The Shifting Prison, Part 2

The Party: Arcturius-9, Corwen, Farrow, Khonshu

In idyllic Stonepoint, Farrow, Corwen, and Khonshu checked out the carnival in town everyone was excited for.

Corwen finished looking over the strongman tent for suspects, and he came across a group of six woodsmen and woodswomen that matched the descriptions of the missing rangers from Lanterwurm. They were a mix of humans and half-elves named Jack, Adrie, Faral, Brandis, Mirin, and Thorn. Corwen’s mind wasn’t holding onto the other reality strongly, so he just introduced himself and became friends with the group, learning they worked in the surrounding forest as wardens.

Somewhere else in the dark, Arcturius-9’s consciousness came online, recalibrating to the shifting reality. In the cemetery of Stonepoint, a robotic hand emerged from the grave marked by a tombstone that read, “IX.” He pulled himself out of the shallow grave and looked for his friends, following the noise of the carnival. Coming across two ladies carrying groceries, they screamed and ran away from the cyborg, calling out the Lantern Wurm Killer has there.

At the fortune-teller’s tent, Farrow had just traded away her memory of meeting her parents the other day for the first time, this weakened her ties to the reality of the Shifting Prison and Lanternwurm. The old woman went into a trance and said the gnome’s question was vague, so two answers would be given. First, this place is what you want but not what you need. Second, this place is a stomach, and we are all food.

Farrow ran out to rejoin Corwen and farrow, no feeling well with her fortune information. Then, among the crowd, small floating squid-headed creatures were seen attaching tentacles to various targets, who appeared oblivious to the monsters. Arcturius-9 appeared at the edge of the carnival and also saw these squidlings. Approaching one, they all suddenly swarmed the party.

Mule was knocked offline but Farrow revived it as she worked her omnistaff. Eventually, they were able to break the creature’s concentration to release Arcutius-9, who quickly took his revenge beheading one of the ceremorphs. Its body and gear disintegrated into sludge. The remaining creature took a beating and decided to plane shift out of the scene, disappearing with a ripple.

Investigating the chamber behind them that contained the two squid statues one more time, they didn’t find any hidden passages, only some ash trails. The statues still made them uncomfortable and Arcturius-9 cleaved one apart. This created a ringing sound that caused them all to cover their ears. When the headache passed, they found themselves back in Stonepoint. This time Farrow and Arcturius-9 felt at home in this reality.

Finding the townsfolk confused and recovering from the chaos cause by the party earlier, they found the six rangers again. Now with more connection to the other reality, Khonshu spoke to them and reminded them of their original mission. Three of the six rangers were shaken by this into remembering their other past. They seemed desperate, doubting, and relieved to see the party.

The rangers were horizon walkers, experts on planar phenomena, and they had heard of the party on Lanternwurm. They had become trapped in the prison and found their minds drawn into this reality. At first they tried to make contact with Lanternwurm through a comm crystal and communication spells, but they had no indication of what was getting through. They surmised the party was more sensitive to the psychic call from this place, having spent time in the Ouroborus and with mind-affecting spores in the Agony Engine. Though it seems it only came through in nightmares.

In Stonepoint, they had used the old mansion as a base for their attempts. Starting to lose themselves here, they had made various graffiti messages before retiring to the woods. They explained what they have learned, that the Shifting Prison transforms physical bodies into monstrous forms that guard the prison as well as act as a food source. And the minds of lost prisoners in this reality space are a second source of nourishment. The squid creatures acted as digestive cells.

There was the largest creature in the prison that appeared to shift appearances based on who was in the prison. They saw a brief visage of it before fleeing, it seemed to be a great serpent or worm. The awakened rangers feared that they may not be able to leave and hoped it wasn’t too late for the party.