Evanna Spectre – blogpost 8

For a second, I think I stand alone on the roof. Thank God, Ilimitar and Yrod enter the rooftop as well. Razmir, the Stone Giant, the Stone Golem, an Ogre, and the Dragonwings are left. I am frightened when Razmir approaches us: I cannot heal anyone; I can only defend myself and some of my party members. Elenyr is already dead… I feel somewhat better because of Ilimitar and Yrod, but this still feels like an unwinnable battle. I am not often this negative of mind, but this is unlike any other situation I’ve ever been in.

Next to me, a tiny Goblin is attacking Razmir and the Dragonwings. He reminds me of the Elves we had in our town… The Goblin seems really mad. Ilimitar counterspells Razmir, so we have some time to get ourselves to safety. Yrod builds an igloo again with her magic, so we are all safe in there. The battle feels to go in the right direction. Ilimitar breaks the Stone Golem into a million pieces. Out of the dust, a Tiefling appears and flies up. Before I can react to the Tiefling, Razmir throws something in the igloo while Yrod tries to cast a fireball and knocks me out.

Ilimitar heals me not long after Razmirs’ spell knocks me out. I cast a guiding bolt on Razmir: it bloodies him after the fireball Yrod just threw. The Tiefling gets attacked too! It seems like he is on our side for now. Everyone that is an enemy of Razmir right now is my ally – I think. Yrod shoots another fireball at Razmir. She has so much energy left: I’m impressed! The fireball causes the Stone Giant to shout in pain and Razmir to be reduced to ashes. The Tiefling gets a lot of damage. He is the only one not in the igloo.

After the last enemy has been beaten, we see Shishaldix! He is BACK! He tells us Morsab is saved and stable inside the castle. The Tiefling approaches our group. The igloo has disappeared, and Yrod approaches the unicorn she polymorphed one of the Stone Giants into. She throws it over the ledge of the castle to ‘set it free’. I talk to the stranger I stood back to back with inside the igloo: the Goblin is called Dex. He is shaken and mumbles we have to pay him well. In the corner of my eye, I see the Tiefling cast a spell that exudes dark blue glitter. I feel a lot better. Could it be that this is a healer? The Tiefling is called Zhaidos. Shishaldix pulls him closer and leads him to Morsab to heal him as well. We all follow the two to Morsab, after Dex and Ilimitar search for loot.

Along the way to the barracks Morsab lies, I observe Dex. He is quite aggressive when someone makes a comment about his height. I’m glad I kept my mouth shut… Dex is starting to ask a lot of questions: he doesn’t know where he is. He came out of a portal and cannot believe we are in a floating castle in the sky. He comes from Berovia: a mythical land where a Vampire lord named Strahd rules the lands. As far as the party knows, it is a myth, but daddy explained to me it is a hoax: Strahd is just a human with a brain injury, making him like blood and use his magic for evil. Dex wants to go back to his party. We cannot really help him, however, Zhaidos prays to his God to make a portal.

A while later, when we’re almost at the barracks – a portal pops up, taking Dex and Sir Nemo to another dimension or place. Yrod is very very sad… Inside the barracks, we all take a long rest, but I barricade all the doors before going to sleep. Ilimitar keeps watch of the courtyard from one of the towers.

The next morning, Zhaidos tells us his story: he was flying around looking for a party and friends, and saw the flying castle. He was picked up and hoped the people there would like him. Razmir was kind of nice to him and asked for his help. But alas, Zhaidos was naïve… He was turned into a Stone Golem and doesn’t know what happened after, but he is happy he’s free now. Morsab feels better again and goes outside to scout where we are. The castle is still flying and is supported by clouds of thunder. Morsab cannot make sense of where we are map-wise.

We decide to scout the castle some more now all enemies are defeated. Quickly, we discover that it wasn’t the case: in the stables, two Wyverns are sleeping. We hastily and quietly close the door again and walk further. We see a great chest in another hallway. It is a magical chest and Ilimitar opens it. There are gems in there, but we cannot reach them: there is something magical that prevents us to grab them. I use dispel magic and enable myself to take the 32 gems. They are very shiny and worth almost five hundred gold pieces apiece. Ilimitar puts all the gems into his bag. Apparently, he rules over the party stash.

After we exit the room we found the gems, a red mage appears at the end of the hallway. I saw him for a split second when I ran towards the party, but everyone had already attacked the red mage and defeated him. I was too late to contribute to the fight. In the room the red mage came from, there are horse-skulls nailed to the walls: I think it is really gross and NOT animal-friendly. It makes me sad. We find some scrolls on the lecturers in the room: dimension door, feather fall, and fireball. We also find letters and a book in Infernal. Zhaidos can read Infernal and tells us it is about the summonings and rise of Tiamat… That doesn’t sound good…