C2 Session 11

[[Xodon]] trips the trap and holds it open, leaving [[Henry]] to throw the rope up to them

 They do so, and pull Henry out of the hole

They continue down the hallway, into the chamber they skipped just earlier

There is a yuan ti corpse, but it looks so ancient that it has fungus and plant like structures on it which formed a mound of purple and green around the corpse 

It is holding a green vial of healing in a position to pour it on the corpse, but it isn’t coming out

Some of the fungus on the walls begins to reach its tendrils out

Xodon takes the healing potion from the hand of the corpse for himself

They decide to travel down the east hallway

The tendrils hit each of them once as they leave the chamber

As they enter, Henry sees spores down the hall and they will release gas and poison everyone

At the end of the hallway there is something medium sized, limping slowly towards them

Henry warns them of the beast

The beast steps forward and the spores trigger

Xodon rolls a ball bearing at it but it doesn’t react

Henry turns around to converse, but when he turns back around the beast is in his face

It looks like a very old yuan ti, with spores and fungus all over its body

It opens its mouth and a small vine falls out where its tongue should be

Xodon pulls Henry back and moves in front to attack

He slashes with both his shortswords, wounding it

[[Koin]] flanks with Xodon and slashes it with an unignited sword and a flurry of blows

When the slash hits, Koin expects it to fall but it doesn’t, so his kicks push it against the wall, and his final kick spins the head clean off, killing it

They continue down the tunnel into a sharp right turn, which leads into a chamber 30 feet ahead

Henry notices that there is a tripwire just ahead, and he warns the group

Xodon walks up and takes out his tools, using them to disarm the trap

Looking up, he sees a large boulder cut into the ceiling, which would’ve fallen on them

They move forward into a small chamber with a bright yellow flower wrapped around a fallen pillar, with a similar aroma to the one of the beast

It is slowly coiling around the pillar

The rest of the chamber is fairly barren, except for some footprints which lead in the direction they came from

The flower closes and flexes as they walk further into the room, and releases a sweet aroma

Koin and Henry avoid the aroma, but Xodon is caught in it and is entranced to walk closer to the flower

He reaches the flower and one of its tendrils reach out and touch him

As it does, the sweet smell turns volatile in Xodon’s mind, but he is still entranced

Koin slashes at it with his sword ignited

It reaches a tendril at Koin, but he bats it away

Henry casts a ray of frost and it shrivels, then some mushrooms sprout up and begin shrieking

Xodon rushes over and quickly cuts them down

Further away than the last time, the ominous sound of movement grows closer before stopping

Down the hallway to the west, there is another figure limping towards them

Koin rushes down the figure and slashes and punches at it, instantly killing it

They continue down the west hallway, and reach a split going in all four directions

The north leads to the chamber with the corpse

The east leads where they’ve already been

The south and west are unknown

They travel south, and Henry steps on a pressure plate, barely avoiding a dart that shoots out at him

The reach a split that goes east or west

They go west and Henry sees another pressure plate 

Xodon attempts to disarm it, but sets it off

He narrowly avoids it, and they reach another split, and continue down the west hallway

Henry scouts for traps but doesn’t see any, then he steps and falls through the floor

They spend 15 minutes getting him out before continuing

They reach a turn going north, and Henry sees a patch of mushrooms ahead

Xodon fires an arrow at it and it kills the whole patch

They reach another chamber with one pathway going south

Henry notices a complex trap on the ground, where certain squares move, springing up and slamming against the ceiling

He observes it further and determines the path they need to take to get through the room

As they enter the hallway a patch of mushrooms begin shrieking

Henry stomps on them but surprisingly doesn’t kill it

Koin stomps and punches it and kills it

They wait in suspense for the rumbling, and it sounds very close

Mushrooms at the end of the hallway sound off, and a large creature emerges with a massive mound on its back and fungus growing all over it

It rushes at them, but Henry casts a spell creating a field of webs that restrains it

Xodon shoots an arrow at it and it sinks in, snapping a few of the vines on it

Koin ignites his sword and slashes at it, but the fire doesn’t seem to affect it

The fire ignites the webs and mixes with the swords flame

An explosion of flame occurs, and the mound is suddenly bigger, as it absorbed the fire

It rushes at Koin but misses its attacks before pulling itself closer with its tendrils

Henry throws a cold chromatic orb at it but it whiffs and misses

Xodon shoots a powerful arrow at it, threading through one of the holes of the tendrils and hitting its internals, to which it visibly reacts

Koin attacks it but misses

It shoots out tendrils at Xodon and only hits with one, but still knocks him out

As it moves away, Koin quickly rushes at it and slashes it

Henry misses another attack, and Koin goes in for another attack and hits it multiple times, carving it, bloodying it, and knocking it prone

It stands back up and roots a tendril in the ceiling, moving in to angrily attack Koin

One tendril slams into Koin’s stomach, and another wrapping around him

It grabs Koin, opens up, and shoves him inside

Henry throws a cold chromatic orb at it but misses again

It shoots tendrils at Henry, but he shields them

Henry rushes over to Xodon and stabilizes him

After a few seconds he wakes up, immediately shifting

Henry backs away into the chamber of traps and doesn’t trigger it, also casting haste on Xodon

Xodon rushes at it violently

It opens its mouth and Xodon jumps in, biting and slashing it apart in a fury

Henry stabilizes and wakes up Koin, and they all stand amongst a pile of corpses and other trash that was inside the mound

They continue down the hallway, cut to the left, then  reach another split

They continue south and Henry sees another boulder trap, which Xodon disarms

They move south and travel a long distance in a few different direction before coming to a slight decline leading into a slight incline, then turning and popping into a fork

They go west and through a door, into a room with six bottles, five of which are broken

Koin picks it up and discovers that it is a bottle of oil of slipperiness

They move south and turn east, then enter a very large chamber

They see a massive flower on the floor, similar in appearance to the mound, with roughly a dozen tendrils, corpses muddled in, and an intricate design

They attempt to stealthily sneak past it, but Henry fails in every sense

The flower looks directly at Henry

30 feet away is a tunnel which the flower can’t fit through

Henry dashes for the tunnel and barely avoids it

Xodon and Koin do the same and make it to the tunnel

The tunnel leads out of the sewers and directly under the office of grand sage [[beeratoli]]

The path has been clearly carved by the ooze, with sludge remains visible all down the tunnel

They all rush down the tunnel, chasing after the ooze

Xodon arrives first to see it moving deeper down the tunnel and carving the dirt away as it moves

Koin and Henry arrive a few seconds afterwards to see it as well

It suddenly stops and morphs into a humanoid form, slowly changing color and shape

It stops shifting and is very recognizable to Koin as the howling Hyena from the cart a long while back

The ooze says in Henry’s head “You’re gonna have to catch me dear”

Henry throws a ray of frost at it, and it explodes before forming into another figure

Xodon plants a torch in the ground to prepare to fire flaming arrows at it

Koin ignites his sword and rushes down the ooze, slashing at it

It casts a spell and paralyzes Henry and Xodon

Both of them regain control of their bodies, and Koin attacks again

It tries to attack Koin but it gets parried by his sword

Henry throws a ray of frost at it but misses

Xodon shoots a flaming arrow at it and hits it

It breaks through a wall and says to them all “I’m warning you, do not go any further or you will certainly die”

As it begins slipping through the hole it made, Koin slashes at it and kills it

He digs out the hole and reveals a cave that goes forward for a bit and there is a glowing red light 300 feet down the cavern

A small tendril of the ooze wiggles away down the cavern and turns towards the light before disappearing

They all decide to rest and sleep

Xodon takes first watch, not noticing anything

Koin takes next watch, and doesn’t see any immediate danger

Before Henry is woken up, he is dreaming of his home and his parents

Suddenly, memories that he cherishes and wants to save begin to corrupt

Faces disappear, memories fade and turn to red and ooze

Henry is floating and drowning in an ocean of gelatinous ooze

He hears an echoing heartbeat, and words: “Henry, me and you are not so different darling, we want the same things. I can give them to you. Power(Henry remembers throwing the orb at [[Xdri]]),comfort(he remembers his mother against him), just stop rejecting me Henry, it’ll make it easier on both of us.”

Henry is woken up for his watch, and looks at the glowing red light, with it now bringing an unsettling feeling with it

Suddenly, a sharp pain erupts in his mind, his vision goes blind, and he remembers memories that aren’t his own

A young girl, burning fields, the sky on fire

He hears a name: “[[Reia]]!, Reia!”

Koin and Xodon wake up to find Henry unconscious

They look at his ear and notice an ooze dripping out

Koin removes it from his ear, and it doesn’t move, but there are multiple small chunks of it scattered on the ground

They also notice blood on Henry’s hand, but not his own

Koin picks up Henry and him and Xodon follow the trail of ooze down hundreds of feet of cavern

They eventually see a figure covered in blood, and they rush over to see that it is Earnhardt’s body

The body has been mauled to death and stabbed in several places

Xodon pours water on him and wakes him up

Henry is confused and asks why he is tied up

They gesture towards the body and Henry then explains his dream

They agree to untie him but keep his hands bound

They walk back down the cavern and towards the red light

They take the turn into a large chamber, with the walls covered in pulsating ooze

Dozens of corpses are embedded into it, and it coats the entirety of the room

One tendril leads upwards through the ground up into the caverns, supposedly the last tendril linked to the elder ooze

A humanoid figure sits in a chair, its head covered in tendrils, it is the source of everything

The wall behind the figure opens up and a female figure walks out, she speaks and says that they have finally found her and her father

The voice is the same as [[the ooze]], and she says they should’ve listened

She says that she doesn’t like to leave things unfinished, and that they will all die

The ooze, whose name can be inferred to be Reia, says her extensions are much weaker than she is, and that they should just give themselves up

Says if they give Henry to her, then she will let Koin and Xodon live

Says that she has friends to even out the odds

Eight figures, Earnhardt and Beeratoli among them

Henry casts mage armor on himself and steps forward before asking what power she will give him

She says that if he gives himself to her that she will grant him any power he wants, even power to control time itself

Xodon tries to attack her and the wound where a cut would be is just ooze which falls back into the gash mark

She laughs at him

Koin runs over and slices the wall with his ignited sword

Rea snaps her fingers and the figure of beeratoli disappears into the wall and reappears in front of Koin

She says “fall,” and suddenly Xodon is in a void and standing on a tall pillar, with it appearing to him as if Henry and Koin are as well

Henry casts Haste on Koin and asks if there is any way for him to gain the power she is offering without her taking over his mind, but she just laughs

Koin swiftly attacks and deals a lot of damage to the ooze figure of beeratoli

The figure flops down on Koin to the point where he is hurting a lot

Henry freezes the beeratoli figure so Koin can get back

Xodon tries to shoot at Rea in his mind prison, but she is much farther away than she seems

Koin begins slashing and scraping at the wall next to the guy in the chair

The guy in the chair begins convulsing

Reia casts a spell on Henry and then commands him to walk into the door, which he does before the door closes

Henry begins floating in the wall and the same tendrils attached to the guy’s head begin attaching to the now unconscious Henry’s head

Koin attacks the beeratoli figure and it collapses, before jumping up and cutting into the wall where Henry is, and starts pulling him up

His whole arm lights up and he cuts all of the tendrils, and Henry falls out, leaving a large hole, which begins pouring out blood and liquids into a lake of it up to knee height

Rea screams before melting down along with all of the other figures

The man in the chair wakes up and the tendrils detach

He asks where Rea is and sees her corpse, then grabs it and starts crying

He says they all took her from him, but then smiles and laughs and says that she is still alive “in here” and points to his head

He uses blood and ooze liquid to smear a red smile along his face

Xodon attacks and hits him

Koin tries to make a move but can’t due to the effects of the end of the haste spell

Xodon wades through the liquids and makes it to the platform the guy is on

The guy looks at Koin and he is knocked unconscious

Koin is in a field in [[Xyria]], and suddenly it is night time and the fields are on fire

He is viewing the guy’s memories

The field cuts away and he hears a man talking, and a man hands the guy a silver mask before walking away

The memory shifts, and there is Rea as a child and another small girl playing with dolls

He walks over and kisses them on the head

It shifts again to a burning field and screaming, and Koin feels heartbreak as if it was his home being destroyed

He walks further and looks around, hearing the screams of two little girls screaming for help

Koin looks down at his hands and notices they are not his own, they look much more human

He walks over and sees the girls stuck under a scarecrow, then takes some damage from the 

Xodon tries to intimidate the guy but he just laughs

Xodon goes in for a bite but then he says “dance” and Xodon’s body begins moving and dancing

The guy sweeps out Xodon’s feet

Koin helps the girls out but they have no face

Rea gains a face and asks why he didn’t save her

He falls and sees a room of a council, and one man begins walking towards him with a sword

His vision shifts to the remains of the fire, and sees a man similar to a platinum defender, but not quite one

Atop the hill he can also hear someone yelling hello, and 500 yards away stranded, is Henry

The man stops and hears Henry’s yells before sprinting off towards him

Koin sprints on all fours in the same direction, on pace to get there at the same time

They meet and lock swords, and in Koin’s mind, he hears the man say that he is the strongest one and he is the first one

Henry sees Koin appear out of nowhere and some assassin guy trying to kill Henry

Henry throws a chromatic orb at the assassin guy, and Koin and him keep fighting

Xodon attacks him and hits

Koin and Henry see a sort of glitch in the assassin, and on the outside the guy starts twitching

Xodon attacks again

The glitch fixes and the guy smiles and attacks Xodon, hitting 

On the inside, the assassin attacks Koin with both swords and cleverly slicing at him

Koin sees his shoulder now and notices the sigil as a defender sigil, similar to one Yinta had in her office, and not the modern platinum defender sigil

As they continue fighting, the scenery shifts

Koin attacks with his ignited sword and punches him

Henry observes as Koin and the assassin have an intense martial battle

On the outside Xodon sees cuts beginning to appear in various places on the guy’s body

Xodon slashes and bites, and on the inside the glitch occurs again and the assassin disappears, with the decrepit guy appearing and laughing, while on the outside the personality of the guy shifts to deadpan

As his first attack hits, the guy sweeps it away to hit just his ankle and then attacks Xodon

Xodon hits with his other attacks

The guy plunges a shortsword into Xodon’s chest and maneuvers around him and swipes his thigh

On the inside it shifts and glitches, and the environment vanishes

They see an ooze, then it vanishes

They see Rea and other people conversing, then it vanishes

Then they see an ooze in a laboratory that tries to attack Koin but completely misses, it vanishes

They see the guy, in old dingy armor moving into [[Thera]], it vanishes

Rea appears, then vanishes

The guy appears again, and Koin makes the connection that when Rea died, he became the new Rea, but now it is just him and Rea is fully dead

Koin goes in for an attack, and as he slashes him, the guy says he will be the last and he will be the controller

Koin punches him twice and bloodies him

On the outside, Xodon is confused why the personality of the man changed so quickly, and the guy coughs up blood, and there is a gaping hole in his stomach

Xodon also notices that Koin and Henry have the same wounds

Any damage done inside the mind of the guy deals equal damage to him, Koin, and Henry, but any damage done on the outside is specifically to the guy and not his friends

Xodon attacks and the guy tries to parries it, then running around him and attacking Xodon

On the inside, Koin and Henry see a cut appear on the guy that was not from anything they did

Xodon rushes at the guy and attacks him

The guy says that he is the first, and he should’ve been the strongest

Says he started it all and they had no right to kick him out, and no right to take her away from him

His body pulses and he dies

Koin and Henry wake up

Henry remembers what he saw beforehand: he saw the start of the [[Silver Masks]], he hears a name of the [[Silver Wolf]] who started the silver masks

He had a daughter and was marching against the [[Dragol Armada]]

He was extreme and the silver masks kicked him out for his recklessness

He fought them and turned, and there was punishment

In an accident, he set fire to his farmlands

He was taken away and stripped of his title and his mask

He returned to his homeland to find his daughter, but couldn’t find her or her friend Fenrir

Rea was taken over by the ooze and Fenrir was split in half in [[Zedek]]’s laboratory

He felt that the silver masks had taken her

He found Rea but was betrayed because it was just her image

His heart was broken, and he was trapped by the ooze

He was only ever known as the Silver Wolf

Koin walks over to the pile of bodies and just stares

They travel up a set of stairs hundreds of feet long out of the cavern, unveiling a bedroom with the corpse of a well dressed goblin, who they deduce to be [[Einhor]], who has been dead for weeks or months

There are letters and blueprints and plans written by Rea not Einhor or beeratoli

They find a letter addressed to Rea in a secret drawer, one line that says: “Initiate Operation burning waters, Reunite with the Queen, Long may she reign - D”

They all realize that every event that has occurred since their arrival has been orchestrated by Rea and D