The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Twenty-two

Threats on All Fronts

Dramatis Personae:
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah Therinthrope Homunculus and White Witch
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, the Four-year-old Human girl who Tilea released from an amulet,- kidnapped by Strahd, now working with Talmot Now cleansed of the soul brand clouding her mind
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter- captured by the Talmot Wives, then turned evil mauled to death by Tilea
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Tabitha's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view since the Witch can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Kilencedik Honap 10, CY 745, Amarune, Moonshae Isles

       Deep in the endless ocean of the Elemental Plane of Water, Shaft chased Tilea, who was in the form of a leviathan and in possession of his elemental sphere.

      In Sachi's paradise, Belmont activated something that caused spirits to swirl around him, sending Sachi flying. 

       We were staring down Morgan Le Fay, and we had the ritual. I handed Nikko an item to drop a Hut on us so we could work on the ritual without interference. While we wouldn't be aware of much of what was happening with the others, taking the Black Witch down was more important. I felt a random jolt of pain as the hut closed over us; Scritch had hit her and it somehow hurt my Sestras and I.

       Kittie landed a blow on Morgan, and it didn't hurt the triplets. As Scritch went in for another strike, the Witch sent him away. He ended up in Sachi's paradise, and managed to break Krynn out of her restraints, then he took her to the safety of Tabitha's Temple. 

       Sachi faced off with Belmont, landing several hits on the man. At the same time, Clarah managed to bite and swallow Rowena, and Cat clutched her head and fell to her knees, screaming in agony; the other Cats had gotten to her. Belmont managed to ensnare Sachi in his whip and flung him right into Clarah's mouth; she began choking on her monkey... Rowena set off a fireball in Clarah's stomach, which didn't hurt the dragon, but it caused both Sachi and Rowena to fly out of her mouth in a burst of flames. Cat recovered quickly and broke Syn out of her bindings. The girl turned to Belmont with hate in her eyes and activated her Sunblade. She unleashed a flurry of swings at him, hurting him badly, and engulfing him in flames. 

       We were hurrying to get this ritual going. It didn't sound like it would take too terribly long, but it wasn't exactly easy. I hoped the others were okay, and that my Shieldwalls would be able to throw that sarcophagus together in time.

      Scritch was back in the fight against the Black Witch, and he scored a nasty hit on her, following it up by using Sachi's signature move and throwing shit in her face. Kittie landed a couple big hits of her own. Morgan tried to drop the triplets' Hut, but Nikko completely resisted her attempts. Three hags appeared, as backup for Morgan. 

       I felt Morgan try to stop the ritual, but I flawlessly deflected her attempts. Just as I did, the first piece of the ritual went off.

       Outside of the Hut, some bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists. 

       Sachi and Rowena tumbled to the ground, and as soon as they landed, Cat stabbed Rowena with a witch killing bolt. Cat then stepped up to Belmont's flank and stabbed him in the kidney. She used a spell to make him exhausted, but Sachi countered it. Syn was furious and moved to finish Belmont off herself, so Sachi tried to distract her. Syn swung at Sachi, annoyed by the monkey, and as she swung the Sunblade at him, he panicked; Sachi lost his hand for his interference. As she turned back to Belmont, Sachi told her "you punch like Talbutt," drawing her ire, allowing Belmont a moment to heal and rejuvenate himself. 

       Kittie turned to the three hags Morgan had summoned and unleashed a series of brutal attacks on them, killing all three of them before they could even act. Scritch continued to engage Morgan, though this time she managed to evade his attacks. I reached out to them through my candle to tell them to try to trip her so we could hit her with the Talisman of Pure Good, but opening that channel allowed her to attempt to mess with the ritual again; I fended her off with ease. 

      Syn, Sachi, Clarah, and Cat all surrounded Belmont and began to attack him, Sachi's odd attempts at throwing Syn off were gone for now. Most of their attacks missed. Cat hexed him while Syn hit him with more exhaustion. Belmont made it begin to rain, which hurt the others and set the landscape of the paradise on fire. Scritch appeared in the paradise, grabbed Syn and Cat, and went back to the fight with the Black Witch. 

       The Black Witch tried again and failed again to dispel the triplets' Hut. Scritch laughed at her, so she blasted him. Grant appeared, grappled Morgan, and said "I really hope they can pull this off." 

       Morgan tried again to dispel the ritual, and again she failed.

       More bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists outside. Two robed figures appeared and grabbed Kittie; Mask had accepted her application. 

       Suddenly, Sachi and Clarah appeared in my Hut, and Sachi ran away instantly.

      The area was bathed in sunlight as Syn hit the Witch hard, cutting her into pieces. Scritch returned to paradise to retrieve Rowena's body, then Sachi ran away with the rod of security, to get Belmont away from the triplets before the ritual concluded. Scritch and Cat tied up Rowena's corpse, just in case. 

      The Black Witch didn't seem to be meddling with my ritual anymore, so it was going well, and fast.

       Sachi took the rod of security to the first layer of the Hells and offered it to Tiamat; she sent him to Elysium. Sachi then took the rod to the fifth layer of Limbo and threw it; it just kept going on and on. That layer of Limbo was destroyed, just like Barovia had been. It just couldn't handle that much concentrated power. 

       Syn, having mostly neutralized the Black Witch, looked at the Hut, intent on attacking it; Agatha was still evil. The Sunblade was driven to destroy all evil. Scritch prepared to send Syn to Krynn to keep her away from Agatha. 

       Just as Morgan began to reform, the triplets finished the ritual and the last of the bindings appeared on her. Grant turned and asked for the thighbone of a saint, Cat had found one on Rowena's corpse. 

       I dropped the Hut just in time to see Grant stab Morgan Le Fay through the heart with a sharpened bone. My heart leapt in my chest; could Mask have sent him back to us? Then my Shieldwalls came running out of the Temple with the finished sarcophagus and we threw her in it. Before I had a chance to tell them to get the Book off of her, she was completely sealed in the tomb. I hoped that the Book wouldn't be able to get her out of there.

       Sachi appeared then and announced he left Belmont somewhere and he thinks he blew it up. As he rambled, I looked at Aggie and inclined my head. She threw a fireball at him.

       Tilea realized Shaft's sphere wasn't burning her quiet so much anymore, it seemed to be duller somehow, and stopped swimming. She asked the sea creatures and learned that sharks had eaten Shaft; she awakened the sharks to thank them for destroying Shaft. 

       I realized Tilea was probably still in the Elemental Plane of Water and sent her a message that she could come back. She didn't bother to shift before I pulled her back to us, so a fucking leviathan appeared instead of the elf we expected.

       Grant told us that Kittie had impressed Mask by killing three hags, so she took his place in the casino and he was returned to life. I was elated... that my friend was back... I totally would have been this happy if another dear friend was returned to life... I definitely have no other reason for being so happy he's alive again...

       As punishment for blowing up Barovia, all of Sachi's holdings in the thieves' guild now belonged to Grant. He told us Belmont would be drawn to Syn soon, so we needed to hurry to prepare to deal with him once and for all.

       The girls were in the Temple, and Krynn was in a trance, holding a fulgurite crystal that was glowing with multiple colors. She had to fight off the evil spirit of Shaft, and there was nothing we could do to help her; either she'd do it or she'd fail, there was no option in between. We needed to get Grant's weapon to kill Belmont, and at the mention of his name, Syn stormed out. We couldn't teleport to her or anything. Cat sliced her hand and did something that showed us Syn. She was standing in front of Belmont holding out an orb. Grant opted to stay behind, as did my Sestras. We asked them to look after Krynn while we dealt with Belmont.

       Everything here was on fire, and it wasn't easy to put out. Scritch and Cat went at him right away, and Belmont responded by throwing fifty fucking daggers at Cat. Tilea began a storm and turned into a tempest elemental; but whatever she was trying to do didn't seem to work. I healed Cat, then Dot and I tried to hit Belmont with some debuff spells, but they didn't work. Syn bathed Belmont in a sphere of golden light, then got in his face and cut one of his fingers off.

       Scritch, Sachi, and Cat all began to beat on Belmont. He chucked an axe at Sachi, but it didn't seem to do much to the monkey. Tilea attempted to curse Belmont, but apparently he couldn't be cursed; that wasn't fucking good. I tried to hex him, but he had something that kept that away too, and he resisted both Dot and Nikko's attempts to feeblemind him.

       Belmont moved away, knocking Syn over as he passed her. She stabbed her sword into the ground and with a blinding flash of light, she morphed into what looked liked a solar of pure radiant energy. She sliced into him and hurt him bad; his body began to disintegrate into little silvery motes. There was an odd red glow at his core and as his flesh fell away, we were now facing Demogorgon.

       "I was so close... Why? Why did you have to ruin it for me?" Demogorgon said. "If you eave now, I will spare you."

       Sachi, as always, decided to run his fucking mouth. He told Demogorgon that "now" was already gone, and the Demon Lord did something to Sachi to make him suddenly believe everyone wanted to steal his stuff.

       "Now that your friend is suitably silenced," he began. Then Sachi started mouthing off some more. He really didn't know anything about the insane little monkey. He hit Sachi, and still Sachi kept rambling on. Tilea slammed into him with thunder. Demogorgon asked if that meant we don't want to make a deal, and I instantly told him no, before the others had a chance to try to make some sort of deal with him.

       A second Demogorgon appeared behind Syn and hit her hard. Scritch, Cat, and Tilea all began beating on him. I tried to use my Talisman to destroy him, but the bastard just barely resisted falling. Then I flew right up to him and socked him in the jaw, trying to send him back to whence he came; he again just barely resisted me. I healed Syn while Nikko and Dot both tried- and failed- to hold him in place. The others surrounded him and kept striking at him, seeming to do some damage, but with a Demon Lord there's no telling how effective they actually were.

     I tried to use my Talisman a second time, but it resisted again, as well as attempts from both Dot and I to dispel it, and Nikko's attempt to hold it in place. Syn managed to get rid of the illusory demon, so we were only facing the real Demogorgon- this was not very comforting. We continued the physical assault and it kept resisting everything Dot, Nikko, and I threw at it. Syn barely missed him and he teleported away.

       We started debating how to pursue it, when Syn focused on the Belmont's glowing whip, abandoned on the ground. After a moment she took off at the speed of light- like we'd seen Belmont do before. The others thought maybe it was in Shaft's mirror realm, but before we went there, I wanted to check in with my Sestras at the Temple.

       Just as I began to speak a message to my Sestras, every single ward and alarm in the Temple went off. Demogorgon had gone after Krynn. There were demons all over the bazaar, they'd breached my hallowed ground. I instantly transferred all non-combative people to the fifth floor. I looked around, furious at what had happened to my Temple. Tabitha began glowing with a brilliant white light, was levitated into the air, and with a sweep of her hand, she banished every demon within 30 feet of her. Suddenly the demons were gone. I'm not sure what happened.

       Sachi decided to drop a fortress on top of the demons, once that proved effective my Shieldwalls began doing the same. As we found possessed dwarves, Sachi began sticking them in beads of force. We swept through the Temple, floor by floor, until we reached the fifth floor, where we found Krynn. My Temple was in horrible shape, I was just done with this shit. I sat down on the floor and pulled out some items to sacrifice... then the demons were gone, as were the items, but I hadn't done anything. Tabitha had again glowed with a white light and sent away every single demon in the Temple. 

        Scritch could see Demogorgon was possessing Krynn. Krynn stood up, holding a fulgurite wand that was pulsing with energy, with an odd look in her eye. Tilea turned into some kind of weird fey and possessed Scritch, then Scritch vanished, taking them to the ethereal I think. I pulled out a couple more items, trying to banish it, but it didn't work. Syn's whip wrapped around the wand and the pulsing stopped.

       In the ethereal plane, Sachi put sovereign glue on his kataras and stabbed Demogorgon's spirit, trying to rip it out of her. He couldn't see the rod being ripped from her hands by her twin's whip. Scritch accidentally killed Sachi in the ethereal, but cleared the possession in the process. He was revived in the ethereal, and had to dissolve the glue to take his swords back to the material plane with him. 

       Krynn was freed of Demogorgon by whatever Scritch and Sachi did in the ethereal realm. When Sachi reappeared, Cat decided to turn him to stone. He turned into a gaseous form to stave off the effects, so Cat threw dust of dryness at him, turning Sachi into a dehydrated ball. That was the moment Aggie and Sypha burst in. Apparently Demogorgon had locked both of my Sestras in a force cage when he arrived. I was wondering where the Hells they were.

       Scritch threw the Sachi ball at me, and hit Aggie in the face instead. I seriously thought my Sestra's head was going to explode. The ball of Sachi exploded on impact, and we were all covered in Sachi dust... It was gross. I realized someone was still missing: Grant. I worried Demogorgon had killed him or Mask had taken him away again. I was worried for my friend... absolutely for no other reason at all...

       We all collapsed on the floor of the Temple, taking a much needed breath. I asked what was next, if there was anything more we needed to accomplish. Syn said that they had a rite of passage to complete, but it would take a while since they needed Barovia back first. Thanks to our efforts, Krynn had a chance of being the protector she's supposed to be. Tilea released the remaining souls from Shaft's sphere, which should help with that.

       Grant strode in and I was -pleased- to see my friend wasn't dead. He told Sachi that his death in the ethereal wasn't a sacrifice because Scritch took advantage of an opportunity.

       A bit later Strahd walked in. He thanked us for what we'd done, while bitching Sachi and Tilea out for destroying Barovia. Strahd couldn't deal with Demogorgon himself because he was hiding in a consecrated soul, so he was completely untouchable.

       Later that night, after everyone else had left, I was surveying the damage to my poor Temple when Grant found me. He started babbling at me about the lore around my family... I was so confused, I couldn't figure out what in the Nine he was trying to say. After a moment, he exclaimed "dammit, I was never good with words," closed the distance between us, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me.

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Twenty-one

Barovia Blows

Dramatis Personae:
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah Therinthrope Homunculus and White Witch
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, the Four-year-old Human girl who Tilea released from an amulet,- kidnapped by Strahd, now working with Talmot Now cleansed of the soul brand clouding her mind
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter- captured by the Talmot Wives, then turned evil mauled to death by Tilea
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Tabitha's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view since the Witch can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Kilencedik Honap 9, CY 745, Barovia, near Tser Pool

       I didn't want to kill this boy, but I knew the brain worm wouldn't leave him any other way. Tilea pointed out that it was essentially a parasite and I should try casting it out of him like I would any other parasite or disease. He resisted the spell, which did not surprise me in the least after seeing them shrug off my magic earlier. Then Sachi pissed it off and it began weeping blood-ooze. It was fucking gross. Kittie and Cat realized they were too vulnerable and went to Sigil to gear up. Sachi and Scritch flanked the boy and while Scritch managed to land a couple blows, they didn't do anything because he didn't have a dagger. It screamed in agony when Sachi's dagger plunged into its side.

       The scream sounded unearthly, as if four voices were screaming in perfect unison; it hurt out ears. Little black veins began crawling up the boy's neck, then it began swinging wildly- its last swing connected with Sachi and sent him flying; he went down when he landed. I revived the monkey and gave Scritch a blessing to help him in this fight. Sachi leapt back to it and stabbed it a few more times, prompting more of those bone chilling screams. It said it "wanted to do this nicely, but fine," then it began beating on Sachi, stole his dagger, and stabbed itself with it- exploding.

       The dagger was fine, it was like 500 feet away. Sachi was fine too. I decided to test if the daggers would return to our hands, just in case this happened again during our hunting- they did. Not long after this Kittie and Cat returned, geared up and set to deal with the worms. It was getting late by now and we all needed rest, so we returned to my Temple to rest for the night. We'd be back in to morning to start destroying the worms. Strahd said he'd locked down travel so they shouldn't be able to escape through the Mists.

       Once we were back I used a dream spell to contact my Sestras. I filled them in on the death of our parents and everything else. As I'd feared, neither of them wanted the title, nor could they take it; the soul brands had made them both barren. I didn't tell them about losing the Book or the strange amulet that had appeared around my neck after it vanished. I didn't want to worry them too much, they needed to heal. After filling them in, I went to bed.

       I knew I was dreaming. Everything was in greyscale. I was standing outside the manor, it looked exactly as it always had. Then suddenly I was in the halls, and I heard a faint buzzing or humming sound. For a moment I thought I'd imagined it, then I realized it was the tune of a lullaby Mother had sang to Aggie and I before giving up Sypha had turned her into a complete mess. Then I was suddenly outside, looking out over the gardens, and I saw a figure in the gazebo. I was now at the bottom of the steps to the gazebo, looking up at the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She had pale skin that almost appeared to be glowing and her hair was a beautiful black, in tight curls.

       "I've  been so looking forward to meeting you," she said. I'd moved again and was now in the gazebo with her. "I never thought this day would come. His plans never come to fruition. I thought you were too pure, too good to use it. I've got to meet you, to find you, because..." Her beauty began melting away, revealing a hideous, evil looking woman. "You're the one who released the Black Witch."

***** Kilencedik Honap 10, Temple of Mystra

       I awoke with a start. I hurried to the chamber my Sestras were in and used the dream spell again. I told them about the dream, losing the Book, and the strange amulet. They both had the amulets too, they'd appeared in the dreamscape for them. The amulets couldn't be removed either... This was bad.

       My Sestras said she had to find me and take me down, then she'd kill my Sestras. In order for Morgan Le Fay to reach her full power, she has to kill all three of us. She was our ancestor, a grandmother with several "greats" attached to the prefix. Somewhere along the line Le Fay turned into Lennox to remove the stain. The prophecy didn't mean that the three of us would become corrupted and destroy the world, it was that we'd use the Black Grimoire to release the Black Witch so she could kill us and destroy the world. Fucking prophecies need to be more specific.

       My Sestras said if I saw her I needed to run. We could not let her get me. They'd research what they could from the dreamscape; apparently Clarah had already visited them to fill them in on a few things. The Archivist was already on it, so hopefully between all of us, we'd find out what to do to take the Black Witch down. They reminded me to use my coven, something I wasn't used to having. The odd amulets we were now wearing would allow me to connect to my coven, my Sestras, and their covens. I had the Power of Three plus three covens backing me in this. I hoped it would be enough.

       They said we needed to protect the girls, as long as they were together they were safe. I needed to monitor them through Syn's blood. I was so glad I had that.

       Sachi and I met up with Tilea back in what was left of Barovia and the moment we got there I felt the Black Witch's presence. I warned Tilea and pulled Sachi and myself to the Sun Tree. I tried to pull Tilea too, but it didn't work for some reason. Morgan had found the girls. I told Syn to grab hold of Krynn and I'd pull them to me, but it didn't work. We'd have to get them away from her physically.

       Sachi got to the girls a little before me, and the Witch used him to try to get the girls, but they managed to fend him off. I did exactly the opposite of what my Sestras had just told me to do, and put myself between Morgan and the girls. Nikko "accidentally" sent Sachi to Tser Pool to keep him busy- I don't know why that worked when other things hadn't. I handed Syn a broom and told her to get herself and her sestra out of here. I tried to send Morgan into a maze, but the bitch resisted it. Scritch shrunk both of the girls, grabbed them, and bounced away. Morgan attempted to stop him, but he resisted her spell.

       Tilea crashed into the ground at Morgan and tried to slap the Witch into the ground. I realized she was the distraction, so I buffed her and got away. Tilea had turned into some kind of earth elemental, and she swallowed the Witch and began tunnelling down, deep into the earth. I eventually pulled Tilea out, leaving Morgan trapped deep underground, but I knew that wouldn't keep her busy for too long.

       We explained everything to Syn and Krynn, and poor Krynn became upset, the girl was sensitive. After much debate, the others decided that we were going to entrust a witch Tilea had gotten some big hexbags from in Sigil with the girls. And give this witch Grant's weapon. I refused to have any part in this. Unfortunately this witch- Rowena- insisted I come before she'd deal.

       Under her pale skin, red hair, and pointed chin, Rowena almost looked like a blood hag, but slightly different. Unlike a normal blood hag, but she wasn't a hideous mess that normal blood hags are. Whatever she was was powerful. I had a bad feeling about this, but as usual Tilea ignored me. This would bite us in the ass, I just knew it.

     Tilea traded the weapon for some bigger hexbags, and she wanted one of the Cats to be her apprentice in exchange for watching the girls. We offered to let her kill Sachias payment, since the little shit thought he was immortal, but he didn't want to test his belief. Once Cat agreed to be her apprentice, she instructed her to kill Sachi. She got him to near death, then healed him. Then the idiot ran his mouth, so she did it again. This was another witch's territory, so I couldn't interfere. Okay, I probably could have, but Sachi deserves to be taught a lesson about consequences every once in a while.

       Once the girls were "safely" with Rowena, we went to meet Clarah, who said we all needed to talk. We were supposed to be strategizing for dealing with the worms, but somehow Sachi and Clarah got on the topic of blowing up the entire domain of Barovia. They wanted to get Shaft and Morgan to Barovia first, and destroy it with them inside, but I doubted this would work.

       Clarah had found some good information for dealing with Morgan. Apparently to defeat her we have to let her get to full power first, which didn't sound like a good plan. The other option we had was to wake my Sestras and lock her away again, but we needed souls to heal theirs.

      I attempted to garner a divine intervention to help my Sestras, but it didn't work. I went back into the dreamscape and told them about the ritual that would heal their souls. I just couldn't do it myself, it was against everything I stood for. Aggie told me that I should just write the spell down and let it find its way to her coven; they'd do what needed to be done. While I didn't like it, I decided to follow her advice.

       Just minutes after I sent off the spell, Aggie's entire coven was at my door. While only two souls we needed to heal them, her entire coven sacrificed itself to bring them back. When I told them about the girls and Rowena, they told me she's been working with Morgan this entire fucking time. And those hexbags she'd given Tilea and the others were fucking microphones. She knows everything they've been up to. We had to get those bags away from our people now.

       Aggie and Sypha went to get the ritual to seal the Black Witch away again and to deal with Shaft. I tried to check on the girls through Syn's blood and couldn't sense them. I sent Sachi to collect them.

       They were gone. Rowena, Cat, and the girls had been seen going to the Hells to beseech Asmodeus to help them get through the Mists. When Kittie showed up and learned what had happened, she went to the nearest crossroads. A few minutes later, a portal opened in the Temple, and an exhausted Kittie stepped out. She was able to confirm that Rowena had the girls and was planning on making a stop in Barovia before leaving this reality completely.

       We needed to get those hexbags away from the others without their knowledge, which would be difficult. Tilea was being an uppity little bitch about the curse thing, which she fucking did to herself. I told her we had more important things going on right now than her petty bullshit and to just get her fucking ass to the Temple now. I had Kittie prepared to convince Tilea, since the bitch was apparently not going to listen to anything I had to say. We got the hexbags off of her and explained what was going on, eventually getting her to believe us.

      Tilea decided this all meant she needed to blow up Barovia. I don't know why they were suddenly so Hellsbent on destroying it, we had the daggers, so this was completely unnecessary. As always, no one listened to the voice of reason. Tilea left to blow it up while the rest of us worked on another plan. As soon as Tilea left, Clarah told us she'd recruited Narg to blow Barovia by punching the moon.

       We were going to make Sachi's paradise look similar to where Rowena would be arriving in Barovia. We planned on rerouting her transportation there, where we could ambush her and get the weapon and girls back safely. The Cats were planning on trying to reach the one with Rowena covertly, to break any hold the witch had on her.

       Sachi and Kittie went to speak to Mask once again and got him to agree to give us a sped up rest so we could take this on fresh and rested. He was not please about Barovia.

       After a while, I felt a rumble as Barovia was destroyed. I think someone warned Strahd, but I'm not really sure. That was it. The Domain that I'd felt so at home in was gone. At least I'd saved my people.

    When we were finished with our sped up rest, things were as done as they could be on my end. As we were getting close to showtime my Sestras returned, both smiling. Aggie had gotten the ritual, but we needed another adamantine sarcophagus, so she began yelling at the Shieldwalls to get it done now. Sypha had found the Black Witch and Shaft hopping around the planes, coming for me. She'd stolen his elemental sphere, so that should keep him busy for a bit. Tilea took it to hide it on the Elemental Plane of Water, now he'd definitely stay back for a little while.

       It was finally showtime. We had the ritual ready to go, the Shieldwalls were nearly finished with their work, everything was asset as it possibly could be. We opened the plane, and a web appeared over it, the energy was working, I think we may have done it! Sachi and Clarah disappeared into the paradise.

       In the paradise, Sachi found Rowena, Belmont, Cat, and the girls- bound and gagged. Sachi stepped up to face off with Belmont, while Clarah engaged Rowena. 

      Shaft was chasing Tilea through the Elemental Plane of Water, with her in the form a leviathan. 

       Aggie announced they'd found Belmont- in Sachi's paradise. We were debating how to get to him when the Black Witch appeared. She began ranting about Shaft's stupid rampage, and how little she cared about it all. She wanted her prize, she wanted her power. "And I'm going to get it," she said as her face began to melt. 

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Twenty

The Cursed Monkey

Dramatis Personae:
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah Therinthrope Homunculus and White Witch
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, the Four-year-old Human girl who Tilea released from an amulet,- kidnapped by Strahd, now working with Talmot Now cleansed of the soul brand clouding her mind
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter- captured by the Talmot Wives, then turned evil mauled to death by Tilea
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Tabitha's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view since the Witch can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Kilencedik Honap 7, CY 745, Temple of Mystra

       I stared at Grant's mangled corpse in horror, falling to my knees at the sight. I tried to use a spell to speak with the dead on him, but it didn't work... he didn't really have a mouth anymore. Book cheerfully informed me that because Grant had been killed, there was no way I could use speak with dead on him. I was crushed... totally because we forgot to ask him where he'd stashed our weapon... not for any other reason...

       Book told me a lot about consecrated souls, for some reason it had a ton of information on the subject. Apparently consecrated souls were originally created to combat the Outside, the pure energy of their souls protected them from the Outside's taint. Strahd made a deal with the Outside to begin the time loop, so the Belmont twins were created. Two consecrated souls: one to beat Strahd, the other to protect the people. But over time, the one who protected the people became twisted with jealousy, because the twin who beat Strahd was always the hero. Because of this, Shaft became the Dark Priest he is now.

       Since we didn't know where Grant had stashed the weapon, Sachi decided to search his room. He found a bag and got hit with three serious curses. The Book started laughing hysterically over the curses Sachi was hit with; they were serious, but they would wear off in 24 hours. It took me seven tries before I removed the first one, and then Sachi asked how I could handle not being cute... I had no patience for that little monster. I stormed out. He'd be fine tomorrow. A few minutes later my coven asked me for permission to remove the curses on the monkey- I told them no, he'd be fine tomorrow. After hearing what the little monster said to me, they had no further questions.

       I studied what was happening with my Sestras, since they were still unconscious, and discovered their souls had been hurt. It would take time we didn't have to repair their souls. Of course Book had a ritual for it, but it required me to siphon off the souls of others. I couldn't resort to something that drastic.

***** Kilencedik Honap 8, Temple of Mystra

       Around midday, my clerics contacted me saying Tilea had brought Sachi in to have curses removed. I told them not to remove them, they'd be gone in a couple hours and I was teaching the little shit a lesson. A little bit later, I was informed that Tilea had tried to trick them into removing the curses, so they responded by renewing the curses on Sachi and placed new curses on Tilea. They'd be fine tomorrow, so whatever. Taking care of my Sestras was what mattered right now.

***** Kilencedik Honap 9, Temple of Mystra

       A little after breakfast this morning, there was some commotion in the bazaar. People were arguing and yelling, accusing one man of killing another, but that man had no memory of doing it. There was an odd black goo trickling a little from his nose. It definitely wasn't blood.

       Before we had time to do anything, another murder was committed. Sachi engaged the man and I used magic to hold him in place. Sachi tried to kill him, but Nikko put the man into a cage made of arcane force where he could safely stay while he calmed the fuck down. I turned to scold Sachi for attempted murder, when the cage suddenly fizzled out and the man punched Sachi. The two fought for a moment while every spell I cast seemed to just wash over him, he was somehow impervious to my magic. After a few moments the man bolted, and when we found him he was unconscious with no memory of what had just happened.

       A Shieldwall was the next person taken over, and he managed to kill a couple people before two other Shieldwalls cleaved him in two. I spotted a little black squirmy thing leave the dead dwarf, which I guessed was the culprit. Tilea grew a tree around the outside of the Temple while I locked the entire Temple down. We would stay in quarantine until this was sorted out. I had agents on every floor searching for this thing, but it seemed to be in hiding. I couldn't even sense it with my magic.

       It briefly took over Sachi, resulting in the death of thirty of my people.

       I realized that the only way it could have gotten in here was if it was on one of my Sestras when we pulled them out of Shaft's realm. I found some of that black goo on Aggie, she was the delivery method. This was bad... There wasn't proof of any on Sypha, so hopefully this meant we were only dealing with one of this things.

       Sachi wanted to try to catch it in his iron flask, that had a fuck ultraloth in it. I told him no, but Scritch released it anyways. The demon said the worm thingy was in Bruno- Tilea's dog- then it vanished. Sachi caught the dog in the flask, then opened it and said "if we didn't get you, kill someone." It killed someone... I hate that monkey sometimes.

       The figure it was possessing told us it was here as a warning. If we didn't back off, Shaft was prepared to use thousands of those things and destroy everything. Literally. They wanted us to leave Barovia and not interfere with their plans; we had 24 hours to decide.

       Sachi decided to instead toss a Well of Many Worlds at its feet; which did nothing. Tilea unleashed fire breath at it, aiming into the Well. Sachi did the same, they wanted to throw anything they had at it to find something to kill it. Turns out that well led right to Tiamat's domain... They'd been tossing attacks into it at her...

       The Dragon Goddess responded with breath from all five heads... I evacuated everyone and everything except the person the worm was in, emptying the entire Temple with a thought. My Temple exploded, destroying the entire Village of Barovia. Again. The worm thing was in Sachi and he turned into a black dragon. I ordered my coven to grab as many people as they could and teleport everyone to Faerun. Our reduced numbers allowed us to get everyone. We lost 25% of the Shieldwalls and 50% of the Villagers.

       I set up the Temple here and once everyone was safely inside, I went to speak to the Archivist. She had a book on these things- brain worms- but it was badly damaged. It had been in Potidaea when Pharin blew it up. Kithri had a ritual that would allow us to see the book as it once was, but it's risky as fuck.

       Since I was stuck in Faerun for the moment, I decided it was time to see my shitty parents. The manor was gone, completely destroyed. It looked like it had happened just a couple of days ago... If I'd followed up on seeing them after that maze I may have been able to save them. This means I'm probably the new Lady Lennox. A title I never wanted. But I didn't think Aggie would accept it, and Sypha didn't know our people, so she probably wouldn't want it either. I moved the Temple to my treehouse in the back of the property and put Dot in charge of planning a funeral for my parents in two days. I hoped my Sestras would be awake by then.

       Sachi arranged for us to meet with Mask, to beseech him for aid. We had to meet him at a casino of Mask's I guess. While Tilea and I had been working on things, the stupid monkey had been partying. Tilea had found Krynn, Syn's twin and the two were together now. I stood off to the side, waiting for our audience, while the others enjoyed themselves. As I watched them, running through the list of things I needed to deal with, a familiar voice commented on this "den of debauchery." I turned and it was Grant! As I turned to hug my friend, excited he wasn't dead, he told me that he still was. Mask had favored him and decided to bring his soul here to run the casino. I was elated that he was here and not gone forever... because he's my friend... not for any other reason...

       Grant told me we should head to the back room in about half an hour, and to tell the dealer "there's mice in the lair and we're here to check the drains." He also told me that the weapon was near Krynn.

       When it was time, we were led to a hidden panel that opened into a private room. Grant was sitting at a table, and informed Sachi that Mask was not happy with him for saying the explosion of my Temple and Barovia was a group effort. As Grant talked to Sachi, Cat and Kittie decided I liked Grant and began poking at it. I insisted I was upset he'd died because he's my friend, but they kept poking. I accidentally rose my voice a little, then turned beet red when everyone heard me. It was awkward...

       Even if I did like Grant, we couldn't be together. He's dead. Besides, if we were together, we'd have to have the sex, and I really didn't want to do that. With everything Mother had told Aggie and I about the sex, it sounded like if I had it with someone I cared about, it would be awful enough to change my feelings. I realized if I was stuck being Lady Lennox I'd have to do it at least once to produce heirs. Shit. I hoped Aggie or Sypha would take the title.

       Grant put a large case on the table, pulling me back to the present and out of my internal embarrassment. The case contained three daggers made of a blackish-blue metal; it wouldn't open until it had blood from all three of us. He informed us that we were going to Barovia to murder all the leeches before they escaped into the Mists. The Mists couldn't stop the leeches from leaving, and there were three thousand of the fuckers in the Realm now. If we managed to kill all of them, Mask would give us the key to Shaft's realm.

       Before we left, Kittie asked Grant what it would take for Mask to return him to his physical form and let him leave the casino; it would require someone to take his place, but they had to be someone who was worthy in Mask's eyes. Grant said he didn't want to leave anyways, he loved his casino.

       When we got back to Barovia, we headed straight for Castle Ravenloft. The guards didn't want to let us in, because we're usually here to annoy Strahd. Then they shot Sachi and knocked him unconscious. We got in eventually. The others told Strahd the brain leeches were in his sewers, so he sent us there.

       Sachi ran off and a few minutes later he was dropped right into the sewer, with lead weights attached to his wrists, ankles, and tail, and they seemed to be stuck there with a curse. Apparently he told Strahd we couldn't make stone? That monkey never makes sense. Tilea shoved gillyweed in his mouth, so now he couldn't breathe air, and shoved him into the waste.

       Kittie was talking to me about being interested in taking Grant's place so we could be together, which I would love- him being alive again... not the being together part... Even if I did like Grant like that, I'm sure he wouldn't feel the same way. He loves drinking, gambling, partying; literally none of the things I have any interest in. I'm always the one who stays in while the others party.

      While talking to Kittie, Cat asked me to toss some chainmail at Sachi, so I did, not paying attention to what I was doing. Then Scritch asked me to put a healing spirit on Sachi, so I did, still deep in my conversation with Kittie. If I'd been paying attention, I would have noticed that those weights on Sachi were magnetic, and the chainmail was constricting around him; the only thing keeping him alive was that healing spirit. I just couldn't feel bad about this, the monkey kind of deserved it. To get the armor off Sachi, I sacrificed it to Mystra, beseeching my Goddess to refresh my magical energy- I was nearly tapped.

       Then, because things weren't ridiculous enough, Scritch planted nine beans in the sewers... A geyser of water shot up, thirty-two shriekers appeared, a treant, a statue of Scritch that started berating him, a berry juice geyser, a blue campfire, and a fruit tree appeared. Tilea in a stroke of genius, decided to use her fire breath to get rid of the shriekers...

       Strahd was relaxing in his study with a fine glass of Vale Elf, thinking to himself that he didn't need to worry about the group damaging his castle from the sewers when...

       As Tilea's fire breath went off, the entire Castle rocketed into orbit. Everything, including Strahd was now orbiting Barovia. I turned into a void dragon so I wouldn't be harmed by the lack of oxygen. Tilea took all of us to the moon and left Strahd there.

       Back on the surface, there was an invisible, magical barrier surrounding the castle's grounds. Tilea had gotten her hands on the deed to the castle, so we were able to go through the barrier with no problem at all. We saw something streaking back toward the ground from orbit, and we were pretty sure it was the sarcophagus Krynn had been in. Tilea told Sachi to go get it, but he wasn't willing to touch it, he was afraid the weapon was in there and it would destroy him if he touched it. He wouldn't even call Scritch to him to help him change the trajectory of the coffin. So it slammed into the ruins of the Village of Barovia and slid into the Mists.

       We told Sachi to go find it. I asked Book if it could help us track it and it told me to open it and it would show me how. I opened it and black goo spewed out at me. I dropped Book and hurriedly wiped it off me and Tilea used a nasty looking storm spell at it... it vanished. I couldn't feel it anymore. I realized the Book had looked like it was made of human flesh before it disappeared.

       Tilea stormed off to destroy a little island in a temper tantrum, then she went looking for Sachi. None of this was killing the leeches we were sent to deal with. Together, Tilea and Sachi found the coffin, and it ended up flying into the Tser Pool, killing the handful of Vistani who'd been camped there. Tilea began making a huge storm because she was having a hissy fit for some fucking reason.

       While she was being useless, I pulled out my dagger and focused on it. It pointed me to a brain worm that was slithering toward Tilea. I chucked my dagger at it and it died instantly.

       By this time, Tilea was trying to melt the adamantine sarcophagus in search of the weapon. I had a hunch it was on Krynn.

       I showed Sachi how to use the dagger to find the leeches, and it pointed him to a Vistani boy I recognized as an orphan from my Temple. It told us it was going to take the daggers from us. 

The Ravenloft Chronicles- Shit Storm: Book One, Chapter Nineteen

Beyond the Looking Glass

Dramatis Personae:
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah Therinthrope Homunculus and White Witch
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, the Four-year-old Human girl who Tilea released from an amulet,- kidnapped by Strahd, now working with Talmot Now cleansed of the soul brand clouding her mind
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife

Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter- captured by the Talmot Wives, then turned evil mauled to death by Tilea
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Tabitha's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view since the Witch can't be everywhere at once. 

***** Kilencedik Honap 1, CY 745, Temple of Mystra

       We rushed to the Temple to find out what was going on. Belmont shouldn't have been able to break out of there, he was behind some of my strongest wards. There was massive destruction to the Temple, there were dead Shieldwalls everywhere, signs of some serious magic use, and a hole in the wall.

       I hurried to repair the wall and tried to contact my sestras, but the spells just fizzled out like there was no target. They weren't in the Temple, which is where I'd left them... This was bad. The Book told me it had said "hi" to the intruder, but they told it to shut up, and the voice felt like all of the elements combined. Book also told me that I couldn't bring any of the dead Shieldwalls back, their souls were gone. The Shieldwalls who didn't die from this didn't see much, this all happened in just a few seconds. I tasked my Blessed of Apsu with scrying for my sestras.

       While I was doing that, Tilea was outside communing with nature to see what she could find out. She learned that a ball similar to my bubble burst through the wall and whoever was inside it sent out several other globes to attack while he collected Belmont.

       Sachi randomly wandered in and gave me a book he needed read, but it was all written in some stupid code that I didn't feel like puzzling out.

       I realized that whoever had done the soul brand on Sypha must be the same person who took my Sestras from my Temple. I had to go home and see my shitty parents. Mother would have the answers I sought.

       As soon as I arrived I knew something was wrong. Neither of my parents claimed to have any memory of Sypha, and they claimed Aggie had died years ago. The memories seemed genuine, so someone had tampered with their memories. I searched both of my parent's libraries, hoping to find a book that would lead me to the answers. All the while, my parents were trying to convince me to stay with them, at least spend a few days. I realized after a while that the little mannerisms I was so familiar with weren't there, my parents were acting off... wrong. They definitely were not my parents. Coming up empty, I decided to return to the the Temple.

       Exiting, I realized this was a maze, not my home. I'd never left the Temple. My wards seemed fine, and I had my makeshift coven help me check and strengthen them, just in case.

       The Book told me that since both of my Sestras had used it, it could find them for me, it needed only my permission. I declined, at first. But the more I thought about it, the more worried I became, and I very reluctantly gave in. My Sestras were more important to me than my beliefs on the dark magic linked to this Book.

       I was in a black void with little flecks of light, then I whoosed to Toril and ended up in a chamber. A robed figure was sitting on a throne made of bones. Both of my Sestras were chained to a wall, naked and badly wounded. Belmont walked into the room and the figure said "again, we need to find her." Belmont drew his whip and flicked his wrist toward my Sestras. The vision faded just before the whip struck. I wasn't sure who the "her" was that the figure was looking for, but I suspected it was Syn.

       There was an odd pressure on my chest after using the book. I didn't have time to puzzle that out now though. My Sestras needed me. I called the rest of the group to return to the Temple for a meeting. Then I sat down with my books.

       Three hours later, Cat appeared, looking like a tiefling. She dropped 100 bags of holding on my desk and told me to clean up better after myself next time. Each bag contained an item I'd touched in the maze. The maze was a trap to get my DNA. Cat had gotten everything I touched and killed all of Shaft's minions. She asked me to activate one of Sypha's hexbags, so I did, then I gave her a bead of luck to thank her.

***** Kilencedik Honap 2, Temple of Mystra

       After much debate, we decided we needed distraction so a strike team could get to my Sestras. If we could get hexbags on them I could pull them out with magic. Cat and Tilea went to scout and discovered Shaft's location was on a plot of land that Sachi owned. The problem was, the place wasn't actually in Toril, it was in a mirror realm, its own plane. Somehow in this mission, Scritch ended up attached to a wraith guardian.

      I got my coven researching how to deal with mirrors while I went to Aggie's coven- the Grand Coven- to get their help. I figured since it was Aggie in trouble, they'd help me. I sent Dot to the Archivist, and Sachi to Sigil to see if he could learn anything there.

       The Grand Coven is nothing but evil bitches. They planned to look for Aggie, but wouldn't do so with me. They also refused to promise they'd get Sypha too, since she wasn't in their coven and therefore wasn't a priority.

       I communed with Mystra to see if she could aid me. She said she couldn't help with the mirror realm, but the Book could help us find the Cypher Codex. I needed that spell, but I couldn't risk tainting my own soul. Tomorrow I'll do a ritual with my coven to keep the corruption at bay while I use the Book.

       Clarah spoke to a wizard and said there was "a portal in the place and another portal in the place that's going the opposite direction of the place, and somebody on both sides has to die to create it." She had a ritual that would do it, but we'd need a lot more juice.

***** Kilencedik Honap 3, Faerun

       I set up the ritual to hold back to corruption with 129 witches, to keep it in a multiple of three. The second the ritual started everyone was completely cut off from me. A torrent of wind held them all at bay, while a paper whipped around the circle. After a minute it landed, there was a little red water drop- not ink or blood, water- on a map. Cat and Kittie said it was about 10 miles from where they found some lineage papers.

       We appeared in a thinly wooded area with a bear nearby. Sachi jumped on its back and it panicked and took off. Hearing his screams, I went to him, just as the bear was diving into lava... Somehow, by Mystra's grace, Sachi and I survived.

       There was a small cave we needed to enter, but it ended abruptly in lava. Sachi and Tilea turned into elementals and dove in. I spotted a shaft in the ceiling of the cave and sent Spot up there to check it out. It narrowed quickly, so Scritch turned into a gaseous form and went to investigate.

       After a few minutes lava began filling the cave- somehow this had to be Sachi's doing. Scritch called us all to him and we found him bleeding profusely over a box that had gears clicking. He wouldn't let me heal him. The heat began growing worse, so I closed off the shaft and teleported us back to where we'd left my coven.

***** Kilencedik Honap 4, Sigil

       Scritch took the Codex to a contact in Sigil that Sachi had hired to decrypt the books for us. It was going to take a few days.

***** Kilencedik Honap 5, Temple of Mystra

       I asked the Book if it had a ritual that would get my Sestras away from Shaft. I needed to save them now. Before he took them from me. It had a ritual, that required two innocent souls to trade for my Sestras. I couldn't ask anyone to do that for me. It was just to much.

***** Kilencedik Honap 6, Temple of Mystra

       Grant showed up today with a tattoo covering literally every inch of him, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He said it would help him face Belmont. I tried not to stare when he disrobed to show us the tattoo; this was the first time I'd ever seen a man naked... I don't think I succeeded at not turning crimson, nor did I succeed at not staring. It was a rather overwhelming sight.

       Scritch finally returned and asked if we knew anyone named Trevor. I knew several, but Grant knew who Scritch meant. Trevor Belmont, who had been dead for 600 years.

       Tilea randomly announced she wanted a spell to steal the wraith who possessed Scritch's pale horse. Book had one, of course, that required 50 willing souls to die. I refused to help her with it.

       Later in the day I had a lengthy conversation with Scritch about redeeming the Book, which I was interested in doing, but I didn't know where to start. This devolved into the Book going off on a tirade about being misunderstood. Magic itself isn't evil, it's how it's used that's evil.

       Somehow this turned into Grant suggesting an infiltration to save my Sestras. We needed two innocent souls for it, and he figured between himself, Sachi, Cat, and Kittie, we had two innocent souls. I couldn't ask Grant or the others to do this for me- it was just too much. But all four of them were willing to do it. They'd be able to get themselves out of there, and Grant seemed set to face off with Belmont. He flashed his tattoo around again- making me turn a deep red- and insisted they'd all be fine. They all went to get drunk in case any of them didn't make it back.

***** Kilencedik Honap 7, Temple of Mystra

       We got the ritual all set up and ready to go. I couldn't give any of them any boons or items charged with my magic, we couldn't risk Shaft getting anything of mine. Grant set up a blood recall as a failsafe.

       As soon as the four of them vanished, Sypha and Aggie appeared on the floor. They were both near death, but I used my most powerful healing spell on them instantly. I couldn't wake them though, but that I'd worry about after Grant and the others got back. At least they were out of Shaft's hands now.

       When they arrived in place or Agatha and Sypha, Grant immediately stepped up to face off with Belmont, while Sachi, Kittie, and Cat began working on a way to escape. Tilea and Scritch arrived at Shaft's front door, after his wraith tore a hole open for them. The six of them unleashed complete chaos in Shaft's domain, and robbed him blind. Scritch appeared as DEATH to Shaft... A squirrel of DEATH. 

       About five minutes later, Sachi, Cat, Kittie, Tilea, and Scritch appeared in the ritual chamber. Without Grant. I waited... 10 minutes and he hadn't returned. I waited... 30 minutes and he hadn't returned. My heart was pounding in fear. Clarah wished for Grant, and a mangled, bloody heap of a body appeared...

       Grant was gone. 

Mystra's Marked: The Life of the White Witch

Tabitha Lennox

       Tabitha Marie Lennox is from the island of Amarune in the Moonshae Isles in Faerun, and island her family has ruled for hundreds of years. A prophecy has hung over the Lennox family bloodline, a line that has always been passed down through the females, since its beginning. This prophecy foretold that identical girl triplets, born in a month, day, and year that were all multiples of three, would together have the power to save or destroy the world.

       Tabitha is the youngest of identical triplets born in the triple three; the first to be born in five generations. When she and her sisters, Loretha and Agatha, were born, her parents were terrified that the prophecy would come true, so they both decided to split up their children to ensure the prophecy would never come to be. The problem was, they did not both to tell each other of their plans. Their parents were a purely political marriage, they did not love- or even truly like- one another, so their communication was always minimal.

       Their mother made a deal with a mysterious supernatural force, known only as the Mists, and gave up her firstborn, Loretha, to it; she was renamed Sypha. The triplets were only five days old when their mother did this, and neither Tabitha or Agatha were ever told about their eldest sister. Meanwhile, their father made a deal to give up their firstborn to another entity on her sixteenth birthday; he unwittingly made this pact with Lolth. Since this deal was made shortly after Loretha was given up, and her existence was erased from the records, Agatha became the target of their father's deal. Their mother sank into a deep depression that she never shook herself out of; she spent a good portion of the girls' lives drunk.

       Agatha and Tabitha were inseparable until their sixteenth birthday, when Lolth collected on their pact, turning Agatha into a black witch. Tabitha watched in horror as her sister's hair and eyes darkened and her cheery smile twisted into a scowl of contempt. She flew off, telling Tabitha she'd be back for her. Agatha's goal has been to turn Tabitha evil, while Tabitha's goal became saving her sister.

       Tabitha found a book that helped her make a her pact with Mystra to become a white witch, a beacon of good; hoping this would help save Agatha. She's convinced her sister can be saved. After Agatha was taken, their mother mentioned in a drunken stupor that it was because of the prophecy, but Tabitha could only find a prophecy about the Lennox triplets, not twins, so she was convinced it was the drink that made her mother say that. Her father fell into drugs and alcohol when Agatha was taken, leaving Tabitha with no one to help or support her.

       After a disastrous fight with Agatha one year later, Tabitha knew she needed to hide and gain power before she could save her sister. Mystra directed her to the Mists, and even though Barovia isn't a terribly safe place, it's safer than being somewhere Agatha could find her. Tabitha told her parents she wouldn't return until Agatha was saved.

       Tabitha quickly made a name for herself in Barovia, as the White Witch. She healed anyone she saw in need of it, and would try to aid anyone in need to the best of her ability. The Resistance found out about her quickly, and brought her into the fold; they gave her the ability to move through the Mists so she could bring in supplies to help them. Tabitha has been there for two years now, helping in the Resistance and biding her time, waiting to become powerful enough to save Agatha, and hoping her sister doesn't come through the Mists to find her in the meantime.

        Tabitha stands at 5'8 and weighs 158 lbs; she has some curve to her and a modest chest. She has white, alabaster, nearly translucent skin, and a porcelain complexion. Her hair is white, and goes down to her thighs; her eyes are ice blue. In the center of her chest is a silvery scar of Mystra's holy symbol.