Session 15

General Summary

We decide that we should try to find the theatre; since it was the location of an arcane play in the Prime Material, we suspect it may be the setting of a ritual in this bizarre realm.
Norric stabs the door, wary of his previous experience with the mimic. When it reacts as a normal door should, he picks the lock and Tronus opens it.
Beyond the door, the room smells of ozone. A purple radiance shines within, and robed figures are seated in front of it. One of them turns to regard us as we open the door. There is nothing within its cowl. It takes no action, but turns back to regard the radiance.
Tronus looks at the radiance and sees the same figure we saw in the Prime Material in this room of the manor. The radiance comes from the symbol at the back of the room.
The figure at the front regards us with its writhing mask. Norric sees a worm crawling on the back of Tronus's head, crawling toward his ear hole. He tries to stab the worm, and Tronus wheels to attack. Tronus has a frantic, wild look in his eyes, and we get the sense he isn't in control of his actions.
Maar shouts, "I see something on Tronus, I think something is controlling him!"
I pull the door shut with Mage Hand. Tronus fells Norric with a mighty blow, charged by divine magic.
Travius screams "What the fuck are you doing?" and tries to drag Norric away.
Tronus's response is "You too?!"
Thormyr heals Norric while Dominique successfully casts Hold Person on Tronus. She scrutinizes him and finds a worm on the ground by his feet. It looks as though Norric had successfully cut it in half. Dominique finds something in Tronus's ear and works to get it out. She retrieves half a worm, and once it is out Tronus goes limp.
I retrieve the worm's remains with Mage Hand store it in my tinder box.
Norric and Tronus are returned to their wits. Norric retreats from Tronus as best he can while on the ground, tended by Travious and Thormyr.
Dominique points out the glass panes behind us are reverberating.
We ascend a staircase and see a very bright light at the top. We cannot see beyond it. Dominique and I try to apply our arcane knowledge and are unable to decipher it. Travius figures it isn't natural light, but is similar to the darkness that brought us here.
Returning to the main floor, we come to a door from behind which Dominique can hear voices. Norric listens as well, and finds the voices have a grating quality and speak in an unknown tongue. When Tronus listens he finds he can understand the language. The voices discuss preparing for the birth and the ascension. They are excited that the time is coming. "Soon, we will return to our home," one of them says. "The child shall lead us." Tronus relays this information to us.
Another one of them says "Do you think we will leave Ryland behind?" "He's too corrupted and we must leave him, sentimental fool."
Tronus kicks in the door. He charges in and fells one of the twisted humanoid creatures within (daulgryms.) We lay into the monsters with spell and blade. One of the humanoid monsters, more sophisticated than the others, wears a tattered noble woman's dress. We dispatch the three creatures quickly.
Norric moves on to another room and finds two of the tentacled razorclaw-screechers. Travious consumes my Potion of Healing. We kill the creatures swiftly, though they take their toll upon us. We take a short rest in the room while Maar looks over us. We close the curtains to hide ourselves from the grell that float by outside. I recover some of my arcana during this rest.
The chanting around us grows louder and louder as we rest. We return to the room outside of the theatre. The windows shake and a green light comes through them. We elect to go outside and check the arboretum, where the green light is coming from. Tronus smashes the windows for us to gain entrance.
A woman, arrayed in arcane raiment, stands in a pool of water, holding Krista under the surface. The water glows a sickly green. "Stop them," the woman says. The air is a miasma that fogs our senses. The flora is thick and alien and horrifying.
Thormyr summons the might of his god, a Radiant Dawn, searing the creatures with holy light and banishing darkness. Maar calls forth a Moonbeam that damages the cultist as well. She steps out of the moonlight and her form ripples and twists into a giant humanoid abomination. She smashes another window next to Tronus and then strikes Tronus.
Travius carves through a tentacled monstrous minion. Tronus rushes into the arboretum and tries to scoop Krista from the water, which turns out to be thick and viscous, and holds her fast. I blast an empowered Magic Missle into the cultist, who towers near the ceiling of the arboretum.
Maar shifts his Moonbeam, searing the metamorphosized cultist. She flails her twisted limbs about her, striking Tronus and Travius.
Tronus pulls Krista from the sludge, carrying her out of the fray. I hit the lumbering monstrosity with Magic Missle.
Thormyr takes Krista from Tronus. The giant cultist snatches them both up into the air and squeezes Thormyr.
Sir Ryland enters the arboretum dragging a dead grell behind him. He screams, "My beloved stop!" He drops to one knee, holding his stomach. "Don't make me do this!"
Sir Ryland holds his sword to his belly, and Alanna says "No! Our baby!"
He plunges the sword partially into himself and says "Don't make me do this!"
Alanna drops Thormyr and Krista. Travius strikes Alanna and she reverts to her normal form. Ryland screams at us to go.
We retreat to find the other child. Krista is not responsive but has a weak pulse. As we move, Tronus heals her with holy magic, and she vomits the sludge that she had been submerged in.
As we search for the boy the chanting, which had continued, falls silent. We find the pantry in the kitchen, and the door is locked with a key on the other side. Norric has trouble clearing the lock. Maar says, "Thomas it's us, we're here to help you."
I speak to the boy and he opens the door. I pick him up and we flee. As we make our way, Thormyr notices that Krista's tongue is a tentacle. Thomas seems fine.
Tronus uses his divine ability to cure disease. The corruption that has seized the girl resists his magic. He tries again, and succeeds in driving the corruption from her, her tongue returns to normal.
We resume our flight and around a corner comes Alanna. She holds something in her arms and wails in grief. In her grasp is a baby with two heads compressed together.
She drops the corpse of her child and morphs into her greater beast shape. We flee up the stairs and she struggles to follow due to her size.
We head into the light, Thormyr first with the girl, and I with the boy. The rest follow us, and we plunge through the light into darkness.

Report Date

17 Apr 2021

Primary Location

Manor of the Elder Eye

Secondary Location

Plane of the Elder Eye