The Gap

Two individuals clothed in brown and green sat near a campfire at the base of the petrified figure of the treant Turlang. A figure appearing to be some type of large dog was with them, and motioned us forward. As we approached the figures walked towards us, and we realized that they were Mirielle and Tharra, and the dog was Braenor! They did not recognize us at first, and nearly shot Dru when he ran up to greet them. They were suspicious, and demanded to know where we had been for the past 16 years. I reluctantly explained what had happened, that we had used the gate cube to escape the Blue Flame and rescue Dre, but when we tried to return something went wrong and we jumped forward more than a decade. Tharra was furious, saying we abandoned them to the hags, and walked up and slapped me.
 
I fell back onto the ground, and had a vision of the voices in my head battling for control. The dark Lurker said “It seems I have been wrong. The only way to be whole may be to give up the dream of bringing our parents back. Or simply killing Maethok.” The boy argued back that things could still work out, and Lurker slunk back defeated into some dark corner of my mind, allowing the boy to take control.
 
When I woke from my vision, Tharra had stormed off and Dru was standing over me. It took a few minutes to get everything sorted out, but I was at least able to recognize Shiara and Dre and remember bits of what had passed before, which is better than the other times a switch had taken place. The others had gathered around the fire to eat. As I sat eating with them I saw the same demon we had killed before appear near the treeline. I approached and spoke to him, this time asking his name. He said it was Forzen. Dru and Zarruk walked over, and apparently could not see him. He said something about “This will be fun” then disappeared. It was confusing, but just one more thing to add to the list of strange events over the past few hours.
 
We asked Mirielle what had been going on in the world during our absence, and it was not good. She and Tharra had spent 5 years in captivity to the hags, but had managed to escape after indescribable torture. The town of Stiljabyr had fallen to the Blue Flame, as had Barad Ellion. The god Merkyl had taken possession of Father Briar’s body and his triumvate of evil deities had finally ascended to godhood. The Splinters were all dead. Rezic and Lilith had somehow managed to unleash the chaos of Limbo on the material plane, presumably from the spawning stone. Zarruk’s uncle Branlyd was missing and Thea Dawnmane had been lost, presumably a high priestess of Loth now.
 
One thing became clear. The only way to set things right would be to find the Tablets of Fate and restore balance to the material plane.
 
Dru, concerned about Tharra’s reaction to our return, left to find a flower for her. Shiara, extremely confused but somehow managing to hold things together for the time being, started to make a sketch of Turlang. Po went and talked to Tharra himself, sympathizing with her feelings of abandonment and suffering, and eventually helping her to see that we still wanted to help make things right. She told Po that perhaps we should all flee, and when he asked where she would like to go, she said somewhere called Elysium.
 
We all eventually laid down to sleep for the night. Dru left the flower outside of Tharra’s tent where she could see it when she awoke. We all met for breakfast the following morning and the topic of traveling to Elysium was brought up. While I could possibly get us there through the gate cube, I was reluctant to use the cube again of the disastrous results of the last use, and pointed out that we don’t know anything about that plane. Shiara suggested that we research the cube and the other planes it connects to at a place called the University in the city of Imre. We all agreed that this would be the best course of action for the time being. But as we began to pack our belongings a thick fog began to swirl around us, following by the stench of poison.
 
At that moment Braenor rushed up saying “They have found us!”