Centrum Glacies Session 91: Displacer Beasts
Week 91 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party travels towards the Elves. They are attacked by Displacer Beasts along the way.
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, psychological warfare, child abuse, slavery.
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!!!
After making sure they were prepared, the party left Zrin and traveled back out into the Jungle of Giants. Xilbella accompanied them as she would be the only way they would be able to enter the Elven Village located north of this section of the jungle.
The group approached the first guard tower. This time around though, they had no questions to ask the soldiers and moved past them. That was until Teztcal cleared his throat. Ahem! He shouted trying to get their attention.
Xilbella who was not used to his antics and had little patience for them, threatened to turn him into a chicken again if he didn’t behave himself. But he ignored her. Instead he asked the soldiers if the Hydra was still in the nearby jungle.
The replied, telling him that the monster still posed a serious threat. In fact, they asked if the group had accepted the commission to slay it.
Reasons to Avoid the Hydra
Xilbella, who had not been with them on their last adventure, questioned if he wanted to hunt it. The rest of the group didn’t answer for him as they already knew what he was going to say. Teztcal told her no. He still wanted to speak to it as. The Dragon called it his “cousin”.
Xilbella looked at him with pity. She pointed out not only that Dragons and Hydras were not related in any way, but that the creature was incapable of speech. Unfortunately the Wizard was learning quickly what the rest of the party already knew. Logic had no effect on the delusional Dragon. And there were few ways to change his mind once it was set.
As the group continued their journey towards the Elves, Teztcal asked the guards at the next watch tower which way the hydra was. They asked if he had the commission to fight it. The Dragon, who was not part of the guild didn’t know what the soldiers meant by commission.
Obrom sighed and tried his best to make it clear that the rest of the group had no interest in encountering the Hydra. The soldiers picked up on this and refused to tell Teztcal where the Hydra was. Something that filled the rest of the group with relief.
A Cult Connection
Trent asked Xilbella if her sister has had a run in with the Cult of Obsidian. He was trying to make conversation with the seemingly reserved and quiet Wizard. As he still considered the Elf’s sister his enemy, he needed to understand her motivations.
Unfortunately, Xilbella didn’t have an answer that helped Trent. She pointed out that Zinbella like all high Elves, hates Dark Elves. Considering that the Cult of Obsidian is almost entirely composed of them, that seemed reason enough for her sister to hate them.
But when Trent mentioned Jak-Rath specifically, Xilbella gave him a better answer. That one was using Druid Magic to commit crimes against nature itself. Since Zinbella was the Archdruid of the Circle of Spores, it seemed obvious why she might be hostile towards him.
Trent hadn’t know that she was an Archdruid, which meant she must have earned the title recently. During his education, he had been taught the names of all the important leaders among the Druids.
Teztcal felt defeated and dejected. He was too depressed to talk to the third set of guards. The party was spared having to once more figure out how to dissuade him from seeking the Hydra.
Waiting to Enter
Instead, the party continued onward past them. They even passed the next guard tower beyond it. Soon enough they reached the edge of the Elven Woods. This was still in the Jungle of Giants, but everything felt different immediately.
Xilbella told the party to wait as she had to go ahead and inform the village that she had guests. This only further proved how important it was that they had a guide to get them in. Clearly a person could not casually stroll into their town.
As they waited, Obrom looked around to see what he might discover in this place. They were waiting in a cleared area that had signs of habitation in the past. The clearest sign was in fact, a sign. It informed them not only that Xilbella was leading them the right way as one direction pointed toward the village, but the other way would likely be more important in the future.
That same sign also informed him that there was a Druid Circle the other way. Trent had a feeling it was the Spore Druids. Just a hunch given that Zinbella was from near here. He above the others knew not to wander too far in either direction. If signs were telling them where to go, there were likely other dangers for those who wandered off.
Trent asked Obrom if he could play a song while they waited. The tune wouldn’t carry far and alert any hostile creatures that might be wandering the Jungle. Still, the Druid couldn’t shake that something strange was lurking nearby.
Ambushed
As Obrom continued to play a tune, Trent realized something else. The forest was completely silent save themselves. No birds are chirping. Part of that could have been attributed to the Jungle’s unique features. Yet a clearing like this should have still teemed with life.
Thus, while the group was surprised when a monster attacked, they were not at all surprised that a creature had been lurking and waiting. This time, a Displacer Beast struck, trying to drive its tentacles into the closest person with flesh.
The group fought back against it, even as the creature did more than simply displace itself. The Displacer Beast should have been called the Invisible Beast. After each attack, it vanished only to appear when it struck again. And something else was wrong. The group had scored several hits against the monster each time it appeared. And yet on each subsequent strike, there were no signs of injury.
Jyona wondered if something strange was going on. She hated unsolved mysteries and so cast Detect Magic to solve this one. Immediately the spell told her the truth of this battle. There was more than one Displacer Beast! They were moving in and out of battle to create the illusion of one invincible monster.
Adapting to the Enemy
Eventually the party caught on to their tactics. It was best to trick the Displacer Beasts into attacking whoever appeared most vulnerable. That way it was easy to figure out who would be attacked and the rest of the group, Golem included would have countermeasures ready.
Jyona tried to tackle one and put it to sleep. She wanted to catch and study such a creature for the sake of research. Unfortunately, her spell as all Sleep Spells did targeted the weakest one near her. Which was a different one. And far out of her reach.
But the now sleeping creature was in range of Teztcal’s spells. A thing he immediately took advantage of. While sleeping, the Displacer Beast was unable to vanish. The Dragon erased the monster from their plane. Yet when it died, rather than disintegrate like everything else Teztcal killed, the group watched as a portal opened up taking the Displacer Beast to its home realm. Wherever that might have been.
Xilbella returned, saw what was happening and joined the fight. She cast See Invisibility to see the number of enemies. She asked between spells what the party had done to upset creatures from the Feywild. These monsters were from there and not sent over to the Material Plane easily.
Jyona successfully subdued the Displacer Beast she had tackled earlier. She didn’t know what to do now that she had caught it though.
Meanwhile the rest of the party with Xilbella’s help finished off the rest. One by one they returned by portal back to the Feywild.
Wrap Up
The party was left wondering one simple question. Why had creatures from the Feywild come after them?