Next: 31st December 2018
The party return
Whilst I have been working hard to bring order to the Bandu village, the remaining members of the party have been off having fun fighting fog gods and the like. They return from this jaunt with poor northern farmers who had been enslaved waiting sacrifice to the frog god.
Consecration of the shrine
I had managed to rescue some semblance of order to the worshipers in the village and had started to build a temple around a shrine. Undala, the village chieftain thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate the rescue of the northern farmers and consecrate the shrine in one go by launching a great feast. We were asked to make this happen.
i organised the traders and raised a marquee, whilst the boys went off hunting. They got a little over excited and brought back a massive Salamander whom they had caught and were using to catch giant game. It appears that Garrett (the dragon whisperer) had talked it into it. Well, there would be no shortage of meat for the celebration.
Ryn had befriended a local girl, Gwarvia, who was being trained a priestess of the new faith and had been anointed as the "voice of the gifted one".
We brought the village together and started proceedings with a massive firework display. Then Ryn and Gwarvia roused the passion of the crowd with stirring words.
Beasts upset the proceedings
All was going well until a great hulking creature appeared from one of the tents and attacked the crowd. It appears that Corros had followed some woman into a tent when he was attacked by the Tabaxi shapeshifter. The creature taunted Corros with news that "Xalia is with Ritza, the Rani of the Tabaxi". There then appears a second of this kind and they attack the gathering. We defend the shrine and the villagers with Tol Darru delivering the killing blow. The creature dies with the words "The tiger queen harnesses the power of the ground. The Goat king will return to wreak revenge on the Children". The bodies then turn dark and dissolve into the ground upon which they lay.
It is clear that Ritza Sali and Marta Mooley are raising an army of undead in a temple to the south.
An awaking in the night
We are awoken in the night by Zanthoris, who is speaking in his sleep. He speaks in a strange Dwarven voice that we had never heard he use before and says he is Kamen, paladin of light and that "we must rid the body of the vessel of Orcus" and that this persona will "betray us, his Children are held in the abyss, we must stop the Skull".
We talk with the seemingly possessed Zanthoris and amongst the party we share our experiences of the four souls that appear to share the body. The bold Emirikol, Zanthoris the librarian, Calipite the sad and this new voice Kamen. Zanthois had suspicions of the others that were within his body, but appeared in denial. It is not clear if the voice of Kamen gives fair warning or are just the ravings of a mad man. I encourage caution, but the rest of the party appear to accept that all will be well. I will keep a little distance between myself and him in the future.
Thetis, protector of Gralor
We follow the path into the forest where we hear truly awful signing and are followed by strange bees. We soon find that we come to a clearing, where we meet Thetis, a woodland Dryad. She offers us drink from a pool which has a rune of water. She tells us that we are in the lands of Gralor and she is its protector. She talks of Elves of Aviar, who could fly long ago. She tells of three temples to the South. the nearest is over 500 years old and was created from a massive tree, one of the first trees. She says that the temple was destroyed to stop evil. She then points to a spot to the South were lightning appears to strike within dark clouds above a giant tower. She says that this is a Zephor Tower. She gives us 4 Shroms that she says will give us foresight and she passes me a massive diamond. I know the value of gems and this is priceless. The party eat the Shroms. Corros has a vision of being chased, Rynn of a Multicoloured Skull shining in the darkness. Garrett sees wooden flying ship followed by a black dragon breathing strange gas. Tol Durru sees a spinning wheel, the threads from which join together.
All this should be warning enough not to eat strange food from the fairy folk; but she give give me a very nice gem.
She also passes us potions that allow us to travel faster than would be otherwise possible and we soon reach the tower.
Zephor Tower
The ancient tree is topped with dark clouds, which sparkle with occasional lights as if lit by lightning from within. The tree tower appears over 300' tall and is surrounded by barren burnt earth.
Encouraged by Garrett and Tol Durru, we charge unprepared at the tower. The ashen ground between us and the once great trees is festooned with glistening white skulls that have been discarded from above.
When we reach the tree, it is clear that it is hollow and a strange sight is visited upon us. A great mound of bodies lies about the centre and new bodies fall from above, whilst ogres and giant ogres feast upon fresh carcass. We fight with all our might but as we kill each ogre they return to life. The very walls of the tree come alive and entrap us.
I die.
I am resurrected by the party, who have fed the giant gem to my skull staff.
I feel strange inside. I hope that this feeling is temporary. I don't feel as if I can fight as I once did. Should I be more cautious?
No comments:
Post a Comment