Summary
The party fought and defeated a magical Ice/Stone Giant at the Arena of Vel’Therin Expanse. During the battle, Roz died in an explosion, experiencing a vision of Selûne and his sentient shield Jimmothy before successfully accepting a Resurrection spell. After collecting their massive 277,000G payout and paying Ferrar his cut, the group learned about The Dark Beasts and their alpha, Thompson, who is Ferrar’s brother. Later at The Iron Wake Mug, the party was approached by Thompson himself, who attempted to bargain for the knife we are seeking to overthrow Ferrar as the alpha of Glasscap Grove. Thompson ominously hinted at Theratina’s true nature before leaving a mysterious coin identical to one found previously. The session ended at Bruce’s manor, where reading The Human King of the Elves trapped Cal in a horrifying, manipulative vision connected to Theratina.
Events
At the Arena of Vel’Therin Expanse
- The odds are 25:1 for today’s B-tier fight
- We also get 500G per person for winning
- We all bet
- We will be fighting an “Ice Giant”
- We recognize it as some strange Stone Giant covered in magical ice
- Every time we damage it (other than with fireball), each attack spawns 1d4 minions
- At low (half?) health, it breaks into two large (previously huge) copies of itself
- When they die, they explode in a 30foot radius on their next turn
- It does something crazy like 18d6 damage per half
- We defeat the Stone Giant but at the end, Roz dies from an explosion
- He is carried out on a stretcher
- We follow
Roz’s perspective from the dead
- He is standing in a beautiful, infinite temple with tendrils of magic floating everywhere
- He feels peaceful; as thought he can rest and breath
- Selûne appears next to him
- In front of him, a Genasi (Water) nearby backhands him across the face. “Yeah right! That’s not who I decided to align with. You’re not going to give up!”
- It is Jimmothy in the form he used to take when he lived
Back in the world
- We all encourage Roz to accept the Resurrection
- On the final attempt, he leaves it up to a d100 roll
- It succeeds!
- He wakes up
- We go accept our winnings: 277,000G (before Ferrar’s cut)
- We find Ferrar and give him his 10%
- He is ecstatic
- He suggests we hunt the The Dark Beasts
- “Last I hear, they were somewhere out by Greythorne in The Twin Veins”
- He mentions they are forcibly turning people into lycanthropes
- Theodore asks if we were to hunt them if he would join
- He scoffs; he is more of a manager than a battlefield specialist
- The head of the dark beasts is Thompson: the brother of Ferrar
- If we kill Thompson, the people he infected will become cured
- Raelor asks for advice on getting to Thompson
- “Close to his den, he likes to have outposts. If you burn those, he gets all riled up and send out some of his wolves. If he thinks there’s a threat, he will then isolate himself”
- Bruce gives Cal a set of keys
- They are the keys to his home, patrolled by his men every night
- We can safely stay there
- We return to The Iron Wake Mug
At The Iron Wake Mug
Raelor’s conversation with Diana
- Raelor gives The Human King of the Elves back to Diana
- She asks why Theratina grew
- Raelor explained what we know so far
- She give him The Land That Was Taken Quietly
- A book about a story similar to Theratina’s (with her parent dying etc)
- He asks her if King Caelen Thorne could have had a second child
- She doesn’t think so
- She flirts with him as Diana grabs drinks for all
A conversation with Thompson
- Roz gives a toast, thanking us for encouraging him to return
- The tavern door opens and a gentleman enters
- He takes a seat at an empty table
- He orders a large pint of ale from Diana
- Roz and Yharov can tell this man is a lycanthrope
- His scent is very strong, implying he is maybe a strong lycanthrope?
- He digs his nails into the table, looking at and smirking at Theratina
- Raelor talks to him
- He is coming from “a nice farm town in The Twin Veins”
- “I’m planning on visiting family”
- He is almost certainly Thompson
- He mentions Theratina by name
- He also pulls out the Dagger from the book
- “I will give you this if you help me get into Glasscap Grove”
- He wants to “free” them and help them “fight back”
- “If I bite someone Ferrar has bitten, they’ll switch; he will no longer be their alpha”
- “I will become the alpha of Glasscap Grove”
- Raelor asks what “truth” he saw
- “I saw this monster we locked away be treid to free on multiple occassions”
- “The truth is: nobody deserves free will”
- He tells Theratina: “If you truly want to find out what you are, meet me north of Vel Rau’dan. You’ll find me.”
- She seems curious after this last comment
- Raelor borrows Theratina’s Hat of Disguise, takes her form, and follows him
- Raelor returns and says it was “uneventful”, but “has a lead”
- We chat about who we may want to align with
- Yharov looks to see if Thompson left the coin
- We decide to go to Bruce’s manor
At Bruce’s manor
- We go to bed, each in our own bedroom
- Theratina goes to Cal’s room and has her read The Human King of the Elves
- Cal makes a wisdom save
- The world around changes as she finds herself in a snowstorm
- Her mentor is there, standing as if the storm isn’t there
- “Cal!… Cal!… Leave Vel Rau’dan! Cal!…”
- Horrifying images appear in front of Cal with people being frozen solid
- Theratina, far beyond, is huddled and rocking back and forth asking for help
- As Theratina looks up, it is not her. A demonic face appears in her place
- “Cal, don’t leave. Stay in Vel Rau’dan for me and I will show you every possible memory.”
- Cal wakes up in Theratina’s room