Chapter 2 Session 8: Arches, Aeorians and Amir's impressions

General Summary

Imma shave you like the little cat you are.

• 'Olympia' viciously mocks the Aeorian Absorber

The session started with the party facing off against three monstrous and magic shrouded beasts in the frozen cavern, alerted to Persicorum after Fen's ill-timed sneeze.
The battle proved dangerous with a strange arcane energy suffusing the cave that forced spellcasters to be faced with strange effects every time they cast a spell. These effects included empowering their spells, turning their spells elements into fire or even temporarily banishing them.
As the fight wore on, the party learned that the panther like creature, the Aeorian Absorber, was capable of absorbing magical energy and redirecting it as well as being able to hurl balls of fire in incremental rounds at them. Meanwhile the larger lumbering Aeorian Reversers seemed capable of absorbing healing spells and taking heavy amounts of damage, resisting non-magical attacks.
The party soon dispatched these creatures, though they found themselves weakened and wounded after the fight with a variety of different spells and attacks taking their toll on them. Though they won in the end and decided to explore the cavern and find some loot whilst others, including Olympia, Kodo and Ellena Swarov took a short rest to spend hit dice in an attempt to heal up.
The rest of the party searched the cavern and found the following:

• Thordak searched the three chests and found three arms severed at the bicep, a longsword that was of a jaguar design with a thick runed blade and he also found 600gp, a magical cloak and a letter from Ammon Coaguled that said the following:
Filthy aist, traitors to your kind. Smart and wise men indeed. Dashilla's coven have chosen their side and the wild wanderer has agreed my terms... your magic and your deal with the Fey will ensure you become a part of the great elected crown states... heroes despite your traitorous nature.Bring the hearts to the coven and accept their offers to bring me my aeorians... Freyfrost will fall to the Fey, the Hunt and the Aeorians'
• Fen searched the three mages and recognised they had the same uniforms and weapons as the Freyfrost and so he took their Ring Staffs and spellbooks.
• Mimsi and Amrys searched the other pile of bodies and recognised that they were the 12 missing residents of Edmonton whom they were hired to find, every one of them were dead and had their chests carved open with their hearts forcefully removed. The pair also noticed that there was a small archway and tunnel that was framed by an arch of luscious green vines. The tunnel was small to the point they would have to crawl through it. Mimsi and Amrys argued over who should go through first before both dashing towards it with Mimsi shooting through first. As she ran through, Amrys could only watch as the stone magically filled in the tunnel and cut off Mimsi from the rest of the party.

At this point there was 'MAX PANIK' as the party investigated the arch that was now filled in. They tried a variety of tricks to get through, notably Amrys used a divine sense to realise it was linked to the Feywild and contained an essence of dead magic whilst Olympia knocked on the arch and it spoke, with a whisper that simply stated 'We offer an entrance for a tribute'. The party quickly figured out that the arch was requiring a heart as tribute and so they hacked apart the aist mages and the Aeorian monsters and used their hearts as tribute. Though, in the process, Amrys' non-magical longsword was snapped in half and Kodo accidentally snapped Fen's dagger. The party also convinced Ellena Swarov to assit them in getting Mimsi back and so she joined them on their excursion into the Feywild.
The party entered and were immediately isolated, experiencing their own trials and adversities in the Feywild.

• Mimsi: Mimsi found herself in an empty woods that was thick and fog covered, as she watched for a time, the mist started to speak. Warning Mimsi to run as 'The Wild Wanderer comes, the Dark Queen chases'. Mimsi ran and fled for what felt like 4 hours, taking a point of exhaustion in the process as she ran. The mists urged her to keep running but, instead, she chose to climb one of the tall, towering trees and, as she reached 45ft up, she looked down to see a thin black silhouette silently staring at the base of the tree and a voice whipped around the fog, the voice of a mad woman who explained that the Goblins were friends of Dashilla and had received many gifts, as Mimsi had. In shock, Mimsi fell from the tree towards the figure waiting for her.
• Amrys: Amrys looked around to find himself in a familiar memory, the charge across the fields to Freyfrost as he lined up with the phantoms of his fallen friends and also recovered a shard of Dimble's broken hand mirror and chose to place it in his pocket. Amrys knew what was coming and so he prepared to charge, this time praying he could die with them.
• Kodo: Kodo wandered into a strange mirror of Fallrock that seemed to have been altered and shifted by the Feywild. As he wandered, he asked the Mists what happened to Mimsi and wanted to know more about them. The mists explained they were the souls of the Feywild and that they seek to help but also to lie. They also expressed that the Firbolgs were favoured by Dashilla the Dark Queen and that it was a regret that most did not survive in Fallrock. Kodo seemed disinterested in their words and instead focused on not being misled by the mists.
As he made good progress in the forest he noticed a black and thin silhouette in the mists and the sound of a dragging weapon and heavy footfalls behind him. The voice behind him announced in a gravelled and mad voice 'Ah, a challenger for me... you look strong.' Kodo disregarded this voice and faced the silhouette, the creature called itself The Thin Man and claimed they were keeping Mimsi safe for now and could take Kodo too if he wished, a deal that he accepted and was swallowed up by the stretching thin man.
• Fen: Fen found himself in a chalk white city that resembled A'mlon but all of the houses were empty and decrepit with white eyes staring out of the darkness at Fen. The Elf asked them what was going on and learned that the Feywild robs people of magic as the fey queen Dashilla endlessly consumes magic in the Feywild, this has left just four pieces of pure magic in this plane: The Wild Wanderer, Dashilla herself, The Thin Man and a character that resided in the library in front of Fen. He asked the mists to guide him there and he watched as the doors opened wide for him to reveal an empty library that looked similar in structure to a Magus Centre the only book in this library was a heavy tome that sat on a pedestal in the centre and matched the design of Fen's Grimoire of Envy. As Fen picked it up, the Grimoire spoke and claimed it's name was 'The Deal Maker' and that it was one of the four creatures capable of spellcasting in the Feywild. It recognised Fen's grimoire fairly quickly but seemed to have a distaste for it and offered a deal to Fen, it would act as HIS grimoire and give him a reserve of magic so that he could cast spells in the Feywild, the grimoire also offered to use it's own abilities to teleport him across the Feywild and save his allies. However, the book would only do this on the condition Fen would bring the book with him when he returned to the material plane and, additionally, the Deal Maker would become Fen's grimoire ALONGSIDE his Grimoire of Envy, not merged. Fen agreed and asked the grimoire what situation his friends were in. The Grimoire remarked that Mimsi and Kodo were safe with the Thin Man, Amrys was not safe in terms of his sanity but he had a small measure of time before Dashilla the Dark Queen reached him as she was causing his suffering currently, the book stated that Ellena was safe for now but was reliving one of her greatest failings, upon looking for Olympia the book expressed confusion and annoyance that she wasn't 'normal' and that they couldn't categorise her... but she was the safest of the group.
Finally, upon seeing Thordak, the book laughed and expressed that the Half Orc was 'fucked' as The Wild Wanderer had decided to mark him as their quarry. Fen immediately requested to be taken to Thordak first in the hope of saving him.
• Thordak: Thordak found himself in a reflection of the Utrunks fighting pits where he spent many of his younger years. He noticed he had no weapons and no equipment... he was also missing his prosthetic. It was as though the Feywild had reversed time to bring him back to his helpless and bloodthirsty days in the fighting pits. Thordak looked down and noticed a slightly bloodstained and familiar looking bow with a quiver of 10 arrows to which he yelled 'Gell!' into the mist. In that moment, he heard a cacophony of replies claiming that Gell was not here, the mists then laughingly accused Thordak of betraying Gell which seemed to hurt the half orc who claimed it was untrue as Gell helped him escape the Utrunks.
Moments later, Thordak heard heavy footfalls and the scraping of a blade on stone around the fighting pits as though a figure was hunting with the mists obscuring them constantly. Thordak, using his teeth to prepare and pull the bowstring, kept an ear open to try and shoot the creature that was stalking him. Eventually, he noticed the target and shot, making an impact and leading to the figure to announce that Thordak 'Had spirit' but also to declare that he wouldn't be a challenge and that he would ultimately end up on the figures belt. Thordak told the figure to emerge and he found that, stepping out of the mists, was the form of the Warforged True Hero Proto only he had been twisted and driven to a mad bloodlust by his time in The Feywild. Thordak challenged the warforged but, as the creature drew a lightning covered sword, he remarked that he did not have a weapon. This led to Proto punching Thordak once and using a high level divine smite to knock the half orc down in one shot and almost instantly kill him completely, Proto used his second attack to shatter Thordak's ribs but, as he was due to finish the half orc off, Fen appeared with his new grimoires magic and managed to barely stabilise Thordak. In the moment he stabilised the half orc Proto studied Fen's features intently and told him to run and hide... for Fen was not a worthy challenge in Proto's eyes and so will only get in his way. In that moment, the grimoire teleported Fen and a heavily bleeding but stable Thordak back to the library and the pedestal. As Thordak fell, Fen resolved to find Olympia first in the hope of healing Thordak slightly.
• Olympia: Olympia was held in a space of grey fog and emptiness, entirely alone. Fen reached her and teleported her back to the library so that she could healing word Thordak using one of her final spell slots.

With two party members saved, Fen spoke to the book and the group made a plan. The Grimoire of the Deal Maker would teleport the group to Amrys and back but would run out of charges after that. Fen took that deal and saw Amrys on a scorched and dying battlefield as he watched Amrys struggle in futility to save any of the strange phantoms around him. Fen also observed in the background as Ammon Coaguled, the arch-inquisitor in charge of fighting Freyfrost, spoke to a group of The Heralds journalists and tell them that the assault was a fierce blow to the Aist Mages and a great victory for The Crownsguard and the The Elected Crown of Alturis.. Fen decided to boldly walk across the line of fire and reach Amrys whom he held out his hand for. Amrys expressed a small amount of his deep trauma and survivors guilt with Fen who simply responded that he was glad Amrys was here and that they were going to get through this together. With that, strangely sombre and silent, the grimoire teleported them both out of the battlefield and away from the watching Dashilla the Dark Queen.
With all but two members of the party accounted for, the four remaining members of Persicorum discussed what to do next and ultimately decided to find Mimsi and Kodo within the thin man and regroup there. The Grimoire of the Deal Maker objected to this at first before asking that Fen leave him on the pedestal and pick him up later before he leaves... for the grimoire was convinced that The Thin Man would destroy him if given the chance.
And so, now without any magic, the party climbed the stairs of the library spire, ghostbusters style and soon found themselves on the roof looking below where they saw a small shape of a black figure at the base. As they discussed what to do next, the wind kicked up as Dashilla's voice struck them and requested they stay to serve her... and also regarding that Fen seemed like a nice snack... Fen retorted in frustration at this, sick of creatures trying to eat him and jumped before he was quickly followed by the others.
As they descended, with no way to stop their fall, the thin man's body opened up into a pit of darkness that swallowed each of them.

Rewards Granted

• Three Ring Mage Staves (In the possession of Fen)
• Three Ring Mage Spellbooks (In the possession of Fen)
• 600 gold pieces split between two bags (In the possession of Thordak)
• A well weighted and broad longsword with runes that say (in Abyssal) 'A smile for my friends... a grin for my enemies' (In the possession of Thordak not currently)
• The grimoire of the Deal Maker (In the possession of Fen)
• A letter from Ammon Coaguled (In the possession of Thordak not currently)

Missions/Quests Completed

The party successfully defeated the Aeorian monsters that slaughtered a group of Aist Mages and killed the people of Edmonton but that led to more questions of a larger plot. As they discovered that one Ammon Coaguled seemed to have been given the help by a coven of hags to create these monsters to then be used against the Aist Mages.
The party succeeded in reuniting when they got lost in the feywild... minus Ellena Swarov

Character(s) interacted with

• Ellena Swarov - followed the party into the feywild after building up a serious respect for them in the fight with the Aeorians. The party did not see her after she went through the feywild tunnel and only Fen is currently aware that she is currently 'dealing with her greatest failure'.
• Dashilla the Dark Queen - Hunted the party throughout the Feywild and seemed to have, alongside the Wild Wanderer, sided or made an agreement in some way with The Elected Crown of Alturis. and The Inquisitors. She notably seemed to focus her illusions and mist on Amrys by forcing the Oathbreaker to relive a deeply traumatic event, she then stated she desired strong warriors and wishes to see more of Amrys.
• Proto - Dubbed the Wild Wanderer by the mists of the Fey. He hunted down party members he saw as strong in build and look. Targeting Kodo before the Firbolg vanished with the thin man and then targeting Thordak and nearly killing the Half-Orc before Fen saved him. Proto has since promised that he will not stop hunting Fen in order to make the wizard pay for stealing one of his kills.
• The Thin Man - The strange and barely corporeal thin man has so far seemingly rescued the party and hidden them from the other creatures in the feywild but they have not especially interacted with any members of Persicorum yet, Kodo had a distinct distrust of the creature.
• The Feywild - The mists of the Feywild have acted like a character with their answers and use of echos.
• The Grimoire of the Deal Maker- Struck a deal with Fen and gave him (and creatures within 10ft of him) the ability to tap into their magic.

Report Date

06 Mar 2021

Primary Location

The Feywild