The Eyes are Ever Watching

**"The Eyes are Ever Watching"** is the third session of The Last Enemy is Death. It took place in 02/12/2022.

## Synopsis

As our heroes travel to Dragonfell to retrieve the new Oracle of the Everlight, they are accosted at every turn, hunted down by a deadly evil that stalks the night. They must make haste: the Oracle must be found, must be protected.

But at what cost?

### Part I

#### Bound Eternal

With wolves ever on their heels, our heroes continue along the road to Dragonfell, some three days' left on their journey. As they continue through the forest, their hunters grow bolder: their eyes glaring out from the brush. Sensing the presence of those red, glowing eyes, Arthur alerts the party to the sudden ambush, and the groups do battle.

The wolves are not the regular beasts the party had expected, though. The fight instead undead conjurations of sharp shadow and wicked bone. When defeated, their bodies burst in an aura of oppressive darkness, yet their skulls remain, reforming after a short time to continue the onslaught. After slaying the beasts and destroying their skulls to prevent their resurrections, the party continues onward, appropriately cowed by the supernatural nature of their stalkers.

#### Red Sky at Morning

That night, they are granted little reprieve. Red eyes are ever watching from the darkness, and as the night watch draws to a close one grows bold enough to attack. It is a portent of things to come. Mounting their strosas once more, the party rides hard as the sound of wolves fill the morning air, haranguing, harassing, driving our heroes towards the bridge of Koralda Pass, where they are met with the wolves' master.

Her order is calm, but firm. "Kill."

As the fray begins, Alana and Alistan race towards the bridge, closing the distance between them and the beastmaster while Sunflower and Arthur keep their distance. The rogues are soon overrun, surrounded by wolves that are replaced sooner than they can be destroyed, and as the Champion engages the ranger she reveals the beast blood that burns within her, shifting to a hulking werewolf that pummels into Alistan.

A wolf lands a lucky blow, felling Sunflower. Soon after, Arthur joins her in the blood-soaked earth. Alana has not the magic to bring them both back into the fight. As the rogues slip closer to death, Alistan knows what he must do: he swore an oath as much, to commit his life to the protection of Astielle and her people. He offers himself in trade for their survival. Take the Champion of the Everlight, and leave the rest behind.

The werewolf laughs at the little lordling's request, and rends him into unconsciousness. Grapping his helpless body, she whistles for the wolves' retreat, and bounds away into the dark, leaving the cook to tend to the broken bodies of the thieves as the Champion slips away.

### Part II

#### Sage

That night, nursing their wounds, Alana, Arthur, and Sunflower share a dream. They stand in the ruins of an elven watchtower, hear the whisper of a child's voice. "The light fades," it announces, scared and alone. "You must make haste. Alana. Arthur. Sunflower. I need your help."

When they awake, they ride. Their journey is short and silent. They travel unmolested, stalked by skulls and wolves no longer.

The town of Dragonfell is quiet and calm, sat upon the edge of the Dreamwood. Alana asks a woodsman where they might find a child with glowing eyes. The only answer the dwarf can give to that is the tiefling, Sage, often frequents the Dreamwood, hiding from his peers. He warns the party that the child is "cursed", that they can take such claims up with his deceased parents. When she asks if there is anyone else they can speak to about Sage, the lumberjack spits on the ground, says there's no chance in hell the boy's uncle is awake at this hour, not with how lousy with drink he always is.

The party sets into the Dreamwood, then, to find the new Oracle. As they walk, they hear music, which leads them to the very ruins of the watchtower they saw in their dreams. Satyrs dance in intricate circles to the tune of charmed panpipes, and Alana bids the rogues to stay out of sight while she attempts to bargain. She will end of trading a dear memory, the first laugh of her baby sister, to retrieve the child Oracle.

Sage is relieved to see Alana. He acts as though they have already met, then corrects himself, shyly saying that it is nice to finally see the halfling in person. The two embrace, then descend the watchtower to join Sunflower and Arthur.

Sunflower dons the face of Hemlock, and the two converse long enough for Arthur to hand over the ring of the Autumn Court. Becoming Sunflower once more, the bard breaks the ensorcelled Arthur of the thrall the satyr's music has on him, and the two rejoin Alana and Sage.

After a stilted introduction, Arthur asks the young Oracle if he knows Alistan's whereabouts. Sage frowns, sadly, saying perhaps it is better if he showed them.

#### The Fading of the Light

What follows is a vision of cobbled obsidian and crumbled pillars. Alistan awakens atop a circle of stone, carved with intricate sigils that glow at the touch of the Everlight. Te'om and Ah'kot hang in the void of the sky, and Alistan is soon joined by the Lich King himself. The Corpse Emperor taunts the Champion, reminding him that he "did say [Alistan] would be a mistake imminently rectified, did he not?"

The end of Alistan Arinson is only the beginning, the Lich King claims. Soon ten thousand years of waiting shall come to their fruition. The Champion of the Everlight taunts his fated enemy, reminds the Lich King that his party had been winning, in that vision of the future. The Lich King laughs. That was no vision. It is a future no longer. Now, there is only darkness.

Black ichor chains bind themselves to Alistan's form, restraining him, disabling him. With the weight of time on his shoulders, Alistan drops the blade Orenmir, which disappears in a nova of light. The mark of the solar crown fades from Alistan's hand as the Lich King laughs, and the chains bind him further.

The Everlight fades from its Champion's eyes.