Centrum Glacies Session 137: Olanna
Week 137 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party at long last confronts Olanna, one of the leaders of the Cult of Obsidian.
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!!!
Deep in a crypt lacking light, the party fought against a mass of souls. This swarm of dead was key to a barrier that protected Olanna. The group needed to destroy it so they could reach her. And some of the spirits that made up this creature were begging them for release. Unfortunately, the hostile spirits had cast a spell of some kind that reflected any damage the party inflicted back at them.
As they weakened the creature, several more spirits broke off and healed the party. And then they begged the group to finish the job and free them all. The remaining spirits shifted tactics and started causing the group to rot. And they were not blocking healing this time. In fact, the rot caused actual damage.
The group cast as powerful spells as they could to finish off the monster. It cast a spell on the group that protected them for a few moments, but threatened to blast them for terrible damage if the battle lasted too long. Made more difficult by the fact that the creature blasted the group with a psionic attack. Notably the members not protected from its other spell.
Yet this was really just another day in the lives of this party. They had fought all sorts of terrible monsters. And their focus was on the witch that this creature protected. They destroyed the horrifying visage and it whispered a soft thanks as it vanished from this plane of existence.
Another Graveyard Rest
Winded and a bit spooked by the sorts of creatures that served Olanna, the party left the crypt and returned to the open graveyard. Now that the barrier was down, they needed to plan on how to deal with her. For now though, they wanted to rest. And even though their sleeping options were limited to graveyard filled with Undead, the alternative was rushing into Olanna’s lair which seemed foolhardy.
Trent and Obrom kept watch while Jyona and Kisara went off a bit. Teztcal made some noise, bored out of mind. But his antics didn’t attract enemies this time.
The reason that the half-elf took the young Dragon aside was because she had a graduation project for Kisara. This would be the final step for the White Dragon to truly become an artificer. Kisara put together a pre-fabricated metal arm for Jyona that the half-elf had prepared ahead of time.
She was successful. And Jyona showed it off to everyone non-stop for the rest of the night. She was beaming. As was the Dragon who showed her work to her dad. Despite his common immaturity, he truly cared for his daughter and told her how proud he was of her work.
Entering the Witch’s Lair
They rested that night without any attacks. Which seemed odd given their close proximity to Olanna. Not to mention they were certain the Witch was aware of their antics. Trent felt something off and with Jyona’s help, he detected residues of Magic. Olanna, or someone working with her had been scrying on them. Well she knew where they were. And so the group decided there was no reason to keep her waiting.
Things took a turn for the worst when the group looked inside. They found themselves in a small cave with relatively little to look at. That was save one feature. Corpses were strewn about. But Obrom’s brand didn’t react to them. Still, there was a serious problem and it terrified both Trent and Jyona.
While Teztcal started burning the bodies, in case they started moving, Trent took a closer look. And he noticed they had no faces. The two begged the party to retreat. It didn’t matter if they needed to defeat Olanna to escape the graveyard. They absolutely did not want to run into Hashim. This was clearly the face stealer’s work.
As Teztcal burned the last of the bodies, Trent and Jyona tried to flee from this place. And found their escape route vanished. Instead they turned around and found Olanna waiting for them. A group of Cultists standing behind her. She asked if the group liked “The room she had prepared for them?” She had been watching them for a long time allegedly and knew about “it”.
Trent, overwhelmed with fear and also furious at what the Witch had done to the Druid Circle, attacked immediately. No warning and no words at all. Just cold fury.
Facing Olanna
A giant clock appeared in the back of the lair and cast haste one of the Cultists. And though they hadn’t seen her fight yet, the party assumed she was a powerful spell caster given everything else that had happened in this place.
Jyona’s Golem rushed in and tried to tackle the dainty witch. It turned out she was much stronger than her petite frame had suggested. The golem barely managed to make her budge.
Olanna took an interest in the living metal figure in front of her. And with that undivided attention, she attempted to banish it. She was impressed when it resisted the spell.
Kisara with her newfound Magic ability tried to cast a spell of her own at Olanna. And when it failed, the Witch returned that same attack in kind. Olanna’s spell was stronger and left Kisara at a disadvantage.
As the rest of the party fought against Olanna and the Cultists at her side, Jyona attempted to shoot a spell at the giant clock. It seemed like a dangerous artifact given the advantage it was giving the enemy. Unfortunately, her spell phased through it. Similar in fashion to how attacks sometimes phased through the elf. Olanna turned and asked her if she “really had thought that such a powerful artifact could be disabled that easily?”
Magic Tricks
Immediately after, Olanna used the same trick she had on Kisara. She used Jyona’s own cantrip against her. The half-elf punched it out of the air with her new metal arm. Her own magic wasn’t so easy to use against the more veteran Artificer.
Trent wanted to clear the Cultists out so that they could focus on Olanna. And so he cast an insect plague. Or tried to because Olanna cast a counterspell. Obrom decided that he wouldn’t let her do that and so countered her counterspell with his own counterspell.
Following the clock’s example, Teztcal twincasted Haste on himself and his daughter. Content that she was more capable of defending herself now, he shifted into his Dragon form and moved in to attack the Witch. Meanwhile Kisara went for the closest Cultist. She was able to match his hasted blows with her own.
Olanna noticed a majority of the party were bunched up and cast fireball. Jyona however, interrupted the casting and prevented a lot of damage thanks to using Counterspell.
As the battle raged, the Cultists who had been in the insect plague cloud managed to move out of and and set their sights on Trent. But they didn’t manage to break his concentration. Meanwhile, Olanna continued copying any Cantrip cast in this fight. A good thing that the group was well protected from their own spells.
Demon Transformations
Trent cast a spell that let him fly inside the massive cavern. There was plenty of vertical space to make use of here. He transformed into his demon form, which really showcased how serious he was about destroying the Witch. As a Druid, and one now part of the Circle of Cleansing, Demon Powers of any kind disgusted him.
Eventually the party whittled down Olanna’s endurance. She teleported into the center of the cavern and began a ritual spell. The remaining cultists melted away as she absorbed their essences into herself. Worse, the Witch revealed that she had a Demon form too. One that looked familiar to Trent and Jyona. Towards the beginning of their adventure, they had encountered this very Demon in the Temple of Silence.
As if knowing their thoughts, Olanna mentioned that Persephine had failed to kill her. Even armed with the Law of Silence had not been enough to defeat the Witch. Which really put into perspective how powerful this foe was.
Wrap Up
Olanna might be the strongest foe the party has fought to date. And its clear she has more tricks up her sleeve. What else is she capable of? And where is the Psychic Vampire in her service?