World of Embrel: Knights of Magic - Episode 12

== Summary ==
After playing a decisive role in the defense of Wilderest from invading giants, the party became Knights of the Vanguard, knighted by the king of Oldirin himself. The Vanguard then tasked the party with a new adventure: to find a ship that will carry them south of the Summer Sea. There, they would find an isle with a shrine to the Goddess of Magic, where they might learn why magic in Embrel was dying—and how to prevent that death.
In this episode, the party reached the floating island that housed Efrelyn’s temple and shrine. After entering temples that gave hints about the present, future, and past, the Knights fought a temple guardian protecting the Nullstone, which was the cause of magic’s depletion. Lovich Chrem died by the Immortal Man’s hand seconds before Linus and Xochiquetzal struck down the Nullstone and restored magic to the world. After supposedly defeating the Immortal Man, the party escaped the island before it plunged back into the ocean. With their mission complete, they set sail for home.
== Before the Island ==
While on the Coral Breaker sailing towards the shrine of Efrelyn, Lugo and Xochiquetzal got a moment to talk with Lovich Chrem, their mentor and leader.
Xochi and Lovich sat on the deck, just the two of them. Lovich asked her if she felt worthy yet, hearkening back to the early days when Xochi felt like an imposter. Xochi answered that she felt worthy of being in the Vanguard, but was she worthy of her friends? That, she wasn’t yet sure about.
Lovich told her that she had a great love for all those in their party and that he knew she belonged. He gave her two bead ringlets that she could put in her hair. Twice a day she could commune with them and manipulate her hair like hands. Xochi was grateful for the gift.
“The group obviously needs you,” Lovich said. “You have much heart that you bring to them. Also, I see you’ve taken a shine to Face.”
Xochi said that she wouldn’t describe Face as shiny, but she could polish him. Lovich told her that he didn’t need to know any of that. He was just happy that she was there. Xochi thanked him and said she was happy he was there too.
Lovich asked for Lugo next. Xochi screamed out, calling for Lugo, then left.
Lovich had a ring for Lugo. It was a void pocket and could store a hand-held item in it, which could be recalled with a specific gesture. Lugo used it on one of his arcane hand cannons and had a blast making the weapon appear and disappear with the snap of a finger. Lugo thought Linus could use something like a void pocket, to which Lovich said that Linus could learn a spell to do a similar trick if he read the books in his library enough.
Lovich wished Lugo good luck.
== The Island of Magic ==
=== Answers in the Temples ===
Days later, Linus looked up and spotted an island floating 300 feet above them in the clouds. Ferrah used her new air-walking shoes to start climbing up to the island, then grabbed hold of Uno as Uno flew upwards. They passed the penumbra of clouds that shaded the island from view and found a huge, verdant forest with chunks of other islands floating about. They landed, Uno looking down to see if the others were coming.
On the ship, Lovich cursed. He pulled deep from his spellwork and turned himself, Xochi, Lugo, Linus, and Kartuk into gaseous clouds. They floated up to the island, leaving Face and Hazzel behind to guard the ship.
As they moved onto the island, they passed an invisible barrier, and as they did, they were suffused with power. (The party leveled to 6.)
But Lovich suddenly collapsed. Tuk went to his side and found that he had aged a lot. He told them that what he had borrowed was being returned since he was so close to magic's source. He pulled a cane out of a void pocket and used it to help him walk.
At that moment, a blessing of pegasi flew by. A humanoid form was mounted on one, red energy like lave peeking out of the seams of heavy armor. The pegasi landed and the creature dismounted. It was an animated armor with lava innards and a bell jar fish bowl for a head. A goldfish swam in the bowl. His name was Pit and he was a groundskeeper who had been in existence for 700 years. Pit was very lonely, though his mind had broken years ago.
Ferrah told him they were part of the Vanguard, but Pit didn’t know what that was and assumed the party was there to attack. Ferrah then told him they were there to see the shrine to Efrelyn. Pit said, “Oh, you’re here to die then.”
He informed them that the guardian of the shrine would kill them. In the 700 years since Pit and the guardian had existed, only five parties had reached the island, including the Knights. All so far had been killed, and Pit did not think the Knights would be an exception.
Pit lifted off Linus' hat and realized the wizard was a Goblin. Pit asked if Linus knew how to switch to his warrior form. He didn't. Pit also asked if Linus was there to get rid of the stone, since the Goblins had put the stone in the temple.
After seeing the party’s confusion, Pit told them to sit so he could tell them The Tale. He set up a box and crouched behind it with a puppet made of straw.
Hundreds of years ago a malevolent race called the Eidolons reached Embrel by travelling the planes. They wanted to enslave the people of Embrel and harness the magic of the world. Eidolons were powerful, terrifying creatures with immense psionic powers and had conquered many other worlds. They were also locked in battle with the Aether, a benevolent species who sought to protect others from Eidolons. The Aether brought a relic called the Nullstone, which would absorb and limit magic to prevent planar travel, thus protecting Embrel. It was placed in the temple, and if destroyed, the Eidolons could attack.
Tuk asked if the stone was causing the death of magic. Pit confirmed that it was, and that it was the reason the island floated.
Linus said that maybe he could talk to the guardian since he was a Goblin. Pit asked for Linus’ stuff when he died.
There were also other temples, ones where they could ask questions of the Gods or gets answers on the past, present, or future. Only one person could enter a temple per moon cycle. They decided to visit the temples, using pegasi as mounts.
Linus entered the first temple, which could give an answer about the present. A single glass orb was in the center of the room. He touched it and asked, “Excuse me, beautiful orb, in units of time, hours and minutes, how far away might the next visitor to this island be, presently?”
There was no response.
After a few minutes, Linus took that as an answer: There was no one coming.
They went to the next temple, the Chamber of the Gods. Uno immediately went in. Inside was a big pool about two feet deep featuring a mosaic of the Twelve. Uno laid in the center of the water and thought about his question: “How do I get you all to forgive me?”
He was informed of the answer the moment he asked it. Everything he was taught to do was what they wanted for him. Sacrifice, thinking of others, heroics for the good of the world. He needed to be selfless.
The next temple was the Fountain of History, a walled garden with an archway. The fountain could show them any point of history they chose. They had to stick their face in the water and scream the point into the water.
Lugo suggested Linus go in and find out about his heritage. Linus went in, but he asked about the Aether putting the Nullstone in the temple. He saw the temple with a tear in the fabric of reality. The temple was thriving and full of priests. Goblins brought in a massive stone. A priest begged the Goblins to stop, but the Aether gestured to the corpse of an Eidolon on the ground and said the longer they were there, the more of the world would be destroyed. The Eidolon was a gangly creature with long fingertips, bulbous eyes, and a mouth covered in tentacles.
The Aether placed the stone and left. The tear removed itself, and the stone began to hum.
Another tear appeared. A spherical creature made of metal stepped out of the tear and stood in front of the Nullstone. A priest tried to push the creature out of the temple but the creature eviscerated him. Everyone ran from the temple. The vision ended.
Meanwhile, Lovich had been looking worse and worse as time went on. Uno cast Lesser Restoration and felt that Lovich had been poisoned. “Why are you so poisoned?” Uno asked.
Lovich said that was a good question and asked if Face could have done it. The party said Face was not subtle and would have punched him. All Lovich had was tea that he had made himself. They couldn't see an opportunity for Lovich to have been poisoned.
The party tried to send him away, but Lovich said he couldn’t sit the day out. He needed to get the rest of the party home safe.
The next temple, which could show the future, was the size of an outhouse but was bigger on the inside. Xochi ran inside. There was a tree that seemed to get larger the closer she got. The tree almost looked liquid, like the bark was moving. A leaflike hand reached out. Xochi grabbed it and was pulled inside.
Xochi asked how magic would be restored to Embrel. She saw Linus in the temple with Efrelyn’s shrine, crying, covered in blood. The Immortal Man was dead near him, but the rest of the Knights were all dead as well. Linus cast a spell that caused the Nullstone to crack. The island began to fall.
Xochi went out and said that she had good news and bad news. She explained what she saw but said she had hope they could save magic without dying.
Tuk asked if they should really destroy the stone if the Eidolons would come back. Linus said that they shouldn't handicap themselves by limiting their magic.
Lovich pulled Linus aside and gave him a scroll of Circle of Teleportation. He told Linus that he might need to use it if things went as badly as Xochi said. It would take them to Ylan. Lovich agreed that they could not let magic die.
The party asked if Pit would die if the guardian was killed, and Pit said that he would. But he didn't seem concerned.
The group climbed through the mountains and saw a glint of metal and an unmoving creature amongst floating island chunks. To reach the guardian and the temple would require the party to pass floating platforms, risking a great fall.
Pt told them the guardian could adapt to their attacks. He asked once more for their stuff if they died. Linus asked if they succeeded, could they take a pegasus. Pit said it'd be up to the pegasi.
Uno asked Pit to send a note to the Coral Breaker to tell them to move in case the island fell. Pit tied a note to a rock and threw it at the Coral Breaker. The note arrived successfully, and Face and Hazzel were happy for the distraction. Unfortuantely, they did not know how to move the ship and argued about it.
=== Battling the Guardian ===
The party got on a platform. The guardian stood across from them, unmoving, like a statue. Lugo said if they survived he thought he was going to shoot Pit. Lugo had learned about two realities where he would die and he wasn't happy about it.
Linus cast Skywrite as a ritual and created a handlebar mustache that attached to the guardian. He then shouted at the guardian and told it that he was one of the Aether. Nothing happened.
Kartuk gave the other half of her charm bracelet to Uno, who put it in his hair.
Lugo grabbed Linus and jumped across a pit. The moment they landed on the other platform, the guardian’s eye glowed and a flat beam of energy shot out, slamming into most of the party. Uno used Rebuke the Violent, his wings echoing the beam back at the guardian. A light lit up on its face.
Linus cast Call Lightning and shot the guardian. The guardian did not move. The lightning sizzled into it, another light illuminating.
The battle was fierce. Xochi wildshaped into a giant wolf spider and used webbing to create a web bridge between three platforms, hiding on the underside of platforms to hide from the guardian. Kartuk used her senses to figure out the guardian had become immune to the damage types they had attacked it with. She screamed that information to the party, and Linus noticed the thirteen lights, each lighting up when a different damage type affected it. He cast another Call Lightning with acid damage.
Ferrah ran over air and to the top of a pillar. She analyzed the platforms to see if she could destroy them and plunge the guardian into the ocean.
The guardian shot a blade at Lugo, but his shade ring blinked him out of existence to protect him. Then he blinked back in, unsure what had happened.
Ferrah and Uno hammered into a platform but did little effect as the guardian hopped from one platform to the next. The guardian continued to fire its laser and punched at Uno, nearly dropping him. Lovich cast Scorching Ray and insulted the guardian with Vicious Mockery, lighting up more lights.
Lugo nearly fell off the platforms, though survived with minimal help from Linus. He dove under the guardian, pulled out an explosive trap wand that he had taken from Anara Silverclaw, and activated it to do force damage to the guardian. The explosion blasted Lugo off the platform, but he landed on another platform unharmed.
Xochi webbed her wat to the platform with the temple’s mirrored archway. She felt Cat’s claws digging into her. Toad freaked out and hopped over to try eating Cat, but Linus dismissed and resummoned him to keep him out of trouble.
At one point, the guardian released a hum that hypnotized Lugo and caused him to walk right off his platform. Linus jumped, grabbed Lugo, and cast Misty Blink, appearing on the ledge near the archway. He cast another Call Lightning as poison.
Tuk shot an arrow of Thunderwave, but the arrow missed and fell into the ocean. Ferrah breathed ice over the guardian. Uno attacked with a crossbow and used Tuk’s charm to cast Hail of Thorns. His crossbow bolt missed, but Xochi used Cosmic Omen to cause the bolt to change course and hit.
Xochi cast Wither and Bloom to desiccate the guardian and heal Ferrah. She also went into her Chalice form and cast Cure Wounds on Uno. Linus cast Magic Missile as thunder and punched into the guardian, nearly knocking it over. He tried to hide behind Toad and then Toad tried to hide behind Linus.
Finally, Uno flew under the platform and came up behind the guardian, giving a double slash with his scythe. Both attacks missed, but Xochi winked, using her Cosmic Omen. The scythe changed trajectory and sliced in, exposing the automaton’s innards. The final light lit up, then all the lights winked out.
A countdown sequence started. The party ran to the temple and made it in before the guardian exploded, destroying all the platforms.
== Saving Magic ==
Entering the temple took the party to a pocket plane. It took a few seconds for the party to come to their senses. When they did, they saw that the chamber was full of treasure and books, and the Nullstone sat on the altar to Efrelyn at the back of the room.
But the first thing the Knights noticed was the sound of Lovich slumping to the ground, dead. The Immortal Man stood above him, the mage slayer blade in-hand. Cat had been the Immortal Man the entire time.
Uno stood in front of Linus, protecting him from the Immortal Man. The Immortal Man told them not to remove the stone. They thought saving magic would save everything. He said it wouldn’t. It would only delay the inevitable.
The party prepared to fight. The Immortal Man took off his coat, showing off a fit body covered in tattoos. He set aside the mage slayer because it couldn’t be used more than once per day.
Linus ran towards the crystal and cast Shatter on it. The Immortal Man raised a hand and grabbed the spell, Counterspelling it. But Linus cast Counterspell as well, countering the Counterspell. It caused a massive surge of wild magic that affected both Linus and the Immortal Man.
In a split second, they both gained resistance to all damage. Then Linus’ Shatter went off, causing maximum damage to the crystal and forming deep cracks on its surface. Then fireballs exploded around Linus and the Immortal Man, burning everyone. Linus and Ferrah dropped unconscious from the blast, though Xochi cast Absorb Elements, sucking the fire into her body and coming out relatively unscathed. She stepped forward and threw a Guiding Bolt at the weakened Nullstone.
Time stopped. The crystal erupted in energy. As the crystal exploded, in slow motion it struck the walls as ripples in space folded in on itself with void energy. The crystal vanished from existence.
Throughout Embrel, a dramatic shift happened. Xochi also felt a weightlessness like the ground was falling out under her.
Reality snapped back to normal speed. The Immortal Man seethed and said that was going to ruin everything. He called Xochi a fool and said they had doomed Embrel. He walked to the door, deciding there was nothing left to do.
Uno took a swing at the Immortal Man and hit him, mace radiating with a Divine Smite. He blocked the door, but the Immortal Man attacked Uno and dropped him in an instant.
Lugo slid in front of Lovich’s body. He put a hand up towards the Immortal Man and snapped his fingers, drawing an arcane hand cannon from his void pocket. He shot with a magenta bullet but critically failed. Heat radiated from the cannon and melted his hair off. The bullet shot, but the Immortal Man grabbed it in midair and pocketed it.
Tuk cast Healing Spirit, but the Immortal Man Counterspelled. She moved over to Linus and used her charm to cast Lay on Hands, healing Linus. Then she shot her longbow at the Immortal Man. He deftly dodged both strikes.
The Immortal Man said, “This is pointless.” Tuk told him to run, though the Immortal Man was confused that they thought they were a match for him.
Linus regained consciousness. Xochi asked the Immortal Man to leave and started to cast Healing Word. The Immortal Man agreed and opened the door. He paused. “Slight problem, there's—”
Linus ran over and tried to dropkick the Immortal Man while casting Enlarge and Misty Blink to slam into him. But the Immortal Man moved to the side and Linus fell off of the island.
Xochi’s Healing Word fizzled as she switched to cast Entangle, grabbing Linus and clinging him to the island. one vine grabbing his foot.
The Immortal Man turned into a hawk and flew out the door. Tuk shot arrows after him and hit, forcing him to change his shape back into his humanoid form. Lugo ran to the entrance and fired both hand cannons, using his transparent and moving water bullets. The transparent one jammed in the barrel, but the water bullet hit, water encasing the Immortal Man’s head and starting to drown him. Hanging from the side of the island, Linus cast Call Lightning, zapping the Immortal Man.
The Immortal Man fell out of sight. Water echoed out as he slammed into the sea. The Immortal Man's body slipped away.
Lugo reached out and grabbed Linus before he slipped out of the vines.
The party healed and felt the island falling. Linus ordered the others to stay within 60 feet of him. He gathered all the books in the room into his bookcase. Uno grabbed the mage slayer. Together, the party accumulated quite a bit of loot.
Linus told them all to jump. They tied a rope to Uno, Uno carried Lovich’s body, then they jumped off the island and Linus cast Feather Fall.
Seconds after jumping off, the island lost suspension and hurtled towards the ocean. Hazzel and Face had moved the Coral Breaker quite a distance away, but the tidal wave that came with the crashing island still severely rocked the boat.
The island didn’t submerge, but rather settled on the water. Its penumbra of clouds reformed around it.
The party made it back to the ship. Face asked if magic was saved, but then saw Lovich was dead. Hazzel closed Lovichs eyes. He looked at the party and asked if they had failed.
On the contrary, they had discovered the source of magic’s death and shattered the Nullstone, saving magic. Hazzel wondered then why he was still there rather than dead. They didn't know why. No one truly knew what would happen with magic restored, what curses would be heightened or broken, what oaths would be fulfilled.
Hazzel began to weep.
== Epilogue ==
=== Rebirth of Magic ===
The moment they destroyed the crystal, five obelisks rose from the ground in Western A’lune, entrances revealed.
Items and trinkets that once were magical long ago flared again with power.
Creatures long thought extinct awoke from ancient layers.
In a single day, the amount of Threadtouched increased twenty-fold. Many others from middle to advanced age felt power grow that had been hibernating inside of them.
Deep in the desert, an ancient city saw life return as foliage began to grow for the first time in 500 years.
Far amongst the planes, a creature felt a hum begin again after being silent for centuries. Its tentacles tasted the magic in the sound.
Curses, oaths, bindings all found themselves in flux. Some oaths strengthened, some curses broke, some bindings were removed.
Magic had returned to Embrel. All evidence of Rotter’s Blight vanished in a moment. Those in the comas of the affliction were released, their energies allowed to ascend to the Astral Sea.
As the victorious Knights sailed back to land, a hawk flew across the ocean.
Near the Quiet Lands, a skirmish went on with a group of Dreadhounds. They were known as a relentless nuisance spawning in massive numbers that never used tactics, but as they were losing against the force, they stopped and retreated, picking up discarded weapons along the way.
=== Returning Home ===
On the return voyage, Tuk spent time sitting with Lovich’s body, speaking to Hazzel about potential ways that things may have played out. His partner might have been alive. Hazzel gave Tuk a hug and thanked her for the comfort.
Lugo talked with Hazzel, lighting up an idlewild. He told Hazzel that he wasn’t sure they had killed the Immortal Man. Hazzel wondered if that was the reason he hadn’t been released to die yet.
“I don’t know,” Lugo said.
“I do,” Hazzel responded.
Hazzel said that it was up to him to lead the Knights in Lovich’s stead. He shrugged and said it could have been worse.
Lugo pulled out a bottle of serpent rum and gave it to Hazzel.
Ferrah stood over the body of Lovich and unconsciously thought of how much he looked like Messi, her dead mentor. She wove a crown of ribbons and put it on him, then sang hymns of Revina.
Linus stayed next to Lovich's body and went over the books that he found on the island, reading out loud as if to Lovich. He didn't know how to deal with his feelings, but was looking for information about the Aether.
Xochi cast Druidcraft to make floral arrangements over Lovich’s body. Face said they were pretty. They kissed.
Uno cast Ceremony to give Lovich a funeral rite. Afterwards, he started training with the mage slayer by the light of the moon. Hazzel watched him. One moment when practicing, Hazzel left his own practice just as Uno arrived, and they nodded to each other. It was the most loving moment they'd ever had.
On their last day on the ship, Linus came across a book on Hollows. The imprint could be a creature, an item, or something else. Linus realized that the octopus Lovich always kept with him was a Hollow. He looked up and saw the octopus in its globe, sitting in Lovich’s office, beating a tentacle against the glass.
In Ylan was an herbalist excited to see Xochi. In Sunward, Di waited for Lugo.
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