S1 E56: Solutions Lie with Velendir
General Summary
The Scale Squad follows circuits, solves puzzles, finds pages, and encounters Velendir.
- Well of Souls room investigated, found to have the first page in the center of some kind of negative energy power plant, guarded by a Boneclaw and several ghouls. Mae activates their defensive mechanism when she tries to extract the page from the dangerous Induction Zone at the center of the room.
- The Boneclaw's blue tattoo reabsorbs into a small needle that lands at Xi Shi's feet. She takes it, but doesn't use it (yet). The first page gives details about ther lady of pain shedding a tear for an unwilling god and the good intentions of its accidental creator, finding in this some metaphor for reality perhaps. They learn that the tear severs one's connection to oneself, granting true oblivion.
- The reference in the poem to puzzles and riddles sown turns out to be a literal reference to a garden puzzle in the next encounter room, and solving it (With Manduca's help) by arranging plant symbols correctly under the sun based on the amount of light they need gives the squad the second page, as well as a brief glimpse of an idyllic Fae garden before opening a door to another sub door, angled nearly flat with the floor. The second page details that because of the total oblivion granted by the tear, it would also be a terrible weapon and irresistable temptation in the wrong hands, as a literal god-killer. Only Velendir was found worthy even among all the elves, and he will only give it up to those he knows to be deserving of it - and even then, perhaps not willingly.
- The hallway beyond the Puzzle of the Sower proves to be illusory much like the hall that led to the power plant, and falls another 60' to a dark chamber of a size too large to see clearly even with superior darkvision. The walls are etched with a book that they recognize as the Echo of Stars, and would not have had their pages ripped out, so the last page is definitely here. What is also here is a tall, beautiful white-haired elven man, giving a lecture that seems strange until the squad crosses an invisible border and finds that they have all become elves in a lush garden, where Velendir gives a lecture on the mystical properties of pure water to an audience of goat-centaurs, fae creatures and other elves. they talk to Velendir but make little headway with him; he appears to believe only a couple of years have passed since he was placed in charge of the tear, and their questions about it put him on the defensive.
- They walk back out of the illusion, and discover a single thin thread of conduit hanging from the ceiling. Zalock manages to shoot it with his Far Realms laser rifle, and Velendir is incredibly confused as the massive illusion that Sylvanwroth had been projecting ceases in an instant. He doesn't understand what's happened and doesn't trust the Scale Squad's story that some other creature has created this illusion to keep him here and unaware of the passage of time. He also can't say for certain where the tear is, because he doesn't know for certain where he himself is, inside the vast and lightless Cinematic Room. nevertheless they find themselves surrounded by the Echo of Stars, etched on the bricks. Perhaps if they can locate the text of the third page, they might find the Tear, or where to go next?
Rewards Granted
- Absorbing tattoo, Blue (Cold), after attunement. https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2400503-absorbing-tattoo-cold
Missions/Quests Completed
- Well of Souls
- Sower's Puzzle
- The Echo of Stars
Character(s) interacted with
- Velendir
Report Date
20 Jun 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Comments