lucille, but the defensive enchantments by the wardstone also wreaked havoc. Loric and Yuuto once more found themselves at the attention of multiple glyphs of disintegrate that they did their best to dodge or deflect aside.
Lucille unleashed a powerful necrotic strike on the robed skeletal creature, amplified by the necromantic energy she had been holding. The retaliatory attack caused the creature’s bones to fracture and one of the gemstones to shatter. It remained intact enough to retaliate with another fiery gaze, but a combination of spellfire and arrows from Yuuto at last brought it down. The wraiths continued to go in and out through the walls, focusing Lucille, but Loric remained vigilant and caught them out as they attempted to depart. As his strike connected, he held them in place, and in this way, over time, the party was at last able to dispatch all the remaining combatants.
With the battle done, the party then cautiously made their way towards the wardstone, ensuring that the defensive enchantments in the area had been exhausted. Utilizing a folding boat as a makeshift bridge, the party made their way to the small island upon which the obelisk lay. From what Weiss could determine, the obelisk was rife and corrupted with necromantic energy once more. The party knew the wardstone generated a spell-like effect replicating the hallow spell, tuned to make living creatures within more vulnerable to necrotic energy.
Rather than simply attempt to drain away the necromantic energy this time, the party elected to try to use the latent magic of the hallow spell to try to overwhelm the necromantic energy that was present with positive energy. Lucille used the power granted to her by the Raven Queen to attempt to drive away the necromantic power, as if she were turning aside the undead. Loric laid a hand upon the obelisk and directly channeled positive energy into it. Weiss directed the pair as she observed the process of energy with her magesight, while Yuuto carefully burned incense as associated with the hallow spell.
Ultimately, the necromantic energy faded, and the obelisk surged to life with golden light filling the area. Once more, the party could feel the oppressive weight of the Shadowfell lift, and once again, Weiss could see golden energy flowing out from the obelisk through her magesight. This time, the energy seemed to depart out of the room, turning the corner down the cavernous hallway, before finally dissipating away.
Filing away the curious discovery for the time being, the party took the moment to settle down inside the area and take respite from the trials and tribulations of the day. As they rested, they discussed just what was happening with the wardstones, and if there was some significance as the golden energy Weiss saw, and just what the wardstones were attempting to do. In the meanwhile, Lucille made a pot of gourmet tomato soup for the party to enjoy.
The party concluded their rest after an hour and after utilizing several performance enhancing potions, they then set off from the area. They traveled southward through the caverns, avo proceeded back towards the secret corridor, dodging piercers once more as they did so. Loric was struck all the same by one, which he proceeded to immediately kill. The party returned to the corridor where Yuuto had seen the secret door. He opened it to reveal the darkened corridor within that the party had seen before. As the party entered however, glyphs within flared to life, and the area began to fill with a noxious mist that already was beginning to obscure the party’s sight…
Session 16
The corridor began to fill with noxious mist, the false door shutting behind the party. However, as the poisonous vapors flooded the enclosed space, the party was no worse for the wear: Lucille’s fortifying feast fit for heroes early had inured the party against such toxins. However, there were more than simply poisonous vapors to deal with. Hidden amid the obscuring cloud of poisonous gas were creatures that Lucille could detect moving about, descending down upon her to strike at her!
The others were unable to see what precisely was happening, so they prepared themselves to strike out at something within reach. Weiss felt something impact against Lucille, so she sent her blade soaring upwards to strike at it. The noxious gas dissipated to reveal a cloud of said material moving about: a cloudkill spell come to life!
Also present in the area were a pair of shadows, wielding blades made of the shadows as well. They used the relative darkness of the corridor to blend in and vanish, striking out at Lucille when they could. Now alerted to the presence of the shadows, the party formed ranks around Lucille to protect her from the undead menace. In the end, even the shadowy assassins proved no match for the party’s skill and experience, and both the shadows and noxious vapors dissipated away into nothingness.
However, in spite of their victory, the battle had taken its toll. Lucille had felt her body drained of vitality and strength, to the point that she struggled to move in her armor. The party elected to trudge on momentarily, seeing just where the stairs led. The stairs led up to yet another false wall, behind which was a familiar chamber. It was the area where the bed and desk had been, on the western wing of the first floor of Bright Crown Citadel and where they had fought the strange skeletons wreathed in darkness. They had gone in a circle it had seemed, via a connecting secret passageway.
At this point, Lucille decided to invoke powerful restorative magics to remove the aftereffects of the battle, and she was relieved to find her muscles moving with their original vigor once more. The party made their way back to the central area of Bright Crown Citadel, before moving on to the eastern wing where the winding corridors lay. They then headed south, towards the stairs to the far end that led upwards.
The party ascended upwards, with the stairs rounding the corner to ultimately turn northwards as the party made their way out into a wide chamber above. A small pool lay in the center of the chamber, along with a door to the west, and a corridor to the east. To the north was yet another chamber, within which was a strange fenced off area with metal bars ascending to the ceiling. However, what immediately caught the party’s attention was the death titan patrolling the area. As it caught sight of the party it roared and raised its axe, charging into the fray.
The giant charged, raising its axe to bring it slamming down to release a destructive wave of energy. However, Weiss split apart the magic it was weaving, causing the effect to fizzle. Yuuto and Loric took the lead in confronting the giant head on, as with Weiss striking nimbly by their side and Lucille assisting with spellfire. As the battle continued however, a pair of creatures from the northern chamber entered the fray: two hulking stone golems whose bodies were lined with glyphs and runes.
The golems slammed their fists together, releasing the stored spells they carried to imbue themselves with tremendous force and strength. The party fought against both the golems and the death titan, managing to fell the latter with their combined efforts. Before their attention could be fully focused on the golems however, the door to the west opened as a trio of eternals come out as reinforcements! Additionally, to the east, more eternals came in to provide support, while a pair of large shadows also approached, sending shadows lashing out against the party.
The party quickly realized that they had entered a fight considerably more involved than they had originally bargained on. The party focused on the golems to start with, trying to wear the powerful constructs down as they warded off the eternals and shadows surrounding them. The shadows homed in on Lucille, who moved backwards towards the northern chamber along with her allies. As the fight began to shift northward, the party got a better look as to what lay within the fenced off area: yet another wardstone!
As the battle progressed, the golems were worn down until they were ultimately destroyed. Weiss held off the western flank against the eternals, with Loric aiding Lucille against the shadows in the center, and Yuuto raced off to the east to deal with the eternals firing arrows at the party’s position. As he made his way eastward, he found another area with a single pool in the center. As Yuuto moved to dispatched the eternals, he felt arrows firing upon his position from somewhere unknown to the south! Yuuto was unable to see what lay in the darkness in the corridor to the south, so he left it be for the time being as he focused on dispatching the eternals he could see.
Ultimately, after a long and arduous battle, the party was victorious. They regrouped near the fenced off area, curious of the wardstone that it contained. They spent some time recuperating and healing each other from the injures they had suffered as they contemplated the wardstone before them. Yuuto made expert strikes with his sword to cut the bars to allow the party access.
Weiss was able to determine that powerful abjuration magic radiated from the wardstone, producing a spell-like effect akin to nondetection or private sanctum to block divination magic from targeting those within the Citadel or for magical scrying sensors to appear. The party debated whether or not they should attempt to restore the wardstone: as Lucille pointed out, the wardstone could very well serve as one of the intended defenses upon the Citadel.
However, as the party examined the wardstone further, they realized that, like the other corrupted wardstones they had seen, the wardstone was tied to the forces and powers of the Shadowfell, in a way anchored to the Shadowfell. The party wondered if restoring the wardstones would aid to remove the Citadel from the Shadowfell. With that in mind, they mutually agreed to restore the wardstone as well.
The party swiftly worked together, with Yuuto creating holy talismans to lay across the surface of the wardstone, while Loric and Lucille invoked their magics to try to remove the influence of the Shadowfell from the obelisk. Weiss watched their efforts and provided advice as she monitored perturbations and echoes in the weave of magic with their actions. In the end, the party proved successful, as the wardstone glowed with golden light Once again, the party felt the oppressive weight of the Shadowfell lift, and Weiss could see threads of golden energy in her magesight. The energy flowed out of the chamber before it eventually dissipated, but it seemed to be travelling further and growing stronger since she had last seen it.
The party then set out from the area towards where Yuuto had warned he’d been fired upon by hidden archers to the south. As the party went to the other chamber, Yuuto’s warning proved apt as they were immediately assaulted by a hail of arrow fire! Their lights illuminated them in the darkness, making them clear targets through the gloom. All the same, the party advanced forward before they found themselves in yet another chamber and gazing upon a singular sight.
Within a wider chamber was what seemed like a fortress of dull-gray steel, rising some thirty feet in height, and twenty feet all around its sides. Battlements topped the fortress, with multiple arrow slits present on two levels. Firing through the arrow slits were multiple eternals, well ensconced inside the fortified structure! A pair of doors were present on the western and southern flanks of the fortress, with a single door facing the party.
The party advanced towards the fortress, weathering volleys of arrows all the while. Several of the eternal archers seemed focused on Lucille in particular. As Loric and Yuuto attempted to force the door however, they felt it not budge in the slightest. Weiss circled around the side, tossing in bolts of flame when she could in retaliation, along with Yuuto who also plied his arrows against the archers within. However, the combatants were well-fortified, as spells and arrows frequently bounced off the fortress’s walls instead of travelling through one of the arrow slits.
As the battle progressed, Lucille grew more and more injured. Realizing that something would have to be done, Loric attempted to use his cape to teleport inside the fortress—and he was astonished to see that it worked. He found himself ankle deep amid various treasures and valuables stored within the fortress, but he struck out against nearby eternals in melee all the same. At the sudden incursion, one of the eternals on the upper floor of the fortress blew a horn that let loose a long, mournful wail that echoed through the halls.
Weiss continued to provide spellfire support from outside, as she moved towards the western door. She worried that the eternals had called for reinforcements, and she opened the door to see another corridor beyond, albeit empty. By now, Yuuto had also teleported inside the fortress, and the pair kept the eternals busy on both the lower and upper floors of the fortress. However, Lucille nearly fell to another barrage of arrows, only her ward against death saving her along with protective enchantments she had utilized.
As she lay fallen and heavily wounded, she heard the sound of marching to the north, and she looked in that direction to see a horde of undead marching on the approach. The enemy reinforcements had arrived…
Session 17
As the party fought eternals within the fortress, enemy reinforcements began approaching from the north. They consisted of a group of eternals and shadows led by yet another nightmare shepherd! Before the party could react, a pair of them sent arrows soaring towards Lucille’s direction. The cleric scarcefully had a moment to react before she was felled by the volley, her life’s breath leaving her as she expired on the cold stone.
At the sight of Lucille’s death, Weiss raced forward towards her body, casting a spell of wall of force to bar the approach of the enemy reinforcements. In the meanwhile, Loric and Yuuto continued to wear down the eternals within the fortress. As the battle progressed, some of the eternals availed themselves of some of the magical items held within the fortress, conjuring even a giant goat and griffon outside! One of the eternals plucked a horn off of the goat, which transformed into a gleaming sword; however, the party swiftly dispatched the goat and griffon before either could turn their direction towards Lucille’s corpse.
While the enemy reinforcements were unable to advance past the wall of force Weiss erected, the nightmare shepherd conjured several shadows to strike at Weiss. Weiss held them off while keeping Lucille’s body secure. After the eternals in the fortress were secured, Loric came up to reinforce Weiss’s position, and between the two of them, the shadows were destroyed.
All the while, the nightmare shepherd and its forces watched the party through the barrier before it last departed at the sight of the final eternal being felled. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Loric reached down to Lucille’s belt to pull out one of her emergency spell scrolls as he utilized a spell of revivify upon her.
Lucille breathed once more, though she was grievously injured. Weiss continued to maintain the wall of force, though she could no longer see the enemies that had been encroaching from the north. As the time remaining on the spell continued to tick down, the party spent time recuperating from their injuries while Yuuto began to sort through and take from the copious amount of treasure present in the fortress. The fortress itself continued to present an enigma to the party: while they could enter and exit through the trapdoor on the roof, the door remained completely impassable.
The party began to strategize their next move in the meanwhile. The enemy reinforcements had retreated somewhere to the east of the chamber where the eastern well had been present. As the party surmised, they were likely lying in wait for the party’s approach. The party at last concluded their preparations, as Weiss’s spell of wall of force faded. The party closed the western door Weiss had opened, which had shown nothing but a corridor winding westward.
Weiss and Loric cautiously advanced forward along the hallway back towards the chamber with the eastern well, while Yuuto and Lucille remained behind on the upper level of the fortress to provide ranged support. As Weiss reached the eastern chamber, she began to turn towards the passageway to the east. As she rounded the corner, she saw the amassed forces of the undead creatures lying in wait, with the nightmare shepherd at the head!
At this, the enemy ranks prepared to surge forward, with Loric racing forward to assist Weiss, while Yuuto and Lucille readied to toss volleys of arrows and spellfire down the hallway. As the horde of undead began to spill into the chamber, Weiss swiftly reacted with a spell of fireball to catch out as many as she could, instantly immolating several shadows and grievously wounding several eternals.
The battle became joined, with Yuuto and Lucille providing supporting fire, while Weiss and Loric fought on the front lines. Weiss had entered her Bladesong, remaining nimble and elusive, though Loric was temporarily forced to retreat at the party’s suggestion as enemy fire threatened to bring him down. The nightmare shepherd leading its flock of undead was amplifying the abilities of those it commanded, allowing strikes that would have otherwise glanced off the paladin’s armor to instead strike at his vital points.
Weiss evened the battlefield with yet another fireball, this time sending several eternals scattering away from each other as she prepared yet another one immediately afterwards. All the while, Lucille and Yuuto sent their focused efforts upon the nightmare shepherd at the lead. Weiss and Loric joined in the combined assault, and ultimately, the fiend fell and was destroyed. With the nightmare shepherd gone, the remaining eternals were disarrayed and no longer nearly as effective as before. Weiss and Loric cut through the rest with relative ease, until at last not a single undead creature remained standing.
With the battle done, the party reunited at the chamber by the eastern well, as they began to explore the area where the undead host had been streaming from. As the party found, the eastern passage led to two large interconnected areas to the north and the south that seemed to serve as what likely had been living quarters for members of the Order of Dawnfire centuries ago. The party spent time working through the various rooms, finding a commander’s room as well, as they took what spoils and treasure they could.
The party returned to the chamber with the strange metal fortress, as they began to contemplate their next move. Surveying their surroundings, there were only a pair of exits from the area besides the hallway they had come down: the western door Weiss had previously revealed which led to a corridor leading off elsewhere, and a large set of double doors to the south. The door bore the symbol of the Order of Dawnfire, but unlike the other doors the party had seen, it was not blackened.
The party was uncertain as to what to do next. The day’s events had left them running ragged, and it would take them time to fully recuperate from what had happened. The party contemplated holing up within the fortress in the chamber, but would that leave them exposed to creatures that could attack them through their rest? Unanswered questions still yet remained. Just what lay beyond in the chamber to the south? And just how would the party go about reforging Dawnfire? The future remained uncertain, and its outcome would be up to what the party chose next...
Session 18
- The party returned to Hawthorne to recuperate from the events of Bright Crown Citadel.
- The party spoke with a projection of Nekron in Sendai Springs.
- Due to the Ire of the Cold Lord, Sendai Springs was attacked by an incursion of fiends loyal to Mephistopheles hailing from Cania, the eighth layer of the Nine Hells. This assault was successfully repelled, with the Sendai Springs fully repaired of the damages
After clearing the northwestern section of the second level of Bright Crown Citadel, the party debated what to do. They had restored five wardstones and dispatched many undead creatures, but the day’s events had worn them down, and they were beginning to reach their limits. The party contemplated exploring the area between the door south of the fortress, which was not blackened like the other doors. In the end, the party decided to return to Hawthorne to recuperate and plan to come back to the Citadel the following day.
The party left the area, returning to the stairs to head down to the first level, before continuing on to the entry chamber. The party exited through the great doors, exiting the interior of Bright Crown Citadel entirely. Loric’s pegasus was still alive, and after collecting him, Weiss used a spell of plane shift to return the party back to Hawthorne.
Once back in Hawthorne, the party went about several activities. The party worked together to identify the various magical items they had acquired earlier, finding a number of them to be items of note. Members of the party additionally spent time perusing the local market and trade listings, seeking more resources to take with them to aid them on what may well be the final leg of their journey. After they had restocked, they met up in Sendai Springs to relax, most of them at any rate. The party discussed their next moves as they recuperated within the springs, considering using divination spells to learn more information. Weiss and Lucille helped themselves to the refreshing waters of the springs as well as a detoxification treatment at the spa. Loric remained tense and alert, unwilling to take off even his armor or lay down his weapons.
As late evening approached after a long and exhausting day, the party at last began to prepare head off to get some rest within the springs. However, the darkness around the party seemed to stir, with the night itself deepening. Shadows in the area began to coalesce, as a figure stepped out of the gloom. They were a tall figure, clad in tattered dark robes. They had no virtually no flesh or muscle, but instead seemed to virtually reduced to nothing but bones. They wore tattered dark robes that may have been fine at one point in life, but had long since decayed. A decaying gold crown rested atop their head, wisps of frayed white hair poking out from underneath. Finally, they carried a book with a gold-embossed cover, a blood-red ruby set into the front cover. The creature’s left eye socket glowed with azure light within.
The party stood to attention at the sudden sight of the figure. The individual introduced themselves as Nekron, the very lich who controlled Bright Crown Citadel. Nekron spoke with a papery but deliberate voice. Nekron indicated that he was displeased to the extent of which the party had entered his home and ransacked it, as well as having struck down several of his servants. He demanded to know for what purpose the party had been driven so.
Loric indicated that they had arrived to destroy Nekron in the first place, but the lich dismissed his words. Nekron retorted that there were many liches throughout the planes, and that he sincerely doubted they had been drawn there simply because they had found another one. Loric replied that that may well have not been the original purpose, but for him at least, destroying Nekron had become one of his new priorities. Nekron coldly retorted that Alanus had once thought he could stand against Nekron, but now he only served as his puppet. Perhaps Loric would join his ranks in time as well.
Weiss expressed anger with Nekron, for what he had done to Bright Crown Citadel and the former denizens within. She was incensed at how Nekron had twisted their essence and soul even beyond death. The lich was unmoved by Weiss’s outrage, simply repeating its question as to what purpose had driven the party to assault his home.
Lucille remained quiet throughout the conversation, intimidated by the presence of the lich, an agent of Vecna whereas she was connected to the Raven Queen. Yuuto began to engage with Nekron, explaining that they had indeed come for their own purpose. They sought to reforge the sword of Dawnfire anew. In time however, their purpose had shifted, and they too sought to rid the Citadel of Nekron’s influence.
Nekron provided an offer: he did not desire to sully the halls of his abode with more of the chaos of battle. The party’s actions had greatly angered him, but neither were they irreversible. He bade the party to leave behind the possessions they had taken to be returned to him as their rightful owner, and the two would part ways and consider that to be the end of it. Loric replied with his own counteroffer: for Nekron to leave Bright Crown Citadel entirely to find a new hole to crawl into, and perhaps the party would not go chasing after him to destroy him.
At last, Lucille began to speak. At first, she began to speak slowly, speaking of what she had seen and witnessed in the citadel. As she continued to speak, she grew more confident, her voice rising in volume. She expressed disgust, similar to Weiss, of how Nekron had corrupted the former knights of the Order of Dawnfire, desecrating their corpses in death. She could not stand of how a citadel of holiness like Bright Crown Citadel had been had been sullied and corrupted by Nekron’s hands, and in the end, her voice grew to a roar as she declared her desire to see nothing less than Nekron’s spine ripped out from his body!
Nekron grew still. He replied softly, indicating that it seemed the party had declared their intent to persist in their endeavors to invade his home and ransack it. Nekron continued by saying that the party had damaged his person and property with the actions they had taken against his home and his servants. It was only fit that he deliver reciprocity in kind. As it turned out, Nekron said with a low, dangerous voice, the party had made many enemies during their time.
At this, the party watched as what seemed like holes in the night sky began to appear, a darkness deeper than the night itself. The black holes grew in diameter, and the party watched to their astonishment as hordes of creatures began pouring through them, descending down upon the springs! The creatures were all of all different kinds, ranging from horned devils wielding bidents, to insectoid ice devils, to fiends wrapped in chains, and more. The Sendai Springs was now host to a full blown incursion from the Nine Hells!
As more creatures flowed in, the party could see Canian pit hounds among their number. It seemed the fiendish cohort in fact hailed from Cania, the eighth layer of the Nine Hells, home to the archdevil Mephistopheles! Leading a company of fiends racing down towards the party was an armored fiend atop a flying, fiery horse, along with a devil that almost resembled an angel. The pair declared themselves as acting in the name of the Cold Lord. It seemed that the actions of some among the party against the machinations of Mephistopheles in the past had borne consequences.
As fiends continued to pour into the springs, the party, as well as the other residents of Sendai Springs, instantly jumped into action. Sendai Springs had been warded with powerful defensive magics, which hampered the approach of the devilish horde. However, the party had not been prepared to deal with an invasion from the Nine Hells directly within Hawthorne, and several in the party remained heavily injured, not having yet had a chance to recover from the day’s events. In addition, while Loric had remained armored and neither Yuuto nor Weiss relied on armor, Lucille had been entirely unarmored.
Regardless, in spite of their readiness or not, the party rallied together, meeting the devilish assault head on. Weiss instantly cast a spell of wall of force to help divide the battlefield, ensnaring several fiends within. Yuuto and Loric strode into the fray, drawing their weapons as they struck out at whomever they could within reach. The pair began by turning their attention to the large Canian pit hound before them, a massive creature that resembled a hound brimming with heat and power, its body almost resembling magma. Lucille assisted with spellfire where she could, sending down potent magic down to strike at those she could. The pit hound and the ice devil retaliated with a blast of volcanic hot flame and a wall of ice, heavily wounding several in the party.
During the battle, the other residents of Sendai Springs assisted where they could, with Kazuki entreating his deity to intervene, instantly creating a forbiddance against fiends in the area, damaging the fiendish horde within. Various magical protections activated, with glyphs of disintegrate periodically striking fiends within range, with one of the erinyes the party was fighting nearly disintegrated as a result. The horned devil focused on Lucille, while the ice devil pursued after Weiss. Yuuto broke off to tangle with the narzugon and its nightmare, while Loric continued to hold the attention of the pit hound. Each member of the party worked as best as they could to deal with the myriad threats, but the forces of the Nine Hells only seemed to swell with every passing moment.
In addition, it seemed that Nekron was not content to simply rest as a spectator. The lich vanished, revealed to be a projection, as an incendiary cloud was conjured in the area, catching Loric and Lucille. Loric fell unconscious on the brink of the death, while Lucille was severely wounded. The white-hot cloud was also obscuring, hiding Lucille and Loric from view. At the sight of the cloud as well as the various flying fiends about in the area, Artoria used a mighty spell of wish to control the very winds about the springs, dissipating the cloud and forcing the flying devils in the air to swiftly land.
Aid also arrived almost immediately after in the form of Ephemer. The paladin had noticed the commotion within the Springs and had rushed to assist the defenders against the strange invasion by fiends of the Nine Hells. He ran to the side of Loric and the others, as Yuuto provided a succinct summary of the situation. Ephemer saw that Loric was heavily injured and on the brink of death, and thus he knelt down to restore him to consciousness with a touch of his hand. Ephemer then brandished his Keyblade, standing side by side with Loric, a look of determination on his face.
As the melee continued, Ephemer was able to strike down the pit hound in the end at last, while the party worked together to swiftly dispatch the remaining devils around them as well. The narzugon and their nightmare fell, while Lucille used the power of the Raven Queen to drain away the essence of the horned devil harrying her so as to restore her own vitality. Across the battlefield, other defenders of the Sendai Springs were also winning their own individual battles as well.
However, the party heard Nekron’s voice once more, sounding as if from the heavens themselves. In cold tones, he informed them that just as they had brought ruination upon his abode, he would visit the same upon them in answer. Fiery meteors began to rain from the sky as the party was struck full force by a meteor swarm! Thankfully, thanks to the bolstering presence of Loric and Ephemer, several in the party managed to remain upright, though Lucille had dangerously brushed against death’s door once again.
Nekron’s presence seemed to fade from the area, as the last of the fiends who had assaulted Sendai Springs had been dispatched. The multitudinous portals in the area had gone as well, the fiendish host repelled. However, though the battle had been won, the damage had also been done. The foundations were cracked, with several buildings heavily damaged or outright destroyed. The pond was in ruins, the walls cracked or shattered, and the damage from both the battle and Nekron’s parting shot having left its toll.
As a sense of melancholy at this sight began to seep in, Harumi of the Sendai Springs stepped forward. She took a single glance at the sight around her, and with a single gathering of her will, she simply wished the damage to be undone. The party watched to their astonishment as stone began to rejoin with the walls and floor to repair cracks or other damage; buildings reformed, fires were put out; as a whole, within mere moments, the springs returned to looking just as pristine as the party had seen it before, as if it hadn’t just been the site for an all out battle just earlier.
The party had proven victorious against the forces of Mephistopheles, with Sendai Springs intact, and Nekron’s attempts to bring Yuuto’s home to ruin having been foiled. However, night lingered within the city of Hawthorne, and the party began to wonder just what in the end they may well be dealing with. It seemed not long before they would return to the Citadel once again, and seek to at last bring things to a head. Just how a confrontation with Nekron would proceed was unclear, and just which side fate would favor had yet to be seen…