Centrum Glacies Session 140: Gripes with Reality
Week 140 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party lose their gripes with reality and get lost in individual delusions.
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!!!
The party fought against phantoms of Hasheem one of the most horrific foes they had ever faced. And its fragments used specially poisoned daggers that triggered intense hallucinations and broke their minds. They couldn’t differentiate reality from the delusions in their minds. Even as their subconscious tried to break free.
Jyona was the first to experience this break from reality. She was pulled into someone elses memory. A memory of their first kiss. And possibly more. Lost in that illusion, she was unable to fight back.
Teztcal meanwhile was thrown into a memory that took him to a place that a couple of his companions would have recognized. He assumed the memories of a young boy who was being punished via hanging upside down from a cathedral.
Trent despite his powerful Demon form was subdued just as easily as the other two. He fell into a memory where he watched snakes burst out of a person’s body. Meanwhile serpentine like Naga asked their Priestess about what they should do next. Trent was that Priestess.
Fighting Illusions
Obrom was one of the only ones to maintain his mind. He kept himself in this twisted reality borne by the Psychic Vampires and managed to keep his wits about him. In fact, despite his limited options to actually harm his enemies, he took out one of the assassins. The Hasheem visage bore his face as it faded away.
Things grew even more dire as both Jyona and Kisara were defeated. The young Dragon was far too weak compared to her allies to properly take on such a dangerous enemy. And the party was not afforded any mercy despite their minds being broken away from reality. The maze continued to shift, and harm those who found themselves within walls with each transformation.
Jyona faded away. And her fate was uncertain. Worse, only Teztcal was nearby when this happened, and he was trapped in a delusion. Jyona cried out but no one was able to hear her screams.
Teztcal and Trent eventually broke free from the poison. Their minds once again their own, they fought back against the viasges. Their Demon forms allowed them to deal with several of their enemies in rapid succession and soon enough the enemy was destroyed. But not before another showed Obroms face. Worse, the final one to fade chose to assume Kisara’s.
Apologies
After the party defeated the assassins, the maze shifted back to how it had been when the group faced off against Olanna. The Psychic Vampire materialized alongside her 4 thralls. Trent was quite happy to see that Jyona was alive.
Olanna apologized of all things for what had just happened. She intended to reprimand one of her “children” for summoning those creatures. The Psychic Vampire had intervened and pulled Jyona out of the illusion.
“Those were no illusions.” She told the party. “The real Hasheem had appeared and had tried to kill them.” This rattled them all, especially Jyona and Trent who had faced that monster several times now.
Leaving the Witch
Trent cared far more about another topic. He wanted to find and kill Jak-Rath. And apparently the Psychic Vampire Queen had a good lead on finding him. All despite the two being allies.
She told them to return to Zrinn with full haste. After they completed their objectives in Giant’s Haven of course. She told them that Zinbella and Vitality were safe. Olanna had no intention of harming them at the moment, even though the former was technically one of her thralls and had gone rogue. She told them to seek out their Vampire friend in Zrin. She had a lead on the Vampire Coven in the city allegedly.
Trent tried to get more information out of Olanna. He tried to play his allegiance to the circle of cleansing off as not too close. Not smart to do when dealing with a Psychic Vampire though. After all, she could read his mind. Instead she called him out on his silly attempt at bullshit. He still intended to kill Demons, including himself.
Their conversation was at an end, and so Olanna gave them a parting gift. She granted Obrom a magic ring as an apology for what her Thrall had put them through. He didn’t have time to ask Jyona to appraise it now, but it was high on his list of priorities once they had some free time.
Olanna snaped her fingers and whisked the party away. She reminded them telepathically that they were still technically enemies. Given the difference in their power, the group took this threat seriously. They didn’t want to find out what would happen if they tried to reenter her lair.
What was Forgotten
Trent put his hand on Jyona’s shoulder. He asked her not to scare him again like that. She was confused by his words. Given the chain of events, she didn’t even remember what had happened to her. Not the visions, or falling unconcious.
When they got back to town Teztcal decided he had been well behaved for too long. He implanted an image of one guard banging the other guard’s wife into their head using telepathy. This did not work. These were seasoned soldiers who had fought Demons. Mind altering effects were not that out of the ordinary.
The dragon then made it seem like Obrom was on fire in another guard’s head. This one played into it and asks Obrom if he’s ok. Mostly because if the Bard truly was on fire, it would have been a crime to ignore it. Teztcal then implanted the same into Obrom’s head. The bard yawned. He was far too used to Teztcal’s antics by now. And his behavior ruined the illusion. Since if he had been on fire, the Human would have been screaming in pain.
Teztcal then pushed it into Trent’s head. “OBSIDION SPY!” the druid proclaimed. He knew the Dragon’s games and grew more furious by the minute. Obrom was done with this shit and keept yawning. He knew that this was the fastest way to ruin Teztcal’s fun and ultimately make him stop. Kisara meanwhile played into the bit and splashed water on the bard.
No More Chaos
Jyona pulled Teztcal’s ear down to her level to scold him for his behavior. He played dumb of course. The Dragon claimed that he did nothing wrong. Certainly none of what was happening right now was his doing.
The party checked in on the villager who had been in excruciating pain the last time they had visited. As Olanna had promised, this was no longer the case. As a reward for turning in all these heads and stopping the curse, he promised a boon. He just needed a night to properly prepare it. And as an extra bonus, he gave them each some gold in the meanwhile.
With that reward in tow, the group headed to the council chambers to turn in their investigation assignment. They informed Branna of a weird distortion of perception in the area. Trent covered for Olanna despite his hatred, as she might be an asset moving forward. And she was already a deadly adversary. They had no way to know if she was still watching them or not.
Branna informed them she would notify the guild of their success so they can collect their reward. They left the chamber and returned to the Guild Hall for a well deserved relaxation. Teztcal remained on his best behavior since Jyona promised him gold.
The Guild Hall
Trent asked about Malcolm and Vim-Kios The bartender stated they aren’t on the continent. Instead the two were dealing with trouble on the Stinger Continent. But it was Mythril related trouble and nothing they needed to worry about.
The party collected their rewards. Jyona gave Teztcal more than she originally promised since she felt bad that the dragon wasn’t getting paid for any of his work with them naturally. She of course ignored the fact that he was following them around willingly.
After resting, the party woke up to a new day. And they first thing they did they meet up with Elengon again. He had a very useful gift for them. A special charm that allowed the holder to detect the unique connection between the Fel Flame and Cultists. Essentially, the Cult of Obsidian would not be able to sneak up on them anymore.
Wrap Up
This part of the adventure seems to have wrapped up. But Olanna has proven to be far more powerful than the group anticipated. What might the other leaders in the Cult of Obsidian be capable of?