The Silver Dawn: The Complete Story

New Beginnings

The party slowly came together over the course of a few hours, before Aron called them together and offered them a deal they could hardly refuse, saying he "enjoyed sending merry adventurers on their way:" a set of three bounties that could get them gold, connections, and strength, and then a potential, if not dangerous, lead to a set of underground catacombs with untold treasures. The party decided to first take the bounty on a bandit by the name of Ryland the Spider in southern Tiragarde, and they would then deal with the necromancer, before heading to the catacombs, disregarding the third bounty. And so, as a not so merry party, they set out, first gathering any supplies they may have needed from the Tradewinds Market (which resulted in Mark getting a side objective from a blacksmith to gather shipments from the Bentley Foundry in exchange for spare blades and materials).
Heading south from Boralus, cutting through Bridgeport, and embarking into the mountains in southern Tiragarde, the party traveled for an hour or so before passing through many broken and poached griffon nests, and finding a cave with three men talking inside. The men noticed the party, and combat ensued, with Rolland falling unconscious as the Ryland was knocked unconscious and his two compatriots were slaughtered. Rolland was resuscitated, and Ryland was brutally interrogated, resulting in some inner-party conflict, before the party resolved to take him back to Lawson, who was the bounty sponsor.
With bounty in hand, the party headed back to Boralus as the sun began to creep lower into the sky, with Ren taking some time to question him, finding what he knew of House De La Roche, in exchange for potentially breaking him out of prison (though this conversation took place in thieves' cant, meaning all but Moira, who knows thieves' cant, heard them discuss Lotorian festivities.) Learning that he had some expansive connections, Ren agreed to bringing him to Lawson, and so they finished their journey. Upon reaching Boralus and finding his office, the party discovered from waiting captains and sailors that Lawson was gone, and he was apparently up at the Snug Harbor Inn. So, they headed out, and, as some commotion broke out between the party and Dayana Clifford due to Rolland trying to bring in the tied up Ryland, Ren snuck upstairs, seeing Lawson and a mysterious, though seemingly rich, human female. They welcomed her, and a conversation began, as they both claimed to have been friends of Julien De La Roche, Ren and Vallia's father. And so, she began trying to find out more about her family...

The Necromancer

Continuing her conversation, Renèe discussed family matters with Lawson Bentley and Luzzih Oceangrain. After promising they had her best intentions in mind, and told her of their dealings with her father, she agreed to work alongside them (and maybe, in a few months, accompany them to some strange "meeting" with like-minded people in Lotor) in exchange for more help and more information. And so, heading back downstairs, she regrouped with her party, and they headed to Lawson's office to meet Mark and Rolland, where they waited in the night air for a short time before the harbormaster arrived.
They then took the unconscious Ryland the Spider into a cell in the office, and took their gold, before heading back to the Snug Harbor Inn, to find that the closing tavern's upstairs had been entirely rented out for the group by Lawson. The party thus rested, and Mark had some strange encounter in his meditation before the whole of the party woke up to discover him drenched in salt water. After dealing with that, the party ate, purchased some supplies from the merchants in the Tradewinds Market, they secured two ferries to Hatherford.
Upon arriving there, they waited for a caravan for a short time before deciding to simply begin walking towards Stormsong Valley. They traveled, were stopped on the border, and, upon crossing, decided it would be easier to cut straight towards their destination rather than follow the roads. It was on this new path through fields and farms that had them find a strange, abandoned, stone structure. Once going within, they encountered these strange, orange-skinned, armored humanoid creatures which spoke Goblin, who were attempting to break down some intricate door. Upon defeating the three, and solving the puzzle to unlock the door (they had to say "pipsqueak").
Upon opening the door, they began traversing an underground complex of some strange purpose, which seemed to be a workshop where elves worked on gnomish clockwork machines, with viewing rooms and trashed work areas. It was in one of these destroyed labs that they found a destroyed Iron Cobra, and a strange, dead, mutated gnome...

The Workshop

The party, already deep within this strange Elven/Gnomish workshop, continued their trek. Rolland, Vallia, and Renèe decided to go keep watch at the door, to ensure no more of the strange, red goblinoids followed the party into the now opened complex. Moira Tross, Mark, Miracle, and Fenn continued the trek deeper into the workshop.
Continuing, they first found a terrified gnome who explained that they were cursed to never leave, and all they wanted was freedom. Given the gnome's nervous state, the party simply continued, travelling down another staircase. It was after this they found the workshop proper. It was here that they encounter half a dozen mutated gnomes, slaying them all, before searching the huge work rooms they now left abandoned. Various half-finished clockwork mechanisms laid strewn about many wooden workbenches, all while distant clanging echoed through the stone halls.
After another empty work room, the party found the heart of the workshop: a huge metal door, behind which the banging seemed to originate, and two branching off rooms. Pilfering the two other rooms, the party camped for a half hour, licking their wounds, before Moira picked the lock of the door and they ventured within. Venturing down the stairs beyond, the hallway then opened into a huge, destroyed testing room, and the source of the noise was revealed: a huge, Oaken Bolter (a gnomish ballista construct which fires deadly lancers).
The party then engaged, with the out-of-control Bolter nearly killing Fenn and Miracle, and almost bringing the ceiling down on the party, before it was finally destroyed. Wounded and tired, the party left the workshop, and met their allies back in the abandoned stone structure at the surface. Here, they rested, healed, and waited the night out. And it was during this that Miracle and Mark both had rather interesting encounters, as the sun broke the darkness of night....

The Drowned

After resting, the group ate and then packed up their bags, leaving the stone structure containing the workshop entrance. Within seconds of the party exiting, the structure caved in on itself, sinking deep into the workshop, burying whatever other secrets may have been within. The party simply shrugged this off, and continued on, hoping to reach their bounty before midday.
Trekking through the hills and reaching the coast of Stormsong Valley, the group headed south towards where the lizard was supposedly located. Upon reaching the rise that it had made its nest, they found three butchered, partly eaten merchants, two oxen in similar states, and a destroyed cart, with a strange, still pond. Upon Moira dipping a toe into it, a pale grey tentacle grabbed her, and dragged her under. Mark suffered a similar fate shortly after, as the party engaged this strange creature.
After grabbing the two, the creature rose out of the water, revealing itself to be some large, mysterious, humanoid creature. It had the upper torso and head of a man, but it had a fisherman's cap drawn over its eyes, a sunken nose, and a broken jaw. It wielded a fisherman's hook, and had the tattered remains of fishing clothes about its waist. From below those cloth scraps, well over a dozen huge tentacles kept the creature suspended, the writhing mass disappearing into the murky pond.
The combat was intense, and ended with the beast grabbing the remains of a merchant and slamming Moira Tross with them. Fenn and Miracle were knocked away as the creature repeatedly attempted to hit her, before cracking her ribcage then crushing her on the ground. In a fit of rage as the monster attempted to escape, both Mark and Rolland attempted to stop it, before Fenn, in the form a brown bear, bit into the creature, and did an "alligator death roll" with it until he had broken it.
With the creature defeated, it slowly began to disintegrate into dust, floating away like flakes on the wind. As Mark held Moira's broken remains, however, those flakes began to shift, and the dark energy fading from the beast channeled into her corpse, as her collapsed chest cavity reassembled in front of the group's very eyes, and her broken neck snapped back into place. Life was breathed into her once more, though how and by what means, the group had no idea. And neither did Moira.
Confused and distraught, but nonetheless relieved, the party talked matters over for a few minutes before grabbing both the remains of the lizard (whose corpse and broken nest had been at the bottom of the pond, which had dissipated upon the tentacled creature's demise) and the head of the beast, to head to Brennadam and claim their rewards. They gathered what they needed, and departed from the terrible site once more.
After about an hour of travel, the party stopped at a small stream, camping in the shade of a rock outcropping, eating, patching their wounds, and drinking as needed. They continued their conversations, before the sun started to appear from the edge of the outcropping, revealing its afternoon state, and prompting the party to finish their trip. On the final stretch to Brennadam, the party had an encounter with three armed men outside of a farmhouse, which was revealed to be a group sent by Lawson Bentley to retrieve debts owed by the farmer inside.
After the men kicked the door in, Fenn strolled inside, and, acting as a middle man between both parties, helped them to strike a deal to both pay off the debt and fix the door. Soon after, they finally finished their journey, reached Brennadam, and found the Tidesages they needed. After receiving their rewards, three of the five Tidesages led Fenn, Mark, and Rolland to show them around the town, while Miracle spoke to their leader and Moira spoke to the fourth.
From the leader, Miracle was told to head to the Shrine of the Storm to speak with Lord Stormsong himself, while Moira learned that her manifestation of innate arcane powers was natural, if not rare. The party then regrouped, and proceeded to shop around.

Praxis

After finishing their attempts at shopping, the party retired to the Lawless Lamia tavern in Brennadam. Here, they ate, drank, interacted with the caravan members staying there for the night, and then rented two rooms and stayed the night. And during this time, Vallia discovered that a strange hooded figure in the tavern was, in fact, another tiefling. Surprised and a tad curious, Val decided to leave the man a note telling him to meet her downstairs in the morning.
As the group awoke, two notes were discovered: Fenn found a note from Rolland, saying that he was going to head out to find worgen survivors, after learning of Sicar (Nation)'s fate. Val found a note from the tiefling, who had responded saying he had places to be, but he would keep her in mind. They then went downstairs, ate, and headed out for the Shrine, deciding they could stop by and pick up some holy water for use against the Necromancer.
On the way, they came upon a caravan carrying loads of pork towards the Shrine, and paid to travel with them. Travelling, they discussed various matters, passing by various shipyards, the walled settlement of Sagehold, and then finally crossing the channel to the Shrine. Arriving, they asked several Tidesages questions about what they were there for before inevitably being directed towards Lord Stormsong, in the heart of the Shrine.
There, Miracle attempted to learn things about her Man Upstairs, where she was only given that "The Maw speaks to those it thinks may be important, eventually." While this misleading and overall unhelpful conversation took place, the waiting party was gifted a vial of blessed water from a Tidesage. Getting what they wanted, at least somewhat, they left, and returned to the shipyards, looking for a ferry.
They found one, and rented two boats, and began their voyage towards Fort Daelin. They discussed more matters on the voyage, before noticing dense, black smoke rising on the horizon. As they approached, it was seen that Fort Daelin was in flames, and many soldiers were sprinting down the beach from the fort to escape in shored up boats. The ferrymen refused to bring them within 500 feet of the Fort, so the party beached down the coast and began heading down the road towards it. On the way, Val (still known as Audrey) quickly revealed herself as a tiefling, before they went into the Fort.
The Fort itself was in flames, and the main keep had been collapsed. In the center of the ruins, the party found a strange revenant, armored in what Val and Ren noticed to be Abeyan armor, about to slay the tiefling from the tavern, who was badly wounded and back up to a wall, attempting to defend a little girl behind him. Ren promptly attempted to stab the revenant, and the party quickly realized how outmatched they were. Mark then grabbed the girl, and the tiefling escaped as both Fenn and Val paired up to keep the monster restrained. It was during this that Ren, Val, and Mira all realized who this was: Praxis, a legendary horror that was told as a scary story to children, he was supposedly a powerful Abeyan commander who died during Armageddon and now haunted the world to cause chaos among the descendants of Avurcuria.
The party began fleeing, as the creature broke free of the several spells holding it back. Praxis then pursued Val as she was the last to flee, and as the rest of the party began sprinting out and down the road, Fenn watched as Val was run through by the revenant. Collapsing to the ground with one final hellish rebuke against Praxis, Val is now at the monster's mercy, unless Fenn finds a way to get her to safety...

The Escape

With Vallia unconscious at Praxis's feet, Fenn attempted to save her from the clutches of death. Through some spellcasting, some luck, and some very fast running, the party escaped from the burning Fort Daelin and licked their wounds. Making their way across the Drowned Lands, the party came under attack from a seemingly corrupted water elemental, which nearly killed Moira Tross until Fenn ripped its core out, and discovered it to be strangely influenced by some dark energy.
Keeping the core, the party got Moira back up and made their way through Deadwash, heading back to Brennadam to rest for the night. With Ida Rommel and Erakos in tow, the party rested at the Lawless Lamia, before packing up and heading out to Boralus.
Erakos had already left by the time the party headed out, but Ida was still clinging to Val. The party thus made their way back to the southern border of Stormsong Valley, where it was revealed that the checkpoint was closed until Fort Daelin was secured and the state of emergency was lifted. Some shenanigans occurred that resulted in Moira's detainment, but thanks to Val and Fenn's persuasiveness, the party got through and paid off Moira's bail of 500 gold.
Finally out of Stormsong, the party continued to Boralus, where they got ice cream for Ida, and enjoyed some themselves, before heading to Lawson Bentley's office. There, they met with him, and told him what happened. But upon mentioning Praxis, Lawson hurriedly shooed them out of the office, saying he needed to tell Lord Daelin Proudmoore immediately, and they should go deal with the necromancer in Drustvar and then return.

The Doctor

Being sent out of Lawson Bentley's office, the party decided to find the doctor they had heard so much about. Asking a few guards, the party eventually found their way to a place referred to as The Black House. There, they entered and encountered an elf behind a desk, stamping papers. They attempted to lie their way into the greater building, but couldn't make it through the entrance room until they all unmasked themselves. Seemingly satisfied, the elf assistant sent them in.
They found their way to The Doctor's study, and finally spoke to him. The mysterious man engaged in cryptic conversation as several members of the party requested things from him: Vallia sought a tome of chronomancy, and both Mark and Miracle sought procedures to fix themselves and regain memories. He offered to give them all what they wanted on one premise: they go to Falconhurst, kill Xarreus and Ulric, and bring their corpses back to him. Vallia declined, and left, but Renèe grabbed the book and accepted the deal. As Mark and Miracle were taken through an alchemy lab and a living room into the surgery room, the rest of the party attempted to leave. They were surprised to find the interior side of the main door not being the bland wood they had seen, but instead some extremely intricate Elven wood, with a spirit encased. After their efforts to get the door to open failed, they simply waited.
In the surgery room, Mark and Miracle both had their brains removed and their memories extracted, getting some of what they wanted. They woke up to find no incision, and blood that cleaned itself. Extremely unsettled, the party left quickly, with the Doctor's parting words being "I will see you when you've fulfilled our deal."
The party then went on a short shopping voyage in the market, with Val getting a dagger for Ida Rommel and Moria selling her various trinkets and gems for a hefty sum of 1,130 gp, in check form. Needing to cash it, and the day already waning, the party went to the bank, where they got their money from the vault, before heading back to the Snug Harbor Inn to eat and rest.
The party awoke the next morning, bought some jerky for the road, and went out to buy a horse and some carts. During their trip, they found Mark, who made some homemade smoke bombs in the night. They then went to the stable master, and purchased two draft horses with barding and a bit and bridle, alongside a wagon. Mark bought a riding horse with barding and a riding saddle.
With their new mounts and vehicle, they headed out for their final bounty. The voyage was smooth and uneventful, but when they went to stable their steeds and cart in Arom's Stand, three soldiers of The LightGuard entered the town, claiming they had been sent by High Inquisitor Tristian Wyther to establish a beachhead on Kul Tiras (Nation). They were promptly sent out by the Marshal, but not before they claimed they would be back with more later.
The party then finally made their way, hastily, towards the bounty, after hearing the Marshal of Falconhurst was going to take things into his own hands. There, they found that Xarreus and Ulric had slain the necromancer. The weary Exarch said they could take the bounty, but wanted nothing to do with Bentley. He told Moira that there were snakes in the grass, and said that if they found a tome in Bentley's office, they should return it to him. He said Mark would know which tome he referred to. Ren took the head of the Necromancer, as the two mysterious men left...

The Visions

Having offered the party 500g for bringing the "tome" back to him, Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus and Ulric Farnam promptly departed. And, with the Necromancer's decaying head in tow, the party began to make their way back to Arom's Stand to gather their cart and horses to return to Boralus. But before they even made it out of the Crimson Forest, they discovered a gruesome sight: two Kul Tiran soldiers and a merchant with a cart had been ransacked and slaughtered on the road. Stuck to the merchant by way of a shaft of wood impaled through his chest was an ominous note, which read: "Let their flesh become an offering of atonement. More shall come."
The party took the note and continued on their way, deciding they should get back to Boralus as soon as possible. They made it to Arom's Stand swiftly to find it had already been reinforced, and gathered their mounts and made their way back to Boralus. The trip was peaceful, and they reached the capital as the day was beginning to wane, and they stabled their mounts and made their way to Bentley's office. Upon arriving, they spoke to him about claimed the bounty, told him about The LightGuard they had seen and the caravan, and Mark and Fenn went through some of his books nonchalantly to try and find what Xarreus had spoken of. As Miracle told Bentley about the destroyed caravan they had found to keep him distracted, Mark discovered what appeared to be a safe hidden behind the bookshelves. Knowing where the tome may be, Mark decided to begin leaving, which the party could agree with, and they retreated to the Snug Harbor Inn to rest for the night. It was while they were eating that they both planned out their heist on Bentley's office to get in the safe, and put all their cards on the table, with Fenn, Mark, and Miracle sharing the things they had been seeing.
With the rest of the party now knowing about the shadow plays occurring in the greater world, they went to a fitful but welcome sleep. And then, they all received the same vision of a great, cosmic entity of darkness and shadow struggling against its chains, along with whispers that varied from person to person. The amount of these visions that the party shared with one another differed from member to member, but it was known that everyone had seen something. But, deciding they couldn't do anything, and having had Mark stake out Bentley's office, the party decided to go to Freehold for the day while waiting for the night to commit their theft.
This proved to be a very bad idea when two unknown assassins ambushed them in the mountain passes of southern Tiragarde Sound, and, over the course of combat, destroyed the cart and killed both of the draft horses, with Mark's riding horse galloping down the path to an unknown destination.

The Father

The party, heavily wounded, in various states of consciousness, and rattled, picked themselves back up after the assassination attempt. Searching the two corpses, Renèe didn't find a contract or note or anything denoting their employer, but did find a hefty sum of gold and something disturbing: the assassins' mouths had been sewn tightly closed, and their eyes were rolled up into their skull, veins pulsing and straining. Not sure what to make of it, the party hastily made their way back to Boralus, where they planned what to do with Bentley's office before putting in for the night early at the Snug Harbor Inn, which was quite empty, other than a single, hooded man making charismatic conversation with Dayana Clifford while they ate a platter of rotisserie-cooked pork, washed down with tankards of delicious honey mead.
Now rested, the party woke up rather late in the morning, but nevertheless quickly picked up a day's rations of rabbit jerky and left Ida Rommel with Dayana for a few days, saying they were pursuing the tale of kobolds and catacombs. Lying, they went on a winding, subversive path through Boralus that eventually brought them back to Bentley's office. The party decided to go on a short shopping venture while waiting for the guard shift to change, with Moira Tross staying behind.
By "exploiting a window of opportunity she saw," Moira stole the tome and made her way to the party as they finished up buying some healing potions. Not questioning her methods, the party departed promptly for Falconhurst. The voyage was uneventful, and they stopped in Arom's Stand in an attempt to find Aron Futland, who had supposedly gone there for work. Instead of finding him, they found the town even more reinforced, and after asking around, found out that an incursion of The LightGuard had occurred, and both Waycrest and Proudmoore troops had been called in as extra reinforcements.
Deciding Xarreus was much more urgent, the party continued on their way, and finally reached Falconhurst, finding it to be fortified with wooden barricades and a troop line holding the border of the town from the Crimson Forest. Convincing them they needed to see Xarreus, they went to the cellar of the tavern, where he had set up a command post. Sending his men out with various tasks as the party entered, Xarreus asked for the tome. Moira gave it to him, and he quickly read through it, before telling the party as much as he could about what they wanted to know: the snakes, what was going on, how big this "group" was, etc.
But their conversation was cut short by alarm bells ringing in the town, presumably due to the LightGuard. They went back to the line to find that the whole of the ground through the town was covered in a creeping, smoky haze, which condensed to a thick wall of fog in the Crimson Forest. As a single silhouette appeared, the party and the troops prepared to do battle. But, a single, older Tiefling man came out, wounded and asking for refuge. It was Julien De La Roche.
He was let in, and he quickly collapsed, with Ren running to him as the party looked on. They embraced, and he told her of how he had barely survived the burning of the estate, and had hidden in Lavadieu for years before coming to Kul Tiras (Nation) to find Ren and Val when he heard they were alive. And, as this conversation occurred, he subtly drew a knife from his sleeve, behind Ren's back. But, he quickly shoved Ren away and started mumbling about "not wanting to do it," as a second silhouette appeared in the haze. Distracted, most of the party didn't even notice, as they watched Julien get enveloped in torturing electricity, coming from the strange golden choker around his neck. As his screams echoed through the town, a strange darkness exploded from him, enveloping all of the party except for Vallia and Mark.
As they came to from the darkness, they found themselves somewhere else entirely. The haze and buildings had been replaced by a strange, grey and muted parody of the burning De La Roche Estate, frozen in time. The party, confused, made their way in, fighting strange amalgamations of sorrow and flesh, animated and living against the backdrop of time-frozen struggle. Weakened by the fights with the strange, sorrow-sworn creatures, the party made their way into the estate library, where they found the source of the strange pocket dimension of parodied memories: Julien, drifting in and out of consciousness, chained to the walls in the middle of the library. The only other souls in the library were memories, a frozen scene of dismay and betrayal: the father, torch in hand, attempting to burn the library down as the mother tried in futility to stop him.
Ren approached the kneeling Julien, chained by hooks through the wrist, with the choker around his neck, and attempted to pull the amulet off. Both were shocked brutally in the process, and the bolts of painful lightning burned away the skin and clothing of the father, revealing the chained devil of sorrow and rage within. He quickly engaged the party, screaming about hopelessness and how the master demanded their deaths.
Despite nearly killing several members, he was dispatched, and as he burned away into ashes, the choker fell to the ground, the only remnant of the tormented soul. And so, the party must now find a way out of the strange plane...

The Fall

Having defeated the chained, tormented soul of Julien, the party did what recovering they could as the very dimension around them started to warp and destabilize. Grabbing the strange, snake amulet that had been left in the battle's wake by wrapping it with some clothing, the party was then pulled back to reality. Just in time to witness Mark, who had been distracting Praxis, fall to the revenant's blows, so that the citizens of the town could escape.
The party quickly began attempting to run, with Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus coming back to help while Ulric Farnam held a boat at the docks. But, it was for naught. Despite Miracle, Renèe, and Xarreus's best efforts, Fenn and Moira Tross joined the casualty list.
With heavy hearts, broken bones, and bloodied skin, the survivors fled as quickly as they could. Speaking briefly, the party fled with the rest of the survivors on rowboats back to Boralus. During this trip, they saw what the believed to be a shooting star. This was actually Yamma, crash-landing.
By the time they reached the city, it was night, and Xarreus told them to find a boat to steal so they could flee, as he needed to go find Lawson Bentley, and "talk to him." Alongside Ulric, the two survivors found a personal sailboat, nearly the size of a caravel, in the harbor, and began preparations to sail when Xarreus returned.
Gamos, sleeping below-deck, heard them board. And was promptly tied up when he came topside to see what was happening, as Xarreus, pursued by a large group of Kul Tiran guards, came sprinting across the harbor, leaping onto the boat and blocking the pursuers with a shield of Light. As Ulric began to pull the ship out of harbor, Yamma came flying off the sea wall and onto the boat, drawn to the sea by hunger and thirst (he thought it was a really big lake.)
Freed from danger for the time being, Xarreus threw Lawson's head onto the deck, and went to bed. Ulric followed after getting the ship far enough away from Kul Tiras (Nation). Too emotionally and physically drained to question their two new compatriots, Mira and Ren went to bed.
The next day, between small talk, interrogations of the two newbies, and a deal with a passing ship that involved losing an anchor and pretending to be hurt to get supplies for the trip, the party officially got their feet wet and began their voyage. What misadventures await the mixed bag of half new and half old members on this three week trip ahead of them?

The Island

Starting off with a bang, another Saiyan appeared on the ship, and took Yamma to Darkfall with some strange teleportation technique. There, they apparently dueled, and "threw each other through mountains" (which Yamma revealed later is a common pastime of their race). They also found a strange man, Lucan Sunkeeper. The plot got even thicker from there.
A long day of conversing and trying to figure out Lucan's story, and still learning more about Gamos and Yamma, passed, before Ulric, manning the rudder, spotted an island in the distance. But, given that a storm was rolling in, the party decided to rest for the night first before shoring up. And so, the party did that, with Lucan and Renèe taking shifts of watch, by Lucan's idea. And in the morning, with a light rain and overcast sky, the party made their way to the mountainous island. There, they found a small shantytown, abandoned and in nearly pristine condition.
The party went ashore as Ulric and Xarreus held the ship down, with Yamma securing some more food and bringing it back to the ship, while the rest of the party searched the town. And, with a dense fog still covering the island, further searching revealed that the town seemed to have been abandoned in the middle of a normal day. And finally, a strange deck of twenty-two playing cards was found in one of the houses. And, confused as to its purpose, and thinking it was a normal deck, Lucan drew a card. But the deck was no normal deck of cards. When Lucan drew "The Fates," and he could feel the power it granted him, they found out it was an incredibly powerful magical item (AKA the Deck of Many Things.)
Thinking that this deck may have caused the strange abandonment of the town, the party pushed to the center of the island after searching the rest of the town and finding it in similar condition. In the center of the dense forest of the island, they found a clearing, with a strange, stone pyramid in the middle. Out of its broken, stone threshold, stumbled an older, seemingly wounded human man. And as he begged the party to come with him inside and save the other, trapped members of the shantytown (who had apparently all been trapped after drawing a certain card from the Deck of Many Things), Lucan casted a Protection from Evil spell on the man, which seemed to stun him.
His skull then cracked open as a strange, quadrupedal brain crawled out, which Lucan quickly split in two. The party then decided they had better search the pyramid, and figure out what was going on. So, they headed in, and quickly went down a set of stairs, into an empty room. Breaking open doors of stone and iron, and moving through a gas trap, the party came upon three humanoid creatures, lean and muscular, armored in a strange exoskeleton. They attacked, but were quickly dispatched, as were the four in the next room other, as the party looted the 200 gp in the first room.
But in the next room over, after slaying the seven Troglodytes, Ren found a series of standing stones, with a sundered, ancient helm in the center. An Avurcurian infantry helmet. How old is this strange temple, and what else lies in its depths?

The Temple

The party, having breached the strange underground area, continued their slog through room after room of creatures, traps, and strange relics. Going further into the labyrinth, they found strange, pale, subterranean dwarves, all uniformly armored and armed, as though part of an army. Their suspicions seemed to be confirmed, when, in a huge center room, they witnessed a strange, humanoid creature (which Lucan Sunkeeper referred to as a "Mind Flayer"), leading a chained and tortured black dragon, seemingly in its young adulthood, restrained by four more of the dwarf-like creatures. Before the party could stop it, the mind flayer opened a huge portal, walking through it as the dwarves started leading the dragon through as well.
Despite restraining one of the dwarves (which promptly resulted in the creature being torn in half as the dragon continued moving), having Yamma grapple another (which resulted in the wrist and hand holding the chain bound to the dragon being ripped off), and Miracle attempting to cast Command on the other two (which was resisted by some strange telepathic, control magic), the dragon and most of its captors left through the huge swirling portal, which closed afterwards. Accepting defeat, the party searched the now empty room, which they discovered was a long destroyed dragon egg clutch. But, searching the room thoroughly, they found a hidden bounty: an intact dragon egg, pulsating and shaking occasionally, as though soon to hatch.
Deciding a beachhead had been secured for the time, the party took a short rest, before continuing their exploration. The party found even more identically armed dwarves, fought strange flying octopi-like creatures, and even a strange wraith. Along their path, they uncovered several more treasure troves, seeming to be supply crates for this subterranean army the not-dwarves belonged to, traps and defenses which began to wear down at the party, and strange items, including two mirrors which answered questions of different kinds and different types.
Disinterested by the mirrors, the party continued exploring, taking another short rest, getting into several more fights as they cleared the area, then securing a room and shutting up for the night, though they didn't actually know the time of day, using Sending to tell Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus they would be a while. Finishing their long rest, the party continued, reaching what seemed to be a treasure room. That is, until Renèe got stuck to the chest trying to open it, then lifted nine feet into the air as it opened its toothy maw, let its dripping, purple tongue hang out, and sprouted long, boney and thin, black limbs. The ensuing fight was brief but unsettling, finishing with Yamma flying through the air and kicking it into the wall.
And throughout the entire labyrinth, Gamos, if prompted during combat, seemed to go into his strange, seemingly possessed form more and more often, gaining more control over the zweihandler that always appeared during the strange form.

The Temple II

Continuing on for another entire day, the party continued fighting through the massive complex. Facing Drow soldiers, a strange invisible fungus, and another wraith, the party came to the conclusion that the Drow and dwarf-like creatures must belong to some army or force, likely led by the Mind Flayer they saw. Nevertheless, the party slaughtered their foes and looted the supply caches they came across until, at last, the entirety of the complex was cleared. Satisfied with their loot, and the experience they gained through the extended fighting, but also weary and tired from two days of delving, the party returned to the surface to find it was early morning.
With new loot in hand, the party returned to the shore to find that the mist had receded, though whether naturally or magically was unknown. They also found that a small Kul Tiran ship was in harbor alongside their own, and came to the docks to catch the end of a conversation between Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus and a Kul Tiran man, the latter thanking him and saying that they would put the town to good use. Xarreus turned to the party afterwards and told them that he would have Ulric Farnam prep the ship to sail while they told him what had happened underground, so they could at last make their way to Valdura...

The Voyage

Ready to leave the island, the party quickly filled Xarreus in on what had happened in the temple and then rested as the ship set sail. The next day, the party sparred and Renèe began training in dual-wielding with Lucan Sunkeeper, and Gamos showed off his new connections to his strange blade. Ren also began to talk to Ulric, and learned more about him, such as the circumstances of his meeting with Xarreus, and some of his life.
But, despite their best efforts, the party began to grow restless. As the days dragged on, with storms coming and going, a strong headwind hit and they had to furl the sails for a time, so as to not risk the mast. As they waited, a pirate ship approached from the opposite direction, using the strong winds as a powerful tailwind to swoop upon the party, almost catching them by surprise. In the ensuing chaos of boarding, the party, with help from Xarreus, slaughtered the pirates, and, upon searching the boat, found some gold, potions, and a strange magical chime.
Having slain their aggressors, and secured any potential loot, the party returned to their ship as Xarreus lit the pirate ship ablaze, and the party continued on their voyage as the headwind died off at last. The next several days passed slowly and boringly, with more training and idle conversation occurring. And, as time passed, the party became closer to, and learned more about, Xarreus and Ulric. It was also during this time that Xarreus filled them in on the plan of rendezvousing in Aurnen.
The most notable thing to occur was when the party saw a huge fleet of Lotorian warships headed out to the ocean, either to Kul Tiras (Nation), or further, a dark omen of the potential for brutal war Xarreus spoke of. Unable to do anything, the party simply continued, and, at last, reached the gleaming heart of Lotor: Valdura.
And, as a Draenei overseer sends a human and elf worker on to the ship, what awaits the party in the beating heart of the world's largest empire?

The City

The party at last arrived in Valdura, and, after dealing with the dockworkers, made their way into the huge city. They first went shopping, getting everything from weapons to tailored clothes for Yamma and Gamos. The party got stocked up, and spent the day exploring the center of the city, and the districts surrounding The Crucible of Light. It was while they were visiting an alchemist that the party received an unexpected and unwanted visit from The Doctor.
He told them that they still had a deal, and left by threatening to kill Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus and Ulric Farnam himself. Renèe followed him to the boat, wanting to try and stop him if things went south, while Gamos and Yamma went to the tailor, and Miracle went to the tavern.
It was here that she met Gaunter O'Dimm.
He offered her a way out of her pact with the Doctor, and said he would want nothing in return. Wanting to save her friends, she accepted, and just after she did, a mark was burned into the left side of her face: two circles, each with a dot, and a line connecting the two dots. He then began to tell her of how, if she liked, she could meet him at the crossroads the party had come through near the docks, at midnight. In the middle of his sentence, a man came over, offering drinks. Gaunter promptly stopped time by clapping his hands, and finished his statement, moving to leave.
Before he left, he told the man "he'd be wise not to interrupt," and pushed a ladle through his skull, before resuming time. The tavern erupted into chaos as the man dropped dead, and Mira escaped in the commotion. Ren then witnessed the effects of the deal: Gaunter appeared in front of the Doctor, holding a beating, human heart. Time stopped as the two exchanged some unknown words, and O'Dimm gave the heart to the Doctor, who promptly left, as did Gaunter.
That night, the party rendezvoused back at a different tavern, and ate and rested for the night. Mira told Ren the deal she had made, and then both snuck out to meet O'Dimm. There, they made a deal: three wishes, for some unknown favor. Ren wished to know what happened to her sister, Mira, to know of the Dark God haunting her dream, and both, of the strange organization they were facing. And O'Dimm granted all three, fully.
It was as he left, that he said the terms of their deal: "I shall collect your debt once you have beheaded the snakes, and we stand together on the sun."
With that, Ren was marked with an identical brand, and the two returned to the tavern to rest. In the morning, they explained to the party, briefly, what had happened, and then set off to the slums to try and find a fence for their cursed items. When they arrived in the shantytowns outside the main walls of Valdura, they found a fighting ring. Yamma decimated a fighter, and the party was then told of a fighting tournament occurring in three days, where they could potentially win big bucks.
What other fun things await the party in this beautiful city?

The City II

Before leaving the fighting ring, the man running it, Dio, told them about a fence nearby that they could sell their items to. And so, they departed, making their way through the shantytown. Shortly after, the party arrived at a building marked by a thieves' symbol which Renèe recognized, and so, they moved to enter. The person who greeted them was a female gnome by the name of Klossa. Her and Ren spoke in Thieves' Cant for a time, with the latter expressing the party's need to fence items. Klossa welcomed them all in, and led them to where she did her business: a small cave underneath her home, reached by a trapdoor.
Once underground, the party sold most of their masks, as well as the axe Gamos had found in the temple a few weeks back, earning a hefty sum of gold for it all. They spoke briefly about other criminal contacts in the area, as well as a man who could identify any magical items the party had, before the group went on their way. The party began heading back to the center of the city, but was ambushed on the way back by a group of ten men in black leathers, with their leader claiming that there was an employer with a hefty bounty on the group's heads.
The party engaged, and the combat ensuing was quite eventful. Yamma singlehandedly killed 6 of them with a blast of green energy from his palm, incinerating their bodies and charring them to the bone, and was then surrounded and attacked by the others. This prompted him to undergo some strange transformation: his eyes went totally yellow, and he was enveloped in a beam of green, crackling energy, which shot up into the sky. His hair began floating, and he seemed to lose all sense of who or what he was. First, he grabbed the leader and swung him around, smashing his body upon the ground repeatedly until the corpse itself fell apart, and then he took the last two (as Ren had killed the seventh) and smashed them together, crushing their skulls.
With all enemies dispatched, he saw Ren, and, in primal rage, began to attack her. He got a hard punch on her, before she leaped on him and smashed him the skull with the pommel of her dagger, dazing him. He reared to attack once more, before she lept up and smashed the side of the dagger across his face, sending the raging behemoth into unconsciousness. At this point, the party realized they had attracted the attention of the authorities. Boxed in, with a Vindicator and Warforged coming down one side and a Vigilant coming down the other, Ren hid under a house, while Miracle healed Yamma, who then grabbed Mira and Gamos and flew them away.
Escaping, the party regrouped a few hours later back at the tavern they had stayed at. There, they began to discuss how they were being hunted by The Infinite Court, but had no leads to pursue to strike back. And, seeing a need, and seeking to fill a need, the one and only Gaunter O'Dimm arrived. He offered them a lead, for free, claiming "the quicker the snakes are dead, the quicker I can collect my dues." He told them of a Urneatalyn Minemaul, a powerful mine tycoon down in Oxiorune, who was a Herald of the Court. Promptly after, he departed once more, wishing the party luck on their hunt.
The party then began to speak of how they needed allies, contacts they could trust during the shadow war to come. Hearing this, the innkeep had an offer: investigate the disappearances of patrons at night that had been occurring, bring proof of the death of whatever was causing it, and they would have a safe place to stay whenever they needed it. The party happily agreed, and began to think of a plan of attack. During this, a Kul Tiran sailor yelled "Kul Tiras can't be gone!" and left. Intrigued, the party asked the barkeep what the sailor was talking about, and the half-elf filled them in on what had occurred over the past few weeks: firstly, Kul Tiras (Nation) had declared fealty to Duviel (Nation), forging a permanent alliance. Secondly, Akrorith was rumored to have mobilized the Iron Fleet, and some said that they had already landed vanguards in Tuketika. And lastly, Lotor had moved a huge detachment of five hundred Vindicators and five thousand Warforged to The Gate of Vindication. War was beginning to seem inevitable.
Briefly discussing the implications of the coming war, the party then fully planned their course of action as it pertained to their new contract: they would follow a drunk out at night, and follow him. Then, they would find out what was making the patrons go missing. And so, they waited out the rest of the day, then followed an elderly, drunken elf out. As he was making his way through the alleys of the city back to the docks, they heard a voice: an enchanting, seductive, distinctly feminine creature was calling the main into a side alley. And so, he obeyed, and stumbled his way through.
Trailing him all the way to a small well in a side courtyard, the party saw their quarry: a nude, beautiful elven woman floated out of the wall, grabbed the man, and pulled him in. The party promptly followed, and upon reaching the bottom of the well, saw what they were facing in its true form: in the dark, dank cavern of the well, some vampire had made its home. The woman was actually a lithe, still nude, woman, pale and nearly translucent, and saw as she slashed the man's chest open and began to feast upon his corpse. She then saw them, and disappeared in a brief puff of black mist. The party regrouped near the man's carcass, and lit torches to see in the darkness.
And as they drew their weapons and prepared to fight, they heard the creature take a deep, intoxicated breath.

The City III

Facing off against the vampiric female, the party engaged, with Miracle nearly getting dropped in the first few seconds as the undead creature seemed to move too fast for the human eye to follow, vanishing in and out of sight in puffs of mist. Nevertheless, Mira had the brilliant idea to incapacitate the creature, casting Hold Person on the vampire. This tactic, renewed every time the vampire managed to break the spell, proved invaluable, allowing the rest of the party to lay into the creature, eventually defeating her.
As she vanished into ash, Yamma fished a chest out of the bottom of the well pond (which had 200 gold and an elven sword within), and Gamos collected a fistful of the ash to use as evidence. The party then decided that Mira, Gamos, and Yamma should head back to The Drunken Otyugh and rest for the night, while Renèe and Lucan Sunkeeper take the corpse of the man and the ashes to the nearest Vindicator barracks.
As the party returned to the tavern, Yamma decided to fly there. As he was flying low over the buildings, he felt a cold wind. Following the wind, he saw a man appear out of a gust of black and red mist, only a few buildings away. Intrigued, Yamma went to talk to the man, who introduced himself as Vitomer Dahmen, and told Yamma he seemed to be pure of heart, shook his hand, and then disappeared once more.
Within a few seconds, Yamma heard crashing and thuds from a building nearby. Investigating, he entered a wealthy home, and just as he broke open the door, he saw Vitomer, huge claws extending from his hands, sunken cheekbones, pointed ears, and a long, sharp teeth. The room about him was the look of a massacre, as he once more disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Yamma, taken off guard, decided to investigate. He noted that the two Draenei (a man and a woman) who had been butchered were seemingly rich, based off their clothing, their huge bed had been launched across the room, and their heavy bookshelf and been thrown to the ground. Vitomer was clearly very strong.
Yamma's discoveries got truly interesting when he found a secret door to a cellar, and discovered over a dozen cages, designed to hold humanoids, albeit tightly, and a series of business ledgers: one, describing names, prices, and destinations, and another full of caravans, prices, destinations, and dates. The two who had been slain were traffickers. He took the books he had found, alongside some bank account note, and headed to the tavern.
Ren and Lucan, gathering the ash and the corpse from the battle, found a Vindicator to lead them to the barracks. Once there, they had the evidence checked by an Artificer (who said it was likely an "alp"), who then went a gathered the reward from the High Vindicator overseeing the barracks. He returned shortly thereafter with a small safebox with 2000 gold and a hand-written note of approval. With rewards in tow, the two returned for their needed rest.
The next morning, the party ate, and Yamma revealed what he had found. The party then decided to split up: Mira, Yamma, and Lucan would find a library and research both vampires and dragons, while Ren and Gamos would go to the World Bank and act in lieu of the slain couple, to claim the rights to the account.
The latter had quite the adventure.
They checked the account fine, and got the deed to a certain Kaer Nyssen (which was later revealed to be a full-fledged keep in southern Xeodamos however, after their transaction, the teller told the pair that someone wanted to see them in Room 3. Heading to said room, they were greeted by a stylishly dressed, handsome elf, who revealed himself to be none other than Ilthuryn Enwraek, arguably the single most powerful man of economy on the planet. He engaged them in idle conversation, before making a request: believing them to be the traffickers, he asked for three hundred brutes to help The Infinite Court deal with a certain pest that had harmed them, claiming the Court would need a much larger force to ensure their coming plans would be protected.
He then sent them off, with a rather threatening statement of "the Court's golden goose has siblings," following a conversation about Praxis. On their way out, Ren saw a certain Vitomer talking to a teller, and spoke to him shortly outside of the back, wishing to know more about him, before being met with a brief flash of cold rage in his eyes and an abrupt "I don't know what you're talking about." With that, the pair went to the library to meet the rest of the party.
At the library, the party checked out several books pertaining to dragons, as well as a book entitled "The Fog of Ages," which was a compendium about all things vampires. And as the party was gathering their things to visit the magic item identifier, they had a brief conversation with one Artem Kemrer, who was joined shortly after by Vorimer. Yamma, extremely curious, pursued the pair, and expressed his wish to speak more with them, which was met with an address of their residence and a formal farewell, to speak later.
With that, the party at last traveled to the dwarf they had heard of, and there, Ren found out the sword from the pond chest was enchanted, and had the choker of domination confirmed. Lucan also had the Deck of Many Things identified and confirmed, after which he and Yamma both drew one card. Yamma drew Rogue, and Lucan drew Flames, though neither knew what those did and put them back.
What effects will their draws have?

The Vampires

Having drawn their two cards, the party leaves Hammerbrand's store and goes on their way towards the vampires' home. The path their was uneventful, minus one key event: a town crier revealed that war had been declared between Akrorith and Lotor. Upon reaching it, a simple wooden home on the very edges of Valdura, they found Artem, making alchemical pastes. He invited them all in, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol he called "mandrake," and invited them to "enjoy a snifter" with him.
The party agreed, and they enjoyed exchanging of questions over swigs of the bitter drink for the better part of two hours, while waiting for Vitomer to arrive. Befriending Artem, the party pressed him on if he would be able to aid them, telling him of The Infinite Court, to which he responded that he is always willing to help those he considers friends. And, finishing the bottle, the party decided to wait around for Vitomer in silence, as Artem went to fill more alchemical work orders.
A few hours later, in the evening, Vitomer at last arrived. The party pressed him for information on his killings, to which he explained that he kills those who are evil, and they then pushed for his alliance as well, to which he offered a deal: they help him find an old lover, he would aid them. Agreeing, the party returned to The Drunken Otyugh for the night, and rested. The next morning, they first went and saw Khiale's declaration of war speech, and experienced firsthand the radical fervor spreading in Lotor, then went to Western Valdura to search out Vitomer's lover.
There, they spoke to a merchant, who directed them to a alchemist, who at last gave them the location of Vitomer's lover. Heading to her home, they confronted her, where she offered them a deal: she would give them 1000gp to lie to Vitomer, and simply say that he had changed, and she no longer loved him, but ran because she feared what he would do. She told them the truth of what had happened as well, that she had used him to kill some Duvielians who had abused and tortured her, then left him.
The party accepted, and returned to Vitomer to tell him to meet her at her old family estate. Yamma, deciding he needed to know the truth, told him how he had been manipulated. He reacted violently, and left immediately, and Artem promised he would do all he could to protect Cydana at the meeting, but they would have to leave immediately to meet them in time. And so, alongside Artem, the party departed for the estate.
Arriving in the early strokes of night, the party waited there. After an hour, Cydana arrived, and waited alongside them. Vitomer arrived at midnight, and spoke to Cydana. Before the party could react, he cut her down. Mira moved to attempt to revivify her, and nearly got killed for it, with Vitomer backing down and saying that he would be there when they needed him, but he was going to go somewhere far from mortals. Artem apologized genuinely for failing to stop him, and then went home as well, and so, the party returned to the tavern, defeated.
The next morning (though they woke up at noon), the party departed back to the shantytown for the fighting tournament. Upon arriving, they found out that, alongside bets, there would be a 3000gp winner's pot. 4 fighters, including Yamma, were entering, and it would be bracket-based, with the winner of the loser's bracket and the winner of the normal bracket facing off for the pot. First, a draenei beat a human, then, Yamma defeated a dwarf.
Will the draenei give Yamma a run for his money?

The Departure

Being in the middle of the tournament, Yamma continued blazing a trail of victory, and, after two more brutally fought, hard-won fights, claimed the victor's pot. With their gold in hand, the party decided they had best return to the tavern for the night, go to sleep early, and then head for Aurnen in the morning. So, they returned to The Drunken Otyugh, ate dinner, and, before sleeping, went to the docks for a short time to try and sell their boat, figuring it may be a hassle.
Not finding anything of aid, the party returned to the tavern and slept. Early next morning, they ate and departed, heading for eastern Valdura, where they hoped to find a buyer for their boat. But, while there, they spoke to a guard about where they may find some merchants, as well as the best way to Aurnen, and spoke with Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus through Sending, and decided to keep the boat, and simply depart. A few hours out of Valdura, in the dense greenbelt of forests that surrounds the city, they were attacked by two, strange humanoids, clad in plate armor made to resemble a skeleton.
They defeated the pair, but not before Miracle was knocked unconscious (which prompted Yamma to go into his strange new form, and then throw one of the attackers through a tree, and smash the other's skull through another tree). Getting Mira back up, the party continued their journey, stopping at a Draenei druid's home on the side of the road to buy some healing potions, and then continuing for a few more hours before camping in the peaceful, orange-leafed forests of Xeodamos.
The night was uneventful, and so the party continued their voyage the next morning, crossing into the farmlands past the greenbelt, and finally arriving at Aurnen, which, they discovered, actually surrounded the base of a group of plateaus, atop of which a separate town sat. Heading into the ranching and farming town, they asked around and quickly found their way to the home they were looking for, a nice, Draenic home, with the signature, Light-infused pylon on top.

A New Beginning

Finally arriving in Aurnen, the party made their way into the home they had been told to meet at. The house seemed empty, but upstairs, they found a woman, Nuraan, waiting for them. Using the glyph on her hand, she opened a portal to her demiplane. Inside Nuraan's Demiplane Estate, they found it to be a beautiful villa, full with gardens and courtyards, all illuminated by some magical sun, casting wide rays of purple and gold, while the mansion itself was decidedly lavish and Draenic.
Once inside, they met up with Xarreus and the allies he had brought in, and each reported their different findings: Nuraan had picked up planar disturbances through southern Xeodamos, Vallora had been tracking strange, armored humanoids, and Xarreus had encountered and slain humanoids of the same description, finding them to be elves of a different world. Putting this all together, they had determined it was very likely that The Infinite Court was calling in reinforcements and allies from other worlds or planes. The party then told their allies of what they had seen: the vampires, the strangely armored elves, the encounter with Ilthuryn Enwraek, and more.
It was then that Xarreus told them that they had planning to do, and told the party to go and mingle with Cephalik, another one of his allies who would likely be travelling with them. And so, the party went and, by Renèe's request, sought out Ulric Farnam. Cephalik led them to the boy, and found him poring over a tome in the dining room of the Estate. The tome was called Weapon of Tomorrow, and Ulric read to them a key portion of the book, and said he thought it could be the key to facing down the Court, but Xarreus wasn't gonna have it.
The party tried to pressure him into searching for it, but he reaffirmed that he owed him life to Xarreus, and went to go get food. Cephalik then went to his workshop, and the rest of the party followed, where they realized that the little gnome was quite the gruesome medicine man. He had abominations and corpses in his workshop, as well as various notes scribbled in some language (which Gamos later revealed to be Abyssal). Moving on, the party then went about several separate activities (including Yamma learning how to go Kaio-ken while enraged), and then reconvened with the rest of the allies gathered.
There, they determined the best route was to secure Kaer Nyssen as a foothold, and from there begin waging their war against the Court, and so, the party decided to rest, then depart on the several week voyage the next morning. Doing so, they left promptly the next morning, with Ulric deciding to come alongside them, with Xarreus hesitantly agreeing. And so, the party departed, heading out into the beautiful plains and forests of Xeodamos.
In their first day of travel, they had an encounter with an Elven beggar who, after their conversation, left into the woods. When Yamma followed him, he discovered that he was, in fact, an adult gold dragon, and watched as the huge creature flew off into the horizon. The party then continued on their way, coming across a troll bridge that they passed by playing a game of riddles, before finding an abandoned shack to rest for the night in.
The next morning, they continued, and after a few hours, discovered a camp of hobgoblins and goblins a ways off the road. Deciding to "play pest control" (as Cephalik so eloquently put it), the party began to engage the nearly 40 goblinoids gathered in the old ruins they had made their encampment.
How will this fight go?

The Fortuneteller

Starting off, the party engaged and wiped out the goblinoid raiding party they had stumbled upon, looting the encampment and ensuring the signal pyre was both doused and destroyed. Looting the corpses (and scavenging from them in the case of Cephalik), Ulric Farnam performed the last rites of the goblinoids, and then began looking through their books and scrolls with Cephalik. The rest of the party looted the rest of the camp, finding Bracers of Defense for Yamma, a set of studded leather for Renèe, and a total of around 600 gold.
Done with the camp, the party continued on their way, travelling another day in relative peace as a heavy storm began to approach them, before coming upon Millwood as the rains started. There, they witnessed a singing of the Age of Aggression and another healthy dose of nationalist fervor. As they were eating plates of grilled venison and steamed asparagus, a man approached their table and asked if they were with the Vindicators, before which he told them of a fortuneteller about 30 minutes out of the village.
Interested, they finished eating and departed. As they were told, after 30 minutes, they reached the fortuneteller's shack, and entered to find a blind old man. He welcomed them, and told them to sit, as he took a seat as well. He told them all to close their eyes as all the candles in the shack went out. He then stood back up, and began walking around the table, stopping by each of them to tell them of what he sensed within them, and ask them rhetorical, confusing questions, each hinting at what awaited them in their futures.
He finished by saying that he couldn't see a defined future for any of the party members, describing their lives like trees, each potential future being one of many branches. He then said Ulric was much different. He saw a single path forward for the boy, and he said so with a certain sadness to his voice. With varying levels of discomfort and anxiety, the party thanked the man, paid him the single coin he asked for, and went back to the tavern for some rest.
The next morning, they continued on their voyage, leaving Millwood and its farmlands, and heading back into the forests of Xeodamos. The next few days passed uneventfully, other than the occassional passing caravan or food shipment heading north, back towards Valdura and Aurnen. The voyage was a trudge, as the rain had yet to let up, and then, with warning from Ulric, the party came upon another Alp, feasting on a caravan.
The party engaged, and though Ren fell unconscious, she quickly dealt with the vampire, and they went about investigating the caravan, while Cephalik started looking at the remains of the Alp.
What could be within this caravan? And what awaits them on the rest of their voyage?

The Farmland

Having dealt with the Alp, the party scavenged what they could from the destroyed caravan, rested for a short time, then continued. They traveled for the rest of the day, rested for the night, and continued on for another day, coming upon the outskirts of Newbury and its huge expanse of farmlands as night fell.
There, they were approached by a group of drunken farmers. They wanted the party's help in dealing with some "nightcrawlers" that had been terrorizing the nearby farms for the last month, since the Vindicators no longer had the manpower to do so, what with the war on and all. The party accepted, and the farmers directed them to one Millbrook Grove just within the forests, outside of the village.
Following these directions, the party made their way out to the location, rain still pouring. Upon reaching the Grove, they discovered a set of 5 holes, all seemingly connected by underground tunnels. They had found the burrows of the creatures. Deciding the rain would flood the creatures out, they decided to wait, and attempt to lay and ambush. Around 30 minutes passed, before the nightcrawlers began to scrape their way up to the surface. In the darkness and the rain, the party couldn't see what they were, and decided it'd be better safe than sorry to start killing them.
They killed nearly a dozen before Ulric yelled for them to stop, and a crying infant could be heard. Ulric started helping the creatures out, and the party realized they had been slaughtering an innocent tribe of kobolds. As they had this realization, the party heard what sounded like a mob approaching, and saw several torches in the forests from the direction of the village. Within a few seconds, a group of a dozen or so clearly drunken farmers were upon them, shouting how they had come to help, and began slaughtering the escaping kobolds with their makeshift weapons they had brought.
Ulric confronted the leader of them, telling them to leave and shoving him back, sending the drunkard crashing to the ground. Gamos, seeking to deescalate the situation, cast fear, sending all but three of the farmers sprinting back to the village in terror. The other three started shouting about them being freaks, while Moira, Cephalik's abomination, tackled the leader, pinning him. Ulric then cast Sleep on all three of the remaining farmers, and the party made their way back to the tavern in the village.
There, they ate a late dinner, and narrowly dodged a brawl with some "militiamen" (though they were hardly more than farmers with piecemeal armor and cheap swords), who had heard about what had happened from one of the farmers that ran away, and wanted to pick a fight. The party then went to sleep, and continued their voyage in the morning. Continuing through the many miles of farmland, they came upon a bigger town, which seemed to be the heart of the Newbury farmlands.
Making their way into the town as night began to fall, they were quickly clued in to a crime that had occurred the night previous: a triple murder of a grandmother, her son, and her grandson, all centered around a well in the center of the town. Ulric and Gamos did some investigating at the tavern, while Renèe and Cephalik went and sold their gems from the caravan.
Rendezvousing at the tavern, Ulric and Gamos shared what they had learned: the neighbor of the victims knew things, and the town was terrified of whatever committed the murders, as it had been a long time since they had had any incidents such as this. The party decided to go and investigate sooner rather than later, as the murderer could very likely kill more if given another night. Heading to the neighbor's home, they were confronted by an old, scraggly human, who quickly blamed the deaths on the fact that he thought his neighbors were devil-worshipers.
While the old man was engrossed in conversation with Gamos, Cephalik went and investigated the victims' home, finding they were devout followers of the Light, and Ren stealthily read through the old man's journals, finding two things: his son ran away a decade ago, leaving the old man terribly lonely, and that he obsessively spied on and pettily commented on his neighbors. Meeting back up outside, the party went and investigated the well itself. Finding trails of blood, many different places to hide, and a bucket of bloodied water, the party sent Yamma down the 100 ft. shaft of the well to retrieve the 3 bodies floating within.
Bringing the corpse of the old woman, the father, and the son to the surface, Cephalik performed some rudimentary autopsies, finding the cause of death of all three: all three had been paralyzed by poisonous darts, the old woman had been caught totally off guard, the son had been shocked when paralyzed, and the father had been concerned. The old woman was the first killed, the son had caught the murderer and then been paralyzed and stabbed as well, and the father had been paralyzed and thrown into the well, where he drowned. Upon sharing this with the party, darts very quickly began flying towards the party from the bushes at the edge of the courtyard, the first of which paralyzed Gamos.
As the rest of the party gave chase, Cephalik helped Gamos up by removing the venom, and the party wounded the murderer as he ran back to the old man's house. There, he sprinted inside, killed the old man, and slammed the bookshelf over the door, prompting the party to surround the home, breaking in through the windows and then incapacitating the murderer, but not before he wounded Ren and proclaimed that "he made me who I am," in reference to the corpse of the old man.
Tying him up and looting the boy, Ren took the dagger and the blowpipe, finding them to be intricate and seemingly enchanted, as Cephalik stabilized the man and Ulric brought him back to consciousness. Interrogated him, they discovered the man was the son of the old man, having run away to pursue his goal of being blessed by Orcus. Upon doing enough to receive the ritual dagger and blowpipe, he came back to his home, ready to go on a spree in tribute to Orcus, which would end in his father. He then begged for them to kill him, and after not getting what he wanted, essentially threw himself onto his own dagger, held by Ren, killing himself.
Vindicators arrived shortly after, as Ulric discovered a note on the man. Keeping it to himself until after the Vindicators had fully scoped out the situation and questioned the party, he then revealed the note's contents to the party as they tiredly made their way back to the tavern for the night. The note revealed that the man had also been contracted by one "L.O." and was tasked with delivering three barrels to the three main grain storehouses of Newbury.
Ren, believing this L.O. was Luzzih Oceangrain, a member of The Infinite Court, got the party to agree to pursue this new lead, also worrying about what the Court would want with such a large food supply. Nevertheless, they were tired, wounded, and needed sleep.
What awaits them on this new lead? What could the Court want with the Newbury grain supply?

The Plague

As the party drifted off into sleep, they were each greeted with dreams, from a certain Fenn Lansberry. In these dreams, he reminded each of them of their job to protect the world and its people, and to ensure that even in their fight against the Court, they did not stray from a path of good. Each reacted differently, but kept what he said in mind nonetheless, before waking up the next morning to the smell of sausage and sweet mead.
The party went downstairs and ordered some sausage patties and had some of the new Kul Tiran honey mead that had been shipped in, and then made their way to the barracks to claim their reward for the murderer. There, they received 500 gold, and then made their way to the grain storehouses. Upon arriving at the four warehouses and administrative building of the storehouse complex, the party decided to wait nearby while Gamos went into the admin building to try and find the man-in-charge and talk to them.
Gamos went inside, and, speaking to the human woman secretary, gained a meeting with the Trademaster. Going into his office, Gamos spoke to the large human, and learned something important: the barrels had shipped out a month ago, and were sent to Purehall, Southhand, and Maplewall. Deciding to investigate the warehouses themselves, Gamos gathered the party and went to one of the warehouses, being allowed entrance with an escort.
The guard told them that there was supposed to be a shipment of grain from Purehall the day before, but it had never arrived, and if they were willing to investigate it, Oceangrain Shipping Co. was known being generous with rewards. Finishing up in the warehouse (and noting that all of the grain crates were emblazoned with the symbol of the Oceangrain Shipping Co.), the party moved on, beginning their voyage to Purehall.
On the voyage there, they passed many more farms, but stopped at one of note due to the reeking stench of decaying flesh radiating from it. Approaching the farmstead and granary, the stench got stronger, and as they came upon it, a decaying, zombified farmer stumbled out. Renèe quickly ran him through, spilling the dark ichor he had instead of blood upon the grass. Cephalik investigated the corpse, and noted that the farmer had, in fact, only been dead for a day, and had been subjected due to accelerated necrosis.
Continuing his autopsy, Cephalik found that the stomach of the man had been tightened and ruptured, as though from profuse vomiting, and, splitting the stomach open, Cephalik found bits of partly digested bread. As this was happening, Ren investigated the house, and found who was presumably the wife and daughter of the man murdered, attacked and eaten, with more partly eaten bread next to the flipped over table.
Meanwhile, Ulric walked over the granary, which was processing grain into flour, and set it ablaze. Determining that the grain was infected with something that had killed the farmer, who was then raised by a necromancer, the party continued on their way, determined to find out exactly what was going on. On their path to Purehall, they came upon a small hamlet, overtaken by the dead, who were being controlled by a group of three hooded necromancers. They slew a good portion of the undead, and killed one of the necromancers, before Ulric cast Sleep on the other two.
Binding them and interrogating them, the party got absolutely nothing out of the two survivors, before Ulric killed one in cold blood, and threatened to do the same to the other, before Ren ran him through. The party then investigated the town, and found more the same: tainted grain and bread, many corpses and zombies, and general death and destruction. Deciding to destroy the town and the granaries (which had stacks of empty crates, emblazoned with the Oceangrain Shipping seal), Yamma began blasting each of the buildings, and the party left the overrun village in ruins.
They continued into the night, pressing on with urgency. And by midnight, they saw the pillars of smoke rising from the inferno that was enveloping the small town. Heading into the village, they saw no citizens, or undead, only smoke and flames. Until the wind shifted, and the smoke parted, revealing a man. One Volcorth Serpentcloud, who told the party that he had come to deliver a warning, that their curiosity would be the death of them.
They then engaged the man, who raised dozens of villagers as they rushed him. In the ensuing battle, many of the raised villagers were obliterated, and Gamos nearly fell unconscious, but in the end, Volcorth was forced to retreat. Dimension Dooring away, he reappeared about 200 feet away, alongside a strange, floating aberration, cloaked by a thick leather hood, with damaged and severed eyestalks and a large, central eye, clouded over with blindness. Volcorth then said that he would see them in Oakenglen, before he teleported himself and his ally away.
The party began in the direction of Oakenglen, then rested for the night a thousand feet out of Purehall. They continued travelling the next day, in relative peace, passing through the areas they had purged just the day before. They made it most of the way back to Newbury, before camping for the night.
What awaits them in Oakenglen?

The Purging

Continuing on their path to Oakenglen, the party made their way towards Newbury, passing by a seemingly abandoned cart. Within, they found a merchant who had died seemingly from bleeding out through his eyes. There was a large mirror along the back of cart, and it was through that mirror Yamma and Cephalik saw a bleeding, pale woman, her eyes gouged out, and heard her scream, being pulled into her demiplane.
Within, after Cephalik was permanently blinded, Yamma had his vision blurred and confused, and both were nearly killed, Yamma found a way to escape the plane by blasting a hole out of it, and managed to get himself and the nearly dead Cephalik out. Getting healed by Ulric Farnam, and having Moira guide him due to his new found blindness, Cephalik was ready to continue, and so the party finally made their way back to Newbury.
There, they found it had been reinforced, and was being fortified by a platoon of Vindicators and Rangari who had arrived. Gaining permission to enter on the grounds of what they had found, the party was directed to talk to High Vindicator Deronan, who had brought his troops here on account of The Plague of Undeath. Heading to the barracks to meet him, the party made their way through the seemingly quarantined town, which seemed to have resisted the Plague so far.
Arriving upon the barracks, the party met the High Vindicator. Deronan, unlike most of the Lotorians they had met, seemed kind, reasonable, and devout to the Light, rather than Lotor. He explained that he had defied orders to go and wage war after hearing about the Plague, and transported his men here to help, and find out what was happening. Upon the party telling him what they had learned, he offered to help by providing them with men to help them in Oakenglen, and told their Anchorite to heal Cephalik.
With aid secured, Cephalik unblinded, and a sanctuary to secure supplies in, the party went out to some shops to procure any supplies they might need for Oakenglen. They spent nearly all of their gold, buying healing potions from the same half-elf woman they had met several days prior, then heading to a shop called "Crease Lightning." There, they met a large, extremely muscular orc named Crease, running a pristine, high-quality store. From him, they bought a potion of cloud giant strength, a scroll of fireball, a set of half-plate with resistance to radiant damage, an herbalism kit, and a bag of holding.
Leaving the pleasant shop, the party went to the old storehouses, where they found they had all been torched, and met with the dozen Vindicators Deronan had provided them with. Heading out for Oakenglen, the party began their voyage at just past noon.
After about eight hours of travel, the party came upon Maplewall, and found it was in a state of war: a team of dwarven mortars headed up by a Draenic artificer was bombing a horde of undead that was in the fields outside of the village. The village itself still seemed secure, and so the party began preparing to help the soldiers, when they realized something horrible: there were empty crates of grain, emblazoned with the Oceangrain Shipping Co. symbol, and the sickly sweet smell of tainted bread baking was on the wind.
Confused as to the party's fear, the Artificer explained they should be fine, they could defend the town with the mortars and had plenty of bread. Just as he finished explaining, he started to visibly sicken and convulse, before Cephalik struck him down. The Vindicators, understanding what was happening, said that they would go hold the line against the hordes from outside of the town, while the mortars kept firing.
Chaos began to erupt within Maplewall, as those who were killed by the grain didn't stay dead. The party realized with horror that the Plague not only killed its victims, but it raised them within seconds, without a need for a necromancer. Killing the reanimated Artificer as men started to kill their wives and children, and the town erupted into anarchy, the party began moving into the village to cut down the undead as quickly as they rised.
Facing several large swarms, and losing Moira, the party eventually secured the village, having slain all of its once-inhabitants, as the mortar fire died down, and the dozen tired, bloodied Vindicators returned from the killing fields. The party decided to simply rest in the ruins, and torch the village the next day, and made camp, while Cephalik reclaimed Moira's head and made his way to one of the now-abandoned houses to begin work on a new creation.
During his work on his new, large, Ogre-like zombie, Ulric came and spoke to him and his workshop. The conversation was grim, with Ulric starting to reveal more of his changing beliefs. The peaceful, calm boy was beginning to realize the extent of the Court's power, and beginning to realize what would have to be done to stop them, and spoke of how much more the world could do if it was unified. The two talked about the potential for a greater threat past the Court, and Ulric spoke of how he believed the world would need to be unified for it. How the world would need to be purged of the sickness that was afflicting it, then stand under one banner to face all threats coming.
The boy then left Cephalik to finish his work (who passed out in his "workshop" when he finished), and returned to the main camp, taking his rest as well. The next day, Yamma destroyed the entirety of the town, and then the band made their way on to Oakenglen. The two days of travel to the city were uneventful, though a heavy rain did begin pouring once more.
Upon arriving, the city seemed fine still, but the party made their way onto one of the hills surrounding the walled city to scout it out. And as they came to the conclusion that it was fine, the wind shifted, and they were hit once more with the smell of the bread. And as the party argued over what to do, or if it was a ruse, Ulric said that the city needed to be purged. Despite protests from Cephalik and Yamma, Renèe and Gamos, as well as half of the Vindicators (the other half refused to partake in a slaughter) began making their way to the city.
Yamma attempted to stop Ulric, but, due to Gamos intercepting him, was unable to reach the boy before he cut down his first victim. It had already begun. Ren, Gamos, Ulric, and the half dozen Vindicators began cutting down citizens left and right, innocent people who were confused as to why those who were supposed to protect them were now killing them. People who had no idea and would never actually know why they had to die. Yamma and Cephalik investigated into the bread, and, despite their hopes, found it was tainted. Ulric was right. All of these people were as good as dead. Cephalik, after this realization, joined in on the cleansing, while a defeated Yamma simply stood.
Over the course of the massacre, confused citizens became defensive ones, and began picking up what few makeshift weapons they had in an attempt to defend themselves against their attackers, and by the end, some had even begun turning into undead. The slaughter lasted an untold amount of time, and by the end, the city was in flames, and uncounted lives had been lost, their blood spilled on the streets and in their homes by those they thought were supposed to protect them.
By the end, the party regrouped, and the two monsters behind it all revealed themselves. Volcorth and Zolthur taunted the party, and Volcorth moved to "finish what he had started," while Zolthur explained that he would await the party in some place called the Tomb of the Forgotten King, where their true destinies awaited.
Exhausted from the butchering of hundreds, how will the party's second run-in with this Herald of the Court go?

The Tomb

At last facing Volcorth once more, the party engaged him, and though half of them were sealed in a Forcecage, and several were severely wounded, Gamos at last struck the Necromancer down. Searching his body, Renèe found Volcorth's Note to the Sage, the Book of Change, and a Tome of Necromancy that Volcorth seemed to have authored.
Waiting for an hour in the burning ruins of Oakenglen for the Forcecage to dissipate, the party at last began making their way back to Newbury, where they assumed their missing Vindicator allies had returned to. They knew they would have some explaining to do, but they also figured it would be their best bet to figure out what this "Tomb of the Forgotten King" was.
And so, resting outside of the ruined city, the party made their voyage back to Newbury. Along the way, they discovered that the plague had spread like wildfire, overtaking miles and miles of crops, and hordes of mindless undead had begun shambling through the seas of dying grain, masterless, seemingly harmless, and massive in numbers. Nevertheless, the party made it back to Newbury unscathed, and were escorted to High Vindicator Deronan as soon as they arrived.
There, he essentially said they needed to hunt down whoever else was behind the plague and kill them, because he had heard about what they did in Oakenglen, and would consider them enemies and traitors until they had done what they promised: to stop the Plague. With this in mind, the party stopped by the Newbury Library, where Cephalik discovered (by using his new Tome from Volcorth, though he lied about this to the party) that the Tomb of the Nameless King was masked behind an ancient ampitheatre in the woods to the south of Southhand. With this knowledge, the party rested at the tavern (which was empty due to food being rationed), picked up some of said rations the next morning, and then headed out.
After 3 days of travel, and heading several hours into the woods, the party came upon the ampitheatre, discovering that it had already been opened, and three of the armored Elves were guarding it. Slaying the guards, the party made their way into the dark tunnel entrance of the Tomb. Looting several artifacts off of the statues dotting the several hundred foot hallway and storing them in the Bag of Holding, the party popped what last potions they needed, and then moved into the main Tomb itself.
As they did so, they were greeted by the wide, open room of the Tomb, dotted by ten rotted corpses, spaced symmetrically, 5 to each side of the central dais. In front of said dais was Zolthur, who made some snide remarks as he floated up and over the dais to the opposite wall, and opened some sort of purplish-black portal, passing through it as he said "now, a King rise for our army." With that, the Nameless King began to rise out of the dais, floating gracefully to the ground, preparing to engage the party.
How will this battle end? And what awaits the party through the portal?

Zolthur

Facing the Nameless King first, the party rather quickly struck him down, looting the cache of his Tomb that was revealed, which had 7,500 gp and a strange, severed and decayed left hand. Taking his Sword as well, the party prepared themselves for whatever awaited them through the portal Zolthur had left through. Sending Moira through first, who never returned, the party decided to simply go through.
As they came through, they very quickly realized how far it had taken them. They were on top of some peak in what seemed to be southern Xeodamos, with some strange gate atop it. And Zolthur was waiting for them. They saw the dissociated body of Moira, presuming that the sheer distance had caused the powers binding her to Cephalik had faded too quickly to stop, and prepared to engage the Court member.
The following battle was brutal, with Gamos and Renèe nearly falling, but, fatefully, no one was killed. Yamma struck the final blows, brutalizing the aberration and smashing it to death on the cold and cracked stone of the summit.
And as the last breath's escaped Zolthur's disgusting form, 1 of the 7 runes upon the strange gate, in a rather forceful and showy fashion, lit up. Whatever it meant, the party knew it couldn't be anything good. And at the same time, Cephalik, clearing away the snow atop the peak, realized the clearing they were standing upon was an ancient inscribing of an image, with a sun (which worried Ren, due to her deal with Gaunter O'Dimm) that had some strange, tentacled eye inside.
Deciding that, disconcerting as these discoveries were, they had no way to act upon them, the party made their way down the trail that snaked its way to the base of the several thousand foot mountain. And, whether by coincidence or by providence, they discovered that Kaer Nyssen was at the base of the trail. It was in ruins, but it would prove a strong (and extremely defensible) foundation from which to build a powerbase.
But they quickly realized some other beast had made the ruins its home. A large green dragon had made its lair nearby, and so, the party rested in shelter for the night, before setting out to the dragon's lair to wait in ambush. In its lair, they discovered huge amounts of gold, and several strong magical items. But, before they could begin looting, they had to slay the dragon itself, which they heard returning.
In the ensuing battle, Ren once more nearly fell, and the party claimed victory for the sole reason that Cephalik was able to stun the creature with his electroshock gland, which allowed Yamma, once again, to claim the final blows, and slay the majestic, brutal creature. Taking stock of the loot, the party counted about 38,500 gold in the cave, which would be more than enough to build up Kaer Nyssen, once they found workers and allies for it. In this vein, Ulric and Ren decided to stay back and watch the treasure, while Cephalik, Yamma, and Gamos (who went by the prompting of his new Sword of the Nameless King, which revealed itself to be sentient) went to find nearby villages.
Ulric and Ren simply chatted while, after about an hour or so, the band of three, head of dragon in hand, found their way to a nearby village. There, the earlman said thanked them, as did many of the villagers, and sent a messenger to fetch The Baron, claiming he would want to meet the party. After this, three drunken militiamen, bearing a tabard of black with a red phoenix in the center, came out from the tavern, and said that the party should watch themselves, considering the Baron wouldn't take potential competitors lightly. They ended by saying that the Baron had worked for his lordship, and some "privileged blue skins" wouldn't take that from him.
Heading back into the tavern, the drunkards left the party, who were then approached by a seemingly fearful man, who spoke quietly and secretively, saying he was the mason that had worked on Haerton Hold, the Baron's fortress, and he would be willing to help the party. They said they were interested, and he told them he would meet them at Kaer Nyssen that night, refusing to divulge his name or other details until then, before returning to his wife and family.
The band of three continued waiting, while, back at Kaer Nyssen, Ulric and Ren began scoping out the ruined hamlet at the base of Kaer Nyssen. During this, Ulric made a move at Ren, putting an arm around her, while back at the village, the band of three were greeted by a heavily armored warrior, atop an armored horse, who said that the Baron would have a word.
Who is this Baron, and what does he want with the party?

The Lords I

Cephalik, Gamos, and Yamma, still being in Greenhand, spoke to the knight, who revealed himself to be a man by the name of Captain Horblack. He seemed like a reasonable man, and, given the fact that it was late evening already, understood when the party said they would meet the Baron the next morning. He then rode off back in the presumed direction of Haerton Hold, and the three men made their way back to Kaer Nyssen, where Ren had already made a fire.
Back at Kaer Nyssen, they began getting ready to rest up when the mason arrived, who introduced himself as Galdur of Chalk. He spoke of how he would need to scope out both the work site and the surrounding area to find a good spot for a quarry, but he should be able to have the workers to begin construction within a week. He began checking out the ruins of the keep, with Yamma following him and talking to him. Galdur explained how the keep would take some work, but with the amount of space they had on the plateau, they could build a hefty fortification, if not several structures. He then explained that, while he was organizing the men, there were two other people who would be very useful for the party, who they could maybe gain the alliance of.
The first was Arranel the Woodwright, a talented carpenter and the owner of the only lumber camp in the area, Oakenview Lumber Camp. She, with her two siblings, could likely be convinced to come out and aid in construction. The second was Zoran Steeleye, who once owned the Grimecliff Mines and was an extremely good miner and overseer, and a good man, and lived out of Crystalside. Yamma took note of both, and went back to the party to rest as Galdur made his way back home.
The next morning, after Cephalik took the strange hand from the Bag of Holding, the party set out to meet the Baron and their potential allies, while Ulric stayed back to watch over the hoard. Making their way up in the direction of where they believed Haerton Hold was, the party passed back through Greenhand, through Crystalside, and then came to a four way crossroads, with signs marking to several settlements, including Haerton Hold. Seeing the very peaks of the keep over the trees, the party made their way towards the Baron's fortress. Upon arriving to the rather large keep, they were greeted by several guards bearing the same black and red tabard with the phoenix emblazoned upon it, with the keep having large banners of the same design. They were let in upon Yamma showing them the dragon skull he was still carrying, and had had Cephalik clean, and they made their way to main keep itself. Upon entering the large main building, they realized it was entirely a throne room, dimly lit only by small windows allowing slits of light through at the top of the tall structure. And at the opposite end of the hall was the Baron, sitting upon his throne with his shield and blade resting on the side. He thanked them for dealing with the dragon, and gave them formal permission to continue helping the people on his land, emphasizing that he was in charge. The party took this threat with tongue in cheek, and left promptly, deciding to get away from the haunting man quickly, and began making their way to the Lumber Camp.
There, they met Arranel, who explained that she had a job for them: there had been strange behavioral changes in the wolves and other animals in the woods nearby recently, and they had begun terrorizing villagers. To make matters worse, she had found some strange totem of bone and wood in the woods nearby. She gave the party the directions to the totem, and they went and investigated. There, they found the totem was a cross of wood, upon which rested the skull of a deer. On the totem was a murder of crows, silently and nearly motionlessly watching the party. And as they were investigating the strange totem, they heard small footsteps.
Following the footsteps, they eventually came to a burrow in a small mound, which only Cephalik could fit in. Once he was inside, he was greeted by an adorably innocent, childlike creature named Johnny, who said he was something called a Godling, and he could help them figure out things about the "creepy thing" if they would play 3 rounds of hide and seek with him.
Taking up his offer, the party pursued Johnny, and found him twice, before finding him in a clearing with another one of the totems the third time. He explained this was what he was going to show them, and the clearing was a bloodbath. Three corpses had been brutalized by something evidently very strong, and just as they were done investigating the clearing, a flock of crows appeared, and swarmed over a rock, before dissipating, revealing the haunting visage of the creature. It was large, lanky, and clothed in drab, simple brown leathers and robes, with a deer skull over its dark void of a hooded face, with huge antlers rising from the white bone. And flanking it were two wolves, both simply watching the party.
Drawing their weapons and being on guard, the party waited, as the creature simply watched them. By Johnny's warnings, the party retreated, as did the creature. Heading back to the Camp, both to tell Arranel about the creature, and keep Johnny safe, Johnny told the party something else: when the creature had arrived, it had established some sort of lifelink with Cadin, Arranel's younger brother. This did not bode well for the party, or the boy.
Reaching the camp, the party explained the situation, and Arranel, believing it best for her siblings, said she would move out to Kaer Nyssen when Galdur did. And as they came to this agreement, there was a knock at the door. The party looked at the door, before realizing everyone else had been frozen in time. Ren knew exactly who was at the door, and as she cracked it open, she saw the smiling face of Gaunter O'Dimm. He asked to be let in, and upon entering, explained that they needed to stop dallying with the deal. He failed to see how "attempting to parlay with some smalltime woodland god was at all relevant," and explained that they would likely die if they faced the creature. He then left, saying that they had seen the crossroads and knew where to find him if they needed help. He would be more than happy to aid them.
After he left, Cephalik used the Dark Lore of his Tome to discover what he could about Gaunter, and learned two key pieces: he usually uses the sigil he used on Ren as a marking for pacts which end in the bargainer's soul being taken, and second, that when Gaunter arrives to claim a pact, the bargainer can challenge him to a game for their soul. This was somewhat comforting to Ren, but nevertheless, she felt haunted by the man, the devil, whatever he was. But, unable to do anything at the moment, the party made their way to Crystalside to meet Zoran.
There, they found him and his band of about a dozen miners, and gave them their offer to come and set up a mine by Kaer Nyssen and help with construction. He said he would do it in a heartbeat, and he had a favor he would like for the party to consider. It wasn't necessary, but he would be indebted to them, and it would pose a potential threat to their new lordship anyways. He wished for them to go to the Grimecliff Mines, figure out what happened, and avenge the men he lost there.
The party agreed, and asked if they could stay for the night, to which he gladly accepted. They went downstairs and drank themselves to sleep, while Cephalik slept by the stream...

The Lords II

Leaving Zoran's home, the party made their way back to Kaer Nyssen. There, they found the quarry was coming along nicely under the supervision of Galdur. Before setting out to deal with Zoran's favor, Cephalik needed a corpse. Gamos, being extremely hungover, stayed back, while Yamma, Ren, and Cephalik departed back in the direction of Greenhand to find a corpse for his needs. On the way, they found a strange hunter, bearing the mark of the Court.
He proved a good corpse for Cephalik.
The next day, with Cephalik's new body and Kaer Nyssen beginning to come together, the party waited a few more days for Gamos to recover, then departed for the Grimecliff Mines. Upon arriving, they found the mines to be abandoned, as they were told, and to run deep into the mountainside. And at the bottom of the dark shafts, they discovered something unsettling: dwarven miners, worked to death and with skulls cracked open and brains removed. It was then that the party came under attack by two strange creatures, quadripedal brains that scampered about in the dark. Unsettled, but determined to move on, the party discovered where the mines broke into the cavern they had heard about, and continued on their way.
In the first main cavern they came upon, the party saw a patrol of deurgar, identical to those they had seen on the island, with several of the humanoid troglodytes chained up. Waiting for the patrol to pass, they investigated the chasm in the center of the cavern, and, in one of the small caves within, discovered Kuglelt, a battered, starved, and tortured Illithid, ragged and tired, who pledged allegiance to the party if they would aid him in slaying his brother, who had betrayed him. Following their unexpected new ally, the party ventured deeper into the depths.
What awaits them in the caverns below?

The Library

The party, led on by Kuglelt, began making their way into the tunnel ahead. Leaving the light of the lava behind, they were once more in total darkness as they made their way farther and farther into the stone. After what felt like a mile or so, the party halted, as they heard what sounded like an elf speaking in a language none of them understood ahead. And as two separate groups began leaving in what sounded like two different directions, Kuglelt explained that the elf had said "Bring them to the city," and then "Go."
Waiting for a time, they continued forward, and came to an intersection of tunnel, presumably where the group they had heard had split up. Kuglelt explained that the city was straight ahead, but he had no idea what was to the left or right. Ren, taking one of Cephalik's ghouls with her, headed down the tunnel to the left to scout. And, after several hundred feet, the darkness began to give way to a warm orange light, given off by these topaz crystal formations which began to show through the walls of the tunnel.
Continuing, the crystals only got larger, to the point where Ren had to make her way between them, until the tunnel widened to a massive cavern, lit entirely and brimming with more of the huge topaz formations. And as she began making her way into the cavern, what she believed to be a hill covered in the crystals began moving. Fearing the huge creature to be angered or evil, Ren hid, but found the huge, lumbering creature to actually be quite kind. It had no name at first, but decided on Chronos during its conversation with Ren, and also showed that it had a vast library. Ren, deciding the party should see this, went back to fetch the rest of the group.
Kuglelt stayed behind to "get food," while the rest of the group came and met Chronos. During this encounter, Ren showed him the book of Chronomancy that she had gotten from the Doctor, and even Chronos was pleasantly surprised to reveal it was a Codex, the second he now had. In return for this, he allowed the party to view his library. They graciously accepted, and quickly began perusing his extra dimensional databank.
They learned many, many things in this library, about the Codices, Nag'shagoth, the Gods, and, perhaps the most unsettling, a group called the Five, and their relation to the Devouring Flame. This was worrying, but the party thanked Chronos, who explained they were welcome any time, and they made their way back to Kuglelt. Back at the intersection, they found he had decimated six duergar, and had fed on them as well. They decided they should rest, and made camp, with Cephalik taking a forward point to keep watch.
It was during their sleep that they each received a vision...

Claiming Desolation

Waking back up, the party began disassembling camp. Cephalik, having slept in the main tunnel, heard an approaching patrol and made his way back to the party before he could be discovered. He reported this back to the party, and, having gathered their things, began making their way back to the main tunnel. Ren scouted ahead, and discovered that the patrol had made their way down the tunnel leading to the encampment. Deciding they both needed the food that would likely be in the encampment, and could deal a hard blow to Tuggon's forces, they moved towards the encampment.
Upon arriving in the surprisingly lush cavern, they discovered the encampment sat upon an overlook with a ramp leading up to it. Ren scouted ahead, and discovered that there seemed to be a duergar leader there, with a handful of regulars and more armored duergar. She returned to the party, and they headed up for what they believed would be an easy fight, with Yamma engaging first. He was quickly surrounded by more duergar than they originally believed, but thought it would still prove to be no challenge.
Ren, Cephalik, and Kuglelt engaged soon after, with Gamos watching the entrance to ensure no reinforcements came, and Kuglelt used a Mind Blast in an attempt to throw almost all of the duergar into disarray, with Cephalik and Yamma being caught in its midst. Cephalik ignored its effects, but Yamma was stunned. This would prove disastrous.
The leader, in the meantime, went invisible, with Ren moving around the encampment to attempt to find him while Cephalik and his ghasts began cleaning up the remaining duergar forces with relative ease. It was then, as the last few were about to be defeated, that the leader, having enlarged himself, came out of invisibility and immediately attacked Ren. In his huge state, with his massive hammer in hand, he nearly felled her in one swoop, sending her crashing through one of the ancient ruined walls in the encampment. As the party moved to engage, Yamma was still stunned.
Cephalik moved to engage as well, but in merely three attacks (two of which were exceptionally powerful) was knocked to the floor, unconscious, causing his ghasts to go into a comatose state as well. Ren and Kuglelt were effectively left to deal with the enlarged leader on their own, with Yamma still being stunned. Kuglelt was felled next, as Ren dealt a hefty amount of damage to the leader, but not before he took out the last duergar, leaving only the leader standing. Ren, despite drinking several health potions and bringing Cephalik back up, watched as he was felled once more before being struck down herself. As they both went down, Yamma at last broke the effects of the mind blast, now being the only one left standing.
Using both kaio-ken and rage, he felled the wounded leader in one blow, and then rushed to aid the two members who were down. He managed to save Ren, but did not make it to Cephalik in time. As he rushed to the now dead man's side, he tried in vain to heal him with a potion, before realizing the life had already left him. In rage and self-loathing, a new, more violent than ever transformation was triggered. As the rage-filled Yamma at last went Super Saiyan, he brought the entire cavern crashing down as Ren, with Kuglelt in tow, barely escaped the cavern with Gamos. Surrounded by the rubble, he vaporized it all and left himself, steaming and passed out, in a huge, smooth sphere carved out of the stone that once made the cavern.
Ren woke Yamma up, and he immediately grabbed Cephalik's corpse and began making his way back to Chronos. On their way, they heard a huge force coming down the main tunnel, but paid it no mind and continued to their new dragon ally. There, the dragon told them he had no way to bring him back, but thought the Codex Mortis likely could, though he wouldn't be able to use it due to already having two other Codices under his control. It was then that a visage of Vecna appeared, and claimed that, with his Hand, they could go to Darkfall and bring Cephalik back. They were tentative, and first, Yamma attempted to draw cards from the Deck of Many Things. He ended up drawing three, first he drew two Euryales cards back to back, then a Comet, after which he claimed he would need to face their next enemies alone, and he would gain some power. Nevertheless, he did not get the card he wanted, and Ren took the Deck of Many Things from him for fear he would continue drawing until he got the Fates card he wished for.
Resting for the night, the party decided on their course of action: they needed to go to the surface to get rations, then leave before Ulric saw them. Chronos teleported them up into the old dragon's lair, and waited there with Cephalik's corpse while Ren and yamma made their way down into the worker's village sprouting up, seeing that construction was officially under way at the keep of Kaer Nyssen. At the camp, as they were going to buy food from a farmer who was trading there, they saw an old friend who had finally arrived: Xarreus. It was then that they realized Ulric had told him everything, but he was still there for them nonetheless. After talking to the father-like figure, they bought their food and made their way up to Ulric, who was in the keep according to Xarreus.
Meeting him, they told him about Cephalik's death and how they might have a way to reverse it, and he wished to go to Darkfall with them to find the Weapon of Tomorrow. The three had an long argument about it, before Yamma finally came around, but not before saying that if the artifact changed Ulric for the worse, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him, and Ulric simply replied "any price." The three then made their way back to Chronos, and the party, with Cephalik in tow, teleported to Darkfall. They made their way through the blizzard they appeared in, and came upon a cave in a cliff face.
Ulric, looking within, simply said "This is the place." What awaits them within?

Desolation

Standing outside of the illuminated cave, the party at last made their way in. First, they faced down several strange elemental creatures, which Yamma (reluctantly) fought and narrowly beat by himself, gaining the power the Comet card had promised him. And ahead of them, they saw the Weapon, trapped in a chunk of ice. Ren used the Scroll of Comprehend Languages they had to read the inscription upon the dais, which read "Desolation. Whosoever takes up this blade shall wield power eternal. But as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit." Ulric still refused to heed warnings, and instead called out to the spirits of the cave to grant him the sword.
After a short pause, the block of ice holding Desolation shattered, the jagged shards missing all but one: Ren. She was nearly knocked unconscious from the blow, but Ulric rushed to aid her. He healed her some, before he stopped, once again enthralled by the blade, which had launched itself to be just behind him. It was then that he at last claimed the blade.
As the power of the blade washed over him, he also realized something: Cephalik's soul was within the blade. He took this as a sign of providence, and had Gamos lay the corpse of Cephalik before him. Gamos did as he asked, and Ulric brought the man back from death. And as he returned to life, the dais that had been below Desolation crumbled, revealing a small iron box. Yamma investigated, and discovered a strange tome bound to a scroll inside.
Cephalik took the item from him, and discovered he could not read it, which, alongside the raw power emanating off of it, lead him to believe it was a Codex. The Codex Mortis. And so, with their new items in hand, the party made their way back to Chronos, who was waiting out in the snow. They found the hulking dragon, and, before he teleported them back, he explained that the magical radiation of Darkfall caused time to flow differently.
After being teleported back to the cave that had once been a dragon's lair outside of Kaer Nyssen, the party first noticed a significant sum of their gold was gone. Looking outside, they couldn't see the state of Kaer Nyssen due to the dark of night and pouring rain. Deciding they needed one, the party took a short rest, which Cephalik took to silver his claws, while Yamma and Ren patched themselves up some. Afterwards, the party, alongside Ulric, made their way down to the keep to figure out how long they had been gone. On the way there, they saw a tabardless patrol of cavalry and infantry making their way towards the keep. They follow, and see them talk to a large man holding a lantern. The man approaches, and they realize it's Xarreus, who is overjoyed to see them, embracing Ulric.
He asks them where they have been, and they ask how long they've been gone, and he tells them it's March, when they left in June. Confused, the party follows him into the undercroft of the keep, finding it totally refurbished and filled with weapons and armors. They follow Xarreus to the main building, finding the keep returned to its whole, powerful state.
In the war room, the party explains where they've been, leaving Xarreus speechless and embittered at Ulric disregarding his warnings. Ulric leaves the room with Desolation in hand, going to find a room. Cephalik goes to find his tower, while Yamma heads to his monastery, and Ren goes and talks to Ulric. Gamos decides to simply go to sleep.
Cephalik finds the tower to have more than enough for his work, with his workshop being given its own room in the cellar. Yamma is impressed and excited by his monastery, and sleeps in the communal bedroom. Ren and Ulric have a heart to heart conversation, before finding a room to sleep in. The next day, the party continues familiarizing themselves with their new holdings, Ren beginning to set up her tavern. After the events of the last several weeks, the party decides to take some downtime to get accustomed to their new holdings. Over the course of the next month, they discover the various allies that their endeavors had attracted, finding allies in everything from a hag coven to an adult ruby dragon.
But, at the end of the month, an envoy from the Baron arrives...

The Bathhouse

The party continued their downtime, getting adjusted to their new keep. Gamos trained with his new troops, and got to know them better, while Ren began the basis of her spy network, though she was in need of an experienced spy to handle the management of the network if she wanted to really get it going. Cephalik stayed in his tower studying the Codex Mortis, and did not leave it. Yamma continued meditating, and put out posters to "advertise" his monastery. After around 20 days, however, Ren decided it might be a good idea to get back in touch with Artem and Vitomer, given the Baron's recent aggression. In this effort, she gathered Yamma and Gamos to go talk to Crease, to try and get some teleportation scrolls for a round trip to Valdura and back.
Gathered up, the three musketeers made their way down to Crease Lightning, and first did some business, selling the Instrument of the Bards and the Wand of the War Mage for a total of 20,500 gp, before buying two scrolls of teleport for 1,000 gp each. With the scrolls in hand, the party teleported to Artem's house, appearing right in from of the simple wooden home. They approached and knocked, slightly surprised to see Valdura seemed totally normal. Artem answered the door, pleasantly surprised to see them, and invited the party in, offering them some mandrake. Ren and Yamma accepted, with Gamos sitting out of the drinking, and over a few shots the quartet got caught up. The party asked Artem how he had been the past year, and how the siege had gone, and he explained that it had been a rough week, but luckily the fighting never reached his home, though his herbalism was, and still is, very helpful and needed for refugees. He explained that the siege had happened about two and a half months ago, and Vitomer had busied himself with helping in the rebuilding efforts now, seeking to find peace now that his old problem had been resolved.
The party explained what they had learned about the Court, the Gods, and the Five, as Vitomer flew in through the back in his signature cloud of black smoke, manifesting and explaining his joy that Mira was gone. He proceeded to begin cooking dinner, listening in on, and occasionally chiming in to, the conversation. It was then that the party brought up their need of the vampires' aid, given the situation with the Baron and the Court. Artem explained that his duty was to those who needed aid here, but he would come in the most dire of situations, and Vitomer proposed a deal over dinner: the party help the pair with a small problem that had arisen, and Vitomer would accompany them to Kaer Nyssen. The party asked what the problem was before agreeing, after which Vitomer explained that their close friend, an old Duvielian countess who had moved her estate to just outside Valdura, had several missing servants recently, who had disappeared without a trace. There was a gala coming up the next night that would be the perfect time to investigate, but he explained that he and Artem were much to conspicuous to do so effectively, and a "group of relative nobodies" would be much better.
The party agreed, and went out to get formal clothes for the occasion, returning to their old friend Aelloal, the seamstress. They found her in good health, and got their clothes for the occasion. Ren got a fine, Victorian-style black, gold, and red dress, while Yamma and Gamos both went with suits, the former getting a vest and purple dress shirt while the latter opted for a classic black and white two-piece. She then pointed them in the direction of a cobbler, who supplied them with proper foot accouterments, Ren getting black and red high heels, while Yamma got black dress shoes. Gamos has hooves, and thus does not wear shoes.
With their new wardrobe in tow, the party made their way back to their old tavern, the Drunken Otyugh, where Bellamir was still bartending. He offered them their free rooms, and then served them dinner. While at dinner, they met an interesting sorceress by the name of Raina. After dinner, the party decided to try and find a bathhouse, to which Raina offered to guide them. She led them down a side road that then went underneath the buildings of the metropolis, to an underground bathhouse of white marble and a golden entryway. The party entered the opulent bathhouse, parting ways with Raina, and talked to the owner, with Gamos and Ren renting private baths for 50 gp each, while Yamma opted to go to the public baths for 25 gp, to meet people. While Gamos and Ren went and relaxed in the very luxurious private rooms, Yamma went into the just as opulent, but public, bathhouse, where there were quite a few people, spread in small groups and idle conversation. He disrobed, and made his way to a bath with several other people in it, instantly striking up conversation.
Over the course of the next hour (after which Ren went back to the tavern and Gamos hesitantly joined Yamma), Yamma became good friends with his "bath buddies," as he so eloquently dubbed them, and learned many things about social cues and interacting with other people, as well as some of the ins and outs of high society, with his bath buddies explaining that they, too, were going to the gala. After Gamos joined, a red-headed woman entered the public area, magically disrobing and getting into a nearby bath. Yamma recognized her both from the seamstress and the cobbler, and decided to figure out "why she was following them." She explained that she wasn't, and that she was merely getting ready for the gala as well. She then asked if Yamma had a date, and after discovering he did not, asked if he wanted one. This went over his head, and after Gamos explained, he agreed, to which she told him to meet with her at her store at 2 PM the next day.
After several hours of socializing, Gamos and Yamma at last decided to go back to the tavern, and rested up for the night.
What awaits the party at this gala? Who, or what, is behind the disappearances?

The Gala I

After resting for the night, Ren, Gamos, and Yamma left their clothes in their room, ate breakfast, and then teleported back to Kaer Nyssen, deciding that gathering Ulric and Cephalik would likely be prudent. There, Gamos and Yamma went to grab Cephalik from his tower while Ren went to fetch Ulric, saying that they would meet at Crease Lightning to both get Ulric and Cephalik formal attire, and buy two more scrolls of teleportation. Ulric came with little issue, but Yamma and Gamos had to persuade Cephalik quite a bit before he would agree to attend. Nevertheless, the five regrouped at Crease's, and bought the goods they needed. Crease magically created a fine black surcoat and suit for Cephalik, and a simple black tuxedo with a bright green and purple bowtie for Ulric, and then gave them the two Scrolls they needed.
Using their two scrolls, the party teleported back to the Drunken Otyugh. There, they ate lunch, got dressed, and talked about the gala, specifically Yamma's date with Celrih, as he was quite nervous. They told him some simple tips, like holding her arm, asking her about herself, etc., while Ren bound his hair up in a ponytail, while leaving some strands on the front (Hohenheim style). He then left, needing to get some flowers before meeting with her. The rest of the party got dressed, and then departed to meet with Artem and Vitomer.
Yamma arrived at Celrih's home, and discovered the ornate shop to be much bigger inside, as well as not a shop, but a fine home. Celrih then came downstairs, dressed in a beautiful green dress, with golden earring and a fine silver amulet. Yamma awkwardly complimented her, and handed her the flowers, which she joked about, as they were light blue, and she hates dark blue. She did, however, love his purple shirt, as that is her favorite color, and joked around with Yamma before saying they should leave. After a short time, Yamma picked her up and began flying towards the Breslau Estate, during which Celrih asked him many questions about his home and his life, showing a clear concern for the scarred man, as well as a growing affection.
With the rest of the party, Gamos and Ren both purchased draft horses and saddles, and rode to the Estate, while Artem, Vitomer, Cephalik, and Ulric walked. There, they met with Yamma and Celrih at the stables of the Estate, and they made their way inside. It was at the entrance to the Manor that they met Jared Lively, the captain of the guard on the Estate, who asked who they were, and confiscated Desolation from Ulric. As he was asking who they were, and Vitomer and Artem passed him to meet with Adela, a guard arrived and told Jared that she wished to see the party as well. Jared brought them up to her bedchambers, where they spoke on the balcony, the party, Vitomer, Artem, Celrih, and Adela.
During this, she told them what she knew about the disappearances, and who she believed could be trying to threaten her, naming the top two suspects: the LightGuard and some powerful merchants she had made enemies with due to her anti-war stance. She told them that Jared had found a corpse of one of the servants, and he should take them to see it. Leaving her chambers, Jared and Cephalik went to where the body was being kept while the rest of the party started to mingle at the gala, Celrih and Yamma going off to the bar while Ren, Gamos, and Ulric went to the dance.
Yamma and Celrih had fun at the bar and the dining hall, where Celrih revealed her love for brownies and whiskey, ranked in that order, with Yamma downing several shots of vodka as well. Ren and Ulric, seeking to keep an eye on those in the dance courtyard, began dancing together to the upbeat music, while Gamos began mingling in the crowds. While he was at a serving area, he was approached by a woman. Luzzih Oceangrain. They exchanged in small talk, before she left with a mysterious blonde man. Gamos attempted to trail them, losing them in the crowds, before they reappeared next to him, with the blonde man asking if he needed something. After the tense conversation, the three parted ways once more, Luzzih and her man going to dance.
It was at this time that the bard began playing slower, romantic music, and Yamma and Celrih made their way out to the courtyard. Ren and Ulric, and Yamma and Celrih, began dancing together, respectively, with the former keeping their eyes on Luzzih and her man, and the latter simply enjoying each other's company. The dancing continued, with Ren and Ulric getting their way closer to Luzzih. It was then that the bard played faster music, proclaiming that it was time to dance in groups. Luzzih and her man danced with Ren and Ulric. It was tense and uncomfortable, with Luzzih and the mystery man radiating an uncomfortable calm and fake pleasantness, and the man revealed himself to be none other than High Inquisitor Tristian Wyther, with Ren noticing he had the golden snakes of the court as an opulent pin on his suit jacket.
All the while, Cephalik and Jared were investigating the corpse. Cephalik performed an autopsy, and discovered something very unsettling: the servant had been poisoned, but more importantly, the poison was deathbell: tasteless, rare, highly unstable, very expensive. Discovering this, Jared asked why they would waste such an expensive ingredient on a servant, and then they both came to a conclusion: they wished to gain access to the wine cellars to poison the barrels for the party. Fearing they may already be too late, they both sprinted back to the party.
As the dancing was continuing, Cephalik and Jared came sprinting into the courtyard, where Cephalik proceeded to disrupt the festivities and shout about the poisoned wine, before being cut short by Lady Breslau, who told them both to come back to her room. There, she gave them a cold, fear-inducing talking-down-to, and told them to keep the investigation quiet and not disrupt her party or tarnish her reputation, and then told them to go to the cellar or do what they need, but not cause a disturbance again. After leaving the room, Cephalik shared his realization that Adela was a vampire in the same caliber as Vortimer and Artem, although he has yet to see even their strength. Deciding to go check out the cellar, the two headed downstairs, but discovered the wine undisturbed, checking every single barrel in the large storeroom.
As this was happening, Yamma and Celrih drank a little more, getting tipsy, before Celrih led him deep into the gardens, all the way to nearly the northeastern corner, far from the main party. There, they shared an intimate conversation, before a romantic kiss, and Yamma realized he was falling in love with her. It was then that they heard something from the garden walls nearby, what sounded like people vaulting over them. They went to investigate, and discovered three armed, identically-garbed assassins disposing of a guard's body. They engaged, and the ensuing battle (which showed just how much arcane power Celrih had) nearly brought down Yamma, but did rally the entirety of the party to their location, and revealed Jared as a druid.
Dispatching the assassins, the regrouped party began talking about what they had discovered. Ulric asked for his blade back, and Jared went and fetched it for him, and upon returning, the party decided they should investigate the cellar again, as the assassins could very well have been distractions to pull them away from the wine. They rushed back, and discovered the cellar barred. Yamma punched the door open, revealing four, fully armored LightGuard, with a barrel of wine open in front of them.
How many groups are plotting against Adela, and what are their reasons for taking these actions?

The Gala II

When the party asked Adela more about what the barrels were for, she revealed that she had intended to send them to major political powers as gifts, to rally more support against the war. Her intention was to garner influence with several higher ups, including the Exarchs of War and Spirits, and even Queen Anastasie Carré. She also revealed she was beginning to have her suspicions about those in power, and the true reasons behind the war.
Asking Tristian about the people in the cellar, he explained how, regrettably, Adela had forced his hand, and how the party would be best not to pursue it any further. As he was talking, Luzzih came to his shoulder and asked if anything was wrong, to which he replied "no," and led her away. The two moved out into the gardens, before making their way to the Swan's Nest, where a group of other LightGuard had overrun the guards there, and were carrying barrels of wine.
The party followed, and engaged the group there, including Tristian and Luzzih.
The party fought Tristian, who nearly killed several of them, while Cephalik followed Luzzih, knocking her unconscious and discovering a note on her (see: Luzzih's Note to the Krymméno). But, just before Tristian fell, he pulled out a scroll, casting a Meteor Swarm on the area, killing himself, Luzzih, and Gamos. Ren was unscathed, Ulric and Celrih were wounded, and Yamma, Jared, and Cephalik all lost something: Yamma, his hearing, Jared, his sight, and Cephalik, his memory. As the nearly defeated party was helped out of the devastation, Cephalik revealed he had forgotten everything, including his name.
Now, he was "Vecna."

The Library II

The party, devastated and bruised, is helped back to the manor of the Breslau Estate, where they are given an ample reward of 10,000 gold and a heartfelt thanks from Adela, who said that if they ever needed aid, they could count her among their friends. They then teleported back to Kaer Nyssen, where they told Xarreus about everything that had happened. He said that Gamos would need a proper funeral, a pyre burning on the cliffside the following night. Ren revealed she still had the ring and the Blade of the Nameless King, and the party agreed it should be destroyed, but first, they should rest. Each member went to their respective rooms, and tucked in for the night.
The following morning, Ulric, using Desolation, destroyed the Blade of the Nameless King (during which Ren noticed the essence of the blade absorbed into Desolation, which was worrying), and Cephalik, fully leaving his old life, revealed his entirely new body. He was a handsome, human man now, devoid of scars and the sickly paleness that Cephalik bore so proudly. He was now Vecna, and, though still all black, his clothes were now reminiscent of a mage's. The party was worried and surprised by this development, but realized there was nothing they could do. Instead, they decided they needed to go to Crease's and gather some more teleportation scrolls: first, to head to Chronos' lair and see if they could find any new, helpful information, then head to the College of the Accord to meet Celrih. While at Crease's, they also attempted to get a Scroll of Sending to tell Celrih to meet them there, but Vecna revealed he could do it himself. She agreed to meet them there in around 4 hours.
With their three Scrolls of Teleport and Celrih informed, the party departed for Chronos' cave, and made it there with a small hitch in the teleport that left them all slightly hurt, but fine for the most part. There, they gained access to the library from their good friend Chronos, who also revealed to the now deaf Yamma the wonders of telepathy, and began reading up on things. Vecna read about the history of the world and, to his own surprise, about himself, learning that he was being formed in the mold of Vecna, the "voice in his head," to pick up where he had left off, and succeed where he had failed. Ren, on the other hand, looked for books about weapons, and discovered a huge list of powerful weapons and artifacts, as well as something talking about the many powerful weapons Abeya had been making in the waning years of Armageddon. She continued reading, and discovered the heart of the Abeyan capital, the Ebon Citadel, was a huge complex that was rumored to be indestructible, leading her to believe that, if they could find a way to both locate and reach the fragment of Emaxus that had been blasted into orbit during Armageddon that it was on, they could potentially retrieve an arsenal of powerful weapons to use against the Court.
Yamma was told to just keep an eye on Vecna.
The party, finished with the library, thanked Chronos and prepared to teleport to the College, before realizing they had no idea where it was or what it was like, making teleporting a risky maneuver. Instead, they asked Chronos to, and, being the beautiful dragon he is, agreed.
What can they find in the College, and what more does Celrih have for them?

The Funeral

Arriving at the College of the Accord, the party made their way inside the large and quite beautiful campus. They waited next to the dragon's statue at its center for Celrih, meeting an elven woman who said she was an Archmage of the Accord, and Celrih was a friend of hers, and said they could stay on campus so long as they waited for Celrih where they were. At almost exactly 4 (signified by the campus' large clock tower), Celrih arrived via teleportation. She asked them what they needed, and upon them saying they were looking for a way to heal Yamma, she led them into the large elven building, which was a huge library. Once there, she led them to a certain book, and then asked if they had found out if the wish had caused it or not. Deciding it likely hadn't, she said that they would need some sort of healing, and their best bet would be an Anchorite or cleric.
She did explain that something as serious as deafness would likely need a serious restoration spell, so their best bet would be to go to the Crucible of the Light and get the Anchorites there to help heal him. It was then that a man approached them, asking if they were the "heroes of Oakenglen." The man was of the name Jory, and he claimed he was an alchemist from Newbury who had a lot to thank the party for, and if Yamma was hurt, he'd be happy to take a look at him. Back in the lounge, he confirmed the ruptures were trauma-based, and he cleaned out the dried blood and earwax with a pick, before injecting a healing potion directly into Yamma's lymph node. This had no effect, but Ulric did take note of Jory's skill in healing alchemy. As the party went back outside to teleport to Valdura, Ulric approached the man and asked how well versed he wan in medicine and alchemy, and if he could brew healing potions as he saw fit. When Jory's answers were satisfactory, Ulric told him to go and try to join the party, saying he would vouch for him.
While the party mocked him a little, they agreed to let Jory come, and departed for Valdura. After a slight mishap landed them in the mountains west of the city, they at last arrived in Celrih's living room. Vecna said he would wait there, as it was a bad idea for him to go to the Crucible, as did Ulric. The rest of the group went to the Crucible, and quickly found an Anchorite, who was more than willing to aid Yamma. She gathered three other Anchorites and led Yamma to the central structure, the Birthplace of the Light. Here, they healed Yamma, the warm, comforting presence of the Light entering and permeating Yamma's being, and fixing his hearing. He was beyond grateful.
The rest of the party, waiting by the statue of Khiale at the entrance, decided to start fake praying, so as to blend in. During this, Ulric, in a surprising move, knelt next to Ren and said he had come to pray, and, to the girl who was beginning to become closer than friend, it was obvious a battle was being raged in the young man's heart. To face this inner turmoil, he ventured to the Birthplace, where Yamma was just leaving. Yamma asked what he was doing, and Ulric explained he was going to pray, and Yamma should to, since it just healed him. Yamma agreed, and they both prayed at the foot of Khiale's statue in the Birthplace of the Light.
It was during their prayer that Yamma noted something that made his heart sank. While the Light's warm embrace wreathed Yamma, it all but avoided Ulric. Though Ulric's head was covered by his hair in the bowed position, Yamma saw tears fall from his face into the shallow prayer water. It was then Yamma heard bits and pieces of something Ulric was saying. Those words he did hear caused the coil of dread around his heart to tighten even more.
Ulric, seemingly much more at ease now, even happy, helped Yamma up and the two regrouped with the party. Ren noted how Ulric seemed the most at ease and sure of himself he had been since claiming Desolation. Whatever battle had raged in his heart was over. Successful in their task, they went back to get Vecna and head home to Kaer Nyssen in time for the funeral. There, Yamma told Ren some of what he had heard, before giving Celrih a tour of his monastery.
As night fell, the party, and most of Kaer Nyssen, gathered for the pyre burning. Here, Ren, Yamma,Ulric, and Xarreus all spoke, with the latter placing a finely crafted dagger in the pyre, saying he had intended to give it to Gamos as a gift. And as the pyre burned, and the crowd dispersed, only the party was left. Celrih held Yamma close, as Ulric spoke of how their duty was still to the dead, to avenge everyone who had fallen, Gamos included. Xarreus gave him a long hug afterwards, and agreed, proclaiming they would do whatever it takes to tear the Court down member by member. The party then went their separate ways for the night, with Celrih and Yamma deciding to sleep in the keep so they could both be together and have privacy. It was during this time that Celrih both said that she would move out to Kaer Nyssen, or at least would consider it, and finally told Yamma what she had wanted to tell him at the Gala. That she was falling in love with him. He said that he was feeling the same way, and that it was a strange, new experience. She told him she was more than happy to explore it together.
Meanwhile, Ulric and Ren had already reached the keep, and before Yamma and Celrih came to the living area, had shared a brief conversation after walking hand in hand back to Ren's room. And after "goodnight"s were shared, as Ren was going inside, she turned quickly and gave Ulric a kiss on the cheek, after which he returned with a full kiss. She then said goodnight once more and shut the door, sitting on the floor in front of it. Ulric, instead of going into his room, went out for a walk. As he was leaving, he passed Yamma and Celrih, who reached their rooms before the former told the latter he was going to follow Ulric, to check on him. As he was going to do this, Ren noticed and trailed him. The two followed Ulric separately all the way out to a small clearing in the forests to the northeast of Kaer Nyssen, a clearing devoid of grass, instead only dead weeds and dirt.
Here, Ulric, Desolation slightly buried in the ground to serve as a support for him to rest on, revealed he knew Yamma had followed him the whole time. The two then shared a conversation about the world, what they would do about the Court, whether or not they would bring Gamos back if they could, and what they would do after the Court was defeated, since it seemed like defeating them was exactly what they wanted. Ulric responded with an idea, wondering if they could perhaps kill every single member of the Court, then hold the leader prisoner. While the leader still lived, they could get the world ready for whatever was through the Gate, and then, when the world was united and ready, kill them. Yamma proclaimed that he could hardly see a world united, whereas Ulric believed it was far from impossible, merely difficult and requiring work and dedication. Just as Yamma attempted to ask about what he had heard at the Crucible, Ulric offered a few rounds at Ren's tavern, the Lannsberry Inn, before clocking out for the night. Yamma accepted, and Ren, who had been listening the whole time, followed them back.
There is now a brief respite, and the party is in better shape. What is the Court's next move? When, and how, will the Baron strike?

New Friends, and New Foes

Ren and Yamma were awoken the next morning by an urgent Deronan, who said that there was a large group of people at the gates who wished to speak to them. The two quickly got dressed and went out to meet their unknown guests, the latter leaving a tired Celrih to rest. At the gates, they discovered a large group of armored men, led by their friend, Jared Lively. The three spoke briefly, before Ren and Yamma allowed the troops into the keep, who were a gift from Adela as a sign of good faith. Ulric came out and met the three friends, and then the party of four made their way to the war room to speak privately. It was here that Jared revealed he had been sent to aid the party with any problems plaguing Kaer Nyssen, to which they responded by revealing the three big things they still needed to deal with: the "forest god," the underground empire, and, most urgently, the Baron.
Jared, being a druid, believed he could aid with the "forest god," and the party planned on picking up Cayden on the way to where they had last seen the "god" to allow Jared to commune with it, and, hopefully, break its link with the boy. Departing as a group of four, leaving Jory and Vecna to do as they were, the party, joined by Celrih, gathered horses, picked up Cayden successfully and made their way to the Oakenview Lumber Camp. On the way, they noted at both Crystalside and Greenhand that the Baron's men were conspicuously missing. They feared this to be a bad omen, as though the Baron was regrouping his forces to strike soon, and pressed on. Before reaching the camp, they spoke briefly, and Ulric revealed he wished to name his horse Wyndam, after his father.
At the camp, they discovered something very unexpected and off-putting: the entire camp, and the surrounding several hundred feet of forests, had been frozen over as though caught in an intense blizzard. This instantly set them on guard, and their suspicions were proven well-founded when, from the frozen house of the camp, a hulking humanoid clad in armor of a similar style to the Court's minions, revealed himself. He said that, after "the boy's death," the party no longer had any ties with "his King," and he had been sent to test their strength. In the ensuing battle, Yamma was nearly killed and Celrih was hurt badly, but the latter disintegrating the mysterious warrior upon seeing Yamma's bloodied form.
As the remnants of the warrior disappeared, a haunting clapping echoed throughout the clearing, the sound of two plated hands applauding in a cold, calculated manner. It was then that yet another warrior revealed himself, this one seeming to be the very "King" the warrior before had referred to, clad in a terrifying set of plate and sinewy leather, with a haunting crown and skull helmet. He revealed that he had struck a rather advantageous deal with the Court, and that the Krymméno wished to continue to watch the party. He then left, laughing about he looked forward to continuing to battle them, and he hoped they would prove to be worthy adversaries.
As he departed through a portal, the temperature began to rise to normal, and the party rested for an hour or so to bandage Yamma before heading out into the forest. Heading to the first of the totems, Jared dropped his weaponry and approached the bird-covered, haunting visage of bone, wood, and leather, kneeling and placing a hand to it. As Ulric disarmed himself, the birds began growing extremely raucous as he drew the blade, before becoming deathly silent and still as soon as he put it down. Jared, immersed in meditation, reached out to the spirit controlling the totem, and in his blind state, he saw the "god" approaching. It was then that his suspicions of it being a Leshen were confirmed, and he communicated with the powerful nature spirit. It spoke simply and plainly, often responding with one word.
At first, it wouldn't answer any of his questions, only saying "Death. You bring Death." Jared, on a hunch, sent Ulric away with Desolation, after which the spirit became amicable. He asked it about its connection with Cayden, calling the boy over to touch the totem as well, and it didn't respond, seeming instead confused. Moving on from the matter, Jared asked if it would aid them against the Baron, and it simply responded "Duty." He took this as a no, and it approached him in his blind vision and touched his forehead. In the same instant, yet seemingly in another reality, a tall, divine woman touched the same spot. He then realized he was acutely aware of his surroundings, and the creature, as well as the woman, in unison, said "You are blessed." The creature then retreated from his vision, and Jared broke from his trance.
The party, slightly confused but not disappointed, returned to the camp, where the ice and snow had nearly entirely melted, and Ulric awaited them. There, they spoke of strategy to deal with the Baron as quickly as possible. The course of action that was decided upon went as follows: Ulric, Ren, Jared, and Yamma would head straight to Haerton Hold and force a confrontation with the Baron, as they believed no footman would wish to fight and die against them, while Celrih waited at the camp for reinforcements, who would be called for by an animal messenger dispatched by Jared, summoning but a small guard of their best. And it was so, with the four making their way toward Haerton Hold, finding it surrounded by a war camp, holding the Baron's rallied men.
They trotted right into the camp, coming to the front gate, and speaking briefly with Captain Horblack, before the Baron himself came to the wall and called to open the gate, so they could die at his hand. The gates were opened, and the party left their horses at the stable, with Ulric threatening the stablehands that if anything happened to the horses, it would be their heads. Then, weapons drawn, the party approached the throne room of the Baron. Inside, they found him, alone, upon his throne. As he moved to engage them, he confirmed their suspicions about his connection to the court, revealing the golden snake emblazoned over his right eye, and spoke of how the party would continue to fall in with the Court's plans.
In the ensuing battle, no one was grievously injured, though the Baron proved himself to be a capable fighter. But as he seemed to be more and more bloodied, gathering necrotic energies began swirling around him as his golden, feline left eye continued glowing brighter. And just as he seemed defeated, his body became riddled with cracks as the energy overwhelmed him, exploding a swirling vortex of black and green necrotic energies, from which the Baron reemerged, now wholly transformed. From a man, he had become a hulking, horrifying parody of an angel, with wings of ripped sinew and souls instead of feathers, and armor of bone and obsidian, with a long halberd of greenish-blue energy and bone.
This fight has taken an unexpected turn. Will the party be able to defeat the Baron in this strange new form?

The Baron's Fall

The Baron, now in his transformed state, engaged the party. The fighting quickly became brutal, with Vecna, Jory, and a group of flameskulls summoned by the former joining the fray thanks to Vecna teleporting them in. In the ensuing battle, the party unleashed everything they had, nearly defeating the Baron before he trapped himself, Ren, and Ulric in a forcecage. In this forcecage, he gouged out Ulric's right eye and slew Ren, slaying Vecna as well when he teleported himself into the forcecage. Now alone with Ulric in the forcecage, the Baron turned back into his human form, and spoke to Ulric, though no one outside could hear him. At the end of this conversation, the Baron ran himself through with Desolation, before Ulric took both the Hand and Eye of Vecna, and teleported away with Ren's corpse.
Nearly thirty minutes later, Ulric, without the Hand or the Eye attached, and a resurrected Ren, reappeared in the center of the throne room. He took out the Hand and Eye and placed them on the ground, then used Desolation to resurrect Vecna with both the Hand and the Eye attached. Vecna thanked him wholeheartedly, while Ren showed much more hesitation. Ulric then walked outside, leaving the party to themselves for a time. Jared trailed him, and heard him rally the Baron's men, before instilling fear in them through the execution of a soldier. Jared, perturbed, returned to the party and informed them. The party revealed their growing concerns for Ulric's sanity and stability, but made their way out to the stables when the subject of their conversation returned, telling them they needed to get going. The party did so, gathering their horses and departing, riding in silence.
Back at the lumber camp, they met the soldiers they had called for, led by Xarreus and Deronan, and told them that the Baron was already slain, and they could head back. They agreed, though Xarreus seemed hesitant, and Vecna and Ulric said that they would head back to Haerton Hold to gather the Baron's men, who now served them, and bring them to Kaer Nyssen. The party agreed, and the two departed, leaving the rest of the party to speak of their growing fears. Ren said that she needed to meet someone, and snuck off, leaving Jory, Jared, and Yamma, the three of which headed into the forests so Jared could commune with the Leshen.
What dark steps will Ulric continue to take in the war against the Court? Will these divisions amongst the party continue to grow?

Plotting A Course

The party, over the course of the night, regrouped at Kaer Nyssen from their various undertakings, with Ren coming back last. She had met secretly with Gaunter, and, at the price of some unknown pain in her abdomen, she learned the identities of every Sage in the Infinite Court, and the Krymméno itself. With this knowledge, she began making her way back to Kaer Nyssen, hiding from Ulric as she did so, who came to the crossroads where she met Gaunter and seemed to try and track Ren, to seemingly no avail. Jared sent Captain Horblack off to help set up a temporary barracks for all of their new troops, before taking a walk around Kaer Nyssen that night, during which Xarreus approached him, getting to know him some, and then confronting him about ownership of the keep: he wanted Jared to take over Kaer Nyssen, as he had experience leading men, and Xarreus no longer trusted Ulric. Jared humbly accepted, and requested Xarreus be his lieutenant and help him run the place. Xarrues respectfully declined, saying his days of leading men were over. With the day done, the various members of the party rested.
The next morning, several new allies arrived, most notably a High Elf couple, a male knight and a female conjurer, who pledged themselves to Jared, though he quickly sent them off to speak to Captain Horblack. As most of the party, minus Ulric, was gathered in the mess hall, Xarreus reminded them that they needed to have a meeting to set their affairs in order and plan their next step against the Court. With this, the party made their way to the war room, where, before they began speaking, Ulric made his way downstairs and left without so much as a word. Xarreus said that that was, regrettably, for the best, as he feared his son was losing his way, and needed to find his path back.
Getting down to business, Xarreus first said that the party needed to come up with a name, as they were growing in reputation, power, and prestige, and would need a name for people, both across the globe and under their banner, to rally to. After long deliberation, with no final answer, the closest to a conclusion came in the form of the party going by "The Silver Dawn," and those who served them being "The Hand of Dawn." Putting a footnote on that subject, Ren revealed all she had learned, and the party deliberated on what they knew of the Court. After a lot of thinking and dot-connecting, the party came to several conclusions: they needed to head back to Kul Tiras to speak with the Stormsages, they needed to search Valdura to see if they could find the meeting place of the Court, as they seemed to have a weekly meeting in the 7th month of every year, and that they needed to keep what they knew a secret, given that it was the only advantage they seemed to have at the moment. Now knowing the identities of their top leaders, Xarreus proposed that the party be present at the next major battle in the War to End All Wars, as it would be a good opportunity to cut their way through the Court's command, at least some of it.
With all of this in mind, Xarreus called for a hour-break before meeting back in the war room so he could find Galdur and bring him to discuss improvements for Kaer Nyssen moving forward. During this break, Vecna went back to his tower, "called in a favor," and gained an immensely helpful item: a pebble. A pebble from the Abeyan capital.
Where will the party go next? With the tools they need to reach the Ebon Citadel now in hand, will they go to the floating palace?

Preparing For A Voyage

The party finished doing the things they needed to do on their break, with Ren and Ulric planning on going on a peaceful horseback ride later, Yamma talking to Celrih about some things, and Jared giving Urizumin permission to form a "B-team" of sorts, a group of retainers around Kaer Nyssen who could patrol their territory and deal with problems that were too big for the troops but too small for the party. Reconvening at the war room, Xarreus and Galdur arrived shortly after, with Galdur quickly getting down to business: he had plenty of plans for almost everything in Kaer Nyssen, all he needed was permission and funding. Sitting on over 30,000 gold, the party agreed to upgrades to every major building: the keep would receive a courtyard extension and a barracks, the Lannsberry Inn would receive a second floor with rooms, Vecna's tower would receive a fourth floor with the beginnings of an observatory in it, and Yamma's monastery would receive expanded marble courtyards for training. The party also greenlit expansions to Galdur's quarry, Arranel's lumber camp, and Zoran's mine. In total, the upgrades came out to 24,000 gold and about 7 months of worktime, which the party agreed to, and Galdur went on his way to set the men to work.
With most domestic affairs dealt with, Xarreus asked once more what they believed the best path forward was, to which the party had no immediate answer. Ulric then entered, prompting Xarreus to leave them to discuss their plans. After he left, Vecna revealed that he had uncovered the key to getting them up to the Citadel: a small pebble from the palace itself. The party then agreed that they should go their first, and decided they should take the day to prepare before leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Firstly, they went to the bay to see if Yamma's barrier would hold out, where they discovered it did, in fact, protect him from the environment, but only lasted about 5 seconds. They returned to Kaer Nyssen, heading straight to Crease Lightning. There, they bought 3 Potions of Greater Healing, as well as a Universal Solvent, before heading back up to the keep. There, they decided to split up once more: Vecna, Yamma, and Jared would go get food for the journey, while Ren went and talked to Ulric.
The three men went and bought a crate of 50 loaves of bread, dumping them straight into the bag of holding, and then returned to the courtyard, where they sat and talked for a while, before Jared and Yamma left once more to stop by Crease's again, during which time Yamma asked Jared about how to handle women. Ren and Ulric, on their leisurely stroll, simply talked for the better part of an hour, before returning as evening began to give way to night. Yamma and Jared returned, having bought diamond dust, the latter attempting to cast greater restoration on Vecna, only for nothing to happen. Right after this, Ulric and Ren returned, prompting Jared to try and cast greater restoration on the former. Once again, greater restoration had no effect, but this time, Jared saw something for a split second.
He seemed taken aback, but wouldn't divulge the details, as Ulric said he was going to go rest for tomorrow and went inside. Jared, Ren, and Yamma then went and got dinner, before heading in for the night, with Vecna going straight back to his tower.
Tomorrow, the party goes to space? What awaits them in the Great Dark?

Heading To Space

Awaking the next morning, the party, plus Ulric, ate breakfast, made final preparations, and met in the courtyard of Kaer Nyssen. With the rock from the Citadel in one hand, and the rock from Kaer Nyssen in the other (in case of an emergency teleport back), Vecna teleported the party to the Citadel. They arrived in the ruins of what seemed to be a house, mummified corpses across the room, with a hole in the ceiling. Through the hole, they could see the dark towers of what they assumed to be the Ebon Citadel rising high into space, backlit by what appeared to be Emaxus itself, confirming they had made it, although only somewhat successfully. Their hopes of a quick, in and out mission seemed in peril, as they were not in the Citadel at all, in fact over a mile from it.
This peril was increased when the party realized they were not alone. Yamma, flying up to scout out the satellite they were on, saw several worrying things: he could see a huge warfront through the ruins of the Abeyan ruins, between unknown combatants on the ground and in the air, as well as several outposts and even fortresses built up out of the ancient city. They were most definitely not alone. But despite all this, the Citadel itself seemed strangely quiet and empty. As he was preparing to return to the group to tell them, four winged, spined creatures spotted him, following him as he retreated into the house. They narrowly missed the group, who successfully hid from the monsters.
As the flying creatures flew off in the direction of one of the outposts, the party heard even more approaching creatures: regimented, armored marching. Ren, moving stealthily, went out into the street to see what was coming. She found it in the form of nearly a dozen identical, masked humanoids, marching with halberds, being led by a terrifyingly large and emaciated bone husk, spiked and lanky. She hid as they passed, and was nearly successful until Yamma sneezed inside. The bone creature, drawn by the noise, investigated the house, moving along the outside, and even stabbing through the ceiling with its spiked tail (narrowly missing Jared), until it, too, passed over them and continued on its patrol.
After the creatures passed, the party decided their best bet would be to avoid fighting as best they could, and simply reach the Citadel. With Yamma navigating, as he had scoped out the cityscape, the party made their way towards the Citadel. Along the way, they noted what seemed to be the leader of the creatures they had been seeing: a huge, red, scaled humanoid with dark red wings like a cloak, a plated tail, dark black horns, and a steel maul, giving orders to over a hundred of the masked humanoids. After this, as they continued to try and make their way through stealthily, they were ambushed by three draconic humanoids, of white scales, who, when nearing defeat, shouted out to several of the spined creatures passing overhead to "tell Zarroth there are mortals," which only Ren understood as it was in Infernal. They dispatched the draconic creatures, and Yamma quickly flew in Super Saiyan to the spined creatures fleeing, catching up to and killing all three of them as well, seemingly without being noticed.
The party, freed from conflict, continued on their way to the Citadel. The rest of the stealthy trek was mostly uneventful, other than seeing a few combatants from the other side of the conflict: four centaur-like, huge beasts with sharp, spined tails and large horns, which were engaged in combat with and then defeated by nearly three dozen of the masked humanoids, as well as a nightmarish paladin-like man, in dark black armor atop an armored horse of flame and dark skin. Avoiding this skirmish entirely, they at last came to one of the great gates of the Citadel, where they discovered even more creatures holding it down like a forward base. There were nearly sixty of the masked humanoids, an insect-like humanoid seemingly made entirely of ice, many more of the winged, spined creatures, three of the paladin-like humanoids, and a green-skinned, blubbery, robed humanoid that almost carried itself like a bureaucrat.
The robed creature seemed to give orders to the ice creature before being carried back to one of the fortresses by a handful of the spined creatures, while the ice creature took a large portion of the masked humanoids out to seemingly patrol, shortly followed by the three "paladins." It was shortly after this, as the party was planning on slaughtering the rest of the creatures left, that something surprising happened: a huge, minotaur-like creature with wings, a sword of lightning, and a whip of flame, alongside a half-dozen humanoid vultures, attacked the remaining defenders, slaughtering them. In response, the huge, red humanoid (who Ren had deduced was Zarroth) quickly came flying in, alongside many more of the spined creatures, engaging, and shouting "You die now, Rakeneth!" Ren realized she was unable to understand the minotaur-esque creature, as the two huge creatures, seemingly the opposing leaders, engaged in a combat that took them several blocks away, and caused the destruction of quite a few structures, while their lackeys began slaughtering one another. The party, hiding in a building down the road, noted the brutality of the two sides, and began discussing their options, as avoiding the fighting would likely be near impossible. Two main options were noted: defeating both sides, or forging a temporary alliance with one for safety. No decision was made yet, but it was now on the party's minds.
As the fighting moved away from the gate, leaving it totally empty, the party rushed to the gate to try and find a way to open it. The party was confused, as it seemed totally sealed off, but Vecna noticed something none of them saw, reading out a riddle in Abeyan while sketching a map of the city with four marked locations. Rushing back to the building they had been hiding in as the fighting began moving again, Vecna translated the riddle with Comprehend Languages, which led the party to believe they needed to go to the four locations and find pieces of a key to open the gate. Leading them to the first of the four locations, which was only a few blocks from where the two huge creatures had been fighting, they discovered a seemingly bland plaza with a broken statue in the center.
Investigating closely, Ren discovered the statue had been very slightly moved, prompting her to tell Yamma to try and move it. He was successful, flipping the statue over and shattering it, revealing a door underneath it. Opening it and discovering a deep ladder chute, the party made their way inside. Nearly 100 feet down, they came to a simple bunker, with a table with 12 items on it, and five paintings. Deducing that each painting was missing something, the party successfully matched the five items back to their paintings, only failing once, which seemed to have no consequences. It was then that the table gave way, revealing a small quartered portion of an Abeyan tablet, entirely unmarked.
Successful, the party made their way back to the surface, where they were ambushed by another bone creature and ten of the masked humanoids. They managed to dispatch them with some difficulty, leaving several of them severely wounded, forcing them to retreat to a nearby house. It was then that they heard the flapping of heavy wings approaching, and saw the huge, red creature, "Zarroth," approaching. It landed in the plaza, looking at the house the party was in, and spoke plainly: "You had better have a good reason for slaying my troops."
Battered, bruised, and bloodied, the party's back is against a wall. Will Ren and Vecna be able to negotiate with this creature, and forge an alliance, or will the party need to escape as soon as possible?

A Series Of Deals

Wounded after their battle with the devils, the party hunkered down in a destroyed home as Zarroth landed in the plaza, asking them what reason they had to kill his troops. Vecna boldly moved outside, speaking to the fiend in Infernal, before being joined by Ren shortly after. Together, the two of them lied and persuaded their way to survival, convincing the fiend to let them live, as they knew how to get into the Citadel. As Zarroth interrogated them about what they knew, they construed a deal: amnesty with the Devils in exchange for meeting up with them when they opened the Citadel. They also agreed that the exact "tithe" of items the party would take from within could be discussed upon opening the Citadel. Zarroth agreed, emphasizing the fact that they had best not think of betrayal, before giving them each a medallion with a downward sword emblazoned on it, and leaving.
Securing their safety, if only for a short time, the party rested for a short time, licking their wounds and eating, before heading out for the second piece on the northwestern side of the Citadel. On their way there, the party got to see the success of their deal firsthand: flashing their medallions, the party got into an outpost of the devils unharmed and unmolested. It was while within it that Vecna realized the tablet was likely inside the outpost, and after asking around, discovered it had already been taken. The party decided they needed to talk to the devil in charge of the outpost, and were granted their wish when another one of the overweight, robed devils revealed itself.
It asked if the party had made a deal with Zarroth, and after they answered yes, he invited them in to his lounge. Once within, they said that they needed the tablet that had been there, and he offered them the location in exchange for something that would increase his standing in the Nine Hells. The party was confused, and offered several things, all of which were met with a lack of enthusiasm. Then Ren pulled out the Deck of Many Things, explaining its capability to do a variety of crazy feats, many of which the party didn't even know. Interested, the devil told them to first draw one themselves, to prove it wasn't trapped. Vecna obliged, and drew Talons. In an unexpected turn of events, the Hand and Eye were ripped from his body to an unknown place, and his robes were burned away. He nearly collapsed from the feeling, but said he was finally free. Intrigued and entertained, the devil changed the deal to wanting to see someone else draw another card. Jared obliged, drawing Moon, prompting two glowing circles to appear on his forehead. Satisfied, the devil told the party that the tablet was in the main citadel of the devils, and told them that if Zarroth asked, Anai Yorgun sent them. The party, satisfied and surprised by the turn of events, immediately heading back towards the infernal citadel.
On their way there, Jared turned into a horse to support the staggered Vecna, and the party made the uneventful journey back. Once there, they showed their medallions and were let in, being led by an ice devil into the main keep of the infernal citadel, and then to Zarroth, who was alone in a large chamber. The party explained how they needed the portion of the tablet kept in the keep, as that was the key, and Zarroth opened a portal to a room (presumably somewhere else in the keep), revealed a group of chests that had been masked in an illusion, and retrieved the second quarter of the tablet, giving it to Yamma. The party then returned through the portal (though Yamma and Jory did consider stealing the chests), and then made their way back out of the keep. Before leaving, the party decided it would be best to find a corner to rest for the day in, as they were still wounded and tired.
After their long rest, the party gathered their things, and prepared to leave for the third tablet piece, on the northeastern side of the Citadel. First, Vecna shared with the party many of the secrets had been keeping, revealing what it had been like with "Big V," and how it felt now that he was gone. As the party was travelling back around the northwestern side of the Citadel so as to avoid the main battlefront, Jared asked the party more about their home lives, and for the first time in a very long time, the party shared a lot that they had been keeping from one another. Arriving at the smaller, northern warfront, the party snuck their way through the small pockets of fighting, dealt with a pretty large group of dretches by having Yamma blast them off the edge of the satellite, and made their way to the third tablet location. Upon getting near its approximate spot, Vecna had a revelation: the piece was inside of an Abeyan fort coming off the Ebon Citadel itself, which was being occupied by demons. The party proceeded to hatch a bold plan to get the demons to trust them.
First, Vecna would create a Major Image of Zarroth coming into the airspace of the fort through a portal. Then, in the commotion, the party would fly over the walls with Yamma and Jared as a giant eagle, before proceeding to stage a battle by having Yamma and Jared attack the image and having Vecna control the image to make the battle seem real. After a short time of Yamma "getting smashed into the ground" and "several brutal exchanges," Yamma used a full power ki blast to "launch Zarroth back through the portal." The commander of the outpost, a Mawrilith, came down as the demons were surrounding the party in the courtyard, telling the demonic forces to stand down so she could speak to the mortals. Vecna, acting as diplomat, spun a tale of their rivalry with Zarroth, and how they had come to the Ebon Citadel to both stop him and get was within the Citadel, and how they knew how to get inside. Intrigued, the demon said it was not her place to tell the location of the tablet piece the demons had, and called Rakeneth forth. The Balor arrived promptly, asking his own questions, and, once seemingly satisfied with Vecna's deception, told the Mawrilith to "bring him."
Very shortly after, another, more powerful demon arrived, a horrifying humanoid with dual heads, one wolf and one snake, which seemed to lord over even Rakeneth. It told the party that they had best not betray the demons, as Fraz'Urbluu did not take kindly to disloyalty, and revealed to Vecna a vision of the location of the tablet piece, which was being kept in a cave on the underside of the satellite. The party, thanking the demons profusely, promptly left for the edge nearest the cave mouth. On the way there, several demons avoided them with wide berths, leading Vecna to believe the scent of the greater demons on them invoked fear in the other demonkin. Thus, unharmed, the party arrived at the edge of the satellite, sending Yamma down to scope out the cave mouth. He discovered it, seeing several spiders and a Drider within, telling the party of what he has seen. He then carried Vecna down, who told the Drider that they were servants of Fraz'Urbluu, and had come for the tablet piece, to which the creature responded that he was free to the vault.
Bringing the rest of the party down, they quickly began sweating in the sweltering heat of the cave, and decided to find the piece quickly. In their search, they discovered a variety of demonic followers, including two young black dragons, kobolds, drow, and lizardfolk, many of which were worshiping a huge statue of a gargoyle-like creature, who Vecna recognized as the Prince of Lies, Fraz'Urbluu. The party didn't start anything, finding a stone dais and throne in their quiet search. Yamma flipped both, and under the dais they discovered the tablet had been secretly slotted into the stone. With the third piece in hand, the party made their way back up to the edge, with the last piece in their sights.
What lies between them and the final piece? What awaits them in the Citadel itself? Will their lies hold up once the dark gates of the Ebon Citadel are opened?

The Citadel Opens

Waking up, rested, from their sleep, the party gathered their things and began making their way to the last piece of the tablet. Arriving where it should be, they took some time to actually find the entrance, which was discovered by Jory. Heading down into the bunker, which was hundreds of feet in the ground and actually partly removed from the main satellite. The party, by aid of Yamma, made their way to the bunker, where they fought two huge stone golems, and retrieved the tablet piece. Despite having all four pieces, nothing seemed to happen, so the party left with the four pieces.
On the surface, the party decided to find the main demon camp and inform the demons about their meeting place with the devils, so as to incite fighting between the two different armies. There, they met with Rakeneth, told him of how the devils' front line would soon be weakly fortified, and the Balor quickly rallied the demon hordes and began stampeding. In the chaos, the party rushed towards their meeting place in front of the gate, where they found Zarroth, several high-ranking devils, and hundreds of the faceless footmen. After talking shortly with Zarroth, Yamma pulled out the tablet pieces, and before he could do anything to stop them, they reunited, fusing into the whole tablet.
As it fused, the entire Citadel seemed to awaken, becoming wreathed in pale green energy, as the huge gates opened. As the party and the devils began negotiating their deal, the demons arrived in force, causing the entire gate to erupt into chaos. In the conflict, the party ran into the Citadel, and began their exploration. Over the next few hours, they cleared the first main building of the Citadel, getting many magical items, some they knew, and many they didn't. As they were searching an office which seemed to belong to Praxis, they began to hear sounds. Jared and Yamma investigated the sounds, and realized that they were being followed by something they couldn't see, which was mimicking their voices and their sounds.
As the party regrouped and began searching locked rooms in the library, they heard the gates reopen. Are the gates truly open, or was it a mimicked noise? And if they are, who's coming for the party?

The Citadel's Secrets

The party, hearing the gates of the Citadel open, had Ren check them out, and saw that they had in fact reopened, and a wounded Zarroth the Pit Fiend was giving orders to lesser devils. Fearing their wrath, the party quickly looted one more of the smaller rooms, finding a handful of fine gems and an intricate scroll, and then began running towards the center tower. Finally arriving there, they discovered its interior was sealed behind a magical field. Ulric revealed that Desolation was glowing violently as it got nearer the center of the Citadel, and they realized that the glowing revealed scripture on the pillars of the center tower. Copying it down, it read, repeating thousands of times: "To light the sky, reignite the blaze of the sun. Six pieces form its flame. The Solar King demands it."
Believing they needed to go to the other six towers, and likely find pieces of a key once more. They chose to head left, and walked along the edge of the tower for several hundred feet. Along the way, Ulric and Vecna spoke, and the former revealed that, once the Citadel had opened, it seemed as though something inside Desolation had awakened, and was calling him to the central tower, to reunite with something else. Vecna expressed concerns about Desolation, especially the profound effect it seemed to be having on Ulric, and told him that no one could possibly know what would happen if Ulric reunited with the other piece inside the central tower. Vecna told Ulric about the vision "Big V" showed him, specifically of the three entities in the hall, and how it represented Ulric's breaking psyche. Ulric, in a perhaps more worrying manner, retorted by saying that whatever was in Desolation was not something controlling him, but an extension of himself, and whatever was in the central tower, he would break to his will. He said that he felt like he was finally growing into himself.
Vecna simply left the conversation at that, as the party came to the first diverging path to another tower. Deciding to take a short rest before going, the party healed themselves before making their way down the long, dark hallway. At the end, they came into the tower, and quickly realized the dense maze of rooms and hallways within was going to be confusing to deal with. Nevertheless, they ventured in, and quickly realized that this tower held something dark within. They discovered set of Abeyan lab notes, which Vecna translated, revealing they had been studying a "Tablet of Desolation" which was creating an alien, magical substance they called "the Stain." Shortly after this, they discovered what this "Stain" was, a dark-black ichor which defied gravity, and covered anything it came into contact with, seemingly turning it into a void of infinite depth and darkness. The party refused to see what happened if they touched it, avoiding it like the plague instead.
Continuing their exploration, they eventually came to the center of their floor of the tower, and found a lockbox with a piece of a large, orange gem within. Believing this to be one of the six pieces they needed, the party headed up to the second floor of the tower, which was even more Stained, and had abominations and aberrations in various states of Staining. Heading through this, fighting the occasional monster, and searching every room they went through, they eventually found a small lockbox with a teleportation activation rune inside. Taking this, and searching further for its counterpart, they eventually found what they sought in a large room with a deactivated portal. Believing it would be best to rest before they went through the portal or activated it, they took a long rest and attuned to many of their new items. After their needed rest, they activated the portal, and passed through.
Exiting in a blank, cubic room, they made their way out, and realized very quickly by the open space all around them that they were on the top of the tower, on a platform with a raised sarcophagus in the center. But, due to Yamma smashing open the door to the platform, something was attracted. A large dragon, covered in Stain, twitching and phasing in and out of reality.
Will the party face this creature? If so, will they be able to defeat it? And what is in the sarcophagus? Why is Desolation intrinsically linked to this place?

A Dance With Devils

Facing off against the Stained dragon, the party engaged the strange creature. They emerged successful, but sustained some wounds, and then opened the sarcophagus in the center. Within, they discovered the Deathstalker's Ward, holding a tablet. The rest of the party took a short rest while Vecna identified the tablet, but upon touching the item, he was propelled back. He was visibly shaken, and when the party asked what had happened, he told them very little, only that he was mentally shaken and had come into contact with two terrible creatures. Upon looking back to the sarcophagus, the tablet was gone. The party, confused, nevertheless took the armor and put it in the Bag of Holding.
After this, two portal opened on opposite ends of the platform, linking to the two closest towers. The party took the northern one, and thus began their journey of hopping from tower to tower. On each of them, they discovered an identical sarcophagus, the first four of which were bound by 5 riddles each. Solving each of them, they looted each sarcophagus, receiving four more pieces of the gem, and a series of items: Whisper, Cabal's Ruin, Condemner, and Lightbane, Staff of Vivrah. On the final tower, they found another sarcophagus, surrounded by slain demons and devils, with a wounded Zarroth the Pit Fiend next to it. He was willing to negotiate, given his state, and Vecna and Ren told the party to stand down, engaging in talks with them. He warned them that slaying him would make an enemy of all the Nine Hells, and Zariel specifically, but that, if they aided him in slaying the two greater demons present, all would be forgiven. He said he no longer cared about what was in the Citadel, as the opportunity presenting itself was far too good to pass up. The party agreed, and gave him a sending stone by which to contact him, as both parties agreed to rest before hunting down Rakeneth the Balor and then the Molydeus he served.
Zarroth revealed that the Molydeus was named Ath'taruth, and was Fraz'Urbluu's second in command. He told them that he would have his Orthon Hunters find Rakeneth first, so that they could go to him when all were ready. Zarroth then departed, and the party took a long rest, identifying all of and attuning to some of their new armaments. As they rested, the party also decided on a new plan: they would teleport back to the library and loot the four remaining rooms, hopefully receiving a few more weapons to aid in their upcoming battle, before heading to the center with the pieces of the gem, and then opening the force field. They would have Zarroth meet them there and defend them while they were opening it, and then this event would hopefully force Rakeneth to come to them, and fight them on their terms.
They thus teleported to the library, which showed signs of battle, such as demon/devil corpses, blood, and destroyed shelves, and Ren used four more charges of her chime to quickly open the four remaining rooms, with Yamma looting all within. They got many valuable gems and pieces of art, and many magical items, and quickly began running towards the center tower, Vecna contacting Zarroth with the paired sending stone and telling him to meet them there.
They arrived unmolested, finding Zarroth as he just finished cleaning up demonic forces in the area. The devil took a position to defend the party as Yamma removed the pieces of the gem in the shadow of the huge field. As he did so, Zarroth began slaying the demons making their way towards the party. The six pieces of the gem fused into two halves, and as Yamma tried to push them together, they forced themselves apart, releasing a heavy amount of magical radiation as they did so. Ulric then devised a plan: Yamma force the two halves together while Jared and Vecna use their staves as conduits to pull the magical force away from Yamma and dissipate it.
The plan worked, with only a minor hiccup on Vecna's part that he resolved, and in the process, the feat of strength awakened Yamma's Titanstone Bracers, while the raw magical energy awakened both the Spire of Conflux and Lightbane. With the gem reunified, it turned into a perfectly spherical, tiny sun, radiating solar energy, and began rising into the air, the field dissipating as it rose. The field revealed a massive, mile across lake in the central tower, roiling and blackened, crackling with Stain. In the air hung an artificial sun, stained as well, a baleful orb radiating corrupted light. In the center of the lake was a small island, battered by the water, atop which a small, fifty ft. tall tower. Surprised by this strange sight, the party watched as the small sun they had forged descended once more, splitting into six parts, each going to a different member. It seemed to force the Stain away and cleanse it, which they assumed would be very helpful in whatever awaited them ahead.
Before they could move, however, Rakeneth appeared. The party, aided by Zarroth, engaged him, and in the ensuing battle, an enlarged Yamma kept the greater demon grappled while the rest of the party battered it. In spite of the grappling, the Balor still nearly dropped Jared and wounded Zarroth, but was nonetheless defeated, the battle finished by Jared, in the form of a giant scorpion, disemboweling it out of its throat. As it dropped, it called out to Ath'taruth, and the Molydeus answered, appearing as well.
Will the party be able to defeat this second greater demon? And if so, will Zarroth uphold his end of the bargain? And what awaits them in the center of the lake?

The Solar King's Palace

As Ash'taruth appeared, Rakeneth the Balor detonated in his death throes, severely wounding several members of the party. Nevertheless, the party engaged the Molydeus, and began a brutal fight. Ash'taruth received empowerment from Fraz'Urbluu himself, and Yamma and Vecna were knocked unconscious, but no one fell, and, after a grueling fight, Zarroth the Pit Fiend landed the final blow on Ash'taruth, killing it.
After the Molydeus's death, Zarroth thanked the party, saying they had made allies in the Nine Hells. As he said this, the party noted a strange golden-blue essence crackling out of the Molydeus's corpse. Zarroth explained it was likely Fraz'Urbluu's essence left over from the empowerment he had granted Ash'taruth, and then said he needed to go aid in cleanup efforts, thanking them again as he teleported away. Jared and Vecna, using their awakened staves, drew the crackling essence out of the corpse of the Molydeus, and as they did so, the essence collapsed, energy flowing from it.
This energy empowered the six members of the Silver Dawn, granting them each boons, and restoring their energy. Confused as to the exact nature of what had just happened, the party nevertheless made their way by flight to the tower in the lake, rejuvenated and strengthened. Inside the small tower, they found a wounded man, slightly Stained, next to an inert teleportation rune.
He explained his name was Kelsang, one of the last of the Solar King's men, and answered several of the party's questions. He told them of the nature of the Stain, as they understood it, and gave them warnings as to what lay within the Solar King's Palace. He told them to keep a map, and to hold their Pieces of the Sun close. He asked them to take the Pieces of the Sun and reunite them in the Solar King's Throne Room, as it would purge the Stain from the Palace.
The party was torn between going back and looting the rest of the Citadel, to be "as stacked as possible" before going into the Palace, considering how dangerous it seemed, but Kelsang warned that, with the field opened, more would come. Ulric also wondered if Praxis, with his connection to the Citadel, would somehow inform the Court of the party's whereabouts. With these ideas, the party decided to go into the Palace. Kelsang gave them a few last words, explaining what would await them immediately through the portal.
He told them they would be coming out in the Gardens, which was torn in a civil war. There was also a girl with Pieces of the Sun being held hostage that they could likely free to receive the Pieces. He then sacrificed himself to open the portal, as he was linked to it by blood. The party only had one shot, thanked Kelsang for his help, and told them that he would remember him.
Jumping through the portal, they came out in the demiplane the Palace was held in. The Palace was massive, and the gardens were framed on all sides by the huge towers and complexes of the palace. Yamma and Jory (who was named the map keeper) flew above the open air gardens, and Jory got a rough map of the courtyard, and got an idea of what was around them. He took this info back to the party, and they began exploring the gardens. The Stain was prevalent in many areas, with the party discovering the girl and her loose "geese" (her polymorphed Pieces), but found that she was Stained. They decided they would bring the geese back and purify her, and kept on moving.
The gardens had many interesting things, such as statues that turned anything that touched them to stone, a very rare and strange fox, a pair of statues that damaged and healed, and more. Ren found and snatched the first of what seemed to be five geese, and the party regrouped, preparing to move further into the gardens.
What more awaits them in this massive palace? Will they be able to purify it?

The King's Will

The party continued their exploration of the garden, passing through several new rooms. They purified a large tree which had a demonic seed in the center, and upon breaking open the seed, found another Piece of the Sun. In this same room they found their second goose, which Vecna treated to a float on top of his flameskulls. Using all six of the floating undead to form a small platform, the party put the two geese on top and floated them along. The party decided to come back to the gardens, heading into the observatory wing. The first thing they discovered was an absolutely massive spellbook, which seemed to belong to the Solar King himself. Within was the descriptions and notations for every single spell in existence, from 1st to 9th, as well as a new spell that the Abeyans had created for something they called "the Vault of Malice."
Vecna copied down the intricate spell incantations for the spell, known as "Create Living Vault," which could be used to create an impregnable and movable vault for great treasures and secrets, which had been used, according to the spellbook, to house "their salvation." Vecna, determining that moving the spellbook would likely lead to grave danger, chose to leave the book, and urged the party to continue on. Moving forward, they found a lab with a dwarf caught in a painful state of eternal, shifting form, causing endless torment, and killed him to put him out of his misery. In the lab he was held in, they found patchwork notes for another uber-powerful spell which could be used to put a target into an endless state of torment, but they were too incomplete to be at all useful.
They then found a stained knight of the Solar King who was executing other Stained, who they left to do his job, while another Stained knight challenged Yamma to a 1v1, and was slain. Using Speak With Dead, Vecna forced the spirit of the slain knight to tell them where the actual observatory was, and, following his directions, at last found their way to the observatory itself. There, they found the observatory's caretaker, who was still studying planets. The observatory itself was a marvel, a massive library and calendar of all known history, with a glass ceiling that would fall away and reveal different visions of the Great Dark Beyond, controlled by a simple disk. They made conversation with the woman, who revealed that she had been the one to originally contact Vivrah. She refused to divulge more.
They began studying the many facets of the observatory, which existed in and out of planes on account of its strange ability to transplant itself to any locale for viewing purposes. As they did so, Yamma made a request of the caretaker. He wished to see his homeworld. Giving her the coordinates, she pulled it up, and the party saw the desolate, once-desert world, which was split down the middle and wreathed in orbiting planetary debris. Then, using the observatory's records, they went back to the time of its destruction.
It was then they saw Him. Ulrade was surrounded in a massive fleet of hundreds of dark vessels, with a central flagship of a size comparable to a moon. From that flagship, in a swirl of crackling Stained energy, the massive form of Vivrah appeared, surrounding the planet in his massive, blood red wings, before cleaving it in twain with his blade of chitin. In a matter of seconds, He alone obliterated an entire world. And, as quickly as He came, He disappeared into the flagship once more in a vortex of Stain. Shortly after, a massive rift was cut in space, and the entire fleet vanished.
After witnessing it, the party wondered how they could kill a God. As Yamma asked this, Ulric brought up an interesting point, sowing doubt among the ranks of the Silver Dawn: if this Vivrah creature was so obscenely powerful, who was to say He hadn't been messing with their minds the whole time? How did they know anything they had learned about the Five, the Devouring Flame, or Nag'shagoth was true? Was Roderic real? And what of the Court? Were they truly serving Vivrah, or do they even know of Him? Do they unintentionally serve Him through the guise of Nag'shagoth? And, if Vivrah was such an existential threat, who's to say they can't merely protect their own world and hide from his gaze?
It was then that Vecna asked the caretaker for any records she had of Vivrah, which she provided reluctantly. She handed him a dark black, heavy tome, and Vecna began poring over the known history of Vivrah (see: Vivrah, the Obsidian King). He explained of how Vivrah had risen from a weak mortal to become a God-King that not only slew the First of the Five, but trapped the Devouring Flame with the Five in their prison, and slew trillions of beings across the Great Dark Beyond. It was during this conversation that the caretaker came and sat the disk down on the table, saying that she had found Him for them.
What sight awaits the party?

Attempts At Learning

Using the observatory, with the Caretaker's help, the party spied on Vivrah, who was on his flagship in the middle of nowhere in space. There, they bore witness to Him speaking to Fraz Urb'luu, who was terrified, and watched Him chastise the demon prince for his failures, saying that he had "altered their trajectory in a way that puts them in mine sight." He then spoke of how He had considered giving the next job to Fraz, but now knew that to be a ill-founded decision, but, before He divulged His new course of action, He sensed the party spying on him.
He then proceeded to pull them through space and time to His court, and forced them to kneel, emphasizing their utter helplessness to His will. He dismissed Fraz, and spoke to the party directly. He, in a way, congratulated them on their intrepid actions. He spoke as though it was a game, and He had long awaited adversaries. Nevertheless, he emphasized their current weakness, and taunted them, saying that they had already returned His tablet, and now He wanted His Fragment back. He was curious if they would survive the trials ahead. He specifically taunted Yamma, who referred to as "O survivor mine," and then sent the party back to the observatory, musing on the future like a great philosopher, detached from the events surrounding Him.
Upon crashing back onto the floor of the observatory, the party found that the actual viewing apparatus on the ceiling had been obliterated and overtaken with Stain. The glass from this had wounded the Caretaker, and Ulric saw to her being bandaged, while the rest of the party recuperated from the intense vertigo they felt. They all agreed that they were way out of their league, and wondered what awaited them in the Vault of Malice. For the time being, however, they agreed to rest, as they were exhausted from their encounter with Vivrah, and the party took a much needed sleep. Before taking his rest, Vecna took some time to scry on Kaer Nyssen, which was developing beautifully, with ground already being broken on the Keep expansion, new houses being built in the hamlet, and a splendidly bustling economy growing.
After their long rest, the party gathered their things, and, before going, attempted to get the Caretaker to come with them, as the observatory was rendered defunct. Sadly, like most Abeyans they had spoken to, she insisted on dying as she lived: among her people. She did, however, guide them to the Solar King's Archmage, who manned his forges, as she believed he would be most helpful to the party. Following her instructions, they found the Archmage, who turned out to be a fire giant, who himself manned a massive forge while dozens, if not hundreds, of mage hands darted about, manning countless smaller forges.
While he was not the most conversational, he was amicable, and they requested his help in understanding the runes they had been discovering. He had seen them many, many years ago, but had never been able to truly take the time to study them. Nevertheless, he had been the one to forge many of the powerful artifacts the party had recently discovered, and, hoping his knowledge of the handiwork of his items would split the difference of not understanding the runes, requested his help in infusing the green rune into the Kiss of the Changebringer.
He agreed, but informed them that he would need help. To feed lava into the forge as fuel, Yamma would have to pull a massive lever again and again, keeping the flames constant. Meanwhile, once the template was warmed and malleable, and the rune was soon to be infused, he would require a 5th level spell slot from both Vecna and Jared. The party agreed, and, taking their positions, set to work. Yamma, despite his size and strength, still had some difficulty pulling the lever, and failed a few times the first go 'round; however, he eventually got the swing of it, and, resisting the effects of rapidly incoming exhaustion, kept the forge inflamed.
Once the Kiss was ready to merge with the green rune, and at the giant's behest, Vecna and Jared, through their staves, unleashed their magical energies onto the forge. They were surprised and nearly caught offguard by the magical blowback, which was much stronger than even reforging the Sun to open the Palace before. Vecna barely held fast, and Jared was overwhelmed, and, though he managed to regroup and rejoin the forging, would prove to be disastrous. At the critical moment of unification, the magical blowback from the forging reached critical mass, and, in an explosion of cosmic energies, the green rune was destroyed.
Though they did not know what they had just lost, they were pleasantly surprised when they realized the explosion had empowered them all, infusing them all with some innate ability of the rune, granting them all Boons of Recovery. Thanking the archmage, and leaving the purple rune they had with him to study, they made their way towards the cathedral. On the way, they passed through several more rooms, including one which had thousands of maps, including, but not limited to, maps of the palace, which they happily took, now having a concrete idea of where to go. Following this, they made their way into the cathedral.
There, they sought out the Executioner they had heard about, Mortanak. They received directions to her when they freed an army of souls from a steel revenant, and made their way to her, passing through a skirmish between two Stained armies. They found her successfully, discovering her, alone, in an altar to the Moon. They began speaking to her, and discovered very quickly the overwhelming guilt she felt for killing the Mother. She told them of how she had received orders from "the King" (though she doubted this heavily) to kill the Mother when the civil war broke out after the order to initiate Armageddon was delivered. She had done so, with one bullet to the heart.
She gave the party an offer: she would help them through the palace on the one condition that, once the party made it to the King, she would get to ask him if he had truly given the order to kill the Mother, and, depending on what he said, put the last bullet in his skull. She told them that she had the keys to Deffany's cage, and could help them track the geese. The party graciously accepted, and she said that she first needed to pay her last respects to the Mother. Following her into the heart of the Cathedral (and discovering her extreme prejudice and skill with her advanced pistol along the way), they found where the Mother had been slain. A beautiful woman, in a simple, elegant white dress, stained dark red by the single hole through her heart, the Mother had been slain at an altar to the Moon, in the middle of prayer.
With tears in her eyes, Mortanak lifted the Mother off the steps she had laid upon for millennia, at last giving her the respect she deserved. She placed her upon the altar, and gave her a tuft of Deffany's hair, laying it on her chest and crossing her arms over it. From her, Mortanak took a folded up piece of paper, handing it to Vecna. Vecna, opening it, realized it was a crude, basic map of the Vault of Malice. Copying it down, and somewhat understanding what awaited them now, the party made their way towards the gardens.
What more awaits the party in this Palace? How close are they to facing the Solar King, and more importantly, what awaits them in the Vault?

The Throne Room

With Mortanak having given the Mother her last rites, she told the party that she could help them find the rest of the geese, and that she had a stash with three Pieces of the Sun they should go by. The party agreed, and she quickly led them back through the palace towards the Gardens, deftly avoiding conflict and distractions. Along the way, the party spoke to a few more Unstained Knights of the Solar King, before coming to the large weeping willow they had seen when they first arrived. They discovered it had a beautiful, sad dryad sitting atop its branches, and Mortanak said that if they needed to purge their Stain, they could do so here.
They were confused, and she explained that if you told the dryad a sad story and she cried, her tears would cleanse their Stain. The party, hesitant at first, agreed. Jared went first, telling of how he and his wife had tried to have kids, but he was sterile. Jory went next, opting not to tell a sad story, but a happy one about his dog back home, as he "thought she could use a little break." She appreciated this. After that went Vecna, who told of Cephalik's story, and how he had unintentionally caused the massacre of his people and had been enslaved. Then came Ulric, who recounted in brutal detail the genocide of Sicar. Ren chose to go after him, telling of when her and her sister had arrived in Kul Tiras and met their new friends, Mark, Fenn, Moira, and Mira, and the terrible fate that befell them all. And last, went Yamma. He told of his struggle with the fate of his people, and the similar feelings he felt during the Purging of Oakenglen.
With their Stain purged, and Jory and Jared confused as to what Yamma had spoken of with Oakenglen (considering the actual events of that day were not common knowledge), the party went to the Ninodon Lord's throne, one of the two lords battling over the Gardens. That was where Mortanak's stash was. Arriving there, Vecna made a deal with the Ninodon Lord, keeping him distracted while Mortanak retrieved her stash successfully. Vecna's dealings were successful as well, and the Ninodon Lord handed over the goose he had, and told him the location of the remaining two, on the condition that they kill the Solar King.
Successful in their goals, the party hunted down the other two geese, and then made their way back to Deffany's cage. Upon just bringing the geese into her proximity, her Stain was purged, and a terribly awkward and sad exchange occurred while Mortanak, who had slain Deffany's mother, unlocked her cage. Mortanak retreated after unlocking it, and the party got her to revert the geese back to their original forms, granting them another five Pieces, bringing their total to 15. Deffany thanked them genuinely, and then said that she wished to visit her Mother's resting place, chiding Mortanak as she said so. Mortanak responded by telling her she had given her the last rites she deserved, which defused the situation slightly, before Deffany left.
With tension in the air, but their goals achieved, the party decided to make their way to the throne room, where they would rest outside before going in to face the King. They followed Mortanak back through the Gardens and then the Observatory, before coming to a massive room just outside the throne room which was filled with cages of all sizes. From within one of the dark corners in the room, a massive, Ancient Silver Dragon approached, its wings shaved down and cut off. It was in a huge amount of pain, but merely wanted to the party to keep it company. They obliged, and took their long rest with it.
During this time, Vecna approached Ulric, asking to Identify Desolation. Ulric, hesitant, agreed. As Vecna did this, Ren came and spoke to Ulric briefly, each telling the other not to die "tomorrow" (time was still uncertain), before sharing their first kiss. Vecna successfully identified Desolation, and gave it back to Ulric, who then went to sleep. The rest of the party joined him in this, except for Jory. After everyone had drifted off, he woke up Yamma, and asked him what he had meant when speaking of Oakenglen earlier.
Yamma explained what had happened, and Jory asked how they could've done such a thing. Jory, furious, chastised Yamma and the entire party, while Yamma, who had always felt guilty for the massacre, could hardly defend himself, with Jory ending the conversation before Yamma could even apologize. The two returned to bed, and the next morning, the party ate before heading into the throne room.
Once inside, the party took up advantageous but inconspicuous vantage points, with Ren using a potion of invisibility to keep herself hidden as she deftly climbed up the walls and across the ceiling to rest just above the King's head, ready for the kill. The King himself was clad in the terrible armor the party had seen in several different dreams, but was himself terribly decrepit and a seeming non-threat. He was so decrepit, in fact, he didn't even notice the party as they entered and positioned themselves.
Once they were ready, Mortanak initiated. She got his attention, and told him that she had brought visitors to his court. He asked them all to identify themselves, and most did so, though Yamma used a fake name, and Ulric identified himself as the Crown-King of Sicar, drawing Desolation as he did so. Upon seeing the cursed blade, the King threw himself from his throne and began shamefully, desperately crawling towards it, begging for Ulric to give it to him. Mortanak drew her revolver and aimed it squarely at his head, forcing him to stop, before asking him the question she had come for: if he had given the order to kill the Mother.
Needless to say, he gave the wrong answer. As bullet after bullet ripped through his skull, his armor kept him unnaturally preserved, before Ren plummeted nearly one hundred and fifty feet and drove Whisper through his skull, collapsing it. Absorbing the fall, her Deathstalker's Ward became empowered, a dull golden pulse radiating across her from her feet, where the damage came from, while Whisper radiated cascading, inky black shadows as she ripped it from the King's skull, his decrepit form collapsing. As he began his death throes, he was wholly consumed by Stain, before disintegrating, leaving only his armor in its place.
As he did so, his throne fell away to reveal a long, dark hallway. The Vault of Malice. Mortanak said she had no wish to go inside, as she had gotten everything she had come for, but would wait outside for the party. The party thanked her again, and made their way into the hallway, with Ulric walking straight past the armor.
What awaits them in the Vault? What dark "salvation" would the King have locked away?

A God's Fragment

The party made their way down the first section of the Vault, a long, dark, polished black glass hallway, and came upon the first gate, the Gate of Material Wealth. Upon it, it read "Whosoever passes through this gate must make a sacrifice of their material wealth." The party was confused, and attempted to make an offering of gold to the gate, but found it had no effect. And so, they attempted to push open the gate,and found it simply swung silently open; however, upon passing through the gate, they found that all of their gold vanished from existence. And, in the next, identical section of hallway, instead of true reflections on the black polished glass walls, they saw reflections of what they had sacrificed. They saw the massive cache of gold at Kaer Nyssen disappearing, and felt all of their gold on them vanish. Luckily, non-liquid assets seemed unaffected, but all gold-related items disappeared.
At the next gate, the Gate of Past, the inscription read "Whosoever would open this gate must recite a great deed that they have accomplished." The party was confused at first, and tried to say several deeds, but the gate did not respond. Yamma succeeded, saying that he had killed a Sage of the Infinite Court, a "big eyeball thing." And so, the gate unlocked, the inscription burned away, and the party made their way into the next identical section of black glass hallway. In these reflections, they saw a moving vision of them, fighting Xolthur on the summit again. Almost everything was the same, only this time, as Yamma went to deal the death blow, Xolthur teleported away. The Vault had undone the deed Yamma had offered.
Understanding the gravity of the Vault now, the party made their way to the third gate, the Gate of Second Death, which read "Whosoever would open this gate must die the second death." At first, the party wasn't sure what they meant, until they realized what "second death" might mean: they would be forgotten. Yamma wished to make this sacrifice, but Vecna spoke up against it, saying it would likely be for the best if he were forgotten. Yamma accepted, and Vecna took the sacrifice, opening the gate. In the next section of hallway, they saw reflections of arcane treatises written by Vecna in the future attributed to other, wrong authors, a cabin in the woods fading, and the party gathered at a table, with one empty chair, but none of them knowing why it was there.
On the way to the next gate, they passed the fourth, the Gate of Mercy, which read "Whosoever passes through this gate will find release from the burden of knowledge." They discerned that this likely meant they would be spat out outside of the Vault, essentially offering them a way to give up. Not giving up, they moved on to the fifth gate, the Gate of Love, which read "Whosoever would open this gate must speak the name of someone cherished and beloved." Considering what the Vault had already taken, the party feared what would happen to those they named. After long, careful deliberation, and hesitant ideas, Ren stepped forward, saying her sister, Vallia. The gate opened, and the party moved on. In the next hallway, they saw reflections of Ren and Val, as kids, playing on the House De La Roche estate, then, as teenagers, both approaching the Snug Harbor Inn in Boralus, and meeting the original members of the party. And finally, Ren, seemingly in the future, opening a door, and seeing a battered, but living, Val. This vision faded from existence.
Heartbroken but strong, and with Ulric's help, Ren joined the party in approaching the next gate, the Gate of Life, which read "Whosoever would open this gate must forswear the gift of the Gods of Life." The party assumed that this meant that they would be unable to resurrect, and Yamma gladly offered himself to the gate, as he had already been very clear about not wanting to be resurrected. The gate did not take what they thought it would. Yamma doubled over in pain, claiming "his dick hurt." Vecna, hearing this, realized that the "gift" was the ability to sire children. Yamma had been sterilized. In the next section of hallway, they saw a reflection of Yamma and Celrih kissing in an embrace, and then a long line of powerful people, some warriors, others mages. And, one by one, the line of people faded, leaving only Yamma and Celrih. Yamma was part relieved, and part disappointed, as this meant his race would truly die with him, but also meant that he would never be able to give them the second chance he had hoped for. He would also have to have a rather interesting conversation with Celrih when he got home.
At the next gate, the Gate of Future, it read "Whosoever would cross this gate must forswear their future success." Unsure as to what this meant, the party opened the gate and crossed the gate, suffering no immediate, obvious consequences. In the next section of hallway, there were no reflections, only murky shadows, and another Gate of Mercy, which the party passed without a second thought once more.
At the ninth gate, the Gate of Innocence, the inscription read "Whosoever would open this gate may do so by speaking the name of an innocent person." First, the party made the argument that no person was truly innocent, which Jared presented, but the gate did not accept. They then thought that only children were truly innocent, but Jory said that if they were considering sacrificing a child, he would have to leave. No one had been considering it, but talks about it ceased nonetheless. Jory then spoke up about a woman named Angela, the village healer from his hometown, who was an elderly woman who had been the nicest person Jory had ever known. He only considered her because she had lived a long, happy life, and the party agreed. Thus, Jory spoke her name, and the gate opened. In the next section of hallway, the party saw a real-time reflection of Angela, in her simple home, brewing a healing salve. And as she was taking this salve to the child she was caring for, she collapsed to the ground, dead, and the vision faded as the child screamed and help rushed in.
The tenth gate, the Gate of Body, read "Whosoever would open this gate must make a sacrifice of their body." Once more, no one knew what this truly meant, but Jared, given his ability to wild shape, chose to take on this sacrifice. He offered himself, and doubled over in intense pain for a short time, with it fading as quickly as it came. Helped up by Vecna, they made their way into the next section of hallway, where they saw many visions of the party, with Jared repeatedly having various forms of muscle failure.
At the next gate, the Gate of Death, the inscription read "Whosoever would open this gate must forswear the gift of the Gods of Death." Here, the party deliberated on what it could mean, before coming to the conclusion that death could be considered a mercy, and thus, forswearing this would mean they would be immortal, to a point. Vecna chose to give himself to the gate, considering he had forsworn the right to be remembered after his death. The gate opened, and the party made their way into the next section of hallway, where they bore witness to many scenes of Vecna's gruesome dismemberment, all of which should've killed him, but in all he was shown to live in agony.
On their way to the next gate, the Gate of Mind, the party passed by the final Gate of Mercy, committing to their goal with total finality. The Gate of Mind read "Whosoever would open this gate must make a sacrifice of their mind." Yamma, at last admitting to the party that he had been deceiving them all, and he was no scholar, took the sacrifice without hesitation. He opened the gate, nearly collapsing from the pain that struck his head, but recovered and was helped up by Ulric, and the party continued into the next hallway. This hallway had reflections of Yamma being overtaken by different spells, but the party made it to the final gate, the Gate of Lies.
This gate read "Whosoever would open this gate must speak one lie they have told." The party deliberated for quite a while on what lies they had told they could offer. Jared attempted one, when he lied about the barrels at The Breslau Gala, but nothing happened. After some time passed, and the party had nothing, Ulric stepped forward silently. He said "I don't know what's inside of Desolation." And so, the final gate opened. There was a further stretch of hallway, before an opening. In this stretch, the party saw a reflection of Ulric kneeling with Desolation before some terrible, hidden figure, its only defined feature being three, glowing red eyes. The party was infuriated, to say the least, with Jared accusing Ulric of treachery, and saying he needed to fix this problem, but Ulric simply said that there was nothing he could do right now, and thus no point in worrying.
And so, the party headed into the Vault itself. At first, they saw nothing in the massive metal cube other than huge swaths of Stain. Then, Ren spoke. And as she did, they saw what was held within the Vault, that which had been hidden in its motionlessness. It was a Fragment of Vivrah. It spoke, saying "Your Light dies here," and the party engaged in a battle with a fragment of a God. Over the course of the battle, several members were nearly slain, and the Fragment showed the mastery over space, time, and the Stain it held with even a fraction of Vivrah's strength, creating Stained orbs of blight, portals that summoned strange creatures of pure Stain, consuming the party's Pieces of the Sun, and even consuming their Stain to grow stronger. They fought hard, eventually harming it enough to where it consumed all of their Stain and then shattered the very fabric of reality like glass, breaking a hole straight to Vivrah's Throne on his flagship. The Fragment then pulled them all through, scattering them onto a new battlefield, the massive platform that they had seen Vivrah on before.
Only two of Vecna's undead survived the trip, but, in the energy of the pull, the entire party was rejuvenated. With this new energy, Ren used the Gem of Summon Elemental and summoned a fire elemental, Jared summoned another fire elemental and turned into an air elemental himself, and the party engaged once more. All under the gaze of Vivrah Himself, who was simply watching from the raised circular platform they had seen Him on before. The Fragment now banished Ulric and Yamma to another realm, a bleak, desolate, windswept plane devoid of color, where they had to fight many of the Stained creatures the Fragment had been summoning the entire fight. At the same time, the Fragment ripped open a massive portal to that same plane, calling forth a massive Stained creature, eyeless, muscular, and nearly twenty feet tall. The rest of the fight was brutal, with several more Stained creatures being summoned and defeated, Ren's flame elemental being defeated, Jared being pulled out of his air elemental form, and Yamma and Ulric slaying enough creatures to claim enough Sword Logic to pull themselves back. And, during this, Yamma went into a raw state of rage he had never entered before, entirely losing himself to his bloodlust and battle instinct.
And so, with the party regrouped, and the Fragment backpedaling from their assault, Ren provided the spearhead into its heart: wounding it gravely with Whisper once, she then waited for the Fragment to attack the last of Vecna's flameskulls, before throwing Whisper directly into its eyes, teleporting to it and dragging it down and through the Fragment's entire form with her weight, exalting the dagger and slaying the Fragment. In its death throes, it exploded in a sphere of Stain and divine essence, infusing the party with a huge influx of new power. And so, the party had claimed victory, and now they were at Vivrah's mercy.
Stranded Light-knows-where in the universe, and with Yamma lost in his rage and most of the party wounded, will the party make it back to Emaxus? Or does their journey end at Vivrah's mercy?

A King's Coronation

With the Fragment defeated, the party turned to Vivrah Himself. Yamma, still blinded by rage, attempted to attack him. And so, this happened:
"You all see as Yamma stops mid-flight for the blow, Vivrah holding up his right hand casually. In an instant, his Super Saiyan form drops, and he tenses up as his rage fades.
“Once again, you have surprised me, O quarry mine.” With a slight gesture of his right hand, you feel yourselves all lift helplessly off your feet and float towards him, stopping in a semicircle along the edge of his platform, before being placed on your feet and then compelled onto your knees in an array before the Obsidian King. As you are all, at last, still, you realize that the massive ship you are aboard is moving. You can see the starscape, like thousands of holes punched in a backlit canopy, is blotted out in spots. Vivrah’s fleet is moving, the massive warships blocking out entire celestial clouds as they travel, silently, through the Great Dark. “You believe mine will to be vile. Yet you do not yet understand the very history of this universe you believe to be good.”
Far off, like a small light behind Vivrah, you see a bright green planet, surrounded by three smaller, white orbs, presumably moons. “They are called the Eh’ar. Mine brood has made war with them for three years.” He turns, his wings rustling behind him like a cape of blood and sinew, and takes a few, noble strides to the edge of the platform. As he does so, you feel the weight keeping you kneeling fade. “Walk with me, O intrigue mine. Bear witness to the universe’s beauty as I do.”"
The party came forward, wondering what they were soon to see.
"He gazes out towards the slowly growing green ball of life, which is now dotted by small, dark objects. Other vessels, which seem to be approaching. And as these first vessels begin to light up with strange flashes of green light, which arc from them to the first of Vivrah’s Fleet, resulting in brilliant explosions of orange and red, Vivrah speaks. “War. The trial of one group proving its right to exist over another. Existence is the struggle to exist. At this point, I believe you understand. If not, then I suppose you are a lost cause. Mine will has been proven dominant over a thousand worlds, mine will has seen trillions of lives broken upon the blade. And through this struggle, through mine strength, I have gained much. Aiat. The Sword Logic proves thus, and through itself is perpetuated.”
Without turning from the now growing battle, the Great Dark crisscrossed by a growing number of lights and explosions, Vivrah chuckles. “You have slain mine Fragment, and thus, claimed the Sword Logic to speak in mine presence. So, speak, O intrigue mine.”"
The party, still hesitant, began asking Vivrah many things about His Logic and why He does what He does, and found nothing but steadfast conviction in the belief that all He does is right and true.
"As you’re talking, you can see as the battle continues raging, one of Vivrah’s massive warships engulfed in an expanding ball of flaming gas as large as a moon, sending city sized shards of hull arcing through the Great Dark. Hundreds, thousands of vessels, far too many to keep track of, engaged in battle, raging through the heavens. Moon-sized cruisers trade fire with bolts that would incinerate cities, while house-sized, smaller vessels dart between the giants, engaged in battles all of their own. In a way, from this far removed, relatively safe vantage point, it is almost beautiful.
“Even if you won’t admit it, you all follow mine path. From worms in the dirt, you are growing to be, what? Heroes? Hm. Like a reflection through shattered glass. You understand, these Eh’ar have wasted their existence. They occupy a piece of reality, and have rented their existence on fraudulent terms; making themselves happy and fat, fencing themselves in soft lies and sweet apocrypha. Saying: ‘we are peaceful and good, we harm nothing.’
Their golden age is a cancer.
They do nothing to advance the cause of life! They burn up time and matter and thought on this solipsistic, onanistic pursuit of safety, insulating themselves from death, making a regressive pocket of useless stability. When they could have helped whittle the universe towards its final, perfect form!
Aiat. What is at war is healthy, what is at peace is sick. You understand this, for you make war, O intrigue mine. And thus, even as you grow in resentment against me, you perpetuate mine will.”"
The party continued their arguments with Vivrah, though Vecna was finding truth in what He was saying. And, as the party's frustration began flaring, Vivrah maintained his cold, dejected stance.
"The battle has reached a fever pitch, with an unimaginable amount of war being raged in the full spectrum of your vision out into the Great Dark. Blossoming balls of flaming gas consume hundreds of vessels in gouts of beauty and destruction, as a beautiful lattice network of beams and projectiles illuminate hulls and wreckage as they blaze a trail through the void. One of the larger Eh’ar ships, tubular in design, almost fish-like, rams into one of Vivrah’s warships, splitting it in two in a rapidly expanding fireball that vaporizes thousands and obliterates both vessels. “At times, these battles remind me of Etrion. A refuge for trillions, consumed by violent winds and seas, harsh to the very life that flooded it. A microcosm for the universe? I have long pondered that thought. Only, mine role has been switched, by mine will. Before, mine people lived, breathed, and died at the mercy of nature. Now, mine will is the very force of nature by which existences are decided. The Sword Logic granted me the path, and by mine will, I claimed it. Aiat. Those who do not make war shall die, whether by mine will or by their own stagnation. Mine will is eternal, for mine will is war, and in my mind cosmos I am eternal. For I am Vivrah, and this is my law. I speak it thus.”"
Seeing the wanton destruction, the party attempted to argue that His Logic was fallible and false.
"“You hate mine will for you do not understand mine will. Our universe gutters down towards cold entropy. Life is an engine that burns up energy and produces decay. Life builds selfish, stupid rules — morality is one of them, and the sanctity of life is another.
These rules are impediments to the great work. The work of building a perfect, undying creation, a civilization everlasting. Something that cannot end.
If a civilization cannot defend itself, it must be annihilated. If a King cannot hold his power, he must be betrayed. The worth of a thing can be determined only by one beautiful arbiter — that thing’s ability to exist, to go on existing, to remake existence to suit its survival. I have remade existence to suit mine survival, and thus mine immortality is born. From my will to exist, my great mind cosmos is given shape, and in it, mine will is all. For I am Vivrah, the Obsidian King, the First Navigator, and this is my law. I speak it thus.
I am a teacher. You have not yet grasped that. You, O survivor mine, who wields a power from his mind like I. You have borne witness to mine will, and you understand that, through the Logic, your existence must be claimed. You have proven that, where the rest of your species failed, you claim the Logic to live on, and thus, existence bends to your will. You, O assassin mine, who prefers the blade in the dark to the battle in the day. Where your family fails, you succeed. By your will to exist, you go on existing. And then there is you, O shaman mine, who communes with the Old Gods. Despite all of your trials, your will to exist triumphs. Yet in your will there is deceit, for in your belief there is treachery. You draw power from something you believe to understand, yet don’t. Your power is given, which is in itself a weakness. What you want, what you need, must be taken. Your God lies by omission, for in her truth there is fear. In her truth, my Logic prevails. And you, O healer mine, who sacrifices his own existence for the existence of those around you. You are out of your depth. You were the base, the foundation upon which stronger beings built their existence. Yet from your weakness, you carve a path. While you could have been content in your weakness, you instead forged your own existence, and proved your right to exist above others. But, after this success in following the Logic, you now defy it, and in it, find weakness. For you know that, if your existence were to face another’s alone, you would fail. In your reliance upon others, by buying into the fatal lie of civilization, you breed weakness in your heart and in your mind, and thus, you will never truly claim the right to exist. And finally, you, O inquisitor mine, who wields a vestige of mine creation. You seek greater and greater knowledge, to truly understand the universe, and now you know the path. In your heart, you understand that mine Logic is truth. For it is. Mine Logic is the Logic by which all existence defines itself.
By claiming the Sword Logic of mine Fragment, and by claiming the Logic of every creature you have felled before, you are no longer bound by causal closure. Your will defeats law. Kill a hundred of your children with a long blade, O quarry mine, and observe the change in the blade. Observe how the universe shrinks from you in terror.
Your existence begins to define itself.”
Looking out into the Great Dark, it appears as though Vivrah’s fleet have broken their foes. What few other vessels remain are being exterminated, and the flaming cannons of Vivrah’s brood turn instead to the planet. Untold lives will be lost in the coming moments. And so, Vivrah speaks, “You believe me to be vile, yet deep in your true heart, you know mine will to be law. One of your philosophers said, "It is not to be thought that the life of darkness is sunk in misery and lost in sorrow. There is no sorrow. For sorrow is a thing that is swallowed up in death, and death and dying are the very life of the darkness." He was a shoemaker. He was right, and it matters more than anything.
According to him, the visible world is a manifestation of eternal light and eternal darkness, and it is in eternal opposition that eternity has revealed itself. The fall was necessary for creation to escape its first imperfect stasis and seek a truer form. Heresy? Well, then, I am the heresiarch. The philosopher died of a bowel disease. Those who do not exist cannot suffer and are of no account to any viable ethics. If the true path to goodness is the elimination of suffering, then only those who must exist can be allowed to exist. It is the nature of life to favor existence over nonexistence, and to prefer the fertile soil to the poisoned wind. Because those who open their mouths to that wind pass from the world and leave no descendant, whether of flesh or of thought.”
As He is speaking, you see as Vivrah slowly raises his right hand, which begins crackling with Stained energy, and one of the moons is wreathed in a light aura of Stain, crackling black and white-green across its surface and through its atmosphere. This aura then extends to the surface of the planet, forming a pale green and crackling black ethereal tether many thousands of miles long between the two celestial bodies. He then clenches his fist, releasing a slight wisp of Stained energy, and you see as the tether energizes, becoming nearly an opaque white and black, with massive bolts of Stain lightning crackling across the closest points of both bodies’ surfaces as the moon begins to move down towards the planet.
“But imagine the abomination of a world where nothing can end and no choice can be preferred to any other.”
The moon begins to be wreathed in flame on its closest side to the planet, the atmosphere burning up as the moon enters it.
“Imagine the things that would suffer and never die.”
The planet begins to buckle, and you can see some cracks begin to form where the tether is connected to both bodies, pulling Valdura-sized shards towards both bodies.
“Imagine the lies that would flourish without context or corrective.”
And then, in a blinding flash, the moon makes contact with the planet, and as the flash fades, you see a rapidly growing wave of flame incinerating both surfaces, expanding from the point of impact as the moon pushes into the surface of the planet. A rapidly expanding debris cloud of massive, glowing, superheated shards expands out from the impact, splitting into a massive projectile swarm which begins to get pulled back in arcs towards the planet, each one colliding across the surface, each one an extinction-level impact. And over the course of only a few seconds, the entire world is left as a barren, glowing, superheated ball of flame and rock, an entire world of life wiped out in an instant.


“Imagine a world without me.”"
And so, the party was sent hurtling across the universe before crashing harshly back onto the floor of the now cleansed Vault. Here, they discovered a metal chest, inside of which was a hefty handful of items (see: Rewards), as well as strange, hyperdense metal fragments made of an unknown material. Vecna reassembled the shards, revealing they were an ornate maul head with runes along the side, which read, as translated by using Comprehend Languages, "Kinslayer, the Silver Reckoning." They were intrigued by the weapon piece, but had no use for it as of yet, and so Yamma simply took the entire chest. The party, exhausted, decided to rest, but not before discussing the events that had just transpired.
Vecna said that he understood the Sword Logic, and that it made a frightening amount of sense. Ulric echoed this sentiment, admiring Vivrah's unending dedication, in a sort of "credit where credit is due" fashion. Jared did not like this. He accused both of defending the rampaging God, which Ulric quickly lashed back to by saying that he would never defend His Logic, as by it, his people deserved to die. Frustrated, tense, and tired, the party then went to sleep.
Before anyone else woke up after the rest, Ulric and Vecna stealthily departed before them all, heading for the throne room. They had decided to get Ulric into the armor, as they knew they would need its power for Vivrah's seemingly inevitable arrival, and that the party would never agree to it. Yamma woke up after, excited at the new techniques he could use, and used Instant Transmission to head to the throne room, not to stop the two men, as he didn't even notice they had left, but just to test it out. Ren and Jared woke up soon after, and immediately noticed the two men's disappearance, assuming where they had gone. They quickly gathered their things and followed.
Ulric and Vecna, arriving in the throne room, quickly set to work. With a good five minute head start, Vecna Identified all three of the pieces of the armor: the Crown of Ruin, and the plate and cloak which together formed the Desolate Armor. He realized just how powerful of necromantic artifacts they were, and that they were beyond ancient, so ancient that he couldn't glean all there was about them with anything less than a Legend Lore spell. Ulric touched the plate, and instantly donned it, taking him aback by its instantaneous attachment. It was as he was about to place the Crown of Ruin upon his head that Ren and Jared arrived. The former attempted to talk him out of it, but it was too late. He placed it upon his head, and then attached the cloak to the plate, calling Desolation to his hand, and thus fully assuming the haunting visage they had seen in so many visions.
Jared was not happy. He began yelling about how Ulric was power hungry and would doom them all, becoming frustrated with the other members of the party when they did not vocalize the same sentiments. He then explained that he would be leaving when they returned to Kaer Nyssen, as he believed the party's morals no longer seemed to align with his. Ulric defended his actions by noting just how out of their league Vivrah was, and that they would need everything they could, echoing his past statements of "bearing any curse" and "having a duty to the dead." Jared would have none of it, and instead said they should just wrap up at the Palace and go home. They united the Pieces of the Sun they had left, purging the Stain and returning the Palace to normal, the artificial sun becoming a warm orange once again, and then headed out.
With Yamma's Instant Transmission, they traveled, with Mortanak, back to the Mother's corpse, which was just outside of the cataloging machine they needed to see. Deffany was here, paying respects. She thanked them profusely for what their help, after which the party tried to get her to return to Emaxus with her people, as they could find refuge at Kaer Nyssen. She declined, saying that they needed time to find their footing after four thousand years of corruption, and they could rebuild at the Palace first, but said that they were welcome to return at any time, and if they needed help, she could always be counted among their allies. They bid her farewell, and went to talk to the cataloging machine.
It was useless. It said it needed a password, which was later revealed to not exist, and so Vecna and Jared attempted to parlay with the strange, childish machine, while Yamma and Ren paid the forgemaster a visit. There, they asked both about the fragments of Kinslayer, and the "Power Rune." To the former, he explained how they were believed to be fragments of the weapon of Akhor, God of Victory, which was shattered during The War of Creation in the skies of Emaxus, and thus, they plummeted to the surface, shrinking as they did so. He revealed that they had never reforged it, because they never found the hilt, which they believed to have crashed in Avurcurian lands (which Ren deduced to be Iotura), and even if they had found it, he explained that divine work was tricky stuff, and even reforging it would hardly return it to the potential it had in Akhor's hands. Not knowing these names or events he was throwing at them, Ren and Yamma absorbed what they could.
On the topic of the "Power Rune," he revealed he had made little to no headway. He knew that it was primordial in make, perhaps even linked to reality itself, and was highly unstable. Thus, it reacted very negatively to any attempt to stabilize it or infuse it into a vessel, such as a weapon or armor. Ren and Yamma then took the fragments back, thanking the forgemaster, and decided to leave the rune with him, to see if he could eventually discover its use. They then returned to the rest of the party.
Regrouped, the party decided to leave the machine (who revealed naught else than a strange prisoner in the Treasury, a "gith" known as "the 6th Pirate Queen") and have Mortanak open the way back. She led them back to the center of the garden, where they had entered, and, cutting open her hand and letting the blood fall into the center of the courtyard, reopened the portal. Before leaving, the party tried to get Mortanak to come with them, but she explained that she needed to be at the new Queen's side, to help her reforge a path for their people. But, she echoed Deffany's sentiments, and promised help if they should ever need it. And so, with the path back to the Material Plane opened, Vecna teleported them all back to Kaer Nyssen with their final teleportation scroll and the pebble they had from the keep.
Upon arriving, they were greeted by surprised, but relieved guards, and then both High Vindicator Deronan and Exarch-in-Exile Xarreus, fully armored, with the latter tightly gripping a bound scroll. He sized up the party, hesitating on Ulric, before proclaiming "there is news from Valdura."
What has transpired in the Silver Dawn's absence? What awaits them from Valdura? Will the party's conflict have to wait, or will Jared truly leave?

A Return Home

As the party reappears in the courtyard of Kaer Nyssen, Xarreus and Deronan approach, in full armor with weapons, and the former proclaims that "there is news from Valdura." Under Deronan's recommendation, the party follows the two draenei into the war room, and Xarreus grimly explains what has happened: Kul Tiras is gone. With some new weapon developed by Lotor, the entire island was wiped away. He then explained that he needed to go to Valdura, and talk to Khiale, convince her to end the war. The party asked what would happen if she didn't listen. He said he would kill her. He then asked if the party would want to bring their full army to Valdura, just in case, but they quickly shot this idea down as they believed they wouldn't even make it through the gate with such a large force. Xarreus agreed, and the party said they would leave tomorrow morning. Yamma then offered to teleport them there with his new instant transmission technique, and they agreed. With only a few hours of the day left, the different members of the party each went their separate ways.
Jory returned to his room, as he had a lot of potions and catalysts to stock back up on, and spent the night replenishing his supplies before hitting the hay.
Yamma went to his monastery, where he meditated for a short time. After this, Kelbis found him, and offered words of encouragement to the seemingly distraught saiyan, which Yamma took gratefully. After this, Celrih found Yamma, and the two caught up, sharing several kisses and lots of affection. As the night came closer, Celrih said she wished to retire, and that she had missed Yamma, so the two returned to her quarters.
Jared followed Xarreus, and once he believed he was out of earshot of the rest of the party (though Ren trailed him, hidden), he explained his desire to leave upon returning to Valdura. Xarreus disagreed with the idea, but accepted it was Jared's choice, and said he wouldn't stop them. As Jared was returning to his quarters, Ren waited for him at his door, and then asked if he wanted to go get a drink at the Lannsberry Inn. He accepted, and the two went down to the bar, and drank the last of the Kul Tiran honey mead, with Ren musing that that would likely be the last time they ever drank it. The two shared simple conversation, and made amends, and then returned to their own quarters.
Ren, after this, went over to Ulric's room, who let her in. His armor and weapon was off in the corner, and he simply relaxing, and so, the two spoke for a short time before Ren smoothly laid down in his bed, and the two spent the night together.
Vecna returned to his tower, and began studying the Book of Vile Darkness once more, before passing out at his desk.
The next morning, the party all ate breakfast in the mess hall together, having some peaceful downtime for the first time in a long while together, before splitting up to get ready for Valdura: most of the party went to Crease Lightning to sell their huge amount of loot, while Yamma returned to Celrih's quarters. At Crease's, they turned a pretty penny selling all of their loot, and Ren bought a vorpal sword. Yamma, back at Celrih's, wondered if she would be joining them, and she said she needed to go talk to "her friends" she had been talking about.
About an hour later, still early morning, the party reconvened, alongside Xarreus and Ulric, ready for the trip, and gathered around Yamma. They all placed a hand upon him, and then teleported with Instant Transmission to the main courtyard just outside of The Crucible of Light and Uramae. It was early morning, and a heavy rain was pouring down. Xarreus pulled his deep purple hood over his head, and they made their way towards Uramae. Jared and Jory, as they were approaching, could've sworn they saw an object in the clouds, but decided it was nothing and moved on.
At the front gates, Xarreus revealed himself and the royal guard stepped down, and once inside, he quickly led the party to Khiale's tower. They teleported to the open-air pinnacle, and discovered Khiale in conversation with Exarch of War Vel'oth and a man who was later revealed to be Eocaan, Khiale's Will. Upon seeing the party, they stopped talking, and Khiale beckoned them forward. When Xarreus revealed himself, she was shocked, and Vel'oth was enraged, asking why he had left in such a crucial time for Lotor.
Their conversation was cut short by a string of explosions ripping through the harbor, decimating what few military vessels were there. And not even a second later, a huge red figure plummeted down from the cloud cover, slamming into Khiale's tower. It was Molzranted, Champion of the Red, and just before he could obliterate the tower with flames, he was knocked off by a huge blast of Light from Khiale. But the damage was done, and the tower began to crack and give way, so Khiale beckoned them all to her before teleporting them down to the surface, in the center of the courtyard, just in time for them to see the tower give way and plummet into the city, destroying several blocks in a huge cloud of smoke.
The Valduran barrier was raised, defending most of the city, as enemy fire began to come in from the harbor, and artillery was set up on the mountain tiers of western Valdura, bordering Duviel. Khiale sent Eocaan off to battle, and her and Vel'oth returned to Uramae to coordinate the defenders, but not before saying that, if the party had Lotor's best at heart, then they should defend the city. As the three left, Xarreus said he would go to the harbor, and the party decided to go and deal with the mountain pass and artillery.
They began hurrying through the city, slipping out the main gates just as they closed, bringing them out of the safety of the barrier. In the shantytowns of outer Valdura, battle was already erupting, flaming trebuchet fire setting the wooden buildings aflame, even despite the rain, and the front vanguard of the Duvielian army already engaging the Warforged defenders nearby. The party went straight to the mountain tiers, Yamma flying ahead to deal with the mountain pass. It was then that Molzranted made a pass over the city, obliterating a huge swath of shantytown. Yamma dodged this, and made it to the mountains, where he tried ki blasts, but, seeing they had little effect, opted instead to punch each side of the pass, which, after several attempts, brought thousands of tons of rock down on the pass and the Duvielian troops within it, killing hundreds.
The party noted a beam of Light reaching up into the sky, and saw a huge platform of artillery being empowered by Lightguard, allowing the trebuchets to destroy the Valduran defense pylons with ease. Vecna, with his retinue of flameskulls, split off and dealt with it, obliterating the siege weapons, most of the troops, and the LightGuard with a huge swath of fireballs and scorching rays. Jory, Ulric, and Ren all mounted on the now Wild Shaped Jared, and began flying towards Yamma. As they did so, they saw Molzranted's huge figure plummeting down towards Yamma. Yamma engaged the dragon alone at first, nearly falling, but the rest of the party sans Vecna arrived soon after. The fight began moving out of the pass and into the mountains themselves, with Molzranted using his huge form and fiery breath to cause devastation among the party.
They quickly realized this was a losing battle, and began fleeing, but not before Jared noted a dark figure watching them from atop a mountain, who then leapt off the mountain and turned into a massive black dragon, and flying away.
Will they survive the battle for Valdura? Will the city itself survive? And what hand does The Infinite Court play in all this?

The Barrier Falls

The party, split up into three different groups (Ulric, Jared, and Jory in the mountains, Yamma and Vecna flying in to the battle, and Ren atop Molzranted's back) continued their battle with Molzranted within the mountains overlooking Valdura, hoping to either kill the massive red dragon, or force it to retreat, to prevent it from continuing to rain destruction upon the city. Molzranted, to dislodge Ren, did a barrel roll, knocking her loose, but she managed to throw Whisper back into the dragon's back and teleport herself back onto it. As Molzranted rounded a mountain to attack Vecna and Yamma, Jared unleashed an ice storm and a call lightning upon the creature, but ended up harming Ren more. The latter sent Molzranted into yet another barrel roll, this one successfully dislodging Ren, who lost her grip on Whisper and left it plunged in the dragon's back.
Vecna, with his flameskulls, had now gotten close enough to open fire on the creature, but Molzranted first doused the entirety of Vecna and his undead in flame, pulling Vecna out of his polymorphed Giant Eagle state and sending him plummeting. This didn't stop him from commanding his flameskulls, however, and they all unleashed a round of magic missiles on the dragon, blasting a section of its scales (and along with them, Whisper) from its form, and forcing it to retreat. They weren't able to kill it, and instead watched as it flew through the mountains to the west and disappeared from view. They then regrouped, and while Ren wished to go get Whisper, the party decided instead they should return to the battle and return to get it later.
The party scoped out the city, looking for the areas of greatest conflict. With the Duvielian army's reinforcement lines cut, the battle in the western slums was already dying down, but the devastation was clear: most of the dense, wood and shod buildings and districts of the slum had been reduced to ash, and huge pillars of smoke still rose from where entire neighborhoods were burning. The harbor, however, was still a raging battle, and out at sea, hundreds of Akrithian and Duvielian vessels dotted the clear, Valduran sea. Closer to the city, in the harbor itself, the water was covered in ash and darkened by soot, and large clouds of smoke still rose from the handful of destroyed Lotorian navy vessels. The party picked the harbor as their destination, and hastily made their way back down the path which had bore them up into the mountains.
As they were making their way through the slums, the road that had brought them out now pockmarked with craters and burning debris, they witnessed an interesting event: a silver tiefling rushed out of a house, pursued by four Duvielian soldiers. Before they could attack the tiefling, however, all of the soldiers were dispatched by a small figure in full rangari leathers that dropped from the roof of the house they had burst out of. Intrigued, but still in a hurry, the party quickly kicked up conversation with the two, learning that the tiefling's name was Nemeia and the halfling's was Kyra, and that the former was a simple merchant and the latter an active member of the military. With this, the party noted that they were going to the harbor to help with the fight, and the two women decided to join them.
With two new hopeful allies, the party continued rushing to the harbor. Passing through the barrier to come upon the closed gates of inner Valdura, the party had the huge threshold opened by a Vindicator, who agreed after seeing Kyra in full rangari leathers. Making their way quickly through the inner city, the party saw that the huge central plaza had been turned into a massive makeshift hospital, a massive sea of open-air, white tents, with rows of simple cots within. Passing by this, the party at last came upon the road leading to the harbor, which was riddled with Vindicator checkpoints, with full gold and silver barricades and crystalline ballistae, arranged in alternating picket lines. Rushing past, the party came upon Xarreus, who was in the harbor, carrying a child. They saw him cut down several Akrithians rapidly, before making his way back into the barrier, dropping off the child, and then approaching the party.
He explained that many dozens of civilians were still out in the harbor, and that they needed to save them. He took a few seconds to vet the two new allies, but, being in a rush and accepting any help he could get, welcomed their aid. The party agreed to help, and decided to do as follows: they would split into three groups to find as many civilians as possible; Ulric would go one way, Xarreus another, and the rest of the party the third. Xarreus ran out of the barrier and banked left, Ulric sprinted down one of the long, curved arms of the Valduran docks, and the party went right. The party, along with their two new allies, slaughtered a group of Akrithians, and began searching the nearby ruins. Within flipped over carts, destroyed crates, and nearby harbor structures, the party began accruing a large group of civilians to rescue, which was made even more difficult by what they saw coming into harbor: lines of Akrithian landing boats, likely dozens, each carrying tens of Akrithians. Hundreds of soldiers were coming ashore in a few seconds, and the party needed to run. Vecna sent his flameskulls to form a floating checkpoint, and the party gathered nearly five dozen civilians, running back to the Vindicators within the barrier afterwards. The flameskulls were all dispatched, but they held the line long enough for the party to escape with the civilians, and butchered their fair share of beaching Akrithians as they did so.
The party discovered they were the first to return, and decided to run out to search for Ulric and Xarreus once the civilians were all accounted for. Jared and Yamma went to find Xarreus, while the rest of the party went for Ulric. The first group, Jared and Yamma, found Xarreus a ways down the harbor, with a pile of Akrithian corpses and several dozen citizens he was protecting. He told the two approaching men to get the civilians out, assuring he would hold off the Akrithians approaching. The two agreed, and got the civilians out, leaving Xarreus to do as he had promised. The latter group, who went for Ulric, passed through a cloud of ash and smoke to discover an interesting scene: Ulric, with an Akrithian suspended and choking with dark magic in front of him, surrounded by several dozen Akrithian corpses, with the entire surrounding dock frozen over by cold blue ice, with several hundred feet of surrounding water in a similar state, several landing boats having been impaled upon jagged, icy spikes. He killed the last Akrithian, and saw his allies approaching, causing the ice to begin melting. He explained that he hadn't found any civilians, and decided instead to staunch the flow of Akrithians, before joining the party in returning.
Back with the Vindicators, the party regrouped, though Xarreus had yet to return. As they were considering heading back out to find him, they saw a fully armored Akrithian fly into view, crashing and bouncing across the cobble of the harbor, turned to mush inside his armor. Xarreus then came sprinting into the barrier, drenched in dark black Akrithian blood but relatively unharmed. The party, tired, decided they had done all they could for the first day, and made their way back up to the central plaza to rest for the day. Along the way, they noticed how people reacted to Xarreus, becoming wonder-struck and filled with awe when they recognized him. All of Lotor had thought him dead, but now, the legend was alive once more, returning in their time of need.
Coming upon a small Vindicator camp, the party decided to bunk down for the night. Ulric offered to go and retrieve Whisper with Ren, since they weren't going to be doing much for the rest of the day, and the two departed. Xarreus said he had to go somewhere, and Vecna asked him how the barrier worked before he left. Xarreus explained it was powered by an array in Uramae, and would thus be very secure, before leaving. Vecna, speaking to the rest of the party, worried how long the barrier would stand if the Court had worms in the highest tiers of the Lotorian military, but, without Xarreus, the party believed they would have no way to get into Uramae either way. Distraught, but frankly helpless, the party ate dinner and began dozing off.
Ulric and Ren found their way back into the mountains relatively unmolested, what with the fighting dying down in the decimated slums, and found Whisper amongst the dislodged, huge red dragon scales relatively easily. Ren pocketed a few of the scales, as well, and the two made their way back to the rest of the party. They returned as they departed, unharmed, and successful, and the two made their way to bed. Ren first spoke to Vecna briefly, and he told her about what had happened in his tower the night before: Gaunter had approached him, with the Hand and the Eye, and offered it to him, no strings attached. He explained that he was considering accepting, considering he needed the power and would be forgotten after this whole war anyways, what with the Vault's sacrifices. Ren urged against it, considering Gaunter's deals tended to go awry, but Vecna explained that he didn't care what happened to himself after everything was said and done, so long as the world and the people he cared about was safe.
Ren and Vecna then went to sleep, the former sleeping next to Ulric, and the latter dozing off after reading more from the Book. The next morning, proving Vecna right, the party awoke to the dull thrum of the barrier falling. Fear gripped the hearts of those around them, and the party felt the cold tendrils of dread around their hearts. They quickly donned their gear and ate some goodberries, courtesy of Jared, and made their way to Uramae to confront Vel'oth, who they knew was behind the barrier falling. On their way, as they were making their way down an alley, the large street the alley opened out to was overtaken by charging Akrithian wolf cavalry. Stopping in the alley, the party saw the massive commander of the cavalry stop in the mouth of the alleyway, atop his white winter wolf. Tattooed across his bare right pectoral were the two golden snakes of the Infinite Court.
He then engaged the party, and they began fighting in the tight quarters of the alleyway. Vecna banished the commander's wolf, and the party surrounded him. They dispatched him rather quickly, but Vecna who had ducked behind the house on the opposite end of the alley, was approached by two Lightforged draenei, both of which were High Vindicators, and one of which had the two golden snakes of the Court emblazoned on them.
With Vecna separated and presumably surrounded by two members of the Court, how will this battle go? And who truly was behind the barrier's fall? What more does the Court have planned for this battle?

The Death of a Prince

With Vecna surrounded by two High Vindicators, at least one of which working with the Court, he hastily ran away, commanding his flameskulls to pepper the two with flame rays. The rest of the party, seeing this, were alerted to the two new enemies and began moving towards them. Vecna hid behind a nearby house, terrified, and the rest of the party rather quickly cut down the two new opponents. With all of their enemies dead, Vecna dropped banishment on Elnukk's wolf, which Jared talked down and managed to get to leave peacefully with a speak with animals.
The party then looted the corpses, discovering a note on each. These notes painted a terrifying picture. It seemed as though the deaths of the siege, and maybe the war as a whole, were serving as fuel for some ritual. And, through some hints, the party discerned that they were being funneled to a place called Abimorhan. Kyra, knowledgeable about Lotorian culture, noted that Abimorhan is the resting place of all draenei souls, a venerated place second only to the Crucible of Light in its holiness.
The party decided that their first priority should instead be to head to Abimorhan and stop whatever was going on there, and, following Kyra's directions, began heading east. But, as they were traveling through the city, repeated, massive explosions from the harbor drew the party's attention, and they sent Yamma to investigate. Using Instant Transmission, he pinpointed Xarreus's energy, and teleported to him. He found him at the harbor, holding off enemy soldiers, but saw as Jaina Proudmoore, alongside eight Tidesages, appeared in a torrent of snow and ice, with insane rage in her eyes. She yelled of wishing to make them suffer, and Yamma quickly teleported back to the party.
He told them of what he had seen, and how Xarreus was going to fight her, and they all decided to go back and help. Gathering around Yamma, the Silver Dawn (minus Vecna's flameskulls) teleported back to the harbor, being instantly engaged by Jaina. Ulric and Xarreus both decided to hold off enemy reinforcements, leaving the party to face Jaina. The eight Tidesages formed a circle behind Jaina, focusing on some manifesting crux of red energy.
In the ensuing battle, Jaina presented a mastery of magic the party hadn't encountered before, wreaking havoc amongst their ranks with ice and arcane energies. Several party members attempted to kill the ritualists, only to discover that their lives were all linked by the crux, and would thus prove exceedingly difficult to slay. Several party members were knocked unconscious, helped back up repeatedly by Jory, and the party slowly felt their resources drained.
They did, eventually, manage to lay Jaina low, bringing her near the point of death. At around this point, they also managed to break the ranks of the Tidesages, killing all eight, only to discover that their souls were then absorbed into the crux, strengthening it. And Jaina, near death, used the crux and her own abilities to cast gate, invoking the name "Fraz Urb'Luu." A massive, planar gate opened to a plane of infinite desert, and through it, the gargoyle-like form of Fraz Urb'Luu, Demon Prince of Deception, entered the material plane.
The party's first instinct was to try and fight, much to Vecna's chagrin, and they engaged their long-time harasser and antagonist. He quickly dealt with several members of the party, focusing his fire on Ren, given their history. As the gate remained open, more demons came through, first a Balor, and then a glabrezu. Luckily, Jared managed to cast dispel magic and cancel out the gate, leaving the three demons and Jaina as the party's sole opponents. They were still ridiculously outmatched, and were considering retreating, until Xarreus and Ulric engaged and killed the Balor, and the latter yelled for the party to "finish this now."
And so, they engaged. Vecna used the sending stone the party had paired with Zarroth to call forth infernal allies, opening a portal through which an armored bone devil, a heavily armored draenei (which begged many questions in and of itself), and Zarroth himself, with a new set of plate pieces on his massive body, likely from his success in the campaign in the Ebon Citadel.
Several unconscious party members, a dead Ren, and many exhausted resources later, the party managed to slay Fraz Urb'Luu, with Jory sliding between his legs with Condemner in hand to reach Ren, firing a bolt through the demon prince's head as he did so, killing the monster.
And so, the party slew a Demon Prince of the Abyss. What will the ramifications of this be? Was this a part of the Court's plans? And what is the true nature of whatever is going on in Abimorhan?

Allies in High Places

With Fraz defeated, the party set about slaying both Jaina and the other large demon that had been summoned. Both were dispatched relatively easily, and Jory set about revivifying Ren, to great success. She was returned from the dead, and Ulric was brought back from consciousness. On Jaina's body, the party found yet another note, detailing how Fraz likely wasn't actually apart of the Court's plans, and Jaina had gone renegade due to the loss of Kul Tiras being too great of a cost to bear.
With the terrain that Fraz had created falling, the Akrithian bombardments and landings resumed, prompting the party to retreat to the inner city. Here, they took a much needed rest for an hour, with Jory patching their wounds. From there, they decided to head to Uramae, to confront Khiale with the overwhelming evidence of Vel'oth's treachery. On the way there, they passed by a large camp of LightGuard and Duvielian soldiers, holed up in a destroyed plaza. As they were attempting to engage the enemy, a dark cloud landed in the center, revealing Vitomir, their old friend. He quickly revealed his vampiric strength and agility, grotesquely butchering the entire camp. He nearly turned on the Silver Dawn with the same bloodlust, but recognized them, and approached.
At the same time, from behind, they saw (but did not hear) their other friend, Artem. The two powerful vampires spoke plainly and friendly with the party, wishing for them to aid them in the defense of the city. The party revealed their concerns with Abimorhan, and, reluctantly, the vampires agreed that they should go. They did explain that they would be staying to help the city, though, and would not join the party, to which the Silver Dawn agreed was likely for the best. With this, Vitomir (telling Yamma they should duel again as he did) left in a cloud of smoke, and Artem ran impossibly fast back to the massive hospital set up in the center of the city. The party, waving their friends goodbye, finished their trek to Uramae unmolested.
There, the guards attempted to stop them, before being intimidated into backing down by Xarreus. They allowed the party in, and once inside, the Silver Dawn saw that, in lieu of Khiale's tower, which had been destroyed, a sprawling, makeshift command center had been set up in the center of the palace's courtyard, in the middle of which were their quarries: Khiale and Vel'oth. They hurriedly approached the two powerful figures, and cut straight to the point, accusing Vel'oth of his treachery.
Vel'oth, naturally, was taken aback, while Khiale was intrigued. The case the party presented had some merit: how else could the barrier have fallen so inexplicably? And, if the Court's motives were as the party said, Vel'oth would have the leverage needed to propel them forward. So, Khiale indulged the party, and allowed them to investigate. This "investigation" consisted of Vecna asking Vel'oth to disrobe to show his golden snake tattoos. Through some rather extreme persuading, Khiale indulged this request, and ordered Vel'oth to do so, claiming that if he had nothing to hide, he should have nothing to fear.
And so, Vel'oth began removing his armor, and it was as the party believed: emblazoned across his Lightforged back were two intertwined golden snakes. Seeing this, Khiale, in a flash of rage the party did not believe possible, totally annihilated Vel'oth's form, using the Light within him to shatter his physical form and obliterate his metaphysical existence in a display of raw, divine power. She then turned to the party, who handed her the notes they had that hinted at the plans in Abimorhan, and she quickly drafted them an official writ of investigation. As she handed it to them, she told them that any traitors following the Court could be killed, for they were no longer Lotorian in her eyes.
Xarreus and Ulric, while wishing the party luck, did believe that it would be helpful for at least some of them to stay to help with the defense of the city, and so, the two departed. The Silver Dawn, minus Ulric and Xarreus, alongside their new allies Kyra and Nemeia, departed forthwith and hastily made their way out of the city. Leaving the battle behind, they spent the rest of the day travelling east along the coast. As night fell, they decided to camp, leading to a rather eventful evening.
First, the party's old friend Gaunter arrived, and took them all on an "adventure." This adventure consisted of watching the last vestige of "Big 'V,'" as the Silver Dawn so lovingly called him, being slaughtered by Vivrah's son, who was presently leading a secret invasion of Emaxus. Gaunter then took them to some strange island, noting that this was where "Yamma's girlfriend's friends" were, and led them into a massive tower. Inside, they saw Celrih, alongside four other powerful mages, all clad in matching blue robes and dull gold armor, discussing the events that the party had just witnessed firsthand, which the mages were viewing through a large scrying orb.
Afterwards, back at camp, Vecna at last accepted Gaunter's offer, taking the Hand and Eye back, on two conditions: no more wonky deals, and no nasty looking hands or eyes. Just normal appendages. And so, the Hand grafted itself to Vecna's left stump, looking normal for all but a black onyx band in his skin where it attached itself, and the Eye plunged itself into his empty left eye socket. And, through blinding pain, Vecna was made whole once more.
Meanwhile, out on the cliffs far from the party, Yamma, who had been meditating, made a breakthrough.
What breakthrough did Yamma achieve? And what remains now of "Big 'V'" in Vecna? And what awaits the party at Abimorhan?

The Enemy of My Enemy

With the break of dawn, the party woke up and began decamping. Only, Vecna and Yamma were both no where to be seen. The former returned first, wholly naked and carrying his staff, his staff, and his book in his arms. The party was rather confused by this, and upon asking him, Vecna revealed that "Big 'V's" power had finally left him, and he was free of his last vestiges of influence. He then noted that he would need a new name, and after some deliberation, decided on "Wodin," believing that it would be ironic if the first name of his form was also his last.
Yamma returned shortly after, and when asked where he had been, did not share too much, saying instead that he wanted it to be a surprise. And so, with the party regrouped, they made their way along the final leg to Abimorhan. On the way, they saw some unicorns in the forest, which took a lot of convincing on Ren's part to keep Yamma from disturbing them. Moving along (with Wodin and Yamma promising to return when they had some downtime, the former taking a clump of grass for teleportation), the party at last came to the pilgrimage checkpoint which had the two paths which lead out to Abimorhan's main entrance. Giving Kyra the writ to take point, as she is a rangari, the party made their way down the path and across on of the massive curved bridges leading to the massive building that served as the final checkpoint before entering Abimorhan.
Using the writ, they made it through the Abimorhai rather easily (although the two tieflings did receive some mildly racist warnings about their "infernal corruption"), and the party made their way into Abimorhan itself. Once inside the holy crypts, the party saw that the Exarch of Spirits, alongside several dozen Abimorhai, Anchorites, and Soulbinders, was just ahead in a circular chamber overlooking the central room. Approaching her, they handed her the writ, and, after reading it, she explained that she was confused as to why the Grand Exarch would feel a need for such an investigation. She then told a group of five Abimorhai to take the party "on a tour," to make sure everything was in working order.
The Abimorhai led the party to the left of the circular chamber first, along a long, curving hallway that ran alongside the central chamber. At the end of this hallway was another circular room which overlooked the central chamber, similar to the first circular room the party had entered. Inside this second chamber was one Lord Stormsong, alongside four tidesages. As they realized this, the barrier into the room closed, and the party engaged the five in the center of the room, as well as the five Abimorhai. Burning some resources, the party dispatched the enemies rather efficiently, but, as they did so, they felt a rumble shake the entire structure, which, much to their concern, sent worry through even the tidesages. It was also during this fight that Yamma revealed what had happened last night: he had achieved a new form. It was red, and seemed to surround him in flames, and allowed him to move with god-like speed.
After dealing with their opponents, the party looked out over the central chamber, which was a large, circular platform in a huge room of emptiness, with walls lined by crypts. Atop the circular platform, shielded by a golden barrier, was the Exarch of Spirits and many of her Abimorhai. The Exarch was calling forth the spirits of Abimorhan and creating some massive coagulation of their spirit energy. This, in tandem with the note discovered on Lord Stormsong's body (which hauntingly noted that "he hoped the Chosen accept the Court's offer) led the party to agree that they needed to get to that platform ASAP. But, they needed to disable the barrier first, and could see the array powering it in the circular room opposite the room they were currently in. And so, they gathered around Yamma and he Instant Transmissioned them across.
Upon arriving, they quickly realized what the source of the rumbling was: creatures much like those the party had fought while fighting Vivrah's Fragment, only unstained, were invading. They first arrived through a portal which dominated the center of the circular chamber the party was in, and then through the walls like meteors.
Will the party be able to go and stop the Exarch's ritual? Or will their hands be full with these new adversaries; however, are they adversaries at all?

The Birth of New Gods

The party arrived in the circular chamber that had the array powering the Exarch's barrier, thanks to Yamma's Instant Transmission, and quickly set about decimating the red-armored, alien assailants that were streaming into Abimorhan. With a well-placed fireball from Jared and a powerful stain bolt from Wodin, the portals and the assailants that came through it were hastily dispatched, with Yamma cleaning up the stragglers and destroying the array. With the barrier falling, and more assailants streaming in from the hallway, the group quickly gathered on Wodin, who teleported them down to the circular platform in the central chamber.
Here, the Exarch of Spirits and Eocaan, Khiale's Will, awaited them, alongside around two dozen Abimorhai. The Exarch, suspended dozens of feet in the air, wreathed in the spiritual energies of the massive ritual she was performing, continued summoning forth the millions of souls they had gathered, while Eocaan strode forward to speak to the party. He spoke calmly and plainly, even as the platform extended and the Abimorhai moved out to defend the party and the two Court members as rifts opened in the open air of the chamber, through which the horrible vessels akin to Vivrah's fleet appeared, and members of his terrible race began pouring out of.
Eocaan explained to the party that everything that had been done in the past decade had been for them. The Krymméno had originally hatched the plan twelve years ago, and Sicar had been the first step. Then, it was the War. Kul Tiras, Valdura, every battle, every skirmish, the souls had been taken to Abimorhan. There, they had laid in wait to serve the Court's purpose: to grant the Chosen (the Silver Dawn) the power needed to defend Emaxus. Every slain Court member had been an acceptable casualty, in fact, they had all entered this plan knowing what it may cost, and everything had been done to ensure the Chosen would be strong enough for when whatever end awaited Emaxus came, they would be able to stop it.
He said that now, they only needed accept the Court's offer. Use the power of the millions of souls they had gathered, and save the millions of people still living on Emaxus from apocalypse, whatever it may be. That, or let the endless suffering of those souls, all of the murder and the bloodshed, be for naught. The party, at first, was very hesitant, and for good reason. The people they had been fighting for over a year, who had caused them such suffering, and pain, wished only to make them stronger? Eocaan explained that those Chosen who had died (referring to Fenn, Mark, Moira, and Gamos) had died because they were weak, and their culling had ensured a stronger shield in the end.
Eocaan noted that they would die if they did not accept, given the state of things around them. And he was right, the Abimorhai were being butchered. And, behind them, the flaming green blade of Vivrah's son was carving a rift through which the prince would likely arrive soon. So, under the stress of their situation, and knowing from their encounters with Vivrah that they had no chance of fighting Him at their current state, they accepted. And so, Aevalae died to complete the ritual, and Eocaan drew forth five, glowing, crystalline shards by condensing the massive conflux of souls. Eocaan joked about not planning for Kyra or Nemeia, and handed the shards to the Silver Dawn. He then drew his greatsword and went to face Rorvux as the prince was arriving, quickly being cleaved in twain by the massive, godly figure.
And so, with the shards in hand, the party hastily teleported back to Kaer Nyssen as Abimorhan, the holy resting place of Lotor, collapsed around them. They arrived back in the courtyard of Kaer Nyssen's keep, still under construction, in the mid afternoon sun, and were quickly approached by several guards, as well as Urizumin, their faithful Knight of the Green Order. Yamma had one of the guards show him to the infirmary, where he rested and healed for some time, and Jared had Urizumin show Kyra and Nemeia to rooms where they could rest. Wodin casted invisibility on himself and disappeared, while Jory went to his room and passed out from exhaustion and Ren went to her tavern.
Wodin, back at his tower, used identify to discern more about the shards, using the one he had been given, and gleaned the terrible price their power would exact. With this information, he hurried first to Yamma, who had moved to his monastery to meditate on the shard. There, Wodin hastily warned the Saiyan, and told him not to use the shard yet. Both of the men agreed they should gather the party and discuss the shards before using them, and Wodin said he could keep them somewhere safe, and so the wizard set out to gather up the five shards, before whisking them away to his new magnificent mansion, where he hid them. He nearly couldn't leave them, their power calling out to him, but he managed to resist their call, and returned to his tower to rest.
The various members of the Silver Dawn, scattered, took a much-needed, very long rest, and the next morning, went about their early routines. First, everyone gathered in the mess hall and ate, during which time Wodin had Yamma give him 1500 gold before the former set out to Crease Lightning, where he bought an equal amount of diamond dust. Returning from his shopping, Wodin gathered the fed party, and they all traveled back to Valdura using Yamma's Instant Transmission, honed on Xarreus.
They discovered him attending to a wounded civilian in the large, makeshift hospital in the heart of the capital, and pulled him away to tell him what had transpired. He did not lash out when they explained what had happened, and when Wodin said that they didn't know what to do with the shards now that they had them, Xarreus explained with a cold dejection none of the party had ever seen from him that they made the decision to use them the second they chose not to destroy them, and the millions of souls will never rest now, so they may as well be put to use. He said that they needed to use the shards, no matter the cost, because they chose to put the souls inside through the torment of prolonged existence, and their suffering was on their hands now. He also noted that they would have a fun time explaining Abimorhan's destruction to Khiale.
On a brighter note, he did explain that a ceasefire had been declared the day prior (at nearly the exact time the Silver Dawn accepted the Court's offer, no less), and the Queen of Duviel herself, alongside Warlord Une Dragonshift, were inside Uramae at that very moment discussing peace with Khiale. Xarreus then said he had duties to the people of Lotor, and left them with their thoughts. The party decided first to go and deal with the shards, then speak to Khiale, and so, Wodin led them into a quiet alley, where he opened a gateway to his magnificent mansion. Once inside, he led them into the foyer, where he told them to wait while he went upstairs and retrieved the shards from his chambers.
He noted that he had designed the whole place after Vecna had left him finally, and had given each person rooms (minus Kyra and Nemeia), including Xarreus and Ulric. Wodin then left, grabbed the shards, and returned promptly. From there, each of the five Chosen sat on different chairs, shards in hand, and accepted their power. Nemeia, watching from afar, saw as they all went catatonic and slumped back into their chairs, the shards floating in front of each of them.
Ren, Yamma, Wodin, Jared, and Jory all appeared atop a strange, bluish-black, rocky platform, floating in an ethereal, murky void. Several hundred feet ahead of them, across an infinite expanse of void, was a much larger platform, atop which they could see five floating figures. They moved towards this platform, finding rocks quickly forming a bridge as they needed it to cross, before reaching the opposite platform. Here, they found the figures were themselves, incapacitated duplicates floating in faint, white light. Each of the five approached their duplicate, and once all five stood in place, all five of the duplicates moved with lightning speed, wrapping their hands around the necks of the true person in front of them. With their choke hold established, each of the duplicates turned to amorphous forms, forcing their way into the throats of those they had held.
Each of the five felt the terrible forms flow down their throats like bloated snakes, before absorbing into their very essence. All five were wracked by unimaginable pain as their bodies and minds were reshaped and reforged into the foundations of godhood. Jared and Ren were unable to recover from this entirely, their forms permanently damaged in different ways by the raw power flowing through them. Nevertheless, all five stood once more, changed forever. And as they stood, now reborn as gods, they saw the space their duplicates had been floating in open up, revealing a vast staircase traveling down into the abyss.
Following this staircase, they came upon a sight that somewhat revealed the nature of the strange plane they were in: the unbelievably gargantuan, Avatar form of Vivrah, suspended and unconscious, surrounded by the much smaller forms of his son and what were presumably his two daughters. They were in some extraplanar space where the divine souls of gods rested, and thus, they were now bonafide gods, albeit with a lowercase "g." With this, they were pulled back to their physical bodies, where they found the shards had buried themselves into the centers of their chests, and they had been forever changed in different ways (See: Rewards above.)
Coming to grips with these changes, Wodin then showed those who wanted to see their chambers their chambers, specifically Yamma, Jory, and Jared (see: Wodin's Magnificent Mansion). After this, they returned to Valdura, where they decided to go to Uramae and talk to Khiale.
What response awaits them when they tell the Grand Exarch what happened? And what welcome will they receive from the Queen and Warlord Une, two known members of the Court, the former of which is the Krymméno herself?

New Allies

The party made their way to Uramae, and were allowed in easily by the royal guard outside. Once within, they saw Khiale, Warlord Dragonshift, and Queen Anastasie talking quietly in the central command center that had been set up in the middle of the royal gardens. The party approached, and Wodin did the talking, considering Khiale had a lot of questions. Firstly, she asked them why reports were streaming in about Abimorhan being destroyed, to which Wodin responded by saying they had come under assault from forces far beyond their control, and, in this attack, the Court's ritual had exploded. She then asked about the shard clearly visible in Yamma's chest, and why they all reeked of divine energy, to which Wodin explained that the explosion of the Court's ritual had caused the souls to almost seek refuge in the Silver Dawn, and they were still trying to discern the true nature of the shards. She then asked about the forces beyond their control he had mentioned earlier, which Wodin spoke truthfully of, telling her of Vivrah and His son, and how the latter was actively attacking Emaxus with forces of an alien nature, presumably to slay the Silver Dawn.
And surprisingly, Khiale believed it all. She then ordered the two other women, one a Sage and the other the Krymmenó of the Court, both the effective leaders of their respective nations, to be taken away in preparation for their executions, with Khiale having no patience for those who orchestrated the suffering of so many souls. As they were being pulled away, Dragonshift listed four names: Thiadaa, Zolthur, Antoine Verninac, and Maroc de La Roche, saying that they were the other Sages who had orchestrated it all. Khiale asked what they meant, and the party explained how the Court was set up, and Khiale offered to have them all hunted down and killed. The party then explained that they had a "dead man's trigger" set up and explained the portal, saying how it was just above Kaer Nyssen, atop a mountain. When pressed, they also noted that they had no idea what was actually behind the portal. Khiale then changed her offer: over the next week, she would round up the other Sages. Once they were all in captivity, she would then bring them at the end of the week to Kaer Nyssen, along with a large Lotorian detachment, and execute them all in front of the portal so they would be ready to face whatever was on the other side. The party heartily agreed to receiving official Lotorian support, and Khiale sent out the orders.
After, Ren asked to speak to the Queen, which Khiale accepted, and the entire party joined her as she went to speak to the Krymmenó. Finding her chained to a lashing post, slightly ragged, her dress torn and her hair unkempt, Ren asked why her family needed to die. The Queen explained plainly that all of the suffering was to make them stronger. Echoing what Eocaan had said in Abimorhan nearly verbatim, the Queen spoke of how all they had done was to make the party stronger. But further, it had been to ensure that the planet had more than one route to protection. If the Court's plans succeeded, the party would take their place and be a stronger "shield," but, if they failed, the Court would still be there. No matter what, Emaxus would be safer. Ren wanted to bury Whisper in the Queen's throat, but Wodin, as well as a nearby guard, talked her down.
The party then returned to the command tent to find Khiale signing papers. She then explained that, for their bravery, rewards were in order for Nemeia and Kyra. To the former, she granted the title of Chief Foreman of Valdura, giving her oversight over reconstruction and further development efforts, allowing the tiefling to finally push the reforms she wanted for the slums. To the latter, she granted the position of Rangari Prime of Valdura, giving her control over all rangari in the capital, and a battalion of her own. The two thanked her profusely, and then bid the party farewell.
Khiale then bid the party adieu, telling them that, after Kaer Nyssen, they could speak of rewards and consequences. They left Uramae, and found Xarreus, telling him what had transpired. At this, he immediately headed back for Uramae, saying he wished for no more blood to be shed. In the meantime, the party decided to pay Aelloal, their old seamstress friend, a visit. They made their way to her old store, which they discovered was destroyed, and found Aelloal digging through the rubble. Wodin and Yamma approached, and she told them that she was looking for her lockbox, which the two men then helped her search for in the rubble. They discovered it successfully, and she thanked them profusely before leaving. As she was doing so, Wodin followed and told her about Kaer Nyssen, and how she could easily set up a store there. She accepted, and Wodin said they would come and find her in a few hours, when they were ready to leave.
From there, the party returned to Uramae to find Xarreus, who told them he had successfully delayed the executions of Warlord Dragonshift and the Queen, so they could be killed on the summit in front of the portal. The party then dispatched Wodin to find Aelloal and Ren to find Ulric, as they were ready to depart, and about an hour later, the two returned with each of their quarries. With everyone regathered, the party teleported back to Kaer Nyssen.
Once back, they dispersed about various tasks. Wodin took Aelloal to speak to Galdur, which Jared accompanied him on. Yamma returned to his monastery, where Kelbis introduced him to four new followers: Markolf Walmann, Zoadur Magmagrip, Ilarin, and Kevwarith. These were the first of many new followers the Silver Dawn discovered they had attracted with news of the Battle of Valdura spreading. The rest of the party departed to their rooms and slept for the night, with the more active members eventually doing the same.
It was during the night that the party had the meeting of a lifetime. They were each, separately, approached by the same tiefling, a red-skinned, immaculately formally dressed man who told them that "his master" wished to speak to each of them. They each agreed, and he opened portals in each of their rooms. Each member of the Silver Dawn traveled through their own portals to arrive at the same place through the same portal, finding their tiefling guide standing in front of them. They had been brought to a silent, desolate wasteland, stretching out far beyond the horizon, and the guide led them through seemingly impossible paths over crags and fissures they would've never found on their own.
They eventually came to an impossibly massive, impossibly silent fortress buried deep in a fissure. The tiefling told them to follow him as he fell backwards off the cliff overlooking the fortress, with Yamma following first without a second thought, and the rest of the party coming along after. They each plummeted hundreds of feet towards the fortress, before finding themselves righted and slowed comfortably by an invisible force before landing easily on their feet atop a black onyx steel platform, at the end of a similar bridge leading into the fortress. The guide led them across this bridge, the uneasy silence of the fortress still resting hauntingly across the entire area.
When they reached the end of the bridge, the tiefling led the Silver Dawn into a massive, impossibly dark chamber, with a single shaft of light in the center. The tiefling brought them to this light, and then left, leaving the party alone in the darkness. It was then that a deep, omnipresent voice rang out in the void. It asked the party to take guesses as to what it was, leading them from guess to guess until Wodin ballparked it with "Asmodeus." The voice nonchalantly responded with "ding ding" as light filled the chamber, revealing a handsome, well-dressed, ten foot tall red-skinned man sitting atop a massive, infernal throne against the far wall.
In the ensuing conversation, he not only dropped some hints about the divine history of Emaxus (such as it being the original Material Plane), but he also told the party that, with their newfound demigodhood and their killing of Fraz Urb'Luu, they could consider him an ally. He also noted that, should they ever face down Vivrah, they could count him among those in their corner, as Vivrah was a huge threat to Asmodeus's plans. He informed them that they would be considered friends of the devils any time they stepped foot in the Hells, and should always be unmolested during any stay in the Hells due to their new status. He then bid them farewell, and wished them luck in the coming struggles.
The next morning, the party ate in the mess hall together, where several new recruits approached and pledged themselves to Jared. The party discovered over the next few hours that they had begun attracting another large influx of followers with news of the Battle for Valdura spreading. They had gained several new artisans, retainers, and new troops were making their way towards Kaer Nyssen, to pledge themselves to the Silver Dawn.
How many more followers will the Silver Dawn gain in the time leading up to Khiale's arrival? Will they be ready for the battle to come?

Growing Pains

On their first day of free time, the party went about setting Kaer Nyssen in order. Jared and Wodin spoke to Gauldur about the increasing need for artisans' shops, what with the arrival of Aelloal and several other new specialists, while Yamma began training his increasing retinue of retainers and lieutenants. Ren also took some time to get to know her new supplicants, Jory went out into the woods to refill his alchemical supply, and Wodin retreated to his tower. Jared, once he had finished speaking to Gauldur, made his way to the barracks, and spoke to Urizumin. He told the Knight of how he wanted a full civilian evacuation of Kaer Nyssen prior to the battle, just in case something bad happened, and put the elf in charge of it entirely, telling him he wanted all but one unit of the Silver Hand to help defend the refugees. The final unit would accompany the Silver Dawn to the summit.
Jared then went to visit Wodin in his tower. Knocking on the door, and calling his name several times, Jared received no response. Making his way inside, he saw that all was normal, until he went down Wodin's workshop. It had been entirely cleaned out, empty save for a small pile of things on the floor. This pile was composed of three items: the Kiss of the Changebringer, the Book of Vile Darkness, and Wodin's Farewell Note (see: Wodin's Farewell Note). After reading this letter, Jared rushed to Yamma first, knowing his friendship with Wodin, and found him sparring with his trainees in front of Ren. He pulled both of them aside, and told them what had happened. Shock and a healthy bit of sorrow washed over them, and Jared rushed to tell Xarreus, working through his own grief as well. Xarreus expressed sorrow, and regret, but also noted they could not allow it to get them out of their fighting prime, as they would need to be when Khiale arrived. The Exarch then said he would go finda nd tell Ulric, and left. Jared found Jory and told him, and then the entire party made their way into the tower to look for anything else Wodin left.
They discovered the entirety of the tower was the same, minus the empty workshop, and no other clues had been left. The party then had to decide what to do with the tower, now that it was empty, and came to the conclusion that Jared should move in, as he could use it to enhance his spells and such, while Jory takes the keep. Jory and Yamma then took the Book of Vile Darkness and went to the College of the Accord to give it to the First Accord for safe keeping. Once there, a high elven archmage hastily approached them, demanding the book, which lead to a little scuffle with Yamma not trusting the man and not handing the book over. Celrih arrived shortly thereafter by means of teleportation, and, two Bigby's Hands later, Yamma relinquished the book by force. Celrih chastised the two men, before bringing them in close to tell them that her colleagues in the League of Supremacy wanted to talk to them soon, both about the events of Abimorhan and their research into the portal atop the summit. She said she would come to retrieve them in two days time, and then said farewell, kissing Yamma goodbye and teleporting away.
While they were gone, Jared went out to investigate the leshen spottings, heading deep into the woods several miles from Kaer Nyssen, and meditating. The leshen approached shortly thereafter, pressing one claw to his forehead, being replaced by Aneas' divine form the moment it made contact. She told him of a new mission, to aid them in their inevitable fight against Vivrah: an ancient, forgotten continent called Ahura. In ages past, it had been the sight of a powerful elven civilization and a bridge to the Feywild itself, but something dark was blocking it. They would need to build a fleet and travel there, and reopen the bridge, to make powerful allies in the forces of life and nature. She told him of how everything there lived in tranquility and had been reclaimed by nature, so, if they took care to not disrupt the balance, they would go unharmed. He thanked her, and then went back to Kaer Nyssen.
Yamma and Jory left the College, returning to Kaer Nyssen by means of Instant Transmission. Once back, Yamma went back to training while Jory set about brewing the potions he needed. Jared filled in the party about his plans to evacuate the village, and they all agreed it was the best idea, and he told them of Aneas' plan with Ahura, and they agreed it should be handled after Rorvux. Ren went and found Ulric, who was sitting in the crevasse between the two plateaus of Kaer Nyssen, numbly pushing rocks into the clear stream that flowed there. She got him to open up, and he revealed his grief and his frustration with Wodin "giving up," in his mind, and she offered to walk him back. Given the hastily approaching night, the two returned to the Lansberry Inn and slept together. The rest of the party returned to their rooms, sleeping for the night.
The next day, the party ate breakfast, then went about their different things to do. Jared went and talked to Gauldur once more, spending 8500 gp to upgrade and renovate every single artisan's shop, including the brand new ones. Yamma and Ren continued training, while Jory spent the day relaxing and brewing potions. Later in the day, Ren approached Jory and asked him to teach her in the ways of making and applying poisons by means of a poisoner's kit. She already had basic knowledge, but sought his learned experience in helping her master it. He agreed, and the two began the learning process.
The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully, and the next day came. Celrih arrived early in the morning, just after breakfast, and the party went out to her. She told them that the League believed it had discovered what was on the other side of the portal, and then teleported the entire party out to the tower they had visited with Gaunter. Once inside, Celrih had instantly changed into the fine, plated, bronze-gold and blue robes that marked a member of the League, and led them into the central chamber. Inside, there were four other robed figures: the male high elf Jory and Yamma had encountered, a female high elf, a male dwarf, and a female draenei. They were arrayed around a magical, holographic map of the entirety of Emaxus, including its satellites.
They began telling the party of a world called Citrov, as the dwarf rearranged the map from Emaxus to the planet they were speaking of. They told the party how it was home to a long-forgotten civilization, destroyed in an ancient epoch by Vivrah and his Brood. Apparently, this civilization had been worlds-spanning by means of a network of portals, and the portal atop the summit, as far as the League could discern, was a part of this network. They then told that Citrov was home to a place called Setax Hold, an unbelievably massive temple-fortress devoted to Rorvux, and that following the attack on Abimorhan, the prince had returned to his throne room, seemingly awaiting the Silver Dawn. The League then revealed that the throne room, either by fate or by design, was built atop the ancient conflux of the portal network, and thus, the portal would lead the party directly before Rorvux himself.
They then told the party of their contribution the war effort. They noted that, in all of their study and observation, they had never seen anyone punch back at Vivrah and His kin, and if they were going to be the first, they should hit hard. They revealed that they would be pouring their arcane power into a "mana bomb," a coalescence of unbelievable arcane devastation that they would give the party to detonate after they killed the prince. They believed it should be able to destroy nearly the entirety of Setax Hold, meaning the loss of the entire fortress and the millions within, a devastating blow even to Vivrah. This would leave them weak for some time, but it would be worth it. They told them how they would deliver it on the day of the opening of the portal, and it would be in a canister of only about a foot by a foot, and would be able to be remotely detonated after they had successfully extracted.
Celrih then took the party back, and they spent the next five days making final preparations. They decided what retainers would accompany them in their strike team, Jory finished teaching Ren about her poison kit. She then visited Morwen's new alchemy shop, getting the ingredients she needed for her poisons. And, come the 15th day of Mayth, Khiale arrived after the party had finished breakfast. As they were eating, they heard the transmat sounds of all three Vindicaars arriving in the sky above Kaer Nyssen, and Vindicators and defenses being dropped in from the newly arrived ships. As the party went out into the courtyard, alongside the retainers they were bringing, a transmat beacon dropped into the center of the field, with Xarreus remarking that it had been some time since he had seen one. They all stepped on and were teleported up to Khiale's flagship.
Inside the powerful vessel, they saw Khiale at the helm, overlooking the Kaer Nyssen countryside, alongside two figures: one, the now familiar rangari, Kyra, and the other, an unknown human mage.
Who is this new figure? And will the party find success at the throne of Rorvux, Prince of the Dark? Or will they meet their fate at the hands of Vivrah's son?

The Death of a God

The party, alongside the retainers they chose to bring, made their way towards Khiale and her two allies, Kyra and an unknown human mage. Khiale introduced the man as Riktor, an old friend of hers, and someone she wanted to join the Silver Dawn on their strike team. She then said that, once they were ready, they would depart immediately for the summit. The party told her they were ready to leave, and the Vindicaar rapidly ascended the mountain, coming to the flat peak atop which the Gate loomed. They all transmatted down to the surface, alongside the six imprisoned Court leaders, and the several dozen Vindicators Khiale wished to join them in keeping the enemy off the Silver Dawn. Ren had a short conversation with Maroc, her uncle, and, getting no results she desired, took her stance behind him to execute. Each member moved behind a respective Court leader, and they executed them all together, the Gate ripping open shortly after. Immediately after the Gate opened, several large vessels similar to Vivrah's fleet appeared in the airspace above Kaer Nyssen, and the battle began. Knowing their forces couldn't hold forever, the strike team rushed in, with Xarreus leading the charge.
Once inside, the strike team found themselves in a massive chamber, with two large, raised platforms on either side of them, and one smaller, circular platform directly across the chamber, suspended high in the air. The defenders immediately turned and ran to the massive door which accessed the room, while the Silver Dawn turned their attention to Rorvux's flaming form, kneeling atop the highest platform.
In the ensuing battle, several retainers nearly died, Yamma was nearly killed, and much of the chamber was devastated. Rorvux proved to be a more than formidable opponent, but, in the end, Yamma unlocked a new, blue form, and killed the god. The party received a boost of strength and power from the blast of divine essence that erupted from the god's broken form, and gathered around Ren for the coming teleportation. Yamma started the mana bomb's countdown, and lobbed it across the room, as the last of the defenders teleported away, followed by the party themselves.
Successfully extracted, the party returned atop the platform, and saw as the last of the alien vessels erupted into balls of flaming gas and falling debris, the battle won. And then time stopped as Gaunter arrived to claim Ren's soul.
Will they be able to outwit Gaunter? Or does their rapidly growing godhood mean they can take him on toe-to-toe?