WitW - Session 28

The flap of wings overhead concerned the party, but the girl in the house seemed unbothered by the dragon that occasionally patrolled above. Horace recalled a reclusive green dragon, Garanax, that lived in the Spring Court. The shadows must've overtaken him.

The girl doesn't remember her name, which greatly concerns the party. They turn their minds to what they can recall, fearing that this place might be affecting their memories. Almyre senses something is off but can't quite put her finger on it. They decide to name the girl "Girl." She points them to a strange shimmer that looks like a door across the courtyard.

The party declines a tour and heads straight for the shimmer. Initially, they were sneaky, taking their time inspecting the ruins. Jeatz went invisible and found some green goo seeping from a broken fountain. The girl also went invisible to hide, while the rest of the party prepared to fight the dragon dripping with death and purple miasma.

Ghouls rushed the party, surrounding Horace. He tore through them like a hot knife through butter—taking head after head. The dragon spewed its necrotic breath, the first of many. It had been corrupted by the shadows, and Almyre and Horace were lucky to avoid the worst of it at the outset.

Almyre and Jeatz wasted no time debuffing the dragon with hex and mind sliver. However, Jeatz found himself in a pickle when he was paralyzed by a ghoul that rushed him. He shook it off but was immediately paralyzed again. Horace lucked out with a critical hit, cleaving through one of the ghouls and nearly killing another in a single blow. Despite being tripped, Garanax waltzed over to Almyre, successfully disrupting her concentration on the hex. In retaliation, Almyre fireballed the dragon, dealing a hefty blow. With yet another critical hit, Horace decimated the second-to-last ghoul and ran to assist Jeatz.

Garanax inhaled deeply to exhale another breath of death, dealing massive damage to the paralyzed Jeatz. Horace action surged, giving his all to down Garanax, but Garanax once again sprayed his deadly breath, downing Jeatz.

The dragon tried to flee, but Horace said no—trip attacking the dragon, bringing it down before it could escape. Almyre's fireball found its mark, and Horace, in an electric display of his combat prowess, speared the dragon through the roof of its mouth into its brain. The lifeless dragon before them was of secondary concern to the dying Jeatz. Almyre administered a healing potion but felt something different. Pascal appeared to have taken on the curse of the shadow dragon, his skin taking on a purplish hue. Jeatz's magic had been cursed to only deal necrotic damage until the curse could be lifted.

The girl revealed herself, elated by the dragon's death. She comforted Pascal despite his ailment. The party pulled a heart from the dragon. While Almyre cast Identify on the dragon's heart, Jeatz and Horace dragged bodies to the well. The well's contents appeared to be a viscous, highly acidic liquid. Almyre discovered that the dragon heart granted the ability to channel Garanax's necrotic breath and raise humanoid zombies from its victims.

Horace turned his attention to the girl. She had lived here a long time without food or water. She was clearly real and not a ghost, but it was unclear if she was cursed. Perhaps a mystery for another time. Almyre promised they would return to her soon. The party took a few dragon bones for the road.

Jeatz approached the tower, and it suddenly became visible. The door seemed mundane—just a knob and keyhole. The key Jeatz had carried since his fateful night of gambling all that time ago had finally found its home. Jeatz entered without a word, and the rest of the party followed him in.

Jeatz felt an oddly homey feeling about the place. Almyre pulled out the Lens of Time to see a shocking sight—a much younger version of the wizard Ariazel entering the tower, with a voice calling from above, asking if he was okay and mentioning that something was attacking the pixies. Ariazel assured the voice that he was fine. Jeatz couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow this place belonged to him as he snapped the lanterns off and on again.