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Recap 91 Supplemental: The Gate, the Key, and the Guardian

May 4, 2019


When Killing You Once Isn't Enough

Trapped in a cave in the country of Orgoth along with an army of hopping vampires, the Motley Too continue looking for the Staff of Law remnant. While investigating one of the cavern chambers, the elven ranger Kurtis notices a broken mirror on the wall. As he examines it further, he suddenly disappears and ends up trapped inside the mirror dimension. Although he cannot assist the group while trapped, he is able to travel from mirror to mirror in order to follow their progress.

Moving further underground, the party encounters the Jiangshi king Yuewei and his minions again. Confident the Motley Too must have used up all of their resources fighting his minions, he joins his servants in attacking the party. Wileu drinks a potion to enlarge herself and Sir Gyles uses his deck of magick cards to create an illusion of an assassin to aid them against Yuewei.

They manage to wound him enough that he withdraws, but not before he charms the druid Adarra and summons two ogre magi minions to soften the group up. Believing herself surrounded by enemies, Adarra summons a ring of fire, injuring their battle mage Delphine the most. Luckily, the Harper of the North is able to use his cleric's abilities to exorcise the charm.

Yuewei returns, appearing healed, but not so much that the party isn't able to render the Jiangshi into a smoldering pile...a talking, smoldering pile.

Yuewei: Please, I was only doing my master's bidding. If you let me live, I will restore all of you.

With that statement, Yuewei's one good eye looks towards the double doors in the back of the room. Meanwhile in the mirror, Kurtis frantically mimes stabbing the vampire with a stake. Agreeing that the Jiangshi is not to be trusted, Jandove follows Kurtis' instructions and, grabbing an arrow from her quiver, stabs it through the heart.

Not wanting to face "the master" just yet, the Motley Too explore the room. In each corner of the east wall is another of the large frog statues covered in eyes.

Three of the walls also have a mirror hanging on them. They realize if they stand in front of one frog, facing the direction it faces, they can see the mirror on the west wall reflected off the two other mirrors. Pulling its tongue causes the west wall mirror to slide open, revealing a hidden chamber with a coffin inside.

Inside is a skeleton wearing ornate silk robes, clutching a battleaxe with blades shaped like bat wings - the mortal remains of Yuewei. It cringes at the sight of the Harper's holy knife and begs to be put to rest. Having had practice with Yuewei's first corpse, Jandove easily stabs the skeleton through the heart, killing Yuewei for the second, and hopefully final, time.


Boss Fight

Having delayed long enough, Sir Gyles pulls the tongue of the second eyeball covered frog. The double doors on the back wall open and a green ooze slides out, dozens of eyeballs and tiny mouths suspended in the slime, covering a vast swathe of the ground and nearly swallowing Jandove who is only three feet tall.

As the mouths start biting, the eyes turn their gazes to the Motley Too. Before they can attack any of the group's sanity, the Harper casts a spell blinding the eyes. Jandove, having successfully waded out of the goo to a safe distance, aims an arrow carefully at one of the eyeballs, popping it like a grape. This is enough to destroy the entire creature, the slime desiccating into a malodorous powder.

Jandove: Greeeeat...

Delphine: Good thing I cast that flying spell on myself. I didn't get any slime on me.

Jandove: *glares*

Suspicious that the fight ended much too easily for something that supposedly enslaved a powerful Jiangshi like Yuewei, the party approaches the double doors with caution. Peering through the doorway, into a darkened room, they observe many glass tubes running the length and breadth of the room filled with more green slime and eyeballs. Upon entering, the eyeballs all focus on them. Unlike the eyes on the slime creature they just killed these eyeballs have an intelligence behind them.


What's It Like Talking to an Elder God?

Everyone feels a buzzing in their heads as if something is trying to communicate with them. The Harper and Adarra choose to walk entirely into the room while the others back away to wait in the other chamber. At the back of the room is a pool connected to each of the glass tubes. As the approach, the pool of slime rises up, revealing the main body of the creature.

The two hear the gurgling of a million voices inside their heads. It is hard to comprehend at first. The creature's sense of time and space is not like their own.

They are able to understand this much - This creature is Yog-Sothoth, an elder god and grandsire to Chthulu. The time the Motley Too traveled back in time and helped keep out the Starspawn, Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu were both present and a part of them managed to come through into this world.

Despising the physical world, Yog-Sothoth retreated to these caves. But its hiding place was discovered years ago by a wizard - Macros the Black? Beeblebrox? Brecaryn? The wizard covered the cave walls with mirrors which contained Yog-Sothoth's thoughts, bouncing them back or capturing them, exactly what happened to the party when they tried walking down that mirrored section of the cave.

Flash forward to another time. The wizard Skarda and Karzda, the Baron of Gaelwyn have come. Many of the mirrors have been removed, Yog-Sothoth's memories taken with them. These stolen mirrors must have been made into the Mirrors of Thought. The baron is angry with the wizard.

Foward again. Yuewei arrives, agrees to serve Yog-Sothoth and protect its memories from being stolen. Yuewei kills the Candonians, sealing away their items, including a stick that repulses the elder god.

Now. Yog-Sothoth's rest is disturbed by a group of mortals. It recognizes them - they brought it into this world! It gifts them its memories. With these memories, the mortals may do as they choose, it cares not - stop Crulicar, defeat Aten, find allies among the Mind Flayers who don't welcome Cthulhu's return.

When it's done, both the Harper and Adarra feel a little of their sanity has been stripped away permanently, but at least they now have Yog-Sothoth's knowledge and the memories of anyone who has used the Mirrors of Thought for any significant time. Testing it, they "remember" the angry mercenary who keeps finding them through mirrors has the ability to travel through the Mirrors of Thought but cannot enter the mirror dimension itself. Alana and Flerm can rest easy that their loot is still safe.

More importantly, they also know where the remnant of the Staff of Law is hidden. It is in a locked room down a staircase lined in lead. The Harper and Adarra realize the lead was put there to shield this area from Yog-Sothoth's thoughts. Sir Gyles triggers the secret door by pulling on the tongue of the frog statue in the first chamber near the cave entrance. As he gets ready to return to the group, the wall of the cave crashes down as the Juggernauts run through. Summoning his war horse, Doggie, Sir Gyles uses the twists and turns of the tunnels to stay ahead of the Juggernauts, yelling to the rest of the group.

Inside the now-opened treasure room, they find not only the remains of the Staff of Law, but a Mirror of Thought. The Staff can only be wielded by someone with a disciplined personality like Sir Gyles, so they grab the box it's in and hope to figure out how to use it when the Juggernauts aren't breathing down their necks. Adarra and Delphine hold the Mirror and wait for Sir Gyles while Adarra transports the rest into the mirror dimension. Using some precise maneuvering, Sir Gyles is able to grab the Mirror just as Adarra and Delphine teleport inside and ride out of the cave, keeping ahead of the Juggernauts.


Suck It, Juggernauts!

Not sure what else to do, Sir Gyles rides back to Kostchtchie.

Kostchtchie: Why did you lead them here?? I already told you about the Staff of Law!

Sir Gyles: But I don't know how to use it!

Kostchtchie: *grabs head* Mortals! Just touch them with the staff and they will be vulnerable to your attack!

Following the demon's instructions, they are able to destroy the two Juggernauts. The Revenge Squad appears overhead on their Wabberwocky. But then so does Vain. With the Staff in hand, Sir Gyles can see each member of the Motley Crew arrayed above Vain's head. Concentrating, Sir Gyles can call forth any one of them temporarily. Sir Gyles summons Brecaryn and she attempts to fireball the Revenge Squad, but she feels someone working against her magick, mitigating the effects of the spell. They escape with only a little singeing. Brecaryn then disappears back into Vain.

Never A Time To Rest For Surrogate Rulers Of A Kingdom

Thanking Kostchtchie for his assistance, the Motley Too and Vain return to Gelfini. Wileu has a visitor - an emissary from Eldric. Taniadon Nallinde (call her Tani) - Eldric's elves have scored a victory over Morwyn by stealing the staff she uses to communicate over great distances with her generals. Crulicar is seeking an alliance with the elves. If the Motley Too will agree to hold Morwyn's staff, Eldric will reject Crulicar's overtures.

Discussing the matter privately, the Harper, Adarra, and Jandove are all for agreeing to take the staff in order to get Eldric's help, but are also in favor of returning it to Morwyn without a fight if her people come around asking. Sir Gyles more diplomatically suggests they agree to hold the staff if both parties agree to peace talks. Tani agrees.

After that's taken care of, Adarra plants the old Staff of Law in order to grow a new one. The rest speak to Vashti about building a lead-lined room. If it could keep Yog-Sothoth's thoughts from penetrating that stairwell in the cave, perhaps it can shield their dreams from Cthulu's thoughts and they can finally get some rest!


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Tags: Adarra, Brecaryn, Delphine, Doggie, Jandove, Juggernauts, Kostchtchie, Kurtis, Sir Carian Cadwalder, Sir Gyles, Sri Boa, Tala, Taniadon Nallinde, The Harper of the North, Vain, Wileu, Yakima, Yog-Sothoth, Yuewei


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