[[1493-04-15 - Hour 11|<< Hour 11]] | [[1493-04-21|21 Tarsakh 1493 >>]] ## 20 Tarsakh 1493 The mists have lifted and Elysium is freed. In other words, we fucking did it. I'm beyond relieved that we made it out. Still, I definitely don't feel the same elation I felt after we killed Strahd; considering the state of Elysium and many of its residents, it's hard to be too happy. For example: shortly after me, Ezmerelda, Skoll, Nia, Rictavio, and Amelia left the safehouse for the Spider, we found ourselves on a familiar street, where gargoyles lined the buildings. They were completely still. We did what we could – I just wish we could've done more. But there's no use dwelling on it. At the lake, we found that it had expanded beyond its usual shores in the time we were away. Foulsham was there, and we weren't his only passengers – Mr. Fox was present as well. Save for an "apparatus of Kwalish" (which was too big for him to carry), Mr. Fox was there to dump the remaining stock from the auction. Apparently business has been slow; we were their last buyers. We were shown what was left: a necklace with skull on it and a book belonging to someone named Vecna. None of us were particularly interested in either; they were probably cursed or some shit, given that Fiddle and Blind weren't just keeping the things. The Spider was still a ball of shadowy mist when we got to the island in the middle of the lake, but he reconstituted as Damháin as we approached the clock. He greeted us cordially, like we were friends, like we had offered him a way out. He wanted to know how many vestiges of the old gods we had met. He didn't say as much, but he was clearly worried that nothing of him would remain after his sacrifice. A fair concern, especially considering how things turned out. Despite everything, we managed to convince the Spider that he would survive. He didn’t waste any time after he made up his mind; he snapped his fingers and a portal appeared. It took us straight to the nexus. The Spider didn't have much in the way of goodbyes for us, which was fine by me. He just stepped up to the nexus and put a hand to it; it flashed thirteen times, then the Spider was gone. That wasn't the end of it, of course – things are never so easy. The nexus started to shift and darken. Out of the blackness, a hand emerged followed by an entire spindly limb. And then something was pulling itself out. I can't describe what he looked like, but I do know his name: the Unspeakable Denizen. He didn't attack us, but he didn't know who we were, either. We talked briefly; afterwards, he said he was taking his leave. Next, the Unspeakable Denizen did something that made my heart sink into my stomach: he summoned a portal and stepped through it. I knew, then, that the sacrifice wasn’t enough; the vestige retained too much of the Spider's power for it to have worked. After studying the nexus, Nia and Amelia confirmed my fears that it was still incomplete. Panic is usually caused by the unknown. This time, I knew exactly what needed to be done, but it seemed impossible. The vestiges were scattered – some were even dead – and we needed them all. But as dismal as things seemed, throwing in the towel wasn't an option. We decided to start with the Spider's vestige; Rictavio was going to call in a favor. He sat down and started conducting a ritual. Soon, someone was materializing in the room. “Someone” turned out to be a man with a bird’s head. The man – Rictavio's patron god Thoth, I'd find out later – wasn't exactly pleased to be there; I got the impression that Rictavio is kind of a thorn in his side. But it turned out not to matter, because he agreed to Rictavio's request once the situation was explained to him. Thoth disappeared just as the Unspeakable Denizen reappeared in the temple. The Denizen wasn't angry to be called back. He was only confused. It didn't feel good convincing the Denizen to go back into the nexus, even if it was Nia that did most of the talking, even if he was the vestige of the Spider, even if it was necessary for everyone to leave. It might not have been so bad if he hadn't been so agreeable – but he _was_ so agreeable. As a result, the Unspeakable Denizen died within minutes of being born. The silence that followed was loud and long. Then, the nexus shifted once more, and stars started appearing on its oil-black surface. Constellations – thirteen of them. The spider-like one was lit up brighter than the rest. Not a moment later, Sackville climbed out of Skoll's bag. I was initially worried that he was there to collect his food for the hour – we definitely weren't prepared for another fight – but that bastard turned out to be one of the vestiges. I'm assuming, anyway; once he put his hand on the nexus and disappeared, the constellation corresponding to the Dragon was illuminated. I was kind of sad to see him go, even though he ate a bunch of my stuff and all of Skoll's. It wasn't as upsetting to see the Gaunt Silhouette enter the nexus, especially considering how bad he freaked Skoll out back at the tail end of hour 8. A short while after the Ox's constellation was lit, Mr. Wolf lumbered in the temple door. He shared a brief farewell with us before he was gone as well. This was opposed to the Sandman – the vestige of the Dreamer – who had no words for us before he entered the nexus. The strange creature that manifested next was not one that I’d seen before, but it was one that I had a name for: the Iabrochorum. Nia told us later that she had previously seen the thing lurking in the dark on that strange staircase. But it was no longer a danger; the Hunter had entered the nexus. The dual-personality that ran Sneerian's was next: the Twins. The Cat Lord showed up after that, saying that it unfortunately wasn't there to play any games. When it asked us to take care of all the strays, Skoll volunteered – but I have a feeling that Cicero can handle it. After the Cat, that left five vestiges, two of which we knew to be dead. But – for better or for worse – we had someone watching out for us. The fucked up brain made his way into the temple, the Painted Lady trailing behind him. The brain was carrying a bag of something that smelled overwhelmingly of rotting fish in one of its many tentacles; he had brought what he could of the Lurker and the Fisher King. The brain – the vestige of the Vermin, we'd confirm – announced that he wanted one thing from us before he would enter the nexus. It turned out that all he needed was someone to lead his colony of four fucking hundred mind flayers, which was a task that Rictavio objected to for some reason. I made Rictavio say that he would do it so that the brain would get in the god-orb. Then, a lot calmer than she had been the first time that we met her, the vestige of the Widow thanked us before following the brain into the nexus. I realized that I was no longer seeing in monochrome; things had shifted so gradually that I hadn't noticed until then. Yet things still looked a bit desaturated – there was still one remaining god. Johannes walked into the room. Sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Johannes, the perfectly amicable, regular – albeit skeletal – guy, was actually a vestige of the Rose. Johannes expressed surprise at our success before giving us all boney hugs. He gave me his mail uniform and bag – I ended up giving his hat to Porter – and then he departed into the nexus. It was all a little sad. But Johannes's sacrifice was enough; all thirteen constellations were alight, and the world was bright around us. It was starting to feel a bit like we had won. We didn’t spend any more time in the temple than we needed to. Outside, we found ourselves in a shallow lake unburdened by rain. The clouds above were parting to show the moon and stars. It was a short swim to the lakeshore. From land, we could see that the water was calm – but that wasn’t the only thing we were able to see, unfortunately. That thing – the one in the mirrors, the one that threatens annihilation – was staring up at us from the lake’s reflection. The sight didn’t bode well, but there was nothing to do; we left the lake and the thing behind us. We could’ve rested, then – however, it was getting late, and we had a lot of people to see before leaving the city. And we were definitely itching to leave. We headed to the pharmacy first on my suggestion. It was somehow harder to find with the streets no longer shifting, but we did find it eventually. A mind flayer was waiting outside; when we approached, they addressed Rictavio as “Dr. Brains,” which almost gave the man a conniption. He managed to stay calm enough when he instructed the mind flayers to go to school before they try medically practicing again. He also had them drain the water from the fountain and bring in a ladder. We found three prisoners. The heavily-armored individual in the first cell – Caelynn – seemed more than a little out of it, so we gave them some basil and sent them off in the direction of Cicero’s. Porter was also there, looking much more intact than the last time we had found him in a cell. We had to tell him about Johannes. He took it kind of rough; he doesn’t have much in Elysium, now that Johannes and the press are gone – so Skoll invited him to come with us to Waterdeep. Porter wasn’t exactly _happy_ to accept the offer, but he accepted it nonetheless. Isabella was asleep in the hole in the wall in her usual cell. She was overwhelmed immediately upon waking up – apparently, she’s never seen color before. I’d like to say that Isabella calmed down after we explained what was going on, but she only got more distressed when I suggested that she’d be safer coming with us than staying in the pharmacy. Still, she followed us out, and Skoll’s cloak seemed to help somewhat with the sensory issues. With the pharmacy out of the way, it was back to the safehouse. Ireena and Selise were both very relieved to see us. Rupert insulted our outfits again, now that he could see them in color. We gathered up everyone – me, Skoll, Nia, Ezmerelda, Rictavio, Selise, Ireena, Amelia, Rupert, Isabella, (we had sent Porter to Cicero’s ahead of us), Mr. Nibblets, the badger, and Little Balzac – and then we departed from the safehouse one final time. The mausoleum stretched tall enough that we could tell it was nearby, so that’s where our little procession headed. As we approached, we saw that Deannach was outside, his face pointed toward the sky. I wasn’t particularly surprised when Deannach told us that he has no plans to leave Elysium, but I was a little surprised when he asked Skoll to stay with him. I suppose he _had_ been making moves during our prior visits – Skoll declined in any case, though he did provide Deannach with the address to that house in the North Ward; the one we got from Madryck. We said our goodbyes to Deannach and then headed in what we hoped was the direction of Cicero’s bar. Soon, however, Ireena was having us stop, gesturing at a house that blended in with the rest. She told us it belonged to the druid Dr. Zakari. She wanted to say goodbye. Dr. Zakari was happy to receive us, even if he was a little annoyed with our insistence that he wear clothes for the duration of our visit. We hadn’t been in there for long when one of Dr. Zakari’s experiments made its appearance. It had a lizard’s head and a tortoise’s torso; small, elephant-like legs; furry arms with humanoid hands; and a long, fluffy tail. It wasn’t until Dr. Zakari told us its name – Chimpsky – that I realized the creature was vaguely monkey-shaped. Dr. Zakari assured us that his experiments are happy with their lot in life. I couldn’t argue – that is, assuming Chimpsky was baring its teeth in a smile and not a warning. We told Zakari that he was free to leave Elysium. He asked if he could accompany us out of the city; I told him that he might have to keep his experiments covered so as to not upset the public. But I think Zakari misunderstood what I was saying, because he said that he’d just trail behind before splitting off once we make it out of the city. Still, I didn’t object, mostly because I wanted to put as much distance between me and Chimpsky as possible. Before we left Zakari’s place, we briefly met his assistant, Clara. We learned how she ended up in Zakari's service: namely, a drunken bet. She didn't seem to mind it too much, even though she’s under the – probably correct – assumption that Zakari is insane. Clara gave us some candy; Skoll gave her our address; Nia gave her thanks for keeping Ireena safe. Then, it was off to Cicero's. Cicero's – for the first time since we had arrived in Elysium – was bustling. Caelynn and Porter had both made it. Foulsham was also there, as was Feste, Cheshire, Mr. Fox, Mr. Blind, and a scared-looking octopus. Cicero himself was happy to see us. He made sure to mention that he's not too pleased with the business we've attracted, but he also offered us free drinks – though that might've been because he wanted me to fix his roof, which he told me had started leaking again. I'm not sure that I would describe the roof as _leaking_; when I went upstairs, I found a gaping hole in the ceiling, beneath which was scattered rubble. If I had to guess, lightning was to blame. I did the best job I could in the time I had, which is to say that I did an okay job. Cicero seemed to appreciate it all the same. Back down in the bar, I said goodbye to a particularly pink Foulsham. I'm going to miss that guy. Then it was Cicero's turn. He gave us all a group hug, which was as awkward and surprising as it was sweet. Beyond the hug, he had gifts for those of us who had been visiting him regularly. Me, Skoll, Nia, Rictavio, and Ezmerelda opened the package away from the others. There was a bunch of stuff in there – along with an obscene amount of money – but I honed in on the most important item immediately: a cool electric crossbow. After I snatched up the crossbow – and Amelia was given her share (2 gold from Nia and 500 platinum from Skoll) – I called for the rest of our party. We said one last goodbye to Cicero, and then we left, Porter, Rupert, Zakari, Clara, and Isabella all trailing behind. We picked a direction and walked. Eventually, the brick underfoot gave way to grass and dirt. The buildings of Elysium were at our back. We had made it. The moon was high in the night sky and we were exhausted, so it was as good a place to set camp as any. Nia cast her tiny hut spell a bunch of times, Skoll lit some torches, and me and Ezmerelda build a fire. For his part, Rictavio settled down for some good old-fashioned divination; he wanted to confirm that we had made it back to Toril. We had. Rictavio told us that we’re on the Isle of Tuern, which puts us closer to Evermeet than it does Waterdeep. Skoll summoned Hati to discuss a possible shortcut. As much as I didn’t like the idea of another jaunt through the Feywild, I more so didn’t like the idea of a several week-long boat trip. Hati let us know that the closest fairy circle is at nearby volcano, which we can see in the distance. Then – after we make it through the Feywild and back to Toril – it’ll be only a few hours of travel to Uluvin. Learning that we would be in Uluvin tomorrow is what did it – I was finally able to relax. Hati did his best to ruin the good mood; he kept ragging on Rictavio, and not in a fun way. He also asked Skoll to talk to his wife for him so that he doesn’t get divorced or evicted or something. Whatever the case, I did a pretty good job ignoring him. I haven’t been the only one feeling the relief. Pretty much everyone – with exception of maybe Porter – is in good spirits. I didn’t even let it get me down when Ezmerelda made fun of me for my hawks, which I had called for on Ireena and Amelia’s insistence. It’s hard to believe that we did it. But we did, and we’re safe. They’re all safe. We have a long day of walking ahead of us come morning. In the meantime, I’ve given my farewells to Elysium, and I’ll be sleeping as close to Ezmerelda as possible. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[City of Eyes]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 04/20/1493