Embedded Files
The aarakocra return to speak with the party.
The next morning the party awoke refreshed, if a bit disconcerted by their troubling dreams. They went about the business of the morning, preparing and eating breakfast and straightening Feathergale Spire. LiKi went down to visit, feed, and water the hippogriffs in the stables at the base of the ancient tower. They were uneasy, but accepted their feed eagerly, keeping a weary eye on the strange, grinning little gnome who watched them as they chomped away.
Kahntun attended to Savra, bringing her her own food and water. He hoped to talk some sense into her, noble to noble, but all she offered for his troubles were catatonic stares and soft, deranged murmurings.
Just after the sun had climbed high enough to flood the Sighing Valley with bright orange light, chasing away a thick blanket of fog, the party heard a bell ringing outside the tower. They descended to the first floor to find a large party of aarakocra awaiting them outside the tower's gate. Although he felt a little absurd doing it (given that these creatures can fly), Alexander ceremoniously lowered the drawbridge, allowing the winged party to walk into the tower.
The aarakocra share what they know about the valley with our heroes. A manticore still hunts here, perhaps the mate of the one earlier slain.
The birdmen and women politely turned away offers of food and drink. Regardless, our heroes led these visitors into the great hall within which they all situated themselves around the large table. Two aarokocra stood sentry by the passageway to the central stairs, while two others opened windows and silently monitored the valley.
What appeared to be the leader of this group, a particularly large aarakocra with ginger-tipped feathers named Khazatlan began to talk in a garbled, squawking, yet passable common. He asked questions about what had gone down during the great battle in and around the tower. He admitted that they were happy to see the air cultists removed from the tower, yet warned that they seemed to have another lair deep within Knifepoint Gully. Alexander rightly assumed that this was an entrance into the ancient underground city of Tyar-Besil.
When the party expressed their desire to pursue the cultists underground, Khazatlan warned them to be careful, but also asked if the party would find their lost warrior Khazra. They suspected that she had been kidnapped by the cult and taken below, a fate worse than death for the aarokocra that depend on continual contact with the open sky. Alexander solemnly swore to search for Khazra. Khazatlan thanked him and offered to fly the party to the mouth of Knifepoint Gully. When LiKi said that wouldn't be necessary as she was eager to fly with a hippogriff, Khazatlan politely informed her that no more of the valley's winged creatures would be used in this way from here on out. Although begrudgingly, she gracefully acquiesced to this new decree.
The air cultists appear to enjoy engraving their symbol into a gruesome canvas.
After making final preparations, the party:
was flown down to the foot of Feathergale Spire, deep in the Sighing valley;
They were shown several, blood-stained boulders at the foot of the Dead Rock crags; it was clear that the Feathergale Knights had been flinging poor sacks of flesh, blood, and bone off the Spire for some time now;
also, upon closer inspection, it appeared that a symbol had been ritually carved into the forehead of each of these sacrificial victims;
their guides lead them on around a bend and into a wooded area that ran along the Lost River to the east. Although they all seemed to feel the silent presence of unseen watchers, they were not confronted by any foes;
the aarockocra said farewell at the narrow opening of Knifepoint Gully;
the party proceeded, encountered a magical barrier that their key soundlessly disabled, and descended as carefully as they could toward the Temple of Howling Hatred;
as they descended, LiKi thought about the feathered cloaks and suggested that they put them on, which they did.
A treacherous descent.
An enormous chasm split the earth as far as the eye could see in the pervasive darkness. A crude, narrow stairway hugged the rock alongside the chasm, twisting madly in hairpin turns around sharp outcroppings. Jagged and uneven, the stair threatened to spill our adventurers into the chasm's mouth. After several treacherous miles, the stairway terminated on a broad, flat landing that jutted out over the immense black chasm. In the gloom, a lost dwarven city lay in ruins beneath the glittering cavern vault. Broken statues stood in the midst of empty plazas, staring sightlessly into the darkness. A huge step pyramid rose at the end of a the precipice, and from the moat that surrounded it a misty waterfall whispered over the chasm's ledge.
The party entered this area of the ancient dwarven city of Tyar-Besil at the gatehouse in the southwest corner of the map above.
The carved reliefs of two dwarves faced one another in profile to complete an arch beyond the ledge. Through the arch, the blocky countours of a lost dwarven city sprawled in the subterranean night. From somewhere within, the party could hear an agonized wail, followed by a breathless ramble of whimpering pleas. Then the whole city seemed to join in the chorus with the screams of creatures mad from torment.
The party was rightfully disconcerted. But they crept through the arched corridor of a gatehouse and zigzagged past the arrow slits squinting from every angle. They fully expected to be ambushed or at least fired upon, but they weren't. However, the terrible wailing persisted.
When they exited the gatehouse, the tormented wails died down and were replaced with a shrill, discordant tune. Leopold thought he could pick out a flute among the cacophony. Such terrible music craft made him literally sick to his stomach, so he barged through the door from which the sound seemed to be coming. A stone fountain stood in the middle of a grand plaza, its sides sculpted into the shapes of dwarves bearing drums and horns. Around this fountain lounged several figures in feathered attire, mangling a tune with instruments that seemed to be made of bone!
A face from the past! Relive the party's misadventures with the rake, Harold Grayspear by going here.
The party immediately recognized Grayspear, whom they learned now went by the name Windharrow, a title given to him by his "queen," Aerisi Kalinoth. Here's what happened:
Grayspear assumed they were there to join the cult, but wondered if they still held a grudge because he robbed them months and months ago;
the party determined that the other musicians were forced to participate in the band, the Wyndwyrds, and that their instruments were made of bone donated by prior band members who had failed to live up to the queen's standards;
Leopold said that Thrul Morroska, recognizing his talent, suggested he descend into the temple to join the band;
Leopold jammed with Grayspear, showing him up;
this initiated a quarrel; LiKi was fed up by the subterfuge; a fight broke out.
Fight Highlights
Fight Highlights
Banking on Alexander's known susceptibility to confusion, Greyspear cast it on our heroes; imagine his confusion when the spell fizzled even as he performed the somatic movements it required (LiKi had stealthily cast a counterspell of her own).
The fight was pretty much downhill for the Wyndwyrds from there. Highlights:
Kahntun slayed five of the six hapless initiates;
Leopold bound the other one with a coil of rope and attached him to a leash;
Greyspear cast a silent spell on LiKi;
She moved out of its area of effect and launched firebolts at the thieving bard;
Alexander landed a few powerful slashes to Greyspear;
Leo hit him with a volley of magic missiles;
Seeing his luck turning against him, Greyspear took out a piece of colored chalk and spun on his heels, drawing a purple circle on the ground, compass-style;
suddenly, a portal appeared, Greyspear sunk into it, and it closed behind him;
the room was silent again;
frustrated by Greyspear's escape, the party roughly questioned their captive then threw the bodies over the edge of the chasm;
Next the party investigated the gatehouse. It turned out that those horrible, tormented screams were being produced by four kenku, well-renowned mimics. LiKi guessed that they were tasked with dissuading intruders from proceeding into the temple. This made sense. Everything they had seen so far suggested that the air cultists were skilled in the arts of illusion and deception and used it to their benefit whenever possible.
The group slaughtered the kenku. Leopold beheaded one. When Kahntun asked how they should proceed, he held up the bloody head, smirked, and replied "head first!"
Unlike the aarokocra, this avian race are known for their guile.
Let's fast forward:
Let's fast forward:
What followed were some fun fights, but nothing that interesting.
They killed some air priests and warriors;
they tricked some air priests and took charge of six potential cultists pushing a giant wheel; it turned out that the wheel controlled the flow of water into the moat; they stopped the flow of water, lowering the water level in the moat to about two feet; they then freed the wannabe cultists who were starving to death due to the "initiation rituals" (being forced to "live on air" for weeks at a time) and emphatically over the whole culty business;
they killed more kenkus, but this group were actually torturing prisoners;
the party freed the prisoners; one of them, a human named Bero Gladham, informed the party that his wife and an aarakocra were "taken below" by the cultists;
they explored some more.
Ahtayir the djinni
Ahtayir the djinni
Next the group stumbled upon the Plaza of Fallen Spires. Cracked flagstones of ultramarine marble paved the ground. An avenue to the east ended at a wall of fallen masonry and stone. To the west, a pillared colonnade stretched across a moat to a step pyramid.
Ahtayir, a djinni in a torn vest and ragged pantaloons labored there. Back in the day, King Torhild tasked the djinni with the daunting job of keeping the palace quarter in good repair--a task he had been performing now for centuries.
Torhid Flametonuge, king of the Belsimer dwarves, possessed a horn that could summon Ahtayir once every one hundred years. By the power of the horn, the summoned djinni was obligated to complete a single service or task. The palace quarter of the dwarven city was partly constructed by the djinni.
When Aerisi Kalinoth arrived, she took possession of the horn but refused to free the djinni from his previously assigned task. Ahtayir works endlessly at this task, carving stone masonry and statuary and flying them through the cavern, reconstructing the city block by block. The party could tell that he resented this duty, yet could not escape it.
Our heroes took pity on the djinni and promised to do what they could to free him. In the back of his mind, Leopold also considered the value of having a powerful djinni owe you a favor!
Our heroes are confronted by a zealous sentinel, Kaz Hanar.
To the south, they could see the great step pyramid looming just to the south, on the other side of the bridge that spanned the moat. Pillars lined the stone colonnade like enormous trees, engraved with the names and likenesses of notable dwarves of the past. Other than broken pieces of wood and stone littering the floor, nothing remained of the roof that these forty foot pillars once supported.
The party proceeded onto the bridge which ended at a walkway enclosing the step pyramid. It was then that they noticed a large draconic creature with a humanoid rider perched atop the pyramid. The rider wore a feathered cloak and was staring right at the party. A moment later, the beast noisely swooped down, landing gracefully atop one of the pillars.
A Quick Chat . . . then Combat
A Quick Chat . . . then Combat
The wyvern rider asked what the group was doing so close to the temple and his queen;
they lied and told him that they were sent to report to the queen from Thurl Morosska, lord commander of the Feathergale Knights;
he asked what their business was; they said that was their own;
he informed them that protocol demanded that new recruits meet with the priests first to prove their mettle; it was obvious that, more than anything, this warrior was invested in the party acknowledging his authority;
unwilling to do so, annoyed, and failing to see how further negotiations would benefit their mission, Alexander initiated combat by using his Spider Staff to cast spider climb on himself and running up one of the columns, matrix style; he then leaped the span between his column and Kaz and landed on the wyvern's back, slashing at its air cultist rider with his trusty sword, Lightbringer;
suddenly, a brilliant light filled the hall and what seemed like all the potential energy in the surrounding area began to coagulate in Kaz's hands, pulsating with crackling, kinetic power; just before this energy burst forth toward our bard, sorceress, and paladin, LiKi's concentration overwhelmed the young Skyweaver, countering the spell!
Immediately, Leopold viciously mocked Kaz, further unsettling his confidence;
Alexander slashed at him atop the wyvern; Kahntun landed a well-placed javelin;
LiKi blasted his ass with a firebolt crit;
Alexander finished him off as Kahntun cast compel duel on the Wyvern; Alexander attempted to take control of the draconic mount, but failed, jumping off the beast's back toward the bridge; as a reaction, Leopold cast feather fall on our valiant folk hero who then gingerly floated down to the bridge beneath him before rejoining combat;
the wyvern charged Kahntun with feverish rage, biting our paladin in the collarbone and tearing at his flesh; as he howled in pain, the wyvern lashed out with his stinger, piercing Kahntun just beneath his armpit; instantly, he felt a dangerous toxin surging into his body; he wasn't looking so good;
fortunately the rest of the group whittled the beast down with witchbolts, crossbow bolts, and javelins; in the end, Kahntun mustered what remained of his failing vigor and delivered the deathblow to the beast;
the party backtracked to one of the living quarters they had earlier cleared out; Leopold cast Leomund's Tiny Hut in as inconspicuous a place as possible, and the party took advantage of a badly-needed rest.
His rage seemed to temper his potential.
This is the second time the party has encountered a wyvern mount. These beasts prove formidable foes, with and without a rider.
Chilling beneath Leopold's Tiny Hut.
Not only did Leopold provide the party with an impenetrable fortress within which to rest and lick their wounds, he went to work on his song of rest which was both beautiful and hilarious, evoking a smirk and a chuckle from even our gravely wounded and grumpy half-orc paladin.
Boss Fight! An Audience with Aerisi Kalinoth, prophetess of Air . . .
Boss Fight! An Audience with Aerisi Kalinoth, prophetess of Air . . .
Aerisi Kalinoth maintained an air of annoyed boredom as the party members introduced themselves.
After their eight-hour rest, LiKi, Kahntun, Alexander, and Leopold crept back to the temple and carefully opened the door. Inside the Grand Hall they saw more pillars, some stairs, and in the middle of the room, several cultists in gray feathered robes levitating a few feet above the floor while chanting a hymn. Howling air rose from a pit in the middle of the floor.
These cultists took no notice of the party and seemed well into a trance. Alexander suggested that they move on, arguing that any combat in this room would attract the more dangerous force they assumed waited for them one floor above. All agreed, but before they ascended the stairs, Leopold cast invisibility on himself.
The stairs rose twenty feet to a spacious, twenty-foot-high chamber containing a map of an ancient dwarven realm meticulously etched into the flagstone floor. At the far end of the chamber, a high throne atop a marble dais overlooked all. Peaked arcades hung with gossamer sky-blue curtains ran the length of the chamber on either side. From behind these, a heady incense wafted, its sweet smoke moving like a creature of air. Behind the high throne, a great spiraling horn rested in an alcove. Seated at the foot of the tall dais was that slippery rapscallion, Harold Greyspear, now known as Windharrow, leader of the atrociously bad musical group, the Wyndwyrds. He grinned at LiKi. She scowled.
The "queen" seemed ill-equipped to deal with the banality of our heroes and their interests.
Alexander drew from his experience entreating nobles and introduced himself, LiKi, and Kahntun in what most would agree to be an appropriately grovelling tone. They chatted with the queen for a bit. It became abundantly clear that Aerisi ruled the Cult of the Howling Hatred like an imperious, vain, and tempestuous queen. She was oblivious to compassion or kindness unless such gestures were directed her way. She saw ordinary mortals as expendable, weak-willed toys whom she attracted to her cult by seducing them with her powers of enchantment.
During their parlay, Leopold crept around the northern edge of the chamber, working his way toward the horn. It was then that he noticed five famished looking initiates behind the curtains, seemingly in a stupor.
Kahntun told her that he was sent by Thurl Morosska to strengthen the cult, claiming that the Feathergale Knight promised him that Aerisi would answer their questions. She smiled slyly, then proposed a deal: she would answer their questions after they entered the Temple of Black Earth, destroyed their prophet Marlos Urnrayle, and retrieved his weapon of elemental earth, Ironfang for her. When LiKi objected, telling Aerisi that that wasn't in the original arrangement, Aerisi began laughed scornfully. It turned out that she knew exactly who they were and that they murdered all the but two of the Feathergale knights (the two that jumped off the ledge holding Kahntun who had fallen gently to the valley floor and made their way to their queen). With that, combat began.
At this point, each member of our group was more than ready to get the fight going. They had had enough of Aerisi Kalinoth.
Aerisi began the fight with chain lighting, severely wounding Kahntun and Alexander who were both wearing metal armor. Luckily for LiKi, she had early concentrated on her metamagic, providing her with resistance to lighting damage;
as Leopold crept around the throne toward the horn, he was slammed into by an invisible force, taking some intense bludgeoning damage; he was perplexed and unnerved but continued on (it was later revealed by the djinni that he had been accosted by an invisible stalker);
ten initiates emerged from behind the curtains, but they were all under the influence of a powerful drug, effectively poisoned; despite this, they pursued our heroes;
LiKi toasted the drugged initiates with a powerful fireball, killing most of them; she also landed another fireball that clipped both Aerisi and Harold Greyspear; they howled in pain and rage;
Greyspear dropped two powerful shatter spells on Kahntun and Alexander, sending their hit points dangerously low;
Leopold continued to take unseen slams;
Alexander made it to Greyspear and cut him down;
Leopold finally made it to the horn, blew it, and summoned the djinni, Ahtayir; he ordered the the djinni to slay Aerisi and her minions, but he could not; instead, he conjured a powerful whirlwind that kicked up dust and debris, restraining Aerisi, Leopold, and what ever invisible entity was slamming him;
at this point, reinforcements arrived;
but in the end, the party cleaned up these forces, although it was very close; Leopold had to attend to an unconscious Alexander;
Kahntun delivered the final blow on the air prophetess, drawing on his thundersmite and divine smite, dramatically ending her life with a deafening blow that rang out through the entire cavern;
in Aerisi's eyes, our paladin witnessed the stunned incredulity as she surrendered to her newly-discovered mortality; a moment later her body disappeared in a howling whirlwind that quickly and harmlessly dispersed, leaving behind a substantial pile of jewelry, a curious looking spear, a spellbook, and an ingenious contraption that had apparently affixed a pair of finely-crafted wings to her shoulders all this time;
thumbing through the spellbook, LiKi came across the spell seeming, and immediately deduced that Aerisi brought these phony wings to life each morning in order to appear like the avariel, the winged elves she so admired; Our sorceress stared at the wings for a moment, then muttered, "poor deluded creature," as the deeply melancholic reality of the prophetess' self-deception suddenly struck her.
Some Loot and a Long Rest
Some Loot and a Long Rest
Our bard came away from this battle with some new weapons!
Besides the spellbook, the party found:
Besides the spellbook, the party found:
beautifully crafted replica wings
a platinum torc worth 1,600 gp
four gold and sapphire rings worth 1,000 gp each
a diadem from Evereska worth 6,400 gp
a curious looking silver spear named Windvane; Leopold cast identify on the weapon, learned about its properties, then announced to the party that he would be keeping it;
he also picked up a stone boomerang that seemed to have the power to unleash powerful stunning blasts of lightning;
after thanking the party, the djinni said that he would travel to the elemental plane of air, retrieve a gift for each of them, and return;
when he came back, they had just finished a long rest; Ahyatir presented each of them with one vial of bottled breath, which might in the future come in handy in a pinch!
Leopold's new spear, Windvane
Each member of the group received a potion of bottled breath as a reward for freeing the djinni, Ahyatir.
This bottle contains a breath of elemental air. When you inhale it, you either exhale it or hold it.
If you exhale the breath, you gain the effect of the Gust of Wind spell. If you hold the breath, you don’t need to breathe for 1 hour, though you can end this benefit early (for example, to speak). Ending it early doesn’t give you the benefit of exhaling the breath.
TL;DR
TL;DR
The aarokocra showed the party the entrance to the Temple of Howling Hatred.
Our heroes investigated, freed some weary prisoners, murdered some cultists, made a deal with a djinni, and slayed a wyvern.
They then had an audience with then battled the Prophet of Elemental Air, Aerisi Kalinoth.
After defeating Aerisi, they claimed some valuable loot, including a powerful spear.
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