The Thirty-Eighth Session

February 6, 2021, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

Last session

We met Kerjes, the Green Dragon. We learned that the Sky Staff Eta'el had sent us to steal is a 12-foot log, and Eta'el is secretly a Cloud Giant. Eta'el and Kerjes have a long history of conflict.

Kerjes wants us to bring Eta'el to her, alive if possible or dead if necessary.

Leaving Kerjes

Kerjes' control over her Banyo Tree lair and the surrounding brambles allows her to open us a clear path through the thicket maze. We escape as quickly as tactful.

By the time we're past the maze, it's nighttime. For a little bit of time we discuss our plans. Should we continue through the night? We think so. We'll take a long rest a day outside the Woven Council to rest up. We're not sure of the geopolitics at play at the Woven Council, now that Thalia has died, and it seems best that we arrive rested. It would normally be four days' travel.

We travel north-northeast for the night, on foot. Salris and Bugfood take a point of exhaustion. Jerry leads the Party in a sure direction.

At morning, we decide to continue hiking through the day, and to take a long rest at night. It rains all day. Salris slips and falls in the mud, and Prestidigitations himself clean.

We take a long rest, in a little alcove of trees. The ground and trees and tent and everything else are wet, and it doesn't feel good, but the night passes without incident. The rain subsides in the morning, and it gets muggy early. We press on.

Jerry discovers a break in a dense grove of trees, leading into a clearing, and there's a small fire in the middle. Sitting on an embankment is a figure in brilliant blue robes, with one arm bandaged. Runic shapes form in the smoke from the fire.

"It looks like fortune favors us this day," says the man in blue.

Madrin Kenlis and his cat

We cautiously approach, and Bugfood's Detect Magic shows that the fire isn't magical. An amulet the man wears is is magical, of the school of Transmutation or Dunamancy.

The man introduces himself as Madrin Kenlis, from no place in particular, traveling to no place in particular. He's seen the World's Spire, been over the Eagle Mountains, crossed the Red Wastes (the northern desert). He's looking for a conversation partner, or stories.

Salris tells of his sailing days. He's from Greyharbor, a place full of shady people, but his father once took him on a sailing trip south to the jungles to rescue an adventurer. Beautiful blue water and brilliant coral reefs, but they had to outrun a kraken along the way. They recovered the adventurer.

The man tells us a little of his own travels: he takes from the fortunate, and gives to the lesser. Ryltar mentions Kerjes. "Good to know, good to know," says Madrin, and leans back.

Salris asks whether he's heard of the town of Othe. Madrin hadn't.

Bugfood, keeping Detect Magic up, notices a silent rustling in the bushes, approaching the clearing. He Wildshapes to a panther, and smells the smell of another large panther, recently passed through here. He unshapes and stage-whispers to the Party, "Big cat!"

Bugfood asks if Madrin has seen any big cats recently. He says no.

A low growl comes from the southwest, loud enough for all to hear.

"Is that one of yours?" asks the blue-robed man.

"Not yet," replies Bugfood.

A huge tiger-like creature, horns coming out of its mouth, three whipping feathered tails, comes out of the brush. "There's the big cat," says Bugfood. The cat moves behind him.

"If it isn't yours, then it's mine," says the blue-robed man. He drops his dagger and unwinds his bandages, revealing a line of mouths running down one arm. Their teeth gnash and bite at the air, and with them, Madrin grabs Bugfood.

1. Betrayal! Madrin attacks Bugfood, almost killing him. Salris summons a greater demon. Jerry calls the lightning, and Ryltar summons a frost storm. The fire reveals itself as a Rune Swarm. A lot of damage occurs this turn.
   1. Madrin grabs Bugfood, dealing 33 points piercing, and 23 necrotic. The bandages fall from his other arm, revealing more mouths!
   2. Jerry casts Lightning Arrow and throws a dart at the lion, which critically hits for 8d8 + 5 + 1d4 = 54 damage, and then throws a second dart at Madrin for 7 piercing damage.
   3. Salris' eyes roll back in his head as he Summons Greater Demon: a Tanarukk appears, with a 20 on its initiative. It's right in front of the big cat.
   4. Vurguron attacks Madrin, hitting with a 17, dealing a little damage.
   5. The monstrosity attacks the Tanarukk, using Steal Luck, and makes several slashing attacks.
   6. Madrin casts Feast of Fortune, and everyone within range (all save Jerry) makes a Charisma save. All who fail are blinded for a turn, and cursed with bad luck for 24h, losing the effects of proficiency bonuses on attacks. Salris and Bugfood are affected. Those who did not fail take 9 damage. Madrin then uses a luck point to Misty Step atop the rocks.
   7. The campfire's runes pulse and grow in size, and envelop Salris. The Rune Swarm uses rune magic to attach a rune to Madrin. He vibrates in place for a moment. Salris takes 14 points slashing damage from the runes, and then another 14 damage with another attack.
   8. Viroth activates Crimson Rite to deal radiant damage, taking max damage as a sacrifice. He backs onto the nearby ridge and fires two arrows at Madrin, which hit for a little damage.
   9. Ryltar turns to Madrin, says, "You're kinda an asshole, you know?" and casts Frost Storm at fifth level, turning the rock he stands on into an ice sculpture, dealing 43 cold damage.
   10. Bugfood heals up some, and then uses all his move to flee the fight. He had almost died.
2. Bugfood runs away, sensibly. The cat is defeated.
   1. Salris' demon Tanarukk bites the big cat for 12 piercing, and then cuts it with a greatsword for 12 slashing.
   2. Jerry casts Hunter's Mark on the big cat, and then attacks twice but is unable to penetrate its hide.
   3. A blinded Salris leaves the fire, but succeeds in throwing off the blindness. He's lost track of Madrin, but the vortex of runes is beside him. He Eldritch Blasts the campfire for 22 damage.
   4. Vurguron notices it's midday and clear. He runs over to the stones where Madrin stands, and tries to climb. It's too mossy. He's below Madrin, and reach is partially blocked by the rock. He casts Firebolt anyways, and hits, then attacks with his longsword as a bonus action.
   5. Jerry gets hit by some waves of magic, and she loses advantage on her next attack roll. The cat gains advantage, and hits the demon with 16 damage.
   6. The demon attacks in reaction, slashing twice for a little damage.
   7. The cat moves away, and Jerry's attack of opportunity cuts its head off. The focus of battle now turns to Madrin.
   8. Madrin of the flashing green eyes hops off the stone, lands next to Vurguron, and burns a Luck point to make two Biting Arms attacks against him. Vurguron uses Shield and only takes 19 piercing and 13 necrotic.
   9. The Rune Swarm has lost health, becoming less dense. Those who were cursed and blinded are no longer cursed. Ryltar and Salris are swarmed by the Rune Swarm. A rune explodes, and Vurguron takes 13 radiant damage. Salris and Ryltar take 6. Salris and Ryltar take 18 slashing from another attack.
   10. Viroth shoots at Madrin twice, taking maximum damage to shoot twice with a Blood Maledict. Madrin trips his Reserve of Fortune to pass one damage save, but the other fails. Madrin takes damage from the first attack; the second rebounds to damage Viroth.
   11. Ryltar casts Chiling Hands at fourth level. Both Madrin and the Rune Swarm take 13 damage. In his hands, the wand seems to wake or respond a little.
   12. Bugfood casts Shield of Faith, wildshapes into a Dire Wolf, and runs close to Madrin.
3. Madren dies and the Rune Swarm is defeated.
   1. The demon moves to Madrin, and bite-cuts for 10 piercing and 8 slashing. Madrin is almost dead.
   2. Jerry runs up and yeets a dart at Madrin. It catches him in the eye, and the green glow fades. His luck has run out. He dies.
   3. To escape the Rune Swarm, Salris Misty Steps out, and commands the demon to start walking south.
   4. Vurguron summons his Shadow Blade, and attacks the rune swarm. It starts blinking and contracting, so he Action Surges to attack again.
   5. The Rune Swarm glows a baleful light, and several people fail Wisdom saves to avoid being frightened. It attacks the demon and Vurguron.
   6. Ryltar moves to a point where he can hit the demon and the Rune Swarm with Cold Light, killing the demon and the Rune Swarm. The cone of runes collapses, falling inert as they intersect the cone of cold, falling like snow. One last rune flutters down next to Vurguron, who picks it up. It is a rune of evocation.

We take some time to heal up and rest.

In Madrin's robes is a glowing green amulet. Bugfood takes a while to cast Identify as a ritual on it.

Salris casts Remove Curse and loses his blindness.

Ryltar focuses on his wand for a bit.

Bugfood's Identification of the amulet shows a stone depiction of a cat, with emeralds set in its eyes. It is the Stone of Good Luck. Bugfood gives it to Jerry.

Bugfood casts Identify again on Vurguron's rune, and discovers that it's a Rune of Blindness, which when activated gives blindness to all within 20 feet who fail a DC 16.

We spend some time discussing Tula's sheathe, and Salris who had been carrying it unattuned hands it over to Vurguron.

Jerry butchers the cat. The tail feathers can bring good or bad luck. The horns have magical properties. All of them go into her bag of holding, for later sale. Then it's time to cook up the Zouru, the cat which Jerry butchered. It's gamy and lean, but edible.

We travel through the afternoon, and at sundown we take a night's rest. We're a day's travel outside the Woven Council. The night passes without incident.

The Woodland Realm

We make great time traveling, and find walking trails the closer we get to the Woven Council. We follow these to the opening gates of the Woodland Realm.

The Elven gates are a stone wall, towering out of a natural cliff face, perpetually overgrown with iridescent flowers and vines. It's beautiful in its natural state. There's traffic through the gates; lots of Elves passing through.

We see a familiar figure: an older male human, with grey-white hair, standing at the gate of the Woodland Realm. It's Ren Farlow, the diviner who told us he was going to the Woodland Council. We call out to him, and he says, "You're late!"

Viroth says, "I think this is the time that we separate; I need to go back to my order." He wishes us safe travels, and walks off into the woods.

Ren approaches. He doens't say what we're late for, and gruffly leads us into the Woodland Realm.

The architecture of this town is a primarily tall trees mixed with stone, with buildings that look more grown than built. Ren leads us to a residential area, and we come to an almond-shaped door, connected to a room at the base of a "small" tree. The root system is as big as a house. We enter. He closes the door and magically locks it. The inside is a modest home, with papers on all horizontal surfaces save the floor, but there is a lot of parchment about. He sits down on a small rocker, and waves over a small heated tea set.

"So we're late," says Ryltar.

"We can speak more clearly now. I would assume you're late; I was given sight that the person I was to meet would meet someone else, and would be late as a result. You were the ones who I was to meet, and so you must be late."

Prophecy talk

We catch up on news and adventures, and ask if he's been in correspondence with Guy. Guy has found that whatever is happening, it's started. Ryltar draws some themes from activities that have happened in the Party's travels. The stars from the missing constellation are coming back, too.

This was Ren's vision, back from the sixth session:

Ryltar makes excuses, then returns the conversation to the red star. Farlow says that he had a vision of the red star among stars that he had not seen on this planet. This red star is not of our plane, and Farlow saw it among stars not of this plane. Bugfood wants Farlow to get it back to our skies, Ryltar explains that that's not possible.

Ryltar asks if the red star had a name. Farlow says that he saw six stars in a hexagon. One turned red, one blue, one green. One remained white. One disappeared. And the vision ended before he saw the sixth star again. He was shunted from the vision.

When we met with Guy in the seventeenth session, this happened:

Bugfood asks what the prophecy is. Guy responds that the six stars were here, but they went away. Bugfood is happy, because Guy is correct! Guy says that the stars will come back, which may be bad. So he's very excited that he knows when it will happen, because that gives us time to prepare.

Bugfood brings up the fact that the red star had been flashing, and stays. He asks Guy whether Guy has seen the red stars. (Which he's only been seeing in visions.) There's two of them, and they're flashing, and they're bad.

Guy shuffles a bunch of papers, and in horror says, "Oh. I was wrong. It's already started."

"Can we stop it?"

"I don't know."

The conversation turns to Zelrathi, and whether he's the Chosen One.

Guy is overwhelmed with new information, brain fraying between different possibilities, almost shutting down. He is eventually convinced to talk it out: he says we're expecting a major climactic event of some sort. A new age of magic, perhaps, or a new god. Good or bad, this is not something to stand idly by and let pass.

Ryltar connects the dots, matching the prophecy to recent events:

• the red star was the big ball of healing magic we unleashed in West Haven
• the blue star is the Ice Heart of Winter
• the green star is Kerjes

Ren casts Doubt, figuratively speaking, and so Ryltar explains where we got the Ice Lord's wand, and what happened in the Lost City of Storm's Eye.

Salris's Succession

Ren tells us about the succession crisis in the Woven Council, which centers around a family power that has not been passed down to any of Thalia's descendants. The Lower Council has been in talks for months regarding proposals to find a replacement, but has made no progress.

Ren looks at Salris, meaningfully.

Salris asks how this power might manifest itself, in theory.

"The power is to lead. Or that is what they were lead to believe." Thalia's family is not one that takes the background on actions; they're waiting the return of a prince, who has been in continual disregard of the duties of his position in the family.

"If someone were to show up and show this power, what would happen?" asks Ryltar.

"If they were of her lineage, they'd have to make that person a High Council member."

"And if not?"

Ren sits there, thinking, looking at Salris.

Salris and Ryltar and Ren are all in on the secret. Everyone else sits around, drinking Ren's tea, wondering what the hell they're talking about.

Salris decides to let the cat out of the bag. "I may or may not have killed Thalia. That may or may not have been at her request."

"What does the power do?" asks Jerry.

"Thalia was open book in most matters, but when it came to her bloodline, she kept her opinion close to her chest. The power seems to make you more … reckless? rambunctious? It keeps you moving in the face of battle.

"Salris will not be a Council Member. They will see to that. Depending on how far they are pushed. If a decision needs to be made, or if the Council makes their sweet time doing it, they will make that decision with or without the Burning Blood."

"That's what it's called, yep," says Salris. "But at the time, she just told me to use it on the egg."

It transpires that Ren thinks that to use the Burning Blood requires the sacrifice of the wielder. But it's a voluntary sacrifice. The Council probably can't rip it from him.

But on the other hand, the prince, Thalia's supposed heir, is missing. The Woven Council has a lot of power lying about, and might try drastic measures to force a succession.

"How long do you think it's going to take them to figure this out?" asks Ryltar.

"Sometimes the future is blind even to me."

Ren thinks it unlikely that the Woven Council will let us study their Teleportation Circle, but it turns out that Ren has been granted dispensation to make his own. He snaps his fingers and a door opens to reveal another circle. Ryltar studies it.

Ren is quite stressed. Jerry suggests getting a drink at a restaurant; she and Ryltar depart to get carryout and 50gp worth of booze.

Ren stares at Salris. Salris describes how his encounter with Thalia has led him to become more Good, and the gem in his palm grows warm, soothing him. He might have done it for money, but he did it for his for friends. How Tula's loss affected him. He describes how Ryltar and Jerry offered support to Moon. The warmth grows. How Thalia sacrificed herself to save the West Haven.

"Would you do the same, if you were in Thalia's position?"

"Yes," says Salris, and Ren's tension relaxes. Within Salris, the heat of the gem beats in harmony with Salris' own heartbeat.

"Then you have made the right decision. I can't tell what you will do, but I know it will be the right decision." And then he goes to open the door, for Jerry and Ryltar have returned.

"Thank you," says Salris, "for letting me relieve your anxiety, and some of my own."

Ryltar stumbles in with a lot of very fine alcohol, having had some along the way, and Jerry has 2gp of sushi and rice and other stuff.

The Party eat and drink and be merry.

Salris spends half an hour not looking at anyone or talking, just focusing on the feeling of warmth. He unlocks the second stage of Burning Blood.

"This is some real fine stuff," says Ryltar, waving a bottle. "Now hear me out. What if Salris is the object of Zelrathi's prophecy? 'Release the traitor's curse of howling might'? Totally Salris," and he takes another drink. "I need to go talk to Zelrathi. He hasn't told me all of his prophecy." He thinks it intertwines with the stars somehow.

We discuss how we might travel to Quadroads.

Next session

• Salris has a better connection with the Burning Blood, but does that give him an advantage against the Woven Council's plans for Thalia's heir?
• Ryltar needs to talk to Zelrathi in Quadroads, about his prophecy. Do we go by road, past the Mummy Lord, or by teleportation circle, back to the Ice Lord? Ryltar thinks the Ice Lord's route is better.
• Find Eta'el, and bring them to Kerjes' clearing

Ongoing questions:

• What will Zelrathi discover?
• What's going on with the stars? Is Ryltar's theory correct?
• How can the Jester be defeated?
• What is left to complete the Ice Heart of Winter?
• How can the Mummy Lord be defeated?