Picking up where we left off…

After you discover the true nature of the enchanted tome at the Library of the Cobalt Soul, and realize that Harkness got it wrong and sent the Golden Chain off on a wild goose chase, you exit the portal and find yourselves in the luxuriously appointed Restful Lily, a comprehensive bathhouse that offers a variety of rejuvenation services, run by three elvish sisters. 

You meet a talented and dextrous fella working out on an obstacle course where one of the sisters, Azirssa, an athletic sun elf with copper hair, who is usually seen wearing an ornate breastplate with a red fur mantle. Despite her confident, jovial voice she relentlessly pushes her guests who sign up for her fitness and health classes. 

The guy making a meal out of the obstacle course is a roguish character called Leon Scarlett, who, after gregariously introducing himself to you, tells you not to trust the drill sargeant’s hard demeanor. “She’s nothing like she seems,” and dashes off back inside the bathhouse. 

A few moments later, Barrax, you realize your coin purse is missing. 

“Either of you like a go at it,” Azirssa says, nodding towards the obstacle course. “Or is a good soak in a mineral spring more your style?”

“No, we’re looking for someone who we think is a guest, here, Jasmine Portis. Some of her colleagues are quite nervous about her whereabouts. We’re hoping to confirm that she’s a guest here at this fine establishment and that she is in good spirits and we’ll be on our way.”

“I’m afraid it’s not our policy to give out information on our guests to strangers, even to one bearing the…honorable….mark…of…a….Dawn Keeper.”

Barrax, you can’t help but notice Azirssa’s difficulty in saying those last words, almost as if it’s causing a negative physical effect on her.  

You let it slide, knowing that some organizations are not as welcoming to the order of Tomorrow’s Dawn as others. 

“Of course,” says Azirssa, “should you wish to enroll as a guest here at the Restful Lilly, many of our activities and treatments are group based, including meals. All guests will, at some point or other, cross paths with all other guests.”

After overcoming Ullrich’s objections to being touched, assuring him that no one will do anything he isn’t comfortable with (physically), you both enroll in a day and a night of wellness pampering.

Through a confluence of events, Ullrich, you find yourself alone in a room with the three owners of the Restful Lily, the three lovely elves, while Barrax explores the grounds. Morganna senses something bothering you and offers some of their more premium services that might help. 

“How do you wish to improve?” she asks. 

When you ask about the process for improvement, she tells you that the three sisters have developed a way to paint a picture of their client the way they want to become: physical strong, young, healthy, happy, strong of mind. As long as the painting isn’t destroyed, the client will always have that trait. 

You narrow your eyes, attempting to detect any deception in the three elves, but they all appear authentic and joyful at the opportunity to help someone improve. 

“The cost?” you ask, still suspicious.

“A boon,” she responds. “As you develop your newfound qualities, we may be in need of someone with your skills.”

“I don’t like being in debt to anyone. No matter the exchange.”

After a pause, Morganna counters. “I completely understand, Ullrich. Consider this as an alternative–we have a disruptive squatter in the temple of Sune, located behind the bathhouse, unusable for the last decade because of it. A medusa. She has yet to cause trouble outside the temple, but we’re beginning to find evidences of her straying from the temple and onto the grounds, and last week, a guest came down with an unexplainable case of stone bones, which we quickly restored. However, if word travels that a medusa is among us, I’m afraid we would lose our pristine reputation, even if we ultimately rid our resort from it. So time is of the essence. 

“We will provide you with our enhancing services, if you will then rid the temple of this medusa.  We are then square, you receive your desires, and we receive the same. Imagine, a wizard of both intelligence and strength or dexterity. One who could wield a sword and a tome at the same time. Or perhaps a great will or protection against attacks–“

“Memory,” you say, cutting her off. “I want perfect recall of everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. Everything I read, hear, see. I want an eidetic memory. If you can give me that, I and my companion will rid the medusa.”

The three elves smile benevolently and nod. 

“We can help with that.”

The three set to work, setting up a large, wooden easel, a chest of paints, brushes and other painting supplies, and a 3×4 foot canvas, stretched across a wooden frame. 

“All of us painting together will ensure that the magic you seek, will be channeled successfully.”

And in far less time than you expect, they turn the painting around to reveal a portrait of you, an incredible likeness, except for the eyes. The eyes seems clearer. Deeper. Profoundly knowledgable. Immediately, you feel different. You mind is sharper. Memories flood your conscious, nearly overwhelming you, from escaping your mother’s womb, to the color of the buckles on Scarlett’s shoes. 

The magic worked. 

“How, how is this possible?” you ask.

“Fey magic,” says Greensong, the gentle looking elf that wears a delicate lace blindfold. “Just as I see beyond the skin and into the soul. You are worthy of such a gift, Ullrich. And that is why you received it.”

“Could you teach me?” you ask.

They laugh at the request, not at you, but enjoying your enthusiasm. “I’m afraid not, Ullrich,” says Morganna. “But we can show you. Finish the payment and seek us out and we’ll reveal what we can.”

Fairly easy to find the old temple, obviously once a beautiful edifice erected to Sune, the goddess of love and beauty. Set apart from the mane bathhouse, you use your newfound ability to recall facts and lore to connect the medusa to this fallen shrine to the goddess of love and beauty. 

Medusas, you remember so clearly as though you had just read it a few minutes ago, are not born. They are not natural creatures. They are typically humanoids who sought out beauty or youth or adoration, who prayed for such things to a malicious diety, and were blessed for a time, but ultimately cursed as the price for their vanity and hubris. 

So, you wonder, who was this before they were cursed? And who place the curse in the first place? Surely not Sune, the benevolent goddess of love. You recall others are capable of curses, but something of this force is rare. And how did this medusa get here?

Judging by the state of the shrine, no on has maintained the edifice for nearly a decade, you think. A decade.

A decade. 

That’s the same amount of time since Silvarie Silversong sold the Restful Lily and retired.

Could it possibly be?

You cast mage armor and step inside the shrine.

Immediately, you notice that the shrine isn’t merely abandoned, but some terrible confrontation occurred here years ago. Broken benches with shredded cushions are overgrown by thick fungi, and four large mirrors hanging on the walls have been shattered, leaving the stone floor covered in shards of broken glass.

Mirrors, you think. She’s broken all the mirrors.

Not caring about the sound of the glass under your feet, you search the room, and are drawn to the moss-covered statue of Sune on the far side. Behind it, you find a ragged staircase, heading downward, towards a dimly lit chamber. 

Cautiously making your way down, you see a soft white glow rising from a square pool set into the floor below. Torn cushions, rugs, tapestries, and clothing have been piled in one corner as a makeshift bed, while thighs and scraps of deadfall form a simple campfire nearby. 

You hear a rustling and rattle before you see anything, coming from below the stairs. The water in the pool also churns and swirls.

You’re not interested in battling a medusa. For if either of you lose, you’ll never be able to learn whether you were correct or not.

What would Barrax do?

You pull out a small piece of copper wire, and point downward towards the rustle, and whisper into it. 

“I’ve no wish to harm you. I come alone. And…I’m here to help…Silvarie.” (Persuasion 20)

After a beat, you hear a soft, smooth voice respond.

“…Silvarie…a name I haven’t heard…in a decade.”

“Well, it’s probably because no one knows it’s you, and that you’re down here. Well except for me. And whoever cursed you.”

“The Fetid Gaze.”

“The Fetid what now?”

“The three sister hags who tricked me, cursed me, and stole my resort. They preyed on my doubts and weaknesses, promising me strength. They gave it to me. But only for a time. Then this curse engulfed me, and here I suffer for my sins, for eternity.”

“The sisters are…hags?”

“Green hags. Oh, I’m they don’t look it, with their perfect elvish forms, but trust me, they are as decrepit, oily, scale, misshapen, ugly tormentors as one could imagine, delighting in the despair and suffering of others, particularly the good.”

How could you not have seen it, you think to yourself.

“How does the curse work?”

“They entice you with your desires, promising to rid you of your weakness, for me, it was my self worth. I ran a shrine to Sune and built a resort where people could come and find peace, but who was I to offer such things. The sisters beguiled me with the promise of confidence and beauty, that I might be worthy of the goddess I worship. 

“A year later, I was transformed into this.”

A whisper of a slither and you see a creature appear from under the stairs, a woman’s torso and head, but the long winding body of a snake, instead of legs.

You nearly look away, but you watch as Silvarie the medusa ties a blindfold around her eyes before turning around. 

Her face is beautiful, as faces go, despite the wriggling serpent hair squirming above it.

“The paintings.”

“Yes. Did they paint one of you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are cursed as well.”

“How long?”

“A year.”

“Plenty of time to figure out how to break it and keep the boon.”

“There’s only one way to end the curse. Destroy the painting.”

“Easy.”

“But you will also lose the boon, they blessed you with.”

“Ah. That’s the rub.”

“Whatever curse designed to befall you is not worth the torment you will face. I promise you this.”

“Okay. We’re here to find someone in particular, but my friend, Barrax, would want me to help you too, so  I’ll try to find your painting and figure out how to destroy it.”

“The sisters are formidable. And I hold very little hope in your success. But I will cling to that hope with the tightest of grips. I wish you luck. And a gift.”

“I’m a little wary of gift offerings at the moment.”

The pool swirls and churns, and pulls the source of the soft, white light from the bottom of the pool up towards you, as if the water is alive.

“A water weird, right?”

This new ability is energizing. 

You recognize the item as a magic wand.

“It is called Radiance. And it may help you. “

You thank her, as you would think Barrax would expect you to, and you race back up the stairs.

You hope he’s in range. 

You pull out the copper wire. “Barrax, I’m down behind the bathhouse at the old shrine, there’s something you need to see.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment, battle a hag. The sisters are bad, repeat, the sisters are bad!”

So he knows, too. 

As you move to find Barrax you realize you don’t know anything about the bathhouse and will take you forever to get to him. Suddenly, you hear a familiar rakish voice from behind.

“We meet again, my wizarding friend. I don’t believe I caught your name last we met.”

“You stole from my friend.”

“Whaaa.Whaaaaat? Me? Surely not. I wouldn’t steal from a Dawnkeeper as I would from a nun on Sunday.”

“You did, and there is only one thing that will stop me from frying your body to a crisp.”

“What’s that?”

“Show me around the bathhouse. Where would one of the owners take a guest for a personal consultation?”

“Their offices, suppose.”

“Show me.”

In a flash, he takes you through the bathhouse, directly to the office of the sisters where a locked door stands between you and your friend, 

You wind up a fireball, before Scarlett steps in front of you.

“You want the entire staff bearing down on you?”

He pulls out a few pointing pieces of metal and jabs them into the lock. Within a breath, you hear a click and the door opens. Barrax is there, crouching over a dead body, a shrivled, worn hag with dark green skin covered in bark and fungus. Insects crawl over her lifeless body, her milky eyes, even more vacant and powerless than when she was living.

Barrax explains that this was Greensong, one of the elves, that all three sisters are hags. You, Ullrich, add that they’re called the Fetid Gaze, and tricked Silvarie and cursed her. She’s been living as a Medusa in the shrine. You fill them in on the way the curse works.

“No bleeding way,” adds Scarlett. 

Barrax found a key on the old hag, but not much else. 

“She tried to convince me too, but didn’t like my request,” said Barrax. “She started throwing up.”

You agree that the paintings need to be destroyed. Scarlett asks if he can be of assistance and Barrax suggests that his knowledge of the grounds and his ability to open doors makes him an asset. Ullrich isn’t convinced but relents. 

“He stole from you.”

“Whaaaaaat? I told you–oh, fine. Here.”

He tosses the coin purse back to Barrax, which is substantially heavier now.

****Akkk. There is too much. Let me sum up.***

You learn that Scarlett is a renowned thief and is hiding out at the resort from certain authorities until the heat dies down. He has rejected offers of enhancement because he can’t possibly think of anything he’d improve upon, already having a healthy ego and superior skills. 

Scarlett turns out to be invaluable as you search the rest of the bathhouse and tower for Jasmine Portis. He picks locks as easy as breathing, and moves so quietly you often check the ground to make sure he isn’t floating. In the tower, you discover a thin, weak-looking dragonborn sweeping the floor, who desperately begs you to leave. You try to explain that you’re here to help, but won’t listen until Scarlett uses a soothing tone of voice to calm him down. You learn his name is Jax Maxis, who was cursed after chasing his mind about the boon given. The hags cursed him immediate with the opposite of what he sought, and is now weak and frightened of nearly everything.

You also find a jittery, confused human woman in the tower kitchen trying to figure out how to use the wood burning stove, and are able to discern this is a cursed Jasmine Porter, who has lost all her cleverness and ingenuity. Realizing that you will have to destroy the painting to restore her and others, you set out to find them. 

Scarlett helps you steal keys off the other hags to the three locks on the door to a room that is off limits to guests. While on your way, you encounter Saeth, the half-elf you initially met when arriving at the Restful Lily only to find out he is a Cambion in disguise! He along with a couple other employees (turn out to be scarecrows) you battle them. With Scarlett’s help you beat the trio handily, using mostly melee attacks and cantrips, hold on to your spells in case you face the hags. 

You unlock the door to find five portraits: A brawny, golden-scaled dragonborn warrior engaged in battle, A tall male tiefling with sparkling violet eyes wearing many fine jewels, A youthful female artificer confidently tinkering on a complex machine, a radiant female moon elf gazing upon her own reflection, and Ullrich Netherdawn, with clear, bright eyes and a mountain of books, maps, scrolls and other education materials behind him. 

Casting a ritual identify, Ullrich examines the paintings. Meanwhile, the surviving sisters, plus two gargoyles storm the room and attack. Barrax and Scarlett attempt to hold them off, but the hags prove to be formidable. Barrax has to break Ullrich’s concentration, who then joins the fight and witnesses Leon Scarlett’s contribution to the battle.

Still the battle rages and the tide finally turns after a frail, tarnished-scale dragon born and a timid, slightly confused woman enter the room and offer just enough help to distract the hags.

One of the hags pulls out a a piece of octopus, but Ullrich immediately counter spells the attempt at black tentacles, and ends the fight with a fireball blast, though singing Barrax in the process. 

Scarlett was able to completely avoid injury during the blast. 

The portraits remain unscathed.

Now clear to identify the paintings, Ullrich learns the truly horrific nature of the paintings and the materials used, (paint infused with demon ichor, with canvas made from stretched elven flesh)  and how to destroy them. However, he is reluctant. He recognizes the rare nature of this powerful magic but the pleadings from the dragonborn Jax and Jasmine, and the encouragement from Barrax, Ullrich shares how to destroy them. 

Barrax raises his weapon and with a renewed strength, he attacks the paintings, destroying one immediately (the golden dragonborn). Immediately the thin, weakened Jax morphs into a powerful figure, towering above the others. The others are tougher, unable to quickly dispatch them. Ullrich attempts to help by using the wand given by Silvarie and casts enhance ability on Barrax, granting him unusual strength.  He destroys another (Jasmine) and the nervous woman falls to her knees panting, before collecting herself and demonstrating a sound mind. Barrax attacks another but even with the spell buff, he is jammed by psychic defenses and drops to his knees. 

Jax asks for Barrax’s weapon, which is given and with a mighty swing, he obliterates the third, then the fourth. As he ready’s the last one, they hear a cheer from down the hall, and Ullrich encourages them all to make sure everyone is alright, including Salvarie in the shrine.

Barrax relents and leaves Ullrich alone in the room with his own portrait. 

Once out of earshot, Ullrich summons the same fey used in the contest against Harkness and tells it to take the painting back to the Feywild, hide it, and protect it, until he calls for it again.

The fey bows his head and obeys. 

Ullrich then examines the hot spring located in the bathhouse and through another identify ritual knows for certain what he suspected: the hot spring has magical, restorative powers, including severing a curse one has with a magical item. 

Such as a painting. 

And while he isn’t certain, he hopes for the best.

He steps into the spring and soaks. 

Barrax finds him, and tells him that everyone is restored, including Silvarie, whom he found sitting in front of the shrine, restored to the form of a lovely moon elf, weeping in gratitude.

“What are you doing in there, Ullrich?”

“It was very enticing. And restorative,” Ullrich adds.

“Really.”

Ullrich nods.

“You should try it too, Barrax. I think we deserve it.”

“Yeah alright.”

A good hour later, you both leave the spring feeling extraordinary.

“What about the painting?” Barrax asks.

“What painting?”

“The painting of you with the eyes and the curse!”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I took care of that.”

“Took care of that?”

“The curse. The curse has been removed.”

“And the painting?”

“No longer exists in this reality.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, I can’t account for all realities, Barrax. Who knows what mirror dimensions or bizarre multiverse exists?”

Barrax pulls the towel from his head, his thick hair puffing out. He pauses.

“This is how it’s going to be, isn’t it.”

“Yes. I do think this is exactly how it’s going to be.”

Barrax laughs, shaking his head.

While Ullrich was able to recall everything he had ever encountered, his memory now seems to only perfectly recall anything he spent even a moment in focus, (though not simply in passing), for the past month. But still he feels his mind sharper, more focused, and able to recall things much clearer (Keen Mind received.)

As for Silvarie Silversong, she reclaims the Restful Lily and refurbishes it to its former glory including the shrine, and builds to even greater renown. She is grateful to Ullrich and Barrax  for what they’ve done and have made a friend for life.

Jax Maxis and Jasmine Portis both pledge their loyalty to Ullrich and Barrax for restoring them, and while it takes some convincing, they allow the thief, Leonn Scarlett to join their adventuring party as well, forming Vanquish.

After returning, The library of the Cobalt Soul make good on their word, paying 5,000 GP to Vanquish for their efforts in finding and receiving Jasmine, who still keeps rights as a sage, but still supports Vanquish in their endeavors. Vanquish immediately gains a reputation for a reliable, highly skilled group of adventurers.

As for the Golden Chain, well….Things work out pretty well for them, even if it was by accident…