Session 57: Old Friend, New Friend, Bold Friend, Blue Friend. Report

General Summary

The party started by going over some of their newly discovered items. They also investigated the desk, dresser, and book-case.

The desk contained a magical quill, and some encoded notes, but nothing else of significant interest.

The dresser contained some magical clothes that repair themselves; a magical tree branch, a halfling-sized staff, that could conjure flowers; a small belt pouch that conjured spices; and a talking doll.

The book-case contained a great many horrible, evil, and disturbing tomes, and Roy asked SixOfEighteen to burn it all with magical fire, which the kind construct did. One book, a black tome, refused to burn, turning the flames black and remaining unharmed. Roy magically moved it to the center of the bed, and Boris tried to dispel it, but suffered a backlash that removed from him the ability to use such magic, at least for now. Concerned that this thing was far too powerful for them to deal with, and after much discussion, the group decided to close the door to this room, and allow the original wards to keep it sealed until they could enlist the help of someone far more capable than themselves.

The group gathered after this, and began to make their way to the East. They saw a roiling cloud of toxic gasses down a side corridor, and SixOfEighteen strode forward and conjured a powerful gust of wind spell to blow the gasses away. This, unfortunately, caused the gasses to flow around and begin flowing toward the group from the direction they hoped to go. The group quickly retreated, and soon found that the magic wind had somehow released the toxic cloud in many directions. Roy conjured the protective dome of a wilderness ward, and the group paused to discuss their options as this toxic cloud surrounded them and filled the entire underground region. SixOfEighteen, regretful, sighed "I wish I had never cast that wind spell", and with a flash, reality was rewound slightly, and the spell had not been cast; the toxic cloud remained in its original place. The ring that SixOfEighteen had donned some days before, which had two rubies, now had only one. SixOfEighteen also realized that he could no longer use this ring, or the magic it empowered, so he gave the ring to Boris. Boris then discussed with the group what they could do with this, and everyone agreed that they could return Jeeves to life with a powerful magic called "Resurrection". After some careful planning of the words to use, Boris activated the ring, and called out "I Wish to cast Resurrection to restore Jeeves to life".

The ring dissolved into a cloud of sparkles that settled over Jeeves , and SixOfEighteen laid his own hand on his friend's chest as the magic took hold. As the rest of the group watched, they saw SixOfEighteen dissolve into a pool of liquid metal which flowed into place to form a new head for Jeeves as Jeeves suddenly inhaled with a gasp.

Jeeves , when his head was destroyed, awoke in unimaginable pain and tried to scream, but could not hear, smell, see, taste, or even scream, for as his hands quickly discovered, he had no head. A familiar high feminine voice came directly to his consciousness, "Oh my. This will not do at all. Hold still dear." Jeeves felt even more terrible pain, and screamed in agony. Jeeves suddenly realized he could scream, as a new head formed on his shoulders. "I am very sorry, Jeeves . This time you will have to face judgement, there is no more indulgence left." Jeeves stood, and at the Pale Queen's gesture, followed her through the Marble Palace to her throne room.

The Pale Queen bade Jeeves stand in the position of judgement before the throne, then sat upon the throne to complete her duty. "You have sought to redeem your sins, Jeeves , but " here Jeeves ' appearance changed, he was now clothed in a fine black linen suit, with a black cane, and a top hat; the very image of a fine victorian gentleman " you have not succeeded, Jack." Jeeves , cringeing at the reminder of his former life, asked "Could I not have...What did I need to..." as dozens of young women, all horribly mutilated and clothed in tattered clothing of a Victorian lower-class servant, entered the room. The Pale Queen said "Ask them", and pointed at the women, all of whom silently pointed at the one called Jeeves ; one once called "Jack the Ripper". The Pale Queen smiled sadly. "Your crimes are manifest, and no amount of good deeds can cancel the debt you owe, The Source passes righteous judgement for your evil. Your fate is set." A door, to the right opened, and through the door could be seen naught but flames, and the occasional leering face of a fiend. The Pale Queen said, sternly, "You must go now, Jack; do not make me drag you".

At that moment SixOfEighteen appeared in the chamber, and called out "Stop!". The Pale Queen turned to SixOfEighteen, "What do you ask"? SixOfEighteen said "Take my life instead of my friend's; I will pay his debt." The Pale Queen paused, "Interesting... You would die in his place, suffer the fate he has earned?" SixOfEighteen responded "Yes. I will pay for his crimes, though I do not believe him a criminal." The Pale Queen gestured at the row of mutilated young women "He is a mass murderer, here are his victims". SixOfEighteen reiterated "I will pay, let Jeeves return to his friends." The Pale Queen looked at him, "Take his hands " SixOfEighteen took Jeeves ' hands " now rip him in half." SixOfEighteen tore Jeeves apart, and as the form tore apart, it reformed into two persons, one who looked like Jeeves , and another who looked like the Victorian Gentleman. "Hold on to the man with the hat; you may release your friend." SixOfEighteen released Jeeves , and had to grasp the other man more firmly as that man struggled, began to snarl and scream epithets in a language SixOfEighteen did not speak. The Pale Queen said "Take the man in your hand, and throw him in the flames". SixOfEighteen had to lift the man over his head, as the man struggled to be free, or kill his captor; SixOfEighteen threw the man through the door, and they saw him begin to burn as the door closed. The Pale Queen turned to Jeeves . "Jeeves , you have been given another chance. Your evil has been condemned, but you are free because another, who committed no crime, chose to pay your debt. You may return to your friends." The vision for Jeeves faded, and he awoke, with a gasp.

The Pale Queen now turned to SixOfEighteen "Your friend has been restored, as you asked, but the price must still be paid." "What must I do?" "Die." "Ahh, can you give them something for me?" "what?" "This, the mud from the dais from when I woke up; something for Jeeves to remember me by." "Don't worry, he will have much to remember you by; you may be sure of that." "OK, I am ready to die." "My friend, you are already dead. Your destiny, however, is not the flames." A door opened to the right, and through the door SixOfEighteen saw a gentle rolling countryside a beautiful day, and a gentle breeze wafted through. "Welcome to Elysium, my friend" "I guess I didn't have the time do do evil deeds" "You wouldn't have, even if you'd had the time. Your reward awaits; adventure forever, rest when you need it, friends, and community as well. An entire world, where everything is exactly as it should be, awaits you.

One more thing; come close." SixOfEighteen stepped close, and the Pale Queen tapped him on the head. SixOfEighteen heard a ringing sound, and he suddenly felt... soft. "What has happened?" "I simply gave you the form your spirit has always had." SixOfEighteen looked in a mirror, and saw an elf looking back; strong, handome, and young. "An elf?" "Yes, that was always your spirit, simply encased in metal, now freed." "I am going to go and adventure now; thanks for freeing Jeeves ." "Thank The Source; it was not my choice, it never is. Goodbye, SixOfEighteen." SixOfEighteen stepped through the door, which closed, and when he turned around, he saw only a vast plain of gentle farmland with a small town perhaps fifteen minutes walk away. The town looked like a good place to start, so SixOfEighteen began to walk that direction, as a new adventure began. That, then, is the end of the story of Six of Eighteen, of Chorus Nine.

Roy began to talk to Jeeves about a spell called Tiny Servant, but stopped when he noticed a small tattoo just above Jeeves ' right eye, of a handsome elf walking through a gentle field; under it was the word "Six". Roy asked why there was a tattoo of an elf on Jeeves face. Jeeves touched his head, but couldn't feel it and asked how he was supposed to know. Roy used minor illusion to show Jeeves his face, and Jeeves paused for a moment as he heard the voice of the Pale Queen in his soul explaining he now had an image to remember SixOfEighteen by, a reminder of the sacrifice freely paid for him, and of the choice between good and evil that remained before him always.

Roy , discombobulated and confused, complained that everyone was so complacent as they began to move on without discussing the loss of SixOfEighteen. Roisin Marshfield said they could talk as they walked. Boris headed forward, and saw the same purple-green cloud as before, but left it alone, ignoring the side passage and continuing east. The found a set of quadruple doors that were trapped, sealed, locked, and guarded; but only against intrusion from the other side; mechanisms to disarm and open the doors were clearly visible on this side. Boris quickly manipulated the mechanisms to disarm and unlock the door, and cast detect magic to see what was active; finding every school of magic represented, but all focused on the other side of the doors. Boris opened the doors, which swung open easily to reveal a wide hallway, and a large gathering area thick with dust; apparently outside the area where the oozes roamed. Boris climbed the dais in this gathering area, and looked around to see a few doors to the south, and one open corridor to the west in the northwest corner of the room. Deciding that doors sounded too dangerous, Boris walked to the first corner of the corridor, and saw footprints in the dust about 60 feet away. Boris tried to be quiet as he headed South, but accidentally kicked a metal place buried in the dust, and exclaimed "Son of a Bragging Barnacle!" as the loud clang and pain of stubbed toe hit him simultaneously. Boris froze, as Roy yelled from behind "Are you OK, are you paralyzed, why are you standing there?" Roisin Marshfield called out "Are you OK"? Jeeves said "You didn't breathe the dust, right?" Boris lifted his hands up, and took a slow calming breath. Boris continued forward, still trying to be quiet (and failing). When he reached the footprints he realized they were his own. Looking to the left he realized the room was the dining area he had encountered months before; this hall would curve around and reach the Alchemy Lab they had entered when they first arrived underground. Boris just charged forward, as Roy vacillated and asked about options. Jeeves talked about poison, and others wondered until they suddenly realized they needed to rush to catch up to their spiritual advisor so Roisin Marshfield rushed to catch up. Roy yelled out, but Boris was pretending not to hear. Roy , on catching up, just sat down and ritually cast a spell, taking ten minutes to send a brief message "Why are you just running away Boris? I know we can hear you running from across the compound, but you shouldn't go so far ahead. Also, Take of your helmet. Thanks." using magic. Boris responded "Definitely not taking off my helmet, but I'll try to move slower so you guys can keep up. They went through the alchemy lab, down the tunnel to the pit, where the rope they used to climb down remained. Roy asked Boris to go outside and tell him what time of day it was. Boris tried to climb up, but slipped and fell; avoiding injury thanks to Roy 's feather fall magic. Jeeves walked up the pit wall, poked his head out, and came back to report that it was about midday. Roy took Roisin Marshfield's hand, and cast a powerful magic to teleport up; a blue light enveloped both, then faded out and they were both standing in blinding bright sunlight. Jeeves helped Boris climb the rope, and they all reached the top, where they took a bit of time to let their eyes acclimate to sunlight for the first time in months. Finally looking around, they saw an unimaginably tall oak tree, perhaps 2000 feet tall, and though it was nearly a half mile away, it's outermost branches were almost above the party's heads. The group debated what to do, and finally headed over to the tree to see what this wonderous thing was. Before heading over, Jeeves asked to see the "Gentleman's Gloves", which he tried on. The gloves blended into his hands so perfectly as to disappear from view. Roy also showed Jeeves the encoded notes, and mentioned he would want some help with those later.

The party then headed to the massive tree, and when they arrived Roisin Marshfield looked thoughtful, and took the jade tower that imprisoned Cigfran , and buried it in the earth among the tree's roots. Cigfran , now standing behind Roisin Marshfield, said "Why are you digging in the dirt?" Roisin Marshfield, not really surprised by anything anymore, simply turned around "Because I am. Hi. Welcome back.". The others, who had seen Cigfran apparate, wondered at these events. Cigfran said "Well, this is a new floor." Cigfran held up his left hand which had a crude penguin hand puppet on it "Mister Flibber, I thought we were going to eat. What are we doing here? 'I don't know Cigfran , I was ready for the ham too'". Roy said "Well, there's somthing wrong with him..." Cigfran said "Oh no, I've died and gone to Hell, Mister Flibber, Roy 's here." Jeeves just stared in shock at how nonchalant everyone was being about having Cigfran back. Roy said "Trust me, I was recently in Hell and it's much, much, much worse than here." Cigran said "I must be going crazy, but you know what, it's a new day, a new floor, I'm going crazy and hallucinating, so why is there a tree on this floor." Roisin Marshfield said "Cigfran , you're out!" Roy asked "what's on your hand?", Cigfran responded "This is Mister Flibber, you've met before Roy , at least your hallucination Roy met him before." Roy said "Jeeves , Boris, can you see what's wrong with him?" Boris cast magic to effect a mild restoration, but nothing happened. Cigfran said "Jeeves , Don't worry, Mister Flibber is perfectly a-ok, I know you're not an animal person." Jeeves said "I will not be concerned with Mister Fliffver." Jeeves said "He's just temporarily different, he'll be fine tomorrow. I'm just surprised you're all so nonchalant about him reappearing." More discussion ensued, mostly about how strange things had been for them and all the terrible things they'd all encountered. Jeeves noticed the painting kit, and noted "Picked up the arts did you?" Cigfran said "There aren't any of my masterpieces on this floor, we should go up a few floors to see my work there, I call it 'Mister Flibber and The Source' where Mister Flibber reaches out to The Source." For the next four hours, at Roy 's request Jeeves described all his observations of Cigfran over the past year plus they had been adventuring together. Cigfran kept looking for the stairs to the next floor, and complaining about the bad lighting. Jeeves , realizing everyone stopped listening after the first hour, finally began looking for herbs and found some rare mushrooms among the roots. As the sun went down, Roy summoned a Secure Shelter in the form of a four floor tower, using a spell from his powerful ring to empower it to be larger.

The group went into the shelter, where Roy claimed the top floor, and the rest took bunks on the second and third floors; the bottom floor being for eating. Jeeves removed his wonderous slippers of spider climbing, and took time to contemplate and attune to the gloves he now wore. As he now had a moment to rest, he also took stock and realized, to his sadness, that his pirate hat had been destroyed with his head. Cigfran kept looking for stairs and insisting everyone was a hallucination, and as he realized the lights on this floor were going out, finally let them bring him into this new tower to find a bed on a higher floor, where Cigfran was about to lay down, but went back down to have dinner before heading back up to lay down and sleep, whispering to Mister Flibber (not to mention feeding the puppet) the whole time. Jeeves , as he attuned to the gloves, suddenly pulled out the Hands of the Crafter and tore them in half before throwing them into the fireplace. Now realizing these powerful Healing Hands of Hrojaalvhujign (pronounced Royal-Ruin) would enhance healing, and protect the wearer from disease, and possibly more in time. Roy and Jeeves tried to decode the encoded notes, and made enough progress to have hope, but the code was difficult, and it being in a foreign language did not help, so it would take a very long time. Merely getting to this point took six hours of intense effort.

The next morning, after a good night's rest, the group gathered downstairs, and Cigfran suddenly hugged Roy . "I'm out of the bleeping tower! I spent an entire year in that horrible tower all alone!" After a bit of confusion, and explanation, Roy cast Tiny Servant on the puppet, causing "Mister Flibber" to sprout tiny legs and begin to dance a jig on the table, and Roisin Marshfield gave Cigfran a hug. Cigfran was still without feet however, so Roy summoned the magical disk for Cigfran again as Cigfran realized Roy now had a tentacle arm to go with the missing hair, teeth, and fingernails Cigfran already knew about. As the party looked outside, they saw birds landing in the tree branches, small, and large, including one very large... bird?