A Siren's Song - Session Three

General Summary

Last time on A Siren’s Song…
We find Kodos and Zalphid returning to the ship to report what they had found. Feeshi, anxious to get underway, orders Zalphid to hurry up and get on board the ship and pull the gangway so that the party can make way. Zalphid obliges but the rest of the party points out the obvious to Feeshi that the sails are actively being removed as they speak. Feeshi decides it’s good training for Zalphid in taking orders.
After the short argument Kodos points out that the Lizard folk man he spoke to mentioned the party possibly helping at the well, so they leave the ship and Obsidian Harbor and trek inwards toward the center of the island where Kodos’ map indicates The Heart of Jade is to be found.
Along the way, Feeshi notices a round object shimmering on the ground before them. The party volun-tells Lalrihyn to go pick it up at which point, a swarm of rats crosses the party’s path and attacks them. The party quickly dispatches them, thanks in no small part to Kodos’ quick thinking in casting Sanctuary to protect the party. Unbeknownst to the party though, a giant dire tiger emerges from the jungle as it was apparently chasing the rats.
The tiger delays the party somewhat, causing injury to Kodos, who was trying to implore the tiger to calm, with phrases of “Down kitty” and “bad kitty” and boops on its snoot.
Nabia uses her magicks to transform into a baboon and climbs a tree with Feeshi hanging on for dear life. At one point she tries to chuck Feeshi to a tree a bit closer to the tiger so that he may engage, but the throw was a little weak and Feeshi did not gain the vantage point he was seeking.
Eventually, the tiger is dispatched as well, and the party continues after a short rest to tend to their wounds. They travel a couple more hours, nearly dusk by now, when they reach a large clearing with hundreds and hundreds of canvas tents set up around four enormous bonfires. The smell of cooking meat is overwhelming and a few party members work their way to each fire to sample whatever animal is being roasted.
The party asks their way to the person in charge of this event and they’re pointed northward to the well. As they approach, several lizard-folk take notice and draw closer to the party. Before anyone has a chance to say anything, one of the lizard-men points directly at Zalphid and says he recognizes him from a vision he had the night before. This is Xirax, the lore-master, and Zalphid is to be the savior of the problems facing the sacred well. They also learn that something is affecting the intelligence of everyone on the island and they believe it is something that happened during a ritual performed by a cult in Xirax’s vision. The party is given permission to remain in the well area and set up watches and investigate whatever they need.
During the first watch, Nabia and Zalphid don’t note anything strange, but just as the watch was ending, Nabia notices Zalphid’s eyes go blank for less than a second. To Zalphid, this was a lifetime passing before his eyes. He is confronted with a coming apocalypse where the material plane is utterly destroyed and overtaken by the Void. He sees a ritual taking place at the Heart of Jade in which a large group of purple-robed figures cast their magicks upon it. Zalphid returns to his senses with an exclamation of “DOOM!” He excuses himself to write in his journal.
A little later during Feeshi’s watch as he’s investigating the perimeter of the well, he sees something glimmer in the water for just a split second and takes note of its location. For a moment, it seemed to emanate something.
The next day, the party grows restless and Zalphid creates a scheme in which he is going to try to gain followers for Kodos’ god, Persana. Leaning into the lizard-folk’s desperation in curing the land of its failed harvests for two years running now, it works to an extent with Persana gaining around 80 followers.
Meanwhile, Feeshi decides to perform a bit of pick-pocketing and sneaks throughout the camp to find a suitable object. He sees something glimmering in the pocket of a satchel within a tent of a sleeping lizard-man and goes for it. He comes away with an elemental gem, specifically a sapphire.
Further frustrated with their inability to enter the well to see if they can “commune with Xibal” – the protector god of the well – to see if they can gain any perspective, the party confronts the elders and explains their theories. Xirax reluctantly agrees on the basis that his own cognitive abilities seem to be diminishing quickly and only asks that the party waits while he confers with the remaining elders.
Upon return an hour later, the elders give the party permission to enter the well and seek out irregularities within. Xibal makes himself known to the party almost immediately as he gives a vision of an object cast into the water that lies where Feeshi noted the object the night before. As the party approaches it though, they can’t physically get within about five feet of it. There seems to be some sort of wall of force surrounding it.
Zalphid conjures some sort of magic that allows him to bring this otherworldly object to the surface. On studying it some, Zalphid sees that it is very similar to an object he is in possession of and he believes his can help destroy this one. With his object in one hand, he is able to physically grasp the other which deactivates it. He is then able to destroy the object through force although he takes physical damage in doing so.
After the object is destroyed, the party immediately re-enter the water to see if they can get confirmation from Xibal that the object’s power was gone. They receive that confirmation and are granted a Blessing of Protection from Xibal. Before exiting the water, Lalrihyn asks Xibal if there is anything else the party can help with. Xibal answers that the god he answers to, Caelumare, has had Zalphid sent to this plane to help stop an apocalyptic event from happening and that aiding Zalphid was in the party’s interest.
After exiting the well and conferring with the elders, the elders feel their cognizance returning. Zalphid is granted a staff to help him on his journey. Indicating that Kodos’ god, Persana, may have had a hand in helping destroy the “brain fog generator,” he asks for something for Kodos. The elders grant Kodos an amulet. With their mission accomplished for now, the party decides to hang around for the ritual.
As the party presses their way through the growing crowd, Nabia smells a familiar perfume, a scent she recognizes from a few nights before. Naiara has arrived and the two excuse themselves to a tent for more fun.
As everyone wakes the next day for the solstice, there is a feeling of hope in the air among the lizard-folk. As day draws into evening, the crowds become larger, the chanting and dancing become louder and more aggressive, and the excitement is beginning to boil over.
Before the coming ritual, Zalphid discovers that his arrival actually caused the party to have their own memory blackout. Each one of the party responds to his query on their reckoning of the current year and age and Zalphid finally gets an accurate idea of the time frames he’s been subject to.
Just before sundown everyone gathers around the well in silence as Xirax leads three lizard younglings out on to the platform over the well. He takes a ceremonial dagger and pierces each in the heart and tosses them into the well and then all hell breaks loose as the lizard-folk break out into a monstrous orgy of dancing and chanting and jumping and other less than savory things.
The party anxiously leaves the well area and return to the tent camp. Kodos peeks into a couple tents himself to see if he can find a spy glass/telescope that he can borrow for Zalphid. He does and he brings it to Zalphid so that Zalphid might be able to make sense of the star charts. Not to be outdone, Feeshi finds a much larger and more effective spy glass that he flat out takes, to give to Zalphid. Slightly defeated, Kodos takes back the spy glass he borrowed and return it to the tent he believed he took it from.
From here, the party bed down for the night, and this is where we fall into our respective roles. Good morning! What would you like to do?

Report Date

23 Oct 2023