2023/08/16

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Ruined dreams.

Despite their apprehension, the party approached the walls of Acrennia and were received by a rather sociable grymkin with a pumpkin for a head. The grymkin introduced itself as Retho and began to answer the many questions that they party had about the state of Acrennia. Unfortunately Retho wasn't particularly helpful as he was not aware of the specific reasons that caused the group of grymkin to reside in Acrennia currently. Rather Retho said that it was because that it was “His” home, which didn't clear things up all that much. Eventually after a number of questions were answered in a similar vein, Retho offered to take the party to see “Him” as given that the party was sent as dignitaries He would want to see them. The party agreed to this, and Retho led them into the city.

As the party went through Acrennia, they saw many more grymkin acting out life in a city. The creatures were trading rocks and the like and were mostly copying the flavor of life in a city rather than the actual intricacies as such. The party was led to the center of Acrennia, where there was a large palace temple, towering above the rest of the city. As the party got closer to the ziggurat they saw nightmarish beasts lounging around the area. Most of these beasts were unlike anything they had ever seen, though the party did recognize some of the beasts that appeared at the Void Caller's ritual. Making a note of that for later, the party went inside, to meet with the mysterious “Him” that Retho had been referring to. Inside the main chamber was a humanoid figure, clad in gold and black armor wearing a porcelain mask over his face. Upon seeing the party, the figure rose from his throne and greeted his new guests, introducing himself as the ruler of Acrennia. The man tried to give his name to the party though all that they heard was “The Heretic”. The party inquired as to the nature of the curse the man was under and if it was related to the curse surrounding Acrennia. This was closer than not, as Acrennia was cursed for the actions of 5 of its inhabitants at the time and those 5 inhabitants were further cursed themselves with one of them eventually becoming the figure before them.

The Heretic was familiar to Abe, who recalled the even older tales predating the Grymkin. Tales of 5 humans that rejected Menoth's gifts and for their hubris were cast into Urcaen, unable to die as punishment. Featuring prominently in these stories is The Heretic, a former priest king of Menoth that resented Menoth's hoarding of the spark of divinity that resides within humanity. The Heretic attempted to create his own faith, founded on the worship of the divinity within. As Abe recalled these ancient stories, The Heretic confirmed that he was the same person in such stories. With introductions out of the way, The Heretic asked the party what brought them to Acrennia. The party explained how they were looking for The Cult of the Dreamer, which both confused and amused The Heretic. The Heretic then made a comment that the party wasn't “Her” emissaries they just felt of her power from living in Five Fingers. At the party's request for context, The Heretic explained that they were searching for the ancient followers of one of his fellow defiers and the fact that the cult made their last stand in the place where it all began was ironic.

The Heretic then provided some information from his side of the story. When the defiers were cast into Urcaen, they had promised to return and give back their suffering to Menoth tenfold. And during the beginnings of their time in Urcaen, The Dreamer was confident that she had a plan for them to escape. She never said what exactly that plan was, though now The Cult of the Dreamer seems like a solid contender for such plan. The party then asked about the nature of The Dreamer herself. The Dreamer was one of the strongest originally of the defiers, rivaling The Heretic in power, though where The Heretic was awesome and calamitous with his power, The Dreamer was instead more whimsical and shifting. Warping reality itself to conform to her dreams and musings. Her time in Urcaen damaged her already tenuous grasp on reality, and now it's rare for her to ever awake from her slumber. The Heretic wasn't sure where she was exactly, as despite the defiers working together during the wicked harvest, afterwards the five had gone their separate ways, leading to him being where he was.

While the backstory was useful for understanding the nature of the issue, it didn't provide any help for how to deal with it now. The party asked The Heretic if they could search Acrennia for anything that The Cult of the Dreamer had left behind. The Heretic agreed, on the condition that the party perform a favor for him. There was a grymkin named Zacchaeus that was bound in the service of a hag that he wanted released. The party was concerned that this hag was the Old Witch of the Woods, and these suspicions were correct. The party wanted it clear that while they would do the task they were going to lay responsibility at his feet for the action. The Heretic had no issue with that and granted the party leave to search Acrennia, and recommended that the party start their search at the city's well, saying that a number of grymkin felt strange things around that area.

As the party arrived at the well, they found a unused step well, with many stairs leading down to the pool of water in the center. The party stood around the well for a bit, thinking about what The Cult of the Dreamer could have done. Eventually Abe stepped into the shallow well to examine further away from the stairs. This didn't go quite as planned, as despite the bottom of the well only being 2 or so feet deep, his foot kept going past that, and he fell into the well and vanished. The rest of the party followed Abe and everyone found themselves in a strange version of Acrennia where The Cult of the Dreamer had won their encounter with the menite forces. The sky was a strange swirl of colors and there were barely visible silhouettes of people skirting around the area. The party figured that the palace temple was the best place to begin looking for anything important and made their way there. Inside the Temple they found the sole remaining inhabitant of the area, a priest of the dreamer called Arcaus. Arcaus didn't seem to be all there and when the party explained why they were here he took offense that those bestowed gifts by The Dreamer would turn against her. The party didn't know what he was getting at, though Arcaus looked at Abe and asked him if he had ever received knowledge from a dream. Abe then remembered the dream that gave him the idea to develop his farming barges. Despite The Dreamers apparent boons, Five Fingers still needed to close the portal, something that Arcaus was not going to let happen if he could help it. The party struck down the dreaming mind of Arcaus and with no one to sustain the dream any longer, the world began to unravel. The party then found themselves back in the well, carrying texts and scrolls from The Cult of the Dreamer's final days.

As the party was catching their bearings, The Heretic arrived. Trusting that their search was successful the king of Acrennia recommended that they party be on their way now. Before they left, the party bargained with The Heretic a second time, so that he would translate the texts. The price for this was to deliver a message to another one of his fellow defiers, The King of Nothing. There wasn't a specific time frame for the delivery though sometime within their lifespans would be helpful. As to where to find said King of Nothing, The Heretic told the party to look for places away from everything where life itself doesn't want to go. With that out of the way, the party began their journey back to Five Fingers.