Session 62 - Not Fade Away

General Summary

Having vanquished the eldritch dragon C'thar the Unmaker, the Saviors of Sandpoint gathered up the dragon's magical hoard and added it to the loot from Arkrhyst's hoard. Burdened with magic and coin, the party returned to Echo's Mystical Oddities in Magnimar. Echo was tasked with equipping the heroes with powerful magic items if they wanted to stop Karzoug from escaping his dimensional lair. Echo told them he could get them what they needed, but it would take eight days. It remained unspoken, but the heroes knew on some level that they were facing what could be their final eight days. Once they were armed, if they weren't too late, they would face a powerful runelord in his domain. A most daunting task. With their remaining time, the heroes decided to take care of a few things and remind themselves what they were fighting for. Quilith and Kumiko staged a daring two-person rescue mission to retrieve Dagourn from the clutches of the Denizens of Leng in the Darklands. Upon their return, Dagourn showed them his damaged metallic hand. He claimed a K'thir placed an orb in his metallic palm, and the orb drained much of its magical power. Quilith used a Limited Wish spell to restore the hand. Kumiko used Remove Curse and healed the sihedron scar on Dagourn's chest. With the marking removed, his soul could go to his Dark Queen rather than Karzoug's runewell. Jayvielle and Kilgor teleported to Jayvielle's ship The Bloodsworn. First Mate Parker Stormtouch conveyed that they picked up a passenger in Korvoso who gave them a great deal of gold to take him to Absalom. The man claimed to know Jayvielle and the rest of the Saviors of Sandpoint. That man was none other than the warpriest of Irori, Alduin. Alduin was pleased to meet the heroes once again. He told them his goal in Absalom was to take the Test of the Starstone as part of his path to perfection. He would take the test when Irori told him the time was right. Mite returned to Thistletop. King Glar greeted him and ensured Mite was given the goblin celebrity treatment. The Thistletop goblins had suffered a few setbacks, seeing their numbers reduced by a battle with a group of roaming bandits looking for a new hideout. Not long after the bandits were eaten, another pack of goblins tried to take over Thistletop for their own. They, too, were eaten. Grog had left Thistletop some time ago to return to his hobgoblin tribe. The leader of the tribe, Ragg Firefist, had wanted his people to hunt down Grog. Grog's mother tried to defend her son. For that, Ragg killed her and her husband. Grog left Thistletop on a mission of revenge. Kadrus came to Kumiko and Quillith with a potion flask from another time. "A gift from Lord Villastir," he told them. He asked if they could test the spell they had deciphered. Quilith took them to the demiplane he had created to test the spell in case something went wrong. It was a fifteen-minute ritual. Once the spell had been cast, a man stood before them. He was bald, bloody, beaten, and had prison tattoos and a scar across his throat. He also had what appeared to be a magical voicebox sticking out of his throat. By the nature of the spell, the heroes theorized that the person summoned could only be summoned if their own time was about to end. Judging by his appearance, they suspected the theory had been correct. This person had been snatched away as the killing blow was being dealt. When the shock of the spell wore off, the man could speak. He said his name was Reno Heartsbane, cleric of Baldur. He had been fighting a lich named Taag’thrith the Dreameater alongside his friends, The Necessary Evil. Taag'thrith had created a legendary (10th Level) spell to trap the material plane in a dream he controlled. He would use it to siphon all knowledge. Much of his group had been killed, and Reno was about to be decapitated when Kumiko's spell pulled him away. Kadrus believes the spell would last about two weeks. At this point, Reno will return to his timeline, where he will be killed. Kumiko and Quillith bought him a drink to settle his nerves. Jayvielle and Kilgor returned to Magnimar. Jayvielle offered Dagourn a job aboard The Bloodsworn. Dagourn accepted, seeing it as an opportunity to spread the word of the Dark Queen.

Cut To:

Maximus Merilander closed the ornate tapestries, blocking the sun from shining through the window. He sat in the small, dimly lit room and removed the sihedron medallion he wore around his neck. He looked at it for a long time before setting it down on the desk in front of him. "Master," he asked aloud. "Can you hear me?" A ghostly image materialized from the sihedron. Karzoug looked down at him. His hands seemed to be resting on a stone ledge of some kind. "The time draws near, my Champion," he said. "Soon, my troops will grind Varisia to dust. New Thassalon will be born from the ashes. Xin-Shalast will be the shining star of my empire, and all who survive me will kneel before me." Maximus acknowledged the statement with a single nod. "I was in Magnimar and caught an inquisitor of Pharasma following me. Apparently, the Lady of Graves is not pleased with you." Karzoug smirked ever so slightly. "Is that so? The inquisitor told you that?" "Eventually. She was very resolute in her conviction. I helped her to see the truth. Pharasma is displeased that you are keeping souls from reaching the Boneyard and her judgement." "And they call me greedy," Karzoug mused. "It would seem that even the gods cannot stop me." "That's precisely what I told her," Maximus said. "Then I sent her to report back to Pharasma in person." "The machinations I have in place continue to send the souls I need to the soul lens. My runewell is nearly ready. Then shall I set foot in Xin-Shalast for the first time in over ten millennia, and the world will quake under my feet. Everything else is proceeding as planned?" "Yes, master. The machine nears completion and will be ready for you to retrieve your troops from the past. Such power... I had read of such things but never believed it could become a reality!" "You wear such power on your wrists, my champion. A gift that was given to me by my allies in Leng. I gave you a gift so that my arrival would be unchallenged." "It will be unchallenged. No one will stand against you. No one can. For to do that, they must stand against me." Maximus drew the golden scimitar. "And to stand against me is to kiss the hand of Pharasma when they meet her in the Boneyard." "What of those so-called heroes that discovered Runeforge? You failed to stop them from discovering it. You failed to kill them there." "I did not try to kill them there. They will be no threat to you." "They have now gained my attention. Do not underestimate their power." "They overestimate their power. There are still obstacles standing between them and the Eye of Avarice. And then there is me. Your champion." "Do not fail me... my champion." The image vanished. Shadows danced along pillars behind the Runelord of Greed. Karzoug watched the image of his champion as it dissolved into the liquid gold that slowly turned and rolled inside the massive runewell. The bracers Maximus wore were from Leng, and Karzoug didn't trust them. His "allies" were important to his final goal, so he would test that trust by using their gifts. He would not use them, of course; he was no fool. But if Maximus used them and survived, he would consider his trust in his Leng allies well placed. He looked up at the large oval lense mounted above, watching red whisps strike the surface before turning a deep shade of green and plunging into the runewell. The power was almost there, Karzoug noted. Almost enough souls to give him the strength to leave this realm and take his rightful place in Xin-Shalast. With no other runelords active, once he retrieved his army, it was only a matter of time before Varisia fell. Then what? Should he march south and claim the godshard from the city of Absalom? Ascend to divinity and show Pharasma what happens to anyone - god or mortal alike - who dares to try and stop him. Karzoug looked at the ioun stones embedded in the back of his hands. He gently stroked a small red one with his other hand and smiled. Now was not the time to overextend himself. He'd settle for simply wiping out a nation and rebuilding his empire. For now.

Missions/Quests Completed

Loot has been sold, magic items purchased.

Character(s) interacted with

Parker Stormtouch: First mate of The Bloodsworn, he is keeping the ship intact while Jayvielle is away. He does not like the size of his room, and much prefers the Captain's accommodations.
Alduin: Waiting for Irori to give him a sign as to when he should start the Test of the Starstone.
Dagourn: Free from Karzoug's curse, he is now the ship's healer aboard The Bloodsworn.
Reno Heartsbane: He has a short reprieve from death but can't speak to his god.

Campaign

Rise of the Runelords

Protagonists