Sapphire:Sessions:20180505
Back in Ridell on Dark Days 3 around 9pm, Shawna stresses that "Emmy" must maintain a humanoid form if she is to learn and grow as a person. Emmy claims she can't do that in the real world. Chalker muses that perhaps she could animate some form of golem.
Shawna says she'll be leaving Ridell; "I've got a war to run." Chalker says "I want to see a gate" and persuades Shawna to go with him. We go to the known gate; Shawna plugs in the crystals and the gate activates. She draws her sword and steps through into a small museum, windowless but well-lit with lanterns. On display are various artifacts such as vases and jewelry. The gate they came through is the centerpiece of a recreation of a shrine to a Third Chosen of Santash who was active 1500 years ago.
Chalker steps through and shivers involuntarily. Shawna lays her finger on her lips in a 'shh' gesture. People can be heard speaking conversationally a few rooms away.
Shawna feels Damarot questing for her and allows herself to be contacted. "There are those in need, and your seal is present... A village is in danger from a cavern complex that my priests have been clearing, and we would ask you to check your seal, as it is slipping... This is in the northern mountains beyond the Calventine Empire, in the frontier beyond the country of Groket... Are you able to assist?" Shawna, though puzzled, consents to go.
Damarot links the gate to the death realms, and Shawna and Chalker step through into the Deadlands. Before them is ana rolling plain scattered with boulders. Leading the way is a floating lantern with a ghostly bluish glow. Chalker sees eerie shapes all around. Shawna murmurs, "This place can cause death visions." She touches his arm reassuringly and the ghostly shapes flee.
They approach a looming mass that resolves into an altar to Damarot, and the floating lantern reveals its bearer, a translucent image of Dar. Shawna and Chalker step through the altar into a makeshift shrine, housed in a circus-style tent; there is an elaborate altar and two incense burners. Two female priests of Dar lean against the tent poles. In separate areas are two shrines to Charesoon, the Mother of Night.
A tall man steps in front of them. His hair is black and his eyes are gray; his skin is the color of cinnamon. He is clad in leathers, wears a coiled whip at his belt, and strapped to his back is a hand-and-a-half sword. He introduces himself as Kimley and calls himself a necro-hunter. He explains that we are in a "cavern complex" near the city of Tinsom Hot Springs in the Solon Valley in the Kingdom of Groket. The priests of Damarot have established a small military base here. Kimley and his men have "cleared out" at least six powerful necromancers.
Originally some locals stumbled upon this place; many parties of adventurers have since come here, and many of those people have been killed by a variety of creatures, traps, and "Mother's Children." (It seems the city has opportunistically widened and improved the road and made quite a good income selling supplies and mounts to these wannabe explorers. Shawna makes a note to visit ill-fortune upon the greedy, pitiless bastards.)
Two dwarves armed with battleaxes (Rorf Greatedge and Tortoc Fiendeater) flank us as Kimley leads us a steel-banded door set in a stone wall. Shawna's seal is set upon its lock. Shawna knows it is hers, set by her hand, but she has no memory of having done so. Chalker can't quite see through the door itself; it has a 'spiritual block' that counters spells such as Glass Wall as well as Chalker's Penetrating Vision. There is an obvious crack like a keyhole in the seal, and when Shawna and Chalker peer through they see a dimly-lit room containing a naked, wrinkled humanoid only three feet tall. They get a horrendous, creepy feeling, and they both seem to see small squiggly things moving from left to right inside the door. Kimley calls them "portal worms" or "portal threads".
Shawna removes the seal. Two large worms (18" diameter) with sharp teeth leap out at them. Shawna dodges W1 and heads for the humanoid. Chalker chops W1 half through; it's like cutting into a thick rope.
Chalker chops at W1 again, but it phases. From the humanoid Shawna gets a sense of Chaos and a hint of the Mother of Night. "For Damarot!" she cries and slices deep into its neck. W2 has been engaged by Greatedge and Fiendeater. Kimley chops into W1. W1 tries to bite Chalker and misses; at the same time, it wraps its lower body around Kimley.
Shawna jabs her sword into the humanoid's body and rips upward. W1's cuts start healing; it constricts around Kimley and strikes at Chalker. Kimley begins praying aloud. Chalker jabs his sword into W1's mouth; the worm collapses into what looks like a large tangle of black yarn. W2 collapses similarly.
Chalker sees, 12" behind one wall, another wall painted with a mural of a large city. He points it out to Kimley. Shawna says it reminds her of a human city extant near Helm's Deep at the start of the current age. Another wall conceals racks of weapons. Shawna directs Kimley to perform an autopsy on the humanoid.
Shawna and Chalker cross the room to a door. Chalker peers through into a finished hallway. After some exploration Shawna opens a door into a study. The lamps light and the illusion of a man fades in, greeting them in Elven and naming himself Lumen. Shawna: "Whose dwelling is this?" Lumen: "Selleck, an honored devotee of the Mother of Night... He is 'mostly' alive... He collects and studies the children... A pact was made between Selleck and the Mother of Night's 'sponsor'."
Chalker investigates another room that has a mummified woman lying on a bed. As he enters, the mummy sits up, says "I'm better... I am Nilene and I greet you." Chalker: "I feel greeted." Nilene: "I will reward you with a kiss." Chalker nopes out, and the mummy lies back down.
Shawna discovers a shrine to Charesoon with a small urn hidden in the back of a carved chair. Chalker: "Mother, are you aware of what's going on here?" Voice: "Mostly..." Shawna picks up the urn to examine it, and a dire wolf materializes, with bright red eyes, yellow fangs, barbed tail, and a spine-shivering growl. Shawna breaks the urn, raising a cloud of ash, and draws her sword. The wolf's claw attack misses her, and she shoves her armored left forearm between its teeth. Chalker lands a good blow on its head which bleeds, but the blade slides off its hide. He chops at its rear and is parried by the tail. Shawna runs her sword into its throat. It shakes its head but fails to dislodge her, then claws at her and misses. Chalker parries a blow from the tail which bends his sword. Shawna sets her sword's point against its left eye and shoves it in. Chalker drives his sword into its gut and it dies.
As Shawna tends to her arm, Chalker addresses the air, "Why did you do that?" No answer, but he has a hunch that his intent was misinterpreted.
Shawna sees something beneath the altar's dedicatory plaque, giving off 'spiritual confusion/insanity'. She takes the shrine apart and inside is a smaller shrine to Aaoo and some medallions of Asseraah that have been "prayed over intensely". Chalker feels a spiritual attempt to suck him in. He reaches out to Aaoo and makes a tentative connection. Chalker: "Are you okay, Sweetie?" Voice: "I've been worse but I'll get more awful pretty soon. Who are you?" A probe tries to absorb Chalker's consciousness but some other force blows the probe away.
The medallions have all the earmarks of Asseraah but is somehow different. Chalker reaches out to Asseraah. "Yes." "Father?" "Wayward son... Reality is multi-layered and sometimes it overlaps." "Do you know what's going on?" "Mostly.... You have the chaos, I would appear if you get the darkness."
A wind (sent by Delsa) at Shawna's back directs her toward a blank wall, which Chalker opens. The corridor beyond leads them to an archway with a silvery, watery surface, like some kind of portal. Shawna walks through, followed by Chalker, into a mausoleum. A coffin rests upon a bier. Shawna opens the coffin lid; inside is a wax dummy that looks like Lumen with a jar above the head. A voice says, "You've returned.... I pecked my way out.... I am Selleck."
Shawna is now pushed toward a blank wall, behind which is a closet-sized space containing an 18" tall jar with a wax seal. An image of Selleck says "Fire works." Chalker's fire sword ignites and pushes down against a force pushing up from the floor. The jar is made of clay and is closed with a magic wax seal, two spells, and three prayers (to Aaoo, Asseraah, and Cor). Shawna breaks the seal, the pressure disappears, and the image of Selleck shimmers away. Now they are in the Dreamlands. Selleck says, "I beg mercy."
Chalker calls to Emmy, who asks him, "Who's your friend?" "He's an enemy. ... Help Shawna remember what she forgot."
Selleck starts to draw a knife but is easily disarmed. "Because of my support, my imprisonment was a compromise... among Solash, Santash, Yasseph... with Delsa's Voice as the expression. Asseraah, Aaoo, and Aup had some concern for me. ... I'm just a pawn... I beg mercy, I'm harmless!"
Chalker: "Take a very, very good look at me." Selleck: "Oh, crap. You don't have a message for me, do you?" Chalker: "If I did, you might have a chance. They all have concern for me, except --" Selleck: "If those stupid priests of Damarot hadn't come here, if I'd had more time, I could have gotten out."
Invoking Damarot, Shawna upends the jar. With grim pleasure, the deity of Death claims Selleck's soul.
The jar in the coffin is planar magic which Selleck had been using to eat away at Shawna's seal.
Kimley and four priests come in and begin a cleansing ritual. Kimley says the gnomelike humanoid was a halfling mage whose body had been twisted and shrunk into a vile, genderless form.
When Shawna and Chalker return to Ridell, it is around 3:00am on Dark Days 4. The mansion housing the portal is in an ultra-rich section of town and belongs to a merchant, Baron Croton Poronton.
The group returns to Sapphire. Chalker takes the medallions to the temple of Asseraah. "You weren't mad, and I wasn't laughing too much. I brought you these medallions. These are yours, aren't they?" A priest holds out his hand, saying "Thank you for returning them." Chalker: "Keep working on that 'darkness' part."
Back on the street, Chalker obtains directions to a shrine of Charesoon. An old crone is seated near the shrine; two deformed puppies are playing nearby. "Mother, I want to talk to you." The crone changes into a beautiful woman with alabaster skin and jet-black hair. She avers that "Asseraah is my sponsor from time to time." Chalker: "Why not Phor?" Charesoon, coyly: "You have to keep your spouse interested." Chalker: "You win, I'm done." Charesoon: "You make an interesting part of the choosers."
As Chalker walks away, Jax falls in beside him. "You can be a very good distraction for my mother. Mensep would be p*ssed if she killed you... I'm sure you noticed, she did not choose a pet that could have killed you.... I will be honest, I'm not sure what she was doing." Chalker: "She was scattershooting. Shawna and I did what she wanted us to do." Jax: "She's in her 'keeping up appearances' mode." Chalker: "Will you become irrelevant when your brother comes back?" Jax: "Some of the First Chosen do resent my existence..."
Chalker makes sure to tell Shawna, "You were impressive."