Session 46: Local Redneck Disses Eldritch God

Vojta suggests that they should try to get back to the surface without confronting the aboleth, but Arran argues that the aboleth’s corruption might render Turagh’s blessing too weak to be useful, and Cho is determined to fight it because it invaded Turagh’s home. Nan says that Grombrin and Vojta should speak to Faranehou before they continue. The three of them go into her ring and meet with him. He explains that her soul becomes his possession when she dies, and that he uses it as a source of power. If she was dead for less than a minute, then her soul hasn’t left the mortal plane yet. But if it has been longer, then Faranehou has put her soul to use, and resurrecting her results in stealing his property. They make an arrangement to pay Faranehou a compensation of 350 gold pieces if one of them resurrects Nan after she is dead for more than a minute. They officialise this into a magical contract.

When they return to the others, Vojta magically gives all except Cho the ability to walk on water. Cho refuses because the spell would render him unable to dive, so he would be unable to reach the aboleth underwater. Grombrin instead casts freedom of movement on him, so that the water won’t slow his movements. Grombrin then uses his boots of spider climbing to walk onto the ceiling. With effort, he wedges open the trapdoor. Water starts gushing through as the door opens further on its own. All except Cho step into the downward stream and are rapidly launched to the surface by the water walking spell. When they surface, they find about twenty lizardfolk warriors all around them. The aboleth floats in the water nearby and calls for the lizardfolk to stop the thieves who are trying to steal their god.

As the lizardfolk swarm towards them, Grombrin casts a fortifying spell on the group while Arran summons his mirror images. Nan flies into the air and launches a radiant bolt at the aboleth, but it passes through harmlessly, suggesting that it’s an illusion. Vojta summons a whirlwind on the surface of the water that quickly tears three lizardfolk to shreds, while Cho bursts out of the water and impales one with his glaive. The lizardfolk attack with spears and clubs from all sides, some striking Cho and others whiffing through Arran’s mirror images. A shaman magically heats up Arran’s armour, scorching his skin. He magically siphons away some of the heat to slow the effect, but the shaman dives underwater and swims away, so that they can’t break its concentration.

As they fight, the water below their feet momentarily forms into grasping tentacles. They pull Nan out of the air and drag Vojta away from Cho’s protection, prompting the lizardfolk to surround and thrash them both. The tentacles also throw Grombrin into Vojta’s whirlwind, where he is battered by the violent winds. Nan summons a shroud of corroding shadows to assault her attackers, while Vojta commands the whirlwind to move, freeing Grombrin and sucking most of his lizardfolk attackers into it. Impaired by the scorching armour, Arran fights through the pain and slices one of the attacker’s throats, while Cho decapitates another.

Suddenly, a psychic attack washes over them. Arran, Grombrin, and Vojta fall down paralysed, while Nan resists and Cho is immune due to Grombrin’s spell. A large lizardfolk stabs Vojta while he is defenceless, causing his whirlwind to disappear as he loses consciousness. Others batter Arran into unconsciousness with their clubs. They try to do the same to Grombrin, but his armour protects him. Walls of boiling water then surge out of the lake, separating the three conscious fighters from each other. Cho, trapped in a small place with several lizardfolk, fights on valiantly, decapitating several while withstanding many injuries. Other lizardfolk surround Nan, but she teleports away from their grasp and shoots down two with a barrage of eldritch blasts.

After shaking off the paralysis, Grombrin scrambles away from his attackers and leaps through the boiling water, causing only minor pain, then heals Vojta back to consciousness. Vojta doesn’t see the illusory walls of water, because his unconscious mind wasn’t targeted by the aboleth’s spell. The grasping water promptly drags him away again, towards another lizardfolk, but he magically desiccates the attacker into a mummified husk. Grombrin strikes another lizardfolk with his warhammer, disintegrating it into a fiery explosion, then rushes to Arran, who he realises was boiled to death by his red-hot armour, now extinguished. He magically heals the burns and rekindles his inner fire, bringing him back to life.

Some distance away, a more powerful lizardfolk chases Nan though her barrage of attacks and impales her with its trident. Vojta sees it happen and tries to desiccate it, but it shrugs off the damage. As it makes a run for Vojta, the injured Arran shoots a barrage of magic missiles at it, perforating the lizardfolk. Nearby, Cho, bloodied and surrounded by corpses, prepares to strike down his final enemy, but his glaive is magically heated by the unseen shaman. He holds on even as it burns his hand, but it throws off his attack. The lizardfolk solidly strikes him in the head twice with its club, but Cho remains conscious through sheer rage. A moment later, Nan shoots down the attacker with her eldritch blast, having been healed back to consciousness by Grombrin. As he realises that the fight is over, Cho falls down unconscious from his injuries. Grombrin rushes over and heals him.

As they catch their breath, Vojta relates that he spotted something invisible passing through one of the waterfalls at the sides of the cave. They’re too injured to pursue that right now so they inspect the lizardman corpses instead. Some of them have markings indicating members of the thieves’ guild, but they also recognise some as random civilians from Namos. They are sickened that the aboleth made them do this, but Vojta remarks that it must be weaker than he thought if it decided to send its slaves instead of fighting them itself. The group rests on the elevator island while Cho takes it upon himself to perform a funeral rite for the lizardfolk.

Cho returns to the group after meditating and informs them that he asked Yane’s forgiveness for the actions of these lizardfolk, and also for the members of this group, for the time they gave the protective runes to the demon Inquisitive. He doesn’t know if that needs forgiveness, but that’s up to Yane to decide. They notice that the crates have been moved while they were gone, so Arran and Grombrin search them again and find several healing potions. Nan asks Vojta if he can give her some pointers on being more perceptive, which he agrees to do whenever they have an opportunity.

Once rested, Vojta renews the water walking spell, along with a water breathing spell. They head over to the waterfall that Vojta saw moving during the fight. It comes down from a large chute in the roof. Cho is not affected by water walking, so he and Grombrin tie the two ends of a rope around their waists. They all then step into the waterfall and are rocketed upwards by the water walking spell, with Cho being dragged along by Grombrin. They ascend a long distance and end up back at the surface, in the swamp. There is no trace of whether the aboleth was here. They don’t want to go to the town because the rest of the lizardfolk may also be possessed, so they wait for the water walking spell to wear off, then go back down the tunnel.

Back at the underground lake, they try to return to the tower of Turagh, but the door is closed and this time even Cho can’t pull it open. They decide to explore the surrounding area and find some temple ruins on a nearby island. Grombrin recognises a prayer field used to commune with the gods. Arran tries to commune with Turagh, but when he does, Grombrin and Vojta witness shadowy tentacles interfering with his aura. Arran then reports that the aboleth is blocking him from reaching Turagh. They conclude that the aboleth must be hiding down in Turagh’s temple. They explore the rest of the ruins and find a large hall where several corpses are chained to pillars. They are a few days or weeks old, and of various races. They take the corpses down so that Cho can perform a funeral rite while Grombrin smelts the manacles into a big iron ingot.

Further on, they find an old watchtower with view of the whole cave. Nan suggests resting in the tower, where they can’t get ambushed. Arran, Cho, and Grombrin investigate the nearby waterfall first and find a hidden space behind it. It contains a bone dagger and a case of parchment scrolls in draconic, which Arran can read. It seems to be written by someone who had a position of authority here, talking about daily life in the city, then about finding something in the lake. It becomes increasingly incoherent as it devolves into panicked calls for help.

Meanwhile, Nan and Vojta spot an insectoid creature emerge from the lake and fly into the opening of one of the waterfalls. Nan recognises it as a vivisector, an aberration from the far realm. They are evil beings that often work as feared mercenaries, known for mutilating their enemies to the point of rendering most resurrection magic ineffective. As they look out across the lake, they see two more vivisectors emerge and disappear up the waterfall, and catch a glimpse a large grey humanoid with long arms on the far side of the cave. They call back the others and warn them that these must be the aboleth’s reinforcements.

They decide to rest in the watchtower while rotating two people on watch to be sure. While they rest, everyone except Arran finds themselves in the domain of Turagh. Turagh is gone, and seated on the throne is the humanoid avatar of the aboleth. It says that they have no reason to fight, because it has only brought civilization to the people of Namos. Cho and Nan accuse it of bringing slavery, but it claims that there is no difference between slavery and civilization. Vojta says that someone who sent their slaves to fight for them and fled doesn’t have a strong bargaining position. The aboleth says that it sent only some of its slaves, and that it is offering them mercy by letting them leave, but Cho chews it out for not showing any mercy to the people it enslaved. Vojta asks, if it is so capable of killing them, why does it bargain instead of fighting them? It agrees and they all wake up. When they look around, they see the tower surrounded by the aboleth, a vivisector, and the long-armed humanoid.