Viagra gives you wings

Session 62

The group is preparing for a long rest in awkward silence, with the still very weak Fox and two tieflings nearby. They discuss how to keep it subdued while they also wonder where to find some spell components for a resurrection ritual for Kra'naelen, as well as possibly using the blood network with Prophet, but it seems the closest "scar" to exit the network would be the one we used previously, closer to Kamordah in the platinum mines.

Instead, Maltheo, Briya, and Yahnist discuss how to fly back to Vol'antim now that Maltheo has the ability to use wings. Maltheo is distraught after his own brush with death and says, "I can't keep on dying! It's why I'm planning what I'm planning. The world has to change!" Briya knows perhaps that trees can help the group travel if they need to. With a bit more searching, it's confirmed: there is truly no other way out. They either have to use blood network or sneak past harpies after somehow exiting the currently-collapsed main cavern entrance. So either of those plans may come to fruition the following day.

Cass takes this opportunity to find out what magical properties the mirror we all found back in the psychotic fay barbershop in Molaesmyr. It's called "Radiance", and counts as a a +1 Wand of the War Mage for a spell caster. It's in the form of a golden hand mirror, and sheds dim light in a 5ft radius, similar to a candle. You can use a bonus action to cast the Enhance Ability spell on the wielder, and once used, it can't be used again until next dawn. Also, while holding the wand, the wielder receives a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and those attacks ignore half-cover. Cass trades it to Yahnist for the metal Mindscorcher staff we found on the mind flayers.

The long rest starts. The two tieflings, Sim and Gar, are starting to come around, albeit with a few levels of exhaustion. We give them some rations and leave them to their silence. Fox is also slowly recovering. Prophet is still concerned with bedtime magic and presenting his hair in a way that best hides his new mini-horns. Briya half falls asleep and when she looks up, everyone is gone. The wall previously in front of her has been completely removed. There's a long hallway made of stone that feels very typically Dwarven in architecture. The top and upper reaches of the same hall is definitely Elven in design though. There are panes of painted glass windows all around the top. In the middle of the hall, sitting in a chair, is an older looking Elven woman wearing a silvery dress with long, white hair. The very definition of an Elf.

She speaks to Briya, "Dear Briya. I am so sorry to intrude on your dreams like this, so be assured that you are completely safe. I have divination wards that have been triggered, and thus it seems a protégé of mine has recently died. He was traveling with you, was he not?" Briya shakily replies, "Do you mean Kra'naelen?" The elf continues, "Yes. My name is Sumina Mellerelel. I work at in Uthodurn for their mage council."

Briya, in a sad tone replies, "I'm really sorry to say Kra'naelen died today. Died again, I know. It's a little worse this time though thanks to a Mind Flayer consuming his brain through a hole it made in his head. There's... nothing left inside. We have the body and I think I will have the means to bring his spirit back, but we're kind of stuck for the moment in Mount Mentiri. Do you know it?"

Sumina: "I know of it, yes. But oh my... I had no idea Kra'naelen's travels had taken him that far..." Briya continues, "It was the search for a solution to the problem in Molaesmyr that brought us here, and we have amazing news on that account. We found and have the last spirit. Hopefully the Fox will be able to help to fix the anomaly there, but before that we'll need to stop somewhere to collect magical components for the ritual. Then I imagine we'll be on our way to Molaesmyr after that."

Sumina: "That's good news... I am so very sorry to learn of it, but good news all the same. If his body is damaged beyond repair, there's not much that I can personally do to help... you have magics that I simply cannot access. Where do you believe you will go for this reincarnation ritual?"

Briya: "We haven't been able to to talk about it yet, but we do have time. I've seen it before, the ritual, but I am not sure how it's going to work out. People don't always come back looking the way they were before. You mentioned you're his mother. Would you want to see him before we make the attempt? We have time and means to travel great distances now."

Sumina: "That is quite a generous offer. Though, I was hoping, and it's the reason I reached out through dreams, was that I'd find out where you were to send an associate of mine to perhaps help you in the whole process. However, now that you mention it, maybe it is a better idea to have him brought back here instead, to have his final rites, so to speak."

They arrange a means of communicating if necessary via Sending, and Sumina then also shows Briya a mental image of one of the great trees inside of Uthodurn. "If you can make it here, then we'll be waiting for you to meet us. In the meantime, let me know where you are located once you're able, and I'll see what the academy has for this. I may still be able to send my associate to you; stay tuned."

The next morning, Briya shares the dream conversation with the rest of the Librarians. They discuss going to Uthodurn to bring Kra'naelen to Sumina and to meet this associate. They make their way to the collapsed cave entrance, which Yahnist examines. He realizes that there's a section about 150 feet from the "main" part that is a bit more brittle and that it's probably the thinnest there. Cass is impressed. Briya tries to stoneshape this part of the wall, and successfully creates a semi-person shaped hole and we stealthily leave the cave, even Yahnist, squeezing through. Yahnist helps the group be insanely stealthy on the way down the mountain toward the forest looking for trees.

Briya asks Cass to cast sending to tell Sumina that they'll be bringing Kra'naelen today instead of tomorrow. The reply is that that is good news. After a few hours of hard trekking down the mountain the group is very winded, but makes it to the base of the mountain. From there, the wooded area is much more prevalent. In another day of travel, they'd reach Kamordah, but Briya needs a large tree and wants to leave the area today. She finds one, and after casting Transport via Plants, a portal opens with a bright green light and everyone runs through it.

They land in the park that Briya saw in her dream from Sumina. A verdant opening in front of the grand entrance to the All Hammer temple. Built into a mountain that spirals as it goes deeper, Uthodurn is quite large. They're on the second section of the city; a faint snow falling through the central hole. Standing there to meet them are 3 people. Sumina, to her right is Vesryn, Kra'naelen's brother and Yahnist's boyfriend, and to her left, a tall half-elf.

Æsheryn Malendrel introduces himself. He's a well-traveled Cleric in service to Corellon the Arch Heart. He's 42, and enjoys adventure as a means to spread love and the appreciation of art and history. He's quite tall for a half-elf, and certainly has the physique to carry the full plate armor he's wearing, but more lithe than a typical big guy. He has graying dark brown hair and green eyes, freckles, and a very prominent moustache. The only thing that sticks out more is his accent.

The group discusses reincarnation and wonders if they should even attempt it... Briya rambles about all the pros and cons. Sumina offers her residence as it is a good place for a private ritual. She even has a small supply of Residuum that could suffice as components — it would be about half of what they need. The group purchases the other 500g of oils and materials to make up the difference.

Æsheryn goes into detail about his deity Corellon, and his decades of traveling as the group makes its way to her place. Vesryn breaks up with Yahnist in a somewhat awkward way, and doesn't read social cues well. But admits he wants to spend time by himself and work through his grief. "Honestly Yahnist, but spending this time apart has made it's easy to see that maybe there's more for me here and certainly for you out there. That, and, long distance is just so damned hard." Yahnist considers that perhaps having a friend die makes it easier to put things into perspective.

We arrive at Sumina's house. It feels like a combination of a green house and a wizard's lab. It's full of artificial light from being very underground, but much more than enough for plants to grow. It's very warm and inviting and humid. Sumina and Briya begin preparing ingredients.

Vesryn goes to Yahnist, "Before I decided to have us part ways, I made this for your own adventures. I had started designing it ages ago, and since I'm not going to use it..." He pulls from his belt bag a green-scaled pauldron and says that it's known as a Dragonhorn Pauldron. It will give Yahnist a +1 bonus to AC and resistance to fire damage. In addition, when he makes a saving throw against fire damage, he can use reaction to take no damage instead.

The ritual begins, and to entice Kra'naelen's spirit back, Cass offers the scissors Kra used a long time ago to give Cass a fur trim (arcana; 20). Maltheo leans in and says, "Remember you can't go yet. You gave me your word that I'd help you and you'd help me. We had a deal." (deception; 25). Briya sings a song from her people and incorporates details about Kra'naelen from a similar ritual she saw back home. (performance; 9)

As the ritual crescendos, everyone is present as magic is pouring out of Briya and Kra'naelen's body begins to reshape. It seems to be a human shape again, wounds disappearing and the gaping skull mends with what appears to be a new brain. In fact, once everything closes up and the ritual fades, it's someone who looks a lot like him in the first place. If not him, an extremely similar brother-appearance.

However, the participants in this ritual receive a deep down vibe that is generally of someone who has cheated death many times. Too many times. It seems to want to stay on that side of the waking world. Briya says it feels like he's ready to move on. The body is ready, but there's nothing coming. Maltheo: "He's made his choice." Cass sits on the body as though in mourning. Maltheo says to Sumina: "I'm sorry we failed your son. He was a wonderful mage."

Sumina: "He died for something important that he believed in. We know he succeeded in his quest to bring the closure to Molaesmyr one step closet closer to completion. It is indeed sad, but we know death isn't the end. For many people, especially him, it could be a whole new adventure. But I promise we'll keep a good memory of him and his goals."

Æsheryn performs a Ceremony spell:

Today, we gather not just as mourners, but as witnesses to a tale of resilience, courage, and a spirit that defied the very nature of life and death. We stand here in the somber shadows, hearts heavy with grief, to honor the memory of Kra’naelen Erenaeth — a soul who danced on the precarious edge between the weave of magic and the fragility of mortality.

A powerful mage touched with a spark of something wild, he truly was both a vessel of chaos and a conduit of wonder. Kra’naelen's journey was a tapestry woven with threads of enchantment and tragedy, and yet also with unyielding determination.

That first time he left us, well before he met y’all, it was just a tragic accident of magic gone awry; a misstep in the intricate choreography needed to tame the arcane. Yet with the love of his adoptive mother, and a bit of divine intervention on my behalf, we were able to pull him back from the abyss. Then for him to have died a second time, up there in that battle between the Kryn and the Empire, while in service to the Diarchy of Uthodurn, well... it just spoke volumes of his commitment to a cause greater than himself.

Kra’naelen was not just a wild mage; he was a Librarian, steadfast in the pursuit of knowledge and the protection of this realm that we hold dear. I know he faced some terrors in the ruins of Molaesmyr with y’all, trying to seal that portal that might actually still threaten to unleash all sorts of chaos of its own on this world.

But now it is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge the third and seemingly final departure of Kra’naelen. Let us not mourn the number of times he fell, though, for each was a testament to his unyielding spirit. A spirit that stood resilient in the face of perils unknown.

Today, as we lay him to rest, let us focus on that indomitable spirit of his that brought him back all those times. May his essence find peace in the realms beyond, and may his memory be forever etched in the histories of Exandria as a testament to the enduring power of chosen family, friendship, and the magic that binds us all.

Rest well, Kra’naelen, in the eternal embrace of the weave. May your journey through the cosmos be as wild and wondrous as the magic that coursed through your veins.

Now, it's time to see the city. The Librarians are going to try and not have adventures for a few weeks. Let's see what Uthodurn has to offer them!