After the ascension of Taban and Grandfather Zitembe, the party slept in the Sunken Temple without Takhesis, who had vanished. Each of the five had a lucid dream and woke with a gift: a bronze shield for Vogal, the Ouroboros Ring for Inete, the Amulet of the Primal Unbound for Taenae, a geode for Glade and the Conductor’s Pedestal for Vonara. Taenae’s dream told her to seek out Dungrunglung. In the morning Takhesis stepped through an icy rift, wearing a new cloak and carrying the greatsword Vigil’s End, and threw the head of Ras Nsi on the floor without a word of explanation.
Recap
The fitful sleep
It is the night of the twenty-seventh of Flamerule, 1492 DR. The party has witnessed the ascension of Taban and Grandfather Zitembe into the pillars of Chaos and Order, and the Sunken Temple is under their control through the Eye of Ubtao. Takhesis vanished during the aftermath, pulled into a vision of his own.
Exhausted by the trials of the Sunken Temple and by the emotional weight of losing their mentors, the party, without Takhesis, collapses into a deep, magically charged sleep within the safety of their new Bastion. During the night each of them has a profound, lucid dream tailored to their journey.
Vogal’s dream
Vogal stands with Taban one last time. Taban offers a heartfelt thanks. He admits that Vogal’s stalwart support gave him the courage to fulfill his fated purpose.
Upon waking, Vogal finds a large bronze shield, the Shield of the Eternal Brothers. It is emblazoned with two warriors locked in eternal combat, one poised with tactical precision and the other in mid-swing with wild rage.
Inete’s dream
Inete stands directly beneath the All-Seeing Eye of Savras, a place of profound holy significance. Grandfather Zitembe appears, whole and unburdened. He tells her that he loves her and gives her a final instruction: “Write your own fate.”
She wakes clutching the Ouroboros Ring, a keepsake of his legacy.
Taenae’s dream
Taenae finds herself at Critters, Creepers & Crawlers in Port Nyanzaru. She sees Alice. It is Chakuna, wearing Alice’s face to comfort or guide her. Chakuna instructs Taenae to seek out Dungrunglung. She warns of a sickness spreading among the Grungs and mentions a “Sleeping Ubtao” residing there.
She receives the Amulet of the Primal Unbound, which hums with raw nature energy when she wakes.
Glade’s dream
Glade stands in a shipwreck cove filled with the sound of sea shanties and deep, tectonic rumbles. The dream points to Jahaka Anchorage. He feels a resonance between his golem cores and his own draconic essence, which hints at a buried history and a personal destiny tied to the earth and the sea.
He wakes with a fist-sized Geode of the World Forest. Its core swirls with trapped starlight and volcanic veins.
Vonara’s dream
Vonara returns to the Verdigris House of her childhood. The dream begins as a quiet moment of happiness with her parents. Then reality crashes in: the Red Wizards arrive and murder them. She relives the trauma of being raised on the road by her mentor, a bard, and the scars that shaped her music.
She finds the Conductor’s Pedestal, a celestial orrery of bronze gears that hums with captured soul energy.
Takhesis returns
On the morning of the twenty-eighth, as the party wakes and takes in their visions, an icy rift tears open in the chamber. Takhesis steps through it, radiating a chilling aura.
He throws a severed head onto the floor. It is the head of Ras Nsi, who led the assault on Skyfang Keep. He offers no explanation of where he has been or what he has done.
He is clad in a new Dreadweave Cloak and grips a massive ancestral greatsword, Vigil’s End. His demeanor is cold, distant and efficient.
Aftermath
- Dungrunglung was the party’s next destination, on Chakuna’s word in Taenae’s dream.
- Takhesis had returned with the Dreadweave Cloak, Vigil’s End and the head.
- Ras Nsi was dead.
Appendix
Present
Taenae · Vogal · Takhesis Calva · Vonara · Glade · Inete.
References
People: Taban · Grandfather Zitembe · Savras · Alice · Chakuna · Ras Nsi
Places: Sunken Temple · Critters, Creepers & Crawlers · Port Nyanzaru · Dungrunglung · Jahaka Anchorage · Skyfang Keep
Other: Eye of Ubtao · Ouroboros Ring · Amulet of the Primal Unbound · Geode of the World Forest · Conductor’s Pedestal · Dreadweave Cloak · Vigil’s End · Red Wizards