Tophe conspicuously wields a large spear with a blue crystal tip that seems inherently dangerous. He also conspicuously wields a lot of confidence and commends Charlie Company on its successes versus his herald, although credit for Cohoreth’s beheading is more attributable to Tophe. It seems a Wretched Hive of Thieves a.k.a. Quastarte on this insignificant world a.k.a. Toril is naughtily hoarding The Blood a.k.a. Vis from places of dire need for example to release Tophe’s mad, imprisoned father a.k.a. Tharizdun.
Briar retorts that Charlie Company, though agents of Quastarte, can’t possibly be accused of keeping the vis from Tophe since they themselves were unwittingly protecting an empty tanker when totally trying to whack Cohoreth. That makes sense to Tophe; no one is safe from Quastarte’s lies.
Charlie Company makes itself agreeable, entertaining Tophe’s grievances until he wanders off to visit his grandparent’s altar. Ash therefore reckons that Tophe is the son of Tharizdun who is the son of Pelor and Ioun who, according to legend, found a living gate in the astral sea which Tharizdun later destroyed releasing all kinds of mad crazy. Tharizdun a.k.a. The Chained God was subsequently imprisoned for said atrocities.
Brother Im strongly councils against any attack on Tophe, and Portent Order has no particular guidance in response to Watc’s sending spell. Tophe returns, finds no diplomatic progress has been made, and decides to teach these simpletons a lesson by sending them to a dreamscape on a prison platform above the astral sea.
A central orb imprisoning some sort of being is chained radially to surrounding columns topped by watching, electric blue birds or their skeletonized forms. A large secant of damage cuts through the platform where columns and chains have been destroyed although the skeletal birds remain.
The party finds itself at the end of a spiral trail of broken shards leading to the orb. Ash aids himself with a jump spell, but it seems unnecessary in this low gravity situation so the party leaps its way toward the orb platform where the lesson will undoubtedly become apparent. Ambushing aberrant astral spiders with disturbingly disymmetric distributions of legs interspersed with stingers, claws, and more than the usual number of mouths-pincer sets attack from below the shards. Sqyylarr and Barika back-to-back themselves into the thick of it. Ash extracts himself from the thick of it but backs into a little tree that whomps him unexpectedly. Ander leaps straight up to safety before falling back into danger, but tosses his force ballista where it knocks an astral spider right off him. Though the monsters are unusual, the usual methods of violence are effective enough in destroying them. Briar patches up Watc, Ash cures his own wounds, and there is no further difficulty getting to the edge of the platform.
Ash inquires of the bird guardians whether they might elucidate the party as to the point of all this. The birds comprehend the question but are content to simply observe their lack of answer in silence. Briar reckons that Tharizdun must have been imprisoned here by his own parents. Watc investigates the damage to the platform and determines that eons of all manner of attacks have eroded the construction to its current condition, but in fact the damage is actually self repairing at an imperceptibly slow rate.
Ash and Briar deferentially ease past the birds where bits of slagged chain and other debris are strewn around the circle. The birds move to prevent the similar admission of Sqyylarr and Watc yet Ash gets by without hassle. A sensation of Sqyylarr and Watc indicates their shared ambivalence to the universal struggle between good and evil is the cause of their exclusion. As bits of chain slag form into golems and begin to whirlwind around Ash and Briar, Sqyylarr and Watc each embraces goodness sufficiently to enter. Ash extracts himself from the ouchy spinning and sends back arrows. Naturally-good Barika leaps to action and critically, brutally smashes a golem. Ander hastens Sqyylarr so she can keep up with Barika and his turret critically, brutally hits a golem which Barika finishes off.
Sqyylarr approaches the orb prison and reports a strange sensation. Watc checks her for symptoms but finds nothing medically unusual, just the normal battle damage she needs to feel alive. Ash approaches and realizes the sensation is magical suppression. The imprisoned being, who looks like a child now that they are up close, asks his visitors to identify themselves. Ash returns the inquiry. Tharizdun is the Chained God, betrayed by his parents but no longer alone. He recounts his experience in liberating so many wondrous critters from beyond the gate, especially his new crystalline bestie. Briar, wandering around to the far side of the orb, wonders if he means the bit of blue crystal bridging the gap to the orb physically and, perhaps more worrying, logically.