Centrum Glacies Session 87: Sorting Loot
Week 87 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues with the party finally free from the Cursed Jungle. With a chance for rest, they sorted through all the loot they had stockpiled.
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, slavery.
One of the party members had an eye gouged out and lost an arm. Not exactly the way it happens in Berserk, but that might have been the inspiration for it. The group was incinerated in lava. But rather than die, they were transformed into Demons. They might be free from these transformations for now, but only time will tell what this means for them.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
Jyona re-entered the Guild Hall. She excitedly greeted the party, Teztcal included before she went on and on about crafting with others again. It had been too long since she had been free to create and with helping hands to back her up.
Trent changed the subject despite Jyona’s excitement. Instead he questioned her about Elkor. While his reasons came from worry, the fact that he aggressively asked these questions while Jyona cared far more about what she had accomplished the night prior lead to some issues.
These smaller issues, notably differences in opinion about the true nature of the Cult of Obsidian and the people within it led to some serious arguments among party members. Notably Jyona grew upset at Trent for his clear racism against Dark Elves. Meanwhile Trent argued back that the Cult of Obsideon proved many of those biases true.
Obrom argued that without knowing the full story, they couldn’t make a full judgment. Meanwhile Jyona also pointed out how the Circle of Cleansing was slowly losing its extremism edge. Perhaps the Cult of Obsidian would as well. Teztcal mostly stayed out of the whole discussion. He was more content to focus on Mini Me.
More Context
While they bickered, Vitality, who had been nearby during Jyona’s initial conversation with Elkor snuck closer. And despite Trent normally being well aware of who was listening in, was so intent on his arguments that he didn’t even notice. In fact only Jyona and Teztcal noticed. And neither really cared.
She eventually chimed in with her own thoughts on the issue. And Trent finally noticed she was listening in. He wasn’t happy about this. In fact he told her to buzz off. But she pointed out that if they truly wanted a private conversation, being loud and right in the center of the Adventurer’s Guild Hall in the largest city on the Abyssal Continent was the opposite of how to have privacy.
Changes in Talks
Jyona instead shifted the conversation back to her night crafting with Tim and his allies. She also mentioned how Elkor had been the one to suggest Tim in the first place. Trent grew worried, wondering if Tim and Elkor were allies. That had grim implications if true.
Teztcal of course did not care about these aspects of the conversation. More he cared about the fact that Tim’s name was Ted. And he would not let anyone interfere with his newest delusion. They certainly had given up with his many others at this point.
Teztcal’s distractive personality allowed that conversation to finally come to an end. With a break in all the action and a feeling of safety within the Guild Hall, Jyona divvied up gathered loot the party had been holding onto for a while. And by party, that meant her. They certainly would not have let Teztcal hold onto everything.
Handing Out Items
Jyona gave Obrom a wand. A powerful artifact that she knew he could make use of. Next, and reluctantly, she gave Teztcal a ring of mind shielding. Knowing that he would be able to turn invisible worried her, but knew that if he wasn’t given some items, he would cause even more chaos.
There were plenty of items to divvy up beyond that. Now that the group had been on a Platinum Adventurer Quest for real, they knew what to expect for next time.
Teztcal did exactly what both Jyona and Trent predicted and used his new ring of mind shielding to be annoying. Specifically he tried to mess with Vitality whole invisible. His delusions were of course only rivaled by stupidity. Not only was she a Ranger, adept at tracking things, but also had traveled for a time with this specific Dragon.
Naturally as he went to try and poke her shoulder, confident in his currently invisible state she caught his hand. He was not hidden from her in the slightest. Certainly not after he had turned invisible right in front of her and then moved not so quietly across the room her direction.
New Commissions
After another day of rest, the party checked the Guild Bounty Board for any new commissions. All the while, Teztcal was asking the bartenders, and then the party to let him into the Adventurer’s Guild. They of course all told him that to join the Guild he would have to leave the Abyssal Continent and go to the capital of the Imperial Continent captial. Teztcal didn’t want to do that at all.
Trent then pulled Jyona and Obrom aside and discussed how in no uncertain terms could they allow Teztcal to join the guild. He was too dangerous as is. A reminder that one of the main reasons he was kept around was due to just how powerful he was, both as a Dragon and as a Sorcerer.
Jyona conceded that point. She understood just how dangerous a Teztcal that was above the law would be. And Obrom had already been in agreement.
The party returned to bounty board to look at new commissions. There were a lot to choose from. But before the party was able to accept any new commissions, they were warned by the bartender that normally it was two commissions at a time. And the party had two ongoing ones already.
To Find a Unicorn
They were granted an exception due to being a party of Platinum and a Gold. But they needed to complete at least one of their commissions before they could do another.
With this rule in place, the group selected a commission given by a familiar name: Quinn Cambion. That noble had helped them at the dinner party. But he was still a pretty suspicious character. More importantly he was looking for a group to find a Unicorn. Trent newly regained Druid Powers, felt like this could be dangerous. Unicorns were to be left alone.
Old “Friends” Return
As the party left the Guild hall and the upper city of Zrin where Quinn intended to meet them, they heard a commotion from the lower city. They turned around to see what was going on. And they were extraordinarily surprised to spot Engelique and Persophine. The two witches were traveling extremely fast. And straight at them.
The two Witches, one of them a Mythril Adventurer and the other Platinum warned the party that the horrifying Whale from the Lake was coming this way. The party needed to prepare for a horrific fight. And potentially with massive casualties given where they were.
Englique warned that they would need to use their Demon forms to survive this battle, much less have a chance of harming the monster. Persophine, who was less tired since she was floating, warned them further that the monster coming was beyond their power and to stay behind her. The whale was a Mythril Rank Threat and only someone like her should even think to face such a creature.
The Whale Returns
Still, the party resolved to fight. They refused to watch everyone in the city die because of their cowardice. Instead they stayed with the two Witches, ready to face something even worse than the Lich.
The Whale materialized in the air more than floated into the area. Its horrific song was carried on the winds if not forced through it. It was if the very air was being pried apart.
Engelique drew upon the same power as the party and revealed that she could turn into a Demon too. Her form stood out though. She morphed into a large monster with a clock at the center. Her body was fused with it. Thematically it made sense for her to appear this way.
Transformations
Engelique reveled that she had heightened powers in this form. Though she possessed the Law of Time, she was able to cast haste on the entire group, herself, and Persephine without its help. Though the Mythril Adventurer expressed alarm at so quickly giving away her powers to them, Engelique understood that the party would have seen them soon enough.
Persophine saw no choice and revealed her own Demon Form. Heres changed the Witch little. In fact she looked more like a Witch in this form. She even had a proper witch hat. Her Magic however was vastly amplified to an even greater degree than Engelique’s.
The Platinum Witch was tired and could only help the group not fight openly. The Mythril Witch did not have such a problem. In fact she floated closer to the whale and unleashed a barrage of force Damage via magic that actually harmed the creature. At least enough to slow it down.
As it got closer, the city of Zrin reacted to the Whale’s presence. A strange barrier covered the whole city, distorting the colors slightly as it closed. Trent noticed that everything save the whale, the party, and the two witches had stopped moving. Some sort of time magic?
But while Zrin was safe, Jyona seemed to be the opposite as she tried to use her normal spells on the Whale. Naturally those had no effect. Persophine half heartedly informed Jyona that she would likely perish if she tried to stay to those morals.
Trent and Teztcal had no qualms. Both of them had been told how to defeat an enemy, and so they used the best tool for the job. Obrom naturally was unable to transform and had taken cover behind Engelique. He had no business being on this battlefield.
Wrap Up
After escaping the Lich, and even worse monster is in their path. And even Persophine is worried about this one. Obrom especially needs to be careful.