Session VIII: In the Name of Loch

Tug-of-War

Aside from some disturbances in the brig as prisoners tried to disrupt things by making noise, kept in check by Scurvy and their crew, the night slumbered on and the party got well-deserved rest...
Except for one of them. Corellia. She felt herself awaken deep in the night. The ship still rocked upon the water. There were no lanterns lit anywhere, and her necklace was missing. In her head, she felt a constant aching ulcer. She didn't normally get headaches. She rummaged around, but couldn't her medallion. There was no sign of the crew anywhere, either.
Leaving her hammock, she walked up the stairs and was met with a cold night wind as her feet touched the deck. It was only her here. At the bow of the ship, she saw her medallion, precariously suspended in mid-air. Its back faced her, its front faced that strange temple in the distance, of which was now shrouded in a strange, watery darkness. Skeptical, Corellia waved her hands over, under, and around the medallion; nothing was holding it.
But, the moment her fingers grazed the surface of the necklace, unintelligible whispers began to fill her head as if she walked into an interaction that had already been occurring. In an instant, she was no longer standing on the deck of the ship, and this dream turned into a nightmare.
Instead, water rushed past Corellia in a small river as she looked through foreign eyes gazing at a strange piece of food. Seconds later, she saw herself hanging outside in the air as two monstrous faces looked at her with smiling hungry grins. She found herself in clouds, the air rushing past her as she felt gravity call her down at a break-neck speed. The ground grew rapidly. She hit rock and and she scattered into a million different pieces.
Darkness filled her vision. She felt her cool watery sensation splash around inside of something. Then, light slowly filled her eyes as, in a pail, she was drawn out of a well by a young woman in a small village. Next, in a flash, she saw her waves crashing over that village, tearing it to pieces; she felt her drops in the storm pepper its victims, setting the tone amid a dark, dark sky. A bonnet washed past Corellia's sight beneath the water. It was the woman’s bonnet. Faces, places, things. All of it rushed past her; all these the things that the sea everywhere had done, all the catastrophes it had caused in brief, yet intimately descriptive glimpses.

In the Endless Depths

Then, all these memories she'd never known fractured into bits, scattering into a dark, shapeless landscape. Then, it all attracted back together, colliding like a puzzle until it became a completely new place. Corellia felt her hands and feet once again; her hair too, as it flowed left and right while she hung suspended in the deep, deep, black of the ocean. A deep, vibrating and slow heartbeat filled her ears. The sand below her was black as night, and ahead of her was a gargantuan, circular door of barnacle and seaweed-encrusted stone. Glowing chains, double her size, colored a cerulean blue glow with the only light down here, and lied affixed to the door in an indestructible “X”. At the intersection, a circular seal of similar color. Inscribed over its face was an octopus-like creature, its tendrils sticking out in a myriad of directions. A symbol in its middle pulsed slowly. It was a heart, and it beat at the exact pace Corellia had been hearing.
Behind her, a small beacon of light emerged, and when she turned, Corellia found her medallion, hovering in the water like some totemic spirit.
Then, the water hit her throat, and suddenly, in whatever realm fate was carrying her, her need for oxygen returned, and like this was reality itself, she began choking on the very real sea water she was submerged in.

Corellia tried to swim for her medallion out of fear, looking for any thing to help her. But, try as she might, her body failed to move, and it did her no good. The water continued to crush her lungs; she felt her very life slipping away. In her desperate state, tones and watery music began to fill her ears. It came from two sources, each one calling out to her. The magic from within Corellia's medallion, and something that stirred from behind that door.
They both felt her need to live as flashes of her mother, father, Seraphina, and even Nereus filled her thoughts. These sounds, like two different

entities, called out to Corellia in musical ways she had no idea how she could understand, each one beckoning to choose it for salvation.
A face emerged from the medallion, and another face emerged from the seal in the door. The Seaworthy and the Leviathan. They both pleaded with Corellia and fought against one another at the same time, promising her life in this sudden travesty she, a mortal, had been swept into. But, both were

coming at a cost. To escape death, and to gain the power they offered her — power she wasn't sure came from some cosmic grace or the simple need to one-up the other side — would come with obedience and servitude. For that servitude, the Seaworthy offered Corellia inner peace in the darkest of storms, courage against the tallest of waves. From the other side, the Leviathan promised her great and more immediate power to tempting degrees, more of it than she would gain with the Seaworthy.
The reality of this sank in. This was no vision, no longer a dream. Corellia was about to die in

whatever crossfire she ended up in, and it would be only through service to one of these two that she would live to see her loved ones again and the sun grace the horizon once more. She had to make her choice, or drown within the Endless Depths in the Plane of Water.

Corellia Chooses Loch

Perhaps it was just desperation, or the tempting thought of power everlasting. But, the water churned from Corellia's decision. Where one side swam with delight, another burned and flowed with anger. Before that anger could reach her however, it was as if something grabbed her from the hem of her shirt, and like a rocket, she shot upward, flying through the water toward a moonlit surface she now saw come into view.
But, the closer she got the darker her vision grew. Everything went black just before she hit the surface.
There was a second of nothingness. Then, Corellia's consciousness returned to her in the blink of an eye as the freezing night air hit her soaked skin, several hands hoisting her into a longboat from out of the lake. She coughed, coughed, and coughed some more as water spilled from her throat. Obaaji and several kobolds were in the boat with her. The Ravager was many dozens of feet away, and the front of the ruined temple to Loch loomed high over her head, dangling vines hanging vertically directly above.
“Thank Planes, you didn’t drown!” Obaaji shouted incredulously.

A Boon and a Curse

For Corellia's choice to serve Loch, she was granted a boon. However, seemingly betraying her upbringing and Eadro's magic which swam inside her medallion, a horrible curse fell upon her and an eternal dark storm cloud formed over her head, roiling with ever-present thunder. She felt disappointment emanate from her medallion, before its very presence vanished like someone walking away. In its place, the very power of the Leviathan came to rest.
In her consciousness, Corellia felt the words of the Leviathan falling on her, instructing her on its expectations. She would not allow harm to fall over other fellow followers (including those they had imprisoned). Secondly, to prove her loyalty and further her walk in his shadow, she was tasked to kill a follower of Eadro, the mortal enemy of the Leviathan. Only then would more follow.

The Sun Rises

Corellia slept as best she could despite the clouds which hung over her. When the morning of the same day came hours later, she sought out Arves, hoping he had magic of some sort that could cure her of this curse. As a matter of fact, he had a spell scroll that could perform just that, but he learned the entire situation before he did, telling her to tell no one else of it. Expending the scroll, the cloud fizzled and her curse was lifted.

Dungeon Dive

Then, after a couple hours of downtime on the lake, the party decided to begin their trek into the old temple of Loch to find what might be hidden inside, bringing Aria with them.
Before they left, Rhazien spoke to Corellia from the brig, telling her he knew those tunnels well enough; if she brought him along, he'd help guide them, though the way he offered didn't suggest he was saying this out of the kindness of his heart. Skeptical, but seeing the party would far outnumber him, she took him up on it.
The party entered the dungeons and followed Rhazien's lead. Tens of minutes went by as they made different twists and turns and looted everything that wasn't nailed down, Rhazien telling them of the room they were looking for. It wasn't until they descended down a set of stairs to a lower level and more time passed that they came upon an altar room.

Altar to the Leviathan

It was an open square room, with a table in the center with stone pillars that spouted water across it. On the far wall was a myriad of hieroglyphs, including an image Corellia was recently acquainted with, a large circular stone door, chained over with a seal in the center. On the seal was an octopus-like creature, a heart sculpted in its center, the only thing colored on the wall. Coins, chests, and other things were piled up against the altar.
Chanting filled the room as cultists occupied the space; having not been noticed yet, Rhazien explained they worked with Hex; they were currently giving an honoring prayer for the Slumbering.
Thinking they people who could help her on her new path, Corellia walked in and the chanting abruptly stopped. The two leaders seemingly feeling the power within her, they assumed the others — even Rhazien — were her minions and asked her reason for arrival. She tried to trick them that they needed their treasure, but one leader — calling her a young disciple — asked her why she would lie, and that was the end of that conversation.
When asked if they could help her on her path, they acquiesced to present Corellia what she would need if she returned in a later day. However, the party — nor she — were inclined to leave empty-handed. Weapons were drawn, and the party, deciding negotiations were over, attacked.
The cultists petitioned the magic of the temple and a water myrmidon was summoned from the main wall to aid them in the fight. But even with its added strength, it and the cultists were killed off, the myrmidon's spirit sent back to the Plane of Water. A terrible ache ran through Corellia, like a horrible warning against ever doing anything like this again.
During the fight, Rhazien simply watched from a safe distance, but he did not run.

A Way Deeper

After looting the room, Arves investigated the room for anything peculiar, and on the main wall, he found the heart was not simply a decoration, but a button! When he pressed it, a seam shot down the wall's middle and opened wide like two doors, revealing stairs which ran further down into darkness. Rhazien was questioned on it, but he said Hex was the only who had gone down that way. It was a secret passage those cultists had only ever allowed her to witness, he was certain it wasn't just some side room.
The party deliberated on whether to keep going or make their way back out. After all, they still had other things to take care of and other problems to worry about. They didn't know where they were in the islands, but that was solved quickly when Rhazien was interrogated on it; he explained they were several hours west of Looter's Cove. Aside from that, they had Hex's bounty they would need to turn in and a few commissions back in the cove to get back to. But, what they might also find further down interested Corellia.
The party rested for a short time in the room while they decided on whether to keep going or turn back.
To be continued...

Report Date
March 30th, 2024
In-Game Start Date
Eadriscus 16th, 1301 AC
In-Game End Date
Eadriscus 16th, 1301 AC

Player Characters

Zephyrion Skyblade - An owlin fighter.
Vox - A hill dwarf, emerald kobold, ancestral guardian barbarian.
Corellia Emberfin - A tiefling-triton fighter.
Arves - A vedalkin scribe wizard.
Asterid - A female human life cleric of Hwesta.

Non-Player Characters

Aria Swiftblade - A fairy champion fighter wielding duel battleaxes.
Ferris "Scurvy" Bort - A human spores druid retainer.
Rhazien Sallow - An elven disciple of Loch, leader of Hex's crew.

Magic Items

Robes of Religion

Robes, common, 130gp (requires attunement)
The robes are ornately woven with dark fabric and silk. On the inside are a myriad of different holy icons to gods both good and evil, lawful and chaotic.
Better Athletics (A). While you wear these robes, you gain a +1 bonus to all Intelligence (Religion) checks you make.
Ascended. While you are attuned to this, you gain an additional +1 bonus to all Intelligence (Religion) checks you make.
"Behind every monster is a prayer to ward it off... just gotta find the right one.

~ A charlatan priest

Boons

Folding Waves

You may expend this boon as a bonus action. If you do, for the next hour, if you are standing on or in water, once during your turn, you may spend 5 feet of movement to teleport from your space to another space on or in water you can see within 300 feet.

Wraths

Dark Desolation

Upon gaining this, expend this. You become cursed. While you are cursed this way, a dark aura surrounds you in a 5-foot radius. Creatures in the radius suffer a -1 penalty to their proficiency bonus. If you are already cursed this way, stack this added effect onto the curse.