Session 49: The Blood Lord Report
General Summary
The session began with the party recovering from the first trial of the blood crucible, readying themselves for the next two battles ahead. During this time, The Maiden in Black, who was looking pale and weak, asked the party if they could hold the Blood Lord's Jewel for a moment after they retrieve it, believing that she may be able to remember who she was and why she recognises the Temple of The Abyss. The party then headed into the next portal which lead to the second challenge of the blood crucible. In there, they had to destroy four pillars, and in the mean time they were attacked by small two legged creatures which latched onto their legs and large icy, glass creations which packed a punch. The party was easily able to dispatch of these enemies, yet they were a distraction from their main goal; the pillars. The party soon switched their focus onto the pillars, where they began to take them out one by one. After the majority of the pillars were destroyed, a large four legged albine spider-like creature with its brain seen through membrane on it's back appeared which first went after Zeal who was pushed back by the creatured and attacked by it, falling to the floor. Zeal began to retreat and Orion froze the creature in time for a brief moment to allow Zeal to escape. When the final pillar was standing, a water elemental was also brought into the arena which fixated on Zeal and began to quickly go towards him. Luckily, Geraldt destroyed the last pillar with a well placed shot, bringing the party back to the waiting area where they got ready for the final challenge. The party's final challenge was to kill a singular target within the last room. As they went in they found themselves surrounded by mephits once again, and in front of them was their mark; a woman with blood red clothing who wielded spiked chains as weapons, and besider her were two large creature made of pure gore. The combat began with Aes being charmed by the woman, being forcefully moved away from her as the mephits closed in. Zeal used a bullet coated in dust of dryness to start of the fight, causing some of the blood within her to be taken into the dust and turned into a pellet. Aes, with the help of Orion's haste, quickly rushed towards the target, rushing past her bodyguards and locking her in fiery chains, burning her wrists. After not too long, their mark was slain, not within Zeal being knocked unconscious in the process, and they returned where a new portal appeared in the middle of the waiting room. The party rushed in without thinking, the weak Maiden in Black in tow behind them. The party entered into a huge hall, hundreds of feet tall, and hundreds of feet longer, where they saw a huge statue of a figure clad in robes, wielding a ornamental trident, and using its other hand to cover it's face, a face of fear. Below this statue was a pedastal with a blood stained dagger on it, the dagger of legends that they came to seek out. Without thinking for even a second, Geraldt tried to grab the dagger from the pedastal, but as soon as he did he was met with bloody visions of conflict, violence and screams of pain as a spike of pain ran through his hand and he fell unconscious. The party quickly got him back up with a potion and he used mage hand instead to grab it from the pedestal and sneak it into his bag of holding. Straight after he did this, the statue in front of them began to flake away, revealing a figure, reminiscant of statues they had seen before; The Blood Lord was before them. Orion was the first to know of this, bowing to him as he asked who they were. The party took on the roles of devout followers of the Blood Lord, bending a knee to him alongside Orion. The Blood Lord looked weak, battle-scarred and bloody. He explained that he had been fighting Sybaras at the end of the millenium war and that the place they were in had not been frozen in time like the rest of the spire. During this time, The Maiden in Black had fallen onto the floor, coughing up blood and looking sickly. The party decided to give her the Blood Lord's Jewel. She went into a trance-like state and after a while opened her eyes, remembering her past and her name: Fillianore. Before anyone could react, she plunged the dagger into her own stomach, and with a blinding flash of light, she disappeared, leaving only dust and the dagger behind. After this, Zeal felt a sense of doom lingering over him as Be'lakor revealed himself in the room with a sword made of pure shadow and showing himself fully, not cloaked in shadow. With a smirk on his face he mocked Zeal before telling the party that they should worry about something else, as Zephyr appeared from the same portal that they entered in. Right after this, Be'lakor turned his attention to the Blood Lord, who Zeal tried to warn but it was too late as Be'lakor flew toward him, tackling him and dragging him across the hall, colliding into the back wall, causing a cloud of rubble to appear as they collided.
