19 Erathisway, 4520: Verdant Isle, The God in the Pool & Friends In Trouble

Arkomir writes...

A Return to Verdant Isle

In the morning, we wake reasonably early and get ourselves ready for todays adventuring. We head to the tower to catch up with Esward Moulton and tell him of our plans. Before that though, we stop past the jewellers to try and purchase a pearl and after some haggling, we purchase two pearls and some diamonds. We get a morning meeting with Moulten and are lead to the audience chamber upstairs. We ask about potions and he directs us to one of the travelling merchants in town as they will more likely have things of that nature. As for the items taken from Westley Frenymtist he has had them identified. They are a dagger of venom and bindings of archery. He asks how many people we are taking to help us on the island he is happy for us to take some, but to make sure we bring them back. Kezahr turns up and we ask if she can identify the ring we have as well as the boots Wesley was wearing. She can and confirms that they are slippers of spider climbing and a ring of Mind Shielding. We thank Moulten for the slippers and the bracers, both of which we give to Katya to equip. Our party for the trip to the island will be: me, Dharra, Katya, Kezahr and Esabel Chantry. We thank the Lord Advocate and take our leave of the tower.
We find a merchant from the east who has some potions for sale and we trade some chain mail, a glaive and some gold for some healing potions. Dharra lets Devlin Helmbreaker off the hook about coming on this adventure and then head to the port to hire a boat to take us to Verdant Isle. We find Ken of Belhaim and hire him for the day. We make good time getting to the island and do so without incident. We arrange with Ken a signal system to get back as well. We wave Ken goodbye, set our signal fire ready to be lit and head out into the island.

The God in the Pool

We decide to head back to the Kobold Caves to access the lake from that direction. Making reasonably good time as we head along the shoreline, we find the cave entrance again without too much hassle. With some quick investigation and remembering from last time, we navigate our way back through the cave system. The cave is quite a deal more slippery than last time and it does take us some time to get through. The cave itself smells quite fetid and foul. At the rear of the Kobolds lair, we hear water moving up ahead and what sounds like a waterfall. We head toward the sound of the water lapping against a shoreline and the waterfall. As we turn a corner and we see the lake I cast Divine Sense but don't sense anything, but I do see something in the water cause a ripple. Dharra casts detect magic and gets nothing. She throws a rock and the water ‘moves out of the way’ of the rock for a moment. Dharra hears a voice in her mind ask:

What is it you want?

It offers her a lot, memories, stories and all the things she desires - and she tries to resist. I drag her back from the water telling her to remember why she is here. She seems to have another conversation with the entity and then two figures emerge from the lake on the left and the right. They are what once was a kobold and gnome and they the dismembered bodies of this entities victims.
We enter into battle against these two and the entity in the lake. After an intensive battle, during which a number of us are quite badly injured, we defeat The God in the Pool. Kezahr is quite distraught as Fafnir was quite badly injured during the fight. We deide to take a short rest to recuperate but before we can even do that, Katya and Essa fall to the ground. Their skin becomes transparent and they appear to have trouble breathing. Essa throws herself into the water, as she was gasping for air and soon after Katya does the same thing. Once under water they seem to calm down.

Friends in Trouble

Whilst Dharra checks on Essa and Katya, Kezahr and I investigate the creature to try and determine what may have caused Essa and Katya's condition. After talking with Kezahr, we decide it is probably an Aboleth. I have heard of these creatures, by way of Elven nightmares. Aboleth's are extremely old and they have very long memories - don't cross them as they will remember. The corpse of the Aboleth is changing before our eyes. I make a number of enquiries through Corellon to get a sense of the area, trying to make sure the pool and the area we are in is cleansed and purified as I am not convinced that the entity is completely gone, given what has happened to our friends. It is hard to ascertain anything about this but I keep trying.
Dharra continues to investigate what is happening to Katya and Essa. They manage to tell her that they felt uncomfortable out of the water and that they felt like they needed to be in the water to breathe. They feel more comfortable in the water. Dharra tries a couple of things to help them or heal them but it is slow progress.
I keep still in prayer and focus on guidance from Corellon in sensing anything. I finally start to get a sense of everyone else in the cavern. I also sense that the space is cleaner than it has been for a time, for an age. I ask for the spirit of the pool to let go, move on and rest. My sword begins to glow with a bright golden light and I get a sense that the entity is no longer here.
Dharra takes some of Katya's gear and tries to cast protection from poison which has no effect. Meanwhile Kezahr examines Katya with her permission. Katya and Essa investigate the pool whilst we formulate a further plan. Kezahr, Dharra and I have a discussion during which Kezahr tells us to be careful. Whatever has affected Essa and Katya looks more like disease and if we can't cure them it may be chronic. However, if the elixir of healing works, she may be able to create another one. We may also be able to use my lay on hands ability. As we wait for Katya and Essa to return from investigating the pool further, we notice that the level of muck and slime in the cavern is drying and clearing. We also notice some other remnants of fur and cloth from other visitors to the pool. Kezahr continues examining the corpse of the Aboleth and confirms that it is a very old being, with an expanded brain system. After some time, Katya and Essa come back to the shore. Katya throws a bundle of something over onto the shore. There are a bunch of coins in the bundle - some quite a deal old and she confirms there is quite a bit more down there. In the current bundle there is also a ring, a small wax stoppered bottle and a hat. Katya also confirms that the water is very cold.
I appeal to Katya about what our current plan is and she agrees, finally. She will go and speak to Essa and see if she agrees. Essa and Katya make their way to the small island in the centre of the pool and have a discussion. Katya stays there, whilst Essa swims back to us and she says that she agrees to try the elixir. She takes it and drinks from the bottle and its effect is pretty instantaneous, her skin returns to normal and she takes a large breath in. However, the disease returns as quickly as it went away. Dismayed, we investigate further options to cure them. Whilst we do this Essa and Katya will investigate the pool further. We will light a fire to keep them warm when not in the pool.
Essa and Katya continue to bring things up from the bottom of the lake, primarily coins but some gems and pearls as well. Essa has retrieved her cloak and comes over to the fire with a large lump of chain mail. She huddles up under her cloak by the fire to get warm. We look around for Katya but cant see her just here and finally see her over next to the Aboleth. I call out to her to come away and get warm by the fire and she stands, puts her hands to her face and the moves back toward us with her back to us. She half turns to us and says that she couldn't help herself and then she takes two steps and dives back into the water. We quiz Essa about this, and she says that she also feels something drawing her back to the Aboleth and she is strangely hungry. We decide to try to move the Aboleth but only manage a little. Katya comes back from the water and asks me if she is now a monster. I appeal to her that she is not, and that she needs to fight and help me fight. I need her to be strong like the elven warrior she is and help Essa be strong as well. She also says that she has thought of something that might be way to help. She stands and removes her cloak and moves closer to the pool telling us that she has learnt a lot from all of us and she pulls out the white disc she received from Isadora. We think this is a possible last resort and we convince her to let me us try other options first.
We hit on the idea to get Kezahr to use the sending stone to ask Pozohr for information or aid. We craft a message and she sends it through to him and his reply comes back a few moments later telling us we will need strong magic. Dharra and I decide we will head up to the Wizard's Tower to see if we can find anything of use and the rest of our group agrees. We gather our gear, prepare ourselves and head out.

Back to the Dwarven Settlement

Dharra checks the area and we head to the Dwarven settlement first. We find a slight path and head that way along to the end of the cavern where we find a winding stair that leads us up into a separate cavern where the water flows in to the lower pool. We find the lower section of the pumping station and the metal superstructure that holds it. Heading around the pool a bit further, we find another stairway that leads up to the room next to the well room. At the top we open a hatch and head in where we find ourselves in a room previously visited, next to the brewery store room. We make our way back to the main chamber heading for the room to the east as we hear a large lumbering noise come toward us and a large troll creature appears. It has many heads and appears to be quite mutated. It has gathered pieces from its fallen comrades (which we fought on a previous visit) and fused them to itself. It lumbers towards and we engage in another battle. During the fight my sword starts to glow again with a golden light. We finally succeed in killing this abomination and investigate the room. I dismember the troll to make sure it can not regenerate and as I clean my sword, I hear a voice in head say:

Blessed One

. I get the feeling that Corellon's Whisper is now a blessed sword and I get the feeling that Corellon's presence is near. We investigate the area we are in and find a shrine that the trolls have been using and Dharra destroys that. Dharra also gets the feeling that this area and the settlement are the cleanest the have been for an age. I collect a large amount of troll blood to give to Kezahr to make potions and we loot the area as best we can. Dharra prays to Moradin and I pray to Corellon. We gather up all that we have found and head back to Kezahr to check in on them.
We head back down through the settlement again with Fafnir following along and the way back is a bit easier to pick out as we just came this way. In good time we make it back to the pool. Things seem to be much as they were when we left with Kezahr sitting by the pool and Essa sitting close by. Both Essa and Katya have collected more stuff from the pool and Katya appears to be sleeping at the moment. I thank Kezahr for sending Fafnir to us. We hand over the vials of troll blood to Kezahr who says she can definitely use them but would need to be back at her lab. We have a discussion with Kezahr about me using a charge of Lay on Hands. During the battle upstairs I was in touch with Corellon for a time and seem to have access to a charge that could be of use. We decide to use this on Katya this time to see if we are on a right track at least.
I sit with Katya by the fire and we both pray and meditate to Corellon. I take out my sword and make it glow with its golden light whulst Dharra controls the flames of the nearby fire to do the same. I pray to Corellon and with Katya's hands on the hilt of my sword I reach out my other hand to touch her face. I ask Corellon to save and restore one of elven kind and dispel a charge of Lay on Hands into Katya. As the charge goes into her, she noticeably stops shivering and starting from her hands, her skin starts to return to normal. As the effect flushes through her, she takes a gasp of breath. She looks at me with hope but we both notice the transparency starting to come back. Katya seems dismayed but I comfort her by saying that I believe we are on the right track, I just need more power and a little time. Dharra creates a bath for them to rest in and keep a little warmer whilst we are away investigating the tower. Kezahr asks Fafnir if he wants to come with us to the tower and he is keen for that although he is sure that there are more Perytons at the tower. We quiz Kezahr about the Perytons and she tells us some useful information. She tells us that they hunt humanoids as part of their preproductive cycle, they are single minded and purse their prey doggedly, they are not natural creatures and they can understand spoken language to some degree. Fafnir also says the word 'heritage' with reference to the tower, as in his heritage. We quiz Fafnir about Glade and he definitely knows the name and what he looks like. Fafnir is keen to come with us to the tower and show us around. We settle everyone else down by the pool, gather our things and head back to the dwarven settlement.
We get back the main chamber and head over to the door on the eastern side of the room. I have a listen at the door and don't seem to hear anything untoward. Dharra understands the mechanism on the door and opens it with relative ease. In the room ahead of us is a wide stone hallway, carved to a specific shape and is a threshold of some importance. The hallway extends a long way down, further than we can see and a little ways in on our right there is an opening into a larger room and further along on the left is a wider opening. There is evidence on the floor that a cart was used in this hallway to transport things. Dharra thinks that the stone is volcanic and is from eons ago. It is possible that this place is rich in things worthwhile but it would be difficult to mine. It seems that this main hallway heads in the direction of the tower.
We head down the hallway and investigate the room on the right first. We go down a couple of steps into this room which has quite ornate buttresses and has some ornate benches around the outside. There is dwarven writing on the buttresses which says:

Wisdom from life, Tempered with Experience

Look to your fellow Dwarves

Innovate and refine your Work

Embrace and further your Clan and Kingdom

Stand fast in the face of Threat

Know your Allies as your Siblings

At the front of the room is a ceremonial stone anvil with some remnants of cloth and chainmail over it. The whole room is definitely a chapel space. Behind the anvil altar we find a stone banister with stairs leading down covered by a hatch. Dharra leaves an offering on the anvil altar and says a small prayer to Moradin and as she lifts her hand from the altar she gets a little static charge. Fafnir jumps up on the banister as Dharra investigates the hatch. She opens the hatch and I use my sword to cast light and we head down the stairs below the hatch. As Dharra steps on the first tread, lights come on downstairs. We head down and end up in a room beneath the chapel space above. We are in a smallish whitewashed space. The ceiling is a curved rectangular dome and is painted to represent the passage of a day (sunrise to sunset and then night). It is a fairly austere space but parts of the room emit a soft glow. On one side there are three alcoves and each one has a stone statue holding a massive sword, blade down. They each have their other hands resting on a separate glass dome which is sitting on a plinth. Inside the first dome is a suit of very fine chain with plates of armour, greaves and a set of intricate gloves wrapped in mail. Inside the second dome is a long dark green robe with a purplish, black lining and a staff standing in front and also a well used and travelled book. Inside the last dome is a what looks like a plain silver ring. This ring feels compelling to me and I like looking at it. This room is quite clearly a reliquary.
We head back upstairs and back to the hallway to look at the room on the left. We head down the corridor to the room on the left. The hallway stretches out and doglegs to the left further on. The room on the left however has two elaborate steel doors with a similar mechanism to the first door. We open these doors (which are not locked) and see a gentle sloping passage ahead of us with the ruts from the cart continuing through here. There are storage alcoves along the walls and partway down the passage a cart has been parked. We have a look inside the cart and Dharra sees remnants of tin, gold and silver and some dark rock. From here we can see another set doors further down with another cart which has rolled down and rested against the doors. Something about the air movement down here is strange to me but I can't quot put my finger on why. We head down to the second cart and Dharra listens at the door, and the steel door seems to be ringing in sympathy with something in the depths - like the sound of steel hitting steel. There is something further in this mine that is forging something.

A Tower Discovered

We decide that discretion is the better of valour and leave this door unopened for the time being and instead head to the tower to investigate that further. We head back up to the main hallway and toward the tower. We use Corellon's Whisper to shed light in the main hallway as we move along the hallway which doglegs left and then doglegs back to the right again as we head along. At this second dogleg the hallway narrows to about half its width. In this section of the hallway the decorations are of leaves and foliage which feels slightly elven. Ahead of us, there is a small stairway that ends at a door. We summise that we are at the door to the tower and after some discussion with Fafnir, seem to confirm this. We investigate the door and we notice some carvings on the face of it, of a tall elven man wearing a long robe, carrying a staff. He has his arm around an elven woman. We hear a voice say 'magical' and we notice that at the feet of the man there is a depiction of a pseudodragon. Again we hear a voice say

The Master and Mistress of the Tower are not at home right now. Please present yourselves for entry.

We state our names and that we are searching for information about Glade and The Cleansing Wave and as we do, numerous voices go off around us. It is fairly cacophanous but we make out:

Dwarf off good heritage

Corellon Blessed

Forest Homer

Half Elf

Good Intent

Family

Powerful

There is a moment of silence, before we hear

Please make yourself comfortable.

The door opens a crack for us to head inside, I push the door open and we head in.
Before us is a wide open round space with a 10 to 12 foot ceiling. To our right is what appears to be the front door of this room and indeed the tower and some small lights go on to illuminate the room as we enter. Within the room, the floor is covered with various wide rugs which are worn, mostly by time and there is a bunch of furniture, which has been covered with cloth. Across the far side of the room, is a small bar and a seating area and to the left we see stairs that curve around the wall heading both up and down. The room can heated by the three fireplaces that are also in the room placed around the outer wall. The room has a distinct elevn style matched with dwarven artistry.
We have a discussion with Fafnir and gather some good intel on the tower. Fafnir confirms there was a man who came to the tower looking for something. There were raised voices and the man had magic and came quietly and with stealth. He also shows us a couple of images in our minds. We get a shadowyimpression of a stone room with two pseudodragons, one a dark purple the other pale blue. They appear to be smiling and saying to wait. They feel parental. He then sends another impression of the pale blue pseudodragon lying on a cloth. Fafnir is looking at this one, while the purple one sits next to Fafnir.
Turning our attention back to the room, it has numerous windows which are shuttered and also have glass in them, which is both rare buildings like this one and expensive. We open the nearest one and look out, noting that we appear to be on the ground floor. We head to the staircase and head down first and find ourselves in a slightly smaller chamber below. It is quite an open chamber with lights at regular intervals that light seemingly magically. There is more chaos in this space with more things knocked over. Most of the furnishings are arranged around the outside and there is a wide shelving unit on one side that was built to hold bottles and shelves. It has been tipped over and a number of them have been damaged or smashed. A number of racks have been pushed over that held weapons which are now scattered on the floor. There is a large chest that appears to have been forced open. On the floor is circular design with a number of sigils at regular intervals around its circumference. This appears to be a teleportation circle and we ask Fafnir to send an image of this back to Kezahr. We straighten some things up in the room and investigate things as we do. I put weapons back in racks and some of these are certainly magical. In the large chest we find sets of strings, picks and tuning forks, a small bronze silver ring with an amber stone set in it, a dagger in a sheath tucked into holder within the lid, a canvas bag with spools of silken rope, climbing hammers and pittons etc, a small pouch with a wetsone, chalk, string and another brass firelighter. We pocket most of this and satisfied that the room is a little more ship shape we head back upstairs.
We head up to the first floor, passing by the ground floor again as we do. The stairs terminate in a hallway that leads into the centre of the tower. In this hallway, we see double doors to either side and at the end of the hallway is a spiral staircase heading up, beyond which is another white door. The doorway to the left is a large well appointed kitchen that has been cleared out but contains large tables and a large pantry space. There is a door at the end of the kitchen which opens on to a dining room with a large table that could easily seat 12 (but 14 at a stretch). In a hutch at the end of the room, we find some glassware, one of which looks very similar to my Corellon goblet, like it was made by the same artisan. At the other end of the dining room, there is another door which we head through. We find ourselves in what is clearly a music room. There is a set of drums in one corner, and a full sized harp. There is also a collection of chairs for people to sit in and listen to the players. We head back out to the central hallway and head to the spiral staircase to head up.
Dharra notices that Fafnir has started creeping along behind, like he is hiding. We get a sense that he thinks the stairs might not be stable so I test each tread as I go, but make it to the next level without too much fuss. I find myself in a sort of hub space. I call out for Dharra to come up as well and as I look back at the stair leading up I notice some pieces of bone, one of which looks long and curved. Dharra pokes at one of the bones and it starts to move by itself and then one of the other bones moves and flies upward. We hear some more noise of bones moving and then it falls quiet. We hear bones above us move against eachother and perhaps against the stairs. I get Dharra and Fafnir to stand behind me as I prepare for what may be coming. After some time they stop moving and fall silent. I cast Divine Sense, and these bones are undead.
We check the doors in the alcoves on each side. The centre door is a powder room and the other doors are fairly generic guest suites, all of which are well appointed but not with any particular style. As a next move we decide to target the bones with some cantrips. We hit, but this sets off the other bones and we end up in a battle as a skeletal creature reassembles before us, with some remnants of skin hanging off it in bits and pieces. It looks like a Peryton but a skeletal form. We manage to dispatch this beast, cure ourselves up a bit and continue up the stairs. At the next level, it again has an open section around a central stair and there are three doors on this level. We investigate a utilitarian door first and it is a well adorned bathroom. We then investigate the left hand room, which has three glassed and shuttered windows. This room is a drawing room, with some seats and a wine rack and other oddments. The last room on this level is large bedroom which has two large closets and a dresser, as well as a small table and a large four poster bed, which has been moved out from the wall a bit. At the end of the bed is a finely crafted wooden box. Fafnir moves over to it and lies down inside, like it was once his bed (or maybe his parents). On the wall is a framed picture of an elven woman standing in a garden which is incredibly lifelike and unlike anything else we have seen before. Fafnir projects some images to us of him in this space being nurtured by his parents. He then asks: Lady? We find a piece of wood that was part of the box he slept in, and on the front is a carving. It has the word Aelirin, which is an elven word meaning ‘light friend’.
We make a plan to destroy the next skeletal peryton, and that goes worse than expected. However, we do survive, just, and head toward the top floor. Fafnir warns us to not go to the top of the tower, by which we think he means outside on the roof. The floor above where we are would be the library, but part of the tower has been destroyed on that level. Also, the roof space, or what is left of it is currently mostly peryton nest. We sneak up the stairs a little bit and have a look at the space as well. From this vantage point, we see a corridor that ends at a set of stairs. There are two doors on the landing above us, and both of these doors are broken. One of the rooms was an alchemical lab and the other was a library. There are few books but it has been mostly cleared out. The library has the exterior wall slightly destroyed.

Help Appears and Friends Restored

All of a sudden, Fafnir gets a message from Kezahr to ‘Come now’. As we make our way back to them, Dharra gets a message from Thicoul Stormwalker. She asks if he needs our help and tells him there is a teleportation circle nearby. He has heard that Katya and Essa are not well and he wants the details of the teleportation circle. Dharra makes a drawing of the teleportation circle and transmits this to him. We keep moving back to the grotto and the girls, leaving a trail as we go. As we arrive back, Kezahr meets us in the tunnel. She has managed to ease them a little, but she has also received a message back from Confluence. Any healing of the girls will require high level magic. She leads us back down to the grotto. Katya has used her ivory disc to contact Isadora who in turn got a message to Thicoul. Isadora Giordano is on the way to here as well. As we are greeting people and getting ourselves settled, we hear some noise behind us.
Thicoul appears out of the gloom, followed by Isadora. We greet them as well and settle in to tell them what we have found thus far. Isadora moves past us and to Katya’s side saying that they will have her fixed up soon hopefully. She begs that she fix Essa first so Thicoul moves over to Essa. He takes out some diamond dust and says a small prayer and casts greater restoration on Essa. She sits up and we all watch as the spell takes effect, removing the transparent nature, before it returns again. Dharra gets out her lute and starts playing some of the songs she learnt for the ball. Thicoul keeps hold of Essa's hand, takes out his hammer, and casts ‘heal’. The effects of the disease recede again and hold: Essa is healed. We all take a moment to make sure the effect holds before they turn their attention to Katya. Katya contorts in pain and beads of blood appear on her skin. Thiccoul casts Heal again and another flash of lightning appears in the grotto. A moment later, he is holding Katya and she appears to be returned to health. After seeing everyone is better, I close my eyes and fall asleep.
Dharra spends some time describing what we have found to Thicoul and the gathered folks. She then leads us all back to the Dwarven settlement. She shows them the Reliquary and we head back to the door to the tower again. Again we introduce ourselves and along with what we heard before we hear

Aelirion

Known

We show then what we found in the tower. Thicoul places me on a bed in one of the guest rooms and I continue to sleep. Dharra continues showing folks around. She shows them the glass picture and the special windows. She says that Glade was a master at working with glass. Dharra asks about Glade and offers that we think his burial place may be at Glade's Folly. Isadora offers that the Duchy of Mirellion worship Glade above all.
Dharra tells Thicoul about the door to the mine and the sound she heard. He wants to see that so we gather everyone together. As we are doing that Fafnir shows a section of the wall behind the female wardrobe in the top bedroom. He scratches at the wall and dislodges a large transparent faceted key, that could possibly be crystal. He says ‘Lady’ and then goes over to Kezahr and drops it in her lap. She holds Fafnir close, sheds a tear and puts the key in her pocket. We head back down to the mine. We find ourselves at the barred door again. Thicoul puts his hand on the door and says he can hear the sound as well. It is in the main chamber and its not dwarves or gnomes. This is a dwarven mine so his sense is that whatever is in there is foe. He offers to help on the morrow and offers to stay the night. Kezahr arranges to get a message to Ken to give to Moulten to apprise him of the current situation. We show Thicoul the settlement whilst we are here as well. He is very impressed with it all but in particular the magma forge. He is also very interested in the wall of names. As he does so, he points at a name, Kathnell Steelfist, daughter of Brackier and Raylen. He tells us about her. She went into the mountains and fought a border war, killing Ogg Dwarfcrusher (sounds like a giant). She befriended a dragon he thinks and helped found Kaz Urul.
We head back to the tower for a long rest. Before heading to sleep, we gather in the sitting room downstairs, swap stories and listen to songs. Dharra and I share a room and not long after heading to bed are asleep!

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