Session 11-30-07

              Tenanye 3: Still not having slept due to their all-night brewing project at the castle, the group returns to the Fanged Spear for some rest.  Before departing, Nathaniel scribes his recipe for Zorfrond Tea info one of Kradoth Frosthorn’s alchemical workbooks.  Upon returning to the inn, Maddoth Thundermaw greets them warmly and personally serves them oatmeal with dried apples – a departure from the usual method of waiting in line with wooden meal chits.

                After breakfast, the five friends head off to their rooms for a full eight hours of sleep.  They awaken in the early afternoon and prepare themselves for the day.  Nathaniel determines that they should meet with  Elder Shaman Grodish Ash-Eye to inform him of the recent goings-on with the infection and domination of the Swift Paws’ guildmaster.  After a short walk south to the circle of tribal lodges, the group is greeted by a young male orc attendant at the Ash-Eye lodge.  They wait patiently for over an hour, and are then surprised when none other than Cho’do Bloodflayer emerges from Grodish’s inner chamber.  Cho’do acknowledges them with a polite grunt and makes his way out of the lodge.

                The attendant ushers the party into Grodish’s sanctum.  The old gravelly-voiced orc greets them warmly and listens as they tell the sad story of Jagya and the infection which seems to be spreading in the city.  As more details come out, Grodish’s expression becomes graver and graver.  He finally holds up a hand.  “Very well.  I have heard your accounts of this trouble which has come to our city.  I believe I know who can help you.  I will summon Cho’do Bloodflayer back to my chambers for further discussion.”  Grodish sends his attendant out to fetch Cho’do, who returns to the lodge shortly.  After hearing the party’s most recent discoveries, the Bloodflayer shaman crooks his neck and scratches his chin.  “Yes, it seems we share a common enemy indeed.  These writhing worms have attacked my tribe from within, and they seek to spread their poison to others.  We shall cut them off at the source.  If you are willing, I will gather the shamans of my tribe and perform a scrying ritual this very night.  None match the power of my tribe to see the unseen.  Return to the lodge circle at nightfall if you wish to see the face of our enemies.”  Zara, Essedar and Nathaniel accept Cho’do’s offer, though Londario has some lingering doubts about his sincerity.

                Next, the companions move south through the city towards the Pit to visit Vandak of the Swift Paws.  The apron-clad artificer is devastated by the news of his guildmaster’s violent, tortured passing, but he pledges the support of the guild to the party’s cause.  Should the Swift Paws turn up any pertinent information, Vandak will send a rogue to inform them of it.  Vandak grimly thanks Zara for her assistance.  “He spoke fondly of you, lady.  I am most sorry for your part in this.  The Cougar was not himself when he betrayed you.”

                By the time they bid Vandak farewell, dusk has settled over Thran-Gaar.  Without a moment to spare the five companions march over to the Elder Lodge Circle, where they are greeted by Cho’do and his eight assembled shamans.  More than twenty orc drummers and an equal number of ritual dancers are gathered in a ring around a massive bonfire, and the drums and chants to Ijruk are audible from blocks away.  Once they arrive, Cho’do begins the ritual in earnest.  As the drummers and dancers pick up their intensity, each of the five friends joins the ritual dance.  Zara spins and whirls about with her greatspear while Nathaniel cavorts madly around the circle.  The wizard spots a fine, thick stick of oak in the woodpile, and taken by a sudden inspiration, he grabs the stick and begins dancing with it. Essedar finds a strong bass beat and moves steadily around the circle, his hips swaying in time with the rhythm. From time to time, the favored soul of Shandae takes a break to share his heady green buds with the assembled ritual participants.  Tel dances a stomping jig while Londario slides his feet through the sand in an awkward shuffle.  The Protector is graceful in battle, but dancing is clearly not in his blood.

As they dance, the mad energy of the ritual takes them, and all the adventurers can hear is the drumbeat and the chants of “Ijruk, Ijruk!”  Suddenly, Cho’do lashes out with painful precision and cuts Zara across the arms and chest.  He points to the cauldron at the edge of the bonfire, and Zara dances over to it, allowing her life’s blood to drip into the deep black iron receptacle.  The others are likewise cut by Cho’do’s ritual dagger as they dance past the shaman, and first Nathaniel, then Essedar, then Tel and Londario gather around the cauldron and bleed into it.  The blood boils and froths, and their vision clouds as the Bloodflayer ritual reaches its peak.  Within the bubbling cauldron, they each see a similar vision:

Geometric coordinates seem to coalesce into a distinct image of a shimmering staircase hanging in darkness.  This must be the Endless Staircase, a legendary gateway to other dimensions!  The coordinates to Chaal-Nathra are overlaid upon the Staircase, plotting an exact path across the planes.  Then the vision changes to a horrid, bloated face of an impossibly huge dragon, which seems both undead and horribly alive with an infestation of green worms.  The dragon’s rotted face morphs and transforms into a gargantuan green worm with a gaping, circular maw of teeth, and Nathaniel hears it whisper its name: “The Worm That Walks,” which he knows from his knowledge (planes) is another name for the Elder Evil Kyuss.   A rare form of undead, the “sons of Kyuss,” are infested with tiny green worms that leap from body to body, transmitting an undead infection that destroys the host mind and transforms the body.

The vision changes again, this time showing the five companions a view of the ongoing ritual from the outside looking in.  While they seem frozen in place, the party watches as a shadowy babau creeps from the darkness and moves behind the trancing Cho’do.  With a horrible finality, the demon stabs the shaman over and over, cutting deeply into his body seven times with a pair of wicked daggers.  They struggle to move or warn Cho’do, but the vision seems to have taken hold and all their efforts to stop the murder fail.  Despairing and helpless, the five friends hope for a chance to affect the outcome of this tragedy…

And the vision ends.  As they come back to themselves, they see Cho’do silhouetted against the bonfire, his arms upraised in the triumph of a ritual well performed, and clearly unaware of any threat or trouble.  The orc is undamaged and whole, though still in the throes of his ecstatic trance.  There is no sign of the babau demon from the vision.

After the drums die down and Cho’do ends his trance, the ritual comes to an end.  Given the vision of the exact coordinates of Chaal-Nathra, Nathaniel is now quite confident of his ability to navigate the Endless Staircase to that demi-plane.  However, the plane shift spell required to traverse the Staircase is far beyond his current abilities as a wizard.  By the time the ritual concludes is it well past midnight, and the party returns to the Fanged Spear to rest their weary bodies after the exhausting ordeal.

Tenanye 4-6: Nathaniel’s thoughts, along with the others, are now bent on visiting Chaal-Nathra and discovering the secret of the Vanishing as well as ending the plague of evil infections which has come to Thran-Gaar and Hathorae.  To that end, Nathaniel begins the construction of his staff with Cereborn’s help.  Consulting the wisdom of the elvish sages within Cereborn, he crafts the oak stick from the Bloodflayer ritual with the elemental heart of fire that he claimed from the destroyed Totem Horror.  When he completes his work on Auborean 6, Nathaniel holds his new weapon: a +1 aberration bane quarterstaff which also provides him a holy fire reserve feat (standard action, ranged touch, 1d6 holy fire damage per level of the highest prepared spell available to Nathaniel).  Nathaniel has carved the head of the staff to incorporate the glowing red heart of fire, which emits a constant glow of sparkling red motes (the glow can be suppressed at will as a free action).

Zara spends her time cleansing and fasting at the Temple of Anushar (Arinna) near Thaggha’s castle.  Aided by priestess Sranhi Wraithscorch, she completes a crafting project of her own: a belt of health +2.  Essedar busies himself with fletching a collection of 50 +1 aberration bane arrows for his sacred longbow.  Telenvor and Londario keep watch over the others during their crafting and pass the time sparring (which Londario excels at) or playing cards (which Tel gets the better of, by far). After three complete days devoted to their crafting, the projects are completed.

Tenanye 7: Unsure if their efforts to reach Chaal-Nathra will succeed or if they should concentrate on the troubles south at Ijruk’s Blind, the group heads to the tent of seeress Tessa Filariel for a divination.  They bring a warm basket full of “wyvern eggs” and other goodies from the Fortunate Feast, which the half-elf woman accepts gratefully along with their payment of gold.  She finishes off her egg and then casts forth a reading from her fetish bag.  In a deep meditative trance, she asks Nathaniel: “Where would you part Mirael’s Veil?  What do you wish to know?”  The young wizard asks what the correct path to victory is.  Tessa’s eyes fly open, but her vision is elsewhere.  “Take the longer, harder path on the stairs, or court disaster and avert…” she pauses, the lines in her face growing harder.  “Avert… no, the vision is clouded here.  The veil will not lift.”

Zara pays for another divination and asks Tessa to cast from her bag again.  The paladin’s question is: “Who is my enemy?”  Tessa casts her fetishes and her almond-shaped eyes roll back into her head once more.  “Kothaer Cradan.  He raises an army of death and madness at the Blind.  Use the rear entrance to gain surprise… but there is much sorrow to bear.”  The divination ends, but Tessa is confident that she supplied the true name of the blackguard who has evaded Zara at every step of her journey.  “Kothaer” is an almost perfect anagram of “Ethoar,” which convinces Zara that the source of the trouble in the Blind is the same as that which razed Caladere.

After thanking the seeress for her visions, the party heads south towards the palace to discuss their plans with King Thaggha and his advisors.  As they approach the palace, they weave in and out of the typical large crowd of orcs at the south end of Thran-Gaar.  One of the orcs brushes up against Nathaniel, who immediately suspects that he has been pickpocketed.  His suspicion is correct, but the thief immediately reveals himself as the actual orcs in the crowd scatter.  He changes shape from a nondescript orc into an emaciated, bat-winged figure with a face like a skeletal mockery of utter mourning.  The creature has a wide mouth and hooked claws, and it proudly brandishes the small alien pyramid that Nathaniel claimed from the nutrient pool under To’Jarak Quarry.  “Now it is time to paaaay for your meddlesome interference, mooortal meeeeaaat!”  rasps the creature, as it activates the pyramid.  A buzzing hum fills the air as the gaunt creature moves its hands over the pyramid, which seems to unlock and expand itself as the seconds pass.  The party moves into battle formation and each of them strike hard and fast at the pyramid, attempting to disrupt the creature’s work.  Unfortunately, none of them can break its concentration, and the buzzing hum rises to a deep bass rumbling.  Suddenly, a blood red circular wave of energy engulfs the five companions, sending them hurtling through extradimensional space.  After a long but indeterminate period of being sluiced through a tunnel of slick vein-like protrusions, they are spat out through a sack of oozing pink flesh into a horrid cavern.  The walls are covered in a bioluminescent green moss, but the ground and ceiling are also covered in bubbling, squirting sores and pustules which spit out blobs of smelly goo at random intervals.  Once their eyes adjust to the lower light, Telenvor is able to lead the party to a nearby sheltered alcove, which appears to be somewhat safe and out of the way of whatever denizens might inhabit this terrible corner of existence.  The five friends look at one another and resolve to find their way out of this trap, each thinking that they might have been abducted into the very place they sought to conquer: Chaal-Nathra, the City of Writhing Sorrow.

Falling Stars, Rising Hope