KoD Timeline

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The following is a retelling of the basic events detailing the adventures of the Kindred of Dawn party. Specific details are either kept in personal notes or should be submitted for input.

Arc 1 - Attack of the Killer Queen

Attending Members: Aren, Dain, Madeline Belmont, Marek Seastrom, Newt, Zeldris

Part 1 - Fight Club

The party finds themselves all in the same tavern within the city of Cupiditas, some new faces, some known. They are all adventurers looking for different things, but they are thrown off when they come into contact with a strange man and his two orc employees, Gorg and Porg.
After Zeldris' shapeshifting shenanigans, the party manages to get into a fight club run by the man, who is revealed to be named Gharim, a well known and powerful crime lord.
The party participates in the fight club, which is held in an abandoned factory and overseen by Gharim himself and a beholder as the referee. In the second fight, one of the challengers attempts to attack Gharim before being subdued by the beholder. The remainder of the fight is postponed.
The audience members express to the party that this is a regular occurrence, and it is clear that someone has it out for Gharim.
The party ends up assisting Gharim in an investigation to find out who is responsible for the attackers. After some searching, most ties point to the Clockwork Queen, a mysterious entity that runs ClockCo.
ClockCo is known for selling automatons and uses its own specialized currency, called electrum. In most fields, it has replaced gold entirely.

Part 2 - Conspiracy

As the party continues to investigate, Gorg goes missing. Eventually he finds the party, and is now missing an eye. He shares with the party that he believes Gharim and the Clockwork Queen are the same person, and the former is hiring fake assassins to slander the latter.
Madeline goes to the clockwork tower to meet with the queen for a "business deal," only to be led in circles by an automated system. It requests that all payments be converted into electrum, something that it insists on frequently. Madeline escapes by placing ball bearings into the tower's inner workings.
Worried about Porg, Gorg leads the party back to the factory where his brother and Gharim are. When they get there, Porg has locked himself in a boiler room, clearly distressed. Upon Gharim returning, Porg pulls a lever to fill the factory with steam, concealing the party. Gharim attacks, and all are able to make it out, save for Gorg.
Gharim is put under a suggestion spell, and is forced to explain himself. He confirms that the assassins are sent by him, but denies that he and the queen are the same. He claims "that person" put him in a position to take down the queen, as she is soon to attack the city.
The party leaves before the spell wears off, with Gharim sending his beholder to search for them. They find the beholder, killing it while saving a city police officer.
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At some point, Porg and Gorg's house was visited. It was clear there was a struggle with laser wielding robots. In a trophy made by Porg for his brother, a mechanical eye is hidden underneath, which the party pockets and gives to Zeldris. Gorg does not know how or when his eye became mechanical.
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Part 3 - City on Fire

The policeman allows the party to stay at his home and rest. They are able to heal their wounds along with his. They share a meal with him and his wife.
The next morning, the party wakes to see the city under attack from ClockCo styled automatons. They rush out to see several police officers being attacked. Their design is consistent with the robots that attacked Gorg and Porg's house.
The party springs to action, venturing through the city to help. After seeing that the robots are mostly targeting police, Aren focuses on protecting them and splits off from the party.
The party runs into Gharim, who is rallying a large group of criminals to move towards the clockwork tower in the business district. The party follows.
In the business district, it becomes ever more clear that the robots are targeting police and government/business officials. Gharim and his group seem more focused on protecting the officials than the police. Meanwhile, robots continue to pour out of the top of the tower.
Newt surveys Gharim's office, finding it to be overrun with robots. They aren't armed, however, and appear to be organizing things like workers. Upon returning, Newt has a run in with Gharim, who he ends up gaining somewhat of his trust. He tasks Newt with looking for the party, as they have the key to putting a stop to all this.
Madeline distracts a large number of Gharim's forces while Dain sets a building on fire to distract Gharim. Zeldris disguises as Gharim to get into the clockwork tower with the rest of the party.
Gharim spots the party entering the tower, but they make it up the elevator before he can catch them.
Inside, there is a tube with a cyborg woman being held in stasis. A nest-like structure of robots hang from the ceiling, occasionally being grabbed by drones and dispatched through holes in the ceiling.
Zeldris, disguised as Gharim passes through the forcefield and begins to make his way to the clockwork queen. However, Gharim makes his presence known by yelling from the elevator shaft. The forcefield reactivates, and the party ends up fighting generator robots while escaping a Clockwork Sentinel.
Just as Gharim punches through the elevator shaft, the party deactivates the forcefield, allowing Zeldris to insert the eye and gain total control over the automatons. Outnumbered, Gharim surrenders.
Gharim admits to knowing about the impending attack and expresses that he was trying to take advantage of the situation. He agrees to working with the party to co-govern the city.
These events would come to be known as the Clockwork Attack.

Arc 2 - Dead Getaway

Attending Members: Aren, Dain, Madeline Belmont, Zeldris, Sir Roderick

Part 1 - Death Banquet

Trying to make it up to the party, Gharim is able to get several members an invitation to a banquet in Hillfar, an island just off the coast of Cupiditas.
Newt and Marek stay behind to work on repairing the city and building their church.
The banquet is being held by Lord Cassius, a noble with a prestigious reputation in the vacation island town. As the party is attending, they watch as the rest of the partygoers drop at Cassius' command.
The butlers and servants reveal themselves to be undead, with the host of the party being a vampire. The party discovers a small army of undead waiting in the courtyard, and is able to escape the manor.
Another attendee of the banquet joins the party, that being Sir Roderick.

Part 2 - Uneasy Embrace

The party is intercepted outside the manor by Lady Drostia Zenrin, a dragonborn sorceress in charge of investigating and combating undead. She discerns that they are friendly, and takes them in for questioning.
After getting the story straight, Lady Zenrin decides to speak with the governor on what action to pursue next. While she does that, the party explores a bit of the town to get more information.
In the governor's office, a letter from Cassius to the aforementioned is found. "Thank you for the location of the entrance. As per my word, I will relinquish your invitation to the dinner party,” it reads. A consumed spell scroll of greater restoration is attached.
After exploring, Lady Zenrin and Governor Mishkaff approaches the party, the latter apologizing for the tragedy they witnessed. He explains that they are likely connected to the ritual still, and Cassius will send more undead for them. To escape that fate, he recommends a greater restoration spell cast by Lady Zenrin. The party agrees, but is suspicious of the mayor.
Zenrin asks the party to venture to the encrusted pearl for spell components while she prepares.

Part 3 - The Encrusted Pearl

The party goes to the Encrusted Pearl, an ocean themed tavern that is seemingly completely empty.
When the party investigates a safe in the tavern, an unknown assailant fires a gun through a peephole in a nearby fortified door towards the investigator. He reveals himself to be named Samo, the owner of the establishment. He asks the party to rid the tavern of a mimic infestation in return for the contents of the safe plus the ingredients.
After fighting off several mimics, the party comes out victorious at the cost of blowing up a large portion of the tavern. Samo's small workshop remained intact, so he doesn't seem to mind.
Samo supplies the party with their ingredients as well as a musket named Bessie.

Part 4 - Betrayal and the Dragon's Den

Upon returning to Lady Zenrin, the party is cleansed of the ritual with the greater restoration spell. After the spell is casted, the group watches as Governor Mishkaff runs out with Lady Zenrin's Orb of Dragonkind.
Mishkaff is apprehended, but the orb is tossed before landing at Cassius' feet. He explains that with them being cut from the ritual, he can now sacrafice any other five unlucky individuals. In order to stop that from happening, he reccommends they meet him under the town in the dragon's den to sacrifice themselves before disappearing.
Mishkaff explains that he helped Cassius in order to try and save himself and his family from the vampire. His wife and son are still nowhere to be found. The party sets off to put an end to Cassius underneath the town.
The party splits to take two entrances to the dragon's den. On the way, they run into dormant vampire spawn, that being the turned family members of Governor Mishkaff.
Cassius is engaged, and the party fights valiantly. They come out victorious, able to retrieve the orb but unable to save Mishkaff's family.
Governor Mishkaff is relieved of his position, giving it to Lady Zenrin, who is able to regain ownership of her Orb of Dragonkind. The party and Samo leave on a ferry back to Cupiditas, with Aren staying behind a little longer to train under Zenrin. Sir Roderick ends up getting lost on the way.

Arc 3 - Picking Up Pieces

Attending Members: Aren (Parts 2-3), Dain (Part 1), Madeline Belmont (Part 1), Newt, Marek Seastrom, Zeldris, Marella Ren (Part 3)

Part 1 - Old Order

Upon returning to Cupiditas, Dain gets a lead on a former hideout of his organization, the Order of the Secret Fire. He finds a interdimensional portal sigil in the abandoned town left by his people. The portal leads to Limbo, the first layer of the Nine Hells.
The party goes to a diabolist to get more information and help. The owner is a barbed devil named Jek who offers to open the portal in return for soul coins found. Madeline attempts to steal a large amount of magic items from the shop, and is forced to flee via boat. This moment is when Madeline splits off from the party for the foreseeable future.
The party enters the portal with Jek's assistance. The first layer is devoid of most color, and is largely a field of grayed out grass. Eventually, they stumble upon a town.
The people of the town crowd around the party, begging for a way out of the Hells. A man named Sitri assists in getting them out of the crowd.
The party is suspicious of Sitri, and eventually they find out that he is an incubus that tricks the people of Limbo into giving him their souls.
Sitri ends up breaking a contract he had made, and is killed by a pit fiend that appears through a portal. The fiend burns a contract before disappearing. Sitri's collected soul coins are left with the party
The party then proceeds to the center of the layer and goes through the Court of the Damned. They encounter the primordial Minos, who judges Dain.
Dain is considered worthy and is given Ember's Embrace, a sword belonging to one of his ancestors. The chamber it was found in was littered a dozen dead dragonborn.
When the party returns, Zeldris is singled out by the clockwork tower. The Clockwork Queen begins to make him an offer. He is given a purple and black vial, with the queen claiming it can make him immortal to aging.

Part 2 - Devil Dealing

When attempting to return out of the Hells, Dain uses his own recollection of Jek opening the portal to open it himself. Upon doing so, he reveals an ambush of devils on the other side, Jek included.
Jek orders the devils to kill the party and steal their soul coins before escaping. The KoD is able to escape without losing any possessions.
Wanting to hunt down Jek for trying to kill them, the party asks Gharim for advice on how to get revenge. He mentions that Jek's shop is owned by the Westwalker Corporation. The party could meet with the company's CEO, Ricky Westwalker at a high stakes poker game at the National, which Gharim can get them into.
A week later, the party enters the casino and attends the executive game. The members present are Ricky Westwalker, Helefel Trina, Cole Slaw, Eltresax, and Ricky's pit fiend bodyguard, Lortis.
During the game, Ricky makes a deal with the party that if they make more money than him, he will find Jek for them. However, this deal is cut short when it is revealed that Cole Slaw was cheating the entire time. When Ricky calls him out, Cole pulls a gun and attacks the party + Ricky. Lortis is forced to leave through a portal after Ricky brandishes a sigil with Mammon's crest on it.
The party defeats the gunslinger and learns that he was an assassin hunting Zeldris and Ricky. Upon saving the Westwalker's life, he offers his assistance, but isn't much help. Lortis was his way of casting scrying to find unruly customers and employees. However, he tells of an item that may still exist in the old Arcanists Foundation lab below Gharim's castle.
Dain leaves the party to further explore leads on the Secret Fire in Luxon.

Part 3 - The Lab

With Dain and Madeline gone, the party goes out in search for more assistance and comes across the assassin, Marella Ren.
When they get to her dockside shack, they convince her to join them on their expedition under Gharim's castle. Before they set out, through a series of goofy nonsense, Zeldris drinks the two vials he received in part 1 of this arc. His heart stops and is technically dead for a minute before returning to life with a new ability.
The party, now with Marella, leaves for Gharim's castle. After Gharim literally throws Newt and Zeldris out, they find a secret entrance to an underground lab through storm drain tunnels. Another entrance is located via a trapdoor under the carpet in Gharim's castle.
The lab is dark and dimly lit, with a faint black mist blowing through the vacant halls. Eight rooms corresponding to the schools of magic block the party's way to the central room.
The solution to powering each room is to cast a spell of the corresponding school of magic in the rooms. Doing so turns on magical monitors that display various entries. Once all eight rooms are completed, the final central room opens.
Inside is a decrepit study, clearly disheveled from a fast exit. The final entry is displayed on the wall with a machine in the back opposite to the door. Newt steps inside, and it attempts to restrain him. He breaks free, and the party watches as a purple fluid shoots out of a needle, supposedly meant for whoever is placed into the chamber. After that, a second needle attempts to eject, but has no fluid loaded. Interestingly, this corresponds to the order of which Zeldris was instructed to ingest his mysterious vials.
Notably, in the transmutation room, there is an old deactivated Priminia teleporter. The party leaves the lab after finding the crystal ball in the divination room.

Arc 4 - Relics of the Past

Attending Members: Aren, Newt, Marek Seastrom, Zeldris, Marella Ren

Part 1 - Unknown Sickness

With the crystal ball, the party places it into the clockwork tower and uses it to track Jek, who appears to be hiding in the city's sewer system. However, before they can go after him, Gharim sends a letter to the party informing them of a disease affecting several northern houses in the city.
Leveling their priorities, the party goes to handle the sickness. Cupiditas health teams and police are there, but are unable to find a cure. Three people are unaccounted for, and the on site officials speak of a witch being the source of the plague.
After quick deliberation, the party decides that saving the three people and containing the sickness is the best course of action. They find two people after searching four out of the five houses. One child, alive and clinging to a food stockpile, and a dead police officer. His armor is speckled with various holes that appear to have ruptured from the inside.
The last house is completely covered in the fleshy bile of the plague. Inside is a man who appears to be going through a partial transformation with the substance. The party dispatches him quickly before purging all of the infected homes.
The only lead they were given was a set of prayer beads belonging to the Monastery of the Flowing Spirit. They apparently were knocked off the witch who started the infection as she arrived.

Part 2 - Traveling North

The monastery is north of Haran, which is over 250 miles away. Not wanting to have to travel through the harsh desert and mesa, the party looks for alternative methods of traversing the world. Luckily, the Priminia headquarters is located in Cupiditas.
Compared to the 5-6 day travel time on foot, the party purchases a silver membership with Priminia to teleport to Haran and move on foot from there instead. While at the headquarters, they meet with Helefel Trina and pay her to repair the teleporter underneath Gharim's castle.
While teleporting to Haran, the party meets an old halfling that is traveling to Haran to investigate the sickness as well. Once they arrive he guides them to his local contact, Caleb Smith, the head priest of the Flowing Spirit Church of Zelios. The party agrees to go with the halfling investigator in the morning to travel to the monastery.
After sharing information at a local tavern, the party separates from the halfling to stay with Caleb at his church and exchange more leads. That night, Harmony scratches a symbol into the church wall.
The next day, the party prepares to set north for the Flowing Spirit Monastery. Strangely, their memory of the halfling the met the day before has completely disappeared. Now, Caleb is the one guiding the party to the monastery despite him usually preferring to not make the journey.

Part 3 - The Witch

After two days of on foot travel and an encounter with a chimera, the group makes it to the monastery. Aren and his party are welcomed with open arms and given plenty of hospitality. The monks inform them that the sickness they had fought in Cupiditas is rampant just north of the monastery. Several members have been stationed along the northern cliffside to constantly keep the infection at bay with fire.
While the party is exchanging information and Aren is reuniting with his people, Caleb wanders off. Marella notices, and the party eventually catches up to him. Outside of the monastery on the northern side, the priest walks amidst the fleshy gore of the plague. He mutters on about the beauty of infection before transforming into a Witch of Ichor.
The party is forced to dispatch the witch. As they do so, the plague expels itself from the ground, which the party subsequently cures with a nice firehose of holy water thanks to Newt and Marella. The witch leaves behind a Poleblade of the Pestilence, which Zeldris holds onto as he is immune to disease. Unfortunately, Aren becomes infected with the witch's plague.
Returning to the monastery, the High Keepers advise Aren to rest in their magically infused hot springs to nullify the maximum hit point drain that the plague brings while he recovers. For the next couple of days, he spends his long rests there.

Part 4 - Unforgettable

The next day, the party learns that one of the monks has not only gone missing, but has supposedly been wiped from the memories of everyone at the monastery. Whether or not this is true becomes a point of contention between the monks and the high keepers. Additionally, people are beginning to do cryptic things in their sleep, such as scratching symbols and hearing music. A couple of the party members actually end up hearing this song along with one of the high keepers. Yet again, the next day, another monk has disappeared and been wiped from memory.
Adel, one of the high keepers reveals that the symbols that keep appearing are similar to ones found in Ashvale, a forgotten town that mysteriously disappeared. Seeing as how this town is the reason behind Aren's memory loss, the monastery is left with the option to continue searching for the source of the problem or flee. After a focused group meditation ritual and convincing, Aren persuades the monastery to stay.
The disappearances come to a climax as the party learns that the restorative properties of the hot springs has disappeared. One of the high keepers kept in charge of keeping the springs has been taken. His voice screams from holes in the ground of the monastery. The party decides to go down, but is ambushed halfway by the large head and neck of a False Hydra.
The party battles their way into the hydra's lair, eventually coming into contact with its full five headed form. After a dangerous battle, they slay the beast with Aren landing the final blow. As its body wisps away into dust, a basketball sized glass ball is left behind. Aren destroys it, releasing not only the memories of the people the hydra had consumed, but also all of Aren's lost memories.
With the hydra dead, Aren's memory is restored and his health is back to normal. The monastery praises the party for their bravery, and even offers Aren a position as a high keeper. However, he declines for now before planning to depart.
Just before the party leaves, Newt gets an omen of another evil as he wades into the hot springs. For some reason, there's a slight electric charge in the water as he meditates.

Part 5 - Approaching Storm

Newt senses something is wrong with the ocean based off the omen he felt in the hot springs, so he and the rest of the party decide to move west along the coast to investigate.
As they arrive at the shoreline, Newt, Marella, and Zeldris begin to swim into the water. Newt asks some fish what is going on, but fish are stupid and don't have any information. Suddenly, something deeper in the water calls to Marella.
As she approaches the source, she begins to feel an overwhelming dread. A small dark hole appears in the water, which she tries to look through. When she does this, an eye appears on her forehead as she sees a tentacled creature begin to move towards her. After taking psychic damage, she experiences a taste of madness.
Newt swims back to shore with a frightened Marella. With only more questions than answers, the party returns to Haran to teleport back to Cupiditas.
When they get back, they visit Samo to see how he is doing. Much to their surprise, the jolly and carefree artificer appears worried. He shows them a letter from his brother requesting his assistance, who is none other than Uncle B. The party gladly accepts this call to action.
Over the next two weeks, the party spends their time assembling a crew thanks to Marek's background as a sailor, and traveling to Unembeza. Just as they approach the island, they are forced to go through a violent storm. As the ship parts the roaring waves, the crew and the party are attacked by water and air elementals.
As the ship enters the calm eye of the storm, a familiar face appears with a flash of lightning onto the boat. Kairen Vael approaches Marek, telling him that he is hunting the chosen of their goddess. He says he will give Marek three days to recover and prepare. On the fourth, they will end their feud at the northernmost point of Unembeza.
Karien zips back into the clouds with another more destructive wave of lightning, powerful enough to break the structural integrity of the ship. As it begins to fill with water and cease its course for shore, two large watery hands pull the ship back into place. Flowing up from the sea is Uncle B, who carries the boat and its crew to a cliffside cave.

Part 6 - Tempest of Pain

For the rest of the day, the crew salvage all they can from the sinking ship into the cave where the party takes refuge. Uncle B reunites with Samo and Newt, with the latter being hurt by Blastoise's choice of words. The party rests in anticipation, as tomorrow Uncle B promises to train the party for their upcoming fight.
The next day, the party interacts with the crew and Uncle B before their training session begins. Blastoise tells the party that he is the chosen of Baronysis and Hura. He offers Marek some wisdom before they begin a sparring session.
The party shows that they are prepared and take down the two turtle brothers in friendly combat. After this, Samo upgrades a pair of goggles for Zeldris, allowing him to access the Clockwork Queen's database and update in real time.
On the final day, the air is a lot heavier. The weight of the situation truly settles in. Uncle B apologizes to Newt, and takes him aside to tell him something. Most of this day is spent in mental preparation.
The morning of the fated fourth day. Samo and Uncle B arguing is the cause of most of the party's waking. Blastoise does not want his brother to come along, to which Samo accuses him of thinking he's a weakness. Uncle B reassures Samo that he is not his weakness, but instead his greatest strength. The brothers make up after the party talks to both of them, and they set off for Kairen without Samo.
As they arrive to the peninsula's peak, Kairen is waiting as the storm hovers above. He speaks of there being a food chain of power, and he is simply trying to climb it. Apparently, he met a man who showed him this ideology. After several more grim words are exchanged, Kairen lunges at Marek, and the fight begins.
The battle is not something the party was unprepared for, and they are able to subdue Kairen with Uncle B fighting by their side. They manage to cleave off two of his limbs, but the betrayer manages to escape back into the clouds, forcing Zeldris, Aren, and Marella to disappear into the storm as well.
Uncle B, Newt, and Marek are shielded by this spell. Blastoise begins to take off his hydro pump and sets it into the ground before extending it. He explains that this moment was told to him by his goddesses, and he has already come to terms with it. In his last words, he passes on the mantle of chosen to the two before him, making Newt and Marek the chosen of Baronysis and Hura respectively.
With a crash of lightning, Kairen strikes down onto Blastoise, piercing through him and vaporizing his body, only leaving his shell behind. With their new abilities, Marek and Newt take down Kairen together. Enraged, Newt disintegrates Kairen's body with several castings of insect plague. Somberly, the party returns to the ground as the storm above dissipates.

Arc 5 - The Path to Fate

Attending Members: Aren, Newt, Marek Seastrom, Zeldris, Marella Ren

Part 1 - Reprieve

After the events in Unembeza, the party agrees to split ways for a while. After breaking the terrible news to Samo, each person leaves for their own personal journeys. This period of time apart lasts six months, as they agree to reconvene in Cupiditas after that time.
Newt spends his time visiting his old sea elf colony, meditating at the bottom of the sea, and collecting various magic wands. The latter likely being to cope with the death of Blastoise.
Marek returns the stolen Heart of the Tempest to Stormhaven and remains there until returning to Cupiditas.
Marella uses the Cupiditas teleporter to go to Auduria, where she looks for clues on the whereabouts of a particular person. She also makes some money practicing her trade of assassination.
Aren tends to Cupiditas by gaining the funds to establish a police headquarters and create divisions made to combat the city's corruption.
Zeldris searches for a group of nomadic paladins that he shares an oath with. In his dreary travels he finds very little while he struggles to cope with what happened to Uncle B.

Part 2 - Back to Business

After the party returns to Cupiditas, they tell of their time away before going back to their home, the clockwork tower. Upon their arrival, the mailbox is overflowing with notices.
Apparently, Gharim has stopped paying the party's taxes for them. They speak to him about this, and he informs them that the top CEO's known as the Collective have voted to raise taxes on the tower. Gharim is a part of this organization, but his vote is always overlooked. One of the people who voted for the tower to be taxed is Helefel Trina, who the party has done business with before.
They leave and speak with the Priminia CEO, who is more than welcome to negotiate. She explains that in order to make sure another catastrophe does not occur, the council would like information on what goes on inside the tower. It is built like a fortress, and they fear its capabilities. She mentions that there is a basement that they would like to get to. This is something not even the party knew about.
Helefel and the party come to an agreement to inspect the tower for its power source and its capabilities. Through this, their taxes will be lowered to a manageable price.

Part 3 - The Tower's Secrets

The party returns to the tower later that day and goes to inspect the basement. Inside, they find over a dozen large combat oriented constructs, all deactivated. A terminal made from a sheet of paper sits in the back of the room, with a magic screen on the wall. It serves as the input for various "keygens" that the party has found in the Clockwork Queen's repository.
Additionally, another construct sits against the back wall, slumped over and made from jagged scraps. As the party experiments with keygen inputs, they wake up the robot, but hastily deactivate it soon after.
While they are in the basement, Marella has a moment of craziness due to looking into another hole in the dark.
The party then decides to attempt to destroy the deactivated robots. After dealing a substantial amount of damage, the slumped construct begins to move towards them. The Clockwork Queen locks down the basement as the party is attacked by the robot.
The party comes out victorious as usual, and collects five out of the six cores used to power the robot before returning to the main floor. Zeldris creates a false basement above the true basement in order to throw off the inspection tomorrow.
The next day, Helefel arrives with a group of inspectors. They share a meal with the party before checking all they can. One of the inspectors is Garry Fierri, a halfling specialized in divination magic. He is able to pinpoint the Geas Eye, but cannot get to it. When he sees the Clockwork Queen, his demeanor changes completely. For the remainder of his time in the tower, he is clearly shocked.
-DATA EXPUNGED BY PRIMARY USER
Overall, the inspection goes well for the party. Helefel asks to coordinate again so that she can further inspect the geas eye once the party figures out how to get it out.
As Gary leaves, Newt trails behind him as a bird. They both enter the lab under Gharim's castle. Gary is shocked by what he sees, and begins to break down upon finding the center room. Newt attempts to comfort him with a giant weasel, but ends up only scaring him into entering the now activated private teleporter in the transmutation room.
Newt sends a bat into the teleporter to collect information, returning and telling of a ruined underground city, losing track of Gary, and a massive statue with a glowing object in its hand. Newt returns to the tower and explains his findings to the party.
Additionally, the Clockwork Queen gives the party another keygen. Upon inputting it, part of the lab entries from arc 3 are unredacted. This reveals the Clockwork Queen's true name to be Faith.

Part 4 - Into the Dark

The next day, the party spends their time shopping and preparing to enter the teleporter. As they shop, they are notified of a silent fireworks display happening that night. When they visit Samo, he tells the party that he is going, so they decide to meet up together on the inner city wall to watch.
While most of the party watches the show, Samo explains the tradition behind the holiday. It is the anniversary of the sealing of the Demon King, which ushered in a new age. Many gods died for this to happen, therefore the people honor their sacrifice through a dance and silent display of appreciation.
The next day, the party enters the teleporter in the lab under Gharim's office. They are transported deep underground to some kind of research camp. They find four additional tablets with entries that seem to correspond to the ones found in the lab.
They press onward, coming across two myconid in an area covered in glowing mushrooms. The party assists them with finding good mushrooms, and they are rewarded with magic items and a blessing.
Eventually, the party comes across a small ruin. They explore, finding a church that belongs to a religion unknown to all. In the central area, four slots are vacant for where tablets should be. As the party explores, a shadowy creature looms above, crawling onto Marella before putting out their torch.
In the darkness, Marella's third eye twitches. She opens it, allowing her to see another dark hole. This one, however, is much larger. Big enough to crawl inside. The tentacled creature that she has been stalked by begins to emerge, a phenomenon that only she can see. It grabs her, and Marella fearlessly allows it to slowly pull her inside.
Within the rift, Marella fights the eldritch creature, eventually falling to its tentacles. Outside, the party uses their crystal ball to see the rift, but only one at a time. Just as he enters, the mighty Storm Sage Marek rushes out in fear. Newt takes his fellow chosen's place, but is incapacitated with madness. Only through divine intervention, Baronysis clears her chosen's mind just long enough to allow him to escape with a barely conscious Marella.
The party recovers from the encounter inside Zeldris' instant fortress. The two chosen of the storm and sea are left paranoid with the fathomless creature they witnessed.

Part 5 - Del'Kurauh

The party leaves the instant fortress after a long rest, traveling deeper into the Underdark. They arrive at a massive city gate, the doors caved in and walls covered in vines. Newt talks to the vines, which tell that they are made to block the path to those who do not follow their way. The vines allow passage for Newt and Zeldris, but attempt to grasp at Marella, Marek, and Aren, with the latter being temporarily captured.
After freeing Aren, they enter the ruined city. In the opening atrium, the floor is lined with shimmering moss, with footsteps appearing in it from unseen figures. Marella opens her eye, allowing her to read a stone tablet in the moss, see the city as it was, and view the shadowy figures that are the source of the footsteps. The tablet reads: BEHOLD WHAT WE HAVE BECOME.
Moving into the larger part of the city, the party finds three heavily destroyed churches overgrown with plant life. A Glowing Glory sprouts from the center, providing sustenance for Sleeping Silk that line the church walls. Newt finds a sprig of Cynefridean Spearmint on one of the flowers. Marella is once again able to read an engraving below a cosmological map of the planes that reads: BEYOND DEATH ITSELF.
Newt uproots the glowing flowers, which is appreciated by the shadowy figures that lurk.
In a large grass covered courtyard, the bases of three towers is seen, with a massive tree holding up the top two floors of one of these towers in the center. In front of the tree are several rows of decaying skeletons, at least 50. Marella uses her eye to confirm that they were all drow. She also reads a carved engraving on the tree that reads: TAKEN, TERMINATED, TRANSFORMED.
Marella begins to scale the tree. She runs into a collection of plant traps, which Zeldris swoops up and saves her from. One by one, the party is flown to the held up floors of the tower.
Inside, the party solves a puzzle to open a dimensional door to the floor above. Inside, they find the armored skeleton corpses of over a dozen Oath of the Ancients paladins. In the far side of the room, a skeleton adorning a disheveled robe and a third eye socket is seen slumped over. The walls of the room are engraved with the same message over and over. The final lines are the last line repeated over and over.
In the hand of the corpse responsible for the engravings is a stone tablet, which Marella reads.
Marella watches as the tentacled creature from yesterday crawls out of the third eye socket of the skeleton. The party engages with tentacle-controlled paladins and the Unknowable. As it is defeated, it condenses into a small black ink-like droplet. Marella consumes it, and she disappears.
The mysterious figure that has appeared to Marella before gives her an ultimatum: sign a contract, or refuse and die in 60 seconds. She signs.

Arc 6 - The Land of Light

Attending Members: Aren, Newt, Marek Seastrom, Zeldris, Marella Ren, Dain

Part 1 - Collapsing City

After Marella disappears, she leaves behind a magical trail of weave that the party follows deeper into the Underdark. They find Marella curled up in the hand of an enormous stone arm. She wakes and reveals an unattuned Geas Eye in her possession. It is enchanted with a five foot radius anti magic field. It is entrusted to Garry. Additionally, Marella has transformed into a drow.
When she steps off the hand, it animates, swiping at the party before retreating into the cave. The entire cave begins to crumble, on the verge of collapse. The party activates their flying abilities and soars out to the exit. As they move through, massive legs and hands crush the city to pieces. The teleporter back to Cupiditas is crushed, and the party has to escape through the surface tunnel.
When they get to the top, they see a glimpse of a massive humanoid black figure. As the rays of sun above hit its form, it disappears. While the party catches their breath, a Luxonian platoon approaches on horseback. Marella casts a spell to disguise her appearance.
The platoon arrives and surveys the cave-in, which has settled to be a massive collapsed crater. The man leading the group is none other than Prince Aldred, who quickly questions the party and assesses the situation. Once Newt introduces himself as the chosen of Baronysis, his demeanor shifts to a warm welcome. Recognizing them as the heroes of Cupiditas, he offers them a ride back to Sarton, the city he is staying in to "improve morale."

Part 2 - Prince Aldred of Luxon

Upon returning to Sarton, a crowd has gathered in the center of the square with a couple Luxonian soldiers trying to pull people apart to get to the center. As the townspeople hear the platoon arrive, they disperse, leaving a single man in the center standing over a deceased Luxonian soldier. He is wielding a bloody dagger. Dain is in the crowd watching from afar.
The man is disarmed and apprehended. Aldred commands him to be placed on his knees in front of the soldier he just killed. The prince monologues to the townspeople about the consequences for harming Luxonians, etc., etc. If you were there, you remember. He ends his speech by impaling the mans head on his sword in front of the entire city. He instructs the party to reconvene in the tavern after he sends the deceased soldier off.
The party mends the body, but is unable to save the man. They hold a short burial ceremony for him with his wife, child, and friends.
The party arrives at the tavern to discuss with Aldred, who is already a bit drunk. He wants two things from them
1. Dain is wanted by "some general" for questioning in Auduria.
1. Aelwin has a policy to have dinner with all new chosen to create rapport. Aldred insists that they return to Auduria with him, where they will be given a luxurious stay while they prepare the dinner.
The bartender, a Sarton local, communicates in thieves cant to Marella while the rest of the party talks with the prince. He informs her that he is a member of the Conspiracy, a fabled group of Luxonian dissenters that aim for the fall of the current rule.
Before they can discuss further, Aldred steps outside to show off his magic. Upon opening the door, a horse falls from the sky and splats onto the ground. In the distance on the west side of town, the hulking dark titan approaches.
Aldred moves to arm himself, and Dain makes his presence aware to his party members. There is no time for a proper reuniting, as they have a monster to slay.
With the help of Aldred and his troops, the party brings down the enormous monster. It drops a crystalized purple eye, similar to Marella's. With no casualties, they return to the city and rest.