C3 Session 3

Synopsis

## Summary

The kobolds lead the party to a giant metal face with an open mouth. The kobolds announce that this is the place and slorp through the open mouth. Eck is able to follow, but nobody is able to find a way to open it from the other side. Ward finds abyssal ruins which, after ritual casting Comprehend Languages, he finds that it's a riddle:

>
> You can use me to say hello,
>
> And to say goodbye.
>
> I'm no good when I'm too dry,
>
> I can be quick or I can be slow.
>
> Either way, it's the only way to go.
>
>
>
>

Eck posits that the answer might be a wave, but it does not react to them waving at it. They then ponder if the answer is a kiss. After waffling for a bit, Ward sighs and gives the door a kiss, which does open it. On the other side is a damp rocky rim around a shaft that goes down, vines trailing down into the darkness. There is the distant sound of running water in the hole. Ward sends Henrietta down and, once they confirm there is a bottom, they begin climbing down the vines. On the way down, Dorean slips, and Ward catches her with Feather Fall. The party follows down into what appeared to be formerly a structure, but has since fallen into ruin and become overgrown. The kobolds say that they will lead the way, then all run off in different directions. Vera points east, where no kobolds ran, and declares that real adventurers go north. In the distance somewhere, a kobold shouts about the sniffer, and an otherworldly animal sound echoes from around the corner.

The find the remains of a bugbear in one of the chambers, chewed on recently, though it had been in the tunnels for a while. Eck determines that the bugbear was likely killed by an alligator or the like. Ward finds adventurer papers on the body, which he takes to report back. The corpse then bites him. The party dispatches it quickly, and pursue the kobolds shouting from the other direction. They find the boar, rotted and partially skeletal. Two of the kobolds are in its ribcage. Combat ensues, ending in an exploded toxic boar corpse. Dorean spies the alligator creature in the distance.

The party travels to the run down shrine. Notuna's symbol can be found on the overgrown shrine. Vera finds a hidden latch, where she finds a green shortbow and a black twine string for it. They return the way they came in order to continue their exploration. They encounter the huge alligator, which Vera talks to, explaining that they mean no harm, only that they are looking for one of their members who got lost. He says that as long as they don't get separated or get in his stream, he'll leave them alone in payment for getting rid of the annoying undead boar.

They enter another chamber, and Ward notices that the flora around the pool of water is the same as at home. He also gets the feeling of being watched. An undine bursts out of the water, laughing and asking if she spied Warden. She hasn't seen him since "that nastiness with [his] father," and asks about the guard he hired. Eventually she lets them go with a kiss on Ward's forehead. Once they are a sufficient distance away, he admits that he has no idea who that was.

In the next chamber they find old camping supplies, molding and rotted, presumably belonging to the bugbear they found earlier. Among the items they find a log book that seems to indicate the adventurer had injured his arm and was unable to climb back out. Someone had stolen his money and pushed him down. The final note in the log book was that there was something coming from the deep, referring to the stairs leading down from the room they are in. The party metaphorically cracks their knuckles and descends.

At the bottom of the stairs they find a large pit. Helion holds the journal, glowing with purple fire, in one hand with his arms spread wide. A purple orb surrounds him, magic arcing from it to a crystal prism with black veins running through it that is affixed to the ceiling. The arc then continues to another orb containing a draconic humanoid that is presumably Versilla. She is shackled and in distress. Helion summons a bunch of skeletons to prevent the party from interrupting the ritual. During the fight, Ward extracts Helion's name, discovering that he is actually Kinivrak. He whispers to the lantern on his sword, which lights up. He is eventually able to break Kinivrak's concentration on the spell, and the party is able to break the orb protecting him, causing him to fall unconscious.

The orb holding Versilla disappears, dumping her on the ground. She shakes herself a bit, casts Haste on herself, and jumps into the pit. After a moment, she teleports back up with Helion and creates a wall of fire to keep herself separate from the party. She wakes Helion, and both question what happened. The party explains what happened. Versilla destroys the journal, and she and Ward both explain that Helion was possessed by Kinivrak. The journal was his spellbook, and Versilla had previously removed the bookmark which acted as his phylactery. Helion was attempting to clean up after Versilla. Ward also explains that the party was given items from the tower in payment for finding the journal; Versilla accepts this as partial payment, offering to let them keep it and telling the party how to fix the broken items. She then teleports the group back to the surface.

The party returned to the Velvet Amphithere to rest. Luna has an unfortunate nightmare, running through the deep forests at the edges of her home as she ran with her mother and younger sister. Her father's voice calls for them in the darkness, drawing her mother to a halt. Luna tries to pull her along, but her mother simply looks terrified, a lost cause. She runs back the way they came; her sister refuses to leave her mother alone with their father, urging Luna to escape. She runs as fast as she can as a wall of light forms beside her and in front of her, and everything is suddenly gone as she falls from a cliff. She wakes up.

## NPCs

### Introduced

* Versilla
* Kinivrak

### Returning

* Three kobolds no longer in a trench coat
* Helion

## Items

* Kinivrak's journal (retrieved from Helion; returned to Versilla and destroyed)

 One-Shot C3 Sessions
Someshot 1 • Someshot 2 • Someshot 3 • Someshot 4 • Someshot 5
Goblin Birthday