Session Date: 05/05/2025
Faylen Returns To the Party
Faylen is filling out some paperwork after delivering the metal and as he finishes signing, Salaavethor appears and greets Faylen, then heavily pats his back. Faylen immediately
Faylen appears in the maze next to the party, and they give him the very quick explanation of what’s going on, which is very alarming to Faylen. It looks like a cavern, but the walls are very slightly moving and there’s a rhythmic pounding in the near distance. We get to moving and Faylen and Tabby end up taking a wrong turn and getting separated from Mary, Bosch, and Dr. Cecily Sÿtz.
Mary, Bosch, and SĂżtz
Once we get separated, Dr. Sÿtz immediately assumes that Faylen and Tabby are dead. Mary and Bosch discourage her, Mary saying that Faylen and Tabby can handle themselves. Sÿtz comments that she doesn’t like magic as there are rules to be followed and she’s not a fan of that.
Faylen and Tabby
There’s footsteps not too far off and we decide to move away from the sound of the footsteps, with Tabby leading the way since Faylen was the one that got them lost. Tabby suddenly grabs Faylen and pulls him back, seeing a great armored being move past the corridor with great purpose. It doesn’t notice us. Tabby puts his finger to his lips and points at it, then we try to stealth behind it.
It stops and its head turns 180 degrees to look at us, glowing red for eyes behind the darkness of the helm. It comments that we do not have what it wants, then asks if we will be a problem. Faylen says no, and Tabby says that we are just passing through. This guy says that he doesn’t have time to deal with us, and that we shouldn’t make him regret his choice, then comments he has to go cut down a tree, and leaves.
Everyone but SĂżtz
Faylen and Tabby manage to catch up with everyone else, but it happens that SĂżtz has now gotten separated and we can hear her cursing somewhere and opt to go to the tree first and then hope that SĂżtz finds her way here. Mary and Faylen both find the shimmering portal in the wall and we can hear SĂżtz to one side, and the armored figure on the other.
We ponder if we should wait for Sÿtz, and Tabby suggests we move forward and he’ll stay guard behind. Mary asks if it’s safe, and Tabby says no, but it’s what we’re going to do. Bosch pulls out the bundle he’s been carrying and says that none of us will be staying behind, and puts up the bundle with a prop that looks like a lance.
We enter the portal and it’s slightly cooler inside, but it’s a beautiful summer day. The tree is massive, so large that it seems impossible to ever be able to cut this down. We approach and Mary looks over the tree, trying to determine how to get the item we need. The tree is ancient - without knowing how time works here, it’s entirely possible that this tree is older than the world outside. She realizes that this tree is so ancient and powerful it actually has intelligence, though the thoughts are slow. If we had time, we could talk to it, but it would take days.
Mary recalls her verdant staff has the spell “one with plants” - it’s risky, but she could join with it, and either converse with it, or take what she needs from within. We can hear from outside the door: didn’t I kill you already? The armored thing has arrived, but Bosch’s creation gives him pause. Faylen realizes at this moment that the bundle was one of the guard corpses.
Mary merges with the tree. She catches threads of thoughts and realizes the tree is thinking in such a grand scale that she cannot comprehend, but she does not need to comprehend: she inherently understands. It occurs to her that this pocket dimension could eventually become its own world, and she manages to get her hands on a spark of creation.
The armored guy walks through the portal after having destroyed the fake guard. He comments that he thought we wouldn’t be a problem, and Tabby said we lied. Faylen calls him out for being a little bit… Judgmental, we’ll say, and he doubles down. There’s a little more back and forth before he explains he has to finish a project, which involves cutting down this tree. He doesn’t want more of his time wasted. Bosch asks if he wants to stay and chat, and the being laughs in a way that implies he hasn’t laughed in a long time.
He opts to chat, and Bosch explains we’re adventurers that are going to put down a city in no time flat. The being says it’s a waste of time because in no time it will be reduced to cinders. Bosch comments that just because it isn’t forever doesn’t mean it’s not worth the art, and the man recognizes that Faylen’s seen the future and what the denizens of the Dark Demesne plan to do. He explains that something happened to their home, and now they are trying to turn our world into their new home. He believes that nothing of value will be lost in the Dark Demesne’s denizens killing us all.
The Dark Demense is working to make their own Seal of Infinity. To do so, they need to destroy the tree and take its power of creation.
Kaine - the armored figure - has been transformed in some way.
Combat
Sÿtz comes into the portal and we explain that we need to take care of Kaine, and she’s less than thrilled, but alas.
Combat begins.
- Kaine
- RESIST poison 10
- Definitely not made of flesh
- Akata
- Flicker Wisp
- Immunity to magic
- FORT lowest save
We manage to get Kaine close to death and he gives up, and heals Faylen a little. He comments that this world is one where people get hurt, that’s how it is, and that is what he doesn’t want. He promises we will meet him again. The armor crumples in on itself.
Mary and Sÿtz work on patching Faylen up and Faylen thinks about how Kaine was not a simulacrum of the Dark Demesne, but rather a person who has been transformed by them. He completely agrees with the Dark Demesne, and he was definitely transformed. It’s hard to think after how upset his stomach was and his head hurt after being forced to recall the little girl simulacrum talking about making their plane home.
SĂżtz asks if we should perhaps tap the tree for some of its energy, and Mary and SĂżtz argue about this. SĂżtz finally backs down off of this, and looks forward to fixing Destroyer. Mary explains we need to figure out how to get out of here, and Bosch calls for Sal to get us out of here. Sal comments he sees we stopped Kaine from destroying the tree.
Faylen asks Sal about a Kaine, and he comments perhaps Valoran Kaine: an explorer that went to the Dark Demesne to try to open trade and hasn’t been heard from since. Sal comments that Valoran Kaine was greedy and a cheat, and Bosch points out that this Kaine was rather proud of his negative traits. Tabby comments that he perhaps got more than he wanted, and Sal agrees. Sal asks what was going on here, and Faylen explains that Kaine wanted to siphon the power away from the tree to create a new Seal of Infinity. Sal comments that this would create a fifth tradition of magic, which would irrevocably change the world. He does comment that he would rather hate to meet dragons from that tradition, he barely likes other dragons as it is.
Sal comments on the importance to preserve the tree, and we agree. He teleports us out: everyone teleports normally, but Faylen gets flung once again.