Guardians of the Grove 8/18/22 Guardian Down

 Guardians of the Grove

Darkpoole Arc

Guardian Down

Session 8/18/22 

The Guardians enter the room for what appears to be their last trial. In order to retrieve the last gemstone, they must move past chains that seem to magically wrap around anything it touches and pull it violently towards an unknown direction. After trying many things to avail, the guardians are stumped. For all their power and destructive presence, traps tend to hold them in their place. Wulf decides to attempt the retrieval of the gemstone with his extended reach; he believes himself to be the best option at the moment. Through continued trial and error, Wulf can make his way toward the gemstone. Taking some considerable damage, he is able to throw the gemstone back toward the group. However, despite wrestling with the chains somewhat successfully, his success is short-lived when one chain is unable to be wrestled from his leg, and the leg is torn off almost immediately. After pocketing the gemstone to deactivate its anti-magic field, the group tends to Wulf and effectively wraps his leg. Wulf, visibly upset, endures his pain and uses his hammer to proceed further. The group, battered and beaten, makes their way to the door and opens it. 

Inside the room, they are immediately blinded by the darkness. The group quickly finds themselves stepping on a large amount of webbing coating the entire room. In the distance, Corvus and Diego can make out a halfling and Mattias inside the webbing at the room's far end. At the same time, Nirruk uses a light cantrip to light an area of the room. Diego also notices that there is no actual floor and only webbing. Eventually, the group's initial fear approaches; spiders. After fending off some of the spiders with little difficulty, Fennic appears in a new form from the doorway. Her lower body is a spider, and her upper frame remains the same though altered slightly after the merger. The group engages Fennic and the spiders under her control. Blood immediately antagonizes Fennic about her brother's death. In contrast, Diego remembers his training with Maximus to defeat Fennic. 

Poisoned, webbed, and outnumbered, the Guardians do their best to strike down Fennic. Diego knowing what rides on his shoulders is able to resist several hold-person attempts and evades being disintegrated as well. Dodging every attack from the other spiders, Diego focuses on Fennic with his allies by his side. However, even with support and healing. Diego is unable to finish Fennic off before she ultimately crushes his soul. His last thoughts are of the Guardians, their adventures, and the times they shared, as he would not trade them for all the fate-touched items in the world.  With no time for mourning, the group continues to attack Fennic in hopes of avenging Diego and surviving. With Fennic’s renewed vigor from consuming Diego, she quickly downs two more guardians with maddening darkness. With the situation most dire, the Guardians face their most challenging battle yet, and with no signs of victory in sight, one can only hope that Ios has not heard the last of the Guardians of the Grove.

A special note to those who read this.
Thank you for looking out for Diego/York and keeping him alive the best you could since the beginning.

-Diego B.