Session 29: A Blessing Denied

General Summary

With Decroux on their back and the Melody's dagger tucked in their belt the Shore’s Light made their way back through the tunnels to Shanty’s Market. Flitch made no attempt to hide his surprise at their return and marveled at their success. Meeting out behind The Rusted Pump he instructed Keokan to deposit the body in a long trough near the corner of the corralled yard. A caustic slime within would take care of the body in a few days. When Aatavi produced the Melody’s dagger, Flitch tucked it away.   “I’ll need to prepare the way for your approach. You have done us a service, and paid with blood. I will bring you to the Exalted Broodling, Yith-Tula, but must make arrangements first.”  Noticing the battered state of our heroes Flitch offered them a room again. The party soon found themselves back in the dank second floor of The Rusted Pump.   Wasting no time, Adockus conjured his “Tiny Hut” and the group settled down for a moment of safety and repose. Within the confines of the hut they produced the treasures that they had acquired and betwixt the mages they identified a number of helpful items: a Potion of Heroism, a Potion of Gaseous Form, a Horn of Blasting, and a Ring of Necrotic Resistance. The last two unidentified items, the elaborate Warhammer and the red leather book, gave them pause. Fixating on the warhammer, Aaura revealed that it was a legendary weapon, lost for centuries, and whose magic had been dormant for some time. If submerged in sea water the hammer would gain incredible powers.   An epigram in the book’s front cover confirmed its Infernal nature, praising the Arch-Devil Dispater and a pit fiend named Koz Koroja, the Heartrender. Turning its pages, they discovered it to be a sketchbook and a journal; the private musings of the Melody. It seemed that the incubus had been keeping a tally of those who damned themselves with the curse of lycanthropy and that these damned souls were being used to power an infernal device of some sort. Another entry elaborated that this device, called “The Heartrender’s Key”, was to be used in a “Ruined City” when the time was right.   As much as it revealed, however, the book still held mysteries. One page near the end was blank, and glimmered with evocation magic. As Aaura peered deeper into the Weave she eventually concluded that the page was used to communicate across the planes, presumably with a contact in the Hells themselves.   Closing the book for now, the Shore’s Light settled in for a long rest. Before drifting off under the security of the dome, Adockus spoke up. When Faelyn had removed his glove earlier Adockus had seen the green dragon scales that covered his hand and felt compelled to speak.   He spoke hesitantly at first, but talked about the dangers they had faced and the comfort and fellowship the Shore’s Light displayed with each other - even with a Ymmari blooded companion in their midst. Adockus revealed a gem around his neck, and speaking a few words, dispelled an illusion that he had been holding since they had met.   The Shore’s Light watched as Adockus transformed, his jaw lengthened to a reptilian snout, white-blue scales covered his body, a tail grew from behind, and large claws sprouted from his fingers. Adockus did not merely possess the blood of dragons, he was a full blooded Ymmari dragonborn.   Tension was replaced with relief as the Shore’s Light rallied around Adockus, thanking him for revealing his secret and promising to keep it safe.   With secrets revealed, mysteries uncovered, and new questions hanging in the air, they settled in for the night. Adockus’ dome kept the cold and damp at bay, and a Magic Circle from Aaura helped them all sleep soundly in the Rusted Pump.   A knock at the door woke them all after a long rest. Keokan opened the door slowly to see Flitch. “It is time. Gather yourselves and meet me outside.”   They followed Flitch through Shanty’s Market, and over a bridge spanning a channel of brackish water. Following upstream for a bit they came to a large stone archway, painted yellow. Here they met with two figures wearing dark robes. Flitch was handed a robe and donning it, began to limp down the hallway beyond the arch. One of the cultists had a small driftglobe that trailed behind them, illuminating the long hall with eerie green light.   Past clanging pump rooms, through dark crossroads, and a submerged hallway with waters that nearly rose to Faelyn’s chin, they followed Flitch. At a large portcullis gate, they were greeted by more of the cultists and taken deeper into the sunken citadel. Slime began to cover the walls and floor, and a strong fishy odor hung in the air. By the time they reached their destination ten robed cultists stood with them, all softly chanting to themselves.   Walking behind Flitch, the Shore’s Light began to notice a change in his countenance. No longer limping, he now seemed to slide along the floor, with two odd protuberant tentacles peaking from beneath his robes. His eye patch had been removed, and from within the pit behind a stalk had grown. It snaked just above his forehead, splitting in two and ending in bulbous yellow eyeballs.   The hallway had emptied into a room with a brazier of green flame and a large pool encircled with magical runes. The runes cast a glow on a strange mist that seemed to emanate from the waters, twisting and rolling in the air. The cultists all fanned out and slowly prostrated themselves in the room, their whispered chanting growing stronger and more rhythmic. Flitch stared at them solemnly.   The Shore’s Light watched in terror as a horrid form emerged from the pool, a scaly mass of tentacle and tooth, an aberrant mix of fish and octopus spotted with a half score of eyes along the boney ridge on its face. It gums distended revealing a thick pink column of flesh that pulsed and vibrated. The cultists snapped to attention, their eyes lolling back in the heads, their arms rigid, the fingers splayed wide on their hands.   From the many cultists came one voice, the voice of Yith-Tula, Exalted Broodling of Lith-Cyak; Undying Mind of the Fathomless Depths.   “The lesserbrood tell me you have come to aid our cause.”   A chorus of squealing murmurs responded to Yith-Tula.   “Help us!”   “Stop the Blight!”   “Remove it!”   The aboleth chittered and bellowed again, and another of the cultists snapped to attention, in thrall to its psychic master. “Those who would enter the Watery Sanctum of Lith-Cyak, our most sacred of places, must accept our blessing.”   Again, the chorus;   “Join with us!”   “Accept the blessing!”   “Praise Lith-Cyak!”   Aatavi, ever the courageous mariner, strode forward to parlay with the piscine monstrosity. “Dis blessing you speak of… Vaht is dis?”   “You will move like us, breathe in the depths, and connect to our being.”   Aaura looked over at Flitch, his twin eye-stalk surveying the room, and shuddered.   “And if ve refuse?”   A series of moans and screeches issued from the zealous host as Flitch grabbed Aatavi’s shoulder, his grip moist and cold. “You have looked upon Yith-Tula, you cannot refuse the blessing.”   Aatavi took a step back, “Ve have paid the blood price, but ve do not wish to join vith you.”   A low and threatening whale’s song echoed in the chamber. Flitch’s voice growled at the Shore’s Light, “No one bears witness to our secrets and denies the blessing.”   The room erupted into violence. Cultists spread around the chamber, harrying each member of the Shore’s Light. Although they all bore the sallow Shantyman’s look, Flitch and another showed signs of further transformation: eye stalks flashing eerie green rays, and writhing tentacles from beneath their robes that hooked and grappled anyone nearby.   At the fore, Aatavi found himself in the grip of the aboleth, its tentacles squeezing his body even as its psychic energies sought to break his mind. Adockus fell prey to one of the transformed Shantymen, who blasted the wizard with a psychic lance and slammed him into unconsciousness with barbed tentacles. Keokan too was felled during the battle as Yith-Tula and the lesserbrood wreaked violence throughout the misty chamber.   Even more than during their fight with the Melody and Decroux things looked grim for the Shore’s Light. Yet still they persevered.   Faelyn and Aaura lit up the chamber throwing bolts of lightning, Shadow brought her friends back to their feet with healing magic. The storm of Aatavi’s rage crashed against their foes. Keokan’s blades danced on the wind. And finally, Adockus brought the great abomination down with a flurry of scorching rays.   Bruised, battered, and bloody, the Shore’s Light took a moment to gather themselves in the misty chamber. They had come hoping that Yith-Tula would provide some means to find and enter the Watery Sanctum, the supposed whereabouts of the Blightstone Orb. With the cultists slain and the bloated aboleth spiked to the floor with a Mysati javelin, they suddenly found themselves at a dead end.   They returned to Shanty’s Market, unsure where to go next. Near the Rusted Pump they were approached by Kylen, who asked them why they had returned. When they told him that they had slain the cultists and Yith-Tula, Kylen seemed overtaken with conflicting emotions.   Kylen bore no love for Flitch and the others, who had cast him out, but he also had hopes that the Shore’s Light would reach the Watery Sanctum and help his patron, the Exalted Broodling known as Yith-Katar. With Yith-Tula gone, he grew more desperate and plead with the heroes again.   “There is another who can help. She is not one of us, but she is wise. The Matron of the Bell.”   The Shore’s Light looked amongst themselves. They were tired of the undercity, and harbored new suspicions for Kylen. Had he set them up to kill Flitch and the others?   After some more discussion the Shore’s Light decided to head back to the surface to rest. It would do them some good to see the sun again. They would be back to search for the Orb. Perhaps they might even take Kylen up on his offer to see “The Matron.”   And perhaps not…   They crossed the runic circle threshold leaving Shanty’s Market and Kylen behind. It would feel good to feel the open air again.