Return of the Purple Flame 

 

October 14, 2008

 

Cabal has control of the earth node and the purple flames are within him. The rest of the party is looking over the edge of the earth node, trying to determine how they are going to get down off the five-hundred to a thousand foot high moving forest.

 

Suddenly, two creatures appear, they look like tiny earth elementals.

“Master,” says one of the creatures, “so, you are the new master.”

“Awesome, these are my allies," says Cabal pointing to the party," you will obey them over all but me.”

The earth elementals turn and go to each member, chip off a piece of them and give it to each of the party members. When finished, they go back to Cabal and say “done.”

 

Cabal senses the forest node is floating over the forest, and without using a ritual to override it can’t control it’s unknown but repetitive flight path. The elementals tell Cabal that we are the only ones on the node.

“How long has it been since you have had a master?”

“Until you severed the connection, there was another master; you took it over from her….”

“So, do you have a name or race of the previous master?” asks Cabal

“The former master barely gained control of us, she was unable to do or understand anything we had to say. She has not been back in some time. I do not have answers to the other questions. It has been ten years that she was in control, and she has not been back since last year.”

 

“Are there treasures here, or secrets, or buildings?”

“There are things here, but they must be discovered. The previous master did not find any of them.”

“When can we call you?”

“We can only appear within the ring. We can only defend the node against people who wish to destroy it, not try and take it over. We suddenly found ourselves existing about 100 years ago, we do not know who created us or how we came to be.”

 

The node is 500x500 yards, all covered in trees and woods. There is no water up here, but it has rained so there are puddles and such.

 

We suggest to Cabal to use the node to try and teleport to the ground the same way he did it to pull us up here. Cabal decides to test using Kernosh, and looking at him Kernosh figures it out and says “Wait! What are you...” as he vanishes. Cabal tries to bring him back and Kernosh appears yelling.

“Well, you were a bit off, I appeared about a hundred feet over our house in Longmaple.

“Ah, then you should be happy that I brought you back.”

Orrin says “can you send Scratch so you can focus?”

Scratch looks at Cabal and said "I was hopeful you would have thought of that yourself master..."Scratch goes to the house and waits.

 

Cabal uses him to focus and teleports Orrin there.

“Did it work?” Cabal asks of Scratch.

“Yes, he’s here.”

“Sweet.”

 

Cabal cannot tell if the node is loosing power as he uses it. He does ask the elementals to alert him if there is an attack on the node, they agree. Cabal sends Sereck next. He appears about 200 feet above the ground. Scratch sends the message to Cabal, who recalls Sereck who stumbles slightly as he appears back at the node.

 

He then sends Duncan with no problem. Then he sends Kernosh, again with no problem. Finally sending Sereck with no problems. But then as he is about to teleport himself, Cabal senses he has run out of power and can’t teleport himself. He has Scratch let the party know.

 

Sereck suggests to Kernosh to go inform the leaders about the soldiers being dropped off, the battle with the Oni, the disease, etc. Kernosh agrees and thus misses everything that happens over the next few days.

 

Back at the node, Cabal is bored and decides to search the node while waiting for it to recharge. Looking at some of the trees, what he thought was moss was malachite, a type of gem, hugging the tree. In fact, a lot of the plants and trees have many odd minerals working through them. Some of the dead trees have Jade making up the inside of the tree, as if it was a tree of Jade with a plant on the outside. It’s not very pure minerals of any types, but many common minerals and gems.

 

Back in town Orrin talks with shopkeepers and villagers. The farmers are saying everything grows the same, and everything seems to be the same as where they were before. And with the parties arrival, the big concern is now about trade and future livelihoods. Also, knowing about the nearby towns, it’s calmed down a lot after a month in the new realms. The crafters and guilds don’t know when shipments or crafting items are coming in, but they are already looking at wood and the new fishing opportunities. Orrin, in disguise, uses this opportunity to set up trade between the villages saying that for a fee he could try and locate vendors and suppliers of goods. The guilds take him up on the offer.

 

Cabal does figure out that the node’s pattern of movement is only about a fifteen mile path and only west about a mile past Aberbluff (so about 12 miles into the Oni territory). For scale, it is 80 miles between Velen and Telmene.

 

With that identified Cabal gets bored again and decides this would be a good time to work with the purple flame. He can sense it, but can’t pull it to the surface. Cabal can figure out the purple flame usually came for a purpose. In other words, it needs to be guided, not just be stared at and examined. So maybe he could use it on the minerals to purify them for example. So he goes to the Jade tree, and calls forth the purple fire, and tries to use it to purify the Jade.

 

He is able to conjure up the purple fire, it heats up the jade and melts it down into a very pure form. Then it’s as if the node itself says to Cabal – “Now What” as if it is waiting for something else to happen now that he has managed to purify the jade.

 

Not sure what to do, Cabal thinks of fashioning the jade into an object, and finally decides on a dagger. Suddenly the jade flies towards the alter. As he moves to the alter to look closer, he can see that it is a regular dagger by looks, except that it is hollow and the center is full of purple flame. Otherwise, it would look like a standard 8” jade dagger. What he has maid is a Void Crystal +3 Dagger. It can hold a creature prisoner inside itself until he decides to release it or entrap another creature. It’s taken about four or five hours to do all this magic. Cabal has Scratch take the dagger to Orrin, and asks him to leave it on his pillow. Before leaving, Cabal puts a small note to let Orrin know it was a gift. He is quite pleased with the constructive use of the power.

 

The next morning, Orrin wakes up to the shock of seeing a dagger with a note on the pillow next to his head. He jumps up uncertain as to what it means, but instantly thinking it's a threat. Carefully, he reads the note and relaxes seeing it is from Cabal.

 

Orrin picks up the dagger, and as he’s figuring out its power, when he feels a taint to it. There is something about the power that doesn’t sit right with him. Something about the ability to imprison a creature just feels wrong to Orrin.

 

The next morning, Cabal decides to finally teleport back to the house, in his own room. Feeling confident in the use of the purple flame, and having given the dagger to Orrin, decides he should see if Duncan wants the power back on his axes.

 

So, Cabal goes to Duncans room and carefully explains he was concerned about the energy, and that he worked with it and wants to know now if Duncan can pull the fire back onto his axes. Duncan is impressed with what is obviously as close to an apology that he would ever get from Cabal.

 

So, in Duncan’s room, just the two of them, Duncan calls for the energy to fill his axes. Cabal can tell the power is not coming from him as he thought it would; it just wells up around Duncan’s axes and goes into them. The axes, as they watch, are on fire with purple flame. Cabal is perplexed that the flame is able to be pulled up from any of the party members on will, and even more concerned it did not come from inside himself. Where did the flame come from?

 

Duncan tries to make the flames go out and come back. As he does this, his expression changes, and Cabal can tell that while he was pondering the magic the flames haven’t gone out and Duncan is staring at the flaming axes intently.

 

“Um…what are you doing..” asks Cabal

“I don’t know if I want it back. Apparently I can call forth the fire as needed, but every time I do so, I need to feed it…with blood. Not just mine, but yours, anybodies. The power is not as benign as you said it would be.”

 

“Well, I am officially not as secure in my feelings about the power again. I knew it wasn't good to mess with, I should have never given it back to you. Duncan, put the fire away…Wait, is it demanding you feed it now?”

Duncan doesn't say anything, but it is obvious the answer is yes.

 

Cabal, concerned, decides to try and pull the power back out of the axes like he did at the node. Not wanting tot worry Duncan, he informs him “I am going to try and pull the power out like I did at the node…”

 

The flames are suddenly ripped off the axe, they surround Cabal, singe and burn him, and as he pulls it inside, he can feel his insides burn. He realizes it is not a feeling of burning, but true burns as his very insides are engulfed in very real flames. He feels like he is taking ongoing fire damage. As he has the fire burning, he can tell it wants him to hurt Duncan, or someone, it needs to hurt someone! He can also tell it’s burning away his connection to the node.

 

Duncan sees scorch marks and blisters appear on Cabal’s skin, as he is obviously in pain and not being able to get rid of the flames. Cabal tries to force the power out of his body and push it into a spell, color spray, as it leaps from his hand, and then curves around behind and strikes Duncan injuring and dazing him.

 

To Duncan as he watched, Cabal had turned away, the powers he summoned moved out about thirty feet and then physically bent in the air to circle around, and struk Duncan square in the chest totally catching him off guard.

 

At breakfast, Sereck sees the flash of light and yells out to warn the house about an attack in Duncan’s room, and rushes to his friends ait. As he gets there, Duncan is dazed and Cabal’s eyes are physically on fire with purple flame as he looks at Sereck. He then pulls out a dagger, and drags it across his arm. Sereck has no idea that Cabal is trying to injure himself instead of his teammates.

 

Orrin, entering the room, sees Cabal cutting himself, and runs past Sereck and tries to pull the dagger away. Cabal murmurs something in a strange tongue (infernal) as a thunderwave goes off and throws Orrin across the room. Parts of Duncan’s room get blown around and shattered as the Orrin’s body smashes into it in a loud swooshing of air and debris.

 

But, with the release of the thunderwave, the purple flames go out and Cabal is released from it’s grip. Cabal, shaken and unsteady on his feet, can also tell the connection to the node is gone.

 

“What is going on in here? I thought we had seen the last of the purple flame on the node, and now I see it here. What are you doing in Duncan’s room?” Asks Sereck to Cabal, as he walks over and helps Orrin up.

 

Duncan looks at Cabal and says “do you want to tell him or do you want me to?”

“Alright, here is the deal…” says Cabal, as he explains what he did on the node, and used the power to create a dagger…

“What dagger?” asks Sereck

“Well, I woke up this morning and found this dagger with a note from Cabal..”

Sereck looks as Orrin pulls it out of a dragon necklace and hands it to Sereck. Sereck doesn’t touch it, but looks at it suspiciously.

 

“So, how did you make this dagger again?” asks Orrin

“Well, I used the purple flame to melt some minerals I found on the node...."

“You used the purple fire!” and Orrin tries to drop the dagger, but it’s cursed and won’t fall from his hand.

Seeing his distress, Cabal reaches over to get the dagger, and before Orrin can think, the dagger swings up and slices at Cabal. Orrin's arm flings loosley, as if he were not controlling it at all.

Cabal takes a step back and avoids getting hit.

 

“Oh, well, I apparently not.” Says Cabal

“Did you try to attack him?” Asks Sereck.

“Um…it just moved, it didn’t control my arm, but it defended itself.”

“And you made this?”

“yes….”

“Can you unmake it?”

“well…probably not here, oh, I can’t get back to the node…"

“What? Why not."

“The purple fire burned out the link"

“Wonderful...you didn’t try to push it into Kernosh did you?"

 

“No, and I didn’t pull it out of me to put on the axes. He just called if forth and it came to him. We will have to go to Vellen to try and get some answers from the temples there, maybe we can find something out about it. I do recognize that when Orrin tried to take the dagger I was talking in infernal, so the energy is probably linked to that somehow.”

 

Suddenly, scratch calls out “boss…why can’t I sense you anymore? I can't.....” and the dragon vanishes…

Cabal's jaw drops as his link to his familiar is gone. His closest friends is gone to him. For the moment, his mind, usually full of ideas and thoughts, is totally blank.

 

“Great…now we have to change the logo again…” says Duncan

“Scratch is gone…I have to find out where this is coming from…” murmurs Cabal starting to come out of his shock. Asmodius is in charge of the fiends and such, as a common knowledge check, so Cabal thinks that may be the route to explore.

 

Meanwhile, Orrin is having his own problems as a voice sounds in his head.

“Thank you for calling fool…” says a voice, as Orrin jumps

“Did you guys here that?” says Orrin, "all the sudden I heard a voice that said “I’m here if you need me and thank you for calling me forth”

 

As Orrin says that, suddenly one of Duncan's axes flames with purple light, the dagger, still in Orrins hand, flashes with purple light as well. Then, both weapons move and are literally pointing towards Sereck. The paladin stares at the weapons in disbelief as Orrin starts to move into a flanking position behind Sereck. Sereck draws his axe and yells at Orrin to back off.

 

Sereck can see the dagger is pulling Orrin as he suddenly vanishes and appears behind Sereck, followed by the smell of brimstone. Duncan moves in as well, fortunately only holding one axe, and the two appear to be dancing around him. Sereck has seen this dance, it would not go well for him to be in the middle of it. He looks at Cabal and yells.

 

“Thunderwave them away from me, quickly!”

 

Suddenly Orrin and Duncan's weapons both attack Sereck cutting into him. He tries to parry and avoid the blows but he cannot, they are just too good at their jobs.

Cabal again decides there is only one solution as he pulls the purple energy off of both of the weapons into himself. He steps back, fully engulfed in purple flames, as he starts yelling out in infernal that sounds like curses to the rest of the group but is in fact swearing at the evil master of the flames.

 

Sereck had been preparing a divine radiant attack for defense against the purple flame. The divine energy he had summoned begins to coalesce in his great-axe, and it begins to glow. As it's brightness increases, he suddenly realizes that the two lights seem to be trying to fight and overcome each other. The light from Sereck's axe glows brightly, and the flames seem to shrink and are absorbed into Cabal.

For a moment Sereck thinks the power of Bahamut has vanquished the purple flames, but although the flames have gone away, Cabals eyes turn black. Sensing the flames could kill him, Cabal teleports himself to the node, alone.

 

Except, it doesn’t work that way, as all of them appear at the node.

 

“You guys were not supposed to come…”

 

"Is the evil gone from you?" Asks Sereck, as he lifts his axe and moves towards Cabal, the divine light shining ahead of him.

As if in reply, a fifteen foot wall of purple fire surrounds Cabal in a protective embrace. As Sereck swings his axe at the fire, the other two members can tell the energies are ripping the very fabric of reality. Sereck moves forward and swings his axe trailing a shinning trail of pure white light; the flames brush past as Sereck attacks.

 

Not stopping, Sereck reverses his movement and brings the axe around again as the briliance of the glow on the axe intensifies; it is as if his god is right there with him possessing the axe in his hands as the divine light is almost painful to the outside observers outshining the sun itself. Sereck has no problem seeing in the light as he pushes Cabal to the ground and holds him there with the axehead. Cabals clothes are tattered and torn from the flames and energy that were assaulting him. But as the light begins to fade, Sereck realizes the power of Bane has been cleansed from Cabal.

 

At that moment, Sereck looks at his axe in amazement and realizes it has been touched by his god and has been transformed into a +5 holy Avenger weapon, although it is still adamantine. Looking past the new holy weapon, he sees a shaken mage holding himself up on his elbows. Sereck puts the axe away and offers a hand to the tattered mage.

 

“Get up Cabal, the evil of Bane has been cleansed from you." Then holding up a finger and waggling it in Cabals face, Sereck adds, "Don’t use the power ever again.”

 

“Thank Bahamut for me." Says Cabal smiling. Then looking around, his voice suddenly low, he continues.

“But I’m still missing Scratch…”

“I will help you get him back if needed…” offers Sereck.

 

Before he can even help, Scratch suddenly appears in the air before the two and starts yelling at Cabal

“What were you thinking? You all agreed to be his avatar here, everyone but the Paladin! Are you all insane?”

After the elation at having his familiar back fades, Cabal asks if he can use a ritual to take control of the node again.

“Well, how else are we going to get down?” offers Duncan.

 

The rest of the party rests for an hour while Cabal gets attuned to the node and ports everyone back to the town.

Sereck goes and talks to Kernosh about what happened, who was eating oatmeal in the veranda and hadn't even noticed the party was gone. He's a very heavy sleeper.

 

Orrin hires someone to fix up Duncan’s room feeling guilty for breaking his bed.

 

The group then does a little research on the cloak, trying to put the adventures with the purple flame behind them before lunch.

They find out that 100 years ago, there was a strong cult of Talona on the peninsula. At that time is when they made a lot of the powerful artifacts of Talona, and probably the cloak.

 

The party realizes they are going to take two-tendays to travel to The Stoneblade, for that is where largest compilation of power of the former cult of Talona was positioned.

 

In general, the North Country is very rough and has few settlements. The monsters also tend to travel to the north and thus the area is generally unsafe.

 

En-route to Stoneblade the party stops at Abbeypine and Velen. The two towns are fighting. Velen is still enforcing cursing and a super strict moral code. So people who were against that sort of rule all migrated to Abbeypine enlarging it’s size. A few people moved to Velen but not many.

The group gives a full report of all things seen, the battle of Aberfluff, etc. to the prince and the general court who are all very appreciative.

 

The two towns are building up a central palace the two can co-lead from. We also sense that everyone realizes the party wants nothing to do with politics as the team prepares for the final leg of their journey to retrief the cloak of Talona.

 

*********************

Cabal' thought process as perceived by Duncan:

I don't trust that purple fire stuff, Kernosh should not be playing around with it, nor should Duncan.

I need to take that away from them.

Now that I have it away from them, I think I will keep it for myself - for research reasons only, of course.

I have studied it and it is harmless. Duncan, you want it back on your axes?

Holy crap, that's not good. Duncan, why are you trying to kill Serreck?

I told you it was bad!

 

*********************

Cabal' thought process as perceived by Cabal:

I was right all along

 

 

 

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