Two Girls, One Aether
S03E02
We continue to battle Larael in her study. The battle is hard as she fights hard for Caulkin to remain unconscious. She throws frostbite at us, uses Shield to protect herself, and then throws Negative Energy Flood at RC.
During the fight, Nillead is also knocked unconscious as the group tries to keep her down.
The battle rages on. Glittr lands a massive blow with his maul, stating that he will finish the job that Lliira started years ago. After using a Mass Cure Wounds, Brylynn manages to bring back the party, and with life roaring through his veins, RC stands up and shoots Larael, taking her down. Caulkin ties up Nillead as she fights for her life on the ground.
As this happens, she begins laughing. Her laugh starts feminine and the tone turns much much more masculine. “My teether to your plane grows stronger and stronger. You have borne my line and magic and are the descendants of my jailers and banishers. At last, the precipice of our struggle that has existed for millennia shall finally cease. And know that I will win. I can already feel my body reforming. At last, the phylactery you have hidden will birth me anew. You have reduced the first chain against me to ash and dust. Laughs and laughs and laughs as this figure is reduced to ashes..”
As she laughs, from the ground up, she turns into dust. Even her robes disappear slowly. “At last the precipice of …”
“And know that I will win!” I can already feel my body reforming. At last! The flackery you have whidden will birth me anew! You have burst the first chain against me to ash and dust!”
In the dust, the only thing left behind is the necklace, only able to be seen by Brylwynn.
Brylwynn states that when she is casting magic, it feels like she is plucking a lute string as if she is plucking the universe. No, with Larael gone, she feels like the thing suppressing her magic has now lifted, and she feels gray no more.
#6 walks over to Caulkin, standing between him and the body of his grandmother. Caulkin takes a deep breath and says, “Larael murdered my father and there is no remorse for that. She deserves death. My grandmother betrayed me and death is a gift, one I will not give her yet.”
Hearing this, Glittr revives Nillead, saving her from making death-saving throws. She says, “Larael is dead and you’re all still alive.” Caulkin asks if it is what she was expecting. “It was certainly not the outcome I expected. You had one job your entire life to do and that was to die here. And you couldn’t even manage that.” He says, “Any last words?”
As he says that, the two guards in the room begin to take action. The guard on the left says to the other, “Luth, Luth, they killed her! They did it!” Luth then goes to open the door and as she does, the first guard stabs him in the chest.
“I don’t know who you all are or why Larael wanted you, but you aren’t the first group she’s done this to before. You all killed the open Lord Waterdeep. You need to leave, now!”
As this happens Nillead turns invisible and escapes Glittr’s grasp. As she begins to run, Caulkin swings his dagger, hitting her and knocking her unconscious.
We decide to trust the guard and leave with him through a side door. Glittr pushes all of the things on Larael’s desk into the bag of holding as we leave the room. We are ushered into a side hallway. We go into the quiet hallway, but we are then led onto the balcony. There are people around and things happening.
He says, “We should be seen by as few people as possible.” We make a group deception check and pass as we continue to move through the crowds. As we carry her body, Bahamut, who is carrying her on his back, feels her stop breathing.
As we leave the room, Brylwynn notices that the necklace is missing as we leave the room.
It is around [4:00 pm] at this point in the day. The guard continues to let us know we need to leave, as we work on leaving the government building. As this happens, it’s going to be just a matter of time before someone notices something is wrong. Screaming is then heard in the distance and we assume someone noticed Larael is dead.
He leads us into the streets of town. We then decide to use one of The Harper Teleportation Circles to get out of the city.
As we head to the Cemetery Ward of Waterdeep, we notice the people near us are on edge. We decide to hide Nillead’s body in the Bag of Holding and we find a fountain to wash the blood off ourselves.
We left the castle at 4:30 pm, it took us until 5:00 pm to get to the circle. The first 10 minutes are us hiding the body and cleaning ourselves up. During the last 10 minutes, we noticed the people on the street noticed the group and our presence.
We decided to break into 2 groups. Group 1 is the guard, RC, Glittr, and Bahamut. The second group is Pearl, Brylwynn, and Caulkin, trailing behind about 50’.
Group 1 gets strange looks, but no one pays them too much as they pretend to get a tour from the guard. Group 2 doesn’t get many glances as they act as if they are wandering through the city. As we move, 2 people in the background notice from an alleyway, the sound of activity happening about 25-30’ away from the next road over. We see 1-2 guards moving parallel with us on the street at this point.
We get close to the cemetery gates and as we do, we notice a group heading into the cemetery. We assume they may be heading to the Teleportation Circle and are beating us there.
The guard we are with states that we are not the first group to try and attempt to kill Larael, but we were successful. We decide to head towards the south gate after Brylwynn makes us invisible. The guard states we did a great deed stopping her all, but that we did a great service. The guard identifies himself as Heathwell, but we do not reveal who we are to him.
We head south and out of the city as the sun sets. We set up camp for the night. Caulkin takes Nillead’s body into the forest. He says that she is a stain on his family and she will be known for betraying them. He cuts down both of her eyes with his dagger, something the Shadow thieves did to those who betrayed them. He pushes her body into the Dessarin River and lets it float away.
Before he does this, he checks her pockets and finds… ***
We talk around the fire that night and console Caulkin. As we talk, we realize that we forgot about #6 in the commotion of the fight ending. RC recalls that in the commotion #6 disappeared like the Rogue that he is.
We take a glance at the papers on Larael’s desk. We find… ***.
There is going to be a massive upheaval in the distribution of power in Waterdeep with the disappearance of Larael.
We decide to head to the High Forest next. Our dreams and visions are normal without them. In the morning, Brylwynn sees the red necklace at the end of the tiny hut. Coming from deep inside of it, she feels the familiar strumming as to when she is casting her magic. It is a beautiful gold necklace with a large ruby in the middle. She gets close to it but doesn’t touch it. She moves her hand away as the object begins to make an eerie piercing noise and it pulsates.
As she pulls away, the necklace thrums and it crashes into her mind, as if it is ricocheting inside of her head. She hears. “Hurry! Time is running out!” She feels a sleeping beauty-esque repulsion pulling her forward. As she touches it, we can all see the necklace and it glows brightly. As he makes contact with it, Brylwynn disappears.
She feels a tug on her body. It almost feels comforting, almost as if the lyre is strumming and her magic is returned. The tug ends and she sees that she is now on a platform. Around her, space feels blurry and fuzzy. The platform is floating in the middle of nowhere with gray nothingness. There is a bridge and 30’ walls that go out. Before her is an entrance. Pearl touches it, and she also disappears as she tries to cast identity on it.
We all then touch the necklace, disappearing, but joining Brylwynn on the bridge.
We see a monumental structure in front of us. We hear stones dragging across stones coming from inside of the structure. There’s a path to the left and a path to the right.
Heathwell
The guard who escorted us from Larael's office after we killed her
Summary
Battle Against Larael: The group battles Larael in her study as she uses frostbite, Shield, and Negative Energy Flood to keep Caulkin unconscious and attack RC. Glittr lands a massive blow, declaring he will finish what Lliira started. Brylwynn casts Mass Cure Wounds to revive the party, allowing RC to shoot Larael, ending the fight. Nillead is tied up, but she begins laughing as she claims her tether to their plane grows stronger, hinting that her resurrection is imminent. She is reduced to ash, leaving behind only a necklace visible to Brylwynn.
Caulkin’s Decision and Nillead’s Fate: After the battle, Caulkin refuses to grant his grandmother, Nillead, the gift of death despite her betrayal. Glittr revives her, but Nillead escapes only to be knocked unconscious by Caulkin. He later takes her body to the forest, mutilates it in the style of the Shadow Thieves, and disposes of it in the Dessarin River after searching her pockets.
Escape and Disguised Retreat: The party is forced to flee after Larael’s death is discovered. They trust a guard named Heathwell, who helps them leave the city via the Cemetery Ward using deception and invisibility. Heathwell reveals that other groups have attempted to kill Larael before, but the party was successful. They set up camp outside the city as the sun sets.
Mystery of the Necklace: That night, Brylwynn discovers the red necklace, which causes an eerie noise and pulsates as she gets close. When she touches it, she disappears, feeling a comforting tug, as though her magic is returning. The others follow suit, and the party is transported to a mysterious platform floating in a gray void. Before them stands a monumental structure with paths leading left and right.
Uncertainty in Waterdeep: With Larael’s death, the group speculates on the power upheaval this will cause in Waterdeep. They examine papers from Larael’s desk and plan their next steps, deciding to head to the High Forest. #6, who disappeared during the battle, remains unaccounted for, leaving an air of unresolved tension.