Session 22 Player Notes — The Mouth of Nostra

These are the players’ own session notes, preserved from the party’s game document. They capture the table’s perspective – what the players saw, did, and said.

Key Events

• Nemesis descended into the Hill Giant Stronghold lower level, fighting manticores in a trapped room
• Chief Nostra revealed as an illithid-fused abomination with a woman chained inside his mouth
• Kaladin’s shadow entered Chief Nostra’s mouth, discovering Lyra’s chained corpse and a nightmarish interior of tormented souls
• Lyra’s shadow cut a thread of golden light, releasing souls – then a skeletal machine introduced itself as Vecna
• Alora Amathur used a scroll of True Resurrection to retrieve Lyra from the Fugue Plane, where Vecna appeared and claimed a contract with Kalemvor
• Lyra was resurrected through the Nemesis soul tether, but lost her shadow and her dagger – Vecna took Reeny in exchange
• Party found treasure, freed orc prisoners, and encountered slaad at the session’s end

Session Notes

Descending the Stronghold

We are heading down the staircase (Guts, Kaladin, Arawn, Lux, Alora). The room with the wall of fire begins to cave in. Lux casts Light on Guts’s sword, and we can see a shadow – the outline of Lyra – running around with us. We come to a portcullis, and we can see into a room. Lux moves to the front and casts Knock. The bars rattle and wiggle, but it looks loose. Guts tries to lift it. It was incredibly easy and it smashes up into the roof. Along the wall are three chests and there are gems on the wall. As we are moving into the room the light on Guts’s sword seems to be pushing against this darkness. As we step through, the portcullis slams shut.

Arawn fires two arrows to light the room up, and the third arrow flies through the wall. Lyra’s shadow creeps into the shadow of Guts. Guts hears a hideous wailing which is screaming in agony. It is Lyra’s voice. Guts, Kaladin and Arawn hear screaming, and the walls turn into sinew and muscle, the floor is grotesque.

The Manticore Ambush

Lux heads over to the chests and investigates the middle chest. He searches for traps or points of interest. The lock crumbles into sand. 28 points of piercing damage, as a barrage of needles fly out of the chest. The wall where the arrow flew has now disappeared and four incredibly large lions with leathery wings, a tail with spikes and the head and chest of a man (manticores) come forth.

Lyra detaches her shadow and falls into the shadow of the manticore. The manticore all of a sudden starts reacting. It puts its head between its paws and starts to claw at its own face.

The red manticore runs forward at Arawn. He takes 14 points of piercing damage as it claws his face, and then 3 points as it claws into his body. The black manticore swipes at Lux. He takes 14 points of damage. The manticore tries to grapple him down to the ground but is unsuccessful.

Guts swings at the red manticore that is pawing at Arawn. He does lots of damage. Arawn hits red manticore with his short sword. He swings twice, but only hits once. 9 damage. It is on death’s door.

Lyra hears Kaial’s voice – “remember, you are the weapon.” Her shadow hand transforms into a sharpened blade and she swipes at the manticore’s shadow. The blade slices through the feet of the manticore and the shadow is severed from the manticore. The manticore screams and falls over, dead. The shadow trembles and slowly dissipates.

Alora casts Spirit Guardians. All fail – 13 damage. Red manticore is dead. Lux casts Scorching Ray at the black manticore. 14 damage, 12 damage, 24 damage. 50 points of damage!

Chief Nostra and the Cloud Giant

A cloud giant walks through the door and swings a morningstar at Alora’s head. 28 points of damage. All of the Spirit Guardians disappear. Guts comes to her aid, but fails epically. Alora takes another 20 points of piercing damage.

Chief Nostra appears in the room. Now that we see him up close, we see that he has a tentacle beard, and where the face is it seems like there are two heads that have been merged together. He is singed, almost as though he has walked through a wall of fire. His tentacles rip at Kaladin’s body, but miss. It fires again, ripping into him – 18 points of damage. Alora reaches out and takes 9 points on herself. Looking into his glowing mouth is like looking into a bag of holding. There are red lights and flames, and in this room there is a girl chained to a wall. Guts notes that it’s “not chained to a wall in a good way.” Kaladin yells out “There is a woman in his mouth!”

Kaladin lays hands on Alora – 25 healing! He casts Hellish Rebuke on the grey manticore. 14 damage! Guts slices through the manticore standing in front of Lux, killing him! Guts kills the grey manticore. He attacks Chief Nostra who parries the blow.

Inside the Mouth – Kaladin’s Journey

Cloud giant is blinded and takes 21 damage by Arawn.

Lyra grabs Kaladin’s shadow and drags it towards the Chief’s mouth. Lyra sees glowing gloves of thievery in the mouth of the Chief, and believes it’s her body. Kaladin falls catatonic on the floor as his shadow enters the mouth of the cloud giant.

Shadow Kaladin can now see a 3D version of Lyra. She is wispy. Ash blankets the floor. The walls look like they’re made out of stone, but they are made out of distorted bodies which are screaming. Beneath the ash are the same tormented and broken bodies. Almost in slow motion, they can see them screaming. It still feels slightly squishy, spongy and unbalanced. From the roof hangs a chandelier of bodies that are trying to escape through the roof. At the far end of the room is a chained corpse of a girl which Kaladin recognises as Lyra.

Lyra dashes towards her body.

Chief looks at Lux and casts Mind Bolt. Lux casts Shield and blocks. The tentacles of Chief fly towards Guts – “Extract Brain.” His intelligence is reduced by 4 and he takes 40 points of damage. Lux turns to Chief Nostra and casts Scorching Ray (5 shots) – 66 points of damage!

Alora casts Channel Divinity and channels the damage she took previously to give Guts – 69 points of healing!

Kaladin Rescues Lyra’s Body

Kaladin smashes the chains holding on to the body. The ground beneath them begins to writhe and the undead seem to unfreeze. A skeletal hand of Lyra’s turns into a skeleton with mechanical shaped fixtures. The torso opens up and it seems to be an undead machine. A twisted face emerges from the depths of Lyra’s face. It moans and starts to wake up. It takes a deep breath. It looks to the shadow Lyra and says “You’ve served me well. Now let us begin anew together. We shall rewrite the fates of the world.”

At his feet he sees another body – the real Lyra – and the skeleton machine locks eyes and talks to Lyra. Kaladin swings his sword at the machine and his sword shatters. He scoops up Lyra’s body and starts to run. He hears a voice in his head: “I feel oddly happy to let this one go.” He looks at Lyra and her body becomes paralysed and Kaladin runs 60 feet away.

Guts somehow manages to identify friend from foe in his baboonish frenzy. He swings at the tentacles and manages to slice through them, freeing himself from their clutches.

Vecna Revealed

The mechanical man steps forward with an almost pristine face. He summons the dagger of Lyra and hands it to her shadowy form. She reaches out and grabs it. Kaladin comes to within 10 feet of the gate. Lyra calls out to Kalemvor for aid.

She sees the bodies trying to escape from the chandelier. She sees a slither of golden light knit through the space above her, like someone is breaking the threads of space. She takes her knife, puts it into the thread, slices down. A person says thank you! She hears someone inhaling. She sees the souls aiming to take their place in the afterlife.

The skeletal form steps through the space with Lyra’s shadow. He turns to Lyra. “The name is Vecna.”

Chief Nostra Falls

Alora casts Sacred Flame at Chief Nostra. It combines with the flames in the room and screams permeate the room. Guts takes 12 points of psychic damage. Nostra starts to fall apart in front of us and turn into goop. His gullet is warping. We see the body of Lyra fall to the floor and blood is pouring from Kaladin.

Lux casts Fire Bolt. 23 points of damage to the cloud giant. Guts has a massive wound in his face. He goes to swing at Alora but recognises her as a friend. Alora gives Kaladin 36 points of healing. The wounds heal but he is still convulsing.

The tadpole is an illithid tadpole. The mindflayers breed the tadpoles to implant into others.

Treasure and the Trapped Chest

Nemesis finds a lot of loot in some of the chests in one of the rooms. Arawn, thinking he could possibly be anywhere near as good as Lyra, attempted to open one of the trapped chests. Not having the same skills, received some heavy damage and poison, but survived.

Looking around the room they notice that there is a light coming from under the wall near the stairwell.

Lyra’s Resurrection

Alora checks Lyra’s body, and it is clear that she doesn’t have a brain. We will need to use True Resurrection to revive her. Kaladin needs Greater Restoration.

Alora casts Greater Restoration on Kaladin. He remembers everything that has happened in the room. He looks down and sees the dead body of Lyra that he threw through the opening of the room. Alora prepares the spell to use the scroll of True Resurrection.

A hunchback giant enters the room but fails his perception check. Two slaad (a grey and a green) walk into the room. They fail their perception checks and leave the room.

Ilmater is sitting opposite Alora in the same stance. This one will not be easy and he casts protection on her. He says “The plains are breaking and I cannot help you in here. You have to do this alone.”

She descends like she is going underwater into darkness, into the plane where the waiting souls are. As she tries to feel the thread for Lyra she feels nothing, as though she doesn’t exist. As she descends down into a plane where everyone is waiting in line she looks around and sees at the front of the line, Lyra sitting there next to the same visage of Kalemvor that we saw in the temple back in the desert. Lyra is just sitting there.

“I’ve come to take her home.”

“Surely the cleric of Ilmater will not leave empty handed.”

The Fugue Plane – Vecna’s Bargain

Alora motions for Lyra. “Lyra, if you stay here you will die.” We see the gold threads part, and shadow Lyra steps through with Vecna. Vecna steps over to Kalemvor.

Alora casts Bless on herself, Lyra and Kalemvor.

Lyra feels like someone is flicking through her mind like a book, reading everything she has ever done. Alora feels Ilmater telling her to leave!

Vecna: “Our pact stands. Deliver unto me the rogue’s nemesis as agreed.”

Kalemvor says: “Vecna’s return: a portent of dark days.”

Vecna: “Stop hesitating.” All the souls disappear except Alora and Lyra. They run.

As they are fleeing they see out of the corner of their eyes the portal to the abyss, and an enormous demon that’s stepping forward with a little girl. We see them walking and talking to Kalemvor as Vecna has his contract. The demon reviews the paperwork and hands Reeny over to Vecna. Lyra’s shadow goes into the body of Reeny.

The Nemesis Tether

As Alora runs towards the ceiling to get out, Lyra feels heavier and heavier, as though the threads holding on to her are breaking. Suddenly the light starts to glow, and a tether comes from the centre of our chests and all of Nemesis are getting connected during this moment in time. Alora reaches out and can feel all of Nemesis being connected. The tether reaches down to Lyra and it enmeshes with her hand and creates a strong rope that connects to Alora’s tether and back to Nemesis. As we feel the bond being forged, Lyra’s eyes open and we see her take the biggest breath of her life.

Lyra has an overwhelming feeling that if any of the bond with Nemesis breaks, then hers will break as well. Lyra no longer has a shadow, or her dagger. She hears a voice in her head. It’s Kalemvor. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask you to get that back. You have been released from your service.” Lyra knows that this means the dagger has been destroyed, and Reeny has been revived.

Lyra is now on a redemption arc.

Post-Combat Exploration

Nemesis walks through the door into the next room into a secret passageway. Guts has fallen through a hole in the floor. 23 points of poison damage. He is poisoned, but Alora cures him of the poison.

There is a locked iron box and a crate in the room.

We find a letter about continuing with the plan, continue to farm and allow the growth to occur. We have three more days until the weapon is crafted. There is no date on the letter. The obsidian box with giant runes is a poetic style of language about “message on the wind.” It looks magical. Lyra and Lux want to craft a letter to see if the box is a magical SMS system. (Two natural 20s.)

The mould in the room is an illusion. We see a +2 spear, the outline of a sword, and 11 +1 arrows.

Still workshopping the letter when we started smoking the mould…

Freeing the Orc Prisoners

We go downstairs and find a cell. There are 20 unarmed orc prisoners. A giant comes in and threatens to take them to the torture chambers if they don’t shut up. Lyra drops 73 points of damage into the keeper. She lacks her usual pizzazz. Lux does 35 damage from a Fire Bolt. Arawn fires arrows, and Guts slashes with his sword. He drops to the floor, the two-handed great sword (Flame Tongue) dropping to the ground.

Two giant apes and 5 slaad come out after hearing the ruckus.

Items & Loot

• 8,000 GP and 1,000 GP in coin
• 11 x 100 GP gems
• 4 x 500 GP gems (one of which is a diamond)
• 2 x 1,000 GP gems
• 7 pieces of jewellery worth 500 GP each
• +2 Spear
• 11 x +1 Arrows
• Flame Tongue Greatsword – dropped by the giant keeper
• Obsidian box with giant runes – magical communication device (“message on the wind”)
• Letter – references continuing a plan, farming, allowing growth, and a weapon being crafted in three days

NPCs Encountered

• Chief Nostra – illithid-fused abomination with two merged heads and tentacle beard; had Lyra’s body chained inside his mouth
• Vecna – revealed as a skeletal mechanical form inside Nostra’s mouth-dimension; claimed a contract with Kalemvor involving Lyra and Reeny
• Kalemvor – god of death, present in the Fugue Plane; honoured Vecna’s contract but released Lyra from service
• Ilmater – appeared to Alora during the resurrection, warned her “The plains are breaking”
• Reeny – seen being handed over to Vecna by a demon from the abyss; Lyra’s shadow entered her body
• Orc prisoners – 20 unarmed orcs held captive in the stronghold cells

Notable Quotes

• Guts, seeing a girl chained inside Chief Nostra’s mouth: “Not chained to a wall in a good way.”
• Kaladin, seeing the same: “There is a woman in his mouth!”
• Vecna, inside the mouth-dimension: “You’ve served me well. Now let us begin anew together. We shall rewrite the fates of the world.”
• Vecna, in the Fugue Plane: “Our pact stands. Deliver unto me the rogue’s nemesis as agreed.”
• Kalemvor: “Vecna’s return: a portent of dark days.”
• Ilmater to Alora: “The plains are breaking and I cannot help you in here. You have to do this alone.”
• Kalemvor to Lyra: “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask you to get that back. You have been released from your service.”
• Alora, arriving in the Fugue Plane: “I’ve come to take her home.”