10/21/15 Virtues Session 23: Cave Dwellers

Larson

Commander Larson started at the crackling sound and violet flash of lightening; being a citizen of Bouvet Keep he and the loyal Duke’s men were intimately familiar with storms and with it lightening. Looking around several of his subordinates likewise were roused and anxiously moved about. Had the time finally come to die? None of them knew how long they had been in this shadowy realm, but under the aegis of Tenebris it seemed like eons. Many did not remember how they came to be here, but they all remembered the kind hearted Duke Calias. 

“Sir?” one of the sergeants, Odell Emmery, regarded Larson looking for instruction.   

“Everyone be still,” Larson advised quietly, Tenebris suffered no talk among his slaves and even removed the tongues of many to prove such a point. “We do not know what is going on.” But secretly in his heart Larson hoped beyond hope that salvation from this demi-plane of Hell, or wherever they were, was at hand.

Then a roar cut through the chamber where the fifty men, who knew only suffering, echoed threatening to drive them all insane. It was an attack for sure, but from what. Larson looked to his fellow loyal Duke’s soldiers and saw only black terror. Beyond their shadowy prison, elementals moved about answering the dragon’s call. Something more terrible than the dragon had come to claim this realm as its own.

Larson held his fear in check; he had too for his men if not his own sanity.

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Our session begins after reuniting with both Rydin and Kotri after their brief separation from our whole. They too were allowed to rest and recover in the giant cave, Kotri and Dolgrin however become more 'acquainted'.

After a time Kimit sent Zaphir to retrieve us to ascend up the staircase of 1,000 steps to the giant eastern dwelling. As we travel we notice that many of the giants are of varied stock and do not seem to originate from the same world; even Kimit, we eventually learn, is from Golarian. Guard towers dot the rise, although sparsely manned they seem to protect mainly from airborne assaults.

Kimit’s giant dwelling was an image of peace, balance, and serenity with a water gardens and lush intricate bonsai trees, vines and shrubs. During our palaver Timit calls forth his herculean children who serve us as guests in return for our heroic deeds inhelping his kin against the denizens of Leng.

We explain our current mission through the ways to hopefully arrive to Bouvet Keep. He replies that such direct travel is near impossible without going through transitive planes and demi-planes and to further complicate such travel there is the element of time whereas all planes exist at all times and these planes reckon space-time differently. This is what defeats many travelers because of the underlying chaos pattern many don’t account for. Visualization is the key.

He speaks gravely of Tenebris and that even he avoids that being; a shade dragon and slaver who rules the demi-plane where we must travel. This dragon is relatively well known on the Evening Isles; word was there was a large bounty on the creature in Emmerdin Pac Napiay. They story of Tenebris was that the dragon was from Toril, traveled here from the many portals located in Myth Drannor to the Isles but was a victim of the vanquishing (the wish that banished evil dragons from the Evening Isles) during the sundering.

Dramen suggests a team-up but this would endanger Timit’s end game- residing on this demi-plane (where time runs in reverse) until the era of Macron arrives. Macron who was a master of the Ways in ancient times held a pact with the intelligent races to pool their resources to manipulate the Ways.

Meanwhile Dramen asks to meet Kimit’s most favored wizard and was immediately introduced to Kimit’s teenaged daughter Macroni. We gift her with the demi-plane spells we researched and created while in the Agis of Ages. This pleases Kimit and offers to shelter us for a week in the lower caves to ready ourselves for our next demi-plane jaunt.

Before we depart we exchange signet devices; Kimit’s being a tabard, a gesture as being 'friends of Kimit', a rare gift for our courage and virtue. He does eventually offer the services of his ranger Reack who agrees to lead us to Tenebris' plane but no further.

After the week Kimit takes us to a giant bell of iron decorated with strange symbols and ancient script and when the bell is struck Reack, the giant ranger, leads us through and to where Lapis instantly feels a closeness to transitive earth allowing him to guide us along as well.

Our first transitive demi-plane was a realm of floating landmasses populated by strange flightless avians who came upon us with a vengeance. We dispatch the vulture-like creatures and are able harvest plumage from four of the large creatures (20 spells/potion applications).

As we continue our dimensional traveling Kotri was able to fixate more on her concentration as we enter the sluggish shade plane. Reack takes his leave here and we also feel an entrance into a mythic realm as well as a connection to our hosts.

Battle was joined with the shade dragon and when we defeated him the elementals dissipate and transfer of dominion of this demi-plane is transferred to us. We also made contact with some of Tenebris’ slaves: 50 of Duke Calias Bouvet’s most trusted men from Bouvet Keep who were enslaved during the uprising of Count Keirkin. However these 50 men were restored when we arrived at our destination… in the past on the day Kyras, Syrendross, and Dolgrin was killed at the Count’s wedding.

This presented us with a plan quite naturally; we know who the Duke’s most trusted are, we just need to find them and present ourselves as kindred supporters.

We are awarded 9,600 xp enough for 8^th level. We pick up next session in Bouvet Keep at the DM’s discretion.