Campaign: Dominion of Adventure 9/2/2023

Having narrowly escaped another close encounter with the party’s favourite enemy – rift demons – it was safe to say that everyone was feeling a little bit peaky. Even Gunnar, the usually stout and resilient barbarian had taken a beating, and Gregg and Nick barely came away with their lives. As the party regrouped Gunnar noticed a strange look in the usually feisty bard, who was keeping his distance from the rest of the group and flexing his hands that the unusual pitch black energy had flowed from when cornered in the treasure room.
As the party were regaining their wits and scouting for any more hostiles, Dorian and Hamlet sheepishly came down the stairs, at which point Iivan exclaimed ‘Where the hell do you think you were? Would have been useful to have a cleric handy during the ambush!’. Hamlet shrugged, and Dorian sheepishly muttered something about the Chariot on the floor above having beautiful craftsmanship. This was too much to hear for the drow who was getting more and more frustrated by his distinct lack of guns, as he stormed past them back up the stairs. Navarro seeing his chance to get some alone time with the chariot grabbed the limp, semi-conscious body of Nick, and sprinted after him.
Sensing their absence had come at a rather inopportune time, the cleric set about quickly using faith to restore some of their weary companions stamina, as Hamlet took some time to inspire himself. Once the party were feeling a little bit more chipper they set about exploring the now (hopefully) rift-demon free floor. Luther mentioned that the room he was trapped in was full of treasure and that its probably worth a proper look. All but Gregg then spent some time ransacking the gleaming coins from around the room whilst having a heated debate about whether or not the golden elephant standing watch over the treasure had organs. Hamlet managed to find a unique and intriguing way to carry an entire treasure chest worth of potions, that by all accounts should have been impossible.
Meanwhile Gregg, having decided that he probably wasn’t needed for the treasure effort, decided to check out the room opposite. He entered to find rubble all over the floor, surrounding a large statue looking down on him, its presence dominating the room. He peered around the statue, trying to see if there was anyway to remove the weaponry held by the giant figure – to no avail as he realised the statue was one complete entity with no removable parts.
Once the treasure room had been sufficiently ransacked the realisation that they still hadn’t found a way to exit this strange place started to dawn on the party, as their entryway seemed to be a one way system. ‘What did you all find in the other rooms?’ Luther queried the group. Gregg noted that the room he checked was just a store room full of produce, but he doubted it was worth another look, and Balasar said he found a small room full of chairs and empty frames. As produce didn’t really feel particularly useful the majority of the party headed towards the smaller room, leaving Balasar to go and rummage through the shelves and barrels opposite.
As the group entered the room it was an interesting sight, with a row of 8 chairs of varying sizes, and a series of empty frames that looked as if they were part of the architecture itself. Luther chose to take his standard approach when faced with ominous thrones and chairs and promptly sat himself down on one. The party held their breath as he sat. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Luther sighed, hopped off, and went back to stand with the rest of the group at the entrance. ‘Well I’m pretty sure they’re not going to explode or catch on fire, especially with Balasar not here’ said Luther, nudging Dorian to give it a go. The dwarf walked over to a different chair, went to sit, but something didn’t feel quite right, and they found themselves sitting in a different seat. As they sat one of the frames started to flicker as the party looked on in surprise as the image of a castle flickered across the once empty frame, then disappeared without a trace.
Hamlet’s eyes lit up as he exclaimed ‘I have an idea’, pulling out a notebook and furiously scribbling inside it before sitting himself on a different seat. The others were distracted by this new side to their companion so only Luther and Gunnar saw a new image flicker on the frame next to them. A man clad in armour with a resolute expression on his face. The two looked at each other, and Gunnar watched as some of the colour drained from Luther’s face. ‘I’ll be back in a bit, I just need to check something’ stammered the shaken bard to Gunnar before quietly leaving the room.
Balasar then re-joined and informed the group that Gregg was right, it was just a store room with not much of note, and is brought up to speed. Gunnar then informed the others of the figure he and Luther had seen, before exchanging a worried glance with Dorian. Hamlet then lead the charge as he demanded all of the party begin sitting in the various chairs, convinced that this is the puzzle that will give them the answers they need to progress. Whilst most attempts yielded no results the party manage to get an image to appear on each portrait, seeing a stone that looked like the Promise in a cave, a large, scaled eye, and a familiar face with an umbrella that the party wished they could see less of.
Having managed to slip away Luther returned to the treasure room where he had connected with Fayd’s spirit, desperate for answers and to see him again. He didn’t really know what to do, so stood in the middle of the room trying to feel some sort of connection, but to no avail. Frustrated, he turned to face the elephant and, almost on impulse, reached out his arm. A bolt of pitch black energy crackles and shot forth with tremendous force at the gold creature.
The rest of the party heard a loud bang from echo around the room and looked at each other in confusion – weren’t the enemies gone? Hamlet, frustrated that his moment was being taken from him, yelled out ‘Luther what was that, what did you do?’. ‘Nothing! Just trying something!’ Luther shouted back. ‘What did you try that made that much noise?’ Retorted Hamlet. ‘A reminder that all of my spells are sound based, they’re going to make noise when I use them!’ Luther shouted; the eye roll practically audible from the other room. The others quietly sniggered, riling up Hamlet, who grabbed Dorian and pushed the dwarf to sit down on yet another chair, Balasar leaving to go and check up on the bard. As they sat together the final image lit up in front of them as they saw a giant map of the land. As they looked the map expanded in various areas, showing what looked like real time images of different locations across the continent. The party looked on in awe, as some of the longer standing members saw images of places they’d explored, fought in and travelled through, but some images were completely unfamiliar and shown landscapes none of them recognised.
Balasar walked into the treasure room to see Luther standing looking intensely at the elephant, which now had a large dent in it revealing the superficial nature of the gold, and a distinct lack of organs. ‘Are you okay?’ the dragonborn asked. ‘Yep, see I told you the elephant was worthless’ replied the half-elf, shakily. Balasar wasn’t convinced, and went to check out the damage as he queried ‘What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird the entire time we’ve been here.’ ‘Yeah, I’m fine, think I’m just a bit on edge, Rift Demons and all.’ He paused. ‘I think I’ve just been missing Fayd’. Balasar turned around perplexed ‘You still aren’t over that?’.
‘You are fucking UNBELIEVABLE’ echoed around the chambers, as the party were snapped out of their awe at the map before it flickered away. Gunnar pulled Dorian aside, ‘I think we need to keep an eye on him, he’s not coping well, and I’m worried he’s going to do something stupid’. The two quietly agreed to stick with the bard, conscious his grief was starting to make him a liability.
In his anger Luther stormed out of the room and went to go and sulk behind the imposing thrones in the central room. Looking at the wall in front of him, something struck him as odd. The floor upstairs had 5 rooms including the one they arrived in, this one has only 4. Looking at the wall where the symmetry ended, Luther reached out and tried to channel the energy he had been using since arriving. He watched as the energy was absorbed into the wall and flowed up towards the ceiling, and the orb the party had destroyed when they arrived had reappeared and began pulsing slowly with energy. ‘I’ve found something!’ he shouted, as the others hurried back into the central room.
The party began trying to bring this orb to the ground, Hamlet and Gregg using their magic vines and conjuring to pull it down – but they watched as both spells were also absorbed into the now, strongly pulsing orb as Luther’s had been. The orb looked nearly fully charged and was brimming with energy, as Luther placed his hand on the wall and once again released the dark energy. With a bang Luther was launched backwards, smacking into the thrones, as the wall in front of them disappeared and revealed a new set of stairs. Putting a gentle healing hand on the bards shoulder as they helped him up, Dorian and Luther lead the way further down into the darkness.
They emerged into a new room, lights flickered on and the party came into a room with a small table covered in crimson cloth, on top was a pretty and ornate goblet. Once again getting the short end of the stick, the party concluded it was Dorian’s job to investigate. Hamlet and Balasar tried to use mage hands to pass the goblet to the dwarf, conscious of curses and enchantments that might occur. But once again, they watched as their spells drained away, as the goblet filled with a dark liquid. Dorian reached out and grabbed the goblet, looking puzzledly at the strange liquid within. The party stared on in horror as their stoutly companion dipped their finger into the liquid, before they brought the mystery juice to their lips. Content and invigorated by the refreshing taste of gravel, Dorian tucked away the goblet into their satchel before noticing their wide eyed companions looking at them with disgust. ‘What? It tasted good.’ Dorian stated.
Without their grumpy drow in tow, the group were lacking a scout, and conscious of wanting to avoid another incident, they decided that the best person for the job was the Half-Orc barbarian whom they promptly sent off to investigate the room they’d opened to their right, whilst sending the distracted fragile bard to go and investigate the corridor in front. Gunnar came face to face with a large open room, with two intimidating knightly statues in a familiar armour wielding the largest shields the half-orc had ever seen, and an even larger statue reaching up to the heavens with a shining stave. Luther on the other hand found a small room, also with two knightly statues eerily guarding the corner of the room, as if daring to be crossed. Both snuck back to report (Luther tripping and making quite a lot of noise) on what they’d found. Hamlet, Balasar and Gregg began concocting a scheme to create a slippery and flammable oil based defence on the corridor, as Luther, Dorian and Gunnar headed back to the main room.
Seeing a side room, Gunnar darted across the chamber and left his two companions alone with the ominous statues, who’s presence was becoming more unsettling the longer they were there. The scheming spellcasters were getting very excited about their clever plans to ambush any enemies, and Balasar suggested ‘We could always just cast fireball and blow up the whole room?’ ‘Isn’t the bard right in the line of fire?’ questioned Gregg. The dragonborn shrugged and responded, ‘Accidents happen.’
As Luther slowly crept towards the stave wielding figure, a loud crack was heard from the room Gunnar was in. And then all hell broke loose.
All at once the statues glowed with a purple energy and a beam of lightening shot across the room, sparking across Luther, Dorian, Balasar and Hamlet, and ricocheting into the unsuspecting Druid. A second beam came firing out of the room Gunnar had been in and straight through Luther with fierce power leaving the bard gasping for his breath. Dorian began muttering prayer as a divine protection began to form around the enfeebled bard, as a spectral weapon materialised striking the stave wielder. Gunnar sprinted out of the room and he and Luther began rushing for the exit as they saw Balasar, recovering from the immediate shock, cracking his knuckles and readying his flames. Gunnar yelled ‘No!’ remembering their previous encounter with these foes, but it was too late and Balasar launched a fireball into the room. As he looked on in shock, the fire began to dissipate as the flames were gently absorbed into the statues, as they began to renew with the surge of energy.
In an act of preservation, fungi began sprouting across Greggs body as he braced for further impacts, just in time for another bolt of electricity to shoot across the room, arcing between Luther, Gunnar and into him. The half-elf slumped to the ground, as Dorian began praying louder for his unconscious companion. Gunnar launched his axe at the closest statue, but due to the static affecting his movement, missed narrowly as he watched the axe clatter to the floor. Luther began pulling himself up before a mighty explosion of sound ripped through the statues, ringing in the party’s ears. Balasar and Hamlet began firing off magical shots at the statues coming down the corridor towards them as Gregg summoned a silver beam of light, destroying one of the advancing figures.
Another bolt of lightening ripped through the party as Dorian desperately tried to protect his companions, ordering his spectral weapon on the offensive before summoning defensive holy spirits to ward off the advancing threat. Gunnar pulled out his mighty sword and swung violently at the now looming foes, crushing one of the tower shield wielding statues in his ferocity as Luther pointed and another boom of sound echoed around the room. The two mages continued their barrage of magical shots, as Hamlet laid a curse on one of the knightly figures and its stance faltered. The druid continued to harness the power of the moon and shifted his beam of light, disintegrating 3 of the statues as another crackling bolt of electricity arced across Gunnar and Hamlet. Stunned by the shock Gunnar was hit twice by a swinging greatsword of one of the knights as purple energy swirled around the figure. In retaliation the Half-Orc and Dorian shift their focus to the aggressor and swung at it with their enchanted and spectral weapons. Conscious of the amount of damage being caused by the remaining magic wielding statue Luther turned and snapped a last time as a thundering boom shattered the floating figure.
Balasar fired off another magical shot, tearing through the knight engaging the barbarian as it crumbled onto the floor while Hamlet aimed and misses a shot at the last remaining statue. Drained by the effort of maintaining his connection Gregg repositioned his beam of silver power a final time but wasn’t able to take out the last foe as it swung and knocked the battered cleric to the floor. Gunnar roared in rage and launched at the statue, swinging his blade and taking two large chunks out of its sides. Luther seeing his companion on the floor began to panic, ‘This can’t happen again’ he yelled as a jolt of a black energy shoots from his hand narrowly missing the targets head, his words bringing stamina back to the beaten dwarf.
A final magical shot came forth from the cornered Dragonborn and tore a hole through the final statues chest, as it collapsed backwards. The room was plunged into silence, as the noise of battle subsided.