Strange Aeons / Dreams of the Yellow King pt. 5 / Eire the 19th, 3592 CE / 3-11-22

General Summary

15 days ago, Esp Platyrhnchos and Hemlock Shores awoke in Stonebriar Asylum with no memory of how they got there. Along with some companions, they battled their way through the cursed asylum, which was being overrun with creatures from the Dreamlands due to a ritual that had been conducted by the asylum's Administer, one which had created a connection between a patient named Xander Ulverus and a monster from the Dreamlands called the Tatterman. Esp and Hemlock would discover that Administer had been encouraged to conduct the ritual by a local lord, Baron Haver Lowell IV. Esp and Hemlock were able to defeat the Tatterman, though not without the loss of some of their companions. With peace restored to Stonebriar Asylum, they crossed the bay to the town of Rushton, where they soon discovered that they had once been employees of the Baron. Seeking answers only led to more conflict, as the Cult of Hastur had set up shop in the Baron's estate of Orchid Hill and been terrorizing the town. While ridding the local fort of cultists, the party rescued a cleric of Ishtalar named Trakir who would also aid them in their battles. After fighting cultists in Orchid Hill and defeating the Baron's demented mother, who had received a powerful and horrible curse for her occult inquiries into dark gods, the party learned that the Baron had been the one to rob Esp and Hemlock of their memories and deposit them in Stonebriar. They also learned the Baron had left town, headed to Liem. Booking passage about a ship called the Starling, the party pursued the Baron, hoping to unlock the mystery of Esp and Hemlock's missing memories and prevent any further trouble caused by the Baron's obsession with the occult. While digging through the books and journals recovered from Orchid Hill, Esp made the startling discovery that the Baron had been spending time in the Dreamlands consulting with someone he called the Mad Poet, and that he had sacrificed Esp and Hemlock's memories as an offering to the Mad Poet in exchange for the location of a dark tome called the Necronomicon. Esp, with the help of her new friends, a pair of scholars heading to Liem, also unlocked the secrets of the Baron's Dreamlands Excursion ritual, though learning it will still take some time. Now the Starling has been attacked by a pack of vooniths, magical amphibious reptilians from the Dreamlands. A bloody battle ensues aboard the deck of the riverboat, and though much of the crew have been disabled by the terrifying properties of the vooniths' otherworldly howling, the party members, aided by Captain Fred and Otis, are able to resist and slay the monsters. As the last voonith expires, it gurgles out a final threat, that they will all soon be victims of something called the "Bloodwind."

Character(s) interacted with

Hemlock Shores, Esp Platyrhynchos, Trakir Firebrand, Erskine 'Rough Dog' Alvingham, Otis Remsatter, Captain Winnifred Pike, Gossamer Kelvin, Reuben Olliver, vooniths, Starling crew

Report Date

25 Mar 2022