Kane’s Revelation and The Star Map Room

The next morning I decided to introduce myself when the time was right and waited for the adventurers to come down to eat breakfast, but only the Minotaur and Harengon came down. So, I followed them and as they walked through Roland’s shops and then I saw Roland appear suddenly, and began speaking urgently to the Harengon and then point towards me before turning and leaving again.

Roland's Mansion
Google Gemini AI Image - 2024

I watched as the Harengon talked to the Minotaur, who had a raven flying around them. Then he handed him a large two-handed sword that suddenly flamed up when the Minotaur said something. He waved and then the Harengon walked toward me. He stopped in front of me and asked if I was named Theren? I told him I was and he quickly told me that Roland had directed him to give me Lirael's Bag of Holding, which also had Lirael's journal and other things inside. Then with a sad glance back at the Minotaur, he hurried away as if he had someplace he needed to be, muttering, "I'm late, I'm late for a very important date."

Once the Harengon left, I put the bag across my shoulder and moved closer to the Minotaur, thinking I would have time later to look inside it. Where I listened to him haggle a little with the shop owners about an item he wanted to buy. Looking around the same shop, I find a Cloak of Protection for a decent price. During that time, I introduce myself as a fellow shopper and adventurer to the Minotaur and find out that he calls himself Donkey.

Not really the name I would have expected from such a noble looking beast, but he seemed comfortable with the name. Which led me to believe even more strongly that something had happened in the past to him and again felt this wasn’t all there was to his story. I also learned that the raven was the Tiefling’s familiar and that she would be over shortly.

As I attempted small talk to learn more about him, a strange scene was unfolding. We watched Roland and a very large Half-Orc walking towards the ring. Roland had obvious power limiters on his wrists, ankles, and neck and seemed agitated that the young man beside him had challenged him to a fight to the death over something that Roland had done to his father’s honor. The half-orc was working himself up to a rage and even then Roland gave him many more chances to not die. I don’t think Donkey helped too much and if anything got him further into that rage with some of the comments he made. I stood back to watch and listened.

Each time Roland offered to let the half-orc out of the match, the half-orc claimed he was reclaiming his father’s honor and ignored the offer to save his life. After his final offer, Roland took off one of the limiting bracelets and proceeded to bring the half orc to the point of death. Then Donkey did something that surprised me and I believe Roland as well, he intervened on the Half-Orc’s behalf, because he had fought bravely and honorably. Roland explained to Donkey what was going on and that he was giving the half-orc opportunities to walk away with his honor intact. After that Donkey walked away and didn't interfere again.

Then Roland dug an 8 foot pit and threw the Half-Orc in. He told the half orc that if he could climb out and leave the mansion he might still live, but that if he continued to want to fight that he would die. Then he left. I went over to talk with the Half-Orc, who was continuing to holler and scream for Roland’s head. I asked if he was going to let things go and live or die. He just yelled at me "I will avenge my father" and I simply said “Then you will die.” and I turned and walked away. I have a feeling that Roland got tired of the noise and the pit suddenly filled in, sealing the Half-Orc to the fate he had chosen.

After a few minutes, Roland came back in and asked if anyone wanted to spar with him. I quickly demurred and said that isn’t my forte. He looked at me and then chuckled. However, Donkey volunteered and they negotiated the ground rules to govern the sparring. I would love to say that Donkey won, but that would be, well, a fantasy come true for Donkey and many others. However, I was impressed with his willingness to stand up to Roland and he even managed to hit him once before he ate dirt and kind of stayed there for a minute. Roland was in grand spirits and told Donkey he had enjoyed sparring with him. 

I chuckled and thought to myself more like Roland had used him as a punching bag. Then Roland asked me to take, well help Donkey to the infirmary to get patched up. You don’t realize how big and heavy a Minotaur is until you have to half carry one a ways. The Doc at the infirmary wasn’t impressed that Donkey had sparred with Roland, but healed him up anyway, since Roland had sent us there. About that time the Tiefling showed up and introduced herself as Bluebell.

All of sudden a bag of coins showed up on Donkey’s lap, and had 17 gp for each hit that Roland had put on Donkey with a note saying thank you for the sarcasm. Then a second bag landed on his head with the real thank you. Donkey did chuckle at that one.

After all that excitement, the three of us decided to go have breakfast since Donkey had lost his when Roland kneed him in the stomach area. Going into the eating area, we could see Roland and the Teal Dragonborn having a conversation where the Dragonborn seemed quite unhappy. I attempted to steer us towards their table so we could listen in. It seemed like we weren’t meant to hear the conversation and were seated in a different area by the one we knew had punched out the Aarakocra yesterday afternoon. We talked about what our next steps today would be since Yeekiess and Varrin (it was nice to have names to go along with people in my dreams), were not here, but were expected back at some point soon.

The Dragonborn was leaving looking disappointed, but he stopped at our table. He looked at us intently for a moment, kind of sighed, gave us a strange look, and gave me a book and told us this will answer many of your questions regarding the Witching Hour. Then he left, but had a sad look upon his face.

When I opened it, the book started to write.

The book started to list the ones who were selected by Natasha as her Princes and Princesses. From everything I could read and piece together from what I knew before coming to Crannog, I believe this will be an interesting time. One where a person can improve their lot in life considerably by choosing the correct Prince or Princess.

1. A Harengon - Jax - a toy once, held together by the hopes and dreams of children and they were taken away and seeks to spread a form of happiness not knowing that their nightmares are his dreams

2. A Minotaur (Donkey) who doesn’t know or remember his own name - From a land from close to home, but not entirely from this world. A land that worships the sun and the moon and on that day his head was struck and memories lost and sent here to smell the daisies.

3. Sephera of the merfolk

4. Helena - daughter of Garland

5. The batfolk named Normundy

6. Hina Mantis

7. Valen the hobgoblin - 

8. Drast - Yuan-ti - Child of Natasha

9. Pallidia - The Owl Witch

10. Gapranth the Behenny - The Lost son

11. Moonscar - Child of the Black Moon

12. Alterra - Lilly of the Valley

The witching hour will start when the towers are brought to the front (Unvail). It’s beginning tomorrow at Dawnbreak. At which time all will finalize picking their knights and then establish the pecking order. The choices will be: Kill, submit, death, or be the last one standing. (The Game of Thrones according to Natasha) 

Bluebell and I discussed the ramifications that the book had told us with Donkey - primarily about him being selected as one of Natasha's 12. Bluebell told us that she had already sworn allegiance to Alterra as her Knight. That she would consider switching to Donkey if there was a good reason to believe he might be successful. However, at this point his actions and inability to think clearly, along with no resources, would make him one of the first to be killed, whether we are with him or not. Based on our observations we both felt that he would need to ally himself with one of the other selectees, because the chances of him coming out on top in his current condition was slim to none. Personally, I consider my life too valuable to waste on a quest that has no chance of succeeding, without divine intervention.

We suggested that he talk with Roland and see where he stands with the Witching Hour. If he was on Donkey’s side perhaps that would make a huge difference. Donkey asked the maid who had clocked Yeekiees if we could talk to Roland and she bellows out “Roland these guys want to talk to you!” Kind of not too subtle if you ask me. Roland came over to our table and sat down with us.

Donkey told him that he had been selected as one of the 12 in Natasha’s Witching Hour, but that he had no real memory of who he actually was, what was going on or who to even trust. Then both Bluebell and I voiced our concerns about our new friend and his lack of ability in his current state, if he could even survive the first hour of the Witching Hour. Bluebell stated that she was a knight for Alterra and had been warned that number 11 was going to attempt to release the Horned King, which she was vehemently against.

I passed the book to Roland and it begins to write. He quickly scolds the book after holding it for a moment. The letters ANG were visible to me and then disappeared. He told us the Witching Hour is something that happens every 3,000 years or so. Last time it happened Behenny won, and his lineage is still around and that he will provide more information on number 11.

Roland looked closely at Donkey, then discussed a few ideas that made sense – find someone who is more powerful to ally with, get a powerful knight to help - Donkey asked if he would and Roland declined, because he had other issues that were more pressing than solving the Witching Hour issue on this planet. 

However, he did offer to help Donkey get his memory back.

As a result of Roland’s spell - Donkey told us he got fleeting glimpses of who he was and told us that he could remember that he was a valiant warrior running through battlefields with his clan. That his name was Kane - he had a brother, who poked fun at him following one of the battles where they had been victorious. Then in another image his Clan was attacked and the brother perished leaving him alone. After that things seemed to get fuzzy and something bled out from the skies, purples, blacks and reds threads of magic. 

Then Kane started thinking back to a time when he was little and with mother. Who puts a daisy crown on his head.

Another memory showed a person having picked him up and two others being grabbed by the corruption from the sky. A monster forms on the ground. Then a Kalastar was by his side and both of them were saved by a female elf after Kane hit his head fearsomely on the ground. That was when he felt the corruption taking his memories from him. Taking pieces of himself that he might never get back according to Roland. Then the female elf attempted to heal him and he can hear her speaking, “there isn’t much else I can do for you.

The others are no longer there. Another of the tribe survived, but wasn’t there when I was able to get here.” The more Kane thought about it, the Fey lady in the coach who took Kenzo, seemed very similar to the elf that saved him that day, and he thought they were one and the same. Then the next he knew he was wandering through the daisy field here on Crannog and Roland sent him off to fight against Baldur. 

Roland heads off, while the three of us discuss what we learned. It seems that Kane is still suffering from the effects of whatever happened to him and while better than he was, he still doesn’t have any other allies on Crannog besides us. He finally acknowledges that he doesn’t know the players or have the resources to become the last one standing.

We knew from our conversation with Roland and Bluebell's with Alterra yesterday, that others have knowledge or even armies at their disposal. With that knowledge we all felt the best course of action would be to ally himself with a stronger one of the 12 and ride out the coming storm as best he can. The closest potential ally would be Alterra who Bluebell has already sworn her allegiance to and is just down the street from Roland’s.

Though it seems if the pull to serve Kane is strong enough, Bluebell could sever her allegiance to Aterra, but at this point she doesn’t feel comfortable with the position that Kane is in and strongly recommended that he ally himself with Alterra. Though it would depend on how they got along and what offers Alterra could make to Kane for his support.

The Star Map

Then Bluebell suggested that we go to the star map room that she and Kane had been in once before in the other mansion, and she had explored last night when she went back to the other mansion. According to the house guardian, it was a room that Gantz didn’t write about and didn't let others explore. Bluebell said that she had experimented with the star map a bit overnight and it seemed to be a portal to somewhere else. It might be a good place for us to look for clues on what to do next.

During our conversation, we talked about the different equipment that we had extra and Bluebell mentioned that the party had a pair of +2 daggers they had found on a body in Alterra’s mansion. She offered to let me use them, until I found a better melee weapon. I accepted.

Bluebell used her key to let us back into the manor and headed straight for the room where the star map is. While on the way there a black cat with a white patch on his front came and spoke with us. He asked what Bluebell was doing, ignoring the rest of us. She told us that we were headed for the star map and asked if he knew anything about it. It basically told us he didn’t but that Gantz used to go there and not talk about it. The cat did ask about the birdman and we joked that he’s probably still at Roland’s Infirmary, but that actually he went off looking for Gods, any Gods, and the cat just shook his head and said something to the effect “Nothing good will come of that, the Gods and others who claim to be, are not to be trifled with.”

When we get to the star map room, Bluebell looks at the map on the ceiling and begins to move things around and suddenly a platform forms and descends down, we look at one another and get on it. With Kane’s added weight it hitches a couple of times, but makes it back up.

The Observatory
Google Gemini Image - 2024

It takes us up to a room where I could see book shelves, some kind of apparatus that was pointing out towards the heavens, a glass case with a mask in it, a humanoid shape all shriveled up and another glass case with a sword in it. Bluebell and I head towards the bookcase that had titles like Bone Liches, Creating an Astral Lab, Green Liche, Vampirism, and we saw a black book that when Bluebell used detect magic on radiated transmutation/necromancy magic from inside the book, but it had a key lock on the outside of the book.

While we were looking at the books, Kane was attracted to the mask and went over and was staring at it through the glass case. Then Bluebell used her detect magic on the room and noticed that the shriveled up humanoid had some magic emanating from his hand, the sword, the big apparatus, and the mask all radiated magic. 

We talked for a second wondering whether the objects in the glass cases were being contained for a reason? Bluebell went to investigate the humanoid, while I went over to investigate the big apparatus by the sword. I figured out that it was some kind of a device to see distant worlds in space. When I looked through it I could make out a world that had almost been completely destroyed, with the colors and stuff that matched the description of what happened on Kane’s homeworld. I wondered out loud if it was the same place.

Bluebell said the dried up husk of a humanoid was grasping something in its hand and when she attempted to take what was in its hand, it said in a hoarse whisper that somehow we could all hear. “You shouldn’t be here”. It’s watching you, Kane asked, What is it? Looking towards Kane staring at him, It is a monster that is unstoppable. It is a messenger, if it gets attached it will call the others. The Stargazer, it is one of the few things we have that can fight them off. It will defend this place. Sword in case, The book has a hand inside it.” And then he stopped speaking, gasping his last breath.

When I looked back towards Kane…he had his two handed sword out and tapped the glass protecting the mask with it. The glass started cracking a sound that was very loud in that quiet chamber. We all looked over at it and I ran towards the sword case and broke it open. Hoping that it wasn’t cursed or anything. 

When I grabbed the sword -- I see a vision of Roland, the Teal dragonborn and two others, one of which appears to be of almost human descent, but definitely of celestial heritage, the other person almost looks like the boy Kenzo who went with the Archfey yesterday - possibly a Kitsune. In the vision I could see Roland taking off his armor, the dragonborn transforming into an ancient huge dragon wreathed in prismatic flames. Then I see Roland’s form praying, then splitting open to reveal a goatlike face, which splits open again to reveal a void-like creature with three sets of arms (I will have to study this further to attempt to figure out what Roland is). Then I see them ready to go at each other and him unsheathing the sword. 

Suddenly I hear Bluebell yelling something. Which takes me away from the vision and back to reality.

I see something crawling out of the mask, a beetle-like thing. Kane can’t seem to move and Bluebell attacks the creature coming out by attempting a banishment spell which the creature seems to shrug off without any problem. I thrust the sheathed sword into my belt and got out my heavy crossbow and attempted two shots at the creature, both miss badly. Bluebell casts a wall of force spell encasing her with the creature as she attempted to contain it. She was able to put Kane on the outside of it, and by doing so frees Kane from his trance. Both Kane and I can only watch as the beast attacks her and attaches to her face.

As we are watching we see her sword burst into life and I felt the awakening of an entity that scared me - I have ever been so scared in my life – an extremely powerful entity seemingly surrounds her and the creature is forcibly removed from her face and the wall of force comes down. We see Bluebell go to her knees and black ichor comes out of her mouth, eyes and ears. 

The creature attempts to escape by us, Kane hits it twice with his flame tongue and does considerable damage to it. Remembering what the shriveled up man said about only the sword stopping them, I dropped my crossbow and took out the sword and swung at the creature, again missing.

It skittered towards the entrance we had come through, and Bluebell came up to me and touched my arm and said we need to fly after it. I suddenly found myself flying and attacked the creature just as it was going out of the room. I hit it this time and did a good amount of damage, then it disappeared down into the room below. Both Bluebell and I continued after it where we saw the guardian attacking the creature and Alterra there casting a banishment spell that caused it to disappear from our realm.

I need to stop my story here and will write more later when I get another opportunity to finish. So much is happening in such a short time, that I want to ensure that I capture as much of this as possible.

• Though I wonder with this magic book, if I had Kane hold it, if it would help him retrieve more of his memories? Is the book a way to quickly capture my thoughts and add them to my journal or can I make it my journal? What are the book’s powers?
• I have to ask Bluebell how that creature was removed from her face and what caused that sense of power and fear that almost overcame me?
• I gotta go back into what I call an observatory with Bluebell look at that black book with the hand in it and check out the shriveled up humanoid more closely. That and get my heavy crossbow back and if Alterra doesn’t mind me looking closer at the book on setting up an Astral Lab.
• Finally, explain the vision I saw to Bluebell and Kane, when I grabbed what the shriveled up man called Stargazer and find out more about this sword?
• I have a feeling that reading Lirael's journal will help me figure out many of the things happening around me?

I just wanted to write those questions down, so I remember them if I get interrupted or suddenly am put in a position where writing doesn’t happen for a while. It seems that as we get closer to the Witching Hour things might get a bit hectic and even more chaotic around here.