The Midnight Mountain Incident

General Summary

The Party had just subdued an intruder trying to steal one of the books Bartimus had just purchased. They tried to question him right away, but the thief instead cried out for help. He was quickly muffled with a disgusting sock while Axelrod convinced the innkeeper they were merely rehearsing a play. Deciding the Misty Bell was not the best place for an interrogation, they waited through the night to move to a better location in the morning.
Barty cast invisibility on the thief, they dropped the thief out of the window onto Greg's cart, and they moved him to a familiar place in the sewers. Eventually, Hobart recognized the thief as the second person in the room when Lola took him to her place under Midnight Mountain. This pushed Hobart to the brink, and his interrogation reached a new level of threatened violence. Unfortunately, the thief remained smug, letting him know that his mission was to steal the book to prevent anyone from interfering in his group's plans. If the Party wasted time questioning him, then the end result would be the same.
When Axelrod returned from his errands, the Party decided to read the book. Once they translated it, they learned that the Cult of Quoros believed their god to be dead and buried beneath Midnight Mountain, and all their efforts were to resurrect him. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Party let the thief go to follow him back to his hideout. Once he found his way into the mountain, Hobart noticed directions written in the cipher on the cave walls, and he led the Party to the den.
Everyone quickly saw an open passage at the back of the room, and they rushed forward. They came to a cavern with a large pit they couldn't traverse, but Hobart found a secret door that navigated around the sinkhole. They then ran into a group of cultists, whom they dispatched quickly and efficiently. As they proceeded, Lyza noticed that the Oath began shining, and it grew brighter the further into the mountain they went. Perhaps this weapon was meant for whatever they would encounter.
The Party reached a massive cave where a ceremony had begun. At the far wall, the Party saw the core of the mountain alight with magic runes. A priest was chanting while standing in front of another large rune etched into the floor; the Party recognized it from the Ancient Death Temple ceremony. Before the priest were five cultists standing over smaller runes. They suddenly disappeared in flashes of light, and a large sphere of energy formed in front of the priest. With his hands raised, he launched the sphere into the mountain, and it began tearing through the rock.
A small figure stood behind the priest. Turning her head, Lola soon looked upon her friend and his allies. A look of sadness, of disappointment washed over her face. With a few words and hand movements, Lola disappeared. Despite his own disappointment, Hobart charged forward into battle. In front of him, the energy sphere continued to cut into the mountain, releasing wave after wave of energy similar to what the Party found at the bottom of the Ancient Morten Prison.
After fighting off several cultists who rushed up to meet the Party, Hobart advanced on the priest. Axelrod soon launched an icy knife at a cultist, and the explosion of cold energy also hit the priest, causing him to lose his concentration on the sphere. It soon exploded, and a large crack reached the top of the cavern, releasing a column of energy up through the mountain. The blast from the sphere swept across everyone in the cave, save for Barty. Scared but unscathed, he kept concentrating on the battle... And then he feel unconscious, put to sleep by a halfling who had sneaked past him.
The priest soon fell to blades, but the Party was not sure how to fix the interdimensional tear. They didn't have long to think, as star spawn began crawling through the rift and attacking them. Just as more powerful creatures emerged and hope looked lost, they vanished. Shaken awake by his friend Emmalyn Rainsoar, Barty saw Isa Ereskin and Virgil Halathar standing over him, the former's hands lowering from a banishment spell. The two advanced.
Isa opened a gate, from which a magnificent angel emerged. It tried to close the rift, but it was destroyed by the energy on the other side. Isa then called upon Mystra to intervene. Before their eyes, the rift begin to close, as if a zipper were being pulled from the cavern ceiling downward. Unfortunately, it did not close entirely, holding steady as a one-foot-wide tunnel to the Void. Realizing what must be done, Isa and Virgil stepped forward. She held Salvation over the portal, and Virgil plunged the Arcane Blade through it. A blast of light came from the artifacts, blinding everyone. When their vision returned, Isa and Virgil were gone. The Relics of Mystra had merged with the mountain, maintaining their rough outlines but now made of stone instead of metal. When they stood close to the relics, the Party felt both heat and cold on the other side.
The Party returned to the surface to survey the damage. Cracks in buildings, fallen statuary, and general panic filled the city. Emmalyn insisted on everyone joining her at the Temple of Nine Stars, which had partially collapsed at the point where much of the energy of the Void had emerged. Hobart's disappointment in Lola and the recent events was evident to everyone, but he did take to heart that his oldest friend did not act in open aggression toward him and his allies.
The next day, he slipped away to meet with his Guild contact, asking that they not capitalize on the chaos in too cynical a fashion. When he returned to the inn, he found a note in his pocket: "If you want to know more about that rapier, meet me at the Red Dragon." Upon arrival, he recognized the senior Guild member who questioned him about the rapier. He was quickly surrounded by other people, but they were not acting aggressively. The senior Guild member told Hobart they should talk.
What is the fallout from the Cult's activities? Is it limited to just Mystryl, or have there been farther-reaching consequences? Is Hobart about to be beaten in the street? Find out next time...

Report Date

17 Apr 2021

Primary Location

Mystryl