Session 3: Venture into Hallownest

Venture into Hallownest is the fourth session of Axe-idents in Heels, and the third session of the campaign. It follows the first quest given to the Axe-idents Crew, as they travel to Hallownest..

## Session 3: Venture into Hallownest

### Previous Session

Session 2: Negotiations and Joining the Guild

### Next Session

Session 4: Puzzles and Exterminating a Moth

### **Major Events:**

It appears that the Festival of Spirits, nicknamed “Halloween”, is upon us, as the guild members take on appearances of humanoid monsters and the dojo transforms into an ancient, creepy temple, as they do every year at this time. Pumpkins have appeared everywhere, and the trees have turned yellow or orange as their leaves fall. Raz takes this opportunity to mock the guild members, saying that they’ve turned into what they are inside (the monsters that shot her friend), and luckily, they’ve gotten used to her by now and don’t kill her.

One of the pumpkins becomes possessed by one of the twelve lords of the Underworld, only known as the Pumpkin King (scaring Brand out of her wits, as she was holding said pumpkin at the time). Felix, the guildmaster, explains that the Pumpkin King appears every year at this time and issues a quest to the guild, usually to run some errand or investigation in his part of the Underworld (Hollownest), one of the least dangerous parts of the Underworld.

This year, the Pumpkin King offers a quest to the party to prove ourselves, promising great rewards.  Using a portal in the form of a magical pumpkin, he transports us into Hallownest (which appears to be a large cave system) to investigate a sickness that has been plaguing the citizens of the Underworld. We kill a large bug with a strange orange substance within it that bit Zasag, leaving the blades that stabbed the bug covered with the hissing orange liquid that, when rubbed off, leaves a residue. We then find a note as well as carvings on the wall (only Brand can read the carvings, as they are written in Celestial, which is similar to Primordial). The note says “I found it, I found it, the sickness is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_” (the bottom half is missing), and the carvings say “Kill the heretics”.

We also aid a Grung (frog person) in fighting more bugs. We discover he is also there to find the source of the sickness, and he has the other half of the note. Together, we confirm that the sickness is in fact the Curse of the Moth, inflicted by a glowing moth god known as the Radiance. It causes the minds of the infected to be overtaken and forced to obey the Radiance (ironically like moths to a flame), which involves killing the so-called heretics, who include the bugs that don’t worship it. Apparently, the Radiance wants to take over Hollownest.

We converse for a while, talking about methods of defeating such a god, including requesting help from Shar’loth (the Lizard Lord and the Grung’s patron, who is currently sealed away by a group of heroes) and other Eldritch gods. Shar’loth believes reality is entertainment, and opposes the gods who want to destroy the world because in his eyes, they would be destroying said free entertainment. Raz tries to sass out the Warlock by insulting his and the other Eldritch gods, causing Shar’loth to appear (apparently he’s not sealed away anymore? According to him he took it personally) and almost kill the entire party. Raz gets knocked unconscious and the party finds out she’s a Changeling, as she reverts back to her original form. Brand exchanges some words with the Lizard Lord and manages to keep Raz alive, but is told that the next time Raz insults him, he will not hesitate to strike her down.

We continue down the caves and come to a crossroads where there is bright light coming from one of the tunnels.

### **Appearances:**

#### Party Members:

* Brand
* Sally
* Sparrow
* Raz
* Zasag

#### NPCs:

* Felix
* Azrael
* Noria
* Eva
* Dexter
* The Pumpkin King (First Appearance)
* Grung (First Appearance)
* Shar’loth (First Appearance)