Session 4-25-09

Maia 12, 23CR -- Karasuthra, the Beastlands:

After their encounters at the Temple of the Forest Hart, the six companions head back towards the rushing river and the Monkey King's demense.  On the bridge, they spy a familiar figure: the fey hunter Sweetgrass, mounted on his macetail behemoth.   The hunter hails Kaelin and requests a parley, to which Kaelin agrees.  The tall, lanky fey dismounts and approaches, his white-blonde hair blowing in the breeze.  He peers at Kaelin through almond-shaped grey eyes.  "Please forgive my hasty attack the last time we met.  Your family's reputation is not what it once was, and I acted out of anger."  The crusader meets his gaze evenly, studying Sweetgrass' strange expression.  "What of my family and its reputation?" Kaelin asks. 

"Well, you carry something on your person that has begun to put out a call to our kind," says the hunter.  "A family heirloom, perhaps?  It is no matter, the specifics of the item.  Your concern should be your family heritage, and the debts or responsibilities you may have inherited.  Ascodel d'Astrikos of the House of Stars made a grave error, a rash bargain, and trapped many innocent fey in Androlynne... the abyssal realm of Pale Night, the mother of demons.  It is not my place to say more."  Kaelin pulls a pouch from his codpiece and reveals the heirloom in question: it is a bright purple many-faceted oval/spheriod cut gem, with tiny motes of light flickering within.  Sweetgrass stares at the gem, and understanding dawns on his face.  "This was your father's?"  Kaelin nods.  "Your house's fortunes were laid low when Ascodel struck the bargain with Pale Night," he continues, "and redeeming its name may fall to you, as this gem has."  The hunter mounts up and prepares to leave.  "Do not expect many friendly welcomes from the fair folk.  The name d'Astrikos carries little weight but shame now.  Fight in the name of freedom for the children of Androlynne, if you would be worthy to carry that bauble, Kaelin of Gaia."  Sweetgrass hails the others in farewell, and spurs his ankylosaurus away into the brush, leaving Kaelin to ponder what he has said.

Before Sweetgrass departs, he shows Acacia the technique of tapping the numerous beastlands green-vines that grow in the jungle.  She harvests some vine sap for Kaelin in a ceramic jug.  "Their sap is undoubtedly useful in crafting dreamdraughts," Kaelin declares after sniffing and sampling the viscous, sweet green sap.  A short hike to the hills beyond the river leads the party directly into the green-gold environs of the jungle, where the Monkey King soon bounds out to greet them.

"Good friends, you have returned so quickly, and with success.  I see that your hearts are somewhat heavy, you two," he says teasingly, pointing at Jack and Acacia, "so I will lift spirits with a game of skill and learning, as promised.  Acacia, are you prepared to test yourself and learn the secrets of the monkeys?"  The Monkey King looks up at the high waterfall that feeds the rushing river.  "We shall jump from one slippery rock to the next until we reach the top, and then tumble back down to the bottom safely, without a scratch or hardship!"  The king leaps forward, with Acacia close behind, though the gnome labors to keep up with the spring-legged ape.  Rockbounder and Altaer also join in, and the goliath has little trouble keeping pace with the Monkey King.  "You were well-named, Rockbounder!" says the king, grinning with his whole face.  Altaer stumbles on the first jump and falls backward into the foaming water, but his armor of preparedness allows him to float comfortably on the surface and watch the action.

The Monkey King leads Acacia and Rockbounder from jump to jump, scaling the slippery rocks of the waterfall effortlessly.  Acacia does her best to keep up with the two better leapers, and she reaches the top only a few seconds after they do.  "Now, back to the bottom!  We will tumble from rock to rock, never ceasing motion as we slide down the falls!" cries the king, jumping headlong into the thunderous water.  This time it is Acacia who has the advantage over Rockbounder, and she completes the downward circuit with extreme skill and acumen, flipping and twisting in the raging currents of the falls and finally diving down into the deep pool at the bottom where Altaer is still floating lazily.  The others, watching from the safety of the cliff walls nearby, applaud her efforts.  "That was well done, indeed," laughs the Monkey King, "and now I bestow upon you the secrets of the monkeys!  Your climbing and tumbling skills shall increase forevermore with this secret knowledge."  Acacia tries a few new tumbling moves and climbing tricks, and it seems that the ordeal has increased her skills significantly (bonus feat gained: Secrets of the Monkeys, +2 bonus to Climb and Tumble checks).

That evening, the Monkey King and his entourage host and entertain the six companions in the jungles of Karasuthra.  Fresh fruits and jungle vegetables are passed around and shared by all, and Jack shares a generous bud from his pouch of green with the King, who is most appreciative.  The feytouched warrior spends the rest of his evening deep in a calligraphy project, attempting to capture the essence -- or at least, some of the essence -- of the Queen of Nightmares in a surreal, disturbing ink drawing.  Rockbounder teaches the King and his monkeys the goliaths' traditional sport of Goatball, and they all have several marvellously entertaining rounds of throwing and catching the oddly-shaped ball while balancing on river rocks in the fast-moving current.  Altaer watches on curiously and offers his occasional advice and opinion on the game, but Rockbounder soon tires of his taunts and grabs the sorcerer in an iron grip.  "Now you're going to take a proper bath," he says, forcibly stripping Altaer out of his bouyant armor and tossing him headfirst into the cold water.  Sputtering, he swims to the surface and climbs onto the shore, whereupon Ayo politely requests that the monkeys have a poo-throwing contest with poor Altaer as the target!  He's too quick, though, and translocates out of the path of the flying monkey-poo before impact.  After the conclusion of the evening's shenanigans, the companions gather around a small fire and take a long, pleasant rest under the jungle canopy.  Nothing disturbs their slumber.

Maia 13, 23 CR:

The day is consumed by the long journey up from Karasuthra through the lower layers of the Beastlands back to the gate to Ygdrassil.  The party makes good time, enough to take a short side-expedition to gather some crafting ingredients.  Acacia finds a patch of cloying, purplish jungle trumpet nightshade, (worth 170 gp sold as is, or 1,700 gp towards Craft: poisonmaking).  Rockbounder is successful at tracking down and bagging a beastlands dire elk, and he spends several hours that evening cleaning and stripping its carcass of all edible meat and parts (70 gp).  He also claims a beastlands dire elk hide (800 gp towards Crafting).  Ayotunde discovers a field of beastlands black poppies, an entheogenic plant whose seeds are useful in dreamdraughts for Kaelin (550 gp for Craft: dreamdraughts), and whose roots and leaves are useful to her own potion-making (550 gp value for Brew Potion).  By late evening, they have reached the middle layers of the Beastlands and returned through the rune-gate there to Ygdrassil.  Kippenvall, their loyal Ratatosk guide, is quickly summoned by whistle and escorts them back across the World Ash's mighty branches to the Sigil Gate.  The heroes choose not to rest on Ygdrassil, given its strange temporal properties, and instead agree to sleep soundly upon their return to the City of Doors.

Maia 14, 23 CR:

In preparation for the next leg of their journey -- an exploratory trip to Rime Thuras, where they hope to recover the Demon-Quelling Sword from Arbrozzar's minions -- the party returns to the Sylvan Glades Inn in the Merchants' Ward of Sigil to shop, equip themselves and collect their thoughts after the mind-bending encounter with the magic of the Exile... a magic that seemed to both bind the Wild Hunt aspect of Jenoic at the Temple of the Forest Hart and also tug at the fears and emotions of those who interacted with the Exile's binding-stones.

Rockbounder and Ayotunde take a stroll to the Library of the Lady in the morning, where they research two important rituals.  First, Ayo learns that enchantments can be transferred from one magic item to another with a ritual scroll (crafted by a 7th level caster or above with the Scribe Scroll feat, base price 1,000 gp) of transfer enchantment.  The scrolls are commonly available in Sigil and on many worlds, including Gaia.  She is distracted with concern for her troubled friends Jack and Acacia, and mulls over ways to break the Exile's influence over their hearts.  Meanwhile, Rockbounder searches the stacks for information about weapon-bonding rituals for swords such as the one he wields.  He learns of a difficult and challenging ordeal where the bonded wielder must stand in a raging river for a full day, holding the weapon against the current and maintaining upright balance for the whole of the day without rest or interruption.  This seems an appropriate test for his abilities, so he makes a series of mental notes about the ritual, committing it to memory in hopes of bonding a soulforged weapon when the right moment arrives.

Altaer secures the use of forge facilities at a dwarf metalsmith's shop in the Merchants' Ward known as the Dwarven Ingot, whose proprietor is a greedy but skillful metalsmith called Durik.  While in Sigil, Altaer may Craft Arms & Armor as he wishes for 100 gold pieces/month (Altaer paid 200 gp for access through the end of Rhoslyn, 23 CR).  He learns of a fiery tribe of Azer -- dwarf-like elemental beings -- who might be able to share more secrets of fire with him.  However, the creatures are notoriously lawful and quite difficult to bargain with... but should he wish to, they may be found in the Hive Ward.  Altaer immediately sets to work on several crafting projects that needed completion.  He and Acacia craft a magical kukri together, and after purchasing a transfer enchantment ritual scroll (1000 gp, plus 50 gp/caster level of the item having its enchantment transferred) they perform the ritual to leech the magic from the sword of the planes found on Ygdrassil.  After sacrificing the necessary components to complete the ritual, Acacia's new kukri is a valuable and sought-after kukri of the planes (DMG 228).

Jack spends the day fully absorbed in his calligraphy craft, and in the evening his strange vision of the Queen of Nightmares seems finished.  He takes the piece to a metal engraving studio and pays 800 gp for services, to have the piece stamp-engraved into a solid silver, black-etched plate.  When the work is complete, it is both disturbing and impressive, capturing the amoebic and aberrant essence of the Queen of Nightmares while also subtlely invoking a writhing, fertile darkness.  The craftsmanship Jack paid for is superb, and he profusely thanks the elven crafters of Silverymoon Engravings in the Merchants' Ward for their excellent and rapid work.

Ayo returns with Rockbounder from the Library of the Lady and retires to her room for a vision quest.  Seeking answers about the Exile's magic and its influence over her friends' hearts, she lapses into a deep trance and receives a vision: she is trapped within a rusty, ragged-edged metal cube, with jagged openings all along the walls of the cube so she can see outside.  Beyond the metal cube lies a verdant landscape of fields and rolling hills that Ayotunde recognizes as her home in the Three Vales on Gaia.  She is taken with a momentary longing to return to those green fields, but then regains her senses and achieves lucidity.  All is silent within the jagged metal cube, except for the clinking sound of hundreds of sharp metal chains suspended from all sides within the cube.  Ayo is trapped within this sea of chains, but as she moves about and the razor-chains cut her skin, she notices that her spilled blood seems to corrode the walls of the cube, causing them to melt and buckle.  She takes a chain in hand and slashes her arms open, intent on bleeding herself dry.  Gouts of lifeblood pour from her arms, and Ayo begins to lose consciousness as the cube's walls buckle inward and melt away.  The metal of the cube begins to implode and entrap Ayo in a crush of a million cruel barbs and rusted blades, tearing apart her insides.  She feels herself torn apart slowly by the writhing metal and then the vision ends... she comes awake with a start, safe in her private room in the Glades.  The pain of the vision lingers, and for a few moments she has difficulty moving due to the blinding agony, but it passes quickly as she returns to the waking world.  She soon calls attendants to draw a warm bath and recovers from the ordeal of the vision.

After sharing the details of her vision with Kaelin, Ayo retires for the evening.  Kaelin, armed with little more than intuition and a desire to see his friends' hearts free of sorrow and despair, decides to take matters into his own hands.  Using beastlands black poppies, walker's wisdom mushrooms from Ayo's lands in the Furrow, and sap of the green vine, he spends the day brewing 3 doses of dreamdraught of psychic liberation (wondrous item, 600 gp each).  He, Jack and Acacia take to a private room in the Glades to imbibe Kaelin's concoction, where Kaelin hopes to share a vision journey with the two and use his skills as a courtier to draw out the Exile's psychic poison, or whatever it is, from his friends' hearts.  They each imbibe, and Kaelin "prays" to Gwardo (who is known to dislike direct prayer, so it's more of a "guys talking" sort of thing, really), while Jack prays aloud to Jenoic and silently to the Dark Huntress for the strength to walk this path.  Acacia holds Beory, Elhonna, Pelor and rest of the Old Faith pantheon in her mind as she quietly prays for guidance. 

Both Jack and Acacia seek freedom from the odd tug at their hearts which has taken hold since they helped to unbind the Aerial Hunt in the Beastlands; as they begin to journey, Kaelin's social skills as a courtier help to shape the vision quest, and when the vision takes hold and the room around them fades away, they are trapped within the same jagged metal cube that Ayo found herself inside alone.  Together, they each bleed and watch the cube implode around each other, even as the vision of the outer-world of precious desires and true happiness explodes into red pain.  The cube again turns inside itself, forming a star pattern of torturous metal and pushing inside each of their bodies as the others watch.  Worse than the pain of feeling such a thing oneself is watching it happen to one's comrades-in-arms, for certain, but both occur simultaneously.  There is a falling-away, like the shattering of a world, and each knows instinctively that surrendering to the fall is the only way to freedom.  Yet the precious and the true call out to hold fast, and a test of wills begins.  Acacia pulls free of her despair and cuts the heart-string of the Exile, exploding in agony as the world collapses into merciless blades around her... and then she is free and awake in Sigil once again, her heart beating regularly and a gentle breeze blowing through the boughs of the Glades' trees.

Jack cannot seem to overcome the vision of doom that the Exile has planted in his mind... the seed is germinating, the vision of loss taking hold, so that despite his lack of care for personal glory all comes to ruin after his passing, and none of his toil matters.  He sinks deeper, and the blades twist in his flesh, opening him and showing Jack his own gore.  A stiff breeze blows then, and Kaelin falls past, laughing as if listening to a joke that only he can hear.  Jack catches a glimpse of the sun as it glints off Kaelin's couatl feather, making it irridescent to his vision, and he grabs Kaelin's outstretched hand as he passes by.  With a violent lurch, Jack is pulled free and falls with his friend, out away from the collapsing cube and into darkness.  The two come awake next to Acacia, and Jack feels the bonds around his heart fall away, and freedom of mind and purpose restored.  Kaelin's ritual and dreamdraught experiments are a success, and he seems to have purged all influence of the Exile from his friends. They enjoy a fine dinner and warm baths to celebrate the occasion, taking pleasure in rest and company until sleep comes.

Maia 15, 23CR:

While the others prepare to depart for Ygdrassil and the Iron Wastes, Acacia goes shopping for a quiver of Elhonna to compliment her new weapon Thaas.  While shopping, she is approached by a tiefling courier with a message from Rule-of-Three at the Styx Oarsman: he requests their presence for a brief meeting, a debriefing, a short session.  Acacia nods and returns to her friends at the Glades with the information, and they quickly complete their preparations and walk over to the Oarsman to meet their githzerai informant. He greets the in the privacy of the back room (#3, as always) and presents Acacia with a sealed vellum envelope filled with papers. 

"Greetings, welcome, and salutations!  I am pleased you have returned from the Beastlands, and that you still intend to take the fight to the frost giants in Rime Thuras.  However, there is a slight complication, an additional need, one more objective that you might accomplish for me.  Your sneak now holds a series of reports by me addressed to the drow called Lissondra, who I am sure you recall, remember, and are now reminded of.  I require your assistance to deliver these reports to her, and to receive a report from her to me in turn.  Also, I am told by Lissondra that she has additional information to share with you, and you alone, regarding the nature of the Gaian goddess Irindix and her Threefold Sundering.  You are to enter the Demonweb itself, find Lissondra's temple and library facilities, and exchange reports with her.  I know you are in a hurry, and I also know you are more than capable of such an undertaking without further advice from me, so I shall not take up any more of your valuable time.  Lolth's pact must be disrupted ere she draws more material worlds permanently into her Demonweb.  Goodbye, best of luck, and return soon."

Though the idea of a mission into the Demonweb Pits -- Lolth's personal dominion and the 66th layer of the Infinite Abyss -- is somewhat daunting, the heroes' thirst for knowledge on the nature of Irindix and the movements of the drow on Gaia is strong.  Several of them have misgivings about Rule-of-Three's origins and motivations, but the githzerai scholar has been helpful and considerate thus far. "We'll do this for you," says Jack at last, "and we'll get the answers we want."  Rule-of-Three nods politely and gestures towards the door.  The Iron Wastes await, and the heroes know that their Ratatosk allies can guide them quickly to a rune-gate on Ygdrassil that will deposit them close to Arbrozzar's fortress on that layer.  They depart Rule-of-Three's company, quickly make their way to the Hive Ward, and once again on the great tree in the Night Market they cross over from Sigil's streets and alleys to the mile-wide branches of the World Ash.

After a long afternoon's journey accompanied by Ratatosk guides, the group finds itself at the edge of the rune-gate to Ygdrassil, located at the far end of a high branch.  The six adventurers step through together and Altaer activates his orb of environmental adaptation, expecting below-freezing temperatures and blinding snow in Rime Thuras, the eternal winter of Kostchtchie, Demon Lord of Frost Giants.  Indeed, as the heroes touch and breath in the Abyss for the first time, that is exactly what assails them.  However, thanks to Altaer's adaptable magic, they are quite comfortable amidst a 30' radius globe of peace in a raging snowstorm.  Acacia seeks the path, soon finding her way across a snowy valley of drifts and into a shallow canyon, flanked on both sides by squat towers approximately 40' tall.  As the party approaches the towers, a sharp, ringing hunting-call echoes across the canyon walls and a large white dragon swoops down to attack!  At the same time, two large, hulking frozen corpses -- undead creatures known as the entombed -- rise from the cold drifts and shuffle towards the party, hoping to drag them down and freeze their bodies.  The dragon breathes a freezing cloud of ice down on the heroes as it swoops across their formation, but Rockbounder leaps away to engage it as it turns and wheels about.  Kaelin destroys one of the entombed with his divine surge, shattering it to bits, and the other is melted down by a furious flame strike from Ayotunde.  After Acacia and Rockbounder weaken the dragon with a series of strikes, Altaer finishes it off with a volley of admixtured scorching rays.  The dragon crashes to the snowy ground, burnt to death by sorcerous fire.

The party's main objective, Icestone Tower, is located at the top of a hill through the canyon across a shallow snowfield ahead.  More guardians of Arbrozzar certainly await them in the tower, but if they can be overcome, the party's prize might indeed be a Demon-Quelling blade of considerable power.  They form ranks and march ahead, determined to overcome whatever challenges lie ahead.

The Threefold Sundering