The group approaches the tower with Abram, who removes a key from his shirt, that was sown in, and unlocks the door. They enter, and see magical vines growing on the wall with flowers that are multi-hued. Ukubo takes several and hands them out. Heading upstairs, they find a small kitchen and sleeping area, likely for an apprentice. Abram tells them that a non-magical boy used to help out Elwran in the past. There is a porch area attached, looking out over the town and the mountain range in the distance. Up another floor, they find a kitchen, and several shelves where herbs are growing, though there are very few left. Abram tells them this is where he took the herbs from, and mixed them with regular leaves to stretch them, as they were running out. Arthas finds a sun dial that shows the time regardless of their being light or not. The group finds a secret doorway, etched into the rock wall. Pushing on it, it spins back and the rocks fade into the wall. They come to a wooden, door which they determine to be a mimic after grabbing it. Ukubo makes friends with it, and rips the door off the hinges to take it with him. The mimics name is Wood-ee and was left there by Elwran to guard his secrets. The second door, Qiriel grabs with mage hand. The door handle turns into a snake and bites at the hand. After some discussion, Breena grabs the handle. It bites her, and after a few seconds, retreats and the wound heals. The door opens. They come to yet another door. This one is just a normal door, and they are able to open it. They come to a room with a circle table, and 8 clear glass globes. On the other side of the room, is a door. On the table, the word Light is written in elvish. They shine lights at the orbs, and they light up multiple colors, but one does not. Arthas puts the sun dial into the center and points it at one of the orbs. They still remain lit up when light is shined on them, but the one that did not, now lights up with the sun dial on the table. Opening the door, nothing has happened, and they see a wall.. They remove all of the orbs from the table, except the grey one, with the sundial pointed at it, and Breena casts light. They open the door, and find a room, with a desk containing coin collections, none of which they recognize, outside of the Settandor coins. There are 100 sets of coins. On the far wall, a shelf with 100 boxes. The bottom box, is empty, but is labeled Settandor. Each box contains a picture of Elwran with a different family, though he does not age. It also contains a journal, with a map of a world that they do not recognize, though each box has a different map, along with several journal entries about his family. There is also a wooden wand in each, that is more and more finessed and complex the further down the boxes, closer to Settandor, you go. In the final box before Settandor, labeled Aldor, is the same items, but contains a second picture that is framed. In the frame, when touched, the image wobbles like a liquid. It is a picture of Elwran and his family again, but in this one, despite looking happy, they can tell that he is extremely sad. Arthas removes the back of the frame, and the picture vanishes. Ukubo looks at it, and hands it to Abram to maybe put pictures of his family in, in the future, if he has one. Abram begins to well up, and tears roll down his face, hitting the frame. As they do, the frame burst to life, and inside, is a picture of Abram and his wife. He is stunned and shocked, unable to speak. He is happy to have a picture of her, but still sad for the town. As they leave, they find out that the wands they took, are able to cause the herbs to grow. Abram, armed with a wand and a handful of herbs, after Ukubo grew several in the forest, runs to his apothecary to begin planting. The group sets out towards the Blacksmiths house, to discuss his possible connection to the halflings and the mysterious man, supposedly having the same tattoo as them.
The group heads to talk to the town smith, an elvish man that introduces himself as Ailwen Krisralei. They head into his house to talk to him about his tattoo, which they see is similar, but not the same as the ones that the halflings had on them. Ailwen tells them his life story, beginning in Vanwai. He and his brother, Taeral, left home due to not being magically atuned, and thus unable to do what everyone in Vanwai does, enchant the thread picked from the willow trees in Nallon Woods by the people of Willowdale, to be sown into clothing by the people of Willsden. They went across the land together, from place to place, seeing the world. They realized together, that there was an imbalance in the world. Too much wealth for some, and not for others. They decided to make a group, called the Syndicate of the Scale, that would act as "robin hood" types. Steal from the rich, keep some for themselves to grow, and give to the poor. This worked, for a while. After long, Taeral changed. Wanted more things for himself, as they grew. He became mad with power, believing that his life before was unfair, that he was dealt a bad hand, and wanted to tip the scales towards himself. Their Syndicate headquarters, Blackrock Caverns, near Wynrich Bluff, changed from a place of welcoming and help to a place of crime, and horror. Working with one of the sons of Lor Humblefall of Mirfeld, they began running drugs through Mirfeld and transporting them all over the world. Anyone that joined the syndicate, was bound to them, pledging allegiance to them, and getting their tattoo. After a time, Ailwen went out under the guise of delivering product. In actuality, he
changed his appearance and hid in Taernsby, trying to undo the bad that his brother had done. He instructed the group that if they wanted to find the missing children, and the halflings had that tattoo, someone at Blackrock Cavern would know. They were to go to the Fife & Dagger tavern, in Blackrock Cavern, and talk to Oog, the orc, and bring him a pair of boots, as he collects them. After talking to Micathas about the past, and the illness that swept through the town, they purchased kites, and some rope to help them on their journey. Nomira insisted that she go with them, to find the missing children, and said she would meet them at Abram's later on. Ukubo purchased several horses from the local farm, and the group prepared to set out. The troupe, very upset with Qiriel for leaving them, sets out to Norbury. The group meet up outside of the tavern, making their final preparations before leaving for Wynrich Bluffs and the Blackrock Caverns
The group heads to Abrams apothecary, to pick up Nomira and the potions that Abram said he would have for them. Upon arriving, Nomira sheepishly told them that she could not go with them, as she could not leave Abram without a musician for his tavern. The group sets out with 2 potions a piece, and a few gold a piece from Nomira. As they travel, Ukubo inspects the grave site of Abram's wife, which appears to be undisturbed. They arrive in Mirfeld safely, and come across a small market square, staffed by halflings and a single dwarf. Arthas buys a drink from the dwarf, which is incredibly strong. The others talk to an old woman, Zen Humblefal, mother of Lor, who is selling wooden jewelry. She tells them about the town, its origins, and how power is passed between the families. When the controller of the town, steps down or dies, power is passed to the youngest direct heir (son or daughter) of the one who has power now. If it is a son, he gets power, if it is a daughter, then power switches to whomever she is married to, and thus a new family takes over. That family is responsible for running the town businesses, bringing in money, and lives in the largest house. The other families assist in the town duties as designated by the ruling family. The group approaches the largest house, and meets Lor, who is currently no longer the leader of the town, his son Lom is. Lor appears to be crazy, shouting about ghosts, and screaming randomly, as well as throwing buttons at people, calling them silver coins, and hiding rocks in his shoes. Despite the craziness, Lor is loved in the town, and Ukubo finds out that he was a loving father, and a great leader, except to maybe Lom, who looked up to the elder of the Boulderhill family, Isengrin, after reading some of the journals around Lor's house in various bedrooms. Lor was very busy with town business at the time of Lom's birth. The group set out to the tavern, the Skyroot Tavern, where they purchase the local drink, the Stormy Night. Ukubo meets with Nod, one of Lor's sons, as well as with Isengrin, who was very rude and insists that Ukubo leave him alone. Ukubo follows Isengrin as he leaves, and the others meet up and follow as well. Isengrin cuts through the farm, and Breena, invisible, follows. She passes through the fields of Silent Lavender, a white/transparent flower that looks and smells like lavender, outside of being white instead of purple. She hears Isengrin telling Lom about the outsider looking for him and asking questions, and Lom is not concerned. Their deliveries and product are on schedule, and no one knows anything. The town is prospering. Isengrin is not satisfied, and leaves. Breena steals Lom's notebook, full of business dealings, and money/pickup schedule, but no mention of any drugs that Ailwen mentioned. The group believes that the flowers are the drugs, and plan to explore further tomorrow. They go to sleep atop the large room in the tree inside of the tavern.
The group awakens and prepares for the pickup of flowers from Lom, by the Syndicate. After talking to several people in the market, including the fizzy ale selling dwarf, who tells them that the several of the Boulderhill's come to his stall to pass out for the day. Ukubo goes into Lor's house after he leaves the door open, and meets his daugher, Koi, who is startled. After talking her for a few minutes, Ukubo leaves to "find Lor". He meets up with the rest of the group who have just finished breakfast, and they interrogate some of the Boulderhill's that had passed out drunk. They tell them that Isengrin, and most of the Boulderhill's, did not like Lor. Lor was the older one in town, and Isengrin was overlooked. The Boulderhill's have always been farmers under Lor, and Lom, and are not happy with the current town arrangement, but they can do nothing about it, and so they accept their status currently. The group then leaves to wait for the arrival of the Syndicate to pick up the flowers, which comes shortly after. They hide among the hills and follow the caravan back to the tunnel entrance to the caverns. They come across the man they had seen with the caravan, who asks what their business is. They end up fighting the man, beating him handily, however Breena goes down temporarily as a last ditch lightning bolt from him strikes her. They then fight his companion, Mumpo, a gigantic muscular half orc. He smashes something onto his chest, making himself double in size. After taking him down, they hide the bodies and walk into the cavern, making their way past a small rock cave with a bed and a doll on it, on their way to the Fife and Dagger Tavern. There, they meet with Oog who agrees to help them find the children and leave. They head over to the prison, running along the walls to hide, and using Breena as a distraction, as someone captured and needing to go to the holding cells, carried by Oog. An elvlish man holding a clip board lets Oog in, and the others tackle him to the ground inside, and shut the door. He tells them that these are the only children here, but there have been others. They free the children, and prepare to leave the caverns, planning their escape.
The party prepares to sneak the children out of the prison, and tell Oog to wait for their signal. Breena goes invisible, and goes to fetch the horses, and ride them around the bluff to the front. She then rejoins with the group, just before her invisibility runs out. The party steps out towards Taeral and two guards, standing by the entrance. After taking out the two guards easily, and fighting Taeral, who wails on Ukubo, Mumpo Sr. and 2 more guards join the fight. The party takes everyone down, and Taeral with his dying breath, says that just killing him, will not stop the Syndicate. They leave with the children and Oog, and ride towards Taernsby, stopping halfway to camp overnight. The oldest child, talks to the group, and gets some food from them. They teach the kids some magical spells, as all of them can cast find familiar. Some learn to look through their familiars eyes, some learn defensive spells, and one learns burning hands from Arthas. Ukubo stays up to watch, checks for people with Ipikho, and then falls asleep when it is safe. They arrive in Taernsby late morning, and Juice finds them in the Glen, and runs to prepare breakfast. They talk to Abram who is thrilled to find out that the children have been returned, even if it is not all of them. They take Oog to see Ailwen, and inform him of his brothers fate. He is understanding, that it had to happen, but warns that the Syndicate will continue to exist, and he must remain in hiding. Oog indicates he will go with the group, as he wants to go home to the mountains where he belongs. He gets incredibly drunk, and goes to sleep in a room at the Inn. Ukubo buys kites from Micathys, matching the familiars of the kids, which he gives to them. He also gives one to Abram, of a dark purple bat. They all fly their kites together, and Abram, for the first time, looks truly happy. The kids get rooms at the Inn, cutesy of Abram, and the group prepares to talk to other people in the town, and set back out.
Our group set out from Taernsby, back through Mirfeld, to the Blackrock Caverns to finish off the Syndicate for good. Upon arriving in Mirfeld, they discovered Lor running around at 10x his normal amount, streaking wearing nothing but his loincloth, screaming, and holding a fish. They made their way to the caverns to find that someone had arrived before them, and taken out a large number of the Syndicate, burning a large number of their buildings. After a lengthy fight, they defeated the Syndicate remaining. Oog assisted them during this fight, riding in standing on two horses and leaping into the tall building. The group then searched the remaining space and found a few bags of a white dust, as well as a mysterious barrel of a shimmery fluid. Upon putting their face in the water, their sight faded to black, and they hear only whispers. They also search and find the body of Myriil's wife, but do not find his child that they saw in the picture they pulled from his body after killing him. They also find shimmery flameless torches, that put out some misty fluid. In the distance, they hear the sound of drums, and marching. Looking in horror out of the cavern, they see an army of orcs, half orcs, and giants heading their way.
The group chats briefly about what to do about the army, and decided to head back and warn Mirfeld. Breena becomes invisible, to sit inside and listen to what is happening when the army arrives. Ukubo sits outside, and watches from Ipihko. The army walks in, with a purple half-orc, that snaps and gives orders to start disassembling the cavern, and they do. Breena and Ukubo head back to Mirfeld to catch up with Arthas and Qiriel who have taken the barrels of water and the remainder of the drugs back to Mirfeld. After telling several of the people in the tavern about the army, they dont listen, and say that it must have been organized by Lom. They get the dwarf to leave and head to Taernsby, due to the impending army. They go to talk to Zen, and ask her what to do. She agrees to assist them and get the town to escape, if they agree to kill her. She has been waiting to die and join her husband for so long, but hasn't been graced with death. Arthas agrees, despite Qiriels protest. She runs into the tavern and around town, screaming at them to go, smacking them with her cane. Ukubo disguises himself and walks up to Lom, tricking him that he is part of the army that took over the cavern. Lom runs to the cavern to check it out, Isengrin having been attacked by Ukubo and knocked out into the field as he tried to run away. Lom finds Arthas with the cart of drugs, and is captured and smacked by Zen for being stupid. Ukubo and Qiriel confront Isengrin at his house, smacking him back into a wall and tieing him up. Arthas agrees to kill Zen, and she bends down, to join her husband. As Arthas swings the blade down, Ukubo kicks her out of the way. She cries out "Why??!" and is sad. Ukubo tells her that her people need her. She sadly agrees. The group sets back for Taernsby dropping the entire town of Mirfeld on Abrams doorstep, much to his concern. He sends them to Ailwen, to start building extra houses. The group follows, and inform him that the Syndicate is no more. Before their eyes, Ailwen gradually changes into a much more confident, handsome elf, with a much deeper voice. Happy to finally be out of his disguise. They then catch up with Juice who is drinking with the dwarven man from Mirfeld, and they make a new drink. They then set out for Norbury. Upon arrival, they are given a map of the city, with the red and blue districts marked out. They walk briefly around the Grand Market Square before splitting up. Ukubo runs into the trees in town, Qiriel goes to the stage to find her troupe, and Arthas and Breena head to find the dwarven man that Arthas was sent to find. They meet Curtis, a very enthusiastic elf that holds numerous jobs, and gives them a flyer for the Meat and Mash, a restaurant cart in the Red District. They then proceed to Crafters Hollow to the dwarven smiths, where they find out that Belfir is out for the day, but will likely be at one of the local restaurants or taverns, or around town somewhere, and will be back tomorrow. He recommends the Pourhouse for food, and the group meets up with Ukubo to head there. Qiriel finds Tinker on stage, who is very short and rude to Qiriel, indicating that she had been replaced by one of the other performers in Norbury, of which there are several. He tosses some tickets at her, tells her no hard feelings, and to come see the show in a few days. Qiriel meets up with the group, and heads to the Pourhouse.
The group heads into the red district in Norbury, and immediately is distracted by the Sand Pit as labeled on the map. They go in, and bother the guard, as Ukubo wants to go in big hole. After signing out equipment to mine, Ukubo dives into the hole, and immediately starts smashing the ground with his totem. After scaring a small child, who runs out of the hole to get a guard, he is brought up by Qiriel who had been "mining" strange gems with Breena and Arthas. These gems looked to be like large glass crystals and when hit with the pick, just made a noise and put out a gemstone of some kind from a little trap door. They are then kicked out for beating the ground, and stealing gems. They then proceed to the restaurant, where they harass and confuse the waiter to extreme degrees, an embarrassed Qiriel tips the man well. They then separate and walk around a bit, and then rest in the tavern for the night, except Ukubo, who runs around town, harassing people, including in the Lavender Inn, where they ask if he wants a room with "company". Ukubo says yes, but is very scary due to the blueberry cobbler on his entire face. He is then arrested and thrown in prison. He breaks out a piece of wall, and escapes, after breaking Zenzin, Ping, and Pong, out of their cells. He then sleeps in the trees. Next day, Arthas Breena and Qiriel walk around to find
the dwarf Belfir. They find him, and Arthas explains that "the piece is ready to come home". Belfir says he doesnt have it, sent to Wolfpine for safety and that he would be ready in a weeks time. Ukubo wanders around, and is then chased by the group. He sees Ping being murdered by a man, and Ukubo smashes him accross the dusty road outside some of the fancier shops. The guards run over, and take Ping, but not before Ukubo picks her up and tries to help her, but also to take the gems she had in her pockets, which he shoves into his mouth. They they walk around a few more shops, talk to a gem dealer, from which Ukubo purchases a gem. They head to the Grand Market Square, to find someone to enchant Ukubos gem.
The group heads into the Grand Market to look for someone to enchant Ukubo's Gem. They find a number of curious shops, included one that catches Arthas's eye. A book shop called The Scaled Pages, which depicted a book with dragon scales on the outside. Qiriel and Arthas walk inside and see a dragonborn man with glasses, sitting behind the counter in the distance. Qiriel is shocked to find her father, running the store, and her mother assisting. They are as surprised to see her. They tell her about a large fire that took place in Penketh, with claw marks on several of the buildings. Qiriels father was the only fire breathing dragonborn in the town, but the 3 dragonborns left in the city were demanded to leave by a large number of the town members. Qiriels mother and father headed to Norbury, and their assistant left to go out on her own. Arthas picks up and reads a book, and promptly falls asleep as it is a magical book. He then is woken up, and purchases the book. Breena and Ukubo head the enchanters shop, where he enchants the gem with something, but cannot tell them what it was enchanted with. They would need to go to his friend's shop. They used to work together, but his friend slept with his wife, and then they made up after his wife left him. They find out that the gem is enchanted with a spell that allows message to be cast targeting up to 3 additional friendly targets. Ukubo then plays music outside of the bookshop, near a fountain, while Breena looks for other items to purchase, including some grave digging tools. The group then shops in Third Hands Third Hand Shop, where they spend nearly all of their gold purchasing a multitude of items from the man, of varying uses and effectiveness. After leaving, they test some of their items, and begin to head out into the Red District. As they do, they see a small goblin being chased out of a blue district shop, by several guards and shop keepers.
The group sees a goblin being chased by several guards and 2 shop keepers. The group chases down and tackles the goblin, who claims that the bag they are carrying is just laundry, and that they aren't a thief. After being confronted and searched, the bag turns out to be just laundry. Breena illusions Ukubo a fake badge, who claims to be a detective, and gets rid of the guards. After following Pong back to their tent home in the Red District, they find both Ping and Pong searching through a bag. They enter, and talk to them for a period of time. Ukubo causes a distraction and takes the bag, which does contain gold. He gives them each 2 pieces and says that he found it so its his gold. They leave, and then are interrupted by a well dressed elven man with white hair. He introduces himself as Flintwhistle Goldsmith, owner and proprietor of Norbury. He says he has been looking for them, as they have been causing trouble around town. They follow him back to his house for dinner, and they eat. He tells them about his past, how he got his money, and that Norbury is a show town. Death doesn't matter and can be reversed, and both everything and nothing, is real here. It is the perfect balance of experiences for everyone. The group leaves, and Ukubo hides under the table, invisible. The rest leave, and Flintwhistle leaves a few minutes later. Ukubo searches, and finds nothing of interest, but takes all of the papers from his office, and does take an outfit from Flintwhistles closet. He then goes to the Black Gate prison and disguises himself as a violet Flintwhistle, and claims to be sick. He goes into the prison and searches for things, and takes more papers from Flintwhistles office there. He then talks to prisoners, and gets no real information. He accidentally releases a murderer, who attacks him, and gets beaten down by Ukubo and several guards, who throw him back into his cell. Ukubo, still disguised, leaves. He meets up with the rest of the group. They then go to the store that sells "Bee Meat" and honey, to find out what it is about. They meet the owner, Belmin Fogvir, who has a guarded back room, and sells and makes, this bee meat. It tastes nature-y and magical, but they can't pinpoint what it is. They then chat outside briefly, before being harassed by an old man, who they kill, revive, and then beat up again. The guards take him away to be healed, and the group proceeds back to the inn for the night to rest.
The group awakens, and heads downstairs for the day. Ukubo runs out and purchases purple and silver pinstripe pajamas and then returns to the Inn. Everyone eats, and then heads into town. They go to the beemeat store and purchase some more honey and meat, including some for the barkeep at the Inn. They eat some of it, and Qiriel asks about Kristian both in dragonborn, and in her disguised self human form. The second time she goes in, Kristian is in the building. Qiriel goes and talks to her father about the Tome of Tomes that she purchased, and he made a book "Dragons are Real" which is a mixture of information, rumors, and otherwise about dragons compiled into a book. The group then goes to The Enchanters Hole and tries to get Ukubos diamond enchanted. After a few attempts, the gem lights up. They they take it to find out the enchantment, and find out that it wasnt enchanted. Diamonds arent generally enchanted, and whatever was attempted did not work. The group then heads to the main building, to sign up for robberies and other show work in the town. As they walk, they pass the stand Rocks and More and they see a half orc yelling about his rock. After some deliberation, he sells the rock for 2 silver, not including 1 additional silver for hurting the rocks feelings. Ukubo attacks the man and secretly robs him, and then pays him with his own money that they had just given him, as a sorry for hurting him and his rocks. They skip the half-orcs yelling about "stick meat" and head into the main building. Arthas signs up to rob the book store, Breena for the gravedigging tools shop, and Ukubo is arrested for harassing the desk clerk and threatening kidnapping Flintwhistle Goldsmith. As he is taken away, Qiriel overhears the clerk calling her a monster for being a dragonborn under her breath. Ukubo after getting outside, kills 3 of the guards with his voice, and escapes. Ukubo walks in after the others leave, and Ukubo knocks out all 30 of the guards standing there, and exploding the front desk with shatter. He then takes the book of events and sign ups and runs out. Qiriel goes back to the Inn and plays some music, Arthas "robs" the bookstore (and is told to bring them back when he is done), and Breena robs the gravekeeper store, before being tackled by the owner, telling her that he got no word of a robbery scheduled, and told her not to return. They meet up with Ukubo, after he goes and talks to Qiriels father about the book, wanting to be taught to read. He tries to teach Ukubo to be good, and not to steal and commit crimes. Ukubo goes back into the building to return the book, and is confronted by the guards. Arthas is told to behead Ukubo, after "finding" him for the guards as asked prior. Ukubo then uses the mask to disguise as Flintwhistle Goldsmith again, and dupes the guards that he is Flintwhistle, and that this was a test. Somehow, he gets off free again with no issues. They then talk to Qiriels parents with her, about what Qiriel is planning, which is a date (in her human disguise form) with Kristian to get him alone and confront him. Ukubo then tomatoes a small child as the group gets ready, and runs out when it hits him. He picks him up and accuses the Big Rocks stand owner of hurting the child. While his mother is screaming at him, Ukubo makes 45lbs of blueberries for the child. As they run away, Ukubo makes 45lbs of blueberry pies and chase after the family. He is then confronted by a random bystander and told to stop and leave them alone. The Rock Man had since fled from his stand, and Ukubo is told to sell his pies there and not to chase people down. The group catches up to Ukubo, who sets up a pie stand, and thaumaturgies out that anyone named Kristian gets a pie for free. Qiriel goes to get ready, and Kristian actually comes to the shop for his free pies, saying he has a date tonight. He takes 4 pies, 2 of which are smashed together. He heads to his date with Qiriel, who is there waiting for him inside the Lavender Inn. He brings one of the pies over and says it is homemade from blueberries in his garden. Ukubo goes and purchases "company" and goes up to the room, with an invisible Breena tailing behind. Arthas goes and drinks at the bar and waits. Qiriel and Kristian continue their date, in which he apparently lies about being the owner of the Honeysuckle Grove, among other things. They proceed to the roof to watch the sunset, and then Qiriel asks to go for a walk together, and that she would meet him downstairs shortly. Ukubo talks to the 2 beautiful elven women that show up to his room, though once he shows them a "badge" that Breena makes for him, they get spooked and try to leave. Ukubo blocks them and convinces them that it is just "roleplay" and they ask for more gold for that. He asks them some questions, about Kristian and the town, and they arent familiar with him and have nothing interesting to say. Breena and Ukubo go back downstairs as Qiriel, disguised, comes down as well. She and Kristian proceed out into the night, tailed by Arthas, Breena, and Ukubo.
The group heads out into the night. Qiriel and an invisible Breena walk with Kristian, as Arthas and Ukubo tail behind. Qiriel leads Kristian into the Twilight Gardens, where they sit and talk among the glowing trees. Ukubo and Arthas begin making noise, and then Kristian argues with Arthas, and they begin to fistfight. After a time, everyone gets involved. Qiriel distracts Kristian by kissing him, allowing Arthas to overpower him. Ukubo beats him to a pulp with his mercy weapon, making sure that he cannot die. He eventually admits that the children are in the Honeysuckle Grove basement, and Arthas plunges the sword into his chest, killing him. They sink his body to the bottom of the pond in the forest. They then proceed to the Honeysuckle Grove where they walk in, and head to the unguarded back room. They find a small storage closet, and nothing else. After searching the room and moving some boxes, they find a small groove in the ground, that appears to be part of a trapdoor, but they cannot open it. After moving more boxes, they find that two of them flip out from the side walls, and allow the back wall to be moved, exposing the trap door. They head down the ladder, into a small 10ft wide hallway, leading into a larger room behind a door. In this room, is the bee meat processing facility, including, trapped in a magical dome shaped cage, the missing children, that had been used to conjure bees to be turned into bee meat to sell upstairs. Ukubo walks in, disguised as Kristian, and sneaks up on Belmin. Grabbing him, he runs back towards the door with Arthas, the entire room of guards in tow. Breena and Qiriel, invisible, stay in the room and head up a ladder on the far wall, to the casters up on the platform above. They ambush them, Qiriel throwing one off, and Breena causing the other one too be sick. However, both casters recover, and duel with Qiriel and Breena, casting Fireball, scorching them both. Arthas and Ukubo fight one by one in the doorway to the upstairs, as the guards struggle to get past them. Ukubo kills Belmin, smashing him against the wall. Arthas swings wildly, getting his sword stuck in the wood floor above, unable to unstick it. He switches to his spear and shield, taking out several more guards, before being pushed back into the room. Ukubo, runs out of the room into 3 guards, sending them flying back with Thunder Wave. They smash into shelves and desks on their way, knocking them to the floor. Qiriel and Breena deal with the casters, as Ukubo and Arthas deal with the remaining guards. The remaining caster is kissed by Qiriel, then ice breathed into his throat, causing his tongue to freeze, unable to cast spells, before being thrown off of the platform by Qiriel and Breena as Arthas dives, catching the man on his sword, killing him. They then proceed over to the cage, as Ukubo ties up, and then revives Belmin, asking him why he did this. After lying several times, and being beaten to a pulp, the man says "Money.... it was so easy. And so much, MONEY!". Qiriel dispels one of the crystals causing the cage to be a solid spell, a hole appearing in the top. Ukubo throws a rope in, and several kids climb out, mostly from Taernsby, though one is from Wolfpine. The last child, is someone that Qiriel is familiar with. Her previous traveling companion, Trista, who had gone missing with her friend while Qiriel slept. Trista said, that he managed to escape through that back door one day, and she hadn't seen him since. Ukubo throws Belmin, still tied, into the igloo spell structure, tossing the mercy club behind him. "You do not deserve death, or forgiveness." He then re-powers the crystal, causing the igloo to seal shut, despite the mans screams. He causes the screams of Belmin to echo inside of this chamber, so that he would have to hear himself, unable to kill himself, or escape. The group then proceeds out of the back door after Ukubo seals the front of the chamber, blocking the door with all of the furniture. After a few mile walk, 30 minutes later, they exit the tunnel into the hills just outside of Norbury, behind the blue district housing complex. Ukubo destroys what remained of a cart, likely used to ferry children from the cavern here. Qiriel plants a flag in the hill, and the group heads back solemnly into town, a child riding on Ukubo's shoulders.
The group returns to Norbury and immediately goes to the home of Flintwhistle Goldsmith and bangs on his door. He answers, and Ukubo slams the door open in his face angrily. Flintwhistle invites them in after seeing all of the missing children with them. He takes them to his dining area and has a meal prepared for them. They talk with him and he tells them that he knows nothing, and they believe him. He is shocked to find out the truth behind Honeysuckle Grove, and is horrified at its true nature, informing them that it would all be gone before morning. They finish chatting, he gives each of them, and the children, 100 gold each. They leave, and head to the bookshop and sleep for the night. They awaken, and have breakfast together, Ukubo making 45 lbs of raw eggs, which are cooked by Qiriels father, Marskan and Breena's magic floating disk. Ukubo goes and fetches pajamas for the kids, which are waiting from Flintwhistle at the shop for them. They head out to run some individual errands for the day. Arthas and Ranadin, the dwarven child, head to the main building to sign up to steal. Ranadin is the son of Scruffy, from Wolfpine, also a thief. Ukubo goes to the main building after chasing an Owl, that had dropped tickets off for the show for all of the kids. He scales the building and enters, replacing the current owl mail employee, after pretending that Ipikho was an owl. Breena entertains the children, as Qiriel plays some music for some coin. Arthas and Ukubo meet up to rob The Spiced Pig, the new store in place of the Honeysuckle Grove store. They go in and Ukubo causes a distraction, shattering the glass counter. Arthas grabs as much meat as he can, fleeing. Ranadin, stuffs himself into the dead body of a pig, which Ukubo grabs and pulls him out of, and then runs out crying holding the pig. Ranadin gets another pig, and runs. He meets up with Arthas as they look at their haul, as Ukubo runs to the trees, casting revivify on the pig, and setting it free. They all meet up back at the bookstore to cook their food. Ukubo, finding out that bacon is made from pigs, takes the other pig body, and flees again. He goes to the house of Flintwhistle, harassing him for a diamond and telling him not to serve pigs anymore as food. Flintwhistle gives him a diamond, but will not stop serving pigs as meat, as it is a main source of food for the town. Ukubo goes to the trees, where his friends are waiting. He enters the pond, sinking down, and buries the pig at the bottom next to the body of Kristian in the sand. They then collect their things and their money from their jobs of the day, and proceed over to the show. They enter, and take a seat a few rows back. The lights go out, and fog and smoke ripples from below the red curtain. The curtain rises.
The group sees the show, which is similar to what it was before, with some additions. Ping and Pong have joined, performing stunts and feats of danger during the combat, while an old man, the old man that had harassed them in Norbury a few nights ago, made sounds to go along with the fighting. Afterwards, Breena "snuck" off to take care of something. The group chatted with the troupe, who, seeing the children, apologized many times to Qiriel for being rude to her, and wished her the best. Breena went to the old boneyard and retrieved 8 skeletons, and then purchase clothing, bows, and arrows for all of them. She then meets back up with the group, who rest for the evening. The next morning, everyone travels back to Taernsby, chats with Juice and Abrahm, and then rest for the night before heading back out. Before bed, Breena summons her skeletons and they stand watch over her bed. Arthas, questioning the hooded figures in the cart, is told that they are protective familiars. They head back towards Norbury to meet with Belfir. On their way, they are flanked by 2 Hill Giants, each with 2 orcs on their shoulders, an Orc caster, and 6 wolves. After battling for some time, which resulted in Breena being stunned and almost smashed to death, Arthas being taken down after taking out several Orcs and defending Breena from the giant, Qiriel fearing the giant to save Arthas, and Ukubo singlehandedly stopping the rear flank from the other giant and orcs, manage to prevail. The children, cart, and horses, were burned to death, however the children were all saved, healed by Qiriel. The party splits, with Ukubo and Breena heading over the bluff, to Mirfeld, which is empty, to sleep for the night in Lor Humblefal's family home. Arthas and Qiriel proceed to Norbury with the children, staying in the book shop for the evening.
Arthas and Qiriel awaken in their rooms in Norbury, in the bookstore, and Arthas searched through the casket of the old man he took from one of the enemies on the battlefield. Searching through, he finds, stuffed in the side, 5 gold and a note that says "This is all I have left, its mine, and im keeping it. - Bilbo". Inspecting the body, he finds another sack of gold tied around his leg with another note. "This is also mine, and im keeping it. -Bilbo". Qiriel goes out, and finds most of the kids missing. After talking to her father, he says that the kids went home, as a number of them were from Norbury originally. Arthas and Qiriel talk to Ranadin about Ukubo and Breena, as well as the plan for leaving. Ukubo and Breena wake up, and head to the cavern. What they find, is not what they expect. They find the cavern completely empty, wiped clean as if no one had ever lived there before. The only sign of change, is the large center pillar in the cave is missing. They then head back towards Norbury, to try to meet up with the group as they leave Norbury. Arthas and Qiriel grab some rations from the grainery, and proceed to Darksong Hollow to meet Belfir. They walk into the trees and immediately are encased in a twilight darkness. They come to a clearing, and find a strange man in a tipi tent, that asks if they are here for the hunt. They say no, they are looking for Belfir, a dwarf. He points Belfir out behind the tent. They talk to Belfir and he leads them out of the forest and out into the day. They come accross Ukubo and Breena as they walk back to Norbury. They meet up and Belfir tells them he got the tickets for them. They ask, for what? He tells them about the boat, and the river that appeared from nowhere a few weeks ago, cutting across the landmass from North to South. They approach the newly built dock, and find a large pirate looking ship, The Shining Stone, that has had things built onto it. They board the ship, and meet Captain Hancock Broadsides, who tells them about the ship, and that he has sailed the farthest out to sea compared to anyone else, no one has made it further than his crew. Amos, the man that took their tickets, boards, and tells Hancock that they are ready to shove off. Amos leads Ailred, the young child with them, to their room, while the rest proceed to the onboard casino, the Velvet Staff. They meet Fortune, a half-orc dealing in the casino, as well as Richard "Dick" Tipps, owner of the casino. After gambling for a while, Breena sneaks into the office of Dick Tipps, following him while invisible. Ranadin runs after a man wearing a cowboy hat and boots, telling him he will teach him to gamble. Qiriel continues to gamble, as Ukubo finishes gambling and goes back to the room. Arthas heads to the Frayed Knot Tavern and has a drink. Inside, Breena sees Dick open a large safe behind a painting, before heading out. As he leaves, she re-opens the safe and takes roughly 100 gold. She then searches the room, finding employment records and logs, as well as a secret compartment in the desk. Inside, is a book containing sketches and names of several years worth of girls from the Yumatir festival, including Breena. She copies all the names into a book over an hour, and then puts it back. Ukubo orders room service for himself and Ailred, after pushing all of the beds together in the center of the room. Arthas catches up with Ranadin, who walks into the tavern wearing all of the clothing of the man he followed after the help with gambling. They order a few drinks, and then head to the Underwater Devil, the restaurant on board. They are seated next to Fortune and a man with them, that Fortune introduces as CJ. CJ is a shy, older man, that works at a store on the ship, that makes wood carvings. Qiriel heads back to the room, ordering food as well. Breena joins, and then also orders food, several sets of cannonballs (meatballs). Arthas and Ranadin ask what room they are in after they leave the restaurant, as Ranadin attempts to swindle his way into the room of the man whos clothes he stole, but is not successful. They proceed to the room, and chat for a bit, as Breena tells them about the Yumatir, and Dick Tipps involvement. Breena recognizes him as a man that bid on most, if not all, of the girls in the festival, often outbidding most of the other nobles. They all eat their food, and then Ukubo starts a pillow fight, which Qiriel, going into a rampage, wins handily. They fall asleep, with all of the beds pushed together.
Everyone awakens on the ship, and after preparing, heads out to the deck after hearing a loud bell. Breena diguises herself before leaving the room. Captain Broadsides tells them that they are approaching Navalon and will be there shortly. Ailred decides to stay on the boat and read his book in the room. As they approach the town, they see people waiting in line for something at the river line, that isnt the approaching ship. Ukubo sees a large tree, towering over the town, similar to the one in Mirfeld. The only difference, is that the bark is a dark, almost burned black. Ukubo immediately jumps off of the ship, yelling TREEEEEE and releasing fog from his mouth. As he runs, Arthas yells MAN OVERBOARD! and uses the distraction as an opportunity to dump the casket of Bilbo off into the water, and it floats away and sinks below the river. After docking and disembarking the boat Arthas, Qiriel, Breena, and Ranadin get in line with all of the others, to see what is of interest. They approach a man with a top hat and thick rimmed glasses, who asks if they want to see "the wonder" that appeared about the same time as the river. They agree, and what they find is not something like they have ever seen before. A brass cube made of gears and rotating symbols that they do not recognize, that are wipping around this object. As Arthas tries to touch it, a blue shimmery forcefield appears around it. Ukubo, arriving at the large tree, immediately touches the totem to the tree. The totem begins to shake lightly, and as Ukubo turns it to face him, he hears a voice in his head that echos the word "TREE" loud and booming. Ukubo hugs the tree, and is covered in a series of blue and white shimmery sparks that outline his body as he does it. He sees a small house, which he goes to and finds an older elvish woman who introduces herself as Nym, Keeper of the Lightning Tree. She and Ukubo have tea as well as good that Ukubo attempted to cook. She tells them how the tree protects the town from storm, catching any lighting that strikes nearby. Ukubo tells her how he is the same as the tree, pulling out his totem, leaves, and showing her the black marks on his skin. He takes her outside and touches the tree, showing her the sparks that appear. He then calls lightning on himself, which does strike him and he roars in pain. She is confused, and unsure as to why the sparks appear around him, as she has never seen that happen to anyone else, and she is shocked by the sparks when she touches him. Ukubo attempts to rip at the bark but is unable to. He climbs the tree and prays to it, begging for an answer. He also says Sylvanas as he prays. He does not get a response from the diety, but as he grabs the branches and closes his eyes, he feels the sound around him fade away into nothing, and only hears the sounds of nature, and the wind. He feels a calming silence, but does not get a response. Nym tells him about how the elves split after leaving their home in Vanwai, after a disagreement with the humans of Willowdale. The humans are now "sleeping" forever. Some of the elves split from the group, and founded Navalon, as the rest go North to Illodel, under the new leader at the time, Virion. Ukubo leaves, and then digs towards the roots of the tree, burying his totem in its "home" and walking away. The rest of the group, after seeing the cube, heads to the local tavern for some breakfast and to see what is going on in the town. They order their food, Arthas and Ranadin ordering roasted shark. They find it to taste terrible, and Ranadin takes his outside and buries it before running off into town somewhere. They see a few people at a table talking quietly and pointing at one of the people sitting at the bar. Arthas goes and talks to the man, asking about the Council of Orbs, and is told that they are the ones who run the town, and worship and protect the 5 orbs. The orbs are 5 glass orbs filled with a smoky swirling liquid, similar to what they had previously seen in Elwrans tower. The orbs were found in town by the tree, when the town was created a little over 20 years ago. He also tells them that the man he is watching is rumored to have arranged the murder of the previous woodworkers guild leader, who had gone missing. The man, Kirosaer, was apparently a sub part wood worker and wanted to train under the guild master, Drogall
a half orc, but was told no. Drogall went missing recently, after the river appeared. Drogall had green skin, a tattoo over his eye that said home, and big big tusks. They talk to Kirosaer, who tells them that those few people are convinced he is a murderer, but he assures them he is not. The group then heads to the Alehouse, the current council building, previously the large tavern in the town. On their way, they find Ukubo, as he tells them he has buried his totem and that he is the tree. As he describes himself being a tree, the totem reappears at his side. He runs back to the tree, and finds his the spot where his totem was, and tries to put it back. As he does, the voice rings out "KEEEEP. ME" booming in his head again. Ukubo gets in the hole with the totem, as Nym walks up to him and takes him to the Cathedral of the Tree. Inside, they see a beautiful chapel and place of worship, covered in all types of trees and vines and plants. They meet Thorin, and older elvish man and the groundskeeper and cultivator of all the plants in the Cathedral. At the back of the cathedral is a large stained glass window of a tree with blackened bark. Qiriel, Arthas, and Breena find a placard on the outside of the building that says "The AleHouse, previously run by Melody. Currently maintained by Coucil of Orbs". They walk in, and meet Sylla, one of the council members, that offers to give them a tour of the building, as well as see the orbs. The building itself is very ornate and comfortable chilly, with wood carvings, marble, and more around the entryway. As they head back, they see older tables against the wall, now decorating the space. She tells them that Melody was with them when the town was founded, and ran and built the alehouse about 20 years ago before she left the town. Sylla describes the orbs as relics, found during the creation of the town, and kept safe due to their strange nature. They enter a darker central room, and see the council members talking at a round table. They walk back towards the platform that houses the orbs in a glass case, and see 5 colored orbs. One blue and gray that lights up occasionally, one white that reflects the light, another blue green that has shadow figures inside that move around occasionally, another brown that moves less than the rest, and the last one red and gray with spots of yellow that flare up from the liquid from time to time. They talk to the coucil and meet Onvyr, the head of the council and its oldest member, Kiirion, the town historian and its youngest member, Durothil, keeper of the orbs and their original finder, and Aurora who handles purchases and logistics for the town. They find out that Kiirion had replaced their previous historian, about 20 years ago when the historian left the town. The historian was an elven man named Elwran. Qiriel, confused, as she remembers Elwran as a human, not an elf. Elwran and Melody were apparently close, and left at similar times. Ukubo and Nym enter, and join the group for a tour of the orbs as well. Ukubo attempts to touch one of the orbs, the one similarly colored to him, but that same forcefield appears. After trying to dispel it unsuccessfully, despite channeling all of his magic into it, he is yelled at by Durothil to not attempt to touch the orbs. That field has been there since Elwran put it there, and they are unable to dispel it even if they wanted to. It is there to protect the orb relics. After talking to the council more, they leave. Nym heads back to her home, and Ukubo goes to the riverline, getting in line to see "the wonder", and the rest of the group go to the market. They see a small gnome girl, that Breena recognizes as one of the girls in Dick Tipps secret book of girls from the Yumatir festival, selling flavored popcorn. They purchase some, and Breena asks her about Dick Tipps after addressing her by her name in the book, not the one written on the cart. The girl slips, and reacts to her name from the book, Amara, and then covers her mouth and tries to play it off. Kenia is the name written on the cart, and she insists that she is just selling popcorn. The owner of the market comes over as he sees Kenia is distressed, and says that they need to pack up the cart for the day. His name is Folluin, and he rushes the cart away. Breena messages the girl, telling her to meet in front of the Alehouse in one hour if she wants to talk. The girl messages back nervously, "nope I wont be there because im just a girl selling popcorn so I dont know who Dick Tipps is and I need to meet thank you goodbye!" Ukubo sees the wonder, and finds that same forcefield. He begins smashing the rock around it, trying to move the cube. He smashes more and more of the rock, getting small fragments off, finishing with one large smash that leaves a larger portion of the cube exposed. The man above yells at him to stop, and loudly rings a bell that echos towards the town. Ukubo swings casts shatter once more towards the rock.
Ukubo shatters once more, destroying the rock surrounding the cube. He pushes it forward, tumbling into the river below, casting fog as he does, to obscure himself. As the cube is freed from its place in the rock, the sky ripples with energy. He then convinces a shark to give him a ride to the other side of the river, and inspects the cube. His totem shakes slightly when placed on the cube, and Ukubo hears the work "START" echo in his mind, but otherwise nothing noticable happens aside from the blue shimmery forcefield that appeared around it when touched. During the commotion, Breena, Arthas, and Qiriel run to the council building to attempt to take the orbs,to the concern of Qiriel. They break into the orb room, and collectively attempt to break into the container. In doing so, they destroy the desk under the glass box holding the orbs. Attached to the bottom of this container, are 4 blue shimmering chains that descend down into the floor below. Breena and Qiriel investigate, and find a secret door behind a panel in the hallway, which Breena rips off of its hinges. They head down the stairs and find what looks to be an old store room, full of barrels and tables and chair sets. They find another hidden stone door on the far wall, behind which lies the 4 chains which descend down into the stone floor below. Arthas cracks a hole in the wall with the container, and tackles it through the floor below. During this time, they hear rapid heavy rainfall, that begins for a moment, and stops a few seconds later, twice within a 5 minute span. Ukubo walks back across the river, and as he is, hears a loud bell ringing from the ship rapidly. The others hear it from the basement as well. Ukubo sees the ship crew fighting with several orcs onboard, wearing ramshackle armor and and weaponry. He climbs onto the ship, as the others run out of the council building towards the ship, so that they dont miss it departing. They see the orcs as well, and they run towards it to assist. They collectively take out these orcs, and save the crew members in the progress. Cpt. Broadsides thanks them, and tells them that the orcs snuck aboard the ship, and attacked the crew and the few members that remained onboard. They are also told that the ship would need an additional day to make repairs, and that they would be ready to depart tomorrow. Ukubo gets his cube, removes his clothing, and wades into the waters of the lake, Illuin Ailo with his totem. He floats to the center, and holds up the stick of the lightning tree and asks for lightning. The cube shakes lightly as he does this. Some time passes, and Ukubo is struck by lightning, harming himself. He then leaves his things on the side of the lake, and swims down 90 feet into the depths of the lake, before swimming back up. As he surfaces, he sees an old elvish man, sitting naked and fishing in the lake. Arthas, Breena, and Qiriel find Belfir and Ranadin as they make their way back onto the boat. Ranadin, dressed in a black cape, shoulder length blond hair, and rubber fisherman boots. He claims to have stolen/purchased the hair from a main in town, and tied it into a knot on top of his head. Arthas heads back into town, to the Piercing Goblin Tavern, at the recommendation of Belfir. Before he goes there, he heads to the lightning tree, and talks with Nym, as well as inspects the lighting tree. He heads around it, and sinks his sword into it, but is unable to penetrate the tough blackened bark. Breena and Qiriel head to the room and take a short rest. Afterwards, Qiriel heads back to the market while Breena waits for food in the room with Belfir, Ranadin, and Ailred. Ukubo talks with the man for a while, about Navalon and the elves that used to live in the Nallon Woods, before being invited back to the mans house for dinner. The man catches two fish, and the two head back into town towards his home.
Arthas sees another vision, this time from the perspective of the sky, of his friends standing around Illuin Ailo, watching him pray. Just as before, the memory flickers and changes for a moment. Arthas is standing next to Illuin Ailo with a group of people that he does not recognize. Standing next to him, arm around him, looking out over the lake, is his father. The memory snaps back to him kneeling surrounded by his friends, and then fades into darkness. Arthas opens his eyes and looks around at his friends, confused. Hallam, seeing this, asks Arthas "You hear them too?". Arthas indiciates that he does not hear anything. Ukubo tells the group that his totem speaks in his mind when Ukubo says certain names. Arthas takes the tokem, and say "Arthas" and Arthas hears it reply in his mind. He drops the totem and begins to clear his ears. Breena takes the totem and says "Breena" and she hears her name back. Qiriel says "Qiriel". but does not hear her own name back. Hallam also does not hear his own name back when he tries it. Ukubo tries the name Ukubo, Elwran, Melody, Hector (Arthas's father), and Victoria (Arthas's mother), Penketh, Ramshorn, Heavens Summit, Middlesborough all boom back. The words Marskan, Ariassa, Flintwhistle Goldsmith, Geldur, Lavella (Hallam's parents), and Rogarosh do not boom back. The random short weather effects continue sporadically as the party talks. Ukubo believes it to be caused by him, but the group does not agree. Breena hears a female voice in her head, "Alehouse, 1 hour, come alone!" Breena realizes that the voice of the totem sounds familiar, from her past, but she can not pinpoint who it is. Arthas tells the group that Pelor gave Arthas his eyes. Ukubo immediately says Pelor, and the voice booms back. Qiriel tells the group that they should get back to the boat, and Arthas mentions that Hallam will need a ticket, or that they could convince the crew to let him aboard. Hallam tells them "I have already been on the boat, I can get on the boat." Arthas prays once more, while holding the totem, and sees his father preparing breakfast for himself and a young Arthas. Arthas hears footsteps and turns his head to see them. As he does, the memory blurs and he sees a stone wall and a large wooden door with a glass frosted window in it. In the room, to his left, Arthas sees several vials and bottles on a table. He hears a noise, and turns back, and the memory back to his kitchen. He turns once more and sees only his kitchen. His father looks at him and smiles, and the memory fades away. As Hallam sees Arthas regain conciousness, he too puts his hand on the totem, and says "Arthas". Both of them hear "Arthas" boom out in their minds. Breena attempts to sneak away, and does so poorly, stepping one foot into the lake, alerting the entire group. Breena, laughing, screams that she has "feminine" things to take care of and runs off. Breena runs to the Alehouse, and sees a shadowy figure on the side of the building. She walks up, and sees the hooded figure of Kenia/Amara. Amara introduces herself and says that she was sorry she couldnt meet earlier, but didnt want to alert whoever was with her, and wasnt sure if Breena could get away. She asks "Is your handler the tall one, with the eyes?". Breen laughs and says "No, I don't have a handler." Amara asks if she was with a noble, as she didnt take the blue one for a Noble, nor the scary one... or the one with the black paint." Breena tells her that she is not with a noble, and that she ran away. Amara is shocked that Breena was able to get away and survive on her own, and that she hadn't heard of anyone escaping Middlesborough without a Noble or a Handler. She tells Breena that her Handler is Folluin, her owner of the market. She tells Breena that Folluin protects her and makes sure that no one finds out about her past. Many of them are purchased by Richard Tipps, who sets them up with jobs in one of his casinos, or anywhere else that they would like, and a handler is provided to keep them safe. This is a nervous time for them given that several nobles travel from Norbury to Navalon on the new ship, for tourist reasons. Breena is confused, as to why she was in the book given that she does not have a handler and is not with a Noble. Amara tells her that she was likely going to be purchased by Mr. Tipps next, and that is why she is in the book. Amara says that Mr Tipps is a kind man, and that she doesn't know him to do anything wrong, but that Breena would need to talk to him if she wanted to know more about the Yumatiir Festival and Mr. Tipps involvement. She was afraid that Breena was not free, but is glad to see that she is. Breena leaves, and heads to the graveyard, going invisible again after she finds that several of the skeletons that she set up have been removed, and the graves covered with stones. A man walks up, and Breena begins moving several of the arms. The man stops in his tracks and says "Oh my god... oh my god its HAPPENING!" and sprints back towards the town. Breena finds his bag that he dropped. Inside is a folded piece of paper, some coins, and a flower. The note reads "To My Darling Wife, I miss you dearly, and I love you. -Wyninn". Breena finds a grave with a stone labeled W&D. Breena puts the flower under the hand of the skeleton. A group beings running towards the graveyard, and Breena begins to flail some of the arms around as she lays in one of the open graves. An older man with a shovel walks up and begins beating the hands with the shovel, twirling it above his head, yelling "BACK TO HELL WITH YE, BEAST!" and brings the shovel down piercing the arm bone as Breena lets go and stops moving them. The man disperses the crowd, muttering under his breath how much money he can make from this. Breena giggles creepily and runs away, back to her friends. She gives Arthas the note, by slipping it invisibly into his bag. Arthas notices Breena's creepy giggle, and starts yelling. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE. BREENA. I KNOW!!!". Breena giggles and says "Suck my Skeletal Hands" and runs away. Breena ducks behind a tree, drops her invisiblity, and walks back to the group. Arthas searches his bag and finds the note, reads it silently, confused, and does not tell the others what it says. The group, aside from Qiriel, decides to get Lamril, to test his strange eye with the strange forcefield. Arthas indicates that taking an eye is just, given that the elves slaughtered the humans, and that this was an eye for an eye given that he considered slaughtering the town himself. They go and find Lamril, and bring him and Brendan to the lake. Ukubo unburies the cube, and Lamril looks at it. Hallam pushes Lamrils face towards the cube, and as his eye contacts the force field, he screams in pain. Hallam holds him, and Arthas pulls Lamrils eyes out of his head. Lamril passes out and falls to the ground. They take the eye, and push it towards the forcefield, and the eye passes through it. Ukubos fingers do not pass through, only the eye. Arthas prays once more, holding the eye. The world fades away and he sees darkness, but he can feel pressure, but cant hear anything. The space in front of his eyes clear, and he sits up. He is buried up to his waist in the dirt. This person pushes themselves out of the dirt, and joins the group of elves walking through this forest. They walk for a while, and then stop. 2 people at the front of the group talk, and then one man waves his arm, and half of the group splits and goes with him. The other man, puts his hands on his hips as the remaining group gathers around him. Arthas sees the figures of Elwran and Melody. The man mouths the words "Lets get started" and smiles gently. The vision fades away. Arthas tells the group, and they realise that Arthas's vision was that of Lamrils story that he had told them previously, about his past from the Nallon Woods. Ukubo tells the party that he will stay with Lamril, and go fishing, while they go to the council building and test this eye on the orbs container. Ukubo and Lamril fish, as Ukubo asks him about his past, about the weird weather, how he came to Navalon, and about the river appearing. Lamril indicated that the town recieved a letter from the Greybranch Shipping Company from Ramshorn, the same day, about building a dock for the pending riverboat, along with a payment for doing so. Lamril indicates that Brendans parents got sick and had died, in Vanwai, their corpses slightly shriveling upon their death. Ukubo finds out that Lamril is only 64 years old, despite looking very old. Brendan is older, over 70, yet looks much younger than Lamril. Ukubo tells Lamril he is a good friend, and walks to the Lightning Tree to meet his friends. The rest of the party heads to the council chamber, all looking different then they had been when they entered before, and talk with Sylla at the front desk. They enter the council chamber and speak with Onvir, who tells them about some structural issues with the building, hence the hole in the ground. They ask about Lamril and Vanwai. He tells them that Lamril was a troublemaker and a drunk, and was given the job with an enchanter, Virion, as a chance to turn his life around. He did not have the strange eye until they left Vanwai. They ask to see the orbs, and Onvir walks them downstairs. They attempt to pull at the glass case, but find that the chains still hold it in place. The eye is unable to cut the chains, though it does pass through them. As weather happens outside, a single orb lightly glows while it is happening. The group leaves, and meets Ukubo at the lightning tree. Ukubo touches the tree and he glows with sparks again, and attempts to pass through the forcefield around the cube but is unable to. Arthas is still the only one able to touch Ukubo while he is glowing without being shocked continuously. The energy does not appear to pass through Ukubo to any source, and only encases his body. The group then goes back to the council chamber, Ukubo invisibly carrying the cube. They walk in and Sylla lets them back down to the orbs. They place the cube on top of the container, and see two forcefields appear, one around the cube and the other around the box of orbs. The eye passes through both forcefields, but nothing else appears to pass through it. They lift the container, and place the cube below it. As the cube contacts the chains, the chains snap in place on top and bottom of the cube, locking it into place. A few moments later, the blue orb that flashes with light, glows lightly, and it begins to rain outside. Several minutes go by and this has not stopped, unlike before where the weather stopped after a few seconds. The group drop the eye onto the cube, and it drops through the forcefield and bounces into the center of it, falling into the gears. Ukubo hands Arthas the cube, and tells him to pray, hoping to see what is inside through the eye. Arthas gets on one knee, and once more asks Pelor "Show me something, anything, please!". His vision fades to black as a memory comes over him once more.
Arthas sees his family living room where a younger self sits on a red crimson carpet with a golden center, stacking blocks. A small girl laughs and kicks them over. His father sits in a large armchair, polishing his golden sword with a rag by the fireplace. On the other side of the room are two humanoid figures, arms wrapped around each other, faces obscured by the shadow cast by the fireplace. Arthas turns for a moment, and turns back. He now sees a large room below him through the window, with humanoid figures tinkering with and carrying several cubes, the same ones that Ukubo and Crew inspected in Navalon. On the floor of this building is the insignia of a large green eye. In the room with you, is his father, sitting behind a large wooden desk in a red leather armchair, writing something with a large quill pen. He smiles at Arthas, and as Arthas blinks, the scene changes back and he is once more looking into his family home, as the small girl knocks the blocks over once more.
Arthas does not recognize this place, nor any of the things in it. He says that he has never been there, and is unsure as to why his vision was interrupted. He remembers his family home, but not this strange building, though the wall does match from one of his previous visions. Hallam reveals that he saw the green eye for the first time before he left his home in Ramshorn, and that he came to Navalon due to the voices that he hears in his head. He has been here about a month, taking the ship to Navalon after the river appeared. Ukubo reveals that his parents worshipped Sylvanas, the Forest Father, and that they asked him why he cursed them with Ukubo, a child that has mysterious power and harms those around him. Arthas helps Ukubo to pray, with his totem. Ukubo sees a memory of himself in the Nallon Woods, playing with a small elvish boy with bright amber eyes. As they duck around the trees, and Ukubo makes his signature “HUAH” noise, his parents beckon him towards them, and the memory fades out. The boy in the memory looks to be about 10 years old, and Ukubo was about 2-3 years old, one of his first memories. The trees look healthy, except there are some black spotting on the bark. Ukubo opens his eyes, and speaks his name in giant to the totem. He hears the name boom back. Ukubo says Breena’s parents names, and they boom back, but her sisters does not. Breena tries the name that Melody had given her, Moonstone. Melody Moonstone booms back, as does Breena Moonstone. Elwran Moonstone does not. Arthas Sunborn booms back, Hallam Farstrider does not. The names Abrahm and Juice boom back.
Arthas lights the totem on fire, and Ukubo pushes it towards the container of cubes. A forcefield appears around both, and passes through each other. Ukubo smashes the orbs through the forcefield as the totem passes in. As the blue/grey orb is smashed, the group hears the rain stop outside. Arthas pulls out his perpetual sundial, and it is not working, there is no time. The group leaves, and heads back to the boat. Hallam heads down the hall to his own room, as the rest proceed to theirs. Ukubo finds out that Ailred is reading a book called “The Crow on the Rock” and is about a crow that needs to find its way home, and a boy helps him. After the boy is described as not having amber eyes, Ukubo loses interest. The group pillow fights for a while, and then rests for the night. During the fight, Ukubo casts spiritual guardians, and makes 30 small Ukubos holding pillows that fight for him. Hallam is interrupted by Captain Broadsides knocking at his door. He tells Hallam that there was an incident, and that he needs him to get more of the metal barred walls that he had been delivering to them, and that they needed them by tomorrow. Hallam heads directly to the workshop of Ecthel, the man that he received them from, breaks in, and sleeps there waiting for him to arrive in the morning. They awaken the next morning, and the sun is shining, the sundial is once again working and says 7am now. The group goes to find Lamril, who is by the lake, fishing, completely naked as per usual. Hallam awakens, and waits as Ecthel enters his workshop. He gets more of these walls and heads back out. Hallam realizes that Ecthel matches the description of the man with amber eyes that Ukubo had given before. Ecthel tells him that he is from Vanwai, and Hallam leaves. The rest of the group walks up to Lamril, and finds that his eye has completely healed over, the eyelid is not there, it is just smooth skin. Ukubo immediately runs to Lamrils tent, and searches for tracks to see if anyone might have traveled there and magically affected Lamril overnight. He does not find any new tracks. He runs back, and the group sees Hallam walking through the town carrying a bundle of metal barred walls. As the group walks towards him, Ukubo casts waterwalking on Lamril, and tells him to go onto the lake and try fishing. Lamril excitedly runs out, and stands a few feet out into the lake, on top of the water, and fishes. As Ukubo and the group walks away, Breena holds a moment, and then casts Message to Melody. She sends her “I’m in Navalon, I found magical orbs and cube. Where are you, are you my mom? Friend has a totem from Nallon Woods, know anything?”. A few moments go by and she hears back “Breena, in Wolfpine. Had to leave the forest, sorry for leaving you. I don’t think I am Mom. Come see me. The Nimble Toad Inn.”
Hallam tells the group that these walls need to get onto the boat, but he doesn’t know what they are used for. He and Qiriel walk to the ship, and Hallam takes the walls into one of the cabins and lays them on top of the bed. Around this room, are several nautical tools and decorations, along with a glass bottle ship inscribed with the name “The Shining Stone”. A ship wheel on the wall is engraved with the same name. Hallam privately tells Cpt. Broadsides to not leave until he returns, as he has business to take care of in town briefly. As Cpt. Broadsides protests, Hallam shows him the eye on his arm, and just stares at him. Cpt. Broadsides says he will wait. Hallam leaves the ship to find Ukubo, leaving Qiriel in the previous room. Qiriel talks to Cpt. Broadsides about his journey out to sea, and how he lost his ship. She leaves, and sees Hallam 100 ft away from the ship, and she runs to catch up with him, trailing slightly behind.
The rest of the group walks into the Piercing Goblin Tavern to search for the magician. However, he is not in today. The barkeep tells him that he mentioned something about the ship, and that he has gone to perform there. At a table, they see a very sad Brendan. Ukubo offers Brendan a job in his forest business in Taernsby. He convinces him to come to Wolfpine first before going to Taernsby. The group then heads to the Council Building where they are confronted by Sylla, who says that Onvir wants to see them. They walk in, and Onvir inquires if they smashed the orbs when they came back last night. Ukubo indicates that yes, he did smash the orbs, and demonstrates how his totem passes slightly through the forcefield around the container. He says that he wanted to see if his totem could drink the orb juice. Onvir tells them to leave, and they tell him that they are here to visit Brendan’s brother Kiirion. Kiirion hugs Brendan, and asks if he is okay and if he needs money or a place to live. Ukubo looks at the orb juice again, and puts his totem into the container, and drops it, and watches as it sits in the juice. Ukubo reveals that he wants his totem to hatch into a new tree, by leaving it in the orb juice. They leave the building.
Hallam pulls Ukubo aside, and tells him about a man with amber eyes, and where to find him. Ukubo charges off towards the building. Breena goes invisible and follows after Ukubo. The rest of the group goes back to the ship and Hallam goes to sleep. Ukubo goes to the workshop he is directed to, Ecthel’s Ironworks, and meets Ecthel, who recognizes him immediately as the Firbolg that he used to play with in the forest. He reveals that he did make the chain that Ukubo uses with his totem, but did not make the wooden elemental attachment. He knows Elwran and Melody from their time in Navalon, and that he used to help them do odd jobs as his parents were killed in the war in the Nallon Woods. He helped Melody build the Alehouse, by bringing things to her. Ukubo inquired if Melody and Elwran did magic, and Ecthel tells them that Elwran made things fly up to her as she built, and she lit Elwrans hat on fire and laughed. Ukubo asks if he knows how the trees became sick, and he only knows about his parents telling him how the humans may have used magic to harvest easier, and faster, and caused the trees to get sick and die. Ecthel remembers Ailwyn and Teyral, and tells Ukubo that they used to play with him in the town. He remembers that they couldn’t do magic, but would help out around the town. They left one day with all of their things. He takes Ecthel to the Alehouse, and compares the blue glow of the cube to the glow of the leaves in the Nallon Woods. Ecthel confirms that as they left the woods, that’s how they looked, the same color. Inside, Ukubos totem has half disappeared from the top down. Ukubo claps, as he believes that the tree is glowing. Ukubo takes him to the Lightning Tree and shows him how he glows. Ecthel touches him and is shocked briefly, but then stops, just like Arthas. Touching the tree alone, he does not glow. Ukubo runs back to the shop with Ecthel. Ukubo asks more information about the history of Navalon and the Nallon Woods. Onvir lead the group of people that stayed and formed Navalon, while Virion took the other group. Onvir was one of the only enchanters that did not follow Virion to Illodel. Ecthel reveals that he remembers playing with Ukubo in the woods over 20 years ago, but Ukubo insists it must have been before that, as he is only 19 years old. Ecthel ensures him that he is certain that the war took place 22 years ago, and the town was formed shortly after that. The previous leader of Vanwai, Gaelyn Farfir was killed in the war, as was the leader of the humans, though all of the humans were killed in the war. He reveals that Drogal, the previous woodmaster, was well liked by the town, but went missing around a month ago, soon after the river appeared. He tells Ukubo that the walls that he makes that Hallam takes to the ship are being ferried to Vur Dural to make some sort of barrier wall. Ukubo thanks him, and tells him he hopes he will see him again, and leaves, heading back to the ship.
Arthas and Ranadin head to the tavern on the ship, and see Tarron “Snapcard” doing magic tricks for everyone. He pulls Arthas, wearing the cowboy hat, over to him, and offers to do a magic trick for him to earn some coin. He asks Arthas for a gold, which he pockets, and then plays 3 card monte with him. Arthas sees the card moved to the center, burns the other 2, and then flips the card. It is not the right card, and Arthas loses. Ranadin asks the trick to be done again, but stops Tarron, and accuses him of cheating. He pulls out a badge, of the Norbury Guard, and tells Tarron that they have been searching for him, and that he would need to hand over the gold piece, and the cards. Tarron does, and sadly walks out of the bar. Arthas bursts into laughter, and Ranadin walks over to the bar and uses the badge to get a few free drinks. Qiriel enters, and begins to play.
Ukubo heads back towards the ship, as an invisible Breena breaks off and heads back to the graveyard where she sees a sign offering nightly tours for one silver. The older man that she had previously heard mutter about making money off of the occasional skeletons moving, is setting things up to make it look scenic and spooky. Breena walks in and begins to move several of the bones around. The man jumps and begins smacking them with his shovel once more. He is torn, because he doesnt want to mess with evil spirits that will actually cause harm, but on the other hand there is coin to be made. Breena throws one of the arms onto his shoulder, and the man knocks it off, splits it with the shovel, and screams "I'm not fucking around with god damn ghosts, this isnt worth it." Breena giggles, and the man yells "STOP LAUGHIN', GHOSTS!" as he walks away. Breena walks back towards the ship to join her friends. Ukubo heads to the room and sees Ailred reading his book. Belfir is sitting in the room, relaxing and thinking. Ukubo asks Belfir to read the letter from Ecthel out loud, but not because he can't read, as he insists he can read. Belfir reads the letter and sees that it is from the Greybranch Shipping company, explaining what is needed of Ecthel regarding the barred walls, and that the walls would be ferried to Vur Dural for a border wall of some kind. Belfir reveals that his leader, Ufrok Oakhelm, was the one that sent him away with the key. Qiriel and Arthas sit with Ranadin as Qiriel plays. An extremely drunk man is very into her music, and Ranadin escorts him out with his badge after the man tells Qiriel "YEAH. You're great. You're Wonderful!...I like you". Arthas orders some food and drink, and listens to the goings on in the tavern and ship. Nothing of interest comes up. Hallam, in a very deep sleep, has a dream of his father. He sees the whispy figure of him with the eye around his neck. He doesnt recall his father wearing the eye frequently, as it was more of a family heirloom. His father tells him that he has to head out to take care of business, and he will be back. He is proud of Hallam for fighting and for what he has accomplished. Hallam realises this is the last memory of his father, the last time that they spoke. Ukubo and Breena rest in the room, and Breena attemps to help Ukubo learn to read, but is unable to, as Ukubo doesn't seem to understand what she is trying to teach him. Ailred teaches him a few words after Breena goes to sleep, having slightly better success. Hallam awakens and heads to the tavern for a drink, as does Belfir. Qiriel goes and meets with Cpt. Broadsides, watching him sail the ship, and seeing how it works. Arthas and Belfir chat as Hallam ignores them, seeing Arthas wearing the cowboy hat. Belfir talks with Arthas about Magdar, the dwarven man that they are meeting in Wolfpine, saying that he has a job at one of the woodshops in town, or in one of the taverns, being quite fond of ale. Hallam orders a strong whiskey, and then heads back to the room to sleep. Qiriel enters her room, preparing to sleep, and sees Ukubo staring at the letter. As they talk, he feels a familiar weight on his belt. The totem has returned, but it has changed. It is now a mish mash puzzle of colors that look stained into the wood. The totem also feels cold. As Ukubo talks to it, he realizes that the totem knows that he is Ukubo, as it says "Hello Ukubo" when he says hello to it. Aside from that, the totem reveals nothing. Arthas stands on the deck taking in the night air, and then goes back to the room to sleep. A few hours later, they hear the ship bell ringing loudly. Everyone gathers their gear, and runs to the deck of the ship to find Cpt. Broadsides and 2 Shipmates fighting some heavily geared orcs. A flash of light catches their eye as an arrow flies from a nearby hill, and sticks into the boat. Embedded in the head of the arrow, is a red gem. After a second, it explodes and ignites the deck around it. The party jumps into action, fighting off the orcs after a lengthy battle. Along with the red arrows, they also fight off 2 more arrow types, one green gem, and one purple gem. The green stuns, and the purple sends tendrils to control their mind. The crew survives, barely. The party then chases down the 3 archers on the nearby hill, killing 2, and capturing the last one. Hallam takes several of the arrows and a longbow with him. Ukubo casts spare the dying on the leader of the orcs, and ties him up. The group heads back to the ship with their unconcious prisoner, Breena carrying the bodies of the other 2 on her disk.
Arthas, Breena, Hallam, and Qiriel walk back to the ship with the single tied up orc and the 2 lifeless orc archer bodies floating on Breena’s disk. They walk on board and see Ukubo standing next to the tied up body of the orc chieftain. Cpt. Broadsides thanks them, and Breena hums happily and walks back to the room, preparing to skin the orcs for their bones. Ukubo tells Qiriel to turn into an orc and talk to the Chieftain, saying “Orc orc!” happily. None of them speak Orcish, and are unsure how to communicate with the Chieftain. Ukubo decides to take the orc chieftain out into the open fields and hills off of the ship, and disguise himself as one of the orc archers, while the others watched from behind a nearby hillside. Ukubos removes the gear from the Chieftain, and throws it into the river, wets them both, and then heals him. The Chieftain awakens slowly, looking around confused, says something in Orcish. Ukubo points towards the mountains, and the Chieftain nods no, and grunts as he walks towards the ship.
He and Ukubo swim up through the lake and climb up into the back of the ship as everyone else follows behind as they move. The Chieftain heads right to Captain Broadsides room and walks in. Captain Broadsides is in there and immediately draws his weapon, striking the Chieftain down once again. He walks out and calls for his crew, and sees Ukubo standing there, having dropped his disguise. Ukubo tells him that he had brought him back to life to attempt to speak with him. Shipman 2 (now known as Ship Man Too) walks back in and tells them that he speaks a little bit of orcish. Ukubo heals the Chieftain once more, and Ship Man Too kneels down to talk with him. The Chieftain tells him that he is named Ugash, Chieftain of the Craghand Tribe from the Fractured Peak. He is here for his people that had been captured and brought upon the ship.
Hallam leaves and searches the rooms for the orcs, but does not find them. In Breena and the groups room, he finds Ranadin skinning the orc bodies that Breena had left. Arthas and Qiriel inquire with Captain Broadsides if what Ugash says is true, and he nervously says that there is no one that isn’t ticketed aboard the ship. Arthas and Qiriel do not believe him, and press him more. Arthas walks him out of the room telling him that he believes him that he would never steal the orcs because he would never need those. As they get to the end of the hall, Arthas presses him to the wall and yells at him in draconic “WHERE ARE THEY”. Hallam pokes his head out of a nearby room, and tells Cpt. Broadsides that he knows nothing about the ship, and asks if there is something that he wants to say. Cpt. Broadsides tells Hallam that he will tell him everything, but not if the others are there, as they can’t know, they aren’t part of it. Hallam rolls up Arthas’ sleeve as Qiriel walks away, and reveals the eye to Cpt. Broadsides. Cpt. Broadsides tells them about the Chamber of Allsight, and his part in it. He knows that Hallam is a part of it, and that Arthas must also be given the eye on his arm. His ship sank off shore of Ramshorn, and he lost a lot of good men. A few days later, he had a drink in a tavern and was a approached by a man to make a difference and save Settandor, and that he would get a new ship for free in exchange for his services. He had to ferry people down this river, that at the time, did not exist. The man who offered this to him, was a halfling named Bilbo.
Arthas tells him that he found his body in a casket on the body of a giant. Cpt. Broadsides tells them that Bilbo had gone into the mountains for something, and that he hadn’t spoken to him since. He was told that the orcs must be taken from the Fractured Peak, in small groups, ferried on the ship to Illodel, and disposed of there, as they are a threat to Settandor. The walls that Hallam brings to the ship are used as cages for the orcs. The ones that the party had fought with previously on the ship, during the daytime in ramshackle gear, had been ones that escaped. Arthas backs away slowly to give him some space. Hallam asks how many are on the ship, and Cpt. Broadsides tells him that there are about 10 in the base of the ship. Hallam then walks away. Arthas stays and gives Cpt. Broadsides a moment, as Breena sits invisible and watches.
Ukubo talks in common to Ugash telling him that he will help him and smuggle him off the boat, and that he will find his family and bring them back to him. He then casts Feign Death on him, takes his body off of the ship, and dispels his magic. He tells Ugash that he will find his family, and bring them to the Fractured Peak. Ugash grunts a thank you, and begins walking back towards the mountains. Ukubo begins heading back to the ship.
Hallam walks back to his room, locks it, and lays down to go to sleep. Arthas walks to the door and loudly knocks, which Hallam ignores. After a few more attempts, Arthas fails to kick down the door, and then bashes a piece of it in, shattering it. Opening the door through the hole, he walks in, as does Breena, still invisible. Arthas demands answers from Hallam, but Hallam does not give them to him, telling him that he has all of the information that he should have, and continues to attempt to sleep.
Ukubo walks back onto the ship and finds Qiriel standing and looking out into the fields on the side of the ship. Ukubo tells her that he released Ugash to give him mercy, as he knows what it is like to lose a family. Qiriel walks back towards the room, sees Arthas, and transforms into a cat and walks up to him. Ukubo sits on the edge of the ship, and looks towards the Trihorn Mountains. He begins to Ritual Cast Find Familiar.
Arthas leaves Hallam’s room, and Breena is stuck inside. She opens the door and walks out, Hallam does not react to the door opening again. They both walk back to Cpt. Broadsides and insists on getting more information out of him. Cpt. Broadsides tells him more about the Chamber of Allsight, saying that he got the eye tattoo from Bilbo in Ramshorn when he joined. Arthas believes that Hallam must have given him the mark when he grabbed his arm, but he isn’t sure how or why it appeared. The Chamber of Allsight is a group of people that have been put together to preserve and protect the future of Settandor. Arthas finds that there are parallels between the Syndicate of the Scale, as Cpt. Broadsides had done a lot of wrong in his life, and is trying to right his past wrongs by doing good. Cpt. Broadsides heads to the deck of the ship and goes back to sail the ship. Arthas goes back to the room, and shuts the door very quickly to try and lock the invisible Breena out. She opens the door and Arthas is staring at it, knowingly. Ranadin is sitting, having finished skinning the orcs and gives the bones to Breena. He then takes a sheet from one of the beds, and gathers all of the skin and meat into it, throws it on his back like a sack of gifts, and heads out of the room. Arthas takes his new cat friend and heads to a vacant room, and goes to sleep, to stay away from the horrible orc meat smell. Ranadin sees Ukubo, and walks past, humming, as he dumps the sack of meat into the river below. He then sits with Ukubo, and watches as he finishing casting and the spectral figure of Ipihko the bat appears. Ranadin goes back to the room and goes to sleep, as Ukubo sends Ipihko around the ship to check for mysterious figures in the water below, holding on. Seeing nothing aside from sharks in the river, he goes to the room and goes to sleep.
The group awakens the next morning, Arthas finding Qiriel next to him asleep (as she transforms back from a cat over the night). He is very upset that the cat is gone. The ship bell lighting rings as they sail into the small port at Wolfpine. Everyone leaves the ship, and Qiriel escorts Ailred back to his house, as his parents are extremely happy to see him. Inside, she sees a large number of books piled in the house.
Everyone heads directly to the Nimble Toad Inn, and walks upstairs into the large tavern space above the rooms, which is covered in floating candles and vines that creep along the walls. At the bar, Breena sees the Gnomish figure of Melody and immediately runs over to her and hugs her. Melody is extremely happy to see her, and ushers the group into a private room for some food and drink, and tells them about what happened. Melody tells her that she owes her safety and her life to her current chef, Cookie, whom she brings into the room.
His real name is Keiko Tricktalon, and he was from Middlesborough originally, having grown up as children with Melody despite appearing to be much older than she is, and giving a much older age. Melody had to leave suddenly, as Cookie came to get her in the night, informing her that some nobles in Norbury would be coming to kidnap her. Cookie had previously bribed his way into Norbury, to work as a chef, due to his exceptional cooking skills. One night at the restaurant he worked at, he overheard a group of nobles discussing Melody’s interruptions of the Yummatir festival, and that they planned to kidnap her before she caused more trouble. He immediately ran to her, and the pair of them fled to Wolfpine. Melody, stated that she feared for her life, and that she did not go to Taernsby as planned due to others possibly knowing about her dream to go there, and her plan. Wolfpine was remote and out of the way, and allowed her to hide out and not be found by the nobles. She built this tavern with the town very quickly, due to their skilled worksmanship as wood crafters. She also informs the party that Magdar works at a local potter, Almon’s Pottery in town, at their request for more information about him.
Melody comments about Breena’s skeletons, stating that she has clearly learned from her magic. Ukubo gives the totem to Melody, and instructs her to say her name, and the totem repeats Melody Moonstone, as expected. She is confused as to what the totem is, and also is not sure as to her past in Navalon. She does not recall having ever been there, and does not know what they are referring to when they talk about it. She also does not know Elwran. Melody tells Breena that she will talk to Mr. Tipps with her, and that she shouldn’t be afraid because she is very strong, just like her friends. She says that she will be there to help her with whatever she needs.
Ukubo and Qiriel detect the magical essence around the room, and observes the aura cast by everyone. From Breena, Melody, and Cookie, they see the same blue magic from the orbs and Ukubos totem is weaved into their aura, floating as it swirls around them. Ukubo sees on himself elemental magic, and detects Elemental magic on Arthas’ pendant as well as blessed. The blessed aspect is expected, as it is a holy symbol, but the elemental aspect confuses Arthas. Arthas says “Hello ukubo” to the totem, and hears “Hello Arthas” back. He drops the totem to the table, as he throws his head back, horrified that it knows his name and who he is.
Arthas, overwhelmed and confused, begins to attack Hallam, threatening him for touching his arm and giving him the strange eye. Hallam holds him back, as the two trade light blows at each other. Hallam then turns to the door, and steps 30ft away using his boots. Arthas leaves the room with Belfir, and heads out towards the town to find Magdar. The rest of the group follows suit shortly after, with Hallam tailing a few feet behind them.
The group heads to Almon’s Pottery, to search for Magdar. Upon entering, they are greeted by its owner, a half-orc named Almon. They find Magdar, working, and seeing Belfir, he takes them outside to talk with them in private. Ukubo remains inside, wanting to order a turtle shaped pot from Almon, and speak with him further. Ukubo wants to put Qiriel, polymorphed into a weasel, into the space under the kiln inside the building, but Breena takes her and goes outside to join the others. Ukubo talks with Almon, and learns that he used to live in the Fractured Peak. His father was a dwarf, and his mother an orc. Many of the half-orcs come down from the Fractured Peak, to Wolfpine, if they no longer wish to live among their larger full blooded bretheren. Ukubo asks Almon about a purple half-orc, and Almon tells him about Nargol, the leader of the 7 Tribes of the Fractured Peak. (Craghand, Lurtzog, Earthshake, Rockfang, Wolfslammer, Bloodhand, and Stonevein) Almon’s mother remained in the Fractured Peak, but his father was killed in a disagreement when trying to take Almon and his mother away from the tribes. Almon is from the Rockfang tribe.
Magdar takes them outside to a large tree and they sit at a bench and discuss what they have come for. Belfir tells him that the key must come home, and asks if he has it. Magdar replies that he does, and pulls the key from around his neck. Belfir indicates that he trusts Arthas and his friends, and that they’ll be leaving for Vur Dural in 2 days time, after Magdar makes his preparations. Belfir tells them that they will be going to war soon, and Arthas asks what is inside the vault. He tells them that inside of this vault is a Yeti, that is a stasis, awaiting its time to go to war once more. The dwarves used them in the past war, having trained them. This is the only one left, as the others grew old and died, or are assumed to have migrated over the mountains to whatever lies beyond that. Arthas indicates that he plans to help in the fight. They walk back into the building, and find Ukubo chatting with Almon. Qiriel transforms back into herself, and Breena drops her to the ground and lies, saying that she didn’t know it was Qiriel. Arthas tells Ukubo that they have to go elsewhere in the town, and that they are busy today. Ukubo is given his turtle pot, and promptly says that he can store drugs in it. Breena attempts to cover, saying “Uhhh, Drugs is my cats name!”. Almon tells Ukubo that his pot his free, in exchange for Ukubo bringing Almon’s mother to Wolfpine. Ukubo sets his entire bag of gold on the counter as he leaves, believing that he doesn’t have to pay for anything anymore, and walks out. Breena sneakily grabs the bag and stuffs it into her cloak. The group leaves and catches up with Arthas and Ranadin, who had gone to find Scruffy, Ranadins father.
They enter the Drunken Bow tavern and meet with Scruffy, who did not realize that Ranadin was gone at all. He ushers them into a back room, and they sit and talk with Scruffy. He offers them drinks, and something stronger if they would like. He shows them several herbs, and also the powdered white substance made from the Silent Lavender, Whispers. Arthas, Hallam, and Breena try some of the Whispers. As they do, the world around them slows down, and they see shadowy wispy figures dancing around the room, moving in and out through the walls and ceiling. Qiriel plays a song on her lute, which sounds haunting and horrifyingly slow to the members that used Whispers. Qiriel detects magic, and sees that there is a dark red magic essence dripping like raindrops in reverse, up to the ceiling from the 3 of them. She does not recognize the magic, but realizes it is similar in nature to the blue magic that they associate with Elwran’s past. As they come down from the effect of the drug, Arthas tells Scruffy that he didn’t like it. Hallam tells the group that Arthas must be a bitch, and Arthas lunges at him. The two attempt to fistfight, and Scruffy separates them. Arthas punches him and is then shoved out of the room by Qiriel. Scruffy tells them that the Whispers is more expensive than normal, as his normal delivery person as not come around any time soon. The group realizes that the delivery person was Kristian, from Navalon. Ukubo tells him that Kristian will not be coming back, as Kristian was a bad man so Ukubo fought him and put him in a lake, where he is sleeping with a rock. Scruffy urges them to leave, saying that the tavern is now closed. He thanks them for saving Ranadin, and the group walks back into the tavern. They see a halfling man sitting in the corner of the bar, that they detect has magic on his presence, a small amount of it coming from something in his pocket. Ukubo sits down and talks to him, and offers him some drugs. The man takes some of the herb. Ukubo tells him if he needs more, to come back to Ukubo at any time. Ukubo yells that the Tavern is closing, and everyone leaves. Breena, invisible, follows this halfling man out into the day. The rest of the group follows behind, being careful to not be caught.
Qiriel and Arthas walk back towards the boat, as Qiriel tells him to stop fighting Hallam. Arthas indicates that Hallam knows things that he wont tell them, and that he was taunted. Arthas goes to the ship and goes to his room to take a short rest, alone. Qiriel sees her friends leave the bar, and joins up with her friends. She tells Hallam to stop instigating Arthas, and Hallam says that Arthas attacked him originally.
Breena follows this man back to his house, and dives through the door as he opens it. The man hangs his coat, and sits down at his armchair, and then smokes the herb that Ukubo had given him. He closes his eyes, and Breena searches his jacket pocket. Inside, is a small river stone, of various colors. The man begins snoring, and Breena slams the door attempting to wake him up. The man awakens and says “hello??” nervously looking around. He sees nothing, and then sees the door open and close on its own. The man grabs his jacket and runs from the house in a panic. Breena follows him to the large tree near Almon’s Pottery, and the man begins digging below it. He pulls out a backpack, and runs into the town, after stuffing his coat inside the hole and burying it. Arthas leaves the ship, and sees the familiar figure of Bilbo, the man that Cpt. Broadsides had told him about, and whose body he dumped off of the ship.
As he sees Arthas staring at him, he turns and walks the other direction. Arthas calls out his name, and he turns and says that he doesn’t know a Bilbo, and nervously talks to them. Arthas fears him, and picks him up and carries him to his house. The rest of the group joins, as Bilbo yells “WHO SENT YOU?, HOW DID THEY KNOW??” in fear. They begin to interrogate Bilbo and ask him questions. He nervously tells them that his name is Bilbo Boulderhill, son of Dekkar Boulderhill and Koi Humblefal. He then tells them that the Chamber of Allsight is not real, and it is a sham. He tells them that back in Ramshorn, he owed people a lot of money from gambling, and an Elvish man named Welton offered to pay his debts and save his life in exchange for joining the Chamber of Allsight. Bilbo was the first member, Cpt. Broadsides was the second. Other members are recruited by other members higher up the chain, and it flows out like a web. The goal of the project was to cover Settandor with members, and report information back to deal with threats to Settandor. The first of which, was the project that Bilbo sent Cpt. Broadsides on, which was the elimination of the orcs. The reason that Bilbo left was because he went to Ramshorn to talk to Welton, and Virion, his assistant, stopped him. He was unable to get in contact with Welton, and suspected that Virion might be behind something suspicious within the Chamber, and followed him. He watched Virion grab a local drunkard from Ramshorn, and take him to a large room somewhere in town, where the man was hooked up with cables and wires to several gems within the room. Virion then stabbed the man in the heart, and the gems began to glow. Bilbo ran, and then made up business that he had to take care of in the Fractured Peak, telling Cpt. Broadsides where he was going. He faked his body, putting it into a small wooden casket, and leaving it somewhere in the mountains. He then fled to Wolfpine, thinking it was safe since it is hard to travel here, and had not had much before the river appeared. He tells them that a human man named Bellio, leads the group of hunters that kidnaps the orcs back to Navalon. Arthas prays, and sees nothing but a black space, filled with smoke-y wisps.
Breena searches the backpack that Bilbo had, and found it filled with clothing, pans, and things that someone would need for traveling. There was also a small pouch of coins, which Breena promptly took. Bilbo tells them that he had a small stone that was given to him when he joined the Chamber, and that the stone makes him feel comforted. The group inspects the stone, and finds nothing suspicious about it, but Ukubo remembers that it radiates elemental magic, and smashes it with his totem. As the rock is smashed to pieces, the magic that was contained in it wisps into the air and floats away. Bilbo tells them that he left home around 10 years ago, not wanting to be a farmer, and wanting to be his own man. Ukubo tells him about the fate of Mirfeld, and that his family is no longer in Mirfeld. Ukubo tells him that he will take Bilbo to his family, but that he must get a boat for them to sail on. Bilbo reluctantly agrees, as he still wishes to leave Wolfpine.
The wind begins whipping around outside, and Bilbo is concerned, telling them that there are not usually storms of this magnitude. There is a rumbling outside, and everyone runs to the windows. Qiriel opens the door and steps outside. She sees a elvish man with long pointed ears and a black pony tail, standing on the shoreline, cradling a large gem in his hands. He looks up, as the wind and sand whips around him, and locks eyes with Qiriel. The sand surrounds him in a swirl, and he is encased inside of a large sand and stone beast.
The group stares down the hulking sandy figure on the shore of Wolfpine, charging into battle as one. Breena, ducks behind a large rock and sends her skeleton archers to either side of the beach. Qiriel moves forward with Arthas and Hallam, and then waits back as they both get closer. Ukubo ducks to the side, taking a vantage point between a large campfire and a larger rock. Everyone fights valiantly as the sand monster slams into them, sending waves of sand up 40 feet into the air, knocking Arthas to the ground, though he uses his cape of featherfall to float magestically to the ground. The ones close to it are whipped brutally with the sharp grains of sand stuck in this whirlwind surrounding the creature. Ukubo calls lighting on it twice, dealing incredible amounts of damage, as Breena shoots bolts of lighting in a large pillar down the beach, whipping up the sand as it goes, striking the beast in the chest. Hallam and Arthas hit into it with mighty blows of their weapons, bashing into the swirling sandy exterior. Qiriel, casts several walls of knives in the air that descend upon the beast, slashing into the sand. Seeing Ukubo as the biggest threat, the beast turns into a swirling horrifying whirlwind, and runs through both Arthas and Hallam on the way to Ukubo, where it stops on top of him, before stepping back and transforming into a golem once more. Arthas and Hallam are whipped by sand, as is Ukubo. Qiriel stuck atop the 40 foot pillar of sand, which suddenly descends to the ground leaving her prone. A sandy hand on the ground hurls a ball of mud at Breena in the distance, combining the sand with the sea water near it. The group works together, Ukubo dealing the final blow with a bolt of lighting that rips through the stormy air, and strikes the gem at the beasts heart directly. The sand falls, and left there is a younger elvish man, unconcious.
The group picks him up and takes him to Bilbos house after tieing him up, waking him up and convincing him that he is dead, and this is hell, and to confess his sins. He is confused as to what sins he could have done, as he was simply doing what he was told, to protect the shoreline of Settandor. The group asks him to elaborate, and he introduces himself as Raelis Mydain, tinkerer from Ramshorn, born in Illodel. His parents, both passed away, his father when he was younger, and his mother when he was older, just over 2 months ago. Shortly after, he was approached by Bilbo, claiming to be working with the Chamber of Allsight, and that he was needed for a great purpose, to save Settandor. He was a valuable addition, due to his work with the Frostspanner Guild under the guise of Firash Switchwizzle (the last name of Micathys from Taernsby). They are trained using Firash's knowledge of tinkering, and the elvish methods of gemcrafting and enchanting, and work to create tools for the people of Ramshorn and Illodel.
Raelis worked with an elvish man named Arklait Stalwell, who had been building a beacon to send messages long range across Settandor, even for those that were not gifted with the ability to use magic. Raelis was working on gemstone chargepads, tinkering with older things meant to charge simple spells into tiny, single use gems, ensuring that larger gems could be charged with this magical ability. He has been working with the Chamber for a little over a month, completing his work on the chargepads very quickly, and then helping Arklait more with the beacon.
A few days ago, he recieved a letter from the Chamber, with a parcel, and little instruction. The letter told him to travel to Wolfpine on the ship from Ramshorn, go to the shoreline, and open the contents of the parcel there. It was of utmost importance, as it would add a protective force to the unprotected south-western shoreline of Settandor.
The group admits that Raelis is not in hell, but would need to answer for what he has done. He tells them that he is willing to, because even though he did not mean anyone any harm, it was his responsibility to make up for the damage that his actions unknowingly caused. Ukubo goes and gets Melody and Cookie, as Breena searches Bilbo's home, finding and consuming an entire pie with Neesha, as well as finding several spiders in the high corners of the home. Ukubo finds Bilbo, who tells him the boat is ready. Melody asks for a moment to close down her Inn, and she and Breena go there together. They clean up the upper floor after asking everyone to leave. Melody looks around longingly at the space she built, snaps her fingers, and watches as the floating candles on the ceiling slowly go out and float to the floor. Breena, grabs several bottles of alcohol, only the good stuff, and joins Melody downstairs. The pair walk back to Bilbo's as everyone prepares to depart.
They get on the medium sized ship, and set out for Airen Rock. Ukubo keeps Qiriel company, playing music loudly during the 8+ hour journey. The rest sleep, as Qiriel glides the boat deftly over the ocean with no incident, though she does scrape the boat along the dock at Airen Rock. The group departs the boat, and climbs the spiral wooden stairs that twirl around the sides of the large, mossy vine covered rock. At the top, they see a human figure, dressed in a brown hooden robe, clutching a twisting wooden staff in both hands.
"Hello friends, my name is Elwran."
The party arrives on Airen Rock, where they meet the mysterious human wizard Elwran. Elwran invites them to his home on the rock, so that they can tell him why they have come. He is happy to see Qiriel again, and pleased that she did not crash her ship this time.
As the party steps onto the height of Airen Rock and off of the wooden staircase spiraling around it, they are greeted with the sight of a beautiful and quaint place. On the far left of the rock, they see several wooden huts grouped together. In the center, a wooden long-house, and on the right they see a small house made of a light pine wood, with a garden and fountain behind it. Elwran leads them to the house and invites them inside, however Ukubo and Breena run to the garden, followed by Melody and Cookie. The rest walk inside and sit at Elwran’s table, to discuss why they have come. Qiriel tells them that they have some questions.
Ukubo and Breena are greeted by a beautiful garden filled with many flowers and beautiful plants, some of which are similar to the ones they had seen in the tower in Taernsby prior. Ukubo pulls several plants out of the ground, roots and all, and is immediately drawn to a dark brown tree stump, that looks to have been used as a chair. The color of the bark, matches that of his totem. Breena is drawn to the fountain, atop which sit 3 faces figures. One older male, one older female, and one female child. As she looks at it, she sees a small brass plaque at the bottom of the fountain that reads “Founder’s Fountain”. Carved below that, very lightly, are the initials EMB. Breena, immediately grabs Melody, and points this out, that EMB could stand for Elwran, Melody, Breena. Melody points out that the figure in the statue is very tall, and she is very small. The child height is accurate to Breena’s current height. Breena, not satisfied with this answer, runs to Elwran’s house. Ukubo, jumps atop the stump and holds his totem in the air, yelling that he is a tree, lightning erupting from his mouth and ripping across the early evening sky as Cookie sits and watches him.
Inside, Qiriel, Arthas, and Hallam tell Elwran a little bit about what they have been doing in their travels, as well as asks him about Navalon. Elwran is surprised about what had happened in Norbury, telling them that Varrin, the boy that had escaped, was here for more training, and did not mention anything about it. As he is telling them that he has no knowledge of Navalon, and has never been there, Arthas pulls out the picture of him that they had taken from his strange secret room in Taernsby. Elwran, confused by this elvish picture that looks similar to him, aside from being the wrong race, says that he is unaware of any secret room. Breena, bursts through the door and demands to know about the fountain, pointing out that the intials EMB sync up to their names. Elwran tells her that it is indeed a strange coincidence, but the fountain was there when he arrived on the rock. Ukubo, finished with his tree standing, also walks into Elwran’s house. Detect Magic reveals that the same blue magic that affects Breena, Melody, and Cookie’s magical aura, also is present around Elwran.
Elwran offers to tell them his story of how he got started. Breena wants all of the details, and tells him to start at the beginning. He smiles, and obliges. He tells them how he was born in Ramshorn to a non-magic father, and a magical mother who owned a small healer shop, combining the power of herbs with magic to develop various cures for things. As he grew older, he studied under the elvish wizard Elasha in the neighboring town of Illodel, supplementing his studies by working with his mother.
He decided to open his own shop, but received word that Taernsby was looking for a mage, and decided to travel there and take the post. He worked there for several years, and tells them about the horrible sickness that swept though. The details that he tells them seems to match up with what they had learned previously while in Taernsby themselves. He decided that he wanted to be a teacher, to train more mages and healers. He set out to the empty Airen Rock, to set up his school for students that found their way there by the weaves of fate, just like Qiriel.
They finish talking and drinking some herbal tea, and Ukubo asks about books, while Arthas mentions he would like to compare the handwriting found in the journals in the tower in Taernsby with that of something Elwran has here. Elwran leads them upstairs and points to his shelf, containing several books, as well as his own written journals full of flowers and plants that have grown on Airen Rock. The books that are picked up and looked at by the members of the group are as follows:
The Raven on the Rock – About a raven who has lost his family, a small boy that tries to help him find his way home, and their adventures along the way.
Hatred of the Light – A boy is captured by a mysterious religious cult and forced to complete a series of impossible tasks in a deep and dark cave, after standing up for a man about to be murdered.
Away We Fly – A beautiful bird injures one of its wings, and spends the cold winter season trying to survive and regain its strength, hoping one day to fulfil its true wish to fly among its family again.
A Blind Man’s Errand – A blind monk makes the difficult journey of carrying his late father’s ashes across an unfamiliar land, at the behest of a wandering spirit guide that tells him it is the only way to free his father’s soul from purgatory.
Jumping into the Universe – The story of a girl forced to go on an inter-planar expedition after her parents are killed during a brutal war between the armies of the Overseer and a band of resistance fighters determined to escape and see what lies beyond the walls of their small kingdom.
Will of the Forsaken – A single family are the soul survivors of a brutal raid on their hometown by a group of traveling wizards, searching for an ancient artifact. They can’t remember anything before the attack, and must work as a team to piece together their past.
Hiding the Emperor – The leader of a group of relic protectors must slip back into the uniform of an enemy guard and confront his past, to save his future.
Serpent of the Stars – A large red serpent searches for others like it, and stumbles into the mystery behind its creation.
An Eternal Stone – The story of a small town that serves the many tourists that travel to it, wanting to place a hand on the famed Eternal Stone, that many claim opens the floodgates in the human mind, allowing access to untapped knowledge and power.
The writing that the group finds in Elwran’s journals appears to be a match to the journal that Arthas brings from Taernsby. Elwran is confused by this, not recognizing the journal or the room that they described. Ukubo, trying to cure Elwran, smacks him in the head with the totem, before doing the same to Melody. This does not have any effect, aside from giving them both a mild headache. Breena has the idea to sit on the floor, and hold the totem between the heads of herself, Elwran, and Melody. They do so, and a moment passes with nothing changing. Suddenly, the totem begins to smoke, filling the room. Ukubo feels a white hot pain in his tattoos, the likes of which he had only felt once before, in the Nallon Woods where he found the totem.
A minute goes by, and Elwran falls to the floor. Ukubo notices that his ashy tattoos have vanished, aside from the one of the symbol of Sylvanas. Elwran is clutching his head, confused as to what happened. Detect Magic reveals an incredibly large cloud of blue magic floating in the room above, slowly spiraling down into Elwran’s head. He knows the names Melody and Breena, but not who they are referring to. The group suggests that he rests, and Ukubo stays to watch after him. The rest head to the huts to find Varrin, and chat with him. Hallam takes off his necklace and leaves it with Ukubo.
Qiriel stops in her old hut, and obtains a hidden wooden flute that she had left there. They meet Varrin, and find out that he didn’t tell Elwran about what happened in Norbury, wanting to grow stronger under Elwran’s teachings, and save his friends himself, to prove that he is not a failure and weak like many in his past have led him to believe. He is shocked, but happy to see Qiriel. They proceed to the wooden longhouse, which Varrin tells them is called the Ista-house, and he demonstrates some of his magics. The group asks to see more, and he takes them outside to the edge of the rock, demonstrating a much larger ball of fire, combining the grease spell with that of a firebolt. He is much more confident now, and is happy to show off for his friends. He heads to his hut to go to sleep, and the group heads back towards Elwran’s house. Arthas, sends his message to one of the dwarves, to tell them to meet them in Vur Dural. During this time away from the house, Hallam stops seeing the shadows and whispers, the further away he gets. As he approaches the house again, those shadows and whispers return.
Ukubo, sitting with Elwran, watches him toss and turn as he throws out several random words; Virion, Taernsby, illness, Melody, Breena, and stop. Ukubo calms his emotions, and ensures he is okay. He then touches Elwran’s head, and prays. (What he sees will be revealed at the top of the next episode). He then heads downstairs and gets Melody, and takes her upstairs, urging her to kiss Elwran, to perhaps jog her memory just like the totem did for Elwran. She is unsure about it, as she claims she does not know him. After attempting to simply hug him, to no effect, she agrees, and bends down to kiss him. As she does, her half moon necklace around her neck swings down. As her lips touch Elwran’s, a flash of white light erupts from the half moon. The group outside sees this incredibly bright flash as they reach Elwran’s door.
The episode opens to a recap of things that technically occurred in the previous episode, starting with Arthas read, Hatred of the Light, and Hiding the Emperor. Following that, we resolve Ukubo’s prayer, which reveals a spot in the Nallon Woods, the place where Ukubo found his totem. In its place, is a tree, with a small scowling face on its side. A small Firbolg girl from Ukubo’s past, Wynnala, tends to a small garden around the tree, and then sits under its beautiful branches, content and happy, while eating some blueberries growing on it.
We then cut to the group walking back towards Elwran’s house, as Arthas sends a message to Belfir, telling them that he will meet them in Vur Dural, as they had urgent business to attend to. Belfir sends back that he thought that they had died in the sandstorm, and that they will meet them in Vur Dural, and then counts to 25 to meet the sending message cap.
We then jump forward again, to Melody leaning down to kiss Elwran, at Ukubo’s direction. Her necklace glows with a pure white light, and then explodes outwards into the room, shattering the window and lighting up the night sky. Arthas misty steps up to the window, as the rest of the group runs inside, finding Ukubo holding the slumped figure of Melody. Melody chokes out the words “Elwran, Breena, my family.” Before slumping again in Ukubo’s arms, sapped of her strength.
Neesha runs into the room and curls up on Elwran’s chest, purring. Ukubo tells them that he had Melody kiss Elwran, and that caused the flash of light and explosion. He then picks up Melody, and places her next to Elwran on the bed. Arthas places the picture of Elwran on the beside table next to her. Everyone walks downstairs and finds Varrin in the kitchen, and he asks if everything is okay. They tell him that it is, and he leaves to go back to his hut. Raelis sleeps on some blankets on the floor of the kitchen, and Cookie grabs a corner of the room and sleeps.
Ukubo goes to the garden and begins casting lightning on himself, as Arthas attemps to sleep in the garden. Breena sleeps in the room with Elwran and Melody, on the floor next to them, asking Sir Bearington to patrol the room. Hallam walks back to a hut and begins to attempt to sleep. Qiriel walks to her old hut, and sleeps. Hallam, as he begins to enter the wonderful world of sleep, hears an echo-y eerie voice in his head, one that he knows all too well, from the eye. The voice asks him if there is anything it should know about, that might affect the chamber, as well as why Captain Broadsides is late. Hallam tells him that he saw the ship last in Wolfpine, but there was nothing that set him behind schedule as far he is aware of. Hallam asks what the purpose of Arthas Sunborn was, as he had one of the eye tattoos that Hallam is familiar with. The voice tells Hallam that the name Arthas Sunborn is familiar, though he finds it very interesting that Arthas is in Navalon, and is curious if it is the same Arthas that he knows. He tells Hallam to keep an eye on Arthas, and report back should anything interesting happen. Hallam asks if the voice could speak to Arthas if he was in possession of the stone, and the voice tells him that he could try. Hallam indiciates that he will make sure that happens.
Hallam goes and joins Arthas in the garden. Hallam tells Arthas that he couldn’t sleep, and asks if it is okay If he sits with him. They watch Ukubo cast lighting on himself. Ukubo collapses on the ground after several more attemps, sitting sadly on the stump.
Arthas and Hallam walk up and talk to Ukubo, who tells them that he is trying to become a tree again, like in his vision. He explains his vision to them, as Breena, in range of message, listens from Elwran’s room. Ukubo tells Arthas and Hallam that they might be brothers, because Arthas is light and Hallam is dark.
Arthas walks off to a hut, as Ukubo goes into the garden to sleep. Hallam sneaks up to Arthas’s tent, but Arthas hears him. He calls out “Ukubo go to sleep” but gets no response, then realizes it is Hallam, as Ukubo would have just barged in. Arthas gets up and as he does, Hallam misty steps to the other side of the hut, and Arthas opens the door, sees nothing, and walks to a different hut. Hallam then walks to another hut, and doesn’t find Arthas. Arthas however, has walked into Varrin’s hut, who asks him to turn out his eyes. Arthas lays down to sleep on his floor, and tells him to keep an eye out. As they fall asleep, Hallam misty steps through the window, and sets the necklace on Arthas’s chest, steps out, and goes to the furthest hut, sleeping while finally not effected by the necklace.
Arthas then enters into a dreamlike state, similar to one of his previous visions, in which there was only darkness. He walks, and sees a faceless shadowy figure in front of him, the same shape as he had seen in his other vision, that replaced his father briefly. The voice says “Arthas.” and he brushes past him, as the figure wisps away, appearing in front of Arthas again. The figure smirks at him, and waits. “What have you been up to, anything good?” Arthas answers, before walking again. As he does, he walks in a park, one that he recognizes from his home, on a cobblestone path. The figure floats in front of Arthas, staying in his vision. “You say you’ve been fighting, what have you been fighting?” Arthas tells him of the orcs and the sand creatures. The figure says “You don’t remember much, do you?” as it smirks once more. The park around him vanishes, as does the figure. He hears in his head “Arthas” echo out, before his mind falls back out of this dreamlike state, into sleep.
Everyone awakens the next morning, meets up, and Arthas gives the necklace back to Hallam, by proxy of Qiriel. They head towards the house. Breena walks downstairs, and finds Cookie drooling heavily, a puddle of it collecting on the floor. She taps him, and he wakes up, mopping the drool up with a rag that he has on him. She begins to prepare breakfast, and everyone begins to eat as Ukubo awakens Melody and Elwran. They walk downstairs, and eat breakfast with everyone, telling them what they remember. Elwran tells them that he remembers that the reason that he did this had to do with the illness in Taernsby, and that he did this to do good and to protect Breena and Melody, though he does not remember fully why. He walks up to Breena and hugs her, telling her that he knows who she is. He says that he will need some time to recover his memory and has to make some preparations before meeting them, in the Nallon Woods, as he feels that is a place of importance.
Elwran, Breena, and Melody hug in a group, and Breena gets a flash of memory, of Elwran and an elvish Melody walking in a park, with a cobblestone path lined with trees, holding the hands of a 3 year old Breena, a gnome. This reminds her of the outline of the fountain in Elwrans garden, and puts together that now, for sure, Elwran and Melody are her parents. She falls in their arms, and tells them that remembers who they are, as they continue to hug. Melody tells her that she had a similar vision.
Elwran apologizes for what he put her through, but says that he knows enough about himself to know that he would not have done what he did without a reason. Breena says that she accepts his apology, and hugs Elwran. He tells them that he doesn’t remember when he left Breena, but he does remember Middlesborough. He tells them they he doesn’t remember anything about the Yeti. Breena asks him to go with them, but he says that he must head in a different direction, and Melody tells them that she is going to stay with him to ensure his safety.
Everyone walks out of the house, Varrin staying with the group, and Cookie staying behind with Melody and Elwran. Breena walks with her friends, and looks back to Elwran and Melody, and Melody blows her a kiss and messages her “We will see you again.”. Breena catches the kiss and says “Can’t wait for that day.” Neesha tears out of the house between Melody and Elwran and climbs Breena’s cloak and sits on her shoulder, purring. They board the ship, after Ukubo takes several flowers from the garden.
They sail to Taernsby in a few hours, Arthas acting as a portable lighthouse, lighting their way through the ocean waters. Qiriel once again, scrapes heavily against the dock near Taernsby, as the group departs the ship and heads into town. They go first, to Ukubo’s tree, where they find the healing drug business is thriving, with several fields of herbs being tended to by the squirrels. Pahumba is working, as he runs up with his cart, along with his wife and baby pig. Breena plays with the baby pig and a toy ball, after the group says hello to Wood-ee, the mimic door that guards Ukubo’s hole, and Pahumbas current home.
The group then proceeds into town and find Lom, building houses for the additional people that have come to the town. Lom reveals to them that he has been working to do good and redeem himself. Ukubo asks if Zen is okay, and Lom leads them to a small gravestone under a small pink-leaved tree behind his house. He tells them that she was happy, and at peace when she passed, and that she loved Taernsby. Ukubo buries the necklace that he bought from her in Mirfeld into the dirt above her grave.
The group then goes to see Dekkar, in the building where Abrahm had previously done his work in. They see Lor at the small lake in town, and they talk to a more sane, happy man than they had met previously. He tells them that he spends his days fishing, and that he hopes to go on a journey in a few months with his sons Lom and Nod, to Ivywood to go fishing. They tell him to wait a few months, and he agrees. Abrahm had left the fate of Isengrim up to the people of Mirfeld, and they all voted to lock him up.
They continue on to see Dekkar, and he knows who they are, giving them some potions as thanks for their help both with the herbs and with Mirfeld. He tells them that Abrahm is in his house, where Arthas reveals he will be in the bath, running out of the store towards his home. He tells Ukubo that he is happy, and reveals that his father was an old fool, and while he cannot fault him for wanting to make his family better, he cannot forgive the method in which he did it. He wants to make the Boulderhill name associated with good.
Arthas kicks in Abrahms door, and the group walks inside. Abrahm hears the sound of yelling, as they see a few children running around the ground floor. He is very happy to see them, and reveals that he adopted the children whose families could not be found. They play with the kites frequently, and they love them. He tells him that Ukubo’s drug business has been doing well, as has Lom, and that the town is using real money now, though they do not charge for the healing. They tell them that Raelis will stay to help Abrahm in the town, and Raelis agrees, happy to repent for his unknowing sins.
The group, with the exception of Ukubo who stays behind to play music with Abrahms children, heads out towards the houses, to drop Raelis off with Lom, and Hallam sees a familiar figure from his hometown of Ramshorn. The figure turns towards him, sees him and does a double take before saying “Hallam Farstrider, as I live and breathe.”
Hallam finds his long time friend, Hirdal Stonebreaker has traveled to Taernsby. They head to Juice's tavern for a drink, where the rest of the party sits at the bar, aside from Ukubo who is still playing music for Abrahm's children. Hirdal tells Hallam that Ramshorn is not the same anymore. Groniz is dead, killed by Elyra, his half elven wife. Hirdal isnt sure what to believe, he doesnt think that Elyra would have done that, and Hallam has similar feelings on the matter. The new head of the council sold the mining contract back to the elves, putting the miners of Ramshorn out of work. There have been riots in the streets, and a curfew implemented by the Peace Bringers. They've kept their word and not killed anyone, but the city simply isnt the same anymore. Hirdal gives Hallam 50 gold, his share of the remainder of the fighting ring that Hallam started. Hirdal kept it going after Hallam's departure, but was shut down by the Peace Bringers when it got too big. He tells Hallam that it is a shame about his fathers passing, and that he always enjoyed working with your father, occasionally dropping gems off to his shop. He tells Hallam that he promoted Zistri to second in command, and that she has started her own thing, but Hirdal wanted to leave, not eagar to get back into that life again.
The others talk with Juice, as he welcomes them back, and tells them how he has partnered with Belnan, both in business and in life. They've adopted Kaspar, the child that Arthas taught some magical skills. They indicate that Kaspar almost burned down the tavern, but he is learning and getting better. After some stiff drinks, the group proceeds into town, meet up with Ukubo, where they speak with Oog in his new shop, Oogsack, a shoe repair store. The group then splits, with Arthas going with Qiriel to the dragon meat salesman, while Breena heads to the graveyard, and Ukubo and Hallam head to speak with Mikathys.
Arthas walks towards the shop, and a small bird flies towards him, with a package. Arthas takes it, and the bird vanishes into a puff of magic. In the package, is a letter from Elwran, confirming that he knows who Arthas is, and that he remembers him being in their mountain home together. He has gifts for them that he found in his posessions, that he had a feeling belongs to each of them. For Arthas, is a set of runes written on a paper, that Elwran can see in his head. Arthas prays to Pelor for guidance, and finally is able to connect with Pelor. He learns that the actions he has taken and things he has done, are all things that Pelor sees as good. He asks Arthas why he hasnt been using his power, that he gave to him, and asks if he remembers the incantation. Arthas tells him no, and Pelor steps out of the vision, writes it down for him on a piece of paper (possibly notebook or printer paper, we can't be sure) before wishing him luck, and ending the prayer.
Arthas is ushered into the shop by the salesman, who locks Qiriel out telling her that they are closed. He gives Arthas a sack of meat for free, in exchange for Arthas' advertising. He then tells him to be careful, because there is a small dragon outside. Breena walks into the graveyard, making some bones dance around. The man from Navalon, whose father Breena had made "come to life", calls out "Mom? MOM? Not again!" before sprinting off. She then collects several skeletons worth of bones and heads back into town.
Ukubo and Hallam proceed to Mikathys' kite shop, where they discuss Firash in Illodel, with Mikathys, his wife, and his daughter Tinkerbell. They all tell him that Firash is a good person, and that he is very kind.
The group meets back up, and Ukubo tells them about a word that Micathys said, "elf fuckers", referring to how tall "those elf fuckers are". Qiriel then takes the group to the soap shop, and makes Ukubo eat soap, trying to teach him about good and bad words. The group goes back to Juice's tavern, while Ukubo and Breena goes back to Ukubo's hole to go to sleep. As they walk back, Arthas steps back, and reads the incantation that Pelor gave to him. He feels a stinging, as his arm changes to become an ashy grey color, matching the color of Pelor's skin, and portions of his hair become a firey red. Stunned, the group proceeds to Juice's tavern.
They talk with Juice and drink, and then walk into the kitchen. Arthas sticks his arm into the oven, finding that it does not burn or hurt. His regular arm still feels the heat. The group then goes to sleep. Everyone awakens the next morning and prepares to leave. They come accross Varrin and Trista, who tells them that they are going to open a magic shop. Ukubo remains oddly quiet. The group leaves Taernsby and heads to the ship. They find out that Ukubo is not talking, because of how his parents treated him, and that he feels embarassed and upset, like he is a monster. The group tries to re-assure him, but he just sadly plays his bongos as the group sails North, towards Vur Dural.
As the party sails north, towards Vur Dural, Qiriel asks Arthas and Hallam to steer the ship. She then talks to Ukubo, re-assuring him that words are magic and that she was only trying to help to teach him, showing him that he has done more good with his words than bad. Ukubo begins to talk again, and says that the soap upset his stomach, and that he made mud. The two of them look out to sea, as Ukubo controls the waters around the boat as Hallam and Arthas fight over the wheel.
They sleep as Breena’s skeletons control the ship, awakening the next morning and docking at the most North Eastern dock on this side of Settandor, a large stone structure sticking far out into the sea. They head north, wrapping around the tall Heaven’s Summit mountain range, towards the Dwarven City. They find their way into the extremely tall forest of trees surrounding the city, that grow slowly, but visibly as they walk. Ukubo climbs up into one of the trees, seeing the far distance. He sees a tree fall, miles off. He begins moving through the trees, towards the fallen one. The party follows below. Ukubo jumps down towards the sound of running water, and the group comes across a light red watered river. Stepping into and drinking some of it, they feel invigorated, and their clothes and armor begin to slowly regenerate.
They proceed further into the woods, Ukubo running ahead of the group, before coming across a child standing between 2 trees, shivering. Ukubo walks towards the boy, picking him up as the boy says “help me”. Ukubo sees a slimy green tendril descending from the boys leg, as 2 orc figures jump from the trees, flanking him. The group runs up to fight, as Ukubo attempts to run with the boy, being knocked down by the two orcs wielding duel short swords. The child runs to Arthas, seeking deep into his mind, causing him to be unable to move. The boy vanishes into the tendril, as a slimy figure appears from it, shaping into an orc with eyes completely filled with a coal black color. The orc stabs into Arthas’s mind, consuming his memories, and deeply weakening him. Qiriel brings Ukubo back, as Hallam smashes the strange slimy orc multiple times, critically wounding him and knocking him to the ground. Ukubo gets back up and buffs his party. Breena and her skeletons decimates one of the orc assassins, as one of the children vanishes into the tendril, before re-appearing as the figure of Arthas’s father, who weakly calls out to Arthas “please… son…. Help me”. The party works together to defeat the foes ahead of them, taking the few items they have on them, and proceeding further north.
Ukubo sees 2 dwarves chopping the tree that had previously been chopped down, and runs towards them tackling one to the ground, before telling them to stop, and hugging the tree. The rest walks up, as the two dwarves see Arthas and yell out “MOUNTAIN BOY, welcome back”. They indicate that Belfir and Magdar have made it back successfully, and that they are waiting inside the walls.
They all proceed inside, and are greeted to a beautiful city made of stone and intricate wood carvings. They proceed deep into a tunnel into the mountain, where they step behind a false wall into a large cavern, where “The Dragon’s Hoard Inn” sits atop a rock. They enter, and find a Young Copper Dragon named Ningal behind the bar, which dips down into a large hole below where he prepares food and drink. Ukubo immediately jumps into the hole, and befriends the dragon, despite his fear of the large “tur tal”.
The party eats and drinks and celebrates their successful journey with the patrons of the tavern, as Ukubo learns some simple cooking skills from Ningal and assists him for the evening. Kimli, the dwarf who had brought them into the city, helps them to their room, and they fall onto the beds to sleep. Ukubo proceeds to Ningal’s hoard, where he puts on his pajamas and sleeps on the edge of the very large bed. Ningal puts on his nightcap, and joins Ukubo. Before the rest of the party sleeps, Hallam removes his necklace and sets it on Arthas’s chest. As Arthas drifts off, in his drunken stupor, he awakens, sitting up and looking around into a completely dark place filled with white and grey smoke sifting around him. He hears the name “Arthas” first starting high pitched and fast, and slowly descending down to a low rumble that echoes into the space around him. Two large orange blinking eyes, that look like Arthas’s, stare down from the space above, slowly blinking.
Arthas awakens suddenly, and finds himself sitting in a completely dark, void space, filled with grey and white whispy smoke. As he puts his hands to the ground of visual nothingness next to him, he finds that it appears to be made of sand, yet the sand appears dark and void of color or visuals. He sees above him, the 2 large blinking orange eyes, and far in the distance, a small pinhole of light. He stands and walks towards it, as the eyes remain in the "sky" above him, watching. The light gets larger as he approaches, and he finds a whispy, crackling portal, to the park in his home, that he had seen in his visions. He puts his head through, and sees clearly the park around him, with no eyes in the sky. He steps through and begins to walk. As he does, he hears the cackling laugh of a child, whipping his head back and forth to find the source, he sees nothing. The ground collapses below him as he walks, as he falls back to avoid the hole. Reaching in, he cannot feel the bottom, and can only see the void nothingness below the pathway. He leaps across and continues to walk, as a tree turns, as if following his gaze. As he turns towards it, he sees the face of Ukubo embedded in the tree, staring back at him. He tries to burn the tree, but only smoke comes from his hands, and Ukubo laughs "HA HA". Arthas continues to walk, and another tree finds his gaze, and he turns and sees Hallam's face staring back, in this tree. As Arthas swings his blade towards it, the tree teleports next to him "BITCH". Arthas swings, coming in contact with the tree, and his sword bounces off it, as if it were a toy, squeaking loudly. Arthas turns and swiftly walks away, and feels a tug at his cape, he instinctively punches out in its direction, and hears the cry of a child. He turns, and sees a younger Arthas, his eyes golden in the iris and otherwise looking normally. The child runs, and Arthas chases after, turning a corner around a building and finding nothing. The world simply ends, extending to this void once more. Arthas turns and runs back towards the source of the laughter, and with a blink is back in the dark void. He awakens, sweating, finding Hallam's necklace sitting on his chest. He breaks the chain, and throws the gem, leaving the room to get some air. He walks to the surface, sitting for an hour, watching the sleepy town of Vur Dural go about its nighttime business. He heads back inside, shaking Hallam awake, as they argue over why Hallam did this, and saying that no one spoke to him. He hands Hallam the gem, and they both return to sleep.
Everyone awakens the next morning, Ukubo and Ningal proceeding to the tavern to prepare breakfast for the patrons, and the rest readying themselves and heading downstairs. Ukubo tells them that the tavern is his now, and Ningal confirms, playing along. They eat and chat, before heading with Kimli to the Hall of Oakhelm, to the Vault. Waiting there, are Magdar and Belfir. Belfir greets them, and hugs Arthas, saying he is happy that they are alright. Kimli and Belfir pull two torches on the sides of the room, as the large stone table in the center swings up, revealing a staircase below. They walk down, and are greeted by a large chamber with a massive stone door at the far end. They proceed to it, and Kimli inserts the key that Belfir and Magdar had brought back, as liquid silver flows from the ceiling, tracing the dwarven runes inscribed on the door, all the way to the bottom where it flows somewhere below. As it hardens, the door swings open with a large thud and scraping of stone. Inside, are racks and racks of old dwarven armor, weapons, and various other items. In the center, is a large platform where a silver and brass egg sits floating in a blue beam of light. Kimli retrieves it, and they all see a small yeti floating in a blue liquid.
Kimli tells them to release it, pull the pin and throw it. To put the yeti back in, press the button on its base. He removes the pin and rolls it, as a large yeti appears towering over the room, breathing loudly and looking down at them. Ukubo climbs its arm and sits on its shoulder, talking to it in giant. It answers slowly and deliberately, introducing itself as Bardock. It tells Ukubo that the dwarves are friends, and that he is ready to fight once again. Ukubo rides down on his hand, and Bardock is pulled back into the egg to sleep once more. The group searches and finds several helpful items for themselves, before heading out into the town before the evening feast and meeting with Ufrok.
They proceed to the center of town to a ring of stores, where they find a curious dwarf that runs between all of them, pretending as though he is a different person each time. He binks and bonks their items, upgrading them, as well as selling them several more items of value. They then proceed to the hall once more, where they find Ufrok waiting. He tells them that while he does with for vengence for his fathers death, he is more of the mindset that his grandfather held, that true war leads to nothing good. Ufrok wishes simply for the group to travel to the mountains, remove the leadership of orcs, and instill new ones that would work with the dwarves to finally have peace between their kind.
Ukubo tells Ufrok that tonight should be a pajama party, and he agrees. The group proceeds back to the inn, changes, deciding to check and see if any of the dwarves have green eyes in the crook of their arms, just like Hallam. They go back to the Hall, and feast with Ufrok and the rest of the dwarves, chatting and enjoying the offerings. None of the dwarves appear to have this eye on their arms, which was easier to check given that they were all in fact, wearing pajamas. Ufrok thanks them, and tells them to meet Kimli by the front gate early tomorrow morning, before the sun rises, and the town awakens, as he wishes to keep their mission a secret from his people that he had worked so hard to change their opinions of, and make Vur Dural known for more than war and power.
The party proceeds to the inn, Hallam handing Ukubo the gem as he heads back to Ningal's sleep hole. The rest head to the room, where they sleep, Hallam humming the "mountain boy" song, and Arthas kneeling to pray once more to Pelor, before he rests.
Arthas prays to Pelor, and fades once again into that familiar space, of pure void darkness, and feels the warmth of the sun, but does not see anything. He hears footsteps, and suddenly a figure walks into view, holding a sandwich and chips on a plate. It's Pelor, and he stops as he sees Arthas, and says "Uhhh, Sun, Sunborn! Is everything alright are you fine? Do you need guidance once more?" He hides the sandwich behind his back, his stomach sticking slightly out. He comments on Arthas's arm looking an ashy gray, and is pleased that Arthas used his power. Arthas mentions that he doesnt match, and just holds his arms up looking mildly distressed. Pelor comments "Yeah uhh, its fucked man I dont know. I've uh, given you my power so thats the, uh, result of channeling the divine energy." Arthas asks if there is a way that he could match, and Pelor comments that he would not be able to handle the divine energy, and one arm is all that he needs. Arthas then asks for his sandwich, and after a back and forth, Pelor slides his sandwich and chips to Arthas. Arthas asks once more if there is any way he could match, and Pelor says that he could burn Arthas' arm to match, visually, but otherwise no. Arthas tells him no thank you, and removes himself from the prayer.
Arthas finishes his meal as Hallam sits listening to Arthas crunching muttering "fuckin mountain boy" under his breath. Ukubo falls to sleep, and has a pleasant vision of a large meadow filled with flowers, and an extremely large tree in the center, surrounded by mountains. The tree has a face, and reveals itself to be the tree father (tree daddy) Sylvanas. He tells Ukubo that he has been doing very good work in the world, making it a better place. Ukubo asks where he gets his mouth powers from, and Sylvanas tells him that he is not sure, but it is not from his domain. Ukubo walks back into the meadow, and with a bright flash of light, is back asleep.
They all sleep and are awoken the next morning by a knock at the door. A dwarf they do not recognize tells them that it is time to go, and that Kimli is waiting for them by the gates. Another fetches Ukubo, and they leave and head towards the front of town. Arthas stops as he sees Grimdar opening up one of his shops, and runs over to get some final item upgrades from him. They head down to the gate, and find Kimli and Belfir waiting for them. They get onto the cart, with Breena's skeletons having their own cart. Grimdar walks to the gate, and begins pushing the cart towards the mountains. They eat and drink, chatting with the dwarves, playing music as they travel for the 2 days that it takes to make their way there. As the sun rises on the morning of the 3rd day, they reach the foot of the mountains, and begin the few hour ascent up. They discuss their plan to take out the leaders of the 7 tribes, aside from Ugash of the Craghand tribe, and replace them with new leaders that will make peace among their two races.
As they ascend, they prepare for battle, and as they reach the summit, they are greeted with a large flat space with a small creek running through it, and a hill at the back. They see several orcs flanking Nargol on the hill, awaiting their arrival, and at the far back, 2 glowing cubes behind 4 chained Firbolgs; Ukubo's parents, Wynalla, and one of the other elders. They jump into battle, Kimli quicking running towards two of the orcs off to the one side, as another orc charges across the creek towards the party, smashing Ukubo with his large battle axe. The firbolgs at the back heal the war chieftan, as Ukubo hurls the yeti bomb containing Bardock across the river towards Nargol and 2 of the orcs. Ukubo also makes a spiritual weapon, and casts lightning on one of the cubes, watching as it begins to lightly smoke. Breena makes a ball of fire and hurls it towards 2 of the orcs, striking them. Hallam runs up and smashes his warhammer into the war chieftan, wrapping him in its chains, and then beating him with his second weapon heavily. Arthas steps into the air, crashing down onto the chieftain, slashing him deeply with his blade. In the back, Bardock slaps at Nargol and one of the orcs as they move past him, hitting them both. One of the orcs runs up to the group and throws a crystal at the ground, as darkness spews out from it. Nargol dives into battle smacking Hallam with her greatsword heavily, before being countered by Hallam as she leaves her guard down. Belfir charges into the darkness swinging wildly, catching one of the orcs with his hammer. Qiriel dispels the magical darkness, as the skeletons hurl arrows down on one of the two orcs fighting Kimli, killing it instantly, as the orc corpse floats above the ground on the arrows.
The battle rages on as Bardock freezes one of the orcs completely solid in ice. Ukubo breaks one of the orbs in the back as the party fights with these orcs. The firbolgs continue to heal these orcs, as the skeletons destroy another orc. Nargol steps back out of Qiriels cloud of daggers, teleporting 60 feet, before hitting the party with an extremely large cone of icy wind. The orcs fall one by one until only Nargol is left. Some of the party is badly wounded, but are still all standing. Nargol is disarmed by Hallam and Arthas, as they slash into her together with their weapons. She steps back once more, casting a large blast of purple energy towards them. Ukubo smashes the final cube, as the Firbolgs call out to Ukubo, healing him. As Nargol turns to flee further up the mountain, Bardock roars an icy breath in her face, as she is frozen completely solid, bringing a single claw towards her as she flies backwards sliding against the side of the hill.
The group dusts themselves off and heals up, as Ugash makes his way to the Firbolgs, freeing them. They make their way to Ukubo, who is chatting with Bardock, healing him, before he goes back into the ball to sleep. Ukubo's parents attempt to speak to him, and while they convey some level of sadness and being sorry, they are unable to gather the words together to truly tell him how they feel. Ukubo walks away from them, as they call out, and he looks back "No. Monster." pointing to himself. He speaks with Wynalla, who looks healthy and fine, with no visual markings of any injury caused by Ukubo from when he was a child. They speak about how Ukubo was a tree, as he makes 45 lbs of blueberries to make her understand. He also gives her Ipihko, who hands from her finger upside down. They embrace, and happily reconcile as Ukubo says his classic "Goobye" and walks away from her. Ugash thanks Ukubo, and Ukubo gives him his pajamas, which he promptly puts on over his clothing. Arthas feeds the firbolgs, and his friends, as Ukubo's mother and father tell Arthas to please tell Ukubo that they are sorry, and that if he ever does want to come home, they will be there.
They hug Kimli and Belfir, who thank them profusely for their help with all they have done. The party makes their way back down the mountain to camp for the night by the cart, under which Grimdar sleeps. The skeletons and Sir Bearington guard the group, as they sit around a campfire to talk about what they have been through today.
The party chats by the fireside, and rests, before heading down towards the Nallon Woods. As they approach, they see a thick forest of very dark brown barked trees, that have turned a pale sickly color. The bark looks almost lifeless and dead, as if the life had been drained out of it. The branches weep down to the ground, with small blue glowing fuzzy leaves. They walk through and the trees get sicker towards its center. They find Elwran, Melody, and Cookie, and Elwran leads them further into the woods to a small clearing. Inside they see 3 large rocks at the outer edges forming a triangle that sits inside of a large circle of stones. The circle is connected at the center with 3 lines of stones. Sitting at the direct center, is a small garden with a fence made of branches. A hole at the center looks like a tree might have grown there in the past. The edges are lined with torches that once contained a flame, long long ago.
Elwran tells them the following (these are in note format as I wrote them) -
Long ago, the world on the prime material plane was destroyed. The gods argued over how to handle what had happened in the world they had created, as it had descended into war between the races, and the gods ended up in war between themselves. After this, the gods pledged that once they created a world that was self-sustaining, they would no longer interfere, and would let the world play out, for the good of the plane. They needed to design the optimal world, and terraform large areas of land in a short time. And so, they created Hector Sunborn. The gods created him to act as a conduit for the gods to speak with the elementals on the elemental planes of existence. Hector is the architect of worlds.
Hector spoke with the elementals, and made a deal between them and the gods, to breed human-elemental hybrids that would assist in the terraforming of the worlds for the gods, in exchange for immortality. The gods created humans and other races, which were bred with the elementals, to form these hybrids, called Genasi, which were then rapidly aged by the gods. The Genasi used their draw to the elemental planes in order to terraform land masses in the prime material plane, in order to test which combination of races and motivations would lead to peace between the races, without being mindless husks. They needed to truly live.
And so, they created the first world, Yestandor, the ground on which, you now stand. Their task, this creation of a successful world, would not be an easy one. Despite the godly influence, these races did things that the gods did not expect, things that they could not account for.
Hector asked for an assistant, as designing all of these worlds was not easy, and he could not keep an eye on them all. Someone that would be able blend into any area of any world, in order to assist the races in becoming comfortable in that world, and settle in. That assistant was Elwran. They called what Elwran is, a Changekin.
Few were made by the gods, and the Changekin could alter their race and any details of who they were. If they bred as one of these races, their offspring would be that race. For all intents and purposes, they became that race. And so the process continued, the worlds being created, the races put into the worlds, given memories of entire lives that they had not led, relatives that didn’t exist, in order to fabricate life without the need to let it play out over thousands of years per attempt. However, one by one, these worlds kept destroying themselves. The races would fight, amongst themselves, amongst each other. Even when they had been given divine instruction, and memories that supported peace, they would end up devolving and not advancing, as they had no desire to do anything that might affect any of the other races negatively. This led to a stall. The worlds either warred, did nothing, or slipped their divine instruction, and would fall back to the traits of which they were created, and live, until they destroyed themselves.
The Genasi worked with Hector and Elwran, channeling the power of the gods to create new races, making a deal with the devils of the 9 Hells, to create offspring with some of the other races, called Tieflings. They altered some of these tieflings beings with arcane energy, designing the other monsterous races, giving the “good” races something to band together to fight against, so that at least peace would be amongst them. This too, failed. At first, the monsterous races were too strong, destroying some of the other races easily. The gods would then step in, taking back those that were alive, and reprogramming their memories, placing them into a new world. Several of them had gone through several cycles over the course of their lifetime, never truly having a life of their own. Then the monsterous races were too weak, and led to a power struggle between the good races upon the death of the monsterous ones. There was no balance, nothing that worked and kept the world alive for long enough to matter.
The gods, after thousands of years of failed attempts, decided that they would each try one last time to create a continent that was self-sustaining, before abandoning their attempts, and creating one final world, regardless of success or not. They each chose an architect, and created their worlds, Elwran jumping from world to world with his partner, another Changekin named Melody (who was created by Istus and Chronos) to ensure they were set up as well as they possibly could be, the cubes acting as a “world timer”, keeping track of how long each world was in place, as well as acting as a guide for powering the orbs, which controlled the weather across the land. Each lands weather would be different, depending on the gods request, to see which combination of weather patterns would yield the best result. The lightning tree acted as a beacon, as did the other 2 extremely tall trees across the land mass, broadcasting the weather patterns that would affect each land. The orbs also controlled the oceans surrounding the land, ensuring that no one was able to leave and get to a different land. Each world was contained, its own divine experiment.
One by one, the worlds continued to fail. The last world that Elwran tested, Aldor, was the first world that he assimilated into after falling in love with Melody. They had a job to do, and he could not be with her. (This is why he looked sad in the picture). He had left countless family after family behind, as their worlds failed and their memories were reset. I could forget them, and they didn’t remember me, but I could not forget Melody. After they returned from Aldor, he told Melody of his feelings, and she confessed that she felt the same. When they had returned, they discovered that Hector had fallen in love with one of the humans from Aldor, and had married her, bringing her and her young son, your step-brother, Hallam, back to their floating home in the celestial plane.
Years went by, with Hector working with the other gods to finalize their worlds, and having a second son, Arthas, his first natural born.
Pelor approached Hector and Elwran, wanting to attempt once more in secret, due to his worlds very quick failure. Hector did not originally agree, but was eventually worn down, wanting to show Hallam the ropes behind the creation of worlds. They used the abandoned remnants of the first world, Yestandor, and spent a few years creating The Allsight Group, under Hector’s leadership and Pelor’s guidance.
Hallam and a young Arthas worked with Hector, to prepare for the terraforming of Yestandor in secret. After years of planning, the world was ready. Hector, Hallam, and Arthas went down to the land mass to make final preparations, and see their designs become reality. During their final look, there was an accident. An explosion of arcane energy, resulting from the new terraforming over some older relics of Yestandor.
In the explosion, Arthas, you watched your brother die, ripped apart by the blast. You watched as your older brother vanished in front of him. Arthas and Hector returned home, and ended the project, refusing to work with Pelor any longer.
Unknown to Elwran and Hector, Pelor continued to prepare, inserting some simple memories into those that he could smuggle out of the “warehouse”, to place into the world. Years passed, as Hector worked on other projects, never speaking about The Allsight Group again.
Arthas, studied with Elwran, and worked on the charging of magical crystals, as well as experiments with the Genasi. The Genasi did experiments on the dragons from the draconic plane, bringing several to the material plane, and attempting to make humanoid versions with draconic traits, hence Dragon-kin which Qiriel is. (Ping and Pong were failed attempts. They were not goblins, they were very small, flat faced dragon-kin).
Arthas’s partner in these studies, Alaion, became sort of a friendly rival, the two of them attempting to best each other at every turn. And then the time came, the event that would set in motion things that
would change both your life and my own, unknowingly. The time for a new Architect to be chosen to join the ranks of the gods and the Genasi, to design worlds. Arthas was chosen over Alaion, and Alaion grew angry and jealous.
Now, in the process of becoming an Architect, you are given an assistant. However, in order to protect the sanctity of the life you are stepping into, there can only be one. Your soul was split in two, and put into the body of a Changekin, their power stripped from them. The Architect chooses the life in which the Changekin should mirror, and the memories of that soul are implanted in its body. Arthas, chose for his to look like his brother whom he loved so dearly and looked up to, Hallam.
Elwran and Melody, seeing the happiness of Arthas and Hector together, decided to have a child. They did, and Breena came into the world. She was raised until the age of 4 in the celestial plane, when the time came for Elwran and Melody to go to work. Not wanting to leave Breena alone, and not wanting her to be unsafe, put her into stasis, waiting until they day they would bring her to Settandor with them once it was set up, no longer raising a family separately, finally raising a family of their own, together.
A year passed, and Alaion came to Arthas and Elwran, now 18, and told him about a discovery he had made. By killing one of the Genasi, he charged their life force into the gems, allowing for much more powerful arcane energy within it. Arthas was horrified, seeing how the gem crackled with energy, reminding him of the explosion that killed his brother. He threatened to tell Hector what Alaion had done, and Alaion attacked him. During their fight, Alaion was wounded, and in with his last bit of strength, cracked the gem and directed it towards Arthas, the arcane blast knocking him back, out of the building, far into the mountain. Alaion escaped, fleeing. I returned with help, to find him missing, and you, blasted far from the building. Arthas was taken to the medical center, and though they could repair his body, they could not repair his fractured mind. Hector, asked that Arthas be put into stasis, until a time where his memory would rebuild itself. He was still grieving your loss when we came down to Settandor, and do not know what has come of him.
As this world grew and changed, Breena was brough out of stasis, and they raised her in a small cabin north, outside of Vur Dural, away from the bustle of the big world, occasionally changing form, and taking her to towns to check on everything, as was required.
Elwran, during one of these checks, discovered what had happened in the Nallon Woods, and went to speak alone, with Virion, head enchanter when he had been in Vanwai.
He went to Ramshorn and planned to meet with him, and watched in secret, horrified, as Virion killed a man, draining his life force into a gem. He realized, that Virion was Alaion, who had escaped. Elwran, wanting to stop him, returned home, deciding to ensure that Breena and Melody could not be used against him, in his attempts to stop them, and keep them out of harms way.
He wiped their memories, storing them in the two halves of Melody’s moon necklace, warding them against other arcana to protect them, and building them separate lives, in a small forest called the Laughing Wood.
Working quickly, he slightly altered the memories of Breena’s family, and those within the town to include Melody and Breena into them. He then found an old gnome without a family, Cookie, and altered his memory to ensure that when the time came, he would protect Melody, or warn her of danger.
He imbued impressive cooking skills into him, ensuring that he would be able to get a job in the nearby Norbury, keeping a watchful eye on those in power within the city. He then went to Taernsby to attempt to heal others, and grow his powers in order to stop Virion. When the plague swept through, he realized that he could not stop Virion.
He had failed his wife, his daughter, and now this small town. In his grief, he exiled himself to Airen Rock, writing himself a new life, preparing to overwrite his memories, believing his wife and daughter to be better off without him.
He decided to give himself an out. He contained his consciousness and memories into a small piece of wood, and altered his replacement life to be a teacher, gathering those that wished to learned about the arcane, so that one day he may call on them for aid in the potential fight against Virion.
If his memories were never returned, by way of the totem, so be it, as it was meant to be. He placed his totem, in the once place he knew Virion would never return to, the Nallon Woods.
The stones on the ground, transported him to Airen Rock as soon as the memory ritual was complete, and his new life began.
Years passed, and a small Firbolg unknowingly picked up this totem, becoming a tree for 5 years. His unknowing connection to Virion’s dark magics and horrible experiments that took place in the woods, would have killed him, based on a ward placed by Elwran to keep the totem safe.
However, Ukubos connection to nature, and to Sylvanas, having been born in part by the power of Sylvanas, warded Ukubo against this, and instead turned him into a tree, while this ward placed by Elwran, expired. With a strike of lightning, Ukubo was returned to his Firbolg form.
This explains why the world is the way it is, and what has happened. Several portals appear, and all of the children that Elwran has trained, step through. Several more open, and all of the friends of the party that they have met on their journey, stepped through a portal to greet them, and wish them well, and thank them for what they have done. Elwran then makes a larger portal, and everyone steps in, being transported north towards Ramshorn and Illodel. Before leaving, Ukubo grabs Hallam's gem, that they had buried in the woods, and pockets it. He steps into the portal.
The party steps through Elwran's portal and find themselves standing at the edge of Ramshorn. However, this is not the Ramshorn that Hallam recognizes from his memories. The city physically looks the same, though the outside is surrounded with sharp shards of rocky earth jutting out of the ground, blocking entrance and exit from the city. The group prepares, all of them disguising themselves as Arthas, at Ukubo's suggestion, in order to confusion Virion. Ukubo pulls out Hallam's gem and says "Hello. It me, Arthas." Virion speaks into Ukubo's head, indicating that he knows it is not Arthas, but for them to come inside all the same. Virion lowers a fragment of the rock and the group enters the city, all disguised as Arthas. It appears to be abandoned, people missing, things dropped on the ground, as if they had simply vanished. There is no blood or signs of a struggle, everyone is just gone. They proceed until they find something they recognize, a building labeled "The Greybranch Shipping Company". They enter, and find a large open space with a wooden floor, the back half of the room exposed to a small river. The room is filled with crates and barrels, several tables, as well as a grizzly looking table with shackles and crystal tubes that connect to a brass clasp that looks like it holds a gem. They hear a clapping, as Virion walks into the room on the platform above them, giving his villanous monologue, telling Arthas that he no longer needs him, and that he doesnt need to be an architect to split his soul. He tells them that they may be 5 strong, but so is he. He raises his arms, and they see that he has gems embedded into his skin, as he splits into 5 copies of himself, all a different elemental color matching the gems on his body.
The fight begins, with the group handily taking out several of these elemental soul fragments of Virion, as well as holding him steady, blinding him, silencing him, and knocking him to the ground. As Arthas and Hallam smash into him together, the last elemental soul fragment is destroyed. While Virion's fragments did pump out some damage, their numbers proved too powerful for him, all of the party pulling their weight in stopping him. As the last fragment is destroyed, Virion's arms and legs return to the elemental color in which they started, and he begins to glow and smoke, screaming soundlessly as the silence spell stops his voice. His body smokes and explodes as Arthas and Hallam are pushed back from the blow. Standing in front of them, where Virion was, is a hulking elemental beast made of up rocks, ice, heavy wind, and fire. Arthas is immediately smashed by this icy hand, its cold claws digging into him. The group continues to smash this hulking figure, and though they are wounded, they too take this beast out together, the final blow coming from several of the party members together, as Breena's skeletons unleash a flurry of arrows. Arthas and Hallam are blown back as the figure explodes in an elemental blast, damaging the room.
Everyone stands, alive and alright. Arthas walks up the stairs and finds the figure of Virion coughing silently, unable to speak or make sound. He looks to Arthas, pain and hatred in his eyes, as Arthas raises his greatsword. Virion tilts his head back, closes his eyes, and accepts his fate as Arthas swings the blade down, sending Virion's head tumbling down the stairs. Ukubo destroys the strange horrible table, and everyone hugs and celebrates their victory.
They proceed through another portal, heading back to the base of the mountain in the spot in which Arthas woke up. Elwran leads them into a crack in the mountain, to a door. Next to this door, are spots for the party to insert their hands, the shape matching, except Ukubo who shoves his face into it. The door cracks open, and the party walks into this glowing white portal. Arthas steps through first, and then pulls Qiriel through attempting to scare her.
They walk through and find a beautiful mountainous space, seemingly on top of the mountain, the small town down a path below them glowing with white shimmering light. Walking towards them are the figures of Pelor and Hector, as well as a second, smaller, "bootleg" looking Pelor. Hector explains to Arthas that Pelor sent him down in secret, filling his mind with false memories and goals, after Istus and Chronos, creator of the Changekin Melody, discovered what he was doing and demanded that she be brough back. Pelor also tells Arthas sheepishly that he severed his connection to the celestial plane, and replaced it with his own, and hired a changekin actor to play his part, so that Arthas would not explode from channeling his full power or discover what Pelor had done.
Istus and Chronos walk up and berate Pelor once more for being a mindless fool, whose mistakes almost cost them the life of their "daughter". Breena excited yells "DOES THAT MEAN IM GODS GRANDAUGHTER?!" Istus tells her that technically, yes, and creates Breena a sparkling white dress that matches that of Istus, at her request. Ukubo jumps into Sylvanas' arms, and speaks with him about all that has happened. He asks to no longer be a Firbolg, and is told that he cannot do that, but he can fix his voice. He pulls a potion from his side, and Ukubo drinks it, finally able to speak for the first time, without fear of harming anyone, or himself. Istus tells the group that in her scrying of the fates, discovered something that would threaten all of the planes. A man on Aldor would create a plague, and they needed to stop him without directly influencing the events on the material plane. And so they did, and they stopped him successfully by creating another life, putting it in the path of this first man, changing the course of events. The fates revealed no further threats, the fates did not reveal Virion.
Istus reveals that the group of them, are mortal beings, and that they are special for that reason. What they did, in stopping Virion, was not destiny nor was it fate. It was a result of their bonded actions and powers that ensured their victory. Nothing that the gods did, or could do, was able to affect the outcome. Their lives exist beyond fate and beyond time, and they are given the choice of how to live their lives going forward.
Istus asks them all, what would they like their lives to be?
The group stands in front of Istus and Chronos, as Istus asks for their final choices, their requests of what they want their futures to be. Breena says that she loves them all, but needs to go with Elwran and Melody to be with them, and live the childhood that she missed out on. The 3 of them walk into a glowing portal behind them, transforming into their younger selves, Breena a young gnome, Melody and Elwran their gnomish and elvish forms, and walk into the park that Breena had seen in her memories, and vanish from sight.
Ukubo asks to be a tree, filled with fruits and healing leaves, so that he may spend the rest of his days helping others and healing everyone that comes in contact with his tree, the largest in Settandor.
Qiriel asks to travel, but realizes she cannot visit the other worlds safely. Istus and Chronos give her glasses that allow her to look into the other worlds, and alternate times, so that she may sing and tell stories of what she sees. She also wants to help her parents set up a shop, and figure out the mystery of Penketh.
Hallam & Arthas ask to retrieve Hallam's soul, so that the two of them may become whole once more.
The group requests that Settandor and the other worlds are made whole, and that request is granted. The group steps into the portal behind them, and falls through a dark and starry tunnel, before falling far above Settandor, hurdling towards the ground. As they hit the ground, their vision blacks out, and they complete their tasks that they set out to do, as requested.
Time skips forward one year, and the group finds themselves in the newly established town of Northwyn, where the Mountain Boiiz Tavern resides, run by Hallam and Arthas, their souls both restored to full after making their way through the Soul Vault to retrieve Hallams. In the tavern, Qiriel plays her music and sings her songs of the stories that she has seen with her glasses given to her by Istus and Chronos. Her parents have a shop in the town, and seem happy. Juice visits, and trolls Arthas one last time, searching for his favorite cup to clean it, as he chases Arthas upstairs to try and find it. He asks what the deal with the giant tree in town is, and the group of them walk outside to see their good friend Ukubo's tree.
Pahumba walks around the side of the tree with his family, as children laugh and play in the town. They see Abrahm, who joined them, playing with his family. Juice asks, where is Ukubo, that he misses him. For the first time in a year, they hear a familar voice. HELLO! as Ukubo's face pops out of the tree, followed by his Ukubo feet and legs. The group jumps, and Arthas drags Ukubo out of the tree. They ask him if he could always do this, and he says yes, but no one asked him before. He is covered head to toe, his skin fragmented with bark and leaves. They all laugh and cherish the memories of their time they had together, and begin walking back towards the tavern for a drink and a song.
As they enter the open doors, for the first time, they feel whole, they feel at peace, and they feel at home.
Thank you all so incredibly much for watching along for my first campaign as a DM. Truly an insane experience that I will never forget, the stories and memories that the players and I made together.
To the players:
Jon - Thank you for allowing me the freedom to shape Ukubo's backstory into the world in a satisfying way, to give me room to focus on the stories of others as you found your own way around my world. Thank you for always playing Ukubo to the best of your ability, and coming up with creative ways to solve problems despite Ukubo's lack of an education or social graces. Thank you for always challenging me to improve, and for asking questions that few others would ask, making me be on my toes at every turn, and making sure I felt comfortable with what I was doing. Purely, simply, thank you.
Kelsey - Thank you for always working with me to make sure Breena was happy, for scaring the absolute hell out of several of my townsfolk, for causing a zombie scare in my towns, and for creating an army of skeletons that the world will not soon forget. Breena and her bone bois will never be forgotten. Thank you for always being happy and interested in the story, for going out of your way to try and solve things in a way that only Breena could. Thank you for being my moon child to Elwran and Melody, whose lives are better because your character was in it. Thank you for always yelling at me before the start of every episode and forcing me to not laugh my ass off as I attempted to start the stream.
Paul - Thank you for falling directly into my trap as I hoped when I built the world. Thank you for making Arthas memorable, doing so much good, and simultaneously consuming all of the bacon the world has to offer. Thank you for being honest with me and working with me to adjust the story when you weren't as happy as you could have been, and for helping me to grow as a DM as a result. Your honesty and your request for change, made the ending to my story better. Thank you for always playing your characters honestly and true, and for being the Yin to my Yang, the Arthas to my Juice.
Sarah - Thank you for always being the mom to the players, and keeping my campaign on track, despite every attempt for them to run the train off the rails and into the woods. Thank you for letting Qiriel grow and change as the story progressed, and for always listening to my late night concerns about things I had done in the campaign, and assuring me that I wasn't messing up. Thank you for always being honest and true, and for playing your character the way that only you know how to. Thank you for trying out a new class, and stepping outside of your comfort zone as I bamboozled you with my various wild and wacky characters. Thank you for giving me the wonderfully crucial Elwran, and the plot line that started this campaign on its way. Thank you for everything you are and everything you do for me. I love you.
Lawrence - Thank you for jumping in over half way through, and bringing in the other half of my mountain boiiz duo. Thank you for allowing me the ability to shape your backstory into my world, and for truly making the story more cohesive and stronger as a result of your additions. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to take a fairly unknown BBG, and turn him into the voice inside your head, and make him into one badass individual. Thank you for always finding something for Hallam to latch onto, and to find important, and finding ways to make yourself a part of things that you had missed out on, so fluidly and perfectly. Your flexiblity, and RP truly brought the group together, and you filled in so perfectly with our party. I look forward to telling more stories together, and to DMing this next campaign together from the starting line.
To chat and our other listeners - Thank you so incredibly much so everything you do, for supporting us and me as a DM, for listening to my horrible voices and wild ass characters. Thank you for laughing at my terrible jokes, and crying at my tragic stories. Your reactions, your laughs, your tears, your happiness, truly makes the work we do completely worth it. Thank you so much for everything, here's to the next one. I love you all.