11.27 - Robin's Return

General Summary

Winter has come to the settlement of Last Rest; the burnished bronze of dying leaves gives way a grey spiderwork of branches as a light flurry of snow drifts over the Darkwood. From the north, icy winds blow in from the Dragonsbane Mountains, and the townpeople tighten their cloaks and wrap themselves in furs to ward off the chill as reconstruction efforts continue into the ever-shortening days.
Elfriede and Bronwen have been gone for days. Some whisper that the wizard went mad, cloistered among his book and arcana. Others mutter that it's indecent for a mother of two to play the hero and go gallivanting around the Reach without notice--but these are quickly punched out by other mercenary moms and learn to keep their opinions to themselves. A few know the truth: that the Black Dragon Heroes, since the day a fire-singed Bronwen dragged Elfriede's battered body back through the tavern's doors as the world behind them smoldered in flame, have never let go of hope.
And that hope has returned. At first the faintest speck on the northeastern horizon, onlookers witness it materializing as a lightning-fast vessel careening through the crisp grey skey towards the town, arcane sails reflecting the light of the sun as its captain steers his ship back home.
Robin returns to Last Rest to a hero's welcome, but none are moved as much by the reunion as the young artificer himself, who sinks to his knees in the common room and sobs for several minutes before anyone can get an answer to their many questions--the foremost being how he is even still alive. After some time and a stiff glass of Dwarven, Robin shares his tale with the Heroes of the Reach:
How he threw himself at the Ancient Black Dragon in the Vault of the Architects, everything hinging on the chance that his calculations regarding Astral Archanophysics were correct, and managed to just barely fit himself in his bag of holding as the jaws of the enemy shut around him.
How he found himself drifting in the silver void, surrounded by the scattered remains of technology beyond his comprehension, and how over what felt like a century he dedicated himself to its mastery.
How he set sail in that space beyond time, striking a course back home, and witnessed the far-off battles of alien civilizations and skirted the vast corpses of fallen gods on his interstellar cruise.
How Elfriede risked everything to teleport himself and Bronwen to Robin's location just as the artificer broke into Realmspace and the psionic influence of a nearby illithid colony.
How they crashed together in a ball of arcane fire, were captured by mind flayers, came to in the bowels of the Nautiloid, broke free of their membranous holding pods and reuinited tearfully beside the hole Bronwen blasted in the fleshy wall of the vessel.
How intellect devourers swarmed them, bringing Bronwen down and dominating her mind, how they fought desperately to save her, using every last scrap of knowledge mechanical and mundane to restore her stolen brain, how they brought her back from the brink of death to a state just sapient enough to function--and blow several more holes into the side of the ship and a mind flayer's chest.
How Bronwen discovered a love of calamari.
How Robin turned to the dark side for a moment and slew several helpless kobold thralls who were disassembling the wreckage of his archanotech skiff before Elfriede could bring him back to himself. How the wizard brushed the mind of an intelligence far beyond anything he had since encountered and alerted the party to the presence of the Elder Brain. How Robin quickly gathered the remaining archanotech as Bronwen collected two of the mind-dead kobolds beneath each arm and Elfriede brandished his wand of teleportation, with the weight of the Elder Brain's mind bearing down on them in a psychic vice.
How they came home... or close to something like home--but that is a tale for another day. For now, what matters is that the Black Dragon Heroes are finally back.

Report Date

03 Jul 2024