Lasting Damage

The restricted section of the House of Knowledge falls silent. The apparition is banished, the party in tact - mostly. Jorund received such a lashing from his proximity to the creature that he finds himself permanently disfigured. Fortunately, it's a simple scar on his torso. A lucky escape.

Uwyn is safe and the party leaves Jaric to discuss his condition.

Revivification

Aust returns to the Neverwinter Hospital where he previously helped to heal the wounded. His goal is to store a number of spells in his Kiira in case the party falls victim to the Shadowfell.

He successfully purchases Gentle Repose and Revivify (a highly controlled spell due to regulations around patient resuscitation in the age of DNRs) from the on-duty coordinator.

Shopping Interlude

The party reconvenes to discuss which urgent matter should be attended to. Terrifying creatures amassing beneath the waves, hordes of undead who threaten to pierce the veil? The answer, of course, is shopping.

The party heads to My Chemical Reagents to barter with Gerard Way. Jorund wishes to purchase his remaining dragon scale, heavily relying on his Friend of Neverember card. Gerard is fairly enamoured by this loyalty to Neverember - and of course ecstatic about Merric recommending the shop to the man himself - so offers Jorund a very fair price for the scale. Merric takes objection to this as he paid significantly more.

He is slightly concerned to be losing his hot item which draws in customers. Grageon reassures him by dumping the contents of his pack onto the floor. Displacer Beast tentacles, Remorhaz legs, unidentifiable giblets. Gerard is particularly interested in the Kraken Eye. Noticing this, Jorund decides to try a new approach: intimidation. With a subtle suggestion that a well-funded adventuring party with such exotic items could establish a rival shop, Gerard quickly changes his tune.

Jorund purchases a dragon scale and receives 200 gold in store credit. This goes towards a number of potions for the coming trip. In addition, Merric trades some of his stockpiled drow poison in exchange for Purple Worm and Wyvern poisons.

Spellscars

Jorund decides that getting his spellscar seen to before a trip across the planes might be wise. Vraith, head nurse at the crisis tents, is happy to oblige having practiced on Merric.

Vraith begins whispering a ritualistic prayer while sprinkling her concoction onto the scar. It flares a brighter blue, illuminating the room, though there's no perceivable feeling. It's not sore, it's not warm; it's just glowing. Something glows in a similar fashion beneath her robes as Jorund's senses are drawn into a vision.

You kneel before an unknown king in fealty. A squire doffs the monarch’s breastplate as he tells you to rise. “Boy, they say you are gifted with the tools of your trade. I ride for war at dawn.” The breastplate is clunked down on your workbench. Sheer anxiety sets in as you prepare to work your magic.

(Jorund rolls a Constitution save of 15.)

You whisper a prayer to Gond, Lord of All Smiths, as you run your hand across the breastplate. The king watches expectantly, one hand on his sheathed blade.

(Jorund rolls a Constitution save of 16 and a Charisma (Performance) check of 20.)

The breastplate glows golden, bolstered for its upcoming battles. The king claps in approval.

---

Inspired by Jorund's success, Grageon decides to attempt the ritual. He has no dragon scales so he offers up the kraken eye. Vraith is unsure - she has never attempted it without dragon parts, and it was a struggle when those parts were not scales.

Aust and Jorund sit in on the ritual, bolstering Grageon's constitution with magic. With Aust present to translate the Elvish, he understands her prayer effectively boils down to asking the fhaorn’quessir (changed people) to bind thespellscar's power to servitude.

Your brothers are falling left, right, and center on this unknown battlefield. You attempt to assess the situation. Who can be saved? Who is too far gone? Your vision narrows as panic attempts to take hold of you.

(Grageon rolls a Constitution save of 16.)

You make your choice. A hulking warrior gasps for air at your feet. A puncture wound to the neck - you don’t have long. You extend a hand towards the wound and call upon Ilmater, the One Who Endures, to stem the bleeding.

(Grageon rolls a Constitution save of 22 and an Wisdom (Medicine) check of 3.)

The warrior breathes his last. Your magic was not enough. The tide of battle is turning against you.

Urogalan

In the meantime, Merric attempts to create a makeshift shrine to Urogalan within the graveyard proper. He lays out his wooden sword, the onyx dog statue, and the recovered inks.

As you look around, you are in a familiar location. You are kneeling at the foot of a tall tree, amidst a circle of stone caskets. To your left, it is engraved “Verna” - and to your right, “Otho”. In the distance behind you, a figure slowly shuffles in your direction. Above her head is a fierce thunderstorm. Lightning lashes at the ground mere feet from her, yet she does not flinch.

Merric recognises this woman as Verna.

Neverdeath

Jorund takes the party to meet with the Eye Omniscient in Neverdeath Graveyard. He has promised two things: a sending stone to communicate prior to any strike, due to the seemingly coordinated revenge attack on the graveyard; and access to a guide who has good working knowledge of what the party will find on the other side. Though the guide cannot accompany the party, he informs them of all he knows about Evernight:

• The city’s living residents include maddened necromancers; corrupt purveyors of human flesh; worshipers of dark and evil deities; and others who are both able to make themselves useful and crazy enough to want to live here. But the living are a minority in Evernight, for the bulk of the population are the shambling dead. Zombies, wights, vampires, pale reavers, and other undead make the dark city their home, all under the watchful eyes of the ruling caste: the dark council. The council consists of:
  • The Ghoul King, Doresain. The original sole ruler. Driven very much by profit - though not in the form of coin - he is a far more contemplative individual than his name suggests.
  • Marka the Dead. Her ties to the Temple of Filth are what won her a seat on the council.
  • Zog. Shrouded in mystery, his rise to power in Evernight is the stuff of legends. It is rumoured that the orc enthralls every foe he has ever conquered in battle.
• Where the Neverwinter Woods stand, the locals have “The Burning Woods”. It’s traversable but it’s treacherous. All manners of creatures wait in ambush.
• Black Mound. Black Mound is a small rise in one corner of the city and also the name of the neighborhood that stands atop it. The houses and manors here are larger, though no less dilapidated and filthy, than others in Evernight. The most powerful undead dwell here, and most of them are ghouls. In disputes with other citizens, residents of Black Mound are assumed to be in the right more often than not. Outsiders and lesser undead that spend too much time in the neighborhood are confronted and questioned.
  • House of Screams. One of the largest manors in Black Mound and certainly the oldest, the House of Screams is the nearest thing to a courthouse or a city hall in Evernight. The tribunal assembles in the manor’s upper level to moderate disputes. The doors are reinforced with rusty portcullises that are lowered during assemblies, ensuring that the loser of an argument cannot easily flee the ghouls’ judgment. (The tribunal finds vampires, with their ability to transform into a gaseous state and slip through the bars, to be a real pain in the neck.) The large, open cellar of the House of Screams serves as an arena where citizens can formally work out their problems—that is, attempt to kill each other—without involving the tribunal. Bored ghouls, wights, and vampires hang around the cellar constantly, hoping for entertainment. They can act as witnesses to a conflict and confirm that the participants observed all the rules of engagement (such as they are).
• Corpse Market. The bulk of Evernight’s commerce ebbs and flows where Neverdeath’s Main Graveyard stands in the Prime Material. Quite a few vendors sell meals to undead that are too busy or too lazy to catch their own. Glass or ceramic decanters, enchanted to keep the contents fresh, hold bloody refreshment for the city’s vampires. The more expensive shops offer a selection of specific types of blood—male or female; young or old; human, elf, or dwarf; and more specialized fare, such as blood from wizards or royalty. For the ghouls, some vendors carry body parts for when hunger strikes them.
  • Undead for Hire. Several vendors in the market rent zombies as porters and laborers. In no case will these zombies fight on behalf of the customers, and renters are responsible for the safe return of each zombie in one piece. Renting a zombie costs 10 gp per day, and customers are required to leave collateral: a chunk of flesh that is surgically removed and alchemically treated so that it can be reattached later.
  • The Auction Block. In one corner of the Corpse Market, a large stage of old wood and bone is the site of occasional auctions. Vendors step onto the stage and announce what they’re selling, in hopes of attracting an audience. Sometimes, undead bid to purchase living captives for use as supper or slaves.
• Graveyard. The Neverdeath pauper’s section serves as a resting place for a few of the city’s undead that perish in battle or accident, but the Graveyard’s main purpose is not to serve as the final resting place for Evernight’s citizens. Instead, it’s a site where the ghouls blend their hunger and their faith in the performance of a ceremony that is the stuff of mortal nightmares.
  • Lamantha’s Mortuary. Lamantha, a human necromancer who is almost certainly mad, works primarily as a mortician and taxidermist. She prepares victims for their “funerals”—making them look their best and ensuring that they won’t start moving again until they are secure in their coffins—and she also prepares bodies (or parts of bodies) for undead that want trophies, tools, decorations, or sporting equipment. On occasion, Lamantha makes up undead to look like living beings, if they so desire, and serves as a “healer” to undead that have been injured. In exchange, the ghouls leave her alone to continue her studies, which have something to do with the observation of growth and change among the undead; her precise purpose is unclear. Despite her amoral nature and her willingness to perpetrate horrors, Lamantha is not innately hostile to living beings. In fact, she welcomes their presence now and then so she can discuss current events in the mortal world or other topics of interest. Thus, if the characters can avoid angering her, they might find the mortuary a safe place to rest for a night or two. Much longer than that, Lamantha’s patience with the foibles of the living will run out, so visitors should be careful not to overstay their welcome.
• Haunted Pier. A river once ran through Evernight, fast and fierce, wrecking ships whose captains lacked the skill to navigate its treacherous waters. No more. For more than two decades, lava from Mount Hotenow has trickled steadily through the city in the channel of the old river. The lava flows into the sea and creates an enormous cloud of steam and fog that occasionally shrouds that end of the city in mist. Several stone piers still stand on the banks of the channel, and on rare occasions, ghost ships materialize, seemingly held afloat on the lava. These ships dock at the empty piers for a few hours or a few days, then vanish upstream once more. The sounds of creaking rigging and moving cargo resound throughout Evernight, yet no figures appear on deck.
• Temple of Filth. Once, so long ago that it’s scarcely recalled by anyone but the oldest of the city’s undead, this building was a temple to Bhaal and Myrkul, gods of death who were destroyed more than a century ago. Today, nearly all the ancient symbols and icons are gone, and those that remain are mere dust-covered curiosities. The temple is now dedicated to the demon lord Baphomet, Lord of Beasts, and his seneschal Doresain, the Ghoul King.
  • Pool of Daylight. Deep within the temple, locked away behind trapped and cursed doors and shaded with rituals of darkness, a literal pool of radiance gleams with the brightness of Toril’s midday sun. Merely entering the room causes undead crippling pain, and touching the liquid has been known to instantly destroy weaker ghouls and vampires. Within the pool—or so the ghouls claim—lies an artifact capable of destroying undead by the hundreds. So far, only the ruling caste and the priests of the temple know whether the artifact exists. However, since everyone is getting what they need from Evernight, they see no reason to test the ghouls’ claim.

The Mute Lute

Merric takes the party to The Mute Lute to meet his contacts. Asking the proprietor to see his collection of penny whistles as instructed, the party are led to a back room. The door is locked behind them as they stand face-to-face with Arlon Bladeshaper. He cuts to the chase and informs Merric of his news.

The Lords Alliance believe the Krakenar attack on Waterdeep was spawned out of desperation. Arlon's network believes this catastrophic defeat to be part of the prophecy. It is Talosian priests who will awaken the slumbering Toamal to wreak chaos along the coast in the name of Umberlee and Talos. Two such individuals in ritual garbs were spotted transporting a halfling towards Neverwinter but never arrived.

They have been holed up in the abandoned Tower of Storms for nearing three days now, and the scout reports an increasing heartbeat pulsing from the seas near the tower.