Usurper Session 23

The party begins to approach Diana and Sterben cautiously. The two are using some sort of long pole inscribed with markings to create eddies and stir up the River of Pearl. When souls splash out of the river, they seem to disappear and flow away. We call out to the necromancers and demand to know their business. We pose as agents sent by Kalarel and attempt to dissuade them from completing whatever task they were sent to do and accompany us to our business at the Fortress of Memories. They seem to buy it somewhat at first but refuse to abandon their task, claiming that they are almost done and that they need to send a message to Kalarel personally. Eventually they grow suspicious of us and we rush in to attack. Kava reaches them first and hits them hard, knocking them to their feet, dazing them, and blasting them with lightning. Quinn and Ariel reach them next. In a bold move, Ariel bullrushes Diana, knocking her into the River of Pearl. At once, ghostly hands reach up to grasp her and pull her beneath the surface. Furious, Sterben lashes out at Ariel, shoving her into the river after Diana. As Ariel teeters on the brink, the whole party holds their breath in fear… until her boot slips and she too falls towards the reaching spirit hands. The moment they touch her, the Shroud is lifted and her true genasi form becomes visible. To the surprise of all, however, the hands shove her away, back towards the bank. Re-emboldened, the group renews their assault on Sterben. As they fight, a dark figure across the river appears from a hiding spot behind a boulder and a few of the party spot it as it pelts away down the banks. They have no time to spare, however, because Sterben is fighting fiercely and hits Ariel with another Beast Hex, turning her into a small (flaming) armadillo right as Dayereth and Kava manage to knock her unconscious.

As they bind her and search her person (finding the scroll she and Diana were planning to send to Kalarel in the process), Ariel crosses the river to find the mysterious figure. She finds a tall green half-elf in dress clothes who seems scared out of his mind. He introduces himself as Ollie and admits he’s probably dead. He believes he is a full elf and comes from a family of Pelor-worshipping clerics, though he himself works as a stage magician. The last thing he remembers is being unable to escape a water tank during a magic show at a goblin kid’s birthday party. Ouch. Since he witnessed the ferocity of Kava during the fight across the river, he is reluctant to come out of hiding but some dark elves appear in the distance in the opposite direction (apparently investigating the poles that Diana and Sterben had set up) and Ollie seems even more terrified of them, so  Ariel manages to coax him back to the party. We decide to tie up Sterben to interrogate her later and make for the Fortress of Memories with Ollie in tow.

Some time later, they find themselves close to the Fortress of Memories but surrounded by the river. A Boatman appears and ferries them across for the price of a few gold and at last they arrive at a gate.... Which unfortunately is guarded by an extremely fierce Bone Hydra. Unwilling to fight the beast, Dayareth and Kava cleverly use the Raven Queen’s mirror to cow the creature with its own reflection and we manage to get by with little more than a scratch (Ollie holds Ariel’s hand the entire time for bravery). Once inside we find an endless corridor lined with doors, identical except for a 112 digit number on each one. Kava opens one to see a silver portal behind it and, without hesitation, walks through it. The party is shocked and waits a few minutes to see if she comes back. When she doesn’t reappear, they begin to follow one by one, though Quinn seems particularly reluctant to pass through the door. They fall through silver whiteness for several moments before landing in what appears to be the city of Rosekeep, 15 years ago (year 83). As they look around to get their bearings, a familiar figure appears… it’s the Prophetess!