Session X - Blood and Thunder
5th of Tororima, 560 AL
After being told of Donovan's plans to conquer the northern forests for Zivilon's recognition -- a plan that would be fulfilled with the help of Gale and a host of reinforcements -- the party resolves to take his company down. Astra reels from the revelation that they were likely one of the eggs that were stolen from the Valley of Denouement by Zivil forces decades ago, with the rest being destroyed alongside their parents. Cornelius joins Astra in seeking the aid of the Brood of the Grey Wolf in destroying Donovan's group.
Cornelius and Astra venture into the Valley and enter the lair of the Brood of the Grey Wolf. Their weapons and spell focuses are stripped from them upon entry. A lantern-wielding wolf silently leads them inwards.
Inside, the lair splits into multiple cavern passages. The antechamber seems to be a waste-filled cave that leads into a much more brightly lit area beyond. The light is coming from some massive underground source that seems to defy the cave's depth. It hangs above a vast valley landscape that Cornelius and Astra are overlooking from a large promontory cliffside. Their wolf guide leads them to a collection of roughshod huts near the bottom of the promontory. They enter and are greeted by a strange creature fussing around the interior.
They meet Frangrall the Dispatcher, an upright direwolf standing on two legs with a large raven's head fused to the back of his neck. The head speaks with the chattering voices of other people. Frangrall's back has an extra pair of prehensile arms covered in black feathers. The monster greets them warmly, saying that Jorunn had already spoken highly of them and their deeds.
Astra asks for the Brood's help in destroying their common enemy: Donovan, whose ambitions involve further harm to the forest. Frangrall agrees, telling them of a time when he was "but a pup" and Zivil men with large mortars came storming through the Valley. Astra confirms that Donovan was one of those men. The Dispatcher tells them that he will assemble a group of warriors to aid them, and nets to take down their flying adversaries. The party members thank him and head deeper into the cave as they await his preparations.
Deeper into the cave, the air begins to grow warmer, dryer, and filled with smoke. Cornelius feels his fire staff, Herod, awake at his side. The staff asks him to bring him deeper into the cave towards the heat source. Cornelius agrees.
At the very end of the cave passage lies a bubbling stream of lava surrounded by a volcanic rock chamber. An anomalous sight in the Plane of Moss. Herod excitedly asks Cornelius to dip his crystal into the lava. Reluctantly, Cornelius agrees. As the crystal enters the molten rock, it glows a fiery red and Herod goes silent. When the staff is removed, Herod seems to be rejuvenated. The staff of fire is operational once more.
Astra and Cornelius return to the Dispatcher after a brief conversation with some of the cave wolves. Frangrall has assembled four direwolves with two sets of net weapons each. They all wear segmented half-plate armor to protect themselves. At the pair's behest, Frangrall also explains his strange hybrid raven body: he was cursed by the Grey Wolf -- their living deity -- after he betrayed the Brood many years ago. With that information and the direwolf soldiers, the Brood's debt to the party for saving Jorunn has been repaid.
The pair, alongside their four direwolf soldiers, leave the Brood's lair. They find their equipment mysteriously returned to them at the cave's entrance halfway buried in a mossy dirt pile.
Meanwhile, Strattora , Melinoe, and Flint restlessly keep watch in their prison-like underground tavern room in Lausang. They are repeatedly awoken by footsteps and Flint's alarm spell, which triggers when any member of Donovan's group passes the hallway outside of their room. Seven different alarm triggers are recorded that night, which seems to be a slightly larger number than the party accounted for. They don't make a move yet, waiting for Astra and Cornelius to return. Eventually, when the pair have climbed back up to the village, they receive a message from Cornelius. He frantically tells them that Donovan's group is taking the cable car down into the Valley. Immediately bursting out of their room, the three party members exit the tavern and notice that the establishment's guard has been put to sleep. They sneak up the lift to the village's treetop walkways and enter the woods outside of it, where they finally reunite with Astra and Cornelius. Donovan's group has boarded the cable car and begun their descent into the Valley.
The reunited party spots another group of five individuals closely tracking the movements of the cable car. They seem to be allies of Donovan's group, bearing the same tarnished Skandan emblems. Flint veils the party in a pass without trace spell and the party gives chase to the cable car, jumping down the cliffside boulders. They outpace the other party, passing them without them noticing. Astra picks up Strattora, and as the party catches up to Donovan's cable car, she prepares a shatter spell.
Strattora and Astra land on the cable car's rail. The three-foot wide brass line is barely enough to fit the two. Donovan forcefully breaks out of the cable car and takes flight, charging at the pair. He wields a massive scattershot mortar with a bayonette and shield welded to it. A Skandan cleric joins Donovan against Astra and Strattora. In the next ten seconds, a flurry of spells, counterspells, and mortar blasts ring out in the battle.
Flint, Melinoe, and Cornelius fan out on the cliffside, blasting spells at the remnants of Donovan's group. Cornelius sends a fireball from the newly rejuvenated staff of fire directly into the cable car's cabin. Flint blesses the party with defenses against mind-altering spells.
Donovan's cleric charges a terrible fiery energy, unleashing a wall of fire along the rail at Strattora and Astra. The wall freezes in time to the confusion of the cleric. Cornelius counterspells the flames and the spell dissolves.
Cornelius hears muffled screams from a nearby hut. He discovers, bound and gagged, Evernir and the tiefling that the party had spoken to the previous night at the tavern. He works on freeing the two of them.
Strattora is chased away by the spellcasters of Donovan's group -- she fends off multiple at once before conjuring powerful lightning blasts upon the cliffside.
The cleric is killed by Astra's mortar shot as they look Donovan in the eye.
Gale attempts to turn invisible, but as he reaches the cliffside he engages Cornelius in combat, blasting him with lightning and thunder from his staff. Cornelius goes down and Flint rushes to his aid, barely able to make it to his side. Melinoe sees Cornelius fall and channels a mass of dark energy to send a blight spell to Gale. It devours him, leaving him within an inch of his life.
One by one, Donovan's group falls. The direwolves attack from the west, scattering the rest of his group. Donovan jets around the battlefield laying down blasts of his mortar on every combatant. His group is left with only a few members.
Astra looks Donovan in the eye and shoots Gale with their mortar. The genasi slumps to the ground, dead.
As the tiefling prisoner is freed, he screams and transforms into a wolven form; the same werewolf creature that the party had met earlier in the bogs. It laughs triumphantly as it rips itself free from its tiefling flesh. Evernir immediately flees the battlefield with her rope trick spell.
Donovan roars and attempts to retrieve the corpse as he careens through the battlefield. He grabs Gale's body and lands onto the thin brass rail of the cable car, thousands of feet above the valley floor.
In a moment of realization, Cornelius looks at the werewolf. He looks at the rail on which Donovan stands. The werewolf catches his glance and nods with a slow, bloodthirsty smile. Cornelius warps the creature directly next to the fleeing Donovan.
Distracted, Donovan whips his head around to the wolf. Astra takes aim one last time and sends a bullet through his chest. Donovan, clutching Gale, falls off the precipice and is taken by the darkness below.
In the next several seconds, the rest of Donovan's group is finished off. They fall upon the cliffside or into the Valley of Denouement. The werewolf, seeing the importance of Gale and Donovan, grins at the party. It then leaps onto the teetering, flaming wreckage, buckling the weakened rail and sending the destroyed cabin down into the valley below with it. It howls in a maddening jubilation as it falls into the dark.
The party, wanting the equipment on the bodies of the deserters, prepare to descend into the valley. They summon their gliders and slow the descent of their falling direwolf companions. The nine of them all drift slowly down through the mists to the valley below.
At the bottom of the valley, light fades. A fiery wreckage gleams in the darkness: the cable car. The werewolf has resurrected from the fall, vines stitching its wounds closed. It holds the bodies of Donovan and Gale. The creature glances up at the descending party and gives them a devilish smile.
Deeper into the cave, the air begins to grow warmer, dryer, and filled with smoke. Cornelius feels his fire staff, Herod, awake at his side. The staff asks him to bring him deeper into the cave towards the heat source. Cornelius agrees.
Meanwhile, Strattora , Melinoe, and Flint restlessly keep watch in their prison-like underground tavern room in Lausang. They are repeatedly awoken by footsteps and Flint's alarm spell, which triggers when any member of Donovan's group passes the hallway outside of their room. Seven different alarm triggers are recorded that night, which seems to be a slightly larger number than the party accounted for. They don't make a move yet, waiting for Astra and Cornelius to return. Eventually, when the pair have climbed back up to the village, they receive a message from Cornelius. He frantically tells them that Donovan's group is taking the cable car down into the Valley. Immediately bursting out of their room, the three party members exit the tavern and notice that the establishment's guard has been put to sleep. They sneak up the lift to the village's treetop walkways and enter the woods outside of it, where they finally reunite with Astra and Cornelius. Donovan's group has boarded the cable car and begun their descent into the Valley.
The reunited party spots another group of five individuals closely tracking the movements of the cable car. They seem to be allies of Donovan's group, bearing the same tarnished Skandan emblems. Flint veils the party in a pass without trace spell and the party gives chase to the cable car, jumping down the cliffside boulders. They outpace the other party, passing them without them noticing. Astra picks up Strattora, and as the party catches up to Donovan's cable car, she prepares a shatter spell.
"They wanted blood and fire. We'll give them blood and thunder."StrattoraIn a flash, the shatter spell is cast. The roof of the cable car is immediately caved in, killing several members of Donovan's group instantly. A horrible grating noise echoes out from the wrecked cabin as the brass contraption comes to a halt. Donovan and Gale immediately jump out of the cabin and onto the thin tracks that hang precariously over the massive drop into the Valley of Denouement. The gauntlet has been thrown.
Strattora and Astra land on the cable car's rail. The three-foot wide brass line is barely enough to fit the two. Donovan forcefully breaks out of the cable car and takes flight, charging at the pair. He wields a massive scattershot mortar with a bayonette and shield welded to it. A Skandan cleric joins Donovan against Astra and Strattora. In the next ten seconds, a flurry of spells, counterspells, and mortar blasts ring out in the battle.
In the next several seconds, the rest of Donovan's group is finished off. They fall upon the cliffside or into the Valley of Denouement. The werewolf, seeing the importance of Gale and Donovan, grins at the party. It then leaps onto the teetering, flaming wreckage, buckling the weakened rail and sending the destroyed cabin down into the valley below with it. It howls in a maddening jubilation as it falls into the dark.
