Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 21: The Interim

(Readers, due to a lengthy hiatus the campaign was temporarily suspended. A number of months have passed in the campaign, as well as a party change. This interim chapter will attempt to manage the loops of the transition and prepare the campaign for re-launch.)
 
After the battle with the Thayans it was clear that the party would need to find a way to shake their pursuers off the trail. The Thayans had come very close to discovering Thamisia’s sanctuary, and if they were capable of tracking them so neatly across such a distance it was also likely that any attempts to find Lostheus would also leave him endangered. The party returned to Thamisia and discussed the situation. It soon became clear; the Thayans were using temporal magic to detect Pahhu’s disturbance in the temporal stability. Like a pinhole in a waterskin leaving a wet trail on otherwise dry leather, Pahhu was effectively leaking temporal instability almost everywhere she went. While she was effectively invisible while in a temporally stabilized place such as Thamisia’s sanctuary, which dampened her powers, she may as well be a bright beacon of activity to the temporally sensitive. It was best to find a way to prevent her detection.
 
Pahhu would ask Theodore to take her back to Arvandor, she would spend the months with her parents, particularly her mother Sariandi. At the foot of the vanishing tower Pahhu would learn the teachings of Labelas from her mother. Pahhu would be inducted into the faith by a high priest, and her talent at temporal magic would even earn the begrudging respect of Labelas Enoreth who paid her the high honor of forgiving her for being a half-breed. Pahhu would find a sense of peace with herself and the universe at large, finally understanding how she connected to it after discovering her past. The peaceful days spent with her family allowed her to slow down and realize what she had around her. Pahhu learned a gentleness of life that allowed her to more delicately exert her magical prowess and in doing so more completely channel the energies of the Temporal Energy Plane through her rather than through the world around her.
 
Labelas Enoreth decided to test Pahhu, placing upon her a most unusual task. She was to travel to the past 84 years, to 1410 DR. Labelas Enoreth wanted to ensure that a specific elf, Ma’kao Dendralis, was kept safely from harm as he investigated and prevented the outbreak of a terrible disease. Labelas was cryptic as to why the timeline was in danger, and he brooked no questions. Pahhu would obey or he would have no use for her. She was tasked with returning under disguise, protecting Ma’kao and leaving no trace. Whatever danger appeared she must contain her magic using what she had learned at the foot of the tower and leave no tears in the past.
 
(This time traveling mission is detailed in the session logs of Window to the Past.)
 
Pahhu would succeed in her mission, even though the group had barely survived the horrors awaiting them deep in a Netherese crypt. As she passed through the old temples she learned more of the Netherese culture and their dangerous research into time magic; although the temptation was strong to investigate the texts and relics she knew that her promise to Labelas Enoreth was paramount. She refused to allow herself to be distracted, and quickly made her way from Candlekeep to Arvandor and a return to her proper time at the Vanishing tower.
 
Having completed his task, controlled her power, and resisted the temptation of the heretical temporal magic of the Netherese Pahhu was recognized by Labelas Enoreth. Pahhu was inducted into Labelas Enoreth’s service as a Time Warden. The Lord of the Continuum blessed Pahhu’s robes, restoring them to their full power. The robes would improve her control over temporal magic, as well as assisting in protecting her identity and thwarting any attempts to divine her presence. Pahhu would travel under Labelas Enoreth’s cloak henceforth, a protector of the sanctity of time itself.
 
Theodore spent his months in Arvandor as well, first traveling the lands to view the myriad of creatures and trees that he had never encountered. He soon returned to the foot of the Vanishing Tower to check in on Pahhu, but instead began to develop a relationship with Abaka. Abaka had been an elementalist wizard in his life and had once theorized on a unification method for the primary elements. Theodore and Abaka continued the research; with Theodore’s powerful elemental magic providing far more insight into the raw nature of the forces. The two realized that if four immense sources of elemental power were brought together with four control focuses that a truly unique artifact might be created. Theodore would return to Faerun with new goals in mind, a now experienced planar traveler. He would soon however find himself drawn to a place of unusual magic in the Dalelands, and take up residence in the city of Driftriver where he began investigating the potential water elemental power of the place.
 
Ed and Jorah would use their downtime to discharge their duties to the River King. Ed, his pegasus Nagini, Jorah and her winged felidar Maat would head deep into the autumn court’s territory. The two would be invigorated by the energies of the feywild, with Jorah’s magical abilities attuning to the twilight of life all about them. They would soon face off with the queen of blood debts and battle her over a pool of blood collected from her debtors and in doing so trapping fragments of their souls, rendering them puppets to her command. Seeking to find a solution that would release the debtors, Ed placed his thirsty amulet into the pool and it absorbed the blood, breaking the enchantment and sating the amulet permanently. Jorah guided the life energy to a proper afterlife, directing it to Arvandor, freeing the soul fragments captured by the heinous queen. The two returned to Hyssop Home more in tune with their abilities than ever before, ready to face the chaos of the Temporal Energy Plane and restore it to natural order.
 
Marinette and Rasheed would also pay off their debts to the winter court. Arriving to much fanfare and treated as guests of honor they would soon set off to handle the grisly work. Court politics was never easy, intrigue and murder were always present in places of power but this particular case was rather cold blooded. The two would cut a bloody swathe through the court in what would be known as the Bloody Blizzard. Through charm and brutality they would shake up the court politics in a tremendous way. The snow queen offered the two a sumptuous reward, with Rasheed receiving a title, expanding his name to Rasheed of the Turbulent Wind and the Blizzard’s Bite. Marinette was given an evercold locket capable of repressing the neverending heat of her heart, granting her greater control over her emotions when she focused on it.
 
Nyx and Tona visited the spring court, making apologies for Theodore’s lack of presence. The queen of witches laughed, promising she would find the gentleman and have her date. Nyx would join with the queen to raise an army, the two gaining the support of many powerful beasts due to their connections with Tona and their bears respectively. Their army of nature would assault the volcano and subdue Arcadia with their fluffy adorableness. Arcadia had simply been lonely and frustrated, the volcano was not a popular place to visit. Nyx soon realized this and stopped the fight between the sisters. She found some lava lizards living nearby and introduced them to Arcadia. The queen was much less lonely, and with the bears and lizards making friends the two sisters agreed to meet with each other more often and bury the hatchet. Arcadia crafted a gorgeous obsidian collar for Tona as a gift to Nyx.
 
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