Session 44 – And There Are Many Paths to Tread

Written by KoshcheiBessmertnyi

General Summary

Brandon finds himself surrounded by a glowing pentagon of fungi, but is otherwise in near total darkness. After looking around, he seems to be in an enormous cavern. Nearby, there are pyramidal structures made of brick, some roughly two stories high with entrances leading below the structure, some a lot smaller. After becoming adjusted to the darkness, Brandon’s eyes also perceive glowing animal shapes on a cavern ceiling high above him. They seem to be laid out in a roughly circular pattern. There are twelve of them.
Somewhere nearby but out of sight, a voice singing what appears to be an elvish lullaby rises above the wind blowing through the cavern. Brandon recalls the tune as one sung to him by his own elvish mother when he was a young child, and before he lost his family. He moves toward the voice, and discovers a shape shrouded in mist walking away from him. It wears a long dress, has disheveled hair blowing behind it in the wind whistling through the cave, and walks, barefoot, along the stony floor. Brandon calls out to it, and says that he knows the song, but the shape ignores him, and continues to wind its way around the pyramids. The sorcerer runs after it, continuing to call out, but as he gets closer, the shape turns to him, and its livid visage causes him to take to his heels before he realizes what has happened. After gaining control of himself, Brandon returns to his pursuit. This time, the creature turns, and shrieks out a soul-rending wail that resonates off the distant walls of the cavern. Brandon feels his soul unmooring itself from his body, and beginning to depart from his mouth. But the horror of the creature’s keening is still tempered by a strange familiarity, and in a few moments, Brandon feels his soul settling back into him. At this point, he decides that wisdom lies in fleeing from the creature as fast as possible.
As he runs out from the pyramid complex, a large settlement, built as a series of terraformed terraces lies ahead. The skyline is dominated by a huge steppe pyramid at the center, and the entire complex is surrounded by wall, with terraformed pillars shaped into guard towers. The settlement seems to be somehow illuminated with unnatural lighting. It sits along the shore of a large underground lake.
Brandon descends to the water’s edge to catch his breath, and to heal himself after his ordeal. He then proceeds toward the city. As he approaches a guard tower, he is hailed, in a very unfamiliar and archaic form of elvish, by guards atop the tower. They wield bows and macahuitls, and are dressed in cloth padding of some sort. Brandon reveals that he is a traveler from the surface who somehow found himself in a pentagram of mushrooms. The guards arrest him, and place him in the tower, until an official arrives to take control of him. The official is referred to as Clofoel Lhingril – a richly dressed, bronze-skinned subterranean elf with an impressive headdress and gold and copper jewelry. After introductions, Brandon reveals how he came to be in the cavern, and his harrowing experiences there. Lhingril indicates that the spirit he encountered was named Valindra, who haunts an old graveyard outside the city, and the song she sang is likely familiar to Brandon because all elves have common roots, and their culture only changes slowly. He also says that Brandon is here because he and his companions disturbed a teleportation pentagon that Lhingril was going to use to come to the surface. After Brandon reveals that he has heard of Xibalba (as the city and underground realm are called), Lhingril invites him into the city as his guest, until the surface pentagon has regrown, and he can be retransported back.
Brandon spends several cycles within the city. He learns that it is illuminated by magical crystals attached to metal rods made of a material that Lhingril calls orichalchum. Sometimes, the lighting gets dimmer, to simulate “night”, sometimes, it is bright, which indicates “day”. Brandon also learns that the city is divided into three tiers. The two inner circle house the Underdark elves (ingoeth), and the innermost circle is dominated by the pyramid. The outer circle – the largest – is divided into eight sections, each of which is populated by a different race. Orcs and goblins live in two of the circles.
As he explores the city, Brandon is interviewed by Lhingril about his life and plans. Brandon tells Lhingril about his companions Adrie and Aster, and indicates that he was sent to Claymore with a shipment of iron tools, and subsequently reveals that he attempted to trade with the orcs of the Brotherhood, and then with the Dire Wolf goblins of Toothymaw. When he tells Lhingril that he is now involved in a scheme to deliver arms and armor to these goblins, Lhingril encourages him, and assures him that he does not see the arms trade as a base enterprise. Brandon asks for a token to indicate that he is an agent of the ingoeth in this endeavor – specifically, a spell. Lhingril replies that that is a conversation the two can have when Brandon’s mission meets with success.

* * *

In the farmstead that serves as the Brotherhood’s forward base, Adrie, Theobald and Balam rest in a familiar environment. Adrie ends her meditation before her companions wake as usual, but as she strolls around the yard, she hears orc voices. She approaches the orcs, who signal for her to follow them. They lead her to the main building, where the shaman Enmul invites her to partake of a meal. The meal appears to be unpoisoned, but at one point, Adrie herself surreptitiously sprays to old orc with spores, causing him to retch, just to see his reaction. He does not notice that the cloud emanates from her, but is angered, and after shouting at his attendants, sets a raven on the table to watch her closely.
Soon, other orcs bring in Theobald and Balam. Enmul informs Theobald that he has had a vision that Miletus was somehow involved in the demise of the scouting party from Mt. Hotenow, which should not have left the main base to begin with. After Theobald disavows any knowledge of his companion’s actions, Enmul further charges that the Company’s loyalty to the Brotherhood has been suspect ever since Enkidu disappeared, and no one did anything to bring him back. Furthermore, he is unhappy about the fact that the Company has made no progress on Humbaba’s demand to find him a consort. Soon, Amando arrives to try to smooth out a brewing conflict. He says that the companions are leaving for Claymore in order to find Miletus, who has sent them messages from there, and to bring him back to the forward base to answer to himself. Enmul seems amenable to that, but he also charges Balam, whom he says Humbaba trusts, to go up to Mt. Hotenow to ask the garrison there what exactly happened. He adds that if he learns of Miletus’ guilt, woe betide him and those who defend him. Balam departs for Baghtru’s Staircase.
Adrie and Theobald prepare to leave in the other direction. Amando has a quick word with them before they depart, stating that they should try to sneak into the town, and set their initial plan of bringing the Zhentarim back into power in motion. He does, add, though, that Enmul seems serious, so they should either bring him back, or avoid returning for a while altogether. After the duo departs, Theobald informs his companion to tread lightly around Amando, who is White Hand, and to tell him as little as possible. He also says he wants Adrie to send a message to Predicant Lorenz to meet on neutral ground, at a mill half a league outside Claymore, by next sundown. The pair arrives at the mill, Adrie dispatches the bird with a verbal message for Miletus, and a letter to Lorenz, and the two settle down to wait. Theobald searches for a watchful raven above, but finds none.
The following morning, a canoe arrives at the mill from Claymore, loaded with armed Harpers. They inform the pair that they are to disarm, and hand their possessions over to them, and then they will be transported to town for a meeting with the Predicant. Adrie does as asked, but Theobald refuses. The Harpers indicate that Theobald can stay if he refuses to cooperate. Adrie undertakes to convince him, and questions why he said nothing when she disarmed, but Theobald insists that he feels vulnerable, and does not wish to meet in Claymore. The men reply that the mill is not neutral ground, and belongs to the colony, and then turn to depart with Adrie, leaving Theobald alone at the mill. After they push off, Adrie sees a second canoe full of armed men just behind the bend.
The canoe soon arrives at the Claymore docks, and Adrie is escorted to an apothecary’s shop. She is led inside, and finally meets Miletus, for whom she has been searching since her arrival in Gethen a month ago. Adrie attempts to play-tackle her erstwhile comrade, though the wounded soldier manages to stay on his feet. She asks him about his recent injuries, and he stoically responds that he is on the mend. He does tell her that he is effectively under house arrest, and that Predicant Lorenz had come by yesterday to say that a reunion was about to take place. Adrie then proceeds to minister to Miletus.

* * *

Glitterstem departs the party’s camp on the edge of Neverwinter Wood. He follows the forest line southeast, to the Old Dire Wolf hunting encampment. There, he transforms into a dire wolf himself, and almost immediately picks up the trail of Balam and Adrie, who had come here from Toothymaw. Dire wolf Glitterstem follows that trail, as he has never been to Toothymaw, and though there is a trail from the lodge, he soon discovers that it is connected to a dense and confusing network of paths that are designed for the discerning goblin.
Along the way, dire wolf Glitterstem looks for pentagonal mushroom pattens, as well as suitable locations for his people to potentially settle. He does find an area under dense eves by a stream, and commits it to memory. After he can no longer maintain the wolf form, he continues in his normal guise toward Toothymaw. He discovers a mushroom pattern in a clearing, with the individual mushrooms uprooted, and then continues along, and shorty, discovers the village, at the confluence of Neverwinter River and Fang Brook. The village stands on the near bank, while a ways off at the confluence, he spots a small island with a single structure made of logs. Fields of gourds and maize surround the village on the near side. From the looks of it, it is constructed quite similarly to Talon’s Gate – a palisade fence, and log and bark longhouses inside. Glitterstem wraps himself in magical shadow to avoid detection, and looks for villagers outside the fense. He soon discovers two hobgoblins fishing, but they are entirely oblivious to him, so he proceeds to the gate himself. Finding it slightly ajar, he slips inside, and is immediately confronted by a hobgoblin watchman along with his own dire wolf. The wolf snaps at the intruder and knocks him down, getting ready to bite his throat out. After unsuccessfully trying to charm the wolf, Glitterstem summons forth two of his own, and then holds out Nugast’s rattle. He is soon surrounded by warriors, including one who addresses him in broken orcish. He orders him to send away the wolves. Glitterstem tries to insist that his wolves are known by the wolves of the village, but Chief D’kuger, who arrives on the scene soon after, points out that the only beasts of prey in the village are those belonging to the tribe. Glitterstem obliges, and hands over the rattle, after which D’kuger escorts him to the main longhouse, and presents him with nourishment.
At the feast, Glitterstem explains how he came into possession of Nugast’s rattle at the battle with the bijzweijn. D’kuger acknowledges that the old shaman made questionable decisions, and also explains that he left no successor, as he had no descendants, and brooked no competition. He says that Nugast was the first to reach out to Xibalba for aid, and that now, despite their awareness of the ingoeth’s duplicity, they have no option but to ally with them (but now luckily without Nugast’s mediation) and seek their next shaman from among them. To Glitterstem’s question as to how this is possible, D’kuger explains that any person may fulfill the functions of a shaman, provided he or she undergoes the trial, and then takes possession of the ceremonial rattle. Glitterstem then brings up the subject of settling his people in Dire Wolf lands. In response, D’kuger, who has not seen gnomes before, voices skepticism about settling strangers from faraway lands – the Dire Wolves already have sufficient problems with the colonists. Glitterstem offers to perform a ceremony to increase the productivity of the Dire Wolf fields, but D’kuger responds that doing so is the responsibility of the shaman, and the tribe cannot have two shamans performing shamanic functions. In the face of Glitterstem’s persistence, D’kuger asks if he is interested in becoming shaman, and after he receives an explanation as to the shamanic duties, their rights to reside in whatever manner they wish, and the initiation ceremony, he agrees to contend for the position. D’kuger then invites Glitterstem to remain in the village until the ingoeth aspirant arrives.

* * *

The following evening, after Toothymaw has roused from its slumber, Glitterstem hears a commotion outside. Apparently, the party from Xibalba has finally arrived. Flanked by two macahuitl-armed warriors, Clofoel Lhingril marches through the village toward the main hall. Accompanying them is Brandon.

Report Date

21 Apr 2018