Ellu'kha and her people had rescued a pixie and were now blessed by the creature's fabled pixie dust, a substance that allowed them to step through the darkest shadows of the cursed shadow lands.
It was in this deep, dark region that Moonrise Towers stood tall and where several points of interest were located, including the so-called "House of Healing" which they needed to investigate in order to allow a man a semblance of his life back — a man who knew the location of a fae that Halsin sought.
It just so happened that they were outside the area where the House of Healing was supposedly located. Strange sounds emanated from within, like someone in pain, and the soft drone of a man's voice.
Curious, they stepped inside and found a grisly sight before them: a man lay naked upon a table while five people stood around him, slicing him, cutting into him...
They were old, long-deceased disciples of Shar who were somehow still animated, sentient, alive. They were inflicting pain upon this man to bring him peace, they were curing him of his suffering, and then they offered to cure Ellu'kha too.
Ellu'kha said that she thought that was a great idea — so as not to meet these people's displeasure — but then suggested that the maidens' hands were unlearned and that they wouldn't be able to cure her but instead make her more sick.
The man, the leader, agreed and climbed onto the table himself. The maidens must practice upon him.
...which they did with great blood-spattering gusto.
With their leader fallen, the women wandered off and walked around the room in circles, now unaware of Ellu'kha and her group.
Shrugging, Ellu'kha rummaged through the dead man's pockets and found a few interesting items... and a lute. The moment she laid hands on the lute she just knew that this would help the man back in the inn. They would race back there right now.
They raced back to the inn with the lute and showed it to Halsin, who suggested they play it for the man. Despite not knowing how to play the thing and creating the worst tune as she strummed each string with the finesse of a lumbering ogre, the man soon stirred from his enchanted slumber.
He didn't so much stir as leap upright and shout the name "Thaniel" into the air. Halsin quickly settled the man and asked him what he knew. Where was the fae, Thaniel? The man was very upset. He claimed that Thaniel needed help. A lot of help. He didn't know where Thaniel was but every time he saw him in his sleep, he caught the scent lavender.
That was enough for Halsin.
He beckoned Ellu'kha over and bade her see him on the outskirts of the inn. He would need her help.
When Ellu'kha and her group arrived, he told them what he wished of them: he was going to summon a portal and cross the veil into the fae realm and try to find Thaniel. He had to go alone. He needed them to stay outside the portal and fend off the inevitable attack of shadow creatures as this portal would call out to them in their need to snuff it.
It was paramount that no one touch the portal and no one else enter it as it was exceptionally fragile. Ellu'kha promised that they would protect it with all of their strength.
Halsin jumped into the portal and almost immediately the onslaught began. She hadn't expected to face this much of a backlash against the portal's appearance.
Shadow creatures manifested from every corner, all around them. Flock of shadow ravens. Scouts cursed by the shadow. Shadow beings. Vines made of shadow. Beasts made of shadow. They descended upon them all at once.
Thankfully Gale's fireball killed groups of them at a time. Ellu'kha's exploding thorns did the same. And the Blood of Lathander, the legendary weapon from the monastery that Shadowheart now weilded, released its sunbeam to purge all the evil in its wake.
Halsin stepped out of the portal with a young boy in his arms. When he stepped onto the stone, the portal shattered behind him in a bright flash of light and killed all remaining enemies.
"It's done. I have Thaniel," he said solemnly.
There was something wrong with Thaniel. A part of him was missing. They needed to find his missing half before this cursed land could be cured. Halsin said he was going to take Thaniel back to camp where he would be safe, and walked away...
...leaving Ellu'kha with the desire for a "loot all" magic that would rifle through all the corpses they had left behind.
Back in camp, Halsin offered Ellu'kha his druidic self as a companion to her. He would like to join her as she investigated the shadow lands and perhaps together they could find Thaniel's missing half.
Ellu'kha gladly welcomed him to their group. A man of his power would be very useful indeed.
She took Halsin straight into the shadow lands where a boy was crying for someone to play with. The boy seemed created from the very shadow and had a very close likeness to Thaniel.
Halsin nodded. That was indeed Thaniel's missing half. They needed him to accept who he was and return to Thaniel and make him whole again.
There was just one problem with that: the boy didn't want to be reunited with Thaniel. He could make his own friends! He was free to do whatever he wanted!
He raced into a shadow portal and they all raced in after him. The shadow boy summoned his own shadowy friends to attack Ellu'kha and her people and then summoned a protective dome around himself. Once the dome fell, however, the shadows vanished and they were able to speak to him again.
Finally they convinced him to return to Thaniel and, basked in a green, leafy glow, the boy closed his eyes and vanished.
Halsin suggested they quickly return to camp to see how Thaniel's body was doing and when they arrived they saw Thaniel awake and spritely, no longer languishing in the void.
He felt much better now, and could feel the land trying to return to its former splendour... however, there was one issue. Ketheric Thorm, the one in control at Moonrise Towers, needed to die. Without his death, the land would never lose its curse.
All roads pointed to Moonrise Towers and now they had yet another reason to visit.
They would kill Ketheric Thorm and help lift the curse off the shadow lands.
Until next time! 😊
and are from the game: Baldur's Gate 3