Pahhu Kilaniu
The Continuum Chaser Pahhu Kilaniu (a.k.a. Disguise Names: Juniper, Persimmon or Percy)
Keywords Time, Temporal, Chronomancer, Chronomancy, Temporal Energy Plane, Tinker, Spaz
Major Themes Speed, Mobility, Time-Slowing, Time-Stopping, Rhythm, Hit-&-Run Combat, Spells That Erode Foes Entropically
Goals "I’m trying to understand my temporal manipulation powers and in doing so may uncover my origin and come to understand myself. **Ongoing.**
I like to make new friends and like growing my family, everyone who lives in Hyssop Home is my cousin!
I’m not good at anything but my magic, if I can’t keep using it I will have to find a way of life and I’m afraid of failure.
I have sworn an oath to maintain the continuum and safeguard the sanctity of time itself.
I must stabilize the Temporal Energy Plane by defeating Cergos and any others who would violate the plane.
I must establish a clock tower at Lake Eredruie; this is a divine mission given to me by Labelas Enoreth.
I must establish a group of Continuum Chasers to investigate the chaos caused by the Glaemril and Ashaba rivers, and the city of Driftriver."
Development Arc Pahhu's development arc is a coming of age storyline in which she comes to term with her sorcerous origin and the circumstances around her birth. As Pahhu adventures and her magical abilities develop she eventually struggles to contain the enormous and dangerous temporal energy. This drives her on a journey to find a way to control herself and discover the source of her power, coming to terms with her abandonment as a child through finding closure with her family. Pahhu finds purpose in succeeding her parents and using her powers to bring some stability to the timeline.
Personality Traits "I am quick to jump to conclusions, and even quicker to run with assumptions.
I stay in constant motion, and can be uncomfortable with mental and physical stillness."
Ideals "Familial piety. My family is the most important to me, and all of my friends are welcome to join it. It can keep getting bigger! (Good)
I can't help but tinker with things and get myself involved in all kinds of trouble. (Chaotic)"
Bonds "Ed is my big cousin and is always there for me.
I have the biggest family of anybody, with my paw, my nan, all the aunties and uncles, and dozens of cousins!
I maintain a clock tower. I find the ticking sound to be calming and help me focus.
The bonds we make extend beyond time, space, life and death. My friends and family mean more than anything to me."
Flaws "I am very dirty and make a mess where ever I go, often trailing dust.
I eat like a pig and have bad manners, in part due to my buck teeth."
Role they fill in a group Pahhu is a flanking skirmisher capable of engaging in melee and rapidly exiting from the frontline. Pahhu's primary magical function is that of utility, she seeks to control enemies, enhance allies and then move about the battlefield to maximize her impact. Pahhu is capable of minor healing and is tough enough to hold the frontline for brief moments.
OOC
What kind of games do you like? Pahhu thrives in environments where she is a support. Not coherent enough to be a main party's personality, not intelligent enough to lead, she is capable of finding creative solutions to a wide variety of issues. Pahhu is momentum and will keep any game rolling as long as the game has somewhere to flow.
Rate the following 1-7, 1 being most
Storytelling 4
Problem Solving 5
Exploring 7
Acting 2
Instigating 6
Fighting 1
Optimizing 3
Species
Race Half-Elf
Subrace Half Wood-Elf
Clan or Subdivision Father was a Human, member of the Bedine Tribes. Mother was a Wood-Elf, member of the Frozen Forest Tribes.
Alignment
Orderliness Pahhu is on the Chaotic side of Neutral; she believes in universalism as she was raised in an environment where all the orphans were treated evenly. She understands the world has rules but struggles to understand them, particularly as the laws of the universe relate to her temporal magic.
Goodness Pahhu is Good; her life is built on the generosity and kindness of others. She set out into the world to make it a better place and find a way she could contribute while minimizing her own harm.
Locus of Motivation Pahhu is primarily extrinsically motivated. She is aware of her flaws and seeks help and approval from those around her, often seeking guidance in how she should behave. Pahhu is quick to act on her instincts but also quick to change her mind.
Social Investment Pahhu lacks the confidence to go through life alone. She relies on trustworthy figures to keep her out of trouble and provide her with a sense of what is right and true vs daydream or fancy.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Health & Fitness Pahhu has a lithe build with wiry strength, having the physique of a sprinter and very low body fat. Her elven heritage is clear given her long legs, small frame and light step. Despite her light frame she has supple musculature and moves with great flexibility and grace as she bounces from distraction to distraction.
Abnormalities & Illnesses Pahhu is abnormally dirty. Dust seems to gather and cling to her, similar to the way an object carrying a static charge draws dust and particulates. No matter how often she is bathed or cleaned the dust quickly collects. The rate of dust gathering is proportional to her magic use.
Body Features
Body Shape Pahhu has long shapely legs, with a short narrow torso and small breasts. Her shoulders are pulled back and her posture shows slight lordosis, emphasizing her low center of gravity.
Body Features Pahhu has no body hair, it seems as if any hair has been sand-blasted from her body. Her skin is somewhat rough due to being under a constant layer of grit.
Facial Features
Facial Features Pahhu has a round face with large pronounced facial features, from large slate blue eyes to a large mouth which struggle to contain her buck teeth. Pahhu's smile is something she tries to keep hidden so that others don't see her teeth, but she often forgets when genuinely laughing.
Hairstyle Pahhu has chin-length black-blue hair which she wears with loose bangs over her forehead that fall to the side due to a natural cowlick. The rest of her hair is pulled back into twin buns that she typically keeps tucked under her hood.
Facial Hair Pahhu has no facial hair.
Identifying Characteristics
Identifying Features Pahhu's strongest identifying features are her deeply tanned skin combined with her black-blue hair and eyes.
Physical quirks
Physical Quirks Pahhu's twin-bun hairstyle and prominent buckteeth combined with her dirty and shabby appearance often had her called 'mousegirl' or worse 'ratgirl' as she was growing up. Pahhu didn't understand the insult, and having worked many dirty jobs in small places came to find a certain kinship with mice and rats.
Special abilities
Talents Pahhu is naturally very dextrous and capable of working with small objects and tools in tight spaces. She is also blessed with a very strong sense of rhythm which lends to skilled drumborine play. Pahhu can dance fairly well given her kinesthetic senses and rhythm but she is a terrible singer.
Physiological Pahhu is a natural born sprinter and gymnast. She is capable of tremendous feats of mobility, parkour and tumbling as she weaves through the battlefield. She is difficult to impossible to catch or predict and can overcome difficult or broken terrain with ease.
Social Pahhu is charming in the way that children often are. She often drags others along in conversation as they 'play along' for fun, but soon they find themselves too far gone to be able to escape the results.
Spiritual Pahhu has no spiritual blessings or alignment. While she prays to Ilmater to offer thanks and repeats the prayers when evoking healing spells the magic she is using is temporal.
Magical Pahhu is a natural born sorceress gifted with the incredible power to manipulate time by drawing on the Temporal Energy Plane. Pahhu does this by creating friction and static, rubbing the planes together and scratching rifts and tears into the Temporal Energy Plane releasing bursts of magical energy that she harnesses. This power seemingly comes from her bloodline. She also has a natural affinity with the earth and air elements, particularly of dust, sand, wind and static electricity. Pahhu is particularly capable of manipulating the dust of the Temporal Energy Plane, even crystalizing it into a light-blue quartz like crystal which flashes with light as if a cloud in a thunderstorm.
Apparel & Accessories
Style Pahhu favors loose clothing that allows her to move as freely as possible. She typically binds the clothing using wraps to try to keep the dust and sand out of her clothes, but some always manages to find a way in. She favors whites, warm yellows, and shades of blue. Pahhu often keeps a hood and muffler in her outfits, to keep the sand out of her mouth and hair as well as to hide her buck teeth.
Clothing Pahhu can most often be found wearing light grey robes of Labelas Enoreth, a prize she discovered in Charva's Sanctuary and clothing that has familial importance to her. These garments are white robes decorated with setting and rising suns along the trim. She also wears a long vest tunic and harem pants, flowing clothes which allow her to move quickly. She does not wear any armor.
Identifiers Pahhu wears a Driftriver B.A.S.E. badge and has the emblem of Hyssop Home stitched into the muffler she wears around her neck.
Accessories Pahhu keeps a number of trinkets that she has attached sentimental value to. Pahhu wears ornamental clockpieces as decoration and uses them as calibration tools when considering temporal magic and coordinates. Good luck charms collected by her, or given to her by other orphans. These include small strings of mismatched beads, a lucky-squirrel's tail, a bandana and a bracelet.
Casual Clothes Pahhu dresses in simple loose shorts and a crop-top along with a lighter hood and face scarf when in casual clothing.
Specialized Equipment
Weapons Pahhu wields the minute-hand of Secomber's clock tower she has named 'The Clock Strikes.' This minute hand was struck by lightning in the storm that ultimately destroyed the mechanisms of the tower. Approximately three and a half feet long the weapon serves Pahhu's only weapon. She carries a simple dagger on her belt, but mostly uses it as a tool.
Armor Pahhu wears no armor. She is protected by the dust clinging to her, which assists in deflecting blows, forming a stone-like exterior. She does carry an old wooden round shield with the numerals of the clock painted on it. The clock has no hands; they seem to have broken off long ago.
Tools Pahhu carries thieves' tools; a set of goblin toothpicks she found early in her adventures. She also carries a disguise kit which is primarily using some of her extra clothing and trinkets to change her looks. She carries some clockwork tinker tools in the field but the majority of her collection remains at home.
Special Items Pahhu's favorite magic items are her eversmoking bottle, her illusory drumborine, lantern of revealing and her orb of time or 'Stork Egg.' She also owns a Mirror of the Past, a powerful divine artifact.
Spellcasting Focus Pahhu's focus is her magical lightning-struck rapier. The weapon is a natural bardic focus as it is a weapon of song and she has bound a ruby of the warmage which allows her to use the weapon as a sorcerer focus, by which she carves open rifts to the Temporal Energy Plane. She carries a component pouch for other spell components.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Full Backstory in Journals
Childhood Pahhu was an abandoned child left at the Bound Hands Orphanage in Secomber. She was adopted by Quinton and Imna Arnjaunor. Her childhood was spent in the orphanage's early struggling years. She was one of the first generation of the orphans.
Teenager Pahhu's teenage years were spent working odd jobs and as an apprentice to the local tinker of Secomber. She cared for the clock tower of the city and completed her education. Pahhu's magical abilities began to strongly manifest in her teenage years.
Adulthood Pahhu lives as an adventurer working in the Hawthorne Guild. Her magical abilities reached a critical threshold where the potency was disrupting and damaging space and time nearby. She began a journey to find a way to control her powers beginning the Shifting Sands of Time campaign.
Gender Identity
Gender Identity Female, Tomboy
Sexuality
Sexuality Pahhu has yet to develop a significant sense of sexuality. She is interested and curious but due to being considered generally unattractive or unwanted she does not have any confidence in her attractiveness. She has at most experienced self-exploration.
Type Attracted To By Abilities: +INT, +WIS, +DEX, -CHA. STR/CON neutral. Probably a tinkerer or a thinker type who is more of a maker and doer of things, the kind of person who gets ideas and does them rather than simply theorizes. Intelligent people impress her because she isn't very bright. She likes more of an engineer type than anything else. She likes upfront and honest people who are generally incapable of guile as she doesn't understand why people are so complicated or carry shame.
Libido Pahhu is a late bloomer with a low libido given her elven heritage. She rarely thinks in sexual terms about situations, but does understand dirty jokes.
Promiscuity Pahhu has minimal experience beyond self exploration. She is not easily propositioned or seduced.
Education
Education Level Basic education; Pahhu performed poorly in her education and continues to struggle with math and complex reading. She has more practical skills, particularly skills relying on dexterity such as tinkering.
Notable Masters Pahhu worked under tinker and clocksmith of Secomber. Sister Vifi Hovruda was her primary teacher in the orphanage.
Employment
Employment History Pahhu has only worked odd and typically dirty jobs. She has worked as a chimneysweep, worked in crawlspaces and attics, a tinker's apprentice and an adventurer.
Current Work Pahhu works as an adventurer in Driftriver and as a Time Warden for Labelas Enoreth.
Side Jobs Pahhu maintains the clocktower of Hyssop Home. She is the primary reason the tower needs maintenance as well.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Accomplishments & Achievements Pahhu has been involved in the Shifting Sands of Time campaign to try to prevent catastrophe through temporal unraveling of the Prime Material Plane. Pahhu has controlled an entire squadron of Zhentarim with a single spell.
Greatest Memories Pahhu's happiest moment was probably going on an adventure with Ed, Lavia and Merric. Saddest moment was seeing Thyse in the afterlife.
Failures & Embarrassments
Failures & Embarassments Pahhu’s schooling is likely her greatest failure. Much to the frustration of the teachers of Hyssop Home.
Worst Memories Pahhu's scariest moment was when Zuha nearly killed everybody.
Mental Trauma
Mental Trauma Pahhu is afraid of Yuan-Ti, despite the fact that she is close to Ed. She has been made afraid of them through encounters and through seeing them harm her friends terribly.
Phobias Pahhu has no major phobias or madness.
Intellectual Characteristics
Intellectual Characteristics Pahhu is rambunctious, curious and quick to jump to conclusions. She will drag others down her line of thinking through sheer momentum if possible.
Confidence Pahhu is not very confident in any of her traits or abilities. She believes herself to be dirty, unattractive, unintelligent, immature and unable to control her power. She doubts herself often and is easily shaken or made afraid.
Morality & Philosophy
Philosophical views Pahhu has no core philosophy to her life. She believes in a natural sense of equality and liberty but does not believe she knows how to live her own life well, nevermind how to tell others. Pahhu sees life as a series of decisions which weave the future. She believes in protecting future liberty and past liberty equally, individuals should make their own decisions and have their past decisions protected from meddling.
Views on Religion Pahhu has lived a life of hard knocks and failure. She is a believer in Ilmater and sees religion as the reason she is alive. Pahhu is a recent convert to the faith of Labelas Enoreth. She serves the Lord of the Continuum as a uniquely positioned Time Warden. She is very open minded towards others' religion and is very open to religious discussion and learning.
Views on Magic Pahhu is incapable of understanding the intellectual complexities of traditional arcane magic. She has minor talents in bardic spellcasting, but her innate sorcerery shapes her view. To her magic is something she feels intrinsically and understands through her own senses.
Views on Society Pahhu likes living in places with lots of people and being around large social groups. These groups make her feel safe and give her a place to thrive and find validation, advice, and feedback.
Taboos
Taboos Pahhu does not permit others to damage the timeline, particularly the past. Pahhu sees drinking alcohol as taboo and has been told to stay away from it. This is likely due to her already out of control nature and the risks of her magic if she were drunk.
Enemies Pahhu has a number of enemies made during her adventuring career, particularly the half-mechanoid lich-like creatures from the Temporal Energy Plane as well as Yuan-Ti Worshippers of Sseth. Pahhu has made enemies of the Zhentarim and the Black Network as well.
Racial Friction Pahhu has no racial enemies.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Reason for Becoming an Adventurer Pahhu saw Quinton get involved and when Ed looked to begin working outside the orphanage she was quick to follow. She was tired of being useless and a nuisance at home.
Goals "I’m trying to understand my temporal manipulation powers and in doing so may uncover my origin and come to understand myself. **Ongoing.**
I like to make new friends and like growing my family, everyone who lives in Hyssop Home is my cousin!
I’m not good at anything but my magic, if I can’t keep using it I will have to find a way of life and I’m afraid of failure."
Positives, Ego Boosters General hijinks, successfully controlling her magic, successfully holding and locking down foes.
Negatives, Fears Pahhu no longer fears she is the source of temporal damage threatening the planes. Pahhu now fears others like her coming to power without guidance, knowing she barely threaded the needle.
Guarded Secrets Pahhu once had a run-in with a were-rat. She secretly thinks that her buck teeth might have something to do with that, despite being cured. She thinks mice and rats are cute.
Desired Objects or Knowledge Pahhu has learned the truths behind her parentage as well as the key to controlling her power. Pahhu now seeks to understand time on a deeper level, mastering her power and her purpose.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Greatest Strengths Pahhu’s greatest strength is her speed with which she confounds enemies and controls space.
Greatest Weaknesses Pahhu’s greatest weakness is her weak mindset. She is easily influenced and controlled by others, both through words and spells. General cleanliness is hard for her.
Natural Ineptitudes Book learning, intellectual pursuits, a clean or orderly life.
Likes & Dislikes
Favorite Color Warm yellows, dark blues.
Favorite Foods, Flavors Hot Cocoa. Pahhu enjoys bittersweet and sour flavors. She dislikes heavy grease and very fatty foods. Pahhu struggles with spicy foods.
Treasured Items Her swaddling blanket, which is her only tie to her parents.
Other Favored Things Pahhu has a wide collection of clockworks in many states of disrepair. She intends to fix them all but often ends up building very pointless machines out of the bits.
Dislikes and Hates Pahhu dislikes dishonesty and cruelty. Pahhu dislikes judgemental behavior.
Virtues & Personality perks
Virtues Pahhu is friendly and curious. She is genuinely entertaining and fun to be around.
Perks Pahhu is genuinely approachable. Very few people can be intimidated by her, given her clear lack of social status or position.
Vices & Personality flaws
Vices Pahhu is a very slow developer, intellectually, emotionally and physically.
Flaws Pahhu has poor focus and limited mental vision. She relies on others to understand the importance of situations.
Personality Quirks
Ticks & Quirks Pahhu sucks her teeth when thinking about or considering situations. Pahhu is quick to hide her face to avoid judgment and avoid getting dust and sand in her mouth. Pahhu will constantly fidget when sitting still, such as swinging her legs under a chair or bench or bouncing her leg.
Comfort Items Pahhu carries various trinkets and good luck charms, gifts from her cousins at the orphanage. These items provide her comfort and remind her of their advice.
Hygiene
Hygiene & Grooming Pahhu has very poor personal hygiene. She has terrible eating habits, in part due to her terrible teeth. She struggles to maintain any cleanliness or presentability due to her constantly being coatedin dust from the use of her magic. Pahhu has no body hair to groom and does not take particular care of her skin or hair.
Vanity & Modesty Pahhu has very little vanity or modesty. She believes herself to be unattractive and grew up in shared spaces. Because of that has no qualms over showing her body as she does not believe anything will be taken from seeing her.
Tolerances Pahhu does not judge others for poor hygiene or grooming. She knows what it is like to be judged and seen as kin to rats.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Birth Situation Pahhu was born into the migrant Felfarren Bedine Tribe. Her parents were bound to take a journey and were unable to care for her, choosing to give her up before completing a holy mission.
Birth City The Anauroch Desert, with the Felfarren Bedine Tribe. Soon after abandoned at the Bound Hands Orphanage in Secomber.
City Size and Character https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Secomber
Influence on Background Pahhu grew up in the relatively small town of Secomber taking odd jobs and working a brief apprenticeship. The city had no particularly strong influence on her background, though the threat of goblins did influence her learning the goblin language.
How did you become a ‘’insert class’’ Pahhu is a natural sorceress. Her dabbling bardic magic occured almost by happenstance due to her acute understanding of rhythm.
Current Residence Hyssop Home, The City of Driftriver
Goal Residence Hyssop Home, The City of Driftriver
Caretakers Quinton and Imna Arnjaunor, the Sisterhood of Ilmater at Hyssop Home.
Wards Pahhu is not responsible for any individuals or pets.
Role-Model or Past Hero Pahhu has no role model as she doesn't see herself in other people. She deeply respects Ed and thinks of him as a hero to the other children of the orphanage.
Rival or Enemy Pahhu’s greatest enemy are the mechanoid humanoid undeads from the Temporal Energy Plane. She is also wanted by the Gith and the Yuan-Ti worshippers of Sseth.
Friends Pahhu's greatest friends are Ed and Theodore. Pahhu has a good relationship with Rajit, who is her roommate. Two of Pahhu's greatest friends, Thyse and Merric, are deceased.
Major Allies Pahhu has significant contact and a relationship with the Bedine Tribes, as she shares a heritage with them and has battled the Zhentarim on the behalf of the tribes.
Family Ties
Parents, Siblings and Details Abaka Felfarren, Father. Discovered much later in life. Sariandi Morvyre. Discovered much later in life. The two are related to Amaunator and Labelas Enoreth in the management of the continuum.
Relationship with Family Pahhu sought her parents in the afterlife, discovering their spirits continuing their service at the foot of the Vanishing Tower. Pahhu has reconnected with them and has enjoyed a re-established relationship.
Family Goals Pahhu is too young to be thinking of raising a family just yet. Her unstable magics would make pregnancy very difficult.
Religious Views
Family Spirituality Biological Family: Amaunator, Labelas Enoreth. Childhood Family: Ilmater, The Triad.
Spiritual Beliefs Pahhu is a believer in Ilmater. She has recently learned more of Amaunator and Labelas Enoreth, and while she wore the robes of Labelas Enoreth she has only recently joined the faithful, becoming a Time Warden.
Spiritual Enemies Pahhu views no god as an enemy but she has made enemies of the Netherese Restorationists who worship Amaunator and the Yuan-Ti worshippers of Sseth.
Social Aptitude
Personality Type ENFP
Action Profile Pahhu is a highly reactionary type who rarely takes charge for fear of making mistakes. She feeds off others reacting to her reactions and can quickly gain unstoppable momentum when unchecked. She tends to rely on her own mistaken understanding in these cases and hopes for the best.
Introvert or Extrovert Pahhu is extroverted and feeds on the energy of others. She does well in almost any social situation, and quickly disarms others with her honesty and approachability.
Avoidant or Direct Pahhu is avoidant of stressful situations and problems in general given her lack of confidence. She does best in situations with low expectations.
Mannerisms
Mannerisms Pahhu can go from withdrawn and quiet to talking too much in a single moment. She tends to say way too much and broach sensitive topics such as romance, parenthood and religion without any ceremony or consideration.
Etiquette Pahhu does not observe any etiquette or social norms in general. She seems oblivious of them.
Hobbies & Pets
Hobbies Pahhu views motion as a hobby and often goes for runs and parkour exercise. She regularly exercises and stays in motion. When sitting still Pahhu tends to tinker and work with delicate tools, keeping her hands working. She also enjoys music and dance and has no shame in getting a dance started by herself.
Profession if not Adventurer Pahhu would likely be working odd jobs and be a burden for Hyssop Home. It is unlikely she would be seen as marriage material.
Speech
Speech Pahhu speaks in a very simple way. She uses a lot of simple words to communicate ideas and delivers them in a rambling stream of consciousness method of delivery.
Accent Pahhu has no accent, but has a very minor lisp due to her oversized teeth.
Wealth & Financial state
Lifestyle Pahhu lives a comfortable lifestyle far below her means. She doesn't know the value of luxury and wouldn't know how to appreciate it even if she had it.
Values Pahhu takes a live and let live approach to life. She focuses on the let live aspect, and is not particularly aggressive. She values honesty, discussion and friendship.
An orphaned half-elf child raised in the Bound Hands Orphanage now better known as part of Hyssop Home. Began adventuring as a way to keep up with her peers. Her magical talents have begun to cause significant trouble as her temporal powers have grown.
Current Location
Hyssop Home, City of Driftriver
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Titles The Continuum Chaser, Time Warden of Labelas Enoreth, Time Breaker
Story Awards & Renown Pahhu has progressed down the path of control in the Shifting Sands of Time, gaining bonuses to controlling temporal magic. Pahhu has been accepted into the faith of Labelas Enoreth as a Time Warden.
Infamy & Criminal Record Pahhu has some infamy as the Time Breaker, a potential blight on the prime material plane.
Date of Birth
1 Tarsakh, 1473. Precise Date of Birth Unknown as she was abandoned. Given age at adoption and situation she has celebrated on 1 Tarsakh.
Children
Gender
Female
Eyes
Slate Blue
Hair
Black-Blue
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Sandy Tan
Height
4'11"
Weight
91 lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
Quotes "They say you can make time, lose time or buy time, but you always pay for it."
Catchphrases "Yahhu!"
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Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 22: Welcome Home Party
DAY 166
(It is on this day that the events of If I’m here, then… what’s happened to the rest of them? Occur in the Driftriver session archives. In this time Hyssop Home was nearly destroyed as detailed below.)
DAY 223
Theodore returned to Arvandor, a bearer of most unusual news. The far realm had once again struck Hyssop Home, and in a truly chaotic warping of space and time the entire home had been ripped from the earth and displaced, thrown across the continent of Faerun and mysteriously pulled to a city by the Ashaba river; the city of Driftriver. While Theodore had been investigating the city for months before the arrival of many of his friends, he soon found himself offering assistance to Quinton and Hulfgar as they struggled to ensure the safety of the orphans. It had taken some time for him to find a chance to return to Arvandor to tell Pahhu of what had occured, and that quite unknowingly she had moved homes.
Pahhu welcomed her friend back to Arvandor, quite happy to see him. Eager to tell him of her accomplishments she was shushed by Theodore who told her the news of the accident- and the casualities. Pahhu sucked her teeth as she listened, but she listened to Theodore completely before asking quick and pointed questions. Theodore soon came to realize Pahhu was a changed woman, no longer the frantic little girl she had been. She seemed more mature and calm though he could still sense her devilish mayhem and nonlinear thinking.
Pahhu sought permission from the Lord of the Continuum to leave the tower and return to her Hyssop Home family. Labelas Enoreth agreed on the condition that Pahhu investigate the occurrence of “Drifters” supposed travelers from other crystal spheres and odd planes; but most importantly some claimed to be of different times. These unusual travelers seemed to be concentrated about this city of Driftriver, in fact it seemed to exert some manner of mystical pull which was capable of drawing people, monsters, and even houses. The Lord of the Continuum Commanded: “I shall call you to Lake Eredruie, the mouth of the Glaemril River when your time has come to answer me on this matter.”
Theodore guided Pahhu through the new city, the clean stone pavement and uniform construction of the buildings making it obvious to Pahhu that this was not an old city full of history. The top-hatted gentleman lead her to a simple tavern in the Lahaina docks district. The bar itself was fashioned with a sandstone facade and seemed to be intended to cater towards visitors who might be more comfortable with desert travel, perhaps from the Anauroch desert or eastern Calimshan. Inside the pair found business to be booming, the bar seemingly a popular place for traveling mercenaries as a fairly large mercenary company filled most of the seats in the bar. The bartender swooped about the room as a talented showman, the house special seemingly a flaming goblet of some spiced alcohol.
As the bartender came to their table Pahhu quickly recognized his accent as that of the Bedine tribesmen she knew herself to be kin of. They discussed what had happened after the group had chased off the Zhent. The man revealed that the Zhent had stopped harrying them but the tribe had decided not to tempt fate and many of them had left to pursue their fortunes elsewhere. When asked about Elder Habib they soon learned that he was able to live his last few days peacefully with the tribe before passing, and that after his passing Lyndia had left the tribe with few words. While most of the tribe had survived it seemed their way of life in the desert had been changed forever. Pahhu promised the man she would do what she could to fix the situation, and also promised to keep visiting; after all they were distant cousins!
The group soon fell into discussing old times; it had been nearly half a year since their last gathering. Ed filled Pahhu in on the happenings with Hyssop Home, and the wreckage they had cleared, as well as the casualties of the attack and the missing persons including the lost child, Timmy. Ed told Pahhu of Quinton’s plans for a new home, and that all would make a full recovery in time with the exclusion of the planar disposition of poor Timmy.
The trio soon recognized Moyra, a dwarven woman who they had adventures with together in the past, particularly appreciating her help in the resurrection of Charva in his sanctuary long ago. They invited her over to the table and Moyra joined them, bringing Kur her enormous feline companion along with her. The conversation soon turned to the more distant past, and the life of adventuring they had all shared as well as the mission they had not been able to complete previously.
After briefly hitting on a specific shared memory which they all shared together in which Pahhu had once teleported Theodore into the air, where he assumed the form of a quetzacoatl, and then Pahhu enhanced him with hastening magic as the two had divebombed a bloated hag and split her asunder with the sheer impact of the blow. In the moment of nostalgia Pahhu whisked Theodore away into the sky with a short range teleport, and the two went for a quick joyride over the city as Theodore showed her the new city that her extended family had moved to.
Meanwhile in the bar the flamboyant leader of the mercenary troupe approached a rather pretty young woman with striking blue eyes and brilliant red hair. The man introduced himself with great confidence and began to introduce himself as a hunter of mass murderers but he was rebuffed by the young woman who simply found it odd that such a group would even exist in this odd place.
The woman, Piper Porfirio was a young half-elf who had only recently come to Driftriver to pursue her patron’s interests. Ruuk, a genie of the earthen strain had dispatched Piper to seek out a Druid capable of establishing a link to the plane of earth and call forth a particular being. The person she was looking for was on the posh side, an adventurer who should be in the bar this night.
A middle aged man entered the bar, wearing an unusually tall hat, quickly calling the attention of the mercenary leader with a vocalized greeting. The two men approached each other and sat amongst the lieutenants of the group as they began a discussion. Curious as a cat Kur sauntered over to the group and lay on the floor thumping his tail and blinking sleepily. Moyra listened in on the conversation through Kur’s ears, her curiosity also piqued.
The mercenary troupe discussed the bounty they were hunting. A group known as mass murderers and wanted by Thay for killing mercenaries and military assets. The primary target among them was a young half-elven woman with blue-black hair, blue eyes and who often wore a white robe. The mercenary leader glanced over towards Piper but quickly shook his head, even if she had the eyes and the robe to an extent, there was no way that that brilliant red hair could be black underneath. The contact then went on to detail other individuals, a top-hatted druid in a dark suit, a paladin of unknown race in shimmering plate, a blue-cloaked madwoman, a calimshan assassin, a stoic firbolg and an energetic gnome.
Almost seemingly on cue two individuals matching the description entered the bar as Pahhu an Theodore returned from their joyride. They walked right by the table and made their way to their friends in the back. In an instant all eyes were on them. Moyra quickly passed on what she’d heard to Ed, and the yuan-ti rose to his feet almost as quickly as the mercenaries across the room.
The tall-hatted man quickly began to make his exit hastily as he sensed trouble was soon to erupt in the bar. Ed and the troupe leader faced off against each other. The situation was obvious, and both sides knew that there was little chance of this ending easily. Regardless Ed attempted to magically suggest the man depart, and surprisingly the spell took effect. Even as he turned to leave though one of his companions realized the magic that had been used and dispelled the leader. The battle was joined as nearly 15 mercenaries faced down the group in the corner.
Pahhu was quickly singled out by the enemy forces and they began a withering assault of crossbow fire and magic missiles. Moyra and Ed quickly leapt to the front to form a bastion of defense and establish a line of protection, with Moyra calling forth spiritual guardians to encircle the group. Theodore attempted one last time to defuse the situation by demanding obedience using the Rod of Yagya Karn, and even though nearly half of the mercenaries were forced to bend knee to Theodore it lasted only momentarily as another caster was able to dispel the enchantment. It was becoming clear there was no way to stop this battle from turning ugly. Moyra’s companion, the angel Eleanore quickly swooped over and attempted to protect Piper, the woman seemingly caught as a bystander in the escalating barfight. She ushered Piper behind Ed and Moyra and blessed the front line.
Spells began flying as eruptions of magic began to tear through the bar as waves of frigid energy were punctuated by massive burning explosions, the bar furniture being vaporized and scattered in the pressure waves. The party weathered the assault behind Ed’s dampening aura as the energy rolled off them in waves.
Pahhu, dashed behind a half of a table and began to concentrate temporal energy out of sight of enemy counter-spellers, before vaulting over the half-table and unleashing the most powerful temporal hold she had ever attempted. Five of the mercenaries were paralyzed instantly in the wave of temporal distortion. Taking advantage of the situation Moyra began to approach, the mercenaries burning in her holy light as she raised her great dwarven warhammer and vanished in a blur of heat, the sound of a hammer on a forge ringing out as many mercenaries were struck by an enormous wave of force as Moyra swiftly struck with a steel wind strike.
The mercenaries continued their focus, and began to wear Pahhu down, their sustained assault beginning to threaten her concentration on the temporal magic holding their allies. A massive earthen hand materialized in the room and slammed into one of the mercenaries, sending him tumbling over a table as Piper called forth the fist of her patron, Ruuk. While she wasn’t sure about the people she was standing with she did know that heroes would try to talk it out and that heroes would also try to protect innocent bystanders. The fact this group had done this meant they had to be the heroes here! She had chosen her side.
Ed soon recognized that their ringleader was the one keeping the mercenaries in line, and as the spellcasters had focused all their attention on Moyra and Piper with their flashy spells he took his chance to Banish the troupe leader. They’d deal with him later, ideally learning whatever they could from him. Above the battle Theodore swirled into the form of an air elemental, a cold wind beginning to turn and scream in the rafters as he channeled his energy into a cone of arctic cold, snap-freezing one of the mercenaries and harming many of them.
Deprived of their leader and facing an explosive answer to the aggression the mercenaries began to buckle. Moyra bounded between them, her great warhammer slamming into them, the paralyzed mercenaries unable to even attempt to avoid the assault. Pahhu also ran out from cover, running up a wall and kicking off to gain an angle and unleashing a concentrated beam of raw entropic forces. Paralyzed and unable to dodge out of the way two of the mercenaries were reduced to piles of entropic sand in but a moment.
The mercenaries rallied one last time to try to break the temporal hold and nearly laid Pahhu low with the assault, but thanks to Ed and Moyra acting together to keep her standing with potent healing the advantage was maintained. Ruuk’s fist slammed into another mercenary as crackling beams of energy flecked with gem dust arced through the bar sending a mercenary tumbling over the bar unconscious. The mercenaries were now realizing their significant disadvantage, the fight looked lost and the first began to bolt for the door
Eleanore winged over the bar to chase an assassin who had been using the counter for cover, quickly chasing him down. Pahhu seeing the escaping mercenary then chases after the fleeing one, intent on catching him. Ed chases after, wanting to make sure she stayed safe in the streets.
Theodore surrounded the remaining mercenaries in a wall of fire, preventing their escape even as the bar itself began to go up in flames. The mercenaries inside of the wall soon submitted to the heat and lack of air, and Moyra put the flames of the bar out, conjuring water to quickly douse the flames. The bar now had 13 dead mercenaries scattered about it, some having naught but dust left of them. Pahhu soon returned with Ed, dragging behind them a shackled mercenary. Ed then released his banishment, and an attempt to negotiate with the leader turned to a bloody end as he joined his fellows in death, unwilling to accept defeat.
Sirens sounded in the distance as the group spoke to the final mercenary. Realizing his utter defeat he promised to reveal all of his secrets if the group would only grant him mercy…
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.
...
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 20: Heirs and Heiresses
Two figures in light grey robes of Labelas Enoreth turned to face the newcomers. Their faces were familiar from visions in the mirror, almost perfectly so. Sariandi Morvyre and Abaka Felfarren, Pahhu’s parents. With a strangled squeak Pahhu ducked behind Jorah and Marinette and peered around from the side; her mind was racing. What were they doing here? And why robes of Labelas?
After a brief moment of surprise on both sides, Nyx held up the letter she’d received from the Dryad and offered it to Abaka, much to Sariandi’s chagrin. “I thought I’d told you to stop visiting her, dear.” The last word had a bit of edge to it, but Abaka rolled with it, giving a disarming bucktoothed smile to his wife. “She’s just a fan of my poetry darling, nothing more to it, I promise.” As the conversation turned friendly the introductions began. At last it was Pahhu’s turn.
Pahhu slunk out from behind Jorah, and Marinette and made her way far closer in the clearing. She reached up and pooled her hood back, revealing her messy twin-bun hair, and then lowered the muffler on her face. Before the two of them stood a bronze-skinned half-elf, her blue-black hair reminiscent of the man, her features similar to the woman. She was dirty, covered in an unusual grit, and as she swallowed hard her mouth opened briefly revealing a pair of prominent buckteeth which seemed oversized for her small head. She looked at her birth parents and then pulled her swaddling blanket from her pack and held it up, the embroidery showing what had become her name. “I’m… I think you read it Pahhu.”
Abaka stumbled back, being caught by Sariandi. He looked at Pahhu then back to Sariandi, then returned his gaze to the girl. Sariandi spoke first. “It looks like you were right, dear. It was the right choice. Our daughter outsurvived us in the end.” Abaka steadied himself and a huge toothy smile broke across his face. “Oh, I never thought we’d have the chance to meet you! And look at you! All grown up!”
Pahhu dropped the blanket as she registered the words “Outsurvived.” Arvandor was an afterlife for the elves. Her parents hardly looked a day older than she’d last seen in the mirror. The mirror that had been unable to show any more of the past than the high ice. Her parents had died soon after leaving her at the orphanage. “Then… it wasn’t that you didn’t want me? It was because you… had to go somewhere dangerous?”
“Oh child, you were always wanted. Our last bit of selfishness before risking it all.” Sariandi opened her arms and welcomed Pahhu into a hug. Pahhu walked stiffly towards her birth parents and nearly fell into the hug, the three of them re-uniting for the first time in twenty years. Tears ran down Pahhu’s dirty cheeks, leaving gritty streaks as she bawled. The three would stay that way for some time.
The explanations after came quickly. Pahhu’s parents had succeeded in Thamisia’s trial in the past and had set forward to reclaim the temple of time and restore balance. They explained how the tears in the planes had begun over two decades ago when the balance of the Threefold Worship had been broken. Grumbar, the earthlord provided the foundation on which all time was constructed. Labelas Enoreth maintained the continuum and safeguarded the sanctity and stability of the timeline. Amaunator illuminated the future, always uncovering new timelines and new possibilities. The three were necessary to maintain balance with time, and three sects of priests had long worked together to maintain balance.
An Earth Genasi priest by the name of Slate Seetheblast grew wrathful over the imbalance of worship. Grumbar had long seen a decline in worship, while Amaunator was resurging through his aspect of Lathander and Labelas maintained steady worship. Slate believed the only way forward was to grasp the fabric of time itself and ensure Grumbar received the proper respect. Slate seized the control stones of the temple, the very foundation on which it was built, and turned the place of worship into a place of slaughter.
The imbalance had resulted in a thickening of temporal energy as something similar to endless grinding of earth within the core began to tear at the fabric of the temporal energy plane. In places where the stress was too much it fractured and shifted, similar to great fissures in the land caused by earthquakes. Endless dust swirled within the temporal energy plane as dust storms heightened in power, threatening to overwhelm the plane as it filled with choking earth.
Pahhu’s parents and their Bedine allies had headed into the ice to try to stop Slate but had been taken by surprise to learn that Slate had been joined by the mechanoid undead lich-like being. They fought to the best of their ability but were defeated… after that they had been granted a peaceful afterlife in service to Labelas. Abaka, who primarily worshipped amaunator chose to stay with his wife in Arvandor. Since then the two had seen others try to reclaim the temple, but they never expected, nor wanted, the task to fall to their daughter.
Pahhu listened intently. She understood almost intrinsically some aspects of what had happened, even understanding that her father had lost his future and in doing so had fallen from Amaunator. But what she felt most closely was the relationship of the gods, and the energies of the temporal energy plane. She had always had a special affinity with stone and earth. The influence on the temporal energy plane had also not been a case of her reaching into plane and borrowing the power but it was coming from within. Was she attuned to the earthen power of the plane, or was it as Thamisia had said something within her bloodline? How did these things come together? Her mother’s faith in Labelas, her father’s faith in Amaunator and her attunement to stone and earth?
“We beat him up a few times.” Pahhu pulled her bangs down over half her face and began mimicking the robotic behavior of the lich. Abaka withdrew in horror, but soon relaxed as he realized Pahhu was speaking truthfully. They had encountered the horrible creature and defeated it. “Well kid, you’re a lot stronger than mom and I ever were then… Maybe Thamisia chose you all for a reason.”
Abaka sighed. “This whole mess has been a long time coming, and I never would’ve wanted this to fall on you. Any of you, for that matter. The ever grinding of Grumbar though will not stop unless balance is restored… I’m sure the big guy upstairs will wanna talk to you soon, but first he’s not coming back until all the court representatives get ‘off his lawn’ as he puts it.”
Abaka would launch into another explanation. As time had become warped with damage it was impacting other planes. The feywild had fallen into seasonal imbalance. The season of winter was growing dominant over the others, and the Winter Eladrin Court was growing in power. The other courts had sent representatives to seek Labelas Enoreth’s intervention and the restoration of balance. If not then winter would grow to overtake the feywild, and eventually all would be ice and dust.
“It’s not just the feywild. The imbalance will come to impact all planes. Eventually all will be winter, darkness air and dust. The death of heat, the end of time.” Abaka said the last words almost reverentially as if it was a simultaneously terrifying and sacred thing to consider. “Well, it won’t happen as long as Amaunator keeps things burning and shows us the future though.” He smiled, breaking the grim moment.
The party was tasked with seeking out the leaders of the four courts.
To the north was the winter court and the snow queen, a servant to the queen of air and darkness. She is here to make sure that winter prevails over everything, and it is. She's happy, and won't look to negotiate easily. It will take a hard bargain to drive her away.
To the west was the spring court and the queen of witches. She had mighty bears as pets of which she is very proud. They are dangerous but possess a dangerous primal beauty. She has problems with winter encroaching on spring and it has destabilized the balance of the court back home in the Feywild.
To the south was the summer court and the moonlit king. He was a family man, representing the court to appease his angry wife over the encroaching cold. He had brought his son with him and is eager to complete his mission so he may return home quickly.
To the east was the autumn court and the river king. A simple man with great generosity he represents his people with honesty and integrity, but his moods is quick to change.
“The last guy is a bit wishy washy, but what can you expect?” Abaka smiled a toothy grin that Pahhu matched; it seems the teeth weren’t the only thing she got from dad, she’d gotten the puns too. “If you can get all four of them out of here peacefully, and I mean PEACEFULLY, then the big guy has promised something extra.” Abaka gestured over his shoulder to where the tower was currently absent.
“Peacefully makes things more complicated.” Rasheed mused. The party had already won some favor with the winter court, but they had done so at the risk of the relationship with the summer court. “Marinette and I will visit the winter court. We have business there.”
The remainder soon figured out their assignments as well.
To the spring court would go Theodore, Nyx and Tona.
To the summer court Pahhu would go alone.
To the fall court would go Ed and Jorah.
“Very good, on the morrow then. Tonight you will stay with us and we shall prepare robes for you all to visit the courts on our behalf.” Sariandi gestured towards the village, welcoming them in.
That night Pahhu spent much of it telling her parents her life story, about her Paw Quinton and her Nan Imna and all of her dozens of cousins at Hyssop Home including the illustrious Charva. The Labelas adherents were shocked to hear of the fall on the Prison on the Prime Material Plane. Abaka also took keen interest in the incredible mirror of the past they had found, such as relic of Amaunator was huge news to him. The remaining members of the party found the taste of Arvandor’s fine wine to be rather enjoyable, and a night of carousing lead to a night sleeping in a shallow ditch for three of the party.
DAY 56
The party woke and broke fast and changed into their robes of Labelas. They were a strange sight on the group, but the symbol would protect them from the courts. They said their goodbyes and separated, heading for the courts.
To the north the winter court announced the arrival of Marinette and Rasheed to their snow covered pond. They took an approach of flattery and honesty, acknowledging the game that the court was winning and praising them on their strength and guile. The approach went well with the queen of snow, and while not willing to surrender their position of power they agreed to vacate the premises if Rasheed would promise to continue to prove his value. The snow queen saw his talents as useful against her political adversaries and formed a contract with Rasheed, binding him with a geas. She offered a gift in exchange for his rendered services, a number of gems and a cloak of swirling snow that fell behind him as he walked. She gave him a deadine of 6 months to visit her in the Feywild or complete his task on pain of death.
To the east the autumn court demanded Ed and Jorah land from their pegasus, they were suspicious of the approach of the two armed adventurers but the king soon waved off his guards. He welcomed the two to his domain, a gurgling stream carrying autumn leaves under a great rustic stone bridge. The autumn king explained that he needed little of the two, simply that they restore order of the seasons and help him quash infighting within his court. The autumn court was in disarray, the queen of blood debts Sable had been luring many desperate souls to her side, taking advantage of the fear of the winter court. The autumn king sought assurances that this blood debt queen would be dealt with, and sealed the agreement with a geas on Ed and Jorah. The two were given small gifts, gems, a quiver, and a cloak of falling leaves. With that the autumn king departed with his retinue.
To the south Pahhu skipped up a rise in the forest, climbing a rocky cliffside towards an old stone fort where the summer court resided. She danced as she went, playing her drumborine, barely able to contain her energy and happiness. She had been blessed with reunion with her parents, and the knowledge she hadn’t been rejected; not for being dirty, not for being stupid, not even for being a time ripper or any of it. But because her parents had wanted her to live, they wanted her to have a life even if they couldn’t give it. As Pahhu approached the court she was announced by the guards, and she learned of the Moonlit King’s situation. The court possessed a mirror through which they traveled to and from the Feywild. A keystone gem had been removed from it, sabotage by the winter court perhaps. His son, Prince Erik, had gone to seek the stone and had been missing. He only wished to have his son and stone returned and he would depart for home immediately. Pahhu committed to reuniting this father with his child, having learned the joy herself only recently, and turned to head back to the clearing.
To the west Theodore, Nyx and Tona entered the grove of the queen of witches. Two enormous bears rose on their hind legs and growled warnings as they approached. Theodore and Nyx chose to befriend the queen, sweet talking her and complimenting her. The flattery was far more effective than they expected though and soon the queen of witches was swooning for Theodore’s sweet words. She promised to depart on two conditions, if Theodore would promise to take her on a date, and if they would come to the Feywild and deal with her sister Arcadia, the queen of the blaze, who sought to beat back winter by burning everything. She sealed the deal with a gift to Theodore, a ring, and a necklace for Nyx. With the agreement made the spring court made to leave.
The party gathered back in the clearing; three of the court had departed. Only the summer court remained. They spoke of the missing son and Rasheed and Marinette quickly realized the young man they’d thrown in the bushes was the missing person. The party quickly backtracked and soon discovered the mangled body of the prince. Jorah lead a ritual of resurrection and the group was able to bring Prince Erik back from the dead, and carefully guide him back to his father. On seeing the state of their son the Moonlit king chose to retreat immediately, his son would need proper care and motherly love. He gathered his entourage and made for a nearby Feywild portal.
Back at the grove they spoke to Abaka of their success, and he encouraged them to rest one more night, Labelas would see them tomorrow. Abaka assisted Theodore in the creation of a tuning fork to Arvandor, ensuring the party would find a way to return and visit even after their business was done. Another night of carousing and story telling later soon lead to peaceful rest.
A booming aged voice thundered across the clearing the next morning. “SURELY THEY WON’T KEEP ME WAITING. I HAVE NO TIME FOR SUCH RUDENESS.” The party shook awake at the bone-jarring power of the voice. They scrambled together, quickly shaking off the effects of any carousing the night before and made haste for the now visible tower, a massive platinum spire reaching towards the sky.
They soon found themselves ushered before an aged elf, one eye covered by a patch, the other grey and almost unseeing. Long grey hair matched the grey robes with blues, greens and golds decorating them. They were looking upon Labelas Enoreth, the Lord of the Continuum, a god.
The grey eye fell on them in turn. “Pfeh, rubbish, the lot of you. And a half-breed? Ah, wait.” As Labelas regarded Rasheed his tone softened. “One fullblooded amongst you. Then I shall address you. You have done as I asked and I shall repay this favor. You must make haste for the temple. Thamisia will provide you half of the key, and I shall offer you these rewards for your service.”
The god offered a silver rod crackling with blue-violet energy and a simple platinum cube an inch on each side. These were powerful relics, the rod being a spell capable of halting spell energy and storing it in stasis (a rod of absorption.) The cube however was something else entirely, a miniature version of the Vanishing Tower itself (Daern’s Instant Fortress) it was a powerful relic capable of stabilizing temporal energy. If a time magic user held it in the temporal energy plane it would project an aura of stability for 60 feet, guarding them from the ravages of entropy.
“Now go, I’ve no more time for you.” Labelas dismissed them, his cranky attitude quickly returning.
After some quick goodbyes the party gathered around Theodore as he cast the spell of Plane Shifting, returning the group to Thamisia’s temple. After filling her in on the details she parted with half of her key, a green marble hemisphere with a rune carved into the flat side. “This key will pull towards the other half. Follow it and you shall find Lostheus and the other half of the key.”
The party ascended from the hidden niche of Thamisia’s Temple and stared out over the desert. The key pulled west, but how far and to where would it lead? As they considered their approach they heard the marching of feet down the ridge.
“There they are men! We hadn’t lost the trail!” Red robed men of Thay, wizards and soldiers alike approached. They had followed the party but lost their trail, befuddled by Thamisia’s temple. “You lot have left us waiting long enough, we offered a polite invitation and you failed to reply. We’ll have to ask you to come in force now.”
The Thayans weren’t prepared for the powers they challenged, as their group was almost entirely caught in a time loop by Pahhu they were dismantled one by one as a powerful whirlwind and hail storm cut into them as the druids combined their magics. Ed, Marinette, Nyx and Tona wore them down on the front line one at a time. The Thayans were on their trail, and ever so close. What other history would haunt them now? They had no time to lose, every day the tears grew worse. The only answers lay westward...
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 19: Different Lands
DAY 50
The portal closed behind them, a final glimpse of Thamisia staring dispassionately as the planes mended and the party found themselves on an enormous tree-stump. The stump was decorated, and along the periphery a number of small homes were built into longstanding bark with signage and decor suggesting they had arrived in a bazaar. In truth they had arrived in the center of a pixie’s town square, and they were soon mobbed by curious fey.
After a brief exchange of stories and goods, including the purchase of a right bundle of pixie dust, the party learned of the general direction of the vanishing tower; it was a few days walk to the southwest. The pixies warned of the dangers of crossing the plains and suggested using the trees as cover, even if added a day or two to their journey. “It’s the only way to avoid the blood drinkers.” One particularly flirty pixie warned Rasheed with a pout, rather sad to see him go.
Regardless the plains must be crossed to reach the trees, and with the sight of unusual ruins dotting a nearby hilltop the group felt themselves drawn to this point. They’d seen nothing wandering these lands yet; perhaps the pixies simply feared to travel beyond their village and told stories to keep the visitors they adored in the village longer?
The ruins were mostly overgrown, with a single fountain surprisingly still operating, as clear water trickled through broken stone. The party fanned out to look about the place, but a rustling from the west caught their attention a bit too late. Before they could even react three savage Sylvan bloodbringers were upon them, horrifying razor claws cutting into Jorah and nearly ripping her apart.
The fight was brutally quick, with Jorah pulled out of the fray as the savages were driven into a blood frenzy. Despite being ferocious fighters and devastating ambush predators the bloodbringers proved to be able to dish it but not take it. Their ambush gambit had not paid off, as within a few seconds the last bloodbringer collapsed, torn apart by Marinette after having been frozen in time by Pahhu.
The party licked their wounds after the fight; some matter of poison had been on the claws of the beasts and the bleeding wouldn’t stop from the cuts they opened. As they made camp to rest they soon became aware of an approaching band of giants. Rasheed ran ahead to put eyes on them and identified them as trophy hunters. Perhaps they had come to clear the ruins of the bloodbringers? The party was unsure of how to approach the giants, but they needed allies and information in these new lands. They would wait and speak with them.
“... a mistake.” Theodore sighed. Talks had broken down quickly with the giants. The party had slain their prey, and the exotic travelers they had found instead would make suitable trophies. “Perhaps there is greater prey, something we could assist you with hunting? We’ve no interest in making enemies here.” The party attempted reason but it backfired. “Assist? You weaklings can assist no one! We shall show you our strength!”
The giants attacked in formation, throwing withering barrages of spears and locking shields as they charged the party. The party would answer that challenge by trying to shatter them, as Theodore called down bolts of lightning and Pahhu unleashed an enormous ripple of temporal energy through half of the formation. Three of them phased out of time, their back line suddenly vanishing as they were banished to a place without time.
The remaining giants struggled to regain their composure but were overwhelmed as the odds fell against them. Withering storms of cutting icy scythes rained at Jorah’s command, combining with Theodore’s lightning to form a horrifying storm of death. On the ground the giants suffered from the turbulent wind, whispering across the grassy battlefield unseen and swift, deeply cutting into their legs and back and then gone before they could turn to see him. Ed’s glowing flail struck resounding blows as Marinette’s axe cleaved through entire legs, tumbling the giants and leaving them vulnerable to Tona’s pounces as Nyx rained arrows from above, forcing the giants’ shields up. The rout was complete, and even when Pahhu allowed the other giants back from their temporal holding they were soon felled by prepared attacks.
With the battle over the group considered the nature of the plane. The giants had been from outside the plane, seemingly aggressors hunting for fun. They didn’t regret having killed the giants, but it was clear that they’d have to be careful. Not everything would be as friendly as the pixies.
DAY 51 & 52
The next few days passed uneventfully as the grasslands proved uneventful… the party began to approach the treeline.
DAY 53
The party came across a strange lowland. A single tree with unusual pink foliage stood tall over a ring of standing water, surprisingly clear and pristine despite being standing. Seemingly resistant to stagnation there was an unusual sight as a crossbow floated still within the pond. The group approached and soon discovered, after a wave of incessant babbling, that the crossbow was cursed by a symbol. As they stood away from it, waiting for the magic to clear a female voice greeted them from the tree.
It was a lonely dryad, seemingly bound to this pond. The party discovered that she had once had friends, lovers even, but they had all slowly stopped visiting her. She demanded that the party leave one of their own with her to keep her company, quickly coming to favor the men of the party. After Theodore weaseled his way out of it with words, the Dryad instead fixated on Ed, soon catching a stiff arm and a refusal.
As the men tried to figure out what was wrong with this Dryad, attempting to find any magical curses or other oddities with the grove. As they did so, Pahhu and Jorah had a discussion. “You ever had a boyfiend or anybody, Jorah?” Pahhu asked as she swung her legs under a bench. “No, I’ve not. Have you, Pahhu?” “Nuh-uh, all the boys think I have extra-cooties or somethin’ ‘cause I am always dirty y’know? I think I want one though one day. I wanna have a big wedding with all my family and cousins there and Paw can marry me!”
Jorah looked at Pahhu in bemusement as she built up momentum on the idea. “And then Paw can walk me down the aisl- wait, he can’t marry me and walk me down the aisle. OH! I KNOW! SQuinton can walk me down the aisle and then it’ll be just the same! It’ll be perfect! Promise me you’ll come, Jorah!” Jorah gently smiled at the excited girl and gave a nod. “I promise.”
Meanwhile the others had finally determined that the Dryad’s grove had been cursed with a mirage that was causing others to see it as withered and dead, and that she herself had been manipulated to see it all incorrectly. After some effort they were able to break all of the spells and bring the dryad to her senses. After doing so they promised to deliver letters to the dryad’s friends at the shining tower to tell them she was alive and well and encourage more visits. The party would stay the night with the Dryad, receiving small gifts from her before departing the next day.
DAY 54
The party came across a group of Winter Eladrin chasing after a wounded individual, the blood staining his strange garb. The bleeding individual ran towards the party seeking asylum. The eladrin were familiar with Rasheed and Marinette, having been in the mirror’s vision when looking at the Reality Tether. They soon learned the winter court was hunting a thief who had stolen a gemstone from them. The thief admitted to the theft, but claimed it was originally his family’s gemstone. Hoping to at least save the thief’s life the party chose to knock the thief out, returning the gemstone to the eladrin and then leaving the unconscious man in the bushes nearby. They left him to come to of his own accord.
The eladrin thanked the group, promising that this would keep negotiations going well at the vanishing tower. The group shared glances at each other, uncertain of what was going on at the now vanished tower but they hoped that this would aid them in their quest to gain the favor of Labelas.
As evening fell the group crossed into a powerful treant’s clearing. Accused of trespass the party was demanded to tell a tale of something the treant had never heard of. Speaking only in Druidic, Theodore chose to try to appease the treant. He told the tale of the Time Scar in Hillsfar. (Details in Quinton’s Journal under SSOT Side Chapter: The Time Scar.) The treant found the tale outrageous and it was nothing he had ever heard of, pleased with the tale he allowed the adventurers passage through his forest and allowed them deep into the woods, where they would soon make camp.
DAY 55
The group struggled with the deep woods, with few ways to align themselves they walked in circles and passed the area they sought repeatedly. It was evening by the time they found themselves breaking into a clearing where they saw two robed figures, dressed in robes of Labelas Enoreth. More importantly the figures were familiar. It was Sariandi Morvyre and Abaka Felfarren, Pahhu’s Parents!
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 18: Three Truths
DAY 49
The turbulent energy of the temporal demiplane where the party had faced their mirrors slowly disintegrated around the party as the feeling of an instant stretching through time and shattering enveloped them. They found themselves in Thamisia’s temple, the Sphinx staring down at them with an inscrutable face. Though the party was unaware of it the magic which had pulled them into their trial had warped the passage of time; two weeks had passed since they had accepted the trial.
“You have done well to overcome the trial. Though… a bit violent, aren’t you lot?” Thamisia’s blue eyes scanned the party without blinking. “Well, no matter. You have overcome the challenge in… your own way. Allow me to offer a gift to make amends.” Thamisia willed another bit of the wall to fold and part, revealing a small nook of treasures. Seemingly the belongings of adventurers. “Not all who attempt the trial succeed. What they leave behind becomes the strength of those who carry on.”
As Rasheed examined the bounty, Pahhu approached Thamisia. “Are you alone here?” The Sphinx stared at Pahhu, considering her words. Could this little one be seeking to know the depths of her strength in this place, perhaps ready to attack as vengeance for putting them through the trial? But as the Sphinx judged Pahhu’s intent she chose to question. “Why do you ask such things?”
“Well, we haven’t seen anyone else, and you said others had come for the trial. And you said my mother was here once…” Pahhu glanced around the place, almost as if looking for footprints in the dust. Thamisia regarded Pahhu for a moment and answered carefully. “Things have changed in the past couple decades. My mate, Lostheus, and I were forced to become more active. The faithful were driven to seek us out and to prove their worthiness, and while at most times the faithful succeeded there were many others who failed. We gave those who succeeded what they needed to carry on… but the imbalance lingers.”
The Sphinx shifted her weight as she considered the subject. “My patron and lord, Labelas Enoreth, must manage this imbalance and correct it, but he is limited in the action he may directly take. The imbalance now has grown to where it encroaches on the Prime Material Plane; something you are keenly aware of. Should this imbalance continue to grow the danger will be immense… In the end all is dust to time.”
“We have watched you for a long time, Pahhu. You do not understand where this is going, but a moment of critical importance is imminent. Those that have come before you…” Thamisia will glance towards the mirrors, and the nook of items. “Have failed to correct the imbalance. They have lacked the skill, or the power, or the allies to overcome their path.” Thamisia’s blue eyes scan over the party as she says the word allies.
“You know the danger of the uncontrolled tears. Of the great ooze which would have consumed all. The mechanoid you have encountered is dangerous and seeks to accelerate the fraying of the planar boundaries. He came to this temple once to seek access to the Temple of Time, from where he would have been able to unravel things instantly. Because of him Lostheus and I must remain apart, protecting the halves of the key from his grasp.”
“Lostheus and I each hold half of a key to the Temple of Time. It is a sacred place into which only few are ever granted access… I fear you all may be the last to make the attempt. I pray you succeed in bringing back balance to the temple, and the plane beyond. But to enter you must go to Arvandor and earn my patron’s favor and receive guidance from his adherents in how you must correct this matter. He has needs in Arvandor, and you must prove yourself to him. We are bound in what we can do directly, and this must be your decision. Will you go?” The Sphinx’s eyes did not even flicker as she impassively awaited an answer, one she probably already knew was coming.
The party gathered to discuss in the temple sanctum. Pahhu felt in every fiber of her being that she knew she must go. She wasn’t sure if she was the reason that the dimensions had begun to fray and tear, but if she was that was even more reason to repair it. What had long ago only been the friction of her running against the wind and had grown into her very movements scraping the planar boundary had made her aware of the great thinning, and the danger that lurked just beyond. Had she grown stronger? Had the boundary grown weaker? Was she at fault. The responsibility that had begun to weigh on her had been buoyed by her growing strength and control. “I think I gotta go.”
Pahhu’s slate-blue eyes gleamed under her hood. While the words lacked volume, and the statement lacked eloquence there was a determination behind it. “And we’re going with you.” Marinette said, through almost clenched teeth. “We’ve gone this far, we’re not turning back now.” One by one the group agreed, and soon they stood united before Thamisia to declare their intent to continue.
“Very well. Spend the night in the temple and recover. On the morrow you shall go forward to Arvandor.” Thamisia began to turn, but was halted by a question from Pahhu. “Is it my fault? Am I the one who started this?” The sphinx once again regarded Pahhu. “How would you have done this, Pahhu?”
Pahhu lifted a ringer and began to slowly scrape against the plane, a thin trail of pale blue-grey dust falling from a static sparking line as her finger traced the space. Thamisia’s eyes watched the sparks and dust as a wave of containment energy rippled forth from runes embedded into the sanctum, containing and imploding the tear, shoving Pahhu back slightly. “I… have always been able to do this. Scrape, rips, even holes if I try hard enough. Sometimes I even end up in the dry place if I over do it.” Pahhu began to hastily explain the magic but Thamisia cut her off.
“To see such a holy thing here…” For but a moment Thamisia’s mask-like face cracked as the slightest bit of awe shone through, but it was quickly replaced by the stoic face she always wore. “It seems the divine power has manifested is in your bloodline, Pahhu.” Thamisia shifted her weight as she considered her words, but opted for silence, perhaps having already felt she had said too much.
Pahhu’s mind quickly raced. What did that mean? Divine power? Her bloodline? But her parents had been tribespeople, and had worshipped Amaunator, not Labelas? In a rare flash of insight she realized that perhaps any temporal magic was divine to Thamisia, or that there were many ways to arrive there. What mattered most was Thamisia had recognized what she was doing! “I… can you teach me?” The words came quickly from Pahhu, even before she realized she was saying them. “If I’m the one making the rips and the scars then I want to control it. You… you have the stable portals here. How do you do it?”
“The mirrorways? They are a secret I can not teach you now, and this place has much to do with it. But perhaps I can teach you of the power you wield.”
Pahhu spent the evening learning from Thamisia, for the first time in her life Pahhu became aware of a very simple truth. The temporal magic she was wielding came from within her. All along she had seen it as a force she tapped into on the other side of the planar boundary, but it was more similar to a resonance. The power had been within her all along, growing with her and allowing her to touch the ever-present fabrics of time itself. But if this meant that Pahhu hadn’t been stealing from the Temporal Energy Plane all this time did that mean she was never the one who had caused the imbalance?
The results of her training were incredible; the locus shift of reaching out and grasping vs willing and pushing from inside greatly sharpened her control over her magic. Pahhu would no longer suffer the backlash of entropic wild magic in temporally stable environments.
Meanwhile the party took their time to rest, playing games amongst themselves. Two Truths and a Lie quickly being confused for Three Truths as the concept was lost on Ed as to the fun of telling lies. The party also explored the temple, finding a seemingly bottomless hole that Thamisia explained was the final resting place of those who failed the trial. As the party made ready to leave their home plane, for the first time for many of them they had much to consider…
Was it not Pahhu who was the Time Ripper after all, was the source the mechanoid undead they had fought? Or was it simply a natural force or occurrence, the circumstances around which were coincidental or opportunistic?
Was there more to Pahhu’s power than simple coincidence? Was a divine hand involved? Or did Thamisia’s slip of the tongue only suggest she viewed temporal magic as divine in nature?
Finally, what would they find in Arvandor? Why had so many others failed?
These three truths would elude them, at least for now.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 17: Reflections II
EIGHT DAYS LATER, DAY 35
The remnants explained what had happened to the others in grisly detail, and of the pact they had made with Thamisia. They agreed it would be best if they repaid the kindness and warning given by Thamisia, and they made their way towards Thamisia’s sanctum. They got lost multiple times trying to find the entrance, but eventually Pahhu lead the way. Theodore worried for traps after their recent experiences and enhanced Rasheed’s senses with foresight.
After a few questions and introductions Pahhu presented herself for the trial, she sat cross-legged and readied herself for the exam. Thamisia told her to walk back to the temple with her friends, and there the walls slid open and seven mirrors appeared, reflecting nothing. Thamisia bid them stand in front of the mirrors. Figuring the mirror was just covered in dust Pahhu reached forward and tried to wipe it. She vanished. Realizing the situation the others began touching their own mirrors.
Pahhu blinked as she stood in a stable torrent of temporal energy, as if standing on the line of one of Thamisia’s stable temporal portals. As she looked around she saw a familiar figure, seemingly herself a few years older, her body moving abnormally stiffly, as if she had perhaps not moved in some time…
(Dear readers at this point the party fought copies of each other in the mirrors in one on one battles. For sake of understanding the nega-versions of the characters will have their names prefixed with N, such as Nahhu. For Nyx, it will be Not-Nyx.)
The battle began with Pahhu acting first, perhaps the stiffness of Nahhu giving her the edge. Instinctively she cast a spell, paralyzing Nahhu as she froze the eery copy of herself in time. Pahhu began to approach to get a better look, but realizing the danger began to disarm Nahhu of her weapons and focus…
Theodore and Neodore faced off, both attempting to cast spells as they tried to feeblemind each other. Both resisted the effects and then transformed into elementals. Theodore into an air elemental and Neodore into a fire elemental. Theodore took advantage of this blunder and as a watery sphere appeared dousing the flames the intense system shock instantly overkilled Neodore…
Marinette and Narinette got into a hairpulling dragdown wrestling match as the two amazons ripped into each other with utter abandon. The true realization of Marinette’s self destructive tendencies. The battle was even.
Ned and Ed struggled to land meaningful blows on each other, the two heavily armored and incredibly tough combatants had a long war ahead of them.
Nyx and Tona faced Not-Nyx and Nona, and the battle began with fate favoring Not-Nyx and Nona. Critical wounds were delivered to Nyx and the battle swung heavily towards Not-Nyx…
Jorah and Norah unleashed withering magical blasts at each other, only surviving through their resistance to the overwhelming negative energy of the harvest scythes they released upon each other.
Rasheed faced Nasheed, the two enhanced with Foresight and unable to gain any advantage on each other fought a slow battle of attrition, unable to perform their powerful techniques on each other.
As Neodore dissolved in the portal Theodore felt the world about him shift, and through chance he appeared in the portal with Pahhu and Nahhu. Theodore quickly explained that he had gotten here by defeating his copy. Pahhu realizing her friends may be in danger, and having the advantage pulled her rapier and quickened time to slash into Nahhu critically, splitting her timeline. Pahhu then unleashed the full force of her entropic magic as a wave of temporal energy eroded Nahhu into dust. In a matter of seconds Pahhu had reduced Nahhu to nothing. The world shifted as they both teleported to the portal containing Nyx and Tona and their mirrors.
Nyx was glad to see help, luck had not been on her side and Not-Nyx held a clear advantage. With Theodore and Pahhu arriving to help the tables quickly turned, and as Pahhu unleashed a barrage of temporal static charged magical tears Not-Nyx was defeated. Theodore slammed his stone earth elemental fist into Nona, and as the panther’s will gave out the three found themselves split. Theodore arrived with Ed. Pahhu, Tona and Nyx arrived to find Marinette and Narinette wrestling.
Pahhu froze Narinette in her tracks, and combined fire soon wore Narinette down, but the woman would not go down. With no other choice Pahhu once again unleashed the entropic force, evaporating Narinette into naught but dust. They all found themselves with Jorah and Norah, and after a brief attempt to identify them they overwhelmed the twisted Firbolg as Marinette’s axe cleaved her in twain.
Everyone felt the shift again, and they were joining the battle between Ed and Ned, with Theodore indicating which was the impostor. Despite Ed’s toughness he couldn’t withstand so many, and Tona’s claws raked down Ed’s flesh as his defenses gave out.
The party all shifted to Rasheed and Nasheed’s duel, the two having battled uninterrupted now for nearly a minute; they were both critically wounded. As they struggled to identify the two Nasheed struck a final blow on Rasheed who began to stumble. Nasheed was quickly dealt with and then Rasheed was helped to his feet by Pahhu… Was this the end of their trial or only the beginning?
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 16: Picking Up The Pieces
The hot desert air made sleep difficult, and although Jorah felt something trying to push into her dreams she was able to shake it off. Something was definitely trying to find them… It was no surprise then when as their rest neared its end they heard footsteps on the sand outside of the hideout.
DAY 27
“Hallo? Are you in there? I can wait.” An unfamiliar voice which the remnants would soon find belonged to a talking dog. A talking dog named Doug. A talking dog named Doug on a mission, from what he callsa giant cat lady. A talking dog named Doug on a mission, from what he calls a giant cat lady named Thamisia.
They had a choice. Doug was offering to lead them to Thamisia now, or they could teleport back to Lerwick and try to get help. Any help they would get from Lerwick would take time to organize, and no one had a good way back to the city. Thamisia was only a couple hours away, but was an unknown. Trusting Jorah’s relationship and the dreams she had seen they chose to follow Doug. Jorah cast a wind walk spell and the four moved silently towards the Turnback Mountains.
After two hours of wind walking they were lead to a strange crevasse in the mountains, a well hidden area with natural camouflage and potentially mystical effects which disrupt the senses and mind. With caution they followed Doug behind a copse of trees and down a winding passage into an ancient stone structure. His mission complete, Doug transformed into a small onyx figurine. Pahhu picked the figurine up with intent to return it to the rightful owner.
Once inside they were immediately on their guard for traps and other risks, but were soon taken aback to find what appeared to be a stable time portal. Similar to the time scars they had encountered but completely orderly and contained. Purple glyphs along the walls throbbed with power, perhaps the secret to this control? As they descended deeper they found another portal. Pahhu began to sense that time moved strangely in this place.
Their descent ended in a large temple chamber, symbols of Labelas Enoreth were carved into the walls and decorated a carpet motif on the floor. At the north end of a temple sitting languidly was a female Sphinx. Bright blue-eyes shone in the dark as the sphinx welcomed them. Was this Thamisia?
Thamisia spoke in riddles, she hinted that time was of the essence and unless the group returned to their fallen comrades quickly that they would be lost. She offered the help of a scroll, an ancient affair detailing the requirements to raise the dead. In return for accepting this Thamisia expected the group to return to her, to submit to a trial. Or, she offered the trial now, should they wish to abandon their comrades.
The party considered this, and as they did Pahhu approached Thamisia, getting within touch range of Thamisia. She laid the figurine down before the sphinx, but Thamisia insisted that Pahhu keep Doug with the group in case they needed Doug’s guidance to return. As Pahhu got a good look at Thamisia she noted her striking blue eyes, similar to those of the Yuan-Ti they had fought. The sphinx found this to be humorous, noting Pahhu’s own blue-black eyes. “These eyes are a mark of our… kind.” That was all the sphinx offered on that topic.
Pahhu asked if her parents had ever been to this place on a hunch, and Thamisia confirmed that once in the past Sariandi, Pahhu’s mother had spent time in this place. The tribe of elves in the nearby forest were infrequent visitors to Thamisia, she explained. Realizing the geography and the visions she had seen Pahhu became aware of the simplicity of the situation. Her mother’s tribe had been in the Frozen Forest all along. Pahhu’s chewed on the idea briefly, was there a relationship to the high ice? Was there something to all of the cold that affected time magic? She considered what she had seen of the time elemental before when she had struck it with cold...
What did this mean? Her mother’s side were a tribe of wood elves in the Frozen Forest, likely worshippers of Labelas Enoreth. Her father’s side had been the desert Bedine tribe, worshippers of Amaunator. Both used cold places as places of power? Or was it simply being so far north and the way the sun moved at this latitude with the lengthy days during the northern summer? Pahhu mulled this before remembering her friends were at risk.
Pahhu agreed to take the Sphinx’s text on their return, and she took the scroll. The trio regathered themselves and wind walked back towards the Yuan-Ti temple…
As they carefully infiltrated it they found the place seemingly abandoned. The Anathema had in haste damaged the doors forcing its sizable bulk through them, seemingly too exhausted to have re-entered using spells.
Fresh blood stains in the hall lead to the scrying pool in which they found the corpses of Tona and Nyx discarded. They plucked their friends from the bottom of the pool and placed them in Rasheed’s bag of holding with grim worry.
As they made it to the cavern they found the far doors shut, in the cavern were the bodies of Theodore and Marinette, leaning against a wall and face down in the stream respectively. Ed was not initially seen, but soon they saw his torso impaled on a tree branch… they had ripped him limb from limb. Making as much effort as they could to approach in silence they were halted by Rasheed who held up a hand. He pointed at Theodore… the body was moving.
Realizing that they needed to be careful and that they would need an hour of chanting Pahhu erected a field of silence near the far door. Rasheed approached the body of Theodore… he twitched unnaturally, the beginnings of undeath gripping him. Rasheed did not hesitate and returned Theodore to rest. He checked Marinette and found the same state had befallen her. He rectified it.
Jorah approached Theodore’s body and began the ritual. Pahhu also began ritually casting as she repeatedly cast silence on the far door of the room, covering Jorah’s chanting as she called for Theodore’s spirit. Rasheed used the hour to check the room for any dangers. He found nothing of the sort, but did find the remainder of Ed’s body parts. Rasheed gathered it and the belongings scattered about the room. As Theodore startled back to a living life he looked around in shock. “Barnaby?”
The group shook their heads and maintained their quiet, impressing upon Theodore the risk they were in of discovery. They gather everything but can not find Ed’s head or helmet. Uncertain if they needed it to revive him Rasheed chose to crack the door to the inner sanctum and explore. Almost unbelievably, and much to Pahhu’s chagrin after her efforts to maintain the silence the inner sanctum and temple were empty. Perhaps the Yuan-Ti had feared the group bringing others, or maybe they feared the mechanoid planar traveler.
Rasheed found Ed’s helmet in the temple, but the head could not be found. What was found however was a surprising amount of treasure, some clearly having been taken hastily while the rest had been abandoned in an effort to escape the situation in the temple… Rasheed took what he could with his bag of holding before returning to the group, and without Ed’s head they returned to lerwick to resurrect, rest and recover… they had a lot to think about.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 15: Aftermath
The hostages introduced themselves as adventurers, exploring on a contract from Arabel. The Yuan-Ti had taken many dozens of hostages, possibly even hundreds and as investigation parties were sent to look in on the problem they were often overwhelmed and captured. The hostages had been ritualistically sacrificed at regular intervals a handful at a time. As Pahhu looked around the cavern she recognized the evidence of many people having been held here, with scraps of cloth, personal belongings and areas flattened for sleeping.
The party spared what food and equipment they could for the group of adventurers, who gratefully took it and began to head towards the exit. As they went Pahhu began to question their role in the situation. Hundreds of hostages were dead, hundreds of Yuan-Ti were dead. Every day they’d spent not coming here had seemingly cost lives. The thought weighed on Pahhu, and she felt an uncomfortable itch in her head as she mulled the idea over. Had this been their fault?
As Pahhu voiced her concerns the party was quick to shoot it down. “Now is not the time, Pahhu.” “It’s better not to think about these things.” “They would have found a way to do it no matter what.” “We just have to live for the future.” The words of her friends were only barely convincing, but living for the future was something she could understand.
Theodore, in his dragon form approached the door at the end of the cavern, eager to push on while empowered. Unfortunately he triggered a devastating trap as a pair of enormous heavy blades swung from the ceiling and sliced into his dragon formed body. The blow was severe and Theodore lost his ability to concentrate on the spell due to the pain. It seemed that there were traps beyond the basic spikes they’d seen in the entrance of the cavern.
Rasheed investigated and made short work of the door’s locks and checked for more traps. It was clear. Ed went to push the door opened and a trap was triggered as a heavy swinging battering ram covered in sharp spikes swung from the other side of the door, slamming into him. As the dust cleared the next room was revealed; a great temple room with a Yuan-Ti Anathema flanked by two Yuan-Ti in robes. The floor of the room was a great pool of blood, seemingly the destination of all the blood collected from the sacrifices. Flickering green torches bathed the room in an eery glow.
The Anathema laughed as the trap was sprung, he introduced himself as Motzaiyu, a high priest of Sseth. He demanded to know if Pahhu was among them, as the preparatory ritual had been completed and only one remained to bring Sseth back to this plane. Marinette laughs at the proposal and tells Motzaiyu the only thing coming now is the future, and charges through the gore as Rasheed appears behind one of the adherents and decapitates her.
Ed, Nyx and Tona focused on the other adherent with Theodore and Pahhu keeping their distance and offering ranged support. As the adherents fell Motzaiyu kept his place across the pool of gore, as if baiting the group closer. As Ed waded closer the trap was sprung as a symbol of death erupted, filling the room with intense deathly energy. The Yuan-Ti cackled with glee, seemingly unaffected by the light though he soon fell to the party’s combined attacks.
With the energy burning them and instincts kicking in many of the party fled back to the previous cavern to escape the pain. Marinette, enraged beyond reason chose instead to lash out at what was hurting her, smashing the symbol on the door. At first Ed chose to help her, but he soon realized the power of the symbol was too much and turned to run. Marinette would not be deterred though and she broke through the door with a final slam of her axe and a heavy shoulder check.
The next room was the great heart of the temple. A massive blue-eyed six-headed Yuan-Ti Anathema dressed in finery and flanks by two blue-eyed disciples turned as the door crashed open. The Yuan-Ti wordlessly began to act, as the disciples rushed forward trying to take advantage of the situation. Rasheed attempted to obfuscate the party’s retreat with an eversmoking bottle, but it was too late. The Yuan-Ti had erected a wall of force, trapping some of the party within the symbol and separating them. The deathly energy was fraying Marinette and Rasheed’s bodies at this point; the situation was dire.
Pahhu called forth her most powerful spell, reaching into the temporal energy plane she opened a wide gash, channeling a blast of pure entropic energy into the wall, disintegrating it into entropic dust. With the way open Marinette and Rasheed tried to run, but a misstep by Marinette left her short of the exit, and as great cracks spread across her body it was questionable if even her own zealousness would keep her going with the deathly energy all around her.
The six-headed Anathema, Zuha, the Time Ascendant also saw Marinette’s state and with a single word spoke the judgment of Sseth upon her. The powerful word killed Marinette instantly, and her body skipped across the ground lifeless.
Rasheed used the smoke to hide in a corner, hoping to not be found. Knowing him near death as well the Yuan-Ti threw a fireball into the corner he was hiding; but Rasheed’s instincts saved him as he evaded it through careful maneuvering.
The battle looked grim, but with the cover of the smoke Ed charged forward to revive Marinette. Even as the woman once again drew breath the party tried to find defensive positions and recover the initiative; but it was too late, having had a moment to gather themselves the Yuan-Ti simultaneously teleported behind the party to the entrance of the cavern, cutting off their retreat. With the burning symbol behind them and the powerful blue-eyed Anathema ahead the only thing they could do was fight.
Powerful spells erupted on both sides, and the already weakened party soon found themselves scrambling to keep each other alive. Jorah and Marinette were knocked down again, and although Ed and Pahhu did all they could to keep their friends alive it was a battle of attrition they couldn’t win. Despite the party being conscious and together for a few moments, seemingly ready to turn the ride as a disintegration ray narrowly missed Marinette, things began to collapse as Theodore was singled out and clawed into, falling unconscious.
Jorah was targeted next, taken down and then ripped into to ensure the fatality. Ed brought her back, but in this time the Yuan-Ti finished off Theodore. Barnaby was enraged by this and tried to fight, but was broken into rubble in the next assault. Nyx was targeted next, and as she fell Pahhu unleashed a massive rip of time magic felling one of the disciples. The odds looked grim as the Anathema called a miracle from SSeth and seemingly recovered from all of his wounds. With their allies dead or on the brink it became clear that escape may be the only option.
Sensing his victory was near Zuha spoke a prayer to Sseth, the powerful divine word instantly shearing Marinette’s soul from her body. A disciple unleashed a barrage on Rasheed who walked along the ceiling, knocking him unconscious as he dangled from his spider climbing boots. Another spell ripped into Jorah downing her again. With Pahhu and Ed the only ones conscious it was clear that escape to get help was the only option. Ed made a valiant last stand as Pahhu healed Jorah and prepared to escape.
Perhaps playing possum or through sheer willpower, Rasheed opened his eyes. (Natural 20 death save.) He began to flee along the ceiling as Ed fought the Yuan-Ti valiantly alone. Tona grabbed Nyx’s limp body in her jaws and began to run for the exit, trying to save her master the best that she could. Pahhu grabbed Jorah and opened a gap in space-time, leaping through it to the surface above them to run. The two immediately began running southeast, trying to make distance.
Ed’s last stand bought some time for Tona and Rasheed to try to escape. Tona was chased by the disciple and after some well placed blasts the panther had no more strength to run. Rasheed though made a daring escape, using nolzur’s pigments to create an escape tunnel in the smoke he quickly sealed himself in, repainting the wall behind him. He tunneled towards the surface as the Yuan-ti ripped Ed limb from limb, calling him a race traitor.
Rasheed, Jorah and Pahhu met up on the surface. They began moving southeast with a quickness, looking for a place to shelter and recover enough to make it home to Lerwick. When they found a stand of rocks in the side of a dune they quickly set about excavating a simple cave and then sealing it with a rock to cover their makeshift entrance. As they tried to rest they struggled with the reality of the situation; only through sheer luck had three of them made it out.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 14: Chasing Tragedy
DAY 26
Due to pressing business the party was delayed in regrouping. In the past few days they had tried to use the mirror to investigate new things. Unsurprisingly the mirror failed to uncover the history of Charva the Stubborn; it seems that either he had given a false name or had been warded against time scrying. An attempt to uncover anything on the Temple of Time set the mirror into a dizzying spin of nonsensical images. It was unclear if the concept of the past, present and future mingled in such a place. The only clear image they saw was a grand assortment of elves, earth elementals and dark skinned humans in an icy blasted hellscape on the bones of a structure that appeared grand in scale. Once again signs pointed towards the High Ice.
But the party had more pressing matters. A rift in time had opened and a Yuan-ti population had seemingly been devastated by the repercussions of it. They made haste to reach their destination and soon arrived at the sandblasted battlefield. The corpses of the Yuan-ti rotted in the sun; it seemed not even vultures dared approach this place.
Theodore noticed this and worried for the sanctity of natural order within this place. Hillsfar had been heavily warped from what the land had been, and Ilaren and Theodore had worked hard to restore balance after the Entropic Consumption’s erosion had damaged the land. He spoke a blessing over the area, and hoped to hasten the recovery. Having started nature’s reclamation the group approached the temple of Sseth, finding the doorway completely sealed in stone. Since they had last been here someone had tried to bury this place.
Barnaby parted the stone of the newly formed walls and the party stepped into a rough antechamber. The cavernous room appeared to be hewn from the stone of the rocky mountainside itself, with winding stone spires and pathways webbing across a deep crevasse. On some of the raised platforms piles of white dust lay still, either the remains of those eroded by time elementals or the whirling sand of a time elemental itself. Approaching with great care the party decided to strike first, and as they revealed themselves the sand whirled and rose to meet them. A number of time elementals guarded this area.
The combat proved difficult. The narrow walkways granted the mobile elementals advantage as they moved to erode the party. Tona suffered significant wounds in the fight, and many were left exhausted by the encounter. Pahhu used a cold spell on an elemental and for the first time the party saw a strange reaction; parts of the elemental froze and fell off. Was this perhaps a new weakness or a strange property? After the battle Pahhu molded the dust of many elementals together, compacting it to a tight ball. She then tried to freeze it with magic, but little seemed to happen. Perhaps there was nothing to this after all?
With the way clear the party soon found more dead Yuan-ti, finding a pouch with a strange key. Jorah walked the line between life and death and spoke beyond the grave with a fallen Yuan-ti, asking it questions of what had happened:
What has happened here?
Powerful magics run amok have rampaged and ravaged us...
What do you want with Pahhu?
I don't know about anything about the plans for a Pahhu...
What did you want with the Bedine?
The Bedine know the paths the Yuan-Ti needed to take...
What do you know of the Temple of Time:
It was to be our's, a means to bring Sseth into this world...
What about the time scar in this place?
What is a time scar…?
The Yuan-Ti returned to rest and the group pressed on, eventually facing down a door decorated with symbols and religious motifs. Rasheed picked the unimpressive lock and opened the door. As the stone door ground open a mechanoid creature turned to face the party. It was another of the creatures that had been seen at Hillsfar. The twisted combination of undead man and machine regarded the group coolly.
Through terse conversation and perhaps cockiness the party learns that the creature is investigating the Yuan-Ti. They had triggered time magic disturbances and in doing so had called forth his attention. Ed strode towards him confidently, and perhaps in cockiness told the creature his and many of the other’s names; all but Pahhu and Jorah. Pahhu, having been standing far to the back in the darkness doubled back and began to apply a disguise in what little time she had. Her gut instincts told her that she should not be seen by this creature.
In exchange for these names the creature provided information as well. He told of how he had come to this place and commanded the elementals to scour it. That nearly all but a few Yuan-Ti had perished by his hand; even now the remaining few lay barricaded in the temple below, having sealed themselves in through unusual magical doors. The half-man, half-construct was now seeking a way through these doors when we had interrupted him.
The tensions continued to rise as the creature spoke so disdainfully of the hundreds of lives he had ended. The party, knowing of the occurrences at Hillsfar made their resolve and chose to attack what was likely yet another simulacrum of this same powerful wizard. The fight began bloodily as the creature dominated Marinette and commanded her to kill Nyx, but Pahhu enveloped the inner sanctum in silence and Ed pinned the enemy down. Theodore acted quick to quell Marinette’s rage; she had been turned against the party once before and he mitigated her threat quickly by polymorphing her into a harmless bunny.
The battle within the silence was fierce, and despite the undead construct’s attempts to touch Ed and halt him in time nearly succeeding they were able to exploit the situation and defeat the foe. As his body melted into snow and the same white dust that the time elementals were made of the party found themselves facing the same door the creature had puzzled over. Unable to determine how this door operated themselves the group chose to paint through it using Nolzur’s pigments.
Beyond it was a hallway leading to another door and another seemingly blank wall. There were no keyholes and no clear mechanics. Once again they painted through. This brought them to an odd tilted chamber with the floors covered in dried blood. It was seemingly channeled towards another door at the far end. The third door was 15 feet in diameter with 7 snakes in a circle carved into a motif. Each snake is consuming the next in line by the tail. Nearby a small antechamber was littered with humanoid corpses, all cut in ways to encourage the flow of blood. Throughout this area strange clouds of magical energy wafted about.
Theodore touched one of the clouds with a fingertip, entranced by the beauty of the strange luminescence. As he did he instantly aged 3 months as a beard erupted from his face. These clouds were some form of unrefined time magic, and may have been brought about by ritual sacrifice or some other means. Despite investigations the third door blocked them, and after painting through it they found stairs leading below.
At the bottom of the stairs they found the ground churned and littered with sharp spikes and dangerous terrain. The defenders had made the entrance as challenging as possible, and seven enormous Yuan-Ti with weapons stared down the party as they came down the stairs. They were emotionless as all Yuan-Ti, but still their surprise and curiosity came through in their questions. They wanted to know who this group was, and if they had brought ‘The Pahhu’ with them. The party lied, as the disguised Pahhu watched on silently. The Yuan-Ti revealed they were holding out hope of ‘The Pahhu’ arriving to complete the ritual and undo all of this, and to bring forth their god Sseth, undoing his imprisonment.
On the far side of the room there seemed to be a group of humanoids tied and bound. They seemed injured. They were watched over by two spellcasters. Rasheed took the opportunity to walk along the ceiling, carefully moving towards the group. He helped slip their bonds and even armed a few of them. As the nearby Yuan-Ti guards raised the alarm the conversation was cut short.
Theodore attempted to charm the guards with his Rod of Rulership, but the effect soon failed as the commands ran too strongly against their instincts and nature. The battle was short and brutal, with both sides suffering immense damage fairly quickly. As silence overcame the chamber the group looked at the hostages… Who were they and what were they doing here?
Those were only the beginning of the questions though. Had the Yuan-Ti developed a time magic, perhaps through blood or death? If even the undead construct was unable to decipher it, or a rift had formed that even he could not use as a point of ingress then what waited below them? The ways of time magic were confusing to even the best users, and they could only wonder at what could be below.
What was known though was that this was the end of a society. An entire population had fallen, seemingly because they had not arrived in time to prevent whatever tragedy had occurred here. The devastation at Hillsfar and the seeming incursions of these undead constructs were repeating here. As the death toll continues to rise how much more dangerous will things become?
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 13: Madness
DAY 21
The party was visited by strange visions this night. Each of them saw different Pahhus, in perhaps different timelines. What they chose to share of those visions with each other was particularly interesting…
Nyx had a vision of the Pahhu they had all come to know. Nyx chased and raced that Pahhu in a rocky environment, coming to a halt as she began to grow tired. Pahhu continued to run, overstraining herself and showing clear exhaustion. Nyx tried to halt this Pahhu, but as soon as Nyx got in Pahhu’s she was showered in a blast of dust and wind. Pahhu had seemingly vanished, evaporated. Nyx believes it was an allegory of some kind, that Pahhu was running in circles and had become the whirlwind, that trying to stop her might kill her.
Marinette shared her vision: Marinette found herself reversing in time from a horrible fiery explosion, her body mending until the moment right before the detonation. She found herself frozen as she watched a much older Pahhu weave heavily gauntleted hands through the air, everything her hands pointed to reversing in time. The older Pahhu bore a grim expression, her hair was stringy and her skin was pale. That Pahhu approached Marinette, genuinely surprised to see her and released her from the halted time. The two spoke briefly on what had brought them both to this moment. Pahhu explains that she is serving her contract to her master so she can undo her mistake, but before the conversation can go too long another Pahhu appears looking as if a slightly older version of the first one. The older Pahhu swings her arm over the two and the vision ended.
Ed shared his vision of a Pahhu driven mad by grief. Pahhu was ripping apart the planar fabric of Hyssop Home and reassembling it repeatedly, trying to put it back together in a way in which her dead friends Merric and Thyse were still alive. Every time she did this the fabric of the planes grey more frayed, until at last it shattered entirely, a shockwave blasting forth from a corrupted Pahhu.
Theodore shared his vision of a beautiful estate where he held the position of Lord Governor of Undrentide, a long fallen city of the Netherese Empire. He had dinner with the Duchess Pahhu Kilaniu, a woman in her prime. The two were celebrating their ‘unniversary’ together; the day on which they had joined the Netherese restorationists, having betrayed the party, and working together had brought about a temporal cataclysm. They had returned to before the Netherese empire had fallen and somehow prevented the events surrounding the fall. In doing so they had been awarded lavish titles and were recognized as among the elite of high society.
Jorah told her vision of the party together fighting against a cadre of Zhentarim riders, fleeing from the group. She saw a white robed Pahhu capture most of them in a powerful well of time magic, and the deliverance of justice upon the remaining Zhent. The Zhent promised vengeance and the inevitability of their master’s wrath, promising that they would never find all of his clones or end all of his lives.
Rasheed saw a warm sandy den of hedonism in which he and Pahhu enjoyed music and dance and drink with a number of others. He saw a Pahhu with little value for her own life, as she claimed to have died 31 times already, and even savored the prospect of returning to a younger body. The Pahhu he met had clear signs of substance abuse, and mentioned working for a very specific master…
The party discussed these visions. In some of them Pahhu had control of her power, in others she was out of control. In some she had a master, in others she was the master. What did it all mean? A discussion on how to control or guide Pahhu erupted, and the discussion quickly became heated. Were these things that would be or only could be? Was it one timeline or many? That was for the future to decide…
DAY 22
The group had scattered to their own means and adventures over the past few days. Rasheed and Marinette puzzled over a strange artifact, something that had been given to them by an incarnation of Pahhu in white and silver robes. It was still not clear whether this one had matched their recent visions or not, though the description seemed closest to what Jorah had seen. The artifact was a rod of silver and mithral carved in runes of Sylvan which read “For The Hero Who Will Save The Winter Court.” Marinette used the mirror to look into the past of the rod, and saw that it was crafted by Eladrin laborers and smiths who wore white and blue robes. It was stolen seemingly by Pahhu who appeared through a time portal and departed with it instantly, only to give it to Marinette.
DAY 23
Marinette grew suspicious of the rod having thought it over more; perhaps Pahhu’s mother was a member of this Winter Court? The group decided to use the mirror to investigate Sariandi Morvyre, Pahhu’s mother. The mirror began producing images.
Sariandi Morvyre
-Sitting around a campfire with her peers
-She is now hunting, carrying a bow, pursuing something
-Elven woman accompanying dark skinned humans through glacial expense, very cold, all bundled up, there are wounded
-Bundle in a blanket, the familiar swaddling blanket of Pahhu
-Little girl version of her, running with a small leather ball
-Oldest version of this woman standing before a gigantic 50 foot high cliff face, made of ice. She runs towards it
Pahhu seems to consider the images and comments that she definitely got her dad’s hair. “Maybe I should try adding some red?” Theodore roundly rejects that idea, seemingly rather against it for some reason. Pahhu considers the oddity that her parents ran towards the ice and then seemingly their story ended. Attempts to scry on them both had not failed instantly for death, but had been deflected as if by some force. She begins to think her parents perhaps went out of time in the ice, going to their own dry place perhaps?
---
The party resumed their original plans, to head towards the Yuan-Ti worshippers of Sseth. As they approached the mountain top they found oddly fertile and abundant land, almost perfectly circular in a mile radius. As they entered the Yuan-Ti village though they were taken aback by what the saw: hundreds of dead Yuan-Ti littered the sands. The strangely lush grass was littered by piles of white dust and sand, instantly recognized as the remains rendered by Time Elementals. Craters and burns suggested there had been heavy fighting of a magic nature. The group looked for tracks, but found only the solid footsteps of a recently passed humanoid. Tona attempted to scent it, but only found the smell of undeath and a warforged. This was likely the work of one of the construct-like beings that had been encountered at Hillsfar.
As the party approached the temple at the heart of the city they saw the whirling of time elementals. Theodore thinking that it would be good to control Pahhu’s powers enhanced her ability, and then thinking to take it one step further tried an experimental spell. Theodore made an attempt at Time Magic of his own, casting a spell of Foresight upon Pahhu. Unfortunately his experience with the unpredictable magic was limited and he lost control of the spell.
Pahhu blinked and looked around in shock. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten here or who any of these people were. There was a man in weird clothes waving a feather at her. She batted it away and started to make space between herself and the feather wielding assailant. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Pahhu has been disconnected from her past memories, and all of these strangers around her only seemed to want to grab her.
A wild chase and a failed attempt to negotiate with the confused and beleaguered resulted in a storm of magic missiles ripping into Theodore as Pahhu fled. Nearly cornered Pahhu simply teleported away, and carved a teleportation circle, certain that she remembered some type of runes.
Pahhu arrived by the grace of good fortune in the private teleportation chamber of the King of Adbar Citadel. Initially assailed by a pair of Dwarven Guardsmen they relented as they soon realized the utterly addled state of Pahhu’s mind. They shackled her with dimensional shackles and brought her before King Harnoth of Adbar Citadel. The King listed his many relations to the nearby Dwarven settlements, and Pahhu having heard a lot of bars asked for directions to Gunther’s bar. The dwarves directed her to the fourth level, and then began to guffaw.
After many laughs at Pahhu’s expense, the King soon decided the girl was harmless and called for one of his priests of Moradin to try to help Pahhu. In Pahhu’s confused state she became convinced she was seeing Moradin himself, and the dwarves continued to laugh uproariously. Having won the favor of the dwarves for entertaining them Pahhu was mended through the priest’s ministrations, her memory recovering in a flood. Exhausted from her spellcasting, Pahhu was given a room in the citadel and bid return the next day.
Pahhu returned to Lerwick the next day to find the party had also returned. They had scryed on Pahhu and seen her in shackles, but had sent her messages and learned she had recovered. Theodore was relieved to see her, and tried to apologize for the spell had cast but Pahhu told him he’d just made a mistake on his time magic. Theodore had cast a spell only using later. He had to use a bothness. By not mixing now and later he had cut Pahhu off from her now, and therefore her then. She explained this with a number of diagrams that left Theodore’s head swimming.
Theodore chose to head upstairs to discuss this with Charva, who offered him a chance to learn… All it would cost him is time.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 12.5: Fever Dreams [RAW]
Below are unrefined notes related to a sequence of dreams that the party had in the Shifting Sands of Time campaign. Please excuse the raw nature of this material:
** Separate Visions**
Theodore -> The Duchess (Lawful Evil) -> The vision is spurred by the rod. Theodore is offered a future in which he is a powerful lord as well. He already knows what it is to command...
Marinette -> The Servitor (L/N Good) -> Marinette is exposed to a Pahhu who is worn away by servitude, much like she saw in her own life. Pahhu's service has lead to enormous stability and improvements, including preventing the Netherese restoration. How will she react to the idea of pseudo-slavery causing the better results?
Jorah -> The Warden (Lawful Good) -> Jorah sees what Thamisia might be able to do working with Pahhu but must overcome her own quiet nature to communicate it to the party. Will she argue with the others for the right future or not?
Nyx -> Pahhu (Chaotic Good) -> Nyx sees a future Pahhu who has nearly lost her mind. She is a lot of fun but she's coming undone at the seams. Will Nyx play along and go with the flow or will she understand something is wrong?
Ed -> The Time Ripper (Chaotic Evil) -> Ed will be forced to face the reality that the one he sees as his ward could and will kill them all. Would he let others die to protect Pahhu or would he kill her to save more people?
Rasheed -> The Hedonist (Neutral Evil) -> Rasheed is tempted into a life with the black network. Taking what they want and feeling the heat of the desert sun on their skins.
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Chaotic Evil - Out of Control - Time Ripper Pahhu, from a future where everyone has died, likely due to her utter instability. This form is achieved only as a final boss form in which Pahhu must be killed and retired. Requires pretty significant corruption or story failure to achieve. Pahhu dies.
5%
*Your vision is shredded, and your mind is filled with the sensation of a roaring wind. You feel each muscle fiber spin together along your arm, and as you turn to look you find naught but a stump as your arm fades dust. As the creeping sensation closes in on your head the roaring stops as your ears vanish, and then there is nothing.*
*The experience begins to reverse, and you feel yourself coming back together, the whirling storm reversing as your body is pieced together bit by bit. As your arm begins to return you look around slowly, as light begins to fade in as the wall of the whirlwind pulls away from you. As it does you see the edges of others begin to form. You see Marinette begin to appear, and then you see Keeper Zui Ethorodu, and then Timmy the orphan as they are similarly coming back together on a field of purple flowers.*
*As the reversal continues you see Hyssop Home and its constituents return to existence, and then as the center of the yard comes into your sight you see the source of the shockwave as you lay eyes on Pahhu, seething with crackling energy, a glowing portal to the temporal energy plane hovering beside her, her hands and body beginning to shred apart as screams in reverse.*
*The reversal stops, and time snaps forward with a sudden lurch. Pahhu howls in rage, and yells:* “NO! THIS IS WRONG! WHERE IS MERRIC!? GIVE THEM ALL BACK!” *Pahhu swings her hand and as she does the land morphs through different seasons, even traveling through centuries as the distant mountains rise and crumble before your eyes. The nearby people change, some familiar, some unfamiliar. It never seems to be the same combination.*
“THYYYYYSE!” *The Pahhu screams as she fails to find a combination that pleases her, and she shatters the the area to dust, morphing it repeatedly in time. Each time Pahhu does this the rip into the temporal energy plane grows larger, and her own body is more and more worn away. Soon she is almost entirely a being a dust and energy, howling in the wind.*
*A shockwave erupts from the being, and as the whirlwind washes over you it begins to shred you. As your senses fail you see reality itself beginning to split as the rip into the temporal energy plane tears fully open, fully ripping the plane in half.*
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Neutral Evil - Pahhu has become a hedonist at the behest of the Zhentarim and the Black Network. She lives a life of selfishness and excess, using her power for her own gain and to the gain of the Zhent. Currently highly unlikely because the party has made VERY hard lines against the Zhent. This is a result of going down Rebel/Future.
This Pahhu could die or live or who knows, she becomes retired and out of my control though.
1%
*A dim light pulses at the periphery of your vision. You feel the thrum of what sounds like distant music, and smell thick acrid smoke. You feel good, the buzz is fading but you’re still far from crashing. You attempt to roll over, but it takes a few attempts to reorient yourself, your limbs feel disconnected and out of place. You have the distinct feeling that your body is filled with strange stiffness and aches.*
*As you turn to get out of bed your feet swing over the edge and a grunt issues from the floor as you find your partner from the previous night, seemingly rolled out of splayed across the floor. You don’t recognize them but a Zhentarim tattoo on their back gives away their allegiance. You read the numeral 6 under the tattoo.*
*You step gingerly over the splayed body and head towards a mirror in the room, finding clothing fitting your size and preferences thrown about the room. As you look in a smudged mirror you notice a tattoo on your chest. The same Zhentarim symbol. You also have a numeral, it says 9. You run your hand across it, but the tattoo is very real and old. As you wipe your hand across the mirror, removing some of the grime you take a look at yourself. You look older, your body covered in scars and deep bags shadow your eyes.*
*You give a look back to the partner on the floor and then head out the door towards the music. You follow cramped stone hallways without windows towards the sound of dancing and music in the distance, the smoke growing heavier as you near it. As the hallway opens to a huge chamber you see a central throng of dancing individuals surrounded by small standing tables, and then around the outer walls are large tables. From one of these large tables a woman spots you and waves you over.*
*As you approach she cackles at you, her voice is heavily warped by heavy smoking.* “Hahaha, Rasheed you look like shit! You normally come back swaggering from bagging someone like that!” *You feel compelled to take a seat at the table as the woman takes a heavy drag off a hookah, and then offers it to you. As your vision follows her arm you see a tattoo above her left breast, the same Zhentarim tattoo but the numeral beneath her tattoo reads 31.* “What? Getting too old to join me?” *She insistently pushes the hookah mouthpiece towards you.*
*You feel yourself mouth some words, but your ringing head doesn’t register the sound. The woman looks at you with some disgust.* “You’re no fun Rasheed, you’re getting long in the tooth. Why don’t you go take a one way mission and join the double digits club already. You’ve got grey hairs already. Just go pick up a murder suicide mission and let your tenth clone awaken already.” *The woman grins with stained teeth.* “I might do it again soon too, I keep getting headaches and who wants to deal with THAT! Oh, and fresh skin for new tattoos… I have ideas already.” *The woman contorts to look at an old tattoo on her ribcage in which a seven pointed star with the seven colors of the rainbow fill each point. She makes a face of mixed emotions before taking a drink from a bottle on the table.*
*Your mouth feels dry, the bottles on the table promise to wet your tongue and burn your belly. You reach for one, after all repercussions be damned. The woman was right, maybe it was time to take a few years back. No point feeling any unnecessary pain or annoyance. Your hand runs over the tattoo on your chest.*
“Hahaha, you know next time you see me my number might be in the 40s or 50s! Manshoon wants me to try another crazy ritual and I’m sure a dozen or more of me are going to end up splattered against the walls or blown away into sand. Ooh, but I’m gonna look so cute and young and I’ll be able to dance all night again too.” *You look at the woman more carefully and notice that she isn’t particularly elderly, but her body is heavily worn down by hard living and carelessness as well as the abuse of drugs.*
*As your eyes drift over her face there is something in her eyes that reminds you of someone. For the briefest moment you’re sure you’re looking at Pahhu, and as the realization hits you feel yourself launching up from your dream to a cold sweat.*
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Lawful Evil - Pahhu has been charmed into the Netherese restorationist camp. She lives as a duchess and a powerful sorceress with a critical position in the restored Netherese empire. She could have joined this group either as an effort to chase the past, or just to make the best of her life after everything goes to shit. Is intended to occur if Pahhu goes down Past and Rebel. Pahhu is intended to live in this version, but may disappear into another timeline in which the Netherese empire is restored.
10%
My Lord, the duchess is here to see you. She has arrived somewhat early.
You blink your eyes, and find yourself idly staring out of a window. Your view is of a deeply orange sunset, the landscape trailing off into a sudden and abrupt horizon. In the far ends of your vision you see a mountain range in the distance, but the peaks seem oddly low.
You are in a very fine study, filled with comforts. Lord Governor of Undrentide.
As you look down you find yourself leaning on the rod. The gold trim flares in the sunlight.
A servant in sumptuous clothes waits near the door. They respond to your every call and question.
The servant offers to fetch your dinner jacket and offers a bowl for washing.
Free time to speak and ask questions.
Writing an autobiography asks questions about his history.
At the dinner table, shall we serve wine or cocoa m’lord?
The duchess arrives.
Lord Governor Du Pois De Lyon, the Duchess of Undrentide lady Kilaniu is here to see you.
Pahhu arrives, she has clearly embraced her Elven heritage. She is much more refined.
Will judge the choice of drink, and offer a toast. To the ‘unniversary.’ It is a funny thing to remember something that won’t ever happen, or remember those who will never be.
What is this? The 40th? 50th?
You look down and see you’ve aged somewhat, but not enough to be that much older. Pahhu still looks to be in the prime of her life. But she is filled out, not the scrawny girl she once was.
Open conversation.
Theodore tries to get information on what happened.
Pahhu suggests a new wife.
Five questions:
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Chaotic Good - Pahhu never grows up and fails to develop the control necessary to prevent her own powers from grinding her to entropic dust. This Pahhu results as a failure to hit any checkpoints by the time her power matures. If Pahhu reaches level 20 without achieving change she will obliterate herself through her own magic.
15-30%
*You’re running through a rocky field on Tona’s back. Tona is running quickly, giving chase to something as she runs across the field. You catch sight of Pahhu as she scrambles down a side of a rock. Tona leaps and makes up some ground, landing softly and gracefully on the other side of a gap. It’s a race, and somehow you realize there are multiple laps.*
*Pahhu has quite the lead to begin, but as the race goes on Tona becomes more confident in her footing and pushes forward; she begins to catch up. You feel a giggle rising in your body as you close in on the other girl, and Tona leaps alongside her.* “Silly Pahhu, Tona is fast and can jump super good!”
*You can feel Tona’s heart pounding in her chest beneath you as the race goes on, but the end is drawing near. It has to be coming to an end, right? But the laps seem to keep going, and Tona is beginning to pant and wheeze beneath you. You feel yourself growing bored, irritated and concerned. Why are we just running in circles? It’s the same path and rocks each time. The only thing that’s changing is Tona and Pahhu are getting tired.*
*Pahhu seems to be going faster and faster though, as she’s kicking up dust behind her. She seems to be using her magic to make up for her flagging physical stamina. The combined strain doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Why are you two trying so hard when you’re not going anywhere? … How long have you been doing this? You’re not even sure...*
*You bring Tona to a stop, but the frantic half-elf continues to run. She is landing lamely in areas, it is clear she’s hurting herself, but she keeps running, keeping herself together through magic and stubbornness alone. As she passes by the rock that you and Tona rest on, you have brief moments to try to talk to her.*
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Neutral Good or True Neutral - Pahhu follows the path of control and the past. Pahhu likely has some kind of severe trauma or loss occur, such as the permanent death of major companions or she is separated in the time stream away from the prime timeline. This Pahhu spends decades or centuries in servitude to Charva and her personality is sublimated into that of a servant. This Pahhu could theoretically reappear at the end of her service as payment from Charva, but this Pahhu would retire and enter service, to be used sparingly as a NPC. Does require either punishment and defeat by Charva or submission/relationship.
Fire, fire everywhere. The feeling of being utterly scattered to ash.
It reverses, the fire slowly absorbs into her, the heat dissipating, her skin healing, her vision returning, the sound of a her own scream backwards.
Thayan Wizards also returning from a disintegrating firestorm.
A figure standing in the area, seemingly the only one moving forward in time as she orchestrates the slow and steady reversal. It is Pahhu. She is an older woman at this point, in what would be her late 40s as a human. Her hair is stringy and dirty, her skin is pale. She wears a worn out frock and a pair of heavy gloves and bracers through which she channels strange power.
As she rotates her arms the scene reverts in time, a firestorm of chaos slowly returning to sanity.
As the reversal stops, Marinette finds herself frozen in place, staring down across the road at some Red Wizards of Thay who are also frozen.
Pahhu approaches Marinette and looks at her in the face. Pahhu looks very tired.
She talks to Marinette as if she was a thing. She looks like she’s trying to check for flaws. “Well, looks like you’re back together…”
Pahhu taps Marinette and brings her out of the freeze. Pahhu says it has been so long since she’s seen her she can’t help herself, even if she’ll be punished for it.
Open conversation. Things Pahhu would reveal
She is in service or in punishment to a higher power to restore the timeline. If she finishes it then she’ll be able to undo something.
She wants to undo some type of mistake that Pahhu makes, one which seemingly results in their deaths.
She has been in service for nearly a century.
Pahhu just happens to be here to deal with a time disturbance caused by the Thayans that Marinette has hunted. It is coincidence.
Pahhu will help Marinette deal with the Red Wizards as it coincides with repairing this timeline.
Pahhu’s power is heavily regulated, but she unleashes specific focused powers, seemingly having no trouble controlling it.
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Lawful or Neutral Good - Pahhu has learned to control her power through some medium and/or self control and maturity. Requires achieving the gates of Future and Control. Pahhu remains a player character, and shakes her childishness, instead developing the full potential of her power. Pahhu likely has positive relationships with one or more major existential beings in the timescape, and also becomes 'whole' after spending time in the Temporal Energy Plane. May or may not experience a time warp to exist. This is the 'best ending' so to speak.
*Your vision begins to swim in the murky twilight of predawn, a hooded figure in a white robe with runs with enormous speed down a hillside and then scrambles up a rocky outcropping. She reaches the top and begins to look back and forth into the darkness. She slides down the far side of the rock and rolls into a bounding leap as she begins to sprint again. You begin to hear voices from the top of the hill behind the hillside she had just come down, but the figure doesn’t slow even a bit.*
*As lights begin to crest the hill your vision jumps and you see the woman further ahead, the sky beginning to pick up hints of orange and red as the sunrise comes. In the rising light you can see tracks. Hoofbeats are heavy in the slick dewy grass of the morning, the robed figure gliding through the grass with inexplicable speed. Now on the track she is gaining on a group of nearly twenty figures dressed in black and grey on horseback, galloping at full speed. One of the riders looks over his shoulder and spots her. He yells a warning to the group ahead of him, and they try to press on even harder as a handful of the group turn about to charge their harrier.*
*The white robed figure skips a single step and vanishes mid-air as she reaches the line of charging riders and a sudden burst of air pressure kicks up dust and blades of of grass. The riders grasp their reins and cover their eyes from the debris, and then look about bewildered. They turn to see the harrier now nearly caught up with their group.*
*The harrier draws a blade, elegant in its carving and familiar in shape. In her other hand she carries an unusual staff which begins to resonate with a cerulean light. The blade lashes out, and is it does it cuts a clean rift in space, a massive blast of air pressure flecked with dust and static lightning blasting out and encompassing the riders. The harrier lifts her staff and a pulse bursts forth, halting all of the sand instantly, leaving it floating perfectly in the air. The sand catches the light fantastically, throwing blue sparkles in reflection. It is distracting in its effect, but soon you realize the thundering hooves have also stopped. The horses, the riders, a full dozen are all just as still. Only the harrier moves, as she turns to look at the riders who had broken off before. She lowers herself into a stance and seems to be awaiting them.*
*The riders take the invitation and thunder towards her, and just as the first rider approaches to within 20 feet a hurtling mass comes from the sky and slams into the rider. It is a great winged and scaly creature? A dragon perhaps? But so odd in shape. But as the sun finally crests the nearby hill the light hits the battlefield and you recognize it as Ed, riding on a winged Nagini. He yells out:* “We told you to wait!”
*A second meteor comes from the sky as a huge rocky mass slams into the earth, rolling over 2 of the riders and their horses. It rolls to its feet and as it unrolls a familiar blue cloaked woman bursts from seemingly the center of the meteor and leaps onto a rider, unleashing a harrowing but familiar battle cry. The meteor brushes off a top-hat and rises to its feet, it is Theodore in the form of an earth elemental. A smaller boulder gives a chuckle and begins to bound towards the same rider as Marinette, a promise of punishment in his eyes.*
*An arrow strikes the flank of the last rider’s horse, and as his horse collapses below him Nyx and Tona come riding over the hillside at full speed. A second arrow flies over Nyx’s head and strikes the rider in the back, striking right through his heart. Your vision swivels as you see the faintest edge of Rasheed as he ducks behind a tree.*
*Ed dismounts from Nagini and approaches the harrier.* “You can’t keep doing that, we can’t keep up!”
“Not now Ed, we gotta move.” *She pushes past him and grabs him, trying to tug him back as she looks up to the sky and shields her eyes.*
*As if on queue the sky above the riders begins to open up as enormous icy shards almost scythelike in proportion begin to rain on the remaining riders. You see yourself come over the hill, riding on a large four pawed creature. Jorah watches dispassionately as the storm ends, the riders seemingly unaffected, but the harrier raises her staff and the scene suddenly begins to move again. The riders fall to pieces as the impact of the spell finally touches them.*
*The group begins to gather together around the single rider still alive. Heavily wounded from the crash landing of Theodore. The rider speaks:* “You may stop us now, but our master lives eternal… You will never stop him.”
*You see yourself approach the rider and dismount from the large feline looking creature you had been riding.* “Thank you, Maat.” *You pat the feline affectionately, and then approached the downed rider, reaching a hand towards him.Jorah speaks:* “Your master runs from death, but death is natural. I will return him to balance.” *The power she exhibits is immense and his life force withers from his body, crumbling to dust. As the body crumbles you see the clothes go slack, and you recognize the symbol of the Zhentarim.*
*The white robed harrier raises her staff and the blue-grey sand begins to whirl before her, binding into a solid crystalline shard which pulses with flashes of lightning. She speaks:* “Now to return this… Have to keep the balance and all.” *She cuts a new line into the air, and the crystal flashes as it is pulled to another place. The harrier turns and you see her from the front. She reaches towards her face and pulls down a muffler worn around her mouth. You recognize her as Pahhu, seemingly older, healthier and more full of body.* “Sorry about that Ed, I didn’t want them getting much further. They might have taken hostages if they made it to a city.” *She sheathes her blade and takes a deep breath.*
*Theodore shifts back rolls his shoulders.* “What was that? Like 15? Any control issues?” *Pahhu turns to Theodore and shakes her head.* “None since…”
*Your hearing begins to fade as the sunrise lit scene begins to blur before you. As your vision swims you try to look at the others more closely, but the vision fades…*
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Rasheed wants to know her past
Nyx shares her dream first
Nyx and Pahhu and Tona were racing in circles, they got very tired, and then Pahhu went poof and then disintegrated.
If your dream had Pahhu in it say aye, all say aye. Rasheed questioningly.
Marinette begins to explain her vision. She says Pahhu was very classy and different. Marinette explains what she saw was Pahhu reversing time and restoring order.
Was anyone else there? Only Marinette. Marinette says is that Pahhu mentions there was a master, and she saw two Pahhus.
What did Ed see?
A lot of destruction. Pahhu ripped apart Hyssop Home, seemingly reaching out for Merric and Thyse.
Theodore's vision he explains he was lord governor of Undrentide. He met a future version of Pahhu that he cooperated with to restore the Netherese, and the two had been rewarded lavishly.
Jorah's vision has few words, she does however reveal that all of them were present fighting the Zhentarim. Pahhu was controlling her power. Rasheed corroborates some information.
Rasheed's vision was of Pahhu in a strange desert place, the people including himself had numbers. Pahhu seemed to be obsessed with dying and have a substance problem.
Perhaps Manshoon is involved in the visions?
Jorah's vision is the nicest one?
Pahhu could go down any of these paths at any given time.
Reign in her self destruction?
Should they talk to Pahhu? Should they guide her? Should Pahhu decide, or should she not? A fight erupts over FREE WILL.
Theodore's aggressive tone concerns Ed, he insights it.
Nyx realizes that Pahhu's dream was her becoming a whirlwind, and that stopping her caused her to vanish.
Free will vs control
Nyx and Theodore tend towards control
Marinette and Rasheed towards free will
Marinette explains that the gloves were shackles.
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Round 2 Nyx realizes it is an allegory and that Pahhu will be destroyed if she keeps pushing herself too hard
Ed nothing.
Marinette adds shackles and the sadness of Pahhu and the servant and the masters.
Jorah adds details on the party, explaining Maat, and explaining the party powering up
One timeline vs many futures?
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 12: The Homefront
DAY 17
The next day Ed, Pahhu, Jorah and Nyx regathered around the mirror, ready to seek more answers, the others off on business. This time Pahhu stood in front of the mirror, frustrated by the lack of information it had given her about her father she instead thought to try to learn of her mother. But as Ed lifted Pahhu to the mirror and squished her face against it her thoughts drifted to her big cousin, and the mirror began to recount the life of Ed.
The minute with the mirror showed much that was known, as Ed had spent his entire life within the orphanage that had become Hyssop Home. But there were scraps of memories from before. A clan of Yuan-Ti demanding a sacrifice of a young one, that Yuan-Ti child on an altar with a curved dagger hanging ominously over him. An explosion of chaos rocking a square based stepped pyramid. A halfling wagon driver with an aged warforged companion traveling the plains, a bundle nestled in the halfling’s arms. The halfling saying: “Well milk won’t do the trick, but rabbit’s blood seems to work…”
Ed went to Quinton to seek information on this halfling, and even though Quinton had some paperwork from the time they were unable to scry on the individuals. It seemed that they had long passed from this life or plane. Foiled, the group chose to take some time to rest and recover and regather themselves before continuing.
That night Jorah was visited by a beast in her dreams. It had 12 foot wings, a long flowing mane, and large heavy paws. It whispered a greeting to her in her dream, and Jorah called out: “Who are you?”
“I am one whose name you should not have known so soon. You carry knowledge forbidden to this timeline. You are one to watch, though your bold actions may be rewarded… in time.” Came the voice of the shrouded creatures, its characteristics muddled in the dream.
“Are you Thamisia?” Jorah spoke the name as if it was familiar, seemingly recognizing the creature.
“Ah, so you did read it after all. Then you know what fate awaits you?” The hint of a smile crossed the shadows. Was it a maw, a snout, a mouth?
“I do.” Jorah centered herself and faced the creature in her dream, not being pulled into the intrigue Thamisia wove.
”Do you accept it? Or do you seek to change it?” Thamisia asked with a curiosity tinged with something more, something difficult to intuit.
“I seek to change it. We all do.” Jorah replied simply and defiantly into the darkness.
“You should come find me.” The voice simply teased as it began to fade, and Jorah’s dream once again became cloudy as the presence departed.
DAY 18
Zug Zugger’s paRy banner flapped in the breeze over the square of Hyssop Home. He has prepared a grand party of some kind, though the occasion is never clear.
It was Ed’s turn at the mirror. He decides to use the mirror this day to find out more about the Sun-Bladed Sword they saw. They see incredible images of powerful military commanders, impressive armies and titanic battles but the whereabouts of the pommel are certainly unclear.
They tried to scry on Pahhu’s mother, having seen her in the mirror with her father. The scrying took Theodore to the same area and place, but a resistant force pushed him back once again. It would seem that whatever was in this place had no interest in being spied on.
The events that happen this day have impact related to A Darkened Star campaign, and this is the day a gate would be opened in Hyssop Home to near disastrous consequence, and trigger the events that return Hulfgar Nearwood.
DAY 19
Reunited together at last the full group once again turned to the mirror, and it was Jorah’s turn at the mirror. While the plan was to try to find out more about Pahhu’s mother, Sariandi Morvyre, Jorah instead let her thoughts focus on Thamisia, the creature that had invaded her dreams.
The mirror began to replay many images, a deep verdant forest with a magical aura about it. An enormous impressive spire fading into existence from invisibility. A pair of winged sphinxes taking flight over the forest, coming to land on the balcony of the spire. A venerable elf with an elegant staff coming to meet the mighty beasts.
The scene changed to a range of mountains near a sweeping desert, a large forest nestled against the mountain range. The mirror swooped into a mountain peak and a solitary Sphinx strode into a cave entrance.
The scene changed to this sphinx in a sealed room, staring into a hemispherical object embedded into a wall. Hundreds of glowing gems lighting the room and revealing the symbol of Labelas Enoreth. The sphinx takes the glowing altar upon its back and speaks parting words to an old elf nearby who replies: “Keep it well, it is the only way…”
The scene begins to fade as the mirror pulls back, the group recognizing the rising sun over the mountain range and identifying it as the Turnback Mountains, the range they had seen in the Anauroch weeks before when finding Habib and Lyndia’s tribe.
The group made plans to look into it. They had business to attend in the area. The Yuan-Ti clan still threatened the Bedine, and the Turnback Mountains were not far from the requested meeting place. It seemed the best course of action. As they descended from the clocktower though a rather flashy fellow tumbled into Hyssop Home, and began to speak to the group.
He introduced himself as Rasheed of the Wind, and warned them that Zhent spies had been keeping an eye on Hyssop Home from the second floor of a nearby hattery. The group realizing this is likely a credible claim immediately sets to capturing these Zhent.
A busted window, a twinned hold person spell and a pair of amateur tooth removals later the Zhent spies were questioned. Refusing to give anything up, the party looked to work with the watch and extract the information.
The watch was none too pleased to see the situation, and although the Zhent were not welcome in Lerwick they had not directly broken any laws. Allowed to leave, the two Zhent attempted to flee the city, and made their way into the wilderness, splitting to run to separate gates. Tragedy may have befallen them on the wind though as rumors say a large bird which may have been wearing a hat was patrolling the outskirts, and the one which fled from the East Gate barely heard the wind as an arrow took him by surprise. Though only the wind would know if that was true or not.
Regrouping in the center of Lerwick the group made their travel plans to head towards the Yuan-Ti who worshipped Sseth...
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 11: Elemental Time
Without answers once more the group decided to return to Synod and investigate more of the buildings. Starting with the house in the middle that contained an undisturbed humanoid, even after all this time… As they approached the house a green figure screeched from the window and pointed a crossbow at them, demanding that they halt. The figure turned out to be a goblin, by the name of Fred, who had claimed to live within the ruins for six years. After learning a bit of Fred’s past the group decided to check the Palace structure next, but Fred overheard them and decided he would claim whatever treasures lay there first.
The palace itself was sealed air tight, only an incredibly complicated mechanical lock on the front door offering any way inside. With some careful teamwork Nyx and Pahhu managed to disarm and unlock the mechanism, and the door swung open into a surprisingly clean and intact interior. They soon found themselves in a great hall, with tremendous marble pillars leading to a throne from which an enormous red jeweled necklace glinted. Perhaps a symbol of royalty or power?
Fred, seeing the jewel claimed it for his own and ran forward, only for Pahhu to chase right behind him. Right as they reached the throne and Fred’s hands touched the gem though a blast of blue-grey sand and crackling energy burst out and surrounded the two of them. The whirling sands quickly ground Fred to dust, but Pahhu, who had felt this force before dodged out of the worst of it. The whirling mass formlessly erupted, Pahhu leapt back swinging her sword through it by reflex as she began to flee. The party had encountered a Greater Time Elemental.
As the temporal energy crackled and sparked through the air, additional rips into the temporal energy plane flared through the room as the dust and grime that always clung to Pahhu began to blow into the room and swirl around, the pristine area now a raging sandstorm. From the chaos two bodies of static formed, taking the shape of humanoids drawing great bows. Two orbs of sand, electricity arcing from them soon followed. The battle had begun.
Great lances of force and static flew from the archers’ bows, slamming into the party in devastating barrages. The attacks seemed so powerful that even using them pulled from the very essence of the archers. The crackling orbs however replenished them, restoring them almost as quickly. The Greater Time Elemental, a cascading whirlwind of energy surged forth, blinking in and out of the material plane as it buffeted Marinette and Ed with corrosive slams of physicality and entropic power.
The elementals were terrible durable, and their sandy form made them difficult to pin down. Nyx’s arrows and Tona’s claws sliced right through the whirling sand, and even Marinette’s axe found little purchase. Only bludgeoning damage crushing through their forms and magical attacks seemed to have significant effect.
Pahhu seeing the way her foes were using this desynchronized form to their advantage attempted to stabilize them by re-tuning them to standard time, casting her Desynchronization (Synaptic Static) spell in reverse. As the energy coursed through the elementals it triggered a surge of temporal energy.
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(Dear readers, once again the d10,000 table was used. In this case Pahhu rolled 3,407. http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf which caused her weapon to become charged with 3 casts of Synaptic Static.)
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Pahhu’s clock-hand rapier surged with crackling power, humming in her hand. Pahhu had always believed the old clock-tower’s minute hand had been magical ever since it had been struck by lightning, but the way it held onto and stabilized the temporal energy surprised even her.
As the battle raged one pair of the archers and sigils were unraveled, falling into a pile of sand and even that soon withering to nothingness. Marinette soaked blow after blow from the elementals, and Ed coralled them, keeping them from getting out of the melee. Jorah’s magic mended the party’s wounds, and saved them from a similar fate to poor Fred who had seemingly been ground to nothingness in but a second.
Pahhu lifted her sword and cut the air, unleashing the spells. All of the energy poured out, and the other pair of Archer and Sigil were discorporated instantly as the temporal wave cut through them and scattered the sand that had made their form. Pahhu reeled from the magical power, but managed to control it, despite losing feeling in her hand. She dropped her rapier in surprise and shook her hand as if she had burned it.
The Greater Time Elemental though was still raging, and it called forth a lesser time elemental to assist it. It blinked into and out of the plane, but soon was disrupted as Marinette slammed her fist through it, raking gashes of sand from its form. It lost control of the lesser elemental and it destabilized, flitting from existence. With a final gasp the elemental was finally stabilized and crushed.
That left the gem and the throne, and as Ed reached out for it the palace began to fill with a sickly light that burned all of them. Pahhu ran for the door, but Marinette chose to try to crush the throne and with a few heavy axe blows she reduced it to rubble. The stones still shone with sickly light, but Jorah dispelled the magic of the throne and the palace was clear. They explored some of the side rooms, and found a few things of interest, but no knowledge to lead them any further…
What were those strange storming, whirling elementals? Why did their form look so similar to Pahhu’s magic? What had happened to Pahhu’s father that his story had ended so abruptly? Their search for answers had only brought more questions…
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 10: Rest & Recovery
Pahhu reaches level 13, taking her 10th level in Stone Sorcerer. She learns to control the Arrow of Time (Chill Touch), directing the entropic force unleashed from the temporal energy plane. When targeted at a foe it rapidly ages them dealing necrotic damage and preventing them from rebounding to a previous state. She also learns Time Flies (Fly) after witness Theodore’s manipulation of gravity, and considering how it could be combined with temporal magic. She loses the Greased Lightning (Lightning Bolt) spell and gains Seize the Moment (Hold Monster) as her focus on control has lead her to develop her time abilities over raw power. Finally she learns to cast with Perfect Timing (Heightened Spell) maximizing the effects of her time control spells.
Pahhu reaches level 14, taking her 11th level in Stone Sorcerer. Pahhu’s recent outburst of Ravages of Time (Magic Missiles) has taught her a way to unleash a cannon-like blast of force damage. This huge release of entropic energy reduces the target to dust, rendering it as it would be in the End Times (Disintegrate.) Additionally her protection of allies and efforts to protect them from harm have sharpened her Nick of Time (Stone Aegis Counter) improving its effectiveness.
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DAY 15 CONTINUED
A robe was offered to Ed as he sat up with a start, gasping for air. Quinton had returned him to life shortly after the group had returned to Hyssop Home, thankful for their stockpile of diamonds and Lerwick’s increased trade standing making it easier to purchase what else was needed with donations from Ilaren, Duran and Theodore. Ed was filled in on what had happened with the Beholder, and the party quickly regrouped and decided to quickly get the mirror somewhere safe.
Pahhu suggested taking it to Charva, but the party decided that the mirror shouldn’t be shown to the Stubborn One, just yet anyway. Unsure of who they could trust Pahhu offered hiding it in her special place in Hyssop Home, in the gear-room of the clock tower where normally only she went. It was a cramped place, and as everyone squeezed in they had to flatten themselves against walls to avoid the whirring gears as they pushed into the far corner of the room. Thankfully the mirror arrived without incident, and was soon set up in the corner.
Pahhu was at home in the clock tower, but as she crawled over and through some of the gears she soon caught one and the clock began stuttering. Taking her tools out she began to tinker with fixing it, as the others tried to figure out how to operate the mirror. Marinette thought to reproduce the vision in the book, and hefting Nyx like a child held her in front of the mirror. As nothing happened, Pahhu realized perhaps they needed a real baby and after restarting the clock ran down to retrieve the nearest baby in Hyssop Home, Nacyr’s child.
One dangerous chase later the Pahhu arrived with the baby, Nacyr right behind her giving chase, just as Marinette lost patience and began to rub Nyx against the mirror. Nyx huffed and yowled at Marinette and asked why she was shoving her against the mirror, and it was then that the mirror began to shift. “I knew we needed a baby!” Pahhu held aloft Nacyr’s child, and then turned to give her back to the tiefling who took her with a huff!
<<(Marinette’s Scene Occurs Here)>>
The mirror had shown Marinette’s past. By touching it and looking into it while thinking of a name it had shown quite a bit of the ‘Firetouched’ woman’s history. Marinette herself had stumped into a sitting position and seemed devastated by visions, and although the mirror had returned to simple reflection she stared at the surface as if haunted. The magic seemed to be exhausted for now though, as was the party. It was just about dinner time at Hyssop Home, and with Pahhu throwing a greasy canvas cloth over the mirror, many the troubled woman to go get something to eat in the mess hall.
Barnaby, Jorah and Marinette remained in the tower though. They spoke of what had been seen, and discussed Marinette’s past with her…
<<Marinette, Barnaby and Jorah Scene Occurs Here, if they choose to share it>>
Pahhu made a mess of dinner, selecting biscuits, watermelon slices, a whole red pepper, and some kind of bologna and spinach casserole as dinner. She carried on with Theodore as they discussed the amazing food called gum that you could eat and eat and it didn’t go away. Pahhu spoke about how some folks even sling gum around, she’d heard about them in Lerwick. Gumslingers they were called.
Before long the exhaustion of the day caught up to the group and they retired to their respective rooms for the night.
DAY 16
Pahhu woke up with urgency. She felt an incredible sense of pressure and knew she had to hurry as fast as her feet could carry her, and thankfully that was really fast! Tear through the hallway she rounded the corner and pushed through a few doors before making it to the bathroom.
Meanwhile Zug Zugger had decided to haze the newcomers to the home, and had begun to set up a bucket of cooking oil over Theodore’s door. Marinette came into the hallway and caught him, and doing the obvious thing she joined him in his caper. Unfortunately the two fumbled the setup, and with a crash the bucket of cooking oil slammed came tumbling down and soaked Marinette just in time for a disturbed and improperly dressed Theodore to come to the door to discover the source of the ruckus. Zug, realizing the jig was up ran away leaving the two awkwardly facing off, one soaked to her skin in oil, the indecent.
As people tended to their morning rituals, some well earned baths and a home-cooked breakfast the group began to regather in Hyssop Home’s square. Pahhu was noticeably absent from the group, but a keen eye among them saw sunlight and shadows bouncing around in the clock tower above the square. They all headed up and found Pahhu staring thoughtfully at the mirror. After a brief discussion they decided to indulge Pahhu, and with a name: “Abaka Felfarrin” the mirror activated.
The mirror flitted from scene to scene:
Blinding sunlight over a desert encampment
Running and playing children amongst the dunes
A bloody desperate hunt, a young man holding a spear in both hands, facing off against a boar
The majestic sight of a pool of water, an otherworldly beauty bathing in it, and then a a young man looking from behind a tree and crying in surprise
Darkness, blurred vision, peering through trees
An elven woman, seen through less blurry vision
The two returning back to a tribe
A marriage ceremony, lead by a younger Habib
A great migration, the tribe walking and riding north
The young man clutching a blanket, riding hard through a light rain
A rainy night, quiet city street, the blanketed bundle left at a doorstep
The young man riding in the cold alone
As the mirror faded to a placid reflection, the party looked to Pahhu who continued staring. “But, why did it stop? It isn’t over! It isn’t done right?” The mirror showed nothing more. Did this mean that Abaka’s history had ended soon after Pahhu was abandoned? Or did something prevent the mirror from showing more? What they had seen gave them little new information, and certainly nothing to go on for finding Pahhu’s parents.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 9: Reflections
Additional details: The High Priest’s journal recovered was penned by a Brin Silisk, High Priest of Amaunator.
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The party walks out of the temple, once again seeing the enormous statue and the flowing water. They decide to investigate where the water might be going; Barnaby uses his stone senses to identify a cavern below and moves to check it. Theodore approaches the water itself, and as he approaches he realizes that it isn’t actually flowing into a hole, but instead looping endlessly. As he moves in to try to figure out why a face forms in the water, and it recoils away from him. The water is some manner of elemental.
Nyx and Theodore converse with the elemental, trying to learn more of the place. They learn that the forge they’ve passed is inhabited by fire elementals, bound to endlessly forge in the place. They ask more of the elemental, trying to understand what has transpired here, but find that the elemental’s since of time is poor having spent millenia whirling around the massive statue. The only detail of note the elemental can recall is that a single invader had made it past the statue, a floating violet ball with a giant eye and many small eyes on stalks. The statue had no reacted at all to this, which had surprised the elemental. It was the only invader to ever make it by, until the party arrived.
To the best of the elemental’s knowledge the beholder passed through nearly 30 years prior and exited the temple with the mirror. This revelation which leaves the group at a loss. If true then the mirror is long gone; but the elemental seems to have a distorted experience of time and place, so the group hopes to carry on. They offer to free the elemental, but he expresses ambivalence. It seems he is accustomed to being with the statue now, who he calls Atlas. They decide the first place to head is the forge, perhaps the fire elementals may know more, or be able to be convinced to help them if freed.
The forge is a deep stone foundry, blazing with pulsing heat as fire elemental myrmidons and elementals move about, hammering and smelting. Molten hot rock and metal flow freely here, and the scent of smoke and heat surround the party. It bears a striking resemblance to the pictures shown in the prayer book.
Nyx approaches speaks to the myrmidons, and the elementals quickly agree to repair Turbo, the construct from the temple. It seems as if they are prepared to handle this maintenance with readiness. They try to learn more about the situation but the elementals have no time for small talk. They do however strike a bargain, learning of a difficulty the elementals face. Long ago they had forged something meant as a gift for the denizens of the Brass City in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Bound as they are, and with the Netherese wizards long gone, they have been derelict in delivering for nearly 1,700 years. If they can deliver this object to the Brass City, the elementals are willing to forge a powerful weapon of any make for the group.
Considering the offer, and hoping to make friends the group agrees to attempt this as they finish repairing Turbo. The forged gift is large, and takes 3 elementals to carry. Pahhu steps up to them and exerts her magic to the utmost, attempting to Banish the elementals to their Plane. Pahhu’s magic slips away from her, and the elementals arrive off target. When she releases the spell the elementals are outraged as they return and explain what had happened: they had arrived in the Sea of Fire, the gift had been destroyed. They demand the party leave at once. As they go to exit the forge they hit an invisible wall. The Thayans had surrounded the forge.
One of the Thayans laughed in earnest, saying he had spotted the weapon. Pahhu slunk around a corner, trying to hide herself, thinking once again she was identified as a ‘Time Ripper’ but no, this time they were speaking of Marinette, who they called ‘The Firetouched.’ They demanded to know why she was here, and if she knew anything of relics or treasures. Marinette bluntly called his bluff, demanding to know if the Thayans sought the mirror. The Wizard laughed at the lack of subtlety, but assured of his safety and supremacy, confirmed he was, and on orders from the Zhulkir of Divination at that. The Thayan demanded Marinette surrender for questioning, but she refused.
With the Thayans in front and enraged Elementals behind, the party found themselves unable to accomodate either request. The elementals, believing the party held their threat in contempt chose to attack. The Thayans, demanding surrender and an explanation chose to take advantage of their erstwhile allies and drop their wall of force, also attacking. Surrounded on both sides Pahhu tried to begin chalking a teleportation circle, but the fight broke out in earnest before she could even finish the first rune.
In the back of the foundry a fire elemental charged forward, burning Jorah, Nyx and Tona and setting them alight. Jorah responded by summoning a massive Maelstrom of swirling water in the middle of the forge. Instantly the forge was blasted by super-hot steam, and five of the fire elementals were quenched instantly, leaving but a pair. These rushed forward but a Watery Sphere from Theodore crashed into them, splashing them into nothing but gouts of steam. In mere seconds the elementals had been utterly devastated.
In the front the Thayans were shocked at what they saw, having lowered their wall and begun their charge thinking they had an advantage they soon clashed into Ed and Marinette on the front lines. Spells fly, and Pahhu attempts to lay down a Silence, but is quickly countered. Nyx and Tona cover the ground toward the front of the foundry, laying down cover shots for Ed and Marinette. Turbo charges the Thayans, but is quickly banished from the plane by a Wizard.
Jorah and a Thayan Wizard call down Ice storms on the opposite parties, but Jorah’s ice storm is empowered by the spectre of death and twilight, and scythes through the Thayans, leaving them all heavily damaged. Theodore flings a half dozen of them into the cave ceiling by Reversing Gravity, and Pahhu charges to the front, unleashing flaming sweeps of her minute-hand rapier, singing two Thayan champions.
Marinette and Ed grapple and fight with the Thayan front line, bordering on the edge of the gravity well they try to fling each other inside, straining for control. Marinette grabs one away from the edge and slams him down, starting to pummel him and choke him. Ed is pulled into the field by one, but Theodore responds by unleashing the gravity well and those on the ceiling come tumbling down, and Ed falls from about half the distance. A single living wizard tries to flee, but Barnaby manages to strike him with a rock, ending his life. Turbo strides through the wounded Thayans proned from their drop and cleaves through them with his massive blade still hot from the forge. The battle had become a route in mere seconds.
Marinette slams the remaining Thayan down, and begins to demand he answer her questions, a reversal of but moments ago. She demands to know who the other group is? The Zhentarim? The Gith? It is neither, but the party does not understand the name given. Frustrated with his lack of response Marinette chokes out the man, practically separating his head from his body. The group checks the fallen quickly for any information, and find a few objects of interest, including taking two of the Thayan’s robes. They push the bodies into the forge, regretfully burning them to hide any evidence and prepare to move out.
Nyx, who had been on lookout, had spotted a party moving from the intruding side’s army towards the forge, likely to investigate the noise and magical combat that had broken out. They decide to quickly begin moving west, taking advantage of the continued confusion. They pass through a collapsed ancient bazaar, ducking through alleyways and disturbing dust that may have gone untouched since the crash, the only sound they could hear being the occasional scuffle of feet or a pounding heart.
Soon they wrap around some buildings in the cavern, spying on the two camps as they face off in the darkness, their fighting having stopped for now. For the first time they can see the other group; it is not Gith or Zhent, it is some faction in greys and black, carrying banners of a bony hand grasping an orb. Their styles are reminiscent of Yagya Karn, the Netherese warlord they had fought in the Sanctuary. Are they part of the Netherese restorationists? They can only wonder.
The two sides face off across what may have once been a town square, separate from smaller groups parlaying in front of what seem to a half-crushed basilica or library. Realizing that they had little chance of taking the army head on they considered retreating and teleporting home. On a whim, Ed, having traveled some distance decides to once again attempt to Locate Object, and nearly unbelievably he detects the mirror inside the crushed basilica. It was unexpectedly close! But how could they distract those armies?
Their idea was simple. Paint Turbo in Thayan colors, and then have him wave a Thayan Robe as a banner. Theodore would impersonate a Thayan with the other robe, and run into the battle claiming to have been betrayed by the Netherese. They agreed, and quickly set to work, setting Turbo on fire and sending him in as a flaming juggernaut.
Theodore yelled in his most grandiose voice! “THEY HAVE BETRAYED US! END THEM!” The fight broke out in earnest as Turbo crashed into the Netherese, spells flared from both sides as the party crept around the back of the basilica. They would paint a hole into the wall using Nolzur’s pigments and rush into the citadel on the other side. The party ran ahead as Theodore put on his show, expecting him to follow up shortly. But Theodore saw an opening in the chaos, and instead ran towards the melee gripping tightly the relic he had taken from Yagya Karn.
Blasts of eldritch energy and magical explosions erupted around him, but everything stopped when he lifted the rod and spoke. “Now you listen to me, and me alone!” The battle halted, as nearly three fourths of the survivors turned towards Theodore transfixed by his words. The machine the only thing still killing, as it was on orders from Pahhu still. Realizing the danger Theodore commended the group to end Turbo, and end the fight. Under a barrage of withering magic missiles the mighty construct which had aided them thus far was rent asunder, shredded into scraps.
About this time the group around back took the silence for good news, and despite not having Theodore pushed into the library. Pahhu left behind chalk tophats, the top pointing the way they went. They didn’t get far though before small floating eyes began to approach, seemingly children of a Beholder. A quick and brutal fight broke out, with the small beholders being little match for the group. Ed indicated the mirror was just downstairs, and as Pahhu looked ahead she saw it. A violet floating eyeball staring back at her. A beholder had the mirror.
As slime and tentacles surrounded them, they had no choice but forward and headed downstairs. The beholder was waiting for them though, and unleashed a withering array of blasts, petrifying Barnaby. Pahhu leapt ahead with a teleport, appearing behind the Beholder and uncorking her Eversmoking Bottle, clouding everything except where the beholder was looking. The group scrambled to try to approach, but as they covered the distance Ed was struck unexpected overwhelming firepower. Withering necrotic and force energy slammed into him, disintegrating his body in an almost instantaneous death. Having obliterated Ed, the Pahhu spun its eye to Pahhu, dispelling the smoke.
The group covered the lair as Pahhu faced off with the beholder, Marinette charging and leaping in as she hacked and punched at it. Nyx fired arrows into its thick hide, and Jorah unraveled the Beholder’s life force. The beholder snarled at Pahhu, and fired a telekinetic ray into the eversmoking bottle sending it flying across the room as he swept his eye clearing the smoke. Pahhu finally saw that Ed was missing, and howled in rage as she moved with greater invisibility, moving faster than the eye could see as she hacked into the Beholder’s flank!
Marinette grappled the hideous monster by its stalked, and drove her fist into the beholder’s eye repeatedly. It responded by aiming all of its attention on her, slowing her, and knocking her unconscious. Nyx and Jorah got into position and began to lay fire into the Beholder, but eyes erupted from the floors and ceilings, and Nyx was paralyzed just as Jorah’s feet began to turn to stone. Things looked very grim.
Pahhu screamed at Marinette! “GET UP!” As she ripped into the area, unleashing a half dozen missiles, tearing into the temporal energy plane as sparks of static and force erupted. Shocked awake by the pain Marinette stood up and unleashed a primal war cry, the sheer defiance of which shook the room. Nyx and Jorah were heartened by this, and shook off their ailments, saved by the vitalizing force in Marinette’s voice.
The beholder cackled and unleashed beam after beam in response, slamming Jorah into the ceiling, and slowing Marinette to a crawl. Pahhu continued the onslaught of eroding the barrier between planes, flares of temporal force pounding the beholder as Marinette hacked and punched the things rubbery hide. Jorah, pinned against the ceiling and staring upside down and prone, unleashed a final spell and pulled the last bit of life from the Beholder. It was dead.
With that they quickly gathered themselves as Theodore found them, and taking the mirror and what they could gather of Ed they did some brief exploration and then teleported back to Lerwick. What would they see in the mirror?
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 8: Into Synod
DAY 13
The group gathered, weary of conversation and thankful for the chance to simply move they teleported back to Charva’s sanctuary and then began to fly in the sky via wind walk. Without telepathic bond they flew silently together, each in their own thoughts as they considered their situations and relationships.
DAY 14
Another day of lengthy travel at last ended as they came to the border of the ruins of Synod. What would the fallen city hold for them?
DAY 15
The party woke to a clear sky overhead. The information they’d gathered led them to an area a few square miles in total along the unnatural ridgeline along the High Moors. Barnaby communed with the trees and rocks in the area, learning of the fallen city as the trees spoke of the great brick walls and structures deep underground that their roots tickled against. With their guidance the party soon found a cave entrance, recently collapsed with thick and heavy stones blocking their way. It took some effort, but the way was soon clear.
The sloping natural cave floor gave way to strangely blocky corridors opening into nearly square caverns. They were crawling through the twisted wreckage of some long fallen building, slowly being ground away by nature’s weathering. Corridors gave way to great caverns, and twisting paths, but soon they came to a deep pool of water. It seemed to be the local low point where water had accumulated from the rains washing in.
Investigating the water they were nearly taken by surprise when a group of Gricks dropped from the ceiling and flapped up from the nearby mud. The battle that broke out was swift and chaotic, but the party guarded each other well, taking advantage of openings when the Grick would attack their allies to quickly subdue them. Theodore, who had shifted into a water elemental dove into the pool looking for a path, but instead only found old adamantine bolts strewn in the water, perhaps remaining there since the crash.
Leaving behind the pool they found another narrow cavern which soon revealed tracks, a massive number of people had come through. Nyx estimated the tracks of nearly 70 humanoids leaving bootprints in the soft mud having passed through 2 days or so ago. The group follows the tracks and soon it opens into an enormous cavern, sparsely lit from place to place. They estimate the cavern to be nearly a mile around, though slightly longer than it was wide. There were 11 major landmarks in the city, which appeared to be intact structures from the crash. Many of them were lit by flickering torches which illuminated the shadowy figures of humanoids.
Nyx concentrated and detected the presence of humanoids nearby, identifying 72 of them in the cavern. With some foresight the party checked the cavern’s exit for traps, and Jorah using Detect Magic was able to find an Alarm spell. The group decided to use this to their advantage, and an earth elemental was summoned and sent forth to trigger it. The party hid and watched as two figures approached and fired flaming arrows at the area, granting them vision. The two then ran back and returned with two others, in blood red robes. One of the robed figures cast a spell and the elemental vanished, seemingly banished from the plane.
Realizing they might be up against powerful wizards and possibly Thayans, the party elects to prepare a stealthy approach. Theodore’s research suggested the High Temple would be on the far side of the cavern. Not wanting to face the group head on they began to prepare a stealth approach. As they rested and gathered themselves, Nyx kept checking in on the humanoids, watching their patrols. She soon detected an army of over 80 coming in from the southeast, heading directly towards them. It might be the Gith chasing them again, or reinforcements for the Thayans ahead of them. Deciding they had to act they quickly gathered together and dispelled the Alarm.
Nyx cast Pass Without Trace, and Theodore used his magic to grant Ed, Jorah and Marinette the Grace of the Cat through Enhance Ability. With careful movements and a little luck the party picks through the debris of the city and makes their way around the periphery of the cavern towards the temple on the far side. As they go Nyx tries to keep tabs on the encroaching group, and it is soon clear that the two sides are lining up for a clash near the cavern entrance. Their numbers begin to drop and the party is thankful for their clash. As they arrive they find a corner of the collapsed temple their only way in, and as they pick over the stones they come to face an intact giant marble statue, pouring a vase into a hole in the floor. The water flowed endlessly, but as Pahhu stepped inside to get a better look it the statue began to swivel towards her.
The gargantuan statue raised its arm as if about to bring it down upon the encroachers to the temple, and looked at Pahhu expectantly, the threat clear. On a panicked hunch Pahhu pulled from her pouch her ‘Stork Egg’ the Orb of Time given to her by Habib, a treasure of Amaunator that always leads to his constellation in the northern sky. The orb glowed brighter than usual in the temple, and the statue cocked it’s head towards Pahhu as if acknowledging her, then reversed its motion and returned to its previous pose, the water once again spilling into the hole.
The group was dumbfounded, for once Pahhu’s ‘stork egg’ had done something useful! The party looked around, and found nothing in the temple area but two blood smears… seemingly recent victims to the statue’s vigilance. Two large stone doors at the northern end of the room were uncovered under layers of thick dust. Inscribed with prayers, one door gave praise to Amaunator for the giving of the day and sung of the the dusk. The other spoke of the new day, and gave thanks for every opportunity overseen by Amaunator.
Pushing the doors open the party found a surprisingly well preversed marble temple, the pillars intact and ancient stone pews facing a pulpit at the far end. Behind the pulpit stood the ruined gouged out body of an enormous steel construct, motionless. A massive sun-hilted sword was engraved and painted into the floor. The pulpit still held an enormous prayer book filled with stories. Jorah began to read from it while the others began to explain. Nyx focused on the clash happening outside, as the battle raged and the numbers fell on each side.
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The book spoke of many stories:
The Baptism of children in front of a 4’x3’ mirror on an ornate golden stand. The reflection on the mirror showing the child surrounded by the motifs of different things, a knight, a merchant, a priest, a beggar. Perhaps different futures?
A mighty warrior with a sun-flamed sword fighting a horse of darkness.
Mighty glowing anvils being worked by many smiths, producing plows, shields, swords, helmets, and the tools of different trades.
Grand flowing glowing wings on a general flying over troops as he surveys a battlefield.
A crowned individual, a young looking male with brown hair and ruddy skin, holding a gold and silver horn to his lips as warriors of pure sunlight surround him and ride forth against darkness.
More images of the mirror, as it shows up repeatedly in many legends.
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As the others explore Marinette finds a trapped box, which Pahhu disarms. Inside they find old potions, seemingly strength potions that have aged and lost potency and some liquor which had gone very foul, reminiscent of Dwarven gutbusters. On the other side of the temple they find an artfully engraved box. Inside is similarly engraved and well crafted armor that they seen identify to be mithral plate armor.
Ed having now seen images of the mirror, and believing it to be the relic casts Locate Object and begins to wander the temple trying to get a feel for the missing relic. He senses nothing. Perhaps the mirror is protected, or perhaps it is nowhere near.
Finally they have explored the temple completely and are unable to figure out what to do next. They attempt to perform the ritual near where the mirror should be, and surprisingly the altar reacts to the Orb of Time. A thin beam of sunlight came from the ceiling, searched about the room and winked out. With some effort and many retries they manage to try to recreate the scene, with Ed holding a hand mirror, and Marinette holding Nyx up near it. The beam however bounces off the mirror, to a wall across the temple where it shimmers and opens the stone.
Dashing after the beam Nyx and Marinette tumble inside a small room, seemingly the chambers of the High priest. They uncover a journal and pull it from the hidden room. Jorah can also read this language, and details the story of the Priest.
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The book is filled with:
Stories of the priest going through his prayers
Later becoming obsessed over his mirror and holy artifacts
A presence that comes to him in his dreams named Vaamnohm which promises him he could have everything in the city as his if only he gathers the artifacts
That the priest will rule by Vaamnohm’s side if he succeeds
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After this the priest’s mental health deteriorated rapidly. He became highly secretive of his power and belongings, and prepared for battle, having a suit of armor forged and making notes regarding an upcoming clash. The last pages describe the importance of redirecting the city quickly, and then the journal ends abruptly.
As Jorah reads this Pahhu has begun monkeying around with the construct. It is surprisingly built of clockwork and Pahhu begins tinkering with it, oiling the ancient gears. She uncovers an ancient inert battery, and believes it may be fire powered. A pipe leads from its insides to its mouth, and she theorizes it may need to eat some power to be reactivated. After determining it was powered by fire and heat she has Theodore unleash magical fire into it. The construct seems to cough, and a massive cloud of noxious poisonous gas belches forward, leaving Theodore dazed and ill.
Re-examining the construct they soon realize the entire body is a conduit for the heat it needs, and bathing it in fire it soon regenerates and reactivates. The golem then sets its sword down, yielding to Pahhu and staring at the Orb of Time expectantly. Pahhu unceremoniously names the construct Turbo, and they begin speaking to it. It becomes clear that Turbo understands very basic questions, and answers them based on very outdated information. It becomes clear that while the construct may help them in some way will need to ask the right question. On the mention of a possible tomb where the priest may be buried the construct begins to walk towards the exit…
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 7: Schisms
Marinette, under the sway of the fiend’s suggestion rounded the corner with purpose, sighting Tona the panther. Heavy footsteps pounded the sand as every muscle fiber in Marinette’s body resisted simultaneously resisted the compulsion and wound itself up to deliver death to her old friends and new enemies. Her heavy greataxe cut through the air and slammed into Tona’s side, winding the panther and nearly cleaving her in twain. A quick gauntleted backhand knocked the panther unconscious, and Marinette seized Tona up by the neck and began to carry her forward. Theodore, some distance down the hallway began to rush forward, still unable to see what had happened clearly.
Marinette charged forward, Tona hefted by the neck in one hand, axe in the other as she rounded the corner. She flung the panther bodily at Theodore, nearly bowling him over before charging with her axe and chopping into her mercilessly. Theodore was shocked at the ferocity, and at the state of Tona, dying by Marinette’s assault. Thinking to buy time he attempted to polymorph Marinette into a symbol of peace, shrinking her into a harmless dove.
The fiend seeing his puppet rendered helpless raged, teeth gnashing and claws slashing as he ripped into the dove, reverting it to Marinette and shredding her flesh, shattering his own magics on her. Marinette was barely alive, but snapped back to her senses she snarled and spun her rage onto the fiend, gouging into his flesh with the axe. Theodore, seeing this and hoping for the best unleashed a powerful healing pulse into Marinette and Tona, reviving the panther, as he hoped to stem the tide of the battle in their favor. The fiend only laughed and reached into Marinette’s mind again, his now repaired toy fit to play with again. “Finish him!” The fiend roared and Marinette turned towards Theodore once again, hacking into him and leaving him reeling.
Tona began to flee at this point to get help, running towards the remaining party to try to guide them to the battle. Theodore, up against overwhelming odds tapped into his shapeshifting magic and took the form of a Giant Ape, hoping to withstand the withering assault of the pair. Theodore though in a moment of brilliance took the form of a female Giant Ape, and in doing so broke the suggestion: there was no more ‘him’ to finish.
The fiend growled in fury, and changed his command over Marinette to cut apart the gorilla and anything inside of it! She complied, hacking into the great beast, but Theodore maintained his shroud of magic even as he rained blows upon the fiend hoping to disrupt its concentration. The combined assault of Marinette and the Fiend proved too much at last as the ape was shattered and Theodore was overwhelmed, the jaws of the fiend closing around him as he lost consciousness, his body being swallowed whole by the creature, its first meal in untold centuries.
Pahhu turned the corner just in time to see one of Theodore’s legs slide down the creature’s gullet, and see Marinette’s enraged form charge her with intent to kill. Slipping around Marinette, Pahhu vanished into thin air, moving faster than the eyes could see and becoming invisible as she tried to make a run towards pulling Theodore out; she was too late, there was nothing left of him. With Pahhu having vanished Marinette charged towards the party trailing her, crashing into Ed and critically wounding him, nearly felling him in a single enormous blow.
Tona and Nyx charged Marinette, arrows and claw strikes tearing into the maddened woman as Ed tried to chain her down with his flail. Jorah mended the horrible wound and kept Ed fighting against the onslaught. Marinette raised her axe, ready to swing on Ed once more but she stopped, still as a statue as Pahhu faded back into view, her time magic paralyzing Marinette. Ed took advantage of the situation and slammed his flail into Marinette, the chain wrapping tightly and Barnaby rose up from the stand nearby and with a heavy swing of his earthen club and knocked Marinette out, her body falling flat in the sand nearby.
The beast cackled at the sight and strode forth, helping himself to another meal as his claws impaled Marinette’s body and he then swallowed her whole. Marinette was dead. Filled with vengeful fury the party fought for the two they had lost, hoping to pull them from the stomach of the beast in time. Magic missiles shredded into the fiend, flail and earthen club slammed him and a whirl of claws and short swords cut into creature, when at last it fell to a ray of freezing energy, its body crystallizing with the ice. Barnaby cracked through it with his club, the black ichor of the dissolving fiend quickly revealing the bodies of Theodore and Marinette.
Ed reached forward with holy energy and revivified Theodore, aided by Pahhu bending time in his favor. Theodore coughed and sputtered to life. Ed then repeated the ritual on Marinette, once again aided by Pahhu, though Pahhu felt a twinge as her exhausted body struggled to channel the time magic. Something was wrong, though it wasn’t clear what had happened.
As Marinette revived screaming, Pahhu struggled one last time to cast a spell, trying to hold Marinette and prevent her from doing any more harm, and even as Marinette halted in time Pahhu’s vision began to swim. The strain of using her time magic, the blood loss to the vampires, and the explosive shockwave from earlier at last overwhelmed her and she passed out, collapsing to the sand below, spilling her belongings, including the two journals among them across the ground.
Freed from the control Marinette rages at the dissolving body of the fiend, crashing her fists into the ground and nearby walls. Trust had been broken all around, and death has come far too close to claiming them all today. Deciding to return to the inner sanctuary to regroup, Jorah hefted the unconscious Pahhu, picking up her things and noticing the two journals. On arriving the group recentered and tried to figure out next steps, though they were soon cut short as Jorah began reading aloud from Pahhu Kilaniu, Time Warden’s journal, a record of what was to be from a future incarnation of the unconscious Pahhu.
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(Dear readers, for purposes of story I am not privy to the contents of this journal. What was learned by Nyx, Theodore, Marinette, Jorah and Ed I do not know.)
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What the party learned from this journal was shocking. They began to consider next steps but were soon interrupted as a human man called out to them from the darkness. The man was Jamedi Bones, an explorer, an archaeologist who delved into ancient ruins. Thinking themselves lucky they began to speak to him, learning more about Synod. Nearly an hour later though Pahhu began to come to, and nearly had a panic attack at the sight of the man. She had seen this man die, had seen his body interred at the Hospitaller. The party laughed off Pahhu’s outburst, but she was convinced that she had seen this man die. Pahhu’s instincts told her something was wrong, this was a man out of time. A man both here and then; he was a Bothness, and instinctively she knew a Bothness was very, very wrong.
Pahhu asked Jamedi about his life and what time he thought he was and it soon became clear that he indeed was a past version of Jamedi Bones, before his death. Jorah looked upon him with a gaze to detect any magic responsible for bringing him to this place, and confirmed the suspicion. Theodore attempted to dispel the magic, but it was Jorah who ultimately untangled the weave responsible for this time aberration. As the Bothness of Jamedi Bones faded, Pahhu felt the twinge from her earlier spellcasting fade. Pahhu must have brought him here when she lost control of her magic. A sense of rightness came over Pahhu and Jorah as the magic ended.
The party realized that if this Jamedi Bones knew of Synod then perhaps the now’s version of Jamedi Bones would as well, even if he was dead. Exhausted and wounded, and in Theodore’s case in need of new clothes, the party decided to return to Lerwick having made no travel progress. Jorah, having a talent for speaking with the dead went with Ed and Pahhu to the Hospitaller, where they spoke with the body of Jamedi Bones.
They asked their questions. Learning more specifically where Synod had crashed, as well as more details of the city. They also learned that the Temple of Time was a fabled place, no one could ever find it. They asked about the holy relic, and confirmed it allowed others to look into the past. Lastly they asked about the Bedine tribes, and Jamedi knew nothing of this. His spirit returned to rest, the party went to their’s as well.
Regrouping at Hyssop Home, Theodore arrived in a rather different outfit and now donning a mask. The party spoke briefly of the day’s events and their next steps. Pahhu showed Jorah and Theodore to rooms prepared for them, and Marinette went upstairs to visit Charva and the kobold. Many conversations and considerations troubled their sleep that night, what had happened? How quickly things had fallen apart, and how would they face each other the next day?
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 6: Twists in Time
DAY 7
Breakfast the next day was a drowsy affair, the group having had their rest interrupted the night before. Apples, cheeses, breads and jerkies made for a satisfying meal. Barnaby the Korred even snacked on some of the nearby rocks. Looking out over the battlefield of the night before they realized one of the cyclops bodies was missing; with a drag trail leading towards the goblin camp. Assuming a grisly fate had befallen the cyclops a few of the party followed the trail back to the goblin camp, where the goblins enjoyed their own breakfast. Pahhu tried to bargain with the goblins, after all they’d hunted the ‘stompies’ but the goblins shook their spears and demanded the group leave at once, they had broken any semblance of trust with their threatening lightning storm the night before.
The group returned to their own camp and packed up, and with no certainty on where else to go and nothing matching Theodore’s vision they set out into the ice, climbing up into the ice shelf. Cold winds and endless ice soon surrounded them, and as the afternoon wore on they seen realized they were getting nowhere quickly. Pahhu shook her compass, but it never seemed to point towards any temple or revealing any secrets. They were lost, and they had to admit they had no idea where they were going. Theodore called for a stop to their foolishness; they should return to Lerwick and try to research their destination.
On arriving to the Prismatic Plaza in Lerwick the group beelined for Hyssop Home. An audience with Charva, notedly excluding Pahhu, made the priestly dragon much more open to discussion of the situation. Charva revealed that the place they were seeking is a well guarded secret, that not even he knows the full truth of. Only the true followers, those deep in Amaunator’s faith knew the way to the Temple of Time. He knew only a once floating city of Synod, a jewel of the Netheril Empire which had once crested the clouds above the Anauroch.
Synod once had a grand temple to Amaunator invested into which was a powerful divine relic of Amaunator. This relic was jealously guarded by a High Priest, and by possessing it may have had the ability to commune with a great guardian of knowledge, a blessed entity known to Amaunator and Labelas Enoreth. This guardian knew the location of the Temple of Time, and protected the secrets of magically manipulating time. Charva explained that he once had a Netherese time criminal in his custody at the prison, a Netherese warlord named Yagya Karn. If the group could find this criminal they could question him, and find out more.
The party quickly realized that this Yagya Karn was likely the Netherese Restorationist who they had combatted in Charva’s Sanctuary on their first visit after the fall. He was dead, and his body was floating at the bottom of a fountain in Charva’s Sanctuary. After a quick discussion the group decided to spend the remainder of the day and the next three days researching the topics they’d learned of.
Day 8/9/10
Nyx visited Waterdeep to see an old friend, a gunslinging artificer who she knew to know a great many things.Nyx learned of a famous temple involved in the ascension, a great event in Amaunator’s faith in which the events of the spellplague revealed that Lathander and Amaunator at one. A great temple west of the Dalelands in the city of Eversult devoted to Amaunator and built by Daelegth Orndeir was one of the most central places of worship and knowledge within the faith. If the party travelled this long distance they may find modern scholars who would know of a potential lost temple in the High Ice.
Pahhu tries to learn more about Amaunator by finding out more about where the sun comes from in the east. Pahhu learns that there is a mythological sphinx in the Turnback Mountains that roars at the eastern sun every day as it rises. The Sphinx is famous amongst the desert tribes, and features in children’s tales. She decides a sphinx must look like a giant rooster. She learns these things from children’s books but is unable to uncover anything of significant value.
Marinette tries to find any information on potential relics, thinking perhaps the divine treasure had long been looted or moved around. Marinette learns that Netherese relics and artwork are exceptionally rare, and any relics that are publicly known of are heavily protected by those with wealth and means. There is an expert in Waterdeep who may have more information by the name of Francois Hector Du Pois De Lyon; the family name of Theodore.
Jorah and Ed spend the days with Charva learning of the remaining time criminals which Charva once held in his custody. They learn about the motivations and dangers of many groups. An Unseely court of Eladrin and Dark Elves abusing temporal magics. A group of Amnizu fiends using time to de-age people to children so as to consume their youthful flesh. A cult of vampires who sought to stop the sun and bring on an endless night, and an endless hunt. A pair of Abishai fiends seeking to corrupt dragonkind and subverting the natural order. A massive red-skinned Slaad who sought to unravel the time stream itself to sink the world into complete chaos. A blood cultist using foul rituals to artificially extend life spans at the risk of warping his subjects into aberrant monsters. The Red Wizards of Thay and their temporal researchers with unknown motivations. The Netherese restorationists seeking to undo the fall of their empire. Finally a hyper sapient owlbear; the result of some twisted experimentation. The owlbear only wished to turn back time to before it had gained its extraordinary awareness and intelligence, and had made progress until captured by Charva.
Theodore is able to track down a very basic layout of the city pre-fall. It had prominent locations as follows:
The Grand Temple
The Archives
The Armory
The Foundry
The Palace
Grand Marketplace
Residential Towers
Magicians Quarter
The Undercroft
Theodore also learns there is no recorded known location of a specific temple by name of The Temple of Time. The most Theodore uncovers is three gods that have to do with time in the Faerunian pantheon. Amaunator, Labelas Enoreth, Grumbar. Much is easily uncovered on the first two, less so on the third. Theodore’s research into Synod revealed it to be heavily devoted to Amaunator, and that it crashed in the High Moors.
DAY 11
The party decides to head towards the High Moors to discover the wreckage of Synod, hoping to find the relic within the disaster of the fallen city. They reason that they must find the relic to find the guardian who can lead them to the temple. Considering the map they realize the closest place they can easily depart from is Charva’s Sanctuary, which has the added benefit of allowing them to look for the remains of Yagya Karn. They depart via treestride.
Marinette fishes the body of Yagya Karn from the fountain, the nearly two week dead body horribly bloated and rotted. Thankfully they were able to recover a few objects of note, things they’d never considered to look for when they had fled the chaos before: A strange metal rod untarnished by the water which ended in a symbolic sunburst, seemingly a religious object of some kind. Additionally they found a heavily water damaged journal, the ink having begun to, as pages disintegrated.
Pahhu grabs the book and thinks perhaps she can fix it with her magic, as she prestidigitates it dry and then attempts to mend the object, bringing it back to a time before it was damaged. Unfortunately her magic isn’t strong enough to overcome the damage, so she decides to escalate the situation. She tries her dangerous magic again, as she casts the spell Dimension Door and says “two weeks ago.” As she completes the spell she feels a horrible surge of energy and though she struggles to control (failing her spellcasting check) it the rip begins to open, spewing forth dry hot air in whirling gusts, accompanied by blasts of blue-grey sand and dust. Nyx, Ed and Marinette manage to resist the pull of the rip (succeeding their saving throws) but Pahhu finds herself inexorably drawn into the tear (natural 1) and vanishes.
Pahhu opens her eyes, her vision seemingly reduced on all sides as if she was looking through a slot. She blinks and looks around exaggeratedly, finding herself once again in the Dry Place, the seeming demiplane that she conjures when failing to control her time magic. The journal is in her hand, the dry and intact. She wanders over to a nearby rock and begins to read.
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Yagya Karn's journal depicts the life of a military man in service to a priest named Kuldip Pendeya, the exarch to Amaunator. The journal contains notes to the assembly of a vast fighting force. The writer had journeyed far and wide, recruiting from the 'lesser races' to collect a brigade to seize the city of Synod for the exarch. The Netherese are motivated by the desire to gain control of a holy relic. The high priest they seek to combat has been granted divine inspiration to craft a work of art that has split the believers into factions. This relic would grant them the means to peer into the past, and the high priest believes it should be a privilege kept to only the highest of the faithful. Believing this to be corruption and against the tenets of their faith Yagya and Kuldip rebelled within the faith. Their goal was to find a way to take over the relic and share the blessing, and to break the corruption of the current high priest.
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The journal goes on to detail the logistics of military campaigns and battles, but is soon dominated by the events of the fall of the Netheril and the spellplague. When Kuldip dies due to circumstances related to the spellplague Yagya is left to continue the fight alone. Becoming hellbent on restoring the Netheril to their full glory and restoring their promise, their city and their faith he began experimenting in ways to manipulate time through planar travel. The book contains significant notes on this Netherese Time Magic. The journal has a large blank of time after detailing the magic, after which it details a descent into madness while imprisoned within Charva’s sanctuary.
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Pahhu reads this information and naturally intuits (natural 20 intellect roll) how to use this Netherese Time Magic. It is very different from her own, but she fails to recognize the risks it carries (4 wisdom roll) in that it may drive her mad or result in her being on the wrong side of Charva’s laws of the continuum.
Meanwhile the group looks for Pahhu in the sanctuary, and quickly learn that other danger is nearby. Nyx has detected 5 nearby undead as she uses her primeval awareness to try to track Pahhu. Realizing that the last time this happened that Pahhu returned to the same place, Ed and Jorah quickly explain to the others that they will have to defend this spot, as she is likely to return to it. The undead draw ever closer, until a heavily armored death knight strides into the room. He demands to know the source of the powerful temporal energy he has felt, threatening death to the party if they do not reveal it. Theodore tries to talk the opponent down, but is only able to learn that he is a powerful one from east beyond the sea of fallen stars seeking to halt the infernal sun and its burning. Realizing this man is likely one of the vampires seeking to stop the sun, tensions finally snap as Marinette leaps into action.
Battle breaks out, with the heavily armored foe turning aside attack after attack as he answers with a devastating blast of deathly energy. Soon two of his allies swoop in from the shadows and attempt to drag Theodore to the ground and feast upon him, vampires cloaked in shadow. Theodore shifts into the form of a fire elemental, giving them only a taste of burning fury, and the battle rages on.
After nearly a half minute of this a strange hyperconcentrated ball of energy appears southwest of the main battle, in in the exact location Pahhu had vanished. The ball grows from the size of a pebble to a bubble nearly 5 feet in diameter before bursting in a massive pressure wave, sending ripples of distorting energy and roaring sound across the battlefield and. Tona whimpers as her eardrums are blown out by the pressure, but the nearby vampires resisted the wave as it rippled through Theodore’s burning form.
The effect was nothing like any of Pahhu’s magic before, which had always been like a scratch in dimensions, a crumbling tear into a world of dust storms, static lightning and howling wind. This had been an explosive bubbling force pouring out of the dimensions, and Pahhu stood in the middle of the blast wave, utterly disoriented and stunned by the concussive force, a strange looking ancient helmet on her head, Yagya Karn’s journal in the other, and a strange red book at her feet.
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(It is at this time dear audience that I must break character, because in no way would an in character explanation ever explain the sheer coincidence of this situation. On reappearing, the DM Krongarth had Pahhu roll a Wild Surge from the following table: http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf for an effect caused by her use of Netherese Time Magic. Pahhu rolled 2177 on her d10,000 the effect of which is: “Caster’s diary, written years from now, appears at her feet.” The chance of this occurring were 1 in 10,000 or .01%. Given the themes of this campaign we could not have asked for something more on theme.)
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The last two of the five undead Nyx had detected swooped in from the shadows and easily took advantage of the stunned half-elf, and began to drain her of blood and nearly killing her. Ed appeared beside her in the nick of time, stepping through the mist and revitalizing her, and Theodore and Marinette rushed into defend the helpless Pahhu who thankfully snapped out of the effect, flailing around with her rapier flashing through the enemies, carving and tearing into them in reprisal. Nyx rained arrows into the vampires, as Tona charged in despite the pain. The last vampire finally fell as Jorah drained all moisture from its body, an ironic end for a vampire as she drained it of any life essence.
As the battle ended a disoriented Pahhu fell to the ground, struggling to stand after the blast and the blood loss. She feebly opened the red bound book, the first page simply reading. “Pahhu Kilaniu, Time Warden” written in a neat elvish script. Pahhu looked back to Jorah who was reading over their shoulder and they shrugged in unison.
Meanwhile…Marinette began to flee wide-eyed from the battlefield, seemingly possessed of something.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 5: Back On Their Feet
Pahhu made light laps around the yard of Hyssop Home. It felt good to be moving again, it helped with the physical itchiness and restlessness. The itchiness in her mind though continued to bubble, there were a lot of questions and new thoughts she found hard to process. It was easier to just use her feet and run in circles, and in doing so run away from the thoughts that seemed to be chasing her in circles.
Today was a good day, the soreness had cleared up and the Sisters were letting her move around freely and visit with others. That was good, for Pahhu would have guests soon who wanted to check on her, and even she knew that showing she was back to her old self would stop them from worrying and fussing over her. Ed was always trying to protect her too much, and she was pretty sure she didn’t need four more Eds. “I wonder if my mom and dad worry about me at all…” She quickly shook the thought off and moved her feet.
Pahhu rounded the corner and saw Theodore and Marinette, together as they often were now. She reflected back on what she’d learned about the ways of life and felt a small pang of wonder at what spark may be struck between the two of them. They had a quality not unlike flint and steel she thought. Well, Theodore was always running around as a rock anyway, and Marinette had steely blue eyes and a certain way about her. “I wonder if it only works with flint and steel. Well there’s other ways to make sparks, I guess.” Pahhu sucked her teeth and thought maybe she was closer to flint after all.
Pahhu ran towards the group and gave greetings, making sure to not to miss a beat and draw any worry. The group caroused for quite a bit, glad to be together and in good health. There were visitors to the home as well. Jorah had come to visit the flowers and donkeys, and a newcomer by the name of Nyx had gotten lost and found herself drawn to the hustle and bustle of the home. After Pahhu mistakenly thought perhaps the diminutive Nyx was Marinette and Theodore’s child, the group’s attention turned towards the more pressing business. What next?
Charva seemed hesitant to speak with Pahhu or anyone too close to her, perhaps fearing that his own prophecy might come to pass. He was choosing to work with the Hawthorne guild, providing them information on tracking and capturing the time criminals. It seemed there was a chance that Charva’s Sanctuary might one day be restored, but as unstable as Pahhu was Charva seemed more keen on keeping the chaos she was dragging in her wake as far from his duties as possible.
That left Pahhu’s parents, somewhere long gone to the High Ice north of the Anauroch desert. It was an enormous place and they had no idea where to start. Would finding them answer any questions? Would it be a happy reunion or would they tell her to leave them be? Had she been left behind with sorrow or disdain? And how should she act? The only way to find out would be to find out how a family was supposed to act.
Pahhu ran her motor mouth and teased Marinette and Theodore, and took the opportunity as soon as she saw Nyx near them, asking if Nyx was their daughter and if the pair was fulfilling their obligation with Charva against Birgallaz. The three looked confused, but Theodore was too polite to make it seem as if he was opposed to the idea, and Marinette didn’t seem to pay too much attention to words or titles, Nyx however was just an open-hearted soul it seemed. After some cajoling Pahhu had planted the seed and she began to watch, hoping to learn some concept of family from the trio.
With that the group tried to identify a way to find the location of Pahhu’s mysterious parents. Theodore, realizing they had their names and a swaddling blanket they’d both once owned brought the group the chapel, where he used the holy water fountain to scry for the two. His vision went north, deep into the desert, and ended at a great cliff of ice bordering the plain of standing stones. It then cut to nothing, as the scrying attempt was denied further information. Their destination was vague, but they had a direction and a twenty year old trail grown cold in more ways than one to follow.
Their departure from Hyssop Home was swift, a Tree-Stride to Poppy’s Oasis followed by a Wind Walk to the desert’s border. They made camp near the the High Ice and the Plain of Standing stone, putting themselves in striking distance of Theodore’s vision area the next day.
DAY 6
Travel to the glacier went rather uneventfully, the group sighting a tribe of goblinoids not far from the ice-cliff but no other signs of life. They made landfall and began to inspect the ice as the sun began to set. It soon became clear they’d make no meaningful progress and that making camp would be best. As they began to set camp, a goblin scout sighted them and began to run back towards his tribe at his full speed, a trivial thing for the group to match who quickly caught and questioned him. It became clear this goblin knew nothing, but his elder might.
Negotiations went fairly well, despite the goblins not trusting the party. They agreed to tell the party what they knew if they would hunt the ‘great stompers’ on the glacier. Not sure if this meant mammoths or something else the party agreed, and demonstrated their mettle and capability to the goblins. The agreement being struck the party returned to making their own camp, soon settling in for the night.
Barely a few hours into their rest though the ground began to shudder with thunderous tremors as the sound of heavy galloping feet grew louder and louder. They were under attack! From the cover of darkness six cyclops charged the group, who had managed to stand and at least arm themselves before the arrival.
Uncertain of the extent of the threat the group reacted swiftly and decisively, as Theodore and Jorah rendered two of the massive and proud cyclops into harmless critters. Pahhu followed their queue, ripping the time stream open and pulling two of them from the sands leaving them in a place out of time. Pahhu felt the familiar twinge of her magic running away from her, but barely contained it. The remaining two cyclops were quickly engaged and without the safety of their numbers they were isolated and rent asunder by Marinette’s furious eye gouging, with cover from Nyx’s heavy bowshots and her pet panther Tona’s vicious claws.
The first of the giants fell, their clumsy charge turned on its head almost instantly under the group’s sudden and potent control. Barnaby, a Korred in Theodore’s service left one of the giants stumbling in a clumsy dance which Ed used to land a blinding smite to the Cyclops’ single eye, leaving him writing in a blind dance on the sands. Jorah approached with a single hand outstretched, making contact with the giant and ushered the very life force from his body guiding his vitality to aid her allies.
As the fourth giant fell the two time rifts wavered in the air above the sands, promising the return of the giants held within. The party made their preparations, weapons were readied and Theodore opened a yawning pit in the earth below one, filled with suffocating quicksand. Pahhu released her spell and simultaneously cast another, for the first time truly leaning into her powers as she ripped the area apart with temporal turbulence. The giants howled in distorted voices as their temporal cohesiveness began to melt under the shredding force. Arrows and blows struck the desynchronized giants as they were helpless to defend themselves. Marinette leaped atop one, toppling it into the ground after Ed made short work of his leg. The other sank deeper and deeper into Theodore’s quicksand pit as Nyx’s arrows, Tona’s claws and Jorah’s magic withered it.
As the last cyclops sank beneath the sand the dunes went quiet, the only sound being their labored breathing as they looked about the chaos of the situation. A move in camp was in order… and a finished night of sleep.
Pahhu: The Prismatic Plaza
Pahhu follows Quinton as he goes to work on the teleportation circle for Lerwick one day. She watches him as he adeptly carves the runes into plain stone, but quickly begins to lose interest. She was dragged along to get her strength back, and so Quinton could keep an eye on her.
Pahhu pulls out her assorted chalk collection and begins to draw her own designs on some loose stone nearby. She hums to herself as she works, mixing colors and making a general mess of things until she happens to run a few colors together and produces a specific combination which sparks a sad memory for her. A few tears splash on the chalk and the colors run together, which only further mix them and produce a rainbow sheen. She thinks back to her recent vision of Thyse in the dark place.
Pahhu began to work alongside the builders of the circle, often seeing Dave leading the design, as well as members of Mulmaster Yard as they began to construct a fortress around the circle. She helps mold the stone into roughly seven portions, to match Dave’s circle design, each to hold an individual rune. For each portion she works in different gem dust into the rune,creating a solid shimmering piece of work while also speckling the stone with the dust, the tiny motes of gem catching and reflecting light for each portion. At first she is a nuisance in the work, but after a few corrections and guidance from Dave she soon provides capable assistance.
The first rune in red ruby, as Pahhu filled the rune left by Quinton, as red as the cords of Ilmater around his wrists, the first seventh glimmers with a potent vitality.
The second rune in orange citrine, the brilliant gems catching the sun in as the second seventh as Pahhu pours her enthusiasm into the portion.
The third rune in yellow tourmaline, the air suffused in a sparkling joy as the sunlight dances in the third seventh, as Pahhu fills the portion with the sense of joy.
The fourth rune in green emerald, the soothing calm of nature and growth pulsing in the fourth seventh as Pahhu fills it with the potential of life.
The fifth rune in sky blue aquamarine, the endless sky above shimmering in every sparkle underfoot as Pahhu fills the fifth seventh with the endless curiosity of the sky.
The sixth rune in deep indigo sapphire, the calming depth of the oceans, as Pahhu infuses the sixth seventh with a sense of wonder and wisdom.
The seventh rune in violet opal, the iridescence of the night sky, as Pahhu invokes the memory of the lost in the final seventh, those gone to the sky to join the stars.
Quinton realizes Pahhu’s plans after checking in on her a few times, and involves other members of Hyssop Home to contribute to the project. He begins to draft plans to assist with the construction of the defenses of the circle. He works with Mulmaster yard to plan seven towers, one for each of the runes to rise above Lerwick. Rajit also joins in on the project, and after quite some experimentation she begins work on colored crystal glass panes to form domes atop the towers and a prismatic dome over the teleportation circle, scattering the full spectrum of light across the gem dusted stone below.
A single bronze plaque is embedded near the entrance to the plaza, a memorial to the travelers who cross paths in Lerwick.
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The Prismatic Plaza
Established 1493
May this circle welcome newcomers and homecomers alike to Lerwick, and may this plaza stand in memory of those that do not return to us.
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Quinton, Pahhu and Rajit approach the plaque at the very end and lay a single flowering stalk of hyssop on the plaque. Rajit is the first to speak. “I’m so sorry Thyse. There’s nothing I can say now that would make up for what I did.” Pahhu follows after. “I hope you like it Thyse, I thought about you when the idea was only chalk…” Quinton approaches at the end and pats his adopted daughters, before placing his stalk on the plaque. “Merric, you had barely begun to walk before you were gone from us. We shall not forget you.”
This Teleportation Circle is keyed to carriers of the Hawthorne Guild badge. When utilized for transport an arcing rainbow will extend from the center of the plaza in the direction of travel, where it will linger while decreasing in intensity for one hour after which it vanishes.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 3.5: Blast From The Past, Propelled Towards The Future
It was dark. So dark that Pahhu couldn’t even see her own hands in front of her face. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or closed. This was different than when she sometimes ran so fast she could see the place with the wind, dust, and howling storms. Had her magic gone wrong and she’d gone past that? Or maybe she was buried under the dust of those storms. She gasped and tried to claw out into the darkness, but she felt nothing. She tried to scream for help, looking for anyone, or anything in the emptiness.
A prismatic point of light, starbursting in every direction in ephemeral rays soon winked into existence at the very limits of Pahhu’s awareness. Pahhu willed herself towards it, she’d be running hard if she could feel her feet. The light slowly became larger, brighter, clearer and finally at the periphery of the bright oasis Pahhu could make out her own form in the dim light given off. As she got closer and could see she felt herself coming back to her as she drifted towards the oasis in the darkness.
Pahhu’s feet touched down in a meadow, filled with life. Wildflowers of every colors dotted the ground, and the vibrant blue sky hosted a prominent rainbow which arced from a stone dais near a pond. Pahhu felt compelled to follow the rainbow, and drifted alongside it.
As she soars through the air on top of the rainbow a bunch of colorful butterflies decides to fly next to her and tickle her as she lands at the dais. And there, on a throne made entirely from bismuth sits Thyse. He has bunches of grapes sitting in a bowl next to him and snacks on them idly. As Pahhu flies down the rainbow then he looks up at her with a soft smile on his face.
“Well darling, lovely seeing you drop in. Or well, I am not sure if it is good to see you, because that means that you unfortunately died.” He gestures with his hand in front of him as another chair appears for Pahhu to sit in “Well dear; I don’t have that long with you before you hopefully return to the world below. So I just want to give a few tips to the material planes biggest hero while I still can. Pahhu darling please always keep the spark of childhood joy. You spread joy to everyone you meet. And my dearest Pahhu if you would do me a favor if you decide to go back, because I am sure Ed isn’t going to let you stay here. Would you please continue my mission? Spread the light wherever you can. Bring the happiness of the rainbow to whoever you can and perhaps also learn from my mistakes… Don’t kill assholes just because they are dicks and hurt animals.”
Pahhu drifts in stunned silence. Her mouth opens to form words, but already her form in this place is discorporating, leaving her silent. “I’m… dead?” She considers it for the briefest of moments, as she feels the inexorable tug begin to drag her from this place. She turns wide-eyed to Thyse and can only nod as she begins to fade.
He looks up and sighs a bit and just whispers. “Yes yes dear lady I will send her on now”
“Well I am sorry darling but it seems like our time was too short.” His eyes start to glow with holy light as his long pink hair starts to burn. Pahhu has seen this happen many times. He then holds out his hand ready to release his rainbow light.
“Last thing… My mom in Waterdeep has my dog. Please make sure it’s ok... I love you dear.”
He then releases the wave of rainbow energy that wash over Pahhu as she gets hurled away from Thyse’ personal sanctum.
Pahhu felt herself being pulled, the sense of speed being dizzying even for her as the darkness once again overwhelmed her and pulled her back… Back home. Pahhu’s back arched as she breathed into raw lungs, her mouth impossibly dry, even for having spent days in the desert. She gasped and tried to claw at her facemask, only to feebly flap her wrist. “Thyse, wait…!” she whispered in confusion.
“Careful, my child.” Quinton stared at Pahhu with some relief visible on his normally stony expression. Past him she could see Imna, and Sister Wenifre, and Ed. She was in Ilmater’s chapel at Hyssop Home. “Paw… Nan…” Pahhu reached towards her adoptive parents instinctively, her mind halting for a moment as she realizes her mother and father are still out there as well, but the quick embrace of Imna melts that worry away as she feebly hugs her Nan back.
“Paw, you gotta help… Charva.” Pahhu plucks a brass scale from a pouch and holds it up towards Quinton, her hand shaking, but her eyes focused. Quinton looks confused at the scale, but accepts it, giving a sidelong glance towards Ed. “Yes, my daughter. But for now you must rest. Your mother and the sisters will take care of you.” Pahhu felt the strength drain from her as the scale was taken from her, the weight of it had seemed so incredibly immense in her weakness.
Pahhu awoke the next day in her own bed. The room had been cleaned some. No doubt the sisters had been horrified to see the state it had been when they brought her here. Pahhu held up her hand and looked at it, it seemed solid and real, and also very clean. Not like how she’d looked in the dark place. She ran it across the covers, which also felt real and warm. Pahhu had a lot to think about. Was that what death was like she wondered.
Somehow she’d found Thyse, or Thyse had found her and helped her. That much Pahhu was sure of. But there was a lot more to be uncertain of now. Paw and Nan were here and they would always be her Paw and Nan, but Habib had told her she had a mom and dad too. Sariandi and Abaka, that they’d gone to the ice in the north. That they’d gone to the ice in the north without her.
Pahhu considered for the first time that she had been abandoned by people who did it out of choice. It didn’t feel good, but not much did feel good. Her whole body was sore, and her heart was no less tender now. Why hadn’t they wanted her? It was a hard question to ask, and even more so knowing that she had been born out of love. Pahhu yearned to run wild in the streets and leave these thoughts behind but even she knew she’d barely make it down the hall. So there she was, and there the thoughts were, and they weren’t going away.
“If mom and dad didn’t want me then why do all these other people want me now?” Pahhu considered the question. Her whole life she’d been that dirty girl that was always a problem underfoot. It was only recently that she’d made friends who really seemed to want her around. Now people like the Thayans and others seemed very interested in her. Who were the nice people any more? The situation was confusing and everything just… hurts. There was only one choice in her mind. She’d have to find her mom and dad and ask them right out.
Pahhu stewed on the situation in her bed rest, her discordant feelings continuing as her strength and magic returned to her with time. It kept coming back to time.
Pahhu reaches level 12, taking her 9th level in Stone Sorcerer. Her continuously disruptive time magic has given her insight into creating difficult to control temporal distortions which disorient and desynchronize foes in battle. She calls this new spell Desynchronization (Synaptic Static.) Additionally she has fallen out of practice of calling the Mists of Time (Fog Cloud) having relied on her eversmoking bottle, instead she has learned of Clockwork Circles (Teleportation Circle) from Charva.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 4: Time Will Tell
The once clear fountains of Charva’s sanctuary lay still and muddled, some even cloudy and red, stained with blood from prisoners and wardens alike. Marinette, Theodore, Crixus, Zairissia, Moyra and Quinton teleported into the altar room of Labelas arriving to utter darkness. A few light spells later the room was illuminated, the room filled with debris and littered with corpses and now dry bloodstains. Marinette lead the group through the narrow hallways to the sanctuary’s main hall, the mid-day sun pouring in through the open roof and illuminating the carnage. The number of bodies was surprisingly fewer than before, it seems someone or something was collecting the kobold bodies. The massive brass dragon corpse thankfully seemed mostly undisturbed.
A quick check of the area revealed it to be clear, and taking advantage of any surprise they might have Quinton began to knit the dragon’s physical vessel, his magic weaving the flesh with strands of red vital energy as it began to weave the wounds close. The ritual of Resurrection was lengthy, and would take an hour to complete during which it would be critical that Quinton was protected. The sanctuary was a large place, with many halls and doors entering into it and Charva’s prison was known to hold dangerous and powerful demons as well as those powerful and ambitious enough to challenge time itself. The party understood the goal and spread out defensively, taking up positions.
The first incursion was more of a mutual discovery than an attack as a party of Drow mages accompanied by Driders encountered Marinette in a hallway as they both patrolled. A skirmish broke out around a door in a battle to hold it shut and prevent the Drow from breaching. Theodore, Zairissia and Moyra reinforced Marinette and the fight exploded into a spellcasting match while the front lines of both sides were paralyzed and contained by the casters of the other. Crixus remained behind, protecting the vulnerable Quinton and keeping his eyes and ears open for new threats.
Theodore surrounded a Drider in an orb of pure water, crushing the breath from his foe as the water pressure overwhelmed the Drider’s strength. Marinette’s axe severed limbs and she shook off multiple paralytic magics, but eventually she was gripped, only to be freed by Moyra’s efforts. Zairissia held up the rear, offering fire support while also maintaining proximity to the ritual in case of any danger revealing itself in the sanctuary.
Dull thuds rang out as the sound of heavy blows reverberated in the north of the sanctuary, far from the ongoing battle. Crixus approached and drew his greatsword, assuming a defensive stance to engage the oncoming enemy. He called out a warning towards the battle and dug in for whatever assault may come. Zairissia quickly came to his aid, but the other battle raged on. A great four armed fiend burst through the wall, pincers snapping as it eyed Crixus. It unleashed a howling battlecry and charged the half-orc champion. From the breach behind the Glabrezu the sound of pounding hooves warned of more coming danger, as soon would emerge a pair of Armanites. The party, well and truly separated began to fight on two fronts.
The battle with the Drow broke first, as Theodore enchanted a Drider’s metal armor with intense heat and broiled it while running towards the other battle, while Marinette chased down the casting drow and carved them to bits. Moyra grabbed Marinette and opened a Dimension Door to the other battlefield, rapidly reinforcing the position as the Armanites charged in. Crixus called all of his strength forward and dealt crushing blows to the Glabrezu while Zairissia’s intertwined phoenix and fiendish fire overwhelmed the heritage of the Glabrezu and burned it in a way that no fire had ever done before. The demons fought hard, but were unable to overcome the combined force of the party and the Armanites fell soon after.
The group caught their breath. The ritual had only just started; if the foes kept coming at this pace they’d be overwhelmed. They began new patrols, but found nothing for nearly ten minutes until at last a single survivor was found, a small brass kobold child hiding under debris in a corner. She warned of wandering demons, a bug eyed monster, another covered in spikes, and yet another with a mean beard. The group fed the child and tried to understand what had happened, but little was uncovered before a trio of demons fitting the description approached. A battle broke out with an Ice Devil, Bearded Devil and Bone Devil.
The ensuing battle was swift, and merciless but the Ice Devil did unleash a massive icy spell on Quinton. The assault failed to break his concentration, and after that successful defense the ritual would soon complete. The great dragon stirred and looked around in disbelief, there were many questions on both sides, but this place was far too dangerous. Charva reverted to his human form with some exertion, and the group quickly evacuated using teleportation magic. They regrouped at Hyssop Home where the kobold child and Charva in his priest form were welcomed to a guest room to rest.
With Charva and Pahhu recovering from their brushes with death the questions would need to wait at least a day, and any course of action would need half a week. What would they learn from Charva? And what would they do next? The party considered the many things before them.
Pahhu’s parents departed to the cold icy north seeking the lost temple of Amaunator, was her magic a result of her bloodline and would they know how to combat the rift incursions?
Charva’s sanctuary lay in ruins, but it could be restored. All of the escaped prisoners and criminals were powerful and dangerous. Could they be recaptured? Could things be set right? And what would Charva say of the situation?
The foul Zhentarim had declared war on the Bedine tribes, the party, and the Hawthorne guild by proxy. They seemed bent on capturing Pahhu to force her to accomplish their goals around the rifts.
The Gith of the astral plane with their amazing airships capable of appearing in the sky almost anywhere were hunting the party, supposedly seeking those responsible for damaging the boundaries of the planes. Though their actions had just freed powerful time manipulators. What were their motivations?
What of the Netherese in the prison? The one they had encountered spoke of the Netherese Restoration. Could there be a manipulator of time so powerful as to undo the fall of the Netherese empire and restore the powerful empire of mages to world prominence once more?
The Red Wizards of Thay had also extended an invitation to cooperate. Imprisoned by Charva and freed in the break caused by the Gith they seemed convinced that it was actually the party that had freed them. They could be powerful allies, but their goals were unclear.
What of Birgallaz and other powerful demons which may have been imprisoned by Charva? Would having made such an enemy come to haunt them?
The Yuan-Ti of SSeth had demanded the party answer for the loss of their holy anathema, which had attacked them in the desert previously having prophesized Pahhu’s rise as the ‘Time Ripper’ a force which could unravel the timestream itself. They demanded the party show up in the Sanguine Hinterlands within 30 days after which time they would seek vengeance. Precious time was lost to bedrest after the recent wounds.
Charva had also warned of the risk of Pahhu possibly destabilizing time. Some groups seemed bent on controlling or killing the sorceress, others seemed intent on acquiring and empowering her to reach their own goals. With no complete understanding of the source or cost of her magic the party would have hard decisions ahead of them. Their enemies were powerful and numerous, and their allies few. With so many forces moving in conflicting directions who would they ally themselves with, and who would they be forced to fight? Only Time Will Tell.
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 3: Sandstorm
The party touches down southeast of the Plain of Standing Stones, having exhausted themselves in the wild day. It had been less than 12 hours since they’d woken up to a flash storm and been washed into the prison of Charva’s wards. It was time to rest and regroup, and make plans. Violet prepared a ritual of Scrying, reaching out towards Habib to determine his health after the warning of Charva and his shrinking time. Violet found the old man bent over his horse, nearly falling from the saddle if not for the support of Lindia nearby. The Bedine tribe was on the move on a hard ride, horses pushed to their limit, and the tribe all looking stressed and harried.
Violet reached toward the old man and tryed to establish contact, Sending him a message. Habib was surprised to hear from Violet again, but replied that the group was fleeing from Black Riders of the Zhentarim who had been hunting the desert for the tribe and any sign of the party. Habib told them where they would be heading the next day, a hunting camp near the Border Forest to the northeast. The party knew they had to rest, but made plans to leave first thing the next morning to rendezvous with the tribe.
The watches for the night went peacefully, though Marinette and Theodore’s watch gave way to stunning views from high in the desert sky as a moonlit ride on the wings of Theodore’s giant eagle form gave them both a chance to breathe the fresh air and reflect on the journey’s events. The two talked of recent events, and shared a moment of solidarity and affirmation before returning to the camp where the eyes of Violet’s watchful menagerie resumed the watch, protecting the group from the sky.
Nearing dawn a trio of men dressed in red tabards and robes approached the camp and stood a respectful distance apart. They introduced themselves as Thayan agents of Falcon’s Crest, and as of recently prisoners in Charva’s sanctuary. They had come to offer their thanks, and to seek an alliance with party reasoning that they were also escapees and could pool resources to avoid recapture, or that the group was the reason behind the breakout to begin with, in which case they were very interested in the power of the group, particularly Pahhu, in being able to break the locks of time in the Sanctuary.
Marinette looked at the men of Thay and saw red, her eyes and spirit filling with a searing hot rage that boiled the air around her. The discussion was interrupted as Marinette drew her weapon and unleashed a battle cry, charging the Thayans out of inexplicable fury. Violet however thought quickly and used his magic to Calm the Emotions of Marinette and quell her rage. In that time the Thay made their case, but accepted the party’s explanation they had nothing to do with their breakout and that they would consider the offer to join them at Falcon’s Crest, but for the time being they had to hurry to the Bedine tribe before it was too late. The Thayans departed through a teleportation spell, and the party took to the winds on Theodore’s Wind Walk.
The party swooped over the dunes, finding the dust cloud being kicked up the Black Riders first. They flew overhead, counting the 18 riders, bearing the mark of the Zhentarim. The tracks they chased headed northeast, and the windwalking party had no problem getting ahead to the Bedine who had a lead of a scant few hours. Landing ahead of the group they presented themselves to the vanguard of the riding column, and quickly introduced themselves. Habib was brought forward, but he struggled to speak as his body was wracked by coughs. Ed used his divine power to cure the disease of Habib by Laying on Hands, and the old man’s voice soothed. In the meantime Theodore tended to the tribe and the horses, calling forth relief by Creating Water and refilling the depleted casks of the tribe. Violet tended to the exhausted horses, offering them comforts and treats.
Pahhu spoke with Habib, learning of why he had sent the letter. Habib had more to share, he told Pahhu of the story of her birth, after clearing up Pahhu’s naive belief in storks with a brief no nonsense explanation aided by Lindia. Pahhu was shell-shocked to learn the truth of her origin, she had NOT come from a stork delivery. Habib wouldn’t give her a chance to process that though, in fact not only did people not come from storks they came from parents, and Pahhu actually had some. A mother AND a father. Pahhu learned her father was a man of the Felfarren Bedine tribe, Abaka Felfarren. He had wandered into the border forest on a hunt, and been lured and blinded by a nymph but was rescued by a wood elf maiden named Sariandi Morvyre.
For the first time Pahhu knew where she was from, and even knew which half of her was which! Her deep copper skin came from the Bedine ancestry and that of the bronze skin of the wood elves of the Border Forest, her black hair was from her father, her deep blue eyes from her mother. For the second time Pahhu was left speechless.
Habib went on to explain that Sariandi had taken Abaka in for months as he recovered his sight, and nursed him back to health as a relationship blossomed between the two. Once he was healthy she had escorted him back to the tribe where she began to adopt the ways of the tribe. The Felfarren Tribe was on a divine mission, believing it to be a message from Amaunator they were to head north to uncover a great temple to their god. Soon Sariandi fell pregnant, and the lengthy pregnancy nearly threatened the migration of the tribe on their mission, risking the few months of good weather into the northlands. Realizing that the babe would likely not survive the trip, and that Sariandi must recover before the journey he fretted over the final term of the pregnancy.
The night Pahhu was born the father would take her and head west, stealing away from the tribe and leaving only a note for Sariandi explaining himself he traveled west to the edge of the frontier arriving in Secomber in 1473. Once arriving there he left Pahhu, wrapped in a red and orange swaddling blanket, her name stitched in Elven ‘Pahhu’ and the word ‘Kilaniu’ which had now proven not to be her name at all. Abaka then left as quickly as he had come, returning to the tribe where he followed them into the Northlands. That was the last Habib had known of either of them.
As Pahhu learned the story of what had happened twenty years prior, the rest of the party prepared for the Black Riders of Zhent to approach. A defensive camp was made near pillars of stone erupting near a dune. Theodore called forth thorny plants and twisted the desert to hamper the riders and render the horses moot, and a great sandy ditch was dug to keep the Zhent back from the Bedine.
As the camp awaited the riders coming from the south, a small party of Yuan-ti approached from the north. They were companions to the ‘Holy Anathema’ that the group had encountered in their first foray into the desert weeks ago. They carried a message from their god Sseth, and demanded the group answer to their divine lord in the Sanguine Hinterlands, an icy place far to the north. The Yuan-Ti threaten that if she doesn't show within 30 days they will come for her and the others, making a pointed threat towards the Bedine and also gesturing towards the Hawthorne badges they wore. The party thought it best not to attack the Yuan-Ti with the Zhentarim so close by, and with the Bedine at risk they chose to let the Yuan-Ti leave after having delivered their ultimatum.
The Zhent show up and invite them to visit the High Inquisitor Voorveld of Hillsfar, near Arabelle. Anheld Garaveld represents the Inquisitor and extends his apologies for what happened in Neverwinter. He says he wants Pahhu's time. He speaks of a situation, mentioning a rift near Hillsfar colored red and orange, and the size of an archway. From this archway have come many troubles, such as a long dead soldier buried decades ago stumbling out and making his report. Other strange things have poured from this rift, which is similar to ones which have opened all through the Sword Coast, many encountered by the Hawthorne Guild, something unknown to the party.
The Zhentarim are willing to forgive past insults, but make it clear they will brook no exceptions this time. Pahhu must come with them to Arabelle, and if not then they will do what they must to draw her, leveling a clear threat towards the haggard Bedine tribe.
The negotiations break down, and combat begins as three Zhent wizards burn away the plantlife.
The captain fires arrows into Ed's mount, Nagini, striking down his mount.
Pahhu splits time and Hastened Ed and Marinette to grant them the power to dodge arrows and move more quickly though a shiver runs up her spine as her magic bends in an unknown and unexpected way...
Theodore begins to call down the sky on the Zhent, as burning bolts of lightning crash down on their ranks. The Zhent wizards counter by creating a storm of icy shards which shred through the Bedine who fire back an ineffective volley of arrows, the tribe completely off balance under the magical assault.
Ed charges across the ditch with tremendous speed and engages, being quickly surrounded.
Violet bends the light around him and winks out of sight going under a greater shroud of invisibility and warns Pahhu to be careful as she was caught in the icy storm.
Marinette charges across and engages, cleaving open the head of a Zhent Wizard in a flurry of rage fueled brutality.
The zhent surround Ed and Marinette, preparing to beat them down…
Ed stands against the tide, and after drawing them all in Theodore calls the thunder down on him like a lightning rod, blasting a half dozen Zhentarim in the strike.
Pahhu calls for healing on the fallen Bedine, but is only able to rouse one of them. She then opens her eversmoking bottle, clouding the Bedine tribe from the magical assaults of the Zhent. She had just found out that she had a family, that these people were here family, she was NOT ready to lose them already!
The Zhent wizards having seen Marinette’s furious attack wrapped themselves in invisibility and concealed themselves.
Ed tries to fight the group, but his magics are countered by invisible mages who hid from Marinette's onslaught, leaving him to withstand the brunt of dozens of blows without magical enhancement.
Violet's eldritch energy pours through an opposing knight, and combined with a Bedine martial artist takes him down.
Marinette unleashes her wings, her radiant energy pouring out of her body, frightening a nearby Zhent Berserker as she hunts for the mages, her axe cleaving through the Zhent soldiers as she hunted for the invisible foes.
The Zhent pound into the party, but Marinette's tough body and Ed's armor hold firm.
Pahhu dimension doors through space, well above the battlefield and casts Feather Fall as she begins to glide into the fracas. She activates her Revealing Lantern as she falls, hoping to reveal the mages so she can get vengeance for the ones she just found out are her family.
Theodore splits the sky again, shocking a mass of Zhent and Ed, the first Zhent soldiers beginning to succumb to the shocking assault.
The wily Zhent mages used their invisibility and carefully aimed their most powerful magic into the sky at the gliding Pahhu, unleashing a devastating pair of Cones of Cold, nearly knocking Pahhu unconscious and wrenching her concentration as she loses her Haste on Ed and Marinette. As she finishes gliding in she attempts to halt the Zhent, casting the most powerful incantation of her Hold Person, attempting to sweep 5 Zhent into disability. Three of them succumb, but the mages are still a danger.
Theodore’s Lightning continued to rain down on the Zhent, and three more fell to his thundering blows clearing a path for the charging Bedine who begin to join the melee.
Marinette ripped through the air with her axe, hunting for the mages who had nearly frozen Pahhu solid, but was unable to find them.
Violet continued to approach the battle, felling the Zhent with lancing blasts of ultra violet energy, as another knight dropped.
The Zhent wizards began to cast again, and as a fireball exploded over the battlfield Pahhu fell to the sand, overwhelmed by their magics and the commander Anheld Garaveld strode forth, driving his sword into her fallen body, and twisting it. With a gasp the speedy half-elf ceased moving.
In stunned denial Ed tried to Revive Pahhu, but his magic failed to coalesce and the attempt failed.
Marinette ran and to Pahhu’s fallen body and took the lantern of revealing, and with it hunted down the remaining wizards as the charging Bedine backed by Violet’s and Theodore’s magic handled the Zhent commander.
The victory rang hollow though, with Pahhu and many of the Bedine dead or wounded, the tribe would limp to a nearby camp where the party joined them for a night of rest before transporting through a tree back to Lerwick.
There a grim-faced Quinton began preparations for a resurrection ritual, and although Pahhu would soon fidget back to life it would seem that the attention brought onto her by these rifts and circumstances had proven deadly…
Pahhu was put to bedrest to recover from her wounds, and the rest of the party filled Quinton in. It was quickly decided that the best course of action would be to return to Charva’s sanctuary and try to resurrect Charva. At the very least they could learn more of these powerful and dangerous foes who threatened their lives…
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 2: Past Regrets
The party began to tend their wounds, their bodies aching at the warping corruption they’d been subjected to. As they collected the “gifts” offered by the fallen fiend they spoke some words of thanks to the bodies in their tombs. Pahhu called forth a small mephit of sand from a conch shell, and Dirst materialized. “I call him that because he’s made of dirt and he’s the WORST.” Pahhu explained as she tried to instruct the mephit to scout ahead down the tunnel while the party rested. Dirst stared at her blankly, spouting gibberish in return. “See, I told you he’s the WORST!”
Theodore stepped in, realizing that Pahhu’s ‘friend’ was simply unable to understand her. The two briefly spoke in Terran and Dirst scouted ahead a short ways, before returning and reporting in on scaled enemies with swords. The party braced themselves and prepared for another clash with Yuan-Ti as they pressed through the narrow corridor.
They emerged into the light on the other side to the challenge of a warren of brass kobolds, not at all the scaled beings they expected. A particularly forward kobold named Regs, seemingly a warden in this enormous place they had breached. The party looked past the kobold to see a massive gorilla shaped demon bound in a cell, and just around the corner they could see a pile of blooming fungus slithering across the floor of another cell. The kobold demanded they halt, and as his other allies approached the party offered open hands as they began to discuss.
These kobolds guarded this place at the behest of their master, who had freed them from enslavement by Birgallaz, the Sibriex the party had found imprisoned and slain. The kobolds hissed in anger at Birgallaz’s release, though relaxed when finding out the fiend had been killed, at least for now. Despite a tense introduction and wariness on both sides the kobolds chose to bring the party to their master for deliberation.
Regs lead them through an enormous and twisting warren of mismatched stonework where the only commonality was the depiction of the setting sun on the walls. Granite halls and cells gave way to sandstone, which gave way to walls seemingly carved out of perplexing permafrost deep in the desert sands, to a wood-like substance purple in hue with veiny roots across the floor, and even great rivers of crystalline blue rock with rivers of sizzling arcane fluids churning underneath. As the party was lead through this, they became inexorably lost in the labyrinthine construction which was clearly by design as each section was a maze with twisted halls, hidden doors, dozens of brass kobolds on guard and cells. Remarkable cells, each one containing a single prisoner who was bound by the confines of their environment, rather suspended over deep pits, or encased in a crystalline cage, the party saw no less than 20 individual prisoners in cells. Some were recognizable as powerful fiends, others as rampaging monstrosities, and some as the folk of Faerun bearing symbols of long gone nations and armies.
It had quickly become clear to the group that diplomacy was the correct choice, as the size of the fortress alone revealed the kobold warren numbered in the hundreds, with dozens of prisoners of immense power contained. The party exchanged nervous glances as they traversed deadly pitfalls, seemingly without bottom, avoiding traps with Regs’ assistance. Finally the kobold captain lead them to a plain stone wall where he seemingly unlatched a door from nowhere, and faint sunlight could be seen for the first time in this place seemingly dedicated to the setting sun.
Regs lead them into a garden, with blessed sparkling water fountains and enormous fruit trees heavy with ripe fruit stretched upwards towards a rocky opening through which great warm beams of sunlight fell into the chamber, scattering a brilliant luster off the scales of an enormous adult brass dragon. The party’s steps stuttered slightly in awe at the sight, but the enormous and wizened creature simply watched them approach. From the eaves of the chamber many guardsmen stood at attention watching the party warily.
“I welcome you to my inner sanctum, I am Charva, guardian of this prison. I understand that you released and then sent Birgallaz from this plane?” The dragon spoke in a warm rumble, watching the creatures. “Yes, we destroyed him utterly.” Ed spoke from the front of the group, facing the dragon fearlessly. “For now… What of when he returns some centuries from now? We had him contained.” The dragon shifted its enormous weight. “Then we’d destroy him again.” Ed replied dismissively. “Oh, will you swear an oath that your bloodlines will defend this plane from Birgallaz?”
Pahhu jumped at the question. “See Theodore, now we really gotta find you a girlfriend to love and a stork to bring you a baby! I bet this guy knows lots about babies, look how many he has!” Pahhu turned to gesture towards the dozens of brass kobolds in attendance. The gentleman turned from the awe of the dragon to his foolish but well meaning friend and sputtered. “Pahhu, now is NOT the time.” The dragon rumbled in amusement. “Ah, the right time indeed. As I have said, I am Charva, and I am in the business of… right times. Will you continue your rudeness, or will you introduce yourselves to me after invading my prison and the home of my family as your small friend there calls them?”
The party introduced themselves, the brass dragon’s eyes twinkling at hearing Pahhu’s name. “Pahhu… Yes, I have heard your name before. One of our wards often speaks it in their madness. You... have much alike with those we keep here. It is rare one of your kind enters my halls willingly, and never do they enter by happenstance.” Charva scrutinized Pahhu with renewed interest as he rose to his haunches and spread his wings. As the dragon reached his full size he began to shrink, and condense until what remained was a slim elven man in priestly robes white in hue though shaded with the colors of the setting sun. “Come with me, Pahhu.
Pahhu looked Charva’s new form up and down, doing some mental math… Big house with lots of flowers, lots of children, priestly robes. He was just like her Paw! Pahhu began to follow the man with complete trust. “Ed, he’s just like Paw!” “Maybe so, Pahhu…” Ed followed closely with Pahhu despite not being invited. The two were lead into an inner chapel rose from the floor. “There are things I must warn you of, Pahhu…” Charva began to rumble.
Meanwhile Violet warmed up to a young kobold girl, complimenting her on the craftsmanship of a small doll she had. The two discussed the traditions of the clan and their daily lives. Theodore spoke with Regs on the trees, offering his services to encourage their growth and their fruit yield. Marinette saw a particularly squeezable kobold and couldn’t help but nearly crush it in her grip, delivering a devastating hug which left it gasping for air. She only released it after many spears were pointed her way in warning.
Charva stands in reverence by the altar. “This altar is The Lord of the Continuum, Labelas Enoreth, he who rules from the Vanishing Tower upon Arvandor. He protects the timeline itself, and ensures it continues as it must. Those who tamper with it, whether filled with regret and trying to change the past or filled with impatience and reaching for the future are those we hold in custody here.” Charva looks pointedly at Pahhu. “Your magic has begun to blur that line, Pahhu. You have been tearing into the Temporal Energy Plane, and every time you do you take from it and it takes from you… but you are accruing a debt… an imbalance, your time will soon be up.”
“Arvandor? My time is up?” Pahhu looks teary eyed to Ed. “Have a feet back and light strong, Ed.” She bumbles an Ilmateri prayer as she believes her time has come. “Tell Paw I love 'im, and tell Nan I love 'er, and tell Rajit that Gilbert can't have my room.”
Charva clears his throat and looks with confused concern at Pahhu. “No, child. You are not ripping your way into Arvandor… at least not yet. You are tearing into the Temporal Energy Plane.”
Pahhu sucked her teeth and looked at Charva, considering the words. “You mean the place with all the wind and the dust and the zaps?” Pahhu reaches a hand forward and scratches her finger against the air, a blue-grey flash of static and a small gust rips through the scratch as a small cascade of find dark-grey dust falls to the floor as it scraped off the air itself. “Sometimes I run really fast and you know how you feel the wind in your face and hair? I just keep running faster and faster and then it gets all blurry and the wind keeps getting stronger and there’s so much dust!” Pahhu gestures to the scarf she often has around her face, to cover her mouth, and to hide her buckteeth.
Ed watches on, heaving a sigh as he watches Pahhu describe how she does what she does. He watches the dust fall the floor and then looks at the filthy smudges all over Pahhu, the dust that always seems to cling to her no matter where she goes. “You’ll have to forgive her, she knows not what she talks about.”
“No, she does not. But what she does has repercussions. Already this imbalance has caused ruptures… portals that have ripped open across Faerun. Even now the one you call ‘Paw’ has descended into the waters of the Sword Coast to seal one. One of your allies fell in that battle… More will fall if this continues.” Charva stares at Pahhu with considered regret. “We wouldn’t want to have to bring her here like all of the others, but we will do what we must.”
Charva launches into a lengthy explanation of his order, here to serve the interests of Labelas Enoreth. He explains to Pahhu and Ed the dangers of the magic she uses, and warns her of being hunted and used by powers eager to warp the timeline to their needs. The discussion is lengthy, but centers on Pahhu’s unknown bloodline. Pahhu produces her swaddling blanket and Charva investigates it, identifying the colors as being part of the tribe of Bedine worshippers of Amaunator.
“But how can I be part of that bloodline? I’m a daughter not a son, and Amaunator has suns!” Pahhu looks at her blanket confused. “Ahh child, you truly are lost. I can not tell you about that, you must hurry on to Habib. He has little time left indeed, his sun will soon set. Go to him, learn what he has to say, but then return to me. Learn the symbols of this altar and return to me using them.” Charva gestures to the altar. Pahhu produces her chalk sticks and makes a few quick drawings. "Okay, so a beetle and a chicken and a dotty circle and a knife and a slanty and a Q and a backwards slanty. Got it!"
“Then come, let us gather your companions and I shall return you to the surface.” Charva lead Ed and Pahhu back to the inner sanctum and reunited the party. Charva waved farewell and they found themselves under the bright sun of the desert, a single bag containing gifts at their feet. In it they found a necklace with the symbol of Labelas, a petrified staff of the Python and a few potions and medicines. As they looked over the gifts Violet’s fur stood on end as he sensed something. Turning he looked to see a greate gate rip open the sky as an enormous silver ship tore from the sky… and began to approach at high speed.
The party decided discretion was the better part of valor, and with Theodore’s Wind Walk they dispersed, before investigating the ship. On it they found dozens of Gith armed with shining silver swords. They yelled at each other in a language unknown to the group, before heading west. Deciding to continue their journey the party continued towards the Border Forest, but after some travel Violet heard a massive explosion to the west, seemingly coming from Charvas’ prison… Violet grew suspicious and attempted to contact Charva through Sending, but no response came back. With little hesitation they turned back.
They arrived to a smoking crater, where once warm sunshine had flooded the inner sanctum they now found hundreds of bodies. Dead kobolds, and slices of what remained of the once proud dragon. Silver blood spattered the tiles in places, but the attackers had seemingly already left. The prison was collapsing, the nearest cell to the west was already being broken by a powerful man in ancient armor. As he broke out the party engaged him after being threatened.
“Now that we are free we shall not be stopped! The Netherese shall never have fallen!” The madman attacked with incredible strength, and the fight was difficult. Pahhu tried to halt the man in time to render him helpless, but instead of holding him the magic of the prison instead warped her magic and caused a terrible tear to erupt across him. “No more magic, Pahhu! Not here!” Ed yelled from the frontline. Pahhu fled back in confusion, not wanting to risk ripping her friends apart. She ended up nearly running into Charva’s remains and in a moment of sadness grasped a single shining brass scale from the dragon.
The old general was subdued, but the cells all around the prison began to fail. Horrors and criminals collected over centuries were being freed. The party had little choice but to run. They barricaded the hallways and faded into the air through wind walk, escaping into the air to the east, not knowing if they had somehow been responsible for the battle being brought down, or if they had abandoned Charva and his clan to their fate. All they knew was that immense evils were rising from the desert, and at least one group of them fought to undo the defeat of the Netherese…
Pahhu: Shifting Sands of Time 1: Two Letters
Two letters arrive simultaneously to Pahhu Kilaniu, the Half-Elven sorceress of time living in Hyssop Home. Pahhu immediately reacted with anxiety, after all a letter was filled with letters, and she'd never been good with those. She opened the first one, it was an invitation from Lindia to revisit Habib, part of a roaming Bedine clan in the far East Anauroch near the Border Forest. Pahhu had met them when trying to learn more of her own story, one that had begun in Secomber nearly 20 years prior in fall of 1473.
Pahhu looked at the letter, with the camel embossed into the parchment and continued reading.
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Pahhu,
Your visit brought some memories rushing back to old Habib. Though your friend’s treatment has been easing his pain, he is growing increasingly frail, and likely shant likely last long for this world afore passing to the next. He wishes to speak with you. He says… he has a message. From your mother.
Sands flow soft under your feet,
Lindia
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Pahhu took out her magic stork egg, the orb of time and considered it. Gifted to Pahhu by the elder Habib, the last trinket he has from his friends in the Felfarrin Tribe. It is a golden sun-like orb that glows faintly to tell the different indicated times. A warm golden glow for morning, a brighter golden glow for afternoon, a silvery sparkling gold of a dimmer nature for evening, and finally a fully silver dim glow for nighttime, with sparkles of golden stars. Using it to determine the direction of north causes the orb to fade to the nighttime glow, with a starry constellation of Amaunator’s Belt showing the way north, aligning with true north and the generalish direction of the Spine of the World, over which it is known to appear.
"I wonder when it is going to hatch. I need to ask Rajit if she can help me build a nest, and maybe Rafeeq can sit on it." Pahhu tucked the orb away and looked at the other letter, which was sealed with purple wax and bore the seal of a purple dragon. This letter seemed to be from a man with a very fancy title…
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Pahhu,
Please accept my humblest apologies for the actions of my associate, whom you met briefly in Neverwinter. He was always known to be a brash headed fool, and it served to his rather timely end at the flail of your companion. I would like to extend formal apology on behalf of the organization, and would invite you to a feast in your honor. If you should wish to accept, please write back to the Harmonious Harp Feasthall in Arabel, at your leisure. We can settle on an agreeable time for the feast upon your arrival.
Sincerely,
High Inquisitor Guust Voorveld
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"Oh, those are the people from the cold Black Desert place." Pahhu misremembers the details, as she thought the city of Neverwinter must be a desert since it must never be winter there, and the Black Lake district where her party was once attacked by drow assassins and other hired muscle when they visited Hulfgar’s Harper contact, Mary. Pahhu had frozen most of the assailants in their tracks, and they’d been quickly defeated while paralyzed. “Says they want to invite me to an ‘apple guy dinner.’” Pahhu squints at the word apology and sucks her teeth. “I don’t think apples are supposed to be dinner foods though.”
Pahhu reversed breaking the seal on the letter, mending it to a time before it was broken, and stowed it in her dirty bedroom. “Apple guys can wait, I bet Habib is gonna hatch some new storks or he can show me the stork that brought me and then I can know where I came from!” Pahhu ran down the halls of Hyssop Home, breezing past Ed’s room, who opened the door just to see Pahhu bounding out the front door. He knew she was up to something. Again.
Ed was right though, up was exactly where Pahhu wanted to be. Habib and Lindia were far away and if they were going to make it there they were going to need help. Good thing she knew the best way to get up top was the man with the top hat. And he was always in the corner of the tavern! Pahhu cut across town, jumping fences and ducking through alleyways before coming to the familiar establishment. She bounced across the threshold and saw her quarry in a corner, reading a book. “Eww, even more letters than letters.” Pahhu thought but, ran towards him and leaned on the table.
The book must have been from a foreign land, as Theodore began to quote from it in an exaggerated accent. “What is love? What is life? Mmmyes…” Pahhu saw her chance and jumped on it. “Hey, hey, tophat-man. We’re gonna go see the stork guy in the desert, I bet he can tell you. Because when a man and a woman love each other very much the stork brings them a new life and everyone is very happy! So you’re coming right, right?” Theodore put his book down and stared in exasperation at Pahhu, he considered the offer and decided: “Well why bloody not?”
The two encountered the foreboding muscular figure of Marinette outside of the tavern, standing before a fountain as she let the flowing water roll over her cracked skin and healing burn wounds. Pahhu considered her for a second, thinking perhaps Marinette was bathing, but then realized exactly what she must be doing. “Marinette! Are you making a wish in the fountain? What are you wishing for?” The tall hooded woman barely responded, lost in her own thoughts, so Pahhu continued on. “Hey, we’re going to go to the desert and maybe there will be a lamp and a genie and you can wish for something there!” Marinette finally turned to look at Pahhu and Theodore, the two exchanging some message well over Pahhu’s head literally and figuratively.
Pahhu explained the trek to her, and after explaining about the presence of big ugly snake people and big ugly purple worms and other dangerous Marinette seemed to grow more and more excited and interested. Pahhu grinned to herself and told the two of them to meet her at Hyssop Home, and then she began to run back herself, taking her unique route through alleys, over fences and across roofs. Lucky for her she just so happened to see another friend in the sky as Violet flew by on a ebony griffin. “HEEEEY! VIOLET!” Pahhu yelled and waved up to draw attention. “Can you check my stork egg again? I wanna know when it is gonna hatch!” Violet banked around and flew down to the roof, smiling at Pahhu. Violet knew the strange orb wasn’t an egg, but appreciated Pahhu’s enthusiasm for the bird, and did his best to try to communicate with any creature that might be inside. Alas, though nothing could be heard from inside. “We’re gonna go to the desert and see Habib, he’s the guy with all the storks. I know you love birds, so do you wanna come and see him again and maybe meet some of them? Maybe Habib will know why this egg won’t hatch too!”
Violet agreed, and the party began to assemble in Hyssop Home. Ed stood there, already packed. “This a job from Hulfgar, or is it Pahhu getting us all into trouble again?” Pahhu sucked her teeth and replies. “We’re gonna go see Habib! I got Theodore to make us go woosh, and Marinette in case of snakes and Violet so we can talk to all the storks! And you’re already ready, so now we can go!”
With the party formed they considered their travel plans, and with the help of Hyssop Home’s cartographer Bisturk Ves they decided to start by paying a visit to Poppy’s Oasis. Theodore worked the magic, and a ripple crawled across the great oak in Hyssop Home’s courtyard. Another ripple crossed Kyle, Poppy’s friendly tree in her oasis. After a brief visit and much pointing at Kenneth the snake, they set out, walking on the winds and guided by Theodore’s magic.
The party traveled as the crow flies, perhaps blessed by one of Violet’s many crows, but before long the sun was setting. The party landed in a desolate area in the Plain of Standing Stones and erected a Tiny Hut. Through the night strange small creatures patrolled around them, and although no hostilities were taken by the group the creatures began setting up hideous effigies of spiked snakes around the group. Little did they know that the creatures lay in wait prepared with some form of ritual…
As the sun rose the party’s camp broke, the violet dome that had protected them through the night released into the weave. At that time the weather began to change, suddenly and violently a huge thunderstorm manifested around them. The party rushed to gather their things and prepare to go, but the torrential rains caught them unprepared.The sandy and stony wastelands had no way to absorb the water, and it began to pour in around them from the surrounding dunes. One of the nearby dunes began to collapse under the rain, as a massive slurry of water and sand cascaded downhill toward the party, threatening their very lives.
Theodore lifted his hands and spread them, evoking his druidic magics to attempt to Control the Water. He split it with all of his force but the water was laden with sand, and his magic mitigated the oncoming flood, but was unable to stop it. Pahhu reached to the earth below her and tried to Mold an Earthen wall, to at least absorb the impact of the coming slurry, but her reach was too great and as she ripped up the earth itself a great gouge breached into a cavern below! The water began to drain into it, now forming a whirlpool as the water violently churned and thrashed. The group strained against the sand, but Pahhu, Theodore and Violet were unable to resist and began to be pulled towards the center in the whirling current, soon to be dragged under and drowned or ground apart in the churning sand.
Theodore struggled to slow and control the water, while Ed charged into the maelstrom, trying to reach his allies. Marinette however had other ideas. Straining her muscles she grasped Pahhu from the muck, and with one great swing threw the small woman… right at the center of the Maelstrom. She slammed into Theodore, and the two of them became tangled up. Ed, charging in reached Violet who quickly cast a spell, Dimension Dooring the pair 500 feet away. The two found themselves disorientingly in the bright and dry desert, realizing the storm that threatened their lives, and still threatened their party seemed to be localized only to the place they had camped…
Pahhu and Theodore floundered in the sand, but Marinette charged in towards the two of them. Now that they were both together she grabbed them both in one of her huge arms and then leaped from the slurry, holding up one hand and then… click. The rod snapped into place, as the trio hung in the air above the rapidly filling sinkhole, the last of the water swirling and then with a final splash the trial was over, the storm clearing overhead as quickly as it had formed.
The group reformed and looked down into the now deep water beneath them. Pahhu had unwittingly opened a cavern some 60 feet deep, and as they watched the sand settle they saw the strange glint of light play deep within the water. At first they believed it may have been a reflection of the sun, but even in the shade the light gleamed.
“Hey Marinette, I bet you could make a wish in this fountain and it might come true!” Pahhu threw a copper into the deep water and nodded her head. If there was going to be a wish in the desert this would definitely be it. Marinette simply growled and looked down at the light, her instincts alarmed. The group considered their options, whether they should go to Habib, look for the creatures or explore the light, but Marinette’s patience ran out and she dove in, sinking rapidly in her armor.
Pahhu went in next, throwing one end of a rope to Ed, she dove in to chase after Marinette, wanting to give her the other end so she could be pulled up. Theodore, Violet and Ed watched Pahhu descend into the water and… then the rope went slack. Ed jumped in next, and was quickly followed by Violet and Theodore.
The three found themselves at the bottom, in front of a brightly lit round entrance way, and as they pushed through they found themselves in dry air, with Pahhu and Marinette standing in the middle of a tiled room. The room had great mosaics of the rising sun in the east, the setting sun in the west, the bright day to the south and night to the north. The tiles seemed imbued with warm light, and their clothes begin to dry as if in the sun itself.
A voice spoke into their minds. “Oh, welcome. It’s been so long. If you can reach me you will be oh so duly rewarded!” Pahhu turned to Marinette and exlaimed: “See, I told you there was gonna be a wish and I threw in a coin! Let’s go!“ The room had only one exit, a hallway leading north into the night. 10 feet wide, nearly 20 feet tall and tiled with the same motifs the party entered only to find a closed door, etched in Abyssal it bore the message:
“Time is the greatest trap of all.”
“The young believe they have all the time in the world.”
“The old wish to have just a little more time.”
“Answer these questions three, and earn a little more time.”
Ed read the message aloud in confusion, and the party turned as they heard the door behind them shut with scraping stone, only for the stones above their head to begin to part. Sand began to trickle in on them, rising by the second… A new message appeared:
“I measure out in time, until in time, all is smashed into me. What am I?”
The group answered incorrectly with guessed such as history, an hourglass, a calendar, with each wrong guess the tiles above opened more, and the sand rose as it climbed above their ankles. At least Marinette grabbing a handful of the cursed stuff surrounding them shouted “Sand! It’s sand!” in exasperation. The tiles above stopped widening, but a second question appeared:
“What has two hands, a round face, always runs, but stays in place?”
Pahhu held up her shield, emblazoned with a clock face and shouted repeatedly: “Clock! It’s a clock! Clock clock clock!” The text faded, only to be replaced with another question:
“What belongs to the competent, the patient, and the faithful?”
The group began to struggle again. Answers such as belief, patience, confidence and hope proved wrong. The sand rose to nearly their waists before the correct answer was given. “Tomorrow.” said Pahhu, and the sand stopped. The door ahead opened and the party continued into a new room.
The group finds itself in a room with an altar and four giant floor to ceiling hourglasses, each one slightly different in the countdown as its sand spilled. An altar embedded into the floor bore a copper bowl, and beneath it written in abyssal was the text:
“Sacrifice will buy you more time. Buy enough, and find the way forward.”
The sand began to flow in the hourglasses as the door behind them shut, and the party began to try to understand their predicament. Investigation of the altar revealed little, though Ed’s use of Detect Evil and Good revealed it was a desecrated altar. Violet sacrificed his familiar to the altar, to no avail. Theodore tested the altar, offering it a bit of his own blood from a cut, which the altar drank greedily. He then poured holy water on the altar, which evaporated in a burst of steam. Marinette licked the altar, much to the confusion of the party, and it had no effect. The sand continued to trickle down…
Pahhu began to fight the sand, using her connection with Molding the Earth to stay the sand in one of the hourglasses, trying to buy more time. Marinette grew frustrated and slammed her first into an hourglass, as major cracks formed. A second punch and it shattered, the sands inside swirling as they began to form the shape of a massive naga. A fight broke out, the sand continuing to accumulate as Pahhu struggled to hold one hourglass from emptying while the party found itself unable to investigate the altar as they fought. Theodore acted quickly and polymorphed the naga into a dove, which Marinette seized and tried to force into the bowl. The bowl would not accept the polymorphed dove however, and with it controlled through Animal Friendship by Ed the party tried to understand their situation.
It soon became clear blood was the only answer, and much of it was spilled into the bowl. When at last it was full the door opened, the party ran through and they left the polymorphed dove behind as the stones slid neatly back down behind them. The only way was forward...
The party soon found themselves in a rectangular room. A table with richly carved stone boxes stood before a number of marked tombs in the wall. The voice spoke in their heads. “Yes, you’ve done well to get this far… please accept your gifts.” As they opened the boxes they found strange treasures of many types, and the tombs opened revealing the remains of what may have been their former owners. As the last box was opened and the last tomb unsealed, the ceiling itself began to slide and split open as ooze and pus began to drip from the ceiling.
A filthy Sibriex covered in chains and scabbed wounds descended and spoke in a sickly sweet tongue. “Well, you all are the first people to have been here in 372 years. That’s how long I’ve been locked in here. Now, tell me friends, what are your names and how are we getting out of here? What are all of your names? I have many, but many call me Birgallaz.” The fiend spoke well, and the group found itself disgusted and horrified but nearly unable to resist the demon’s wiles and offers, but Marinette only got more and more wound up as the fiend spoke. The tension would snap at last when Marinette let out a battle cry and attacked.
The battle was lengthy, and draining. Pahhu trapped the Sibriex in the Silence of Quiet Time, while Marinette and Ed fought valiantly. Theodore and Violet rained magics down on the fiend, though Violet suffered greatly and was knocked down sizzling in a pool of acidic spittle. Pahhu pulled Violet away from the line of fire, and tended his wounds as Marinette’s onslaught drew the vicious attacks of the Sibriex. The room was stifling and the corruption of Sibriex tore at the bodies of the party, with filthy poisons ravaging them from the inside. At last however Ed drew from deep within him and smote the Sibriex, the radiant energy leaving it naught but a pool of black ichor…
Pahhu: Level 8: The Bothness
Pahhu sits on the ledge of the clock tower doing something she doesn't normally do. She stops. Then she does another thing she doesn't normally do. She thinks. "Hmm-mm-mm-umm." She tries making the noises thinking people make, assuming it will help. "Hummm. Ohhh! Of course! Aha! Eureka! ... Got it? Yes? ... Excelsior???" Nothing seems to come to her despite her best efforts at thinking noises. She gives her 'new' drumborine a shake and watches illusory drumborines flit in and out of her vision. It seems to always show what is on her mind, and right now the drumborine itself is what she's thinking about.
As she taps a beat on it, the images begin to flit back and forth between the drumborine in a seemingly newer form, with less patina, less seemingly sandblasted and decidedly less illusion producing and the current form she taps. She gives it a hard look like it just said a mean word to her, and then grips it, spinning it around towards a specific uneven tack. She takes her 'older but newer' original drumborine in the other hand, and spins it around to the same tack. On a whim she presses her thumbnail into the skin of the drum and wedges a small scratch into it. She watches as the 'newer but older' drumborine with the magic first replicates the scratch and then it is filled in with grit, sand and dirt, which settles and then polishes out from handling in the span of seconds.
"This is the first time I've held a bothness in my hands. I don't think bothnesses are supposed to be together." Pahhu gives a lopsided frown which splits as she sucks her teeth in thought. "Bothnesses are when something is too many times. Things can't be yesterday and tomorrow at the same time. This was a now and tomorrow bothness. Or maybe a now and years later bothness?" She rolls the drumborine and considers. "But if it is now and not years later... then that means someone is gonna steal my drumborine and give it to yesterday me!"
Pahhu peers around conspiratorially as she realizes the implication of this. "I gotta tell Ma about this." Pahhu slides down the clock tower wall, getting a shout from Elkian, the firbolg gate guard. "No time! I got two times! Gotta go!" Pahhu hits the ground running and tears into the side door, nearly running into one of the Ilmateri sisters of Hyssop Home, Vifi, a mammon tiefling and one of the teachers and caretakers. The tiefling woman puts her hands on her hips and stares Pahhu down disapprovingly. "Hi Vifi, gotta go!" Pahhu scampers to the side and tries to break away like she always does, but Vifi has seen it too many times and snags her by the scruff of her neck, grabbing at Pahhu's loose clothing and hauling her back.
"Now tell me Ms. Pahhu, what could possibly have you in such a rush? Lunch isn't served for another hour, and you know there's plenty these days." Vifi stares down Pahhu, awaiting whatever silly explanation may be forthcoming. Pahhu takes a deep breath from her dash, and then lets the words out as fast as possible. "I have two drumborines, and they're a bothness and someone is gonna steal one and I gotta tell Ma!" Vifi glances down at her hands and shakes her head. "Ms. Pahhu, you never did well in my classes with numbers, but come now if you have two and give one away then you'll still have one. So share with the other children, that isn't stealing if they want to play too. You're practically a woman now, you should know better. The oathmother is very busy, you shouldn't bother her with this." Vifi scolds Pahhu.
Pahhu stops cold as she considers what Vifi said. "Ohhhh! OHHHH! AHA! The thinking noises worked this time! Thanks Vifi, you're so smart even without thinking noises!" Pahhu departs at a trot towards her room, her head already hurting as she tries to figure out how she is going to share with her future past bothness later.
Pahhu reaches level 11 and takes her 8th level in Stone Sorcerer. She learns the Banish spell, where she displaces a target from the time stream for roughly a minute. She additionally gains 2 Charisma as a feat, enhancing her spellcasting as she has become more in tune with her temporal sorcery after the recent trip into the Bothness.
Pahhu: Backstory
Pahhu’s story begins in 1473 DR, an abandoned roughly half-year old baby left at the stairs of the Bound Hands Orphanage in Secomber. The child was half-elven, with deeply tanned skin with coarse dark hair, and the marked features of a Wood-Elf. The child’s only belonging was an unusually styled beige and blue blanket, decorated in a repeating triangle motif in which she was swaddled. Stitched into the blanket written in a poor handed Elven script was ‘Pahhu Kilaniu.’ The name meant nothing in any Elven dialect, and betrayed no city or tribe. Likely abandoned as a half-breed, or an accidental child born of an affair she was adopted with no questions asked by Quinton and Imna Arnjaunor.
Pahhu's early childhood was a mixed experience. While universally beloved by the other children for her entertaining and interesting behavior, she was often treated with disdain or disgust by many adults due to her unpredictable and inexplicable nature. Pahhu had a tendency to make a mess of things, whether that be the books on a bookshelf, or even the story inside the books. Things were always placed out of order in her mind, with cause and effect transposed, past, present and future occuring at the same time in her memories. She struggled with proper tenses in language, and was considered one of the if not worst students by the teachers and caretakers.
And then there was the actual mess she made. Pahhu lacks any sense of cleanliness, and seemingly conjures dirt and dust from nothingness. Starting as an infant when sand, dirt, dust and even small stones would appear in her crib, through her toddler years when any contact with dirt would seemingly stick to her she would constantly trail dust, dirt and debris.. Despite intense supervision and many many baths she always managed to accrue a fine layer of earth. They simply began dressing her appropriately, and Pahhu herself began to wear a small face scarf, in part to keep the grit out of her mouth but also to hide her striking buck teeth which drew teasing from the other children.
Pahhu’s early to late childhood saw her grow into a small weed of a girl. Lithe and light of built, if not downright runty she failed to meet averages in physical size, mental progression and social maturity. She slowly struggled through her schooling, lagging years behind her peers in progress. With little to offer prospective parents but deficiency and a dirty home Pahhu would reach adolescence in the orphanage, a child wanted by no family, and loved only by the grace of Ilmater.
Upon reaching the end of her childhood Pahhu had little to offer as an apprentice. Quick on her feet, and small of body the only work she could find outside the orphanage was the dangerous and unusual work of helping to maintain the clock tower. Capable of crawling through the gears, and being gifted with nimble fingers she was able to do much which her old Master was unable to do in his advanced age. Pahhu found the clock tower comforting, a place where the rhythmic ticking helped her stay predictable and focused.
During adolescence Pahhu began manifesting some minor magical abilities. Always quick on her feet she sometimes found herself running so fast that the wind whipped through her hair. She began to feel a thrum in the earth beneath her feet, and when she glanced around at times it seemed like motes of dust paused in the air as she watched. Pahhu began to be able to perform small magical effects, such as increasing her running speed and even shaping small mounds of earth. She began to experience shocks when she’d touch objects, simple static pops that she grewed used to, but made her a menace in a game of tag with the younger kids.
Her early teenage years saw her begin to fill out. While she never grew to a height worth mentioning she also never gave up, always assuring herself that the dirt she endlessly accumulated would let her grow like a good stalk of corn. After all, all the farmer said tall and big things grow in good soil. Her agility had sharpened considerably with all of her time slipping between cogs, and wheels and up and down chains of the clock tower had made her a natural tumbler. The endless rhythm of the clock itself had given Pahhu an uncanny sense of rhythm, and when put together she made for a passable drummer and even dancer. She favored the drumborine, much to the annoyance of the Ilmateri sisters of the orphanage.
Pahhu’s late teenage years saw her magical power continue to grow. Where before she manipulated bits of dust she was now able to drag trenches of earth, with a touch she could seemingly empower a man with the trotting speed of a horse, and even more strangely almost turn back time, reversing the wear on things. The only link to her heritage, her prized blanket which she still slept with every night never faded, the tassels never frayed, and was seemingly restored over and over. She began to repair tools, help farmers plow fields and even helped courier horses make haste across the countryside. Mysteriously as her magical powers grew the endless dust only seemed to grow, and the occasional static shocks grew in intensity.
Pahhu’s life began to change in 1493 when a devastating thunderstorm struck Secomber. Fearing damage to the clock face, Pahhu used all of her speed to make it as quickly as possible to the clock tower, trailing dust in her wake despite the beating rain. She shocked herself as she touched the door handle, but pulled the door open and rushed up the tower. Reaching the mechanisms she opened a panel on the face and leaned out into the storm as she tried to lash down shutters to shut out the wind and rain beating on the delicate machine. At that moment lightning struck the minute hand of the clock face, the energy channeled through the mechanisms before exploding outward in a wave of concussive force. Flung from the tower as it crashed down around her, Pahhu’s vision began to go dark as she hung in air briefly, before slowly fluttering to the ground. For the first time, Pahhu had seemingly slowed time. She landed on the ruins of the clock tower, before blacking out.
She awoke the next day in her bed, having been brought back home by Quinton. Though she would try, the tower was unsalvageable. She chose to take the scorched minute hand, and the stubby hour hand as souvenirs from the wreckage. With the rhythm of the tower lost to her, and work to keep her hands busy Pahhu floundered for purpose in her days.
The devastation of Secomber by the storm left the orphanage in dire straits; Quinton chose to take contract work with the nearby Hawthorne Guild of Lerwick. As the relationship blossomed, and Pahhu’s listlessness intensified she started to follow Ed as he began to work small jobs with the guild as well. Soon relocating the orphanage to Lerwick, and moving into Hyssop Home. Her strange talents have proven helpful, and her continual magical growth has made her a useful if not unpredictable ally.
Pahhu’s continued magical growth eventually reached a level where she was generating small chaotic effects. Outpourings of dust and earth, sudden blasts of chilly dry wind, static shocks and even a dusty fog. Dimension Doors left strange tears through which dust poured momentarily, shields of dust suspended in the air seemingly frozen and as hard as steel, and even rendering foes lost in loops of time where they seemingly experienced the same moments over and over.
