Centrum Glacies Session 148: The Volcano Base
Week 148 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party enters a Cult of Obsidian Volcano Base.
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!!!
While the rest of the party fought Basilisks out in the desert, Obrom went into the Volcano Base on his own. He had ditched the party, desperate to find a cure for his Demon affliction. Unfortunately he quickly ran into trouble. He was in an enemy base after all.
Outnumbered significantly and injured from his earlier encounter with the Fire Elementals, he was quickly taken down. Obrom lost consciousness as the Lizard Warriors who had defeated him hissed with glee at their victory and his capture. Death would have been a blessing considering that this was one of Jak-Rath’s bases…
After dispatching the basilisks, the rest of the group spared no time in chasing after Obrom. Even as Teztcal continued to claim that he now had clear proof that the Bard was an Obsidian spy. Trent was starting to doubt the Human as well. But Jyona, ever the optimist and filled with more compassion than anyone in her position should have still trusted that Obrom was their friend.
Into the Base
They entered the Volcano Base, with visibility poor due to the high concentration of ash and smoke in the air. The extreme heat had also forced them into their Demon Forms. The group searched frantically for signs of Obrom. Instead they found a massive fire giant wielding two shields as a weapon.
But for all its bulk and defenses, a single Fire Giant was little more than a speedbump to the group. Especially in their empowered Demon forms. As the first enemy fell, a second one entered from a side room. But even that one only managed to attack one time before it was also slaughtered.
The Giants had been guarding a significant amount of treasure and the group debated how to split it up and who would get what. Jyona got outvoted. She was the only one who wanted to save a cut of the treasure for Obrom. The others argued that him ditching the party denied him part of what they found. So it was only split three ways.
Treasure
They found a significant amount of gold as well as enchanted armor, several magical weapons and a whole horde’s worth of gemstones. The weapons would have benefited Obrom the most as the rest of the group either used Magic or other means to fight.
Turned out that the Giants had guarded more than loot though. Trent recalled that in the other base, there had been a lever nearby that had redirected the lava flow. As it was clear that this base had an identical layout, Trent searched and found that switch. Hopefully nothing bad would happen by redirected the lava flow this time.
The party backtracked a bit and searched a room they had skipped the first time. They found bloodstains on the floor that trailed off back and past the entrance. Given how recent this trail had formed, they assumed that this had been Obrom. And the fact that the trail went somewhere hinted that he was probably still alive.
Cultists
Unfortunately, there were other living things in their path. Several Cult of Obsidian Cultists blocked their way through the next room. And as these ones worked for Jak-Rath, negotiations were out of the question.
Teztcal stood at the front, eager to fight these enemies off and most likely to be the first to encounter Obrom. He intended to poison the Human if the Cult hadn’t already killed him. And because he was in the front, he noticed an odd feature of these enemies as they swarmed around him. They had beeping collars around their necks. He didn’t understand what that meant.
As he killed one of the Cultists, he figured out what the collar did. These ones exploded when they died. And not the fiery kind which he could have ignored. The others heard the explosion too and rushed to Teztcal to see what had happened.
Jyona took things further. Knowing that these Dark Elves were not innocent victims, she had no qualms using her potent Demon powers to break the mind of one of them. And she then forced that creature to fight its allies. Their mind was too weak to resist her control.
Wrap Up
The party is split once more and this time not because of Teztcal or Jyona. And suspicion is growing towards Obrom. A shame that as a loner he just didn’t tell the party his real reasons for forging ahead. Will the group be able to overcome this? Or will their bonds shatter when they are reuinited?