Yesterday was the 30th session of the D&D game, the last session of Act I, and the characters all made 6th level. Love it when things sync up. Here's last time.
Our heroes ascend the big black staircase and find themselves in a nice, warm cave (OK, it's not actually warm. Or nice.). They make camp; Aisling snuggles up with Fearg, Zook beds down with Keenan on one side and his dog Maeve on the other, Dara sits and meditates, and Clara and Belle both sleep on their own.
In the middle of the night, Dara notes Ádhúi standing over Clara, leaning down as if to kiss her. "Hey, I don't think you-" Dara begins, but Ádhúil just smiles and kisses Clara on the forehead.
Clara immediately starts awake, gasping, feeling life being sucked away. Ádhúil turns and runs for the top of the staircase, leaps off, and changes into a winged, demonic form - one that the characters know well as a succubus! Clara regains her composure and runs after her, jumps off the staircase, thinking to land on the creature's back, but misses and falls. Fortunately, as a monk, she lands gracefully with no injury.
Everyone else is awake by now, and Clara decides not to chase the creature into the maze on her own (probably smart). She climbs back up the staircase and everyone takes stock. Obviously Ádhúil was a traitor from the jump, her story about her missing brother was just a lie. Belle asks Zook why the alarm spell he cast didn't work, and he says that an alarm spell doesn't register people who were inside the spell when it was cast. Fearg notes that the jackalweres were all "sleeping" in their hybrid forms, even though they don't do that - it was all a setup. Why?
They briefly discuss chasing after her, or just moving on, but they decide to go back to sleep. They know what they're up against now, at least partially. Fearg stays awake ("I don't need to recharge any magic, I just scream and beat things"), and the rest of the night passes without incident.
The heroes awaken, feeling refreshed...except Zook, who awakens still feeling weak. The nightmare that he had last night apparently still has him on the ropes. Aisling remembers stories of the "night hag," a horrible creature that attacks from the Ethereal Plane, sitting on the chest of sleeping people and sucking their life away. The adventurers discuss whether that thing might be in league with the succubus, but Dara recalls that hags are creatures of the Feywild, not the Hells. That doesn't preclude them working together, of course...
The heroes decide to head out of here through the caves. The Glann Plateau is stacked against them, the succubus retreating into it feels like a trap, and although they're in a better position after resting, they still feel off their pins. But then Fearg and Zook both hear something from the cavern (Fearg: "You hear that?" Zook: "Yeah, like a rumble?"). Zook peers down the cave with his goggles and sees rocks falling - a cave-in.
He sends Edna, his spider familiar, down the hall to check it out. The ceiling has caved in, and while Edna could probably wriggle through, the rest of them couldn't. Clara checks to see if they could go up or around from where they are, but it's a treacherous climb and the animals certainly couldn't. Only one thing to do - descend the staircase.
Aisling, Dara, and Clara start trying to create a map of the Plateau from memory and can't agree on things, and then Keenan jumps in and produces a near-perfect one. They figure there are three areas they haven't thoroughly explored: the corridors where Zook and Keenan were attacked by the rock-creature, the corridors where Fearg and Aisling found the purple, fleshy walls, and the icy corridor that nearly killed Dara and Belle.
The re-enter the maze and find the crystal "clock" at the center. They notice a slight smell of brimstone in the air, and see that the dial is set to "6", not "12" as before. They figure that the succubus probably used it to go home, but they aren't going to start screwing with that thing again.
They want to see what's at the end of the icy corridor, but aren't sure if any of them are hardy enough to make it. But then Aisling remembers she has a potion of flying! Dara casts a spell of protection from energy on Clara to make her resistant to the cold, and Aisling gives her the potion ("How do I make it...oh, I'm hovering."). Clara flies into the sky and goes around the winds. Towards the end of the corridor, she sees everything covered in ice...including some bodies. At the very end, she sees the back wall covered in a thick layer of ice, and something glowing blue beneath it.
She returns and reports this (while shivering). Clearly something magical happening here, maybe a similar magic to the crystal clock? They decide to have Dara try and dispel it. Clara picks her up and flies her to the end of the corridor. Suffering again from the cold and still exhausted from being here before, Dara casts the spell and manages to counter the magic. The blue glow goes out, the wind dies down, and the ice starts steaming as the temperature increases.
The heroes pick their way through the ice and to the end of the corridor. Dara looks at the frozen bodies, some of them up against walls, some struggling forward toward the final wall, all long dead. Fearg breaks the ice away and they see a stone disc set into the wall, smooth and obviously a different kind of rock. Magic artifact? Zook notes that spells that cause ice storms and blizzards do exist, and you can bind just about any spell into an object if you're good enough. As for why, that's a different question. Other than as a trap, this doesn't serve much purpose.
They all go back to the clock, and decide to go into the corridors where Zook and Keenan were attacked. If it's just the monster, they should be able to handle that. They don't have to wait long after going in - the creature rises up out of the floor and starts at them, gibbering.
Aisling is suddenly struck with a thought, and stops Keenan from casting a burning hands spell. She instead casts a spell to comprehend languages, and realizes that the creature is actually talking to them! "Food...please...so hungry."
Aisling relays this to the others, but as she can't speak its language, she can't really ask it what it eats. She tells Dara to offer it a goodberry, and she does, but it turns away. "Stones," it says "please. So hungry."
Dara picks up a rock from the ground, but it just continues to sniff at her (which for a creature with no nose is impressive). She roots around in her pockets and finds a pouch of gemstones the characters have found, and the creature perks up excitedly. She offers it the gems and it happily gobbles them up, and then speaks to Aisling much more clearly and lucidly. "Thank you. I was so hungry. I got lost here and I can't get my bearings. I'm just trying to get home."
Aisling mimes a bit, using the universal language of interpretive dance to communicate, I suppose. She asks where it's from, and it tells her it's a "xorn," from the Elemental Plane of Earth. The heroes noodle this a bit, and then take it to the crystal clock. It excitedly thanks them - now it can go home! It tells them that "12-1-12" goes to its home plane, and Aisling communicates a question: Does it know other combinations? Specifically, can any of these combinations get to the Ethereal Plane?
The xorn tells them that "7-6-5" goes to the Plane of Fire, "10-9-8" goes to the Plane of Water, and "2-3-4" goes to the Plane of Air. Anything other than the Elemental Planes? The xorn thinks. It doesn't know about the Ethereal, but it says that "1-8-9" goes somewhere on this plane, but it isn't sure it's somewhere the heroes would want to be. It goes up and enters the combination for its home plane, thanks Aisling again (and kind of gives Zook a look, apparently kind of holding a grudge for throwing a damn fireball at it when it was just hungry), and climbs in.
Before they start messing with the portal, they check out the area where the xorn was living, but don't find anything except scratches on the walls. It was trying to orient itself, but couldn't, probably delirious with hunger. The heroes wonder why, exactly, it couldn't just eat the rocks here, but all it said was that they "weren't food."
Anyway, the heroes check another twist and turn in the area, and find something new - a cot, a stone table, a couple of folded, ratty dresses, a bunch of half-full potion bottles, and a tiny millstone. Aisling looks it over ("ach, it's so wee"), and sees that there are fragments of tooth in the cradle beneath it. Something sharpening its own fangs? "This looks like the hag's lair," says Dara.
They start to head out, and suddenly Aisling hears "Damn trespassers!" and gets three magic missiles in the back (Zook does, too, but his shield spell protects him). They turn and see the hag, teeth sharp indeed, claws bared!
Belle wastes no time, she puts an arrow in the hag, which she just knocks aside. Dara drops a moonbeam on her, and the hag snarls something about "damn elf bitch!" and steps aside, and then fells Dara with magic missiles! Clara runs up and punches, and Zook throws a spell (which the hag resists). Keenan says "ooh, I've been wanting to try this!" He claps his hands together, draws them apart, and then makes a flicking motion simultaneously at Zook and Clara. Both feel themselves speed up as the haste spell takes effect.
Fearg flies into a rage and charges toward the hag, swinging his pick. Aisling tosses a spell behind her at Dara ("GET UP!") and then banes the hag.
The battle rages, the hag flinging magic missiles or clawing at Clara (ineffectively; Clara is hard to hit normally and the haste spell just makes it harder), the heroes hurling spells and steel and fists. Dara gets dropped once or twice more, Belle stays in the back and fires arrows, Keenan and Zook throw firebolts, and Aisling lashes out with her sword.
And then the hag, clearly worn down a bit, waves her hands and starts to fade out. Zook remembers what Aisling said earlier about night hags - they attack from the Ethereal Plane. She's trying to shift out of this plane! Zook counters the spell and it fails, and the hag, for just a moment, shows a touch of fear.
Dara summons up a flame blade and stabs at her, lighting her dress (she pats it out). Zook throws a firebolt, Belle more arrows, and Clara a hasted-up flurry of punches. The hag staggers, and Fearg raises his pick and beats her until her head is just kind of gone. She falls dead, the heroes rejoice!
Aisling goes and smashes up her potions; she figures there's nothing good in there. Fearg sits down and cleans hag brains off his pick, and every takes a quick breather. And then Zook looks down the corridor towards the crystal ring and sees the succubus leaning on the wall, watching them. "HEY," says Zook.
She raises her palms. "Did you kill her?" The heroes confirm they did. "Oh, well, guess I was late." She shrugs. "Nothing for it."
The heroes come around the corner, but the succubus doesn't attack. "I'm not interested," she says. "Look, I don't like you, and there are definitely a few of you I'd love to Do Things to. But just know that if I come after you again, it's not personal. I gotta do what I'm summoned to do."
Zook shakes his head in exasperation. "How about you tell us who's summoning you, and we go and kill him?"
The succubus gives him small, almost sad smile. "There are people, love, better left unknown."
She heads down to the crystal clock and dials in "6-6-6." A portal opens, and Zook peeks in - a beautifully furnished room with the most comfy-looking couches he's ever see. A voice from somewhere out of his field of vision, a voice like silk and chocolate and warmth and honey, says "Zook Timber. Please come and be comfortable."
"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME." Zook is not enticed.
"That's kind of thing he does," says the succubus.
"Nymnixia, that's enough of that." The voice is still syrupy, but now a bit of an edge.
"Yes, Daddy." She goes to climb through the portal. Zook stops her, and asks about other portals, other places it might take them.
She thinks a moment. "Try '12-12-12'," she says, and climbs through the portal.
The portal closes and everyone breathes again. Fearg notes to Zook that the voice they heard was very likely the demon lord Graz'zt, and that's not someone you screw with.
The heroes still want to check the last bit of the maze, but they decide to have a look at the other combinations they've been given. They talk about "12-12-12," but Belle is against it. "First day of being a ranger, they teach you, never listen to something you know is evil."
The others agree, and try "1-8-9." It opens to a subterranean cavern, but different rock formations than here. But it's the smell that bothers them - ozone and shit. "Second day of ranger training," says Belle. "Never go into a den if you don't know what lives there." The heroes let that one close.
They decide to at least look at "12-12-12." Aisling dials it up, and it opens to...a lovely, grassy meadow. They smell the sweet, familiar air of Abhaile. Zook takes a moment to consult the keek-stane, and finds that going through it would be weal, not woe. "Yeah, that's what you said about the staircase," says Belle, but the others point out that if they had kept going, they'd have been fine. It was their fault they stopped.
Clara has reservations, too, but Aisling feels that this might be a safe escape, especially based on the magic. She asks Fearg his opinion: "No protest from me." They all climb through (helping Carrots, who is initially nonplussed, but gets more pliant when he sees the grass), and emerge into green, lush, rolling hills.
Belle walks to a hilltop and looks around, and then comes back with a perplexed look. "Well," she says, "if I'm not wrong, we seem to be in central Abhaile. In fact, if we're where I think we are, we're maybe two days south of the city of Cian."
Aisling perks up, and leans in to Fearg. "There's the most amazing bathhouse there."
Keenan suggests they camp, and then strike out for Cian in the morning to rest, resupply, and get their bearings. Everyone agrees, and the adventurers take their first safe(?) breaths in a quite a while.
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