[Horde] Chapter Five: Session Sixty-One
Appearing Characters: Ariesera, Delas Moonfang, Farodin Truebough, Kel'danath, Nyxxa Murkthorn, Rak'Symma, Runas, Selentia, Sol'chi, Thalyssra Dusklily, Theryn, Tyrande Whisperwind, Valtrois Leyweaver, Volpin, Zar'Kaa
December 14th
The group gathered together to meet with Thalyssra, and they found her speaking with Ariesera, who was presently in her visage form. Thalyssra greeted them warmly and expressed she believed they had everything they needed for their foray into oneiromancy.
Arieseria explained she was intending on sending the group into the dream, including Nyxxa. She believed she could make something of a pocket of slumber that was not unlike telepathic communications highborne used to enter dreams, though they would be using Ariesera as a conduit, and as a result, she could filter any corruption Nyxxa would cause to the greater Emerald Dream.
Thalyssra added that she would be connected to them via a telepathic link and she would hopefully be able to make sense of what they saw.
Tyrande also arrived with a greeting as she had been speaking with Thalyssra and she believed she could likely help in her own way. She was also curious about the results of the experiment.
Zar’Kaa asked what the worse-case scenario was for Theryn’s response to them invading his dreams. Arieseria said they shouldn’t be in any serious danger, but it was possible Theryn’s subconscious might try to repel them. However, at worst, they would simply be expelled from the dreamscape and wake up with an unpleasant headache. However, all the same, it was wise to expect anything, as a dreaming mind was an inexplicable realm where the wildest things could manifest. And they would ultimately have no power over the dreamscape, as the goal was to see what Theryn could show them.
They descended into Shal’Aran where Theryn and Kel’danath were wandering around. Kel’danath seemed to be doting on Theryn as he was before. Ariesera strode forward, and Kel’danath started to hiss at her. She smiled and blew a puff of green, swirling smoke into Kel'danath’s face. He tumbled over and Ariesera caught him and laid him down as he slept. She then turned to Theryn and offered her hand.
Theryn looked at her, but started to toddle after her as they headed back upstairs to get the experiment under way. Zar’Kaa, Nyxxa, Rak’Symma, and Sol laid down to go to sleep. Nyxxa hung up her dreamcatcher.
Ariesera told them all to close their eyes, relax, and allow their breathing to slow. She told them to focus on the sound of their heartbeats. She took a deep breath and swirled energy in her hands. Wisps of deep green, sparkling energy danced through the air and coursed around all of them.
It felt as if they were being ferried somewhere on the wind, their unconscious minds arriving in a distant place. They arrived on a strange circular dais with multi-colored stones in an intricate pattern. The stones were irregular and did not match, as if they were made from different material. One was soft and spongy like a pillow, while another was hard like glass.
They were in a most-peculiar place.
The dais was floating on an ocean that appeared to also be reflected in the sky. As they looked out, they saw other oddities. Floating in the strange galactic water was a large coin, and then another, and another. They floated through the viscous water as if carried by an invisible current.
Stones circled around them, and the stars overhead occasionally floated down like a leaf in autumn and landed on the water. They saw rocky growths covered in moss, and one of them turned and they saw a comedic approximation of a snail emerge from a rocky shell and blink at them.
A root snaked around, covered in strange silvery, thin, wispy vines that were piled up and reaching out anything it could reach. The vines lead to a tower that was likely in the architectural style of Suramar. However the lines of it were wiggly like a child’s drawing, and it appeared to be a lighthouse that drifted not far from the dais.
In the distance was a ship that was wrecked on the rocks. Beyond the mound of strange silvery vines was a mainmast jutting out of the ocean, though on closer inspection it actually appeared to be a cross between the mast of a ship and a sword.
They heard Thalyssra in their minds, and they assured her they could hear her. Nyxxa started to describe the scene, and Thalyssra said that she was fully establishing the connection. She was surprised once she was able to actually see what they did, and she said it was a lot more surreal than she had been expecting.
Nyxxa decided to try and talk to the snails. As they approached, they saw one of the snails eat one of the fallen stars like a leaf. Nyxxa greeted the snail, and it just blinked at her. Nyxxa asked the snail if it has seen anyone that wasn’t them. The snail didn’t seem to understand.
Zar’Kaa tried to use the [Message] cantrip to talk to the snail, and it also didn’t seem to understand. Zar’Kaa decided to disguise himself as Theryn, and the snails looked at him and started to approach, extending their mouths toward him. Nyxxa and Sol noted they appeared to be trying to bite him.
Zar’Kaa jumped away from them to avoid getting chomped on, but he appeared to leave the illusion behind him. The snails chomped on the illusion of Theryn. Nyxxa also used and illusion to look like a different withered, and the snails didn’t move toward her. It seemed they only targeted Theryn.
Rak’Symma got the feeling that language was not going to be very useful, as they were not in a mind that understood language. Symma and Sol hummed a song to see if they responded to a melody. The snails’ eyestalks swayed back and forth, and they saw more eyestalks emerge from the water and also sway. They realized all the rocks in the area were just shells of more snails in front of the ship.
Sol plucked one of the floppy stars out of the water with a mage hand. It literally looked like a five-pointed star, and he sniffed it. It smelled like pineapple with an after-smell of grape. He took a bite, and it tasted like pineapple. He felt a rumbling in his stomach, and Sol burped. A bright purple cloud with twinkling stars emitted from his mouth.
Then two black eyes opened in the center of the bit star and blinked at Sol. It then climbed off the mage hand and sat on Sol’s shoulder.
Nyxxa decided to climb the silvery strands, and she realized it felt more like hair. As she climbed, she realized some of the stars had gotten stuck in the hair. They only smelled like pineapple. Nyxxa mused that the water maybe represented wine.
Thalryssa mused it could be a representation of the arcwine, but it was hard to say.
Sol dug in the hair and he found another star. The star on his shoulder hopped down and approached the other star. It ripped off one of its arms and stuck it in place of its missing arm, then hopped back on Sol’s shoulder.
Sol braided the hair and turned it into rope as he climbed up after Nyxxa, allowing him to scale it more easily. The others also followed.
As they crested the peak, they got to an outcropping of ivory with a large spiraling peak. It appeared the peak was attached to the sword-mast with rigging. But then they realized they saw an eye that opened up in the ivory outcropping, and the peak was a horn. It was a monohorn.
The creature opened its mouth and shrieked, and the stars in the ocean and hair suddenly shot up into the ocean in the ceiling. They clipped into Nyxxa and Symma, and Symma saw one slice through her wing. However, there was no blood, but she witnessed her feathers flicker. The same happened to Nyxxa with one of her hooves.
Thalyssra asked if they were alright, and they confirmed.
The stars then started to filter down again. The star on Sol’s shoulder, however, didn’t move, and it looked at Sol with impassive eyes. Sol patted its head, and it just watched his finger.
Sol and Symma started to sing again. They took a better look at the monohorn, and it appeared its horn was broken and actually seeping down. They decided to try and cut the monohorn free. The tether appeared to be made of metal.
As they got closer, it appeared the blood was actually the same wine-substance as the ocean, and they could see the other half of the horn floating in the ocean. They decided to instead try and untangle the horn as Symma continued to try and keep the creature calm.
The next step was to try and reunite the horn, and Sol opted to pull out his horn of Valhalla and blow it for help. However, it seemed like something was stuck in it. He blew again and again, and eventually, something far too large was shot out of the horn. A boat was launched out, manned by cartoon-y looking vikings.
Sol called for them to get the horn, and in a very exaggerated, unfamiliar voice, one of the vikings called that they would see it done, and they rowed over to heft the horn into the ship. The star on Sol’s shoulder tugged on his tendrils and held out a sack to him.
The star blinked at him, and slowly a thin black line appeared in a smile. Sol looked in the sack and saw six brightly colored jelly beans.
The horn was hefted up to the group and Nyxxa took over calming the monohorn, which had started to weep, so the others could try to reattach the horn. Zar’Kaa smeared some of his salves on the horn. Rak’Symma grabbed some of the monohorn’s mane and tried to use it as a tourniquet. The tip of the horn started to glow and emitted a beam of light that circled around itself.
The monohorn was no longer weeping, but they heard someone else weeping. It appeared to be coming from the base of the fallen lighthouse. Thalyssra mused on if Theryn was once a lighthouse worker.
However, they saw multiple figures at the base of the lighthouse, and the one that was weeping appeared to be watching another be dragged away by several others. Symma asked Thalyssra if there was a shipped named after a monohorn.
Thalyssra thought hard, and she said she recalled a ship with a monohorn on its stern that was involved in an incident. The ship had run aground. It had been bringing arcwine to the surrounding barracks of the Duskwatch at the end of the shield. Apparently the lighthouse had not been lit. The man responsible for the failure at the lighthouse was punished.
She wondered if that man had been Theryn.
They decided to follow after Theryn as he was put onto a gondola. They boarded the viking ship and Sol took the wheel. Starro, the star on Sol’s shoulder, abruptly had a tricorn hat. Nyxxa took off into the air to get a better look at the weeping figure. She was a nightborne woman that was fully unwithered, and she was on her knees wailing.
She appeared to be speaking, but the words were gibberish.
The gondolas appeared to grow fins and started to set off. As the ship crested around the corner, they watched something emerge from the water right beneath Symma. It appeared to be almost a grape, but it had the face of a child. It looked at the weeping woman and spoke in a nonsensical voice except for one word: ann’da.
Sol asked if Thalyssra recognized her, and she said she didn’t. However, she believed they could eventually find her and maybe even learn what Theryn’s real name was. It was possible he could maybe see his family again.
Sorrow and determination welled up in Thalyssra’s voice.
The child sank back into the ocean and the weeping woman faded away. As they looked at the stars again, they realized it was almost a child’s rendition of what a star would look like.
The followed the gondola-whales and all of them except for the one that had Theryn sank back into the ocean. The one they were following continued toward the massive ship that had run aground. Symma and Nyxxa saw something moving in the water, and they saw a bright glowing eye and a fin. Then they saw more and more of the eyes, and the water glowed a bright magenta-violet.
However, suddenly, a massive, violet mana wyrm leapt from the water and snapped its jaws down on Symma. She was gone as the creature dove back into the water. Zar’Kaa dove after her and hurled Rokul Kaz after the mana wyrm. It struck, and the creature opened its mouth, which gave Rak’Symma enough time to free herself. She swam over to Zar’Kaa and used [Thunder Step] to get them back to the surface. Symma was physically blinding to look at, as she was covered in bright glowing goo from the mana wyrm.
Symma dipped down immediately from Zar’Kaa’s weight, but she was able to direct herself back to the boat and land before she plunged from the sky.
Nyxxa conjured some [Dancing Lights] to use as a distraction for the mana wyrms. Meanwhile Rak’Symma kept her eye on the closest mana wyrms and Zar’Kaa got to the front of the ship to call out rocks and other threats.
However, a whirlpool loomed before them, and Zar’Kaa tried to counteract some of the current while Rak’Symma harnessed a gust to give them more power to whip around the whirlpool. A snail was hurled into the water, which caused a tidal wave that whelmed the ship upward and threatened to capsize it.
Rak’Symma conjured pillars of the earth to try and catch the ship as Nyxxa seized the sails and Zar’Kaa shouted commands to the crew. Sol threw himself on the wheel and managed to swing the ship through a gap in the rocks, bringing them safely to shore.
Sol exclaimed that was fun, and Nyxxa was cackling, while Zar’Kaa and Symma offered sighs of relief.
They managed to pick up the trail, and they found Theryn as a nightfallen. He was collecting sticks and appeared to be quietly hoping for rescue. Zar’Kaa started to approach, and Sol called to him telepathically that they were supposed to just watch.
However, Theryn noticed them and he shouted and threw a stick at them, then started to flee. Sol happened to look down and realized Zar’Kaa footprints were not his own. They appeared to resemble some sort of beast, and the rest of theirs was the same. It seemed Theryn was seeing them as dangers of the wilds.
They tracked him at a distance, and as time went on, they saw him with his features more and more withered until he started to break down completely. Thalyssra expressed her sympathy as she saw the unfortunate sight, her heart clearly breaking that he had been so alone.
He had fallen into a huddle as he floated off on a large coin onto the sea. Sol conjured a floating disc to follow after Theryn. He eventually laid down on the ground weeping in the middle of the coin.
Suddenly, the coin disappeared, and they saw a huge eye open. A massive coin purse seemed to be swallowing all the coins, but suddenly the coin purse spat out the coin that Theryn had been on. Large insectoid-like creatures emerged from the ocean and started to chitter and bite at the coins, pulling off the plating and revealing they were actually chocolate. The chocolate coins were demolished, and the insectoid creatures started to skitter around, looking for other counterfeits.
Their multiple eyes fell on the party.
Symma disappeared with a [Blink] to try and get into the coin purse. It snapped its jaws down on her, but she disappeared again and hurled herself further into the darkness. She then summoned a [Graspng Vine] using her staff, and it began to whip around inside the bag.
Meanwhile, the coin purse tried to whip one of its strings around at Zar’Kaa and fired a ray of energy. He felt his joints freeze as he paralyzed. The coin purse constricted itself and hacked Rak’Symma out of its interior.
However, Sol used [Dimension Door] to get the majority of them back into the coin purse. Nyxxa followed after using her instant transmission ability. Starro, in a sudden show of strength, grabbed the still-paralyzed Zar’Kaa and shot into the interior of the coin purse as a shooting star while the others followed.
They landed on the ground amidst a rain of dandelion petals near Theryn. Starro was floating before them, and his eyes fell on Sol. He held out a small point to Sol, and Sol gave Starro a fist bump.
Starro nodded with another little smile. He then floated over to Zar’Kaa and held out another point. The scrap of Theryn’s linen that Zar’Kaa had brought inside floated over to the star. It burst into sparkles and it started to rain. Starro then floated over to Theryn and began to glow.
And then Starro was gone, but in his place was a strange seed. Theryn looked at it, transfixed, and touched the seed. It opened into a flower with ornate filigree.
The desperation in Theryn’s eyes faded away as he was bathed in the essence of the artifact. He then wandered away into the darkness. Zar’Kaa bid him farewell.
Sol looked at the seed, and he realized that it looked like it could fit right at the center of the contraption where the stump the banshees had been protecting grew. It seemed Theryn had found a seed of that same tree.
Nyxxa said they likely needed to talk to the Valewalker druid and find out where the seed was located. Zar’Kaa picked up the seed, and Nyxxa saw the symbol of Elune on the dais beneath it.
Thalyssra said this was an important lead. She then chuckled, as in the waking world the Valewalker appeared to have just arrived at Shal’Aran. They opted to awaken, but Sol looked at the bag of beans that had manifested, and he decided to try and transfer it to the real world using [Plane Shift] by somehow molding raw wild magic into an existing item.
He awoke with a singular bean in his hand. He eagerly showed Ariesera, who was flabbergasted that he had somehow managed to manifest it in reality, and she asked how he did it, and he simply said that he wanted it really bad and it came with him. Ariesera said she would… watch it for a bit to try and figure out exactly what he did.
They went to meet the Valewalker, and they were met with a kaldorei man dressed in a simple mossy green tunic. He appeared to be fairly young and was handsome in a rugged manner. He had a simple wood scythe with a sharpened steel blade. Volpin stood nearby, watching.
He was in a displeased debate with Valtrois.
Thalyssra stepped forward to break up the debate. She asked the druid if he was the Valewalker, and the man demanded to know how she knew about him and Shal’Aran. Thalyssra explained that her friends had heard he was aiding the wildlife from the wildlife directly. The party also mentioned the harpies had mentioned him as well.
He said Shal’Aran was supposed to be well hidden, and Zar’Kaa said they got lucky. Nyxxa explained it was notable because they couldn’t sense anything in the area.
His eyes widened as he looked beyond them. The group turned around, and they saw the spirit of the Keeper Selentia. She nodded to him and she faded away.
The Valewalker walked past them and ran his hand on the dais.
She conjured an image of the seed in her hand. The Valewalker’s eyes widened.
The Valewalker furrowed his brow.
The Valewalker paled.
Her demeanor had sunken a bit.
Delas’s eyes went wide and they heard the sound of a spit take as Runas spat out the arcwine he was drinking.
Delas looked at Nyxxa, and then to Tyrande.
She looked back at Nyxxa.
Nyxxa’s eyes widened as she realized Orathiss was the woman that helped raise her.
