Into the Darkness

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As we land back in Buenos Aires, Klyce transforms into a huge demon and charges Hank, putting him through a wall. Then, through gritted teeth, asks us to get Hank our of here or stop him. Nat traps Klyce in a ball of force and Hank comes back in. Through sheer force of will, Klyce calms himself and explains that having killed Hank in the big fight under the glacier, and then having brough him back, his vengeance is very angry. That Hank being alive is athema to him. Locke grabs Hank and they blink out. Far enough for Klyce to truly relax.

Nat wonders about going into Klyce’s brain to try and solve the problem. Klyce is open to it, since Nat was able to almost find the problem with his new step-dad. Then Dalish asks if Klyce can’t just tell the vengeance No, but it’s not that simple. Klyce says that he IS vengeance, and there’s no putting a stopper in it. The others go off for awhile about out godly connections until Klyce and Philomena head off to find a different hotel.

Then, as folk start going through the loot they found, I send to Hank that he can come back, and he does. The group has picked up a couple swords, a blowgun, a new robe, some fancy armor, a strange candlestick, a satchel of potions, a new necromancy spellbook, and three tomes that they think are really big business. It seems both swords would fit Klyce, but also both seem pretty dangerous. I’m a bit horrible to Remy about their looting while he’s trying to tell us about the worse sword of the two. I was just so angry about them looting while we were trying not to die from all the lava pouring in on us. Maribeth talks me down and offers to get tea with me later so we can chat.

The group decides I should have the weird robe, it can let off a brilliant light three times a day and stun everyone who sees it. That seems weird, but hey, maybe the Dawnmother will like it. Then everyone goes off to their rooms to READ for Three Days!!! We need to be after the last shard, we need to finish this mission and get back home! We’ve been down here so long and the elections are coming, and my brother is living with a demon and my parents are still missing! And they take three days to READ! I know I always want to run away and just not deal with things, but we told the queen we’d rescue the prince, and we told people we would find the Black Knight, and we’re supposed to be helping stop the city from exploding or imploding, I’m not really sure which at this point. Nearly dying twice a week is fun and all, but we have to get home.

We get back together after those three days, after Nat dug around in Klyce’s brain on the third night. Everyone is there, and everyone stares at Klyce when he and Philomena arrive. He is confused by our attention, but seems fine, so we settle in. They say that to books didn’t expend themselves and can be used again right now, if we want. I nearly explode. I am NOT waiting another three days doing Nothing! We have to get the shard and we have to go back. Klyce agrees with me, thank the gods. We give all the pieces to Nat and they snap together into a nearly complete mirror. She says she can feel a directionality, but cannot see a location. The others pull out books and try to sort out her feeling. It looks like Southern Argentna, where there’s a place called the Cave of Hands. It’s an ancient site with stenciled handprints, but one of the illustrations has a stylized purple bird on the edge. It looks like the one from the tablets Philomena found.

We have a locaiton now, and Philomena says she’s going to come with us this time, with no research left to do here. Hank says he thinks this is for us to do. They were only led here to help us get there, so they’ll stay behind. We head out on Dalish’s dead bird, with Klyce flying Philomena beside us. Several people spend our travel time reading those damn books again, but I don’t know how they can read while flying, I can hardly keep my eyes open for the nausea of it all. Somewhere along the way, Klyce gives Maribeth and Remy their youth back, I looked up one morning, pulling my mask aright, and they were young again. Maribeth looks much happier now.

On the evening of the third day, we find the canyon and Nat leads us to the mouth of the cave. There is a huge circle around it of no vegetation, and it is all the way out here where our magic is suppressed. It’s easier now though, we’ve done this so many times already. We head inside and the darkness is oppressive, and magical. Dalish has to cast Daylight on Klyce’s scorpion tail to allow us to see even a little bit. The hands start changing as we get deeper and deeper, into clawed, hideous things.

Our path comes to a dead end at a solid sheer wall. There are two stylized, purple amethyst parrots. I reach out to one and it feels hot. Nat looks around and finds small carvings on the other walls. Describing the people coming here to offer sacrifices. That this is the gateway to the land of the dead. Daish and Maribeth say that could mean the land of shadows, or smokey mirror, where they go to be forgotten. Seems pretty horrible to me. Nat feels a thinness here, and she cuts her hand, praying to the Dancer at the Crossroads. She pulls the mirror out of her pocket, smearing it with blood. There is a deep purple flas and a gateway opens. It feels like death, but we all head through. We’ve all died at least once, maybe this is where we belong.

Stepping through, every bit of moisture feels pulled from our skin and the darkness presses in even harder. We are standing on sand? No, looking down, it is powdered bones, we can see a few full pieces here and there. Dessicated corpses from eons past. Nat leads us onward for a long while. It feels like Old Town used to, up in Bangoria. The shadows stir and rise, and crowd in around us. I shout for everyone to close their eyes and light up the cloak. We need more than me, folks. And I begin praying to the Dawnmother as Dalish and Remy cast more Daylight spells on Klyce to keep the shadows at bay.

Dawnmother guide us. Dawnmother teach us. Dawnmother protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. I live only to serve. My life is yours.

Over an hour later, the shadows finally abate, but what we find is far worse. Three monstrous chained beings of flesh and eyes and mouths, with three young people trapped inside them just barely younger than most of us. That Voice comes again: Great Works require Sacrifice. Do the work and complete the sacrifice.

I thin there were more words, but I stopped listening as Remy translated them out for the rest of the group. Nonononono! We are not killing children! The monsters just stare at us. And the group erupts. No! We can’t kill the kids! Nat wants to go investigate, but Remy stops her. We have to talk this through first. What are we doing? He turns to them and speaks in their language.

Can you understand me?

Yes, mortal.

Why are you here?

To preserve and wait.

Why do you have these children?

To be their continuance and their end.

Where can we find the shard?

It will be revealed when all here are dead.

Who put you to this task?

Those you call gods.

Nat wants to see if the kids are still alive/thinking. She she looks in on them. They are sleeping and having happy, peaceful dreams. She pushes in, looking for how they got here. There were in a forest village with their parents when luminous beings arrived. They spoke for a time and then volunteered to be taken and brought here. The luminous being said a great work was to be done, and innocent young volunteers were needed. They would be lost to their families to protect a dangerous fae artifact. These three came willingly, knowing it would cost their very lives.

We all take a step back. Why are we even doing this? Why is the other group helping us do this? What if we just don’t? We don’t even know why Hank and friends are helping us put the mirror back together. We want to find the Black Knight with it, but why, actually. What are we going to do if we find him? What is all this for? We cannot kill these kids. There has to be another way. We’ve come this far, we have to finish, but we are not going to murder children to do it.

Remy turns back to the monsters.

What happens when they are taken?

They cannot but through death.

What if we kill you?

The children are freed.

Can they survive without you?

Yes.

Can you be destroyed without killing them?

Yes, if you so choose.

What purpose do you serve?

And to this, they do not reply. Nat tries to detect thoughts of the monsters. They are waiting. To see if we attack or sacrifice the children. They are linked to them, in life and death. If they children are killed, the monsters will die immediately. The children are weak, it would be easy to do. The monsters themselves are quite hardy and will not die easily. They have no weaknesses, many resistances, and are immune to poison.

But this is what we must do, the children must live, even if it means our own sacrifice to save them.

Dragon!

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Philomena found information on our next stop while we were out saving Hank and friends. She found tablets with iconography showing the six gods at war with chaos. They gathered together and went to the source of the chaos and returned with a prized possession that looks a lot like the mirror. They used it, broke it, and then sealed it away from man. It depicts each of the places we have been so far, plus the one remaining spot in the desert. It also seems to say that once five of the pieces are together, they will reveal the way to the final piece. The people on the tablets are represented by the different animal images we’ve seen at the various locations.

The others have mostly all just died and come back, so we leave them behind and head for the desert. I send some messages along the way to check in with folk. My brother is safe and says nothing much is going on. Nat’s family is also safe. Unfortunately, Xin Yue isn’t doing as well. She says that the Golden Horde has taken over her entire country and her brother is being held by the Khan of Khans. She says the Golden Horde isn’t done, and is likely to come for us, too.

Flying over the salt flat desert is pretty disconcerting, so I just cover my face and trust Nat to guide us. She directs us to a huge dormant volcano and then to a winding trail up the side. We land at the foot of the path and start walking up. There’s a marker with a lizard on it, and it glows as we pass. These markers continue as we go along the path, so we follow on up, hoping that they will let us in if we light them all up. The ground seems to be vibrating and shifting beneath us. As we make our way further and fruther up, the top of the volcano starts smoking. The volcano is waking up. About halfway up, the magic suppression started again.

It’s sunset by the time we get to the top. A large crater holds six large iguana statues made of amber, and a small 10′ tall pyramid. As we head down into the crater, the statues light up. There’s a loud crack as the ground shifts and begins breaking apart as lava surges up. Most of the group manages a dimension door to get out, but Gerhard and I can’t quite manage. Klyce transforms and lifts us up out of the lava for a moment until I can pull myself together and get us out.

The entire caldera becomes a lake of lava, and the pyramid and statues reappear, appearing to float on the lake. Klyce flies over to the pyramid, and finding it stable, waves the rest of us over. Dalish tries to fly over with Remy, but it’s too hot and they end up d-dooring very quickly. I do the same with Maribeth, Gerhardt brings Nat over.

Inside is unadorned smooth stone and stairs leading down. A familiar voice calls out: “Touch nothing but the crank.”

Remy and I tell the others and we head down the stairs. Into a massive room of treasure. Money, art, magic items. Everyone stays on the path, but as we get further into the chamber, the gold lessens and the items increase. Some of them on plinths tempting us in our minds, offering us their power. Sunblade, Oathbow, Mirror of Lifetrapping, Tomes… But we press on. Across a bridge over a pool of water to a short set of stairs leading up to a landing with a crank, lit with light from above.

Klyce steps forward and activates the crank. Tremors pulse through the structure. The voice calls out again: “You have passed. Now comes your trial.”

Lava starts pouring into the room and we start running. Well, okay, Some of us start running, and some of us start looting the room. Okay, everyone but me starts grabbing items instead of running away from the lava. I yell at them to stop it and just run, but as more and more of them grab things, no one listens anymore. Even Klyce circles back for a book.

By the time we get up the stairs and away from the pouring lava, we’re all a bit singed. The pyramid is stable, but there are massive wings beating the air outside. A massive real-life, red Dragon is flying around out there. I think it was Remy who asked if it had a name, or what it wanted, I’m not sure anymore, because the answer was DEATH.

I manage to peak out of the pyramid to call up a storm, but that was one extremely scary dragon. As usual, a lot of fire, spells, lightning, and bullets fly before we manage to bring it down. Klyce yanks the mirror piece out of its forehead, that ought to have made anyone cranky, before it sinks into the lava. The lava then solidifies over it’s body and the lake and dragon are no more.

The fifth piece acquired, we head down the mountain and back to Buenos Aires.

Sludge Skating

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Standing on the rocky bank of the slude river, Nat keeps insisting that our destination is down below the sludge. But there’s no way we can go swimming in it, and there are no paths around it. Dalish even burns the toe of his boot to make sure. Exhausted from the trip down here and the fight with the oozes above, we decide to take a short rest and heal up a bit.

Afterwards, Dalish wants to try flying out to scout the river. So, I tie a rope around him in case of disaster, and he heads out. Eventually, we have to add another rope to let him go a bit further. When he gets back, he reports some silver snakes on the wall, and other iconography worked int the stone. There’s a bit of a bulge in the water that followed him, but doesn’t attack, and went away when he got back to shore.

Then the random attacking begins. Remy shoots the river, nothing. Someone tries a tiny spark, but it doesn’t light the sludge. A flamebolt simply burns a tiny bit. Gerhard tosses out a Ray of Frost, and a section freezes solid. Success! This seems like the way forward. But that doesn’t stop the rest of them. They toss out more and more elements, while I fume in frustration. Clearly Frost Works!

As this winds down we discuss Gerhard using Wall of Force in case of emergency, but otherwise, we’ve got a pretty solid plan. The three folk with Ray of Frost will make a bit enough path for us all to walk down the river together. It’ll melt behind us, but if we move fast enough, it should be fine. It’s slow going, but it does work. When we reach the snakes, the studious ones try and study them for a moment, but they’re just shiny snakes telling us we’re going the right way.

The sludge river narrows as the stone around us becomes more and more worked. More of the pattern survives here, showing the mountain above us and six god figures blowing ice over it and a snake deep within guarding a black blob. Well, that seems pretty straight forward, if dramatic.

Eventually, we get to a huge cavern of worked stone with a temple in the middle. This place is filled with stalagtites and stalagmites, but in the center is a worked temple area where the sludge is erupting from. There is a massive silver serpent statue overlooking a recently destroyed fountain. The fountain is the source. It seems our friends may have been the ones to cause this damage and the river of sludge.

Dalish and Remy discuss digging a hole beside the fountain, but we don’t know how deep or how to dig through solid stone. I point out the Snake, and Dalish and Nat take a look. Someone has cut bits off it, and recently, too. It used to have large jeweled eyes and fangs. What about Dimension Door? We’re not sure where we’re going. What about freezing the flow? Well, okay, but then what? Nat sends her arcane eye down the sludge, and about 40 feet down is a small cavern that leads to a large cavern where the other group is encased.

Dalish wants to go down with Klyce to investigate, but Klyce doesn’t want to be touching the sludge, so he asks me to levitate him. It take way more tries that it out to, but I manage it. I Hate This Place! The cavern shakes and rumbles and the sludge starts geysering out of the hole. Nat says she can see a huge monster down there and our friends are actually encased in its body, lets her eye drop and manages to cast control water to split the stream enough for the rest of us to climb down a revealed ladder.

Dalish puts up a fog cloud and makes the rest of us pretty useless for a bit, but when it drops, it’s clear that the monster has been putting our friends in the way of our attacks. It also has managed to grab a few of us, as well. It’s a rough fight, and I hardly manage to do much of anything, but eventually we put it down. I’m not sure how, I was unconscious at the time. We do, however, have to bring quite a few of the other group back from the grave in the process.

Once everyone is up and mobile again, we get out of there and head back to the hotel.

Rescue Party

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The minotaur goat monster resists all my spells, but between Remy’s shooting, Klyce turning into a giant ape, and some other folk getting through with their spells, we manage to put him down. Klyce rips the shard out of his forehead. When Nat puts the two shards together, they vibrate, but don’t quite match each other. The new on gives the same visions as the first, but the ones we have found no longer appear. The glacier still does, though, which is upsetting.

Then everyone gets obsessed with the hole the monster came out of. It’s covered in mucus and there’s a pool of it in the bottom. So gross! Nat climbs down on a rope. The liquid rusts her crowbar immediately, and burns her hand. I insist Klyce pull her back up immediately before she jumps in. So, instead, she sends an arcane eye down and moves it around until she finds something, then goes down to grab it. As soon as she’s up, I teleport everyone back home before she can go back down again.

Upon arrival, the guys look at what she found, and discover it’s a stone so soaked in the acid that it now can absorb acid damage to the user. We take a rest and I try to send to Locke in the morning. Still no response. Nat tries scrying on them while the rest of us discuss if we should go find them or go find the last known shard first. She is able to find them under the glacier down south. The whole cave is full of viscous tarry muck. In a small circular chamber, she can see Shelly suspended, encased in yellow/black hard mucus.

Well, that seems bad enough, we’ve got to get down there as soon as possible. They aren’t dead, but who knows for how long. So, we head out to the shops and get cold weather gear and food for the journey. Nat has scryed, so she can teleport us down, but from there, we don’t know how long or how cold it will be.

We head down and are immediately assaulted by sleet, hail, cold and wet. I toss up some weather control to put the worse away from us. Nat pulls out the mirror bits and leads us on, down into a steep crevice to the bottom. It is covered in an oily layer that burns my staff end. Klyce reminds us we have climbing gear and boot spikes, so we put those on and keep following our path.

The ice closes over our heads, and folk throw up their lights. We trek for hours down these icy, oily caves. Until it finally opened up into a small cave coated on every surface with this acidic oil. It’s thicker here, and seems to be flowing back up the way we came.

Then eight goopy, black masses drop from the ceiling and begin attacking us, melting off Nat’s clothes again. I manage a thunderstep away from the one attacking me. But my lighting again is useless, and I can’t manage to cast anything offensive. I do manage some healing spells for folk. Klyce manages to finish off the last one, and we hurry out of there.

Into a much bigger cavern with some worked steps and a dias. We are looking over a full on river of sludge this time. It’s a bit warmer down this far, and Nat says it looks familiar.

Labyrinth Adventures

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We decided to head to the Labyrinth Desert next, and flew over on the creepy bird for four and a half days before landing at the base of the foothills. I tried to contact Hank each night, but he never replied. Philomena hasn’t heard from them either. Well, I guess we’re going to have to go rescue them soon.

Okay, so big labyrinth and then a plateau above it. It’s a lot bigger than I thought. Miles and miles of both foothills and mountain. Where do we go? Nat pulls out the shard we had collected below the waterfalls to see if it leads her. After a few minutes, she starts heading for a path. We all fall in and follow her into the maze. After only a few minutes, the familiar sensation washes over us as magic is dampened.

We head deeper and deeper, and the high walls soon punge us into darkness. We light up torches and spells and keep pushing. Into an open area where six paths converge. In the center are six worn statues of large predatory cats whose eyes and claws are inlaid with red jasper. In the center is a star-shaped stone. The statues face each path, and are not magical in and of themselves. Klyce heads into the center of the circle and this time I can understand them, too.

It was a lot, but something like: One path becomes six becomes one. Each man takes the path alone. All men live alone and die alone.

Okay, six paths, who is staying here? We discuss for a short moment, Remy thinks he should stay because he doesn’t have a god. But we decide to draw straws instead, and Dalish gets the short one and stays. The rest of us head down the paths.

My path is slightly winding, and there’s some grumbling of the stone as I walk for about ten minutes with no side passages. Finally, there is a dead end with a much nicer jaguar statue. This one has clearly been preserved by magic. Its eyes light up and a circle appears around me as I approach. The voice speaks out again. Wait for the others to finish. So, I wait, for quite a while. I start poking the statue a bit, but stay in my circle until finally, the voice spoke again. The paths have been walked, let the hunt begin.

The eyes and the circle dim and go out. Turning around, the path behind me has changed. I have to get back to the group, if there’s a hunt, they’re going to need me. So, I start running back down the paths, looking for the way back to the star. I run smack into a massive hairy creature standing on two feet with iron horns and the face of a goat. It clubs me, knocking me back a few feet away. I thunderstepped my way further back and ran. A couple footsteps followed, but then they were gone.

I don’t look back. I run and run and run. Until I eventually run into Remy. He looks even worse than I do, so I heal the both of us up a little bit, and we move on, looking for the others. We run into Klyce who has his sword out and looking eager to fight that horrible thing. I heal the guys up a bit more. But it doesn’t want to attack a group, it seems. We wander for a while longer until we finally find our way back to the center, where Nat, Gerhard, and Maribeth are waiting. Gerhardt immediately starts patching everyone up, but as we move closer to the broken center, the statues’ eyes light up.

The voice chimes in again: The trial is complete, the hunter becomes the hunted.

The monster arrives in the center, looks around angrily. Then he seems to realize what has happened, and fear flickers across his face. Then he almost sighs with resignation, takes in a breath and grows bigger, beginning to glow red like the statues.