Session 29 - The Forest Temple

The group prepares to head to the Lost Woods, to rescue Hoo'Ax'Dyuu from a lifetime of being stuck in someone's back!  

Preparing to Leave

A day passes, allowing Abbit time to recover from his marathon casting of Hallow on the Brandywine Chateau. Hart makes breakfast and surprises everyone with gifts: lucha masks that he made himself! It is a tradition for him to give masks to friends since he was trained in Mexico (wherever that is). Nox will get one made later since the just met. Hart needs time to study up on his traits for thematic reasons.   Talitha also says goodbye to Rhys, who is still in bed recovering from a marathon of his own. She says that Rhys can write letters to the chateau or Abbit can cast Sending sometimes. You know. If he's interested. Whatever. It's not like I like you or anything. He does not hide his interest. He's also been offered a new ship by the Forsaken Fortress, so long as he's willing to shadow another captain for a little while to verify his talents.   Piers also wants to talk to Rhys, and waits directly outside the door, not realizing how awkward that is. Once Talitha leaves, Piers comes into the room and apologizes for what his mother did to him. Rhys waves it off. It's okay. He got better. Piers also says that he hopes things can be patched up between Rhys and Meera. Rhys just asks that Piers do his best to keep Meera safe until the curse can be broken -- which Piers solemnly swears to do.

Warping to the Sacred Meadow

The party gathers together with Rhalsar, who they promised passage to. Nôx plays the Minuet of Forest on Antiphony and a vortex of magical energy lashes out from it and encircles them. The first thing they see is the outline of trees. The second thing they see is the horrified face of Leo Crimson, who is standing on the warp pedestal in the Sacred Meadow. He is rapidly shunted out of the space and tossed several feet to the left.   Everyone is so excited to see Leo! LEO IS NOT EXCITED. He is, in fact, horrified. Abbit hands him a breakfast burrito to atone.   Also present are: Perseus Ransom, another man with wings like Piers! Wan Chimaera, a spearman wearing a wooden mask and clothes that resemble a Skull Kid's. And, a bear! The bear is very nice.   Ransom warns everyone that a horde of undead are on their way. They are a diversion team -- to lure the worst enemies away from a village to the south, which is mostly full of civilians. A loud horn is sounding from the Forest Temple to draw in enemies. Leo says the team owes him one, though most agree to help anyway.   The heroes all rally inside the Forest Temple's main chamber. Ransom says some of them will split off to guard the west and east wing, respectively, and fall back if they become overwhelmed. Leo is in charge here in the middle. Leo is suspicious.   Soon, the sound of shattering glass and the arrival of undead Hall of Heroes legionnaires begin a long battle.    

The Battle

Undead legionnaires attempt to break through the main entry way, but Krud and Piers and Hart hold the line in the main door with a knight of the Lost Woods while Abbit provides magical protection (on top of Pier's already powerful auras) in the form of Circle of Power, nullifying most incoming magic completely.   Krud charges forward a bit and manages to tank no less than six legionnaires with three attacks each, shrugging off considerable damage. Unfortunately, something bigger soon shows up. A horrible, writhing thing in the general shape of a massive human. Except it is made up of hundreds of zombie and ReDead bodies fused together into a single creature. It howls and shrieks as it moves. And it heads straight for Krud.   On its first attack against Krud, it swallows him up, devouring him. Krud is trapped inside the writhing mass of bodies (and ironically shielded from further harm outside of some damage taken every turn from the crushing pressure of his flesh tomb).   At the same time, two Boneclaws -- 14 foot tall humanoids with massive arms and even more massive talons -- sweep in from the shadows and start attacking the squishier ranged party members in the center of the main chamber. All while more legionnaires and zombies escort them. The party sees Ransom charge a Boneclaw and is quickly rendered unconscious by two powerful attacks. Nôx restores him to consciousness with a quick Healing Word. He takes to the air with his wings for flyby attacks.   Nôx gets a massively powerful critical strike on a Boneclaw, his damage further enhanced by eldritch entity from his mysterious patron, tearing open its chest cavity with a single longbow shot. Talitha and Meera are also captured briefly, with Talitha stabbing and Meera shooting it in the face respectively. Meera gets a critical strike and stuns it.   The front gate is a war of willpower. Krud is released after the ReDead Clot suffers enough damage. The "bear" from earlier is revealed to be Mato Aryn, another one of Gertie's great-grandkids, and he casts Wall of Fire on the entrance, specifically striking the undead and not his allies. Between that, Piers's moonbeam, and Abbit's Spirit Guardians, the ReDead Clot is rapidly worn down, even as it consumes lesser undead to regain hit points.   Hart finally finishes it off by hitting it with the Vicious Folding Chair, then warping into the air above it to use Reign From Above, his fancy aerial signature move. This finishes breaking the Clot down -- and it shatters into dozens upon dozens of now motionless undead bodies.    

Aftermath

The party is itching to roleplay with their new NPC friends and Leo, but I'm afraid we've already gone over time -- you'll have to pick it up next session!