Rel
Liquid Awesome
The PC's appeared in a strange landscape. They were surrounded by what appeared to be stone but had a strange look to it that wasn't quite right. But that was hardly the most notable thing about their situation. They were surrounded by a bizarre menagerie of creatures that they quickly discovered to be themselves.
Mialain now wore the form of an animate Oak tree. Astavian was a humanoid who glowed with golden light and wielded a sword in each hand. Eshik was now a Dragon, somewhat larger than the size of Steelslicer, with scales the color of his own dark purple hue. And Zanne was clearly some sort of hulking demon who put them all ill at ease with her form.
There was little time to contemplate this however as they came suddenly under attack by a group of seemingly identical ghostly humanoids, each surrounded by a cloud of Mist. These fought with their claws but also lashed out with waves of thought, painful and intense. The PC's were assaulted by waves of suffering, pain, shame and failure that threatened to overwhelm them.
But they fought back with the abilities afforded by their new forms. Somehow, in this strange place, they felt disconnected from their former selves and abilities. But yet each of them felt "right" in their new form and adapted to it easily.
Eshik breathed thunder among the enemy and tore into them with tooth and claw. In doing so he noticed that his presence seemed to push back the Mist from the enemies he engaged. Mialain brought a portion of her trunk down with a might stomp that shook the whole area while her branches smote down one of the foes. Astavian leapt into the midst of the crowd, hacking with abandon using his pair of blades. Zanne fought like...well, a demon. Her claws would sink into a foe and then hurl it across the large chamber.
As each enemy fell they could see part of its essence flee the body and enter others of the Misty combatants. This appeared to have the effect of healing or strengthening the recipient of this essence. The group fought their way up a wide corridor as these enemies continued to come at them in waves. Finally they battled their way into a massive chamber where a single humanoid, identical to all the rest, lay on the floor of the chamber being beaten and tormented by more of its simulacra. Beyond lay a great door with a massive lock on it.
Zanne had to pause a moment to catch her breath as the rest of the party hurled themselves into battle. But soon all of them were trading blows against the enemy who continued to assault them mentally as well as physically. Each of them barely stood as they gathered around the final version of the enemies they had been fighting. Eshik's aura of Mist banishment gradually banished the corruption from the Dweller who struggled to his feet before them.
"My thanks," he whispered out as he gathered himself to his height of a dozen feet (not terribly impressive to the party who were as big or bigger). "But what has brought you here?"
The PC's explained that they were there at the behest of his sister, Mayaheine who wanted him cleansed of the Mist. This was quickly followed by another pressing question: "Where are we?"
The Dweller explained that they were in a prison of his own making. He had been aware of the fate that had befallen him once he was corrupted by the Mist. He had fled to as remote a place as he could find and sealed himself inside a "pocket realm" with the godlike power vested in Pelor's Mace. It was a place that had the property of reflecting the true essence of one's soul and he began to try to tear away the pieces of him that were corrupted, hoping to escape once he had cleansed himself of their evil. But the Mist was insidious and spread through him almost faster than he could tear it away. Then he reached a point where these shards of his soul were collectively stronger than what remained of him and he was overpowered by them. For the last 500 years they had been locked in this tiny world with nothing to do but torment one another.
The Dweller was fearful of entering the real world again, worried that he might be immediately corrupted by the Mist again. The PC's explained that they had left their Dragon Bone Golems guarding the entrance and believed that there would be no Mist there to taint him. The Dweller thanked them once again and reached out to open the door to his prison...
They stood inside the Maw once again wearing their own bodies. The Dweller stood towering over them, his golden skin giving off a faint glow as he warily surveyed the scene. As the PC's had promised, the presence of the Dragon Bone Golems held the Mist at bay.
The Dweller gestured at the remaining Golems and scattered chunks of Dragon Bone, "I wish to barter for these. In trade, I offer this..." He reached and took down the great mace and held it out to them. "This will show my sister that you have done as she asked. And I will also teach you the secret of unmaking it such that you may imbue your own weapons with some of its power."
The PC's quickly agreed that this was a fair trade but asked, "Are you not coming with us to see your sister?"
The Dweller shook his head. "The world is riddled with evil. Some of it has been done in my name. That cannot stand." His voice spoke with the surety of a being who was unable to deny his own essence. Having handed over the mace (which was so large that it took both Astavian and Eshik to manage it) the Dweller set to humming over the Dragon Bone, bending it to his will and shaping it into something new. In half an hour he had shaped it into a suit of white armor that clung close to his golden frame.
Cautiously he approached the Mist...and it retreated before the Dragon Bone he wore. The group walked forward to leave the Maw, never to return.
*********
Thanks for the prompt, Rechan! I was working on the update as you posted!
Alright so this was a pretty fun session. I had pulled out the stats for some cool monsters that I felt were good personifications of the PC's while inside the Dweller's "spirit prison". They were:
Eshik - Adamantine Dragon
Mialain - Treant
Astavian - Angel of Vengeance
Zanne - Abyssal Eviscerator
I think it was huge fun to play roles that they didn't usually get to play and use a new, smaller set of powers for a few fights. Everybody at the table seemed to really enjoy it and I think it was a break from our usual mode of play that gave some extra energy for the last few sessions of the campaign. I'm going to try and remember to do this in future campaigns once in a while.
As for the opposition, the wolves they fought on the way in were Ghost Worg Packmates. I didn't really work too hard on a justification for why they were more powerful than the ghost wolves the PC's had fought here before. But like I said upthread, the PC's were here to basically destroy the source from which they came this time around so if that could be sensed at all then perhaps the spirit that motivated them was extra inspired. Or something like that.
The "Ghostly Aspects of the Dweller" were re-skinned Ghost Trolls. I liked their combination of claw attacks plus "Terror Strike" ability to emulate the tormented fragments of a fragment of a god's soul. Mechanically whenever one of these critters got killed, the nearest one of them got to spend a Healing Surge. And there were a BUNCH of them inside the pocket realm. So it was a long, tough battle (I seem to specialize in those if you can't tell). But I needed plenty of hit points for the PC's to vent their new powers on.
The one power that stood out for the fact that it was NOT used was Zanne's Abyssal Eviscerator power of Soul Shred, which let it regain 20 hit points on any round where it killed a creature. Poor Zanne did massive amounts of damage to lots of foes the entire fight...and never killed a single one. Every time it seemed certain that she'd kill one on her next round, somebody would kill whichever one was closest to it, thus healing it by enough hit points to keep it alive through Zanne's turn. Then, inevitably, another PC would kill it later in the round. Zanne finally had to spend a Second Wind right before the last fight in order to survive it. Kind of a bummer but sort of funny too.
Mialain now wore the form of an animate Oak tree. Astavian was a humanoid who glowed with golden light and wielded a sword in each hand. Eshik was now a Dragon, somewhat larger than the size of Steelslicer, with scales the color of his own dark purple hue. And Zanne was clearly some sort of hulking demon who put them all ill at ease with her form.
There was little time to contemplate this however as they came suddenly under attack by a group of seemingly identical ghostly humanoids, each surrounded by a cloud of Mist. These fought with their claws but also lashed out with waves of thought, painful and intense. The PC's were assaulted by waves of suffering, pain, shame and failure that threatened to overwhelm them.
But they fought back with the abilities afforded by their new forms. Somehow, in this strange place, they felt disconnected from their former selves and abilities. But yet each of them felt "right" in their new form and adapted to it easily.
Eshik breathed thunder among the enemy and tore into them with tooth and claw. In doing so he noticed that his presence seemed to push back the Mist from the enemies he engaged. Mialain brought a portion of her trunk down with a might stomp that shook the whole area while her branches smote down one of the foes. Astavian leapt into the midst of the crowd, hacking with abandon using his pair of blades. Zanne fought like...well, a demon. Her claws would sink into a foe and then hurl it across the large chamber.
As each enemy fell they could see part of its essence flee the body and enter others of the Misty combatants. This appeared to have the effect of healing or strengthening the recipient of this essence. The group fought their way up a wide corridor as these enemies continued to come at them in waves. Finally they battled their way into a massive chamber where a single humanoid, identical to all the rest, lay on the floor of the chamber being beaten and tormented by more of its simulacra. Beyond lay a great door with a massive lock on it.
Zanne had to pause a moment to catch her breath as the rest of the party hurled themselves into battle. But soon all of them were trading blows against the enemy who continued to assault them mentally as well as physically. Each of them barely stood as they gathered around the final version of the enemies they had been fighting. Eshik's aura of Mist banishment gradually banished the corruption from the Dweller who struggled to his feet before them.
"My thanks," he whispered out as he gathered himself to his height of a dozen feet (not terribly impressive to the party who were as big or bigger). "But what has brought you here?"
The PC's explained that they were there at the behest of his sister, Mayaheine who wanted him cleansed of the Mist. This was quickly followed by another pressing question: "Where are we?"
The Dweller explained that they were in a prison of his own making. He had been aware of the fate that had befallen him once he was corrupted by the Mist. He had fled to as remote a place as he could find and sealed himself inside a "pocket realm" with the godlike power vested in Pelor's Mace. It was a place that had the property of reflecting the true essence of one's soul and he began to try to tear away the pieces of him that were corrupted, hoping to escape once he had cleansed himself of their evil. But the Mist was insidious and spread through him almost faster than he could tear it away. Then he reached a point where these shards of his soul were collectively stronger than what remained of him and he was overpowered by them. For the last 500 years they had been locked in this tiny world with nothing to do but torment one another.
The Dweller was fearful of entering the real world again, worried that he might be immediately corrupted by the Mist again. The PC's explained that they had left their Dragon Bone Golems guarding the entrance and believed that there would be no Mist there to taint him. The Dweller thanked them once again and reached out to open the door to his prison...
They stood inside the Maw once again wearing their own bodies. The Dweller stood towering over them, his golden skin giving off a faint glow as he warily surveyed the scene. As the PC's had promised, the presence of the Dragon Bone Golems held the Mist at bay.
The Dweller gestured at the remaining Golems and scattered chunks of Dragon Bone, "I wish to barter for these. In trade, I offer this..." He reached and took down the great mace and held it out to them. "This will show my sister that you have done as she asked. And I will also teach you the secret of unmaking it such that you may imbue your own weapons with some of its power."
The PC's quickly agreed that this was a fair trade but asked, "Are you not coming with us to see your sister?"
The Dweller shook his head. "The world is riddled with evil. Some of it has been done in my name. That cannot stand." His voice spoke with the surety of a being who was unable to deny his own essence. Having handed over the mace (which was so large that it took both Astavian and Eshik to manage it) the Dweller set to humming over the Dragon Bone, bending it to his will and shaping it into something new. In half an hour he had shaped it into a suit of white armor that clung close to his golden frame.
Cautiously he approached the Mist...and it retreated before the Dragon Bone he wore. The group walked forward to leave the Maw, never to return.
*********
Thanks for the prompt, Rechan! I was working on the update as you posted!
Alright so this was a pretty fun session. I had pulled out the stats for some cool monsters that I felt were good personifications of the PC's while inside the Dweller's "spirit prison". They were:
Eshik - Adamantine Dragon
Mialain - Treant
Astavian - Angel of Vengeance
Zanne - Abyssal Eviscerator
I think it was huge fun to play roles that they didn't usually get to play and use a new, smaller set of powers for a few fights. Everybody at the table seemed to really enjoy it and I think it was a break from our usual mode of play that gave some extra energy for the last few sessions of the campaign. I'm going to try and remember to do this in future campaigns once in a while.
As for the opposition, the wolves they fought on the way in were Ghost Worg Packmates. I didn't really work too hard on a justification for why they were more powerful than the ghost wolves the PC's had fought here before. But like I said upthread, the PC's were here to basically destroy the source from which they came this time around so if that could be sensed at all then perhaps the spirit that motivated them was extra inspired. Or something like that.
The "Ghostly Aspects of the Dweller" were re-skinned Ghost Trolls. I liked their combination of claw attacks plus "Terror Strike" ability to emulate the tormented fragments of a fragment of a god's soul. Mechanically whenever one of these critters got killed, the nearest one of them got to spend a Healing Surge. And there were a BUNCH of them inside the pocket realm. So it was a long, tough battle (I seem to specialize in those if you can't tell). But I needed plenty of hit points for the PC's to vent their new powers on.
The one power that stood out for the fact that it was NOT used was Zanne's Abyssal Eviscerator power of Soul Shred, which let it regain 20 hit points on any round where it killed a creature. Poor Zanne did massive amounts of damage to lots of foes the entire fight...and never killed a single one. Every time it seemed certain that she'd kill one on her next round, somebody would kill whichever one was closest to it, thus healing it by enough hit points to keep it alive through Zanne's turn. Then, inevitably, another PC would kill it later in the round. Zanne finally had to spend a Second Wind right before the last fight in order to survive it. Kind of a bummer but sort of funny too.
