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So those gnomes the party killed... they weren't really bad guys? I'm confused.
So were they.
Basically it's like this: Word that the main "heretic of Melora" (Selerian) was captured has been out for a while and pretty much everybody around Skyreach knows that the Church of Corellon is out looking to mop up the stragglers. Tinker Hobbs saw that Mialain had the Mark of Melora (her holy symbol is a full-sleave tatoo of vines that has gradually grown up her arm as she has grown in power). So he figured on handing them over to the Church for a nice reward.
I don't think that necessarily makes them "bad". But certainly their goals didn't align with those of the party at the time.
well, it took me a day of on and off reading, but I've finally finished this thread. And what a thread it's been so far! Some really cool moments in your campaign, Rel. And some things I would never do myself.
Funnily enough, my game is currently in the feywild, and the PCs have just fought Spriggans. They're around 8th level right now, too. My group has been beating the Spriggans handily (we're using them "by the book") but they've taken some serious damage from the powries' "punt the fallen" attack. they've learned the hard way that you can't let yourself get surrounded by the little bastards.
__________________ Current Campaign:The Shattered Isles Homebrew - Hammer (Minotaur Fighter 8), Kirra (Drow Rogue 8), Shedin (Dragonborn Paladin 8), Zahar (Half-Eladrin/Half Drow Bard 8), and Seahorse (Halfling Rogue 8). Currently the group is in the Feywild, trying to discover who is poisoning the drow.
they've taken some serious damage from the powries' "punt the fallen" attack...
That one is SO fun, isn't it? In my game it happened to Eshik who got punted into a nearby stream. All the players looked at me and were like, "Did you just say he punted Eshik?"
"Yeah. That just happened."
They really steeled their resolve to win the battle after that.
After considerable discussion, the party came to the conclusion that this situation called for diplomacy, not a stealthy rescue attempt. They had vital information that was of benefit to the Eladrin people and needed to be delivered. It was felt that trying to break Selerian out of his imprisonment would simply poison relations with the Eladrin.
The Sisters seemed dubious about this plan but they were not about to second guess the will of the High Priestess. They escorted the party back through the Bramble and allowed them to approach the front gate of the city (the same way the Gnomes had been bringing them). The Sisters wished them luck and went back to hiding in the Bramble to await news of the party's efforts.
The PC's made enough of an impression on the guards at the gate to get themselves escorted to the seat of government where Lord Toryl and Lady Ryuthyr held sway. This was HIGH up in one of the tallest trees in Skyreach and required them to ride a lift and climb many stairs. They were placed, literally, out on a limb and told to wait while a special council was called. Heavy guard was placed at the base of the limb that held the platform the party occupied and it was clear that they were not to leave without permission.
A few hours later they were escorted onto a large platform that was circular in shape. The center was a small, open amphitheater, surrounded by several tables, all but one of which were occupied. The party was taken to the vacant table. Opposite them, at the largest of the tables, they were introduced to Lord Toryl and Lady Ryuthyr. Introduction was made by Lord Quarian Glen, chief administrator of Skyreach.
He then introduced in turn the factions seated at the other tables. First was Archer Leshanna, High Priestess of the Church of Corellon. She looked angry and severe, particularly in regards to Mialain and her open display of the symbol of Melora.
Next was Lord Hadarai, captain of the Cloudrenders, a ranking officer in the Skyreach military. His expression was stern but neutral. Mostly he seemed like a busy man who had other places to be.
Opposite Lord Hadarai sat Mistress Naivara, head of the Skyreach Wizard's Guild. She held herself even more regally than did Lord Toryl or Lady Ryuthyr and was obviously nobody to be trifled with. Introduced separately but seated at the corner of the same table as Mistress Naivara was Guildmaster P'khel, Ambassador from the Arcanon Confederacy. He looked intent and appraisingly at the party as they were seated.
Once the pleasantries were out of the way the PC's introduced themselves and explained that they had entered the Feywild by way of the Mist Gate. Cutting right to the heart of the matter, Astavian (their chief spokesperson) indicated that they had slain the dragon who held the other side of the gate (he didn't mention the party about how a Dracolich may or may not currently reside there). This was confirmed by the other party members who fleshed out various parts of their journey to Skyreach. Mialain rather gently broached the subject of her brother, asking about his wellbeing.
Before the rest of the assembled dignitaries could get into any serious questioning, Guildmaster P'khel stood and asked to address the court. His request was granted and he launched into an oratory about the fact that the party were wanted for murder of several Guildmasters of his country. Furthermore, they had killed the Eladrin crew of one of the winged ships on loan to the Arcanon Confederacy and then stolen the ship, crash landing it in Dwarven territory, where it was still currently being held.
This caused a bit of turmoil to race among the court and the proceedings were called to a halt until Guildmaster P'khel could share more about these accusations with the various parties privately. The PC's were sent back to their platform. While there they did managed to request and get a private meeting with Mistress Naivara. Zanne thanked her for coming and shared with her the contents of the mysterious book that she had been studying during their travels and wondering if Mistress Naivara might find it useful or offer any further insights. Mistress Naivara asked if she might hold the book to study overnight and Zanne agreed.
Meanwhile Mialain was able to use her Animal Messenger ritual to get a message to her brother. She tied a tiny silk full of Residuum to the bird's leg such that he might make a reply if he also knew the ritual. It turned out that he was able to make such a reply and it told her that he was alive and that the "Wizard's Guild was the weak link". The PC's didn't quite know what to make of that but they would be certain to focus on matters arcane in court the next day.
The following day the court was reconvened and the party answered the charges against them, indicating that it was the Arcanon Confederacy who were in violation of their agreement with the Dwarves about leaving the ruins of Old Karak Tor undisturbed. The Dwarves had authorized the party to retrieve certain items of historical significance from the ruins for them and they had only defended themselves when attacked. They indicated their extreme regret that some Eladrin had lost their lives in the process but assured the court that there was nothing illegal about their actions.
Guildmaster P'khel once again rose to condemn the PC's for their actions and insisted that they should be taken into custody at once for extradition to the Arcanon Confederacy for trial and punishment. Lord Glen, who had been placed in charge of the proceedings by Lord Toryl, somewhat sheepishly said that the council would like to hear any other information that the party may wish to share before any judgement was made about their fate.
Astavian took to the floor where he talked of the tremendous risk they had undertaken to reach Skyreach in the hopes of saving the Feywild from its current peril. From information shared by the Gnomes, the party believed it was possible that they might seal the Mist Gate. The party would gladly assist in this perilous endeavor. In return they asked only for the release of Selerian.
Guildmaster P'khel once again rose to denounce them as murderers whose every word was probably a lie. Archer Leshanna certainly seemed disinclined to come to any agreement that would free the heretic that she had worked so hard to capture. Again the court was closed for the day.
That evening Mistress Naivara returned the book to Zanne and was able to offer a few additional insights. Notably their records that had crossed over to the Feywild mentioned an artifact called "The Nexus" that had been stolen by the Chromatic Dragons and taken to a place called The Isle of Wyrms. This was the event that sparked The Dragon War that ended with the coming of the Mist. Zanne thanked her for the information and they parted on relatively friendly terms. Perhaps they had made some inroads with the "weak link".
Astavian also requested a private meeting with Lord Hadarai wherein he disclosed that the Mist Demons prowling the Mistvale had discovered a weakness in their defenses. They were unsure of its precise location but gave the best indication they could based on the directions they had gotten. Astavian asked for nothing in return for this information, which seemed to impress Hadarai. Hadarai asked some questions about the circumstances under which they had battled the crew of the winged ship and, while hardly happy about the matter, seemed to understand that the PC's would gladly have left the Eladrin alone had they not been attacked. Another of the council parted on relatively good terms.
The next day the council seemed to have tabled the notion of turning over the PC's to the Arcanon Confederacy, much to the visible consternation of Guildmaster P'khel. The focus of the discussion was primarily on the specifics of how the party believed they might close off the Mist Gate. The fate of Selerian was a rather large sticking point as it seemed that Archer Leshanna was never going to agree to have him set free to "sew discontent among the Eladrin people at this time of great peril".
The idea was floated that the party would bring Selerian along with them when they left the Feywild, effectively banishing him from Eladrin lands for good. While not immediately agreed upon this idea seemed to have some merits. It was obvious that the Church of Corellon had considered simply killing the heretic but that they knew this would most likely make him a martyr figure that the misguided could rally around.
Guildmaster P'khel made a fervent plea to stop the "madness" that was listening to anything the PC's had to say. Word that they were negotiating with these murderers had already reached his government and these events were almost certainly going to negatively impact relations between the Eladrin and the Arcanon Confederacy.
Astavian stepped quickly into the wake of this hazy threat to indicate that perhaps it wouldn't be any great loss for the Eladrin to sever ties with the Arcanon Confederacy. Was it not a fact that for thirty years the Eladrin had sent their resources and soldiers to serve the Arcanon Confederacy? And in return they had only unfulfilled promises that someday, maybe, the Mist Gate might be closed. Meanwhile the Feywild continued to suffer from the slow but certain destruction and corruption that were inherent in the Mist. The party offered action NOW. Was it not worth at least exploring the possibility? Astavian's speech ended with a great deal of head nodding by the assembled councilors and court was adjourned for the day.
As the party plotted their next move that night upon their private platform, a shape sudden materialized from the darkness. It moved among them like a breeze, cutting and slashing as it went. The PC's called for help and battled it as best they could. But it always seemed to be more shadow than substance, until it struck yet another devastating cut from its blades of darkness. As the guards responded to the cries of the party and came running up the limb to their aid, the shadow creature was knocked off the edge of the platform to disappear into the darkness below.
The party brought this attempted assassination to the attention of the council the next day. Guildmaster P'khel asserted that they had fabricated the entire incident to garner sympathy for their flimsy promises. But few on the council seemed to wish to hear what he had to say any more.
A deal was struck: Lord Hadarai would bring a pair of his winged ships to fly the party and a group of mages from the Skyreach Wizard's Guild back to the gnomish village near the Mist Gate. There they would study with Galiban to learn the Seal Portal ritual that should allow them to close the Mist Gate if done properly, from both sides simultaneously. Selerian and all of his known followers would also be brought along, under guard, to see to it that they were banished from the Feywild forever.
It would take some time to prepare and provision this expedition however. In the mean time the party would be guests of Lord Glen here where the Royal Guard could help look after their safety and security. It was unspoken but this would also assure that Mialain had no opportunity to interact with commoners and spread her insidious religion.
Later that same night Mialain was allowed to visit Selerian in his cell at the Temple Tree of Corellon. Brother and sister, now both High Priests of Melora, were reunited for the first time in years.
*********
So what we have here is basically an entire session dedicated to a single skill challenge. I did something kind of quirky with it, which wasn't tremendously successful. I'll try and explain how it worked and how it didn't.
I'd already been using a sort of "success track" for my skill challenges by sliding a token up or down a line on our battlemat, one square at a time for each success or failure.
I decided it would be cool to expand this into another dimension so I used a chess board with four different pieces on it to represent the different factions in the negotiations. By making various sorts of skill rolls the PC's could influence the position (political and literal) of the factions with regards to each other.
I also divided the challenge into different parts. We'd do a round of the PC's trying to influence things in the open forum of the Imperial Court and then do another round of "smoke filled rooms" representing behind the scenes deals, trying to dig up dirt on the various factions or possibly even attempted assassinations. Then things would shift back to the Court phase and continue like that until they succeeded or the talks broke down or deadlocked.
There were two problems that made it unsuccessful (or at least not as successful as I'd have liked): One was that the goal on my chessboard was poorly defined. The PC's knew what they wanted but it wasn't terribly clear how they were going to get that by bringing the various factions together on the chess board. I needed a specified point on the board that represented their ideal outcome and I failed to provide that.
The other was that it just took too damn long. The players did what I expected in terms of discussing the approach and arguments they would take to influence the various factions. But this process took most of the evening to get through three full rounds (Court + Smoke Filled Room = 1 round) of the challenge. We rounded out the night with the assassination attempt on the PC's (they aren't sure which faction tried that but they have some guesses), so that injected some much needed excitement. For the record, that was a Direguard Assassin. I rendered him a sort of Elite by increasing his damage without lowering his Hit Points. He made for a slippery foe.
In the end two of the factions that they'd been most successful at influencing (Naivara and Hadarai) offered them a deal that gave them about 80% of what they wanted without pissing off the other factions in play and the players took that. And it let me bring to an end to this epic skill challenge without them ever totally aligning things on the chessboard as I'd envisioned.
My after-action-assessment is that it was a sort of neat idea that failed due to poor execution of some of the details. Nonetheless there was tons of great roleplaying all the way around and kudos to the players for some well executed diplomacy. Special props go out to Astavian whose Astral Speech makes him well suited for the task of winning the hearts and minds they encounter.
After a considerable delay, the party finally boarded one of the winged ships that would carry them back to the west. The journey took only a day for them to arrive over the mountain where the Firbolg lived. There they discovered an uneasy standoff between the Firbolg and Gnomes.
The Gnomes had established an encampment nearly as big as their village had been. Here they had regrouped after their journey through the tunnels below the Mist that the PC's had cleared several weeks before. But they were now trying to gather the necessary food and other supplies to journey further east. And this was bringing them into conflict with the Firbolg on whose grounds they were now hunting and gathering.
The PC's stepped into the situation and spoke with Galiban the Wizard and used the goodwill they had garnered with the Firbolg (they still had the hunting horn they'd been given) to take some of the tension out of the air. Along with Mistress Naivara and a pair of the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards, they spoke with Galiban about needing the ritual to close the Mist Gate. He agreed to provide it if the Eladrin would see to it that his people were finally evacuated from their current location to the Eladrin lands to the east.
Lord Hadarai agreed to this although it would mean that they'd be down to only a single ship if the other was busy ferrying loads of Gnomes. The evacuation got underway. Galiban's son returned two days later to assure him that the relocation of their people was being done in good faith. With that assurance in place, he taught the gathered mages the Seal Gate ritual. He further agreed to go along in order to help with the performing of the ritual, hoping to finally see his hopes from long ago realized.
Space was cramped aboard their winged ship as it flew several hours through the thick and swirling Mist toward the Mist Gate. Prior to boarding the mages had prepared a large batch of Mist Milk to shield them from its effects. But the Mist was so thick where they were headed that they knew it couldn't be kept at bay for long. Eshik continued to be unbothered by it, arousing much whispering among those outside the party.
They finally arrived at the Gate and divided into the teams that they had agreed upon. The PC's would go through the Mist Gate along with Selerian and The Sisters. Lord Hadarai would also accompany them to be sure that they were able to begin the ritual. He would then come back to the Feywild side of the gate to inform the group there, comprised of Mistress Naivara, two more Eladrin Wizards, two Arcanon Confederacy Wizards and Galiban, to begin the ritual from their side. The few remaining guards would be split between guarding against Mist Demons and keeping the winged ship safe.
Zanne exchanged a brief "Good Luck" with Mistress Naivara and the party plunged through the Mist Gate back into their home world.
I know they always say "Leave them wanting more..." but this!
Grrr!
I've got my reputation as a Rat Bastard to keep up. But here's some more of our campaign anyway...
They crossed in a single, disconcerting instant. But it was still time enough for Eshik to be aware of passing an enormity that was aware of him in turn. It was like being sniffed at by a tornado...
And then the world was full of swirling Mist and mist as they were back on the island below the waterfall and misshapen things lurched at them out of the murk. "Gibber-gibber. Gibbergibbergibber."
This time the party was not taken off guard, they were not trying to flee from the confusing and grasping monstrosities, and they had the aid of Lord Hadarai who was no slouch as a swordsman. It wasn't long before these abominations, formed of the twisted remains of a hundred or more Eladrin, were dispatched.
They were catching their breath from this brief and violent encounter when one of Lord Hadarai's guards stumbled through the Mist Gate, bleeding and coughing. Selerian was near the Gate and administered some healing as the Eladrin warrior yelled, "Mist Demons! The Wizards! They have betrayed us!"
The party and Lord Hadarai were not entirely sure what that meant but they waited for no clarification before diving back across worlds.
Except the PC wizards, of course. You can trust them.
Until they see that they can get "all seven of them" with a well-placed fireball... "well-placed" actually meaning "some friendly casualties are acceptable in this situation".
__________________ Current Campaign:The Shattered Isles Homebrew - Hammer (Minotaur Fighter 8), Kirra (Drow Rogue 8), Shedin (Dragonborn Paladin 8), Zahar (Half-Eladrin/Half Drow Bard 8), and Seahorse (Halfling Rogue 8). Currently the group is in the Feywild, trying to discover who is poisoning the drow.
Until they see that they can get "all seven of them" with a well-placed fireball... "well-placed" actually meaning "some friendly casualties are acceptable in this situation".
this isn't a purely wizard phenomenon... Zanne and Eshik have an agreement on this!
The last week I've been sick and so haven't done much beyond prepping the session that we had last night. What I can say for sure is that there is some intensely cool stuff forthcoming and I've got a lighter work schedule the next week so I'll try and get some of it written out.
...They arrived back on the Feywild side of the gate just in time to see one of the Arcanon Confederacy wizards plunge a knife into the chest of the unconscious Mistress Naivara. But there was little time to avenge her as the thin flank was collapsing to the assault by a group of Mist Demons. The very same Mist Demons in fact that had offered their help to Zanne and the rest of the party when they were crossing the Mistvale.
They all currently wore their Bugbear form and were laying about with huge greatswords. The last of the Eladrin Cloudrender Knights were barely standing. Astavian, never one to trust a Mist Demon in the first place, plunged into their midst. Eshik charged to his aid. Zanne meanwhile moved to threaten the AC Wizards accompanied by Lord Hadarai. Mialain used her healing powers to aid those who had already fallen to this treachery.
In turn, the Confederacy mages focused their attacks on Galiban the Gnome, who still stood and was hurling every spell he could think of at them. The strategy of these Wizards quickly became apparent: They were trying to first kill those who might perform the ritual to close the Mist Gate. That also explained why they were in an alliance with the Mist Demons.
Mialain channeled her powers to keep the valliant Gnome alive while Zanne and Eshik delivered deadly damage to the Wizards. Astavian and Eshik had slain one of the Mist Demons by this point. But soon the Wizards were dead and Zanne and Hadarai turned their full attention upon the shape-shifting Mist Demons who were quickly vanquished.
They had won the fight but the cost was considerable. Mistress Naivara was dead as were several of the Cloudrenders. Galiban was wounded but not severely, thanks to Mialain's aid. The Wizards who had betrayed them were both dead as well as their Mist Demon allies.
The Cloudrenders barely had the manpower to crew their ship and Galiban was the only one left alive who could possibly perform the ritual to close the Mist Gate. This left the primary goal of the mission in considerable jeopardy. Those familiar with the ritual knew that it was complex and powerful. Attempting it alone would be difficult and dangerous for the Gnome Wizard but he did not shy away from the challenge.
"I'll help him," said Selerian.
All eyes turned to the Elf. Especially those of Mialain who immediately countered, "You'll be stuck here in the Feywild!"
That was true Selerian admitted. But he felt that he still had much to do to spread the word of Melora among the people of the Feywild. And there was still a gate in Skyreach if he ever needed to return home. "A gate that leads right into the heart of the Arcanon Confederacy," Mialain exclaimed. Despite her protestations however, it was obvious that this was a solution to the problem at hand. However this did not obviate the fact that Selerian and his female followers had been sentenced to banishment as an alternative to imprisonment or death. As the leader of the expedition, they looked to Lord Hadarai.
"I have within my grasp the chance to end the influx of this damnable Mist that has plagued my people for thirty years! If Leshanna wishes to take issue with the fact that I didn't send you home rather than make you help close this Gate then to the Hells with her! Now get to work before any more of those Mist Demons return!"
The PC's said their goodbyes to Hadarai, Galiban and of course Selerian. Mialain was missing her brother already and knew that her parents would be furious that she hadn't brought him home when she had the chance. But she could tell that he was at peace with this decision. In fact, watching the way he smiled as he and the Sisters prepared to enact the ritual, she wasn't so sure that he hadn't planned to stay all along.
The party gave a final nod to Galiban and Selerian, who stood ready to begin the ritual in just a few moments, and stepped back through the Mist Gate one last time.
DISCONTINUITY...
...And once again they were on the island at the base of the waterfall. Zanne and Mialain wasted no time in getting to work on the ritual while Astavian and Eshik stood ready to protect them should anyone try and stop them.
Zanne, more experienced in matters of the Arcane, took the lead with Mialain lending her support and power. For Zanne, despite the complexity of the ritual, it was all very clear. She could see the strands of power that held open this hole to the Place Between Places and, one by one, she manipulated them, forming them back into their natural form. In just a few minutes the last strand was back in place and the Gate was sealed as the last bits of Mist whistled through the closing gap and suddenly there was only the sound of the waterfall. Compared to the roiling and swirling wind of the Mist being drawn into the Feywild, it was very quiet.
This peace was broken by a sudden roar of frustration and a towering form some twenty feet tall strode out of the settling Mist and siezed Zanne by the throat. He cried a few words of Primordial, that only Zanne could understand as yelling, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" before he vanished entirely, taking Zanne with him.
**********
Ok so in this part we cover the journey from Skyreach to the Mist Gate and the fights on both sides of the gate, plus the ritual.
I didn't formally make the trip plus the diplomacy with the Gnomes/Firbolg a Skill Challenge but it probably would have made a good one. Instead this was mostly resolved through roleplaying and a few skill rolls, mostly by Astavian who is the acknowledged Diplomat of the party, especially thanks to Astral Speech. Regardless it helped to paint the complex state of affairs that existed wherein these different factions needed to cooperate in order to deal with the Mist Crisis but also show that the Gnomes didn't fully trust the Eladrin (with good reason). Meanwhile the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards were doing whatever they could to make sure that they didn't let anybody with knowledge about how to open or close a Gate/Linked Portal go back to Skyreach.
Obviously that's because they wanted them to be within reach when the time came for them to betray the group. Maintaining control over the Teleportation "technology" is a paramount motivator for these guys. Furthermore, keeping the Mist Gate open helps them because it keeps the Eladrin dependant upon the AC for a way to try and close it. And obviously the Mist Demons make good allies given their vested interest in keeping it open.
The PC's got to go back and fight the Gibbering Mouthers again, which make really fun Controller monsters to run. But the fight was much easier for the PC's when they were trying to get TO the Mouthers than when they were trying to get away from them.
Then we shifted gears to the fight back in the Feywild side of the Gate. This was fairly standard with the Barghest Battle Lords being the heavy hitters while the Arcanon Confederacy Wizards provided the artillery/controll. Also of note in this fight was the fact that the PC's were desperately trying to keep the AC Wizards from killing Galiban (I'd made Mistress Naivara's death a fait accompli and the PC's had no chance to save her). It reminded me that fights are sometimes best when the enemy has a tangible goal apart from "reduce the PC's HP to zero". So fun stuff.
The ritual came down to just a skill roll and Zanne knocked it out of the park. As a reminder, we use exploding d6's for skill rolls rather than the normal 4e system and Zanne got several of them. I think the total skill roll was somewhere around 40 when it was all tallied up.
At this point in the campaign, I think the PC's had almost reached 10th level. I should also note that the closing of the Mist Gate is a "big deal" in terms of changing the campaign world. Granted, they won't see much direct impact in the immediate area because nobody was coming through that Gate on a regular basis anyway. BUT, this is obviously going to have a considerable impact on relations between the Arcanon Confederacy and the Eladrin. And that's to say nothing of how it effects thing in the Feywild.
I bring this up because it kind of sets the tone from here on out for the remainder of the campaign. The PC's are going to be major actors in the world, doing big things with broad reaching consequences. This is just the kind of "High Fantasy" feel that I wanted for this campaign and it is noteworthy because I don't tend to run games like this all that often. I'm usually a more "grim n gritty" type of GM. But this game has been a ton of fun and it's already one of the best campaigns I've ever run.
As Mialain I had the campaign's high roll to date (53) for assisting with the ritual to close the gate to the Fey Wild. Zanne's character also rolled very well so it was a resounding success.
Somewhere, in the deepest depths of the Mist, her Demon Lord held Zanne by the throat. She couldn't speak. She could barely breathe.
The Beseiger rectified this situation by hurling her to the ground with enough force that she needed several moments to work past the pain and recover her breath. The Beseiger filled this time with an angry diatribe:
"WHAT could you possibly have been thinking?! You must have known that Gate served my purposes! And yet you closed it anyway! Know this, bitch: I OWN your soul! And I'll have it out of you sooner than you think if you aren't very careful.
There is an artifact. The Nexus. You know of it?"
By this point Zanne had recovered such that she could nod her head.
The Besieger continued, "Well you're going to get it for me. You have a year and a day. A moment beyond that and I'll have your life as well as your soul! Understood?!" Again, Zanne nodded.
He grabbed her again in his massive hand and they were suddenly back near the, now defunct, Mist Gate. He tossed her on the ground, a bit less forcibly this time. "A year and a day..." He was gone again.
"What was that all about!?" asked Astavian.
"I...had a little talk with my patron," replied Zanne.
Astavian let it be known, in no uncertain terms, what he thought about trafficking with Mist Demons.
Zanne let it be known, in no uncertain terms, that she was starting to agree with him.
They had a brief conversation in which Zanne told the rest of the group the task that she'd been assigned by her Demon Lord. Given what they knew of the Nexus, that it gave the wielder control over the various planar gates, it was generally agreed that handing it over to a Demon Lord would be a "very bad thing". But for now their next step was obvious: They needed to get out of this swamp and back to civilization.
They crossed the river rushing around the island and rather furtively explored the huge cave where they had slain Balethrax. The dracolich that he had become was nowhere in sight. Neither was the substantial pile of dragon bones that had been stacked near the back of the cave. However they did discover a ritual, carved upon the wall in Draconic, and apparently written and revised multiple times over a long period. It was a multi-part ritual for the creation of the "dracotaur" creatures that they had fought here and in the swamps.
The first part of the ritual required the animation of some dragon bones into a sort of construct. This was then imbued with flesh and magic using a large amount of blood combined with the enchanted blood of a dragon. That of course explained the blood-tithe that Balethrax had imposed upon the Lizardfolk, which had eventually driven them into conflict with the Elves. The experimental nature of the ritual also explained the misshapen dracotaurs they had encountered in the swamps.
Zanne copied the ritual into her book but they also made efforts to deface the writing on the cave wall such that the ritual would be useless to others who might find it. That done, they left the vile cave, already full of millions of flies buzzing and drinking from the drying bood-vats. They ascended the pathway that circled around the sinkhole and made their way back into the swamps headed East toward Enmur.
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