Episode 74
Portents in the Hills
Gemma receives a dream and Forge becomes wary of the jewelry box. The Soul Survivors begin traveling to Ironhelm and cross paths with some Penumbra Hills inhabitants.
Recap
A Message Left in Iron
The episode opens in the aftermath of triumph. The party emerges from the Vault of the Oath-Forged, Anton now wielding the legendary Moonblade — a weapon long sought and finally earned. The mood is light, almost celebratory, as Anton takes a few test swings and the group debates where to make camp for the night. Choosing the safety of the sky temple over the open world below, they teleport back up to the floating ruins, spread out their bedrolls, and settle in for a well-earned long rest.
But the night is not entirely peaceful.
Gemma's Dream and a Concerning Discovery
While the others sleep, Gemma is pulled into what feels less like a dream and more like a memory. She finds herself as a young girl in the Golden Thicket, collecting autumn leaves, when a group of bullies led by a girl named Bethany corners her. They taunt her family, calling them witches and freaks — a familiar cruelty rooted in old rumors about the magical abilities of Gemma's bloodline. Trapped and pelted with rocks and mud, Gemma's rage builds until a wave of energy erupts from her, scattering the bullies into the woods.
Forge, in his sentry mode, notices Gemma huddled in the corner with a small dark jewelry box clutched in her arms, her face twisted as though in pain. He approaches gently, places a hand on her shoulder, and casts Guidance — but Gemma remains deep in the dream. Concerned, Forge casts Detect Magic as a ritual and senses necromantic, evocation, and abjuration energies radiating from the box: something sealed inside, and something protecting the seal. He carefully removes the box from Gemma's hands, and she slips into a peaceful sleep.
Forge then communes with Corellon, his patron deity of art and magic, asking three yes-or-no questions. The answers: the box's evil or cursed nature is unclear — but it is hurting Gemma, and whether destroying it would be safer is also unclear. That is enough for Forge to keep the box at a distance for the rest of the night.
Morning Revelations
When the party wakes, Forge returns the box to Gemma and explains what he witnessed. Gemma is dismissive at first — she feels fine, remembers only fragments of the dream, and insists the box is simply a delivery she has been tasked with getting to a location south of the Khorir volcano, near a place called Dhel Todir. But Anton uses his Divine Sense and confirms what Forge detected: something evil is contained within it. The Moonblade itself seems to pulse in disagreement when Gemma jokes about handing the box off to an unsuspecting stranger to open.
The party debates what to do. Forge and Anton are unsettled; Willa and Gemma are pragmatic. Gemma agrees to let someone wake her if she's ever seen clutching the box in her sleep again, and the group ultimately decides to press forward. The box stays with Gemma for now, but everyone is on alert.
Before leaving the sky temple, the party pays their respects to Maug, the dragon eel killed by Spider Lily's forces before the previous session ended. Anton says a quiet prayer over the body, and the party discovers something tied to the impaling spear: a small rolled piece of parchment marked with a red spider, bearing the words "See you in Ironhelm."
It is a threat and an invitation in equal measure. Spider Lily knows where they're headed. Forge plants the spear in the ground as a marker and scratches the name Spider Lily into the stone beside it, a makeshift memorial and a promise. Then the party heads for their horses and cart, still waiting outside the vault above.
The Road to Ironhelm
With Ironhelm as their destination, the party sets out through the rocky hills. Anton takes point as navigator — a natural fit for someone with a strong Survival score — and with help from Willa's assistance and Forge's Guidance, he rolls well enough to steer the group confidently through difficult off-road terrain. The hilly environment limits travel to normal pace, meaning it will take just over a day to reach Ironhelm, requiring one more night on the road.
The day passes quickly until, rounding a hillside, the party hears screaming. Ahead, at the mouth of a small cave cut into the rock, a young woman is crawling away from three circling wyverns.
They charge in.
Ambush in the Hills
What looked like a rescue quickly becomes a trap. As the party engages the wyverns, the "young woman" flickering in the distance proves to be an illusion: a green hag, crouched and smiling, drops the disguise and reveals herself as one of three hags orchestrating the whole encounter.
The first hag opens with Vicious Mockery directed at Anton, but he shrugs it off entirely. The second hag, who had been posing as the distressed woman, attacks Willa directly. A third hag emerges from higher ground on the cliffs and adds to the chaos with further mockery and commands, directing the wyverns to press their attack. A fourth appears from Invisibility and tries her hand (badly) with more Vicious Mockery.
Combat is brutal and layered. The wyverns are aggressive — biting, clawing, and lashing out with scorpion-like stingers. Gemma takes a stinger hit and must make a Constitution save against poison. Willa takes significant damage across multiple attacks. Forge, nearly untouchable in his heavy armor, weathers a series of strikes while maintaining concentration on his spells. Anton, wielding his Moonblade in combat for the very first time, lands devastating blows — his first strikes with the legendary weapon cutting through hag and wyvern alike.
Gemma uses Misty Step to reposition to high ground, unleashing twin Fire Bolts at two separate hags before dancing around the action economy with quickened spells and sorcery points. She also twin-casts Haste on both Anton and Willa, giving them each extra attacks and doubled movement — a game-changing turn. Forge conjures a spectral warhammer wreathed in golden flame — the favored weapon of Moradin — as his Spiritual Weapon, joining the fray alongside his Sacred Flame cantrip. Willa, hasted and leaping to the clifftop with her Ring of Jumping, hammers at the commanding hag with her maul.
One by one, the hags and wyverns fall. Anton delivers a clean decapitation to two of them. Forge and Willa finish another. The third hag, badly injured and surrounded, turns invisible and vanishes. The last remaining wyvern surveys the battlefield — its handlers gone, its companions fled — and decides the fight isn't worth it. It spreads its wings and flies off into the hills. The party lets it go.
The battle concludes with the party wounded but standing, gathered near the entrance to the cave the wyverns were guarding. Whatever lies inside will have to wait — the session ends here, with one more encounter behind them and Ironhelm somewhere ahead, where Spider Lily is already waiting.
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