Narrative

Day 64 began after a safe long rest in the hidden Hammerguard resistance settlement. Chip and Errol flew ahead while the party prepared its infiltration. The plan was now simple in principle and dangerous in practice: use forbidden worship of Wrath to offend Envy into appearing, isolate her, and kill her. A resistance leader arranged an inside contact, a bald dwarf spy known only as Skinhead, whose will was strong enough to resist Envy while pretending otherwise. Her cover could not be exposed.

Before the party left, a purple crystalline meteor suddenly appeared after a bright flash around 4 AM. Geldrin calculated that it had changed course from Grand Towers toward Stonerampart Earthwise, perhaps threatening a Barrier pylon. The party sent a warning but could not intervene immediately.

Cardonal’s teleport missed the intended warehouse route and placed the party in an enormous dwarven trade hall. Its faceted masonry carried every voice cleanly to everyone inside while sealing sound away from the city. Invar recognised it as a hall designed for open commerce, where nobody in the room could whisper a hidden deal. The party chose it as the better trap.

Chip brought Skinhead to the hall. Her scalp bore careful scars around an untouched circle tattooed with Envy’s face. She explained that Envy’s Lamias often altered perception to seem like dwarves, while succubi truly shapechanged; controlled dwarves, demons, and dark elves could be equally difficult to distinguish. Invar used 100 gp of metal in a forge ritual to make a life-sized jade-plated statue of Wrath in his red-skinned tiefling form. Skinhead began spreading plausible rumours of illicit Wrath worship and arranging small distractions without burning her network.

The party hid in the abandoned Laughing Drunkard inn opposite the hall. The centuries-closed stone tavern contained a secret kitchen and Grinder, a simple dwarf-shaped stone cook that had been dormant for roughly 397 years. The party repaired the inn’s noisy door and waited. Six Lamias came to investigate. Eliana invisibly assassinated one; Morgana’s Moonbeam and starlight, Geldrin’s Fireball, Invar’s forge magic, Dirk’s blades, Dotharl’s attacks, and Colonel Bilgewater Windle’s glass shard destroyed the others. Five bodies went into the inn’s secret kitchen. Geldrin modified the sole survivor’s memory so it believed Envy had ordered it to release captives and report genuine Wrath worship. It fled to Envy.

The party shifted to an abandoned shop and waited behind whitewashed windows. An invisible elven husk watched the inn, and Moonbeam killed it. Dark elves then infiltrated the shop by spider-climbing invisibly across the ceiling. Dotharl was briefly banished; Morgana became a giant constrictor snake, sensed the climbers by vibration, and exposed one. The party killed the infiltrators, but one dark elf spoke with Envy’s green-eyed voice: Envy would use the whole city rather than confront them herself.

Lamia reinforcements and more husks attacked the shop. Cardonal sealed the front with Wall of Force. The fight became desperate. Two husks thrown through windows proved especially dangerous: their stare could paralyse, and a slain husk detonated in a violent force blast. That explosion nearly killed several party members and tore open the building, although Cardonal’s barrier protected the lower level. Envy continued using captured eyes to teleport more forces toward the party.

Cardonal therefore teleported the party into Envy’s unfinished jade palace. Jade inlays covered the incomplete chamber; a huge teleport circle stood active behind Lamias and two darkness elemental-like guardians. Envy appeared as a beautiful black-haired elf in a dress like fused dragonfly wings. Eliana struck first, drawing green ichor but leaving no visible wound. Envy countered spells, forced envy-driven mistakes, attempted domination, and unleashed the Anguish of the Elven Nations, a psychic scream carrying the pain of countless hollowed elves. Morgana fell. Only Cardonal’s force barriers and powerful healing from Morgana and Invar prevented a defeat.

Geldrin used Tremon’s skull to call on the Tri-moon. His vision found the chipped purple meteor, and Valentinhide placed her hands on his shoulders and agreed to redirect it against Envy for what she had done to her people. The meteor crashed through Envy’s palace. Cardonal held the party within Wall of Force while the impact vaporised or crushed the forces outside it and collapsed the city centre. Envy was outside the protective dome. Later, a rescued dwarf said her mind no longer felt controlled, and the party believed Envy dead, though it recovered no body.

The collapse downed Errol. Cardonal’s rescue teleport mishapped through rock, and Errol died before Invar revivified him with Stolchar’s power and diamonds. In the ruins the party rescued a severely injured young dwarf, a traumatised girl with a teddy bear, a grieving couple, and another woman. The couple’s young son, Igrix, could not be saved. As the tunnels failed, Dotharl and Dirk carried survivors to a black obsidian door opened with the Bridged/Valentinhide broom. Dirk’s spectral protection and Cardonal’s shield saved people from falling stone as they entered a silent passage of stars.

The passage showed incomplete visions: wasp-winged girls bullying and poisoning a faceless girl into darkness; faceless Valentinhide beside Kasha at a white tower; and Valentinhide absorbing water from a cow-like being through a hole in her face and casting it into space. The party could not determine the complete history, but linked the images to Valentinhide, Noxia-associated wasps, darkness, and a lost water power.

Back in the intact trade hall, Chip reported that the meteor’s impact had disrupted his connection to local earth spirits. The Wrath statue smiled. Behind it lay a shattered silver dragon statuette tagged we can still be friends; its message changed to It's already done. Wrath then offered a frosted silver key engraved the frost cells. Its lock and purpose remained unknown.

Invar’s Prayer of Healing restored the group, but Stolchar burned Igrix’s name into his left upper arm, apparently connecting his faith to the boy who could not be saved in the collapse. The party returned to the resistance camp through the Lesser Rift Blade, reported Envy’s apparent death, and watched the resistance mobilise to reclaim the city.

Then Lady Evalina Hartwall reached Eliana by Sending. Evalina asked where Eliana was and said she could not contact either Eliana’s sister or her father. Eliana answered her. Evalina replied that she would fly to her. The contact carried immediate weight: Eliana’s mother had resurfaced, could not reach the rest of Eliana’s immediate family, and was now travelling toward the party by dragon flight while Hammerguard was still dangerous and unsettled.

Before resting, Geldrin used Tremon’s skull to search for Browning and the Justicars. Grand Towers appeared outwardly unchanged. He saw Justicars at an unknown elven town, a desert oasis with sphinxes, Stonerampart Earthwise, and with dragonborn-shaped dragons. The final vision showed Geldrin himself. The party realised that he was a Justicar and questioned him. Geldrin confirmed that he had been a full Justicar before Browning altered his memories for speaking outside Grand Towers. Five Justicars were accounted for, but the traditionally sixth Justicar remained unknown. The party completed a long rest, and Day 65 began.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

• Eliana, Dirk, Morgana, Invar Hammerguard, Geldrin, Dotharl, Valenth Cardonal, Chip, Errol, Colonel Bilgewater Windle, Skinhead, Grinder, Envy, Wrath, Valentinhide, Stolchar, Tremon, Lady Evalina Hartwall, Browning, five seen Justicars, an unidentified sixth Justicar, and Hammerguard survivors including Igrix, the dead child.
• The Hammerguard resistance, Envy’s Lamias and succubi, controlled dwarves, dark elves, elven husks, darkness entities, and resistance sleeper cells.
• The resistance settlement, Hammerguard trade hall, Laughing Drunkard, Envy’s jade palace, collapsed city centre, Valentinhide passage, Frost Cells [unknown location], Grand Towers, Stonerampart Earthwise, an unknown elven town, and an unknown desert sphinx-temple site.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

• Invar’s 100-gp jade-plated Wrath statue; jade Lamia daggers that tempted Eliana to possess them; the Lesser Rift Blade; Tremon’s skull; the redirected Tri-moon meteor; the shattered silver dragon statuette; the frosted silver Frost Cells key; and the diamond consumed to revive Errol.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

• Envy is apparently dead and her enthrallment broken, but no body or certain confirmation exists. Hammerguard’s centre is devastated and its power vacuum is immediate.
• Wrath’s It's already done message and the Frost Cells key require investigation.
• Stolchar marked Invar with Igrix’s name, apparently an atonement tied to the boy who died in the collapse.
• Lady Evalina Hartwall is flying to Eliana after reporting that she cannot contact Eliana’s sister or father.
• The party learned that Geldrin was a Justicar and questioned him; he confirmed that Browning had altered his memories. The sixth Justicar remains unidentified.
• The star-passage visions leave the history of Valentinhide, Kasha, Noxia-associated wasps, darkness, and the lost water being unresolved.