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10th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree

The road to Ghenna

by Luke Thomas

Dear Diary,
 
The smoke was still curling from the charred remains of the mind-control tree when we began tearing Lady Magnolia’s manor apart, looking for answers. We found plenty, but none of them were what we expected.
 
In Magnolia's bedroom, tucked away like a keepsake, I found a stone. Not just any stone—a **Tarnstone**. Smooth, dark, and vibrating with a specific resonance. It’s exactly like the ones we were given during our trials as teenagers in Tarn. These stones are linked to Immerglade. Why would a Keralon agent, or a fey fugitive, possess a relic of our coming-of-age? The web connecting everything is tighter than we thought.
 
Then, the world cracked open. Literally.
A loud, vertical fissure split the trunk of the burnt tree in the garden. Two figures stepped out. One was a woman of severe elegance—Alistan and Liliana’s mother. The other was a towering giant clad in heavy plate armor.
 
It was their father. He had traded his humanity for raw power, transforming into a creature of war.
 
They didn't attack. They complained. They were annoyed that we had destroyed the tree, mostly because they had "paid a lot of money for it."
We stood there, weapons lowered but ready, as the De la Roost parents laid out the cold, hard truth. There was no mind control. The Council wasn't charmed; they were bought. The King promised them independence. Hillfield is to become its own Kingdom, with the De la Roosts as the Royal Family. They betrayed their fealty to their people not for justice, but for a crown.
 
They asked us what we hoped to achieve. They told us we were children playing at war, that we would only cause more bloodshed. They offered Alistan and Liliana forgiveness, but with a sharp condition: if we continue to move against Keralon, they will disown them. They will break with their children.
 
We left it unresolved. A fragile, bitter truce. We promised not to attack each other for a few weeks. As we walked away, I looked at Alistan. He didn't say a word, but the set of his jaw told me everything. He just lost his parents, not to death, but to ambition.
 
We returned to the temple. Father Ethan wished us luck, but his warning hung in the air: if we attack Hillfield, he will stand against us.
Down in the chamber of the guardians, we reunited with the Kirin, Aurora. She agreed to cleanse the curse from Ileas’s lyre, but warned it would take a day.
 
We had time to kill. Aurora sat in the lotus position—a bizarre sight for a celestial horse—and hummed a resonant, purifying tone over the instrument. I used the quiet to transcribe spells from the **Elemental Heart of Water** into my book, expanding my arsenal. Hayley, restless, scouted the Ethereal Plane. She found the source of the evil: a rift to the plane of **Ghenna**, embedded deep in the rock.
 
We couldn't leave it there.
We journeyed back into the mines. I shifted into the form of a large owl, gliding silently down the chasm to scout. We found a ledge of worked stone and began to dig. I called upon the **Investiture of Stone**, my skin turning to granite as I moved the earth with my will, guiding us to the rift.
The hunger pains returned, that gnawing, magical starvation. Gael kept us moving with a steady supply of *Goodberries*.
 
At the portal, my *Detect Magic* flared. A strong **Conjuration** aura. The rift wasn't natural; it was maintained by a **Wish** spell. The pinnacle of arcane magic.
I took a breath. I reached into the currents of fate, using my **Portent** to twist the odds, and channeled a dispel. I felt the weave snap. The *Wish* unraveled. The rift collapsed. The cavern itself seemed to sigh with relief, the oppressive weight of Ghenna lifting instantly.
 
But we weren't done. Lower still, we found a door of red marble fused into the stone. A sarcophagus, stripped of all markings. An **Abjuration** aura—*Dimensional Shackles*.
Hayley divined the occupant: **Esigius**. A fiend trapped by Morrim.
Liliana stepped too close, and a voice echoed in our heads. Esigius. He claimed he had a "falling out" with Morrim—apparently, Morrim wanted an army but didn't want to pay the price. Typical lich problems.
 
The fiend begged for release. We made a counter-offer. A contract. We would free him, but he must perform one good deed every day for a thousand years.
He agreed.
We broke the seal. A bald, green-skinned humanoid with sores from centuries of confinement stepped out. He asked if we needed receipts for his good deeds. He then shifted into a nondescript human male and, for his first act of benevolence, teleported us straight back to the surface.
 
We reported our success to Aurora. The evil is gone. The lyre is clean. We were done.
 
We stepped onto the teleportation circle, a tired party of adventurers, and now a contract-bound fiend.
Next stop: Tarn. Home.
 
— Luke

Continue reading...

  1. A test of magic
    24th of Aran, Y126 Year of the Tree
  2. Trades and Punishments
    1st of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  3. Homecoming
    15th of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  4. The price of a ring
    16th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  5. A Festival of Foxes and Frolics
    30th of Dagda, Year 121, Era of the tree
  6. Elsa
  7. Adventure Ahead!
    1st of Lug, Year 121 of the Tree
  8. Rosebloom's Bookworm
    4th of Lugh, Year 121 of the Tree
  9. What to do when your hostess has a Secret Society Membership
    5th of Lugh, 121 Year of the Tree
  10. The most useful kind of magic
    6th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  11. A Betrayal of Satyrs
    7th of Lugh, 121 Year of the Tree
  12. Maladies of the Mist
    8-11th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  13. The Hunter
    11th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  14. A Hidden Path to Logvale and Beyond
    12th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  15. A Master of Fire
    13th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  16. Too Many Goodbyes
    20th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree
  17. Letter to Hayley I
    1st of Ogan, 122 Year of the Tree
  18. Letter to Hayley II
    3rd of Solstice, 122 Year of the Tree
  19. Letter to Hayley III
    24th of Edon, 123 Year of the Tree
  20. Letter to Hayley IV
    17th of Gobu, 124 Year of the Tree
  21. Letter to Hayley V
    7th of Daga, 125 Year of the Tree
  22. Letter to Hayley VI
    14th of Mannan, 125 Year of the Tree
  23. The Reunion
    14th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  24. The Emissaries of the Fenhunter
    15th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  25. The Fall of Cairn Fussil
    4th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  26. Festival Frenzy
    10th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  27. The Terror of Ravensfield
    13th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  28. Dragon Bones in the Dark
    15th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  29. The Determination of an Undead Kobold
    16th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  30. Battle at the Burning Village
    17th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  31. A Reminder to Take Action
    18th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  32. A Grand Ball of Intrigue
    20th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  33. The Search for Norgar
    20th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  34. Why you can never trust a bard
    20th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  35. A Royal Reward and a Challenge
    28th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  36. An apple a day...
    29th of Nuan, 126 Year of the Tree
  37. Dealing with the fey
    30th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree
  38. Aunty's Wrath
    3rd of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  39. Best served cold
    9th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  40. Venturing into dangerous waters
    11th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  41. The Fury of the Marsh
    11th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  42. The young stag and the undead wolf
    20th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  43. Anaya's Prison
    21st of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  44. Tales of Immerglade
    22nd of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  45. The festival of Wolf's Rest
    26th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  46. Battle of the Bards
    26th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  47. Undead at the Cathedral
    30th of Aran, 126 Year of the Tree
  48. Elves and worms
    4th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  49. How we got Sixteen Cows
    8th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  50. Descent into Acid
    9th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  51. Sorry we stole your hoard
    10th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  52. Strange Dreams of the Northern Wetlands
    12th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  53. Latebra Velora
    15th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  54. The Tragedy of Alistan De la Roost
    17th of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  55. From Keralon into the Feywild
    22nd of Brigan, 126 Year of the Tree
  56. A Feywild Festival
    ??, 126 Year of the Tree
  57. Into the Jaws of the Warg King
    ??, 126 Year of the Tree
  58. The birds have wings
    ??, 126 Year of the Tree
  59. Sneaking into Whitewail
    ??, 126 Year of the Tree
  60. Arrival at Nimmerburg
    29th of Gobu, 126 Year of the Tree
  61. The Fey Tournament
    1st of Madan, 126 Year of the Tree
  62. Lumiria
    1st of Madan, 126 Year of the Tree
  63. Homecoming
    2nd of Madan, 126 Year of the Tree
  64. The dinner party
    4th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  65. The Mausoleum
    11th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  66. Chain of Souls
    11th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  67. Sister Willow's Story
    15th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  68. The Briar's Ritual
    15th of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  69. The Water Temple
    22nd of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  70. An unexpected journey
    22nd of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  71. Temples of Sand and Air
    22nd of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  72. Haggayn
    22nd of Mannan, 126 Year of the Tree
  73. The beginning of the end
    30th Mannan 126 Year of the Tree
  74. Ashes of Wolf's Rest
    30th Mannan 126 Year of the Tree
  75. Exiles of the Silver City
    10th of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  76. The Prison of Rosebloom
    15th of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  77. The Darkness around Hillfield
    16th of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  78. Setting the stage
    16th of Edon, 126 Year of the Tree
  79. Why is it always spiders?
    9th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  80. The Ethereal Bard
    9th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  81. Trimming the Greenery
    10th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  82. The road to Ghenna
    10th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  83. Back to a changed Keralon
    15th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  84. The bitter taste of defeat
    15th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  85. A Hard Choice
    16th of Duna, 126 Year of the Tree
  86. Dragons and Elves
    2nd of Hagan, 126 Year of the Tree
  87. The Primordial Storm inside
    7th of Hagan, 126 Year of the Tree
  88. Rumours of my death are somewhat exaggerated
    11th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  89. The Beast of Butchery
    12th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  90. Stalked in the Maze
    12th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  91. The dangers of trying to steal from hags
    13th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  92. Moving planes
    17th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  93. The Queen of Immerglade
    17th of Dagda, 126 Year of the Tree
  94. All Hail the Ice Queen
    3rd of Solstace, 126 year of the tree
  95. Wibbly-wobbly, Timey-Snowmeny
    4th of Solstace, 126 year of the tree
  96. A Wizard's Torment
    4th of Solstace, 126 year of the tree
  97. Giants in the Dark
    5th of Solstace, 126 year of the tree
  98. A Maze of Devils
    5th of Solstace, 126 year of the tree
  99. A Duel of Fireballs
    5th of Solstace, 126 year of the tree

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.050 © 2017-2025 [en] | Anvil Time: 23:12, Jul 7 2026