"It is no longer with me. I have all that I need."

—Briv Steelmarrow, Heroes of the Vale

Watch Heroes of the Vale – Ch 2 Ep 13: Level Drain

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Dramatis Personae

Our heroes are 8th-level characters:

• Todd Kenreck as the Dungeon Master
• Keen, Eladrin Eldritch Knight Fighter played by TJ Storm
• Briv, Half-Orc Oath of Heroism Paladin played by Adam Bradford
• Penelope, Halfling Circle of Land Druid played by Hope LaVelle
• Alyndra Alexandria Garanahil Sarrbarand, Lorekeeper of Rime Spiro, Kinscribe of Clan Monkeymouse, High Elf Cleric/Wizard played by Jen Kretchmer
• Orkira, Dragonborn Light Domain Cleric played by Lauren Urban

Full Summary

The apparatus activates, and everyone is consumed in blinding white light.

Inside her glass sphere Orkira is in horrible, retching pain as the tendrils of the Elder Brain tries and fails to keep it’s hold and are pulled from her brain. She witnesses another vision; deep in the ocean near the city of Verdenth there’s a mind flayer temple where the Elder Brain lives, surrounded by ships and altered creatures.

Each of the heroes experience a multitude of versions of themselves from different timelines. With another bright flash everyone wakes up, feeling changed in different ways and remembering new events and information. As they exit their glass spheres everyone can hear claws tapping, and discover a trapped Intellect Devourer frantically trying to escape one of the glass prisons next to the similarly trapped mind flayer. Orkira breathes a sigh of relief, accepting that as a good sign that the influence of the Illithids is finally removed.

While Orkira physically looks exactly as she did moments before, the same cannot be said for Briv Steelmarrow. The half-orc is awake, clutching a greatsword but missing his other usual equipment including his shield. Alyndra also appears physically the same, however she is holding a blue dragon egg she now remembers receiving as a gift from her father. Penelope is drawn to another sphere containing a version of herself, this one with jet black eyes and a wicked smile who also claims to be Penelope! Briv approaches the two halflings and to everyone’s surprise he begins to glow from his chest up through his face and eyes, and using divine sense can feel the version of Penelope with black eyes is made of pure evil and malice. He declares the black eyed version a creature, and the real druid is the one outside the glass. The trapped one is the pieces of Neverember, the parts Penelope had to become to survive in Avernus, complete with face scars and burnt hands and feet.

A figure suddenly falls through the hole in the roof and crashes onto the ground! A silver skinned celestial looking very feral and confused rises to her feet to pull out her weapons in panic, a pair of beautiful wings hang broken and unusable across her back. Orkira rushes over to ask Penelope for her stuff back as Briv calls out a greeting. He can sense her divine nature, and assures that they are friends. With some confusion she says she believes her name to be Lihi, and the last thing she remembers is battling a wraith. Now whole portions of her memory are missing, and she doesn’t know where she is. As the group promise they are friendly heroes, Lihi relaxes and is quick to profess her loyalty.

Noticing Lihi’s broken wings Orkira offers to heal them, trusting that the Elder Brain is truly gone as she takes up the Book of the Phoenix again. Feeling the warmth of the holy symbol and the presence of her God again is reassuring, and she casts cure wounds on the celestial. With great joy at her mended wings Lihi takes to the air to fly around the room! While she is momentarily distracted Alyndra whispers a warning about how it was celestials that tried to kill them not long after they returned from Avernus. Orkira points out that Lihi didn’t immediately attack them, and Briv adds that he sensed the utmost goodness from Lihi. Before Briv can continue the conversation he notices a familiar object in a nearby glass sphere. Stepping closer he finds the griffon shield, torn down the center as if ripped apart. When asked about it and his new powers, the half-orc seams content and replies that he has everything he needs.

Returning to the ground Lihi is eager to assist her new friends and asks how she can help. As escaping the Shadowfell is one of the tasks that they must do, the group ask Lihi how she came to arrive on the plane. She cannot remember the details, only how she thought the battle with the wraith would be her end before falling. A cold wind suddenly blows through the mansion snuffing out the torches, and whispers start to creep out of the darkness. A shadowy, skeletal hand appears out of the ground and grabs at Orkira’s leg, trying to drain her essence as it rakes her with necrotic claws. Another does the same to Alyndra, and soon the group is surrounded by malevolent undead!

Angry at the foul creatures, but pleased to finally be prepared for something, Orkira brandishes her holy symbol and casts turn undead. More than a dozen wraiths are destroyed but still more float forward. Penelope creates a flaming sphere to burn through the creatures as Alyndra casts a hypnotic pattern into the sky, but the undead are immune to its effects. Briv puts his greatsword to use, smiting one into an explosion of fire and light, and calling out a challenge to the rest. As if responding to his challenge more wraiths, along with purple glowing specters, appear out of the darkness!

Backing up to the apparatus Alyndra grabs the Rod and announces they need to retreat. Orkira looks to the glass sphere that Keen was inside, however all she can see is a pile of leaves and branches in a humanoid shape. As the group try to form a plan of escape Orkira once again channels her divine powers to cast radiance of the dawn, burning more of the creatures with radiant light and dispelling some of the darkness. Lihi circles in the air, her holy mace dispatching some of the floating wraiths and creating an opening to flee through. The mass of undead surge forward for another attack, injuring several of the heroes and sucking some of the energy and power out of Penelope Half-Pint. Briv snatches the weakened Penelope to start to run as she casts call lightning onto the apparatus, and Alyndra drops a fireball at the same time. The machine feeds on the electricity, activating and surging with power, as the fireball decimates the creatures nearby.

Lihi grabs Alyndra and Penelope while Orkira picks up Briv and they all take off into the sky. The celestial moves at amazing speed, soaring far above the mansion just as a strange wild magic eruption blasts out from the apparatus. Orkira and Briv are caught in the shockwave, the damage causing the dragonborn’s wings to fail, and they begin to plummet towards the ground. At the last second Briv activates his armband and grows massive, using his sudden increased strength and size to cushion the landing for both of them.

Everyone reassembles in the courtyard near the burning mansion, and Alyndra casts her tiny hut (now dubbed “Alyndra’s Accommodating Abode”) to give the group a safe and dry place to recover. Lihi rushes to Orkira to heal her injured wings, returning the earlier gesture. Nearby Penelope slumps to the ground, feeling like part of her is missing from the wraith attack. Everyone ponders how to fix the druid’s injuries; Orkira remembers those wraiths from her 6 years in the bag world but never discovered a cure, while Alyndra remembers some higher level spells from the time she lived for 1000 years but no longer has the power to cast them. As Alyndra searches her new memories for answers she is distracted by a strange vision. She can see an inn surrounded by grey clouds and heavy fog, with warm lights coming from the windows, and a sign that reads, “The Elder Inn”.

As a moment is taken to recover, the conversation turns to what they should do about the apparatus. Briv suggests destroying the Rod to prevent the device from being activated. Alyndra does not think the Rod can be broken, but hands it to the half-orc with an invitation to try. As soon as he touches it the magic in the Rod swirls around Briv and removes the enlarged effect he had cast on himself. The wizard realizes that the Rod didn’t dispel the effect but reset Briv to his original form, and in a flash of inspiration she hands it to Penelope. The same magic surrounds the halfling and she is filled with energy again as her stolen vitality is restored! However the crystal of the Rod has cracked even further and deeper.

As Alyndra takes a moment to cast some protection and non-detection magic on the Rod, Orkira suggests they let Lihi hold it as it should fix the celestial the same way it cured Penelope. When Alyndra points out that with every use the Rod is breaking even further, the cleric replies that they’re trying to destroy it anyway in order to keep it away from the mind flayers. Briv and Penelope agree that they should use it to help as many people as they can until it breaks. Finally Alyndra casts message to mentally ask Orkira if they truly trust the celestial, and the dragonborn replies “There’s only one way to find out!” Trusting her friends Alyndra hands the Rod over to Lihi. The same magic works on the celestial, and she regains her powers and memories! She is a Deva, an angel of the Trickster God Avern sent on various missions to aid those in need. The heroes share knowing smiles when Lihi says that they will all understand more in time. Alyndra replies that she knows who sent the celestial, and taking hold of the Avren coin around her neck she sends thanks to her father.

From one of Penelope’s bags the chwinga Walton appears, complaining about the noise and the water. As he is hugged and his bag dried out, Orkira asks Briv about Flo so the half-orc welcomes his flumph companion out from her hiding spot. She is not wearing any battle armor, and expresses how she has grown and feels more at peace, no longer filled with rage and anger over those who have hurt her friends and especially Briv. Grif then appears, now in his new pseudodragon form, to land on Alyndra’s shoulder.

Lihi observes this strange collection of friends with a smile, and while she says she has no friends of her own she has her missions that give her great joy. She is moved by everyone’s kindness, and feels fortunate to help with whatever they need. The next step appears to be figuring out how to return to their home plane. They consider having someone attune to the Rod again to see if it will work in reverse. Alyndra suggests that she could cast banishment, but Orkira points out that it would still leave the high elf stranded in the Shadowfell.

The conversation is interrupted when the group notice a single mind flayer floating out of a nearby field as it hurries away from the burning mansion. Shortly after a second one joins it, and they frantically levitate west towards Verdeneth, or at least the Shadowfell version of the city. The group follow the pair of Illithids, curious about what they are up to and hopeful they will lead to more answers. Both creatures wounded, purple blood leaking onto the ground, but continue to travel for several hours until they reach the city. The Shadowfell version of Verdeneth is a destroyed ruin devoid of life, and the heroes can’t help but feel a general unease.

One of the mind flayers stumbles and falls to the ground while the other ignores its traveling companion and continues onward. Hoping these are like Friend, Penelope rushes up to the fallen mind flayer to see if it’s ok. The creature is horribly wounded by a werewolf, but still attempts to stun and grab the druid. Fortunately it fails as quickly her friends come to her aid, as it succumbs to its wounds and dies. Ahead they see the second one also falls to the ground, suffering its own horrible wounds, and everyone can hear it broadcast into their minds that it is dying and wants to return to the Elder Brain. Realizing this one is also an individual like Friend, Orkira reluctantly walks up to it and casts cure wounds before quickly moving away again. The mind flayer is healed enough that it continues to move through the city, stating how it is lost and needs to return to the Elder Brain to rejoin the collective.

Rounding a corner the heroes discover that there is no ocean nearby, but a vast canyon. In the distance they can see the ruins of an alien structure, a purple castle with crumbling walls and a collapsed roof. Briv recognizes that the Shadowfell is parallel to the Prime Material Plane, and asks if they can use the location of this version of the Elder Brain ship as a guide to teleport to the Elder Brain ship on their world. While Alyndra warns that not everything will exactly match up between planes, she agrees that it is entirely possible for his plan to work. Orkira verifies the placement is exactly the same as from her vision.

As the remaining illithid struggles to continue forward, the cleric pleads that it doesn’t have to return to the Elder Brain if it doesn’t want to. Despite it not being able to fathom life away from the collective, it has a choice and can choose to not return and become something else. Alyndra offers more healing and presents a third option, offering to defend and help it return to where it wants to go if it will help them get to the castle. The mind flayer suddenly announces that it has a memory of the group being nice to them. The illithid grabs the high elf's arm and says, “You are the one. I have a memory. You were nice to us. You were the ones that were nice.” Then it crumples to the ground as it dies.

Special thanks to Rachel Miner for being our guest this episode! Join us September 25th at 2pm PT on twitch.tv/dndbeyond to see more about what else has changed with our heroes, and where they will head next!

Lauren "OboeCrazy" Urban is the Community Manager for D&D Beyond, as well as a professional classical musician on oboe and English Horn. When she's not playing a Bard in real life she's a prolific Dungeon Master and player on a variety of livestreams and podcasts. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband Luke where they spend their free time playing video games and drinking tea. The best way to keep up with Lauren's busy schedule is to follow her on Twitter at @OboeCrazy.