Centrum Glacies Session 104: The Valley of Fall
Week 104 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party fights their way through the Unseelie Court and reach the Valley of Fall.
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 made it to the valley of fall. It differed a little from the Path of Fall due to the lack of a proper road leading through it. They walked on a giant leaf wondering how they would make the journey across.
They didn’t get much time to look around. Midnight appeared before them once more and asked them about their journey through the Feywild. She also taunted their lack of sleep, asking if they had any dreams lately. Despite an initially friendly conversation, it was clear she was still hostile.
Obrom made a motion meant to be offensive. Unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps she didn’t understand what he was doing. So she asked if it was a vain attempt at insulting her or not.
Teztcal made a fairly prideful and hypocritical claim. He requested that Midnight ignore Obrom on the grounds that he was an idiot. Both Obrom and Midnight looked at the dragon and rolled their eyes.
Midnight responded deadpan that Obrom had more brains in his pinky than the Dragon. Teztcal proved her point immediately by claiming that Dragons do not use brains. Nor that they needed them.
The Archefy grew tired of this conversation. And almost in a similar vein to Violet, she wanted some entertainment. She felt supremely confident after her last clash with the party. So she decided to send her troops after them rather than directly join the clash.
Summoning Soldiers
Teztcal had a question for her. “Who is Klevor?” She had mentioned the Archfey in the discussion but somehow the Dragon didn’t realize that the blood addled Archfey he had fought recently was the same person. Midnight did not respond to his blabbering. Instead she summoned several of her soldiers.
Centipede like monsters formed from the dying leaves and each one was armed with a long spear. The party had faced these monsters before and knew that they were dodgy creatures that moved in and out of combat. But without their other support monsters, the creatures were much easier to fight.
So, even though they had to cast some of their stronger spells to get through it, the party defeated all of the soldiers. The one who was most hurt was actually Gor-Venal. The Centipede Monsters had a curse on their spears that caused those struck to slowly rot away.
This was coupled with the fact that the day was fast ending. Two of the four were unable to sleep, courtesy of the very Archfey commanding these soldiers. Midnight was watching them closely as she decided what to do next.
A New Deal
She asked the group what they were doing in the Unseelie Court. Especially with so many enemies hunting them here. When they answered, she was more than displeased. She was furious. Which made sense, because Trent told her the truth. They were here to kill Queen Mab, her mother.
She asked them if Queen Titania was aware that Queen Mab had sent Jyona to kill her. Midnight even revealed that she knew of Puck, a Seelie Fey that was working with Klevor towards that goal. The party was becoming increasingly more aware of a massive conspiracy all around them.
Not wanting them to kill her mother, Midnight told them she was willing to strike a deal with the party. If they turned around and went back to the Seelie Court, she would remove their sleep curse. There was of course a stipulation to this deal. She wouldn’t remove the curse until Queen Titania was dead. Essentially she was asking the party to betray their benefactors.
Trent started weighing his options. Even though the Unseelie Court had been hounding them, he didn’t see reason to bring about destruction for a group he hardly knew. And it was clear that the Seelie Court was using them to kill Queen Mab.
A Deal Called Off
Unfortunately, Trent didn’t get time to come to a conclusion, because Teztcal forced one of his own. He asked what they should do about Klevor. Specifically he revealed to Midnight that Klevor was the one who had convinced them to kill Queen Mab.
Midnight immediately proclaimed that the deal was off. She wouldn’t trust the party’s word over a high ranking Fey of the Unseelie Court. She left faster than anyone could react.
The party as a whole feared how Midnight might retaliate as punishment for what Teztcal had said. They certainly were not going to have their curse removed now. She telepathically gave them her answer. Midnight told them she was not done with them yet. The party was engulfed in Fey Magic and transported to another section of the Valley of Fall.
Like before, Midnight’s soldiers emerged from the leaves. This time it was those bug like Elf creatures clad in black armor. And they went about with the same trick as before. They threw magical projectiles that when they exploded blinded anyone who was too close.
One thing was clear though as the clash went on. The soldiers were targeting Gor-Venal more than the rest of the party.
Wrap Up
Night is approaching and the party cannot sleep sans Obrom. And they have a long way to go before they reach Queen Mab. And without Jyona to warn them, they do not know of the many dangers in their path.