Session Report 108

General Summary

The Muskrats followed their guide, Izal, through Flumina to prepare for the next leg of their journey. Izal gave a bit of background on the Cursed Depths, a deep gorge that cut across the center of Flumina. As Izal explained, the Cursed Depths were on the border of the Far Realms and magical energy leaked out from the Far Realms and twisted the creatures that resided there. The land and ruins of Flumina within the Cursed Depths were also heavily influenced and reflected the chaos of the Far Realms. Izal explained that the Queen of Flumina kept her court in the bottom of the Cursed Depths as a means of protecting herself from outside intruders. Izal warned that some aberrations likely lurked in the Cursed Depths because some possessed the ability to breathe underwater. The Muskrats pondered this knowledge while they rested. After resting for a short time, the Muskrats loaded up and descended into the Cursed Depths. 
At first, the creatures that the Muskrats could see were familiar of those in Flumina and the surrounding area. However, as they dived deeper they began to see creatures with malformed pieces of flesh on their body. Some had numerous additional appendages or had numerous eyes, or even mouths. Increasingly, the creatures that the party saw grew more and more chaotic looking and the influence of the Far Realms was increasingly clear. Soon the party reached what appeared to be a set of ruins. What was once a clocktower and surrounding architecture was now twisted in complex ways with stairwells heading to seemingly nowhere. Amidst the twisted mass of stone, the Muskrats saw as swarms of wormlike creatures began to appear from the darkness. Then the clocktower lit up, revealing a massive blob of flesh, a shoggoth. Itzal knew that shoggoths were creatures from the Far Realms that sought to consume as much as they could and could in theory grow infintely, should they have enough to consume. Slowly the creature began to swim towards the party. The party moved to face the wormlike creatures that they had now identified as astral devourers. Another creature from the Far Realms that made even the most seasoned adventurer question whether they were sane. As the party began to fight the creatures, they realized when they cut them apart that they could split apart and regrow parts that were split apart. This ability caused Tazmeth great anger. 
Then suddenly from the darkness came strikes of lightning that ricocheted across the party causing great harm to all those it struck. Unsure of what was sending blasts of lightning one after another, the Muskrats pushed farther into the darkness. There they discovered that there were a pair of morkoths serving the shoggoth. As soon as they had discovered the morkoths, the Muskrats began to hear the sound of a horribly played flute. Another fact that the Muskrats learned about the shoggoth was that it could form holes within its body that allowed it to create sounds with the ability to confuse its opponents. Soon one Muskrat after another could focus on what they were doing and started to act randomly. Dami and Itzal were especially affected by this ability with Itzal resulting to covering his ears so that he could avoid the effects of the ability. Dami finally managed to regain her focus and she struck at the shoggoth only to find out that her axe pushed the flesh of the creature inwards but could not cut it. She resigned herself to suffering. Finally Itzal had enough and he summoned an illusory dragon that terrified the shoggoth and who could only shrink in fear as the Muskrats fired attacks at it from a distance. With the shoggoth effectively neutered the Muskrats coasted to a well earned victory. 
The party then moved forward to enter the clocktower. As they stepped through the door, each of them found themselves in an octagonal chamber lined with bookshelves. The ceiling was made entirely from glass and a large clock ticked away. Standing in the center of the chamber was an astral projection of an ultroloth who greeted the Muskrats, "Welcome to the Hall of Exchange." What would the Muskrats have to give up?

Report Date

07 Jan 2024