"If he's willing to show me what I've been looking for since the day my brother was taken from us then yes." The answer came out easier than even Svana had anticipated, but she sticks by it. "I'm learning about him slowly through Jezzika. He speaks to her often, I believe, and I've only ever spoken to him... Well... Heard him talk to me once." Speaking of which, I'm going to need to talk to Jezzika when we rest after this day... "I'm willing to listen to what the angel has told you, but I cannot make a guarantee that it will deter my decisions. Umbra has shown me more than any other celestial has and my faith in them continues to dwindle the more Umbra shows me what I'm looking for."

"Declaration: I do not need any equipment. I will remain here until we are ready to depart for Nightlake."

Ree'lyn | Drow | Warlock | Level 4 | AC 15 | HP 30/30 | Temporary HP 8/8 | Cantrips Known 3 | Spells Known 5 | Spell Slots 2/2 | Slot Level 2nd | Innate spells 5| Eldritch Invocations 2

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Offering a subtle gesture pointing the index finger of each hand to each of his talk partners and a wink. - "Whatever we do, let's keep our notes updated so we can act together and in due time."

Amara nods. "My angel told me Umbra was the root of all evil," she says softly. "That it would devour this world if given the chance, that it has done the same to many others, and last time it showed up, it took the primordial gods themselves to stop it, and they had to sacrifice a great deal of their power to do so." Her eyes are serious. "I understand your lack of faith in celestials. But, should you choose to turn down Umbra's offer, I promise to use the fairly considerable resources at my disposal to help you look for answers about what happened to your brother." She gives Svana a brief, sad smile. "I'm not going to try and force you into anything. I just want you to know about the entity you might be making a deal with, and what it might cost you...or the world."

Step Step Thud laughs softly at Svana, "Silly. Umbra promise help? Is lie. Be own guide. If you let Umbra be master, Umbra never let you go, never teach you anything. Then you have to fight to be free. I learned same lesson, you can learn from me."

Glabbagool chips in from his jar, "What Step Step Thud is trying to say is-If you let Umbra get hooks in you, he won't have any reason to help you. Also, he's probably lying about helping you anyways, so if you agree to serve him, you will be forced to fight for your freedom. So it's probably a bad idea, in his experience."

Svana listened to Amara, and she knew the truth behind the elfs words as she had seen it with her own two eyes. At the beginning, when Jezzika showed her the birth of all evil, she saw what Umbra was capable of, the knowledge he held, how he was a force that even the Gods struggled to contain. When the older woman was done, Svana opened her mouth to say something, but SST and Glabbagol had interrupted her. Again, she took their words into consideration.

"I appreciate the concern and am well aware of these risks." She says as she gets up from the table and bows to the group before she departs.

Amara watches the elf depart, making sure no sign of her troubled thoughts show on her face or in her eyes.

DAY 23ish

After two days in Gracklestugh, it was time to leave with the caravan to Neverlight Grove, and Stool's home. It was about 8 days away. Jezzika gathered her things, Huey, and held Svana's hand lovingly and said goodbye to the duergar city. 

DAY 24
ENCOUNTERS: 19, 8, 12

Our caravan entered a massive cavern dotted with stalagmites and stalactites. There was something off in the cave, and made some of us nervous. Those with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 11 or higher spot a sigil to the right carved into one of the stalagmites. It was a glowing red symbol written in Drow that said “Demons ahead!”. To say the least, it rattled some of us. 

DAY 25
ENCOUNTERS: 13, 3

As the caravan continued to Neverlight, we noticed that the mushroom coverage of the area was beginning to grow and looked slightly twisted. Huey wanted to eat some of them, but Jezzika swatted his hand and shook her head no. Thanfully, there was nothing else of incident that day.

DAY 26
ENCOUNTERS: 10, 11

This particular day we spent levelling up!!

 Ash wakes up (on the morning of the 27th) with a startle gasp, her breathing panicked and shaky as she bolts upright beside Quinn. Her actions even wake him up and he sits up beside her. Ash breaths shakilly and panickedly and looks to Quinn. Her eyes show a fear he's never seen in them and almost instinctually, she forces her face into his chest. And for the first time that anyone has ever seen, she cries, encompassed by Quinn's arms as she cries into his chest, quiet enough not to wake any of the others who are still asleep. 

True to her word, Enkindle kept an eye on Svana and Jezz throughout the next stretch of the journey. And yet, for all her determination and training, worry crept into her spirit with the passing day. She had grown no more fonder of fungi in the past tenday, and did not foresee it changing anytime soon. On top of all the other concerns...

When the caravan at least slows for folk to switch off to rest, Enkindle can be seen staring into her pitted shield, absently scrubbing at the blood and dust accumulating on the symbol. Slowly but surely, she loses her in another trance. One without visions or words, but vaguer sensations. This time she would not let terror seep into the moment for the start. What was there to really to fear? Whether all fell to one darkness or another, the light and certain truths of existence would remain. Darkness could not exist without the light. Even one claiming to seek to devour all existence.

Helm would not allow it. /She/ would not allow it. But alone... The word froze the genasi in place, and made her look up for the first time in an hour of buffering the shield. Again, the words helm came to her, as pools burning orange sought each companion in turn.

Helm was not infallible. Unlike other helmites who often sought to sugarcoat the truths, or hide behind more convenient ones, she sought it out. She smiled at the memory of discovery, for it was the time her whole-hearted faith settled upon the ideals of Helm. For despite the blemishes, he remained stalwart in all it meant to be helm, giving all others the middlefinger. There was more to it, of course. But as the memory fades from mind, she could see Father Salazar, and aging, caramel skinned human, briefly in the reflection,.

"Faith, huh." She mutters, took a deep breathe, and began speaking something in dwarvish to herself as far as can could tell.

 As the last word leaves her lips, another faint image of a confused cleric shows up in the reflection before fading from view. Whether he replied or not, she trusted he understood her meaning well enough to go at least a day without more answers.

COME. YOU ARE READY.

Time to teach me something new?

YES.

I am ready.

Jezzika dreamed and was the universe. In her journey she was the creator of whole worlds, systems, clusters and galaxies. She was the absolute master of everything she saw, and her senses and perceptions had no limits, no boundaries, and no form. Enormous gas cloud and cosmic structures bent to her will and changed and reorganized and played and grew as she artistically worked with creation in a universe that Umbra had created for her.

FROM LIFE THERE IS DEATH, AND FROM DEATH..THERE IS LIFE.

Her vision was forced to another direction, the star of Umbra - dark, and purple and swollen with energy - released billions of seed like projectiles of shadow, darker than the universe itself, and one particular trajectory was familiar - Toril. It crashed to the planet and like a festering wound, it infected the planet and any life that survived was transformed into a nightmare from another reality, and hovering far above the planet, safe, in control, and warped with power beyond comprehension, a ruler was chosen to usher in and rule the new life the planet had birthed from the corruption. The figure slowly turned and Jezzika stared at herself.

What is this? I am not doing this. What are you showing me? Is this my world? Is this what will happen? 

YES

But..why? I live on this world. My friends..live on this world. This planet is full of life, of potential. 

ALL THINGS THAT EXIST WILL EVOLVE. THE PRIMER WILL CORRECT AND REGROW. IT IS NOT DESTRUCTION, IT IS REBIRTH.

Jezzika was silent for a minute, processing. This world will end. Umbra has already begun the process.

YOU WILL BE THE HERALD OF THIS WORLD.

You've been grooming me for this, haven't you? All I wanted was knowledge! Not..to be a pawn in your galactic scheme of cosmic conquest. Umbra! What have you done!?

RECEIVE A GIFT FOR YOUR SERVICE.

"Wai-!!"

Jezzika found herself on the black star, and tentacles slammed into her mind, coiling, wrapping. She released a noise of pain and pleasure, and Umbra, true to it's word, filled her mind with a preview of concepts far beyond the scope of this universe and beyond. She laughed. It's was wonderful. It was so wonderful. She understood. In an instant, she was aware of things. She comprehended the most advanced scientific principles. It overwhelmed her. For such a short moment, so many things were now clear. It was short, terribly short, but the knowledge and intelligence bestowed upon her was exactly what she wanted. More. She said. More. MORE! I want to know EVERYTHING! And Umbra gave her a bit more. What people had spent generations upon generations trying to understand how the universe works was given to Jezzika in an instant. But it was not free, or hers to keep. Just a taste. Just a morsel of secrets.

She laughed uncontrollably with the notion of evolving and being free of her physical form and becoming one with the universe with her new powers. A being of pure energy, of pure power. Boundless. Immortal. Cosmic.

Her spirit returned to the Underdark, and drunk with her experience of the knowledge she was going to receive, and lost in the daydream of the secrets Umbra shared, everything else seemed trivial and she forgot about the destruction of this world. Umbra made sure of it. 

Duke hadn't done much the last few days. He had noticed that his friends had seemed tense about something, so he mainly kept his mouth shut and stayed close to Svana, wanting to keep his friend safe without bringing up anything that might distress anyone. But after four days, he grew curious and took Amara aside for a private conversation. "Inquiry: What has been going on during the last few days? Observation: Interactions have grown less amicable."

Ree'lyn | Drow | Warlock | Level 5 | AC 15 | HP 36/36 | Temporary HP 8/8 | Cantrips Known 3 | Spells Known 6 | Spell Slots 2/2 | Slot Level 3rd | Innate spells 6| Eldritch Invocations 3

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He felt her presence and immediately bowed.
It was the proper way to address the Queen.
His body was bathed in light and warmth; like being naked in the summer.
Her voice was what he knew the most. Sometimes a whisper. Sometimes singing. She loved singing. Ree'lyn hummed softly as she sang, so he would write down the lyrics, repeating the rhymes and ask questions about everything.
That was how she had taught him  everything. Whispering, singing, taking him for a walk.
Her laugh was like a sparkling stream which no mortal had ever laid eyes upon. Her eyes were like the cloudless sky of a midsummer bright light the sun shining through the leaves of the trees in a grove. Overwhelming.
"The court" - she said.- "has a reason to be." - no other sound dared to exist when she spoke to him. - "The keepers of order and beauty. We exist to preserve and to be order and beauty."
"This order and this beauty are being threatened. By the other court, of course. Always. But also something else." - only then Ree'lyn noticed others around. He did not see their faces. He had glimpses of embellished armors and shields, armorial bearings, crests and cloaks.
"You are my herald."
Ree'lyn wanted to reach out and touch her. Like he had tried and failed too many times before. He saw his own arm, trying and failing again at the touch. Except it didn't seem to be his armor. His arms, legs and chest were covered by a reinforced kind of dyed and crafted amber and oakwood over crafted silk clothes and a crafted silk hooded robe coat.

A strong knock made him look back. Followed by another knock; then another.
His vision was suddenly distorted. The whole place was stretched and pulled away until he found himself in a field. The sky was black. There was fire in many places. Amorphous shapes dragged their decaying selves across the destruction, like every matter they touched was turned inside out. 

He would wipe them out. He grinned.

He felt like he knew this place as somewhere in Faerûn.

This was the place where he had made the first shrine of Titania.

Ree'lyn | Drow | Warlock | Level 5 | AC 15 | HP 36/36 | Temporary HP 8/8 | Cantrips Known 3 | Spells Known 6 | Spell Slots 2/2 | Slot Level 3rd | Innate spells 6| Eldritch Invocations 3

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This morning Ree'lyn was searching for Amara. Not a difficult task in such a small camp.

After the signs on the stalagmite; now the growing amount of mushrooms. He wanted Stool by his side. The myconid had to learn more things, so the little one wobbled as he followed Ree'lyn.

"Amara" - the Drow warlock smiled and offered her a drink. - "The other day, at the inn. How did the talk with Svana go? Did you make her see some sense out of this?"

Quinn lies beside Ash, but only restlessness comes. As Ash becomes clammy from the night terror sweats, he can sense something is wrong.just before she wakes up, she starts to kick against the bed, and her body temp rises.

As she wakes up sobbing, Quinn holds her tight, waiting before he says anything to allow her to calm down a bit before asking,

"Was it something from your past? Or was it something maybe in the future? You will never lose me, but in your sleep you said a name, "Ophidian"? Is that someone who seeks to harm you? They will have to go through me first..."

He kisses her forehead gently

Once Ash calms down, her face against Quinn's chest, she figures out how to word her response. It takes her a minute before she forces a response in a soft whisper. "I... would tell you it's fine... But that would he a lie... I... think it's the present? But... More... spiritually? If that makes sense?" There's another pause as Ash takes a small shaky breath and hesitantly leans back a little away from her hiding in Quinn's chest. She slightly wipes at her eyes to get rid of some of the leftover tears. "Ophidian is... well... I'm not entirely sure... but... he's an entity... a very old one... much like... Jezz's Umbra in a way? I... don't think he wants to truly harm me... He would... lose his connections to the human world. His... Disciple... It was... just a... bad dream of sorts? I... get then sometimes... Along with... New powers. I'm... fine now... Thank you." 

She moves and presses her forehead to his chest for a minute, but as her eyes close, she can't help but see the creature in the back of her mind. After a minute of studying this memory, Ash lightly pulls back from Quinn's chest again, moving to where he can wrap his arms around her while she digs out a notebook from her pack. If Quinn looks at what she is doing, he sees her roughing out the shape of a large entity, the details lacking enough to truly identify what it is. Ash does this until the others wake up, letting Quinn sleep for longer if he needs. 

Amara woke in a harsh room of marble, bare of adornments and decorations. Only weapons could be seen, but they were weapons like nothing else. Spears of holy power, blades composed of hope, bows that shot love rather than arrows-for love is far sharper than any arrowhead. Amara had little time to look around the room before Sarastriel's voice rang through her head. "YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE TASK I SET FOR YOU. DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST HOPE THAT THE WIZARD WILL TURN FROM UMBRA AFTER YOUR 'CONVERSATION'?" The words ripped through her mind, holding the barely restrained fury of the angel.

Amara gritted her teeth. "I will not force her into anything. It is HER choice, whether or not to ally with Umbra. All I can do is offer another way. You cannot force those you love into the path you believe is best for them."

"YOUR ARROGANCE AND SENTIMENTALITY MAY COST US ALL THE WORLD." The angel's words were slightly less painful, but her voice was still overflowing with fury and grief.

Amara held her head high. "I have to believe that Svana is smart enough, and good enough, that she will not sacrifice the world merely for answers about her brother. I believe that she is a good, kind person. I have faith in her."

"FAITH IS ALL VERY WELL," the angel's voice came after a moment. "But it may not be enough. Eventually, Umbra will have to be fought. I will allow you the choice of a single weapon from the armaments of the Seven Heavens. Choose wisely."

Amara paused, looking at the weapons that lined the walls. She thought about her enemies, the place she was in, and the people she did not plan to hurt, no matter what Sarastriel said. Finally, she settled on a good weapon. "I choose light," she said to the air.

There was a long pause, and then "A wise choice." For the first time in that dream, the angel appeared in front of Amara, wearing her shining armor. "On behalf of the Seven Heavens, I grant you, Amara Riallis, the power to bring light to any darkness. Use your weapon wisely, for dark days indeed are ahead." Amara felt light blaze through her, pain so intense she thought she would never stay conscious giving way to a delicious warmth that spread through her body. As the dream started to fade, Sarastriel's last words were "If you do not wish to interfere with your friend Svana, then find Umbra's herald. And kill them."

When Amara woke, her eyes were troubled. Those closest to her might have heard her murmur under her breath "Like hell I will."

Duke:

When Duke asks his question, Amara gives him a brief smile. "Oh, some of us are concerned about Svana," she explains. "She is looking for...answers, and we don't want her to go to creatures or down paths she will regret. So far she has chosen to stay her path, I think, and while I'm worried about her, I personally will not try to force her into anything," she reassures the warforged.

Ree'lyn:

Amara uncharacteristically accepts the drink wholeheartedly. "I spoke with her, but I am unsure if she has changed her course at all. She is very determined for answers, and knows Umbra has them. I will not force her into anything-it is her life and her choice."

For the next several days, Amara quietly avoids Jezz, almost like she did something shameful to the drow woman.

Ree'lyn | Drow | Warlock | Level 5 | AC 15 | HP 36/36 | Temporary HP 8/8 | Cantrips Known 3 | Spells Known 6 | Spell Slots 2/2 | Slot Level 3rd | Innate spells 6| Eldritch Invocations 3

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"There is something very important about truth, Amara" - Ree'lyn's reply is unsettlingly calm. - "It does not care for your feelings. The consequences for being indulgent may come to a high cost. The consequences for our decisions will catch up to all of us. Be it spoiled children of permissive parents or friends selling their souls to have answers at the expense of the end of the world." - with his fingers over his chin, absorbed in thoughts, Ree'lyn looks into Amara's eyes. - "What does your celestial friend has to say about this?"

Amara meets his eyes with a steely gaze of her own. "I will not force her into anything," she says levelly. "Trying to make Svana refuse Umbra's offer will only alienate her and drive her to it. I have plenty of experience with thinking I know what is best for someone, and what happens when you try and force them to do what you want. Now is not the time for edicts or proclamations." She sighs. "Sarastriel is allowing her anger and grief to dominate her now. She was...unhappy with my gentleness." Her eyes flash. "She will help Svana find her answers if Svana turns down Umbra's offer."

 Svana woke up that morning drained of energy. It felt like someone had tied weights on her arms and legs when she forced herself to get up from her bed roll to make way towards Jezzika. If the drow was sleeping she would gently shake her awake, if not she would put a hand to the others shoulder and say, “I’m sorry to bother you, love, but I need to talk to you.”