This was a bit of an odd session. They were heading down the river north of Kyonin in the hopes of getting down to Andoren and were first beset by a giant (medium-sized) dragonfly and then they ran aground on a large mud elemental. Not realising what had beached them, Proteus stuck his trident into it in the hopes of shoving off, which obviously and naturally upset the mud elemental which bucked the boat up and forced a DC 15 reflex save not to get tossed.
Lhye, the familiars and the NPCs (Lavender Lil, Wellard and Arexia) were the only ones knocked loose off the boat. Lenny tied a rope to herself and jumped in after Lhye. The others attacked the Mud Elemental though only Lunjun did much damage at this stage. The Mud Elemental kept slamming the sides of the boat so Archer ran up the tilting mast to try and capsize it off the creature and Wellard ran up to assist. The Mud Elemental knocked it off and sent it skidding across to the bank, damaged.
Finally they managed to slay the Mud Elemental and Proteus leapt into the river to swim around and look for some loot. Instead he found the river cave it was protecting. The others hurriedly tried to repair the boat which, thankfully, wasn’t too badly damaged. They were on the Kyonin bank after all and were worried about insular elves slaying them outright.
Proteus spent ten minutes swimming through subterranean water caves before reaching a large cave half filled with air. There were three tunnels, two out of reach, one coming off the limestone shelf that was still slick with rich calcium. As he came out of the water he saw the statue of an elf, weathered by time so that it’s details were worn away, standing and staring out over the water. He went through the tunnel accessible from the ground and followed it along until it opened up into an immense chasm so large he couldn’t see the ceiling and with a stone staircase of green-black marble that led down a thousand narrow steps.
It took him awhile to go down there but go down there he did until he reached a hectagonal platform with an elven statue in each corner whose eyes, to Detect Magic, radiated a slight divination magic. From their hands sprang coloured flame that hovered in place and lit the platform. In the middle was a plinth with a narrow base and a wide opening that gathered water like a bird bowl. This plinth had an overwhelming divination / conjuration aura. Proteus, being a chaotic sort, swirled his finger through the water that had accumulated through the highly calcified droplets falling from the faraway ceiling.
As he swirled it, it grew more opaque and cloudy until it reflected his face (yes, seems wrong but this is how it looked) but the eyes of his reflection were far more intense, near overwhelming. He watched his eyes in the reflection fill up with a black smoke that then poured forth in tendrils into his own eyes, filling him up. It wasn’t painful, merely cold.
When it finally stopped, he found himself standing in a more blurry version of where he stood before as though everything had a translucency to it. Figuring he was on the Astral Plane, but finding that he had a weight and the world a gravity, he started up the stairs again. This time at the top of the stairs where it entered the tunnel he saw two beautiful Triton statues (the mer-people) standing with their weapon Tritons crossed overheard but then they flickered and became Kytons whose barbed chains seemed poised midair to strike each other, forming an arch overhead, and then they flickered back to Tritons then again to Kytons.
He continued down the corridor and where it broaded into the half-submerged cave he found it entirely dry and it was instead an old amphipheatre. An elven woman with glowing violet eyes sat at an organ of beautiful design that flickered so that her skin changed and went dark, hair lightening, her fingers going from playing to being drawn out nerves and tendons reaching into the organ, then back again. As she worked, her lips skinned back to reveal raw cheek muscle, and then again she became a normal elf.
“Hello?” asked Proteus, ever an opportunist to find out more.
He was struck with 8 damage to the teeth and, gums bleeding, he turned away and continued to head on the way to the river. He found at the entrance a beautiful elf woman with black hair that, when ‘she’ turned he realised was just a feminine him with violet eyes and as Proteus watched he saw the elf slowly mutate, black horns sprouting, black wings growing out, a tail falling down.
Proteus heard footsteps and then a beautiful Marid rushed through him as though he were a ghost and she ran to the devil / demon as though they were lovers, only for the two to land on each other’s swords and turn to salt. Proteus continued out and as he stepped out through the mouth of the river cave he found himself in a river once more.
Meanwhile, his monkey’s eyes had turned black and it had started blathering as though speaking in tongues. Lhye, nervously, used Mage Hand to lift the little thing into the air which didn’t seem to bother it. Finally, the monkey began to sing a lullaby (I played Sleeping Priestess from Project Zero 3):
Sleep, Priestess, Lie in peace.
If you cry, the boat you'll ride
The last trip to the other side
Once you get there
Sacred marks you'll bear,
They shall be peeled off
Should you fail to lie still
Sleep, Priestess, Lie in peace.
Sleep, Priestess, Lie in peace.
If the Priestess wakes from her dream,
Perform the rite of stakes.
Her limbs pinned tight,
Lest the doors open wide,
And suffering unleashed on all.
Go to the other side.
Go to the other side.
Cast the boat, take a ride.
Cross the RIFT, to the other side.
Further, and further, to the other side.
It must sail, bearing your tattoos
And our offering of tears...
The characters weren’t really paying attention to the lyrics, though, and wouldn’t know more than the two first lines. Still it worked to get their attention. When Proteus returned to this side, his monkey just went to sleep and didn’t seem any worse for wear later on.
Upon learning about what Proteus had seen, and learning of the value of such an artefact, Lenny demanded that Proteus kiss-breathe for her so that she could return, uproot it (the two made critical successes on their Perception checks and found a fine crack where it had been slotted) and then dragged it back onto the boat. No one was too keen to have it aboard (other than those two who declared that they wouldn’t share the wealth) and as they headed back they each had strange dreams.
Proteus and Lhye dreamt of kissing – only Proteus was treated as though he were a woman.
Lenny had the sensation of profound satisfaction.
Lunjun found himself in a cave where carvings in the walls held great secrets but he could never manage to remember a small piece of it at a time. If he could see the whole of it, he would learn great things.
Archer simply remembered a promise he had almost forgot.
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