The session kicked off in a battle against 12 Emberachnids. The gryphons were on the opposite side of the battlefield, and we were trying to save them. Xune opened the session with a Cloudkill spell, which immediately tore a hole in the Emberachnids’s ranks.
Xune, Granite, Zeke, and the echo of Ronin all focused on carving a path through the Emberachnids, while The Serene and Ryn teleported to the Gryphons side, and focused on healing and protecting them.
During the battle, we learned more about the Emberachnids.
- They appeared to be untroubled by their soullessness. Instead, they appeared to be unburdened of the weight of a soul.
- We already knew they were resistant to fire from Session 52, but we learned that they are also resistant to slashing and piercing (even magical). Ryn also realised they seemed more susceptible to cold damage.
The Soul Vessel learned more about Granite’s abilities during the fight. He seems to have a magical arrow that always fires true, even if it has to pass through other creature to meet its mark. He’s also capable of some level of spellcasting, as observed by him casting Silvery Barbs.
The battle was won without too much trouble. Cloudkill continued to wipe out spiders like a cloud of bug spray, and between Ryn’s shielding and The Serene’s healing, the gryphons ended the battle better than they started it.
When only one Emberachnid remained, Xune attempted to communicate with it using speak with animals. While Xune was able to understand the creature’s spider-like tongue, it’s as if it spoke with a heavy accent, tinged with primordial influence.
With one final taunt from the Emberachnid, the party put it down, and turned their attention to the gryphons. Much like themselves - the gryphons were covered with Emberlings. While the party turned their attention to clearing the Emberlings from the Gryphon’s bodies, we discovered the elder Gryphon had been partially hollowed out by the creatures, and now resembled the other creatures we had seen that had been attacked by the Emberlings, such as the Husk.
With none of the party having access to the Regenerate spell, the party turned to more creative ways of healing the Gryphon. While Granite, Zeke, and the echo of Ronin all went to scout ahead, Xune, The Serene, and Ryn stayed behind - though Ryn wasn’t of much help as he had his eyes and ears relaying through Ronin.
Xune & The Serene came up with the idea of turning the Gryphon’s flesh to stone, so that they would be able to mend it. While the juvenile Gryphon was less than pleased with the plan - it didn’t object, and allowed Xune to proceed with the spell.
The process was successful. Although it didn’t restore the limb to its full condition, the Gryphon was able to stand again - albeit a little more stiffly.
In the meantime, Granite, Zeke, and the echo of Ronin had scouted about 15 minutes ahead. Something they noticed is that when one Emberachnid stopped and suddenly sharply changed directions, so did another. Implying that they must have some kind of connected thoughts. Whether that’s a hive mind between the two of them, or whether they’re controlled by another entity.
Ryn swapped his consciousness to Ronin’s echo - disappearing from Xune & The Serene’s side. He then manifested Rain, as she would be more effective at long range. However, the extra range was not needed. Granite being the deadly assassin that he is was able to completely eradicate anything he targeted before they even threatened to approach the group.
As Granite picked off some wandering Emberachnids, we observed some peculiar behaviour: It seemed like Emberachnids that were near enough to one another would instantly noticed one being assassinated, whereas Emberachnids that were a little further away would ignore the situation completely.
After picking off a few Emberachnids; Granite, Zeke, and Rain decided to return to the others so that we could regroup before progressing any further into the canopy.
After regrouping, the party decided to rest. Xune molded earth to form a protective barrier around the area where we camped. Zeke conjured a Gryphon to provide a familiar comfort to the two gryphons as they recovered.
As the party rested, Ronin kept watch the whole night, with Xune, The Serene, and Kara taking turns watching alongside him. Overnight, there were very few interruptions. A Hollow Troll searched around our area, but didn’t find us.
Right before everyone woke up, an Emberachnid started searching cracks in the ground, trying to suss out our location. Ronin - having witnessed Granite brutal efficiency when fighting from ambush - woke him up, and asked him to take out the Emberachnid. He did so silently and efficiently.
Before we set off for adventure, we left the gryphons in the care of Ace so that he can take them back to Silver Canopy’s Watch. As a parting gift, he lent us a magical crow, which upon landing on Zeke’s shoulder granted him the ability to see in the dark. During this exchange, the topic of Zeke’s ring - an item stolen from a capitalist nerd some time in the past. Ace revealed that he had managed to get his hands on the other ring belonging to said nerd.
When they brought the rings close together a small portal opened up, revealing a scroll which Xune identified as a Scroll of Thaea’s Thunder, with Thaea being a herald of the apocalypse, also known as The Black Sun.
The session ended with the party fully rested, and ready to continue their hunt for the Titan Wildfire.