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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lykkenthrope" data-source="post: 9778410" data-attributes="member: 7045440">Session 17 The session began exactly where the last had ended, facing the Deva guarding the shrine. Sorian stepped forward, cutting off the Deva. Rage still lingered in his voice as he declared the forest his ancestral home. He swore he would see the fire ended, find the survivors, and uncover the truth of what had befallen his people.Moved by Sorian’s words, Vic added her own plea as she asked the Deva to release the tormented spirits of the ghasts they had fought before they were resurrected by the fire.  Intrigue flickered in the Deva’s eyes, between Sorian’s determination and Vic’s mercy he was most surprised by the first visitors he had seen in nearly a century.With a nod, the Deva raised his hand and a golden light spread over the ghasts’ bodies. As the party watched, their souls lifted out of the undead husks.  The spectral ghast forms began to morph, returning to their original elegant elves form at long lost. Their spirits joined hands, lifting into the air together, their faces serene for the first time in decades before vanishing into light.DM Note. It was at this point I was sad I hadn’t made them Sorians grandparents.The Deva turned back to the group and granted them passage into the shrine. Yet before stepping aside, he offered a warning that if they did anything to “destroy the truth” he would stop them with the full might of Lathander.Inside, they quickly found the oddly preserved body of Bhurisavra (an exalted Saint of Lethander)The scene revealed that a relic was forcibly taken, though they did not know which artifact or its importance but the way Bhurisavra had been killed suggested that a powerful being still connected to the forest was responsible.Further exploration led them to Bhurisavra’s final journal and an elf encased in a crystal stasis. The journal detailed the villagers’ final actions: that they had willingly become firetouched, and that Bhurisavra had taken them up river to a cave where he hoped they would be tended too.One passage near the end stood out, a note about a Shalahesti soldier, already afflicted when he came to the village.  Bhurisavra believed the soldier held a truth that would matter once the fires were extinguished, so he placed him in stasis to preserve his mind from the fire.Vic and Torrent examined the crystal, searching for a magical way to free the trapped elf. Before they could act, the Deva intervened. He said he would not allow them to release the elf without a cure for the afflicting fire.Grom and Vic proposed seeking Indomitability’s aid, perhaps she could extend the same fire protection boon she had granted them. But Sorian and Ze were hesitant.  They feel to the “primal spirit” or whatever she was before knowing whether she should truly be freed was a dangerous gamble with something so precious as whatever was locked in the elf’s mind.Then, with his usual blunt humor, Grom pointed out that openly discussing about betraying a possible divine being while still in her domain might not be the wisest choice.In the end, they chose to leave the elf as they found him, promising the Deva they would return once the fire was ended, one way or another.As they departed the shrine, a familiar figure emerged from the smoke: Kazyk, waving a literal white flag.  He offered to help the group free Indomitability in exchange for the book, even allowing them time to make a copy if they so wished. (Vic tried to do so but quickly discovered that an enchantment prevented any accurate replication).The party rejected Kayzk who warned them he would return and then disappeared.Afterward, as they returned to the river the party recognized the encounter with Kazyk reignited (fire joke) their purpose: deliver the intelligence to Seaquen as quickly as possible…no matter the cost.From Sorian’s Personal Character Journal: Sorian walked in silence, his thoughts heavy. He felt the truth gnawing at his soul, that freeing Indomitability might destroy the forest entirely.  Yet Sorian consoled himself with the idea that perhaps that destruction would be a mercy. Better ashes than eternal torment.However right as they reached the river, they heard shouting and saw a fae woman being attacked by several other fae. The group rushed forward to intervene.(Session End)</blockquote>

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