Session 121

The mysterious pink-eyed strangers charged the group without a word. However, the group was quick to react, with Dain lighting up the other end of the catwalk with a Fireball and Merrick darkening it with his Maddening Darkness, shrouding the enemies in darkness filled with incomprehensible whispers. Just before the darkness fell, they saw two of the strangers disappear in a flash of green, a trick they had seen employed before which seemed to indicate they had shifted into an adjacent plane. One of the enthralled strangers attempted to pelt the party with an Ice Storm, but not being able to see very well, his aim was off and the group was hardly affected, though the ice on the ground put them off balance. Noticing this, one of the enthralled who had shifted into the Ethereal plane reappeared right next to Dain, taking advantage of his unsure footing and shoving him over the ledge of the catwalk, sending him plummeting to the ground a half mile below. However, Dain was quick to recover, using Dimension Door to teleport back to the catwalk just as he was about to fall out of range. Seeing that this method of disposal was on the table, Skinner quickly grabbed one of the nearby enthralled and hurled him over the side of the catwalk, causing him to drop to his death. Chandira followed by using a spell to blow one of the enthralled who had shifted out of the Ethereal plane off the catwalk after it drained Merrick of his vitality, leaving him withered. During all this, Mahani attempted to run away, not wanting anything to do with the conflict, but Skinner grabbed her and restrained her using his Chains of Soulrending, leaving her struggling while tied to his back. Skinner also attempted to drop the enthralled spellcaster off the catwalk after he refused to answer Skinner's demands for information about their purpose, but the spellcaster immediately teleported back to the catwalk behind Skinner and blasted him and Dain with frost, which hardly affected Skinner, surprising the spellcaster and allowing Skinner to close the distance and finish him off. With only one enthralled remaining, shifting in and out of the Ethereal plane while shanking Dain repeatedly, leaving him bloodied and bruised, the group coordinated their attacks, waiting for her to reappear before blasting her, with Merrick finishing her with a mote from his Crown of Stars, which disintegrated her.

As the group searched through the bodies, collecting their valuables and tossing their bodies off the catwalk, Merrick noticed that the spellcaster was still breathing, barely alive and coughing up blood. However, the pink light in his eyes had gone out. Merrick chose to heal the man, helping him to his feet, and the man began to question what was going on, disoriented. The group told him where he was and the current date, and after thinking for a moment, the man said in horror that it had been 3 years since he last remembered having control over his actions, saying he had been somewhere in Arak before everything went dark. He tried to tell them what had happened when he was dominated, but he began to feel an agonizing pain in his head and doubled over, before seconds later, his head exploded. Dain began to question Mahani, asking what she had gotten herself into, saying that they were after her and he wanted to know why. She was frantic, trying to escape, and refusing to talk, so Dain responded by slapping her. This seemed to anger Skinner, who chastised him for hitting a woman, and they began to argue. But after her revealing that no such people had ever come after her before they showed up, the rest of the group seemed to agree that the enthralled strangers were after them, not her. Dain then very aggressively continued trying to recruit her while arguing with Skinner, and eventually Merrick offered her 1,500 gp in exchange for tagging along with them. This seemed to pique Mahani's curiosity and she agreed. Chandira then said that they needed to round everyone up after getting some rest so they could contact the rest of the Cabal and rendezvous with Tyllaetha. Still riled up from his argument with Dain, Skinner made some cheap shots at Chandira, referring to how stuck up sorcerers of the Cabal seemed to be, and they briefly argued. Afterwards, the group made their way to a nearby inn while Skinner made a quick trip to The Roost to purchase a self-propelled portable glider. Skinner insisted on paying for everyone's rooms, and when he went to check his pockets, found a large sum of gold that Summer had snuck into his pockets the day before. He became annoyed and insisted on dividing this money amongst the group, not wanting a handout, before he went to the nearest orphanage and donated his share to a flabbergasted caretaker.

The next day, the group contacted the other recruits and gathered them outside the Atrautum School of Wizardry and Chandira arrived shortly after, informing them that Tyllaetha and she had been in contact and they were to meet her in Eldham at the Messy Cushion later that day, due to Dain's current status in Mythwell. She said that Tyllaetha had managed to recruit another legendary sorcerer named Anael Loth'luben, whom had single-handedly fought off a large army of undead that had marched on Mythwell after the party had defeated Aubron and his crystal had activated, animating thousands of undead around Arak. Dain seemed nervous about the prospect of working with a necromancer, but prepared for departure, using his Ring of Teleportation to teleport the entire group. They slid through Callamus, snapping out right in front of the Dead Goose Inn, slightly disoriented from the motion. Outside of the Dead Goose, Icarus was there, sweeping. Upon seeing Dain, he made a rude gesture at him and told him if he does that in the future, not to appear in the inn, because he didn't want him breaking any more walls, which annoyed Dain. The group made their way into the city to kill some time while they waited for Tyllaetha, who had some business to wrap up in Mythwell. They made their way to Eldham's Excellent Elixirs to check on the supply, greeting Giselle, who seemed happy to have guests since the Letheni of the city were being reserved about being in public, apparently being concerned about whether the Ferroplague was truly gone. She also mentioned that the Letheni seemed to believe that the Forgeborn were somehow involved in the Ferroplague given the properties of the plague being reminiscent of the Forgeborn, such as the metallization of their skin. The group purchased several specialty potions that Giselle had been tinkering with before taking off to explore the city and see what had changed. In the late afternoon, Chandira stopped in the street and seemed to be mentally elsewhere, and after a few moments informed the group that Tyllaetha had arrived at the Messy Cushion, and they made their way there. Arriving, they opened the door to see the three standing in the center of the room, with a confused and startled Reginard holding a chair up as if about to throw it, screaming about the three who had just teleported into the center of the tavern, with several patrons equally shocked and confused. Dain calmed Reginard down and offered to buy a round of Frostfire Mead for everyone, and Reginard eagerly poured out a mug for everyone. Tyllaetha introduced Anael and suggested they get down to business and discuss plans...