The party splits up to obtain more symbols around the island. TIM and Scarlet battle through an undead village; Kethra, Kaelan, and Gillian trick a marid.
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Starring:
Kaelan, level 16 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 16 human Oath of Devotion Paladin Gillian, level 16 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 16 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 16 warforged War Domain Cleric
The pond looks innocuous on the surface. We know better. Kethra and I keep our weapons close as Gillian dives into the water. The symbol was probably down there somewhere, but we were leery of the “Lord of the Pond” the stewards spoke of.
Gillian didn’t get far into the pond before a large humanoid shape arose. The fish-man spreads his arms and smiles at us.
“Hello! You are my servants, yes? My new servants, I knew you’d be here soon!”
Starring:
Kaelan, level 16 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 16 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 16 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 16 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 16 warforged War Domain Cleric
Due to major technical difficulties that put my PC out of commission for several days, this week’s D&D video stream is lower resolution, and doesn’t feature any overlays or webcams.
Starring:
Kaelan, level 16 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 16 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 16 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 16 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 16 warforged War Domain Cleric
Pain courses through my body, the demon’s cursed bolt still protruding from my chest. I can do nothing but convulse, and watch as the rest of my party strides forth to deal with the ambushing demons.
Steel. Spells. Explosions. Fire. I hear cries of pain and feel heat, but my body does not respond.
Scarlet forcibly drags me toward the hulking demons. She wants to attack our enemy while keeping me close within her holy aura.
It’s a solid plan, but too late do I realize the mistake. My eyes begin to water as she plunges Tellurai into the nearest beast. It grunts, then begins to laugh.
“For Irathon!”
I know that laugh. I’ve seen these creatures before. It clutches a device on its chest that begins to beep, rapidly, then explodes.
Starring:
Kaelan, level 16 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 16 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 16 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 16 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 16 warforged War Domain Cleric
Scarlet’s muscles tightened, her face ringed with sweat as she rowed our boat toward land, but she never once stopped singing that damn hymn. We slam into the beach, some of us rolling out more gracefully than others.
I steal a glance back to the sea to watch that giant red fin circle a few times in the distance, then dip below the water. Thankfully a giant Devil Shark is still just a shark, though I suppose we’ll have to be mindful of it when it’s time to leave the island.
Dusting ourselves off we begin walking inland. We weren’t sure where to begin our search, when Rycresh speaks up,
“The stewards of this island, the natives, live in a little village toward the east. They might know something. Or we could go straight to the temple, where the creator goes to welcome new citizens. It’s to the north.”
Before we can reply, a series of sharp twangs rings out from the tree line ahead of us. Several crossbow bolts fire toward us. I feel a sharp thud, and look down to see a wickedly barbed bolt buried in my chest. Suddenly the bolt explodes with electric energy. Every nerve screams at once as I vibrate in place, unable to act or think.
Starring:
Kaelan, level 15 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 15 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 15 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 15 half-elf Assassin Rogue TIM, level 15 warforged War Domain Cleric
My body is sopping wet, but my skin is burning. My shameful demon heritage allows me to shrug off fire, but this – this was a holy fire. Radiant. Agony. And it was pouring out of this terrible hovering ball of energy, its concentric iron rings circling around it as it flew inexorably toward us.
Three of us lie on the tiny island in the middle of the water-filled cavern. Kethra is barely breathing, her eyes closed. TIM stares straight ahead, showing no emotion, while I concentrate on breathing. Every breath burns. I can barely hold my crossbows. Another blast will finish us.
Scarlet must have rescued Gillian, snapping her out of the creature’s charming effects, which would soon envelop us. Maybe it would be better this way, I thought, as it stops above us. Its rings lock into place. What follows is the holy fire. The agony. The release.
I close my eyes.
Death doesn’t come. From the other side of the island, a ghostly axe spins toward the celestial being, slicing into its core. Gillian’s axe. Its dimming light fades along with its rings, and the small core drops harmlessly to the ground.
Starring:
Kaelan, level 15 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 15 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 15 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 15 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 15 warforged War Domain Cleric
As more of the fungal humanoids emerge from the water, TIM calls out another horde approaching from a nearby tunnel.
Our shouts are drowned out by a great rumbling. To the east the river swells and churns, as if a large beast is hurtling toward us just under the water.
I leap off the boat onto the riverbank, the chaotic magic swirling a fog cloud around me. Despite the risk, I build the demonic power within me and hurl another fireball down the tunnel, roasting the shambling creatures.
Once again the chaos magic of the tunnels infects me, this time compelling me to always tell the truth.
I turn to see the river explode. A massive, tentacled monstrosity erupts from the water, piercing eyes embedded all over its tentacles. Screams echo off the walls, emerging from multiple mouths among the writhing beast. It undulates forward, its gaze weaponing the chaos magic as the remaining fungal creatures freeze, explode, and rot in front of us.
Starring:
Kaelan, level 15 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock
Scarlet, level 15 human Oath of Devotion Paladin
Gillian, level 15 triton Champion Fighter, College of Lore Bard
Kethra, level 15 half-elf Assassin Rogue
TIM, level 15 warforged War Domain Cleric
We carefully pass by the mutant giant, his oversized eye watching us the entire time. The tingling sensation I felt when casting the simple cantrip suddenly explodes with magical energy.
I glance back and see TIM, who had also cast a spell to impress the creature, feeling similar effects. Rycresh had warned us about the chaotic magic of these caves and how they respond to magic.
I watch as TIM’s wooden-metal form turns to a purple hue, and yellow splotches break out all over his body. I feel an oddly magnetic sensation as all the mushrooms on the giant’s wall suddenly throw themselves in my direction.
The fomorian’s eyes grow wide. He grabs his club and advances on us. “You stealers! Get out of my cave!” The lumbering giant charges at us.
Without hesitation, TIM throws his newly purchased magic rug on the ground in front of us. The giant hits the rug at full speed only to stop as if it hit by a wall. It blinks several times, then lays down and closes his eyes as the rug gently curls up around him.
“I guess that was a good purchase after all,” I say.
Starring: Kaelan, level 15 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock Scarlet, level 15 human Oath of Devotion Paladin Gillian, level 14 triton Champion Fighter/College of Lore Bard Kethra, level 15 half-elf Assassin Rogue TIM, level 14 warforged War Domain Cleric
Searing heat and light jolt me awake. My eyes fly open, momentarily blinded before adjusting to the soft glow of the surrounding torchlight in the darkness. The hut is gone. Is this a dream?
Stepping out of the darkness is a monstrous beast, clawed hands and feet, blue skin, and a wide maw. Others began appearing, in different shapes and colors.
Rycresh cried out, “What the hell are slaad doing attacking us? They’re supposed to be our allies.”
We shake off the sleep and pull ourselves together. I carefully put on my hat, and glance over to see Styx had been vaporized by the explosions.
“Careful,” Rycresh warns, “these slaad are beings of pure chaos.”
My eyes glow red as I pull the demonic power forth, shaping flames in my hands and looking at the hulking beasts smugly approaching. “Chaos is my middle name.”
Starring: Kaelan, level 14 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock Scarlet, level 14 human Oath of Devotion Paladin Gillian, level 14 triton Champion Fighter/College of Lore Bard Kethra, level 14 half-elf Assassin Rogue TIM, level 14 warforged War Domain Cleric
The dragon is so fast we almost lose sight of him as he takes to the skies and head towards Marina’s tower. We could feel the rage emanating off of him, a shackled slave of the archdruid, forced to destroy an entire city.
We race through the forest. The forest, which is completely under Marina’s control. Her eyes and ears.
A voice begins to echo through the trees. Marina. “I give you every chance to follow my rules. I give you clear instructions. And still you betray me like so many others. You are an enemy to me now. Taken my greatest servant and turned him against me. I will destroy you all.”
Scarlet couldn’t help herself: “The servant is the sword and the sword is with me now and he’s fine. We didn’t do anything wrong!”
As if in answer, the dragon overhead roars in fury. Giant ravens take to the sky to intercept as a furious aerial battle breaks out.
The voice grows agitated. “You have brought me many problems,” Marina snaps. “You are my enemy, and the forest is now your enemy.”
The skies darken, thunder cracks, and rain begins to fall. Marina emerges from the tower draped in her robes, her three-headed chimera growling next to her. We clench our weapons, startled to hear multiple hissing sounds from beneath her cowl.
While Scarlet chatted up an adult green dragon, Kethra attempted climb on top of its head. A magic longsword was imbedded in the dragon’s skull, changing its entire personality, and we aimed to free them both.
Unfortunately the dragon had noticed Kethra, and we had to roll for initiative.
Kethra acted first, continuing the perilous climb up the dragon’s neck, grasping the sword, and pulled. She wiggled it a few inches, but we realized it would take several successful checks to extricate the blade.
Kaelan followed up by Mist Stepping right next to her and pulling…unsuccessfully. While Scarlet tried to downplay the entire situation and calm it down, the angry sword-dragon swiped at TIM, then launched itself 80 feet in the air, bathing us all in its Frightening Presence.
We were in quite the predicament, with Kaelan and Kethra hanging onto the sword as the dragon took flight. Another yank from Kethra wiggled the sword a bit further.
Gillian tried to bring the dragon down with a Hypnotic Pattern, but the beast shrugged it off. TIM sent a Message spell, reassuring the airborne party members that Gillian can cast Feather Fall.
Emboldened by the support, Kaelan mustered the strength and yanked the sword free, grabbing Kethra as they both began to fall off the dragon and plummet toward the ground. Gillian caught them with Feather Fall, letting the drop gently, followed by a loud roar as the dragon landed beside us (that’s twice Gillian has saved our bacon with Feather Fall!).
The dragon, named Valdemar, was somewhat grateful, but mostly ready to go kick Marina’s ass for embedding the sword in his skull and using him as an instrument of destruction. He revealed that his body was taken over, and forced to destroy the entire city that surrounded us.
Scarlet claimed the magic sentient longsword Tellurai, continuing to build a cute relationship as she admonished it for the, er, genocide.
The dragon didn’t stick around to chat for long, taking to the air to confront Marina. He pointed out that Marina was already aware of our betrayal, and our choice had been made for us when we decided to free him. We hurried after, waving at the tribe of were-bears who had gathered outside their cave to watch. Don’t worry friendly were-bears! We’re going to go kill the archdruidess instead of you.
The green dragon engaged in a mid-air fight with a flock of Marina’s giant ravens, while the druid emerged from her tower, her albino chimera and wooden guardian in tow. She wasn’t thrilled about her pet being freed to turn on her, and we’d finally grown fed up with her past transgressions. Roll for initiative!
Our poor DM rolled poorly on initiative for all the enemies, leaving Kaelan to open with a 35 damage Fireball (everyone fails) and Kethra to land an assassinate Crit on Marina, dealing 60 damage! In only two turns we dealt nearly 100 damage to the boss of Marin’s Grove.
We continued to smack Marina around, though she surprised us when she removed her cowl, revealing a head of snakes. A medusa! Gillian averted her eyes yet still sliced her up with her phase axe. TIM responded by hitting her with a blinding Contagion, eliminating her Petrifying Gaze, and her ability to aim her powerful spells, causing a Sunburst explosion to explode harmlessly to the south.
By the second round, Marina was limping away. The chimaera pounced in the middle of our team, biting and clawing at Gillian and Scarlet, but Kaelan destroyed it with a powerful volley of crossbow attacks. Crisann, the ghostly spirit that whispered at TIM, emerged to exact his revenge on Marina, but it was Kethra who got the kill with a deadly arrow.
Rycresh (AKA the DM) reminded us that we needed information from her on where to the find the creator, who apparently had named this entire plane after himself, Anonyma.
Scarlet used Revivy to bring Marina back, and we learned that the creator was happy about bringing together new factions into the plane, and had left to an island to welcome them. We recalled from his journals in the tower that a rogue group of celestials and demons had forsaken their war and tried to escape here. Clearly that didn’t end up working out for anyone.
Valdemar landed with a thud, declaring that Marina would not survive his wrath, while he was willing to let us go. We weren’t prepared to argue with him, and so we walked out of the grove, hearing a final scream from the murdering druid-medusa as we embarked on our next journey to the island, and level up to 15!
MVPC – Kaelan & TIM (Tie)
Post-session live discussion:
Live streamed and uploaded every week on YouTube. Join us live on Fridays at 7:30 pm Pacific/10:30 pm Eastern!
Starring: Kaelan, level 14 tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger/Fiend Warlock Scarlet, level 14 human Oath of Devotion Paladin Gillian, level 14 triton Champion Fighter/College of Lore Bard Kethra, level 14 half-elf Assassin Rogue TIM, level 14 warforged War Domain Cleric
As we climb the stone steps we could hear a desperate voice on the wind – “Free me!”
At the top lie a gigantic green dragon – the same we had seen fly over us earlier. A longsword is firmly lodged in its head, purple gems along its blade and hilt glowing softly.
The dragon is sleeping, but before I can signal to Scarlet, the paladin calls out, “Hello? Where are you?”
The whispery voice cuts out, along with the soft snoring of the monstrous beast.
Moments later the dragon leaps up and crashes down beside us, claws digging into the crumbling stone structure. It lowers its gigantic head, its mouth revealing sharp teeth the size of longswords. My hands fly to my crossbows even as my stomach drops out.
The dragon stares intently at Scarlet and says, “Hello darling, how are you?”
