The Long Road - Game Thread

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

Jorin laughs heartily, "Ha, that would be quite the surprise for Shinebright.  Llira would approve of such a joke?"

Drusk scratches his head. "I hadn't thought about it. When the other acolytes (elves) played practical jokes on me (half-orc), they claimed that their mirth was a reward from Lliira.

"Even if Shinebright is a sour-puss, I guess several hundred pounds of swamp in his bed might be a bit too much. How about a handful under the pillow (just enough to make him search his bedroom for more shamblers), and the rest in the outhouse?"

(OOC: will Jorin use hit dice during the short rest?)

OoC - oh ya, hit dice!

7

Hildigrim was cheered to hear the revenant wasn't actually a revenant. "It looks similar to the descriptions I have read," he comments while guiding the group outside, "so I assumed it was such. I'll have to ask Vajra for a detailed list of differences between this creature and a revenant so that I don't make the same mistake in the future."

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

Hildigrim was cheered to hear the revenant wasn't actually a revenant. "It looks similar to the descriptions I have read," he comments while guiding the group outside, "so I assumed it was such. I'll have to ask Vajra for a detailed list of differences between this creature and a revenant so that I don't make the same mistake in the future."

(OOC: I understand the module writers wanting to use Revenants, as they are a nice CR 5 threat that will do some damage but unlikely to TPK. But in a different module, I question why a pair of undead in a dwarf crypt that hasn't been explored in decades would somehow swear vengeance specifically against a party of adventurers they've never seen before.

In any case, I'll try to be clearer when a threat is re-skinned as another monster, instead of it being the monster itself.)

Shinebright had moved around enough of the outhouse debris to make it usable, but after stuffing a half-ton of swamp vegetation down the plumbing, he will have to make other plans.

When the hour is up, the party goes down the stairs. The cellar looks nothing like it did just an hour ago. The room has been somewhat cleaned up, without any trace of the earlier battle. Around the outside edge of the large magic circle on the ground, there are now 5 cots arranged in a spoke like pattern around a table with a crystal orb in the center of the room. The shard of the devastation orb, a dimly glowing red crystal, is underneath the table.

Shinebright is not around. Vajra is stoic as ever, but Tinker is excited to see you. “I will say, despite making this high quality magic circle, that elf fellow is quite tedious. He was getting in the way, so we had to send him upstairs to let him return to his home repairs.

"Vajra has been quite helpful! I do believe she is correct. This does appear to in fact be a shard of a devastation orb, and a fiery one at that! It’s very strange, I can feel this shard exuding a large amount of evocation magic. That’s not surprising, but it’s the level of enchantment magic that is. It’s almost as if there’s an emotional component to this shard!”

Jorin looks over the magic circle and glowing shard, takes a step back, and spits on the ground before him.  

"What is it that this circle of sorcery will help you do?"

Quillary glances at Jorin, and spits on the ground in front of her, too. Looking up, she shrugs. "Superstitions are often based in fact. Can't hurt. Besides, I'd like to stay on the right side of his gods."

"What are we to do? Nap? Are we sending our spirits to do this task?"

Quote from Mingofaust >>

"What are we to do? Nap? Are we sending our spirits to do this task?"

Tinker was breathing in to continue his long-winded observations, but for a moment he is speechless. "Yes, that is what we had in mind, more or less... This is unusual magic. Not many people would deduce what should be done next."

(OOC response by Tinker: )

After some more rambling, Tinker explains more. The emotional enchantment has a "memory" component, surprisingly complete and well maintained considering this is just a shard. They have a plan to access those memories.

Tinker's plan is to use the crystal ball as a focus to put the party's consciousness into the shard in a dreamlike state. He admits he has not tried something like this before, but it seems like the best way to get the information it might hold, whatever that is. (Vajra is next to him, and will make sure things don't go out of control.) The party may feel pain or experience psychic damage in the dreams, but they will not be in any real danger. Tinker & Vajra will be monitoring the situation (through the crystal ball), and can end the spell as needed.

"Neither of you is coming on this trip?" Quillary asks. "What if we have questions? Can we communicate with you during the event?"

Tinker explains they will be able to communicate, through the crystal ball, but they want to minimize possible interference with the memories in the shard.

Jorin looks as close to i'm-not-afraid-you're-afraid as he can get.  "Will I be able to bring my axe along on this...trip?"

"Fascinating!" Hildigrim finally exclaims. He looks around at his friends. "Do you realize we're going to completely unexplored territory?! We might be the first EVER to do this!" He turns back to Vajra and Tinker. "How will we communicate with you? We are basically going there to observe and report back, correct? Will the shard know we are there? Will we be able to interact with it? Or will we be invisible to it? Will we be able to feel time passing? You say we'll be able to feel pain, but what if we die? Why would we feel pain? Will we need to protect ourselves? If just our consciousnesses are going, how will we protect ourselves? Will we be naked? Will we be formless? Will we see each other, or will it be like we're each all alone in the memory? What happens to our bodies while we're gone? If you pinch me while I'm in the shard, will I wake up and be pulled from the shard, or will I be stuck? If you kill my body while I'm in the shard, will my consciousness be stuck in the shard forever? What if you bring our consciousnesses back, but they go into the wrong bodies? Wouldn't it be funny if Jorin and I switched bodies and I was big and he was little?!" At that point, Hildigrim starts laughing and giggling and stops asking questions.

Tinker tries to answer some of the questions. (Pain is in the mind... If you die in the dream, you will exit the spell and return to normal... Tinker and Vajra will be watching through the crystal ball...) But at some point, he gives up as the questions pile up.

Vajra remains tight-lipped and stoic.

(OOC: Any other questions or reactions? Or is the party ready for the low-budget simplified version of Dreamscape / Inception?)

Pascal blinks. One eye, then the other.

(OOC: I'll push forward, since everyone has posted at least once... If there was anything else you wanted to do before the plunge, mention it and the timeline will be adjusted.)

Each of you lies in a cot and close your eyes. Tinker and Vajra do some chanting... then you find yourselves entering a dreamscape, a surreal experience.Your previous experience in the Eye of the Mist (moonwell demi-plane) helps, but it still takes a moment to get oriented.

You all find yourselves in bodies that are not your own. You still have your original forms (OOC: hit points, skills, equipment), but at the same time you are humans in robes. You feel as though you have full control over your bodies. (For example, Hildigrim is able to move around normally, in spite of being twice as tall as usual.)

You are in the midst of a caravan rolling on a path at the edge of a forest. It is winter in Waterdeep, but here it is a cool spring day. Around are many faces hidden by robes, masks and other items. Many of the people around have tattoos or other markings of a half circle with three spokes. They appear non-descript, blurred in many ways, like they are out-of-focus or only vaguely remembered. One human male and one human female seem better defined, but still fairly nondescript.

At this moment, you hear a soft and distant voice in your head. “Uhh ... hello ... is this thing on? Okay. YES! Great. It’s me, Tinker... Vajra and I are on the outside and we can kind of see what you’re seeing through the crystal ball I’ve got set up here. From those clothes, you are members of the Cult of Eternal Flame. Nasty lot; harmed a lot of people around the Moonsea. The fire cultists' main personality traits were impetuousness, hotheadedness, and violence. However, they did not act like mindless savages.

"I’m going to ask you to play along with what you see. It’s kind of cloudy. Don’t do anything to rock the boat too much. If you do things that disrupt the events it might corrupt the memory, so play along! Don't be heroic & good, but don't act like murder hobos either... Vajra and I will be on the other side watching, so be careful!"

(OOC: While you are expected to act evil, please make it like the villains from the 1960's Batman show. Mustache-twirling and black-hat-wearing... I don't want to deal with anything truly unpleasant.)

Quillary shrugs and points to a cot. "I will not be downwind of Pascal, I have seen what he eats when he is not cooking." As she settles onto the cot, she looks over at Tinker. "What, exactly are you hoping for us to do again? In the simplest of terms, please."

Edit: Blast! Crossposted!

Pascal begins touching and feeling his face, nose, teeth, “Well, I’m real uncomfortable.” He notes that his arms look like burned flesh with fire in his veins, “I mean... that’s normal, but now I just look real evil.”

Quote from JcAndD >>

Pascal: “Well, I’m real uncomfortable. I mean... that’s normal, but now I just look real evil.”

One of the (generic) cultists nearby speaks to Pascal. "Yah, I know what you mean. Felt the same way when I got mine. These Eternal Flame tattoos are totally bad-ass... Just wait another day, and the discomfort from the tattoo needles will wear off."

While the memories in the crystal shard seem to be leading you along a fixed path, you realize that you can interact with the objects around you, and the people with you.

Pascal LaHuman smiles widely and uncomfortably, it’s just a full-fang baring smile, and gives a thumbs up to the cultist, “Oh you bet, I sure love... Fire... and... fire-related things!”

Pascal turns to the rest of his group with a ‘HELP. ME.’ face.

Quillary just blinks a couple of times, then stops blinking when she realizes what they have become. “Fire...” she says quietly to herself, trudging along automatically with the others.