Session 85: Legends of a Fall Report
General Summary
Arriving at the edge of a valley surrounding the massive lithic structure known as The Pits of Borelius, the party has determined that magic in the region is extremely chaotic. Their arrival was made possible thanks to an inspired plea to The Source for intervention that protected them from the Lords of the Air who claim the air above the Korth Wall as an exclusive demesne. Examining the area, as best one can examine a ten mile wide mountain cluster in a short time, they are beginning to realize that this chaotic magic has also attracted horrors from beyond known reality. Backing away a bit, the party endured a long and confusing debate over what to do next. They asked for divine wisdom to tell them directly where they could find the long-sought Casting Form, but learned only that the Pits of Borelius could not be observed or explored from the outside. Eventually, after a lot of fumbling with the difficult communication through magical earrings, they decide to call upon the collective consciousness to learn the legendary lore of this powerful object.
The spell, cast, produced the following information.
Legendary form, cast in the flames of the fountain, carried by the greatest of musicians, a tone so pure corruption flees from the sound. Perfection for the ears. Carried in battle, used to end the horror, for a time. Lost, death, destruction, horror, lost, lost, lost. Resting now, among the greenwoods, in the center of a place of nightmare, beneath Corruption's Defiance. Enter through the top, or all is lost. Left, always left, until the end. Step forth without fear, and fall.
After evaluating this information, the group finally decided to walk straight in, and seek the center of this vast region. Quickly encountering massive cliffs, they spent an hour looking for a better path up, but did not find anything. Deciding to get a rope from Roisin's magic "purse", then have Jeeves walk it up the cliff using his magic slippers, they sought a good point to climb with an anchor point above, and quickly found a good location. Roisin opened the purse, and they pulled out the rope. Jeeves spent a few minutes climbing the cliff and anchored the rope at the top when he then asked about heading back down to help the others, but they dissuaded him from doing this as he could not see anyone to help if he did. Boris risked magic to increase his speed, then began climbing. Roisin followed, struggling with the climb, but thankful for the rope. Roy did likewise, but struggled even more. Boris, showing off a bit, chose to climb handover while Roisin and Roy found their rhythm. Boris continued to move quickly as Roy used a divine boon to help Roisin. Boris, at about half way up, stepped aside to let the others follow. Roisin managed to finish the climb without further incident. Roy, nearing the top, lost his focus and grasped air instead of rock and fell, but Boris, following closely, caught the wizard in a mailed fist, warned him to pay attention, and returned him to the rope. With everyone at the top, they reeled in the rope, and Jeeves decided to carry it in his dimensional pocket. Jeeves, skilled in wilderness travel, led the group toward where they believed the center of this region to be. Along the way, a murder of skeletal crows suddenly flew in and began harassing Roisin. Boris tried to protect Roisin, but the crows tried to pull it from his grasp and nearly succeeded. Boris also tried to strike one, but his warhammer passed through it as though it were not there. They decided this was bothersome, but not worth the risk to remove them. An hour later, a smell like rose petals drove off the crows and Roisin began to, apparently, permanently smell like roses Boris also regained normal vision. About ten minutes later, the ground at Roisin's feet became a cobbled road with stairs up every rise; returning to normal about thirty feet behind her. By taking lead while the effect lasted, Roisin made the group's progress much faster for about two hours, before the effect ended suddenly, dropping Roisin about twenty feet. Reaching 4 miles into this area, they now could see a strange grouping of mountains in the center. One of the mountains in this group had the appearance of a fist, with a single finger extended toward the sky. Looking to the time, the group decided it would be wiser to spend the night before attempting to climb the spire. Finding a suitable cave, they changed their minds at the last moment and Roy summoned a hidden lodge. Unfortunately the broken weave caused a twisting of the magic such that as the lodge appeared, Roy's torzo unzipped, as though with a zipper and dumped his organs on the ground, killing him instantly. Boris immediately revived him after stuffing his organs back in and pressing the flesh back over them, then Jeeves bound the wounds and rebalanced his humours to repair the damage. Everyone piled into the hidden shelter and, after a simple meal, settled in for the night.
In the morning Roisin asked to borrow Boris hammer a moment, and, after Boris offered it to her trustingly, struck herself a glancing blow to the head, leaving her unconscious and near death. Jeeves quickly revived her, however, and they sat down for breakfast. At the end of their meal, Roy used magic to suppress the need for food, drink, or sleep from everyone in the group, but the strange chaos of the region caused everyone to vomit forth hundreds of pounds of fresh carrots, as well as a book describing the exact detailed mechanism of self-dissection. Roy also conjured his accustomed magical defenses, but there was no further effect. As they stepped out of their shelter, they found the morning bright, clear, and cloudless. Boris was first out the door, and promptly sank into mud over his head. Jeeves lifted Boris out and spent a minute magically removing all the mud. Looking out, they now saw that what had been solid stone the night before was now just a field of soft wet mud. Jeeves was persuaded to carry Boris and Roisin, as the mud was more manageable for him although the deepest part was a full eight feet deep, and dragged Roy behind. Reaching the far end, Roy magically cleaned the mud off himself as Jeeves did the same. Nearby, Roisin noticed a flawless star sapphire just sitting on the ground and walked over to pick it up and gave it to Roy to hold for her. A couple hours further brought them all to the base of a massive column of rock stretching a few thousand feet above. During that time Jeeves left foot transformed into an anvil, slightly slowing him, but also enabling him to kick with devastating force. At the base of the spire, Roy also stumbled across his own severed head. After checking his own head, Roy walked away, but the head lifted and followed. Feeling uncomfortable, Roy used magic to banish the head, which said "Why you gotta be that way?" as it disappeared. A moment later bricks fell from the sky and entombed Roy as a massive wine cask rose from the ground. Roy asked for help, and Jeeves used his anvil foot to kick open the wall so Roy could climb out. The noise attracted unexpected attention as an Octolibrarch floated up and noted it could not hear or see them, the same horror that they had sent home before. Unfortunately, the horror was no longer insane, so it attempted to kill them all. Roy launched blasts of eldritch energy, but missed twice. Roisin ordered Roy to attack, and while Roy hit once, it seemed to have no effect at all. Jeeves kicked the creature twice, striking feebly once and then missing so badly he fell on his back. Boris wrathed the area in silence, then ran up to the creature. The creature tried to hit Boris, but could not hit, and then was wrathed in a cloud of darkness that also engulfed Jeeves and Boris. Roisin ordered Roy to attack, but he explained he couldn't see, then Roisin moved around the corner of the bricks to see beter. Jeeves kicked the creature twice, and Boris swung his hammer, shattering the creature's beak before eating an herb to increase his weapon impacts. The creature bit and slammed Jeeves, nearly tearing him apart. The darkness dissipated as the creature moved away from both Boris and Jeeves. Roy quickly conjured Nathur's hail of pins and pain, the chaos of the weave causing Roy to be unable to communicate with fiends and also become immune to lycanthropy. The creature was knocked down and held fast by strands of magical force. Roy then conjured a tolling bell to drain the life from the creature. The Octolibrarch said "Why, Why are you so harsh to me? I just wanted to eat!" as the bell tolled and his flesh deliquesced into a foul smelling goo.
Taking stock, Jeeves patched up his wounds and then everyone moved away to be further from this structure and took a short break to recover. As they watched from a distance, a few creatures of horror came to investigate this thing, and eventually the structure was consumed, along with a ball of tentacles with nothing else to it, by what appeared to be a massive maw with nothing but a dark cloud behind it.
The group looked around the base of the spire and found no cave or other break in the stone, which was unusually smooth. Deciding to risk magic, Roy summoned a magical blazing chariot to carry everyone up to the top. As the chariot burst into existence Boris suddenly felt an impossible weight drag him to the ground and was forced to desperately remove his crossbow which had turned into solid gold. Roy used a magical oil, which transformed the crossbow into a leather patch, but also caused Boris to knock himself unconscious via repeatedly punching himself in the forehead. Roy gathered his friend onto the chariot, and they all flew up to the top of the spire. As they reached the top of the spire, they found a large pit opening in the center, with two stairways; one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, both leading down into darkness. They also noticed that the chaotic magic field seemed to be somehow suppressed in this roughly 1200 foot diameter space atop the spire. Roy conjured a hidden lodge for the group to rest in relative safety and free from the chaotic magic until the following morning. In the morning Roy and Boris took additional steps to prepare for the day before everyone woke and prepared their breakfast.
