The cabin stood where no cabin ought to stand: deep within a cavern, beneath stone instead of sky, surrounded by a silent alpine wood that breathed in the dimness as though the mountain had dreamt itself a forest. Pines rose from the cavern floor, their needles whispering in an unfelt wind, their trunks silvered by a strange and sourceless light. Within that lonely house of timber and smoke, the scent of stew still lingered—rich, earthy, almost absurdly comforting—while the crown lay at the center of all their trouble like a question no one had yet survived answering.

Witch Nimu had seemed certain enough before.

She had spoken of possibilities. Of the crown’s hunger, perhaps. Of a will within it. Of memories not quite one’s own. She had listened while the others weighed what they had seen and what Thorn had suffered when the crown had touched his mind. Then, with a swiftness that made warning useless, she had seized the thing and set it upon her head.

For a moment there had only been silence.

Then she had fallen.

No healing touch could wake her. No spell could pierce whatever guarded her. The magic around her was not merely resistance, but refusal, as if the crown had drawn a curtain between Nimu and the world. They had gathered around her, uncertain whether they were looking upon a woman under enchantment, a creature revealed, or something worse. Then her eyes had opened.

She had risen with a stranger’s certainty.

“She would be here,” Nimu had said.

And then she had thrown herself through the window.

There was a heartbeat in which no one moved. It was not hesitation so much as the mind’s protest against nonsense. Then Maledurk was gone after her, crashing through the window with the unquestioning force of a dragonborn who had decided the world would explain itself later. Tempest followed because, in such moments, following Maledurk was as reasonable a course as any. Elora and Thorn came after, the cabin falling behind them as they plunged into the cavern-forest.

Outside, the air was cold and mineral-sharp. There was no open sky overhead, only stone lost in dimness, yet the forest lived. Roots gripped the cavern floor. Branches clawed upward toward a ceiling they would never pierce. The light fell unevenly through the pines, catching on mist and stone and the hurried shapes of those who ran.

Nimu was ahead of them, small and swift, her feet seeming to know a path where none could be seen. She did not look back. She did not call for help. She ran as though the world behind her had already ceased to matter.

Maledurk caught the first clear glimpse of her between the trees and lowered his head. Whatever force had taken Nimu, whatever purpose now drove her, it had made one mistake: it had chosen to flee from him in a straight line.

Tempest’s magic answered the chase with a burst of wild momentum. A sudden wind coiled around Maledurk, not gentle, not graceful, but effective. It hurled him forward through the cavern wood like a living battering ram, and for a moment he seemed less to run than to be launched. Branches snapped at his shoulders. Needles rained behind him. He surged near enough to see Nimu’s hair whipping behind her, the crown glinting upon her brow.

Elora ran after them, the old instincts of survival and spellcraft moving together. She touched magic to herself and lengthened her stride, her steps growing swift and sure over root and stone. Thorn rose above the trees, taking to the air with the elegance of one who trusted height more than tangled ground. From above, the absurdity of the place became even sharper: a forest sealed inside a mountain, a green secret under stone, and somewhere far ahead, a faint wound of sunlight high upon the cavern wall.

Thorn saw it first.

Not a path. Not a door fashioned by hands. A brightness, small but unmistakable, spilling from an opening two or three hundred feet away. It was high enough that no ordinary runner would reach it easily, yet Nimu’s course bent toward it with terrible purpose. She was not fleeing blindly. Something within her knew where it meant to go.

Below, Maledurk leapt.

He struck not with weapon or claw, but with his whole body, diving at Nimu in a desperate tackle. He did not fully seize her, but his hands caught enough—ankle, cloth, motion—that her stride broke. She stumbled, lurched forward, and crashed hard to the forest floor. For one breath, the chase seemed won.

Then she scrambled up.

Her face was wrong.

It was still Nimu’s face, but all the warmth and sly humor had been emptied from it. Her eyes held purpose without recognition. Her body moved like a stolen thing. She surged forward again, slower now, but still driven toward the distant light.

Elora vanished in a shimmer and reappeared nearer to her, the air folding and unfolding around her like a curtain. She ran beside the possessed witch and called out, demanding to know why she fled, what she was doing, who she was.

Nimu did not answer.

Elora reached instead with a hand of magic, pale and invisible except where the light bent around it. The spectral fingers closed on the crown. It gave.

Not much.

The crown did not sit upon Nimu’s head like metal. It clung like a parasite. Elora felt resistance through the spell, a tension like sinew, as if unseen roots had grown from the circlet into the witch’s very spirit. Yet it was not fixed as it had been upon Thorn. Something was different now. It could be moved. Perhaps it could be taken.

Then Nimu turned her head.

“Stop.”

The word struck with more than sound. It carried two voices: one Nimu’s, strained and thin beneath another deeper presence that rolled beneath it like thunder under ice. The command drove into Elora’s mind, and for an instant her body betrayed her. Her legs halted. Her will remained awake, furious and aware, but the chase moved on without her.

She could not run.

So she called upon the forest.

Vines and grasping roots burst from the cavern floor around Nimu, twisting upward in a sudden snare. They lashed for her ankles and arms, catching at cloth, slowing her steps. She fought through them, not free but not captured, tearing forward inch by inch while the plants clung and strained.

Above, Thorn saw his chance.

He swept down through the dimness, rope in hand, the strange light gleaming along his blade-singer’s poise. There was something almost ridiculous in the act—an ancient elf wizard descending upon a possessed witch in a cavern forest with a looped rope—but the moment allowed no dignity. Thorn cast the loop with impossible precision.

The rope snapped tight around Nimu’s legs.

She fell hard, and this time the forest took her. Elora’s vines surged over her as she struck the ground, binding arms and shoulders, pinning her beneath living coils. Maledurk dropped down beside her, ready to hold her if the plants failed. Tempest closed in after them, eyes wide, the faint crackle of barely restrained magic around her hands.

Nimu thrashed like a trapped animal.

“You won’t stop me,” she snarled, though the voice was not wholly hers. “You can’t contain me. I have waited this long. I will be free.”

The words chilled the air more deeply than the cavern stone. There was no pleading in them, no confusion, no fear. Only impatience. Thorn looked upon her and understood what the others felt but had not yet named. This was not merely enchantment. Something wore her. Something spoke through the mouth that had offered them stew and riddles.

When asked if she was Nimu, the thing answered yes.

It lied badly.

The crown had to come off.

Thorn reached first.

The instant his hands closed upon the circlet, the old sensation returned—the dreadful familiarity of it, the memory of its presence from when it had sat upon his own brow. It did not speak as a voice speaks, yet meaning bloomed in his mind, intimate and poisonous.

A pleased recognition.

A toy returned.

Thorn’s spirit recoiled. He held himself fast. The crown tugged at him, searching for purchase, but he would not give it room. He pulled.

It moved.

Only a little, but enough to reveal the truth of the thing. The crown stretched away from Nimu’s head as though some invisible bond held it there. Thorn strained until his hands ached, until the muscles in his arms trembled, but the circlet would not come free.

Elora joined him, seizing it with both hands. The crown’s mind brushed hers too, less with grandeur than with strange, mocking familiarity. It remembered her pack. It remembered being carried. It remembered enough to insult even while it fought.

Together, Thorn and Elora pulled, but the crown held.

Maledurk watched them struggle. The great brass dragonborn had little patience for a problem that presented itself as “stuck.” Magic might weave mysteries; curses might coil around souls; ancient artifacts might whisper and tempt. Yet many things in the world, he had found, yielded eventually to sufficient force.

He stepped in.

Thorn and Elora gave way as Maledurk planted himself over Nimu. He set his feet against her shoulders, braced his tail hard into the cavern floor, and wrapped both hands around the crown. Nimu writhed beneath him. The crown seemed almost to sense what was coming.

Maledurk pulled.

At first, nothing.

Then he pulled harder.

The tendons in his arms rose like cables. His claws tightened against the metal. The unseen bond stretched, strained, and for a moment the entire cavern seemed to hold its breath. Then came a sharp, obscene pop, like a cork torn from a bottle.

Maledurk tumbled backward with the crown in his hands.

Nimu went slack.

For the span of a heartbeat, victory seemed possible.

Then Maledurk looked at the crown.

A thought entered him, warm as praise and simple as hunger.

He would look good wearing it.

Before anyone could reach him, before warning could become action, Maledurk set the crown upon his own head.

And fell unconscious.

The forest went still.

For a moment no one moved except Nimu, who stirred among the fading vines and the rope around her legs. Her face had changed again. The terrible certainty was gone. Confusion flooded back into her eyes. She looked from Elora to Thorn, then to Maledurk’s unconscious body, and horror dawned slowly upon her.

“Why did he put that crown on his head?”

The question was so plainly, helplessly Nimu that it hurt.

Her memory was broken. The last thing she recalled was serving stew in her cabin. She knew nothing of putting on the crown. Nothing of the chase. Nothing of the voice that had spoken through her or the light toward which she had run. The confidence she had shown before was gone as well, stripped away with the possession. She seemed smaller now, distant and unsettled, as though part of her still stood somewhere far behind her own eyes.

There was no time to comfort her.

Maledurk lay bound in the rope as quickly and thoroughly as they could manage. If he woke under the crown’s command, his strength would make Nimu’s flight seem like a child’s game. Even unconscious, he was dangerous by implication. A sleeping storm. A king of muscle and poor judgment with an ancient will perched upon his skull.

Nimu thought she might brew something to loosen the crown’s hold, but she needed her cabin. Her tools. Her ingredients. Her place of power, if such a humble, impossible house in a cavern wood could be called that.

So they began the grim procession back.

Elora’s magic lifted Maledurk from the ground, turning the massive dragonborn into a floating burden. Someone held his tail to guide him, and despite the terror of the moment, the sight carried a ridiculousness that could not be denied: Maledurk drifting behind them like a great scaled balloon, bound and crowned, his limbs limp in the dim cavern light.

Humor had always survived in them. Sometimes by choice. Sometimes by ambush.

But beneath it lay fear.

Nimu walked with them, still unsettled, still glancing at Maledurk as if expecting him to rise. Thorn watched her closely. Elora did too. The witch knew them, recognized them, followed their purpose—but she was not quite the same as before. The crown had not merely borrowed her body. It had left a hollow where certainty had been.

And while they walked, Maledurk dreamed.

He stood in a throne room.

Not a cave. Not a forest. Not the cold hush beneath a mountain. He stood in a castle chamber rich with polished wood, bright banners, gleaming vessels, and a table heavy with food. Sunlight streamed through open glass doors that led onto a balcony. Beyond them rose the murmur of a vast crowd.

It felt right.

That was the danger of it. Not that the vision was strange, but that it was not strange enough. It settled around him like a memory he had mislaid. The room belonged to him. The food belonged to him. The voices beyond the balcony waited for him.

Maledurk crossed to the doors and stepped outside.

Thousands looked up from the courtyard below.

The instant they saw him, they erupted in cheers. The sound struck him like glory. It rolled over stone and banner, rose into the bright air, and became a chant.

“Long live King Maledurk.”

Again and again.

“Long live King Maledurk.”

He stood before them in regal robes, crowned and adored, and some deep part of him accepted it because why should he not? Had he not fought? Had he not protected? Had he not stood between his friends and the devouring dark more times than memory could count? Perhaps this was right. Perhaps this was deserved.

Then he saw himself.

In the glass of the open doors, his reflection waited.

Fine robes. Royal bearing. A crown upon his head.

The crown.

Memory struck him like cold water.

Nogbruth. Thorn. Nimu. The chase through the cavern wood. The crown in his hands. The sudden, foolish certainty that it belonged upon his brow.

The cheers faltered—not outside, but within him.

This was not real.

Maledurk reached up and seized the crown.

Pain answered.

It was not the pain of metal against skin, but something deeper, as though hooks had sunk beneath thought and flesh alike. He pulled anyway. The vision resisted. The crowd still roared his name, louder now, as if adoration itself could drown out doubt. His arms trembled. His teeth clenched. The crown would not release him easily.

Back in the cavern, Tempest saw it first.

Maledurk’s floating body had been limp only moments before. Now his hands had risen to the crown. His fingers clenched around it.

The others turned.

Bound, unconscious, drifting in the dimness of the impossible forest, Maledurk had begun to fight from within.

And the crown, ancient and hungry, fought back.

Session Notes

  • The session resumed with the party inside a cabin located within a cave.

    • The surrounding environment was strange: the cabin stood in a cavern that also contained a forest.
    • The party had recently eaten stew prepared by Witch Nimu, though Elora had not eaten any and was now hungry.
    • Nimu had previously spoken to the party about the crown and the possibility that it might have a will or mind of its own.
    • The party had also possibly witnessed memories connected to someone who had worn the crown before.
    • Nimu had suddenly taken the crown, placed it on her own head, and collapsed unconscious.
    • Attempts to revive her had failed because some magical force seemed to prevent healing or aid from affecting her.
    • While the party debated what was happening and whether Nimu herself might be an extraplanar being, she suddenly stood, looked around, said, “Yeah, she would be here,” and jumped out the window.

  • The party immediately decided to follow Nimu.

    • Maledurk was the first to leap out the window and chase after her.
    • Tempest followed after Maledurk.
    • Elora and Thorn hesitated briefly, then also jumped out after them.
    • The jump from the cabin window was not difficult because the cabin was at ground level or close to it.

  • Outside the cabin, Maledurk saw Nimu running deeper into the strange woods inside the cave.

    • She ran away from the cabin and away from the cave entrance the party had used.
    • She disappeared into the trees, though Maledurk could still tell the direction she had gone.
    • The forest was not as dense as the High Forest the party had traveled through previously, but it still had many trees.
    • The party could catch glimpses of Nimu and each other as they ran through the trees.
    • The cavern contained dim ambient light, though the source of the light was not immediately clear.
    • There was no sky overhead, but there was open space above the trees in places before the cavern ceiling.

  • The chase was handled abstractly, similar to the earlier dinosaur race, with relative positioning rather than exact terrain.

    • The party rolled initiative to determine the order of actions during the chase.
    • Tempest acted early in the chase and cast a spell that created a whirlwind around Maledurk.
    • The whirlwind launched Maledurk much farther into the forest, bringing him fairly close to Nimu.

  • Elora used Longstrider on herself.

    • This increased her movement speed.
    • She continued running after Nimu and the others.

  • Thorn flew upward over the trees to gain a better view of the chase.

    • He wanted to see Nimu from above, scout the area, and possibly find a shortcut.
    • From the air, Thorn could see Nimu running.
    • He also saw Maledurk close to her.
    • Nimu did not appear to be looking back at the party; she was simply running forward.

  • Maledurk attempted to tackle Nimu.

    • He was close enough to make a diving attempt.
    • Maledurk dove at her and made an Athletics check.
    • He did not fully grab hold of her, but he managed to catch at her arms or legs enough to trip her.
    • Nimu ran a few more steps and then fell face-first to the ground.
    • Maledurk did not fully restrain her.

  • Nimu scrambled back to her feet.

    • She recovered from being knocked down and continued moving.
    • Because she had been surprised and tripped, she did not get very far from Maledurk.

  • Elora used Misty Step to close the distance.

    • She teleported closer to Nimu and then ran up near her.
    • Elora asked why Nimu was running.
    • Nimu did not answer.
    • Elora reasoned that the crown might be possessing or controlling Nimu.

  • Elora tried to remove the crown with Mage Hand.

    • The party remembered that they had previously tried to remove the crown from Thorn and had failed.
    • Elora used Mage Hand to grab the crown on Nimu’s head.
    • The Mage Hand was able to take hold of the crown.
    • Elora felt some give, as if the crown could possibly be pulled away, but it did not come off.
    • This was different from when Thorn had worn the crown, when it could not be physically removed.
    • Elora made an Arcana check and realized there was something different about the magic or what the magic was doing this time, though she did not fully understand what it meant.

  • Thorn continued observing from above.

    • He looked for where Nimu might be going.
    • He did not see a clear path, despite the terrain suggesting one visually.
    • From above the tree line, Thorn saw a small amount of what looked like sunlight ahead, perhaps two or three hundred feet away.
    • The light appeared to come from the back wall of the cavern.
    • Thorn believed the opening was likely large enough for a person to get through.
    • He realized Nimu was moving in almost a direct line toward that light.
    • The light source or exit was not at ground level; it was up on the cavern wall.
    • Thorn did not see anyone waiting for Nimu or beckoning her.
    • He flew ahead in the direction of the light, staying above the trees.

  • Maledurk considered using flight to intercept Nimu.

    • He wanted to fly over the trees and possibly dive down at her.
    • His flight speed was about the same as his running speed.
    • Flying low through the trees would have been difficult, and he risked colliding with trees.
    • Maledurk chose to fly up over the trees instead so he could get ahead of Nimu and come down toward her on a later turn.

  • Nimu used magic against Elora while continuing to flee.

    • As Elora remained near her, Nimu turned toward Elora.
    • Nimu spoke in a two-toned voice: her normal voice layered with a deeper undertone.
    • She said, “Stop.”
    • Elora made a Wisdom saving throw but failed.
    • The magic compelled Elora to stop running for a moment.
    • Nimu continued ahead.

  • Tempest also took to the air.

    • After seeing Maledurk fly, Tempest used flight as well and continued pursuing Nimu.

  • Elora could not move because of Nimu’s command, but she could still act.

    • Elora cast Entangle on Nimu’s path.
    • Vines and plants reached up from the ground.
    • The plants did not fully restrain Nimu.
    • Nimu managed to avoid being completely entangled, but the spell slowed her down and made it harder for her to move.

  • Thorn decided not to continue all the way to the distant opening because it was too far away.

    • Instead, he chose to help capture Nimu.
    • Thorn used a rope and attempted to loop it around Nimu’s legs while flying.
    • He made an Acrobatics check and succeeded extremely well.
    • Thorn threw the rope accurately and snagged Nimu’s feet.
    • He pulled the rope tight, causing Nimu to fall.
    • Once Nimu fell, Elora’s entangling plants were able to grab her more effectively.
    • The plants began restraining her as she lay on the ground.

  • Maledurk completed his dive toward Nimu after she was restrained.

    • Since Nimu was already tied and entangled, Maledurk did not need to make a roll to grab her.
    • He came down and helped keep her corralled.
    • Nimu struggled against the rope and plants.
    • She tried to break free, but she failed.
    • The party temporarily had her restrained.

  • The party recognized that Elora’s Entangle would only last for one minute.

    • Thorn’s rope would remain as long as it held, but it was mainly around Nimu’s legs.
    • The plants were restraining her arms.
    • The spellcasters understood that if Nimu’s arms became free, she might be able to cast spells again.
    • The party knew they had limited time before the plants disappeared.

  • The party attempted to speak with Nimu.

    • They asked what she was doing and why she was leaving.
    • Nimu did not respond normally.
    • She thrashed against her restraints.
    • She said, “You won’t. You can’t stop me. You can’t contain me. I’ve waited this long. I’ll be free in a moment.”
    • The party made Insight checks.
    • Her demeanor, expressions, and voice were completely different from how she had behaved earlier.
    • Thorn, who had experience with possessions, recognized that this seemed very much like possession unless Nimu was somehow acting with extraordinary skill.
    • When asked whether she was Nimu, she said yes, but Thorn believed this was a lie.

  • Thorn decided to physically remove the crown from Nimu’s head.

    • Thorn wanted to get the crown off her so they could recover their ally and learn what had happened.
    • He hoped his ring of protection might help him resist the crown’s influence.
    • As soon as Thorn touched the crown, Nimu thrashed harder.
    • Thorn made a Wisdom saving throw and succeeded.
    • When he touched the crown, Thorn felt a familiar sensation from when he had worn it before.
    • The sensation was not quite a voice; it was more like an emotion or mental impression.
    • Thorn understood it as a malevolent feeling of recognition, as though the crown was pleased to see him again and regarded him as its returned toy.
    • Thorn resisted the crown’s effect.

  • Thorn tried to pull the crown free.

    • He made an Athletics check.
    • The crown moved slightly, as though it was attached by something elastic.
    • Thorn managed to pull it a couple of inches away from Nimu’s head.
    • However, it resisted strongly and pulled back toward her.
    • Thorn could not fully remove it.

  • Elora joined Thorn in trying to remove the crown.

    • She grabbed the crown and pulled with him.
    • Elora made a Wisdom saving throw after touching it.
    • She also felt a strange mental sensation from the crown.
    • The sensation communicated something absurd and personal: that her backpack smelled funny.
    • This appeared connected to the crown having spent time in her backpack.
    • Elora made an Athletics check but was not able to help pull the crown free.
    • Even with Thorn and Elora pulling together, the crown remained attached.

  • Maledurk considered how to help remove the crown.

    • He asked whether he could determine why the crown would not come off or how to stop the magic.
    • Maledurk made an Arcana check.
    • He was not certain what the magic was, but he understood that magic could physically hold things in place.
    • He also thought that sufficient force might solve the problem.
    • Maledurk decided to use brute strength.
    • He moved Thorn and Elora out of the way, grabbed the crown, braced his feet against Nimu’s shoulders, and anchored himself with his tail.

  • Maledurk pulled the crown from Nimu’s head.

    • He made an Athletics check with advantage because of his strength.
    • At first, the crown was very difficult to move.
    • Maledurk pulled harder.
    • With an audible pop, like a cork coming out of a bottle, the crown came free.
    • Maledurk tumbled backward and was left holding the crown in his hand.

  • Maledurk immediately had to resist the crown.

    • He made a Wisdom saving throw.
    • The crown placed a thought or sensation in his mind.
    • Maledurk felt that he would look really good wearing the crown.
    • He was glad he had grabbed it.
    • While the others were focused on Nimu, they looked over and saw Maledurk place the crown on his own head.
    • After putting it on, Maledurk fell unconscious.

  • The party reacted with alarm.

    • They realized that the crown had now passed from Nimu to Maledurk.
    • Thorn observed that they had given the crown access to their physically strongest member.
    • The party feared that if Maledurk woke and ran, they might not be able to stop him.
    • They decided to restrain him while he was unconscious.
    • They used rope to tie him up securely.
    • The idea was to prevent him from fleeing or attacking if the crown possessed him as it had possessed Nimu.

  • Nimu returned to herself after the crown was removed.

    • Her demeanor changed immediately.
    • She looked around, confused.
    • She saw the party, Maledurk unconscious on the ground with the crown on his head, and Thorn tying him up.
    • Nimu asked why Maledurk had put the crown on his head.
    • She also asked why her legs were tied and what all the plants were.
    • The party quickly told her what had happened.

  • The party asked Nimu why she had put the crown on her head.

    • Nimu seemed shocked and confused by the question.
    • She said the last thing she remembered was serving them stew.
    • She did not remember placing the crown on her head, collapsing, running away, or being restrained.
    • The party explained that they believed the crown had taken control of her and that something inside it was trying to get loose.
    • Nimu seemed much less confident than before.
    • Earlier, when she discussed the crown and made stew, she had been knowledgeable, confident, and mischievous.
    • Now she appeared distant, confused, and uncertain.

  • Nimu asked whether any of the party had worn the crown before.

    • Thorn said that he had worn it.
    • The party also acknowledged that Nimu had worn it, though she did not remember doing so.
    • Nimu asked how they had gotten it off before.
    • The party recalled that Elora had cast a spell while Thorn tried to will himself free from the crown.
    • Thorn had been aware while wearing the crown and had some ability to resist it.
    • Nimu’s possession seemed more complete; she had no memory of it.

  • Nimu suggested that she might be able to brew something to release Maledurk from the crown.

    • She needed to return to her cabin to do so.
    • The party decided to take Maledurk back to the cabin.
    • Because Maledurk was unconscious and tied up, the party discussed levitating him and bringing him along.
    • They began moving back through the forest toward Nimu’s cabin, with Maledurk floating like a balloon and being pulled along.

  • While the party returned to the cabin, Elora and Thorn observed Nimu.

    • They made Insight checks.
    • Nimu continued to seem different from how she had been earlier.
    • She recognized the party, but she was much less confident, less playful, and less certain.
    • She seemed genuinely confused and distant.
    • She still went with the party and intended to help them.

  • While unconscious, Maledurk experienced a vision or dreamlike scene.

    • He found himself in what looked like a castle throne room.
    • The room was richly appointed, clean, ornate, and well decorated.
    • There was fine furniture and a large table with lots of food nearby.
    • Across the room were open glass doors leading to a balcony or patio.
    • Beyond the doors, Maledurk could hear the murmur of a large crowd, like many people gathered before a show.
    • No one else was immediately in the throne room with him.
    • Maledurk felt that the situation was right and that he deserved it.
    • He walked out through the doors onto the balcony.

  • Maledurk saw thousands of people gathered in a courtyard below.

    • When he stepped into view, the crowd began cheering.
    • The cheering eventually became a chant: “Long live King Maledurk.”
    • Maledurk felt that this was what he deserved and how things should be.
    • He did not initially know or question how he had gotten there.
    • The experience had the continuity and acceptance of a dream.

  • Maledurk chose to enjoy the adulation of the crowd.

    • He had no immediate reason to doubt what was happening.
    • He accepted that he was king and soaked up the praise.
    • He then made a Charisma saving throw.

  • Maledurk noticed his reflection.

    • He looked back toward the glass doors and saw himself reflected there.
    • He was dressed regally in robes and fine clothing.
    • A crown rested on his head.
    • Seeing the crown triggered his memory.
    • He remembered that this was the crown found on the lich Nogbruth.
    • He remembered that Thorn had put it on before.
    • He remembered chasing Nimu through the forest after she had worn it.
    • He realized that what he was experiencing was not real.
    • He considered whether it was a dream and whether the crown had somehow ended up on his head.

  • Maledurk tried to remove the crown within the vision.

    • He reached up and grabbed the crown on his head.
    • He made a Constitution saving throw.
    • Pulling on the crown caused him pain.
    • He tried hard to remove it, but the pain held him back.
    • He was not yet able to get the crown off.

  • Back in the forest, the party continued dragging or pulling the unconscious, levitating Maledurk back toward Nimu’s cabin.

    • Tempest was behind him during this.
    • Elora and Thorn heard Tempest gasp.
    • They turned and saw that unconscious Maledurk had moved.
    • His hands were now holding onto the crown on his head.
    • The session ended at that moment, with Maledurk still unconscious, restrained, levitating, and gripping the crown.