Session 23 – Recap

[DM Note: I am so excited that the campaign has such a great group of players.  I look forward to each session because I enjoy spending time with the players and their characters.]

• The Party stood on an animated graphic on the map that looked super cool, drew the symbol on the ground and were instantly transported into The Ways.
• The party immediately entered a free-fall in total darkness.
• They could not see anything and felt totally alone.
• They were overwhelmed with dizziness, and at least one character gained a level of exhaustion from the entry.
• Suddenly, there was a bright explosion of light as a kaleidoscope of psychedelic swirling colors and images appeared—overwhelming everyone’s senses.
• The party was then on a blurry road with creatures flying back and forth on either side.
• They followed the road, and the scenes kept changing.
• As the scenes changed, each character saw something from their past or future or perhaps just fiction.
• Feng says his village and his mother crying over the dead body of his twin? Did he have a twin? Was this truth or fiction?

• Avari saw images of the “Weapon” the magocracy used in their attempt to overthrow the Gods. He then saw his dead sister and a RuneLord, who stated, “We know… we know….we are coming for you—you could have helped us—you could have prevented the Purge!”
• River found the entire experience familiar, and then she encountered her Deity, who was gleeful that she had discovered one of his “secrets.”
• She then saw her tribe, cold and starving in the mountains, and when they saw her, they pleaded with her to help. “We are dying! The Moonwell has fallen—it is effecting our magic— we are fading.”
• Kriick saw himself on the pirate ship as a very young kobold.  His scene was played in reverse, and it showed the pirate captain murdering his mother (and most of his village) and ripping him from his mother’s grip.
• Argone saw a metal creature with the voice of Sue.  Sue said, “We made a mistake…. You are not of true dragon blood. It was Rex.  Return! Return!” Then there was Esmeralda, with a dying Neeha in her jaws.

• Jon Marston saw the Dhara Castle from hundreds of years ago.  The scene moved into the throne room, and a regal emperor sat on the throne. The Emperor opened his mouth and extended a monstrous tongue that split into two and circled around the party.
• One branch of the tongue, with horns, laid a baby male drow at the feet of the party. The other tongue laid a baby human boy at the feet of the party. Jon Marston is horrified to recognize that the baby boy is him!
• Finally, the scene changed, and a huge demon creature emerging from a hole in the earth.  He looked intently at the party and screamed, “I am already out!”

• The party was overwhelmed with emotions from the scenes, and many failed WISDOM checks and suffered disadvantage to all rolls for 48 hours.
• • They exited The Ways, exhausted and very anxious to be outside.

• The party was overwhelmed with emotions from the scenes, and many failed WISDOM checks and suffered disadvantage to all rolls for 48 hours.

• They exited The Ways, exhausted and very anxious to be outside.
• The party camped, and then found a road that led to a gate blocking the road, nestled between two cliffs. It was manned by a Dharan Fist who refused to open the gate unless the party paid 500 gold per person, and no discounts for kobolds were offered.

• The party refused and retreated into the woods to camp.
• River polymorphed into a giant eagle and flew the party 

• On the other side, they encountered a campsite that was being ransacked by two Owlbears.
• Quickly dispatching the Owlbear but also accidentally killing a ranger, they found a halfling bard who was playing dead. 
• The bard’s name was Kamvase, and he explained that the Dharan Fist came for a bribe, and when the merchant and his two guards refused, the Dharan Fist killed them.  He and his ranger friend played dead. 

• He said they laid there while the Dharan Fist looted the wagons and headed out. Right after they left, the Owlbears showed up, and they thought they were goners.
• He went through his friend’s pockets and found a note.
• The note showed that his friend was bringing a message of warning to someone in the Grey Citadel.
• The party processed the dead owlbears, leaving nothing to waste and got two skins (one severely burned) and 96lbs of meat that did NOT have worms or any diseases that started with the letter “T”!

• Kamvase and the party talked for a while and the wanna-be-realm-bard shared the following:
  • First of all, he hated authority, and the party learned that he was convicted of theft in Stone Tear. He claimed he took the fall for another thief and had to serve time in the dungeons under Stone Tear. 
  • He blamed the bitchy rich noblewoman for taunting the poor by wearing outrageously large diamonds out in public while people starve, eating rotten food.
  • Anything that involved rich people suffering interested him greatly. The party told him a bit about their dealings with the Solmors, which he found extremely delightful.
  • After King Edward Roswell was crowned the new king of Dhara a month or so ago, the D’Haran army arrived with an odd mixture of mercenaries and took over the town, driving the Grey Cloaks from the city.
  • Arb Angus was the mayor, but now that the Dharan Garrison was in town, the mayor had to answer to the D’haran Commander Rufrrius (Rufus) Turpillias (“Tur PE LE us”), and Arb was not happy about that.
  • The town guards could be bribed, but not the Dharan soldiers, and they were rough.
  • Before the Grey Cloaks disappeared, the merchants controlled everything, and the mayor just kept the town guard under control to keep the order.
  • Now the mayor was having second thoughts with the  Dharan Empire being there.

• The party agreed to let Kamvase travel with them to the Grey Citadel, and they decided to travel through the woods instead of staying on the Trade Road as they wanted to avoid running into the Dharan Fists.
• After two days of uneventful travel, they arrived at the gate to the Grey Citadel, a city built on an island on the top of a waterfall.
• They approached the front gate and the session ended.