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September 12, 2018 Campaign Notes[]
Next stop: the surface![]
The elemental elevator twists its way up to the surface and clears a grotto into the rocky hills about two miles south of the cave entrance that the group originally entered the Underdark from.
The pillow of air carries the characters above the vast hole down to the Underdark, and the geomancy artifact hovers in the air about a foot above the surrounding landscape.
It is late at night, but Rama and her reddish little brother, Medro, are both shining brightly in the mostly-clear sky. The light wind and mooncast shadows underscore the dizzying depths that lay below the travelers, and that the only thing supporting them is an invisible platform of increasingly cushiony elemental air.
Ring Around the Drain[]
Seconds after the characters step over solid ground, a three foot high fence with railing forms out of stone and rings the opening. The support columns are twisting hexagons of speckled granite.
Clay, sand and rock twist and peel away from the surrounding landscape, finally forming a great dome, over 80 feet in diameter, supported by six twenty-foot thick twisting hexagonal pillars of rock at the edges. The huge dome has an oculus in the center about fifteen feet in diameter - about ten feet narrower than the twisting borehole that leads up from the Underdark.
The hole itself, upon closer examination, plunges straight down. After a while, the more architecturally minded of the group notices that the hole isn’t perfectly round, and instead is a gently twisting hexagonal bore about 25 feet in diameter. While bats and most birds will have no problem flying in and out of the hole, most winged creatures man-sized and larger will not be able to fully extend their wings.
Departure of the Elves[]
Darius and Mirja suggest that they make haste for the coast to alert the ship. The idea is to get aboard, and get far enough out to sea to get out of Sarvoda’s zone of magical interference that they can get a message back to Jumala about events and request aid from the Arcane College’s few experts in geomancy. They depart as soon as they’re healed, with Mirja covering their tracks and Darius providing illusory cover and magical speed. The plan is to meet the rest of the crew on shore when they slower-moving group makes it back.
New Camp, New Wards[]
Dave wards the edge of the inside of the hole with a paralysis spell. Good luck to any bats who try to fly through.
Considering their options and their exposure to enemies, Maggey begins casting Hallow on the new building and area around the boreshaft. As she casts and sanctifies the area, she is working an enchantment into the ritual. Tongues might be useful to a future the group envisions where parties from all continents come to build a new meritocracy on Sarvoda. Paul envisions this place as the gathering point for a new kind of culture they could usher in.
As Maggey works her arduous ritual, she channels energy through her metamagic sceptre, doubling the spells area of effect. When complete the hallowed area will extend out in a sphere 240 feet in diameter.
Sensing a Presence Not Felt in a Long Time[]
Tunrida, the eyrinys that the group encountered a month ago, senses a change in the environment and moves to investigate. She flies up about 500 feet, and heads south to confirm her suspicions. She travels for about 15 minutes before spotting the strange new structure and softly whistling hole in the ground.
A couple hours before dawn, Paul senses something strange. He takes a short walk away from the artifact-built structure and looks around, before spotting the Fury above him.
Tunrida flies down, hovering a few hundred feet above the human and shouts a terse greeting to him. She reminds Paul of his promise to go with her back to the pit fiend, Rimmon, to figure out a way to lift the binding spell from Sarvoda.
Deal With a Devil[]
Paul invites the devil to the ground so they can talk, and points out the geomancy artifact. They talk cautiously, unwilling to trust one another, though Tunrida reveals that she takes oaths very seriously. Finally, Paul promises to go with her to find Rimmon if she will help the humans figure out how to use the geomancy artifact to fix the ley lines. He takes off his glove and extends a hand to shake on it. Tunrida takes off her gauntlet and does the same.
The Good Touch[]
As they make contact, holy radiance from the Heart of Gold floods into the devil like a divine torrent. Paul, strengthened by his magic, holds the overwhelmed fallen angel tightly, and speaks to her gently and kindly about the pain of falling, and how excruciating but rewarding it is to atone for one’s past failings.
White-gold light beams from Tunrida’s eyes. She struggles against Paul, fighting to free herself from his iron grip, but is unable to muster magic or might that can sever their connection. Her screams are awful, and can likely be heard for miles.
Maggey continues to work her ritual, while Dave grimly watches the scene between Paul and the devil from a safe distance. He prepares a potent spell, just in case.
Last Defense[]
A minute passes. Paul remains resolute, while the weakening devil continues to thrash against him. Finally, Tunrida regains a moment’s clarity and reaches for her belt, uncorking a metal bottle. Foul smoke pours out and begins to form a towering shape behind Paul. Gritting her teeth against the awful goodness, Tunrida gasps out, “Taphaeon! Help me!”
Too weak to even kneel, the convulsing devil falls to the ground. Paul follows her, taking a knee respectfully while the Heart of Gold continues to fill the devil with divine light. He feels a powerful, gracious thankfulness from the golden artifact as it works, and an impulse to do something else.
The black smoke behind Paul takes shape into the form of a massive demon that Dave recognizes as a nalfeshnee. The hideous, bloated thing rears back, preparing to strike.
Dave unleashes a polymorph spell. Dave’s potent magic tears through the monster’s resistance, transforming the towering creature into a harmlessly angry sloth! It inches toward Paul, quaking with useless fury.
Two Drops of Glory[]
Paul feels an urgency from the Heart of Gold and shakes off his other glove. He extends his index and pinky fingers and a tiny bead of gold wells up at the tip of each. He holds them over Tunrida’s light-scorched eyes and lets the two drops of gold fall.
Reformation[]
The devil arches back, with holy light blasting out of her eyes and mouth. Paul still maintains his grip, and the fallen angel’s imposing black plate armor begins to fall to pieces, clattering off of her and rapidly rusting away. Her goat-like legs reshape into humanoid form and the claws and spines fall away from her fingers and forearms.
Dave, amused at the sloths progress, draws a few lines in the black sand to measure the furious little furball’s movement.
Fever and Descent[]
The fallen angel is in an unconscious state, and she begins to alternate between breathing rapidly or very shallowly. She begins to sweat unnaturally and Paul feels a terrible fever take hold of the extraplanar being. Her red gambeson rapidly becomes drenched in watery orange ichor that seeps from Tunrida’s pores. It burns like weak acid, but Paul’s healing factor and high pain tolerance allow him to maintain his hold.
Finally, Tunrida lies still, physically stabilizing, but occasionally twitching or shaking her head. Paul realizes that it’s now safe for him to let go, and the rest of the work can only be done by Tunrida herself.
Paul stands, sees the demonsloth, then promptly picks it up and hurls the wretched thing down the boreshaft to the underdark. Its three-mile fall passes silently.
Incoming[]
Looking out to the horizon Dave notices winged creatures approaching from the northeast. At their current speed, the group can expect them near dawn.
Paul carefully moves Tunrida under the sheltering dome that Maggey still continues to enchant, and then he and Dave prepare to greet their foes.
On to the next game!