11.20 - The Failed Ritual

General Summary

Ami waited outside as the invited Bronwen, Curie, and Shloopurr ascended the Necromancer's Tower to the top floor. There, they found Embra, the powerful necromancer tiefling who they aided in defeating the wyrmlings, as well as the battered Amalika, the necromancer that was defeated at the standing stone.
Curie delivered the letter from Amalika's mother to a suspicious Embra. In her sickness, Amalika struggled to read it, and the party discovered that her ailment was in part a soul sickness: complex (failed) arcana left both Amalika's father's, and part of Amalika's souls trapped in Ami's Moon Sickle.
Seeing the Moon Sickle in Ami's possession, Embra made it clear in no uncertain terms that the party would help her restore her wife's soul, under threat of immediate and painful death. This required going back to the standing stone and reversing the ritual to bind the original soul back to the stone. In the process, Embra would use her necromancy to separate Amalika's soul from her father's and return it to her body.
As the group headed towards the Standing Stone, necromancers in tow, they discovered the Druids had thrown a Purification Party! In celebration of their newly cleansed standing stone, they danced with music, frivolity, and punch!
With some well-timed and well executed persuasion from everyone in the party (as well as an adorable bond formed between Curie and Embra about bone jewelry), they convinced the Druids to let the reversal ritual proceed in order to save the excommunicated Amalika's life.
Unexpectedly, however, the ritual failed. Events happened quickly: The spirit of an imprisoned young white dragon was wrenched from the stone.
The standing stone, an anchor for the prison of the Ancient Dragon, shattered before their eyes.
The ritual interrupted, light left Amalika's eyes, as her soul dissipated into the aether.
Ami jumped into action, diamond and Moon Sickle in hand, revivifying Amalika before her soul could fully escape.
Blasts of ice and Spellcraft. Bronwen's arm falling limp after multiple failed shots with her tesseract gun. An incredible fireball from Shloopurr. And a bone-jeweled Bigsby's Hand clobbering the dragon spirit in the face.
As the dragon spirit was finally defeated, Amalika was left holding a spiritual dragon head in her hands. Curie, sensing the opportunity for a druid miracle, pushed all of her magic into a Wither & Bloom spell, converting the magic of the ethereal dragon skull into a new standing stone.
And finally, with a new bond formed, Embra reached deep into Ami's memories to offer him a gift. With a bit of snow, retrieved memories, a clay bird, a powerful reagent and a 7th level spell slot, an immortal simulacrum of Smudge once again sang on Ami's shoulder. Beside them, a druid mother and daughter embraced for the first time in 80 years.
But, off in the distance far to the north, the walls of a magical prison trembled.
Songs of Glory: Bronwen (+2), Ami (+2), Shloopurr (+2), Curie (+2)

Report Date

03 Jul 2024