Evening, Ulanra 7th
Last Night
The week proceeding The Watchman's Ease debacle found the group separate but strong, each of them indulging in some personal rest and relaxation away from the other guardians (in most cases).
Selja slept every night with Filias at the Academy, making great friends with cadets Sweefel and Horatio, and causing all sorts of hi jinks to help lift the spirits of the mourning school. Relic spend his time at Spellforge, making all the finer repairs to his systems quick road work would not allow, and often talking with his friend Grimkey on matters ranging from technology to religion. Portia secluded herself in her room at the inn, the sounds of clanking metal whirring gears and more than a few explosions marking her slow discovery of the Tomes' power. Diana was almost always with Captain Blackwing, pampered and loved like she'd never been before. Kaylan managed to find a portrait of High King Gloriandel in the wreckage of a museum, supernaturally beautiful, glowing, in white armor fringed with lion manes. She spent a good deal of time at the hospitals across the city, working her miracles for the betterment of the sick and infirm, while Thamior volunteered on the cleanup crews and helped rebuild some fallen-down neighborhoods. The two shared in sweet, sweet love in between their charity. All was good in the universe.
On the eighth night, the sky was devoid of stars and a cold wind blew through the city. The group could sense their time growing short, and each of them had a poignant final moment with a connection to Spelltower. Filias and Selja shared their last night crying and cuddling, and the bird boy gifted the boggart with a beautiful darkwood wand in the likeness of a stream of blue jays. Grimkey surprised Relic with his own little tinkering based off the designed he'd observed off the warforged, a neck installment that increased the machine man's defenses and removed the loud and telling hum of his systems. Diana dined with Christopher, who confessed his undying love, and gifted her with a magic golden dagger in the style of a curved flame. Kaylan sat for hours over tea with Elewoon, laughing and swapping stories, and the cleric was gifted with golden lion's mane cloak fit for elven nobility. Elewoon reminded Kaylan that she was a lioness and that she should never, ever change. Portia was visited by the innkeeper Acantha, sent by a shy and busy Fread with a gift that once belonged to his grandfather, six-fingered gloves. Acantha couldn't thank Portia enough for talking with Fread and helping him understand it was good to be different. And Thamior perhaps had the strangest visit of all when Lord Loradan knocked on his door, speaking of many things (including Kaylan) and outfitting the swordmage with a magical cloak to enhance his teleportation abilities.
At the End of Time
Some unseen clock struck midnight and one by one the group faded into a black, endless plane. Kriznob, too, who began shouting for anyone. Who bumped into who bumped into who, spread over nearly a half mile, until the group, half glum with the loss of their special ones, half on edge over what might be next, guessed where exactly they were. Relic threw out the notion they were at the end of time, as he looked around at black infinity.
His guess was correct, and commended by the dry, raspy voices of the same two Anubians. They emerged from the darkness in all their eerie glory, revealing in this point in time manipulation of the stream was easiest. Portia squeezed her eyes shut in fear of them, but when she opened them again one was pressing up against her, elongated hand open and waiting. She returned the pyramid, prompting a conversation.
The time stream was healed. The Anubians implied Creation is in constant peril and that untold groups much like themselves from all different worlds and all different times fought their battles to preserve it. This would not be the last time the group would fight to preserve existence, of that they assured, though when some questioned too deep into their futures, the aliens refrained from revealing anything else. Some of those questions hung heavily, like the fate of those in the past, or the ability to change their fate as Lords of Chaos.
The Anubians did mention that the Guardians would be called during the reclaiming of the Tesseract and that they must heed it, no matter what. It sounded as if the Anubians would eventually deal with the green elder who'd used them, imprisoned them and sought the death of Sev.
With that proclaimed, they would return the group to their own time, but at a place of their own choosing. A debate kicked up on where to go, everywhere from Etheria and Saspien, to the home of the boggarts, but eventually decided upon the location of the siblings. Nine other Anubians materialized from the dark, surrounding the group, and they began to strobe, flickering in and out of reality until they vanished entirely.
The Bad Place
They appeared suddenly in an unknown realm, what some even questioned was the Wild at all. A vast farmland in the throws of autumn stretched before them, looking empty and untended, with crops rotting on the vine and not a soul in sight. Animals roamed wild and houses were left open. The sun was huge and orange, swollen even, but could barely muster the orange of sunset.
It took a few moments before Kriznob realized where they were and could only muster, "We have to keep moving," before hurrying on down the road. The group followed, passing eerie scarecrows and dozens of red-eyed crows.
Portia asked Hoppers if he knew where they were. He changed into his boggart form and jogged alongside her, looking strong enough to do so. He confirmed they were in the Wild, but a place where the planar boundaries grew thin and other places influenced the nature of the realm.
After little more than an hour moving through the desolate farmland, the group noticed the night catching up to them, casting everything in a cold darkness. Kriznob was terrified and hastened, waiting for no one and getting well ahead of everyone else. Most were able to keep pace, Hoppers even turning into a horse for Portia's sake, but inevitably the night caught up to Thamior and Kaylan.
Dark One
A cold, clawing wind marked the manifestation of a twelve-foot tall figure of darkness and shadow, garbed in black wind, baring an elaborate staff and possessing a malformed, obscured head. The night and a veritable cyclone followed with him. Kaylan and Portia recognized the entity immediately: The Dark One.
The Dark One demanded the Hearts, even managed to revert them into their humanoid forms. Tiberius again became the spoiled little schoolboy, while two new manifestations revealed themselves. Dibs transformed into naught more than a human toddler, who clung terrified to Selja, but most surprising was the Quakeheart as it leaped from Relic's chest and became a fiery, orange orcish woman. The machine man dropped, seemingly lifeless. Thamior moved to protect his friends, but even his most masterful stroke couldn't break the howling winds which guarded this black entity. He wondered suddenly if they were encountering Chrysaor, but the Dark One did not entertain any sort of dialogue, only demanded the Hearts, assuring a praying Kaylan than Ezariel could not save them this time.
Hoppers' Sacrifice
Portia and Hoppers were well up the road, watching a screaming Kriznob run off into the sunset, before turning back to see the appearance of the Dark One. Hoppers offered to take Portia away, but she couldn't abandon her friends and her sister. She begged her Heart to flee where the Dark One couldn't find him, while she tried to deal with the being. Hoppers reluctantly let her down and rode off, while the rogue went right up to the frightening windlord and offered him a deal in return for their lives. She swore she knew where another Heart was that he could have, a Heart that may have been hidden from him.
Dark One grabbed the boggart by the throat and lifted her level with his malignant visage. She quickly felt the life sapping out of her, but managed the gaul to demand the creature's word. The Dark One demanded the location of the hidden heart, or else he would peel the information from her very mind. Her dealing proved distraction enough for the most unlikely of rescues...
Hoppers came charging back down the road, a host of errant farm animals turned stampede behind him, even as the group leaped out of the way in a dumbfounded awe. Only at the last moment did the Dark One recognize the attack, throwing Portia aside in time for Hoppers to transform into a triceratops and plow him over. A stream of cows, goats, sheep, chickens, horses and pigs crashed into the pillar of evil, affording the group enough time to collect themselves and flee. The Hearts reverted back into gems and together they ran, the night and sounds of dying animals behind them.
Licking Wounds
The party ran for as long as their legs would function, well into the unnatural night, and managed to lose the Dark One. Holed up in some side ditch, away from the road and the murmuring fields, they licked their wounds and mourned their losses.
During camp, Selja and Thamior investigated the revelation Dibs was without a doubt a Heart, eventually uncovering a connection to Carceri, the prison plane, where all manner of ancient evil was condemned for all eternity after the God War. Diana described Carceri as another Hell, a desolate wasteland, but Selja was certain Dibs was good and could never be tied to such a terrible place. Given how she came into Dibs, perhaps he was some sort of warden of Carceri, perhaps all treants were wardens. Dibs could be a rootling baby treant (supported by his humanoid toddler form), but special for being entwined with a Heart. Dibs also proved able to change the color of his gem, though the larger implications could only be guessed at.
Relic also managed to meet the rage within, namely Quakeheart, who manifested a second time berating and verbally attacking the group. Thamior urged Relic to retake control and, thanks to his meditation studies during his week in Spelltower, was eventually able to silence the critical, cruel artifact which powered him. Still, an unsettling air rested over the group after all that had transpired.
Thamior quietly asked for the rusted katana once Relic regained his composure, allowing the feladrin a chance to finally look it over after weeks of meaning to. As soon as he touched the hilt, the weapon sprung to life, shaking away the rust of centuries and elongating to a brilliant, new sword that crackled with lightning and stirred a cold gale. He recognized it instantly as Ten-Thousand Winters, one of the four Blades of Legacy, made by the feladrin goddess Vaness herself so that the feladrin and their bushido code would endure for all time. Specifically, this sword was a dragon slayer, the bane of all Kultuss' progeny.
Fearing what Vilthanos might do with such a weapon, he threw it away, but it sprung back to his side and materialized a blue dragon scale sheath and belt. Despite any effort, he'd earned the loyalty of the artifact sword, for better or worse... but how could things get any worse (see next summary hehe).
Experience: 400 xp each (17,840 total)
Magic: Essence of the Scout (Relic), Cloak of Translocation (Thamior), Cloak of the Lion's Mane (Kaylan), Blue Jay Sharpshooter's Wand (Selja), Elemental Twist Dagger (Diana), Six-Fingered Gloves of Misguiding (Portia), Ten-Thousand Winters (Thamior)
Money: -300 gp (Diana)
Loot: Blue Dress with Sequins (Diana)
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