September 09, 2023

Hook

Welcome to [the] Chilis [Session 2] (Ruefang; Cayali)

Plot Synopsis

CoGM: Spencer

Berlok Kringleton was left behind the first day, and arrived at the second-first day as the players appeared again and took the boat across. He stands on the other side, wondering how he is going to get over when he sees two terrified people paddling over to the side he is on. After a brief conversation he lets them go, much to the chagrin of the multiple metaphorical devils on his shoulder (read: the rest of the party) They leave the boat, run back to Chongbai and Berlok uses said boat to cross the small channel to the island. Upon arrival to the Earth Temple, Huangdi greets him- and guides him to the rest of the party. While the rest of the party takes a long rest, Guts stays up- and with the help of Berlok, solves the puzzle in the restored room. He then moves onto the next room. This one is rather dark, in a bit worse shape, and slightly smaller than the previous room. This one contains a pillar in the center, a collapsed tunnel in the back, and multiple murals along the walls showing the history of Ruefang and the Dragons that used to rule. Guts solves the puzzle within the room by placing 5 dragon scales on the pillar in the center, and opens up a small servant’s-quarters-looking passageway down to the next room.

The rest of the party wakes up, fully healed from their fight the previous day, and continues down the smaller, hidden stair that Guts had found. The party then arrives in a much larger room, this one pitch black except for the few torches the party had brought down into the depths. The walls of this place are made of a smooth, almost turquoise crystal that seems to climb up the walls. The crystal is carved in intricate patterns, along with strange pillars that adorn the corners of the room. The floor in the center of the room is a mix of stone and this strange crystal, carved similarly to the crystal on the wall. Behind these pillars are small, 10ft passage ways with a large stone pressure plate in the absolute corners of the room. Each, along with one in the center of the room, are marked with the elemental symbols of each temple. Most of the carvings seem to be echoing out from the center plate, almost as if they are there to amplify something done within the center of the room.

On one side of the room stands a slumbering stone golem that the party awakens and immediately attempts to attack. They get a few good hits off on it, but soon realize that it serves another purpose within the room. After studying the plates for a few moments, they begin to guide the golem around to the different plates. Metal first, then water, then wood, then fire, then finally to the center plate of earth where the golem solidifies into pure jinghua. In this time, Gut’s left arm began to show signs of Jinghua poisoning, so he decides to take drastic measures of the issue and chops his own arm off. This causes him to pass out once more, Berlok and Glork make sure he doesn’t die. The crystals within the room, that had begun to glow throughout this battle- suddenly begin to change to a sickly blue-green color as Rico makes another appearance. The party and Rico clash once more, though now Rico has been half transformed into a stone-golem-abomination. Through a close fight the party barely manages to scrape a win, and decides to rest there again while they wait for the door they came through to reappear.

Noteworthy Postgame Events