ToA: Session 54

## Flowers for Daedalus

Daedalus is still in the shifted realm of Mezro, speaking with the kindly, human-looking Raz Nsi, dressed like a priest of Ubtao. Daedalus's mind is momentarily slowed as he takes in the shift he went through to get to the new realm, but he recalls that at leas this good friend, Raz Nsi is there for him, like he always has been. His good, good friend, Moonbeam, who has always supported him and helped him in times of need. Boy howdy, if there is anyone a guy like Daedalus could trust, it sure is Moonbeam the kindly priest of Ubtao!

Needless to say, Daedalus huffed the pollen again, and soon Raz Nsi, under the guise of Moonbeam, is asking Daedalus all sorts of questions about what he and his friends have been up to in the jungle. Raz Nsi and Daedalus walk to the edge of Mezro, standing atop the battlements of the wall overlooking the jungle, all they can see is a grey haze, and right in front of them it feels as though there was something strange about the space, as though it were...wrong in some fashion. But Daedalus does not focus on that, instead he indulges his dear friend Moonbeam, and informs him of how the machine that brought him there had nearly exploded, if not for his quick thinking in stabilizing it. This news causes Raz Nsi to send a frightening look to Elisandre, surely because she was chagrinned over making a mistake before someone as respectable and important as him. No other reason, like abject cruelty and villainry, never.

## Tuesdays with Moonbeam

Daedalus tells Raz Nsi about the trials the Squad went through to see the oracle, Saja N'Baza. But Elisandre interrupts to whisper something unheard to Raz Nsi, who dismisses it, causing her to imploringly grab him. Relenting, Raz Nsi then asks Daedalus if he has seen a man with a strange ring, to which Elisandre takes over and explains that this man is her husband, Artus Cimber.

Daedalus, remembering the promises he made to not reveal Artus to anyone, even close friends, attempts to lie. He cannot give Elisandre specifics, saying only that he has been sworn to secrecy regarding the man, which earns him a slap in the face from the woman. She storms off, not wanting to see Daedalus anymore. Raz Nsi, curious about this, asks for more but Daedalus deflects and brings up his desire to return to his own realm.

Raz Nsi relents yet again, and as they walk away from the battlements, he tells Daedalus a story about a doormouse who sought guidance from a dragon above, and found bountiful harvest for his wife. He asked then the dragon between and got fertile soil for his children. But he dared not ask the dragon below, who took great offense at this and drowned the doormouse.

## Gone with the Whirlwind

Meanwhile, the rest of the Squad decide to follow the tracks they found before, and pass a quiet corner of a dilapidated structure. A plaque on the structure says "Here in the years of the Wailing Winds, the first mithril mine founded by the mining consortium," which Kinlek believes to be about 1000 years old. Inside they find a statue that makes Neb pause, as it is the familiar image of Queen Zalkoré, before she was cursed. Fargus, for a moment, see the vines of overgrowth turning into chords. Neb sees a ch'wonga appear and salute with a leaf, and recalling the ghostly general Thiru-taya, Neb returned the salute.

While Fargus continues to dread over the chords, he realizes the round room they find themselves in is perfect for an ambush and warns the others. The room is wide open, with two levels and trees offering cover to fire from. Put on edge by how perfect of a setup it seems, the other two agree to find spots to stealthily survey from. Neb scales the wall, and Kinlek becomes the stealthiest thing ever, a GIANT SPIDER, who climbs up as well to the second floor to carefully move about. As they make it to the top level, something changes. The shadows below begin to swirl before turning into a full whirlwind the room below! Kinlek suggests it might be elementals, but Neb notices just as it rises to their level that it is made of figures. As the scene comes into focus, it is clear that the whirlwind is made up of spirits, dancing in some far off memory of the past.

## Return of the Artificer

In the scene of the party that once was, they see the people are all in fine dress. Furthermore they are beings from all over Omu! Chults and lizard folks, even nagas! They are dancing dances far more modern than the plaque outside would suggest, only 2 or 300 years old. Fargus four or five grey chords in the group, and a single bright red one, as he notices shades of people running through the rest as if they couldn't see them, carrying a device with them. The single red chord leads back to the half-image of Daedalus! The squad hurry down to meet him, as he sets up the device in the center of the room, where there must be only a pond of water ankle-deep for him, but for them is a tree.

The machine at first seems to flatline, but Daedalus adds more and more power to the machine, even as he sees shades suddenly crowding around him. Suddenly the machine activates and a dome materializes around them, catching all but Fargus inside. From inside it is stable and calm, and Daedalus is reunited with Neb and Kinlek. Kinlek quickly uses his web to create a safety rope around Daedalus, and Neb takes hold, ready to pull him out. From outside, Fargus sees it is crackling with energy and looks ready to blow!

In the final moments before the dome dissipates, Daedalus calls to the others in the group, which is missing Elisandre, and they say they will try to open the way once more in two days at the Great Waterfall. And just before they are all separated, Neb witnesses Raz Nsi come around a corner and wave to Daedalus, before they are pulled out and the dome collapses once again.

When it closes, Fargus sees the distorted black hole of the snake fetus once more, and as they catch their breaths, Daedalus informs Neb that the priest was his friend Raz Nsi, to which Neb yells "WHAT?!"

## O Chameleons, where art thou?

The last thing of the ghosts they see is a small boy in chasing a cat through a wall, dressed even older than the other ghosts. But the squad is distracted by getting Daedalus out of his mesmer, and getting him to explain to them what he told Raz Nsi about them, as well as what he could about Elisandre. They discuss the nature of the spell Raz Nsi is using to maintain his allies, and conclude that while he may have used some sort of spell similar to Neb's fey presence on Daedalus, it did not sound like Elisandre or the others were mesmerized, and may simply be strange bedfellows, as suggested by Fargus. After all, the desire to save oneself was often powerful enough to make good people align with monsters in hopes of at least succeeding in their own goals.

The squad know at least one thing now, Raz Nsi knows all about them, and they have two days to get to the Great Waterfall and try to pre-empt his return. For now, they decide to continue with their mission, and at the same time find their way to the waterfall. So they begin to follow the tracks they had been on before, now quite certain the heaviest set of them must belong to a warforged.

The squad comes upon a stone tablet, large and inscribed upon. It is cracked and damaged, but it shows an image of a table with all the races of Omu on it, celebrating the founding of the Great Alliance, or as we know it, the Courts of Man and Beast.

The Squad continues on into the overgrowth and find full statues of herons, and a building completely intact, but surrounded by collapsed houses. It is a pyramid, covered in glyphs that name it as a Grand Library. But they cannot afford anymore distractions, and make not to return to it after following the tracks and finding the chameleon folk. Turning from the library the squad hears the unmistakable sounds of battle and follow it.

## A Fistful of Golden Coins

The Squad hurries upon the scene of battle, and see the Company of the Golden Coin facing off against some ghoul highpriest and his horde in front of another ziggurat. The members of the Company are shrouded in peacock cloaks, their starlit tiaras, and celestial weapons. The Priest declares, just as Aurum swings at him, that they can never hope to harm him, for only the heroes of prophecy could possibly kill him, just as Aurum's celestial weapon cleaves him in two and kills him to a burst of herons and energy.

The squad is unimpressed.

**Will the squad have to deal with the company again? Will they get mission poached by these chucklefucks? Will they make it to the waterfall with these idiots following them, constantly talking about being heroes? Seriously, fuck the company of the golden coin, and you know what? Whatever happened to the Fells Five, anyway? At least they had a funny little klepto. Whatever. Find out how much more they can be self-righteous pricks to the Squad next time on TOMB OF ANNIHILATION!**