Session 1 - The World of Archon

The First Descent 31-08-2025 ### Summary In the early morning Scipio Noctuar, a tiefling lionshield who is searching for his quarry, and Storgøt Seafarer, a half-orc lorekeeper saving for a boat, are guided into the small gondola's to start their descent into Delver's Glade. However, before their third ascribed party member can enter the gondola with them, a guard pulls him back, guiding an old gnome into the cabin. He introduces himself as Yenni Rockmanni, an old gnome independent delver who wants to truly live and properly die within the spire. The gnome had bribed his way past the waiting line. Heading into the spire, the delvers feel the aura of the spire affect them. Storgøt has some trouble with his huge axe in the small gondola and racks up a few shards in debt before the delve has even started. Landing in the spire proper, the three rookie delvers step out and head into base camp where they meet the severely neurotic and overworked gnome called Lanky Mo (true name Manny Mullet). He tries to sell the delvers some adventuring gear, but they decline (to Mo's chagrin). Exploring the direct surroundings the delvers find a small graveyard with only a few headstones. Some names are faded, others unknown. Storgøt recognizes one name as a fellow guild member who headed into the Voidspire a while ago. Here they meet Nilla, a half-orc woman who keep track of the Lucky Few graveyard. She warns the rookies about the ground in the spire, which seems to actively eat up any corpse that falls on its ground. She also helps the new delvers by explaining the three different paths they can take. They opt to use the ladder that has been set up at the south-east side of the graveyard. Soon after entering the lower plateaus of the Delver's Glade, our delvers find the remains of multiple fellow delvers who met an untimely end. Following the trail of body parts to a cave in the northern wall, our delvers find themselves face to face with a weird bestial form of an Oni, corrupted by the Cahatnes of the Voidspire. They try to run from the beast, but seem to be outpaced by the giant's stride. Through sheer will of force, the rookie delvers manage to fight off the Oni and kill the beast. Swiftly, they experience the force that Nilla had warned about, as the plants and fungi of the spire swallow up the limp body of the Oni. Within the cave of the Oni, the party find that it had nailed delvers to the rocky wall with wooden spikes, allowing the Oni to eat the food without the plants taking over the body. In addition, they find the remains of another dead Oni and a suspicious egg. The party takes the egg and heads out of the cave. However, they aren't given a moment of respite, as they spot a few small figures in camouflage colours climbing the rocky walls. The party has come face to face with one of the sentient inhabitants of the Voidspire: Horned Goblins. These tainted goblins seem more demonic than their overworld brethren. However, this doesn't stop Storgøt from slowly gaining their trust with rations and potable water. The goblins eagerly take the offerings and leave them be. Glad they didn't have to fight yet again so soon in the spire, the party ventures onwards. This time they follow the canyon paths eastward into a crevasse. After a few minutes of walking, they encounter a broken down camp where three fellow delvers seem to be rummaging around for anything useful they can repurpose. Though standoff-ish and alert, they seem to be fine with letting the party pass, until they notice the special gold embellished armour that Yenni has made for himself. Such a unique item can fetch a pretty price in the golden stalls above. They insult the tiefling for existing and try to cut off the groups escape route. However, our delvers are aware of their ploy and swiftly counter attack. They know to kill two of the bandits instantly, leaving the last one to run away in fear. Debating if they should follow the final bandit, they opt to just continue their journey onwards. At the end of the crevasse, the party finds a hidden stash with a curious flute and (due to some clever thinking to look further than the first chest) some void essence and a fire rune. They turn to try and find a way up to the next plateau, when their efforts are interrupted by a pack of wolves led by a Direwolf. Storgøt and the Direwolf have a face off, where he tries to intimidate the packs leader in order to scare them off. It was a close call but our delvers managed to scare the wolves back (for now). Climbing up the cliff wall, our delvers find themselves with a nice vantage point. Here on top of the plateau they can see back the way they came and the smoke stacks in the distance of the base camp. They also find the ruins of another delver camp, where they find no signs of life and a notebook and badge of a Brightplume guild member. In addition. Storgøt finds a hidden tunnel within the cliff wall. Walking down the tunnel carefully, the party breaches the other side. The hole emerges about 90 feet up in the air with a sheer drop into a field of giant carrots and a fierce bunny the size of an elephant with razor teeth. The party tries to see if the bunny is actively aggressive by using the mythweaver, but soon find that a mere illusion is no match for the beast, even 80 ft. high. They quickly return through the tunnel and decide to go back to base camp for a rest before continuing their descent. On the way back they encounter more horned goblins, which are dealt with in a similar manner as before. As thanks the Goblins warn the delvers about a WIKKA HANTA to the SUDU side of the glade. Back in camp, our delvers talk to Nilla, leaving their Oni egg in her care and asking if there is anything they can do for her while in the spire. She asks only to save as much of the remains of fallen delvers as possible. While in camp, Scipio gets approached by a wicked being covered in mouths and bandages warning him not to eat or drink anything in the camp. It seems Cahatnes can affect the people in the Voidspire even faster if they consume its food and water. While resting in the camp, our delvers are suddenly aroused by the deathly shriek of another group of delvers. A young human delver dragging his two friends along begs for aid. Our rookie delvers try to help but one is already too far gone, with the other being in a critical state. Even worse was the delver carrying their friends, who has been neglecting his own wounds to get his friends to safety. Scipio agrees to help both wounded delvers up into the city of Blackgate to a healers house (where he can also replenish non-tainted rations, which seem to disappear quite quickly). Leaving the two delvers in the clerics care, Scipio makes his way back into the Voidspire, feeling its influence fill his lungs once more. The party has rested up and wanders once more into the Glade. Heading back to the secret tunnel the delvers try to figure out how they want to deal with the bunny. But after a short altercation, they decide to leave the creature be for now. Heading further south from the hidden tunnel, our delvers see the southern side of the plateau for the first time. These see the stretches of the glade spread before them and notice a marsh of some sort. This marsh, however, seems to be filled with pools of oil. Walking down towards the point of the plateau, the delvers see a web of tangled tendrils stretched between the two cliffsides down below. Before they could accurately assess what the purpose of the tendrils were, they are attacked by the Angler, a horrid spawn of the spire. Scipio gets caught by the creatures hook and is flung off the plateau, slamming down into the floor below. Storgøt and Yenni fight of the beast while trying to get Scipio back up. They manage to save their fellow delver before the plants take him and together they fell the Angler. Heading down from the plateau, they notice the tendrils to be of similar make to the Anglers 'fishline' and surmise it to be part of its hunting ground. With heavy damage and wounds our delvers see it best to return to base camp immediately. However, their return was not obstacle free. In the final paces towards Nilla's ladder, the party is suddenly stopped by a familiar Direwolf with a grudge. Storgøt tries to intimidate him once more, but sees the Direwolf must prove himself in the pack this time. Though the wolves themselves are distracted by a helping of rations, Storgøt and the Direwolf duke it out in a bloody battle. Wounding both Scipio and Yenni to deaths door, Storgøt makes a last stand while Yenni runs to fight another day. Eventually, our battered and bruised delvers manage to take down the Direwolf and scare the other wolves away, leaving them to limp back to the relative safety of base camp... ### NPCs * **Lankey Mo.** Head of the delvers base camp. Shakes uncontrollably like a little chihuahua. * **Nilla.** Keeper of the Lucky Few graveyard. She tries to document all those lost to the Void. * **Horned Goblins.** Inhabitants of Delvers Glade. Though opportunistic, they aren't antagonistic as long as you can feed them. * **Fredric Bains.** A failed delver who lost his friend in the spire. Saved and escorted by Scipio back to Blackgate. ### Monsters * **Tainted Oni.** Horrid beast form of an Oni. Though Oni are usually sapient and magical, this one seemed to have been transformed by the Void to become more bestial and feral. * **Vampire Bunny.** Giant bunny with razor sharp teeth. Protects a grove of giant carrots. * **The Angler.** Terrible spawn of the spire with an elongated head adorned with a large chitin hook strung on a tendon like line, retractable from the creatures head. * **Screechers.** Tiny little birds, more beak than body, that let out a thunderous screech to stun their prey. ### Loot * Oni Egg * *Lesser Fire Rune* * *Mythweaver* * 2x Void Essence * Brightplume Notes * Brightplume badge [[Website/DND/Descent into the Voidspire/Sessions/Main/Session 2|Next Session ->]]