28 January 2023
Gargoyles dive at the party. Combat starts with a Bless for [[Coyra]] and [[Pip]], who attack at ranged. The gargoyles are corrupted, possibly by the demons. One vomits acid on [[Ishtar]] and the corruption spreads to him. Tal takes a bunch of damage from some attacks. These special gargoyles are resistant to several damage types. Combat goes fairly evenly, the party not getting another kill for a while. The gargoyles are vulnerable to radiant damage. A second one is killed. Then a third one. [[Pip]] kills a fourth. Eventually the gargoyles are all killed.
The corruption causes creatures to treat all nearby creatures as enemies. [[Coyra]] and [[Ishtar]] start randomly attacking until they shake it off. When the gargoyles die, they melt into a puddle, killing all nearby plants and leaving behind some little gross worms. When they’re killed with radiant damage, this doesn’t happen.
Party talks about how to get up the mountainside for a while. [[Pip]] offers to ride the wyrmling up to check out the top. Goes up. The cave has some kind of magical darkness in it. When [[Pip]] stands around for a bit, a flesh vine lashes out and tries to grab him. The wyrmling picks him up and flies back down to the group. Meanwhile, the group is trying to climb the mountainside. The party struggles A LOT with climbing up the stairs. Eventually [[Pip]] and the wyrmling get back and update the party. Party decides to climb back down. [[Pip]] and [[Gammy]] will fly back up to the top so [[Gammy]] can cast Tiny Hut. Then [[Camden]] will get flown up so he can memorize the top and use the Teleport map to bring the rest of the party up. [[Pip]] and [[Gammy]] get pulled into the cave by the flesh vines, but manage to escape and go through with the plan. [[Camden]] memorieses the area and is brought back down to the main group, to do the teleport. Everybody gets to the top. Tal dispels the darkness and the desecration in the entrance to the tunnel. Everybody goes in. Start exploring.
Overhear something feminine but gravelly say something like “…what you witches crave…”. Possibly something about Orcus and his goddess? And something about “[[Domidan]]’s war”. “The heart of Merkeve is in line with the lord’s plan, so for now we are in line”. “With the arrow gone, we need to face the guardians head on”. “They’re hear!” We were spotted…
Three figures were visible on the other side of the portal. One looked like a blob of flesh with no sign of other limbs. One looked bone thin with no eyes; a crone, lanky and hissy. The last was a humanoid made of faces. “Taaaaalllll.” One voice composed of three call out. “Do not deny your blood. Find us in the lost city. The prince awaits your coming.”
They reach out to me, telling me that I can’t ignore the call of my blood, and that I need to “find the octave in the lost city. the prince awaits.” The figures begin to fade away through the portal behind them.