6.2 WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN?

It's about time we reunite Seraphina's soul with her body in Castle Drakenhoff. She has been imprisoned for far too long, and we're keen on getting her back, no one more so than Renaldine.
 
Along the way to Drakenhoff proper, Renaldine is able to scavenge some food for us, saving on rations. She's quite skilled in that regard, among others. Anything to help on these long journeys is welcomed.
 
In just less than a week, we make it back to Castle Drakenhoff. It somehow looks more familiar to us thanks to the visions we saw while assisting Seraphina last time. Renaldine is able to find a collapsed tunnel that leads us pretty well directly into the lower chambers of the castle, right into the very halls of the prison we saw within those same visions.
 
The hall ahead is long and dark, and filled with pools of water and adorned with chains. On either side of the hallway are a few doors, leading presumably to cells in which the inhabitants of the castle kept their prisoners. Before we venture forth, I reach into my Bag of Tricks and pull out the tiger once more. It may be useful as it has a keen sense of smell, so I send it ahead to scout for unseen foes while we attempt to unlock the first door we find on the left.
 
Zugg Zugg looks at the solid stone door we now face, and discovers some kind of intricate trap, perhaps mechanical, maybe arcane in nature. Renaldine approaches and notices a small gemstone above Zugg Zugg on the ceiling, and concludes it's definitely trapped. I try to take a look at it, but am ultimately unable to make heads or tails of it. Renaldine finds it's a magical trap.
 
Instead of wasting precious time, Renaldine uses a scroll with a spell useful for finding certain objects, which she uses to find Seraphina's body. If it's nearby, Renaldine ought to be able to know at least in which direction it's in. She picks up a strong signal that her body is located toward the end of this hallway, or at least in that direction, so we leave this door alone for now and follow Renaldine's signal.
 
I send the tiger ahead to scout once more. As we cross over the large puddle spanning the path ahead, we hear a sudden sound as a large unseen spike descends quickly from the ceiling, piercing the tiger before retreating back up into the ceiling. While I feel bad for what happened to the tiger, I can't help but be glad it wasn't one of us instead. I'm able to determine that as long as we stick to the left side of the puddle, we can walk past unscathed, and I inform the rest of the group.
 
We continue to the end of the hall, at which point we find another locked stone door. Freya deftly unlocks it after finding this door doesn't appear to be trapped. We try to move in as stealthily as possible, but we are met with a figure standing near a large round stone dais in this large brightly lit stone room. The room is adorned with four pillars, one of which is collapsed. The three in tact columns each have a torch attached, providing ample light. This allows us to see that on said dais is Seraphina's body, which lies dormant. In the far right corner is an empty cage. Just to the left of the dais is a sarcophagus. And to its left, in the far corner, is a large hole that we can see glows red.
 
The figure lets out a surprised exclamation before we begin exchanging blows. As the fight begins, Zugg Zugg attempts to cast a Hold Person spell, but before the spell could take effect, the caster figure Counterspells it. This might be tougher than we anticipated. I send the tiger sprinting toward the figure, but it is stopped by a barghest that had been concealed via illusory magic. Just then, the figure casts a Fireball, catching all but the tiger in its blast radius. I may be naturally resistant to fire, but it still burns. I can only imagine the pain it inflicted on the rest of the party. We must dispatch this caster before they can do much more harm. My primary target is the barghest at the moment, at least trying to keep it busy while the rest take out the caster. Before I could get much of a distraction on the barghest, however, Freya casts some effective Scorching Rays at the creature, which finishes it quickly. Great move, Freya! I send the tiger sprinting once again toward the caster. Just as the tiger reaches the caster, they go invisible. I assume they're retreating during this time, presumably down into the red glowing hole, but one of the others is able to determine they're actually standing near the dais. With this information, Freya begins casting a spell. She doesn't know exactly where the figure is, just its rough whereabouts. I had a feeling of what was coming, but before we could warn her, she lets fly a small bead of flame. It was as though time slowed down as we watched the bead fly through the air, landing just near the dais, rapidly expanding into a ball of fire, taking out the caster, but also fully engulfing Seraphina's still body as she lies defenseless, now burnt and dying. This was decidedly NOT what we came here to do.
 
Renaldine wastes no time tending to Seraphina's fresh wounds. Luckily Renaldine was the closest person to her, as she deftly climbs atop the dais, rendering her aid by way of a Spare the Dying spell to restabilize Seraphina. She then uses her healing magic to restore at least some health to her. She remains still, however. Renaldine pulls out Seraphina's soul prison pendant and wraps it around Seraphina's neck, fulfilling her duty to reunite her soul with her body.
 
We watch as Seraphina's soul returns to her physical self, and standby as she rises once more from her slumber, seemingly unaffected by any maladies or lasting effects, save for what surely are some mental scars after what all she has been through.
 
She gracefully rises and looks toward Renaldine as Renaldine bows and presents her with her shield. Seraphina reiterates that the shield was a gift to Renaldine, and that she wishes for her to keep it. Renaldine holds it close to her heart as she thanks Seraphina. Renaldine asks Seraphina if there is anything else left that we can do for her. Seraphina says there is something she must do for us, instead.
 
She begins casting a spell. She then tells us we each may ask her one question, which she will answer using her divine powers. We can ask her anything about our journey, our destinies, whatever it may be. Renaldine was the first to think of a question. She asked whether she will ever regain her memory of her past life, to which Seraphina answers that if she truly desires to know, then she will. But she also says that if and when such a time comes, she questions whether Renaldine will still want to know the answers. Freya was next with her question. Freya asks what she can do to become a more powerful sorcerer. Seraphina tells her that such power is a double-edge sword, and that while great power may seem desirable, she must be careful as it comes with its dangers. She reassured Freya that she can become a powerful sorcerer, and that to do so she must continue on her journey in seeking power artifacts and seeking opportunities that push her limits. I was next to ask a question. I explained to Seraphina how I know that many associate my type with evil acts, and that's reasonable given the horrid things my type have done, but that I do not wish to associate myself with such acts. I explained how someone, or something, clouds my mind and sometimes makes me think evil thoughts or do evil things. I asked where might I begin my journey in expelling that influence from my mind. She tells me that guidance lies merely feet from where we currently stand, as she gestures to the sarcophagus in this room, and that the relief I seek will not be found on this Plane of existence. Zugg Zugg is the last to ask his question. He asks where he might obtain a powerful item to help him on his divine journey to become a Tempest Cleric. Seraphina simply answers that he must seek either the cooperation or destruction of Lymrith. I've never heard that name before. Zugg Zugg accepts the answer. I wonder what that's about?
 
Before flying out of the chamber, Seraphina turns to us and thanks us for having restored her, and that because of it, she can now pursue the continuation of her duty in this realm. She says she's here to guide those who are worthy. I suppose we must be worthy somehow because she tells us there's even greater rewards in these tombs. Before taking her advice and continuing on with exploring the prison, we decide to rest up as that fight took a lot out of us. We do so without issue.
 
After awaking, I pull another fuzzy creature from the bag. This time, it's my good friend Baloo 2: Electric Baloogaloo. It's good to see you again, buddy. I apologize in advance for whatever may come your way today. We agree not to explore the red glowing hole at the moment. We'll save that for another time. I'm interested to see what's down there, in all honesty. Before heading back the way we came, we check the sarcophagus that Seraphina gestured toward yesterday. On the sarcophagus lid, we find some parchment with what looks to be diagrams of a human body (or at least humanoid, if it's meant to be more generalized) with several spikes driven into it, not unlike those we've found before. It looks to be what I can only describe as a form of acupuncture albeit with broad spikes rather than needles. The text on the parchment is of a language that none of us understand, and we don't have access to any spells that would allow us to comprehend unknown languages. We'll just have to take it with us and maybe find someone in Urithiru who can decode it. Removing the lid from the sarcophagus reveals a tomb empty of bodies, but one that held some treasure, likely sealed with whoever, or whatever, used to lie inside. Among the odd potion and pile of coin we find yet another set of spikes, just like those we've found with Brother Abbendis and on the dragonborn commanding the ballista in Seraphina's vision. We now have nine such spikes in our possession. Clearly they share a connection, but what do they have in common besides possessing these spikes? It's not yet obvious to me, but then again I'm certainly not the smartest person here.
 
We now begin our trek back down the hallway. We stop at each door along the way and give each a good once over. Zugg Zugg casts a spell to enhance Freya's ability to pick locks and potentially disarm them, which seems to do its job as she's able to make quick work of some of the locks and traps we find on these doors. The third door she tries to open is the southern door on the east side of the hallway. This one gave her some trouble as she gets pelted by small darts after tripping the trap on a failed lockpicking attempt. Fortunately she is able to shake off their poison effect and continue trying her luck. This time, however, Renaldine holds the shield gifted to her by Seraphina over Freya as she tries a second time. It proves to be unnecessary as she is able to unlock the door on the next attempt.
 
The final door we have yet to unlock is that magically trapped door from before. Renaldine once again holds her shield over Freya in hopes to curb whatever might fire from the gemstone above should she fail to unlock the door. Having seemingly no way of disarming the magical trap, she attempts to simply unlock the door. She does so successfully. However, this, as we expected, triggered the trap. The gem glows briefly before firing off Magic Missiles at each of us standing within its range. Unfortunately Renaldine's shield is unable to stop these missiles as they're able to reach around cover. But just before getting hit, Freya quickly casts her Shield spell, which negates the effects of Magic Missile. Good thinking, Freya! The rest of us get pelted. We rest for a short time before continuing as obviously this room must be heavily guarded for a reason.
 
After resting, Zugg Zugg opens the door slowly and quietly. This time, Freya, Baloo and I take a further step or two back from the door as the trap is sprung once again. The other two are pelted once more. Zugg Zugg looks inside and finds nothing but absolute darkness. He asks if any of us have the ability to see through darkness. Freya is able to do so, and I have Hellsight, which allows me to see magically-hidden creatures. We hear a sound from inside. Zugg Zugg takes a step back, allowing Renaldine to enter with her Spirit Guardians surrounding her in case she runs into trouble, which she inevitably does. Freya enters and begins casting Fireball once again. We can't help but groan as she does so because, after what happened last time with Seraphina, we just know we're about to hear Renaldine scream. But, to our relief, she does not. Freya expertly launches her fireball such that it engulfs just the enemy inside. I wouldn't call it redemption, necessarily, but it's a step in the right direction! I make my way inside and cast my Hellsight ability to allow to see where the enemy is hidden. I'm able to find him easily enough. I make my way past Freya and stand next to Renaldine, who is now gravely injured and close to being taken out by what I now see is a black abishai. After getting a couple Baleful Interdicts on him, I firmly grip my sword with both hands, invoke The Wolf's Bite for the first time, calling for the assistance of Valthorn in my swing, before bringing it down upon the creature. Valthorn's assistance proves fruitful as my greataxe finds purchase with the abishai, cutting a horn off its head before consuming his seals to blow a hole in its chest. It's done for.
 
Renaldine thanks me for saving her, though I feel like it's what anyone would've done. I help her out as much as I can by using my Infernal Conduit to heal her, giving her some of my own health in the process. I'm well aware she can heal herself, but I told her to save some spells in case they're needed later. After checking for anything of importance. We find some coin on the abishai, as well as the scimitar it hadn't yet had the chance to use on us. What really caught our eyes, though, was a note written in Infernal, which I was able to interpret. It mentioned something about "the experiment" and how it's "of the utmost importance to take her wings".
 
On seeing this, we immediately made the decision to take what we've found with us back to Urithiru instead of continuing our expedition through the castle.
 
Our time here is not yet finished.