Loose threads The Curse of Blight Rock was lifted, ending its time loop; An Umbral Dragon guardian fled the battle for the ritual with its life, hiding somewhere in the island; The island breaks and heaves as the influence of Monday seems to have been released with the curse's dispelling; The Devil in the Dread Citadel Sirxus sought was not found yet.
Participants Aeonrei Aeminus, Sirxus, Shirkad, Swampy
Locations Dread Citadel, Blight Rock
Parent Quests Oh That Island. What's Up With That?, The Dread Citadel Returns, Character Quest Follow up from Martial Murder III
Short summary:
Aeonrei wished to study Blight Rock island to see what magic she can learn from that place. Swampy came along to fight, Sirxus hoped to find his devil contact but failed to do so, Shirkhad offered to help sail there. A cowardly knight Valen Dreth offered to help, wanting to prove himself on the island for a secret organization. The party fought off sharks along the way there, learning that Swallow Whole is mean. They then assisted a ghost in casting the Blight ritual to break the time loop curse upon the island - where dragons descended on them in an attempt to stop the ritual. The dragons were fought off into retreating, and the ritual broke the curse. However, this seemed to only help Monday break free and exert her influence on the island.
Full Report, by Aeonrei Aeminus
Blight Rock Island remains a place of mystery, a seemingly desolate and unchanging place haunted by dust, ash, and ghosts of the past. Seemingly a perfect place to do some field research on the varying natures of primal magic. The island is also known to harbor the presence of fiends, something of interest to my late companion Sirxus. Thus I have assembled a group with the goal of exploring this realm for our respective goals.
During that gathering in First Landing, we were approached by a unlikely stranger - Sir Valen Dreth. The man spoke with a fraudulent and boisterous attitude - speaking as if he was a famous hero among the guild's adventurers. Swampy confronted him on the matter of course, where he folded and confessed the act. He sought to charm us into joining our expedition, as he too had reasons, albeit hidden in shame, for venturing to that island. We opted to bring him along - if at the very least he would serve as bait for the devils that might stalk us.
Valen however would prove his value time and time again with dividends. His boisterous act had charmed the likes of Captain Marcel Flamme, a supply and voyage captain among the guild's naval services. We were supplied with a ship by the captain and travel supplies carried by Valen, and set off.
The seas proved amicable for the most part, if not for tedious waiting. 10 days we sailed on, occupying our selves with study or practice. The last stretch of the voyage on the bay between Watcher Island and Blight Rock nearly ended all our lives. Two Helicorpions, megafauna sharks with a voracious appetite for tearing apart ships and swallowing men whole, assaulted us.
The fight left went terribly, with the group and crew dividing themselves up port and starboard to fight off the sharks. Poor tactics on our part, spewed on by a panicked desperation to save the ship, made the sharks able to bite and swallow our group one by one. A monster that swallows you whole without chewing is dangerous - you're like to suffocate and die before one side dies honorably in battle. Let alone trying to speak out your spells. We survived merely by outlasting the sharks, losing only Swampy's companion Cackle to the seas.
Arriving on the shores of the island quickly afterwards, we bid our captain good bye. I opted for extreme caution in our exploration - the island is known for many dangers, and I'm keen on discovering them first. This perhaps lead to more tedious exploring, as we traveled from the shore to the central village and scoped out a tavern to make our base of operations.
It was in our slow pace we discovered a few features of the island.
- Nothing changes. You move a box, break a branch, or spill a mug of ale, the world would shift in a blink of an eye to its original state.
- What flesh and drink can be found here goes rotten in the stomach, presumably vanishing after you have eaten it.
- Nothing ever really dies either. The bushes and trees may be in a 'blighted' state, but they don't truly wither or decompose. Stuck in stasis as it were.
- The spirits of the village are trapped here as well, going mad in their unchanging prison. They often appear as ghosts, hallowed and haunting the homes they were laid to rest upon.
- The only exception seems to be what you bring with you. Using magic to create or conjure something, such as food or purifying spells, do not work here. Only magic with concentrated effort like the Cozy Cabin spell might be able to bypass the curse, given a talented mage.
Add in the notes taken from my daughter Zinlynndise's expeditions written in Oh That Island. What's Up With That? and The Dread Citadel Returns.
- The homes of the island look like they were only abandoned an hour ago. Candles still burn, beds are still made, tables still set - its as if the people fled before our arrival.
- Sometimes a supernatural fog descends upon the island, and the spirits of the elves take physical form and live out their lives. They seem blissfully unaware a world outside the island exists.
- The elves are simple farmers and peasants scratching a living off the island - perhaps not noticing the 'blight' around them. They try to not draw the ire or attention of the master of the castle - the Dread Citadel as it were. He is rumored to be a abyssalist or diabolist.
Valen's presence proved fortuitious again, as he provided rations where I have grown complacent on a druid's magic. In the proceeding morning, we decided to venture to the Dread Citadel proper, and confront one of the wailing spirits. It was an elven woman who could not remember her name, wailing in desperate frustration of her unchanging prison. There was some back and forth discussion, but she easily cowed into intimidation at the prospect of us making her prison worse.
The ghost could not remember her name, and resented any pity sent her way. But she did speak of a 'power' to enact some small change in the island - something she knows but lacks the strength to enact on her own. The curse thwarted all my ideas to sprout a change of life among the island, so the ghost's plan for decay was enacted in its stead. She began casting what I would later learn to be the Blight Ritual.
Rituals such as these draw attention of course. Dragons descended upon the courtyard of the citadel - 4 of them. One zombiefied corpse of a true dragon, two dragon like serpents, and finally a vile true Umbral Dragon. I recognized the umbral dragon to be a similar beast in nature to the one that attacked First Landing on the Hallow's Eve festival a few years ago. The ambush was very much frustrating - all the time we spent scouting only for some far away brute to get the better of us. This fight was something of a fair slug fest - a few of us working together to take down the dragons one at a time for their interference. Of course by fair fight I mean we survived by the skin of our teeth - won only by a lucky fear spell casted by shirkhad while Sirxus was bleeding to death. The umbral dragon unfortunately escaped, but we were left alone to complete the ritual.
Our ghost began speaking cryptically upon the rituals completion, words that one might find upsetting.
"YES, YES, CHANGE. IT CAN HAPPEN, THE CURSE CAN BE BROKEN"
"ANY CHANGE, GOOD OR BAD, IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. CHANGE. CHANGE TO FREE HER, CHANGE TO RELEASE WHO WAS IMPRISONED"
"ONE SMALL STEP TO FREE HER, THANKS, THANKS. FINALLY I REMEMBER, THERE WAS ONCE A WOMAN, THERE WAS ONCE A GODDESS. OH SHE WAS, OH SHE IS. I REMEMBER HER, I REMEMBER HER NAME.."
"...MONDAY..."
The Blight ritual was completed, breaking the curse in a release of death to Pharasma's embrace. The plants, grass, and tree's stuck frozen in time immediately crumbled into brittle dust. The earth itself began to shake even, unbalancing us as the mountain of the island shuddered open and spewing magma. It was an almost apocalyptic cataclysm, leaving us with questions when the ghost vanished to the afterlife without a explanation.
I suspect now that the Island was perhaps a seal or the work of the dragons to contain this Monday goddess. An infuriating turn of events to what I hoped to be a simple field study.
- Secret's Kept
Aeonrei Aeminus
Swampy
The quest began with all party members meeting at one of the city gates, a standard gathering for a new party. Short discussions took place on how the party would reach the island, eventually landing on securing a patron to ferry the party over. Luckily, a cowardly knight took the initiative to approach the party. He introduced himself as Sir Valen Dreth a human who said he wanted to go to the island but inwardly did not. For fear of being outcasted he enlisted the aid of the party to mount a successful excursion and return victorious to establish his standing in his undisclosed organization.
Sir Valen used his connection to secure a boat from Marcel Flamme a tiefling captain. After 10 days of travel the boat was attacked by massive sharks called Heliocprions. The battle went poorly all things considered as Crackle, Swampy's animal companion was eaten by one in the fight. When the party eventually reached the island, they were left with no way to return home beyond the power of their recallers. The party set their eyes upon the Citadel, assuming their investigations along the way would provide more leads regarding the Blight ritual Aeonrei was seeking.
Reaching the citadel revealed the nature of the unchanging state of the city. The party investigated the city as much as they could, fortifying a position in the even a safe haven was needed, and eventually resting. In the following day, the party discretely confronts the ghost of an elf. Eventually it is decided through civil ghost conversation to attempt to break the curse keeping the citadel in a perpetual unchanging state.
The ghost began a ritual to harness the energy and magical potential of the party to fuel a ritual that breaks the curse. Unfortunately, the party would not have such an easy time. A series of dragon attacked in an attempt to kill the party and stop the ritual. A zombie dragon, two underworld dragons, and an umbral dragon attack in rapid succession. The end of the fight was marked by the fleeing umbral dragon. Shortly thereafter the ritual completed.
Eventually one little leaf slowly starts to decay again. As the little leaf decays... Something in the air changed. The stale air starts to flow once again and the almost petrified shrubs and trees begin to discompose. The decay then quickly started to spread to the floor. The garden of the citadel, the village down below, the far away trees of the island... Everything that was once fixed in a moment in time, quickly brittles and decomposes. At the very distance, long to the south, the big mountain that was in there starts to tremble and shake. Powerful noises and bright orange lights start to come from every crack and hole in its rock. Everything around violently shook too. (Elven) "MONDAY" Whispers the ghost as she finally disappeared. As resonating with her parting words, the mountain cracks almost in half, rivers of hot magma emerging from the fissures and slowly descending into the land. For better or worse, the curse has been broken, change has finally arrived on the island.
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