Centrum Glacies Session 65: Gor-Venal and Flying Monkeys
Week 65 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the Gor-Venal aids the party against Flying Monkeys. All the while he proves how dangerous he is.
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!!!
After some preparations, the party set out to the Jungle of Giants once more to aid the farm near Zrin. They were joined by Gor-Venal possibly in a show of friendship from the powerful Platinum Adventurer.
Gor-Venal stated that this farm is rather impressive as it single handedly feeds the city. He had only praise for those who worked the fields and made the lives of everyone in Zrin possible.
When they reached the farm, Teztcal was surprised by the existence of cows. The Dragon was from the Abyssal Desert and such animals didn’t live there. Unfortunately his chaos gremlin tendencies took hold. Rather than respect these peaceful creatures, he tried to figure out how to tip one over.
Realizing that tipping one over would be difficult, and hearing other animals nearby making moo noises, he followed suit. Teztcal mooed at the nearby cow. Said cow actually mooed back. Teztcal mooed at it again. The rest of the party watched on, confused by this back and forth interaction. Once more the cow mooed back but Teztcal did not understand it’s language. Growing bored, he moved to other parts of the farm.
Instead Teztcal mooed at Gor-Venal. The Monk for his part did not seem too off put by all this strange behavior. The Dragon then found some horses and had apparently met their kind before. He neighed their way. Unlike the cows, they ignored him. Probably to their benefit.
Retired Soldiers
Obrom was not a Platinum Adventurer and felt like he needed to succeed on this mission given who he was in the company of. Ignoring Teztcal, he went to the actual farmhouse and approached the farmers.
They stated that most workers were waiting in the city for the monsters to be dealt with. The two adults present were a man and woman. And the man stated that despite how absurd it sounded, their food stock was being stolen by Flying Monkeys.
Teztcal asked if they tried splashing water on them. The rest of the party caught up to him and overheard this question. None including Gor-Venal had any idea what he was talking about. It seemed random to ask.
The farmers noticed his lack of Guild Affiliation. The woman asked who he was and why he was traveling with several Platinum Adventurers and a Gold.
As usual Teztcal went into his usual grand speech about how he was a God. And his loud voice attracted two other onlookers. Both children. One, a young girl, and the farmers’ daughter believed his over the top theatrics. Probably something to do with the fact that she was no older than eight.
He pulled out his sock puppet who was more than happy to feed into this delusional set of beliefs. But the young girl who had probably never seen something like this loved the free show.
Family Matters
The other child was a bit older, almost a young adult by appearance. This one, a son, was skeptical. He was not impressed and asked what the dragon’s deal is.
Jyona spoke while completely missing a queue from Obrom. She stated that the Dragon is just an idiot and should be ignored. She explained that he just started following them one day and they had failed to make him go away.
While Teztcal was distracted with the daughter, Trent joined Obrom, Jyona, and Gor-Venal in asking the farmers about information. The man and woman, now husband and wife used to be a part of the Light of the Abyss. Both had fought countless fighting monsters, but were now retired and managed the farm.
The two introduced themselves as Bruce Imp and Karina Doppelganger. Trent and Jyona had never heard of such a Demon, and they didn’t like the explanation of what such a creature could do.
The Threat of Doppelgangers
Unfortunately, Teztcal overheard this and threw all sorts of random accusations with no understanding to the context of the conversation. Notably he accused Karina of being a Doppelganger herself. The two farmers were quite taken aback by this statement. But they held their anger, not sure if it would upset the Adventurers who had come to help them.
The son however, could not control his emotions. He demanded to know why Teztcal would make such an ignorant accusation. Naturally the Dragon fell into one of his delusions and gave a nonsensical answer.
Gor-Venal who had remained mostly silent during all this stated he can identify Doppelgangers. Something about checking the frequency of the soul or some other complex idea. At least for the rest of the party, he cleared the farmers’ names. It managed to ease Teztcal’s insanity.
The Issue at Hand
With all that conflict out of the way, the two farmers stated that they were glad that more than just a single adventurer came out to help. In fact they were honored that several Platinum Ranks had come to assist with such a simple problem.
The two explained that Flying Monkeys came from the north and stole their crops. They had fought them off a few times and noticed that those who were attacked tended to turn tail and flee. They even would drop the crops from time to time.
Despite fighting a few, the Farmers have no idea where the Monkeys are coming from and why they keep stealing food. It doesn’t seem to make much sense since the area north of here is a forest with abundant resources.
The farmers mention an entrance to the Feywild might be found in those woods. Jyona recalled stories her mother used to tell her as a child and got excited. The Feywild was allegedly the realm of the Fey. And such a meeting with such being would be an enlightening experience for the young Half Elf.
Training and Experience
Marq told his parents that he wanted to stay and help fight against the creatures. But Bruce told him to go inside with his sister. He said that he could use Magic to fight, but Karina pointed out that he was inexperienced and knew little. More likely Marq would be hurt.
Bruce and Karina were experienced fighters and told the party that they would be willing to assist in the fight. But Gor-Venal assured them that he will defend the farm himself if needed and that they should stay back.
Teztcal smelled something on the wind coming towards the farm. The Flying Monkeys were coming. While Marq still wanted to fight and was even encouraged by Teztcal to stay, everyone else including his parents told him once more to go inside.
The Dragon had overstepped and drew stern looks from everyone else. It was not his place to decide whether a teen should fight or not.
Flying Monkeys
But there was little time for talk as the creatures descended upon the farm and tried to steal the crops. Teztcal cast haste on himself so that he could take out several enemies at once. Obrom had a similar idea. But he didn’t boost himself. Instead, he cast Haste on Gor-Venal and got to watch the Platinum Adventurer decimate tons of them
The Flying Monkeys died before they could flee and upon death revealed their true forms. They were not Monkeys at all. The Monk called them Redcaps; Wicked creatures from the Feywild. This was all the proof they all needed to figure out where the creatures had come from.
But as the group easily took the Redcaps out, plenty more in their disguised forms approached. Against a smaller group, this force might have overwhelmed them, or worse escaped with plenty of food.
Instead, these wicked creatures got what they deserved because they faced three Platinum Adventurers, a Gold Adventurer, and a deluded Sorcerer Dragon with an ego the size of a small moon. They were no match for the group at all.
Aftermath
Gor-Venal was troubled that Fey were going after crops. He bid farewell to the party to meet with a few of his agents and investigate this further. He promised to follow up with the party when he had more information.
Once he was gone and the Redcap corpses had been taken away from the farm, Bruce and Karina thanked the party for their help. Not only would they have a reward waiting at the Guild Hall, but they even asked if the party would want to make use of their service as Agents.
Their son was also going to become an apprentice to a wizard in Zrin. Marq intended to reach out to the party when he had mastered a bit more Magic. He even mentioned that he would try and join the Guild himself in the future.
Rewards
The group returned to Zrin and to the Adventurer’s Guild. They had finally completed a Gold Rank Quest and earned the alliance of another Platinum Adventurer.
The Party was rewarded 150 gold each and a free coupon for the upper City Inn as a reward for completing the Commission and doing well. Soon after they collected the items, Trent headed to the Lower City Inn and everyone else followed.
The Party was reunited with the sabretooth cats. Trent was especially happy that the Vampire had kept her word. Once all other matters were settled, the group returned to Guild Hall to wait for Engelique.
When she finally arrived, Trent asked her about her own task. They noticed that she had taken on the Commission in the Mines. The Witch had little to say on the matter, but she watched Obrom out of the corner of her eye the entire time.
Obrom informed Engelique that the party ran into Fey stealing food. She was just as puzzled by this as Gor-Venal had been. But she was more focused on their other task. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t investigate later.
Wrap Up
She told the group to rest up. They had a lot to do the next day. Will they face opposition when they once more work with the two Witches to save the Mermaids?