Episode 13 - Recap

4th of Marpenoth

Cacklin’ Aggie and Yenward study the stars. Yenward learns constellations

Centaur, Woman Warrior, Crown, Harp, Sword and Dagger, Lady of Mystery, Dragon of Dawn, Mantis, Ox, Bear, Spider, The lightning bolt.

'''Double Daggers – True West (Tip of the Dagger)'''

'''Arrow of the Gods – True East (Tip of the Arrow)'''

'''Serpent of the Sands – True South (Serpent’s Tongue)'''

Together they note a star in the constellation of the Serpent that is…moving unnaturally?!

They also note an island in the middle of the dark lake.

The Sisters perform their scrying ritual. The party is uncomfortable. If I remember right, Darius does not participate. The Sisters say that time is like a flowing river and that they can’t 100% predict the future. They reveal a few things:

-A flashback in which Thoss the Blackplague discovers, quite by accident, a sinkhole on the high slope of Mt. Ilefarn, granting him access to the Runedardath complex. North

-The cultists control the river crossing up ahead, to the East and have a nearby camp where they have stolen boats docked. The camp is heavily guarded and hides a teleportation circle which they use to travel in and out of the mountain. East

-They show once more Tosk and his band camped near the Black Helm Tower West. They reveal that the easiest way to approach the tower is through the Hollow, as the natural geography and spell defenses make an approach from the river (south) difficult but not impossible. They intimate that convincing the questionable sane Jem Broadheart to relinquish his lightning spear will be difficult.

They say a power is protecting Runedardath from their scrying magic, so they cannot give anyh insight as to what waits inside.

Maybel apologizes to Darius and tells him that his blood is special and powerful…and that she’d love to perform some tests on it sometime. She also says that Darius’s quarry, Fariq and his followers, share similar powers.

The players go to sleep and have visions.

Darius dreams about losing control and hurting his friends.

Kyra dreams about the island in the lake, and Eldath crying out for help.

Coraline has another dream where she is swallowed by a giant, green, deformed cackling face.

Yenward dreams about his youth, something most unsusual. Yenward and several other air genasi children are playing a game with a ball near the city’s edge. Yenward knows he isn’t supposed to be playing out here. He and the other kids start a dare to see who will go closest to the edge to try to catch the ball. He skirts the edge and his friend throws the ball high over his head and before he can leap to try to catch it he hears his mother’s voice. Yenward’s friends scatter as he watches the ball sail out past the curling clouds and begin the long fall down. He turns to face her but her face is veiled by shadow. His mother scolds him and tells him that he should know better than to play by the Rim. The scene fades, and you wake up to fires, confusion, the flash of steel, blood, screams, and then you are falling.

5th of Marpenoth

The clear skies from the night before have given way to an unnatural grey pall. The clouds stretch in all directions, smooth and featureless and somewhat ominous, like the dark lake before you. The team cannot see the peaks of the mountains beyond the low cloud cover. The hag tree is silent. Their pets are nowhere to be seen.

The party decides to investigate the lake.

They take a rowboat across the lake. They are harried by some froglike creatures but with some quick thinking by Coraline and her wand of mislead, and some illusion magic, and some heroic rowing, the team avoids combat. This appears to be at the top of what used to be a hill, but most of it appears to be underwater.

They investigate the abandoned Temple of Eldath. The temple is partially flooded and feels slimy and gross, and makes the team feel sick. As they hurry through the wet corridors Yenward catches a glimpse of a winged figure. As they chase the team is trapped in a flooding room and attacked by numerous grey oozes. They figure out the hastily laid trap, defeat the oozes and free themselves. Darius’s rapier gets partially corroded. The team is poisoned by the foul water.

They chase the winged figure up out of the flooded hallways to the top of the island.

They find the Angel standing at the front of a door leading into a chamber at the top of the hill, and it points directly at Kyra and  says “You should not have come here.”