The Chainbreakers discuss the state of Placido Mahet’s condition with Ir-Kaid. The young boy has some form of curse on him, but there isn’t a clear idea of what it could be. Ir-Kaid explains that he’s been researching the connection between demi-planes and the prime Material Plane. He made a breakthrough a few days ago, discovering that all planes are connected from a singular point – through the City of Doors. The leeches, he explains, come from a demiplane that he had found while exploring the City of Doors. He had tried to get away from them, but they followed him back to this plane. Ir-Kaid made a planar gate within the university, and once he returned from the City of Doors, he found that several leeches had found their way through.
After sealing the gate, he killed the leeches that made their way through, but several escaped and multiplied, and by time he found out, several of them had attached on to Placido, leaving him in this comatose-like state. The party then splits up to find Skolthir, as well as investigate the planar gate that Ir-Kaid mentioned. In the office that Ir-Kaid opened the planar gate, Tobar takes a look at a leech that Ir-Kaid had taken for study to find where it was storing the arcane energy it sapped.
Skolthir indicates that Placido’s condition is reminiscent of the conditions of the Magic Jar spell – that Placido’s soul has been removed from his body. Skolthir mentions that he can try and reverse it, but he needs a special root from a cave in Ravenbell. As Skolthir is looking over Placido, Ir-Kaid mentions that he hired a group of individuals to get rid of the problem, outside of the university’s knowledge, and in return, the leader of the group did not want money – just knowledge. The leader, according to Ir-Kaid, came from Comanil, and was named Albus Idu. Albus desired to learn about the beings known as Ancient Leviathans. They were protectors of Ercellonia, and were sealed away when they were no longer active.
The party decides to take a long rest back at their inn, as they’re all in rough shape. That night, the inn has a musical performer. A lute is left on the stage while the performer gets ready backstage, and Jean recognizes the lute immediately – it’s from his mentor and friend, Tal Whelp. Jean heads upstairs and finds his friend, and the two of them spend the rest of the night talking.
In the morning, Tal tells Jean to meet him later that afternoon, as there’s something important to show him, and the party heads back to the university. At the university, while everyone else heads to discuss retrieval of the root with Skolthir, Voir initially heads to the secret study that he saw in his vision, only to find that Grim had been developing spells that dealt with Oneiromancy, or dream magic.
Skolthir indicates that the root that he requires has a very limited usefulness after it’s picked, and that it’ll need to quickly be returned to the university after it’s been picked. The group heads to the cave where the root is located, and comes in contact with a creature that’s telepathically communicating that they’re hungry. Jean casts Tiny Hut, while Tobar and Ryfir try to find ways to kill the creature from the safety of the hut. After a few minutes, Lode tosses a few rations, and the creature begins to eat, content.
The rations provide just enough of a distraction for the group to sneak past the creature, which they can now tell is an otyugh. Ryfir retrieves the root and immediately races back toward the university, dodging citizens and navigating narrow streets on the way back. He arrives just in time, and Skolthir is able to make the tonic. He gives the mixture to Placido, and life begins to return to his form. Ir-Kaid thanks the Chainbreakers for their help in saving his son, and pledges to vacate his position within the university and leave.
With the young boy safe, the group heads down into the area Ir-Kaid had indicated that the group of hired individuals had left into, leading down into the sewers below the university. Tattered robes appeared to be all that remained of these individuals, as the party pressed further in. As the party heads down into the sewers further, they find a pair of fully drained drow, which is highly unusual for this area. They push through a little bit further into a large cavern and find a number of bodies littered on the ground next to the sewer. As they investigate the bodies, they see that the left hands have been cut off. Slowly, the heads of the bodies start to turn to face the party. Featureless faces, save for a mouth, look back at the group. A smile creeps across the mouths of these beings, with the mouth opening further and further, until there’s an impossibly deep void in each one. The creatures begin to scream, and as they do, what appear to be dozens of human arms start to reach out from the impossible void, and they begin to attack.
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