Valley of Death
| Valley of Death | |
|---|---|
| Date | 10/29/26 |
| Storyteller | Dag |
| Tier | ? |
| Player Characters | Inari, Radari, Mimi, Vara, Isaac Davenport, Zeal, Sahona Bright-Eyed, "Stone-Fist" Houzen, Theodore Leafchewer |
| Rewards | 250 xp, loot TBD |
| Result | Successfully left Kill Valley |
| Author | Inari (frosty) |
| Downtime | 3 |
Associates finally free themselves from the mists of Kill Valley.
Log
It has been some time since we first arrived in the mists. Though I still held hope we might find our way out, things were looking bleak–until today.
In order to enact our plan, we split into two groups: Vara and Lictor Zeal to act as a distraction, of sorts, while the rest of us snuck into Monty’s manor to find a suitable planar key. Isaac was able to cast shared invisibility upon most of us (everyone except Sahona, due to constraints of the spell) and using that, we made our way around the back of the manor without issue, while Lictor Zeal and Vara engaged Monty–in conversation, that is. Their plan was to hopefully talk their way out of our imprisonment in the mists, but if things turned sour, they were the only two of our group who could stand against Monty in a fight, should it come to that. While they began their talks, we made our way into the manor through a casting of magic passage.
We entered what seemed to be Monty’s bedroom, where we swiftly began searching for anything that might be of note, especially magical items. The one thing that we picked up on was that the fireplace in the room seemed to have some sort of arcane sigil on it, one that Isaac surmised would open a passage. He was able to activate it, so, after checking to make sure there was nothing immediately outside the room that could pose a threat, we went through the passage, making our way down a flight of winding stairs.
In the subsequent basement, which seemed to serve as a sort of arcane study, we surveyed our surroundings. Journals, scrolls, and various other notes were strewn about, and upon the floor lay a ritual circle. Upon investigating, the ritual space was found to be a decent, albeit failed, attempt at teleportation magic. Experimental, we guessed.
Theodore and Isaac searched the notes they found upon a desk in the corner of the room, going through the journals and finding that the owner of these notes, who is highly likely to be Monty himself, is a wizard, specializing specifically in the school of breathtaking influence, which often focuses on mental manipulation.
Beyond that, there were two journals of note. The first one, namely, was about teleportation practices; it seemed like Monty had been researching ways to teleport himself out of the demiplane, as well as how to teleport people into it, but such feats required materials he did not have and was unable to procure–which is interesting, considering that he seemingly possesses the power to manifest things at will. Furthermore, it was found that he was trying to work around the fact that he himself could not leave the demiplane, no matter what. If he wanted to leave, he would have to dispel the mist entirely.
The other journal was focused on the ritual of “joining the community” specifically. Despite Monty’s implication, it was taught to him by Charon. The ritual itself contained stipulations that were never explained to those who accepted the agreement– at least, for those of us that were once offered the opportunity to join the community when we first arrived, these arrangements were not made known, and I suspect the same could be said for everyone else that was given the choice. It is a good thing, then, that nobody in our group agreed to join, for we found that those who partake in the ritual become more susceptible to Monty’s magic, and their lifespans are artificially shortened, even though they cease to physically age. In short, the ritual is, essentially, a binding of life forces–for as long as his people live, Monty cannot die.
Additionally, we were able to identify the planar key: the amulet Monty wears, bearing a shard of Erastil corrupted by Charon. With it being the “core” of the demiplane, it would stand to reason that it is what would allow you to travel back and forth between it and our world.
Nothing in the notes, however, stated how one might sever the connection to Monty and nullify the ritual. Someone could certainly try with the right magic, though, which I surmised to be a powerful enough casting of dispel magic, or perhaps a counter-ritual of sorts, designed to remove an individual from a cult. That being said, our resources were very limited, and going around dispelling magic on the townsfolk would take time we did not have. Moreover, many of the townsfolk would likely just participate in the ritual again, even after being freed, for the true consequences of the pact remain unknown to the community.
So, if we wanted to kill Monty, we would first need to break the connection between him and his people. Or, as suggested by Sahona, get rid of the people altogether, for he wanted to destroy the town. While I understand desperate times call for desperate measures, burning a village full of innocent people to the ground for the sake of our own freedom is not something I can condone. I have seen what fires do to people, to myself. I would not wish that upon anyone.
We soon wrapped up our investigation of the study and returned upstairs, having collected the notes and taking them with us. It seemed unnecessary to search the rest of the house, for the information we had was likely the most important of any other potential findings. After exiting from the magic passage, and dispelling it to cover our tracks, we left and made our way back to the forest camp.
It seemed Vara and Zeal’s negotiations went well, for no fighting had broken out. Soon enough, the two of them also returned to the camp, sharing the news that we were finally allowed to leave. In addition, those who have not joined the community are now able to come and go as they wish, so long as no one is sent to knowingly do the community harm, and also that Kill Valley is promoted as a “safe haven” of sorts, where people might find refuge from the apocalypse. I still find such a statement misleading at best, but at least we were able to finally leave the cursed place without dooming others to the fate we escaped.
As we could leave (and enter again, if we wanted to) freely, we decided to start with getting the other outsiders out of Kill Valley as a start; future arrangements could always be made to come back and get the rest of the townsfolk out another time. For now, though, we were able to go home, the newer group of associates having achieved their goal of getting me, Radari, and Mimi out of the mists.
Though we have since safely returned to Onadbyr, I suspect this ordeal is far from over. I can only pray for the eventual release of those trapped in Kill Valley.