Thirty-Ninth Session - In the City of the Dead

On the way back to the Crownsguard barracks, Alana has a sparrow land on her shoulder. Alana casts Speak with Animals to chat with it,  and the sparrow says 'I've missed you. But we can't really talk here, my dear." So Alana ducks down an alley to talk to her bird friend while Markoris stands guard outside.

The bird transforms into a humanoid: Jainith, an elderly female gnome druid wearing blue beads in her tightly bound hair. She hugs Alana, Alana hugs back and starts crying with joy.

Jainith relates that their temple here in Azkaresh had its Key stolen by the Starred Guard, roughly a month ago. The Starred Guard killed one of the Guardians of the temple/Key, Jainith has been staying with the survivor, who has taken another apprentice (hard to teach apprentices without the Key). They don't know what they have or how to use it, but apparently have an appetite for magic items in general, and they have stolen many other things.

Jainith is hoping that Alana, Jainith and Kiwi can together steal back the Key - which is another of the mysterious orbs Alana obtained from the dragon. Alana suggests hiring the rest of the team to assist in this task, but Jainith has no money. Jainith also says she's been working on how to get 'our' Key back, implying another orb was taken from whichever sect Alana and Jainith are affiliated with.

Alana rejoins the group after agreeing with Jainith that they'll work together to get the Key back. On the way back to the barracks, Max and Ishaq have a conversation about the Host Radiant members encountered in the bar. That night, the team shares the same room after reuniting with Alice, Celia and Raul.

Before sleep, Ishaq has a private talk with Alana where he questions her faith. He divulges his past serving LOTLE, intended to be her High Priest and pursue immortality before losing faith following the death of his mother. Alana admits she has not heard from her own deity in two years, but has been raised to honour that deity since she was a child, which leads Ishaq to question whether she ever really consented to follow that path.

That night, the whole party dreams of being in a pitch black void, under crushing pressure, similar to being deep under the ocean.

In the morning, Ishaq uses Inspiring Leader to give temporary HP to everyone but Alice again, and then they plan and share what they learned last night. Markoris notes that he has to return or destroy the map after the job or else they all face a bounty. It's agreed that using the Dream Devourer symbol for bait is too risky, and it's impossible to get enough info to effectively cast Scry or Locate Person on Hepatian without risking shenanigans at the Palace the Keepers are banned from. The plan is to head to the Temple of LOTLE at the center of the catacombs, and start exploring from there.

The team heads to the Pantheon to and an Acolyte provides Alice with a torch before leading them  to a spiral staircase leading downward. The door is very thick, and the Acolyte seems terrified of whatever is down there. Ishaq deploys a Driftglobe to light the way, and Markoris takes the lead with the map.

Travel Order: Entering the Temple of the Lady of the Lasting Embrace, there is zero light except from Ishaq's driftglobe and Alice's torch. The architecture of the temple is notably different from the rest of Azkaresh. There are carvings in the stone floor resembling a river, and tiny silver stars set in the large set of double doors across from the stair landing. Huge scuff marks are gouged near the doors. Splinters indicate they were barred, but did not hold.
 * 1) Markoris
 * 2) Alice
 * 3) Ishaq
 * 4) Max
 * 5) Alana
 * 6) Celia
 * 7) Raul

Ishaq finds circular chalk marks on the floor, suggesting an interrupted attempt to create a teleportation circle. He looks for the back room he would expect in a temple like this, but finds the stone of the door has been sealed shut by magic. Max and Markoris (more Markoris) check the door out for traps and confirm it’s clear. After a discarded consideration of teleporting into the sealed room, they decide to leave the temple.

Outside is the central cavern, with a massive stalactite descending into the LOTLE temple from the ceiling. Tunnels radiate outward from this central hub. All the walls have carved shelves, going all the way up to a high ceiling, all piled with bones and bodies. There is no sign of the cursed symbol or that the bodies have been disturbed, but grooves in the ground indicate something has been dragged down the southernmost hall. That is the direction the Keepers go, after Celia harvests body parts from the dead for spell components.

The Keepers maintain the same marching order as they head south. The drag marks end around the bend, and Ishaq checks the ceiling with his driftglobe, not finding anything. Celia notices a chipping in the stone of the wall, dark stains on the floor below, maybe a few days old. The party moves in that direction, trying to be stealthy. Then Markoris sees purple light up ahead- the same shade as the portals of the Dream Devourers. Everyone holds up and goes quiet. In the silence, Markoris and Ishaq can hear crackling energy, and the sound of a sob.

Alana turns into a rat and scuttles forward to scout. She sees a small portal hovering in the hall, and realizes it’s a sign one of the Dream Devourers may have been killed here. In the wall on the left, Alana finds a person hiding behind a body on one of the corpse-shelves. It’s Hepatian, and he passes out after screaming and summoning the rest of the party to run around the corner. He’s clearly exhausted and has been down here for days. Alice casts Cure Wounds, and while Max and Ishaq are suspicious at this stroke of luck, they can’t discern any secret to this.

Using Ishaq’s Prestidigitation to summon a spyglass, Max checks in the portal and confirms that someone is trapped in the nightmare realm, judging by the light behind one of the doors he can see. And then the party hears something big coming down the hall toward them.

Alice quickly stashes Hepatian back in his hiding place. Ishaq casts Daylight to illuminate the situation and moves the Driftglobe forward to reveal a massive, misshapen black head of a Huge humanoid creature poking around the corner down the hall, big enough to fill the whole corner. Alana casts Charm Monster. It succeeds, yet the creature can’t seem to understand her words, and keeps advancing.

The party decides to flee with Hepatian and abandon whoever is trapped in the portal. Alice retrieves Hepatian and hands him to Celia. Alana advances to within 15 feet of the monster, still trying to communicate, but immediately fails a CON save and takes 15 necrotic damage, apparently just from proximity. At this point, the party ROLLS INITIATIVE against this terrifying threat.

ROLL INITIATIVE
 * 1) Max - 19
 * 2) Ishaq - 17
 * 3) Markoris - 12
 * 4) Creature - 12
 * 5) Raul - 10
 * 6) Alice - 8
 * 7) Alana - 5
 * 8) Celia - 4

END OF SESSION