The fellowship continued onward towards Gerlkuneshe under the dark sky lit by the green aurora. As they approached the citadel they could see the tower seemed to be a smooth black surface that easily reflected the aurora.

The fellowship saw that there seemed to be more bugs crawling at their feet as they got closer to Gerlkuneshe. The bugs seemed to be those that fed on decay : Worms, Cockroaches, termites, millipedes, and centipedes.

Oddly enough, Jesoc asked Kifak whether he had the Revivify spell prepared. Kifak mentioned that he indeed did. Jesoc calmed nodded and said good.

Jesoc took out his sharpest daggar and proceeded to stab himself in the heart. He dropped down fully on his knees and finally slammed face first into the dust. He was dead by his own hands. Kifak raced forward and turned him over. Kifak tried to revive him but it was too late.

Kifak then said a prayer to his gods and ancestors, cursed at Jesoc, and cast Revivify on Jesoc.

Jesoc came back to life due to the skill of Kifak. Jesoc gathered some of his own blood that had soaked his clothes in a metal container and arose.

He looked over at Kifak and uttered:

“Thanks”

The puzzled party then continued to approach the river. The fellowship saw the grass swaying on the other side of the river even though there was no wind. They entered the river and approaching carefully and could see that the grass was indeed more bugs moving back and forth. It only appeared to be grass.

Jesoc picked up a rock and threw it into the bugs. They scattered and regathered on the rock. Jesoc used Mage Hand to scrape the bugs to the side and saw that there was normal dirt below.

The fellowship decided to continue on and walked across the river and onto the land. The bugs increased in number as they came closer to the citadel, but they never bothered the fellowship.

The fellowship finally came up to the citadel and it was located on a plateau 3 feet up. The fellowship crawled up and saw that there were no bugs on the plateau.

The fellowship looked around and saw an entrance to the citadel and a graveyard to the right. They first decided to investigate the graveyard.

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The fellowship moved to explore the crypts and suddenly a Skittering Horror appeared from behind one of the crypts. Even worse, Skitter Swarms erupted out of the ground at attacked! The fellowship was able to easily defeat the Skitter Swarms, but the Skittering Horror was a much more worthy foe. Just as they were about to defeat the Skittering Horror, another rose from behind a second crypt.

The Skittering Horror moved forward to attack and Kifak had enough. He cast Spirit Guardians and moved forward to deal with the second Skittering Horror. The fellowship vanquished the second Skittering Horror and the Dwarvish Spirit Guardians rejoiced – dancing with their axes above their heads.

The fellowship explored the crypts and saw that stairs seemed to lead down but an invisible force field preventing entering the catacombs. The fellowship left the crypts without even investigating if there was a lever or switch that might allow them to descend.

The fellowship went to the entrance of the citadel and used mage hand to open the door. The door created open and revealed an atrium with walls covered with murals depicting scenes from another time – nature scenes with a green aurora. They slowly moved forward and saw corrupted Uruial sleeping in the courtyard.

Kifak prayed to his gods and received guidance to “Walk by quietly”. Kifak could see a door on the south side of the courtyard and directed the fellowship to follow him. The fellowship were able to all walk by without waking Uruial.

The fellowship entered a reception room which seemed to have been recently cleaned and renovated. The room was filled with the most wonderful food and drink. A figure was seated at the table. He welcomed the fellowship and introduced himself as Gorthad. Gorthad was a creature that the party had never seen before – dressed in a robe with a white, porcelain face covered in runes.

Gorthad stood up and thanked the party:

“Thank you for bringing what was missing”

The fellowship suddenly felt the Sending Bag of Holding fill up and then disappear. They felt dread overwhelm them. The king must have left the two palantirs in the paired Bag of Holding and they were magically retrieved by her.

The fellowship asked Gorthad about what type of creature he was and he responded:

“I was summoned from beyond the veil. From a place of darkness.”

The party asked about where Thuringwethil was and Gorthad simply stated:

“She awaits upstairs”

The fellowship furiously attacked Gorthad and found him a worthy foe. Both sides struck damaging blows. Finally Gorthad raised his arms and a plague of worms shot out. The fellowship gathered themselves and doubled their attacks, sending Gorthad back to the void. Gorthad dissolved into worms that crawled away. The fellowship examined the wonderful food and drink that was on the table but no one sampled any food or drink – not even Jesoc.

Before they continued on Jesoc took out his canister of blood and summoned a demon to the horror of the rest of the fellowship.

Seeing their concern, Jesoc just responded:

“Don’t worry. I got this.”

The fellowship felt a new urgency now that Thuringwethil had all eight Palantirs. They ran up the stairs to the east but found it ended in an outlook tower that looked out towards the cemetery. The fellowship ran down and ran to the stairway to the west and ran up those stairs.

The stairs opened into a hallway. The fellowship explored the hallway and found that there were two empty rooms to the west that used to have been guard rooms that overlooked west of the citadel – all seemed to be quiet to the west.

The fellowship found another stairwell at the south end of the hallway. They first went up the stairs and found that it led to another outlook tower. This tower was open to the sky and the fellowship looked up to see if the aurora was being generated by the citadel, but they found no indication of what could be generating the aurora.

They ran back down the the first floor and discovered that this stairwell led to another room that they could not reach before. They found that this room was another guard room with skeletons of long dead guards. Suddenly from behind them a Necrotic Centipede burst through the wall. Kifak smartly cast Banishment and the Necrotic Centipede was banished!

The fellowship opened a door to the south and found it contained Amoleth, a Star Warden. Amoleth challenged the fellowship and asked:

“What did you do to my Star Spawn?”

Jesoc then threatened to kill Amoleth and he simply responded:

“I will go back to where I came. Do what you need to do.”

The fellowship and the summoned demon all attacked the Star Warden. The combat was fierce and the Star Warden broke Jesoc’s control on the demon – the demon turned to attack whoever was closest. Thankfully the fellowship able to overcome the Star Warden and destroyed the demon shortly after.

After seeing that stairs led upward, Kifak sensed an ominous presence, paused and cast Fortify.

The fellowship didn’t even pause to explore the room. If they had they would have seen more murals covering the wall depicting rituals under a green aurora. These murals depicted eight white robed figures holding something glowing in one hand pointing toward the sky with a the same void that the fellowship had seen.

Regardless, the fellowship climbed the stairs and found Thuringwethil seated in her throne.

Thuringwethil spoke:

“You may leave, I have have everything I need. I will do what I need to do. There are still some cards to be played.”

The fellowship had heard enough and they rushed to attack. The battle was long and fierce, but slowly the fellowship could see her eventually weaken. Just as they felt victory was in front of them, she transformed into a bat and flew up the stairs.

The fellowship ran up the stairs to follow her and found that Thuringwethil had reformed in the middle of an eight-side star engraved into the floor of what looked to be a shrine. The eight Palantir each rested on a pedestal at a point of the star.

Thuringwethil and the Palantirs glowed with renewed strength and vigor.

What would you like to do next?