Session 87: The tangled webs we weave Report

General Summary

Standing on the ledge opposite their entrance, the illusory view of their friends' corpses barely visible at close to 800 feet distant, the group discussed briefly how to proceed. Boris led the way down the stairs, Roy followed, then Roisin, with Jeeves struggling to squeeze through the narrow tunnel at the rear. Before entering the tunnel Roy took a short break to restore his magical armor protection after the days spent in a wall earlier. When Roy completed his magic ritual, there was a surge of chaotic energy, but nothing visible happened. The tunnel meandered deeper into the rock for some hours, past a number of well hidden traps. Boris easily noticed all of the dangers, however, thanks to the assistance of the Rainbow Lash, so all were avoided without incident. During the winding travel Boris' water skin was ruined as the water within suddenly turned to mud and had to be discarded. Shortly after this, Roy noticed he had a new ring on his finger and asked for a short rest to connect with the ring and possibly determine, in part, its nature. The hour passed without incident, fortunately, and Roy discovered that this new ring was quite powerful indeed. Continuing further, they noticed Greenwood crystals emerging from the walls, indicating they were getting close to the same area as the massive cavern they had left behind. They emerged into the floor of the massive cavern.

From this perspective they could see the floor of the cavern was very different, with a modest area cleared of Greenstone in the center of the cavern several hundred feet away. The cleared area held a raised dais with a bed, comfortable couch, a few chairs, a desk, and two women looking toward the other side of the cavern. Thanks to the continuing divine magic, the group could quietly traverse the distance, provided they were careful to avoid breaking the crystals. Reaching within about 60 feet of the center, Jeeves realized the creatures had snakes instead of hair, and therefore were most assuredly no the unassuming human women they appeared to be from a distance. Thanks to Roisin's love of fairy tales, she was able to explain that these must be Medusae, and meeting their gaze, even through a mirror, would turn the viewer to stone. The only value of a mirror would be to get a Medusa to meet its own gaze, but this could be quite risky. The entire group began averting their eyes from these horrors as they crept closer, careful to avoid breaking any of the sharp-edged greenwood crystal covering every surface in the cavern. One idea was to get them looking at each other, but the assumption was that they had been here far too long to be tricked in that way. A good bit more thought and quiet discussion centered around how to trick these creatures; the group seemed to think their only means to defeat these creatures was via trickery. Eventually, the thought came up that these creatures were not immune to mundane harm, and the substantial array of weapons and minor magics available to the party would likely be more than sufficient to end the cursed existence of these two monstrosities. Thus agreed to focus on simply avoiding the deadly gaze and destroy these creatures like any other, they moved to within about 30-60 feet of the creatures, rather than the several hundred feet they held back while discussing their plans. Stepping out of the greenwood crystal forest into the clear space around the dais, most of the group arrayed around the space, as Jeeves moved off to the side to gain some cover before lining up to attack with minor magics at range. Everyone arrayed themselves for reasonable advantage, or tried to, as Boris charged forward up the dais, determined to close with these creatures rather than attack from a distance first, and awakening hidden guardians that alerted the medusae to intrusion before everyone could entirely complete preparations.

Forewarned, everyone averted their gaze as the medusae turned about and called on them to reveal themselves. The carpets animated, one moving to attack Roisin, but missed. Roy launched bolts of force at the carpet, while holding a shard of greenwood crystal, which suddenly flared into nothing, two additional blasts slammed into one medusa, causing it to scream "Enemies! Foul Creatures! Sister, kill them all!", Roy then moved back and grabbed another shard. The armor then animated, and attacked Boris. Boris tried to cast a spell to block some harm, but was unable to do so due to his inability to make sounds. The impact also stunned Boris, leaving him unable to act or think clearly. Roisin then ordered Jeeves to attack, and Jeeves conjured a tolling bell to damage the other carpet, unraveling some of its weave. The rug then moved up to Boris and rolled him up, smothering the small priest. Jeeves moved around the corner, conjured another tolling bell that caused the rug smothering Boris to dissolve into rotting goo, and prepared an alternate trick. Another rug tried to wrap up Boris, but only succeeded in slamming into the armor adjacent. The medusae then moved to fire a bow at Jeeves, but the chriurgen used an inertial barrier to protect himself. Several of the greenwood crystals surrounding Jeeves flared and energized the barrier; making it turn green, then blasted Jeeves against a nearby stalacmite pillar leaving him bruised. Roy conjured a wall of light across the dais. As the brilliant light came into existence, more magical energy surged, causing Jeeves and Boris to be healed from their injuries. The animate armor battered Boris further, although the halfling managed to break out of the stunning effect. Roisin ordered Boris to attack, and the priest conjured his whirling spiritual gavels to sear the enemies, burning one medusa and the remaining rug. Imperfect casting, however, caused a powerful surge of magic that instantly dispelled the spell and everything else of a divine nature within 500 feet. Roisin moved away from the rug, wheeling around to the other side of the dais, where she realized the statue at the bottom of the stairs appeared to be their nemesis Zcorthrin. Boris quickly downed a healing potion, but the surge of wild magic with it tore his left leg off, causing him to fall to the ground in pain, then activated his magical cape to teleport close to Jeeves. Again, wild magic surged around him, and he gained the ability to teleport three times, as an action, with his friends. As he arrived, Boris realized he hadn't actually taken any damage, thanks to earlier wild magic that caused the damage to be illusory. Jeeves charged ahead, heedless of the greenwood crystal around him shattering and tearing his legs, then again conjured a tolling bell to damage a rug, but a wild magic surge further caused him to charge forward in a desperate attempt to touch the glowing wall. The remaining rug moved to Roy and smothered him, bruising him and leaving him restrained and suffocating. The first medusa moved out of the wall of light then attacked Jeeves, striking twice, leaving him poisoned and incapacitated, then the second moved out of the wall and met Jeeves gaze, turning him instantly to stone. The medusa crowed in triumph "Yes! Another statue for our garden." The rug, blind, moved into the wall of light, and was burned to ash. Roy attempted to conjure a phased bolt that destroyed both rug and armor. More crystal flared with light and wild magic turned Roy's arms to whithered husks that crumbled away into dust. Roisin swallowed a very powerful Maverson's Mouthful, then stepped closer to the medusae and vomited forth a blast of stunning psychic dissonance. A wild surge of magic also restored Roy's arms and returned Jeeves to flesh. One of the medusae was stunned into insensibility but the other turned to meet Roisin's gaze, but she resisted the effect thanks to a divine boon. Boris charged forward, shattering many crystals but protected by his heavy armor, then tried to use magic but was engulfed in a seizure that left him unable to act further. Jeeves strode forward out of the crystals, stood above Roisin, and used his chirurgen's skill to quickly heal his wounds. The medusa moved up to Jeeves and attacked, but couldn't strike effectively. Roy moved to gain line of sight, then launched a beam of energy from the glowing wall by force of will, striking the medusa powerfully. Roisin ordered Jeeves to attack, so Jeeves kicked the medusa with his anvil foot, and Roisin moved around the wall to avoid the medusa. Boris charged forward again, then threw his hammer at the medusa. Jeeves kicked the medusa again, bruising its leg. The Medusa then caused the crystals around the cavern to explode, sending shards through the air, but everyone dodged the effect. The Medusa then tried again to attack Jeeves, but missed. Roy again launched a beam of energy from the glowing wall, and again struck the medusa. Roisin ordered Jeeves to attack again, so Jeeves attempted to shock the Medusa, but discovered that lightning was a poor choice as the energy reflected back on Jeeves. Boris threw his hammer again, but missed. Jeeves kicked twice, striking once, as the medusa yelled at him to stop kicking it. The magic in the chamber surged and Roisin felt the energy of the sun infuse her being, redirecting that to feed Roy's spell, making the wall much longer and brighter. The medusa then attacked Jeeves, but continued to miss. Roy launched another searing beam of energy at the medusa, but even as reality shimmered thanks to Roy's temporal might, the magic surged as Roy suddenly began to bleed profusely and the beam of energy failed to materialize. Roisin again ordered Jeeves to attack, and again Jeeves conjured the tolling bell, killing the medusa and causing it to dissolve into foul goo. Boris moved to the stunned medusa and slammed a hammer into its chest. Jeeves noticed the puddle of blood around Roy, studied his suffering form, blindly running his hands over his friend and immediately realizing what the problem was handed Roy some bandages to bandage his injury. The face of the medusa appeared in all directions, but everyone was able to resist the gaze. Roy again fired a beam from the wall and badly burned the medusa, then applied the bandages which stopped the bleeding. Roisin again ordered Boris to attack, and the priest struck the incapacitated medusa in the hip with his hammer. Boris then struck the same point again. Jeeves stepped up and kicked the medusa, but could not connect. The crystals again exploded around everyone, but only Jeeves was injured. A surge of wild magic also erupted, and Jeeves began bleeding massively, falling to the ground and becoming visible. Roy again launched a beam from the searing wall, and burned the medusa to ash.

Roisin rushed over to Jeeves, climbed up on his massive chest, and began to weep magical tears, which stopped the bleeding. Boris ran over to Jeeves and poured a potion to heal his wounds. Jeeves awoke with Roisin on his chest and Boris pouring a potion down his throat. Boris then rushed into the greenwood crystal and grabbed a huge crystal then used magic to cure wounds for everyone. Boris spent the next minute chewing on a shard of greenwood crystal, the invisibility and inaudibility ended for everyone, Boris found himself naked standing on a pile of his equipment, and his head spun a full revolution, nearly ripping his head off. Boris felt that was too much fun, and magically removed curses, which cured his addiction to chaotic magic, but also removed his mouth. Boris shoved a golian heart moss up his nose, which was sufficient to restore his mouth. A few minutes later, minus some teeth, Boris re-donned his equipment before carefully picking his way out of the greenwood crystal. Jeeves used the remainder of his healing capability to patch up Boris and himself, somewhat. As the group took some time to rest and bind their wounds, magic swirled a few times. As a result of the chaotic and broken weave, uncontrolled magic surged about several times; Jeeves' anvil foot suddenly returned to normal, every goblin and tree within 20 miles suddenly died and turned to dust, and Boris gained a minor curse to sink in water as well as a few other effects relevant to striking and destroying constructs. Silence filled the vast chamber, and the party began to consider what they might need to do next in this chaotic realm where they sought a casting form and enough Greenwood Crystal to accomplish their epic quest.