Session 113

Resuming their battle with the Deep Spawn, the group managed to dance around their attacks, avoiding being skewered and burst from the inside by their spikes, with the exception of Merrick, who was pounced on by one of the Deep Spawn. However, he managed to use one of his motes from his Crown of Stars to finish it off, sending it straight through its body, causing it to burn up from the inside from the intense radiant energy. They managed to finish off the Deep Spawn without the threat of the immensely powerful Deepwalker hassling them. However, once they defeated them and the duration of Banishment expired, the Deepwalker re-materialized and roared as it charged Dain after taking hits from his Lightning Bolt and Merrick's Sacred Flame. The Deepwalker again managed to grab Dain with its tongue and dragged him across the room, attempting to get to Merrick. Dain managed to use Misty Step to break free, but the Deepwalker then grabbed Merrick with his tongue and bit down hard, leaving Merrick a bloody mess on the ground. Dain retaliated with another powerful Lightning Bolt as Summer and Moonshadow continued to pelt it with arrows, but finding that their arrows seemed to have very little effect. After a few more traded blows, with the Deepwalker cornering Dain and raking at him with its claws, Summer managed to fell the beast with a well-placed arrow. As the room fell silent, there was a rumbling in the ground and an eerie noise as what appeared to be massive tentacles emerged from the portal the Deep One had opened. The tentacles began to thrash around, hitting the turret from the trial and sending it flying into the opposite wall, where it embedded itself in the wall. The tentacles moved to crush the party, and as they braced themselves for the impact, it… never came. They opened their eyes to see Estrea holding back the tentacles with no effort whatsoever. She simply said "To the stairs. Now. I will deal with him." With that, the party rushed for the stairs as the Deep One's rampage caused some rubble to fall from the ceiling and passed through the door to the final staircase.

Proceeding down the stairs, the party came upon a room with a large pool of glowing water in the center and witnessed Sabine in the center giving off a full-body glow as she began to rise into the air, her body becoming a luminescent form of pure light which became painful to look at.

They heard an arcane hum as Sabine began to Ascend. After a few moments, the light began to dim and they heard a splashing sound. Opening their eyes to look, they saw the waters of the pool rippling, but no signs of Sabine. However, after a few moments, she emerged from the water, gasping for breath, and seemed unable to breathe for a few long moments afterwards despite being above water. Samira told her to try to calm herself, and that it would pass soon. She asked Sabine how she felt, and Sabine, whose eyes were glowing and whose arms were slowly revealing glowing arcane lines of power, said that she felt tingly. Samira said that her power was now fully Ascended, and that it would be like when they first met again, unpredictable, and that she would have to learn how to control it again. Sabine lamented, saying that meditating was boring, before sneezing, which caused a nearby pillar to explode. Samira cautioned Sabine not to use her magic again until they had had time to train her in the use of her new power. Sabine asked the party what happened, and Dain told her that they had managed to dispatch the Deep Spawn, but that the Deep One himself was raging, and said Estrea had appeared to assist. They decided to proceed back to the previous room to see what was going on and if there was a way to get past the Deep One to escape. However, upon reaching the top of the stairs, they saw a massive sandstorm filling the room, and only managed to catch a brief glimpse of Estrea holding her hand out to a figure at the center of the room next to her… another feminine figure with glowing eyes, who took her hand before the sandstorm stopped and they both disappeared. The party, left baffled and confused, decided not to question it and proceeded up the stairs through the previous trials and out to the Blasted Lands. They made their way out of the mountains before getting some rest, then heading back to Odracanath.

Arriving in Odracanath and again being assaulted by the pungent aromas of the many foods available there, the party decided to stop at a tavern to get some food and drink and to rest. While in the tavern, they were approached by an imposing Ettinor who was missing the skin on half of his face, revealing his skull, which had a gem embedded in the eye socket. The man approached Dain after staring him down across the bar and seemed to know who he was based on his heritage and appearance alone, and asked him if he could make him magic items. Dain, confused and put off by the man's direct question, explained that he could, but asked what he wanted. The man, who introduced himself as Skinner, explained that he had ventured to the Dreaming Wastes in order to gather Skiantine, a metal which was said to make the wielder harder to hit, among other things, but he was injured during the journey, hence his face. He wanted the party's assistance to gather Skiantine, and said that he knew someone who could transport them to the Dreaming Wastes. Dain explained their current goal, and said that he'd be happy to help him once they were done curing the Ferroplague. Skinner seemed content with this and joined Dain for a meal. After resting a bit, the party spent the night in the city before heading out the following morning intending to travel to Fort Elden.

As the party traveled the almost two month journey toward Fort Elden, as they were passing Mythwell, they saw a large fire in the distance outside the city walls. As they got closer, they realized the fire was coming from a large pile of bodies, clearly Letheni, who they assumed were victims of the Ferroplague. Several citizens outside the walls seemed to be distressed, pointing at the pyre and screaming at the Enforcers about it. Seeing it as none of their business, the party continued south toward the Bast Wilds. However, as they neared the treeline, they saw a large number of dark figures in the trees waiting for them. As they approached, a lone Letheni man, who introduced himself as Aldunyl, emerged from the trees. He addressed the group, claiming to be an Enforcer from the city of Nenthafiaran, and said that he had a warrant for the arrest of Dain Brawnanvil and Summer Storm, and that he had good information that they were to whom he was speaking. He said they were to accompany him to Nenthafiaran where they would be tried for the murder of 21 innocent civilians in the speakeasy Dain had destroyed in their search for the murder of the girl who had discovered the illegal bootlegging operation. Dain sighed and initially tried to deceive the man by appealing to his perceived ignorance of Dwarves, suggesting he was mistaken and that he was not Dain Brawnanvil, implying perhaps the man thought all Dwarves looked the same. However, the man was resolute and was absolutely certain that Dain was who he was looking for. As tensions mounted, Skinner attempted to intimidate the man into backing off, but was unsuccessful as the mercenaries readied their blades. Skinner, annoyed, threw his large chain blade at Aldunyl, restraining the man with the chains and reeling him in before bashing him in the face. Dain then attempted to unleash several Fireballs into the treeline. Two sorcerers among the mercenaries attempted to counter the spell, but were unsuccessful, and Dain began to cut loose, and Merrick unleashed a Sickening Radiance. However, these mercenaries were not mere grunts and survived the initial explosions, running out from the trees and surrounding the party. Skinner took the brunt of the mercenary's attacks, and Dain, Summer, and Merrick began to fight for their lives. Taking a page out of Sabine's book, Dain cast Polymorph on Merrick, turning him into a Giant Ape, who began to pound the mercenaries into the dirt, flattening two of them like pancakes.

The party reached level 17!