Book 3: Secrets Revealed and Lessons Learned―a Stressful Interlude

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Book 3 Summary

* Arix, Artemis, and Morgana meet and try to figure out what's going on in the town of Triel, where people are going missing.
* They find out about cultists and follow them into a temple they later learn is the Temple of the Elder Tree.
* Fighting their way through the Temple, they come across the Wanderer, locked in a cell after having been captured by the cultists while traveling.
* All four of them find out that they have to purify the Tree's roots to give it enough strength to kick out a monster called the Ascended from its heart. Along the way, they learn about the five Wards, and that they're all weak and failing, but they can still be saved.
* They find a message for someone they only know as the Man in the Black Coat from a man named Orestes van Lynets, or the Man with White Hair. He taunts the MitBC about finding a Book and burning it.
* The Tree gives them a brief description of the Books and what they do, but is unable to tell them what's become of them other than they needed to be destroyed if found.
* They fight the Ascended, kill him, and leave after the Tree gives them two shards of wood from himself.
* The party goes to Elturgard, where they meet the High Overseer, the Grandmaster of the Blood Hunters, and their--sort-of secret--daughter, Wistray.
* The previous Overseer went mad and was locked away in a cell beneath the cathedral to be questioned, but he turned into a monster and was killed. Arix, Artemis, and Morgana couldn't get much out of him.
* The party winds up forcing the Overseer to tell her daughter that her unknown father is the Grandmaster.
* The party is asked to escort Wistray part-way to Caer Gwaed, getting off at Baldur's Gate.

Chapter 1: Waterdeep in Schemes
TBA

Chapter 2: Amphail? More Like Am-Fail
Upon arriving in Amphail, the party leaves their cart and horses in the town stables. They meet the stableman who recognizes the Wanderer from her last visit to Amphail, but he recognizes her as the Wanderer's companion, not the Wanderer herself. However, everyone thought she died because there was a new grave in the cemetery. The Wanderer nervously explained that divine intervention is how she was alive, and when asked about the Wanderer, added that she couldn't make it this time. She quickly tried to get out of the situation by asking how much it would be to leave their horses in his care during their stay. He refused payment for what her and the Wanderer had done for Amphail. She asked about Malyn, stating that they were trying to find him, and he said that the Volar house had been burned down years ago, but whatever cursed magic Malyn used, the ashes were still hot and burning. It was an evil, cursed place.
When they arrive, Jin, Orestes, and the Wanderer can feel the eldritch magic coming off of it. Jin questions her, wanting to know more because there was something she hadn't told them. She argued that she told them everything that happened that night back in Baldur's Gate, but they wanted her to refresh their memories. She quietly recounted the night's events, to which Jin asked why she thought it wasn't important to tell them about the magic Malyn used, again, she argued that she had told them about it, it's why they were here.

Without saying anything, Orestes took a few steps away from the party and drew his saber. He called her out for being an imposter and sullying the Wanderer's name. After harsh words were thrown back and forth, Orestes attacked. The Wanderer's magic had little effect on him and he soon was readying to deliver the final blow and kill her, the others unable to jump in and help her with a ring of fire Orestes had conjured around him and the Wanderer. She suddenly recognized him from Cormanthyr, from a trip she and her mother took to the palace. He was in court. That stayed his hand long enough for him to order her to reveal herself. She pulled her hood off and tugged her scarf down. Although she was aligned with Spring years before, Orestes vaguely recognized her as the daughter of the Wanderer.

She quietly reintroduced herself as Enilasor Mistfield, daughter of Malquis Mistfield who was the previous Wanderer. The title was secretly passed down through the women in her family to make it appear that the Wanderer was unending, an immortal figure that people from every plane could rely on to fight for them. She hadn't lied about killing her mother in the cemetery in self-defense, but when she woke in the morning, somehow left alive, she took her mother's armor and the Wanderer's mask and has been pretending to be Malquis for almost three years now. Her mother was the one in that grave, not her.

Orestes, in shock that he'd almost killed the Wanderer's daughter could say nothing, and Enilasor quietly said, "you never put two-and-two together, did you...and I never lied to any of you."

After the party healed Enilasor's injuries, the town's Reeve took them to his office, livid and worried about the ruckus they had caused and sent them away with a warning that he'd call for guards in Waterdeep to deal with them if it continued.

The party turned in at the inn and found that Orestes was missing the next morning. They found him in a wheat field just outside of town. There were a few sharp words between him, Jin, and Enilasor, and then as one, everyone went back to the Volar house to continue their investigation.

A little girl strayed from her mother to talk to them, curious about the visitors and happy to tell them what she knew about the family.

Malyn used to be nice, he gave her candy and his smile was kind. His parents were cruel to him and his sister though, abusive. One day, he found a book and wasn't the same after that. He didn't smile anymore and his words were strange. It was his voice, but it didn't sound like it was him talking. He eventually took his sister to the woods with him and she didn't come back when he did; she went missing. Later, he burned the house with his parents inside. She could still hear their screams in the house. After asking if he was okay or in trouble, Enilasor told her that no, he wasn't okay. Everyone is tempted by something, and Malyn gave into his. She gave the girl a braided bracelet and she went back to her mother.

Jin used his magic to call up a wind to blow away the ashes once Orestes purified what remained of the house. It revealed a trapdoor in the floor that led to the cellar; Jin, Orestes, and Enilasor went inside and found Malyn's parents, now charred corpses that had been crucified on the wall in a ritual. In the cellar, Enilasor couldn't feel her goddesses, and when she mentioned it, Jin said it was because they weren't "invited"; she could hear the agonized screams the girl mentioned too. Jin found a vial of the Old Blood, spoiled--somehow, Malyn got his hands on something vital to the Blood Hunters and possibly killed a god to get it. He looked around further, using his sight as a Reaper, and discovered that there were faint traces of Malyn's magic on Enilasor, a thread of eldritch magic that tied her to him. Using Orestes's purifying magic wouldn't cleanse her of it either. After discussing what she remembered of that night, it was determined that she and her mother may have been "components" to the ritual, that Malyn may have known they were coming.

The party then stopped by the cemetery to check for any other traces of Malyn's magic or clues and they found Malyn's sister's grave. There were no other traces of the ritual, however. After Enilasor stopped by her mother's grave, the party grabbed their things and moved on.

Chapter 3: Road to the High Forest
After leaving Amphail, the group made for Red Larch, their first stop on their way to the High Forest.
They come across a strange thing however, an Ent that is the home of a very cross gnome. The gnome was upset that the party had wandered onto his "lawn", and demanded that they go away. Morgana, Jin, and Arix tried to talk to him, hoping to either engage him in conversation, or irritate him. They irritated him, and he threw a cauldron at them, which landed on Arix and trapping him below and inside it. The others manage to convince them to let it go so they could leave, that it wasn't worth it, and finally the party went on their way and left the gnome and ent alone.

As they draw closer to Red Larch, it begins to grow unnaturally cold for the middle of summer. It looks like the town is in the middle of winter by the time they push through the chill and reach it. The party is bundled up, coats shared or huddled close to one another in the cart. As they get closer to the town, Arix and Enilasor notice the absence of their gods in the area. Outside Red Larch, a guard is posted and demands that they halt and state their purpose.

Jin tells him that they're just passing through. Quietly, however, he alerts the party to the fact that he has Malyn's magic on him too, similar to Enilasor's but newer. In fact, he sees several people just inside the gate who are the same. Jin hesitantly asks the guard if he's seen anyone odd come through, particularly a man wearing a black coat.

The guard tries to remember, but is struck by the pain and confusion that comes with trying to remember someone who didn't wish to be remembered. Jin then sees a poisonous, almost growth-like thing on the back of his neck, just beneath his skull. It was magical in nature, not something tangible that they could just get rid of by taking it off of him. The guard begins to bleed out of his nose, and when Jin attempts to peer into his memories to see if he could figure out what the man saw, the guard begins screaming and writhing in pain, and Jin can't quite remember what he saw.

Panicked, Enilasor tries to heal him, but it doesn't work. Then she attempts to banish the magic on him, and that seemed to make it far worse. Jin suggested they just kill him to put him out of his misery since he was on the ground writhing and screaming himself horse, but Enilasor protested it. Before they could try anything else, the guard goes still and silent, eyes rolling into the back of his head. A voice that wasn't his own began to emanate from him, one very familiar to Enilasor.

>
>
>
> *Malyn: "It's been a while, Young One. What...what is such a filthy, degenerate monster like you doing to this fine, upstanding man?"*
>
>
> *Enilasor: "Malyn, you fucker, show up."*
>
>
> *Malyn: "Oh, that's not going to happen. I would think that you would realize that. You have come here—"*
>
>
> *Enilasor: "Then why the fuck are you here?"*
>
>
> *Malyn: "Oh, I'm everywhere My Child. You would know that if you Paid. Attention. I see that you have something that belongs to a dear friend. And you're trying to shape it into your own, just...filthy ways."*
>
>
> *Enilasor: "Come say that to my face. Please."*
>
>
> *Malyn: "Oh, I will. I will. In due time."*
>
>
> *Enilasor: "No, no, no, no, no. No. You don't get to run a second time you fucking coward."*
>
>
>
> *Malyn: "Oh, I'm not here, My Child. I'm far away, and you will not find me until I am ready for you."*
>
>

Before Malyn can release the body he'd possessed, Jin tries to ask him how he killed the Old Blood, but Malyn leaves, the guard's body going limp and lifeless. It happens just in time for a small crowd of people to arrive to see the guard die, not to hear Malyn's words.

This, obviously, is not a good look for them, especially Jin and Enilasor.

The party doesn't have a chance to explain and are promptly arrested for killing a guard unprovoked. While in the cell, Arix tries to figure out how to get them out of there. When the town's magistrate comes to speak with them, they try to explain what happened and that they weren't at fault without giving too much away. They didn't want the hemorrhaging and seizures to affect the magistrate too. In a last-ditch effort to convince him of their innocence, Arix does a small slight-of-hand trick on a message to prove it.

He releases them, but with the order to leave Red Larch immediately and not come back. The party quickly agrees and leaves quickly once they have their cart back.

Down the road, they reach an inn near West Bridge, and after a few drinks and a meal and chatting with the barman, the party turns in for the night. The next morning greets them with the feeling of decent rest and a blueberry tart on a plate beside Enilasor's bed. Despite what's happened so far, because of her history with who she later called her "Blueberry Fairy", she didn't question the treat or the note telling her to enjoy.

They continue on, leaving the road to cut through the woods and shorten their travel time.

The chill of winter in the middle of summer dissipates the further from Red Larch they get, morphing into an unnatural heat. They reach the gate and speak to two guards who are painfully thirsty, as the heat is cooking them in their armor. To get information out of them, Jin offers them food and Enilasor fills two tankards with water to give them something to drink. The two guards tell them that the lord of their city is absent at the moment, having left for the High Forest to find someone and possibly find out what's caused this extreme heat. Jin notices that there are far fewer threads of Malyn's magic on the people here, but they're much stronger, newer, thankfully.

After a quick bite to eat in one of the inns, they leave. The heat only gets worse until they reach a town named Calling Horns. They find it eerily deserted, though with the heat, they can understand them getting up and leaving.

Closer to the High Forest, they find an out-of-the-way inn, where they find the people of Calling Horn. They'd retreated here, where it was much, much cooler, and they were by a source of water in the form of a river. Unfortunately, there's no room inside, and food is scarce. They're told they can sleep in the stables or something. They decide to just stick with the cart and their horses so as to not leave their stuff unguarded and also not sleep in piles of filthy hay.

That night, Morgana and Orestes keep watch while Jin runs down to the river to send a message to the leader of his order. Morgana begins to feel like something is nearby, specifically, right behind her. When she turns, she catches a figure kneeling over Enilasor. It disappeared as quick as it appeared, there a moment and gone the next. The figure left behind a small plate with another tart, the "enjoy" message written in blueberry jam rather than on a scrap of paper. She goes to grab it and destroy it, worried that it was poisoned or cursed, but she hears a voice tell her to leave it be because Enilasor needed it. The voice then goes to Orestes, telling him to lighten up. He hadn't seen the figure like Morgana had, however.

Jin returns to their camp, pale and shaken, but not saying a word about what happened while he was speaking with his Grandmaster. He refuses to answer any questions about it.

The next morning, they wake and pack up, leaving the inn and its surrounding area...until they reach where the edge of the forest should have started. There was nothing but miles of trees and brush that were cut down and removed or burned away. The sight both angers and sickens Morgana, who had a small connection to this forest, and others like it. The High Forest is a sacred place, and it's slowly being destroyed.

Further in, they meet Lord Faldrick, the Lord of Yartar, and his sizable band of mercenaries who were helping him with the operation.

It goes downhill from there.