Centrum Glacies Session 138: Psychic Vampire
Week 138 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party discovers that Olanna is the Psychic Vampire Queen.
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!!!
Within Olanna’s Lair, the party fought against her revealed Demon form. She was now a many armed Marilith. And the haste inducing clock was still hanging on the wall. It cast haste on her, and naturally doubled her already sizable threat. Doubling her potential strikes including her tail from 7 to 14 different attacks.
The golem rushed in to try and strike her. But Olanna was too durable and tough for it to scratch. She was a Demon and it was not. The attacks bounced off and harmlessly passed through her. Though she parried a one of the strikes for the sake of showmanship.
Kisara attempted to cast some of her new artificer spells. Unfortunately, though she was a Dragon born from the very cave where the rest of party had gained the ability to turn back Human, she lacked a Demon form of her own. She was stuck when it came to harming Olanna.
Not wanting to be a liability in this fight, she had one last trick. Kisara cast a sanctuary spell on herself and backs away. This wasn’t a fight that she could meaningfully contribute toward. It was better for her to remain in the back.
Demon Against Demon
Jyona and Teztcal joined Trent. They transformed into Demons to fight Olanna. And they matched her power. Obrom meanwhile provided support from the outskirts of the fight. One of the bard’s insults seemed to have struck a nerve. He earned an immediate reaction from the Witch turned Demon and earned a spell cast at his face as a reward.
Unfortunately for the party, the clock had another trick. Now that it lacked a target to enhance with Haste, it revealed it was capable of the opposite. It began stripping away the party’s multiple hastes by casting slow on them one by one. Still, the party had three powerful fighters and Olanna was all alone.
Trent knocked her down. His fury towards the Cult of Obsideon was unmatched by the rest of the group. He was here to kill Olanna and head towards Jak-Rath to do the same. But she wasn’t out of tricks either. The Marilith teleported into the center of the lair once more. This time she congratulated them for being able to keep up with her before. Just as she shifted back to her Witch form.
The Queen Psychic Vampire
Teztcal realized something crazy while Olanna talked to the rest. That entire battle had been inside their heads. And as the Dragon looked towards, the Witch seeing that she didn’t have a single sign of harm confirmed his worst fears.
But his worst fears were nothing compared to the truth. The Witch revealed herself as the Psychic Vampire Queen. Zinbella was essentially one of her spawn. And that one was not lacking in power of her own.
Showing frightening confidence Olanna welcomed the party to try and hurt her at all. She stood arms out and made no move to avoid any weapons, spells, or projectiles. Nothing the party did worked on her.
Obrom came up with a crazy idea. Realizing that she was warping everyone’s perception, he decided that perhaps he should try “taking his life” to “wake up”. He tried to slice his own neck open with his rapier, but the weapon dissolved into dust before ever touching his skin.
Against their Own Minds
Jyona tried to use her Rakshasa’s True Sight. She tried her best to see through the illusion. But this method didn’t help her pierce the Psychic Vampire’s influence If anything, it proved just how powerful she was Because Jyona didn’t see her in one place She was moving constantly. The best way the Half-Elf could understand it was that her mind was being twisted to the point where her perception of time was off.
Trent was ready to fight, and rushed towards her. But he missed his swings only hitting air. This prompted her to taunt him, pointing out that he fought her in vain. But she was capable of much more. She deemed that he was worthy of a demonstration.
She snapped her fingers and Trent’s mind traveled through the last few weeks of his life. Backwards. Like he was watching some skit play out. She snapped her fingers again and this time, he traveled forward through those same memories. Only this time, he viewed those two weeks through Teztcal’s eyes. And felt all of his senses, thoughts and perceptions.
The experience completely scrambled his mind. The Druid tried his best to assert any standing authority he had within his own mind. He snapped at her to stay out of his mind. Naturally, as she was in a position of power, she did not comply.
Outmatched
Instead, she pointed out that she wasn’t done demonstrating what she was capable of. She seized control of Trent’s muscles and nervous system. And she plucked his pain receptors like he was a harp. He refused to scream out in pain. That was his only act of defiance left. Then again, his muscles prevented him from screaming anyway.
The Psychic Vampire Queen turned to Jyona next. Except the Half-Elf didn’t rise in any way. She understood quickly that this was all just a game to Olanna and that giving her any reaction at all was what she wanted. So she remained silent. Content to observe and learn what she could about this enemy.
Teztcal attempted to turn back into his true Dragon form and breathe in a direction. Unfortunately, much like with Obrom, his attack not only failed to hit her, but transformed into harmless bubbles. Worse, the world shifted back for him how it had been before. Teztcal might have been highly resistant to his perception of reality being toyed with, but against a telepath of her strength, he was powerless. So powerless in fact that he hadn’t even shifted into his Dragon form at all. Nothing had happened in that time span.
Begging without Begging
Trent felt his muscles relax enough to speak again. So he used the opportunity to use diplomacy. Though anger still laced his voice. He asked why someone as powerful as her worked with the Cult of Obsideon. She didn’t answer. Instead she offered “the key to killing Jak’roth”
She explained that her power allowed her to tap into the minds of every single person on the Abyssal Continent. After all, how else had she maintained this graveyard illusion? The druid demanded information on the mad scientist despite her almost completely offering to tell him about anyone in the entire country. Then again, he wasn’t in a negotiating position in the first place.
She let slip some information about the rift forming between Jak-Rath’s faction and the rest of the Cult of Obsidian. Given how much control she had over this entire interaction, the Druid saw it as another series of taunts. She was telling him all this because she didn’t care. They were a non factor to her and learning all these things had no effect on any of her schemes.
He got fed up with her and just stated “Die.” Unfortunately the coldness and seriousness of those words meant nothing. Trent tried to will his claws to strike the Psychic Vampire but her hold on his nerves was too strong. But the Druid couldn’t even move much less formulate a plan against her.
Digging for Answers
Giving up the endeavor he used the only muscles and nerves that she allowed. He asked more questions. “Why do we not join forces then?” She laughed at him. “Where was that hatred towards the Cult of Obsidian that he hated so much?”
Blustered and frustrated, Trent asked her about if Teztcal was a spy planted in the party to cause trouble. Olanna laughed at these accusations. She called Teztcal far too stupid to be a spy. He was a liability for basically everyone. She took things further and dropped an insane piece of information. The Cult of Obsidian, with her urging had been the reason that Teztcal currently believed he was a God. They had let him find a book that made him the way he was while he wandered the Abyssal Desert.
The witch stated that she had made 6 total Psychic Vampires, turning the conversation in another direction. She mentioned Zinbella as one and mentioned and another who had rogue. The youngest of them all specifically. Meanwhile, the other 4 had been present here the entire time, watching.
She vanished and the lair melted away with her. In its place, the party find themselves in a dungeon. And a twisting series of hallways at that. Olanna teased them one last time. The 4 remaining Psychic Vampires were hungry. And the party would be their dinner. While she promised that no permanent harm would come to them she also informed them that nothing they saw, smelled, felt, tasted, touched, or heard would be real in this place.
Another Psychic Vampire
A voice the party didn’t recognize spoke into their minds. “I desire an emotion. The emotion of fear” What happened next seemed to lead towards that outcome. A monster appeared from nowhere in several directions. Intellect Devourers specifically. And given how close Kisara had been to becoming brain food the last time the party had fought these creatures, she among the others had reason to be afraid.
Trent, caught up in rage, and his mind still not fully working properly fumbled an attack greatly. Instead of hitting one of the Intellect Devourers, he destroyed his own Fire Spirit. This weakened his combat power and he couldn’t summon another one to bolster his power without shifting back out of this form.
Trent was tired of this. And frustrated in equal measure. Certainly not afraid though which he made clear. “Enough of your games, Olanna.” But it wasn’t the Witch who responded. The unnamed Psychic Vampire clarified that these creatures were not of her Queen’s creation. The Intellect Devourers were from her power.
Shifting Battlefield
As the battle went on, the dungeon melded again. And into an entirely new dungeon. Obrom who was within a wall was expelled from it and took damage. He had tried to avoid the monsters. To him the game was clear and the only way to win was to not participate.
Trent got stunned by one of the Intellect Devourers But his mind was still his own. Or at least he thought it was. These were Psychic Vampires he was fighting after all. But he focused on happy thoughts. His friends and his forest mattered far more than any fear he felt in this place. If he couldn’t defeat Olanna and her spawn, he could at least deny them the emotions they savored.
After another short time, the dungeon shifted again. And once more anyone caught in the walls was violently ejected. This time around the group was split up too. And there was no clear way for them to reach one another.
Wrap Up
The party is having a tough time with just one Psychic Vampire. And according to Olanna, there are three more just waiting their turn to “play” with the party. Its clear they are in over their heads. But by how much?