Session 61: Of These Many Faces, Yours Will Be My Favorite

General Summary

Though, of these, I am everyone else

The session began with you all in the middle of an interrupted teleport. More of the unusual horns greeted you in this strange place, and you fought to take them down before they slowly destroyed your minds. As each one was defeated, more enemies spawned in their place.

The first horn created a Spiral Demon from the pile of fallen strands of strange..spiral…stuff. You saw a horrific visage attached to a long, tubular body lined with spikes. Fractaling spirals made up most of its form, and it had a pair of wings that looked to be made of smoke and shadows. Its mouth went too far up its face, with fangs clearly visible and bits of its skin stretching over otherwise torn flesh. Acid dripped from its teeth, and it had four eyes that had pupils and irises which were split into three halves. It attacked before flying up into the darkness and hiding out of sight. Another demon appeared as the next horn was stricken down, and as these Demons were being dealt with another threat began to emerge from their discarded spirals. It curled up out of the discarded spirals of these demons and a nearby destroyed horn. You saw that these strange strands of…matter? Something else? Were beginning to make a new figure. It looked at first like just some amorphous mass, but it soon began to take shape as a robe with hands reaching out of sleeves. Three …eyes? Could be seen at the center of three prominent spirals where a head would've been. The eyes looked like pinpoints of yellow light. Smoke and red shadows billowed out of this spirit’s cloak, and spiral-like tendrils reached out towards you all.

The last of the horns were finally demolished, the demons began to fall, and more shadows crawled from where the horns once were to join in the fight with this rather large spirit. Despite this, you all made short work of it and you eventually emerged from your teleport in the forest at your destination. Some of you were badly hurt, and thoughts of resting on the road in the cart were remembered...but you didn't have your cart. Hysteria went back through the Mothlights to grab your cart, eventually returning as the journey resumed.

Then, out of them all, they are all me

At the start of the journey towards The Sleeping Oak, Kaswink handed Hysteria a bag with the two stone pieces of the crown you had gathered so far: An Unusual Fragment and Another Unusual Fragment. Hysteria seemed a bit confused by this at first, asking if Kaswink was okay. She stated she isn't, but that you all must continue despite this and that she'll manage despite being able to feel something watching her. The two of them briefly discussed if she wants to be removed from the Oni's plans by murdering her, but she seemed worried that the Oni would just curse someone else in the group. Hopes were high that things were over for the time being, and you all rested for a short time while riding in the cart. Frode made some of his famous fish and potatoes and there was much rejoicing. During the journey, Frode approached Kaswink. He wanted to know how she was doing, and she seemed hopeful that things had blown over for now but that she was nervous as well. Uncertainty was prevalent in the conversation, especially over potential future ambushes. Frode agreed that times are not good for anyone but that Ilmater will protect. He gave Kaswink his old wedding ring, saying that she should hold onto it as they need to look out for each other. It's their burden, after all, and Kaswink graciously accepted it while attaching it to her shark tooth necklace. Frode also offered to make sure that she would feel less pain, help ease her suffering, and even share some of her pain. "It's the least I could do. We've all been through a lot here, and it'd be a shame for any of us not to go home."

Kaswink claimed that she feels as though she's already home, but that she was more worried something might force her to leave. Frode disagreed, claiming that Ilmater put her here to bear a burden, and that she must serve her purpose. Kaswink was uncertain, clearly uneasy, and Frode offered to read prayers with her. She confirmed that she is uneasy, but also that she cannot focus on reading at the time due to the eyes she can feel watching her. An ominous presence, so to speak, and Frode scanned the area unsure of if this was literal or metaphorical. Frode suggested she takes a moment to rest as she's been through a lot. There were distinct worries that something even worse than Spiral Demons and Spiral Horrors might be around the corner, but Kaswink and Frode both hoped that it would just be nothing. Though, Frode claimed that "Nothing would be a good day, and there are no good days here." Kaswink disagreed, claiming there have been a few good days, which even brought a smile to her face. AND shook his head at this, disbelieving that anything good could've occurred, though Kaswink had a rebuttal. "I think maybe that's a bit pessimistic. We've had good days. We've had days where we just sat all day working on our base and getting to know each other. All the time that we cooked food on the road, and even some of the more weird days ...not all of them have put our lives at risk at every hour of the day." Frode acquiesced that here may have been some good times, but it has been overall not good. Kaswink claimed that the overwhelming majority of negativity is due to imbalance from those L’huine rulers that have taken control of certain powers. An agreement was made between the two of them at this, and Frode even stated he wishes to send all these people that shouldn't be here home. The conversation ended with Kaswink wishing to teach Frode how to read at some point.

Prayers and whatever thoughts you might've been pondering were interrupted as you all again took an onslaught of psychic damage. The cart was stopped as you recognized three more of these spiraling horns sticking out of the ground. They were defeated with relative ease along with several shadows, and the resulting spirals that fell from the horns caused another fierce enemy to appear. Spirals from these horns piled up on the ground before twisting further in on themselves and generating more and more fractals and loops. Crawling out from beneath the pile was …a claw, just a claw at first, then another as something seemed to be pulling itself through this heap of spirals. A fearsome maw filled with teeth emerged, familiar shaped horns lined its head and neck, and it exhaled a cloud of smoke filled with these same coils and fractals. Its eyes were similar to the demons you fought earlier, four of them with pupils and irises split into halves scattered between the lot of them. It scowled down at you all as its wings are pulled free of whatever it was dragging itself out of, and it leaped up into the air. It landed on the ground with a deafening thud, and a roar finally escaped from somewhere within its confusing frame. A Spiral Dragon. This dragon attempted to move into an advantageous breathing position, but you all swung at it as it flew and DAN was able to hold onto the beast during this flight. Their tenacity proved to be rather badass, though the dragon still unleashed its breath directly on DAN and the rest of you. This breath attacked you psychically and inflicted some of you with random types of Madness. Some of these Madness conditions were easily bypassed, but DAN is still shaking with disadvantage on their attacks, saves and checks while Agave is still attacking random targets. The dragon was eventually vanquished with a series of mighty blows from DAN and then finished off with one last swing from Kaswink. DAN held its jaw open as Kaswink slashed through its jaw and gums.

Yet, without me, I am not you

The dragon was defeated, collapsing to the ground as these spirals fell from it and slowly started to uncoil. It released a final breath from its maw, more of that smoke and spirals, but this breath was weak and just cascaded over the ground and billowed outwards. At the very edge of where this smoke reached, you heard footsteps. They were slow, and a figure appeared within this smoke wearing robes that were tattered to the point of just being loose bits of fabric barely hanging on, though you could tell they were once quality material, likely religious in nature. He was large, easily 9, 10 maybe even 11 feet tall, and he was carrying a glaive. On his face was a mask with three horns…and you just heard this horrible, maniacal laughter before he spoke. “AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA KASWINK! YOU’RE SO STRONG! SO. SO. SO STRONG! YES! FIGHT MEEEEE!” Attempts to control this Oni were laughed aside as Hysteria's spell failed and, rather than Frode banishing him, the Oni seemed to reflect this spell back at the suffering cleric. He was sent back to his home in Voldtaren, and the rest of you were left without a healer for a bit to deal with this new foe. The Oni's attention seemed entirely focused on Kaswink. As he moved towards her, a gust of wind knocked DAN backwards, and he seemed to be capable of conjuring wings and a tail from the darkness and spirals that filled the area. Your combined attacks, particularly Hysteria's sneaky bow attack, eventually caused him to be unable to continue concentrating on Frode's Banish, and Frode returned to the fight ready to heal. More shadows spawned, and more unusual events continued to affect the battlefield each round. In particular, you noted that a fierce gust of wind blew through a few of you and caused random magical effects to occur along with some intense psychic damage. Hysteria became surrounded by a cloud of thick fog, and Kaswink grew a third eye on her forehead which gave her bonuses to her sight-based perceptions.

Kaswink and the Oni continued trading blows until a bizarre transformation caused the Oni to become a figure that is familiar to all of you though especially Kaswink. He had fully become Crudge, Kaswink's grandfather, and more smoke and spirals coiled around the area beneath him and became his mighty steed. DAN took a few more shots at the Oni, and the session ended.