Session 9 (10/29/2021)

## Day Five, After Midnight

**Darkness** falls on Shasta’s manor. The halls and rooms are silent, but still, Holly can’t fall asleep. He lies upon his mattress tower, staring at the ceiling. He can’t stop thinking about the papers they found in the Crow’s Nest and the magical markings on the floor. Holly remembers seeing similar symbols on the papers in Shasta’s desk. He knows Shasta is lying to them, and he’s going to prove it.

He slips down the sides of his mattresses as silently as a breeze and cautiously makes his way out of the bedroom and down the hall to Shasta’s room. He reaches out to the doorknob and gives it the slightest turn. The knob resists, and Holly knows it’s locked. The dwarf silently unpacks his thieves’ tools and tries to pick the lock. The tumblers inside the lock click into place, but the hollow silence of the hallway makes each click seem as loud as a hammer striking stone. Holly hears a rustling inside the room, like the sound of someone sleeping restlessly, and he holds his breath. His heartbeat pounds in his ears as he clicks the final tumbler into place.

The door to Shasta’s room creaks on its hinges, but Holly quickly muffles it. The dwarf steadily makes his way across the room, avoiding the floorboards that try to groan under his footsteps. He can see the dark shape of Shasta asleep in his bed. The mayor is rolled on his side and facing away from the door, much to Holly’s relief. He keeps an eye on Shasta while he navigates the minefield of creaking floorboards, keeping his hand on his magical brooch–just in case.

Holly finally reaches Shasta’s desk and puts a hand on the third drawer. He tries to pull it open, but this drawer is locked, too. He gets out his thieves’ tools again and begins prying into the lock. It clicks open with a sound that seems more like a slamming door than a small metallic tick. He pulls the drawer but gets resistance. The drawer will only open about halfway. As he furrows his brow and focuses on this new challenge, he feels a cold hand drop down on his shoulder.

The dwarf’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t make a sound. Slowly, he lifts his hand across his body and places it over the hand resting on his shoulder. The hand is cold and metallic. Holly turns his head slightly and sees Caine staring down at him. He puts his finger in front of his lips, hoping that Caine somehow knew this universal symbol for silence. Fortunately, Caine mirrors the gesture and crouches down to Holly’s level. Holly reaches his hand into the partially opened drawer. He can feel a small book inside, but he can’t pull it out of the drawer.

He tries to peer inside, but it is too dark to see what else might be in the drawer. He unsheathes his dagger and moves it along the far end of the drawer, searching for any type of cords, wires, or strings that could be restraining the book. Holly feels some tension in the drawer, returns his dagger to its sheath, and gives another “silence” motion to Caine.

Before Caine can return the gesture, Holly spins two clicks on his magical brooch, overloading it and shrinking him to the size of a house cat. Caine is mystified but keeps quiet. Holly turns to look at the drawer and is dismayed that it is now about a foot above him and now out of his reach. He again turns to Caine, holding both arms outstretched above his head and pointing at the open drawer.

Caine puzzles for a minute then grabs Holly by the scruff and gently places him in the drawer. Holly turns to give Caine a thumbs-up, which the automaton gleefully returns. The shrunken dwarf ducks into the darkness of the drawer and walks across the cover of a ledger book. He can see two wires holding the book in place. He sizes them up for a second, then he uses his rope to fashion a trucker’s hitch to keep the tension. Satisfied that the knot should hold, he scurries out of the drawer and jumps to the ground just in time for his brooch to return him to his regular size.

He again removes this dagger, reaches into the drawer, and slices the wire. Unfortunately, the rope that Holly used to tie the hitch had shrunk with him and therefore had resized with him as well. Now too large to be effective, the rope fails to hold tension when Holly cuts the wires. As the wires are sliced, a cloud of fine powder puffs out of the drawer, enveloping Holly. The dust settles on his face and in his eyes, and the dwarf staggers. He begins to feel drowsy, and his eyelids are heavy. He leans heavily on Shasta’s desk. After a few moments, he can shake the woozy feeling, and looks down to see Shasta’s book in his hand!

Holly knows that it’s time to get out of there, and he gives Caine one last “silence” command. He slowly moves toward the door when he hears Caine’s robotic foot land heavily behind him. Holly whips his head around, afraid that this might wake Shasta. He puts his hand out in a “stop” gesture and continues his delicate path to the door. Before leaving the room, Holly turns to see Caine standing silently next to Shasta’s desk. Feeling guilty that Caine might face the brunt of Shasta’s wrath if the mayor thought his new butler was snooping, he gestures for Caine to slowly leave the room as well. The automaton mimics Holly’s exact path, and the two can get into the hallway and close the door without detection.

The pair hustle back to Holly’s room. The dwarf notices that the room is now lit with a soft lavender glow, radiating from Swage’s flashlight. The Firbolg is asleep on his bedroll alongside Dove’s bed, softly snoring. Dove is barely visible under the heavy black coat that’s draped over her, but he can see that she has Topka snuggled close to her along with Pygmalion. Holly and Caine silently slide by them to reach Pele’s bed.

Holly wakes her roughly and declares that Shasta is lying and he can prove it… probably. Pele squints her eyes and scowls, disoriented. She props herself up on her elbows and shakes her mussy hair away from her eyes. Holly presses the book into her hands, and she flips it open to a random page. She sees words–maybe the names of people, places, or shops in town? The dates go back about five or six years, and there seemed to be tallies of expenses and income, and perhaps some notes about percentages. Some entries have checkmarks, while others have X marks. To her, it looks like a ledger belonging to her traveling troupe’s bookkeeper. She’d seen a dozen like these before.

Pele goes to hand the book back to Holly, but he asks her to look again. On closer inspection, she can see that some numbers have been written over, and some names have been altered. She doesn’t know if Shasta is skimming off the top, or maybe being blackmailed, but something is suspicious. Holly tells her that he doesn’t trust Shasta, but Pele is hesitant to write him off since he had helped the group so much and seems to want to help the town as well. Holly says that even choices made for the right reasons can have negative consequences. They agree that the adventurers should still deliver Shasta’s letter, but use the opportunity to find out more about Shasta and his family.

Swage stirs a bit, and without rolling over, sternly demands to know why Shasta didn’t warn them about “that damn basilisk.” Holly lightheartedly flicks the dried pea Pele hid in his mattresses at Swage. The Firbolg grumbles with annoyance and sits up. Holly needs to return the book but wants a copy of the information inside. Caine transcribes a few pages in perfect reproduction. Swage can use his charcoal stick to make a rubbing of a few more pages, thanks to the original writer’s heavy hand. Holly plans to sneak out of the house with Caine before dawn, under the ruse that they were merely out shopping for masonry tools to repair the wall.

He climbs back up his tower of mattresses while Swage settles down into his bedroll. He asks Caine to watch over the group as they rest. Pele lies back in her bed but can’t fall back asleep. Her mind has been racing all day. After tossing and turning, she decides she must get up. Caine watches her silently as she leaves the room and disappears down the hallway.

Pele walks into the empty parlor and sits down in front of the cold brick fireplace. She grabs handfuls of ash and creates a circle around herself, then draws the sigil she hasn’t drawn in years. She concentrates on the fireplace and uses magic to create a flickering cluster of flames. She closes her eyes and thrusts her hands into the fire. The warmth and intensity of the fire is soothing, and she feels a sense of comfort radiate through her.

She closes her eyes, sighs heavily, and says aloud, “It’s…. it’s been a long time. I don’t know if you’re there or not, but I have a few companions that talk with their gods, so I’m giving it a try. There’s so much that has happened, and I could use your help to find some answers.”

Pele sits in the ashen circle, hands in the fire. She fidgets a little, as she tries to center herself in an annoyed meditation. Her eyes remain closed, but she can feel the flames dancing faster around her hands. She sees a glowing orange orb appear on the back of her eyelids, which seem to get closer and closer as the flames get faster. Pele is not afraid, though. As the orb gets closer, she feels embraced by the ethereal flame.

“It’s been a while now, Young One,” thunders a voice in her head. “I didn’t expect you to call.”

“Well, me either,” answers Pele, wordlessly.

“So, this is a cause for celebration then,” the voice chuckles warmly. “What can I do for you?”

Pele explains that she and her colleagues allegedly died and were resurrected and that she and another member of her party were diseased. They do not know how or why they were killed, or the reason they were brought back to life.

“Ah,” says the voice. “Now if you would have gone through with your purification ritual, that would not have happened.”

“I’m not here to talk about that,” Pele flatly replies.

“Fair enough, young one. I will give my blessing to you and your companions, but I will need something from you. I would like for you to stay in contact with me. Not every day, of course, but every few days would be nice. I won’t pressure you about the purification ritual, but it is always nice to see you,” says the voice. “Your mother worries about you too.”

“Do NOT talk about my mother!” Pele fumes. She adds mournfully, “I never got to meet her.”

The voice tells her she shouldn’t be so angry because she should know how these things work.

“Very well, I’ll let you have your time away,” the voice adds. “But you can’t escape your destiny, you know. The brightest flame always burns out the fastest.”

Pele sighs. She agrees to maintain regular contact, in exchange for help from her lord, Kossuth. She describes the being they encountered on Mount Tyr, and how it had rendered her immobile and caused magic to fail. She also recalls to him the green cloud that smothers the city, causing more and more death each time it rolls through.

“Does any of this make sense to you?” she asks.

“Hmmm,” Kossuth thinks for a moment.

He tells his Genasi devotee that he only knows of one place where magic will fail–the Spellscar.

Long, long ago, an unfortunate god ruled that land with an iron fist. His totalitarian rule caused the Spellscar and was a danger to the realm. A collective of elder gods worked together to stop him and his followers, but the deposed god may still exist in some form. Kossuth warns her that this was the vilest of deities, and eviler than any evil he had seen.

Pele nods and asks Kossuth what she should do about the basilisk’s disease. “WITHOUT doing a purification spell,” she adds pointedly.

Kossuth takes a moment but sadly tells Pele that he cannot cure her disease. She will need to seek out a cleric to perform a Lesser Restoration spell for her, or she can try to do a flame ritual to heal herself, which could be risky. He ends the conversation, telling her that he’s looking forward to speaking with her soon.

“Yea, don’t call me, I'll call you,” she says, as the flames in the fireplace go out.

Pele inhales deeply, and her shoulders slump as she breathes out. Why did she feel so stupid talking to her god like that?

She hears a small yip coming from the shadows of the parlor and turns quickly to see two sets of eyes watching her. Kaz and Jorge. He must have passed out in the parlor after coming back from dinner. Had he seen the whole thing?? Wide-eyed, she asked Kaz what he heard. He nervously replied that her initial call to Kossuth woke him, but once she got into her prayer, he didn’t want to disturb her. He didn’t hear any of the conversations–he just saw her wildly animated gestures and some very dramatic facial expressions. Pele cringes and quickly returns upstairs to her bed.

## Day Five, Early Morning

Hours later, Pele opens her eyes. Caine is gone from his post and Holly’s mattresses are empty–they must have already gone into town. She walks past Swage and Dove and heads downstairs. The manor is warm. Caine must have lit the fires before he left with Holly.

Dove stirs and lies in bed for a few moments, thinking. Swage had put his coat over her as she slept last night and had even placed Topka in her arms. Her feelings of impending doom were starting to quiet in her mind as she got out of bed. After all, she still had three days to figure out how to find a cure for herself and Pele, and she knew that Swage and Gary were both skilled and proficient clerics. She hung Swage’s coat on the post of her bed and tucked Topka into the crook of the sleeping Firbolg’s arm. Dove stepped out of the room and into the hallway, nearly crashing into Gary as he hurried towards the stairs.

“Dove!” he cries out, startled. “Don’t move! Myrkul has given me guidance.”

He gently places a hand on her shoulder and closes his eyes. Unsure of what to do, Dove closes her eyes as well. She can feel a warm pulse emanating from where Gary’s hand rests and all her feelings of distress and desolation are lifted away along with her disease. She opens her eyes excitedly.

“Gary!” she exclaimed. “I feel amazing! Thank you so much! Can I hug you?”

She throws her long arms out wide, but Gary falters. Flustered, he tells her that he needs to get downstairs quickly and perform Lesser Restoration for her as well. As the hem of his cloak disappears down the stairwell, Dove happily touches her face and her arms. She looks over her shoulder at her tail. She was thrilled. No more Marrow Ooze.

Excited to see Pele, she hops down the stairs, two at a time. Her claws catch on one of the stairs, and she tumbles down the staircase nose over tail. She lands on her back on the kitchen floor, laughing joyously. Esha appears at the top of the stairs, half-asleep with an empty tea mug in her hand. She descends the stairs, effortlessly steps over the giggling pile of fur on the floor, and starts to make her morning tea. “Good morning, Esha!” Dove calls cheerfully from the kitchen floor.

Upstairs, the sound of crashing and yelling in the stairwell startles Swage awake. He looks to Pele’s bed, and then to Dove’s–both empty. He realizes in a moment of panic that they were gone. He was supposed to watch over them, but he overslept and now some other awful thing had befallen them. He leaps up from his bedroll and dashes down the stairs to see everyone gathered in the kitchen. Gary has his hand on Pele’s shoulder as he whispers an eccentric prayer to Myrkul. Swage exhales a deep sigh of relief to see that they both are not only just okay but cured of their disease.

Swage then starts to feel a warm sensation in his chest, almost like a burning desire in his heart. He chalks it up to the care he feels for his friends, but then Esha says she feels something in her chest, too. Pele sheepishly admits to having a long-overdue discussion with her god Kossuth last night, and he had placed his blessing on all of them. Holly and Caine enter the kitchen. Holly has a set of masonry supplies under his arm. He sends Caine upstairs and sets up a scene of tools and mason work that he hopes will convince Shasta.

He joins the group at the kitchen table as Caine returns, with Shasta close behind.

"So," he says to the adventurers. "What's the plan for today?" Holly says that he's been showing Caine how to repair the wall. Shasta gives a glance at the stonework and is satisfied. He adds that he wants the hole completely patched, leaving no doors or other access to the catacombs below the house. Dove worries about how Estafador will access his lab, and the mayor turns to her.

"Who....is Estafador?" Shasta asks.

"He's a horny man!" laughs Swage as he peruses the breakfast offerings. Caine had assembled a mishmash of foods - some rolls of bread, a pot of leftover stew, some cheese, and a few pieces of fruit. He fixes a quick plate and takes a seat at the table.

Pele tells Shasta that the adventurers will leave town today and start their journey to Sillea. She tries to get the mayor to open up a little, and she jokingly asks if there's anyone in Sillea he would like a prank pulled on. He is silent for a moment before saying no, adding that they should try to find his mother and give her his love. He says that her name is Matrice. She is a cheetah who works as a servant in the manor, and she has the same reddish-orange fur and black spots. He would also like the group to give her the message that she is welcome to visit any time.

Shasta turns to leave the kitchen and wishes the adventurers good luck on their journey to Sillea. Swage's ears burn red with anger. He slams his palms on the table and pushes himself up until he's standing at his full height.

"DO you wish us good luck?" he roars. "WHAT IS WITH THE STINKY DEATH LIZARD??"

Shasta turns and pauses for a minute. "Oh," he says. "You must mean Stoney."

Swage takes an angry step towards the mayor, but Shasta explains that Stoney was like a pet who lived in the Crow's Nest. He was a "deterrent" to keep out the riffraff and prevent people from using the portal. Shasta was surprised to hear that he was still alive, but Pele reminds him that he is not alive anymore. The mayor muses that the circle is unguarded now, and he really should find a new pet. Swage asks if Shasta knows where the portal leads, but the mayor replies that he doesn't know where the other end of the portal is, or the spell to activate it.

Shasta excuses himself, saying he must attend to his mayoral duties. The group can hear him muttering to himself as he slowly climbs the stairs, lost in thought, with Caine following behind. "Maybe I'll get a cockatrice next. Or should I get two? What about an alligator?"

Swage returns to his seat and pulls out two gold pieces. He asks for Gond's blessing and begins to create a grappling hook, shaped like the fearsome claws of his beloved red dragons. The group finishes their meal and enjoys the last sips of their tea and bean water as Swage works. Pele elaborates on her midnight conversation with Kossuth, and that the monstrous being they encountered on the mountain might be an ancient god who was cast out from the Spellscar.

Swage finishes his grappling hook and holds it up to the light to examine the details. Another fine piece of work! He adds it to his pack while the group gathers up their dishes and places them near the sink.

## Day Five, Morning

They step outside of Shasta's manor to once again find Estafador's lovely carriage parked out front. Dove stands on her tiptoes, but she can't see Estafador in the driver's box. She worries that he still might not be back from wherever he went with the town guard last night. Pele opens the carriage door to see Gary sitting on the front bench. His bags are stowed, and he's calmly waiting with his hands on his knees. Pele hears a rustling from the bench in the far back of the carriage, and Estafador's head pops up above the backrest. He doesn't seem to be wearing his normal robes but is instead wrapped in a large, furry blanket.

"Hi?" Pele asks.

Estafador clears his throat. "Yes, good morning. Would you mind...um, stepping outside for just a moment?"

Pele hears a muffled voice come from under the blanket as Estafador sharply and discreetly whispers, "No! Not you."

The Genasi raises an eyebrow and cracks a smirk. "Well, what do you have there, Estafador?" she coyly teases. She conjures a mage hand that swiftly raises the hem of the blanket, revealing Estafador and the town guard in a state of undress.

Pele's mage hand drops the blanket, and she quickly turns away from Estafador, her cheeks flaming hot with embarrassment. "Okay, yes, we are ready to go!" she says quickly.

"I TOLD you I just needed a minute," Estafador scolds. "Now everyone, please get away from the carriage. You too, Gary."

The group backs off to give the Archivist his space. A moment later, the town guard slips out of the carriage and dreamily walks down the street. Pele mutters to herself, "Next time, SOMEONE remind me to mind my own business."

After a few minutes, Estafador gracefully steps down out of the carriage, wearing another set of resplendent robes. He walks to the front of the carriage and climbs into the driver's box. He asks if anyone would like to sit upfront with him and Dove eagerly clambers up into the driver's box before he even can finish his sentence. She sits up brightly and smiles at him.

Swage asks if he could ride one of the horses, but Estafador declines. After much convincing, Swage finally agrees to sit in the back of the carriage and stow his pack of precious possessions on top of the carriage. He and Kaz secure the pack with Swage's length of chain, and Kaz ties a brightly colored cloth to Swage's pack - for safety, he says. Kaz was skeptical that he and Swage would both fit in the carriage, but he was amazed to find out that it's bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

After about ten minutes, all the bags are stowed, and the adventurers are settled in for their journey. Estafador estimates it will take around seven days to reach the outpost of Pinechill.

As the carriage trundles down the icy road, snow flurries begin to fall. Dove bobs and ducks her head, trying to catch a snowflake on her nose. Inside the carriage, Pele is keeping everyone comfortable with a warm, but controlled, flame. After approximately an hour on the road, Swage looks out the window. He looks at the snowy mountaintops and passing trees. He settles back into his seat and continues reflecting on the difficult trials of the past few days, as well as Timmy, the orphan shopkeeper. Shasta had informed him that Harnold was the name of Timmy's deceased father.

Kaz slides the carriage window open around noon and sticks his head out into the bracing wind. The frigid air stings his ears and makes his eyes water. Annoyed, he pulls his head back into the warm carriage, shuts the window, and rubs his eyes.

Holly starts to feel restless as dusk falls over the travelers. He puts his hands against the cold window glass and looks outside to see the sun setting, adding a soft orange hue to the sky and casting long shadows from the trees along the road. A flicker of blue catches the corner of his eye. He looks again, but only sees shadows. Suddenly, the blue shape reappears - it's a tongue of blue flame moving swiftly across the ground. In fact, there is a whole group of blue flames. Holly looks over his shoulder and asks the expert.

"Um, Pele? What do you know about blue flames?" he asks.

"Well, there are a few reasons a flame might be blue," she explains. "You can add minerals and chemicals to fire, and that can cause the flame's color to change. Also, the temperature is a factor - blue flames are generally much hotter than yellow or red flames. Why?"

Holly points to the blue flames speeding along the ground and weaving through the trees. Pele slides open the window, causing cold air and snow flurries to swirl around the carriage. She focuses on one tongue of fire and casts Extinguish Flame towards it, with no effect. The blue flame continues its erratic path. Kaz wonders if there could be a creature local to these woods that might be causing a hallucinatory effect or illusion. Perhaps fae? Swage digs the spyglass out of his cloak and focuses on the nearest scurrying flame. He sees that the heart of the fire is a human skull, with vacant black eyes and a gaping jaw.

Pele slides open the divider between the interior of the carriage and the driver's box and tells Estafador that blue flaming skulls are stalking them through the trees.

"Oh, interesting!" Estafador replies with a smile, looking into the trees. "Shall I stop and ask them if they're friendly?"

Kaz's eyes widen at the mention of flaming skulls. He cries out in jubilation, grabs his vicious maul, and before Pele can even respond to Estafador, he leaps from the moving carriage. He tucks and rolls in the snow, hops up on his feet, and readies his maul. Pele calls for Estafador to stop the carriage, and he pulls back roughly on the reins.

The adventurers spill out of the carriage to join Kaz, and Dove jumps down from the carriage box with her bow in hand. Four flaming skulls turn to face the group. Although small, their fearsome eyes and slack jaws engulfed in flickering flames are intimidating. Dove makes the first move, ducking behind a tree and firing two quick arrows. Her first shot misses, but the second hits. She notices with dismay that her arrows seem less than effective. One of the skulls glows brightly for a moment and then begins to shimmer, almost like it was phasing in and out of existence. It's hard for the adventurers to get a good bead on the skull or determine where it might go next. Swage uses his bone whistle to call his great eagle companions Beak and Talon. As the eagles materialize above him, he sends a blast of Sacred Flame at the nearest skull.

Esha grabs the handle of Erinaceus, her sentient scimitar. Its delighted voice fills her head - "Ah yes! The thrill of battle!" as she takes a sweeping slice at a flaming skull. Another skull glows like the first one and takes on the same shimmery, indiscernible appearance. Kaz lifts his maul in a rage and runs at the closest skull, smashing it down into the snow momentarily before it bounces back up. Pele conjures a twin spell Chromatic Orb, dealing a thunderous attack, as Holly crouches down in his hiding spot. He pops up at just the right moment, sending an arrow across the battlefield directly into the eye socket of a flaming skull. The arrow “thwomps” into a tree, pinning the skull to the trunk and causing it to spin erratically by the eye socket. Its spinning momentum stills as the flames extinguish.

A skull vibrates in space as it conjures a huge fireball. The explosion is huge, and Pele, Dove, and Swage are all caught in its fiery wrath. Pele is thankful for her fire resistance, but Swage and Dove were not so lucky as they are knocked back by the damaging flames. Dove brushes back her signed whiskers and notches another arrow, striking her target. One of the blurred skulls conjures two fireballs, one from each eye. Both fireballs bear down on Kaz. He can dodge one but is hit squarely by the other. Swage steps up to a floating skull, and with a smirk, blasts it directly with a debilitating Guiding Bolt. He uses his hidden step to vanish as Beak the eagle swoops down to slash and bite at the skull. As Beak rises out of the dive, Talon glides in from the opposite direction to tear at the skull with his beak. He caws triumphantly as the skull's flame extinguishes and it drops into the snow. Esha takes a deep breath and conjures an ice knife, hoping that the spell won't have the same disastrous effect as it did in the battle with the abominabunnies. The ice knife strikes the skull with accuracy, but the knife splinters and embeds a small sliver of ice into Talon.

The skull turns on Esha, firing two fire bolts in her direction. One hits her, but she deftly maneuvers out of the way of the second. Kaz yells out in anger as a skull again meets the business end of his maul. Pele launches a magic missile at one of the skulls, but to her dismay, the skull can deflect it. She regains her composure and casts another twin spell that hits. Holly stealthily creeps to the next advantageous position and leaps out at a skull with a successful sneak attack.

Dove rises and sends another arrow at the skull, piercing it through the temple and pinning it down into the snow. Its flame extinguishes as a small wisp of smoke rises around her arrow. With only one skull remaining, the group is feeling confident. Swage strides up to the lone skull, smashing it with his mace. He calls on Gond's blessing to cast a fire spell at the skull, but Swage notices that the skull...enjoys it?

"What are you doing?" Pele calls out. "They LOVE fire!"

"Look," Swage replies, raising his shield. "Gond only gave me this power yesterday, okay?"

Esha slashes again with her scimitar, but the skull can dodge her strike. The druid steps back and summons her Healing Spirit, which appears this time in the form of a squawking, lumbering ax beak.

Beak and Talon take two more dives on the skull, but they can’t subdue it before it blasts the adventurers with another fireball. Esha and Kaz can get out of the way in the nick of time, and Talon flew high enough to escape the flame. Beak and Swage were not so lucky. The fiery attack knocked Swage backward into the snow, rendering him unconscious. Swage sees Swage fall, and fury erupts in him. He furiously swings his maul at the skull, striking it on the side of its head. Pele steps up, determined to end this. She casts another twin spell chromatic orb, focusing the entire acidic attack on the one remaining skull. A pulsating orb of sickly vapor envelopes the skull, coating it in a viscous, acidic sludge and pulling it to the ground. The skull fizzes and spits, and its flame goes out.

She runs to Swage and drops down on her knees next to him. "I told you not to use fire!" she says to him as she rests her hand on his shoulder.

Beak and Talon descend from the sky and each grasps a shoulder of Swage's coat in their talons, holding the unconscious Firbolg mostly upright. The ax beak squawks and stomps through the snow to Swage, reviving him. It then makes its way over to Kaz and Pele, while Dove casts a Cure Wounds on herself.

Feeling refreshed, Pele begins to investigate the skulls. She sees that despite being slashed with a scimitar, pierced with arrows, melted with acid, clobbered with a maul, stabbed with a dagger, and smashed by a mace; all the skulls are still wholly intact. The only difference between the skulls now and the skulls they watched from the carriage window is that now the skulls were no longer on fire. She picks up a skull to turn it over in her hands, and a small cloth pouch falls out and into the snow. She picks it up and peeks inside. As soon as she opens the bag, it flies out of her hands, twisting and contorting itself into the shape of a wooden door.

Pele stares at the door, and the other adventurers huddle behind her. She tentatively reaches out, gives three solid knocks on the door, and steps back.

A muffled, frantic voice comes from behind the door. “Hello? Hello? How can I help you?”

“Um, how can I help YOU?” Pele hesitantly replies.

“You’re the one knocking on MY door!” the voice calls back. “Now come inside! It’s cold out there!”

Pele pulls the knob, and the door swings open to reveal a warm, beautiful workshop full of intricate clockwork, shining metal, and unique creations.

The gruff voice beckons them in. “Come in, come in! You’re letting in the cold!”

The adventurers move to enter the doorway, but Dove hangs back. She states that the group has a letter to deliver, but she is hesitant to be separated from Gary and Estafador. After a moment, she gives in and goes through the doorway herself.

The room is large and circular, with a staircase spiraling up from the center, leading up to a second level full of shelves and shelves of books. A stack of books part, and out steps a disheveled and distracted-looking Halfling. His large spectacles are perched at an angle on his button nose. He has a wide, toothy smile and wild white hair with streaks of black running through it.

“Oh!” he exclaims. “People! I haven’t seen people in… how long? Three or four years? How did you find this place?”

“A bag fell out of a skull,” Pele replies. “Were those your skulls?”

“And who are you?” Holly adds.

“I’m Chrono,” he replies, standing up to his full, but still short, height. “I used to be an adventurer. Traveled far and wide. But I left that chaotic life behind to stay here and focus on my creations.”

“I’m starting to feel that way too,” Swage mutters to himself as he looks over all the projects on Chrono’s big, beautiful workbench. There’s a metal hound, a clockwork bird with tiny metal gears, and an array of pieces that looked incomplete.

“I call this place Chrono’s Palace,” he boasts. “And I have a few inventions that need testing. There will be no cost to you–gods know I have plenty of gold–but I just need some willing volunteers to try out my items and give me their feedback.”

Pele and Dove’s hands instantly shoot up into the air.

Chrono chuckles. “Good. Now let me show you what I have.”

The first item he produces looks like an ordinary traveler’s pack. Chrono explains that the pack works like the feather fall ability. If you find yourself falling, simply pull a string on the side of the pack, and a canopy will deploy! He adds that it would be perfect for someone who needs to make a quick exit, looking at Holly knowingly.

He sets down the pack and picks up a hunk of metal shaped like a forearm. He proudly announces that his gauntlet can shoot a hook attached to a rope. The hook will latch on to a wall, a branch, a ledge, anything!–and lets the user hang from the rope or climb it. Swage brushes off the offer, saying he created something similar himself just that morning. Kaz perks up and asks if the hook could be shot at enemies to ensnare them and pull them into striking range. Chrono admits that the device wasn’t designed for that purpose, but he supposes that could be another use. Kaz looks disappointed.

Chrono pauses and adds that now is probably a good time to talk about his disclaimer. Since all his creations are new and untested, there is a chance the user might face a few unwanted side effects. For example, the gauntlet could cause the user’s arm to fall off.

Swage agrees to take the gauntlet, but in return for his review, he would also like Chrono to give him a small supply of oil. Swage saw how effective throwing a flask of oil and a burning torch at an enemy proved to be and decided he should always have oil on hand. Chrono gladly agrees and opens a case full of oil flasks. Swage picks out five flasks and stows them in his coat.

Esha asks if Chrono has anything that deals with poisons. He reaches up on a high shelf and pulls down a small incense burner. His original plan was to craft this item to easily disperse a healing mist, but then a user suggested it could perhaps serve other purposes. He modified the design to instead disperse a poison cloud and asks Esha if she would be willing to test it in a battle situation. She eagerly agrees, and Chrono warns her that the mist is at the mercy of the wind, so be mindful of wind direction when deploying it.

Chrono hands the incense burner to Esha and turns to Holly.

“I have something else you may like,” he says as he places a set of large goggles in Holly’s hands. “These will allow you to see in the dark.”

Holly tries to give the goggles back, explaining that he already has perfectly good Darkvision. Chrono pushes the goggles back into his hands, telling the dwarf that these googles didn’t provide merely Darkvision. They are sonar goggles–a scientific advancement that mimics the ability of Blindsight. The wearer can perceive everything going on around them no matter what the conditions are like, and so Chrono is very interested in getting the goggles perfected. He tells Holly that he may experience vertigo, loss of balance, or blindness.

“Blindness??” Holly asks.

“Oh yes, one user lost his eyes,” Chrono responds, in an oddly cheerful tone. “But that may not entirely be due to the goggles.”

Chrono looks over his workbench to pick out the next item. He lifts a heavy pair of metal boots and sets them in front of Swage. The Firbolg can see that the soles of the boots are tightly wound with tensioned springs.

“How would you like an amazing pair of shoes?” Chrono offers.

Swage feels his ears start to burn again. He already had an amazing pair of shoes. He crafted these shoes himself the first time, Gond trusted him enough to grant him guidance. His shoes are just to his liking and he feels his anger rise at the perceived insult.

Chrono looks up at Swage’s scowling face and turns back to Holly.

“Perhaps I can interest you in this?” he asks Holly. Chrono opens his hand, revealing a small metal beetle, with clockwork gears spinning beneath its fluttering metal wings.

“This beetle can help you pick locks. It’s quicker than even the deftest hand. No side effects either, except…” He smiles coyly, “that you may get caught!”

Holly thinks that he’s plenty skilled to pick locks on his own, but takes the beetle anyway.

Chrono walks back to his workbench and slides open a wide, flat drawer. Dove can see five metallic orbs resting in the fabric-lined tray.

“These could be used as a weapon,” he remarks as he picks one up. “But not on purpose. They don’t explode, but they do stop time.”

Dove eagerly accepts the time grenades as Chrono warns her that the detonators are not quite reliable. The timing between pulling the pin and detonation can vary, so there was the slightest chance she could stop time on herself.

As Chrono explains the ins and outs of the time grenades, Swage pulls out the spyglass to get a good look at the artificer. He is shocked at what he sees. Chrono isn’t a Halfling at all. He looks like a medium-height person covered from head to toe in spinning metal gears.

He hands the spyglass to Pele. From her angle, she can see robotic wings tucked tightly down Chrono’s back.

Swage casts Zone of Truth at Chrono, but he can’t feel Gond’s presence with him. The spell does not affect the artificer. He turns to Swage and laughs.

Swage asks him angrily, “What’s with the disguise?”

Chrono laughs again. He looks at the flashlight strapped to Swage’s shoulder and tells Swage that they can talk shop once they get to know each other better.

The artificer moves towards Pele. She lowers the spyglass and locks eyes with Chrono as he approaches. She knows him from her studies. His true name is Chronos, the God of Time. An ancient, ancient deity who was once worshipped by the nation of Orva, but his tales and deeds had been lost to the ages. A few scattered statues and monuments to him still exist, usually depicting a tall thin man with metal wings and his body cloaked in a hooded robe.

“I know you! You’re–“, Pele exclaims, but her voice vanishes before she can speak the true name of the being before her.

“Ah, you’re clever,” Chrono smirks. “But that is for him to figure out, not you.”

He smiles coolly at Swage.

Pele tries again to speak his name, but she can’t form the words.

“Is there a problem here?” he asks Pele.

Words seem to tumble out of her mouth. Before she knows it, she’s telling Chrono that her magic backfires on her sometimes, that she had been magically aged by two years, that she was just so confused, and….

“Why am I telling you this?” she asks herself in wide-eyed panic.

“Um, uh… I’ll take the boots! Do they come in red?” she asks quickly, trying to change the subject.

Chrono smiles at her, and with a flourish, he changes the silver-colored boots into a shining, vibrant red. He looks at her petite figure and says the boots will also resize to fit the wearer’s feet.

“Now,” says Chrono, “I think it is time for you to go.”

As he shows the group to the door, he says he would like to hear from them in a few months to let him know how the devices are working out. He doesn’t need the prototypes returned to him, but he is very interested to know about the user experience and what could be done to make them even better. The door to his workshop is carried in the coin purse. He warns the adventurers to never place it in another interdimensional bag and to certainly ever try to turn the bag inside out.

The group steps back on into the snow. As the door closes, it lifts into the air and condenses itself back into a fabric purse. Pele turns to the group and says, “That was the God of Time.”

Everyone hears her, except for Swage. To him, he didn’t hear anything past the word “of.” He twists his fingers into his ears, then asks Pele to repeat herself. No matter how many times Pele tells him, or who speaks the words, Swage is not able to hear. Pele grabs a stick and writes the letters in the snow, but somehow the simple Common letters are indecipherable to Swage. He thinks that the fireballs he took to the face that day had done a number on him.

Gary pokes his head out of the carriage door, relieved to see his friends reappear in the snow. When they had all rushed out to confront the skulls, Gary had received a message from the shaman’s pickled head that he should stay inside the carriage.

“Gary! What are you doing?” Pele shouts to him.

“I, um….got a message that I needed to stay in the carriage,” he replies, conveniently leaving out just who gave him the message.

“We met the God of Time!” Pele responds.

Again, the words fail to reach Swage.