Flames of Witchlight Grove

Reeling from the shock of losing their wards, the Dreamers gather themselves and set off to bring down Aerdollan and Veskalairos .

## Plot:

Shrouded in the shadows of Almara, the demigoddess Morriganna sits, bloodied and bound, before the yellow eyes of Mordred. His expression is dark, and his voice breaks the silence: “I’m gonna ask you one question… Where is Eon?”

### Back in Synjalo

Lucius realizes that the burst of flame wasn’t even an attack by the great phoenix. It was simply flying away. Just being near it was enough to vaporize much of the forest around the group. He rushes over to the burnt bodies of the villagers. Only one manages to gasp in a breath of life-giving air, half his body burned, his left arm entirely missing, the hunter Klevvor. Lucius helps him to his feet while the rest of the party climbs shakily to their feet and takes stock of the burnt remains of those they had tried to lead to safety. Emotions run hot and bright, Haze fells the scorched husk of a tree in a fit of rage.

After a few minutes of gathering themselves and overcoming the shock, the Dreamers watch as the Great Phoenix soars off into the distance, diving down towards the ground with a burst of flame that is bright even from miles away. Unable to even contemplate trying to bring the beast down, they instead turn their gazes back towards the ritual site and the forest of Aerdollan the Druid.

Leaden feet crush ash as the party, accompanied by the survivors of the blast, march towards a showdown with Veskalarios and Aerdollan. Aided by Virakai’s magic, the party manages to creep within the barriers of Witchlight Grove, the lair of Aerdollan. The corpse of a dragon lays gutted on the floor, and an illusion ripples on the central stump. The party fans out, spreading out around their target, while Réalta creeps forward to try to peer through the illusion with her Blindsight.

And with that a blazing apparition—Aerdollan in the form of a Fire Elemental—leaps out to attack her, followed by the blazingly fast form of Veskalarios. Réalta strikes at the pair as flames wreath her, but the concentrated heat causes her to falter, and then fall tumbling from the stump to the ground in a smoking heap of red-hot metal. Lucius rushes forward and begins laying into the enemy with a series of thrown weapons while Haze jumps across the field to tackle Veskalarios in one-on-one combat. Virakai and Saoirse advance forward, flanking to either side as Saoirse runs forward to engage the fire elemental and Virakai supports her by calling down a beam of concentrated moonlight, breaking Aerdollan’s transformation and dropping the man to the ground before Saoirse.

Ravens, insects, and lumbering golems rise to the aid of Aerdollan even as Haze drops Veskalarios with a crushed skull. Réalta’s cadre of animal companions try to hold off the swarms, but her goat and her mastiff fall to a blaze of fire. Lucius falls as swarms overwhelm him, and he tumbles from his perch to land hard on the earth below. Klevvor the Hunter is incinerated in a blaze of flames, but Ruada and Druic keep their heads and fire repeated shots from behind the combatants. Haze awakens Réalta with a magic censer, and then he leaps forward, bringing a thundering strike directly to Aerdollan’s chest, crushing it inward and sending the old man to the earth, gasping up blood.

Nature calms around the battlefield, and the party listens to Aerdollan’s last words as the man lays dying on the ground. Between gasps for air, he speaks of a darkness coming, a rot he thought he could burn away, and that perhaps the Party beat him because they were right, because burning the world away isn’t the key to saving it from something worse. He uses his last act to mark the Dreamers’ map with his own blood, showing them where the other Elemental rituals will be taking place for the world’s cleansing of homin life. And he begs them to do better than he did.

Standing in the scorched, bloody remains of the once-holy grove, the party takes stock of their losses and prepares to hike back towards civilization as the episode comes to a close.

## Quotes:

> There is a payment being called for this world…. And I thought I could fix it. There is a rot… I thought to burn away the rot… the phoenix cannot be unsummoned… this is its home… do better than me… and better than what is coming…
>
> Aerdollan, **Flames of Witchlight Grove**