Session Report 59

General Summary

The Muskrats had reached a massive gate and took a moment to catch their breath. They made use of their resources to cloak the party with invisibility. Chev's echo pushed opened the gate to reveal a shattered bridge that extended over a lake of lava. Standing on the other side was a massive creature made of fire, lava, and stone. It had a humanoid torso that rose from a long, arthropod body made from overlapping plates of obsidian. The creature's face was twisted in a grimace of rage. Four arms ending in oversized fists jutted out from the torso. The creature's form radiated a red glow and a palpable heat as a fire rages within it. With the keen knowledge of Itzal, the Muskrats learned that the creature was a cherufe. Cherufes are born from lava keeper on the Material Plane that becomes infused with material from the Lower Planes. This fusion causes the lava that normally flows freely in the lava keeper to become trapped and twists to resemble a creature from the Lower Planes. The arrival of a cherufe was known as a precursor to a devastating volcanic eruption or earthquake. Cherufes were known to revel the anxiety and fear that humans held about these disasters. 
Quickly the cherufe charged the party and began to throw magma balls at the party from a distance. As the creature pushed closer to the party, he met his match in Itzal. Itzal drawing upon his near unstoppable magic, performed a banishment that sent the cherufe to an unknown plane of existence. With the cherufe gone, the Muskrats began to clean up the minions of the cherufe. This slight reprieve did not last long. The ground began to violently shake and moments later a lava worm erupted from the ground and it immediately attempted to devour Tazmeth. The young intern was too quick on his feet for the worm. He twisted and turned out of the way of the worm to avoid each of the attacks. Promptly, Itzal unleashed magic that the Muskrats had not yet seen from him. A cage of force energy formed around the worm trapping it in place. From there the Muskrats began to deliver swift blows to the worm from a distance as it lay trapped in the cage until it was defeated. Some of the Muskrats felt a sense of revenge but they were unaware of the source of this feeling. 
With the path cleared the Muskrats continued on their way. After a short walk the party reached a long stretch of bridge and came to a cluster of rocky islands. Sitting on a raised rocky outcropping a massive fire giant rose from his throne. Next to raising almost thirty feet into the air was the portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire that the Muskrats had been searching for. The giant introduced himself as Augnar of the Second Flame and revealed that he was both a servant of Tritemeus and Sauvek. The Muskrats surmised that Sauvek and Tritemeus had struck a deal of some kind. Augnar revealed that Sauvek had been crowned King of the Giants. Augnar promised the Muskrats that he would make them pay for abandoning Sauvek. With his promise made the battle began. 
Augnar began slowly lumbering towards the Muskrats. Meanwhile his underlings began to charge the Muskrats and corner the party. Tazmeth and Shade took immediate action and fled from the bridge using the supporting chains to escape. Chev seeing the need to fight his way out popped a Potion of Giant Size. Occupying the entire width of the bridge Chev began to pummel the various enemies in front of him. Augnar seeing an opportunity unleashed a burning cloud of white hot smoke that enveloped Chev and began to cause excruciating burns across his body. Pushing his way forward Chev with giant maul began to crush each and every enemy before. The other members of the Muskrats began to strike out at Augnar. As Shade fired arrows at Augnar, he became annoyed and transformed into smoke. A figure of smoke reformed next to shade and began to deliver absolutely crushing blows with his axe Utbrudd that sliced and burned and Shade. Realizing he was outgunned he became invisible and retreated away from Augnar. The two giants Chev and Augnar now came face to face. As Chev began to lay strikes down on Augnar, he retaliated with massive strikes. Utbrudd erupted covering Chev in molten lava that burned his flesh but the Muskrat stood his ground. But eventually the strikes became too much and Chev was felled. Quickly, Augnar dispatched Tazmeth and Shade. Only Cambio was left to the face the giant. With a quick prayer to Malar, Cambio called upon his eldritch energy and let loose a blast of eldritch energy that tore through the knee of Augnar and sent him falling into the lava. 
As Augnar fell the entire cavern began to shake violently and rocks began to fall, plopping into the lava with big splashes. Cambio quickly ran to the aid of his fallen Muskrats and began to heal them. As he did a massive opening appeared in the cavern roof as it collapsed and an ancient red dragon came plummeting down into the lava. A golden dragon with an elven woman clad in golden armor came diving through the opening chasing after the dragon. A moment later Tritemeus flew through the opening clutching his half brother by the throat and with a single squeeze of the Cursed Arm of Asmes tore the head of his half brother from his body. Quickly rummaging through the contents Augnar's bag of holding Cambio found a scroll of Random Plane Shift. Seeing it as their only way of escape the Muskrats deployed the scroll and escaped the cataclysmic battle. The plane shift deposited the party in a dark chamber made of rock and a carved, stone door stood in front of them. Where had the Muskrats ended up?

Report Date

07 Sep 2022