The Embrace of Madness

Participants

• Damek Lestus
• Tingle
• Kaladan of Norixius
• Ulfgar Fireforge
• Arden Rook
• Zeek the Zapper

Recap

Immediately following their celebration of victory in the lower-pits, JKS quickly makes their way to the Embrace, making good on their promise to answer Normaad's time-sensitive summons.

Brushing by the bulk of the Ogre-bouncer manning the door, their business with the Embrace's proprietor allows the enforcers direct access to Normaad's private floor and offices. Arden ensures their haste is not interpreted as rudeness to the dim-witted ogre, and Zeek does not manage to waste an opportunity to offer samples of his ales to the VIP patrons, which unfortunately falls flat.

Normaad is pleased to see JKS has agreed to see him. He has an offer, another generous contract to sell their beer at his establishment, if they will help him with another matter relying not on their talents for brewing, but that of their prowess in battle.

He explains that a charismatic ogre named Mortoja has taken a group of loyal followers and broken their devotion to Ahtos, feeling slighted by the demon-lord not answering their calls, causing violence and kidnapping Normaad's niece, Olivou. The group has taken control of a lower section of the Embrace, warding off potential retaliation with the threat of sacrificing Olivou and other patrons they hold captive if they are interfered with.

Normaad cannot stand idly by while this happens, and he bids the enforcers try to retake the lower Embrace, minimizing casualties to patrons, and saving Olivou as a priority. JKS can capture or kill those responsible at their discretion. Normaad is unable to provide a motive for the actions of these dissenters, but offers the group access to the VIP floor to ask around. Further inquiries about the nature of the lower levels are met with assurances of no native dangers from the area itself, except to have caution around the unmaintained forge which lies below.

Deciding against questioning the local patrons, JKS opts to head directly to business, and a servant shows the group through a series of passages taking them into the lower bowels of the structure. During the descent, their escort lets on just how nervous Normaad is about the situation, and the well-being of his niece.

The group is left at the entrance to a small corridor, lit by torchlight and two orbs of contained fire. At the far end, the slumped body is propped up against the stone wall next to a demonic symbol scrawled in blood.

Distrustful of the situation, Tingle sent his spider forward to investigate, and the orbs of fire spewed out bolts of flame, incinerating the tiny arachnid as soon as it approached. The same happens to a spare dagger that Damek tosses into the middle of the hallway.

With no physical trigger able to be discerned, Tingle and Damek make clever use of illusions of smoke to block the orbs from detecting the party as they quickly pass by.

Zeek rushed in to stabilize the person against the wall. He is a dissident, but regretful. Wincing at the necrotic damage to his body he explains that Mortoja and the others in the group had gone too far, desiring the attention of their lord but were denied. Instead, they called out into the void, and something else answered. When the cleric asked who answered, he could not say, but said that "it called to us".

Before exhaustion takes hold, the man says that the symbol is the path forward, and requires blood to activate.

Without fear, Ulfgar steps forward, and lets his blood fall to the floor. The path forward does not open, but the ranger vanishes from sight. Without another option, the remaining party members slowly follow suit.

A sensation of falling follows, visions of a tunnel of fire swirl around them, and in the distance a voice calls out "Come to play, have you? We love play-mates. Come join us. The foul Ahtos cannot give you what I can. A new world awaits..."

When the enforcers find themselves outside the visions of fire and falling, they stand at the fall wall inside a large, dark chamber with four pillars stretching up into the darkness. Before they could take full account of their surroundings, the group notes they are all experiencing ill effects from whatever just transpired. The enforcers found their mental state was altered, all of them suffering from different forms of madness. Damek was hysterically blind, Ulfgar believed himself to be tiny, Arden became increasingly fearful of his enemies, while Kal became mute, Zeek succumbed to insatiable thirst, and Tingle's paranoia was amplified beyond reason.

After restoring Damek's sight, but unable to address the other maladies afflicting the group, Zeek and the others begin to gather in their surroundings, and they quickly realize they are not alone.

The 4 pillars were acting as anchors for the bonds of four human females, their chains arching above their heads, their limp bodies leaning against the cold stone at their backs. A faint voice from across the room utters "help me".

Showing caution, Zeek avoids the center of the room, not entering the space between the pillars. The young woman says her name is Benda as Zeek knelt beside her, tending to her wounds. When the cleric inquires, Benda nods her head as to the location of Olivou, chained opposite of her. "We were just partying...then we were here", she began sobbing softly.

It was in this moment of somber quiet when the group noticed movement on the chamber's ceiling, just above the first two pillars.

Two enormous grub-like creatures extend from the ceiling and move in to attack with tentacle-like appendages and poisonous fangs.

Overcome with fear, Arden retreats to the far side of the chamber. Zeek tries to find comfort in his ales with one hand, and he swings his hammer wildly with the other. Ulfgar, believing his stature to be far smaller than it truly was, somehow managed to charge and slide through Zeek's legs in a miraculous maneuver, ending in a crushing blow against the writhing creature.

The second creature grasps Kal with its tentacles, ripping away at his scales, his speechless mouth opened wide in silent scream.

Finally, between the darting attacks of Damek's blows, and Tingle's flaming sphere, the disgusting creatures collapse and fall to the floor.

As the party tends to the prisoners, releasing them from their bonds, they discover that while Benda, Olivou and another Gillie are recovering, the fourth of their number, Kalyan, has passed away.

After Zeek had done what he could to revive the girls back to as healthy a state as he could, his attention immediately shifted to his thirst. With his own supply of ale gone, he quickly drank what stashes his companions had, and then turned to his surroundings...

There were two dishes of food, one partially eaten, one untouched, laying between where the prisoners were restrained. Zeek's thirst for any liquid was too much, he ate everything on the plate, and promptly found himself poisoned. As the cleric saw to cure himself with an incantation, Tingle's keen eye noticed a flicker in the magical seal on the far door when the food was eaten.

It took little encouragement for Tingle to convince Zeek to eat another plateful of tainted food to satisfy both the gnome's curiosity, and the dwarf's insatiable thirst. Zeek's natural resistance to poison warded off any further effects, and the magical gate vanished when the plate was emptied. It was almost too easy.

The otherworldly voice returned, echoing within the enforcer's skulls. "all together now, good, good."

Something, someone was toying with them.

The area following was clearly the abandoned forge that Normaad had spoken of. The heat of the flowing magma in the midst of the large room felt like it smacked them in the face. Ulfgar felt it the most, he could barely catch his breath. The air was thick with a mixture of steam and smoke, it stung their lungs, and prevented the group from seeing farther than a stone's throw away.

As Tingle, Zeek and Ulfgar venture into the room, they worked their way towards the anvil near the far side of the chamber. Damek, Kal, and Arden stayed with Olivou, Benda and Gillie, intent on honoring their promise to Normaad in keeping them safe.

While Damek waited for the others who've vanished through the haze, he suddenly heard something behind him, and Gillie doubled over, bleeding. Where Benda had stood, a beautiful winged woman wore a wry smile, and their situation changed drastically.

Chaos ensued almost immediately. As the mute Kal turned to see what had happened, his eye met that of the woman, and he was hers. The dragonborn knew she was who he now served, at any cost.

Damek wasted no time, attacking the woman immediately, knowing there could be nothing but ill intent. Kal retaliates, and in the scrum both he and Damek are injured, with the Dragonborn's fortitude proving enough to make Damek grab the girls and make haste back up the stairs.

The others across the chamber knew something was amiss, and both Ulfgar and Tingle headed back, but the confusion in the haze delayed their arrival to the melee.

Zeek and Arden knew there was something to the anvil and a fine-looking hammer nearby, as they experimented, a crack was seen in the nearby wall when the hammer met the surface of the anvil. Light broke through, but only briefly. The progress was not enough. Arden succumbs to his newfound tendency to panic, and bolts through the smog to find out what transpired across the room.

The succubus used the confusion as an opportunity to disguise herself back as Benda, who is all Ulfgar saw upon his emergence through the heated smoke. When Kal suddenly appeared beside him, abandoning his chase of Damek to ensure his master's safety, the ranger thought nothing of it, that is until Kal's warhammer shattered the side of the dwarf's ribcage with a devastating blow.

Arden had just arrived, and saw what transpired, his spell reduced the poor fighter to a crumbled heap of golden scales, roaring in silent laughter. The bard's attention then turns to "Benda", and he attempts to give her aid, which is repaid by slashing claws across his face, as the succubus reveals herself once again.

By now even Zeek had joined the fray, his initial attack misses, but with another enemy near, and her hold on Kal now extinguished, the Benda-imposter makes a hasty escape into a magical portal, slyly winking at the party before vanishing from sight.

The group recovers, and then put their heads together to solve what might be a clue to advancing further in this mysterious place.

While concentrating, Zeek can feel the rhythm of a distant heartbeat as he holds the hammer. The others can hear it as well. The sound is unnerving, but seems to hold some kind of clue. After brief trial and error, the monk suggests Zeek times his blows on the anvil to match the heart. The light in the crack on the nearby wall flashes and returns. A doorway opens.

The voice returns once again; "Such stubbornness, such arrogance. Embrace my heart and all will be forgiven. The others have found their new peace with me, a new life. Feel it's rhythm, fall into its step. Become one with it and your new life awaits. Or...burrrrrrrnnnn"

Live Notes

We pick up amidst the glory of our championship victory 🎉
Oh shit, we have to go talk to Normaad
We head to the Embrace

• An ogre oversees the entrance
• Arden chats our way in
• Various merriment is going on as we head towards Normaad's office
• Mike engages a table of patrons to hock beer. His pitch doesn't really resonate
• Normaad is in his office at his desk
• He is happy to see us, immediately asks for a favor. Eyebrows are raised
• Tingle queries whether the JKS name is resonating these days. It's not.
• Mortosia the ogre has led a dissenting group within Normaad's cult and taken control of part of the lower club
• They feel slighted by Ahtos himself. This has led them to kidnap several patrons, including Normaad's niece Olivou
• They received a note threatening her sacrifice were they to interfere with their activities
• He needs our abilities to get down there, "sort it out" as it were
• Minimize patron casualties. Punish the offenders.
• Damek inquires about the lower levels. They have been cut off, nothing really dangerous but there is an old forge down there
• Damek requests the aid of any information or intel his staff can provide. Normaad is decidedly unhelpful on this point - we'll have to gather info on our own if we want it
• Arden inquires as to what the dissenters might have in common, what binds them into this uprising. Normaad doesn't really know
• Arden gets a little prickly and its not unnoticed by Normaad
• A servant leads us through a series of stairwells and passageways
• The servant indicates Normaad might be more nervous about this than he lets on
• We're in a narrow passage, some fiery orbs and torches, and someone slumped against the wall towards another doorway, appears to be a sealed bulkhead.
• Tingle's spider pal crawls forward to check things out
• 4 firebolts fly out of the orbs and obliterate the spider with a pile of damage 😳
• Damek inspects, but finds no physical trigger
• Damek tosses a dagger in the air between the orbs and the firebolts fly again.
• Tingle tries mage-handing a rock through, same result
• Damek creates a wall of smoke, Tingle tests pulling the dagger through with mage hand. One of the orbs is effectively blocked and doesn't fire.
• Damek and Tingle use more minor illusions to create a corridor of smoke. With a rock test, the orbs don't fire.
• Party moves through
• Zeek stabilizes the person slumped in the corner. He seems to have suffered necrotic damage.
• He comes to, says Mortosia and the others went too far. They betrayed the guild, called out to someone else. He thinks they needed the attention, but unfortunately that someone else answered.
• Zeek asks who they called to. This guy doesn't know, the voice in their heads "he called to us"
• "Those poor girls," he says, "they should never have been taken down here. Normaad will never forgive us."
• He starts to fade, Tingle gives him a potion of healing. It seems to have great effect
• He says there were about 15 that went with Mortosia. Many had doubts, but were convinced to go along with the summoning
• He says we have to put blood on the pentagram to activate
• Ulf tries first. The door does not open, but Ulf disappears.
• Each party member follows suit
• Arden checks the bulkhead door. It seems sealed, but immense heat and pressure has been applied from the other side.
• He and the remaining members disappear
• We feel an out-of-body experience, falling but floating, sucked through a portal of fire with no pain, a spiraling tunnel of flame and smoke. We hear an otherwordly voice say "Come to play, have you? We love play mates. Come join us. The foul Ahtos cannot give you what I can. A new world awaits"
• We experience odd effects
  • Damek is blind
  • Ulf is under the delusion he is under the effect of Reduce Person
  • Arden feels Antipathy towards his enemies, an intense urge to leave the area and avoid the target
  • Kal is mute
  • Zeek is compelled to drink without end
  • Tingle suffers from extreme paranoia
• We awake in a huge chamber, several 15' pillars stretch toward the ceiling. A bunch of rando club members chained against these pillars.
• Zeek restores Damek, who is no longer blind
• One person chained to a pillar mutters "Help me". Her name is Benda
• Zeek moves towards her without entering the middle of the room
• Zeek stabilizes her, seems to help stop her from getting worse
• Benda nods her head to indicate Olivou is over there
• "We were just partying" Benda mutters
• As we spread out and investigate, we look up and spy something large shift on the ceiling

Initiative!

• Giant hideous slimy grotesque poly-legged gross things untangle and attack
• One attacks Arden, misses a bunch but hits for some poison
• The other attacks Zeek, misses entirely a few times
• Arden squeals like a little girl and runs away post-haste
• Zeek takes a swig of beer while swinging a hammer at the closest enemy. The attack does not connect. Don't drink and hammer, kids.
• One of the things tentacles Kal for some poison damage
• The other reaches over Zeek to clutch at Ulfgar. Ulf takes some poison damage and fails a save, rendering him poisoned.
• Damek gets a good hit on one of the things.
• Arden continues to attempt to flee the premises
• Kal chunks into one good with a battleaxe
• Zeek tries to inflict wounds to get some bug juice to drink. He is not successful.
• Ulf barrels under Zeek's legs in a rolling attack. He fucking crits it and connects with his Warhammers for a couple of solid hits
• One gross bug whiffs a bunch at Kal. The other barely gets a couple light hits on Ulf.
• Arden panics into a corner, but is temporarily out of sight of the things. He musters the fortitude to save successfully, ending his Antipathy effect
• Ulf-who-thinks-he's-tiny leaps and plunges his warhammer into the belly of the beast for a massive couple of hits
• Tingle annihilates one of the bad guys with the flaming sphere
• The remaining baddie swings at Kal, finally connects for a little damage
• Damek flies in and punchifies the last bad guy to death
  🎶Victory music🎶
• Zeek is still fairly thirsty, and Kal mute
• Tingle coaxes Zeek into stabilizing the girl before grabbing every beer the party has on them
• The party one by one frees the partiers
• Zeek casts Prayer of Healing. one of the girls is dead but the other three are much revived
• Zeek checks on the third girl, Gillie. She's shaken but ok.
• The dead girl's name is Kalyan
• The girls are not aware of any others, it was just the four of them.
• Zeek scarfs up some food from the plates trying to get liquid to drink. He becomes poisoned, though promptly restorations himself better.
• Tingle notices the magic of the exit gate is affected when Zeek ate the food.
• We gather together by the exit and Zeek scarfs the rest. The exit is unblocked and we exit.

• We move towards the next room, which is broiling hot with a pit of lava
• Tingle conjurs a new spider, who takes an uneventful look around before perishing upon crawling into a torch.
• A few of the party enter the room
• The girls hanged back while we checked things out, but Kal and Damek turn around to find the girls injured and bleeding
• Damek sees a beautiful, winged woman smiling wryly behind him

Initiative!

• The bad lady looks deep into Kal's eyes. Kal comes nowhere close to saving, and falls under her spell. Kal now regards friends as enemies that must die.
• Damek begins to lay hits into the woman
• Tingle starts booking it back to the scrum
• Kal swings his warhammer at Damek and misses, though not for lack of trying. Twice.
• Zeek and Arden scramble to figure out what to do with the hammer/anvil/cracked column
• The bad lady deeply and passionately kisses Kal, saying "Oh, honey, you tried". Kal is loving life right now
• Damek tries some clever moves, incurring an AoO but getting clear to cast darkness on Kal
• Kal unloads a massive hit on Damek
• Zeek smashes the discarded hammer into the anvil. The crack in the columns flashes brightly but is otherwise unchanged
• Arden mildly panics, starts to head back to the commotion to help his friends. He passes Ulf in midstride, asking for updates
• Damek is in a tough spot, stuck on the stairs and disengages.
• The evil villain shifts back into innocent lady form, falls prone
• Zeek grabs the hammer and hoofs it back to the fight
• Arden continues to run towards the fight
• Kal rushes to help his new ladyfriend, recovering some HP in the process
• Ulf runs by Kal, they exchange blows
• Kal lays hard into Ulf, breaking some ribs
• Arden sees this, reduces Kal to violent hysterics
• Arden rushes over to try to help the woman, who promptly sprouts claws and attacks him, slashing his face
• Zeek runs by and attempts to brain the fiendish lady with a hammer. Doesn't
• Arden whispers to the lady and she takes some damage and bolts, also incurring and taking a hit from Zeek in the process
• The evil woman makes a snide comment and vanishes
• Zeek crushes his save, Kal is no longer an enemy
• After some general party healing, Zeek lays the hammer into the crack in the column. Not much effect.
• Resting the hammer on the anvil makes the light glow and the thumping grow clear as day
• Zeek almost tosses the hammer into the lava, but thinks twice about it
• Zeek realizes he can feel the heartbeat sound in the hammer
• Zeek tries hitting the hammer on the anvil on-beat with the sound
• The wall opens majestically

We'll call it for tonight, pick up next time

Loot