Session 172

General Summary

• The party collected several of the frozen orbs from Argon's cave and deposited them in hot spots to cool down the ambient temperature to a level that the plasmic guardians would accept, while dealing with constant attacks from Argon and that burrowing roundworm that they had gotten a glimpse of earlier.
• The worm would attack more-or-less indiscriminately, even targeting Argon at one point.
• A combination of attacks from Dazki, Dwardazik, and the worm were enough to take down Argon.
• Dwardazik also finished off the worm after Argon had also damaged it heavily.
• They went down for a long rest in Argon's cave after Dwardazik convinced the plasmic guardians to guard the entrance overnight and let them out when it's time.
• After a minor incident right before the rest started, Dwardazik confessed to Dazki during their shared watch that he wasn't completely satisfied with how he "convinced" the guardians... he's worried that the incident might have been a Turmoil response to what he had done.
• Dazki and Theran discussed Dazki's plans for after he returns from their adventure. The two generally agree on how Dazki can best achieve his goals, but Theran stopped short of making any long-term commitments to assist with any of them, admitting that he's too uncertain about his own future.
• During Theran's and Marvin's shared watch, Theran helped Marvin clear up a misconception about the patrons that warlocks can sometimes have and what that has to do with the Red Desert (not that any of them are Theran's patron, because that would mean that Theran is a warlock!), then he shared a ghost story that revolves around a piece of clothing that improves its wearer's life, at the cost of an eventual erosion of that person's identity over a period of time.
• Theran and Marvin then started to discuss Marvin's father, but they were somewhat interrupted when...
• The Far Gear that Marvin had been holding suddenly zipped across the room, and a garbled voice spoke through it.

Full Recap

Chilly con Carnage

Argon bursts out of his chamber.

Opening Moves

• Theran blams Argon, pushing it back a little bit, then he drops the Broom of Flying at Dwardazik's feet and runs to grab some of the frozen orbs from its cave.
• Dazki distracts Argon, flying right past its face and heading to one of the paths out.
• Marvin uses an Otto's Irresistible Dance spell to hopefully give the others more time, then he follows Theran into the cave.
• Dwardazik picks up the broom and flies into the cave with the other two.
• Argon fails to break out of Marvin's spell on his first opportunity to do so.
• Theran uses his "Summon Anti-Turmoil" spell to create an earth elemental who can help transport more of the frozen orbs.
• Dwardazik tries to help the elemental carry a few more, (Dexterity 4) but he can't balance them well enough right away.
• The large worm bursts through one of the walls, blocking Dazki's planned escape route. It doesn't attack right away.

Other Highlights

• Marvin's spell broke when he grabbed an orb and took some cold damage.
• The worm tried a one-time-use cast of Feeblemind on Dazki, (Intelligence Save 27) who only had to take the damage from it.
• Dazki kept the attention of the bird at an important moment — taking heavy damage to do so — so the others got past to find hot spots to cool down using the orbs.
• The worm devoured Theran's earth elemental — and therefore the frozen orbs it was carrying — which complicated things.
• Dazki threw the Elemental Gem, Red Corundum to summon a fire elemental that would help take Argon's away from him for a time.
• Between Dazki shooting it and the fire elemental, he was nearly able to take Argon down himself, though not before it distracts the worm for a bit.
• Both Dwardazik and Dazki independently made the same wrong turn down a useless hallway with plasmoid warriors.
• Argon did a lot of damage to the worm, but the worm took it down before too long.
• Dazki used his Rapier of Improvised Triage to heal Dwardazik when he least expected it.
• After dumping his two orbs, Dwardazik actually killed the worm while the others ran around to finish dealing with their own.

  Passing near Argon's corpse triggered an amalgamation of overlapping scenes, through the crystals on his body. Jahdzan and Argon eating food. Jahdzan singing songs to Argon. They travel together. Jahdzan sneaks to see her after an important formal meeting. A dwarven lady claims an allergy. Jahdzan and she argue occasionally about it, and Argon spends more time separate. Argon is convinced that the lady is jealous of their relationship. Argon does not like the lady either, but loves and is loyal to Jahdzan, even as he spends less time with Argon.

Cooldown

Dwardazik approaches one of the plasmic guardians and just straight-up asks it to guard Argon's cave while they rest there, and to let them leave after they're done. (Persuasion 25) The guardian seems to acquiesce, and they all move into the cave. They have a bit of a tactical discussion, Dazki asks Theran to borrow The Book of the Mirage for the night, and then they're about to go down for a long rest when Dazki incidentally says Dwardazik's name. This causes Dazki to get extremely nauseous; he vomits up "what seems to be an entire bush of poison ivy". Dwardazik, for his part, reacts to this with an unnatural amount of fear. They get through this and proceed with their rest.

Watch 1: Dazki and Dwardazik

Dwardazik admits to Dazki that he might have made a mistake when convincing the plasmic guardian to guard the cave for them; specifically, he is worried that he got overly forceful. Dwardazik wants to borrow the Book of the Mirage to try to read a little bit of it. Dazki helps him read it, (Intelligence 13) but he doesn't make any progress unlocking its secrets.

Watch 2: Dazki

Nothing of note happens during Dazki's watch. As he fetches Theran for switching shifts, the two strike up a conversation.

Theran: This whole thing, with the Red Desert getting pulled closer and closer to this plane. I will say that a lot of times, it likes to pop in for a chat, because it's worried. I haven't heard anything from it in a while... that's probably not a good thing.   Dazki: I would look at that as... "status unchanged". Hopefully, it's not a bad thing. So — and this is is going to sound bad, possibly, but I absolutely promise you that I don't mean this in a negative/blackmail way, but —   Theran: ...you're leading very strong there...   Dazki: — I'm sure you can at least figure out, from previous conversations we've had, some of what I plan once I return home?   Theran: I don't know enough to say anything for certain.   Dazki: Well, one of the things I want to do is make the lands that I will be inheriting much more accepting of people. Much more of something that the people, in general, can have a say over. And that would include being accepting of people using all kinds of magics.   Theran: And, of course, naturally, people of different backgrounds. Different heritages.   Dazki: Yeah. And so, obviously, no matter what, I would work to make sure that you are welcomed. But there might be people in places of power who would be unhappy with some of my plans. So it would be nice to have a friend who might be willing to advocate for me a little bit. Again, no pressure, no obligations, nothing like that. You would be welcomed, no matter what — and I would make sure that inquisitors would not be welcomed, no matter what.   Theran: I have a weird idea. So, this is something I've been thinking on a bit, but... if you're doing what I think you plan on doing, one of the things you should try to focus on is making whatever settlement/city/thing you plan on doing, make it so that disasters that would affect kingdoms like my parents' aren't going to hurt yours as badly.   Dazki: That's absolutely the plan.   Theran: You obviously can't go full warlord. That's bad. So you basically have to keep quiet, until something happens to make other kingdoms — you know, ones that tend to be extracting wealth and stuff from their citizens — end up in a risky situation, and they have to come to you for help. And that's when you're going to best get concessions. And alliances.   Dazki: Yeah, my plan is to work very hard at economic prosperity through technology and efficiencies. Make us a stronger economic force than we are currently, so that we will have that capital to use.   Theran: Just, like, don't forget the food supply and you'll probably be fine.   Dazki: My family and our lands are already primarily agricultural. Improving that is going to be step 1.   Theran: So. Thank you for welcoming me into the circle that you plan on filling for yourself. The problem here is, I'm not sure I'll be allowed to go there. I'm the heir, they're not just going to let me go.   Dazki: Yeah, they're not just going to "let" me do some of the things I want to. Things might get messy. I'm hoping that won't be the case, but there's always a chance.   Theran: Most of the more uptight royal types have their head shoved so far up their butts. If you plan on being more loose with the rule of law and stuff, they'll probably just ignore you and say "ha, that's probably going to fall apart on its own, we don't need to do anything". So as long as you don't come across as a threat, you'll be fine.   Dazki: Yeah, but there'll be a point where that may happen. With education, and with what I plan, the people are not going to bow forever.   Theran: Then I guess, invest a lot in making some friends. Or, otherwise, making some sort of technology that's so indispensable that people can't go anywhere else for it.   Dazki: And that is why you are such a valuable friend.   Theran: Uh... ...thanks, I guess?   Dazki: Like I said, none of this is intended as any kind of obligation or blackmail or anything like that.   Theran: Again, I fully get it. It's just hard to focus on the stuff that comes after, when we're still in the moment, right? I don't even know what my life is going to look like two months from now, if my life is going to be around two months from now.   Dazki: Plan for it to be. We're gonna succeed at this. There's gonna be consequences, but we will have support. Plan on life continuing on terms that you have the power to dictate. Because with the power you have right now, you are going to be able to dictate quite a bit when you go back. Not if you go back. When you go back.   Theran: Again, the situation feels very complicated with me. I'm just glad you guys were able to help me figure some of the stuff out.   Dazki: It is complicated, I'm not gonna lie. But with the connections you have and with the power you're gaining, you will be able to spell out a lot more of what will and won't be acceptable. Because you're too valuable for your family to discard, if you want to look at it like that.   Theran: I really hope I can straddle that line of being "too valuable to discard" while at the same time being "not so valuable as to never have any free choices for the rest of my life".   Dazki: Well, that's just it! If you're that valuable, then you will get to dictate some of your choices. Because if you're that valuable, then you hold a lot of power at the negotiating table. Don't forget that. If they need something from you, you have leverage.   Theran: You know how to put a good positive spin on things.   Dazki: Well, one of the few good things I learned from my dad. He's really good at turning setbacks into success.   Theran: Hey, I think that's one of the tenets of Pelor, actually.   Dazki: Hah. Maybe. Well, with that, I'm gonna head to sleep. And hey, your parents can't be all bad; they raised two really good sons!   Theran: ...you think they raised Grogery?   Dazki: Trying to put a positive spin on it. You and Grogery are both very good children that came out of the same household. So something positive has to be going on there.   Theran: They provided a safe and relatively well-furnished environment that other people could use to do stuff in.   Dazki: That's not a bad thing. As long as you make sure to fill it with good people.   Theran: As long as those good people can, you know, stay alive, I guess? Anyways, you need to go off and trance.   Dazki: Sorry, I didn't mean to bring it down like that, I was trying to add more positivity.   Theran: Nah, we're cool, I'm the one bringing it down. And part of me kind-of likes that I keep thinking about him. ...both of them.   Dazki: Well, as a philosopher said, what is grief if not love enduring?   Theran: That is true.   Dazki: Good night.

Watch 3: Theran

Nothing eventful. Theran wakes up Marvin.

Watch 4: Theran + Marvin

Theran: So, Marvin, how's it going?   Marvin: Oh, you know, just... the bruises, the contemplating how I missed that you were a warlock this whole time...   Theran: Me? A warlock? What could ever give you that idea?   Marvin: I just have to ask, why? Why Mirage?   Theran: ...I think you've got some stuff wrong.   Marvin: Well, I saw some red sand piling out of you, so...   Theran: The red sand comes from the Red Desert. The Red Desert is not Mirage.   Marvin: So, who is your patron, if you don't mind me asking?   Theran: Again, for plausible deniability reasons, I can't refer to stuff directly...   Marvin: That's part of the pact?   Theran: Not part of that, just, if someone casts a truth spell on you and asks, "hey, is Theran a warlock", you want to be able to say "well, I didn't hear anything like that; I mean, sure, he asked a few questions, but I don't have any specific evidence for it". You know?   Marvin: Man, I'm a good bullshitter, but that'd be a tough one to pull off. But I'm up for it!   Theran: Realistically, I'm probably going to have to coach you guys on how to talk with inquisitors or something before we get back to Ashport, because they're probably waiting back there for me. But anyway... you want to hear a ghost story?   Marvin: Absolutely.   Theran: Now, I'm not a bard like you, so I'm fine with constructive criticism and whatnot... so, all right. Imagine you're a clerk in a government office or something, and you need to look nice for your job. But you've always struggled with your post, and you don't have a lot of money, and you only have one dress jacket, and it's not tailored / it's never fit you right / always bunching up at weird places / stretching to the point of tearing / it's uncomfortable every time you have to put it on, but you have to wear it to do your job, and you can't afford to replace it with something better, so you learn to live with it.   Theran (cont'd): ...except one morning, when you wake up and try to put the jacket on like normal, it strangely fits you really well. But the jacket hasn't changed; you have. Parts of your own flesh have been scooped out or filled in so that the jacket sits snug against your body, flexing at all the right places and lying flat where it needs to lie flat. You step in front of a mirror to see how it looks, but now you can see something is also off with your face: you can still tell it's you, but some things are just a little bit different. Maybe your nose is a little bit longer now / your hair is a slightly different shade. You're obviously a little weirded out, but you go about your business that day anyway, and everybody compliments you on how good you look in that well-fitting jacket. People are more willing to do things for you, because you look nice. You're able to focus on your job a bit better, because you're more comfortable.   Theran (cont'd): So you wear the jacket the next day, and the day after that, and so on, and you keep doing well. You barely notice — as the jacket fits you closer and closer, the longer you wear it — how it starts to feel so comfortable that you never want to take it off. You start to forget what your old face looked like. And sure, a part of you knows deep down that something about all of this is horrifying and wrong, but you also know what would happen if you stopped walking down this path. Everything you've built yourself up to be — the higher position / the better pay / the network of associates you've made — it all came from that one morning, when you changed. You like having that kind of power over your own destiny for once. Why should you think something like that is bad for you?   Theran (cont'd): And so, you keep doing what you've been doing, even as the jacket comes to fit you so tightly that it melds to your skin. Even as the memories of your old face fade entirely, disappearing into the fog. Replaced by the new entity you've become.   Marvin: It... wasn't really a jacket, was it? At least, that's not what it's really about?   Theran: Uh, so, is it good?   Marvin: ...yes, it's a... it's ominous, it's symbolic. I might have missed why your face was changing so much, almost as if there was a mask and not a jacket (in a more literal sense), but no, I get the impression that it's not really about a physical item?   Theran: I often find that symbolic stories tend to hit people on a deeper level.   Marvin: 100% right. They absolutely do, it speaks to something maybe more universal / maybe more relatable / maybe more reachable.   Theran: It makes up for the lack of specificity with its breadth in relatability, I find.   Marvin: Absolutely. And, just overall more ominous. I liked it.   Theran: Thank you!   Marvin: Do you have a name for it?   Theran: Haven't really.   Marvin: I'm sure you'll come up with one.   Theran: I mean, feel free to spread that around to your audiences as well. Stories are meant to be shared.   Marvin: Only with your permission, but I'd love to.   Theran: Obviously, yes! You don't tell a bard a story and expect it not to be told in at least two different towns.   Marvin: Wouldn't do it without permission first, though.   Theran: Go ahead.   Marvin: Excellent. You could've been a bard, in another life.   Theran: I did like to do some writing when I was younger, but, you know how it is when you've got big shoes to fill.   Marvin: Yeah. They'd be saying "damn, you must have some big feet!".   Theran: ...   Marvin: ...   Theran: ...   Marvin: What do you think we'll find further down in here? Yes, we're looking for "Mother Girth", but what, really? This place doesn't feel real anymore. It's so counterintuitive / so otherworldly, it might as well not even be the material plane.   Theran: I mean, lots of places seem weird and nonsensical until you learn the rules and kind-of get an idea for how they work.   Marvin: Yeah, but, I don't know... I feel like this goes so much further than that. I feel like in a thousand years, I'd never be able to predict what we might find deeper and deeper into this gods-forsaken lair.   Theran: A lot of these places have to do with different body parts, and according to the Book of the Mirage, one of the body parts is liver / stomach / parts of the small intestine. So I'm expecting as we keep going deeper and deeper into this "body" of sorts, those are the things we need to punch really hard until they stop being a threat to society. And we've seen those honeypot traps for Baxton and Lammergeyer and Pendel. We haven't seen one for Riley, but this might have been something like that until Argon got here. If we find the one for "Fogwalker", I'm really interested in investigating something like that, because we need all the information we can get about him. For obvious reasons.   Marvin: Yeah. We will be needing that.   Theran: One thing I forgot to mention... I'm not sure this is necessarily going to work, but... is there anything you maybe wanted to say to your dad?   Marvin: wut? You can do this?   Theran: I don't know if I can, but if I find myself in a position to do so, is there anything you want to say to him?   Marvin: Is there a word limit on this, or should I start —   Theran: I don't know, I did get yoinked back into the Red Desert for about 15 minutes back towards the start of this whole caving adventure. I was able to cross paths with him there, so in the event that something similar happens, ...   Marvin: Uh. There's so much.   Theran: Like, if you had any questions for him, or... I mean, I've poked around inside your mind before, I kind of understand the situation a bit, I think? You think it might be your fault that he's there?   Marvin: You weren't with us when we sort-of... I don't know if we really did travel in time or not, it was so unreal, it could've just been a trick, but... the only way out of what I saw happening was my own father's demise. And I told him to walk right into said fate. I would want to know... I mean, I feel horrible regardless whether or not it was actually me or not, but... I would just want to know what happened to him / why he's trapped there / how did he even get familiar with this in the first place? Did he actually have a piece of the Orrery of the Wanderer? How did he come to know about these things?   Theran: I will say that as the Red Desert gets closer and closer to this plane, the chances of us being able to do something to pull him back to this side are going to get higher and higher... but at the same time, there's a reason why "Barf" and Gemineye (I presume) and everyone else who knows the details of this conflict are freaking out about that happening.   Marvin: Yeah...   Theran: It's not going to be good for this plane, and it's not going to be good for the Red Desert. I just want to let you know that if I see an opportunity, and it's not going to endanger the lives of everybody living here or something like that, I'm presuming you want me to take it?   Marvin: Under those circumstances, yes.   Theran: I just want to know where you stand on this. Again, entirely hypothetical, here. If there is a situation that would, say, get him out but put you in, ...   Marvin: I can't answer that!   Theran: Entirely fair, entirely fair. This is a lot to put on you all at once.   Marvin: Who knows, maybe my father would be a lot more adept at solving these problems than me.   Theran: OK. Comparing yourself to your parents is never really a smart idea. (I say, being the one who compares myself to my parents on almost a minute-by-minute basis, but do as I say not as I do and all that stuff).   Marvin: What he must be going through on a minute-by-minute basis, I can't imagine. A state of nonexistence? In that... it's not hell, but it might as well be?   Theran: It's not bad if you know kind-of how the rules work.   Marvin: Well I'd better start reading, then, shouldn't I?   Theran: The Book of the Mirage really isn't going to help you with that.   Marvin: No? Oh, wonderful.   Theran: The Red Desert is a scavenger in the planar ecosystem. Anytime someone explodes a Bag of Holding, or does a spell that does stuff that might warp things in between planes, it makes these little tiny pocket dimensions that just kinda float around. The Red Desert eats those to prevent them from cluttering up all the space. If it didn't exist, then we might've been crowded out of existence, like, ages ago. But the problem is, it is inherently a movable demiplane that eats other planes. And it's being tethered to — and sucked closer to — this one. Because, I'm pretty sure that "Fogwalker" thinks that "hey, instead of having Mirage Prime manifest here on this plane, let's put it in this other plane that I helpfully latched some magical Turmoil whatevers to". I'm not sure if "Fogwalker" knows what he's doing, but he's doing something very stupid.   Marvin: So, the Red Desert is... existence's... magical garbage dump?   Theran: More like a janitor. It gets more intelligent as it eats microplanes and the objects in them. It's alive and curious, and it does not want to die.

Switching Gears

The Far Gear, which Marvin had been carrying, suddenly wrenches itself from its binding "in a sort-of hyper-fast, almost dangerous whiz". It shoots forth, piercing Dwardazik's tent on its journey, and embedding into the far wall of the chamber. Red sand and black oily ichor follow its trail as it embeds into that wall, and it leaks more red sand and black oil as it sits there, still vibrating, clearly in danger of striking itself free and whizzing somewhere else again at any moment. A garbled voice peaks in and out through the vibrations:

oops. Umm… u alright… t..ed s.mting.  Danger, dan..er.  Proximity……… is desperat…. Bad… fluence…  Atter into its own …steel…nap..and…. Orrupted…………………m sorry…….. Can't no f communi---ation… eecau…parinoi….

The message suddenly stops, as it transmits the sound of some sort of large falling star or meteor impacting stone or metal. The Far Gear, vibrating and retching as if it were near that impact, rattles itself free, ticking no more.