Return to Graywall

***Mol, Lharvion 16, 993 YK***

**200 days until the Day of Mourning**

The party arrived back at Graywall, much to the joy of Ekhaas (who had bet Ghyrrn that they would return). It was clear that the city walls had been scathed with some corrosive substance and there was damage to portions of the city. Ekhaas explained that there had been an attack during their month’s absence. A large, black dragon assaulted the city one night, roughly a week ago. It was repelled by Xor’chylic and the Gnoll Brotherhood, but was not defeated. It vanished after a short conflict, neither side using more than a fraction of its strength.

Xor’chylic, aware that the party has returned, requested their presence at his throne in the Karda. Cern gave everyone one last warning that he does not trust Xor’chylic and would recommend against letting him consume the Cerebrum Prime. He departed then for Vralkek, to the south, in the hopes that Hakou’s ship still remained, waiting for him. Rohagar noted that without Orschok, her tribe back in the Shadow Marches was without a Gatekeeper representative and that they would have no knowledge of what transpired in the Forest of Flesh. She determined to leave for her old village when next she gets a chance, but would check in with her uncle at the House Tharashk enclave first.

The rest of the party decided to use their remaining two psychic healing potions to revive the comatose mercenaries that were hired by the Benefactor: Brick and Sel. They did so at the House of the Nine—the only temple to the Sovereign Host in Graywall. Upon waking, they were able to tell the party some of their suspicions. They believed that the Benefactor was a member of one of the Houses, given a number of his connections to them. Sel also indicated that she knew someone else who worked for the man: a woman named Pearl, who helped pull off the heist of House Kundarak Bank of Sharn for the Benefactor. Josephine gave the two a small amount of money, knowing they had only taken the job because they had been in great need. As a whole, the party made sure not to mention the recovery of the Husk of Infinite Worlds. The two mercenaries thanked them and offered their aid in whatever capacity they could provide for the next few days while they stayed at The Broken Sword.

While at the House of the Nine, they met with Ilde, a female dwarf and one of Josephine’s fellow Sovereign Swords. She wanted to make sure that Josephine was safe, as the Swords hadn’t heard from her in a while, and also wanted to check on her progress with Siegfried. The two parted ways after chatting. Her presence helped to kindle the divine essence of Numiel in Josephine that had remained dormant since his demise. She found herself able to conjure a molten warhammer into her hand, though she didn’t experiment with its capabilities.

After gathering their belongings, the party made their way to the Karda, to speak with Xor’chylic. They hoped that he might be able to revive the comatose assassin. Ghyrrn had already taken the gnoll, Jharl, to Xor’chylic. When they arrived, Xor’chylic congratulated them for defeating the Elder Brain… but wanted to make sure that he was truly defeated and that he hadn’t sent hollow-minded puppets back to Graywall in retribution. He delved into the minds of the party, though Josephine was protected in part by her divine patron. They did their best to hide information about the Husk of Infinite Worlds from him, in case he had nefarious plans for it, though they are uncertain how successful they were.

Their meeting was then interrupted by the Daughters of Sora Kell, who pulled the party into their otherworldly lair to have a conversation.

**CUTSCENE**

Sora Katra’s voice, smooth as silk, echoes from behind you. “Welcome back, travelers afar. We have much to discuss.” Xor’chylic has stopped, frozen in place. The buzzing at the back of your mind has ceased, along with the rest of the room. From the shadows behind Xor’xhylic’s marble throne steps Sora Teraza, her bright red eyes piercing the darkness beneath her hood. With a crunch and a crack, as though she tore through stone, you see Sora Maenya pull herself through a ripple in the air. Katra smiles behind you and snaps her fingers. With a wave of nausea, you feel yourselves tipping backwards and, as you ready to contact the hard floor, you drop into a sea of brackish water. Instinctively, you pull yourselves back up… to find you’re once again in the lair of the Daughters of Sora Kell—sickly tree in the center of a marshy cavern lined with hundreds of skulls burning like dying embers.

With a wave of her hand, Katra’s magic washes over you, drying your clothes and armor. “Forgive me for the abrupt interruption. I’ll return you to your meeting with haste. But first you must understand. A shadow fell on this place seven suns past.”

[MAENYA] “A black and hollow creature—wings, and teeth, and hate. Not like its kin, its soul did ablate.” The tree seems to cast a shadow on the cavern walls, playing out a scene for you: a great winged beast over a city, blacking out the moons, spreading its darkness across the city walls, before pulling back.

[TERAZA] “And a knowledge forbidden from most. To a great madness from beyond, it does play host.” The shadows reform into a man reading a tome, a sigil familiar to Ixen and Volik tracing itself out behind the man, as wings spread from his back like blood creeping out from a body lying on the ground.

[KATRA] “As in all good stories, his power comes in three: darkness, death, and deformity. One has been consumed, two more still to be doomed.” The shadow play changes again, displaying the three Gentlemen. One disappears in a black ink-like streak. The second hovers above the familiar sigil. The third twists and changes shape into an amalgam of other images, before returning to its original form.

[THE DAUGHTERS] “But take heed and beware. His power is without and within. To destroy the power without is to give him power within, while power once within has become power without.”

Katra steps forward. “Your enemy has come to our doorstep and announced himself. He has found we are not the trifling obstacles he may have believed. Mad he may be, but senseless he is not. His kind are intelligent and cunning. I doubt he will attack us again, having felt our riposte, but we cannot protect you outside, nor would we were we able. Your lives are your own and your fate is in your own hands.” Teraza chuckles in the back. “Make no mistake—he has made an enemy of the Daughters of Sora Kell—and we will not sit idle while he stalks our land. I may a promise to you and now I fulfill it. You seek the Fortress of Jhegesh Dol. Teraza has directed you to the key needed to open its doors. I will show you the doors.”

She waves a hand in the air above the dying tree. The cave ceiling seems to open, revealing two distinctly different landscapes, joined at the center by a Dhakaani fortress. On the left is a hazy and dark swamp, trees half-submerged in still water. On the right, a stair winds its way up rocky switchbacks nestled in a mountain valley. The scene comes together at the image of a fortress bisected and mirrored on either side. The fortress itself seems to fade from view, growing more translucent with each passing moment. “Jhegesh Dol. Once a fortress on the border of Droaam and the Shadow Marches. Now in neither land and in both at once. It lies in the realms of Shadow and Ethereal, torn asunder, twisted, and transported from the conflict between Ashurta and Skerra. I can, for a time, bring the doors back into this world, anchoring them at new focal points tied to those realms.”

She pauses, then turns to Teraza, as though for approval. Her sister nods slowly, but assuredly. Katra continues. “But Jhegesh Dol is not easy to enter. Once the doors are here, they will only last a short time. You must have the key to the fortress and you must enter both doors at once. I know not why, only that my sister says it must be done as such. I will not bring the doors to our world until you are ready. I am told you venture to Cazhaak Draal soon and will return with the key. When you do, you may find me at the Crag, and I will open the way for you at that time.”

[GIN] What happens if we enter the doors, and her spell clock runs out?

[KATRA] “You would be trapped where Jhegesh Dol resides, Shadow or Ethereal, unless you have a means of traversing the planes.”

[GIN] How long a time?

[KATRA] “I can hold the doors in place for one hour with ease. Each minute past that is an increasing risk.”

[GIN] do you know what we might face on the other side of the doors? And might you have a means, or a device that can help us traverse the plains should we get trapped, or know of something that may be able to help?

[MAENYA] **sneers** “Does it matter what lies on the other side? If you are strong, you will prevail. If you are weak, you will die. Would knowing change this?”

[TERAZA] **whispers** “There is strength in insight and power in knowledge.”

[KATRA] “The best stories have clever heroes, powerful patrons, and secret weaknesses revealed at opportune moments. Know, for now, that when last this world saw of Jhegesh Dol, it held within its walls only Ashurta and Skerra. Neither has been seen since, but one or both may yet survive.” She looks to Teraza again, before continuing. “Walking the planes is not done with ease. We have nothing to provide you should the doors be closed once more. Your journey back must be your own.”