Episode 52

This is Episode 52 of Dice, Camera, Action.

The Party
(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander

(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue

(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard

Preparing For The Ritual
Strix and Diath are dying from the death curse, and Van Richten has just told Evelyn that in order to save Strix and Diath, she has to die. Only Evelyn can save them, because she carries the blessing of Saint Markovia.

The group has a suite in an underground inn in Citadel Adbar. In this suite, the group discusses what to do. Evelyn is very up for it. The other two really don't want it to happen.

Van Richten intends to cast a vistani ritual. He needs components. He'll try to take care of that himself. He needs three rings of pure gold.

Paultin will need to dress up as a raven. They'll need to make a raven costume. Van Richten notes that the ritual might not end the curse, it might just stave it off.

The max hp of Diath and Strix drops by 1 hp. That's going to keep happening every day until they are dead.

Paultin is in the other room, hung over. He wakes up and hears Van Richten talking. Paultin is none too pleased and he casts animate object on the chair Van Richten is sitting on. Paultin screws with him and, once he gets up to speed, he feels like Van Richten is not telling them everything.

Paultin notices that Van Richten's shadow isn't acting normal.

Van Richten's off to get the ingredients for the ritual.

The Bronzefire Clan
The group goes to meet King Harnoth to report to him on what happened at Ironslag. Standing next to the throne is his main adviser, Azon Bronzefire.

The king thanks the group for saving Jasper and he asks about the other dwarves. Diath says they didn't make it.

Azon demands to know where Krak is. Diath declares that Azon is a schemer - "Krak" (the earth genie in disguise) was an agent of the Bronzefire clan and he was up to no good. The court of dwarves are in an uproar.

As proof, the group releases the genie from the flask. The genie, Kuharik, admits that he is bound to the Bronzefire clan and that they sent him to steal the golem.

Azon is taken into custody.

The King's Secret
King Harnoth kicks everyone out of the throne room except for the heroes. The king quietly explains that he's not really the king - he's a doppleganger (shapechanger). The original king was dying, so they put this doppleganger on the throne so that the dwarves wouldn't panic.

The doppleganger thinks that someone is trying to kill him. He wants Strix to pretend to be king for three days, so he can go into hiding.

The king explains that there are individuals from Yartar coming to Citadel Adbar soon and he thinks that it's some kind of set-up or hit.

Evelyn checks on the toymaker who is fixing Murderbot, the evil puppet. The toymaker goes on and on about Evelyn and how beautiful she is, and how it inspired him to create.

Evelyn is getting ready to die.

Evelyn passes out some things to her friends: Evelyn wrote each of the heroes a letter. She hands it to them. Anna wrote a bit about what was in these letters on the DCA subreddit right here.
 * Diath gets most of her weapons.
 * Strix gets Juniper (Evelyn's mouse) and a book about manners.
 * Paultin gets Treebane. She tells him to pick up Simon once Tyril Flamebane finishes making him.

Evelyn goes off to be alone. Paultin joins her. They talk a bit, and she kisses him.

The Ritual
The group decides to enact the ritual. Paultin's in the raven costume. Evelyn is hit with radiant energy.

Suddenly, she's flying through the ether on the back of Mourning Glory. Three entities are waiting for her: Evelyn is about to greet her god and the saints. Suddenly, black tendrils snatch her. She's being pulled into a green devil face.
 * Saint Andral: Old white man with a staff. He's a cleric, a saint
 * Saint Markovia: She's a paladin with a hammer, missing a leg (her thighbone is a magic item in Curse of Strahd).
 * The Morninglord: He is holding a baby.

Paultin's there in the ether, in the form of a giant raven. He sees Evelyn being stolen away by the tendrils. He flies after her. He is going to need to make a check to grab her. He rolls a natural 20.

Suddenly, Paultin is in the crumbled ruins of a citadel in a winter valley. There are torches on the outside. It is a grey, colorless place. He's in a hallway with doors on one side and windows on the other. All the way at the end of the hallway are double doors.

A voice hisses at him: "Get out!" He hears cracking twigs.

Paultin does not leave. He heads down the hallway. He's still in his bird costume.

He enters the room and finds a nest that takes on a living form. A living nest. There is darkness where its face should be.

Birds come flying at him. The nest-thing presses a severed, rotted hand to his lips.

A voice fills his head. "Let it clutch the chalice." He takes the hand and the nest-thing collapses into a heap.

Aftermath
Back in Citadel Adbar, Van Richten has collapsed and Paultin has vanished. Chris says they can't tell if Van Richten is unconscious or dead. Evelyn vanished, too. Strix is certain Evelyn has moved on.

Back in the ether, Chris says that when Evelyn was pulled away from the Soulmonger, she found herself in light.

Evelyn wakes up. Paultin is lying next to her, holding the severed hand.

They're in a toy store. She looks at her hands. They're different. She's in a toy body that is the same height as she was when alive and resembles Evelyn.

End of session.