Session 20: The Ghastly Grinning King
General Summary
The party returned from the inflicted Feywild with the first of two emerald stones. The mirror portal to the Feywild closed behind them. And they noticed that the weather seemed a bit warmer than when they originally entered the portal. Looking to rest up from the battle they had with the swarms of pixies and walking plants, the party went into the nearby park trees and Zanthros set up a tiny hut and they hunkered down for the good long rest. That evening, they gathered their gear and entered the black and green side of the portal. Walking through, they were not met by hordes of zombies but still found the darkness and quietness waiting for them again. But then the odd sound of what seemed like a party reached their ears from the west where the light of dozens of torches lit up a cemetery. Intrigued, they approached and stopped within the dead tree line to see. They saw a single figured, a zombie dressed in fine, but torn, servants clothes, waiting at a gate to the cemetery. Atreena went a bit north and crossed the road to the cemetery, quiet and unseen by the servant who found interest in a rock in the ground to the south. She climbed the low 6ft wall to peer over and indeed found an odd party attended by elegantly dressed undead. Skeletons, zombies, ghouls and the like, all playing games, eating rotten food and talking in cliques of fevered conversation. Also, at the far end of the cemetery, a figure appeared to sit on a raised dais with torches and surrounded by even more party-goers. And a more colorful light extended from there. Atreena went back to report what she found. Unsure how to proceed, Brother Les reached out to Pelor to help him locate a similar emerald stone here. Pelor pointed him to the opposite end of the cemetery, presumably where that figure sat. Knowing this, they decided to enter the cemetery through the front gate. The zombie servant greeted them and led them into the cemetery. As they walked through the cemetery, they gained the attention of the party and the conversation increased, rumors spreading to why these living creatures were here. The party saw games being played: ghost chest and toss your head. Skeletons chasing zombies. It was quite not what they were expected, especially since none of the undead appeared to be threatening in any way. Finally, at the end of the cemetery, they reached the figure on the dais. A fully armored, in purple and yellow, skeleton with a ring of steel with rocks smashed into it like a jeweled crown sitting on his head. Shining like a colorful beacon on the high back of the throne of stone and bone, lay embedded the second emerald stone. The self-proclaimed "Ghastly Grinning King" greeted them and asked what the living were doing attended a party for the dead. The party, wanting to start off in his good graces, offered a few gifts: Pooka presented a small carved wooden statue of a gnome and Brother Les, Eglantina and Zanthros figured out a number of gems to give to him. He accepted them all with wonder and joy. The King then bade them to enjoy the revelry of games and food (although the food was rotten, disgusting and would have poisoned them terribly if they ate it). Brother Les then struck up a conversation and they all took a walk around the cemetery, with only Pooka staying back to take drawings of the throne and other architecture and constructed objects for his research. They learned from the King that he was just, in hindsight, a regular ol' skeleton wandering around this dead city when the portal appeared and dropped the emerald at his feet. He felt compelled to pick it up and immediately started to feel a change. Over time, he found life within his bones again. He dressed himself and found doing things more than just wandering aimlessly to be far more interesting. It started to effect the other dead as well. Eventually, they took over the cemetery proper and started dressing properly, gave him a throne and he became of a King. But now, since its been so long since that happened, he is so bored. So very, very bored. And is happy to see the living to make things exciting again. He offered them the games again and even presented an opportunity with traversing a labyrinth for some prize. Brother Les tried to convince him to state what the prize was or even maybe make the prize the emerald stone, but the King wouldn't offer it up. It was what was giving him life, after all. The party went to discuss their options to get the stone out of the throne. Zanthros thought of the brilliant idea to use the tiny hut to give them time, they just needed to get the King away from his throne he was sitting in again. So, they all went to work to "entertain" the king. Atreena first started performing acrobatic feats: flips, twirls, high jumps and long leaps. Her moves were something none of the undead had seen, maybe ever. She had their complete attention. Zanthros attempted to try to make his casting of the Leomunds Tiny Hut look like a dance, but apparently Zanthros' idea of a dance is walking stiffly while speaking his words of power and obviously gesturing somatic symbols of a spell. Fearing that this would be discovered, the rest of the party jumped in with distractions. Pooka broke out one of his branches and started carving a staff on the ground. He kind of forgot to include any sort of showmanship to distract the crowd and the King and got lost in the carving. Eglantina summoned a small fey creature, kind of like Tinker Bell, and this fey instantly got the attention of the crowd and the King as it flew threw the air, teleported randomly and cast like light spells to great effect. Between this and Atreena's acrobatics, they had the crowds full attention. In fact, it compelled the King to stand and walk away from his throne in delight. Roughly 10-11 minutes of this and just before Zanthros finished his spell, everyone jumped inside the tiny hut being conjured around the throne and they were safely secured inside the now completely one-way opaque wall of the magical dome. Pooka immediately got to work on chiseling out the stone. The King started getting a little impatient and considered that his throne was denied him and couldn't see what they were doing, so Brother Les came out to regal them with historical lectures on the calamity. It was mildly interesting but it made the King grow a more impatient. The fey was still dancing around but they could only distract them for so long with the black dome around his throne. Eventually, Pooka got the stone free. But now, they were inside a dome for a maximum of 8 hours and no easy escape path since they were nearly surrounded. They decided to split up. Pooka and Atreena would take the stone directly west to the nearest wall, climb over and then head north and around the edge of the cemetery. The rest of the party, figuring this would distract the King and the crowd, would make a break back to the east to try to escape before anyone noticed. So, Pooka and Atreena ran west out of the dome, but not before Brother Les declared them "it". The crowd and the king were interested but unsure why they did that. Atreena deftly used her claws and skills to scale the wall and over it with ease while Pooka used his echo to bamph to the other side. They ran north quickly. Brother Les, Zanthros and Eglantina looked for an opportunity to make their way, but none seemed apparent until the King, suddenly aware that the stone was no longer on the throne, left with his crowd to chase after the other two. This gave the 3 their opportunity and they took it. Pooka and Atreena, with a small hiding break of Atreena, quickly made the end of the cemetery with no opposition, but Zanthros, Eglantina and Brother Les did have a little more trouble on their way out. As those three made their way to the front gate, the crowds of the undead started falling in on their left and right, with a few in their direct path. Eglantina sent her still flittering Fey to attack and distract some of the undead in front of them as they ran. Zanthros incinerated more in their direct path with a fireball explosion, and finally near the gate, as the hordes of undead moved in on both side and a single, solitary figure of a zombie servant blocked their path, Brother Les called on Pelor to shine his divine radiance on the scores of the unliving with his shield held high. The blasted waves of radiant energy engulfed and destroyed dozens of zombies and skeletons on either side and they ran through the ashes of the servant and the iron bars of the gate. The party met back up in the tree line and made their way to the portal, not seeing any signs of pursuit. They walked through the portal and found themselves in daylight once again (despite entering in the evening and only being there for seemingly an hour at most). The portal itself, a simple double-sided mirror. Atreena scratched the mirror and then Pooka took a battle axe to it, causing it to shattered along the ground. The portal to the Feywild and Shadowfell was no more. The party made their way back to the library, avoiding any issues. They took a rest that night and spent some time doing some research. Zanthros spent some time inscribing some spells he found with some ink and paper in a hidden stock in the library. The next day, Atreena, Eglantina and Pooka went to check on the Quarlani Sol. When they entered the glade, they found it peaceful and serene, and the presence of a Unicorn guarding it. The Unicorn greeted them and thanked them for planting the tree, although it kept a wary eye on Pooka. Those three then made there way back to the library, exploring some of the empty buildings along the way and found a small coin purse in a cabinet of a two story house. Given that the portal that was causing the corruption to spread across the land is now closed, it doesn't necessarily mean that creatures and the affects of the corruption are necessarily gone though. The city is still uninhabitable and still under the scrutiny of multiple interested parties: Uthodurn, the Trebain crime family and potentially other elves from Bysaes Tyl. And who knows who else? Treasures may still be found here and secrets may still be unlocked. But a previous visit from Xalicas to Eglantina spoke of a greater threat to Wildemount, and all of Exandria, that may lead the party to the Menagerie Coast. What will they do next?
Rewards Granted
1310xp that should make you level 7
Missions/Quests Completed
Completed the corruption of Molaesmyr arc.