Interval Session: Kolae

If you recall, my friends dared the Dungeon Master. I wasn’t there, so for once, Taelim wasn’t responsible. Our Dungeon Master responded with Primus, and my party scrambled to fix the threat they brought into the world. With their many clones, came multiple campaigns across the realm. So, I’m going to tell you about another character I played alongside them. It will all tie in later.

It’s a speedrun story a la third person. The Main Attraction will resume shortly.

Setup:

Kolae was a Goliath, a half giant whose ashen skin was covered in the tattooed tales of her people. They were only visible when she wasn't wearing the full armor that distinguished her as a Paladin, her shield bearing the holy symbol of Melora.

She hadn't planned on this path, she had stumbled across it when fleeing the Asimba Mountains her people called home. There they were the slaves of actual giants, and the creature that guarded them all was a two headed dragon. The Nidhogg. One day the Goliaths made a stand. A fight to be free.

Her and her twin brother, Odison, rallied the Goliath saves. Together, they fought and triumphed. Until the Nidhogg took the most valuable thing in her life, a symbol of hope like herself, Odison. Kolae swore she would grow stronger and kill the Nidhogg, avenging her brother. One day.

Years had passed since then.

Current day, but before the first set of clones returned to Illium:

Now, in this dark campsite, Kolae blinked down vaguely, taking in the band of peculiar warriors around her. It was as if she had been asleep for the last few months. The last thing she remembered was finishing a pilgrimage in the name of Melora. In the temple, she had been visited by a pygmy hawk who wouldn't leave her. She let it stay in the crook of her spacious armor, easily a safe place for the miniature creature. She called him Oddie, he was the first friend she had since her brother.

Oddie chirped from inside her armor, and Kolae snapped to attention. She evaluated the crew who gaped at her. Likely coming to their senses too. A drow, kender, gnome and dwarf.

Then the memories flooded her like a sharp stab in the back of her mind. Primus, clones, the mission. These people. She had tried to help them, but ended up entangled in their mess. Maziel, Cosmo, Klotonk, and Dagon. Primus controlled them all, herself included, compelling them to destroy the ancient Ley Lines of this plane. The source of magic.

“Kolae, right?” The gnome began, tentatively approaching the Goliath.

Kolae nodded once. “How are we free?”

“The witch in the mountains,” Maziel responded, deep in thought. “She freed all our clones. But why…?”

“We we're headed north…” Kolae said. “To Gondhr, to destroy a Ley Line there.”

It was the only lead they had, the only thread to a bigger picture. They packed up camp and set off to the village of Gondhr, a place of Goliaths.

With Kolae to vouch for them, they were admitted to the village. It was peculiar to see half giants wary of smaller folk, strangers in a place normally so removed from traffic. At the center of the village stood a sacred, ancient tree. It practically oozed magic. Another Ley Line.

The village had been attacked recently by agents of Primus, bizarre constructs of magitek design. So the party decided to stay and fight. When the constructs dared to attack again, the party came to the rescue. The elder of Gondhr, in his undying thanks, informed the group of the Sword Prophet, a possible ally against Primus.

The party set off through the tundra of the Asimba Mountains, across glaciers and the unending display of mountaintops. The weather was as cruel as the creatures that inhabited the range, but not as persistent as the magitek monsters always on the prowl. Even frost giants fell to the adventurer’s determination.

The party eventually took up residency at a Kenku village, not far from the supposed home of the Prophet. The next day they climbed the Sword Prophet’s mountain, and discovered a hermit cave stowed in an old temple once of some significance, now forgotten. At the heart, a massive sword plunged into the mountain, towering sky high. For what purpose, the party didn't know. The place was empty.

They didn't find the Prophet. They found a great, angry bear in the stream below the mountain. It waited for them to arrive. Then it turned into an old, weathered woman who appeared very capable of handling herself. She was born of the mountains, and made here. She was the Sword Prophet, and also went by the Magus of War.

There was uncertainty between them at first. But these clones of the company, they had access to the memories of their other clones. They knew things which Kolae did not. Apparently when the others clones were slain, memories spilled into their thoughts. It led Kolae to wonder how many were there, and how many died for Primus.

The party quickly explained their intent to stop Primus. It was a starting point between the group and the Magus of War. A deal was struck: clear the evil in the Forbidden Temple, and the Magus of War would teach them how to repair the Ley Lines they damaged. The party accepted.

In the heart of a mountain, at the farthest reaches of Asimba, the statues of two titanic dwarves guarded an ancient passage. They were so old their features had been smoothed over the centuries. There was a reason it was called the Forbidden Temple, in part because the name was long forgotten. Then there was the matter of the petrified adventurers littering the foyer of this dark place. Of them all, a single remained whole. A warning to anyone who thought to keep delving.

A restoration spell brought the adventurer back to this world. He was a drow druid by the name of D’ragh. He agreed to join the party, giving particular allegiance to Maziel. Whether it was something more, the party stopped pressing the matter. They had chain worms and magic traps to preoccupy their minds. Not to mention, the beasts that lurked below the black waters always trying to pull them under. They slew them all.

They faltered only once, when an extraplanar guardian that resembled some sort of six-legged goat nearly electrocuted them out of existence. It succeeded in petrifying Maziel, but it was D’ragh’s healing balms that returned her to the party, whole. Some threats you did not challenge. They quickly choose a different path, and at last found the ziggurat that opened to another plane of existence.

Within this realm, the White Bats wreaked havoc. The demonic beasts of unusual size occasionally made their way to the Material Plane, feasting on the living. They needed to be stopped. So the party brought justice to their plane of existence, and killed everyone of them. This was just as Dagon fiddled with the staff key--the physical link between realms. They barely escaped, and Dagon became cursed, growing to a size so great, he breached the temple ceilings. Dagon staggered down the mountain like a titan, unable to control himself. It was the Magus of Myth who came to the rescue and removed the curse. All threats dealt with, the secret to repairing Ley Lines was unraveled.

The group makes it a priority to retrace their steps and fix every Ley Line they destroyed in the name of Primus. It’s on this journey that they find the city of Cloudgoat, and every adventurer needs their rest. And distractions. It’s there they hear of the mythical weapon hidden in the Underdark, the Horn of Asimba. Even Kolae and Dagon, natives of the mountains, recognize the tale. A legendary power to control the spectral armies of Asimba They don’t hesitate, and head for the Underdark.

The way is clouded with poisonous smoke, but nothing a paladin can’t protect the party from. They dive deeper, locating a drow temple that promises secrets. Even oozes and umber hulks with their black husks didn’t stand a chance against the party’s desire for the Horn. Only a room of iconic drow statues barred their way, but the brilliant among them were quick to solve it: Sehanine knows the way.

The temple quickly fell away to a deep cavern littered with fungi. Every wall pulsed with fungal life. At the end, in the darkest part of the space, was a dais. On that dais was a throne where a lady waited. She revealed herself as the Earth Witch, the one who freed their minds from Primus.  She went by many titles now, like former queen of the dwarves. Though, that life was long gone. Now she preferred Zuggtmoy. She offered the party the Horn of Asimba, encouraging them to blow it and fight Primus. To eliminate the enemy who dared to encroach on her domain.

The party accepts, and heads to the Asimba peaks. At the mountain's zenith, they spot the massive armies that Primus controls. They prepare to blow the Horn, but get sealed away in a time trap. They don’t yet realize how very similar this spell is in another part of the world.