Session Three: Forging Ahead

General Summary

Maybe 6th Flamerule still?   Note for Rayne during his rest before the minotaur fight
During his trance, Rayne dreamed of a women standing on the face of the moon, appearing open and honest, like a loving family member, but very distressed and nervous as she is unable to articulate the warning she had for him.   Back to leaving the glade and fountain
They head down the hall toward a massive wooden door with the appearance of polished ebony, each one nearly able to make out their reflections in it. Sikander notes the small black plate on the door and points it out to Stefan as it says ᛒᚨᛊᚺ ᚺᛖᚱᛖ (bash here) in dwarvish. Stefan (also able to read it) proceeds to hit it so hard something cracks in the wall and the door swings open. He heads in and is promptly deafened, turning and pantomiming toward the others to enter the room, which is flickering with torchlight and shadowy figures within. Sikander immediately follows, with Piper on his heels. Anya and Tal follow, with Rayne pausing long enough to try dispelling the silence.   Once inside, and deaf, they all begin examining the statues closer, recognizing the faces as similar to the apparition that warned Anya of the God Eaters. They also realize the statues are made of a papier-mache or ceramic material, each of the faces appear to have extremes in emotions. Sikander goes so far as to climb the western statue, all 12 ft., accidentally knocking the head loose and causing it to leak liquid. Meanwhile, Anya and Rayne find the eastern is overly happy and the north is tragically sad. While they are scanning the room, everyone but Sikander sees the door begins to close, leading to Anya and Rayne trying to get the door to stay open before Anya shifts into a bear, throwing the door off of her but accidentally letting it shut them in. Stefan does his best to get Sikander's attention, but the dwarf is too absorbed in his perch. In bear form, she smells the blood and goes to Sikander to try and get him down. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize her, and throws the head at her in self defense. When it hits the ground, the skull breaks open and a brain falls to the ground.   The others, not hearing anything - only seeing - take this as an idea to get the door open, so Rayne attacks the happy one, beheading it and also finding a brain within. Stefan, following Rayne's lead tackles the southern one and ends up crushing the body, revealing a brain and a heart. Anya, now panicking, shifts back to herself and tries to write notes to the others not to attack the statues. When they don't pay attention or understand, she runs to stand in front of the one displaying furious anger, bordering on rage. Anya, in a similar vein of emotion to the statue she is protecting, stands in front of it, arms outstretched and insisting, silently, they leave the statue alone. After they stop attacking the statues, Sikander comes over motioning for the journal and does a quick drawing. He then shows it to the others proudly and hands it back to Anya. Looking at the page, she sees this:   "Anya the Bear"   She walks over to him, kisses him on the head and pats his shoulder as she, Rayne, and Stefan begin looking closer at the statues, finding the following: North: Angry - Mordenkainen speaks West: Sad - Mordenkainen feels East: Joy - Mordenkainen acts (Rayne managed to repair this head slightly) South: Unknown, maybe L-VE (this one had a heart within it as well)   Stefan picks up the brain from the destroyed southern statue, and as he does, sound returns to the room - every word and sound since they entered - all at once, stunning Rayne and Piper briefly. The others shake it off and begin to attack the brain that has begun to attach itself to Stefan. The others immediately come to his aid, Anya with Winter's Dawn, Sikander with some massive hits from Wibbles, Rayne blessing some of them and calling on his storm power, and Stefan shifting into his monstrous form to attack. The brain finally blinks to another plane, leaving the party in the room, now able to speak. This allows Sikander to dub Rayne as Lord Rayne Stormbringer. Accepting the name, Rayne begins to pry the door open with his unbreakable sword, Eclipse. Seeing the opening, Anya and Stefan manage to help pry it open and getting everyone back through the door, which now stays open. As they leave the hall, Rayne hears another voice...an old man's dark, sinister warning of, "Beware the God Eaters".   After some discussion, Stefan suggests they head to the hall with light, which brings them to a hall trapped with super heated floor jets. The Bash Brothers decide to throw Sikander down the hall before any further investigation is completed, with the dwarf just avoiding a massive furnace sunken in the floor at the end. Rayne expertly uses the fountain's water to put the furnace out, making the hall safe to traverse. While in the pit, Sikander finds an assortment of animal molds, including an odd one of a pentacorn (he and Stefan are convinced it is the unicorn). Anya climbs down, locates the actual unicorn mold, and finds a note in elvish reading, "Ai tuvuva heria táqa taman cesta" (Those who would find must make that which they seek). Sikander reminds them there are no materials to craft with inside the forge room, and after digging through their bags, they only find the minotaur horns are made of poor quality platinum. Anya recalls being shown adamantine and the chance to work with it once in Phandalin thanks to some visiting dwarves from Mithril Hall. She shares that the metal found in green veins suspended in dull silver - which none of them recall noticing since they'd entered the magical alley.   At Rayne's insistence, Anya chooses their next destination and heads for the next hall up. Within is grass on the floor marked with a strange, almost bullseye pattern and along the walls read the words, "Power pulses within me and only a living warmth will move me". At that, Anya pulls out a small dagger, cuts her hand, and allows the blood to drip onto the circle. Immediately, a dais raises with a blood red crystal. Not trusting it, she backs out and asks Rayne to check for magic. He does, then walks in and touches the crystal, causing three blades to extend from the platform and begin scratching the floor, separate and attack the group. The party deals with the swords with relative ease before Rayne attempts to remove the crystal again. As he tries, the crystal remains fixed in place, then changes into the brain they had been fighting before. It sets off the mental blast again, knocking Anya and Tal out, manifesting a sorcerer's face as it does so. The others make quick work of the brain, reducing it to a small, writhing mass that seems to be trying to communicate.   Rayne heals Anya, who heals Tal, while Stefan picks up the brain and, after hearing it scream and panic at the continued attacks, brings it to the others, arms outstretched with it as he does. Sikander takes it and listens to its requests of water in a jug, salt, blood, and lightning. They manage to get it into a jug (the side is inscribed with ᚨᛚᛖ [ale]), Sikander supplying the salt, Anya the blood from her cut hand, and Rayne the lightning (Anya holds the jug instead of Sikander, but she doesn't dodge the lightning well and falls unconscious again). Finally, after waking her, the brain properly introduces himself as Kelliar, an archmage and student of the great Mordenkainen.

Rewards Granted

the mold for a beautiful unicorn statuette
the mold for an odd, but well made pentacorn statuette (which the Bash Brothers will insist is a unicorn)

Missions/Quests Completed

Partial: We have the mold for the unicorn, but need to find the adamantine to create the statue

Character(s) interacted with

The brain of Kelliar, the Archmage of Mordenkainen

Notes

No rests taken
Needs healing: The whole party is hurting; Anya is very low; Sikander, Stefan are hurting
Anya's quiver is 3/4 full