Our next mission was to investigate a retired adventurer, the archmage Zorhana Adular. She changed completely after trying on a diamond necklace housing a dimensional rift. And so we enter the level range where somebody taking a shower triggers a 3-season epic storyline.
Anyway, the concerned husband, a man called Eliphas[1] sent us a satyr called Fifel Umberhoof with the plan of us joining a ball held for the winter equinox in the Feywild, in their charming palace called Paliset Hall, gifted to them by the prince of frost. The ball was in a couple of days, so sure, let's begin preparations. As usual, we were provided with a map of the premises.
We dressed up to approach a village, next to which a portal to the Feywild opens on each equinox. We bought appropriate dressing[2]: Thaldohr went in a tuxedo and top hat, Grog in his trademark leather panties and a luchador mask, Daramin in a pink dress and a fan accessory to hide spellcasting. Oh, and we gave a surplus Slippers of Spider Climbing to a newly conjured familiar, a pig called Crisp E. Bacon, henceforth known as Spider Pig.
Entering the portal was a grand affair, with us landing in a fountain guarded by talking wolves, who checked our invitations.[3] It was immediately clear that the palace is enchanted, with the winter's cold repelled but ice statues still being frozen inside. Was the flicker of the wall from marble to stone to marble an illusion or the unraveling of one? Who knows?
We began exploring, with the ballroom and banquet hall offering no new information. The serving pixies were concerned about their mistress scolding them harshly, as she does lately - as expected.
We ordered wolf or bear meat for Crisp, but the head cook, Anisetta, could not provide. We met the head organizer, another satyr called Oren. And then we laid eyes on Zorhana herself, going around imperiously and fuming at the guests for no apparent reason. I was going around with Detect Magic on 24/7, so I noticed her form being an illusion, but the diamond necklace being real. My gambit to engage her failed, so we moved on.
In the art gallery, we discovered a secret corridor leading into the basement. We looked through the storage, and found a curious portal. We voted on going in, and decided to first explore the rest of the palace, much to Grog's disappointment.[4]
On the upper floor, we met Eliphas, who quickly took us in his confidence.
In Zorhanna's study, we found her spellbook, and pocketed it for good measure.
In the bedroom, a talking painting called Oak apparently served as a lately ignored equerry. We approached the bathroom hiding the secret vault hidden by a stag shaped golem. Like, WHY. I disguised myself to look like Zorhana, then imitated her voice with my actor feat, and went in. With Daramin's help[5] we solved the vault puzzle. A freezing cold pool held three rings with letters. Mage hand turned the rings to form a word: Oak. The pool retreated and the vault in it opened, empty: this is where she kept her diamond before trying it on. Sigh.
We went back to the gallery, took all the unprotected magical artefacts that were just lying there[6], rushed down the secret corridor, and entered the portal.
We exited into a pocket dimension with Zorhana - the real one - just sitting there. She immediately perked up, called us out for imprisoning her, Time Stop'd, flew up and Fireballed. Offering no resistance, we managed to convince her of our good intentions. She used Detect Thoughts on me - again, no resistance. We gave her the spellbook containing Plane Shift. And then we waited as she prepared the spell, ending the session there.
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Following up the next session, apparently all wasn't that easy. The extra dimensional space contained some other entity, which always attacked Zorhana when she tried to rest. Daramin conjured a Leomund's Tiny Hut, and 4 hours passed without incident. The entity tried to get in, but failed.
After Zorhana finished her long rest, she plane shifted us back to the mansion. The guests were in an uproar, apparently some elves were demanding the necklace and holding Eliphas hostage.
Whistling the Mission Impossible theme, we flew up on brooms to the bathroom windows, which I unlocked and we jumped in. The guests were right, with the small exception that there were actually 3 hags holding Eliphas hostage. Apparently they attacked the simulacrum, but when trying to take off the necklace, it teleported back to its vault. Zorhana retrieved the necklace, and the diamond was cracked; it was apparently going to blow. We decided to give it up in exchange for Eliphas. Let it be their problem.
After the exchange, the hags retreated cackling evilly and threatening us at every step. We decided to nip that threat in the bud, and I shot the one holding the necklace in the face. She dropped the necklace; so I waltzed up, and stored the gem in my Bag of Holding. Let the extradimensional space contain the problems.
Combat ensued. The hags used their charm ability, but otherwise did very little damage. We beat them easily.
We kept the magic items, as promised by Eliphas, and we stayed to party. I flirted with everybody, and made to roll for the outcome. 20! I woke up in bed with Zorhana, Eliphas and the bed covered in animal fur. Score! I quickly wrote '50 was here' on Zorhana's thighs, picked up my drunken teammates, and we exited the Feywild.
[1] Her... pet?
[2] Except I have my Glamoured Studded Leather.
[3] Provided by Fifel.
[4] We left Chris on the ceiling of the art gallery, much to the shock of other party-goers.
[5] I took him in in my bag of holding.
[6] Probably cursed at this rate.
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