Session 103: One Final Dance

Bolvaic, Aisling, and Smolder make their way down the spiral stairs into the basement library beneath the Black Room. The staircase descends a long while as the chamber has vaulted ceilings that are 30 feet above the floor. The spiral staircase is made of iron, and the floor consists of iron plates, with the walls being tall iron sheets welded together. The ceiling has jagged stalactites hanging from it also made of iron. Bolvaic notices that the iron appears to be flaking a bit--a sign that the iron was shaped by hammering or filing without a forge--making it cold-wrought iron. The ticking of the clock and the sound of the bellows are heard in this room, coming from beyond the north wall. On the far west wall appears a sigil drawn onto the floor that is obviously arcane in nature.   The chamber is large and two rows of book cases filled with books run out from east to west in the room. In the far corners of the room, there are two iron golems that click and whirl, coming to life. They appear to be animated like iron golems, but they are made from same flaking metal, making them cold-wrought iron golems. As soon as Bolvaic steps off the stairs, he triggers a glyph of warding that erupts into a fireball, striking him, Aisling, and Smolder. The bookcases block the full view of the room. Bolvaic rushes to the north, heading toward the door he saw in the far north corner. As he charges forward, he intercepts one of the golems, and Smolder encounters the other. Smolder is hit quite hard from the golem's attack, and Bolvaic attacks the golem nearest him. Aisling casts dispel magic on the one golem, causing it to shut down. As Smolder flees the second golem, Aisling casts dispel magic on that one--just as the rest of the party arrive down the stairs.   Prospero teleports into the arcane circle. After seeing that the northern door is locked, Bolvaic charges Prospero. However, he is protected by a 9th level casting of Invulnerability, making him immune to all damage. Illevaere, however, realizes that the spell requires concentration and tells the group to try to break his concentration. Aisling casts Otto's Irrestistable Dance on Prospero, forcing him to dance, though he is able to quickly overcome the effects. An hourglass in the chamber flips over and a Reverse Gravity spell affects most of the party, causing them to fall 30 feet to the ceiling, crashing into the iron spikes above. Both of the unanimated golems crash upwards, with one breaking through the ceiling to fall even further. Prospero causes the clock to chime, inflicting a wave of pestilence on the party, causing Ilbryen, Tertius, Aralmeni, and Smolder to become ill and gain a level of exhaustion. Bolvaic grapples Prospero and forces him to drink a vial of Purple Worm venom, but his spell makes him immune to the effect. Illevaere gets in closer and forces him to drink from their chalice, attempting to inflict disease uppon him. Levi changes form into a bear and moves to the edge of the reverse gravity area, falling 30 feet directly onto Bolvaic and Prospero. While Prospero is not damaged from the bear, his concentration is broken, meaning he is susceptible to damage once again.   Panicked, he misty steps away from Bolvaic's grasp and then teleports out of the library. Smolder casts knock on the northern door and Bolvaic hurries through, setting off another fireball glyph that injures him and Smolder.   They find the base of the Great Clock. Massive iron cogs and gears run with an electrical current zapping in flashes between two conduits in a rhythmic beat. But all of this mechanical workings seems to operate around a being. Laying on an iron slab is a gnoll-like creature, but obviously fey. He is strapped down on the slab and his body is flayed and his chest is cut open and spread wide, exposed for all to see. A metal rod runs through the being's exposed heart that is somehow still beating. Each beat turns the rod once which pushes a gear in place making the ticking of the clock. You see that the bellows, rhythmically flowing to keep the clockwork moving precisely are, in fact, this creature's lung, filling and releasing pained breaths of air.   Bolvaic is able to break the clock from here and immediately the wards on the manor house drop.   Meanwhile, those above in the manor see that Prospero has teleported back, but looks desperate when he notices the wards drop. The front door opens--the two guard now laying dead with anguished expressions and red dots of blood on their skin and clothing. Gossamer steps in and, wearing his plague mask and outfit, calls out Prospero who panicked retreats from him as Gossamer follows, addressing Prospero as he follows. He says:   "Your doors were locked, your walls thick with vanity, your halls perfumed against the scent of endings. And yet, here I stand--unbidden, unbarred, unburned. How curious, Prince, how you thought your beauty might outlast decay.   "You dance in defiance of decay, painting over the rot, perfuming the grave. And yet your laughter sounds like flies, and your chandeliers drip with the light of things long dead.   "You call it splendor. I call it suppuration. You name it art. I name it infection. You are the disease here, Prince. You are the rot of mankind.   "I am Gossamer, Voice of the Eldest Oak-- and through me speaks all that grows in ruin. Where you gild the corpse, I let it feed the soil. Where you drown the truth in wine, I let it bloom from the rot beneath your feet.   "You built your fortress against disease, but what you feared was never the plague-- it was the proof that you can die. And so, I come with a gift of mercy, A release from your farce of immortality.   "You wear your mask to defy and hide from contagion. I wear my mask... to spare you from mine."   Gossamer then reached up and grabbed the beak of his plague mask and he slowly pushed it up, removing it, revealing the face that is gaunt and marked. Lichen creeps along his skin and red dots of blood seep from his pores. As he exhales, small spores spill from his breath, infecting the air.   "Do you see now, my prince? This mask is not to keep death out-- it is to keep death in. To keep you safe from me, as I walk through your gilded plague of denial.   "You sealed yourself away from the world's sickness, but you could not lock out time. And now, time has remembered you.   "Your clock has struck its final hour, Prince. It was not I who broke your sanctuary-- you did, the moment you believed beauty could bar the door.   "This is our dance, Prospero. You wished to escape decay... Now learn what it means to be a part of it."   Prospero stumbled back, falling to the floor. Red dots of blood form at his pores, staining his fine clothing and dotting his face. He screamed and writhed with an agony and terror that is visceral. It seems like an eternity. For him, maybe it is. But within minutes, he stopped writhing, eyes no longer closing and his face etched in terror and pain.   The dancers--the guests who have been here before the party have arrived --collapse, their deaths are swifter--having already endured enough agony, but they have been touched and their time to reenter the cycle is here.   With a last sigh, Gossamer lowers the plague mask once again, and once again, keeping the plagues trapped within.   Finding the party, Gossamer explained to Illevaere that the gnoll below is an archfey--Tallowmirth, Earl of the Afterfeast. Using him and bark stolen from the Eldest Oak, Prospero was able to create the clock that protected him, but also created a ward that kept fey of the Court of Blight and the Court of Carrion and Decomposition out. Illevaere asked why they were not told about what the real purpose of the dance was.   Gossamer explained that he knows the purpose of the Festival and what the party wishes to convince them of.--the threat of the Oleander Throne and the All-Father's assentation into divinity. He knows what horrors they do to fey to gain magic and he does not believe that many of the Courts would have cared about the worries personally. But now, they have a vision of what is being done. They have an image of the atrocities they are capable of.   Illevaere said that they still deserved warning, but Gossamer explained that, with warning, many of the Courts would not have attended finding no need to risk themselves, and thus, they would remain ignorant to what is truly happening. Gossamer understood Illevaere's distress, but still felt it was necessary.