3/15/2025

Q: What is your ideal monster to fight/one you've always wanted to fight? A: Nabassu
 
BEGIN SESSION
 
A distinct sound, the tearing of reality, echoes through the night. A large flying thing emerges, bald and horned with a crown between them, with skeletal wings webbed by energy. A voice calls out to us, then (CON save - 25 - 35 necrotic damage) and most of the group is downed. After Marda gives up that Melfine is resting, the creature bids us come to the city, all of us. Marda is trying to read the documents she saved from the imp, Flash of Genius, and we recognize the handwriting as Post's, meaning these are forged documents they made to help us out and also to get the Legion to leave them alone. Meeting up with Ragnus, he is pretty fucked up, so Druss heals him a bit. Their scout vanguard, the Axes, is going to accompany us back to the compound, then some of them will go back to the camp to show the rest of the Legion the way.
 
We arrive at the compound, sending the healthiest Axe along with Corbin and Tharthiel back to lead the Legion here. We warn Oliver about the coming guests, informing them that the healthy are coming with us to assault Cherwood while the infirm recover here. Then we send off an Animal Messenger via Max to Mallow, warning that we're going that way tomorrow, and to not infect us please. LONG REST, and some dream time - we all see a bleeding woman with pinned wings, like an insect on display. An ocean of blood comes from stigmata and surrounds the body. Melfine is a million miles away from her sister, or so it feels, and is drowning in desperation and despair.
 
The next morning, Druss makes a Thaumaturgy-enhanced speech to everyone in the hangar. Gain 14 temp HP for his inspiring speech. Leading the active army to the hangar doors, we head out. In the sewers, a rat king meets us, but talks with Mallow's voice. The rat king is their envoy, and will lead us to the core of the colony. We request that Mallow use their forces to open the gate, so that the Legion can flood in. Mallow informs us that they've been keeping the gates closed to keep the planar demons and such in the city. (INS - 13 - Haneways seems interested in Mallow. Sadge. Corbin looks like he wants to go home.) (CON save - 18 - no issue with the spores) Above us, we can hear the thump-thump-thump of heavy footfalls in the down. As we go deeper, they are fewer, but are more chilling when we hear/feel one. (PER - 14 - notice nothing. Those above 25 notice an imp and roll into initiative) Druss immediately deletes the imp with Eldritch Blast. We arrive at the myconid "city" but really, there are just a metric fuckton of mushrooms. Oediphus Longclaw, Marda's ex-boo thang, is not yet assimilated, but has given consent by making a pact with Mallow. They approach us, and are noticeably grey of pallor, due to the pact. Marda embraces them, and they kinda try to catch up a bit, mostly about the patron-class powers she's associated with in the past. We ask Mallow where the ritual is happening, and they tell us the demons have taken over the Cultural Congress. Mallow and I are really hitting it off. Corbin is going to go to the Fireforge Estate to rally them, and Marda reaches out to the Sanctum to enlist them via the pneumatic tube system.
 
Emerging in Velaryon's Marble-ous Masonry, we see the town inundated with demonic forces. Cyd's Candied Confections is turned on its side, with a patrol standing nearby. There is also a patrol near the Temple of Daja, and a third by some houses in the district. As Max looks out the window, thousands of voices scream forth from the direction of the Temple, and this gigantic abomination made of fused, partially-decayed corpses climbs over the top of the building and moves to the patrol. Vlad and his Shieldmaidens rush from the door with some myconids. Leona shifts into her weretiger form, which I've never seen, whAt ThE FUCK?!? Studying the lava vertebrae (INT - 25 - the bones are floating and might be able to carry one shiny goldish lizard man.)
 
With this distraction, we fly in various ways toward the Cultural Congress. A mechanical dragon emerges to meet us, roll into initiative. Yun Polymorphs the clockwork dragon into a turtle, it falls into the lava, and explodes. Moving down the lava river, Sylvio and I deposit Melfine onto the bone raft, then continue. A bone cage emits a scream, then a snail appears, ready to fight, initiative again! Yun hypnotizes it, and we continue forth. At the Cultural Congress, we are met with some more large monsters, including and Erinyes/Dragon thing that used to bully Melfine and her sister. We kill the little ones and the Erinyes, while Astrea appears to handle the huge fire serpent. Then, Asmodeus leaps forth from the building hurting us all and sending Sylvio plummeting from the sky from the damage. I use Featherfall and then Mending on the way down to bring Sylvio back up. Corbin appears from the West, and we try to trap Asmodeus in the soul stone. One minute later, as the ritual completes, Sylvio and I scoop Melfine and bring her up to the chest of the abomination. She touches the stone to the center of the chest, then a blinding white light erupts from the contact site, blinding us all. When it fades, we are in Cherwood, buildings damaged but lava gone. Fiends are still present, but the humanoids are rallying. Corbin and Astrea are gone too, and everyone is safely on the ground. Something feels off, and Melfine is still panicking. She hurtles towards Max, demanding Corbin's location. Portals are closed, and something external took everything that didn't belong on the Material Plane away. Even Mallow is gone, along with the celestials and servants of the Hells. It seems some measure of time has passed, but I can't tell how much. I have Sylvio Fly back up to reconnoiter the city. (PER - 21 - I can see Vlad leading a rally point near the Temple of Daja. He remains very fucked up. There is no sign of Meriwynd or Mallow.) I fly back down and tell everyone what I've seen, then suggest we head to the Temple to meet up with Vlad and the werecreatures (Smallville, probably?) I saw him conversing with. Since I flew, I get there in time to see Dani, Masika, and Leona peel of towards Myths and Legends. When Druss gets there, I fill him in on the sights, so he knows where his daughter is headed.
 
Everyone converges at the shop, Melfine announcing our presence very loudly. Her sister is asleep upstairs. I left to use the bathroom at this point, and missed an unknown amount of things. My next step is to get the soul stone to Charring, as promised, then getting the trade lines up and running, which should take a few years.
 
END SESSION AND CAMPAIGN
 
INSP Inventory: +d6, +d6
1 free crit to use at my leisure for finding the name of Corbin's protege.