Session Date: 05/26/2024
I missed last session.
The alternative group met what possibly could be the BBEG of the campaign: an undead type of creature that is obviously serving or has been serving Nerull. It wears an elaborate mask, and nobody tried to fight it (a level 17 encounter). He took something from the altar in this temple we are exploring. Emily say that it was some type of strange shriveled heart. He cast a spell as he was leaving, and then walked away.
Emily tried to make friends with Nakha and absolutely failed at this. Corwin Sorensen continues to be an asshole - which Nakha did threaten - but we continue on.
Chase disarms a trap for us and we all start to move forward. Nakha has another moment where they make someone (Chase) uncomfortable. Emily drags Chase away, which leaves Chase softly purring as she does so. Emily skillfully suggests that we move on without Corwin so that he is not put in danger, and without the rest of the group following. We can take care of things as we move forward and they can follow behind us as we clear out the house.
Nakha and Emily sneak around the corner and find a flaming skull patrolling the corridor. Nakha is hit with the impression that the creature before cast a spell and possibly woke more guardians up in this temple. The skull does fire damage, explodes when killed, and is weak to vulnerable to life damage (radiant).
Nakha looks back to the group and asks Chase if he can go and find and disarm any traps, and then looks to Bertram and says that the creature ahead is weak to his type of magic. Emily explains there is a flaming skull up ahead. Emily offers to snipe the thing with her bow, and Bertram says that might be worth it if we can kill it before it alerts anything else.
The item we are after is further in, and not at the altar: it’s something else, somewhere else. Possibly down this corridor where this skull is flying, where Emily says we will have to fight it sooner or later anyway.
We surprise the creature and destroy it. While nobody was hurt by this, the explosion was rather loud. We hear a commotion from deeper in the temple and another flaming skull heads toward Nakha. A large creature moves out and heads to join the combat, with a third, smaller undead following as well.
Combat:
- Graveknight Captain
- AC: >22
- Notes:
- Large creature
- Has a large cone attack that is a REF 24 save
- Flaming Skull
- Weak:
- Vitality damage (radiant)
- Resist:
- Fire (Immune)
- Notes:
- Explodes upon death
- Tiny creature
- Weak:
- 3x Skeleton Guard
We finish combat and take care of things. As we are patting our back and then Corwin comes up and agrees that we all did a great job. Nakha removes the hand from their shoulder and moves away from Corwin.
We move on to the end of the hall into the next chamber. Bertram starts to pull out scrolls from his pack. There is a hole here that is the largest that Bertram and the team has found, and he reiterates that this is the largest of this place we’ve found. Emily tosses a torch into the hole and it just goes, and goes, and goes, and the flame eventually disappears in the distance but we hear nothing.
Staring into the hole, Nakha realizes:
They remember the name Nerull - they recall that people were scared of dying before the Raven Queen because of Nerull. A funeral was actually a process to protect the soul from the god of death. An unprotected soul would be snatched to Nerull’s realm, and whoever died would be forgotten - any regular rites such as going to heaven, or being reincarnated, just didn’t happen. He would steal a person’s soul and do something with it. This very well might be a portal to whatever is left of Nerull’s realm.
Bertram is glad to be finished recording what they have found and is quite ready to turn around and leave. We get the hell out of there and get on the path back to Cruelwind Prison.
Emily and Wilhelm take the first watch together. They talk about how disturbing it is that the undead exist, and Emily mentions that she isn’t so sure that she could go back to a normal life after this. They talk about saving the world and journeying together on this. Wilhelm eventually drifts off to sleep and Corwin comes up to Emily and has a conversation that is very creepy.
Corwin shapeshifts into a tiger - a Raksasha - and places a curse on Emily and she starts bleeding from her eyes and nose and mouth and wounds start to appear on her body. She tries to scream but it’s just gurgling. She starts convulsing as she’s bleeding, and Wilhelm wakes up and calls out for everyone to wake up as he tries to figure out what’s going on with her. He can’t tell and Khar’rik tries to figure it out as well, figuring out that it’s a fast acting curse. Nakha tries to stabilize, and Khar’rik denies the attempt.
As Emily is dying, the illusion on the bear is fading: what looked to be a bear is no longer: it has three eyes, and the skin retreats until it’s a lattice of bones and rotted flesh, the embodiment of a little girl who didn’t want to be alone.
As she’s dying, Emily asks them not to leave, and says that she’s scared. She asks them to find her dad and tell him that she did good. She apologizes for not seeing him, saying that she thought he was a friend. She asks if she’ll see us in the beyond, and Bertram and Wilhelm both say yes, of course. She looks up past everyone, still clinging to Wilhelm and Bertram, and says she’ll watch us from the stars. She leans back and is looking at the stars as she finally passes.
High above, a spirit of a girl with pigtails, covered in frost and dressed like a pretty princess, looks down and sighs. She comments this will be so difficult, and she says she is so, so, sorry. She says she will have to do something about this.
Emily’s spirit stands from her body and there is a shimmer to her that is very fey. She says nothing as she watches and smiles sadly at the group. She vanishes in the sense that she is not gone, but she is invisible. Lounging on her shoulder is a small, miniature version of his polar bear.
Emily joins the entourage of ghosts that Bertram can channel.