Session Report 53 - The Maze of Valsepthei
General Summary
"Things are getting more eldritch by the second. I think we're getting a taste of The Ancient Sea early."
-Laire
Journey, Darts, & Family
Gunther decides it's about time for the crew to have a darts tournament. They do, with drinking rules added for fun and carnage. Lou manages to make it to the finals but, due to the drinking rules (and having barely had a drop of alcohol before this moment) is totally blasted. Nora takes the prize pool with glee.Valsepthei is still a bit of a ways away, and the group has more time to kill. With an excursion to The Ancient Sea on its way, Ramone steels himself and pulls Laire aside to tell him a little bit about why he's on the seas. His family back in Sin Oro lived near a dead magic zone. He left after some years, knowing the magic would affect him (and indeed it did, instilling him an impulse to kill). His family, not seeing the danger, decided to stay. This was the better part of a century ago, and Ramone, now old, feels great guilt for abandoning them. Perhaps they are well, and if they are not, he hopes to find a way to combat the effects of dead magic. This struggle may prove futile, but Ramone genuinely is trying to right things.
Charlotte The Ranger
The great maze of Valsepthei appears on the horizon, with Sloth calling out for the rest of the crew to see it. Towering walls of stone stretch hundreds of feet upwards. Black vines weave down them and through what few thin cracks there are in the walls. Almost the entire island is maze, save for the shore. The crew spots a lone figure on the shore, trying her best to fish. She seems stranded.As the ship approaches, she waves her arms about in greeting, and happy to see others. She, timidly, introduces herself as Charlotte. She is a member of the crew of Badger Drawermont, and she's obviously a bit socially unaware. She has a currently injured pet hawk, and explains that she was stranded. She can help the crew explore the maze if they'd like, so long as they're willing to help her out. Her fishing luck is running out and she hasn't eaten a good meal in a day and a half. The crew obliges, and she joins them for their expedition to the maze. Ouchie also comes along, wanting something new to give ouchies to.
The Maze of Valsepthei
Two great stone doors stand at the corner of the maze, emblazened with sharp and simple depictions of minotaurs, skulls, and vines. One of the doors is barely open, and the group slips through to an entrance chamber. Black vines choke out the alcoves in the walls, and a stagnant fountain lies in the middle of the room. After taking the surroundings into account, Gunther elects to take a machete to the fines in one of the alcoves to see what they are covering. Hacking away brings forht a sickly smell, and the realization that the vines have completely smothered a minotaur, to the point where it has not even recieved enough oxygen to fully decay. A thumping can be heard in the distance, and the group quickly realizes that many minotaurs roam this maze, as one enters the room.As the minotaur begins its attack, Grov summons forth a power not previously seen - red lightning, which sheathes his weapon in electricity and rains down upon his foe. Grov strikes it down with swiftness and brutality.
The group agrees that sticking around in one place is a poor idea with roaming minotaurs, so decide to proceed deeper, using Charlotte's navigational skills to trace a safe path deeper in the maze.
The Moon Door
The group finds a door blocking their way deeper into the maze. It is emblazoned with the pattern of a half moon. There are no other obvious features like a handle or a lock, and the room is mostly barren, save for a slightly elevated circular dias in the centre of the room, with nothing upon it. The group spends some time considering what to do. It is evening, and they reason that the moon might signify that this room can only be used at night. They wait a couple of hours, warding off stalking minotaurs, which move with unusual speed, and a certain unrythmic feel to their motion. Something is off about them, though what it is cannot be said.As the moons rise, the room is lit with a magically supported armillary sphere centred on the dias, with the 4 moons orbiting around Nauvitalia. The moons fit on one's hand, and can be taken out of orbit. Touching a moon to the door destroys it, and causes some effect on the person who did it. Locke touches Fortuna to the door, bringing him a spell of terrible misfortune for the rest of his time in the maze. Ramone touches Vita, and he feels he won't be able to recover from wounds for the next while. Charlotte touches Irae, and a ghastly spirit apperates, which the party swiftly defeat. Charlotte also touches Fortuna to the door, and is filled with a compulsion to pick things up to horde them. The doors open, leading deeper into the second lair of the maze.
Degredation of The Maze
Where once the walls were relatively clean, though overgrown with the black vines, the walls of the second lair are notably worse for wear. They are somewhat blackened, as though they were rusted a bit, and a thin film of what looks to be oil can be seen on some of them. The whole place is a lot more ominous. And the stalkers of the maze are never far, their thumping can be heard everywhere. The footsteps, though, feel less like those of minotaurs and more... uneven. A strange heaving can be heard alongside the footsteps.The group keeps cautious, and proceeds quickly. Charlotte's navigation skills prove vital in avoiding danger. The group comes upon a room with a ceiling and a tiled floor. When one steps on the floor, it heats up, and some sticky fluid drips from the ceiling, sizzling to gas on the floor. This solution is poisonous. The group carefully approaches the situation, climbing along the walls to avoid filling the room with poison.
Another half hour into the maze, the group encounters a set of metal constructs with vines over their faces. They lunge towards the scent of metal, and the group just narrowly avoids them with some sly illusory magic to draw them in another direction.
A stalker can be heard behind the group, growing closer by the minute. They rush forth, coming to what looks like a ruined building of an unfamiliar construction style, which is lodged in the wall of the maze. The next layer of the maze is ahead, and the group quickly climbs into the building, finding more constructs and dealing with them quickly before making it through the building and to the next layer.
In front of them, they find a room of cracked pillars and a failing bridge, which is set over a pit of roiling and deadly black mist. How will our heroes overcome this predicament?
Report Date
08 Jul 2023
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