Session 49: Rage Against the Absence of the Machine

While the group rests in the tower, Grombrin gives his boots of spider climbing to Cho, who is more dependent on being mobile. Over time, the cave becomes brighter as magical light emerges from the water. When they all wake up, they can only speak in whispers, and Arran is filled with an odd sense of courage and optimism. They find that they can walk on the water without the need for Vojta’s spell, so they head to the temple island. The prayer field is now lit up with glowing runes. Arran sits down and tries to commune once again.

His aura shines radiantly as the avatar of Turagh appears, visible to everyone and no longer damaged. She thanks them for removing the parasite that was plaguing her and asks why they wanted her blessing. They explain the matter of Cerebarieth. She concludes that their cause is noble and further empowers the blessings of Grombrin and Vojta, as Etreath had done before. She also transforms one of the stone pillars into a huge golden tree, which will facilitate Vojta’s plant travel. Nan asks for more information about Cerebarieth. She says that the other six gods locked him away because he wanted to subjugate all mortals, to stop them from altering his creations. Cho warns her that the thieves guild has taken refuge in her city. She says that she has no objection to thieves, but if they are crude of heart, then the city will be impassable to them. They tell her about the people of Namos. She says that they will be welcome in her domain and that it will be a worthy place once again. She then starts magically restoring the crumbled ruins.

Vojta uses the golden tree to transport the group to the surface. They notice that the swamp has become less putrid, but they also see plumes of smoke rising from Namos. They hurry to the town and find most of the buildings burning while hordes of lizardfolk are fighting each other. It soon becomes clear that many lizardfolk have become hysterical and are attacking everything in sight while the sane ones try to subdue them. Nan flies into the air to get an overview and starts pointing out cases of the maniacs attacking unarmed civilians. With her guidance, Cho tackles the attackers while Arran herds the victims under his protection. Vojta creates a safe zone for the civilians by extinguishing some of the burning buildings with conjured waves of water, while Grombrin casts a calming spell on a group of crazed lizardfolk. They stop fighting and are subdued by some sane soldiers, but they continue mumbling in a dazed state about something that’s missing.

Cho notices the chaos converging on the temple. He runs towards it and disappears from Nan’s sight amidst the smoke. Grombrin and Vojta free more civilians from the burning houses, including the elders who bicker chaotically even while in mortal danger. Arran herds them into his group and summons a swarm of magic missiles to ward off the maniacs from getting too close. Nan flies to the temple, where she sees hordes of the crazed lizardfolk crowding around the statue of Turagh. The ones who aren’t fighting are mutilating themselves, covering the temple in gore. A lizardfolk priest is herding together a group of sane civilians, while Cho is in the middle of the horde, nonlethally knocking out and incapacitating the maniacs. Fighting alongside him, to Nan’s surprise, is Gyrraleth. She flies down and warns Cho to be warry of Gyrraleth, but he shouts that he’s too occupied to worry about that. She then guides the priest and their group of civilians away from the fighting, knocking out a group of maniacs who block the path with a psychic blast.

The others ultimately converge on the temple as well. Despite their surprise at seeing Gyrraleth, they join in on subduing the horde of crazed lizardfolk. After a lengthy brawl, all the maniacs are knocked out or incapacitated, and the civilians have doused most of the fire using buckets of water. Gyrraleth greets the group without hostility, though he maintains a safe distance from them. Vojta asks him if he knows why this happened. He says no, he simply got a letter from an unknown person to come here. Vojta explains the matter of the aboleth, and Nan speculates that the withdrawal of the aboleth’s hive mind must have driven these people insane. Realising that Gyrraleth is the enemy he has been told about, Cho tells him that he wants to parley later at Delven Sanctuary. He explains its location, but not very clearly.

First, they work on helping the population of Namos, freeing people who are trapped under the rubble and repairing the salvageable buildings. Nan tells the sane lizardfolk about the underground city of Turagh, where they can stay until the town is restored. She estimates that the lizardfolk with their simple way of thinking would not understand the dynamic between Turagh and the aboleth, so she tells them that these people were possessed by evil spirits. Arran suggests that they should renew their piety to Saralya in this time of crisis. Nan leaves with some of the lizardfolk to show them the way to the temple. When they get there, they find that the entrance has risen to the surface of the water. Meanwhile, Cho once again separates the bodies of the dead with and without thieves’ guild markings and burns them in two separate pyres. Arran goes to check on someone to see if they survived. When he returns, he points at Grombrin, and a female red dragonborn approaches him.