Failing to learn
18 - ? Ches, 1359 DR
[Game of June 25th (?) 2005]
Having previously been freed from their mortal bodies in the positive energy plane, G’Kar and Jarl are reincarnated by the Great Druid Thystleheart. The party re-groups in Mosstone.
At the temple, Kalcryx is introduced to a winged man of unearthly beauty — one Evan of Helm, who came to learn what he could from Kalcryx. Kalcryx warns the young Evan that he expects great things from him, then accepts him as an apprentice.
G’Kar and Jaran decide they cannot allow the rescued dwarf slaves to sit in Khazimval’s hands another day, and head off to Skullport.
After some discussion, the rest of the party decides to return to the castle to rescue any innocents who have survived the take-over. Jarl is reluctant to return without his things. Lyta agrees to Wish Jarl’s things be returned from the positive energy plane in exchange for a ring of Freedom of Movement. The party agrees to pay for the cost of the spell and loans Jarl the difference. As Lyta agrees to cast the spell, Aaron grabs her arm and urges her to come to Mystra’s temple with him. Gwynnedh joins in, and the party re-locates to the temple. The Mystrans — Aaron, Gwynnedh, Theodore, and Alexander — gather round expectantly, waiting to witness this great feat.
Lyta feels a bit self-conscious, though flattered, and casts the spell. Jarl’s things trickle in from nowhere, slowly appearing in a circle about her. The Mystrans applaud.
The party makes their way to Zazesspur, where Gwynnedh asks if Master Baggic would be willing to create Lyta’s ring. He agrees, and the party moves on to the task of the day: the now-hostile Castle Zazesspur.
The streets of Zazesspur are again teaming with soldiers. Orders came this morning that the men were moving out, to the north — but who is giving those orders? Gwynnedh, Jarl, Aaron, and Delven remain in Zazesspur seeking out the answers, but uncover little.
Meanwhile, Kalcryx, Rowan, and Lyta travel to Mulhorand and seek out the psion in the king’s court. She speaks to them in depth on her talents, mentioning in passing an acquaintance of hers she has not heard from in many years — a man by the name of Jullian. Kalcryx remembers the Jullian the party once travelled with, and he informs the psion that Jullian had lost his memories and might appreciate hearing from her. She thanks him and says she will contact him shortly.
The party reunites, and Rowan, the invisible pixie who always gains entrance where others are unwelcome, is sent to reconnoiter. He returns, reporting that the woman with the frightful psionic powers seems to have made herself mistress there. The party discusses their tactics and rests the night.
In the morning, they make their way to the secret chamber Rowan discovered beneath the throne room, and try to ambush the psion. The plan goes awry from the first, when Jarl, Kalcryx, and Gwynnedh appear via a Dimension Door spell in the middle of the throne room and find themselves surrounded by a number of very large werewolves, several guards, and clawed creatures none of them recognizes. The psion is well-defended by at least a dozen human guards. They would have been better off making their way to her from the stairs leading up from the chamber.
The battle goes hard at first, and Gwynnedh is gravely wounded within seconds. “Spare the humans!” she commands, drawing her sword. She returns in like kind, dealing a devastating blow to one of the large werewolves, but as the smaller clawed creatures and the guards move in and block off their escape routes, it’s clear the odds are badly stacked against the fighters.
The second faction — Lyta, Evan, Aaron, Delven, and Rowan — have found their way blocked by a thick wall of human guards. Lyta takes Delven and Evan past the men to a far corner of the room, while Rowan and Aaron make their own way through.
Rowan blocks off the back wall — and the door leading to the hall beyond — with a thick wall of thorns, then attempts to clear some of the guards surrounding the psion with fire. As the men scream in agony (and Gwynnedh screams in fury), Rowan realizes the men are enthralled and do not necessarily guard this woman of their own free will.
Kalcryx climbs into the air, making his way to the psion, according to the plan. Meanwhile, a previously ignored side-door opens, and the party sees the last thing they wanted to see: the powerful mage and her slithering skeletal familiar. She casts a spell and several small flaming meteors hammer Kalcryx. The flames catch many of the others as well, but do not harm any of the mage’s allies.
Kalcryx continues on undaunted. He casts a spell to surround himself in a bubble impervious to the effects of magic and drops on top of the psion, hoping to cut off the source of her power.
Unfortunately, the Weave does not seem to be the source of this woman’s power. Weakened, now, from the loss of magic, Kalcryx cannot resist her mental attacks. He falls, appearing to be dead.
Jarl sees an opportunity for he and Gwynnedh to escape their current dire situation and to take advantage of an opening, so he whisks them away and plants them within inches of the mage. Gwynnedh laughs and declares she likes Jarl’s thinking, and strikes the mage with her sword and the power granted her by Mystra.
Unfortunately, Gwynnedh’s other blows miss, and before Jarl or Aaron — who had twisted his way around at least five men without taking a single cut and come to stand behind Gwynnedh — can raise a hand against the dark woman, she casts a spell and orders them to begone. Each of the three finds themself alone in an unknown place. Undoubtedly, they are no longer on Toril.
The remaining party members see what they did not see before: the spell is costly, and has a powerfully violent backlash on the caster. The mage, seeming even more wounded by this burst of energy than by Gwynnedh’s smiting, retreats.
They struggle valiantly, with little hope. Lyta’s flesh is fused, but she recalls a Polymorph spell and thwarts it. Rowan bravely taunts the psion, inviting her to use her cruel tricks on him, secure in the knowledge that he is invulnerable at least to that particular nastiness.
The side door on the opposite side re-opens, and the mage re-appears, well again.
Rowan and Lyta attempt to seek the shelter of the thick thorny wall. Rowan succeeds, but Lyta does not. Evan flies toward the psion, thrusts his sword into Kalcryx, and seeks escape in a side room, comforted that he now has at least a part of Kalcryx’s body, if worst came to worst [this was before Zach realized Kalcryx really wasn’t dead]. The mage drains some of Lyta’s life force, while the psion melds her flesh once again. Delven fights until he falls.
Rowan alone manages to escape, taking on the shape of a large bear and tearing open the bolts on the main door.