GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 21: A Very Special Halloween Session

In which the party accomplishes almost nothing.

The Nighttime, Part 1: Cassian's Watch.

Cassian sat outside in the nook of a gnarled tree root, the colossal redwood towering over him. He had chosen to stay outside of the safety of the dome Whistle had summoned for the group's rest and take the first watch. The forest was still and quiet as it had been all day, the glint of a moon far overhead shedding dim light through the foliage.

Having satisfied himself that the surrounding area was calm, Cassian pulled out Mjolnir, the magical hammer he had acquired from the leviathan's lake. He held it in his hand, feeling the heft, and moved it in slow motions in front of him. He ran his fingers over its smooth surface, feeling the faint crackle of the hammer's power. Since he had finished polishing the weapon with Sorzen's potion, the surface had gleamed in the sunlight, and the hammer had felt almost eager in his hand to smash into his foes. Cassian focussed his mind on the hammer, and closed his eyes.

A vision swam before him of a figure in shadow, holding the hammer aloft before charging into the serried ranks of the figure's enemies. As the figure ran the hammer grew larger in its grip, and the figure smashed left and right, the unknown enemy flying away from it with every swing.

Cassian opened his eyes again with new understanding. He stood and willed the hammer to grow larger. To his satisfaction it did. "So I don't need to throw it for that to happen," he thought to himself.  "I wonder if there are any further secrets I can learn from you?"

Before he could return to his meditations a sound broke the silence of the forest. Someone nearby was sobbing. Cassian stood and looked around, but saw nobody. The crying was coming from the east, but the trees masked the way. The half-orc stepped from his niche and strode over to the dome.

"Hey, I hear someone crying," Cassian said, sticking his head through the protective barrier. The sound of dragonborn snores greeted this announcement. The others were all asleep. Cassian stood up straight and turned toward the sound. "Well, it may be up to me then," he said resolutely. "I cannot leave someone in distress." He began walking toward the sound, but paused. "On the other hand, it is eerie that someone should be crying in this forest. Perhaps I should be cautious." He pulled the invisibility cloak from his pack and wrapped it around himself, then continued towards the sound.

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Moonlight shone clearly through the trees as Cassian made his way toward the sound. He soon found himself in a clearing amongst the redwoods, a single large stump sitting in the middle of a ring of trees. A woman sat slumped against the stump, crying. She was dressed in a white nightdress, and seemed to have no business being in the middle of the silent forest. As he walked closer, his steps rustling in the underbrush, the woman looked up. She looked toward Cassian, then around the clearing, seemingly lost. Cassian felt a chill down his spine, but pressed on in spite of it.

"Are you alright?" Cassian called out. The woman looked again towards him, but did not seem to see him. Her tears dried up, but her expression was still sad. Then she began softly crying again. "Oh, right," Cassian muttered. "I'm wearing the cloak." He slipped the cloak off, his vision dimming and disappearing as he did so, and replaced it in his pack by feel. The half-orc stood, listening intently while he waited for his vision to return. The crying had stopped again, but he did not hear any movement. Gradually, light began to filter into his eyes again. "Three lights, actually, how strange."

With a blink he realized that three floating balls of light surrounded him. Suddenly on guard, Cassian backed away. The lights followed him. He attempted to duck and jive around them, but they simply waited for him to stop moving and then came to rest at his final location. Turning, Cassian saw the stump again, still illuminated in the moonlight. The woman was gone.

With a heavy sigh, Cassian drew his hammer and shield, and peered into the reflection on the back of the shield. The woman was behind him, barely visible. She had a white ethereal quality to her now, as she slunk towards his back. Long claws extended from her fingers.

Cassian threw himself forward into a roll, crying "I mean no harm!" as he did so. The woman rushed toward him, and Cassian felt a flash of fear. Fighting past the fear he held his shield in front of him and met her charge with his own. The half-orc passed straight through the woman, the cold touch of her claws glancing off the back of his neck as he did so. The balls of light surged around him, pressing in on him and attempting to force him back towards the spirit. Cassian swung his hammer, smacking one of the balls aside and continuing to run back towards the camp. The lights followed him, and with a glance in his shield he saw the form of the woman stalking behind.

Soon the suddenly comforting sight of Whistle's dome of protection came into view, and Cassian dove inside. "We have company!" he said, standing up.

"Huh? What?" Sadun said, opening her eyes, her hand reaching for the hilt of Briarblade.

"There was a woman, and these lights, they chased me here!" Cassian explained.

"I don't see anything," Fei said, looking outside.

Cassian turned. The forest was silent and still, no sign of the lights or the ghostly woman remained. "They put have gone when I reached safety," he muttered.

"Well, I'm going back to sleep then," Sadu mumbled, turning over.

"Fei, I heard crying and found a woman by a stump in a clearing," Cassian said, turning to Fei, who was fully awake now. "There were three orbs of light, and the woman grew claws and attacked me."

"You should get some rest," Fei said soothingly. "It is my turn to take watch anyway."

"Fine, that's a good idea. But I am warning you, if you hear crying, it's a trap!"

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Interlude: Ekemon.

Ekemon sat in a tree near to the Champion's hut. He had followed behind them for the past day in this strange forest after leaping through a strange portal in the beholder's tunnels. The tiefling was still undecided on what to make of the group, but they had provided some amusing sport fighting the ninja bugbears, and it had been interesting to follow them through this strange forest. It was always good to keep himself in practice at staying out of sight, and so far none amongst the party seemed to have noticed him.

When the half-orc guard had walked into the forest, Ekemon had watched him go. The sound of a woman crying in the still air of the night had not seemed a wise thing to follow up on to the assassin, but he silently made a wager with himself on whether the half-orc would return. To his delight, about ten minutes later the half-orc did indeed return, charging into the dome pursued by three balls of light that swiftly disappeared. That was another five gold he owed himself. With any luck the Champions would soon lead him to someplace where he could acquire that gold.

Nobody emerged from the hut for several minutes, and Ekemon grew bored. He made his way out of the tree and walked away into the woods. Several of the party members had gone this way before they turned in for the night, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just more giant trees. But what was that? There was a dark opening half hidden beneath the roots of one of the large trees. The tiefling approached the opening, and found a slope leading down into a subterranean cave. 

"Interesting," Ekemon thought to himself. "This may warrant further investigation. Perhaps in the morning I can somehow entice the Champions to explore it for me." 

As he turned to go back to his tree branch, Ekemon heard a woman begin crying again in the direction the half-orc had gone earlier. Ignoring it, he climbed back into the trees near the Champion's dome and went to sleep.

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The Nighttime Part 2: Fei's Watch.

Fei left Cassian in the hut chiding Aeros the dragonling about sleepwalking and stood outside in the still air of the forest. There was a chill in the air, and the druid did not hear the comforting sound of the small animals that normally made their presence known during the dark hours, but it was still rather pleasant to be in the middle of nature again after all that time amongst the more civilized people. 

After a time, Fei sat on the ground and thought about how the party might fight the blight afflicting the woods. She considered what her magics might bring to the fight, and if there might be a way to defeat the red ooze permanently. She thought she heard crying in the woods. Cassian had mentioned something about crying in the woods, and it was certainly out of place. 

Standing up, Fei placed her wooden mask back inside the dome of protection and began to make her way to the treant.

"What is that sound? This forest is normally so silent," Fei asked, looking up at the massive tree person.

"What sound is that fleshling?" the treant asked in a weary voice.

The crying had stopped. "I heard a woman crying, but it stopped just now," Fei explained.

"Why would crying stop?" The treant asked.

"I do not know. Could you ask the trees to the east of here if there was anything happening in the past minute?"

"You know how sluggish we are without the sun," the treant groused. "Fine." The treant was silent for a long moment. "The trees have noticed a humanoid woman who appears and then vanishes near Zeldulze's Stool."

"Hmm, I think I should go check that out," Fei said, turning to leave. "Oh, but one more thing," she added, turning around again. "We saw scratch marks on the trees yesterday, but we face an infection of oozes. Do the trees know what scratched them?"

"Oh, that is an old trick of the trees," the treant explained. "They do not like ambients like you here, so they attempt to drive you away or question your senses." 

"That is what caused those scratch marks?"

"The scratch marks never existed."

"Ah, I see. Then I shall go and investigate this strange woman."

Fei left the treant to its slumber and walked east, following the same track Cassian had follows an hour before. As she walked, Fei began to notice sudden flashes of light around her, almost guiding her path forward.

The trees gave way unto the same clearing. A large tree stump greeted Fei's eyes as she entered. The moon had continued its journey across the sky but the clearing was still well lit. A woman slumped against the stump, weeping. Fei noted the long white dress and long white hair obscuring her face. As the druid walked closer, she got a better look at the strange woman's face. Fei froze, terror coursing down her spine. The face beneath the hair was faded and blank save for eyes that seemed to glow with hatred, and an unworldly fear seemed to emanate from it. 

Three orbs of light, the origin of the flashes she had noted earlier, gathered around her. They seemed almost eager. Will-o-wisps, Fei realized. The creature at the stump stirred and lifted from the ground, moving slowly towards the paralyzed druid. The creature raised its hands, claws clutching at the air. Fei backed away as the creature moved forward, trying to keep her distance while a cold unaffected part of her mind noted how far the creature moved from the tree stump. The will-o-wisps sagged as though in disappointment at Fei's slow retreat, but then brightened again. Fei felt three electrical jolts as the will-o-wisps began rewarding her backward steps with small attacks of their own energy, urging her back towards the approaching spirit.

Fei reached out her hand, and with the sound of splintering wood her magical spear flew to her. A fierce wind immediately began to blow around the clearing as Fei hurled the spear. The spirit moved to one side as the spear passed it, but Fei's true target was the stump itself. With a crack, the old wood split, and white smoke began to waft up from the wound. The spirit flickered away, reappearing in Fei's face as it screamed its pain and hatred into the druid's soul, then disappeared.

Fei staggered backward, the weight of the wail resounding through her body and sagged. The will-o-wisps, undeterred by the banshee's disappearance, closed in on the druid even as the wind became stronger. Fei thought swiftly and shifted form, launching herself from the ground and spreading growing wings as the wisps futility attempted to stop her. 

Now an eagle, Fei flew swiftly away, the three balls of light following behind. Wind tore and ripped at her feathers, and suddenly a tree branch erupted from the trees, twisting into a noose to ensnare her as she passed.  Weaving from side to side, Fei dove back into the foliage, aiming straight for the Champions' tiny hut. Branches reached toward her to halt her progress but she shied away from each one. Just as she was about to land safely, she felt something snag her leg. Without thinking Fei shifted back into her human form, deftly slipping through the noose that had grappled the giant bird, then resumed her eagle form and dropped safely into the hut, landing heavily on the sleeping Cassian.

"Alarm!" Cassian shouted, instinctively attempting to grab the huge bird on top of him, but Fei slipped from his grasp and once more became human. "Fei! What in the hells are you doing?" The half-orc demanded.

"Tree stump," the druid replied, gasping for breath.

"Tree stump?" Cassian asked incredulously. "You heard the woman crying didn't you. Did i not say it was a trap?"

"I may remember that," Fei allowed, returning to herself.

Outside the dome, wind continued to pick up, the rustling of the trees changing to a howl.

"What is happening out there?" Cassian asked pointedly.

"Well, I saw the crying woman, when I got closer I was attacked by some will-o-wisps, and then the woman turned out to be a banshee," Fei explained.

"What is a banshee?" Cassian demanded.

"A tortured ghost," Fei said. "They appear as women and lure in victims."

"And why do you look like you went through a meat grinder?"

"Yes, well, the banshee's wail can be lethal."

"That doesn't explain the trees," Cassian pointed out.

"I thought destroying the tree stump would take care of the banshee," Fei said. "So I needed a powerful weapon. Unfortunately, I had left my spear behind. It may have pierced a few trees on its way to me. I'll fix it in the morning."

"Well, I guess this is your specialty," Cassian allowed. "Can't you just apologize?"

"Not without my magical powers," Fei said wearily. "Which I will recover once I passed out." Having said that, Fei collapsed onto the floor, asleep.

Cassian looked up at Sy, who had been listening to the whole conversation after waking from her meditations. "Crying woman, lights, trap," he said to her. "Watch out when you go outside. I'm going to sleep again. Why is Aeros sleeping on a snow pile?" 

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The Nighttime Part 3: Sy's Watch.

"Well Mischief," Sy said to her cat. "It's just the two of us awake now. And listening to that wind, I think I'll stay in here. You keep watch for me, alright?"

Mischief gave the abyssal elf a long look, then walked outside and settled into a sheltered dive in the ground.

Sy pulled out the shining golden hammer that had plagued her for since she picked it up and inspected it again. "Now how do I rid myself of you?" she wondered softly. "Hmm, you don't seem to be cursed. But why have you linked so strongly with me?" 

The hammer simply glowed gently in her face. Sy recalled what Cassian had said about the loop of medical energy linking her to the hammer, and turned her gaze inward. She focused on that link, and found it almost immediately. It was as though her soul were tied to the hammer. "What if," she said, and pushed her soul along the link. She began to feel more sturdy and stable as she did so. "And if I keep going," she murmured, pushing again. The elf passed out.

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Sy opened her eyes to the sensation of cat paws pulling insistently on her sleeve. She sat up. "Sorry to have worried you Mischief," she said. "I was just experimenting with this. And my own soul, apparently. What happened?" Once again, Sy turned her magical gaze upon herself. With a start, she realized that her entire soul now resided within the hammer, the magical chain connecting it to her body seemingly the only reason she was awake. "This is like the tales of a Lich's phylactery," she said in awe, "except I haven't had to die first. I could be practically immortal with this! Think of the good I could do with all that time. Although, I don't know what might happen if my body were to die, and I'm not sure I want to experiment with that."

She lay the hammer down on the floor in front of her. "In fact, it almost seems as though the hammer itself is just a shell to house the spell that has transferred my soul. I wonder if I could move the magic to my rapier." The elf placed her rapier next to the hammer and focussed, but nothing happened.  "Of course it wouldn't be that easy," she grumbled, picking the hammer up again. "It is an odd design, I wonder why I didn't notice it before? There are oddly placed grooves around the handle, and some of these design choices seem almost as if they're meant to help the hammer come apart."

Sy touched one of the grooves, and it began emitting a soft glow. Touching a second groove caused the glow to dissipate. "Strange," she muttered. "Well, I don't seem to be getting anything more from the tonight." As she put the hammer away, Sy realized that the strange urge to hold it had gone. "Almost as if it got what it wanted," she muttered to herself. 

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Sadun woke as the light of dawn filtered down through the trees. She sat up. Fei was sprawled across the middle of the hut, breathing raggedly as she slept, and twitching occasionally, as though fighting off spirits in her nightmares. Cassian slept nearby, curled up around the sleeping dragonling in a small pile of snow. By the front of the domed hut, Sy sat staring at her golden hammer, and expression of both joy and sorrow on her face.

"Any luck with that hammer?" Sadun asked quietly, causing Sy to look up.

"Well," Sy began. "The good news is that I don't have to worry about my body."

"Ok, that was enigmatic," Sadun said.

"Here, I want to try something," Sy said, handing the hammer to Sadun. The confused dragonborn took the proffered weapon, and Sy slumped to the ground as though all the energy had gone out of her. Upon taking the hammer, Sadun felt her spirits lifted, as though she had slept better the night before than she had in months.

"I don't know why you dislike this hammer so," Sadun said. "It seems pretty nice to hold."

"Yeah, I need it," Sy said, reaching out her arm. "I need it, give it back now."

"Ok," Sadun said. She handed the hammer back to Sy, noting a small reluctance to let it go as she did so.

Sy immediately straightened up again. "So," she said, "this hammer is my soul."

"Are you speaking literally?" Sadun asked, still confused. 

"Yes, my soul is in the hammer now," Sy said confidently. 

"Do I want to know?" Sadun muttered to herself. "Very well," she said to Sy. "If I ever see that hammer without you I will endeavor to return it to you."

"Yes, please, thank you," Sy said, carefully placing the hammer back in her belt.

"Do we know what is happening with that wind?" Sadun asked, as the others began to stir.

"So last night," Cassian said, sitting up, "there was a banshee that kept luring us away by pretending to be a crying woman, and Fei attacked it with her spear. But she had to call her spear first, and hurt some trees when she did so. So now the trees are mad."

"I'll fix that in a moment," Fei said, still sprawled on the floor. "But first I was thinking about how we might fight the red ooze. The treant said it has to be constantly eating, right? And trapping it underground only worked for so long before it ate its way out. What if we were to isolate it from the other oozes and suspend it in the air? There are some spells that might work for that."

"How long would we have to keep it aloft?" Sy asked. 

"Until it eats itself I suppose," Fei said. "But it's worth a try I think."

"I may be able to hit it pretty far," Cassian said, pulling out Mjolnir and causing the hammer to grow larger in his hand. "I've been practicing with Mjolnir here."

"It may eat your hammer if you hit it," Fei said doubtfully.

"Let's stick with magic!" Cassian said enthusiastically.

"I was thinking that Whistle may be able to levitate it," Fei said, looking at the air genasi. 

"Aeros?" Sy said, looking at the dragonling.

"What about Aeros?" Cassian asked defensively.

"We could have Aeros send it to the future, and deal with it later," Sy said. "When we've had time to plan."

"We have no way to control Aeros's portals," Fei pointed out. "And since the only one we've seen brought us not only into the future but also a long way from our starting point, we have no way to know where or when the ooze will return. It would be too much trouble." The druid began to collect herself from the floor. "I could try to charm it I suppose, or polymorph it into something else. But the red ooze may be burning hot as it seems to be producing that smoke we saw, rather than acidic like normal oozes. Perhaps we could freeze it somehow."

"Is this even the most pressing matter right now?" Sy asked. 

"What else is there?" Fei demanded.

"I thought we were supposed to be saving the world from the beholders," Sy pointed out. 

"We should protect the forest from the ooze," Cassian said. "If we ignore this problem in favor of the beholders, we may have no world left to save once we're done. Besides, we're the Champions. We help people. Therefore we must help this forest."

Around them the dome of the hut began to fade away. Branches twisted into nooses began to lower toward's Fei above them. "Of course, we might need to save ourselves first," Cassian added. "Fei? You're up."

Fei pulled herself to her feet and wove a complicated gesture through the air. A tall figure appeared, draped in vines and semi-transparent. The figure was mossy green and brown, its body seemed to be made of sticks and branches woven together; a dryad. "I have brought you here to heal a wound to nature," Fei said to the spirit of healing. The figure nodded.

Fei stepped from the safety of the hut, followed by the dryad. Immediately the druid had to dodge around two wooden nooses, dropping towards her, but a third noose caught her by the arm. The dryad continued forward as Fei was lifted into the air, reaching the first injured tree and touching its bark. The hole Fei's spear had pierced through the trunk glowed and healed over. The dryad moved on into the forest. 

As the trees were healed one by one, the noose slowly lowered Fei to the ground until at last the druid felt her feet touch the grass. The noose began to loosen, but with one final moment of spite hardened its grip and twisted. Fei tensed and resisted, saving herself a broken arm bone, but she felt hot pain sear up her bicep as the tendons tore under the strain. The noose let go, leaving several splinters embedded in Fei's flesh. 

"You might need a sling for that," Cassian said, as the hut disappeared entirely. The wind had died down as soon as Fei was released. 

The dryad returned. "Could you help me with this?" Fei asked the spirit. The dryad lay a wooden hand on Fei's arm, and the druid felt her arm heal, but the splinters remained stubbornly where they were. Despite pulling on them, Fei was unable to remove them from her flesh.

"I'm not really seeing any reason to save this place," Sy said.

"Shh!" Cassian shushed the elf. "They can hear you!"

"I'm going to get this sorted out," Fei said angrily.

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The druid stomped up to the treant, Cassian, Sy and Sadun keeping a respectful distance behind her. "Remove them!" Fei said sternly, pointing to the splinters in her arm.

There was a rustling of leaves. "No," the treant responded.

"What's happening," Cassian whispered to Sy.

"The tree said no," Sy translated.

"Well I think she kind of deserved it," Cassian muttered.

"Tell me, do you kill a bear when they scratch their claws upon your bark?" Fei asked sternly.

"Have you seen any animals around here?" the treant asked in response.

"Not of late," Fei allowed. "I am a force of nature. I am here to do my job."

"I am a forest," the treant retorted. "I am also doing my job. Protecting the trees."

"What do you think I am trying to do?" Fei asked.

"Kill the beholders, protect the forest?" the treant said sardonically.

"The first one is my second objective," Fei said. "I protect the forest first. I was in danger, I needed my spear to protect me. If I hurt the trees I heal them after. The trees attacked me, and left me injured."

"We did have a conversation yesterday about not hurting the trees," the treant said. "And that very night you hurt three of them."

"I healed them," Fei said. 

"Yes, eventually," the treant allowed.

"This is going to cause trouble later on. With this injury, I will be unable to fulfill my duties," Fei said. 

"Well those will heal in time," the treant said. "Give it maybe two weeks."

"I plan," Fei began, then switched to druidic, "to bring back the second world tree."

The treant was quiet a long moment. "I see. How?"

"As promised, the Champions will be granted a wish spell upon defeating the beholders."

"You have defeated no beholders," the treant said.

"So far," Fei said. "But if I am to complete my goal, you need to remove these so that I may fight. We are the ones who have come to rid you of the oozes after all."

"And to do so you injured three trees," the treant said, "in your fight against a crying woman on a stump?" 

"You know that ground was desecrated, yes?" Fei asked. "What happens if we are unable to stop the oozes?"

"You have allies, do you not?"

"They hold no loyalty to you. You cannot rely on their help without me."

"You hurt the forest and were punished for it," the treant declared.

Fei scowled. "Here is what will happen. These splinters will prevent me from fighting at my best. We will fail to defeat the oozes, and that barrier will spread. Eventually it will consume you, leaving this forest without a guardian. Then the forest itself will be consumed. We are your best hope for survival, not only your own but this entire forest. Remove them."

The treant thought again. "This is the only time I will help you in this." The treats giant hand engulfed Fei, and when it released her the splinters were gone.

"Finally. Thank you!" Fei said. She turned to go, a gleeful smile on her face.

"One last thing," the treant warned. "Do not call your spear again. Do what others of your kind must and pick it up yourself."

-----------------------

"So this is the stump where the banshee was?" Sadun asked, observing the clearing from the tree line. 

"Yes, you can see my spear still in it," Fei said, striding forward. Cassian and Sy followed quickly behind the druid. Sadun walked more slowly, wary of further trouble despite the light of day.

White smoke issued from the stump where Fei's spear stood, splitting the stump apart. Small shoots were already attempting to grow up around the spear. 

"Sy, give me some tree gum from your spell components," Fei instructed. The druid plugged her ears with the wax, and walked purposefully forward. She pulled the spear from the stump, and discovered a red clay urn on the other end. The spear was stuck into the urn, which against all odds had not shattered at the impact. The white smoke was issuing from the urn.

In a burst of smoke Sy appeared next to Fei. "What have we here?" the elf asked excitedly, grabbing the smoking urn. Her fingers stuck fast. "Ooh, it's cold," Sy said. "And I'm stuck to it. Fascinating! And it's dusty inside."

Cassian walked up behind the pair and donned his magical goggles. The urn coursed with magical energy, and what appeared to be a soul was caught on the speartip, pressed against the opposite side of the urn.

Fei looked at the stump. "Perhaps a vengeful spirit died here, and corrupted the tree," she said, testing out the idea as she spoke. "That would explain why the stump is cut so evenly across."

"There's a coffin down here!" Cassian called from below them. 

"What?" Fei asked.

"There's a hole underneath the stump, a little dugout, and there's a coffin inside it! It's been here awhile, it's very rotted, but I see a necklace." Cassian paused a moment, then spoke again. "The necklace has some dark energy coming off of it, according to the goggles. Necrotic energy, perhaps. It seems to be pulsating. Is it in agony?"

"How could a necklace be in agony?" Sadun asked, from her guarded position nearby.

"Here Cass," Fei said, pulling a normal spear from her back. "Try to fish the necklace out with this."

The half-orc reached into the cavity under the stump with the spear, and managed to extract a tarnished silver necklace. A small amulet hung from the center of the string. A humanoid skull came with it, but the bone shattered into dust when Fei smacked it.

"Oh, this is a cursed necklace, the goggles say," Cassian said, looking at it on the end of the spear. "Be careful."

"Here," Sy shuffled over, her hands still stuck to the urn. "Let me see." The elf muttered words of power and touched her foot to the necklace, and its secrets were laid bare to her. "If you put this on, it will pull your soul from your body and replace it with the soul in the amulet," Sy explained. "It appears to be a Lich's phylactery. Ironic."

"Put me on and I will give you great power," a voice whispered in Cassian's head. 

"Let's not mess around with this thing," the half-orc said, put off. "How do we destroy it?"

"We could put the necklace on an animal," Fei said. "Then kill the animal the Lich ended up in. What's the most embarrassing animal? Hedgehogs?"

"Jellyfish," Sadun offered.

The crack of breaking pottery announced that Sy had managed to free her hands. "I got it! I just had to break it," the elf explained to the others. Ash from the broken urn fluttered in the air and passed through the necklace. The wispy white form of the banshee began to coalesce, free of the urn once more, but then started to morph into an altogether darker shape. Before anyone else could move the shape clapped rapidly forming hands together. The adventurers were thrown back from it in a blast of necrotic energy.

"The lich!" Fei said. "It's trying to take over the banshee!"

"It's flickering," Sadun noted. "It must not be able to hold its form while the ash is in the air."

"Oh we're not having this," Cassian said, charging forward. He brough Mjolnir across the shape in a sweeping arc, smashing aside the rapidly coalescing shape. The figure moaned in pain, and Mjolnir swung again, and again, and again. And the figure dissipated. "There," Cassian said, satisfied.

"I think the lich went back into the necklace," Sy observed. "But the banshee's dead. Again." The remains of the urn fell from the elf's hands as she spoke.

"I think we should put the necklace on an animal," Fei said. "Here." The druid waved her arms and eight confused rabbits with horns emerging from their foreheads appeared around her. "We can use these al-mi'raj."

An al-miraj. Image from https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Almiraj

The rabbits rushed towards the necklace, which had fallen to the ground. 

"No, Fei don't!" Cassian shouted, racing after the rabbits. 

"Cass! This will be interesting!" Sy said, diving at the half-orc. The elf flew past Cassian, who was slowed by seven of the rabbits attempting to climb his legs and trip him up. Landing in front of the necklace, Sy grabbed it. "Aha," she said. "Give me your secrets!" She started to put the necklace on.

"Sy! Stop!" Cassian shouted. He grabbed one of the rabbits and hurled it at Sy, smacking the elf in the abdomen. Sy buckled over in pain, the necklace flying into the air. The remaining al-mi'raj leapt off of Sy's shoulders and launched itself toward the necklace, only to meet Sadun's blade swinging down. The unfortunate rabbit was cleaved in half, but saved the necklace from destruction. The necklace flew through the air, landing toward the eastern tree line. 

Cassian, Fei, Sy and the remaining al-mi'raj's looked at each other a long moment, and then began running towards the necklace, leaving the bewildered Sadun behind. A puff of smoke announced Sy teleporting across the clearing, where she picked up the necklace again. Seeing Cassian bearing down on her, she turned and ran, moving to put the necklace on as she did so. Cassian scooped up another al-mi'raj and chucked it at the fleeing wizard, but the rabbit flew by her head. 

Sy placed the necklace around her neck, and her vision went black.

-------------------------

Sy blinked her eyes. Cassian stood before her, a loofah's of shock and horror on his face. Fei jogged up behind him. "Why am I holding my hammer?" Sy asked, looking at her hand. Cassian pointed at Sy's neck. "Ah, I'm wearing the necklace. I'm not sure why I put that on really," she said. "So what's happening? Use your glasses."

Cassian pulled the goggles over his eyes and peered at the elf. "I see two magics in you," he said slowly. "There's one from your hammer and one from the necklace. It seems like they're fighting each other for control. Right now your hammer is keeping the necklace at bay."

"Very interesting," Sy said.

"Maybe you should focus and try to fight it too?" Cassian suggested dryly.

"Oh, yes, good idea." Sy's face scrunched into a concentrated look while Cassian observed the conflict through the goggles. The magic from the hammer seemed to surge as he watched, pressing against the lich's energy from the necklace. With a final surge, the lich was pushed back into the amulet entirely.

The amulet shattered.

TO BE CONTINUED