Written by The White Mage: a cavern of death
Session 19 March 2023 A portal created, this will make it easier to go to a safe haven in Waterdeep if needed and come back again without relying on the Gith, always a good thing. “Flumph the Flumph” shouldn’t be so hard to remember, although I find it odd the way Farryn’s eyes seem to twitch everytime we go through the portal and he is forced to think of the phrase. I’ll put it on my list of things to ask him.
“Tomorrow”, I say to Farryn, “Tomorrow we can work on your simulacrum. It will take me 12 hours and 1500 gold pieces worth of ruby dust, maybe we can pay it out of the party stash?”. Farryn doesn’t agree with this at all “I see you use all that gold for your spells, I think you’ll manage”, he replies. Doesn’t he understand that I do that, use all that gold, to learn for the benefit of the group? The more I know, the better I can help you all! Mohan calls from outside the room we are in “I’ll take care of the rubydust!”, he has some sharp ears as well it seems. A good man. I give him Enola’s spellbook to send to Candlekeep. I promised, so I have got to hold myself to it. Mohan flies towards the portal and I continue my studies. Farryn start working on his thing and everyone goes their own way.
Everyone comes and goes, but I’m not paying much attention to it. Mohan is chippy as always when he comes back, Patience doesn’t look as if he found what he was looking for, and Cross seems satisfied. I heard a lot of noise coming from the room on the other side of the hall, the room where friends of Farryn died, so I close the door so I can focus more easily. Sounds like someone is building something.
I sleep next to my studies, no need to leave. I’m used to sleeping on a bedroll, in the monastery where I lived the last few 100 years I didn’t sleep in a normal bed and I don’t have to now.
The next day I start my progress with Farryn while he works on some kind of gem. I don’t mind as long as he stays still, I need to focus on this for 12 whole hours. Farryn has a hard time with this, staying still, I think he has some sort of attention disorder, ADHD or something, I think I’ve heard about that. I use the rubydust and freshly created snow to create the spitting image of him, while he asks met every few minutes how long it is still going to be. Patience isn’t my name, but I have a lot of it, luckily.
The simulacrum is created, a beautiful work of art and Farryn starts testing simuFarryn right away. SimuFarryn is clearly irritated by it and tells Farryn how logically it all is in a very similar way as Farryn would do it. It is amazing to see how alike they both are. Farryn can’t wait and tells SimuFarryn to help him work on Grond, Farryn wants to make some modifications. SimuFarryn isn’t even dressed yet, they are both so focused on their work that I just let them. They work in recordspeed as I work a little more on my studies. When they are done, Farryn gives SimuFarryn some spare clothes (after I remind him that he is still naked).
I decide it is time to ask Farryn some questions, and with Farryn I mean SimuFarryn, because I know that Farryn has a way with his answers, leaving important parts out, so I take SimuFarryn to a private place. I need to know how much I can trust Farryn, if we adventure together I need to know what to expect…
SimuFarryn really is a lot like Farryn. I have to repeat several times to keep to the facts, to not skip parts, etc. Eventually I get the entire story of what happened and now see that the tiefling sisters weren’t actually evil, but more different then Farryn and Calyx. Farryn looting Valentine’s sister right after she died while Valentine’s life was in high danger isn’t really a wise move. Even as Calyx closing the door on her. I can see she turned on them. Apparently she was cursed a few days before, cursed for weeks and they didn’t notice. She attacked them because of the curse. His hate for tieflings is unjustified. Valentine and Enola Yarn, 2 sisters in the wrong party. He doesn’t seem to know what happened to Valentine, she just went away, probably for the better. I also now know why he keeps twitching whenever we talk about Flumphs… He killed Flumph the Flumph while trying to kill Valentine. Valentine was already down and Enola wanted the fighting to stop. Flumph the Flumph wanted to protect Enola and Farryn decided to throw acid over all 3 of them. A terrible and evil move he apparently regretted ever since. Farryn is one to keep an eye on and doesn’t have a lot of forgiveness in him, good to remember. He isn’t evil but sometimes makes unwise moves. I tell SimuFarryn to never tell anyone about our conversation.
We decide with the group to leave tomorrow, go down to level 18; Vanrakdoom! Farryn created something new, a Homonculus Servant named… Snitch? Something like that, I was with my head in the books already. It looked interesting, but not as interesting as this spell enhancing spell I’m writing about. Sleep well everyone, tomorrow we will face death.
We walk down towards a new level. This is the second time I go down to a new level in here, but this time I get goosebumps. An unfamiliar something for a tortle. Somekind of fog seems to surround us and we can’t see far. It seems that light makes the fog move further away from us, so Mohan takes out his sword that shines a bright light! My manifested mind, containing a picture of the one I love, also sheds light a little bit and I cast light on Farryn’s snitch. SimuFarryn, Scarecrow and POES stay on the previous level to make it better and I know they will work hard. We stay in the light because the darkness… The fog… It gives a feeling of desperation. I once read a story calles ‘Silent Hill’, it comes to mind when we walk here on this level. A blinding fog and everything looks old, rotten, corroded. We all suddenly get a flash in front of us, a vision!
I see Vanrak as a death knight holding a sunblade. A weapon created to battle undead in the hands of a deathknight. He kills an adventurer with it! I look around and see my body, it’s the body of a shadowdragon.
I look around and see the rest do the same. We are back and apparently all had the same vision! We, and with we I mean Farryn, decide to go north and stay away from the shadowfell line on our map. I send my manifested mind south to see what is there. I finds 2 statues of woman holding 2 smokey, light shedding wires that are stretching horizontally over the path. Behind it is a grey/black curtain. A portal to the shadowfell? I decide not to send my mind further in that direction, but more to the west. It sees candles shedding a purple light in the hallways and bats. Lots of bats. Not much else.
Farryn was under the assumption that the map showed secret doors (but those were just normal doors), an honest mistake. We took the first door we found. It lead to an empty room, only containing 2 doors, east and west. We took the door east and opened a door to another foggy room that contained a figure in a robe sitting in front of a statue, maybe praying? We couldn’t see who or what and it did not react to us. As Mohan flew upward to get a better view, I cast detect good and evil.
Everything is evil…. Every part of this level is desecrated, but at least we know the figure in front of us is not undead or something. Patience detects magic but sees nothing special. Mohan casts some kind of wind spell to get the fog away from the scene to see everything better, but the only thing that flies away is the robe, suddenly completely empty on the ground. Something is seriously wrong on this level. Mohan lets his wind calm down and tells us what he finds, 4 skeletons and a statue of Shar. Shar is the goddess of Darkness and Loss, and this statue is very much desecrated. Farryn wants to break the statue and I agree. Mohan and Patience don’t think it’s a good idea, but Farryn has already destroyed 1 hand of the statue and does the same with the other hand. Cross has been silent during everything so far, I think he needs some getting used to this place. Makes sense, it really is an evil place.
Nothing happends.
We decide to open the door south and find a room with a lot more fog. We all hesitate to do anything and Mohan starts chanting a ritual to detect poison and disease. A very good idea, you never know, but I can’t wait. I decide to hold my breath and walk in with Snitch that still sheds light. I walk towards one of the piles that I see laying against the walls and see it are tapestries. I go down to pick one up and am suddenly struck with another vision.
I am sitting next to a robed figure that I can not recognize. “We are friends right? Glyster?” he says and I agree. I see I am a bronze dragon this time and I come out of the vision again. Glyster? I know that name! It was closely connected to the Moonstar family if I remember correctly (and I usually do).
I walk out with the tapestry in hand. When I look at it again, it falls to pieces, extremely old and rotted. I tell everyone of my vision and Patience decides he will do the same. He is clearly struck by the same vision. When he decides to walk out of the room a shadowy figure appears in the smoke, the head of a dragon, ready to fire his breath weapon on Patience! I warn Patience and we alle duck as Patience turns around. It blows, but doesn’t do anything and evaporates.
Was it the light? Was it because Patience went in without light?! I don’t know, but we don’t take the chance of going inside without light again.
Mohan goes in with his mind open, trying to perceive more then the rest of us and finds out that the robed figure is, indeed, Vanrak. I this vision of an earlier time then the other vision? Is it the same dragon?! What happened to Glyster and Vanrak?! Something terrible I guess…
We take the door on the west side and find my mind in front of us. I’ll keep it with me for now to have my own light. We now all see the candles shedding the purple light and decide to take a look at the to statues holding the strings of smokey light and the curtain. The evil curtain.
It is clearly the source of the disease that has this level in its grip. My spell shows it clearly. Patience tells us the wires show some kind of necrotic energy and I let my mind enter the space of one of the wires. No reaction. A paper bird? Still no reaction. Maybe it needs something living.
Mohan is extremely interested in the wires and starts thinking elaborate theories. I see he is as curious about them as I am, but my main theory is that it is some kind of protection to keep something in or out. I think behind the curtain is shadowfell territory and these wires keeps it contained. My theory is as good as yours I guess.
Anay comes with the idea to teleport with Anax and summons him. Farryn doesn’t want to, but the rest of us agree. I am way to curious to not come, but maybe we were a little to reckless. Anax teleports us to the other side of the curtain and Farryn hears screams. Screams from Mohan, Patience and me as 8 bony, smoky arms appear from the mist and grab us. Hurt us badly. Wraiths, evil undead creatures. Anax teleports us back quickly, but they did some massive damage. We are hurt and Farryn rubs it in our faces. What is all this, I need to know now even more…
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