Centrum Glacies Session 112: Goggles
Week 112 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party clashes with more Aberrations and then finds an unusual pair of goggles.
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.
Most recently, the party helped cause a complete planetary genocide. Save a few survivors, no one remains from that world. They are still grappling with this unfathomable loss of life and their role in making it happen. It is clear that their suffering is far from over. They can only hope they don’t cause untold pain to an even more untold more.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
With Engelique and Persephine’s help, the party fought against four comet monsters. Far more of the Abberations than the first time they had encountered such creatures.
But even with such powerful help, these monsters were powerful, capable of manipulating gravity, and making use of shockwaves. Trent saved Jyona once more upon watching her get lifted into the air by one of the monsters. Persephine called upon the Law of Silence to free Jyona from floating through the air and being at the mercy of one of the creatures.
With two of their enemy trapped behind a prismatic wall, the group focused on the remaining two. One of them was stuck in the air and only could harm them by altering gravity to drag them towards it. As for the one not locked down by several spells, a single target was no match for such a powerful party. Soon four had been reduced to two.
As for the other two, Persephines potent spell slowed them down. And they never managed to escape the prismatic wall. In fact they brute forced it as far as they could until one of the layers sent them away to another dimension. They would be the problem of whatever was on the other side. Something that wasn’t the party’s problem.
Falling Deeper In
Unfortunately, the creature’s defeat didn’t mean peace and quiet for the party. As a parting gift, the Abberations opened giant gravity well from below. It tore into the earth and dragged everyone down into the depths. Even Teztcal and Kisara who were capable of flight couldn’t escape this gravity well.
When everyone came to, the party was split into two groups. They could hear each other but were separated by a large mass of the radioactive material. It crackled with energy and reminded the group to stay far from it. Teztcal and Kisara called out to each other through the stone. It was nice to see that their bond was genuine.
Persephine told them that she was afraid. Notable since she was a Mythril Adventurer and above the law. Whatever it was warranted potential silence. She even asked Engelique who must have also figured out where they were. The first Witch asked the second if it was worth telling the party about how much trouble they were now in.
Jyona pointed out that she may as well tell them. The party didn’t like the answer. They were in an Orc Facility. And the Orcs did not fear the Adventurer’s Guild. In fact as a rule of thumb, avoiding conflict with Orcs was the generally smart move. The group argued amongst themselves at the Witches as each of them mentioned different horrible scenarios that might play out now that they had potentially pissed off Orcs.
The Goggles
The bickering was put on hold as Jyona’s Animated Armor noticed something important. The construct pointed towards an odd pair of goggles on the ground. This finding excited both Jyona and Kisara. The Young Dragon wasn’t the brightest but she loved new discoveries just as much as the Half Elf.
It took some trial and error to figure out what the goggles did. Initially, Kisara thought they tracked blood. She was wrong but it did track something unique and the color red was a major part of this process. Jyona had a chance to try them on and realized that the goggles let her see heat. And hidden nearby in the wall she saw a long line of heat that was traveling away from where they currently were standing.
She grew extra excited as she handed the goggles to Kisara. Jyona grew ever more eager to have the Young Dragon experience the wonder of finding new technology. Kisara understood the idea behind the goggles even if she was wrong about what she spotted. The young Dragon followed the “blood line” as she refers to it. The path took them away from their starting location and deeper into the metal labyrinth.
Bickering for Nothing
Trent was upset about being stuck with Engelique and Teztcal. The witch sighed as he voiced his opinion on the matter and reminded Trent that she had saved him multiple times now. Trent retorted “from situations you’ve led us into” She rolled her eyes again.
Teztcal decides to lead the other half of the party; To a dead end that was. He wasn’t exactly the best at finding things after all. This didn’t stop him though. He tried knocking on a wall, convinced there was a secret passage nearby. There wasn’t.
They eventually reached a room with statues. Trent was uncomfortable being in a weird metal maze. A thought he voiced to no other comments. Teztcal meanwhile, decided to try heating up one of the statues. Nothing happened.
He went from statue to statue casting random cantrips to see if there was any reaction at all. None of his spells did anything to the statues. But that wasn’t enough for Teztcal. Next, the dragon tried pushing one over. But the statue was far too heavy. He couldn’t even get it to budge.
Out came the bag of crows. They screamed that the place they stood or flew in their case, defaced nature. They called Teztcal’s brain small and vanished. He was not satisfied with their answer. So he pulled out another feather, asking them to explain what they knew to the “pretty blonde lady”. Engelique was bemused. She didn’t hate the compliment. She just found it weird coming from Teztcal.
The crows vanished again. They were worried about the orcs. A reminder that the party needed to be too. Trent passed Engelique and had some harsh words for her. “Stolen beauty is not true beauty. Remember that.” She had nothing to say in response.
A Response
The other half of the party continued down a path through the mazelike area with Kisara following the heat signature. Jyona grew increasingly paranoid about the whole situation and asked Persephine if they’re really being watched.
After an affirmation she yelled out to the orcs that she doesn’t wanna break anything. In fact she asked them for help getting out. But nobody came. If they truly were being observed they made no action to prove it.
Next, they come across a weird construct in the hallway. They studied it for a short minute and realized thanks to the goggles that the construct had moved recently from its heat signature. Not wanting to anger the Orcs Jyona ushered the party onward.
They came to a room with more statues and a giant metal contraption in the center. Kisara without thinking about the consequences, pushed a button on it. Immediately, the statues all came to life. And they attacked the party.
Wrap Up
Separated from each other and with strange enemies now awakening, the party might be in even more danger than they were against the Aberrations.