Session 85 - Fire and Mist on the Wind

6 Numont 1011

General Summary

Searching the bodies of the knights, they find some general loot, but the leader has the major items. The magic boots are Boots of Striding and Springing, which sadly require attunement. The key, they guess, goes to the safe in the Menagerie room, and the metal loop does in fact appear to be part of the Orrery.
When they revive the knight that was incapacitated, they begin to question him on why he is here. He explains that he worked for the leader, who in turn is working for the Wizard. His job is to kill anyone that comes around the floating river. The party tries to narrow down how he got here, and eventually they work out that he has been in the dungeon for hundreds of years based on when he came here. As they work to understand if he can be removed from the dungeon, it appears he absolutely does not want to leave his post. It becomes clear that he has lost control of his will. In the end, they decide to leave him behind.
At this point they begin debating again what they should do. The sword they have found is clearly very powerful, and seems to be chaotic, and intent on hurrying the return of all matter and energy to the void of negative enegy from which they came. They bring it back out and talk to it. It seems happy that all three weapons are back together, though it does not totally agree with their purposes. The Trident wants to return to the sea, the Axe seeks a worthy Dwarf to wield it, and the Sword seeks to destroy everything. As much as they want to follow through on their agreement with the Oni, this sword's disposition makes them nervous.
Eventually they decide to have Elincia scout out the cave area and see what is waiting for them outside. As they approach the area where the stairs to the cave were, Fleshy stops. It seems he is unable or unwilling to go any further. Leo, sad, but also kind of OK with letting Fleshy go, tells him to go back to the primes, to hang out with his friends. Fleshy does this.
The party heads down the hallway, and finds things a bit different. Instead of the area where the stairs were, they enter a large, well-furnished room. In the large room are three large creatures, reminiscent of Genies with red skin - Efreeti. There is also a big comfy couch (one of the Efreet is sitting on it), a hookah, and a big table with a nice meal. They hear from their surroundings an announcement that they will turn over all the items they have gathered from the dungeon, and begin their work defending the dungeon from future adventurers. The party does not think this sounds like a good idea and combat breaks out!
Stavos strides forward to engage with the first Efreet. The first Efreet summons a fire elemental, right near Stavos. Leo casts Forcecage on the Efreet furthest away, removing him from the fight. Meanwhile, the second Genie moves to engage the rest of the party and summons a second Fire Elemental. The first Fire Elemental moves onto multiple party members to create a painful whirlwind of fire. Each time the party strikes it at close quarters, they get burned in the process. Seraphina mightily smites the Efreet near her. Elincia uses Absorb Elements, to minimize the fiery damage induced by the elemental. Leo sidesteps, and blasts an elemental, trying to take advantage of the fact that he doesn't get burned in the process, but accidentally makes a tempting line of party members.
One of the Fire Elementals destroyed by this time, one Efreet casts a Fire Wall, dividing the room in two, placing the wall on top of several of the party members, while also splitting the combat in two. All but Stavos move to the north side of the Fire Wall, so it isn't clear to the party how his fight is going. They mostly concentrate their efforts on the Efreet that put up the Fire Wall. Stavos is doing just fine though as by the time the first Efreet and elemental go down, his fight with the other Efreet is over.
As the party rests while awaiting the Forcecage to come down, they discuss the approach to exiting this dungeon further. Resolved in their plans, they prepare for the emergence of the other Efreet. With the whole party concentrated on the one Efreet, the fight goes quickly and without any major issues. No new doors appear in the room, but the door they entered through re-opens/re-appears. When they head back that way, they find themselves once again in the familiar entryway for the dungeon, with the staircase rising as originally found.
Heading carefully up the steps, they find the "hatch" closed. Working quietly, they lift it enough for Elincia in spider form to work her way into the cave. She finds it much as it was. Muddy, with intermittent cold air, and hot steam blasting back and forth as if the mountain were breathing. Posted midway to the entrance, she sees a miserable looking Kobold, left to keep watch. Exploring past the Kobold, she finds a curious scene in the valley below. In addition to the Oni's ogre camp, there is now a second camp nearby it with Orcs and the banners of King Thar, while more tents are kobolds are alongside the ogre camp, possibly some of King Kol's army. Much closer to the cave entrance is a group of Ogres on the side they had approached from, and on the other side, a similar group of Orcs - they seem to be paying more attention to each other than the cave.
Elincia returns down the hatch, resumes normal form, and reports what she saw. The party is alarmed by the increased military presence awaiting them, and formulates a different plan. They will utilize Wind Walk to slip unnoticed from the cave, and speed off back to civilization. While they do feel guilt about leaving the Oni high and dry, there was no guarantee that they would survive the ordeals. Perhaps they can bring his gold share to him (but not the sword of destruction).
The casting does not go unnoticed by the Kobold above - hearing sounds it approaches the hatch nervously, calling out questioningly if it's the party and are they alive. At the mist that then billows up and past him, he laments that they have been boiled!

Report Date

09 Mar 2024