Perrinor

Session 62: Death is a Portal (September 26, 2024)

Last session, our heroes investigated the mysterious chimney on the roof of Tertel’s Little Heavy, <:)3. After dropping a candle down and determining it was some kind of portal, they (well, mostly Maho) stayed their curiosity and bedded down for the night. Heph removed the mask from the remaining agent, Jörnann got covered in dolls, and Elias and Delilas took turns trancing and keeping watch. Thus ended a really long day.

Early the next morning, Elias received a Sending from Mort as Maho’s old house was about to be teleported to Ivalgo. Just before the sound of creaking wood and screaming faded into arcane wind, he heard Mort calling after Spraus to stay in the house. The teleportation completed, it seemed Spraus stayed behind to stop Heph from having to “clean up his mess”.

The party regrouped to plan their day. Rormir had a trickle of blood coming from his nose, something which Heph recognized as extra-natural. Hoping to maybe get reinforcements from the Nor’Southern Isles through the chimney, they tied a rope to Maho. She climbed down a bit of the way, then fell, emerging a moment later from a door in a windmill in the middle of lazy, endless fields of grain. The rest of the party fell after (with Delilas climbing carefully behind) and arrived some indeterminate amount of time later in the same place. Once again something was strange with Rormir, who was coming apart into pieces from cracks glowing with a pale green light. He was also about a foot taller.

The party puzzled about how to escape these fields, which seemed to stretch past a horizon that seemed both infinitely far and right within their grasp. Heph decided to put his theory of two heads being better than one to the test, and reached out to his mirror double, combining their intellect to piece together the rules of this realm. Through some changing of their perspective, the party took a few steps (or in the case of Maho a trek of several months) and arrived on the coast of a massive, turquoise sea, on the other side of which lay Elias’s home. There they met a boatman standing by a rowing vessel with exactly six seats. He described himself as a wayfarer, and the party decided to call him Darryl. He offered them free passage across the ocean, with the one condition that no matter what happens, they must keep rowing, keep looking straight ahead, and not stop for anything. After Elias threw down an illusory troll to serve as a landmark and Maho took a shell with the promise of returning it, the party got into the boat and set sail.

Some discussion took place where Delilas warned the party they must remain stealthy and unseen upon reaching land. And then, out in the middle of the water, Rormir wondered if this is what dying looks like for him. He stopped rowing, and immediately the calm, idyllic sea was rocked by storm. Visible only in flashes of lightning a gigantic feathered tentacle emerged from the salt spray and grabbed Darryl, dragging him beneath the waves. Emerging from the water, the party was now confronted with the massive, beaked face of a kraken, the words of Darryl echoing in their minds: “No matter what happens, keep rowing, keep looking straight ahead, and do not stop for anything”.

• The tentacles of the Kraken attack Heph, Elias, and Maho, grappling each of them
  • Rormir starts rowing, and asks Karrl to listen to the kraken and try to translate for him
  • The Kraken takes a legendary action to attack Rormir, and manages to grapple him as well
  • Heph continues rowing, periodically taking one hand off of the oar each stroke to pet the Kraken and say “good Kraken”, but it is unclear what effect if any it has
  • The Kraken takes another legendary action and flings Elias about 60 feet into the water, Elias taking his oar with him
  • Elias swims back to the boat and climbs back in and keeps rowing, and yells out “Darryl!”
  • The Kraken takes another legendary action and tries to attack Delilas, but Maho uses her Cloud Rune to redirect the attack against the tentacle holding Heph, which drops Heph and he lands back in his seat in the boat
  • Maho enters her giant form but fails to break the grapple, causing the back of the boat to sink a bit, and keeps rowing
  • The Kraken takes a legendary action to attack Heph, grappling him
  • Delilas continues rowing, explaining that when a man with pointy ears in the Fey Wild tells you to do a thing, you do it, and she ducks down under the seat
• The Kraken bites at Maho, as she is now looking juicy, and it snaps her up in its beak, and she is now swallowed
  • Rormir continues rowing while grappled, and he tries to tell the Kraken “fine, I’ll keep rowing, just let me row, it’ll be fine”
  • The Kraken takes a legendary action, trying to grab Rormir, but misses
  • Heph keeps rowing and petting the Kraken, but it doesn’t seem happy about it
  • The Kraken tries to squeeze Heph, but his armor is a bit too strong
  • Elias also ducks down, trying to hide, and keeps rowing
  • The Kraken successfully squeezes Heph, almost taking him out
  • Delilas continues to row
  • Maho, who is currently inside the Kraken, realizes she still has her oar, and imagines herself back in the open sea and continues rowing
• On the Kraken’s turn, Maho takes a bunch of damage from the stomach acid, and then the Kraken bites at Rormir, managing to succeed even through Elias’ silvery barbs, and swallows Rormir, who finds himself next to a meditating and rowing Maho
  • Rormir realizes he has he oar, and uses Shillelagh to make his oar magical, and then takes the row action with his magical oar, although he’s a bit chaotic
  • The Kraken tries to grab at Elias again, he tries to fend it off with Karrl’s help, but he is grappled anyway
  • Heph keeps rowing, continuing to try to pet the Kraken while doing so, and gets the sense that not everything is as it seems with this Kraken
  • The Kraken takes a legendary action to squeeze Elias, taking him down
  • Elias fails a death saving throw
  • Delilas looks conflicted when she sees this happen, and stops rowing to go rescue Elias from the Kraken, but she doesn’t manage to break Elias free, and ends up hanging from Elias as the Kraken lifts him in the air
  • Maho, still in the Kraken’s stomach, continues rowing and activates her Storm Rune, gaining a little insight into the future
• On the Kraken’s turn, Rormir and Maho both take some damage from the acid, taking Rormir down, but Maho is barely hanging on, then it bites up Heph, knocking him out and swallowing him
  • Rormir fails a death save
  • Karrl flies into the Kraken’s mouth, following after Rormir, and Rormir is able to sense him a bit somehow, despite being unconscious, and Karrl’s presence is soothing to Rormir, and Rormir is convinced that “dying” in the Kraken is really a portal
  • Heph succeeds on a death save
  • The Kraken grabs Delilas, successfully grappling her and pulling her away from Elias
  • Elias succeeds on a death save
  • Delilas is reaching out to Elias, and tries to break free of the tentacle but isn’t able to
  • The Kraken squeezes Delilas, knocking her unconscious
  • Maho, still hanging on somehow, summons the water Pumice Fist Monk from her sword and asks him if they will be okay, but he stares blankly at her and then disappears out through the Kraken’s mouth
    • She got a second chance at a roll from somewhere but still failed
  • Maho will end her extra effects and row as hard as she can
  • The acid burns Maho, taking her unconscious, with the rest of the party
• The party suddenly wakes up, groggy, tired, and with a bit of a headache, in the boat we were rowing in before
  • Darryl is sitting with us looking ahead, as we continue rowing through a perfectly calm sea
  • Rormir wakes up still slightly injured, and notices something changed inside him, like an itch on the back of his neck, like he has been marked
  • Inspecting his body, with Karrl’s help, and he notices Delilas also seems to be feeling the same weird sensation, and Darryl is observing both of them with an expression that could be displeasure
  • Rormir turns to Darryl and asks him if the Kraken really happened because he stopped rowing, and Darryl looks at him and explains his condition wasn’t met
  • Rormir asks what happens now, and Darryl says he’ll have to find out
  • Elias raises one hand, still rowing, and says he has to pee and asks when we will stop, Darryl reminds him to keep looking forward, and looking up he sees a landmass come into view
  • Elias sees massive cliffs begin to crest over the horizon, and an island coastline approaching in the distance, and faintly some black smoke curling up over the right end of the island
  • Elias grows silent and solemn and keeps rowing, Delilas looking over at him and Elias motions her to keep looking forward
  • Delilas tells Elias a few things have changed since he left, it is a lot less green than it was
  • Elias asks about the smoke, and Delilas explains that the Northrun didn’t take well to the torches they set to it, it has been ablaze constantly since she left
  • Elias grows solemn for real, and continues looking ahead, and explains that we are heading towards Dalin, one of the islands of the Nor’Southern Isles
  • Maho asks if it will be dangerous if Elias steps foot on the island since he is hunted, and he says that he should probably be stealthy
  • Heph notes it’s good that Elias has a bunch of disguises, prompting him to put up his hood
  • Maho asks about finding allies, and Elias says he trusts his sister, and if she says there are people to help, then there are
• Elias and Delilas discuss strategies for where to make landfall, Elias deferring to Delilas because he doesn’t know the place
  • Delilas says Northrun could be an option, but it’s dangerous to land there, Heph clarifying that it’s the area on fire
  • Heph asks Delilas if any of the outer islands are uninhabited, and she says we can land on an outer island and make our way to the mainland from there, we wouldn’t have to deal with spirits but we would have to deal with Kogar’s men
  • Elias seems upset that the bay is now called The Lord’s Bay
  • Rormir votes for the spirits, Heph is against that, but Maho points out it will likely be more subtle to approach that way
  • Some further discussion happens about the spirits, and Delilas explains that if we can give the spirits what they want we shouldn’t have too many issues
  • Everyone seems on board, even Heph, although rather reluctantly
  • Rormir asks when he can stop rowing, and everyone tells him to continue, and Darryl explains the monsters closer to the destination may be less of a problem than Bessie
• We head to make landfall at “Penisinsula”
  • The forest seems to be in a state of perpetual burning, it has been burning for months
  • Delilas explains we will be in the spirit’s domain once we set foot on land
  • The boat makes landfall, Darryl says we can stop rowing, and Elias and Heph immediately jump off the boat
  • Rormir approaches Darryl and apologizes for stopping rowing, but Darryl says you do not need to apologize to him for it
  • Elias turns to Delilas and said “you kept rowing right?”, and Delilas says it got a little hazy after Elias died, she thinks she may not have
  • Rormir asks Darryl if he has any other advice, then uses Druidcraft to create flowers for each person
  • Heph’s plant is a small cactus, Maho’s is a small cherry blossom tree, but still significantly bigger than the cactus, and Elias’ is a jacaranda tree, like the tree growing in Circle Grove, Delilas’ is also a jacaranda tree, but a little taller than Elias’
  • Next to all of these plants, an additional cashew tree sprouts, Heph asks Rormir whose it is but Rormir isn’t sure, he thinks it’s what the forest wants
  • Rormir’s plant is a flower, a white rose, with the biggest thorns, and the rose turns red, seeming like it is filling up with blood
  • These plants seem to cause some of the perpetual fire start to go out, and there is some beautiful greenery where charred leaves were before
  • Elias approaches his jacaranda tree, with Delilas, and apologizes to the forest, Delilas copying
  • Heph approaches one of the trees that was previously burning, and thanks it, while also inspecting it to see if he can tell anything about the magic that was afflicting it
  • He is able to tell that there is no magic, per se, there is just the natural law of the forest, and while the fire was set externally, it was part of the forest, some sort of defense mechanism, like a fever
  • Rormir inspects the cashew tree, but can’t tell who it is for
• Maho pulls Rormir aside, and telling him she has learned some patience, starts by asking him why he stopped rowing
  • He can’t fully explain it, but he thinks he was afraid
  • Maho explains she will let it go, but Rormir needs to consider how his actions will affect others
  • Rormir is thoughtful and considers her words carefully, and feels like he is starting to form some connection, and a bit ashamed that it had to happen
• Elias flips his cloak around to be a gray amorphous texture that matches the smoke, and walks towards the greenery of the forest
  • Delilas is still holding Elias’ hand, and walks along beside him, seeming very affected by the group “dying”
  • Walking towards the greenery, the flames ahead seem to go out, forming a path, and the group follows the path laid out by the forest
  • Elias and Delilas are leading the group, followed by Maho, with Rormir and Heph taking up the rear
  • Heading deeper into the forest, away from the coastline, the greenery becomes browner, blacker, and then charred, Elias seeming to get a bit lost, and we find ourselves in a ring of burning forest again
  • The group turns to Rormir for help, and Rormir thinks he can find the way in the direction the group wants to head, but the burning trees make him worry that the spirits are starting to become more cautious of our presence
  • Heph approaches a burning tree to see if it is real fire, and it definitely seems to be
  • Rormir approaches a tree, and touching its root, gets burned a little but casts Guidance, trying to give the forest the ability to verify our intentions
  • Elias steps forward, arms outstretched, and says out loud that we mean the forest no harm
  • Heph, meanwhile, casts cure wounds on the tree Rormir touched, and as Elias approaches another tree, the flames appearing to not be hot, and the flames on Rormir’s tree also appear to cool
  • A breeze blows through the trees, blowing our hair and clothes, and clearly pointing in a specific direction
  • Elias places his hand on the tree he was approaching and thanks the forest, then grabs Delilas’ hand and follows the breeze
  • Rormir suggests that everyone should grab hands, and Elias yells out “that means you too Ana”, a tree turns into Ana and Elias smiles and holds out his free hand to her
  • Everyone joins hands and heads off into the breeze, Heph starts singing Kumbaya, but Elias gives him a disdainful look, and Rormir tells him to ask for Guidance next time, and a branch of a tree swats his head
• Continuing through the forest, Elias is able to navigate around some warehouses, and the forest starts to thin out, as if we are approaching the edge of the forest
  • Despite being near the edge of the forest the spiritual energy seems higher here, the trees are taller and the flames are hotter, but we can see the jacaranda tree in the distance
  • The forest appears to be asking for one more sacrifice before letting us out of the forest
  • Rormir casts Guidance again, and pulling out his dagger he cuts his hand and makes a blood sacrifice to the forest, which seems to appease the forest a bit, but it doesn’t let up yet
  • Delilas asks if anyone has anything Fey, and Heph pulls out the hourglass we picked up from the owlbear den, and notices the engraving on the bottom is handwritten and looks familiar to something we’ve seen recently
  • Heph asks around, and Rormir and Elias both notice it has the same handwriting as the sign for Tertel’s Little Heavy
  • Elias asks about giving the hourglass up, but Heph is hesitant, and Maho pulls out a bottle of wine and inscribes some runes on it, offering it friendship, a good life, and the best of winds for the future to come, and places the bottle in front of a tree
  • Elias takes one last swig from his old bottle of wine, and places it down next to Maho’s to try to assist
  • The forest seems very happy with this sacrifice, and we can hear celebrations and the aroma of the wines is blown towards us, the forest seeming to invite us to join in partaking in the wine
  • Elias grabs his bottle and takes a swig, and hands it to Delilas to take a swig as well
  • Rormir produces wine from his Alchemy Jug, Heph and Maho filling their cups from it, and Elias brings over more bottles and encourages Maho to drink more
  • The wine feels stronger than wine we’ve had before, and we feel warmth suffusing through our body, and it makes the group excited and happy, and makes everyone feel loose and open, and in this moment we can let loose and enjoy and not be stressed about what comes next
  • As this feeling comes over us, a path of green trees leading directly forward appears, and past the edge of the treeline we see a wide open courtyard with cobblestone ground, with taller rough-hewn vertical stones arranged at even intervals around the edge, a number of Eladrin people singing and dancing in a circle around the tree, celebrating the blossoms

Referenced in

• Calendar