Title forthcoming

Session 66

After Prophet's Anamnesis, and the group spending a night in the hot springs, we are teleported to Rosohna the next day and brought to the Lucid Bastion, a tall glowing crystalline citadel. Prophet is privately meeting with Leylas Kryn, while the rest of us are in a waiting chamber guarded by Tissiphone and her retinue.

In that private room that is magically and physically protected, Prophet feels a Zone of Truth take hold, and purposefully fails the saving throw. They do the same; it's definitely a no-one-can-lie space. Leylas and Niminion sit at a table, the Brige Queen's staff noticeably topped by a mini beacon of the Luxon. She invites Prophet to sit.

She speaks of how long it's taken to get Prophet here in this room, admitting that a few weeks ago she learned Prophet might actually be Juriel Kryn, via connections in Molaesmyr. She wanted to stop the rumors, but it was too late, and and so asks plainly, "Are you the reincarnated soul of Juriel Kryn?"

"That's a question that does not have a clear answer. For some time I hoped I could be the Radiant Prophet. It seems the rumors have spread to you faster than my own head. I wasn't certain until you approached me last night when I performed Anamnesis. I am the reincarnation of Juriel."

"Do you know who Juriel Kryn is?"

Prophet has a questioning look. Niminion adds, "At least that confirms the wards of secrecy for that name are still in tact. Juriel is a name that has been stricken from our history for some time."

Queen: "I'll have to come clean with some information. Some subjects may suspect it, but it's disallowed in court for possible dissent and discord. My sister Juriel was a beautiful being. Even before being freed from the Underdark, she loved life and art and music that all carried power. Beyond anything we were allowed to carry within us. But that power came from a darkness – the song was given to her by the Spider Queen. Even the closing of the Divine Gate and Athanatol bringing us out of the Underdark, she and her followers kept faith for the Spider Queen. They are a small but threatening faction. They've infiltrated our government, citizenry, even our enemies; even our resurrection rites! They come back; they want to put us back in chains… or webs, I should say," she makes the smallest giggle at this Drow joke.

Were you to have completed an Anamnesis for Juriel, you would integrate and become one, Niminion says. Our souls are not like others. They're not energy. We're a polygon. Imagine the beacon. We are multiple facets that create a whole. If you haven't yet integrated with her, we believe there may be a way to push down these facets and lock them away, to ensure Juriel's complacency.

You must understand: she's a powerful agent of what we've learned of all the Children of Malice. She knows things and has done things to sow seeds for generations. I thought for hundreds of years that she died apart from a beacon. No trace!

Prophet: "Are you saying you know who I was, but now I can't find out more about that person?" The Queen deflects and says that Prophet is a better person than Juriel, but attempting to lock Juriel away is not without risk. He asks what must be done and what has failed in the past. He must have his soul removed and confront the Juriel part himself. Failure could mean death. Success would mean he would be a new soul. It would be a new life. Prophet is hesitant to lose power and status. The Queen reminds him that even she for 20 generations was sometimes born poor and in remote places, but that her people need her and she wouldn't give up her status either.

He reveals his horns, red and purple eyes, and the fact that he's being watched. Niminion recognizes signs of having made deals. "It may be possible to lock some of these deals away with Juriel, but Nim will need time." Prophet learns the soul lock (soulcision) is more successful when you're accompanied. Leylas says the rest of the Librarians can assist in the process. The door opens and we're welcomed in.

No one succeeds on the Zone of Truth save. "Distinguished guests. My subject can fill you in on what needs to be done, if he agrees. Beforehand, he needs to know if he has your support. You will learn secrets if you do agree to assist. Are you willing to risk your lives for the sake of my people and the friend who has been traveling with you?"

Maltheo hesitates and doesn't want to make a deal blindly. Cass agrees pending access to the Rosohna library, while showing off Chronurgy magic as a way to admit she can add to the knowledge. Nim realizes Cass has magic she shouldn't have and says it's intriguing and they'll need to have further discussions. Briya admits that given the suspicions she's had about the Prophet for some time, she wouldn't give her life just for him... but for the group, she'd be willing to stand beside them if they do, and for the people of Xhorhas. Æsheryn says he's in it for the adventure. Yahnist challenges Prophet to carry him as proof of the connection for the task. Prophet counters with stories of how he already helped him.

His animating performance gives the Queen a long face, and one of recognition. "I Haven't heard this song in a long time. If I doubted you before, I don't any longer."

She departs, with Shadowhand Niminion filling us in on details along the way to the highest place in the Bastion: The Pool of Tears.

On the way Maltheo privately chats with Prophet and wants to make sure this is right. He thinks it's suspicious that they want to cover this up and hide Juriel away. Prophet counters by pointing out the only other alternative: leading him far away from the Beacon and having him killed. Maltheo says there may be other reasons they don't want him to connect.

Briya calls out Maltheo to ask what he's scheming for the Empire, but Maltheo says it's not that; he just doesn't think we know the entire truth.

Arriving at the Pool of Tears, we see it's protected by runes done with such craftsmanship and in such a grandiose manner that it's like nothing ever before seen. Tissiphone and Niminion open the door with very complex magic and simultaneous hand placements. Inside is a room where a 100-feet across pool of water 1.5 feet deep, covered in lily pads spread across it. They're lit by an unnatural yet magical beauty of ethereal light that creates networks of roots and plants that form a giant connection to a beacon the likes of which we've also never before seen. This is at least the size of a house. It must cover many hundreds of miles in and around Rosohna and Xhorhas. It's beyond having a value; nearly beyond understanding. It's the cornerstone of Kryn life and culture. Everything is glowing with a faint magic. There are other receptacles within that can hold other, smaller, beacons.

We're invited to leave our physical selves, to enter the light of the Luxon. There's no way to tell how it will work, what we will see, or where we will go. But we'll be taken where we need to by it. Maltheo isn't sure what we'll do, and Nim isn't either. But the gist seems to be that we'll "handle" Juriel in such a way that they'll be contained. (not killed, since we're at a beacon)

Maltheo insights Nim where he notices that there's a smugness that's hiding something deeper; satisfied with what's going on, and having never really cared for the Prophet. Æsheryn casts a sixth-level Aid on Maltheo, Cass, and Prophet.

A quiet peacefulness washes over us as we lay ourselves in the water. Tissiphone and Niminion touch and funnel magic into the water. We feel the vines from the pads twitch and move around; they comfortably seize our bodies in different places. And then a wash of light pulls our souls away.

White mist.

Through the mist we're able to see each other; we have our magic and our equipment. We're inside the beacon and have joined the souls waiting to be reborn. The Luxon seems to coax us toward what we need to see. Forms taking shape of buildings. Most are small red brick; a gray sky above. Still ethereal, but tangible. We're in a memory. Bazzoxan, Prophet's birthplace. The outer parts are residential and militaristic. The city center is older, with a citadel leading down into the earth. There are figures moving about the city but it's a memory so it's all hazy. A tall Drow man, a human woman, and a small half-Elven boy, around 8 years old, are there. The parents wearing ranger-style outfits speaking Undercommon. We hear a sound coming from the Black Cathedral, as one of the windows bursts open and releases a pack of Gloomstalkers. They are shadow monstrosities resembling bats of pure darkness. The parents grab their weapons and the mother turns to a more formed shape; a slightly older human boy in his early teens. "Axon, take my son!" and pushes the boy into the hands of the teenager and hushes them in between two stone buildings. They she and her partner go and fight the Gloomstalkers.

We hear the shrieks from the creatures, which freezes many, and we see the parents snapped up and killed immediately. Æsheryn notices someone else appearing more substantial and tells the group. A quick form looking at the scene disappearing behind a building.

Maltheo admonishes Prophet, saying that he didn't come from nothing. He had family; loved ones.

The land moves and shifts; time moves forward. We're brought into a clearing inside a strange forest. The trees have twisted purple-black bark with perpetually autumn colored leaves. We see Flim again, around 17 years old in an apprehensive stance. Walking in front of him is an early-20s Axon carrying camping gear for the pair. He's looking at the trees, and says "I think it's close. I think I remember this tree and that shape. I've dreamed of this."

In one knotted gnarled tree, there's an opening inside the bark. A faintly glowing key of blue metal is in a knot in the tree. They approach. The memory is hazy here; Flim managed to claim it on his own. What actually happened we don't know.

Again, we realize we're being watched; perhaps even guided by the shape Æsheryn saw earlier. There's a man in the doorway to a manor built into the side of a mountain. Prophet recognizes this as the area where the Prophet was killed (by Juriel) It's Juriel as she sees herself. Wearing a dress that most would call a scarf, she's holding a combination of some sort of censer and a musical instrument. There's a smile on her face revealing filed-down teeth as she's pulled back into the mansion.