Session Date: 7 Aug 2026
Players: Janette, Landon, Stuart, Kyle, Jeff, Colin
Scribe: Stuart
Location: The Unnamed Tavern
Valecar Date: Goldwane ??th, 701 AC (Ascendant Cycle)
Session Table of Contents
Livestream of Session 6 --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHBVFZFpBq8&t - Session begins around the 11:30 mark
Session 6 begins as we transition from the Observatory in the Crownwood Expanse Monolith
to a different chamber which appears to be much closer to the top of the monolith and possibly the roof area. Curiously, our party had changed slightly. Stak and Maeve were nowhere to be seen and both Bulger Cuttlefish and Obadiah were once again with us. They had no awareness of time passing since we were all together. Just another mystery to add to this place.
We found ourselves in a new chamber with no discernible roof and it was very well lit. With all the jumping around from room to room we have no idea which direction is north, south, east or west. This room is approximately 150 feet wide. We entered this room in what at first appeared a long, wide corridor but in fact was the back of this vast chamber set on a precipice. The stone platform we stood upon was 150 feet wide, the width of this great room and 50 feet deep. A low stone wall ran across the leading edge with a pair of short columns near the center. There, a stone bridge extended between the columns out across a vast chasm. Below this bridge a churning maelstrom of clouds and lightning churned and roiled. It was as though this bridge passed over a thunderstorm. Along the left wall of this chasm the ruins of some stone structure jutted out over the storm. It looked like the remains of a manor or castle. The windows were broken and it looked like it could crumble into the open expanse beneath the bridge. Along the right wall of this chamber were a row of tall, stone obelisks spaced every 30 to 40 feet. A gaping hole could be seen where one of them had been dislodged and now floated in three broken pieces above and across the bridge. The largest piece, the base, floated in the air to the left of the bridge. The other two pieces were floating over the bridge proper. But, they were still connected by a long blue arc of energy that leaped and crackled with chaotic, electrical energy. The blue bolt of chain lightning
that stretched like an umbilical between the three pieces fully blocked any safe passage out
onto the bridge. The wide stone ledge upon which we had entered was strewn with debris and body parts. It looked as though some battle had taken place here. White rats scurried about on our platform and out on the bridge. This seemed to fascinate Targoth and he began an attempt to lasso one of the rats. Incredibly, he was successful. Turok stepped forward to examine the nearest obelisk and Esmira stepped forward to examine the body parts. Bulger and Targoth were next in the marching order. Merric and Obadiah were in the rear.
Turok was considering a Mend spell on the obelisk but wasn’t sure if he could touch any of the pieces safely without coming in contact with the wild lightning. Instead, he tried leaping over the lightning to see if he could manipulate the obelisk from the other side. He was instantly blasted with electrical energy. Before anything else could be done one of the skeletal hands that were strewn about grabbed ahold of Esmira. Then a second and then a third. It could now be seen that the body parts were part of some amoeba-like organism that had been lurking beneath the surface of the stone ledge upon which we stood. It began to engulf Esmira. Merric fired an arrow at the mass but missed with his first shot. Bulger fired a spell at the mass as well but missed. It began to spread quickly around her and she was in intense pain. Obadiah attempted a Dissonant Whispers spell and this caused the now mind-controlled Esmira to stumble away from us at her best speed. Out on the bridge, Turok heard a female voice calling to him for help. He looked around to locate the source and spotted a woman with wild, red hair entrapped within the hollow base of the obelisk that was floating out in the empty space above the thunderstorm. He called out to her and again she asked for his help in freeing her. Targoth, upon hearing and seeing the woman trapped in the obelisk, decided the best thing he could do to help her was hurl his newly captured rat at her. He managed to drop it right into the base with her and she was none too pleased. It was at this time that Turok spotted a skeletal spell caster farther into the room. He was high up in the stony ruins on the left of the chamber and appeared to mounted on a purple worm. Thinking this was the cause of Esmira’s attack he hurled a Guiding Bolt at the Necromancer and struck some type of magical barrier protecting it. He cackled out to Turok: “Pathetic” and then fired a purplish beam from his staff directly into the amoeba surrounding Esmira.
Meanwhile, back on the platform, Esmira had been totally absorbed by the monstrous, amoeba- like organism. It soaked into the broken skin of her arms and legs where the skeletal claws had gripped her. Now it controlled her like a walking dead. Obadiah attempted to keep it from attacking us by hitting it with Dissonant Whispers again. Unfortunately, the zombie-like creature that she had become was immune to this attack. She hit Obadiah and he was visibly staggered. Merric, realizing he could not injure the amoeba without harming Esmira, rushed to join Turok on the bridge. He leapt through the lightning and was similarly electrified. Only his leather armor protected him somewhat from the blast. Turok tried to join them and was likewise blasted. But now all three were on the same side of the electricity as the Necromancer. Turok fired another Guiding Bolt at the Necromancer and once again hit the barrier protecting it. As he fired the bolt he also noticed an evil summoning circle on the bridge just ahead of him. He instantly recognized this as a foul conjuring element and began bashing it with his mace. Nearby, the woman trapped within the base of the obelisk had managed to free herself and attempted to leap to the bridge, The stormy winds around her caused her to fall and she was instantly grappled by a large black tentacle rising up out of the storm. Merric fired an arrow at the Necromancer but it held up it’s bony hand and the arrow stopped just before impact. It deftly snatched the arrow out of the air and hurled it back at Merric. It impacted near him and morphed into a skeletal archer. Merric took one swing at it with his rapier and then moved towards the edge of the bridge to attempt to rescue the woman now gripped by the tentacle.
The now zombified Esmira continued to hammer Obadiah and he was felled. Bulger attempted to slow her down but she seemed unstoppable. He fled towards the right wall of the chamber and used his staff to conjure Spider Climb and scurried out of reach. She shambled in pursuit. Out on the bridge, the necromancer cast another strange spell at one of the rats on the bridge. It morphed into a monstrous rat/ogre-like hybrid with a sword blade for an arm.It swung wildly at Targoth and hit him with some type of poison dripping from the blade. His Goliath constitution proved stronger than the poison and he quickly smote the rat. It was felled and forgotten, or so we thought. Merric had managed to toss the end of his rope out to the woman and she tore free of the grip of the tentacle.
Only through a little bardic inspiration he had received earlier from Obadiah was he able to pull her in. Now there were four of us together on this side of the bridge. From his position on the wall Bulger could see clearly where the obelisk had been dislodged and how it should fit back together. He accurately surmised that putting the obelisk back together could stop the arcing electricity and allow us all to pass. The Esmira-zombie now ignored both him and Obadiah. It shambled towards the electricity blocking the bridge. Before it could shamble into it the Necromancer cast a Dimension Door and plopped his creation right amongst Merric, Targoth, Turok and the woman fighter Lydia. But this wasn’t the worst. At the same moment a mummy appeared from the summoning circle and began to flail at the rest of us. We now faced a skeletal archer, a mummy and our former comrade-in-arms. One of the gods must have taken pity on us at this time as we each struck with righteous ferocity. Our foes dropped one after the other in the furious exchange of axe, hammer, mace, rapier and glaive. Even the skeletal archer was powdered and shattered by a tremendous blow. But the necromancer was still there and he wasn’t finished with his tricks. He dropped an area spell in the midst of us. This had dual results. The rat creature and mummy were both once again rejuvenated but visibly lesser than they had been. And, to Merric’s dismay, his three comrades now looked at him with bloodlust in their eyes. All five now began to pursue him with hostile intent. As he turned to flee Lydia was the first to shake off the spell that had been cast. She had time to realize what was happening and struck. The rat creature was destroyed a second time before it could inflict more harm with it’s poison blade.
Meanwhile, back on the platform, Bulger hurried back to Obadiah’s prone body and carefully administered a healing potion. Just in the nick of time his life was spared and he began to stir. Bulger helped him to his feet and the two of them began to use their abilities to push the pieces of the obelisk closer together. Out on the bridge Merric jetted forward on the bridge ahead of his pursuers. A small foot bridge arced out over the chasm towards the ruins jutting forward from the left wall. He took this path and ran a few feet up it. Turok pursued him at this point but Targoth also shook off the bloodlust that had been cast on him and he vented his anger on the risen mummy. It went down hard and fast. Merric, not wanting to venture too far from the group, doubled back along the footbridge and shot past Turok as he struggled to keep up with him. Fortunately, Turok shook off the bloodlust and turned his attention back to the necromancer. His Guiding Bolt finally slipped past the barrier and inflicted real damage on the evil spell caster. It flinched but cast another spell at Merric. Whatever it was we will never know as the spell failed to take effect. Throughout this part of the conflict Obadiah and Bulger had been using their skills to move the pieces of the broken obelisk back together and had managed to rejoin the top piece with the middle piece. Then, with one last fire bolt, Bulger nudged the completed portion out towards the base floating in the air near the bridge. The last piece snapped together and the obelisk returned to it’s intended slot on the right wall. Turok used his Ghost Charm, a gift from Valus Thorne, and slipped up on the necromancer. He was just about to plunge his ghostly mace into the necromancer’s head when the last piece of the obelisk snapped into place. Poof! The necromancer disappeared along with the purple worm he was riding. The fight was over. We were alive. Most of us. But Esmira was gone. Our marbleborn comrade was gone. Her lifeless body lay on the bridge.
Turok, seeing it only as a corrupted husk, thrust it off the bridge and into the storm below. Now we stand upon this bridge. A newcomer is amongst us. She has identified herself as Lydia, a fighter and Ascendant of the 14th cycle. She is somewhat in disbelief that we all claim to be Ascendants of the 22nd cycle. It seems we have a lot to talk about. And a lot more to explore in this chamber.
