%% date:: [[2024-09-01]] %% # [[075_20240901 Xal'garoth the Apex Beast]] ![[075_20240901.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[075_20240901 Xal'garoth the Apex Beast]] > The party witnesses visions from **[[Xal'garoth - The Apex Beast]]**, showing its origin: it was a massive predator in its home plane until [[The Voidseekers]] summoned it through a portal using a chained dwarf as an anchor. After killing the cultists, the beast found itself weakened on Golarion under two moons, eventually becoming a werewolf alpha leading packs and feeding during red moon phases. > > **Xal'garoth grants each party member powerful boons as thanks:** > - **[[Vayle]]**: Choice between werewolf transformation at will OR fey bloodline powers with enhanced illusion abilities > - **[[Zuhri]]**: Her werewolf bite can now **cure werewolf moon-madness**, freeing other werewolves from lunar compulsion while keeping their abilities > - **[[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]]**: Gains *Plant Empathy*, Arboreal language, Druid dedication with *Wildsong*, and can communicate with forest protectors > - **[[Grumblebum|Grumble]]**: Receives *Locate* spell at will to find dwarves and dwarven-made items, plus enhanced martial abilities > > The party discovers the possessed dwarf was **[[Zarmavdian]]** himself, explaining his clan dagger. [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] reveals his own similar summoning experience, choosing to answer the call to prevent evil entities from responding instead. The party successfully cures three werewolves, with one ([[Song]] from [[Tian Xia]]) joining them to [[Arbor Felix]]. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[074_20240825 Behind every alpha is a dwarf#^summary]] --- ## Log The spirit that came out of the dwarf: ![[uu-spirit-of-the-alpha.png]] We're seeing images in the smoke of a world that is different from us. It lets us see through its eyes. It can see through the dark. Its feet aren't touching the ground for minutes as it dashes across a field. We see prey and in an instant it's in our mouth and it's dead. It's much bigger than anything else in the vision it's showing us. Then a whirlpool appears in front of it, near a tree. We see that it's like a vortex. At the end of the vortex, about 200 feet deep, is some sort of dwarf, chained. The dwarf is surrounded by hooded figures. The smell is different. It smells like sweat and prey and fear. This is [[The Voidseekers]]. They're trying to summon something. The beast walks closer to the portal. Then it gets sucked in! In an instant, they're all dead. The beast no longer has the same gigantic arms that it once had. It's in a circular place, a stone wall but there is an exit and we (through the eyes of the beast) can see the night sky. Something's tied to one of our legs-- no, arms. We break the bonds. It's almost morning when we succeed. We look kup in the sky and see two moons. Puzzling. We run out into forest and wilderness. We're slower. We can't fly. We finally find water. We see the face of a silver wolf. We find a pack of wolves that attack it. We dominate it. We gather more and more of them. The pack is hungry again. We find several burrows of humanoids. We feed the pack. We eat all of them. For the first time, one of the moons grows full. Everything turns red and there's no memory afterwards. The tower where we went, where we found the doll, was where the beast was. We recall the dwarf: The ends of its feet are claws. It has no shoes. Its face is a werewolf in hybrid form. It was a dwarven werewolf. --- The beast goes through our minds. It can only communicate in images. It can't speak. - *[[Vayle]]*: It is trying to thank us, but it feels like it's stepping on Vayle's face to say thank you. - 🎯 *Illusion:* It shows them an image of Vayle as a different race. It's like it's saying something like "You are too preoccupied with what you were that you forget what you are", with the might of an avalanche. The image of Vayle changes. It shows Vayle walking in a city. "You are a creature of the city but you are ignorant of the wilderness that sustains it." - It shows Vayle becoming a werewolf at will, lounging in the wilderness, being a beast, running free, then turning back into Vayle's normal form as they go back into the city gates. Then it shows Vayle using deceit and trickery and disguises. "You use words and illusions to protect life. But sometimes, direct action is needed." It shows Vayle with a different bloodline-- Vayle's powers are now fey-related. Now Vayle has a choice. It's trying to thank Vayle. Vayle can either become a werewolf at will, or become fey of bloodline. - *[[Zuhri]]*: "We are kindred. You are a beast, and we should roam free. That is the source of both your strength and your wisdom." - It shows Zuhri changing forms to different animals-- the animals I'm not accustomed to but I know it's normal animals for the beast. - 🎯 *Forgiveness:* "You long for forgiveness. Redemption. But there is nothing to forgive. The fault is not yours. The fault lies in those that hurt you." It shows Zuhri biting another werewolf that has become a werewolf because of the full moon. After biting it, it turns back into a person. - My bite removes the werewolf subservience to the moon. They are still werewolves. - *[[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]]*: "You, artificer. Artifice will ruin nature in the very same way magic ruined your city. You wish to protect your city but you are not protecting the lands around it. How long do you think your home can survive without nature?" - 🎯 It shows Bond talking to a tree, a gigantic one. The tree talks back to Bond. It shows Bond talking to a wood elemental. Bond can talk to the ancient protectors of the forest. They're [[Arboreals]], who are in Golarion in secret to protect. - Get a feat: Multilingual general skill feat that teaches Bond Arboreal and Nuan (?), the language of the plane of wood. Next, Level 2 Druid dedication that gives him *Wildsong*, a language only druids know. He's now a member of the Leaf Order. He is now trained in Nature or Diplomacy (or another if he already has both). He also gets *Plant empathy*. He can ask questions and get answers from plants and fungi. - It shows Bond [[Alkenstar]]. "Your pack is in your home, but you are so far away. How can you protect it?" It shows a horse-like creature with a horn on its forehead. Bond is riding on it at a gallop and it takes off, flying in the air towards Bond's home. - It shows Bond everything that Bond has crafted-- everything he's created. "Why do you need to keep on learning? Don't you think you already have enough power and knowledge? What you actually lack is the wisdom to use what you know properly, perhaps even the wisdom to save your city." It shows Bond as a werewolf, being able to take control of when he becomes a werewolf. It shows Bond's pelt turning aside non-silvered weapons. - *[[Grumblebum|Grumble]]*: There's something similar between him and the beast. They both understand duty. Grumble has a duty to his people and to the [[Tomb Wardens]]. It thanks him for letting it do its duty to protect the wilderness. - 🎯 Duty: It offers Grumble aid. Grumble is concentrating. With a thought, he can locate dwarves and anything dwarven-made: weapons, places, and their corpses. This would enable Grumble to do his job better. - Grumble gets the spell *Locate* at will. - It shows Grumble putting up his axe in the sky. Lightning strikes his axe and Grumble is undamaged but the ground around him is scorched. The axe is still crackling with energy. - Grumble is practising martial skills. "You have faced many challenges in pursuit of your duty. But you'll face more difficult ones. Is your might enough?" He's wearing a totally unfashionable helm with antlers, woodland-themed. Grumble strides faster, tumbles better, climbs better, is faster with his shield. It enhances his martial skills somehow. With that, this ancient beast looks at all of us. It has given us its thanks and gifts. It runs off into the forest and flies up into the air. It's not back to where it came from, but it's free to make this its new home now. The dwarven body has a clan dagger. It's [[Zarmavdian]]'s clan. Old dwarf with unkempt hair. Male. His body seems ancient. There are runes on it. The spell calls forth a being from another plane but the spell requires a locus: a being that is an anchor that has to be the same type of creature. The dwarf was a werewolf. There is no tomb of Zarmavdian. This is Zarmavdian! [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] says that what happened to the beast was exactly the same as what happened to him. He also got that portal. It didn't call him specifically though. There were other divine beings that were closer to the portal, but Ash knew that they were evil, so he fought them for the right to enter the portal instead. It was going to get someone, so he wanted it to be him. He had the distinct feeling that he had the choice of possessing me or not. [[Hunter Elise]] likes that I've chosen the gift to cure werewolves because I didn't get powers of myself. Three of the weaker werewolves who weren't fighters (they had been the ones to gather the silver hoard) are bitten by me. Two of them want to go back to their families. The third is [[Song]] from [[Tian Xia]] and he agrees to go to [[Arbor Felix]] and pull his own weight. Ash takes 9 Bulk of stuff. We go back to the village. We notice that small game animals seem to come to us to be foraged on the way back. [[Varlon]] knows someone in [[Absalom]] who can fence these goods for us... [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] sees [[Gazzo]]. Xal'garoth - The Apex Beast. Magical things in the silver: - Salve - [[Baldric of Bravery]] - Silver chain armor that Vayle got - clan dagger %% # Text Elements # Drawing ```json {"type":"excalidraw","version":2,"source":"https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.0.25","elements":[],"appState":{"theme":"dark","gridSize":null,"viewBackgroundColor":"#ffffff"}} ``` %%