The Fortieth Session

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

Last session

The Party decided to travel to Quadroads by way of the Ice Lord's lair's teleportation circle. Ryltar cast the spell to pring the party there. After exploring the lair for a while, the Party ascended the long stair to the surface. We slept a night on the island of pink frogs, and then took a collapsible boat to shore. From there, we headed to Leen.

The spiders have overrun Leen. We holed up in a smithy's chimney for a safe night's sleep, sealing the doors and windows with Shape Stone. We sealed the chimney with Ryltar's Immovable Rod propping up Vurguron's shield.

And then the spiders appeared.

Leen

Bugfood and Jerry notice a high-pitched whine in their ears, and realize they have no idea how long it's been there.

There is a clicking noise, some thumps on the smithy. The spider noises grow quieter.

The Party hears the screams of a woman, and a man telling a screaming girl to run.

Ryltar grabs Salris, casts Dimension Door, and hops to the top of the chimney. They see a spider on top of the forge. It stares at the entrance with an undulating black orb of an eye. As the orb quivers, we hear the woman, child and man yell again: the spider is probably making the noise to draw us out.

Spiders

Enter initiative. There are are other spiders here besides the speaker spider, see the list below. The Party handily defeats them.

Each of the spiders has a large black eye, and each is of the acidic type that contains a fragment of that obsidian basalt. The stones have been deliberately crafted into a small orb, and they're deliberately placed in the body.

Psychic Fang Spider

a once-grey spider. Its right four eyes are milk-white, and the left side of its head is now taken up by a large black orb. As you hear the crying of townsfolk the orb ripples. A slight mist comes from just in front of the black orb: a similar piece of pumice obsidian.

Pseudopod Brute Spider

A massive, tarantula-like aberration with black chitinous plates all across its body. Its abdomen is split, and from the split twist a large mass of grey pseudopods. A black crystal in its thorax where all its limbs meet.

Splitcaster Spider

A normal-looking spider, but its abdome is split down the center and more flexible, with a black crystal in the center of the split

Acidic Infection Spider

A pitch-black arachnid with electric green stripes running horizontally along its its body. The webbing beneath it dissolves buildings. Its crystal is hidden inside its body, but we found it when cutting it apart after killing it.

Eta'el again

After the battle ends, we hear someone clapping.

It's Eta'el, sitting on top of the forge's chimney. "Oh, I hate spiders," they say. "So, about my Skystaff?"

We reply that we were ill prepared to bring the Skystaff back to them, so we were going back to the Quadroads. "Why Quadroads," they ask.

Why, to fetch equipment to bring it back. Eta'el accepts this explanation, and they skip off into the sky again, saying, "Wonderful!" He doesn't come with us, but instead stays in Leen.

As we're walking out of Leen, Bugfood casts Detect Magic and peeks through windows. He's confident that there are no magical items left in this abandoned town.

On the road north to Quadroads, the Party has a conversation about Eta'el and Kerjes. None of us really want to go through with the deal that we made with Eta'el or with Kerjes.

Quadroads

The days' travel to Quadroads pass without incident. Foot traffic has diminished, but at least one gate is still open.

We arrive at the Temple of Ioun, in the same condition that we left it. The exact same condition. Zelrathi is still sitting between two stacks of books, one of which we unceremoniously dumped upon him. The other stack is much smaller, with each book bound in the same slate-grey leather.

Deep in frustration and anxiety Zelrathi continues to read. "You're back, took you long enough." without looking up from his reading. What has he found? “Not much. It seems that the end of the world isn't important enough to document.” Zelrathi snaps the book in his hand closed and runs his finger along the spine of the book, leaving some magical effect. "Go home," he says to the book, and releases it. It drifts up into the air, heading towards the center of the temple to join with the other floating books.

He's heard about our recent exploits, and when we explain them all, he's deeply annoyed. "I told you so."

Zelrathi's studies

But enough of the past! Let's look to the future, which is to say, the deeper past. Zelrathi has discovered many things, and he tells us about them.

• "What I do know is that the Arcadia Infinitum is the grandest receptacle of universal knowledge. If something is not recorded there, then it hasn't happened yet."
• "The Circle of the Burnt Tree" is interested in the stars as well. They believe that it is the coming of a new Eden. They believe that the constellation Abraxis, which contains Bugfood's stars, will break the barrier to the Fey Wilds, creating "an Eden from the Material and Fae planes, and casting out The Shadow."
• There's someplace called the Gloom Grove, which is a day's climb away from Quadroads, on the other side of the nearby mountain, which is called the World Spire. Supposedly, the higher someone climbs the World Spire, "the closer to the Gods they become," as they encounter strange and wondrous experiences.

Two older Clerics of Ioun come over to talk about the stack of books the Party brought in last time.

We end up donating the vast majority of the tomes we retrieved from the Ice Lord's chambers to the temple of Ioun. The clerics summon some acolytes to take away the books; one is Moon, wearing a simple grey robe as she carries stacks of books. She's throwing disdainful looks at Ryltar, so Salris pulls her aside and gives her 10 platinum coins. She returns to her duties in the temple.

The full text of the prophecy is: O Zelrathi shows us some stuff from his prophecy book, and we try to read from it. The prophecy references "when day is night", which might mean the equinox or eclipse. We think it's the next year's autumn equinox.

Sunsets on the days of Youth, Time to dream and learn the truth. Dawn arises with knights anew, Those strong and brave and faithful few. When day is night the light shall fade, The wound will open in Willow's shade. Tears of thought and spires of Moon, Beware the cries of Witch’s Boon. Release the traitor curse of Howling Might, And guide the fallen star to Sister’s light.

Zelrathi sees two clear ways to proceed from here, which the Party debates

• Finding the Arcadia Infinatum for more information on the prophecy
• Heading up to the World's Spire to seek the Gloom Grove.

Moon overhears us talking about how the Gloom Grove is "close to the gods", and interjects: "That's correct." She steadies herself and begins to elaborate: “To climb the World Spire is, to most, the closest you can get to your God or Patron, to take a pilgrimage, a spirit quest up the mountain. The Returned would tell of their God or Goddess granting them boons or a sign of acceptance. But that is few and far between most who have gone up do not come back. The mountain has a way to test you, to test your faith. If you are going to make that climb, I want to join you if you’ll have me.” Moon's gaze drops to the floor.

The Party considers it; Ryltar offers and Moon accepts.

Ryltar asks if he could study the temple’s teleportation circle but is denied, pending review

Bugfood splits from the party and trades something (maybe the Hat of Disguise) for a Spell Scroll of Sending.

The Party decides to leave to find lodging for the night. Zelrathi will take a break from research, and we will head up the World Spire the next day.

Next session

Next session:

• Find lodging for the night
• Do we need to get Moon out on bail or something? Talk to her parole advisor?
• Up the World Spire!

For later:

• We know how to trap the Jester, with Magic Circle
• What's going with the stars? Are Ryltar's theories correct?
• What's left to complete the Ice Heart of Winter?
• How can the Mummy Lord be defeated?
• Determine how to resolve the Eta'el-Kerjes plot
• Remember to un-petrify Ockoh in the Ice Lord Wint's Lair.