When we last left the party, Yuri had just been attacked and grabbed by some sort of worm that erupted out of the sandy floor. The worm’s tongue is rather long and has a mouth at the end, snapping and biting at Yuri. Although the battle against the worm is rather quick, the party grows concerned about facing more worms throughout the cavern. The worm kept attempting to drags those grabbed by its tongue towards its gaping maw, looking as though it will swallow them whole. It came very close to swallowing Deornoth whole.
With the end of the cavern beyond the party’s light, they decide that they need a clever strategy to cross the sand without being surprised by any worms that may be waiting, buried, for them. After quite a bit if debate, they decide to use the lifeless body of Tyrande as bait. A rope is tied around her corpse, Deornoth climbs atop atop the Tenser’s Floating Disc, and grabs the other end of the rope. Ruben begins to move the Disk forward, dragging Tyrande across the sand. A series of short circuits are made to entice any worms to surface and, about fifty feet into the room, one bursts forth. It grabs and swallows Tyrande’s corpse and then submerges back into the sand. The party had anticipated this possibility and had chopped off one her hands and packed it away (for a Raise Dead ritual later on).
Hook, line, and sinker lost, they have no choice but to push forward as cautiously and readied as possible. A short walk later, another worm burst forth and incapacitates Berran. Just before it swallows the downed warlord, the party is able to dispatch it (some quick strikes and a timely critical hit are about all that kept Berran from becoming worm food). Pushing on, they reach the end of the cavern. (The riddle at the door in the prior session played an important role in this encounter. If the party had incorrectly answered the riddle, the door they passed through would have led to this same chamber but the number of worms would have been greater and thus a more difficult encounter.)
The exit from the sand cavern is a long hallway of perfectly smooth obsidian. The party travels for what seems like hours before it opens up into a larger chamber. At the far end are two large obsidian doors with two cyclops standing guard in front of them. Roxy recognizes the symbols upon the doors and guard livery…they indicate that the party is in the realm of Queen Dorchadas. Roxy, being a Fey Pact Warlock, is fairly familiar with Queen Dorchadas.
- Dorchadas generally appears as a beautiful young woman with pale skin, midnight black hair and eyes wearing a dress of deep black and obsidian jewelry. Her stronghold is in the Underdark of the Feywild. Many Fomorians serve her and act on her behalf and she prefers to not deal directly with mortals…allowing her intermediaries to handle such dealings.
- Dorchadas is a rival of Queen Geimhreadh. The two have never directly battled each other (members of the Fey Court rarely fall that low) but each has often interfered with the scheming and plots of the other. It would be very unwise to let any of Dorchadas’ minions know that you are acting on Geimhreadh’s behalf. It would also be unwise to give your actual names…of course, outright, blatant lies generally don’t work on the fey either. You need to be subtle and twist the truth such that it isn’t necessarily a lie but isn’t really true either (i.e., act like the fey).
- Although no fey can ever truly be held to mortal conceptions of morality, Dorchadas would never be considered “good” by any stretch of the imagination. Most mortals would consider her to be “evil” as she delights in creating despair. In fact, she has been known to spend decades setting up the downfall of a particular mortal to create such despair. One of Dorchadas’ favored tactics is to offer a mortal some service or object that they highly value or need. In return, she asks for some sort of payment that, even though it seems relatively reasonable, she knows the mortal will be unable to provide. This gives her the right to curse the mortal who did not fulfill his or her end of the bargain and thus create the very despair that she craves to create.
- Although Dorchadas delights in creating despair, she still has a deep love and desire for beauty as do many of those that serve her. When she offers a bargain, the item or service that she will get in return will almost always be something that she deeply desires…that way, if the mortal is strong enough to resist the tempting situation Dorchadas created, the Queen still gains something from the deal.
With this info in mind, the party approach the doors and its guards. As they approach, the cyclops challenge them and demand to know what business they have in Lord Neart’s realm, loyal servant of Queen Dorcahdas. Roxy replies that they are here to negotiate for safe passage back to their own world. The guards step aside and the doors open.
Inside is a grand chamber filled with dozens of cyclops and formorians. At the opposite end of the room, a female formorian sits upon a throne…presumably the Lord Neart. Roxy approaches with proper deference and respect and Neart inquires as to why the mortals are in her realm. Roxy asks for safe passage back to their own world in exchange for something that will greatly please Neart’s Queen. Neart asks what it is and who sent them. Roxy responds that Duke Etan had sent them and gets out the box.
Upon seeing the box, Neart asks if it holds more birds (yes), tells Roxy to come closer and kneel (she does), and to open the box. Roxy, careful to hold the box so she cannot see inside it, opens the box. A golden glow comes from the box and the hall fills with incredibly beautiful singing. Neart is clearly enraptured by the sight and sound of the box’s contents and the cyclops and formorians all move closer to get a look themselves. Although Roxy is sorely tempted to take a look herself, she remembers the despair that such a peek brought to Duke Etan and resists. Neart orders Roxy to close the box and she does.
Neart guarantees safe passage through her realm in exchange for the box and its contents. Roxy agrees and hands over the box. Pointing back at the doors the party had entered, Neart tells them to leave. Relieved that they’ve survived this far, the party heads for the doors. As they do, the cyclops and formorians crowd closer, following about ten feet behind. When the party reaches the doors, Neart calls out, laughing, that her domain ends at those doors. After hearing that bit of information, the party hesitates and do not head out. Neart shouts out that if they do not leave, they will have abused her hospitality and her guarantee of safe passage will be removed.
Expecting to make a desperate run for their lives, the party flees through the doors to find themselves not in the prior chamber but on a road, at night, in the middle of some woods. Yuri recognizes the constellations and they realize that they’ve returned to Faerun. A nearby road marker indicates that they’re somewhere to the north of the High Forest. (Queen Geimhreadh had no intention of letting the party get out of their debt to her so easily…i.e., by dying…and brougth them back once they completed this initial task.) Realizing that they are not that far from Everlund, the party heads north on the road.
After just a few moments of travel, they a hear a scream of pain from ahead. Scouting ahead, Yuri sees a campsite overrun by goblins and hobgoblins. A few humans are hung from trees by ropes and one of them is being tortured by a hobgoblin. The hobbie is asking how to open some chest. Yuri takes a shot at the hobgoblin and then retreats to back to the party. The party engages the goblinoids and, although Ruben winds up non-lethally Thunderwaving a few party members, they successfully defeats them. During the battle, Roxy hears a woman’s voice whisper, “Corsair. The word is yours to use. I will add it to your debt.”
At the end of the battle, the man that was being tortured is no longer hanging from the tree. In fact, his body is nowhere to be seen. There are no tracks to indicate that he had walked away and the ropes are neither cut nor untied. It is pretty obvious that some sort of magic took the man. (Queen Geimhreadh had still been watching the party. During the battle, she offered the man, a caravan master, the opportunity to live in exchange for the information that the hobgoblin was seeking…how to open a magically locked chest. He accepted and, in turn, Geimhreadh offered the password to Roxy. A win-win situation for Geimhreadh…she acquires another mortal servant and puts the party deeper into her debt if they open the chest.)
After the fight, the party searches around. The determine that a small caravan was camped here and attacked. It looks as though the bulk of the attacking forces left a few hours ago and their tracks lead off towards the northeast. An iron chest is also found and no one can seem to open it. Roxy says, “Corsair,” and the chest unlocks (Ding! Deeper debt to Queen G). Inside the chest is a considerable amount of treasure including: Luckbender Gloves, Breach Bracers, and Everlasting Provision (some of the most valuable possessions of the former caravan master, now fey servant).
That was the end of Session #9.
