Between There and Here

**"Between There and Here"** is the eleventh episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on May 2, 2023.

The session was DMed by TanisJr93 and hosted on his channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session ten*
The Liondrake descends, attacking Aboukir and Kahlan before biting Prints and picking her up; as it attempts to fly away again, Aboukir strikes it with his warhammer, knocking it to the ground, and Lazarus instinctually reaches out with his mind and telepathically connects with it. The creature growls at the Rogue, who tells it: "We did not mean to intrude upon your territory... we are trying to get to Zadash by the clearest route. We will leave you in peace unless there is something that we can do to help you in exchange for safe passage." The creature responds: "You have intruded on my land, and for that, the price is blood." Prints breaks free of her paralysis and tells the Liondrake in Draconic: "We mean you no harm! We just want to leave! Please don't make us hurt you." The creature responds: "Leave one as sacrifice, then, and the rest may leave."

Trouble responds by casting *Summon Beast* to conjure the corporeal form of a sheep that Aboukir telekinetically hurls away from the group; the Liondrake chases the sheep as Cash casts *Lesser Restoration* on Kahlan, who conjures a psionic protective field around the sheep to make it more durable as the party flees the clearing. Prints casts *Misty Step*, after which her skin begins to glow a vibrant shade of blue as the party runs for several minutes before hearing the Liondrake roar and spotting it flying after them, having realized that the sheep was illusory. Moments later, Aboukir and Trouble spot two bolts of light – one a vibrant white; the other a greyish cobalt blue – that streak through the sky and strike the Liondrake in the back before all three crash to the ground near the party, who realize that Sado and Grandmaster Qhore have returned.

Qhore releases a concentrated beam of ki energy into the body of the Liondrake, killing it as Aboukir recognizes the monk, having seen him telling stories at a tavern in Skelinaire; Trouble and Qhore discuss the philosophical nature of being old as the monk makes tea and Aboukir breaks down the Liondrake and prepares the meat to perfection. Prints declines the meal over concerns that eating the creature may constitute cannibalism, though Lazarus claims that lions and snow leopards are only very distant cousins since they are the same genus but not the same species. Over dinner, Sado recounts his activities since parting ways with the group: traveling with Qhore to the island of Frostbogen in Eiselcross, he completed his martial training at the Shrine of Chronurgic Studies, a location where time itself flows differently, allowing him to train for months within the Shrine as only three days passed in the outside world.

Qhore shows Trouble a vision of a sphere of pulsating darkness that causes her to feel as though her body is ripping itself apart; after she recovers, he advises her to let someone know if she feels a similar sensation, which will mean that she is too close to another Abyssal shard. He assures her that he is working with a group to find a solution, and Lazarus asks the monk to give the group's regards to Jean; Trouble then recounts to Sado the group's activities since he left, after which Qhore explains that Jean is negotiating "with a wizard friend of his." He advises the party to avoid the shadows as much as possible, and reiterates to Trouble the danger of allowing two Abyssal shards to come back into contact, after which he reads from a scroll and departs in a flash of light. The party then rests shortly to recuperate, and Trouble *druidcraft*s a floral bracelet of amaryllis and chrysanthemum for Sado, who admits that his training was not as productive or helpful as he'd hoped it would be.

The party then continues on into the Wertvoll Woods along the foothills of the Silberquel Ridge, and Aboukir leads the group along the trail he remembers as being the faster way across the mountain. The forest gradually grows more dense around the path as Sado shadows the group, and Aboukir eventually detects other movement in the trees ahead and to the side of the path, stopping the party to inform them that they are being stalked by a cluster of wolf spiders. Lazarus stealths into the forest on the opposite side of the trail and spots two spiders advancing toward the group, telepathically reaching out to Kahlan and Aboukir to warn them as Sado spots two more approaching from his side of the trail. Lazarus surreptitiously kills the first spider as Trouble casts *Produce Flame* at the second, which Cash kills by casting *Toll the Dead*; Prints kills the third by casting *Catapult* to hurl a rock at it, after which the fourth scurries past Sado, who kills it with a pair of ki-empowered punches.

Shortly after, Lazarus spots a draconic arachnid approaching Sado's position and telepathically alerts Aboukir, who uses his trunk to hurl a bundle of rocks and a dagger at the creature. Trouble summons the Spirit Totem of the Bear before casting *Mage Armor*, after which the Spiderdrake attacks Sado and Aboukir with its poison breath weapon; moments later, a second Spiderdrake attacks the group with its poison breath weapon, knocking Trouble unconscious and severely injuring Kahlan and Cash. Prints casts *Scorching Ray* and Cash casts *Guiding Bolt* at the second creature as Sado attacks the first with his Breath of the Dragon, lighting its oily secretions fire. Kahlan casts *Spare the Dying* to temporarily stabilize Trouble as Lazarus strikes the second Spiderdrake with a crossbow bolt, after which three more wolf spiders emerge from the forest, restraining the Rogue with webbing and biting him. With Sado's assistance, Aboukir delivers a devastating blow to the burning Spiderdrake with his warhammer, which adheres to the creature and drags it toward the ground.

*...continued in session twelve*
## Notes

* Cash was played by DM TanisJr93 for the session due to Zach experiencing technical difficulties with Discord.
* The session featured the second roll of **-1** in the campaign: Fresh Prints rolled a natural 1 on a Perception check with a -2 Wisdom modifier.
* The events of the session occurred on 23 Cuersaar 839 PD.
* Alternate titles for the episode include, but are not limited to:
	+ "A Bit of a Monstrosity"
	+ "Butterflies and Hair Loss"
	+ "The Road Less Traveled"
	+ "The Last Thing We Need"
	+ "Darker Things in Store"
	+ "No Way to Lighten It"

## Quotes

* "The ewe is for you!" – Lazarus Oldman
* "Eat your sheep!" – Trouble
* "Hello, everybody. I've finished my training." – Sado Thuliaga
* "All old people know each other." – Qhore
* "Ages are extremely subjective in this kind of world. What constitutes old to one race is but a fledgling with another. And sometimes that can make the world a weird place, but it also... makes the world a beautiful place full of mystery and wonder." – Qhore
* "What kind of teacher would I be if I just gave all the answers to everyone every time?" ‐ Qhore
* "He's great at punching people, but he is a *shit* judge of character." – Lazarus Oldman
* "One of the things I learned when I was quite young was, being a Kenku, you don't have words of your own, so you borrow meanings from elsewhere, and people have given flowers and herbs quite a great deal of meaning. Therefore: a gift." &ndash Trouble
* "Well, shit happens." – Trouble
* "I did *not* give up my afterlife for her to die now!" – Fresh Prints

## Episode

* Twitch
* [ YouTube]