Session 136

The party decides to split up so they can cover more ground. Skinner and Summer, along with Sindri and Mahani, decide to divert to the path leading to Andozar's reliquary, the vessel containing his thousands of spirits, in order to free them. Meanwhile, Dain, Merrick, and the rest, decide to proceed to Andozar's sanctum to try to clear the way so they can provide a distraction from Summer and Skinner. Skinner uses his blades to cut the hanging tendrils from the ceiling while the rest jump across, and they hop the gaps to the distant path. When they eventually reach the path, they proceed along a narrow winding path until they eventually come across an area that is overflowing with some kind of gaseous cloud. Given the mushrooms at the edges of the cloud, it seems clear these are spores of some kind. Not wanting to just run in and potentially put their lives in danger, Summer decides to experiment a bit, and pulls out a candle and lights it, pushing it into the cloud, hoping it would ignite the spore cloud. However, not only did it not ignite the spores... but when she pulled the candle back out, the flame had been extinguished. Taking a more volatile approach, Skinner decides to use a charge of Fireball that Dain had put into his Ring of Spell Storing for Skinner to use to try to burn away the spores, and tossed it down the hallway. However, after taking cover for the blast -- it never came. There was no blast, and no flames... no indication anything had happened. They experimented some more using their weapons, noting that the necrotic magic of Skinner's blades and the radiance of Summer's arrows seemed to repel the spores -- but each time, they would simply move to fill the gap after a moment. Summer even held one of the air-producing crystals in her hand and inserted it into the cloud, but noted that the feeling of the soft breeze coming from the crystal stopped the moment it entered the cloud, and resumed once removed. Finally, they had the idea to fashion a sort of "bag" out of two of their cloaks, using Summer's medical sutures and string to stitch them together on 3 sides, making a pocket large enough for the four of them to fit underneath, so that they could move through the cloud without inhaling the spores. They took some time to stitch the cloaks together and got underneath before proceeding into the spore cloud, walking blindly...

Dain and Merrick made their way to the cavern containing Andozar's sanctuary, and once the structure came into view, they saw that there were several large groups of spirits drifting around, protecting the area. They decided to get it over with and attack, and Merrick blasted two of the groups with enough force to send them flying through the walls of the structure. The spirits rushed back as the party closed the distance and they began to fight, with Merrick and Dain taking some heavy hits, and Tyllaetha and Vargas nearly being extinguished completely, as Vargas almost died. However, with persistence, they eventually silenced two of the groups of spirits before Dain unleashed a powerful Lightning Bolt at the third group, followed by Merrick finishing them off with a powerful Eldritch Blast. They took a moment to get their bearings and recover before heading towards the door to the structure. Inside, there seemed to be no trace of the acidic mushrooms that surprised them last time, so Merrick proceeded down the hallway cautiously. However, upon reaching the end, two Enthralled charged him from the sides. Tyllaetha caught up quickly and used Polymorph to turn one of the Enthralled into a sheep. However, a third Enthralled emerged from behind the stairs and blasted the entire group with a Cone of Cold which also hit the Enthralled who had been turned into a sheep, reverting him back to his original form. One of the Enthralled came over to Merrick and began trying to pummel him, getting one good shot in to Merrick's face, cutting off his ability to direct Flow, and his counterpart on the other side of the hallway ran in to meet Dain, missing with a strike before moving to strike with his sword, turning his wrist to strike Dain in the back of the head with the blunt side, stunning him. Merrick decided to take out one of the flasks given to him by Nalath and tossed it at the ground, producing a vapor which seemed to confuse the Enthralled, who stopped for a moment looking stunned. However, they recovered quickly. After exchanging some more blows, the Enthralled Tactician harassing Dain disarmed him before bashing him in the face with his shield and cutting him across the stomach. Merrick hit the Enthralled Languisher with a powerful Eldritch Blast, sending him hurtling into the wall behind him. He then turned to the Tactician and blasted him as well, sending him sailing down the hallway through the open door to the sanctuary. The Enthralled Languisher ran back to Merrick, punching him in a vital area, sending Merrick into shock, making him feel weak, before kicking him down to the ground and pummeling him in the face. Dain, recovering from the blow to the head, ran over to the Languisher and clocked him across the head with Stormsmasher, which seemed to cause the pink light in his eyes to fade, bringing him back to his senses. He asked where he was in confusion, and Dain said there was no time to explain, but that he had been under Andozar's control, and his friends were still trying to kill them. Dain then ran to the Tactician and pummeled him in the head, which he hoped would snap him out of it as well -- and down the hallway, Tyllaetha altered the probability of the Tactician breaking free of Andozar's control, finally breaking him out of it. Finally, Merrick got up and blasted the Evoker against the wall, the shock causing him to break free of Andozar's control. As the three had finally broken free, they began to listen as the party explained what had happened to them...

Back in the vault, Summer, Skinner, and the others, walked blindly down the corridor without issue until they saw no more spores beneath the opening of the cloak. They decided to throw the cloak bag off of them, and were immediately met with a sight that caused their stomachs to drop. Before them in the cavern were dozens... no, hundreds of spirits, wandering aimlessly back and forth. In the distance up a platform, they could see a glass dome encasing a large hunk of Acroniten that was banded in gold, with necrotic energy swirling around it. Off to the right, they could see what appeared to be an altar with a crystal on top of it, and the two wizards from Artus said they could FEEL the crystal pulling all of the Flow out of the room, and said the room was stagnant. Not wanting to deal with so many spirits, Summer began to skulk around the room, making her way along the edges and using her anklet to teleport behind the altar for the crystal, and making her way to the dome containing the Acroniten. She took out a glass cutter from her thieve's tools and began to try to cut a hole in the glass. However, after some time, she realized the blade on the glass cutter wasn't long enough to make it all the way through the glass. Skinner made his way along the edges of the cavern to join her, and Skinner had the idea to cut several 'X' shapes on the glass to weaken it so he could bash it open. Summer got to work, and made cuts along the glass to form weak spots. Skinner began to bash the glass, and upon doing so, drew the attention of the spirits surrounding them. As the spirits began to attack him, he continued to bash the glass, eventually causing it to rupture. He barely had the time to get out of the way as the necrotic energy inside burst out from the hole, nearly liquefying his flesh. Summer then ran in with the second talisman given to them by Runemaster Ormar and put her hand into the swirling necrotic energy, feeling her flesh begin to rot, as she touched the talisman to the hunk of Acroniten and activated it with the command word, 'akator'. The talisman gave off a blinding flash of light as it drew apart the component materials of the giant Soulstone, giving off a blast that shattered the glass of the dome and sent the necrotic energy swirling outward. As the raw Acroniten and a crystalline hunk clattered to the ground, the spirits stopped their assault, and the group looked around to see the spirits looking at them with gratitude, their joy palpable at being released after thousands of years of captivity and servitude. The spirits began to stream away as glowing particles to a place unknown, and the room fell silent. However, after a few moments, Summer and Skinner heard clapping from behind, and turned to see a shimmering form by the altar containing Lod'exenter, which came into focus and revealed none other than Adamar. He greeted them and seemed "hurt" at his granddaughter's refusal of his offer the previous year, suggesting that he had helped them in the past without their knowing of it, referencing a strange old woman who had approached them with prophetic visions twice before which had led them to finding Aubron in the Axalrea Hinterlands. He thanked them for doing the hard work for him, before lifting Lod'exenter and beginning to walk off with it, telling the two to "have fun playing with the corpse". Skinner seemed to want to attack, but Summer convinced him not to, saying that they needed more help to deal with him. Apparently Sindri and Mahani had no such reservations though and tried to attack. However, something around Adamar's neck glowed, and suddenly dozens of illusory copies of him appeared around the room, moving about in random directions. Summer caught a glimpse of the real one exiting the cavern, seeing him walk unprotected through the spore cloud. Unsettled by this, they decided that time was of the essence, and threw the cloak bag over their heads and proceeded through the spore cloud and back to Andozar's sanctuary to rendezvous with the others.

As Summer and Skinner rejoined the group, they decided to take a moment to rest so they could heal their wounds. Summer told Dain the good and bad news, mentioning their encounter with Adamar, but framing it as good news, suggesting that at least Andozar couldn't use it anymore -- however, this didn't comfort Dain, who seemed convinced Adamar may be worse. They took a rest, getting to know the three Enthralled whom they had helped break free of Andozar's control. The Languisher, known as Caden; the Evoker, known as Alvarr; and the Tactician, known as Talon. They had apparently bend under Andozar's control for some seven years, having been captured sometime just after the eruption of Lys' Wellspring which led to the Humans and Letheni gaining the ability to interbreed, creating the Sylvareth. After catching them up on current events, they began to prepare for the battle again, preparing a large Heroes Feast and using defensive spells, and with Skinner beckoning five of his spirits. Dain cast Haste on Skinner, and Tyllaetha told Skinner that he would be vital to the battle ahead, telling him to "open his eye" before casting Foresight on him. Finally, Merrick prepared his Crown of Stars, and they proceed up the stairs to find Andozar. At the top, the three former Enthralled asked what the plan was, and everyone agreed that they, along with the three wizards of Artus, would deal with Andozar's spirits, while the party dealt with Andozar. Walking down the long hallway to the bridge outside, Andozar and Evaryan came into focus at the end of the walkway. Andozar turned, looking haggard; his skin stretched thin and looking more rotted than before. A look of rage on his face, Andozar said he had been preparing for his ascension for thousands of years, and would not be stopped by them. He said he would not permit them to flee this time, saying the chamber had been lined with Zegroniten, the metal known to prevent teleportation, and said that they would serve him eternally. Andozar began beckoning his spirits, and Skinner realized that the ones he chose to beckon were none other than his own tribe members; his mother, father, and cousins. Andozar screeched, and commanded his spirits to attack...