Down the Rabbit Hole
| Down the Rabbit Hole | |
|---|---|
| Date | 05/11/23 |
| Storyteller | Doug |
| Tier | Expert, Easy |
| Player Characters | Grist, Timid Thistle, Kali, Sade Mrysky, Satori, Kit, Hiromi |
| Rewards | 251 XP, Silvered Flute (25gp), Bracers of Missile Deflection, Oil of Mending x2, Vine Arrow (Formula) |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Tas |
Description: After the final battle in the rat mines, the cursed banjo was successfully destroyed leaving only a few million rat corpses and several strange wooden dolls. Thanks to the research of Hiromi, these dolls appear to have once been Kami. Nature-based spirit creatures that typically ward forests. With no forest in sight, the source of these creatures comes into question. With the rats now gone, Council member Gregorios wishes to have proper rites conducted and therefore someone has to delve into the deepest parts of the mine and find the source of these Kami.
Log
We enter Gregorios' office, noses assaulted by an excess of incense of varying odor and form. There is religious worship taking place in the mines according to Hiromi's report. A kodama was recovered, and no other spirits of the woods or trees were located (no trees in the mines, meaning they're hiding). We are tasked with finding the trees, or the nature, and ensuring that we please the nature spirits found in the mine. The associates will carry a heavy box down to the mines containing various possible offerings that the spirits may accept or appreciate. Gregorios insists the box should remain dry.
We're given a piece of rope, perhaps from the recovered Kodama in hopes this will aid with our search. This is a rope typically tied around a Kodama's body and buried with them as rites.
We travel the center path of the cave, keeping our eyes out for rats. All we see and smell is rot - the rot of millions of rats. The cave is empty, and silent.
As we continue, we come across an open area with poorly-constructed bridges across treacherous caverns. Dead lanterns lie along the walls. Satori throws a copper coin to the bottom, with an 11 second wait to hear it hit the bottom. We walk down the nearby stairs to get as low as we can from here. As the path runs ragged, we carefully navigate down the cliffs and stairs for an hour or so.
At some point we run out of steps that run straight down - we've only descended about 400-500 feet, and there's no more obvious ledges. We cast Light on Oranges and send him flying down. The sides of the chasm clear way as he continues down - the rocks have been smoothed, and appear wet. The chasm is wider, and there are fewer and fewer ledges to grab. Oranges' lands back on a rock after several minutes, and his feathers appear to be wet.
We can jump to the bottom of the chasm via Feather Fall, likely to fall in a river at the bottom though. Instead we consider navigating the nearby tunnels and caverns to find a safer way down and to have a path up. We consult the Kodama's rope using Consult the Spirits to guide us down.
Associates camp out and sleep after hours of travel. Satori meets the Devil, taken form of an undead rat. The two discuss terms of the contract Satori was offered. Satori argues against the "free pick" of his weapons that are blessed. Satori and the Devil reach an agreement - Satori will give the devil a weapon that he has killed a creature with at the end of each month.
Other night watches are normal. We continue heading down for an extra day. It's a boring trek, and we are thousands of feet down. There's more water in the air, it's very humid. The rope guides us confidently down. Finally, we reach the bottom.
We enter a large cave... but it has no ceiling. We can see all the way to the top of the chasm. There's a large pool of stagnant water, but it seems to have little plant life. The water itself is pitch black, and it's unclear what might be inside.
Large humanoid statues flank the circumference of the cave, but we can't make out any specific details of any given statue as they have worn down. A grave marker sports hundreds of charms and tags, the number may mark how many people it cost to get down here.
The water is slimy. Seems to be vegetation... _lots_ of vegetation. Every bit of water here is just full of black plant life. None of the associates can identify this vegetation without extracting or cutting a piece. We don't particularly want to risk cutting the plants or climbing over the statues, since it may offend the spirits.
Sade finds the pool is only a foot deep - Grist finds the pool is significantly deeper than 1 foot. He is restrained by the vines and plant life in the pool, and he was carrying the box... so it's definitely wet now. Hiromi detects a spirit at the bottom of the pool. Sade jumps back in the water attempting to save Grist while Timid Thistle and Satori jump across. The plants seem to part for Hiromi, forming an easy to walk on platform. She hands a rope to Timid and Satori in hopes to swim down and save Grist.
Hiromi floats down angelically as Grist escapes the grasp of the vines. The rope from the Kendama causes a wooden floor to open like the jaws of the beast, and a bright blue light appears far below the bottom of the pool that can be seen from the surface. Hiromi is sucked into the pool deeper, thrown upwards, and tumbles out. We all end up falling through the pool - and it seems we've gone so far that we are in reversed gravity.
We find ourselves standing in an enormous valley, filled with woods and nature.
We march through the water, and it seems stepping on the grass turns black, and causes plants to wilt. The party removes all metal armor... much to the chagrin of our AC scores. Hiromi consults with spirits, and finds that this place is dying. We all feel a rumble and a crack from the glowing tree along the ground. The tree falls towards us, and on us. Our party is split in half on either side of the tree as sharp vines sprout from the area.
We are attacked by the vines, which lash out with bleeding cuts. A dryad appears and negotiations immediately break down as Timid attempts to assure our lack of harmful intent and Sade punches a shrub to death. We attack the vines as combat continues.
Eventually we convince the Dryad of our peace, showing the Kodama's rope. We express our regret in tarnishing the area with metal. A kodama, referred to as the wise one, speaks: "*marimba noises*". The Dryad seems to understand but none of us do. She offers a piece of black kelp, inserted into our ears, which should allow us to understand the Kodama's form of speech.
"We once kept the gates open, but closed it when attacks came from all sides. You've reached our hidden grove, I'm sorry it's not in a state we could be more proud of." Hiromi asks how we can help. "Many years ago we were a beautiful forest. Our guardian watched over us, but during a time of rest he went into our spring to grow himself. While in hibernation, creatures bearing metal weapons and armor came and cut through our woods, sealing our guardian within the spring, covering it in more metal. Most of our dryads have died, or worse. If you are willing to help, we would accept anything. They call themselves 'Ogres', and they are great in number, lead by a powerful chief. His magic burns our lands."
We apologize for bringing metal and offer assistance. The Dryad we've met is named "Aih." The spring gives life to the plants and fruit here, and the guardian being blocked means he can't escape his hibernation. We'll need to remove the metal cage around him to help. We can also help by freeing Dryads that are sealed and tortured by the ogres.
The Dryad offers us to stay in the grove for a night, and we're taken to The Wise One's village. Giant tree filled with other Kodama and Shikigami, tons of plant life calling this place home.
Hiromi, Timid Thistle, and Sade each lick the pure essence of magic. Sade has a panic attack, Hiromi's curse and magic goes away, and Timid now has a magical nemesis. The creature has a bonus to attacking me and a penalty to attacking anybody else, and it hates me. It is allies with my enemies.
We are asked to carry metal out of the grove, in the form of loot, of course.