CXXXV. Amari's Last Wish

General Summary

The Ring & Wren looked back one last time at their troops lined up in Market Port, turning away just as a large wave crashed into their front lines. Before them, where Felstadt's lighthouse once stood, was now a crumbling ruin wrapped in enormous tentacles. They could see Dhor heft out of the water and onto the precipice to oversee his forces. With him seperated from his army, and as the only ones capable of defeating him, the party knew this was their chance--if Dhor lived, Felstadt wouldn't.

"Ring and Wren, this is what we've been working toward for a long time. We may have had our disagreements, but we'll keep hope here."

-Drayton King

As King finished speaking, Lady Kohinoor called upon the Emboldening Bond. Though she hadn't been there for the struggles that brought the Ring & Wren together, that forged their bonds in fire, observing them during for the time she had spent with them made it obvious how close they were. It reminded her of the people she was close to; the ones the Emboldening Bond was made for in the first place. Hearing Wynna's words, seeing the group begin to fall apart--Kohi couldn't help but imagine how she'd feel if she were in their position. How she would be willing to do anything to make things right.
Those who'd been enveloped in the bond before had always felt something--a little tug at their hearts--whenever it was activated. This grip on their heart was often, somehow, able to communicate Kohi's feelings without the need for words. Usually that feeling was a little desperate: the feeling of wanting--more than anything--to protect, to prevent loss; and focused: the clarity of purpose, of knowing that as long as friends were close, they could win even against seemingly insurmountable odds. That was what friendship was to Kohinoor. And when she wanted to remind others of that, she could make them feel that way too.
But this time was different. That tug on their hearts wasn't little--it was heavy. It hurt. Those who were able to see the physical manifestation of the bond felt, more than ever, that its appearance as chains was apt. Even this pain though, communicated something to them, and each person began to implicitly understand the core of the magical bond they were party to:

This bond is no trivial thing. In the past you noticed how it made things easier. But now, it hurts.
It hurts because it's your heart, where you are most vulnerable. When you allow yourself to love others, this is the risk you take--the risk that they will hurt you, that you will lose them. That risk is terrifying. It's enough to make you want to shut them out altogether. You'd be safer, surely, if you were alone. No one to lord over your emotions. No one to sway you. No one to twist the knife from inside.
But sometimes you meet people that get past those defenses; that spark something inside you. You find the people worth taking that risk for. You willingly shackle yourself to them because they embolden you--allow you not only to be yourself, but to be more than yourself. You expose yourself to pain because in return you receive something precious. That kind of bond is a special thing, a magic all its own. When you have someone like that, you shouldn't let go of it so easily.

From Griffinback, Amari looked back toward Wynna, who was riding the Magic Carpet. Separated from the rest of the party in more ways than one. Beyond her was...home. Their home.
It was too late to say anything now. The fight was already upon them. He could only hope that Wynna would get the message he'd left behind...if either of them survived the fight.

Dhor, God of the Deep

Lady Kohinoor banked downward first. Dhor turned toward her with a toothy grin and a dark laugh that rumbled like thunder.

"Get me in there, Lady Kohi, to spill the blood of a god!"

-Waythe

"Nice to meet you face to face."

-Drayton King

King shot at Dhor's face, trying to goad him into focusing on him alone, but Dhor sensed his intention and chose to ignore the attempt. King used what would have been a lost opportunity to instead analyze Dhor's defenses and see how wise the god of the deep was--if his sensibilities could be swayed by magic. Dhor used a tentacle to grab a one of the unmanned boats in the harbor and threw it at King's Griffin, Reina. The blow knocked her from the sky, taking King into the water with her. Jäger, atop his steed Ragnar, dodged the boat and charged up to Dhor.

"I'm right here, bitch!"

-Jäger Ironbeard

He sliced into Dhor with his axe, but found to his utter disappointment that Dhor was completely immune to the lightning he tried to pump into him. Soora sent her own mount, Ares, away and used her cloak to fly up to the top of the ruined lighthouse, from where she shot at Dhor with blessed and poisoned fire arrows. Once her arrows flew, she hid.
A bolt of lightning arced down onto Lady Kohinoor, striking her and fanning out into a conduit that shocked anyone close to her--at this point, Soora and Jäger. Luckily, Soora deftly dodged it and Jäger barely felt it. Amari, who was still hanging at the edge of the battlefield, illuminated the storm with a Fireball. As always, his friends were exempt from its flames--the heat evaporated away before it had the chance to touch them.
In addition to the lightning that was already striking intermittently around them, Dhor created his own lightning storm. Wynna, Amari, and Kohinoor found themselves targets to these bolts. Amari managed to avoid getting hit too hard, and though Wynna got hit directly, half of the damage she would have taken was magically transferred to Kohinoor instead through their warding bond. Before she was hurt, Jäger used the protective bond to teleport next to her and take it instead, knowing that he was resistant to it.
This seemed to irritate Dhor. He plucked Kohinoor and Jäger off their Griffins with his tentacles.

"Begone, Child of Egar."

-Dhor

He flung Jäger into the sea, leaving Kohinoor to face him alone. She managed to struggle out his grasp, but Dhor doubled down and restrained her again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

-Dhor

King climbed back onto Reina from the water and took to the sky. He wanted to help pull Lady Kohi free, but was just too far away. Instead he unleashed a flurry of crossbow bolts into Dhor to try again and goad him, to no avail.
A distance away, Jäger floated on his back in the water. He was in his element, but with impotent fury, he was at a loss. He could barely touch Dhor like this. His connection to Egar was tenuous, and grew fainter with every second. The last question he'd asked his god had been met with silence. So many things seemed to be working against him. It was hard to keep faith. In times like these, he contemplated that connection, that ran deeper than the sea, deeper than his own blood. And Jäger prayed for divine intervention.

"I am the storm...no, Egar is the storm. No. I am the storm. EGAR!"

-Jäger Ironbeard

At his invocation of Egar's name, a huge lightning bolt clapped into Dhor's back, slamming him into the cliff. The lightning had...actually hurt him. Jäger saw the sign for what it was, and his blood began to rush as he swam his way back into the fight.

"What?!"

- Dhor

Soora, still atop the lighthouse ruins, attacked from cover, then hid once more from the storm. Lightning struck Wynna, spreading to from her to Amari and to her Coatl, and Dhor's lightning storm moved to include King in its area. Despite his limbs buzzing with electricity, Amari pointed his staff at Dhor in a reverse grip and swung it in a practiced pattern, creating ice crystals so cold that they slowed even the god of the deep as they formed in the crevices of this mortal body. Wynna followed up with a sacred flame.
Dhor slowly dragged Kohi close, opened his mouth, and swallowed her. Her attempts to gain purchase in his throat failed and she slid quickly down his gullet, the acid slime hissing at her armor.

"This is not a good situation to be in."

-Waythe

Inside Dhor's stomach, Kohinoor stumbled around in the dark, pressed from all sides by massive organs. His stomach acid burned around her legs, and with no way to get herself out, Kohi struck blindly at her surroundings with Waythe.
Dhor reached for Jäger next, grabbing him out of the water with a tentacle and dangling him aloft. Jäger zapped him with lightning in retaliation. Between hails of arrows and crossbow bolts from King and Soora, sludgy black blood slowly began to trickle out from Dhor's fleshy form. Jäger threw his hammer, then sliced at the tentacle suspending him with his axe, more blood spewing with every hit.

"Egar sends his regards."

-Jäger Ironbeard

"You're going to pay for that."

-Dhor

With all the blood leaking out, Amari knew that Dhor was beginning to lose. But Lady Kohi was still trapped inside him. He pointed his staff at Dhor's stomach and concentrated. A beam of disintegrating light created a seam across Dhor's abdomen, but Dhor tensed his stomach against the magic--he wouldn't allow such an easy escape. Dhor spat out blood, then let out a shuddering breath as he realized...

"The shards...you kept the shards..."

-Dhor

He slammed the tower with a tentacle. The tower buckled, and Soora took flight to avoid getting pelted with the rocks that tumbled from it. With another tentacle, he flung a crate at Amari's griffin Athena, knocking her and Amari prone. Quickly, Amari cast Feather Fall on the two of them. Athena managed to clutch at the edge of the cliff, and Amari kept his grip on her. Wynna cast sacred flame, then sanctuary on herself. Her Coatl polymorphed into a red dragon wyrmling and blasted Dhor with fire breath.
Dhor paid it no mind; he began to act with a swiftness, despite the freezing cold that slowed him, as though in that last moment he'd seen a clear future. He swallowed Jäger, then swam to King, grabbed him with a tentacle and swallowed him too.
Lady Kohi heard Jäger and King yelp as they too fell down Dhor's gullet and into his stomach. She began to fear their slow death from the acid, and created an aura of vitality around her to try and buy them some time to be saved. The aura healed King, who was hanging onto life by an ever-thinning thread. King could think of nothing that would work to get them out besides trying to kill Dhor as soon as possible. He shot fire bolts at Dhor from within, missing many due to the utter darkness, wet and warm. Jäger lodged his axe into Dhor's stomach lining, then slammed the axe with his hammer to push the axe the rest of the way through and create an opening. Dhor groaned loudly--a mortal wound had been dealt. Jäger could tell.

"This is the greatest story of an Ironbeard ever!"

-Jäger Ironbeard

Excitedly, Jäger grabbed Kohi and King by the hands and pulled them out of the god's stomach with him.

"It's...impossible..."

-Dhor

All of Dhor's tentacles went limp. Jäger managed to swim away from Dhor's body with his friends just in time to avoid the gargantuan form being sucked down to the bottom of the sea. The party regrouped as the storm began to dissipate and the falling rain became snow. Winter had come.
As the sea calmed, the water took on bloody red hue. The snow began to pick up, and the red water slowly began to freeze over. Loud, warbling sounds echoed out until a thick sheet of ice had formed on the surface of the sea. The party wasn't sure what to expect. They had just killed a god. Perhaps this was normal.
Wynna began to pray, intending to cast Divine Intervention to communicate with Enki Adda, but suddenly a black-cloaked form burst out from under the ice--a man with long, black hair and a thick, braided black beard. He laughed darkly.

"You thought it was over. I am the tempest, and I would see you all freeze. You've brought the stones to me, and I won't let them get away. Let's have a real fight."

-Dhor

Dhor, Brother of Egar

Large pieces of black coral burst from under the ice and flew to Dhor's human form, covering him like armor. Immediately, he pulled out a hammer and went to slam it into King, who was the most ragged of the party. Jäger used the protective bond to teleport in and redirect the hammer's path into himself instead. As it slammed against his chest, it knocked the wind out of him, stunning him.
Soora quickly gathered her wits and attacked. As she did, large balls of hail began to fall which bludgeoned and chilled almost everyone to the bone. Wynna knew that the party wouldn't last another fight the way they were, and cast Mass Heal Wounds on everyone but Lady Kohi.
Amari sucked some of the clouds from the sky, creating a column that allowed the sun's light to pierce through. The resulting Sunbeam blinded Dhor. Jäger watched his eyes glaze over, but even blinded, Dhor looked right at him from under his helmet.

"Do you think I need eyes to see you?"

-Dhor

Dhor began his onslaught. This more human form was much faster than the kraken-like beast he had been, and he party was filled with dread as they watched him pummel the shit out of King, who only barely avoided getting stunned. It didn't matter though: he attacked King again and again, triggering his Death Ward and then knocking him unconscious even though the halfling had just been healed. He turned and attacked Kohinoor as well, who too would have been stunned if not for Wynna's portent.
Dhor flew into the air and cold cocked Amari in the head, breaking through his magical shield and knocking him out of the sky, then dropped down and air bombed him with his hammer, stunning him. Wynna's Coatl cast Cure Wounds on King to bring him back to consciousness. Eyeing this, Dhor moved to attack Wynna, but she bravely steadied against the barrage with her shield. Just when it looked like he was done with her for the moment, he snuck one more attack in and managed to stun her as well.
The distant sound of bells and cheering carried on the wind. Though her head and body were unable to move, Wynna looked down and could see the shadows of creatures fleeing the battle at shore racing under the ice.

"Cowards! They are nothing. I don't need them to flood the world."

-Dhor

Lady Kohi whistled for her griffin, Nahid, and flew toward Wynna. As King picked himself up, he realized that he no longer had his shard. Alarmed, he alerted the party within their telepathic bond. Externally, he shouted to Dhor.

"Dhor, don't forget the Ring & Wren includes the best archer in Felstadt!"

-Drayton King

Unleashing all he had on the god, King fired fifteen bolts in the course of six seconds. With a derisive smirk, Dhor started spinning his hammer to block them. A few hit their mark, but most of the rest were batted away.
Jäger shook off his stun just in time to use the protective bond to protect King, who was still barely conscious and at risk from the hail that continued to fall. Though he was able to protect King from the hail, no one could protect him from the freezing aura that emanated from Dhor himself. The cold knocked out King and would have knocked Lady Kohi out as well, but instead triggered her death ward, ending the warding bond she'd cast on Wynna. It hardly mattered, however, as Dhor, sensing his opportunity, finished the job and brought her down.
Amari and Wynna shook out of their stuns, regaining control of their bodies, but Dhor did not see fit to let that stand. He attacked Wynna again and re-stunned her, even through her sanctuary spell. Then he turned around and attacked Amari, triggering his death ward. Barely clinging to consciousness, he was once again stunned as well. Jäger called to avenge King, which invigorated all of his conscious allies, and attacked Dhor.

"It's just you and me right now. We're the only thing that matters."

-Jäger Ironbeard

"Let's finish this then."

-Dhor

Soora scanned Dhor's form for where he could be keeping the shards, but she couldn't see them no matter how hard she looked--there didn't seem to be anywhere he could keep them. With no way to recover them, she resolved to try and end him as quickly as possible, shooting him thrice. Dhor kept his attention on Jäger.

"These shards were made by my kind, they belong to my kind. They will return to me. I'm halfway there...my collection is almost complete. I can't wait to wield that hammer of yours."

-Dhor

Dhor attacked Jäger, triggering his Death Ward and stunning him, then took him down with no resistance. Dhor moved toward Wynna and Amari, who were both still stunned as well, and caught them in his freezing aura. The last thing Wynna heard as she lost consciousness and Dhor stood over her was:

"You're a servant to a dead god." -Dhor

Soora was now the only party member left conscious, the only one who still had her shard of the Astral Diamond. It was all up to her. She remembered the last time they had faced Dhor, how she and Roger had been the last ones left. She remembered the only reason they had survived that battle. And, she remembered how insistent Amari had been on buying an expensive potion of superior healing before the battle began. Soora rushed over to feed it to him.
As Amari opened his eyes, Dhor moved in to lay him back down--he also remembered who had allowed the party to live back then. But there was one thing the party had now that they didn't in that fight: a protective bond. Soora used it to take the hit instead. Amari was up, but Soora was stunned.
The frost covering Amari began to melt, and he realized that without his shard, his senses were back to normal. Without endless possibilities before him, he was able to think a little clearer. He assessed the situation quickly and came to the same conclusion as Soora. Only a Wish could save them now.
Amari took a breath of his own will and replayed everything that had happened, pulling energy back out of the weave. The surge of power from that energy flowed through him and seemed to overtake him, and Amari felt his connection to the weave breaking down. The metaphysical golden chains of the emboldening bond thickened and pulsed, except for King's, which was disturbingly cold and quiet. He was dead--killed by the absolute cold. The pain of King's loss and the morale boost from their forces winning the battle merged, and Amari let loose an overchanneled Fireball, his veins straining in his face, his body taking the toll.
The rest of the party woke up at full strength, rallied by their victory on shore and by their desire to avenge King. Wynna remembered Dhor's last words to her, and now that she was up again, had a reply for him.

"Enki Adda is eternal."

-Wynna Cannari

Before he could act, Wynna cast Divine Intervention and asked Enki Adda to hold Dhor. Dhor laughed.

"Your goddess has no--!"

-Dhor

But before he could finish his sentence, vines burst from under the ice and entangled him. With Dhor held, Wynna flew to King and revivified him, pulling him onto the Magic Carpet with her and flying away from Dhor's aura. Dhor seethed.

"I don't need to defeat you. I just need the shards!"

-Dhor

Rather than try to escape his vine prison, Dhor unleashed all he had on Soora to knock her down and take the final shard from her. Each hit was brutal, and Soora, who had not taken any damage the whole fight, quickly lost her endurance. Just when Soora could take no more, Kohinoor teleported in to take Dhor's last attack and prevent Soora from losing consciousness. Dhor wasn't done, however. His body surged with viciousness, and he began another volley of attacks. Amari teleported in and took the next one, getting himself stunned in the process. Dhor attacked again. Jäger teleported in and took that one.
Dhor had one last attack in him, but everyone who was in position to have helped Soora had already done so--with this attack, everything would be over. And there was nothing more anyone could do. Dhor swung down.
Dhor missed.
Moving quickly, Lady Kohi picked up Soora, who was still stunned, and threw her over her shoulder, taking her away and healing her with Lay on Hands. King covered their escape from a distance with crossbow bolts.

"The whole time, you thought the power of a god could destroy the people of Felstadt? The people have spoken. The Ring & Wren is here!"

-Drayton King

King's crossbow lit up with the power of the Pale Champion as he fired into Dhor, and that glowing light illuminated cracks in Dhor's coral armor. Dhor's expression was one of consternated confusion before he exploded into a shower of light and the five shards he'd been holding fell to the ground.

The Aftermath

The storm clouds that had plagued Felstadt for days cleared away, revealing a sunny sky and the calmest ocean anyone had seen in months. Amari went to collect the shards from where Dhor had stood a moment before. It seemed that this time, they had really destroyed him. Amari extended his palm, but Jäger did not want his shard back. Discussion of what to do next was interrupted as a tall figure clad in shells and sargassum climbed up the side of the rocks. Egar stood silently before the party. Jäger was brought to tears at the sight and knelt, laying his hammer at Egar's feet.

"I take it since I am here and your city is here, my brother is dead. Or at least as dead as he can be."

-Egar

"Aye, he is."

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"The shards?"

-Egar

"We're going to do with the shards what we agreed to do with them. We're going to give them to our friend's god. And if you have a problem with that, well. We've already brought down one god."

-Drayton King

At King's words, the party took on a defensive stance, including Jäger, who took his hammer back up and stepped away from Egar. One by one, several beams of light surrounded them. From these beams emerged an old woman, a colorful euphoria of colors, a halfling-looking man with a black beard and axes, an old dragon with a long beard, and a figure clad completely in shadow. The Gods of the Rocks had assembled.

"Would you still?"

-The Mother

"I would."

-Drayton King

"Of course we would. We made a promise to our friend."

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"...I just want to go home."

-Jäger Ironbeard

"Then lay down your hammer, Jäger."

-Egar

Jäger looked back at the party, then turned and faced the gods again.

"They're the only family I have left."

-Jäger Ironbeard

Lightning crackled around him as he stood with the party.

"The power of these shards once belonged to someone...the only reason they're in our position--"

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"Do not lecture me on the shards, boy!"

-Egar

"With all due respect, we believe they should be returned to their rightful owner."

-Wynna Cannari

"You may not know what it's like for a mortal, but it's terrifying. The vastness of your power engulfs us, and even with all of our strength we couldn't face you. It took all of us, and even then we had help. I felt the immovable wall that is a storm. When I was in your hall, your voice shook the walls and made my knees weak. I have also felt a was of cool water, or peace. And well, we can only judge you by your followers. If there is anything we can know about Enki Adda, it is that she's beautiful, wise--"

-Amari of the Ring & Wren

"This one is quite long-winded, though he speaks passionately. And I think his words may be pointed."

-Dumile

Amari coughed.

"If you have made a promise, you should keep it. Let them do as they wish. They've proven themselves thus far."

-The Mother

"Aye, aye."

-Vulcan

Egar nodded.

"It's true. I would not be here without you, and so you have our thanks. I hope we do not regret it."

-Egar

"You know...if she's beautiful..."

-Jäger Ironbeard

"Boy, I have more important things to concern myself with than ROMANCE!"

-Egar

One by one, the gods left the cliffside. Egar left last, with one more parting remark to Jäger:

"The islands, the Rocks. They would be good under your care."

-Egar

Reforging the Astral Diamond

With the Gods of the Rocks seemingly at peace with their decision to reforge the Astral Diamond, Wynna cast Gate to meet with Acheron and do so as quickly as possible.

"Now you bring them? I suppose it went well then!"

-Acheron

Acheron explained that he would need help with the forging process. Wynna and Amari volunteered to help. After two days of work, Acheron was ready to say goodbye.

"It's been an honor knowing you all. It's been wonderful to work the forge again. I won't be using it on myself, but working with a power such as this, the final strike will be my last. I'll return to Moravian after. I shall never walk this plane again, and the forge is ready."

-Acheron

The power required to re-forge the astral diamond would render the Soul Forge unusable. Since Acheron was the Soul Forge, this meant that the party would be saying goodbye to their friend. That he was willing to do this at all was a testament to what an incredible person he was.

"I'd be honored if this could help you."

-Drayton King

King handed Acheron the Mithral Bond.

"How'd it serve you?"

-Acheron

"You should have seen what I grabbed with it. Do you see any rust?"

-Drayton King

"Not a speck."

-Acheron

"That's fine craftsmanship."

-Drayton King

Amari looked around at everyone. Even over the two days it had taken to prepare the forge, the tension with Wynna had not been relieved. The two had not been home since the fight, so Wynna hadn't had the chance to find the letter he'd left for her. Amari could take it no more. Before they forged the diamond, he wanted to explain to her why he'd voted against her. In front of everyone, he recited the letter from memory:

Dear Wynna,
With fortune i will be able to tell you this after the battle, but i am not naïve enough to count on that eventuality, and I fear at this point that my prayers would fall on deaf ears if I deigned to ask. Perhaps I will try all the same. I apologize for the frantic nature of this letter but I don’t have much time and I don’t trust myself with spoken words.
I have never been good at understanding the emotions of others, or my own for that matter. But this knife of shock and sorrow that has materialized at the thought of losing you, cut straight through the fog and embedded itself in my heart.
I have always been taught to look at every situation with an objective eye. Consider every minute detail, attenuate to every minuscule piece of data to make an optimal decision at any point in time. And that is what I attempted to do. To be honest, the vision we got of Enki Adda’s world excited me. But I have been deceived before. I never thought much about the gods before, but now I have met gods and recently, I’ve felt very keenly the terrifying vastness of their power. Egar, Ghislane, Dhor, Obsis, Lolth. When I think of it makes me shudder. The kind of power that engulfs the likes of any mortal, even the Ring and Wren, even with all our strength. With Dhor at our doorstep, and constantly thinking about an ultimate power in the hands of any individual being, more than anything, scares me witless.
I never meant to betray you, and always intended to help Enki Adda. I just felt like we just needed more time to meet Enki Adda and be sure of what form our help should take.
I have never mistrusted you. You have to know that. I place my life in your hands without a second thought. Just as I trust Jäger and Ragnar. When Jäger and the fury of the storm stands in front of me, I feel more safety than any fortress could provide. Yet when we came face to face with Egar, his anger was quick and just his voice shook my bones. I felt the force of that immovable wall closing in on me. We have had only limited interaction with Enki Adda, but If I were to judge her from you alone, I would imagine her to be beautiful, kind, wise, fiercely protective of those under her care, and with a curiosity and thirst for knowledge that would be engaging for as far into the future as I can see.
Staying up late into the night trying to theorize on the use of an ancient piece of pottery and the influence that it had on contemporary agriculture, or classifying forms of energy by activity level from most stable to most volatile, I...could see myself loving her. So I have an inkling of understanding how you must feel for her. The times her water has washed over me, I have felt nothing but peace. A peace that was reflected in your eyes each time I awoke. If I were to judge Enki Adda from you alone, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second. But absent that knowledge of her, the thing I retreated to, the thing I always fall back on was the fact that even when standing in front of such force, standing with all of you, I feel like we have a chance. I never could have done a tenth of what I have done without you. Our chances have almost always been slim, but we have made it through things together. Having this group was the only thing that brought me any sense of comfort about our coming ordeal.
Perhaps I was just letting my fear get the better of me. So much so that I risked the very family I was trying to save. I regret not having the courage to trust in your faith when facing the end of the world, and realize that not everything can be an empirical evaluation. Sometimes you just know how you feel. So I hope you can forgive my weakness. People looked to me as the leader of the Ring & Wren because I was left the building. But truth is, I’ve never really been that strong, which is why i need Jäger, or charismatic--that’s why I need King. Or wise. That’s why i need you.
I can respect your decision if you still choose to leave, but perhaps still selfishly I would implore you to stay with the Ring & Wren. We need you and your wisdom. I need you. I haven’t had much family in my life either. And maybe stupidly, losing you from it is what I am dreading most right now. Not Dhor.
I’m sorry.
Sincerely, Amari

Both Wynna and Acheron were brought to tears by Amari's words, and Wynna rushed into Amari's arms. Relieved, the whole group shared a hug. Lastly, they bore witness to Acheron's final strike. His masterpiece: the restoration of a relic so powerful that it was desired by gods and mortals alike. With Acheron gone, his forge collapsed.
When the party returned to Felstadt, the mood was ecstatic. Festiv had invited the surviving Arram Deepguard back to the Gallant Goblin to drink. Those allies of the Ring & Wren cheered at their return, having worried at their absence. The city went on to celebrate its victory for a month afterwards.
Wynna took the complete Astral Diamond to Enki Adda's temple beneath Felstadt. As the diamond was fitted into its spot at the top of the shimmering pink doorway, the party felt a feeling of peace wash over them. A giant woman, draped in flowing robes with flowers in her hair, motherly and beautiful, emerged. Flowers and vines began to gradually spread throughout the room as the vision she had shown the party began to come true and a few of her servants came through the portal. Enki Adda thanked the party for their help. Now, a new era would begin in Felstadt.

Epilogue

Over the next few months, Amari did small things around town, with the school being his main focus. Finding the children of Felstadt and trying to get them an education--trying to fill the mentor role Kofi filled for him for a new generation--took up his time now that adventuring did not. Whipping the whippersnappers into shape, as King would say. He planned to spend the next couple years sharing his knowledge.
King took a break from all Ring & Wren activity for a couple of weeks. When he returned home, he brought a wagonload of honey with him. After arguing with Squintz and gifting him full ownership of the King's Court, King unveiled the adventuring school he'd put all his money into.
Wynna stayed in Felstadt and used her funds toward the school. She continued to be involved with Enki Adda's portal, using the bridge between the material realm and Enki Adda's paradise to learn all she could and write up a history, both of the Ring & Wren's exploits and on her continued studies of the Kellan people. Wynna and Amari eventually renovated the Ring and Wren to better suit their needs for research and...domesticity.
Over the next couple of months, Soora fully reconnected with her brother Varis and became more involved in his and his family's life, taking to her role as an aunt with an expected amount of seriousness. In addition, she took on a few gigs teaching at the adventuring school and volunteering at the orphanage the party had built.
In the weeks after the fight with Dhor, Jäger returned to the Iron Islands to try and be the king Egar and Regen thought he could be. After three days, of trying, he admitted his initial suspicion was true: he had no patience for the role. He officially abdicated his throne after naming Regen his heir, and stayed to see his cousin coronated before returning to the Ring & Wren, itching for action. In town, Jäger focused his attention on finding someone to take over Garish's mantle as leader of Egar's temple in the Rocks and trying to rebuild the ranks of the Leinkreiger from Egar's faithful. Whenever he became too restless, he always knew he could count on Roger for an adventure.
Lady Kohinoor returned to Gault, just as she'd promised, and in their time apart Gault realized he would be doing no good by trying to deny his feelings any longer. He accepted Kohi's proposal of marriage. The two married after a relatively short engagement of six months. The party was invited to their wedding in the Singing Wood. At the wedding, Amari and Wynna danced with each other, and Jäger finally met Achilla, the Shield of Ivargrad. The two got into an arm wrestling contest, during which Achilla felt a spark of affection for the king who gave up his crown. Somewhat smitten by him, the two continued to stay in contact and were rumored to have become lovers. All members of party would continue to be extended invitations to events in the Singing Wood over the years, and Kohi and Gault's third child Leila would beg them to attend Amari's Magic Academy in Felstadt to further her studies in divination.
Tuck completed his walkabout, accompanied by Baku and Milo. With their diplomatic assistance and because of their alliance against Dhor, the Hidden Tree became...slightly less hidden from Felstadt--especially once Enki Adda moved in. The Empire offered Felstadt the same terms it held before, as a free city within their domain.
And finally, once a year, the all of the Ring & Wren members were invited to a reunion at the Gallant Goblin. Together they would share food, news, and friendship.

Related Reports

Previous Report

CXXXIV. Battle of Marketport

Campaign

The Ring & Wren

Protagonists

Soora Huinë

Jäger Ironbeard

()

8 / 8 HP

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

King (Drayton Honeysong)

Aerwynna Cannari

Amari of the Ring and Wren

Kohinoor Sattari

Report Date

21 Aug 2022