Did that say “Nigerian prince?”
Sep. 22nd, 2024 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xancredibleWe rejoin our hellions in the ice cave after they've defeated Judas.
Check-ins were had:
After our little emotional vulnerability moments, the group went through the shiny curtain of misty light, and up the stairs to Circle #8.
Ascending means that they all get to level up - and rapidly so! After they were sent to hell, they all lost most of their abilities and became level 1 characters. Now that they've broken free of the confinement of the 9th circle, all of their powers return. In Ronnie's case it means that she feels a fraction of her celestial power for the very first time in her life!
Ronnie had to make a Wisdom save to see how well she copes with the onslaught of sensations. Unfortunately she failed and had to take some minor psychic damage and a level of exhaustion.
The group has reached the new level.
They just left the icy wasteland and the monotony of office work only to find themselves in a white void, surrounded by single rooms scattered around like on a film set. None of them are connected but every one of them holds at least one person, sometimes more.
Every cubicle is occupied by one person busily making calls, typing or writing something, and some practise a speech in front of a mirror. None of them seem aware that the fourth wall of their room is see-through, nor that they're in a single room, as some of them walk as if on a belt and yet you can tell from their faces that, to them, they're in different locations.
As they get closer, they can hear bits and pieces of conversations, maybe see a line of an email. Did that say “Nigerian prince?”
The longer they watch the "inmates", the happier they become until, suddenly, their faces fall and they throw the phones on the ground, tear up their letters and smash their computers. Something went wrong with what they were doing, and then the room resets. Some go back right away, some don’t. They get the sense that sooner or later, all of them will try again. After all, what else is there to do, even when you're doomed to fail over and over again at something that, in life, you successfully used to swindle seniors out of retirement funds, schools out of charitable donations, and lower middle-class people out of their hard-earned and well-loved homes?
Stumped for where to begin, the group inspects the charms on the bracelet that The Tigress is wearing to see if they're doing anything. Ronnie is the only one to succeed on an Arcana check, so she senses that even though they're not doing anything right now, they a) act as a transponder key to unlock doors but only if you have all of the charms belonging to a level, and b) they would react in some way to proximity of other charms.
Only moments after they've figured this out and while they're still, presumably, distracted by puzzling out what to do next, The Tigress feels nimble fingers attempting to steal the bracelet right off her wrist. Bad move by whoever tried this because in the next moment, she is holding them up by their lapels.
It's a wood-elf, not that old, but with grey hair and a round face. There's a silvery charm pinned to their lapel in the shape of a rat, and they're holding a flute in their hand.
They nearly get shot by The Tigress (not that it does anything when you're already dead), and Ronnie attempts negotiation instead. She tries to get that charm in return for letting the thief go, but the thief doesn't think that that's a fair deal. With a snap of his fingers, he gets out of The Tigress' grip, dusts himself off, and introduces himself as Galadher, overseer and welcoming committee of the 8th circle of hell. He asks who all of them might be, but only Ronnie says "You may call me Ronnie." No-one else gives him their names. Cadmus suspects it's Fey rules with this guy, Paul is reminded too much of his "cousin" Vinnie from New York to trust this guy.
Galadher says that, if they want the pin, they can work for it, and help him clear out an infestation of demons from a nearby cave. The group doesn't trust him, but they don't see another choice but to follow him. Cadmus turns on his Detecting Evil and Good, and does, indeed, detect Ronnie as a Celestial, Galadher as a Fiend, and vaguely some of the Fiends in the cave.
Once they're inside an enormous cavern, the group notices that Galadher has disappeared, and they're now faced with several small and very large Fiends that look anything but like they're common, mindless vermin the way Galadher made it sound.
Cadmus has a neat feat that tells him some things about Fiends, among other creatures, so he gets freebies on Resistances, Vulnerabilities, Special Abilities, and anything else the GM (me :D ) chooses to divulge. To temper this a little bit, he gets one of them as a surprise round, and then one per round if he uses his bonus action or reaction to focus on them.
In the surprise round, he learns about the Ekolid.
Cut for disgusting descriptions of vermin-like monsters and body horror.
Ekoli are a terrifying fusion of ant, spider, wasp, and scorpion, with three membranous wings on the thorax.
60cm (2ft) long, their bodies end in a swollen bulge of flesh from which a writhing swarm of tails protrude, each tipped with an upward-curving ovipositor
Ekolids are intelligent creatures ruled by the constant, primal urge to reproduce. The only recognizable emotion they demonstrate is delighted chattering, displayed when their young burst from a host.
So, you know, delightful!
They do, in fact, attack them first, and luckily for Cadmus, do not manage to sting him, as that would mean that they could lay eggs in his body. They also induce a terrible body horror thought unless PCs succeed on their Constitution save - which everybody did. They're immune to it now for the next 24h. Otherwise they would've lost Concentration on any spells - which they hadn't cast yet, but this is important for the future!
Ronnie's firebolt misses, unfortunately, but The Tigress manages to shoot one of them, and Paul beats one with his baseball bat.
Cadmus is at the bottom of the turn order and this is important because all the other Obyrith demons get to go in the meantime.
The Draudnu went next.
It's 2m tall (6’6), walks on 3 legs with clawed feet that grow out of its round, hairy body. The head is positioned at the lower body. It has a single, red eye, and three sharp, long pincers grow out of the sides of the head.
It's too far away to inflict any physical damage, but a Wisdom save was needed, which only Paul failed. He's now convinced that something is growing inside of him. He may make this save again, or be healed with the spells lesser restoration, heal, or similar magic.
Next up was Ronnie, who fired a fire bolt at one of the Ekolid, but unfortunately missed, and went to hide behind a boulder so she wouldn't immediately become a target.
After this, the delightful Sibirex went.
It's a 4.6m (15ft) tall mass of deformed heads, that reeks of rotten vegetation hanging off its misshapen body and it constantly exude streams of blood and bile, polluting the ground and causing plants to wither wherever it goes. It's got shriveled arms ending in trembling digits where its ears would be. In place of a neck, the underbelly of a Sibriex hosts a writhing mass of stalks, puckers, and feeding tubes. A body harness fitted with steel chains ending in sharpened spikes is tied around their bodies. As a consequence, they can only move very slowly.
On its first turn, it began to move towards the gang. It has a poisonous aura but was too far away for that to be a problem for anybody yet.
Paul went next, and swung at the Ekolid with his bat, doing a little bit of damage!
And then the 4th Obyrith went, the Golothoma.
The Golothoma is 5m long (16’4 ft), 1m wide (3ft), and will rear up to 2m (6’6).
It's a massive, vaguely serpentine creature whose knotted body bulges in bizarre places, and from which spikes jut out at random points. It has a single yellow, snake-like eye at the front of their head, from around which protrude 5 sharp, jointed insectoid arms with talons at their tips. Its tail is covered in acidic looking, black slime.
The Golothoma produces a shadow regardless of the light source, and the shadow doesn’t match the Golothoma’s shape.
Everyone had to make another Wisdom save for this one and everyone except Cadmus failed, so now they believe that they're in the shadow of a giant creature cast from a distant realm. They're frightened while in bright light, but they may use their action to repeat the saving throw. If they end the effect or make their Wisdom save, they'll be immune to it for the next 24h.
The Golothoma was also close enough to the group to move just a little bit and then attack The Tigress, who lost half her hit points.
Fear not! Cadmus is up next and has chosen to use his bonus action to learn more about the Golothoma this round.
The Golothoma is, for the most part, a simple predator, driven to consume the bodies of other creatures by a never-ending hunger, a primal compulsion deeper than any mere biological requirement for survival.
It's resistant to Cold, Fire, and Lightning Damage, as well as Magic of any kind. It mostly has physical attacks but it can fuck with reality if it wants to.
This brought us to the end of the first round, and we capped it there for the night. Our next session is today, actually. A slot opened up due to our Zelda game being cancelled and since everyone in my campaign is also in the Zelda campaign, we all have that time slot open anyway :D
Check-ins were had:
Ronnie’s not feeling very great right now. It’s not anxiety or tension. She assumed Judas would hate the person he betrayed and would be on their side as a party who’s going against God. And she has to re-contextualise it now, and think about predestination as a concept. She feels defeated - not in the way that she’s going to lose but in the way that there’s nothing she can do to stop them from succeeding. She would feel angry but she’s just tired of fighting against it. She feels sad because she feels like she can't do anything of her own volition. She’s ready to move forward because she sees no way to go back, or that it would find her even if she turned back now. So, in conclusion: She feels despair.
Cadmus is feeling good to have made progress. The conversation with Judas brought up a lot of stuff for him. He’s brooding over what he said to Judas during combat. They’ve achieved something no-one else has managed before, and that feels good. He feels that this will bolster the confidence of everybody else.
Paul is conflicted about the outcome of this battle, and really affected by what Cadmus said. It moved him but he can’t process it right now. He's ashamed about his own outburst. Discovering that it was Judas has thrown him for a loop and got him in his own head. He's glad they made progress but doesn’t feel like he contributed to it.
The Tigress is feeling pretty good. They made progress, she's got a new shiny thing (the charm). She knows why she was put here, and she knows that everyone has their reasons for doing what they did to get here. She doesn’t feel sorry for Mr I (Judas), but she feels some understanding there.
Cadmus is feeling good to have made progress. The conversation with Judas brought up a lot of stuff for him. He’s brooding over what he said to Judas during combat. They’ve achieved something no-one else has managed before, and that feels good. He feels that this will bolster the confidence of everybody else.
Paul is conflicted about the outcome of this battle, and really affected by what Cadmus said. It moved him but he can’t process it right now. He's ashamed about his own outburst. Discovering that it was Judas has thrown him for a loop and got him in his own head. He's glad they made progress but doesn’t feel like he contributed to it.
The Tigress is feeling pretty good. They made progress, she's got a new shiny thing (the charm). She knows why she was put here, and she knows that everyone has their reasons for doing what they did to get here. She doesn’t feel sorry for Mr I (Judas), but she feels some understanding there.
After our little emotional vulnerability moments, the group went through the shiny curtain of misty light, and up the stairs to Circle #8.
Ascending means that they all get to level up - and rapidly so! After they were sent to hell, they all lost most of their abilities and became level 1 characters. Now that they've broken free of the confinement of the 9th circle, all of their powers return. In Ronnie's case it means that she feels a fraction of her celestial power for the very first time in her life!
Paul didn’t work out in the office, and hasn't really practised any of his fighting skills since he died. Why would he, they were useless here in hell. But ascending these stairs, he goes through the familiar aches and pains of sore muscles worked well, and he feels that post-workout adrenaline rush of a session going particularly well because he set new personal bests across the board. As he reaches the top of the stairs, the feeling of sore muscles has lessened once more, but the feeling of being strong and agile remains.
The Tigress feels similar to Paul. Her fighting skills, her nimbleness, all of it had been dormant in the long time since her death, but going up these stairs, she feels it rushing back into her. It's as if she was only just yesterday on a ship, commanding a group of worthy pirates through the seven seas.
Cadmus feels his strength returning as well, and magic rushes back into him. But there’s a twist to some of the magic, a new malevolence that wasn’t there before and he has a sense that this has replaced some of the divine magic he had, This must be because of what he had to do to achieve his goal.
Ronnie also feels a rush of magic she has never felt before, suddenly her skeletal wings unfurl and spread out to their full width. She didn't even know she had wings and the sudden weight on her back staggers her for a moment. They won’t ever let her fly, but she feels deep within her soul that any opponents that see them might be incredibly frightened by them. And not just that, these wings are a symbol of greater power even than that, and she knows that when she unleash the power of her wings, they give her the ability to hurt her enemies more. It doesn’t end there, though. All of these new sensations continue to bombard her senses with every step she takes up these stairs. She feels magical abilities rising within her that are entirely alien to her being and yet achingly familiar. It’s the kind of power that has been talked about in her family. It’s the power of angels, but much like her wings, they’re more of a frightening skeleton than a divine apparition. Nevertheless, they’re beautiful to her, and hers to command.
The Tigress feels similar to Paul. Her fighting skills, her nimbleness, all of it had been dormant in the long time since her death, but going up these stairs, she feels it rushing back into her. It's as if she was only just yesterday on a ship, commanding a group of worthy pirates through the seven seas.
Cadmus feels his strength returning as well, and magic rushes back into him. But there’s a twist to some of the magic, a new malevolence that wasn’t there before and he has a sense that this has replaced some of the divine magic he had, This must be because of what he had to do to achieve his goal.
Ronnie also feels a rush of magic she has never felt before, suddenly her skeletal wings unfurl and spread out to their full width. She didn't even know she had wings and the sudden weight on her back staggers her for a moment. They won’t ever let her fly, but she feels deep within her soul that any opponents that see them might be incredibly frightened by them. And not just that, these wings are a symbol of greater power even than that, and she knows that when she unleash the power of her wings, they give her the ability to hurt her enemies more. It doesn’t end there, though. All of these new sensations continue to bombard her senses with every step she takes up these stairs. She feels magical abilities rising within her that are entirely alien to her being and yet achingly familiar. It’s the kind of power that has been talked about in her family. It’s the power of angels, but much like her wings, they’re more of a frightening skeleton than a divine apparition. Nevertheless, they’re beautiful to her, and hers to command.
Ronnie had to make a Wisdom save to see how well she copes with the onslaught of sensations. Unfortunately she failed and had to take some minor psychic damage and a level of exhaustion.
The group has reached the new level.
They just left the icy wasteland and the monotony of office work only to find themselves in a white void, surrounded by single rooms scattered around like on a film set. None of them are connected but every one of them holds at least one person, sometimes more.
Every cubicle is occupied by one person busily making calls, typing or writing something, and some practise a speech in front of a mirror. None of them seem aware that the fourth wall of their room is see-through, nor that they're in a single room, as some of them walk as if on a belt and yet you can tell from their faces that, to them, they're in different locations.
As they get closer, they can hear bits and pieces of conversations, maybe see a line of an email. Did that say “Nigerian prince?”
The longer they watch the "inmates", the happier they become until, suddenly, their faces fall and they throw the phones on the ground, tear up their letters and smash their computers. Something went wrong with what they were doing, and then the room resets. Some go back right away, some don’t. They get the sense that sooner or later, all of them will try again. After all, what else is there to do, even when you're doomed to fail over and over again at something that, in life, you successfully used to swindle seniors out of retirement funds, schools out of charitable donations, and lower middle-class people out of their hard-earned and well-loved homes?
Stumped for where to begin, the group inspects the charms on the bracelet that The Tigress is wearing to see if they're doing anything. Ronnie is the only one to succeed on an Arcana check, so she senses that even though they're not doing anything right now, they a) act as a transponder key to unlock doors but only if you have all of the charms belonging to a level, and b) they would react in some way to proximity of other charms.
Only moments after they've figured this out and while they're still, presumably, distracted by puzzling out what to do next, The Tigress feels nimble fingers attempting to steal the bracelet right off her wrist. Bad move by whoever tried this because in the next moment, she is holding them up by their lapels.
It's a wood-elf, not that old, but with grey hair and a round face. There's a silvery charm pinned to their lapel in the shape of a rat, and they're holding a flute in their hand.
They nearly get shot by The Tigress (not that it does anything when you're already dead), and Ronnie attempts negotiation instead. She tries to get that charm in return for letting the thief go, but the thief doesn't think that that's a fair deal. With a snap of his fingers, he gets out of The Tigress' grip, dusts himself off, and introduces himself as Galadher, overseer and welcoming committee of the 8th circle of hell. He asks who all of them might be, but only Ronnie says "You may call me Ronnie." No-one else gives him their names. Cadmus suspects it's Fey rules with this guy, Paul is reminded too much of his "cousin" Vinnie from New York to trust this guy.
Galadher says that, if they want the pin, they can work for it, and help him clear out an infestation of demons from a nearby cave. The group doesn't trust him, but they don't see another choice but to follow him. Cadmus turns on his Detecting Evil and Good, and does, indeed, detect Ronnie as a Celestial, Galadher as a Fiend, and vaguely some of the Fiends in the cave.
Once they're inside an enormous cavern, the group notices that Galadher has disappeared, and they're now faced with several small and very large Fiends that look anything but like they're common, mindless vermin the way Galadher made it sound.
Cadmus has a neat feat that tells him some things about Fiends, among other creatures, so he gets freebies on Resistances, Vulnerabilities, Special Abilities, and anything else the GM (me :D ) chooses to divulge. To temper this a little bit, he gets one of them as a surprise round, and then one per round if he uses his bonus action or reaction to focus on them.
In the surprise round, he learns about the Ekolid.
Cut for disgusting descriptions of vermin-like monsters and body horror.
Ekoli are a terrifying fusion of ant, spider, wasp, and scorpion, with three membranous wings on the thorax.
60cm (2ft) long, their bodies end in a swollen bulge of flesh from which a writhing swarm of tails protrude, each tipped with an upward-curving ovipositor
Ekolids are intelligent creatures ruled by the constant, primal urge to reproduce. The only recognizable emotion they demonstrate is delighted chattering, displayed when their young burst from a host.
So, you know, delightful!
They do, in fact, attack them first, and luckily for Cadmus, do not manage to sting him, as that would mean that they could lay eggs in his body. They also induce a terrible body horror thought unless PCs succeed on their Constitution save - which everybody did. They're immune to it now for the next 24h. Otherwise they would've lost Concentration on any spells - which they hadn't cast yet, but this is important for the future!
Ronnie's firebolt misses, unfortunately, but The Tigress manages to shoot one of them, and Paul beats one with his baseball bat.
Cadmus is at the bottom of the turn order and this is important because all the other Obyrith demons get to go in the meantime.
The Draudnu went next.
It's 2m tall (6’6), walks on 3 legs with clawed feet that grow out of its round, hairy body. The head is positioned at the lower body. It has a single, red eye, and three sharp, long pincers grow out of the sides of the head.
It's too far away to inflict any physical damage, but a Wisdom save was needed, which only Paul failed. He's now convinced that something is growing inside of him. He may make this save again, or be healed with the spells lesser restoration, heal, or similar magic.
Next up was Ronnie, who fired a fire bolt at one of the Ekolid, but unfortunately missed, and went to hide behind a boulder so she wouldn't immediately become a target.
After this, the delightful Sibirex went.
It's a 4.6m (15ft) tall mass of deformed heads, that reeks of rotten vegetation hanging off its misshapen body and it constantly exude streams of blood and bile, polluting the ground and causing plants to wither wherever it goes. It's got shriveled arms ending in trembling digits where its ears would be. In place of a neck, the underbelly of a Sibriex hosts a writhing mass of stalks, puckers, and feeding tubes. A body harness fitted with steel chains ending in sharpened spikes is tied around their bodies. As a consequence, they can only move very slowly.
On its first turn, it began to move towards the gang. It has a poisonous aura but was too far away for that to be a problem for anybody yet.
Paul went next, and swung at the Ekolid with his bat, doing a little bit of damage!
And then the 4th Obyrith went, the Golothoma.
The Golothoma is 5m long (16’4 ft), 1m wide (3ft), and will rear up to 2m (6’6).
It's a massive, vaguely serpentine creature whose knotted body bulges in bizarre places, and from which spikes jut out at random points. It has a single yellow, snake-like eye at the front of their head, from around which protrude 5 sharp, jointed insectoid arms with talons at their tips. Its tail is covered in acidic looking, black slime.
The Golothoma produces a shadow regardless of the light source, and the shadow doesn’t match the Golothoma’s shape.
Everyone had to make another Wisdom save for this one and everyone except Cadmus failed, so now they believe that they're in the shadow of a giant creature cast from a distant realm. They're frightened while in bright light, but they may use their action to repeat the saving throw. If they end the effect or make their Wisdom save, they'll be immune to it for the next 24h.
The Golothoma was also close enough to the group to move just a little bit and then attack The Tigress, who lost half her hit points.
Fear not! Cadmus is up next and has chosen to use his bonus action to learn more about the Golothoma this round.
The Golothoma is, for the most part, a simple predator, driven to consume the bodies of other creatures by a never-ending hunger, a primal compulsion deeper than any mere biological requirement for survival.
It's resistant to Cold, Fire, and Lightning Damage, as well as Magic of any kind. It mostly has physical attacks but it can fuck with reality if it wants to.
This brought us to the end of the first round, and we capped it there for the night. Our next session is today, actually. A slot opened up due to our Zelda game being cancelled and since everyone in my campaign is also in the Zelda campaign, we all have that time slot open anyway :D
