07. Chapter Seven

Erich and Pock open up with blasts that stun two zombies and bloody one of them. The zombies remain stunned and dazed, Flynn moves around and uses jumping blade assault on the bloodied zombie. Baltazar moves in and attacks the zombie as well, killing him. Eldaen uses radiant smite to attack another zombie, and his holy outrage destroys the downed zombie.

Pock fires an eldritch blast at a zombie, bloodying him. Erich uses mind thrust on the bloodied zombie. The other zombie attacks Flynn and immobilizes him, the other one remains stunned. Flynn misses the zombie. Baltazar swings and misses. Eldaen hits the stunned zombie with holy strike then moves to mark and engage the other.

Pock fires and misses the stunned zombie. Erich uses mind blast to hit the stunned zombie, knocking him down. He wakes back up and shakes off being stunned. The other one attacks and bloodies Eldaen. Flynn moves away and attacks the risen zombie but misses. Baltazar lets Flynn shift out of harms' way, but misses his target. Eldaen swings and misses the other zombie.

Pock fires and blasts the risen zombie and knocks it down. Erich uses hypnotic pulse on the other zombie, dazing him. The risen zombie gets back up again and misses Baltazar, the dazed zombie hits Eldaen for a lot of damage. Flynn moves in and hits the other zombie with clever strike. Baltazar moves in with his allies and uses defensive rally. Eldaen swings at the unbloodied zombie with holy strike, bloodying him.

Pock blasts the newly bloodied zombie. Erich uses dishearten on bloodied zombie. The bloodied zombie misses Eldaen, the other one moves in to attack Baltazar, bloodying, dazing and immobilizing him. Flynn attacks the bloodied zombie with clever strike, dropping him. Baltazar orders Eldaen to hit the risen zombie. Eldaen critically smites the zombie on the ground, destroying it.

Pock blasts the last zombie standing, and he falls. Erich uses telekinesis to pick up a rock from the cairn and drop it on him. The zombie stands up and attacks Eldaen, who is nearly down. Flynn hits the zombie with clever strike, knocking it down. Baltazar attacks the downed zombie. Eldaen hits the downed zombie with holy strike and critically smites him as well.

We take a brief rest. Pock and Erich begin investigating the arcane runes on the wall, and find a wellspring of energy, but they can't quite figure out what it is. It's channeling eldritch energy into the next room, but they cannot figure out any more. They then ignore cautionary words from Baltazar and Eldaen and go into the next room, finding an intricate contraption of iron rods and wooden shafts crisscrossing one another. Runes are stamped on various places, and the prongs hold a gleaming emerald. It appears to be some kind of arcane engine, and seems to be channeling eldritch energy from the feywild to somewhere else.

Erich pulls out the magic item at the center, causing a blinding flash. A loud shriek of rage is heard from an unfathomable distance, and all the runes stop glowing. The structure starts to fall apart and disintegrate, and Pock blasts a hole in the wall to let us out. Paleus shows up and begins walking towards us, and there are eladrin workers behind him to fix the Garden of Graves. We spend the night resting and talking with Paleus, and are given a feast.

They give us gifts, and the Seer comes out to praise us for clearing the Garden of Graves. The gifts are to defeat the "evil we will face" and "seek the answers that we will find." The gifts include a crystal orb for Erich, a belt of vigor for Eldaen, a newly-forged flail for Baltazar, magic boots for Flynn and a cloak of distortion for Pock. Pock asks the Seer to look into the identity of the being behind the desecration, and she has convulsions, declares him to be a great darkness from the early times, intending to throw down the heavens, and then passes out. She tells us the answers we seek lie in the history of our own world, not that of the feywild, and that she feels sure the answers are somewhere in the Prophecy.

In the lands of the Winter Court, there is a cave of shadow called Kragmorrah, and the creatures that dwell there are of a different plane, and we might be able to make a deal and pass through there. Or there is a human, a worldwalker, called the Greensinger, being held prisoner by a Duke of Winter. We decide to go to the Duke of Winter and try to free the Greensinger. Knights ride us out to the borders of the Winter Court, and we enter the Winter Court lands.

Four eladrin knights on Winter Wolves approach us, with a Cyclops walking beside them. They escort us into the Duke of Winter's court, and tell us to keep our weapons sheathed and we will remain unharmed. We are escorted into guest quarters, adorned with the skins of various hunted animals, including a dire polar bear, a white dragon and a Remorhaz. We are in a large dining hall, and there are chimes, and when everyone turns, Flynn and Eldaen sneak out to look around for the Greensinger.

The Duke and his lady come in and food is being served. After a brief excursion, Flynn and Eldaen think they see the Greensinger going into the great hall, so they go back. The Duke says "Bring in the singer!" He is about 5'2", fat, bald with a red beard, and dressed all in green. It becomes clear that they have the Greensinger's harp, and that's how they're keeping him prisoner. The Greensinger tells a story ridiculing the Duke and his retinue, then goes back to his room after pissing off the Duke.

The Duke calls upon Pock, asking what brings the "servant of his cousin Khalid" to the Winter Court. Pock asks about Kragmorrah, and is asked what he brings in return. Baltazar stands and explains that we recently ended a threat to the Feywild, which closed the passage to take us home. Erich offers to trade his music for information. The Duke tells us there is an entity outside Kragmorrah that can be contacted through the cavern using a pool at the base, the "Pool of Three Darknesses." Dwelling within the cavern is an old mistress of the entity who will have to let us pass, or we will have to defeat her and her minions.

While Erich plays Sarlonan music, Flynn goes to talk to the Greensinger. The Greensinger tells Flynn that he made a deal to sing a certain number of songs for the Duke, and then the Duke took his harp and traded it to someone else so he couldn't fulfill his end of the bargain. As we discuss what to do in our quarters, a servant brings Erich a scroll saying "Meet me in the tower garden." The rest of us are similarly accosted by feminine company.

After an evening with the Duchess, Erich finds out that the harp belongs to a dragon named Carynnthurax, who has made the arrangement to keep the Greensinger here. She then makes every effort to convince Erich to stay in the Feywild after we've gotten the harp back from Carynnthurax.

When we're leaving, we ask which way to the Summer Court, and manage to get general notions of where Carynnthurax is, and that he is a mirage dragon. It has a fight with another dragon, named Blizzard or "The Old Man" which is an older, more powerful dragon.

We begin making our way out toward Carynnthurax's lair. We make our way across the Feywild, using skills of Arcana and Nature, but our Endurance fails us and we lose a healing surge, and on the second night, we lose another. Flynn takes us into a thicket of woods following tracks, and something is rattling around in the trees.

Flynn moves toward the source of the sound, and it is revealed to be a huge polar owlbear. The owlbear crits Eldaen and hits Flynn, slowing them both with cold. Baltazar gives Flynn orders that let him flank and attack the owlbear, but he misses, as does Baltazar. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock curses the owlbear, teleports to an advantageous position and uses a blast of fire on the owlbear. Eldaen swings and misses badly.

Flynn swings and misses. Owlbear swings and misses due to the effects of Erich and Pock. Baltazar uses bastion of defense. Erich uses augmented dishearten again. Pock fires a psychic blast at the owlbear, making us all invisible to him. Eldaen hits him with his light of the living.

Flynn hits with Fox's Gambit. The owlbear, unable to see any targets, waits until something appears. Baltazar attacks with guarding attack, protecting Eldaen and wounding the owlbear. Erich uses augmented dishearten on the owlbear. Pock uses shared agony on the owlbear. Eldaen becomes visible, the owlbear attacks him and misses twice. Eldaen hits him with radiant smite and bloodies him.

Flynn uses Rogue's Luck and misses the owlbear. Baltazar orders hiim to attack again and he hits. Erich blasts the owlbear again with dishearten. Pock tries to intimidate the owlbear into surrendering. The owlbear attacks Eldaen and misses. Eldaen swings and hits with resurgent smite.

Flynn misses. Baltazar hits with Wolf Pack tactics and kills it.

Uneventful travel through the Feywild into the mountain.

We bargain with the dragon for three services. One is for Erich to play for a day, another is for Palleus to do something that will not cause a war, and the third is Pock making a new pact with the dragon.

He gives us the harp, and we determine to go back to give it to the Greensinger.

Flynn sneaks in to give him the harp, surprises the Greensinger, alerts the guards. Pock screams bloody murder and distracts one guard, Eldaen fights and distracts the other. Eldaen drops and replaces one guard, Pock sends the other running using ghost sound and concealment. We gather up Erich and Baltazar, ask the Greensinger to return us to the Wandering Inn. We learn that we've only been gone a day.