Last we our heroes, Arunak, Ryker, Wander, and their new friend Valrick were facing down a Chimera under the control(?) of the Governor of Winterstall. Nathan was taking the guards on a merry chase around the city and Havayla was on her way back to the ship.
Or were they? Everyone blinks in confusion as they return to this situation after an odd adventure in a winter cabin, themselves as children, alongside their fallen friend Nahtan, being chased by Krampus. Wander looks down expecting to see a scroll of Wish, but it didn’t come back with them. Maybe it was a shared dream of some sort? No matter, they’re under attack right now.
A sleight of hand by Ryker followed by pass-the-potatoe between Arunak and Wander as they try to figure out how the scepter controls the Chimera and opens the gate. Valrick creates a wall of force to hold the creature back and then magically unlocks the door instead. Between a harpoon shot by Ryker and command by Wander, the Governor is subdued and everyone escapes the room.
Steelstone is not surprised that the Governor was up to shenanigans, but is still (understandably) unsure of the newcomers. Wander casts Zone of Truth and interrogation begins. They quickly learn that the Governor’s father took control of the city using the chimera, another mysterious gift from outside forces. The Crimson Eyes are not specifically identified as the benefactors, but the “elf” that spoke with the Governor’s advisor has been around for a while.
They also discover that there are only 30 guards in the whole city. The citizens are weakening, resources are scarce. Winterstall is on the verge of complete collapse. The Governor has been so focused on his own interests “for the people” that he has forgotten about the people. Steelstone was aware that the flowers had some effect on the populace, but had not explored how deeply. He is unaffected and is aware of others. Both he and the Governor are surprised to learn that all the Derailers are really interested in are animus crystals, Zay was the one coming to discuss trade. A deal is struck: remove the Crimson Eye operative from the city and the Derailers can have as many crystals that they want.
Zay stays with Steelstone, who is going to keep the Governor out of trouble and keep the guards occupied. After discussing their options, Valrick magically transforms everyone into dwarves… mostly. Seeming can only alter height by 1 foot, leaving Ryker and Arunak to be slightly tall, not too conspicuous. But Wander’s 7’9” is not as affected. She does her best to hunch over and off they go through the city, masked against the magical flowers’ aroma.
Their journey through the city to the house Arunak found is mostly uneventful. Until they turn down the street and Wander trips, revealing her hight. Noticed and surrounded by a group of rowdy dwarves outside a pub, Arunak attempts to throw them off with a ruse: He’s taking care of his deformed grandma and occasionally violent, deaf cousin Jerry. Intellectual chaos begins as the Derailers play into this act, somewhat unsuccessfully as a fight still breaks out. But a spash of water followed by chained lightning leaves only one dwarf left. Arunak stuns him as he runs for an alarm horn and they hide the bodies in an alley. Crisis mostly averted, they follow Arunak to the hideout.
At the hideout, they enter the front door. An old grandmotherly dwarf is kitting, back to them. She greets them “is that you Mavicus?” but doesn’t seem to be bothered when they don’t respond. Arunak leads them to the door he saw Mavicus enter and Ryker unlocks it with his thieves tools. Just as they’re about to descend, Ryker gets a message from Reg: “The ship isn’t working, it’s just floating, the animus crystal is gone, there’s a void there instead. Oh and your wife disappeared in the void.”
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Travel back in time and outside the city, Havayla has made it back to the ship, followed closely by Nathan, who reports hearing distant growls and screams. Havayla tells Reg that they needed to make the ship invisible and/or move. Reg responds with a colorful explanation of how low the energy levels are. After a brief argument, Reg gets and idea and leads Havayla down to the animus crystal chamber. He reasons that she is an elf that was in the feywild for a bit, maybe her magic could charge the crystal. Following his logic, Havayla casts Heal on the fading crystal.
Dark purple energy invades the icy blue crystal as it is not Sehanine, but tharizdune that Havayla connects with. But there seems to be a charge? Iris locks the door as everyone runs to the helm. Reg takes the ship up to just the tops of the trees, and swings around the side of the city. The power gage fluctuates wildly and the ship stutters, seizes, and… stops in mid air, frozen, level with the tops of the trees. All the power is out, nothing works, but the ship remains suspended.
Reg, Iris, Havayla, and Nathan rush down to the Animus engine room. Opening the door they are met with an endless void. Black sky and black floor meet at a distant white horizon in an unmeasurable expanse.
Havayla steps into void-land, overriding Iris’ protests, but accepting a rope. Nathan follows and together they walk forward. Havayla reaches the end of the 60ft rope, unties it and keeps going, glancing back to keep track of the door slowly shrinking on the opposite horizon. A few steps more, the door is there, they’ll be fine. And then Havayla looks back and the door is gone. Walking back a distance does not cause it to reappear.
Bearings completely lost, Havayla casts “Find the Path” to find the way out. Nathan leaves a dagger on the ground, pointed in the way Havayla directs. They walk. And walk. Hours pass as they continue on and realize that if they were going toward the door, they should have found it. Suspecting that the path was leading instead to Thereizdun, they turn around and go the opposite way. Again, they walk the blank expanse. Eventually Nathan spies his dagger, showing them they’re on the right track. A hour more and they find the door again and tumble through.
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Meanwhile, back inside Winterstall, slightly panicked whispers are shared at the top of the stares. The crew quietly leaves the house and huddles in an alley to discuss their options. Wander messages Steelstone to let him know that they’ll be back, just have to take care of something even more dangerous, and could he please get the guards to stop chasing them? Steelstone cryptically responds and lets them know that the guards have been called to a certain part of the city, the opposite side of the gate.
The group, still disguised as dwarves, winds their way through the city, doing their best to avoid suspicion and confrontation. Until they reach the gate, that is. Two guards stand at the small access door. As the only one that speaks Dwarven, Wander rushes up and spins a yarn about Steelstone needing them to meet him further in town. A combination of magic, words, and slight of hand convinces them to leave their post and the Derailers escape through the door into the forest beyond.
In the forest, Arunak takes to the sky to find the ship and they crew makes they way around the outskirts of the city. They come below the strongly silent ship and are hauled aboard. Ryker immediately demands an explanation from Reg, who explains what happened as he leads them to the engine room and the void. It has been hours and there’s been no sign of Havayla or Nathan.
Just as Ryker is inspecting the void and preparing to enter it himself, Iris spots movement. Shortly after, Havayla and Nathan come rushing through. Nathan, as usual, appears nonplussed by the experience, but Havayla is obviously shaken. Valrick takes a look inside (Iris is very annoyed at being continually ignored) before the door is closed, locked, and put under guard. Valrick questions what would have brought this void into existence and Havayla prevents anyone from saying anything about tharizdun. Ryker and Havayla leave to discuss what happened while everyone else meets in the war room.
In the war room, the team is uneasy. Valrick again questions the void; it is similar to the Astral plane, but seems to be the dream plane, which connects to it. Wander lets slip that there is a connection to the god of madness and Valrick fits things together from there. Ryker and Havayla return. Ryker’s attempt to commune with Sehanine didn’t go well; tharizdun possessed Havayla to talk with him instead. Looks like tharizdun needs to be taken care of, now. Havayla is upset that this information is coming out in front of Valrick, they’ve only just met him, how does she know she can trust him? Valrick attempts to prove his worth and intentions through his shared connection to their friend Octavius. Havayla remains unsure, but the matter is left as everyone goes to watch or rest for the evening.
In the morning, Ryker finds a letter from Havayla. She left with Arurora. She’s going to go back to Hearthollow to get the Orith Spear from her family’s museum and doesn’t want to put anyone else in danger. Ryker shares this with the group and they discuss what to do. Valrick reveals that he has two more Orith Spears in his vault, he could retrieve them from the Astal plane. But they’ll need to go back to Hearthollow first so he knows where he’ll be teleporting back. Wander is able to recall everyone to Hearthollow, they’ll beat Havayla there, gather all the spears, and then either wait for her or meet her in the middle.
Wander casts Word of Recall and the group reappears among the trees outside the Gresta Library. Valrick states that he’ll be back in a day, asks Nathan to come with him, and teleports away. Ryker states that he needs to take to his mother-in-law, turns and marches in the house, trailed by Wander, Arunak, and Dorza. And that is where we left off…
What will happen next? We’ll find out next time…