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Up in Flames

·688 words·4 mins
Matt Schwennesen
Author
Matt Schwennesen
Ph.D. Student and Tabletop Gaming Enthusiast

When we last ventured to the Great Basin…

The members of the Task Force had just defeated Zealous, Nimble and Nefarious, a group of LAKE members who had presumably been tasked with guarding the Sword of Divinity. During that battle, both Oisin and Zorro were slain and you were hopeful that their deaths would be rewarded with the long-sought sword.

Those who remained turned their attention to the laboratory itself. Using Detect Magic, Meru found a large magic source under the center of the floor. Blue Eyes gained a borrow speed and cleared the obsidian-encrusted floor while Gwen cast Create Treasure Map using Nefarious’ skin and that this lab is holding the sword. Once the floor was cleared, Jusa used a Divination to ask

How could Meru safely retrieve the Sword of Divinity from its current place?

and learned

Rotate the seal until the primary rune points home.

Looking at the intricate stone platform in the center of the lab, you quickly identify the center rune as one of the most basic conjuration runes in the arcane literature. After a quick debate, you decide to point the top of the rune towards Ændor and when Gwen rotates the capstone into position and a black liquid starts to rise out of the cracks in the stone. The liquid swells, and then recedes, and reveals the Sword of Divinity.

Also during this time, Jusa messaged Daalvis Zidba with Sending, saying:

From Friends of Oisin: Oisin is dead (maybe fixable). In lab under Isle of Ruin, Need evac ASAP. Help

to which Daalvis responses with

Risk to alerting Fractal and LAKE too great. Suspicion is high already. The Forum is compromised. Oisin will rise again. Long live Ændor.

Now you were faced with task of moving a sword known for burning those who touch it in a column of holy-fire. The first of you to take the risk was Redfern, using a Mage Hand to touch the Sword. Once he did, he ███ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ gave the sword to Meru. Now Meru ████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ████ █████ █████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ █████████████ put the sword in their bag of holding.

You then left the lab and decided to kill the Kelpie to take their massive pile of gold. It was easy when Meru successfully cast Color Spray, then Wil Coup de Grace’d it. Your income totaled 150,000 gp and a helm with unknown magical properties. You finally rose to the surface of the Isle of Ruin and made camp for the night, planning to revive Oisin who can then teleport everybody off the island without risking exposure to any potential LAKE spies. During the night, Jusa prepared her spells and used Raise Dead and Restoration to bring him back with one negative level. She repeated the process with Zorro’s body.

Oisin was excited to learn that the rest of the group had recovered the sword and asked to see it. Meru drew the Sword of Divinity from their bag and the ethereal outline of six angel wings appear. Oisin asked to hold the sword and ██ █████████ █████ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ██ █████ erupts into a column of holy fire, leaving nothing behind.

We now resume in your damp campsite as you look on in shock at the scored earth were Oisin was just standing.