Session 34: Far Realm: Aerie of the Minokawa Report

Preparing for the Far Realm

In the Feywild with Lolo Mumu, Lucius Solara and Zernon prepare leave the party. They rest for the night and Lucius casts Heroes Feast and as they depart in the morning, Oyxuysi Oyxuys joins them. Lolo Mumu warns them they will enter the Far Realm in the Gullet, a tunnel complex underground in. They must exit the Mouth of Madness travel across the water and they will arrive at the Minokawa's Aerie. It will take 24 hours to travel at a normal pace and 16 at a fast pace.

He tells them that the Minokawa is a being of chaos, rarely appearing in the same form twice. In the past it has been a fiery phoenix, an immense eagle, a cubic shadow bird, or an abomination of feathers, teeth, and tentacles. The creatures of the Far Realm encourage the abominable form to be the strongest to control it and have it do their bidding.

The Party knows that the Heroes Feast is the only thing keeping them from going insane in the madness of the Far Realm. The party is unwilling to let their protective magic expire, so they decide to travel as quickly as possible and risk exhaustion.

The Gullet

As soon as they enter the gullet they encounter a Star Spawn Seer and a Core Spawn Seer accompanied by small Spawn Crawlers and two Star Spawn Hulks. The Seers are able to pass through the tunnel walls and they take full tactical advantage.

One of the seers teleports T-R01D right between the two hulks and the flanked soulforged fighter suffers under blows from both sides. The spawn fight with pack tactics, and only protective runes keep T-R01d from going down. Thirteen lays down a fireball, D’Wat picks off the hulks with his psionic rifle, and Oyx uses his flame breath and his turrets flame thrower to clear out the crawlers.

As they pick off the heavy fighters, the two seers make a logical decision and retreat.

The Mouth of Madness

As they emerge from the Gullet, they enter the huge cavern known as the Mouth of Madness. D'wat immediately knows that there is something wrong and warns the party. He can see invisible enemies and a drow shadowblade assassin hidden in the shadows. A Blackguard warrior and a githyanki gish challenge them to battle as an invisible Aboleth Cultist and a Kuo-toa Archpriest hang back.

D'wat emerges from the shadows and puts a psionic bolt through the kuo-toa's head, killing the fish priest instantly. Battle is joined and the party are put on their heels by a band of adventurers close to their power level. As they fight, they notice that the other group, except for the dead kuo-toa, appear to be covered in slime and have unnatural scales and gills in their necks.

They have no further time to negotiate as the spells of the cultist and the gish's psionic bolts wreak havoc among them. Thirteen determines that the githyanki's name is Assu the Gish, and she puts a psychic lance into her head. After the second hard fight in the day, the party rests before crossing the ocean.

Aboleths at the Aerie

Once they've regained their strength, they rush across the ocean on their flying carpets and using their spells. They come upon the Aerie of the Minokawa where they see the great bird has taken on the abominable form with tentacles and teeth. The Aerie, the beach, the rocks, and a wrecked boat are covered with small screaming creatures.

As they come to the beach D'Wat's robe of eyes sees three dark shapes swimming in the water below. On the beach itself, they see the corpse of an aboleth. Its brains are leaking from its skull and they theorize that it has exhausted itself controlling the Minokawa.

As they approach they hear old powerful minds speaking in their heads, warning them to serve the aboleth lords or die. The Patrol continues to rush in so they send the aberrant Minokawa to attack them along with an army of small star spawn grue.

T'R01d grows to his giant size and the Minokawa lashes out at him with angry tentacles and teeth. The soulforged responds by grappling the berserk aberration and dragging it down into the waves with him.

Oyx flies over, unsure how to attack the aboleth that control the glutton. He instead finds that the grue are easy targets. He can clear them out, but there are many of them. D'wat blows a horn that summons minotaur berserkers that fight with the Patrol. He sends them to clear out the grues that distract the Patrol from their true fight.

Under the water, the intelligent aboleths focus their attacks on the fool who entered their watery domain. They lash T-R01d with their tentacles and subject him to a psionic attack that turns first his head and then his torso into a slimy, gilled fish. Through D'wat's telepathic link he tells the party what has happened, and the rest of the party warns him that if his legs turn into fins, he will be a fish permanently and under the control of the aboleth.

Thirteen races into the fight and to the rocks where the soulforged went underwater. When the half-fish/half-robot form of her friend emerges from the water she uses her magic to restore his normal form. The Minokawa lashes out at Thirteen, wounding her and then teleports to the beach away from the fight.

T-R01d back in his normal form bounds across the rocks in his giant form, chasing the Minokawa. The aboleths, eager to keep their feathered thrall safe, teleport to T-R01d once more, focusing their fire on him again and once again turning him into 2/3 of a fish. This time they transform his legs, leaving him flopping on the ground, and his head so that he can't speak.

However Oyx, D'Wat, and Thirteen lay down enough fire and force bolts to finally kill the aboleth now that they are on the surface.

Gratitude of the Glutton

The Minokawa has been released and it looks upon the Patrollers with gratitude. Without words it lets them know that it is grateful. They know somehow that the Far Realm is not where the Aerie should really stand, it should be in the Elemental Plane of Air. If they can return the Aerie to its rightful place, the Minokawa will be glad.

They earn the Voidcaller's Ring, which will allow them to travel to the Aerie and perhaps will be the anchor that moves the Aerie to its rightful place.

The Minokawa opens the Eagle's Eye and the Patrollers return to the Zone.