Tiny Tilda

Session 45

The Librarians are still at the large leaning tower with Azirssa and Izi. There's a stillness in the air when she finishes reciting her poem. It's evening now, and the group ruminates on this new information as they sleep nearby during an uneventful evening.

The next morning, we want to decide what to do next. Do we try and take the spider somehow? Come back with the Fox key first? Cass and Prophet message to coordinate the former joining the latter and the rest of the group.

Briya asks Azirssa about the Fox. The general impression is that her poem is a summary, all in truth, of everything she knows. Prophet asks if he can see through Azirssa’s mind. After thinking for a moment, she gives permission, as long as it's done while she's sleeping/meditating.

Briya asks Izi about her daily routine and schedule. She replies that it mostly centers around keeping Azirssa safe. "I do rounds to watch the tower and environs. I try to come back during lunches at least," she says. And about Greensong, "She was kind of quiet and kind. Compared to Lorna anyway. I had thought Lorna maybe was dating Azirssa at first but I changed my mind about that one."

Azirssa’s glyphs light up as she enters her dream walk. As Prophet gets close, it’s clear that there’s a sort of rhythmic tonal vibration to what she’s listening to. Musical, you could say. Different from the types of music Prophet knows, but understandable. As he goes deeper into her mind, he realizes not only is he listening to the song through her, but also feels something like a presence. A conversation, using the music to speak to Azirssa. Almost an exchange… In fact, it’s listening to Azirssa, but also to Prophet! He feels himself being pulled into the vibration by his own magic. The tower starts vibrating tonally.

Cass and Kra'naelen feel the vibration flowing through the tower. Something has woken up and knows things. Through this connection, we all feel like we've been pulled into something that’s wider & stranger than where we actually are. It still feels like Molaesmyr; there's stone and ruins, etc... but it's somewhere else. We start walking, all together, over ground that is covered in black sludge. There's even puddles of black in places, and we can see it dripping up the walls.

Well all can detect movement and presences around, outside the distance of Mirrorlight Harbinger's effect. Cass hears faint notes of music far off in the distance. Some of the movement resolves into dark black shapes of goo; 8 to 9 feet tall stone people with similar glyphs and markings of Azirssa glowing in a faint silvery-white. We see them come into the light all at once.

Combat with three huge stone golems.

Combat ends. Using the light still coming from Mirrorlight Harbinger, Prophet leads us to walk closer toward the music. He actually recognizes some of it now, as he gets closer. “I’ve heard that before…” and notes to himself that parts of it are Krynn hymns; some of them even about the Prophet.

Prophet’s face is frightened, and an eerie portal-like visual opens in front of us. Inside, we can see red trees with purple bark, whose branches are covered in black dripping goo. We all wonder: could we enter it from here? It's the Vermiloc Wood, and definitely where the music is strongest. Leading the group to the music and into the portal, Maltheo takes over. Once we’re inside, we keep following the music. Everything we’ve heard about the Vermiloc is true: maple-esque trees, gigantic and red with purple bark. But the black drippy gooey stuff is new… and something else new is noticing that walking is becoming more difficult. All on the ground and the trees are spider webs. Everywhere. Kra'naelen uses Fire Bolts to burn away lots of the webs to make it easier for movement. As we keep walking, there’s more and more. The music is intensifying. The webs are denser and denser. The more you burn the more there are. Movement is difficult and music is all around...

We finally reach an elevated part of the woods. At the top of this elevated area in the forest is ruins: a stone wall, what would have been a triangular-shaped building. It's definitely Pre-calamity. In the center of it, there’s a large spider. Big enough to be the size of eight people. It has a bluish-purple hue with milky-white eyes galore. But that's not all... the impressive thing is that it’s an entire spider with a head, 8 legs, etc..., but extending from its middle is another torso that leads to a second head above the first. Almost snake-like in appearance, some might say Naga, with thin dry gray hair on top of an old woman’s face. “Who are you?” (You, you, you echoes from the bottom head).

Maltheo: We were invited here by Azirssa as a dream walk. But we’re a bit lost. Are you perhaps the spider spirit of Molaesmyr?

Spider: I guess that would be right. Yes, I am she.

Maltheo: Molaesmyr is in a bad state. We’re trying to heal it. We assume we need the keys. Azirssa has the one depicting you.

Spider: Right. Right, right… the keys. Yes. I believe they might do it.

Prophet: Do what?

Spider: We thought locking the door… we thought it would help the forest that we love so much. And the city. It hasn’t. Maybe the door should be opened again.

Maltheo: Door to where?

Spider: A place of chaos, cold, and wind. We knew it was coming. We thought… Well, Fox suggested we lock the door.

Prophet: Where might we find Fox?

Spider: She’s been away for some time. She betrayed us.

Maltheo: That’s the story we heard as well. Fox suggested locking the door to protect it all. What went wrong?

Spider: I’m not sure. It happened so fast and yet so slowly. Fox suggested we close the door. Knowing whatever lay deep below would emerge. I think we needed to all be there, and Fox wasn’t. I think that’s what it was. I forget now. Find the Fox, we need to do. I’ve been waiting for a long time I think. I can’t find Fox. You’ll need Owl, and his sight, to find Fox.

Maltheo: Where can we find Owl?

Spider: Right behind you.

Her eyes look over Maltheo’s shoulder, and as he turns around, another portal through which we see rooftops dripping with black goo; we see the streets of Nogvurat.