The Fish Outta Water (FOW) Campaign continues with...
Jerrison Shallowstream the half-elf tempest cleric,
Maw the gnome spirit bard, and
Zero-R-Alpha the warforged astral monk!
Session 7
Continuing from last time, after resting, the team found robes of the Pelor priests in a side room. Jerrison took the nice archbishop robes. There were also crates of incense candles, rancid meat, etc. There were sounds of footsteps from the stars going down below; the team followed to a gunnel with a side room with 5 ash skeletons (with 5 shields of Pelor that the team took). Jerrison also took a small pewter statue of Pelor and Maw took the silver candelabra. Alpha spotted tracks as if an invisible person was following them around. Down the hall there were 4 defaced statues of Pelor. To get through the "door" of Pelor, Jerrison allowed Marlon to possess him; Marlon said the puzzle to protect the inner sanctum involved: charity, modesty, perseverance, and self-sacrifice. With that clue, the team was able to finish the ritual (which included Jerrison destroying his lightning symbol) and open the magical portal. That let to an encounter with a wraith and 2 shadows inside of an inner sanctum. The team rested again before going down another stairwell...
Session 8
The winding stairs led to huge metal double doors. There was a note on the door: "...it's too late... their battle will end us all... the church is sinking... only time can stop it..." Alpha opened the doors and the group saw, frozen in time, a solar fighting a valor demon with a female cleric-wizard with a sun staff flying above them; the team heard a screaming boy and ran past the "frozen in time" group to go down the hall to try to save him. In the crypt, the boy was being attacked by a cambion wizard and a devourer! Once Maw put the cambion to sleep, Jerrison put the sword in his hand and had Marlon possess him; Marlon was able to stop the ritual and used the magic lantern to sanctify the area. Jerrison tied up the wizard. Alpha stunned the devourer long enough for the team to kill it. As the area was destroyed, Jerrison grabbed the boy and the team escaped the cave-in, assuming the wizard was killed by it. On the way out, the "frozen in time" group phased back in sync with time and the woman said "What have you done? They will come now!" She disintegrated while the Solar and Balor were locked in combat, killing each other. The place caved-in on them as well, while the group continued running out for safety; the last statue seen on the way out had a purple glow to its eyes. When the group got to the top, they saw what looked like an "unending hole of darkness" left behind. Marlon explained he used the Lantern of Sanctification to do the stuff backward, to save the kid.
The team returned the kid, Fritz, to town; he said the woman had been a Chosen of Pelor and was his grandma; she was afraid of something. Maw agreed to keep the kid's secret. After leaving Fritz with his family, the team reported to the constable, who at first accused them of lying, but paid them for completing the quest. The next day, the team reported to Father Milton and Jerrison offered himself up for reprimand. Father Milton used a horn to summon his army to "check on this hole." He said the lantern could be useless and for Jerrison to keep it. The team followed him outside and marched with the army. When they got to the area, they didn't see the unending hole there; it was just flat land. Jerrison took the lead inspiring the army and leading the clerics, organizing re-sanctifying the land/area (which was Maw's idea, but Jerrison was happy to run with it). Father Milton was annoyed when he finally realized what Jerrison was wearing, but realized it was too late to challenge his self-promotion to archbishop. Alpha found a small purple rock at the main doorway into the dungeon. He freaked out some of the Pelor soldiers when he used his astral arms to put the rock into his backpack. Maw calmed down the soldiers. After the ceremonies were over, everyone went back to the town.
Session 9
The next day, the team went to the general store to spend some of their money. Jerrison used his position in the church to requisition 3 healing potions (1 for each member of the FOW team, for their question to go after the local bandits). The team took their wagon and horses/donkeys down the west road (which was said to take 2 days to get to the next town), but on the first night while Jerrison was singing and the other two (Alpha and Maw) were hiding in the cart, the bandits showed up. Jerrison loudly surrendered to them and let them steal the cart, which the bandits brought to their hidden forest keep with white marble walls. Jerrison silently followed their tracks. In the courtyard was a cathedral-like building and a huge tree in water. Alpha and Maw popped out of hiding to fight 4 bandits; Jerrison joined in once he ran in from outside. Alpha and Maw found some stolen goods. The team loaded the card with more books, jewelry, and statues. Inside, they found some meeting rooms, meditation and training areas, and a trap door leading down into darkness. When they went down, they had to fight a powerful shadow monk with smoke tattoos on his body; it was challenging combat for the team.
Session 10
Still below the bandit keep, the team continued from last time, exploring the rooms; they found crates and barrels, statues of a woman with a black snake, and lots of side rooms. Alpha messed with the second statue and nothing happened. The team backed into a corner and Maw played loud music to lure out the hidden monks: 6 monks campout to fight (4 with scales infused into them and 2 with smoke tattoos; 4 of them were so intimidated, they ran away during the fight). Searching more rooms, the team found an alter with snake stuff. They put a dead monk on it and the alter seemed to accept the body as a blood sacrifice; the secret panel opened up with 3 scales available. Alpha took all the scales the team found. The next important room had 6 coffins with people with scales infused into them. Down the next stairs, the team found 2 statues, this time the woman and snake were separate. In the inner sanctum there were 4 meditating monks and 8 smoke mephitis keeping a spirit naga prisoner. FOW defeated the enemies and freed the monstrous creature by removing 3 searing spears (which the team kept). The spirit naga told the group his name had been long forgotten so Maw named him Pierce. The naga's story was that he regenerates and was captured for generations; he said the spears sucked out magic. The team offered to journey with the naga. On the way out, he burned the tree in the courtyard. He said he wanted to go to the Valley of the Mage, but said the team would make stops along the way to get treasure. The team rested and Jerrison reported back to the town about completing the mission; Father Milton seemed pleased that Jerrison was leaving.
To be continued...
