Kay's Journal - 8/6 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal, 8/6

• 1033 XP

• Magic Sword

We are still in the church after the defeat of the demon(s). Gooseneck gives Fathom the bag of spell components the demon had. She takes a look; it appears to be standard stuff except for a smaller pouch full of diamond dust. Fathom gives that to CornCob, as it’s more of a cleric thing.

The temple priests heal everyone, but we still haven’t rested. The priests have questions – how did we get in? How did we know there was trouble? Gooseneck tells the story while some of the other clerics study the spell circle. Upon hearing the story, the head priest we are talking to appreciates our help. He also offers Pujol a Cure Disease spell after his mishap in the sewer. They also give Pujol some strong brandy to rinse out his mouth, and he downs it.

The head cleric asks us to sit and chat with him further – he may have work for us. So, we go sit and chat. His sitting room is furnished with pieces of good quality, but not fancy. The church here seems to use its wealth for long-lasting things. The fellow we are talking to runs this particular temple; they perform healing, and also handle accounting for the church in the city.

He asks about us. CornCob tells him we are looking for new challenges and work. The cleric says he’s heard we’re looking for work on a ship, and Gooseneck answers that we are waiting for a particular ship. CornCob asks how to address the cleric, and he gives us his name – Patrick. There’s a bit of a fuss outside, and another cleric comes in and says they have a lead on the circle. It has instructions saying the demon was supposed to go to a place called ‘The Rounds’ and cause chaos. We are told that The Rounds in an ancient magic circle in town. In general, it’s kept locked down, but they are opening it up tomorrow for an event – the oration that we heard about on our way into town. Normally the Rounds are closed off because it was built by the ancient elves and they’re not entirely sure what it does.

On the mention of the oration tomorrow, Pujol brings up the monks we met on the road, what we learned about the Redwood Foundation and the Fall, and that he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence. CornCob asks who asked that the Round be opened, and who approved it. The clerics of Apara themselves asked to be able to speak there. 

CornCob asks what they would like us to do, exactly. They want us to check out the Rounds and put a halt to whatever is going on. They offer to pay us. Fathom asks for a guide who’s familiar with the Rounds, and Patrick assigns Jarick to go with us. CornCob thinks we might need more help, and Patrick also assigns another cleric, Timothy, to go with us. CornCob asks what the main worry is. Since the church asked for the Round to be opened, they will be responsible for whatever harm befalls the crowd.

Patrick is very positive about the Redwood Foundation, and dislikes the Fall intensely. He is not happy to hear agents of the Fall might be at the talks tomorrow. 

They are building a stage and a food vending area on the grounds.

There are no unusual tensions between the church of Apara and the lawful evil organization that has power in the city. If Apara lost standing, Leial would gain, along with maybe some of the Chaotic churches. Anaru would stand to gain a lot – that is a lawful neutral church that’s very in to vengeance. CornCob asks what factions might be in to chaos in general, and Patrick says there are some but they generally aren’t invited to things. 

We go to investigate the site with Timothy and Jarick. CornCob asks where we can buy spyglasses, and they point us to the same jeweler that’s working on Pujol’s necklace. We go there and CornCob asks about spyglasses. He has one, but wants 1000gp for it. CornCob asks about renting it for 3 days instead. There’s some negotiation, and we end up renting it for 5 gp/day, and a writ of guarantee saying we’ll pay the full amount if it’s damaged. 

We head to the Rounds. It’s fenced off, so Jarick lets us in through the gate. There’s a standing circle of stones with a big tree in the center. Though the site is near the center of town, they haven’t built anything near it. Pujol thinks the area looks more druidic than elven. The fence is 12’ high and looks like it could be climbed. CornCob asks if it is patrolled, and Jarick says the city guard passes by as part of their patrols.

We go to look at the stage that’s being built. CornCob asks if there’s anything magic about it, and the clerics say no. Fathom casts a detect magic spell and looks around. She sees a spell has been cast on the back of the pedestal that’s on the stage. She also senses something in a big circle around the tree that’s in the center of the standing stones. We split up to investigate.

Fathom thinks the spell cast on the pedestal is some kind of illusion magic, but combined with transmutation as well. CornCob and Gooseneck check out the construction of the platform, but don’t see anything of note.

CornCob and Pujol go look for tracks around the perimeter. Abran goes to take a look at the tree and circle. Abran sees symbols inscribed into the tree around the bottom. He thinks it might be another transmutation spell, but is incomplete.

CornCob looks for high points archers could fire from. There are some far away buildings that would work, and a few closer trees.

Pujol finds bi-pedal hoof tracks by the fence. He follows them around the tree, up to the platform, out to the fence, and then to a small tree where they dissipate. The tracks don’t look like they’d belong to the incubus we killed; they seem more like a natural creature’s hooves. The tracks appear to both enter and leave at the small tree. Pujol notices that the tree appears to have been pruned over the years to be in a particular shape and size.

Fathom looks at the tree circle, and thinks it feels like a weird combination of arcane co-opted for religious purposes. We ask Timothy and Jarick about it, and they think it might be nature magic. We’re going to need a druid.

The clerics think the spell at the podium and the thing on the tree are related. They think the spells can be cleared. Gooseneck swings at the podium with his axe; a mouth opens on the back and speaks arcane words – completing the spell on the tree. Lovely.

The base of the tree lights up and the ground shakes. The tree rips itself up out of the ground, and a satyr appears at the feet of the tree. He looks angry, and the whole thing feels corrupt.

The fight starts. After CornCob has cast a spell at the satyr, Fathom has cast a fireball, and Abran and I shot at them, Pujol tries talking to the satyr to say we are friends. Unsurprisingly, the satyr isn’t buying it. He responds by moving very quickly or maybe teleporting over to Pujol and stabbing him. Then he flicks his sword and Gooseneck, which launches a swarm of swords at him. Gooseneck manages to dodge.

The tree attacks Abran. CornCob keeps casting spells at the tree. I try to distract the satyr from Pujol by hitting his with my sword. More spells are cast and blows traded, while Pujol casts invisibility on himself and sneaks away from the satyr. The tree waves a branch, and the two smaller nearby trees animate and move to attack – one going to Abran, and the other to Fathom and CornCob.

The fight continues, and the large tree falls. Gooseneck hits the satyr, who disappears into a cloud of withered rose petals. Cute, but nobody believes he’s actually gone. We keep on fighting the small trees while Fathom casts detect magic again to try to see where the satyr went. She spots him huddled down in the base of the fallen tree. Pujol tries talking to the small trees, but they don’t seem to have the ability to think freely – not like the latrine trees. We finally take out the small trees. Fathom points out where the invisible satyr is hiding and Abran shoots him, knocking him out. We take his stuff and take him back to the church.

Kay's Journal - 7/23 - Reaper Errant

2166 XP

Gooseneck makes shields out of the crab carapace. The first two he makes are no good, but the third one should work. Abran takes it. They think it might confer some protection against lightning, given that the crab seemed resistant to Gooseneck’s lighting ability.

That evening, I’m on first watch. It’s pretty active tonight, as another ship came in to port. On second watch things are still a little rowdy, but winding down. On third watch, a heavy fog rolls in. CornCob hears a sound like iron being rent or bent, or maybe a hinge being stressed. He and Pujol look out the window. They think the sound is coming from far enough away to be out past the mud flats on a rocky outcropping they see in the bay.

They don’t wake us, as it doesn’t seem to be an immediate problem, but then CornCob wakes up Gooseneck to go investigate. There’s no way to walk out to the rocks, but there are a number of small boats they can borrow. They row out. Pujol sees a spot in the rocks that looks like crude stairs, and sees a flicker of what might be torch light from wherever the stairs lead.

Gooseneck hears sounds like maybe someone is mining – picks on stone.

Pujol stays to keep an eye out while Gooseneck swims back to get the rest of us. Clearly, someone mining at night must be up to no good.

It’s daylight by the time we get out to the rocks. I see where a chunk of wood was ripped off a boat, but hasn’t washed out to sea yet – it must have happened pretty recently.

We get off the boat. It’s obvious people don’t come out here regularly, so the boat may draw attention. 

As soon as the sun started to rise, there were no more sounds from inside. CornCob thinks the stairs and some other non-natural shapes are very old, and may have been of elven make. He thinks there might have been a religious element to the carvings but isn’t sure. He sees a spot where it looks like some of the rock was melted. He also sees a grate where foul water is coming out; maybe a sewer drain?

Abran and Pujol think we have about six hours before the tide comes in.

We go in. Light is coming from a hold above. There’s a grate we force open; it definitely leads to a sewer. It doesn’t seem to be hooked up to anything, but also is clearly in use (ew). It looks like the tide probably comes in to this sewer pipe up to a depth of a foot or so, and probably washes the sewage out to the bay.

It’s dark in here, so Gooseneck lights a torch. Everyone except Pujol notices places where there was some plant growth in the water that has been disturbed and torn away, like someone waded through recently.

As we move forward, CornCob uses his staff to swish the water ahead of him to find any critters or maybe chase them off. Whatever came through here, want down a tunnel to the left. We turn that way, and Abran sees eyes and movement ahead. He signals us, and then moves forward with his bow drawn. The water gets a little deeper.

CornCob walks on top of the water. Gooseneck hangs back a bit with Pujol. Abran, up ahead, doesn’t see anything moving now. He passes by a tunnel going left, then asks which way we want to go. CornCob thinks the left passage goes downward slightly and may not come out of the rock, but below and to town.

As Abran turns back, I see a ripple in the water heading toward CornCob. I shout to him to look out. CornCob sees a long, snake-like creature in the water, and hits it with his staff. The snake-thing attacks CornCob, but misses him…barely. It’s covered in algae and plant growth. Under the green goo there is some colored banding – this thing is probably venomous, probably hallucinogenic.

We manage to fight it off without too much trouble. Pujol tries to collect the venom, but scratches himself in the process and is exposed. He starts trying to eat the sewage. CornCob casts a spell on him to try to neutralize the poison, and it seems to do the trick. Pujol spits out the sewage and rinses his mouth out.

The poison is a random madness poison; the effect will be variable. Pujol managed to collect enough for three arrows.

We go down the side passage, following what we think is the trail of whoever came in here before. We go quite a long way, until we think we must be under the town. Ahead, we see a small platform. The platform has been hammered into the wall. There’s fresh stone work above it, and maybe some flickering light.

Abran climbs up stealthily and ends up in a church. He sees a figure in the shadows, working on casting some sort of spell. It’s a humanoid with wings. He’s in the church of Apara, and looks like the place has been tossed.

Abran drops back down into the tunnel with the rest of us and relates what he saw. We think it’s an Incubus, and we decide it needs to die. CornCob blesses me, Gooseneck, Abran, and himself. Pujol makes Gooseneck and CornCob invisible. 

CornCob goes up, and the Incubus starts casting his spell faster. The rest of us each go up in turn, trying to be as stealthy as we can. Even so, the Incubus must have noticed us, as he continues to speed up his casting. Gooseneck moves up and hits the Incubus, but he still manages to finish his spell. A large pair of wings starts emerging from the summoning circle. Abran and Pujol both shoot the incubus and he falls back into the portal, dying. Not that it helps – the damage has been done and the bigger demon climbs out. 

Gooseneck and Abran start attacking this large demon. Pujol casts Protection from Evil on Gooseneck. CornCob casts Spike Growth right under the demon’s feet. The demon casts some kind of spell at Gooseneck, but he is raging and doesn’t care. Goose neck does notice the physical attacks when the demon bites and claws him, though. He is badly injured.

Everyone continues attacking. Abran’s hands start to glow, and mushrooms start growing out of them (more ew). However, the mushrooms produce spores that get on the arrow, and when it hits the demon it seems to hurt him quite a bit. Pujol casts a Wall of Thorns at the demon, and the wall comes out kind of mushroomy. It also hurts the demon a lot. 

The demon turns its attention to Abran and Pujol, for obvious reasons. He bites Abran and hurts him badly, but apparently even Abran’s blood has become mushroomy poison to the demon. The demon claws at Pujol, but has not learned his lesson and takes more damage as Pujol’s flesh harms him back. 

Gooseneck attacks it while Pujol casts healing on Abran. Clerics start arriving from other areas now, and start casting…something. CornCob uses the stone he grabbed when we fought the water elemental to summon his own water elemental, which starts going to town on the demon. That does it – the demon dies, turning to watery ash. 

The portal is closed, and the clerics heal those in our party who are injured. Abran investigates the summoning circle and learns that it was specifically meant to summon a demon of that type, but that it looks like the summoning was originally intended to activate later. 

Abran’s arm has a mushroom ridge, but it seems to be receding. He thinks this can only happen a limited number of times, and only against demons of that type. 

Gooseneck looks for anything the incubus left behind and grabs a pouch of spell components. CornCob has the water elemental wash away the summoning circle.