Session 20 - "The Corruption of Cirvai" Report
General Summary
Kona 37, 1246
Micaiah stands in front of the corrupted form of Cirvai, attempting to talk to her in the guise of her deity. The rest of the party stands back, hidden in the trees of the garden and ready to run in should this gamble not work.
Foenix takes a more direct approach, disguising himself the same way Micaiah did as the god Grund, but as Micaiah continues to soothingly talk to Cirvai, reassuring her not only that her work is completed and that she can rest - including singing her a song to rest, Thais uses her own magic (thaumaturgy) to include the voices of birds - Cirvai gives in. Her body curls up on the ground, and begins to rot away. The leaves that make up her body turn brown and fall, leaving only the branches and roots that constituted her skeletal structure.
The party lets out a sigh of relief, and begins to reemerge from their hiding places. Thais takes a moment to pray for the dragon's spirit as they begin looking around for the vered plant in the garden, eventually coming to an overgrown greenhouse.
With an alley-oop from Thais, Foenix lands on top of the greenhouse, making his way across its roof to a shattered portion, and drops down into it. He lands in a large clearing, the plant life growing in an almost donut-like shape with all of the greenery in the middle crushed underfoot - Cirvai's nest, he surmises.
Looking around, he manages to find a place where the choking greenery is less dense, and calls Thais over from the outside. She uses her elbow to break through the glass and her sword to cut their way in. The party follows, and then splits up to look for the vered.
Foenix is the first one to notice large, bulb-like plants that are scattered about the greenhouse. They are not yet in bloom, but the bulb itself looks like a gnome-sized flower about to open. In fact, as Foenix triumphantly raises a fist of the vered he found in the back corner of the greenhouse (with two critical successes between him and Olena), Olena peers into the only bulb that is semi-open. Inside, to her shock, she finds a small plant-dragon wyrmling hybrid.
As she calls the others over, Jacob Sterling feels the pit of his stomach drop nauseously. It seems that his connection to the wilderness also gives him an acute sense that the magic of Cirvai is dying quickly. He warns the others that they need to take what they can before the garden loses its magic. Thais acts quickly, cutting out the one that's near bloom while Foenix cuts out the other eight wyrmlings and wraps them in his cloak.
The bulbs not yet near bloom leak out a nectar-amniotic fluid when cut, and Foenix takes the time to gather it up into bottles, just in case. The party also finds and harvests enough ironberries to make a dose of the potion of invulnerability, and Thais gathers up some honey comb as well.
They head down into the underground grotto and, following the instructions in Cirvai's book, begin to make a cure for Olena. Foenix adapts it into a recipe, and bakes a rum cake (of sorts) for Olena. It does work, thankfully, even passing along some other benefits - specifically, that she now has the ability to harden her skin (barkskin) once per day with her newfound imperviousness to all matters of the flesh. Unfortunately, it does also turn her hair, fur and all, completely white.
Meanwhile, Thais calls Arkeo back telepathically, and Micaiah uses his own flock of familiars (a quartet of sprites that includes Jonquil and also the sprites Peaceblossom, Mothball, and Mustard) to look for Patty and Matty. They do eventually find the draft horses and, with some very careful coercion, the sprites are able to guide the horses back to the garden.
Meanwhile, Thais has begun to explore the manor, finding that it is built for humanoid inhabitation, with the only oddity being a master bedroom made out of glass - a sunroom - that includes a small library. Picking through the books, she comes across a well paged romance novel entitled By Where the Reeds Grow Free. She pockets this one before moving on.
Underneath a nearby armoire full of motheaten dresses and clothes, Thais stumbles upon a nicked and dented carrying case made of wood covered in black leather lodged halfway. She picks it up and opens it, finding an intricately carved lap harp with ivory tuning pegs. One side of the body of the harp features inlaid knotwork designs done in white birch wood, while the other is carved with runes of travel and good fortune. The harp's strings look almost brand new.
Next to the harp case, leaning against the wall, is a wooden walking stick as tall as a man, which has a carving of a bearded wizard's head at the top and a brass cap at the bottom. The wizard's beard twines around the staff, and he has gems for eyes: the left one is a bloodstone, while the right is a sphere of amethyst. The wizard's expression is one of extreme distaste.
Several metal hooks are mounted at the top end of the staff, with two small bags and a pouch tied to them. The bags are full of mixed coins while the pouch holds a bundle of exotic smudge, two strips of magnesium, a vial of what looks like milk, and two pieces of rhodochrosite. She takes all these items as well.
In the alchemy lab, Foenix has also been searching around. He eventually finds a potion of healing, a potion of greater healing, and a potion of heroism.
He then wanders out into the gardens, and comes upon a carriage house, which curiosity begs him to explore.
Unfortunately, the only thing inside is a topiary of a horse - animated, of course, and when it attempts to attack him he panics and throws a torch at it, running outside as the animated equine bush, now engulfed in flames, sets the carriage house on fire as it attempts to escape its fate.
Thais sees the smoke and runs over. When Foenix explains the situation, she misunderstands the situation and runs in to attempt to save their horses that Foenix so foolishly lit on fire.
But the topiary horse runs past her, and Foenix decapitates it in one swift moment. Thais breathes a sigh of relief, but the danger is not passed. The roof, weakened from the flames, collapses inward suddenly, burying her underneath the scorching beams. Olena and Jacob, just approaching at this time, rush forward. Olena is able to help Thais lift the rubble off of her, and thankfully besides some burns and bruises she is fine.
Jacob, examining the topiary horse, realizes it must have once been a living animal that had been slowly corrupted like Cirvai. The last of the magic seems to be fading quickly, as it begins to wilt away just like the dragon (and the other plants in the garden - an ever increasing circle of brown grass and hedges are growing from Cirvai's corpse).
The group decides to spend one night in the garden, and Thais gifts the harp to Micaiah, who gratefullu accepts and begins to pluck out a song to Felisis, singing softly by the firelight.
As she does, another voice joins hers - a young man standing at the edge of the clearing. Thais squits, reaching out with her divine senses. With a start, she realizes it's a celestial.
The man approaches, but does not keep the suspense for long. He introduces himself as the true Felisis, and asks them to do something for him.
See, the ritual that they left Micaiah's patrons performed brought some of their (and his) fiendish patron's servants into the mortal world. In fact, they actually know the servants: Ritt'yen and Rant'tis are the fiendish names of the twin children of the Hatchette family, Tristan and Trinity.
He charges the party to dismantle Beauson de'Bete's plans and save Brillante. Foenix demands to know why he can't just do it himself, but Felisis shoots back, asking if he didn't think that he was doing something. How did Foenix survive his injuries? How did Thais escape Cactsia? Micaiah? Felisis even takes credit for his child being the source of the legend that pointed Olena to her cure and the reason for Jacob's gifts (though Jacob doesn't think that they're a gift at all).
Felisis does admit that they aren't strong enough yet to defeat Beauson, but he does ask them to work. Get stronger - and soon - and return to Brillante before it's too late.
Then, after another beat, he's off, leaving the party in shock and Foenix in the midst of an existential crisis...
Rewards Granted
- a nicked and dented carrying case made of wood covered in black leather (5 gp)
- an intricately carved lap harp with ivory tuning pegs. One side of the body of the harp features inlaid knotwork designs done in white birch wood, while the other is carved with runes of travel and good fortune. The harp's strings look almost brand new. (160 gp)
- a wooden walking stick as tall as a man, which has a carving of a bearded wizard's head at the top and a brass cap at the bottom. The wizard's beard twines around the staff, and he has gems for eyes: the left one is a bloodstone, while the right is a sphere of amethyst. The wizard's expression is one of extreme distaste. Several metal hooks are mounted at the top end of the staff, with two small bags and a pouch tied to them. (220 gp)
- 14 gp, 50 sp, 200 cp
- a bundle of exotic smudge (20 gp)
- two strips of magnesium (2 gp each)
- a vial of what looks like milk (antitoxin, 50 gp)
- two pieces of rhodochrosite (10 gp each)
- potion of healing
- potion of greater healing
- potion of heroism
Thais Argyri
Paladin (Oath of Redemption) 7
18
13
16
10
11
18
Foenix Stolnent
Rogue 3
Arcane Trickster 4
14
18
19
18
13
13
Micaiah Louvre
Warlock 7
7
18
14
12
15
20
Jacob Sterling
Sorcerer 7
9
8
16
12
12
19
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