Session 59: The Dark Crystal Report

General Summary

Settling in to rest in a magical dome, hidden within the forested foothills of the mountains south-southeast of the strange crystal spire atop an old hill. The group discussed, for a bit, ways to prepare for the day ahead. Boris granted the gift of luck to everyone except himself. Roy imbued Roisin Marshfield's Tiara with a protective dome, and Boris also summoned a faithful hound outside. Electing to set watches in this wild area, and spending a little bit of time to finish some items that had been worked on over time, the group settled in for a night's rest.

Well into the night, as Jeeves was taking a watch, the chiurgen noticed something walking along a bit further up the hill. Deformed creatures with glowing eyes were traveling roughly east to west. As Jeeves turned, a twig snapped, and one of the creatures turned suddenly, alerted its fellows that something was wrong, then began heading towards the party. Jeeves held still, waiting for the faithful hound to alert the group. The creatures teleported from nearby to surround the dome, and the dog began barking. Quickly, some of the creatures began moving close to where the faithful hound effect was making so much noise, and as one frustratedly began trying to strike the insubstantial spell effect, the rest of the party awoke and began to react. Cigfran stabbed one with a rapier, taking advantage of the opacity and protection of the dome to strike the creature in a vital organ, nearly killing it as the creature cried out in a corrupted voice that there was danger in the dome, warning its fellows. Jeeves poisoned his own rapier, in hopes of enlightening his healing hands. The faithful hound spell struck a creature adjacent, causing it to cry out a warning, and Boris blessed everyone except himself. Roy began carefully examining the creatures, lacking any effective ability to strike through the dome. Roisin Marshfield ordered Cigfran to attack, and the bounty hunter turned priest stabbed the same creature again, killing it. As the creatures continued to surround the dome and attempt, futilely to dig under, Cigfran fired a real crossbow bolt through the dome (the magical bolts conjured by the crossbow would not pass through the dome) and injured it severely. Jeeves struck another creature with his rapier, wounding it severely thanks to the poison on his blade. Boris used his hammer to crush the skull of the one Cigfran had shot. One of these creatures moved away from the dome and began to emit a continuous warbling scream, even as the faithful hound savaged and killed the creature next to it. Another creature moved away and began the same warbling scream. Roisin Marshfield ordered Boris to attack, and the cleric did so, bashing in a shoulder, as Cigfran used the distraction to fire a crossbow bolt into its chest. More creatures backed away and took up the warbling scream. As the ones near Boris and Jeeves backed away, those two were killed by the two allies. Cigfran settled into a comfortable position and killed another creature with a single bolt to the forehead. Jeeves dropped his rapier and pulled out a shortbow, coating a few arrows with another vial of poison. Boris took a chance to step out of the dome and use Might of Borelius to strike, missing with the attack, but striking with the follow-up. Stepping out turned out to be a mistake, as one of the creatures emitted a blast of energy that battered Boris and stunned him briefly. The same creature then rushed up and tore into Boris with two claw strikes. Another then moved into position and blasted Boris with more chaotic energy. Roisin Marshfield then ordered Boris to attack, but the strike missed; although Cigfran reacted by using the distraction to fire a crossbow bolt into the gut of another. More of them fired blasts of energy, continuing to batter Boris, finally stunning him again. Cigfran set his crossbow aside long enough to reach out and drag Boris back into the dome before he was blasted to mush. Jeeves then fired two arrows at one of the creatures, killing it, as it exploeded into a blast of energy. Jeeves Healing Hands then erupted in blinding radiance that left Roy and Roisin Marshfield blind as Jeeves was staggered by the event and unable to act for a bit. Roisin Marshfield forgot she had the ability to heal blindness, so she spent a moment just rubbing her eyes. The creatures continued their warbling screams, and just as Boris recovered his wits, a flash erupted outside as two creatures of blue eldritch flame erupted out of the dense ground cover.

Cigfran , with an explicative, took aim at one of the original creatures and killed it with a bolt through the eye. Boris, bruised and battered, fired a clockwork bolt at one of the flame creatures, injuring it, but the bolt was also consumed by the flames. The original creatures began throwing themselves into the flames, strengthening and empowering those creatures through sacrifice of their own life force. Roisin Marshfield began to weep for her friends, and as the tears streaked down her face her vision was restored. The dregs continued to sacrifice themselves to the flames, and the flaming creature dispelled the magic of the dome, removing the protective ward from the group. Cigfran , returning to using conjured bolts, took aim and fired at another of the dregs, striking its shoulder. The other flaming creature engulfed Boris, Roisin Marshfield, and Jeeves , burning all three and igniting their flesh. The fire then tried to strike Roisin Marshfield, but could not do so. Boris rushed away, then dropped to the ground in order to put out the flames. Roy used magic Boris had earlier stored in his ring to cure the blindness. Roy then used his fey magic to teleport away. Roisin Marshfield rushed away and dropped to the ground to put out the flames. Jeeves , unable to escape before, was severely burned as the creature focused all of its fire on him. The remaining dreg blasted Cigfran , who used his second gift of luck to resist the chaotic energy. The other flame creature moved up and engulfed Cigfran , then burned him. Cigfran rushed away, taking another burst of fire, rushed away in a dash, then dropped to the ground and put out the flames. Jeeves was then attacked further, and would have died outright were it not for a divine boon. Jeeves , finally able to act, emerged from the flames and rushed away, then dropped to the ground and put out the flames before consuming a potion to give himself respite, allowing him to recover his strength and stamina. Boris grabbed Jeeves and dragged him further back, then quaffed a potion to heal himself. Roy read a powerful arcane script and then conjured a Wilderin's Dark Globe, which harmed the fire creatures but also encased them in semi-solid darkness. Cigfran took careful aim on the last dreg, and strick the head, causing the head to explode. Boris suddenly recalled that he could have avoided all the damage from the energy bolts thanks to his magic gem, even as Jeeves stood up, bound Boris' wounds, then moved back. Boris moved back and waited for an enemy to emerge. Roisin Marshfield moved closer to Cigfran and directed everyone to hold ready to attack when the enemies emerged from the globe. As they waited Jeeves also bound Cigfran 's wounds, and everyone moved back and spread out. One of the creatures finally broke through, promptly taking a series of attacks that destroyed it. Roy simply began cleaning himself and preening magically while everyone else prepared to strike the creature when it emerged. Boris missed this set, but Jeeves and Cigfran struck true. Roisin Marshfield ordered Roy to attack, but his tolling bell had no effect. Cigfran then took aim and fired again, striking solidly. Jeeves struck with two more arrows, finishing the creature as Roy dropped the globe of blackness.

Jeeves went to check on his rapier, but found only a melted blob. Roy and the others discussed a few things, and Roy suddenly noticed a Duskwood tree nearby. As Roy pointed it out to Jeeves , everyone learned that the more common term for Duskwood was Ebony. After some missteps, Boris offered a paper workmen to harvest the useable wood from the rotted and diseased tree, managing to harvest enough to fill a chest with blocks sized well to produce quarterstaves (editors note, when I was very young I had a staff of polished ebony made for me by my father for "Indian Guides", it was finally lost around 2015, sadly). Meanwhile, Roy used Wilderin's Wet Work to harvest the eyes and chaos organs from the three remaining dreg corpses while Boris finally donned his armor. Jeeves activated his ethereal sight when Cigfran suggested they needed to move on, seeing a fist-sized orb, which Boris suggested was likely a scrying sensor. At Boris' words, the orb winked out, likely the observer ending the scrying. Cigfran led the group a distance away, taking an hour to get some distance and find a more protected location for the dome. After conjuring the dome, as everyone started to settle in, Jeeves saw another scrying sensor appear. Roy then heard the charactistic psuedo-voice of a Sending spell as the source of this magic claimed to see four beings, and invited them to meet in the tower once they had rested. The source of this magic introduced themselves as "Cereniya(Sair-en-AYE-ah), Mistress of the Tower". Roy agreed to meet in the morning. A bit later, Roy told the rest about the magical conversation, and learned that this individual had used wiles and perversions to destroy a fortress of soldiers from within. Deciding they could do nothing until morning, the group settled in to rest, and awoke a few hours after dawn, well rested and ready for another day.

As the dome dissipated, and the group looked around the area, they saw hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dead bodies; all kinds of creatures, all about the area for hundreds of feet in every direction. Roy heard the voice of Cereniya in his mind "I hope you rested well. There were so many creatures last night that would have disturbed your rest.", and again, "I, and my servants, saw to it that you were not disturbed in the slightest.", yet again, "I look forward to meeting you all, well rested and at your best.", finally, "Head right in at the base of the shard, I am waiting at the peak on my ritual platform."