RealmsToowoomba Recap # 72 [RPG]

[20 Flamerule 1372 continued]

In their room, Mellia and Cain discuss Gideon’s offer to accompany them to Startop Mountain.  The two agree that Gideon and the other members of the Oracle’s Circle are not prepared for the dangers they would face.  They decide instead that Gideon should be asked to prepare a safe place for Allia once she’s rescued.  As a response to Mellia’s earlier comment that she might take up a vocation as a priestess of Kossuth some day, Cain gifts her with the ability to cast some minor healing magicks.

[21 Flamerule 1372]

In the morning, Mellia casts her usual protective ward to detect if anyone is scrying on her.  Minutes later, she detects the fact that a dark figure far to the east is watching her.  Realizing that it’s Allia’s kidnapper, Mellia has a fake conversation with Cain about how close they are to finding the Crown of Horns.  When the scrying is concluded, Mellia and Cain go downstairs and find Gideon, Liliath, and Procul prepared to depart.  Gideon is surprised to hear the request to improve the defences of the Oracle’s Circle for Allia’s return, but says that, although he’s not an abjurer, he’ll do his best.  The newcomers then depart via teleportation scroll.

After breakfast, Rufus leads everyone to his campsite outside of the village, where a small field of pipeweed plants have suddenly sprung up.  Mellia reiterates the plan to travel to Nesme and destroy an evil cult of the Frostmaiden there.  Rufus offers to volunteer as the group’s advance scout, and mentions confidently that he could destroy the entire city if necessary.  Mellia encourages him to only perform a reconnaissance, and he says he’ll return by evening.  After casting a spell, he and his dog, Sheila, step into a nearby silverbark tree and disappear.

Rufus and Sheila emerge from another silverbark into lightly-forested plains several miles west of Nesme.  The pair walk east until Rufus sees the River Surbrin and establishes a secluded campsite in a nearby thicket of trees.  After transforming himself into a raven, Rufus then flies towards Nesme.  A great deal of activity is clearly going on.  The city’s fortress on the western bank of the Surbrin, which had been largely destroyed in the past by repeated attacks by trolls, hill giants, and other monsters of the Evermoors is being rebuilt with large blocks of stone moved towards the city on long ramps of ice!  The damaged walls of the city itself are also being rebuilt, although for now they’re buttressed by the melting remnants of the dome of ice that recently shielded the city from a siege of undead.  A new bridge, made of ice, connects the western fortress to the city, and several patrols of the Riders of Nesme, clerics of Auril, strange armoured bears, and winter wolves can be spotted throughout the city.

After a careful sweep to identify the city’s strengths and weaknesses, Rufus then follows some of the clerics of Auril (dressed largely in blue and white with snowflake insignia) back to what could be their main temple: a squat stone tower to which a tall spire is being added.  Without hesitation, and still in the form of a raven, Rufus circles the tower and then calls upon his powers over nature to control the very wind itself and form a tornado!  The tornado rampages through the blocks around the temple, killing pedestrians, destroying wooden homes and businesses, and causing general chaos. 

The fortified stone temple itself resists the incredibly strong winds, and within seconds a priestess of the Frostmaiden manages to dispel Rufus’ feat.  Defenders pour out of the temple—clerics, elite guards, and armored bears to find and confront their attacker.  Seeing a lone raven circling the tower after the tornado, and suspecting it is a spy or a shapechanged attacker, one of the clerics orders it destroyed.  Rufus nimbly dodges a brace of arrows, but is pelted by a cylinder of ice pellets summoned by one of the clerics.  He lands behind the needle-like spire to give himself some cover from the attacks and then continues his assault by summoning massive elementals of fire, air, and earth with orders to “kill, and have fun!”  The elementals smash into the defenders, and Rufus continues to easily avoid any arrows that fly his way.  As the clerics had prepared their spells for undead, and not an attack by divinely-granted druidic powers, the decision is made to retreat within the stout walls of the tower.   Two of the temple guards are slain during the combat but the rest of the defenders safely withdraw inside.  The summoned elementals try to follow, but are repelled by protective wards.  Seconds later, a thick sheathe of ice covers the entire temple.

Rufus realizes that the defenders have relied upon a powerful Aurilite relic known as Icedawn’s Tear, which legend holds was the last teardrop shed by Auril as a mortal before embracing her destiny as goddess of winter.  Rufus knows of its power to control the weather and conjure thick walls of ice, but he learns firsthand of another of its powers when a massive explosion of steel-hard ice emanates from the temple!  Although not seriously wounded thanks to protective magicks wisely cast earlier, Rufus decides to transform into an eagle and fly back to his campsite.  Once there, he prays to Silvanus for additional spells in order to continue his assault on the temple, but is rebuffed.  The Lord of Oak expresses his displeasure for his follower’s rash and ill-considered actions, which are viewed as having provoked the risk of war with the Aurilites while simultaneously taking scores of innocent lives and achieving nothing towards the preservation of nature.  Although unrepentant, Rufus is filled with the knowledge that all but the most trivial powers will remain barred to him until he atones for his transgression.

Back in Longsaddle, Ralkin goes to some length to track down a bear trap.  After finding out that the last one at Sixhorn Select Wares had just been sold, he finds the purchaser (the head of the Dosteril family) and persuades the man to sell.  Elsewhere, Cain and Mellia decide to burn down Rufus’ pipeweed grove, and are strongly affected by the smoke.  Markus begins writing a book titled “The Legend of Markus Kassul III”  Wrex continues his observations of the inhabitants of Longsaddle.

That evening, Rufus is surprised to see another halfling step out of a tree near his campsite.  Syd introduces himself as a fellow druid and a worshipper of Silvanus’ ally, Sheela Peryroyl.  Syd says he’s been sent to help Rufus find his way back into the good graces of his deity.  Rufus, however, remains glib, irked by his loss of power while believing he’s done nothing wrong.  When Syd tells Rufus he should pray for forgiveness, Rufus takes a deep draw of pipeweed and proclaims “that’s how I pray.”  Syd says that smoking is not prayer, but self-indulgence. Travelling through trees, he takes Rufus and his animal companion with him to Silverwood.  There, in a hallowed, moonlit grove, Syd collects saplings while Rufus continues smoking.  When Syd is finished, he has a thick bundle of saplings and tells Rufus that the symbol of his reconciliation with Silvanus is to plant each sapling, one for each innocent life taken in the reckless attack on Nesme.  “Sure, let’s get it over with,” Rufus replies.  However, Rufus refuses to dig the holes for the saplings unless Sheila is allowed to help him.  Although Syd says the penance is for Rufus and must be carried out alone, Rufus angrily replies that he won’t accept Syd’s help if Syd won’t accept Sheila.  “Then come find me when you’ve changed your mind,” Syd says.  Rufus leaves, and starts the long journey on foot to the High Forest, intending to find his old friend and druidic mentor, Faeved Jaementhe, to get to the bottom of this problem, once and for all.

That night, in Longsaddle, Mellia and Cain talk in their room.  Mellia tells Cain that in Thay she learned the importance of overcoming her fears and that there’s something she needs to face before continuing their quest to Nesme and Startop Mountain.  She says she needs to overcome a fear that arose after she was assaulted as a tavern-maid years ago: the fear of being intimate with someone again.  She says that she cannot overcome this fear alone, and that, as she’s comfortable with Cain and not afraid that she’ll hurt him, he would be the perfect person to help her.  “What is it precisely you would like me to do?” Cain asks.  Mellia sighs, raises her eyebrows, and leans up to kiss him.

[22 Flamerule 1372]

When Mellia and Cain awaken in the morning, sharing the same bed, they see that in the fireplace a small, winged imp is cavorting in the flames.  The mephit, a being from the elemental plane of fire, flies over and lands on Cain’s shoulder.  Cain says that, someday, he himself will turn into a powerful creature composed of fire, and Mellia says that is an admirable goal.  After she helps the blushing Cain put on his armor, the two head downstairs.

Cain explains to Markus that the mephit is harmless, but, unbeknownst to the others, the mephit communicates with its master in a strange language and constantly begs to be allowed to burn things.  Urist, the only one of the adventurers to realise that Cain and Mellia have had a liason, warns the latter to stay away from her man (Markus).  Mellia confirms that Markus isn’t her type.  Mellia casts a spell to communicate with Rufus telepathically to see if there is any news from Nesme, and the halfling replies that he has angered his god and won’t be available anytime soon.  After Ralkin finishes his meal of insects, the adventurers head to their campsite outside of the village to continue their planning.

Mellia explains that Rufus will not be joining in on the assault and provided no information about the city.  The group discuss the need to protect themselves against magickal cold attacks, and Mellia adds that she can turn some of the party invisible and create an extradimensional hiding place for others.  Mellia reminds everyone not to carry a bag of holding or Heward’s Handy Haversack into the hiding place, citing what happened to Eve and Bearos.  Markus suggests that the group should still send a scout first, especially to determine if Rufus did something that has placed the city on alert.  Conversation is also had about how to deal with the artifact that the Aurilites are rumoured to have, and Markus suggests transporting it to the elemental plane of fire to destroy it.

While Cain’s mephit assembles a massive bonfire in the background, the adventurers settle on a tentative plan: the group will teleport in while invisible, focus their attacks on the priests, and ignore other targets if possible.  Before lunch, the group runs through drills to practise getting out of the way of Mellia’s fireballs.