Session 138

With the danger having passed, the group took some time to tend to their wounds and stretch. However, Merrick was more concerned with what Andozar may have left behind after he was destroyed, and decided to dive down into the water below to try to locate any potential equipment he may have dropped into the water when he was disintegrated. After hitting the water, he felt his life force being pulled away from him, and frantically began searching the waters. After a moment, he managed to locate a circlet glinting at the bottom of the lake, and grabbed it before ascending and using Misty Step to return to the bridge; huffing and puffing as he felt the exhaustion overtake him. He handed the circlet over to Dain, who took the time to Identify the circlet, realizing that it had the ability to permanently affix a Soulstone to it, allowing a Soulbinder to have an extra spirit at their command which would never fade. Handing the circlet over to Skinner, they decided to head over to Andozar's scrying room to try to find some notes about how to locate Lod'exenter. Inside, next to some open notes on a table, they found what appeared to be a hunk of rock with a metallic sheen; a metal which Dain did not recognize. On a hunch, Dain handed it to Skinner, who believed it may be the metal he had come to the Dreaming Wastes in search of -- Skiantine. After examining the crystal hovering over the scrying pool and realizing Dain didn't really know how to use it, they read Andozar's notes and learned that to locate Lod'exenter, they would need to search for areas of stagnation -- that is, areas in which there was very little to no static Flow, indicating the presence of something either repelling or consuming it. Not knowing how to proceed, they decided to investigate the room across the hall, and after picking the lock, Dain entered and found a sarcophagus, and nothing else. Curious, Dain approached the sarcophagus and pushed the lid to the side, cautiously looking inside and seeing nothing. However, after a moment, Dain heard a hissing noise and began to feel woozy, passing out before he could make it to the door. Startled, the rest of the group backed off, but soon began to hear the same hissing sound and quickly passed out from whatever was inside the sarcophagus. After an unknown amount of time, they were awoken by Tyllaetha, who had with the help of the others dragged them outside of the compound, and informing them that they had been out for over two hours. Apparently while they were out, Sindri had discovered them and used his own magical protections to safely drag them away before spending time trying to wake them. Not wanting to proceed with anything else before resting due to how expended they all were, they decided to rest there outside the compound.

The next morning, they re-entered the compound and Dain used Air Bubble to approach the upper rooms again and protect them from whatever gas had knocked them out. Not wanting to take chances, Merrick used Eldritch Blast to forcefully blast apart the sarcophagus. Entering the scrying room with Tyllaetha and showing her the notes and scrying pool, she began a ritual to try to locate areas of stagnation across Aellorah, eliminating areas which she knew to be Wellspring anomalies that would explain the stagnation, and entirely ignoring Reshyk, as Andozar's notes had indicated "the entire fucking continent is stagnant." Tyllaetha identified five areas that were showing large areas of stagnation that would be of interest, but quickly commented that Mythwell was almost certainly not it, as the world's latest anomaly had made the area extremely hazardous. She said that some of the remnants of the Sorcerer's Cabal had gone to investigate and found that anyone who stayed in the area for too long would enter a coma that they would not awake from. She also eliminated the town of Iscabal in northern Myr as an option, as not only were Letheni universally enslaved in the Rathmore Empire, but magical practices brought a sentence of death there. That left only three candidates -- Fort Elden, Mythward, and Artus. The group decided Artus was unlikely and suggested saving that for last since the other two were closer, and the presence of a stagnant area at Fort Elden concerned them. With this, Tyllaetha decided to depart, saying that she wished to find the remnants of the Sorcerer's Cabal to try to rebuild. The hedge wizards of Artus also came over to say their farewells, with Vargas indicating he had realized how much he still had to learn and wanted to continue his studies in Artus; while Sindri suggested he needed a change of scenery and would travel to the Myrian city of Dolenna; and finally, Mahani said that Artus provided too much temptation due to her addictions, and that she would try to replace her cravings with another by exploring the food of Catarvoss. As the hedge wizards departed, the former Enthralled that the group had rescued also took their leave, acknowledging the group and thanking them for saving them from Andozar's control. Dain offered the three of them 100 gp each to help get back on their feet, a gesture which was greatly appreciated. With all of their allies gone, they decided to get going as well, and made their way to the surface.

On the surface, the group located the Yakan known as Nalath, whom Summer had entrusted to watch Nuggie while they confronted Andozar. Nalath was encouraged to see them again, glad to hear that their second encounter with Andozar had been victorious. They told him of what they had seen in Kethiken Sholar, including traps, and suggested that there might be some items of interest to them down there; but informed Nalath that Adamar had escaped with Lod'exenter. Nalath was frustrated, but commented that he had seen a Letheni emerge from the ruins not long ago before vanishing. Assuming this was Adamar, the group decided to bid Nalath farewell before preparing to depart. The group decided to take their chances and Teleport to Fort Elden, anxious to see what was causing the stagnation there. As they opened the tunnel through Callamus and began to be pulled across the landscape, the tunnel became unstable and diverted them thousands of miles to the northeast. Dain was nervous to see that the tunnel seemed to be fast approaching the city of Nenthafiaran, and was slightly relieved as the tunnel touched down a bit to the east, near the mountains, dropping them off at the entrance of another old fort which they had never seen before. Curious, Dain poked his head around the corner of the gate, smelling smoke. He set his eyes on a small yellow-ish creature scratching its ass and eating something near a fire -- a goblin. Rolling his eyes, the goblin suddenly turned and noticed him, upon which it called out, getting the attention of a number of blue-hued goblins in the fort, which began firing upon Dain. With annoyance, Dain unleashed a Cone of Cold, which froze solid half of the goblins in the fort. However, the blue colored goblins seemed unaffected and continued firing; though this did not last for long, as the rest of the group rapidly brought them down without effort -- a far cry from their humble beginnings just eight years ago. As the fort fell silent, they decided that teleportation would be too risky, and turned their heads towards Merrick, who sighed and cast True Polymorph to become a Roc again. With the group clamoring on top of Merrick's feathered back, he took to the skies and began rapidly flying them toward Fort Elden. About three days later, the group arrived, with Dain warning Tamas ahead of time of their arrival to not send him into a frenzy.

As the group arrived, they filled in Tamas on what they were up to, notifying him that they were finally seeking to deal with Adamar; a fact which amused Tamas, who was surprised they hadn't dealt with him yet. Dain mentioned the goblins in the fort east of Nenthafiaran, but Tamas seemed uninterested, saying that he was not going to travel that far, and there were plenty of goblins near Eldham to take care of. Tamas then informed Dain that the fort had a visitor, and led him to the Forgeborn camps. Upon arriving, Dain was walking towards a tent when he saw a Dwarven face appear from within and regard him before calling out to him -- it was Balvin, his father. Dain seemed confused and asked what he was doing there, and Balvin reminded him that Dain had asked him to check in on the Forgeborn there to try to help them, and that he had been there a few months. He mentioned that he had been investigating the anomaly of the Deliria Forgeborn, who seemed to be afflicted with some sort of mental corruption that led to them saying very strange, sometimes concerning things, in addition to their yellow eyes. As he was explaining this, a Deliria Forgeborn approached and spoke to Dain briefly, saying very odd things, before randomly saying the word "blood" in a very deep synthesized voice, earning raised eyebrows from everyone present, except Balvin who shrugged and said that he had been saying that at least once per day. Balvin said that he had been unable to cleanse whatever was influencing them. Dain took a brief look at the Forgeborn's internal components, but saw no anomalies inside. Dain told Balvin about Maven's influence in Lys' Wellspring, which had led to the dual effect of that eruption, unleashing the Ferroplague, and suggested that perhaps they were somehow afflicted by Maven's corruption. Merrick suggested asking The Deep One about it, but Dain and Summer quickly browbeat him into submission, telling him to not dare. Dain then told Balvin about his mission, and asked if he knew anything about why there was an area of stagnation around Fort Elden. Balvin thought for a moment before raising his head in an "aha!" and unstrapped something from his back -- clearly Runetech. He explained that he had been trying to crack the problem of making Flow Generators portable so he could recharge Flow Cells on the go, but that it took a rather long time to fill even a small Flow Cell, saying he hadn't had much luck in miniaturizing it. As the Deliria Forgeborn continued saying odd things in the background, saying something about blueberries, Skinner called it a blueberry, which earned a stunned reaction of confusion from the Forgeborn, who went silent for a while. Before departing, Balvin confronted Dain about his reputation in Arak, bringing up the fact that he had nearly been arrested because several authorities had believed that he was Dain. Dain uncomfortably tried to diffuse the situation by claiming it was a misunderstanding; but Balvin was having none of it, telling Dain that him blowing up a tavern and killing innocents was no misunderstanding. Dain attempted to deflect responsibility by claiming his wand misfired, but Balvin said he had been using wands since he was a toddler and that was bullshit. Dain got increasingly uncomfortable, and Balvin said that while he didn't expect Dain to turn himself in, he did expect him to take accountability for his actions, and that his excuses were unbecoming of a member of their clan. He also told him not to expect Reshyk or Kantor to provide asylum to protect him from his crimes. The group, satisfied with the explanation for the stagnation there, decided to stop off in Eldham before heading for Mythward, their next candidate, and left.

Arriving on the outskirts of Eldham, the group went for the Dead Goose Inn, hoping perhaps they would find Icarus there, but found the inn abandoned and covered in cobwebs. As they poked their head inside looking for him, a passing Enforcer questioned what they were doing. As the group explained that they were friends of the owner, the Enforcer told them it had been abandoned for long enough that the city was considering selling the building at auction. When the group expressed interest in paying to keep ownership in their hands, the Enforcer mentioned that they would need to visit the statehouse to pay the taxes owed on the property. The Enforcer also seemed to recognize Dain and Summer from their statue in the town center, commenting that it had been defaced by some local teenagers, who had painted Dain's face white and left shit on it. Dain spent some time fixing up the disrepair at the inn before they locked up and decided to pay a quick visit to Reginard. As the arrived at the tavern, the inside sounded rowdy, and Dain popped over to the side for a moment, hoping to find Chandira there, but saw that she was not there. Inside, the group found the tavern lively, with a rare performer drawing attention from the crowd. A woman appeared to be singing for the tavern, with everyone cheering, and as the group found a table and settled in, they found themselves entranced by her performance. Completely enthralled by her voice, they listened for the remainder of her set, ignoring their drinks, until the tavern settled down a bit. They were understandably confused when the woman made her way to their table and sat down, greeting them, and seeming content that she could still draw such a large crowd. The group questioned her, and told her about their travels. She claimed to recognize them from the statue, commenting that Dain looked different without the shit on his face, earning laughs from the rest of the group. The woman was dodgy about who she was, claiming she preferred to draw a crowd organically rather than just because of her name, and seemed dodgy when questioned by the group, making them suspicious. At one point, Dain, thinking it could perhaps be Adamar, even tried to cast Dispel Magic on her; which she simply said was rude before getting up to leave, telling them that she was glad to finally meet them; a phrasing which raised several eyebrows to those paying attention. She wished them well before departing without another word, leaving them feeling confused. However, as they sat there, they began to feel strange -- and felt some sort of power welling up within them, as they realized something inside of them had been unlocked, as they felt new power emerging. They made their way back to the Dead Goose Inn, where they spent the night. The next day, they went shopping for a bit, restocking on diamonds and visiting Giselle at Eldham's Excellent Elixirs, before paying another visit to Reginard. They bought a cask of Frostfire Mead before he mentioned he had been playing around with some new variants of the mead; one spicier, and one more cool and sour. The group each tried the new flavors, finding the spicy variant strong, but interesting. While most found the sour variant interesting and not bad, Skinner seemed to hate it. Reginard called Skinner a bitch for complaining about it, and Skinner became aggressive, challenging Reginard to a drinking contest. The two began drinking, and after a few rounds, Reginard collapsed from the rapid onset of drunkenness that the mead brings out. Dain decided to make his way to the Chapel of the Seven in Eldham to fetch a cleric, where he found none other than Lorrim; the cleric whom had assisted them during the undead outbreak in the city years prior. He seemed to recognize Dain, and agreed to accompany him. He used his magic to cleanse Reginard of his drunkenness, and Dain gave him a donate of 100 gp for his trouble, which he thanked him for. The group helped Reginard sober up before heading out. As the group prepared to head out towards Mythward, Dain made sure to stop by the center plaza, using Prestidigitation to cleanse his statue, before the group made their way outside the city. Outside the city, Merrick transformed Skinner into a Roc, and they flew a bit more than two days to the southeast, landing several miles away from the tower.

Approaching the long abandoned tower, the group found it overgrown with vines and with a partially collapsed roof -- however, the tower appeared to be surrounded by beautiful flowers and deer calmly relaxing. They could see a visual distortion like heat rising from hot stone, and approached cautiously. Summer recognized the flowers and deer as illusory, but was confused when she could not see through it. She cautiously proceeded through the illusory field to the door at the base of the tower, where she inspected it for traps before slowly pushing it open. With the rest of the group joining her, they looked inside and found a doorway on the opposite side with stairs leading downward, and stairs on the sides of the tower leading upward; and not much else. Entering slowly, the room suddenly went dark, putting them on edge. However, after a few moments, the room suddenly lit up as they saw a scene around them -- Eldham. Confused, they noted that they were somewhere in the Market District, but that it looked different. They were put on guard when they saw none other than Adamar ahead, but noticed that he looked younger, and were unnerved to see that he appeared happy. He was traveling with a woman with dark hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a simple red dress. As the two pushed past the group without acknowledgement, they could tell they were speaking to one another, but the words were garbled and unintelligible. The group noticed many more Humans than they had ever seen in Eldham roaming about, and after only a few more moments, the room faded to darkness again; after which, Summer noticed a dark figure moving up the stairway to the side of the room...