Chapter 3, Session 3: Piercing the veil
General Summary
'She is dangerous, you are the natural enemy and HE is a fool!'The party burst through the doors and saw no people, but spores and a Quori Hunter. Esmerae stabbed a spore and killed it, but it reformed into a Dreamwoven leech/flaming skull (like the creatures the party fought outside the walls of Sanctuary). As it changed, it was no longer a Quori or Nocta Mori, but still easily killed. Sigholdt rushed the Quori Hunter, which said “Something worthy to fight” before letting out a magical roar. Sigholdt passed his save and only took half damage as Peregrine cast a Minor Illusion to make the Quori see double, using cunning to try and weaken it - successfully! Venator Faithful spoke the word “Pain” and powered his weapon before going after the spores, killing one like Esmerae and teleporting to the next one. As the spores went to attack Venator Faithful and Sigholdt, Mallus Somnium ran and whacked a spore, killing it outright. This one strangely didn’t change, just died. Mikhael Solitsev threw his daggers at the Quori as Hermione of Vallea failed her Chromatic Orb. Esmerae finally reached the Quori and stabbed! Sigholdt moved to flank and also stabbed the Quori before the creature howled at Esmerae. Esmerae failed the save and found herself shunted into memories andv lust-filled dreams of Viktor. Peregrine cast Mind Sliver to harm the Quori psychically as Sigholdt had learned it was vulnerable to this damage - she made it hear the voices of her dreams, causing the Quori to scream “I’m not the lyar you are!”. Venator Faithful killed the last spore before helping to surround the Quori with Malus also closing in. With backup from Mikhael Solitsev’s daggers, and Hermione’s moral support (she missed again), Esmerae broke free from her dreams as Sigholdt hit the Quori - which proceeded to hit Malus. As Peregrine haunted the creature with more creepy voices - dead-kid lullabies this time - the Quori went into its mythic state. However this was not a normal one, instead it turned into The Dreamwoven Adjudicator the party also fought outside Sanctuary! Venator Faithful slashed into the creature as did Malus. Hermione cast a spell despite the party warning her not to but missed, and the creature went to teleport to her. Peregrine saved Hermione by casting Silvery Barbs so the monster couldn’t hit her, though he still successfully teleported. In a final act of desperation to save Hermione from near-certain death, Esmerae raced forward and was able to kill the creature. The party regrouped, discussing the strange behaviour of the spores and Quori. Malus inspected the room and noted that the lamps suggested no one had been there for a while. Sigholdt pulled away the rug in the middle of the room and revealed a trap door. Upon inspection, Hermione knew the lock on it was enchanted Forge Metal from Thornden, and after casting Identify ritually (as Peregrine and Esmerae watch Venator Faithful and Malus hid behind them), Hermione learned the enchantment on the lock was a Symbol Spell, specifically Death. During the ritual casting, Sigholdt approached Venator Faithful to ask what he thought of the new threat. Venator Faithful: “I know your kind welcome it” This confused Sigholdt, who felt the new threat felt very ‘end of days’. Venator Faithful was dismissive of this, stating it was simply a new predator/virus to replace the old ones, and he would welcome the challenge. The Venator also offered a word of advice to avoid the vampire, as people were currently more wary about such creatures in Sanctuary and it would be a shame to lose a dying breed. Once Hermione informed the party of the enchantment, everyone pressed up against the far wall so that Hermione could cast Firebolt/Sigholdt could cast Eldritch Blast to trigger the spell on the lock and remove it. Standing only 5 ft away from the edge of the radius effect, the party were somewhat shaken, especially Peregrine. However, once it was removed, the lads gathered around and destroyed the lock, before the party agreed to try stealth - they did so badly. Going down the trap door, Malus heard a voice: “Enemies approach, they’re coming, hide yourselves” He warned the party. The party walked down a very sewer-esque tunnel, before detouring down a side tunnel with a locked door. Upon sensing no traps, the party nominated Esmerae to start learning how to lockpick as she had Fionn’s old lockpicking gloves. On her first try, she was successful and the party readied up, waiting for someone to make the first move. Hermione sent in Jolly, noticing nothing happened at first, before suddenly a black shape tore him in half, whispering “Finally, quarry”. On learning this, Venator Faithful charged in and declared himself to the shadow-creature, as the room was very dark so it couldn’t be seen (the party agreed he may be a dick but he has spine). Sigholdt followed suit as they both challenged the hidden figure. Malus transformed and strode in, avoiding the disgusted look on Venator Faithful’s face when he saw Malus transform. Malus learned at that moment that Venator Faithful had enough patience and control to speak to Sigholdt, but all his control was going into not attacking Malus on sight, and he despised Malus. Suddenly two more scythes flew out at Sigholdt, though the enemy was still hidden. Esmerae cautiously lit a torch before entering, as Peregrine cast Dancing Lights (making her save against the small flames). Peregrine carefully placed the lights to remove all shadows, lighting up the entire room and ensuring the shadow creature couldn’t easily hide in the darkness. Suddenly the doors around the room opened and gargoyles entered the fight. Hermione cast Crushing Singularity, catching multiple gargoyles as well as Venator Faithful - while the spell hurt him, it drew him closer to his enemies so he didn’t seem to mind (though he missed his attacks). Mikhael Solitsev stepped in front of Peregrine to shield her and keep her lights going as he threw daggers successfully! Sigholdt cast Vow of Emnity on the shadow Nocta Mori before attacking, while Malus flanked with Esmerae to attack a gargoyle. The shadow howled (similarly to the Quori Hunter), throwing Sigholdt into a memory of terror: being trapped under rubble. The shadow then hit Peregrine as Esmerae managed to kill a gargoyle and, after missing, Peregrine hid behind Mikhael Solitsev. Hermione killed a gargoyle with Ice Knife, starting to get better at combat! Another gargoyle went down to Venator Faithful as Sigholdt attacked the Nocta Mori, which missed him in return, though it was able to stealth in the dim light. Peregrine used her lights to flush out the Nocta Mori, though she missed her Ray of Frost. Esmerae dodged hits as Hermione killed her gargoyle and Venator Faithful destroyed the last gargoyle. Mikhael Solitsev gallantly protected Peregrine as he hit the Nocta Mori, which continued to irritate Sigholdt as it teleported around the room out of his reach. However, he was finally able to catch up and attack. With Malus racing in as well, the Nocta Mori became surrounded, triggering a flurry attack that included a crit on Sigholdt, only for the crit to be blocked by Peregrine’s Silvery Barbs. The party took turns to attack the Nocta Mori, but Malus got the kill with a critical hit. The party took some time to search the rooms, finding no people, but a bedroom, an armoury, a master bedroom and a food store. Whilst there were only some dust-free beds in the ‘dorm bedroom’, there were some weapons and armour soon looted and placed into the bag of holding. In the master bedroom, the party found a strange ‘polar bear’ rug with tentacles and diamonds in its eyes (Peregrine looted the diamonds). There were several bookcases, some with children's books, erotic novels, and blank books. Esmerae also found a tattered journal, correspondence, and a wrapped scroll on the pillow. On closer inspection, the correspondence was enchanted to be unreadable. Peregrine called Hermione over to look around the room as she had noted already there was a lot of magic there, but couldn’t pinpoint it. After wrecking the food store with Malus a little, Sigholdt came to the master bedroom to cast Detect Magic so the party could pinpoint what exactly needed identifying. He noted the bookcase with blank books was heavy with transmutation and a little illusion magic, the correspondence had illusion magic, and the scroll was necromantic. As the party short-rested, Hermione ritually cast Identify, learning the scroll had the spell Vampiric Touch, the correspondence had the words “He will turn on you” over and over, and the books were each individual soul cages, already containing souls (up to 30 in total). Hermione also learned the bed and tablecloth were sewn with Dreaming Bark. Sigholdt took two books (the party couldn’t take them all as soul cages are considered extraplanar, and would destroy the Bag of Holding), as the party took the correspondence, scroll, table cloth and bed sheets. While short resting, Peregrine chatted with Mikhael Solitsev about himself and about Honour Blade Xanthier. She learned he used to be the leader of a Barony, claiming to have the best warriors. However, when Emperor Honour came and bested Mikhael Solitsev in combat, he disbanded his barony, and his soldiers became the first Honour Guard as he swore loyalty to Emperor Honour. He was respectful of the Venator as, even if they were assholes, their cause was still a worthy one, and he had nothing but praise for Xanthier. After the short rest was complete, the party prepped to go into the next room.
- Faithful verbally spars with Sigholdt Sofiasson about The Kaechaek Party.
Report Date
29 Jan 2024
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