By the time we got across the bridge, the weather had really closed in and the rain was hammering down. I had heard a lot of strange stories about the abandoned homestead on the other side of the bridge, everything from it was haunted, to it was a portal to the abyss but given the relentless rain we really needed a place to hole up for the night. The party was in need of some rest and recuperation after the skirmish with the bandits, so after cautiously checking the building out from the outside we ventured inside.
It was pretty much as I expected, stuff was strewn everywhere, obviously it had been used as shelter regularly by passing travellers. The fireplace was still intact so we went about getting a fire started and drying out our rain-soaked gear. There were a couple of beds in the bedroom but they had long since fallen apart, no way anyone was sleeping in them so we spread out as best we could in what must have once been the dining room. A single large painting on one wall seemed to depict the bridge with a crowd of villagers on it, but the details were indistinct, covered in grime and cobwebs. Shar volunteered to take the first watch, I tried to liven the mood with a tune or two on my lute but everybody was pretty worn out after all the travelling and one by one they drifted off to sleep. I made myself as comfortable as possible in the corner and although I tried to stay awake to support Shar, sleep overcame me too.
I woke from a weird dream about a golem dancing only to find myself looking at a strange figure standing opposite me in the room. It was motionless. Just standing watching, a figure of a woman dressed in simple peasant garb silent and motionless. Startled, I tried to stand up only to find myself standing on the bridge, watching as a group of villagers harranged some poor woman and attempted to hurl her off the bridge into the swirling waters below. I was confused, stunned even. Then I realised the rest of the crew was standing with me watching the spectacle. Theodore moved forward gesturing wildly toward the woman and said something but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. An old man addressed the crowd, seeming to plead for the woman. I strained to hear what he was saying but his words just melted away in the wind. Suddenly the woman lets out a howling cry, an extremely powerful magic shockwave is released, knocking everyone but her and her father to their feet. Theodore struggled to his feet and lunged toward the woman, as he does so as she claws at her chest, only repeating I’m sorry over and over as she rips out her heart which glows a faint purple and gives it to him before she is plunged into the river as a guard slashes the rope holding her up. With a sudden jolt, I was back in the cottage.
Except it wasn’t abandoned, it was in good repair. It was daytime and the sun streamed through the window. The painting on the wall was now clear and it depicted the scene we had just witnessed, the villagers, the woman her father and a group of spectral figures that looked surprisingly like The Motley Crew. I turned toward where the figure had been standing earlier but before I could see anything the room disappeared and with a sickening lurch we moved yet again.
I spun around, a voice said, “What sorcery is this? Am I dreaming?” “No, I don’t think it’s a dream,” replied Phoenix. I didn’t even realise it was me who had spoken… “How do I know if you are real ?” I asked, and Phoenix took a step forward and slapped me across the face, “Did you feel that? ” he asked. “Damn right I did !” I replied. “Then it’s real and we are here” Phoenix replied. The rest of the crew were standing in the room with me, looking just as bemused and confused as I felt. “What the hell is going on?” said Phoenix, “Who is that woman, she radiates unbelievable levels of arcane power.” “You felt it too?” I asked him, “Damn right!” he replied. I looked around the room, one wall was lined with bookcases filled with all manner of books. The opposite wall was a giant mirror stretching from floor to ceiling. The Strange Woman stood silently in the corner watching us with an expression of deep sadness on her face. I strode straight over to ask her what was going on only to find it wasn’t a woman, but some sort of statue made of intricate clockwork, almost like a golem but with the refined features of an actual human woman created from hundreds of tiny fine gears, a Clockwork Golem. She stood there silent and motionless but with a gaping hole where the heart would be.
I’m not sure if I spoke or just thought it but I wished I had my Lute in my hand and with a sparkle, it was there, what the ?? I played a few chords, the tune that lets me tune into Arcane Magic and sure enough, the aura of arcane magic appeared before me. A single floorboard glowed with the aura of illusion, something was being hidden from us. Just about then Theodore muttered something about the reflection being wrong. “Say that again” I said “Well look he exclaimed, the reflection of the books in the mirror is perfect everywhere except right there, that purple book isn’t in the reflection.” He was right and now that I was looking directly at it there was a very faint aura of illusion magic around the book. I pointed it out to Theodore, as he picked it up it flopped open, he began reading. A few moments later things started to make sense.
This section of the book was all about a witch trial that happened many many years back. Gangs of ‘Mage Hunters’ were roaming the Sword Coast exposing Mages and Sorceresses and calling them witches. Anyone with Arcane Magic Powers was suspect. This was before Magic was commonplace and people born with Magic abilities were thought to be Demon Touched or Tainted with Evil. Local villagers were convinced that a young woman named Orianna was a demon touched witch, they had called on a Mage Hunter and hauled her onto the bridge in some sort of trial where a fellow identified simply as ‘The Mage Hunter’ had successfully convinced the villagers of her guilt. Her father was trying to defend her against the baseless claims when a group of spectral figures lurched out of nowhere and lunged at the woman. The description of the spectral figures included a Tiefling Bard, an Aasimar Paladin, a Water Gensai Cleric and others… they sounded a lot like the Motley Crew ?? Despite the pleading of the woman’s father, the villagers spurred on by the Mage Hunter and the appearance of the spectral figures took fright and cast her into the river where she presumably drowned.
Karn the changeling who had been strangely quiet up until this point walked up to the Golem and poked his finger into the cavity in her chest, which got me thinking
“Gondillin, isn’t that hole where her heart should be? ” “Yes, maybe we need to find it ?” he replied. OK where could it be…” we began examining the leftmost bookcase but no obvious heart shapes to be seen. One book of the many was lying on its side Gondillin picked it up to check on the title, nothing just a blank cover, he put it back on the bookcase and it promptly fell over on its side again. He stood it up and it fell right back down. OK, something strange was going on with that book.
Theodore retrieved the book from the floor and flicked it open, except there were no pages, he was holding a small trinket box not a book A box disguised as a book in a bookcase illusion magic at work. As he has a knack for that kind of thing Theodore investigated the box. It had an obvious lid and a tiny latch holding it closed but no matter what Theodore tried it simply wouldn’t open. Gondillin came over and using some kind of tool I had never seen before he managed to work the mechanism and the lid popped up.
Inside was a tiny figure with a kind of key attached. A music Box. Gondillin turned the key and the figure began to dance as soft notes began playing. Over in the corner, the Golem became activated and began to dance in time with the tiny figure as it spun around. The faster Gondillin turned the key the louder the music got and the faster both figures danced.
I tensed, expecting some sort of attack, but she beamed a smile and addressed us all. “Thank you, Thank you all. It has been such a long long wait trapped in that golem, but you have released me and now I can go join my father. I expect you would all like an explanation ?” “Yes, yes we most certainly we would,” replied Phoenix.
She told us a tale of how when she knew the Mage Hunters were coming she feared that if she put up a fight they would just kill her father so she set in motion a very very long term plan. Using her powers she looked far into the future and saw many visitors arriving over the years at her cabin by the bridge. Most had no magic abilities so couldn’t help, but those groups that did she set up a puzzle for. She fashioned a simulacrum of her heart and stored it inside a book, and then she transferred most of her life force into a music box, the music box would reanimate her body but without the addition of her heart, the body would just die again. Then she placed both items in a room on the Plane of Sleep, accessible only by those with magical powers who were asleep on the Prime Material Plane. That way she hoped the Mage Hunters who had no actual powers would never find her room. Each group went through the same sequence as we had been through but none had solved both parts of the puzzle. Reanimating her with the music box, and then bringing her back to life with her beating heart. She had all but given up hope of ever meeting her father again when we came along and solved the puzzle, chalk up a win for The Motley Crew! Now she was free to join her father on the Celestial Plane of Green Fields. With a final thank you and in a flash of bright light she was gone and we were all back in the derelict cabin.
I woke with a start, everyone else was awake, Shar was standing in the doorway bow in hand, “Who called out ?” he said, you lot have only been asleep for five minutes and you are all awake again, whats going on ? “Boy have we got a story to tell you Shar, you are not going to beleive what just happened” said Phoenix
The Motley Crew 