Centrum Glacies Session 132: The Desecrated Grove
Week 132 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party finds themselves in a Desecrated Grove. Trent is forced to confront a dangerous truth about the Druids on the Abyssal Continent.
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 the Cultists slain, but not beheaded, Vitality approached the group and demanded to know what they were doing here. Before anyone else could answer, Teztcal gave his thoughts. “We’re deer hunting!” She realized that she should have excluded the Dragon from that question.
Trent gave a better answer. He explained truthfully that they had come here to help investigate this clearly desecrated grove. Even though Trent didn’t like Spore Druids, they were still connected to his order. And he wanted to kill any Cultists that were lurking in the dark.
In turn, Trent asked Vitality what she was doing here. And now that they had answered her questions, she was more willing to answer there. The ranger mentioned that the Spore Druids were capable of bringing back the dead. And she had several fallen friends that she severely missed.
Trent remembered that Vitality smelled of death, though the smell was masked at the moment. He started connecting the dots and came to a frightening conclusion. The Druid asked the Ranger if Necromancy would be involved. A question that Vitality scoffed at. “Anything to bring her friends back,” she claimed.
Teztcal asked what a necro mancer is. Trent gladly answered that she was referring to Cult of Obsidian members. Unfortunately, that was all Teztcal needed to consider Obrom an obsidian spy. Of course Obrom was a victim of Necromancy, not a practitioner of it. But that level of nuance was beyond the Dragon. He touched the Flesh to Stone runestone in his possession, considering how to best use it against his perceived enemy.
Ambush Ahead
The party moved forward through the dark, with Vitality along for their walk. Though Trent didn’t trust her reasons for being here, he knew that at least for now, she would be a useful ally. Or a beneficial distraction if all else failed.
She proved her worth almost immediately. The ranger stopped the party signaling enemies ahead, and helping them avoid an ambush. Jyona tried to scout forward, but was seen almost instantly. Dark vision went both ways after all and she was spotted by Cultists who had been waiting for them to get close.
She drew her weapons and yelled where the Cultists lurked, starting a battle between the two groups. Vitality accidentally hit Trent’s flame tiger and the Druid nearly turned on her, worried that she was a mole. She quickly apologized for her lacking composure and said what he said earlier was messing with her ability to think clearly.
Shuffling feet announced that more enemies were coming. And from other directions. Teztcal had called them “deer” in all his encounters with them, but the rest of the party hissed in reaction to seeing more Zombie Druids. Vitality, who had never seen such monstrosities, took a moment to compose herself before she fought the monsters back.
Fending off the Dead
Kisara was finally starting to come into her own as a warrior. Unlike before, she was capable of cutting down cultists alongside the party. And without anyone having to worry too much. All in her more Humanoid form. She had depended on her true Dragon form in the past.
Unfortunately for Jyona and Vitality, the Druid Zombies had the same tricks that the ones the party had fought in the cursed jungle possessed. They were capable of casting Thorn Whip, pulling their “food” towards them. The creatures moved as two separate swarms and used their Magic to separate Jyona and Vitality from the rest.
Yet Vitality was a Gold Ranked Adventure, and more than capable of fighting all on her own. She had a surprise of her own given the enemy. She had a bear companion who had stayed out of the fight until needed. The two forced the Zombies towards the rest of the group all the while, they finished off the Cultists.
Jyona ran into a few problems on her end, as one of the creatures crawled towards her and tried to eat her foot. But she burned that monster away and fended off several more. The rest of the group pivoted to help her once all the other enemies had been dealt with. They could hear more fighting ahead, but with no enemies left, the group took a moment to breathe.
Teztcal had some questions for Vitality, but decided he wanted to speak to her bear. So he cast speak with animals on himself to get another opinion.
Wrap Up
The Desecrated Grove is filled with horrific enemies and allies seem to be missing. Zinbella had traveled here before the party, but they have yet to find her. Is she fighting further ahead, or is the party going to find something grim ahead?