Session 87 - Mirrors Gone Dark

General Summary

23rd Planting - cotnd.

Before anyone could do anything, Tear pulled out a small bundle. Undoing the knot he revealed a stack of four, slightly squashed, cookies. Holding them out to the others, over the link he said, "I made these earlier, just in case. They will revive you a bit...it's not a lot, but every little bit helps."
"Thank you," said Denye, taking a cookie and shoving it into her beak as she turned back to take in the doppelgangers who blocked the door. She narrowed her eyes and wasn't surprised to hear Janora hiss in shock a moment later, both recognizing the same thing. Thin tendrils of shadow seemed to be coming off of the ersatz party. These traveled upward vanishing into the large shadows and darkness that seemed to shift and roil along the ceiling.
Over the earrings, the witch swore, "That bastard, how many times do we have to kill him?" Drawing the others' attention upward one could just make out a shadowy outline of the shoulders and head of the Moonlit King. There were two small orbs of moonlight that could only be eyes.
Seeing that he had drawn their attention, he loomed forward and spoke, his voice echoing with eldritch madness, "You shall not be rid of me that easily. But I tire of this game." What was even more disturbing was how all of the doppelgangers spoke in unison. "Come, I have offered once and requested a second time, I ask again, will you stay and find rest here within the Castle of Solace?"
"I believe," replied Janora, voice cold as ice, "we've had all the rest tat we need at this time. We have a job to do in the wider world and cannot tarry any longer.
Denye shook her head, "My task list is far too long to rest right now and don't even get me started about my research list."
Jilken laughed, "We don't have time for somebody like you at the moment, we have actual important things to do." Ell and Tear didn't feel a need to speak, simply flipping off the shadow elf.
Once more the Moonlit King spoke, "Thrice I have asked and am done. On your own heads be it! If you will not stay willing, then I will make sure that you do not leave and I shall pin your souls here for a thousand years."
With that the anti-party leapt forward, but Jilken was faster dashing down the stairs and bringing her spear up in a defensive stance. Nega-Tear pulled out his shortbow and took two shots at the Aiel. Both arrows hit her and the small goblin ducked behind a pillar, disappearing into the shadows. Nega-Ell is going to giggle and hold his hand to his mouth for a moment before tossing a spray of green motes that swirled into a globe of Sickening Radiance over the stairs.
Tear gasped and dashed down the stairs, getting out of the spell and joining Jilken. Pulling out his elemental pistol he called out in Goblin, "You bad goblin, you never see Mama's Garden." Nega-Denye sang a few notes and tossed a bead of glowing fire towards the top of the stairs. Before it got to the top of its arc it was snapped up by a glowing purple raven...the product of a Counterspell from Janora.
Nega-Jilken grinned at Jilken, blowing her a kiss as she fired off a bolt from the heavy crossbow that struck the Aiel in the shoulder. Nega-Jilken tried again with the light crossbow, but Jilken raised a magical Shield and the missile bounced off. Her copy only shrugged and with a flick of her wrist sent the bolt in Tear's back.
Over the link, Denye said, "If everyone can get to the bottom of the stairs, I'll try to get us out." Ell nodded and dashed down the stairs, ending with a Telekinetic shove between his shoulder blades to stumble forward. It was good he did, he was already sweating and blinking rapidly. Looking around, the warlock threw three Eldritch Blasts at Nega-Ell with the third strike causing the Sickening Radiance to vanish.
Janora whistled and a Healing Spirit in the shape of a purple, spectral, corgi appeared in Ell's arms. The spirit quickly began licking his face and Ell immediately began looking better. Nodding to herself, Janora leapt off the side of the balcony, her cloak billowing out behind her and slowing her descent. Ducking behind a pillar, the witch put a hand on the Rouser. When they had entered, the bell had begun to buzz with a sort of psychic electricity.
Whispering a prayer to the Raven Queen, she said, "Guide the sound, rouse those who will aid us, we have need of allies to escape this cursed place." Pulling the bell, she began to ring it in a figure-8 pattern. The Rouser rang with a lively baritone sound that washed over the party like a ray of sun on a cloudy day, echoing down the hall beyond.
Denye ran down the stairs to join Ell. As she did so she plucked a feather from under her arm. Muttering, she twisted it into a weird knot and when the shaft popped, there was a rush of wind that lifted both the wizard and Ell up a few inches. Over the link she said, "We should just get out, this fight is a distraction."
Nega-Janora cackeled and pointed a finger at Denye, sending a ball of spinning blackness to it the wizard. Denye raised a tiny hand mirror just before it struck and the world rippled around her as she blinked out as a wave of that energy reflected back on Janora's double. The wizard reappeared a moment later, even nearer the door and with a small, satisfied caw she tucked the mirror back into a pocket.
Suddenly a trio of people burst out of the doorway at the top of the stairs. In the lead was a tall woman in a purple, pointed hat. One of the two behind her was veiled and wrapped in Aiel robes and the other a middle-aged man wearing robes bearing the seven-pointed sun-in-glory of Kandis. The cleric dashed forward and placed a hand on Ell's shoulder. Saying, "None shall harm you my son, pass and quickly," he cast Sanctuary on the young man.
Jilken looked over and saw how wobbly Ell was looking. In a commanding voice, she barked, "Ell, move it!" The young man bolted, the puppy still in his arms, flying up over the heads of the anti-party and tucking himself out of sight behind a pillar. With that the Aiel warrior bolted between two of the foes and spun around in the doorway. Over the link she said, "These doors are closing, slowly, but they ARE closing."
As she spoke, Nega-Tear popped out and fired two arrows at Jilken, striking her in the knee and forearm. From above, the Moonlit King whistled a shrill tune and several hunched creatures with wings, claws, and only a ringed mouth of needle teeth for a face shimmered into being near several of the party members, including Ell.
Nega-Ell stepped forward and in a mocking voice called, "Old crone, why do you hide? Come out, join us!" As Janora felt the bands of arcane power wrap around her mind she growled and with a thought Counterspelled it. Tear jumped a bit at the appearance of the demon and scuttled out of the way. Taking a position near one of the columns, the plucky goblin took two shots at Nega-Denye hitting her with two blasts of lightning.
"Thank you, granddaughter," called Helena before sweeping down the stairs to stand next to her friend. Pointing at Nega-Ell she trilled a phrase of witchtongue and the doppelganger glowed with a rich green light before shrinking down into an earthworm. In response, Nega-Jilken trained her heavy crossbow on the elder witch and delivered a bolt into her stomach. Annoyed that Helena managed to fight through the pain and hold onto the Polymorph spell, the anti-Aiel dropped the heavy bow and pointed her second weapon and pointed it at Denye. The bolt struck the wizard in the wing, but she too managed to hold onto her spell.
Nega-Denye began conjuring a large glowing bowl of sunlight as she turned to look at the real Denye with glee. Denye squawked in alarm and quickly Counterspelled the Sunbeam. Ell flew out from behind his pillar and flew toward the door. As he did so, he cast Banishment on Nega-Janora and one of the lunar demons. The demon vanished, but the fake witch did not. She cackled once more and called out, "Oh don't fly away pretty boy. I want to shove you in my oven."
The real Janora spat, "You will never be me." Stowing the bell, the witch dashed across the room before ducking behind another column. Denye flew over their opponents and landed near Jilken, She dropped the FLy spell and Ell crashed to the ground with a groan. The wizard tossed a Fireball at the backs of the doppelganger versions of Jilken and Janora, scorching both badly. Looking down at Ell, she used one of her taloned feet to push the young man through the door and down the outer steps.

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The wheel of time spins back three days and we travel south to where Ranunkel had awoken, still seated before what now looked mostly just like a rock cliff. It was still possible to see his Maker in the stone but the stone druid knew that his audience here was at an end. In truth, he had awoken with quite a bit of knowledge. Most of his experiences had receded, but he knew that when needed it would come back. What was most on his mind was knowing that his friends would be in Bricolar Falls in just a couple of days and were interested in the Glass Castle. Shaking his head, Ranunkle muttered, "Of course they want to go to the castle that no one escapes from. Maybe I can get there in time to stop them...or at least find out why?" Shifting into his elemental form, the druid melted into the rock and began moving northward.
Ranunkle arrived in Bricolar Falls in the early afternoon of the 23rd and learned that his friends had indeed come through her asking about the Castle. Unfortunately it seemed they had left that morning and the dwarf has missed them by a few hours. Now even more worried, the stone druid got directions to the Bridge to Nowhere and headed for the plateau. It took Ranunkel the rest of the day and most of the night to climb, having to occasionally hide to avoid a predator such as the rime worms.
Nearing his destination he heard the baying howl of Forest which gave him an extra burst of speed and he made it to the plateau and saw the large dogesus with Helenwye and a large egg with chicken legs. He was about to call to them when he saw Ell roll out of the previously empty doorway and down the steps. As soon as the young man spotted the dwarf he called, "Ranunkel, you are a sight for sore eyes, the others are just inside and we need help."

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The cloaked Aiel rushed down the steps, pulling a pair of sais from his belt as he closed with one of the remaining demons, but the fiend leapt away, landing in front of Jilken. She fired a crossbow bolt straight down the creature's throat and it choked in pain. Angry it lunged to bite the fighter but she blocked it easily with her weapon, but that claws raked down one arm, leaving deep scratches along one arm. It tried to whip its tail at Jilken away, but she danced out of reach.
Another of the demons rushed at the cloaked Aiel's back and landed a strong bite into his thigh. The fighter whirled and blocked the claw attacks away with his sais, but the creature's tail caught him in the side of the head. A third demon landed next to Janora but held back for a moment. Nega-Janora noded and called to the real witch, "Now, you will die." using a Channel Divinity to open the Path to the Grave. As Janora felt a wave of weakness wash over her, the lunar demon latched onto her forearm, the needle-sharp teeth piercing the toughened flesh. The witch wrenched her arm away and escaped the claw attacks, but the tail whipped around and caught her on the hip.
The sun priest looked over at Nega-Janora and took a few steps toward the ersatz witch. As he did so, he lifted his arms in a prayer to the Sunlord and cast Immolation. Snakes of fire wrapped themselves around Nega-Janora, causing her dress to ignite as she began to cackle madly once more.
Swapping out her bow for her spear, Jilken shouted, "Janora, will hurry up and get down here, move those boots!" Janora slipped away from the lunar demon and headed quickly towards the door as Jilken turned her attention to her own demon. A quick pair of blows later and it was laying on the ground, fruitlessly trying to claw at the warrior with it's one good arm. Jilken put the beast out of its misery with a butt strike to the head. Nega-Tear snuck up behind real Tear without the goblin noticing and stabbed his sword into his back. Tear yelped and spun, managing to block the second blow with the elemental pistol.
Outside, Ranunkel rushed past Ell, casting a Healing Word and saying, "It is good to see you again, my friend." As the stone dwarf crossed the bridge, he Wildshaped into his elemental form and rushed through the door. What he found was chaos. A large, ornate ballroom with his friends, fighting duplicates of themselves as well as semi-transparent demons. Planting himself next to Jilken he tried to make himself an appealing target.
The shadows around the room began to thicken and darken as the shadowy bust of the Moonlit King leaned down. Whispers, some inviting, some terrifying began to echo through the chamber. While it did not seem to affect the doppelgangers or the demons, everyone else stiffened for a moment. Most of them shook off the shock, but Tear, Galdrich, and Sumed all became Frightened and started looking around wildly.
A moment later there was a pop and Nega-Ell reappeared in green smoke. Stretching, he looked over at Helena and said, "Sorry, love...I already know what it's like to be a worm. I was really hoping one of you would step on me." This last was finished with a wink at the elder witch. Tear meanwhile headed immediately for the door, rushing past the others and taking some damage as one of the lunar demons ripped up his back.
Helena pursed her lips for a moment in thought before she lifted both arms and began singing in witchtongue once more. Small colorful butterflies began to flit around one side of the battlefield around Nega-Ell and two of the demons. Both the ersatz warlock and one of the demons became distracted just watching them, but the second demon managed to shake off the distraction.
Nega-Jilken looked up at the large, rocky Ranunkel and with a shout slammed her spear into one thigh. She tried to repeat the maneuver, but he blocked in. Snarling, she whipped the spear around and struck the back of his knee with a butt strike. After getting healing licks from both Forest and the spectral corgi he pushed himself to his feet and stepped back through the doorway. Pointing a finger at his counterpart he did what the other had been trying to do to Janora. The Synaptic Static seemed to break the copy of the hypnotic trance but he shook his head, looking confused as he wavered a bit on his feet.
Janora looked at her counterpart and began walking forward muttering in witchtongue. Her hand began to glow with a purple light as she cast Vampiric Touch and tried to slap nega-Janora. The fake witch just leaned back and avoided the blow, still cackling madly as she continued to burn.
Denye meanwhile had pulled a vial of metallic looking ink. She pulled out the cork/eyedropper. Holding it up to her beak she began to whisper, "Where does the river kiss the sky wide? What is the highest a bird can fly? What is the cube root of negative i? Where must you stand if you would ask why?". With that she cast three drops at the counterfeit Janora, Jilken, and Ell, sending powerful waves of energy as she wrapped each in a Protean Whisper.
Sumed, still frightened, but fighting it, switched out his sais for the large crystal hammer on his back. With quick motions, he delivered two hammer blows to the face on one of the lunar demons and the creature fell to the ground unmoving. Neja-Janora saw that Ell had returned and sent another Necrotic Burst in his direction, but real Janora counterspelled it. Galdrich threw out another Fireball, catching Nega-Janora and the remaining lunar demons. A moment later all of the lunar demons vanished into smoke and shadow. One landed a blow on Sumed before vanishing, as the dark Aiel called, "Ham'a Sorei, you must go. Leave, take your friends and we will finish this fight in your name."
That seemed like good advice and one by one the party gathered at the door slipped out, escaping the slowly closing doors. Eventually everyone makes it out and across to the metal portion of the bridge as the sun is beginning to color the sky. As Forest and the other animals greeted the party, Janora spotted a small ragdoll, sitting in Forest's saddle.

Character(s) interacted with

Helena Crowcaller - Green witch and ancestor of Janora's
Sumed Zakhe - An Aiel elf  who fights with sais and a crystal hammer. Famed warleader from thri’kreen invasion. One day he was disembowled in an attack but saved by the Wise Ones, but he had seen death and it shook him to the core. In his shame he left the desert and was never seen again.
Galdrich Evennor - A human cleric of Kandis

Report Date

12 Jan 2024