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Session #26

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Sun August 6, 1178 (20:00) - Sun September 3, 1178 (22:00)

Last we left off, the party was completing the final trial of the Voyage of the Faithful. In the Sea God's Cavern, their boat was shrouded in complete darkness, but for three glowing lights which appeared around them: two in front, and one behind. Fang closed his eyes, sat on the boat, and felt for the movement of the waves. In doing so, he felt slight ripples in the water, coming from all directions and leading to the exact spot where there boat was at this point. He shared this with the rest of the party, who decided to press forwards to see what lay further. Astrid made use of a Control Water spell to push the boat forwards, sailing between the two lights in front. Following the guidance from a previous trial, everyone decided to keep their eyes closed as they travelled, believing that to be the meaning of "Seeing is Disbelieving". Unfortunately, this was a mistake. As the boat gently sailed between the two lights, they moved towards it. Unbeknownst to the party, the lights were Essences of Water, magical creatures guarding the cavern. They converged on the boat and launched their assault, spraying everyone with the freezing water of the ocean and shocking them with lightning afterwards. Korg opened his eyes first, just before the onslaught, but still wasn't able to dodge out of the way of the first volley. The spray of water snapped everyone else out of their plan, and brought them to reality. They took battle stances, and bravely defended their little boat from the massive creatures attacking. Though challenging due to the creatures being made entirely of water, and being far more powerful than almost anything they'd fought before, the party fought stubbornly. Korg dealt massive damage with his warhammer, the blunt force crashing into the water-based bodies of the Essences. Fang took a similar brute force approach, while Carnage consistently failed to catch them with shocking grasps, time after time. Astrid repurposed her Control Water spell to try to send the Essences flying upwards, but with a will made from the Sea God itself, they held fast. However, as attacks kept being made against them, their will weakened and parts of their bodies were let loose into the control of Astrid's spell. Eventually the party defeated the creatures, and continued gliding onwards, where they were met with the stone wall at the end of the cavern. Here, Fang once again listened to the movement of the water, and found that a ripple was forming - likely through magic - at the walls of the cavern, and moving inwards to the middle. The party followed this ripple, moving back to the middle, and considered their options. A breakthrough was made when Astrid turned into a fish and swam down to the bottom of the cavern (very, very deep underwater), where she felt the presence of a large structure hidden from sight. The party then chose to believe in a way downwards, and watched as a staircase became visible, descending into the depths below them. Down and down the stairs they went, until they reached a long hallway ending in a vast audience chamber, with walls covered in ancient murals, and a massive throne standing at the end. The murals depicted people travelling through the ocean, and going to the bottom of the sea, where they found and bowed before a glorious fish-like creature holding a lantern in front of its head: an anglerfish. It was labelled with the symbol of the Sea God. Before the throne, was a simple metal bowl, with gifts laid out within it: * a Blanket of Invisibility (a blanket that turns anything underneath it invisible) * a Hat of Silencing (a hat that Silences the wearer and makes them inaudible to anyone else, but prevents them from hearing anything outside of themselves) * a Marble of the Sea (a marble that can be commanded to Absorb or Release a 15ft sphere of water) However, one thing was nowhere to be found: the Sea God themself. The party looked everywhere. They listened, they searched every nook and cranny, they disbelieved in the existence of the entire structure and the ground beneath them. But nothing brought forth the entity they were supposed to meet through this voyage. Disheartened, they returned to the surface above. Once again on their boat, the party considered their next steps. All signs pointed them to the Deepwoods, and so that is where they chose to go. To speed up travel, they decided to go via boat, travelling by the shore of the continent until they reached the ruins of Hakatonn and the Mountain of the Storm God. There, they dragged their boat onto the barren and dried river mouth, and set forth towards the Deepwoods, following the contours of the once-great Deepwood River. For now, they decided to avoid exploring Hakatonn and the Mountain of the Storm God towering over them. Almost a full month after setting out from the Sea God's Cavern, the party finally reached the Deepwoods, where they ventured through the ever-darkening forest until they reached a small town: Hickory. Here, they began to look for a place to spend the night. But before they could find an inn to finally sleep in a real bed, the group was stopped by a town guard - a guard asking for information about a certain "Dirt VII", wanted for treason against House Rutred! After unsuccessfully feigning ignorance, they instead convinced the guard their information was too important to share with a lowly guard. Understanding this, they were told to report to Kerdin Lertas Rutred (a Royal residing in Alderwood Citadel) as soon as they could, and that a letter to expect their presence would be sent ahead of them. Now, the party rests at a local inn, awaiting the next day's adventures.