Tales from Etheraz: 2/8 Dungeon Crawl Recap

Greetings, barbarians, bards, and brothers-in-arms! 

I, ATLAS THE BARD, return once more to regale the good people of Etheraz about the happenings of a group of soldiers known as the “PC party” as they travel the lands fighting the forces of evil. My readers, I have some exciting news: the dreaded monsters known as Apathy and Despair have been defeated by the party, and the town of Tohani has been freed from their grasp! I witnessed the event first-hand (though from behind a very large rock… my power with the pen is certainly more powerful than my use of a sword!) 

True to the rumors, Apathy and Despair were hiding in a Whyrhot shipwreck, sent to recover the treasure that held the secret to defeating Apathy and Despair. When the party arrived at this shipwreck, they were faced with a near-unnavigable maze through the ship, under the eye of horrific monsters. Scattered within this maze was Scrolls, the artifacts required to either purge or purify Apathy and Despair. 

The party crept through the maze with success, largely unseen by the monsters that lined the walls. Nemen, the brave party leader, managed to grab one of the scrolls from a precarious position within a sunken treasure chest. What agility! What bravery! And then they promptly dropped it down a hole. Well, I guess that’s what you get when you send children to fight your battles. 

Meanwhile, in the captain’s quarters, another danger was lurking. Grasped within the hands of the desiccated corpse of the captain was the Lodestone, the ancient treasure necessary to defeat Apathy and Despair. A desiccated corpse of a pirate grasping desperately onto a treasure as they wasted away? Surely that meant nothing but safety and prosperity for anyone that tried to disturb it! That’s what Tongues, the party smith, certainly believed when he carefully took the treasure from the captain’s grasp. With the creaking of old bones and a roar of fury, the crumbling captain leapt from his chair, desperate for his final treasure to be returned to him. Tongues, ever hopeful, tried to reason with this wraith. I’m not quite sure he was successful. 

Finally, the party reached the end of the ship where Apathy and Despair’s temple lay. With the rotting bones of the Whyrot ship sinking beneath their feet, they needed to act quickly. The clock ticking, they escaped the ship and entered the Temple of Apathy and Despair. The scent of rot and saltwater lingered heavily in the air (I assume; I was still hiding). The final scroll rested behind a test of intelligence. Oh no! The party weakness! Rational thought! Needless to say, that scroll was not recovered and sunk within the murky depths of the sea, never to be seen again. 

Within the Temple lurked Apathy and Despair, lying in wait for attack. Allegedly, the two are mother and daughter, with the younger Apathy trailing behind the elder Despair. Where Despair goes, Apathy follows — literally, as the daughter is attached to the mother by a thick rusted chain. The party discovered rather quickly that they could not approach the two, much less damage them, without being hit with waves of malevolent energy. The two had to be separated somehow in order to make them vulnerable, but how? 

Utterly unprepared for the horrors ahead, the party was thrown into battle. Onset by endless, shambling monsters and with their energy being leached by Apathy and Despair, the odds of victory sunk further and further from their sword-clasped grasps. The party seemed doomed to be buried in this Temple, their bones fated to be warnings to other foolish adventurers that attempted to enter. 

But! There was a secret hidden within the old temple, one discovered by fearless leader Makota: an old crossbow found in the slit and salt of the highest reaches of the temple. Filled with determination, she… picked up an old javelin next to the bow and threw. It bounced harmlessly off of the two monsters. All that was left to try was the bow. Between the beats of her heart, she fired. 

Despair let out a blood-curdling scream. It was the scream of a wounded animal, of a lost mother, of a monster separated from carnage. The chain between the two had snapped, pierced by an arrow shot true from Makota’s bow! 

Mother and child were released from each other’s protection, and the party descended. The seasoned warriors — young as they are — had no qualms about slaying these foes after all the damage they had done upon the land. The ritual to defeat Apathy and Despair was performed quickly, and without much fanfare. With a final desperate shriek, Apathy and Despair were slain!

Now, dear readers, recall that the party lost one scroll necessary to defeat the two down a hole, and failed to receive another, leaving them with only one scroll for the ritual. What does it mean that only one scroll was used, rather than the full power of three? I heard whispers that this outcome is referred to as “purging,” and it is the least desired path of ridding Coltar Spawn. And what will become of the land of Tohani now that this oppressive force is gone? 

My friends, let us rejoice in the slaying of these dreaded monsters, regardless of what the future holds! Alas, there is always another battle to be fought, but for now, let us raise a cup to the actions of these heroes. Until the next battle, stay safe, my brave readers! And remember: Fight together, or die alone.

This is blog written from the perspective of an in-game NPC intended to catch players up on what they missed during events!