Session 28 - I Thought We Agreed, No More Joining Cults

Plot points/Scenes

Setting off for the Orc Encampment

• We all get a long rest, fill Osh in, and set off
• Jalan’s getting drunk in the caravan bc he’s still angry
• We decide to leave the squishies behind while we go into the orc camp because we really don’t want them in any more danger
• Stilven stops outside the gate and says he can’t accompany us any further into the Forbidden City, where only orc nobility and outsiders are allowed (outsiders are allowed bc they apparently become soiled/cursed, low-born locals are not so welcome)
  • A group of warriors approach and say to move forward and let them surround us - we allow it
  • They move us into the city - it is run-down as hell, and very quiet
  • Everyone we see is fully clothed, we can’t see any of their skin and they’re all absorbed in their own various tasks
  • The building we’re led to has been somewhat restored to give it a regal feel (didn’t really work)
  • Most likely one of the old strongholds held by the previous regime when the empire of Ralodithius was being built to help maintain order
  • Three orcs
    • One is the embodiment of pure strength, not fully clothed like the rest of them, plain breastplate, swords are huge jagged pieces of metal (cross between a club and a sword) that are way larger than they have a right to be that he holds like they’re nothing
    • One looks like a druid/orc mix, leaves and stuff tangled around their body, wearing minimal clothing but aren’t exposed because they’re covered in nature shit, carrying a staff with a blue glow at the top
    • Sickly old orc, frail, probably an elder
• Elder speaks up: “Sharpeye has said many things of you...tell me why you’re here”
  • Behind him a fire, above the mantle behind the fire is a WARHAMMER
    • Dark, doesn’t look super heavy, dark green metal
  • J: “I am Prince Jalan Kendith, and these are my companions! They want to talk to you.”
  • O: *laughs*
  • F: “wow...thanks”
  • Elder is surprised to see an ash-face, didn’t think there were any of their civilizations left
    • Bit of a cat fight between the oppressed races, Jalan tries to drag Osh (as a tiefling) into it but Osh is very suave and apologizes before things get heated
  • A curse seems to have befallen their clan and they can’t seem to find a way to get rid of it (the clan is slowly growing inexplicably weaker and weaker, probably why we were able to take down so many of their warriors so easily)
    • Drant is able to tell pretty easily that they have a very weakened lifeforce, Jalan tries to Dispel Magic, immediately this MASSIVE voice starts screaming about who dared undo a part of his spell
    • Jalan bolts, gets some distance but finds himself stuck in place
    • Something appears in the corner, notices us, and transforms into this massive monster with horns probably six feet long, barbed skin, makes bodybuilders look like nerds, basically a demon, AbsoluteUnit.jpeg
      • “I told you not to allow this to be dispelled”
      • Long story short, the elder orc let the orcs’ shrine to this dude fall into disrepair and be forgotten, now some giants have taken it over, apparently he will only consider releasing the curse if the temple is restored
      • We must take Zuvilriun along with us (the dude with two swords)
      • And the demon vanishes
      • Malzrog
      • J: “....Osh, was that like your brother or something”
  • Warhammer used to belong to Shagrol, the previous chieftain
    • It is remarkably light (has the Light property)
    • The death blow must be dealt with this weapon or the temple will not be considered clean
  • We are not allowed to call the chief by his true name, we are only to call him Chief
    • Fritz asks if we can leave our squishy members here so that we can take our finest warriors with us
    • Chief says “of course” with a creepy smile, Drant insight figures out that he totally has ulterior motives and they’re probably totally sexual
      • Drant doesn’t tell us, DM makes us aware that we don’t necessarily have to leave our squishies with the CHIEFTAIN, Fritz suggests finding Stilven
• We go back outside the city, meet up with Stilven
  • Stilven bows down towards Zuvilriun and calls him Prince, Jalan tries to bond with him, Zuvilrium talks of how he’s the next to be chieftain and he’s wondering if he would prove himself stronger if he were to kill off his father
  • Discussing how to keep the squishies safe, Stilven says in the city they’d probably be attacked/taken advantage of, but he could get his brother who runs an inn to house them for awhile, Jalan posts up 20 gold
    • J: “so, say I’ve got 14,000 gold….could I own this whole city?”
    • S: “.....yes. We’re all starving”
  • Jalan x Osh
    • Flirting back and forth, Osh offers to serenade Jalan
    • D: “yes, I’m sure he’s very good with his fingers, can we get moving”

Off to Malzrog’s Temple

• We regroup with our extended party
  • Zuvilriun seems very angry that Fritz gets to carry the hammer
• Zavala perks up at the mention of Malzrog, lists off a bunch of characteristics that fit the guy that manifested to a T
  • There’s a group of entities called the Unsosen (ooh!), shapeshifting demigods that used to wander around and kill people a lot, eventually one of the fellowships (Fellowship of Equilibrium) sealed them away in their own plane so the humans could exist not as playthings
  • Malzrog is the leader of the Fellowship of Brutal Physicality
    • This fellowship typically likes orcs because even though giants are big and strong, orcs are both strong and intelligent enough to build temples/worship
• On the road, Osh wanders his way around the party and gets a feel for everybody, how they got to be with this little adventuring party
  • Talking to Fritz, Alvira
  • He also wanders around just singing/playing songs, he’s got a much more upbeat style than Terrence and is actually very good
• Arrive at the entrance, Zuvilriun tells us to go first, he’ll use some magic item to make sure it’s safe first
  • Drops a rock on the ground, nothing happens…..Z: “ok. We’re good”
  • D: “gravity still works, guys...(it’s a rock of gravity detection, isn’t it)”
  • Zuvilriun then tells us he’s just gonna stay outside (.....sure, okay)
• Walking into the front entrance, there are two hill giants sleeping in the entrance, Fritz notices the whole place is lit by Eternal Flames (recognizes it from her university days)
• Jalan sneaks up to the door that blocks our way, notices it’s locked - scratch that, not locked, barred!
  • Alvira sends her mage hand to the other side of the door to try to lift it up, it’s too heavy for the mage hand alone but Jalan uses his thieves tools through the door to assist - as the bar falls off, Alvira uses her mage hand to deftly catch it quietly so it doesn’t fall and make a loud sound
    • Inside the next room, there’s an ogre, an ogrilian, and an oni, awake and doing tasks
• While we’re arguing about how to proceed, the oni stands up and says he’s gonna get some fresh air, then transforms into a humanoid and starts walking down the stairs, everybody manages to hide in their own way decently well, Alvira disguises herself as one of the oni and bluffs her way past the dude
• We’re in the clear….until we hear “an ORC??” from outside, and hear Zuvilriun screaming
  • D: “god damn it”
• Zuvilriun sprints inside and hides behind us, the oni sprints inside after him….
• ROLL INITIATIVE

COMBAT - Well, We Didn’t Intend For This To Happen So Quickly

• Round 1
  • Fritz crits initiative, gets some good hits in but the oni resists her taser, she knocks him prone with Heavy Hitter
  • Nymph gets up behind the oni and Helps Fritz, and attacks
  • Alvira stabs with Booming Blade and her dagger at one of the sleeping giants
  • From above, the ogres call down “oi! What’s going on down there?”
  • Jalan repeatedly bashes the hilt of his dagger into the now-awake recently stabbed giant’s jugular in an attempt to stop him from making noise - it gargles, attempts to make a noise, can’t, stands up and tackles Jalan, now they’re both prone
  • Gregory runs up to the now-prone giant and goes ham
  • Drant (who was on Nymph) does some major boops on the prone oni
  • Osh Minor Illusions his voice to sound like the oni’s and calls up to the ogres at the top of the stairs that it’s just the front guards falling asleep again, and he’ll take care of it
    • They seem to believe him!
  • The oni attack Fritz, hard, and then goes invisible and shouts out “INTRUDERS”
  • Vincent casts Guiding Bolt at where he remembered the oni to be and hits! Now the next attack has advantage
• Round 2
  • Fritz swings at the oni, straight roll thanks to Vincent, and crit fails, then rolls the fumble that breaks your weapon
    • D: “....did you just break the extremely important weapon they just entrusted us with”
    • F: “EVERYTHING I TOUCH BREAKS”
    • Fritz finds herself suddenly empowered (her strength score is 24??), she drops the broken hammer to the ground, pulls out her steam hammer, and somehow manages to get a hit
  • Zuvilriun runs up to the prone giant on top of Jalan and swings, he is very gangly and clearly not very good at fighting but just barely manages to kill the giant
    • D: “so, he’s gonna be the next chieftain and he has no idea how to fight…”
  • Alvira casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on the invisible oni (because you don’t need to be able to see the creature!) and he crit fails his save and immediately becomes visible and starts rofl, then moves over to the giant about to wake up and sneak attack stabs him with her dagger
  • The ogres up at the top come back, alerted, and start hucking javelins down at Alvira
  • Jalan pulls his way out from under his dead hill giant and sneak attack daggers the other hill giant who’s starting to wake up
  • That hill giant wakes up and falls on top of Jalan (misses dealing damage, but now he’s prone)
    • F: “oh, so that’s a tactic now”
    • DM: “well yes it’s actually pretty effective, you fall on top of them and then can pummel them to death. Except we’re not getting to the pummeling part yet.”
  • Osh holds his action to Heat Metal on the oni’s armor if he stops laughing
  • The oni crit fails on his save against Tasha again and DM decides he’s out for the entire minute, no saves necessary, as long as he’s not hit
  • Vincent moves over to the prone giant and helps hurt him a little
• Round 3
  • Fritz holds her attacks until we decide to unleash on the oni
  • Nymph bonus action Helps against the oni and also holds her action
  • Alvira kills the giant on the ground next to her, sends her owl to help against the oni up front, and retreats a bit
  • The ogres run down from upstairs and smash their clubs into Jalan
    • DM starts chant-singing “Jalan is dying, is dying, is dying”
    • J: “well, ow.”
  • Jalan runs behind Vincent (J: “oh hi, Vincent. You’re a good meat shield.”) and daggers at one of the ogres that just hit him
  • Gregory charges at the mini ogre and misses
  • Drant charges the ogre and deals some good damage
  • Fritz sees nobody else is helping the charge of killing the laughing dude, so unleashes attacks and Osh and Nymph follow suit, actually ‘dies’ from Nymph’s poison so is only incapacitated for an hour - we will question him later
  • Osh meanwhile attempts to mock the ogre and only partially succeeds
  • Vincent Guiding Bolts the ogre, next attack has advantage
• Round 4
  • Fritz picks up the shattered pieces of Volendrung (Shagrol’s Warhammer) and runs through the tunnel back into the main chamber, can’t quite make melee with the ogre but crossbow hits him
  • Nymph Webs towards the ogre but he crit succeeds
  • Alvira runs up to the ogre and absolutely mutilates it, dealing 37 damage to it and killing it

OUT OF COMBAT

• Speaking of this warhammer…
  • Fritz is still empowered, Drant notices her life force is bolstered in the exact same way that the village was weakened
  • Fritz suddenly hears a familiar voice
    • M: “I am impressed with your strength mortal, you have broken my hammer and I have given you a boooon”
    • F: “....did any of y’all hear that?”
    • J: “no”
    • D: “If you’re hearing things that I’m not, I’m worried”
  • Fritz subtly tries to talk to the voice
    • F: “hey, uh, M-...what, Malzrog, do I need to like keep this a secret, or-”
    • M: “NO! My acolytes must be bold, and shout their praise of me!”
    • F: “oh. So…apparently I’m an acolyte of Malzrog now”
    • …
    • J: “didn’t we just talk about not joining cults”
    • F: “It’s not like I really had a choice with this one, it was like an opt-out sort of situation and I forgot to check the ‘do not send me future emails’ box”
  • It is determined that Fritz’s boosted strength is only temporary while in this temple, and that she’s still expected to clear out this temple of giants with the rest of the crew
  • F: *wistfully* “we’re still gonna have to explain to this tribe that I broke one of their artifacts….if only somebody had Mending.”
  • …….
  • F: “OH SHIT I HAVE MENDING”
    • DM determines that it’s totally fair to mend this ‘artifact’ back together since really only the handle snapped
      • D: “so maybe don’t hit anything with that again”
      • F: “yeah maybe not”
• We opt to leave Zuvilriun behind with our prisoner because he was useless anyway, he is all too happy to oblige
  • F: “So Malzrog, what do you think of this guy (Zuvilriun)”
  • M: “He is weak and needs to be puuuurged”
  • J: “Can we kill him, ask Malzrog if we can kill him”
  • M: “Nooo, I am giving him one more chance”
  • F: “Malzrog says no”
  • J: “damn”
  • …
  • J: “Hey Fritz, ask Malzrog if he can give me 5 million gold”
  • DM: “make a wisdom saving throw”
  • J: *fails, then proceeds to run full-speed into a wall*
  • F: “I think that’s a no”
• Looting the Oni’s body, the oni’s glaive is magical, we give it to Gregory since he’s a sentinel and Fritz still has his pike
  • He’s also got Brain Serum and a Bag of Tricks (Rust Colored) and a 1st level spell scroll of Illusory Script

Plot type

Session

Parent Plot

Act 3: Cults and Companions