One-Shot: The Patron's Promise

## Player Characters

* Hiitorm Isaeg Esyünevarm-Ishü the Warlock/Ranger is an interesting dwarf with pink hair. Her patron is Final Pam from that one internet video.
* Foxtrot the Warlock is a human with dyed red-orange hair and a few layers of black clothes that have some silver buckles. Her patron is Rynald McDonyld from a fast-food chain in Zendarru.
* Skreekawkoo the Warlock is a bald eagle aaracockra. He's pretty fly. His patron is a unicorn who promised him knowledge.
* Cade the Warlock is a quiet halfling. His patron is some sort of fey, potentially an Arch-Fey.

## Recap

Waking up in a recently-abandoned cottage a few miles from Zendarru, the warlocks see a strange mass of floating, writhing tentacles. It introduces itself as their patron - their *"favorite half-unicorn - on my mother's side, knowledge granting, fast food destroying, power granting entity, Ulurslef!"* None of them can remember much, so they take the eldritch entity's word for it for now. Ulurslef explains that some mages nearby have a couple of powerful books that Ulurslef needs them not to have. If they retrieve the books, Ulurslef will even be able to give them their memories back!

The warlocks set out towards the Zendarru Nightfall Hold to the west, Hiitorm and Foxtrot walking while Skreekawkoo flies with Cade. After a bit of planning outside the fort, they fly into action (somewhat literally). Skree sneaks around the fort then flies up to serve as a distraction while Cade teleports in with Hiitorm and Foxtrot climbs the exterior wall. The hold breaks out into chaos, with Hiitorm throwing a magic bomb at the guards, an aaracockra guard flying up to fight Skree, Foxtrot turning herself and some of the others invisible, and Cade decimating a mage.

All in all, the warlocks kick serious Nightfall ass. Mages are exploding, turning to ash, being convinced that this is all a godly test from Shar. While the others are fighting, Foxtrot invisibly sneaks downstairs to beneath the hold and into the dungeon. She sees the apparent captain of the hold reading a fancy book while tremors emanate from a room past the dungeon. The captain retreats, shouting about something getting loose, and Foxtrot looks around for the second book. She finds it with the help of some light murder as upstairs, Cade intimidates the captain into giving him the first book.

As the warlocks grab the books, an earth elemental bursts out of the ground - but everything freezes. Ulurslef appears, having paused the enemies now that it was safe for them, and asks for the books. Rather than hand them over, the warlocks start to read the books, recognizing the first as a book of control over the eldritch entity and the second as a tome of memory manipulation.

Later, Ulurslef is banished to the Outer Planes. The warlocks have regained their memories... but they're mostly of Ulurslef using them, time and time again, to do the entity's dirty work. Ulurslef would erase their recent memories and send them on "first missions" again and again. But now they're in control.

## Continuity

This one-shot took place shortly before the party arrived at the hold in WoDaD Session 11.

## Trivia

* This one-shot was the set-up for pretty much all of the WoDaD sessions dealing with the Zendarru Nightfall Hold. In WoDaD Session 11, when the party fought an earth elemental and a gibbering mouther, the former was the same that broke free from the Nightfalls in this one-shot while the latter was formed out of the dead bodies of the Nightfall Mages. The powerful incantations regarding Ulurslef seem to have at least contributed to the Rift opening to the Outer Planes.