The Tower's Heart

and

Justin as the DM

"**The Tower's Heart**" is the twentieth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

A surging storm of crimson light rages above the Drowned Maiden Reef while the Fonkey Casuals begin swimming their way towards Port Creach, where a goliath naval captain has taken the sword they’re looking for.

The party reached 6th-level at the end of the episode; but wasn't handled until after the stream ended.

## Episode Synopsis

#### **Previously on Tales from Del'nasra**

*"Groceries were purchased while you discussed the issues presented with the strange poppet dolls, as you all set out on the road to continue the trek to Drowned Maiden Reef. During the night while everyone was asleep, both Antyr and Lionel sensed a presence in the trees directly above, finally catching sight of the thing that had been tracking the party ever since they entered the Emberfall Wildlands. It was a long-limbed, emaciated, lanky elf-like creature with lidless white eyes obscured by darkness and shadows. It seemed to mimic the noises of creaking branches and Endylus after it had killed the familiar and as soon as it was spotted it leapt away through the trees and vanished from sight.*

*The next morning Grin attempted another breakfast, with three of the group happily eating it. Plans were discussed and it was decided that you all would fly to Drowned Maiden Reef using the Luminaera, fearing that taking the road would take too long and that whomever was spying on you all would have gotten there already and found what you were looking for.*

*After dispelling Hopper’s poppet doll, you all boarded the Luminaera, ensured Doe couldn’t see or hear what was happening and flew off towards the reef cutting the remaining four days or so of travel into six hours. Three hours into the journey you came across a terrible, tropical storm whipping up over the reef with churning clouds and a crimson light on the horizon.*

*Nearing the end of the trip you saw a familiar looking tower, an Orbis Ancora but much larger and far more sturdy than the one encountered in the Jungle of Spores. It had been built on a small, rocky island in the reef and the island was swarmed with Umbral Knights. The Orbis Ancora was causing the red light in the sky, firing a beam of light into the clouds and opening a rift where it was pulling a small mountain through with a mile-tall dead willow tree perched on the mountaintop.*

*Ships fitted with excavation tools were docked at the island, and after deliberation Hopper began to pilot the ship down towards the raging ocean water. You all exited the ship, returned it to its concealed form and began exploring the reef where the convergence point resides and the spot in Hopper’s vision. The ocean floor had been excavated and the sword had been clearly taken. You all swam for around an hour investigating the crater, and then swam the 25-minutes towards the island detecting a magical ping from a small, personal sailing ship called the Night Reaver. Antyr re-summoned Endylus and set them to peer into the personal ship seeing a goliath naval captain with a stained glass longsword at this side, the sword you were all looking for.*

*He exited the captain’s quarters, discussing with another figure that your “transport” had been spotted coming out of the clouds, and they would contact “him” and return to the port immediately. Antyr heard a magical whooshing noise and the ping from the sword disappeared. However, pings could still be detected inside with Antyr and Lionel stealing a variety of items from the ship including personal notes, a ledger, a lockbox filled with money and a small, bonsai-sized dead willow tree with a green orb ensnared in the branches.*

*As Grin shattered the anchor’s chain, the Night Reaver slowly began to float out into the reef, carried by the winds and raging tides as Lionel and Antyr exited the ship."*

#### The Episode

After stealing a variety of items from the Night Reaver docked at this rocky island, the Fonkey Casuals discussed their plans while under water thanks to the aid of the *Water Breathing* spell. Grin being the smallest at only eight-inches tall, held their breath and surfaced to get a look at the island and flew twenty feet up. They could hear screaming coming from an open cave about 120-feet away on the opposite side of the island, and could see a large number of Umbral Knights patrolling the island, estimating around fifty in total. They also saw people being led out of the cave by Umbral Knights, unshackled and brought to the base of the Orbis Ancora where a good number of these knights had crossbows trained on the people to prevent them from fleeing.

Grin dived back beneath the waves and the party discussed their next plan of action. Torger and Grin would fly towards the cave and investigate the sounds of screaming people, while the remaining members of the party would attempt to catch up to the small, private sailing ship that was now drifting out deeper into the reef. The boat group began swimming to the ship, with the group narrowly succeeding on catching up to the ship in the raging storm and churning tides. As they did, Antyr dispelled the *Water Breathing* spell and everyone began clambering up onto the boat while Torger and Grin swam around the exterior of the island and flew up towards the mouth of the cave, successfully sneaking onto the island, with Torger's invisibility aiding in this group check.

The knights were patrolling various points of the island including the Orbis Ancora and the people that Grin had seen being led to the base of the structure were no longer there. Grin and Torger entered the cave and began to fly through it in absolute darkness. Meanwhile, the boat group were getting accustomed to how to sail a ship, particularly in a storm. Antyr dropped the sails, while Hopper scurried around looking for ropes. Lionel mentioned that his family has a history of sailing ships, but he didn't have the experience, but could aid in navigation. Deciding that he'd steer the ship, Vonkar raced up to the ship's wheel which was spinning around violently and successfully grabbed onto the wheel, and began to manuever the ship away from a rocky spire and towards the island where the others were.

Navigating through the storm was difficult, especially since nobody here had sailing experience, but somehow they were able to safely manuever through the raging tides towards the island, while Torger and Grin descended deeper into the cave and came into a chamber with about thirty elderly people chained up with spectral, green chains. These chains seemed to connect to an archway painted onto one of the cavern walls in blood with a bloody hand print in the centre and written around the edges of the archway in Sylvan script were the words "Neglect".

Grin told Torger that the words around the archway said Neglect. While they were peering around the room, Grin and Torger began speaking to one of the captives, a very old human man in his late 80s who was in the fetal position. He introduced himself as George and explained that a bunch of people living on the streets had been invited to the marquis' manor for the promise of food, warm clothes and beds to sleep in. George mentioned that when they all arrived at the manor there was a flash of mint-green light and he could no longer see, and remembers being on a boat and then walking on rocks. He explains that he was taken while he was playing ball and hide and seek with his friends in town, and when asked his age he mentioned he was seven years old.

As the boat sailed towards the island, Hopper suggested they circle the island and then dock where Torger and Grin entered the cave. As the boat manoeuvred in that direction, Hopper used the ropes they had been collecting and snagged them on a jagged rock near the cave to keep the boat in place and from rocking about.

Inside the cave, Grin and Torger discussed how to break the chains, while Grin told Torger how to pronounce Neglect in Sylvan. Torger then cut open his palm and pressed his bloody hand into the handprint and spoke the phrase. The chains and door flared with mint-green light and eighteen of the thirty children turned into elderly people rapidly aged to death as the archway opened revealing a bleak, gloomy landscape beyond with a mountain on the horizon where a mile high dead willow tree was growing out from the peak. The same region they were seeing coming through the rift in the sky above this island.

The chains in question seemed to enter this archway and float about twenty-feet into the plane beyond and vanish, similar to the chains that Grin kept The Creep on. While figuring out what to do, the boat group were attempting to make their way onto the island as well, with Hopper taking off their armor but failing to hop up onto the slippery rocks and fell ten feet back into the boat. Eventually, they climbed up onto the island and made way for the cave while Doe, Lionel and Cornelius stayed behind on the boat. As Hopper, Antyr and Vonkar made their way towards the cave they could see that the island was entirely vacant of knights, and the two excavation ships were now sailing away back to Port Creach. Even the beam of light in the sky coming from the Orbis Ancora seemed to be fading.

Torger and Grin continued discussing their plans, and realizing they didn't know how long this door would remain open began helping some of the captives up, realizing that their chains were strangely loose. As they were doing this, the others arrived and Antyr attempted to dispel the door to no effect, while Hopper discerned that the chains were some form of *arcane lock* spell. The captives were led to the mouth of the cave, while the others informed Grin and Torger about the strangely now vacant island. Reaching the mouth of the cave, the chains grew taught and the captives could be brought no further.

Not knowing what else to do, Grin flew towards the tower and began swinging their sword at it, slowly working towards trying to bring it down. Torger and Vonkar joined, to no effect as their unarmed strikes seemed to not do much in the way of damaging the structure. After a few minutes of swinging away at the structure, Grin revealed a large, 35-foot wide beating hear inside of the tower. Through their Divine Sense, he sensed that the heart was evil in nature and with one last ditch plan, cast *Command* on the heart and ordered it to stop.

As the heart stopped beating the rift in the sky abruptly snapped shut and the Orbis Ancora powered down. As it shut down, the archway in the cave that Antyr was working on dispelling suddenly closed, the magic sustaining it ended, and as it did the spectral chains around the captives shattered and dispelled and all of the captives that survived the aging reverted back to their childhood ages when they were kidnapped.

#### After the Break

With the Orbis Ancora in Drowned Maiden Reef having been powered down, the Fonkey Casuals prepare to start moving the now freed children towards the boat they've commandeered. While Vonkar took charge on getting the children into the boat, Grin spotted something glowing with a fading mint-green light within the heart. To get better access to the heart, Antyr cast Atrophy on the corner of the tower that Grin was trying to destroy, which caused that section of the tower to age rapidly developing rust while the organic components of the tower quickly rotted leading to the tower collapsing and breaking apart.

Curious what all these mint-green lights the party had been seeing; mentioning the ones weaving around the moon, the shackles on the prisoners they just rescued and even some of Guardian Peshan's magic; now this same light was present inside this now atrophied heart. Theorizing that this light may be stemming from the leylines, Antyr returned to the Night Reaver and picked up the small dead willow sapling they had acquired with a mint green sphere ensnared within the branches. Meanwhile, Grin sliced into the heart and retrieved the object inside which resembled a sort of black, egg-shaped fruit covered in mint-green veins and rejoined everyone back at the boat.

While everyone was ensuring the children were safely on board, Antyr stepped into the captain's quarters and cast *Discern* on the sapling and orb. Instead of the usual methods of revelations given by the spell, Antyr was thrust into the viewpoint of another figure. They saw the massive, mile-high dead willow tree and were approaching it and as they did they could see it was actually a structure with windows and corridors inside and heard the familiar burbling of the Jabberwock from the canopy of this tree. As they approached, vision shifted with them now being inside the willow tree and walking the halls, seeing Umbral Knights roaming the corridors before vanishing. Walking along these corridors they came into a chamber with a large number of strange "fruit" hanging from the ceiling of this chamber, with each of them looking similar to the fruit Grin just retrieved from inside the heart.

As the figure reached out towards the fruit, Antyr could see a pale hand in place of their own with long, well manicured black fingernails. The hand was masculine and as it cupped one of these fruits Antyr could see a swirling, shadowy essence inside the fruit and could make out facial features, indicating that inside each of these fruits may very well be a soul. As they plucked the fruit, the vision changed yet again showing a suit of armor worn by the Umbral Knights laid out on a table. This figure placed the fruit on the chest of the armor and sliced it open causing the soul to spill forth and enter the armor and creating an Umbral Knight.

The next few visions were rapidfire and showed this figure riding the Jabberwock and attacking the airship that Vonkar, The Creep and Grin were on when it crashed. While they were flying towards the airship, Antyr spotted a desert with a large, mile-tall tree with lush, verdant vegetation growing on the eastern horizon, clearly out of place in this environment. The vision switched to seeing Oberon being beheaded by this individual and switched to visions of this figure strolling through the Rose Court after having petrified its inhabitants, signifying that this figure was indeed Duskreaper Aelinor. The figure then stepped through a doorway with a plaque marked "Friends" and beyond a portal marked "The Ashheart".

Another shift and the figure was strolling through a desolate, dark forest and approached a large hut standing on two large bird-like legs. The hut lowered to the ground an a terribly ugly elderly woman stepped out and was brutally slain by the Duskreaper and her essence was condensed down into a mint-green orb, the very same orb now in Antyr's hands. The final vision showed Duskreaper Aelinor walking through the halls of an obsidian palace and pass the slain bodies of people covered in scars and wearing dark robes. They approached a pedestal containing the original Luminspire stolen by The Creep and as they picked it up the vision ended.

After coming out of the vision and realizing only a minute had passed Antyr called the rest of the party, minus Doe into the captain's quarters. They explained that they had discerned what this orb was, mentioning it was a luminspire and described the entity that had been transformed into it. Hopper easily recognized the description of Baba Yaga, who is the recently deposed leader of the Unseelie Court and is also known as the Queen of Air and Darkness and the Mother of all Hags. Antyr also mentioned that the sapling was connected to the dead willow tree they had seen and would serve as a gateway if planted, and destroyed the sapling with another *Atrophy* spell.

Grin's Heart Sense revealed the entity inside, Baba Yaga was neutral evil and as the nature of this luminspire was revealed, the room darkened and appearing as a mint-green spectre was Baba Yaga herself. She seemed quite friendly to the party and appeared quite enamored with Grin and seemed to recognize the scent of her daughter clinging to Hopper, Antyr and Lionel. Hopper didn't seem pleased about this powerful Unseelie fey appearing before him and spun three times and spat on the floor. Baba Yaga explained that the Umbral Court have amassed vast power through the luminspire now in the Duskreaper's possession, mentioning it contains the essence of the previous Summer Queen, and mother of Titania.

Before departing back into the luminspire she explains that this luminspire was last seen in the marquis manor and she has no idea how she ended up on this boat, before imploring the party to unite the Unseelie and Seelie Courts against the Umbral Court and to do so they should speak with one of her daughters, Auntie Gothel.

She expressed quite the interest in seeing what they would all get up to and disappeared.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
	+ Endylus
* Doe
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Lionel
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Returning

* Cornelius
* The Creep (in a vision given to Antyr)
* Duskreaper Aelinor (seen through his POV in the vision given to Antyr)
* Lord Oberon (in a vision given to Antyr)
* Vorpalon, Predator of the Seelie Court (in a vision given to Antyr)

### New

* Baba Yaga; a spectral image conjured from her Luminspire
* George; one of the children magically aged into an elderly person
* Marquis Torgol Marrshade (unnamed)

### Mentioned

* Auntie Gothel
* Beiro Peshan; unnamed
* Kena Peshan