Blinded by the Light

**"Blinded by the Light"** is the thirtieth-first episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on November 7th, 2023.

The fourth episode of *The Warden of Vespershire* story-arc, the session was DMed by Capwithoutacountry and hosted on TanisJr93's channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session thirty*
Leaving the Western Winery, the party finds their cart along the road and continues toward the city, arriving as the gates are opening for the day's traffic. They briefly encounter two Crownsguard, one of whom Shiloh owes money, before being allowed into the capital and deciding to head to The Last Word after agreeing to allow New Moon to find them, given that the Tabaxi has always eventually returned after his wild magic surges. As the group makes their way through the city, Shiloh mentions to Jean that Elowynn might be working, and Siobhan gives the Bard a necklace that she recovered from the hoard of Varilax to give to the barmaid as a gift; the group reaches the tavern to find the dining room populated by an early-morning breakfast crowd of adventurers, spotting Elowynn busily serving and clearing tables.

Shiloh pays for breakfast as the bartender notes the absence of Moon, and the party locates a table for themselves as Elowynn delivers their food; Jean winks at the barmaid, who asks if he has something in his eye and offers to *Prestidigitate* it away for him. Shiloh mentions their recent battle against the ebony dragon, while the Bard recalls his ability to resist the khronophages at the Western Winery, and Elowynn agrees that Jean is a man of "incredibly strong will" and determination. She glances to Shiloh as the Paladin excitedly eats a stack of pancakes, then winks at Siobhan as the Rogue laughs at the Bard; Siobhan then kicks Jean under the table to remind him of the necklace, which the Bard refuses to give the barmaid in front of the party.

Shiloh asks about any news or rumors, and Elowynn mentions that there has been noticeably more activity at the tavern during the nights of the last week, after which she tells him that another adventuring party had told her just that morning that they had been to the Temple of the Stormlord and witnessed a commotion. Shiloh mentions that the group had a "mishap" on their way from Odessloe to Rexxentrum, though he doesn't answer when Elowynn asks him if "Miss Happ" had a name, and Siobhan notices a particular marking on the table in the shape of a stylized anchor that had not been present previously. She copies it down into a notebook as the team decides to head to Kord's temple, and Elowynn invites Jean to tell her how he insulted the dragon to death later and they leave the tavern.

The party crosses the Tangles district to arrive at the temple, where they notices more Clerics than usual hurrying through the halls with a certain tense energy; Shiloh leads the group to the chambers of the Stormleader before learning that he is downstairs in the spell component pantry, and the party heads to the cellar to find the centaur Macarius and several other clerics inspecting the nearly empty room. Macarius informs Shiloh that the temple was robbed earlier that moment, and the Paladin reminds the cleric that he and Jean just arrived in the city; the centaur explains that their ears and eyes throughout the city have been noticing increased activity during the evenings and nights, but that they have no concrete leads on the whereabouts of the thieves.

Moments later, a younger cleric hustles into the room and reports that about a dozen individuals were seen in the early morning moving crates and sacks into a warehouse half-a-mile away. The group offers to investigate in exchange for Macarius's help casting *Raise Dead* on Dascha, and the cleric clears a table before removing the Tiefling's body from the bag of holding; he admits that his specialty is the detection and removal of poisons, curses, and diseases, but assures the party that if they manage to recover the stolen components, he will attempt to *Raise* the dead Bard for them. As the group leaves the temple, they once again encounter the younger cleric, who leads them toward the Mosaic District and a warehouse with two men standing guard beneath a wooden sign bearing a large anchor logo that crudely matches the symbol that Siobhan noticed at The Last Word.

The cleric heads back toward the temple as Siobhan sneaks into a side alley and Thava climbs to a rooftop, while Jean attempts to cast *Charm Person* on the guards. They both react to the spell as Shiloh approaches and asks to enter the warehouse to spread the word of his lord and savior Kord; one of the guards grins and asks if either the Bard who tried to *Charm* them or the Dragonborn on the rooftop would like to come in as well, after which Shiloh faulters for a moment before punching the guard, noticing the man's glistening fangs as he does. The man attempts to yell out, but is shot through the throat by Bells and killed, bursting into a cloud of ash that Shiloh narrowly avoids; she then strikes the second man with another arrow as he yells out in Abyssal moments before Jean casts *Thunderwave*, killing him and destroying the warehouse gate.

Thava then uses Step of the Wind to leap to the roof of the warehouse, peering through a skylight and spotting three more guards on alert, one of whom she sees drink a potion, while Siobhan moves into the alleyway beside the building, finding two windows that are tightly boarded up; Shiloh moves into the courtyard beyond the gate, waiting by an open doorway as a larger man emerges from an office. The Paladin swings his maul but misses, destroying the door frame as which Bells strikes the man in the chest with a pair of arrows, causing him to stumble backwards as he casts *Dimension Door* and vanishes.

Jean enters the room to find the man's office, investigating a hallway before being attacked and bitten by another woman; hearing the Bard react, Siobhan pries open the board over the window enough to see inside and *Misty Step*s into the office, attempting to attack the woman but missing as the woman bites her as well. Bells moves into the office as well, firing one arrow over Jean's shoulder as he casts *Heat Metal* on the arrowhead immediately before it strikes the woman; the Bard is then struck in the back himself as the Ranger accidentally strikes him with an arrow, after which Siobhan stabs the woman with her dagger, killing her.

Thava then crashes through the skylight, kneeing one guard in the face before leaping to a balcony to release her breath weapon on sniper who attempts to bite her in retaliation and misses; Shiloh smashes through the warehouse gate, dodging a crossbow bolt as another sniper fires on him and hitting one of the guards with his maul while avoiding getting bitten by another guard. The Paladin dodges two more crossbow bolts as another guard rushes into the warehouse from an adjacent room; Shiloh strikes one guard, killing him before being bitten by the second guard who he then kills with his maul while the Monk unleashes her breath weapon and a flurry of punches on the sniper in front of her.

Bells then darts into the warehouse, killing the sniper that Thava is fighting with a pair of arrows before being struck by a crossbow bolt from the remaining sniper; the Monk uses Step of the Wind and her Gem Flight to cross the warehouse to the opposite balcony and attack the shooter, who is subsequently killed by a javelin from Shiloh and another pair of arrows from Bells. Moving into the warehouse, Jean casts *Dissonant Whispers* on the newly-arrived guard, who is then struck by a crossbow bolt from Siobhan before being killed by a maul attack from the Paladin.

Moving deeper into the warehouse, Jean hears noises from beyond the rear wall of the room and spots a doorway into an open hall, and Thava darts from the balcony and rounds the corner to discover the larger man from outside as well as a younger man in a back storeroom behind him conducting a ritual spell. The larger man grins as the flakes of a consumed spell scroll crumble in his hand, and he tells the Monk: "I don't really care what you're doing here, but Kas the Bloody-Handed will rise again."

*continued in session thirty-two...*
## Notes

* The events of the session occurred on the morning of 8 Misuthar 815 PD.
* New Moon was absent for the session due to Megquins being unable to play.
* The title of the episode is borrowed from a 1973 Bruce Springsteen song of the same name.
* Alternate titles for the session include, but are not limited to:
	+ "The Will and the Way"
	+ "Incredibly Strong Will"
	+ "Post-Dragon Pancakes"

## Quotes

* "Kord works in mysterious ways, you know?" – Shiloh Oldman
* "Your bartender tonight is named Al... Jabrah." – Capwithoutacountry
* "🎶Look at my pancakes; my pancakes are amazing!🎶" – Zach Faulkner
* "We need to head over there anyway. Um, we had a, uh... a 'mishap' on the way here, and, uh, perhaps..." – Shiloh Oldman
"A 'mishap'..." – Elowynn Montague
"They can help us out." – Shiloh Oldman
"Did Miss Happ have a name?" – Shiloh Oldman
"Uh... uh... Hey, Bells! Um...!" – Shiloh Oldman
"You're *horrible* at this. You know that, right?" – Sound of Bells
"I don't know what you're talking about. Pancakes! Sorry! Can't talk! Mouth full!" – Shiloh Oldman
* "Jean: you can tell me *all* about how you insulted a dragon to death later, then." – Elowynn Montague
* "Yes, this is, um... Did you ever pick a name for your little band of ne'er-do-wells?" – Macarius Hoffman
"We certainly did." – Shiloh Oldman
"Ugh." – Siobhan Hannigan
"We are..." – Shiloh Oldman
"They did. I would like to preface this: *they* did." – Siobhan Hannigan
"Mm. So it's under advisement. Okay." – Macarius Hoffman
"Yes." – Siobhan Hannigan
* "When you kill a dragon, you can tell someone to scram!" – Macarius Hoffman
* "When a person does not do as they are told, often, things go a bit awry in the middle of battle, and, um, we have a dead body that we need help with. Um, we need them *Raise*d." – Shiloh Oldman
"So you, uh, finally remembered the part where I told you: when people don't do what they're told in battle, things go awry. It's good to see you're learning." – Macarius Hoffman
* "I obviously could– can– could– can with the proper components. Um, to be fair, I'm not as practiced as some, uh, with *Raising Dead*. I– I more specialize in the, like, detection and removal of poisons and diseases. Um, I am often referred to as the centaur for disease control. But if you acquire the necessary components, I can– I– I don't understand why everyone reacts like that. I am a centaur: I'm half man, half horse. I control diseases. It's just the nature of the job. Ah, someday I will perhaps understand, but, uh, yes: if– if we can recover– if these, uh, components can be recovered, we can give it a sh– we can– I was going to say 'we could give it a shot', but that's clearly already happened." – Macarius Hoffman
"Yep. Straight through her heart." – Siobhan Hannigan
"Well..." – Shiloh Oldman
"And we're to blame." – Siobhan Hannigan
"Don't worry. We'll find these people, and we will rock them like a hurricane." – Shiloh Oldman
"That's– that– that is very in line with the will of the Stormlord." – Macarius Hoffman
"Of course." – Shiloh Oldman
"Rock them, my son. Rock them like a hurricane." – Macarius Hoffman
* "🎶We're gonna remove him from the Turn Order, `cause he didn't even get a turn and he's dead.🎶" – Capwithoutacountry
* "Good morning: have you heard of our lord and savior Kord the Stormlord?" – Shiloh Oldman
"You– you– you know– you know, uh, a lot of his friends do like to come down here, swinging their hammers and mauls about, and, uh, you know, we have a– we have a particular way of dealing with folks like that." – Wilson Lavoie
* "We're going to do, um, our lord and savior My-Arrow-In-Your-Nipples." – Sound of Bells
"Yay!" – Shiloh Oldman
* "I'm tired of these motherfucking vampires in this motherfucking warehouse!" – Jean Goldcrest

## Episode

* Twitch
* [ YouTube]