Session 12: Out of the Lair

General Summary

The session began in Melkerech's vault, where the party retrieved the Red Gems after defeating the Clockwork Abomination. Using the gems, they activated a floating platform that revealed a corridor with a golden door flanked by Purple and Green locks. After experimenting with gem combinations to mix colours to Purple and Green, they unlocked the final vault, they also thanks to Bob figured out the treasure was NOT mimics.

The final room contained several legendary artifacts and powerful magical items.

Raiding the vault, they returned to the Melkerech clones, and found out that to finally bind a Harbinger, they must speak specific words with an artifact of the Queen of Thorns and the Harbinger's Power Focus and seal it finally.  They also learned that the Lich in his timeline managed to defeat the Queen of Thorns, and offered to do it again if they freed him. 
Despite this, you decided to leave them trapped in their eternal prisons. The scholar clone raged, the dreamer cried, and the lich had a good chuckle.

Exploring further, the party opened the Orange path with Red/Yellow gem mix, leading to a corridor with a hidden trap, carefully and cleverly found by the party.
Unfortunately Dofaroc ("Bob") jumped on it, sliding down a chute and falling 100 feet into a river, where he nearly drowned. The party heroically jumped down after him and with Misty Step and Wings, and some very lucky rolls, found Bobs body sinking downriver and saved him.
 

After resting and identifying their loot, including the legendary sword Thornbrand, the Crown of Burgess, and other powerful artifacts, they devised a daring plan to climb out of the canyon. Shadow scaled the chasm with a potion of Climbing while the others hid in the Bag of Holding, but nearly suffocated before being pulled out in time. Regrouping, they retraced their steps through the dungeon, and followed the self-same trapped corridor upwards and to the south, where they found a secret door that led to the underground cavern where they fought undead and battled with a rotating statue, now inert.
 

Here, and offering help from above, they met Aunty Mora, an old woman who served tea in her "café." Offering wisdom for "small prices," she revealed critical insights: the Harbingers are extensions of Maeve, the Queen of Thorns, and defeating them risks empowering her further unless their connection is severed. Trading the Crown of Burgess, the party obtained the invocation "Eluain Thaernor Kalastai" to break this link.
Goodboy is the vessel in which Madness moves his consciousness.