The Madness of Men in a World of Monsters (D&D 5e IC)

[Theophilus]

Mal Levistus Tiefling Bard 5 AC: 14 HP: 40/41 PP: 11 PIv: 13 PIs: 11 Spell Slots: 1st - 2/4 2nd - 2/3 3rd - 1/2 Fey Touched: 1st - 0/1 2nd - 1/1 Masquerade Tattoo: 1st - 0/1 Levistus Legacy: Armor of Agathys - 0/1 Darkness - 1/1 Bardic Inspiration: 2/4 Healer's Kit: 20/20 Mal Conditions: Disguise Self (DC 13 Investigation) Mal Concentrating: --- Soreshu Ancient Companion: Sage Companion HP: 30/30 Companion AC: 14 Companion PP: 18 PIv: 12 PIs: 12 Sage's Counsel: While within 15 feet of the companion, you and your allies gain a +2 bonus to Intelligence and Wisdom checks. Mal puffed his pipe vigorously as the stench drenched them. The offal's sweetness threatened to churn his stomach, tainting the flavor of his tobacco. A glance at Ulu's expression as she descended from the carriage warned him how dire the moment may become. The attaché invoked his art, adding to those not included in his balm, "Let's steel ourselves for what evokes such strong emotion in the lady-at-arms." He disembarked out the opposite side, trailed by Soreshu. This provided a moment's respite from the trauma ahead. The tiefling-in-man's skin rounded the carriage. The tormented dead assailed his mind with the brutal, unnatural carnage. However, the regimented art absorbed the psychic blow, and Mal surged forward prepared to conduct his inspection. Soreshu followed until he noted the corpses. The smell did not reach his spirit, but the sight...the grotesque rending, splayed and flayed bodies...the smiles...those horrid smiles...The powerful statue swiveled in the opposite direction, tromping off as he cursed fervently in the fiendish tongue. "The farce gazes blindly upon the gate of death, then lies dreaming..." The Repository "Mari Soreshu, another has been found. The boy's trembling hands and quavering voice warned the scholar. Despite the elder's prime, he could not help feel mortal as those words chilled his spine. Thirteen. This is the thirteenth. "Is the corpse as the others?" The pupil giggled uncontrollably, an ill-fitting sound for what followed, "Torn and twisted, yet serene...Like she enjoyed the experience 'ere she died." The Butcher's Roost Soreshu rubbed at his bald head, then paused. No, the smiles were different...formed, not carved...no blood runes...only torn... His mouth firmed and stoicism returned. The statue stomped back to his ward and remarked in an instructor's tone toward Mal, "What have you found?" The man looked up, holding a snuff box under his nose. He answered, "I had only begun to look. Something severed these mummers without causing suffering as a mortal understands the word. They lack both liver and gall, laying about placidly in their dissected state." "What else? What of their other bit of uniform?" The mentor prodded. "The trinkets? Some woodsy talisman, a lucky charm--an homage to the Jackalope. Served no one present..." "Yet, all bore these," the matter-of-fact statement hinted at a criticism. "Have you heard of similar instances as this?" Mal looked away from the grinning dead, his eyes wandering to the wood-armed elf. He answered distractedly, "Whispers told of Yurl suffering these sorts of terrors. A group of would-be heroes sought to deal with the menace, though the affair turned costly." The man blew out a set of skulls: A raven, a bull, a lion, and a lizard. He watched these float into the ether, pondering what manner of creature or menagerie could have accomplished this devastation. "Then keep your vigil. The path forward through this charnel field appears on the trail of a malign foe." Soreshu forebode grimly. Mal maneuvered toward the others and asked, "Do you see any sign of entrance or egress of the culprit?" He then whispered softly so as not to rouse the attention of the clergy. "I could beseech the spirits concerning the last moments of their ordeal, but I suspect their words may prove muddled or worse."

Spoiler: OOC

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Mal Sanity save: 16
Soreshu Sanity Save: 12 then 13 (one round of frightened and running off)

Soreshu helps Mal with his search once he finished pooping cement bricks.

Insight 12
Investigation = 26
History 21
Religion 22

Spoiler: Mal's Notes

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Spoiler: Cast and Crew

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Set: outcast exiled princeling of Abydos. Two princess sisters (Sisi and Sythpen Al-Sayyid). Romantic connection for Moira?
Selissa: Blighted or reconstructed wood elf? Purported Scout.
Vargath: Afflicted Lycanthrope seeking to suspend his curse. A Bloodwolf?
Mandaras: Rival to Dr. Fixer.
Dr. Fixer: Moira's lieutenant and cultivates relations with the locals of Vale.
Elder Maus: Seeks to kill Moira. Hired mercenaries who betrayed him.
--Healed to his full 9ft height.
--Disbelieves Moira's insights; seeks to end her directly or indirectly.
--Seeks us to verify the truths of Moira's claims--or stop her by any means necessary.
Maulei: Successor to Elder Maus as elder of Dam'ess.
Uluthando Mikoso "Ulu:" Paladin? of Order. From beyond the Vale. Reacts by gripping her dagger and declaring Tieflings are treated differently...Lawful (N/E?) Order? Calls Mal 'Mdala Ohlonishwayo.' Professes to serve no god, but spirits whose reach may be weaker in the Vale than elsewhere.

Spoiler: Dream of Leng

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Spoiler: In Full

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Mal has had this dream before. He finds himself in the legendary Library of Leng, an ancient home of virtually all worldly and mystical knowledge that burned when the city it was located in was razed nearly nine hundred years ago, half the world away. Still, in his dreams it still existed, and these dreams always played out the same. Hours of dutiful research, referencing and cross referencing sources from multiple tomes, carefully reconstructing ancient languages, until EUREKA! Some devastating and profound arcane truth became evident to him, and the sense of accomplisment and relief normally carried with him for several hours after waking up, even if he could never actually remember anything he learned. But this time is different. Mal is well versed enough in the arcane and divine arts to know that sometimes dreams carry real meaning. And as he stares down at what he has been working on, he instinctively knows this bears some significance. Where normally he would have arcane formulas and theorems, he sees only "The One Who Stalks Behind" scrawled over and over again in his own hand, though the words are manic and look like they were written in distress. He searches the paper for any further omen, and down at the bottom of the page, in the smallest script he could possibly manage, it says Behind you!. Just as he is about to turn, a claw as strong as iron grips the side of his head, snaps his neck to the side, and ends all feeling in the bard's body. But he can still hear the deep throated growls, along with the wet noises of whatever killed him beginning to eat him alive. But he never gets to see it before the dream ends.

The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. RIGHT BEHIND YOU! The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind. The One Who Stalks Behind.

Spoiler: Bence's Secrets

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Spoiler: Bence's Journal

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...is a backwards plane, so far removed from the Prime Material that it has not seen an angel or the work of a god in a millennia. I hear that far to the west they do not even worship the gods. Proper savages, but I must remain vigilant, as their knowledge of the ways of this world is far more educated than most. But it is ripe for my conquest. While my Master was tasked with corrupting Avendor, my home plane, a bastion of good and law, my chore is simply to tip the rat into the bucket of the Abyss as it prowls the rim looking for cheese. This plane is already so flooded with the energies of the Abyss that demons spontaneously emerge, monsters manifest in the dark, and their weak leaders bargain with forces they would be wiser to repulse. It will be child's play to nudge it the last few inches into anarchy and destruction, mostly due to the efforts of Pale Night herself. For thousands of years she has been grasping and clawing at this realm, dragging it further from the light and closer to her realm day by day, inch by inch, soul by soul. While my home plane was beyond my ability to destroy, this place will be my masterpiece. With my death at the hands of the forces of good, a symphony of destruction will play the anthem to my ascension to demonhood. The Pale Mother has promised me that each death will bring me closer to my true form, and each rebirth will increase my power, just as our pact promised. I can't wait to die. When will the heroes arrive? I've been planting and tending the seed of the idea in the old giant's mind for weeks now. When will it bear fruit? When can my dark rise to power begin? (The rest is a combination of burned and Abyssal that becomes impossible to read)

Dam'ess- Mass Quasit Summoning. Magic Mouth to Levy Commands re: Retrieve Mirror of Leng, Scepter of Rulership, And Aniot's Cube. Disperse to Appropriate Parties Per The Plan. Burn The Cabin.

Harumburg- Sending to Lord of Bone re: Portal to the 113th. (Indecipherable Due to Burns) In Accordance with Their Great Alliance.

Falluneer- Sending to Lord of Flesh re: (Indecipherable Due to Burns) Ebon Spear.

(Indecipherable Due to Burns)light: Sending to Lord of Blood re: Assassination of (Indecipherable Due to Burns) Yukkot, Recovery of Blood (More Burns).

(Indecipherable Due to Burns)odge- Sending to Cult of Pale (More Burns) re: Initiate Divining Ritual Sacrifices. FIND THE DAMN ZIGGURAT.

Garrunrow- (Indecipherable Due to Burns) Kill the Last Bloodwolf. Recover (More Burns) Key.

Mountain of Smoke- (Indecipherable Due to Burns) crypt. Seize the Ebon (More Burns).

Sussoon- Ensure the Prophecy (Indecipherable Due to Burns)... Pay the Bounty Hunters to Find the Abydossian and the Princesses. re: Sacrifices of The Old Blood

(There is more, but seemingly out of paranoia Bence switched to Abyssal. It is impossible to tell how many lines there are, as the last half of the paper is fully burned away)

Spoiler: Arcane Lore concerning Bence's Notes

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The magic of Contingency is a nearly mythical bit of spell work that was said to be lost when the Library of Leng burned down. It allows a caster to prepare spells in advance for a predetermined event, in this case John Bence's own death, and the spells will automatically cast when the event happens. If Bence is capable of such sorcery, he is likely far more powerful than his flashy death at the party's hands would indicate.

The Mirror of Leng is a artifact of the Library of Leng, said to contain a frozen moment of time where the library was at it's height that a person can temporarily step in to, giving access to the greatest magical library this world has ever seen. Supposedly several mirrors were made, though some are confirmed destroyed after their use led to come calamity of forbidden magics long lost to time. The Scepter of Rulership is said to be an even more powerful version of a Rod of Rulership, a magic item that allows for mass mind manipulation of people to believe that the holder of the Scepter is their rightful ruler. The last time the Scepter was confirmed in play it toppled an entire nation.

Though numbering and organizing the layers of the Abyss is a fool's errand, there are some realms that are constant enough to designate. The one hundred and thirteenth layer is Thanatos, layer of Orcus, the Lord of Death. It is a lifeless frozen landscape where life is snuffed out almost as soon as it arrives, either by the untold legions of undead denizens, the magical aura of the layer itself, or, in the worst cases, by Orcus himself, using his fearsome Wand.

Spoiler: John Bence's Wall Art

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There are no invisible objects in the room, but the entire back wall of the cabin is plastered with profane runes and abyssal scribblings. Where there was nothing to the naked eye, there is an extensive patchwork of spell work, seemingly scribed in the rusted red of blood. More disturbing is the fragments of souls that have been bound to the wall. Faces of people rise and seethe from the wood like a strange and rippling tide, mouths open in anguish. There are not many of them left, presumably due to whatever spell was used here absorbing so much energy, but there is a fine layer of ectoplasm that would indicate that once there were dozens of soul fragments powering this spell. The sight turns Mal's stomach, as the chaotic, destructive magic of the Abyss is written as plainly as news script, but as subtly as any devil could manage.

Spoiler: Monsters

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Barlgura: Demon loosed by summoning ritual on the road to Dam'ess. Slain with its summoned partner by team. (Bless helped with accuracy issues due to invisibility. In the future, layer mind sliver to aid with saves.)
Brazen Hart: Spirit of the wild wood around Dam'ess. Seeks to test the party's mettle by forcing an open fight with the Barlgura.

Spoiler: Instrument of the Bards

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Mal needs a translator, the spells, and woodcrafter to create a new relic.

Spoiler: Full Description

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Still, tucked among the primers and amateur books he finds a book that deals with the blending of magic and music. Specifically, it holds the instructions and rituals for a new version of the famed artifacts known as the instruments of the bards. Unfortunately, about a third of the book is in a language Mal does not understand or recognize, including most of the rites and rituals to imbue it with magic. Still, with a translator, appropriate magics, some study, and someone skilled in wood craft, he may be able to produce one of these relics for himself.

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