Episode 29

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Plot Summary
Although held by the vampire Eldin, Andre is healed as he summons the power of his god, Kloht. Bubo is standing on top of the flesh golem. Nitsuj struggles to maintain his grip on the glowing gem. Ora remains enthralled by Eldin, despite Nitsuj’s encouragement. Andre commands the flesh golem to attack Eldin. Eldin tries to summon swarms of rats, but Nitsuj counterspells it. The flesh golem smashes Eldin, but the vampire turns into a mist. The mist hides under one of the Quai-Lem corpses.

Ora spots a journal that Eldin dropped and picks it up with mage hand. The angel curses the flesh golem and attacks it with a flaming sword. Andre, the two heartbeasts, and Nitsuj manage to pull the gem free. It stops glowing. Eldin attempts to flee while Ora destroys the flesh golem. Bubo falls into the remaining goo, but saves his portrait. Nitsuj freezes the mist and Eldin reverts to his vampiric form before he is destroyed.

Ora regains her wits and gives Nitsuj the journal. Andre examines the gem and figures out the bloodlust effect is coming from the stone and not the gem. Nitsuj wants to further test the stone, but the others aren’t sure the ancient magic could be filled by his plan to feign death. Nitsuj’s new plan is to resurrect one of the Quai-Lem. Ora is opposed and Andre is for. Nitsuj remembers the Angel is still there. It is just named Angel and it serves Gurnal. Ora searches the vampire bodies and finds vials of blood, four plain rings, and a bottle wrapped in silk which is full of pure light.

The party decides to spend the night with the dwarves. They drag all the vampire bodies outside to be destroyed by the sunlight. After swimming back across the lake, they see Starheart napping with the Iron Horn. As they leave the water, a Darkwing Mist Dragon (character drop) lands and attacks the Angel, his sworn enemy. He commands the water in the lake to crush the Angel. Andre calls for help from the dwarves while Nitsuj speaks to the dragon to beg for mercy. Bubo leaves to go to the dwarven camp. The angel wreaths itself in flame and attacks the dragon. The dragon claws the angel and drags it high into the air.

Nitsuj tries to read the thoughts of the dragon, but only gets that it wants to destroy its mortal enemy, which was pretty obvious. The dwarves use their cannons to attack the dragon. Starheart and the Iron Horn, half tipsy, awaken and join the battle. The dragon and angel plummet to the ground. The dragon clears the lake bed of water in an attempt to pummel the angel into the earth, but is unable to control the landing. He accidentally releases the angel, hits the ground himself, and is immediately submerged in water. The dragon emerges from the water and destroys the angel’s corporeal form. He turns its attention to the party, but is killed by a cannonball from the dwarves.

Bubo and Ora harvest some of the dragon’s claws, teeth, and blood somewhat haphazardly. Gilbur Mudminer and the dwarves introduce themselves. Nitsuj offers the scales and some of the teeth to them. Andre examines the Angel’s flaming sword, which is engraved with the symbol of Gurnal. After a small ceremony, Andre uses his holy power to ignite the sword, which consumes the Angel’s body. Afterwards, they join the dwarves for dinner and eat the giant fish they killed earlier.

After a long night’s sleep, the party awakens to a delicious breakfast. Gilbur gives the party a blunderbuss, which is immediately taken by Bubo. They use the dwarves’ boat to head back into the cave. The Iron Horn stays with the dwarves and helps them take up their camp. The party picks up as much gold as they can carry before they start their experiments with the Quai-Lem. Starheart is opposed to bringing them back from the dead.

Nitsuj examines the bodies again. One on the far left is male with more adornments than the others and wears glasses. The second one is a female armed with swords and knives. The third is a male with basic clothing with images of plant life and crops. The final one appears to be a female noble. Nitsuj selects the male with glasses to resurrect. He casts Kelrek’s spell and nothing happens for a moment, but then color returns to the Quai-Lem’s face. His eyes open, clear blue behind his half-moon glasses.

The man was once a Quai-Kul. He says the last thing he remembers is “giving himself to the next generation.”  He never expected to be brought back. He recognizes the stone in the room. He designed them. His name is Ulnas, "The Willing." He explains the history of the Quai-Lem and how they were banished from the Green Isles and forced to march to the Glasslands to freeze to death. He accidentally slew his own heartbeat over the stone and it granted him longer life; gave him warmth in the cold. Sacrificing a life made them not feel the cold. Ora now has this same power.

He left the stone in a path to the north for any that followed behind the original group. They could choose for themselves: a life for a life. There are four stones in total. Ulnas made it to the Glasslands and his life lingered a thousand years longer than it was supposed to. The Quai-Lem were all banished for good reasons. Ulnas performed unethical experiments on living beings, including his own heartbeast. They learned their lesson after millennia, but they cannot return. It took two beings for Ulnas to return to this cave and sacrifice his life so that a young boy, Faro, could live.

The other three Quai entombed here also contributed to the society that was built. Ratha, "The Warrior," challenged the elitist class structure of the Green Isles. She was the first to be murdered by the bloodlust of the stone. Helis, "The Farmer," was a druid who developed ways for plants to survive in the Glasslands. Pliss, "The Vengeful," was a Quai-Lir assassin. She was banished for the successful assassination of Queen Aurem Nuura’s daughter, Auura, who threw lavish parties using the money of the poor. Pliss was the only one to fight the pull of the curse on her own. She returned to the Green Isles and killed Quai-Lir King Belk Irwe. Irwe was the first to suggest the banishment of the Quai-Lem.

Ulnas still feels the pull of the curse to the north and will probably return to the Glasslands. Nitsuj asks him what it was like to be dead. Ulnas says he was surrounded by running water, dressed in the finest of silks. He was at peace. If he thought of something pleasant, it would appear. Unpleasant things would disappear. Old friends would occasionally visit, but he was often alone, but was happy to be so. Andre asks him if he recalls the last fall of a meteorite. Ulnas relays the story of being a young boy, back when Luidwyn walked among the living, when Kloht turned on his father Sahlen. Several Sahlites were sent to warn of the betrayal and help where they could, but many were slaughtered by the children of Kloht.

Nitsuj accidentally reveals that he has released Kelrek into the world. Ulnas is angry and pledges to galvanize the Quai-Lem to fight Kelrek. He rummages for two identical notebooks and throws one to Andre. If they write in one book, Ulnas will get the message in the other. Ora asks him if he knows the location of Hortiel, but he does not. He explains that to banish Kelrek again they will need a piece of the demon, paper made from trees grown in the Steamfang Mountains, and the help of a god. When Ora mentions the vampires, Ulnas hypothesizes they were trying to use the stone to gain mortality, keeping all the traits of a vampire but losing the need to feed. He knew Eldin in his youth, Eldin was one of the first few beings to turn into a vampire.

In immense pain, Ulnas leaves and begins his journey north. They exit the cave and rejoin the dwarves and Iron Horn. They all agree to travel north together. As they depart, Klaxxon rides up to them on one of his clockwork animals. He’s covered in blood and looks dejected. He gives Ora the detonator for the mountain. He explains that he did not have the will to blow up Copperforge. Kurluk has taken the mountain. Fizz Binkle rides on the back of the animal, his legs shattered. Alhoon was able to defeat Orkan. He leaves the decision to blow the mountain in the hands of the party.

Fun Moments
Everyone enjoys a peanut butter and jelly flavored soda.

Danny has a #spoton impression of Bubo.