Session 75 & 76: Depression

As they prepare to leave, Cho and Vojta overhear Nan talking to Disiver, saying she wants to discuss a proposal later. The three of them then plane shift back to the nameless village, where they rest for the night. Nan then speaks to Von and invites her to come into the temple with them. She agrees to accompany them in the evening. In the meanwhile, Cho doesn’t need Kolo’s sword anymore now that he has his glaive back, so he wonders if his soul can be released. Kolo doesn’t want this, but he agrees to be left in someone else's care. He would prefer the paladin order in Um'akuh, but it's in shambles after Gyrraleth's attack. They go to the House of Arms and speak with Dot, one of the head warriors, who is wounded from fighting Disiver. Vojta heals some of her injuries, though he can’t heal her broken bones without more powerful magic. Cho offers her Kolo’s sword, as a powerful weapon and a companion who is knowledgeable on fighting demons. She is happy to accept.

In the evening, they gather and go to the temple. Nan puts the lock stone into the slot, which causes the wall to split open into a passage. They enter into a large dusty hall with six pillars of various colours in a circle. On the far wall is a large carving of a sun deity with six embedded coloured stones. The group speculates that the six coloured pillars represent the six gods. They touch the pillars and receive sensations relating to the person who possesses that blessing. Arran for Turagh, Grombrin for Morach, etc. Tereth's pillar gives very little sensation.

Cho and Vojta touch the pillars of Mereteth and Etreath simultaneously. Echoes and visual flashes of a battle fill the room. It’s a fight of three against three, then reduces to one against one as others are felled. When the last is defeated, a note appears. It is written by Sa, addressed to Kashaf, stating that Sa imprisoned Kashaf here until she comes to her senses, and that the door can only be opened by three of her kind. The group speculates that there were six people blessed by the primordial gods before. Sa was the blessed one of Anaereth, and the letter implies that Kashaf was of Turagh. Thus, they will need Arran as a third blessed one before they can open the door.

When they leave the temple, Nan tries to take the key back out, but can’t. They return to the village and tell Von that they will come back soon. They then teleport from a tree in the orchard to Seagate, where they rest at the Ivy League tavern. In the morning, Vojta sends a message to Arran, who confirms that he is in Seagate. He appears to join them shortly after. He can't tell them everything that happened, because it relates to Far Kadoma, but he reveals that he has the Regal Spellblade, which he and Grombrin traded for another sword without the owner's knowledge. The others tell Arran about all the things that happened while he was away. Vojta remembers that they should contact Lokreth, so he sends a message with the special sending stone. Lokreth responds that he is hiding from the Last Light Gang in Pha'uel's domain, but that he would like to meet the group to discuss sometime soon, either in Eximum or in the material plane.

As they’re about to head out, the old woman Nan spoke to before, who identified as Shula, appears. Nan dispels her to reveal the red dragonborn, confirming their suspicions. She introduces herself as Kreinshul. She overheard some of the conversation but doesn’t know where Nan’s village is. When asked why she wants to get into the forest, she says she just wants to investigate Dosek. She hasn’t made up her mind on her full intentions.

Cho asks why she cooperates with Gyrraleth's plan. She explains that she doesn’t think Cerebarieth is as all-powerful as Gyrraleth thinks, but is more a harbinger of natural chaos. Personal loss has taught her that pure compassion can’t be the key to everything. They can never stop new wars from erupting, so she wants another method of achieving change. Cho accuses her of being an angry child kicking at a volcano until it erupts, but she claims the collateral damage is acceptable. Despite their disagreement, she expresses sympathy for the death of Dalg and claims that her family was not involved in that. Before leaving, she also encourages Arran to kill Krathus, who is a cruel man. When she's gone, Arran asks the others if they should take her out, since she is one of their four adversaries. Vojta counters that they have little understanding of Dosek’s prediction, so it doesn’t seem right to kill her based only on that.

The group teleports back to Nan's village, where Nan invites Von to join them at the temple again. When they arrive, Arran, Cho, and Vojta touch their respective pillars, but this doesn't work. They touch the coloured stones on the wall instead, which causes the wall to open into a large room filled with the destroyed remains of furniture. Inside is a gaunt woman with burned-out eyes, crawling on the floor. When they enter, she thinks they are the original blessed ones, but Cho explains that those are long gone. Kashav explains that she has been here for over 600 years, probably much longer since she ran out of space to make tally marks on the walls. The magic of Anaereth's temple has kept her alive, but now that she is free she will soon die, because no two blessed ones of Turagh can exist at the same time.

When the group mentions Cerebarieth, Kashav explains that back in her day, a child was born with Cerebarieth's blessing. The child grew to be too powerful, able to reshape the others’ memories. Three of them wanted to kill him, the other three disagreed, which led to their conflict. Sa's intent was to banish or imprison him, but Kashav doesn't know what happened after she herself was imprisoned. Based on the note, Nan speculates that Sa may have come back for Kashav, but was unable to open the door on her own. Nan asks about the crystal trees, so Kashav explains that those were used back then as well. Because they anchor the planes together, a sufficient number of them could be used by Cerebarieth to force himself back into the world.

Kashav points to the four of them, assigning them descriptions that fit them as well as their predecessor, suggesting that history repeats itself. The same applies to Gyrraleth and the child. Cho is surprised that he fits the description of Mereteth’s blessed one, as that was supposed to be temporary. When Cho explains this, Kashav thinks Mereteth will be flexible enough to allow a change of acolyte. Sa’s successor was to be someone who lives in a cottage, that was all she shared.

As she speaks, her fingers start disintegrating. She suggests a duel with Arran, to decide which of them gets to live, but he convinces her that surviving like this isn’t worth it. With the time she has left, they tell her about the state of the world and she thanks them for saving Turagh from the aboleth. She mentions that she would have liked to die in the mountains. Arran asks if they can bring a keepsake of hers there, so she gives him her silver rings. She describes the mountains in question, which they infer to be the Brazen Peaks. She also asks that they bring Gyrraleth’s head to her tower after they kill him, for closure. Lastly, she wonders if she could feel the sun as she dies. It’s night outside, so Cho turns some furniture into a golden hearthfire. Kashav smiles at the warmth as her body falls apart into ash.

Von is baffled by what she witnessed. She discusses with Nan while Arran investigates the bookshelves, but the books have long been destroyed. He does find a pressure plate in the centre of the room, which launches him up to the next floor when he steps on it. The others recognise this and follow, while Von stays behind. They end up in a sunlit sky high above Radro, standing on a plateau of clouds. Five coloured spires are seen in the distance, the temples of the other gods. At the Glacial Stream, they see a strange purple organ. When Cho enters, his forehead starts to glow painfully.

When Cho prays to Yane, a human woman appears before him. He recognises her as his mother and hugs her. She confirms that she is both Delvon and Anaereth. Delvon was a blessed one, though she herself didn’t know it, and so she became one with Anaereth when she died. This information makes Cho withdraw into his shell as he needs a moment to gather himself. Anaereth explains that she knows about their quest. Kashav wanted to sever Cerebarieth from reality, but the gods couldn’t bring themselves to do that. In its current state, Cerebarieth can still perceive the world and, she hopes, eventually change its mind and accept their creation as-is. In this state, a drop of its power does come through every few millennia, resulting in a blessed one.

Anaereth is willing to give her blessing, so the group discusses who should take it. Although the swap is inconvenient, Cho insists that he was made to take Anaereth’s blessing, and the others agree that he should follow his intuition. Before the blessing is granted, Nan asks if her people are finished in their search of the truth. Anaereth says this task wasn’t given by her, so she can’t say. Nan concludes for herself that her task is done. Anaereth then touches Cho’s gem, which transports them all back into the temple.