Centrum Glacies Session 93: Trapped
Week 93 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as Jyona wakes up trapped in the Feywild
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 woke up in a prison cell. The air was cold enough for her to see her breath and the only heat and light provided was from torches around the room. There was a door on the opposite side but she couldn’t reach it.
Strange bindings trapped her against the wall. But Jyona ever curious took time to try and learn about the strange material they were made out of.
She spent an entire hour studying them roughly. Then again, she wasn’t sure how long it had been. There were no clocks on the walls. And there were no windows to look outside either. It could have been even longer than that for all she knew.
A Visitor
Yet Jyona didn’t need to wait too long before she had a visitor. The door on the other side opened and admitted in five figures. Two of them were creatures clad all in black armor. Meanwhile the other two guards, which clearly the first four all were, looked like humanoid centipedes.
Yet is was the last of these five that Jyona was most interested in. Unlike the others, the one that the other four was guarding was clearly a Fae. They had the fairy wings and looked far more humanoid than the others. But they also had an air of authority about them.
Naturally Jyona had to know if this was a fairy. So she did the most logical thing and asked.
The Fae looked almost insulted as she answered the question. Of course she was a Fae. The feminine voice matched the pronouns given. But she didn’t give Jyona her name.
Questions
Instead she had questions of her own to ask. Notably she wanted to know where Jyona’s friends were. As Jyona had no idea where she was, the Half Elf decided it was best that she answer this question to the best of her ability and avoid using absolutes.
These answers were not the ones that the Fae was looking for. As she grew more frustrated she changed to a different question. Specifically she asked why she and her friends had attacked the Redcaps when they were not harming anyone.
It took a moment for Jyona to realize she was talking about the monkeys that had transformed into monsters. But when she understood what the Fae was asking, Jyona pointed out that stealing from farmers was wrong, no matter the reason.
But the Fairy had an answer to Jyona’s statements. She asked if it was right for her people to starve due to morality. They were running out of food and in a bad situation.
In fact the Fae muttered about how worried her mother was. Though Jyona did not pick up on this.
Food from a Fey
The Fae offered food as goodwill before she left. And after pointing out that they were short on food at that. But she wanted Jyona to know that she would not be mistreated while under her care.
Jyona ate the food and examined the chains more. It was all she could focus on, given that her visitor hadn’t given her much else to think about. Well minus being in the Feywild of course.
Unfortunately the food was not filling at all. In fact, Jyona found herself just as hungry as before after consuming all of it. It was clear that the food she had been given was magical, but in what way, Jyona no longer had a chance to figure out.
Midnight
But she had plenty more to wonder about soon after. The Fairy she had spoken to earlier returned. She immediately asked the Half Elf about Gor-Venal. She wanted to know everything about the Human. Notably how to defeat him. Apparently he was causing tons of trouble for the Unseelie Fairies.
As a token of goodwill, and a hope that Jyona would help her, she gave a name. The Fairy was named Midnight and was a young Archfey.
When Jyona refused to answer those questions though, Midnight grew angry. She threatened Jyona about what would happen if she didn’t cooperate. Notably as a Fae of dreams, Midnight had the ability to prevent Jyona from sleeping.
But this specific threat didn’t work on Jyona. After all, as a Half-Elf she didn’t sleep at all. Instead like her Elven cousins she mediated in a sort of dreamless state. And she was more than happy to tell the Fae that she did not fear such threats.
Failed Threats
Angered at Jyona now, Midnight got in her face. She warned the Half Elf that she was far kinder than Klevor or the Queen. Both of them had wanted to kill Jyona. But Midnight had convinced them to spare her life since she had fed the Displacer Beast.
Though a bit rattled at this point, Jyona refused to let Midnight intimidate her. She declared with confidence that Gor-Venal was her friend and she would not help anyone hurt him.
Midnight grew furious, and it was clear that this wasn’t going at all how she wanted. She screamed that she wouldn’t harm the man. She just needed to capture him so that he would stop killing her people. The Fae turned around and left, leaving Jyona in silence.
Desperation
Jyona realized she was in a desperate situation. She was away from her friends and in an unknown place. It was clear that the Fae were hostile and even if she did manage to get out of here, she would have to fight. That left her one option that she was always reluctant to make use of. So she left her Half Elf form behind and shifted into her Demonic one.
Her innate Magic immunity broke the chains keeping her trapped. She made use of her mobility immediately to properly check the room. Other than the door, there was no other active Magic. Though she had a feeling the chains would reappear to grab her if she lost her Magic Immunity.
Instead, she went to the door, and knew it was trapped Magically. But she saw what was in store if she triggered it and did so manually. Her Demon form was immune to poison. And she could not be put to sleep anyway. This trap wouldn’t work. And none of that took into account that she was immune to most Magic currently anyway.
With that dealt with, Jyona tried to pick the lock and escape. But she lacked the skills to unlock it. Not that her cat claws didn’t make a good effort. But whatever was keeping the door closed was a mechanism she didn’t understand.
To Behave
Not seeing anything else she could do, Jyona transformed back to her non Demon form. If she was trapped here and in this situation, it was probably best if she behaved herself. The chains keeping her to the wall reappeared. And Jyona waited for Midnight to return once more.
Midnight returned to the cell without guards. that was a pretty good show of confidence, considering that Jyona had not been cooperative. And the Archfey didn’t know that Jyona could transform into a Demon.
The Half Elf, did however let her know that she had broken out of the chains and disarmed the trap on the door. She changed the power dynamic slightly by letting Midnight know that she had willingly put the chains back on.
To help Capture an Ally
Midnight asked why Jyona had told her any of that. And the Half-Elf then explained that she intended to help. But only on the condition that Gor-Venal was not harmed. Break that promise and Jyona would refuse to ever help her again.
Midnight informed Jyona that her word was an oath that could not be broken. Though the Half-Elf had no idea if this was true. Still, she informed the Archfey that the best way to deal with Gor-Venal was to restrain him. He moved extremely fast and his entire body was a weapon. But that was also his weakness.
Midnight asked if spider silk would work. Jyona agreed that assuming that a lot of it was used and enchanted, that the Fey could use such a method to capture Gor-Venal.
For the first time since they had interacted, Jyona saw Midnight smile. The Archfey promised to give her real food the next time they met, if this information led to Gor-Venal’s capture. She said no more and Midnight once more left Jyona all alone in the cell.
Wrap Up
Jyona has no choice but to wait and see if her advice will get Gor-Venal captured. And she still doesn’t know how she will be getting out of this situation.