Session 46: Approaching Ilven
General Summary
Round 1
The session began outside Thera Relovut. The option of teleporting in was cut short as Agave's spell seemed incapable of reaching the prison...almost as if it didn't exist, and the spell placed you at the nearest point: Right outside the gate to this camp.
Kaswink, meanwhile, was the first to brave this spooky camp and quickly began moving through it to find the center. Kaswink Will Kill Everyone Here
Who is Kaswink? Who is dying here? Will the Oni be vanquished if you are killed by this creature, or will you just become weak enough that it gains control and fights your friends? Such questions were fresh on your mind when you last faced …whatever this thing is, and while they are still looming questions…there’s something else. The questions aren’t in your own voice, right? The thought of “we will all die here” is less prominent than “I will kill them all here.”
“You attempt to resist whatever this is and your mind is filled with the words “We will all die here.” When last time you saw your friends take on the appearance of your brother, this time they are unchanged…but their bodies are twisted and gruesome, stretched into a never ending vortex reminiscent of how you might imagine your brother to be…or perhaps how a less controlled, subconscious part of you knows your brother to be. The fear is less for yourself and more for your allies suffering the same fate as one you’ve already lost.”
Round 2
Between turns, folks were attacked by different spooky things in the mist. Hysteria was almost struck by a chain coming from one of the masks they saw, Namina was struck by a drowned person, and Agave was targeted by some blighted desert plant launching needles at him. Frode began to enter the camp next, darkness swirling around him as he too saw visions and witnessed horrors of utmost spookiness. We Will All Die Here Without Frode's Help
You feel a foreign presence entering your mind, wriggling about like a worm between the folds of your brain. And, where before you saw those you miss, those that may or may not miss you, and those that wouldn’t even know you died here… you instead see them crawling from the mist as corpses, signs of the plague riddling their bodies and their eyes just empty sockets. Where blood should be seeping from their veins there is instead red thread that runs from them to your allies. They are already dead, and whatever is in your mind is telling you that it’s your fault because you weren’t there when they needed you.
Tendrils from all directions struck those of you that were inside the camp causing more fear to set into your minds and hearts. Namina tried to convince Frode to turn around as "Death was ahead". Frode chose to somewhat follower her direction and stopped moving. She spent the rest of her time digging "into Ilven's greymatter" to hopefully find her and pull a bit of her out to have a tea party. She was able to begin this process, and she even killed a lil drowned guy. Hysteria was almost hit with a bolt of glittery energy from the shadows of Warlocks that owe allegience to some Archfae. Frode was attacked by a Myotling shooting beams of green energy that struck him with lethargy, though he was able to shrug it off. Hysteria flew in closer for Namina's benefit, getting as close as possible to Ilven's mask and also being able to line up a shot against one of the Jesters that had been attacking them from the shadows. Kaswink was also attacked by some unseen source that smelled strangely like her.
Frode watched as a zombie dug into Kaswink's flesh with bites and claws. Meanwhile, real Kaswink was moving forward, away from Croak and towards the center of camp. Despite her best efforts, Croak reappeared in front of her from the shadows along with her comrades. AND continued forward as well and attacked a nearby Myotling along the way. Their attacks would ultimately finish the creature off, but as it died its shape changed to become a corpse that looked identical to Frode, his body riddled with holes from AND's crossbows, and contorting to look more and more like Steve...but also someone that AND had never seen before. This caused AND to swap into DAN. Meanwhile, Frode was witnessing zombies mutilating more of his friends as Namina was bit and shredded by a much bigger, scarrier zombie. Her blood looked like red string as it bit through her arms. Frode's fear had risen to the point that he was anxious.
Round 3
Frode analyzed the situation for a bit, looking around at his allies before deciding to heal Kaswink with his magical shirt made of super uncomfortable hair. The healing was effective for both the phantom image of Kaswink and the real Kaswink. Frode, half heeding Namina's advice and half choosing to believe his friends are truly with him, decided to stay where he was. Dáhorfuði (death) was still nearby, and his friends were still being nommed on though. Agave flew back to the entrance, reverting to his murid form and experiencing the interior of this camp for the first time. We Will All Die Here, and the World Will Die With Us
The air is thin. With each breath your lungs burn on the inky black darkness that is seeping from everything. Where before this made it hard to breathe and filled your mind with the worry that you wouldn't survive, this time there is another worry. All of your friends are breathing in this same noxious stuff. All of the refugees, the prisoners, this might one day cover the land and everything will experience this same toxic substance. "We Will all Die Here" is at the forefront of your mind.
Several of you were struck again with the tendrils from the spirit, fear still rising. Namina continued to connect with the spirit and Ilven, trying to separate the two of them to communicate with just Ilven. She was able to make this connection, and immediately entered a trance that caused her body to go slightly limp. Hysteria lost control briefly, the two of them dropping into the dark, oily mist below just long enough to be effected by The Unblinking Sein. We Will All Die Here, and Hysteria Won't Be Able to Save Us
These tendrils of inky darkness wrap around your limbs, your arms and legs are grabbed, and this being is trying to pull you to the ground. A sense of helplessness is coming over your mind, “this is how I die, I will die here.” is the most surface thought that can be put together, and it is incredibly intrusive… but there’s obviously more to it than that, right? I mean, if you can’t move you might not be able to help save your friends…and that’s bad, right?
Meanwhile, Frode and his "friends" were all being attacked by zombies still! Uh-oh! Kaswink moved into the center of camp, setting up Pylons from her Glaive of the Stalker along the way. When she reached the middle with Ilven's mask floating nearby, she expended the stored energy to shock anyone standing near a pylon or her. This caused Ilven to be corporeal for a second as her mask fell to the ground, but she faded again quite quickly. Some of Kaswink's allies were affected by this, but it mostly cleared out annoying adds. Unfortunately, Namina was amongst those that were stunned.
Round 4
Frode began attacking the nearby zombies, dealing a palpable hit to the bigger zombie terrorizing his friends and himself. Hysteria continued to be accosted by Despair. Despite being hidden from view, the enemy jesters moved around the rock illusion before stopping and causing Hysteria's arm to begin moving on its own. They ended up stabbing themselves with their own rapier, taking big damage and very nearly dying. Agave looked around again, noticing that his allies were acting a little weird, and turned towards the big monstrosities that were nearby. He also started to notice that his injured wrist was "bleeding" again. From beneath the prosthetic some ooze was visible seeping down his arm with a sickly green/brown color. He unleashed a powerful blast of thunderous energy to knock back the abomninations he was facing and woke up one of his sleeping allies. Frode's body continued to decay as this spectre of death was still watching Frode. More tendrils reached out from the darkness, but they missed their targets. As the tendrils faded from existence, some of you still suffered fear just from seeing them appear. Meanwhile, over at the center of camp, Kaswink heard more horrible laughter just before Croak appeared. He looked "normal" save for the horns coming out of his head, and he seemed to be a bit stunned by everything going on around him. Nearby, Hysteria was mocked by a mean shadow and died again.Frode, somewhere else, got hit real bad by a zombie. More fear dug deeper into his psyche and he found himself falling into a literal and metaphorical prison of despair. The last thing he heard from the camp were the words of a friend from back home saying "I kept her alive safely for as long as I could." He found himself in a prison cell surrounded by more of the Unblinking Sein. He heard another familiar voice, this time of his wife that just said "She died, just before I did." Kaswink tried to feed Ilven a snack, and as she did so she swung at Croak with two hits from her glaive. Croak immediately fell to the ground, bleeding out, begging to know why she did this as he died. This caused Kaswink to feel significantly more fear as she also collapsed, waking up in a similar boat as Frode. Agave, suddenly alone with no friends or enemies to keep him company, began to hear the sound of stomping feet as a far larget monstrosity rounded a distant corner. DAN continued his assault on the myotling that was looking disturbingly like their brother. This myotling ended up dying to DAN's attacks, but as it hit the ground, DAN's fear rose ever higher as the myotling was replaced with the spitting image of Kaswink. They talked themselves through this and continued on. They took a moment though to step outside the camp as they happened upon a convenient gate. They felt their fear reducing...something was different.
Round 5
Frode was still in the spooky prison zone, and someone else was in there with him. She was dressed in typical prison garb, shackled, sitting still and staring at the ground. There were signs of the plague in its early stages, and she was breathing very slowly, unmoving. Frode recalled being here before and had used meditation/prayer to escape the last time he experienced such things with The Unblinking Sein. He looked around the prison, saw that there was a bed, the previously described woman who was slowly getting more plagued and changing to look more and more like his wife. The stone walls felt...spongey with the dark oily mist covering everything.Agave, meanwhile, was dealing with a bigger problem. A massive amalgamation of murid, plant matter and blight were all slowly stompting towards him. The desert plants that were visible would sometimes take on a more ethereal appearance and say things to him such as "It won't let us go, it won't let us go, you've failed, Agave, join your family and friends!" Agave transformed back into a bird and flew to the center of the map to avoid this giant rat. At the center of camp Agave was able to see Kaswink stuck and staring forward. A familiar expression, one that was seen the last time this spirit was fought. However, she seemed to be holding a treat up in the air towards Ilven's mask. He saw that Hysteria was unconscious and Namina was in a trance. He tried to warn his friends, but nobody seemed to really...recognize that Agave was speaking due to their predicaments. Namina, now no longer stunned, approached Ilven in the jar zone. She set up her tea stuff and offered Ilven an invitation to partake. She responded, "Leave me be. You should not be in this place." Namina refused, explaining that she wasn't leaving with her and Ilven replied with a question: "Do you think that I am somebody that can be saved?" Namina recalled back to when they first met...she explained that she trusted Ilven, her word, and that she would take her warnings to heart. "I don't think you're somebody that can be saved. I know you are."
No, Child. There is no way back. No path out. There is no fixing this. I am broken, and nothing can repair me. My fate is sealed, as is yours. A Final Death will claim all, and the spirits will be free once more. Your kind have trespassed here, they all will learn the taste of fear.Namina smiled, politely of course, and poured Ilven some tea.
Round 6
The woman in Frode's cell was now almost completely covered in the plague, her hair was becoming tawny, and her facial structure was becoming more and more familiar. Her breathing was accelerating and Frode took the opportunity to heal her suffering. Her breathing returned to normal...but she still looked very close to death. Agave was still dripping from his arm, standing in the center of camp and trying to figure all this nonsense out. He chose to heal Hysteria, a foolish mistake as he would soon realize. Hysteria was healed, and Agave spent the rest of his time calling out to Ilven...she responded by deafening him. The Unblinking Sein lashed out again, everyone becoming more fearful of this spirit...and none worse off than Frode as he watched the woman in his cell succumb to the plague, her hair and face fully matching his wife, and as she died black ichor poured from her mouth and seeped from all of her boils. It began to fill his cell, and the oily darkness rose to cover him as the fear was too much.Logren was also there! He appeared in the center of camp confused, seeing Ilven's mask and trying to figure out how he can help. His questions were met with a talisman given to him by Hysteria... Namina was still in the jar with Ilven, and this other death god was still holding the image of DAN. She shrugged at this before saying "We're all meant to die someday and return to where we came, but that doesn't have to be today. We still have a use. I understand that we are outsiders, but I was sent here for a reason. I'm not here to be your enemy. I'm here to be no one's enemy. I'm just a tool." She offered Ilven some more cake. Ilven's body continued to decay in this place, another piece of her face breaking off and turning to darkness. "Well, um, it would be impolite not to..." She took a small nibble and Namina was able to notice the tiniest smile break her otherwise rigid face. Her form in the outside world was becoming more and more corporeal as this was happening. Hysteria was stabbed by all three jesters simultaneously. They felt each knife stab into them but also felt each emotion thrusted into their psyche. Hysteria bled from the wound, blood and darkness leaking onto the ground to form a pool. Ripples cascaded from the center until the top of a pole became visible, and that pole continued rising to eventually reveal a Black Banner. Hysteria flew directly into Logren, kicked him in the chest and took the Talisman back from him. They placed it on Ilven causing a brief flash of light. The light faded, but it was still hard to look at Ilven, almost like a very distorted image that makes it hard to focus on one spot. Hysteria fled. Their wings spread as they flew up into the air away from all this nonsense, however, the banner followed them stopping only at the very edge of the spirit's influence. As it fully revealed itself, Hysteria cried against their will, tears flowing down their mask and leaving black stains that slowly began to cover their mind like the bars of a prison.
The session ended with Frode dying in fear prison, Kaswink exploring the fear prison and the rest of you on the surface at the center of camp.
In-game Date:
Daulok 02, 308
Daulok 02, 308
Report Date
03 Oct 2022
Primary Location
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