Session 29: Eclivians Enclave Part 2 Report

General Summary

Session 29 – Wednesday February 8, 2023 – The Eclivian Enclave

4.5 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:30 PM to 10:30PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5:

It is the 18th day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid November.)

• Abrash – Wood (Dessert) Elf, L5 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L5 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (School)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L5 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Thomas – Human, L5 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L5 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Digby – Gnome, L5 Cleric – Dan King

Party member’s swap places

Gazlowe appeared suddenly in the place where the priest’s shoes were. Ajani disappeared, and Digby appeared directly behind Gazlowe. Thomas saw Gazlowe and apologized for his previous comments about Digby. Digby walked up and hugged Gazlowe. It took a minute for Gazlowe to recognize it was really Digby and Gazlowe hugged Digby. Digby healed Abrash a bit and the party ventured deeper.

More Drow and some cultists

One by one, they crossed a rickety bridge into a cavernous area where a large, broken house sat in the center. To the east, a deep pit extended into the ground next to an extinguished campfire. A shattered cart lay in the northern portion of the area next to a line of still drying clothes. Four Drow individuals knelt before a pair of humans in dark fancy robes, who are lecturing them.

The party was not very stealthy, and the Cultists turned toward the party and sternly commanded the party to kneel before them. Gazlowe glanced at the party and recognized that they’re not going to even feign kneeling, so he walked up, and sucker punched the cultist. The cultists ordered the Drow to attack the party. The Drow stood up and took swings at Gazlowe, but the attacks appeared to be halfhearted and intended to miss. Digby hit one of the cultists with a guiding Bolt. Thomas followed up and hit the Cultist with his whip. The cultist cast Spirit Guardians and was surrounded by fiendish spirits. Isabella moved to attack and the fiendish spirits damaged her. She raged and sliced deeply into the cultist and the fiendish spirits disappeared.

The 2nd cult priest used his maddening presence and confused Isabella. Abrash brough forth a bestial spirit of the air and it killed the first priest. The bestial spirit ripped out the eyes of the dead cultist and carried them away. Digby and Thomas hit the 2nd priest. Isabella, still confused, was still able to hit the priest with her axe and finished him off. Unfortunately, she was still confused and started swinging her axe randomly. Thomas, trying to calm her down took one hit. Digby too tried to intervene and was able to grapple Isabella. Abrash tried to disarm but failed and in response Isabella swung her axe into Abrash. Digby tried to pull Isabella away, but she swung again and critically hit Abrash, knocking him unconscious.

What have I done?

Immediately after striking Abrash with her axe, Thomas cast Spare the dying and then Isabell realized what she did. She immediately suffered the effects of a slight mental breakdown (Insanity level 1 of 30.) She gained the flaw: “The character is constantly on the lookout for enemies, whether they are there or not. The character constantly feels as though something malicious has its eyes staring at the back of their head.”

Coming back from near death in this place also took its toll on Abrash. He too had a slight mental breakdown. He had a vision while unconscious of a shadow seeping into his head. He gained a character flaw: “The shadows seem to dance about within the character’s mind, as though something is waiting within them, looking for its chance to attack.” Holding the two eyeballs of the dead priest, Digby ran to Abrash and healed him but accidentally put the eyeballs into his flesh when he did.

The Drow told Gazlowe that the insanity is something they’ve recently seen from the invaders. They seem to have a maddening presence. They pointed Gazlowe to the house and told him the invaders don’t go in there anymore. If they can get in the door, they’d be safe for a short rest. Thomas found 150gp and a 100gp uncut diamond on each of the 2 priests. Thomas also spent time examining the markings on the priest’s robe and didn’t recognize the symbols of any religion he knew. He returned the scimitar from the alter to the Drow and they thanked him. Thomas then gave the key to the house to Gazlowe and Gazlowe was able to open the door and the party found refuge for a short period of time.

Inside the house

They took a short rest and Digby used his Balm of Peace to help heal folks. They also searched the house and found several things. They found 700 gp and 30 pp buried in the rubble along with a consumable wand of magic missiles and 3 books:

• The Diary of Shisra 2gp
  • This short diary is that of a young elf girl. It appears that she had been born into the Eclivian faith, never having known a life underground. It details her daily struggles to understand herself and her challenges with following the tenets of their beliefs.
• The Tenets of Eclivian 10gp
  • This book details the four tenets of Eclivian. It describes, at great length, the origin of each tenet and how they serve to create change among the drow.
• Crime and Punishment 10gp
  • This book describes the judicial structure of the Eclivian Drow. It takes great pains to explain that, while the punishment for violating one of the four tenets is always death, it truly is for the best of all drow. The book tells of the constant potential for the Eclivian Drow to fall once again unless the tenets are obeyed absolutely.

The Drow explained to Gazlowe the 4 tenets of Eclivian:

1. Kill none in anger nor unjust vengeance.
2. Provide aid to your fellows, even those you do not know or those who have harmed you. Withhold aid only from those whose sword is raised against you.
3. Defend the innocent from the evils of the drow. Strike your fellow drow down only if you must, for each drow spared is a drow who can be freed.
4. Teach those on the surface of the Eclivian Drow and their ways. Teach them that the drow are not beyond redemption. In this, lay down your weapons and your very life to teach them, if you must.

After the short rest the party told the Drow that the pathway to the exit is clear, and they should be able to make it out. The Drow left to find the other refugees outside the cave.

The chokepoint

The party left the safety of the house and headed south to a narrow passage. They first examined the pit and then an outhouse where Gazlowe obtained a Deer’s head and mounted it to his back. Moving forward, a line of battlements cold be seen to the south, next to an open bear trap. Three crates were placed along the western wall, with a flask set atop one of them. A monstrous Lobster creature was hungrily looking at two humans dressed in dark robes.

The party approached and the Chuul walked left the cultists and started sniffing the party. The cultists looked a bit relieved. Thomas whipped at the creature to intimidate it, but the creature instead lunged at Thomas but missed. Thomas hit the creature with his whip. Dibgy started to bakup but was grappled by the Chuul. Gazlowe cast a thunderous wave and bloodied both cultists. Isabella killed both cultists with her axe and then made another attack on the Chuul, bloodying it. The Chuul squeezed Digby and then Thomas hit him with his chain. Digby badly wounded the Chuul with a guiding bolt and Digby punched the creature in the nards and killed it.

Digby gnawed on the tentacles of the Chuul and became poisoned and paralyzed. Gazlowe extracted some of the goo from the Chuul and realized that it won’t last longer than an hour. Gazlowe cracked open one of the claws and realized the meat is gross and wouldn’t advise eating it. The party then went through the crates, and they contained 30 rations and medical supplies for five healer’s kits. Gazlowe found the flask contained whiskey.

The expansive room

Past the chokepoint, the area extended far to the east. Rows of spike walls extended to a stone building erected in the distance. Several open bear traps were spread out in between the spike walls. Broken and shattered weapons laid scattered across the floor, their owners long since gone. A pair of glowing, red stones lit the center of the area, revealing a narrow path up to the top of the plateau to the north. Digby tried to help Abrash over a spiked wall, but Abrash pierced his side as he made it over. Isabella moved one of the creates next to the spiked wall so the party could jump over.

The plateau

Abrash heard voices faintly up on the plateau. Thomas walked up a path to the top of the plateau. They saw a largely barren plateau overlooking the battlefield below and the collapsing stone house to the east. A pair of shattered weapons have been cast aside near the top of the path. A single stone glowed a bright red, illuminating two Drow kneeling before one human, wearing similar robes to the others in the cavern. As soon as the party arrived the cultist pointed at the party and ordered the Drow to attack.

Gazlowe hit the cultist with a guiding bolt. The Cultist cast hold person and held Gazlowe. Digby hit the Cultist with a guiding bolt and killed the cultist. As the cultists fell, the Drow stopped their attack. Thomas asked, “Are you a Doppelganger?” and the Drow replied “No!” Abrash saw that something seemed off. Abrash told Thomas, “I think you’re onto something.” Thomas turned to the Drow and said, “Please hit me as hard as you can.” Abrash, misunderstanding, punched Thomas as hard as he could but did no damage. Thomas attacked the “Drow” with a powerful hit and realized “These aren’t Drow.” Gazlowe hit the Drow with his gauntlet. Isabella hit with her axe and killed the Drow who immediately turned into a dead doppelganger. Isabella turned and hit the other Drow. The 2nd Drow punched Isabella. Digby tried to talk to the Drow but realized the Drow wasn’t going to talk. Digby hit the Drow with a spell and Thomas punched the Drow with his Hook Gauntlets. Gazlowe hit him twice with his gauntlets. Isabella finished him off with her axe and killed him.

Speaking with the dead

The party spent some time trying to figure out how and why the Doppelgangers were here. Gazlowe disguised Digby as a cultist and Digby cast Speak with the Dead and asked a few questions:

1. You successfully infiltrated the Cultist ranks, do our goals align with yours? “Bethec knows.”
2. Is Bethec your employer? “No.”
3. Why are you infiltrating the Drow? “To surprise them for their counterattack.”
4. What is your next move? “The afterlife.”
5. Did any of your kind succeed in infiltrating the escaped Drow? “Only time will tell.”