Harmony Session 24: The Cult of 1,000 Legs

General Summary

After barely winning a desperate fight against some former Windblown adventurers turned centipede mutants, The Suckhole Six faced one final monster: a freshly-hatched baby-headed "Child of 1000 Legs" that clicker-cooed out a challenge to the invaders. Malachai was the first to collect their wits and respond, but something stopped him short of pushing his dying companions into another bloody encounter. The cornman deduced from the tentative way the creature clicked its sharp claws against the ground before advancing that it was blind and could not currently locate them. Hurriedly, Malachai attempted to silently convey this to his companions with a series of wild gestures and desperate eye shifts, but to no avail. The creature moved forward with a sudden burst of awareness before once again slowing to its menacing tippy-tappy crawl.
Thankfully for the Six, there was one among them who could understand Malachai: Gorr, fellow plant dude and communication specialist. He understood Malachai's desperate message and was able to build upon the cornman's performance with some truly inspired improv.
And just as everyone seemed to silently agree to circumvent the creature, Zoran pulled out his bone flute and let 'er rip.

A Harmonious Objection

A shrill note rang from the flute and echoed fiercly around the ancient chamber. The creature let out a horribly discordant squeal in response and Zoran's companions instinctively covered their ears. The Child moved erratically, called one direction and then immediately the other as the tone bounced between the stone walls. Zoran, pleased with his ingenuity, pushed harder into the note and felt that increasingly familiar touch of the Evervoice. Much like it had beneath Swango Swamp, the Evervoice offered Zoran power, which he eagerly accepted. The note suddenly exploded in pitch and power, crescendoing from a shrill distraction into a weaponzied symphony. The Child of 1,000 Legs' babylike head violently exploded.
The Evervoice was not yet done, though. Zoran felt a strange and urgent push into him, not unlike a bone flute. Zoran instinctively resisted the Evervoice's effort, but then took a moment of surprising self-reflection. What if he... didn't resist?
Zoran's curiosity was all the convincing he needed to let his guard down and allow the Evervoice in. Immediately, Zoran felt himself go from user to used. The note ascended to even more destructive heights, preventing Zoran from hearing his companions' pained screams. Zoran felt the power of the Evervoice whip around the chamber to tear apart any evidence of the centipede's incursion. The ornate carvings on the doors were blasted clean, the corpses of their foes swept from the platform altogether. Zoran felt the Evervoice reach a climactic frenzy in the northernmost room from which the Child emerged, ripping and tearing at whatever was inside. Zoran then felt the power circle back toward him and pour itself into his body. He grew into his gigantic form, his runes bursting and crackling with unchecked power. Just as Zoran felt like even his oversized frame would burst apart unless he wrenched back control, the storm abated. The wind finally left Zoran's lungs completely, the flute fell from his lips, and the ringing echoes receded. Zoran felt the Evervoice leave him, spent and tired but joyfully relieved. As for the continuing-to-stay-large Zoran, he felt energized, hale, and ready to begin boasting about his massive success. However, when he turned back towards his companions, he chose otherwise: both Pilgrim and Gorr had been knocked unconscious by the Evervoice's uncontrolled power.

The Mutation Administration

After Azarki prevented Pilgrim from dying (again) and Enoch popped a goodberry in Gorr's mouth, the Suckhole Six rested before descending further. Zoran, magically embiggened well beyond his usual time and fully rested, spent the long rest investigating the DISTRIBUTION area. He discovered that the exultation of power from the Evervoice had destroyed the remaining eggs and nest in the northernmost chamber. Nothing else would hinder them from advancing into the hole.
To protect themselves during their rest, the Six retreated behind the Varduran door and let it lock, trusting in their ability to reopen it when needed. Their rest went without incident. Immediately in the morning, Malachai attempted to pick the lock and ended up breaking something. Something thunked in the door and metal panels snapped around Malachai's wrist . Dirt and dust coughed out from the top of the door to reveal ancient klaxons. Their alarm began with a burst of energy, but blew itself out immediately. With what seemed like a release of centuries of mechanical tension, the door's complex mechanisms fell apart with the whining alarm. The door lurched, the trap released Malachai, and the door creaked open on loose hinges. It would never lock again.
The Six marched through and down the centipede-dug hole. A large room spread out before them. Four statues of an important-looking lizardfolk stood in the corners of the room and a broken ritual circle dominated the floor. Another large Varduran door marked "GATE JUNCTION" stood at the northern end of the room while a smaller door marked "ADMINISTRATION" to the east. Pilgrim opened this door, but found very little administrating at all. The opposite wall was decorated with a beautiful mural depicting a humanoid woman dressed all in white with beams of power emitting from her mouth as if in song. In stark contrast, the rest of the room was an abbatoir. Spread across a raised table that may have once served administrative duties were an assortment of bones, blood, flesh, and limbs, both centipede and otherwise. Upon closer inspection, the Six discovered the personal effects (and gory remains) of Grorjinax “Ken” Fenkenkabranixar. The dragonborn met a grisly fate at the claws of the Cult of 1,000 Legs and their experimental procedures, but his loot would live on.
Then the Six met someone who did not get mutated by centipedes: in a small cell in the corner of the room, hiding beneath a bundle of rags and trash, was a prisoner. Azarki cast a calm emotions on the person, and an old weathered face popped out. The sickly and battered dwarf introduced himself as Fingol Leadbelly, and Malachai instantly recognized the surname from a clan of dwarfs that joined the First Echwink Expedition 30 years ago. Apparently, Fingol had been kept prisoner here that long, but was in no state to recount his experience. The Six then opened the cell and Fingol stumbled out, carrying a patched and tattered pack full of various papers, scrolls, and other Varduran relics he had collected. He followed them out of the room.

"So Her Works May Be Witnessed."

In the larger area, Malachai was examining the large ornate door marked "GATE JUNCTION." Like the others above, Malachai once again attempted to pick this lock. And like the others above, he had no success. When the door issed another familiar and menacing click, Malachai flinched, but instead of sirens and a trap, a calm and level voice emitted from the klaxons. Malachai was encouraged to either come back later or make an appointment with "Song Bemestar." Before they could make another attempt to open the door, Fingol got their attention. The dwarf pulled out a tattered and bloodstained floorplan for the structure they were in. Notably, they could see a marked secret tunnel that bypassed the door. Fingol told them he had never seen the centipedes use it.
The Six easily found the mechanism in the ADMINISTRATION room, activated it, and opened a secret door that had been sealed for centuries. They entered the cobwebbed hallway cautiously, but instantly noticed more similarly styled murals painted along the walls. These depicted scenes of celebration and bounty as a regal looking lizardfolk was shown delivering pallets of food and resources through an activated portal. Cheering throngs of people celebrated the lizardfolk, who the Six now recognized as the aforementioned "Song Bemestar."
Further down, the murals turned into abstract carvings of concave ovals punched into the wall. Upon closer inspection, they revealed themselves to be humanoid faces, but each without any markings for eyes. The inverted faces filled up every remaining inch of the hallway until the back wall, where the faces circled an ornate portal design. Around the edge was the phrase, “We are the Guycego; we give our eyes so Her works may be witnessed.” Inside the portal, the eight symbols for the Varduran schools of magic surrounded the now-familiar icon of the Evervoice. Enoch then noticed something strange about the symbols. Apparently, the school of Chronurgy, Enoch's chosen discipline and really quite fringe, was included here. Missing was the traditional school of Enchantment. Interesting. Well, we're certainly learning a bit more about those Vardurans aren't we?
Pilgrim then noticed two small beams of light piercing the wall to his right. Looking closer, he saw that one of the Guycego faces did in fact have eyes: two carved holes of light that peered into the neighboring room. Pilgrim looked through and saw two hazy figures talking to each other over a stone table covered in papers and maps. Pilgrim couldn't understand the strange clicking centipede language, but the two appeared to be planning something. One of the figures moved into the light and Pilgrim instantly recognized the face of Volthen Arkkaradson. The rest of him was unrecognizable though: his torso sat atop a bulbous centipede body bursting with gooey legs. Volthen, like Yarg and Soddle, had been centipedely mutated.
The Suckhole Six steeled themselves as Zoran threw his massive body at the wall. The secret door swung open violently and our heroes attacked.

Suffer Not The Abomination To Live

The battle began in violent earnest as Zoran charged through. He immediately met Kentipede in combat, the mutated form of former adventurer Ken. Centipedes swarmed the goliath as Enoch released magic missiles and fireballs into the room. 
Azarki stepped forward to take tactical stock of the situation. Curiously, time seemed to slow here for Azarki and he had the strangely clear notion that he was experiencing something holy. Though he knew Kharlo the Catalyst's nature prevented him from telling Azarki what he should do, he could certainly point out things he could do. The cleric noticed not only the massive centipede hole in the floor, but also two very cracked stone pillars that were shakily holding up the ceiling. Azarki could easily extrapolate both the good and bad consequences should those pillars come down, but didn't think their situation that dire. The cleric filed that one away for later and instead focused on the battle in front of him.
Pilgrim slipped further into the room to get a better position. He engaged a baby-headed Child of 1,000 Legs in combat, but the mutant was soon joined by a before unseen ally. A massive bulb of translucent green goo dripped heavily from the ceiling to splatter to the floor behind the Child. Pilgrim watched the goo pull itself up into a tube shape and one end split open in a threatening grin of bleached-bone teeth. Pilgrim could see something floating inside the goo: a skeletal arm still grasping a broken sword. He immediately recognized this as Utredyll, the Vowsworn Edge. Its presence heralded the return of its wielder, but Juut Jeskari had been terribly mutated into a centipede goo monster now called Jooze Just-scary. The former Windblown adventurer lunged to attack.
On the other side of the room, things were looking grim for Kentipede. Despite his best efforts, Zoran just would not go down. Perhaps it was his shiny new armor he was wearing. The big man eventually thrust his sword through Kentipede, ending his terrible stint as a centipede mutant. Enoch, Gorr, and Malachai continued to deliver serious support artillery from the protection of the secret hallway and the Suckhole Six began to turn the tide.
A second burning moment of exigency passed over Azarki as he moved to support Pilgrim, but this time it came in the form of a impetus to pull something from his pocket. Azarki reached in and pulled out the Amulet of the Ill Tide, Juut Jeskari's former holy symbol. Before Azarki knew it, he threw the symbol at the gootipede with hope in his heart.
The medal clattered on the ground next to Pilgrim, fully missing its target. Pilgrim glanced at the object for a confused second before the full weight of Juuze came barreling down upon him.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. The broken columns shifted slightly with the disturbance, and Azarki realized they may not have a choice if the ceiling came down or not. But the source of the rumbling soon came to reveal itself as Volthen's reinforcements finally arriving from the Abiding Black below.
One grotesque and mutilated limb after another, a massively ugly ogrepede hefted itself through the hole and joined the desperate battle.

Rewards Granted

The personal effects of Soddle Lightstep, who recently met an unfortunate end after mutating into the centipede freak Scuttle Thousandstep:

• 3 marble Varduran statuettes of The Evervoice
• Gems worth 300 gp
• 2 potions of healing
• 2 hunting traps
• 1 bottle of alchemist’s fire

The room also contained 10,000 gp worth of magically-cut marble slabs, exactly the kind of "resource" Yusuf Kevin-Kevin wanted Azarki to find.
The personal effects of Grorjinax “Ken” Fenkenkabranixar were also recovered, containing:

• 170 gold
• 333 silver
• Splint armor +1
• 6 rations
• Ken’s personal diary
• A gold locket worth 20 gp

Character(s) interacted with

• Fingol Leadbelly
• Volthen Arkkaradcen
• Kentipede
• Juuze Just-scary

Notes

• Zoran found the massacred corpses of a half-dozen screegulls, most likely having belonged to presumed-dead adventurer Scott Screegullbeard. Curiously though, no sign of the adventurer himself could be found. Malachai confirmed Zoran's assessment, which Zoran may or may not have resented.

Report Date

01 May 2025

Primary Location

Vardura

Secondary Location

Ferrous Forest

Related Plots

• The Exploration of Vardura

Related Characters

• Azarki Kevin-Kevin