Narrative

Day 48 began after the party closed the fire elemental rift in Hartwall’s lab. Bynx grew up again and wanted to go to Gardoil and Dirk’s father. Errol was sent with a message to Dirk’s father. While the party discussed Eliana being a Hartwall, Bynx said Eliana was not always green and sometimes reminded him of his sister and Platinum. Bynx’s sister was the guardian of the white dragons and had sacrificed herself to become part of them, so his earlier finding that no trace of her remained in the white dragon was significant. The party considered or named a deal with a god: wiping Eliana from memories in the same way Ennuyé’s wife Hannah had been erased.

Errol returned and reported that things were bad after a battle. Gardoil was not present because she had gone to do something, and reinforcements were needed from the capital. The party tried to travel by broom to Azureside and found themselves in a place of completely blue sky, passages, vanishing doors, lush grass, mushrooms, and sky below. A squirrel spoke with them, did not know where it was, and said a floppy bronze-coloured lizard looked after him. The squirrel sent a magpie to fetch it. A metallic brass-looking dragon approached.

The notes then connect to Courtwood’s “Musing” from four days earlier, when Worn was killed, Errol was fixed, and Bynx joined the party. Dragons were attacking farther waterwise. The Dunnen people claimed the party were favoured of Atlabre and that the child prophesied a return. Dirk Sr wanted the party to kill a dragon. Scouts had found entrances to a cave network, some of which were poisoned; enemies were invisible, and the scouts did not know about a manticore. Dirk Sr told Dirk to see his sister Ingris. Bynx was fractured and unhappy as the goliaths’ sphynx. Dotharl saw invisible watchers around the perimeter.

Scout reports listed four entrances. The main cliff entrance was nine miles away and guarded by about one hundred humans, dragonborn, and Duhg guards. Other patrol entrances lay under a shrub, behind a rock, behind a poison door, and in the ground, about one mile apart. Many traps had been placed, and the enemy had a movable poison weapon. The party recovered a poison weapon that felt familiar. Its poison seemed to have an alchemical base, breath-weapon qualities, poisonous herbs, and scorpion venom. Normal healing could heal the wound, but the wound would not close.

The party visited the Dunnen people and received substantial respect. Elders came out, including an older one and a knower of flesh, acting on the word of Benu. They said there was a plan for the party. Texts now uncovered showed prophecy, and because of Benu’s convalescence they knew he would return but needed to pay for his misdeeds. They had heard of their old protector made flesh anew, Garadul. He had been good and had wanted to protect people, but they were unsure whether they should accept him back as their protector. The goliaths proved strong-minded. The merfolk had retreated to the sea. Suppressed memories horrified them, although they had spoken highly of the party. The party considered options: diplomacy, attack, sneaking, or leaving.

Dirk asked his ancestors whether diplomacy could work. They indicated help could be gained, but the price would be high. The party told the council they would try diplomacy and advised them to give Verdigrim trade terms. The council disliked the plan but listened. At the dragonborn base, one dragonborn saw the party, followed briefly, then disappeared toward a hidden entrance. Many more surrounded the party. Three dragonborn approached: a burly mean-looking woman, a small old man, and a burly one. They said Eliana bore the shine of stepmother and that Verdigrim had ordered them to speak. The burly envoy was Grimescale, envoy of mighty Verdigrim; the old man was Gravltooth.

Grimescale and Gravltooth said their lands had been theirs for one thousand years and were no longer theirs. Ashkielion now belonged to the goliaths, while a closed place held other lands to be retrieved. The party requested safe passage to Verdigrim. They were taken through tunnels to a Dunnen-style throne room made of very dark stone with copper accents. Verdigrim appeared as a man with very dark skin and copper accents. He admitted he had invited the party earlier because Perodita had told him to kill them in exchange for leaving his people alone.

Verdigrim wanted to keep his own “Verdigrimtown” and wanted what was already his. Five white raiding forces outside the town could be revisited later. The notes mention a gold amount roughly equivalent to one sibling’s hoard. Verdigrim warned that he would not lend forces in a way that put himself at risk. The party told him his mother was still alive, and he wanted to meet her. The party returned to camp at 14:00, requested the council, and was admitted to the tent at 16:00. They explained the trade agreement. The goliaths leaned toward accepting, moving to Ashkielion, and taking the rest of the town.

When the party returned to their tent, Wrath was waiting, smartly dressed and holding Rubyeye. Wrath said Rubyeye needed rescuing; Cardinal had gone but been useless. Eliana stated they were called Eliana Hartwall because that was apparently their mother’s name, though one of their mothers was and one was not. Ingus was told to inform the council where the party was going.

Wrath took the party to a huge underground dwarven city. A lava ball held a humongous elemental lava orb, possibly a prisoner. A dwarf king prayed to the gods to keep the orbs safe. A female dwarf with a massive ruby in her chest plate was present, and the notes question whether Garadul’s body had a new owner. Earth elementals were present. The female dwarf was Spindl, Rubyeye’s auntie; she had seen the party before and knew they were coming. The party said “Garadul” had called them and they had come to help him.

Invar made an offering to the lava orb. He opened a box containing a tiny creature, which leapt to the lava orb and told him to aid his friends. The party saw cells and a dark-skinned man crawling across sand and begging for help. They saw Grand Towers elves leaving defeated and in pride, and the fall of two empires. Pride teleported away. Wrath became angry because the party had not killed Pride. The dwarf High Priest wanted to arrest Wrath for existing. Rubyeye was present and was arrested for ancient crimes after the council deemed him a wanted criminal and summoned him. Wrath had been advocating for Rubyeye and had brought Pride while claiming the party caused events.

Spindl led the party to Rubyeye, who was imprisoned in a dome. His charges included 174,312 herfolk babies murdered, entrapment of elemental spirits, construction of tower, and downfall of ancient race. Cardonald was not seen. Rubyeye said Ennuyé had a body stored somewhere, perhaps Coalmont Falls. He remembered Hannah and that there were six elemental forces, six arms on the exhausted, and that there had been six of them all along. The party asked Spindl to call an audience with the judges, then decided to kill Pride. Geldrin scried Pride in a veined stone building with rows of flat red and blue stained glass.

The party broke Rubyeye out and teleported to Salanar’s prison. A black dragonborn or extremely dark-skinned humanoid named Umberous, Infestus’ son, greeted them and locked them in. He spoke on his father’s behalf and said nothing the party had done had caused Infestus’ ire, because they had done what they were asked and kept the dome up. He gave Geldrin a pouch of white powder to recover spell slots. A vision of Grand Towers showed a proud, calloused-cheeked elf with sunken eyes who looked as if he had given up. Umberous said Infestus wanted to meet and had a gift that would help.

Umberous had been tasked with looking after the seaside of the world. The party killed Pride, but a void elemental was released, absorbed his brother, and teleported away; it may also have absorbed Pride. Umberous wanted the party to meet Infestus. Wrath wanted them to kill his sister and take Rubyeye with him. Geldrin admitted Rubyeye was with the party, so Umberous wanted Rubyeye delivered to Infestus. He agreed not to tell Infestus about Rubyeye if the party agreed to do him a favour and gave them a Sending Stone to contact him.

The party threw slurry, bones, and metal through the Barrier. The slurry and similar material were destroyed, but copper glided through; the party used the Skull of Iresmun to retrieve it. Rubyeye tried to teleport them back to the dwarven city. First they appeared on a snowy mountain beside a great stone fort in the sky with no way down. He tried again and put them in a scared-feeling dwarven stone room. Rubyeye recognised it as a prison, perhaps Throngore’s, under Lewshis and Aneurascarle. At 21:00 his eyes glowed red and he disappeared.

The party investigated the prison. A door rune read “Empty.” Corridors were lined with heavily armoured dwarf statues. Plaques named Ugarth Thunderfut, slain by the demon Samuel; Borbor Thunderfut, who saw Samuel slain by the demon Struct; and Lhura Trutbrow, slain by Struct but bound in chain upon him. The story involved thirty dwarves from two clans capturing Throngore. A thirty-foot circular room held six more dwarves who had bound the creature there. One statue should have held a crystal or diamond-type gem, but the gem was missing. A dark corridor led to a chamber of thirty dwarf sarcophagi. The room stank of decay, and the bodies had been decapitated around twenty years earlier, despite sarcophagus inscriptions saying the thirty dwarves had lived in the corridor and all died on the same date 1,050 years ago. Their armour and weapons were present as heirlooms and had been covered with goat urine.

The party tried to match armour to statues and found fine glass dust in stone cracks, suggesting a diamond resurrection spell or similar. Stoven and Stuart had both been imprisoned twenty years earlier and only recently released by the party and another group. A narrowing dark corridor led to a handleless door with a panel. Beyond it was a prison dome containing a featureless humanoid figure, uncertainly noted as Aglue?, Anemie?, or Valentinhide. Pylon runes explained the pylons and mentioned a key or “wheel” to open it. A third door had magical infernal-like writing on the doorknob, reminiscent of Ennuyé’s lab. When Dothral tried to open it, he heard, “Come on, boy, we haven’t got all day.” Inside were five living dwarves with no hands or feet, their eyes and lips sewn shut. They wanted only to be killed. A crystal gave Eliana a faint memory of medical school and playing with a sister by the river in Provista, where she looked different and called Eliana silly poo-poo head.

When the party took the crystal to the dwarves, they smiled and passed happily into the afterlife. As the party moved past, Invar’s bag of holding opened by itself so something inside could emerge: an Orb of Compassion. The headmaster’s office at the magic school had held a note reading “mines beneath the real.” The party became overwhelmed with compassion and dropped the orb and crystal. Geldrin found a loose stone hiding a small eye-sized ruby with a spell similar to Knock.

Geldrin used the Skull of Iresmun to open the dome slightly. The figure turned toward the hole. It said it was no one, lost, once part of Valentinhide, and unsure what it was now. Thomas had put it in the dome and taken what had been there. It explained that the elemental planes were a highway, that a pact had made the world but left too much highway, and that the Vessel of Divinity had made beings into gods, stripping some of that away and leaving lostness behind. It said it could not be allowed to keep the vessel, wanted to help, did not think deception would help, and would answer three questions.

The party asked what would happen if Valentinhide were reformed and why everyone thought Eliana was a Hartwall. Morgana heard a voice saying the vessel was theirs. Dirk saw Joy, who warned not to trust the figure because it took her mum. A dwarf voice warned that the party’s tormentors were coming. Dothral had a vision of his grandfather saying the figure would take his place and telling Geldrin to remove the skull from the dome, then saying “They are all lost” in a voice that was not his. Dirk asked the ancestors what would happen if they let her out and received a positive response.

The room darkened when Invar said “original.” Darkness closed in, stars appeared, and Morgana’s Daylight revealed clouds and sunrise at the edge of the spell. A shadowy figure appeared on the far wall. The party opened the dome and let her out. When asked why everyone thought Eliana was a Hartwall, she answered, “Because you are.” Stoven, Stuart, and Simon arrived, shouting about their stuff being disturbed. Simon was strangely pieced together. They disliked Valentinhide and wanted her, but the party refused and argued that their bargain to find Rubyeye had not been fulfilled. Simon communicated with Throngore, who was happy to meet the party and would see them soon. Morgana teleported the party to [coded], a wood with bees, apples, and snow, with a teleport circle made of furs, rugs, and bird poo. Geldrin felt as if he had made it, though not as he would make it; Morgana thought she had placed the memory there but not from her current self. The party went to Morgana’s hut at 00:00. Page 257 then starts Day 52, so Day 48 is complete at that point.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

People and name-like figures mentioned include Bynx, Gardoil, Dirk, Dirk Sr, Errol, Platinum, Ennuyé, Hannah, Courtwood, Worn, Dotharl / Dothral, Ingris, Benu, Garadul, Verdigrim, Grimescale, Gravltooth, Perodita, Wrath, Rubyeye, Cardinal, Cardonald, Eliana Hartwall, Ingus, Spindl, Pride, the dwarf High Priest, Ennuyé, Coalmont Falls? by place-name usage, Geldrin, Salanar, Umberous, Infestus, Throngore, Lewshis, Aneurascarle, Ugarth Thunderfut, Borbor Thunderfut, Lhura Trutbrow, Samuel, Struct, Stoven, Stuart, Aglue?, Anemie?, Valentinhide, Provista sister / silly poo-poo head, Thomas, Joy, Simon, and Morgana.

Groups and factions mentioned include the party, Dunnen people, goliaths, merfolk, dragonborn, Duhg guards, Verdigrim’s people, Verdigrimtown, Ashkielion’s goliath claimants, the council in camp, dwarves, the dwarf council, herfolk babies, elemental spirits, ancient race, Grand Towers elves, black dragonborn or Umberous’s faction, Infestus’s side, two dwarf clans, thirty dwarves who captured Throngore, handless and footless preserved dwarves, gods, elemental-plane powers, tormentors, and another party that helped release prisoners.

Places mentioned include Azureside, blue-sky passageways, the capital, cave-network entrances, the main cliff entrance, hidden patrol entrances under shrub / behind rock / poison door / ground, the Dunnen people’s camp, Ashkielion, Verdigrimtown, the dragonborn tunnels and Dunnen-style throne room, the goliath council tent, the huge underground dwarven city, the lava-orb chamber, Grand Towers, Salanar’s prison, the seaside of the world, the Barrier, snowy mountain and great stone sky fort, the scared dwarven prison room, Throngore’s possible prison under Lewshis and Aneurascarle, the circular dwarf statue chamber, the thirty-dwarf sarcophagus chamber, Ennuyé’s lab, medical school, Provista, the magic school headmaster’s office, elemental planes as highway, Morgana’s [coded] teleport circle, and Morgana’s hut.

Creatures and creature-like beings mentioned include a squirrel, magpie, floppy bronze lizard, metallic brass dragon, manticore, invisible enemies, white raiding forces, earth elementals, tiny creature from Invar’s box, lava elemental orb or prisoner, void elemental, black dragonborn / Umberous, featureless dome figure / lost part of Valentinhide, gods, shadowy figure, and preserved mutilated dwarves.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

Items, documents, and physical resources mentioned include Errol’s message, broom, movable poison weapon, poison with alchemical base / breath-weapon qualities / herbs / scorpion venom, uncovered prophecy texts, Verdigrim trade terms, sibling-hoard payment, Rubyeye’s prison dome, elemental lava orb, Spindl’s ruby chest plate, Invar’s offering box, Geldrin’s scrying target, Umberous’s pouch of white powder, Sending Stone from Umberous, slurry / bones / metal, copper retrieved through the Barrier, Skull of Iresmun, dwarf armour and weapons / heirlooms, goat urine, fine glass dust, missing crystal or diamond-type gem, pylon runes, key / wheel to open the dome, infernal-like doorknob runes, memory crystal, Invar’s bag of holding, Orb of Compassion, note reading “mines beneath the real,” small eye-sized ruby with Knock-like spell, Vessel of Divinity, Morgana’s Daylight spell, and the teleport circle of furs, rugs, and bird poo.

Strategic resources and plans mentioned include reinforcements from the capital, scout maps of cave entrances, diplomacy with Verdigrim, possible trade or movement to Ashkielion, five white raiding forces, Verdigrim’s possible meeting with his mother, rescue of Rubyeye, plan to kill Pride, Umberous’s bargain to conceal Rubyeye from Infestus in exchange for a favour, Simon’s unresolved bargain about finding Rubyeye, and Throngore’s promised meeting.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

Bynx’s statements that Eliana was not always green and sometimes reminds him of his sister and Platinum continue the unresolved identity, jade, and sphynx-family threads. His sister’s absence from the white dragon is especially concerning because white dragons and their descendants should retain a trace of her sacrifice.

The possible god-deal to wipe Eliana from memory like Hannah was wiped remains unresolved, as does whether the same mechanism connects Ennuyé, Joy, Hannah, and Eliana’s Hartwall identity.

The Dunnen people’s uncovered texts, Benu’s convalescence, the prophecy of the child’s return, and the question of accepting Garadul as old protector made flesh anew remain active political and religious threads.

Verdigrim’s bargain, his claim to Verdigrimtown, the status of Ashkielion, the five white raiding forces, and his desire to meet his mother remain unresolved diplomatic leverage.

Rubyeye’s ancient charges, including 174,312 herfolk babies murdered, elemental spirit entrapment, tower construction, and ancient-race downfall, remain unverified but central to his status.

Rubyeye’s memory that there were six elemental forces all along, and six arms on the exhausted, reframes previous elemental-prison and dome clues.

Infestus’ requested meeting, the promised gift, and the favour owed to Umberous in exchange for hiding Rubyeye from Infestus remain open obligations.

The void elemental released by killing Pride absorbed its brother, may have absorbed Pride, and escaped; its current state and danger are unknown.

Throngore’s possible prison beneath Lewshis and Aneurascarle, the thirty dwarves, the missing crystal, Samuel, Struct, and the glass-dust / diamond-resurrection clue remain unresolved.

The featureless dome figure, uncertainly Aglue? / Anemie? / Valentinhide, claimed to be a lost part of Valentinhide placed there by Thomas after he took what was there. Its true identity and Thomas’s role remain unresolved.

The Vessel of Divinity, elemental planes as highway, pacts that created the world, lostness stripped from gods, and the figure’s warning that it cannot be allowed to keep the vessel are major cosmology clues.

Joy’s warning that the figure took her mum conflicts with the ancestors’ positive response to freeing it. The consequence of freeing this lost part of Valentinhide remains uncertain.

The answer “Because you are” to why everyone thinks Eliana is a Hartwall is a direct but unexplained identity confirmation.

Simon, Stoven, and Stuart still want Valentinhide. Simon communicated with Throngore, who promised to meet the party soon.

Morgana’s [coded] teleport circle and the uncertain memories of Geldrin and Morgana suggest memory manipulation or alternate-self involvement.