Session 113 (2I): The Cost of Adventure (Deeper Still) Played on the 20th of February 2020! Present: Agatha Duskhart; Rjurik Sorcerer/Warlock, lvl 6 (Summer) Diesa Gemfire; Dwerren Fighter/Wizard, lvl 6 (Zilarrezko) Dragomir Black; Vos Warlock, lvl 6 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 6 (SlothSlow) Mamm Bealdaartsdotter; Rjurik Fighter, lvl 6 (Seraphina Leaf) Medi Eirwen; Alseid Ranger, lvl 6 (Serephen) Prudence Duskhart; Alseid Druid, lvl 6 (Lena C) Locations: Morrendeep, The Khurinlach, Baruk-Azhik. Stones Rejoicing, Land's Victory, Baruk-Azhik. I've been thinking a lot recently about my place in the Cohort. I've been thinking about how scared I am of losing my friends. How scared I am of losing my daughter. But, mostly, how scared I am of leaving a life of adventure behind. I. Back Into The Deep Our decision to go into Morrendeep once again was a bold one, most of us having considerably angered a great evil in the Beholder. I did not know how far this Beholder's sight reaches, so I just silently hoped it wouldn't reach where we went. We felt as though, because of our many trips there, that we were the ones best suited to clearing out Morrendeep. We had to go speak with Grimm Graybeard first, as, unlike the previous times we had gone into Morrendeep, there was now an official mission on the Board of Fate to go in. This mission required 40% of what we brought out, to be given to the Overthane. Rules are rules. We asked for some aid, though not so much that it would increase the amount we had to give him. Some of us took some equipment. We then accompanied Medi to the smith who had been working on her armour. It was finished, and was very good quality. We left the city, and made our way to the Khurinlach. The entrance to Morrendeep now had two small towers built in the lake, just outside of it. Dwerren keeping patrol on the towers. We met with the Dwerren, told them we here on behalf of the Overthane, and they let us rest on the tower should we wish to. We thought it best to, so we could have as much energy as possible before heading into the dreaded old city. Before sleeping, Prudence performed a ritual that would allow us to breath underwater for the next 24 hours, which in hindsight, I am extremely thankful for. I also gave Nim's egg that I had borrowed from her II. A Friend Joins Us We rowed our way into the deep. Medi was kind to cast a spell on me allowing me to see in the dark, as well as casting it on herself. After checking if there once again hidden archers to our right, we moved forward into the familiar open area with the bridge up ahead, and dock to our left. Up on the bridge, we could hear a clanging coming just from out of sight. We attempted to just row past the bridge and the noise, and come back round to it on foot, but just as our boat reached the bridge, a walking skeleton came out holding a piece of meat. Upon seeing us, it looked to throw the meat into the water. Diesa threw a grappling hook and many of us climbed up the rope. When Prudence tried coming up however, she was kicked off by another Skeleton back into the boat, with Drago and Agatha still in it. The boat capsized throwing them all into the water. I was just about to stop the first skeleton from throwing the meat, but then another skeleton came out and threw meat of its own into the water. Agatha and Drago then climbed the rope left by Diesa. As they came up, I looked down to check on Prudence. All I could see was a crocodile, and no Prudence. Terrified for her, I jumped into the water to save Prudence from this crocodile. With two attacks, the crocodile shifted back into Prudence. My foolish mistake tearing me up inside, I moved to help Prudence get out of the water, and we both got back up onto the bridge. We dealt with the Skeletons rather quickly after that. However, just as we ended the last Skeleton, a large blue, tentacled monster floated out of the water, towards us. It wrapped me in its tentacles and dragged me under the water, shocks going through my body as it squeezed me. Thankfully, I wasn't out of breath thanks to Prudence's spell, but it was still dire. Just as I felt close to losing consciousness, I forced myself out of its grasp, making my way to the surface of the water. The creature's tentacles grabbed me again as I was trying to get out of the water, but my comrades took it down. I believe Drago getting the final shot with his bow. My comrades pulled me out of the water, as Prudence told us that Korak was here. His boat had gotten a bit stuck on the gate, so we helped him out. He told us had been staying in Baruk-Azhik, and followed us when he heard we were here. We moved off the bridge into a nearby guard room. The same guard room in fact that I had gotten my Adamantine Hammer. My comrades asked me if I needed healing. At first I tried stubbornly saying I was fine, but Medi reminded me of something we talked about a long time ago, and I relented and said I did need help. Prudence decided while we took a breather, she would recast her ritual of waterbreathing so as to include Korak. During which, Korak himself performed a ritual to allow us to walk on water. I guess together it seems a tiny bit redundant, but you never know with these types of things. Better be safe than sorry. As they cast their rituals, I sat there winded and wounded, wishing I had the nerve to ask them to heal me first as it would only take a moment and I was in a lot of pain. But I am nothing if not stubborn, and took the pain, waiting for Korak and Prudence to finish. I don't hold it against them, it must have just slipped their minds. So many things happening at once. Diesa was kind enough to use a spell to dry me off though, the angel. After their rituals, they healed me up to the best of their abilities, but their magical resources were limited, so I still felt a bit beat up after. I reluctantly drank one of my emergency potions and felt much better. Just as everyone was leaving the room, I asked Prudence for a quiet word alone. I began to apologise for my mistake in attacking her in her crocodile form, but we were interrupted by a commotion coming from outside. III. Secret. Safe. The rest of our party, just outside the room, saw frogs approaching. They didn't seem particularly hostile but they were moving towards us. Given the foul nature of the creature's we've met in this place, it's understandable why Agatha would send a spell their way. However, as soon as she cast it, trees sprung up from the stone floor to block the spells path. Realizing they probably weren't trying to attack us considering their immediate flight from danger, Prudence called out in Druidic to say we wouldn't hurt them. All she got back was scared pleas to flee to other frogs, and terrified screams. Agatha and Diesa stood next to the sprung up foliage to see if anything came through. I asked Prudence if she was sure they sounded scared, and she was. I made my way through the trees, despite Diesa warning me it could be a trap. If it were a trap, It best be me to spring it anyways. I got to the other side to see that they were indeed definitely terrified and fleeing. I shouted back to confirm this, when the trees sank back into the stone floor, disappearing. I thought it best to sit down on the floor, so as to appear as non-threatening as possible. Prudence talked to them again, calming them down, and they started approaching again. Once they were all right in front of us, a frog came up to me, touched the chest plate of my armour, it's metallic clank scaring it. Another frog came up to me, touching my shoulder plating, it also ran away scared. Getting the feeling they were scared of creatures not made of flesh, I took my glove off to reveal my fleshy hand. Another frog came up to me, and started sucking my thumb. It was very weird, but as it wasn't drawing any blood, I thought it best to just let it happen. Hopefully this would establish a rapport between us. It seemed contented when it stopped and joined the other frogs, leaving my thumb a bit slimey. Prudence talked to the frogs for a bit, asking one frog calling themself "Red Swimmer," how they'd managed to survive down here in Morrendeep. They said that keep secret and safe in their home. They led us to their hiding place, behind a hidden door in the wall. The frogs showed us around. We saw that we could get to many other areas more safely using this hiding place, though there were many petrified Dwerren in this place. I don't know if they can still be a threat, or if that was all down to the Medusa, "Madelaine," who of course was no longer here. Regardless, it was certainly disconcerting being right up close to so many of them. Red Swimmer said we could come back here any time, as we were "secret friends." They were really cute and sweet, I wish I could talk to them, and also find them a safer home. Though maybe, in a weird way, thanks to their hiding place and lack of proper predators, they might be safer here than they would in the wild. We gave a couple of rations as well a sugar cube as a little thank you. The frogs said farewell and went off to enjoy their food. As we were moving through the secret passageways, Drago saw through a gap an open box that had weapons poking out of it. We couldn't reach it from here, however we did see a path there. We found another entrance way out of the secret path, making sure to shut it behind us once we were out. We made our way through two sets of doors to see the open box through some arrow slits in the wall. In the box, were a bunch of spears; one of them Adamantine. Diesa's familiar and Drago's magic hand carried the Adamantine spear through a slit, and we managed to fit it in Nim's egg I'd given to Medi to carry. It was at this point that Korak turned to Diesa and asked her if she wanted a magic weapon. Diesa said she already had one of sorts, and so Korak asked me. I was very thankful to him for lending me his spare weapon. A very nice flail that he called "Early Retirement." A humorous name, that would be no laughing matter to whatever I hit with it. We moved further northward. Diesa checked a side path, finding a pool of water surrounded by Dwerren statues. As Diesa stood, looking, a ghost of a woman Dwerren came out of one of the statues. She looked at us, rather blankly. She did not respond to Diesa's Karumhul. Agatha sent a message to the ghosts mind, which drew her attention to Agatha, though all she did was look confused at her. We decided to leave be, as we had no idea as to the nature of this ghost, but at least she wasn't hostile. We moved further down a twisting corridor, deeper into Morrendeep. IV. Kaevara We opened a set of double doors to find a desecrated temple to Moradin, with a naked Sidhelien woman, with particularly large ears, standing in the center of a pentagram drawn in blood. The Sidhelien, named Kaevara, told us some sort of eye creature trapped her here; the Beholder. She told us that she was looking for a Sidhelien artifact; a crescent moon shaped sword made of moonsilver, forged by the Wendigo, whose forge is down here, and had been encountered by another party. It forced them to flee, it was so powerful. She said she needed it to bring peace to the moon, by bringing it back to a temple to the moon, somewhere north of here. She continued to reference places, tribes and names none of us had heard of, and wasn't familiar with our names of places either. I wondered how long she'd been down here. Drago looked over the circle trapping Kaevara, figuring out what they were, and a way to disarm the arcane trap, but at great risk. If not done precisely, it could alert the Beholder to our presence, or harm the person scratching out the runes, or harm Kaevara. Medi, with Drago's guidance, managed to scratch out all five of the spots on the pentagram, freeing Kaevara. All of us letting out a deep sigh of relief when she finished. Kaevara, in thanks, hugged young Dragomir, who was acting awkwardly on account of her nakedness. We talked a little more Now, as I write this, I have already read many of the others logs, so I know it is already on the record that I was attracted to Kaevara. I wish this wasn't the case, but as it is, I'd like to quickly comment on it myself. I want it to be known that I have hidden my attraction to women my whole life, only for my own safety. I wish not to imply it as being shameful. I am unashamed. It is the lawmaker's crime, not mine. But yes, I was flustered by Kaevara's beauty and... form. She was naked after all. I'm only Human. Kaevara talked about magic in a way I haven't heard the other mages talk about it. I find it confusing normally, but Kaevara was talking about not actually possessing magic herself, despite definitely being able to cast spells. She talked about how something or someone called Mebhgail was working through her or something. I don't know, it was hard to comprehend what she was saying. Diesa, curious as to her magical nature, looked at her through the Laen Glass. She was immediately blinded in her eye for a little while. As her eye recovered, she said she saw a very, very strong aura of magic surrounding her. That she looked like she was on fire. I and Korak checked out a nearby room that turned out to be a boatyard, with nothing but some boats and boat-making equipment. While we were in there, the others started to hear clanging from further north. The clanging, sounding like a forge being worked. We knew that the Wendigo was up that way, thanks to the efforts of the previous party that came down here. The clang of metal on metal ominously echoing through our skulls. As we moved closer to the sound, we tried checking some rooms nearby, hoping to find items belonging to the Wendigo. Maybe even the sword Kaevara was looking for. A long shot I know, but worth checking we thought. The rooms we checked were living quarters, and a hall. The door to the hall when I went to open it, blasted me with fire, burning deeply. Kaevara asked me why I didn't avoid it. I knew that she wasn't being malicious, but it still felt very patronizing and this set me in a mood. To make my mood worse, we found nothing of note in the hall. We continued searching the nearby quarters, most were empty, but in one of the rooms we found a chest, though the door to this room blasted poor Korak with ice. Medi asked Kaevara, very carefully to make sure she understood, if the chest had magic on it that would hit us if we tried opening the chest. She said yes, walked up to the chest, patted it on its... head, and whispered something to it. She said the chest was satisfied. The whole circles of magic thing confused me enough, but this? This is queer, indeed. Inside the chest we found eight vials of Blade oil. Hadn't come across them before myself. I was told if you _ them onto your weapon, it causes them to do magical damage of a certain kind. For example I grabbed one that does Radiant damage. We split them all among ourselves, and then moved onto another room. In that room, we found a large number of Sarcophagi. Not long after going into the room, Zombies jumped out and attacked us. They took quite a few number of hits to go down, proving to be quite frustrating. One of them bit Diesa, infecting her. After we were finished with the Zombies, we looked over Diesa's bite. Prudence said Diesa needed a form of high magic to heal it, or she would become a zombie herself. We asked Kaevara if she was able to heal her. Kaevara didn't understand. After a few more attempts of trying to be as specific as we could be. she understood. She kissed Diesa's arm, and the infection healed. Korak went and looked over the room the zombies were in; called a tomb of heroes. He made a note of their names which I have copied from his log. List of the Dead: Lungroutelin Goldenarmour, Muzzaserd Redsunder, Damwoulyn Woldmaster, Thranditryd Kragjaw, Raggeabelynn Broadcloak, Kussock Leadhand, Reiteck Icebraid, Barilgrumin Lavahood, Aralmael Merryhorn. The clang of the Wendigo's forge getting louder with every step, we thought it best from this point onward to try and be quiet. To not alert this creature, or any other, of our presence. I brought up the problem of my armour being quite loud, and very difficult to stay quiet in. Kaevara said that it much easier to remain quiet while naked. To which, I told her that may be, but I'd also be easier to hit. Kaevara said she could fix that. I asked her to clarify. She said she could make me harder to hit while naked. I don't know what came over me, maybe because I was already flustered, and slightly annoyed by her, wanted to see what she could do, and so I did take my armour and clothes off, stashing them in my backpack and Nim's egg. Poor Dragomir didn't know what to do. Kaevara put her hand on my shoulder, and I could feel some sort of protection coursing through me. I don't know why, but I trusted that this had worked, and we moved onward, with now two naked women. I don't what the others must think of me now. I must remember to apologise for my weird behavior next time I see them. Thankfully, that'll get to happen. Getting very close to the Wendigo's forge, we noticed a rack of weapons behind some more arrow slits. Kaevara moved through the wall as if it weren't there. She had a look through the weapons, not finding any of them interesting herself. She talked about how the walls weren't actually there, and how you just to believe there's no wall and you'll be able to move through it. She's a very interesting person to say the least. All of the weapons in the box were rusted and useless unfortunately, so we moved on, towards the Wendigo's forge. V. The Wendigo Korak told us that according to his map, the Wendigo was up ahead, across a bridge, and around the corner. Dragomir casted a spell to give Korak wings, so Korak could scout up ahead and draw the Wendigo out so we could attack it from range. Korak flew up to the forge. We moved into position, but the Wendigo spat some ice at Korak immediately putting him down. Korak dropped down into the water, dying. Prudence put spikes on the ground in front of the Wendigo, and Kaevara created a large area of swirling water in the same area, both of them trying to slow the creature down. Kaevara quite matter of factly said this creature was very strong and that we should run. Prudence healed Korak from afar and we began to retreat. Unfortunately the Wendigo caught up to me, Prudence and Medi, and knocked me down. While I was out, Kaevara opened a portal that sucked the Wendigo in. They didn't know how long they had, so they needed to go. But Medi ran into the forge to find the sword. Korak healed me back to consciousness. I looked up to see Prudence telling me to run. I knew I was in no state to do otherwise, though when I saw her going the other way towards where Medi and Wendigo had gone, I almost turned back to help them. But in the heat of the moment, I didn't. I don't know if I regret not helping them. If I had tried, I would have probably endured the same fate as them. We ran, hoping to circle round, and find a way to get to Prudence and Medi. Agatha and Diesa held back, Diesa having to convince Agatha not to go back. Diesa later told me, her familiar was hiding and could see where Prudence and Medi's bodies were. They were floating westward, and Diesa convinced Agatha to go west to find them. I, Korak and Drago meanwhile had reached the lock. Korak and I made our way through it, taking agonizingly long to get through. Once through, Drago came out of a hidden passageway. We looked around, but couldn't see Prudence or Medi. Dragomir flew out where we'd faced the Wendigo, I guess thinking it wasn't there anymore and was attacked. He managed to flee and not be harmed. I and Korak hid until the Wendigo went back into its forge. We made our way back through the lock and met up with Drago on a bridge. VI. The Cost Of Adventure We didn't have any time to wonder where Agatha and Diesa had gone, before we heard Agatha wail to the west. We ran after her voice, finding her and Diesa holding the bodies of Prudence and Medi, two empty potion bottles lying on the floor, having already been fed to their unresponding bodies. Korak went up and tried to Revivify them, them both having had his tattoos done, but they had been dead for too long. The spell couldn't bring them back. They were dead. As Agatha shook Prudence, begging her to come back, I saw in my minds eye, me shaking my little girl. My Nimogene. The pain in Agatha's breath became my own as I imagined losing the person I loved the most, just as she had just. Why don't I take us far from here? Why do I let Nim go into danger? Why do I let myself go into danger and risk Nim losing her mother? I asked myself these questions and more as I stood and saw a family torn apart. I think, I haven't tried to get Nim to leave the Cohort because, I see a lot of me in Nim. I too, left home to fight at thirteen. I was big enough that they believed me to be older, and by the time they found out, I'd already proven myself more than capable. Same with Nim. She is a warrior spirit, and no one can deny her place among warriors. Not even myself. Despite my fearing for her life, a massive part of me wants to see her grow up like her mother. A strong warrior, that she certainly will be... I guess, it's not just about her though. I also don't want to leave this life behind for myself. I love standing alongside my comrades in battle. I love standing alongside my daughter in battle. I don't know if I could go back to just living a peaceful life, even if I had Nim with me. I'm torn, because there is a real cost to the life of a warrior. I stared at two examples of it in Morrendeep as my friends lay dead. In my mind, that was it. In that moment, I knew that Prudence Duskhart and Medi Eirwen's light had been extinguished, and wasn't thinking of bringing them back. I allowed a brief moment for everyone to grieve before picking up Medi's body, and telling everyone we needed to get them out of here. Their bodies needed to be elsewhere, I thought. Their bodies shouldn't be here. Agatha, the poor woman, took a while to get moving, so distraught she was. She spoke of getting her sister to Roesone. They could bring her back she said. Korak said he wanted to try something in Stone Rejoicing first, so we went there. On our way out of Morrendeep we went past the Dwerren on the towers erected in the Khurinlach. I asked them if they saw anyone come out of the entrance while we were in there, they said no. Seems that Kaevara didn't make it out of there. I, while personally frustrated by her at times, can't in good conscience, leave her in there. I get the feeling she's special, and she'll be able to survive a little while in there, but not too long. In all the thoughts of Nimogene, and trying to get everyone out of Morrendeep, I hadn't allowed myself an opportunity to mourn my friends. Mourn their kind hearts and kind faces. In a brief respite on the road to the city, I allowed myself to walk off on my own, and I just cried. I cried and cried until there were no tears left. Until I couldn't cry any more. At some point on the road, I quietly made sure Nim's egg was still on Medi, and it was. It didn't offer much consolation in the moment, but at least I hadn't lost my Nim's treasure. We made our way back to Stones's Rejoicing, where Korak sought an audience with the Overthane. VII. The Lengths We Go To Korak stood before Grimm Graybeard and offered his very precious magic flail, and offered it in exchange for Prudence and Medi to be brought back. We also chucked in the Adamantine spear we found just in case, so desperate we were for him to say yes. The Overthane went into his chambers with his council to deliberate. They returned, and accepted the offer, but on one condition: We must all come and fight for him, whenever we are called, at some point in the next six months. Agatha insisted that Prudence not have to do it, and that she'd take the burden twice over. This was accepted by Graybeard. The rest of us gladly accepted the deal, agreeing to fight for the Overthane. By Moradin's blessing, Prudence Duskhart, and Medi Eirwen were brought back to us. I held Medi as she opened her eyes. She whispered her sister's name. I tried my best to hold myself together as I comforted her and told her of what had happened. Agatha, next to us, holding her sister. After a few questions were answered, we thanked the Overthane, and carried the weary Alseids out to somewhere they could rest. VIII. Until Next Time... The others were headed back to Roesone, Medi and Prudence would need a lot of rest before they would be their sprightly selves again, perhaps a whole season. I wanted to go with them, but I needed to see Nimogene. Just before we separated, Prudence told me it was okay that I didn't know the crocodile was her, and not to worry about it. She tried to blame herself, saying she didn't change form all that often, and she probably shouldn't have attempted it. So kind she is, that she would still concern herself with making sure I didn't feel bad about that, after everything else that had happened. I told her not to blame herself, and that the next time we're on the battlefield together, I would love to fight alongside a Crocodile, but properly. I also made a little joke about how she wouldn't have to see me naked next time, and that she should look forward to that. She gave me a pain filled but pleasant as possible smile, and we said our goodbyes till next time. Korak went off to Drachenward, the rest went off to Roesone, and I alone came back to Fabrica. A snuggle with my Nim will heal my heart and soul. Then, I can visit my friends in Roesone. Mamm Bealdaartsdotter P.S. I saw in Dragomir's log that Kaevara is an Old World Sidhelien, is in great danger, and needs help. I will organise a mission to go looking for her after I'm done in Roesone.
