Session 74: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Plague Fields
General Summary
After a long rest, during which Nemara zapped into her Grimoire and found herself face-to-face with a smug archangel, Trislee and Lins gathered their gear, ordered their Golem follower to bring up the rear, and retraced their steps.
They splashed back down into the lower levels of the dungeon, and approached the exit. However, leading the party, Lins nearly bruised her nose on an invisible wall.
Stepping back, they heard a deranged voice tut-tutting them.
"Not thinking of leaving, are you? You've been so very entertaining. I just couldn't think of letting you go, especially with those little baubles of mine. And since you eliminated all of my guardians, why, you'll simply have to... take their places. I'll have to ask you to leave all of your ridiculous weapons behind and let Nix and Nox here escort you to the Indoctrination Centre. I'd be most disappointed if you cause me any trouble and Nix and Nox have to... eliminate you. Don't worry... you'll like it here."
The party, of course, had no intention of becoming the next memory-wiped guardians of White Plume Mountain, and as two mighty Efreet filled the corridor with a burning presence, Lins summoned a chill shield and Trislee began casting a spell.
She hurled her first Banishment at Nix, who brushed it aside as if its pull to the plane of fire were a child tugging at his elbow. As Nox laughed at her failed attempt, she rapid-fired a second banishment at the second efreet - who, unprepared, disappeared to his native plane in a flash of fire.
The battle was on. The remaining efreet summoned a lesser elemental which still managed to fill the corridor and ignite both the heroes and panic their golem. In his flailing, however, Number Nine was remarkably effective, battering at the creatures with his fists while Trislee and Lins wielded Wave and Whelm against the evil creatures.
When the last of them disappeared, its scimitar clattering into the simmering water, they doused themselves from Trislee's decanter, and disintergrated the wall of force between them and freedom.
Whelm was less than enthusiastic about leaving the mountain, but his agoraphobia was tempered by enthusiasm for adventures yet to come. The view from the mountainside was unobstructed in the morning light. A tangle of thorny forest hugged the mountain, giving way to leafier forests, then plains and crags, and far in the distance, the flat, deep-blue twinkling of the Nyr Dyv. Somewhere on its coast, they knew, was Alhaster, city of scum, and the staging grounds for the enemy's final move.
The party dressed their wounds, checked their rations, gawked at the treasure overflowing from their packs, and set out for Alhaster.
They realized quickly that walking would take at least four days, and polymorphed Nine into a giant eagle. Lins soared along on eagleback while Trislee ran through the air in her boots of flying. Their familiars flew a circuit, scouting as they went to keep direction.
AFter a while, they noticed a change in the environment. The ground below them had a yellow cast to it, and the plant life, from trees to grasses, was withered and rotting. After around ten miles of this terrain, the familiars spotted something at first comforting, and then unnerving. A village; hopelessly delapidated and still. No, Zara corrected after a moment, there were creatures there; zombies and skeletons mostly, but they were aimless, not seeming to follow any directive.
Trislee ran ahead, pausing over the village centre. Below her, she saw the undead listlessly pantomiming everyday actions; sweeping a step, hanging laundry, milling flour on millworks long since crumbled to nothing. It was unnerving, and she decided it would be best not to engage with it. She searched her memory for any spell that might have caused this, but couldn't think of any with the capacity or the power to affect such a large area. A magic item, perhaps? or a curse? They were in The Empire of Iuz, after all.
They hurried on, and spotted a road leading from the village, suprisingly well-maintained. The light was fading fast, though, and with the forest long since rotted away to barren scrubland, they found a spot some distance away from the road to make camp. They wouldn't risk a fire, but with the unsleeping golem standing watch and Wave's weapon of warning properties, they bunked down for a much-needed rest.
morning of the 8th of Reaping, 595 CY
Report Date
06 Jun 2023
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