AAR: [8H] Purify the Irondelve Liferock (2020-07-26 @ 22:00 GMT)

[Xzandrate]

AAR: Purify the Irondelve liferock (2020-07-26)
GM: Xzandrate
ECR: 8
Difficulty: Hard

Player Rewards:
Zil: 28,000 LP, 1350 SP, 5 TIPs. - Questor of Garlen Deed
Daldorer: 28,000 LP, 1350 SP, 5 TIPs.
Dvarim: 28,000 LP, 1350 SP, 5 TIPs.
Vlolkir: 28,000 LP, 1350 SP, 5 TIPs.
Xeviouz: 28,000 LP, 1350 SP, 5 TIPs.

Alternate Rewards:
Questor of Garlen deed


Journal Reward: +1400 LP, +337.5 SP

GM Reward: Lazulin (1400 LP, 275 SP, 3 TIPs)

Downtime:
Zil:
Research rank 4, step 12 (step 15 if pay 20 sp for library access).
Item History Rank 4 (step 16).

Dvarim:
Forge Weapon 9/22
Forge Armor 9/22
Craftsman (anything) 9/26
Design Enchanting Pattern 9/22
Enchant True Pattern 9/26
Item History 4/17

Daldorer:
Alchemy Step 8. Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz
Research Step 20.


Summary:
The Players ventured to Irondelve to assist Om in his quest to purify the corrupted liferock, only to discover that the corrupted liferock, was a rock infused horror and not a liferock at all. This overzealous mistake cost Om his life. The first lesson of Purifiers, and one of the tenants of Garlen, not all things can be saved, and it is merciful to end it sooner. The tainted horror carcass must be purified or removed.

[Waijhou]

Sunday July 26, 2020
Rumor: A noted obsidiman purifier know as "Om" believes he can purify the Irondelve life-rock through a multi-day ritual of cleansing, but is worried that the horrors who corrupted it may return. He has recieved a vision from the Passions and has requested the help.
My good friend Zil asks for my help in purifying a life rock at the Iron Delve mine. I drop everything and meet with Zil. Also on this adventure are Dvarim, Volkir and Daldorer. We all head out to Iron Delve. We are meet there by a large Obsidiman named Om. Zill seems to know him. There is a small merchant caravan arriving at town about the same time as we. Feliana Halcion is among them. She is a Purifier from Throal. Om has summoned her as well as us. We all perform greeting rituals. After, Mo invites us into his house and tells us about his work here. He has not been able to find any written record of this life rock. After talking about other life rocks in the area, they dont know of this life rock either. Om gets very excited when talking about his project.
Next morning we head down into the cave. Om says it will take the better part of 16 hours to do this. We all prepare for battle as Om starts his ritual. After about 15 minutes 3 large Obsidiman emerge out of the life rock all carrying large bladed weapons. THey look at us and rais their swords and move towards us in a threatening manor. We engage in battle. After the first exchange there is a small hole to opens in the LifeRock, and couple of imps emerge along with a worm and they attack as well. It is a quick brutal battle and all the enemies are down except the worm creature that ran off.
I turn and notice Om is down and bleeding bad. Looks like he was mind controlled by the worm and stuck himself with his dagger in the chest. Dvarim runs off to grab Feliana to clean him up so we can use a last chance salve while we go after the worm that went into the life rock.
Inside the hole in the liferock we find a mystery worm, and though dyspair worm, 3 humanoid horror constructs and a large horror. After a long dragging flight we are able to destroy the all the horrors constructs and the horror. As we emerge from the hole we went in, the cavern is collapsing around us. We barley make it out and we find feliana there erecting a pyre for Om’s body. I had her a last chance salve but she says it is too late for that. It shouldn't be, it hasn't been very long. She explains that he has been corrupted by the horror. It has shown in all the letters he has been increasingly writing to her over the last few weeks.
We all agree the mine should be left closed until a group of purifiers can come and take care of the corrupted stone/dirt. In the mean time Iron Delve is opening up a spa. Dvarim volunteered to stay behind and assist them with that endeavor. I head back to Throal.

[ChrisDDickey]

From the Journal of Zil, 8th circle Elementalist of the path of the Purifier, and Exemplar of Garlan. 

A few months ago Iron Delve mine was swept (temporarily it turns out) clear of horrors, but what seemed to be a (new? or maybe relocated?) liferock was found within it! This "liferock" is heavily corrupted and has been occasionally spawning corrupted obsidimen called Dreamers. A noted obsidiman purifier known as "Om" (for short, I can't spell his long name) believes he can purify the life-rock through a multi-day ritual of cleansing. But thinks it likely that whatever horror corrupted the liferock will detect it's efforts and may come, or send minions, to contest it's possession.  While I was communing with Garlen, I felt a very strong urge to volunteer to assist him in his labors. I called a team together to assist and guard him. I was joined by Dvarim, Xivious, Volker, and Daldorer. Dvarim chain cast Metal Wings on us, so we were able to fly there from Throal as the crow flies. I like the metal wings spell, it is much slower than my own wings, but much less tiring, in fact it makes flying almost effortless. 

We arrived at about the same time as Om's other invited guest, Felliana Halcion, a beautiful elvish woman, and a purifier of note. Om himself was a large obsidiman with brownish coloring. We did greeting rituals, and I allowed Om to apply body paint to my body. The pattern he painted was very beautiful, but the paints he used made my skin itch, and I wished I could wash it off sooner than I had a chance to. That evening Om told us about his research, He has talked to or received messages from every keir and liferock in the area, and all agree that historically there were no life-rocks here. There has not been a new liferock in generations of obsidimen. There was the very recent case of the liferock that moved, but other than that, the presence of a liferock here was a very large mystery. 

The mine was empty again, since miners had once again started disappearing a little while ago. The next morning we started the ritual of cleansing. Om told us that he hoped to be done in about 16 hours, but that it might last longer than 24. When all was prepared, Felliana took up station at the entrance to the mine and we descended to the life-rock. We cast all the preparatory magics that we could think of, including Daldorer casting multiple life circle's of one.Barely 15 minutes after Om started, 3 Obsidimen came out of the rock to our right and attacked us. As soon as everybody had engaged to that side, a small hole cracked open in the rock, and 2 wicked imps and a despair-thought came through. As soon as the despair-thought appeared I heard a strange noise from Om, and saw that he had drawn a knife and plunged it deeply into his own heart. My impulse was to help him, but he was clearly beyond instant help, and the horror constructs needed to be taken care of first. The fight was actually very short, the despair-thought fled back into the hole as soon as Om killed himself, and the constructs fell in moments. Everybody was fine except for Volker, who required healing.

It was decided that the despairthought needed to be killed before attempting to raise Om, but we sent for Felliana to watch over the body while we tackled the hole in the wall. The hole was small, and Volker needed to squeeze through, but it soon opened up, parts of the chamber it opened into also took a somewhat organic appearance, The walls were lined with eyes and mouths. In addition to the despair thought we had seen before, there was also a Misery Worm, Two things that people tell me are called Kaschrek Erhigren, and a Kruhz Erhigren. This fight had its ups and downs. We started with a quick kill, then got bogged down a bit. When we had finally almost won through sheer bull-doggedness, the chamber used a power that filled all of us with absolute terror, such that none of us could stand to lift a finger against it. Further, what little we could think to do, our quaking fingers and wavering voices rarely succeeded. I kept calling upon Garlen to give us comfort, but could not call her comforting power with any conviction. Finally Dvarim (I think it was) managed to suppress the curse upon Xevious, who slew the horror, or at least it's physical manifestation. At that point the chamber we were in started to collapse, so we scrambled back out. 

Felliana told us that she sensed that this horror had an astral component that had not been slain. Since we had not slain the astral part of the horror, Om could not be safely raised, She felt that Om had probably been horror marked months before. That the rock he was studying was probably not a liferock that had been corrupted, but probably an ordinary rock that had been corrupted by a horror that had manifested its physical form there, and it just looked like a liferock.  (However she did not explain how this not a liferock was producing corrupted obsidimen and dreamers - I can only speculate that just like a horror can make a horror construct that looks and behaves and does the things that a giant spider can do, this horror could construct something that can do what a liferock can do. But just like a jethutra is not really a spider, a horror constructed liferock is not really a liferock, just a sick imitation.  
In any case, Om was both dead and corrupted, and his body needed to be burned to cleanse its corruption. This rock has had the horrors physical form driven out of it, but the Astral form remains. The astral form might attempt to form its new physical form here, or elsewhere. We might keep it from returning here by purifying the rock, but she can't do it immediately. I suggested that we mine the corrupted rock out, and dump it in the sea (or the death's sea), but practicalities of transport mean this is not something we can do without preparation. The long term solution is to kill the horrors astral form, a task which the horror stalkers might take the lead on, I shall concentrate upon attempting to purify the mine.  

Dvarim and I are staying at Irondelve for a few weeks, Dvarim to work on the soon to open mineral baths, and myself to attempt to get the purification of the mine process started. Dvarim has agreed to forge my armor, and has also sold me access to 9 spells from his spell book. I have trained to the 8th circle of Elementalism, and a convocation of Exemplars of Garlan have elevated me to their ranks. 

[bronzemountain]

In the Belly of the Beast
Or, Not all Living Rocks are Liferocks

Zil approached me in my workshop regarding the nonsense down at Irondelve. We had found a Liferock no one remembered, which was spitting out two-headed Obisidifolk nonsense generators. Zil had started himself on the Path of the Purifyers, and so was headed down to help two of them - Om, an Obsidifolk, and Feliana Halcyon, the elfiest of Elves - get this thing done right. He asked for my help and it was a good cause, so I gave it.

Also helping were Daldorer, Xeviouz, and Vlolkir. Good and solid folk, all.

We were well prepared. Om would lead the Purifying ritual while the rest of us protected him. Daldorer laid down a complex progression of Life Circles - good work, that. I appreciate magics put in place, set into the stone and meant to linger and defend. Good honest magic. The rest of us cast our spells, steeled our spirits, and waited.

Didn't have to wait long. More corrupted Obsidifolk guards extruded themselves from the rock and set about trying to kill us. They had to go through Vlolkir and Xeviouz, though, which is no easy task. In fact, it's a nigh impossible task. I do not recommend trying it. So, it seemed we had things well in hand.

Of course, the universe hates hubris and so everything promptly went to shit.

A hole opened up in the rock behind us and out poured more twisted nonsense monsters. Tiny winged horror children. A fat horror worm. Turns out that worm was a Despairthought, and it worked its soul-crushing whispers on Om; had been working them for a long time, it seems. So Om, who seemed like a good enough fellow, stabbed himself in the heart.

Stabbed himself in the heart. Just so that sinks in.

So of course the ritual peters out. We did some righteous murdering and took care of the Obsidifolk guards and the imps and chased the worm back into the Liferock. Which was gooey on the inside and covered in half-digested bodies and folks. I have to tell you. That ain't no damn Liferock.

Inside there was that so-sad-I'll-kill-myself worm and some massive eat-you-whole worm and three we-corrupt-the-air horror folks and all around us was the throbbing, oozing, pulsing flesh of what I was later told is called a Bloatform. Oh yeah, I should have warned you, don't eat immediately before reading this journal. Sorry folks. I'm sure the Library has napkins.

These Ehrlgren, the two-legged ones, they seem to have the ability to aim shafts of pure corruption from their hands and if they do it right, it unravels spells and exposes you to raw Astral space which is no joy at all. One of 'em also tainted the very air around it and it requires a strong spirit to keep moving forward.

Anyhow, it was a tough fight, down to the bone and the knuckles. But we're tough bastards and we've been doing this a hot minute or so, and so we went after 'em one and then the other, taking them down in turn. Till it was the big fella's turn.

Which is when my knees turned to jelly and my throat closed tight and it was everything I could do not to just turn and run. The fear I felt facing this Bloatform was no natural thing and it hit me like a hammer made out of a hundred other hammers. It was the kind of fear that just carved your guts out, turned 'em to water, and then fed 'em back to you. It was no good nasty bowel-rupturing terror. Even Zil's plea to Garlen herself gave us neither aid nor succor.

I was slowly starting to get a hold on myself when Daldorer, bless him, managed to Suppress the Curse on Xeviouz, who then proceeded to Suppress the Life out of the Bloatform. We crawled out of the thing like we were being shit out by a Horror, which is exactly as pleasant as it sounds. But now the thing is - well, not dead. But driven off back into whatever writhing miasma of Astral nonsense it calls home. And the cleansing of Irondelve can finally be done proper.

I'm spending some time here to help them build out their spa, as the iron business has definitely taken a turn.