Centrum Glacies Session 67: The Whale
Week 67 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party confronts the whale summoned by Tummler.
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.
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 was incinerated in lava. But rather than die, they were transformed into Demons. They might be free from these transformations for now, but only time will tell what this means for them.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
As the party looked up at the monstrous creature that had emerged from below, they had several problems to deal with. Most pressing among them, the whale’s wailing created unease among everyone.
Persephine told everyone to run. This warning was made more obvious when the whale’s sounds started encroaching on their minds and causing their subconscious to scream. Simply being in its presence was slowly killing them. And the whale didn’t even seem to notice them. Its actions told of that clearly.
Everyone began booking it out of the cave, And the whale warped into the terrain. Despite being solid rock under a lake, the whale had no issue swimming through it. The ground might as well have been water itself. This didn’t stop the horrific song though. And now the party had no idea where the creature would next strike.
Engelique repeated what Persephine had already said. She had even more worry in her voice. Pointing out that this was now a Mythril level threat. An enemy far beyond the party’s ability, they only ran faster as the creature once more emerged from below. It was still unclear what signaled the creature where to attack but it hit quite a few of the party when it appeared.
Fleeing from the Whale
When Persephine and Engelique finally made it back to the group, the latter tried to use the Law of Time on it. Such a powerful weapon had ended entire battles in the past. But not this time. The whale was unaffected by it. Did this mean such a monster was outside of time itself?
It was not the only attack to fail. Teztcal considered himself above a whale. He attempted to use his Dragon breath attack on it. But much like the Law of Time it didn’t work.
He decided that the whale was a ghost rather than a creature of unknown origin. He decided to move onwards. And not because he was scared of ghosts. Certainly not that.
The party made it near the exit, but had taken a beating from the nonstop psychic assault. Teztcal escaped first, followed by Trent and then Jyona with her strange golem right behind.
Persephine and Engilique stayed behind to engage it. And Obrom sensed extremely dark power emanating from their direction. He was not a Platinum Adventurer and did not know about one of the Guilds most closely guarded secrets.
The whale took notice of this dark power. Obrom no longer heard the song and thought no more on it as he escaped the cave and the whale that now flew around it.
Post Escape
Xilbella claimed Persephine and Engilique were stupid for wanting to fight whale. She left the now exhausted party and headed back to the city. She told them that she would meet them in the lower city where the third of their co conspirators waited.
Tyche meanwhile remained behind. She listened to Obrom as he told the others what had happened as he had escaped. The witch mocked him for not knowing how Persephine and Engelique had saved his life. The rest of the party remained silent. They didn’t want to let the Bard in on the secret that the Platinum Adventurers kept. Why Tyche had been told the truth was something they would need to ask Engelique later.
Teztcal had somehow managed to stay quiet thus far. But he decided to run his mouth and make another baseless accusation. The deluded Dragon accused Obrom of summoning the “ghost fish”. Of course it was clear to the rational thinkers present that the whale was no ghost. And possibly not a fish either.
Lying Truthfully
The Party returned to Zrin with Tyche. The Light of the Abyss Guards noticed that the group looked like they had just escaped certain death. But they ridiculed Obrom when he mentioned the eldritch whale. They thought the description of such a creature ridiculous even for the happenings on the Abyssal Continent.
Teztcal claimed that the whale was a giant ghost fish. And despite anyone who had actually been present knowing that he was full of it, to others his story made more sense. Much more sense in fact that the guards berated Obrom for sounding less logical than a criminal who several soldiers still wanted to arrest.
Confronting Maerwynn
Yet there was no reason for their path to be barred. The Party moved past the guards and back into Zrin’s lower city. Heading straight towards the Demon Orphanage, Trent confronted Maerwynn about what the three Hags had caused.
Tyche was quick to defend her. It turned out that their love for one another was no lie. She blamed their hubris for making their rather large mistake. It was clear now that the three were nowhere near Engelique and Persphine’s power and by playing with such Magic they had almost doomed countless people.
Trent accused Maerwynn of planning to use the children as fuel for the curse. Naturally the matron was appalled that he would make such an accusation.
Maerwynn desired to not have this argument in front of the children. A gesture that went a long way to prove she was being sincere. Instead, she asked that they take the discussion to the guild hall. In that place, she pointed out that Trent could put more pressure on them to speak truthfully.
Once the group all arrived at the Guildhall, Trent drilled into Maerwynn and Tyche. He wanted assurance that they would never repeat their behavior with the time curse. Xilbella sat off to the side sipping on a drink, but she knew eventually Trent would focus his anger her way too.
Broken Coven
Tyche assured Trent that their actions would at minimum get them removed from the Witch Coven. And depending on how generous Engelique was feeling they might suffer much more.
Obrom changed the subject and asked the two Witches about Tummler. He wanted to know how a simple jester could summon such a creature. That whale was not a natural creature from this world. And it didn’t seem like a Demon either.
Xilbella cut in again and mentioned how it was obvious that Tummler was far more than a Jester. He was likely a dangerous monster from another plane. Something worse than a Demon. Possibly an aberration or worse.
Trent pointed out that he and Jyona had faced something similar when they had fought the Peacemakers. He mentioned the creature Hashim and how his memory became fuzzy around them. Jyona winced without knowing why.
Maerwynn grew upset at the party for blaming her. She claimed that this was Tyche’s blunder. While she and Xilbella was along for the ride. Obrom points out that they are all equally responsible. And if they are all so willing to throw each other to the wolves, that he would not be kind if they tried the same to him.
Talking about the Whale
Obrom asked Jyona what she thought the whale was. The woman was at a loss. She didn’t know. And the very idea of her not knowing something so important ate at her.
Instead of admitting that though, she selected the first logical thing that came into her head. Perhaps Teztcal was right. And that the creature was a Ghost … Fish.
Trent apologized to Maerwynn for the misplaced blame. But he didn’t forgive her for her hand in the tragedy that almost happened. Instead he was content to know that she along with the other two would be punished by a Witch far more powerful than the four.
Learning about Zinbella
With that matter resolved, The party shifted focus and had a discussion with Xilbella involving Zinbella and herself. As her twin sister the Witch had a lot to tell about the dangerous Psychic Vampire.
Trent wanted to know how Zinbella came across her affliction. She hadn’t been born a Psychic Vampire. But Xilbella had no idea what had happened to change her. She wasn’t even sure if Zinbella herself knew the answer.
Xilbella admitted that if her sister was pretending not to know, then she was going about it in a way where hiding it required more work. The only thing that stood out in fact about this condition was that Zinbella wouldn’t let anyone read her mind. Ironic considering what she tended to do.
It was clear that the sisters were not hostile towards one another though. In fact, Zinbella had talked about Trent to her before. Which meant they had talked recently.
Sisters knew things about their siblings too. And since Trent was desperate to understand the Psychic Vampire, he asked Xilbella if there was anything he could gleam from her speech patterns or mannerisms. “She lies more with silence than with her words.” -Xilbella about Zinbella. A useful answer.
Xilbella also added that despite what he might think, Zinbella fully intends to train him. It would be in Trent’s best interest to do what her sister wants to regain his druidic power.
With all his questions answered, Trent deferred to Obrom who had questions of his own. Considering she knew a few things about curses, the Bard decided to show Xilbella his cursed hand.
Information About the Curse
She looked it over carefully. And her next couple statements didn’t make him feel confident about his situation. It wasn’t a normal curse. There was but potent necromancy at work too.
Obrom explains what the mark does and how it summons ghosts. she interrupted him with a correction. The ghosts appearing were not being summoned. The curse was making ones nearby react to his presence.
Something else about the mark also drew Xilbella’s attention. She stated that the mark was holding something else off. And she went right into warning him that removing this curse had the potential to trigger whatever was being prevented by its presence. This something she warned might be more dangerous than attracting angry ghosts.
Wanting to see what else he could learn, Obrom mentioned Jak-Rath’s name once more. Xilbella reacted with disgust upon hearing his name. The Bard grew worried realizing just how uniform that hatred was. It was indicative
Obrom was worried about being watched through the rune. Xilbella scanned the cursed marked and confirmed that the Mad Scientist was not watching through it. In fact she claimed that no one was watching him through it at all.
Hidden Truths
Of course she telepathically warned Trent that she was being truthful while omitting a fact he already knew. While the Cult of Obsideon was not watching Obrom specifically, the two Platinum Adventurers were being watched by the Adventurer’s Guild itself. One of the reasons that Xilbella had not ever been part of the group was because of what Zinbella had told her about becoming a Platinum Rank and what it meant.
She also informed Trent that she and her two sister, yes two meaning there was a third sister, that telepathy was an innate trait the three shared. Zinbella had been able to do this before she became a Psychic Vampire.
She continued aloud, telling the group that she and her two sisters were from an Elf Clan from the northern woods. The party’s ears perked up as that is where the redcaps came from.
Trent admits he is probably better off training with Zinbella and that Xilbella seemed trustworthy enough. The witch of course reminded him of why they had all come to meet in the Guild hall in the first place. It was a bit surprising how quickly his mind had changed on her.
Xilbella also informed Jyona that her sister was not watching through the staff she had given her. This set the young Half Elf’s mind at ease. She felt more comfortable using this item.
Commission Snatched
As the conversation came to an end, Vitality returned to the guild and tried to get to the bounty board. but Teztcal was sleeping in front of it in his true form. As a Dragon he was a major obstruction.
The Half Demon tried to shove him out of the way. But she wasn’t strong enough. And the Dragon didn’t even notice what was going on.
Obrom helped out. The two gently slid Teztcal out of the way. But once she had checked the board and taken a job, the Dragon woke up. And he noticed something important.
Teztcal chased after Vitality, in a way that he thought was sneaky. Of course he was not fooling anyone. But she had taken on the dragon mission. And he refused to let her have all the glory for himself.
Wrap Up
The party did not stop him from leaving. And it seems the group is split, at least for the time being.