Session 78: A Helping Hand-axe

General Summary

2nd Unndilar 836PD   Stunning the Glabrezu and halting its assault on the Shackle, Sabali barely takes a breath before he is struck down by the invisible Psoglavs in retribution. His shadow self, Sabalo, is soon corrupted by the demon’s rays much like Orlando’s and Simeon’s shadows. The corrupted shadow lands a heavy blow on Orlando, draining his strength, his arms faulter with the weight of his guns, but not his fingers. And they squeeze to blast the shadow away completely with the radiance of Bayou’s boom.   Simeon calls down sacred flames of moonlight to destroy the Glabrezu, burning a whole right through its chest and removing the immediate threat to the Shackle. Sabali is healed by the divine words of Orlando, and he manages to catch one of the flying invisible demons with his chain weapon. Raphael finds the right spot with his eldritch blasts and knocks the demon's concentration down, making them visible. Zeni casts a stream of lightning bolts that destroy the latest remaining corrupted shadow and wounding the chained demon.   The tide continues to turn in the Unbroken’s favour, as out of dark, a loud bellow of rage is hot on the heels of a hand axe that carves closely by the flying demon. A mountain dwarf (Quill) suddenly joins the fray. Sabali’s blind sense pick up the direction of the other invisible Psolgav somewhere above him, he steps into shadow and lands right on top of it, striking and successfully stunning it! They both fall down, the demon now visible and physically locked in on the floor, but Sabali falls and (super hero) lands into the lava.   Then another new member enters the fray, a ruffled looking kenku (Krak) squawks in anger before magically teleporting across the lava filled chasms to attack the prone Psoglav. Raphael blasts down the fried and frosted flying demon, and Orlando finishes the stunned Psoglav sending him back to the abyss with a bullet in its eye and a message of their regards to Tharizdun.   The demons eliminated, and with Lock-Breaker gone, the party catch their breath and query their new fellow demon slayers. Quill and Krak introduce themselves; Aquila (Quill), Krakawe 'Krak' Cageborn respectively, they were originally bounty hunters from Wildemount who took on a similar quest to the Unbroken to protect the shackles, an archmage had been paid with their bounty to teleport them there. Orlando examines the shackle and assess that it requires much more than a mending cantrip to fix!   Simeon calls on for his Lady the Moonweaver to intervene and repair, but regrettably it is not within her gift. As an intermediate protection, Simeon covers the shackle within his own forbiddance, and deduces that Lock-Breaker had found the password to enter the original divine forbiddance around the Shackle. Simeon utters a prayer and the groups are recalled through teleportation back to the Keep in Emon.   At the Keep, the party and survivors get to known each other over some much-needed drinks. The ale soon helping to sooth natural suspicions and wariness. Enough information is shared to build an initial trust. The Unbroken learn of Quill’s and Krak’s other members of their bounty group, they lost 2 members, Sharpie the Bard and ‘Everyone’ a druid. Another member, Misty, a tabaxi with similar coat and shadow talents to Sabali had left the group 6 months earlier, moving to the Menagerie Coast. She could very likely be the ‘Mist in the Morning’ that they heard of from Raphael’s informant in Syngorn?   Despite their losses, the two Barbarians Quill and Krak continue on to fulfil their bounty and honour their fallen members by completing it. In the conversation (as what can be described as one when talking with a Kenku!) Zeni notices primordial writing on Krak's beak, "tharizdun must die, the curse shall be gone". Straight from the Kenku’s mouth it seems that their interests are genuine and aligned. Raphael remembers that the Androsphinx knows all knowledge that a Priest of Ioun holds, and so takes a moment to send to Arin through their stone, updating on the weaken but not fallen status of the Stormcrest shackle. Arin relays that they were at the fallen Pelor shackle, and will be heading back to Rexxentrum in Wildemount.   With their prospective new allies, the Unbroken discuss their next moves. Their magic and resourcing are limited for now, and rest will be needed but how much can they afford to extend their stay is the first question.   Through their ritual divinations, sendings and messaging allies and connections across Emon, Tal’Dorei and potentially to Vasselheim, the party identify they need more info on how best to act and even get ahead of the Lock-Breaker:  

• What is Lock-Breaker’s next move or Shackle target? They were hit very hard; will even they take time to rest and re-evaluate after their loss to the Unbroken? Could he pull on others to do his work like Kardar?
• Despite seeing a Shackle, there is still so much unknown about them. How can they be repaired or protected?
• There are several options of where to go next with the Shackles they know where there can be the next lead; Kraghammer is not far from Emon; Syngorn has close links to the Feywild; Vasselheim will be longer to travel across the Ozmit Sea but there could be a lead to the unknown Kord Shackle as well as the Bahamut Shackle.