Session #6: Friends Turned Foes...

General Summary

On our way to find where the hunters had gone, the entire party heard a voice in their heads that seemed to whisper and howl at the same time, “Found treasure must be found alone, lest it be torn apart.” The rest of the battle was a blur. I remember turning myself invisible and trying to search for an advantage while the others duked it out. I found a Bag of Holding on one of the Satyrs (conceivably the hunters that were tracking Doc and I), and once Søren was the last party member standing, I felt compelled to fight him. Unfortunately, I’m not the best fighter, especially when I don’t have an instrument, which Søren promptly took from me. Once I was unconscious, apparently some voice spoke to him again, and he won some sort of “prize.”
After a much needed nap, we investigated the Satyrs, finding one unconscious and the other dead.
That was confusing at first, considering we were all very much alive after the battle, until I realized the dead body had a similar stone to the one Søren found on himself after winning. It seems the poor Satyr thought he’d killed his friend (or had no way of healing him after the brutal beating) and decided to end his own life in recompense. It was one of the most tragic things I’d seen, especially considering the other Satyr seems to have lost a considerable amount of their memory.
It’s unfortunate to say that works in our favor, but I am glad that we didn’t have to fight the Satyr right after they’d lost a loved one.   The stones we found are interesting. Not sure what they are yet, but they definitely tried to do something with my mind when I picked the other up. Søren is holding onto them both right now without any issue. But they don’t seem evil, at least...
We returned to camp with the Satyr, and the most amazing thing happened: the Mama Owlbear let me cast fly and levitate on her cubs! It was so fun seeming them zoom around: I hope they enjoyed it. :)   During our watch, Søren was nice enough to share some stories from Ysgard. I was worried he wouldn’t want to talk to me for awhile, after I told him about taking my grandmother’s lute. I know he doesn’t like unlawful people that much, but he still took the time to tell me about Tiamat’s Incursion. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember the exact verse of the epic poem, so I’ll have to find someone who can give me a direct translation, but what he did tell me was...tragic. The story tells of the moment in history when a draconic Power named Tiamat sent her servants, the Abishai, to Ysgard to attack the Giants, turning their battle over resources into an all-out, personal feud between the races which has stretched over the centuries. Even amongst the dragons, there are those who did not approve, but that did not stop the Abishai from decimating whole swaths of Jotunheim. Some places in Ysgard remain in ruins and abandoned to this day after the genocide that occurred. Not only was this a bloodbath, but unlike many conflicts between the species in which the death is not permanent, on this occasion, no Giants arose the day following Tiamat’s Incursion. This is why the Giants feel justified in their attacks against innocent civilians to this day…
I didn’t tell Søren, but I had nightmares once I slept again.
Back in the tunnels, we came across a toad-like being that I tried to communicate with. Unfortunately, the being just ended up saying a bunch of random words, like rigid steel, egg, gem, tiny, anger, hide, leave, me, no good, gem, fire, good. It was all very confusing, so we decided to leave it along - maybe Gulbid will have an idea of how to help it?   We headed north in the tunnels when we were ambushed by a couple of Bugbear scouts - though they didn’t look like the Bugbears I’m familiar with from the Feywild. We dispatched them, only to run across they’re camp including a mass of goblinoid creatures holding some dwarves captive. After freeing the dwarves and defeating the camp, the dwarves introduced themselves as being part of the Morndinsamman, which are a group of Celestials from the Lawful Good Arcadia. Those that had captured them were apparently Acheron members, a Lawful Evil syndicate. We sent them back to our base camp and searched the room, finding a Wand of Magic Missile for Clarity and a magic Hand Crossbow for Doc (he let me name it Macaroni!).   We also found some interesting Bolts made of Dark Iron that Doc can use with the crossbow. According to Søren, items made with this material can change size at will. It can also be used to create armor with resistance to psychic and makes thing more damaging, but also heavier. I asked Søren if he’s able to make more bolts for Doc to use, and he thinks he can while the rest of us our sleeping, which is super cool! This means Doc won’t have to worry about sheathing his bow to take out his sword - he’s going to be even more badass than he already is. :) We also found some money, which Caelen, Doc, and I split three ways. It’s nice to have some funds that don’t feel icky to possess.
After resting once more, we deviated from our usual “always go left” strategy to investigate a room with gears and screws and stuff, per Søren’s request. Everything seemed to be going fine, since I could fly above the obstacles, until I almost got crushed by some bits of metal and lost my concentration! Søren had to come rescue me, which was embarrassing, but he let me stay on his shoulders, which was cool.
We were trying to figure out the secrets of the room, when someone mentioned destroying the obstacles instead - which worked out perfectly, since Caelen had a Shatter spell stocked! With most of the obstacles out of the way, we finally realized that the piles of metal will always move to fill an empty space, if possible. With our combined strength (but mostly Søren’s - though I helped!), we were able to carve a path for everyone.
I tried to search the piles of metal for something interesting, like some more Harmonic Copper, and instead found another Portal Key. This one was made from the head of a Warforged, with the word “Open” carved on it in Modron. Are all of the portal keys made from pieces of dead bodies? That’s a disturbing thought.

Report Date

21 Jul 2021