Session XXXVII: The Plague's Defeat

General Summary

The session began by Kuchek Goralin—AKA the Doctor—coming into view of the party, slinging spells back at a mysterious adversary. Upon seeing the party, he smiles coldly and begins to attack them as well. In fear, Micnik attempts to cast Dimension Door and escape, but ends up killing himself. Kuchek is noticeably different than the last time the party saw him, with his left arm completely covered in blighted goo and his eyes the tell-tale bright green of someone infected with the Breath of Madness. While fighting, the party attempt to determine ways by which they can save Kuchek—who they had come to regard as an ally—and snap him out of the infection's madness. Eventually they determine that the only way to save Kuchek is to cut off his blighted-goo-covered arm, and after doing so Kuchek appears to be cured. Although, being a left-handed caster, this left him significantly weakened. The mysterious stranger fighting Kuchek before the party introduces himself as Roylen Micnik, who is attempting to get to the Plague—who he believes kidnapped his daughter. The Copper Gem attunes to Roylen and he joins the party for the time being as they decide to go after the Plague—who they believe to be preparing to release the Breath of Madness into the city's water supply. As the party ventures deeper into the sewers—hoping to reach the city's water treatment facility—they are attacked by Blighted Oozes. However, a green energy pulse comes from deeper in the sewers, and destroys the oozes. In addition, roots begin rapidly growing around the party's ankles—but they are able to break out and continue on their way. After a few minutes of wandering, the party came across a room covered in blighted goo. Upon entering, the goo covered their exit and the party found themselves in an anti-magic field. Without their normal way to light a fire to disperse the goo, the party set about trying to find away out. Eventually, the figured out the goo reacted similarly to a nonnewtonian fluid—the harder you push, the harder it gets. Realizing this, the party tried to carefully move through the blighted goo, and were able to make it out the other side—finding themselves at the entrance to the water treatment facility. The party saw waste water going through glass pipes into the facility, and saw greenish water coming out—water infected with the Breath of Madness. The party found themselves locked out of the facility, but were able to use two abjuration spells to unlock the magical lock that had been placed on the door. Upon entering the facility, the found all of the walls, ceiling, and floor entirely covered with blighted good. The Plague materialized from the goo in front of them, and the party prepared to fight. This time, the Plague was not pulling his punches on the party. He began attacking them in his blighted spider form, shooting webs of goo at the party to incapacitate them. The Plague primarily seemed to go after Ukar—due to their prior history—and Roylen—because of his healing magic. Eventually it became clear that the party was in need of some sort of advantage, some sort of miracle, if they were to win the fight. So, Heigolor—in a moment of desperation—attempted to cast a spell from the Grimoire, even though he had no idea of the result. As Heigolor's skin began to crack, and light began to shine through him, it quickly became clear that he had overcasted. However, in a miraculous turn of events, Ukar broke through a barrier in his own power level in a desperate attempt to save his friend—which succeeded. Ukar was able to successfully heal Heigolor enough during his overcast to allow him to survive—albeit with a very scarred body. Now, with Ukar's own power having grown, he was able to take a renewed fight to the Plague, and ultimately managed to slay him—this time making sure to burn the body. The Plague was finally dead—and his reign of terror over. The party destroyed the treatment facility in order to stop the Breath of Madness from spreading through the water supply, and began to travel back to the Haven.