Centrum Glacies Session 95: Live Experiments
Week 95 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party fights their way out of a cave filled with Jak-Rath’s live experiments.
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, and 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!!!
The party minus Jyona had no choice but to fight the reanimated corpses of the soldiers they had been tasked to rescue. Something that Jak-Rath took glee in. They would only be able to leave this place if they played along and did as he wanted.
Obrom’s brand was glowing. As usual it reacted to the nearby presence of Undead. At least he hadn’t summoned these ones.
But Teztcal was ignorant of that fact. Indeed, he believed that Obrom was behind these reanimations. The Dragon called Obrom the Obsidian Spy. He demanded to know why the Bard was using his Brand to summon Undead
Jak-Rath laughed watching the group argue over this. He pointed out that Obrom was just another one of his experiments.
After the party defeated the Wights, Trent demanded to know where Jak’roth was hiding. “I am where I am.” Jak-Rath answered giving him nothing of substance. The mad scientist went on to declare that he intended to continue with his tests. His ambitions would not be stopped even by a group of several powerful Adventurers.
After the Wights
A barrier had blocked them in when they had first found the corpses. Jak-Rath bid them to continue on and help him test his experiments. To that end he lifted the nearest barrier and let them proceed.
His avatar which continued to cling onto the wall moved towards another section of the cave. Teztcal initially refused to comply. He decided to search the cave for treasure. But he found nothing. All the dead adventurers had been picked clean of anything valuable.
There was no other direction to go but back the way they had come. The area with the corpses was a dead end. None of them wanted to do what Jak-Rath wanted but he hadn’t given them any other choice. And as they headed towards his next live experiments likely sat, the mad scientist commented on how the party’s Demonic Transformations were quite fascinating and made them unique subjects.
Trent shouted at Jak-Rath in fury and confusion. He demanded to know how the Obsidian Scientist knew so much about them. Trent didn’t get an answer. Instead the next set of experiments materialized in front of the group. A couple Demons unlike any the party had seen before.
Jok’roth called them all ignorant for not understanding his experiments. He named them all fools making the world worse by being against them. Trent and Obrom both considered such ideas narcissistic, especially coming from this Dark Elf.
New Demons
Instead, of stopping his rant, Jak-Rath continued to prove he was a narcissist. He explained in detail what he had done to these two Demons. The first he had flayed the skin off completely. To test and see how durable a Demon was compared to a Human, Elf, Drow, or Dwarf. The second he claimed to have corrupted all the facial hair. Apparently the other Demon which sported a large beard could har, the group with it.
They didn’t want to find out what these creatures were capable of, and so the group immediately attacked the Bearded Demon. But the Bone Demon proved more dangerous and easily took several attacks aimed its way. It made several of its own too. And with large reach.
As the clash continued, Jak-Rath asked Teztcal how long the hidden baby Dragon would remain that way. Teztcal did not like Mini-Me being mentioned by Jak-Rath at all. He demanded that the Drow not do anything to his son.
Hints of Worse to Come
Jak-Rath asked how it could be his son. In fact the Mad Scientist was intrigued. He mentioned how he would capture or kill the baby Dragon and dissect it to find out the truth of Teztcal’s words.
To that end he decided to alter the experiment slightly. Jak-Rath commanded the Bone Demon to attack the not so hidden Dragon. Lucikily its strikes didn’t hit the Whelpling. Though both parent and child were now afraid of what Jak-Rath intended.
Jok’roth insulted Teztcal with veiled remarks of sarcasm mocking his God complex through faux compliments. Teztcal of course did not catch on to these insults. But Obrom did. And he agreed with the Mad Scientist’s assessment of the Dragon even if he still hated his guts.
Teztcal his fury built up completely when his child was attacked, obliterated the Bearded Devil before it could even confirm Jak-Rath’s statements to be true. Something that got a remark out of the Drow. He declared the bearded a variant a complete failure.
Double Insult Backfire
Teztcal, thinking he had finally come up with a clever insult mentioned how Jak-Rath’s mother was a pathetic sort. But this backfired. Notably since Jak-Rath agreed. In fact he admitted that he had killed and dissected his own mother a long time ago. He claimed the only useful thing his mother ever did was give birth to him. Trent greatly disagreed pointing out how by simply existing, Jak-Rath made the world a worse place.
Mini-Me went against what Teztcal wanted after being attacked. The young Dragon attacked the Bone Demon, breaking his invisibility and making himself vulnerable to counter attacks. But white Dragons were not the most intelligent sort. And even at a young age, he was prideful and angry at his treatment.
Lucky for Mini-Me that the rest of the party ganged up on the remaining Demon and took it out quickly. That was another of the live experiments dealt with. But there was plenty of cave left for Jak-Rath to run more tests.
Jok’roth was impressed with the Bone Devil. He called that experiment a success. As he lowered the next barrier, the Drow Scientist muttered about how he had plenty of test subjects to draw upon to mass produce more of them.
Post Devil Rest
Once more Teztcal refused to move forward. A rebel in every form of it, instead he once more investigated the area. He wished he hadn’t since he found the chains used to flay the bone devil’s flesh. This was far and beyond too disturbing for even his strange mind. The Dragon melted the chains with his breath weapon. Jak-Rath would not be torturing anymore people in this cave.
But if the Drow cared about any of those actions, he didn’t show it. Instead he once more moved his projection along the wall near where he intended the party to follow
Obrom and Trent discussed whether it was good or bad that Jyona was not here to witness these horrific experiments. They worried that a combination of curiosity and naivety might have caused a problem here.
Jak-Rath would have tapped his feet if he was physically there. His narcissism was outgrowing his patience. And he wanted the party to come test their mettle against even more of his creations.
Strategy
Jak-Rath changed strategies though because the group was taking their time in the cave. As they now knew rescuing the missing people was pointless, their only reason to rush out was gone. They knew it would only be when they destroyed everything Jak-Rath threw at them that the party would have a chance to escape.
Jak-Rath attracted the groups attention by taunting Teztcal once more. He pointed out that if not for him giving him a book, the Dragon would never have been able to realize he was a God. Obrom and Trent saw the newest insult for what it was. But Jak-Rath also said something far more cryptic. Something about a “she” and how the party would not succeed despite helping her.
Ambush Creatures
They didn’t have time to even talk about this newest bit of information. For the party had wandered into Jak-Raths next test area. Those stalagmites were revealed to be far more than rock spikes. Jak-Rath bragged about how he was able to animate far more than corpses.
These not stalagmites not only moved. But they could fly. Not wanting to discover what these creatures were capable of, Teztcal struck first and slaughtered several of them. They were not very durable at least.
But there were many more of the creatures. And one of them got close enough to reveal that they strangled their victims by contorting their not so rocky bodies. Obrom was the first to have such a creature try crushing his face. But Trent soon was dealing with a creature too.
Teztcal however had avoided a similar fate. Perhaps his larger size as a Dragon protected him from such tactics. Whatever the case, he once more cleared several of the creatures away with Dragon breath.
Jak’Rath muttered to himself “Best as ambush attackers” as he took notes during the party’s fight. He was gaining an immense amount of data from these clashes. And the party knew it. But what else could they do? The alternatives were likely death or being captured by Jak-Rath which was arguably worse.
Wrap Up
More horrors likely await the party as they continue to fight their way through Jak-Rath’s experiments. And Jyona is still trapped and alone in the Feywild.