S03E09

## The Dreamlands, Part 2

### Summary:

The Dread Company continue their otherworldly journey to face Maedalyn Dyre and The Dead One.

### Characters:

Christor, Minnie, Torrhen

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## The Dreamlands, Part 2

The Dread Company continued their journey through the Dreamlands. The ten foot visage of the Black Goat of Qohor lumbered before them, leading Christor, Minnie and Torrhen on. They walked for an unknowable time. They passed over frozen plateaus and shallow seas. You've seen alien vistas with green suns and a thousand moons. The other members of the Dread Company, Maxir, Percy and Whistler, followed in a dull haze, their minds confounded by the power of the Dreamlands.

The Black Goat brought them to an enormous red gate. It pushed open a door and announced, "Now you pass." The group examined the space beyond the open door. It was black and formless. The stench of fresh blood and decaying flesh fumed up from beyond. The Goat's eyes squinted with greed. Minnie had had enough. She drew back her axe, ready to strike.

## Battle with the Black Goat

Torrhen noticed Minnie's motion and snapped to action. He drew an arrow and fired. The Black Goat of Qohor seemed to phase out of reality, changing position in an instant, but Torrhen's shot managed to land. A second shot grazed as well. Minnie and Christor attacked, missing the Goat as it slipped around. The Goat fought back, sending waves of strange energy at Minnie. She was knocked back, almost falling through the red gate to her certain doom. But Minnie rebalanced herself, stepping back into safety.

The Black Goat of Qohor had a thick hide and strange abilities. The group was being brutalized, attack after attack left them more and more wounded. Torrhen was desperate and hurt. He aimed for the Goat's leg and struck, locking it in place. Minnie pounced on the opportunity smashing the Goat in the throat with her axe. And Christor took his turn, pummeling the Goat with his massive fists.

The Goat was slain, its body spilling out black blood in pools. Minnie decapitated the corpse with a series of savage blows. The body began to warm. Soon the blood was steaming hot, and the flesh hot to the touch. Minnie scooped up the dead god's head and threw it through the red gate into nothingness. The body continued to heat up, glowing white with energy. Christor rushed in to move it, but the heat was too intense. The remains exploded with energy, healing the group's wounds and casting them through time and space.

## Travel Through the Dreamlands

The group found themselves at a strange junction. In one direction they saw a characterless cobblestone road. In another, a calm, warm lake stretched into the horizon. And in yet another a tall cliff rose into the sky. They tested these paths, trying to discover the best route. Not being able to notice a clear advantage, Minnie put herself into a deep trance, looking to commune with the spirits.

Minnie found herself in a blue haze, standing before the three heads of the god Trios. She asked Trios for information but was told only that all directions in the land of The Dead One lead to The Dead One. Minnie awoke and the group headed down the road.

After an unknowable amount of time, they came to another split in reality. They had to choose between an unstable rope bridge over a chasm, a desert plain, or a black stone maze. Minnie cleverly gathered sand from the desert and used it to aid their travel through the maze.

On the other side of the maze was one last split: a menacing cave, an enormous pair of leather wings over a steep drop, and an eyeless elephant waiting on a green grassland. The group chose the elephant and successfully guided it onward.

## Maedalyn's Spirits

When the elephant stopped, they found themselves at the foot of a hill. The hill was crowned in a stone circle, and within that circle Maedalyn Dyre stood on a dais, invoking some kind of spiritual energy. Torrhen nocked an arrow and let it loose at Maedalyn, but the power of the stone circle shattered the arrow to splinters. Nine spirits of pulsing green energy appeared, defending Maedalyn.

It was a pitched battle. The spirits were formless clouds of energy, difficult to place and hard to injure. Torrhen dispatched one but missed another. Christor swung a fist through one, destroying it. Minnie sat on the ground in a deep trance and at the same time Maxir awoke, taking up his sword Dreadwailer and charging the spirits. But Maxir found it extremely difficult to land a blow on the glowing green shapes. On the dais, Maedalyn seemed to call upon more energy, charging the spirits with power.

The spirits began to teleport, fading from existence and appearing behind their foes. Once behind, the spirits could lay hands on their opponent, putrefying whatever flesh they touched. Before long Christor, Maxir and Torrhen were desperately injured, their painful wounds slowing them down and making combat impossible. They tried standing back to back in order to defend themselves from the spirits' uncanny movement, but the ghostly beings kept attacking and attacking.

## Desperation

Maxir's consciousness faded again, returning him to his trance-like state. Minnie awoke with a start. She dug into her pouches and retrieved the ruby necklace the group had found earlier in the Dreamlands. Clenching her eyes and concentrating, she awakened the power of the artifact and transformed her appearance.

Minnie stood there in the form of Maedalyn Dyre and announced, "I am Maedalyn Dyre, and I command you!" She pointed to the real Maedalyn and barked, "Destroy her!"

The spirits teleported to the dais, forming a circle around her. All at once, they laid hands on her, decaying her entire body in an instant. Maedalyn's flesh rotted and fell from her bones, bones that soon turned to dust. The group could feel reality bending.

## The Dead One

The Dread Company found themselves standing before The Dead One, an amorphous head floating in empty space. It bellowed, "Who has brought me to this wretched plane and why shouldn't I consume your pathetic world?"

They fumbled to speak, and The Dead one was unimpressed. And then Minnie began to speak to it in some strange language. The cosmic being found this much more receptive. They conversed for some time, striking some sort of bargain.

"I will spare your world," it hissed. "For now."

And with that, The Dead One faded into darkness.

## Game of Death

The veil of reality parted, laying bare the cosmic storm left behind by The Dead One. The vacuum of nothingness required a soul. It reached out for one final victim.

[The narrator drew out all six of The Dread Companies names in a circle. The narrator then placed a marker pointing to one of those names. The players each rolled one die. The highest roller had to move the marker a number of times equal to their roll. Then the next highest roller and the least. This was done for three rounds. In the end, it came down to a roll of 1, forcing a player to choose between Torrhen and Percy. The player chose Percy, who died instantly.]

## Lartel and the Lannister Elites

The Dread Company awoke on the floor of Minnie's cabin (except for Percy, who was dead.) A Lannister soldier turned and saw them, exclaiming, "Where did you come from?"

Christor easily knocked the soldier unconscious. They looked around them to see hundreds of Lannister elites surrounding the cabin. A second soldier opened the front door and Torrhen put an arrow through his eye... the soldiers noticed.

Lord Lartel, Maedalyn's oldest living son and lord of House Dyre, was leading the Lannisters. He shouted, "Surrender yourselves! I have come to rescue Maedalyn of House Dyre!"

Thinking quickly, Minnie stood by a window and did her best to impersonate Maedalyn Dyre. For a moment it worked, but Lartel Dyre was enraged when Minnie told him to turn and leave. He ordered his troops to storm the cabin.

The group attempted a brave escape, leaping down the hatch at the bottom of the cabin. Christor scooped up the unconscious Maxir and Whistler as he went. Minnie and Torrhen slipped into the deep water gracefully, but Christor's loud splashing gave them away. The Lannisters let loose with their crossbows. The three were hit by a cloud of crossbow bolts, with only Christor left conscious to surrender.

The Dread Company were gathered up and taken prisoner by Lartel Dyre.

## Experience

Christor, Minnie and Torrhen each earned 17 XP, 4 Glory and 250 Silver Stags

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