Cruel and spiteful creatures, the first harpy is said to come from a female elf who stumbled upon Sehanine himself in a forest. Sehanine paid her no attention and had departed as quickly as he was noticed. But the elf had fallen in love. She was unable to find him, and fell into a deep sorrow. She cursed the gods for exposing her to such beauty. Her hatred took form and gave her wings, and turned her heart to evil.

That an elf could get so resentful and disgruntled to turn their arms to feathered wings and legs of a bird of prey is ridiculous. Elves fall in love and have highly emotional heartbreaks all of the time, but we never hear about them turning to harpies.

Scholars record that Banshees are elves who lived lives of excess of some kind, and when they perished they continued to live on as dreadful undead creatures. They beautiful yet marred apparitions whose love for their excess continues in their restless afterlife. They dwell in their homes of old, usually in ruins of elven establishments. Given time they drive out all of the other occupants, or kill them, assuming they didn't do either in their former lives already.

To stop a banshee is a boastful claim indeed. The banshee's wail brings their suffering unto their victims, and the wail is often too much for the living to bear.

On my travels we came across forgotten wood-elven cities, and one such had a mirror. My companion picked it up, and looked upon it. I could see in the reflection a gaunt, ghostly face behind him, with glowing eyes. It was reaching towards him. I turned to face it, thinking the reflection was showing me where the real creature was. But nothing was there. When I turned back to my companion, Wilfred I think was his name, the mirror was on the ground, and Wilfred was no where to be seen. I looked for 10 minutes, which is twice the time I promise to any of my guides.

In my nightmares I think of that face in the mirror. I still remember Wilfred's face staring back at me too. The face in the mirror perfectly matches the accounts I could find of the pale and ale-addled folks I could find.

Many rumors exist of such a mirror exist. Some claim it can be a portal to a realm that is a dark mockery of ours called the "Shadowfell" or some such nonsense, and its location is always that of the banshee's domain. A domain locked in permanent pain and suffering. That's right, my friend: Even elves and their offshoots suffer better than you do. Others have said a blade could be forged around a shard of such a mirror, and its cut saps the life out of anything it touches. If one wielded two such blades and rang them together, it would create a splitting sound akin to the wail of a banshee, and to similar deadly effect! Fortunately we do not live in such a world of madness, and no scholar has documented such weapons.

The elves will tell you that eldarin are but a close cousin race like the wood elves are to the high elves, and they change their appearance and demeanor with the seasons. They are said to be much more strongly tied with the fey and share the whimsicalness that comes with it. I've met an eldarin once and it didn't change with the seasons, but every day! The elves come up with such stories, and they make things difficult to get a true account!

Logan didn't fill this out.

In Bel'aheldan, even the peasant class seem to be tied with some magic. They have the floors swept with unmanned brooms, and clean clothes of their masters with but a thought.

They call themselves the high elves - one presumes because they are so arrogant - and seem to universally display an affinity to the use of magical spells.

The nation of Bel'aheldan itself carries with it a mission to use magic for the betterment of all, and rid of us the need for manual labors and petty chores. But they don't understand that summoned food and water can never beat finely aged wine. Cleaning clothing is more than washing - it is restoring the original lift to the clothes! What magic makes a collar carry the flare of knowing a servant has poured their love of the craft and even the love of their master into it? I still miss Wilfred's attention to detail. But I digress.

When they aren't trying to foolishly rid themselves of the peasantry, they collectively apply magic to create wondrous infrastructure. It is said that even the small villages of Bel'aheldan harbor portals to Cendwar in the event of some catastrophic emergency.

Troops carry medallions that notify their generals of death of the troops from afar. The troops themselves can also be signaled for withdrawal with the medallions. The medallion changes from a gentle blue to a deep yellow when the troop is being summoned. It is no surprise that the elven army calls their troops "Bel'heldin" - roughly "sky-fighters" in the common tongue, and the generals are "Val'Genier", or "seeing suns".

If "Bel'heldin" sounds familiar to you, it is because "Bel'aheldan" itself translates into common as "People of the sky", "Moon shone ones", or "Star children" depending on the inflection.

The high elves tend to decorate themselves with feathers and moon stone. To be high elf of Bel'aheldan is to be elevated, wise, connected with the weave which is the essence of the world, and most of all it's easy to hold your nose up to the rest of us.

Bel'aheldan have houses devoted to the various schools of magic, and some houses whose specialty is either divine or of some non-scholastic arcane source. Houses can be thought of as loose affiliations of families who share interest in the same sorts of discoveries. The reality is much more complex than that, but it's a good place to start. Houses all must devote a share of their populace to guard or patrol duty. The most common patrols are for Tentaku to keep the orcs from making incursions. The patrols themselves can address small amounts of orcs on their own, but anything larger and they call upon the Bel'heldin. Contributing to army functions are a way for a house lacking in magical accomplishments to earn some prestige. In the past, the less prestigious houses were underrepresented in Bel'aheldanii affairs, and so houses resorted to toxic extremes to earn recognition and therefore power amongst their peers.

Today, Bel'aheldan ensures that all houses can only go so far with their prestige. Instead prestigious positions are managed by multiple houses, and a house may only have so many dignitaries.

The Bel'aheldanii do not covet magical knowledge for their sole use, and freely share it. Some of the best dwarven architects are known to study a great deal amongst these elves. This is so they can use enchanted materials to do more with their structures.

In its darker times, there was less regulation on what kinds of magics were studied, and houses contended more fiercely for honor and recognition amongst their ranks. The combination of these things has led to Bel'aheldan's greatest disasters - such as fiendish incursions and a nation-wide spell cast upon every citizen within its borders.

Exploration of the weave is kept in check today as well. Magical studies require researchers from at least three houses are participating in the study.

The chief export of Bel'aheldan is magic - in a sense. Wizards can be chartered to perform great magical acts, give advice on arcane matters, create magical artifacts, and some suggest the capture and storage of weapons too powerful for individuals or even nations to responsibly bear.

In turn Bel'aheldan seeks magics to supplement their own arts. The state itself pays handsomely for moonstone. Officials whisper when there is enough moonstone accumulated to have a statue of every high elf, all the high elves will depart the realm and take on a new form that is one of raw magic, and they shall live in the weave itself.

Minheimia is a beautiful land with lush grasslands broken by dense forests with proud trees. Spire Fur trees grow to enormous heights and cast out wide branches. Much of the forests, including the capital of Kep Aelar itself, are covered by a canopy that leaves everything dark, like a deep overcast without the gloom. At least most of the time. Some places in those forests instill some primal fear - like every branch is an outreached arm, and every shadow conceals eyes that stare upon you with dreadful malice.

Even the mountains to Minheimia's eastern side are covered in lush plant life. The Ring River between Minheimia and Nomasgard is said to look like moving glass.

In my travels, I never found a farm of any kind. No fields, no fenced areas, and no obviously domesticated animals. The Minheimians truly live in harmony with the land.

The primary armed forces in Minheimia are their scout-trackers, and naturalists. The scout-trackers are said to do sniper duty - killing enemy leaders and sending armies into disarray - all without being caught. The naturalists command nature itself to lash out at their foes. Imagine grass tickling an armored army! Ridiculous!

Every structure in Minheimia looks like a stone ruin. Half made buildings with no roofs - sometimes they have more complicated configurations, but all of them share a sense of exposure and a deep lack of privacy. The wood elves are an open people and either sleep under the stars or the trees. Some have dirt or leaf litter for flooring. Generally if some elves want a private conversation, they either go for a walk or write in the dirt to one another.

One structure of note is the arena of Kep Aelar, which suggests a savage side to the wood elves, in keeping with their close bond to nature.

Logan didn't fill this out. Later!

The tribes people of Eglastan share a few things in common and one of them is their intuition. Leaning on that rather than research and scholarly pursuits, they pass their knowledge down in spoken form. The tribes people have a fair amount of literacy, but they treat it more as a vocation. They use the written word mostly for poetry. A more practical use of their writing is to

One such war was fought mostly underground - the dwarves had dug their tunnels far into Vyxtian territory and they happened upon preserved dragon hordes from ancient times. The dwarves had pilfered much by the time the horde-guards had spotted them. The Vyxt do not act kindly when one uses a pick to pry the gemstones out of their history. While the dwarves were in their primary terrain, the dragonborn were fighting with a cause they felt righteous. The dwarves were beaten back and they left empty handed. Today there is a treaty in place declaring clearly that the borders between the two extend underground as well. Maps have been drawn showing such caverns. Though one expects such boundaries are hard to enforce, and a dwarf would be a fool to call out for Vyxtian guards upon arriving in a large dragon horde and the owner nowhere to be seen.

Long ago, Cyorro was duped by a clever dragon into laying siege to an area of worthless sand in Vyxt territory. The dragonborn didn't put up much of a fight for that area, and lost much territory in this process. Today Cyorro has offered some of that land back in reparation, but the spoils are gone forever - probably hidden near the basements and attics of many a warrior's inheritors. Legend has it that the dragon sought a dark green orb with power to bring back the dead or capture souls for strange and mostly unknown soul magic. I just wish I could blame a crafty green dragon for anything the dragonborn authorities didn't like!

Across the Valiant Sea, Nomasgard is the closest sea-based state to Vyxt, and much trading is done there instead of traversing Glintstrad - depending on where the good are coming from. Nomasgard, Glintstrad, and Vyxt all donate a pool of patrol fleets, which are even cross-staffed between the nations of Nomasgard and Glintstrad. Still, Vyxt keeps a navy of its own. Self sufficiency is vital to the dragonborn, and they view slavery in many forms - alliances and politics potentially being another kind.

Dragonborn pirates operate large vessels instead of smaller and faster ones. They are escorted by a convoy and while they can't always catch trade ships, they can corral their victims or even take on lightly guarded trade ships. The navies usually can only track such ships from their smaller reconnaissance vessels. Any good dragonborn captain will have a sorcerer onboard to hide its location or even completely relocate the ship. This keeps the pirates at large and still having much larger ships for large hauls and a sort of base of operations from which other pirates strike out.

It is said an order of dragonborn is maintained who seek wizardry from the elves of Bel'aheldan. Not all dragonborn can easily harness their dragonic heritage for sorcerous powers. However, the costs of such a journey for an individual are many, especially for a lone trip. Typically only the nobility can afford the trips, let alone the steep costs of such tutelage. These warrior-wizards are said to be represented in every clan - a way of stating that the dragonborn embrace their draconic heritage by choice rather than necessity.

Maia helped Silks complete his bounty. Maia accepted the summons to Monrithton. Silks stole a Nabe's verifier seal, and gave it to Vaux. The party got along well. They encountered a poorly set goblin ambush. They'd invited the goblins out for food and they believed it. But once they saw the party, they knew what was going on.

Maia's gold was stolen with a debit on his ledger indicating "goblins". The party placed a trap for the goblins, and found out how they were stealing - they were using painted wooden cut-outs of nearby objects to hide behind! The goblins escaped, but one was captured that goes by the name of "Grot".

Grot says he went to the goblin sneaky school and spent a sizable amount of money (wooden currency) on it. He says the goblins steal metal currency and give it to their goblin king in exchange for wooden currency, because metal currency has no value among goblins.

The party went off the beaten path with Grot and found the goblin camp. It's fortified, guarded, and it's home to hundreds of goblins.

The party infiltrated the goblin camp, unseated Flabbergas as the goblin king, and installed Grot as the new goblin king. The family was saved, the money from the trip was returned, and the party pocketed a decent amount of gold in the process.

The party reached level 3 at the end.

The party continued to Monrithon. They encountered Cylge Ironsworth, a fellow servant of the Circle of Piety. Cylge had heard of Maia via reputation, and told them about the murder of the constable in the town. He also stated the road has been safe so far and wanted to know if it was safe going the other way. The party warned about potential dangers but that things were otherwise safe. Clyge and the party continued their separate ways.

A small, painted wooden flower was seen planted on the side of the road. Suspecting a potential goblin attack, the party left behind the family they'd saved (under the guise that they needed to pick up the pace to meet their deadline) and pushed faster towards Monrithon. They even traveled through the night, found more wooden flowers, and pushed on through morning.

The party then encountered a gray door in the middle of the road. The door opened to reveal one Billy the Gray (or Billy Gray as his friends call him). He described himself as a traveling salesman of magical wares. The party declined seeing any goods in his shop. Billy Gray gave out two blue sapphires to the party to summon him, should the party ever change their mind. The party left, and later threw the sapphires into the grasslands.

The party then arrived in Monrithon. Vaux and Venn went drinking. Maia and Silks performed the Witness of the Dead on the constable, and witnessed the constable being murdered by Venn.

The session ended just as the witnessing was complete.

Venn passed out in a drinking competition with Vaux.

After the witnessing, Maia and Silks attempted to get a handle on the situation with witnessing Venn perform the murder. It didn't go well with acting constable Cabby. Cabby called a guard and wanted to bring them in for questioning, but the party insisted they would better investigate on their own. What was going in for questioning turned into arrest, and the party gave the constabulary the slip. Maia made it to the temple and reported the witnessing and the exchange with the acting constable.

Vaux and Silks met up, and went to the dive bar in town. They rented a private room and discussed plans/ideas. A message was delivered to their door. It included the cost of renting the room. Eventually they came out, and saw a half-orc sitting alone in the bottom bar area. The half orc tossed a sack of money to them, and said his employer apologizes for their unwitting involvement as a scapegoat, but also claimed it was a heft reimbursement. Also don't come back, to keep things tidy. Vaux and Silks refused to take the money, and left. Outside they eventually saw a dead body that was dumped in the street - the same half orc they saw in the bar minutes ago.

Maia attempted to wake up Venn to no avail. Begrudgingly, he left Venn, but did his best to help Venn be hidden.

Silks departed the city.

Vaux slipped into Maia's room and they synced up. They spent the night in the temple. Upon waking (late in the morning), the temple had already worked out an understanding with the constabulary. Maia and associates (but not Venn) were to be pardoned but were to leave immediately. Separately, the temple of Pelor had a casket to send back to Wentroad, and Maia's escort detail saves them some resources. So they all go back together with the casket and Acolyte Femriel Moonstaff - the priest that had accompanied Maia to the witnessing in the first place.

Silks found some sapphires in the wild, but passed them up. Will we ever hear from Silks again? Who knows.

The party (just Vaux and Maia) were leaving Monrithton. As the stable boy was handing over the reigns to the horses, a zombie bit the boy. Zombies had also breached the gates and were flooding in. Vaux and Maia began dispatching them.

Femriel called for the guards. The alarm sounded.

Venn had been stuffed in a coffin nailed to the underside of the wagon. He broke out, took in the scene quickly, and began to fight with Vaux and Maia.

Gearion (spelling?) heard the commotion and joined in defending against the zombie attack. Gearion saved the stable boy.

The guards (and later, Caddy) eventually showed up to lend a hand.

Just when the last door to the gate was about to close, a zombie ogre forced it open, killing a guard and hurting another. Everyone focused on the ogre. The ogre, seemingly talking as if a puppet master were pulling it's strings. The ogre demanded to know who their champion was.

The goblins appeared to fire a volley of arrows at the ogre zombie. They departed after Venn finished the ogre.

With no more zombies left, and Venn having entered a rage, he began to attack everyone around him. A guard was injured (and later healed), and Vaux was incapacitated. Eventually Venn collapsed of exhaustion.

Caddy demanded that Venn be kept in shackles under the watch of the party until they left. Gearion and her argued about it for a bit, and it was decided that the party sleep in the jail that night. Caddy accommodated as best she could.

In the morning, Caddy met with the party on their way out. She mentioned that the guards at the watch posts were killed, which probably explains how they got past the front gate. She's doubling the watch.

Caddy also mentioned how the local church of Pelor had given her some information from confessions that deflected guilt on Venn and helped explain some other things. There is definitely a crime ring they are hunting down.

Caddy told Venn they have had a fellow guard with a similar trauma and unfortunately they had to put him down, but they really wish it turned out differently. She did not require shackles to leave the town, but did escort Venn.

Gearig and Venn visited Billy Gray, whose shop appeared to be setup in Monrithon. Billy Gray gave them amber calling stones. The party offered their services to Billy Gray. The arcanist offered a job to collect basilisk eggs. The party agreed. Caddy led them to Hogar, a half-giant, exiled Egalstan tribesman who lived just outside of town in a hut on a hill. They paid Hogar a fee to guide them to the cave, and haul one of the statues out in the event they were both petrified. Hogar also gave them some ointment that the basilisk would not like the smell of.

Hogar helped lure a deer near the cave and trap it. Gearig assisted in guiding the deer into the trap. Once the deer was trapped, the basilisk came out, petrified the deer, and began to feast on its stone form.

Gearig gave a covering illusion to Venn, who snuck into the cave. Venn lit a torch. Its sound was loud enough to attract the attention of the basilisk. Gearig distracted the basilisk away with his magic, but the now-alert basilisk found Gearig and began to petrify him.

Inside, Venn found two humanoid statues and six basilisk eggs. He pocketed the eggs and came out of the cave to find the basilisk was engaged with Gearig's familiar.

Venn managed to sneak up on the basilisk and grapple it. Between Venn's fists and Gearig's magic, the basilisk was quickly defeated. Hogar had earlier stated he'd prefer the basilisk weren't killed because of its economic value. The party killed the basilisk anyways, and Hogar was witness to it. Hogar understood the need to defend themselves, and heard about the other statues. He agreed with their call.

The party summoned Billy Gray's door, and they brought the basilisk body through, along with the statues.

Billy Gray gave the party 1200 for the eggs (200 each), and 500 for the basilisk carcass. He promised to use some of the remains to produce an oil to cure petrification from the victims, and gave an egg to Hogar to go raising basilisks for basilisk eggs.

The party expressed interest in meeting the victims.

Billy Gray also offered a 10% discount on future wares.

Venn requested a night vision eye patch.

The party signed up to help Cabby out with a serious crime issue in Monrithon. Maia was very driven to get to the bottom of this, as it threw some serious doubt into the service Maia had been performing for so long.

Another witnessing was done for a recent murder. This time it was Maia who was the murderer, or so it would seem.

One of the avenues was the stable boy - the same one who was saved during the fight at the Monrithon gate. The stable boy didn't want to say much, and was in serious fear for his life. The boy did give up a name: The Soiled Goat.

The Soiled Goat was actually the Spoiled Goat but the P fell to the side and nobody bothered to repair it. This place was said to house the ring leader of the criminal activity in Monrithon.

The party snuck inside through a back tunnel. They found a room where someone had been practicing handwriting, and a series of trophies on display of various objects whose shared value was unclear. From there they found the room ran into the basement of the Soiled Goat.

Paranoia ran rampant. Allies tested each other. Nothing could be trusted.

And then Cabby with a couple of guards entered through the front of the Soiled Goat, with a determined look and hands on pommels of their weapons.

The party entered the Soiled Goat to find Cabby and her guards bound and on their knees. The glint of crossbow quarrels came from the dark, raised walkways in the tavern. Other crossbows were aimed at them from across the tavern. It was impossible to tell which Cabby was the right one.

The fight was challenging but overall the party were able to dispatch the archers. It was only when the shapeshifter revealed themselves that things got very difficult. The shapeshifter used a blowgun to teleport next to Venn and hurt him really badly - almost bringing him down in a single set of swings. The shapeshifter then turned into Venn and they spun in position - making it difficult to tell the two apart.

When Vaux passed what he thought was the right Venn, that Venn attacked and brought Vaux down. This sent Venn into a rampage. Maia's healing magic was particularly effective while Vaux was at death's door. The rampage was the one thing the shapeshifter hadn't counted on. Venn struck back with a terrible vengeance. The shapeshifter fled by jumping out a window, and almost made it. But Venn grabbed one of the archers and jumped out and landed on the shapeshifter, killing them.

After the fight, the party showed Cabby the shapeshifter's trophy/planning room. The party spent some time investigating the ruby encrusted knife there. Other objects suggested less of utility and more of some memorabilia or objects representing prior conquests through subterfuge and guile. Cabby mentioned that the party can have anything from this that they want given her people get to catalog everything and potentially return possessions to their rightful owners. She also mentioned that the objects here are highly suggestive that the shapeshifter had many people under his thumb - threats of killing loved ones or exposing seemingly damning truths.

The knife in particular is thought to be from a Drow priestess of Lolth (Lolth being the evil deity of spiders and lies). The knife's rubies make a symbolic hourglass like that of a black widow, and the hilt has etched into it a eight pointed star with a web motif (which is Lolth's symbol). Commonly these knifes are used for sacrifices. Drow society is one of a matriarchy - women run the noble houses and anything resembling a station of office. They are favored by Lolth and thus are the only ones who can channel her divine power. Males are very much second class citizens. Every male born beyond the third is given as sacrifice to Lolth upon birth, and this knife has probably ended several infants.

Drow magical items are known for their potency over ordinary magical items. However when these items are exposed to sunlight, their magic is permanently stripped. The only recorded instance of the magic returning is during Valan Sque - which is a scant 2-3 months away.

Two daggers were found on the shapeshifter, and the blow gun and beads used for teleportation.

Cabby said there was a bounty for this she'd promised, which will be awarded after her, her guards, and the party have all had a chance to rest and calm the nerves. She asked the party stick around for a couple of days. There is a body to be returned to the Circle of Piety. The party may wish to speak to Femriel Moonstaff - the one charged with bringing the body back, to let him know of the final delay.

The party found a teddy bear that was facing Vaux, just sitting out in the market area. How it got there was not discovered.

Human finger hanging from it.

Human skull inside.

Send me your champion. Find me in Lake Fortune or I will turn the villages there.

A group of refugees came in from outside. These weren't the normal migratory peoples coming in from rural areas, seeking shelter for Sque Valan.

While they lined up outside of Tasty Tubes and Leaves, one of them tried to take food out-of-turn. This is when the heroes noticed the green liver spots on the refugees. The potential food-thief had quite a lot of coverage on their skin compared to others.

The food thief was pushed aside, but once denied food, their spots grew, and suddenly skin rotted. What rose was not a creature deprived of food and thus temporarily robbed of their humanity. This creature had crossed the threshold of life into death.

The risen creature attacked the person who'd shoved them aside and bit them. Fortunately Cabby and some guards were on site already having a chat with the two heroes. They pulled the zombie aside and tried to deal with them.

The eater's condition was magically cured.

The heroes quickly realized that certain members of the refugees were in different stages of development with their liver spots, but each were advancing. Airy and Armsley were set to task to cooking more food. There were some challenges and shoving, but ultimately everyone who wasn't magically cured were fed. It was then noticed that the food seemed to postpone the liver-spot development but was not a cure. Help was sent for and found. Supplies from the tavern were sent for, as well as ale from the Soiled Goat. Cabby was found to be among the infected.

The healer at the temple responded to the summons and went to work on the refugees. The process was slow - taking around 10 minutes per cured person. Meanwhile the disease (or curse) continued to advance. Food supplies from the cart quickly ran out, and food from the tavern was quickly eaten into. The helpers had to be careful about who was dispatched and how many, because touch seemed to spread the disease instantly. Eventually all that was left was the ale, and everyone had to drink. Even the heroes got infected. The heroes, Cabby, and remaining refugees had to drink quite a bit. Small amounts of nasty tasting rations were choked down (and one time brought back up). Some folks passed out. One almost stumbled into the well - a disaster averted with a quick sleep spell.

Many would have hangovers, but aside from the initial victim, everyone had survived and the refugees and helpers alike all cured.

The party learned that the refugees are from a remote town halfway between Lake Fortune and the Monrithon called Solvost. Through a witnessing, the party saw a robed figure with deathly hands provide a child with a coin and asked to toss it in the well. The coin carried with it a cursed disease. Those that drank from the well soon perished, or otherwise carried the disease long enough to reach the Monrithon.

Cabby gave the heroes a reward for helping the refugees. Food for the food cart was restocked.

The party set out to Solvost. On the final night's camp, they found themselves being approached from all sides but one. The number of figures and what they are is unknown.

The party's camp was attacked for almost all sides. Darkness made it very difficult to see but with some dancing lights, it was revealed that these were skeletons and zombies. The party was able to successfully dispatch them, but lost a horse in the process. Stickers of Weapon Dazzling were used for sources of light in the fight as well. The party was able to complete their rest.

A call was made for Billy the Gray for resupplies of materials components needed to bring Armsly back. No additional items were purchased, but some folks have their eyes on some items.

The heroes entered the village of Solvost. There was a silence that was more than eerie. With no commotion, no sound of wildlife or bird song, every sound seemed agonizingly loud.

The party found a dead horse, killed by the disease. Peasant housing had empty, unmade beds. General goods with a relatively short shelf life had spoiled. The blacksmith forge had evidence of recent use. All of the weapon and tool racks were empty. Ingots were no where to be found.

The well was observed to be desecrated.

Upon approaching the well, two ranks of skeletons approached and attacked. Each one was accompanied by a spell casting version of some kind that could blast through its allies (unharmed) and hit multiple victims in a line.

The skeletons were quickly dispatched, though one of the spell casting undead ran away.

A heavily armored, undead dragonborn approached the party, claiming they would make a fine sacrifice as champions. He claimed to desire to test them further, and came in for the attack. His swings leveled buildings, but were very telegraphed. His armor and unnatural toughness made him withstand a lot of punishment. He was critically wounded, and upon doing so sprouted wings and left. The party was unable to finish him off.

The well was cleansed with holy water. The holy water also purified the coin at the bottom of the well (which was retrieved).

The party camped out in the small town shrine.

And gained a level! (6)

The party departed Solvost to Lake Fortune. Not long after they got out of the town center did they find a blast mark on the road, with bodies next to it. The bodies appeared to be zombies that were destroyed, and not the deaths of peasants.

Another was found up a hillside at the beginning of a corn field. This one had no bodies. The party found a sign that said "Closed for the Evening". It was dripping a kind of fluidic wood. Erich went to collect a sample and found the sign was actually an illusion. A corn stalk started talking to them.

Meanwhile, back at the carts, Ella started hearing a "Wait what are you doing? That's too close!" sound that kept repeating itself. It was later discovered to be a Minor Illusion spell, set on repeat.

When later revisited, the corn stalk was no longer animated. But a nearby pumpkin was.

The horses' legs turned into large bird legs. Erich's feet turned into sandwiches (and well made ones, at that). Vaux's feathers started turning into bacon. Via the pumpkin, the party learned it was Riccard who was causing this, though not deliberately. And it was progressively getting worse. The belongings in the cart all turned into bananas, and Maia became a giant banana.

The party headed back to the corn field, and with the corn stalk's help (it was back), they made their way through. In the barn on the other side, hundreds of doves flew out of the door. On the inside was a tiny black sphere in the middle of the barn. Small bits of hay were getting sucked into it. They disappeared. The sphere increased in size every time this happened, but only by a little bit.

The party decided to leave that be, and sought out on of the peasant houses for the farm. The corn stalk Ella kindly removed and repotted helped them find it. When they came up to it, the little house sprouted gigantic legs (Babba Yabba style) and walked off. What was left behind was a very confused Riccard.

Riccard declared he couldn't control his wild magic anymore. He'd resisted the poison but lost his ability to restrain the wild magic. He kept accidentally cast spellings. He vomited out brooms that made attacks. Some of his spells were cut short by Erich. Vaux was clever enough to pad an arrow and shoot it at Riccard in an attempt to disable him. Ella tried to cure any diseases or poisons he had, but it didn't work and instead they were teleported on the other side of the area, where the party learned the sphere had grown into gigantic amounts, and was still growing. It was bearing down on them quickly.

The final blow to Riccard allowed him to linger enough to say it's best this way. He coughed up a perfect pancake, and expired. The sphere consumed him, and then shrunk to nothingness. Erich's feat were restored. The pumpkin was back, and mentioned it was going to explode. It has a sliver of Riccard's consciousness and implored the party that Riccard had to make that sacrifice or it would've been devastating. It also said it needed to explode. It did, and covered the entire area with a ridiculous amount of pumpkin guts. But with it, the party was now imbued with a new power.

Upon returning to the carts, the horses had normal legs and all of the bananas were now normal things again.

The party gained one level in Sorcerer!

After recovering from their ordeal with Riccard's wild magic, the party set out once again for Lake Fortune.

Maia raised some suspicions about Billy the Gray. Extra suspiciously, his door appeared before the party. Smoke was coming out. Billy the Gray was having some trouble. He was building a basilisk catching magic item in haste and some part of the construction exploded into magical smoke. He was trying to get a basilisk that prematurely hatched and ran to the basement.

Billy explained that he'd like to get the basilisk back, cure the last set of people who he sent to go get them. He explained he isn't the "capable" type but since friends-of-the-party had done such a great job before, he figured the party could handle this task. He offered 2000gp for the endeavor and the party haggled up to include a 15% discount on all future goods. He gave the party a series of remove petrification potions.

Billy also threw in that he'd love to know the whereabouts of his pet dragon, Filbert, who was last seen fleeing to the basement long ago.

The party rested up, with some of them trying out Billy's new Billy Bunk - a magical bed-roll that allows for creates to sleep in an individualized, sensory deprivation tank kind of space.

The party agreed, and descended.

Some things the party encountered, in no particular order:

1. A room with "discount" healing potions and a pair of boxing gloves. The boxing gloves animated and attacked the party! It was dispatched quickly. The room had a closet on the far side. A loose stone in the closet wall was removed, and the party got a glimpse of what the outside of the discount realm looked like: rolling hills of gold coins, and gold coins raining from the sky. The placed the stone back into its place.
2. A door was opened and a mound of gold coins spilled out. There's no visible end to this gold. The door is now forced open and cannot be closed without clearing the gold out.
3. Another room was found - large, with a span of over 100 feet across. It was packed with small spheres, all uniform and varied, solid colors. They were the size of grapefruit. Ella tried going in but quickly sunk - the spheres were very light and moved out of the way. No bottom was found. Ella was able to get out with the party assisting with a rope.
4. Another room had a statue in it with old blood caking its knuckles. On the far side of the room, A pair of plated gauntlets hung on the wall. There was also a door there. To either side were small cages - about the size adequate for rats. When party entered the room, the statue attacked while announcing "rodents detected, exterminating".

That's where we left off!

The party defeated the rodent exterminator. Ella came across the Hero's Fist - a set of gauntlets that channels with her abilities.

The party also came across the basilisk. They managed to avoid getting petrified but the party didn't engage further. They had bumped into the sales illusion of the previous occupant. It seemed to think the basilisk was a customer.

Ella managed to convince the illusion to get the basilisk to close its eyes, but the illusion couldn't pull it off. The illusion did offer some "petrification immunity" potions. The party went back to the pile of gold forcing the door open in the other part of the floor.

The gold had mostly been cleared out but there was a giant green eye blocking the door. It was the eye to a massive gold dragon. They discovered it was Filbert! Filbert had aged some 900 years since then, and referred to Billy the Gray as his "pet human".

Out of the party's request, Filbert created a lasso out of the gold that was there.

The basilisk had gone to the ball pit.

The party managed to get it out of the ball pit with some great teamwork.

The basilisk was returned to Billy the Gray. The other group hasn't been found yet. The party said they would go find them. They had recalled that the ball pit had another doorway attached to it, and they hadn't explored through it yet.

Erich and Ella spent a little extra time with Billy Gray, mostly to get some purchases handled.

Afterwards they went to follow the trail of Maia and Vaux. The bright sun and cloudless sky were harsh on eyes that had been in the more dim discount realm and Billy's shop. They found their way to the tavern, the Fuzzy Barnacle. The barkeep was cleaning up vomit stains from one of the patrons. With a quick cantrip from Erich, the barkeep's job was ended and the grateful barkeep was quick to help the party. They learned that the person who'd thrown up was a dock worker who'd seen something absolutely terrible and tried to drink his way out of it. They learned of the errant party members and the constable leaving more or less together, trying to follow up on the poor lad's issue.

While outside, the party noticed a glint in the darkness of the adjoining forest. The adjoining forest had a thick canopy and disappeared into darkness. This made the glint stand out.

The pair decided to quickly chase down the glint.

In the darkness of the forest, came across the source of the glint. An odd break in the canopy shone light on a small mound with a broken suit of armor. It's wearer had died within it long ago, leaving only an inert skeleton laying in the armor. The armor was dirty but showed no signs of rust. The glint itself came from the medallion worn about the skeleton's neck.

As they approached, an unnatural sense of despair and dread flooded the party. Ella could sense it, but remained undaunted. Erich held out well, but had to make an effort.

The party approached with caution and used mage hand to lift the medallion. Once it left the skeleton, the skeleton crumbled into dust. Using the mage hand, the medallion was sent away but the forlorn sense remained. Erich took a sample of the bone dust. Ella grabbed the armor, since normal steel couldn't have lasted this long. They set out to return to the town (Rura).

When they approached the town, they noticed the light was different. There was a deep overcast. Getting even closer, even more details resolved. Parts of the wharf had rotted away or shattered from larger boats that had been upturned upon them. There was no bird song, nor was there any activity of humans or even smoke coming from buildings. Casting vision deep out to the opposite side of the lake, the other two towns also appeared to be completely inactive, and had a similar color of rot and dullness that the immediate surroundings shared.

A raven perched itself upon a storage building that was largely intact. Other buildings were collapsed in various levels of severity, but all obvious. Erich tried to interact with it, but got no reply or useful gestures. Ella spotted a large black feather sitting near the front area of the storage building - too large to belong to the raven. Ella knew this was related to Vaux.

They had come to understand that the barrier had become thin between the planes of the material plane (our typical plane) and the Shadowfell. The Shadowfell being a dark reflection of the material plane. They reasoned that they'd stepped into the realm inadvertently. The draining feelings of despair made more sense.

They opened the door to the storage building, and the entire first floor was packed to the ceiling with the upper half of skulls (no jaws). The skulls poured out, and many fell from the wharf where the entrance was to the lake. Every single skull was facing the party as they slowly, unevenly bobbed deeper into the lake.

When the skulls fell out, they left a vacated area. To the left they could make out some stairs and could understand that the upstairs was not similarly clogged with skulls. They pulled some more skulls out, and headed up the stairs.

Upstairs, the party found the entire upper area to be a carnal house. Some human-like beings had been gruesomely slaughtered to the point of being neigh unrecognizable. Inside was also an impressively long skeleton, with thigh-length claws on its hands, and a slight impression of rotted and torn robes on its body. The still body of Vaux was visible at the creature's feet.

Battle with the large skeleton was immediately joined, and the party found that this creature could teleport between the shadows. They managed to choke out the shadows from it, and destroy the creature. It fell into a pile of bones and it slowly started to crumble to dust (very slowly - just a little piece at a time). During the fight, Vaux was stabilized but did not come to consciousness.

Remembering back, this creature matches the description of a bone claw - a failed lich. Something went wrong during the transformation and the bone claw is what remained. More or less completely robbed of its own sense of self, all that is left is the primal evil that drove the creature to seek immortality through undeath.

Blood was dripping to the lower floor. They did find some odd footprints heading upstairs, but seemed to fade in a way that bloody prints shouldn't. They faded as if they weren't there anymore, instead of a stain that became less and less of an imprint on each step.

The party noticed outside of the storage building that a boat house seemed to be radiating that same sense of dread and despair. This boat house was at the very end of the wharf. They decided to head back to drop off Vaux in a safe place to recover.

Nothing could be heard at the distance from the boathouse - dead inside.

While trying to head back to the tavern, they encountered guards who were confused about the party, and didn't let them pass since they were under orders. The party had a hard time convincing them about Vaux, who they had seen before. Eventually the constable showed up and straightened things out - they were allowed to pass but the constable stayed with them.

The party took Vaux back to the tavern. Being a tavern they couldn't house the kenku but recommended an inn for it - the Rocking Chair. Vaux was left there to recover.

They party traveled back to the boat house. The constable followed them but stopped as they got closer to the boat house. They tried listening, but a large pointy bone came through the door, almost hitting them. Ella kicked in the door and they saw the bone claw there. Additionally, several zombies attacked from the boat itself as well as from the inner wharf in the boat house. The bone claw was what had skewered the door - from the pattern of the rotted robes, it was the same one as before - somehow renewed.

The party was victorious, but afterwards the dragonborn death knight came out of the boat.

Maia encounters the emissary of his mistress. He rejoins his party mates just as they concluded their second fight with the bone claw.

The fight is hard, but the death knight is felled. The party is still in peril though.

Maia fell during the last leg of the fight. Ella and Erich were able to defeat the remaining undead, but were spent in the process. Ella stabilized and healed Maia, and gathered up both Maia and the body of the fallen death knight.

The two made their way back to the wagons. The docks seemed empty, deserted. A quick check showed they don't think they are in the Shadowfell any longer. They went to deposit Maia in the jail cell next to Vaux. The jail was unguarded and the door left open. During the trip, they noticed the town seemed deserted, like everything just suddenly stopped.

Sensing something amiss, they gathered up Vaux into the wagon and sought a local temple in hopes of utilizing their Circle connections. They found a temple of Pelor, but as they got close to it, the aura of despair they have become familiar with washed over them. They were spent, and had nothing with which to engage. Sneaking around revealed there was someone in there, but they couldn't tell anything about them. They went in anyways, cautiously.

Inside was a typical temple, with pews in rows facing a central podium at the end of the room. The pews were packed with people, all facing forward. A woman stood at the podium. She exhibited a typical beauty, with brown hair. She seemed paler than she should be. Her dress was black with a coquettish cut.

She said was drained from having turned an entire town. She also noted her perished death knight. She repeatedly asked for the champion. Once identified as Maia, she kept repeating that phrase. She mentioned her master was aligned against the Raven Queen. She sat in his rightful thrown. She wouldn't divulge the name of her master, stating he is the king of death, and she wouldn't have his name sullied by their tongues. She stated that words have great power, and she would retain the power of his name.

After some exchange, she came to the realization that the party wasn't there in force, and perhaps were also spent. Once that happened, she gestured, and the heads in the pews all turned in unison towards the party. Their torsos did not turn, nor did they shift in place - the necks turned inhumanly backwards. Faint red glows came from the eyes. The party started to get out. Once outside, they noticed more people standing in doorways of nearby buildings, staring at them with the same faint red glows. The people started to approach them.

Ella used her divine sense and was able to tell that undead were nearby but also that the temple was desecrated. She barred the door using the death knight's mace. Erich used his mage hand to start torching parts of the temple. This cost them some precious time, and the people made swipes at them. The party was able to get back to their carts and gallop away. As they departed the village, they noticed many dozens of people lined up outside, staring at the them with that same, faint red glow.

They traveled at a normal pace back to Wentroad until night. With just two of them, setting up watch was difficult. Ella stayed up and allowed Erich the rest, and they quickly got back on the road. As they set out, Erich noticed a single person at the edge of their vision back the way they came from. The next night, Erich took watch and Ella rested. Armsly was sent to scout using its darkvision, and Erich saw through Armsly's eyes. Armsly came across many people standing in the darkness. No color could be seen, but that faint eye glow was present. Everything went dark. When Erich's vision returned, he realized that a good 8 hours of not moving versus a body of people moving without stopping at all, even if slower, would easily overtake such a group. They were likely completely encircled.

Erich wakes up Ella.

In a fugue state, Maia is greeted by the Raven Queen. Maia can see the party surrounded by the dead. She holds strands in her hands. These strands lead to Maia and Vaux. She hands Maia the strand to Vaux. She keeps the one to Maia.

Maia pushes a surge of energy into Vaux. Both Maia and Vaux awaken. Maia exhales a cold breath, and a cloud of energy emerges from it and impacts Ella. Ella is rejuvenated.

The party fights. They kill the necromancer, and the undead collapse. Maia erects a Tiny Hut and the party rests. The party identifies the wands of the necromancer - a wand of spell storing, and a wand of magic missile. There is also a coin. It contains an entity that offers any sort of services - like a genie. It exacts a price though. The price is based on the nature of the ask, and would need to be negotiated in that moment. The party is split on whether or not to use its power.

The party started the day with a celebratory breakfast directly from the Tasty Tubes and Leaves. However it didn't really break the morning fast - the party was still hungry. An entire second helping was made and devoured quickly, but still the hunger stayed. Their bellies were full though. Upon doing some detection, they found the land had a faint hint of desecration to it, but they couldn't determine what exactly.

The party continued south. They found a wagon crashed just off the road. It had a lot of blood and some gristle - active signs of a struggle but something very quick. The wagon's front wheel was shattered and caved in as if it received a mighty blow. The tracks were something between humanoid and beast. There were also paw prints. The prints were many. Inside the wagon they found food barrels and crates - all forced open and emptied. One of the crates had a false bottom which was exposed when the wall of it was pried off. A vast quantity of gems were found under this false bottom. They happened upon a note or log of sorts. The gems were bound for a Draig Evergrin. Evergrin is a fairly common last name given to half elves either orphaned or of otherwise unknown surnames. The name Draig Evergrin has been in local news as a sort of thief in the shadows. The note spoke of giving a golden sextant to a guard in Monrithon. There are various other exchanges - most above board such as tariffs, lodging and food expenses and so forth. It's puzzling as to why someone would keep notes of their illegal activities, but the note was only found after a thorough search.

They continued south again. It wasn't long before they came across the sound of yipping and howling. Using an arcane eye, they found gnolls attacking an outpost past the hill ahead. The party cleared the hill and found many gnolls attacking the Nomasgard watch members of the outpost. Two were left, and one died rather immediately. The party engaged, and the fight was difficult. The gnolls were savage and cunning. They focused on the physically weak members of the group and one particularly powerful one displayed aptitude for attacking spell casters. The party managed to pull through and defeat the gnolls, as well as save the last surviving member of the outpost, Murk Dungees.

Five weeks remain until Sque Valan.

After the fight with the gnolls, the party continued south to Wentroad. Along the road, there were tracks of gnoll and humanoid movement. Instead of following the road, they crossing the road to the river, and then headed back into the plains again. Paw prints were included, but not identified. The tracks didn't indicate signs of struggle by the humanoids - in fact the running seemed fervorous. Nothing along the river at that point seemed out of place. Small boats are known to take the Went River to Stics or be towed back to Wentroad. None were seen, and the reason for that not entirely obvious. Though seeing nobody headed to the now cursed Lake Fortune gave some relief.

The day ended, and there was an estimated day of travel left to reach Wentroad. The night was difficult. The tiny hut spell offered immense safety and protection for the party, but it was deemed unwise to cram the horses in and risk trampling. Howling and yipping could be heard from multiple directions on the first watch. It came from the south, the north east, and the west (past Went River). It was notable, but the distance was deemed too great or even for the closer instance - across the river. So no alerts were raised, but the information was passed on. During the last watch, it was said that the sounds surrounded the camp although they remained distant. Some thought they were too close. By the time Vaux's shift came up, the horses were visibly spooked and lightly testing the strength of their tie downs. A rustle was heard in the bushes not too far away. Maia was woken and he used his gifts to help himself and Vaux perceive deep into the night. They found a single wolf. Maia threw a fire bolt at the wolf - almost grazing it but managing to head upwards as to not light the dry grass. The wolf yelped and ran. Silence followed. Then the howling and yipping came back from many directions all at once. The party decided to break camp at that point.

Maia used Sending to ask for aid from Archminster Veddik Joylith. While surprised, Joylith agreed.

Vaux found some blueberries but had accidentally gobbled them all before returning to the party. While silent and offering no explanation, the purple smear around the line of the beak told everything.

After some time, the hunger abated. Breakfast was lost due to being over stuffed, but the lunch that followed hit the spot.

With Wentroad in sight, they could see the road leading to them had nobody on it. Though it showed activity through the smoke plumes common among cities. The lack of Circle escort set the party on edge and they wanted to proceed with stealth, but needed to get closer as to not waste magical energies.

Upon getting closer, the party could see the city's smoke plumes were growing, and they were clearly black at this distance - things not meant to be burned were burning. They hastened their approach. Getting more closer, they could tell the stone ramparts were knocked down in some places. Closer still, and they could see some shapes (presumably people) in drab colors far in the distance, taking the west-bound road. Black and dark brown shapes with metallic glints upon them followed. Eventually the latter shapes caught up with the former, and all that remained were the black and dark brown shapes with the metallic glints.

Closer still - it became apparent the walls were knocked down in places with large bits of stone wall strewn about. Bodies of gnolls and humans lay scattered near the stores. More things were burning now.

Approach was made to the wall, and a closer inspection was made. The bodies looked like typical descriptions of cultists - people who were in rags or soiled clothing that awkwardly revealed parts of the body. They had crude animal masks made from parts of animals - sometimes a cut head or skin, and sometimes that of bone. They wielded bones sharpened and rope-tied as makeshift daggers. They carried farming implements and rusty weapons. The gnolls were better equipped and were actually armored. The humans tended to be killed via burning, bludgeoning, or both. The many gnolls were filled with arrows, but also some were killed via burning or bludgeoning sources. With proximity to the far-flung stone from the now-collapsed sections of wall, it seemed as if parts of the explosion had claimed them. They noticed nobody was on the ramparts, save fallen members of the town guard.

Maia made himself invisible and snuck in first. Gnolls could be seen darting across the streets, sometimes followed by hyenas.

The bagel bakery was not far away. Maia and Vaux set out together for it. By the time they arrived at the bakery, the sky was black with smoke. A gentle rain of ash was everywhere. The only discernible color was red anywhere anyone looked.

They snuck up to the bakery and saw bits of on-fire paper flying out from one side - the side where the stairs led up to Maia's office. Another nearby building was ablaze. As they approached, the baker was thrown out of window and landed - his wounds appearing obviously mortal. A gnoll stood triumphant over his body. Maia put that gnoll to sleep and it even included another one he couldn't see in the bakery. There was hope the rest of the family was spared - there was a cellar that maybe they got to. As they went in, Maia caught a glimpse of a red face peering out from the same wall his office entry shared. The face had a long nose and long, pointed ears. Was it grinning? When spotted, it snapped back.

The bakery had a woman and child - the baker family all accounted for - slain. They just didn't make it to the cellar in time.

Vaux went to find the red faced creature, but it was no where to be found.

It's strangely cold in the burning city. The sky is completely blackened with sooty overcast. There's a gentle snow of ash. Everything is a tint of deep red. There is no sun to be seen.

The party decided to head out to the keep, the physical building of central governance in Went Road. They wind up picking up villagers, members of the town guard, and even members of the local army. Then they circle back to the citadel of the Circle of Piety, having realized that there's probably some answers there. People seem to pay a silent respect to Clyge Ironsworth as the party takes them in.

All the while the party learns from Clyge that the head of the Circle of Piety left through an escape tunnel that leaves walls of Went Road. They abandoned upon getting the message from Maia. Clyge had been the one to escort them to the tunnel, but didn't completely realize at the time what they were doing, and has sworn to right this. He also shares that the Circle had been following some cult activity involving the undead in the area. The body he was bringing back when the party first met Clyge was that of a spy who had infiltrated one of the cults.

Just as the party is about to enter the citadel's grounds, a group of refugees escorted by a small amount of the town guard and local army arrives. There's a lot of refugees. The party decides to send them through the escape tunnel. One of Clyge's squires is sent since they know the way too.

Just as that starts, a gnoll spots all of this and blows its horn. Soon there is howling and yipping that can be heard.

The party readies for a fight. Clyge instructs the group to stand to his side or behind him. The gnolls begin to approach in force. Among them are six gnolls covered in fetishes and have drums whose skins look to be humanoid faces stretched upon the drum heads, with cavities such as eyes and mouths crudely sewn shut. They beat upon these drums, and it is a discordant sound that no natural instrument should make. They form a circle. In the middle of these gnolls is a larger one, covered in gore and carrying a menacing flail.

Clyge draws his sword - a blade of glass shard. He points it to the sky. A pillar of sunlight pierces the clouds and hits the glass blade. Brilliant white light bounces and hits everyone standing to Clyge's side or behind him. The color is restored to these individuals and their equipment, the ash is cleaned from their bodies and clothing. The party feels like a bow pulled completely taught - right at the limit and no further. This is a stronger intensity than any adrenaline rush they have ever encountered.

The party manages to wound a couple of the gnolls.

As if in response to this gesture, the six drum-gnolls do a single beat together. The large gnoll in the middle of them violently writhes and seems to stretch and grow. For a second, it stops and nothing seems to happen. Then the gnoll explodes in a rain of bone, sinew, and other vital components. The six gnolls fall over. From the heart of the explosion emerges a new gnoll, far larger than the last. Its brigandine armor is made not of small platelets but of breast plates and other large pieces of humanoid armor - all of which appear as platelets against its hide. A three headed flail is the only weapon this creature carries. It howls in rage, and instantly smashes one of the wounded gnolls next to it, resulting in immediate death. The gnolls take that as their signal and charge the party.

Several times the front line was smashed back by the colossal gnoll. Each time they got back up and reinforced the line. Magic missiles, moonbeams, and more smashed into the giant gnoll. Ella cut a swathe into it so hard that radiant energy persisted where the stroke was made - a crescent of brilliant light.

The gnoll was eventually felled. In its death rattle it took another gnoll with it. Its body and possessions burned away in sulfuric smoke.

The party was extremely exhausted afterwards. They searched the citadel for answers. They were able to learn that the Circle knew about the gnoll activity, but didn't fully grasp the relation of the gnolls and the undead until Maia had sent his message. That is when the leadership decided it was time to leave.

The party setup a tiny hut in the tunnel, which blocked its passage. There they rested.

The party awoke from an uneventful rest. Nobody stayed on watch so they could rest up. When they prepared to depart, they noticed a cloaked figured with a large, uncomfortable looking backpack who was sitting and propped up against the Tiny Hut on the side leading back to the Circle of Piety's citadel. The figure's back was to them, and so it was hard to make out anything identifying about them. The party asked them to identify themselves, but there was no reply. Just as they were about to take action, the hut collapsed and the figure fell over, incredibly startled.

The figure was a tiefling who immediately identified herself as Turnigal. She was short for a tiefling, with typical red skin and cinderous looking eyes that hid behind glasses. Her wooden backpack was overstuffed with scrolls and books. She worked for the Circle as a record keeper. She proved immediately insightful to some of the odd goings-on with deeper theories of planar influence.

Maia made himself invisible and peeked outside the citadel. Went Road was ablaze. No more sounds of battle were heard. The red tint and smoke still made visibility mostly impossible. It was frigid out. Maia returned.

The party set out to go further down the escape tunnel, with the tiefling in tow.

At some point the party thought about interrogate the gnoll they had captured. It seemed deferential to them, even going so far as to expose its throat to them. The party killed it though, and left its body behind.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever. They walked for hours. Vaux left some of her weapon's stickers behind to mark if they were going it circles, if that was even possible (the tunnel was just a straight passage). Hours more went by. Something was wrong. When the party started inspecting their surroundings closer, they noticed the area behind them disappeared into darkness that not even dark vision could penetrate. Ella approached this wall of darkness. As she did, she started hearing a howling wind (or maybe it was something else, but it was a persistent sound). As she inched closer, the sound got rapidly louder to her, to the point of drowning out someone speaking to her while right next to her. She could feel a wind at her picking up as well. She put her arm closer and felt intense wind against it.

The party thought better of exploring this more. When they turned to look at the path forward again, the tunnel was no longer just extending forward forever, but now split into two directions opposite to each other. Each had a portcullis over it its entry. The party decided to go left.

Ella and Clyge went through first and found the portcullis suddenly slide down a few inches after they passed it. Clyge and Ella tried holding the portcullis open and the remaining party rushed through. They couldn't really stop it, but thankfully it never dropped low enough to endanger anyone.

In room they entered they found a doorway leading elsewhere, as well as a bookshelf and a table with fancy dinnerware.

The bookshelf seemed to be log books from a fire brigade. The dates were odd though - they seemed to be dated 2500 years in the future! Perusing through the logs, it was found that many of the fire brigade's efforts were put towards misused or faulty magic items. Magic items are extremely rare, almost to the point where the public believes them mythical. It's most peculiar for fire brigade logs suggest magic items are so prevalent that it takes a significant amount of their efforts, and even is written in a tone as if such things are commonplace. The party grabbed several books for later reading. Turnigal was put to the task of seeing if the language had changed much in that time that might indicate the authenticity of these logs or any other things they could find.

The dinnerware mysteriously disappeared before inspection could be done, but there was memory of it being studded with jewels and being made to exquisite quality. Vaux whistled a tune.

The party went into the next room. The room was mostly empty with a single doorway on the other side. Upon entering the room, something smothered out the party's torches. The room went dark for only a moment before Maia cast light into it again. There was a living mold attacking them, and two humanoid fungal creatures. These creatures immediately began attacking. When the creatures struck or were hit themselves, spores would go flying into the air and it was hard not to breathe in. The feeling was head-splitting aches but accompanied by sharp visions or memories.

The memories included:

1. A large blue tent, with goblinoids on the offensive. A mammoth charges through tent and goblin alike.
2. Gorgons laying on their sides in a cave. Their bellies distended. The bellies exploded and out emerged gnolls with murder in their eyes. They attacked.
3. A wagon tipped over with a poorly spelled "Not Goblin ambush" written on it. There's some blood in the wagon, and a tuft of cotton stuck to a nail. It makes one think of a stuffed animal.
4. Walking through a forest whose canopy is so dense that a sunny day makes for darkness deeper than most indoor places. Pine needs cover the ground. There are what appear to be ancient ruins - brick work with age and no longer complete (though what they could have formed looks haphazard at best). Behind one of the walls you see a purple topped mushroom right next to you. It shakes and squeals. Fungal creatures sharing the same purple rise up from the ground and attack.
5. A wizard hastily scribbles against the grass of rolling hills with magic chalk, leaving inscriptions behind in a circular pattern. A dome of magical force surrounds you. Outside is a massive blue dragon, tracing a claw along its surface and trying to make banter with you. In the distance you can see a white and green dragon finishing a silver dragon.

Most of these seemed random and different, except for the wagon with the tuft of cotton.

Turnigal participated in the fight with little bolts of fire that the fungal creatures seemed vulnerable to. The mold fled, and the fungal creatures perished.

It was asked how Turnigal could do that but she said that tieflings don't like to talk about it. It was suggested that the in the next room Turnigal should do some blasting and Ella would protect her. Turnigal felt very scared by this and started to cry. Ella felt pretty bad and said she wouldn't be expected to do anything, which made Turnigal feel a lot better.

A tiny hut was made and the party rested once again.

The party advanced to the next room. Within the room stood an enormous mushroom creature. It seemed to imitating the form of a woman, but did so in a very alien way. She was flanked by various other mushrooms and molds covered lots of the walls. It smelled dank.

The creature stated she wished to treat with them, and introduced herself as Zuggtmoy - the queen of fungus and molds. As a gesture of good will, she gave them a armored elf - quite dead. She tried again, and this time it was a living goblin - Gary! The party vaguely recollected that she was also a demon lord. She said she would allow them to retain their free will but she's tasted their memories and knows they have greater power that comes from the free will.

Zuggtmoy also said they'd met before, and will meet again. She showed them some memories to prove this.

The memories included:

1. In a dark forest, you look upon a mirror on the ground from a small patch of moonlight that breaks the canopy. You feel intense sorrow. Instead of seeing your own reflection, you see a pale, gaunt face with glowing red eyes looking at you with malice. It reaches through the mirror and pulls you in. Now you find yourself among a small elven village. The mirror is cracked. You hear your friends calling for you from the other side of the mirror. Then a shrill, head splitting shriek drowns everything out.
2. You see yourself entering the room that Zuggtmoy is in, but this time Gary is with you, and Turnigal is missing.

Zuggtmoy stated that one of her rivals has risen to great prominence - so much so that she can't utter their name safely. She did say he would turn this realm into a giant necropolis. They would thwart his plans. There is a wand of his. If his followers get a hold of it, all will be lost. She would see the party, as her servants, take the wand from him. The party somewhat agreed, though nobody conceded to serving her. She allowed them to pass.

The party departed, and soon found themselves back in the tunnel again, and found the sticker that was dropped. They could also see an end to the tunnel from there.

They emerged at the lookout post that Murk Dungees was previously stationed at. The place was full of dust. There's obvious footprints, and signs of a cart pulling up and having left. Erich and Gary fashion a cart. Erich raises the gnolls as undead to carry the cart. When Maia tries to use some magic to assist with the journey, he finds it doesn't work. A certain melancholy is also missing from him.

The party summoned Billy Gray. After making deals with Billy, the party made out for Lake Fortune, but pays Billy a travel fee based on it. Some purchases:

1. 3x powered diamond (sufficient for revivify).
2. Transfer armor enchantment from plate to robes. He estimates about three days.

They arrive, and Maia seeks out the point at which Ella and Erich stepped into the Shadowfell. One of the undead gnolls accompanies Maia for some protection.

When Maia steps in, he finds himself facing a visage of the Raven Queen, but she has her back turned to him. He can see the connection between himself and the queen, but it is weakened. There is a wan green connection between himself and the gnoll. Maia attacks the gnoll, and quickly realizes his power has returned. After the gnoll is slain, Maia finds the Queen looking upon him, and his golden thread bright once more. Maia returns and has a discussion with Erich about the undead. Unfortunately, Maia cannot associate with or benefit from the undead if he wishes to remain in his Queen's favor. The undead are put to the torch.

When the party stepped Billy's store again, Erich sees a mushroom near the door - purple like Zuggtmoy's mushroom creatures. Erich picks up the mushroom for later.

They party arrived at Monrithon. They found Murk Dungees had been cleaning their carts and kept everything stabled. He'd helped the refugees come back, along with Clyge's squires.

Cabby was pleased to see them. She's looking even more tired than usual. The city has taken on even more refugees and every home is now packed with extra families. Food is a problem, and they aren't sure how everyone will be fed come Sque Valan.

The party hired Murk Dungees and his family to move into the previously named Soiled Goat keep, and help maintain it. The party began choosing their rooms.

The party received a visit from Kegin Pennysworth - a representative from the Halfling Loafers Guild. He was flanked by three unarmed men. Pennysworth laid out the details of Erich's loan and how it's been outstanding. Current fees racked up to the amount of 10,000 gold, largely due to complete non-payment. Pennysworth stated that if payment couldn't be made immediately, that Erich would have to be taken back to Duranae, the capitol of Nomasgard (the current nation). There he would undergo trial and likely subjected to indentured servitude where his magic would be put to work on things difficult to hire wizards to do willingly. Pennysworth offered to stay things for a day in good faith if they were intending to come up with payment immediately.

The party checked the contract. Things were more or less consistent with Pennysworth's claims. The contract seemed quite hostile to non-payment - even unjust.

The party sought work from Billy the Gray, who offered them some work in getting dragon eggs. He could then forward them the amount before he made the sale - a brief float, but couldn't get them the money outright. That kind of job is incredibly perilous though.

Cabby would happily help them out, but had given them everything she could scrounge up from earlier heroics. She was also busy trying to hold the town together, along with figuring out food for the coming Sque Valan. In spite of the party needing money, they bought the Immortal Baconator from Billy the Gray and donated it to Cabby. While it might not completely solve the food issue, this would push them from certain starvation into just probably starvation.

Some of this didn't match Eric's recollection. While he may not have been completely up on his payments, he's been paying his membership dues as well as extra towards the loan. But complete non-payment has been the claim. Erich also didn't collect receipts of the transactions.

The party also visited the local counting house. With some expediting fees the party was able to get in front of the counting master and presenting their case to him. Erich's payment history seemed to have been removed - a very clean cut from the record book. At the party's insistence (and payment), a copy was made of the underlying page, and a press was done. This revealed that Erich had made at least some payment. The specifics were hard to make out, but something was there.

Night was upon them. Gary setup an alarm perimeter around the keep. Erich had trouble sleeping. He went out to check on the cart to see if it was being repossessed. When he turned around to head back in, he saw Pennysworth in the dark, flanked by the three men he was with. After a brief exchange, they seized Erich. Erich was unable to use his magic. A quick flashback of memory came - they had medallions which seemed quite ornate, but they weren't symbols of office. This was probably canceling his magic. Erich cried for help. Ella and Gary came to his aid and a fight ensued. Without armor and magic, this was difficult. The unarmed men were quite adept at unarmed fighting - almost supernaturally so.

The party came out victorious, with two of the men and Pennysworth himself slain. Some of the records he as carrying were removed, presumably by the one man that escaped. The party now has in their possession two amulets of anti magic field.

The party was summoned in the morning to the counting house. Upon arriving they were sent to see the counting master (Jeraldine Balesmite) immediately. Balesmite had an offer on behalf of the Halfling Loafers Guild: Immediate forgiveness for his loan, as well as a credit of 10,000 gold (immediately made available via the counting house, even if they couldn't cash it out). This is all under the condition that Erich would not pursue the trading guild further and consider the matter entirely resolved. Erich would not besmirch the guild's good name either. As a footnote, the guild promised to look into its loan resolution program immediately, and would keep him appraised of their findings. Already they have called in all of their loan recollection officers and contractors for a "special meeting".

Vaux excused himself from the party, saying that he had to take care of something of utmost urgency, and he's compelled to address it, alone. He doesn't know when or even if he'll be back. He asked for trust that this was not a decision made lightly.

Maia was called away for Circle business and was out before anyone else had woken up. He mentioned (via the Dungees family) that Clyge would be going with him.

Cabby approached the party with a potential job. She heard about the work they did with the pews and wondered if she could get the party to work on construction for Monrithon. The city walls could use reinforcement, housing could be built (perhaps vertically), defensive structures such as wooden spikes could be erected along the walls. The main gate was repaired but could also use hardening too. Cabby offered that she also had a lot of labor available to her, but is short on materials of all kinds. Monrithon unfortunately didn't have large access to wood nor stone, and would need some. Cabby authorized a stipend via the counting house.

Caheia visits the party at the keep while Cabby is visiting. When the door was opened to see her, she was found standing an awkward distance away from it. She asked if they could deactivate their anti-magic field. She requires magic for a prosthetic and asks it as a favor to preserve her dignity. The party obliged and took one of their new amulets downstairs.

When she enters and joins the socializing group, Cabby immediately show surprise and bows, claiming that she did not expect an arrival of the Lady. In this moment, the party learned Caheia was the lady of this county, but she's been somewhat aloof. Caheia has been so intensely studying at the Spell Forge that she's missed communiques. Caheia didn't realize the original constable was killed (which is learned very indelicately from a certain halfling). Cabby decides they should go back to their office to get her caught up. The two women departed.

The party visited Billy the Gray with his trademark summoning phrase "I need a deal". Billy couldn't help them directly with materials, but knew of another magical dealer who specializes in simple materials. This dealer goes by the name of El Varidino, whose business is run as "Tome Depot". Billy the Gray has a referral program setup with El Varidino. Billy gave the party a magical clipboard. He said to write the type of material and quantity. The totals would appear in writing on the appropriate places of the clipboard. At that point the total amount of coinage would need to be placed on the clipboard. At which point, the clipboard would accept the currency and the materials would immediately be delivered. Billy mentioned to benefit from the referral program, they would need to write in the discount code section "BGRAY".

Erich and Gary bought a lot of supplies, and started working on the walls to repair and reinforce them. Ella did a lot of work to identify locations that could use repair. Some of the townspeople were also put to work on marking repair locations which sped things up significantly. Ella also put her healing magic to work at the temple of Pelor. This process was repeated for about three days.

Caheia had a chat with Ella (since the other members were busy), and she talked to them about their exposure to wild magic. Billy mentioned to Caheia about the departure of their mutual friend, and some of Caheia's thesis had great overlap with wild magic. She's done some work before with people who were infused with wild magic, and were able to reshape it into a more stable form. She offered to the party she could perform such a procedure on them. Out of game, this means she could turn the forced-multiclass on the party into level of their primary class. Erich took up the offer, and Gary was able to benefit from some of the excess. Maia could benefit as well (but choice will be left for when Eric returns).

18 days remain until Sque Valan. The red dot is becoming larger in the sky at night. Those with dark vision are starting to strain to see in the dark.

17 days remain until Sque Valan.

The party started the day with a visit from Clyge. Clyge said there was a high priority witnessing to perform. Along the way, Clyge explained that this would be the witnessing of Amanriel Silvertide. This is the body he was carrying on the back of his horse when he first crossed paths with the party as the party first approached Monrithon. He was a spy for the Circle, and his body was found in Monrithon. The body was magically preserved so the Circle could gain some information via a witnessing. Maia's goings-on set things back a little, but also the Circle leadership became preoccupied with gnollish cult activity. At the time, the Circle didn't see any relationship between the two.

Along the way to the temple, Ella noticed a couple of dragonborn in the nearby tavern.

The Circle's temporary headquarters was setup in the local temple of Pelor. The party was lead two basement levels down. Erich used the Mislead spell to make himself both invisible and create an illusion of himself. He used this opportunity to do some investigation of his own. He started rummaging through some of the office materials.

The witnessing had the entire leadership of the Circle present. They explained that Silvertide's death very likely meant there was a mole in their midst, and the leadership came to the conclusion that sharing information would be better than concealing it, because the information was being leaked anyways. Envoys of the Raven Queen were present too, to help boost the recipients of the witnessing. Maia had some protests about it, as the witnessing of this kind is irregular, but was ultimately convinced to perform the witnessing. Ella checked for exits, and then blocked the only door, just in case the spy amongst the Circle would be revealed.

Just as the witnessing was performed, Erich found some damning evidence. It was a letter and a magical signet ring. The letter was to the effect of saying the witnessing of Silvertide will eliminate the biggest threat to their master's plans: The Circle of Piety itself. Convince them to have as many as possible attend the witnessing. It warned to not be part of the witnessing if they didn't want to join their master early.

The witnessing itself showed several events:

1. Silvertide accepting orders from Joylith to infiltrate the death cult and report back on their dealings.
2. Silvertide infiltrating the cult. He was in a wagon, traveling north. The cult has a wall monastery disguised as a knoll via well placed trees and bushes that have had plenty of time to grow to full size. Many of the cultists present have a scarred sigil on the back of their right hands. Even those with gloves have cut-outs to keep the scar plainly visible. Silvertide has a hard time gazing upon the sigils - doing so causes headaches and his vision to strain. He knows he will need to need to get one of these in order to be initiated. Along the way, there were Egalstan terrain markers stones towards the northwest. Nobody in the party knew what the stones were specifically indicating, but locals knew this meant near the borders of Egalstan, or in Egalstan itself. A small forest was to the southeast.
3. Silvertide in a chair, with his right arm strapped to it. Old blood had stained the right chair arm. A man with a ritual dagger was crouched in front of him, making the cuts necessary to scar the mark on the back of his right hand. The pain was almost unbearable. A few acolytes behind him were chanting and it sounded like Infernal. A man whose face was behind a cowl spoke to him. "Our lord has planned this for some time. He will anchor Valan in the sky at its perigee, and use the ensuing chaos to build his army. This army will march, unseen and unchecked, to every settlement and city on the land, and wipe it out with simple attrition. Even the foul creatures that will roam the countryside will be made to serve him. Amanriel Silvertide, your roll in this will be a critical one. The only force in this world that can possibly know about this plot and thwart it is the Circle". Before Silvertide can do anything, he is seized from behind by arms far too strong for any mortal creature. The robed figure removed his cowl and revealed his true form: A lich. With murder in his eyes, he spoke his last sentence. "Your mission is to destroy the Circle from within. To do so, you will need our lord's name." He took out his own ritual dagger, and plunged it into the heart of Silvertide. The lich leaned in and says "Orcus", which stretched and distorted into some unnatural pitch.

The sharp pain in the chest hit everyone in the witnessing. In the total darkness, a wan light that casts irritating, fluctuating rays came from ahead. Faint shadows could be made out and some were recognized immediately - Maia was amongst his fellow witnesses. What was just a flicker or dot in the light became larger very quickly. The outline was roughly that of a very mighty but portly man. He appeared to have goat legs and a helmet or head resembling a goat, but with wide horns. In an instant, he stood before them, a gigantic silhouette. Maia could make out sickly green glowing lines between all of the witnesses and this man. They were marked by him. He pulled back his arm holding a chipped blade, and swings. As strands and other members of the witnessing were cut, Maia heard their unearthly screams. Maia was powerless to move. A white porcelain mask came from no where and intercepts the remainder of the blow. The mask cracks, and breaks. A purple light blasts out from it, and the large goat-man staggers backwards.

Maia opened his eyes, and the torches lit back up again.

There were screams in the room. Flesh started to fall off of witnesses from the bone. The skeletal remains standing. The flesh piles congeal in a single location.

The entire party was hurt immensely by the shock. The congealed flesh turned into some kind of amorphous meat monster. The skeletons drew weapons and turned themselves upon the living. Cylge doubled over, not turned to undead like the others, but very much at death's door. His sword shattered in its scabbard, and the hilt hit the floor.

The party sprung into action. Ella saved Cylge. Maia turned the undead, destroying most of them outright, and causing the others to flee. Erich caught up from the office and joined the fray by polymorphing Maia into a mammoth. During the fight, everyone's health was depleted until they were healed, and Maia's magic was bled dry until healed as well.

After the meat blob was destroyed, the party was able to dispatch the remaining undead without issue.

Clyge showed his appreciation. Erich repaired the sword. Clyge was appreciative of this as well, but speculated that his connection with Pelor was severed permanently, and the sword would just be a glass sword henceforth.

The party learned that the signet ring could be used to place a seal upon a letter and it would send the message to the recipient, as well as cause a message to be received. The seal required blood instead of wax. The party used it to see if there were any more messages, and instead a new sigil appeared - the same as seen on the cultists - the sigil of Orcus. Anyone who gazed upon this would suffer real harm. The sigil was displayed when there are no messages to read, apparently.

Maia was going to take up the mantle of leading the Circle, but Clyge suggested he was too valuable for such a role, and that Clyge himself might be in a better position for it, even though it was never a station he sought out.

When the party returned to the keep of the Soiled Goat, they found that Cabby had been given the title of Baroness of Monrithon since she'd basically been performing those duties in the absence of Lady Caheia's presence anyways. Cabby was offered more platemail to be created, which she accepted.

The marker stones would be known by a tribes person of Egalstan. The party recalled Hogan, who helps farm Basilisk eggs. Cabby showed the way to them Hogan's hill just 20 minutes outside of Monrithon. They found him with a blindfold on with fake eyes painted on it. He told them it was Northwest about two days time from Lake Fortune, but couldn't get more precise due to the wide areas that the stone markers indicate.

16 days remain until Sque Valan.

A pair of Dragon Hunters visited the Soiled Goat. Dragon Hunters are agents of Vyxt who seek out and expose dragons living among the populace of Duranae. Vyxt has a history of difficulty with dragons. Long ago, their country was ruled by dragons and the dragonborn were unwilling subjects. A civil war occurred, and the whole world was pulled into it. This is where the dragonborn clans got their dual names from. After Vyxt established itself as dragon-free, it instituted the dragon hunters to ensure dragons would never again rule over mortals. Their agents were not known for violence but instead would expose a dragon, and typically society would ostracize said dragon. Dragon Hunters typically didn't distinguish between chromatic or metallic dragons - both would invariably use mortals as pawns in their schemes, even if well intentioned. In the case of metallic dragons, the metallics were thought to circumvent typical ruling patterns. They would not age and relinquish rulership to heirs, nor would they be elected in any fair sense.

These dragon hunters identified themselves as Shixt of Reserved Cowardly Baharoosh and Vrev of Decisive Wasteful Delmirev. They had an assertive but cordial conversation mostly with Ella and Erich. They said they were seeking a silver haired human woman on suspicion of dragonhood. All the party would really give is that they knew Caheia, and she's been an upstanding citizen.

The party set out to warn Cabby or possibly Caheia. Erich invisibly went to Cabby's new baroness office and tell her. Cabby mentioned she'd been contacted already by the Dragon Hunters, and politely told them to "piss off". She mentioned it was common for investigators to play parties against each other and watch their reactions as a means of getting more information, especially if direct conversation doesn't get results. She thought it was relatively harmless or at least nothing she was immediately concerned about.

As Erich was leaving under the disguise of a human, he saw the Dragon Hunters returning to talk to Cabby once again.

Clyge had sent a summons to the occupants of the Soiled Goat. The party arrived, mostly under stealth. Clyge showed them thick rimmed glasses that were slightly bent - the trademark glasses of Turnigal. He hadn't seen a trace of her, and these were found in the site where the backfired witnessing occurred.

Clyge also allowed the party into the late Archminster Veddik Joylith's chambers. Most of it was to be auctioned off since there was no next of kin to bequeath it to. The party asked for a fancy mirror from there, with Clyge obliged them to. This was intended for scrying later.

The party decided to prioritize scrying Turnigal. They found her, head in hands on a bed of a dark bedroom. It had red curtains and was barred on the inside. Gary used his drone to search Monrithon for windows that might fit that description, and found nothing. They asked Clyge, who deferred them to Cabby. Cabby reported there was history around a Lord Grian Erethion the 4th - the prior lord of this land before Caheia deposed him. He and his whole lineage were known to be brutal tyrants and their proclivities, in hindsight, suggested vampirism. There was an old manner to the west by about half a day's travel. The party wasted no time and used Billy the Gray's teleportation service.

Maia contacted Turnigal via a Sending, and had her stick her arm through a window. She did so, and that's when the party noticed a swinging trap blade come down and cut off her arm. Gary inspected the trap and found it to be illusory just as the party got to the arm and found it that way as well. Erich used a scrying eye and found itself an infinite hall of bedrooms, where the geometry there made no sense.

The party entered, found paintings of various haunting things that reached into the party's worse fears. They found inert skeletons hanging in a closet, and a toilet that led to a well of blood. A painting in the foyer was repaired by Gary, and it showed a fair painting of the party, but their throats were all slit viciously. Eventually they searched rooms upstairs, and even reconnected with the scrying eye. The bedrooms themselves were filled with more things as seen in the paintings, but seemingly real places instead of bedrooms sometimes. One example was a food truck that everyone could fit in, in a barren desert with no customers. Another was a mass dragonborn grave of Ella's tribe. Maia found a broken mask of the Raven Queen that could not be repaired. Erich was separated after using his blink spell, at witnessed the more true form of the manner - a place adorned with skulls and exuding malice.

The day nears its end.

Ella took out the mace/maul of destruction and destroyed the wall blocking them from the stairway. This allowed them to reunite with Erich. Clapping could be heard from the door of the foyer. The vampire lord, Lord Grian Erethion the third introduced himself. The conversation was quick and the party began fighting right away. The painting of the party on the wall began changing. The cut throats healed and they jumped from the painting. Now the party had to fight itself and Erethion. The fighting was fierce.i

Eventually Turnigal showed up, but alongside a copy of herself. The copy grabbed her, and jumped with her into a pit of spikes. She was able to narrowly hold on. Maia pulled them both up. Slowly, the clones began to drop as the party fought on. Ella dealt a serious blow to Erethion. He drew from the blood blob he'd summoned earlier, and it replenished his life force. Some of the clones hopped into him as well. The mansion grew its pillars in the foyer, and was able to slide them around with crushing force. Things were still not looking great for the party.

The mansion reached deeper into the psyches of the party, and drew from things the party had no conscious awareness of. Out from the picture jumped four new creatures: An elf with twin blades, a cowled human with a bow, a dragonborn in heavy armor, and a half elf woman with a unicorn horn. Maia instantly recognized these and their names: Ydrellia, Zell, Lakal, and Dee. They immediately set upon the party. This was immensely harrowing for Maia.

This is when a massive knock hit the front doors. A few seconds later, the door was knocked down entirely. Standing before them was Caheia. With her arrival, Erethion drew back a wall holding the dragon hunters. They were in his thrall, and between them was a Truth Stone - a crystal shard that shone white. Caheia as familiar with its workings. She ignored it though, and immediately laid into Erethion with a single bound across the room, and with just her hands alone hit with considerable force. Erethion was losing rapidly and spread himself into a field of bats. The thralls began commenting on Caheia's abilities - they remarked that dragons shouldn't be able to exert such strength in their mortal forms. Caheia responded by transforming into a massive silver dragon, and breathing a cone lightning into the field of bats, killing many of them. Then came more remarks: Silver dragons don't have that shape to their bodies nor that plumage, and they breathe cones of cold not lightning. Caheia's grasp on her dragonhood began to falter. Oily tears ran down her face. Ella struck and felled one of the dragonborn. Instead of splattering apart with dark fluids like the clones did, the dragonborn fell with a scream into a pool of his own blood. Maia healed the fallen dragonborn a little bit.

Erethion scratched a sigil into the floor of the foyer. Gary recognized this as a sigil of release for a summon or other controlled creature. Erethion said his vengeance was complete, and he'd unmade Caheia as she had unmade him. Right after he said that, Gary blasted a fire bolt through his chest and Erethion fell.

The mansion began to quake. Ella wasted no time and grabbed Turnigal and fled the mansion. Erich managed to get out, and Caheia hoisted both of the dragonborn up and ran out. The mansion slammed its columns to block the door, leaving Gary and Maia trapped. Gary teleported Maia through a crack in the columns, and tried to squeeze through but got caught. Ella ran back to get him, and managed to pull him free. Giant pieces of the mansion were about to hit them when Caheia hoisted up all of them and darted away from the mansion at unnatural speed. The mansion collapsed further and further into itself. It left a dark and foreboding pit behind.