Tales of Belonging

Chapter 15: K'Varn Revealed Part 1

Vax shot up taking the killing blow.

The cloaker became limp as Scanlan used his giant purple hand to bring it over to the boat. Percy settled down and began skinning the creature.

Scanlan settled on the other side of Percy and began strumming his lute. "When you're trying to skin a cloaker, here's some inspiration. When we're on a creepy boat, here's some inspiration. I want you to be near me–”

Jessica was watching Percy, quite unceremoniously skin the Cloaker. "So what are you trying to make?"

There was a smile. "A camo canopy."

What started out as an amazing idea turned out to be less spectacular. Even with Jessica's help, they barely got it up, and by the time that they landed on the beach, it had collapsed on itself.

Jessica was glad to get off the boat and stretch her legs. And once Vex was out, she felt the familiar magic of Pass Without a Trace.

Vax disappeared rather quickly, taking a survey of the land. Noticing there was a cave at the far in.

"I'm going to check it out, any other takers."

Vex was suddenly at her twin's side. Tiberius followed not long after.

Jessica went to take a step, but Percy reached out and caught her wrist. They shared a look, but Jessica was quiet tried and she quickly aqueased.

The group wasn't gone but twenty or so odd minutes before returning back to the beach. "There's some nasty purple ripple in the back of that cave."

Jessica cocked her head to the side. "It's more than likely a trap. Probably our best bet is for Keyleth to make a wall of stone and just seal it up."

"Or...." Keyleth smiled, "I take some of Scanlan's advice and just bamf my way in in my Earth Elemental form."

Everyone blinked at Keyleth before Percy sighed and pushed up his glasses. "Yeah let's go for it. This is a terrible idea." He smiled, gently guiding Jessica towards the cave. "I like it."

They all followed Percy's lead. Keyleth going into her Earth Elemental form and sunk below the Earth's surface. Everyone was just getting comfortable when Keyleth emerged and started chasing Grog trying to scare him. Then immediately stopped and tried to shush him, going back to her normal self.

"Okay...okay I'm sorry Grog...shhhh." She moved her hands in a shushing motion. She looked at the rest of the group. "So the purple fog looked to be made out of Dimension Door energy. And it looked like it was to some unknown plane of existence."

Jessica settled on a large boulder. "We're there any creatures in there you know that could potentially kill us?"

"Umm. There is five creatures in there that I recognized ad gricks. Worms with a beak basically."

Jessica nodded, "I still say we seal this cavern up and be done with it."

Scanlan jumped up on the other boulder. "I say we use a bomb."

Before Jessica could counter the offer, the whole situation became derailed. Tiberius cast silence on Vax, then truned around and tried to get Pike and Percy to make it some holy, spiritual bomb.

Jessica stood up and walked away from the majority of the group and settled between Clarota and Lady Kima.

"Are they going through with this stupid plan?" Kima glanced up at her.

Jessica huffed. "I'm afraid so."

"Idiots, the lot of them." Clarota shook his head.

There was a flash of red, orange and yellow as Kima shielded the trio, but could not deften the sound that followed as Percy's bomb detonated.

The ringing in her ears last for several minutes as Jessica kept shaking her head.

"Clarota!?" Vax called. "What are we looking at here?!"

With a sigh, Jessica followed and settled next to Clarota as they headed into the cave.

Clarota made his way to the front. And took a deep long look. "This I believe is where K'Varn stepped into the cavern." He turned and looked to the rest of the group. "This is a boundary, a thin membrane between this Prime Material Plane and elements of the Far Realm.”

Tiberius was quick to interject. "Ooh, Clarota. Yes. Do you think we could, after a rest of course, conjure a way and possibly break the barrier and go to that side?"

"No." Jessica answered far to quickly.

Eyes were incredulously on her. She held up a hand and shook her head. "If K'Varn stepped through it, and we break the barrier more, we might unleash something far worse than K'Varn."

Clarota seemed to sigh in relief. "The Runechild makes a valid point."

"We have enough trouble with K'Varn," Lady Kima nodded in agreement, "we don't need any unwanted visitors."

Jessica was relieved when the party decided to close off the mouth of the cave. They had decided to make camp on the beach. Jessica kept staring towards the green lights of Yug'Voril. Her arms were crossed, deep in contemplation.

"Jess?" Keyleth quietly approached.

Jessica gave a small smile. "Hi Kiki."

Keyleth rubbed the back of het neck. "Can you...uh I wanted to know...I want to talk to Clarota. And well, you and Clarota seem to have this unspoken understanding of one another and -"

Jessica smiled and cut her off. "I will come with you to talk to Clarota."

Keyleth let out a huge breath of relief. They found him a little ways away from the group.

"Clarota." Keyleth asked shyly.

He looked up at her, tentacles flared with a hunger in his eyes. "Yes."

Keyleth looked to Jessica and back to Clarota. "Do you have anything that might assist me in a scrying spell to help spy on K'Varn? Maybe something in his image?"

Clarota and Jessica shared a look as she settled next to him. “I have not seen K'Varn with my mind or my eyes. I've only heard of him arriving after I was cast out of my colony. But your Runechild has had dreams of him."

Jessica ran her hands through her hair. "Its the horn. It was twisted, unnatural, black horn of -"

Kima had now joined the group. "That. That is what we're trying to prevent making its way to the surface. The Horn of Orcus."

Keyleth looked at Jessica, hopeful. "Can you focus on it for me to scry"

Jessica sighed. "Maybe...but if you give me time to rest, I might just be able to help you."

There was a huff before Keyleth walked away, going off to deal with the cave.