Chapter 28: One Tale Ends, Another Begins

General Summary

Date: 13th of Eleasis to 17th of Eleasis, 1491 DR

  The heroes stood in front of the Forge of Spells, with their newly enchanted weapons, ready to depart for their next adventure. Bene saw his patron appear in the shadows, who suggested Bene to douse the blade he'd found in the flames of the forge. Bene complied and watched as the flames first averted the shard, but then began swirl and spin around it, casting Bene into a vision.   Bene found himself in the middle of the desert, with only sea of sand surrounding him. He traveled through the dunes, eventually finding the ruins of an ancient dwarven city. Most of the buildings were buried in sand, along with massive stone ships the size of hills. Finding some shade, Bene took a long refreshing drink from his water flask and began to rummage through his belongings, pulling out the shard of the blade he currently held and presumably its jet-black crossguard.   With great effort he tried to force these two pieces together. The process was quickly halted by the disturbances around him. Then his hand began to petrify. Filled with panic, Bene bolted away from the shade, trying to escape whatever was there attacking him. He ran past a sea of statues, unable to gaze behind him. His escape was halted when Bene's hand was grappled by one of the statue, ready to impale him with its stone sword. With no other option, Bene twisted and cracked his petrified hand, tearing himself off it and thus managing to escape. The vision ended in Bene watching his stone hand still clutching the handle of the sword in the middle of the desert city.   The cavern was cast into darkness, except for the bright red hue that came from Bene's blade. The lights and torches eventually returned, and the Goodfellas could see Bene's sleeve reduced to speckles of sand, revealing the dark webbing veins that were casted around Bene's right hand. They questioned him about the events that transpired and Bene promised to share that information at a more convenient time.    The heroes left the cave but before they could embark with Zephyros and his flying tower, Bardy asked them to wait. He let the heroes know that he wouldn't be joining them on their adventure and asked if they could sit with him for a while at the campfire where he would explain things to them.   Bardy told them that he had no memory of his life prior to the year he lived in Waterdeep. With no knowledge of family, friends or his home he shared how much it meant to him for the Goodfellas to accept him to their group with no cost or favor. However, the life of adventuring would have to wait as Bardy was now determined to find out about his forgotten past. He gave back the magic items he had gotten from the party and as a gift parted them with a song of his own that he wasn't sure what to call.   If I could stay and share your story
I'd sing my praise with my hearts at peace
But I hear the road, I hear it calling
Although it hurts, I will have to leave

So fare the well, my dear Goodfellas
Fare the well, my dear old friends
May your roads be safe, may you find adventures
I'll wait for the day, when we meet again

We've had our share, of tears and laughter
We've had our share of victories
But now I'll go to another chapter
When I'm gone, will you remember me?

So fare the well, my dear Goodfellas
Fare the well, my dear old friends
May your roads be safe, may you find adventures
I'll wait for the day, when we meet again

I thank you all, for being my friend
I hope we'll meet before the end
The road is long, let the journey begin
And wait for the day when we meet again
  The heroes shared the farewells and climbed onto the tower. Zephyros operated the navigation orb and the tower began to float northwards until Bardys campfire was only a tiny speck of light in the distance.   During their travel, the heroes questioned Zephyros about Anauroch and the Netheril Empire, which Zephyros gave some answers to. He also shared about the Thousand Year War between giants and dragons as well as King Hekatons Wyrmskull Throne. The journey was going quite pleasantly at first, until the heroes felt the tower shake around them.   A lightning storm had appeared suddenly out of nowhere, throwing violent winds towards the tower. Zephyros tried to calm the heroes down, but once Nomime spotted a massive dragon hidden inside the clouds the heroes came to the realization that the tower was under attack. Zephyros tried to scry inside the clouds to view of the oncoming threat but as the heroes watched his eyes went milky white and the scrying orb shattered into pieces. A low rumbling voice came from Zephyros's mouth, beckoning the heroes to find the temple of Annam before Zephyros collapsed unconscious to the ground.   The upper area was sieged and three gargoyles flew downwards to attack the heroes, their leader focused on sabotaging the navigation orb. The battle began where the heroes quickly gained the upper hand. Once the tower began to rapidly descend the four-armed gargoyle joined in the fight. With Nomime's mind whip, Ranvas's devastating shots aided by Bene's keen eyes and Virion's stunning strikes the heroes were able to bring down the hulking stone monster. But the tower was still rapidly falling. They ran to the unconscious giant and gave him some Glug Glug juice. It was then when the tower crashed onto the ground.   Pieces of mortar, brick and earth flew everywhere. Once the dust had settled the heroes found themselves unharmed inside a translucent ball of force. Virion had also survived unscathed underneath the desk of the giant. The repairs of the tower would take some time, but Zephyros promised to find them once the tower was operational again. The heroes bid farewells to the Cloud Giant and made their way towards north.   With no knowledge of where they were, the heroes marched on for a few days. They came to a battlefield between giants and Uthgardt barbarians, but decided to circle away to avoid any dangers. After a few days, they arrived at the sleepy little frontier village of Longsaddle where the heroes bought food and lodgings.   During their supper in the Gilded Horseshoe the heroes heard rumors and information and found a notice post of Weevil the outlaw. With still some daylight left, they decided to venture out to find the location of Nomime's hidden wizard trials. With the information they had, they traveled east of town roughly 20 000 feet but were unable to find anything. They then came back to Longsaddle and placed a coin at the town's well. To their surprise it began to float and move towards east. The heroes were keen to follow it. Would it lead them to the ancient trials of wizards and sorcerers? Would the heroes find the trials and attend them? Would they survive the ancient trials or perish like so many before them?

Character(s) interacted with

• Bardy the Brave
• Zephyros 
• Annam the All-father
• ****** - the Doom of the Desert
• Gery Cote, innkeeper of Gilded Horseshoe