Session 40: Good land in the Badlands Report
General Summary
The party was standing before the celestial rainbow serpent, a new halfling body freshly vomited forth on the ground. The serpent turned to Roy , and asked if he was ready. Roy nodded, and the snake flashed forward, bit Roy 's head clean off, and swallowed it as the corpse fell to the ground.
Boris was dead. He had fought unliving horrors, and fallen. His soul trapped on the material plane, so filled with hatred and evil that it lashed out at any living thing, even his friends. Their destruction of the thing he had become was a relief. Boris awoke in a white marble room, on a marble slab, a place he was beginning to recognize. He noticed his sister standing nearby, and as he moved to stand, he looked down and discovered he had no legs here in this afterlife, this purgatory of sorts. His sister's face was covered in a black veil, and she too noticed the lack of legs. She left to bring the "queen". A few minutes later the Pale Queen entered the room, and asked Boris what he had been doing. Boris explained a bit of his recent past, and the Pale Queen noted that something like the missing legs usually came from within and asked if he had done anything he wished he hadn't. Boris admitted to remembering, now, that he had murdered his own sister. The queen asked him to detail the events, and he did, his sister pulling back more and more as the tale went on. The Pale Queen mentioned that this might be the source of this strange condition, and pondered what was to be done. Noting that he could not be left with "that" simply tore out his heart, leaving a massive open hole in his chest, and walked away. Boris, emotionless and calculating the "proper" actions, apologized to his sister for the events of the past, and asked her forgiveness. The sister agreed to try, and asked about her daughter, how Roisin Marshfield was. Boris explained that he was not certain, that Roisin Marshfield was fighting the same unliving horror that had laid him low when he died. The Pale Queen returned, jammed her fist into the massive hole where his heart used to be, then pulled free as he screamed in pain, leaving his chest healed. Boris, not merely in physical pain, now began to experience the guilt, sorrow, and emotional pain. The Pale Queen explained he had been in some sort of trouble before as Boris lower body felt it was dipped in flame, then mentioned the Roy was on his way, noted "That's going to hurt", and suddenly Roy appeared, or rather his head did. The Pale Queen noted that Roy was sharing in Boris' suffering, while Boris, legs "restored" as a mass of flame, experienced a taste of the fate that awaited him without atonement. Roy and the queen spoke back and forth about how he had arrived in this condition, and why the rainbow serpent was trustworthy, if unusual and unorthodox. While speaking the queen picked up Roy 's head by the hair and twirled it like a toy for a bit before absentmindedly tossing it to Boris. The queen explained that she was not intended to send either of them on to their final rest yet, and asked why she should send them back to their lives. The queen also, when Roy seemed to assume he had some right to live, explained that rituals to return the dead were not safe, that either or both souls could be forfeit; when mortals tamper with the divine the risks are extreme. Boris firey legs seemed to burn out, leaving undamaged legs behind. The Queen, noting that, said "Well, it appears it is time for Boris to go back", picked up Roy 's head by the hair again, and Boris evaporated. Back in the material plane, Boris new body inhaled, as Boris' soul returned. The stalwart warrior priest noted the body was a little different, younger for one thing, and gathered his belongings to begin dressing this new body.
Meanwhile, in the shadowlands, the Pale Queen stopped swinging Roy 's head around, and told him he had a habit of doing the precise wrong thing, and apparently that habit was needed for some important purpose. The queen walked Roy through a maze of corridors, ending in a marble balcony hanging in nothing. Beyond the balcony Roy could see a familiar place, a beautiful waterfall near Schädelgräberhafen, a place where people would go to begin a new life (Roy had proposed to his wife in this place many years before), and also to end their life (that same woman had leapt to her death here a year earlier after Roy 's rejection). Now, Roy could see his son, at the top of the cliff, about to throw himself off. Roy heard a whisper in his ear "He's about to do something pretty bad, he's also about to get an offer, an offer he shouldn't take. Tell him to take it.". Roy saw a rippling in the air, as a dark being who could not be seen clearly, was suddenly floating before Roy 's son who looked up in shock. This being spoke.
Weeeelll. Tiimmee is sssTrange. Yoou would diiieee?
Yes, there is no reason for me to continue, my mother is gone, my father is a worthless drunk, there is nothing for me.
Theere iss, sseerveee me, and you will have power, and wealth, and purpose.
Roy saw his son was confused, and felt a tap on the back of his head. Roy expressed reluctance, and the queen explained he must speak.
Roy urged his son to reject the deal, directly contradicting his orders, urged him to do anything other than accept the offer, to live instead.
The young man looked at Roy , looked at the being, looked back at Roy , then turned to the dark being and accepted the offer.
Roy 's son was lifted in dark tendrils and changed. The now stronger, darker, man turned to Roy , thanked him for the "advice", asserted he had now made the right choice, and fired three blasts of magical force at his father's head as a parting gesture.
The scene faded and Roy was now held by the Pale Queen on a balcony in her realm. "Interesting, I wondered why that was necessary." Roy asserted that this was a form of punishment, to which the queen replied it was necessity, not punishment, then with a "Oops!" dropped his head off the balcony.
The party watched, moments after Boris finished donning his armor, as the serpent spit out Roy 's head, perfectly aimed. The head rolled against the body just right, healed on contact, and Roy inhaled sharply then sat up.
Roy complained to the serpent about his perceived mistreatment, and "The Master" explained a secret. "I call myself The Master, but I am but a servant, I have no will of my own and I choose not to seek one". The serpent went on, when Roy suggested the true master was the Pale Queen, to explain that The Pale Queen, The Master, the "servants" in the palace in the shadowlands, all serve the one true master, the only being worthy of such devotion. Roy guessed that this might be The Source, and the serpent explained "Who else but The Source? There are only two masters in this world, The Source and The Corruption, and only a fool serves the latter". Roy suggested he had served The Corruption, but the serpent explained Roy had served a mortal master who sought The Corruption, but that Roy had also cut his strings. The Serpent further asserted "You may yet learn Wisdom, mortal, if you live long enough.".
Roy and the others were dismissed, and the serpent explained that he did not believe they would meet again. With a shimmer the party found themselves south of the town, no sign of the town remained, only the long ago burned up docks, and the empty sands.
The party began their journey once again, choosing this time to proceed parallel to the river for a time, to avoid other dangers. The day's travel was mostly uneventful, although they did see a dragon high in the sky at one point, and ducked behind some covering trees until it flew away. At sundown the party chose to have Roy conjure a secure shelter, an adobe cottage of perhaps 400 square feet, with simple furnishings and a magical unseen servant. The party settled in to this simple dwelling for the night, trusting the magic to provide basic protection, although Boris also summoned an invisible phantom faithful hound at the door for additional protection. Awakening with the sun, the party felt well rested, and resumed their journey after a simple breakfast. Roisin Marshfield, again, received a morning message from Zcorthrin, something about waiting for her to leave the badlands, and how he would "take her home" then. A second message explained further that only simulacra would be sent to "pick her up", that they would only meet in person once she arrived "home". The disturbing and somewhat terrifying insinuations and overtones left Roisin Marshfield quite disturbed, and the party more committed than ever to destroy this persistent nemesis. Roisin Marshfield's "I just want to get him" was met with a third message; "Not to fear, dear. You'll get me all you want once we're together. The Master promises we'll have each other for centuries". Roisin Marshfield was angered almost to the point of violence by this, not to mention immensely disgusted. There was some concern that perhaps there was some sort of divination sensor in the area, but the group did not detect anything. Roy tried to remove all magic from the sending stone linked to his son, thinking it might be related, but found the complexity of the task beyond his skill. Roy also received a message from his son that such trinkets were unnecessary, and he needn't bother with such trivialities.
This day, about midday, the party was surprised by a small group of so-called "land sharks" which tried to consume the party, but quickly discovered these humanoids were more than capable of destroying a few land sharks. One almost bit Jeeves in half, but Roy managed to shift the timeline just enough to prevent it. The party quickly discovered these land sharks were tougher than most, reflecting some magic back at the caster. A short, but intense battle left a puddle of slime and a corpse half buried in the sand. Roy used a new spell to magically harvest the creature's corpse, gathering a small bag of unusual scales that seemed made of scintillating shell, a large quantity of toxic land-shark meat, and a brown sludge of other remains.
Continuing their journey, there were no further events this day, and Roy again conjured a sturdy cottage for their rest. This day also Roy conjured a protective field covering a vast area, perhaps a hectare in area, preventing divination, extraplanar travel, and teleportation. During the night Roy was awoken unexpectedly. Walking over to the window, Roy looked out into the dark night, and saw a fantastic sight silhouetted against the full moon. Something looking much like a dragon, but it seemed a little odd, perhaps even a construct made to look like a dragon. In the morning, Roy mentioned the sight to the others, and conjured an image from memory. Cigfran recalled that this might be the creation of a particularly nasty gnome wizard with a severe attitude problem that calls themselves "The Brass Baller". This gnome wizard called their brass clockwork dragon "The Brass Bomber", and used it, controlled by a magical amulet, to terrorize everyone they could, demanding tribute and "gifts" from many small towns in the general area near the edge of the badlands, avoiding any area where the authorities might have the capability to stop them.
