Tower of Power

K'harth makes it back to the Temple of the Phoenix alone, where everyone is talking to the priest, Val'Seraj. He says this dual experiment of high elves/dark elves in Velke'Velve isn't working. K'harth tells him about killing Khor'lee at the Temple of Tymora, but Val'Seraj says Khor'lee is still alive and here in the city. K'harth says the Old Blood source must be within the central city tower, and that Kru'el is using it to pump up soldiers. Brodo messages Lo'Gash, who hasn't turned up yet. Lo'Gash is in pain, and he replies, "tower...top...blood...me". City guards knock at the door asking for Val'Seraj. The party bar the door, run to the top of the temple, and turn invisible as they prepare to approach the central tower from the skybridge connecting it to the temple. As they approach, they see five lifeless guards watching from windows. They enter through the tower door and find an open warehouse room full of soldiers standing stock-still and robotic. Sneaking to the top floor council chambers, they find watch archers standing guard and Lo'Gash and two others kneeling before an alter. Behind the alter stand Khor'lee, Kru'el, and two other lieutenants. K'harth drops his invisibility and confronts them. K'hart is defiant and Kru'el causes two of her guards to burst into blood, forming drider warriors. Vol'dun attacks Kru'el as well, snapping her neck as a fight breaks out.

Ghorza slays one of Kru'el's lieutenants, but the body bursts into a snakey blood monster. Kru'el fixes her neck and taunts K'harth and Vol'dun that she cannot die here. K'harth hears the voice of Ma'lak in his head and determines that Kru'el must be residing on the Plane of the Masters, and he has to confront her there. K'harth tells everyone to run, and kills himself. The rest of the party run down the tower's levels, pursued by a drider and some warriors as they move through rooms full of mute soldiers. The pursuers awaken more soldiers, and the chase intensifies. On the first floor, the tower is an open air courtyard full of civilians. Brodo throws out oil and a sphere of sickening radiance to slow and wound the warriors, and some civilians are caught in the crossfire. Vol'dun vows to hold them off as the rest of the party run into the basement level. It's quiet and cold, and they find a large vat of boiling blood. The blood coagulates into a rearing monstrous spider form.

Meanwhile, K'harth awakens in the Plane of the Masters, the place his kind go after death. He spies Kru'el, holding a Shard in her hand. She tells him she will use him to "complete the old blood". They are standing on a balance beam with ancient masters watching overhead. K'harth attacks and the two spar. One of the watching masters transforms the room into a cube with unusual gravity. K'harth grabs the shard from her hand and in that instant, he transports to the shard realm. There's a tree full of crows and ravens, and they speak to him in one voice as the Raven Queen. She tells him Kru'el is abusing her power, using the shard to channel the Queen's power against her will. She asks what K'harth requires, and he tells her he wants to bring the city down and stop Kru'el. She offers him a new life and a new body. K'harth reincarnates as a Shadar-kai, a shadow elf.

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