Session 41
General Summary
The Purifying Ward
Following alongside Mary, the Deep End descended into the Purifying Ward where darkness and the stifling smell of decay, rot, and death. Signs of battle long past litter the walls and floors. After being gently reminded of her divinely given abilities, Moira gave Widow darkvision permitting him to see the room that opened up at the base of the stairs.
Carefully progressing forward, Rani noticed a mount of flesh, metal and leather moving ever so slightly from its resting place on the ground. Informing the party and making eye contact with Mary, they all collectively struck. Soon after, however, three more mounds of stitched flesh clutching and grasping at rusty metal and worn-down leather emerged from behind blood stained curtains. Mary, Rani, Newt, and Moira were all engulfed by the mounds of flesh. Ghilani was surrounded by them in a corner... but they seemed too full to engulf him. They did, however, smack him around a bit. Widow tried quite hard to hit the creatures, but failed abysmally... he did, however, lose proficiency in everything and summon a water elemental!
While recovering from the scuffle, Rani heard the faintest noise - like something shuffling - from the room up ahead. Moving carefully, the Deep End explored what lied beyond the stained and tattered curtains. Newt and Mary poked around the collapsed remains of a circular room and found a old, worn satchel containing, what Mary said, was "the bare minimum supplies needed to keep someone alive". In another room, The Widow found an individual dressed in white, black, and maroon robes curled up on the remains of an operating table. The Widow pried a pendant from their hands, shattering and breaking some of the remains off in the process.
Ghilani and Moira found a mostly skeletal frame strapped face down by old leather shackles to an operating table. On the walls beyond, the remnants of crude "medical" equipment hung. Looking over the body, the figure is humanoid... but seems to have an added beginnings of a tail and the finger bones have been elongated into crude claw-like structures. Given Moira's recent reprimanding for taking a head, she hesitated and Ghilani suggested she ask Mary. Once Mary pieced together what Moira was asking, she easily sliced the body's head off and tossed it to Moira. The only condition being that Mary get to ask her own questions.
Emerging from the final room, Mary revealed a tattered piece of old paper with writing in the oddest version of Thieves' Cant.
Moving stealthily, Rani entered into the room at the end where she almost immediately bumped into another mass of flesh. Perhaps this hulking creature was once of the normal humanoid "configuration", but now it is a writhing mass of limbs, with fingers desperately curled around and clutching rusted weaponry. This amalgamation of humanoid creatures didn't seem to take note of Rani, but lashed out to strike at Mary - who seemed a bit less stealthy than before. Hands free of weaponry wrapped around her arm before ripping it straight from her shoulder, attaching it with surprising care to its patchwork body.
Seeing this, most of the party chose to keep their distance, while the Widow simply said "oops" and ran right for it. Advancing on it and removing one of its arms, Rani's gained the creature's attention. It attempted to rip off her arm and, when it failed, it struck multiple blows into her. It was Rani who eventually felled it and Moira heard it gurgle out: "We could have been perfect together... oh Doctor...". A small shiny stone clattered and bounced across the floor as the creature collapsed, arms ceasing to move.
Mary seems incredibly casual about the whole missing limb thing - taking to quickly gesturing with her missing arm. As Moira bandaged her shoulder, Mary seemed to release a heavy sight and stopped poking at the creature's corpse. The friend she was looking for was but one of the creature grafted into the mass of limbs. At the very least she could give her friend the release of death. Meanwhile, Newt found a caved in tunnel that could have served as an escape route. Widow found an old, ripped, and blood-stained paper with a vaguely familiar image crudely drawn on it...
Leading the group from the Purifying Ward, Mary escorted them to another entrance. She mentioned getting the group a key so that they may access Foul Carmen's as the locals do. As she headed toward's V's, Widow stopped her to speak of the creature and what she may know. She mentioned one doctor who always wore a mask. If this doctor was to continue their work, they would require substantial resources and incredible secrecy. She's not sure where exactly that would be, but she offered to pass along information to someone who may be of aid. Widow agreed.
Returning Top Side & Heading to the Dig
Moira wanted to check in with Denarya, having not spoken to her since the arrival in Carmenthia. The retired bounty hunter is dealing with a lot, but she promised to keep the part updated.
Ghilani tried to ask Four about blood witches. Does she now understand the concept of sending? Regardless of the answer, she seemed prone to rambling and kept cutting off. Ghilani did manage to gleam that there is a blood witch in the Neg'Varos bay area, "you should know where Six is", and that there is one in Caliban.
Newt informed Ravana of Callon's passing and asked why Ah'Shal hates them. After a pause, Ravana did respond. He is sorry to hear of Callon's death and is "working on resolving" the Ah'Shal situation. Travel to Caliban and... be safe.
Widow chose to spend his dream speaking with Lucille, who reluctantly agreed to keep a note to pass to Therarask when they're mad in the future...
The traveled to the dig site alongside Dr. Conway. In the morning, Rani spoke with Ulima - an elderly tortle representing her people. The lava flats are home to the Hoség-Kuzni... or, as Ulima translated, "heat crawlers". Although her people - including herself in her younger years - have fended off any stray crawlers, she doesn't wish to see them unnecessarily deserved from their tunnels beneath the lava flats. There is also an underground river that feeds the Osbéka Falls, an area of significant importance to her people as it is believed an ancient spirit, Lo'Ta, lives there. When Rani mentioned that she had to uncover the Temple, Ulima issued a warning:
"Is it really wise to uncover what was willfully covered?"If, of course, you do find the temple, Ulima suggested acting as if you know little... because the Lady of Knowledge will always know more than a mere mortal. The Deep End descended down into the dig site - a large chasm that split across the lava flats. At the bottom, they began digging (some more enthusiastically than others). After a minor seismic shake, Dr. Conway traveled up to assess the severity of oncoming seismic activity. Still at the bottom of the chasm, the party prayed to the pillar:
"Seekers of Knowledge Beg Entry to the Library of Carmenthia"After issuing prayers, the ground began to rumble and shake. Torches scattered to the ground, which splintered and cracked. Everyone began to fall and Newt, used to being able to simply fly out of situations, felt an almost unnatural force pulling him down. Rani gracefully slide down, catching herself and landing on her feet in a cavern carved from the lava flats. Newt managed to catch himself with his wings while Widow tumbled to the ground near him. Moira desperately tried to protect Ghilani from taking any damage - because he's so squishy. The ceiling above seemed to knit close, trapping the party down in the lava flats. Moira called out for the others... and only heard an odd chittering in return. In the distance... a soft teal light pulsed.
Report Date
06 May 2022
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