Chapter 4: The Search for the Ethereal Plane

## **June 2, 2351**

### Session 22

Having successfully helped save Red Deer *again*, our heroes lay around exhausted in the growing heat of a late spring morning, enjoying the fresh air before they'd inevitably be escorted back to their cabin again. As they did, they were somewhat bewildered to see Rulf Cartwright, faintly bloody, walking along with a handful of guards as they escorted some surly-looking townsfolk — including one of the men Seth had seen talking the day before — who looked quite a bit bloodier than Rulf did. However, they made no move to intervene.

Instead, Vyre went over to give Shelby a pep talk, having noticed that many of the townsfolk were avoiding both her and Kiran. She also made a point of (loudly) talking about how helpful Rulf had been in fighting the fire.

Not long after, Elfrieda appeared with Gin and Greexuek at her side, to suggest that between this latest attack and an attack on the Gentle Thicket before our heroes had been resurrected, it was probably best if they left town sooner rather than later. She and Caitriona had gotten Falk to agree to letting them leave, given the lack of any evidence of their involvement with the cult.

Before leaving town, the group had a few errands to run: first, they checked in to see if Brenras had finished the coin Vyre had commissioned the night before (she had not). While there, Gulo was approached by a pretty woman he'd never seen before, who passed on a note and some supplies care of Francisca; Gulo declined to share the contents of the note with the others. Rorrik also asked Brenras if he might be able to silver his weapon by melting down two small silver mirrors he'd found; she replied that it was possible, but that it would be delicate work.

They also went to Beatriz's, where Rorrik picked up the instructions for making a Potion of Comprehension, Theodard picked up a Potion of Fire Breath, and Vyre picked up a Djinn & Tonic as well as a poisoner's kit.

Walking to the edge of town, the group said their goodbyes. Zo asked Gin to say goodbye to Chandra for her, and give her best; Vyre gave Elfrieda a letter for Shelby. Once the Guard members were firmly out of sight, our heroes ceremonially spat in Red Deer's general direction; Theodard refrained, noting he still had to come back to get paid at the end of all this.

So our heroes began to journey vaguely northwest, in search of a portal to the Ethereal Plane, led by their halfling guide. Theodard began to teach them how to search for portals, urging them all to try and connect with what gave them power, to extend their senses and search out disruption — for Gulo and Zo, both exceptionally watchful, they relied on their senses of Perception to guide them; for Vyre and Rorrik, they focused on their connections to their gods; for Seth, she meditated on her patron. Gulo in particularly quickly showed an affinity for the technique; Theodard promised to coach them all through developing the skill as their journey wore on — perhaps Theodard was the only one with any conception, at the time, of just how long this journey might take.

After their first fruitless day of searching out the Ethereal Plane, they made camp for the night, taking watch in shifts, save Seth, who finally began to put her newfound sleeplessness to public use.

## **June 3, 2351**

### Session 22 (cont)

Their second day of travel was also uneventful, and once again they set up a watch. Unfortunately, Theodard and Seth were not as watchful as they could have been, and they suddenly found themselves dodging swings from skeletons, belatedly realizing the rest of their number had been grappled in their sleep.

### Session 23

Understandably, the party was quite convinced they were all about to die horribly — the last couple of times they'd fought skeletons, the encounters had not been pleasant. However, they quickly realized their skills had been developing since, and between Theodard's talents as a fighter and Rorrik's increased powers as a cleric, it was the work of some seconds to dispatch their assailants. The rest of the evening passed without incident.

## **June 4, 2351**

### Session 23 (cont)

The following day was cooler and overcast, and once again, failed to yield the desired portal. Toward the end of their travelling day, both Gulo and Zo caught a sense of something and, excited at the possibility, they pushed themselves onward, most of the party finding themselves exhausted by the time Gulo and Zo had a sense they were close to the portal. However, this presented a new problem: they could not spot the portal, but got the sense that it was somewhere in the middle of the river. Given that so many of them were already in rough shape, trying to find it that night seemed like a disproportionately dangerous proposition, so after some discussion, they agreed to rest for the night and try to get to the portal in the morning.

That evening, Seth received another message from Earl, checking in on her whereabouts and well-being. Seth replied that she was well, but had left Red Deer, and would let Deck know once she had a steady mailing address again. Receiving no reply, and with nothing else coming for them that evening, they once again set watch and rested.

## **June 5, 2351**

### Session 23 (cont)

Waking the following morning, those more sensitive to portals quickly realized it had disappeared while they'd rested. Dispirited, and not sensing any other portals nearby, they began to follow the river northwest.

Partway through the day, they took a break, in part to allow Vyre — who had been sleeping in her full armour and was beginning to show the effects of that choice — to try and Trance and recover some of her strength. While she rested, Theodard offered to go hunting for the party. After some time passed with no sign of his return, Zo and Gulo went in search of the halfling, finding him with ease. He had failed to hunt anything, which was probably only a surprise to Theodard himself.

With the group all together once again, several members decided to try and meditate to find another portal — unfortunately for Seth, this led to her connecting with her patron a little too well, and she began to suffer vivid hallucinations of her twin. Only Seth knows how accurate the behaviour of the vision was — it was acerbic and irreverent, but also rather cruel, openly mocking several of her party members as well as throwing in several comments regarding Seth's life choices. As Seth struggled to focus on what she knew to be real and to ignore the sight and sound of her twin, who she'd been so long without and missing so badly, the rest of the group tried to help her as best they could. Despite this, the illusory Deckhun remained for about an hour before, finally, it disappeared. Finally, Seth confessed to the others from what she drew her power: a mysterious star that is said to drive all its worshippers mad, so potent in power that most places refuse to even harbour books on the subject. From this point on, she resolved to stop trying to find portals — indeed, to stop trying to connect to her patron at all.

## **June 6, 2351**

### Session 24

The following day of travel was largely uneventful — it wasn't until the end of the day that Gulo sensed another portal nearby, and once again, the party pushed themselves to their limits chasing it. By the time Gulo sensed they had reached the portal's vicinity, almost all of them were exhausted, with many of them struggling to keep up the pace as their muscles, sore from several days of walking, screamed at them to rest. Vyre immediately fell asleep, while the others searched for the portal.

Eventually, they found it by virtue of Rorrik magically illuminating rocks and tossing them until he just happened to get the angle right — Theodard poked his head through and reported it was either the Feywild or An, certainly not the Ethereal Plane. Though Zo felt a pang of longing for her home plane, the group agreed it was not worth the diversion, and they settled in to make camp for the evening. This is the night the group learned Seth believes marshmallows grow on bushes and, thanks to a lecture, now some other party members also believe this to be true.

## **June 7, 2351**

### Session 24 (cont)

The following day, partway through the morning, our heroes found themselves ambushed by five huge insectoid creatures who sprayed them all with acid, grappling them in their massive pincers and trying to eat them alive. Unlike the skeletons of a few nights before, these creatures very nearly sent our heroes right back to the deaths they'd so recently escaped — by the end of the fight, only Theodard, Vyre, and Zo were still conscious. Thankfully, at the last minute, a large group of strangers with crossbows intervened, keeping their distance but dealing enough damage to allow the remnants of our heroes to finish the beasts off and save their companions from another untimely demise.

### Session 25

Though most of these saviours were unknown to all our heroes, one of them was known to Gulo: Borel, a man some years his senior, who had been part of the same group Gulo had grown up with. Borel seemed excited to see Gulo, and greeted him and the rest of our heroes with warmth as they tended to their wounds, while some of his group began butchering the bodies of the beasts, harvesting their meat for the evening's meal. Borel invited our heroes back to their hideout to pass the day and night in relative safety and, though some of our heroes had their misgivings, they agreed.

The group was large, ranging in age from the very young (~mid-teens) to middle-aged, all human. For the most part, they seemed content to leave our heroes to their own devices, though Borel came by and spoke to them here and there.

As the afternoon wore on, some of our heroes grew more and more suspicious of the group's motivations for taking them in, and while Gulo got quite drunk over the course of the day, most of the group focused on keeping a level head and watching what their hosts got up to. Several people partook of the harvested meat, and only Seth suffered noticeable gastrointestinal distress as a result!

Vyre took her rest first, so that she could keep up the charade of resting after four hours of Trance to keep an eye on the situation — Seth too, no longer bound to the need to sleep, volunteered to keep an eye out. Their worst fears were confirmed when attempts were made to drug three of their number at once; while Theodard and Vyre shook off the sedative's effects and began to fight, Zohal was knocked unconscious, and all hell broke loose.

The fight that followed did not last long, but it claimed many lives. Most of the bandits were easily outmatched, having drastically underestimated the threats they were taking on. While our heroes slew several of them, Borel proved a more difficult target, duelling Gulo and Vyre, though he seemed reluctant to strike against Gulo, settling for endless taunts instead. By the time he was finally taken down, most of his group had already fallen, and our heroes pushed on to finish the job, choosing destruction over diplomacy. Though a few of the bandits managed to flee into the night, both of the teenagers in the group were killed by Zohal.

### Session 26

Once the dust settled, Theodard — who had been fighting on the other side of the bandits' hideout and could not see in the dark the way our heroes could — caught sight of the destruction by the glow of the Moonbeam spell burning away what remained of the youngest teenager and abruptly left, telling his wards they could loot if they wanted to but he wouldn't be sleeping there that night. In varying degrees of discomfort with how the evening had played out, the group one by one joined him outside before pressing on to make camp for the night.

## **June 8, 2351**

### Session 26 (cont)

Though most of our heroes escaped any external consequences for the extent of the slaughter that night, their cleric received a warning dream soon after bedding down for the night. In the dream, he faced a vision of himself — seemingly with his gear and skills to boot — who spoke not a word, but initiated one-on-one combat with him. The only difference between them seemed to be the startling steel grey of his doppelganger's eyes.

They traded blows, and as the fight wore on, the steel grey eyes faded away, leaving behind only empty sockets. When the dream ended, no harm had been done to Rorrik, but the memory of the dream stayed with him.

The following morning, everyone was well aware of Theodard's changed attitude towards the group — the formerly gregarious halfling had gone quiet and seemed intent on avoiding all of them save the necessary interactions required to fulfill his job as a guide — but only Rorrik reached out, suggesting he had the feeling his god was angry with him for how the previous night had gone.

Though Theodard did not get too far into specifics, he did pose two questions: first, did Rorrik think those children had *chosen* the life they were living and the people they were living it with; second, if Gulo had been with that group growing up, did Rorrik think he would have behaved any differently than those children had?

Still, after that, Theodard warmed slightly to Rorrik; for the rest of the group, it was a tense day of travel, if mercifully uneventful.

## **June 9, 2351**

### Session 26 (cont)

The following day was also uneventful, with drizzling rain on and off, and a brief glimpse of elk during the morning. Seth received a message from Earl that night, but did not make as much use of it as she might otherwise have done, as for the first time in several nights, she slept. That evening, Zohal did notice how full the moon was getting, and the group discussed what to do in case of werewolves, agreeing to climb up trees to hide if need be. However, no wolves came that evening.

## **June 10, 2351**

### Session 26 (cont)

The following morning began with an unwelcome development: a message from Aleida de Gris to Rorrik, seemingly sent by the same means Seth received messages from Earl. Thoroughly unnerved, Rorrik made what excuses he could (to paraphrase, "Sorry, real busy searching for the Ethereal Plane, no mail carriers around here!"), and the group pressed on, acutely aware that if the night before hadn't brought any wolves, tonight almost certainly would. That evening, they made camp in an area with some decently sturdy trees to hide in, each of them picking out one they found satisfactory, and they waited for the moon to rise. It didn't take long — almost as soon as the sun set, the moon was there, and howls began to fill the air.

### Session 27

Having already climbed their respective trees, our heroes hunkered down, hoping they'd hidden well enough that no werewolves would notice them. Unfortunately, it seemed that Vyre and Gulo were not so well-concealed as they could have been, and the others could only watch as six wolves began to circle their tree, leaping up, trying to reach them. Fortunately, it seemed as though they'd climbed high enough that the wolves couldn't reach them, but they were still in for a long, sleepless night. Or so they thought. Not long after the wolves came, they were startled to see another pack of wolves come running, attacking the first pack. A fierce battle ensued between the two groups, and some of our heroes came to an unsettling realization: some of the wolves in this new pack had silvered claws.

As the two packs tore at each other, it quickly became evident only silvered strikes left any lasting damage; in the space of some seconds, they watched as the first pack realized they were outmatched, turning tail and running, the new pack in hot pursuit. With nothing else to do, and not eager to deal with whoever won the fight, they began their long rest in the branches of their respective trees.

## **June 11, 2351**

### Session 27 (cont)

The following morning, Rorrik received another message from Aleida, replying that he'd seen no sign of Sam or the Stranger. After he admitted to the group that she'd begun contacting him, they agreed that they needed to find a way to get Aleida off their tail. Rorrik took the opportunity to reach out to Sam, letting her know that Aleida was being quite persistent in asking for information on her, and if there was any she could spare. Sam replied, rattling off various facts that, while technically new information, was unlikely to satisfy Aleida's need for answers.

That day, those in the group capable of sensing portals began to be plagued by a vague sense of *something* they couldn't quite describe. It didn't feel quite like a portal, but it felt maddeningly similar in nature, coming from no real discernible direction. Further complicating the situation was a grim realization: as many of our heroes had only brought ten days' rations, they were beginning to run low on food. Zohal took to foraging as they walked, to help supplement their food supply. Once again, Earl sent Seth a message checking in after they had made camp for the night. That evening, the group discussed the situation of their rations, and Theodard reluctantly admitted he could also help them out in that regard. Discussing the Ethereal Plane, he assured him that once they were there, rations would be of little concern due to the plane's inherent nature — though where they'd come out and how far from civilization they'd be was another matter entirely. That night, while praying to her god, Vyre heard Eustachy's voice for the first time — he advised that she stop sleeping in her armour all the time and, with some reluctance, she complied.

## **June 12, 2351**

### Session 27 (cont)

The following morning, Theodard and Gulo were quick to sense a portal to the southeast, and the party hurried in that direction, with only a brief break for lunch. Crossing the main N–S road that goes from Rogerton through Red Deer all the way down to Mohkinstsis, they came upon the remains of a town long since abandoned, with the portal in question abundantly obvious: a vast gash in reality leading out into an icy expanse of swirling winter, bitterly cold, snow drifts begin to build up around it despite the heat of the summer day. Only Gulo and Rorrik caught sight of the massive creature within: something with shaggy white fur, beginning to move towards them.

### Session 28

A brief battle with a yeti ensued, in which the yeti, much like the bandits of a few days before, drastically underestimated the threat it was up against. Once the creature had been felled, Vyre began to harvest its pelt, eager to make herself a new coat. Over the course of the day, the party developed their talents as foragers, with Zo in particular foraging so well that they hardly had to touch their rations. The evening was mercifully uneventful.

## **June 13, 2351**

### Session 28 (cont)

Most of the following day was also uneventful, though the portal-sensitive in the party continued to be plagued by a sense of *something*. That evening, meditating on nature, Zo got a distinct sense of unease that, combined with their having found another Feywild portal earlier on, left the party on high alert for any incoming threats.

## **June 14, 2351**

Sure enough, right around midnight, blood-curdling howls rang through the air, of a different tenor than those of the wolves a few nights before. There was something distinctly unnatural about these howls, which woke all sleeping members of the party and sent everyone scrambling for cover, with Zo using her druidic magic to help them all conceal themselves in the greenery. They watched in quiet horror — those who had a clean line of sight, anyway — as a strange, massive beast came out of the shadows and began to attack Rorrik. It looked like a dog, but its face was strangely squished, almost like a gargoyle's, with glowing red eyes.

Due to some strategic fighting, our heroes managed to take down the beast and its companion with relatively little trouble, with some of them harvesting parts from the fallen beasts.

That night, Rorrik dreamt of a mysterious woman with dark hair; what transpired between them, only he knows.

### Session 29

The following day was hot, windy, and dry, with precious little of note taking place. Vyre continued to try to work the pelt, with mixed results, receiving instructions from both Seth and Gulo, who were both familiar with different processes, and approached advising her different ways.

## **June 15, 2351**

### Session 29 (cont)

The following day dawned even hotter, without so much as a breeze to chill the air. Those searching for portals once again found themselves confounded by that strange sense of *something*, this time seeming to come from the west. After only an hour or so of travel, they heard something unexpected: music. After carefully creeping closer, they found an abandoned rail car in a state of mild to moderate disrepair, eclectically decorated. A small camp outside spoke to a strange but fulsome life: a strange rectangle, brightly painted, seemed to be the source of the music, and a strangely shaped skull was mounted on a nearby dead tree, with a few rabbits roasting slowly on a fire. Bones scattered here and there, and various pelts and skins drying in the hot summer air, those better versed in herbal arts also spotted tools of the trade — a mortar and pestle, some small vials.

Soon after, they spotted what seemed to be the sole resident of this camp: a massive, long-haired bugbear, its fur dyed in bright green, electric blue, and hot pink. Around his waist he wore only an enormous towel around his hip featuring a figure they were unfamiliar with.

The bugbear seemed excited to meet them once they introduced themselves, particularly once he spotted Theodard, who he believed our heroes had brought to him to trade. Why would he want to trade for a halfling, you ask? Why, so he could eat him, of course! When introductions had been made, two assertions had been made: the bugbear's name was Samsok, and Vyre, Theodard, and all the rest of our heroes were polyamorous lovers and as such, unfortunately, Theodard could not be eaten.

Some initial conversation was exchanged, wary at first and gradually relaxing as it seemed like Samsok was willing to accept Theodard's status as not-food — for now, at least. Samsok offered to share his rabbit, and the group gratefully accepted, sitting down in the growing heat of the morning. As they talked further, however, it seemed that all was not well at Samsok's camp. See, the trees had been moving. And also he kept hearing these gigantic crashing noises. Speaking of gigantic crashing noises, that's about when our heroes began to hear them — not terribly close, but close enough to be a point of concern. So, the rabbit eaten, all of them drawing their weapons, our heroes went forth with Samsok to see what they could find out.

Getting closer, our heroes came upon a frightful sight: a massive tree which, when it moved to throw itself into a train car at full force, grew a contorted, terrible face, twisted in hatred. Thus began our heroes' battle with the Tree of Dread.

It didn't take long for the party to realize just how dangerous this tree was — it had two others with it, though they were faceless and didn't seem quite so powerful as it was. Realizing that these strange animated trees were likely capable of killing just about any of them in one or two blows, they tried to take stock of the situation and decide how they might be able to escape with their lives.

### Session 30

The battle continued, with Theodard making use of the Potion of Fire Breath he'd purchased in Red Deer, and the others concentrating their attacks on the tree with the face, in the hopes that once it fell the others would lose some power. In the end, it was Samsok who dealt the killing blow, clearing out the threat to his home with the help of his newfound friends. The moment the Tree of Dread was destroyed, its fellows went still, setting their roots deep in the earth once again.

Thoroughly exhausted by the fight and their exertions on such a scorching day, our heroes followed Samsok back to his camp, where they spent the rest of the day and that evening, talking and getting to know one another. Several party members decided to partake in some very special mushrooms Samsok had been growing — for some, this went well, while for others, it was an alarming experience. Over the course of their conversations, Samsok revealed an unnerving predilection for what may have been predictions or may have been the idle comments of someone who does hallucinogens on a regular basis — he noted that Gulo was a secret, and that Zohal was going to see her sister.

After some more discussion — including Theodard at least temporarily convincing Samsok that he was a halfling god, and that if Samsok ate a halfling, **he would know** — it was agreed that they would leave their yeti pelt with Samsok, who would treat it and bring it down to Mohkinstsis, where they would meet him at the Stampede. Based off a message Elfrieda had sent them earlier, encouraging them to take shelter with her friends the Ornons, this is the house they encouraged him to leave word at when he arrived there.

## **June 16, 2351**

### Session 31

The following day, our heroes said their goodbyes to Samsok, promising to meet him in Mohkinstsis, and headed on their way. The following day was relatively uneventful, that strange sense of *something* dissipating as they left Samsok's camp, the weather less hot than before, though still hot enough to wear on them as they travelled on. Though some of the party sensed a portal that afternoon, it felt familiar — they were beginning to get a sense of how portals to different realms felt, and suspected it was another portal to the Feywild.

That evening, Seth received another message from Earl, invoking an unexpected name: "Hi Seth, how are you? Uh, we're just wondering who Lavinikova Aldataur is and why you told her where to find us."

It seems that Deckhun had received Vyre's letter to her sister, and that they and their allies were somewhat unnerved to be Vyre's point of contact. Earl conveyed the main points of Kovi's letter to Seth, to be passed on to Vyre: she wanted to know why Vyre's parents couldn't be trusted and how Vyre was still alive; she sent a threat in case Vyre was an imposter; she said to send word back via Mal Vahalam in Seatower, back in Baldur's Gate. Earl also requested that Seth be careful in the future about who she gave away information about Deckhun's location to. Vyre opted not to send word back through Earl, deciding to reply to Kovi when she next had the opportunity to send a letter.

## **June 17, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The following day was cooler still, and with no sense of a portal to be found, the party continued on their way.

## **June 18, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The following day was unseasonably chilly, and again, there was no sign of a portal.

## **June 19, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The day after that was much the same as the day before, though Seth realized it was Kailwen Shaleback's 39th birthday that day, and Rorrik received an unwelcome surprise in the form of another follow-up message from Aleida.

## **June 20, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The following day, the weather began to turn warm again, and once again, the only portal they had any sense of was what felt like another portal to the Feywild.

## **June 21, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The weather stayed warm the next day, but a heavy rain woke the party and stayed with them throughout the day. By this point, the party had been travelling for over three weeks, and it was starting to feel as though they'd never reach the Ethereal Plane. That day, Vyre prayed to Eustachy, and received a message in return: Three days.

## **June 22, 2351**

### Session 31 (cont)

The next day dawned warm, windy, and dry, and the party continued to travel east, with a renewed sense of optimism after Vyre's message the day before. They came across an unexpected sight early that afternoon: a man in plain beige robes, balancing on one tiptoed foot on the bridge's railing, a quarterstaff balanced upright on the fingertip of one extended arm.

### Session 32

The man introduced himself as Hávarðr, and informed the group that he was training to become untouchable. He seemed excited for the chance to test his training against some real opponents, and offered 10 gp to the first person who could lay a hand upon him. What ensued involved several party members discovering they simply couldn't find the will to attack the monk at all, some aura of his sapping any violence from them before they could so much as raise their weapons. Rorrik, quickly catching on, cast *dispel magic* on the monk, and a moment later Zo successfully struck him with her scimitar. Hávarðr readily admitted defeat, and offered Zo the 10 gp — which she chose to split with Rorrik — and gave the party his best wishes. Partway through this interaction, some of the party members realized he was speaking a language they did not know, but they understood him perfectly despite this. After a moment, he offered Gulo a copper key, saying he suspected Gulo would need it soon.

After journeying the rest of the day, the party found themselves just east of the ruins of a long-abandoned town. In general, Theodard had avoided having them camp too close to any ruins, for fear of restless undead, but they believed themselves far enough away to make camp.

At around 10 p.m., they began to notice an unsettling sight, though it was difficult to make out in the growing darkness: a man had appeared in the ruins, and was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. However, he made no move to come closer to the party, so those on watch kept an eye out, but did not wake the others.

After an hour, he fell to his knees, seemingly sinking deep into prayer. After the better part of another hour, those on watch could just barely make him out, ascending steps that were no longer there. At midnight, he jumped, and began to convulse, legs jerking wildly as he dangled from an unseen noose — and the party all began to choke with him. Those who had been sleeping woke abruptly, unable to breathe, and the next several seconds were chaos and panic as those who recovered their wits against the psychic assault tried to counsel the others through the process.

Partway through, Gulo took the copper key he'd been given and, unsure how else to use it, waved it around in the air, calling for help.

Theodard was the last to recover from the experience, some seconds before the ghost also went still, and around the time the halfling drew a ragged breath, The Stranger appeared, seemingly summoned by Gulo's key — and just as perplexed by the experience as the party was. Sensing that no one seemed to be in danger, he bid them all a good evening and left as abruptly as he'd come; Rorrik sent him a message immediately after, asking if he had advice on finding the Ethereal Plane. The Stranger replied: "The holes between your world and others are many, and always changing. If you're meant to find the Ethereal Plane, you will."

Helpful guy, that Stranger.

## **June 23, 2351**

### Session 32 (cont)

The following day, recovered from the terror of the night — and with no sign of the hanged man in the light of day — the party pushed further east. Around midday, they caught a sense of another portal, this time to the southwest, and they followed that trail, though by the time they had to make camp for the evening, they had not yet tracked it down. That night, with some beginning to rest and Vyre mid-trance, the party was startled by the sound of a snapping branch, and a moment later found themselves faced with two drow men, one of whom seemingly much friendlier than the other. They "invited" the party to come see their camp, with some of our heroes excited at the prospect of seeing their spiders, while others were emphatically not.

### Session 33

Upon reaching the camp, our heroes found a group of eight drow in total, along with eight giant spiders and a single drider. Among their number was Corley, a brash, confident drow woman who seemed fascinated by the outsiders. There was some tension, with certain members of both parties less inclined to diplomacy than their fellows, but before tensions could boil over, they found themselves attacked by a large group of cockatrices. A fierce battle ensued, with many members of both parties fighting against the petrification effect of the animals, though only two succumbed: one of the giant spiders, and Gulo.

When the last of the cockatrices fell, Corley made a power play: the party was going to come with her and her companions, whether they liked it or not. A tense standoff ensued, and ultimately it was two people in particular who escalated the situation: Corley, refusing to back down, and Vyre, already half-mad with grief at the sight of Gulo's petrified body, and unable to restrain her temper in the face of Corley's taunting. Vyre fired the arrows that killed Corley, and for a moment it looked as though our heroes would have to fight the remaining seven drow, their spiders, and the drider.

### Session 34

Thankfully, one of their number — Rauva — intervened, asking that the party allow her to revive her fallen companions and that they all wait out the petrification effect on opposite sides of the clearing until they were able to go their separate ways. Bringing Corley back to life with various threats about what Rauva would do to Corley if she continued to misbehave, the cleric led her fellows to one side of the camp, while our heroes, shaken, wounded, and worried, stayed with Gulo's petrified form.

## June 24, 2351

### Session 34 (cont)

The party passed an uneasy night, but encountered no further danger. The day dawned sunny and warm, the skies clear, but Gulo remained petrified, and all of them were tense with the knowledge that based off the message Vyre had received from Eustachy, today should be the day where they found the Ethereal Plane, but so long as Gulo was stuck, so were they.

That morning, Rauva cast a spell on their petrified giant spider, curing the petrification effect, and the drow made their way away from the party, all of them cringing in the bright light of day. The party remained behind, having a tense lunch, waiting for any sign of change in Gulo.

While they waited, Seth cast *sending* for the first time, speaking to her twin for the first time in months.

Finally, that night, Gulo's petrification ended — for him, no time at all had passed since the fight with the cockatrices, and he was rather bewildered to learn everything that had happened.

Painfully relieved, the party checked for portals — and got the sense of one very close to them, directly west. Reaching a lake, they realized the portal was in the shallow water at its edge — the colour within muted and grey, shifting with mist.

Finally, our heroes had found the Border Ethereal.

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