Act II: Potent disease
For days, you have tracked through The Groves. You are seasoned adventurers, on quest from out the Adventurers League in Wildheaven. You are competing with “The Dukes of Shire” for first place on the Ranking Board. Sam, the owner of the Adventuring League thinks of you highly and you are sure he made bets on you reaching first place. You think this, because he has all given you one Very Rare magic item of choice for this mission. Completing quests, slaying baddies and looting dungeons is all in a days work for you as this is certainly not the first quest you have been on.They heard the voice echo around them: “Help me, save me!”
You all ready the quest on parchment once more: “While The Groves are simple in its difficulty, it takes a well trained eye to uncover its hidden potential. You have trained you first levels here and know the place well. You have however, not been to “The waterfall of dreams”! One adventuring group before you trailed this expedition but sadly could not live to tell the tale. It is said one must sacrifice what holds them dearest in order to claim it’s prize! Beware of all vile creatures lurking beneath the water! As the waterfall has a way of protecting itself... Look towards the highest tree on the tallest hill. From there, follow Synthia and you will reach your destination before dusk.”
Behind you! The last crocodile gets rapidly mown down. As you clean your weapons in the small river leading down from a large waterfall, you begins to hear a weird sound. Like a deep horn. You feel the air around you begin to vibrate as light rocks and other objects begin to defy gravity and float upwards. You are all as light as a feather as you begin to bounce around. All of a sudden, gravity reverses back to normal as you land on the ground. Then a voice follows. This whispered voice that echoes sourceless: “Save me! Rid me of this form!”
And that is were we start Act II
As The Stardust Crusaders, consisting of Baldurv, Elfy, Hugh-Jaque, Malady, and of course the one and only Gary Stardust, passed through the waterfall, they saw a rocky cave before them. A small tunnel led further into the stone wall. As they single file moved into the tunnel, they began to hear soft singing. They see how from out the sides of the stone wall, quartz has made its way through.
Entering a bigger section of the tunnel, they saw how corpse eaters, also known as Dalguls, were feasting on a freshly slain deer. Baldurv quickly hid in a hole in the wall, making him invisible even for his own party. While he did this, the group decided they would try to sneak past the Dalguls. Malady tried to make it easier for them, and cast Sleep on the monsters. Though it worked on one of them, the other two had now noticed them and a fight erupted.
After they'd defeated the Dalguls, they proceeded. For about 15 minutes they made their way through narrow tunnels, until they finally reached the end. They found themselves midway up a 2 by 2 mile cavern, overlooking a small town that seemed to be build upside down. This whole town seemed to be made out of quartz. It had many different buildings, some big and some small. When they looked at it some more they noticed the white images that roamed the upside down streets. Going about their day like it was nothing special.
It was then, that they noticed something on their right. On the ground sat a spectral white image of a man on his knees, looking for something. He was mumbling to himself, and didn't notice the group approach them. When he finally saw them, he said a bit startled: "Oh, don't mind me, I have seem to have lost my Glint Stone. Glint Stones are the key to Nokron my friends, you need them to walk around the town. If I could find mine, I could show you!" To help the man, they decided to start looking for the stone.
After a couple of minutes, Malady found it. When she tried to hand him his stone, his hand went through hers. As she saw how he couldn't take the stone from her, she tried to put the stone in his hand. Again he couldn't hold on to the stone, thus it fell to the ground. As the Glint Stone hit the ground, it turned to dust. Soon after this happened, the world seemed to flip upside down, and our heroes began falling towards the town.
Using their magic they arrived safely in Nokron. As they walked trough the town, they saw how the outer walls of the town were inscribed with dragon eccentrics. Ranging from dragon to dragon heads, all of them were carved out of the rocks around them. The transparent white images of people wandered through the town, but non of them acknowledged the existence of our heroes. When they looked through the street, a large church-like building with open doors caught their eye.
At that moment they heard a loud stumping sound behind them. When they looked in the direction of the sound, they saw a undead giant. Gary Stardust tried to use his charms on the creature, but was quickly stomped into the ground. That's when they decided to make a run for it. As quickly as they could they ran towards the church. When they were finally inside, they noticed how the giant didn't stop following them. That's when Malady looked the creature right in the eye and began speaking her curse, commanding him to stay where he was. The monster came to a halt, and stayed there looking at the church.
After handling the threat, they started scanning the building. It was a beautiful room, with stained glass windows. In the middle of the room was a big round disk. Around it was a thick border engraved with elven eccentrics. One by one the party members began exploring the disk. Only when all of them stood on it, it began to descent.
As they descended down, they heard something what sounded like the dripping of liquid. They saw how a mercury like substance started dripping down onto the platform. The mercury slowly began to take a humanoid form, transforming into the members of The Stardust Crusaders. Our heroes drew their weapons, and started to fight their doppelgangers.
Evantually, they defeated Me Jaque Mann and his crew. As the lifeless body of fake Baldurv hit the ground, they could finally calm down. For another twenty minutes, they descended.
Eventually, the platform came to a halt at the beginning of a small tunnel entrance. As they walked through, they came out in another big cavern, even bigger than before. They saw no ceiling, but instead a starry night that illuminated the area around them. When they looked into the distance, they saw a town filled with white buildings and large pillars. Looking closer, they noticed how all the people roaming the town wore the same white robes and headwraps, giving off an eerie feeling. Malady noted that the whole area was filled with enchantment magic, but she couldn't put a finger on the origin of the magic.
Suddenly, they heard a loud roar. A black, dead looking dragon sat on a mountain on the other side of the town. When his gaze met theirs, he vanished in black smoke. Not much later he appeared again, this time much closer to them. He spewed his necrotic breath, and vanished again. This made them decide to approach the town stealthily. As they tried to sneak towards the town, the dragon appeared again. Even though they tried to reason with it, he spewed at them once more. That's when they noticed it. It was Gary Stardust who saw it first, this dragon wasn't real, it was magic. The next time it appeared, Elfy dispelled the illusory dragon.
Immediately, all of the people in the town turned around and started walking towards them, attacking them when they came close enough. Though they slayed the first few cultists, they couldn't fight them all. One by one our heroes went down.
Then, they woke up, but they weren't themselves. Hugh woke up with an elven body, his arms still slim but a bit more muscular. Malady noted how she must have been given a potion of youth, as the skin of her half-orc body seemed to be so much smoother than before. Elfy tried flying, but his gnome body lacked wings. Baldurv had been given something new: opposable thumbs. Even though he had woken up as a human, he still walked on all fours. Lastly, we had Gary Stardust, who couldn't get up for the first few minutes. His large tortle shell left him unable to get up by himself. When he finally got a look at himself in his pocket mirror, he let our a high pitched scream. His beauty was now lost forever. Quickly he cast disguise self, to make himself look like himself again.
After a few minutes of confusion, they decided to get up and explore their surroundings. A few feet from them stood a large tree, surrounded by four pillars with large braziers on them. When they looked further they noticed a large bridge with a cave entrance behind it. Malady was the first one to head into the direction of the cave, and the rest followed soon after. When she walked underneath the bridge she noticed two cultists hanging on the sides of it, watching her make her way towards the cave.
The entrance of the cave was illuminated by spectral blue lights. When they got inside of it they were met with the spectral image of a young girl, crying for her father. She soon vanished. After that, another one appeared and vanished again, and another one. The path through the cave was filled with these spectral images, that never stayed longer than a few seconds.
After some time, all of the images vanished. As they took their steps into a large cavern, they stood eye to eye with a Ancient Black Dragon. "Kill me" he roared. This was it, the voice they had heard in the forest. He introduced himself as Uphos, the Death Lord. In attempt to overthrow him, his followers had tried to get rid of him by letting him rot away. Under the leadership of Porodax, they did. Now, while he still was the Death Lord, he was almost powerless. The shame this brought him was to much to bear, so he needed someone to free him of his burden. He told them how with his death, their curse would be lifted and they would be themselves once again.
It didn't take long for Baldurv and Hugh to take action. They positioned themselves at opposite sides of Uphos' neck. When doing so they had to resist the rot coming from the dragons body. They started hacking on the neck, trying to saw through it. While doing so Elfy summoned an insect plague that started to feast on Uphos. Gary Stardust guided the party with his magic, while inspiring his companions. Last but not least Malady created a phantasmal killer, shaped like the little girl they had seen minutes before. Together they put the dragon to rest. Their bodies started to transform back into their original forms. The curse had lifted.
The death of Porodax seemed to effect more than only the lives of The Stardust Crusaders. As Sisyphus, now JJET, was walking through the Glace-scape Province, a burst of arcane power hit him. He felt... different. When he looked at his arms he saw pale elven skin, translucently shine through the plated arms of his Warforged body. He remembered. He remembered his past life's struggle, motivation, heartbreak, and joyful moments. He remembered all of them. This however, didn't put a strain on him. It instead molded him, the undead lingering spirit jumping from body to body, into a more complete being. While undead and ever cursed, he could now for the first time remember, and feel whole again.
Relations
Protagonists
The Stardust Crusaders:
- Baldurv the Bear, a Polar Bear Barbarian
- Elfy Appleblossom, a Fairy Druid
- Gary Stardust, an Astral Elf Bard
- Hugh-Jaque Mann, a Half-Elf Fighter
- Malady, a Hexblood Bard
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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