Session 65

As Eskall's body fell towards the ground and slowly disintegrated, his soul being absorbed by the Chronicle of the Dead, the book clattered to the ground. Suddenly, Icarus began to feel a strong connection to the book. The party quickly covered the book in cloth to prevent contact, as with the Darkblade, and put it in the Bag of Holding. They then approached the gates, and an Enforcer questioned the party about the conflict, and Dain explained that he had attempted to steal a malevolent artifact from them, and that he had also been banned from entering Mythwell. The Enforcers questioned him about the artifact, and their business, to which Dain replied telling them that he intended to seek help from a wizard at the Ars Aurum Academy to find a way to destroy it. The Enforcer told them that he would need to send an escort with them due to the dangerous nature of the object they were carrying. Dain agreed and they set off for the academy.

Arriving at the academy, Dain inquired at the main desk about Ettrian, being told that he would be found in the Conjuration wing of the academy, and that he was one of the academy's researchers. The party made their way to the Conjuration wing and were greeted by a large library of books and many students studying. Dain searched the crowd and noticed a particularly distinguished gentleman amidst the students speaking with an odd looking Elf. Dain approached and inquired of the man about Ettrian, to which the odd Elf, who introduced himself as Merrick Karm, said that he was seeking the same man. Dain seemed suspicious, but as he couldn't really do anything about Merrick tagging along, decided to follow the distinguished wizard's directions and head upstairs to find Ettrian.

The party arrived upstairs, finding Ettrian's private research room, and found him studying a book. The weary looking man asked about their business and was filled in on the situation regarding the Chronicle. He asked to inspect the item, and Dain obliged, carefully unwrapping and placing the book on the table. Ettrian then used a curious looking pair of goggles that glowed to inspect it, remarking as he did so on the malevolent nature of the book. He made some comments about how artifacts whose power was of this magnitude were beyond his capability to destroy, and said that items with this kind of power usually involve some sort of divine intervention or non-mortal meddling to create, and would require something beyond mortal abilities to destroy. The party wondered if that meant they would need to request the aid of the Seven Sisters, but were told that they should not bother divine beings with this, and Ettrian commented that their best bet would be to cast the book into a Wellspring. He wasn't positive that this would do the trick, because the Sorcerer's Cabal has not been able to safely study the Wellsprings to any great detail yet, but that due to the chaotic nature of the energy in the Wellsprings, it's a safe bet that it would be torn apart by it.

The party returned downstairs, where Dain searched the library and found and purchased a copy of "Elemental Fury: Forging Flames" so he could improve his magic item craft, while Summer spoke with the front desk and inquired about Tabitha, and was pointed to the Transmutation wing. Summer went to the Transmutation wing and found Tabitha asleep over her book in the library -- a familiar sight. Tabitha reminisced with Summer briefly, asking about the party's exploits, and told Summer that she was hard at work over the last year learning magic, but that she had a long way to go. The two parted ways and the party regrouped. They then decided to go do a little shopping…

Everyone headed over to the local magic item shop, "Oops! All Enchantments!", where the shop keeper attempted to sell them on numerous useless and comically silly magic items, before getting frustrated that he was stupid enough to purchase them from the merchant that passed through recently in the first place. The party took notice of a strange woman talking to herself in the shop, and shortly thereafter the woman became frantic, claiming she was looking for her pet viper, who had spotted Cheese and wanted to eat him. Dain located the viper under a shelf eyeing Icarus' shoulder and grabbed it with Mage Hand, handing it back to the woman, who introduced herself as Lavanda. The party briefly conversated with her and learned that she was a member of the Emerald Company who was seeking new work, and she decided to accompany them. Perhaps feeling pity for the man, the party purchased several mundane magic items and continued toward the south gate, intending to leave for Mt. Ardreth in the Great Divide immediately.

Along the way to the south gate, Dain bumped into an old woman who grabbed Dain's arm and whose eyes began to glow before she recited a cryptic verse that didn't seem to make much sense.

However, as she walked away, Dain recalled that he had seen this woman before… in Eldham… where she had told him that the bearer of a certain mark would be his death, referring to Galan, who was disintegrated during the party's first encounter with Adamar. Not sure what to make of this omen, the party journeyed to Mt. Ardreth.

Arriving at Mt. Ardreth, the party made their way up various slopes, narrow ledges, and passageways, nearly being knocked off the mountain by an erupting geyser, with Lavanda nearly falling off a ledge, before settling in for the night, where Merrick witnessed a dark form flying across the sky into the mountain range. The next day, similar perils presented themselves, and the following night, the party got a rude awakening as Summer heard Icarus attempting to stealthily remove the Chronicle of the Dead from the Bag of Holding. She woke the party and Grim grabbed Icarus. However, Icarus managed to mutter an incantation. Dain managed to translate two words -- summon spirit, spoken in Aurum. At this, the ethereal and dark form of Eskall appeared and immediately attacked Grim. A brief battle commenced where Merrick ultimately dispersed Eskall's spirit with a well aimed Guiding Bolt. Following this, Grim knocked Icarus unconscious and Lavanda drugged him to keep him asleep.

The next day, the party began the final ascent, seeing the prismatic mist being emitted from the top of the mountain by the Wellspring. They reached a large clearing just before another steep ascent, at which they heard a loud screech and rocks fell, hitting a few members of the party. The form they had spotted the previous two nights in the sky descended upon them, and the Bone Roc let out an ear shattering screech that put several party members in intense pain.

The Bone Roc then picked Grim up before flying 100 ft. into the sky and attempting to drop him, at which Dain cast Feather Fall, preventing Grim from meeting a painful end. Merrick's powerful radiant magic quickly weakened the Bone Roc enough that it needed to come down, at which point the party dealt it the finishing blows.