Dreaming of a Realm Beyond
| "Dreaming of a Realm Beyond" | |||
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| Campaign 1 session | |||
| Session no. | Session 4 | ||
| Session date | January 23, 2021 | ||
| Timeline | |||
| Start date | April 7, 353 WSK | ||
| End date | April 12, 353 WSK | ||
| Starring | |||
| Bean – D'Bonk DMarty – Lurtak GuardianAngel – Gael Nixup – Versa and Bunnies as the Dungeon Master | |||
| Narrative chronology | |||
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| Session order | |||
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| List of Campaign 1 sessions | |||
"Dreaming of a Realm Beyond" (1x04) is the 4th session of the first campaign of Itora.
The party encounters a mysterious magic user, Assurant Praas, who offers the party a deal to take the citizens back to town when he finishes his ritual to open a rift to another plane.
Synopsis
The party sees off Nooris. Versa gives him a health potion, saying she expects it back, and he replies he will pay it back in kind when they meet again.
After two hours of travel on the road, Versa notices some chatter up ahead, identifying them as two gnolls. With superior high ground and stealth, she drops one in a single critical hit, causing the other to begin running away. Even through dense forest brush, Versa was able to close the distance and the party proceeded to interrogate this gnoll. Speaking broken common, the gnoll, Gurk, tells the party they think his boss might want to speak with them in their base to the south. Gael feels a very strong crossing presence to the south, so the party lets Gurk lead them to their base of operations.
Research Cave
As the Pixies and the rest of the party approach the base with their gnoll guide, Gael and Versa sneak to the high ground, surprising and eliminating two gnolls on watch. Not noticing the action, Gurk leads the party through an illusory wall in the rock face. Leading the party downstairs, through iron gates, and past a curiously bright pool of water, the party arrive at an ornate double door. Their guide tells them to wait outside. While they wait for a few minutes, Gael takes some research materials on the fey from a nearby bookshelf and workstation. Moments before the door opens, Gael experiences an intense rush of psychic pain in the direction of the room. They gather it was a combination of proximity and sensitivity to the converging leylines.
The door opens, revealing a human man in a suit, who invites the party in for a conversation. Versa pointedly remains outside as the rest of the party takes the invitation, greeting Gael as “Child of the Fey”. He attempts to close the door magically, but Versa’s foot stops it.
The man introduces himself as Assurant Praas. He wanted to speak to the party because they killed some of his Gnoll employees, but was disappointed to hear the gnolls tried to kill them unprovoked. This was apparently contrary to their given orders. The Assurant needed the dreaming minds of “assistants” for his experiments to open a rift in the planes, so he hired gnolls to kidnap them off the roads, unharmed. His main focus, however, was a desire to learn how to close them.
He offers the party what he pitches as a mutually beneficial deal: Let him finish his ritual so that he may study the open portal and the party can take the citizens back to the city to claim the reward for their rescue, whatever that may entail. He assured that his “assistants” would not be harmed. The party is split on which course of action to take. Versa very much against it, but Gael seems very interested in any study on fey-related matters. Ultimately, the party agrees to let him complete his ritual.
As he commences the ritual, Gael notices energy patterns akin to leylines emanate from the very souls of the assistants, leading towards a central point. After a short time, a portal opens, gleaming with familiar energy. Its nature is peculiar, like something only visible out of your peripheral vision, but invisible when looking directly at it. He is unable to get close to the event horizon and spents a few minutes examining it. When D’Bonk approaches the rift, they are able to get close, and push their hand through. As they lean more into the portal, they are compelled through it, with Capy and Ratthew soon to follow. The Assurant is baffled as to how they were able to pass through where he could not, let alone the small creatures. Meri and Nutmeg, the Pixies who had been traveling with the party, suddenly soar into the room, passing through the rift. Almost immediately, the rift closes.
Assurant Praas is disappointed that he wasn’t able to study how to close the rift but tells the party that a deal is a deal. He says he will cease operations in the area, perhaps sourcing volunteers internally in his Order. Gael offered assistance in future research, and he tentatively accepted the offer, saying he would be in contact if the situation arose. The party is free to command the suggestible citizens to follow them through the cave to the cart and horses they were promised.
The party heads west, with all four citizens stoic in the back of the cart. Over the course of an hour, they gradually wake up, and with the guidance of the party, begin to grasp what happened to them and how many weeks or months they have been asleep. They request that the party escort them back to the city, as many of them were taken while traveling on their own. The party turns the cart back around and sets course for Daith.
The party travel back to Daith, foraging along the way. Their trip is uneventful, as they arrive at the city gates around noon.
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