Session 16

Fact Sheet: Sangrün's champion, Lunaire's champion

Date: 13-02-23

Date in-universe: the same unspecified Monday afternoon, closer to dusk

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

Major developments:

we killed Na'Dir and a bunch of snakes
we freed 4 more survivors from Nawa, including Steva, Miriam and Soufiane's son
we heard Na'Dir mention Sangrün the blood god
Simeon came back. His fighting alongside us seems to have mollified most of the crew & no one objects to him going on a date with Fyllion
we picked up some loot, to be divided
we decided to trust that Basri and Akram won't conscript us as magic users to be cannon fodder in the renewing war between Rosaria and Kharkhorin
Eldrin (on their own) joined Sabor in Koh'Shar's temple, discussing Soliman and Lunaire, and experiencing a vision with Lunaire.

Notes

Our intrepid heroes find themselves in the inner sanctum of the temple, formerly dedicated to Lunaire and currently consecrated in the most unholy way to the blood god Sangrün, by the monstrous malison, an ancient, magic wielding Yuan-ti who goes by the name Na’Dir.

We prepare for battle, aiming to free the remaining prisoners and, if possible, to end Na’Dir’s reign of terror (through their organisation The Sable Serpent) over the Sand Sea and surrounding Badlands.

Storm misses Na'Dir but manages to free a prisoner, evading both the closest snake and the vines sucking the prisoner dry
Na'Dir creates a fog by boiling blood in the moon pool and mocks our attempts
Hali helps a prisoner but gets bitten by the vines in the attempt
one snake slithers towards Fyllion, one blocks the way to Na'Dir & 2 snakes attack Eldrin & hurt them
Eldrin casts “sleep”, causing one snake to fall asleep & manoeuvres around the moon pool full of blood
Ezra shifts into their tiger form, but the snake attacking Fyllion snaps at them (with a NATURAL TWENTY), hurting Ezra. They free another prisoner next to the one Storm freed
Na'Dir's lair is a ruined temple, so it responds to Na'Dir's displeasure - a geyser of screaming hot blood sprays over Eldrin and Storm. Eldrin manages both a NATURAL ONE and a NATURAL TWENTY, evading the boiling drops. Fyllion sees the spray start, so he warns Storm with “I might be a fool, but Storm, watch out for this pool”. When Storm also manages to twist away from the splashing blood thanks to Fyllion’s warning, Na’Dir chortles “You dance so beautifully”. They’re clearly not worried about this fight. Suddenly the pool shows a glimpse of Basri's convoy under attack by a patrol of bandits who were laying in wait & Simeon leaping from his horse to attack another bandit, is he close?? As we gasp in horror (and anticipation, in Fyllion’s case), Eldrin grumbles “is this a scrying pool or a crying pool”?!
Fyllion stabs the snake in front of him
Frei notices Hali is quite bloody & heads over to help her. She hits the snake twice with her claws, revealing bone on its skull as she kills it

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Storm repositions & hurts a snake quite badly with a crossbow bolt. Since Na'Dir complimented his dancing
Na'Dir feels the painful rays of Hali's moon beam, but they shrug it off, having sullied Lunaire's temple once before... Na'Dir flings the blood from their blood sword at Storm, but with Eldrin's warning (an inspiration) Storm manages to twirl aside once more!
Hali moves her moon beam & finally frees the prisoner she was trying to help
the snake Fyllion managed hurt, snaps at him quite badly. The one hurt by Storm, misses Storm. Eldrin is grappled by the 3rd snake. The sleeping snake sleeps on
Eldrin fails to break the grapple with their sword (NATURAL ONE)
Ezra casts faerie fire: only Storm and the sleeping snake start glowing faintly. The other snakes, Ezra and Fyllion evade the effects
The lair repeats the visions: Basri and his guards are fighting quite well. Simeon is in an altercation with another bandit, close to a ladder leading underground. A new fog arises from the moon pool. One prisoner moves to the door, the others stay with Ezra
Fyllion spits blood on the snake & tries to stab it (but it's a NATURAL ONE). He sings a healing song for Hali!
Frei darts over to the snake threatening Fyllion & claws it to death. Fyllion cheekily thanks her, using her full name Lunafreia. She responds with a feral grin “If I didn't think it could kill you, I'd slap you for that”, over her shoulder as she moves over to help Eldrin. As she nears them, she hears Eldrin is mumbling a prayer to Lunaire. She sees how Eldrin responds to the cooling comforting sensation arising from the sword

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Storm kicks at the snake but misses, and repositions to hunker down out of Na'Dir's sight
Na'Dir feels the moon beam but shrugs it off again. As the bloody fog dissipates, they leap from the altar towards the moon pool, calling forth 2 vines from the blood: thankfully both Frei and Storm manage to dodge them.
Hali repositions her moon beam & frees the last prisoner, a young man who's quite badly injured. It's Steva, Myriam's son. Hali helps him to the exit
Storm's snake misses (with a NATURAL ONE), Eldrin's snake tries to strangle Eldrin. Despite Eldrin's sword being angled to cut the snake's coils, the snake crushes them quite badly. Eldrin keeps praying to Lunaire and their "favoured by the gods" feat replenishes
Eldrin braces themselves to wriggle out of the snake's hold (with a NATURAL TWENTY). Eldrin joins Frei, making a front against Na’Dir
Ezra prepares to move with the prisoners, but first puts a hunter's mark on the snake near Storm. Their next arrow completely obliterates it!
The prisoners follow either Ezra or Hali, huddling together at the exit, but they’re reluctant to leave us. They don’t want to wander through the Sable Serpent’s lair on their own. Once more, the pool shows us what’s happening: we see Basri and the guards victorious over the ambush, leading the dozen Nawa survivors onwards through the tunnels & Simeon just recklessly leaping down a hallway, while at the same time we can hear him thundering down the hallway, screaming Fyllion’s name. The lair creates a slithering shape out of blood (due to a NATURAL SIX), it's a slightly immaterial snake created out of blood
Fyllion thanks Simeon "thank you, darling, for joining us" & steps forwards Na'Dir, launching his holy water at them but due to a NATURAL ONE, this valiant effort is pointless. Fyllion sings "we need you stronger, please live a little longer, woo-hoo living on a prayer to Lun-ayer" to heal Eldrin Fyllion negotiates with Virgil through the token: should Fyllion go down, can Virgil join us and hurt Na'Dir? Virgil agrees with his usual snark: do you also want me to dance a jig? Reassured by this back-up plan, Fyllion hides behind Frei
Frei hits the snake who'd been constricting Eldrin, twice, and kills it, chunks of skin and meat flying everywhere

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Storm darts over to Na'Dir, slashes them in the back & keeps going. Na'Dir's glare tricks them into Storm's dancer's influence (NATURAL FOUR)
Thanks to Storm's influence, Hali's moonbeam does the full damage. Na'Dir undulates over to Eldrin, with another glare over the audacity daring to pray to another god in their lair. Na'Dir splashes acid at Hali, but misses. Then they attack Eldrin, and as they drink Eldrin's blood (further weakening Eldrin), their wounds start to close
Hali moves the moonbeam back onto Na'Dir and repositions, moving away from the prisoners
The blood snake slithers over to Hali and strikes at her
Eldrin calls on both Lunaire and Soliman, trying to stab Na'Dir. As they slash off scales from Na'Dir, we can tell their natural protection is weakening. Na'Dir catches the sword in their hand & licks their own blood off the cut, once more revelling in Sangrün’s gift
Ezra repositions themselves & puts their hunter's mark on Na'Dir. Their arrows cause a lot of damage!
The lair responds to Na'Dir's pain: vines from the blood pool drill into Na'Dir's side, pumping blood into them to heal them. The prisoners leave the room & Steva is pulled out of the room by Simeon! Simeon looks over Fyllion and seeing Fyllion appears pretty okay, Simeon prepares to battle Na'Dir
Simeon stands in front of Fyllion & slashes at Na'Dir with his dagger. Simeon hits once but the damage is minimal (NATURAL ONE). When Simeon gasps “Fyllion, you continue to surprise me”, the Elf responds with a cheeky wink “you continue to underestimate me”
Fyllion slips by Simeon to take up a position in front of Na’Dir. He taunts them with “hey, you fucking snake, why don't you make, an attack on me, 'cause I'm pretty”, tilting his head to show off his appetising neck. Na'Dir's glare slides from Simeon to Fyllion. Undeterred, Fyllion gives extra hit points to Hali, Storm, and Frei & readies Virgil’s totem, should Na’Dir strike him down. Eldrin immediately moves away from Na'Dir and Hali storms over to Na'Dir's altar
Frei attacks Na'Dir, and thanks to her allies flanking them, she can hurt Na'Dir. Na'Dir's attention doesn't waver from Fyllion though

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Storm shoots the blood snake, which now looks bad but remains a threat. Storm repositions
Na'Dir raises their blood sword to interrupt the moon beam and has the blood pool create a new geyser, but it misses us all. Na'Dir hacks at Fyllion next, but misses
Hali raises her hand and launches a starry bolt at Na'Dir. For the first time, the malison looks bloodied
Eldrin throws an Eldritch Blast at Na'Dir, but it doesn't really hurt much
Ezra shoots at Na'Dir & the creature looks pretty bad
The blood snake sways in place, would Na’Dir’s pain translate to this creature too?
Simeon slashes at Na'Dir but it's hard to get past Fyllion
Fyllion tries to overwhelm Na’Dir’s weakening will, with a mocking song “you claim you’re invincible, but we didn’t find that convincable, we are stronger than you are, you're not cut out to be a star”. Alas, Na'Dir resists with a NATURAL TWENTY
Frei hits Na'Dir twice

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Storm leaps from the ledge, his dominant leg stretched out & his toes en pointe. The moon light from Hali's moon beam throws his locked tight muscles in relief as Storm soars through the air, slamming into Na'Dir's chest, crushing their ribs, forcing the shards into their lungs.

After one breathless moment, we realize we won the fight & cheer for our victory!

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With their last breath, Na'Dir stumbles towards the pool as their body appears to be disintegrating, scales peeling off and spikes dropping to the floor. At the edge of the blood pool, they hiss: “Sangrün I have failed you”. Then they turn their last breath to us: “I shall walk these sands again, but none of you will see it, as you won't leave this tomb”. Without hesitation, Eldrin responds with “May Lunaire burn your legacy”.

When the blood sword slipped from Na’Dir’s hand, it turns back into a dagger: it's a vicious looking object with a ruby in its hilt. Being closest, Storm snatches it up.

Eldrin hurries over to the altar in the raised portion of the room, to close the eyes of the last sacrifice laying on the altar, with the words “May Soliman comfort your soul”. Next to the altar, they spot a small chest, with a ruby embedded in the lid. They pick it up.

As Na'Dir falls into the pool, it begins to violently boil and the foundations of the temple shake. Dust and debris are starting to fall as the years and years of unholy blood rituals catch up with the very structure of the building.

Hali puts her moonbeam on the pool, causing the destruction to slow down a little, but it's clearly not stopping. Ezra hustles the prisoners to the exit with the words “Fly, you fools”! Fyllion fumbles the statue back into the waterskin with non-holy water, as Simeon drags him from the room, towards the ladder leading directly outside. Fyllion is happy he’s holding Simeon’s hand. Ezra redirects us to the cart so we can transport the prisoners, especially Steva with his wounded foot.

As we run, Storm spots a money pouch on a desk and risks a dash over to snatch it up. As we leave the ruins and reach more stable ground, Hali dispels the moonbeam.

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On the cart, travelling back towards Koh’Shar, we discuss what we'll tell Akram. Fyllion makes sure to keep between Simeon and Eldrin. Ezra thanks Simeon and pushes Fyllion closer. Simeon is pretty sheepish towards Eldrin, appreciative of having survived and being together, but quite shy in front of all of us. Eventually, with Frei’s input & remembering his discretion about Ezra’s family connections, we figure we’ll be able to trust Akram will be understanding enough, since he owes us. We’ve helped Koh’Shar several times, beyond mere payment. Our trump card will be Hali and Mi’Kal’s plan to restore the water flow in Koh'Shar.

We also investigate what we found:

The dagger is called the bloodletter: this blade of sacrifice can be used as spell casting focus. If you cut yourself with it, you can freely cast spells with your own blood, at the cost of necrotic damage
in the pouch, Storm finds
- 120 gold
- 1300 silver
in the chest, Eldrin finds
- 1 potion of resistance
- 1 spell scroll of vampiric sustenance
- 2 rubies, worth 50 gold each
- 3 bloodstones, worth 25 gold each, similar to the stones that decorated Sangrün's altar

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In the early evening, we approach Koh'Shar. Since our route above ground is easier to traverse, we'll probably be ahead of Basri and the first convoy of prisoners. It’ll give us the opportunity to control the narrative, up to a certain point. Spotting the silhouette of Koh’Shar’s temple against the sunset, Eldrin mumbles a prayer "Forgive me Soliman, forgive me for straying from Your Divine Path”.

Simeon mentions he shouldn't go back into the city. Fyllion plans to remain outside the gates with him. He promises he'll join us later at the tavern. Figuring they’ll have a special moment & deciding we can all use something of a shower, Hali creates a huge cube of water overhead, which serves like a monsoon to wash us (somewhat) clean.

The town square is bustling with people now the heat of the afternoon is dissipating. As soon as our cart pulls up, the guards from the guard house approach us. Ezra is our spokesperson & starts a report in the middle of the square, reassuring the guards that Basri and their colleagues are safe & leaving out any mention of magic.

Like lightening in a pool of water, news of the death of Na'Dir and most of the Sable Serpent’s bandits spreads through town. Everyone is very grateful. Ezra is very uncomfortable with all the attention. Hali also tries to shy away from the cheering mob.

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Simeon and Fyllion are standing amid the tea fields, in the shade of a tree to keep out of sight of the gate guards.

S: I thought I'd find your corpse
F: I thought you'd said you'd be the one to kill me
S: this confession is pathetic for a 30 year old man, but you're the first one who was kind to me for me, not for my skills or any promises I made... It touched me and I don't want to be the person I was anymore
F: I think you can be a great man.

They conclude they're both stumbling and tottering on the way to being a good person. Simeon suggests they get something to eat, "like a date", Fyllion adds with a charmingly flushed face. Fyllion turns into a human looking version of himself & Simeon activates his tattoo to turn into Simone, all set for this romantic meal! They walk towards the city, holding hands.

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Eldrin feels a pair of eyes on their back, it's Sabor. Sabor noticed something is different about them. They start a conversation in the temple about the nature of the gods, each bowing respectfully to each other. Sabor feels a force reaching out to Eldrin & wants to help them get in touch.

Eldrin has some questions:

are Lunaire and Soliman both good gods? Sabor thinks yes, but he feels the many blessings Koh'Shar has received stem from Soliman, which is why he guided the populous towards worship of that god. See also the incantation calligraphed over the entry…
do you think Lunaire is angry at us? Sabor thinks that's only to be expected, like a disappointed parent. He’s not immediately forthcoming on the reasons behind that anger or disappointment.

With those answers, Eldrin explains they feel Soliman's fiery passion. The energy they feel from Lunaire appears more destructive, which is at odds with the promise Eldrin made to never use Lunaire's gifts to hurt anyone. Sabor can't explain this contrast, Eldrin will have to investigate themselves.

With that, Eldrin gives Sabor the rubies and the bloodstones, an offering to repair the temple. Sabor considers the gift as the start of a communion with the gods. At Eldrin’s nod, Sabor touches Eldrin's forehead with the promise to pull them out of the trance when they’re in distress & everything goes black!

Eldrin falls through the darkness, landing on shimmering dunes of black sand, under a dark sky with black stars. This is no mere night; this is a land where no sun has ever risen! Crystals grow on the sand, gleaming so darkly that they look like rips in reality. Inside, Eldrin feels a soft warm feeling, like the memory of their mother's hand on their shoulder... Soliman's touch is still with them, but the sun god feels very distant.

In the distance, Eldrin spots a humanoid shadow drawing closer. They meet atop the dune, and the wispy shadow addresses Eldrin: “well, you're the new wielder of my black blade. I feel your passion, my blade chose wisely. That’s no surprise. After all, I put part of myself into each of my creations. You should step forward; it's not becoming to keep a god waiting”.

Eldrin stumbles after the shadow through the black sand till they reach a dais of black stone, containing a circle. The figure takes its leave from Eldrin with a last message: “When you reach Loch Máthair (the lake of the mother), make sure you bring a shard of black glass, so I can reforge the blade properly. The hands of a mortal artisan can’t reveal its true power”.

Then the spirit re-enters the blade as Eldrin steps into the circle. The dunes disappear, the horizon winks out and the same moon from Eldrin’s dream in session 8 opens before them like a blinking eye. Eldrin hears a complex message:

Brave healer, stalwart defender of the lost and the forsaken... to help those in need, to grant forgiveness is an endless task that demands great personal sacrifice. Soliman the passionate granted you the power to carry this burden... but I am what protects you from it - and the fate that awaits all his martyrs: to burn bright until nothing remains but ash.
Do not use his powers to bring harm, or they will consume you like a flame burning within.
Instead... use mine. You've been chosen, my vanguard of the void, to deliver my cold fury to those who have betrayed my trust, to those who warped and polluted my power for their own gain, to those who scorn my gifts, who shackle my faithfuls and drive them against each other, to those who think they are safe in the light.
Go forth, enact my vengance and remind them why they fear the dark... for once the light sputters out, dark is all that shall remain.

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Sabor drags Eldrin from their vision. Eldrin’s awareness returns to the temple, realizing they have their sword in their hand. They express their confusion: I had the gods mixed up!

Episode Line-up

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Next up: session 17 Saving Koh'Shar's water