Session 63
General Summary
- The party defeated The Glutton of Hershal's Rest, mostly without any lingering issues (though Dwardazik's knee really hurts).
- Hershal's Rest doesn't seem to have been targeted for any reason in particular.
- The Flesh Artist hasn't been back to Hershal's Rest since the first attack. As far as anyone could tell, the second attack seemed completely unprompted.
- Thanks to Kesmet's careful studying of the body, we know that the Glutton was not undead, yet it was made entirely out of human parts.
- The Glutton was not merely consuming body parts; rather, it was transporting them to a very cold extradimensional space using some orb it had at its center, which the party has now.
- The party gave Marvin a bit more information about their story, telling him that they have Baxton's soul in a Ring of Mind Shielding.
- Dwardazik and Grogery piled up all the bodies and thoroughly burned them all, while Kesmet attuned to Baxton's ring, and Dazki went to go get Barry.
- Kesmet started talking to Baxton through the ring, but Baxton quickly realized that he didn't really want to have anything to do with the Genasi. He'll speak only to Dazki.
- The party found the trail that the Glutton made when he entered Hershal's Rest.
- The dead body's name was Begonya Payne.
Full Recap
The session opens with the party at Hershal's Rest, consolidating all the bodies and body parts into a pile to be burned, when The Glutton of Hershal's Rest makes its presence known.Hershal's Unrest
Combat Summary
- The Glutton focused all of its attacks on Dwardazik, ultimately knocking him unconscious but falling short of killing him.
- Whenever someone (i.e., Dwardazik) would heal up, the Glutton's next attack did considerably more damage (i.e., to Dwardazik), more than negating the effect of the heal.
- Grogery cast Turn Undead, but the Glutton was completely unaffected.
- The Glutton has a tongue-like appendage that it would extend out of its oddly-shaped maw to grapple the dwarf and reel it in, subsequently attempting to bite his leg off. Dwardazik observed that the inside of this monster was incredibly cold.
- Marvin gave Dwardazik Haste, giving him more actions (useful for attacking after escaping the Glutton's clutches) and a slight amount of protection.
- Some zombies joined the fight, acting aggressively towards the party.
- Dazki shot a blood arrow from his bow for an incredibly high amount of damage. This was the first time that Marvin was able to witness the awesome power of Bloodspine.
- The Glutton seemed to slowly shrug off some of the damage that it took.
- As the damage started stacking up heavily on the Glutton, it cried out what sounded like the word "HELP".
Kesmet: I've had it! This thing's resisted so much of my fucking fire! I'm the goddamn Baker!He then threw a fire bolt that knocked the monster out. The rest of the party ran to do overkill damage to it, remembering Alice's suggestion. Dazki sliced it hard with his rapier, then shot it in the head with his pistol, which ultimately released all of the tension in its body.
Aftermath
The area around this beast leaks an extremely cold mist, despite the cause of death being fire. There is a little bit of fire that's started to spread throughout some of the buildings. Grogery greatly heals Dwardazik as Marvin flies down to help him up onto his feet. His knee is still incredibly painful, after the monster's apparent attempt to bite it off.Marvin: Dwardazik, are you OK? Dwardazik: I could use some rest... Grogery: Are we sure this thing is overkilled enough? Kesmet shoots it a few more times with his fire bolt. Dazki: We should still burn it to be safe. Dwardazik: Thank you, Grogery. Grogery: You're welcome... why didn't you fly away when you were starting to get really badly hurt? Dwardazik: And let him come after you? Grogery: I'm fine! I have a get-out-of-death-free card for the next 6 hours! Dwardazik: You speak about death as if it's some kind of joke. Marvin: Stay off that leg for a bit, man. Dwardazik hovers a little off the ground for as long as he still has flight. Grogery: We should probably put out this fire? Marvin: I'm almost inclined to let it keep going. Kesmet: I vote against putting out this fire. Marvin: We wanted to burn the bodies anyway. This whole village... to be sure that we get everything, I say just let the whole fucking thing burn down! Dwardazik: We'd lose any potential evidence! Grogery: Yeah, we need to still find clues as to where The Flesh Artist ended up going.The party spends some time going around and putting out the fire. They've had plenty of practice by now.
Dwardazik: Grogery, do you think you could do anything about this knee? Grogery, after inspecting it: Hmm, that thing almost took out one of your vital... sinew things. Dwardazik: "Vital sinew things"? Grogery: I don't know what it's called in Common! Grogery bandages him up. Dwardazik: Will I be all right? Grogery: Yeah, you'll be all right. We've definitely been through worse. Dwardazik: I can't say I have...? Kesmet: Remember that time you were nearly melted by necrotic damage? Dwardazik: Yeah, that wasn't good either. Marvin: What's this about necromancy? Grogery: The false Order of Imagination monks that Baxton had made, in order to run around and do his evil bidding, dealt necrotic damage when they hit you, which stopped healing from working. They also exploded when they died, so we would take out the two of them, and they would explode, and we would all be left two feet away from death's door, unable to get ourselves any further away. Dwardazik: It was a nasty combination. It left you weakened and frail. Marvin: That sounds like an amazing story, but we need to sort this out now. Grogery: We're a little bit on edge whenever we hear music like the kind they would play. Dwardazik: You think we can get all these bodies sorted out and start the pyre? The sooner we sort that and get out of this village, the better I'd feel. Marvin: Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. What else are we looking for? What other clues or information do you think we can still gather? Grogery: Maybe any other notes like what they attached to the dog? Dazki: Or if anyone had a journal, or a visitor book, or anything like that.The party splits up to investigate.
Dazki enters into the building next to where the Glutton died. It seems to be a makeshift cleric area. There are several simple potions around, primarily herbalist balms, but also some healing potions. The residents seem to have died in here, and a zombie had come from here as well. The zombie looks familiar: the party encountered it once before. It has half of a pig's head where its face would be and a singular hoof. Since the last time he encountered this zombie, it has acquired some new parts and lost some others. Dazki drags it out to add to the pile for the pyre.
Grogery goes into the building adjacent to Dazki. There is a cauldron typically used for cooking. There's a plant in here used for insect repellent. There is also a poorly taxidermy bull in the eastern side of the camp, nothing to be afraid of.
Kesmet flies high over the camp to see the rest of the camp. He spots two zombies hiding under some trees from the sun, which he promptly dispatches.
Marvin checks the buildings to the north, but he's distracted by the weird corpse of the Glutton, not really sure what to look for. He's never seen, read, or heard about anything like that before.
Dwardazik methodically investigates the buildings and other zones in the south. He finds a tannery, where they would make simple parchment and letters from hides. There's also a deceased mail carrier with lots of letters scattered about. The letters mostly focus on the attack from a couple of weeks ago, nothing about this one. Dwardazik packs them up. Another area has a baking setup, where they might make some simple biscuits and meat pies. None of the food is super usable. There's a building with some big jugs of water and a basin used for washing. A door around the back leads to an underground larder. He also goes back to the blacksmith area, which doesn't really have anything of interest. Overall, he gets the impression that the town is unremarkable, really just a hunter's camp. Not the kind of place that someone would really seek out as a target.
The party regroups to share their findings.
Dwardazik: Every one of these houses that I've explored has just standard supplies. Looks like there's some salvageable food over in the larder down back that way, might be something we want to grab on the way out. Grogery: Did anybody find any information about where the Flesh Artist might have gone after he came through here? Dazki: No... there was a healer's cabin, but they didn't have any information about anything. Just some herbalist's stuff, and maybe a couple of healing potions. Dwardazik: I found some notes over here documenting what that healer had done. Some earlier attacks, which is not too surprising. Nothing that would indicate where he's gone, just that things were ongoing. Makes sense, considering how defended they were. Dazki: Grogery... the coins of Speak with Dead? One of the healers. Grogery: Yes, let's do that.They workshop the questions to ask for a while. Dwardazik is eager to go first. Grogery ritualistically places a coin over each eye. Upon setting them, the coins themselves seem to melt as if made of liquid sunlight, before sinking deep into the corpse's eye sockets, forming new eyes for the dead to see. A terrible, rasping gasp comes from the corpse, as its now golden eyes creak and turn to look at you. It seems receptive to your questions, but it's certainly not alive.
| Asker | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Dwardazik | What is your name? (What? I wanted to inform people of this person's death!) | Begonya Payne |
| Dazki | How many days ago did the Flesh Artist leave this encampment? | 11 days |
| Grogery | In which direction did the Flesh Artist travel after leaving this encampment? | To Ashport (Grogery: oh right, it was less than 11 days ago when we saw him in Ashport) |
| Dazki | Did you recognize any of the healing arts that the Flesh Artist employed when healing others in this camp? | The doctor heals what I cannot. |
| Grogery | What, if anything, led the most recent zombie attack on this encampment? | The zombies, they don't follow. |
Grogery: So the Flesh Artist hasn't been back here, but the zombies have. And they didn't follow a hive lord or any specific person (or this beast), the zombies just... showed up. It's possible they were directed here by a necromancer or a hive lord that was specifically staying out of the way. I think I see what the Flesh Artist is doing with all this. Dwardazik: ...really? Grogery: He sends a zombie infestation to injure tons of people in horrible ways, not necessarily killing many (or anyone?). He comes through and offers to heal those grievous injuries, and then sends the zombies through later to actually finish the job. Those who were healed by his magic come back as more zombies. So he continues doing this, growing his horde and more disgusting, animated bodies. Marvin: So you guys actually saw the Flesh Artist in Ashport? Dazki: Yes, a while ago. Kesmet: We didn't know who he was back then. Grogery: He was talking with Baxton, something about "Territory M". Dwardazik: Heh, maybe it's "Territory Marvin"! Marvin: Hey, my body's off-limits! Dwardazik: Well, let's get to the dirty work.As they gather corpses to add to the pile for the pyre, they notice that the Glutton's corpse isn't showing any signs of rotting or decaying at all. It's not dried and baked by the sun, it's not falling apart... it doesn't even smell bad. This is not an undead entity. It was alive until a few minutes ago. Kesmet carefully examines it and makes some very disturbing, very relevant, discoveries. The skin is thicker, the bones are denser, yeah, but... this thing used to be human. It's got human anatomy mixed in, in very obscure and weird ways. Those fingers it has on its hands: they are human fingers with human fingerprints. The toes it has on its legs: also human fingers with human fingerprints. Little indents on the skull appear where, he imagines, one could put eyes. There aren't any eyes there, as the skin has grown over the indents where they would be. Up until a few minutes ago, for all we knew, it could have had a human soul.
Marvin: Can we... can we use those coins on this? Grogery: Well, it doesn't have eyes... Kesmet: But, we see where it could have eyes! Let's cut open the skin where they would be. Grogery: I suppose there's no harm in trying. Dwardazik: Are you guys really gonna cut into this corpse? Grogery: We have no lead on where the Flesh Artist is. We need to find him. Dazki: Give me one moment before you do that.Dazki takes out his Wand of Magic Detection and uses it. It reveals slight hints of evocation and conjuration magic in the center chest area of the beast.
Marvin: So, if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, and we don't lose the coins, right? Kesmet: I vote for trying to use the coins on this thing, and then afterwards, cutting it open to see what that magic source is inside of it. Dwardazik, with a sigh: If you really think it's worth a shot. I say we just burn the whole thing down. Kesmet: We can do that afterwards. Dazki: All right, so I guess, if you guys want, see if you can find eye sockets to put the coins in.(cont'd) ...and yeah, it's got six limbs, but those back limbs are definitely human legs. So how does it get extra limbs? Is this more than one person, can you even do that? Kesmet places the coins over the eye sockets. Indeed, they do not work.
Dwardazik: And what about that magic thing you were talking about? Dazki: I'm worried that it's going to be one of those Turmoil slugs, but let's cut it open and see.Dazki brandishes his knife and cuts it open. An orb, kind of like a crystal ball, comes out of the creature. Looking into the crystal is like looking into infinity. The crystal ball itself is incredibly cold and covered in frost. Kesmet picks it up with Mage Hand.
Kesmet: So what do we do with this thing? Dazki: We keep it, and have Grogery try to scry on the owner of this crystal, because it might lead us to the Flesh Artist. Dwardazik: That's possible. Marvin: Is this... Turmoil? That we're looking at right now? Dazki: Probably not. This is too concrete, too definite.Kesmet checks it out. This thing is a portal to a very cold extradimensional space. Whatever this thing was eating, it was being transported over there.
Grogery: ...oh no. It was eating body parts and stuffing them into cold storage, and then the Flesh Artist would come back later and get them, and turn them into zombies! Marvin: It's literally a walking refrigerator... Kesmet: That could be useful! If only we knew how to access it. Marvin: So the Flesh Artist is going to want to come back to this? Or maybe he has another means of accessing the space... Dazki: The creature was mobile, it seems like it was probably under his control. He could have just recalled it after a while. Kesmet: So when he comes after the orb, we capture him, and then we beat the information out of him to find out where Dennis is! Dwardazik: There's simply too many questions. Dazki: So let's see if we can find this thing's trail, and then burn the place down. Dwardazik: I agree. Marvin: Yep. Kesmet: I will provide the fire for burning the place down, if someone else can take the orb. They wrap the orb in some leather and hide from around the town so it can be carried. Grogery: Well, I can send a message to Alice? Kesmet: If we came all the way out here, to find out that we have to go back to Ashport to find the Doctor... Marvin: Whom you guys apparently already met? Dwardazik: Yeah, he left. Kesmet: But we don't know where to go! So we have to go back there to search for different clues! Dwardazik: No, we have to search the field. Grogery: If we find where this thing came from, we might have an idea of where this batch of zombies came from. Marvin: Oh yeah, if he was here, then went to Ashport, then left, what if he was coming back here to get his monster? Kesmet: Well, he left 11 days ago. How long is the trip to Ashport? Dazki + Grogery: 2 days. Grogery: So he would have been in Ashport on day 9, which makes sense. Earliest he could have been back here is day 7. The zombies would have doubled back here around day 4 or 3. So it makes me think that he may have traveled to some other side kind-of near here, where there were some zombies. Kesmet: The first place we saw zombies? Maybe he's there? Dazki: Honestly I think he'd just recall this thing to him. He wouldn't go seeking it. Kesmet: Why did it come here, then? Dazki: All the bodies. He wasn't done eating them yet.Dwardazik found a trail that the Glutton left behind it on its way into the city, so there's a lead.
Grogery: If the Flesh Artist has actual control over this thing, and he can recall it, then it stands that he might have some sort of system to know when it's dead. Possibly, he was going to meet up with it after it consumed the bodies here, and if it doesn't show up, he's going to know someone else has his orb. If he's a smart man, he'll want to get it back. Marvin: Then we set a trap? Grogery: There's a chance that he could end up finding us, as long as we hold onto this for long enough. Marvin: Good. I want to meet this asshole. Grogery: But still, it would be better to know where he is before he knows where we are. Dwardazik: This is too much conjecture. We need a real path. Grogery: If he's the owner of this item, then we might be able to scry for him, once we get back to Ashport. Then again, it did take a few days to get out here, so it would be worth trying to pursue the trail that this thing came from and see if we can track it down to any other fresh leads. Maybe if the Flesh Artist was visiting a town for the first time and was in the area, and then directed this group to double back around, like, "hey, it's been about a week or two since I've been here, let me send the zombie horde over here next". I wonder if Baxton has any words on this... Kesmet: Wait, if we find him, we can put this stuff in his eyes, and then boom! We can ask him. Grogery: His body melted... Dwardazik: Put the ring on! Kesmet: Wait, we have his soul! Of course! Marvin: You have Baxton's soul?! Dazki, infuriated: You know, I was really hoping you wouldn't mention that! Marvin: Why does one hold onto someone else's soul? Kesmet: We got it by accident. Grogery: He did it to himself. Kesmet: He's free to go whenever he wants! Marvin: ...really? Dazki, exasperated: Grogery, the ring? Grogery: Yeah. He pulls it out of the bag. Marvin: Oh, he's trapped in that? A ring? Dazki: So this ring has this property, where...Kesmet takes the ring and puts it on, starting the attunement process. During that short rest, some other party members move around burning the bodies in the pile, and Dazki goes to get Barry. After the short rest, Kesmet is attuned. For a while, he thinks that Baxton might be gone, as there is no immediate response. However, sure enough, Baxton is still here. They have a short conversation, which Kesmet initially relays back to the rest of the party as it happens.Marvin: Interesting... Dazki: Last we checked, a couple of days ago, he was in there. Marvin: Does he have some sort of plan? Dazki: I don't know. He was trying to manipulate me against my friends here, so I decided, screw that, we're not going to listen to him, and that was it. Marvin: But Baxton had spoken with the Flesh Artist? Dazki: Yes. Marvin: And he can communicate out of this ring? Grogery: It sounded like perhaps he and the Flesh Artist had a bit of a feud going, though. So it's possible that he may help us get to the guy, but it's also possible he might try to lead us into a trap to spite us. Marvin: So if I just yell into this, can he hear me? Dazki: You have to be attuned to it. Kesmet: If you want, I can try to talk to him. See, I don't buy what he's selling, ever since the first time he tried to sell me something. Marvin: What did he try to sell you? Kesmet: I don't know, something about, like, berries, or whatever. Dazki: Sure. I mean, he's probably only going to want to give useful advice to me, but I really don't want to talk to him. Marvin: I don't blame you... Kesmet: You know what, he was rude to me in life, and it seems fitting that his only channel for talking to us happens to be the one person he doesn't want to talk to, 'cause I'm the only person he can't swindle. 'cause I never buy anything from him!DnD 5e
Ring of Mind Shielding
Ring
Uncommon Requires Attunement
While wearing this ring, you are immune to magic that allows other creatures to read your thoughts, determine whether you are lying, know your Alignment, or know your creature type. Creatures can telepathically communicate with you only if you allow it.
You can use an action to cause the ring to become Invisible until you use another action to make it visible, until you remove the ring, or until you die.
If you die while wearing the ring, your soul enters it, unless it already houses a soul. You can remain in the ring or depart for The Afterlife. As long as your soul is in the ring, you can telepathically communicate with any creature wearing it. A wearer can't prevent this Telepathic Communication.
Kesmet: Hello? Are you in there? I know I'm annoying, but please don't leave before you get a chance to talk to us. I know you're still thirsty for Dazki, and you can't really do anything without a body, but... Baxton: I was hoping my protégé would get better help by now. Kesmet: Oh hey, cool. You're awake. We need to speak to you about stuff. (from here, Kesmet stopped immediately relaying things to the rest of the party, making it look like he's focused on just talking to Baxton) Kesmet: I need to speak to you about Dennis, and I'm sure the others want to ask you about some other stuff. There's this giant ogre thing. That's pretty interesting right now. Also, something with a cold orb. Are you still there? Did you go back to sleep? Baxton: You really do deserve all of the awful deaths that will befall you. Kesmet: I can only die once. Baxton: You would think that, being of feeble mind and poor soul. Kesmet: Sure. I'm of feeble mind and poor soul and can only die once. Now, about Dennis. What do you know about him? Specifics! Baxton: I think I'm... not going to talk to you. Please tell me when my protégé gets rid of some more cowardice. Until then, I am going to count to one thousand. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. (Grogery notices the long period of silence and chimes in) Grogery: Hey Kesmet, how's it going? Kesmet: Well, he's counting to a thousand for some reason. He's trying to avoid giving me information about Dennis. Also, he probably doesn't really know anything. Grogery: Did you ask him directly? Kesmet: Yeah, I asked him. I can communicate mentally with him. (Baxton is still counting inside of Kesmet's head, where he can't tune it out. Nineteen. Twenty.) Dwardazik: You think he'd talk to me if I asked him a few questions? (Twenty-four.) Kesmet: You have to, like, attune to the ring and everything. (Twenty-five.) Dwardazik: I can just do it later when we're on the cart on our way to the next place. If he's just counting to a thousand, it's got to be distracting. Kesmet: I'll hear him out. I want to see if he'll actually get to a thousand. Seeing as how he was pretty low on the totem pole, I'm starting to be convinced he doesn't actually know anything about Dennis. (Baxton: How dare you, you pissant, distract my counting!) (Kesmet: Yeah, go back to counting. Shut up.) (Baxton: Forty-five!) (Kesmet: Damn, you're fast. Wait, I thought you were on like twenty? Are you cheating?) Marvin: You can start counting backwards! Kesmet: He probably doesn't know anything about that doctor person. He was probably just his underling, and that guy got annoyed with him and dropped him. Dwardazik: Count from a thousand to one! (Baxton hasn't been counting.) (Kesmet: Hey. Hey! You know I can hear your thoughts! I know that you stopped counting, and I know that you're not doing it in your head! You said you were going to count to a thousand! See? You're dishonest, which is why I didn't buy Barry's soul from you the first time when you tried to sell it to me! Or... something. I didn't really pay attention. Hello???) (Baxton: You really did like your wife, didn't you?) (Kesmet: Yeah, she's dead, what about her?) (Baxton: I imagined her more good looking.) (Kesmet: Look, I know that you swing the other way, so your opinion on how women look is skewed at best.) (Baxton: Do you think she's happy?) (Kesmet: I mean, she's dead.) (Baxton: Some people believe that the pain they endure in life follows them to the afterlife.) (Kesmet: Man, it sucks for you to believe that. Are you, like, in pain? I remember Dazki, like, stabbed you. Do you still feel, like, a stabbing pain? Or is it kind of like, you're floating in a void? Look, you're not telling me anything, you don't know anything about Dennis, you're trying to comment on heterosexual things, ...) (Baxton: I feel like if I'm going to be trapped in here with you, I might as well get used to the place.) (Kesmet: I'm still not buying anything from you. You can't even sell anything at this point! Unless you know where, like, a berry vendor is.) Dwardazik: Uh, Kesmet? You've been staring at that wall for the past, like, ten minutes. Are you all right? Kesmet: Apparently, Baxton doesn't know how to count to a thousand. He was lying. And he's living in my head now, and he might know the location of a berry vendor. (Baxton: Kesmet, your wife and child. They burn.) Kesmet, out loud now: Hey, can you hear anybody else, or is it just me? I'm going to start using Minor Illusion to project your voice, since it sounds a little weird if I'm just talking to myself. Dwardazik: If I was Baxton, I would have left that ring ages ago... Marvin: He's a very stubborn fucker, by the sound of things. Kesmet: He tried to fuck. I don't think he succeeded. Dwardazik: Is this torture? Grogery: He can leave at any time. By staying, he is consenting. Dwardazik: Grogery, that's an interesting position. Dazki: He's not wrong... Kesmet: Baxton, is that true? Can you leave at any time? You only counted to, like, fifty or something. Even I can count past fifty.In general, overall, the wind has been picking up these past few days. This is a fairly typical indicator that the peak dry season here is approaching.
