Wednesday, January 17, 653 AU

• The next day, back in Eth’Alorei, Aurelia tells the party about her vision of an angel of Soleil.
• Aurelia heads alone to the temple of Soleil. She is greeted at the door by Amra, who leads her to Vaeri. After telling Vaeri everything that happened in Tel’Arisse, including her vision. Vaeri is concerned that Marenora reformed after being killed so soon, as a lich would take time to reform. Vaeri tells Aurelia she should be honored to receive a visitation, and that Aurelia is destined for great things.
• Vaeri also tells Aurelia that she’s been looking into the backgrounds of her traveling companions, and that the temple has conducted interviews in Thamior. Valya’s cousin Thalanor Haedel said Valya was jealous of Lucan’s talents, and that Lucan himself may have back-stabbed his way up the social ladder. “They are worshippers of Neesha, Aurelia. They are not good people.” It is Thalanor’s theory that Valya killed her family in a fit of rage. Vaeri says it doesn’t matter if Valya’s amnesia is feigned or real—Aurelia must not trust her.
• Vaeri chastises Aurelia for allowing Valya and her companions to go through the trials in the temple under Crystalport. Aurelia admits that during the trials she came to owe Neesha a debt. Vaeri calls this proof that Valya is a corrupting influence.
• Aurelia says Valya is a powerful ally and that her family has a weapon that can help them against Bellaroth. Vaeri knows about Grieving Edge—apparently, ten days ago three blacksmith apprentices were attacked at the Elaxidor blacksmiths in Myrsalon, and barely survived. Two daggers were stolen from the collection. If Lucan is behind it, he doesn’t seem to think much of killing people.
• Vaeri gives Aurelia one of a pair of sending stones, and tells her to report Valya’s activities every evening.

⁂

• While everyone is in the Golden Leaf, everyone receives a mass sending from Utaz. Emergency council meeting this Sunday at Daykin Estate. Please attend. Important to be on same page—much is going on.
• Aurelia informs Valya about the possibility that Lucan was in Myrsalon. They remember that Tolman Kildare told them that Lucan asked him about a pair of daggers.
• Aurelia sends Lythienne to warn her about Pamona and Leander: Bad news. Pamona the Eternal is alive and potentially able to take control of Leander. Concerned about the safety of Prince Calvin. She gets a reply: Oof! That is bad news. I’ll look into it; security of Prince is my job after all. Will let you know what I find out.
• Valya casts identify on the mysterious blank book they discovered in Uxovaharis’s tomb. Instead of getting any information, her eyes roll up into her head and she begins screaming and flailing around on the ground, knocking over chairs and upsetting the other patrons of the Golden Leaf. Aurelia and Qhask try to rip the book out of Valya’s hands, but she’s clutching it too tightly. Aetheris casts protection from evil and good, and Valya snaps out of it and drops the book. She says she saw a black void surrounded by giant maws with sharp teeth. A phrase enters her mind unbidden: “the maw in the sky”. They all uneasily remember the poem they found. Aurelia picks up the book with a cloth and puts it back in Torba.

⁂

• While they’re in Eth’Alorei, they decide to find Elre, the retired adventurer who was kicked out of the Golden Leaf a month ago for ranting and raving about a comet. The bartender knows he lives somewhere in the eastern district, but can’t be more specific than that. He calls over a half-elf, Sennai, who was close to Elre. He knows he lives on Lion Street, across from an apothecary.
• They find the apothecary after asking around the area, and learn from the owner, an elderly halfling named Birikte, that Elre is one of her customers, but she seems like she’s hiding something. They assure her that they’re concerned for his safety, and she admits that she last saw him a month ago, but won’t say more.
• Valya casts detect thoughts, and learns that Elre believed someone is after him, and told Birikte not to give anyone information about him. He had been after some weird ingredients like bronze dragon blood, which is a component in powerful protection spells.
• They head to Elre’s house, where Aetheris becomes a mouse to sneak inside. She sees the kitchen in disarray—some chairs are overturned, and there are open jars on the counter. Upstairs, the bed is still unmade, and an ornate chest with a heavy padlock rests at the bed’s foot. She heads downstairs to the basement, and sees an emaciated nothic chained to the wall. The nothic doesn’t see her. Drawn in blood, repeated all over the walls, are the phrases “You will resist”, “You will not serve”, and “You will stay you”.
• Aetheris returns and lets the rest of the party into the house. They descend into the basement. Aetheris feels Elre trying to probe her mind, but she resists. “Free me!” screams Elre. “Free me! You have been blessed too—I can sense it! Look upon your glorious future!”
• Elre continues to scream “It is coming! The comet arrives, and with it the Sleeper!” It becomes clear that Elre had received this knowledge through dreams, and that Elre had tried to stave it off with potions of wakefulness, which explains the numerous empty potion bottles throughout the basement.
• Worryingly, Elre claims there is a place far to the north, across the ocean, where the believers must gather—a place called Ghelroth’Far. “Oh shit,” says Valya. “We must be there to perform the ritual!” says Elre. They ask him what the ritual consists of, but he says they will learn via their dreams, all in good time.
• Valya beheads Elre.
• Qhask attempts to pick the lock of the chest in the bedroom, but get’s caught in an explosion from a glyph of warding.
• They find a keyring in the corner of the basement—Elre must have thrown it after he chained himself up—and use the key to open the chest in the bedroom. They find:
  • Old adventuring clothes.
  • A silver skeleton key wrapped in a velvet cloth.
  • Elre’s handwritten journal (provides advantage on disarming traps).
• Aurelia casts detect magic and discovers that the key has an aura of transmutation magic.
• They notify Birikte that Elre has passed, and that she should get the guard rather than go there herself.
• They decide to return to Crystalport. Bill goes ahead of them to hire new farmhands and do some upkeep that might take him a few days. Quiet Marble takes his leave as well to explore Crystalport on his own.

⁂

• They return to Crystalport and decide to investigate the address on the scrap of paper Aetheris found in her pocket: 45 Rose Way.
• The address turns out to belong to Gertrude Crow, the psychic they rescued from the Temple of Neesha! She says the spirits told her that “one with purple eyes” would arrive, and that she’s set up a guest room for her. Gertrude invites them all in, and she makes tea.
• Gertrude has never seen Aetheris before, but it turns out the address is written in her own handwriting! In fact, the paper looks like it is from one of Gertrude’s own letters—she takes an invitation to a séance she had been writing so the party can compare. She doesn’t know how it ended up in Aetheris’s pocket, though.
• Gertrude says she was alerted by the spirits to Aetheris’s coming back in April. Everyone is very confused.
• Gertrude offers to read everyone’s tea leaves.
  • Valya: “The crossed swords… a worthy adversary, but… there’s the split heart, mixed feelings, both swords are piercing the heart, curious, not sure what that means…”
  • Aetheris: “I see… (she frowns, asks them to pull a giant book down from a shelf to consult) a ship? You will… take a ship to… a small house? Wait… yes, a small house. And beyond it, memory.”
  • Qhask: “I see a great battle between a large dragon and a small dragon… death by water… and there’s the sprouted seed—the promise of rebirth.”
  • Aurelia: “The curved dagger… I see… a great betrayal! But… ah, the sun… Don’t worry, dear, all will be brought to light.”
• Aetheris asks if Gertrude can do a reading for the four of them together instead of individually. Gertrude says such a task would require an exceptionally delicate tea from the Gemra Empire, on the far side of the desert. Aetheris suggests they borrow Gertrude’s copy of Advanced Tea Reading for consulting if they go to the Gemra Empire.
• Before they leave, Aurelia to cast commune to answer some pressing questions:
  • Are either the Gemra Empire and Cymosa of pressing concern for Aetheris personally? Yes.
  • Should I prioritize traveling to Cymosa over the Gemra Empire? Yes.
  • Are there any other portals to the Shadowfell in Amyanthalas that we can access other than the one made by Rhoklo? Yes.

Thursday, January 18, 653 AU

• They discuss what they could do while they wait for the emergency council meeting on Sunday, deciding their three most pressing matters are: confronting Tolman Kildare, whom the Comets said had betrayed the party; finding Calziver Cobblegem on Cymosa to interpret the Susurri Ignis Caelestis; and trying to find Siora Virren’s infernal forge in Hearthollow. They decide to deal with Tolman first, and head north to Rimehollow.
• When they arrive at the Kildare forge, Tolman initially refuses to see them, but relents, waving them in. He looks ill. When he closes the door behind them, he says “I’m sure you must have many questions… I’m so sorry for this.”
• A humanoid creature made entirely out of writhing worms, standing invisibly in the corner, attacks with blasts of worms, becoming visible in the process. “A pity you did not accept your glorious gift,” says the creature. Tolman protests that he was forced to tell it everything about the party, that he had no choice.
• The battle is difficult—the creature’s worms try to burrow into flesh, plus it can cast powerful magic spells. Aetheris gives a rousing speech to an apprentice to join in the battle, but unfortunately the apprentice dies, and even more unfortunately the creature begins screaming about the comet and Tolman becomes subject to the curse.
• Eventually, they are able to defeat the creature and it collapses into a pile. The worms try to make their way to the dirt outside, but they’re shredded by a spike growth from Qhask.
• Tolman says the creature was very interested in the party and wanted to know everything about them, especially about their quest for Grieving Edge. “What would a worm creature want with Grieving Edge?” asks Aurelia. She pulls out the letter signed “T” and asks Tolman if he wrote it—Tolman says he did not. He says he’ll travel to the Underdark to find nothic eyes, leaving the party on bad terms.
• With nothing left to do in Rimehollow, they return to Crystalport. Deciding to head to Cymosa next, they send to Captain Green to ask him to bring them to Cymosa in the morning.

Friday, January 19, 653 AU

• The next morning, they head to the docks and find Captain Green, who begrudgingly takes them aboard. He knows of the observatory on the western tip of the island, but will take them to the northern port since it’s the only part around the island that’s safe to dock at.
• They arrive, and learn from a Cymosan named Gormer that the village on the western point near the observatory is called Duskpoint, and that there is currently a curfew there for some mysterious reason. His cousin, Ardrath, seemed spooked when he talked about it.
• They arrive in Duskpoint, and strike up a conversation with a villager. She informs the party that Calziver left Cymosa two weeks ago. She also says people have been seeing strange figures at night, but it’s probably just kids from Cymosa playing pranks. She suggests talking to their mayor, Dimvar Chu, and says that although there is no inn in the village someone would surely take them in for the night.
• She points them toward Ardreth’s house. Aetheris goes toward Ardreth’s house while the rest go to visit the mayor. Aetheris asks Ardreth about Calziver. He didn’t personally see him leave, but the mayor told him about it.
• The rest of the party meet with the mayor, Dimvar Chu, who is affable and energetic. He says he witnessed Calziver’s departure via boat, and that he’s posted a guard outside the observatory until he returns.
• Valya suggests he let them use the observatory in exchange for their services investigating the strange goings-on at night, but the mayor says he doesn’t own the observatory, and that “it’s the property of our dear, departed Calziver Cobblegem.” Until Calziver comes back, no one is getting in or out.
• Valya casts detect thoughts while they argue with the mayor about staying to catch the “children”, but disturbingly the mayor appears to have no thoughts at all!
• Aurelia, looking around, notices moldy apples in the bowl on the counter…
• They leave the mayor’s house, and Aetheris suggests they take out Professor Niku from Torba. Professor Niku informs them that the observatory can see into the astral plane, and that he could probably help them operate the observatory if they need to.
• Aurelia casts arcane eye and spies on the mayor. Disturbingly, she finds the mayor upstairs in his bedroom, standing motionless facing a wall. Valya suggests she spy on a few other houses. The next house she tries has a man, a woman, and a child, all of whom are standing motionless and facing a wall. Aurelia suggests these aren’t real people, but lifeless plants or puppets of some kind.
• Not everyone in the town is like this, though—Ardreth and his wife are among the normal people. Around fifty percent of the townspeople are affected.
• Assuming no one will stop them, they head to the observatory. Valya walks up to the guard and casts suggestion, suggesting that Dimvar Chu gave them permission to enter and that the door should be open for them.
• Aetheris transforms into a spider and crawls under the gap in the observatory door. She finds herself in a kitchen area, which is covered in pinkish goop. Further in is a large open space with a spiral staircase that leads up to the observatory proper. She turns back into a human and quietly unlocks the door.
• Once they’re all inside, they all notice the goop and an acrid smell. Aurelia pokes the goop with a rolling pin, which sizzles as it makes contact.
• Aetheris tries one of the doors attached to the main room. It’s locked, but she hears a fearful gasp from inside when she jiggles the handle.
• Aetheris then goes up the spiral stairs to the observatory trap door, and peers inside. She sees a… creature… clinging to the ceiling of the dome, breathing but otherwise motionless. It’s a bizarre monstrosity of nonsensical anatomy, covered with eyes and weird tendrils. She silently returns to the group and tells them what she saw.
• They decide to deal with the gasp from behind the other door. Aetheris turns back into a spider and crawls under the door, and sees a gnome huddled in fear under a bed. Aetheris communicates with the gnome via gesture and Morse code, and convinces him to unlock the door. Calziver Cobblegem introduces himself to the party.
• Calziver says he noticed a few weeks ago that the stars were getting blurry, and when he readjusted the telescope he realized there were creatures looking into the telescope, staring and mocking him with horrifying faces. Then the townsfolk started acting strange, so he decided to pretend to leave by boat and circle back under cover of darkness in case whatever was influencing the townsfolk was after him. But when he got back, that thing in the observatory was there. He’s been hiding in the lower levels ever since, occasionally hearing the creature prowling around.
• They discuss luring the creature out of the observatory room—Aetheris wants to trick the creature and trap it, but the rest of the party want to destroy it so it doesn’t continue killing and replacing the villagers. ❦