You kill the black knight. He hits the bell, which sounds out a dull knell across the valley. The frail undead milling about in the distance fall one by one as the note echoes all around. The last of the world’s undead are through.
…
Cold water is no place to rest. Time to loot your enemies before moving on. The following is plain as day:
Rivka’s Dagger Finesse, light, thrown, range 20/60, 1d6+1 simple dagger
A gift from Solomon. A dagger is given to one you expect to cut a path through life and achieve greatness. It has been extremely well cared for and is as sharp as a dagger can be.
Ancient Holy Symbol of Arora
A bronze medallion depicts a two headed dragon with the word “ARORA” written around it in ancient Giant runes. The runes themselves are a kind of code, with all Giant runes hidden within them.
Ailing Twilight Holy Symbol
A snapped necklace attached to a strange, twisting star crafted from porous bone. The scent of the sea pervades it.
Dark Azure Armour Heavy armour
War cleric armour from an unknown kingdom, it is formed by many layers of chain, padding and mattered fur. Starlit rituals cling to it, muting the noise of the wearer—quiet is needed to hear the twilight’s call.
Wearing this entire suit increases your HP by 20 (so take off whatever your current AC extra HP is then add this back on).
Spiked Longhammer Two-handed, 1d10 bludgeoning, martial hammer
Ceremonial and brutal, the common armament of a certain clerical order. Beast-blood has soaked into the iron.
Scarred Great Blade of Duality Heavy, two-handed, 2d6+1 slashing, martial greatsword
A testament to a long dead smith’s skill, this greatsword continues to hold despite innumerable cracks along the steel.
Once per long rest, as a free action, the wielder can summon a terrifying inferno or grim blizzard that stretches out to 30 feet from the wielder in a perfect circle. All creatures within the radius, including the wielder, suffer 4d8 fire or cold damage. In addition, the inferno forces those creatures to make a Wisdom saving throw or be forced to move their maximum speed on their next turn, while the blizzard forces them to remain stationary until the end of their next turn. The same effect cannot be used again until the other is summoned.
Draco Gauntlets Requires heavy armour proficiency
Red tinged iron gauntlets of an elite Drossmire knight, they exude blind loyalty.
While wearing these gauntlets you have advantage on grappling checks and can wield a two-handed weapon with one hand.
Black Knight Set Heavy armour
A suit of full plate fit for a giant’s descent. The shrunken slave-knights of the depths had not the splendour of their forefathers, but were likewise as enduring as the mountains.
Wearing this entire suit increases your HP by 22 (so take off whatever your current AC extra HP is then add this back on). As a reaction, you can angle your armour to take the full brunt of an attack, destroying it but saving yourself. Reduce your maximum HP accordingly.
You have disadvantage to stealth while wearing this armour.
Ball and Chain Heavy, two-handed, reach, 2d6 bludgeoning, martial exotic weapon
Almost too heavy to fight with; the burden of duty made steel. It has seen better days and will soon break.
When you roll your minimum damage with this weapon, roll 1d20 and add the result to the damage. The ball and chain is destroyed.
For more things, you’ll have to narrate how you’re investigating the lake, and for how long.
The Rogue sees the Wizard raise his hand and goes to cry out, but he's a moment too late...the undead takes the full force of a trio of blasts, striking the bell before turning to dust.
The tall man (once scarred, but no longer) stares at the sight of the smoking pile left behind for a moment. As he stares, his left hand moves to a compartment of his pack, withdrawing a thin length of white cloth, while his right hand rises to the side of his throat. With a deep breath and deft hands, the starry eyed thief yanks the broken dagger from his flesh. He quickly drops the metal, and begins to wrap the tourniquet around his gushing wound, the white cloth immediately turning a deep, dark crimson. The thin Assassin moans slightly, rubbing his tender neck like someone with a week-long sore throat, attempting to knead the muscles within.
"Well then," he says flatly, turning to Arthur. "We've both returned from the places beyond and claimed our revenge. The scales have been balanced." The thief wraps his grass cloak about himself, standing up with a strange, majestic dignity that wasn't there before...
He gazes about the ruined lake, taking in the sight with a wistful air, the Belfry most sadly of all. "We were all but pups then, weren't we? And now, stand inheritors to the whole of the Vastness. Did you conceive such ends? Could you have even dared imagined...?"
The ginger weirdo stares meaningfully about at each of his companions in turn: the good and righteous Lady Kirina, the stoic and rock-steady Solomon, the Seer-of-the-beyond Alzav, and the no-longer-a-lad Arthur, finally grown into his own.
"We should collect what we can from here, then search the Belfry over for survivors. Then I think we need to have a talk. About the future. About where we go from here...and if we go together..."
Maybe we search the ruins of the place together, some bury the dead, some start a fire, we all take a Long Rest? In honor/to mirror our first campout here, and to discuss things?
Arthur doesn't look directly at Gruush at first. Was it actually revenge that he was claiming? He had reacted almost instinctual, downing an enemy, but it was causal mention of killing an ally that had pushed him to action. Perhaps that was revenge? Arthur couldn't tell anymore where those lines were drawn.
The Rogue did catch his attention fully, though, when he mentioned inheriting the Vastness. The Wizard had much more specific thoughts on that subject, even if he might not be ready to share them fully with the party yet. Still, Gruush did have one good point, they should rest, search, and probably talk.
"We should begin our search now, in finding a place to rest. It has been a long journey to get here, and I'm sure what we're going to find will be more confusing if we also exhaust ourselves in the process."
Moving towards the now ruined Belfry, Arthur picks up a piece of stone and casts arcane light through it. Holding it high, he begins to search, not sure what he might even be looking for.
Casting light to help. Not sure if I need a roll or this is just narrative for us at this point.
Either way, we should all begin searching, to get to the resting and talking.
Arthur steps into the remains of the old belfry ruins. Where the bell has fallen he spies a crevice carved into the floor by the bell’s descent. There is a space in the foundation about five feet deep. A simple stone coffin is down there, set about ten feet back from the crevice—if it was back home, that’s the sort of thing they’d do for a saint; bury them beneath a holy building. Only Arthur himself or Kirina could fit in there and get it open, the rest of you are too tall.
Besides that… If you can narrate looking in a particular place, I’ll have something for you, but they’ll be largely mundane.
When you’re ready, and if you ignore the coffin, you all gain the benefits of a long rest. Hang out a while and chat.
Arthur's light shines across different stone and ruins, illuminating the bell. He sighs briefly at the sight, he had studied it the last time he was here, picking up bits of a language that he didn't' fully understand yet, and here lay the source that he had intended on coming back to spend more time with to learn.
He leaned in to touch the bell when his eyes caught it. The gap in the foundation, something he definitely hadn't seen the last time they were here. He adjusts the rock to shine more light, breaking the darkness below to show a stone coffin concealed. Arthur's eye glitter with interest, and without much thought or consultation with the rest of the group, he squeezes through the gap, crawling where he can to reach the coffin.
If someone were narrating this scene from watching the Wizard, they would probably make mention of rushing into the unknown had a horrible consequence the last time he had done it. Arthur, however, failed to think of that at all in this moment, and instead, climbed his way towards the newly discovered coffin, put his hands against the edges of it, and pushed as hard as he could on the stone lid.
Open it?
I'm sure this time it won't blow up horribly in my face, right?......right?
Solomon is solemn and mournful as he walks through the belfry ruins. He hadn't known it for long, but the comfort it had given as a place of relative peace in this cursed land had been a great boon. He remembered the small shrine that Kirina and he had set up in the belfry, a place where anyone could offer up prayers to the God, or Gods, they revered. Surely it was destroyed as the rest of the belfry, but Solomon felt it only right to see for himself.
Solomon pats Cardinal gently on the head, the old knight seeking comfort as much as giving it. "I had intended for you to make your nest here, your Holiness, I thought it would be safe for you, but sadly it no longer is the haven it once was."
Rooting around where the prayer room might have been, or at least part of the wall from it, you find a bell no bigger than your finger. It is not magical in quality, but still a marvel. Someone must have found this bell and saw fit to put it in the prayer room.
Just to confirm here same as PM and clarify, Arthur was opening the lid with that push.
Arthur
“Ohohoho!”
You’re knocked onto your back as a dozen sticky paws clamber over you in a hurry! It glitters in the dark, like the twinkle of gems against candle flame.
You grab the coffin to right yourself as soon as you’re able, and spy ornate, ancient garb perfectly preserved within the coffin. Thick robes with electrum accessories, worth a mint if you could ever go home. Not a bone left inside though.
Everyone! Some creature bolts out from the belfry ruin and weaves by you all as you approach. Its call is like a cackling fool as it kicks up mud. Perhaps flummoxed by the absurdity, what will you do?
I feel like I know this is a loot pinata but Alzav just sees a critter - we didn't defeat the first one we saw, right? So...
"Ah! Another one! Yes, run, creature! Go, find your friends!" Alzav shoos the little beast along as it scampers by. "Seek your destiny!"
Alzav sighs as he looks over the ruined belfry. He had left a gold buckler on the door of what might have been the armory, but he can't recognize much of anything in the rubble around the bell.
"We should do something, for all who fell here. Lay them at peace, whoever they were. Say the Final Words." He unslings his lute, the wood darkening even before he'd settled upon a stone and found a first chord.
As far as divvying the loot goes, I'm interested in the Draco Gauntlets and the Great Blade of Duality. If we find Ben again, some of the items might be used as crafting resources if they don't get used.
The Rogue had already begun seeking out the slain within the fallen Belfry. From a distance, he notes the strange, small creature scampering away into the waters with some concern, but gently smiles as a nearby, excitable Alzav shouts out words of encouragement to the odd visitor!
From his search among the stones, the gangly youth hollers a firm agreement to the Sorcerer's talk of a ceremony for the dead, "Aye! I believe when night falls, we should light a funeral pyre for them all. Their lives brought some small measure of sanctuary to these fierce lands: we can grant peace to their souls, and hope some of the light they shone might yet bind itself to this place."
@kime Finding Kirina amongst the ruins, he inquires, "That is, if our friend Kirina will do the honors?"
The Ginger Assassin will search for the bodies of the dead, to retrieve them for cremation purposes (if everyone agrees they should be burned). If there's anything on the corpses of strategic value...well, they don't need it anymore, do they?
Then, he'll help whoever light a fire and prepare for dinner
He'll also help himself to that +1 Dagger Verylin stabbed him with, although he'll show it curiously to Solomon later on once we're all together around a campfire
Arthur watches the creature with interest as it scampers away. A tingle of recognition sparks in his head, he had seen one of these creatures when they were in the Giant's fortress as well. Surprising to find something similar here specifically inside a tomb. He leaves it be, however, making a mental note to write something down about it in his book of notes, but he wasn't going to chase it.
Instead, he looked for at the tomb and it's contents. No body, or bones of any sort, but it did contain some thick robes that looked to be the sort the lords from back home would have. The Wizard carefully folds them up and puts them into his pack, something to investigate once they have all decided to sit down for a rest.
Content that he has explored all there is to explore down here, Arthur climbs back out, brushing away some dust from his hair as he looks back on the ruined Belfry and his companions who had begun to explore it.
I don't want any of the items. Nothing there that a Wizard would take.
re: the loot, the Dark Azure Armour looks nice. It's not a huge difference for me as I'm already at 16, but it does remove my Stealth Disadvantage which is nice! The Hammer is maybe strictly better than my Eventide, but also the Eventide is cooler so I wanna keep it haha. Even though I haven't ever triggered its effect yet...
I'd probably grab the Ailing Twilight Holy Symbol too, just 'cause thematically it matches well! I don't think anyone else would need that?
Finding Kirina amongst the ruins, he inquires, "That is, if our friend Kirina will do the honors?"
"Of course... It is no surprise, I'm sure, that the rites I know are best performed at dusk. Come, let's get ready."
Later, when the time arrives, the bodies are gathered, and the pyre prepared, Kirina will lead off the group. "We are saying goodbye to those we knew and those we trusted, to the home we made and the one we found. Life is, as all things, transitory. Death is a passage into something new. It cannot, and should not, be avoided completely, even though we fight against its timing. But as life is not permanent, so too is death. Nothing lasts forever, it is all preparation and growth for our next change."
She pauses for a moment, then continues. "Mourn that they are away from us now, but do not mourn that they are no more. The fire will help them fully transition into their new existence, and not be held down by the stasis of longing for what was. If you have something to say, you should do so now, before their essences have moved on completely."
Between you, you set to work gathering up the dead while Solomon and Alzav set up camp.
All are undead, naught but skin and bones, save two. First, the old blind old woman. It’s a messy sight, but you soon provide her some dignity, wrapping her tightly in what clean wraps you have left and combing her hair either side of her face. The second, an unknown young man, short and slim, with matted hair and patchy beard. His eyes are opened wide, as if frothing with rage. You never met him. He must have come to the belfry while you were away. He wears garb of reeds, which cover him sufficiently, so you leave him be.
As you gathered the dead you found a few items, but they’ve all rusted away in the water. Not even worth taking to a smith to melt down really. Gruush prized a gold tooth out of one of the undead—that’s not unseemly, what if someone loses a tooth? Teeth-makers are no doubt hard to come by. There was a broom in the water though… must have been the old woman’s broom. It hasn’t rotted away. Perhaps the layer of mud over it somehow preserved it. You’ve not much use for a broom, surely?
You snapped off branches from a dead tree soon after. Kirina made use of her giant sized magic disc. Bonfire lit. The ceremony begins.
"We are saying goodbye to those we knew and those we trusted…”
The wind blows south, steady and hard, but it only strengthens the bonfire on this night. The stars are out in a full congregation, brilliant and clear against a jet black sky. You are all flame gold, as is the belfry; a pocket of heat and light surrounded by silent water reflecting the cosmos.
Huh, was just going to give you a vague idea, but thems the bones.
Peering out across the lake, at first you miss them. They come into view slowly, as you track the movement of dark shapes. One turns, raising a fist to you, then carries on. A procession of giants. Each one is different. You see a short one, barely taller than a man. A huge, shaggy creature bent over, using huge clubs as walking sticks. A crimson haired warrior broad as a barn, a delicate, blinking troll in her arms. They’re heading to an unknown destination; perhaps they do not know themselves. When you took command of the arcane device you could not control its power, but power there was indeed!
You realise what you must have done. Unknowingly, you transported every individual creature on the island to this unconquered, forgotten land. Scattered as they are, there are no old, wizened lords or the edicts of a long dead queen to guide their future. The rest are elsewhere, perhaps within mere miles of you. Pockets of giants that were once separated into castes or roles brought together far from their dead capital—a pair here, a dozen there, now free to roam the Vastness.
Wait… That means the dragon is here. The dragon whose only duty is to guard the key you now possess. You can only hope you do not cross its path again…
…and what of Kirina’s followers. Did you doom them, in your haste to grab the key from the device? Had you waited, could you have done more? You may never know. They were beyond your reach, sailing far beneath the island. Are they sailing around it even now, as it grows ever quieter?
Arthur squints, catching movement off in the distance. He fights the urge to call his magic, hesitating to judge the threat. The shapes slowly form recognition, and he finds himself looking at what are clearly Giants. His brain makes the connection quickly, he must have transported them here when he brought everyone else. They were moving away anyways, so they weren't looking for a confrontation. The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stand up as his brain adds one additional point. Dragon. Arthur gulps, and looks around, eyes trying to peer into the darkness. That was going to be a problem, but when?
As he walks to the fire that was started, he looks around at his companions. As his eyes find Kirina, something scratches at his brain. There was something there, something he was forgetting. And then it hits him, the ones in the boat, the people who were following Kirina when she took the shard, they were still out there. For a brief second he tried to think of the possibility that the magic could have reached them as well but just as quickly he knew it wasn't possible. They had been abandoned because Arthur had left them behind. His eyes dropped and he stared into the fire for a while, reconciling that he likely left them behind to die.
It was then that he exhaustion of the day hit him, however, and with it, drained the worries and emotions away. These were all problems for another day, and right now he just needed to sit and rest. Still, the group had finally gathered together without a clear plan, and Arthur was never one content to not have a course of action.
"We're going to have to decide where we go next, you know. Gladdinore is free, so I see no point in returning to Drossmire."
The red-headed wanderer had been watching the pyre, listening as the spirits of the departed were guided to their final rest, hands crossed before himself solemnly. He looks over as a Arthur, dirt-caked and weary, finally broke the silence to ask of their future.
"Do we still walk together then?" the Rogue inquires curiously, his eyes sparkling in the firelight. After a beat, he continues, "The Crown has never been so close to being "whole" before. Without doubt, the Powers That Be will be coming for us, and with everything they have. Here on in, our band must be hunters, for we will surely be hunted." Pointedly, he adds, "It will never stop. It will never end."
"And then...there is the matter of the Shards themselves." The Assassin's hand brushes his brow gently, and the fragment within alights for a brief moment. "The broken pieces cast fully across this land...become the seats of power in this place. Endless wars fought...countless peoples lost." He looks deeply upon each of his comrades, fatherly concern etched onto his face, a question poised: "Will we be different? Can we be? Do we dare aim to wield such power together, when so many before have failed? Will we fall to infighting for the Crown like those before, becoming monsters worse than those we've bested? Or would the humane thing be to simply...walk away...each take our Shard in a different direction, and bring it as far from this place as possible?"
The Rogue smiles sadly, canines jutting over his lower lip, kindness and anticipation in his gaze. "I would walk by your sides, each of you...but the time has come to ask of where we walk, and why."
Arthur let's a moment of silence sit after Gruush's questions before he raises his own voice. "We don't have many choices."
"We know what waits outside this world, looking to end it. We may not all be from here, but we're here now, and we know there are others who live here as well. What can we do other than fight to keep those outside this place from destroying it?" The Wizard's fingers brush up against the shard fragment in his own head, feeling the power radiating from it. "Who else can we trust if not this group? Who else would have made it this far?"
"There are answers we still don't have somewhere out there. I intend to seek them out, find out everything that can be learned of the shards and everyone that is after them." His starry eyes scan across the group in turn. "And I'll fight to make sure this place can survive."
"I came to the Beyond to pass judgement on Rivka, but in the end I didn't even do it." Solomon chuckles. "I don't regret it, and in a way I feel relieved that I didn't have to do it."
"I did not intend to claim a Shard of the Crown, but that won't change the fact that it's now a part of me. Even with this Shard, my purpose remains the same as before. I vowed to protect you all in the place, and I still intend to uphold that vow. I suppose what we're looking for is our purpose as a group, to which I say that keeping the Demons from destroying our world and the Stars from devouring it. Though that sounds much simpler than it is in reality."
You can play out learning this or just cast one later as a surprise.
You have begun to master the ancient spells written within Lux.
Once per long rest, you can memorise a spell from Lux. The spell is separate from your spell slots. Casting a spell from Lux requires your full focus—you cannot make any other action, bonus action, reaction or move during the turn you cast the spell. Casting the spell lifts you 5 feet from the ground until the start of your next turn. While airborne creatures have advantage against you. Lux must be within 5 feet of you to cast the spell.
Roiling Phalanx
Level: X
School: Conjuration
Range: 30 ft. radius
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
Four crystal lances filled with lava form above your shoulders, humming with power.
Once the spell is cast a lance will automatically target hostile creatures that move within 30 feet of you, dealing 1d10 piercing damage and ending their movement. The lances are able to target creatures you cannot see. Anything flammable ignites within the vicinity of the target. DM’s note: You can either hang back with this or dare to go frontline and cut off enemy fighters.
Iron Resolute Ward
Level: X
School: Enchantment
Range: 20 ft. cone
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
You speak a boundary into existence, forcing all within it to make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creatures cannot willing leave the boundary until they deal damage to you. The boundary is attached to you and moves as you move; creatures at the edge are buffeted towards you. If an enchanted creature is forcefully shoved beyond the boundary they take 1d6 thunder damage and become deafened for 1 minute. DM’s note: Most effective if you dare to get close to a lot of enemies… which isn’t where a wizard should be, usually.
Regalia of the Winds
Level: X
School: Abjuration
Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
Whirling wind carrying tiny snowflakes cloak your body. When you or an ally within 5 feet would be hit by a ranged attack, you can use a reaction to redirect the attack out to 90 feet, which now deals +1d6 cold damage. When the spell ends you must move 15 feet in any direction. You can end the spell early as a bonus action. DM’s note: You don’t get extra reactions, so that’s just the one attack redirection. Still, it’s a fine set-up spell at the start of a fight.
Enthralling Suggestion
You cast the spell Enthral and Suggestion as if they were one spell. When you do your eyes take on whatever appearance you wish.
"If we're to continue, then I do have some information to share." Arthur speaks up again.
"As I was taking control over the machine that held my shard, it granted me a vision of sorts. In my mind, I was seeking for a way to escape the Giant fortress, but I think subconsciously it also sensed that I was seeking where to look in the entire Beyond to gain more information on what is happening."
"It showed me two places, the Forge of Brilliance and the Looking Glass Palace. The Palace is dangerous, I could sense the outsiders are very powerful here, and I don't think we're ready for that yet. If we really going to continue together, I believe the Forge of Brilliance is our next location of travel."
"If we're to continue, then I do have some information to share." Arthur speaks up again.
"As I was taking control over the machine that held my shard, it granted me a vision of sorts. In my mind, I was seeking for a way to escape the Giant fortress, but I think subconsciously it also sensed that I was seeking where to look in the entire Beyond to gain more information on what is happening."
"It showed me two places, the Forge of Brilliance and the Looking Glass Palace. The Palace is dangerous, I could sense the outsiders are very powerful here, and I don't think we're ready for that yet. If we really going to continue together, I believe the Forge of Brilliance is our next location of travel."
"I would travel with you all still, and hope you will be a part of our group here... Regardless of what goals we may have, these outsiders are a bigger threat. To everyone... We need to stop them, and then we can go our separate ways, should we wish. So.... to the Forge, then. Did your vision tell us the easiest way to get there, by any chance?"
"No, unfortunately." Arthur shakes his head. "I was able to see that it was a place of importance, but little else. I don't know what's waiting there for us, how to get there, or really what we will find when we get there. Just that it will help us."
"I can try, Kirina, to Reach out to your lost flock." Sparrows? Adherents of the Bloom? Do you wander still?
You’re well out of your range, but you do sense they’re still alive. Perhaps it’s just hope.
—
Arthur
You remember you can Identify stuff.
—
Gruush
I’ll keep this brief because it’s up to you guys, but here’s what you’ve got to go on.
1. Cutting across the edge of Oudru would be safe. It’s just a mountain range these days, and you wouldn’t even have to climb it. It’s rough terrain, but not perilous, and the worst weather you’d get is light snowfall, if that. That would lead you on through the edge of some place referred to as a garden, which you’ve heard is surrounded by high walls. Perhaps you might go unnoticed or ignored. You can’t be certain of the relationship between the garden and the forge.
2. Instead, you might hike a more straightforward path through the wetlands and across Wolfen Run. Walking through water is tiring business and the forest to the north is very dense indeed. It’ll be a tough, but mundane journey—only savages (so tales call them) and beasts are said to live in the Run. Whatever could be said to rule that land was slain by the woman you just killed, so the mightiest of them are long gone. It’s the longest way by far. Given what you know of ‘nobles’ it’s doubtful the forge doesn’t hunt down whatever emerges from the forest, if the forge is occupied at all, that is.
3. Legends say at the heart of Wolfen Run is a sideways path, a means of travelling quickly to nearby lands. If you can find it, you’d greatly reduce the overall journey. You might shorten the journey still by slipping along the edge of Drossmire, now returned to continuity and in the slow process of recovering from the poisonous curse that nearly fell upon it. You’ve no idea what the city is up to without the leader they worshipped.
Whatever you go for, Arthur is aware Gladdinore is on the move. You might not want to cross her path, but if you do you’ll need to be in a good position.
The only chance of seeing the smith Ben again is continuing through these nameless wetlands.
Given the nature of your mission, you cannot be certain you’ll ever visit a land you do not cross on your way to the forge.
I'm assuming Alzav's broom question was asking for identification. Didn't catch that originally.
"Huh?" Arthur looks over to Alzav, not having paid attention to catch the question. But the intent was pretty obvious, a floating broom held by a mage hand was extended. Arthur summoned his own hand to grab the broom and bring it closer to himself. He laid it down in front, and then with an afterthought, pulled out the robes he had found in the tomb below.
Making the appropriate ritual markings in the ground around him, he begins to lay out layers of divination magic on the items to delve their properties.
Will Ritual cast Identify on both. Mostly because I don't have identify prepared to be able to use a spell slot.
Posts
Nah.
You kill the black knight. He hits the bell, which sounds out a dull knell across the valley. The frail undead milling about in the distance fall one by one as the note echoes all around. The last of the world’s undead are through.
…
Cold water is no place to rest. Time to loot your enemies before moving on. The following is plain as day:
Rivka’s Dagger
Finesse, light, thrown, range 20/60, 1d6+1 simple dagger
A gift from Solomon. A dagger is given to one you expect to cut a path through life and achieve greatness. It has been extremely well cared for and is as sharp as a dagger can be.
Ancient Holy Symbol of Arora
A bronze medallion depicts a two headed dragon with the word “ARORA” written around it in ancient Giant runes. The runes themselves are a kind of code, with all Giant runes hidden within them.
Ailing Twilight Holy Symbol
A snapped necklace attached to a strange, twisting star crafted from porous bone. The scent of the sea pervades it.
Dark Azure Armour
Heavy armour
War cleric armour from an unknown kingdom, it is formed by many layers of chain, padding and mattered fur. Starlit rituals cling to it, muting the noise of the wearer—quiet is needed to hear the twilight’s call.
Wearing this entire suit increases your HP by 20 (so take off whatever your current AC extra HP is then add this back on).
Spiked Longhammer
Two-handed, 1d10 bludgeoning, martial hammer
Ceremonial and brutal, the common armament of a certain clerical order. Beast-blood has soaked into the iron.
Scarred Great Blade of Duality
Heavy, two-handed, 2d6+1 slashing, martial greatsword
A testament to a long dead smith’s skill, this greatsword continues to hold despite innumerable cracks along the steel.
Once per long rest, as a free action, the wielder can summon a terrifying inferno or grim blizzard that stretches out to 30 feet from the wielder in a perfect circle. All creatures within the radius, including the wielder, suffer 4d8 fire or cold damage. In addition, the inferno forces those creatures to make a Wisdom saving throw or be forced to move their maximum speed on their next turn, while the blizzard forces them to remain stationary until the end of their next turn. The same effect cannot be used again until the other is summoned.
Draco Gauntlets
Requires heavy armour proficiency
Red tinged iron gauntlets of an elite Drossmire knight, they exude blind loyalty.
While wearing these gauntlets you have advantage on grappling checks and can wield a two-handed weapon with one hand.
Black Knight Set
Heavy armour
A suit of full plate fit for a giant’s descent. The shrunken slave-knights of the depths had not the splendour of their forefathers, but were likewise as enduring as the mountains.
Wearing this entire suit increases your HP by 22 (so take off whatever your current AC extra HP is then add this back on). As a reaction, you can angle your armour to take the full brunt of an attack, destroying it but saving yourself. Reduce your maximum HP accordingly.
You have disadvantage to stealth while wearing this armour.
Ball and Chain
Heavy, two-handed, reach, 2d6 bludgeoning, martial exotic weapon
Almost too heavy to fight with; the burden of duty made steel. It has seen better days and will soon break.
When you roll your minimum damage with this weapon, roll 1d20 and add the result to the damage. The ball and chain is destroyed.
For more things, you’ll have to narrate how you’re investigating the lake, and for how long.
The tall man (once scarred, but no longer) stares at the sight of the smoking pile left behind for a moment. As he stares, his left hand moves to a compartment of his pack, withdrawing a thin length of white cloth, while his right hand rises to the side of his throat. With a deep breath and deft hands, the starry eyed thief yanks the broken dagger from his flesh. He quickly drops the metal, and begins to wrap the tourniquet around his gushing wound, the white cloth immediately turning a deep, dark crimson. The thin Assassin moans slightly, rubbing his tender neck like someone with a week-long sore throat, attempting to knead the muscles within.
"Well then," he says flatly, turning to Arthur. "We've both returned from the places beyond and claimed our revenge. The scales have been balanced." The thief wraps his grass cloak about himself, standing up with a strange, majestic dignity that wasn't there before...
He gazes about the ruined lake, taking in the sight with a wistful air, the Belfry most sadly of all. "We were all but pups then, weren't we? And now, stand inheritors to the whole of the Vastness. Did you conceive such ends? Could you have even dared imagined...?"
The ginger weirdo stares meaningfully about at each of his companions in turn: the good and righteous Lady Kirina, the stoic and rock-steady Solomon, the Seer-of-the-beyond Alzav, and the no-longer-a-lad Arthur, finally grown into his own.
"We should collect what we can from here, then search the Belfry over for survivors. Then I think we need to have a talk. About the future. About where we go from here...and if we go together..."
The Rogue did catch his attention fully, though, when he mentioned inheriting the Vastness. The Wizard had much more specific thoughts on that subject, even if he might not be ready to share them fully with the party yet. Still, Gruush did have one good point, they should rest, search, and probably talk.
"We should begin our search now, in finding a place to rest. It has been a long journey to get here, and I'm sure what we're going to find will be more confusing if we also exhaust ourselves in the process."
Moving towards the now ruined Belfry, Arthur picks up a piece of stone and casts arcane light through it. Holding it high, he begins to search, not sure what he might even be looking for.
Casting light to help. Not sure if I need a roll or this is just narrative for us at this point.
Either way, we should all begin searching, to get to the resting and talking.
Arthur steps into the remains of the old belfry ruins. Where the bell has fallen he spies a crevice carved into the floor by the bell’s descent. There is a space in the foundation about five feet deep. A simple stone coffin is down there, set about ten feet back from the crevice—if it was back home, that’s the sort of thing they’d do for a saint; bury them beneath a holy building. Only Arthur himself or Kirina could fit in there and get it open, the rest of you are too tall.
Besides that… If you can narrate looking in a particular place, I’ll have something for you, but they’ll be largely mundane.
When you’re ready, and if you ignore the coffin, you all gain the benefits of a long rest. Hang out a while and chat.
He leaned in to touch the bell when his eyes caught it. The gap in the foundation, something he definitely hadn't seen the last time they were here. He adjusts the rock to shine more light, breaking the darkness below to show a stone coffin concealed. Arthur's eye glitter with interest, and without much thought or consultation with the rest of the group, he squeezes through the gap, crawling where he can to reach the coffin.
If someone were narrating this scene from watching the Wizard, they would probably make mention of rushing into the unknown had a horrible consequence the last time he had done it. Arthur, however, failed to think of that at all in this moment, and instead, climbed his way towards the newly discovered coffin, put his hands against the edges of it, and pushed as hard as he could on the stone lid.
Open it?
I'm sure this time it won't blow up horribly in my face, right?......right?
The lid of the coffin is heavy, but flat and easily pushed aside.
You tell me!
Solomon pats Cardinal gently on the head, the old knight seeking comfort as much as giving it. "I had intended for you to make your nest here, your Holiness, I thought it would be safe for you, but sadly it no longer is the haven it once was."
“Hoo!”, Cardinal says.
Rooting around where the prayer room might have been, or at least part of the wall from it, you find a bell no bigger than your finger. It is not magical in quality, but still a marvel. Someone must have found this bell and saw fit to put it in the prayer room.
Arthur
“Ohohoho!”
You’re knocked onto your back as a dozen sticky paws clamber over you in a hurry! It glitters in the dark, like the twinkle of gems against candle flame.
You grab the coffin to right yourself as soon as you’re able, and spy ornate, ancient garb perfectly preserved within the coffin. Thick robes with electrum accessories, worth a mint if you could ever go home. Not a bone left inside though.
Everyone! Some creature bolts out from the belfry ruin and weaves by you all as you approach. Its call is like a cackling fool as it kicks up mud. Perhaps flummoxed by the absurdity, what will you do?
"Ah! Another one! Yes, run, creature! Go, find your friends!" Alzav shoos the little beast along as it scampers by. "Seek your destiny!"
Alzav sighs as he looks over the ruined belfry. He had left a gold buckler on the door of what might have been the armory, but he can't recognize much of anything in the rubble around the bell.
"We should do something, for all who fell here. Lay them at peace, whoever they were. Say the Final Words." He unslings his lute, the wood darkening even before he'd settled upon a stone and found a first chord.
Alzav
You find the gold buckler fully bent in half. As material for others to work with it’s still a lot of gold in one place, but has no practical use.
From his search among the stones, the gangly youth hollers a firm agreement to the Sorcerer's talk of a ceremony for the dead, "Aye! I believe when night falls, we should light a funeral pyre for them all. Their lives brought some small measure of sanctuary to these fierce lands: we can grant peace to their souls, and hope some of the light they shone might yet bind itself to this place."
@kime Finding Kirina amongst the ruins, he inquires, "That is, if our friend Kirina will do the honors?"
The Ginger Assassin will search for the bodies of the dead, to retrieve them for cremation purposes (if everyone agrees they should be burned). If there's anything on the corpses of strategic value...well, they don't need it anymore, do they?
Then, he'll help whoever light a fire and prepare for dinner
He'll also help himself to that +1 Dagger Verylin stabbed him with, although he'll show it curiously to Solomon later on once we're all together around a campfire
Instead, he looked for at the tomb and it's contents. No body, or bones of any sort, but it did contain some thick robes that looked to be the sort the lords from back home would have. The Wizard carefully folds them up and puts them into his pack, something to investigate once they have all decided to sit down for a rest.
Content that he has explored all there is to explore down here, Arthur climbs back out, brushing away some dust from his hair as he looks back on the ruined Belfry and his companions who had begun to explore it.
I don't want any of the items. Nothing there that a Wizard would take.
I'd probably grab the Ailing Twilight Holy Symbol too, just 'cause thematically it matches well! I don't think anyone else would need that?
"Of course... It is no surprise, I'm sure, that the rites I know are best performed at dusk. Come, let's get ready."
Later, when the time arrives, the bodies are gathered, and the pyre prepared, Kirina will lead off the group. "We are saying goodbye to those we knew and those we trusted, to the home we made and the one we found. Life is, as all things, transitory. Death is a passage into something new. It cannot, and should not, be avoided completely, even though we fight against its timing. But as life is not permanent, so too is death. Nothing lasts forever, it is all preparation and growth for our next change."
She pauses for a moment, then continues. "Mourn that they are away from us now, but do not mourn that they are no more. The fire will help them fully transition into their new existence, and not be held down by the stasis of longing for what was. If you have something to say, you should do so now, before their essences have moved on completely."
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Between you, you set to work gathering up the dead while Solomon and Alzav set up camp.
All are undead, naught but skin and bones, save two. First, the old blind old woman. It’s a messy sight, but you soon provide her some dignity, wrapping her tightly in what clean wraps you have left and combing her hair either side of her face. The second, an unknown young man, short and slim, with matted hair and patchy beard. His eyes are opened wide, as if frothing with rage. You never met him. He must have come to the belfry while you were away. He wears garb of reeds, which cover him sufficiently, so you leave him be.
As you gathered the dead you found a few items, but they’ve all rusted away in the water. Not even worth taking to a smith to melt down really. Gruush prized a gold tooth out of one of the undead—that’s not unseemly, what if someone loses a tooth? Teeth-makers are no doubt hard to come by. There was a broom in the water though… must have been the old woman’s broom. It hasn’t rotted away. Perhaps the layer of mud over it somehow preserved it. You’ve not much use for a broom, surely?
You snapped off branches from a dead tree soon after. Kirina made use of her giant sized magic disc. Bonfire lit. The ceremony begins.
"We are saying goodbye to those we knew and those we trusted…”
The wind blows south, steady and hard, but it only strengthens the bonfire on this night. The stars are out in a full congregation, brilliant and clear against a jet black sky. You are all flame gold, as is the belfry; a pocket of heat and light surrounded by silent water reflecting the cosmos.
",...to strangers on shared paths, and to friends wandered astray."
Huh, was just going to give you a vague idea, but thems the bones.
Peering out across the lake, at first you miss them. They come into view slowly, as you track the movement of dark shapes. One turns, raising a fist to you, then carries on. A procession of giants. Each one is different. You see a short one, barely taller than a man. A huge, shaggy creature bent over, using huge clubs as walking sticks. A crimson haired warrior broad as a barn, a delicate, blinking troll in her arms. They’re heading to an unknown destination; perhaps they do not know themselves. When you took command of the arcane device you could not control its power, but power there was indeed!
You realise what you must have done. Unknowingly, you transported every individual creature on the island to this unconquered, forgotten land. Scattered as they are, there are no old, wizened lords or the edicts of a long dead queen to guide their future. The rest are elsewhere, perhaps within mere miles of you. Pockets of giants that were once separated into castes or roles brought together far from their dead capital—a pair here, a dozen there, now free to roam the Vastness.
Wait… That means the dragon is here. The dragon whose only duty is to guard the key you now possess. You can only hope you do not cross its path again…
…and what of Kirina’s followers. Did you doom them, in your haste to grab the key from the device? Had you waited, could you have done more? You may never know. They were beyond your reach, sailing far beneath the island. Are they sailing around it even now, as it grows ever quieter?
…
As he walks to the fire that was started, he looks around at his companions. As his eyes find Kirina, something scratches at his brain. There was something there, something he was forgetting. And then it hits him, the ones in the boat, the people who were following Kirina when she took the shard, they were still out there. For a brief second he tried to think of the possibility that the magic could have reached them as well but just as quickly he knew it wasn't possible. They had been abandoned because Arthur had left them behind. His eyes dropped and he stared into the fire for a while, reconciling that he likely left them behind to die.
It was then that he exhaustion of the day hit him, however, and with it, drained the worries and emotions away. These were all problems for another day, and right now he just needed to sit and rest. Still, the group had finally gathered together without a clear plan, and Arthur was never one content to not have a course of action.
"We're going to have to decide where we go next, you know. Gladdinore is free, so I see no point in returning to Drossmire."
"Do we still walk together then?" the Rogue inquires curiously, his eyes sparkling in the firelight. After a beat, he continues, "The Crown has never been so close to being "whole" before. Without doubt, the Powers That Be will be coming for us, and with everything they have. Here on in, our band must be hunters, for we will surely be hunted." Pointedly, he adds, "It will never stop. It will never end."
"And then...there is the matter of the Shards themselves." The Assassin's hand brushes his brow gently, and the fragment within alights for a brief moment. "The broken pieces cast fully across this land...become the seats of power in this place. Endless wars fought...countless peoples lost." He looks deeply upon each of his comrades, fatherly concern etched onto his face, a question poised: "Will we be different? Can we be? Do we dare aim to wield such power together, when so many before have failed? Will we fall to infighting for the Crown like those before, becoming monsters worse than those we've bested? Or would the humane thing be to simply...walk away...each take our Shard in a different direction, and bring it as far from this place as possible?"
The Rogue smiles sadly, canines jutting over his lower lip, kindness and anticipation in his gaze. "I would walk by your sides, each of you...but the time has come to ask of where we walk, and why."
"We know what waits outside this world, looking to end it. We may not all be from here, but we're here now, and we know there are others who live here as well. What can we do other than fight to keep those outside this place from destroying it?" The Wizard's fingers brush up against the shard fragment in his own head, feeling the power radiating from it. "Who else can we trust if not this group? Who else would have made it this far?"
"There are answers we still don't have somewhere out there. I intend to seek them out, find out everything that can be learned of the shards and everyone that is after them." His starry eyes scan across the group in turn. "And I'll fight to make sure this place can survive."
"I did not intend to claim a Shard of the Crown, but that won't change the fact that it's now a part of me. Even with this Shard, my purpose remains the same as before. I vowed to protect you all in the place, and I still intend to uphold that vow. I suppose what we're looking for is our purpose as a group, to which I say that keeping the Demons from destroying our world and the Stars from devouring it. Though that sounds much simpler than it is in reality."
Only for Arthur! Top secret!
You have begun to master the ancient spells written within Lux.
Once per long rest, you can memorise a spell from Lux. The spell is separate from your spell slots. Casting a spell from Lux requires your full focus—you cannot make any other action, bonus action, reaction or move during the turn you cast the spell. Casting the spell lifts you 5 feet from the ground until the start of your next turn. While airborne creatures have advantage against you. Lux must be within 5 feet of you to cast the spell.
Roiling Phalanx
Level: X
School: Conjuration
Range: 30 ft. radius
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
Four crystal lances filled with lava form above your shoulders, humming with power.
Once the spell is cast a lance will automatically target hostile creatures that move within 30 feet of you, dealing 1d10 piercing damage and ending their movement. The lances are able to target creatures you cannot see. Anything flammable ignites within the vicinity of the target.
DM’s note: You can either hang back with this or dare to go frontline and cut off enemy fighters.
Iron Resolute Ward
Level: X
School: Enchantment
Range: 20 ft. cone
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
You speak a boundary into existence, forcing all within it to make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creatures cannot willing leave the boundary until they deal damage to you. The boundary is attached to you and moves as you move; creatures at the edge are buffeted towards you. If an enchanted creature is forcefully shoved beyond the boundary they take 1d6 thunder damage and become deafened for 1 minute.
DM’s note: Most effective if you dare to get close to a lot of enemies… which isn’t where a wizard should be, usually.
Regalia of the Winds
Level: X
School: Abjuration
Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
Whirling wind carrying tiny snowflakes cloak your body. When you or an ally within 5 feet would be hit by a ranged attack, you can use a reaction to redirect the attack out to 90 feet, which now deals +1d6 cold damage. When the spell ends you must move 15 feet in any direction. You can end the spell early as a bonus action.
DM’s note: You don’t get extra reactions, so that’s just the one attack redirection. Still, it’s a fine set-up spell at the start of a fight.
Enthralling Suggestion
You cast the spell Enthral and Suggestion as if they were one spell. When you do your eyes take on whatever appearance you wish.
"As I was taking control over the machine that held my shard, it granted me a vision of sorts. In my mind, I was seeking for a way to escape the Giant fortress, but I think subconsciously it also sensed that I was seeking where to look in the entire Beyond to gain more information on what is happening."
"It showed me two places, the Forge of Brilliance and the Looking Glass Palace. The Palace is dangerous, I could sense the outsiders are very powerful here, and I don't think we're ready for that yet. If we really going to continue together, I believe the Forge of Brilliance is our next location of travel."
"Yes, thank you. Unfortunately, I'm unable to communicate with them myself if they are outside my vision..."
"I would travel with you all still, and hope you will be a part of our group here... Regardless of what goals we may have, these outsiders are a bigger threat. To everyone... We need to stop them, and then we can go our separate ways, should we wish. So.... to the Forge, then. Did your vision tell us the easiest way to get there, by any chance?"
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Alzav scoops a drink of water, and with a gesture, draws forth the broom with mage hand. "What's this?"
You’re well out of your range, but you do sense they’re still alive. Perhaps it’s just hope.
—
Arthur
You remember you can Identify stuff.
—
Gruush
I’ll keep this brief because it’s up to you guys, but here’s what you’ve got to go on.
1. Cutting across the edge of Oudru would be safe. It’s just a mountain range these days, and you wouldn’t even have to climb it. It’s rough terrain, but not perilous, and the worst weather you’d get is light snowfall, if that. That would lead you on through the edge of some place referred to as a garden, which you’ve heard is surrounded by high walls. Perhaps you might go unnoticed or ignored. You can’t be certain of the relationship between the garden and the forge.
2. Instead, you might hike a more straightforward path through the wetlands and across Wolfen Run. Walking through water is tiring business and the forest to the north is very dense indeed. It’ll be a tough, but mundane journey—only savages (so tales call them) and beasts are said to live in the Run. Whatever could be said to rule that land was slain by the woman you just killed, so the mightiest of them are long gone. It’s the longest way by far. Given what you know of ‘nobles’ it’s doubtful the forge doesn’t hunt down whatever emerges from the forest, if the forge is occupied at all, that is.
3. Legends say at the heart of Wolfen Run is a sideways path, a means of travelling quickly to nearby lands. If you can find it, you’d greatly reduce the overall journey. You might shorten the journey still by slipping along the edge of Drossmire, now returned to continuity and in the slow process of recovering from the poisonous curse that nearly fell upon it. You’ve no idea what the city is up to without the leader they worshipped.
Whatever you go for, Arthur is aware Gladdinore is on the move. You might not want to cross her path, but if you do you’ll need to be in a good position.
The only chance of seeing the smith Ben again is continuing through these nameless wetlands.
Given the nature of your mission, you cannot be certain you’ll ever visit a land you do not cross on your way to the forge.
"Huh?" Arthur looks over to Alzav, not having paid attention to catch the question. But the intent was pretty obvious, a floating broom held by a mage hand was extended. Arthur summoned his own hand to grab the broom and bring it closer to himself. He laid it down in front, and then with an afterthought, pulled out the robes he had found in the tomb below.
Making the appropriate ritual markings in the ground around him, he begins to lay out layers of divination magic on the items to delve their properties.
Will Ritual cast Identify on both. Mostly because I don't have identify prepared to be able to use a spell slot.