Crimson Sands of Time

<I have Picollo and Trisk headed for the portal. Any word from Ethan and Randy? Is T with us? Is Tess able to stop Valindra from ending Tetrevess?>

< Sparhawk is fine, btw. He's just been sent Forward in time >

"RUN! THIS WAY!" Ethan screams to the others, diving headfirst into the portal after Randy jumps in before the ruins collapse.

Before Randy jumps into the portal, along with Tetrevess (if he's still here), he aims one last ballista at Valindra, hoping to end her for good. Regardless of if it misses or not, Randy then runs with Ethan to the portal in an attempt to escape the crumbling abyss. "All forces fall back! I repeat! All forces fall back! Jump in the portal!" He yells out, running into the portal before the entire place collapses. I'm so glad... It's been an honour to fight alongside you... all of you... was the last thing he thought, before his vision went black upon emerging from the otherside.

As she Summons a portal within the sepulcher, by which to make her escape, the Red Wizard clutches tightly to her body the urn which, surely, holds her own phylactery. "Enemies of Thay, you have not seen the last of Valindra Shad... " her words are cut off abruptly when the ammunition fined by Randy's ballista crashes into her skull, impaling it as it creans through the open portal, dragging the lick behind it. Her concentration broken, Valindra's portal snaps shut before her legs can be pulled through, instead remaining in the sepulcher, falling to the floor as tar-black ichor drains slowly from her amputated Iower appendages.

EIsewhere in the Phylactery Vault, ...

Another lich 's contingency is triggered by the removal of a phylactery from the vault.

The intersecting walls of the tetrahedron pull together absorbing, at their seams, first the rubble that lay there, then the edges of the sepulchers, all the while accelerating as they devour more and more of the phylacterry vau lt. when, at last, the wall meets the spot where a Dimension Door stands open, Tess sees the room instantly swallowed by the singularity in, the center of the space merging with the looming walls as they rush to meet.  The sepulchers, like firecrackers in a chain, explode, violently, destroying the phylacteries within them, along with the remains of the sepulchers, themselves the former Phylactery of Kazit Gul. 

Tess finds herself in a gray, featureless plame, empty except for the passing whisps of smoke that fill the area, There is no firmament beneath her feet, but she feels nothing drawing her down. Regaining her bearings after the shock of the explosions and subsequent expulsion from wherever they just were, she recalls her search for her busther, and with the thinget of him, she begins to come, passing the slowly wasting cbuds of steely smoke so quickly they become a blur, and before her, couched in the cloud's embrace, appears the body of her brother, Tetrevess. 

< This scene continues, but I'd like to know if To sservethis with us and moving to the same place as everyone else or just hanging out here as a placeholder if they wish to return later. >

On the other side of the portal, despite being unable to see*, Randy has a sense of his surroundings. The ground underfoot is soft and springy; a thick carpet of grass grows beneath him. The scents of roses, cowslips, and hyacinths suffuse the air.

Beside him, Ethan sees the vast garden in which the brothers now find themselves. Ahead, a ring of standing stones rises from the flower beds. Glittering streams divide the garden and connect with a large pond shaded by willows. On the far side of one narrow stream stand Trisk and Picollo. Randy glimpses the hag who opened the portal vanish into the water. The garden is silent save for the sounds of music and voices coming from a colorful pavilion by the front gate. Eira, the elven druid who summoned the hag, kneels on upon the heath, palms soaked in lush grass, her long hair hiding her tears, but the movements of her back belie the gentle sobbing shrouded by her mane. 

A twilit palace emerges dreamlike from the clouds, the sky above filled with orange and purple hues. A great marble tower ringed by delicate spires casts its shadow over the rooftops below. Another tower teeters nearby, torn from its foundations and held aloft by a coiled beanstalk. Monstrous vines cling to the palace walls and choke the promontory of rock on which it perches.

<*this blindness is imposed by the player and they can end the condition at will or explain what will cause it to end, if they wish, or just keep it. If you do plan to keep it, will it be mechanical or just thematic/flavor? We can figure it out if you'd like. >

<end cutscene, but this is more of a social exploration segment, so you might not notice the difference.  Also, this is on you guys to move forward. I will run anything you do. This scene is from Wild Beyond the Witchlight. Yiure in the Feywild. I've set up for Caverns of Tsojcanth and Death of Szazz Tam. It doesn't matter where your PC started, you're free to pursue anything you like. And if that means something else entirely, I'm here for that, too. As you move around more of the scene will become apparent and you're free to explore any of it as much or as little as you wish.>

Players are up. Everyone but Sparhawk. He'll be along shortly.

Here's a list of some stuff in the garden you'd find just looking around. Feel free to interact with any of it

<I'll just keep describing things if nobody stops me. Lol.>

Ivy clings to a set of silvery gates embedded in the palace’s outer wall.

The double gate is 20 feet tall  Its silver-plated iron bars are spaced wide enough for Small humanoids to squeeze through. The wall encircling the garden is 40 feet high and is easily climbed due to the vegetation clinging to it.

Is the fountain outside or inside the gate? Can Trisk reach it to get a drink from it?

Youre all within the garden, surrounded by a the wall. The gate doesn't appear to be locked, and might swing open effortlessly. The fountain and everything else described are within the garden, but if you do want to look beyond the fence you can see a pretty wide expanse of the feywild.

Did you wish to try the gate? 

As you move through the garden, you notice that its features and most of its occupants except for some, like the guests in the pavilion, are frozen in time. Pixies are suspended in midflight or frozen mid-frolic in the stream, the waters of which are perfectly still. Forest gnome gardeners stand rigidly in flower beds, time-frozen water issuing from their tipped wooden watering cans, or atop small ladders, taking shears to topiaries in need of trimming. Bees and pollen hang motionless in the air.

A marble fountain rises from a plinth on the bank of the stream, overflowing with time-frozen water that spills from the mouths of sculpted animals. The frozen spray surrounding the fountain creates rainbows in the air around it.

The water can be handled and made to hold new forms as if it were soft dough, but any water removed from the fountain takes on the consistency of normal water.

Does Trisk wish to drink it?

Also, what's everyone else up to?

(OOC: Did you get my message I sent you Wile_E_Coyote?)

I was planning on having Trisk take a drink when it was first described as a fountain. But then you mentioned that everyone was frozen in time and the water too... so noticing that he probably wouldn't be too keen to take a drink of that water.

@Brian_Avery: Yeah, I figured that might be the case. That's why I asked.

@shimshon123 I just messaged you. Feel free to describe what's happening to Picollo.

Actually, @everyone: same.

I'm really trying to encourage proactive play, which means that prevents random things from happening. 

Trisk: roll Arcana, please.

Noticing the anomalous water in the fountain, Trisk glances at the streams that course through the garden.

Two streams flow into the pool near the center, or, rather, they used to flow before they were frozen in time. The streams emerge from culverts in the garden walls, but where the water comes from is anyone’s guess.

This water too appears to be time frozen, making the hag's disappearance into it a moment ago that much stranger.