2024/05/22: Defending Zyth Part 11 Report
General Summary
Terana, Knight, Zaran, Kal'vus, Buzz, (Sith?!)
While the advance party rested on the other side, Buzz, Zaran, and Azhar tried to figure out how to cross the new chasm. As Buzz and Zaran got an instantaneous travel spell ready to cross, Sith appeared out of nowhere. He had come to check what happened to the muppets he'd summoned to help with the fight in the bridge room. Buzz berated him for having bought slaves (minions) from a villain market in an earlier adventure, but Sith largely agreed with him, brushed him off, and tried to help with making a way across.
Sith tried to paradox a second bridge into existence, but whatever antimagic effect was causing problems quickly sucked the magic out of his attempts. Buzz's zoom spell did work, though, instantaneously accelerating the group and decelerating them again inside the far doorway.
Kal'vus introduced Zella to the rest of the party and greeted Sith. (Sith also got a welcoming hug from Knight.) The warrior advance team explained the current situation. They also handed the bone scroll case over to the mage crew to see what they'd make of it. The death sigils and warnings all over the case suggested this was very dangerous and was never to be opened or used. The case didn't respond to identify. The party decided this was a problem for later.
While the fighters rested and ate, the mages took a look at the hallway. They considered tossing a pile of magical nukes into the room, but questioning the fighters revealed that it would take a lot of firepower to kill these ogres. Sith tried scrying and revealed that the sniper ogres were wearing shamanic gear and were accompanied by a small altar. The room they were in was pentagonal and about 50'x50'.
Buzz, during discussion about Sith trying a wild zone or similar magic: "I'm grateful I still have my penis this time." (Buzz is still salty about anything involving Sith and wild magic effects. With good reason, admittedly. The last time everyone got gender-swapped, it took divine intervention to reverse it.)
While they were on the topic of scrying, Buzz tried Rakomb's Assessment. Spell, large area, finds traps, hidden areas, survival details, food... "Gain knowledge of an area for survivability and inhabitability purposes." 10x10 mile area.
With that he found that there were unused areas of this modular dungeon, parts that had been swapped out and were hanging in the void in which the dungeon rested. The party decided to jump the board, transporting to one of those areas and speedrunning to the big necromantic castle at the end.
(Kal'vus decided this was the time to put on those demon jester outfit pieces that the warriors had looted off the jester demon lord. He could use the defense bonuses. To fit the theme, he switched his shapeshifting bag mask into a scary clown mask.)
Sith's transport worked, once he'd learned the scrying spell Buzz had used with aid from Buzz and Terana. The party found themselves on stairs up to churchlike double doors with huge skull knockers. Everything else around them, aside from the castle itself, was headache-inducing twisted space.
The group got inside with Zella's foreknowledge. She went and activated the various traps, getting herself a gargoyle minion and a 15-foot tall animated suit of armor with a giant axe. She guided the party toward the throne room. In response to banter from Kal'vus, she mentioned that "The treasury's been empty for a while." Knight checked on potential dangers with his spyglass, getting a vision of a skeleton hanging from a chandelier, wrapped in chains. Sketched it and handed it to Zella. She said that wasn't one of theirs. And she didn't know of any chandeliers that were here before. The ceilings are 40-50 feet tall in here, so the party opted to keep an eye out above them from here forward.
Zella got more nervous as the party approached the throne room. The party decided to check for unfamiliar traps. Found one, just an alarm. Terana cut a door in half to leave the bottom half in place and not trip the wire.
The next room had been transformed into what looked like an efreet's storage room. Chandeliers, candelabras, chairs, all piled in here. Many were still lit, apparently thanks to continual flame. The next set of doors would lead directly into the throne room. The party buffed up and kicked the door down.
They found an efreet king on his giant fiery throne, talking to his elite guards. In front of the throne, several large scrying mirrors were arrayed: Apparently he had been watching the party fight their way into the dungeon, though he clearly didn't know where they'd gone after transporting. Around the room there were hundreds of flaming skeletons with bows.
The fight started immediately. Knight got some good slashes in on the boss before he could react but didn't take him down. One of the mirrors survived a necrotic lightning blast without flinching. Zaran, Azhar, and three muppets got soul-sucked into the demon lord's pocket.
80 elite guards to start with. 23 dead by Terana immediately. 12 dead by Knight.
The demon lord and Buzz blasted each other dramatically and then dramatically walked out of the other's attacks unharmed.
Sith considered his options and joined in the melee with his giant chaos blade. He killed another 5 elite guards. The guards, having lost fully half their number in a matter of seconds, began to falter. They withdrew from the stairs leading up to the platform the party had entered onto and launched a barrage of fireballs. The coruscating shields Sith had put up protected most of the party, but Sith himself took a good burning. (Less than he could have, though: Knight's Void reached out to Sith's darkness and mitigated the effect.)
Then Zella got to the back of the room, and with the power of the Phoenix Gate Buzz had hit her with, there was loud cracking of stone. Then there was maniacal, evil laughter rising from the back of the room, and the efreet king was very distracted. Kal'vus took advantage of that to bury a blade in the efreet king's eyes.
The original demon king finally had his chance at revenge. A big skeletal hand reached out from below the efreet king and smoke began to fill the air. He yelled "No, no, I won't let you!" then exploded, and then he suddenly turned to stone along with the explosion.
An uneasy peace followed. Zella's lover was cordial and congratulatory. Knight, able to go immaterial, cooperated with the demon king to get the other demon's equipment out of his frozen form and retrieve the soultrapped folks. Azhar, Zaran, Gery, Reda, Athard. The latter three are the muppet pirates, and they're now permanent. So that's fun.
While the demon lord returned the trapped souls to life, the surviving adventurers had good chat with him. Apparently he's a quasi-divine entity and is sort of responsible for illusion and transmutation. He's needed to make magic in the world work properly. He did try to take over the world once, but the group that put him away also was trying to take over the world, so they're biased. And he's over that now.
After much debate, the party decided to release him. He is Hoen, Dark Helhas, The Prince of Transmutation, The Lord of Magic, and many other names. He gave his binding word that he wouldn't be doing evil relative to the populace of the world.
The session ended with Zella and Edna having a lovely adventurer reunion while Hoen snuck around directly behind the former barbarian, looking through her cabinets. (When Zella came up the stairs, Edna looked like she'd seen a ghost. Zella put her in some sort of monk grapple, hugged her, then called her an idiot.) After a while of conversation between the two, Hoen tapped Edna on the shoulder and she started unwittingly getting younger. She ended up like 6'4" and very well muscled. By this point the conversation had come to the idea of releasing Hoen, and Edna was repeating that no, the demon lord had to be kept contained, millions would die in the first few minutes if he got out. (When she said that line, Hoen mimed looking at his watch in mock surprise from where he was standing behind her. He was way behind! He clearly needed coffee first, though.) Eventually Edna saw him crossing the kitchen in search of coffee materials, and then Zella caught her face, came right up to her, and said "He's out. Nothing bad happened."
(Knight was watching the whole time, drinking coffee creamer out of a mug with a curly straw. He offered the mug to Hoen while Hoen was looking for coffee supplies, naturally.)
The session left off with that wonderful shattering of expectations. Next time we'll see how Edna reacts.
Rewards Granted
Efreet king's gear
2 xp
Missions/Quests Completed
Clear the demonic dungeon under Auntie Edna's house
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
Notes
Zella description: 5'10", long dark hair, fairly attractive. Build similar to Wonder Woman from the most recent live action movie. Toga, thanks to Terana.
Sith, when wading into melee: "Okay, greatswinging. What do I roll for a couch?"
Kal'vus
Sith
Zaran
Buzz Gizmo
Terana DelGarrod
Knight of Darkhome
Report Date
22 May 2024
Primary Location
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