Campaign 4, Session 26

After a meal of blackened rabbit and a night of drinking, the party settled into their beds for a comfortable night of sleep. Unfortunately, their dreams were interuptted by strange visions.  

• Hans found himself in a shabby looking stone cottage. Most of the cottage was dedciated to an alchemical lab, and the odor in there was quite foul. When he looked at his own hands, he noticed he was in a different body, for the hands were webbed and the skin was gray. He felt like he needed to get back to work, and that he was running out of time. Hans could tell by the notes that this alchemist was concerned with transmutation of humans into other creatures and back. He also saw a strange creature, half man and half fish, who died in an urn, clearly the result of some experiment. Unfortunately, a deep, dark voice told him that he must return to the island, and there the work would be completed, and then he woke up.

• Mongoose found herself on a beach, approaching a large rock that seems to jut out of the sand, out of place. On the rock, there are numerous pairs of carved names and dates. In front of the rock, there are two people standing, holding hands, and praying to a god named Allosh. Suddenly, great horrible sea creatures come from the ocean and drag the woman below, while the man convulses on the ground, clearly in a trance. A voice booms out that Mongoose recognizes as her deity Zelane: "Allosh is not coming to save these people. The Mongoose must save them. Slay the evil. Grow the flock. Spread the word."

• Roran found himself walking toward what looked like an abandoned seaside village. A sign read "Duskwharf". Following the road into the village, he saw a handsome man with blonde hair, wearing fine boots and a hooded travelers cloak, digging a grave. He wore a magic amulet of protection, and Roran suspected he was not a typical gravedigger. After digging a shallow grave, he dumped a body from a sack into the hole, and Roran recognized it as his own body. The man then filled in the hole and placed a gravestone in front of it reading: Roren Boer. Died 1921, fighting the good fight.

• Mythos was looking forward to a good night's rest. For the past month, he had been dreaming over and over again about his brother Guiliman's death, seeing him in The Spire fighting off the serpentfolk and the Dark Naga. It was his hope that now that his brother was laid to rest, those dreams would end. Unfortunately, they were replaced with something more troubling. Mythos saw a great chamber lined with green mirrors of crystal, and in the center, the strange spire from Guiliman's battle, but carved into The Spire was an elaborate throne decorated with ancient symbols. Seated in the throne was a man in black robes, and blue light coming from where his eyes should have been, and Mythos recognized this man as a lich. Kneeling before the lich were Guiliman and Jimmy, apparently risen from the dead, the same blue light coming from where their eyes should have been, their bodies repaired, but unmistakingly some type of undead. The lich spoke to them both, his voice cold and confident: "My new faithful minions, it is time to serve your master. You did well to destroy the followers of Tolgid, the serpentfolk was a splinter, but such should always be dealt with quickly. You will travel south, to the island of Telboha, and seek out our former ally Ghal'omog, and convince him to rejoin our side. If he refuses, kill him. Any who stand in your way, should join our number, by your blades if necessary."

  Everyone was able to return to their rest after their visions. In the morning, they ate breakfast and discussed their dreams. They were concerned with the idea of Jimmy and Guiliman having been brought back, and when Mythos described the chamber they were in, Hans and Mongoose recognized it as the chamber of the lich Noul'zadan, who they briefly encountered in The Spire. Hans was able to tell them that Duskwharf was far off, in the land of Levmonza, several hundred miles away, but knew little else of the place, other than that people tended to avoid it. The group elected to just not go there, and then they wouldn't have to worry about Roren's death there. With still no word or sign of Christie, the group elected to travel back to Ironspine Village to check on the graves of their fallen comrades.   The group took their wagon south, and when they arrived in the Ironspine Village, they found no one going about, the streets empty, very unusual. One of the halflings questioned why they were there, and after some discussion, he explained the horrific events of the previous night: An evil wizard, whose description matched Noul'zadan's, came to the village and destroyed the altar to Zelane that Mongoose had made, and awakened the dead Guiliman and Jimmy. He was then attacked by Christie, who seemed a bit...mad, leading an army of animals, but the newly risen undead took care of the animals, and the wizard used a spell to smash Christie through one of the local buildings walls, laughing at her all the while. Then he and the undead minions disappeared, as though through what the party recoginized as a teleport spell.   The group figured this was very bad news and they were determined to get to the island of Telboha to stop Guiliman and Jimmy. They asked around the village, but none of them had heard of Duskwharf, Telboha, Ghal'omog. The halfings advised that they might want to check with others, as their village (and indeed the whole country of Altaiesha) was landlocked.   The group made their way back to Thistlefort, and sought the council of the Violet Fire Order. When they arrived at the tower, they were greated by Ramud Gravedigger, and after some explaining, he was able to tell them the following:  

• Duskwharf was a tiny seaside village on the northern coast of the continent, near the border between Levmonza and Dormand. It was genuinely avoided by the locals and little trade went through there, Ramud admitted he would not go there unless he had no other choice, as the people there were odd, even by his standards.

• Telboha was an island off the coast of Duskwharf, that formerly held a magical college many years ago, but now it was in ruins, and was considered very dangerous, so dangerous that no one would teleport directly to the island.

• He wasn't sure who this "Ghal'omog" was, but recognized that it was not a common name amongst humanoids, and so was likely bad news.

  They asked about magical transportation and Ramud explained that the leader of the order, Illiana Mooncape likely could, and would expect something in return. He brought her down, and after she questioned them on the nature of their quests and reasons for travel, agreed to teleport them, and provided a scroll of teleport for their return journey. In exchange, the group agreed to take her into The Spire so she can examine and possibly relocate or destroy the Serpentfolk portal.   After confirming they had nothing else they wanted to do in Thistlefort, Mooncape sent them to Duskwharf. When they arrived, they noticed the same sign that Roren had noticed in his dream, and a little down the road, a tombstone and a fresh grave. Roren felt magically compelled to dig up the grave, and Mongoose examined the tombstone, which now read: Roren Boer. Died: ???". She tried to remove the tombstone, but it burned her to touch, and using their magical knowledge, they determined that only Roren could remove the tombstone. Roren dug up a sack that appeared to have a body in it, but was actually filled with cabbages and a black, leather bound codex with no title. Roren opened it and began to scream. It was filled with indecipherable writing, Mongoose attempted to determine it's origin, but only learned that it was something incredibly obscure.   When Roren was reading the book, he saw into an infinite black void, and from this void he discerned many things. He understood that there were eldritch horrors and terrifying abominations that occupy and travel the black void, the spaces between the stars and planets. These creatures seek to consume the world and it's inhabitants, and that if such a creature were to come to the world, they would be powerless to stop it. He understood that the universe is infinite and that people were tiny and insignificant in comparison. He learned that the dark void would consume all life in the end, and that nothing they did mattered, making life utterly pointless.   When Roren closed the book, he felt terrified, but that he now understood the world better. Sticking out of the books pages, he found a note that said: "If you want to know more, and if you survive this, come seek me out in Ombra." The note was stamped with the sigil of a store called "Brightman's Books".   The group elected to not worry about that for now, as Ombra was another fifty miles west of their current location, and they continued on into the village. Along the way, they found a man in a boat, trying to get to shore while fighting off giant crabs with a broken oar. The man tossed a rope to the shore, and the group was able to pull his boat on to land, and then dispense with the crabs with their weapons and magic. Once on the shore, Mongoose recognized the man as the man she saw in her vision. The man seemed very frightened and on edge. He was able to tell them about how he was not from Duskwharf, and how he headed out there with his new bride to carve their name in the rock and consumate the marriage there at her request, in respect for her people's traditions. While there, he saw the same evil sea monsters Mongoose saw in her vision, and saw his wife pulled below. Unfortunately for the group, he wasn't able to provide much more information, he was insistent that they should continue on to the village and help the villagers, but that he was returning to his home village to "round up the torches and pitchforks".   Heading into the village, they found no one on the streets, and the buildings looked weathered and worn. They began to knock on doors and search around, and found a number of odd buildings.  

• Mythos found a series of toppled cottages and a wounded pelican. He healed the pelican, which immediately flew off south, away from the village. Further study of the cottages revealed that they were destroyed, not by weather, but by the claws of a giant squid.

• The group saw many distant boats off the shore, but the people in them didn't seem to notice the group.

• The group also found tracks in the sand, disappearing into the surf. These footprints were of a clawed footed creature, as if something came out of the sea and dragged villagers into it.

• The group found another cottage, this one with normal sized crabs and a lot of sand. In the cottage was an altar drapped in seaweed and seashells, which they recognized as an altar to Allosh, the god of the seas. They also found some old gold coins that they did not recognize. After consulting Caen, the talking sword, he was able to tell them that the gold coins were of the time of Jegor, when the god of humanity ruled the land, and it was his face on the coins, which made them over a thousand years old. He was also able to tell them the Allosh was a dead god, killed by Cthulu many many years ago.