26.0 - Meet Me In The Woods

Plot points/Scenes

Recap

Bargaining with Asriya. She only agrees to loosen the bonds on the demon. Holg and Kilith argue.
Ritual. Try and hold concentration. Attack.
Ritual is a success, but it pushes Asriya to her limits and she is very fatigued. She still manages to conjure a "mansion" for them to sleep in for the night. Day 30.

Current Day

Flora Cycle Day 30. Last day of the cycle.

Late Night/Early morning

Small quakes begin in set intervals, about 1 minute apart. Noticable after about 4 hours by high passive perception. At about 6 hours later, everyone can feel the quakes.
Korinth is not in his coin, but he does still choose to remain hidden until needed.
Asriya's door is closed, but not locked. She does not reply at a knock, and a DC15 perception check will hear muttering. When they open the door, they find her standing in the center of the large, yet very empty, room. She looks completely disheveled; her outer mantle is off, hair is unwinding, and doesn't look like she slept much at all. This means her pendant is visible; identical to Viran's brooch.
She's surrounded by floating books arranged to be facing in toward her. A group of them arranged together makes the full image of a summoning circle. Many of the books are dripping blood into small puddles on the ground.
What are the books? They are all about the various research and rituals about the Amalgamation, and the bloody ones are specifically any details about the demon written or gathered by the others who were a part of the Lashing. She's looking into how to alter the Lashing on the demon for Kilith.
They will need to try and get her attention. She won't notice the quakes until someone points it out. "That doesn't make any sense... How could there be...?" She then goes to the hallway and "opens" the door.
Outside is not the garden plains they were in hours ago. There's a bit of overgrown ground right at the doorway, but beyond that is a swirling mass of magic. Darkness illuminated by flahses of fire twining itself around streams of non-elemental magic streams, rocks and chunks of ice and other indescernable material float and sometimes rocket by, the occaisonal twisted and alien creature is seen—sometimes alive, sometimes seemlingly a corpse.
Asriya stares speechless for a moment. She pulls out a small glass marble that swirls with the 6 colors of elemental magic. Then laughs. She seems a little off her rocker. "What did I miss? Why didn't it work?"
And then vines shoot up and grab her around the waist and left wrist. Enter "initiative".
The Zaratan is pissed that anyone would try to capture it, and now that the party's safe haven has been opened it can reach in and grab them all, pull them tight and kill them with acid.
"Mortal. Compels me, the force of Natur, only. Fixed now, the seal, and need not stay as funnel for magic. Stay no longer, would I."
Vah and any water magic has an advantage here.
It ignores Atani.

---

The vines are a grapple, athletics or acrobatics check DC20 to escape. Alternatively, they have can be destroyed/chopped/etc, 5HP or other judgement.
If they do not escape within the turn they were grappled, they will be yanked outside onto the back of the Zaratan, where they will start to feel the sizzle of the acid and the next turn they will take 4d6 acid damage.
Asriya will suggest they get off of this thing. No, she doesn't know how they got there or how the elemental escaped the Lashing.
Either Kallista or Korinth can open a rift. If Korinth opens it, directions must be pretty explicit or he'll take them to his home first. Kallista:
DC 20 Sanity check

• success = Wherever she thought of going
• failure = roll 1d6
• 1. Mist Glen, Ånd's shrine.
  2. Vindoars
  3. Svartgrube
  4. Vira's Rest
  5. Riner Is
  6. Kvelsti, right in front of her sister

Mist Glen: A mysteriously protected and secluded glen in the eastern half of Grenntok Jungle. It is permanently shrouded in mist and no animals venture to its pond. Though, both sunlight and moonlight leave stunning light beams in the constant mist.
Vindoars: Ravines with sheer rock surrounding them. Their voices echo through the "tunnels".
Svartgrube:
Vira's Rest:
Riner Is:
Kvelsti:

Relations

Allies

Valki, Kallsita's sister. about 5ish years younger than her (kallista's probably around 45ish?) and she's a little spontaneous and fiesty (I would assume that comes with being a tiefling.

Neutrals/Bystanders

Asriya Ingen
potential Asriya stat block: https://5e.tools/bestiary.html#zegana_ggr

Amalgama    Ataxia    Plot (Ataxia)      26.0 - Meet Me In The Woods

Protagonists

Plot type

Main Plot

Key Items

• Ånd Heart
• Ild Heart
• Natur Heart
• Otherworldly Ticker
• Demon-Lashed Coin