Umber

The party returns to Salt Marsh too late to save Alf, but travel to the Spire in the hopes of saving Meepo and foiling Gulthias’ plans for world domination (sab)

The party is travelling from White Plume Mountain toward Salt Marsh, discussing what to do about the baby Keraptis, which they have not entirely willingly acquired responsibility for, when the cuckoo hops to Bane’s shoulder and stares off intently to the southeast. After a few seconds, it raises its head and sounds a long, mournful wail, then dips its head and tucks itself back into Bane’s clothing.

Concerned about what this might portend, they quicken their pace. Suddenly the mysterious apparition with dark glasses appears before them yet again. “You have failed. All of your efforts to thwart me — for that is what they were though you knew it not — have been in vain. In fact, I must thank you for destroying that pretentious moron Urf. He became difficult to control once he fell prey to the Keraptis Imprint.

“I now possess all that I require to rebuild my realm. I shall harness the power of the sentient spells without yielding to their dangers, and the world shall feed my mind. I shall usher in a return to an older, better time.

“Those who resist domination will be taught a lesson, the lesson of fire. Blackfire. Yes, I possess that too, and have destroyed the antidote, the secret of its construction, and indeed its maker as well. Weep for Alf, the meddling fool, for he no longer lives to protect you. Goodbye.”

Hurrying to Salt Marsh and Alf’s hideaway, they find the place much as they remember it — the same narrow, wooded valley, the same rocky ground, the same scent of pine and dampness. Coming around a bend, they see the same stout, ornately carved wooden doors. But this time, one door lies flat upon the ground and the other hangs precariously from a single hinge. The ground floor is also littered with roughly half a dozen corpses, their once camouflaged clothing now blackened and burnt.

The main room, once crowded with experimental apparatus and filled with books, is now a smoking ruin. Fragments of furniture, vials, spell components and so on can be found, but nothing of value remains. Six more figures, in appearance much like those outside, also lie dead. Centered among them is the blackened remains of a broken staff. On the rear wall is the form of a figure, outlined in charred granite.

Outside they find that the small smoke hole, once barred with an iron grate, now lies open. A man in camouflage clothing lies dead near the hole, eyes wide and face contorted as if in terror. Careful examination of the area reveals that one survivor crawled away into the forest, dragging something. As Meepo’s body is nowhere to be seen, the party fears for his long-term well-being.

Returning to the house and heading upstairs, they find a storage room, two bedrooms (one with a half-sized bed containing a few scales), and a bare room containing little but an ornately carved stand holding a crystal ball. The ball is dark and cloudy, but a small spark of light still resides in the center of the ball. The image swells before the party into that of a massive, forbidding Spire. Uncertain what other course of action to take, the five adventurers step through.