S1 E26: Ildaban's End, and Lorfel's Beginning

General Summary

In which the gang defeats Ildaban, but at significant cost.

• The fight against Ildaban the Beholder continues. Mae hits him with moonbeam; he paralyzes some bats that hit the floor 140' below, but they're just stunned and freed from Blizzard's control, too small to be heavy enough to splat at the bottom.
• Ferociously angry and indignant at the party's insistence on fighting back, Lorfel goes down in a blast from Ildaban's death ray, a pile of guts all that's left.
• Xi Shi scoops up what she's able to and dashes to drop it into that jar that held the cat in stasis. Ildaban takes damage from the moonbeam repeatedly, opting to keep his anti-magic eye unfocused in order to strike out with his own rays leaving him vulnerable to several significant hits. Ildaban begins to plead for mercy, and the gang takes the opportunity to then run to Lorfel's aid. 
• Blizzard, having the option not to escalate, escalates; unfortunately all his friends have gone back into the superstructure of the understory, leaving him alone. He's hit by a paralysis ray, and then a sleep ray, falling uselessly onto the ledge. Ildaban, his anger taking over his self-preservation instinct, decides to run up on the rest of the group, liking his odds with Blizzard and Lorfel both out of the fight. He moves silently and makes it into the room with the rest of the gang, but can't land killer beams - fear, charm and other non-fatal attacks, and these are mostly shrugged off regardless. 
• Keebler lands the final blow, blowing the back of Ildaban's head out with his psychic blades, dropping him back to the bottom of his hole. After they're reasonably certain the threat is over, the rest of them carry Lorfel and his gear down to the bottom, taking the strange veil - a cloak of some kind - and two stalk-rings which resize to normal finger-width once the rings are removed. For that matter, several stalks are removed also. Some attention is given to finding a suitable gift for the Fae Sisters on the way home. Zalock and the others consider the large gaping tunnels that have compromised the lower floors of Quindarin's tower. Clearly Ildaban came through one of them, so one or both lead back down into the deeper underdark. A purple worm is proposed as the cause of the tunnels, or something similar - an Umber Hulk, Xorn or Ankheg.
• Mae leads the group through the woods, but even her superior tracking skills are partly befuddled by the weird mirroring effect happening near Quindarin's tower; it takes a good 20 minutes to find the correct route back to the road, possibly aided by gentle suggestions from the Fae Sisters. They don't encounter the sisters directly after all, but Mae has a feeling that the fact that the party on their own accord looked for a gift for them was counted as gift enough.
• On the road they're passed by the Castellan's carriage, driven by a single driver without escort which would be very odd indeed for the Castellan. In town, meeting with the Serene Mistress, they learn that it was almost certainly Elsinore, whom the Castellan had not chosen to prosecute or punish but did turn out of his Keep, and she insisted on going to the Caves of Chaos, of all places; Alba Filorene says that Elsinore stopped at the temple and said prayers before leaving town, but refused to give details as to where exactly in the caves she was headed, or why she was headed there. 
• Alba is more than a little rattled after all this insanity and is shaken further at the sight of poor Lorfel. His body is mended and restored from the soupy mess that Ildaban left from his death ray - luckily at least it was something to work with, as a disintegrate ray would have taken even that. Mae dashes over to Icies and gets a 1,000 gp diamond as required by the spell, though he pays 200gp of his own money for it. Alba resurrects Lorfel, then has a small nervous breakdown.
• Blizzard goes for a soak in the tub, Montague comes over to see Mae, and Zeffirelli comes by to see Xi Shi, who looks extra crispy. Zalock chills for a while in the townhouse, which he technically doesn't own a piece of, but has earned a right to, regardless. The restored Lorfel is quiet, pensive, and thoughtful as he relaxes in his rooftop pond and reflects. Keebler is moved to go on a journey of discovery, realizing that life is brief, and can be even briefer in their line of work.
• Quindarin's Eye, an artifact the party had been on the lookout for, was not found in the rubble. Perhaps it's still buried there, or tucked in a drawer or jewelry box or hidden cubbyhole somewhere in the surviving portion of the understory; or perhaps it's somewhere else entirely.

Rewards Granted

• A cloak Ildaban was wearing (unidentified)
• 2 x magic rings Ildaban was wearing
• Barrels of ale and brined whitefish; 3 x empty barrels of preservation
• Level 8

Missions/Quests Completed

• "Ildaban the Magnificent"
• "The Tablet Puzzle #1"
• "Reach the bottom of Quindarin's tower"

Report Date

27 Sep 2022

Primary Location

Quindarin's Tower & Undercroft

Secondary Location

The Keep on the Borderlands

Related Characters

• Alba Filorene