Session 21

Fact Sheet: It’s a peaceful morning in the village and there’s horrible beast

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart and Vinnie. Dins was our GM. Tuur was excused.

Date: 26-04-23

Date in-universe: it’s a Friday morning

Major developments:

• Lots of lore!

Previously: session 20 Arrival in Damanhour

Next episode: session 22

Notes

As we're heading over to the temple, looking for the Lunaire Warden Saumi, accompanied by Aqueel and Chalcedony:

• Storm refreshes Aqueel's vocabulary, making sure he knows stuff like punch and bite, but also remembers retreat, mercy, escape…
• Ezra drops off their letter for Enza (see image below)
• Storm hands over the gift for Ezra: the navigator set, accompanied by the bloody arrow they used to kill Danzig… Hali quickly cleans off the dried blood with some water magic & Storm mumbles about the sextant and the compass being useful to guide us on our way, as Ezra has been doing for our crew in Captain John Magpie’s absence. Ezra is really moved by the gift & our crew’s appreciation.

As we traverse the bowl in which the village is nestled, we keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary: signs of struggle, perhaps footsteps leading off the beaten path… alas, nothing remarkable catches our attention. After a while, we reach the temple: it’s a well-maintained building of modest size, more than fitting for a village the size of Damanhour. A small corridor leads from the front door towards the main body. There are no windows in the building, though we can see the roof has an opening, undoubtedly corresponding to the moonpool typically found in Lunaire’s temples. It’s a little out of the way, after all, Sharm told us they only use it about once a month during their mini-festival for the full moon.

As we draw nearer, we notice a strange cloud of black smoke seems to hover in the building, mushrooming out the opening in the roof! As they frown a little, with their sensitive eyes in the morning light, El(drin) notices it's not smoke, it's more like a void energy! Their sword seems to vibrate, like a tuning fork responding to a pure note of the same frequency. El(drin) shares this info. Fyllion complains a little: can nothing ever work out the easy way for us?? (artistic licence)

As we’re milling around the door, it’s clear the smoke or void or whatever it is, reduces visibility to zero. Still, we can hear heavy footsteps from within, accompanied by a weird grating sound like claws on stone, as well as wood splintering… and a weak voice calling for help!

Hali sends a pawn from the magical chess board into the darkness to check it out. The little wooden servant pipes up it’ll be its pleasure, it can see in darkness, even if that darkness is magical in nature. Barely a few seconds after the pawn has tottered off into the darkness, we hear a swish and a crack, as if something lashed out at the pawn, and smashed its tiny wooden body into a wall, till it broke. We don’t hear anything else…

We decide how to proceed:

• El(drin) goes first with devil sight, to see in this magical darkness
• Ezra holds their shoulder & is next
• Hali is next
• Storm has Aqueel on his shoulders (to keep our baby safe) & brings up the rear with Fyllion.

Nervous about the darkness, Storm activated comprehend languages in order to understand Aqueel without problems. Added bonus: Aqueel can also see in this weird darkness, so he can guide Storm. They’ll keep each other safe. Storm is amazed to realize he can understand the bellows of the being that is clearly hidden in the darkness: where is it, his soul, it belongs to me! The traitor, I will eat his rotten heart right out of his chest! Storm informs the others that this is more than just a weird beast hanging out!

As El(drin) and Ezra step into the darkness, they disappear from our view. We see them rear back in horror. Immediately, El(drin) shares what they saw: it’s an unidentifiable beast, like a moth got mashed together with an ant, and then grew as big as a horse!

We can’t put this off any longer, so it’s time for action!

1. Storm tucks Aqueel’s ankles in his armpits to steady the child firmly on his shoulders. Then he clangs his rings together. From the sparkle, he creates dancing lights and sends them into the room. Alas, they disappear in the darkness without any effect. Working with Aqueel on his shoulders, he sneaks into the building. Aqueel points him where the beast is stomping around, near the moonpool. It doesn’t seem to respond to Storm’s sneaking
2. Fyllion sings a song for El(drin) and launches dissonant whispers into the building, hoping the being is within range. Alas, the creature can resist this spell and only takes half of the intended psychic damage. We hear an inhuman roar from the darkness, the being is in pain! Fyllion quickly sidles back outside, disregarding the sweet whisperings from his waterbag where Virgil offers darkvision
3. Ezra asks Baaloo to form a tether between them and El(drin), initiates hail of thorns and gets ready to move with El(drin), planning to shoot as soon as El(drin) targets the being
4. El(drin) heads over to a bench, where Ezra can hide and defend their position. El(drin) hexes the creature and follows up with a quip about El(drin)’s blast... which the creature deflects without any problem! El(drin) warns us that Lunaire magic doesn't work on the being. Like Aqueel, they notice that the creature doesn't really pay attention to us. Ezra follows up and takes aim at the area where they hear the noises coming from... and they hit! The hail of thorns activates but Dins rolled a NATURAL TWENTY and Ecchima a NATURAL ONE, so the damage was minimal! We hear it roar in pain, and El(drin) and Aqueel nervously report that it does seem to focus on Ezra, now that it’s been hurt
5. The creature is in a frenzy, clearly as much angry as it’s hurt. El(drin) sees it vanish in a glittering burst of shiny scales and sparkly dust, misty stepping next to Ezra. Ezra feels its warm breath, a heartbeat before its two forelegs slash at them, hurting Ezra badly. Aqueel screeches in panic when he sees Ezra hurt & launches a water jet at it from atop Storm’s shoulders! Alas, with another NATURAL TWENTY the creature shakes off most of the damage. Its wings are wet, but they're chitinous anyway, like a dragonfly, so it's probably not really effective
6. Hali had mostly followed Ezra in, and now cowers behind another bench. She gets out another chess piece, which crawls onto her head... to steer her Rat-Ratatouille-style! Hali hopes the pawn will be able to help her aim in the next round. The pawn suggests the smarter play would be running away, but Hali is clear that’s not an option. Hali activates their starry form. This pulse of light illuminates the beast for a second: El(drin) hadn’t exaggerated! It's the size of a grizzly bear with a maw bigger than Chalcedony’s full body (who's cowering outside)

1. Running through his options, Storm decides to find Saumi. Storm's polecat senses, combined with Aqueel's slaps and whispered instructions guide Storm in a quick and elegant dash over to the back wall of the temple, easily vaulting over ruined benches and broken floor tiles despite the total darkness (for Storm). Storm and Aqueel manage to find Saumi near the back wall of the temple.The scent of night blooming jasmine almost covers the scent of blood. Though Saumi is wounded and panicked, Aqueel and Storm manage to calm him down sufficiently, explaining he's with a crew sent by Sharm to find and help him, and he's a polecat like Santiago. Saumi recognizes the local troublemaker & the name of his village peer, so he's willing to follow them to the exit

2. Virgil tells Fyllion it's a Celestial guardian who's gone insane... we should just unshackle it from this plane, talking to it won't even help. Fyllion sings a ditty to inspire Storm & then runs outside to cower with the cowering Chalcedony. Nearby, Madonna is still resting where El(drin) settled them, pseudo-ruminating in the way camels do

3. El(drin) prepares their turn and Ezra's turn. El(drin) casts a minor illusion: a scream coming from right above the creature, allowing Ezra to take aim correctly. El(drin) chooses a new position & asks Ezra to retreat...

4. Ezra pulls back a little, as El(drin) asked. They unfurl the magic carpet and politely plead for it to float near the ceiling and carry them back to the entry way. The carpet is eager to collaborate & soon Ezra hovers near the door opening

5. The creature remains angry, leaping forward with a bizarre grace. As soon as it's near Ezra, who hurt it, it viciously unfurls all its wings at once, slamming the Arms of Hadar into Ezra, Hali and El(drin).

6. Hali checks in with the chess piece on her head to aim a starry fireball. Despite their best efforts, they miss! With her outstretched hand Hali looses an arrow, which also misses. The pawn is apologetic, they’ve never fought a battle that wasn’t on the chess board, and it repeats its plea that the smarter strategy would involve fleeing for their lives

1. In broken Aquan, Storm and Aqueel plan to have Aqueel lead Saumi to safety, outside with Fyllion and the animals. They’ll be as careful as possible, especially given Saumi’s wounds slowing them down. Storm will stay and fight alongside the others. Storm tries to light a candle, but of course the sanctum of the god of the void resists that intrusion of light!
2. Virgil keeps taunting Fyllion: why won't Fyllion just grab the powers Virgil is offering? His hesitations are the reason he'll forever remain mortal, and he'll never ascend to arch fey status. Fyllion doesn’t even respond: he’s focused on his friends! Fyllion sneaks to the door opening and casts a minor illusion of the moon, about halfway into the temple & several feet of the ground. The creature is surprised and quite fascinated by this sudden apparition, trying to paw at it with its tibiae and tarsi
3. El(drin) has their sword drawn and just decides to just attack! Lunaire's gift doesn't work on the sword right now, so El(drin) realises they might have to call on Soliman... but they refuse to do that! This determination helps El(drin) to focus & they do manage to hurt the creature, since the sword is still a sword, after all’s said and done. El(drin) sees the creature isn't doing very well, so they order the others to retreat
4. In the heat of battle, Ezra shoots at the creature before they can respond to El(drin)’s order. Thanks to a NATURAL SIX they hit true: their arrow pierces the creature's forehead. As the creature crumbles, its wings disintegrate, its scales peel off, the echo of its last roar dies down… and the darkness lifts!

(I'll add the rest this weekend, if I'm able)

Images

Ezra writes to Enza from Damanhour	Eluvelon dies in Eluviel's arms