GG Chapter 6: Protect The Egg

The Session

The party faces down the reanimated corpse of Gau’Sharan, the long-dead archdruid responsible for incubating the Egg of Gau’Sharan. The Druid calls a Green Worm, a Forest Dragon head, a Reaper Dragon head, and a Sporestalker head/torso/claws to his aid.

Combat: Team Ornethia vs. Gau'Sharan

Initiative

• Kennifer: 11
• Skylark: 16
• Mistral: 4
• Gau'Sharan: 15 (0/260 HP)
• Forest Dragonhead: 15 (0/150 HP)
• Reaper Dragonhead: 15 (0/150 HP)
• Green Worm: 15 (0/150 HP)
• Sporestalker: 15 (0/150 HP)

Round 1

• Lair Action: Players rolled 2 & 4, activating the Sporestalker & the Forest Dragonhead
• Skylark: Casts Haste (concentration), then nat20s the Sporestalker for 30 damage, then hits again for 15 damage
• Gau'Sharan: Sporestalker attacks Skylark for 7 damage, triggering Skylark's reaction for 15 fire damage (30 total due to vulnerability). Attacks again for 22 damage. Forest Dragon deals Poison Breath; 37 poison to Kennifer, 18 poison to Mistral. Gau'Sharan casts Entangle, capturing Kennifer
• Kennifer: Casts Flaming Sphere (4th level concentration, using the armor to hold the spell), dealing 17 fire damage to Gau'Sharan (34 total due to vulnerability, dealt to all four creatures). Moves the Flaming Sphere back onto Gau'Sharan to deal the damage.
• Mistral: Chugs Potion of Invulnerability , then fire breaths Gau'Sharan for 30 fire (dealt to all). Trident attacks Gau'Sharan for 8 piercing/2 necrotic (10 total)

Round 2

• Lair Action: Activates all four creatures
• Skylark: Lays into the Sporestalker 12 damage, killing it via it's own scythe through the mouth. Sprint-flies towards Gau'Sharan and hits him for 12 & 15 (27 total).
• Gau'Sharan: Reaper Dragon deals 53 acid w/ 14 Dex save (26 acid to Kennifer & Mistral). Forest Dragon deals 14 piercing/6 poison. Triggers Skylark's reaction, dealing 21 fire damage (42 due to vulnerabilty) . Gau'Sharan casts Fungal Swarm on the 40 ft AoE around him, after taking 16 fire damage (32 total)
• Kennifer: Casts Cure Wounds from the Staff of Healing for 28 HP on himself. Uses Circle of Spores (necrotic damage) on Gau'Sharan
• Mistral: Tries to Fire Breath Gau'Sharan, but fails. Tridents the Reaper Dragon for 11 piercing/6 lightning/1 necrotic (18 total).

Round 3

• Green Worm: Deals 19 piercing to Mistral, then swallows him
• Skylark: Takes 19 poison damage, but deals 20 fire damage (40 total) to Gau'Sharan & the Green Worm. Mistral takes 11 from this and falls unconscious. Uses Vow of Emnity to give advnatage on Gau'Sharan attacks. Deals 14, 14 & 17 damage (45 total), then takes 5 poison damage for staying in the swarm.
• Gau'Sharan: Takes 5 necrotic & 32 fire damage (37 total) . Casts Fungal Rush onto Skylark, who evades it mostly and takes 10 acid damage
• Kennifer: Casts Flaming Sphere as an Action, then Medicine checks Mistral to stabilize him
• Mistral: Comes to with 1 HP (successful Death Success), takes Health Potion, then Tridents Gau'Sharan. A bird drone attempts to stop it, but is unsuccessful. 8 damage to Gau'Sharan, killing him in epic fashion.

Aftermath: The CentraNest Conspiracy

As the party retrieves the Egg of Gau’Sharan & admiring their prize, they spot another bird drone at the entrance of Gau’Sharan’s Grove. The drone emits an interactive Programmed Illusion of Raptis Ovaman, CEO & majority shareholder of CentraNest. Raptis congratulates the champions of the Gau’Sharan Games and offers an additional prize for each party member, on top of what they will win from the Games by default (clean legal & financial slate, lots of money/wealth):

• Kennifer: a government-funded fungal-based bioweapon lab, immunity/no liability for fungal-related deaths/injuries, and the assassination of Quaxly Smalls (or alive as a test subject)
• Skylark: the death of Quaxly, seizure of his father's assets and full inheritence
• Mistral: destruction of the pigeon mafia via donation to a Anti-Pigeon Task Force, a blanket pardon

Raptis reveals that their sacrifice will grant the party an immortal legacy in Gau’Sharan Games history. When they question this, he reveals that he is planning to kill the party with his bird drone, with the goal of keeping the games going indefinitely to earn more revenue from the CentraNest-hosted broadcasts. As the bird drone begins to puff up for an arcane detonation, Kennifer casts Dispel Magic on the bird, dispelling Raptis’ illusion & delaying the explosion long enough for the flock to escape. Risking a level or two of Exhaustion, the gang books it through the jungle by wing, hoping to reach the Exit Relay that landed in the Cordybog with them & can teleport them back to Ornethia. They are pursued by a flock of CentraNest bird drones,hoping to kill them before they can return & end the Games/spill Raptis’ secrets.

The Escape

• Round 1: nat20 for the birds, party does 15, nat1 & 16. The birds begin gaining air on the party, moving faster than them.
• Round 2: 15 for the birds, party does 31, 18 & 19. The party gains distance on the birds.
• Round 3: 12 for the birds, party does 13, 19, 20. The party increases their distance, watching as some of the bird drones get picked off by creatures of the Cordybog.
• Round 4: 15 for the birds, party does 18, nat20, 12. The party successfully reaches the Exit Relay (shaped like a nest), teleporting them to Ornethia.

Champions of the Gau’Sharan Games

The party teleports to the main stage of the Forzara Amphitheater, the same venue as the Gau'Sharan Games opening ceremony. The MC congratulates the party and asks, in front of the audience & the Ornethian Ruling Council, asks what additional wish/request they want granted. The party expresses confusion that they were being asked again (hinting that Raptis did not communicate his promises to the MC), but speaks their minds regardless.

• Mistral asks for a military task force to combat the Pigeon Mafia
• Kennifer asks for a fully-funded (governmental or private contract) fungal bioweapon lab on a plot of land in Ornethia’s outskirt mountains,
• Skylark asks that all True Ornethians (pure-bred aaracokras) have their wings clipped and be forced to walk amongst the Lesser Birds; not to lift the minorities up, but to push the oppressors down. Most of the audience, including the MC, Ornethian Ruling Council & Skylark’s father, are appalled by Skylark’s reverse-racism manifesto, but some of the Bird Minority protestors show signs of agreement.
• Quaxly Smalls is commemorated as an Ornethian hero for his actions during the Games, with a bronze statue to be placed in the Lower Rings. Kennifer & Skylark express discontent with him being commemorated, casting doubt & confusion in the audience regarding their relationship with their fallen teammate.

Unrest In The Nest

As the celebrations begin, the MC (a parrocokra) organizes the final activity; handing off the Egg of Gau’Shran to Raptis Ovaman himself so it can be studied by CentraNest on a government research contract. The flock refuses and attack Raptis, causing a brief scuffle that is ended by the Grand Arcanist of Avios’ casting of Time Stop & haphazard arrangement of a trial. While the Ornethian Ruling Council asks leading questions with the intent of painting the party as non-credible witnesses, the boys decide to mess with the Egg, causing a chaos. Magic reaction that temporarily opens a portal to the Cordybog. It is revealed that Quaxly Smalls, now a Cordybog Sovereign of his myconid tribe, is alive and reformed with fungi, powered by the Egg. Quaxly projects the memories of the Cordybog through the portal, broadcasting everything that the party did to Quaxly & Raptis’ conspiracy.

Quaxly’s message broadcasts through the entire Gau’Sharan Games network, reaching the entire city. This causes immediate unrest amongst the Bird Minority protestors and confusion amongst the rest of the audience in the amphitheater, leading he High General of the SkyForce to call in more guards to quell the chaos. Quaxly then throws two combined Bags of Holding at the Egg, intending to cause a singularity to the Astral Fog that would destabilize & destroy it. However, Kennifer & Skylark manage to deflect the bag & hold the Egg back from falling into the singularity, distorting its magic but otherwise leaving it intact. Skylark also throws his hammer through the portal and explodes it, killing Quaxly & several of his myconids as the portal closes. The deflected Bags of Holding instead collide with Raptis Ovaman, who screeches as he is forcibly pulled into the Astral Fog. This grants the party status as True Ornethian Heroes, despite their earlier statements & manifestos.

Epilogue

With peak tensions between bird minorities & the ruling class (Lesser Birds vs. True Ornethians), the end of the Gau’Sharan Games & the disappearance of Ornethia’s richest CEO after distressing evidence-supported allegations were broadcasted about him, the Ornethian Ruling Council has their talons full with a potential revolution/civil war. They begin working publicly with the party after granting them all their Gau’Sharan Game requests, hoping to establish them as figureheads of “proper bird minorities”:

• Kennifer is given his bioweapon lab in the alpine forests of Northern Ornethia, fully funded by a government contract with CentraNest. He funnels test subjects from Skylark & Mistral’s paramilitary operations.
• Mistral is granted leadership over a dedicated Anti-Pigeon Task Force, authorized by the High General of the SkyForce. He brutally cracks down on the Pigeon Mafia, sending his “prisoners of war” to Kennifer’s lab. Mistral is propagandized as a frontline defender against organized crime in the Lower Rings, limiting the latter’s ability to support rebel activities.
• Skylark is granted a position within the Ornethian Guard’s Domestic Terrorism unit, being given full authority to hunt down & clip the wings of True Ornethians marked as traitors to the country. He sends his living victims to Kennifer’s lab. Skylark is propagandized as a boogeyman to “race traitors” amongst True Ornethian communities, hoping to discourage dissent or sympathy for bird minority causes.