Present Party: Keviks, Lupan, Nana, and Wren. However, Lupan and Nana were both late to the session for their own reasons. When their characters reappear, that's when the players arrived.
Setting: The capital city of Kystad, Midtia and the forest to the south.
The next morning, Keviks and Wren attempted to find Lupan and Nana, but it seemed that Lupan (oddly, for an elf) was sleeping in and Nana was busy with her duties to the royal family. They decided to wait for them, and take on another, quick job instead.
The two of them made their way to the Hero's Way Adventurer's Guild, where they met with the receptionist, Lindsey Woods. Lupan had met her when he picked up his quest about a potential possession. She informed them of a quest given by one J. Mulaney whose boss was in need of phase spider blood. After a quick chat with Mulaney, they went on their way with the knowledge that phase spiders are very large, live in the forest, and have the ability to teleport.
They found one of the hulking beasts and were able to take it down. In doing so, they collected 30 ounces of its blood, and were able to bring it back to Mulaney for 75 gold pieces. They also learned more about his boss, one Mr. Hawe, who owned "Hawe's Exotic Emporium." He is a geneticist, working on magically splicing creature DNA. His emporium is filled to the brim with magical creatures of all sorts. Wren did inquire about the price of a blink dog, but ended up leaving when the price was revealed as 8,000 gold pieces.
The two of them went back to the palace, hoping to meet up with their friends.
~~~~~
Lupan slept in because he had a very intense dream, during which a gentleman came to him, and offered him help. Redemption, even, for wrongs done. He claimed that his name was Freyr and that he had friends who were invested in Lupan's future.
Lupan asked how he might be able to find these friends of his, and Freyr said, "They'll find you. And you'll know them when you see them."
~~~~~
Wren and Keviks returned, where they found Lupan awake. Nana also met up with them and they discussed their next move.
They wanted to investigate the southeast section of the city where Nana's raven Mond had been shot down the previous night. Afterwards, they considered investigating the potential possession at the Uptown Theater.
When they got to the southeastern area of Kystad, they did some looking around and investigating of the area. Nothing in particular stood out. They were unable to find any remnants of arrows or spell components that might be left over from someone shooting a raven out of the sky in the middle of the night. There were plenty of places where someone could get a good vantage point, provided that they could see the raven in the dead of night. Ultimately, the trail died, and they decided to move on.
The Uptown Theater was in the northeast section of the city, and they were escorted to Zarx Eddleman, the half-orc playwright who runs the theater. He claimed that he was possessed by the legendary hero and Dragon Lancer, Quest Carron. According to Lupan's book, Quest Carron was the tiefling College of Satire Bard in the Dragon Lancers. He died alongside his teammates in a battle against an ancient red dragon.
Nana decided to cast Detect Magic, and while Zarx was giving off an aura of necromancy, nothing else was giving off as strong of an aura. Keviks used his Primeval Awareness ability to try and detect undead creatures within a mile of the theater. There was one right in front of him (the spirit possessing Zarx) and one exactly a mile off to the west. They decided that was their best lead, and went investigating.
Once again, they were outside the Hero's Way Guild Hall. Exactly a mile west of the Uptown Theater. They went in and asked Lindsey about an undead presence at the guild hall.
"Oh," she said casually, "yes, that'd be Hugo. He's the guildmaster here."
They asked if they could speak with him. They believed that he could be helpful to them with their quest. Lindsey said she'd see if he was busy. When she came back, she said he'd be down any minute.
Behind them, a voice asked, "You called?"
Standing before them was a creature that looked as though he might have been a half-elf at one point. The one ear they could see was slightly pointed. His skin was hanging off half of his face, and the other half was a black skull, cracked with bright red arcane energy. The one eye was glossed over white. Upon seeing the shock and horror on the faces of the party, he transformed into a a half-elven man in his early twenties with red hair and green eyes.
"Are you a lich?" Nana asked.
Hugo, the guildmaster, laughed and replied, "Nearly."
He'd been appointed guildmaster about fifteen years ago, by Eli Hawks, but he'd been part of Hero's Way for about fifty years. The royal family - or at the very least the king, queen, and crown prince - knew exactly who and what he was.
The party asked for Hugo's help with this matter, and he agreed. He joined them back at the Uptown Theater, where they put Zarx to sleep, hoping that Quest would take over Zarx's body, as he'd done on several occasions previously. He did, and Quest insisted that he was looking for his pan flute. Hugo noted that Quest was tethered to it. Hugo was easily able to locate the item in the forest, where three dryads were keeping it. The party went to go retrieve it.
Lupan and Wren were able to speak to the dryads in question in Sylvan, where one dryad agreed to trade the pan flute for a lock of Lupan's hair. He happily agreed, and even gave one extra for a flower crown of morning glories.
The dryad wove bracelets from the hair, and said, "Just because something's a dream doesn't mean it's fantasy."
Then, she and her two friends disappeared, leaving the pan flute behind.
They returned the flute to Quest, who looked at it with wide disbelieving eyes. He took it in his hands. Zarx's body collapsed, asleep on the floor, and standing where he'd been was the translucent image of a tiefling with copper-red skin, large horns, and fiery yellow eyes. The pan flute glowed a bright orange in his hands, and the wood transformed into copper. Translucent dragon wings sprouted from his back and the image of a dragon's head burst from behind him. Quest laughed along with the dragon head and looked at the party.
"You've done it... you've started the cycle... Take my flute back to my home! Bury it there, with my mother and my sister! And it will all be right again."
And he disappeared, leaving the flute behind.
Hugo sat, looking terrified at where Quest had been, and he gasped, "My gods... they do exist."
The party left, having no further business to conduct at the Uptown Theater.
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