Centrum Glacies Session 130: Friendly Fire
Week 130 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party fights more battles. But the stress is starting to get to them and more and more accidental friendly fire with it.
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!!!
Olanna’s visage appeared once more before the party after they had a moment to breathe. At least she had the courtesy to let them rest from all the continuous fighting. Once more her tone indicated that she didn’t respect the party much. But she seemed to respect the monsters the group had slain with fire even less.
Trent thorn whipped the projection out of spite. Part of him had hoped against all reason that Olanna had actually been there. Everyone else chose to ignore her, leaving her ramblings lost on deaf ears.
Kisara moved ahead and came across more Cultists and a Warlock leading them just like before. This led to a surprisingly lengthy and dangerous battle. Partially due to the Warlock casting Hunger of Hadar in a place where a majority of the party got caught in it. Kisara once again found herself in danger as she charged ahead before the rest could join her.
An extremely angry Jyona transformed once again to deal with the Cultists. She put her body at risk with this transformation. If she tried to do this a third time, she would die.
In her rage she overextended and subjected Kisara to near deadly friendly fire. Not only did her claws cause grievous wounds, but the marks they left behind implanted a deadly curse in those that survived an encounter. A curse that Kisara was no marked by.
Aftermath of the Attack
After the fight ended, she cowered from the party in fear of herself. And she once more shifted out of her Demon form. She already regretted using that power and realized how much of a risk she put her friends in just by using it.
Trent once again removes a curse from a fellow party member. This time due to friendly fire. But he didn’t hold it against Jyona. He was more worried about her anger and how it was causing her to act irrational. Jyona for her part had burned all that anger out. She didn’t even move to collect any heads from the fallen Cultists.
Olanna’s visage once again appeared. And she didn’t have any words of encouragement. The party once again ignored her, at least until her words turned more scathing and personal. Specifically she remarked on the fact that with friendly fire being an option, perhaps she should just set up conditions for the group to kill each other. Then she didn’t need to reanimate the dead, or send Cultists to die against them.
Teztcal decided to lead the way forward and saw the same stairs that they had used to enter this place. Unfortunately, he forgot about the teleporter trap that had sent them deeper into the crypt when they first arrived. And so he got caught up in it a second time and vanished. Kisara quickly followed after him.
Falling for the Trap
The rest of the party followed him and intentionally fell for the same trap. They didn’t want to get split up. Especially in this place. Even though Obrom wanted out, even he didn’t want to leave the Dragons behind. Once they all were together once more, the group found themselves in a small room. At least there were several ways out of this room.
But not for long. Barriers formed at the exits and a visage of a hated enemy appeared. Not Olanna this time, but someone much worse: Jak-Rath. He seemed surprised to find the party here, but not disappointed given that he needed some test subjects and they had served his purposes befor
Olanna also appeared, and surprised the party by being hostile towards her colleague. “This is my playground. You don’t belong here.” She told him. He countered that she didn’t have full rights to running experiments, especially not against this group. Olanna didn’t argue further though and left the wicked Dark Elf to do as he wished.
Another Experiment
As expected, he called in a few of his freaky experiments to attack the party. Bone Devils specifically which meant that Jak-Rath had once again flayed Demons until their skin had been torn off.
Trent grew angry at the sight of Jak-Rath once more perverting and commiting crimes against nature with Druid Magic. This fury mirrored Jyona’s and he also made the same choice. He shifted into his own Demon form and let fury and hate guide his attacks.
During the fight, Jyona bore the brunt of countless attacks. And a nearly fatal blow from one of the Bone Devils triggered one of her devices. Of course, as a scientist, Jak-Rath was instantly fascinated with the device. And asked Jyona how he could replicate such an item. This whole situation was just a trial for him.
But this was not an experiment for the party. These were dangerous monsters attacking them when they were already tired from fighting through this tomb. And so Jyona used another of her items. She cast slow on one of the Bone Devils making it easier for them to take on the other.
With Trent empowered with his Demon abilities, the party soon destroyed the Bone Devils. Jak-Rath seemed pleased despite the party’s victory over his creations. He muttered about how the first experiment had not been a fluke. And he vanished, with a smile on his face.
Olanna’s “Kindness”
Olanna appeared soon after. She seemed upset that Jak-Rath appeared. In fact she claimed to be feeling charitable and stated she had removed the teleporter trap. She pointed the way towards the exit, even though the party already knew where that exit was. The teleporter trap had not sent them far from the exit after all.
Yet, the group remembered Olanna’s words, even as she once again vanished. She had hinted that there were some secrets in this tomb. Not to mention, at least half the party wanted to completely eradicate the Cultist presence here. So they elected to clear the place out, even as their resources and energy grew lower.
Wrap Up
The party has elected to keep exploring due to Olanna’s words. But what if she lis lying? Are they walking into an even worse trap?