Session 13: Power Revealed
General Summary
Morning comes. When he awakens, Usze is enveloped in a mysterious light, the origin of which neither he, nor his patron Tempest'Lucia have any idea about. Shrugging it off, he heads towards Raine's room. Meanwhile Ruuch Caliban is busy preparing his wizardy spells by ripping out one of his eyelashes, combining it with gum. While Raine is busy with her hair, Usze knocks on her door and enters. He begins to talk with her about Arulo's behaviour the other day at the dinner table, and inquires her about her father. Just as he's about to spill about everything he knows, Faces makes his way into the room and announces breakfast is ready. He asks them what they're chatting about, but is told to mind his own business. Suspicious of the two, he leaves, and Usze makes Gibby guard the door. He tells Raine what he knows about Arulo and his crew, and subsequently pulls out his mirror that shows fragments of one's past. Showing it to Raine, she is asked to think of her dad. Gazing deep into the mirror, she sees him as a young man sailing with her grandfather, selling items and searching for something on islands. She sees her mother for the first time in her life, and later on herself as an infant. Lastly she sees her dad holding a map with a giant X on it, with the words "First location" written above it. The fragments fade away. She tells this to Usze, and they both agree to keep it between them.
Ruuch meets up with them while heading towards the food hall, but on their way they see some commotion near the entrance. Arulo has returned! He is accompanied by a rather large, tanned woman and a burly, quiet man constantly looking at his shoes. The woman is revealed to be Jenny, a well known and respected member of Arulo's crew. Arulo and her seem to have a long history together, and the whole crew is happy to be (to some extend) reunited. Walking up to Palanthus, he returns the gun he lent from her. Arulo informs everyone about his new mission. Saan seems to be aware of Arulo's desire to find his "artefact", an item even he has no knowledge of what it truly is, and has sent him on a quest to Traskarr to get it. The crew decide that it is better if they remain in Sycaath to look after one another. Jenny doesn't trust Arulo to go off on his own again, and asks Ruuch if he is a responsible man. He says yes, and she agrees to leave Arulo in his care. Usze and Ruuch talk about what their plan is, and are informed by the Black Eye of Sycaath about the beast's whereabouts. It is in the laboratory in the town near Traskarr, how convenient! And thus, our heroes depart for Trascarr.
On the way Usze attempts to clear up his actions in the maze to Arulo, who is more than angry with him for leaving not only him but everyone else alone with The Warden. Usze explains how he chose to dimension door Ruuch over anyone else. Worried that Arulo is being tracked by Rashall, Ruuch comes up with the idea to check up on him. Nothing, he seems clean. Arulo explains that Rashall wears his mask until he has murdered those that killed his mother... Which right now is only Usze. Arulo and Usze clash a bit, until the group arrives at a rather strange building.
They hear crying coming from inside, and they decide to investigate. Arulo ahead, using his masterful sneaking skills, followed by Ruuch. Unfortunately wearing the heavy armour she has, Raine trips slightly on the stairs and smacks her knee on the steps, making a noticeable CLANG sound. Nevertheless, they enter the building. The inside is a horrid sight; Body parts of humans, not 2-3 days old, are organised by type. Eyeballs on the table, placed neatly by colour. The group treads closer to the crying sound, but it gets too dark to see. Usze casts light, revealing a sludge monster right next to Ruuch and Arulo. The creature is about to attack, when it is suddenly stricken from the back.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Ruuch: "God rest their souls..." Arulo: "You can say that again." Ruuch: "God rest their souls..." ##########################
An arrow, which then forms into multiple arrows that all explode into the target, demolishes the creature. The light reveals a familiar figure. One half of the men the party met up with long ago and got the rose seeds from for the heart of Presco. (See notes for campaign nr.4) They catch up on recent events, and our heroes notice how oddly strong his bow looks, knives attached and all. No usual arrows either, magical ones. He reveals that he and his partner were murdered by an (for now) unknown cult, and that he was brought back by Venjor, the god of vengeance. He also reveals that there are more like him, one of which was the sheriff. Other than him there is "some bloke in the dwarven kingdom" and another with a very long name.
Hearing the sobs coming from the door right next to them, the group gets ready to investigate. Arulo with his back against the wall, opens the door without looking inside. Ruuch, Usze, Raine, Palanthus and turtle man (again read the other notes) look inside to find an old man covered in scars, bawling. Strangely, his facial expression remains neutral despite tears streaming down. Ruuch looks at the man, looks back at the group, and then looks at the man again. Strangely he seems to... Forget about the man every time he looks away from him. Not only him but Palanthus, Raine, turtle man and eventually Arulo (curiosity got the best of him (Or the DM)) all look at the old man but keep forgetting they saw him the moment they take their eyes off of him. Only Usze seems to be immune to it, but has no clue what in the world is going on and why his teammates are saying the same lines over and over again. Raine checks on the man and finds out that he is supposed to be... Dead.
Usze closes the door and tries to explain what is happening from his perspective, but is thought of as crazy by the rest. Usze asks for the turtle man's jacket, opens the door and throws it over the crying man, then asks the rest to look at it and then look back at him. They forget. Plan didn't work. After trying to explain it over and over, the group eventually decide to leave. Usze stands alone near the door contemplating whether he should attack the man, investigate more or just follow the rest outside. Frustrated, he attempts to leave with the rest, however they are now inspecting more of the house looking for anything they can grab. Ruuch notices that some intestines on the floor spell out something in abyssal: "We're waiting Inspector".
Perplexed by this, Usze remarks it could have something to do with the old man. The party of course forgetting about the whole spiel, he explains it one more time, this time without the old man in their view. Despite this, they still forget. This is the tipping point for the Lizardfolk and, as a way to relief stress, he walks over to one of the pieces of human remains and chomps down on it. Literally everyone, including his celestial patron, are taken aback, disgusted and appalled at his barbaric behaviour, turtle man going so far as to raise his bow at the Lizard. Somehow amused by this, Usze approaches him slowly but menacingly, blood still dripping from his jaw. A magical arrow forms, ready to be released.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Bow man: "Don't take another step monster!" Usze: "Heheheh, Are you afraid of me...?" ##########################
Ruuch and Palanthus gives Usze more than a stern talking to and, seeing how his travelling companions react to him, the lizard scoffs and heads back to the room with the old man. Arulo goes outside, ready to attack Usze if he alone comes out. The rest follows Usze to the room, and are surprised to see an old man with a jacket over him, crying. Sensing that something must have triggered Usze to act like he did, the group gather to formulate a plan to circumvent the forgetting. If Ruuch just keeps his eyes on the man, he should be fine. Taking 10 minutes, he checks to see if the man himself is under the influence of magic. He is, and Ruuch uses Dispel magic. The "life" in the man's eyes fade, and his whole head just rolls off. Usze, having counted to 600, has calmed down and together with Ruuch they leave the building. He has forgotten once more. Outside, Usze gets scolded more for eating human flesh, and he once more explains what drove him to do so (The constantly having to repeat and re-explain all of it). He also explains them about what happened for one final time, this time with Raine writing it down. Unfortunately and unbeknownst to him, as they decide to head onwards, the whole group forgets once more.
Ruuch tells Arulo that they first need to stop at the Laboratory to fulfil their mission of hitting the beast with the dart, before they can continue on to Trascarr for Arulo's artefact. Surprisingly he agrees to accompany them. Raine talks to her leaf and asks if she, being a living breathing pool of divinity, is able to create holy water. The leaf has no clue, and she decides to try it out. Forming a small amount of water in her palm, it does have some, though very faint, power to it. She is told that perhaps with enough practice, she could even create new pools for her goddess in order to keep her from losing her power. She shares this all with Usze, and he asks if she could maybe make a pool in every city they visit, perhaps it will help keep the sludge away. She says not to know, but to stay optimistic!
The group take a nights rest, and arrive at their destination the next day. The town housing the lab is completely destroyed, with barely anything standing, building nor creatures. Both Sludge , the larger ones seem to have some magical properties to them, and crystal monsters are strewn about lifeless. Ruuch turns himself invisible just in case, and follows Arulo who has already managed to find the entrance to the lab. Waving over the rest, they enter a building that seems to have housed some crystal creatures who used it as a defence point. Even inside of the building, no signs of life are found. They see an elevator shaft and Ruuch sends his falcon familiar to scout down. It seems the elevator is more than out of commission, leaving the falcon unable to go any further. They take the stairs down, finding more crystal remains, these ones faintly pulsating. Arulo wanting something valuable, attempts to break a piece of the wall crystals off with his crowbar, but as he touches it, the crystal starts to envelop his crowbar. He quickly pulls it back, and checks to see if it spreads even more by tapping the floor with it. It doesn't. The group keeps going down, seeing more and more dead monsters, and they arrive at a door. Arulo once again scouts ahead and opens the large door.
Inside, against the wall, stands the beast. Motionless. A giant hole in its chest. Not wanting to take any risks, Arulo creeps closer and throws the dart at the hulking giant. It hits, and sinks deep inside. "Well done, you have hit a dead creature." says a voice familiar to Usze. Behind them in the hallway stands, or rather floats, a giant Brain along with a crooked-looking man. They demand Usze to pay up for the "debt" he owes them. Usze, ready to throw down, is informed that that is not a wise choice seeing as they chose this location wisely. He tells him that thanks to the mind link he made with it during his first visit in the maze, the brain is able to track the lizard wherever and whenever. They also condole him for the loss of Adalai, and the brain explains it tried to help Adalai get rid of the one that was possessing him, even helping him during the mind link battle. Now conflicted, Usze is unable to make a decision for some time. Pressured and with nowhere to go, he first attempts to deceive his way out, but fails.
As a way of "payment" Usze pulls out his prized mirror and throws it over. This catches the eye of Ruuch. "This will do for now, but we have invested in you so we will see you again soon. I suggest now that you run." With that they disappear, and a stench is smelt. The stench of death. The stench of The Warden. Without hesitation, the group runs towards the door they came from, only for it to shut and have crystals seal it. Keeping a cool head, Arulo spots a crack in the wall where the beast is smashed against, and the whole group follows him in. Usze asks the brain, with which he can talk to telepathically now, if he set this up. Though setting up the area in case Usze tried something, he did not suspect the Warden's presence. Through the hole they reach another room with a door, however the crystals holding this one seem frail.
The Warden is heard smashing into the room they were in prior, crawling into the hole they found. The brain tries to hold it back with some shields, but spectacularly fails. They need to hurry. Ruuch puts his hands on the crystals and casts a thunder spell, breaking off most of the crystals. Raine then smashes the remaining crystals into shards with her fists, which makes the whole door smack down to the floor (Turns out the crystals were all that was holding it together). Stairs! The Warden is now even closer. Usze casts jump and frog jumps up the stairs. Looking back to see if the others follow, he witnesses the Warden smashing through the corridor and ramming against the wall, shaking the entire laboratory. Arulo speeds his way up the stairs passing the halfway mark. Ruuch and Palanthus lagging behind, Ruuch casts fly on them both and they fly up the stairs, Palanthus even further. Raine catches up with Usze on the second level. Arulo has almost made it out. Ruuch crashes his way through a sky window and flies all the way up. Usze takes Raine and dimension doors his way to the front entrance, turning around to see if everyone made it out. He sees Arulo, who swiftly passes by them, and then sees Ruuch in the sky.
########################## EDITOR'S NOTE: Ruuch: "I'll see you over the Styx you bastard!" ##########################
Ruuch, now flying above the building, raises his hands and casts a humongous fireball, shooting it straight down and saying one hell of a one-liner. The entire building blasts into flames, along with explosions coming from rooms containing remaining substances. Usze cheers at his companions sheer awesome power, but it is short lived. Through the fire and the flames, the Warden stands, unaffected. Ruuch flies off further into the sky and is contacted by the Blue Eye. He tells them he can teleport them all to safety, but it will take up to half a minute. Palanthus, also having made it out, hovers in the air and prepares her rifle, aiming it down. Usze seeing the Warden is completely fine, prepares to cast dimension door and reaches for his right side to grab Raine, however she had already ran off. He stumbles, and disappears alone. Arulo looks back and sees Raine, alone, with the Warden on her tail. Knowing he can never leave someone behind like the lizard did, he turns around and dashes towards the Warden. In an attempt to distract the monster, he makes as much noise as he possibly can. The Warden now stands for a moment to think about which prey to tear to shreds first (showing again that it is still sentient).
Meanwhile far up in the air, Ruuch is far from safe. A giant mutated bat-like monster with an eel like mouth appears from the clouds. Ruuch wants nothing to do with it an tries to fly away. More and more bats show up and give chase. Back at the building, Palanthus flies down to grapple Raine. Unfortunately for her, her armour weighs her down significantly and Palanthus is unable to carry her far. Luckily though, it is far enough for our cleric to be able to cast Tree Stride on a nearby tree, opening a portal and jumping in alone. The Warden gives chase, but is too late. In the meantime Usze appears 500 ft away from the commotion. Worried for his team, he sends Gibby up into the air and looks through his eyes to check up on them, witnessing Raine escaping.
With one prey out of reach, the Warden focusses all of his attention on Arulo. A familiar feeling, Arulo reinvigorates himself, reminding himself that he can not die just yet, and tries his best to outrun the creature. Far up in the sky Ruuch is bitten by one of the bats, however its head freezes over thanks to Ruuch's magical frost shield/armour, and with a swing of his ignited blade, the wizard strikes the beast. With a final screech, it dies. This screech however, has attracted an even bigger swarm and they are all headed towards our hero.
Usze meanwhile jumps his way out of the town. Palanthus flies down and is able to lift Arulo off the ground for a little, getting him at a slightly safer distance from the Warden. The Warden is able to catch up to Arulo, but it is too late as our party feels a familiar chill, and are all teleported to the Blue eye's chamber. The eye, upset at everyone for not at all notifying him that they were with the beast despite instructing them to, squabbles with Ruuch. Regardless of this, he brings out rewards for every party member.
Ruuch gets the choice of three large books, along with one other of his choosing. Having a bit of a dilemma, he first needs to think about it. For Raine, the eye hands her a strong flail of +2, which now means she has a weapon again. Usze first says he doesn't feel like he deserves a reward, but the eye tells him not to be such a downer. He is given a cloak, but has no clue what it really does. Usze puts it on and starts to attune to it. Next up Arulo, who is given quite the special pistol. Despite not having much ammo for now, it is more than a fine weapon. Palanthus is handed a bag, not much else is known. Finally Ruuch is able to choose a spell book, and along with it he requests a book about demons, piquing Usze's interest. Before anything else can happen though, a strong pulse is felt through everything by everyone. All sounds seem to stop as a wave passes through all. The party instinctively know.
One of the Shards is revealing itself.
Report Date
08 Jan 2022
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