The Cave of Worlds Campaign Blog, Session #6

Last week the party had entered a new world and fought off a large band of terrifying chaotic broo.

As they watched the remaining buildings of Apple Lane burn down to cinders, the party made camp - a bit of a distance away, for fear of disease. A few days later Sith'liss the dragonewt returned, bringing healers and sages - including Zero of Nochet, a sage and the self-described "greatest detective in Glorantha". He was the protagonist of two outstanding stories by Alan LaVergne long ago, and I couldn't resist the chance to play him a bit.

At his request the party showed him the entrance back to their world. They went inside the tunnel, and he followed - but what he saw and experienced was different from what they did. He saw a tiny tunnel with not even enough room to stand up, while they saw a fairly large pathway. He ended up backing out, while they went forward. They'd left the boy they'd been chasing behind, because the healers were still working on him.

When they got back to the chamber of lights and pillars, they found it oddly changed. Even the carcass of the cave bear was different; for one thing, it now had curly copper-colored ram's horns. As Sith'liss entered the cavern, the opening behind him sealed up, barring their return to Glorantha...for the moment.

They came to another room which was oddly changed. The large pool in the center was still there, but as Ophelia stared at it she felt it draw at her mind in a way that felt much like a crystal ball...so she opened her mind to it. In the ensuing vision she found herself surrounded by five rune-like entities. She touched the one that reminded her of water, and awoke.

In the meantime, Sith'liss descended into the pool and discovered that he felt in the immanent presence of dragons, peaceful and serene.

The four exits from the pool room had changed arrangement somewhat. Sith'liss looked down one path that they hadn't tried before, and found himself looking out and down at a huge landscape that seems to curve up to the left and right. It seemed to go on almost forever, finally lifting into a great arch overhead - an arch marked with a regular pattern of light and dark. He decided not to travel down the Spill Mountains to check it out - or at least, not yet.

So the party took the path that went back towards their home world. When they got to the room with the large coffin in it, they discovered that there were many black patches among the glowing fungi, including a huge one around the box itself. Black tentacles curled lazily in the patches. They spent some time casting spells and shooting arrows at the tentacles in one patch, eventually destroying it. The patch lost some of its darkness when they killed it.

While using her bow, Ophelia found the water-rune intruding into her mind, almost as if it was asking to be used. With some experimentation she discovered that she could sheath an arrow in water, or even her bow itself. She's not sure what that does, but the water-arrows seemed to splash with great force when they hit.

The minions of the Coffin Creature defeated, we left them not far from the exit to their world: the Valley of Peace.