# 66_20210502 Approaching the Blue Crystal Fortress ## Session Summary We ask Invidoo to scout the Blue Crystal Fortress for us while we took a short rest and ate. Eraithe has some trouble resisting the mental intrusion of this place. Invidoo returns with some intelligence about the structure and the number of guards that patrol it. We return to the Sanctum Empirica to rest for the night in the plane of air. The next day, we head to the Fortress, but are spotted by a Foulspawn, a sentry of sorts. We manage to kill it before it alerts anyone else. ^summary ## Recap of last session ![[65_20210501 Killing Gibberlings#^summary]] --- ## Log [[Invidoo]] is annoying Snowflake. No watchtowers. There are some possible guards [[Fire Bats]] are spotted We send Invidoo away to scout for us. We find a shelter for the night, closer to the cliff than the wizard tower. Will check Eraithe rolls low on Will check and fails for the second time. He loses one healing surge and takes a -4 penalty to perception and insight. Invidoo comes back. 4-5 entrances into the rock. It's like cheese, but bone and flesh. There are big things outside that don't move, but began to move when Invidoo came closer (even though he was invisible). He couldn't enter any of the passageways. There were things that crawled on the wall that had one eye and lived in the wall. They kept moving - maybe we can find a time when they're not there. It seemed like they could see Invidoo. There's about 1 grell strangler per hour that arrives with a captive. Invidoo doesn't really need to eat. Eraithe's poison works on the jade crystal to get into the Sanctum Empirica. We are in a cavern with lots of rocks-- natural formations that are larger than anything we've ever seen. There are earthmotes floating in the air. The eyeball has no truename. We take a long rest. AX 14, 08:00. 4th success to tend to Ka'ira's festering wound. We stealth to the blue crystal aberration settlement. There are no more mushrooms, but there are rocks that we can hide behind. There is a bad smell that we notice as we get closer. It seems to be coming from the moist ground. The pile of corpses and stone and bone seem to be melded together somehow, but the topmost piles are loose and fresh, as if they've just been killed. The monster has no skin. It has beady eyes, but no eyelids. We can see the muscles and more teeth than there should be, in layers in its mouth. It's constantly moving and transforming, with muscles rippling. Now that you're closer to the structure, Maestro sees that the liquid looks like it's a mixture of dried blood from the bodies. He also sees deformed humanoids - one of them looks like it used to be an orc, but it has three arms on one side and one on the other. Its ribs have burst through its chest. All the creatures have been transfigured and look very different from their normal forms. Their skin seems to be unusually thin, or gone in some parts. We tried to stealth, but four of us failed! Initiative 21 Snowflake 20 The thing 12 Maestro 11 Eraithe 10 Gloomtoes 9 Xio This thing walks unnaturally to get to us. It is four-legged and shambles towards us after hearing the noise. This thing is a force, an infection, or a presence that once existed in what scholars called the Far Realm. It's a place of insanity and weird physics. They were once humanoids but were touched by the influence of the Far Realms. Their purpose is unfathomable. Goals and methods are strange to civilized races, even though they're intelligent. They are not typical goals. They're called [[Foulspawn]]. They aren't bound to a single shape. They are forced into the current shape by the physics of this world, but in the Far Realm, they have different ones (that are not possible in this plane). They are rarely found alone. They gather in packs. They aren't telepathic, but they share the same thought patterns as if they are the same creature (even though they're acting independently). They're not telepathically linked, but they do the same things. They are known to hate the natural world and can only stand other aberrations. They serve or ally with stronger aberrations. It seems to always be looking at the air. This one is a [[Mockery Foulspawn]]. | Defense | Value | | --------------------- | ----- | | [[Reflex Defense]] | 22 | | [[Fortitude Defense]] | | | [[Will Defense]] | 20 | | [[Armor Class]] | 24 | Abilities - can move 6 - Damage: 29 - 19 (Maestro) - 10, slowed (Gloomtoes) - 7, - 7 - 8 Round 1 - Monster check - Minor: Knack - Standard: Extract name - FAILED. Round 2 - Perception check to see if anything else is coming or seems to have noticed our presence. - Move to it - Standard: Grasping shadows - Minor: Round 3: - Standard