The Thirty-Ninth Session

After destroying the giant blood stone, the Sentinels took positions to ambush the Reaper that Shag had banished at the moment he reappeared. After some intense back-and-forth that nearly ended in Shag's death, he finally stunned the Ebony General, allowing Yief to unceremoniously kill him with a hammer tap to the head, leaving him lamely lying dead on his face. Halrek then attempted to take his scythe, discovering neither he or any of his teammates could wield it without a painful burning sensation in their hands. Aoth ultimately put it in their bag of holding. They then made their way back to the cathedral where the mages were, finding that the mages had killed the soldiers who were attacking the building, though they had taken a good amount of damage in the process. They all snuck out and over the nearby bridge over the River Vesper, and made their way back east along the river coast. Aoth swam back across to retrieve the horses, parted the water, and walked them back across.

They then discussed that the mages weren't meant to be sacrificed, and that the Ebony Legion was likely going to try and mind control them to have an army of wizards among their forces. The group decided that the mages would be better off going to the free lands to help with the resistance, and Hanolin offered to perform a teleportation ritual to Myth Drannor as he'd been there as a Lyrian ambassador before and knew their summoning sigil. Taking about 25 minutes, he drew a large circle of various runes and talismans in the ground, performing a long oral incantation while gathering some natural items and taking some from Xochic's spell pouch. Finishing the ritual, the mages stepped into the circle as it filled with bright light, and then they vanished as the spell faded.

The group then travelled back to Rae'e with Hanolin, but upon arrival, saw that a new group of soldiers had come through while they were in Calrunt, and began to search for Herba. Finally, Hanolin opened the hidden crawlspace of his home, where they found Raijin. Raijin told Aoth that Herba had snuck out when the soldiers came, and was going to make her way to Midfall, and wanted Raijin to let them know she was safe. Hanolin explained he had told her about a place in Midfall outside of Luthcheq where he would stay when on diplomatic assignments, and she likely saw that as the safest place to go to wait for him. He had no idea which route she would take to get there, and decided it was more important to assist in destroying the blood stones than taking the potentially vast amount of time to search for her. The group then set out for Procampur.

On the way there, Yief noticed something was off about the ground behind them, prompting Halrek to blink into the trees. He was too late, as an arrow enchanted with a Nullstone was fired into the midst of the group just as they were surrounded from the front and the back by Ebony Shadowhunters. Yief drew Meteor, but it failed to ignite, and Shag was unable to cast. Before they could take action, the captain of the Shadowhunters told them he wasn't there to kill them, but that they had been invited to come before the general Xolax Baal. He told them their choices were to come willingly, or try their hand at fighting 7 shadowhunters with no magic. They reluctantly agreed to go, but when one of them called Aoth "Dragonblood" in a derogatory manner, Aoth swung at him, prompting them to immediately regret agreeing to go, as they were now bound, gagged, and with a bag over their head. Shag tried to escape with a performance of being very sick, but was thwarted, alerting Halrek to the situation in his attempt. Halrek then came willingly after being confronted by the captain, who said he didn't care if Halrek came or not, but knew that Halrek knew he wouldn't be as well off on his own. Aoth fought back a serious amount despite his binds before succumbing to a sleep dagger.

A few hours later, Aoth awoke, as Shag decided he didn't want to continue there, and jumped off his horse, making a run for it. He was caught, but after somehow convincing them he was sick again, was able to use Dimension Door as his gag was adjusted since he was now out of range of the Nullstone. He then cast Knock on himself, freeing his hands, began sprinting back toward the caravan, and then turned invisible as Aoth dislodged his gag under the bag on his head and cast Banish on himself. Halrek slowly blinked his binds away a piece at a time, until Shag found him and used Whisper to make a plan with him. Shag then banished Yief, Xochic, and Hanolin, before Halrek grabbed his Mek'leth and Ekuzu and blinked away. Realizing they had lost their prisoners once one was able to spellcast again, the shadowhunters all took a shadow form and dispersed. Everyone reappeared, freed their binds, and armed themselves, but the shadowhunters didn't attack.

After riding fast for a half hour, Xochic used Move Earth and created a hidden pocket in a hill for them to rest and plan in. They decided to contact Vissella via Shag's Send, and mount attacks on both Procampur and Lyrabar at the same time, which she agreed to. They then planned to sneak into Procampur Pirates Of The Carribean-style.