"Monster not coming here, looks like. Caine, we should go over and finish it off." Snaggletooth looks over at Caine and nods at the beholder.
Surprised though he is, Erik spins and strikes in one fluid movement, the notes of his songblade echoing around the chamber as he does so, pointing the way to further attacks.
Leo's eyebrows raise.
"I told you to stay dead, but you just wouldn't listen, would you?"
Ichor oozes again from the reanimated sphere and Caine lunges towards the creature, defying it to hit him.
This time the squishing sound that accompanies the combined attacks is very final and the floating eyeball completely deflates into a mess of goo and ichor. Without waiting for any further consequences, Caksusa kicks what is left into the pit below.
"Now can we please get Gratitude?"
"Yes, I help you." Snaggletooth says to Caksusa. He takes his rope and ties one end around Caksusa's waist and ties the other to himself. He then crosses over to the other side and takes in the slack as Caksusa moves to Gratitude's corpse. As Caksusa picks up the body and his back is turned. Snaggletooth quickly cuts the tripwire, all while acting like he is focused on the retrieval. As Caksusa drags Gratitude's corpse to the side, Snaggletooth lays out his cultist cloak to use as a burial shroud.
"May you find peace you deserve in next world." Snaggletooth quietly says to the corpse.
Snaggletooth furtively undoes his tripwire trap as Caksusa and Jervace respectfully wrap Gratitude's body in the cloak.
"Avant's not going to be the same hippogriff without him," says Jervace. It seems an appropriate epitaph.
Erik lowers his gaze out of respect for the young tiefling as he sheaths his sword once again.
"Is everyone else alright, now? I can sooth any wounds before we cross."
With his acolytes and Rishi in tow, Snaggletooth leads the way back through the temple complex. Past the chamber of the hanged ones, up the stairs to the Regalia room and up the rising platform to the topmost chambers where you first arrived.
Although you have disabled this particular attempt to call back the Spellplague, you still feel the power of the complex. Leo clutches protectively at the precious relic he carries.
"We should probably let the hippogriff go if there is no one else here to care for it. Plus I imagine we'll be destroying the entrance before we leave."
Erik then turns to the liberated cultists.
"What is through that door?" he asks, pointing to the unexplored area.
Jervace answers, as Caksusa is still looking traumatised and Rishi remains stubbornly silent.
"Living quarters. I'd like to collect my property before we leave."
Jervace heads into the living quarters and returns within a very few minutes clutching a backpack in one hand and a slim book in another. He hands the book to Perigia.
"Volkanth's. It might have something about your sister."
Leaving Rishi (still bound) with the rest of the group, Caksusa goes quietly to the stables and returns with Avant the hippogriff.
"Can't just leave him. It wouldn't be right and Gratitude's shade wouldn't forgive me if I let anything happen to him. Let's go."
The hillside outside the complex looks just as you left it and the ex-cultists wince slightly as they recognise friends among the fallen. Rishi smiles sardonically as the group make their way back to their patient horses, quietly cropping the turf.
"At least you know where you are with these people. You're with them, or you're dead. Speaking of which, you can let me go now. I'm having nothing to do with any of this."
"Okay, as long as you surrender the amulet. The amulet represents your passion for Dreamer's cause. As long you cling to past, you trapped in it. Let past go and I do same for you." Snaggletooth looks him in the eyes.
Reluctantly, Rishi pulls off the amulet and hands it over to Snaggletooth, nods and without another word vanishes into the forest.
The kobold joins Caine on his horse once more and Jervace and Caksusa share Mirth's abandoned mount. Where the tiefling mage went, you have no idea, but she is no longer at the cave mouth or anywhere that you can see. Always secretive in her motives, her departure is as elusive as everything else you know about her. Only Leo, sharper eyed than the rest spots a tiny scroll of parchment left in a hollow tree.
In crabbed, gothic writing it says "Be not afeared for me. I seek my own way to the Spellplague and methinks that Madame Firemage might not approve. My fondness to thee, gentle healer." Bringing your former companion sharply to mind is the faintest whiff of her musky perfume tinged with a sharp sulfurous undertone.
Silently, with no need now for Erik's arcane haste spell, and leading the hippogriff, you make your way towards Mother Bartha's monastery. Evening is drawing in as you arrive and Sister Cherra welcomes you warmly.
"The old besom is raising hell about where are you and have you stolen Leo and the relic and who knows what other nonsense besides. What happened - did you find it?"
She looks askance at Avant, tethered alongside Leo's mount.
"I'm sure I recognise that hippogriff..."
While the rest go about what ever tasks they are doing, Perigia will find a spot to sit down and begin to look through the book.
Perigia
Volkanth's notebook is part diary and part account book and from it Perigia starts to piece together his story.
The front part of the book is a set of meticulous accounts noting the names of his followers and where they came from. Here also are records of contacts made in Oreme and with the Order of the Blue Flame. The neatly ruled pages are a distinct contrast to the personal entries that follow.
His grandmother had told him of the old observatory as a child and how, when the Spellplague had struck, the scholars there had changed its purpose. From a child he had longed to see the place and know more and finally, to his delight, he had found the long forgotten complex.
There he had found Fia, craving power and, miraculously, craving him. Some tiny remnant of the old Fia had fallen in love with him and begged him for help. Besotted and blessed (as he saw it), Volkanth had followed her instructions, gathering followers and hunting for the relics she promised would free the Dreamer and bring peace to the blessed plagued ones. When she left to follow her destiny, he continued the work, promising to free the Dreamer for her and find her in Thay.
The last notes are a jumbled mess, as Volkanth noted triumphantly his disovery of the relics of Margant, his pride in his accomplishment and his faith in the blind seer who promised him that he would see Fia in her pure state as soon as the Dreamer was free.
Erik smiles warmly as well.
"Greetings, Sister. Yes, it is the same beast, but we found it unfair to judge it by its master. It seems a perfectly reasonable creature. As for your relic, I believe our friend Leo, there, can shed more light on it. The short version is that we won," he says with a grin, striking a rather gallant pose from atop his horse.
"If you want more details, then please take us to see that charming Mother Bartha. I would not deny myself the splendid look we're likely to find on her face."
Brujo breathes a sigh of relief being out of the plagued world below. "Too much of 'that' for one day"
Cherra extends a hand and pets Avant, her grin at the prospect of Mother Bartha's face matching Erik's.
"I'll stable him. Much as I'd love to see it, I don't think Mother Bartha would appreciate seeing a hippogriff in the dining hall."
Leo steps forward and bows. "I hold the relic. Mother Bartha should have it immediately."
"She will, Leo, she will," soothes Cherra.
Sure enough, minutes later, her face studiously severe, Cherra leads the way into the dining hall.
"Behold, the heroes of your order return, bringing that which was sought! Surely now, there need be no impediment to the ceremony!"
Her ringing announcement is accompanied by a very tiny wink in Erik's direction, but her voice is filled with genuine relief for all that.
Snaggletooth looks at Caksusa and Jervase. "I not forget. Once things settle down, we ask her about cure or treatment. She good person under mean exterior. And she can't help us, we find somebody else."
Mother Bartha's face is a picture of relief, and she looks for a moment as if she might launch herself at Leo. Restraining herself, she simply says, "Will you come and help me prepare?"
It is clear that this offer only extends to Leo, and Cherra waggles a quizzical eyebrow at the party as the blonde paladin nods and follows Mother Bartha out of the room.
"We have a little time. An hour perhaps. Would you like something to eat? And you can tell me what happened, including how you acquired two companions and lost another."
Cherra has barely finished speaking when a small figure erupts from a clucking mass of elderly women and throws herself at Snaggletooth.
"I knew you'd come back! Will you play knucklebones with me now? You promised."
The kobold has acquired a firm friend in the strange, blind child.
Erik walks into the room with no small amount of self-satisfaction, as it is plain upon his face.
If asked, he will relate the story to any willing to hear, throwing in many exaggerations and inconsistencies along the way for the sake of entertainment.
As an aside to the others he mentions, "It's good to finally be a part of these stories. Don't worry, though, you'll all get your due."
Within the hour, Leo rejoins you, his handsome face alight with a fervour you have never seen in him before.
"You should all come to the ceremony, if you are willing. Caksusa and Jervace as well."
He offers no explanation beyond that, but leads the way into the monastery crypt. Margant's tomb is the dominant feature, the lovingly wrought stonework telling well the tale of the honour in which he was held in life and death.
Quietly, Leo points to a familiar shape. "Your leader was misguided, but I'm not sure he was entirely wrong, my friends. See here and here. The sign of the flaming eye. That is not a symbol of Kelemvor, but it must have had a significance to Margant."
Mother Bartha, for once silent and utterly serious speaks the invocation of passage over the tomb and with great solemnity takes the relic from Leo's waiting hands. Pressing gently on one of the flaming eye symbols, she raises the relic high as a small stone panel falls open revealing a dreamstone lined cavity.
"Rest now, Margant. Paladin of the light. Guiding flame. True seer of our order."
As she places the relic deep inside the tomb, a familiar blue glow starts to build. There is a difference however. This glow is controlled, with none of the fierce desire to devour you have seen in all other instances. As it grows stronger, it seems to guide your eyes upwards to the ceiling and to a hitherto unseen, but clearly deliberate hole in the roof. Out the light goes, soaring up, a beacon, calling to something.
Mother Bartha watches silently, but the child, Sybil speaks.
"The voices are speaking. They're telling me ... they're telling me the fire must be united. They're telling me you're going to mend the fire."
To be continued ...
Erik looks ill at ease, but tense with excitement.
For Brujo, Erik and Perigia, the next hours are filled with sadness. Snaggletooth gathers his belongings and his new followers and speaks privately to Leo before setting off to some unknown destination. The paladin himself requests a cell to meditate and renew his connection with Kelemvor while Caine stomps restlessly around the perimeter of the monastery, his eyes, as often as not, following the route of the kobold's departure. Of all the companions, he seems the most inclined to follow Snaggletooth, but for now he says nothing of such a plan.
This is truly the breaking of the fellowship that bound you all through the rigours of Spellgard and now none of you knows what lies before you.
Ceara
Kel/Kelgan/Hobbes
Mother Bartha's parting words were "Return in half an hour. Then you may pay your last respects to your comrade."
"The problem with monastries is there never is a tavern around when you need one." Hobbes says wryly. "I would've liked to drink away some of this grief and make a toast in honor of our comrade." He kicks a small stone next to his foot.
"I'm bored." Hobbes says to no one in particular. "I wonder what this secret ritual they've got cooked up is about." He looks at his companions and says conspiratorily, "I may have a way of finding out."
"There may not be a tavern, but, there are drinks. Monks make beer, or so I've learned." The speaker is a woman, though she is wearing one of the monk robes. She doesn't seem to be a monk however. "I'm Ceara, I can show you where the kegs are kept."
The inhabitants of the monastery do indeed make beer.
Ceara
“Since the monks won’t let us participate with the funeral ceremony a we will have to hold a wake for him ourselves. Pass the mead and let the laments be sung.”
There is a light, a flickering light
The eye in the sky is now approaching
I fall into, the well of taboo
In the maelstrom of morte I am floating
I'm going down, deeper and down
The door to the other world is open
High court of the witch lord
I got the invitation
Curved blade of the doom sword
No room for hesitation
Like a lamb to the slaughter
I died in the Douaumant trenches
Did the devils daughter
In the realm of superstition
Do I have to go, where all the sinners burn?
It isn't real, am I able to return?
"The problem with monastries is there never is a tavern around when you need one." Hobbes says wryly. "I would've liked to drink away some of this grief and make a toast in honor of our comrade." He kicks a small stone next to his foot.
"Aye. This was no way for things to end. Not yet, at least." Kelgan pulls up a chair and sits down, dejected. He then turns to the woman. "Wait, you have ale? Good. If we can't mourn him yet, at least we can have a proper wake then, eh?"
The moonelf finds himself somewhere private to practice. Hoping to gain some measure of control over his other side.
As Kel's mournful song comes to a close, Mother Bartha herself returns and looks disapprovingly at the group.
"You may go and pay your respects now. Properly. Ceara will accompany you and show you the way."
Although she doesn't say so, it's clear that Mother Bartha fully expects you to spit on the floor and desecrate the monastery given half a chance. Breathing heavily, she lumbers from the room.
*under his breath* "I still don't see the purpose of all this ritual, Silvanus just requires an open scaffold in the woods with you head facing west. How is he supposed to return to the earth buried in a stone box, humph?"
*under his breath* "I still don't see the purpose of all this ritual, Silvanus just requires an open scaffold in the woods with you head facing west. How is he supposed to return to the earth buried in a stone box, humph?"
"Yeah, and Tempus would of just given him a nice pyre. Now be quiet, this is what he wanted."
"I guess we missed our opportunity to do some spying, Cassie, my girl." Hobbes says quietly to himself as he rubs his right hand. "Maybe next time."
Hobbes looks over at Ceara and nods toward the chamber. "After you, Sister Ceara, I would just as soon get this over with. I am not a big one for funerals."
"I'm not a Sister, just a guest like all of you. I just tend to try and fit in here, so I dress like the monks. It seems to make the Mother less worried that I'll destroy something." Ceara then gestures for the others to come and leads the way.
Perigia wanders the grounds, listening to the sounds and thinking about all that has happened.
Erik asks one of the monks for paper and pen and begins sketching the rough draft of his story. There are embellishments aplenty for all those involved.
The ceremony has left him somewhat somber, however.
As you gather in your various states of contemplation, you hear a faint keening coming from the chapel. It is not unpleasant, but it is ... imperative. A call of some kind. For those of you who have been in clsoe proximity to the spellplague, the lure is extremely intense. So intense that Brujo, Erik and Perigia find themselves heading towards the chapel quite involuntarily, pushing aside Ceara, Kel, Kelgan and Hobbes to do so. Cassie twitches slightly at the unmannerly intrusion.
Outside the great doors, the ill-assorted party stops as the keening ends.
For rev
For rev** spoiler omitted **
Caine follows his companions but is wary.
Insight to notice the odd behavior of his companions 1d20+10=29
Caine
This also explains why nobody else in the monastery is taking any particular notice of the keening sound.
Now you come to think about it, you hope it is merely an early warning to you and your comrades, old and new.
This is all beyond me, Caine thinks. But they are my friends. I cannot abandon them.
Caine follows closely, ready to intervene when the moment is right.
Ceara follows along, of course, more curious than anything else as she's pushed aside. She hesitates near the chapel doors so that she can observe the quartet who almost seemed to rush here.