Summary of Events:
When we left our adventurers last, Iolair had just banished Ren to another plane of existence, where his mind once again became his own.
Rota blinks around the cavern, carving away at the Aboleth with several Planar Warrior Strikes. As he does, his glaive turns from its usual light pink/lavender color to a pulsating deep crimson.
The beast swings out at Chonka with its tentacles and Chonka dodges the first two deftly. As the third slaps Chonka across the face, she lets out a soft moan. The shark that Chonka was using as a weapon takes advantage of this opportunity to escape her grasp and takes a large bite out of Rota.
Chonka swings her Crustacean Crab Hammer at the bone shark and makes a Goading Attack. Pulling inspiration from Captain Valarious Falcone, one of her old superiors from her military days, Chonka sheathes her weapon and taunts the beast by saying, “Show me ya moves!”
Iolair approaches the beast, says “Seems that tour games have taken quite the TOLL on Ren” and then casts Toll the Dead. The beast screeches and writhes in pain as the bells ring through the dungeon.
The creature attacks Chonka again, bludgeoning her with its tentacles. Its shark companion dashes Rota. As it approaches, Rota open palm strikes the shark, redirecting its momentum into the Aboleth’s rear. As the shark slams into the back of the beast, Rota says, “Well, it looks like your ass wrote a check it couldn’t cash.”
Chonka equips her dwarven fire starters and sparks start to leap off of them as she rubs them together, activating them. She then dashes toward the Aboleth yelling “By the flame of the sea herself, Tidemother take me to Valhalla!” and lands three searing strikes.
Iolair Tolls the Dead once again on the shark. As the arcane bells toll, cracks begin to form on the skeleton shark’s head. They grow out in every direction until they completely cover the shark and it crumbles into many small bone fragments.
Rota maneuvers his way onto the Aboleth’s back and starts carving away at its spine. The beast thrashes in frustration, throwing Rota off of its back.
Chonka brandishes her Crustacean Crab Hammer slams it downward, hooking the claw in the Aboleth’s jaw, and then yanks it sharply upward, ripping its face in half and killing it. Rota spares no time and begins to dig through the beast until he reaches its heart. The centurion yanks a slimy black heart with poisonous green veins from the depths of the Aboleth’s corpse and presents it to his friends proudly.
A few moments later, Ren blinks back into the cavern and immediately draws two daggers, looking for a target to stab.
Iolair looks him over and asks, “Have you had time to reflect? Maybe consider putting the knives away?”
“Are you real? Am I REAL?” Ren asks in response, unsure of his reality.
“You are most certainly real.” Iolair responds, **“Real as the heart as Rota has just harvested.”*
“Oh…OH SHIT. Okay, yea..Jesus…okay, yea that checks out.” Ren says.
As Ren looks around the chamber, he notices that his parents are still floating over next to the large mountain of gold. They are looking in his direction, the look of relief and happiness written across their faces.
As Ren approaches, Anne and Henry Prodfoot look at each other, then back at Ren, and ask, “Could it…could it really be…Ren?”
Ren approaches for a hug and says, “Oh it’s your boy, COME HERE.”
Before Ren can reach them, his father holds out a hand and says, “Wait, son. Before you do, Ren we are just…we are so proud of you. We wanted you to see the world and reach your fullest potential. It is clear you have done this.”
Ren interrupts and says, “Dad, dad you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends. Can’t this wait?”
“There is only one thing left that I have to say,” Henry says. “You must make sure there is a world to be seen as you have seen it. You have to help others as you have helped us and the people trapped in this cavern.” Ren’s parents look at him with pride and hold their arms wide open. As Ren enters the embrace, he feels the love of a parent’s hug for a single wonderful moment. A moment later, Ren looks up to see his parents slowly starting to crumble.
Before they crumble completely to dust, they say into Ren’s ear, “We love you, Ren. And we are SO. PROUD.”
Ren is silent for some time after this and does not move. After some time, Iolair approaches and says, “This has been quite the day. How about we grab some gold and get out of here?” Ren sort of shrugs away from Iolair and swims away silently.
In their own time, the adventurers each start to pack away as much gold as they can carry. For a moment, Ren’s mood appears to improve ever so slightly as he shovels thousands and thousands of gold pieces into his bag of holding. As the party makes their exit, they notice that the water appears to be clearer and cleaner than it was on the way in.
After some time, the adventurers breach the surface of the lake near the shore. They see a hooded figure sitting by the edge of the water. As they approach, the light of the full moon reveals her identity; it is Erobelle, the Court Wizard of Brightcliffe. Written all over her recently and heavily scarred face, the adventurers see the look of exhaustion and dwindling ambition. When she looks in their direction, it is replaced by the look of surprise, then anger, and then hope.
“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN GONE?!” Erobelle yells. “It’s been THREE MONTHS.”
“An army of nightmares has marched on Brightcliffe. The Baron is dead. Roseport fell in a week. Windfall Burrow fell in half that time. Seawood surrendered immediately. All three have been razed to the ground.”
“It’s YOUR (pointing to Chonka) old friend. Prime Lord Commander General Julian Seeder. They call themselves the Einherjar; The Army of the Gods.”
“We finally have an explanation for our recent spike in misfortune. They’ve given upon us. The Gods. They’ve all given upon us. The end is here. Ragnarok is here.”
“The Brightcliffe army was decimated in the first battles. We’ve supplemented with refugees from the aforementioned towns and civilians of Brightcliffe. We’ve received reports that this city is all that is left of the Gold Coast. We are the last bastion of hope. We are all that is left. Each day, we have fought this army.”
“I will show you. You must come with me.”
Session End.
Golden Goof: The Aboleth unlocking Chonka’s kink; tentacle slaps
Golden Chirp: Planar? I barely know her!
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