AD&D Session 89 - The Weight of a Mace
25th of Duscar, 835 PD
The morning in Blooming Grove began with Marcus still unable to identify or dispel the unknown spell lingering on him. Hoping for insight, he cautiously accepted some of Constance’s unusual tea, grown from one of his own hairs. The drink stirred fragments of very old memories, reaching so far back that some were little more than impressions, but it offered no new understanding of the spell itself or of whoever had placed it on him.
Later that day, the party met with their expected Cobalt Soul contact and shared what they had uncovered in Molaesmyr, including the dangers found beneath Caes Mosor. The discussion inevitably turned to Bane’s Mace, and the meeting exposed just how serious the situation had become. Enikas, already attuned to the weapon, flatly refused to surrender it. Though he still appeared outwardly functional, his insistence on keeping the relic—and his attempts to justify its value—made it clear to Marcus that the mace was already exerting its influence. What should have been a containment problem had now become a crisis within the party itself.
As the argument deepened, Enikas’s behaviour seemed increasingly grandiose and self-justifying, making compromise impossible. The others were uneasy, but none forced the issue, leaving Marcus convinced that the group had not only failed to contain a catastrophic artefact, but might already have enabled a disaster in the making. Unable to endure the conversation any longer, he stepped outside to compose himself. Bibi later joined him and tried to frame Enikas’s behaviour more gently, suggesting that, in some important way, he was still childlike. Marcus found little comfort in that view. To him, Enikas already resembled an addict rationalising his dependence, and Bibi’s compassion only underscored how badly the group was underestimating the danger they had carried out of Molaesmyr.