The Collective - Session 70

This is the seventieth session in The Collective campaign and the first session in the Time Diversion storyline of the Conflict Arc. Player feedback ranks this session at a 9.00.

## Summary

**MONDAY MAY 28, 1001:** Following the tense negotiations between the Elves and Magnolia's representatives, Duke Brolin confronted Gorrn about his knowledge of the mysterious mage that had attacked the Elves. Reluctantly, Gorrn explained to Brolin the details of his visions, explaining that perhaps everything he had seen was just an illusion but that he could not confirm this. He briefly mentioned another mage he knew of that was skilled in illusory magic, standing up to Brolin as he did so. Unfazed by this, Brolin placed his trust in Rosanhi and Flynt to ensure that Gorrn be kept under close watch until the man assumed to be the Tempest Malmsteen was dealt with. Warning them of his sense that dark times were approaching, Brolin informed them that he would begin assembling search parties to come the woods to the north, and that they should rest before joining him in the hunt.

The group eventually reunited back at the farmhouse to discuss their next steps given the new information they had received from the Elves and Eliyen. OTIS soon joined them, himself reeling after an encounter with a familiar Deathguide, Riah, on the northern road leaving Magnolia. He delivered Riah's warning of an evil presence within the woods to the group, explaining to Rosanhi that she would like to speak with her regarding this. Roscoe, the ever skeptic of the party, doubted the legitimacy of Riah's presence and interaction with OTIS. He supposed that the meeting could have been the work of Malmsteen or Cencaela, but the party was not able to come to a conclusion as to what OTIS actually saw and how they would respond to “Riah’s” request. Worried that OTIS had been affected by Cencaela, Rosanhi left the rest of the party to depart for King Ossian's Cathedral, determined to search its archives for any information they could learn to better combat their foe.

After some time, the remainder of the group went outside to see that a strange blue tent had been pitched outside of the farmhouse. The group watched as the plants within a radius of the tent rapidly grew and wilted, as if accelerated in some way. As per usual, half the party didn’t use their spells or magical abilities to determine if the tent was safe and simply went inside. As the group stepped into the tent, they immediately noticed that a strange incantation had greatly increased the size of the tent's interior, revealing a large circular room full of strange devices and furniture, some of which the party identified as clocks. Amongst all of the trinkets and spare parts, a disheveled, demented, and some may even say ramshackle, Gnomish wizard appeared. He had a quirky monocle covering one eye that resembled the face of a grandfather clock. Immediately upon seeing them, the wizard began berating the party on who they were and what they sought. Roscoe further engaged with the time wizard and discovered his name to be Abraham. Abraham offered them information/to answer any questions regarding Malmsteen in exchange for a book.  Desperate for further information, the party rashly accepts the deal of the wizard as the time and reality began to rip and bend around the vision of the Collective. In that moment, it felt as if 10,000 lifetimes were lived in a matter of milliseconds and the Collective blacked out.

The party awoke in a cold stone room. Everything in the room - including the Collective's own bodies - were devoid of color. Looking around the large room, the party found several cages. Some of the cages had been broken into, and many contained several dead animal corpses and large pools of presumably blood. Further investigating the cages, Gorrn discovered a massive severed crab claw, and Delorean saw a vision of an Owlbear being struck down by magical energy. After a short discussion of their findings, OTIS generated some AI art and the party continued on down the hallway. Here they found a room with most of the floor missing, as well as seven doors across the walls. The party quickly jumped across a platform and entered the first door on their right, where they found a large device made of three bright crystals. The crystals had beams of scorching energy that was blasting a corpse in the center of the room. Scattered across the ground were several arcane circles drawn in black and white chalk. The party immediately ran into the room and started pulling levers, trying to figure out what information they could gain from this machine. After some trial and error, Kevril placed a dark, rubbery cylinder into the first crystal housing, which caused the first beam to shut off entirely. Delorean immediately noticed under the corpse in the center a shining red color, the first chromatic light the party has seen since entering this strange building. Roscoe then switched the second machine to its third setting to shut off the second crystal. Gorrn eventually suggested the party flip the plate in the middle of the third machine around, which revealed a slightly lighter steel that reduced the beams power. Delorean then quickly colored the entire plate with white chalk, and replaced the plate in the machine, dissipating the final beam. While investigating the red light in the center of the room the corpse woke up, yelled a panicked warning at Delorean, and then turned into ash. The party continued on to the next room after noticing a red light shining above the door in the main hallway. Before entering the room, Kevril noticed a dragonborn man standing at the door of the room the party had just exited, before the dragonborn walking into the room and vanished. The room the party entered was labeled “Illusory Studies”. When they entered, they found nothing more than an empty room with few torches lining the walls. Delorean eventually discovered an invisible wand on the ground after sweeping his body across the ground. The wand covered the wall in frost, where the party saw a room in the reflection of the ice. In the center of the ceiling Delorean found a blue sigil that activated a blue light above the doorway in the main hall. Upon exiting the room, Delorean saw a changeling woman dart into a room across the hallway.

## Gallery

The dark, monochromatic cellar that the group found themselves in after Abraham's interference.A cracked and broken hallway of floating rocky islands, the hub for the strange plane the Collective found themselves in.A scorched room full of strange, flame-bearing arcane equipment.The seemingly empty illusory studies room.
## See also

* **The Collective - Session 70**
* The Collective - Session 72