Never to See the Light of Day (Part One) Report
General Summary
It's such a shame Caellana lost her faith in you. Logical, of course, but still it must sting.
Two days after the heroes defeated The Drowned One and secured the healing waters it was polluting they were back on the road for the final stretch of the expedition. The last leg of the journey takes them out of the true depths of the wilderness and into the outskirts of Melanthris' territory. Here they found the remains of the ancient roads that used to connect the elven capital to its many townships as well as the neighboring kingdoms of Frial and Ghal Pelor.
Travel over that time was rather peaceful and easy-going thanks to the roads and open plains. Come the early morning hours before even the sun peaked over the horizon Grigor noticed columns of smoke in the distance and quickly woke the others. After a quick discussion Aelfric , Cord, Erik , Grigor, Berenger and Aelfric's young ward Ivor decided to investigate while the others stayed behind with the wagons. The trip to the source of the smoke wasn't far and by sunrise they'd found it. A small glade of trees, tall grass and dense brush seemed to be the hiding place for whatever the cause of it happened to be. Cord, arguing it would be impossible for her not to sneak, opted to take point and scout ahead while the others took a direct path in.
Inside, they a small clearing in the center and the massacre that lay before them. Bodies everywhere, burnt flesh staked to tree trunks, charred skulls tied to branches and a deep central pit filled with burnt bones and recent remains. They quickly recognized the dead here were wearing similar white robes to the ones worn by the nature cult known as The Choir that they've interacted with several times recently. Including several days earlier when they slew one of the nature spirits they worshiped (The Drowned One) and took the healing waters that were sacred to it. Searching the area for clues they discovered tracks leading deeper into the tall grass and tangle. Erik spotted other travelers coming this way as well and they all braced for the worst. Instead, it was other members of the Choir coming to investigate the smoke and the silence from this sect of their organization. With them was the elven ranger Thoon whom has been the spokesperson for the Choir in all the party's past interactions thus far.
In speaking with him they discovered this sect of worshipers of Sister Hyena and engaged in celebratory fertility rite that was supposed to last for several days. Instead, they'd gone silent. Thoon became concerned when he saw the smoke in the air and came to investigate. Grigor, in a particularly astute moment for him, started digging deeper with Thoon and found out that this sect was third one attacked in the last few days. Each sect slaughtered to the last. One of Thoon's men noted this was different though, one body was missing. The Hyena cult's shaman and magic staff. They shared with Thoon that they'd discovered tracks and the two groups decided to work together to solve this.
During the conversation though Cord and Aelfric notes how unsurprised Thoon was about all the burnt bodies and gristly flesh ornaments in the trees. Even the bone pit was of little concern. Thoon revealed this was all part of the Hyena cult's traditions and that the victims here were likely people who posed a threat to nature's balance and refused to yield. Even Aelfric noted "we all like to pretend that everyone we kill probably had it coming but this is a bit extreme." Some tensions arose because of this and the party's recent actions in slaying one of the Choir's totems. However, they put that matter behind them to find the cause of this slaughter and prevent it from threatening the caravan.
While following the tracks they discovered one of the cult's attackers along the way. A wounded man bleeding out from a slash to his gut by one of his victims. He tells the heroes that he was a member of the Black Thorn Society , a new recruit in a very recently formed crew. And, that his crew was hired on by a very intelligent and callous man to hunt down these cults for him and help to find a staff and a proper shaman. They ask for this man's description, already suspecting the worst, and their suspicions are confirmed when them the man describes Riken Moondall perfectly. And with Riken and Heinreich Klamp still occupying each other's bodies it means their nemesis is here. Aelfric gives the man several bottles of his honey mead and tells him it's a healing potion, and then they let him go. Likely to his death.
The glade proved to be very small compared the Rylan Woods they had been traveling these past weeks and after less than an hour they crossed out and into the fields of tall grass where the tracks terminated at large fissure in the earth. Climbing gear was recently placed there and it leads into a rocky, jagged chasm below. While the others climbed down Cordelia used her amulet to quickly float to the bottom where she discovered a long tunnel leading into some kind of very old structure that the earth seemed to have swallowed long ago. It's at this time that her patron, Tryxanna , flitters into being beside her. The succubus is in a rather pleasant mood and asks Cord to take on a quick task for her. To open the door to the second chamber on the left down the long tunnel and to retrieve a scroll for her. Reluctantly, Cordelia agrees. It's at about this time the others reach the bottom and see her seemingly talking to herself again.
The Seal is Broken
As they examine the structure it seems to be covered in ruins they don't recognize, not even in relation to other languages they know. Erik tries to forge ahead but finds the tunnels trapped with nature spells. Vines spring from the stone to entangle and crush him. Cord continues ahead while the rest chop him free. She finds the door that Tryxanna mentioned but everything here is heavily locked and not budging. She calls for help and Erik comes to aid her, accidentially tripping another vine trap but she's able to yank him free before it grips him fully. The two are able to open the door just enough to jam one of Cord's treasures(A holy symbol to Tatayne The Breath of Life , in this case) in and hold it open. She and Erik head in while the others proceed to the larger door at the end of the passage way. They discover a considerable lot of potions, gold and silver bearing more unrecognizable silver, and scrolls. Tryxanna directs Cord to the scroll in particular that she wants, one that teaches the spell Finger of Death. They begin pocketing everything else and the succubus takes her treasure and decides to keep following them around. Though only Cord can see her as usual. Aelfric, Grigor, Ivor, Berenger, and Thoon managed to open the largest set of doors together but they quickly began to snap shut again. They tried to all leap through before it closed but only Aelfric, Grigor, and Ivor manage to make it. On the other side they found a large room full of stagnant floodwater and mud as well as a staircase leading down. The muddy runoff flowed in from fissures in the wall and much of it trickled down those stairs though most seemed to linger in this room. After taking only a few steps in the mud started to move, take shape, and form into a giant mass the loomed over them and condemned "Only a Shaman may pass!" before crashing into them like an earthen tidal wave. Aelfric was unable to land a solid blow and the others struggled as well while those left behind desperately tried to open the door again. Eventually Cord and Erik joined them and together they all opened the passage long enough to join Aelfric and Grigor. Together, they were able to defeat the elemental guardian. Below, they found another chamber with two passages. A hidden magic eye and mouth spell cast on the wall revealed itself and spoke with Riken's voice but Klamp's condescending cadence. It berated Cord for losing Caellana and how her presence here would have allowed them to easily breeze through the wards nature had placed over this structure. They pushed Klamp for answers and he told them this place was a tomb belonging to ancient Skyrirans and that he sought what they left behind. But, nature had deemed what was left here too dangerous and followers of the totems in the distant past attacked this place and sealed it off. Cord used her amulet that allowed her to speak with totem spirits to divine the path forward. From one direction she sensed a cautious warning and from the other a powerful revulsion. She chose the path leading toward that which was never to see the light of day. Cord asks for Tryxanna's help in opening the doorway that leads to Klamp and she agrees but says in order to do so she needs magical fuel. The scrolls they took from the room upstairs seem to suffice and once handed over the demon is able to open and hold the massive doors for them. Once open the pooling mud starts slipping into this new room and Cord disguises herself as one of the large chucks of filth and tumbles along in with it. Inside she finds Klamp and a cadre of Black Thorn goons. Along with them several Tengu along with insidious Sifter who's body is now a menagerie of life support systems and arcane-tech enhancements. The Black Thorn labor away digging out another staircase from the mud. Upon the left most wall is a massive tunnel carved through the stone and into the earth beyond. A tunnel likely carved by the sleeping beast in the middle of the room. A Dragon . Its blue scales still pale and its body no larger than an elephant. A young dragon to be sure but a dragon none the less. This thing of myth, despite being small and unconscious was still a breathtaking to behold. And Sifter was making a mockery of it. His crew were implanting devices all over its body while the beast's eyes rolled in their sockets. Upon the artificer's arm was a new device, one that seemed to control the creature's jerking movements with ease. Klamp, in Riken's body, was more concerned with gaining access to the next level rather than this pet project of Sifter's. Cord uses one of her demonic gifts from Tryxanna to disguise herself as a Black Thorn laborer and goes about infiltrating the group while the others prepare themselves. Klamp is well aware of what is going on, the magic eye in the previous room along with other hidden scrying spells give him the intel he needs. Once the rest of the heroes are about to rush the room Klamp gives the signal and Sifter wakes the blue dragon and directs it to attack them. Thoon leads the charge and for his trouble he's instantly charred to ash and dust by a burst of the dragon's lightening bolt breath weapon. The dragon, along with the Black Thorn slowly advance on the remaining heroes while Cord sneaks near Sifter and his entourage. Erik, in full berserk fury, is the only thing that holds the dragon back from spreading its pull destructive potential to the others. Despite its young age and impairment by the control devices the creature is a formidable opponent that they struggle to harm. Under Sifter's command the beast even manages to ravage Ivor, killing him almost instantly, and bring Berenger within an inch of his life as well. Cord strikes from cover, hacking off Sifter's hand and taking the control device. She manages to smash as many buttons as possible causing the dragon to spasm uncontrollable and knowing full well what revealing herself like this would mean. Sifter uses his mana-caster device to nearly vaporize her in a single, powerful blast while the rest of her enemies batter her to the brink of death. She lays bleeding out in the mud while her allies work to rip the control devices from the dragon. The situation grows more grim as Klamp pelts the heroes with his minute meteor spell and the black thorn harry them with crossbows. With the final device pulled free the dragon slowly recovers and uses its breath weapon to devastate the tengu mob and many of the black thorn. Sifter and Klamp (safely inside a globe of invulnerability) escape through the partially excavated staircase while the heroes gather themselves and plead with the newly freed dragon for their lives.
Cordelia Dathmor
Aelfric
Erik Shepherd
Grigor
Report Date
04 Dec 2019
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