Jhegesh Dol Report

General Summary

28th of Eyre, 998 YK   Geth awakens in a hut in an orc village, being cleaned by an elderly orc woman. Natrac is in there with him, and explains that he's been unconscious for 5 days, delirious with sickness and infection following his tumble into the dirty swamp river. awakens in a hut in an orc village, being cleaned by an elderly orc woman. Natrac is in there with him, and explains that he's been unconscious for 5 days, delirious with sickness and infection following his tumble into the dirty swamp river.   After Geth was yote into the river, Natrac was rescued by the orc druid Orshok, who had a boat nearby. They sailed down the river and fished out Geth.   They were in the village of the Fat Tusk tribe. Geth has Tetkashtai in his pocket, in the psicrystal. Dandra had thrown it before she was taken down, and Geth had retrieved it. Unfortunately, he lost his sword in the river.   Eager to leave and rescue their friends, the pair leave the tent and are confronted by an imposing orc druid, Krepis. Krepis demanded to know why Geth was still wearing the Gatekeeper stones, to which Geth told him to fuck off, they belonged to Adolan, a Gatekeeper.   Krepis went on a tirade about how the druids of the Eldeen Reaches have fallen from the old ways, and aren't gatekeepers anymore. The stones belong to gatekeepers, if Adolan had them, he must have stolen them from a true gatekeeper.   This might've ended in a fight, but an elderly orc rose from a nearby tent and intervened. The orc, Batul, was the teacher of both Orshok and Krepis, a senior gatekeeper druid! He explained that he had had visions of danger to the tribe originating from the green eyed Servant of Madness doing something in Zarash'ak. He sent Orshok to observe and attempt to prevent this.   Orshok failed, but his presence did allow Geth to escape with Tetkashtai, mitigating the damage. Dah'mir needs the kalashtar, not the psicrystal, so this is good. Well, it's not, because it means the Bonetree will have reason to come after the Fat Tusk, but it's good in that it'll probably annoy Dah'mir a little bit.   The druids argued, with Krepis suggesting they could appease the Bonetree by giving Geth and Natrac over to them. Orshok argues that they are gatekeepers, and the Bonetree serve the Daelkyr. They should fight them!   Batul puts an end to the argument, and says either they will send Geth and Natrac on to the Bonetree or they will help them fight the Bonetree. He can't make this decision, so instead he says that Geth and Natrac will be tested. They will have to cross Jhegesh Dol.   Later that night, in boats, the orcs led Geth and Natrac to the location. They ended up at an empty stretch of marsh, marked only by a single dead tree. Geth and Natrac had to cross the marsh to another dead tree by dawn. If they do this, the Fat Tusk tribe will help them against Dah'mir. If they fail, they'll be dead, so no decision to be made.   Natrac and Geth start to cross the marsh. It seemed too easy, there must be some trick. This suspicion proved true as a twisted black fortress materialized out of nowhere. The walls and gate covered in blades, and the dark stones seeming to be wet, as if greased.   They use their hunda sticks (crooked quarterstaves) to push open the gates and in they go. They are immediately assaulted by the rank smell of rotten blood, and screams of someone being tortured.   They enter tentatively and make their way to a corridor lined with bladed metal doors on both sides. As they enter, the screaming dies down to a whisper. They progress, and an orc ghost emerges in front of them. Then ghosts emerge from all over, the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. All of the ghosts are missing limbs or otherwise disfigured, and they converge upon Natrac as if welcoming him.   The ghosts don't seem to be able to hurt Natrac or Geth, so they press on. They hear a scraping sound ahead, and soon the corridor fills with animate severed limbs, all of them holding razor blades. The pair fight off the swarm for some time, before Geth plunges his hand into his pocket to get help from Tetkashtai.   There is a brief mental battle, before Tetkashtai metaphorically puts Geth into a box and takes over his body. She uses her powers to incinerate the limbs in psionic fire, and then refuses to go back in the crystal. Geth fights her, having a tirade with many a swear word, before he taps into his heritage and shifts. The force of the shifting, and the ancient power it invokes, pushes Tetkashtai back into the crystal, screaming. Geth throws the pouch containing Tetkashtai at Natrac and tells him to "fucking hold her, I don't want her near me".   They press on and are eventually met with a choice of path. The gatekeeper stones around Geth's neck go very very cold at 2 of the paths, and just cold at one of them. They determine that this means the least cold path to be the correct one, and press on.   At the end of the passage is an open chamber, with a dias holding a black stone altar. At the far corner opposite the pair is a figure sharpening a sword on a grindstone. Natrac sees a half orc, and Geth sees a shifter. At any rate, the figure has a sense of wrongness to it as it notices them and stands. It steps into the light, revealing that actually it's fingers are swords. Impossibly flexible, bendy swords. Very sharp.   It moves impossibly, seeming to take sluggish steps but covering great distance. It easily slashes into the pairs hunda sticks, leaving them weaponless. Geth sprints to the altar whilst Natrac is downed by the daelkyr.   On the altar is a strange sword, a slightly curved blade and a small circular guard. The blade is purple and the whole thing is clean, as if the corruption of the place failed to touch it. Geth takes the sword and turns just in time to block the daelkyr's sword hand. The blade fingers are severed where they meet Geth's sword, and the figure retreats.   Geth presses the attack and cuts deep into it's torso, grabbing it's amulet to prevent it's escape. With a last jerk of the blade into it's ribs, the daelkyr dissolves into mist and takes the whole fortress with it. Geth is stood in the swamp, sword in one hand, amulet in the other. Natrac is passed out in the swamp water, and the three orcs are stood speechless, wide eyed, under the tree.   Batul explains that when Jhegesh Dol was taken down by the gatekeepers and Dhakaan, two treasures disappeared from the world. The sword of the hobgoblin hero that slew the daelkyr, and a sacred gatekeeper relic. The amulet was a scale from Vvaraak, the dragon that taught the first druids magic.   Geth cockily exclaimed that if the Fat Tusk help him to fight Dah'mir, they can have one of the treasures back.