Enola Yarn – blogpost 13

We travel through the swamp on Enola2. We got the direction from the ghost to go via the north to the Nagas otherwise we’ll come across a lot of drow who’ll probably attack us. The drow are bound to the Rod of Influence that is wielded by the Nagas.

On our way, we pass an altar but stay on Enola2 for now. We take a little break and I examine Farryn who feels awful. From the information he gives me, I reckon he’s cursed by the Dendrar statue. I search my spellbook for the remove curse spell. It takes a while, but I can successfully remove Farryns’ curse. In the meantime, Valentine says she feels illusion magic coming from the altar on the island next to us. She wants to approach, but I tell her to first touch or activate the magic with a mage hand or unseen servant. It doesn’t activate anything, unfortunately. Farryn sends Grond to the altar to inspect, and still, nothing happens, so Farryn deems it safe. The instant he sets his foot on the island, the illusion activates and spreads.

The altar, first covered with vines and surrounded by rocks from an old temple that is now in ruins, suddenly turns pretty again: it seems the illusion is turning back time. All vines and plants covering the island disappear. I feel I get sucked into the illusion… I feel my body changing, and then, I’m not myself anymore…

Inside the illusion
I and my fellow Yuan-Ti warriors are fighting a Spirit Naga. Our goal is to attack this creature, defeat it, and raise it as a Bone Naga. We’ll have to perform a ritual to accomplish the latter, but that is for later. We need to kill this thing! We’re all bloodied, but have damaged the Naga as well. The Naga bites one of us (Farryn) and the warrior dies instantly. He falls on his back into the water and seems deceased. I’m not checking, ’cause I only care for our goal. Another warrior (Valentine) jumps on the Naga and attacks its face. I’m impressed, I’m still learning the Yuan-Ti ways of fighting and I would’ve loved coming up with this routine. I try to attack but fail in doing so. My scimitar flies out of my hands and falls on the ground. I have to get it back before anyone sees my blunder! Unfortunately, the Naga sees I’m vulnerable and with my back to it, so it attacks me. Ow. That hurts! As I corrected my mistake, I succeed in slashing the Naga and create a deep cut in its skin. The Naga attacks me again shortly after, and I feel the life draining from my body. Near my feet, plants die as well. I fall to the ground like a pudding, I just collapse and close my eyes. I float away into nothingness…

I gasp for breath. I open my eyes. I see Farryn breaking the altar and I look at my own reflection in the water. I’m myself again. I look around and see Valentine and Peythur sit on their knees with their hands folded in prayer staring fuzzily to the altar. I know they’re still inside the illusion. We wait until they return to their senses.

We talk about the scene we were all in just now. Everybody had the same experience but was in the body of a different Yuan-Ti. Peythur and Valentine sacrificed the Spirit Naga, that is the reason why they were inside the illusion longer than Farryn and I were. Valentine now feels necrotic energies instead of illusion magic. She messages me to ask whether we should tell Peythur. I say ‘yes’. However, she doesn’t tell him right away. She first investigates the area and finds the tooth of the Bone Naga – it is the source of the energy she feels. Peythur sees it and immediately casts dispel magic. Valentine shrieks: the tooth jumps up and scurries off. She slaps Peythur in the face: “Never do something like that again, it could’ve been very dangerous; dispelling magic when I’m holding the artifact in my hands!”

We discuss how to continue from here, we’ve lost the tooth, so nothing is left here. We think we want to continue finding the Nagas, so Peythur scouts the area in the shape of a Giant Owl. Peythur comes closer and lets Farryn climb onto his back so he can see the area too. Out of boredom, Valentine throws some rations in the middle of the swamp – filled with skeletons, I might add. Suddenly, bones back together and rise up! It is a Bone Naga – the one from the illusion. The Naga starts attacking Peythur and Farryn, as they are closer to it. I drop a fireball on the Naga and combined with Gronds attacks, it destroys the Naga. Bones fly everywhere as the skeleton breaks apart.

Valentine sees some Trolls running away in the distance. She has the best darkvision of us all, so she sees them and casts hold monster. The two of us are still on Enola2 and the snake moves towards the Trolls. When the Trolls are in my line of sight I throw another fireball. Peythur transforms back and casts his solar beam on them. I kill one Troll with a magic missile spell from afar. However, I see the Troll resurrect and stand up again. It happens a couple of times with both of them. We investigate whether they are really dead, Farryn is just poking around with his weapons in their flesh to be sure. I know that Trolls respawn after they die, but really stay dead after they are burned. Peythur casts burning hands and touches both Trolls. Enola2 drags the bodies to a nearby shore, as Farryn is interested in looting them. Unfortunately, he is disappointed.