Chapter 4, Session 1: Back to the future

General Summary

You know, if we want to go with MY plan then I'm happy to go in Grimoire blazing.

• Fen displays his tactical prowess in discussion with the rest of Persicorum

The session started with the party in the cave with the now-closed archway to The Feywild behind them. Still recovering emotionally from their injuries, the party looked across the landscape and saw armies gathering in Warlington but decided to head first to Edmonton which was now a half-charred scar of a town as Kodo was concerned around how much time had passed and what could have happened to Lyren Killian and Olond Talthanryl in this time, as well as desiring to bring Ellena Swarov to her home and to check on Eb, Mary and Sue in The Frosted Tankard.  The party continued to make their way with the still-mute Ellena whilst Kodo carried Mimsi on his shoulders to make it through the strong winds and blizzard in the Mammoth Peaks. These winds impeded the groups travel and challenged them constantly including in resulting in points of exhaustion for Amrys and Thordak.  Eventually the group came across a circle of 20-ft tall stones with gaps between them. The party read some of the writing on the stones and learned that, in the creatures languages, the stones described themselves as a sanctuary.  Kodo entered as a sanctuary of the ordened whilst when Mimsi and Thordak tried to walk through they were at first blocked before the writing on the stone was added to magically to say their race in their recognised language. During this time, Olympia tried to carve her name into the stone which hit her with a strange lazered beam that erupted from a mouth in the stone. Olympia then tried a second time to do it again at which point an eye appeared in the stone and struck with EXTREMELY heavy damage. So the party left Olympia outside with Amrys to protect her whilst they investigated the 'sanctuary'.  Within these stones was a temple seemingly on another plane of existence, seperate from the circle of stones in The Mammoth Peaks. This temple had a series of benches set out, the ceiling was limitless with clouds and a sky magically placed above (very Harry Potter-esque) as well as several orbs of glowing magical energy circling 80ft above the party. Finally, at the end of the hall, there was a large stained glass window of gorgeous art depicting an angry and violent Hobgoblin holding a large and cruel sword in one hand and the head of a still screaming Elf in the other. Underneath this image was a simple slate that said the words Vorugal the Devourer. The party learned through a successful history check that Vorugal is a former hobgoblin warlord who believed the key to power and strength was devouring the essence of his enemies. Due to this, when his clan would declare war against a creature or even another clan, they would then celebrate their victory with a feast subsisting on the corpses of those they defeated.  Vorugal was powerful and feared to such an extent that he waged war on some of the most powerful creatures across the multiverse... most notably, the Lady of Pain and her revenant champion Drahz Grymhook , however, Vorugal's own gluttony killed him in the end as he and his clan fought a creature known as 'the growing' a champion of the demonic prince of fungi Zuggtmoy. It was an epic, earth shaking battle. But soon enough Vorugal was victorious, however, upon consuming the creature, he was infected with one of Zuggtmoy's many diseases and he was transported to the abyss where Zuggtmoy handed him over to the lady of pain who promptly imprisoned him in one of her spires of punishment.  The party lost interest in this window soon after learning this and focused instead on a golden bowl in the centre of the room set on a plinth, the bowl had the words 'Donations Expected' emblazoned upon it. Thordak flicked a gold piece into the bowl which promptly seemed to spit it out and Fen concluded the bowl would likely desire blood due to it's link to Vorugal.  Kodo was the first to offer up blood by pricking his finger and letting a single drop fall into the bowl where it promptly disappeared as though absorbed. But nothing else seemed to happen leading the others to leave the temple whilst Fen stayed behind, worried that their lack of donation would harm them.  When the party left, Fen decided to give some blood to the bowl and, upon giving enough, was rewarded with a boon. At which point he started to give more and more blood to receive a wide variety of boons including a mote of knowledge, a golden light within Fen that he can use to ask the dm a question and receive an honest and detailed answer.  The party waited outside for a time and set up camp before Amrys walked in to fetch Fen and decided to join him in giving blood, receiving more boons and magical items... this then led to Olympia also taking part until they'd all given so much blood that the font closed and announced 'that is enough, I'm full, Lady, I will be visiting soon.' Upon returning, Kodo remarked upon the pale faces and features of those who had given blood and the party decided to continue travelling to attempt to reach Edmonton before night fell.  As they travelled, the party saw a giant fighting off several white, winged creatures by hurling boulders at them as they snapped and focused on him. The party asked the giant if he needed help and, with his grunted affirmation, they jumped into action.  It was not an easy battle, with the dragon's breath weapons causing SIGNIFICANT damage to the party early on and many of the party being unable to take part due to their melee nature (with Thordak, Amrys, Mimsi and Kodo having to bait the dragons lower or rely on Fen and Olympia) however, with Mimsi and Kodo using their step of the wind and stunning strike skills in an epic example of monk-ness, they soon brought the dragons down to the other party members and the tide VERY QUICKLY started to turn.  During this time, Thordak brutally killed several dragon wyrmlings and marked their blood on his body as he entered a crazed and frenzied rage that the party found concerning and uncomfortable throughout.  Eventually, the party culled the dragons and spoke to the giant who revealed his name was Fognal Ice-Weaver and that he was from the last standing Ord camp in the mammoth peaks that hadn't yet been taken and brought under the rule of Queen Frey. Fognal was hoping to hunt and cull more dragons to increase his reputation as a warrior of the giants so that he could join them in an upcoming asssault.  He also then mentioned that he was hoping that his increase in rank would impress the chief enough to grant Fognal the chance to marry his daughter.  The party discussed for a time what they desired and eventually they asked the giant how logn ago Edmonton was destroyed and whether he can guide them there.  The giant did not known the answer to the first question but agreed to guide them. At which point, Fen decided to use his mote of knolwdge from the sacrifice bowl to know exactly how long it had been since Edmonton was destoryed. He learnt it was 1 year and 4 months ago.  With this new information in mind, the party PANICKED and decided to move at double speed to wards Edmonton where the giant revealed Freyfrost Aist mages had involved themselves in the town and taken it under control on one half whilst the other half belonged to the feral gnomes that took it.  The party approached and saw that they were guided through the forests by Fognall which brought them to the outside of the village where they could spot a guards outpost with some Aist mages and dragonborn warriors there. They discussed planning for a time as Kodo tried to speak to some ravens to work out if they had seen Pawcaw anywhere, the ravens revealed that they had not and Kodo gave them some food as thanks. The party discussed a couple of different plans including pretending to be Aist mages and individuals that wished to become a part of the aist states as well as walking into the village with spells blazing and fighting their way through their investigations. Eventually the party decided to take a long rest and re-assess in the morning.

Report Date

17 Apr 2021

Secondary Location

Edmonton