Part I
The party met with Blank to have get the briefing on their mission. Afterwards, they went on to make preparations, but before they left, they requested for Blank to allow them to have a Heroes Feast within his office. Remembering the time where Alagos and his party had their Heroes Feast right in front of the entrance of the guild hall, blocking access to it, Blank agreed, wanting to avoid history repeating itself. Bailey, unable to resist the smell of nice food, tried to get the party to feed her. In order to ensure their safety, Richter Hawthorne asked the assistance of Avery and she came in to cast a few spells for the party, but didn't leave without casting and releasing concentration on the haste spell repetitively just to annoy Richter Hawthorne.
The party then made its way to the docks and dove under the water to reach the entrance of the half-submerged cave underneath Hawthorne. They swam to the portal the the elemental plane of water located at the opposite side of the entrance, at the bottom of the cave and entered it. Upon entering it, they immediately recognized the spectacular coral palace of Sultan Khazad that was described to them previously. They announced themselves, gave their weapons to the guards of the palace and were escorted to the sultan.
As was requested of them, the party members talked about their mission to the Sultan and inquired about what the Sultan wanted them to do. They also proposed an alliance on the behalf of the Hawthorne Guild, as was asked by Blank. The alliance suggested that the Hawthorne Guild would be available to assist the Sultan for any matters requiring adventurers at a discounted price. In exchange, the Sultan would maintain the portal open for the guild members to have an easy access to the Elemental Plane of Water, and build a small outpost nearby. The members within the outpost would also assist with the security of the portal and of the Sultan's palace. Luckily, Richter Hawthorne 's diplomatic behavior outshined Nanashi's rudeness and the Sultan seemed willing to consider the deal if the party was successful in completing the part of their mission that was relevant to him: recover his stolen artifact as well as his subjects that had been taken away from him. Prior to their departure, one of the Sultan's subject explained a special ritual to the party. This ritual was meant to disrupt abjuration magic, and would disrupt the magical barrier blocking their entrance to the strange island floating within the half-submerged cave underneath Hawthorne, thus allowing them to enter.
The party swam back to the half-submerged cave and swam up to the spherical pearly barrier that contained the strange island. It was almost completely impossible to see the island because of the eerie sphere of pearly white matter surrounding it, blocking unwanted access and harm. Strange tendrils of magic seemed to form from the white pearly matter and extended to the ceiling of the cave above, which is the ground underneath Hawthorne. Nanashi, Silial Drakh and Ephemer each used their own magical power and abilities to successfully complete the ritual and disrupted the barrier enough to pass through it.
After passing through the pearly barrier, they found themselves in a lush jungle. The sun beamed down upon their faces as they gazed about their surroundings, a few clouds providing some occasional shade. The temperature was warm and comfortable. This place would feel like they were on a vacation in an astounding place if it wasn’t from that eerie, pervasive sensation that they were being watched. The party elected to move stealthily through the jungle and to use high ground to scout ahead. Silial Drakh cast the spell pass without a trace and soon noticed that her spell was causing everyone other than her in the area to become poisoned. Luckily for the party, their heroes feast prevented them from suffering any ill effect. After thinking back on the ritual as well as the strange effects to magic, the party realized the Weave had been disrupted in the area because of the ritual.
They would have to deal with the following magical disruptions within a one-mile radius of the disrupted area:
- All teleportation magic is limited to a range of 50 feet. Any attempt to exceed that range causes a magical surge that inflicts 21 (6d6) force damage on the character(s) attempting to teleport, and deposits them at a random within the 50 feet. A successful DC 13 Charisma saving throw negates the damage, but not the teleportation misfire.
- Concentration is more difficult to maintain. Any saving throws made maintain concentration are made with disadvantage.
- Casting abjuration spells or scrying magic may result in erratic and unusual effects
- Invisibility effects are limited to a duration of 1d6 minutes; roll secretly when cast or activated.
While scouting, the party found a group of spellcasters attempting to do some sort of ritual, but seemingly having trouble with it. All of them were clad with pink and purple attires covered with small, expensive looking crystals. After a long moment of hesitation, the party elected to go talk with them. The group of spellcasters are very welcoming and give them the following information:
- They are residents here and have lived here their whole life.
- They believe this place to be the most amazing place and that no other place would be better.
- The ''Shard Master'' is in charge of this place.
- This place goes by the name of Amalgon.
- They live with the rest of their faction that goes by the name of ''The Shard''
- There are sometimes newcomers that are summoned here by the will of the Shard Master who has bestowed upon them the blessing of living in this perfect place.
- They warn the party against ''The Rebels'', they say the Rebels are trying to overthrow the Shard Master and feed lies to everyone else.
- The Rebels lies include the following: there are other worlds that are better than this place, they are prisoner here and are kept here at the will of the Shard Master who doesn't look out for them, but instead just collects them for his own pleasure.
- They say that the Rebels are lying, because this place is better than any other place that could exist and the Shard Master is a benevolent entity that has created a perfect world for them to live in and the Shard Master should be respected and worshiped as a god.
- Most of the Rebels are newcomers that have recently arrived in this place, but they have converted some who have lived here their whole life, which is increasingly worrying.
- The Rebels must be stopped.
Silial agreed to have a make-over and was covered in crystals by the group of spellcasters. Richter and Ephemer each took a crystal, and found them to be mundane after studying them. Nanashi refused to take a crystal. Hiding their suspicions about the group of spellcasters, the party members agreed to follow them to their faction.