Chains of the Mad God

Bolvaic heads out to meet on of Clan Boradrak's responsibilities--a yearly check-in with the Drow of House Teken'duis. The clan and the house held a peace between them and every year met to discuss any concerns. Nhilcyria Teken'duis was surprised to find that there was a surviving member of Clan Boradrak to make the meeting, but they exchanged information. During the meeting Nhilcyria brought up that there have been tremors beneath the mountain and that he might call upon him, due to the mutual pacts of clan and house, to assist in the investigation of the source, to which Bolvaic agreed.
Later, Elkandar Teken'Duis arrived at the League Guildhall to call upon Bolvaic for the debt. Despite there being pressing matters in different directions, the party agreed to assist Bolvaic in searching out the disturbances. Elkandar shared more information with the party, telling them that Malthus Normal, a disciple of Nyctelios, The Mad God, was looking to free the god from his prison.
He had collected information that Nyctelios had put out into the world through the writings of madmen that Malthus collected and pieced together. The Arcane Lock was beneath theDunnith Mountains and he needed a book to release him.
Elkandar offered to lead the party there and while they traveled spoke of the motivation of Malthus' cult. Nyctelios was the brother of Emone, The Knower, and was once a god of discovery. However, in his explorations, he went somewhere that no one was meant to go and it drove the god mad. Upon his return, he slew the gods Miseria, Mother of Shivers, and Sisig, Keeper of Dreams. They were the gods of fear and dreams respectively. With their deaths, dreams and fear were no longer held in the dominion of gods, but were rather free and uncontrolled concepts. This is also why nightmares exist--because the two ideals also blend together since they are uncontrolled.
The idea of uncontrolled concepts in the hands of mortals scared the gods who worked together to bind Nyctelios, sealing his prison with the Arcane Lock. Malthus believes that the ideals should not be held by the gods themselves, but rather should be free for any mortal to take control of in their own life, so he wants to free Nyctelios so that he would slay the remaining gods to free all ideals from divinity and put them in mortal hands.
The party discovered that Elkendar had a cranium rat that he called his familiar after they detected an otherworldly being in his tent. They traveled to Caer Cenwyn and met with Princess Ireltharis Alistair once again, who asked for their assistance in helping Baremin Barleyhare once again, who had heard that there were reports of changelings infiltrating the city. The party declined as they had pressing matters, however, that information did help them in their discovery that Elkendar was not whom he claimed to be, but rather a slaad shapechanger.
In pursuing him, the party came upon Malthus Normal, who invited the party to come with him and he would lead them to the Arcane Lock peacefully and he would instruct them fully on his plans. However, the party attacked him and discovered that he was another slaad shapechanger.
The party went to the tunnels beneath the Dunnith Mountains and found their way to the Arcane Lock. The lock was damaged, but could not be opened. However, the cracks created a portal to Limbo where the slaad and the Urban Stalker found earlier had escaped from.
They found Malthus there at the portal waiting. Cult members were using rituals to summon more slaads. But also with him was Rieta, who was working to aid Malthus in his goal. Rieta used a telekinesis spell to draw the Metatext from Ilbryen and draw it to Malthus.
Ilbryen then realized that the Metatext was the book that Malthus needed. Anything written in the Metatext ends up being a part of Emone's journal of true history. Writing that the Arcane Lock was destroyed into the book while the magic of Limbo was flooding the area could make it a reality. The party needed to recover the book before Malthus could complete the ritual.
Bolvaic charged forth as the others fought the slaad and tried to stop the cultists' rituals. In struggling with Malthus, he pulled the two of them into the great chasm gorge that was open. With her telekinesis spells still up, Rieta still had a chance to use it to save one of them and she used it to save Bolvaic.
The party finished off the slaad and cultists and Rieta joined them, not wanting to see her old friends slain. After the battle, the party discovered that Malthus was truly dead. Rieta told the party that she was going to do what she could to make up for what she did and left to start a journey of redemption.
With the Arcane Lock secured, the party met with House Teken'duis to inform them of what happened, including warning them of slaad shapechanger infiltrators, which they discovered were already infiltrating their ranks. With the rituals to weaken the Lock ended, the tremors ceased and House Teken'duis swore to protect the Arcane Lock.

Related Characters

• Baremin Barleyhare
• Elkandar Teken'Duis
• Ireltharis Alistair
• Malthus Normal
• Nhilcyria Teken'duis

Related Organizations

• Bookhouse Society
• House Teken'duis
• League of Explorers and Adventurers
• Mad God

Related Locations

• Caer Craftenor
• Dunnith Mountains
• Gentleman's League of Explorers and Adventurers
• The Arcane Lock

Related Session Reports

• Session 51: I Know What You Did Last Winter
• Session 52: The Poly Dwarf
• Session 53: The Triumvirate of Choices
• Session 54: Oh, That's Just My Pocket Rat
• Session 55: The Hammer is my Penis
• Session 56: Ending With a Choice
• Session 57: We Choose Murder!
• Session 58: Chekhov's Bottomless Pit
• Session 59: Riding the Seaward