Session 36: Dreams and Terrors Report

General Summary

Previously

  After entering the Hive in the outskirts of the Runespace system, the party discovers a message from the Arcane, imploring any who made it this far to end the menace of the Ravager by destroying the ten lesser eyes. Each eye has apparently developed into a sentient incarnation, over the centuries since the deaths of the Sazuar beholder nation (who built the hive).   So far, the party has destroyed the incarnations of Charm person, Charm Beast, Slow, Death Ray and Telekinesis. Along the way, they freed the golden people from being charmed, removed the stabilizing control of the beasts in another realm, freed dozen of nixies who had been transformed into slugs, and introduced the King of the Ghouls (and his ghoulish minions) to a mummified beholder buffet.   They also discovered a vast central chamber, with immense murals telling the history of the creation of the Hive and the Ravager. There is a large glowing crystal to one side, in a tunnel to another space. They suspect the crystal is (or houses) the central Queens Eye, but are unable to approach it in the Surprise, because of its magic-nullifying effect.   They also learned that a crystalline starfish/scorpion from Runespace entered the Hive, and took some "spiky armor". (They have also obtained another huge set of spiky armor, and strapped it to their hull)   Twice now, they have seen the black tunnels extending as if they were living things to grasp at crystals floating in the center of the rooms, and heard tremors shaking the ground. They now realize that the murals in the central chamber are actually the pieces that form the giant beholder-shaped Ravager, along with the tunnels (for arms) and the crystals from the skies of the various realms (as the "eyes").   Worse, they believe the starfish/scorpion is an instantiation of the Mozck AI, which took over the Vlleryrn and tried to dominate the Electric Monk. The Mozck AI is apparently trying to take over the Hive, and contending with some sort of intelligence of the Hive itself to do so.   The party is intent on depriving the Ravager of its most dangerous weapons, but is forced to retreat from the Disintegration room. The party returns to the (fortunately still quiet) central chamber, and plans to rest up for a moment while Zayer again mends the hull, and then prepares to cast Resurrection on the crew man. They intend to move on to the slumber room next.   The party is aware that the Hive could jump into the Phlogiston at any time.  

Session Notes

  The party decides to rest and recover for several hours, giving Zayer a chance to prepare and cast resurrection on the unfortunate crewman killed in the Disintegration room. The casting is successful, and sailor Dave struggles to consciousness--shocked and thankful. The rest of the crew is quite impressed. The rest period otherwise passes uneventfully, other than occasionally hearing the voice of the Mozck AI echoing through the chamber, as it attempts to gain control of the Hive.   

The Realm of Slumber

  Eventually, the party enters the next realm, of Slumber. Beyond, a soft, indirect light fills the air. The temperature is warm, warm as a soothing hot spring. No sound disturbs the peace of this place save the whisper of a breeze barely felt. The air is heavy, like perfume. Vapors waft on the constant, balmy breeze. A comforting mist surrounds you. All the walls of the cube are covered with billowing fog, with a glowing crystal at the center of the room.    The party tries various things to determine where to go, or to draw out the incarnation of this room. Eventually, Windellian casts his Relief spell on the central crystal, causing it to resonate, and a way of energy shimmer out from it. As it strikes the foggy walls, several shapes seems to momentarily emerge from the fog, and then sink back and disappear. The party lands close to where they saw the largest shape, and find that the fog does support the weight of the ship, and is springy to walk on. No matter how they try, they cannot get a clear look at the floor beyond the fog.    Eventually, they realize that if one of them stands in one spot for too long, they begin to sink. After some debate, they decide to tie a rope around Jessa (as the lightest), and let her sink into the ground. Jessa finds herself standing on a featureless white surface, the fog forming a ceiling above her head. Her old mentor, Prof. Calfan Bingleshorts, appears, welcomes her, praises her for getting this far, and asks her to take his hand, so he can lead her to her rewards. Jessa refuses, and then finds herself back with the party (who had pulled her up on the rope after just a minute).   After more debate, they decide to send Zayer (with the intention of casting banish) and Jessa back down. Zayer finds himself alone on the white plain that Jessa described, and the deity Celestian welcomes him, praising his bravery and his exploration. When Zayer refuses to take Celestian's hand, the figure screams and erupts in flame. Next, Asmodeus strides up to Zayer, with a knowing smirk, mocking him and cursing him for freeing the Talus from Scatterpoint. Asmodeus strikes at him, but Zayer (somehow) evades. After an exchange where Asmodeus's attacks miss, and Zayer's spells (somehow) strikes, Asmodeus crumples to the ground and turns to ash. A host of angels appear from a nearby celestial city, praising Zayer, and carrying him off.   Meanwhile, Jessa also finds herself alone, and once again Bingleshorts appears. When she refuses to take his hand, he disappears in flames, and a green dragon, acidic bile dripping from its jaws, emerges from the mists. Jessa (somehow) evades its attacks, and turns invisible. After 3 attacks, the dragon disappears. Though you see nothing but fog, an eerily soft voice speaks, seeming to come from all directions at once. "Congratulations, mortal. You have done well, and bested me in my two challenges. Your reward is the granting of a single wish. Choose wisely, and tell me: What is it you most desire?"   Jessa replies, "To see you and all the incarnations here on the Hive destroyed!" With that, there is a scream, and the fog above erupts into flame, slightly damaging the ship and the party. While Jessa somehow knows the other incarnations still, her wish was the way to defeat this incarnation of dreams.    When the flames clear, Jessa and Zayer struggle to consciousness. The mists are gone and the central gem has gone dark. Tons of debris are scattered disintegrated  

The Ravager Assembles

As the party returns to the central chamber, they are shocked to see giant beholder ships at the top of the chamber, but then realize this is some sort of projection. Apparently, a beholder fleet is approaching the Hive, consisting of 2 large Tyrant ships and 3 small scout ships. They hear the exchange between the unintelligible language of the Hive, and the Mozck AI:  

There is a beholder fleet approaching? Yes, fine, fine, let's attack it, my simple-minded friend. This magical technology is wonderful. I almost have the hang of you. If we can take those ships, I can send instantiations of myself all over this system. What wonderful things I will be able to do then, what games I can play, especially with the stupid fools on Paraxis, and those backward insects at the Phaeton Halo...

        With that, the murals once again start pulling loose from the ground. Clouds of rock dust fall away from their edges. Real clouds break up and evaporate as the murals strike them. Bizarre rectangular shadows spread over the ground, twisting over the sphere's surface. On the slabs, you can see many glints of silver (which closer examination via Farsight reveals as the silver slime, flowing together like quicksilver, much more active than the party has seen before). The mural slabs drift inward through the haze of dust at a gradually quicker rate. It looks like they'll all collide in the center of the sphere, but suddenly they slow down two miles above the surface. Slowly they move together. Windellian blasts the edge of the plates, in a attempt to create some small imperfection that will be dramatically useful later.  The party debates whether they want to be inside or outside this assembling sphere, and the majority quickly decides to be inside. Zreestram on the helm plunges the ship between the massive plates as they jostle one another with deep grinding sounds like thunder, then settle into position. The ship finds itself safely inside the assembling globe, and watch as the 10 holes in the globe are plugged by the tunnels leaping up from the inner surface of the chamber to form the eyestalks of the Ravager.    For long moments, you're in darkness. The air is slightly cool and smells of dust. As your eyes adjust, you see the globe around you, a couple of miles wide. And just as the chamber had a wide passage at one end, this globe is still open at one end. A circular opening, maybe half a mile wide, looks as thin at its edge as a sheet of paper. Through that opening you can see the walls of the sphere outside. A dim, brownish light shines in. The light intensifies, and then the chamber's light crystal appears in the opening. It drifts inside like a dandelion seed floating inside a globe of the world. Its light is dim. Standing atop the globe is one of the giant suits of armor you have seen guarding the rooms. This suit is encrusted with pink crystals, and carries a huge brown beholder eye.   The party panics, concerned that their ship will crash to the inner surface of the sphere they are in due to the antimagic effects of the light crystal, but Zreestram manages to land the ship safely.    As the crystal enters the globe, they can hear again the Mozck AI voice, petulant that not all the weapons are available. Apparently, the previous efforts of the party had a significant effect, and of the 10 lesser eyes, only Disintegration, Petrification, Fear and Wounding are functional.    Beyond the floating crystal, you hear the slabs of the last mural sequence detach from the chamber's walls. They drift inward, gently colliding and forming a cap for the sphere. It moves in, closer, closer. It blots out the view of the outer chamber, and you wonder if you will see that view again. Then, with a noise like a falling mountain range, the cap strikes the other slabs and completes the globe. The air grows warm, and you hear a distant humming. The hairs on your hands prickle and stand up. Suddenly, beams of light appear in the darkness!   The beams of light erupt from different facets of the central crystal. Four of them leap out to the eye stalks, burning steady and bright. Six others appear briefly and dimly, and then fade away, as the powers they are attempting to tap into have been rendered unavailable by the party's efforts. With a huge lurch, they feel the Ravager get underway.    While the party has no desire to protect the beholder fleet, they are concerned about what they heard the Mozck AI say, and its intent to replicate itself into the various ships. Still blocked by the antimagic of the central crystal, the party slowly lowers the shuttle to the surface, and ready what weapons they can by bolting two ballista onto the top of the shuttle. The party intends to attack the central crystal to stop Mozck and the Ravager.