September 30, 2023

Hook

From Long Slumber [Session 1] (Ruefang; Cayali)

Plot Synopsis

CoGM: Spencer

After gathering any needed supplies, the party departs out of the eastern entrance of Chongbai. They travel only a few minutes along the dusty road before Huangdi pulls them off the beaten path- where they find the markings of a freshly transcribed teleportation circle. The sight was strange, but what was even stranger- for a supposed farmer, Huangdi was able to operate the teleportation circle. Upon using the circle, the party finds themselves within the dense jungle-like area of Southern Ruefang. Despite having few landmarks to help traverse the area, Huangdi seems confident with where he was leading the group. Small talk ensues for a majority of the journey, with Huangdi answering most questions that anyone in the group had. A few of the group members notices that some of the foliage around them has begun to become withered and rotten, with these happening becoming more frequent the closer they get to the temple.

As the sun starts to fall the group happens upon a dense thicket that appears to be impassable. Before anyone can do anything, NPC enhances their weapon and attempts to hack into the thicket. He gets a singular good hit in before Huangdi catches the weapon, stopping it from doing further damage. He tells the group that he is unable to enter the temple due to the magic surrounding it, he is however- able to get them safe passage. With that, he takes off and activates a dragonscale carved with runes. Upon the key being activated, the thicket before them parts, leaving a clear path into the Wood Temple.

The Wood Temple is nestled within a thicket of unassuming trees, with the right key- or enough force, one can find themself within the clearing that the actual building of the temple resides. The clearing is filled with small, carefully curated gardens- though because of years of “abandonment” the gardens have become dense and overgrown. The temple building itself is made of a grey and cyan wood that looks almost stone-like. The wood that the temple is built out of looks as if it had been grown and shaped into the form it currently is. Vines and other plants scale the walls, and the entire roof of the place is covered in leaves, grasses, and moss. The doors of the place are normally made up of vines that can be pushed away to reveal the passageway behind it.

Upon the party entering the clearing, they look for a way into the temple. While the entrance-way is open, leading to a small room with a staircase leading down on the left side- the door leading to the coliseum-type building that is the back of the temple is closed by thickly-linking vines. The party attempts to find a way into the coliseum by scaling the ~120ft walls around the side of the temple. Ujyaku, managing to get onto the top of the wall- is able to spy the corrupted tree that stands tall within the center of the area, and realizes that it is probably not a good idea to jump head-first into this area. The party reluctantly delves into the root system of the temple, proceeding into the basement.

Within the first room they enter, they find two closed gates, what appears to be a dried up pool, and large swaths of the room covered in a weird black-swirling moss. Here, they find a strange golden-fruit growing from some roots in the ceiling. After investigating, they figure out the fruit can be used to clear the black moss corruption, clearing a terminal with some strange writing on it. Upon solving the poem on the terminal, the two gates open allowing water to flow through. The party chucks a golden fruit into the water for good measure, and it makes the water glow and allows it to get rid of the rest of the corruption within the room. The next room they find has much the same situation, and is easily solved. A third door opens up, allowing the party into what appears to be the central chamber of the underground area. A giant taproot pierces the ceiling and seems to be feeding from a large corrupted pond. The two rooms that the party had solved appeared to have purified water flowing into the pool, though it didn’t appear to be enough to fully cleanse the water.

The third room that the party enters is unlike the previous ones they entered. Two people appear to have made their way into the room previously, through one of the blocked gates (which had been broken in their intrusion). The two people were too busy mining a strange blue-green rock, which they were putting into large bags nearby. The party sneaks up on the two of them and corners them as they make themselves known. The party is somehow able to convince the two people, who introduce themselves as Dale- a eufalconi, and Ayrissa- a draconic lineage, that they are a mix of general managers and a few members of HR from Lithicore. After a bit of gaslighting the group is able to get Dale and Ayrissa to leave the temple in search of transportation that is supposedly waiting for them. The party is able to solve the rest of the room with ease.

The fourth room is similar to the rest, though there are two wooden Long statues that are faced towards the pool within the room. Upon closer investigation, the party is able to spot what appears to be weird black stones embedded within the bottom of the pool. After further investigation- after solving the room’s puzzle- realize that they are actually Long eggs. The statues come partially alive upon further investigation and the party decides to leave the eggs for now. Upon a few members of the party going outside of the fourth room, they are able to see a large, corrupted entity watching them from the taproot- before it delves back into it and moves upward as the center pool is cleansed.

The party leaves the basement to continue through the temple, finding the gateway that had previously been closed to have been opened. Behind it, they find a room overgrown with many types of vines and other flora. On one side of the room they find a pair of enchanted shears, which they are able to clean the room with ease. Upon cleaning the walls, they find a telling of Ruefang’s history from the dragon’s perspective. They see murals of how the dragons existed with the peoples of Ruefang, how they helped them rebuild after the god’s fist disaster, how they ruled Ruefang for 500 years before the sky held terrors in the form of the thunderbirds, and how the dragons had to go into hiding. It depicts how the dragons hid within sanctuaries where the birds could not reach, though despite this their numbers dwindled. After the dragons went into slumber to await for a time where they were needed and when they were not threatened- the murals stop.

And the party finally makes it to within the Colosseum. The entire place is massive from within, with a giant- although visibly corrupted- tree standing strong within the center of everything. The ground around the roots of the center tree holds what appears to be black-corrupted water. Where the seats of the coliseum normally are, stands a dense forest of trees and other foliage. The branches of the center tree stretch wide enough to cover most of the sky when standing within the coliseum. The entire place has the feeling of standing within a dense forest.

Across from the entrance, a small altar is half-sunk into the tree. With some minor investigation the party is able to find a few plants with strange fruits. Upon grafting the plants onto one another, they are able to mix and match different fruits to make new shapes, patterns, and even colors. After fucking around and finding out (mostly through eating and throwing the fruit) the party is able to graft the fruit that the alter wants, and upon placing it in the correct location, activates the alter.

After a very very long wait time for the alter to sink into the ground, and a few more wacky fruits made (including a purple one that made small black-holes, and a brown one that is able to cast chaos upon eating it), the alter sinks fully- and the corrupted creature within the tree makes itself known. Oswald- having none of its shit, throws one of the black-hole berries at it as the session ends.

Noteworthy Postgame Events