Tales from Tabletop

Session 7.1: Lord of Abyss

Chapter I: Strength of Brackva

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Hamish woke slowly from his slumber, stretching and yawning loudly.

Thanks to Jezran's potion, he had slept comfortably in a dreamless sleep. His mind was at peace. As he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, Hamish noticed he alone rested beside the cinders of the campfire.

The rest of the party was missing.

"Friends?" Hamish called out, looking around in confusion.

No response.

He leapt into action, quickly scanning the area. There was no sign of anyone, even their belongings were missing.

It was as if everyone had packed up and left without him.

A knot formed in the pit of his stomach as his jaw was set into a grimace. Closing his eyes, he focused on the spiritual energy around him, searching for a sign. The camp still held traces of their presence, and showed they all went down the corridor ahead. Eyes opened, Hamish swiftly raced after them.

Nothing but bad signs. I do not know where they went or why they left me.

I just hope I am not too late.

The path continued onwards for only a few minutes, but appeared to end with a stone wall blocking the way. As he approached and touched it, he noted the texture was not quite stone. Or rather, it had no texture at all, as his hand simply passed through it.

Sensory Illusion. Hamish had not seen one himself before, but he knew enough to know that certain magic users could cast such false images to confuse travelers or guide them into a trap.

Hamish's brow furrowed, "Is worse than I thought."

He barreled through the false wall into a black void. Hamish's orc blood gave him superior vision in the dark, but his eyes could not pierce this veil of shadow. It was a darkness created for all light to fail and to blind even the keenest eyes.

Brackva, however, are not hindered by such meagre tricks.

Through a mixture of training the mind and body, one could temporarily feel the world around them by expanding the senses beyond the material. He closed his eyes, piquing his ears for distinguishing sounds and focusing his mind on the spiritual energies around him. Water drops hitting the floor, breathing, the slightest permutations in rock, Hamish heard it all. By their reverberation, he could tell that this was a chamber similar to the one they found at the bottom of all those stairs.

The more pressing matter, however, were the auras around him. His mind's eye studied the aura of the massive beast near the center of the chamber. Its aura was sickly, as if it were weakened by some prolonged illness. In its grasp, he could sense two familiar presences: Argent and Ari.

Alive, but neither were struggling.

Jezran and Selene were nowhere to be found, but he could detect the faint remnant of their presence in the room. Hamish cursed in his native tongue. It appeared he had let his guard down, and enemies that lurked beneath this accursed city had taken advantage. Remorse welled up inside him.

Have I failed to protect you, my friends? Hamish thought, fist clenched.

...what's this?

A voice echoed in Hamish's mind. Its presence in his mind was vile and filled him with a strong sense of disgust. It left a twisted taint in his mind that marked it for what it was.