Session 45

General Summary

25th of Wealsun, year 595 - Level 16 (low summer -- week of Richfest, the midsummer festival, in 3 days)
The party stood upon the shaky, moving, "ground" made of undulating coils of chaos within a realm of surreal nightmare. Standing before them, the mind flayer N’gahloddt. Speaking audibly in some unspeakable tongue, his words understandable only in their minds, he gives the party his thanks for not following his original task (or bringling back the minds of a Star-Spawn Mage and Seer in an intellect devourer) -- for if they had, they would have sealed the Locks as promised. But instead, by doing what they did (as encouraged by Moloch), they sent a feedback loop of power back to the Vortex (an artifact of the original sealing of the Locks), causing it to expand and fray. Giving N’gahloddt the opportunity to control it and eventually break out of it, once he has all the items he needs....
He also thanks them for bringing two of the items: The Staff of the Magi and the blood of the scion (Irina). He already has the Nomlibri ex Mortus (also known as "The Book of Dead Names," stolen from the archvampire Lucius Sestius Impius.) The last thing he needs is Vita’nanis: the personal blade of Glasya, Princess of the Nine Hells and Asmodeus' first daughter. (At mention of her name, Irina is suddenly reminded of the image of the winged and be-horned devil-like woman who was a participant in the ritual that ripped Irina's immortality from her.) He tells the party "not to worry, for he has a group on their way now to retrieve the blade for him." As for them, this is actually not their final meeting, he tells them. His "memory" tells him they will meet one final time when "all will be decided," and this is not that time. For now, he will take the staff--
And three separate "eye tyrants" appear out of the chaos to attack Irina directly.
Irina, having read the book on eye tyrants she had found when they were in the Vortex "cabin" last time, quickly calls out to her companions a single caution specific for each kind, and begins to defend herself. Toby, having had some time to get to know his faerie dragon companion, Quarrilet, asks him to cast Polymorph on him, turning him into an adult gold dragon! The fey creature does, however, because of the chaotic nature of the environment, they quickly learn magic can go awry, and Toby immediately turns from dragon to a potted plant.
The party struggles with the wild magic and the difficult terrain, casting what spells they can and trying to gain strategic footing -- at one point, Wally's attempt at a spell causes a third eye to appear in the center of his forehead! Which also causes him to become victim of the stunning gaze of one of the eye tyrants!
Irina deftly shadowsteps to a position where she can hit all three hideous aberrations with lightning, however, that puts her directly in range of N’gahloddt's planned action! He teleports at will to her side, speaks a dark and eldritch word to her, and Irina falls immediately dead! The mind flayer grabs the Staff of the Magi, calls to the party that they shall meet once more, and disappears. Malex, victim of the random nature of movement in the Void, nearly falls into oblivion, but catches himself and pulls himself up just in time to see Irina fall. 
But Toby and Wally (with dragon's perception and aided by a third eye) notice a new arrival -- Maggie! She stands some ways away, waving at the party to follow her. "I know the way out! Come with me!" she calls, her expression and demeanor more solid than any time they have seen her. Toby flies past the creatures and across the horrid terrain and scoops up the fallen form of their warlock, and grabs the rest of the party to meet Malex at Maggie's location. Malex grabs Maggie's arm and demands, "Can you lead us out of this treacherous place of wild magic within a minute? That is all the time I have to save Irina!" Maggie replies she's not sure, maybe if they hurry....
Maggie deftly leads the party through some kind of maze visible only to her, but they have no problem rushing across the moving and strange terrain as they follow her. Suddenly, the party notices a tear, a literal tear in the air, surrounded by glowing runes in mirror-image to them. Through the tear they can barely make out a bright landscape, and dark figures standing on solid ground -- and a voice, speaking some kind of incantation . . . in the dragonborn form of Draconic! They party quickly and immediately decide to make for the tear! Maggie screams for them to stop, saying it could be a trick, the safe way is her way just further on. But the party has made their decision and Maggie has no choice but to follow the others through this strange portal....
Into the bright sunlight to collapse on dusty scrubland surrounded by several extremely shocked dragonborn, and others! The surprised draw weapons, but Malex ignores them as he pulls out the necessary spell components and with but a second to spare, calls Irina's soul back and she blinks to consciousness. 
The various black, red, white, and bronze-scaled dragonborn that surround them gawk at the sight of Toby, the dragon, Malex the cleric of Bahamut, Irina the dark lady, and two halfling, and with a bit of back and forth, come to realize they are in the presence of Daamisiorrti ("The Lady’s Bastards" in dragonborn -- a title of grudging respect, the "Lady" being a reference to Tiamat). Weapons put aside, their leader, a tall and imposing black-scaled dragonborn paladin, introduces herself, Hazzaakaz, and companions: Mystaan Nalreeth, (female Warlock of Tiamat, black-scaled with all white eyes), Qyxpahrgh Daar (red-scaled cleric of Tiamat), Norixius Ssavaran (male desert Ranger and brass-scaled), Kat'chka a Thri-kreen warrior (an insectoid race more common deeper in the desert east), and a handful of hechmen.
Also with them, to the party's delighted shock and surprise, are their former companions Lief Cornwallis and William Ashglade! They are shackled to each other, however, but are clearly delighted to see the party. Hazzaakaz and the followers of Tiamat express their honor to be in the presence of the Lady Irina who saved the life of the Great Lady's daughter, Malex who bested a great warrior of the Lady's Clan, and the halfling who have the constitution of dragons themselves. And because they vouch for the two humans, they release them. (Evidently they were caught by the Tiamat party in their Lady's treasure chamber, and believed to be thieves, attacked. Uromyn, the half-orc, was "honorably" killed in the battle and body was set aflame.)
The ritual that the Tiamat party had been performing now ruined for the day, they invite the Daamisiorrti to their camp for the night to relate their stories of how they came to be in the presence of a gold dragon and a third eye. (Toby flies off to find and return with a large edible beast, then flew off again to return as himself when the spell wore off.) Meanwhile, the party learns that the dragonborn army has eliminated the remaining other realm creatures that had come through before the Lock was sealed, that the dragons themselves seem to have come to some uneasy pact and stopped fighting among themselves, and there is an uneasy alliance among the clans -- but one that could boil over at any time. They also hear rumors of Settleton having been taken over, annexed even, by the forces of the Delemiriv! The party tell of their recent travels through Feyrealm and the Vortex. And in the process of the telling, have attempted to find out more about their hosts' quest, suspecting that perhaps they are the group the mind flayer referred to as being in process of retrieving Glasya's blade!
Some trust established and cooperation encouraged, Hazzaakaz, Nalreeth, and Daar reveal to the party their quest:
After entering Tiamat's temple (where they found the humans and half-orc), Nalreeth was gifted with a vision! She was shown an egg floating in the chaos, swirling with color, and a voice that was surely Tiamat's Daughter, telling her to retrieve the egg and bring it to Tiamat's palace on Avernus (the first layer of what the humans call "Nine Hells".) And from there, the Great Lady herself will be reborn into the world! So they are currently on their way into Limbo to do so. (The Vortex, Nalreeth believes, being a confluence of Limbo and the Far Realms, is to power her ritual that would take them all to Limbo.) Once there, they are to find a Githzerai monk named Oorlid who would lead them to where the egg is.
Hazzaakaz is now convinced that providence has brought them all together, that surely the arrival of the Daamisiorrti in their midst just as they are embarking on their quest, is a sign that they are to join and seek Tiamat's return together. She declares that they accompany them into Limbo on the morrow and won't take "no," for an answer. Malex and Toby, however, are conflicted by whether Malex's vision means there are two eggs, or one egg to become either Bahamut or Tiamat, or yet another meaning altogether. And whether they join for forces to betray the followers of Tiamat would be an ends justifying the means, or looked down on by Bahamut the Just? They would need to consider....
Meanwhile, Maggie stays quiet and reserved. But through the evening she speaks with the party, and they discover that she seems to be fully recovered in her senses. She relates to them, that after the party visited her a second time, she had been consumed with thoughts of them, dreadful thoughts. Dreaming even while awake of their being watched, and followed, by some unseen evil. Then, as the effects of the Vortex has widened and begun to affect Tilldale, she began to feel more like her old self even as others around her began to succumb to fear and delusion. She felt the Vortex calling to her, welcoming her back where she belonged... but knew it was a lie.... Then, she saw a vision of the party fighting monstrous creatures and Irina dying! And knew the party needed help! She felt no choice but to come to their aid. She hiked the 2 days to the Vortex, day and night, until she reached it, and could actually see inside, and see the party, frozen in time and place.... and she saw paths and spaces in the storm she could walk through, so she did....

Character(s) interacted with

• N’gahloddt the mind flayer
• Maggie, halfling of Tilldale
• Hazzaakaz, female paladin of Tiamat
• Mystaan Nalreeth, (female Warlock of Tiamat, black-scaled with all white eyes)
• Qyxpahrgh Daar (red-scaled cleric of Tiamat)
• Norixius Ssavaran (male desert Ranger and brass-scaled)
• Kat'chka a Thri-kreen warrior
• Lief Cornwallis and William Ashglade

Report Date

08 Mar 2021