Story 3/28/2021

The session start off with the group having just defeated Ecrozahr in the Ruins of Augalire. They had gained the ability to change planes, and right off the bat Beorn was extremely interested in going into a branch around the time of his birth, and seeing what created him. The rest of the group was good with that plan, so they travelled into the branch to see what would happen, but not before leaving the following items in the Mortal Plane.

Klon - His hammer

Beorn - His journal

Erevan - His unlimited drink mug

Khaelis - His weapon creating pin cushion

Lunashe - Pelorian guide on recruiting atypical races, used by the Cult of Orcus to suppressing them

Shalara - TBD

They found themselves in a densely wooded area, near a rock formation that made a cave. Just outside the entrance of the cave, a family of bears was tending to one of their own. The family consisted of a very large Mama Bear, a smaller Papa Bear, and 3 cubs, one of whom was gravely injured.

Lunashe turned into a blue jay and flew up to get a vantage point, and Beorn stealthed up to see what would happen. After a few seconds, the woman with Red hair and green tattoos all over her body appeared. She was the "Red Woman" they group had seen earlier fight against Desmond, also known as the "Red Witch" by Zadicus. She was very large, but subtely growing smaller as she walked towards the bears. About half of the group suddenly put it together that she was Melora, the goddess of Nature and the Sea.

Initially, the bears were calm to her presence and let her attend to the injured cub. She placed a hand on the cubs head and heart, whispered some words, and the cub suddenly sprang up and growled. The growl was strange, almost like a human impersonating a growl, not a real bear. Instantly, the Mama Bear became enraged at Melora, and bit her arm. The Papa Bear soon followed suit, while the newly healed cub continued with strange growls.

Beorn ran up and let out a growl himself, that sounded almost exactly like the cub's growl. The Mama Bear looked at Beorn, then back at her cub, then lunged at Beorn and attacked. Beorn dodge the attack, and Melora swept forward and touched the Mama Bear in the back of the head, killing her instantly.

The group looked up in shock, and Beorn asked her why she had done what she had done. She went on to explain several things to the group. First and foremost, she believed that Nerull was going to win, so she was pursuing backup options. The other gods and goddesses were all arguing about what to do, and in general there was a lot of chaos, disarray, and mistrust going on between the gods about what to do about Nerull (if anything). Many still believed that he could be stopped, but more and more were convinced he was going to win and regain control as the god of death.

She confirmed the groups suspicion that bears, in their tendency to be both incredibly stubborn and incredibly strong, were immune to Arkilius's mind control spell, which she believed would soon be effecting humanoids. She wanted to make sure that once Nerull took over, there would be someone immune to his spell that could fight against them. A seal team 6 on the other side of the apocalypse if you will.

She also confessed that she had tried and failed this once before, with Zadicus (who hated the "Red Witch"). Becoming a sentient bear was not an easy thing, and Beorn finally proved it could be done. She bestowed upon the group a special gift. Everyone in the group, with an Action, could turn into a bear for a brief period. As a bear, they could run on all 4's and gain 50% movement, they had a +2 constitution, and their melee basic could be claws if they wanted. They would have to stay on the same plane as Beorn, and within 500 yards, or they may be stuck as a bear forever.

Finally, she named 3 gods that she new to be fallen and working with or for Nerull. Bahamut, the platinum dragon, also believed Nerull was going to win, and switched sides to prevent as many Dragonborn from dying in the coming war as he could. Lolth, an evil god of shadows and lies, had always believed Nerull had been betrayed by the Raven Queen, and was mostly mad that he wasn't involved. Finally, Kord, the god of battle and storms, seemed to be turned, but she didn't know why, probably due to the likelihood of more battle under Nerull.

Beorn was generally accepting of his fate, but told Melora that they (the bears, especially the Mama Bear) deserved better than Melora, and stormed off.

Klon prepared to bury the Mama Bear, while Lunashe cleaned up the forest around them a bit before the group returned to the Mortal Plane.

The group then received a Ravbit from Thorrack, indicating the Raven Queen was calling on her order to assemble. She wanted everyone in the order to go to the nearest grove and wait. Thorrack asked Klon to come to the grove at Thalstead.

The group made their way there, and indeed Thorrack was there waiting for them. He was happy to see Klon, but Klon had come to realize he was equal to, or even above Thorrack in the order. He was probably the only living member who had ever spoken to the Raven Queen directly, and he had done so much while Thorrack had just kinda organized people since Miradore.

Klon cleaned up the grove and fixed some issues with it, which Thorrack noticed. As dusk set on the evening, the group could feel something growing within them. Emerging from the trees, an Undead Eramendi with some undead goons appeared, and he pointed a humming sword at Erevan and said, "I shall have my revenge that was promised," and attacked....

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