Centrum Glacies Session 156: Nine Days Part 3
Week 156 of the Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues as the party finally take a chance to relax over the course of 9 days. This part three of their mini vacation.
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!!!
Due to Jyona’s last ditch effort to escape with the captured Rulf Mane, the corrupt Guard Captain as well as her fairy companion Midnight faced off against a Shadow Dragon. The creature was not happy that the group had entered the Ethereal Plane.
Rulf was confused on why Jyona had taken them here. Obviously Zrin was a much safer bet than coming into the Ethereal Plane. At least in the city, only the Half Elf would have been in danger. Here they were both about to be a Dragon’s meal unless they worked together. He made sure she knew that after this she wouldn’t be getting out of trouble.
The soldier dropped his armor and weapons. Turned out that those things were just for show. Instead, he summoned a mug from a magic ring. When things got tough, it appeared that Rulf used his fists. He fought like a Monk, specifically a Drunken Master at that.
The Artificer didn’t want to fight. In fact she wanted out of this situation and not just because she didn’t trust Rulf not to try and harm her in the battle. She tried to convince the Shadow Dragon to join Teztcal. It saw through the charade immediately and attacked.
The fight didn’t last long though. Especially with Midnight being able to draw on even a small part of her former power. Knowing it was beaten, the Shadow Dragon fled.
Half Answers
With a moment of calm, Jyona revealed why she had attacked and captured Rulf. She demanded to know why he was shaking down the orphanage in the Demon Quarter. The Guard Captain laughed in her face. He mocked her for doing something so stupid over something she didn’t understand.
Specifically, that the reason he was “shaking her down.” was because he owned the building. Rulf was the orphanage’s land lord. And the Matron hadn’t paid him. So he had taken some soldiers with to make sure she understood what would happen if she didn’t pay soon.
Rulf had more to say. He reminded the half-elf who the matron is associated with: Mythril Adventurer Persephine. Still, while his words were true, Jyona saw through his word choice and realized that there was something he was not saying. Some other piece of information that changed the meaning of his words.
But she needed to stew on it for now. After all, her spell to take them into the Ethereal Plane was something she could do one time a day. So the three, would be trapped there for 24 hours. An entire day in a place where everything would be hostile. Compared to that, wanting to know the criminal activities of a corrupt soldier was minor. All of that become minor as well, when a new threat appeared. And it spoke to them.
Outside the Ethereal Plane
Trent meanwhile was frantically flying around looking for Jyona. She and Rulf had vanished. And the Druid wasn’t the only one looking. The Zrin Soldiers had noticed an odd situation and had started their own search. Trent needed to find her first.
Meanwhile, oblivious to everything going on in Zrin, the Dragons Teztcal and Kisara rested. They had no idea that Jyona had dared use them as threats against another Dragon.
Back in Zrin, Obrom decided to investigate the Golden Hands area of the city. He didn’t know what the others were up to and decided to try and find any other problems in the city.
Naturally the the Golden Hands were not gonna let him just waltz into their lair. He wasn’t even a Platinum Adventurer and lacked the same level of clout. Most importantly of course, Obrom was currently a Demon. The Golden Hands had plenty of reasonable reasons to deny him access.
The Bard tried another tactic. He asked why the Golden Hands didn’t work with the Underwheel to make more profit for them both. Of course this group had no intention of working with the other group. They told Obrom to fuck off and get out of their sight.
He kept trying to negotiate with the guards. All of his different tactics and words failed of course. And all it succeeded in was making the Golden Hands Grunts more likely to commit violence. Shown clearly when they drew their weapons, with other Golden Hands Archers with their longer range prepared to fire on a single word.
Threats
Seeing that his words were failing, Obrom turned to counter their threats with those of his own. Hew made an outrageous claim. Not one, not two, but three Dragons would come to his aid and make the Golden Hands suffer for getting in his way. A lie of course. Two of those Dragons hated him. As for the third well… There wasn’t one.
The guards grew a little worried at those words. After all, Obrom was pretty skilled at lying. They asked him to clarify who those Dragons were. After all, Teztcal had already charged in here once In fact he had come in here twice and done serious damage the second time, but The Golden Hands didn’t know that he was the Demon that had rampaged through several of their soldiers.
They didn’t know much about Kisara but assumed that she was at least a Dragon dangerous enough to need their leaders to deal with. Still, that didn’t answer who the third Dragon was. Unfortunate as Obrom hadn’t thought this lie through very well. So as a quick answer and to try and push to other topics, he claimed “he” was the Dragon.
Still the combination of words made the Golden Hands concerned enough to react. The soldiers agreed to call one of their leaders out to talk to him. In exchange he would not be allowed in. In fact if he took a single step forward they would attack. And any hostility would prevent any communication with their leader.
But it was exactly what Obrom wanted. He was pleased with this outcome and was more than happy to wait for one of their leaders to speak to him directly.
Elwindith
After some time where he waited patiently, a pale looking High Elf emerged from one of the buildings. She begrudgingly spoke to Obrom. And once she figured out who he was, she chastised the guards for antagonizing a golden adventurer. Especially one in cahoots with several Platinum Ranked ones.
The The Elf introduced herself as Elwindith. And she had no time for his games. She told him to cut the bullshit and tell her straight up why he was here and what he wanted.
Obrom tried to offer to join them. She hit him with an immediate no, stated her distrust, and shooed him away.
The Bard had other ideas. And he simply needed her to stay talking to him. He offered to eliminate their competition. Elwindith declined again as it would be bad for business.
He continued to fumble over his words and Elwindith lost what little patience remained. She told him to kick rocks, but he still tried, clearly in vain at this point, to keep her talking to him.
Failure to Leave
The Bard tried one final time. A last ditch effort to get Elwindith’s attention. He tried offering intel on the Orcs. Turned out that was not the right thing to share. She told him that such information would be fatal for future business. The guards once again trained their weapons on Obrom. The Golden Hand’s leader gave him a final “be gone”.
“I feel sorry for you guys” Obrom said as he left. He seemed intent to have the last bite in their passive aggression battle of words.
But Elwindith got the last word in. She heard him as he walked away. And in response she retorted that he was doing nothing more than projecting his own insecurities onto them. And poorly at that.
Trent was watching from the skies the entire time and let out a birdly sigh of relief as he saw Obrom begin to leave Unfortunately as soon as he looked away the Bard decided to turn back. His next question wasn’t any better than the others. He wanted to know the history of the Golden Hands and how they were founded.
The only response he earned was another firm no and weapons trained on him once more. This time one let an arrow fly past his head. And then another did the same.
The Price of Chaos
Trent hearing the sounds of arrows flew down to unshift. He needed to Obrom away from the Golden Hands before this conflict turned violent. The Bard begrudgingly agreed to leave and followed Trent. The Druid stated he had no interest in solving the conflict between the two Thieves Guilds despite Obrom’s interest in it.
But the trouble Obrom had caused brought with it almost immediate consequences. As soon as the two had left the Golden Hands territory, an Orc guard approached them and told the two that Wurthu wanted to meet with them right away.
The two approached the center of the city to meet with Wurthu. The Orc wanted to know why Obrom was poking around the Golden Hands. Trent wanted to know as well. Obrom tried to explain his stance, pointing out that the groups clearly had suspicious things going on. But Wurthu immediately scolded him for kicking the hornet’s nest essentially.
Obrom was right of course that the place was suspicious. The problem of course that the party needed to not go to such places. It was obvious to all of them that the Vampires were involved in that place. The party needed to leave them alone for now.
Vampires
Trent was far more worried about the two Dragons kicking nests more than Obrom. Wurthu had words to explain why that wasn’t so. “Teztcal’s stupidity is so caustic it chases the vampires away.”
Both Jyona and Obrom were alike in a key way due to both of them lacking the important wisdom to know how to navigate all the political intrigue that kept snatching them up. Specifically both of them thought about whether they could do something while ignoring whether they should have.
Obrom could have died if Trent had not intervened. Jyona meanwhile was stuck in the dangerous Ethereal Plane for 24 hours.
Wurthu did mention that Obrom’s actions had earned them something important. He now had enough evidence to suggest that Elwindith might be a vampire. Specifically one of the ones that they were ultimately looking for.
Trent grew frustrated and worried about that piece of information. He feared the whole city would be Vampires before long if the infestation was not rooted out. The Orc reassured him that these Vampires have been active for centuries and yet they haven’t taken over yet. At least not openly. There was something else going on.
Trent speculated on who the main overlord of those vampires might have been. But even Wurthu didn’t have any idea who it might have been. They were that secretive. As far as the Guilds were concerned, for the sake of peace, the Orc could not show any favoritism towards either Guild within the city.
Wurthu’s Secret
Trent asked Wurthu how he was able to surveil the city so well without moving around. He answered that not only did he have agents all over the city, he had a second method. But he couldn’t show them that even here in the center of town. But he was willing to demonstrate what he was talking about elsewhere.
The three plus Violet who remained silent, rode up to a higher point in the terrace. Wurthu activated a shield beyond the one he normally used to block out outside eyes and ears. Next, he swore them to secrecy as what he was about to show is Orc technology. Wurthu’s image flickered. And the Orc revealed that what they were talking to right now was a projection. They had never spoken with the real him in fact.
To prove this point, a second projection of the orc appeared. And the two talked in sync. Trent made a passing comment about Jyona would have been salivating at such tech. Wurthu agreed he would never show her as she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut.
Obrom apologized for stepping out of line. Wurthu accepted the apology and wished he could get the dragons to behave themselves as easily. The Orc excuses himself and vanishes as the lift on the terrace takes them back down.
Obrom then went on to apologize to Trent and explained that he is frustrated with everything involving Jak-rath. Their discussion turned to Jyona and where the hell she since she was. Since neither of them had any idea where she had gone, it seemed best to find her. Once again before the soldiers who were looking for Rulf found them all.
Searching for Jyona
Obrom picked up on a faint trace of magic coming from the location where Jyona disappeared. The three arrived at the location and there was no Jyona in sight. If they had possessed true sight, they would have seen their missing frends and ther mutual enemy dealing with a new problem.
The conversation turned a bit comical when Obrom wondered if perhaps they had disappeared so she could have some privacy with him. Trent stated that wasn’t something she would do. She seemed furious at the soldier in fact. Then again she was recently at a brothel. Who knew what was going on in her head.
Trent dragged Obrom to the Guild Hall so they could have a more private conversation. And more importantly so the guards couldn’t overhear. Trent explained that he and Jyona went after Guard Captan Rulf to confront him about shaking down the Demon Child Orphanage. The plan had gone awry and now the Druid had no idea what had happened to Jyona or Rulf.
The Night Hag
Jyona watched as the newcomer came closer. A hideous crone who had spoken rather than threaten was talking more about how they were trapped in a bad situation. Jyona feared that this was one of Persephine’s Witches, once more trying to harm the Half Elf. But Midnight, who knew the Ethereal Plane better than her, called the creature what it was A Night Hag.
The Night Hag introduced herself with lots of bravado. With over the time language that clashed with her hideous appearance, she told them that for the time being she was protecting them from countless other monsters that were trying to get them. But she could release her protection at any time. With this threat hovering over them, she tried to get Jyona and Rulf to play along with her game.
Yet Jyona had dealt with tons of tricksters like this creature. She tells the Night Hag that she can skip to the deal. The Half-Elf has no time for these games. Growing bored with Jyona, the Night Hag turned to Rulf, who as a soldier and captain, had no interest in making deals with such a creature.
As the Night Hag insisted on the bravado leading up to deals, she turned to the only other one present. She recognized Midnight as an Archfey, or former Archfey as she mentioned that she knew all about what had happened to the Feywild. And she had information about things related to it.
Midnight who also was the sort of being who made deals where she had the advantage, played along. Game recognized game after all. The Night Hag was pleased with that and after moving threw her grand speeches, she moved to what all three actually cared about: What she wanted.
A Contract
The deal ended up being the three of them being rescued from the Ethereal Plane and sent back to where they were originally from. In exchange, the Night Hag wanted an accurate telling of what had destroyed the Feywild. Knowing that this was clearly an unfair deal, and the Night Hag looked right at Midnight as she said those words, she would also offer a tidbit about The Feywild’s odd relationship with Jyona’s world.
Ready to complete the deal, the Night Hag summoned a physical contract. Jyona and Midnight both read the terms over carefully, while Rulf refused to even tough such an obviously dangerous item. Jyona saw no issues with the wording. But Midnight who was a master of making tricky deals herself caught something important. She would have been sent to her plane of origin. And the Feywild was destroyed. She wouldn’t survive this deal.
After the contract was fixed, Midnight signs it. She did not harbor any animosity towards the Night Hag, as she had certainly pulled similar tricks on others. Instead she take on her end of this bargain and began telling the tragedy. All while the hag held the Ethereal Plane’s monsters at bay.
The Dragon’s Plan
Back in the Dragon’s Cave Kisara finished making a Box of Holding. The two Dragons would have no trouble keeping their loot here and properly protecting it. Teztcal meanwhile was working on making this cave their own. That meant lighting up the lair with his “shadow” breath.
The Sphinx as the steward of this place asked them both about what they were up to. Unlike most things Teztcal said, he was pretty clear on his intentions this time. Meanwhile Kisara made it clear that she was just going to continue crafting this for a while. Nothing else was on her agenda. Content with these answers, the Sphinx didn’t bother them further.
Teztcal then went to find a boulder big enough to block the cave entrance as his “door”. He encased one he finds and places in that same “shadow” breath. Above the entrance to his lair he carved “BEWARE” with his breath in Draconic. Which happened to be a language that a majority living in the area could not read or understand.
Content with his work, he headed back inside. The two Dragons had no intention of leaving this place until the day of the wedding. Which might have been a good thing for Zrin.
Wrap Up
6 Days remain until the wedding. And the party remains split up both physically and emotionally. All the while, the Night Hag has some important tidbit that has yet to be shared. What would be such an astounding revelation that she was willing to give up as extra in exchange for knowledge about the destruction of an entire world?