09. 🌙

[undread]

On the day of the Apogee Solstice, Bells Hells travels have taken them to the Hellcatch Valley, an ancient ruin in the heart of Marquet. It's a red dust valley, dotted with tents and excavation sites, and a large pit with a platform in the center of it all. The ruins are far from empty empty; the camps are bustling with people, and many figures are walking along the perimeter, patrolling. Some large metal automaton crawlers are wandering around the perimeters, along with a few suspicious guards.

But you manage to get into the heart of the camp, using a combination of stealth and Imogen using her bright purple hair and her resemblance to her mother, a high ranking general in this group, to clear their way. Eventually, though, you do get caught, get in a small scuffle with some various guards. You manage to knock them out and even destroy one of the automatons, but then a figure in blue monk robes and a desert mask grabs Imogen and drags her into a tent. It happens so quickly that it takes a moment to notice she's gone, but then you rush to look for her and find her and the woman in a nearby tent, the woman's arm around Imogen's neck in a headlock, other hand pressed against her back, stunning her in place.

"Who are you and why are you fighting the Vanguard?" The woman asks. She's in her early thirties but with some gray hair and lines. I don't know why they drew Beau like this when she is literally 30 in Bells Hells timeline. "Answer before I break your pretty little neck."

"We're Bells Hells," Imogen says, struggling against the hold. "We're trying to stop them from releasing whatever's up there! Who are you?"

"Someone on the same path." All of you frown, angry at this woman for dragging Imogen off and also being generally rude. "We're here to stop Ludinus, destroy and fuck up whatever is in that hole, and take him back to prison where he can go say hi to all of his friends." She sighs. "I'm not usually in the habit of bringing people in on this stuff, but it was kind of ballsy of you to just walk up here. What do you think?"

She glances at the corner of the tent, which is empty, but a second later there a shimmer and a man in a long coat and scarf comes out of invisibility.

The strangers identify themselves as Beauregard Lionett and Caleb Widogast; they're affiliated with the Cobalt Soul, an organization you don't know, and the Grim Verity, an organization you've had positive dealings with in the past. You learn that Caleb and Beau both have a friend in common with all of you - Planerider Ryn, who set you on this mission, mentioned that they had other allies working on the project as well.

"We are on the cusp of a very dangerous event," Caleb says. "There have been many terrible dangerous things happening around the world with the solstice. Ritual sacrifices, summonings. Everyone with an ounce of magical talent and dubious morals is looking to seize this opportunity. We've been following Ludinus for many years, gathering scraps, proof, anything we can to take him and his inner circle down. But he's very clever. He is expecting us. How well does he know you?"

You talk and determine that Ludinus knows who you are, but doesn't know enough about you to expect you to screw up his plans. You explain that you already destroyed one of his keys for his ritual, the one in the Feywild. Beau and Caleb had travelled to the Shadowfell to destroy the key there, but their mission failed and some of their allies didn't make it out. They've been trying to break into the excavation site, but they have magic disruption running and mage hunter golems patrolling, so it has been difficult for them to make any headway. You explain that your last ditch idea to stop this ritual from happening was to crash your airship into it, and you have allies in the air right now prepared to try that if they have to. Caleb and Beau agree that this plan is good.

In the course of this conversation Caleb explains in detail how all of this works in wizard terms. I'm not writing it out. It deeply involves dunamancy, though.

Bells Hells and Caleb and Beau go their separate ways, both trying to get close to the pit at the center of the excavation site. You manage to commandeer one of the automatons, but it winds up getting stuck, frozen in place, and you can't exit it without revealing your position to this whole camp of dangerous enemies. But Orym manages to get a sending spell to his leader, Keyleth, a powerful druid, who has committed to arriving with an army of Air Ashari to stop Ludinus.

Suddenly, you hear a voice give an announcement. "Friends, our time table has been accelerated. Please gather at the key!" You can see everyone beginning to filter out from their tents and positions towards the pit. You see a purple haired woman who looks just like Imogen fly down from the sky, and by her side is a mage hunter golem, which has captured Caleb and has him in a silencing collar. The purple-haired woman extends a hand, and Beau begins to walk towards her from a hiding position, in some sort of trance. Both of your new allies have been taken prisoner.

From your hiding place, all of you whisper and argue about this. Should you try to help them? But even if you have allies in common, you barely know these two. The camp is full of enemies; if you leave hiding, you're all sure to be slaughtered. You've fought Ludinus' general Otohan before and it was a bloodbath; you shiver remembering the feeling as her sword pierced through you, the memory of seeing Fearne and Orym both lying still and bloodied and dead on the ground nearby. You're all stronger now, but not strong enough. You can't lose your friends and your own life for these two strangers.

Imogen protests, briefly, but finally you all agree to stay hidden. There's nothing you can do but watch what happens next.

In the middle of this, Ludinus appears, a tall, very old but ageless elven man. "Well! It seems we have our very much expected guests." He turns to address Caleb and Beau. "Caleb, Beauregard, thank you for joining us. I think it's only fitting you have front row seats to what you have tried so hard to prevent."

He turns around, and where he's standing on the platform with the Key, you can see there's a six-inch wide opening, a space in there, and he places his arm into it, about the elbow. As he puts his arm into the opening of the Key, you watch as green residuum veins on the Key begin to light up and glow up the entire spire as he starts to fuel it with his own arcana.

"I know we have other guests on the way. I'd hate to disappoint on the timing, but we need to move this along." There are still reinforcements on the way. Not only Orym's leader Keyleth, but ships from Vasselheim. Delayed, but finally coming to identify what's happening. And your friends above in the Silver Sun, your airship, ready for a last ditch attack. But Ludinus also can't start his ritual early. What you know of it is that it must occur exactly at the apogee solstice, the moment where the moon Ruidus is overhead in the sky at the precise right position.

Partway up the spire, about 25 feet above Ludinus, armored sides of the spire shunt downward, exposing some openings in the side of the Key, and there you see, held in place, a small object, a dodecahedron rimmed in gold. And the scenery surrounding you begins to move very quickly, as though you're in a bubble and watching the rest of the word speed by. The sun rapidly descends, the sky darkens, stars and moon move, the storm passes overhead and wind whistles by. Hours go by in seconds; he speeds up time to get the moon to the position it needs to be in well before it should be, preventing your reinforcements from arriving in time to stop him. When he removes his arm from the device, you can see that it's withered and dark.

You wonder if your friends on the airship will still be able to do their plan, but then you hear the sound of something heavy, high-pitched whine streaking. You can see the blue glowing stones of the brumestone that powers it shining in the air above you as the Silver Sun comes descending at intense speed straight down into the tunnel. Ludinus is surprised, expecting many of the reinforcements, perhaps, but not for your allies to crash one ship on him, but he throws his other hand up, the non withered one, and right as it is coming down on top casts a forcefield over the Key. The airship crashes, and all around the camp is in ruins, wreckage, people screaming and running, brumestone erupting into magical explosions and fires, but here in the center, where the Key is, everyone is protected by the forcefield.

The plan failed. At this moment, an earth elemental appears from a nearby tree, tall and powerful and furious. Orym whispers to you, "Keyleth." But Ludinus seems to have been expecting her. He casts a spell to freeze her in place and General Otohan rushes her to attack, hitting her with brutal slashes from her swords multiple times, again and again, and she takes blow after blow until she's forced out of her elemental form, left as a small, red-haired half-elven woman, bloodied on the ground, on the brink of death. Just before a killing blow is struck, out of nowhere, a man in black with a cloak of black raven feathers appears in front of her to protect her.

All of you charge out of your hiding place to go help Keyleth, because Bells Hells plays favorites with campaigns. While this is all happening, Beau and Caleb are still trapped, unable to do anything to help. But as you're fighting, the Key is turned on, the mirrors focus on the man in the black feather cloak, and he's compressed into an orb and forced into the machine. There's an explosion, red energy erupting from the Key, bursting into the sky up towards the moon.

"A thousand years, and you couldn't stop me," Ludinus says, laughing. "It's too late now! It's too late!"

And there's a roaring pressure in your ears, a red and then pure white glow like an explosion, and then you lose consciousness.