Summary of Events:
When we left our adventurers last, Ren had just saved his friends from certain death by dosing Tuckerthranx with some acid harvested from the World Snake.
After some time, the tiefling investigates the northwestern chamber and immediately recognizes the fountain of gold from his dream. Molten gold pours from four stone-carved dragon heads into cascading pools of shimmering liquid gold. Behind it, the hearth that something used to communicate with the dragon.
In the corner, Ren finds several stacks of papers and ledgers in both common and draconic. He grabs the documents written in draconic and stuffs them into his pockets. Renvoxlous retrieves a dagger from its hiding place; not his main dagger, his backup dagger, or his backup backup dagger mind you, but his main backup dagger.
He dips the dagger into the molten pool of gold and then casts Prestidigitation upon it to cool the dagger, gilding its blade.
Renvoxlous then casts Arcanist’s Magic Aura, making himself appear as the red dragon Tuckerthranx himself if another entity were to use divination magic upon him.
Sometime later, the remainder of the party returns to consciousness and begins to collect themselves. Iolair, having accessed some new arcane powers, casts Mass Cure Wounds upon himself and his companions. Together, they enter the chamber with the horde fountain.
Iolair thinks back upon his dream of the dragon communing with the flames and retrieves the runic antler crown from his robes. As he lowers the crown into the pool of liquid gold, the hearth erupts with flames and a voice calls out, “I require an update on your assignments.”
Having prepared, Ren impersonates the red dragon and says, “We delivered a ssshipment to Misthelm ssssuccesssfully.”
The other adventurers watch in awe as the voice responds, “Was there any trouble in Misthelm?”
“Yesss, but we dealt with it promptly,” Ren slithers in reply.
With a hint of skepticism, the voice calls back, “The other towns, how are they progressing?”
“We are expanding on ssschedule, but the ssseaasss have been rough,” Ren responds.
The fire burns a little brighter as the voice inquires, “And what towns might that be?”
Renvoxlous pauses for a moment before saying, “Windfall Burrow, Rossseport, and Brightcliffe.”
The flames flare up violently and the voice yells out with a thunderous roar, “You are NOT Tuckerthranx. You are an INFESTATION. You will be erased from this world.”
Ren roars back, “Not a chance, FUCK YOU, BUDDY. Try your WORST.”
Rota approaches the fireplace and releases a stream of hydraulic fluid directly into the flames.
The fire erupts brightly and several voices call out in unison, “We are the power of the world and the axis it rotates on. We are the rulers of the ocean and the champions of the sky. We are the beginning, the middle, and the end. We are Gods. We are Goddesses. Children born under the bows of Yggdrasil. Creators and Destroyers. Givers and takers. Rulers and champions.”
A single voice calls from the flames and says, “I…am the God of Strength…I am Thorson…I am Magni the mighty.”
Then another voice follows, “And I…I am the God of Courage…I am Thorson… I am Modi the lucky.”
And a third after that, “I…I am the God of Darkness…I am Odinson…I am Hodur the blind.”
A fourth voice emerges from the roaring flames and says, “You dwarf woman…the deserter…you took the so-called moral high ground and left your duty…one day soon you’ll realize the full magnitude of the responsibility you abandoned. You may kill a few trolls…You may clear out a few worthless temples…You may blow up this distillery…but you cannot stop what is coming. You are merely slowing down the inevitable.”
“You tiefling…the pathetic orphan…you think yourself clever but you missed what was right under your nose…Your dear caretakers, the Prodfoots, never left your beloved city of Brightcliffe…In fact, they’re still there…You’ve abandoned them twice now haven’t you?”
Then all of the voices say in unison, “Observe our strength and know your fate to be true. Heed our warning: Every evil in your life that you have encountered, every ill fate that has befallen you, every pain you have felt, is our will.”
And with that decree, the volcano begins to rumble. Cracks begin to form in the walls and spread up to the ceiling. In the main chamber outside, the molten lava pit begins to boil as larger and larger chunks of rock begin to fall from the ceiling.
The adventurers grab as much gold as they can carry and start to run for the exit. Noticing that the door to the east is cracked open slightly, they dash to it and attempt to rip it open. As they struggle, the level of the lava behind them begins to rise and the platform they stand upon begins to shrink.
Chonka dons the Atlas Straps and hurls the doors open, allowing the party to rush through. When they arrive at the entrance to the volcano, Ren casts a Silent Image of Tuckerthranx flying away from the volcano and calls out with the dragon’s voice, “Fly you fools or face your death!”
The kobolds with wings immediately begin to fly upward, in desperate pursuit of their illusory employer. The adventurers dash for the bridge and yell out to the remaining kobolds, “Come with me if you want to live!”
As the adventurers run past the statues that guard the bridge, they begin to spin again, blades extended. Ren and Iolair dodge the spinning blades but Rota and Chonka are gouged by them. They yell the password, “Tuckerthranx” and follow their companions across.
As they get onto the bridge, lava erupts from the top of the volcano and the entrance to the distillery in waves. Flaming boulders of brimstone begin to fly out of the volcano with each booming explosion as the waves of lava crash into the crowds of kobolds following the adventurers across the bridge, boiling them alive.
The party dashes through the forest, doing their best to dodge the flaming boulders as best they can. As they emerge from the other side of the forest, they look back and see the a wall of flame quickly extending in all directions. Sparing no time, they dash for the boat and begin to shove off.
As they set sail for Brightcliffe they observe a sky painted gold by the setting sun as well as a burning island, striped with fissures of molten earth.
It is several days before the adventurers reach Brightcliffe. They make use of an old smuggling route of Ren’s that can only be accessed during high tide. Their path takes them winding through the forest adjacent and allows them a quiet entrance to the city. They dock their boat just offshore of the Four Corners and head for Ren’s old apartment.
As they wind through the city streets, exhausted from their journey, they cannot help but notice the number of missing person posters that are strewn throughout town.
They reach Ren’s apartment, on the third floor of a Burrowhouse in the Four Corners and take shelter for the night…
Session End.
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