Eero

Eero Portrait by Open Art

Quiet, dedicated to a fault, and fiercely loyal, Eero sees his purpose in life as using the abilities he posses to protect the people he loves and keep the promises he has made to his god and people. Although very unsure of himself in the beginning, Eero’s journey takes him to far places that build his convictions and confidence.

## Backstory

> *'The haunting silhouettes of rafters and supports hung down from the ceiling charred and sharp like blackened claws sticking down into the little home. With the dark night and the crushed remains of the home, Eben could barely make out Davian’s head and shoulders through the broken and overturned chairs.*
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> *“Here.” Davian whispered the words, but then repeated them in almost a shout. His eyes opened widely, and he stooped down.*
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> *“Here what?” Eben asked, his brow raised questioningly. But then Eben heard something he had not imagined possible from such a scorched wreckage. A baby. It was definitely a baby; it was crying.'*
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Eero was born sometime during the start of the year 244 T.C. to parents unknown. During the start of the Grruiptoi raids of the spring of 244, Eero was found abandoned in the remains of a small home after the burning of the village Adrun. He was adopted by Chief Davian Raziel and raised as one of his own sons, though tradition kept him from fully claiming Eero as his own. The societal obligations of the tribes ran thick and family bloodlines were seen as the way one is integrated into the civilization. Because Eero had no blood association within the Raziel tribe, the people disdained the idea of Eero being fully adopted as Davian's heir and someday ruling a tribe he had not been born into. Eero often felt ostracized by his peers as he felt the weight of wanting to belong but being discouraged from doing so. Worse yet, Eero had a speech impediment that kept him from displaying his true intelligence to much of the outside world. Only those that truly knew him saw his potential as a warrior and advocate for his people.

Davian raised Eero until the age of ten. Recognized as a Aasimar, or one touched by Zaquen, it was agreed that Eero would be sent to join the Arafel and thus deny him any claim to the title of Chief while still maintaining his connection to his surrogate father.

Eero showed vast intelligence and advanced very quickly with athletics and coordination. However, his speech impediment continued to slow his capacity to connect with many of his fellow warriors. During this time, Chalan Bessir was given charge of teaching Eero reconnaissance and became on of his closest allies and friends. Together, they were two of the few who refused to join in the coup of winter 263 T.C.

Eero embraced his role within the Arafel and fought hard to keep the remaining tribes safe. During this time, he also became betrothed to Anella Tobin, of the Rin tribe. She admired how well he listened and he loved how she could finish his sentences. But, before their marriage, Eero learned that one of the new village elders, Zahir Walla'ilmari planned to stage a coup in the the Quedem in the year 263. Anella and her family fled. Eero managed to warn some of the tribal Elders, but the coup gained fast momentum. The Arafel managed to kill most of the tribal Elders and Eero had to run for his life.

## Campaign

Following the Coup of 263 T.C., Eero fled south in search of his fiancée and surrogate father and mother (Davian and Bayla). During his several weeks of searching, Eero found an ancient library held within one of the ancient strongholds east of the Skolzheim mountains. Within this collection of ancient writing, a record was kept describing oracles held within the flying city of Luracia. Having been a believer in oracles within his own faith, Eero felt the ancients were leading him to the clue he needed in order to find his beloved fiancée and family. A few days later, he gained news that the flying city of Luracia was going to visit the not too distant city of Pavone, Eero became convinced this was divine guidance and his only chance of finding Anella. He immediately took journey to the south.

### Aether Nightsong Arc

#### Beginning: 15-16 August, 263 TC. Pavon City, Kingdom of Susemia, Celicine Peninsula

> *'Eero stood still.*
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> *He could feel the ground beneath his feet; the softness and give of the grass fronds and the the moisture in the soil flowed from the bottom of his soles to the tip of his head. His hands brushed past his tunic feeling the the leathery vest transition to the soft hide of his pant leg as they rested at his side. The breath in his chest came in waves, flowing gently and entering then emptying from his body. He was completely at peace... almost.*
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> *Everything was still, but it was too still.*
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> *Staring up into the vibrant moonlit night sky, he patiently waited as he watched the city descend. He had never seen the Flying city before but he knew what he was peering at. It was still too far away to see its features, but he could sense the metropolis in the vague celestial sphere. Its green hue was the only mark that could distinguish it against the midnight sky. it was sailing gently toward him and he would be waiting in the silence, still as the night and air around him. Motionless.*
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> *Then it hit him.*
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> *It was stock still. Unmoving. The air. He could feel his breath, but the air was unstirring. Almost dead. It felt hushed almost as if it were... sleeping.*
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> *Or was he sleeping?*
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> *He blinked, taking in the environment with new eyes. That's when he realized he wasn't alone.'*
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Camping on the outskirts of the town, Eero anxiously awaited the arrival of the flying city. However, on the night of 15 August, 263 T.C. Eero had an unnatural dream.

Eero found himself standing next to two strangers he had never met before. One was Modokus, a large Monk who had sworn a vow of silence and the other was Ena an elf ranger who did bounties for hire. The three of them were aware of each other but had no idea of the others’ identity. The three of them, obscured by dreamlike mist, all found themselves on the threshold of a forest, watching the moon and the flying city of Luracia in the sky come slowly closer together. Eero watched the sky, while Modokus and Ena tried to get a good look at one another.

Modokus noticed the ground was covered in ants that were all uniformly gathering towards the woods. A moment later, he felt a rhythmic vibration in the earth, and an eerie song in the air that seemed to be calling the ants. Eero stayed behind, his focus riveted on the city and the promise that it held off finding his future wife until the city suddenly became entirely eclipsed by the moon and vanished. Eero looked around to see Modokus and Ena following the ants into the woods.

Eero followed and as they came closer, they found a dull purple glow deep in the woods that seemed to be the source of the song. Eero picked up a handful of ants and found they were all winged. Eero stayed far away from the light, but Modokus and Ena approached, finding an octahedron gem, floating at chest level was the source of the song. On the ground, from their side they saw ants piling to try to reach the crystal, but on the other side, from deeper in the woods, spiders were coming and doing the same.

Modokus began clearing the insects to protect the crystal, but they began to come in too quickly.

In the dull light of the crystal, they could finally see each other clearly, though Eero was too far for the others to see him. Modokus finally reached for the crystal to keep it away from the bugs, but the moment he touched it, the dream ended.

Eero awoke and determined the dream was a warning. He spent the morning pondering over its meaning until he recognized Moduks' tall silhouette standing out in a nearby crowd. Eero approached the towering monk and attempted to speak. Modokus, who had recently been contacted by Ena who was asking him about the dream, seeing the difficulty at which he was trying to communicate, made signs asking him if he had been involved in the same dream. The three of them confirmed they all had the same dream, and together, attempted to communicate, despite Modokus being under a vow of silence, and Eero having a speech impediment. Relying mostly on sign language, much to Ena’s confusion, the group discussed the dream and its possible meanings.

Just before 9:00, a loud echoing sound rang out in the sky as the city of Luracia launched its teleportation pad down to the city square of Pavone, officially making contact between the two cities possible. The group continued to converse as a man named Edric entered the tavern. Edric was a Luracian noble who was seeking to find answers to his own mysterious family herritage and birthmark. Also within the tavern was Leora and Monana, two strangers from a far away land that stood out in stark contrast as Leora was a dragonkin and Monana was Lalafel.

It was at this time that Modokus noticed the tea on Edric’s table was vibrating to the same rhythm as the song in the dream. Modokus pointed this out to Eero, who spotted it as well. Eero and Modokus took off out of the Tavern looking for the source, but the rumbling began to grow so large that everyone began to notice it. Suddenly the ground shook violently four consecutive times, and a portion of the square collapsed, and out of the hole, several bipedal, ant-like creatures, standing 7 feet tall emerged from the hole.

Eero and Modokus took defensive stances in a flanking position to the ant creatures when suddenly an arrow whizzed from the among a group of people. An Eladrin named Minty Pineapple had fired the first attack, assuming the creatures to be hostile. The creatures began to retaliate and a battle ensued. Green winged ants fired bows and tan non-winged ants used their spears to attack. Eero, Modukus, Ena, and Minty were aided by Edric, a Lalafel princess by the name of Monana, and her loyal bodyguard, Leora. The battle was going in favor of the adventurers when suddenly an umberhulk emerged from the hold and began to attack.

> *'Eero's head was swimming as he looked up into a large pair of yellow eyes.*
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> *"Get up!" It was the Dragon kin. Her hand was still on his forehead as she pivoted her attention back to the attack. He shook his head, trying to clear the ringing from his ears. How long had he been out?*
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> *WHAM!*
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> *Eero hardly had time to register. It was big and black. A shiny limb, like a burnt, polished tree trunk slammed into the paladin's shield throwing her back several feet. He took in a sharp breath between his teeth. Apparently it hadn't been too long. Eero forced a sharp exhale from his lungs and felt as his body melted into the air and floated him back to his feet. It was the umber hulk. He had hit him hard and everything had gone out. He had to be more careful or this creature would be the end of everything he had fought for.*
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> *He had no idea what it was even doing here or why it wanted to fight, but he couldn't let it end here. There was too much at stake.*
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> *Eero looked up to see its faceted eyes and the pointed features of its carapace at it raised an enormous forearm and brought it crashing down. Eero dove to the side as he felt the tremendous thud of its fist hitting the cobblestone path sending up a plume of dust that filled Eero's nostrils. The creature spun around swinging its club-like arm, coming inches from the Dragon-kin's face as it spun back towards its other opponent.*
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> *This was his chance.*
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> *Eero, leapt into the air, feeling his body fade into a jet of vapor as he pushed the air from his lungs. Fifteen feet would be enough.* *With a sharp inhale, the weight of his body rematerialized above the creature;* *both of his fists clenched on the hilt of his sword. He grunted as he plunged the blade down onto the thick neck plate of the beast.*
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> *There was soft cracking noise, and a slight give as the blade made purchase. It only sunk in a few inches, but it was enough. The Umber hulk roared as one its knees gave and met the earth beneath it.* *Eero drew the blade back as the monster's movement rolled him from the creature shell and sent him falling back to the ground. He landed hard and just had time to look up to hear a loud war* *cry.* *Looking back, he could see the Dragon kin. The slits of her eyes were wide with furry and* *she* *gripped* *the creature by one of its mandibles.* *Pulling it forward,* *she drove her other arm toward the creature creating a counter sheer that sent her blade* *toward the creatures face. There was a sickening crunch mixed with the slosh of fluid. The blade propelled through the creatures open jaws and emerged from the back of its head.*
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> *Everything froze. Then the with a groan, toppled to its side.'*
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The battle ended when Leora thrust her sword between the creature's mandibles, finishing it off.

Finishing the battle, A group of Luracian guards exited the platform. Edric began conversing with the guards and it quickly became apparent that he was a Luracian noble. Eero approached the man and after some difficulty asked how he could talk to the Oracle's guild. Edric was kind but also very straightforward in letting Eero know that conversing with the Oracles was well outside of his price range. Although Eero had hoped this wasn't the case, he had suspected Luracia would not be the answer to his problems after having the dream the night before. He thanked Edric, unsure what else to do except follow his two companions that had had the dream with him.

Modokus and Ena had already begun sharing information with Leora and Monana who seemed to know something of the creatures. Ena also began to share information about the dream with the other adventurers and Eero observed the faces of the listeners as the story was disclosed, unsure if this was a good idea.

After some brief discussion, and a brief trip Edric took to retrieve something from his home, Edric suggested the group head to see house Faust, who was in charge of the city, and ask for compensation for their saving the city and ask for supplies to continue an investigation.

Around 11:00, the group arrived at the Faust Manor. Upon entering they were informed the Lady of the house was in a meeting. A few minutes later, three men emerged from the lady’s office. All three of them wore black and red armor, and bore the sigil of the god of War and Strength, Be’Torn. Eero immediately felt uneasy. His religious background bore significant reservation about Be'Torn and those who follow him since it was said that it was Be'Torn's followers that drove him to the wintery waste.

The leader of the group was a tiefling who wielded a red crystal staff that ended in a hand shape. Another was a hobgoblin, and the last was a race Minty Pineapple and Edric recognized as a gith, creatures native to Limbo and the Astral plane.

Edric greeted the men and found out the leader with the staff was named Rothnar Lodroc, and their gith member was named Lykus Trodas. They revealed that Lykus had been on Relden since he was ten years old. Edric told these men that he harbored no ill will towards them. They were not warm, but they did seem to appreciate the sentiment before taking their leave.

Lady Ylva Faust then met with the party and identified Monana as a Princess to the others in the party. She also promised supplies to the group if they would investigate the hole that had sprung up.

In the night, Eero had another dream. He dreamt he was in the same woods, but this time Luracia was far away. He approached the crystal in the woods, but found it shrouded by The Mist. He reached out and touched the mist and realized it wasn’t his own mist, but another mist user who had sent the shroud. He could tell it wasn’t sent by Zahir, the leader of the Arafel Coup, but that it was a mist walker possibly affiliated with him. A moment later he felt a sharp pain in the back of his mind, like claws digging into his brain, but he fought off the attack, and the mist shroud faded away. He touched the crystal to try to move it, but was unable to, and the ants touched it first.

##### Stroll in the Hole: 17 August, 263 TC. Pavon City, Kingdom of Susemia, Celicine Peninsula

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Eero awoke the next morning feeling troubled. He went to find Ena already awake near the tavern main entrance. He tried to comunicate to Ena that he had another dream, but did not feel verry successful in conversing with her when the rest of the party came down and began to eat hastily and make their way to the hole entrance. When they arrived they found a blue mage from Luracia, Oscar Roynar, was now in charge of watching the pit, and a large mana cannon had been put in place pointed directly down the hole.

After some discussion, Edric revealed his homunculus, CARL a tiny floating replica of Luracia, which could be used to create light. Eero suggested to the group that he take lead, followed by Ena as they could see in the dark and scout ahead.

The group traveled down into the tunnels, and after finding one of the other entrances, proceeded down deeper until the approached a large natural cave. Once inside, Edric used CARL To light the room as Modokus and Eero climbed down into the cavern. Edric followed, but his descent was much less graceful. Eero discovered soft egg shells which Minty and Edric identified. As soon as the cavern was lit up, the group noticed dozens and dozens of eggs next to a natural stream running through, and Modokus found two separate trip wires.

Modokus spotted a hole in the ceiling where a Thri-kreen archer with an unnaturally reflective carapace was hiding, watching the group silently. Then, suddenly the ground began to vibrate, and the Thri-kreen attacked.

The flying Thri-kreen drone dashed in and began shooting arrows, while massive ants and smaller acid ants began to crawl from the ceiling as well. The group took defensive formations and fought back, but an Ankheg burst through the tunnel wall at the entrance and attacked as well. It was a close fight, but Eero managed the killing blow on the powerful drone, and Minty Peppermint managed to use a fey step to keep many of the acid ants at bay, despite being knocked unconscious midway through the fight. Eventually, the group stood victorious but wounded, and decided it was time to return to the surface.

The group discussed what to do with the eggs, and Monana stated she didn’t want to hurt the eggs since it seemed this vibrating rhythm in the ground was controlling them, and destroying their eggs would be unfair and unwise as it may provoke them to attack even when the rhythm isn’t present. Eero admired Monana's compassion and resolve for seeking to keep harm from falling on the innocent.

Everyone agreed it was time to head back. A moment later, suddenly Edric, Ena and Monana felt the floor beneath them suddenly shift as it suddenly became quicksand.

> *'The sound was like a thousand tiny coins being poured down a hill. It was similar to the avalanches Eero had heard before, but far more distant and almost metallic in nature. It all happened so fast, he hardly had time to try and discern what it really was.*
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> *Ena's knees began to bob back and forth as her arms stretched out, trying to keep her torso upright. Her head jerked back and a look of surprise and fear shone in her eyes. She hurled her weight forward, making a jump toward the doorway as Monana sudden shrank into the floor, her hat nearly flipping from her head. Edric was next as he spun around to see what was happening. His head plummeted several inches as he gave a low groan. The floor was collapsing. It was pulling the three of them inside.'*
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Edric and Monana began to sink quickly, while Ena just had time to dive back onto solid ground. Leora began pulling Monana out by her hat, and Eero activated his Aasimar blood, sprouting a pair of wings and flying to the center of the quicksand to grab Edric and begin trying to pull him out. The quicksand reached out with tendrils of sand, trying to lash out at the others and pull them in. At the same time another Ankheg burst through the wall and began fighting Modokus, Ena and Minty.

Monana was pulled out and so was Edric, but Leora was pulled in. Leora got a critical hit against the beast, flinging sand everywhere as the sand beast was killed. However, its body was covering up a large chasm and Leora fell straight in. With miraculous luck, Leora ended up wedged directly between the walls of the funnel shaped rock formation without taking any damage.

The Ankheg was quickly dispatched and Leora began to climb out. At this point, several party members noticed a faint purple glow from deep within the chasm. Eero and Modokus secured a rope and began to traverse down, but Modokus slipped and Eero had to catch him. The two of them learned that the chasm was hourglass shaped and Eero saw a purple aetheryte crystal at the bottom in a half-corporealized state, sitting on an altar. Eero didn’t touch down and returned to the top with this news.

Edric and Monana theorized that this aetheryte crystal was possibly phasing between dimensions and this was why it wasn’t constantly singing. Only when it fully phased into this reality would it begin to sing and drive the Thri-kreen to attack.

Edric had sent CARL to the surface for help, and at this point, Oscar, Lysander and two new faces, a leonin knight with a scythe and his halfling companion with a longsword came charging down ready to assist in battle. The Leonin and Halfling were the knights who destroyed the horse-sized ants that came up in the tavern during the initial incursion, and they introduced themselves as Uther and Zane.

Uther was a bit quiet and serious while Zane was a little more outspoken and friendly. Moments later the three Be’Torn worshipers arrived with Sir Barros to assist in the battle as well. Edric told the Be’Torn worshipers to find another way around and they took the hint to leave. Sir Barros posted six of his men and took two of the lanterns from the group to light the tunnel for his men to stay guard over the hole while the group rested. Lysander opened a tab at a tavern to get everyone rooms and Zane managed to bum a free room off of this tab as well.

Everyone rested and prepared spells. Edric and Eero went back to see Lady Faust and informed her of the purple aether and the rhythm that controls the Thri-kreen. Edric asked for 1000 gold to cover expenses and reluctantly Lady Faust agreed, saying it would take her a couple of hours to gather the funds.

With these funds the party bought a longbow for Minty, 3 common healing potions and 3 uncommon healing potions, leaving the party with 530 gold to spare.

Everyone returned to the hole where Oscar informed them that everyone inside the hole was spooked as the crystal had begun singing. The group rushed down to find Zane and Uther already inside keeping the guards behind their wooden barricade company. The purple glow from inside was brighter now, and everyone could hear the singing from the dream, singing a haunting ¾ melody.

Everyone descended the rope while Leora let slip that she was 120 years old, well past the 80 year life expectancy of a dragonborn. With more pressing matters, the group moved to examine the incredibly powerful aetheryte crystal. Immediately Modokus pointed out one corner of the chamber and when Edric moved to examine it, he felt the breath of an unseen creature blow across his face.

He immediately cast fairy fire, revealing a Drow wearing silver armor, with the symbol of the webweavers on his chest, and three Thri-Kreen drones. Like lightning, the drow’s eyes snapped open and he drew a blade of pure shadows and cut Edric across the chest, nearly drowning him in a single strike and breaking his concentration on the fairy fire.

> *'Eero felt his fist tighten its grip on his sword as his teeth clenched. Edric stumbled back, his beautiful coat and white collared shirt drenched in blood as his knees feebly trembled from the burden of keeping him upright. His arm held his side while his other hand he gently lifted in disbelief to examine the scarlet liquid covering it. He coughed and looked back to the drow before throwing his hand back, flipping his coat tail back indignantly.*
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> *"Sir," he grunted through a mouthful of the sanguineous fluid. "I am... Sir Edric... Decanth... Maxwell... the III," he said between heaving breaths. His hand reemerged from behind his back holding a vial of blue solution which he slowly brought to his lips. "And I... am so SICK of THIS POINTLESS VIOLENCE! " He thrust the vile between his teeth and bit off the cork before plunging the elixir down his own throat as his other arm drew back from the wound and pressed itself against the elegant chain hanging from his neck.*
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> *There was a faint glow and a surge of energy rippled from medallion, causing the drow to cover his face from the blast. Molten metal flew from the pendant, wrapping itself around Edric's shoulders and arching around his back. He threw his head back as the fluent encasing slid up the back of his neck and over the top, folding itself over his face. Edric was gone, and in his place stood a shell of gleaming armor.*
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> *The drow lowered his arm, staring in awe at the beautiful sheathing before him. Everything was silent for a moment, before a faint crackling echoed in the chamber.*
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> *Sparks suddenly flew from Edrics clenched fist and his arm raised and flew in a perfect haymaker before smashing into the drow's face with a magnificent bang. Jolts of eclectic blue flew into the air, lighting the cavern for an instant before the thud of the drow's back hitting the chamber wall issued throughout.'*
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Edric had had enough and he transmuted an old piece of armor that hung around his neck into a full suit of living steel armor. He immediately blasted the drow back against the wall and the two Thri-kreen next to him as well. Modokus leapt into action as well and Monana used detect thoughts to realize the entire chamber was filled with invisible Thri-kreen.

An intense battle broke out, but the Drow stopped for a round to crush a magical stone in his hand instead of fighting. Uther summoned a shadow thri-kreen to fight with him to the surprise of many party members. The drow had his back against the wall and Monana sensed he was getting ready to retreat and secure the aetheryte. She tried to block his path but he cast darkness on his sword and secured the crystal. In the sphere of darkness no one could see what he did, but the crystal was gone. Eero moved to block the door, but the drow shoved him out of the way and spoke a command word in undercommon (Originally misidentified as elvish) to open the door and step through. But he and his aura of darkness disappeared the moment he closed the door.

The remaining Thri-kreen were mopped up and Eero tried to reconvey the word he had heard, but he couldn’t. Minty began guessing every elvish word she knew to no avail to get the door to unlock. Eero saw beneath the door crack was a flat wall, meaning even forcing the door wouldn’t work as it was hiding some kind of teleportation magic.

Lysander arranged a meeting with the Luracian high council as everyone theorized what it might mean for such an incredible power source of Purple, psionic aetheryte to be in the hands of the webweaver drow faction. A piece of Aether so large would be devastatingly powerful in the wrong hands. This was certainly news worthy of the Luracian high council.

#### The Council and the Oracle: 18 August, 263 TC. Pavon City, Kingdom of Susemia, Celicine Peninsula

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> *'The room was larger and more beautifully sculpted than any Eero had ever laid eyes on. It rose in a perfect cylinder before dividing into tiers with partitioned balconies separating and distinguishing what appeared to be levels of authority. And they all stared down at the tiny pedestal they stood on in unyielding marble and granite. And although the seats remained empty, Eero felt like a caged animal on display.*
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> *Edric cast a glance in Eero's direction before sniffing. "Oh yes," he began. "The council does love their ceremony." He noticed another splotch of dirt on the back of his pant leg and flicked his wrist toward it as he muttered a soft word under his breath. The mark vanished and he calmly looked back to the balconies while straitening his collar. "They'll be here soon and it's probably best if you let me do the talking here." He took another last look at the party before letting the edges of his lip curl into a faint smile. "I'm afraid the council isn't as hospitable to those who aren't aware of our customs."'*
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Edric had Lysander call an emergency meeting with the high council of Luracia. At top speed, both men rushed to the high council chamber, with the other party members following along.

Eero entered the dazzling city of Luracia for the first time and were stunned by the wealth and architecture he saw on display. Coming from a small isolated civilization where you knew everyone in your hometome, this city felt both wonderous and claustrophobic. Then arrived at the hall of conjunction, the capitol building of Luracia, a massive building hosting three spires that burned with blue, gold and green flames atop each Eero and hsi comrades were asked to disarm and enter the council chamber.

Eero listened as Edric was allowed to address the council. They seemed concerned by the appearance of such an aetheryte crystal and they all agreed an investigation was warranted. After agreeing to launch an investigation, the council was also persuaded to grant the party access to their magical armory in exchange for Edric's sharing of some of his family secrets in living metal.

The investigation was launched and the leader of the Merchant’s guild, Anasia Merrigold, took the party to the Luracian armory, where once of her assistants, Penelope Calianth, to take the party to vault 3, where they would each be allowed to take one item. Penelope took the party past dozens of vaults, all locked with various magical and mechanical barriers before coming to a vault that she unlocked using a precise combination of movements with the key, before the door shrank allowing the party access. Eero had never seen such items before and asked for assistance choosing an item. He eventually concluded to get a cloak of protection from the vault and felt very lucky to have company that could get him such impressive items.

The party left Luracia again and headed to a tavern to rest. A few moments later, Lykus, the gith worshiper of Be’Torn emerged from the back of the tavern and left. Everyone took a long rest and returned to the chamber after most of the investigation was over. In the hole Lykus was still here, investigating the altar.

Upon speaking with an elf, who introduced herself as Sabriel, Edric learned that opening the door would be incredibly difficult without the password as drow are excellent with magic and paranoid to boot.

At this point, Eero wrote a letter to Monana, explaining that he was searching for his family, who were being hunted by an enemy who might be connected to this crystal. Monana responded by asking aloud “What enemy?” Which was enough to grab the attention of many people in the chamber. Eero mentioned his dreams about the aetheryte to Lysander who suggested they tell the Oracle’s guild about his dreams to see if the oracles could use his dreams to find a lead.

Surprisingly, upon delivering this news via sending stone to the Oracle’s guild, he was told to deliver Eero directly to Ollana Linege, the high councilor in charge of the Oracle’s guild. Eero wasted no time heading to the Hall of Divination, where he was taken by an assistant into a room where he was asked to remove all items he had ever committed violence with and leave them there. He was told to wash his hands in holy water, to wear a white cloak dotted with shimmering blue stars, and to remove his shoes. Upon doing so, he was escorted to the final level of the hall where the door was opened for him and he saw a swirling nebula of midnight blue mist swirling with white stars.

Eero stepped through, unsure of what to expect as he suddenly floated aimlessly into the thick mist. Moments later, he heard the voice of Ollana Linege reassure him his doubts were not a weakness. Moments later, he felt himself pulled into the center of the spherical room, where a massive round mirror floated like a floor in the eye of the gently swirling nebula around him. He stood on the mirror and saw Ollana sitting on the other side, dressed in the same robe that matched the swirling nebula around her, that she had worn to the council meeting. But now it seemed to be emanating the nebula, projecting it out into the rest of the room like smoke.

She asked him what he knew of his dream in his mind, in a telepathic way so he could easily talk back. He asked about his family, but she deflected his question, seeming much more interested in his dreams about the aetheryte. She told him that something was making divination in the Skolzheim mountains impossible, and that something was what had attacked him in his dream two nights ago.

Eero asked what could be responsible for doing that, and he was shown a vision of two creatures. A massive, slender shadow with white eyes and horns standing twice as tall as a tree. And a gnarled, decaying fey-like creature with long teeth and shadows for eyes. But then, he saw a third figure. It was a shadow version of himself. The vision became lucid and Eero suddenly found himself thrown into combat with this shadow of himself. Eero fought against this shadow, which used a misty technique to hurt Eero back whenever he struck it. But even so, Eero was too quick and he managed to grapple the shadow and put his sword through its neck.

As he did, the creature’s visage dropped and he was looking at a tabaxi with black fur and green eyes. A figure he had never seen before. He was suddenly out of the vision and back in his own body, with no marks from the fight.

> '*The tabaxi's wide eyes stared without feeling back at him and everything became murky, as if he were peering through a puddle someone had just stepped in, sending out plumes of dust through its once pristine surface. He felt dizzy, almost, and he blinked, to find his arms hanging at his side rather than holding the creature he had been pinning. He looked around at the scene before him and saw the pedestal he had been standing on before. The whirling stars were overhead with the infinite expanses of the cosmos spreading endlessly in all directions beyond his tiny platform. The light in the room was once again brighter than would be expected and Eero's eyes squinted as they adjusted to the unnatural light.*
>
>
> *"You dealt with that faster than I thought." Ollana's voice came back clearly into his mind. He turned and saw her still enthroned in the center of the stage, her hair and robes flowing outward into the eternal space as if forming the canvas for the universe that surrounded them. Her eyes were still closed and she had a faint smile on her face. "Well done."*
>
>
> *"Was that a test?" Eero thought. He asked the council member more than himself. The sense of serenity she exuded was more than a little disconcerting considering the violence he had just undergone.*
>
>
>
> *Her faint smile only etched itself more definitely into her face. "Not at all," she stated, almost flippantly. "You brought that with you."'*
>
>

Ollana explained that he had discovered another presence tied to this divination blocking, that had latched onto him like a parasite, and here in the hall, through this battle in his mind, he had managed to separate himself from it, and she was able to banish it. She was unsure where this presence had retreated to, but she lost track of it when it entered the Skolzheim mountains.

She told Eero that she would try to find his family, but they were beyond her sight, which made her suspect they were in that divination dead-zone. She also told him that if he could find and defeat the source of this magical deadening, she would divine the location of his family for him. Lastly, she gave him a ring of mind shielding with a blue gem and a compass-rose star on it to keep the shadow from latching onto him again.

Eero was escorted out to join everyone else again.

Upon finding no leads in the underground chamber, everyone agreed to help Eero, only after Minty Pineapple made everyone hats of varying quality, which Sabriel refused to wear and the dragonborn knight took Eero’s off of his hands for him. At this point, the party exited the hole and decided their best bet would be to head to the SKolzheim mountains so see if they could get another lead on the Aetheryte crystals.

At this point Lykus approached the group and requested to come with them as his own group currently had no leads. Everyone was hesitant and he offered to leave while they made a decision. Monana cast Augury and drew the cards, seven of blades, crossroads, and skull. Gaining both weal and woe. Upon seeing the results, Edric turned to Eero and informed the group that Eero should make the final decision, he being the one that distrusted the followers of Be'Torn the most. Eero, searched his feelings and felt it would be good for them and in the end all would be alright. Eventually the party decided that Lykus likely had ulterior motives, but they agreed to let him come along.

#### Sleep and the Dream Magic: 22-23 August, 263 TC. Northern Kingdom of Susemia-Skolzem Mountains, Celicine Peninsula

The next morning the party used the last of their gold to buy horses and a carriage for the 100 mile trek north to the mountains. Lykus brought his own armored horse with black fur and red eyes, which Edric immediately suspected was magical in some way. Lkyus asked who the leader was, and was disappointed to find their party had no official structure. Eventually got the party to give him the role of protecting Minty in battle and an established marching order.

Before bedding down for the night, Lykus offered to let Eero hang onto his sword if it would make Eero feel better. Eero thanked him, but refused. Although he was not entirely sure, he felt a sort of peace about Lykus' presence in the party and took it as a sign from the ancestors that this was meant to be. He thought that perhaps it would be healing the bonds and ties between their two factions and end the injustices caused between his people and the worshippers of Be'Torn. It didn't seem entirely possible, but he felt at ease and it was the only explanation he could think of.

Then, that night, Eero woke suddenly when he heard shouting. Sometime during the first watch, Edric had noticed a man in armor sneaking up on the camp. Modokus woke up and spotted another man approaching him from the woods. Modokus hastily signaled to Edric that these men were to die and he sprang into action. The party leapt into a fight with a group of 7 people who were attempting to ambush them. Lykus proved to be a capable combatant, curing one enemy Edric had already hit before cleaving him in two. Ena finished off the blood hunter fighting Modokus and the attackers began to flee as quickly as they had arrived. Monana managed to hit one with a levitation spell to keep him suspended in the air, while Edric convinced another to drop his weapons. This man told Edric that they were hired by the blood hunter, and he was sorry for disturbing us. Edric let himgo after taking his weapons.

Modokus showed the party a medallion the blood hunter was wearing, indicating he was a member of the blood shepherds, an ancient order of monster slayers who dated their origins back to the first conjunction. Nowadays they still mostly hunt monsters, but some of their orders branch out to kill whoever, as long as the pay is good. This man’s medallion was of a panther’s face with two squid tentacles cross-crossed above it, marking him as a shepherd of the Tourama (Displacer Beast). On his person the party found 60 gold, a silvered longsword, and a contract.

The contract was a standing contract asking for the death of the person bearing a tatoo that looks like a circle with two bites taken out of either side; a tattoo Modokus has between his shoulder blades. The contract is for 18,000 gold, an absurd amount of money for a single hit.

Edric asked Modokus to explain the presence of the blood shepherd. Lykus used his telepathy to translate for Modokus. Modokus explained that the mark on his back was known as the mark of the sun devourers. Several years ago there was a day when the eclipse from the moon crossed the eternal eclipse of Kvalik’s body. Every child born in that area during that time was born with the mark of the sun eaters on them.

Modokus then explained that an oracle from that area, known as Hasmur the Oracle, made a prophecy. His prophecy said: “When the children of Kvalik gather and lift their voices as one, the sky will darken with the wings of war, the moon and stars shall be lost, and a new convergence will dawn. A convergence of blood.”

Many in the area suspect those with the mark of the sun eaters are the children of Kvalik referred to in this prophecy, and this is why Modokus has sworn a vow of silence.

On the contract, Ena noticed that there was a symbol of an arrow with a hawk’s talon instead of an arrowhead. This symbol was the symbol of the Hawkstalkers guild, a guild of assassins who she has done work for previously. They hand out contracts liberally and likely have given this contract on Modokus to half a dozen assassins at least.

In the same conversation, it was revealed that Leora’s was so old because she was once a gnome. She was killed in a Thri-kreen attack. Her body and the body of the prince were both so mangled when the druid assigned there tried to bring the prince back, he brought Leora back by mistake via reincarnation.

The group decided to retire for the night and sleep. Eero wore his ring to keep from entering the dream. However, Modokus and Ena entered the dream again, and Lykus used his psionics to follow them in. Eero was suddenly woken by Lykus and Modokus who were standing over Ena. She was under some sort of spell and Lykus explained that they had been given the dream again. This time, they met a group of powerful undead and a drow along with a small female barbarian that had aided in combat. Still, they were no match for this group and one of them had killed Ena in the dream.

Modokus approached Ena and dispelled a psionic barrier around her and Lykus came and helped heal her. The group discussed the dream and decided finding this barbarian, named Yunet, in real life was their paramount goal. She too had been killed in the dream and was likely suffering under the same spell Ena was under. The group rushed northward, allowing those injured in the dream to rest in the cart as they traveled. Upon nightfall, it was decided that more information was needed. Eero volunteered to join the party and wanted to use this dream as a lead to help them find the Tabaxi, since all they knew was it was in the general vacinity of the Skolzeim Mountains. That night they all went into the dream again.

As soon as everyone was in, Edric, who was doing the watch for the night, cast detect magic and saw a ripple of misty magic emanate from Eero that almost infected the other primal casters, pulling them into the dreams as well. Edric then cast identify on Eero and found that he was under the effects of a dream spell, but one that was somehow amplified and unstable, affecting him differently as a mistwalker.

Inside the dream Eero could sense another mistwalker nearby, but couldn’t pinpoint him. The group met up with Yunet, who had no memory of waking between this dream and the last. Lykus suggested they skirt the perimeter of the woods to find others, but no one else seemed to be present. While on the opposite side of the woods, Modokus was able to hear the second chanting song better that was being drowned out by the main ¾ song. It was an ugly chant/scream in a language he didn’t know. But he managed to memorize the first two phrases in the song. “Yo yo sko’olace. Mi-thre-deh Asag-ya.”

The party attempted to return to the crystal only to find the three horsemen were patrolling the woods and the crystal was defended by Nyle and his mount inside a bubble of darkness. The party charged in while Lykus held off the masked rider. However, the entire party was stopped dead in their tracks by a sweeping attack when they got close. Only Eero managed to touch the crystal.

Everyone woke. The heat of the battle they had just undergone from the dream was still fresh on everyone's mind and their bodies felt terribly tired from the conflict. But when Eero woke, he realized he could reach out and speak to the minds of others much the same as how he was able to do so while entering the dream. Modokus similarly found he had gained the same capacity from the dream. No one else had gotten this abilty. Eero wondered why only he and Modokus had been able to gain this capacity while no one else had. It cemented in his mind the feeling he had first had from the first day he had met Modokus that they had crossed each other's paths for a reason.

Everyone agreed going in was getting more and more dangerous, and Edric used the magical pendant from the Blood Shepherd to create two more rings of mind shielding, using up the party’s gold in the process. The group sped north to Yunet’s location, which she had given them inside the dream. It took two days, but the group managed to get to her where she was hiding in a barn attic to sleep. Eero dispelled her psionic barrier and Monana helped heal her.

She was exhausted as dying in the dream world prevents one from getting a night’s rest. Yunet introduced herself and revealed that she was looking for a necromancer in the Skolzheim mountains named Kel’Rizarr, who had been killed by her ancestor, King Brengr during the time of troubles. She felt that Kel’Rizarr was alive again and she had dreamed that she was Brengr one night and found herself able to wield his favored weapons again. She knew she needed to destroy Kel’Rizarr, and the shadow that appeared next to the runed Horseman was, in some way, connected to Kel’Rizarr. She also suspected the masked horseman was a king from long ago who had died.

Eero and Edric knew that King Brengr was the man who united the Gurruptoi tribes during the time of troubles six centuries ago, though they are no longer united.

The party still wishes to find the location of the force that is blocking divination magic, to find out why the Webweavers are controlling the Thri-kreen, and where they got such powerful psionic aether. Edric suggested he seek an audience with Zahir, the current leader of the Arafel Shomer, the mistwalker military. But since Eero is wanted by them, the group decided to leave both him and Yunet, who was still not recovered from her time in the dream, behind while the rest of the party traveled into the lands of Quedem to meet with the Arafel. To hide his symbol of Be’Torn during the meeting, Lykus finally put on his sweater.

### Mysteries of the Mist Arc

#### Mist and Frost: 22-23 August, 263 TC. Northern Kingdom of Susemia-Skolzem Mountains, Celicine Peninsula

Eero was skeptical of the idea of the group talking to Zahir, but Edric was convinced it was their only lead. Eero trusted Edric and was learning to trust him more and more by the day, but he was still weary of the decision the group had made. The morning before they left, Eero spoke to Edric. He told him that Zahir was a complicated individual and not motivated by the prestige and flattery that many of the Luracian nobles were accostomed to. Edric merely suggested that even Zahir would listen to a representative of the most powerful political force in the world. Eero agreed and had great confidence in his friends capacities for diplomacy, but still felt unsure Edric truly knew what he was getting into. He told them to never leave their horses unattended while among the Arafel. If they decided to keep the party from escaping, stealing the horses in the night was standard SOP. He further warned that their current leader was a man named Eben Hastumol, a zealous man who wanted to bring the fight to the Gurruptoi. But he had recently been calmed by a man named Zahir Wala’Ilmari, who pulled all Arafel troops back. It was he who was in charge of the coup, and with him pulling all troops back, Eero suspects he may have been planning on joining forces with the Gurruptoi.

The group left the wagon and one horse with Eero and Yunet while everyone else headed north. It was decided the best course of action was to take the main road to avoid seeming suspicious. The road north was an odd one indeed as the mountains to the west of the road, inside the lands of the Quedem, were verdant and green, while the mountains to the east of the road, in the territory of the Gurruptoi, were snowcapped and barren.

At around midday, the party was travelling along a steep cliff, and after failing a group perception were ambushed by a group of five goliath barbarians, presumably of the Gurruptoi tribes who dropped rocks on them and attacked from both sides. During the fight Modokus was enlarged and Leora was throws off the cliff by their war chief. Luckily Edric was there to cast feather fall on her. The fight was long as the Gururptoi goliaths were difficult to put down, but Monana, using her gauntlets of ogre power managed to shove their leader off the cliff, and Minty finished him with a guiding bolt. (edited)

After the ordeal, the group found a place to take a short rest, and Modokus noticed a large collection of campfires off in the distance several peaks away. Possibly a burned town, or a large collection of campfires, it was impossible to say at this distance.

The group continued onward until sundown when they were getting close to the city of Aigne, the southerbnmost city of the Quedem people, the city where they had planned to spend the night on the way to the sacred citadel where Eben and Zahir were.

Suddenly, the group was approached by two mistwalkers who approached the group in blue and red mist. They introduced themselves as Rayan and Yahir. They asked the party who they were and they didn’t seem to recognise Edric’s credentials. They said they couldn’t guarantee an audience with the council, but they could escort the party to the city. Edric agreed but both sides were still wary and as they walked both sides tried lightly to pry for information.

Once the party reached the gates they met with captain Malik, who gave them a list of laws they needed to follow. One rule was that the group needed to avoid sacred sites that held the symbol of Zaquen. The party asked about the smoke they saw and Malik told them a large Gurruptoi war camp was set up outside the city and was making everyone nervous.

They were shown to a tavern and everyone got meals and rooms and bedded down for the night. Modokus noticed two men dressed like they had been in the coal mines all day were watching the party closely.

Ena went into the dream as she had no ring of protection after giving hers to Yunet. Ena woke in the dream and saw a mountain in the distance. She approached it and was attacked by a tabaxi mistwalker. His misty disappearances and her mantle of (What was it called again?) they had a fight of hide and seek. He had the advantage at first, but she eventually got a critical hit and turned the tide in her own favor, vanquishing him with an arrow through his shin.

She approached the mountain in the dream, but found nothing special about it. Already wounded, Ena ran for the forest to try to reach the crystal, but immediately she was set upon by the masked horseman. He peeled his mask down and screamed out of the void inside his helmet. The blast hit her so hard that she thought she would be obliterated on the spot.

In the morning Modokus woke and saw Ena in her psychic stasis field. He woke her and called Minty to help restore her some health. The Barron used detect magic and noticed two magic weapons on the roof above the party. Modokus detected the thoughts of the people on the roof and confirmed the people were indeed thinking about the party.

Edric existed the building and used the jump spell to reach the roof to confront the men. They were two mistwalkers who requested he go back to the street to talk. He agreed and told those two and the other four Mistwalker's who had been watching the party overnight. Edric explained he was looking for a mistwalking tabaxi who might be responsible for some dreams they had been having and that Ena was hurt by the dreams.

They had no information on a mistwalking tabaxi, but they did recommend the party see a woman named Judith at this city’s citadel. She is a healer who usually works for free. The party agreed and headed to see her. Once inside the citadel they med Judith in her greenhouse. She was an adult human woman with black hair and dark eyes.

Judith examined Ena and Modokus’ eyes and offered to make a potion for them to help with the nightmares. She used an onyx heart-shaped stone as a spellcasting focus to make her potion before giving it to Ena. Ena downed it with a healing potion and avoided vomiting it on the floor. It made her eyes sting and Edric, still with detect magic activated noticed magic seeping into Ena’s eyes, something odd for a potion to do. Edric asked what the potion would do. Judith said it would slow illusions entering her eyes and allow her to see through them better. Edric asked if he could get one of these potions, but she said she could only make this potion once per day.

The party asked for healing potions, but she said they were needed in case the war camp came to attack. Edric insisted on paying her and accidentally paid her more than she asked for, and she fixed the mistake. The party all packed up and left, ready to be escorted to the Quedem sacred citadel.

#### The Grruptoi:23-25 August, 263 TC. City of Aigne, Quedem territory, Skolzem Mountains, Celicine Peninsula.

After awakening the next morning, the party, consisting of Edric, Lykus, Minty, Monana, Leora and Ena, were escorted by the Arafel soldiers to the west, towards the center of Quedem territory. On their way they passed trough a small town that had been burned and destroyed many years ago. Edric inquired with Yahir, the solider in charge of escorting them, and Yahir informed them that this was the village of Cindis, but it was destroyed over a decade ago when the watchtower usually responsible for keeping them safe was destroyed. No one who survived the attacks knows what happened.

The group travelled all day, and oddly enough, the closer they got to the heart of Quedem territory, the more lush and verdant the mountains became. Far warmer and alive than they should have been. As the sun was beginning to set, they finally reached the central citadel of the Quedem territory. It was an ancient looking structure made of stone, shaped in an ottoman design but with Celtic carvings and artwork all across its exterior. Edric, Modokus and Minty all felt a certain energy in the air. A barely noticeable energetic-ness to the air itself that reminded Minty somewhat of the feywild. The energy was very lively, but not emotional in the same way the feywild’s activity was.

Edric asked Yahir why the Quedem territory was so lush, and after some flattery, Yahir told him that this land was blessed by the gods.

Centuries ago a man named Zaquen, running from a war in a far-off land came here seeking refuge. But this land was barren and he and his family were starving. As he was dying, he offered the last of his food on an altar he built to the gods, and in that moment, the god Merolius himself appeared to Zaquen. Merolisu said he would reward Zaquen for his faith, that this land would become as lush as his people’s faith was strong, and that his descendants would be the inheritors of this land in perpetuity. The seven clans of the Quedem, Lann, Rin, Aigne, Soden, Raziel, Walla’ilmari, and Hastumol, are named after the seven children of Zaquen and his wife, Lezra. This is why the lands here are so warm while the rest of the Skolzem mountains are frozen. Edric was cordial but not-convinced that was the entire story.

As the group approached the citadel they were informed that Zahir had arrived an hour ago and was awaiting them. With Detect magic up, Edric spotted several homes with abjuration enchantments around them. The party was escorted to the citadel where they entered and met with Zahir and an Arafel Scholar named Osher met with the party in the central council chamber at a round table much more humble than the council chamber of Luracia.

Zahir was younger than they imagined, with a short full beard making him look older, he couldn’t have been a day over 30. Zahir listened to the party’s story and acted with genuine concern at the idea of an aetheryte crystal so large being on the loose, )even if he had to ask Osher what an aetheryte crystal actually was). Minty was her usual self and asked several questions, one of which being if the party could go to limbo, after which she had to make a Wisdom saving throw, which she failed, but there were no noticeable consequences.

Monana noticed that Zahir was fidgeting with his sword slightly, indicating he was wary and a bit nervous during the meeting, leading the party to completely believe that he was hiding something. He said his people had encountered the divination dead zone and they had suspected the Gurrurptoi were responsible, but now he suspected the drow might be behind it.

Edric asked him about the tales of a mistwalker Tabaxi. Zahir said that only descendants of Zaquen and his wife, Liezra, could use the mist the way the Arafel do, so a tabaxi mistwalker would be incredibly unlikely. However, he suggested that one of the gurruptoi tribes, the coldfire tribe, uses blood-grafting, a necromantic ability that allows them to graft the parts of other dead creatures onto themselves to give themselves extra abilities. If they had grafted some part of an arafel onto a tabaxi, it could create a tabaxi mistwalker.

Edric was unconvinced. Zahir gave the group a sending stone that he had the other side of, which was currently dead because of the divination dead zone, in case they needed to contact him in the future and he departed.

Modokus noticed several Arafel archers hidden in the domed ceiling above them before they exited. The group were taken to a house they were allowed to use, and Edric requested the blacksmith of the town be fetched for him as a way to get one of the guards away from the door, but the guard’s roll was backfilled.

Using a combination of making grass smell like dead corpses, throwing a stone that sounded like the ocean, and Ena’s cloak, Edric and Ena snuck out of the house through the window and nuck into the citadel through a secret passage in the ceiling they found. Ena noticed an Arafel inside the citadel had spotted them and Edric sent her back to the house as he infiltrated alone, convinced they wouldn’t kill a dignitary of Luracia.

Edric made it will known he was inside by tossing prestidigitation fireworks around before he went to the second floor and began picking locks on the chambers up there. When he opened one of the chambers, two mistwalkers appeared and asked him to return to his home. They were polite but stern and they didn’t draw their weapons. Edric was polite but insistant back, but eventually he aquiesced and returned to the house.

While this was happening Minty just strolled outside right past the guard, fey stepped outside the wall and got a deer to follow her inside. She showed it to Lykus, who told her he used to travel with a gnome who always collected pets. And he also told her he threw one of her pets off a cliff, and he would throw the deer out the window if she didn’t get it out of his room. She stood in the doorway with it. The party slept in peace, with Ena passing her saving throw.

Meanwhile, back in the northern areas of Susemia, Eero and Yunet were recovering in the town. They were soon going to start looking for work once Yunet recovered some more of her strength. But on the third night, Eero was awakened by a loud crash outside the tavern window. Eero looked out and saw thri-kreen were attacking the town and all the civilians were running. Eero woke Yunet with his telepathy and engaged the enemies. Yunet and Eero were both quite strong but were at a disadvantage,outnumbered and blinded by the jeweled carapice of one fo the Thri-kreen captain drones. Suddenly though, they heard a loud war cry that invigorated them as the Hobgoblin Be’Torn worshiper, Galvur Clay rounded the corner. He assisted them and the three of them cut down their opposition with barely a scratch. Galvur tak the most damage, but he truly seemed unperturbed by the arrows.

After the main force was dispatched, they looked for stragglers but didn’t find any. Yunet sewed Galvur’s wounds shut as he took drinks from the now empty tavern. Eero put his back.

Galvur explained that he was here following the pattern of Thri-kreen attacks. They had attacked in the south first in Ornatir, then in Pavone, Galvur suspected the aetheryte crystal controlling them was on the move, and was likely directly under them. He wanted to kill the four horsemen from the dream, and when Yunet mentioned she knew who two of them were, Galvur revealed that three of the four horsemen were hired soldiers from Hades. The Webweavers use a massive network of undead to protect their territory, but they don;t have enough necromancers to keep them under control, so they use aetheryte crystals to project their controlling songs over massive areas to control their undead soldiers. The four horsemen are the protectors of the crystal, and three of them were purchased from the plane of Hades. The only one not purchased was Nyle, the Shadar Kai who rode the spider.

Galvur said if Yunet knew the identity of two of the horsemen, he would need her help. He planned on following the Thri-kreen tunnel. He had a Thri-kreen ant stuck in a magic pendant that he could control to re-open the collapsed tunnel and try to get into the underdark that way. Eero said he wanted to come along as well, but Yunet told him someone needed to stay behind to wait for Edric and the party or get reinforcements form Luracia if they didn’t make it back. Yunet and Galvur headed down into the collapsed tunnels, leaving Eero to wait for the rest of the party.

Back in the Quedem territory, the party awoke the next morning and headed back towards the city of Aigne. When they arrived the city was abuzz with movement. The war came outside the city was on the move and it looked like an attack was imminent. 7,000 Gurruptoi warriors were on their way. Edric volunteered to help assist int the defense, and the party went to the front gate, passing Judith and several other civilians preparing to make a makeshift hospital out of the tavern, until they reached the main gate where Zahir was rallying his troops.

With a loud bang against the gate, they realised the Gurruptoi were here. Everyone sprung into action, defending the city by meeting the gurruptoi outside on the field of battle. Edric’s thunder wave kept their battering ram from getting too close. Ena’s arrows kept their numbers thin, and Monana’s knuckles and magic knocked them off the walls as they scaled. Lykus’ fear aura kept the hill giants from being able to assist in carrying the battering ram. The defense was going well until the roar of a dragon was heard over the mountain. Everyone braced to face a dragon, aside from Minty who ran away into the city. However, when the dragon’s silhouette appeared over the mountain range, it swooped down and began breathing torrents of ice all across the war camp of the Gurruptoi.Out in the open, and all gathered in one place, it was a perfect kill zone for a flying dragon. The gurruptoi assailing the gates turned and ran to assist their comrades and the Arafel, having suffered minimal casualties, pulled back inside the city, letting this newcomer destroy their attackers for them.

#### The Company's Return: 25-26 August, 263 TC. City of Aigne, Quedem territory, Skolzem Mountains, Celicine Peninsula

Eero was helping the small town of Nenhaven rebuild after the Thri-kreen attack. When the group arrived, Eero explained what had happened and where Galvur and Yunet had gone. Edric asked Eero about the Quedem and their religion.

Eero explained that the Quedem do believe that Merolius promised their faith would keep the lands fertile, but Kord is at the center of their temple’s order because, according to their legends, Kord is planning a meeting of the gods and Larithon, Bahamut, Merolius, Auros, Pessonyl, Embrilee, Losvirith, and Denier would all be there. When these gods would meet they would exact retribution on the world for all the curruptions and injustices that have taken place in the world. And the place of this meeting would be the lands which the Quedem are keeping safe.

Edric was not impressed, and voiced his disdain for the idea that the gods would come and commit, what he compared to genocide, in the world. No one else spoke their thoughts.

Eero was surprised by this reaction, but respected it.

Edric decided the only course of action would be to follow Galvur and Yunet into the underdark. Lykus doubted Galvur’s plan would work as Galvur rarely thinks more than two steps ahead and often gets those under his command killed. The party, without any stronger leads, headed down into the tunnel after Yunet and Galvur.

The giant ant appeared to have known where it was going as it dug directly to the nest’s entrance from a naturally occurring cave system. Once they crossed the threshold, the party found the ant slain. The party began tracking Yunet and Galvur via marks on the walls Yunet left, which seemed to work well at first. However, the party came to some flooded areas of the tunnel and lost the trail. Leora and Monana almost drowned, but received some help from Modokus and Via. (edited)

Via’s ability to shift into different animals as a druid gave the party a distinct advantage as they became stuck in an underground lake, unsure how to proceed. While exploring the lake beneath, the party encountered a swarm of carnivorous clams, whid Edric baited using his infusions on a rock to make it smell like meat. Edric captured one clam and placed it in his bag of holding for study later.

Eventually, after cycling through the forms of a crocodile, a shark, and an octopus (each sporting a snow-white color with light blue spots)Via found the way out. The party realised that this method of tracking was too slow, and Monana suggested Via become a dire wolf and try to catch their scent. The group headed back to the cave entrance and found one of Galvur’s hairs. Via caught his scent and the group immediately began making better time tracking them.

The group tracked Yunet and Galvur all the way to the edge of the underdark. The group set up camp while Via and Minty began trying to speak to the carnivorous clam, which only understood the words ‘Food’ and ‘No’.

The group rested for the night, or what they assumed was night in the lightless underdark. This deep in the ground, no sound or light reached the party as they slept in cold, dark silence.

#### The Scrap Yard and a Journey: 26-31 August, 263 TC. Somewhere in the Underdark under the Skolzem Mountains

Deep in the underdark, as the party rested, Lykus spoke to Monana telepathically and asked her what she thought of Eero’s people. She and he agreed that while there was possibly some truth to the origin of the Quedem, and there was something keeping their lands alive, they both doubted that this meeting of the gods prophesied would actually come to pass.

As they spoke the Barron did his absolute best to get the party noticed by trying to find and mine ore as loudly as possible.

The party continued on and found Yunet and Galvur’s campsite. After their campsite the trail began to meander, like Yunet and Galvur had lost track of which direction they were supposed to be going. Their trail wandered around until they reached a cavern filled with 3-foot tall mushrooms. As the party examined them, these mushrooms glowed a bright blue when touched that slowly faded to a dull lavender before going back out. Via began to run through the mushrooms, but didn't notice a shriker mushroom before she ran into it. The moment she touched it, it let out a loud shrieking sound that caused her to rear up and yelp.

The party rushed to her aid and upon investigating the area, they found the dead bodies of three mind flayers who appeared to have been killed by Yunet and Galvur. After this point, the trail began to straighten out, like they had regained their bearings.

The group followed them until their path crossed three red carapiced Thri-kreen. With no real attempt at stealth from the party, the enemy was immediately alerted and battle became the only real option. These Thri-kreen were tougher than the green and brown ones the party had faced up until this point. The Barron was downed during the battle and the Thri-kreen using their flight put most melee fighters at a significant disadvantage.

During this fight, a fey-touched gnome, his robotic battle cat, and one of his troll friends came to assist the party. Via was also downed, but eventually the party defeated the three Thri-kreen scouts.

The new gnome, Yoko Maskkin, showed the party where he was living, taking them back to the ruins of the ancient drow city of Etra’Deladra, or at is was known now, The Scrapyard.

Yoko explained that this city was the site of a massive battle between the Webweavers and Lolth’s faithful, and in the end both factions withdrew from the city. However, many of their slave laborers who were considered too small or impractical to use as fodder in the battle escaped their prisons after the battle was over and took the remains of the city for themselves.

The party approached and found a city in ruins with a hodgepodge of lightsources dotting the city in many different shades of light. The gnomes and goblins who now lived there had set up makeshift defenses and mushroom stock scaffoldings all across the city. The city and the walls surrounding it were covered with graffiti that glowed with bioluminescent moss, leading the darker parts of the city and the caves surrounding it covered in the childishly intimidating drawings of the goblins who lived there.

The party was lead inside where they met with th city’s leader, an elderly gnome alchemist named Davni. Davni explained to the party that this city is constantly under sige from the drow factions’ scouts as both Lolth’s faithful and the Webweavers want the city back, but cannot commit the resources for a full scale assault without leaving themselves vulnerable to the other faction. So the denizens fo this city protect it with the scrap they can find.

Edric asked about the metal that Yoko’s mechanical cat was made of. Apparently it was a metal that only grew in this region, known as Elthedren. The metal had the distinct ability to hold magical memory. The drow of the region had only ever found it here in these mines. Edric made a deal with Davni to give him the secret to infusing living steel in exchange for some Eltheldren to try to infusing inot a living state to use as his armor. Davni agreed.

The party split up around the city and learned that their food from the surface was very valuable down here. Much more valuable than their gold and they managed to acquire boots of speed for Edric. Minty, Yoko, and Via all tried the local cuisine, the soup known as ‘boiled mud’ was actually boiled mushroom pulp, but it tasted like mud.

Minty managed to find a cursed black mirror inside one of the ruined houses, which Monana identified a deathlock’s pact boon. Yoko shot it a few times and broke it, releasing a shadow demon. Via immediately ran away and after the demon unsuccessfully tried to possess Minty, the party managed to defeat it.

Everyone rested and the next day Yunet and Galvur returned with the twin adamantine blades of a drow scout.

Yunet had noticed Galvur had the ability to absorb one of the senses of creatures he killed, and this was how he was finding his way around the underdark. When Galvur and Yunet had reached the city originally, a day before the rest of the party they had been mistaken for drow collaborators and were attacked. Galvur destroyed one of the city’s defense towers before the city’s inhabitants apologized. He offered to repay them for the tower by killing a drow for them, which they accepted and told him which direction the drow are coming from.

Edric and Davni worked together to infuse the Eltheldren, and with an incredibly high roll, they managed to do it. Edric got a new set of Eltheldren armor. After some experimentation, Edric realized Eltheldren could learn how to resist damage of specific magical types if the user allowed themselves to be vulnerable to that type of damage first for a while. Edric had Yoko blast him with fire over and over, trying to teach the armor to resist fire. He made come progress and used up almost all the party’s healing resources.

Yoko showed the party his house and the three trolls he lived with before the party rested again. Minty, Via and Yoko went to gamble with the goblins and lost a little food in the process. The party also realized they were once again inside the divination dead zone.

The party awoke the next morning and the Barron suggested the party continue the direction they were already headed. Lykus asked Yoko where the Thri-kreen were coming from and it was from the southwest, rather than the northwest like the party was planning on going.

The party headed southwest and down, deeper into the underdark. Ena used her primeval awareness to sense what creatures were around within a 6-mile radius. She noticed the presence of our fey party members and Eero’s angelic bloodline. She did not feel the presence of the dragon even thought the battle had taken place roughly one or two miles directly above our heads. She noticed the presence of three aberrations, one fiend, and approximately seventy undead.

The party continued forward until the ran into a skeleton in the tunnels. Ena dispatched it quietly. The party ran across a second and Edric dispatched it with a thunderous shot from his rifle. Every undead in the vicinity began to rush the party. There were 4 tunnels to defend and the party was doing a good job, when suddenly through one of the tunnel walls, a Bodak appeared and attacked at the party’s center. The Barron was once again downed by the creature’s necrotic attacks, and Yoko was also downed during the fight. However, Monana’s healing kept them both alive and Edric managed to get the final shot on the undead creature.

The rest of the skeletons were dispatched and Edric identified the Bodak. But what was interesting is that to create a bodak requires an attack that originates from the negative energy plane, something not commonly done. However, a nigthstalker, one of the creatures Eero was shown as being one possible source of the divination dead zone, creates a bodak every times it kills a creature, suggesting a nightstalker may be the source of the dead zone.

The party, after healing from their encounter with the undead patrol and the Bodak leading them, continued their trak southwest, deeper and deeper into the Underdark. As they went several miles farther south, the tunnels began to become more narrow and more damp as fungi began to become present on the walls, narrowing the passageway. At this point, Modokus faintly heard the second song from the dream, the more chaotic screeching sound that had played beneath the ¾ rhythm song.

Monana decided to cast Augury since they were outside the divination deadzone. She cast the spell to see if continuing forward was the best option, but as she was in the middle of casting it, the spell failed. The divination deadzone had somehow encompassed them again.

The party went to high alert, assuming the nightwalker, or whatever was causing the divination deadzone, was closing in. They took a defensive formation and decided to head back towards the Scrapyard. They moved slowly and cautiously through the underdark, but they didn’t encounter the nightwalker. However, Modokus noticed the party was being followed by two drow. The party continued on until they reached a steep incline they would need to climb. As half the party had reached the top, the drow struck.

One of them hurdled a magical stone which Modokus caught, but was unable to throw back before it burst open and released an angry earth elemental. The drow priestess unleashed a cloudkill spell on the party that nearly killed several of them before Ena and Edric managed to kill the priestess, ending her spell before the rest of the party breathed in the fumes. Eero, Lykus and Galvur dealt with the earth elemental even as it spawned smaller elementals and hurdled them into our ranks. Eventually, all enemies were vanquished and no party members were downed, but it was close for a few.

The party looted the drow for a magical whip, two adamantine shortswords, two earth elemental eyes, and one earth elemental core. They headed back to the city without further incident, and there they rested.

While everyone was resting in the city, Via went exploring on the north side and discovered a blue mushroom that had the same kind of buzzing energy as the Quedem citadel. When Via touched it, she wished it was a flower, and suddenly, it transformed into one. Via came back and showed it to Edric, who was able to identify the magic in the flower’s transformation is likely limbo energy.

Still with no other leads, the party headed back out the same direction they had gone yesterday. They travelled out farther into the fungal growth this time and got deeper in this time before they could use divination again. Edric began blasting at the foliage with his fire bolt, and Modokus noticed once he did this, the second screeching melody suddenly went quiet. It was likely the party’s presence had been noticed. Monana used augury to see if this was the right way to go, but her cards gave her the woe omen, meaning this was course of action was unlikely to give the party the results they wanted.

At this point, Edric’s dossier from the investigation suddenly filled itself out further, as the investigation had concluded. The crystal was deemed to have been phasing in and out of the shadowfell, and while Luracia would not be sending a large strike force to handle this incursion, they did plan on sending an investigation taskforce.

At this point the party decided it was time to head back. As the party was almost back, they found themselves surrounded by skeletons once again as a migrating herd of undead crossed their path and surrounded them. The party tried to stay still, but they were spotted and attacked.

The party took up defensive formations again and this time instead of a Bodak leading the herd, three wights and a wraith pushed to the center of the party and fought them. It was a close battle with several party members being downed and Minty needing to abandon her defensive position to heal, allowing some skeletons to slip past Lykus into the main fray. The wraith one-shot every party member it hit, but eventually, Leora’s holy smite tore through the wights and modokus was able to defeat the Wraith.

Monana crushed the skulls of the skeletons to ensure they couldn’t be raised again, and the party returned one last time to the scrapyard, where Edric desperately tried to find an actual bed, but was unable to.

The party rested and prepared to head back to the surface, but Galvur said he wanted to continue on. He stayed in the underdark while the rest of the party turned around and headed back up the two and a half day trek to the surface again.

#### Prying Eyes: September 1st-5th, 263 T.C. Pavone city and Luracia

The party returned to the surface, seeing the sunlight again for the first time in over a week. They stayed in town overnight and made their way toward Luracia in hopes of intercepting and delivering information before Luracia could send out their investigation taskforce. During the night, each watch was able to hear the presence of a mistwalker in the forest. Monana used the locate object spell to try to find a mistwalker uniform but to no avail. Whoever this mistwalker was though, he seemed too wary of the party to do what he came to do, and left the area without a fight. Edric loudly called this unseen guest a coward.

When the party arrived in Pavone, the city was host to battalion of soldiers from Ornatir, bearing the Green cloaks of the southern region. Luracia, still connected through the portal disk, had elevated to a higher altitude. After making some inquiries of one of the soldiers, Leiutenant Aldon Greenbottle, he revealed that there had been a massive Thri-kreen attack in the city of Millendia. He was reluctant to give more information, but when Edric revealed that Monana was the princess of Ornatir, Aldon revealed that the royal family was fine, and that Coerin Osander had taken charge of the city’s response. He also revealed that prince Jorvyn Dol’tovyn, Moanan’s oldest brother, was here in Pavone negotiating for aide from Luracia.

The party ascended to Luracia, leaving Yunet and Lykus behind. Monana and Leora met up with Monana's brother Jorvin Dol'Tovin and the captain of his guard, Skip Hale, a particularly tall and dark halfling with a distinct scar on the left side of his head. Leora and Monana knew little about him aside from his reputation as a risk taker and his efficient career record. Among the royal guard was another face Leora recognized, but she did not make any mention of this person to anyone else, and this face did not recognize her.

The Luracian high council had been given word of this attack, and were sending a taskforce of releif to Millendia in two days. The party met with Joma Begalli, High councilor of the Sacred Ring, and told him the details of their journey. As they were telling him this though, he stopped them, and grabbed his holy symbol from his desk.

He cast a powerful remove curse spell on Ena who suddenly went blind. Jorma explained that he was aware of all curses in his office, and Ena was under the effects of a Hag’s eye curse, which removing causes the victim to temporarily go blind. Meaning a hag had cursed Ena’s eyes to allow the hag to see and hear everything Ena did. This seemed to suggest that Judith was, or was at least working for, a hag. Additionally, the dye she gave Minty turned out to be dust of disappearing in a bottle that would shatter upon a command word being uttered, probably giving her a chance to escape if hostilities arose. Ena noted that while within the proximity of Aigne, Ena had sensed one fiendish presence consistently, and Night hags register as fiends. Also it was mentioned that Hag can only create hag eyes when in an active coven, and covens are always made of no more and no less than three hags, meaning there were likely more in the area.

The party mentioned a nightwalker may be the cause of the divination deadzone and their encounter with a bodak seemed to indicate it was a nigthwalker. Jorma took this threat very seriously and decided then and there that another taskforce would be needed to investigate what was happening in the Quedem mountains.

There were now 3 luracian taskfroces.

1st strikeforce was a small team being sent to the nation of Razmatora to try to find a way into the shadowfell to try to find the purple aether crystal. This taskforce had already left the day before.

2nd taskforce was to head down to Millendia to give aid and gather information on the Thri-kreen attacks there.

3rd taskforce was to head up towards the Qedem mountains to try to find information on the nightwalker, the Hags, the dragon, the Symic hybrids, and the limbo presence there.

The party was welcomed to join any taskforce they wished, and they almost universally chose the third.

Monana, on the other hand, joined the second taskforce, wishing to return to her mentor and trainer, Master Matoya, before returning with her brother and the royal guard to help her home nation.

The party spend the night in the Barron’s manor and met his sister, Lydia who was less than enthused but still cordial to the unexpected presence of several fey sleeping in her guest rooms.

During this time, Edric forged one of the earth elemental eyes into a ring of tremorsense for Via.

The next day Edric was approached by his sister who asked him to speak with Davis Poren, High councilor of the Artificer’s guild as he was pushing to have Dastri, the cogged cathedral rushed to completion to help the second coalition and was syphoning far too many funds from other parts of the city to do so.

Edric did this and upon meeting with Davis, managed to get him to slow his role on the construction, and in exchange he would tutor some of the best artificerial minds in the city on how to infuse living steel. Davis agreed and Edric set to work teaching. One of his students was an orange falcon Aaracocra named Viari Coppertail. Viari got the hang of the infusion right away.

The next day Edric met with High councilor Anasia Merrigold of the merchant’s guild, requesting permission to take 1000 gold out of Luracia. She agreed on the condition that he deliver a package discretely for her to Ornatir, but since this was out of the way, he refused. In exchange for him helping with the Davis Poren situation, she agreed to let him take 800 gold.

Everyone met up a day later minus Monana to join the third taskforce. The leader was an elven wizard woman named Sabrielle. Other members included Galium the human cleric, Damakos the Tiefling rogue, Astor the Dragonborn fighter, Renaldo the human eldrich knight, and none other than Viari Coppertail, the same Aaracocra Edric had trained to infuse metal.

Lykus donned his sweater and joined upon Edric’s invitation.

The party set out for the Skolzhem mountains again, and on the first day, Sabrielle went to every party member with her notebook and picked their brains for every detail she could of everything about the Quedem mountains and the scrapyard in the underdark.

The second night Edric discovered a quickling neaking up on the camp. They conversed, and the quickling took Edric to see an entrance to the feywild a short ways off the path, then immediately turned and rans back to the camp. Edric's shoes were nearly as fast though, and he was close behind, shouting to wake the camp. The quickling dashed directly into Eero's tent and sliced his skin before dabbing the wound with a cloth. He tried to make his escape, but was quickly surrounded and apprehended by Yunet. He was bound and Damakos took the cloth from him. Galium dropped a zone of truth at Edric’s request and the questioning began.

The quickling, completely surrounded divulged that he was sent to do what the panther tabaxi failed to do: get a sample of Eero's blood for the hag coven in the mountains. Galium removed the same Hag Eye curse from the quickling that Ena had had after Edric told the hags that he was coming to kill them. Specifically, the quickling was ordered by an Annis hag that lived near the Gurruptoi stronghold in Delinos to get Eero’s blood and bring it back to her. In exchange for protection, The quickling agreed to show us a shortcut through the feywild to destroy the Annis hag who had threatened to turn him to stone if he had refused to cooperate.

After some discussion Sabrielle suggested the taskforce split, leading the heavy hitters on a strike mission to destroy the Annis hag and break the coven to weaken all three of them while Sabrielle lead the more academically minded ones down towards the scrapyard to investigate the presence of limbo further. All of the PCs were in the strike group plus Viari Coppertail.

The research group consisted of all the NPCs including Lykus who was needed to show the rest of them the route to the scrapyard.

#### The Feywild and Back: September 6-12, 263 T.C. Feywild, Skolzheim Mountains, Underdark

The party entered the Feywild, following Gridge, the blind quickling.

Yoko blew his whistle only fey can hear and summoned three giant hedgehogs. Edric gave the hedgehog a whistle to pacify him.

The party was traveling through time variations that exist in the feywild. Not time travel, but time distortion.

The Party came across a bridge over a valley and crossed silently.

The party learned of the Watchers, bouncing candle light that work for a fey known as The Candle who collects people.

Gridge was nearly turned to stone in his sleep and Yunet saved him with the ring of mind shielding.

The party narrowly avoided a watcher using a distraction to get past.

While in the feywild, the party crossed paths with Judith, the night hag in the ethereal plane. She summoned several thri-kreen and two black bug-like creatures to fight the party. The Tabaxi mistwalker was captured after nearly getting Eero’s blood. He is still unconscious.

The Valley is less extreme in the feywild.

The Quedem valley is a mix of limbo and fey energy creating a chaotic swath of area in the center of the Quedem valley. At the very heart where the Quedem citadel is supposed to be is a dead zone.

The party rested before traveling into the prime material plane to hunt the hag Gaia. Gridge will lead the way.

Upon departing the feywild, the party quickly made their way towards the hag Gaia’s lair, following Gridge’s directions. After having traveled for around 6 miles, the unconscious tabaxi captive began to wake, but he was swiftly knocked back unconscious so the party could continue onwards.

The party began traveling through close coniferous trees, and Via rose recognised that some of the broken branches were very high in the trees, indicating something tall was moving through the area. Eero guessed it was a troll, as the party was in gurruptoi territory and the gurruptoi in the north had been known to use trolls from time to time.

The party continued to enter a bog where Gridge said the hag’s lair was. The party discussed their plan of attack and eventually moved in to approach the underground cave the hag was staying in. The swamp was foul smelling and filled with mist that obscured line of sight. When the party approached the entrance to the cave, they saw several skeletons in the trees that had been overgrown by plants that took the shape of the original body, set up in a horrific display.

Via cast her speak with plants spell on them and learned that the hag was not inside the hideout. She then made friends with the plants and began using her druidcraft to grow flowers on the plants so they could feel pretty.

The party camped out on top of the cave while Viari Coppertail placed a sentry beacon on the entrance to go off if any invisible enemies came close. Eero waited inside as bait while everyone else waited for the hag to return.

Eero entered and saw a small iron mirror on a table in the center of the room, but didn’t approach it. The party waited and soon Viari’s sentry beacon went off, meaning something invisible was approaching Eero.

The party sprang into action and attacked the invisible orc who had arrived. Behind him several goblins and orcs charged in, along with one orc with large horns and a fiendish presence, and one massive troll. The party battled them and by bottlenecking them somewhat successfully at the door, and Viari keeping the Troll’s movement at 0 with his disabling shots to keep the party from being overwhelmed, the party was able to defeat them with minimal damage. The orc chief tried to take the tabaxi and run, but was unable to escape.

    After defeating the orcs, Gridge identified them as Gurruptoi from the Stone Tooth tribe, and all members of the stone tooth tribe replace one of their maulers with a stone as a rite of initiation. The party examined the tabaxi captive and found he had an iron tooth in the back of his mouth. Minty examined him further and found one of his eyes was blue, and had a human pupil, indicating it was the source of his mistwalking powers. Leora used her healing to wake the tabaxi and the party decided to question him inside the hag’s lair while Modokus and Viari watched the entrance.

At first the tabaxi didn’t answer any questions, but when Eero read his thoughts, he learned the tabaxi was counting the number of voices he was hearing and wasn’t even registering the questions. Upon getting this information, Yunet switched to speaking orcish and the Tabaix began to respond. The party learned his name was Tamel, and the hag Gaia had raised him since before he could remember. With the use of a zone of truth and Edric’s exceptionally convincing gun aimed at the Tamel’s head at once point, the party learned that Tamel knew of the other hags but didn’t want to reveal their locations to us. He didn’t see what the hags were doing as bad because the world is full of people who fight and do terrible things. The hags were just some of many, but the party insisted this was untrue. They finally got through to him when they told him that he was likely being sent to get Eero’s blood because the hags were looking to replace him.

    Tamel broke down when Yunet pointed this out to him with a double nat 20 on her intimidation check. Eero was able to look into Tamel’s mind and saw the memory he had of Gaia the hag as she gave him his own iron tooth that she now used to telepathically communicate with him.

    The party removed his iron tooth and he gave them the name of the final hag in the coven, Marcia. He told them that Gaia was the least powerful hag and was likely in the Gurruptoi city Delinos, controlled by the stonetooth tribe who she had significant influence over as she had significant control over their trolls.

The next most powerful hag was Marcia, who was the Bloodgrafter for the Coldfire tribe, which was led by the white dragon we saw defending Aigne.

Finally, the leader of the hag coven was Judith, who lived somewhere inside the Quedem mountains.

The party decided to explore the cave, which triggered a magical trap which collapsed the hovel on top of the party, nearly killing Tamel, the orc chieftain hostage they had, Modokus, and Leora. Luckily everyone was dug out in time before they suffocated.

The party retreated into the mountains to meet back up with the rest of the taskforce in the Scrapyard. The party was spotted while they rested by a goblin scout who Modokus punched unconscious and left in a tree, not wanting to kill him, but not letting him report the party’s position.

   Upon passing the city of Aigne, the party investigated the remains of the Gurruptoi war camp. Via Rose began burying bodies using her druidcraft cantrip, and as she did she felt a presence behind her. She looked back and saw a vision of a githzerai woman. The woman showed Via a vision of a large octahedral structure that was hidden beneath the Arafel citadel. The woman told Via to find her there. The party convinced the excited via to not go running off though and that they would visit it together later.

The group headed back down south through the mountains, evading the Quedem military and the Gurruptoi as they headed back to the entrance of the underdark. (edited)

Left the Orc chieftain in the woods.

Entered the underdark

Questioned Tamel and learned the Hags have killed the nightstalker using a Gurruptoi army made from the Coldfire Tribe and the Gorona Tribe. He had been tracking it for them and several thousand Gorona soldiers died in the attack.

The party wonders if the nightwalker was needed to have parts of it grafted by Marcia.

The party continued down into the underdark and found the remains of several slain mind flayers who were killed by the previous party.

The party made their way to the scrapyard and found out it had been attacked by Thri-kreen, and some of the Eltheldren was missing.

Sabrielle had left notes with Davni.

The other party had learned that the dead zone was growing by 13 feet a day, and the calculated center was the Quedem citadel.

Via Rose went shopping and found a hairpin that she traded Yoko’s potato for. She put it on and when returning to the rest of the party, Modokus recognised the symbol on it, the elven letter for C with a sword through it, as a symbol Nyle had on his armor.

The party looked through the city and found one of the estates on the side of the city had this same symbol over its doorway.

The courtyard had some unhallowed ground that would not allow Eero to enter.

The hairpin magnetized to Yunet’s necklace.

The party found an identical ritual chamber under the broken statue of Lolth.

The ritual chamber was an exact replica of the one under pavone, but with the name of Lolth in the prayer instead of the name of Borthax.

Via Rose took the pendant into the unhallowed ground and saw a vision of Nyle betraying his sister who wore the hairclip in the painting.

Yunet tried the same method and felt the sister’s feeling as she was betrayed.

Leora identified the unhallowed area and identified the hairclip was used as a component in taking an oath of vengeance.

The party rested for the night and decided to find the rest of the taskforce. Upon getting to the meeting spot and seeing the other taskforce members not there, they went looking.

They found the rest of the taskforce in a desperate situation fighting back several fiends. The barron was downed immediately by the large Chull-like yugoloth.

They rested for the night, seeing a gelatenous cube move past, a Nycoloth come past looking for his axe, and a masked figure.

Edric used message to talk to the masked figure and learned he was a fallen Aasimar, Pravicar Domaiar Nilvenshun, of the Hellknight order.

The Hell Knights are an order of knights who regard law and order above all else, treading the thin line between lawful neutral and lawful evil.

The Hellknights had been contacted by one of the mistwalkers who had survived the coup who told them of the adamantine citadel. As it is from another world, the hellknights wish to see it removed.

Domaiair agreed to join the party and informed them he had 150 knights in his company sent to deal with the citadel.

Everyone rested for the night and prepared to approach the citadel.

#### For the Heart of the Mist: September 14, 263 T.C. Somewhere in the underdark

The party woke in the morning and Edric introduced everyone to Pravicar Domaiar Nilvenishun. Modokus and Eero were particularly wary of this newcomer, but everyone agreed having an extra ally would be more of a boon than a hinderance at this point. The Pravicar seemed very unimpressed with the party's lack of discipline, particularly that of Minty, Via, and Yoko.

The party gathered their belongings and continued their trek inwards towards where they suspected the adamantine citadel to be. As they continued, they expected the area to be teeming with activity, as the night before all watches had seen creatures passing nearby their camp. But they encountered no one.

As they continued down the tunnels, the area became more wild and verdant. Patches of grass and small bushes were appearing where it would be impossible for them to survive. As the party continued, multicolored mushrooms and fungi and all manner of flowers and bushes sprouted from the walls and ceilings of the cave... Until they didn't.

The party crossed a threshold and suddenly, everything on the other side was rotten and dead. The grass beneath the party's feet crumpled like dried leaves as the party stepped over them. Everything was dead, just like the center of the wild zone in the feywild. The party was getting close.

Eero and Tamel but felt the power of the mist was stronger here, and they felt empowered by it. Both of thier bodies began slowly emitting mist involuntarily, like they couldn't contain the full power coursing through them. Eero suddenly felt the same judging presence he felt in the Hall of Prophecy back in Luracia, and he mentioned this to Edric. Edric used his detecct magic spell and noticed Eero's ring was glowing brighter than usual. He examined it and found the soul slot inside the ring was filled with something.

Eero peered inside the ring with his psionics and he met the entity he had unknowingly been carrying along with him all this time. When Eero peered in he saw in his mind's eye five stars staring down at him like eyes. He told Edric about this and Edric identified the five stars as likely the eyes of an Aeon, beings of perfect law who reside in Mechanus and Arcadia.

Eero addressed the eyes and they told him they were an Aeon named Exiles. Exiles told him that Lady Ollana Linege had gifted Eero with the ring containing Exiles because she suspected anything making the divination deadzone was likely not of this world, and Aeons have powers designed to keep the planes of existence separate from one another. Banishing things that do not belong on this plane is one of the specialties of an Aeon.

Edric looked to Sir Graham, who admitted he knew the Aeon was in the ring, but was not at liberty to tell the party until now.

Now with the knowledge of the presence of an Aeon in their party, the party continued onward. It wasn't long until they knew they were close. Ena used her primeval awareness and felt the presence of over sixty fiends nearby before she suddenly felt the presence of one fiend so powerful it made her freeze. Its presence overwhelmed her even at this distance, and she became frozen until Leora cast heroism on her to snap her out of the spell.

The group cautiously continued on, and they entered a massive underground chamber where they spotted a gigantic adamantine octahedron shape. They were looking at the top of a buried adamantine citadel. It was visibly damaged and had small stalagmites growing on top of it, indicating it had been there for several centuries. The party began investigating the structure and several party members attempted to attack the citadel to try to gain entrance, but a psionic field kept confusing them and causing them to attack in random directions instead of at the citadel itself.

Several party members began to climb the citadel and when Tamel attempted to do the same, he found himself unable to exit his mist form. Via Rose knocked him away from the citadel with her gust cantrip and he was able to reform. He said when he was touching the citadel it felt like he was overcharged with mist energy and couldn't force himself to revert to his original form again.

Eventually Edric used his acid spell to try to eat a hole into the citadel, and he managed to make a hole small enough for Via to enter as a housecat and Minty to use her Fey Step to enter. The inside was stale and dark as the two fey party members began to venture further inside.

Then, Modokus tried to reach inside the citadel with his telepathy and found the citadel was a hub for thousands of psionic voices. He listened in hard and learned these voices were the voices of the Quedem people, living their lives. Eero reached out to do the same and found himself connected to a massive psionic network that connected all of his people. Every descendant of Zaquen was linked here.

Eero reached out and found the voice of Anella who told him she was safe and worried about him. She said she was at an ice temple in the feywild, but the connection was lost soon after. Eero reached out his old Arafel partner, Chalan, and managed to get ahold of him. Chalan was looking for Eero and said he was gathering mistwalkers who survived the coup in the feywilde where Zahir wouldn;t be able to find them. Eero told Chalan to meet him at the ice temple as soon as he could and Chalan agreed.

Finally, Eero noticed several Quedem psionic voices were clouded, surrounded by a mysterious darkness that he guessed was the result of the ritual Zahir had forced them to undergo.

Eero was about to leave when a voice contacted him. The voice introduced herself as Lezra, wife od Zaquen. She explained that she was a githzerai, and was the only survivor of when this adamantine citadel crashed here several centuries ago. This citadel had been damaged in a battle with a nautiloid ship, made by the mind flayers and had crashed here after the battle. The twelve githzerai keeping the citadel in its proper shape survived but were all in a deep trance, keeping them alive longer and keeping the destructive power of the limbo energy inside the citadel from destroying the surrounding mountain range.

Outside of the meditating gith in the citadel's center, she was the only survivor. She left and met Zaquen and became his wife. The promise Merolius had made created a divine bond between all of Zaquen's descendants, and this divine connection was being used to connect them all psionically as well. The people's faith in their land becoming prosperous if they were diligent and good was controlling the limbo energy leaking from the citadel as it suffused with this plane was psionically making it happen.

Lezra warned Eero that the hag Judith and her Coven had been trying to gain access to the citadel for centuries. Eero's blood could be used to open the citadel because he was Zaquen's chosen. The divine bond of his people was strong in him, which was why he was an aasimar. But the divine blond being so strong in him meant if Judith got her hands on it, she would be able to force the citadel to open to her.

Judith was trying to find a way to pull the souls of Eero's ancestors back through the citadel as the divine bond was still tethering them there. Judith was a night hag and acquiring so many pure souls could make her one of the most powerful hags in Hades. Then, Lezra warned Eero that Judith was coming.

Eero left the connection and warned Edric they needed to seal the breach in the adamantine citadel. Via crawled back out and Sabrielle had to shrink Minty so Leora and Lykus could pull her out. Eero took the two adamantine shortswords from Edric and used his mistwalking ability to try to reincorporate them with the citadel to repair the damage. He was almost successful and had top leave behind his cloak of protection to ensure the breach would seal.

Then, the party heard several walls in the chamber break, and a massive, gnarled and misshapen creature crawled over the top of the citadel. This creature, was an Altroloth. The party saw the arm of a nightwalker had been grafted onto it, as well as some shite skin from some other creature, and one of its gigantic antlers. The chamber flooded with low level yugoloths and thri-kreen and the majority of the party moved to suppress the oncoming hordes.

The Altroloth bore down on the party and its fearful aura froze some of them. Its necrotic presence hurt the party just by being in proximity to it, and with one point of its finger, it froze and nearly killed Eero. The party's weapons did hurt the beast but barely seemed to make a dent in its massive form. Leora moved quickly and knocked Eero's ring off and released Exiles.

Exiles opened a gate to Hades and began pulling the much stronger Altroloth through. Resisting an Aeon's banishment was nearly impossible, even for a being on par with pit fiends and balores. The Altroloth was banished and the Aeon cast mass see invisibility on the party, revealing all three hags of the coven inside the chamber with them. The party began battling the hags, and Gaia beckoned Tamel to rejoin her side, which caused him to freeze. Marcia taunted Minty by saying she was the spitting image of her sister before casting bling on Minty, indicating Marcia had some connection to Minty's temple where Anella was hiding.

Several yugolths got past the perimeter defenses and one ripped Yoko's cat in half. However, despite the odds, with the Altroloth gone, the party began to turn the tides and the coven realized they were outmatched without their trump card. Judith used her coven connection to cast plane shift on all members of the coven, allowing them to escape.

The party mopped up the remaining Thri-kreen and yugoloths and won the battle, though everyone but Modokus had been moderately to severely injured.

Edric immediately sent Monana a sending asking her to send Luracia to help. He then sent a sending to Zahir, telling him they knew about the hags and the citadel and Luracia was coming. Zahir said he would gladly discuss anything Edric had found and said he assumed Edric had dealt with the deadzone.

Everyone regrouped at the center of the chamber to discuss their plan of attack. The day was won but all the hags still lived, and they likely planned to re-summon the Altroloth soon. This conflict was not over

## Relationships

### Davian

> *'“But before you go,” Davian said, suddenly interrupting his own chuckling. “I want to recount a couple of things that I think are worth going back over.” He smiled and the lines that framed his eyes deepened. “I want you to remember. I want you to remember what we are really fighting for.” He reached back to a blue leatherbound book Eero was all too familiar with. He knew what was coming, but he didn’t mind either.'*
>
>

Eero has looked up to Davian Raziel his entire life. Davian is not his father as the traditions of the Quedem have forbidden his adoption, but Eero has no stronger father figure to look up to. Davian fostered in Eero his unbreakable faith, his sense of right and wrong, and his sense of self discipline that have helped him grow into the man he is today, and helped his save and protect the lives of many others in his travels. Davian may not be Eero's father, but he has cared for him the way a father should care for his son.

### Anella

> *'Silence.*
>
>
> *Eero sat for a second. Then waved. Again.*
>
>
> *The girls stared for a second. Then Anella waved gently back. “Hi,” she said slowly. “Do you need something?”*
>
>
> *He sat still. His heart was pounding but his head was still. He glanced down sidelong at the table as he let his hand fall back down.*
>
>
> *“Just give her the note.”*
>
>
> *Eero, slowly pulled the note from his belt, still looking hard at the table. Then his eyes looked up to meet her crystal blue ones. He quickly handed her the neatly folded parchment.*
>
>
> *She glanced at the paper, gently took it from his hand. Her eyes were still on him. He needed to just go. It was done.'*
>
>
>
>

Anella Tobin is Eero's fiancée and best friend. Having noticed her devotion through performing a ritual many considered unnecessary, Eero began noticing Anella at each of the seven feasts. He built up his courage and handed her a letter he had written, expressing his admiration of her. Eero had felt little hope finding a marital partner since most marragies are arranged by the Quedem and done between familair relationships just as much as for love. However, after introducing himself to Anella, Elias Tobin, Anella's father, took interest in Eero. He saw him as a capable man and admired his positional status among the Arafel.

Anella and Eero quickly formed a strong relationship through exchange of notes since Eero was often gone on long trips for the Arafel. Later on, they developed a form of communication using hand signals. (Eero typically signed while Anella spoke.)

A wedding was planned for September of the year 263 T.C. but was never realized due to the Coup of that same year.

Anella is Charismatic and easy to talk to which greatly contrasts to Eero's quietness. Eero greatly appreciates her willingness to talk when otehrs around and keep the conversation flowing whether with him or others in their company.

### Challan

> *'“Hey, don’t worry,” Chalan continued, sensing Eero’s thoughts. “Even if they hear us, we will be long gone like poof!” Eero could just make out his fingers and hands waving mystically through the air tin demonstration. His accent was thick and bore all the marks of one of the tribesman living on the outer edge of the valley. If Eero’s family hadn’t been killed, it was likely he would have spoken with the same slur. Well, that is if he had been able to talk at all.*
>
>
>  *“Although,” and his voice seemed to raise a little. “I wouldn’t mind getting into a little tussle with a few of the gorillas. Well, that is if you wouldn’t mind.” He rose on an elbow and peered at Eero. “At least it would beat doing this surveillance nonsense.”*
>
>
>
> *Eero knew he meant it. Chalan was a well vetted warrior, and it was no secret just how outstanding he was in a fight. The Arafel didn’t hand out medals, but if it did, he probably would take the cake for collecting them. “I know you are still in ‘training’ and everything, but look here, Hero (A nick name he had placed on Eero), you and I both know you are capable of fighting some gorillas.” He shifted his position even further up on his elbow.* '
>
>

Challan first took Eero on as his apprentice around 255 T.C. They quickly bonded as Challan saw Eero as more of a younger brother than a student, and felt responsible for Eero's wellbeing. Although quick witted and sharp, Challan is mainly uneducated and would use Eero's background and education to further his understanding of Political events and scholarly subjects that he later used to court his wife.

Challan was one of the few who did not do the ritualistic binding that was used before the coup of 263.

### Edric

> *'It's really very simple," he stated. He raised an eyebrow regally but with an air of benevolence, or perhaps, a warm sort of condescension. "There is truly only Arcana and those who know and do not know how to operate it."*
>
>
> *Eero stared back, unsure how to answer such a remark. The point was not incorrect, although Eero thought it, perhaps, a little too simple to encompass the complexity of all the magic known throughout Relden. But there was little point in arguing or even clarifying a statement made by a man much more educated, versed, charismatic and capable than himself. He simply found himself quietly nodding back, surveying the sharp features that defined Edric's face.*
>
>
>
> *He gave Eero a quiet smile and curtly nodded to his right. "Well then," he said briskly. "Should we not be going?"'*
>
>

As the most educated and charismatic member of the campaign party, Edric had a natural attraction for Eero. Due to Eero's lack of verbal comunication, Eero often looks to others to fill the role as leader and express the thoughts and feelings he cannot articulate himself. Although he learned to use telepathy shortly after meeting Edric, Eero still seldom tries to fill the role the Edric so adequately performs. He sees Edric as both a capable and knowledgeable source with a side of grace and compassion that is both magnetic and favorable.

### Monana

> *'Wait, what enemy!" Monana's head shot up as the realization of what he had written washed over her. "Your family is in danger!?" Her voice was very small, but also very distinct and seemed to carry better over the murmur of the larger souls' discussion. "From who?"*
>
>
> *Eero hadn't wanted to draw attention to the situation. He glanced around the hollow chamber somewhat apologetically to see Edric and a few others from the company raise their heads. Being the center of attention was not his forte and even more so among a group he had only met a few days ago. Yet even as he felt the embarrassment rush to his face, he also felt immense weight wash from his shoulders. Deep down, he knew he had wanted to share the news with someone who would sincerely care. It had torn at the back of his mind and weighed at the forefront of his feeling for more than a month and the desperation of his situation was beginning to unravel him. It felt terribly vulnerable but hopeless if he didn't tell someone just what was happening. She had always been the kindest in the party and he knew she would at least show some sign of empathy.*
>
>
>
> *Although he had felt unsure disclosing the information, it felt so validating to have someone react to the situation.'*
>
>

Monana's kindness and unintimidating manner made her the first candidate to truly win Eero's trust within the campaign party. Although he does not feel closest to her, he respects her ideals the most. her sense of empathy and compassion are strongest in the party and much needed in an adventurous group with fighting a death are constants. It was Monana who suggested they protect the eggs of the Thi Kreen rather than destroy the threat.

### Leora

> *Eero, jumped from the rock, his boots making a dull thud as they made contact with wet cave floor. His breathing was heavy as he looked around the cavern to surmise how his companions had faired and who most needed healing.*
>
>
> *The ground was speckled with flecks of blood from the huge beast that had made its appearance. Broken fragments of stone littered the path from where it crawled over the citadel to where it had vanished into the void of the open portal. Most of the research team were huddled together against the eastern opening, their faces covered in expressions of exhaustion, but otherwise unharmed. Continuing the scan, he could just see past the stalagmites to where Edric was bending over something that was laying prone. The sweep of long brown hair protruding past his knees revealed that it must have been Ena.*
>
>
> *Eero let his body fall forward, willing his remaining strength into his legs as he burst forward to aid the situation. Then, without warning, a hand shot forward and arrested his momentum with a thick, heavy grasp.*
>
>
>
> *"Why did you do that?" said a deep throaty voice. Eero turned to see Leora, her brow furrowed in frustration. "All they needed was your blood to open that thing... and you go rushing off to face off against a green demon dude with an axe?" She let his shirt go with grunt. "What were you thinking?" She shook her head wiped a scaly hand across her forehead as if pulling back a lock of absent hair. "I know you want to help, but you have to think. Sometimes the best help is letting others help you."*
>
>

Eero sees Leora as a bodyguard first and foremost. As Monana's protector, Leora seems less driven by dreams, desires, or principles but mostly out of a profound sense of duty. This led Eero to trust her completely by way of the party's mission, but also mistrust her decision process outside of that realm. He was unsure what her past life was like and how it contributed to her current perspectives. Much of her old personality and aspirations seemed to have been distorted or changed either through the magic of her resurrection or the vast change of switching bodies and possibly leaving behind all past family ties, hopes, and dreams. He did not blame her for not speaking much to the party of what had happened and how she felt about it, yet it left his mind open to many possibilities. Due to his past with betrayal, he tended to lean to the side of caution. Still, as a very capable fighter and Monana's protector, Eero has always felt very grateful for her help and sense of responsibility.

### Yunet

> *'"Is that it?" Galvur looked skeptically at Eero, his head cocked to the side with an arrow still sticking from his shoulder. Eero wasn't sure how to respond. He nodded slowly and took his hand from the wound. Galvur rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks a bunch."*
>
>
> *"The city is going quiet," Yunet commented. She looked over the city scape with her spear held firmly in her main hand. Her eyes were filled with determination and a form of intensity Eero had seldom seen. She turned back to the prone thi-kreen and gave it a heavy prod with her boot before hitting its head with the spear shaft. Before the battle she had been fairly docile and not too different from the sick girl Eero had been tending for the past few days. As as the battle as started, however, there had been a sudden change come over her. She was different and Eero felt uneasy with how quickly the shift had happened. It was equal to the task the violence had demanded, but it seemed to fade slowly.*
>
>
> *"We should still take a look around," Eero thought to the group. "This place doesn't look well guarded."*
>
>
> *"If there were violence we would hear it," Galvur stated thickly. He craned his neck to cavitate the joint and grunted. "Now, I'm going back down to the tavern, finding a tankard, and drinking till I'm good and ready for bed." He spat and turned to leave.*
>
>
> *"But, the tavern keeper has long fled," Eero reminded him.*
>
>
> *"So?" Galvur snorted. He broke the shaft of the arrow still protruding from his torso and began to descend the stairway. "I would think he would gladly give a drink or two to the guys who kept the place from burning into a smoldering heap. If he wouldn't, the reward for such stinginess is a fresh reminder that he's half my size and should have thought of that before trying to stop me." His head disappeared down the opening. "You coming or not? I was hoping I could ask you a few questions."*
>
>
> *"I'm coming," Yunette suddenly strode forward. "Grab the golden ale from the back. That's where he keeps the good stuff."*
>
>
>
> *Eero watched sillently as her voice also faded down the stairway, his eyes narrowed with an eyebrow raised in half disbelief.'*
>
>

Yunet's presence in the party is somewhat of an anomaly to Eero. Although there are many curious characters within the party, Yunet bares a curse that had left her double minded and not entirely herself. Because Eero began suspecting Zahir might be under a curse himself, he had some suspicions of how Yunet might affect the party's dynamics. With that said, Eero recognized that she was entirely committed to their cause so long as they sought to bring down the undead.

### Ena

As a hitman for hire, Ena was the least understood by Eero. Often motivated by the acclimation of temporal wealth, Ena remains the least trusted by Eero throughout their journeys together. Despite her vast prowess with the bow, Eero tended to acclimate and trust most those who he could best identify with and place within a category he was familiar with. Because hitmen were usually placed in one of his negative categories, he was never quite sure why Ena decided to stay with the group when she had ample opportunity to leave. Her presence never led him to feel unsafe, because he could see she was smart enough not to try and betray them, but he was also certain that at some point she would part ways with them. He was very surprised to see just how far she stayed and how loyal she proved.

### Modokus

Modokus is the party member identifies with most. Despite Leora's tragic story, that led to Eero's sympathy, or Edric's leadership, that lent itself to Eero wanting to spend most time with him, Modokus story feels the most like Eero's. Both are silent outcasts from among their own people. Both have taken the path of warrior to help make up for the injustices they see in the world and use their skills to make up for their lack of charisma.

Yet it was Modokus' incredible proficiency in combat that most fascinated Eero. His uncanny capacity to quickly dismantle his enemies with such unique speed made him pause. Seeing a need to redeem his country from the corrupt influence of Zahir, Eero knew he was outmatched by many mist walkers more experienced and more numerous than he could ever afford to be. He knew he needed help from tactics and techniques his fellow mist walkers were completely unfamiliar with. Along with Davian's support and teachings, Modukus proved that such methods were available.

## Magic Items

* Cloak of protection. *Acquired from the Luracian armory, Lost sealing a hole in the Quedem Adamantine Citadel.*

## Trivia

Any fun metagame or in-game trivia you feel like adding.

* Eero's name was originally planned to be Nassir during session 0. It was later changed to Eero when Derek was trying to establish the civilizations culture and elected to use Hebrew and Finnish names rather than Arabic or Persian. Eero was a favorite because it was Ori backwards who served to help form a concept of what the character would be like.