The Mouth of Doom: Session 30
General Summary
The Forbidden Ward: Fountain
Report Date
08 May 2021
Standing in the reading room with just a hallway between them and where they hoped the cure for the pestilence resided, the Wrenjers ready themselves for another round of battle. They would have to make their way through a stream of pure pestilence, a couple of grease spots and the wind. The demons were doing all in their power to keep them away from that room. Jarvis takes a moment, points his multipurpose tool across the room at the locked door and prays that his plan would work. Meanwhile, Artem made the first move into the hallway. As the rogue steps into the glowing green gloop, he could feel the pestilence inside him fight with the antitoxin they had consumed in the laboratory, unfortunately he falls in the grease and ends up with an arm covered with a thick layer of pestilence. He made a mad scramble back to his feet and fell back to the others. The substance Artem brought back to the group was starting to affect the others around the rogue. Sindragosa, who had been used countless times as a forward scout couldn’t stomach the pestilence any longer and succumbed to the disease thus poofing from the material plane.
With her familiar gone, Te’Leyuura allowed herself to shed a few tears before burying the guilt and moving forward. She didn’t want to be a liability in the hallway, so she moved up just enough to keep an eye on the other room and waited for a front line offense to form. So far, every time the wind would cease another Pestilence Demon would appear and create more wind. It was rather bothersome. This happened when Enya moved into the hallway, withstanding the building disease within her, and summoned her Wild Fire Spirit into the fountain room. The damage caused one of the tiny demons to lose their concentration but another one was there to recast. The stunningly beautiful and ageless warlock, Ansible, makes a prayer to her ancestors, taking flight. Vadim, the dragonborn bard, steadied himself and quickly inspired the paladin with a rousing song. With everyone else ready for the stronger and sturdier companions to move first, they could all hear creatures stirring somewhere within the fountain.
Knowing that the squishier folk were waiting for him to move in, Jarvis turns to Leofric, “When our friend arrives, he is in your charge.” Then the artificer moves through the hallway. Passing Enya on the way, he stops at the entrance and casts Sanctuary on himself. Right after Jarvis announced that someone would be joining them, the hatch on the southern side of the reading room opens and the animated armor from before strides into the room, joining the fight. “Disease detected, the Menders are under siege.” Zetwuzadi joins Jarvis in the pestilence filled hallway after a minor slip in the grease, fortunately the paladin is immune to the terrible substance upon her. Artem reenters the hallway smoothly and launches an arrow at one of the nasty demons, however, at the last second the nimble tiny creature moves.
Stepping into the pestilence, the wizard takes her left hand and makes a couple geometric shapes in the air, sending a Fireball down as more Mender Zombies join the fight to just instantly die to the flames. The demons were less affected by the wizard’s magic and one boldly moved up to Jarvis and the front line and tried to frighten them. Artem howls so loudly that it causes his fellow Wrenjers to feel the need to protect the rogue, thus causing the Fear to fail. The asshole demons move up and create another level of wind and more grease, making it harder for the Wrenjers to move. Leofric, empowered by having another Mender--or at least a creation used by the Menders, moved next to Vadim near the hallway’s entrance, waiting for the suit of armor to move up to him. Standing in the wind was rather difficult, Enya and her Spirit was thrust back through the hallway. This did not deter the druid as she stepped back through the hallway, targeted a demon and nearly killed the creature. Her companion then teleported causing more damage to the troublesome demons.
Ansible looked like an angel fighting a plague as she flew into the hallway and launched a Fireball down at the newly assembled foes. The fountain had produced more Mender zombies. One of the more frustrating parts about fighting these demons was that every time they weren’t concentrating on the wind, they would become invisible. Vadim was the only one of them that could see where all the tiny demons were flying. The bard targeted one in back near the fountain’s edge causing it to fall laughing on the floor and making it visible to the others. They could see the churning of the fountain as it produced more zombies and as they approached the group, Zetwuzadi was able to jab one with her weapon.
Throughout the fight, the fountain had been moving, turning out zombies and demons. Now the flow had stopped as if something rather large was blocking the flow. He had only been just inside the hallway, but as Jarvis moved into the fountain room proper, he could feel the intense wave of disease in the room. Within him the deadly affliction was trying to kill him yet the artificer held strong and pushed through the pain. Meanwhile, the animated armor had made their way through the goop and asked Leofric if they could help them through the hallway. The battle continued with the paladin whacking a few of the demons and the rogue being caught in the wind, doubling over while they slid down the hallway. The demons move around the Wrenjers in the main fountain room, unfortunately for the demons as one moves out of Jarvis’ reach, the artificer quickly stabs the demon to death. As Leofric moves closer to the fountain via the animated armor, his left hand starts to itch. It was hard for the Wrenjer to withstand the wind and keep their footing in the grease. As they would successfully withstand the wind, some would slip into the grease, while for others the wind was more burdensome than the grease. Luckily for some, the Wild Fire Spirit was able to teleport them closer and into the area.
Bubbling out of the fountain goop was the creature blocking the flow. It looked like animated muck but some could tell it was an ochre jelly. It raised its pseudopods, attempting to hit the paladin, but failed as the paladin deftly moved out of the way. Jarvis gets shoved back but retaliates with magical missiles, slaying a few of the demons. Finally clearing the hallway, the animated armor, with the Pantheon of Life emblazoned across it’s chest, attacked the zombies then moved to help Zetwuzadi with the jelly. ((It was Pestilence Jelly time)). The paladin stands, as she had fallen in the grease before the Wild Fire Spirit had spirited Artem, Enya and herself away. She slays one of the zombies before taking the butt of her weapon against the jelly, knowing that if they were to slash the creature it would split instead of dying. Artem falls back into the hallway and fires at one of the demons, nailing the creature. The wizard, powered through the wind to firebolt the jelly. There is a rapid fluttering of wings from a creature appearing from behind the statue, they cast Gust of Wind to keep them from the statue. Clearly defending it. They see the surface of the pool bubble, looking like the bubbles were about to burst with more terrible creatures.
The only Mender among them, Leofric moves his Moonbeam over the Jelly and the pool, he brings out his Spiritual Mohawk to attack the creature from behind. Near the bottom of the fountain, Enya doubled over in pain as some of the disease came to fruition. She had moved farther away from the group in order to find an easier way around the fountain to get to the statue. However, now she was in pain and her companion had also perished to the disease. Tapping in her strength, the druid steadies herself against the affliction and sends three rays of fire at the necklace around the statue. The large white statue at the northern edge of what once could have been a temple, was wearing a large necklace of left hands. If it had been an ordinary object it would have burned when the flames hit it, but it was unaffected. Jarvis ponders that the necklace must be some serious artifact. Ansible flies in and targets the jelly while Vadim moves and slips gracefully in the grease. As the bard stands, he targets the wind and dispels the magic.
With the wind gone, the pestilence demons move to protect the statue. The jelly starts to deflate with the radiant energy of Leofric’s Moonbeam and its feeble attempts at injuring the paladin are comical at best. Once again the artificer forces himself through the pain of the affliction and nails the jelly with some magic. The animated armor turns their attention to the jelly, trying to place some sort of logic to the situation before they slay the creature. Now the Wrenjers turn their attention to the demons guarding the statue. As Te’Leyuura finally made it through the hallway, rather smoothly surprisingly, all the Wrenjers were finally in the fountain room.
From the bubbling surface of the fountain, five more demons emerge and go invisible and the fountain looks to be plugged once again. Vadim could see them and incapacitated the two near Enya. The druid had another round of pestilence win inside her and was barely standing. She was able to resummon her fire friend. The warlock was able to take care of some of the zombies while the others focused on the tiny demons. Each time they manage to slay a demon or zombie the fountain would reward them with more creatures to fight. Standing near the statue, Jarvis figured out there was a curse at work. It looked that the demon the Menders were influenced to summon to fight the disease fortified instead using fiendish might and Vrokíva’s magic. Jarvis surmised that there was a portal nearby and voices his suspicion to the group, specifically toward Te’Leyuura who had been concentrating on detecting magical auras. There was indeed conjuration magic in the fountain and it looked to start about an inch below the surface. Jarvis then doubles over as pestilence spews out of him. They try to grab the necklace but can’t make it; the invisible creatures hampering his attempt.
Around the statue, the invisible demons hampered any attempts at the necklace. The animated armor moves up and punches the invisibility off the demon, while Zetwuzadi slaps the creature out of the air. She asks if they are to chuck it into the pool but they haven’t been able to scale the statue. The fountain blessed them all with another ochre jelly that approached and pseudopod slapped the animated armor. Artem doubles over in pain, throwing pestilence up but steadies himself and quickly zooms through the area, up the statue and retrieves the necklace, dropping it on the ground. The hands around the hemp cord were far too heavy for him to carry. Even though Te’Leyuura was in extreme pain, using the wall as support as the many strains of the pestilence were wreaking her body, she was able to determine there was necromancy and conjuration on the necklace. Through the heaving, she was able to hand motion to Jarvis and Zetwuzadi to throw the necklace into the pool. The last bit of her motions looked to be her breaking something over her knee but Jarvis was able to determine that the wizard meant that would break the curse.
The remaining Wrenjers targeted their attacks against the jelly. Leofric moved his Moonbeam once again over the creature, while Enya launched three fiery rays at the animated muck. She had never felt this sick before. However it was the warlock who point blank killed the jelly with her eldritch blasts. It was getting hard for Jarvis to breath and stay standing, there was no way he could be strong enough to throw the necklace into the pool, instead he clarifies what the wizard had motioned to the paladin. The zombies and pestilence demons all tried to stop the paladin from tossing the necklace nevertheless, Zetwuzadi launched the necklace in the center of the pool. As it sank beneath the surface, nothing immediately happened. Te’Leyuura’s heart sank thinking that she had made a mistake.
Then a bright white steam bursts through the fountain accompanied by the smell of naturally burning stone and a massive heat wave that washed over them. It flows through their lungs, from the inside out, clearing them of the pestilence. The heat and light ripples out into the area. Their vision limited to a foot in front of them. All they could hear was just the buzzing of demons and the glorping of pestilence. Quickly they learn that it was not just a clear steam but Brume. As it flows outward and past them it starts to disintegrate the corrupted presence of the pestilence in the area. They can hear the pressured doors slam open, one after each other as the cleansing Brume works through the area. Inside the fountain chamber the feeling of overwhelming pressure caused some of the Wrenjers to feel like they were on the verge of passing out. Suddenly as the air floods back in, it is accompanied by cool, cold air...outdoor air...almost alien after spending so much time down here. As they look around the chamber they notice that the pool had dried but with them the demons, zombies and pestilence dried with it.
