Centrum Glacies Session 61: Meeting Obrim
Week 61 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party meets a new potential ally in Obrim Vrock.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture.
Most recently one of the party members had an eye gouged out and lost an arm. Not exactly the way it happens in Berserk, but that might have been the inspiration for it. The group recently was incinerated in lava. But rather than die, they have been transformed into Demons. And every moment they have to resist a bloodlust that is trying to take hold.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
Teztcal studied the teleporter to no avail. He was too dense to remember that the item that would turn this into a proper teleportation device was on his person. The Orcs ignored him since he was not causing any trouble for them.
But that changed when he went to the inn. Innkeeper Yotul asked if he still had the stone to power the device. Unsurprisingly for him, Teztcal refused to give the innkeeper the stone. This was the second time he had done this.
Left with no other option, Jyona convinced him to hand it over by using Trent’s and others’ tactics of appeasing his godly delusions. She never would have thought to try this on her own, but watching the rest of her friends successfully get Teztcal to do logical things using this method spurred her on.
Pleased with the results Jyona left the Orc Town to get her stuff. Meanwhile Teztcal stuffed his face at the inn. Yotul was happy that he had finally given her the Teleport Stone and told him the food was on the house.
As night fell, Trent and Teztcal went back outside to meet with Tolith about losing his druidic powers. She had told him to come alone, but Trent pointed out that Teztcal would grow bored and go elsewhere soon enough. This happened almost instantly after.
To Regain Powers
Tolith warned Trent that all the Druid Circles knew he had been branded a heretic. Crossing the Circle of Cleansing meant he had effectively crossed Druid kind. But she spoke of a solution. One that Trent had already guessed. But the very idea made his skin crawl.
Tolith reminded Trent that it would not be as difficult to convince Zinbella to train him. Naturally he hated this idea since it was ultimately her schemes that caused him to fight the Arch Druid in the first place. It was almost as if this was her plan. Not something he wanted to continue being a part of.
Vampire’s Agent
Trent noticed a slight scent of magic on the Tolith. And not her own Druid Magic either. This scent was of spores. And he knew of one specific practitioner of this art. Was Zinbella watching him through the other Druid?
Despite how secretive she was in other ways, Tolith was admittedly forthcoming on this front. She told Trent outright that she was one of the Psychic Vampire’s agents. And she even showed how shameless she was when it came to loyalty by pointing out she had no issue being his agent instead for a high enough payment.
Tolith switched back into being secretive when Trent decided to ask her a different but equally important question. She refused to tell him what had happened that had caused her to effectively be trapped in the Orc Town. The ease at how quickly she switched from honest to hiding information frightened him.
Potential Ally
She shifted the conversation back to the Psychic Vampire. Tolith reminded Trent that despite crossing the Arch Druid herself, Zinbella was fine. This was because she was an Arch Druid herself. Naturally a Platinum Adventurer would be of high rank in the world, but Trent was growing increasingly convinced that everything happening to him currently was just another of her schemes.
Trent asked Tolith if she would come along to help him in training. She asked him to make her an offer greater than what Zinbella was paying her to remain in this place as her agent. She pointed out that if she was to betray the Psychic Vampire, then Trent needed to make it worth her while to switch allegiances. He didn’t have enough resources to justify that. Not to mention he was about to ask for her help. It wouldn’t be wise to betray the Psychic Vampire right before doing so.
Jyona’s Short Adventure
That same night, Jyona snuck away from the rest of the party to retrieve her missing tools. She was too hyperfocused on her goal to really think about the fact that running around on her own was risky. But she was reminded of how foolish it was to go on this journey when she was greeted by another Platinum Adventurer when she was almost there.
The elevator to the Cult of Obsidian Base was still operational, and as when it arrived for her to enter, Lucian, the Platinum Adventurer who had been her ally in the past emerged from it. Unfortunately, this person had been one of Zinbella’s favorite to impersonate in the past, and so Jyona drew her rapier, ready to fight.
He became defensive, worried that Jyona will attack him, but realizing that the Psychic Vampire had caused mischief in his absence pushed any anger aside. The Platinum Adventuerer said he is glad she is ok, and disappeared. He still wasn’t actually present on the Abyssal Continent. The powerful Wizard had used Magic to project an image here.
Shaken a bit from the encounter, Jyona took the elevator back to the new abandoned base. She didn’t have to search long for her missing gear. Relieved that she had it back, she returned to the Orc town without any further incidents.
Homecoming
When she returned, Teztcal inquired about her ‘magic’ cart as well as the portal. Wanting to be rid of him so she could do some work to relieve stress, she explained how the portal worked. She even pointed out that he could return to his home in the desert.
Without any delay, and so fast that Jyona couldn’t believe how fast she was able to get rid of him, Teztcal used the portal and returned home. And he couldn’t help but feel overjoyed to showcase to the town how much more powerful he had become.
The other dragons were not amused that he had returned. In fact several whispered about how they had hoped he had died in the desert. Not liking how such people treated a Dragon God, he quickly went back through the portal.
Work Over Rest
Once he made it back to the Orc town, he grew bored and returned to the inn to sleep. After all, even Gods, (especially false ones) needed to sleep.
Everyone else completed their tasks and goals for the night and got ready to rest as well. None of the rest paid much attention to Teztcal though he did a good job drawing attention to himself.
Jyona decided not to rest and instead worked on her inventions. She had been trapped for so long in a Demon form that she hadn’t been granted the chance to fiddle with items. It was comforting to her now to be able to fall into old habits and rituals.
In the morning, Trent spoke to the Gold Adventurers and bought a few items to compensate for his lack of Magical ability. As thanks for helping them with the insane Succubus, he was sold a magical Scimitar for a much lower price than normal as well as a longbow. Jyona explained to the former Druid that she could enchant the Longbow to make it much more powerful as well as make it easier for him to use.
With preparations complete, the party returned to Zrin’s lower city and headed right for the Demon orphanage. With their forms reverted to their original, they were ready to help Maerwynn with saving the Mermaids.
Obrom Vrock
When they made it to her, the party noticed that she was already talking to another Human. One that she seemed to be on good terms with. Trent introduced the rest of party to him. In turn the stranger introduced himself as Obrom Vrock. With a name like that it was clear he was a native to this Continent.
Jyona noticed a rune on his hand and immediately tried to reach out to take his hand. The man was a little confused and shocked. Teztcal naturally added more chaos to this encounter with his own words. He asked if she plans on marrying the man!
Grossed out by this question, she immediately dropped his hand and even forced questions about the rune on his hand out of her mind. But she knew that later on she would once more try to figure out the significance of such an unknown mark.
Obrom proved he was an intelligent sort. He realized quickly how to interact with the deluded Dragon and played into Teztcal’s delusions. In doing so, he got a lot of information about the party freely.
A Bard’s Tale
Obrom told a story through song and lute. Though it was clear he was leaving some important bits out, he told them about his encounter with the Vrocks that earned him his name. And he continued on and told them about his battles with the Cult of Obsidian.
Teztcal transformed to prove he was a Dragon and Obrom. The Bard continued to be baffled at Teztcal’s stupidity. After all, he had played into the delusions. Why did the Dragon think he was doubting him? It couldn’t be because it was all a façade right?
The topic finally got back to Obrom’s discussion with Maerwynn. As they talked further and party learned he is a Gold Ranked Adventurer. Knowing that this could make him a dangerous enemy, they chose to let him join us with them. At least for now they had the same goal.
Teztcal wanted to exterminate the merfolk. Naturally the rest of the party wanted to help Maerwynn save them and so disagreed with the Dragon. She also didn’t approve of him threating people she cared about.
Unfortunately, Teztcal threw a temper tantrum of sorts when the others argued with him. He continued making a disturbance around the orphanage. Jyona convinced Teztcal to leave so the children could sleep. She had to play into his delusions once more to make this happen of course.
Wrap Up
After a bit more deliberation, the party with Obrom added to their ranks, made their preparations to head out and help the Mermaids. Even if Teztcal intended to kill them, the rest had plans ready to stop him.