Lotty looks at the surrendering vikings and asks them what they think of Calitrax being in charge. Surprising no one, their replies all indicate that they think she's bad news. Lotty orders them to gather around Ape!Berrik, away from their weapons, until we assess the situation. They comply. The number of freed prisoners is growing, thanks to Bennit, and so Lotty starts looking around for Argil. It doesn't take long for her to spot her little cousin amongst the gaunt and shivering prisoners. Because Seeming is still up, Argil must be convinced that she is truly his cousin and not some cruel trick. It takes the introduction of Boobrie, but eventually Argil embraces Lotty as his cousin. He relays that he doesn't know where the family is, that they were kept apart. Lotty asks to examine Argil's collar, physically this time - nothing new is revealed. After this, Lotty spots Aunt Ella. She needs no convincing, knowing right away that it's Lotty who rescued them. The two quickly embrace but both, ever pragmatic, know that the people around them need them more right now. As Aunt Ella leaves to greet the rest of her family and start organizing gear for the growing number of prisoners, the Ashen Company realize that they are coveting all the rods. Prisoners could be freed faster if more hands were invited to handle these rods! Null and Flynn dispense the rods they're holding to the newly allied vikings and Bennit gives them a quick tutorial on how best to wield them. As the vikings can now confidently wave their rods around, the prisoners are indeed released faster.
it's like the rods are their dicks, you guys.
The Ashen Company convene to consider logistical questions. Berrik drops his Giant Ape form, understanding that this conversation will likely require less smashing and all of his wizard brain. How do we individually remove the collars of 300 people? Even if nothing goes wrong, we don't have the time. We consult a viking and Bennit on the collars and the controller, but we don't learn much beyond that we need to investigate further. Null volunteers to fly up and take a closer look. She hands Lotty a spare potion of flying and chugs a couple of healing potions before pulling up the hood of her invisibility cloak and disappearing. Tapped, Flynn sidles up to Lotty to ask her a favour. Taking out a scroll, he asks if she would cast Catnap on him. Things seem to be in a holding pattern for the time being, so this seems like a good opportunity to take ten minutes to rest and get his spell slots back. Flynn doesn't know that Lotty had recently cast Wish to bring him back to life and that casting spells hurts her. Lotty doesn't volunteer that information when she agrees to do this. Wincing, she takes 3d10 necrotic damage as Flynn gratefully passes the fuck out.
Meanwhile, Null has reached the the 10 foot diameter dome that protrudes from the ceiling of the cavern. Considering the enormous mass of winched chains dangling below it, it's certainly smaller than she expected. Closer inspection of the dome reveals little: bands of steel encapsulate whatever lies inside and there are no accessible mechanisms or control panels. Null is able to find a small gap to peer into, but all she can make out is the bright light emanating from inside. The whole thing is pulsing and warm to the touch. Discouraged, she takes a moment to scan her surroundings. There isn't much up here besides a passageway in the cave rock near where several icy walkways converge. Floating closer, she can hear the casual chatter of guards up ahead - while the ongoing blizzard masks most sounds in here, any destructive action will surely draw attention from them. Null describes all that she has seen up here to her friends through Telepathic Bond. It's not something she can deal with on her own, so she will wait until they join her. Feeling stealthy enough on her own, she opts to pull down her hood to save her invisibility cloak some precious time.
After Flynn awakens from his Catnap, the trio decide to fly up to join Null. Lotty uses the potion she got from Null, while Flynn hands Berrik one of his three potions. Flynn doesn't need one because he can fly. About half the prisoners are free by the time the trio arrive up to the dome. Null hands Lotty a crowbar, while Flynn casts Arcane Eye. Lotty and Berrik search the outside of the dome for any possible way inside, but find none. The crowbar finds purchase behind the panels, but Lotty can't get the leverage. Flynn's Arcane Eye is sent down the nearby passageway to check out what potential enemies lie beyond. The Eye confirms an entire squad of guards, huscarls and necromancers, so we opt not to engage them unless we have to. Flynn then remembers how small the Eye actually is - surely it can fit through the gap in the paneling that Null found. As the Eye enters the hole, the brightness within the dome threatens to blind it completely. However, a few moments pass and the Eye adjusts to its surroundings just enough to discern one thing within - Inside the dome is a person and that person is Frug McFini.
Outside the dome, Flynn turn to Lotty to relay the news about her father. Frantic now, she fruitlessly tries the crowbar again. Null offers to use Ghost Walk to get to Frug, which Lotty is super duper on board with. As the rogue pushes through to the inside of the dome, she sees Frug. He's attached to the inner workings of the dome itself - 4 rubber tubes are inserted into the base of his neck and he's been pricked with various implements, including an I.V. and a catheter. He is utterly wrecked and clearly in immense pain, but he is alive. Null tells him that Lotty is just outside, but goes silent as he explains his situation: Frug was forced into service as controller for the prison, with the threat that if he didn't fulfill his duties his family would die. All the control signals for the prison, the collars and the cages, go through him and he executes them. Null can see Frug twitch as he receives the commands for the cages that continue to be brought down below. Null asks Frug "How do I help you?" and the gnome replies that she can't, not in the way she intends. He explains that multiple failsafes are built into the system he finds himself trapped in. If he disconnects, all the collars explode. If the collars leave his range, they explode. He has no way out.
Meanwhile, Flight has run out for Berrik and Lotty. Lotty isn't leaving here if her father is inside, so she takes another potion from Flynn. Berrik casts Featherfall on himself, thinking he will be more useful below anyway. He takes a moment to send a message to Zubbe, who tells him that the hobgoblin camp is no longer a safe place to bring the escaped prisoners. Calitrax has left to return to High Rock, but her warriors remain behind in the camp. Berrik knows that they need to get moving soon, and grabs Flynn so they can start figuring out the safest and most efficient direction to Passwall out of here. If the hobgoblin camp is out of the question, then their only option is to head south and hope to find safety in the farms and hamlets nearby. He next starts to wonder what spells might help them get 300 civilians to the ground from 500 feet up. Flynn has an idea. They see that around 75% of the prisoners are now free.
As Berrik continues to brainstorm below, Null is struggling to process what all of this means for Frug's escape. Why does he seem so resigned? Doesn't he know that we won't leave without him? He explains to Null that he knows the stakes and he knows he can't leave this place alive without dooming them all. He intends to facilitate their escape - he can unlock all the collars remotely - and then once they are out he will detonate all the collars left behind and raze this whole place to the ground. He knows this means his death, but he is sure this is the best way to make sure his family lives and the prisoners escape. Null is not equipped to handle this. Doesn't Frug know Lotty won't leave without him? Doesn't he know his daughter is just as much a stubborn McFini as he is? Frug tells Null that he won't be swayed from this course and that, no matter what, it will be her duty to make sure that Lotty isn't here when the bombs go off. (No pressure!) Null knows what she has to do, and she hates it. She leaves the dome just as her Ghost Walk runs out and tells Lotty about Frug's predicament, failsafes and all. Lotty is unfazed, confident that a well-timed Resilient Sphere will save them when the mountain comes down despite the fact that it only lasts a minute. Null is silently panicking. Lotty's fly potion is about to run out again, so the trio decide to head back down to the prisoners until it's go time. Null doubles back to tell Frug "the plan" before joining them. She burns another soul token to use Ghost Walk again and pushes through the walls of the dome again. Null feverishly tells Frug that Lotty is just as stubborn as he is. This isn't going to work! Even if it came to a fight, there's no way Null could take on Lotty. Frug reiterates that he is determined to see this plan through. Lotty cannot be here when the mountain comes down and Null has to make sure of that, even if Lotty ends up hating her in the end. Defeated, Null is resigned now too - she will have to figure something out. Before she leaves Frug again, she snatches a tuft of his hair and pockets it. She doesn't know the ins and outs of resurrection magic, but maybe having a piece of Frug would help to bring him back. At Frug's request, she is also able to use her Thieves Tools to make a hole in the dome large enough for a Sending spell to get through. They will need to be able to tell him when they are clear. Null leaves Frug again and descends to rejoin her friends. She can see that 100% of the prisoners are free now and tells Frug so. There isn't much time.
Back on the ground, Lotty is scheming about how many unexploded collars she can fit into the secret chest (100). We deputize the most organized and responsible-looking of the freed prisoners to ensure that the unlocked collars are placed gently on the ground in a designated area. Null is silently panicking - things are moving quickly. She pickpockets Flynn's last Fly potion from him, hoping to make it harder for Lotty to stay behind. Lotty gets her secret chest of bombs. Berrik gathers his friends and explains the plan for their escape: they will Passwall towards the south and then use Arcane Gate to link the ledge to the ground 500 ft below. Null will deactivate the Nightfall Pearl. From there, they will move along the road until they reach the safety of the nearby farms. Okay cool. All that's left is to do it.
Null is dismayed to see that Lotty still has no intention of joining them in the escape. She is preparing to go join Frug and wait for the mountain to come down. The rogue knows she can't finesse this situation. Null pulls Lotty aside and, in perhaps the sternest way she's way she's ever spoken to Lotty, tells her friend that she needs to stop and that she needs to listen to her right now. Lotty agrees, softly saying that she's always ready to listen to Null. Null spills: Frug has no intention of leaving this mountain alive. He knows the stakes and knows the risks and knows that him being here to bring this mountain down is the only way to make sure this escape works. He knows the mountain collapse will kill him and he's at peace with that. Null gets shakier now: "He's stubborn, exactly like you. But if he dies we may be able to resurrect him and you know very well that if you die we cannot bring you back." Null takes the pilfered Fly potion out of her pocket and hands it to Lotty, explaining that she made a larger gap in the dome - Lotty needs to speak to her father. (Some distance away, Flynn sees the potion in Lotty's hand and is appalled that Lotty would steal from him.) Lotty is silent, but takes the potion and flies up to speak to Frug. Null follows, but keeps her distance.
At the dome, Lotty peers into the hole and is horrified to see the state her father is in. His formerly lively face is grim and drained. He winces as Lotty starts to plead her case to him and interrupts her. For the first time in as long as she can remember, Frug addresses his daughter as Lotty and not as Rose. Frug explains everything to Lotty again, the stakes, the risks - all of it. But this time he tells his daughter something else too: He is tired and he hurts and he is ready to see Rose again. He can see the best parts of himself and Rose in Lotty and he is so proud of the person she has become and the life she's made. The family, and the world will need that person now more than ever. More than him. Because he is tired and he hurts and he knows that Rose is ready to for him to join her. Lotty breaks - reaching in to touch Frug's ruined arm she casts a Cure Wounds on her dad in a futile attempt to offer him some comfort. Sobbing, she understands what comes next and knows that this is now her goodbye. She tells Frug that she loves him and to give her mother a kiss for every year that they've been apart. She will see them again when the time comes. Lotty sends Boobrie in through the gap. The weasel curls up in Frug's lap - Lotty will be sure her father isn't alone when the end comes. As she releases his arm and turns away, she knows she will never see her father alive again and the pain of that realization cuts her deeper than anything ever has or ever will. She lands back on the ground just as the potion runs out. Null isn't far behind. Time to go.
Everything and everyone is ready. Berrik has 140 feet worth of Passwall scrolls to get through the side of the mountain and feels very lucky when he realizes they had exactly 130 feet of rock to tunnel through. The tunnel opens up to the night sky - they are just under 500 feet above the ground. The shadow of Calitrax's longhouse looms over them and everyone hopes this will be enough to escape her reach. Null uses the Nightfall Pearl to restore what little light remains of the day - they will need to move quickly if they mean to reach safety before true night falls. Berrik rips the page for Arcane Gate out of Ezra's spellbook and casts the spell, using a piece of exaltium to extend the duration. (What he doesn’t know is that the next time he drinks a potion, his skeleton will turn to steel due to the exaltium’s wild magic side effect). They have 20 minutes to move 300 people through the arcane doorway next to them on the face of the mountain and out through the corresponding gate 500 feet below them. Flynn flies down to help Aunt Ella corral the prisoners at ground level, while Berrik, Null and Lotty linger above. Only a minute or two of Arcane Gate remains when the last freed prisoner moves through the threshold. All that remains is for us to go through too. Lotty is hesitant and full of dread - she knows this next step is her Rubicon. Once she leaves this mountain, her father's fate is truly sealed. Null stops and tells Lotty that they won't go before she is ready - as long as it takes. Its going to hurt every step of the way but that they are here and she won't be alone. Lotty reaches out towards her friends - Null takes one hand and Berrik the other. In the dying seconds of the Arcane Gate, the trio step forward together - hand in hand into what comes next.
At the base of the mountain, the Ashen Company and the 300 escaped prisoners walk away from the place that held them. The prison looms behind them, but they carry it still. They will carry it, in some way or another, for the rest of their lives. As the group approaches the road, Null feels that she needs to move to the front - they will need her scouting skills to find safety quickly. Null has so much she wants to say but all the words pale in comparison to what Lotty has just gone through. She kneels down to hug her friend. The embrace goes on a little long by normal standards, as it usually does with Null hugs, but it's Lotty that keeps it going. All Null can manage is an "I'm sorry" whispered into Lotty's shoulder. As the hug ends, Lotty tells Null that they will get her mother back. Lotty wants to make sure her friend doesn’t ever feel the pain she feels in that moment but Null's feelings are complicated on this. It doesn't feel right or just for her to get her parent back just as Lotty loses hers. She gives her friend a stilted, sad nod and moves to the front to join Flynn and Ella. Berrik and Lotty continue the journey at the rear. Berrik is not a man of many words, but Lotty feels comforted by his presence nonetheless. Some time passes, but before too long it's clear to both that enough distance lies between them and the longhouse. They both know what this means. Berrik steps away from Lotty, wanting to give her some space as he does what need to be done. Berrik sends a message to Frug, telling him that they are all clear. Lotty is safe and with them and surrounded by people who love her. He thanks Frug for his sacrifice. Frug replies with a goodbye of his own and with a thank you to Berrik and the Ashen Company for loving his daughter.
It is only a few more moments before the destructive cacophony fills the previously still evening air. The group turns around in time to see the centre of the mountain shatter in an explosion of fire and rock. The prison within implodes, taking the whole mountain with it. The once imposing longhouse collapses down to the ruined caverns below, crumbling into rubble. Calitrax's stronghold is gone and for some, the cost was incredibly high. Too high. For a few stunned moments as the dust settles, there is silence.
