12.06.19

Ok, so here we are. The party stepped through the portal and now finds themselves split up. This episode is for those that are marked, and they will probably have a much better time than the others.

OH SHIT! BRAINSTORM! The others are in the underword of this world, fighting to survive an not be ground . up into foodstuffs and whatnot. Maybe they can locate one another.

Anyway, onto the fun:

### First Impressions

The heroes, Caelynn, Tonans, and, most importantly, Torment, find themselves in a sunny field. The hills roll, cows and sheep graze peacefully, the sun shines through a sky. A river, not currently known to the group, but is actually the Chionthar, glimmers at the base of the hill. The river is called the Tharizdun by everyone. A character who checks the history and hits a 15 recognizes it as a section of the Chionthar, but one in which there wasn't a city previously. It's only two days down river from Elturel (which no longer exists, and can't be reached. Torment may be told that he remembers the tree with the strange carving, if he presses. Across the river lies a small but bustling town. The city is named Tharizdunia (actually all cities are now named Tharizdunia, but we don't need to bring that up now). In the center of town, a huge statue of Tharizdun rises above the walls. It is taller than all other buildings, though not necessarily imposing. Even from this distance, the statue is simultaneously terrifying (some small part of their brains rejects the tentacles, especially around the face) but also comforting.

Shepherds in the field wave to the party if the party stands and stares at them, each of the people are possessed of at least one tentacle limb, and children bear the mark; are excited for it to grow and change to tentacle at least once.

Speaking of marks, those on the faces of Tonans and Caelynn have blossomed to intricate patterns. they extend into their collars. If they check, Caelynn's runs across her chest and belly down to her right leg, where Tonans' runs behind is shoulder and down his left arm, the one missing fingers. There is no pain, they feel invigorated.

Torment has profound control over the tentacle, and can operate it as he would his own hand, except that he is faster, stronger, and more agile with the tentacle.

If they attempt to talk with the shepherds, they are pleasantly greeted and directed toward town. "We love new folks here! There's always something for you to help with!"

Entering town, they are greeted by a welcoming committee, who are excited to help. The first catch, though, they have to surrender all but two of their weapons ("You're so overloaded and there's no need for excess, anymore!"). "Once Tharizdun returned, we've been just peachy!" They offer accomodation (there are houses, apartments, etc. for however the party wants to live. An Inn, of course, The Tharizdun Inn, provides nourishment. These are in the form of "food bars" called Tharizduns. One of the characters gives a spiel about how they know there are stories about food bars being made from ground up bugs, or other gross stuff, but it isn't anything like that. Tharizdun provides! McGuffins flows from the taps, everyone drinks it all the time.

The characters are encouraged to stay and join the town, operate businesses that suit their desires, and generally have a great time. There's a whisky distrillery that is just being set up and needs a person with coopery and distrilling skills. There's a nature service that is looking for an experienced guide to teach people. There's a "Tiefling Cultural Center," or anything else the characters want to do. How perfect is that!

But there's a catch, right? If the characters travel too far out of town, they find themselves coming over a rise and seeing Tharizdunia again. There's a 3/4 day radius on travel before the reset. There are monsters to fight, should the party want it, but there doesn't have to be. There is even treasure to find, though it doesn't stay.

There is a locked door in the main buildings: The Inn, the town hall, the temple of Tharizdun, etc. That cannot be opened. These doors lead to the underworld, where the unchosen are tormented and turned into food bars. That was obvious, right?

Very few people know about how the overworld works, so they are deleriously unhappy.

The party members can speak directly to Tharizdun, though they must make a roll agterwards to see how their sanity is affected. On a roll of 5 or less, they must spend a day recuperating and start the day with 5 fewer max hit points. This increases one day later to normal.

At one point, one of the townspeople will break, slicing off the end of Torment's tail. The double-bladed knife will slice all the way to the bone. It will heal quickly but not grow back.

How does it all end? Three ways:

1. They find a way to break into one of the locked doors. This will take more than simply picking it, as they will experience intense discomfort and paranoia attempting to pick it. In fact, if they persist, they will have to destroy the majority of the townspeople to make it stop. When they first try to fiddle with the door, someone will come running and insist in a friendly way yhat they stop. If they do end up breaking in, they will return from the locked observation room to find the citizens gathered for battle. It'll be more like a zombie horde kind of deal, where the group moves closer and closer to them until they are overwhelmed.
2. They can swear loyalty to Tharizdun, permanently gain an additional hit point level, and have their marks permanently be altered into tentacles. They will then swear, under penalty of instant death, to work to bring the age of Tharizdun to completion from their own timeline. I mean, it's pretty great if you don't open a door, right? Also, they constantly kill people and other races for no reason other than basic racism, right? So what's the bigg deal about processing some non-believers?
3. If Torment takes his tail and places it in the stone cutout, this can trigger the doors to the underworld to be unlocked. Tharizdun will contact them and hold palaver in order to try to convince them to his way, but will not act to stop them. The characters will be then banished to the underworld. This will trigger developments that may result in the party needing to stop not only the rise of Tiamat, but also the Return of Tharidun. I could probably work out a group of characters to play into this storyline, or I could simply co-opt the Tiamat line to suit my purposes.

yIn the blind, he found a note that said "I should have feared the mark. -J.S." It was dated two years in the future, the 18th rising of the year of the squid.