Session 15: Through the Portal Report

General Summary

Unknown day and date Falling....... As our heroes jumped through the portal they were disoriented for what seemed like an eternity. They felt as if they were falling from a great height with no ground in sight. When they finally became aware of their surroundings they were spinning in a circle holding on to the magical runes from the portal. They were together except for Tenzin and Druss. They looked around quickyl and saw that they were nearby, but with the Githyanki that had jumped through the portal after them. The githyanki was holding on to the cleric and the warrior as he did not have a rune. They tried to speak to each other, but try as they might no sound could escape their lips. Their rate of spin was increasing and they felt as if their bodies where being pulled apart. Their hands were stuck to the runes they held, but they realized that they did not have to try and hold onto it. If they wanted to they could let go, but none of them knew what would happen then. They had to use all their strength and inner fortitude to keep themselves from being pulled apart. Gilligan was struggling and since Shayne was right next to him he reached out and slapped the halfing to get him to keep up the fight. Gilligan was able to come to his senses and tried to cast a spell bu failed and so instead of using prestidigitation to create a message in the sky below them reading, "Everyone grab each other and pull in" the message read, "Everyone just give up we have no chance. Iados looked as it he might be pulled away from the rune, but Leonardo reached over and locked his iron grip on to his shoulder to support him. The Tiefling realized that there was a magical effect at work here and not just centrifugal force. He was also able to prevent himself from pulling him apart. T The dragonborn then tried to force his rune into contact with the Tiefling's, but the rune would not budge. Shayne noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye. In the distance was a large humanoid figure with green skin and wings. He pointed toward it and the heroes looked in that direction, but they could not make our exactly what they saw. They also looked over at the githyanki. he was holding on tightly to Druss as he reached into his pouch trying to find something. At last he did. It looked like a coin and he threw it toward Arveer and they were surprised to see that it moved steadily toward him defying physics. Iados then took out his wand and fired two magic missiles, one at the githyanki striking him in the chest and another at the coin. Hittng the coing changed it's trajectory and it was not moving below the spinning heroes. The dragonborn then let go of the rune and immediately began to fall. He tied to twist in the air to grab the coin. but missed badly and fell right past the coin. Seeing this, the drow tried to reach out and grab the coin, but he could not reach it while still holding on to the rune and so he let go of it. He flipped in the air and then easily grabbed the coin and fell out of sight. Leonardo looked down, but he could only discern many different colors with no discernible landmarks. Looking over they also noticed that hte githyanki was trying desparately to pull Druss and Tenzon away from their runes. Gilligan cast sparks to light up the sky for visiblity and then he tried to move a bit, but he inadvertantly let go of the rune and started to fall to the ground. Iados tried to gather his strength so he could push off from the rune at just the right time to lunge toward the githyanki. He timed it correctly and shot toward him, but he could not grab him and started to fall to the ground. Arveer neared the ground first, but a successful Wisdom save made him realize that he could fall without taking damage and he landed on all fours. Shayne was not so lucky as he failed his save and hit the ground hard taking damage. Leonardo threw a javelin at the githyanki striking him in the leg. He then tried to move closer the creature, but he lost his connection to the rune and started to fall to the ground. Gilligan continued to fall and held onto his hat for dear life, but he als realized he could land softly and did so right next to the drow. Iados failed his save and crashed into the ground taking damage. Leonardo was the last to land and he failed his will save crashing to the ground painfully. He had landed a distance away from his friends, but the noise from his fall led them to find him. Where the heck are we? After dusting themselves off and regrouping, they looked around to see if they could identify where the portal had taken them. It was an eerie, alien landscape. The flora around them seemed to shift and change continually. For a few moments, it appeared that they might be back in Valoria, but then the trees and bushes would look almost translucent. The same occured with the fauna, they seemed to wink in and out at once corporeal and then just as quickly translucent again. Arveer looked up at the stars in the sky and realized that none of the constellations looked familiar. Of their freinds, Tenzin and Druss, there was no sign. Shayne looked at the coin that he had grabbed in middair. It had a tower on one side and an eagle on the other. Arveer tried to take the coin out of Shayne's hand, but he could not! It was stuck to the flesh of the Drow and it could not be removed. Gilligan paced back and forth searching his memory to see if he could recall anything about the coin. He detemined that the coin must have a supernatural connection to the githyanki somehow. Iados cast detect magic on the coin and determined that the coin radiated divination magic. As they did this Leonardo looked more closely at their surroundings and he touched some of the leaves on the plants discovering that they had a rubbery, unnatural feel to them. They were certainly not in Valoria any longer. His friends did likewise and came to the same conclusion. Iados considered his knowledge of the planes and spoke to Arveer about it, but he was sure that this was not one of the planes that he had ever studied. He told his friends that he did know that there were a multitude of pocket dimensions in the multi-verse and this could be one of them.

The Githyanki Coin

Gilligan was startled to notice a Comet Spawn creeping around in the distance. It did not appear to be corporeal, but they watched it closely just in case. After sighting the beast they decided they need to find a place to camp. Shayne spotted some high ground so they headed toward it. When they reached a good spot, they settled in. Suddenly they realized that they were not tired or hunger. They should be both tired and hungry after what they had been through, but they simply were not. Perhaps it was anothr strange trait of this place. Nevertheless, they settled down to take a long rest. Arveer started to work out to build his endurance. Gilligan came up with a strange idea to perhaps slice off a small part of Shayn'e skin so they can remove the coin. His friends were appalled at the idea and shot it down immediately. Leonardo prayed to Dalana for aid both for his friends and also for his journey to become a member of the circle. He sensed that the Goddess was sad. Not about him, but sad for some reason. Shayne looked at the coin thinking that he could not rid himself form being marked. It seemed it was his destiny. Oddly, something else occurred as he studied the coin. Shayne realized that he only needed to concentrate and if he did he would know where to go to meet up with the githyanki. Iados walked away from the group and when he had reached a safe distance, he decided to reach out and communicate with his father. When Arveer saw this he immediatley moved over to talk to his friend and remind him that he would always be there to support him. He then moved over to Shayne and asked him about the marks on his arm. Shayne told him that each mark was soemone that he had killed. They haunted him to this day. He could somtimes hear their screams. He told Arveer that the coin felt like a mark. He asked the dragonborn if he had every wished he could change the past and the dragonborn nodded, but told him that what happened in the past did not matter. What he was doing now was more important. They spoke about the poison of desiring vengeance and how they both felt it even today. Just then a portal appeared in front of Iados throwing a flash of light into their camp. A spined green devil appeared rushing toward Iados. He spoke to the Tiefling telpathically saying, "You had your chance. Now you suffer! Your father gave you a chance and you renounced him. You are his son no longer." Iados responded by casting shatter on the fiend blasting him with thunder damage. The debvil reached him and slashed at him with his two claws fumbling as he did so, but then the fiend swung around his tail and hit the Tiefling.

Mythic Barbed Devil by Michael Jaecks

Shayne raced over to stab the devil with his rapier, but he missed wildly. Iados then cast a hellish rebuke at the devil. Surprisingly, the devil bathed in the fire saying, "I love fire. Bring it. I bathe in it! Do you think yout father would send someone to you that is susceptible to fire you fool!" Leonardo also dashed over to the battle, but was unable to attack this turn. Arveer roared and using his action surge he was able to run over and lash out at the devil hitting with his second attack manuevering while he did so to allow Iados to move out of danger. The dragonborn then taunted the devil saying, "I will feed you your own heart demon!" The spined devil then hurled two burst of fire at Iados who appeared to be the only object of his attacks. One burst his the Tiefling, but he fumbled leaving his flank open allowing Arveer to get in a tripping attack. The devil did not falter, but he did take damage. Gilligan snuck over to cast dissonant whispers on the devil, who made his save taking half damage saying, "I have heard much worse in hell!" Shayne tried once again to attack the devil wih this rapier, but failed. Iados cast magic missile at the creature, hitting him with four blasts. He was surprised to see that in this plane his missiles were white and not purple as they usually are in Valoria. As Leonardo moved forward to strike Arveer said, "Smite this mother fucker!" Leonardo responded by whispering, "You don't have to tell me twice." Inspired to save his friend, the Paladin's blow struck true as he channeled the might of his Goddess into the blow causing the devil to screetch in pain. Arveer followed up with another trip attack knocking the creature off his feet with a slash to his legs. His follow-up attack hit the fiend easily almost killing him. The devil got up and charged toward Iados leaving him open to oppoortunity attacks. Leonardo slahed at the devil's hamstring immobilising him as Shayne stabbed his rapier through his chest. Finally, Arvver lopped off the devil's head and reached into his chest to pull out the creature's still beating heart saying, "Remember what I promised you," shoving the heart into his mouth. Iados took the devil's head and put it in his bag after casting gentle repose on it. Arveer then said, "Words don't send a message. This sends a message." As they continued their long rest, Arveer went over and sat next to Leonardo calling him sir. The Paladin told him that he was not a sir yet. Arveer complimented him saying that he was a pillar of the group helping to hold it together. The dragonborn told him that he did not always want to be looked for to have all the answers. He relied on his friends to help. Leonardo told him that he expected too much from him. Both agreed that the Fatebou would only succeed together. Iados stood off to the side and his eyes were changing colors and the ground around him was trembling slightly with small rocks ont he groung shaking violently. Shayne noticed this due to his good passive perception. He runs over to him concerned and Iados told him that he as just angry about his father and what he was doing to them. Iados told Shayne that the next time he met his father, they should all band together to put an end to him. Shayne confirmed that no matter what they would all face their troubles together. Before returning back to the group, Iados created a long, low thunderclap tha resonated through the area. Second Day Unknown Date The Barren Graveyard The next day dawned with no sunrise revealing a clear gray sky. It was about 72 degrees and they felt neither tired or hungry. Shayne took the lead, following the path revealed to him from the githyanki's coin. After a few hours, they noticed that the terrain was starting to look more and more natural, but still the strange translucent elements remained. In the distance, they saw what looked like a graveyard. Shayne perceived that something was moving around in the graveyard. It looked to be purplish in color, but he could not tell exactly what it was. As they entered the graveyard, they looked at the tombstones and noticed that they were written in Elvish. The words were backward as if they were looking into a mirror. Those who could read Elvish understood that the epitaphs were all common such as "Rest in peace brother, or you will be missed beloved." Shayne moved quietly into the graveyard toward a statue at the center of the place. He knew that the statue was of a goddess, but he could not tell which one. Leonardo moved forward carefully and when he looked at the statue he knew that it was Lystra Goddess of Magic and Knowledge. Arveer looked closely at some movement on the other side of the graveyard. Something purple was floating there, but he could not tell what it was. Gilligan moved forward stealthily to investigate the statue in detail. He noticed that somehow the bottom of her stone robe was tinted red as if with blood. He immediately thought of death and whispered as much to his friends. Finally, Iados crept forward to look at the statue and he too saw that the stone at the bottom of the robe appeared to be bleeding. He also noticed a purplish, humanoid shape floating around at the back of the graveyard.

Statue in the Graveyard

Dark Velvet Night by jhutter

Shayne continued to move forward stealthily determined to find out what was hovering over the graves. He heard a strange wailing sound coming from the purple form. Leonardo moved forward and was thinking that perhaps this is why Dalana Goddess of Justice and Valor was feeling sad, but he was not sure. He saw hovering in the distance a humanoid shape with tattered purplish robes. It was emitting a low, mournful moan. Arveer moved closer trying to catch sight of the creature hovering at the back of the cemetary. He then asked Shayne where the coin was telling him to go. Gilligan continued to move up slowly toward the moaning purple humanoid and as he did so he gave bardic inspiration by whispering to Iados that he should light the way in this darkness. The Tiefling then moved forward toward the hovering shape seeing that it had white hair and red eyes. The image frightened him, but he was able to steel himself and stood his ground. The creature looked like a femal elf. In a thundering voice aided by Thaumaturgy Iados boomed out, "What does your presence here mean?" The floating creature looked mournfully in his direction, but did not move. Shayne studied his coin and knew that they needed to pass through the graveyard to get to the githyanki. He moved forward and started to feel the fear from the creature, but he was able to stop himself from fleeing. Leonardo reached out and touched the statue and he was overwhelmed with a feeling of grief and sorrow causing him to fall to his knees. He saw visions flashing in his head of the destruction of Dolendai and of elves hear in this pocket realm being attacked by creatures with a large central eye. In the sky was a green-skinned creature with wings and a flaming sword. He fell to the ground on his backside and the visions ended. The ordeal frightened him. Arveer asked Leonardo if he was ok, and the Paladin asked him to move him away from the statue. Arveer dragged him away from the statue as far as he could. The hovering ghost looked at the heroes and let out a long mournful moan. It was wearing a tattered purple cloak that flowed in the wind with it's white hair and bright red eyes. Gilligan saw the creature moving toward Iados and so he moved a bit closer which sent a shiver of fear up his spine. His halfing nature allowed him to resist being frightened by the creature. The bard then began to sing and cast viscous mockery at the creature. The ghose then started to wail even louder than before. It made everyone's skin crawl a bit. Iados moved closer so that he could cast thunderwave to move the creature away from his friends. The ghost resisted and took minimal damage. Shayne moved stealthily forward to attack the creature, but missed and was not exposed to the ghost. Leonardo was till frightened from his ordeal and even though he recited some mantras he had learned in his training, he still felt compelled to move away from the statue. Arveer used his inspiration to resist the fear caused by the creature and using his action surge moved forward to get within range of the ghost. Hs first attack was a fumble allowing the ghost to reach out and attack him. As she did so, Gilligan interrupted the counterattack singing a song to distract the ghost causing her to miss. The second attack from the dragonborn sliced into the ghost and then manuevered allowing Leonardo to move. The Purple Ghost

banshee by stevethebunny

In response, the ghost reared back it's head and unleashed a horrifying wail that shook the barren trees in the graveyard. The Fatebound were shaken to their core and had to make saves to protect themselves. They all took damage form the wail. In the aftermath, they looked around and saw that only Iados had been effected. His reddish face turned almost white an he immediately fell to the ground unconscious. After wailing, the ghost said, "We failed her! We failed her!" Gilligan immediately cast healing word on Iados maing him conscious again. He then investigated the statue to see if he could gain any insight into how to defeat this ghost. He noticed that the statue was actually bleeding. Iados went from one extreme to another. He was scared to death and fell unconscious and then was raised back to life by the bard. H stood up still shaking a bit and searched his knowledge of arcana and realized that this creature was resistance to almost all damage types. He settled on casting magic missile at the ghost hitting her with four missiles. Shayne then said in Elvish to the ghost, "What are you afraid of?" The ghost responded by wailing, "We failed her. We failed. We came her and failed. He makes us pay." Shayne responded by asking, "Who makes you pay?" The ghost answered, "Her messenger. He makes us pay." The drow then drew his other blade and attacked the ghost landing two blows. Leonardo then cast sacred weapon on his sword to make it magical, but he still was frightened of the statue. Arveer then unleashed two attacks on the ghost slicing the creature's head off. As the ghost died, "We failed her....." With the battle over, Leonardo ran from the cemetary, still in fear of the statue. Arveer ran after him trying to bring him back to his senses. The Paladin told him that he needed to get away from the statue. Gilligan climbed up on the statue, but he accidentally touched the blood on it. He pulled his hand away at the last second and resisted whatver evil magic was upon it. Iados went over to help Leonardo who was still frightened. The Paladin looked as if he was about to cry and Arveer simply hugged him and Iados did as well. Shayne went over and checked the graves where the ghost was hovering. He could not detect anything special in the area at first glance. With the help of his friends Leonardo was finally able to shake off his fear and calm down. He remembered then that the statue was bleeding so he went to the statue to see of he could somehow heal it. When he got there he noticed that the stautue was actually bleeding. Arveer followed Leonardo and moved closer to the statue. Gilligan, now atop the statue, decided to cast dispel magic on the statue. The spell did not appear to work as the statue was still bleeding. Iados told Gilligan that he was a moron for getting on top of the statue. Shayne asked Iados to come over and investigate the graves. Leonardo investigated the statue in an attempt to discover where it was bleeding from. He could not find a single spot, it simply looked like it was stone on the upper part of the statue and there was blood on the lower parts. All they knew was that ther was real blood on Gilligan's hands. Arveer decided to touch the blood and his mind was flooded with visions. He let the visions come and fell to one knee. It was the destuction of Dolendai. Elves entered the portal and came to this place. There was a green skinnned chumanoid with wings and a flaming sword. Creatures with one eye were hunting the elves. He felt an urge to pull away, but as his body began to shake he was able to force himself to hold on. Gilligan jumped off the statue and tried to pull Arveer away form the statue. Try as he might, Gilligan was not able to even budge the dragonborn. Shayne asked Iados to help him investigate the area where the ghost had materialized. Iados scanned the area closely and he noticed that unlke the other graves here, there was one that was realtively new and had been dug recently. It was clearly different from the others. Written on the gravestone was "Iluviana rest in peace" Iados then told the rest of the party about it. It was then he noticed Arveer and Gilligan and what was happening near the statue. Leonardo looked at this friend and decided to help him touching the same area of the statue that Arveer was touching. He used his inspiration when doing so and becasue he used his hero die he was able to lend his assistance to the dragonborn. Arveer saw reptilian creatures with a huge eye in the middle of their heads. They looked to be sapping the strength form the elves they were attacking. He then saw the muscular, green-skinned humanoid with an angry look on his face. His sword was glowing or flaming. Another vision showed elves coming through the portal as they did. The final vision showed somene working on something, perhaps mechanical and then the vision ended and all three of the heroes fell to the ground exhausted. As they laid on the ground breathing heavy, Arveer asked if Leonardo had seen what he had. The Paladin said yes. Arveer also told him he did not need to help and Leonardo told him that he could not watch his friend without helping. Gilligan then used prestidigitation to try and clean the blood on the statue. It looked as if it was going to work, but as soon as the blood was cleaned it reappeared on the statue. Shayne came over to Arveer and asked borrow his shovel. Leonardo and Arveer were so tired that they did not even argue. The dragonborn just handed over his shovel. Iados goes back to Shayne and takes the shovel from him and starts to dig up the fresh grave. When he reached the coffin he opened it to find the body of an elven woman who had not even started to decay. She looked to have similar features to the ghost they had defeated. The elven woman was wearing a pendant in the shape of moon and stars. Shayne then took it off the woman's neck and showed it to Iados. He suspected it was magiacl, but decided to cast a ritual detect magic spell later. Shayne told the rest of the heroes that he believed the body they found in the grave was the body of the ghost they had defeated. Leoardo and Arveer needed to rest so the Fate Bound decided to take a short rest here in the graveyard. Gilligan studied the necklace to see if he could discern the history of the object. He did not remember anything specific about it, but he did conjecture that it could be a symbol of her station such as a priestess or elder. As they rested they thought about Lystra Goddess of Magic and Knowledge and what the presence of her statue could mean. Shayne thought that they should move on and leave the statue alone. He believed that the necklace was what they needed to find. The Fatebound agreed and they decided to keep moving to find the githyanki and hopefully their friends. Shayne led them toward a forested area as the session came to an end.

Rewards Granted

400 XP for defeating the Spined Devil 200 XP for role playing during their first long rest The Fate Bound reached 5th level at the end of their first long rest 200 XP for killing the Purple Ghost [Banshee]

Campaign

Into the Maelstrom

Protagonists