Session 83

As the red mist gathers at their feet, the party looks back at the pylon chamber to see blood flowing out of the cauldrons flanking the pylon, which forms into a large humanoid creature made of blood.

They engage the creature and are able to dispatch it without too much difficulty. Afterwards, Dain rushes into the room and quickly smashes the pylon, causing the room to go dark and silent. Afterwards, Summer attempts to pick the lock Seylas closed on them, but is unsuccessful, after which Dain moves in to open it. Moving out into the hallway, they notice it is empty and decide to try to look upstairs for some clue as to where Seylas went, and are surprised when they reach the end of the hallway and everything goes silent. Looking for some clue as to the source of the sudden silence, Summer spots a book lying on the ground that is half sticking out of a wall. Dain picks it up, but can't read it, as it's written in Elvish, but gives it to Merrick, who begins to read it to the group. The book appears to be a journal belonging to Seylas and describes the collapse of Seryndor from his perspective, and it seems to claim that Calantha attempted to kill him when he rushed to Valdor's tower to warn him of the attack by the creature, and then Calantha attacked Valdor. Seylas then woke up in Valdor's laboratory the next day, saved by a contingency spell he had used, and was unable to locate Valdor, and described his trials as he explored the sunken city, looking for survivors and Valdor. He eventually located Valdor hidden behind an illusory wall when he noticed a strange area that was silent and a wall he didn't remember being there, and a prison cell holding Valdor lined with some sort of metal which absorbed his spells -- Eskite. The journal went on to detail Seylas' encounters with Ardnys after discovering that she was alive, but horribly disfigured, transformed into some sort of sea creature through unknown means, and that she was hostile, unable to understand Seylas. He made repeated attempts to get through to her and at one point succeeded when she had a lucid moment, but that she inevitably turned on him. Jumping to recent events, the writings become more erratic and it mentions that Seylas witnessed Calantha using a couple dozen Sahuagin to hoist the wreckage of a ship and begin moving it to the south, making an offhand comment suggesting that Calantha was also in control of the young Kraken. He says that she and the Sahuagin carried it through the barrier, and that this was the confirmation he needed to know that she was in control of it. The final entry then describes his encounter with the party, not knowing what to do, and suggesting that he needed to find a way to get Valdor out of the tower immediately before Calantha was able to reach "Duzen'exak".

Dain, suspicious from the writings, uses Dispel Magic to dispel the silence effect blanketing the area, but isn't able to bring down the illusion. Summer tests the waters by poking her sword through the wall, when they suddenly hear a voice from the other side call out, asking who they were. They proceeded to the other side of the illusory wall, finding a weak, emaciated man on the other side of a gate made of blue-tinted metal, begging them for help.

The man explained that he was the notorious Valdor that they had heard so much about, and confirmed what they had read in Seylas' journal. The party began to fill him in on how they came to be there and about Summer's connection to Calantha, and Valdor filled in the gaps in Seylas' recounting of events. He explained that he had initially attempted to escape the cell using his own magic, but that it would simply be absorbed by the bars and that there was no Flow in the cell for him to use, so he drew upon his own vitality, which severely weakened him, and he has not been able to revitalize himself due to the lack of Flow. He asked the party to bring him a vial of blood from his laboratory, to which they complied, but not before Merrick, suspicious, questioned if Valdor was a vampire. However, he seemed to find this question odd, maybe even a bit comical. He commented that he would normally simply absorb it using his magic, but that desperate times called for desperate measures, and drank the vial. This seemed to bring some color back to his face and revitalize him slightly. Merrick attempted to contact Evaryan, with the party worried for his safety, but got no response. Valdor asked the party to find a way to free him. Dain began working to break away the reinforced stone surrounding the bars using his mason's tools, which took the better part of half a day, nearly breaking his chisels towards the end -- though Summer was able to repair them. He then tied himself to the bars to reach the ceiling and finished the job, which caused the gate to fall over on him, squishing him a bit, but not hurting him too badly. Valdor seemed incredulous at the chance to leave his cell for the first time in more than 13 centuries, and wept after reading Seylas' passages in his journal about Ardnys. He proceeded into his laboratory and absorbed the remaining blood in the cauldrons flanking his altar, reconstituting himself, and telling the party that they should go to Duzen'exak, as it's unlikely that Calantha would still be at Tryn's tower.

The party set out for Duzen'exak, following the city walls to the far side of the city. Along the way, they encountered a group of Sahuagin, which Valdor seemingly paralyzed with a wave of his hand, and then slammed them into the wall like they were nothing. Proceeding to the mountainous area where the group originally found Calantha's cave, in a remote region beyond the mountains, they found a section of the mountain wall that looked flat, and there was an opening to a small chamber.

Entering the chamber, the party found a door with odd runes etched into it that Dain determined were likely meant to ward the door to prevent entry, but that they were inactive, and the door was slightly ajar. Cautiously proceeding into the next room, they found a small cavern passage with glowing crystals softly lighting the way. Along the way, they saw a dark figure leaning against the wall, almost imperceptible. The figure called out to Valdor, chiding him and remarking that she thought the Elixir would be his undoing, not his choice in women. The figure stepped closer to the light and the group initially thought the figure might be a Tabaxi based on her ears, but spotted feminine Humanoid facial features. The figure continued to chastise Valdor for his hubris in creating the Elixir, and bade him to destroy it, saying that if he did so, her "sister" may just consider not throwing him into "The Vortex" when his time comes. As she stepped into the light to walk past the group, Valdor asked who she was, and she seemed offended that he would ask, telling him that he knew exactly who she was and to do as she says. As the figure walked casually out into the ocean, Dain congratulated Valdor on his first meeting with one of the Seven Sisters, which seemed to confuse him -- or rather, perhaps he did not want to acknowledge who it was. Dain confirmed that he believed the figure to be none other than Quen, goddess of the ocean.

Proceeding further into the cavern passage, they found a rock collapse blocking entry into the next chamber. After clearing the rocks, they found Calantha standing near an ornate doorway with Evaryan behind her, several daggers floating around his throat. She wasted no time in dropping the act and getting right to business, telling the party that though she wished she could have gotten some more use out of them, as they made it embarrassingly easy to do so, she needed them to open the next door, which would prevent passage from anyone not in the favor of the Seven Sisters. She said matter-of-factly that if the party did not, she would kill Evaryan. Merrick attempted to use Mislead to sneak up to Evaryan, but Calantha simply stared straight at him as he crept forward, laughing and telling him that if he thought he could sneak past a master of illusion with his meager magic, he was mistaken, and told the party not to try anything stupid, as she had no qualms about simply slaughtering them and using their corpses to open the seal. However, not to be swayed, the party engaged her without a second thought. Calantha immediately snapped her fingers, impaling Evaryan in the throat with the daggers, leaving him dead on the ground. She then summoned several Sahuagin from the outside who began filtering in behind the party. She managed to charm Dain, turning him against Valdor and Dorin. However, this didn't last long, and despite Calantha's powerful magic, she was clearly outnumbered. After attempting one last gambit, using the astonishing power of her enchanted trident, Dain managed to land the killing blow with Stormsmasher, collapsing Calantha's rib cage. After finishing off the remaining Sahuagin, the party scrambled about, trying to figure out if any of them had the resources remaining to revive Evaryan. As they came to the crushing realization that none of them had the available power, they were cursing their failure. However, Valdor moved over to Evaryan's body and placed his hand upon his chest, pouring blood from his own body into Evaryan's wounds, which began to stitch together. Evaryan awoke with a gasp and seemed very confused and dazed, seemingly not even aware that he had died, commenting about a strange dream involving a woman with dark hair in a green dress in a desert -- clearly, a meeting with Estrea. The party decided not to tell him of his death, telling him that he fell and landed on his neck.