Session 87

General Summary

• Dazki sent the group's report to Annu, in private. Annu replied that the group would need to quarantine before re-entering Ashport, but Annu doesn't care about Overlook specifically.
• Jim gave a speech to the town, preparing them for what is to come, and reassuring them that he will be there to relieve their hardships as they transition to whatever comes next.
• Urtica gave a list of specific challenges that would need to be tackled for the journey to rescue the people still in Vicra's lair. The party agreed to help with some of those tasks.
• Immediately after the tasks were assigned, the party was unceremoniously whisked away into the Red Desert, something that all but Marvin had experienced twice before.
• There were several meteorites already embedded in the sands that would get struck by a form of anti-lightning, black tendrils attaching to them from the sky above.
• Another shadowy entity appeared, and some party members addressed it as if it were The Mirage Entity itself. The entity taunted the party and threatened to end them, but cosmic forces intervened, forcing it to retreat.
• The Manifestations of the Mirage appeared again, this time more powerful than before (even with The Gasping Orator defeated), but with the aid of Marvin and another nondescript halfling, the party managed to vanquish them once more.
• Unlike what had been happening previously, the party were made to linger on the plane for just a bit longer after vanquishing the manifestations, and they were able to ask a few questions of the voices that inhabit this realm before being warped back.
• Shortly after returning to Overlook, Dwardazik stepped away and hastily devoured a bunch of black-colored sand, faster than even Dazki could react.
• Dazki confronted him about this, and when Dwardazik was cagey about it, he furiously stormed off, feeling betrayed by what he felt was a complete lack of trust from Dwardazik, but Marvin pointed out that if this is an addiction, then it's wrong to blame Dwardazik for it.

Full Recap

Plans

Dazki excuses himself from the party and goes upstairs to contact Annu.  

Dwardazik: Well, I guess this is where the rubber finally hits the road, so they say.   Marvin: So, how much you guys want to bet he gets chewed out?   Dwardazik: Dazki? Hmm, he's never spoken to Annu before. I mean, with the stone.   Grogery: Just me, so far.   Marvin: Why have you taken on that burden by yourself, Grogery?   Dwardazik: Well, I don't want to talk to 'im...   Grogery: Because Annu... likes me? I think?   Marvin: Is that... a good thing or a bad thing?   Grogery: I let him have his book back. I think that changed some sort of variable in his head from "not friend" to "friend"?   Marvin: ...you took his book?   Grogery: Not his spellbook, but we found a book that was valuable to him in his previous life.   Marvin: Was it... was it smut?   Grogery: It was a scientific journal of sorts.   Marvin: Damnit!   Dwardazik: Unfortunately, nothing so lewd. But, realistically, I'm really glad I haven't had to talk to him. He's not a, uh... he's an interesting character, that's for sure.   Marvin: And... are you eventually gonna tell him about Baxton's Ring of Mind Shielding, or...?   Dwardazik: Uh, let's keep that one on the down-low, OK?   Marvin: All right.   Grogery: You probably heard about the political feud that was going on between Baxton and Annu?   Marvin: Yeah.   Dazki comes back down.   Dazki: Well, I've got good news and bad news.   Dwardazik: Uh, bad news.   Dazki: The bad news is, until we get the go-ahead from Annu, because we've been dealing with Turmoil lately, we have a "Prohibition to Entry" into Ashport.   Dwardazik: ...really?   Marvin: Wait, does he know who I am? I could still go back into Ashport, right?   Kesmet: Fuck that place.   Grogery: Yeah, but if you have actually been contaminated by Turmoil, they'll probably catch you. And if you're not associated with us, bad things might happen.   Marvin: Oh, I thought it was just because he didn't like us. If it's for an actual reason like that, then that's understandable...   Dazki: No, it's because we've been in Vicra Lammergeyer's Lair, and the Turmoil Containment Zone, and that shit we've had to deal with. It's basically for him to give us the "all clear".   Marvin: OK. He's putting us in quarantine. That's better than what I first thought. I thought we were just banished because he's pissed.   Dazki: No. Good news is, he doesn't seem to care about Overlook. At all. They have made some progress in helping the people who have been affected by Baxton.   Dwardazik: Oh? Besides turning 'em into stone?   Dazki: "Still under development", "imposes significant risks". The impression I'm getting is that progress is being made.   Dwardazik: ...yeah, that doesn't sound like progress. That sounds like, "oh, let's turn 'em to stone", and then they're like, "maybe stone isn't the best way of treating them?", and then they call that "progress".   Dazki: "The marked victims are easier to treat successfully as the location and effects are known, but recovery is still never flawless." So it sounds like they're alive after the removal, but there's still some permanent scarring.   Grogery: It takes enormous amounts of magic to heal a lost eye.   Dwardazik: You guys are aware that I have this stupid tusk tooth after fighting that thingamajig outside town, right?   Grogery: Yeah... you might want to get that looked at.   Dwardazik: I'm not gonna sit here and allow Annu to turn me to stone just because he doesn't like the fact that I've now got a sharper-than-normal tooth.   Marvin: Maybe he got bit by a dog as a child and got traumatized. You don't know!   Grogery: Don't you want to get it out?   Dwardazik: What, the tooth?   Grogery: ...yeah.   Dazki: ...yeah.   Dwardazik: Well, yeah. But I could just pull it out if that's the issue.   Grogery: A lot easier to get rid of a tooth than an eye.   Dwardazik: But you know how Annu works! Annu's completely, 100%, batshit crazy.   Marvin: Maximum no-chill.   Dwardazik: He'll be like, "What's that? You have potential Turmoil corruption because it touched your ear? Wellp, gonna have to remove your brain to check it."   Grogery: I mean, he hasn't completely disintegrated all the people who have it inside of their eye and possibly affecting their brain.   Dwardazik: But they're currently stone...   Dazki: He is allowing exploratory magic to be done in an attempt to heal these people instead of just burning them all to death.   Dwardazik: Look, I just don't want to be turned to stone.   Marvin: Yeah, you were already crystallized once.   Dwardazik: It doesn't seem so unreasonable to not want to get turned to stone!   Dazki: No, no, not trying to say that! I'm just saying, he is showing some restraint.   Marvin: But, Dwardazik! To mine the stone, you must become the stone.   Dwardazik: Yeah, something about a dwarf becoming stone doesn't really sit well with me right now.   Grogery: There are ritualistic changes for turning people into stone and back that I might be able to do, but I don't want to do that to people.   Marvin: OK. He can probably put us through a shower or something, soap us up. What's our next move? Rescue the people back in the anthill?   Dwardazik: Yeah, Jim, what do you and your men (and women) need our help with preparing for?   Jim: There are... probably around seven major concerns.   Dazki: OK?   Dwardazik: Well, I guess, give us a couple. Maybe I can help out before I'm turned into stone.   Grogery: Not gonna be turned into stone...   Jim: There is something I must do first.

Jim stands up. You can practically hear the joints and muscles crack as he straightens himself into a normal posture, one fitting of an elven noble, perhaps even a leader. He leaves the teahouse and heads to the town center.

Grogery: Uhh... he's gonna do something.   Marvin: This oughta be good. We should go too.   Dazki: I think he might actually be the person he was always supposed to be.

Jim walks to the center of the town square, near the large fountain with the big statue of a man with the phoenix wings behind him, that you now know is meant to symbolize Altzmyr, its shadow casting over townsfolk busy preparing for the upcoming encounter. Jim steps up to the fountain's ledge and addresses the crowd of people, using a magical effect that draws attention to him and ensures that all can hear.

Altzmyr teaches that a changing of form does not change an identity. That a person should not let their core morals and ideals change within dire circumstances or alterations of life, but be strengthened by it. Right now is one such dire circumstance.   We do not have the resources to support our livelihood here, nor do we have the defenses needed to protect it from the inevitable invasion. Altzmyr has protected us so far, but now it is our turn to protect Altzmyr. To let him rest and recover. We must let the location here be abandoned and forgotten.   But just as death of a person does not change who we are and who we were, the death of this city need not change the spirit of its community. The land was just a body. The people within it made it what it really was. Do not mourn it, for it follows your spirit even in its death. Whether you stick together through this adversity or drift apart, know that Altzmyr will still watch over you, if you so wish to invite him in.   There are many here who have sought a retirement from persecuting and from persecution. Many who have traded one hard life for another. Those who have lied, stolen, killed, and seek redemption, I judge not and have sworn to care for you. I will offer you what solace I can in the difficult times to come.   Write this down. The townsfolk instinctively pull out their logbooks.   To those who feel the creeping temptation of vengeance, greed, aggression sink in once again — I will be your martyr. Direct your hate and disdain towards me.   To the many more who will lose hope, who will feel guilt, desperation, and depression creep in from the past — I will be your martyr. I will be the lingering voice in the back of your head that deserves the pain and suffering you think you deserve.   And if I am to be slain in an act of confusion or anger, know that these negative thoughts and emotions die with me, never again to sink into the mortal plane.   I am Jimson Datura, and I promised to protect you from others and from yourselves. I promised the possibility of redemption.   Let my body and soul rot so yours does not have to.   Altzmyr understands and protects.

The townsfolk responds to his last line, all saying, "In life, death, and undecided."   Jim goes to step down to discuss plans with his necromancers, and Dazki begins to applaud. The teahouse waitress also applauds, but the other townsfolk just look around, confused.

Dwardazik: I guess that means Jim's going to be pulling everyone out. Ugh, wouldn't want to be him.   Dazki: Yeah, but he's doing the right thing. He's doing what a leader should.   Marvin: Yeah, he is doing the right thing.   Dwardazik: I hope.   Dazki: It may have taken dire circumstances for him to get there, but he's proven that, at least in my opinion, he is a good man.   Marvin: Well... he's on his way.   Dwardazik: We'll find out.   The party makes its way over to Jim and his necromancers.   Dwrardazik: Well, are we going to do some planning, or what?   Marvin: Plan? What plan? We just go and kick ass, right?   Dwardazik: Are we waiting for W.E.I.R.D.? Are we just gonna sit here?   Grogery: I thought we were going to work with Jim to free all those souls, since W.E.I.R.D. probably can't really help with that.   Marvin: Oh, yeah, they need us to prepare. Somehow.   Grogery: And we definitely can't wait too long before trying to at least help all the people down there. A lot of them are not in very good condition.   Dwardazik: All right, let's give this whole soul thing a shot, then.   Urtica: Well, there's a lot to consider.   Dazki: How can we help?   Urtica: We've been preparing throughout the night to raid the mostly abandoned lair and recover the survivors. There's still a lot of things to be done, careful planning, and all that. I found about seven things that still need to be done, and you could definitely help us with some of them.   Dazki: All right. Lay the list on us.   Urtica:

1. We need information on what may be encountered and what must be discovered, so we can plan for it.
2. Each undead to be used must have their wishes checked for acceptable uses, and permission must be acquired on a body-by-body basis for any "extracurricular" uses. (...I think that one's gonna go to Jim, he seems to have an excellent memory for that.)
3. Appropriate supplies have to be readied based on the information gathered, and teams must be formed for any tasks that must be performed. (Which we can't do until you give us all the information, so a lot's riding on that one.)
4. Rituals need to be prepped in order to deal with unsatisfied or trapped souls. (We are but a few clerics, so that could be tricky.)
5. (There's Turmoil down there, we know that, right?) (Party: Yes) So, the Turmoil contamination must be accounted for.
• Dwardazik: Do you have anything to deal with that Turmoil contamination?
• Urtica: We can set up another Windbreaking Drill, but it's going to be ineffective in a tunnel system. And, there's a lack of power down in there to power it.
• Dwardazik: Do you at least have anything to keep you safe from the Turmoil, while you work down there?
• Urtica: There's no way to keep safe from Turmoil.
• Dwardazik: I'm just saying, Annu's going to head on over there and blow the shit up, so you just need to be safe while working.
• Urtica: ...what do you mean?
• Dazki: The Windbreaking Drill is to banish it so that the people can be there, not anything else.
• Urtica: ...yeah. We have to eliminate the Turmoil. We're just going to let it fester here?
• Dwardazik: It's gonna be eliminated by Annu, isn't it?
• Urtica: ...what do you mean, "it's going to be eliminated by Annu"?
• Dazki: We have an associate from outside of the city, and he has the ability to eliminate areas of Turmoil.
• Kesmet: He's rather spooky, and unaffected by spoons or forks.
• Dazki: His name is Annu Adabra. He is in the city of Ashport.
• Urtica: Yeah, he's in the city of Ashport. Because that's where he's supposed to be.
• Dazki: And he has agents he can send out, because he's currently on a work-release program with the Ashport Government to eradicate Turmoil.
• Myrrah, muttering in the background: Oh, they can use undead now? They can use undead now, but we can't use undead?!
• Dazki: You are right to point out that hypocrisy. That's one that I have also pointed out to various... persons.
6. Survivors are going to need to be triaged and transported to facilities that we need to create here to care for them. (If you help with that, I need to remind you that we don't discriminate based on a person's current health or past deeds. So if they're undead, or corrupted, or made bad decisions, they still get triaged just the same.)
• Marvin: So what if there's a dead body?
• Urtica: That's number seven on the list:
7. Those unsaveable need to have their bodies properly dealt with in order to keep their souls at peace.

Dazki: Sounds good.   Myrrah: And, apparently, number eight: we need to get ready to move an entire town, somewhere else.   Dwardazik: Well, that is quite a logistical nightmare, but surely we can do something other than that.   Dazki: Well, first things first. What we can do is give you all the information we have about the lair of the late Vicra Lammergeyer.   They give broad summary about what to expect from the environment between the entrance and their targets (the prisoners and the two orbs).   Grogery: I also got a really good look at the two orbs. I can draw some pictures of some of the runes and other things around them, if it helps figure out what sort of rituals need to be done?   Urtica: You want to help with the rituals, then?   Grogery: I can either do that or work with the triage. That seems to be the two places where I could have the most impact.   Urtica: You guys are much more capable than most of our civilians, so I feel like if we can spread you out, we can get these tasks done pretty easily — well, more easily.   Dazki: Annu has requested that we disturb the place as little as possible. Obviously, though, saving lives comes first. If he has problems with that, he can come to me.   Dwardazik: You should also be careful. There might be a Turmoil-infested dog named Barf in the area. He doesn't seem particularly hostile.   Urtica: ...he's named "Barf"?   Marvin: Yeah, and he's a good boy.   Dwardazik: To be fair, he is a good boy.   Kesmet: He's a bit creepy. He can grow spider legs and climb walls.   Dwardazik: Just letting you know, if you encounter a spider dog, it's probably not going to kill you or hurt you in any way. And if you treat it good, it will probably help you.   Urtica, incredibly confused: ...OK?   Dwardazik: What?   Dazki: Yeah, don't look at me. I feel the same.   Dwardazik: What? Come on! Is it wrong? That's a description, right? It's a spider dog!   Marvin: He is a spider dog, alright...   Dwardazik: Look, I don't make the Turmoil rules!   Urtica: OK, I believe that Jim is going to have the team for item number two. So, anybody... I dunno... good at lifting stuff?   Dwardazik, slowly raising his hand: ...uh... yes?   Marvin: I can summon a big incorporeal hand.   Kesmet: If it's 10 pounds or less...   Urtica: Because it sounds like we're going to have to get a lot of transport ready, to be able to bring back a lot of people. This seems like a lot of organization, and we don't exactly have a lot of carts and horses available.   Dazki: We have our cart, which can at least carry a few people, and we can request outside help from a few nearby individuals who will keep the city secret.   Urtica: I guess, let's just get ready to go out there, right?   Dazki, whispering to the party: Hey, do you still have that book we found?   Grogery: Oh, the Libram of Souls and Flesh? Yeah.   Dazki: I think we should probably give that to them. I believe they can get more use out of that than we could.   Dwardazik: Can I see that real fast?   Grogery: I know you're just going to give that to them...   Dwardazik: No. I actually want to take a look at it. This is the one we found in the bottom floor, right?   Grogery: How about this, I'll give you the book if you give me the Baxton ring?   Dwardazik: I don't have the Baxton ring.   Grogery: Didn't you have it yesterday?   Dazki: No, I've got it. Yeah, let's do that trade.   Marvin: Why do you want to talk to Baxton so bad, Grogery?   Grogery: I honestly thought Dwardazik still had the ring and that he could maybe use some time away from Baxton.   Dwardazik: So, this book, it probably shouldn't fall into the wrong hands. But if anyone could use a spellbook, and use it responsibly — he looks at Urtica and shrugs a little — but it could also probably fetch a pretty penny, probably?   Dazki pulls the ring from his pocket and gives it to Grogery, and Grogery gives him the book.   Kesmet: You know, I still haven't finished explaining my book concept to Baxton.   Grogery: You had him on the whole trip down here, though?   Kesmet: He kept on, like, screaming and interrupting me.   Grogery: I think I'm just going to hold onto it for a bit.   Dazki, turning to Jim: Hey, we found this book in Vicra's library. It's nothing that any of us have any particular use for. We were hoping it might be valuable and helpful for you.   Jim: Why are you giving me gifts?   Dwardazik: I'm thinkin' the same thing, honestly, but I dunno. If we traded it in a town, it might fall into the wrong hands. Gosh, this sucks! I want money, but I also don't want this thing to be used for evil!   Dazki: It's not a gift. We're giving you something that we feel could be useful for you, out of a gesture of friendship. We don't desire anything in return, nothing like that, it's just you would be able to use this effectively, and I believe you would use it well.   Dwardazik: I've got a desire! Just sayin', so you don't think we're cheatin' ya. Look in that book and see if there's something you can use for the ritual that must be prepped? Task number four? Maybe there's something in there for that. Otherwise, just don't use it for evil, or I will haunt you. And not in the way that you want.   Jim: I do believe that giving somebody something useful, without wanting anything in return, is giving a gift.   Marvin: Do you want the damn thing or not, man?   Dwardazik, folding his arms: I want some fucking gold, that's what I want...   Dazki: All right, then yeah. It's a gift, for no reason other than I believe that you would be an appropriate keeper of this knowledge.   Dwardazik: Not too many other necromancers we know who don't seem hell-bent on raising an army of the undead. *COUGH* Vicra *COUGH*   Jim: Speaking of raising an army of the undead, I really must get back to this work of mine, of convincing an army of undead to... do some stuff.   Dwardazik: So, let's not take up too much more of your time. Let's go through these. So, we've done number one. Number two is what you're working on right now. Number three, that's what you were talking about, with carrying heavy stuff, right?   Urtica: We need to get a caravan together, and there's no way we're getting people out of a giant hole in the ground without some amount of strength.   Dwardazik: OK, and I will be there to help that operation out. We can bring our cart for this, right guys?   Dazki: Of course!   Dwardazik: All right, then we'll use our cart as part of it.   Dazki: And we have plenty of rope. We can make ladders, we can make harnesses to help people up.   Marvin: And for those who can't climb such things, ... hopefully there's not that many, but I can Dimension Door them?   Kesmet: I could cast Fly on somebody who's strong.   Dwardazik: And I could throw them!   Marvin: Fly... that might be more effective. Yeah.   Dwardazik: All right, all right. If we can get another cart or two, that would be excellent. We'll figure that out. But for the most part, we'll use our cart, go over there, and help deal with it. So number four, rituals need to be prepped. He points to the Libram of Souls and Flesh. Outside of what we've already described in our earlier report, we're going to need Jim to take a look at the orbs, and perhaps pick up any notes or use that book for any hints about what they're dealing with. This is over my head.   Grogery: As I said, I can reproduce some of the runes and things that I studied when looking at the beacon and the orb downstairs, and possibly do some of the busy work when it comes to the prepping. It's something that I've been trained in doing.   Urtica: Are they retrievable, or do we have to do the rituals there?   Grogery: They're very heavy. I'm not sure that the one all the way down in the basement is retrievable. I think we might be able to move the beacon, but getting it out of the anthill without risk of breaking it, that's going to be very hard.   Dwardazik: We might need to inspect it a bit more to make that kind of call.   Grogery: And if you move it to an area where there's a bunch of people who are not in the best condition of health, then anybody who passes on at that point may become a ghost and be drawn to the beacon. So we don't want to get it too close to any urban centers.   Dwardazik: Good point. So, for number four, we've got Jim and Grogery, and the book-smart folks are all going to be looking into that. If we need to move it, you've got me, and I'm sure Dazki can do something to help out. Maybe broom the path, so I don't trip on anything! Number five, Turmoil contamination. As I said before, we can kind-of dodge that —   Grogery: We have a long-term solution, but we might need to figure out ways of getting around short-term problems.   Urtica: Well, you guys seem fine?   Dwardazik, shrugging: Honestly, I think I suffered more from that damn dragon outside.   Marvin: The plant dragon?   Dwardazik: Yeah, that plant dragon thing seemed to fuck me up more than the Turmoil Containment Zone...   Urtica: To be honest, I put that on the list back when I thought we were gonna actually try to solve all our problems. But now that I know that there's some sort of dangerous entity that's just gonna kinda just wipe the slate clean, we can probably mostly ignore that one.   Marvin: Wait, hang on. Didn't Annu just say he doesn't care about Overlook?   Dwardazik: Yeah, but do you trust him, though? Annu might not care, but who is he sending? What is he sending? That might care.   Marvin: Probably elementals, right?   Grogery: Yeah, Turmoil is destroyed by contact with pure elemental forces, so I think elementals will be involved.   Dwardazik: All I know is, Jim's already made his decision. Let's not second-guess it.   Urtica: You can dance around it all you want, but that's what's gonna happen. We probably don't need to deal with number five.   Dwardazik: All right. Number six, survivors need to be triaged.   Urtica: This is the important one, right?   Dazki: Yes.   Dwardazik: Grogery, this is all on you, and all of us working together, to transport 'em out and get 'em over here, right?   Grogery: Yeah.   Kesmet: I can provide some limited healing, with cauterization.   Dwardazik: Wait a minute, shit, can we contact W.E.I.R.D. again?   Grogery: We need to wait for them to send the bird back, because that's one of our only reliable ways of communicating with someone.   Dwardazik: Well, hopefully they're going to bring a shitload of healing potions.   Grogery: We did tell them that there's a bunch of people in not-so-great condition, didn't we?   Dazki: Yes, we did.   Grogery: So they would have brought a bunch of healing potions.   Marvin: I can support Grogery somewhat.   Grogery: There's also a lot that I can do outside of just magic, though.   Urtica: You are willing to help triage, then?   Grogery: I am willing to help triage.   Urtica: Interesting.   Dwardazik: You don't need to worry about Grogery and triage. Half the time, I can't even hit something that's trying to kill us without Grogery trying to heal us.   Urtica: I'm not talking just about healing. Priorities are different between me and it.   Marvin: "It"? What?! Did you just call our friend an "it"?!   Dwardazik: Have some respect! That's a cleric! We may not see eye-to-eye, and obviously you and Grogery have some very different opinions, but we're gonna nip this in the bud, right here, right now. I don't care what you think should be happening to these people in death, but we're here to save lives, damnit!   Marvin: Yeah, I won't have our fuckin' friend be talked to like he's a thing.   Urtica: It's a "he", then?   Dazki: Yes, Grogery is a "he".   Grogery: Yes, I am a "he".   Dazki: And we would request that you continue to refer to him as such.   Urtica: Well, how am I supposed to know that?   Dwardazik: Use that big brain of yours!   Grogery: OK. I understand that if you have not been around a lot of goblins, it is very difficult to figure it out sometimes. But you can —   Urtica: It has HE has hair!   Grogery: Yes. That tends to happen when you are well-nourished and don't get skin diseases. You can also just... ask.   Dazki: Or if all else fails, you can say "they", a non-gender-specific pronoun, instead of referring to my friend as an object.   Urtica: There's not more than one of him.   Grogery: Listen, I do not want to have pointless arguments. The problem that I can see with this is that I know a great deal more about treating the injuries of the living, and my magic tends to be very detrimental to those who are... ... who have... ... motion without life.   Marvin: The "mortally challenged".   Urtica: The undecided.   Grogery: Yes. The undecided.   Marvin: Aww, come on! "Mortally challenged" sounds cool!   Urtica: Respect goes both ways. Number seven. We're probably going to encounter a lot of unsaveable situations. Anybody familiar with the rituals to, you know, let them leave in peace?   Kesmet: Does it involve cauterization?   Dazki + Grogery: NO.   Marvin: The ones where you put 'em in the ground and say a few words?   Urtica: We've dealt with a lot of different rituals. We could probably direct you towards which one to use.   Grogery: If I'm going to be busy with triage and preparing the other rituals, I'm not sure I'll have time for much else.   Marvin: If someone needs a song and dance, I'll probably know it. I've picked up quite a few songs over my travels.   Kesmet: I can play a mean harmonica. I can assist.   Urtica: Cremation is also popular.   Kesmet: So cauterization is a thing!   Urtica: Not so much among followers of Altzmyr, but many other people who may have been from out of town.   Kesmet: Just point me to 'em.   Urtica: I can do that.   Dwardazik: I know what to do with dwarves, from my clan. That's about it.   Dazki: I'm afraid that this one is probably pretty far out of my skillset.   Urtica: You're a noble, right?   Dazki: Yes.   Urtica: So you can lead. You can organize.   Dazki: Fair enough.   Dwardazik: I mean, he can pretend to lead, but sometimes... well...   Dazki: Thanks, Dwardazik! I appreciate it. Now, I'll admit that I'm not probably quite as good at speeches or organizing people as Jim here has proven to be in the past few hours, but I'm still better than that.   Urtica: Well, there's a lot that needs to happen all at once.   Dazki: Yup. Worse comes to worse, I'll do the job of running messages back and forth and showing people what to do. It's a lot of what being a leader is, anyway.   Urtica: That's the spirit. So, I think we should get started fairly soon, then, huh?   Dazki: Absolutely. As soon as everything here is ready, we —

Yoink

You find yourself in sudden darkness. You are buried in sand. You are unsure of your orientation, unsure which way is up or down. It's in your nose, your eyes, every crack and crevice is just sand.

• Kesmet produces a flame in his hand, the direction that it rises showing which way to the surface and digs upward.
• Grogery magically lights his shield, then moves sand around to see which way it rolls in order to orient himself against that and swims to the surface.
• Dazki begins digging in a direction to feel which way the sand moves to orient himself by touch, then digs upward.
• Marvin uses his Pyroconverger to light some fire around him, using the same idea that Kesmet had. He tries to Dimension Door up, but fails.
• Dwardazik "swims" through the sand into Marvin, grabs him by the waist, and pulls him to the surface.

You emerge onto the surface, red sand and twilight sky smattered with endless stars.

Dwardazik: RRGH, I hate this place!   Kesmet: Not this place again!   Marvin: "AGAIN"?! What you mean "AGAIN"?!   Grogery: Yeah, we've been here at least twice before.

Throughout the familiar rolling sand dunes are black meteorites, half embedded from a craterous impact. In the distance, a storm is brewing: a swirling maelstrom of a light-devouring cloud and crackling black energy. The storm swirls around a large black writhing tendril, or stalk of some sort. Dark, mercurial, and ever-twisting, the vine-like mass reaches from deep within the sand, straight up through the eye of the storm, but far in the horizon.

Marvin: Does someone wanna tell me what the fuck is goin' on?!   Kesmet: We're in a hallucination dream-like thing that is usually induced by drugs. Holy shit, it must have been the town, it just took this long for it to actually do it.   Marvin: OK, then who the fuck drugged us, and who the fuck drugged you guys in —   Grogery: No, it's — Kesmet, it's not drugs. We've been mentally transported to this place before, usually during times of great transition.   Dazki: Basically, every time we deal with significant Turmoil shit, then shortly after, we get brought here by whatever weird entities are in control of this place. They give us cryptic clues and warnings, ask us to do their dirty work, and then we get shunted back.   Kesmet: Like I said. We've been drugged. This is the world's trippiest trip. Just go with it. And the drug is Turmoil, it seems.   Marvin: I didn't consent to this!   Grogery: You're traveling with us, so I guess it thinks you're part of the team now.   Dwardazik: These little meteorites seem interesting. I'm going to go check some out.   Kesmet: Don't touch the drug rocks!   Dwardazik: I want to see if there's anything unique about 'em.

There is a flash of darkness — the opposite of lightning — and a bolt of crackling energy that strikes a nearby meteorite as if it were a lightning rod, turning the nearby sand into roots of glass.

Dwardazik: OK! Maybe don't want to touch now.   Kesmet: NOPE!   Grogery: Yeah, no.

A second one strikes a second meteorite, leaving behind a single twisted black tendril firmly anchored to the rock, the other end pulled taut into the sky.

Marvin: Why are we all having the same hallucination?! Did you guys all see that?!   Grogery: Yes, we're all in the same place.   Dazki: It's not a hallucination.

Dwardazik approaches one of the meteorites, with the rest of the party following him.   More lightning strikes on more meteorites. Every time one is struck, roots of glass form, tendrils pulling up into the sky. Black and mercurial, they remind you of something.

Grogery: This is some sort of representation of Turmoil, I think?   Dwardazik: That much is obvious.   Kesmet: But why the lightning strikes? Why the tendrils afterwards? This has, like, none of the markings of Dennis. I'm completely confused.

Dwardazik gets close to one of the meteorites to try to look for any markings of note.   As soon as you turn your attention to a vine, there is an echo of a voice. Not the voice itself, just an echo of one. It comes from behind. Editor's note: later on, it tells us that its name is irrelevant here, so I'm going to go with that.

Irrelevant: THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOU. THIS WORLD IS NOT FOR YOU.   Kesmet: Sounds like there's another salesman behind us.   Dazki, turning around: And who are you to tell us what does and what does not concern us, in this world?

An individual is behind you, its body like a dark cosmic porthole into an infinite space, as if he were a crack in the plane itself in the shape of a man. Dimensionless. Branching fractures jut out of "him", as if his presence has shattered the very realm itself like glass.

Kesmet: That's... not Dennis.   Dwardazik: Two of the priests are dead. What now? Have you come here to tell us to stop?   Irrelevant: YOU MEDDLE WITH FORCES YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND; THAT YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND.   Kesmet: Yup, that's a Tuesday for us.   Dwardazik: I "understand" that we've dealt a serious blow to some Turmoil cultists, and I'm getting the feeling that you may not be liking that. Or are we on the wrong page?   Marvin: You know, guys, at first I was afraid — fucking terrified. But whatever the fuck this is? It's scared of us!   Kesmet: Eh, I still feel like it sees us as ants or something.   Marvin: Then why the fuck would he even bother talking to us?   Kesmet: We're on a drug trip! Who knows! He wants us to get out of this world? Gladly! It's all full of sand and shit, and —   Dwardazik: QUIET! Stop trying to rationalize, we need to hear his words.   Kesmet: Why, though?   Dwardazik: Because we don't know how long we'll be here.   Kesmet: You gonna ask him if he's OK?   Dwardazik, turning to the being: Are you OK? You don't seem OK.   Irrelevant: YOU ARE PATHETIC AND PREDICTABLE. I AM NEITHER.   Kesmet: I haven't heard a sales pitch this bad since Baxton.

The entity takes its dimensionless hand, like a shadow that's not against anything.

Dwardazik: My name is Dwardazik Stoneturner Boulderhearth. He gives a mocking bow. And your name is?   Marvin: Let me guess...   Irrelevant: MY NAME IS IRRELEVANT, HERE.   Marvin: Yep. Totally knew it.   Dazki: Well, it's nice to meet you, "Irrelevant".   Dwardazik: So, what do you want to talk about, "Irrelevant"?   Irrelevant: I WILL END YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS HERE. YOUR MEDDLING IS... IRKSOME.   Dwardazik: Now, wait just a moment. He pulls out his mace and shield. That sounds like something I don't want to have happen.   Dazki: Why is our "meddling" "irksome"? What would you have us do instead, and how would that benefit us and our world?

A large meteor is approaching, headed directly for the party.   Dwardazik turns and bolts directly towards the storm.

Grogery, yelling after him: Dwardazik, that's probably not smart!   Dazki, with a sigh: When has he ever done the smart thing? Come on, we can't let him go alone.   Marvin: ...shit!

The others run after Dwardazik, Dazki wanting to take a potshot at Irrelevant with his gun, but it has moved to block Dwardazik's path.

Irrelevant: PATHETIC. AND PREDICTABLE.   Dazki: If we were so pathetic and predictable, we wouldn't be thwarting some of your plans. So, out of our way.

Dwardazik continues his run towards the entity, prepared to jump into it. But before that could happen...   A beam of white starlight streaks out of the sky, piercing the meteor turning it into several smaller meteors, as if the original meteor itself was a precious vase. It shatters, impacting where this entity was and, now, no longer is.   Where the meteorite impacted is a mutated figure, cooked almost to the point of ash. A headless form of swirling mouths and twitching tubes, pulsing as it flakes away in the wind (most party members will recognize this figure as "The Gasping Orator"). A voice that you all recognize has a rebuttal. It occasionally talks over itself, as if it's not sure what parts of the language it wants to use.

Voice(s): We do not want you here. Our purpose is not to be S͓͌e̟͝q̻͗ǔͅȅ̜s͚̿t̠̍e̫̓r̃͜ḙ̕ḍ͞^{O͚w͈n͇e̤dͅ}_{R̉e͠d͆i͞r̛e͗c̉t̕e̿d͝}.

One chunk of meteor, larger than the rest, continues to scream through the sky. It shatters on impact, and the shards turn into viscous black sludge. There is a scene playing out within the crater of impact, already in progress (even though the crater was just formed):   A nondescript halfling figure, your mind refusing to identify who this figure might be, is currently in confrontation with four glitchy, mutated monstrosities. The halfling figure wields a blue-colored lasso, made out of pure light, around the... head?... of what most of the party knows as "The Skittering Pony", and it is "not digging it". The halfling notices the party, since they're now right next to his battle, and cries out:

Nondescript Halfling: You are unarmed this time, champions! I'll keep 'em distracted, you save the damsel!

The only other figure you see at this point is a runic statue of a humanoid, carved in red obsidian. It's currently stuck in iridescent tar, the same tar that came from the meteorite impact. You know exactly five things about this statue: 1) it is stuck firmly in place, 2) its ailments have left it too weak to save itself, 3) it feels pain as it reaches out for comfort and aid, 4) its cries for help go unheard, 5) it worries that continuing its struggle is futile.   Now, this is a statue (and, thus, a stationary object), so it's incredibly odd that you know it is doing and feeling these five things, as statues do not typically think or feel.

Combat Summary

• As each party member resolved one of the statue's five problems, he was rewarded with a weapon made of pure light that could damage the enemies.
• Dwardazik's weapon took the form of a pair of red gauntlets.
• Marvin's was a "purplish, almost pink" rock guitar.
• Dazki got a light green flintlock pistol.
• Grogery retrieved a yellow mace.
• Kesmet's took the form of an orange crown made of fire.
• Unlike in the previous encounter with these rascals, the manifestations' attacks did damage immediately upon contact, instead of merely applying the first stack of their debuffs.
• Once Kesmet had tapped all the enemies once, he turned himself and Dazki (greater-ly) invisible so that Dazki would have an easier time hitting, and so that he would be harder to hit.
• The party members and the nondescript halfling finished the enemies off by ensuring that each enemy took damage from each one of them.

Marvin turns to the statue, giving it a smile. Grogery turns to the nondescript halfling:

Grogery: So, mister, I don't think we've officially met?

The halfling gives a salute and sinks into the sand.  

Grogery: Who the heck is this guy?!   Dazki: You know what, I've learned not to ask any questions. You're not going to get a good answer here.   Grogery: Yeah, but this is one of the times when we actually got a defined, normal-looking thing here.   Dwardazik, lowering his fists: Well, uh... what usually happens after that? Do we get teleported back or do we get a little message at the end?   Dazki: I dunno, have I mentioned how much I hate this place? Because I hate this place.   Grogery: Well, the fact that we're not getting teleported back to our usual awareness might mean that there's something else to do here.   Marvin: You guys are not being helpful! What the fuck were those things???   Dazki: Yes.   Grogery: You know how we were talking about the embodiment of the Turmoil having specific qualities? We mentioned that we already took out the eyes, and we were going after the breathing guy? And how there was a blood cloud, and a skittering pony, and a handsy lady?   Dazki: Yeah, these are the things. In whatever their native world of shitty red sand is.   Marvin: Ahh... hm. I'm gonna need therapy, so bad. I mean, I already need it just after hanging out with you guys in general, but this?   Voice(s): We are not shitty! We are fine.   Dwardazik: Oh! Oh, is it time? Do you have any wisdom to part?   Dazki: You'll have to forgive me, I'm not used to sand. I don't particularly enjoy it.   Marvin: But it's everywhere, though! The whole country is sand!   Voices: We are also unsure why you are still here.   Dazki: So are we.   Dwardazik: Sky voice, are you a friend or a foe?   Voices: We are a leviathan captured on a whaler's harpoon.   Dwardazik: Enemy of my enemy, then. So who is the person casting the harpoon?   Marvin: Yeah, who's the whaler?   Kesmet: Is it Dennis?   Marvin: I bet it's Dennis.   Kesmet: Is the one harpooning you named Dennis?   Voices: Words are _{d̈i̊f͐f̋ìc͗u͂l̆t́}^{c̟o̠n̹f̫u̩s̯i͙n̤g̱}.   Dwardazik: Are you trying to guide us to end or remove your imprisonment? Or, what's going on here?   Voices: We are ţ̇ȇ̜t̫̃h̙̐e͐͢r͚̋ê͕d͎̒^{u̫n̠w̘i̤l͢ḷi͕n̟g͍}_{h̉ún͞ǵr̈́y̎}.   Dwardazik: ...OK... are you also called "Turmoil"?   Voices: We do not have a name.   Dwardazik: Right. OK. Are you OK?   Voices: I feel like you can ask me three more questions.   Marvin: Why are we here?   Voices: I need you. I am a damsel in distress. I have selected you to save your plane and me.   Kesmet: Who was the dude that was helping us, with the blue energy shit?   Voices: A fellow traveler of the sands.   Dazki: Who is this "traveler of the sands", in our realm?   Voices: He is not of your realm anymore. He is a traveler of the cosmos.

Yeet

Just as suddenly as they were brought to the Red Desert, the party is transported right back to the middle of their conversation with the leaders of Overlook, fully rested again and recovered, with all their resources spent during the encounter having been returned.   Dwardazik crouches down, taking a three-point stance.

Urtica: ...is that how you prepare for lifting things, then?   Dwardazik checks his pockets.   Dazki: Sorry, we had a... magical out-of-body experience.   Kesmet: Your weed smoke finally hit us. Oh, no, wait, it was the Turmoil. I think.   Urtica: Are you guys on something else? You shouldn't really mix a lot of substances with the smoke here in Overlook.   Marvin: I WISH we were on something right now...   Dazki: No, it's extraplanar magic that is residually tethered to us.   Grogery: We're fine, we're not hurt. I wouldn't really worry about it.   Marvin: Oh, I'M worried about it, Grogery!   Dazki: We can explain it to you on the way.   Grogery: There's a lot to do, and not a lot of time to get it done.   Marvin: You guys are way too fuckin' calm about this.   Dwardazik takes a couple of steps away from the group.   Urtica: Um, we should definitely have our wits about us. We have a lot to do, and there's really no reason to panic about it.   Dazki: Nope. Hey, Dwardazik, are you all right?   Dwardazik: I just need some fresh air after that stuff. It's hit me kinda hard in the head. He walks a few steps away.   Dazki: All right, well, I'll take a walk with you. He follows.

Suddenly, Dwardazik produces handfuls of black sand from his pocket and starts furiously eating it. Dazki yells at him to stop that. When he doesn't, Dazki tries to knock it out of his hand, but Dwardazik is too quick and finishes all of it.  

Dazki: Dwardazik, what the fuck was that?!   Dwardazik, clapping the dust off of his hands: I don't know what you're talking about. He begins walking back to the party.   Dazki: Bullshit! We're talking about this. He intercepts.   Marvin: Are you OK, Dwardazik?   Dwardazik: I'm don' fine!   Dazki: He was just eating some... black sand shit!   Kesmet: That doesn't sound good.   Marvin: Listen. In my travels, I've seen a lot of strange customs that I'm not familiar with. Maybe it's part of dwarf culture, OK? I'm not going to question it.   Dwardazik: Look, don't you tell me what to do with my own body, all right?   Dazki: I... ... ...so... are you telling me that the black sand has nothing to do with Turmoil, or the place we were just in?   Dwardazik: That is correct.   Dazki: So you're lying to my face, then. You're lying to your friends.   Dwardazik: I'm just lying to you because you're asking questions that I'm not gonna answer.   Dazki: Dwardazik, if we're going to be working together, then we need to be able to trust each other. That includes not lying to your friends' faces. Now, do you want to retract that statement? This is your one chance, because I will not work with someone I can't trust. And right now, I can't trust you.   Dwardazik: Very well, observant one.   Dazki: So, what the fuck is going on with that black sand?   Dwardazik: It's really quite simple. I wanted to see if it would do anything. Maybe it would allow me to have another vision or something like that, and I would gain more information.   Kesmet: I feel as though we're missing a bit of context here. What "other vision"?   Dwardazik: What we just experienced.   Dazki: All right, fine. You are definitely getting quarantined as soon as we're getting back to Ashport.   Marvin: Didn't we... already have to get quarantined... before we get back to Ashport?   Dazki: You know what I mean.   Marvin: All right...   Dazki: And we are telling Annu everything about this.   Dwardazik: Well, you can say what you want to say.   Marvin: Pretty sure he already said it, but we are concerned for you, Dwardazik. Why would you want to have another vision like that?   Dwardazik: Because speaking with that sky voice has been the best information we've been able to gather.   Kesmet: No it hasn't! It's been very recalcitrant! It, like, speaks in riddles and shit! All we really got from it was, like, "I'm using you because our goals align", but it hasn't once mentioned taking out Dennis!   Dazki: We have had significantly more information, especially from Vicra's lair, if you recall.   Dwardazik: Well, yes, I understand that.   Dazki: So, no, it has not been the best source of information. You're just deluding yourself into feeding an addiction that is going to get us all killed. So, you need to fix that before that happens. 'cause I don't think you want to be responsible for any more deaths like what happened in the mine collapse.   Dwardazik: That wasn't me!

Dazki walks away to begin to prepare for the journey. Marvin runs after him.

Marvin: Dude, that was a little harsh. I don't know what happened in that mine collapse, but it's clearly PTSD for him.   Dazki: I understand that it was harsh, but have you been watching how he's been acting lately?   Marvin: Yeah, but are you saying Turmoil's addictive?   Dazki: Hell if I know. It certainly seems that way.   Marvin: I'm pretty sure it's not his fault, then. You can't just tell a drug addict that, "yeah, it's your fault", when it was the fuckin' doctor, or the guy at the herbal shop who gave it to them and said "yeah, this'll treat you well", and then a month later, you're scrounging around in the trash can for anything you can find. I've seen it happen too often. Can't blame the person who's addicted. We've gotta help him.   Dazki: All right. You're right. I think Annu's quarantine will be a good start. I'm worried, because I can't trust him right now. I'm worried that's going to get other people hurt.   Marvin: Then we've gotta get him into a state where we can trust him.   Dazki: All right. All right. You know more about this kind of stuff than I do, so I will defer to your expertise.   Marvin: We all need to get quarantined, so we'll all need the help at this point.   Dazki: Fair enough. You're right.

They return to the rest of the party, and Marvin addresses Dwardazik.

Marvin: So, how are you feeling, really?   Dwardazik: Just a little bit better, honestly.   Marvin: Well, just let us know ahead of time if you ever feel that way again, all right?   Dwardazik: It's very difficult to even explain. This might be too difficult to explain...   Marvin: I can understand. I've seen it before — maybe not Turmoil, this is new shit! (haha, "is that what the kids are calling it these days?").   Dwardazik: Yeah, OK, so. What were we talkin' about again? Stage six, or seven, or something?