The party arrives at the bottom of the chasm and confronts the terror lurking there.
Characters Interacted With
Liu: Accompanying the party on their quest to rescue Liu’s party. Nearly lost their life for it.
Atracidae Members, Mei: Had a meeting discussing a plan to thwart the next demonstration of Donovan’s plant constructs. The plans in question have yet to be seen.
Eye Merchant: An eccentric Spirit who offered the party his wares. Was sadly denied.
Singing Ghosts: Appeared at the bottom of the chasm, singing an ancient song.
Michael’s Echo: Lurked at the bottom of the chasm. Engaged the party in combat. A dark, seemingly alternate side of Michael.
Michael: Appeared at the end of the battle against his Echo to help put it down for once and for all, then sent the party back to the Material Plane.
Gui Ying: Sent Thien into the Deep Ethereal, sensing that the party was in great danger. Welcomed the party back after they returned.
Other Characters Mentioned: Mei Mei the cat, Donovan.
Session Overview
The session began with the party long resting. As everyone slept, Lauran appeared to Amanti in a dream. He explained how he had a proposition for Amanti: He’d help Amanti find his missing loved ones—his wife and other son, Matas—and Amanti would bring him Donovan. Lauran explained how devoted he was to the pursuit of reviving the dead, and Donovan would be of great use to his studies. Amanti said he would consider it, and with no more to say, Lauran departed.
Brooks, Amanti, Liu, and Fanna (by extension) all got ready for the day. Meanwhile, back in the Material Plane, Thien was hanging out with the Eastern Shengdu Temple’s local cat, whom was affectionally called Mei Mei. He had previously declined to enter the Ethereal Plane and help Liu. Gui Ying suddenly burst into the room in a panic, explaining that she had a vision that the party was in great danger. Thien prepared to go in and follow them right away, giving her five pieces of gold so she could buy better food for Mei Mei in the meantime. After several hours of preparation and incantations, Gui Ying was able to send Thien into the Deep Ethereal, leaving him one final request to tell Michael that “it was not his fault” if Thien saw him.
Thien joined the rest of the party in the chasm, and they continued their journey further down. On their walk, they stumbled upon a thin area of the Deep Ethereal that overlooked the Material Plane in a way that resembled peering through frosted glass. Intrigued, the party glanced closer, and saw three masked figures having an intense discussion. Though her face was covered, the party recognized one of the figures as Mei. Brooks tried listening in on their conversation, and managed to hear one of the figures talk about planning “to strike at the plant construct’s next demonstration.” After listening patiently, Mei asked what would happen of their creator, Donovan, to which the other figure remarked that they’d “get to him later.” Mei’s body language didn’t give any indication to her thoughts on the matter, and the mask covered any emotional response she had. Brooks relayed the information to the rest of the party, who became incredibly concerned and made a mental note to themselves to visit Donovan as soon as possible when their quest was over.
Amanti meanwhile, couldn’t help but feel that one of the figure’s voices was familiar, and he couldn’t put a finger on why. The Wildfire Spirit sniffed the air, and remarked that said figure didn’t seem native to Lingguo. After scrutinizing the air again, it noted that Amanti and the figure’s auras were similar. A horrifying thought came into Amanti’s head then—What if the figure was someone that he had known and loved dearly? Unable to get the idea out of his mind, he watched the view into the Material Plane intently, but the rest of the conversation went by smoothly, and the three Druids eventually departed. Amanti was left deep in thought about what to do with this information.
After another day’s travel, the party settled down for the night again. Liu was increasingly anxious about their party’s whereabouts, especially after Thien reported how Gui Ying told them all that they were in great danger. Amanti noticed them anxiously going through their bag, which the Wildfire Spirit noticed contained some items belonging to Liu’s party. Concerned, Amanti tried to talk with Liu. Liu was cold to him at first, but slowly warmed up after Amanti apologized for restraining them from running up to the Spirit of the Adventurer a couple sessions ago. Amanti asked what Liu’s party was like, and Liu began talking about their party, such as their buddy Yansong the dwarf. Liu revealed how they were afraid of being alone again if they weren’t able to find their party, and Amanti assured them by extending an offer to join the party if things didn’t go as planned. Brooks, noticing the great irony in Amanti extending an offer for Liu to join the party after Liu did the same to him, quickly ran in and asked Liu to chart out the surroundings with him. A surprised Liu agreed and went with him, but not before thanking Amanti for talking with them.
The party long rested, then set off once more. Eventually, the ground beneath them stopped descending, and they entered the bottom of the chasm: A dark, dimly lit cave with an underground river. When they approached the riverbank, they saw a curious figure by the river’s edge. A young man in robes of a previous dynasty, covered in numerous tokens that had eyes imprinted on them. The eyes were animated, blinking periodically and looking around as if they were still attached to their owners. The man cheerfully greeted the party, and explained how he was a merchant who sold a special kind of product: Tokens in the shape and appearance of eyes. He offered several tokens, which seemed to have similar effects to potions, but the party was not interested in a sale. Disappointed, the eccentric man disappeared, but not before telling the party to be careful traveling further down the river: Strange things had been occurring there recently.
The party walked alongside the river, hoping to find signs of Liu’s party. Instead, ghostly figures appeared along their path, playing music and singing a mysterious melody in High Tongue. The ivory orb in Amanti’s inventory began spinning slowly. Curious, he took it out and held it up, and it began to spin faster at the Ghosts’ song. The Ghosts looked upon the orb with great interest, but did not do more. The Wildfire Spirit, after some time, translated their words into common, and relayed it to the party:
The Mysterious Song
How could anything else ever compare to you?
My treasured homeland and my beloved people
Though you have long departed, while my body decays and turns to ash
I will never abandon the ones I love
Boundless wisdom, unfettered courage
All of the gold in the world could not compare to your purest heart
Even as we are forgotten, even as you have shown no sign of return
My soul shall remain waiting for you
Ever since your departure, our scholars have grown dumb, the nobles unrefined
Our kingdom ails without your noble guidance
The birds have ceased to fly, and our flowers no longer bloom
The heavens weep as the world falls apart
As the ties that bind our homeland unravel and fray
Who shall speak of our stories, once the curtain finally falls?
Continuing to perfect my craft as I live the last of my days
I leave this final gift, placing my heartfelt sorrows and wishes within
One last melody delivered by those with royal blood
The culmination of our art, many-layered like both heaven and hell
Remnants of the past, when reunited once more
Shall bring in a verdant kingdom’s glory anew
Fanna, after some careful listening, was able to replicate the main melody on their lute. The ball began to spin even faster in response. They hummed along to the words, spurring more spinning, and the ball even began to glow slightly. The rest of the party joined in on the humming, but the intensity of its movement and glow plateaued. The Wildfire Spirit said that they’d likely have to find someone who knew High Tongue to sing the song, to which Brooks pointed out that the Wildfire Spirit clearly did, since it translated it in the first place. The Wildfire Spirit, realizing the corner it had just trapped itself in, grew indignant, and refused the proposition. The amused party decided to try and find someone to sing it once they returned to the Material Plane. Shortly after, the Ghosts faded out of sight, and the ball became still once more.
Finally, the cave narrowed into a tunnel that continued further downriver, obscured in shadow. They could see faint light on the other side. The Wildfire Spirit suddenly stopped moving, and grew incredibly tense. When Amanti asked what was wrong, it told him with dread that he should not enter that cave. Amanti and the party pressed the Wildfire Spirit for more details, but it was reluctant to speak on the issue, saying it would hurt them to know who was in there. Liu was adamant on going into the tunnel, and the party, frustrated at the Wildfire Spirit’s cryptic behavior, agreed to follow. After making final preparations, they entered the tunnel.
The tunnel opened up into another large room. A semicircle of elevated rock was at the far end, where statues of deities were lined up facing down onto the ground floor. The river continued through the room, into another tunnel obscured in shadow. On the ground floor were several petrified adventurers, and Liu’s party was among them. Liu, horrified and angry at the sight, turned their attention to the figure sitting at the top of the room, amongst the statues of the deities. The figure had a deadly cold demeanor, and callously dismissed Liu’s demands to know what happened to their party, regarding them as weak and “of no use” to it. Liu, angered by their nonchalance and arrogance attempted to fire a warning shot at it, but the figure caught their bolt mid-air and threw it back at them. The bolt landed in Liu’s chest, and they promptly collapsed to the ground.
The figure then jumped from its spot above the party and landed on the river, being able to walk on the water without breaking a sweat. The party could see now that they looked like a younger version of Michael, with the same face, but different clothes, different hair, and a far crueler personality. The figure glanced at Fanna and cast Command on them, and as Fanna was forced to get to their knees and grovel before the figure’s feet, it broke out into a wicked grin.
Then the battle began. The figure summoned a dark blade in its outstretched hand, slashed at Fanna, then threw the blade into Thien, before summoning the blade back into its hands again. Fanna and Thien got to work attacking the figure, and Brooks quickly hid behind one of the petrified adventurers for cover, while Amanti brought Liu back from unconsciousness and protected the party with his Aura of Life.
The figure, an Echo—a personality splintering off from a powerful being’s soul—was incredibly skilled, knowing many Ki Techniques and an unflappable constitution. On the second round, the Echo brought some of the petrified adventurers under its command, forcing them to come alive again and engage the party in combat. Fanna popped off a Slow, successfully enveloping the petrified adventurers and the Echo in their magic. The Slow lasted just long enough to buy more time for the party to prepare, as the Echo broke out of the spell at the end of its turn shortly after. In the third round, the Echo used its powerful Soul Assault attack, lashing at the party with potent psychic damage and beginning to petrify Fanna’s body. It also gleefully licked at its nether blade, drawing blood from its mouth, which shrunk into dense blood darts that pelted Fanna in the head, knocking them unconscious. Amanti used his magic to heal all of the party and bring Fanna back up again, and Brooks successfully shot at the Echo from behind cover and wore it down significantly.
The party continued their assault on the Echo, Thien and Amanti both surviving the Echo’s attempts to attack them with curses. Eventually, the Echo, dissatisfied with the battle’s progress and regarding the party as a threat to its dominance, destroyed its blade and absorbed its power. Now surrounded, it eyed Amanti and socked him in the face, leaving Amanti reeling from the pain and fighting to keep his Aura of Life up. Defiant, Amanti looked at the Echo and told it “fuck you.” Narrowing its eyes in malice, the Echo threw a punch at Amanti square in the jaw, the shock and pain finally being enough the cause the Aura to disappear. Amanti took revenge on his next turn, grabbing the Echo’s face and casting Blight. As Amanti sent necrotic energy straight into the Echo’s skin, its skin started rotting and sloughing off into the water, revealing the Echo’s skull underneath. Left to look at its marred visage from the water’s reflection, the Echo turned incandescent with rage.
Just then, another familiar voice shouted from the tunnel at the end of the room, and a familiar face emerged: The real Michael, in the flesh. He pointed his sword at the Echo and assumed a battle stance, taunting the Echo and challenging it to fight him. The Echo, consumed in its hatred at its superior’s appearance, was distracted long enough for the party to tackle it and pin it to the ground: Amanti dove at its legs and knocked it over as Thien pistol whipped its face hard with his crossbow, breaking its nose and cheekbones. Fanna rapidly transformed into a gorilla and pinned the Echo beneath their weight, and Brooks dove in and swiftly tied up its limbs to prevent it from escaping. Michael quickly raced in as the Echo thrashed around and put his hand around its neck. It snarled and scratched at Michael, catching him in the eye, but Michael gritted his teeth and ended its reign of terror with a loud snap. Its neck now fatally broken, it went limp.
The party, heavily bloodied and injured from the fight, took in their surroundings quietly. Liu ran to hug Michael for comfort, quietly crying at the ordeal they’d just been through, and Michael comforted them. The party asked if Michael would be able to help the petrified adventurers, and he assured them he could, but it would be a long process. He apologized to the party for what happened, insisting that the Echo “was not him.” Fanna tried comforting Michael, saying that they understood how he felt, but only ended up getting tongue-tied, making Michael laugh. The Wildfire Spirit attempted to save Fanna from further embarrassment by blocking Fanna’s mouth with its tail, but Fanna bit into it, causing the Wildfire Spirit to instinctively hiss and bite at Fanna before quickly slithering away. The hilarious sight sent Michael on the floor from laughing so hard, but he composed himself and got up again. He insisted on setting up a spell to take the party back home, and walked over to a clear spot to start preparing the spell, stopping to stomp on his Echo’s face one last time, caving in its face. Once he finished, he once again apologized the party for what they witnessed, admitting that while the Echo wasn’t him presently, if things had turned out differently for him, he could’ve become like it. Not delving into further details, he cast the spell, and the party departed from the Ethereal Plane.
They teleported back into the Eastern Shengdu Temple, where Gui Ying was waiting. Seeing their beat-up state, she asked them if they were okay, and Thien if the threat was over. Thien assured her that it was, to her relief, and she followed up by confirming whether Thien assured Michael that it wasn’t his fault. Thien, and the rest of the party, all realized they forgot to say that, and the session ended with the party scrambling to figure out what to say.
Key Learnings
- Lauran offered Amanti help in finding his wife Louisa and son Matas in exchange for Amanti handing over Donovan
- The Atracidae appear to have some plan to sabotage the next demonstration of Donovan’s plant constructs. They also seem to have a plan for Donovan himself, though what it is is unclear.
- A mysterious song with accompanying lyrics in High Tongue made the ivory ball the party received several sessions ago spin rapidly and glow.
- Michael, elaborating on past explanations of what Echoes were, explained how they were when spare energy splintered off from a powerful individual, eventually turning into a separate being of its own based off the original’s looks and personality.
Items Of Importance
- 500 Gold: Given to the party by Michael as thanks for helping him exorcise his Echo.