Session 74: The Gang Commits Vandalism in a Gated Community

Nan guides the group down near the northern coast. They land in a field of obsidian, with no town in sight. Nan removes her disguise and announces that a seeker of the truth returns. Several armed people emerge from hiding in the terrain. The leader, Bet, recognises Nan but asks to prove that she is the real one. She recites some information about his family that outsiders wouldn’t know, which convinces him. After she assures them that Cho and Vojta can be trusted, the militia shepherd them through a veil of illusion that hides the village. Beyond is a green field and blue sky, totally unlike the Lifeless Valley, with a rustic village inhabited by pale humanoids similar to Nan.

Bet explains that a few days ago a stranger showed up disguised as Rath, another truth seeker, and killed some of the inhabitants. They go to the temple in the centre of town, where four caskets are on display. One is open, showing the body of Gi, one of the Daughters of Sa. Nan is upset that she didn’t return earlier to prevent this. She explains to Cho and Vojta that the Daughters of Sa are the leaders of the town, who are born with magical abilities. She then seeks out Von, another Daughter of Sa and her old mentor. Von makes Cho and Vojta store away their weapons, then invites the group to discuss over dinner later.

As they wait for evening, Cho gets some wood from the House of Craft to build a hearthfire. Nan finds out that the House of Craft also lost their leader to the mysterious attacker. She explains that all children of this town are raised in the House of Hearts. When they turn 16, they choose to join the house of Crafts, Arms, Wheat, or Flesh, or to head out in search of the truth. When Cho lights his hearthfire, it manifests as gold due to the presence of Anaereth, invigorating him more than usual. As Vojta meditates, he senses that the vegetation here is magically created and that the sun in the sky seems to be a celestial object. When asked about this, Nan says that according to the scriptures this oasis appeared to Sa when she travelled here. As it becomes dusk, the sun doesn’t set but becomes crescent, like the moon.

When the group gathers with Von for dinner, Nan tells her about her journey, about living with the aarakocra and later joining the Gang. She then shows the information about Sa in the books from Disiver and San’edhe. Von is surprised that her own name is mentioned in one of the passages. When Nan says that they must enter the temple, Von explains that a lock stone passed down through the Daughters of Sa is needed to open it, and the intruder stole this stone when he killed Gi. He initially offered to trade the truth for the stone, then attacked when they refused. He fought with a flaming sword and was resistant to magic. Nan speculates that the intruder was Disiver and feels guilty that she must have led him to them.

After dinner, the four of them agree to visit the temple anyways. Von leads them to a stone spire in the wasteland. The sun shines through a crack in the spire, landing on the location of the invisible town. On a platform before it stands a large stone bowl with the black ram skull of Etreath floating above it. Von says it appeared there a few weeks ago. Nan suggests that Vojta should touch the skull. When he does, he disappears. While Cho and Nan discuss whether to touch it as well, he reappears. He explains that it teleported him to Etreath’s temple, near Obscurity’s base. That temple now has a white eagle stone that teleports back here.

They move on to the entrance of the temple. There is a slot in the wall where the key stone would go. For lack of the key, Cho tries to channel his divine rage into the hole, but it doesn’t respond. They figure that they’ll have to get the key from Disiver, so they decide on Nan’s suggestion of making some noise. Nan says goodbye to Von and the Gang teleports back to Eximum.

When they encounter the two demon guards in the palace, Cho immediately draws his sword. The demons respond by summoning six shadowy spectres that swarm around Cho, draining his strength. Vojta weakens the shadows with a wave of frost, followed by Nan annihilating them with a psychic blast. Both demons then fly into the air while one disorients Cho with a psychic attack and the other barfs a necrotic miasma across the group. Vojta turns into an air elemental and chases the toxic demon while Nan shoots the psychic demon with arcane bolts. The demon bonks her with its magic staff in return, knocking her out. Cho shakes off the confusion and starts throwing javelins at the psychic demon while Vojta wing slaps it.

The demons fly higher into the air to avoid the javelins. Vojta chases and batters them some more, but is then knocked out of the air by the toxic demon, to land on the ground in human form. The demons call for them to surrender, but Cho blows them off by throwing another javelin that misses the psychic demon but hits the toxic one behind him. Vojta then brings Nan back to consciousness with a powerful healing surge. The psychic demon bonks her again right away, but she withstands and punches it in return, to no effect except comedy. While they’re distracted, Vojta hits both demons with a wave of frost, causing the psychic demon to plummet from the air frozen and shatter on the ground. The toxic demon turns to flee, but Nan quickly riddles his body with arcane bolts.

The gang rests here for a while before continuing their plan. In the meantime, they notice the statue of Ti’ireth vibrating periodically. When rested, Nan asks the Ti’ireth version of Disiver whether he told the prime Disiver about her village. He clarifies that he doesn’t actively share information but that the main Disiver knows what he knows. Nan shoots some eldritch blasts at the vault, causing some minor damage. Several demons around the other keeps stir into motion in response. They figure that attacking the vault will antagonize them all, so they return to Disiver Prime’s palace. There, they see a serpentine creature with many arms and wings emerging from the sky to wrap around the statue of Ti’ireth. Cho speaks to it. It claims that it works for Ti’ireth to protect the statue, but will not interfere otherwise.

Cho starts by breaking down a stone pillar to crush the nearby wall. When the serpent demon doesn’t protest, he takes out the adamantine breaching hammer and starts smashing the other pillars. Nan does the same, shooting holes in the stone with her eldritch blast. One by one, they flatten all the pillars and walls, until nothing except the statue of Ti’ireth is left standing. Right as Cho dominoes the final series of pillars, Disiver and the steel predator teleport into the destroyed palace. He sighs in exasperation at the mess and calls the serpent demon to his side, mentioning that it owes him a favour. Nan asks whether he stole the lock stone and Disiver confirms it.

Before he can say anything else, Nan shoots him with several magic bolts. The arcane ones strike true, but a ring on Disiver’s finger absorbs the radiant bolt. Vojta summons a whirlwind on top of Disiver and the predator, but they both resist being sucked into it. The serpent surges forth to claw at Vojta while the predator mauls Cho, but Cho ignores the predator to slash Disiver with Kolo’s sword instead. Disiver teleports to Nan, slashes her with his burning sword, then delivers a powerful necrotic punch, knocking her out. Vojta immediately revives Nan with a healing surge, then turns into an earth elemental. Nan shoots Disiver’s ring with an arcane blast, breaking it, then hits him with a fully effective radiant bolt. Cho chops Disiver in the back, but the predator deals two bloody blows to him in turn. Disiver shoots Cho with a trio of magic missiles. He shrugs off the first two with superhuman effort, but is knocked out by the third. Disiver then teleports behind Nan and slashes her in the back, knocking her out again. Vojta retreats to the edge of the palace, using the whirlwind to blocks his enemies’ advance, but the serpent shoots magic bolts that blow holes in his stone body. Out of desperation, he summons a purple shield from Etreath to absorb a mortal blow.

Standing over Cho and Nan, Disiver calls for Vojta to surrender, claiming that he was hired to impede, not to kill. Vojta reluctantly dispels the whirlwind and returns to human form. Disiver lets him heal the other two back to consciousness, then explains that he has done some research over the past few days. He doesn’t want Cerebarieth’s apocalypse, so he has decided that he would rather take the risk of disobeying Ti’ireth than to keep opposing them. He nonchalantly invites them to dinner to discuss. The serpent, Kyasa, gathers some furniture while Disiver magically conjures a feast. Kyasa then turns into a humanoid woman to join them at the table.

Disiver explains that he was away for a while because he was doing research on them and their quest. When they talked to his old self, he retroactively gained those memories, so he used a contingency spell to put the warning letter in their possession. He meant to attack Nan’s village again when the time expires, but then decided against that. He can’t openly disobey Ti’ireth, but his contract won’t last much longer, so he can fake obedience for a while. He gives them a piece of chalk and tells them to put it on valuable objects they don’t need, so he can take them and make it look like he’s inconveniencing them.

He agrees to give their stuff back, but as a collector he prefers to get something in return. They give him the silver statue from the Hiru dungeon, the sending stone to the coyote demon, the amulet of feather falling, and Nan’s hand crossbow. He gives them the glaive, sickle, shield, and lock stone from the vault. The lock stone has an eagle symbol on one side and a strange spiral on the other. Cho mentions that Kolo won’t like this and that he wants to settle Kolo’s score eventually, but Cerebarieth is more important for now. Nan also warns Disiver never to step foot in the nameless village again. As a precaution, Disiver modifies their tuning fork so that only the three of them can use it, so they can’t bring an army in here. When all else is said and done, he magically knocks out Kyasa, saying he’ll modify her memory so she won’t report to Ti’ireth.