The Adventures of the Big HELP, Session 21

General Summary

• The Big HELP mustered up the courage to try to find a way to pass around the corrupted water in Singor Forest. Hest investigated the water and determined that it was corrupted by some unnatural force and would poison anyone who touched it. Petrichor kept the party safe using her Water Walk spell. The HELP walked to an island in the middle of the stinky water and found a spring of pure water. Hest took some of the water and filled her Everfull Flask with it. She poured the water into the corrupted water. The first drops of water purified a small section of the corruption but the infinite water of the flask was not enchanted and offered no further purification.

• The HELP traveled north from the corrupted lake and found a temple nestled in the forest. The outer iconography danced with images of nature while the inside was decorated with statues of ancient warriors, suggesting it was dedicated to both Sindara and Gorthag at some point. Inside, the HELP found several dead clerics of Gorthag. Larka determined they couldn't have died more than a day or two ago. Bigwig investigated the clerics and found signs they were attacked by vines. She also looted them and picked up a magic amulet Hest determined could be used for talking to the dead. The HELP also realized that any corruption from the water they walked on burned away from their boots when entering the temple. 

• An altar sat in the room, also engraved with runes. Larka wanted the pillow on top of the altar but Hest suggested it could be used for something. She tried to figure out how the altar worked but needed Ravenna's help. Ravenna said the altar was used by clerics to identify magic items as a service for visitors. Bigwig used it on the amulet and learned it was an Amulet of Speak with Dead. She used it to talk to one of the dead clerics. He didn't seem to know anything about the corrupted forest. He and the others were traveling to Valadris to heal a burn victim when they were recalled by Father Darvus to help defend the Church of Gorthag. They were killed while cutting through the forest. The HELP wondered if the burn victim could have been Estella Vidine.

• The Big HELP continued on until the saw the corrupted myconid chieftain. The myconid had veins visible with corruption and a creature, looking like the upper half of a humanoid, made of inky blackness seemed to sprout from its head. It pounded its staff and several other corrupted myconids emerged from the ground, some merging with a corpse flower. The HELP decided this was too great a threat to ignore and Bigwig charged in. Larka found her psionic abilities muffled and unusable. She and Hest fought from behind while Bigwig and Petrichor took on the myconids directly. Hest's wild magic surged early in the battle and she found herself permanently sober for the next 24 days, a tattoo reading "SOBER" emblazoned in red on her forehead. 

• The battle was hard fought. Larka managed to break through the mental fog and further unlock psionic powers. Bigwig and Petrichor fought throught the myconids but were nearly overwhelmed by the corpse flower. The corpse flower consumed the bodies trapped within it but was no match for Hest's Blight magic and it whithered away. Petrichor reached out to one of the myconids and used Lesser Restoration, temporarily purifying it. The myconid asked them to help the chieftain. Petrichor tried to use the same trick on the cheiftain but found her magic wasn't strong enough. Close up, the HELP saw the inky black creature looked vaguely like a vargar and wondered if this was what had become of Windtooth after being crushed. 

• The HELP knocked Chieftain Grune unconscious but weren't able to remove the corruption creature. They carried him back to the temple where the creature was forced by the holy power of the temple into submission. The temple had been in a sunny spot and, to protect Grune and the other myconid, Hest had to maintain a spell of Darkness. This set off a wild magic sure that caused her to think all food provided by others was poisoned. In the temple, Grune briefly regained consciousness to tell the HELP about a ritual of purification. If they could find the five springs of pure water and combine water samples from each, the other myconids could perform the ritual and completely cleanse Grune.

• The HELP, with only a couple minutes of Water Walk available, returned to the spring they had found earlier. Larka found another hidden behind a door of vines. A third spring was frozen solid by a frost nymph who only unfreeze the spring if the HELP defeated a Shambling Mound that had been stealing from the spring. The HELP agreed but realized they were too tired to fight the mound. They returned to the temple, verified that Grune would survive if they rested, and set up camp. Hest was wary of food prepared by others.

• Before calling it a night, the party heard a knock on the door. Hest asked who it could be and the familiar voice of Oten joined her out of nowhere. Larka spent some time testing her psionic daggers on him to no avail. Oten apologized for not being there for Hest when she died and suggested that he manipulated the Reincarnation to make sure she didn't come back as a male troll. Hest was distrustful of Oten, even when he mentioned that her parents had asked him to be her guardian on the night of her birth. Oten commended Hest on the control of her Wild Magic but worried that it was growing more and more out of control. He offered her a chance to control the storm within her and silence her Wild Magic. 

• Oten told Hest about a charm he had placed in her house. It took the form of a shield with a gemstone set in the middle. This charm had helped hide her Wild Magic until it got to powerful. Now, it contained a message for her from her father and would unlock a path to controlling her Wild Magic. When Hest asked why her father couldn't just tell her the message, Oten explained that her father had asked for the memory to be wiped. He wanted to offer more help, but said he wasn't allowed to interfere further and that he was being watched. A thunderclap rocked the temple, distracting everyone while Oten disappeared.

Report Date

03 Jun 2024