Session 19 - Seed of the Shrine Tree

General Summary

Date: 15th, 17th, & 18th Day of Kythorn 1491 DR

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The Party:
Aether – Level 5 Human, Circle of the Moon Druid
Duncun – Level 5 Human, Battle Master Fighter
Barack'O - Level 5 Half-Orc, Bear Totem Barbarian

Report:

The next morning the goons begin their trek into the desert towards the hidden oasis. Late into the first day of travel, they come upon the ruins of a ship. As they go to investigate the shipwreck three giant scorpions come out and attack the party. The gang harvests some desert lobster carapace and decide to hunker down in the ruins of the ship for the night. On Aethers watch she notices three strange gnomes appear out of nowhere in the distance. She observes them from where she is and makes out that the gnomes are standing holding hands and swaying. After ten minutes they disappear in a flash of light. She informs Barack of what she saw when it's his watch and he informs Duncun when it comes to his watch but the rest of the night is uneventful. The next day around midday the Aether hears a sound somewhere in between slithering, scraping, and the rush of an object through the air. She casts pass without a trace on the party just to be safe and as they crest the next sand dune, they see a gigantic purple worm rushing past, luckily for them oblivious to their presence.

By late afternoon the goons come to the entrance to the oasis, a stone door is set into the cliff face on the north side of the gorge. The door has no handle or visible locking mechanism. Its only adornment is a bas relief of a humanoid face, like a death mask. As the party approaches the door the eyes of the face open, revealing a pair of glowing, crystal eyes. The goons creeped out by this stop approaching and after a moment the eyes close again. It dawns on Aether that it has been unnaturally quiet in the gorge because now that silence has been disrupted by a distant sound. She looks in the direction of the noise and sees a massive, oozing, mound, the size of a castle off in the distance. The party investigates the door but can not find a means to open it. As they inspect the door it becomes overcast - Aether looks back to where the mound is and sees that it has become closer and that they are now enveloped in its shadow. She can now make out that the quivering mound is encrusted with filth and grime, and can notice cysts that appear to hold fetal forms of creatures floating within them on its surface. They begin to panic and Duncun manages to force open the door and hold it open long enough for Barack and Aether to jump inside. Duncun lets go of the door and it slams shut and the goons can hear the scraping of the mound's massive bulk as it slides along the other side of the wall.

The goons find themselves in a short hallway, with an alcove on the western wall its floor, wall, and ceiling crafted of a smooth, translucent, blue crystal. Down the hall, another door with a death mask face, the same as the one they entered through. Barack enters the alcove and a shimming wall of force seals him inside, as the walls, floor, and ceiling begin to bathe the alcove in soft blue light. A moment passes, the light dies down and the wall of force dissipates. When Barack now walks to the second door it opens for him but closes as passes the threshold. The goons then force the door open, Duncun and Aether pushing, while Barack pulls, to get the other two pass the door. Down the western hall, the goons see four humans in leather robes sorting a batch of fruits and vegetables sitting on a large round table in the center of the room. Caught off guard, the goons gain the upper hand and easily slay the four cultists. The goons then go about stripping the cultists of their leather robes and squeezing into them as disguises. The party then explores the eastern chamber and finds an empty hall except for a single pillar in the center of the room. The pillar is standing a few feet shy of the ceiling and the block of stone is a brilliant green and slightly translucent. Aether inspects the pillar and finds that it is warm to the touch and radiates nature magic. The party then explores further west into rough tunnels, they find an area of finished stone jutting off from the tunnel stacked with sacks and baskets full of fruits and vegetables as Barack walks up to the food swarms of insects crawl out and begin attacking him the party crunch the agitated bugs to death and move on down the tunnel where they find a strange metal cabinet affixed to the western wall. its rusty surface covered with levers, wheels, and switches. Barack pulls a switch the contraption shorts out and shocks the half-orc.

The goons continue their trek down the tunnel and come to a chamber with a large hollow, filled with a thick green moss, carved into the floor at the center of the room. The moss is covered in small, white berries, small tables and cabinets stand against the walls of the room, with glassware, alembics and other equipment resting atop them. Also, three druid looking humans occupy the room and the party attacks giving them no chance to escape. As Barack closes the distance on one of them the moss moves out of the hollow and tries to smother Barack. The goons eliminate the threat and find the druids wearing bracelets with small, rough wooden charms, on them - friendship bracelets to replace the necklaces Aether exclaims. With the moss no longer animated the white berries turn a vivid purple in color. Aether believes that they must be similar to those created by the goodberry spell, which is confirmed when the members of the goons each partake in a berry. Amongst the shelving Aether finds a Journal belonging to a wizard that once owned the oasis, flipping through it, she can tell the book has information on the plants found throughout the complex and decides to take it with her. The goons then make their way down the south passage which widens into a small cave, as Barack makes his way across the center of the room is revealed to be a pit hidden by an illusion that falls away as soon as he steps on the false ground. Luckily he is able to catch and pull himself back out of the pit before falling 50 feet below.

The goons continue making their way through the tunnel and find a large exhibition hall, the floor strewn with bedrolls and packs, with a glass cabinet at the far end of the hall holding a cascade of moss and vines, as well as an alcove in the south, holds wall mounted glass cases and a pair of bronze double doors sit off the northern wall. Ten members of this cult seem to be lounging about in this chamber and upon seeing the goons take up arms. Aether casts web into the hall onto most of the cultist stopping them from attacking or fleeing out the bronze doors. With their enemies struggling against the sticky webbing the goons are able to slay each one of them with little difficulty. With the thugs defeated the goons go about exploring and looting the hall. Duncun inspects the large cabinet and what seemed like a terrarium of hanging plants from a distance is actually a cloak woven of moss, vines, and other living plants. Duncun immediately busts that think open and drapes the cloak over him and when the party decides that the plant cloak might be better suited for the druid, they find that Duncun can not remove the garment and that it has sunk roots beneath his skin. They also inspect the display cases but decide it best not to open any of them not know what effects they plants may have after what happened with Duncun. The party decides to rest for the night here and Aether takes first watch and take the opportunity to read the journal learning about the Green Mantle Duncun has attached himself to, what lies in the display cases, the Shrine Tree and how to harvest its seed, as well as the ins and outs of the complex and garden.

As the morning comes, the goons open the bronze doors and find it opens up into a railed stone balcony with two bronze nymph statues stand in the corners and a set of stairs to east descends down. The balcony overlooks a chasm filled with vibrant, verdant life. A series of terraces descend down into the crevasse, each rife with a variety of plant life, cult members working through the dawn harvesting. A waterfall plummets down the cliff to the east, feeding a stream that empties into a multi-level pond, with a humanoid creature swimming in it. They can make the Shrine tree at the very bottom and Aether has a plan. They go to make their way down the stairs when the nymph statues come to life and begin to attack the party, Aether cursing herself for forgetting about the password. No matter a couple of animated statues are no match for Gundrens Goons! With the statues defeated they move to go down the stairs and see that the first terrace three bronze statues of satyrs, Aether says the password a couple times as they make their way down onto and off of the terrace which seems to work as these statues do not come to life. Now for Aether's grand plan, the goons being wearing the leather robes they took off the first four people they encounter are going to bluff their way through all the cultist harvesting. With Aether in the lead, the party makes their way down the terraces, walking with purpose. It works and they walk the long away around to the shrine tree to avoid the pound with what looks like a hideous, cadaverous, woman with eyes glowing an unearthly green and her fingers tipped with ragged claws.

The goons finally make their way to the shrine tree where a man is kneeling mediating in front of the tree. When the party approaches he stands and turns to meet them and they see that his skin is thick, leathery, and blotches with large pustules as well as wild growth of bone have pierced areas of his flesh. The goons try to deceive him and move pass to the tree but he tells them that they do not fool him for his is Nazaire the leader of the fallen children and before he can go into a monologue Duncun has already drawn his bow and let's fly his arrows. Nazaire calls out to his allies for help and defends himself from the goons but is slain before any help arrives. Arriving late the shambling mound comes to defend the cult leader and grabs Barack and drags the half-orc into itself Duncun and Aether attack the mound furiously trying to free Barack and see members of the fallen children finally arriving to the aid of Nazaire, but upon arrival seeing his corpse they turn and flee leaving the shambling plant creature fight the goons on its own. With before the goons defeat the shambling mound only to see that the cadaverous hag that had been lounging in the pound has been watching their encounter from the terrace above...

Report Date

09 Mar 2020

Primary Location

Anauroch