Session 22: Kindred Spirit Report

General Summary

Long story short, the party completely DESOLATE the purple worm, as Donevan joins in the fight halfway through, summoning his axe like the God of Thunder, and Averel teleporting the worm's stomach 20 feet away whilst inside it, causing its digestive, bloody, palpitating flesh sac to roll to the ground of the arena as the worm is forcefully split in two. It can do nothing but writhe as Donevan stops it in its tracks and Averel finishes it off, pressing his ignited flame tongue between its scales and waiting for the squirming to stop. The horrified chieftain surrenders his Orc army and allows his prisoners to have their weapons back. Tony, still in shock from holding back a 20 tonne creature, enters a temporary stasis mode, helpfully flung in a bag by the Ettin and handed to the party like a carnival prize. Donevan questions the chieftain about the hilt they stole from the Harbinger II and learns that a very stereotypical wizard attempted to purchase it a number of weeks ago but was declined as he offered too little. After the chieftain recounted that the wizard left all too contentedly, he grows suspicious and asks to see the hilt for himself, which he quickly deduces to be a fake. By this point, everyone is sick and tired of searching for this thing, but they know they have to carry on. So by pressing the chieftain (who is now going through his midlife crisis upon realising the wizard duped him) for more information, he learns that the wizard was commissioned by a Lord Herrenglen of Everen, who they, after a surprising amount of time, figure out lives at Herrenglen Castle. Leaving the chief to wallow, they set off north for the border, into the stomping grounds of Barontyne himself. Set across the Duerdeen Bridge, which connects the Forgotten Wealds to the neighbouring country of Everen over the river of the same name, is an ongoing skirmish between rebels and Imperial guards, though it seems to be not much of a fight anymore as the rebels continue to slaughter their enemies despite their surrender. The rebel leader is adamant that what they're doing is righteous. But the party aren't ... and so off they go killing again! They murk all but one rebel soldier, who they keep as a mediator for the surviving Imperial guard, who rewards them with potions, a scroll and a magic amulet for their help. Up at Herrenglen Castle, the party learn from the Goblin butler of the residence that Lord Herrenglen left with the hilt quite a number of days ago, as he figured that the hilt of Donevan Corsair's sword would act as a good luck charm in battle against his rival, the Duke of Geldwyn. Upon realising that Herrenglen was a worshipper of Ax, Donevan asks to use his prayer room to contact the God of War himself, so he can ask where to find the sword. However, his contact with the divine being is interrupted as he ends up in a corrupted demiplane of purple darkness. At the end of a cold, stone corridor is Donevan's God, shifting in and out of reality, and crying for help, as the paladin is whisked around and met face to face with a creature with purple eyes. When he finally does get to speak to Ax, the God of War tells him that it's probably nothing to be worried about, and in regards of Lord Herrenglen, yeah.. he's most certainly dead. Left no choice but to keep on movin' on, the party traverse further up the Alta-Nova Coast to Tor Angemacht, the site of the battlefield, where they find all of the bodies of the participants stripped of armour and weapons. On the other side of the field is a trundling wagon that seems to be picking up the last of the weapons to be melted down, belonging to the Halflings of the Spinefoot Gold Mine further north. With nothing to lose, the party decide to follow it close behind, up into the snowy mountains of the Evrean Highlands. When the cart stops, the party is almost immediately cornered by the mine's owner, a grumpy but scrappy Halfling and his Dwarven guards. Rostliem ends up paying him a lump sum of 300gp for information on where the hilt might be, leading the Halfling to tell them he already sold it to a merchant from Sota about a week ago now, and for quite the price too. And so, on the road again, I guess, for the Masters of the Nine Elements. As they enter into the Ambrose Canopy on their way to Sota, the bittering winds of Harfn'vel seem to leave them as the tropical weather and humid air of the jungle take root. Here, they can hear the rustle of the underbrush and the sing of the thrush birds in the trees. In a quaint Treetop village, the party find the Lymins Tribe, Rostliem's people whom he left to go adventuring all those months ago. The village elder, Xlourdinscklærn Lvdordspsp - an Elf almost as old as time itself - greets the party and has a laugh with them. He beckons Rostliem and his friends to stay for a while, as the festival of the Harfnic Equinox is fast approaching, and it would be a nice opportunity for the Wood Elf to catch up with his tribe. The party accept his offer and stay the night, waking up early the next morning to grant their assistance in setting up the festival in any way they can. They are then consequently sent on a series of quests that take them to an infested, serpentine temple in the heart of the jungle for the healing sap of an ancient tree, a nearby waterfall and home of the great Marid genie Heolele'kemo'kua'a, who grants the party one single wish (which Rostliem uses to collect a pint of holy water from the lake for the festival), and finally the volcanic nest of an angry Fire Elemental, who, before even getting a turn in combat, is smited by the fury of the entire Plane of Water as Rostliem unleashes the water cube of death upon his poor, unfortunate soul. All he can do is pray as 22,441 imperial gallons of water crush him and turn every fibre of his body to hardened obsidian, taking a total of 162,380 damage in the process - a new record! Leaving every other Fire Elemental ever to grovel and beg for their meaningless lives, the team gallivant back to camp as it's PARTY TIME! The feast is laid out atop the Great Tree, the lutes of the bards cry out into the jungle and the village children excitedly chase each other among its branches and rickety walkways. But just as one of the Elders rises to give a toast to Neryn, the merriments are interrupted by a hostile troop of Mesilist invaders. Combining the Tet Offensive with the Anniston bus firebombing, the invaders begin their ascent up the tree whilst others set its stump alight with no care for the consequences whatsoever, waiting for the Griffon Cavalry to arrive. They quickly surround the camp and engage in combat with the party and their Elven companions - a great battle cut short by the insane combo of Rostliem evoking nature's wrath on the Imperial soldiers, entangling them in vines, and Xlourdinscklærn mustering the only power he has left to disintegrate the vast majority of them on the Great Tree. The battle is resolved as the rest flee the jungle, though Xlourdinscklærn Lvdordspsp lay dying. He beckons Rostliem over and in his last few moments makes him promise that he will save the realm from evil as a child of the Au'ori and bring balance to the forces of nature and civilisation, before gazing into the stars as his soul becomes part of the Great Tree forevermore. Rostliem reaches his potential and gains the 'Kindred Spirit' ability.