Summary
The battle began the moment the party stepped into the portal. The chimera, swollen with Feywild magic and feeding greedily upon it, turned its three heads toward them. Talmirr acted first. With a sharp gesture and a whispered incantation, he cast Slow. The spell washed over the creature and dragged at its movements, buying the group precious time before the full fury of the beast could be unleashed.
Helka and Wisteria charged forward as Falkos prepared his arcane defences. Spells crackled through the air while steel rang against hide. The lion’s maw snapped and roared, only to be met by Helka’s relentless strikes. Blood matted its fur as she hammered blow after blow into its jaw. The serpent tail lashed out at Wisteria and sank its fangs deep, flooding her veins with poison. She staggered, but Helka was already at her side, calling upon her magic to purge the venom and knit flesh back together.
The ram’s head began to gather power, its horns glowing with Feywild energy. Falkos reacted instantly. His Counterspell cut through the forming magic and silenced the creature’s attempt. When the chimera tried again later, after two of its heads had already fallen, he was not able to stop the final spell. Even so, his earlier intervention had spared the party from devastation.
The fight grew more desperate as the chimera thrashed in fury. Both Helka and Wisteria suffered terrible wounds. Talmirr and Falkos soon found themselves next in the creature’s sights. The ground itself betrayed them as the Feywild surged. At one point, magic erupted beneath Falkos and vines clawed up from the earth, trying to drag him down. He tore himself free and, seeing his companions on the brink of death, pushed his abilities to their limit. He used Misty Step again and again until the strain left him drained, but he managed to reach both Helka and Wisteria in time to stabilise them.
The chimera fought on, but the party refused to yield. Helka, bloodied and exhausted, delivered the final decisive cut. She severed the serpent tail from the body, ending the creature’s last threat. At last, the clearing fell silent.
As they gathered the remains, the air above the pond shimmered. Magic twisted into a spiralling form, dark tendrils curling outward. A figure appeared upon the rocky platform. The golden mask she wore gleamed with intricate filigree, and her black talon shaped gauntlets clicked softly as she moved. The party recognised her from the Moonflow memories. Parthus.
She regarded the chimera’s corpse with mild surprise and admitted she had forgotten about the creature entirely. Her tone made it clear this was not unusual for her. With a casual gesture, she revealed the chimera’s eggs and crushed them in her gauntleted hand. The party watched in silence, unsure whether to feel relieved.
Parthus studied them with interest and remarked that she had expected them to die much sooner. Conversation followed, strange and tense. When she asked for a tale of great valour, Talmirr stepped forward with confidence and offered her his copy of Dwarf Tales 5. Amused, she accepted and in return gave him a campfire charm that would produce smoke no matter how high the flames rose.
Turning to Wisteria, Parthus examined the magical items the group carried, particularly the lion’s eye. She explained that she could help unlock its potential, but only if Wisteria allowed it to be grafted directly into her skin. The procedure had to be done immediately. Wisteria agreed. Parthus worked with swift, precise movements, cutting and grafting the eye into Wisteria’s chest while the others watched. Before this, she had offered to move the strange markings each of them bore, but none accepted.
When her work was done, Parthus stepped back. Without ceremony, she vanished in a swirl of magic, leaving the party alone once more with the battered remains of the chimera and the quiet that followed.
Things of note
⬥ The chimera was empowered by the Feywild and proved extremely dangerous, nearly killing multiple party members.
⬥ Parthus appeared after the battle, confirming her connection to the chimera and the Moonflow memories.
⬥ Wisteria accepted the grafting of the lion’s eye, performed immediately by Parthus.
⬥ Talmirr earned a unique campfire charm by offering Parthus a tale of valour.