Session 24: On the Scent - Report

General Summary

After being asked to track the mysterious attackers back to their source, the party took a quick minute to collect their thoughts and look for clues in the immediate area. Willona took the opportunity to divine the enchantments on the ring and pearl that had been found discovering them to be a Ring of Mind Shielding and Pearl of Power respectively. Richard did some scouting in the area of the village that the assailants had appeared from and discovered a trail where the mushroom undergrowth seemed to be missing heading away from the village into the Beryl Mycillium.   Resolving that this was probably their best lead, the party set off into the mushroom forest to see where this trail led them.   After coming across a few hazards including a swarm of bat sized mosquitoes and pockets of fungal spores that Etsudo unfortunately inhaled, the party came upon a waterfall cascading down the cavern wall and landing in a small basin. Richard scouted forward and observed four drow patrolling the edge of the basin wearing black robes and wielding wicked, curved long knives similar to the cultists that they had fought on the surface. Watching them for some time, Richard noticed that at some point two more drow walked out from behind the waterfall and relieved 2 of the patrolling drow who then returned back to whatever lair was hidden behind the cascade of water.   The party had a close call with discovery as they took a short rest to ready themselves and come up with a plan but eventually were able to have Güs scout into the space behind the waterfall where he discovered that four sleeping beasts guarded a tunnel that led further back into some kind of crypt. Fearing waking the beasts, Willona recalled Güs and the party resolved to try to sneak past whatever the sleeping beasts were.   They devised a plan where Richard would make an illusary distraction to attract the guards and then the party would ambush them all at once to prevent them from crying out an alarm. All seemed to go to plan as two of the guards were killed by magical attacks and 2 more were knocked unconscious by Aja.   The party tied up and gagged their prisoners and resolved to interrogate them using Mizuho's telepathy and some extra "encouragement" from Richard's claws. Etsudo expressed is displeasure at the plan but acknowledged that the rest of the party were responsible for their own actions. While he would have no part of the threat or use of violence for any purpose but for defense, he would not raise a hand to stop the choices of others and walked away from the scene to keep watch.   The party discovered that these cultists worked for someone they called 'The Herald' and were holding about a dozen prisoners in the crypt below as well as a hatchery for breeding some kind of beast they called a "Carnivean" to which the prisoners were to be fed. Additionally, they learned that there were other kinds of beasts grown in this manner called "Teraphs" that were guarding the path to the crypt and both Teraphs and Carniveans seem to be imprinted onto a handler by the magics of The Herald. Finally they learned that Morgan was also being held in the crypt below.   At hearing the news about Morgan, Willona, who had been becoming more and more agitated during this discussion seemed to come to some sense of inner resolve. As the party was discussing what to do with their prisoners, Willona reached out with the Silverhand now wreathed in rime and billowing a cold mist from its finely articulated scales, grasped one of their prisoners around the neck and channeled the frigid powers of the draconic blood in her veins sucking the heat from his body and snuffing the life from his eyes. The rest of the party looked on in astonishment as Willona grit her teeth and growled, "We feed them to the dogs!" before repeating her execution of the second drow captive.   Somewhat agape at what had just happened the party followed Willona's direction and began hauling the corpses of the dead drow over to the waterfall to hopefully sate the watch beasts sufficiently to allow them to pass. Richard stepped behind the waterfall to heave the first corpse in and as it hit the cave floor, he heard a quick, sharp, snarl followed by a low growling. It seemed that he had woken the Teraphs....

Rewards Granted

Ring of Mind Shielding - Appears as a glass ring with a hollow loop in the center that a bead of quicksilver rolls around in.   Pearl of Power - a pearl 1cm in diameter that exhibits an iridescent sheen on its surface.