Thank you @Takanari and bro, @Tequila_Sunset and @polina for playing at my table!
You successfully defeated You-Know-Who in an epic battle of arcane might, thwarting his plan of turning the material plane into a dark, barren world of death. And you brought the stolen tower back - now the venerable Azelhardt Academy stands complete once more, with all its five mighty towers reaching for the night sky.
A cold, northerly breeze blows the mists away, as a full moon shines its silvery light down upon the academy, upon the city of Port Annoria beneath it, upon the mountains and the sea - certainly a sign that many eyes were - and still are - watching and admiring you, even from high up, isn’t it?
Soon, new books will be added to the sheer infinite shelves of the academy’s library - books about an unlikely group of four mortals who ventured into the chaos of limbo and onward into the dread realm of Him Who Shall Not Be Named to save the world. Books about you. After all, everyone deserves to learn about these heroes!
As you return, the academy’s archmage, Horatio, who has caught you with a Featherfall spell, welcomes you and announces a great feast for tomorrow, to celebrate your deeds. And leads you down into the millenia-old catacombs that form the academy’s cellar - here, protected by powerful magic, the vault is located, where you will find your reward.
Unfortunately, Geoffrey Blackthorne, who fell for the ploys of Him Wo Shall Not be Named - and ended up as a mere tool to lure you into his realm - could not be saved. You-Know-Who - seemingly? - was defeated, yet his soul has not returned… He and the three deceased researches will all be honored in a grand funeral in the coming days.
Everyone gains the following:
- 10 000 gold pieces
- 10 downtime days
- a potion of supreme healing (unless you used yours up already during the final fight)
You also gain two scrolls of Fizban’s platinum shield and can take one of the following items:
- Blood Fury Tattoo - you are tainted by all the black magic you experienced
- Platinum Dragon Mask - blessed by the Lord of the North Wind, Bahamut, to protect you against the most vile foes.
- Robe of the Archmagi - a most exquisite robe Horatio retrieved from the vault - quite similar to his own, decorated in the colors of the five houses.
- Ascendant Dragon’s Wrath Quarterstaff- either white, black, blue, green or red, representing the respective house.
- Tome of Clear Thought - when you spend enough time at the library and attend your lessons and courses regularly, you will become more intelligent.
Also, you can scribe the following spells from Geoffrey’s spellbook - Horatio hands it to you after he removed the tongue and dispelled any potentailly dangerous magic from it:
- Cantrips: chill touch, sapping sting, mage hand (always appears as a left hand), ray of frost
- 1st level: detect magic, find familiar, identify, illusory script, longstrider
- 2nd level: blindness/deafness, invisibility, wither and bloom
- 3rd level: animate dead, bestow curse, dispel magic
- 4th level: blight, dimension door, Evard’s black tentacles
- 5th level: dominate person, modify memory, scrying (the sensor always appears as a left eye to those who can see it)
- 6th level: circle of death, create undead
- 7th level: finger of death, plane shift
- 8th level: Abi-Dalzim’s horrid wilting, mind blank
- 9th level: time ravage, foresight
Instead of taking one of the items from above, if you want to unleash the evil within you and complete what You-Know-Who failed at, you can take the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna as a homebrew story reward - remember you can only use such an item at my table.