The Crimson Storm

and

Justin as the DM

"**The Crimson Storm**" is the nineteenth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

After traveling to the Oir Crossroads and taking a bit of a stop after being attacked by Umbral Knights, the Fonkey Casuals have discovered that they’re being tracked, watched and listened in on from these strange poppet dolls smuggled into their belongings.

## Episode Synopsis

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

*"The Fonkey Casuals woke up from the night before in an abandoned inn and started their day off with a meal of honey infused bog butter on toasted hardtack. Not too long onto the road, you were all ambushed by Umbral Knights who had set up some sort of checkpoint. One of the knights shouted out in Sylvan that you all were working with Guardian Peshan and needed to be killed.*

*The fight was quite intense, with one of the knights killing Cornelius only for him to instantly resurrect and revive as a Displacer Beast thus using up the enchantment that Fontaine told Vonkar about. Most of the knights were dispatched, dissolving into a black goo and from what you all learned from Grin and Vonkar’s experience with them, as well as communing with Oberon’s severed head, they would become more resistant to the damage that had killed them. Deciding answers on these knights were needed, three were rendered unconscious. Aunty removed one of their helmets to see an elf-like form made up of shadow with a pair of lidless white eyes and what appeared to be a small shadowy cord similar to an astral cord trailing off from the shadowy body. They theorized that maybe the Umbral Knights were projecting “astral” versions of themselves into the Material Plane, similar to how the astral projection spell projects the “spirit” of something into the Astral Plane tethered by a similar cord.*

*Grin decided to check out one of the knight's weapons, but felt a spike of pain course through their arm as they touched it, causing a black mark to appear on the hand with some of the veins turning black. This caused Grin’s constitution to weaken, and attempted to cure the affliction with Lay on Hands to no effect. They warned everyone else about touching the sword, and the bodies of these unconscious knights and their weapons were buried ten feet deep into the mud and the party clambered back into the wagon after spending some time getting Cornelius used to the bit and bridle in his new form. The mule armor however no longer fit this new form.*

*A few hours later you arrived at the Oir Crossroad where dried catfish was purchased for Cornelius, while Torger attacked a gnoll patron that was eating and drinking at a dock-like rampart at the crossroad, and made 200 gold pieces arm wrestling random people which ended up causing a shadowy figure to deliver Torger a letter, mentioning they noticed their fighting prowess and asked to only open the letter under the cover of darkness. While this was ongoing, the rest of the party began discussing theories on how the Umbral Knights knew they’d be on the road, and theorized somebody had sold them out. Doe mentioned that only one person knew where they were going, mentioning that Hopper and Doe asked Thrammarn to relay a message to Guardian Peshan about their destination.*

*Antyr then suggested that there’s a possibility they were being tracked and everyone had begun to search themselves. Nobody seemed to find anything suspicious on their person, but Doe and Hopper both found strange poppet dolls made from hair and sticks hidden on their persons and the dolls were made to look like them. A few spells later and the dolls were determined to radiate divination magic and that they had some form of persistent scrying cast upon them.*

*The party realized that someone had been listening in and seeing every conversation that had been had for who knows how long. They also discovered that when manipulated by someone else, the dolls seemed to cause the person they were modeled after to feel said manipulations. Antyr failed to dispel the magic affecting one of them, so in an attempt to destroy one of the dolls, Hopper tried to set it ablaze with Green Flame Blade but only ended up burning themselves in the process as the doll remained unscathed.*

*And that’s where we’ll pick up, with you all gathered on the muddy road near the wagon as Hopper is now longer ablaze holding onto this small doll."*

#### The Episode

The Fonkey Casuals continued their discussions on what to do next regarding the strange poppet dolls and the fact that whomever had planted them on the party could hear and see everything the party had been doing for who knows how long. Deciding they needed more food to sustain themselves on before setting out, the party purchased some ginger, some spices, a whole pig, a pound of duck potatoes and a bag of spoiled oysters, which Grin mentioned could serve as bait.

After shopping for some groceries the party set out in the wagon towards their destination which now had bedding set down in the back made from the straw that Cornelius had been eating while he was a mule. The road continued onward and eventually the party had begun to set up camp for the night in the back of the wagon once again. Everyone slept, while four hours into the night both Antyr and Lionel had woken up from their respective trance and inactive state. During their trance, Antyr had been focusing on gaining proficiency in the weaver's supplies they were given by Grin and had successfully done so when they woke from said trance. While awake together however, the pair kept to themselves and Antyr sent Endylus out into the night of this region to scout around, and while they were flying about they were "killed" by an unseen presence in the branches above the wagon. When Antyr looked up they saw a shadowy figure with long gnarled limbs, squatting in the branches of one of the trees. It had lidless white eyes and was mimicking the noise of creaking branches and the meowing noises that Endylus made in his tressym form. As soon as Antyr locked eyes with the being it leapt off into the darkness of the jungle and disappeared from view.

Antyr asked if Lionel had seen it, to which the latter replied that they wish they hadn't. A few hours later, Torger awoke and was warned by Antyr about the presence that had been tracking them throughout this region for the last few days. Taking this warning into account, Torger pulled the hood of their cloak up and stepped out of the Tiny Hut and into the darkness of this region. They opened the letter they were given by Jerry earlier in the day and watched as illusory spiders crawled out, while the letter itself said “Our webs are far reaching and snare even the most distant prey.” They put the letter away, complaining about Jerry while doing so and spent the rest of the night doing exercises on the road and keeping an eye out for any untoward visitors.

The rest of the party woke about an hour later and Grin began whipping up a breakfast utilizing more of the bog butter and was attempting to cook bacon out of the eight-hour cured salted pork. The meal was an absolute disaster with only Torger, Vonkar and Doe eating the food and seeming to enjoy it, even after discovering that Grin had cooked a large fossilized beetle that had died in the butter along with it. Hopper cooked a nice pork chop and shared it with anyone who would eat it, while Antyr snacked on rations and Grin ate more hardtack. During breakfast, Grin pulled everyone in the party to the side, except for Doe and Hopper and began discussing what to do next, not wanting whomever was spying on them to hear this conversation.

After much discussion, they had agreed they'd fly the rest of the way to Drowned Maiden Reef on the Luminaera, fearing that if they continued on the road that time would get the better of them. Before proceeding, Hopper was called over and Antyr successfully dispelled their poppet doll causing it to crumble into dust. Grin wrapped a cloth around Doe's many eyes and began making loud noises with Minor Illusion to "deafen" them while Antyr spoke the command word and summoned the Luminaera with everyone clambering on board and taking off towards Drowned Maiden Reef. Grin led Doe down into the lower deck to be kept away from any potential details that could be used against the party due to the doll.

Three hours into the journey, Hopper dipped down below out of the clouds to get a better view of the horizon, but also because they were flying into a storm. As they did so, they could see a raging storm on the horizon with churning clouds swirling in a vortex and in the heart of that vortex was a crimson coloured light.

#### After the Break

As they approached the storm on the horizon, they could also make out details of the reef itself. The ocean below was raging due to the storm, and it was filled with thousands of shipwrecks as far as the eye could see. In addition they were numerous rocky spires filled with holes that caused the raging winds of this storm to cause a piercing whistle to sound out as it tore through the holes.

Hopper who was piloting the luminaera warned the party that they may experience some turbulence from the storm and told everyone to hang on tightly. As they grew closer to the storm and the convergence point marked on their map they could see a rocky outcropping of an island and in the center of the island was a large, 150-foot tall tower of iron, stone and wood, a familiar looking tower. It was another Orbis Ancora, similar to the one they had all destroyed about eleven days prior in the chunk of the Feywild that had been pulled into the Material Plane. This one appeared much taller and much more well constructed with the glass orb of blood filled at the top emitting a beam of red light which was causing the churning clouds in the sky above. In addition, it seemed like this Orbis Ancora was pulling something through through a rift in the vortex, it appeared to be a mile-tall dead willow tree growing out of the top of a mountain, a sight familiar to everyone in the party as they had seen it before in a landscape painting while in the tower that held the first Orbis Ancora.

Drawing closer to the island, the party could also make out around fifty Umbral Knights all over the island staring up at the vortex. There were also two, large sailing ships docked at the island and were fitted with what could only be described as massive excavation style tools. The party quickly debated what to do, seeing as there was noway they could fight fifty of these knights, considering how outnumbered they were. They all quickly decided they'd land the Luminaera about a mile out from the island, and then swim beneath the raging waves with the aid of the Fonkey. Deciding they needed some cover, they flew back up into the storm clouds causing the vehicle to be hit by a bolt of lightning which damaged the vehicle.

This is when they began to fly down towards the ocean to land, doing their best to hide their approach, but rolled an 8 on their stealth check. However, the vehicle safely landed on the water and it was quickly transformed back into its disc form and brought with the party beneath the churning waves while Antyr cast *Water Breathing* through the Fonkey. They all swam downwards in this illuminated reef thanks to the crimson tinged storm above, seeing a large crater having been dug out of the ocean floor. After searching for a little over an hour in this crater, Hopper had concluded that this is where the sword had been in their vision and that it had clearly been found and taken away.

More discussions were had, and the party decided they'd scout out the island and get information, especially regarding the two large ships docked at the island. It took them about twenty-five minutes to make the swim towards this island and Hopper detected an aura of magic radiating from a small personal ship also docked at the island called the Night Reaver. The larger sailing ships were marked with the words "Port Creach Navy". While scouting, Hopper also noticed what they assumed to be Port Creach to the west, on the horizon.

Antyr sent Endylus out towards the smaller personal ship to peek through the captain's window at the back and saw a large, goliath dressed in naval officer attire leaving this chamber and had a familiar sword on his side, a longsword made of stained glass, the exact sword from Hopper's vision.

Antyr heard this goliath conversing with someone outside of this chamber and the conversation involved them having been made aware of the party's arrival in the Luminaera and that they had already alerted someone to their presence. One of the figures mentioned they should return to the port, and Antyr heard a whooshing noise, which coincided with Hopper losing the aura they were detecting from the sword, but continued to detect an aura of magic from within the personal ship. While holding their breath due to the Fonkey disallowing them to breathe on land, Antyr cast *Starlight Step* and entered the captain's quarters stealing a collection of documents off of a table as well as a small dead willow tree in a pot with a green orb clutched in the branches. Realizing that Lionel didn't need to breathe, and learned he was proficient in Thieves' Tools, Antyr cast *Message* and asked Lionel to help them out.

Lionel clambered into the room and began working on opening the chest, failing to do so on the first attempt and causing some sort of hissing noise to start within the chest. Antyr had begun to panic, but Lionel assured them he could do it and succeeded in opening the chest which caused the supposed trap to disengage. Inside the chest was a ledger and a lockbox filled with coins which Lionel grabbed and leapt out of the window and back into the ocean with Antyr following behind.

As the pair of them leapt back into the ocean, Grin swung their magical sword and destroyed the Night Reaver's anchor chain, causing the ship to slowly drift out into the reef and into the raging waves.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

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

### Mentioned

* Duskreaper Aelinor (unnamed)
* Kena Peshan
* Lord Oberon
* Thrammarn