%% date:: [[2025-06-08]] %% # [[086_20250608 Arena of Death and Life]] ![[086_20250608.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[086_20250608 Arena of Death and Life]] > The party continues exploring Level 5's arena, making a crucial discovery: the immense tree of blackened flesh and bark in the arena's center is likely **[[Jade Quarion]]**, [[Ash]]'s missing student. The tree attacks thralls with monk-like techniques, sits in a perfect circle of green life amid death, and feeds on thousands of corpses buried beneath its foliage. When burned, it regenerates through glowing green buds. > > The party faces a **Death Shepherd** and its thralls, with two Urdofans rising as **soul-tongued skitterers** that can transfer HP between living and dead creatures. [[Grumble]] lands a critical hit that blinds the Death Shepherd. Gray areas appear where [[Nhimbaloth]]'s gaze breaks through reality, creating dangerous holes in existence. > > They discover a weapon room with crab-like shells scattered about (likely [[Augrael]]'s creatures), weapon racks, and fresh blood stains leading down through open hatches. The party also becomes infected with white fungus that will make them sick in an hour, adding urgency to their exploration. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[085_20250511 Jade Quarion was here#^summary]] --- ## Log Quick recap: - The party was hunting another undead (the one with the transparent skin, called Urdefhan) that was very easy. - They'd already found the arena of this level. They found two things: - [[Death Shepherd]], along with all of its thralls - Tree thing that was growing in the middle of the arena, surrounded by verdant foliage: life in the darkness. - When the thralls were down to three, we attacked the death shepherd. Grumble got a crit and blinded it. - Two of the other [[Urdefhan|Urdofans]] rose as undead: [[soul-tongued skitterers]]. They couldn't seem to affect the party with their abilities. They could chain with each other and transfer HP from a living creature to a dead creature. - Bond went unconscious (he was at Dying 2 at one point) - There are gray areas where [[Nhimbaloth]]'s gaze breaks through reality-- they are holes in reality from the Harbinger. - Grumble has a lot of clan daggers from [[Death Wardens]] that were trapped there and ran out of food, so they cannibalized each other. The arena - immense tree of blackened flesh and bark, vines motionless but like sleeping serpents. Stands alone in a perfect circle of green. Grass, moss, wildflowers, faintly glowing buds like an oasis blooming defiantly in a grave of thousands. - They think the tree is [[Jade Quarion]] because it attacked the thralls like a monk, like [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] does. [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] tries to talk to the tree but it doesn't respond. [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] steps into the area of the [[Leafy Fleshwarp]]. He feels the air thicken. The vines rustle without wind. Green moss creeps up his legs and back. Each step is difficult terrain. It feels like a warning that this is no ordinary grove. The vines try to grapple Ash, but not hurt it. Something in the air changes. None of the plants touch Ash but he takes damage from something. I unmanifest him. But Ash saw something: thousands of corpses under the foliage. This thing has fed on once-living things. There's no reaction to the light lantern from Bond. [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] finds out they react to fire a bit. He throws the torch to the tree itself. The tree is solid and feels more like hard rubber than normal wood. Part of the foliage burns but not everything. Then a small bud appears and explodes into a green light that flows into the tree, and then whatever foliage burned regrows. Grumble uses his Locate dwarven thingy. No other dwarven things here, living or inanimate. We look at the petrified statues. One is an [[Urdefhan|Urdofhan]] and the other is a bulkier [[Urdefhan|Urdofhan]]. We're going down to the next level. There's a very loud high pitched sound. Not a human or machine. It sounds like a creature. We pass by the [[White Fungus room]] and both Bond and [[Vayle]] are going to be sick with something in an hour... We go into a new room on the same level. - There are a few bodies here: fleshwarps, undead, some mechanical parts. - Shells, crab-like things that [[Augrael]] has, are scattered across the floor. Lots of them died here. - Weapon racks on the north east. The one on the south is empty. The one on the north has a hatchet bearing a dark crystal. - Two alcoves between racks. Open hatches leading down. Fresh blood stains going down. - Exits: northwest and south. - ![[uu-weapon-rack-room.png]] - I use *thoughtsense* to sense thoughts from the door frame and the weapon rack. ![[1749378005505 - Combat]] The party encounters two mimics disguised as weapon racks in the supply room. Grumble gets stuck to one mimic while fighting, but the party manages to defeat both creatures. Bond identifies that mimics can sometimes pretend to be entire towns, revealing their deceptive nature. - A1: Tandem Move - Z1: Help Grumble get free? - Z2: Telekinetic Projectile Ash looks around the supply room. - Unidentified blue potion - 3 other potions %% # Excalidraw Data ## 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"}} ``` %%