The Adventures of The Big HELP, Session 39

General Summary

• The Big HELP raced up through the cavern after their defeat of the frost salamander. After several hours, they arrived above-ground once more. The sun was beginning to set and the HELP decided to make camp for the night.
• While relaxing, Zirabelle came over to Bigwig and asked if she still wanted her finger cut off to see if that removed the ring's curse. Bigwig thought about it for a minute but decided to keep waiting for a cleric.
• Larka took a moment to meditate and sense the psychic landscape. Her meditations were a little distracted by Zirabelle and Bigwig's conversation, so she didn't pick up on anything she didn't already know. She sensed the psychic tempest from Mount Todamente, with a voice summoning her. She also sensed the psionic null zone in the foothills of the mountain.
• Petrichor took out the crystal ball she had stolen from Abbess Cinder and wondered aloud if she should try scrying on anyone. Bigwig asked if Petrichor could check in on Helena. Petrichor explained the spell would work better if they had something from her. Larka suggested Bigwig pull out the letter Helena had sent since she had licked to seal it.
• Casting the spell, Petrichor found herself drift of into the dream world where she communed with the Memory of Sindara within her staff. She could see Sindara trying to say something to her, but couldn't make out the sound or the movement of her lips. After a moment or two, Sindara allowed an oak tree to grow between the two of them. The base of the tree split to form a door-sized tree hollow filled with fog. Petrichor looked in as the fog cleared to see Helena, awake, lying in her bed at the Six Tenet Monastery infirmary. Ravenna sat by her side, talking with her. Petrichor saw that Helena had recovered consciousness but was recommended bedrest for another week. She was relieved until two monastery guards arrived to take Ravenna away. Helena seemed unaware why as the scrying ended.
• Petrichor informed the others of what she saw. Larka was worried that the abbess had learned Ravenna hid Hest's Wild Magic.
• Petrichor had one more 5th level spell she wanted to use before bed. For a while, she had wondered if the Fireblood was still out there or if the Cult of Arazid now followed Arazid directly. She suggested spying on the Fireblood, thinking she'd be easier to see than Arazid himself. Bigwig remembered, in the gauntlet at the bottom of the bag, she still had the Fireblood's rotting arm. She pulled the arm out, vomited at the smell and handed it to Petrichor, who kept the arm at arm's length.
• She cast scrying once more and the Memory of Sindara guided her to Arazid's Altar. Petrichor learned that the Fireblood had made her way back to her base. Her left arm had regrown but hung limply. The Fireblood was erratic and hunted through parchments for something. A cultist approached her and Petrichor learned that most of the cult had abandoned the Fireblood. The former cult leader threw her work from the table in anger when she heard of more desertions. As the pages fell to the floor, a report caught her eye. It detailed a necklace of immense undetermined power. The Fireblood became excited by the prospect of this artifact. At that point, the scrying ended.
• Larka was concerned that the Fireblood was still alive. Bigwig was unconcerned as it seemed the cult and Arazid had abandoned her. Petrichor tried to draw the necklace to see if anyone else recognized it, but the drawing wasn't detailed enough to spark anyone's memory.
• Before going to bed, Petrichor used Shape Water to create an igloo after Bigwig and Zirabelle got excited about the idea of one earlier. Bigwig took first watch and was fine until the Shape Water spell ended and Zirabelle's igloo melted. Zirabelle moved close to the fire to dry off and Bigwig started to nod off.
• Larka woke Bigwig and took over. Her watch was quiet until she heard movement in a bush. She threw a soulblade dagger and heard a bird chirp in agony. When Petrichor woke for her turn, the two checked out the bush. Little remained of the bird except feathers. Larka picked up a handful of eggs as a snake reached for them, leaving one behind for the snake.
• Petrichor's watch was uneventful until the others awoke in the morning. While they arose, she heard voices in the distance. Petrichor took the chance to Wild Shape into an eagle and survey the area. Taking a general overview first, she saw a sea of black muck consuming a large portion of the forest. She realized this was the same corruption they had seen in Singor Forest. Before turning back, Petrichor noticed an area untouched by the corruption, an empty field several acres large. The corruption seemed to burn away any time it reached for the field. Looking down at the field, Petrichor heard a voice begging her for help.
• Petrichor flew back with what time she had left Wild Shaped. On the way, she kept an eye out for the people she heard speaking in the distance. She caught sight of them and recognized that three were Arctic Gnashers like Zirabelle but the fourth of was priest of the Church of Gorthag.
• Petrichor hurried back to warn Larka and the others that the church and the Arctic Gnashers were working together. Larka was worried they still wanted to hunt her down. The group debated whether to sneak around the patrol or to attack them. Larka wanted to take out the patrol given they were a direct threat to her and the others agreed.
• The HELP snuck up on the patrol. One of the Arctic Gnashers had thrown a grenade to try to catch a bird and the resulting explosion blocked their path. The priest raged against having to work alongside them per Archbishop Darvus's orders. Bigwig noticed the one Gnasher was still holding a grenade and suggested they try to trigger it. Larka offered to sneak up as far as she could go and then telekinetically pull the pin. She snuck up just in time to hear that the patrol was on the lookout for her and for Moonvale Grove. The corruption was making the latter target even more difficult to find. Larka used her psionic ability to grab hold of the pin and set off the grenade just as the priest mentioned that the Archbishop "should have just waited in the city for Lord Montreaux's signal to". The rest of the statement was cut off by the explosion.
• The explosion wiped away all of the patrol except the guy holding onto the grenade. Larka dispatched the barely living survivor and then ran down to investigate the corpses with the others. Bigwig found 600G on the bodies alongside a damaged piece of armor enspelled with the ability to cast Erupting Earth, as confirmed by Petrichor. She kept the armor with the hope she could transfer the the spell to her own in the future.
• Larka asked Bigwig to cast Speak with Dead on the priest of Gorthag. Despite most of the skull being caved in from the explosion, the spell worked. From the corpse, they learned the following: deposed Archbishop Darvus wanted Larka, an Abomination, dead and an artifact from the lost Moonvale Grove, though the priest did not know why. He offered land to the Arctic Gnashers in exchange for their loyalty. After Hespiro routed the Church of Gorthag at Cathedra, Darvus was given sanctuary in the city of Rigaren's Glory.
• The HELP debated what Darvus wanted and who the mysterious Lord Montreaux was. Bigwig and Petrichor told the others that they had been to Rigaren's Glory before, with it having been the location of their last full mission with the Nightwalkers. Petrichor recalled that Windtooth had gone radio silent after they were in the clear. Knowing that and having seen Windtooth's corruption to the south, Petrichor was sure they would learn more about him at Rigaren's Glory. Larka then recalled that Hespiro was travelling there to parley with Baron Feaulup and feared that meeting would be a trap.
• The HELP resolved to travel to Rigaren's Glory after they finished their business at Moonvale Grove and Mount Todamente.
• Petrichor led the party south. The voice she had heard earlier guided her to Moonvale Grove. Petrichor realized it was the voice of Ivy, the archdruid they had met before and Zinnia's mother. Ivy warned Petrichor of the dangers of the corruption that had injured her.
• Upon arriving to the sea of corruption, Petrichor was unsure of what to do. Shapes moved through the sea like sharks, though on closer inspection the shapes themselves were that of vargar. Her dreams had shown her walk through the corruption, destroying it where she stepped. At that point, her Staff of the Woodlands began to glow a forest green. The Memory of Sindara began to speak to her at last and told her Moonvale Grove was just beyond the blackened sea. Petrichor raised her staff before slamming it to the ground. The green glow spread around Petrichor and the others, creating an aura as Petrichor began to step forward through the corruption.
• The aura burned away the corruption. The black mass did not let Petrichor through willingly and fought against her aura. Petrichor fought it back with ease the first time. The second time, on of the vargar shapes breached the surface of the corruption and launched itself at Larka. Petrichor again fought off the corruption's attacks. All while moving through the black sea, Larka felt her psionic powers numb and she realized that the corruption was the source of the null zone she encountered.
• Petrichor began to tire as they approached the field. The corruption launched another, stronger wave against her aura. She fought back with all she could and barely managed to fend it off before stepping into the field. As The Big HELP stepped beyond the corrupted sea, the image of an empty field gave way to a natural paradise. A shimmering river encircled the beautiful grove.
• People gathered to greet the HELP, Petrichor in particular. Many seemed happy, though they heard one goliath woman lament arrival of more outsiders. It wasn't long before Onyo Flashvring, the chieftain of the grove, came to greet them. Happy to see new outsiders, he welcomed them to Moonvale Grove.
• Onyo was prepared to invite the party for lunch, but the first thing Petrichor asked about was the gemstone that would complete her staff. Onyo furrowed his brow and asked them to follow him to the center of the village. There, a marble fountain sat as the source of the river that flowed around the grove. The centerpiece of the fountain was a statue of a tabaxi druid carrying the Staff of the Woodlands. An emerald was set into the marble staff, energy emanating downward into the flowing water. Larka immediately realized that the emerald was the source of their protection.
• Onyo apologized that he did not have the sole right to give away the village's protection. Petrichor tried to convince him, saying that the Goddess Sindara had asked her to retrieve it herself to complete the Staff of the Woodlands. Onyo said he believed her despite how incredulous that sounded. When the HELP asked why, he bid them look at the statue again. Petrichor realized it shared her likeness.
• Onyo explained that there had been two other outsiders that arrived a few days ago, a tabaxi druid and an orc wizard. They thought the druid, Ivy, had been who the statue depicted but saw that the resemblance to Petrichor was unmistakable. Onyo's words began to fade out in Petrichor's ears as she looked at the emerald again. She could hear the Memory of Sindara calling to her and she reached up. As soon as she touched the emerald, she felt her spirit pulled down into the earth below.
• In an underground glade, she saw Sindara stand before her. Petrichor was able to fully talk with her now and the memory revealed that the emerald above was a fake, merely channeling the energy of the real one in this glade. Petrichor was elated she could finally speak with her goddess, but the Memory of Sindara said she wasn't fully complete and she wouldn't be until the Staff was repaired. Petrichor was worried that taking the emerald would doom the grove. The goddess's memory shared that worry, wondering if her protective blessing merely staved off the grove's doom. Petrichor began to realize that the true Goddess Sindara must have been in a state of immense grief and regret when she imprinted her memory on the Staff of the Woodlands.
• The Memory of Sindara's grief was even more apparent when Petrichor asked what she could do to help. Sindara told her the protective blessing would last for 24 hours after the emerald was removed. She pleaded with Petrichor to find a way to destroy the corruption before it consumed the grove. The memory then explained that, while travelling with Petrichor, it had sought the reason Udarich was so embroiled in conflict throughout history. It thought it had come in contact with the answer, but wouldn't be able to connect the dots until it and the Staff of the Woodlands were fully restored.
• Petrichor felt her mind return to her body. Onyo was gently commanding her not to touch the gemstone. Petrichor apologized but said she needed to claim it for Sindara. Onyo offered to gather the village elders to make a decision. If they didn't mind a delay in that, though, he wanted them to share lunch with him and his wife, Serafina. They agreed and sat down with the two of them for pizza.
• Onyo explained the history of Moonvale Grove and the protective blessing. In the final battle of the Element War, Sindara lost a close friend and apostle, Frieda Sinclair. Sindara's grief led her to give another of her followers the emerald from Frieda's Staff of the Woodlands, to be taken back to Frieda's home village. The emerald had been blessed to keep the grove hidden. No one would be able to see or enter it from outside of the blessing. If anyone from the grove decided to leave, their memories of their time in the grove would be replaced by false memories.
• Larka noticed that his wife, Serafina, was a leonin and asked how she ended up in the grove. Serafina revealed she was an outsider who had arrived in the grove injured as a child. Onyo and his sister, Yvonne, had found her. Yvonne wanted to push her back out but Onyo carried her on his back to the healer, Arthyris. The two stayed close together for the rest of their lives.

• Larka asked if she was from the Rusha Kingdom, knowing that Serafina would not be aware of Hespiro renaming the country and the land he had taken as Unum. Serafina was of royal blood but part of a branch family. She knew Hespiro and was shocked that someone so quiet and nervous would launch a campaign of conquest.
• When lunch was finished, Onyo offered the HELP a tour of the grove.

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52 Days after the Crash of the Raziel

Report Date

23 Mar 2025