Session Twenty One: Lost in Translation

General Summary

Morning Messages   The group wakes up and congregates on the shore. Malak receives a message from Cissa where she informs him that she’s in contact with Conrad and will keep him updated with what’s going on. She also explains that Conrad told her that Jurian is aware about what happened. She can’t reach Jurian though. Malak explained that they have arrived. The ship is lodged in some rocks but they don’t need help. They’ll keep in touch   Mia then receives a message from Cissa, thankins her for her concern the evening before. And not to worry about her safety. The Birds won’t come after her. Mia thanks her for the update and says that all is well on her side too.   Vence then gets a message where Cissa explains that she’s in very good hands. And so is he. He replies that he thinks Griff seems very capable. But that Malak doesn’t seem OK. (Malak nods in response to this).     Discussions on the Beach   After the messages, Nesza approaches Griff and apologises for his odd behaviour in the tavern. Especially towards Uncle Teddy. He was trying to be subtle. Griff explains that he doesn’t require an apology but Uncle Teddy might. He then goes to explain the power chain between House Vadalis and the Wardens of the Woods. That the Wardens basically have free land to live on because House Vadalis, who laid claim to the Eldeen Reaches during the war, allow it. Showing disrespect to an elder from the House can cause the Wardens to “owe” House Vadalis a favour. Which is obviously not what the Wardens would want.   April appears from the bowels of the ship, donning a new breastplate. As she chats with the group, Griff asks her about her accent as it sounds familiar. She says that she’s from Windshire and Griff happily exclaims that he’s a farm boy from Passage. And that most of his family still lives there. The two have a quick “farmers” banter, with April exclaiming her love for those massive horses. Griff invites the group over for a barbecue if ever they end up in Passage again.   Griff asks Mia (who is obviously “captain”) how the group approaches combat and what does she need him for (up close, ranged, support, healing). Mia explains that “as captain” she always allows her crew to speak freely in an open forum and contribute with a strategy and plan.   When Mia asks if anyone wants to say anything, April bursts into tears and says that she misses her mother. Mia rushes over to hug her and calms her down.   Eventually, everyone explains what they are capable of (realising they have never done so before). Griff decides to fight up front with Silmer (whom he assumes to be second in command). He casts “water breathing” on the group while April offers to take some items in her Bag of Holding to keep everything waterproof.     Malak Dives in   As he feels that time is of the essence and not to be wasted on idle chat, Malak decides to not wait any longer and dives in the lake. Griff follows and the rest slowly join after putting items in the bag of holding.   Griff and Malak get through the waterfall without a problem. Nesza gets hit against some rocks and a log falls on April and Vence’s heads. Mia and Silmer swim through “Lyrander” style by bending the water.   The group find themselves in a dark hallway. It’s 80ft up and the water below them is so deep that they can’t see the bottom.   At the end of this hallway they see another waterfall. Its stream is lighter and almost curtain-like. From the way that the waterfall is falling, it’s clear that the group is behind the waterfall, not in front. Malak casts light on his staff to ensure that everyone has at least some visibility.   The group swim through the second waterfall.     The Crying Statue   They enter a dark, circular cavern. Waterfalls cover all walls and they are not able to see through them. It is LOUD. In the center, rising from the depths is a humongous statue of a maiden, carved out of some sort of translucent quartz. Waist up, she towers 60ft above water. Waste down, she is submerged, her feet not visible. There is water flowing down both of her cheeks. There seems to be something red on her eyes but the group can’t quite make it out.   Her 15ft left hand is held out, palm up slightly above the water level. Nesza, notices that there is something in the hand. Her right hand is holding onto a hilt of a downward facing sword, a large bright blue crystal is wedged into the hilt’s end. Malak notices that, on the blade, inscribed in Celstial, is the word “Kloinjer”.   As they approach, the crystal starts emitting a dim blue light. Something starts to stir in the open palm of her hand. Water moves up into the hand, and forms a being that is wearing a suit of plate armor that was in the palm. Malak recognises the armor as being old Thranian Paladin armor. It looks aggressive. In Celestial, the being says “Speak her name and no harm will come to you”.   Malak stares at it in disbelief, muttering: “It can’t be this easy”. He then looks at the statue, back at the being and says “Tira Miron”. The being gestures for the group to go through.   As the group swim past the statue, Mia pats it and says “Whatever he did to you, he’s not worth it”.     Miron’s Tears   The group scouts around the circular pool and discover two areas. Both lead to dry “land”. One leads to an area that glows in a dim light and the other is in darkness. The group opt to go through the dark hallway.   The floor to ceiling is covered in the same translucent quartz that the statue was made out of. The floor is reasonably smooth but the walls and ceiling are jagged.   Malak dims his light and Nesza scouts ahead to check if there is any danger. When the coast is clear, he lights up his bow and Malak lights up his staff once more.   The group enters a new area. It seems almost white. There are clusters of translucent quartz, seemingly attached to vines dangling from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. It almost looks like curtains. The crystals are clinking slightly like windchimes whenever there is a slight movement of air.   A natural path is formed where these crystal curtains part. Through the crystals, the group can just about make out a dim, dark blue light towards the centre of the room.   As the group progress deeper into the room, the “curtains” start to move in a wave motion past them. The crystals clink loudly, almost melodically, as if a child was let loose on a glockenspiel.   As the wave passes through the group, everyone hears a voice. Silmer is in pain because it sounds like the voice is screaming in his head. Mia simply hears a gentle male voice who is speaking in a language she doesn’t understand. Nesza and Malak hear a firm but gentle male voice speak in Celestial. The rest feel like the voice wanted to attack them but they were able suppress the feeling, hearing the gentle voice instead.   The voice demands to know who they are and why they are there.   Malak speaks to the voice while Nesza translates for the group. Malak briefly explains their mission to retrieve the Opalescent Shard to bind the Comedor Infantil.   The voice is skeptical as the “Eyes” have said something similar. Malak then asks what he needs to do to prove their worth. He then feels the curtains rustle around just him as the voice regards him. “You are of the Flame” The curtains then rustle around Nesza “You… I am not sure about you…”   The curtains rustle around Mia and the voice, impressed, says: “You have been selected by Miron’s Tears.” (Malak tries to explain to Mia that the tears of Tira Miron… selected her?). The curtains then rustle around Vence and the voice, confused, says: “You turned Miron’s Tears down.” (Malak does not share this information with Vence)   Griff gets impatient with all the talking and tries to peek around the corner towards where the purple light is coming from. The voice, with Malak translating, tells him to wait. The voice allows the group to the centre of the room.     Darnell Bersk   In the room there is a purple crystal protruding from the ground. It lights up brighter as the group approaches and a spectral image of a man is created above it.   The man, the voice who was speaking to the group, introduces himself as Darnell Bersk. He’s wearing similar Thranian Paladin armour as the being at the entrance. He has dark skin and long braids that spill over his shoulders. He explains that he’s been protecting this cavern for centuries.   The “Eyes” have managed to take over most of it. But have not been able to access the Opalescent Shard because they could not get past him to collect his purple crystal.   Darnell explains to the group that scattered throughout the cavern are seven crystals. Each crystal holds a different power. Centuries ago, Darnell had given his life to bind himself to the purple crystal. He tells the group that they may make use of his crystal on the condition that they put it back after they have gotten what they needed.   Malak promises Darnell that they’ll do so and asks if the blue crystal on the statue’s hilt is one of these. Darnell says “yes”. Malak is happy because at least one will be “easy”. Darnell smirks and explains that the entity allowed them “passage”. Not the use of the crystal.   Nesza then asks Darnell if there is something that the group could do in aiding him to guard the crystals in the future. Darnell sounds appreciative but suggests to come back on this when they put his crystal back.   They take the purple crystal out and Darnell disappears. They put the crystal in April’s bag. Based on Darnell’s insinuation that the entity at the entrance will not be too pleased with them removing the blue crystal, Nesza suggests they first collects all other crystals and then show them to the entity. To prove they mean no harm.   On their way out of the cavern with the curtains of crystals, Vence remembers something he read in the library. The teardrop symbolism was in one of the books as well as some text that he was unable to read. He gives the text to Malak and, in Celestial, it says: “Speak her name and no harm will come to you.”   Malak: “Thanks Vence. This would’ve been useful THIRTY MINUTES AGO.”   Malak and Griff (who had been trying to peer into the rest of tecave during the conversation) head off quickly, leaving the rest of the party behind.     The Hound   At the other side of the cavern, they find an exit that is dimly illuminated by a yellow light. The group are talking loudly as they proceed and, as they walk into a hallway of translucent quartz and eyes graffitied everywhere in red, they hear animalistic “bark”. Griff, excitedly, casts Speak with Animals and barks back. No reply. Nesza tries to detect a beast. He’s unable to. Griff tries to detect a monstrosity. He’s unable to.   They then hear something heavy bounding in their direction. And then… nothing. Griff, seeing a door on the opposite side of the hallway, decides to listen in there (the bounding was not coming from the direction of the door). As he has his back turned to listen, the others see a big creature levitating above them.   It has a body of a huge hound, bat-like ears, red eyes and the face of an old man. Around its neck is a golden key. It starts to attack the group. Both Nesza and April try to reach out to it, as if it was an actual dog (April giving it an illusionary “bone” and Nesza trying to talk with it). When Vence casts Viscous Mockery on it, it shakes it off and instead taunts him in Elvish.   The group manage to vanquish the creature, and as it disappears in a puff of smoke, it tells them that “they know you’re here”. [Literally: “They know everything”].   Griff turns around, after not hearing anything behind the door (probably because the group were being noisy). He exclaims that the door is locked. He looks confused as to why the group is so out of breath. Silmer picks the key up and tosses it to Griff. How convenient.     The Black Room   Griff unlocks the door and gives the key back to Silmer. He, Silmer and Malak walk into the dark room while the rest remain in the hallway on watch.   As the three walk in, the door slams shut behind them. The room is made out of jet-black quartz. And 80ft up, a red crystal is dimly glowing from the ceiling, almost pulsing. There are some manacles bolted against the wall and old humanoid remains on the ground.   Griff tries to cast guidance on himself… but can’t. Malak tries to fly up… but can’t. So the three of them come up with a plan. Griff will transform into a Giant Elk and propel Silmer upwards. Silmer will use his monk skills to jump upwards and use his water whip to dislodge the crystal. It nearly didn’t work.   Once the crystal was dislodged, the door unlocked and the crystals in the room became clear (like the ones in the other rooms).   They leave the room and hand April the crystal to be put in her bag of holding.     Into the Light   Malak and April take a moment to do some ritual casting. Malak “detect magic” and April “alarm”. In the meantime, Mia makes an effort to dry everyone off with Prestidigitation. She then starts cleaning up the eyes graffitied everywhere. Once done, Malak checks if the red graffitied eyes are glowing. They are not.   The group decide to go towards the source of the light further down the hallway. But as Griff and Malak explain what was in the Black Room, April is reminded that it sounds very similar to where her mother and Jenny were being kept. So instead of following the group, she and Nesza head back to the room.   Nesza finds some pieces of garments. One that seems to have the colours of the Wardens and the other a Thranian Soldier’s purple cloak. He and April conclude that the remains are not of Jenny or Valarie. Jenny, although a Warden, wore sailor attire. And Valarie was certainly not a Thranian Soldier. Also, the remains are old.   Meanwhile, the rest of the group head towards a well-lit area. Still covered in crystal. However, there is a Yellow crystal lodged into the wall, creating a bright light akin to an Everbright lantern. On the floor is a familiar-looking teleportation circle.   Vence takes out his note book and compares the two. Mia reads the code “Sickle”. It seems to be identical. Griff makes a scratch in the circle to break it, rendering it useless. Malak attempts to remove the crystal. Griff notices him struggling and assists him. They dislodge the yellow crystal….   … and the crystal walls begin to move.