Adventure Brunch #34 -- March 22, 2020
Zura and Shakkax gathered their companions Cyrus, Methty, and Jingles to journey back to the Tower to defeat the undead and secure the second leyline. Shakkax brought his clansman Maiko Warbringer, a gold dragonborn sorcerer, to aid in the fight as well.
They made it to the blighted woods and towards the leyline which Zura, Shakkax, and Jingles had scouted previously with Hadija (who declined the invitation to return to "those scary, scary, SCARY woods!"). Jingles smelled many undead buttholes, however the number kept changing and confused him. The party successfully avoided detection of the undead--and the floating mouths which blinked in and out of the surrounding area while breathing white mist into the forest--until they made it to the edge of the leyline.
Then, Jingles stepped on a twig and a large mouth appeared and swallowed him up! He found himself in a dark plane filled with ghosts walking towards a large, shining tower in the far distance. All of the ghosts had chains hanging out of their chests, and ignored Jingles. Another mouth appeared near him, and Jingles jumped through it, appearing a bit aways from the party.
Jingles was not gone for very long, and was back before the party could decide on what to do. Once reunited, the party moved forward to the opening of the leyline, where they were buffeted by a cyclone of lightening and magical energy. They climbed down a rope (or flew or slithered) into the leyline.
Down there, they heard a strange female voice asking for help from a cavern further below. The party headed down to save her. Zura got near enough to find it was a girl half submerged in the water, however when she got closer, the girl flew up and was found to be attached to a larger, monstrous creature. It was a trap!
Cyrus was swallowed by the creature, and the rest of the party struggled to defeat the beast and free him. At various points, multiple people fell through the air to their deaths, but the party rallied and saved them. They then escaped the cavern after being closed in by the creature. Once out of the cavern, the remaining party battled another large monster, until Zura force-pushed it down the hole into the cavern below and killed it.
Then Zura, Maiko, and Methty followed the monstrous apparition that still had Cyrus into a floating mouth, and appeared in the ghostly plane. In this strange other plane, Maiko had a red and gold aura around him and Methty had a green and orange one, but Zura had a golden atmosphere that went up into the sky. She saw a strange creature (more human-looking than monster) floating above their battle, holding weapons and wearing a mask, but it did not involve itself. Zura, Maiko, and Methty quickly destroyed the large monster and freed Cyrus. Zura felt bells going off and urged everyone to return to their plane; she felt they had drawn the attention of worse creatures...
Back in the leyline, the group went through the maze and successfully destroyed three more monsters of different shapes and sizes. Each had a strange white mask, like the first two and the invisible floating being in the ghost plane.
Then the party joined forces in a long and drawn out battle of strength and determination to move a large stone pillar over the mouth of the original cavern to focus the leyline magic. Everything else fell into place after that and the party emerged from the top of the leyline victorious!
At the top, they were met by a small creature which looked like an animated miniature tree person, which spoke only Primordial Terran. Methty translated, and said its name was Glonnir, and it was a servant of the Hermit of the Glade. The party followed Glonnir and met Theodos the Hermit, who has been trapped in a tree for some time. Now that the leyline is restored, he has come back to awareness. He asked the party to help him, and the party agreed... and will come back another time!
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Jingles: 2935 + 460 = 3395 xp
Cyrus: 1327 + 460 = 1787 xp
Maiko: 375 + 460 = 835 xp
Methty: 7997 + 460 = 8457 xp
Zura: 6415 + 460 + 250 (Personal Goal Completion) = 7125 xp - Level 5!
Shakkax: 460 (Capped at Level 3)
Shakkax: 460 (Capped at Level 3)