Session 21: "Strange" is not a sufficient adjective to describe the experience. Report

General Summary

Boris was ill with some sort of magical plague transforming him into a blood-colored ooze; as were Roy and Quirico . Boris needed to rest, but resting is what makes the disease progress and he might not survive long enough to pray for a cure. Roy had an idea, but it was a long shot. As the party considered options, Roy asked Boris if he was willing to take an extreme risk. It might work, or it might send Boris to hades, it might sink the continent. Boris and the others agreed to go forward. Jeeves was going to head back into the entrance tunnel, but Roy noted that something had collapsed that tunnel during their short rest; Jeeves speculated it might have been the large transparent cube creature, and Roy agreed it probably consumed the supports. Roy read a slow drying ink script, then cast Catnap on Boris , himself, and Roisin Marshfield. All three fell asleep, as wild magic surges erupted all around them. Jeeves discovered he hadn't slept in five days, and was slightly more exhausted than before. Cigfran suddenly became horrifyingly aware that he must behead himself or die, so he grabbed Quirico 's longsword and quickly slashed through his own neck; neatly severing all but the spine. Cigfran fell to the ground; blood fountaining from the severed carotid arteries as life ceased. Thanks to Roisin Marshfield's generosity, Cigfran 's spirit reacted with a powerful mystic boon to allow him to revive instantly with half his normal strength. At the same time, Quirico , reaching for his sword, was suddenly engulfed in termites and screamed like a small child as the mass of creeping insects dispersed into the mine. A massive ball of fire erupted around the group, leaving both Cigfran and Roy on death's door. Jeeves quickly stabilized both, though Roy continued to sleep magically. Quirico patched up people as best he could, and a few minutes later Boris , Roisin Marshfield, and Roy awoke fully rested. Boris was further weakened by the progress of the disease, but was otherwise recovered, though still ill. Roy also awoke weakened and still ill, but otherwise recovered. Roisin Marshfield awoke fully recovered and well rested. Jeeves was youthened; returning to the age he had been before encountering the ghost. Roy staggered forward and vomited forth a full sized coffin; continuing the tradition of vomiting forth impossible items when affected by wild magic. Boris used divine magic to end the disease on himself, though he remained clumsy until his body could fully heal. Roisin Marshfield suddenly took her dagger and began the ugly process of disemboweling herself; fighting off Jeeves best efforts to stop her, until Boris was able to wrench the dagger from her hand and end the odd magical compulsion. The group chose to take another short breather to rest up and heal what they could. During this Roisin Marshfield again used a mystical boon to help Jeeves this time; removing his exhaustion as the power of the frozen north invigorated his tired body. Boris also used his divine magic to remove the disease from Roy and Quirico , though Quirico was still so clumsy as to be nearly incapacitated. As their rest completed they saw the massive transparent cube creature again, this time traveling along another corridor nearby consuming the rail ties as it went, now with a slight orange tinge. They considered the collapsed tunnel behind them, and discussed somewhat their purpose in the mine.

Jeeves decided to examine the coffin that Roy disgorged earlier, and found that within was another Roy , older, and much much paler. This other Roy sat up, looked at Jeeves , and said "It's been too long since I ate". This alternate Roy grabbed Jeeves , and tried to bite his throat, but failed to connect with the bite. Jeeves tried to exhaust the creature, but it had no effect on this unnatural thing. This unliving Roy then bit Jeeves , draining the life-force out of him. Roy threw an orb of magical acid at this other self, splashing it and dissolving a portion of it's pale flesh. Cigfran lost track of events, and was unable to act. The unliving Roy dragged Jeeves a bit further into the mine, tried to bite him again, then also tried to master his mind; but failed at both attempts. Roisin Marshfield ordered Boris to attack, and Boris sent sacred flame to burn the unliving abomination, but it dodged the magic. Boris then rushed forward and conjured spirit guardians to assault this thing with holy radiance. Then the creature bit Jeeves again, draining even more life force from him. Quirico rushed forward, and bashed at this false Roy , striking it with a morningstar, but dealing less harm than expected; the creature being difficult to harm with normal weapons. Roy accelerated Boris , Roisin Marshfield, and Quirico . Cigfran moved forward, but could not see the creature well enough to risk a shot. The creature again dragged Jeeves further away, then failed, again, to bite Jeeves , but also punched him viciously. Roisin Marshfield ordered Jeeves to attack, and Jeeves fired a bolt of radiance at the creature's face. Cigfran also attacked, striking for modest damage. Roisin Marshfield then ran ahead, thanks to Roy 's magic, and positioned herself further down the corridors to catch the thing if it continued to run. Boris also ran ahead and around the stone columns to come up behind the creature, blocking its escape; conjured light to see; and conjured a spiritual weapon to hammer the monster. Quirico summoned his echo, unleashed his incarnation, and struck at the creature repeatedly, surging with greater effort to attack even more, but missed most of those strikes. Jeeves healed himself, as best he could. Roy threw another orb of magical acid, and again dissolved a portion of the creature's foul flesh. Cigfran fired another crossbow bolt, harming the creature a bit more. This unliving Roy creature, becoming angry and even a bit concerned, called upon creatures of the night to assist it. Roisin Marshfield then ordered Jeeves to attack again, which Jeeves did, firing another pulse of radiant energy into the creature's face. Cigfran also reacted by firing another crossbow bolt, which missed, and Roisin Marshfield moved again behind cover. Boris stepped forward and launched a powerful guiding bolt that burned strongly with holy radiance, then bashed the creature just as powerfully with his spiritual weapon. The unliving Roy tried to run again, but Quirico 's sentinel skills prevented further movement, and Quirico slammed the horror with his morning star, forcing it to transform to mist and flee. The creatures of the night, swarms of bats, also arrived and began biting the party members, but missed most attempts. Quirico bashed at the bats around him, and Boris ' spirit guardians burned the swarms around him and Quirico . Jeeves fired another bolt of radiance at the mist, burning away some. Roy fired another orb of acid, further dissipating the mist. Cigfran backed up and fired at the bats that were attacking him. The monster skittered away, quickly disappearing into the darkness around a corner. Roisin Marshfield disengaged from the bats and rushed away, learning in the process that swarms have more control of their space than single creatures. Boris looked around the corner, and could not see the monster, then turned back and bashed the bats with the Rod of Justice and his spiritual weapon. Boris also moved forward, closer to other swarms. Quirico swung at the bats around him; destroying the few that remained; he then unleashed his incarnation to destroy the last few bats from the swarm harrying Boris , and moved further into the tunnels to see where the undead Roy went, but could not see it. Jeeves also moved to look for the mist that had fled; not seeing it immediately, he swung at the swarm that had been harrying Roisin Marshfield instead. Roy turned and launched a destructive cone of resonance at the two swarms near him, blasting both with powerful waves of psychic dissonance, though one managed to resist somewhat. Cigfran fired a crossbow at those bats, and would have missed except the harmful sound had disrupted the bats' echolocation and they could not "see" the bolt coming. Cigfran then flipped open the coffin and found the unliving Roy laying immobilized in the coffin. Roisin Marshfield ordered Jeeves to attack the bats, and Jeeves used a Word of Radiance, but the bats managed to resist the effect. Roisin Marshfield then rushed forward, saw Cigfran , and approached somewhat near. Boris also stepped forward and bashed the bat swarm in front of Roy then Boris brought his spiritual weapon forward and bashed the swarm sufficiently to destroy what remained. Boris stepped up to the coffin, and saw the monster lying there. Quirico stepped forward to defend Roisin Marshfield, but did little else. Jeeves again used a word of radiance, but the creatures again resisted the effect. Roy tried to jam a crossbow bolt (as a stake) into the creature's heart, but was unable to force it through. Cigfran then placed his own bolt in position and hammered it home, paralyzing the creature. The creature was beaten down by the spirit guardians which began to destroy it. Roisin Marshfield moved closer to Jeeves and ordered him to attack, which he did by tolling the dead; destroying the swarm. With no other threats, and the monster paralyzed, Boris and Jeeves quickly spent the next few minutes burning the horror to dust with holy radiant fire.

Jeeves examined the coffin and found a note which he read aloud, "As I write this, I am about to lie down in my coffin. We have failed. The Rose died, and Alathius ascended the Iron Throne. I serve death now, and soon I will have no will even to write what little thought remains to me. I should have listened to Carina; we might have had a chance. Liathiar, I am sorry for my failure, I hope only that I am destroyed quickly by what few living forces remain.". Roy also looked over the note, examined it for a bit before tossing it back into the Coffin. Boris asked if it was Roy 's hand, and Roy confirmed it was. Jeeves asked who the names were, and Roy explained Carina, then asked Boris to explain Liathiar; but Boris had never heard of the name. Some argument over the proper honor for a Celestial Servant, versus veneration due The Source, and the machinations of The Corruption. Boris noted that there are seven known greater servants of The Source, Anathenus, Porthevius, Conphilos, Proterus, Anamiseo, Anaphobus, Ilitheophilos, but the name Liathiar was not known to the priesthood in Linibi. Boris was concerned that The Corruption may appear as a celestial servant, but deceive, Roy became predictably indignant at this and the conversation devolved and sputtered out. Just as the conversation was fading, Cigfran noticed a tentacle reaching around the corner down the tunnels, and fired his crossbow at it, but some magical force deflected the bolt. The creature then telepathically communicated with Cigfran "Why did you shoot at me? I have presented no threat to you. How terribly rude!". Cigfran responded aloud "Apologies, but everything down here has been bloodthirsty and trying to kill everyone.". The creature moved somewhat forward; revealing a massive octopus-like creature floating in the air. Everyone heard, telepathically, "Oh, I quite understand, but, seriously, you, you couldn't even see most of me. Why did you shoot at me? That was quite rude." The conversation continued, somewhat in this vein. The creature, an Octolibrarch, addressed Roisin Marshfield as "Princess" and asked what she was doing in such a terrible place. Roisin Marshfield said the group is investigating, though without specifying what, and the creature asked what was being investigated, but also noted that the party had "taken care of the Blood Puddings", and would they please eradicate the "Cubic Jelly" as well, as it was destructive and causing unnecessary difficulties. The party asked a bit about how, and the creature indicated it should be quite simple to eradicate by simply killing it. Roisin Marshfield asked what the creature called itself, and it said "Octolibrarch", which it dislikes, but it's proper name was some kind of language the party did not understand. It also explained it had been trapped in these tunnels for a long time, and sought knowledge from the outside world. It mentioned some "void cultists" who arrived relatively recently and had burned the library. It also mentioned being in the tunnels for something like 26,000 years. The creature mentioned that Roy 's mind was much clearer than a void cultist, and Roy chose to resist having his mind read. They continued to chat about things, and the creature emphasized politeness and decorum. IT asked a bit about the Iron Throne, and asked how it might help, as well as what they wanted to do. The creature also, seeming quite surprised, noted that each of them had a "hole in their mind". When jeeves asked if it could help, it mentioned it could, quite easily, help, but there should be a trade. After some back-and-forth Roisin Marshfield offered a story book, to entertain the creature. The creature agreed to a minor trade for the story book. It offered restoration of one memory, or a scroll; which it claimed contained "a spell to transform a thing into a smaller version for a time, and a spell to communicate at long distance, spells called 'Item' and 'Communique'". It also offered to enhance the communication stone Cigfran carried to give it more words. Cigfran was confused, and the creature said it "communicates with his son", and answered Jeeves that "of course he does" when Jeeves asked if this was such a thing. The creature also offered a different scroll if they would eliminate the "cubic jelly". The scroll contained a spell to provide private vision, but Roy mentioned that they already had such magic. It also, in response to Roisin Marshfield, offered knowledge of the place, and also realized quickly that they had a Void Crystal. Roy was concerned about this being spoken aloud and the creature responded "I haven't spoken a word, all of this is in your mind" and Roy conceded that it was all quite confusing. A bit more negotiation resulted in the creature agreeing to detail a least-dangerous route to where the Void cultists spend their time, and also restore Roisin Marshfield's memory "hole", in return for the party agreeing to remove the "Cubic Jelly" and also trading a story book Roisin Marshfield carried. Cigfran asked about the "Pits of Borelius", although he misstated it quite badly, and Roisin Marshfield clarified. The creature claimed no knowledge, and noted that anything less than about 20,000 years old it would not know about, as it had been sealed within these tunnels for that long.

The deal concluded, the creature reached out for the offered book, and stored that away. The creature then wrapped a tentacle around Roisin Marshfield's head, and brought her close as the tentacle burrowed through the ear into the brain. Roisin Marshfield just barely managed to control her revulsion as the tentacle burrowed into her brain. Roisin Marshfield's mind autonomically opposed the changes, and powerfully rejected the being's efforts, but the being continued the effort, putting forth more energy, and accepting the necessity to tear through the layers of defenses opposing this work. Roisin Marshfield was rendered unconscious by the process, but the creature finally broke through the layers of resistance. Another tentacle wrapped around and burrowed into the other ear, as more tentacles wrapped around her still, unconscious, form. About a half hour after the process began, the creature laid her still form on the ground where her unsteady breathing persuaded Jeeves to immediate offer healing to rebalance her humours. The creature announced that it had delivered part of the bargain, and after the "jelly" was dealt with the party should come to its rest cavern in another part of the complex. The creature then departed. Roisin Marshfield came to consciousness with full recollection of every detail of the events and life previously hidden from her, eyes wide and haunted.

Rewards Granted

• Memory Restoration (Roisin)
• Information about this underground complex
• Dust of a destroyed vampire

Character(s) interacted with

Players met the Octolibrarch who resides in this complex, and have struck a preliminary deal for assistance and information.

Notes

Roisin gave up her childhood story book, much of the source of her desire for adventure.