Session 14 — 12 April 2026
In the aftermath of the Worg attacks, the group searches the Sedgmoor research area, finding potions and tools to harvest herbs and other ingredients.
Ruben feels it—a pull toward a strange section of water. It bubbles unnaturally, clear liquid tainted with black, viscous corruption.
Then, looking around at the others, Daiki asks, “So what are we going to do now? What is Ruben doing?”
Lana answers simply, watching him. “Well, Ruben is just checking out the water.” She hesitates, then gestures ahead. “Can you check for me, Daiki? Is it safe for me to jump on this island in front of us, or is it again filled with quicksand?”
Daiki tests the ground, tapping it lightly before lifting back into the air. “Nope, seems safe.”
Without hesitation, Lana leaps forward, landing in the middle of the island.
Ruben studies the bubbling water intently. “Yeah, as you can see, this is most likely the source of the infestation.” His gaze sharpens. Is it an item? Something magical?
He focuses, trying to discern the source. After a moment, he frowns. “It’s… coming from under the water. Just… corruption flowing through it.” “So what do you think we should do?” he asks.
Kroak tilts their head slightly. “Maybe we should go take a look. The source.”
Ruben nods. “Okay. After you, then.”
A subtle tension creeps into the air.
Ripples disturb the water—unnatural, wrong. Daiki, Ruben, and Kroak notice it immediately, instinctively flying away from it. Only Lana remains where she is, unaware.
The surface trembles. Something small and orange breaks through—just a point, barely visible—
Then it lunges.
It strikes Lana square in the chest.
She gasps as the impact lands, the sharp sting piercing through her defenses. Pain flares, then something worse—venom flooding her body. Her strength vanishes almost instantly.
She drops to her knees.
Her hands sink into the mud as her vision blurs. She tries to steady herself, but the poison overwhelms her. She collapses onto her side, motionless. Her hair falls forward, darkened with filth, her glasses slipping askew.
A massive scorpion rises from the water, its body slick with black corruption, its stinger dripping with venom.
Kroak reacts instantly. They rush to Lana’s side, pulling out one of the potions. “No, no, no—stop trying to die on me,” they mutter, forcing the liquid down her throat. Colour returns faintly to her face as the poison recedes just enough.
Without hesitation, Kroak turns and lashes out, conjuring frost—but their unfamiliar wand betrays them, the spell going wide.
Above, Ruben rises higher into the air, studying the creature. The black goo clings to it, embedded in its very form. “There’s no point in collecting samples now,” he murmurs. “We have to deal with it.”
Feathers flick from his hand, streaking forward in glowing arcs that slam into the scorpion.
Daiki follows, conjuring a burst of cold energy, a spectral dragon’s head forming briefly before releasing a blast of frost. “Hey! Leave Lana alone!” he shouts, circling to draw its attention.
Lana stirs. Her body trembles as she forces herself up, dragging herself backward through the mud. Her voice is barely audible, but the creature hears it, like a violin played horribly out of tune, scraping against the mind itself.
The scorpion recoils slightly, shaken, and retaliates.
A massive claw snaps shut around Lana, lifting her off the ground. Before she can react, the stinger strikes again.
Ruben sees it—just as he had in his dream. The moment of impact, the brink of death, and the sturdiness of Lana.
“The power in you… it comes at the right moment,” he says, his voice steady.
The poison courses through Lana, but surprisingly not enough to kill her outright. She collapses again, barely alive.
Kroak dives back in, furious.
They press another potion to Lana’s lips, reviving her once more. Then, turning to the scorpion, they place a hand against it. “Let go of my friend.”
Dark energy surges.
The spell tears through the creature, leaving it reeling.
Ruben continues his assault, feathers striking true again and again, while Daiki descends, his usual playful demeanor gone. Something within him awakens. Blue-silver flames radiate from him as he reaches out, channeling healing energy, for the first time in his life, into Kroak. Iridescent light spills outward, brushing against Lana, reinforcing her just enough to keep her going.
“Lana,” he calls, voice firm, “you can do this.”
The scorpion thrashes, grabbing Kroak as well, holding both of them in its claws. It begins dragging them toward the water.
Lana struggles, panic rising. She knows she cannot survive this—not like this.
She tries to break free, but the grip is too strong.
With a desperate surge of strength, she drives her blade upward, forcing it into the creature’s body—under its limb, into the space where she hopes something vital lies.
Then she twists.
The scorpion convulses.
For a moment, everything holds—
Then it collapses.
Its grip loosens, and its massive body crashes into the water with a heavy splash, sinking beneath the murky surface.
The battle ends as suddenly as it began.
Lana gasps for breath, dragging herself onto the roots, soaked and shaking. Kroak steadies themselves nearby.
They try to pull the scorpion’s body back up to harvest organs for P&P, but it is too heavy, slipping deeper into the dark water.
Kroak doesn’t hesitate. They dive after it.
The surface stills. Minutes pass.
Bubbles rise now and then—but Kroak does not return.
The murky water reveals nothing.
Ruben watches the surface, unease creeping into his voice. “Do we see any signs of life…?”
But there is only silence, and the dark, corrupted water below.
Ruben turns to her, trying to soften the moment. “Lana, I know you had a—it’s a bad day for you—”
“You can say that.”
“I mean, you killed a scorpion, and you managed to stay alive on our way to these facilities, but…” He trails off, then presses on with a strange sort of optimism. “You can always imagine that—imagine you’re a one-day fly and it’s not your day. Then you’re pretty screwed, right? Well, you have so many days ahead, so I think you’ll be fine. I’m a bit worried about Kroak, so I don’t want to invite you to go underwater, but I think Daiki and I don’t do well… yeah.”
Lana barely listens. By the time he finishes, she has already pulled off her boots, her movements decisive. Her armor is halfway off. “I was already preparing to dive actually,” she says. “But I figured out that I am practically nothing without your support, so without you guys I wouldn’t have survived. So yes, I am going to jump—”
Daiki cuts her off, stepping forward and pulling her into a tight embrace. “No, Lana, please don’t go. We almost lost you. I don’t know what Kroak is up to, but we almost lost you. We shouldn’t go in the water. We don’t know what’s in there. Please don’t go in the water. I don’t know why Kroak went there without taking a breath.”
Lana freezes in his arms, caught between instinct and hesitation. Her expression turns confused, her eyes flicking toward Ruben as if asking, what am I doing now?
“Please don’t go,” Daiki insists.
She exhales shakily. “Well… Kroak hasn’t come up yet. I am afraid for their well-being. They went to harvest, and what if they lost breath? I think I should check it out, but I also know that this is very dangerous… and this is the first time in this nature that I…” She falters, glancing at the water with visible discomfort. “It’s so weird to me. I think, Daiki, I prefer the Feywild in terms of weirdness. I have come to really appreciate it compared to this place.”
Ruben squints into it again. Even his enhanced vision fails him. It is like staring into heavy fog.
Lana steps forward and plunges her head into the water, only to pull back immediately. “Well, I think I’m also not able to find Kroak in any means, because I can’t see shit. Well—I see shit.”
Daiki, thinking quickly, conjures dancing lights—tiny glowing fireflies that drift into the water, forming a faint, shimmering outline beneath the surface. He directs them as best he can, guessing where Kroak might be.
Lana’s eyes widen. “Oh—” She focuses, then closes her eyes, reaching out with her mind. “Kroak? Kroak, are you alive? Are you busy? You are gone for quite a while. Please let us know something.”
A response comes almost immediately.
“Yeah, what’s up? I’m harvesting.”
Lana’s expression snaps from worry to disbelief. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us? We don’t know that you are able to breathe underwater!”
“I told you I was going to harvest. What else do you want me to say?”
“You’re like a normal creature—you can’t stay underwater for more than so many minutes!”
“You know I’m a vampire. Your sister was one, right? I don’t have to breathe. I’m dead.”
Lana’s eyebrows climb higher and higher, confusion stacking visibly across her face. “That’s really cool…” she says faintly, then after a beat adds, “Have a great time,” and cuts the connection.
She turns back to the others. “Well, guys… Kroak is a vampire. They are dead and therefore don’t have to breathe, so they are just busy harvesting organs below water without telling us. And that was very confusing.”
Daiki frowns. “Did you tell them we are worried? I was worried. I just saved them and they suddenly went underwater where I couldn’t reach them. Tell them to be more mindful.”
“I was worried as well,” Ruben adds.
“I was about to jump in,” Lana admits, “and then I thought, hey, I do have Mind link.”
Ruben exhales. “It’s quite… I mean, it comes in handy, but it’s also a bit worrying. Did you see how they sucked that Worg empty from the jugular vein? It’s instinctive. And now the non-breathing… I’m curious how Kroak does this. How it works.”
“Yeah, me too.”
He pauses, thinking. “I think now Kroak also volunteered to look into the waste material, right? Because they don’t need to breathe.”
Lana nods. “Yeah, maybe I can ask them to check out the source of the black stuff.”
She reconnects. Kroak requests more light, and Daiki adjusts the glowing fireflies as best he can. Lana relays instructions, then asks Kroak to investigate further once they’re done.
Below the surface, time passes. Eventually, Kroak ties a rope to the scorpion’s stinger and signals for it to be pulled up.
Lana grabs the rope and pulls—but it slips through her hands, her footing unstable among the roots. She struggles, nearly losing her grip entirely.
Ruben watches, then offers calmly, “Sometimes wit is better than pure strength. Maybe if you throw it around a trunk… use it as a pulley.”
Lana blinks twice. “Great idea.” She loops the rope around a tree and tries again. This time, with steadier leverage, she hauls the stinger up successfully.
Not long after, Kroak emerges and reports what they saw: murky water near the edges, but an unnatural clarity toward the center. Black streaks curl through it, seeping from deep below and even from the cavern walls. It is wrong—far too clear for a swamp.
Ruben listens carefully, intrigued. “So much clear water in a swamp… imagine it’s a different substance. Heavy water, perhaps. Or extremely salty…”
After a moment, he removes his jacket and prepares himself. Without hesitation, he dives in from the air with a swirling movement.
The descent is fast at first, then slows as the water resists him. Darkness presses in, but his vision stretches far enough to catch glimpses—clear water, impossibly pure, interrupted by writhing black streaks.
At the bottom, he sees it: a spring, bubbling with pristine water. Around it, carved into the ground, are runes. Not benign, not neutral—angry. Wrong.
He studies them as long as he dares, then forces himself back upward. His attempt to burst out of the water fails spectacularly, leaving him floundering awkwardly until he finally drags himself onto shore—mud-soaked, feathers clinging, looking utterly miserable.
A small, clean owl head pokes out above a body caked in grime.
Daiki quickly tidies him with magic. Ruben sighs in relief. “I appreciate that… makes me feel more comfortable.”
The group falls into discussion about what Ruben saw. Runes, magic, possibilities. Kroak listens, interested.
Eventually, Ruben decides. “If I cast Comprehend languages and dive again, it might make sense. But… it could be dangerous.”
Kroak nods. “Then I’ll come with you.”
They prepare together—this time with stones to weigh them down. Before Kroak dives, Daiki reaches out, shaping energy around them, forming a draconic visage over their head. “You can use dragon breath,” he explains. “Maybe acid can dissipate the runes.”
Kroak nods, intrigued. “It won’t hurt to try.”
With that, they leap.
The two descend side by side, clutching their makeshift weight, sinking deeper into the cavern. Above them, the faint light fades. Around them, the black streaks drift and curl, never touching.
Below, a spring bubbles with impossibly fresh water, though dark tendrils swirl through it like ink. Drawn downward toward the source, Ruben and Kroak descend into the depths, passing through the black strands that drift past them without clinging—present one moment, gone the next.
At the bottom, they find the origin of the spring: a crack in the earth where pristine water surges upward. Yet something is wrong. Corruption seeps into the flow, visible as dark streaks threading through the clarity. Around the spring, a circular pattern of runes has been carved, repeating and looping endlessly.
The runes, however, resist easy interpretation. They must be touched to be read, and even then, they take time. Their patterns repeat, but not in any immediately meaningful way. Ruben sees with his Detect Magic still being up that magical auras saturate everything—illusion, necrotic, conjuration, evocation—layered and interwoven throughout the space.
Kroak studies the runes, trying to recall their structure. They feel close to recognizing something, something just out of reach, lingering at the edge of memory. “Something feels a bit weird,” they murmur.
Ruben, meanwhile, leans into observation using all his senses as learned in class. He examines the water, even tasting it despite hesitation. The result is startling: some of the dark streaks are not truly corrupt. “Okay what the fuck is up with that,” he mutters.
The realization follows—things are not as they appear. The water is both pure and tainted. The runes are partially active, partially deceptive. It’s a puzzle.
He gestures to Kroak, indicating which seem “real” and which “fake,” then moves toward the safer ones—the ones that do not emit necrotic energy. As he touches one, comprehension floods in. A faint blue energy rises from the rune, tracing a path upward through the cavern. Some of the surrounding darkness dissipates, though other shadows shift to fill the void.
Kroak follows his lead, analyzing the environment rather than the symbols themselves. They recall Professor Ventrax’s lessons: What can you see that is not there? What cannot be seen? Feeling the flow of energy, they notice that some runes disrupt the current violently, while others lie still—dead, inert. The still ones feel safer.
They touch one. Another blue stream shoots upward.
Above ground, Lana patrols the island, keeping watch for swamp creatures. She moves carefully, occasionally chatting with Daiki. “That was such a cool thing that you did,” she tells him, referring to his earlier magic.
“I can give you one Dragon head ability as well if you want someday,” he replies.
As they talk, something changes. Blue streaks of light crawl from the water onto a nearby island, forming a glowing circular pattern. Lana nearly steps into it but catches herself mid-motion, avoiding disturbing the forming rune circle. At its center, a book materializes, floating and flipping through its pages.
“Oh… a book,” Daiki says.
They hesitate. “Should we… get it?” Lana wonders, uncertain.
Daiki lifts into the air to inspect it more closely. The pages are damaged, erratic, filled with fragments of events—“Rose Festival,” “Sally,” “Bow’s End.” It recounts things they recognize.
“This book knows what we have done,” Daiki realizes.
Lana frowns. “Yes, but… this is a hidden agenda.”
The energy continues pulsing, fed by the water below. Daiki grows uneasy. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this… it looks like it’s going to spell… Corru.”
They try to warn the others. Daiki sends glowing firefly-like lights into the water, arranging them into a cross-shaped signal. But below, Ruben and Kroak are too focused to notice.
Back underwater, the pair continue solving the puzzle. Ruben identifies another safe rune through careful observation, noting subtle differences in depth and intention—some carvings feel deliberate, others shallow and false. He touches it, and another blue streak rises.
Kroak attempts a different approach—smell. It proves awkward underwater, but they narrow the possibilities down to three remaining runes. They signal Ruben for help.
Ruben hesitates. Then, thinking of risk and growth, he decides to act. He reaches out, feeling the energy of the final rune against his skin. It does not drain him. It feels… right.
He touches it.
The final blue stream surges upward. The cavern glows green for a moment, and suddenly, clarity strikes when they read: “unleashing corruption.”
Above, Daiki reads the same phrase in the book. “Unleashing Corrup… I think they are doing something,” he says, alarmed. “Lana, we have to get to safety if something horrible happens. We need to get into the water!”
Back below, the illusion collapses. The cavern is revealed in its true state—thick with black tendrils and corruption. Yet as Lana and Daiki descend into the water, something remarkable happens. Around them, the darkness recoils. A bubble of purity surrounds them, pushing back the corruption like light against shadow.
Daiki realizes the source. “Holy water.” He signals Lana with hand movements to make her aware of it.
Lana, guided by him, retrieves the vial from her pack. As they descend further, the cavern clears in their wake, the runes dimming as they approach.
Reaching the spring, Lana uncorks the vial.
The holy water disperses instantly, diffusing through the spring. Wherever it touches, the runes fade, their magic unraveling. The corruption dissolves, replaced by natural clarity. The water becomes truly pure—not artificially pristine, but alive and balanced.