Session 56: The Ruins of Wrathrock Report

General Summary

Session 56 – Wednesday October 18, 2023 – Isabella’s Shadow

  4-hour exploration session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5

It is the 15th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L10 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
• Ajani– High Elf, L10 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L10 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi (School)
• Cassidy – Human, L10 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L10 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L10 Paladin – Will Johnson

Wake them up.

Cassidy sneezed and Gazlowe disappeared, and Ajani appeared. Cassidy pointed at the Sun Elf, Pellas, who with they were previously talking, cast Thamaturgy and with a loud booming voice said, “Get up.” Isabella gently kicked his ribs and Pellas was awakened. Cassidy demanded, “Where did you get this money?” The Elf replied, “It’s our money, we’re traders and trappers. We earned it.     Abrash didn’t detect any deception but felt that he wasn’t disclosing everything. Juan tried to be intimidating and then Cassidy requested that Juan lay his hands on him and heal him a bit so that he could break a finger. Juan’s eyes lit up, “That’s Brilliant!” Then Juan proceeded to do as instructed, healing the Elf Pellas just a little. Then he said, “We’re starting small... This little pinky went to market… CRACK!” Juan’s exuberance intimidated the elf more than the pain and he began to spill his knowledge.

Ithu'rath (ith-YOU-rath)

The elf Pellas yelled out “Ithu’rath!” He explained that Ithu’rath pays them. He told them Ithu’rath lies in the center under the ruins of Wrathrock. He went on to profess that he had nothing to do with the boy. Isabella told Juan, “I don’t believe him.” Juan pulled out a rabbit’s foot that had been rotting in his pocket for about a week and stuffed it in Pella’s mouth and forced him to chew it.     Pellas begged him to stop, spit out the rotten foot and told them that Ithu’rath can change people. The boy probably just swam too close to the lair. The party questioned him some more, and he told them that the lair is in the catacombs under the castle ruins next to the swampy lake. He told him that he had no idea of the other boys.

Pellas tells all about the defenses.

Pellas explained that there over a hundred “Slime servants” of Ithu’rath who patrol the caverns beneath the ruins. Pellas and others like him (about 20) are simply mercenaries, bringing Ithu’rath new servants in exchange for power and wealth in the new order when Ithu’rath rules. He told them there are several passageways into the caverns from within the ruins. The ruins are guarded by a small squad of protectors and the patrols inside are randomized. Plus there are some chambers haunted by invisible spirits.

How to get in?

Cassidy suggested that the party goes in as Pellas’s hostages and lead them to Ithu’rath. Pellas asked for his sword to convince the others. Isabella and Juan beat the swords against stones in an attempt to dull them. They woke up the remaining 2 Sun Elves and told them the plan. The others asked, “You want to worship Ithu’rath” and the party said, “Yes.”   Cassidy asked if Ithu’rath is a demi-god. The Elves replied, “He’s really powerful.” Ajani asked if he’s an elf. The elves replied, “Uh… something else.” Ajani followed up asking if he’s alive. The elves looked at each other and thought about it for a second and said, “Sure, yeah, he’s alive.” Juan asked, “What does he taste like.” The elves replied in unison, “Fishy.”

More servants for Ithu’rath

The elves argued about how to bring the others to Ithu’rath. In the end they didn’t put manacles or ropes on them, trusting that the party wanted to worship Ithu’rath voluntarily. Still badly hurt, the 3 Sun Elves escorted the party to castle Wrathrock.   As they approached, Abrash noticed 4 humanoids hiding in the rubble of the ancient castle. None of the walls left standing were higher than 4 feet tall. The creatures looked elvish but their skin was a translucent green and they looked rather slimy. One of them stepped out, holding a bow aimed at the party. Juan said, “Who goes there?” The slimy elf with the bow said, “Pellas” as if greeting him awkwardly. He likewise said, “Edea.” She held her bow steady, and the party just looked on. Abrash noticed the that the communications were awkward as if he was signaling to the guards. Abrash asked, “What’s the problem? We’d like to worship here.” Pellas, began to sweat, looking nervous. Ajani tried to intimidate Pellas, reminding him of his broken finger. Pellas raised his sword and yelled, “Warn the others!”

Taking care of the first set of guards.

One of the guards hit Isabella with a crossbow bolt. Another ran forward with his fists raised. Ajani, shocked at the betrayal, cast dimension door and he and Abrash went to an area of cover. Bird took off Pellas’s head and then carried Juan to the guy ready to punch them. Juan landed a critical blow and smote him. Juan screamed like a crazy man and atomized the Brawler. Isabella raged and ran up to the corner where a couple guards were taking cover and pounced on them with her great axe. She screamed “We want to worship your god!” as she badly bloodied the guard.   Another of the brawlers grappled Isabella and tried to slam her on the ground but had a hard time lifting her. Abrash ran out of his cover and hit the brawler with a stary mote. Cassidy shot a crossbow bolt at the guards. The 2 Sun Elves who had accompanied the party fled. One of the guards with a crossbow made a trick shot hitting Abrash and Cassidy with the same bolt. Ajani moved to be able to see the Trickshot guard and conducted a chromatic orb that killed the guard. Abrash was standing next to the guard and watched him turn into a puddle of green slime. As his body collapsed Abrash heard a strange ethereal cry.   Juan rode bird up to the brawler holding Isabella and bloodied him. The other Trickshot moved to get a better angle and Isabella killed her with her axe. Isabella swung but couldn’t land a blow on the Brawler. The Brawler lifted Isabella and body slammed her twice. Abrash hit the Brawler with a starry mote. Cassidy finished it off with a climbers pick to the head. Again, the creature’s body instantly dissolved into green slime and fell to the ground with a squish.   Ajani spotted the 2 elves running away and with his spell sniper feature hit one with a fire bolt. Ajani then got a sample of the slime and examined it. He has never seen anything like this. He did recall something about psionic aberrations that are rumored to do things like this. Juan dipped a finger into the slime and tasted it. He told the others, “Fishy, just like the boy.” Abrash looked appalled.

Passages that lead down.

Abrash found a passage and Ajani found another. Juan flipped a coin and said, “We follow the Hole Druid!” As the passageway descended into the ground, it became narrower. A roughly hewn catacomb underground that was about 5-10 feet wide and about 8-10 feet high. A larger creature like bird can make his way easy enough but Juan couldn’t mount him, so Bird was relegated to the rear. Cassidy led the party with her new Goggles of Night. Abrash was right behind him. Isabella took a potion of growth and was now a medium sized person. The tunnels led to a closed door.   The area looked undisturbed and old. The air was stagnant and stale. Abrash listened and heard the sound of pebbles moving on the ground. He warned the others. Isabella pulled the door open to a dusty old room. On the floor lay dusty decomposed skeletons, and parts of decomposed armor and weapons. Ajani and Cassidy recalled that there were some of castle defenders that had gone into the catacombs to make a last stand. They surmised that they died here. The party was then struck by invisible spirits.

Fighting what you can’t see.

Cassidy’s ghost sense went off as she gazed into the ethereal plane and saw nothing on either plane. She then got walloped by an invisible ghost (a Haunt.) Abrash shot a starry mote into the room and hit one of the creatures. Abrash was then hit hard by the Haunt. Isabella swung wildly and hit one. Bird hit one but it didn’t do as much damage as he hoped. Ajani pulled out a little crystal and used his “Third Eye” ability to see invisible creatures. He saw two huge ghost conglomerates that practically filled the room that were attacking the party. Now with the ability to see the creatures, Ajani was the only one who could target his attack more accurately than the rest. He told the others what he saw.   Juan swung his war hammer but missed. Ajani told him, “Turn around!” Cassidy again got smacked hard by the Haunt. Ajani moved away from his friends and cast Thunder Wave hurting one slightly. He followed up with a starry mote. The creature then hit Abrash hard. Isabella pulled out her gem of brightness and said, “voulez-vous couche avec moi.” The gem shot out bright light, blinding one of the haunt entities. Ajani looked at the one that wasn’t blinded and said “Begone ghost!” and it was banished.   Juan and Bird both hit the remaining creature, Juan smote and badly hurt it. Abrash shot poison spray at the creature, but it did nothing. He then hit it with a mote and bloodied the creature. Isabella hit it twice with her axe. Bird hit it again and Ajani hit it with a chromatic orb of fire that would have killed it, but the creature was resistant. Juan finished it off.

Calmly waiting for the next one.

Cassidy quickly searched the room, knowing that the other creature would be back shortly. They discussed running or ambushing it. Juan said, “To the death.” The party reluctantly agreed, and Ajani guided them into position around where he knew the creature would return. Before the Haunt returned, Cassidy looked around and found 3 magic arrows and a pair of magical boots (details below in Treasure.)   Ajani knew when the creature would return. He told the others, “Ready? 5, 6, 7, 8, Hit it!” The creature reappeared, confused, and surprised as the party all hit it simultaneously. Cassidy shot it with a crossbow bolt. Abrash hit it with a thorn whip and a starry mote. Isabella hit it once with her axe, Ajani hit it with an orb of fire. Juan hit it once with his hammer.   Cassidy hit the creature again and the Haunt reach out and grabbed Cassidy. The others saw her body rise into the air, laid out flat and then a sickening “Crack.” Cassidy fell to the floor unconscious. Abrash ran over and gave her a healing potion. The others missed their attacks until Juan finally landed a blow and smote it hard, killing the creature.

A Quick heal.

Isabella looked longingly at the shoes Cassidy found. Cassidy had Ajani identify the boots as “Comfy boots of limited levitation.” Abrash gave out some good berries and Isabella threw some healing potions onto Cassidy. The party realized that this part of the castle was filled with spirits and was relatively left alone by Ithu’rath’s minions. Now that the spirits are dead, they would be able to rest in this room, but the party decided to press forward. Cassidy tried to open the door, but it was stuck. Isabella forced the door open and they moved on.

Unstable passages.

Cassidy noted that portions of the hall looked structurally unstable and told the others to walk quietly and carefully. The party walked in single file with Isabella, Abrash, Juan, Ajani, and Bird all within 5’ of each other. Cassidy was at the end 10’ behind bird. Abrash was the first to step in a bad spot. Debris fell on Isabella, Abrash and Juan. Ajani also stepped on a crack causing debris to fall on him, Juan and Bird.   They came to a couple pools of water that had luminescent moss growing on the walls in the water. Green slime lay on the water and covered some walls. Abrash reached in and grabbed some moss and put in into a flask. It shed dim light for 15’ and Abrash realized it should last about a day.   Cassidy suggested they need to go into the water. Abrash countered that that should examine the dry tunnels first. The party agreed and they moved on to another unstable section. This time Ajani again found a crack and he, Juan and Bird got hit by falling debris. Bird and Juan weren’t looking very good.   They passed by another pool and into another unstable passage. Abrash stumbled this time and debris fell on him, Isabella and Juan. Juan found another area of weakness bringing debris down on himself, Abrash and Ajani. Abrash was looking very bad. Ajani peered into the future to be sure he didn’t trigger another collapse.

Milo Kentbrush.

They party entered an ancient study that was long since ransacked. They saw a twisted corpse in rusted chainmail laying on the floor, a longbow in its grasp and a quiver of arrows on its belt. Behind an overturned stone desk, they heard sobbing. As the party entered (not very quietly), the sobbing stopped and the ghost of an elf stood up behind the desk and greeted the party (his voice still rough from sobbing).   Isabella approached sympathetically asking if he’s okay. The ghost tried to cover up the fact that he was sobbing but didn’t do a very good job. He introduced himself, “Milo Kentbrush, at your service.” He then looked at the corpse on the floor and said, “or at least I would have been at your service.” He tried to hold back more sobbing. Milo questioned the party, “You’re not with them, are you?” Isabella told him “No.”   He told them that he was an adventurer who died in this room by the hands of the slime servants. He had come in here to single-handedly kill Ithu’rath with a magic arrow that his father had given him. But he was taken by surprise and ambushed by the slime servants and for some reason his spirit can’t move far from this room. He’s trapped here.   The party offered to help put him to rest. He welcomed the idea and told them that if they helped him by freeing him of this place, he’ll tell them where Ithu’rath is. The party tried all sorts of things, re-arranging his body, trying to recall any history of such a thing. Eventually Ajani cast identify on the magic arrow of Milo’s. It was an arrow of Aberration Slaying. Eventually, the party pieced together that a part of Milo’s soul had attached itself to the magic arrow. To release Milo’s soul, they must use the arrow to end its magic by using it to hit an Aberration. Fortunately, Milo told them that Ithu’rath is an aberration.   Ajani told Milo that they’ll bring the arrow with them, and he’ll then be able to leave this room. Ajani said, “We’re going on a road trip!” Milo told them the directions to Ithu’rath’s lair and that they have to make their way to a room northwest of their current position and then enter a specific pool of water and swim to his lair. The party sighed, not wanting to go swimming in the slimy water. They took a short rest to prepare for the journey.

Treasure found

• A pair of Comfy Boots of Limited Levitation
• Three +2 Walloping Arrows
• An arrow of aberration slaying.