Session 27 - Why Aren't YOU Tanking Then???
General Summary
Wait, is this Tetris?
The group enters the final chamber of the Temple and Aiaoue immediately pings that there's a weird shape of a mushroom on the ground. As the memory of Vil'Ashri storms in, the memory of Eresh fades. The sapphire dragon takes a blue mushroom, places it in the darkened patch of dirt, and releases a roll of thunder. The illusion fades and the exit is now barred. Yenush, with critical perception, notes that there are white, gray, blue, and green identical mushrooms arranged in small alcoves (also known as "room nubs"). Aiaoue tries to eat a green one... and then feels her stone stomach gurgle in protest. After trying to plant some of the mushrooms, Arkyn eventually hits the green mushroom with a bit of poison and watches as it quickly multiples into a group of mushrooms in a specific shape. Is this TETRIS?
Quickly, the group discovers how to get all the mushrooms into shapes and quickly fills the mushroom. And then a door opens, leading to... another pattern, this time a heart. After some back and forth (and Aiaoue/Teagan holding up the door between), the group rearranges some pieces and manages to fill in both the mushroom and the heart with shrooms. The doorway to the foyer opens... and the last mushroom is placed within the mushroom ring.
Miss Vil'Ashri, You're Already Dead
Spores are flung into the air as an ancient platform actives and then begins to descend into a large, dimly lit chamber below. Pools and streams of acidic water cover much of the area, along with fungus, lichen, and mushroom. Bones of Kel'Nok are scattered near the short near the larger corpse of a dragon. The draconic corpse is devoid of all flesh save for a few scales that flicker dimly. Near an acidic waterfall, a rotted tree sits with the remains of a rotted throne at its base. Despite the chamber being empty, there is obviously another presence skulking about, radiating rot, pestilence, anger, and spite. Teagan, Milo, and Aiaoue step forward with Teagan heading towards the draconic skeleton. And like an NPC clipping into a cutscene, Teagan gets front row seats for an altercation in the past.
Vil'Ashri offers Hadúr's head to Eresh, who sits upon her rotted throne... cracked. In exchange for "that which Eresh seeks", Vil'Ashri asks the goddess to revoke her gift to the Abyssal Lord so the war might end. Eresh denies Vil'Ashri, as it is not a hollowre minder of Hadúr that she seeks, but the god's soul. As tension rises, Vil'Ashri insists that Eresh must stop the war. Eresh freeezes, another crack forms, and the memory ends...
And as the forms of Eresh and Vil'Ashri fade, tendrils of darkness begin to congregate over the draconic corpse... it's eyes light with a sickly green glow as its bones jerk, puppetted by strings of night. And then a voice, familiar raingers out:
Child of Moonlight... here you stand... in the depths where moonlight cannot reach. Do you think you now command the shadows... Do you think you can command me? Let me show you the fate that awaits those who try.
Yenush opens up combat with some very restrained shots on the dracolich. Aiaoue finds herself facing a sapphire dragon, pleaing with Eresh to cease the violence. Aiaoue attempts to placate Eresh, but finds the goddess of rot - in her current state - is unwilling to listen. Teagan is front and center for the dracolich's spore vomit while Arkyn tries to shoot the Eresh of the past. Huh. Teagan then gets mad and finds that Liam would like if he hit... Arkyn. Teagan resists that and turns to focus on the threat. The dracolich (or the sapphire dragon) shifts its position and releases a massive breath slaming Teagan and Cadence with necrotic energy (which knocks Cadence down). Milo and Arkyn are hit with a thunderous boom and it incapacitates Milo for a bit. There's a weird aura around the dragon that seems to prevent healing so Arkyn vortex warps Cadence over to Yenush who's able to Colby (whoever that is) a healing potion and get her back up.
Aiaoue steps towards the dragon and makes an impassioned plea. Miss VIl'Ashri, we're from the future and sorry to tell you this but you're already dead... so can you please stop fighting? Whatever bit of sentience remains in the corpse seems to attempt to fight back, though the strings pupetting are unwilling to let it stop entirely. In her sapphire form, Vil'Ashri begins to be torn apart, flesh ripped from bone. When Vil'Ashri closes in on Arkyn, he casts Slow and quickly nopes out. Immediately after, Eresh whispers in Arkyn's ear... and he thinks he might want to harm his friends. Shortly after, the tendrils of night release the dragon's long dead bones. There is a brief moment of silence and reprieve, though Cadence and Arkyn are left with a case Caster's Cough.
Embrace the Rot... and Acid... and Poison
Everyone picks up a sapphire scale and Teagan picks up Hadúr's head (Hadúr mention), which - initially partially rotted - returns to a pristine state when held. And then the sapphire glow of the scales flickers and dims as the earth shakes. The tree at the far end of the chamber splits and breaks as an ooze-covered and bloated eel-like body adorned in a scattering of limbs hauls itself forth. Acid splatters to the ground, spewed from a trio of mouths that grind and cackle ominously in the rising darkness. A set of arms at the front of the creature pry back the flesh to reveal a gaunt skeletal face.So be it. You shall all... ROT.
Yenush feels like he might not be able to damage Eresh at the moment as a trio of beating hearts echo throughout the entire chamber. He hurls a sapphire scale at her, revealing the undulating and writhing ooze-coated flesh. Teagan, holding Hadúr's head, seems to be Eresh's initial primary target. One of the mouths free-flating along Eresh's body suddenly opens and barfs up acid and poison on multiple people. Tegan, as the acid ceases, catches the climps of a beating, partially rotted heart within. He waits for the right moment and then rips out the heart.
Aiaoue summons a font of moonlight and becomes the LIGHTBULB (sponsored by Omen's bioluminscence). Despite Eresh's many attempts to turn off the damn light, Aiaoue is persistent and victorious. Cadence pleads with Caliban to air her. She should have never entertain this darkness; she promises to turn her faith fully back to Caliban. The Weaver of Fate grants her the ability to perceive weakness or seek out strength (3 natural 20s). Yenush shoots through the second heart, damaging Eresh slightly. And then Yenush is able to take out the third and final heart just as Arkyn also releases a feather towards it... and then acid and poison rain down upon Arkyn... and Arkyn dies. Milo and Teagan are knocked unconscious. After all the acid showers Teagan has taken at this point, there really shouldn't be much left of him.
With half the party down, Aiaoue stands firm as the lightbulb, trying to get her heavy hitters up and going with Cadence help. Milo FINALLY gets a starry wisp to land, covering Eresh in dim light (reinforced by Aiaoue's font). Yenush, with all the damage he's dealt, earns Eresh's attention as she spits acid on him... and Yenush comes out nearly untouched. It's going to be SO annoying to get this repaired back at the TEMPLE. Teagan would like to know why YENUSH ISN'T TANKING THEN.
In the "Not-Void" (sorry, The Void has left the world), Arkyn makes a plea... and Kesar'Arrat answers. What are you willing to give up? Arkyn offers up the ability to touch everyone he loves and cares about. As he takes Kesar'Arrat's hand, his own palms begin to both burn and freeze as the silver-lined silhouette simply says. "I still need you." Arkyn returns, the burdens of a continent bearing down on his shoulders as his hands burn. And he manages to incapacitate Eresh.
Teagan debates what he should do as he stares between Cadence and the front line. he settles on throwing Cadence PERFECTLY (critically one might say) into Eresh's waiting arms. With a final spiritual weapon, Eresh stops moving... though she doesn't appear to be dead. Holding the Void Shard, Cadence's soul is connected to Eresh. Teagan asks for Tamasvi's aid and Aiaoue offers Omen's guidance. Milo and Arkyn pull the Silvery Barbs hack... and Cadence is able to pry away a bit of Eresh's essence. And then the entire chamber begins to shake. The group makes a quick escape to the exit with Yenush helping Arkyn. And from the darkness, an even larger, more grotesque Eresh lunches at them, before falling into the darkness below.
Outside the Temple, the Kel'Nok have frozen and Vendetta (& co) await.
Report Date
09 May 2025
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Vil'Ashri and Eresh Full Text
Vil'Ashri's Plea to EreshThe Void Shard
As the Void Shard connects with you, a wave of otherworldly cold settles over you first. And then something claws its way into your mind; everything goes dark. Rope scratches and burns your ankles and wrists. You feel the blood drip down your back. When you glance down, the skin of your arms is diRerent. It is gray, almost white… like that of a changeling. You feel silks draped across your form. Silent, you are told to be silent. You hear conversation and laughter; see the abrasions the rope has left upon your wrists. You are complimented for your beauty… but it repulses you. All you can feel is the rot spreading within. Your bare feet are bloody and torn. Your lungs burn from running. Your skin cut and broken from the branches as you plummet into a bed of moss. You hear the voices die down to silence. You smile. In the darkness, you can hardly see, but you can feel how your skin festers and ruptures. You feel peace. Finally, a choice for you to make… and you embrace it. In death, you may finally be free. A rotting corpse to finally match how you had rotted so long ago. But death does not find you. A light. A silhouette. An otherworldly presence. A hand extended in offering. No, it was never an offering, it was a command. You swallow; something cuts within you – unwinds and weaves your being anew. You sit up in a bed of moss. The Kel’Nok greet you. They are yours to command. The swamp is now yours to command.
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