Hugh Morris

Formerly an aasimar and now a githyanki, Hugh Morris was the only founding member of the Headhunters present for both the group's first & final battle against Levira. As a young boy, Hugh was forever scarred when an encounter with an undead took a friend from him. The event gave him the resolve to become an adventurer and protect others as a bard. During the battles against the Morlocks, Hugh was the first to pick up a Gravestone and thus the first member of the Headhunters to hear Rhith's whispers.
After many battles against the Morlocks alongside the many friends he'd made, Hugh was struck down in battle and revived through a reincarnation spell as a githyanki. The magic restored his life, but came at the cost of his aasimar identity. His connection to his guardian angel, Polaris, was lost as Rhith used the opportunity to sever Hugh's connection to Mount Celestia and become the primary confidant guiding his actions. Though he struggled through a crisis of faith in that moment, Leliana helped him through it with reassurances he was still the same person.
Over time, Leliana became one of Hugh's best friends. She wanted to become more than that to him, though Hugh did not share the romantic feelings for her that she felt for him. Mira was Hugh's other romantic interest, though his feelings for her obviously soured when it was revealed she was a spy. Hugh tried to convince Mira to turn herself in more then once, even after learning the Bear King had called for her execution. Needless to say, Hugh's decision hardened Mira's heart and she severed ties with him despite her former feelings for Hugh.
Table of Contents

History

Early Days in the Guild

Following a friend being killed by a monster in his childhood, Hugh had long since resolved to become an adventurer. He started as a trainee and was assigned under Iskierka for a number of years before becoming a Bronze-ranked adventurer.
His first mission with fellow Bronze-ranks took the party (later known as the Headhunters) into a swamp as they investigated reports of missing persons. After failing to find any of them in a troll cave, the party came across a hut with a beautiful woman living inside. She wanted nothing to do with the party, but Hugh managed to charm his way in after McGruger stated the group was selling lemon cookies.
Hugh went into the hut alone while the rest of the party snooped around. He and the woman had just gotten undressed and into bed together when he heard a commotion outside and the hag he was in the process of being intimate with revealed her true form, cackling and vanishing before him.
Quickly putting on his pants to rejoin his friends, Hugh was stopped when he noticed motion out of the corner from his eye. He saw a pair of hand inside a hand mirror, motioning for him to grab the mirror and smash it. Hugh decided this seemed like a good idea and freed Levira, who said she now owed him a favor and that they could talk about that after she killed the hag.
Kiri managed to beat the hag to the punch there but Levira revealed the hag was not her true target. Rather, she was after the hag's ward, Leliana. Hugh objected to Levira's open declaration that she would murder Leliana and chose the was way to stop Levira was by attempting to stab her.
This turned out to be a bad move and Levira was effortlessly able to take down the party, killing McGruger and a dwarf who'd accompanied them while Kiri and Hugh (carrying Leliana) barely escaped with their lives.

A Friendship Founded on Uncertainty

Hugh used his aasimar powers to fly Leliana to safety, the young woman unable to move on her own power after being struck by one of Levira's toxic crossbow bolts and paralyzed. She slowly began to recover as the two avoided Levira and the hounds she summoned to aid her search, eventually managed to lose her and come out of the southern edge of the swamp.
Hugh headed for the nearest town and left Leliana at the church there in the care of Father O'malley, who summoned a healer to remove the poison and promised to care for Leliana's well-being. During her slow, natural recovery, Leliana openly stated she did not trust Hugh for helping to murder her "mother". Hugh insisted that the hag had meant Leliana ill will, unaware that the hag had in fact hid Leliana for her own protection.
With nothing else he could do to help the young light elf at this time, Hugh returned to Inkhear to reunite with Kiri. The two were joined by Chigiri and had several early adventures together, most notably killing a wight that was turning bandits into a zombie army and stopping the schemes of an insane, Zuggtmoy worshiping spore druid. During this time, Hugh acquired his first Gravestone and Rhith began whispering to him, trying to use promises of power to get Hugh to use the stone.
In time, the Headhunters were allowed to take the Trial of the Elements to attempt to gain the guild's Silver rank. It was here that Hugh was reunited with Leliana, who had joined the church of Corellon Larethian as an arcana cleric and quickly rose through the ranks of the Adventurer's Guild. She assisted the group as they passed the trial and became certified Silver-ranked adventurers.

Meeting the Morlocks

When the Headhunters went to investigate a sighting of an orc raiding party, they found the raiders hiding out in a cave and began clearing them out. As the last orc fled and they gave chase, the group found Levira waiting outside the cave for them. She hinted that she knew some secrets about Kiri before summoning a group of Shadow Skulls to fight the party. Kiri managed to goad Levira into chasing him, while Cordelia used Hugh's Gravestone to teleport the rest of the group to safety.
Chigiri protested abandoning Kiri, but Hugh argued that Kiri made his choice specifically so the rest of them could get away because he knew how dangerous Levira was. When Kiri later turned out to be alive, Chigiri was overjoyed his cousin had survived, but equally dismayed that Levira had placed him under a curse.
While Leliana began researching a cure for the curse, the wizard adventurer Pryce joined the Headhunters for their next job. The group's next job was to investigate wildlife acting strangely. They found the source of the problem to be spores coming out of an underground structure that were infecting the animals.
Inside they found a cult of Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungi, (the same one the spore druid they killed had belonged to) that had been killed by Moltor, who was in the process of taking their treasure. Wanting the loot for the party, Chigiri tried to negotiate with Moltor. When that failed, the angered Moltor sunk a shambling mound on the party. The party managed to defeat the plant monster quickly enough that Moltor was forced to escape without all the treasure.

Wyvern Egg Hunt

Searching for another new job, the party took on a government contract to recover wild wyvern eggs for the Wyvern Knights. The group was ambushed by yetis while trekking up the Giantsheel Mountains, at which point Chigiri accidentally triggered an avalanche with his thunderous booming blade spell. Hugh was buried under the snow but managed to dig his way out, joining the rest of the group on scolding Chigiri for his poor decision making skills.
Continuing onward, the group found a sealed cave blocked by a wall of ice. While Chigiri and Pryce began burning their way through, the mother yeti attacked the party to avenge her children. During this fight, a fate eater came though the now partially opened cave and cocooned Kiri. Hugh and Chigiri managed to kill it before it could start eating Kiri. When he emerged from the cocoon as a buff barbarian rather than a dexterous monk, Hugh was the only one who remember that Kiri had been different before. His memories were protected by his aasimar heritage, allowing him to realize on a subconscious level that Kiri's Threads of Fate had been altered.
Entering the cave proper, the party saw an altar and Chigiri immediately ran forward to grab the valuables left on it as offerings. This caused Skein, Priestess of the Raven Queen, to appear and place a curse on Chigiri for daring to steal from The Raven Queen. Kiri apologized on his cousin's behalf and begged forgiveness, which Skein agreed to after receiving a begrudged apology from Chigiri. Skein noticed Kiri's altered destiny and told the adventurers to guess the time & manner of their own deaths, offering a boon should they guess correctly. After the group made their guesses, she vanished. Shortly thereafter, the group managed to find the wyvern eggs they came for and headed home.

The Gang Saves a Village

The Headhunters stopped by the guild and picked up a job that was near their next destination: Fort Vertina. Swinging by the fort to turn in the wyvern eggs, the group then continued on to a small village north of the fort to talk to villagers about a recent scarcity of game animals in the nearby woods.
They found a herd of giant spiders shepherded by an ettercap to be the cause, quickly dispatching the monstrous arachnids. The spider corpses attracted Sampati, Lord of Vultures and an old acquaintance of Chigiri's. Sampati offered to trade valuable information in exchange for the spider corpses, informing the party one of the 7 Swords was located at a traveling carnival soon to be in Ria's Rest.
On the way back to the village, they were attacked by a group of meenlocks and killed all but one of them. The surviving meenlock fled while the Headhunters pursued, only to quickly turn around when it ran towards Levira for safety. Much to their relief, Levira did not pursue them and they decided to cut their losses and head back to the village.
While getting some R&R at the local inn, Kiri offered to grab an extra barrel of ale from the innkeeper's warehouse when the keg ran dry. He overheard voices and spied Moltor talking to Gulto, giving the frog monster orders to conduct a ritual that would kill everyone in the village. He did not manage to escape quietly and Chigiri joined him and Hugh in battle as zombies began to attack the inn. Hugh managed to use three Gravestones in tandem to stop the ritual Gulto was attempting, leaving himself exhausted and knocking himself out.

Shenanigans Between Quests

Chigiri and Kiri returned after killing Gulto and carried Hugh out of the village to camp in the woods in case the Morlocks followed them. Once Hugh woke back up, Chigiri accused him of talking to his Gravestone without informing them group, which Hugh didn't admit nor deny but tried to downplay. He admitted to hearing a voice from the Grave Orb himself, saying that he was revealing that information right away because not sharing that kind of information could be detrimental to the group. Realizing that more trouble was likely in the near future, Kiri decided that now was a good time to introduce his fellow Headhunters to Gorignak and see if the stone giant could help them out.
After Kiri gave Gorignak an introduction, the stone giant offered to use their Gravestones as raw materials to enhance other magic items. In the time Hugh had spent talking to his Gravestone, it (Rhith) claimed to be sentient and that each Gravestone was another sentient copy of the original artifact the Morlocks were using. Knowing this but not revealing it to the rest of the party, Hugh declined to take Gorignak up on his offer even as Rhith made him think the used Gravestones "lives" were being snuffed out. Despite this, Hugh still did not inform his friends about the Gravestones true nature.
Gorignak used his teleportation magic to send the party to a mountain near Inkhear, letting them get back to the guildhall quickly. Arriving back, they saw a few other adventurers gambling with a Gravestone in the pot. Kiri, for reasons unknown to absolutely anyone, decided to swallow it. This had the unfortunate effect of accelerating his curse and Leliana was barely able to prevent it from killing him on the spot. In that moment the room was filled with holy light and Kiri briefly saw a pair of angelic wings extending from Hugh's back. Chigiri dragged his cousin into another room so Leliana could give Kiri a full medical exam.
While looking Kiri over, Leliana told Chigiri there was a way to figure out how to remove Kiri's curse quickly but it would be dangerous. With Kiri now living on borrowed time, Chigiri insisted that any risk was necessary. Despite Kiri's predicament, Hugh decided to have a little fun with him that evening and used a Horn of Silent Alarm he had secretly acquired to make Kiri, and only Kiri, hear the sound of a blowing horn. At random intervals throughout the entire evening. Kiri never figured out the source of the sound before his death.
The next day, the Headhunters privately met Leliana at her church where she summoned the yugoloth Kishin inside a magic circle. The group bartered some dragon bones they had found while hunting for wyvern eggs in exchange for a list of spell ingredients that could remove Kiri's curse.

Death of a Comrade

After putting out a few feelers for curse-breaking ingredients, the party headed for Ria's Rest to obtain the magic sword Sampati had told them about. They arrived to discover that the sword was the #1 prize at the carnival, available in exchange for a ridiculous amount of prize tickets. The party had to win many games to get the tickets and Chigiri used his magic to cheat liberally and ensure he got his sword.
During a dance competition Hugh entered, Kiri recognized Nadira (disguised as a human) from when he had spied on her & Moltor talking with Gulto. Privately telling his friends about her, the party quickly made a plan to try and capture her for interrogation. Hugh managed to lure her and her two sisters near a well in the square. Chigiri used his magic to cast fog cloud around the well while Kiri grabbed Nadira and jumped down the well. Meanwhile, her two sisters ran off.
When the party sprang their trap, Hugh pursued one of Nadira's "sisters" (truly a jackalwere mercenary) and briefly cornered her before she managed to put him into a magical sleep and escape. However, the other Headhunters were able to catch her when she paused to search Hugh instead of fleeing. Chigiri and Kiri both suggested torturing the woman for information, which Hugh and Gentleman Jack (who Chigiri had run into) were firmly against. Hugh & Jack got the triton cousins to reluctantly agree to turn her over to the authorities instead. The party then split up to search the town for Nadira.
Hugh was the first to find her, or rather, she found him. Nadira attacked Hugh from behind and stuck him with a needle attached to a vial, extracting some of his blood. The succubus still had Chigiri under a magical charm from running into him earlier, keeping the other Headhunters distracted and allowing her to escape with the blood sample.
Having lost Nadira's trail, the group decided to go check on Eko at the pumpkin patch (who had fled there in tears earlier after Hugh took things too far in an contest of insults). There they found Moltor using the necrotic soaked ground to create a monster and took the opportunity to attack the warlock of Orcus. Moltor's first order of business was to banish Kiri away, sending him into the Void to face Levira and several of her Void Beasts alone.
Hugh and Chigiri managed to force Moltor to retreat, but they were not able to break the magic of his banishment spell in time to save Kiri. Just as they debated how to help Kiri, Kiri's headless corpse appeared in the air and crashed to the ground in front of them. Shocked and sickened by their friends fate, Hugh began a sabbatical to try and come to terms with what he'd seen while Chigiri took what was left of Kiri back home for a funeral.

Mourning a Friend

Hugh wandered aimlessly for days on end, the vision of Kiri's corpse repeatedly flashing before his eyes and reminding him of the friend he'd failed to save as a child. What was his power for if he couldn't protect the people he cared about, he wondered. His wondering and wandering eventually brought him back to the town he'd once brought Leliana to for refuge and he found himself inside the local church.
Recognizing Hugh, Father O'malley approached the young aasimar to learn what troubled him. The priest listened to Hugh's tale and his uncertainty in his own abilities. O'Malley consoled Hugh in that dark hour and suggested that so long as Hugh had faith, in himself as well as the gods, that everything would turn out alright in the end.
In aid in that endeavor, Father O'malley gave Hugh a holy item from the church. It was a breastplate that had once belonged to Commander Truestrike, who like Hugh was an aasimar but unlike Hugh did not hide that fact. She donated it to the church when she left the Adventurer's Guild and joined Lothal's military, trusting Father O'malley with its care.
With new magic armor protecting his body and the armor of his faith now bolstering his soul, Hugh resolved that his new goal was to stop Levira and her minions from hurting anyone else. He marched back to Inkhear to reunite with his fellow adventurers and resume their journey to stop Levira's madness.

Adventures with a New Teammate

Several weeks later, Hugh returned to Inkhear and met back up with Chigiri. The pair accepted a delivery job from Ohnaka and went to his shop where they met the adventurer Artie. They invited him to join them (along with Mira, who they had run into earlier) and set off. Their destination was a wizard's tower tucked away in the Prizyrie Mountains. Along the way, the discovered a ruined temple which depicted the gods & primordials fighting in the Dawn War.
The group eventually arrived near the tower to see several bandits fleeing and several dead courtesy of the wizard's stone golem, Shale. Shale interrogated Hugh, mistaking him as another bandit, and was rather disappointed when Hugh's legitimate business meant the he couldn't pop Hugh's head like a grape. The group delivered Ohnaka's box of books to the wizard, Ramag, and Chigiri decided to ask the experienced mage to examine the Grave Orb. Curious and liking a challenge, Ramag was not entirely sure what the orb did but was able to tell that its demonic magic was linked to Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead.
Arriving back in Inkhear, the Headhunters were recruited for an emergency situation. They and several other adventurer teams were being sent west to combat hordes of giant ants that had begun devastating the area. Since the Headhunters already worked together regularly, they were designated as their own squad and took Pryce with them to bolster their numbers. They quickly found an anthill and Chigiri went inside to investigate, being forced to flee the ants when they chased after him.
The pursuing ants grew in size as they emerged from underground, causing Chigiri to speculate they were not only summoned to the Material Plane but altered by some kind of magic. As the group began to follow the ants trails through the tunnels, battling the ants in their way, Rhith whispered to Hugh and convinced him to allow Pryce to use a Gravestone to destroy a large number of ants with an enhanced Fireball. Pryce tried to let convince Hugh to let him keep the stone, but Hugh feared Pryce would overuse it and took the Gravestone back.
The ant tunnels brought the party to a magic pond connected that the ants were coming out of with a Gravestone floating under the surface. Chigiri jumped in to retrieve the stone but instead found him emerging from the pool in the Feywild. A group of dwarven adventurers were on the other side, barely holding the line against more ants. These dwarves recognized Hugh and accused him of abandoning their brother to die (referring to the dwarf adventurer killed by Levira shortly after Hugh released her from the magic mirror).
The rest of the Headhunters stepped in and convinced that dwarves that for the time being, they needed to work together to stop the ants. While the dwarves and most of the Headhunters held off the ants, Chigiri used his magic to freeze the water around the Gravestone and caused the ice to float to the top of the pool. They dove back in to return to the Material Plane while a ghost summoned by Artie carried the stone away, shutting the portal just as the massive ant queen approached. The party rejoined their fellow adventurers and took a well deserved break while their colleagues cleaned up the remaining ants.

Message From a Friend

After a week of traveling back home, the Headhunters returned to the guildhall to find a package and letter waiting for them. The package was for Chigiri while the letter was addressed to the whole group from Cordelia, who had spotted Levira in the capitol and pursued her with Mira. Knowing how dangerous Levira was, the group decided to go to Guildmaster Nergalee for help.
When the Headhunters began to explain the situation, Nergalee had no idea what they were talking about. They insisted they had put these details in their post-quest paperwork. A quick check of the records room found that all the Headhunters paperwork was either altered or missing. Nergalee was furious that someone had been killing adventurers and keeping her in the dark about it. She used her magic to conjure a chariot of golden-hued wood pulled by the pegasai Pancakes and Waffles to spirit their party to the capitol, telling them to find the head of the local guildhall, Sir Hunter von Huntington V, once they were there.
The party arrived to find most adventurers in the capital in possession of Gravestones, whose corrupting influence prevented them from accepting the party's request for aid. Sir Huntington, however, had no such qualms and informed them Cordelia and Mira had pursued Levira across the northern sea despite his orders to wait. He had already chartered a boat so they could follow, only for the ship to be attacked by a dragon turtle en route. The group managed to bleed the dragon turtle enough to attract a mosasaurus and escaped while the two sea monsters tried to rip each other apart.
Sir Huntington stayed behind with Artie's familiar to try and save the ship while the rest of the party headed for their island destination in a rowboat. They were greeted by Cordelia, who got them up to speed. The island was home to dinosaurs, many of them aggressive, and she & Mira became separated when they were attacked by them. Cordelia was unable to fly without attracting hungry pteranodons but had seen a structure in the distance. Whatever it was, it seemed to be in the direction Levira had been heading before they lost track of her.

Death, a Vision, & Resurrection

Trekking through the jungle, the party had to fight an allosaurus and Hugh calmed an aggressive triceratops with fruit before they were nearly ambushed by a pack of velociraptors. Chigiri used his thunder magic to scare the dinosaurs off, believing he succeeded when he ran. He and the other Headhunters didn't realize they were actually running from the young green dragon that had crept up behind them until it released a blast of its poisonous breath at Hugh and mauled him to death before flying away with two of his magic items.
Hugh found himself standing on a bridge of light in an endless night sky. Skein appeared before him, informing him that he had correctly guessed both the time and manner of his own death. He was offered a chance to go to the Seven Heavens or return to life and continue to aid his friends. Remembering his resolve to stop Levira, he chose the latter. But his resurrection would be only one half of his boon. The other half would be an audience with his guardian angel, the star bear Polaris.
Though Hugh had often felt Polaris' presence, this was the first time the two had been able to actually talk. He was permitted to ask Polaris a single question, any question he desired, and receive an answer he would know to be true. Hugh asked how their party could kill Levira and Polaris informed him that Chigiri's fabled 7th sword was the key to her destruction.
Hugh then returned to life and Artie immediately yelled, "Zombie!", suspecting Levira's necromancy was at play and hitting Hugh over the head with a stick. Hugh filled the party in on what Polaris had told him and they resolved to make finding the remaining 7 Swords a top priority after getting off this island. Deciding the dragon was too big a threat to be ignored even with Levira loose somewhere, the party followed its flight path and made their way to the dragon's nest.
They had to climb a steep hill as the dragon rolled boulders down towards them. The party was able to make use of the terrain for hit-and-run tactics, gradually wounding the dragon and wearing it down. Once it was exhausted and its defenses weakened, Chigiri used his new Lightning Kopesh to deliver the final strike. With the dragon defeated, the party continued their search for Levira.

Betrayed by Love

Heading for the structure once again, the party found themselves outside a temple. The door was open and smeared with blood, Chigiri spotting the vial Nadira had used to extract Hugh's blood in a bush nearby. They found an unconscious Mira inside, who Cordelia escorted back to the beach while the other continued forward. The temple was filled with puzzles that had to be solved to open the way forward.
As the group moved onward, Chigiri summoned his owl familiar and used it to peek through a crack in the wall. He spied Levira making a rubbing from a massive stone tablet, but she noticed him and fired a blast of dark magic that destroyed his owl. Around the same time, Artie saw through his familiar that Sir Huntington was being attacked by Moltor and Nadira. The group was forced to flee the temple to rescue Huntington, allowing Levira to destroy the tablet before escaping with her incomplete rubbing of the Decay Incantation.
Arriving at beach to find Huntington being nearly overwhelmed, Hugh and Cordelia helped Huntington deal with their minions after tucking the still-unconscious Mira under some brush. Meanwhile, Chigiri and Artie engaged Moltor and Nadira. They injured the two villains badly, forcing them to teleport to safety. All the Headhunters could then focus on cleaning up the rest of the minions just as Huntington was on his last legs. The situation was saved...until Mira stood up, approached Huntington, and stabbed him in the heart before decapitating the corpse.
For a moment, there was only silence. It was broken when Hugh screamed a single word, "WHY?!" But it was already clear. The missing documents at the guildhall; Mira was the traitor. Artie grabbed Huntington's body and, knowing Mira was fearful of water, dove into the sea before she could damage it further. Hugh tried desperately to get an explanation from the woman he'd considered his friend. All she could say was, "I'm sorry," refusing to even look Hugh in the eye as she said it.
Chigiri used the distraction to fire a crossbow bolt dead on at Mira, shocked when his non-magical weapon had no effect and the bolt shattered on impact. She teleported away as Moltor and Nadira had done before her, leaving the shocked Headhunters with nothing else to do but return home.

Chigiri Gets A Cursed Item (Again)

The Headhunters returned to Inkhear in defeat. Mira gone, Huntington dead, and the tablet Levira copied completely destroyed. To make matters worse, a further examination of the Grave Orb resulted in something (Mesogog) trying to reach out of it to harm Chigiri.
Nergalee used her magic to revive Huntington, who told them of rumors regarding a woman in the Black Isles who may be able to shed some light on the orb. The Headhunters then took a job that would take them to the Great Sengorian Forest, traveling with Guildmaster Nergalee as she responded to the summons of an Animal Lord.
Their journey took them through the lands of the Bear King and the Headhunters found themselves passing through a village of wary but peaceful lycanthropes. There, Chigiri spotted a wanted poster of Mira offering 25,000 gold pieces. The charge was regicide. The surprises about Mira kept coming and Hugh found his former faith in her even more shaken than it already was. Meanwhile, Chigiri had spoken to a villager and learned a probable location of another of the 7 Swords.
Trekking through the woods once again, they came to the sword lain on a stone alter, surrounded by standing stones with ropes in a pentagram shape connecting them. Chigiri, with no hesitation, stepped over the ropes and picked the sword up. He was instantly greeted by an illusion of Sweetmeat that only he could see. Sweetmeat informed Chigiri that he was trapped in the sword, its magic being used to contain him. Chigiri exasperatedly asked what needed to be done to free him. Sweetmeat replied that it was quite simple; all Chigiri had to do was say his name 3 times in a row.
While Chigiri was eager to do this and get it done, Hugh and the rest of the party argued strongly that this seemed like a very bad idea. For the time being, Chigiri (very reluctantly) decided to take their advice, much to Sweetmeat's protests.

Temple in the Forest

Now heading for their original destination, the group was attacked by an ankheg and Hugh followed its tracks to a small, sealed cave. There was a door over the entrance blocked by rubble and a voice inside yelled for help. Moving the rubble, the group met a man named Nevill. Artie, suspicious of Nevill, magically read his mind and found Nevill worshipped an unknown goddess named Mielikki as Nevill led them to a ruined temple. He began to grill Nevill for information while Hugh tried & failed to use a suggestion spell to make Nevill talk, much to Nevill's ire. Fed up with the party's rudeness, Nevill stormed off.
Trying to get Nevill's temper to cool, the party helped him clean up the temple that he claimed was a site of worship for Melora, Goddess of Wilderness. He told the party he needed details on how to restore the temple that should be located in a caretaker's house nearby, sending them off to retrieve it. They found the book in question along with a journal which detailed how the former nature goddess Mielikki had been weakened. Without her protection, her people became vulnerable and Levira was able to trick them and steal their souls. Mielikki used the last of her power to foil Levira's plot, but the act severed her connection to Nexus and Melora later became the world's new primary nature deity.
Hugh also found a book there that went along with one he had won at the carnival where Chigiri had acquired the first of the 7 Swords. The books were about the history of fey in Lothal (and the general area before the country's founding). He found this curious and decided he would poke through the books later.
The party incorrectly guessed that Nevill was trying to summon one of Levira's monsters and rushed back to the temple to stop him. They attacked and interrupted his ritual as both sides accused the other of working for Levira. Realizing their error, Artie called for a parley and Nevill explained he planned to summon a unicorn to purify the corruption Levira had left behind. The unicorn Brightstar was successfully summoned, but could not complete the purification until the "dark guardian" was defeated.
Returning to the caretaker's house, the party found a mass of twisted thorns in the basement and were attacked by a Void Beast, a living suit of spiked armor, that Levira had left there. Artie and Leliana were severely injured by the creature before Hugh managed to push it back with a Gravestone-enhanced thunderwave spell, crashing the creature into a wall and destroying it. With the Void Beast gone, Brightstar completed the ritual that allowed Nevill and the trapped souls of his people to move into the afterlife. Brightstar also revealed that Levira appeared to be a dark elf, though he didn't know how since they had been corrupted into the drow by Lolth in ages past.

Problems with Sweetmeat

Returning home and getting ready for their next quest, Hugh and Leliana went shopping at Ohnaka's to stock up on potions and other supplies. On the way there, Leliana began to flirt with Hugh, which caused him to become red in the face and flustered. While he received some equipment from Ohnaka, Leliana purchased some new armor and paint to adorn it with her holy symbol. Hugh noticed the shade of yellow she picked would match the color of the markings on his own armor.
Later that night, Hugh decided to check out the book he'd found in the forest. He discovered marked pages that discussed dark fey and found a picture of Levira among them. Unfortunately for Hugh, the room he was staying in had been previously occupied by Mira. Who had disabled the guildhall's magical defenses in this room to communicate with the other Morlocks. The picture of Levira animated itself and teasingly told Hugh he shouldn't ask questions about her, before it came out of the book as an allip and attacked him.
Hugh ran out of the bedroom and into the main room, yelling for help as the allip chased him. Chigiri and Leliana heard him and rushed out to help with Leliana banishing the allip and bringing it back into the room (at Chigiri's urging) once Nergalee arrived so the guildmaster could destroy it. The angry Nergalee dragged the Headhunters into her office to give an explanation and receive a scolding. During the interrogation, Hugh inadvertently mentioned Chigiri and Artie had told him about Sweetmeat nearly breaking loose earlier.
Learning about their recent troubles with curses and enchantments, the angry Nergalee ordered the Headhunters to stay in the guildhall until a guild mage could examine them the next morning. During the night, Artie crafted a replica of Sweetmeat's sword and switched it with the real one. Worried for Chigiri's safety, he passed the real sword to Hugh who soon found himself pestered by Sweetmeat.
After their examination the next morning, the group decided they needed to split up to deal with their numerous time-sensitive objectives. Chigiri and Artie would go to see Commander Truestrike while Hugh and Leliana would make preparations to head for a portal to Mount Celestia, discovered by Artie using his familiar to follow Brightstar on the unicorn's trek home.

Run-Ins with the Morlocks

Hugh and Leliana headed to the closest settlement to the portal to Mount Celestia, Iron Rock, on horseback. They took it easy for several days while waiting for Artie and Chigiri, touring the dwarven city and taking in the sights. Leliana continued to dote on Hugh during this time and Hugh continued to remain flustered by her flirtation. After a few days, they were having lunch at a cafe and Leliana got up to use the restroom. Hugh thought she returned rather fast when he heard her chair move and put his menu down to see Mira sitting there.
It became quickly clear that Mira still harbored feelings for Hugh as she tried to convince him to leave the country. Hugh wanted an explanation, but Mira would go into no more detail than to say that he would soon be in danger if he stayed in Lothal. He tried to convince her to turn herself in, telling her it was the right thing to do, and her expression darkened as she realized he was advising this despite knowing about the Bear King's bounty. Mira incorrectly believed Hugh knew the full extent of those horrific events and was betraying her for the bounty.
Meanwhile, Chigiri and Artie had arrived, run into Leliana as she was coming out of the ladies room, and spotted Mira via Artie's familiar. After Artie's familiar pickpocketed Mira's Gravestone, the party ambushed her to try and capture the traitor. They chased Mira through the city streets but Mira transformed herself into a swarm of cats that scattered every which way and disappeared into the town. With no way to track her and Sweetmeat ever increasing his efforts to break free by force, the party decided to let her go for now and continue onwards towards Mount Celestia.
Rather than walk around the bay south of Iron Rock, the Headhunters decided to build a raft so they could head for the portal in a straight line. They were sailing smoothly across the bay until Levira showed up and dropped a kraken-like Void Beast on top of them. Leliana managed to banish Levira away with her magic while the rest of the party fought the monster, Chigiri dealing the final blow against it.
Chigiri picked up a Gravestone that fell from its body and was struck by a vision of a small girl being pulled underwater by the creatures tentacles and screaming for help. The party realized that the Void Beast were all people Levira had turned into monsters by trapping their souls in Gravestones. Though tempted to keep the Gravestone for its power, Chigiri decided (with a push from his party members) that it was better off destroyed to free the child's soul.

A Duel in the Heavens

Arriving back on land, the Headhunters began making their way up the mountain to the portal at the summit. Reaching the portal, the party left the Material Plane and cross through to the Upper Realms, finding themselves at the gate to Mount Celestia.
The celestial in charge of the check-in station pointed them towards Cathedral D'Adara for the delivery of the box Chigiri was delivering for Commander Truestrike. There they met Archon, head of the cathedral, who ordered a fellow angel to take the box to a secure vault.
It was then that the drunken mead angel Zoryas approached their group. She immediately started bad-mouthing Hugh and challenged Hugh to a duel, implying he wasn't good enough to be a true aasimar. While Hugh did not want to fight, Zoryas wasn't taking no for an answer. The two crossed swords and though it was a narrow victory, Hugh managed to best the angel in combat.
She rewarded him, at Archon's insistence, by combining his magical violin with his sword into a potent magical blade. Hugh heard her muttering something about losing a bet to Kiri as she stumbled away, followed by a groan as Archon assigned her paperwork as punishment for the hassle she'd caused their guests.
The group asked Archon if he could assist with Sweetmeat, but the archangel made it clear that they couldn't simply lock someone up. The Seven Heavens have a legal system that must be adhered to by all celestials who reside there. He could, however, point them in the direction of someone who might be able to help: the ki-rin Ursek.

Sweetmeat's Prison Stripes & Story of the Seven

Hugh and his friends learned that Ursek was the overseer of a vault/prison where the celestials kept dangerous items and individuals contained. Getting directions from Archon, the group found the entrance to the facility guarded by Polaris, Hugh's guardian angel. The star bear agreed to let them inside on the condition Hugh and Leliana vouch for (and keep an eye on) Chigiri and Artie.
Led to Ursek's office by a magical mote of light, the group explained their predicament. To find proof of Sweetmeat's misdeeds and assist with the Headhunters' quest, the ki-rin offered to cast the legend lore spell on the blade containing Sweetmeat. Hugh and Artie had to somewhat embarrassingly admit at this point that they'd switched the sword on Chigiri as Hugh pulled out the real one. Chigiri was not amused.
Ursek informed them that the sword, Concentration Breaker, was the 4th made of the 7 Swords. They also learned that the 7th sword is also first of The Four, legendary weapons made to combat Urthemiel, the Destroyer. And that Levira was attempting to free the Destroyer, as well as Sweetmeat's sordid history of terrorizing Lothal's west coast and devouring people prior to being sealed away.
With this evidence, Chigiri spoke Sweetmeat's name three times to free him, much to Sweetmeat's displeasure at this point. Knowing a fight would be future, Sweetmeat let the celestial guards take him away quietly but swore that he'd remember this and one day come for Chigiri (or Chigiri's descendants, should the task exceed Chigiri's lifetime).
Ursek then warned the Headhunters that the town of Inkhear was under attack, using his magic to teleport them back where they were needed. They found the guildhall abandoned save for Dreyfus, who informed the party an army's worth of monsters were rushing out of the nearby swamp and headed for the town. They rushed to help their fellow adventurers.

The Battle of Inkhear

Running towards the swamp, the party ran into Oliver, the Forest Ranger, who warned them about trolls. They soon ran into and dispatched a group of the giant-kin before noticing a tribe of grung hiding nearby. After the group protected the frogmen from a rampaging hydra, Leliana was able to translate their speech and learn something was herding the monsters out of the swamp. It was then they saw columns of smoke rising from the town and realized the swamp monsters had been a distraction.
Artie's familiar, Bibbles the pseudodragon, used a Gravestone-powered Ring of Teleportation previously looted from Moltor to get the party back to the guildhall. They arrived to find Cordelia and Pryce holding off a group of Levira's Shadow Skulls trying to get to the guildhall employees inside. Using the power of his new sword, Chigiri dispelled the necromancy animating the skeletons with a single swing.
Cordelia explained she air lifted Pryce out of the swamp after he exhausted himself and they returned to find monsters coming into the town through underground tunnels. They spotted the Morlocks headed for the Trial Tunnels and Pryce used nearly the last of his magical energy fireballing the tunnel closed before the pair fled.
Leaving their exhausted friends behind, the Headhunters took the long way around and to another entrance with Hugh teleporting the party passed Levira's guards. They soon found themselves in a maze, dodging traps meant to keep Mesogog's prison secure battling Molders the Morlocks had left behind.
Along the way, they discovered a strange glowing gold scale, which unknown to the party belonged the Urthemiel, the Destroyer. Hugh tried to use a detect magic spell on the scale and received a vision of a freed Urthemiel destroying the country. When Leliana tried to touch the scale to examine it and was electrically shocked when its evil nature conflicted with her own good nature.
Reaching the end of the maze, Levira had already begun the spell to break open Mesogog's prison. The party fought valiantly with Chigiri even managing to destroy Levira's Black Knight (revealed to be an undead McGruger) in the process, but ultimately they were unable to stop her from completing the Decay Incantation.
As Mesogog's prison began to break open, Hugh felt a hand on his shoulder. Artie used his magic to teleport Hugh and Chigiri to safety, ordering his summoned monster to drag Leliana to safety at the same time. They arrived back on the surface to see the Wyvern Knights arriving to help defend the town, air dropping Chigiri's people (evacuated from their homeland on Commander Truestrike's orders) to help slay the monsters and protect the citizens.

The Search for the Swords Intensifies

Dume and Commander Truestrike ventured to Mesogog's former prison to find out what happened after Artie made his sacrifice. They found no trace of the Morlocks; only Artie's body remained. They returned and were joined by the Mizukage to debrief the remaining Headhunters on what had happened down there. The party began to brief their leaders on what they had learned about the importance of the 7 Swords.
During the conversation, Commander Truestrike gave Narsil to Chigiri as agreed upon now that her box had been delivered to Mount Celestia. Dume and Commander Truestrike agreed that finding the swords was important and gave the Headhunters their unofficial blessing to leave town and continue their search before getting caught up in the aftermath of the battle. Before they left, the Mizukage introduced them to someone who could assist with their quest: Corvid, Kiri's son and Chigiri's nephew.

A Trip to the Mountains & Through a Swamp

After they grabbed Pryce to go with them, the Headhunters headed up the Giantsheel Mountains to Stronmaus' shrine to present dragon bones from the green dragon Chigiri had slain as an offering. As they approached, Hugh noticed a magical trap (left by Moltor) in front of the shrine and use his own spellcraft to disable it. The god of storm giants awarded Chigiri with a 2nd Lightning Kopesh for his offering, powering up the first one in the process as well.
Remembering what Sir Huntington had previously said about the mysterious woman on the Black Isles, the group made their way to the coast to find a boat. The locals warned them that the Black Isles were a cursed place and warned them to stay away. Only one ship, that belonging to Captain Sam and his first mate Josephine (who were not locals), agreed to take them anywhere close to the isles. For a hefty fee.
Two weeks of sailing later, the Headhunters left Captain Sam's company in a rowboat and found themselves ashore a swampy island covered by a dense fog. The fog parted before them, showing them a path through the swamp on solid ground. When they spotted a troll that Corvid eagerly attacked, its spilled blood hit the water and attracted the creature in the swamp, which emerged and devoured the troll whole. The Headhunters decided to keep as far away from the water as they could after that.
Eventually, the group came to a lake with a small rowboat and rowed forward to an island at the lake's center. A mansion sat there, foreboding despite the way the parting fog had led them to this point. They approached the door and knocked.

Secret Negotiations

A hunchbacked man answered the door and greeted the Headhunters as expected guests. He asked them to wait in the entry foyer while he informed his mistress that her guests had arrived. After a short time whispering theories to themselves, they were ushered into the dining room to meet Lady Kemlar.
Lady Kemlar was quick to begin negotiations regarding the 7 Swords, revealing that she had one in her possession and was aware of the location of another. Throughout the conversation, she seemed to know a great deal about each of them, including things that she rightly should have had no way of knowing.
The groups bartered back and forth. Lady Kemlar asked for two things of value, one for the sword and the other for her information, but left it to the Headhunters to put offers on the table. For the Dusk Dagger, they traded the scale of Urthemiel, the Destroyer they had found near Mesogog's prison.
As they tried to come up with something else they could offer Leliana for the information, Rhith whispered to Hugh through his Gravestone that he had a solution. He claimed this woman was seeking a way to purify the dead, preventing them from being turned into undead, and that he could provide such information. Hugh told Lady Kemlar he could offer her something but that he must whisper it to her.
Lady Kemlar beckoned him forward and as he leaned in, he stealthily removed a spare Gravestone from his pocket and passed it to her. Rhith gave Lady Kemlar telepathic assurances that he could help with her objective of █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ if she helped Hugh. Lady Kemlar verbally agreed to this, keeping the Gravestone that Hugh had passed her, and told the party the location of the Mist Blade. When the other Headhunters asked Hugh what he had told her, he declined to answer.
Eager to be away from the Black Isles and the sense of danger that Lady Kemlar radiated, the Headhunters use the Gravestone ring to teleport as close as they could to Resort Town, the location of the Mist Blade.

Finding the Last Sword

Heading into town on horseback, the party met with town mayor Henry Fawkes. He was a jolly man who's cheery demeanor quickly became a panicked one when the party mentioned Lady Kemlar's name. He told the party the sword was located in an underwater temple in the town's lake, but that something nefarious had moved in there recently. He offered to pay them to clear out the monsters (Chigiri convincing him to pay more than his original offer) plus keep whatever loot they found inside.
Fighting their way past aggressive aquatic guard animals, they fought merrow guards at the temple's entrance. Room by room, they cut their way through the guards and circumvented several traps until they found the throne room. Waiting for them was a sea fury, who ranted like a madwoman until she recognized Hugh as the one who had killed her sister, the hag he had slept with back when he first met Leliana.
The hag unleashed an enormous green slime that quickly swallowed the party, burning them slowly with its acidic body. As the target of the fury's fury, Hugh did not survive this encounter despite his attempt to flee as the hag ended his life with her claws and melted most of his cadaver with acidic bile just before Chigiri could remove her head. The party returned to Inkhear with Hugh's remains after getting their payment from Mayor Fawkes.

A New Life, A New Identity

Some days later, Hugh found himself once against restored to life. But this time it was Nergalee's druidic magic that brought him back. And not through resurrection, but through reincarnation. Her magic built him a new body but it was not the body of an aasimar. The random properties of the magic restored him as a githyanki instead. And Rhith was ready to take advantage of this opportunity. Hugh's connection to the Seven Heavens was weakened by his lack of an aasimar form and Rhith used his power to sever it completely, making sure his voice would be the only one guiding Hugh internally from this point forward.
While Chigiri was learning new things about his 7 Swords, Hugh ran into Leliana at the guildhall. She didn't know what to say when she first heard her friend's voice coming from a different face. She was dismayed to learn he had once again been killed in battle when she wasn't there to protect him. And Hugh himself was equally shaken. Not by his death, that he knew was a risk of his profession. But by the apparent loss of his heritage.
Hugh had built so much of his identity on his existence as an aasimar. If he was no longer an aasimar, what did that mean? Was the holy duty he was born for already done? Were the gods displeased and had discarded him? His mind ran rampant at the possible implications. But despite her own unease, Leliana comforted him in that moment. She assured him that despite his new body, he was still himself. Still a good man who would try to do right and was willing to lay down his life doing it. But that if he laid down his life again, she'd hang him by his ears. He promised her to keep himself safe as she went on her way.

Last of the Seven, First of The Four

While Hugh had been having revelations about himself, Chigiri had had his own revelations about the 7 Swords. He grabbed Hugh so that the pair could follow Iskierka somewhere to find more answers (Corvid departing after receiving a summons from his goddess).
Iskierka guided the pair into a hole deep in the Giantsheel Mountain, which she said was hidden and secured. Inside they found the drunken, passed out dwarf Vinnie Vice that had not only found his way in but promised to help them with the construct guards he'd inadvertently driven berserk.
The group fought across stone bridges stretching across rivers of lava, making their way through the defenders and arriving at the Dragon Forge. Iskierka offered a prayer to Bahamut to unseal the entrance, a massive stone monument shaped like the head to the Platinum Dragon. Just as the way forward opened Mesogog arrived to put a stop to the Headhunters efforts.

Forging the Last Sword

Mesogog mocked the party for their wasted efforts coming all this way just to die here, summoning Shadow Skulls as he traded barbs with the group. Iskierka told the party to go ahead while she held the line; Hugh & Vinnie reluctantly went in after Chigiri, somewhat unwilling to abandon Iskierka but knowing this was the right decision after seeing her transform into Shimmerscale.
Once inside, a Void Beast rose from the forge while Nadira attacked from above and the Headhunters realized Mesogog had kept them talking to give Nadira time to slip inside and release the creature, a giant snake made of darkness and fire. Despite the villain's efforts, Chigiri was able to forge Chōmei and used it to slay The Void Beast as Nadira fled.
Running back outside, the group saw Shimmerscale on her last leg against Mesogog. They managed to briefly distract the cambion, allowing Shimmerscale a moment to escape into the lava. On the downside, they now had Mesogog's full attention. Some quick thinking allowed the party to put up a magic barrier to protect themselves, at least for a time.
Unable to hurt them, Mesogog was reduced to once again trading barbs with them. He commented that he'd used the power of a Quintus Gem to steal some of Iskierka's magic and left them with a final piece of advice, "Never turn your back on anyone you respect or anyone who is a threat," before turning his back on them and walking away.

Abandoned by a Coward

Returning to the guildhall in Inkhear, the Headhunters took a quest off the guild's job board to get a little normalcy back into their lives. Taking Eko with them, the job took them to the town of Stonescore where the dwarf Hoggle was looking for adventurers to examine a frost giant ruin he'd stumbled across.
Heading into the nearby mountains, they found the entrance easily enough. The central chamber of the ruin contained a large pit with an undead frost giant chained inside. When it noticed and attacked them, the Headhunters were quick to slay it. Hugh stayed behind to translate the runes on the undead giant's chains while the other continued to explore.
They told a story of the rise of a dictator who imprisoned his brother (the undead giant) when his kin tried to stop his rise to power. The dictator was eventually found to be worshipping Vaprak, God of Ogres and Trolls, and eating troll meat to gain power. His followers turned on him, imprisoning him in a crypt in these very caves.
When an ice mephit that had surrendered to Chigiri fled the room the ninja had gone off exploring, Hugh spotted it. Unaware that Chigiri had let the creature go, Hugh used his magic to kill it instantly before meeting back up with the other Headhunters.
Further inside, the party found a group of cultists attempting to open a magically sealed tomb and free the frost giant dictator from inside. While they did kill the cultists, they were unable to do so before the magic circle sealing the tomb was weakened. They debated opening it themselves, but decided to check the rest of the rooms for enemies first.
Entering the last unexplored chamber, they found a pair of young remorhazes feeding on a dead elk. Chigiri attacked on of them and it roared in pain and anger, a roar that was answered by a much deeper, louder roar. The angry remorhaz mother arrived as its children fled, causing Eko to flee in fear of the monster and leave his fellow adventurers for dead. The Headhunters were equal parts shocked and angered by the kobold's blatant violation of the guild's code.
The angry remorhaz chased The Headhunters throughout the cave while burrowing through the icy surroundings. The enraged creature very nearly devoured Chigiri, but he was saved by Vinnie at the last moment as Vinnie delivered a killing blow and the creature fell dead. With the ruin now cleared of hostile creatures, they reported their success back to Hoggle and headed for home.

Checking in on an Old Friend (Accidentally)

Arriving back in Inkhear, Chigiri spotted Eko sitting in the guildhall and immediately accused the kobold of abandoning them. Eko claimed it wasn't his fault because Chigiri had provoked an unprovoked creature. Their argument was as intense as it was public and the two had to be separated before they came to blows.
Deciding some additional distance would be good for them, the group grabbed Leliana and went to investigate a gorgon sighting. After talking to a few farmers about what they'd seen, the group spotted the "gorgon" but noted its unusual color and non-hostile behavior. Instead of attacking, they decided to follow it and the creature led them to a cave.
The cave quickly transitioned from rough natural rock to smooth man-made tunnels. Several constructs were found inside (some of which were hostile) in additional to books in draconic and a holy symbol of Bahamut, Dragon Lord of Justice. Chigiri accidentally triggered several traps and released a giant spiked ball that unfolded legs made of swords and chased him through a chamber before he retreated.
Escaping and finding a new passage, Chigiri and Vinnie distracted a pair of patrolling constructs so that Hugh and Leliana could sneak by them into a chapel of Bahamut. While exploring the structure, the group had noticed several pedestals with rubies and now discovered they could open passage ways. Unfortunately, one of those inactive pedestals was in the room with the spiky death ball.
Vinnie was able to activate the pillar and teleport to safety, eventually uncovering a hidden room once they were all active. Due to the constructs not liking him and evidence that this was a place of dragon worship, Chigiri opted to stay behind while the rest of the party continued forward. The hidden room contained a teleportation circle that took Hugh, Leliana, and Vinnie to the shore of a magma lake.
Following a tunnel, they found a carved pillar depicting the legend of The Four Weapons. Further in was a workshop where it looked like constructs had been assembled and beyond that, they found the still-injured Shimmerscale with her treasure horde. She warned them that Mesogog's blade carried a powerful curse that made wounds it caused slow to heal.
Leliana was able to use her magic to break the curse, allowing Vinnie to heal up Shimmerscale to the best of his abilities. While they did that, Shimmerscale filled them in on the history of the true Destroyer and its creation during the Dawn War. The party expressed interest in gathering the remaining Four Weapons, but Shimmerscale warned them at each weapon recovered would weaken the Destroyer's seal.
She gave the party a few magic items from her treasure horde, as well as permission to keep the rubies they'd taken from her home, to better equip them for the battles ahead. Leaving her to finish healing, the party departed and headed back home while filling Chigiri in on what they'd learned.

Prelude to the Finale

Heading home once again, the party was preparing to find another job when they heard a commotion outside. A hawk carrying a crystal ball had collapsed in front of the guildhall doors. Chigiri was able to identify the item as a crystal that recorded sounds and images, deciding to bring it to Guildmaster Nergalee immediately.
The rest of the party followed him into Nergalee's office as she was discussing Eko's recent trial & execution for violating the guild's code with Dume and Sir Huntington. They started the recording, which showed Gentleman Jack in a cave tunnel. Hugh and Chigiri recognized the cave as the one where The Raven Queen's shrine had been located, though the shrine was gone and the Morlocks had set up shop.
Levira emerged from the shadows (literally) and chased Jack, who teleported outside and gave the crystal to his hawk familiar before fleeing the Morlocks. Nergalee told The Headhunters to follow her into the main hall, where she instructed every adventurer present to immediately depart for war.
The Headhunters stopped by Ohnaka's shop to stock up on potions and other supplies before heading into battle. They returned to the guildhall but as they were about to leave a messenger arrived and told Nergalee that Levira had been cornered in an alleyway in town. While the other adventurers made for the mountains, the Headhunters and Nergalee went to confront Levira.

Deaths of Comrades

They arrived to find an impatient Levira waiting for them, who at this point revealed that Hugh was the one who'd freed her from the magic mirror and let her begin her reign of terror. Levira threw a worm into the air, causing the damage it took when it hit the ground to break the polymorph spell cast upon it and release a purple worm into the city. Nergalee was forced to use her most powerful magic to banish the monstrous worm as Levira teleported away, exhausting her before the upcoming battle had even begun.
The Headhunters moved quickly to reinforce their fellow adventurers, who were already locked in battle with the Morlocks forces by the time they arrived. The party started fighting their way through Molders, Shadow Skulls, and the Morlocks' duergar allies as they made their way up the mountain.
At a makeshift triage center under guard by Cordelia, they found Leliana healing an injured Pryce. Taking the renewed Pryce with them, they decided to skirt the enemies main forces and take the paths around the cliffside up towards Stronmaus' shrine. They weren't the only ones with this idea and they found Dume and a few other adventurers fighting Shadow Skulls and a wyvern-like Void Beast.
The fight didn't seem like it would be too difficult until Mesogog appeared to attack Dume. The son of Orcus revealed that Dume was actually a soul trapped in a construct, and also originally the wizard who had imprisoned him. While Hugh and Pryce battled the Void Beast, Vinnie and Chigiri tried to help Dume but were unable to prevent Mesogog from landing a fatal blow, sending the now lifeless construct falling down the cliffside.
Though victorious over Dume, Mesogog was injured and Chigiri was determined to take advantage of his weakened state. He lunged and managed to deal a mortal blow to Mesogog's physical body. This did not worry the demonic cambion, who planned to simply hop into another undead and form a new body. But Lady Kemlar's machinations had made him vulnerable to Chōmei's magic, and the katana's strike stripped him of this ability and trapped Mesogog in his incorporeal form.
The enraged Mesogog responded with a powerful finger of death spell, striking Chigiri and killing him instantly before Mesogog's spirit fled up the mountain.

Stopping the Gravecannon

The rest of the Headhunters continued onward while the other injured adventurers returned to the triage center with Chigiri's body. Opting for stealth to keep their fighting abilities refreshed for the right ahead, the party snuck past the Shadow Skull and Molder guards in the tunnels up the mountain.
At the summit they believed they managed to talk their way past additional Shadow Skull guards by posing as minions of Levira, unaware that Rhith was using his influence to make them unseen and unheard by the undead minions. This influence did not extend to a flying Void Beast that spotted and picked up Pryce to examine him. It flew off after letting him down, the Headhunters unaware that Levira had called it off so that they could destroy Mesogog for her.
Entering the base of the Gravecannon, the group saw Mesogog's spirit shouting at Moltor to aim and fire at Inkhear. A fight quickly broke out with Vinnie and Pryce smashing the cannon's controls to try and stop the firing sequence. Moltor immediately started yelling about how their foolishness could cause the cannon to blow and take the mountaintop with it.
With the cannon damaged, the group focused on bringing down Mesogog's spirit. The demon fought as well in undeath as he had in life, but in the end the Headhunters were victorious. His spirit weakened after being repeatedly struck by magic, Vinnie used his forehead to headbutt Mesogog's own forehead. A crack appeared in his spiritual form that quickly spread over his body, shattering his spirit and destroying the son of Orcus for good.
In that same moment, Levira appeared and smashed the Gravecannon's back-up controls. She revealed her true plan was never to ally with Mesogog. She wanted to free Urthemiel, the true Destroyer, and corrupt it into a Void Beast under her control. Urthemiel was imprisoned under the very mountain they stood upon and the exploding Gravecannon would accomplish both of her objectives. She jumped into the Void through the portal powering the cannon, laughing maniacally as she left.
The party was narrowly able to stabilize the cannon's energy with help from a reluctant Moltor and stop the explosion. Vinnie then proceeded to knock the deathlock out and tie him up before he could try anything funny. Leaving the cannon, they were greeted outside by the recovered Shimmerscale and Gentleman Jack (whom Shimmerscale had rescued), who escorted them back to the triage center.

Before the Last Battle

They arrived back to find that Leliana had revived Chigiri with her magic (against orders, though she stood firm by her convictions and her friend). Returning to Inkhear, they took the opportunity for some well-deserved R&R. Vinnie competed in various drinking contests (beating even Iskierka) while Chigiri took the time to simply rest up and Hugh & Leliana went to answer a letter sent to Hugh.
The letter came from Father O'malley who requested Hugh's presence for an undisclosed reason. Leliana decided to tag along for a chance to see O'Malley again but the pair arrived to find a confused O'Malley who said he never sent a letter. It was at the moment Levira's castle rose from the ground not far from them and Hugh realized she had sent the letter to lure him into one of her target locations.
People from miles around, as far away as Inkhear, could see her castle as it rose from the Underdark and began to fly through the air. The castle fired a 2nd Gravecannon built directly into it at the town of Ardenmount, wiping out the town's populace and instantly turning every living thing there undead.
Luckily for Hugh and Leliana, The Goose had followed them and transformed itself into a giant, five-headed form: The Honkdra. It honked at them to jump on its back and flew them towards the castle for their final battle against Levira.

Ending Levira's Nightmare

The Goose raced for the castle, dropping off Hugh and Leliana while it stayed outside to try and damage the flying fortress' Gravecannon. The pair headed inside and Leliana held nothing back, using the full force of her divine magic to knock down wave after wave of Shadow Skulls while Hugh provided support.
After Hugh used his magic to get them across a large chasm, they eventually ran into Chigiri, Vinnie, and Cordelia who had made their way here on Shimmerscale's back. Together, they made a plan and decided the best way to take out Levira would be to catch her by surprise. The group was discussing this just as they found a swirling portal with a banner hanging above it that read, "Welcome Headhunters!" They dove in and found themselves on the outskirts of Levira's true lair, a fortress on the floating islands of the Void.
The party battled their way past a few remaining Shadow Skulls and multiple Void Beasts, finally arriving at the fortress gates already battered and beaten. Levira was waiting for them alone, standing in the fort's courtyard. After a brief bit of banter, the battle began.
Levira's first order of business was to animate the group's shadows, sending the shadowy clones of the adventurers after them while she fired blasts of dark energy from the air. Levira fought cunningly, using her minions to group the adventurers together and hit several of them with her blasts at once. But she grew too cocky and allowed herself in close, giving them the opportunity to deal a fatal blow...or so it seemed.
Covered in wounds, Levira began to laugh. It was a wicked laugh laced with insanity, but as it went on it started to become something worse. Something inhuman. A dark, shadowy substance began leaking from her wounds as the creature that had been possessing an elf corpse for so many years revealed its true monstrous form. A horrific creature of living shadow that laughed with malicious glee as it asked the Headhunters if they were ready for round two.
Levira proved to be far more powerful in her true form; faster, stronger, and capable of greater magics. It was the hardest battle the Headhunters ever fought and pushed them to their absolute limit with every member of their party on their last legs by the end. But in that final moment, just before Levira could unleash a massive blast of necrotic energy to finish them off, Chigiri struck first with Chōmei.
The katana left a bright glowing slash across Levira's body that quickly began to spread. She, like Mesogog, had been enhanced with the Destroyer's power by Lady Kemlar and was just as vulnerable to The Four's power as the son of Orcus had been. As she started to fade away...she laughed. She laughed and told the party that she was no great world conqueror; she was a scout. And that when she failed to return, it would make her superiors very interested in Nexus.

Shadows Unleashed Finale

While the Headhunters were busy battling Levira's true form, Mira had appeared and dragged the elf corpse she'd possessed off to the side. They destroyed Levira just in time for the group to see Mira complete Rhith's revival and listen to the illithilich explain how he'd manipulated the adventurers of Lothal, namely Hugh, and largely owed his successful rejuvenation to Artie. He explained how he'd manipulated Hugh every step of the way, earning his trust with a sob story and deceiving the bard for the better part of a year. He then bid the Headhunters adieu and teleported away with Mira as Levira's castle, cut off from her power, became unstable.
The Headhunters raced back through the Void, coming out of the portal in Levira's castle as it began to crumble and fall from the sky. They ran for the exiting, launching themselves into the sky and onto Shimmerscale's back. The gold dragon took them down to safety as Levira's castle crashed into the hills nearby.
As Iskierka transformed back to her elven form, the group stood there as the sun began to set on the horizon behind the crashed castle. It was finally over. Levira and Mesogog were destroyed, Kiri was avenged, and the Headhunters were now the heroes who had saved Lothal. In that moment, they could finally relax and enjoy the moment before moving onto their next challenge.

After the Shadows Unleashed Campaign

TBA

Current Status

Member of Lothal's Adventurer's Guild

Aligned Organization

The Headhunters

Related Plots

• Campaign 02: Shadows Unleashed

Magic Items
Battlement Bow
Breastplate of the Morning Light
Dragontooth Dagger
Horn of Silent Alarm
Immovable Rod
Mist Cup
Sword of Resonance