Co-workers: Session 13 - Let’s Play A Game Report

General Summary

Trial By Luck

There is an ocean of acid washing the shores of an island. The large body of liquid smells and looks like molten black licorice. The tall bermude grass on the island has a crystalize sugar appearance. On hand are five croppings of petrified trees, each forming a druidic circle. Within those circles are eight flat gravestones surrounding a rough stone obelisk with a single crystal box and silver hammer. On the other end of the island, a thin ten-foot plank leads to a mouth shape keyhole. Above this enchanted island are clouds full of spectators. These people are all variety of different fey creatures. The three unusual fey dressed up in red zoot suits and top hats.  

Fey Middle “Come one come all, watch our contestant PRESS THEIR LUCK!!!”

Abendlied looks over the arena.

Abendlied “I think we should do the one closest to the exit first. We may have do that one anyways. Just to get out of here.”   Brymroz “That is not a bad idea.”   Gerda “Sure…”   Brymroz “Let’s do it.”   Abendlied “Let’s just walk up to it and have Egret read the runes. We can discuss what to do afterward.”

Abendlied begins leading the group to the far end druidic circle. Egret looks over the runes on the stone tablets. He begins to translate the tablets to the group.

Egret “I think this is what the symbols mean.”   He explains the meanings of the symbols.                          

㙊	Baku refers to the first-ever Night Hag.
㫖	Basan is a flaming chicken.
㫳	Ittan-momen is a fey spirit the possesses throw rugs so it could dance with its non-fey lover.
㴱	Jinmenju is a fey Trent that has humanoid-faced fruits of the beings it devoured.
㕝	Koropokkuru is a group of tiny people that wears colorful clothing and enjoys pranking.
㝬	Mujina is bookish badger people.
㹠	Namazu is a giant catfish that enjoys dancing in the mud.
㽵	Nobusuma is a giant flying squirrel.

  The group talk amongst themselves, thinking that these symbols are a form combination. Abendlied walks to the rune of Mujina, 㝬. She goes down to one knee and touches the rough cold stone. She waits for a moment for something to happen, but nothing happens. She stands on top of the stone, saying the name of the symbol. The stone remains dormant. She motions in the direction of Petlar to enter the circle and gesturing to the crystal box. She gestures for everyone else to get out of the druidic circle.  

Abendlied “Try to open the box. If that doesn’t work, try to hit the box with the hammer and say Mujina.”

Petlar looks over the crystal box. He was unable to find a way to open it. He takes the tiny silver hammer. The hammer is connected to the stone obelisk by a chain, and he takes the hammer tapping the box with it.  

Petlar “Ok, here I go. Mujina!”   R’in “Don’t die.”

The crystal box shatters into tiny fragments, and a key falls onto sugary grass. A wave of thunderous energy engulfs the area. The wave pushes Petlar into Brymroz. Petlar vanishes out of Brymroz’s arms. The sonic energy tears through the petrified trees ripping off a layer of bark. Six knots on these trees spark with green energy that looks like eye sockets. Their various branches and roots begin to move around like living creatures. They have a haunting undead disposition and glares at the heroes with hunger intent. R’in quickly dashes to one of the creatures and draws out her weapons from there resting place. She lunges her short sword into the throat area of the petrified beast. She uses her offhand to hammer it up further into the creature and uses the momentum to flip to the next one. She hits the new creature with her offhand weapon. She tumbles back, and her tumble turns into a back handspring. She rests softly behind Abendlied. Abendlied gives her a stinging glare, and R’in returns with a quirky smile.   A sickly looking tree creature charges to Gerda. It barely knicks her arm, but it siphons energy from her.   Gerda swipes, hitting the surface of the creature but unable to drive her weapon into its hide.   Bob takes out her short bow and launches an arrow. The arrow bounces off the hide of the tree beast.   Brymroz takes hold of his tail. He squeezes firmly causes a pulse of holy energy. The burst ripples throughout the battlefield, but nothing seems effected. He quickly rips off a small parchment from a holy text and cast Sheild of Faith on himself.   Petlar finds himself looking down at the arena. He is standing next to the red fey beings.  

Petlar “What? Why am I up here?”   Red Fey “Welcome, good sir! What do we call you, and do you think you’ll fare in the arena today?”   Petlar “Um. Petlar and much better if I was down there. Um, yeah. How do I get back down there?”

Petlar materializes in front of Brymroz. The closest tree creature to them saunters over. It smashes Petlar in the shoulder. Petlar managed to protect his head with his left shoulder. Another beast spiderly walks to Abendlied. It takes its heavy branch arms and smashes her with it, as sprouts of life are forming on the tree creature.   Abendlied yells a curse at the creature that has yet to act.

Abendlied “Your Mother!”

The creature looks at her curiously while moving to Gerda. It tries to smash its heavy arms into Gerda, but Gerda managed to deflect it with her ax. R’in attempts to use Abendlied as a human shield. She dances back and forth, unable to penetrate her blades into the monster.   The closest barkbeast assaults Gerda. It bats a way Gerda weapon hand causing an awful stinging sensation. Life begins to form on this beast. Gerda shouts out in pain, a prayer of protection against fey.   Bob finds himself whisked away. He now stands next to the three fey creatures.

Red Fey “So, what is your name, young lad? What do you think your chances are in defeating the trial by fire?”   Bob “Not particularly great, but you know. I’m down for anything.”   Red Fey “Do you hear that folks, Bob is down for anything.”

  Bob materializes back onto the battlefield, as Brymroz cast two ghostly hands. These ghastly hands advance on the two barkbeast next to Gerda. One of the icy attacks smashes the tree with its grip. The other hand slashes the second tree. Petlar swings wildly, missing the monster. The creature attempts to take advantage of the off-balance Petlar, but he was able to recover. Darla deflects the oncoming attack from the beast.   A beast slaps Abendlied in the face. Abendlied does not seem to be phased by the creature. She stabs her sword into its armpit. The blade is causing the beast to scream.   R’in goes on the offensive, but her shortsword was not able to pierce through the hide. She thrust forward her off-hand weapon in the same spot. The blade dives deep into the monster, and it buckles in pain.   One of the beasts swings at Gerda, but she uses her shield to block the attack. Gerda retaliates with her battleax. Her ax cuts through the stone hide of the monster.   Bob raises his bow aiming it at the creature on Abendlied. The arrow pierces through the monster. The barkbeast falls over. Bob looks over to Petlar and points out an opening to him.   The Red Fey transported Brymroz to the booth.  

Red Fey “What do they call you, sir?”

Brymroz glares angrily at these annoying fey creatures. He casts the spell Command and roars at them.  

Brymroz “Flee!”   Red Fey “Oh, what gumption? This tiny kitty is trying to boss us around, and he tried to scare us with his kitten meow. What do you say, crowd?”

The spectators laugh at Brymroz.  

Brymroz “Put me back!”   Red Fey “If you wish.”

Petlar attacks the thing. He swings Darla towards the opening that Bob mentioned. The creature attempts to counter-attack but unable to hit Petlar. Darla cuts through the monster. Abendlied goes over to the monster on Gerda, but her blade was unable to slice through. R’in runs over to the same beast. She attempts a whirlwind of attacks. Neither of which could pierce the hide.   Gerda has magically transported out the arena.  

Red Fey “Howdy young dwarf lady, are you going to be like your friend and try to scare us?”   Brymroz “Fuck you!”

Gerda looks up at the mocking fey. She wildly swings her ax at it.  

Red Fey “That wasn’t polite, and it looks like you need some extra practice swinging that thing. How rude to have two contestants attack us. Very rude of them.”

Bob knocks another arrow. He lets loose the projectile but flies wide. He begins to yell at Petlar.  

Bob “Inspiring words!”

Brymroz cast a spell, Word of Radiance, on the closest beast.

Brymroz “Burn burn!”

Brymroz’s spell did not affect the creature. Petlar is still unable to cause any damage to the thing. Abendlied yells at the beast closest to her.  

Abendlied “I’d try to insult you, but you don’t look smart enough to understand.”

Those words stung the beast, hurting its feelings.   R’in vanishes from the battlefield. She is now looking down at the arena.

Red Fey “So, Miss Eladrin elf. How do you feel about your chances?”   R’in “Well, Jeff. Can I call you Jeff? I think our chances are really good. I really would love it if the crowd would cheer really loud at me?”

The crowd cheers as R’in winks and finger guns them. A baby badger kid, eating a bearclaw, faints in his mother’s arms. R’in teleports back onto the battlefield. The beast on Gerda is unable to punch her, but she was helpless to land a blow. Bob arrow bounces off the creature, and he yells aspiring words at Petlar. Brymroz applies a cantrip on the critter, but the thing managed to resist. Petlar is having a difficult time trying to hit the fey monster.   Abendlied walks around the beast site lines and runs it through with her blade. The creature slumps over.   R’in runs to the creature that is attacking Petlar. She was unable to drive her shortsword into it, but her dagger pierces the hide. She dances away from the beast and gives the crowd a flourished bow. The crowd stands up to cheer for R’in. The creature looks hurt.   Gerda uses her tiny dwarven legs to get close to that last barkbeast. She slams her battleax onto her metal bracer, and a necrotic gong noise hits the creature. The monster looks ready to fall over.   Bob fumbles his attack but inspires Petlar. Brymroz failed his attack, and so did Petlar.  

Abendlied “It is time for you to go.”

The creature splits in half from Abendlied words.   The party looks around and saw four of the eight symbols are light up. Abendlied picks up the key. She walks over the door and places it into the keyhole. The keyhole sucks the key into itself. It begins to chew, and then it belches. The burp pushes Abendlied off the bridge and into the black acid.  

Brymroz “Oh, fuck. Are you Ok?”   Abendlied “I’m fine.”   Red Fey “It looks like they were unlucky. That was the wrong key. Will these adventures have better luck next time.”

Brymroz suggests taking a short rest. Abendlied and the rest of the party agreed. They begin resting in the center of the arena. The crowd is getting restless. They want to see action. They don’t want to listen to the musicality of Abendlied or see the juggling skills of R’in. About 10 minutes go by, and the party notices five black flames hover above the black acidic sea. A minute goes by, and the fires turn purple. Another minute goes by, and it turns blue.  

Gerda “What does this mean?”   R’in “I don’t know, but apparently it is a bad thing. They do not want us to rest.”   Abendlied “Ugh, it is a count down. Fuck it.”

R’in ushers everyone to the eastern druidic circle. Petlar enters the ring, and the rest wait outside. Petlar takes the hammer and taps it on the crystal box. Another thunderous wave hits Petlar. In a blink of an eye, Abendlied vanishes from the battlefield. It is looking like this druidic circle is a bust.  

Red Fey “What do you think your odds are? You have someone on your team that likes to play the crowds.”

Abendlied pulls out her viole.

Abendlied “There was once three vapid fey. Who decided they wanted to play. So, they made up a game. On the way, it was lame. If you had gods, I’d tell you to pray.”   Red Fey “We got ourselves a singer. Let us keep her here a while longer.”

The party walks over to the far west circle.  

Brymroz “Remember Petlar, ding of the crystal, not smash.”   Petlar “Huh? Why don’t you smash the crystal?”   Brymroz “Fine, I’ll smash the crystal.”   Petlar “I barely tap the thing with the hammer, and then it explodes.”

Brymroz walks to the center. He casts a spell on himself, Shield of Faith. Petlar took a step back out of the circle, as Brymroz brings the hammer down on the crystal box with all his might.   Abendlied appears back into the field, but R’in vanishes out of the arena.  

Red Fey “R’in, you are a crowd favorite. What do you say to your fans?”

R’in places a hand over her heart and tosses her back over her shoulder.  

R’in “I really would like to thank you for coming to see me today. I love you all.”

R’in blows a kiss to the audience. The crowd roars.  

Red Fey “Would you like some refreshments?”   R’in “Oh, you are such a sweetheart. I would love some.”

  The party decided to choose the circle west of the entrance. Everyone takes their positions. Brymroz takes a tiny swipe with the hammer on the box. Another burst of energy explodes from the center of the obelisk. Gerda teleports out of the arena and into the sportscaster booth. R’in is back on the field. The petrified trees come to life, and they begin to assault the party. A key has fallen to the ground, and four symbols have lite up. Brymroz got pushed back from the explosion, but he begins his assault on the trees. A dead ethereal lion claw reaches out to one of the monsters. The attack was unable to pass through the defensives of the thick skin. Brymroz positions himself between the group and the enemy.   One of the five barkbeast comes charging to Petlar. It releases a sickly scream and backhands Petlar. The intensity of the attack leaves Petlar slightly dazed.   R’in happily skips to one of the creatures. She spins her short sword into the beast. It wails in pain.   The hurt barkbeast moves up to Petlar but was unable to hit him.   Abendlied cast the spell thunderwave on two of the barkbeast. Both of the beasts get destroyed. The shavings fly into the acidic sea.   Bob got hit by one of the barkbeast.  

Red Fey “So. Gerda, are you going to hit us with your ax, again? Or are you going to be cordial and answer our questions? Because you are really not pulling your weight in the group. Do you agree with that?”

  Gerda looks up at the fey. She squints her eyes as she glares at him.  

Gerda “I’d like to back to business if you don’t mind.”   Red Fey “She is all business and no showmanship. You heard it here first, folks.”

  Bob tries to stab the closest one but unable to get the sword into its stone skin. Petlar cleaves into the closest barkbeast. Darla slices off a chunk of its flesh.   Brymroz cast the spell Aid on Petlar, Gerda, and Abendlied.   The barkbeast retaliates against Petlar. The attack smashes into Petlar skull. Petlar is lucky for the aid he received from Brymroz.   R’in dances around Brymroz. She blows him a kiss and launches an attack. But, her showboating caused her to get distracted. She was unable to hit the beasty.   Bob gets smashed again by a barkbeast. Bob falls to one knee but manages to stand back up.   Abendlied moves into a strategic position and stomps her foot onto the ground. A thunderous clap from her stomp hits two of the barkbeast. One of the trees got destroyed, while the other is seriously hurt.   Gerda attempts to hit the fey tree but horribly misses. The crowds begin to chant.  

The Crowd “Boo, Greda sucks!”

  Bob is having no luck against fighting the enemies. Brymroz takes out his claws. He slashes it to one of the beasts, causing it to hemorrhage and fall silent. He positions himself next to Bob.   R’in waves to the crowd, but she let the performance get in the way of her attack.   The barkbeast skirts passed Brymroz, and it smashes his branches into Bob. Bob is swaying.   Abendlied lets loose another insult, to the last of the creatures. The creature was unable to understand the comment. She notices that the crowd is giving Gerda a hard time. She looks back into Gerda’s eyes.  

Abendlied

“Look at these fey

What big fucks

Some will find the time to blow and suck

If you are going to shoot them

I wish you luck

Wait until they are sleeping They will be sitting ducks."

The fey crowd begins to cheer for Abendlied. Gerda felt the encouragement given by Abendlied. She takes her ax and overhead slices the creature. It was like she was chopping wood, slicing it into two halves.  

Someone in the Crowd “It’s about time.”

  R’in picks up the key and runs to the door. She lifts the object up to the crowd and continues to open up the door.  

The Musical Challenge

The door opens wide. A room reveals a long granite staircase with a total of eight steps. Each row of steps has ruins and pictographs etched into the stone. An elegant marble statue of an afro satyr is at the top of the staircase. The figure is holding and playing the xylophone in one of its hands. Behind the statue is a large amphitheater with a rainbow waterfall as a backdrop. There is a table object on top of the stage.  

R’in “Maybe, we should step on the steps with the symbols.”

  Abendlied looks over the symbols on the stairs. She recalls the meaning of the runes. The first step only has two of the four emblems. One of the runes only shows up once the other one shows up three times. She lights up the four runes on the first step. She started to think back to what Egret said about the runes. She determines that the way up the steps is to step on the runes that have a good definition. She jumps on the Koropokkuru symbol. The stone carving lights up underneath her feet, and the walls started to animate. On the second step is a Jinmenju, but that is the creepy treant creature. She moves her eyes to the third step and only see’s four runes. She jumps to a symbol that she thinks is safe. A disco ball appears over her head. She feels compelled to dance down the stairs. R’in observes the failure from Abendlied. She decided to jump on the stairs to give it a try. She jumps on the same symbol and then onto the one to the left of her. They both light up. She moves up to the next step and jumps on the treant symbol. Something gently sweeps R’in off the staircase.   The spell has worn off of Abendlied. She feels confident in her decision about solving the puzzle. She moves to the far right of the staircase. She takes a running startup, but once her foot lands on the first step. She begins to dance back down. Abendlied is visibly frustrated and screams.   R’in skips onto the stairs in the same good order. She then jumps onto another rune on the same level, and that symbol lite up. She stretches to the final known rune on the step, and that symbol lights up. A spark of realization jumps into her eyes. She quickly begins jumping on all the given runes on each of the steps. She reaches a symbol that she had to teleport too. R’in makes it to the top of the staircase.   Abendlied takes to the staircase. A mysterious force pushes her off the stairs.   The marble afro satyr statue plays the xylophone and beckons R’in to go onto the stage. A xylophone is in the center of the stage. Each key on the xylophone has a pictograph. R’in summarizes that the pictures must mean the runes.  

R’in “There is a stage up here, guys.”   Abendlied “We know. Let me create a song using the four symbols.”

  Abendlied quickly creates a melody only using those runes. She ties the song to a crossbow bolt and launches the projectile to R’in. R’in takes the note and begins to play, and the crowd hisses at her on the first node. R’in is gently escorted off stage and down the stairs.   Abendlied believes she figures out the song. She cruises up the stairs and onto the stage and plays the xylophone. She hits all the keys in the order of the steps that were touched. The waterfall opens up.  

The Crowd “Abendlied...Abendlied...Abendlied.”

 

The Obstacle Course

Behind the stage, the rainbow waterfall part ways, revealing a hallway. The sound of footsteps vibrates back and forth from the stone walls. Carved into the walls is a mural of a rabbit and tortoise jumping over obstacles. The hallway gradually widens to a point, and at the end are four tracks. At the end of the colorful race track is a door with hard to read symbols.  

Red Fey “We have four tracks and eight contestants.”   Abendlied “You are wrong. There are only seven of us.”   Red Fey “Oh, we all thought you knew about the invisible one.”

  The three talk amongst themselves.  

Red Fey “We have come to a conclusion. We will allow this thing to stay invisible. It’ll be more fun for us to pine over this mysterious being. You will all need to break into four teams of two. One of you will race down the track and finish the course. Once they hit their buzzer, the next person will run down the track.”

  The party splits up into teams of two. Abendlied and Egret are one team. Abendlied knows that Egret is skilled at running away and may have some things up his sleeves. Abendlied conveniences Egret to run the first part of the race. R’in and Petlar become a team. They are the most athletic of the four groups. R’in confidently takes the lead and hams it up to the crowd. Gerda and Brymroz are on a team. Brymroz making fun of the short dwarven legs volunteers to go first. Rounding it out is Bob and the mystery person. Bob is letting the mystery person go first. The contestants take their mark. Three colored lights hover above the courses, and they begin to change their colors. The lights turn green, and the contestants take off. R’in is in the lead. She is leagues ahead of everybody. R’in suddenly launches into the air, but she has the grace of a feline. She notices the mysterious thing triggers the catapult. That thing was nearly keeping pace with her. She looks back at her current trajectory and doesn’t see anything in front of her. Suddenly a cargo net snags her from mid-air. She scampers up the netting. She now notices another obstacle it is two clear walls close together. She runs and jumps. She presses herself with both her arms and legs. She travels down the corridor with no bottom and gets halfway through before slipping. She was unable to maintain her grip and tumbles down into the oozing black liquid. She swims back to the platform and hears a buzzer noise. The mysterious thing passed through the obstacle course, and Bob is now on the run.   Brymroz is finally launched into the air but was unable to balance himself. He lands in the cargo net slightly tangled. He is looking down at the course and looks back at the netting. He cuts through the net with his claws. The net begins swinging wildly. The momentum causes Brymroz to lose his grip and fall into the acidic liquid.   Egret has hit the launching point of the track. He spins himself like a tumbling bullet, keeping his headlock on a potential landing zone. He safely lands on the cargo net and casually climbs up the net. He takes a running start on the spider climb. Instead of catching himself, he whisks away like a breeze in the wind onto the end platform. He does the same trick on the log roll obstacle. He hits the button at the end of the course that signals Abendlied to go.   R’in attempts the course one more time, but she was unable to get past the first part. Petlar decided to take over. He also fell, but he succeeded in his second attempt. He takes a running leap past the log rolling obstacle and lands comfortably on the other side. He pushes the button allowing R’in to run.   Brymroz ended up having a difficult time completing the course. He fell off the course four times. He is exhausted and sore. He was able to crawl his way past the log roller. He nearly fell for the fifth time. He finally pushes the button.  

 

Character(s) interacted with

• Red Fay
• The Crowd
• Mysterious Creature

Created Content

• The Fey Fighting Arena
• The Musical Puzzle
• The Fey Obstacle Course

Notes

Egret Translations

㙊	Baku refers to the first-ever Night Hag.
㫖	Basan is a flaming chicken.
㫳	Ittan-momen is a fey spirit the possesses throw rugs so it could dance with its non-fey lover.
㴱	Jinmenju is a fey Trent that has humanoid-faced fruits of the beings it devoured.
㕝	Koropokkuru is a group of tiny people that wears colorful clothing and enjoys pranking.
㝬	Mujina is bookish badger people.
㹠	Namazu is a giant catfish that enjoys dancing in the mud.
㽵	Nobusuma is a giant flying squirrel.

 

The Sand Stories

On the walls of the room with the stair puzzle. Grains of sand travel along the walls creating an animated story of the symbols.  

㫳 - Ittan-momen

A tiny flying fairy that is playing with a woman. They play games with each other, have dinner with each other, and play music with each other. Until one day, the fairy wanted to dance with the young woman. The tiny fairy sacrifices its body so that its spirit could enter a rug. The rug and the woman began a joyful dance. This dance lasted for hours. The fairy physical body had faded away by the time the dance had ended. She had realized that the fey fairy could no longer return to its original form. She began to weep for the fey.  

㴱  - Jinmenju

A hungry eladrin elf soldier had spotted a fruit tree that is on top of a hill. He hikes up the hillside for a piece of fruit. He tugged on the fruit. The fruit screams aloud. The many knots on the tree turn into glowing eyes. The tree is a living creature. The soldier and the tree do battle. The tree slams the elf with its heavy branches, and then it grapples the elf with its many branches. It begins to eat the elf alive. The tree resumes its former position, and a new fruit appears on the tree. It has the face of the elf it just ate.  

㕝 - Koropokkuru

A group of tiny wingless fairies spots a sleeping giant. They pick up their paint buckets, ladders, and ropes. They sneak up to the snoring beast. A group of tiny people uses the ropes to tie the giant feet together. The rest set up the ladders and paint buckets. They continue to paint a colorful kabuki face mask on the cyclops. The giant’s face is now fully painted by the fairies. They noisily wake up the sleeping beast. They begin to taunt it. The giant stands up, and it begins to charge the tiny fey. The giant ends up tripping over its tied feet. The tiny fey laughs at the clumsy thing.

㝬 - Mujina

  A badger finished eating is nightly grubs. He walks to his study. The badger grabs a book about the fey court from his shelf. He places the book on his corner table and lights a lamp. He puts on his reading glasses and begins to read a book.