Session 160

General Summary

• Theran's summoned fire elemental finished off the tumor tree. The guards finished constructing the portal to Axecut, and reinforcements started streaming in.
• Manchineel will oversee the forward base camp out here. He gave a short briefing about what to expect, and also reluctantly passed along a request from some noble houses to keep an eye out for someone named Jahdzan GoldFleece while they're out there.
• All party's requested supplies are present and accounted for, so they got on the boat and started making their way towards the site.
• With a couple of minor diversions along the way, the party decided to stop about halfway through and rest up before getting too close.
• They made camp at a reasonably clear spot, but halfway through the night, the "ghost" of Maedia Widelove approached their camp, warning them to "leave, like the others", wailing that her children must grow. Close inspection showed that this was an illusion, not a ghost, and it's somehow related to some black hair-like tendrils coming from underground.
• The "ghost" did some minor amounts of psychic damage with some invisible leech-like entities that were spawned by her wailing, but Theran quickly dispatched all of it — including Maedia's "ghost" itself — with a "Scutum's Starshine Shield" ability, allowing the rest of the party to go back to sleep.

Full Recap

Setting the Stage

Combat Wrap-Up

• Marvin continued to use his Pyroconverger to burn the goblinoids coming after him and Dazki, and he directed his summoned aberration to keep attacking the "tree".
• Dwardazik focused on a large troll brute that was one of the "tree"'s minions, tripping it and keeping its attention focused on him.
• Theran summoned a fire elemental spirit to attack the "tree" directly, exploiting its apparent weakness to fire.
• The final growth stage of the "tree" saw a large spike shoot out of the ground right between Dwardazik and Dazki, missing each by a few feet, as one of the wolf minions climbed to the top to defend the "tree" against the melee attackers.
• Dazki destroyed the more annoying of the goblinoids attacking him and Marvin, leaving Marvin free to add a Bigby's Hand spell to the pile of summoned creatures attacking the "tree" directly.
• While Dwardazik kept the troll occupied, Theran used his "Shooty Blam-Blam" spell to blast the wolf off of the top of the mound and instructed his fire elemental to keep pounding on it.
• Theran's fire elemental made the killing blow, which set off a chain reaction of fire that eliminated all the other minions as well.

Once the "tree", its tumors, and its minions all finish completely burning up, little evidence is left that anything other than a normal, everyday battle took place here. Theran's elemental runs around burning the corpses, with Marvin's hand helping to gather them up. The guards resume setting up their portal circle as the party patrol the area on the lookout for any further ambushes, (Perception 32, etc.) finding it to be now remarkably stable. With the circle complete and with the go-ahead from the party, the guards take the final steps to complete the connection.

Manchineel: I heard of the troubles you've had. I'm glad you were able to overcome it. This is probably really good news for us.   Dazki: I would certainly like to think so.   Manchineel: I will stay here at this camp. I have your supplies, as well.   Dazki: Perfect! Thank you.   Manchineel: Your notes did also mention a certain pin point, to track your location?   Dazki: Yeah, that is... um... no longer a viable option.   Manchineel: Understood.   Dazki: If you had an object from one of us — or if you know of an object that we have — would that make it easier to track us?   Manchineel: I'm not overly concerned about tracking your intimate details, but it would be useful for collecting any corpses or materials should you perish.   Dazki: All right, —   Dwardazik: We ain't gonna be "perishing", and I don't like you thinking like we're gonna fail this mission! We're gonna defeat the Turmoil, and we're gonna survive!   Manchineel: As best you must. For, if you fail, —   Dwardazik: Yeah, I don't need this negativity. (He walks away.)   Dazki: Would it be best to give you an object of mine so that you might track me, or would you just need to know of an object?   Theran: What would be best would be to give a bit of body material like a clipped nail or a piece of hair.   Manchineel: ... ... ...sure. I'm not... the best at... this sort of... ... ...uh... spell stuff.   Dazki cuts off a lock of his hair, ties it in a bundle, and gives it to Manchineel.   Dazki: There you go, you can use that to scry on us, or track us, then... or, the people who can do so.   Manchineel: Great. Totally normal. How very normal of you.   Dazki: Unusual times call for unusual reactions.

Manchineel gives a broad summary of the area: not much is known, as the pop-up mining communities have since scattered due to the dangers around. The worm at the cave entrance itself is being nicknamed "Brother Girth". While he also repeats what Tex had said about the miners having abandoned "the bleeding mines" without any prospect of coming back, he elaborates that his hunch is that it was not the ghost that spooked them away. His recommendation is for the party to make sure they rest before trying to fight "Brother Girth", a recommendation that Dwardazik takes offense to.   Manchineel then turns his attention to another matter: a noble house has recently come forth with a request, and it would help ease relations with The Underhoard if they could fulfill it. (History 20) Dwardazik knows all about The Underhoard, and he briefly tells the rest of the party what he knows, including that it's run by the Stonechild family.) Jahdzan GoldFleece has been missing for some months, someone who was slated to marry the Stonechild princess. Someone matching Jahdzan's description was spotted mining in this mineshaft; word is that he had some kind of connection to the ghost and these ghostlands, and he's "come back to finish the job". Manchineel makes it clear that he is only interested in making sure that the party gets the message, though he's quick to point out that nobles looking for a would-be prince of theirs would probably reward handsomely if something tangible were to come of it. The party distribute the supplies amongst one another, take a short rest, and step onto the boat, beginning to go upriver.  

Quick Travel Encounters Summary

• They pass through a cloud of acidic rain. Dazki quickly gets Dwardazik's Skin of Endless Ale from him to use the ale to wash away the acid while the dwarf helms the boat. They pass through with only extremely minor damage.
• Further down, they see a second boat that's gone ashore. It's flying the flag of Axecut, and they seem to be having some difficulty with some local wildlife. Dwardazik shoots some crossbow bolts at the wildlife, dispatching them quickly. One of the scouts waves the party over, seemingly to ask for assistance, showing a rotten and decaying arm. When the party approach, (Medicine 17) it becomes clearer that the scouts are no longer people, but husks "absolutely filled with worms, the same way you would fill a scarecrow with straw". Theran gets bit, and (Constitution Save 7) contracts a kind of disease that makes him feel the need to eat twice as much food per day until cured. He quickly casts an "Ultimate Sneeze-Stopper" spell to fix it.

Halfway along the river to the site, they decide to stop and look for a spot to take a long rest. Dwardazik (Survival 8) finds something that looks good at first, but when Theran scouts it from above (Survival 19) he notices that it's been claimed by some sort of large predator that's probably going to return overnight. He finds an alternative clearing that, while less defensible, seems free of evidence of predators that may disturb them overnight. They set up camp and begin taking watch.   The first half of the night goes by peacefully, and then during the changing of the guard, Dazki and Theran briefly discuss the secrets and long-term plans that they're keeping from one another, before Dazki goes off to begin his trance. Near the beginning of Theran's watch, (Perception 19) he begins to hear a voice, coming — at first — from deep into the woods.

♫ Nobody likes me, ♫ Everybody hates me ♫ Guess I'll go eat worms!   (Theran promptly wakes Marvin up to get a second pair of eyes on this.)   ♫ Long, thin, slimy ones ♫ Short, fat, juicy ones ♫ Itsy-bitsy, fuzzy-wuzzy worms!   (Marvin puts on the Goggles of Night and scans around, not seeing where it's coming from.)   ♫ Down goes the first one, ♫ Down goes the second one ♫ Oh how they wiggle and squirm!   (Theran asks Marvin if they should wake the others for backup; Marvin doesn't think so yet, but just as he says that, the Lantern of Tracking changes color, revealing that an aberration is now within 300 feet of the center of camp.)   ♫ Up comes the first one, ♫ Up comes the second one ♫ Oh how they wiggle and squirm!

A faint blue glow is darting quickly between certain trees. Theran wakes the others, as Marvin uses the special feature of his Bagpipes of Forceful Gathering to try to draw it in. The ghost seems to stop flashing around, but it's unaffected. It starts drifting towards the center of camp, repeating that song. Dwardazik attacks with this mace; though he does "hit" it, it passes right through: he says that it's an illusion. Dazki focuses his Unerring Eye ability towards her and confirms it: he sees a wriggling black hair-like strand going through the direct center of it, coming directly out from the ground. He calls this out to everyone.   Upon Dwardazik "hitting" the illusion, she starts wailing loudly, and (Wisdom Save 9, 12) Dazki and Marvin begin to feel some of the burden of her grief as Dwardazik slams his mace into the ground and Theran casts "Super-RockMorph" to try to disturb anything that might be buried there, in response to Dazki's warning about the hair-like strand. Dazki also sees some leech-like entities latched onto himself and Marvin by another hair-like tendril, dealing some damage to both of them; he knocks them off as Maedia's "ghost" continues its wailing.

Maedia's "ghost": Evil parasites! My children must grow! Why won't everybody leave?! Why is everyone so mean? My children must grow! Thrive!   (This time, the wailing affects all but Theran, in various ways.)   Maedia's "ghost": Leave! Leave, like the others!   Dazki: We will not leave. (He severs the tendril for his own leech, and he points them out to Dwardazik and Marvin.)   Maedia's "ghost", bending down in frustration: So hungry! Why won't you leave?   Theran, activating "Scutum's Starshine Shield" around himself and moving closer: You leave first!   Maedia's "ghost": Why is everyone so mean? Leave! Leave or be devoured!   Theran: Yeah, maybe that's why people are being mean? People tend not to like getting eaten...

Theran's "Scutum's Starshine Shield" ability does enough to interrupt whatever was creating the illusion, causing it to dissipate, its song echoing throughout the woods.   There's a general sentiment that they should pack up camp and move, but Dazki suggests that they give it 5 minutes first, to see if their lantern reverts its color back... but Dwardazik starts having a conversation with Gemineye (he says both parts out loud):

Gemineye: Why is mother so sad?   Dwardazik: That was "mother"? She's here?   Gemineye: Other mother.   Dwardazik: Not your mother? Which one?   Gemineye: You're my mother, and that is mother.   Dwardazik: I understand that. We're talking about the bad one. Was that her?   Gemineye: I think so. I feel it. Why is she so sad?   Dwardazik: I don't know, but we need to be careful not to be distracted.   Gemineye: OK. I'm hungry.   Dwardazik: Maybe later, OK? We need to focus. Do you sense her anywhere else around here?   Gemineye: Difficult, as we seem always connected. You won't become sad too, right? I don't like it when you are sad.   Dwardazik: No, I refuse. I won't be sad, and neither will you.   Gemineye: I will destroy what makes you sad.   Dwardazik: Don't worry, nothing's going to be making me sad anytime soon.   A bit of a silence, as Gemineye stops talking.   Theran: Well... ... ...that wasn't terrifying...   Dwardazik: OK, guys. There's a grave concern here. We really don't know if... I have a suspicion that that may have been a tendril of "Mother Girth", and it's very likely that if we ever had any chance of a surprise attack, it's completely blown now.   Dazki: We'd already discussed this; I thought that we were already acting on the assumption that we're being spied upon anyway?

A little bit of bickering ensues, but the lantern reverts to its original color, so they feel safe to finish their long rest here. Theran resumes his watch, (Perception 22) noticing that the wildlife in the area has gotten completely quiet as if everything in the area was suddenly aware of the presence of a large predator. When he wakes Marvin for the last bit, they talk a bit about plans for dealing with whom Theran's family have sent, but ultimately they put off any important decisions for later, since they have more pressing things to worry about right now.