The New Leaves

The New Leaves are the adventuring party at the core of the Land of Everchanging Kings, consisting of a group of 4 to 5 adventurers active in the kingdom of Wollingar and the continent of Asherah. Originally formed in the city of Sjöloch, the group was forced to work together to discover more about the mysterious marks they received after they were drugged and kidnapped.

## Members

The party currently consists of 3.5 active members;

* Lianhua Zhu
* Shabriri Bushida
* Sylas Treantspatience

They are also currently accompanied by Vesryn, an inhabitant of Erradreth who functions as their guide for their time in Ellahun.

Throughout its lifetime, the party has also included a number of other members that have left the group;

* Yrcoria
* Marc Ebenforth
* Doreah Stormwind
* Carrick Eben
* Ara Nendri Lunabinder
* Kamaria

## History

### Founding

The original party, consisting of Sylas, Carrick, Yrcoria, and Ara, was put together by Sylas on behalf of Baron Slaad of Sjöloch. After finding the other three very capable individuals during the city's ongoing festival, the four went up to the Baron's manor where the rest got to meet the Baron, as well as a paladin to the God Vatha by the name of Gregor - who the party immediately started to refer to as Gregory. The Baron offered them the job of finding and killing a monster that had apparently been stalking the nearby forests. After signing their contracts, the party was invited to dinner, but soon found themselves unconcious, the food apparently poisoned.

In their next moment of conciousness, the party found themselves in a small room seemingly carved out of stone, along with a now-deceased Gregor(y). Each of them was naked and tied to a stone bed, with a strange mark made of powdered ruby and liquid gold carved into their chests. After breaking out and making their way out of the seemingly abandoned temple to Ur they were held in, the party began to make their way back to Sjöloch. On the way, they encountered three others who had met the same fate; Ingris, Nala, and Rorik. Together with these new friends, they came across the aforementioned monster in the woods - a cockatrice - and swiftly ended its reign of terror. On the way back to Sjöloch, they came upon the trail and rumor of another group of people bearing the same mark who had seemingly escaped from the same temple as them a few moments sooner.

Returning to Sjöloch, the party split off from their new friends to investigate the Baron's manor. Whilst making their way over, an explosion went off elsewhere in the city, where most of the guard proceeded to rush to. The party soon discovered this was a distraction, as the Baron's manor had been boobytrapped and rigged to catch fire, with the Baron himself nowhere to be found. Here, they joined up with a mysterious man who went by the name of Fox, a paladin to the God Zaros. Together, they stopped the manor from catching fire and found two servants hiding in one of the rooms - after some questioning, they were found to be part of the same organisation that gave the party their marks and the Baron's job offer had been part of a set up in exchange for his city's financial security. After the ensuing fight, the surviving servant revealed that they served a being called The Nameless One, and that the other group of marked individuals had kidnapped the Baron. Before he could reveal much more, his mark began to glow and he promptly died on the spot.

### Bennerton

The party along with Rorik agreed to follow the trail of the Baron's kidnappers, whilst Ingris, Nala, and Fox would make their way over to Montfort, the home of Nala's master who would possibly know more about the nature of the strange mark. Whilst following the trail, the party came upon the town of Bennerton, which seemed to be in low spirits after a series of disappearances where the missing persons left behind nothing aside from empty sacks of skin and a pair of eyeballs. The party was hired by the town's mayor Bennert to investigate the matter, and after questioning a number of the town's residents, the party determined a young boy would be the next to disappear and holed up in the town hall in an effort to protect him. During the night, the hall was beset by a ghost aided by four zombie-like creatures resembling the people who had gone missing so far - quickly dubbed 'muscle boys'. The party put up a good fight, but the little boy was still transformed into a muscle boy and the ghost managed to escape with its ability to walk through solid walls. Rorik gave chase after the ghost, but the party found his body the next day.

Rejoined by Fox, who revealed his actual name to be Marc, the party followed the trail of Rorik to Bennerton's small temple to Ur. Marc and Ara kept the local priestess Salys distracted whilst Carrick and Sylas broke into the temple basement, where they discovered the ghost resting along with his small contingent of muscle boys, along with an altar sporting a set of human bones and a strange book. After ridding the temple of the undead scourge, the party reported their findings to the mayor, who promptly had Salys arrested. She was beheaded by Carrick the next morning for her crimes, and the party left the town after a job well done.

### Yantra

Their next stop was the abandoned elven city of Yantra, where they had heard the Baron's kidnappers had set up camp for the time being. Crossing the river into the city, the party tried to sneakily make their way over to a pillar of smoke rising from the barracks on the western side. There, they spotted a group of rough-looking folk across one of the deep chasms dividing the city - but soon, they were beset by the rest of their group and taken captive.

These were indeed another group of people who had received the same mark as the party - they were led by a young man by the name of Garren, whose mark had started to expand after some spells had been cast on him, gaining additional markings alongside the original one. This new information prompted the party to inspect their own marks, which led Carrick to discover that his had already started expanding as well. Garen commanded leadership over the rest of his group with his deadly skills as a swordsman, which he so kindly demonstrated to Marc in a friendly bout. The party was allowed to speak with the captured Baron for a moment, who had been beaten to within an inch of his life, but he did not offer up much that the party wasn't already aware of. Seeing no worth in saving the Baron, the party instead temporarily allied themselves with Garen and his group, and they spent a night merrily drinking and partying with them, becoming acquinted with some of the other members. During that night, Ara was visited by her patron, the Mother of Swans, who granted her the companion goose Ms. Feathers.

During the night, one of Garen's subordinates, a halfling by the name of Ricce, displayed periods of unresponsiveness. During one of these periods, his mark expanded along the entire length of his body and he seemed unaware or simply unaffected by his surroundings. Sylas and Yrcoria along with some of Garen's group gave chase, leading to the deaths of the Tiefling Six and the Drow Efe as Ricce seemingly killed them with a simple touch of the hand. Yrcoria and Sylas gave chase on the back of a horse, but when Ricce nearly robbed Sylas of his life as well, Yrcoria threw his limp body on the back of their horse and began to retreat. Before they could reach the walls of Yantra again however, Yrcoria suffered the same fate as Ricce - getting off the horse and walking off into the night. The horse returned to the city on its own with an unconcious Sylas still on its back, who was quickly taken to Ara for healing whilst the rest of the company was busy throwing the Baron down one of Yantra's monster-filled chasms. With the loss of two of his followers, Garen made plans to leave for Montfort the next morning, where more of their group had already been sent to arrange a headquarters of sorts for their operations. He asked the party to join them, which they accepted.

On the road to Montfort, the party was suddenly beset by a Stone Giant who seemed to be chasing after a lone traveller running out of the woods. With their large number, the party, Garen's group, and this new stranger quickly took care of the giant and acquainted themselves with the monk Lian, who had suffered a similar situation to them and had also forcefully received the mark of the Nameless One, in a temple somewhere near Yantra. Their fates seemingly intertwined, they continued to travel to the capital together.

The next day, Marc, who had been unhappy with Garen's poor leadership and wished to overthrow him whilst the party still had the number's advantage, attempted to stage a coupe, but the rest of the party refused to join him. In a fit of rage, he challenged Garen to a duel once again, but this time to the death. Although he put up a good fight, it became apparent Marc would not live to see the end of the battle, and though Sylas attempted to have Garen spare his life, the final blow was struck and Marc breathed his last breath. After burying Marc, the party continued their travels with Garen's group, but made plans to sneak away during the following night. Carrick managed to convince Lian to join them, marking his official joining to the party.

### Montfort

Arriving in Montfort, the party rented out rooms in an inn in one of the city's shadier districts in an attempt to not catch attention, and went shopping for new outfits in hopes of not being recognized by Garen and his group. Here they met with a haughty elven woman by the name of Doreah, who belonged to the same collection of people marked near Yantra as Lian. Together, they reconvened with Nala and Ingris and travelled to one of the city's higher districts to meet with Nala's master - the wizard Asterius. Asterius had heard rumors of people bearing similar marks to them coming out of one of the city's aquaducts, suggesting that another ritual of a similar nature had taken place down there. Whilst resting in Montfort, Carrick also got reacquainted with his old business partner Maverick, hoping he could tell him something more about the marks. Carrick offered to have the party run a job for Maverick in exchange for his help, though Maverick was not able to discover much aside from the fact that the mark appeared to be a form of artificing magic succesfully applied to living creatures. Lian also witnessed Garen and his group meeting with the rest of their crew and setting up a base of operations in the back of a linnen store in the midtown district.

Having recovered from their travels, the party began with investigating the aquaducts. Inside, they noticed a set of markings along the tunnels that seemed to indicate a path, which they began to follow. They quickly came upon a site used to grow blue mushrooms, used to produce a hallucinogenic drug called Spindle. Fighting their way through the sewer's nasty residents, the party found a safety deposit box, though they also found two thugs in the process of cleaning it out - among them was Kenny, one of Carrick's old gang members. After killing Kenny's partner and discovering that they had been offered the job of emptying the place by Kale, Kenny was let go and the party looted what remained: a large stash of Spindle, as well as bags of powered ruby and gold - the materials needed for the creation of The Nameless One's marks.

Delving deeper into the city's water system, the party came upon what appeared to be a small living accommodation, inhabited by a young girl by the name of Mirna who seemed somewhat skilled in the art of magic and alchemy. Over a cup of tea, she informed the party of a group of people in brown robes making their way through the tunnels a few days prior, which the party quickly reasoned to be the cultists they were looking for. Mirna showed them the way, fighting another of the sewer's hostile inhabitants on the way. Eventually they arrived at the room the cultists had gone to, but the party found it under investigation by the city's guard. Through a somewhat poor handling of the situation by Doreah, a reluctant fight ensued between the party and the guards, which was quickly complicated by the arrival of a third party in the form of a mysterious, heavily scarred Half-Orc wielding a strange-looking sword and bearing what looked like a more primitive version of the mark along his body.

The Half-Orc seemed to simply ignore the party, fighting his way past the guard to get to a chest on a table at the other side of the room. Lian managed to reach it first however, discovering the body of a white-robed woman under the table, and the chest filled with documents, two sending stones, and another sword like the one the Half-Orc wielded. Although taking a heavy blow from Carrick, the Half-Orc made his way over to the chest as well, grabbing the documents and one of the sending stones, but letting Lian keep the sword and one of the sending stones, telling him to "keep in touch". On his way out, the Half-Orc swung his sword at Carrick, but his strike was swiftly blocked by some of Carrick's defensive earthen magic, which prompted the Half-Orc to say that Carrick showed potential. He continued his exit, but revealed his name was Brand when Carrick inquired after it. Seeing the difference in strength and conviction between the rest of the party and Brand, Doreah chased after him, believing the party to be a waste of her time. The party escaped through another exit before the guard's backup could arrive. After the fight, Ara inspected her mark to see that it had grown significantly, and it now displayed something she instinctively understood as 'the Glyph of Rallar'.

### Temple of Ur

The party reported their findings to Asterius and did some of their own research at Montfort's university, during which they discovered that both the strange blade Lian had received from Brand (known as a Chasmite blade) and the Glyph of Rallar were related to an ancient people known as the Temué, leading the party to suspect that the Nameless One and his marks were somehow connected to this people. Sadly, they did not have much time to investigate the matter much more before they had to set out to complete Maverick's job - though Carrick had not let the rest of the party in on much detail, the job was to intercept a courier employed by the government travelling from the north of Wollingar to Montfort, transporting some magical plants. Though they were warned that leaving the city would be dangerous since Verdos was set to appear in the sky and extinguish all light, the party set out nonetheless, finding an appropriate location for an ambush along a mountain pass. Surprising them with a pincer maneuver, the party managed to take out all of the mecenaries escorting the courier and though she managed to get away, the party laid claim to the crate containing the glowing plants nonetheless - which, strangely, gave off light even when exposed to Verdos. They could not celebrate their victory for long however, as Sylas's body was suddenly taken over as someone else spoke through his body, imploring the party to protect something nearby called 'The Beacon'.

After some discussion, the party decided to follow this lead and began traveling in the direction Sylas had pointed. Through a series of visions Sylas had received whilst taken over, the party knew to look for an abandoned temple of Ur, with the beacon (which appeared to be a large subterranean crystalline sculpture) being under interference from a tribe of goblinoids. On their journey there, they encountered a traveling Tiefling Cleric to Cerbus by the name of Kosvius. Kosvius, who had the ability to see the future in his dreams, received similar visions about the temple, but he instead saw a Drow that bore a Mark of the Nameless One. He also described how he had encountered a Half-Orc bearing the same mark and barely managed to escape with his life. Because of the clear hostility towards marked individuals, the party decided it was best to not fill Kosvius in on the fact that they themselves bore the mark as well. During their journey the sky began to clear up as well, with Verdos coming to an end.

During their travels, they were suddenly beset by a group of elven guerilla fighters (led by an elven man called Averon) and taken captive. Stripped off their weapons, they were taken to a hidden elven village in the forest canopy, where they were brought before general Edarra. Edarra informed the party that the same goblinoid tribe living at the temple had been trying to locate the elven village, and that they had also taken captive the temple's steward, a giant by the name of Golder. She implored the party to get rid of the goblins, one way or another. Though she initially offered monetary compensation for the job, the party ultimately decided to decline any form of payment as a gesture of goodwill. Whilst the party decided to stay at the elven village for a few days to recover from the battles past, Kosvius went ahead on his own. On the last day of their stay, Carrick got involved in a bar fight and then promptly screwed up any possible interpretation of goodwill the party could have fostered. Edarra called Sylas to her room and removed some of the flower petals of his chain necklace, seemingly besmirching his reputation amongst elvenkind, but she would reconsider restoring his position if the party got the job done. The party was then immediately sent out of the village at dawn the next day.

Continuing their journey to the abandoned temple, the party noticed a small scouting party of goblinoids nearby. Ara used her magic to comprehend their goblin speech, which let her overhear the goblins talking about a prisoner who would soon squeal and reveal the location of the elven village. As the party discussed whether they would go in quietly or go in loud, they noticed a lone goblin chasing after the scouting party, who they lured over to their location and then captured for questioning. By feeding the goblin some Spindle, the party discovered that the goblin tribe was led by a woman named Charrina, who they assumed was the Drow Kosvius was after, as well as the fact that she seemingly introduced some form of occult worship for the mark within the goblins, as the captured scout bore a rudimentary mark, albeit one that served no magical purpose. The party continued on to the temple, and showed off their marks to talk their way into the temple courtyard, where a large of group of goblins seemed to be partying. Although they initially had some difficulty trying to talk an Ogre doorman into letting them into the temple interior, the party decided to mix a bag of Spindle into the barrels of drink all around the courtyard, causing enough of a distraction to let them sneak past the Ogre.

Inside the temple, the party encountered a peculiar scene; a goblin priestess, standing over a forge, branding a line of other goblins with a rudimentary version of the Mark. After some asking around, the party found the local torture chamber, where they discovered Kosvius tied up to a cross and being tortured for information about the elves. The party convinced the goblin torturers that they were to take the prisoner to Charrina. On their way to her room however, they discovered the location of the pens where Golder was held, and took Kosvius there instead, pretending to go and put him with the other prisoner. When the door to the pens closed behind them and barely any sound seemed to get through, the party engaged in combat with the small group of goblins and worgs inside, freeing Golder in the process.

Now with a giant on their side, the party moved on to Charrina's office. Although they tried to set up a surprise attack, they were spotted by Charrina and her goblin henchman. She then promptly charmed Carrick, who was forced to reveal the location of the elven village under the effects of a spell that caused him to only speak the truth. As Carrick said he would join Charrina and was led away, she commanded her goblin lackeys to kill the others. The ensuing battle was tough but eventually the tides turned in favor of the party, and Charrina fled to alert the rest of the temple. This small victory created an opening that allowed the party a brief moment of respite to look for an emergency exit - although this small victory came at no small cost. Kosvius, stalwart cleric of Cerbus, had perished in the fight.

The party moved on to the main prayer room where a gateway to a large underground cave network should be found. They quickly relocated, catching a glimpse of the gathering goblin forces in the temple's main room. In the prayer room, they found the goblin tribe's champion sitting on a throne, a impressive-looking hobgoblin, though he seemed to currently be somewhat inebriated - most likely having drunk from one of the barrels the party had laced with Spindle earlier in their visit to the temple. Under his throne, the party also spotted a circle of runes - most likely the gateway they were looking for, though Carrick would have to open it through his connection with Ur somehow. After a lot of struggling, he eventually got it open, though the party had managed to kill the hobgoblin champion, the goblin priestess, and much of the goblin forces at this point, causing Charrina and the remaining goblins to flee the temple, meaning there was no longer enough of a threat to escape down the tunnel.

As the part headed for the temple's entrance, they saw a few goblins fleeing back inside, quickly being pierced by arrows. A group of the elven guerilla fighters led by Averon had been sent after the party to clear out the temple, easily dispatching the goblinoids that were left after the party's onslaught, although they did not spot the fleeing Charrina. Golder invited the party and the elven soldiers to rest and regain their strength at the temple, but Sylas took one of the elves' horses and headed back to the elven village to regain his standing - Edarra repaid the favor in kind, not only returning the petals she removed, but adding additional ones. This trip severely limited Sylas's ability to restore from the siege on the temple however, whilst the rest of the party had time to train and hone their newly acquired skills. Golder also gave Carrick the temple's "key", another crystal of Ur, which he absorbed into his body. During one of the nights spent at the temple, Ara received another visit from the Mother of Swans during the party's stay, this time bearing the gift of her old violin.

### The Beacon

Still having found no sign of the crystalline sculpture they were sent to find, the party questioned Golder about anything she might know. The party presumed the beacon would be found at the bottom of the underground tunnel in the main prayer room, but Golder informed them a similar crystalline formation jutted out of the ground on a hill behind the temple. The party decided to investigate this site first before heading down the tunnel, leaving a lot of their extra gear and loot behind with Golder in the temple.

Making their way over to the hill, they soon spotted banners of Wollingar flying high, and the party soon discovered a research camp set up around the large crystalline formation, which seemed to rise out of a surrounding near-bottomless pit. The party offered their services to the research camp, hoping to glean what the researchers had discovered, and were instead offered a job by Nandri Altemer, the woman leading the camp - descend down into the pit for 50 gold each. After some debate, the party decided to take the job since if they were going down anyways they might as well get paid for it, and they were instructed on the use of abseiling gear and a light-based communication system. During this time, Sylas spotted the courier that was accompanying the group of mercenaries escorting the crate of plants of the Gods that the party had killed and robbed, and since word was quickly spreading around the camp about the group of adventurers willing to descend down the hole, the party decided they could not head down soon enough, and so off they went.

Although they had to face some challenges along the way, the party eventually came close to the bottom of the chasm. There, they observed the crystalline spire sitting in the middle of a subterranean lake, surrounded by a small town which extended across a land bridge that led further into the underground. As they descended further, they also spotted strange seemingly-blind elven-like creatures, inspecting their ropes and soon climbing up them. Whilst Sylas and Carrick cut the rope below them to make sure they could not be reached, Lian let the creatures crawl up and his rope was cut above him, causing him to nearly fall to his demise. Ara quickly descended as well and saved his life and together the two ran to the crystal, which began to glow with strange sigils and a passage into the sculpture's interior presented itself as the marks on their chest began to burn. As the two ran inside with the chasm's inhabitants hot on their trail, they discovered the passage was only accessible to them. As Carrick and Sylas saw the two of them disappear somewhere close to the crystal, they stealthily descended and snuck over, making their way inside as well.

The inside of the Beacon sported some sort of unknown advanced technology, with metal pipes running from below the floor up to the floor above. The party decided to inspect the basement first, where they discovered what appeared to be a workshop filled with supplies, food, and other strange materials, as well as machines that they could only identify as some sort of furnaces and bellows connected to the metal pipes running through the structure. Next they headed for the top floor, where they spotted a platform in the middle of the room that the pipes seemed to feed into, but it was also surrounded by the bodies of a group of what they surmised to be another group of unlucky adventurers, although one of the bodies was a strange white skinned creature with red markings that bore some resemblance to the blind creatures they had already spotted outside. They theorized this creature was one of the long-lost Temué and the blind creatures outside must be what the remains of their culture have devolved into - The Temué's red markings also bore some resemblance to the heavily expanded versions of the Mark the party had previously seen on people like Ricce and Brand. The Temué also had a dairy, shedding some light on his last few days and detailing his need for a material called Nezerite to keep the Beacon operational.

Approaching the platform in the centre, the Beacon's defenses activated, and four stone-like objects began to charge up and fire beams of energy at the party, but they quickly managed to dispatch them. Carrick expected the platform to function like the floating platforms he had encounter in the University of Montfort some time ago, but it seemed unresponsive. Since the platform was connected to the metal pipes fed by the furnace-like apparatuses in the Beacon's basement, the party quickly came to the conclusion that the furnaces would have to be fed with Nezerite to make the platform operational again and reach the top of the Beacon. As the party went to leave and hopefully figure out where they could source some Nezerite, Sylas spotted a note on the stairs, asking if the party were friend or foe to the Myconids. When Sylas answered, a fungus-covered drow by the name of Esradin revealed himself.

Esradin explained that he was also a friend of the Myconids who lived in a part of the cavern, and in exchange for the party's aid in getting rid of the blind creatures they called Acathi, Esradin could show them to a spider den that held some Nezerite. The party accepted his offer, sneaking out of the Beacon and over the land bridge with some close calls, but ultimately making it to the entrance of the den. The spiders did not take kindly to visitors, and after a very rough battle, the party emerged victorious and stocked up on what Nezerite Carrick could carry. They then followed Esradin to the home of the Myconids - the village of the Sovereign.

The village of the Sovereign was an almost otherworldly sight - large fungal walls surrounded part of the cavern, which was filled with small mushroom houses, hanging huts, and mycellium tethers functioning as bridges. Across the entire village walked all sorts of creatures, but most of them appeared mindless, covered in fungus and swaying to a song only they seemed to hear. Esradin took the party to meet with the Sovereign, the Myconids' hivemind leader, a huge fungal creature. The Sovereign welcomed the party, thanked them for their willingness to help with the newly appeared Acathi menace, and offered them whatever they needed during their stay in his village. The party rested in the town and perused the local market before heading out with Esradin and a Myconid by the name of Angus to face the Acathi in the town around the Beacon.

As the troup approached the town, they devised a plan of attack - since the Acathi navigated through sound, they would lure out small groups of them and face them one by one, giving the party an edge despite the Acathi's numbers advantage. Sylas used his tactical insight to gauge the change of the town's guard and guided the rest of the party towards the first group of Acathi - these were quickly dispatched before they could be joined by the rest of the Acathi on the bridge. As the party prepared for the next fight, Lian spotted the remainder of the town's inhabitants gathered on the walkway around the Beacon, and they seemed to be in quite a fuss.

As they approached, the party realised the Acathi generals and some of the foot soldiers were escaping on rafts down the subterreanen river system. The party commited several war crimes killing the fleeing Acathi, but eventually 'Beaconburg' was conquered. The party then entered the beacon once again, powered up its internal systems with the Nezerite, and after a long elevator ride reached the very top of the beacon - where they could see Nandri's research camp through a one-way window. After messing with what appeared to be another control panel in this room, a rift appeared in the sky, from which an elven-like person appeared (most likely a Temué), froze time, nodded to the party, and disappeared. As time began to flow again and the researchers looked around confused, the party decided to head back down the Beacon and return to the surface through a huge stairwell that connected back up to Golder's Temple of Ur. The party collected what loot they could carry and began their journey back to Montfort. During their travels, the Gods in the sky changed once again to display Zaros, Essos, and Sossé.

### Montfort 2: Electric Boogaloo

Back in Montfort, the party was quickly escorted by a man named Elric to the Witlock restaurant in the upper ring of the city. After a fancy dinner, the party received a letter from Brand thanking them for their work, along with a magical ring as a reward. Elric then led the party to a fancy hotel, with a month's stay already paid for the four of them. The party then quickly started to take care of business in the city. Carrick had to deliver the flowers of the Gods to Maverick, and Sylas insisted on going along, which prompted Lian and Ara to also take care of some of their business together and do some shopping and report back to Asterius about the Beacon.

Carrick returned to Maverick's workshop in the downpour district and received his cut for the flowers. Carrick then demanded to come along and speak to Kale, as he was involved with the cult of the Nameless One in some way and wanted to know what Kale knew. Maverick warned Carrick that his old gang members were now working directly under Kale, but Carrick was certain he could handle them. The trio went down deeper into the underground portion of the city and met with the criminals. The reunion between Carrick and his old gang members Lucas and Roxie was somewhat shaky, but Kale kept the two under control and offered Carrick a way to repay his debts to the two - steal a child from a local butcher shop that was born under the lights of the three Gods currently in the sky, and receive 90 platinum pieces. Carrick gladly took the job, but on their way out was intercepted by Lucas and Roxie and was taken along to 'have a drink'. Quite some threats were exchanged, but Carrick explained his side of the story and assured his old partners in crime that he would pay them back. He also reunited with the halfling Runo, the final member of their old gang, and the only one that seemed to be happy to see Carrick again. Sylas was not necessarily part of the conversation, but his comically oversized pointy ears couldn't help but greedily listen in on their private conversations anyways.

Meanwhile, Ara and Lian visited Asterius and filled him in on the Beacon and the supposed Temué they freed. Asterius informed them about the developments of his research and the going-ons within the city as well. The cult was present in numerous cities across multiple countries, and they seemed to have quite a bit of funding behind them. Asterius got the party four invites to a gala at the luminous house of wonders where they might be able to learn more, as the lord Brand Sunder of the Guild of the Sundering Spears would be present - most likely the same Brand the Party had previously met with. Ara's sister, Lissa Lunabinder, would also be present. Ara also paid a visit to Mirna and arranged the girl would sneak into the library to retrieve a book Ara needed for the Mother of Swans. Lian stopped by a smith in one of the city's high rises, the Brandished Weapon, to have the enchantment on Kosvius's sword transferred to his own blade.

After everyone took care of the things they had to do, they reconvened at the hotel. Although Carrick did not plan on sharing the job he got from Kale as he assumed the rest of the party would be against it, Sylas insisted on sharing. The rest of the party was indeed against this course of action and Carrick's continuing descent into more and more criminal behavior. Lian left almost immediately, wanting no part in the conversation, whilst Ara went to take a breather outside the hotel whilst Sylas and Carrick continued to argue. When Carrick tried to leave to go do the job on his own, Sylas attempted to stop him, leading to the two engaging in combat and Carrick severly wounding Sylas before making a run for it. Ara spotted the bloodied Carrick leaving the hotel, but failed to stop him and went upstairs to take care of the wounded Sylas.

Carrick found his way to the butcher shop in question, breaking in through a backdoor and sneaking upstairs to fetch the godborn child. When the child cried and awoke the parents, Carrick gladly spared them the misery of seeing their child being taken - by brutally ending their lives. Baby in hand, Carrick left the shop, only to be confronted by Lian who had left to find the butcher shop ahead of time and lay in wait. The two crossed blades, and held back by the baby cradled under his shield arm, Carrick was ultimately struck down and Lian took the child from him. He tried to return the baby to her parents, only to find the two of them dead where they slept. He decided to reconvene with the others to discuss what to do next - when he walked back outside, Carrick's body was already gone, with only a puddle of blood left in its place. Unbeknownst to the party at the time, Lucas and Roxie had tailed Carrick to see if he could complete the job, and dragged his sorry ass back with them after he received his beating.

Lian, Ara, and Sylas made their way to the Temple of the Twelve, hoping someone there would know what to do with a recently-orphaned godborn baby. Strangely, they found the temple completely abandoned, and whilst discussing where to go next, the trio was beset by a group of mages seemingly also after the child. As the group was attacked by powerful magic, they soon realized this was a battle they could not win, and ultimately decided that fleeing was the best option. Lian, as the fastest among the three, took the child and quickly made his way down one of the many alleys to lose the wizards. Ara also managed to flee, but when she glanced back to see if Sylas made it out, she noticed his charred corpse on the temple floor. Since it seemed there was nothing that could be done for the elf, she continued to run, returning back to the hotel.

The next morning, Lian and Ara began to discuss what to do next when there was a sudden knock at the door of their hotel room. Initially afraid they had been followed by the mages, it in fact turned out to be Sylas, who looked a lot healthier than he did earlier that night. One side of his body was badly scarred, with his mark having greatly expanded across roughly the same area of his skin. Furthermore, Sylas suddenly possessed newly acquired powers of the mind, able to read and materialize thoughts, having seemingly died and been reborn as a godborn after the events in the temple. With at least the majority of the old party still complete, the three decided that it would probably be wisest to take the godborn baby to Asterius. Asterius was fascinated by the party's story, but was afraid he would not have the time to care for a baby, nor did he think she would ever be safe within Montfort's city walls. Luckily, he did have a highborn friend who would likely be willing to care for the child at her estate, and though the party's trust in other people was greatly damaged, they did think this was probably the best option they had. So, they left the baby with Asterius for the time being, and began to ready themselves for the gala and the House of Wonders.

### Luminous House of Wonders

Dressed in fancy garb, the trio went to the gala looking for Brand Sunder. The three gods that had been present in the sky for the last few days had still not disappeared, and it was difficult for Sylas to be around so many people whilst suddenly capable of reading all their thoughts. A set of performers also made use of the present gods, using their thought-displaying powers to tell the tale of Elser Vios, a powerful godborn with the ability to remove people's memories that heavily disstabilised the continent in an age past, to the crowd at the gala. To the party's surprise, Garren and his group were also at the gala, with Garren being announced as a prince. Doreah was now also surprisingly part of his entourage. Ara also ran into her sister Lissa at the gala, who was accompanied by a group of university members as well as a stoic tiefling for a bodyguard by the name of Shabriri. Lissa tried to reconnect with the little sister she had not seen for some time, but Ara wanted little to do with her. The sisters did eventually speak briefly and Lissa asked Ara and her new friends to join her on an expedition to a foreign continent to the north of Urricar.

The party spent much of their time drinking away, when they finally spotted Brand, leaving the main ballroom through a set of doors into a botanical garden. The trio, aided by Shabriri who was ordered to keep Ara safe by Lissa, snuck after him. When they saw Brand go down a sidetrack of the path that only had two entrance/exit points, the group split up so they would have to intercept him. Lian and Sylas went down one end and ran into a priestly-looking dwarf who was earlier announced as the Deacon Burlock Brittlebeard during the gala, whilst Ara and Shabriri managed to run into Brand. Brand commanded Shabriri to stand at a distance through the mark of the nameless one he also possessed, and spoke to Ara about the goals of the cult behind the marks - telling her that those behind it had the power to ensure nobody would ever have to go sick or hungry again. He also showed of the core of his mark to her, showing heavy scarring that seemed to suggest fruitless attempts to remove it from his skin. Brand left Ara to ponder these words as the four returned to the gala together.

As they mingled into the crowd once again, Lian noticed an individual of to the side getting sick and releasing an inky black smoke - something only he seemed to be able to perceive. As the guest ran off, dark spikes began to jut out of the smoke forming around him, stabbing other partygoers and triggering a similar transformation in them. Soon the other guests began to panic, and the party along with Shabriri and Garren stepped in to subdue the affected, with all of them eventually returning to normal when patient zero was killed by Lian. Lian inspected the body before the guard could arrive, noticing that the person in question also possessed a mark. The party returned to their hotel along with Shabriri and Lissa and Lian shared with the rest that the creature they faced at the gala was a creature he had faced before called a Sha - a physical manifestation of negative emotions with the ability to possess people (not to be confused with an oni). Lissa's invitation to join the expedition to Asherah was extended to the rest of the group, and after some discussion they decided to accept, giving them 6 weeks to tie up loose ends and prepare for the trip.

### The Expedition

When their affairs were in order, the party went to Montfort University in the morning to meet up with the rest of the crew. After a round of introductions, the caravan began to leave the city and head north to begin the several months' journey to Asherah. On the way, the expedition members spent many nights drinking and bonding, getting to know each other fairly well. After some time on the road, they came across a strangely quiet farmstead, and Lian and Sylas went to investigate. They found the thorp's inhabitants seemingly frozen like statues, with gaping holes where their hearts should be. They returned to the caravan and relayed their findings, and the party along with Commander Lyle grouped up to investigate further.

In the middle of one of the fields, they discovered some sort of rift in space, with an area around it having seemingly been frozen in time at some point several weeks ago. Lian, Sylas and Ara also realized that this farmstead was in the direction the Temué they encountered at the Beacon had reached for, and feared that the strange circumstances were potentially her doing. The inhabitants frozen outside later had their hearts ripped out by a flock of perytons, though the creatures seemed to be unrelated to the interrupted flow of time and simply made the best of the all-you-can-eat buffet they had stumbled upon. The party got rid of the otherwordly creatures, and Shabriri burned their nest. Flokir, the crew's Arcanist, stored some of the space rift's energy in a strange device.

The expedition continued to make their way northward. A small detour had already been planned ahead of time, to visit a recently unearthed set of Chasmite ruins near Normunton on the instruction of Vince de'Lore. The New Leaves went in along with Lissa and they found a large burial chamber inscripted with names, some of which seemed similar to the Gods they knew in current times, leading them to suspect these were perhaps old Chasmite godborn. They also located one secluded coffin housing a Chasmite once known as Kwann the Keeper, but when his chamber was disturbed, the dead Chasmites in the other chamber all roused from their slumber, glowing in the colors of their gods, though those that had names that seemed to not be similar to any of the gods the New Leaves were aware of glowed in colors they had never seen before. They made swift work of the undead and moved on to the ruin's inner chamber.

In the inner chamber, the New Leaves found a floating sarcophagus belonging to the Witch king Angavyr, a once-mighty Chasmite king. When Lian disturbed the sarcophagus, a spectral visage rose from it, instructing his soldier to grab his sword. Seemingly mind-controlled, Lian rushed over to a pit filled with skeletons and pulled out a Chasmite blade, turning against the rest of the party. When Lian recovered his wits, he joined the rest of the crew in putting the Witch king to rest once and for all. Though they were instructed to recover the sarcophagus whole, Shabriri beheaded the Witch king to ensure the unnatural being would not rise again.