Dear Spellbook,

We dealt with the whole demon thing and are setting out tomorrow to get back to facing those powerful forsaken. It worked out in the end, but it was not without cost. Let me catch you up before we get wrapped up in a whole new mess.

Riloth 19th the 1526th

Once ready, Roland took another “reset potion” as we’d begun to call them. This time, Trish sat with him as he did so. He was still coming to grips with the whole impermanence of death thing. I’d like to think I got over really fast, but that’s probably a lie.

I teleported to Roland at the reset’s onset, and we raced back towards Knollwood. Once we’d gotten close, we pulled out a modified Willdetector Levar had made, which was meant to detect the interference of the portal's Will. We suspected that the cultists summoned the demon shortly after the start of each reset. If we created a teleportation circle that mimicked the untainted region outside the town, the properties should be similar enough to the areas closer to—or even inside—Knollwood prior to the initial summoning.

When the detector lit up dimly with a reading, we backtracked for a few minutes and opened a door to the Dahn. Dagmar and Levar ran out—well Dagmar ran, Levar looked up warily at the sky as if it were going to fall on top of him at any moment. They got to work creating a grid, placing runed sheets down methodically throughout it. Each sheet lit up with different colored lights, and they drew runes directly onto the ground inside the Dahn to replicate the colors. Once they were satisfied with a rune, Daulf would use his control over the Dahn to carve the pattern into the floor. They kept at it for the entire day. Roland spent that time up in a tree acting as a lookout while the rest of us stood by, waiting for an ambush that never came. We closed the door up an hour before the reset, and sat down for a meal of Daulf’s soup. It had improved greatly with some tips from Levar, but we’d become spoiled.

Riloth 19th the 1527-1547th

I stood in the circle waiting for the reset to occur. Once it did, I immediately began to cast Greater Teleport, but when I moved to select a region to teleport to, only the immediate vicinity of the Dahn’s opening appeared.

We sealed the door, and Levar and Dagmar pored over their work and notes, while the rest of us went to sleep.

They spend the next two days tirelessly refining their process in preparation for the next attempt. I spent the time working on my Force magic, while Trish practiced with her new abilities.

The next attempt came, and Levar and Dagmar returned to their work with renewed vigor. But, when the reset came, and I still could not connect to the region, their spirits grew dim.

Riloth 19th the 1548-1550th

It took six more attempts before we succeeded. We returned to the Dahn after the eighth attempt, and I cast Greater Teleport. While casting, I saw the familiar lines of connections to my companions, you, and your pages, along with a hazy awareness of the surrounding region.

Wait, that's not the area around the Dahn.

The area my spatial senses told me was nearby was different. There aren't a lot of details in that mental space, but I knew the area didn't contain the door of the Dahn, something that would be very clear if it did. This area was smaller than my awareness of my surroundings usually was, which neared a mile, and it was shrinking by the second as the magics of Fauell gathered in the town, altering the properties of the zone.

I aborted the spell, and shouted, "It worked!"

Instead of celebration, we all sagged in relief and went to bed, putting off planning for the next today as we waited for the door to recharge.

The plan ended up being fairly simple. Roland would survey the town in the early hours of the reset, report back, and we'd determine our approach. I couldn't sleep that first night, and went back to studying the books on Force magic —which led me to a bit of a breakthrough which kept me from sleeping once I really should have.

Riloth 19th the 1551sth

"Wake up!" Dagmar shouted in my face, and I jumped up out of bed and into the wall. Following deeply ingrained instincts, I leapt out of the left side of the bed at Dagmar's wake up. The side of the bed that had a wall in my room in the Dahn, unlike my room in the Parlor.

"Ow," I moaned, lying there.

"You got three minutes," Dagmar shouted as she walked away.

I spent two minutes lying on the floor before Teleporting down to the foyer.

"I'm here," I said from the ground.

Roland was waiting in the circle holding the Dahn handle in his hand. I walked over, placed a hand on his shoulder and waited for the reset. As soon as it came, I began casting Greater Teleport, bringing us as close to Knollwood as my senses allowed. As soon as we appeared, Roland took off towards town, and I teleported back to my bed.

* * *

I woke sometime later after Roland returned. I'd slept through his report, but Levar filled me in while I ate.

Shortly after Roland arrived, he saw the Balor standing menacingly behind the lead cultist in the fancy robe as the human cast a spell. As soon as he'd finished, the nearest three cultists fell dead, and a small portal appeared. The ragged, tortured man stepped out of this portal before it winked out of existence. The miserable portal slave then set to work conjuring his larger portal. The prince came out first, with the succubus hanging on his arm. The prince and Balor then stepped through a new rift the royal demon opened, and the vrock began to swarm out under the direction of the succubus.

After that it went as before, and Roland snuck away to report back. As far as he could tell, no one caught wind of his presence.

“They must have abducted that cultist into Fauell and taught that portal spell. If we kill him, it will force them to retrain him.”

“That was my thinking as well,” Levar agreed.

“But how do we stop them from summoning the Balor to begin with?” I asked aloud as I thought through it myself. “When I cast Greater Teleport, I think I sensed the moment the Balor entered the Realm. The area I could teleport to was stable, but then started to shrink suddenly. It seems unlikely I could get there in time.”

“If only we could remove people from the resets,” Levar said wistfully. “Then they couldn’t summon the Balor at all.”

“Levar!” I shouted, jumping out of my seat, sending my plate flying across the room. “You’re a genius... and sorry about the mess.”

Riloth 19th the 1552ndh

When the door was next ready, I teleported Roland and myself out into the wilderness at the beginning of the reset, and we snuck into the down. Once we got close enough to the manor of Knollwood, I could Teleport us into the room we’d hidden in before. Teleport, it seemed, did not use the same spatial parallelism system for teleporting, and so long as the place was in range, I could still teleport, even if a strong magical effect was disrupting the area. We waited in the room the rest of the day, and when the demons left, we pounced.

I Teleported us into the central courtyard, where the lead cultist laid dying from his recent trist with the succubus. I opened the door to the Dahn, and Bearskin’s hand reached out, grabbing the unconscious man, and pulling him in. Quickly, Roland and I leapt inside, and we sealed the door.

“Did the Vrocks see you, ?” Daulf asked as he began to administer healing to the cultist.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “They didn’t seem to be concerned with the comings and goings of the courtyard once the prince left.”

After a few minutes, I asked, “Will he live?”

Daulf nodded, and placed a Will draining collar around the cultist before dragging him to the cell prepared. We’d sacrificed some space to create a chamber to hold the lead cultist. If he was in the Dahn, he wouldn’t reset, and hopefully the Balor summoning would fail.

Riloth 19th the 1553rd

The next today, I cast Greater Teleport, and found no interference to the radius of the teleportation circle. I grabbed Daulf by the wrist, and we appeared in the corner of the courtyard.

The cultist stood in a circle, chanting the incantation of their ritual of summoning. Two robbed figures lay collapsed on the edge of the circle, clearly the leader, and the other likely the captive in Fauell. Their sacrificial villagers still alive in their cage on the opposite corner of the courtyard. We’d not dared to hope that they might still be alive at the beginning of the resets, and at the sight of the Daulf let out a breath of relief before he straightened up for battle.

The absence of the leader didn’t seem to stop the ritual, only slowing it down.

Daulf charged into the group with a guttural battle cry, drawing the attention of the cultists.

“Hold!” one of them shouted, “We are almost—”

His words were cut off as the surrounding air burst into motion, sending them all flying as I cast Storm Sphere.

A bolt of lightning struck out from the center towards a pair that had maintained their footing, and both collapsed as the crack echoed off the walls of the courtyard. The ritual was lost, and the cultists fought to their feet to defend themselves. Bolts of fire, ice, lightning, and force flew out from the cultist at Daulf and myself. I cast Shield, and the first tier spells crashed into it harmlessly. Likewise, Daulf had raised his magical shield, which negated those thrown at him.

I sent another bolt out, striking down another pair of cultists who had regained their footing, and then dispersed the spell as Daulf got into melee range.

Of the initial thirty-robed figures that had been in the courtyard, only ten remained on their feet. Three cultists drew swords from beneath their robes and ran to meet Daulf, while the rest reached out once more to the Arcane Realm. One seemed to be drawing more power than the rest, and I Countered his spell, watching as he stared at his empty palm in surprise as nothing came from it. The remaining got their spells off, and a bolt of Fire, ice and three bolts of Force shot at me. I dove to the side, but most still hit. My Mage Armor saved me from the worst of it, but the Firebolt had been cast at a higher tier and had burned me despite the protection.

I rose to my feet, building the construct for Lightning Bolt, but before I could complete it, another over-channeled Firebolt flew at me. Instinctively, I Blinked away, and found to my surprise that the in progress Lightning Bolt construct hadn’t fallen apart in my quick jaunt to the Arcane Realm.

I completed the spell, and caught the sorcerers by surprise, taking out half of them. I followed the spell up with a quick Gust, sending the remaining two tumbling, and sent Magic Missiles into their prone forms until they stopped moving.

Daulf had taken out one of his attackers, but two still remained. Unfortunately, they were skilled swordsmen—likely nobles recruited to the dragon’s cult. Daulf was great, but a noble who had nothing to do but train all day would be better in a straight duel.

So, I blasted them with Mind Spikes until they fell comatose on the ground.

With the battle won, I freed the captives while Daulf stabilized the dying cultists. Only four survived to be placed in the Dahn, leaving twenty-four, plus the poor soul trapped in Fauell. Though, it was hard to muster much sympathy for him once I had a look at the captives. We freed the and Levar got to setting up a meal for the hundred or so survivors. The cultists had arrived the night before, capturing all they could before their presence became known, and then killing the rest. They’d kept them in the courtyard as they’d constructed the cage the next day, and at midnight they’d begun the ritual that would summon the Balor.

According to them, two of the cultists had collapsed moments before we arrived, but the cultists had spoken freely amongst themselves in front of their soon-to-be sacrifices, and had mentioned that the death of participants was to be expected. The cultists themselves were from the group that had attacked Landing, and they’d been sent to summon their Balor for some yet to be disclosed purpose.

This was a few days ago, and I could walk you through the rest, but one of the cultist kept a journal I think tells the tale better.

Faust save us. I don't know what is happening. We were performing the summoning, and suddenly Bishop Darwin and Supplicant Stanford collapsed. This wasn't totally unexpected, but we'd been told if the ritual lacked power or failed, a lesser member would fall. Right after that, we were ambushed. The world became a storm and I was thrown from my feet. Lightning flew everywhere, and my brothers fought back while I cowered in the dirt. They slew them all, just two of them defeated all of us!

Taran, Sean, Emit, Dun. All of them.

They placed a sack over my head and a collar around my neck and threw me into a room. When I managed to get the bag off, I found Bishop Darwin sleeping on a cot in the corner along with brothers Sim, Ted, and Hera. They were wounded but they've been healed. This room has no door or windows. The walls are smooth stone. I can't find a door. The ceiling itself seems to emit light and there's a sack of food. I will wait for the others before trying anything. This stupid collar is draining my Will and giving me a headache. I'm going to rest.

* * *

I don't know how long I've been down here, but the sack of food vanished into black particles. No one else has awoken yet.

* * *

The lights went out and more food arrived. Everyone but Darwin woke, and we decided to eat.

* * *

No sign of our captors, but more food came. I think it comes once per day, but it's hard to say.

* * *

The food wasn't poison, but... we relived ourselves in the corner, and our waste disappeared just like that first sack of food.

* * *

Faust, are you testing me? Is this real? The lights went out for a moment and when they came back, eight more bodies lay in the room. And the room had grown. I pretended to sleep as the new arrivals rose. But Dun was there! Alive! I ran to him and hugged him, and he seemed confused. He told me that I had collapsed during the ritual along with Bishop Darwin, Supplicant Stanford, Ted, Hera and Sim. He said they were attacked by three assailants as well, a magic-immune knight, a young mage, and a giant. I didn't see a giant.

* * *

Dun is dead! He tried to remove his collar. He has the foul Earth magic of the enemy. He thought if he could remove his collar he could free us. The collars were only wood inlaid with some metal. He brought his easily, but then his neck became a fountain of blood.

Faust, why have you forsaken us?

* * *

Darwin is awake, and was speaking insanely. He said that Stanford collapsed, but the summoning was completed. The demon lord had him open a portal to Fauell, sacrificing my life and many others to fuel it. A haggard Stanford stepped out, and began to perform summoning magic Darwin had never seen. More brothers died and a new portal opened. A demon prince and his consort stepped through, followed by a flock of Vrock. The portal remained open until only Stanford and Darwin remained and then the consort took Darwin to drain him of his life. That's all he remembered. He said we'd all died.

* * *

I'm going mad. Dun is back. More brothers arrived when the lights went out. Dun was among them and has no memory of dying. He says I fell during the ritual.

* * *

We are all here. We are all alive. We all have different memories of that cursed day.

* * *

Four brothers killed themselves yesterday, only to return with no memories. A voice from above told us to stop killing ourselves or the room would get smaller.

* * *

Two more brothers killed themselves. They returned like the rest, and with their return the walls closed in a foot on all sides. There was barely enough room before.

—-

So now I’m sitting in the library a few floors above a pen full of cultists that keep killing themselves. They stopped after we shrunk the room the first time, but I don’t know how long this will last. Every time they do it, I need to go out and recapture them, which is a big waste of time, but we did manage to resolve this whole problem without a single violent death on my part. At first, I felt a little bad that I wasn't able to get that Stanford guy out of Fauell, but then I remembered that I Flooding hate these cultists, and started plotting ways to send the rest there.

Daulf wants to turn them over to the officers from Landing, so they can have a trial, but we all know how that will end. Everyone else is hoping we can convince him to just deprive their room of air once the resets are over and be done with them.