Session 43: Carnage and Kittens (1/11/2026)

Desnova 23

Mockleg doesn't have a chance as the colossal, emerging turtle devours him in its maws, his staff and other implements flying over the field of flotsam. The creature proceeds to spray gouts of burning steam which dispatch Captain Condor, sending him drowning to the bottom of the pocket plane. The PCs react, with Nebol'shoy and Rickardt flying back to assist them, and Aldren firing off as much ammunition as he can at the massive opponent. Bjork does his best to use bardic magic to mentally halt the creature, with some success, while the PCs switch up their tactics, battering it with spells and monk-fists as much as possible. At one point, Aldren is riding atop the creature, and begins to burn from heat generated through its spines, and it then creates a cyclone of steam which buffets the whole party. As its health is whittled down, it starts to move, and Nebol'shoy transforms into a giant squid to grapple with it, while Aldren follows along the cliffside and Rickardt continues to punch away...

The creature dissolves into a field of blue motes that drift off into this strange plane...leaving little to nothing behind. Condor's drowned corpse is recovered from the depths beneath the wreckage, while the PCs desperately try to recover Mockleg's remains. They find some of his clothing and items, but no trace of flesh or blood, all of which were consumed by the monstrous mythic reptile before it, too, dissolved. After mourning, the PCs decide to try and solve the riddle of the statue floating among the wreckage, dragging it to shore nearby. Using location magic and Rickardt's elemental flight abilities, they drop off Nebol'shoy and Bjork at the turtle's egg-pit above the cliffs, where they discover that one of the eggs is now covered in cracks and bleeding blue light, perhaps reincarnating to take the spot of the guardian they defeated! They also manage to find the statue's foot nearby.

Aldren and Nebol'shoy are flown south, staying low to the trees to avoid the pirates and Flargheist's aerial scouts, and manage to locate the other piece of the statue in the jungle near the fallen abbey. Unfortunately it is in the den of several of the kamadan cubs, obviously the offspring of those they fought in the ruins, and one of them must be dispatched before it can be recovered. The PCs regather on the beach after bringing back the missing limbs of the statue, and then rest and recover in a leomund's tiny shelter.

Desnova 24

The following morning, the petrified statue is reconstructed and Nebol'shoy uses magic to transform it to flesh, and it turns out to be a young storm giant named Stellum, who hails from a place called Maegra. The PCs discern that this is a distant nation from their own world. The giant claims he was abandoned here after being cursed by his cousin, a storm giant witch who didn't want him interfering in her marriage. Very bold and forward, he confers with the PCs about getting out of this blasted plane and back to his home. They determine that either of the opposing parties on the island might have the means to return without Condor's river ritual, and so they march off with Stellum to confront them, dragging Captain Condor's remains along in the bag of holding.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rickardt

NPCs

Stellum (male storm giant): An adolescent, blue-skinned giant standing roughly 15' tall, he has long shock-white hair and the beginnings of a flowing beard. Armored only in a toga, his frame ripples with lean muscle. Scars remain on his arm and leg where they were severed and later reconnected to his body.