Session 4 – The Vision Quest

Written by KoshcheiBessmertnyi

General Summary

Outside the hunting compound, the party develops a plan of action. An idea about reaching out to other neighboring tribes to find out whether they know anything about the Dire Wolves’ activities is mooted. Enkidu informs his companions about the nearby goblin, orc and gnoll clans: the Dire Wolves are heavily engaged in the fur trade with the humans of the New Wyrmmoor colony, the Dragon Turtle goblins in the south were the main losers of the Goblin Wars, and have lost their status as leaders, the Owlbear goblins are reputed to be raising a dwarf to teach them smelting, the Black Flame orcs of Baghtru’s Staircase suffered a defeat at the hands of the Dire Wolves, and the Gaunt gnolls have largely stayed away from humans since the war; but perhaps his information is a little dated. A potentially lucrative source of high-value fur also exists at a pool lying on the border between Black Flame and Dire Wolf territory. Giant beavers make their home there, but the pool is sacred to all neighboring tribes, and Glitterstem expresses misgivings about profit-seeking ventures there. Ultimately, it is decided that the party will at least pretend to deal with the Dire Wolves at the camp, and make them an offer of five crates of nails in order to attract their attention. Theobald casts a spell to allow him to comprehend the goblin language, and the party returns to the compound.
The goblins - just under a dozen of them - emerge from the roundhouse, seemingly happy about the party’s return. Glitterstem says he is hungry, and Brood, the goblins’ main speaker, translates Nugast’s greeting and welcomes them into the roundhouse, inviting them to share a meal. While the goblins scamper to fetch frozen meat and other victuals, the hunting band and the party share drinks, and discuss a possible deal. Brood offers pelts, but adds that Nugast is a powerful shaman who can see the future, and has more to offer to each of the companions than wealth. As he translates the party’s offer to Nugast, the shaman expresses confidence (in goblin) that they will be able to exploit divisions between party members, and talk them up to a higher crate count. He then announces, through Brood, that in exchange for their offer, he invites them to participate in a vision quest, which should allow each of them to glimpse the road before them. As the party accepts the offer, Nugast bids Brood to ask them for a small sample, because the “monsters are hungry, and need to be fed”, but the adventurers demure. Glitterstem attempts to pour seeds over Enkidu, and later causes flowers to bloom from his hair and vestments, for which the half-orc lifts him high above his head, to the general mirth of all present. The ice has been broken. In a quiet moment alone with his companions outside the roundhouse, Theobald informs the rest of the party what the goblins have been saying to each other. Miletus searches for possible access points to the Underdark, which the party discussed outside, but aside from a bearskin where the goblins appear to keep food and pelts, he spots nothing of interest.
After the meal has been consumed, and another round of drinks quaffed, the goblins invite the party to their sweat lodge – a smaller construction built of bark, skins and earth. It is already well-heated by red-hot stones in the center. The perimeter bench is broken at one point by a pile of boulders, which Enkidu inspects. The goblins proceed to remove their vestments, and after some hesitation, the party follows suit. Enkidu sits next to the hobgoblin Dradauf, who has remained vigilant in response to their presence despite the drop in tensions throughout the night. Nugast, looking like a seasoned performer on stage, begins the ritual by passing around a peace pipe of a narcotic weed, and pieces of a purple mushroom cap, which he bids everyone present to eat. In due time, he leads the assembly in a bout of howling, drumming and chanting, and as the sensory assault builds up to a crescendo, the vision quest begins…
Glitterstem alone emerged from the ordeal relatively unharmed, though he feels nauseous. His companions are in a catatonic state. Nugast and Dradauf are nowhere to be seen, and the other goblins are slowly gathering their possessions. They seem nonplussed at the party’s sad state, relating that handling vision quests with facility requires practice, but they do help move the unconscious party members to the roundhouse, where Nugast and Dradauf are already asleep. Glitterstem manages to awaken Theobald, who breaks out in a prolonged fit of coughing, and emerges from it feeling at death’s door. The other two come to an about an hour, Miletus feeling similarly drained. The goblins see no reason for the adventurers to move on immediately, so they remain in the roundhouse, resting until sundown. When they are finally ready to move on, the goblins press the party for details about the delivery of nails, apparently wanting it to happen sooner rather than later. A tentative rendezvous is set for three nights hence at the abandoned Guildenstern farm, about a mile away from Claymore.
Exhausted, the foursome proceeds back to town along through the snow-covered moors. Silent at first, the party members begin to offer details about the previous night as they approach the town. Miletus relates that he saw a very dark vision of a battle at which the goblins and the Zhentarim authorities of Claymore both fared poorly, though he indicates that he saw his father as well. Theobald also saw a battle with goblins, apparently involving his grandfather Theodoric, the heroic though brutal victor of a war against the Padishah of Arrakis. The meaning of the vision is obscured from him, as Theodoric apparently perished in the dungeons of the King of the Konruli prior to the discovery of the New World. Glitterstem offers that his vision was not as dark as that of the others, though he adds mysteriously that it also showed him that a person in whom he previously placed his faith is perhaps not to be trusted. He also suggests that the party should perhaps seek the aid of his cousin Kasmyr, who is a key figure in the fur trade, and has had many dealings with the goblins. Finally, Enkidu tells of his vision, in which he saw his brother Agni, missing since a Dire Wolf raid four years ago, being dragged underground by a spider-like being with a humanoid face. When asked if he knows anything about such a creature, he says that his people have legends about beings that they call the Darkness, who live in the Underdark, and occasionally enslave orcs and goblins. The beings are somehow elf-like, and, as orc shamans say, were particularly troublesome during a long era when there was no sun, and the tribes all dwelt underground. Glitterstem and Miletus wonder if these tales have anything to do with legends about drow elves they heard from their own people. But such legends are frowned upon by the elves themselves, who regard them as calumnious lies. Theobald is even aware that books containing these legends have been withdrawn from circulation by the elvish authorities back in the Old World.

Report Date

06 Mar 2015