Asynchronous Combat

There were no signs of anyone on the heroes’ journey into the depths. After getting separated from the group, Livius, Nahk, Sora, and Casimir wander around until they find someone lost. A knapsack and scattered scribbled notes are the only sign of life that they have found, aside from this creature. Once a man, no doubt, but now stretched beyond normal proportions, its limbs become scythes. Another creature, also once a person, staggered in, seeking to feed. It managed to mangle Nahk and take the bugbear down, but was felled by Casimir’s witchbolt.

The three wandered until they stumbled upon Rho, protecting her friends after the horrors they had undergone, which were as follows: Once trapped in the bubble, Hobbes was surrounded by the lonely monster that had taken Nahk’s form and the three worm infested humanoids. Mallory banished them quickly as the monster started just harpooning everyone. But somehow they managed. Rho understandably was quite suspicious when Livius entered the chamber, conceptualizing the party sub, a discussion I imagine Nahk was very into.

Sliding Doors

Once they settled everything, the gang wandered for another six hours before finding a cavern that was not like the others. Rather than the strangely sterile environment of the underground, this cavern was alive with glowing purple mushrooms.

Mallory approached a statue in the center of a pond, when he heard a voice speak in his head, telling him to retrieve the book. The statue suddenly transformed into a creature made of worms and stepped forward to attack. The monster told Mallory that he would never have it, speaking in a voice that was not the one he had been following the whole time. Mallory with foresight was able to banish the creature away, along with the book it held, while great hulking beasts sprang an attack on the heroes. Livius was able to sap away the strength of one, while Nahk, Casimir and Hobbes cornered the other. 

Once they were done, Mallory watched the statue, within the darkness, a reflection of his own face changing over and over, to slightly different forms. As Mallory stood hypnotized, the voice returned to his head again, and The Unspeakable One said, “You have failed. You have lost the book.”

Mallory realized he had let the creature be banished too long and looked around at his friends. The looks of betrayal were clear upon their faces, as they had all been led down into the depths to retrieve this tome, a tome they thought Mallory so desperately needed, even defying the Kodama’s subtle but not so subtle warning of the runestone turning black. Drained of resources, haunted by  the images of friends bursting with worms, and feeling betrayed, the others used Rho’s magic to return to the PS Admirable Effort. But once there, Mallory could see with his mind’s eye destruction upon the ship, another creature, the Unspeakable One, killing his friends and employees and the Alchemist.

He spent weeks and months and years down in the depths of Embara. The wars outside the demiplane were beyond his interest. He lay withered and alone, feeding on the corpses of the hulking spawn beyond the stars and the strange mushrooms. One day a rift opened in the cavern beneath the water. When he stepped down, he was surrounded by the darkness of the void, engulfed and alone. The Seer returned to him, the beast he had banished so long ago.

“I knew you were unworthy. Take these notes from my hand.” And Mallory, with his last bit of effort, reached for the book. But when he opened the pages, it was impossible to understand. Every word he read immediately left his memory. 

“Pathetic,” said the Seer in the Depths and ended Mallory’s life.

But then he returned to the present. The vision at last snapped back at him, and his powers of divination pulled him through. His magic was able even to thwart the Unspeakable One’s games. But he knew the strange creature played an even deeper game, one that Mallory had to win, one that he could only win with his friends.

Mallory dropped the banishment spell. Time came surging back and the Seer in the Depths stepped through Mallory, unleashing a violent psychic blast that knocked everyone back. Another blast kept the heroes away as the Seer focused his efforts on trying to kill Mallory, to prevent him from winning the book. But with a snick-and-a-snack and a brrrrap brrrrrap brrrrrap, Casimir was able to fell the Seer in the Depths, its constituent worms returning to the pool. The heroes in their fear and anger and confusion went to stomp out the worms, leaving the pool a gory bloody mess.

Cleanup

Casimir immediately seized the book to keep it from Mallory, but ultimately the wizard got his wish. No madness overtook him as he feared, and the Unspeakable One spoke again: “You have won the book. It is written so you may understand.”

Indeed it was written by mortal hand. Or perhaps immortal hand, for its author appeared to be undead, based on the contents of the letter.

As the heroes waited with bated breath to see what would become of Mallory as he pored through the book, a strange sound caught the attention of one of the heroes. A morningstar appeared on the shore of the pool, covered in the blood of the Seer of the Depths. It hummed with an usual glow. The hero picked it up, and after some arcana checks from the wizards, it was determined that the item was not cursed or anything and is just a reward for a job well done, good work, gang.

Surfacing

On the way back up from the depths of Embara, Nahk was able to perfectly retrace their steps. Again, the quiet was eerie and strange. After the suddenness of the violence below, the peace on the return trip was not reassuring but unsettling. Hobbes and Rho still suffered from trust issues with the others due to the worm creatures taking on those disguises. During their long rest (take a long rest) by the cave pool beneath that impossibly tall ladder, which was the most obviously safe place to take a long rest, the heroes had an uneasy sleep, nightmares plaguing them all, as Rho soothed them with kind words and Casimir gently purred after his four hour catnap.

The heroes recalled, on the way up through the quarry tunnels, that the cultists had spoken of others who had gone down, years and years ago, to summon their god, the Unspeakable One. But of course, when they reached the very ultimate depths of Embara, there were no cultists to speak of, only the sorrowful remnants of sentient creatures, and the creatures from the darkness of space, like the Seer and their minions. Had the cultists succeeded? Had any of them managed to summon their god?

Fire Fest, or You fools, this is a zone 3 island! It’s not over!

When they arrived on the shore, they still saw the worms covering the island. The cultists they had disposed of were still there being consumed by the worms. In the distance, the People’s Ship Admirable Effort was ablaze, hundreds of feet from the shore. And though the heroes had retrieved the tome from the depths and defeated the Sorrows, it seemed that their sorrows were not done with them.

Your special order things from Osteros are done! I think it was Nahk and Mallory? Hope you remember!

Natalya’s letter: Interpretations of the Many-Bodied

Morningstar: Nova Star

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