Sleeping Giants Game 14

Intro

The First Sighting

We see a rough tunnel, carved into a finished wall. Our side of the wall is illuminated by a violet light, but the tunnel itself trails off into complete darkness. We can just barely make out a humanoid figure, approaching slowly. It walks with a limp, and when it finally emerges into the violet light, we can see its dark skin underneath ragged clothing. It is a young elven man, and his hair is a tangled mess. He is covered head to toe in dirt and ash, it looks as if he hasn’t seen a bath in weeks.

He takes a few steps into the lit room and looks around cautiously. He then approaches the wall and slowly lets himself down, leaning his back against the finished stone and exhaling deeply. It’s not long before he drifts off into a deep slumber that lasts for over a day.

Upon waking, he explores this underground fortress he has stumbled upon. The room in which he entered holds some sort of round chimney, lush with luminescent fungus. He finds a locked door at the end of a straight hallway with a single bend. One room holds a huge marble statue of a rearing red dragon, two large gemstones placed firmly in its eye sockets. No matter how far he explores, however, he doesn’t find a single indication of life. And in fact, most of the fortress is largely mundane, until…

The dark elven man opens the final door in the fortress, and is met with a room that inexplicably opens into a large, barren cavern. The ceiling must be 60 feet tall, which he can just barely make out as the luminescent fungus that is present in other areas of the fortress is absent in this cavern. The cavern itself twists around, and he follows it slowly and cautiously, as though expecting the worst.

And then he sees it. A modestly sized, leafless tree with bark that’s blacker than the surrounding cavern. It is growing straight out of the hard rocky ground, and attached to the side of it as if it were a cyst, is a perfectly round red apple, about the size of a human fist.

Recap

• Stratton picks up the red apple and takes it over to Nil to discuss further.
• Apples: the town got one apple at a time each year - life saving apples.
• They bought the apples from the goblins for 50 gp each, but they raised the prices and had been extorting the humans.
  • This info from the Mayor of Oakhurst - Vernor Lang - on the first game/day.
• Jordan wonders aloud if the tree made everyone's veins turn black.
• Nil looks at the apple - white aura - "universal magic"
• Ana collects ash from the tree and takes a syringe of juice/fluid from the apple
• Stratton attunes himself to the magical apple

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• SHORT REST! Stratton plays Song of Rest. Regains missing HP to get back to max.
• Lyla is with her brother and Charwin - both are knocked out still, but not breathing. Their bodies are room temperature to the touch. Both still have black eyes and bark skin.
• Stratton suggests to Lyla to use the apple syringe on her brother and gets it from Ana.
• Lyla tries sticking the syringe and injecting the apple's juice into his neck (bark neck). Doesn't work - skin is too tough.
• Lyla then tries his eyeball. It injects. Nothing's happening...
• Lyla hears "How badly do you want this boy?" The rest of the group is frozen. Lyla sees a green leopard appear behind her and tells Lyla that this won't work, but if Lyla agrees to promise something later, then the leopard will heal her brother now. Lyla says yes!
• The leopard agrees to heal her brother. A bright flash of green light + action begins again!
• Elliot coughs up the black goo and Elliot's blue eyes return. Skin returns to normal.
• Stratton is amazed, Lyla is very happy and hugs her brother! He seems back to normal but confused to his situation.
• Elliot recognizes Charwin when Lyla tries to explain what happened to him. He seems confused but recognizes Charwin + Bellock (the corpse). He says Bellock took them down by force. Stratton asked what happened to Charwin's brother (Taigan) - he tried to escape and was killed by Bellock's guards (hobgoblins).
• Lyla asks Jordan for the key to the manacles on Elliot's hands.
• Stratton/Lyla ask Elliot what the last thing he remembers was.
• The goblins caught them and brought them to Bellock and the tree. He stated Bellock tied them to the tree.
• Lyla answers Elliot's question that we killed the goblins (mostly).
• Lyla introduces him to the group.
  • He recognizes Stratton from Cirque de Lirium!
  • He flirts with Nil ;)
  • Coughs at Ford's cigarette smoke
  • Ana - no response from Ana.
  • Knows Jordan's church and Steingard! Is impressed that he'd be here for this...
• Stratton explains OSIS
• Elliot says Caracas led them there to the tree and Bellock.
• Jordan agrees to unlock Elliot and does so.
• Elliot is 19 years old, very handsome, Heath Ledgery, from Kittiwake's Edge
• They noticed people were going missing and as "The Golden Boy" they sent him to investigate
• Stratton asks Elliot about the apples - doesn't' know anything about them.
• Stratton fills syringe w/ apple juice and hands it to Nil to administer in Charwin's eye... but nothing happens... tries the other eye... still no effect...