Episode 24- Fallout

Menelwen glanced at Theamen as the party braced themselves. She put a hand on his cheek. “I love you. Don't die, keep a level head.”

“I'll do my best. I love you too.” He gave her a kiss.

They opened the door, ready to drop the fireball. A blast of wind slammed into the party.Henry, Theamen, and Menelwen are thrown off the bridge. Thok tried to save Menelwen but failed. They landed in the water below.

Three blowgun attacks hit Thok in the chest, The Hurricanes and Howling Hatred cult members ride the air current to attack him.

Thok attacks, using his new sword. It freezes and shatters one of the guys. Scruffy manages to kill two, backing Thok up.

Rosette smirked, snapping her fingers. Shocks of lightning go through Thok and Scruffy as she uses Chain Lightning.It richochetes and hits everyone, knocking the party out cold.

Vega, who had been absent as the fight started saw three figures scooping Menelwen, Theamen, and Henry out of the water. They were dragged back into the chamber. He saw Rosette directing people as the doors closed behind them.

Vega was left all alone...debating about what to do.

He made a pact, taking on a level in paladin. His resolve steeled with new powers, he wildshaped into a flying snake and slipped in. He saw the cultists cleaning up from the mess. He followed the staircase up to a room that had a high throne on a marble dias.

A moon elf rested on the throne, her feathered wings behind her and near transparent robes covered her forom.

Four figures were chained to the wall.

Rosette stepped over. “I took care of them a lot easier than expected. Is there anything else?”

“Send for the clerics. We don't need our little toys breaking on us so quickly. And find the other one. Invite him to come...have a conversation.”

Rosette nodded, turning. Vega saw that she had Drown. She left.

About forty-five minutes passed before men in robes entered and bowed before the moon elf. “Which one?”

“Three of them are spell casters. Wake the orc.”

Smelling salts and an incantation brought Thok up to one hit point and conscious.

“Kalinoth I presume.” His voice was thick but clear.

“I see you got my letter, champions of Red Larch.” She purred.

“Yeah, we did.”

“You're no match for me or my people.”

“Mmhm.” Thok was not giving her the satisfaction.

“Abundantly. But I'm feeling generous. You can atone for your sins.” She studied her nails as though they were more interesting than the conversation. “Marlos has become a thorn in my side. I want you to kill him.”

“Really. You want us to kill him.”

“Yes.”

“Waiting for the catch here.”

“It's simple. Kill him or die here. If I send you, and you die to Marlos, I've lost nothing.” She put on an innocent expression. “Oh no Marlos, I would never do anything like that.” She smirked. “If you go, you go in peace. I'll have my underlings lead you out. Fail to kill him, I'll send my lieutenant after you. She held back today.”

Thok glanced at Henry, still out cold. “How did Rosette join?”

“I'm a masterful recruiter. See how easy it is to get you to work for me now?”

“What else?” Thok pressed.

“I don't know what you mean.”

“What happened to Vega?” Thok asked. He was the only one not chained.

“My lieutenant is looking for him. He wasn't caught in the blast.”

“They still okay?” He jerked his chin towards Menelwen, Theamen and Henry.

“They're alive.”

“Where is he?”

“Marlos?” Kalinoth looked at him. “Sacred Stone Monastery. Keep going down. If he's there, kill him. If not, he'll be back. It was always so terrible when we had meetings at his place. He has no mirrors anywhere...”

Thok agreed to her condition. What else could he do? “Restore us to working order and have us led out then.”

Vega slipped out to meet up with Rosette.

The party was restored to one hit point. Still gagged but awake.

Henry managed to prevent himself from being turned on as Kalinoth walked up to him. “Cast a spell and I'll kill you child.” She yanked the gag from his mouth.

“Where's Rosette?”

“Looking for your missing companion.”

“What do you have on her?”

“Her allegiance. It's a scary world out there. Everyone needs protection. It just matters where you found it. My lieutenant chose wisely. Unlike you.”

“What secret do you have on her?”

Her eyes narrowed at the word.

“Did that touch a nerve?” Henry snapped.

“I don't know. Did it?” She took a stab at his eye socket. Henry passed out from the pain, the nerves still incredibly raw.

The party sees four small figures with crossbows marching in to escort the,. Kenku. As they were marched out, they passed Rosette. Henry was unconscious in Thok's arms.

“He opened his mouth,didn't he?” She scoffed. “Tell Henry to check the sewn in place. Idiot.” She brushed past them.

The Kenku led them out to the gate that Thok had broken into. Their possessions were dropped. Vega caught up to them, casting mass cure wounds on the ground.

Henry came to, taking a step away to check the sewn in place. He found a note and ten gold pieces. “Glass eye for shape, eye patch for looks.”

Menelwen used her once a day cure wounds on Theamen. He in turn used lay on hands to bring her up to full hit points.

“We should plan.” Menelwen sighed.

“As much as I hate to suggest it, we're about ten days away from Waterdeep.” Theamen frowned. “We can restock, learn, and get Henry the proper medical attention that he needs.”

They agreed that this was the most sensible course of action. The party goes up the stairs, out the doorway as the sun started to rise.

After putting some distance between themselves and the air cult, they stopped for a rest around 11. Theamen takes his breastplate off, and just curled up. Menelwen passed out with him.

Thok took the first watch. Nothing happened, he noticed flying things that appeared to be watching them. But they did nothing.

Menelwen stirred a couple hours later. On hers, she saw some giant vultures, hear the roar of a far off manticore, and the crow that had been hanging out in a nearby tree hopped down.

The next thing she knew, there was a scimitar to her throat. Centari held the other end. “Scream and I'll slit your throat. I was waiting until the level-headed one was alone.”

She froze, watching him.

“Good.” Centari took the blade away. “We'll have a conversation. I want to know why. Why isn't he an abomination anymore?”

“We got a cleric to cure him.”

“There's more.”

“What...what do you mean?”

“If you don't know...then we'll wait until they wake.” Centari folded her arms over her chest. A few hours, the party woke.

“Tell me,” she addressed Vega. “Why are you no longer an abomination?”

He told her that he made a pact with a Celestial. Her expression stayed neutral as she stood. “Very well. You can no longer call the circle your home. I wish you luck, child. With the decisions you made, you'll need it.” She transformed and flew off.

Vega explained that due to his pact with Raizel if he died, he could never be resurrected or come back. He was no longer a vessel for his own soul. He was merely a conduit for a higher power, to be used as a weapon. A sword that is pointed at an enemy. He was their tool.

Henry refused to accept it.

The party, still processing all the information from their last couple encounters moved on. Henry, rubbing his remaining eye paused. He blinked, noticing a trail of smoke coming from the forest. Sneaking, he saw a little boy playing with fire in a clearing. He was giggling, causing the fire to increase and decrease.

Henry didn't even wait, he approached the boy.

“Are you a bandit?” The kid asked.

“No. If I was, I would have done a better job on sneaking up.”

The kid shrugged. “Bandits are stupid.”

“I'm not.”

“How'd you lose the eye then?”

Henry rolled his eye and glanced at the fire. “Want to see something cool?”

“Sure!”

Henry aimed Burning Hands down, half pointed towards himself so as not to hurt the kid. He did however, hurt himself and set part of the forest on fire.

As the trees catch, a blur of motion makes the kid disappear. Because Henry had wandered off, it takes the rest of the party time to catch up.

Seeing the fire and knowing that Henry did it, Menelwen spat out “You're a fucking dumbass.” in Elvish.

“I know!” He had understood but the response was garbled Elvish sounds. Henry was grabbed and rocketed up into the air, his arms windmilling, screaming.

Luca jumped from Henry to a tree, climbing down to Thok.

Henry cried out for help

“But Mama, it was cool!” The kid said. He appeared with a dark skinned elf with white hair. A Drow woman who identified herself as Eclipse.

“Why was my child attacked so viciously?” She demanded. An orc stepped out, wearing robes to join them.

“Are you alright Simon?”

“I'm fine Papa.”

They explain that they had found him in the Underdark. The orc, named Gurrack and his wife had found Simon, rescued him and were going to bring him to Waterdeep. Hopefully to find his parents. Gurrack himself was thrown from his orc clan for studying magic. He was captured and sold to be a slave. Eclipse had taken pity on his and saved him. He did the same for her in turn.

Henry freefalls for a moment then is lowered down. Gurrack had used Levitate on him. Just to mess with him. “What did you learn?” Gurrack asked.

Henry apologized and spoke with Eclipse. She accepted his apology.

“Simon, get the pot open.” The family started cooking.

Theamen stepped aside to talk to Eclipse, paladin to paladin. Thok and Gurrack talk about how far they had come. It had taken the small family three years to get this far. But since their destination was the same, the family agreed to join the party.

Menelwen stayed supervising Henry and Simon with the fire. She talked with Simon. For such a young boy (eight years of age), he reads really hard books. He knew all about Solaris when she mentioned it. She showed him a favorite spell of hers, Mold Earth, She created designs in the dirt.

“I can show you my favorite too!” Simon beamed. He used Conjure animals, creating a bunch of puppies.

Simon was called and helped his Dad create jerked out of the spare meat.

Henry approached Gurrack, asking if he could help teach him magic.

“The best thing you can do it is do us a favor. Make a conscious effort. Think before you cast. That is what wizards do.”

Henry nodded, then started talking to him about Rosette. “Maybe I was too blind to see....maybe I could have gotten her help.”

“She's a grown woman, let her make her mistakes. She'll learn. They always do. Just be there for her when she does.”

“I'm too focused on trying to save her and blaming myself.”

“Don't give her what you think she wants. Give her what she needs.”

After a meal, the party continued on the path to Waterdeep.

~

Henry tried to practice shooting on the road.

“You suck at this.” Simon told him.

“I'm using my bad eye.” Henry defended himself.

“Then use your good eye. You only have one.” Simon then suggested switching hands..

~

Menelwen asked Theamen about his conversation with Eclipse. He said it was nothing to worry about. That she was very motherly, and he would share what she said at some point. He needs to think things through.

They had spoken about her patron, Eilistraee, the Drow goddess of song, dance, swordwork, hunting, moonlight, goodness and beauty. He wanted to find out more about her in town.

~

Along the way, Gurrack, Simon and Henry practiced magic. They played catch with Mage Hand. Menelwen grinned, helping out. She used levitate on Henry ad turned him to make it more of a challenge.

~

The city of Waterdeep rose up in front of them after days of travel.

~To be continued...!~

Episode 23- Eye Spy

Henry moved and sat next to Theamen. “Hey.” He nudged his shoulder.

Theamen didn't move or speak.

Thok picked Henry up, taking him from the room to Menelwen and Theamen time. They spoke a bit more, about Kerris and why he didn't tell her. Luca sided with her, rubbing against her legs. “..To certain death?” She offered him her hand.

He glanced up at her, taking it. “To certain death.”

They regrouped and noticed Vega missing. “Where's Vega?”

“Don't worry about it.” Thok answered.

“If we come across her, what do you want us to do?” Menelwen asked Henry as they traveled to the crevice.

“Knock her out? No lethal. Hopefully she won't even be there.”

“Got it. Well then, to certain death?”

“To certain death.”

Thok rolled his eyes. He was the only one who hadn't pledged to his death.

“Oh, where's your sense of fun?” Theamen asked. “Besides, if I die I never have to deal with Kerris or my father again. I'm fine with that.”

Thok passed Menelwen the circlet to attune to. Then started sliding down the cliff to the ledge with the crevice. They arrived at the entrance.

“I have a bad feeling about this...” Henry frowned.

“We're going into a crevice full of cultists. I would be more concerned if you had a good feeling.” Theamen shrugged.

“Ah Henry, you'll need light.” Menelwen pointed out as the crevice was pitch black. Henry lit his dagger. Theamen used Light on a copper piece in order to be a little more stealthy.

They moved slowly down the steep steps. It became clear that these were Dwarvish in construction and it was a back entrance. It took about three hours to descend the stairs until the Dwarven city came into view. A misty waterfall fell into darkness on one side of the cavern.

Agonized wails, whimpering pleas and cries of pain or torment echo in the cavern.

Making their way to the gate, they begin investigating. The door was barred from the inside. Thok stuck his sword through with the intent of lifting it out of the way. He ended up cutting it instead. The door opened, revealing a hallway that zig zagged with arrow slits in the wall.

There didn't appear to be any traps..

Thok stabbed through an arrow slit. Nothing happened. “Go and check ahead.” He told Henry.

Henry stealthed ahead, nothing happening. He came back without checking the other arrow slits as Thok had intended.

So Thok sent him back to check. But Henry is human and can't see in the darkness. So peering through the arrow slit with a lit dagger...

An arrow found purchase in his eye. Henry screamed. It echoed in the hallway. He crawled back to the party after going the wrong way, just in shock. Blood poured from his eye.

“How...how bad is it?”

“It's bad.” Theamen sat him down. Taking a deep breath, he started looking to see what he could do. “So Henry, how are your Elvish lessons going?” He asked in Elvish.

“Eeeh...”

“Oh good, he understood that.” Theamen switched to Orchish to talk to Thok. “I need to take it out and I'm a little afraid it'll take the eye with it.”

There weren't really any other options. Menelwen held Henry tight while Theamen worked. He got the arrow out...with the eye attached.

After it was done, there was the sound of a mole falling down stairs as Vega caught up to them. “What happened?”

His eyes go to Henry, seeing Menelwen holding him, covered in Henry's blood. Theamen held the arrow with an eye attached.

“Shit.” Vega walked over, casting cure wounds on him.

Henry reached up and found out his eye was missing. He started freaking out. He puked, Menelwen managed to avoid the splatter. She cleaned him up.

“Do you think he learned anything?” Thok asked.

“You're the one who told him to stick his head into the hole!”

Menelwen helped wrap the wound.

Theamen didn't know what to do with the eye until he decided to put it in a jar. He then offered it to Henry. He didn't take it, just the arrow. Shrugging, Theamen pocketed the jar with his eye.

“I'll shoot the fucker with it.”

“Oh, so you got a good look at him.” Theamen said without thinking.

“I was just screaming ten minutes ago.” He got up, adjusting. “I'm taking charge. As leader.” Henry said. Everyone started laughing.

Theamen took Henry aside for a moment, explaining that it wasn't meant to be malicious. They were just contact high from the relief that he was alive. He had crawled back with blood, so much blood and an arrow in his eye. It could have been much worse.

The party moves on, army crawling through the hall. Through the trail of blood. Vega puked. “You've seen blood before. You've eaten worse.” Theamen rolled his eyes.

After reaching the door, and going through, the next hall opened into a T shape. The hallway was clear.

Thok heard bad music, very bad music coming from a door on the left. The party moved with as much stealth as possible.

At the intersection, they went left. There were several humans chained at the base of obelisks. It was clear that they were starving to death. What's more...they were wearing cultist robes.

Henry asked why they were put there.

“We, we were left for the test. We must survive on air alone...”

“Fuck that, we're going to save you.” Henry started cutting them down. As he did, they started screaming. Out of fear that they would alert other cult members, Vega, Menelwen, and Thok killed them.

Further down the hall, it turned south. Vega reached over and cast Darkvision on Henry. That earned him a good solid punch. If Vega had been there to cast it earlier...he never would have held a lit dagger up and lost his eye.

The room they find was actually the one Henry was shot from.He takes a crossbow and bolts. “Don't fall asleep on me.” He glowered at Vega.

Vega flexed his claws. “Watch it. You deserve it.” Thok warned. Vega shrugged, letting the claws receed. He followed the party back to the hall.

Menelwen made a motion to take over the leadership. Theamen shook his head. “Wereboar, teleport, alone.”

“It would have worked. Besides, look at your options.”

“Yes, I know. Mr. Eye-pokey, the child, the other child, or yourself.” Was his response.

She snorted, knocking her shoulder against his. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

Before checking the right of the hallway, they return to the room with the bad music.

“What's the worst that can happen?” Henry asked.

“You lose another eye followed by death.” Theamen answered.

“You're just a ray of sunshine today, huh?”

Henry snuck in, checking it out. It was a grand plaza with a fountain in the middle of the room. There was an elf trying and failing to play the pipes that seemed to be made of bone. Everyone was wearing feathered robes, very hard. They were practicing hard, so much so it appeared that their very lives may have depended on it. Henry made his way back, informing the party.

“Maybe they're practicing for some kind of ceremony...?”

The party put it to a vote, to attack or not to attack.

Two votes yes: Theamen and Henry

Two votes no: Menelwen and Vega.

“Why?” Menelwen asked.

“They're music is offensive to my ears.” Theamen shrugged.

Thok broke the tie...to attack!

The party gets the drop on them. Henry attacked first, using shadow blade then dropped one. Vega used ice knife which hit three of the musicians. Three of the musicans dropped, leaving two standing.

Menelwen knew how much Theamen wanted to fight so she used a firebolt. “Go on, I know you wanted this.”

He rushed forward, killing the remaining two.

With combat concluded, Vega recognized the instruments as being made out of human ribs. The elf was a moon elf, strange.

The party moves on to the passage north of the obelisks. It opened up to a path that lead across water to a pair of double doors.

Behind the doors, chanting could be heard. “Yan-C-Bin” over and over.

Peeking in, there was a collection of cultists hovering off the ground. Pillars lined the sides of the chamber and a huge pit that appeared to have a column of air coming from it.

The chanting was getting faster.

They close the door, prepping to fight. Menelwen summoned Scruffy, intending on sending him in first before drppping a fireball.

Deep breath...

~To be continued...~