The Moonlit King

Life, Death

The party travels to Mirian's hometown of Vaerand while Indigo's first Circle meeting since the eclipse becomes a nightmare.

On the way to Vaerand, Cerulean and Braes both ask their bonds if they intend to take part in the Canticle and seal themselves away. They get essentially the same answer, as both Daryl and Indigo aren’t quite sure where they stand on all this yet. While Braes takes this in stride, Cerulean seems angry that Daryl isn’t on her side. She doesn’t want to go to sleep again.   When they land in Vaerand, the welcome is far different than any Mirian ever knew. He was always an outcast growing up, the only Half-Elf in a town made predominantly of humans. Now, he is a Hero of Bonner, and everybody is excited to see him. He, however, just wants to see his dad Erik.   They go to Erik’s house, the town smithy, and find an old neighbor of Mirian’s, Maya, has been caring for him. She welcomes them inside but lets them know that Erik is sleeping. He was working on a rapier of Cold Iron for Mirian when he initially collapsed. They’re more than welcome to stay, but it seems the town has elected to throw a party for the Heroes of Bonner. Mirian decides to stay while Danger and Daryl attend the party. Indigo, however, has other plans.   Outside Vaerand that night is a Meeting of the Circle of the Moon. The first one since the eclipse. While Indigo knows Samson got out of it okay, he’s lost Kava and hasn’t heard anything from Forrester. The last thing he expected was to find a Dwarven girl waiting in the circle. Her common isn’t very good, but she introduces herself as Helja and she claims to be a Druid of the Moon. Indigo doesn’t trust her, but Samson drops in and seems to welcome her to the circle. Samson notices that Forrester hasn’t made it yet and asks Indigo if they should start without him. Indigo decides to wait a bit longer.   Erik wakes up beside Mirian. Mirian greets his dad, but Erik doesn’t recognize him until he takes off his mask. Seeing his boy like that nearly drives the old Half-Orc to tears, but he asks what happened. Mirian tells him the whole story. Erik is happy Mirian’s found belonging with this group but apologizes for the troubles of his youth. He’s an adult now, and if he wants to know the truth he should. Mirian’s mother is a fisherwoman named Delilah. His father, Ulorian the River King, Defender of the Pearl Tower and Master of the Arbonese. He controls Duintal in the Elf Prefecture, and he’s what Erik was hiding Mirian from all his life.   Finally, Indigo tells Samson they can start. That’s when he appears, with luminescent skin and purple hair, clad in the finest of clothes and an air regalness to him. Forrester. Only he tells them he used to be nobility, Ludomir Imbrium the XVI, and he’s going back to that name now. He tried to escape the eclipse by running to the Feywild by way of the Library of the Gods. Instead, he wound up in a place called the Shadowfell, where the magic tying the moon in place was physical. He climbed to the moon and stood upon it when the party freed it. He was blasted with so much energy he became something new. A Fey Lord, the Moonlit King. He looks upon the Druids and tells them he’s come to take them in as his servants where they can live under the full power of the moon forever. Indigo and the others say no.   Disappointed, to say the least, The Moonlit King rises into the air and tells them to think about it -- in the Shadowfell. Reality shifts around them. The sky turns into a dark ocean where moonlight barely shines through, the horizon into a jagged and mean version of itself. It hits the town as well, but the party in the great hall doesn’t really notice.   “I’d advise not dying here by the way.” The Moonlit King says as the undead rise up from all around and head for the town, the only warm light in view. Meanwhile, Erik suffers a heart attack in front of Mirian.   The undead attack town. Danger and Daryl defend the townsfolk in the main hall. Mirian picks up his dad and moves him as he fights off the undead. A villager named Frank, the town butcher, is struck down in the main hall, and they stand back up as a wild-eyed mindless Revenant. Revenants are exceedingly strong, and each one quickly makes another. As Indigo runs toward the town, he sends a firebolt toward the undead, instead, he hits the broadside of the main hall and sets the whole thing aflame.   Mirian locks himself and Erik in by the furnace and goes to perform CPR, but he’s too late. He loses Erik -- until his eyes open again, a Revenant. He attacks Mirian. Mirian gets his hands on a firestarter, ignites it, and drives it into Erik’s head, killing him instantly. He pushes the body off him, but he only has two fire starters left.   Mirian kills two other Revenants as the party gathers together to put all the remaining townsfolk in a darkened hut. They watch as the undead walk into the burning hall, but they know it won’t last. They have to get out of the Shadowfell. Since the Moonlit King brought them in, he’s their way out. But they have no leverage against him unless they can really hurt him. That’s when the Dwarven Druid speaks up. She says a Fey can be hurt with Cold Iron. Maya points out that Erik was working on a Cold Iron rapier, but it's unfinished. The party makes a plan. Indigo lures Forrester in and distracts him with Daryl and Danger, all the while Mirian completes the Cold Iron Rapier and uses it against him to force him to send them back home.   They call Forrester in, but he’s far stronger than the party anticipates. He’s partially immaterial under the moonlight and can summon Moon Devils to fight the party for him. A devil alone is out of their league, and things only get worse when Mirian strikes the rapier too hard and breaks it. Without a second thought he grabs the white-hot metal with his bare hand and approaches the Moonlit King. He tries to stab him, but the King grabs him by the wrist and fires a blast of moonlight at him. Mirian falls backward, dying.   The party moves in to heal Mirian, but it isn’t enough. Mirian dies in the Shadowfell. The Moonlit King sees the rage this creates in Indigo’s eyes and decides to send them back home before he makes his case even worse. Mirian’s body doesn’t make it back with the party, but they hold a memorial service nonetheless for everybody they lost. Maya finishes the Cold Iron Rapier and gives it to Indigo, who puts it away in his bag. Daryl, meanwhile, takes Mirian’s mask to keep. A much lesser team than they were before, the party makes for the Outlands to help the Orcs fight off some Were-Bears as well as find Danger’s baby mama Snowhide.