The Curse of Ash

The Hand of Destiny was left standing in the ruins of their new home. Kaladrax was seeing his hometown burn and that was not all. The meteors that had crashed into the city had left behind beings made completely of molten burning ash. Everywhere they stepped and touched was turned into ash and crumbled to nothing. The group was left to fight them on their own as the Chosen Blade was gone, hunting the Queen of Ash through the gate. The protectors of the city, The Golden Fist, were elsewhere, nowhere close to the party. As they defeated the one meteor ash monster that had crashed into the area, Kaladrax was touched by it. His scales began to turn an ashy color from their shining black. Kariss didn’t have the necessary spells left to cure the spread of this illness. Aleera was frantic. 

Through the smoke came dragonborns of all chromatic colors. Their leader was a red half-dragon lady. From their robes and accessories the party recognized them as members of the Coveted Scale of Might, a band of followers of Tiamat. Kariss stood back, astounded, as the half-dragon lady stepped up to Kaladrax and took hold of his infected arm. She looked into his eyes and a glow came up from her. It settled into his arm and the ash retreated to a small dot on his upper arm. She let go of him and spoke in a weary voice. “I have done the best I can to reduce the damage and slow the effect of the infection but I cannot cure it. It is a magical disease of some sort.” She advised them not to touch the infected area in case it spread through touch. 

Kariss, after getting over her dumbfoundedness, stepped up to the lady and asked her name. She introduced herself as Zenriel, High Priestess of Tiamat. Kariss thanked her and told her to call them if they needed anything. Zenriel nodded and turned to leave. Her followers trailed behind her as she departed into the dissipating smoke. All over the city, ash monsters were being destroyed by the members of the Golden Fist that were still alive and by The Hand of Destiny. Other guilds also joined in to help. All the creatures were eventually defeated but the craters they left were still there. Blights on a city that one thrived. 

Over the next few days a cleanup of the city began. Feng of Clayville Shipping opened his food charity to all days of the week. Anybody in need was helped as much as possible. The Hand of Destiny went to the Government District to enquire about the Guild Hall prize. Since they had been the last guild standing, they were the technical winners of the Grand Guild Games. The Ombudsman reluctantly agreed and they were awarded their new guild house in the Upper District along with matching memberships to allow them access to their new property. 

The party spent a few days drafting the layout of their new hall and renovations that they needed for the abandoned and kind of dilapidated guild hall. They added a herbal garden, an enchanter’s workshop and a tavern to earn some money. They named it The Prancing Dragon!

The next day they took Hyppolyta to see Gigi and she bought a gorgeous enchanted dress that always looked better than the outfits around it. They had a great time there before heading home. 

In the days following the horrible attack on the city the people had banded together to clean up and restore the city to a semblance of normalcy. The craters were still there but barriers had been erected to prevent accidental falls or intentional stupidity and guards were present everywhere. Members of the Golden Fist could be seen patrolling more steadily than ever before. Life returned to something close to normal. Or so they thought. 

A few weeks after the initial attack, they began to receive more and more reports of people being infected. Even Kaladrax had noticed the spot on his arm grow, even if only a little thanks to the efforts of the cleric of Tiamat. The urgency to find a cure became ever more present and the party stepped up their research efforts but found little. A meteor had landed in the royal district on a portion of the land owned by Kaladrax’s family. It was starting to spread and infect the soil, fruits and even some of the workers. Other craters were also spreading, overgrowing their barricades and finding their way into some of the water supplies in the city, spreading the disease even more. 

(At this point it is important to note that the player that was Malachi did not show up for that session that was the Guild Games. We spent a few weeks wondering where he was and texting or calling every now and then but no answer. At that point I checked, Who’s In Jail, where you can check county records. He had some issues with DIU’s so we thought he might be in the drunk tank. The truth was so much worse. The next post will be all about this missing member and the insanity that followed.)