Centrum Glacies Session 114: More Statues
Week 114 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party clashes with more statues with strange protection.
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!!!
Still split by a large amount of dangerous metal, the party and their two witch “allies” fought against more and more statues. The first group was getting fairly good at dealing with them as the crushed yet another sentry statue that had barred their path.
Jyona nudged Kisara and pointed out this one wasn’t fried like the last. The two talked excitedly about how the material would be useful and not just because of what could be done if it was melted down. Excited about this, Kisara gathered the pieces and then continued to follow the line with her goggles.
She saw the outline of another enemy up ahead more statues in fact. Like her father, Kisara did not like Obrom at all. In fact she tried to convince him to go first. The young Dragon was even more obvious in her intentions than her father. Obrom of course refused to go first.
Unfortunately, Kisara was also impulsive like Teztcal. And so no wasn’t an answer she would accept. Instead she grabbed the Bard and threw him down the hall towards the statue. He was targeted immediately.
Jyona and her animated armor looked on in horror at this action. The two rushed past Kisara to assist the Bard. And yet again, the Half-Elf missed the fact that her golem was doing this on its own without her urging.
The Second Group Struggles
Meanwhile, the second group, which consisted of Trent, Teztcal, and their “ally” Engelique took a brief moment to collect themselves. They continued on their way with the Witch wearing their respective pair of goggles. Unlike the other group, they were not destroying the statues as easily. And Trent worried what they would do when they found more statues.
He didn’t need to wait long until such a situation. Once more the three found themselves in a room filled with statues. Also like before, there was a machine at the center that the goggles indicated to Engelique was the next logical stop on their adventure through the metal maze.
Teztcal once more tried to get the statues to attack. He did his best to remove each statue in turn from the ground. He failed each time. But this wasn’t going to stop him. Not this time.
Worried that he would eventually succeed, Trent asked Engelique to haste his Elemental spirit. The Witch pointed out it was easier and just made more sense for her to cast the spell on them all. It was a good thing she did too. With a lot of persistence, Teztcal succeeded in picking a statue off the ground. Something triggered within it and the other three joined it in coming to life.
Engelique understanding how the statues worked at this point began sapping their spell immunities with cantrips. Specifically ones that had no combat utility at all, but still would have affected them in some way.
The First Group Cruising Along
The other group was having a much easier time still at dispersing more and more statues. Even though Kisara had started things off to a potentially dangerous start, the mechanical creature only got one chance to shoot its eye beam and it did minimal damage at that.
Moving beyond the hall where the sentry stood, the group reached a room with another generator. And of course more statues guarding the room. Both groups were getting used to how things worked in here. And it was obvious that the moment the generator was turned on, that the statues would come to life as well.
Kisara ordered Obrom to press the button. This time he obliged after making sure Jyona was prepared to help him. Without anyone being surprised, the statues came to life and attacked the group. Unlike the other party, this group didn’t have the willingness to cast spells to break the statues spell immunities. They left Persephine to do that.
Instead, Kisara used her breath weapon. It turned out after several times testing it, that the statues were not capable of becoming immune to this specific attack. In fact it quickly shredded their shields and left the monsters vulnerable.
Once they destroyed the creatures, which did not take long considering Persephine simply used The Law of Silence to erase two of them, they set off once more following the trail highlighted by the goggles. Their path took them past another sentry. This time Kisara did not shove anyone in front of it.
Back to the Second Group
Surprisingly, despite struggling with the magic resistant statues, the second group had not encountered any of the pillar machines thus far. But that didn’t really help since they were busy having trouble against the first foe. Teztcal was growing more reckless as the battles continued. He even managed to miss a swipe completely and slash himself with his own claw.
Teztcal also managed to smash into the generator in the center of the room they continued fighting more statues in. And as was becoming normal for them now, it turned on with a rumble. But this time, something else happened too. The heat from the material at the center of the metal maze was shrinking. And Engelique deduced that these machines were actually making this place more safe by being activated.
After they at long last defeated these statues Engelique told the party that she needed to take a breather. But that rest was the moment that Trent was waiting for. He was still not cool with her as a person. Not after she had slaughtered countless people and drained their life for her selfish aims. He cast a sunbeam on her. An extremely powerful spell that he hoped would catch her by surprise.
She counterspelled his attack with ease. Engelique was more annoyed than anything. Trent however had some hostile words for her. Knowing that he was likely to attack again, and calling out his foolishness given where they were, Engelique froze time on herself to get the rest she needed. And it erased any fatigue she felt for due to using such a powerful artifact.
Wrap Up
The second group has increased hostility now as Trent had made his intentions known. But is he acting foolishly considering that Engelique’s best friend, lover, and Mythril Adventurer who is above the law is nearby? And what about the Orcs? It is highly unlikely that the party’s intrusion has gone unnoticed.