Session 60

Date: 12/13/2015

Attending: Jake, Joey, Justin, Aaron

Absent: Dave – at Texans game

Start Time: 7:30 pm

End Time: 10:45 pm

XP awarded: 10,000

Game time elapsed: 3 days

Enemies Defeated:  Battlebriar

Notes:

After slaying the dragon the knights pull out of the forest and camp in the fields. In the light of day, after some discussion, they decide to try to cut quickly through the forest and risk the dragons rather than take the longer route around the Varian Forest.

They move through the woods, noting how quiet it is. Around midday they come upon a dragon that is sleeping, and see that he is covered with twigs and vines, seemingly blanketed in wicker. The sneak past and push on.

Late afternoon they arrive at a mound that rises 70 feet in the air, and seems untouched by the dragons’ rampage. Examining it the party realizes that it is a wicket shell that has been overgrown with moss and lichen. Both Bajol and Feydor can sense evil within the shell. Frumious attempts to consecrate it, but the spell only causes a 6 foot by 3 foot patch to become brittle and shatter. The knights, without Fyn to play Chicken Little, head in.

They traverse a short maze of tunnels through the wicker dome, and arrive in a central room. Hanging from a vine is the top half of a human body wearing the tattered remains of a Illmarian uniform.  He is missing everything below his navel, but thick black vines are growing up into his abdominal cavity, and are pulsating with a thick blackish sap.  One arm is missing at the shoulder, and one just an inch above his elbow joint. Vines encircle his head growing into his ears and nose, and they are wrapped around his jaw. He is constantly repeating “It’s underneath Halvenspring, that’s all I know” over and over in an agonized voice.

When the knights enter the room, he looks over at them and says, “You are not him. His guardian is coming. Please kill me.” They question him briefly – he appears to have been captured and interrogated by the Wicker King, but was only able to reveal that the Illmarians are looking for something underneath Halvenspring (he doesn’t know what). The party kills him just as the ground erupts in an explosion of twigs and wood, and a beast made of vine and thorns springs out at them. It has six legs and is brutally viscous, but the knights are able to slay it before it does too much damage.

They exit the mound, travel for a few more hours, and rest in the Varian Wood. They then get up and continue their journey. They exit the forest after lunch and enter the Broken Hills. Resting that night they continue onward and arrive at the outskirts of Halvenspring late the next afternoon.

Halvenspring is in pitched battle. A supernatural storm blackens the sky, and rains fire, lighting, and acid down on everything suffusing the whole area with a red and purple light. Illmarians and Tainted Ones are everywhere and are fighting each other while also trying to take the town.  Flaming meteors fall sending Tainted Ones and Illmarians alike flying, and setting the fields aflame.

Frumious summons a giant eagle and Little Baskins mounts it with instructions to find Osgood and tell him that the knights are heading to the tomb. The party rides around the battle north to the spring. They find it a short ways away from where the Carrion King, fully revealed, squares off against an incredibly old redcap who seems to be more than holding his own against the fallen solarian. The two throw mighty magic back and forth, and the knights duck down towards the waterfall just as one of them opens a gate.

In the cleft of the hill carved by the spring’s water fall is an area of relative calm. Only the distant sounds of battle intrude. The party passes through the waterfall and find a small shallow cave beyond. Searching the back of the cave (and lamenting the absence of Fyn) they get lucky and find a secret door, which also luckily is unlocked (did I mention that Dave sprang his absence on me at the last minute?). They enter the tomb.

The tomb is constructed of white bricks, walls ceiling and floor. They use light spells for illumination and leave Brutus and Zephyr at the door, which they shut. Frumious receives a panicked thought from Little Baskins. He scrys on the weasel and sees Osgood and a group of villagers fighting street to street for survival – all thoughts of holding the town gone. Suddenly everyone stops – Halvenspringers, Tainted Ones, Illmarians, and turns to gape in one direction. Frumious asks Baskins what he sees. Little Baskins replies, “You know those really big things that look like you guys only much bigger? Well what I’m looking at can only be their god.” Frumious tells Little Baskins to run, and then breaks contact.

The party moves into the tomb which strangely wasn’t trapped (no fault for going to the game Dave, but wish I knew sooner). They pass many chambers, some obviously filled with treasure, but stay on the central path until they arrive in a room with a massive water clock in the corner and large unadorned stone doors. Through the doors they see rows and rows of mechanical men standing at the ready with greatswords aloft. Returning to the clock they again lament the absence of Fyn since none present know about devices, and how they are disabled or figured out.

Eventually they discover that the clock tracks months and seasons and that the bricks in the floor are just tiles that can be removed. The clock drains into the floor under the tiles, and there are basins in rows of 10, each basin filling over a year. They figure out which decade is the current one and find that there are letters in each basin – this decade’s password is “solace.” They announce it to the mechanical men, and the constructs relax to an “at ease” position.  The cavern is immense, and they pass thousands of the automatons before arriving at the other side. Moving through doors they continue down halls until arriving once again at two stone doors. Entering they find themselves on a narrow rail-less stone bridge (2 ½ feet wide), supported on columns, that extends over a vast gulf of darkness. As their light only illuminates about 10 feet they have no idea how large the room is – how high up the bridge, or how far the walls and roof. They walk that narrow bridge into darkness for several hundred yards when an immense voice rings out, offering to eat them – but questioning who and what they are. Realizing that this is the wyrm, they start to try to bribe him, offering books and gear. The wyrm, who gives his name as Atreyus, does not seem to be too interested in the things offered. He asks to see Bajol’s armor. Bajol tells him it was made by Ellicor and reluctantly reveals it. The voice immediately grows both fearful and wrathful and says, “No, it was not made by Ellicor! Get out! Begone from here!” They party hurries along the bridge finally crossing the void and exiting through the far door.

After wandering down more halls, they come to another antechamber with plain unadorned stone doors. Opening the doors, they see a vast room filled with coffins and bodies where hundreds of spectres and ghosts swarm about filling the air. About this time Bajol gets a panicked thought from Zephyr. He has been attacked and is in pain. Bajol immediately dismisses him, and Feydor summons Brutus to him. Brutus arrives with a huge gash out of his flank. The knight summarize that one of the major player has entered the tomb.

After a little experimentation the knights realized that you had to walk through the room while reciting the prayers identified by Aramus. When they do the spectres part and allow them to walk through. The path leads to a very ornate stone door.

Opening it and stepping through the knights find themselves in a large room, but not a massive cavern or hall like the previous ones. The whole thing is made out of polished white stone. Columns support the ceiling here and there, and in the center of the room is a stone dais where the body of a beautiful woman lies on a matting of white material. A groove is carved in a circle around the dais on the floor, with a channel that leads away and into the wall. The groove and channel are filled with clear water.

Suddenly out of the shadows in the corner of the room steps a dark figure. He is tall and exceedingly beautiful, but crackles with a dark energy. From his back spring feathered wings, that are barely white at the tips, the rest being variations of red and black. A halo of dark flames surrounds his head. A massive two handed sword is strapped to his back.

Completely ignoring the party he steps forward and addresses the body on the dais. In his short speech it is clear that this is Culminos. The party shouts out and tries to move towards him but find themselves unable to approach – held away by an invisible force. Culminos sneers at them, belittles them, and tells them that they cannot approach, contend, or resist him because he is divine. At that moment Ellicor springs out of Bajol’s breastplate, and shouts “Not anymore!” as he makes a flying tackle at Cuminos, passing through him as if Ellicor had no substance. When Ellicor come out the other side of Culminos he is cradling a brightly glowing orb of light in his hands. In that moment the party realizes the truth about the wyrm Atreyus’ statement. Ellicor did not make Bajol’s armor – Ellicor IS Bajol’s armor.

Culminos suddenly seems reduced somewhat in stature and the party finds that they can approach him. They draw their weapons and charge. End Session