On the main table Null finds several maps, she rolls two up and puts them in her pack - one depicts Altisha from the time of the Aeonian Dominion which shows twelve floating cities; one of them, the city of Myridia, has been circled over and over. The other map she takes is of a more of a blueprint/architects' plan of Myridia and its fortifications. She also finds several books describing conjuration and abjuration magics.
Meanwhile Berrick & Flynn both come across a book they're both interested in - "An Introduction to Oil Painting". Berrick is thinking it could be a relaxing hobby to take up when they get home and Flynn is scheming on a way through the door.
In her exploring of the space Null steps a little too close to the door and triggers the "What have you learnt" question from the Ezra-door. She replies that she has learnt that fighting the Marionettist comes with a cost, a personal one, one that Ezra has paid more dearly than anyone else. Ezra-door replies "Demonstrate your learning" to which Null responds "Eleanor" and she is sucked through the door. On the other side she shouts for her friends but hears no reply. She decides to ascend a nearby spiral staircase up to the next floor. She finds herself in a darkened, maze-like level, with a few corridors converging nearby. Null sees a familiar figure step out of the darkness, with a face identical to the one she's wearing. Her late friend Dara says "Still abandoning people I see" to Null, who is already conflicted by her decision to scout ahead rather than wait for her friends. She replies "I need to find a way to help them". Dara quips back with "You can't even help yourself". Null, deeply affected by these jabs, explains that things are different now, she has changed and isn't the person she used to be. Dara dents Nulls confidence once again by saying "It took you minutes to leave your friends behind" and beckons Null to follow her. Null, stubborn as ever, opts to wait a few more minutes for her friends before inevitably breaking and following Dara down the corridor.
Meanwhile in the library, Lotty calls the group to the door after seeing Null go through and worries that they need to hurry up the process to get through the door. Flynn drags over a blank canvas from the easel, finds some paints and takes the oil painting instruction book from Berrick. When asked "What have you learnt" he demonstrates that he has learnt how to paint. He paints a picture of Grug who is then sucked in to the painting. Flynn paints a picture of a displacer beast for Grug to fight. Berrick, Lotty and Flynn watch as a confused and scared Grug proceeds to decimate the beast inside the painting, to which Flynn adds an immaculately rendered apple to the painting to reward Grug. Flynn takes a bow, gives a "ta-da" to the door and he's sucked through to the other side leaving Grug back outside the paining.
Flynn calls out for Null, who does not hear him, and continues up the stairs. He sees a spectral vision of Silas and at first worries that he too has died but thinks it's kinda cool that he's having a chat with with his newly departed friend. Flynn waves through Silas' form and is rewarded with a smack on the arm in return. Silas goes on to ask how Nikolai is, to which a confused Flynn explains that Nicolai died with Silas. Silas starts to anger "You let my son die?"
In the library Lotty & Berrick ponder how to get Grug through the door without Grug being able to speak. In desperation Lotty gestures to Grug to pick her up and tightly wraps her arms around his neck, thinking maybe it will somehow demonstrate to Ezra-door that Grug has learnt that his new friends care for him. She turns to the door. When asked Lotty says she has learnt that Null has a mother who is still alive and being held by their common enemy, that the Ashen Company are going to save her. "How will you save her?" comes the reply from the door, "Like we always do" says Lotty "with a terrible plan and by any means necessary we'll take it to the Marionettist". With that clarification she's sucked through the door, without Grug. Lotty is surprised not to see Null & Flynn on the other side and waits for Berrick and Grug to appear.
Berrick decides he's going to have to show that Grug can learn something and grabs some of his precious teleportation circle chalk and draws a picture on the floor of a smiling face - he hands the chalk to Grug gesturing to them to copy. Grug can't quite grasp the task and crumbles the chalk in frustration, throwing it aside. Deciding to go for something Grug is more passionate about, Berrick draws a simple beaver picture with his chalk. This time Grug nails it and they are sucked through the door to a waiting Lotty who embraces them.
Finally Berrick steps up to the door and is asked the now familiar "What have you learnt?" question. Exhausted and exasperated Berrick replied "Wizard to wizard, I'm going to level with you: I've learnt Jack-shit in here, your tower is very impressive but the main thing I've learnt is that I need eight hours of sleep a night to function". With that he is sucked through the door and joins Lotty and Grug.
The three of them continue up the stairs as Lotty and Berrick discuss where Flynn & Null could have gone. Berrick hands Grug a tub of Truesight eye goop to play with. Berrick and Lotty then muse about the possibility of taking a break when they get home, maybe get a baby-sitter to watch the 'kids' for a while. As the trio proceed up the stairs deciding to stick close together they are quickly thwarted by a wall appearing cutting off Berrick from the other two.
Berrick sees his deceased friend Arakorlum appear before him.The dwarven cleric asks "What have you done with the gift of the life I gave for you?" - Berrick explains it hasn't been that long and he needs a lifetime to truly make something of it. Arakorlum becomes aggressive at Berrick's response and accuses Berrick of wasting his sacrifice.
Lotty grabs Grug's hand (little finger), determined not to be separated from them, and as they turn a corner they both see visions of Arnon & Raz'iel. Arnon says to Lotty "Still getting your friends killed I see". Not recognizing this hostility from her cousin, Lotty says "People die Arnon" and tries to lead Grug in an different direction.
The Ashen Company are separated and each facing weirdly aggressive manifestations of people they have lost. As the party reckons with the onslaught of guilt, they simultaneously each see their spectral visions turn into ghastly attackers - wraiths. Flynn is first to defeat his wraith. The warlock then proceeds to find and help Berrick, who has had his max HP reduced. The rest fall in relatively quick order, but the Ashen Company are left shaken by the encounter. Berrick, Flynn, Lotty and Grug all eventually find each other. Null is still separated from the others and angry at being haunted by a fake Dara. She continues to wander north, finding two necromantic totems outside of a real spooky-looking arcane workshop. Feeling out her depth, she backtracks but eventually finds a wall where a threshold used to be. This place sure likes realigning itself. She turns around again and find herself facing a demilich - the floating skull monster had followed her from the necromancer's workshop. It attacks and frightens her, so the rogue proceeds to burn a soul token to reactivate Ghost Walk and escape through the new stone wall. She runs right through Berrick and finds herself surrounded by her friends. She relays the spooky shit she just saw and the party commiserates over the false ghosts they faced. Seeing that Berrick is injured, she feeds him a health potion. To everyone's dismay, the conversation is cut short as we learn the spooky skull monster moves through walls.The demilich is a tough fight, and brings lair actions with it. Everyone except Grug is knocked prone as the ground shakes. Null Ghost Walks behind the wall to avoid being frightened again, darting back out to land a crit. Lotty tanks using her Defense Matrix but then gets turned into an anti-magic field. Berrik manages to land a firebolt before summoning the Arcane Hand. Grug does what Grug does best. In the end it's Flynn that finishes off the monster with a brutal barrage of Eldritch Blasts.
The party gets its bearings. Null feeds a stubborn Grug a health potion, turning it into a game ("Here comes the dragon!"). Grug then decides to nap in the Arcane Hand. Where to next? Null tells her friends about the necromantic workshop she found - it may be another truly awful place Ezra means for us to see. As she leads them there, she still finds it hard to shake false Dara's words. She sheepishly states to the party that she would never abandon her friends. Lotty affirms the sentiment, she knows Null likes going off on her own but would never truly abandon the group, Lotty takes the opportunity to chide Flynn again for his “wreckless actions”. The rogue feels shitty about it and says she will try to be better.
As we enter the workshop, we see: a summoning circle with skulls, a large table with assorted books and papers, a window looking into a black void, a small table supporting a chained book, and two large stone hands (not unlike those that held the sphere of annihilation) that previously suspended the demilich. On the large table we find an important-looking book in a language no one understands. Flynn decides to take ten minutes to ritual cast Comprehend Languages. Null floats around the room looking for interesting things, not wanting to waste her Ghost Walk. She finds a chest full of diamonds and shows the group while Flynn works. Lotty and Null debate taking some diamonds - Lotty doesn't want to steal from Ezra, while Null doesn't want the group to be ill-equipped for the sake of politeness. In the end, it's the prospect of using the diamonds to heal Grug's mind that pushes Lotty to agree to take the gems. Null grabs 4k worth of diamonds and hands them to her friend. Flynn finishes casting and goes to peruse the tome, which is a book of musings on various necromantic endeavours: resurrecting lost loved ones, cloning, and extending one's life through lichdom. Lotty will need some time to craft a Greater Restoration potion for Grug, so we decide this is as safe a place as many to hunker down. As Lotty works, some decide to short rest. Flynn takes the time to write down an abridged version of the book's contents for posterity. Berrik reconfigures his Third Eye so that he can read the book in its original form. Grug continues to nap and Null writes Ezra a note explaining that the Ashen Company owes him 4k in diamonds, taken in order to survive his horrible tower. Lotty finishes her work in 2 hours, successfully engineering a potion of Greater Restoration. She rouses Grug and plays "Here comes the Dragon!" with them to get the half-orc to take the potion. It works and Grug is restored. They were never the epitome of intellect before, but at least they can speak again. Time to leave - we take one last look at the workshop (confirming that the chained book is sadly not "Tusk Love") and continue through the tower.
On the next level, the Ashen Company enter a big-ass chamber. To the north and southeast are doors. In the centre of the chamber is an enormous area rug luxuriously draped over a few grand, asymmetrical steps - forming a sort of elegant dais for whatever is emitting an eerie green glow in the southwest part of the chamber. A set of stone stairs lead upwards from this landing. As the party tries to figure out how best to approach this room, Null wanders over to the northern door and opens it.
