Recollections by Kaylorr
Chandra is dead...or was...so was I...
As I sat preparing myself to go and search for Chandra myself, Avant finds me to tell me he put together a team to assist me. Dereth, Iago, and Loco are also there. We start out with Dereth speaking to his deity for guidance. We learn Chandra was indeed dead and her soul could be found in the Labyrinth where all souls go to await judgement. I then ask Wisakedjak for any advice he can give in hopes of bringing Chandra back to the land of the living. Though he has not heard of anyone coming back from the Labyrinth he says we do have two options to start our journey. The first, travel to The Nightshade Kingdom and bargain with The Raven Queen to gain access to find Chandra's soul and bring her back to the mortal realm. The second, under the supervision/protection of the First Weaver, we kill ourselves to quickly get to the Labyrinth and find Chandra.
We opted to go with plan 2. I guess you can say we decided to become some sort of [suicide squad]...
Our collective deaths were not easy or clean, for lack of a better word. We decided to use Dereth's temple as our point of recall and where the First Weaver can prep our bodies. Dereth tried to give me a clean soldier's death but all I remember was agonizing pain and then blackness. We then all awoke in a square room and everything looked covered in a weird black and grey haziness. We had none of our equipment or gear but still had access to our magical abilities. Iago still had his songs and sang to keep our spirits up. After getting our bearings we realize that Loco was missing and we all bore the same resemblance of a black shadowy shade looking thing. Fortunately, we also happen to enter the same room where Chandra's soul was waiting. She seemed to be a little more on edge than usual and was none too pleased that we came to help. Her goal in traversing the Labyrinth was to prove her worthiness and we've made a huge mistake in trying to follow her. I tell her even in death, I will follow her and pledge my service in hopes to atone for what I attempted when we were younger. After the brief reunion and introductions to the others, we find Loco right outside and we all begin the long and tedious trek through the Labyrinth. Our mission, find the Well of Souls and hope we can make it back
Time moves differently when you're dead. There was a lot of walking and backtracking but I guess that's what gives the Labyrinth its name. We had a couple of encounters with shades, allips I later learn, who seemed to pop out of the walls. Dereth and I shared the job of using Guiding Hand to navigate us towards the Well of Souls and we eventually find a hidden chamber containing a chest. Since none of us had any of our physical belongings, we were very curious as to who or what placed it there. Iago's curiosity got the best of him and immediately opened it where we find a very animated skull containing emeralds for eyes and teeth. The skull, who we all dubbed Emerald, says he doesn't remember how long he's been locked in there and doesn't even know that he's in the Labyrinth or even the Raven Queen. We start to hear voices emanating from somewhere within and as we get closer we stumble across another shade but this one seemed different than the others. This shade was a bit more powerful than the others and I don't remember most of the battle. All I remember is Iago or Avant sending Emerald to "eat him" and next thing I know there was a bloodcurdling scream and the shade was no more. After a brief rest, we finally make it to our goal behind some sort of bluish veil. with no hesitation, we all make our way through it and enter a massive arena. Below we see a man going toe to toe with a draegloth, and above us, the Raven Queen watching over the entire arena.
We took a quick rest as we watched the lone figure below defeat not only the draegloth but a massive Balrog single-handedly. We learn from one of the undead souls next to us that this man has been fighting for 6 weeks by himself. Chandra immediately decides to enter the arena to assist and we all follow suit. We make our way down to the arena below and after joining the man we find that it is Danavus, The Red and Headmaster of the House of Fire, himself. We try to give him as much info as we can since his disappearance but almost immediately the next fight begins and a fight it was.
The next enemy came in two waves and again my recollection of the fight is a bit hazy. I guess death and getting resurrected does that to you. The first, a squad of red skeletons with skin stretched tight armed with clubs and were immune to fire. Emerald lets out his magic scream and quickly takes out half of their number. Chandra and Danavus do their thing and we do ours and quickly take out them out. Wave 2 comprised of another squad of evil looking skeletons. Immune to radiant, force, sonic, and necrotic damage we seemed to have met our match. Danavus was their primary target and was immediately paralyzed. Chandra and Emerald were barely holding their own and the rest of us quickly lost all hope. All of a sudden, I felt embraced by warmth and safety and a presence surrounded me offering me a way out. I quickly look towards Chandra and I know from deep within she would not come, and so I deny this offering and choose to stay to fight and perhaps die alongside her. In a flash, that warmth left and I see my compatriots also chose to stay. As we made our final stand and readied ourselves for the inevitable, Danavus looks towards Chandra and I hear him tell her, "Find your mother, tell Pia they're coming." With that I see flame erupt from him and into Chandra and all that is left of The Red is a pile of ashes. Chandra, with renewed energy, explodes with fire and takes out the rest of our foes. As I tend to Avant and Iago we hear a booming disembodied voice say, "These are the Eternal Armies, they herald the apocalypse. You know now how to defeat them. Leave now and do so." and in a blink we are abruptly returned to our physical bodies back in the temple. Chandra is with us and her eyes alight with fire like Danavus' were, she quickly takes her leave. Iago goes searching for The Seal to tell her about our new enemy but she offers no other information. She also says if we even come across Chandra again to tell her that The Seal wants her library back as she now carries a massive wealth of knowledge within her.
Emerald surprisingly also makes the trip back. He claims he has an island some 3000 miles to the east of Solace and he thinks that's where the rest of his body is. He invites us that we can come looking for him if we wish to but to make sure we properly remind him of who we are or else he will try to immediately kill us. We also find that a full week has passed in the living world and I seemed to have gained some weight after coming back from death. I have heard tales of penalties from coming back from being dead and I guess I got lucky if my penalty was massive weight gain. Totally unsure about the others but I'm just glad we were able to make it back.
Since Chandra's death and I guess resurrection, I also find my powers have returned and I've once again become a Scion of Pelor. With my prophecy seemingly complete all I can do now is to help prep the Eternal Order for the impending doom. At the edge of hope and time, and as long as we choose to believe in ourselves and each other, we will face our enemies at our door and bring the fight to them. When that day comes, I believe we can [cancel the apocalypse...]
PS: I have an apprentice for my potion making. A new gnome buddy and his name is Zeph Three-Dice Roomples Poomples