The Madness of Bedla-Ra

SESSION 8 Part i

PCS

Talos Redwand, 4th level Conjurer
Kieren, 5th level Druid
Shaw Ashcroft, 4th level Ranger (Justifier)
Lutien, 4th level Fighter (Myrmidon)

Brendel, 4th level Half-Elven Fighter (Swashbuckler)

A Tale Told by Lady Carmella

All was as you have said, brother. The five, they crossed through the portal and found themselves standing upon the cliffs of Othon overlooking that desperate realm of Bedla-Ra. Awaiting them on that great precipice were the five Shades of Lunacy who were to act as their guides and use their own power to shield the travelers from St. Tisha’s gaze. Paltros the Betrayer there was, that wild centaur from Felgoth Forest who found perfection to be an anathema to beauty and despoiled his own forest; Ferramunga Blackboots was there as well, that dread pirate who had become so paranoid that he slew his own crew; and Dougan the Lord of Rats, a foul necromancer and pupil of Syngal the Black, who had dared read from the Forbidden Tomes of the Necromancer Kings of old; Arthan the Cannibal stood among their number too, that hunter who had donned the skin of a bear and been cursed with lycanthropy; and finally there stood Beornhelm the Bloody, that Blood Knight from Althyria who became obsessed with drinking the blood of his fallen foes; he who had been slain by the hands of the very men he know sought to guide through this realm.

Bedla-Ra, Realm of Mad Souls

From their vantage point atop the cliffs, the travelers saw the gray ashen waste of the realm spread out below them. They spied the Towers of Velinax, where the soul of that mad Emperor dwelt in constant battle with himself. They also saw the writhing forest of tentacles where dwelt the mad druidess Enora, who had dared to gaze beyond the stars at the maddening horrors imprisoned there and was so afflicted herself. Finally, they beheld the manor of St. Tisha, overlooking the churning waters of the Cacaphonic Sea. It was she who they needed to avoid at all cost, for if she became aware of their presence, she would mobilize the whole realm to capture them and add their souls to her number. The shades warned that above all, the travelers should avoid being captured, for that only led to endless torment. If it came to it, they were to slay themselves so that their essences could return to their physical bodies on the material plane.

Before descending the cliff, Paltros drew the travelers’ attention to a manor of white marble that lie a few miles from where they stood. That was my manor, my mind taken physical form. They would have to find a way to enter that sad place to rescue my mind from the madness that infected it. Four of the companions jumped into a magical bag, while the other transformed himself into a bat and carried them down to the base of the cliff and the plain below. Halfway down the descent, the bat was attack by Chytheron the two headed serpent and guardian of Othon who dwelt within the rock face. The beast’s two eyeless heads emerged from the cliff face and in a frenzy tried to devour the poor bat. Its needle-like maws snapped all about the bat, as it flew desperately to escape. Finally, Chytheron’s mouth tore into the creature, but it managed to hang on to the bag and eventually elude the guardian. Once it reached the base of the cliff, it let the others out of the bag and transformed back into the druid Kieren.

The travelers then made their way across the barren plain toward the Copse of Despair which lie in front of my manor. They could not tell how long the journey took, for the sky seemed to constantly change above them from a deep purple to a light violet and then an inky blackness. The moon too changed from a crescent sliver one moment to a fat harvest moon the next, which seemed to grin maddeningly down at them.

Finally the travelers found themselves at the edge of the grey copse of skeletal trees. A small cottage of decayed timber stood nearby, and on a porch in front of it sat a gnome in a rocking chair smoking a pipe. He was muttering about some invention he called the dream machine and how his family had laughed at his ideas until he could take it no more and put them to sleep until his work was done. The travelers asked the gnome the quickest way to my manor. Coming out of his own conversation, the gnome introduced himself as Wolga. He then told the travelers that the quickest way to the manor was around the copse but the only way to get into the manor was through it, for the key to the manor lie within a diseased black oak at the small wood’s centre.

The Tree of Woe

Without a choice, the companions entered the wood. The skeletal trees seemed to take their presence as a threat and their clawed branches reached out to grab at the travelers, always just at the edge of sight. Thankfully, they were not attacked and the companions soon reached the centre of the wood. Just as the gnome had foretold, there at the wood’s centre stood an immense black oak tree, bloated with disease. On the ends of six thick branches dangled the heads of those from my life; your head was there brother, as was Zelligar’s; and mother and father were there as well. So was the head of my maidservant Daphne and that of the despicable orc chieftain who had taken me as a concubine when the keep was taken after the Battle of the Smoldering Skies. In unison all the heads screamed out that they were the key. The branches upon which they hung began to shake furiously and the tree itself tried to swing them at the companions. Dodging the blows from the maddened oak, the Ranger Shaw Ashcroft and the Soldier Lutein made for the tree’s heart while the others took aim at severing the heads from their branches. With two mighty blows the warriors managed to split the tree asunder and it fell to the ground lifeless. The heads continued their insane argument over who was the key. The companions cut the heads free from the branches and packed them all up into their magical bag to take with them.

Having read my diary which you supplied them with, the heroes guessed that one of these heads truly was the key to entering my demesne. When they came out of the Copse of Despair they found themselves at the foot of my manor. A large, iron-bound door prevented entrance. It was carved in the shape of a demon’s head whose maw stood agape waiting for something to be placed within. The travelers guessed that one of the heads needed to be placed in the creature's maw for the door to open. But which head was the key? 

The Druid Kieren believed that my love, Zelligar would be the key. He placed Zelligar’s head into the mouth of the beast. Zelligar laughed insanely at the druid before exploding and sorely wounding the poor druid. The newest companion of the group, the Swashbuckler Brendel, believed Daphne’s head to be the key, for it was she who I shared my deepest secrets with. The cagey half-elf had deduced correctly and once Daphne’s head was placed in the creature’s maw, it was swallowed whole and the door slid open.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the heroes entered the manor and began their journey through the darkest recesses of my tortured mind. What they found within would challenge their wills and assault their very sanity.

Continued…