Episode 4 "The Power of Belief"

Session #7: 7/21/2019

4 Myonastas 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The party took care of some final business in Selunim City before setting off to return the Ring of Yr and Keefax to Artek.
 * Thokk sold the galleon he had captured from the Blackscales to the Rishian Auction house.
 * Kandra used her sending stone to speak make sure her mother was alright following the assassin Cor claiming to have killed her.
 * The trip began uneventfully with clear weather and fair seas.
 * 5 days into the voyage Skord revealed a bottle of fine dwarvish whiskey which he poured in celebration of the new year.
 * The next day, a heavy fog descended, slowing the ship's progress to a crawl.
 * It was in this fog that they were attacked by a ship of goblin pirates, led by a swashbuckling hobgoblin.
 * The party had their first taste of ship to ship conflict before boarding the enemy ship to save the prisoners they were keeping aboard.
 * During this fight, the strange affliction that Kandra, Vendrin, and Thokk had been suffering came to a head, as Kandra was suddenly compelled to narrate her every action, Thokk was compelled to speak in rhyme, and Vendrin nearly killed everybody and himself as he found himself aroused by the sight of fire and proceeded to light the ship on fire.
 * Kandra managed to free the soldiers that the goblins were keeping prisoner and loot the treasure from the hobgoblin captain's quarters.
 * The party safely returned to their ship and discussed what to do about the bizarre curse they seemed to be suffering from. Ultimately deciding to entreat Artek and his Djinn friend Aqeel Satar for aid.
 * The party arrived at Artek and delivered the Ring of Yr and Keefax to him.
 * Artek told the party that Kyuss has been careful to shroud the movements of his troops from scrying, but that he was able to divine the name of Nedan. A powerful and well-respected druid that has been turned to Kyuss' cause.
 * As a bonus for capturing Keefax alive, in addition to retrieving the Ring of Yr, Artek asked that Aqeel grant them a wish to help them rid themselves of the curse.
 * Aqeel, sadly, was not powerful enough to remove the curse from each of them with a single wish.
 * The party quickly discussed their best course of action and wished "To be able to speak with the devil that had cursed us, and return the books in exchange for having the curse removed."
 * Aqeel followed their wish to the letter and suddenly found themselves teleported to Avernus. The 1st level of the plane of Baator, or as it is more commonly known: The Nine Hells.
 * The party found themselves confronted by a terrifying creature covered in barbs and spines who spoke to Aqeel in Infernal before communicating with the rest of them telepathically.
 * Without consulting the party, Vendrin sacrificed his soul to save them. In exchange for having the curse removed, Vendrin promised his soul to the Devil upon his natural death.
 * The devil agreed to Vendrins terms and burned the contract into his forearm.
 * Aqeel then returned the party to the material plane.
 * Aqeel did Vednrin a favor and translated the name of the devil: Zufason.
 * The party resolved to find a way to retrieve ownership of Vendrins soul from the devil Zufason, but in the meantime, would continue their hunt for the Cults of Kyuss by traveling to Aedas and finding this Nedan.
 * Liosynth resolved to convert Vendrin to the Order of Correlon, hoping to save his immortal soul. This annoyed Vendrin.
 * Tyri has become somewhat infatuated with Kandra's rogue-ish ways and has taken to attempting to pickpocket her. Kandra sometimes lets her.
 * Liosynth has begun to pay Tyri a meager wage in exchange for her work on the ship.
 * The party returned to Selunim City to resupply and drop off the Elvish soldiers they saved before setting off on their journey to Aedas which lies across the border in the human empire of Romalia.
 * While in Selunim, Liosynth mailed several letters to an individual she did share with the party.
 * The journey to Aedas is a long journey that will take them through treacherous waters, and straight through the front line of the war between Arkinash and Elbereth.
 * The party spent an arduous month at sea. During this time the party defended themselves from a giant octopus, but the trip was otherwise uneventful. To stave off boredom, the party each took up different hobbies:
 * Kandra continued to spend the majority of her time training Hermes who continues to grow larger and larger.
 * Liosynth took up woodcarving.
 * Vendrin continues to read the same books over and over and over,
 * Thokk and Rolan began training with one another, sparring on the deck of the ship for hours on end.
 * At last, the party arrived at the first stop on their journey: the small island of Ixrove.
 * On approach to Ixrove, a fog had descended over the bay, so the party followed the lighthouse when strangely the lighthouse seemed to approach them, floating over the ship and staring down at them, before retreating into the sea.
 * However, as the lighthouse moved towards them, it cut a swath through the fog, allowing them to see the shore... and the town that was burning.
 * The Red Lion quickly made port as the party hurried to join the bucket chain to put out the fires and provide medical attention to those who had been injured by whatever titanic beast had stomped through the town, flattening buildings.
 * The mayor of the town, Dran Whistletook, hired the party to investigate what the hell was going on.
 * The party each rented a private room at the inn, and in the morning hungrily ate a non-fish based breakfast before setting off to investigate.
 * The party also noticed that even though the lighthouse had floated out into the ocean the night before, it was back on the cliff where it should have been.
 * They followed the gigantic footprints into the forest before finding that the tracks turn back toward the lighthouse.
 * In the forest, they stumbled upon the lair of an Owlbear and Thokk used his Wabbajack to freeze it solid, before taking some frozen Owlbear eggs and sticking them in his bag.
 * The party hurried to the lighthouse, inside they found the remains of an elf that had been sacrificed in some sort of ritual.
 * While they were inside of the lighthouse, the situation made itself plain. The cliff face that the lighthouse sat upon stood up. And the party realized that the lighthouse was the head of this titanic creature.
 * Vendrin investigated the altar and was able to deduce that the lighthouse was likely the product of Kuo-Toa. A race of humanoid fish people with a strange ability. If enough Kuo-Toa believes in a god enough, they literally WILL that god into existence. He deduced that they must be worshipping the lighthouse.
 * The lighthouse titan began stomping its way through the forest, the party shouted for it to stop and it did.
 * The party realized that, even though the lighthouse couldn't speak, it could understand them.
 * They asked the titan to take them to the Kuo-Toa and it continued walking. While observing its behavior, they realized that it seemed to be a newborn, and didn't really understand the destruction it was causing.
 * The titan set them down on the far side of the island, just outside of a cave with a human slave being forced to create an effigy of the titan out of mud.
 * Using Vendrins message spell, the party communicated with the slave, and then hurriedly set an ambush for the Kuo-Toa by covering Thokk in mud so he looked like the effigy and placing the rest of the party around the clearing before the human threw the bucket into the mouth of the cave to lure them out.
 * The party quickly dispatched the Kuo-Toa and then prepared to fight the rest.
 * As the rest of the Kuo-Toa charged out of the cave, the party used ranged attacks to thin the horde, but Thokk used his wabbajack and turned one of the Kuo-Toa into a Maw Demon that jumped on him, and dug its teeth deep into his chest.
 * Thokk quickly drank a potion of Giant-Size and grew, crushing several of the Kuo-Toa and the demon, but found himself far to large, and trapped in the tunnel.
 * With the party trapped behind him, and the Kuo-Toa in front, Thokk was taking a beating.
 * The party tried to get the tighten to help pull him out, but the titan accidentally pushed him deeper into the tunnel, causing his head to emerge in a large cavern.
 * Kandra and Liosynth asked the titan to take them up the hill to a hole that led into the cavern, while Vendrin tried to rest enough to be able to cast a reduce spell.
 * The titan tore the roof off of the mountain allowing Kandra and Liosynth into the cave to defend Thokk from the Kuo-Toa archpriest that was wailing on him with its powerful magic.
 * Vendrin abandoned his rest and hurried up the hill to aid in saving Thokk and leapt into the hole to quickly administer a health potion to the dying Thokk.
 * It was a hard-fought battle, but the party succeeded in defeating the Kuo-Toa and saving Thokk, though he is still trapped in the tunnel.