callofthedivine

[callofthedivine]

Pleasure: Born Orihiri, she grew up in one of the many nomadic tribes that wanders the Bukraprish forests of Deopea. Her tribe was called Children of the Pale Tincture and were devoted to Talona, the mother of poison and disease. Growing up she was groomed to take her mother's place as the next leader of the Children, but as it became increasingly obvious that their favor with Talona had been waning, Orihiri realized her right of passage was more likely to kill her than to allow her to commune with the goddess. She began to rebel, seeking out larger cities, the company of others, and as many pleasures of this world she could before she was forced to undertake the ritual. In it she was approached by the goddess, but not to elevate the rest of the Children, instead she was offered her freedom from them in exchange for completing tasks for the goddess. Taking this sliver of freedom she became Talona's warlock, left her people, and soon changed her name to Pleasure.

Over the years she did many things for the goddess and was rewarded with her freedom between tasks and arcane abilities that had been out of her reach previously. Eventually this lead to her being elected as Ekkleka's councilwoman and she soon was deeply entangled in politics at Talona's behest. She didn't discover until years later why the goddess had asked her to do so, but after nearly a decade of service she followed her goddess's instructions and found herself deep under the council building, in catacombs that she thought were just part of myth, to where Talona had helped the Kaploorian princess of legend imprison the evil tempest goddess Umberlee. A seal which had begun to weaken over the centuries, and one she would have to either re-seal or break-- having to kill the weakened goddess within. While she originally thought she had years to grow her magic and find allies to assist in this task her timetable changed drastically when the Emperor fell ill and plans to explore and seal the catacombs were put on the table. Forced to make a quick plan and involve people she couldn't fully trust lead to mistake after mistake being made until a group of her peers and some ragtag adventurers made it into the seal's chamber and one of her allies turned, dealing her a fatal blow.

While that seemed to be the end of her story, things on the mortal plane grew worse and worse, and when the pantheon realized that Umberlee would soon be the only god able to freely walk the planes again, they grew frenzied. Talona was given the task of dealing with Umberlee as she had done before, and needing a vessel for her will, was able to raise Pleasure back to the land of the living-- the goddess herself now partially inhabiting her form so that the two might be able to complete the task they'd started together over so many years.

Race: Tiefling

Class: Celestial Warlock/Avatar of Talona

Background: Hermit

Physical Appearance: 6', pale purple skin with black rot spreading up from her fingertips and toes, dark veins visible under the thinner parts of her skin, bone horns that curve back along her skill and jut out in sharp points towards the back, solid black eyes with a silver iris, black shoulder-length hair, spaded tail.

Status: It's complicated

[callofthedivine]

Nox: Nox grew up in the Feywild, in a small village created by his people within the Court of Wind and Darkness, called Isynhome. His eclipse was very community oriented and intrinsically hedonistic. Lunala lifespans vary wildly depending on how much fey ancestry runs through their blood with some living barely fifty years and others closer to five centuries. So living fast and free, not planning for the ever shifting future that they can see coming for them is commonplace. For a good portion of his life this was fine with him. And then the visions that came within their sleep changed. The future would hold a great sickness that would sweep through the eclipse, neighbors, friends, those who had lived only years and those who would live for centuries, would succumb. The vision horrified him, and while he was not the only one to see it, it was determined that this culling was the natural way of things, and their eclipse would do nothing to prevent it. He tried, but the more he warned others who he saw fall in his visions, the more resistance he met. If the visions persisted then this was the course of the future. There would be no swaying it. When the Dust Sickness came his people were decimated and he decided he could no longer stay in that place. 

He spent a few years traveling across Aclistan, his silent flight and extra senses allowing him to make good money as a scout and spy, and when he had grown accustomed to the blade he now had to carry in these wild lands, an excellent assassin as well. But this could not persist as the travel did not allow him to escape his grief as visions returned whenever he strayed within five hundred miles of his former home. Through his work in both of the fey courts he learned about the portals they guarded to other places, and the scrolls some of the fey held to bring them back to specific times and places within the Feywild if they should ever depart for some reason. Making use of his new skills he was able to steal one such scroll before fleeing through one of the portals, winding up on the mortal plane. 

Since then he has found it challenging to adjust to the culture, but one thing is at least consistent between the worlds, and that is the need to have people killed. Within a short amount of time he was able to make a name for himself as a capable assassin, and was offered a permanent position working for the kingpin of Creta, which he accepted as his visions of tragedies continued to pull him towards Tipen. Once in the city he began to have visions each night, though the contents often changed slightly. A purple skinned elf dying, in dark tunnels full of water, the elf torn in half by dragon claws, the elf's throat ripped out between a tiger-like creature's fangs, the elf torn limb-from-limb by displacer beasts, and on and on. Tragedies everywhere, but his visions fixated on this single creature, an oddity to be sure, but one he had made his peace with. And then he met the elf. He cautioned the party they were traveling with to be careful on the road, but when he had attempted to retreat they had pulled him in, welcomed him to join them, and alongside them he helped to kill the displacer beasts who would have slain the elf, Lughnasa. A new path, a future that he had helped to create. 

But the visions still came, grew more insistent. Fire raining down from above, Lughnasa standing alone on a wall, caught in a blast. Their life spilling out once again across shattered stone. Death coming for them, over and over, and this time he didn't know how to advert it. Until he caught sight of the Drachman flag one of the airships had carried. 

Race: Lunala (Mothman) credit to reddit user Alessia45, I used this for all basic stats but did slightly modify the culture to fit in our campaign!

Class: Rogue Assassin

Background: Criminal/Spy

Physical Appearance: 6', insectoid body with four arms and three-fingered hands, functional wings, bright red insect eyes, black, red, and orange patterned body. 

Status: Alive

[callofthedivine]

COTD NPCs

An ever-growing list of plot relevant NPCs from our campaign!

Gadreel Siao

Nox

Pleasure

Waylan Hohenheim 

[callofthedivine]

Gadreel Siao: Gadreel was left just outside the gates of Vasselheim when he was still an infant and never knew anything more about his birth parents. Rather, he was quickly taken in by two women, adventurers and worshippers of Kord, who had begun to think about leaving that life for something more subdued. With their new child in tow, they traveled across the sea and using their additional skill as blacksmiths were able to settle down in Oshime and the capital city of Creta. There they joined a notable guild and were able to open their own shop and raise their son. Gadreel grew up well loved, following his mothers' faith, and in their footsteps. He pushed himself to learn both their craft in making weapons as well as their skill in wielding them, though he quickly proved to have no aptitude for magic unlike his human mother. Still, he grew up well-loved and determined from a young age that he would do everything in his power to leave the world better than when he found it, to leave a legacy behind, be it through his work or in the battles he might fight. Something, he hoped, that his dwarven mother would have to remember him by when she inevitably outlived him by several centuries.

When he was a little over sixteen he was given a new assignment by the guild, asking him to travel south to the rural province of Ketterdam. It was a humbling post, somewhere he would be more likely to be making farm equipment and horseshoes than swords and axes, but he was determined still to prove his skill and eventually be relocated to a larger city. The position was made all the worse as he realized that the town was primarily human and he was an outsider along with the single halfling guard, and more curiously another human who was widely shunned by the town despite being the councilman's son. He and Waylan found one another in that isolation and over the course of the next five years they grew progressively closer, finding themselves talking about what they would do when he received his next assignment, where they would go because they would go together, wouldn't they? He fell in love.

And then Waylan's father was murdered, adventurers came to town, Waylan was tortured, and he was back in Creta submitting his request to the guild for a suspension of duties. A few months later he realized that Waylan wasn't the person he'd fallen in love with, found out that he had a half-sibling, discovered his true heritage and was likely to have a much longer life than he'd ever anticipated. And things only got worse after that. Now he has a strange group of people he's surrounded himself with who do not share his morals, people with magic and abilities so far past his own that he isn't worthy of standing beside them, and Jinx, who is the only one of them who see him, the only one he cares about being worthy for. And the whole world is starting to pull apart at the seams.

Perhaps it's time to point his compass elsewhere, find someone who needs what he can offer. A place he can actually make a difference rather than slow the rest of them down. Maybe she'll even come with him.

Race: Orc-Elf

Class: Fighter

Background: Guild Artisan

Physical Appearance: 7' 6", muscular build, medium gray-green skin, long black hair styled in dreads, longer more pointed ears than typical orcs with several piercings.

Status: Alive

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXIX (Current Act!)

The next day they found their heading, following the silhouettes of sand skiffs in the distance to a mesa range with stairs carved into the side. As they began their ascent they passed a small group making their way down from the top including a strange rabbit-like humanoid. When they asked where they were, the group readily told them they had arrived at the city of Nselond before they continued on their way. Upon reaching the top of the mesa they found guards stationed at small outposts around an enormous pit. They approached without being stopped and peered down, finding that the inside of the range had been hollowed out, a whole city built in winding tiers along the interior of the cavern. 

They made their way down, marveling at the new sights within the city and taking the opportunity to restock their supplies and try to find a magic shop that might help them get home. While eventually Ray would be able to bring them back, she wouldn't be able to do so without a tuning fork, and wanted to find one to expand their traveling options. As they moved through the city they tried to determine their next steps, wondering if they should try to travel several continents to reach the Court of Spring and Summer and ask Queen Tatiana for use of one of the naturally occurring portals that her court guards, if they should be potentially looking for a Key in this realm that forsook the gods at the turn of the last calamity, or trying to track down Jinx's family if they might still be alive. While they were able to find an oddities shop with a large variety of magical items, and a lucky jade statue that Jinx promptly stole, they could not retrieve a tuning fork attuned to Shalomar. 

Instead they found their way to a fancy tavern and inn, Ray being insulted for her infernal heritage and having a fair amount of coin taken from her at the door before they were let inside. There they acquired rooms and had a few drinks before Nox excused himself from the crowds while Jinx and Gad retired to their room to talk about what she wanted to do about her town, which she had learned might have fallen nearly seven hundred years ago. Waylan and Lugh followed Ray outside of the city walls where they hoped she would be able to safely cast a spell to talk to the gods, both advocating her to reach out to Talona instead of Habbakuk given she was supposed to be their liaison regarding the Keys. Ray was able to reach the goddess to her great relief, and asked after the artifacts, learning that Talona couldn't know for certain, but could make an educated guess that this realm would be an excellent place to hide one. When they had finished for the night the party went back to the inn and split up into their room, the two couples each taking one while Waylan and Ray were left to the third. Once away from the others Waylan asked if he could look over the papers and items that they had stolen from Queen Bilia's lab three days prior, and as Ray attempted to remove the curse from the box they had now stolen twice, she suddenly found herself transformed into a potted plant. 

 Things got a lot weirder before Ray was put back to rights and they managed to open the box and retrieve the contents. Inside they found a silk bag with a deck of cards within, something Waylan realized after an extremely high arcana check, realized was a long outlawed form of magic called a Deck Of Many Things. The next morning they informed the party, sans Nox, of the discovery with Ray advocating that the group should pull every single card at once to get to the best ones, something that gave both Waylan (and the DM) heart palpitations, but the group ultimately decided to wait to do anything with the cards until after they left the city. Before doing so they decided to go see the king of this place who had been spoken so highly of. They found the entrance of the palace easily enough and were able to line up with a few other citizens, each group being called in for their audience with the king before exiting a short time later. When they finally were let in they discovered that an eccentrically colored man that Ray had met at the bar the night before was present, adviser to the crown, and the king himself was seated behind an opaque screen at the far end of the room. 

They approached and tried to explain their situation, asking about possible transport to Sopania, to which the king responded they would be welcome to go to the docks to charter any of the sand ships there and could have done so without his approval. The party, not wanting to push their luck, thanked him and started to leave when the advisor started to push forward, asking how they would get home from Sopania once they'd finished their business. The king warned him to stand down, but the advisor continued and eventually baited the party, saying that the great king could grant them a boon that would assist in their return home, provided they pass a test. Skeptical, but sensing no ill-will from the men, the party agreed and were shown to a large metal door with many locks. On the other side was the testing chamber, they would need to complete the task inside to earn the King's favor, but if they wished to stop at any point they could knock on the door and the test would end. As they stepped inside the advisor warned them that "the first answer is not always the right one," and sealed the door behind them. No sooner than the last lock had slid into place, did a small hole open up at the top of the room, releasing an air elemental inside which began to kick up the sand all around the room, and bring with it the nightmarish visage of a giant worm, once again ready to ravage the party.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXVIII (Enter the Feywild)

Before they could even catch their breath the party watched in horror as Jinx collapsed onto the ground for the second time in as many hours, hands clutching her head as she screamed. When she'd recovered enough to stand upright she lunged for Nox demanding that he explain what he'd done to her, but he didn't understand, and was wrapped in his own anger over the party following him and ruining his plans. Jinx refused to answer the party’s questions and eventually they began to move through the dunes. When the group made camp for the night Nox pulled Lugh aside and explained that all those months ago, and every night since, he had seen the world in flames with the party dying at the center of it all. He had believed that killing members of the Drachman royal family would likely have averted that branch of the future, but now any chance of stopping it had ended. His people were not supposed to speak their visions aloud, as doing so often resulted in self-fulfilling prophecies and he had hoped that after the times they had shared together, the group would have trusted him enough to listen to him when he repeatedly begged them to stop their pursuits. Now the world would burn and the party would die if they ever returned to it. Lugh relayed this information to the party, Ray growing ever more dismissive and skeptical of the lunala's words since she believed a world drowning was more likely with Umberlee on the loose. 

Over the course of the next two days they learned quite a bit about the new realm they found themselves in. As they walked the seemingly endless desert of spring green sand Jinx explained very briefly that she had been born in this world and had been sent away by her parents when she was very small as they tried to escape some threat at home, but had not remembered any of this until she came through the portal. Nox explained that memory loss could be one of many side-effects of traveling outside of the Feywild, with time fluctuation being another one. It was likely that even if they were to return to the prime material plane weeks or even centuries could have passed. And through their own experimentation, they learned that their magic could have sudden and unwanted additional effects, some benign and some dangerous. 

However, as they made their way towards specks of movement along the new horizon, they soon found themselves overtaken by a viscous sandstorm. Within the screaming sands several of the party members were confronted by monsters from their worst nightmares. Chaos exploded as Jinx, Lugh, Waylan, and Nox all began to fight invisible foes, with Ray and Gad watching as their vitality seemed to be drained from them as they did so. Lugh and Waylan both loosed several spells, one removing all of the sorcerer's hair and one causing Lugh to blink out of this plane of existence into the star scattered sky of the Astral Sea. 

Jinx on the other hand, was in a waking nightmare as a large butterfly-like creature, long quills along the edges of its wings, and moving bloodshot eyes set into the wings, flew towards her and latched on. A creature she remembered had brought down her father and mother as they'd tried to escape together. She thrashed and screamed, trying to fight it off as the quills sunk deep into her flesh and started to suck out her blood. Gadreel and Ray ran to her, seeing her fading fast, as the creature's quills expanded and pushed hard bulbous eggs under her flesh. Ray tried to calm Jinx with a spell before she became a beacon of radiant light as the Feywild affected her spells, blinding everyone within five feet of her. But the incantation did take hold and Jinx went uncomfortably limp, as despite all of the pain, her mind suddenly went calm just before she saw a blinding light before endless darkness took her vision. Thinking herself dead she laid there, letting the creature consume her body, before Gadreel ran her out of the storm as Lugh popped back into existence. They, Waylan, and Nox, eventually broke through the tricks the sand was playing on their minds while Ray dropped her spell on Jinx. The fear back, the rogue gave one more swipe at the creature, not realizing that it was Gadreel's flesh her knife found, before he managed to take her outside of the storm and her mind cleared. When the storm passed the party gathered to rest, not having anything left in them to continue moving forward.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXVIII (Lion, Bear, Goat, I choose you!)

Inside Ray cast a locate creature spell and got sporadic cues as Nox moved through the stone-walled castle, but still, it was enough to follow. Paralized by what to do when they spotted their first set of guards around a corner, the party debated amongst themselves how to proceed before Jinx reached into her bag of tricks and withdrew one of her fuzzy marbles. She gave it a flick and the whole party watched, now turned invisible, as it morphed into a large lion which she commanded to pounce on the guards. The creature dragged both guards down a staircase with a loud crash and Jinx ordered the creature into the lower levels to wreak as much havoc as it could before being slain as the party ran upstairs instead. They started opening rooms and running through the halls as alarms began to sound and Jinx let loose another marble, this time transforming into a bear, which she gave the same instructions as the lion. When they finally came to a staircase, still under guard despite the alarms blaring through the castle, she used her last marble and the party watched with muted horror as the giant goat charged the guards, killing one on contact and quickly stomping the other to death with its hooves. 

Deciding it would behoove them to find out what the guards had been stationed in front of, Jinx sent the goat charging up the staircase to break down the door-- only to watch as a solid wall slammed down after the goat reached the top step. Nothing happened for a moment before the wall slid back into the ceiling and the goat was gone, not destroyed, but no longer present. Disabling the trap and picking the lock, the party soon found themselves in the laboratory of Queen Bilia, leader of the Righteous Blades of Augury, the élite magical army of Drachma.

Inside Ray immediately made for the window, trying to get away from the stone so she could use her spell to the full extent, while the others searched the room. They were able to gather up a fair amount of magical components as well as taking a number of papers that might prove useful later before Jinx, to her shock, came across the dragon scale box that they had stolen from the Rowtree estate. Unthinking, she reached for it and the party watched, horrified, as she dropped lifelessly to the floor. The next few minutes were frantic as they tried to revive her without success, before they were able to identify that the box had a fresh curse placed on it, one that put its victims into a death-like state until its removal. Once she understood what had happened, Ray removed the curse from Jinx and they wrapped the box in Waylan's scarf before shoving it into the bag of holding as they caught sight of Nox breaking into the chapel across the courtyard. 

Splitting their concentration spells, Waylan turned into a giant owl and Lugh rendered the majority of the party invisible, so that they could carry them over to the chapel unseen. With a few close calls they all managed the trip, finding an entire pane of glass missing, not shattered, from where Nox had made his way inside. The party made their own ways down into the chapel, with Lugh insisting they all promise they would try to talk to Nox first, while Ray and Waylan privately promised each other that if Nox didn't relent they would aim to kill. The party had only just made it inside when they soon saw flashes of light leaking in through a door hidden in the wall, and soon were stumbling out into the throne room where General Mera, Blade Yemve-- the second born of the crown--, and King Jakos himself were all currently engaged with Nox. 

The lunala was putting up a fair fight against the three humans, the shield golem, and the enchanted room, even managing to knock Yemve unconscious before Ray entered the room and brought her back to her feet, telling the king that they had come to help. While the King didn't know what to make of her statement, Jinx and Lugh both entered the room, Jinx trying to subdue Nox forcefully while Lugh tried to persuade him into giving up his quest. Things escalated from there and when it became apparent that the party was actively working against him and that the two princesses considered them all to be enemies and were going after the rest of the party, Nox instructed Lugh to gather their friends as he opened a swirling portal of energy behind him. Nox warned Lugh the portal would seal in a few seconds before he fled through it, leaving the rest of the party to choose if they would follow, and despite some tight moments, they did, all five stumbling through and emerging into a boiling landscape surrounded by pale green sand dunes.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXVI (Solstice in Jiadmor)

As the party made their way towards the castle, Gadreel eventually slowed them down to inform them that after this mission he would be leaving them. Having grown increasingly uncomfortable with the morally gray things they've done, unhappy that his actions with them have caused more strife within the world, frustrated with how little help he can actually be to the group in anything outside of a physical fight, and finally that their actions forced him to betray his country and leave his mothers behind--he wants to go somewhere where the fighting is clear and where his actions can actually directly help people. And so he had decided to return to Vasselheim and aid the holy forces there in their war against the hells. Saddened by this decision, but understanding his reasons, the party wished him the best for when he eventually does choose to depart. But Jinx pulled away from the group, leaving Gadreel to pursue her when she admitted that she didn't want to lose him and he invited her to come with him, as even though she's a thief, she lived by a code that he could understand. She said she would need more time to think about the offer before the party continued on their way. 

It was not far from the capital city when the party found a strange section of snow in the forest. Suspicious of what it could be, the group started carefully making their way towards it, but were not careful enough as the ground collapsed under Ray and she found herself hanging onto the edge of a pit, desperately trying to keep herself from being trapped underground again. The group had hardly any time to rally before the creature that had made the pit, a massive worm with icy blue coloration and rough pieces of metal armor adorning its form, burst through the ground and attacked. It was a hard fought battle, with Gadreel nearly perishing in the process, before they were able to overcome it. As the group licked their wounds, Jinx looked over the corpse, finding the symbol of Malar engraved in the beast's armor, and then sent a quick prayer to Tymora as a ‘thank you’ for helping her during the battle. Before they could make sense of what had happened, the party heard approaching soldiers and took to the woods to hide, confused at how the troops had traveled so quickly, arriving seemingly out of nowhere. 

Facing no further setbacks the party continued on. Along the way they found an inn that Lugh had apparently played at before, though they had been too drunk at the time to remember the establishment, and were given free room and board if they would play again that evening. The night passed with good humor and cheer, the first the party had found together in a very long while, before everyone turned in for the night. But before they parted, Gadreel confessed to Jinx that he had developed strong feelings for her and they kissed, but decided to keep the development form the others for a little while as things got sorted out. 

Shortly after they arrived at Jiadmor, finding the city in preparation for the next three nights of the winter solstice festival, realizing just how much time their travel through the country had actually taken. As they wandered around looking for supplies and an inn, they were surprised to find that the Crown Cirque had in fact made their way south as they'd said they would, learning that Thundu had a standing contract to provide entertainment at the palace during the solstice festivals. When the group said they were looking for further work he told them that he needed some extra hands to help set up for the festival as a few of his stage hands had been arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. They readily agreed and were scheduled to meet back up with the Cirque the following morning. While Jinx and Gad used the night to go on a casual date, Lugh and Ray on the other hand attempted to scry on Nox and found him beating and interrogating a guard somewhere within the city, robbing him of the last shred of good will that Ray had for him.

The next morning they joined back up with the Cirque and went onwards into the castle. Inside they saw Thundu greeted by General Mera, first daughter of the crown, who thanked him for his services and paid him a hefty sum before allowing him to start setting up. Once inside the party helped as they were hired to do, watching as many wealthy guests began to arrive early, including a young man that cautiously approached Ray. He introduced himself as Thomas Laughingsteel, nephew of the woman who had introduced Ray to Habakkuk's religion. They spoke briefly, Ray discovering Jaquelin had died a few years ago, but had always spoken fondly of her. This was not the only familiar face the party encountered as not too far into the night Waylan was stunned to watch as Terran entered the party alongside a man who he vaguely recognized as having been invited to festivals in Oshime as well. Jinx and Gad hung back as the others carefully made their way over to the dragon, learning that he had been asked to come by his colleague Eldronis (another dragon), who had himself been asked to come by the king. While Terran rolled his eyes at the antics, Eldronis claimed to be a hero and protector to all and felt it was his duty to attend. The party tried to make introductions, but in their efforts to be polite, said little of interest to either dragon and were unfortunately unable to get much information about what the contents of the King's big announcement would be, though they did hear whispers that a spy had been caught and was currently being held in the dungeons. 

The party waited, tensely watching the wall and sky for any sign of Nox, as the king finally appeared on the balcony overlooking them all. Ray caught a glimpse of the Queen speaking to another familiar face, the ambassador who had tried to kill her, speaking briefly below before she went to join her husband. With the eyes of those gathered on him, the King gave a rousing speech, thanking Pelor for his blessings, for his people being so strong and resilient throughout the years, and claimed to finally have found a way to bring prosperity to Drachma. At the peak of tension he raised a drift globe above his head and illuminated the space above the courtyard, revealing an airship draped in Drachman reds, floating above them. As the crowd surged with awe and excitement the party one-by-one snuck inside of the castle and began to plot how to find Nox since he hadn't made his appearance during the speech.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXV (Lhanbryde)

Now on their own in Drachma the party began to fracture. Lugh was insistent on following straight after Nox, but after a conversation Ray had through Sending to the lunala, she discovered that Nox would not be swayed from targeting the castle and he urged them to not follow. Waylan, hating assassins after what he suffered at the start of the campaign, pushed for the party to give up on Nox and instead deal with the job they'd been given by the pantheon. Meanwhile Jinx and Gadreel went out for supplies and talked, with Jinx not having many feelings of loyalty to any country, and Gadreel mournfully realizing that after stealing classified documents and allowing them to be delivered to a hostile foreign power, that he would never be able to go home again, and would likely never be able to see his mothers either. As the group came back together Waylan and Radiance fought viscously as Ray wanted to call Faith to tell her that they wouldn't be coming back/to stall with Vala/something to soften the impact of abandoning her and Oshime, and Waylan reminding her that they shouldn't have let anyone know they were traveling south at all in light of Kaz's threats against all of them, including Ray's daughter. Seeing all of this playing out, Lugh relented and the group started to make their way towards Lhanbryde as the first snow of the season began to fall and settle heavy across the chilly continent. 

After a few weeks of travel, a few detours, and some minor interpersonal drama, the group found themselves cresting the final hill surrounding the town of Lhanbryde. Before they could move closer however, they were greeted by Pleasure and Talona, who had been keeping an eye on the town from afar. The two informed the group that they were unable to get closer than 300 feet from the border as some kind of celestial energy kept them at bay which was what led them to think there might be a Divine Key within the town. 

Taking the goddess's warning to heart the party approached the town cautiously, Jinx staying out of sight. They found a very small population of maybe one hundred, a single general store, a clothing shop, and more confusingly a toy shop, and the whole town gathering at the well at the center as they prepared for a wedding. As the newcomers rolled up they were greeted by the groom-to-be, who apologized for the inconvenience that the wedding was causing, what with the whole population there leaving all the shops closed. He was pleasant and cheerful, asking them about their travel, but Radiance and Jinx started to pick up on his discomfort. He welcomed them to stay for the ceremony and enjoy the festivities afterwards, before excusing himself to his own duties. 

However, Ray and Jinx followed after him quietly, tracking him into the neighboring woods where he was gathering a hidden cloak and backpack. They approached him then and he fell apart, admitting that he didn't want to marry the woman he was supposed to, but before they could find out who had been forcing him to do so he was stopped. They watched in horror as his body suddenly went rigid, being raised into the air before his neck was snapped. Reeling, they tried to follow his corpse as it was whisked through the trees, but to no avail as he was lost amongst the trees. 

They returned as quickly as they could without raising alarm among the townsfolk, and were very confused to find that the wedding was still taking place, although the groom had been replaced by a new man. They asked around the town but no one made mention of the sudden change and acted as if the original groom had never existed. Extremely confused and disturbed but not knowing what to make of any of what had happened, they simply watched the wedding and began to mingle during the reception. Throughout the rest of the early evening they chatted with several of the other townspeople including the owners of the general store, toy store, and boutique in the small town, even finding rooms to rent above the general store to stay the night. The owners of the boutique and toy shop, they discovered, were the adopted children of the mayor Adelaide Prattley, called Lynette and Jorah respectively. The party, saying that they were traveling adventurers looking for work, were told that the Mayor might be able to find something for them and that either Lynette or Jorah would come gather them in the morning if they were interested in a meeting with their adoptive mother. They agreed and after one last attempt to magically contact and sway Nox into giving up his own quest, the party retired in the space above the general store. 

The next morning Radiance woke ready to continue investigating the death of the original groom and to attend their meeting with the Mayor. And the rest of the party woke thinking that Ray had gone out of her mind, none of them retaining any memory of any of the weirdness that they had witnessed the previous day, and when she took them to the forest to try and find evidence of the young man's death, she came up empty handed. The party, already concerned with how Umberlee had been able to affect Ray's perception in the past, became increasingly concerned about what might be happening. But without anything they could do immediately they went to visit both Lynette and Jorah's places of work before deciding to make their way to the Mayor’s house themselves. Upon knocking the party were told to enter but the elderly woman was nowhere in sight, allowing Jinx to snoop off deeper into the house. Meanwhile the rest of the party were left to talk with Mayor Adelaide Prattley, a wheelchair bound elderly woman with what appeared to be some kind of paralysis or severe arthritis in her fingers. She was happy enough to talk to the group, telling them about the history of the town’s settlement, the warmth of her wards, and her desire to go outside of Mr. Tanner’s reach to attempt to have the main road be built in the spring. 

Meanwhile, Jinx made her way to the back of the house, immediately discovering the stairs to the basement, and heading down into their dark depths. Here she discovered a large room with loosely defined sections including a modest woodshop, tanning area filled with large hides, a sewing station, and a strange metal covered table. Unable to recognize most of the items, but with a nagging suspicion that they were vaguely familiar, Jinx went back upstairs to rejoin the party. However, as their conversation finished up Ray decided to chance potential arrest and forced military enrollment, as all magically inclined residents of Drachma are subject to, in order to heal Mayor Prattley’s hands, a gesture that nearly moved the old woman to tears. She cautioned Ray to be careful with her gifts before seeing them out. On their way back to the town Jinx shared what she found, sparking the memory of the others to the experimentation and torture chambers that they found underneath High Well, where the mindflayers had been creating their unnatural abominations. Still, after hearing so much about Mr. Tanner, Jinx broke away again to explore his home, which she found desolate and dreary and without much information to glean. 

With their snooping done for the day the party laid down to rest-- and awoke with newly distorted memories, even Ray now forgetting the young man she and Jinx saw killed upon entering the town, as well as a strange desire to create a new home for themselves in Lhanbryde. Wondering if this would even be feasible the party made their way to the Mayor’s house once again in the early morning, this time finding the small unconventional family tucking in for breakfast. They chatted with the family and ate, being told that if they choose to stay then the town would be happy to have them and find a place for each of them in turn. Excited with the prospect, but also knowing they were on the hook to find the source of divine energy for the gods, the party continued their investigation, deciding that cornering the orphaned siblings might be their best bet. Lugh went to the toy store and was able to seduce Jorah in the back of the toyshop and earn themselves a real invitation into Jorah’s bed later that night. Meanwhile Ray went to get her cloak fitted, during which she too was able to secure an invitation into the Prattley house that evening for more one-on-one time with Lynette. 

After regrouping briefly to discuss their plans on how to handle their infiltration of the Prattley estate that evening, the party once again split up to tackle their own things. During this time Radiance and Gadreel went on a walk and Ray was able to hear some of Gad’s current concerns and doubts about the path they have been pursuing, a serious conversation which was capped off with the cleric convincing him that animals all go to hell. Meanwhile, Lugh received a surprise visit from Nox, where the assassin asked for Lugh to stop following him, as the current path of tragedy that he had seen in his visions had not been diverted yet. But after a few words the creature took off again, and the group joined back up to head to the mayor’s house and their respective dates. 

As Ray and Lugh approached the front door, Jinx snuck in through the side entrance. Once inside Ray and Lynette enjoyed the evening, the cleric being readily welcomed into the other woman's bed, while Lugh and Jorah found their chemistry from earlier had fizzled, leading Lugh and the hidden Jinx to exit the home shortly afterwards. A few hours into her stay, Ray awoke and discovered the bed empty and rose to look for Lynette. She found the woman down in the basement, but when confronted on the stairs Lynette said she was helping her brother work on a project and asked Ray to go to bed. When Ray offered to stay and help Ray felt a curl of magic around her mind as Lynette tried to arcanely suggest she go upstairs again. 

Pretending the spell had worked, Ray left the family alone, and when she was not followed, went outside to regroup with the others. She quickly ended up sneaking an invisible Lughnasa and Jinx back inside the house and the two made their way very carefully down into the basement where they found Mayor Prattley, Lynette, and Jorah all working in various parts of the basement, bringing their finished parts together on the operating table at the center. Sat, being slowly constructed, was a puppet made of wood, magic, and flesh, with the face of the groom they could no longer remember. 

Disturbed enough by the creature the two went to tell Ray what they'd found, but Jorah's keen ears caught all three as they spoke in the kitchen. He asked them all to sit down to chat, calling for Mayor Prattley and Lynette to join them. Once she had joined them Mayor Prattley, originally named Axys, explained that she was creating a perfect town to live in, a recreation of the one that had been burned down in her youth, and tried to reach some kind of arrangement with the party, the rest of whom joined soon after they realized their friends had been captured. Throughout the conversation the tone stayed relatively civil, though Jinx, Gadreel, and Lugh expressed staunch doubts. Eventually Radiance and Waylan asked if they too could see the puppet that was being worked on and went with Jorah to the basement, leaving the rest of the party, watched, but given a moment to collect their thoughts. 

Upstairs, Jinx, Gadreel, and Lugh voiced their extreme discomfort at Radiance's willingness to look at the Mayor as a potential ally, saying that while saving the town wasn't their problem, what was being done to the people within was abhorrent and that they did not want anything to do with Prattley and her creations. They made the decision to check for the key and then get the hell out of dodge, hopefully without bloodshed. Meanwhile downstairs Ray and Way asked Jorah about his existence and his work on making another like himself. He explained that the process would leave the new puppet without memory of their first life, but that they would be able to grow anew with this new body. He and Lynette, neither of them knew who they were before Mayor Prattley, but they were happy here, helping her, and she's left them free to pursue their own passions, hence the toy shop and clothing store that they'd created. When they rejoined the rest of the party upstairs Ray tried to persuade the others into seeing the benefits of having a safe haven to return to, a place where even the gods cannot enter, but the rest of the party shot down the idea with ferocity. 

Things quickly came to a head after that. They learned that there was no Key in the town, and agreed to a deal with Prattley, allowing her to magically seal their tongues to not speak of what was happening in Lhanbryde. Disgusted by what was happening there, Jinx willingly gave up her memories of the town and made the party promise to never tell her about what they had learned there. And with all that sorted, the party was finally able to depart without any bloodshed. Lugh even received a book from Mayor Prattley, a bard herself, that allowed them to study a new college that they found better suited their fighting style and adventurer's life. The party left the house and set up a camp along the edge of the border, Jinx sleeping inside of it so that her memories could be altered one final time while the rest rested beyond. 

Many emotional conflicts occurred during the night and morning. As Ray decided that she needed to be free of Umberlee's shackles and decided to swap her allegiances to Talona when Habbakuk could not also claim her as a warlock, which led to a huge fight with Lugh. Meanwhile Waylan and Gadreel also got into a vicious row over their shared past and unshared morals, with Gadreel seeing Waylan as getting more evil by the minute and Waylan holding practicality above Gadreel's delicate sensibilities. With tensions at an all time high the party decided to follow after Nox still, now believing they may only be a day or two behind him due to his detour to Lhanbryde.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXIV (The Rowtree Estate)

After gathering themselves from the ordeal that took place in High Well the party finally continued on their way towards Drachma. However, shortly after crossing the Zhento border, the group started to see evidence of Oshime’s war-torn and impoverished landscape that had yet to recover in the fifteen years of peace with Drachma. With the horses sinking deep in the mud, they decided to sell the steeds and made their way through towns on foot. During their travel Radiance took the opportunity to scry on Nox, only to find him surrounded by roaring sounds and flashing lights, illuminating his form against the deep backdrop of the night. Fearing that he might have reached his goal already, Jinx started to push forward on the plan to find smugglers to get them across the border wall, searching high and low for any signs of criminal activity in the towns they passed through. 

After a few setbacks, the group finally made it to Zhento Proper, and discovered an inn with Thieves’ Cant warnings scrawled into the old wood of the tables and bar. Discovering the symbol of a five pointed crown, she turned towards Ray, also fluent in the language of thieves, to find the cleric in sudden high spirits and she asked about a circus that might have rolled through town. To her delight they found the Crowned Cirque was currently in town and had been putting on small informal shows in the streets at night. Armed with that knowledge and with Jinx keeping a look out for thieves in the crowd, the party made their way to the town square to catch the end of the show. But as the crowd departed, Ray’s birth name was called out as Ringmaster Thundu Frosthand recognized the long lost member of his troupe. Ray happily invited him and a few other members of the Cirque she'd known to catch up over drinks and wheedle information out of them. Over drinks they learned that there had been some kind of ruckus at the wall a few days prior involving flashbangs and smoke bombs, but that no one had been apprehended and in light of the disturbance security had been tightened even further. When Ray implied they were looking to travel south by any means necessary Thundu extended an offer to smuggle across the border as the Cirque had the papers needed to leave the country. The job he asked them to help perform seemed simple enough, break into the home of a noble and retrieve a priceless jewelry box said to be made from the scales and extinct species of dragon. 

The party agreed and accompanied by two of Thundu's own people, the group set out towards the Rowtree estate. The process of breaking in managed to be a mess, with thick mud clinging to their invisible forms, Radiance being spotted by a guard that she and Jinx then had to knock out and restrain, to a spell looking for the jewelry box that pulled them to two wrong boxes. They even found a guest room with a single small jewelry box containing only a plain gold band which the thieves from the carnival readily added to their spoils, before Ray discovered a hidden door that led down into the basement. After triggering some traps and surfing a broken door down a spiral staircase, the party came to a strange semi-circular room with a large statue waiting in front of a door. Despite their best efforts they failed to see through the riddle and were soon engaged by the stone golem which they were forced to destroy before they could make their way into the vault beyond. Inside they found not only the jewelry box but what appeared to be an extremely old world map, a priceless tapestry, and several enchanted weapons. 

The group disabled the traps around the jewelry box first, sending some of the group back outside of the estate with magic, before they attempted to take a few more items. However, their greed got the best of them and they watched with horror as the remaining items sealed themselves in glass as acid began to pump into the room. A pair of guards entered the chamber just as Gadreel broke open the door, catching sight of both him and Lugh (though not the invisible Jinx), before they too teleported out at Jinx's behest. She then used her considerable experience as a thief to make it out of the house, catching sight of both Isabella Rowtree and Marshal Vala Grayscream as she exited. 

With the box now in their possession, the Cirque prepared to cross the border into Drachma later that afternoon, giving the party a bit of time to gather anything they might need for the trip. However, as they started to catch their breath, Ray received a call on her witch's glass from an irate Vala. She had learned from the guards in High Well that the party had last been seen traveling south and based on the reports from the guards at the estate of seeing a purple elf, red tiefling, and gray-green skinned half-orc during the robbery, she made an educated guess about possible culprits. While Ray denied any involvement she did not lie well enough about their whereabouts and were summoned to see Vala at her outpost nearby. The party said they would need a few days to travel before climbing into the stowaway hatch in one of the carnival wagons, box hidden below with them, and starting towards the border. 

They held their breath as the caravan stopped at the wall where Vala and a strange man of indeterminable race that she called Master Do'cer, approached to inspect the carts and Thundu's people. From a crack in their hidey-hole they watched with horror as Master Do'cer brought one of the guards from the Rowtree estate forward, and upon receiving permission from Vala, reached into his mind, leaving the man a screaming, gibbering mess on the ground, before confirming with her that he now knew the faces of those he'd seen and that they were not present among the carnival troupe. The caravan was let through and the party, sick with what had happened, desperately tried to understand what was so important about the box that its theft warranted the use of such methods. 

They carefully picked the lock and revealed the contents inside: a series of coded documents that named all active Oshimen spies and their current locations, including one stationed within the castle of Drachma. Realizing that they had stolen top secret documents that could cause conflict between the two nations, Radiance attempted to modify some of the names on the documents, but without enough time and materials, was unable to adjust them much. Worried of sparking further conflict or getting on the shit list of the cirque, the party departed once it was safe, without the documents and box.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXIII (The Warlock’s Reunion)

Hearing their name called, the party turned and hesitantly approached the cloaked figure, horror mounting as she lowered her hood and revealed herself to be the long dead warlock, Pleasure. The tiefling's appearance had changed, her clothes more practical and less colorful, her eyes now black save for a silver iris, and limbs wrapped in bandages. But it was Pleasure. She called the group away, bringing them into a small inn they had stayed in before, and the group proceeded to have a very tense conversation. They learned that Pleasure had been raised by Talona to serve as her vessel in preparation of the upcoming war. As the Mother of Poison had claimed her avatar first, she had been tasked as the liaison between the party and the current pantheon, visiting them now to bring their first assignment-- to investigate the small town of Lhanbryde on their way through Drachma, as it seemed to be a possible location of a divine key. Of course while this was business as usual for the goddess, the party all had their own reactions to their dead foe sitting across from them and the conversation proved to be tense and uncomfortable. When they tested her patience Pleasure lashed out at Ray for her recklessness in allowing Umberlee to break free, while Lugh’s nightmares rushed to the forefront of their mind, and Waylan was left quaking with barely controlled rage, Jinx an emotionally distant witness to it all. But ultimately Talona stepped into her vessel and mediated the conflict before leaving the party intact and with a way to contact them if need be. 

Once Pleasure and Talona had departed the rest of the party decided to take a moment to compose themselves. Jinx went down into the wine cellar, hoping to find something good, and in light of all of this business with gods, sent a flippant prayer to Tymora. She wished for the luck to find a pile of gold, and was shocked that in her search for liquor she found a copper piece instead. Once composed the party went to tell Gadreel what had happened only to discover him making his way through town, having been cured suddenly of the aboleth's disease.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXII (The Aboleth Part 2)

Over the next few hours Lughnasa received a visit from a frantic Nox, claiming a new vision of impending disaster had come to him and begging Lugh to stay safe while he went to try and change the path of fate. Not long after the creature had departed, Ray received a summons from Kaz, and upon arriving discovered the Kingpin and his right-hand man had been attacked by Nox, the Lunala having stolen all of Kaz's documents regarding business dealings with Drachma. In light of this, and knowing that the party was involved with the creature, he was calling in his second favor, telling the party to track Nox down and bring him back without letting the creature kill anyone. It was here they learned that Nox's work was not as a bouncer at the club, but rather a prized assassin that Kaz had been employing, one who was getting one chance to walk back his actions before Kaz sent his best assassin after him. They asked why Nox might have taken a sudden interest in Drachma and learned only that the Lunala had become more and more paranoid about a war restarting between the nations, taking an uncomfortable amount of interest in the royal family, over the past few weeks. Seeing a new war between Oshime and Drachma as being bad for business, Kaz warned that if any of them or Nox were caught he would have them killed, if only to keep his business out of the crosshairs if conflict did arise. With the revelation of Nox's work and the weight of Kaz's axe at their necks, they party made their excuses and departed from the city. 

Knowing their best chance of stopping the mothman would be while they were still on Oshimen soil, the party tried their best to make up time, but seemed to stumble into every possible roadblock as they headed south. They tried to ask after the creature, but to little success as they knew that the fae-born creature was able to fly as easily as he walked and likely would not be waylaid by any trouble along the roads. They caught wind of a possible lead, hearing from a human child traveling with his family that he thought he had seen something flying the night before. They followed the direction he indicated only to find a pair of mated chimeras who attacked them for invading their territory. Eventually having to stop and rest, they were approached by an older half-orcish man with a walking stick who asked them what direction they were headed. Wary of the traveler, they still listened as he advised them to head southwest, deeper into Durgh and towards Zhento, one of the two routes they had been pondering. He left without raising a hand to them, the emblem of the Knowing Mistress emblazoned on his staff. 

Making the decision to continue the way they had planned on going for a while longer before engaging with the stranger’s advice the Revengers found yet another setback in the form of weevils that had infested most of their rations. With Ray able to keep the party fed on flavorless food at the cost of magic, they decided to keep on their way and only stop to try and gather food from the land when preparing to rest. When that time finally came Ray and Gadreel attempted to find some fish, in a stream nearby, but after a short while the whole party began to realize these sparse woods that they had found themselves in had no game in sight. Cautiously making their way further down the stream the party eventually found piles of woodland creatures, in various states of decay, all rotting around the bank and realized with a sinking in their guts that they must not be more than a mile away from the aboleth infested lake of High Well. 

More than displeased with this revelation, the party tried to decide what their next step should be as they explained what they knew about the situation in High Well. To their memory the Aboleth had been trapped in the lake, poisoning the town’s water, when the group left they alerted the Spring Order and were absolved of any further involvement. However, as they brought Jinx and Waylan up to speed about the goings on, they caught sight of a falcon flying overhead and decided to investigate, walking right into a trap as a group of guards surrounded and detained them. After introducing themselves with their guild papers the party was told that throughout the year the entire town’s population seems to have fallen under the Aboleth’s spell, attacking or making the scouts sent into the city disappear as they attempted to gather more information. Their current plan was to go through the tunnels underground to ambush the creature, but the only copy of the plans that the guards could access outside of High Well itself was in the next major city, Ardswall. Realizing that they knew about another entrance into the city through the tunnels, the party made the decision to go down into the sewers themselves. 

Exploring the slimy underground led them to find strange newly carved tunnels, rooms with books, alchemist supplies, arcane components, and evidence of humanoid creatures living there. But before they could find the Aboleth or the humanoids they stumbled upon a massive shambling creature made of coiled gray-pink flesh. Though they made short work of it, they alerted a second creature to their presence and pursued it through the tunnels into a larger area, only to find themselves surrounded by strange creatures with octopus-like faces with voices that echoed in their minds. Aware the party had already killed one of its beasts and having no love for the group that had attacked them the year prior, the aboleth emerged from its pool at the center of the room and commanded its mindflayer soldiers to attack. In a matter or moments most of the party was knocked off of their feet as the very environment proved to be hostile-- sweeping them off of their feet into deep pools, water shuddering with a psychic rage, and figments of their worst fears reaching out for their minds. Despite their tenacity soon enough Gadreel had once again been pulled under the command of the aboleth and turned his axe against his teammates, but not before getting too close to the aberration and becoming severely diseased. With the Aboleth being protected by its minions and Gadreel hammering them from every side, shock and horror consumed the party as they watched Ray fall, her life spilling out across the stone floor. Alight with fury, Waylan incinerated the beast as Lugh used their magic to rush back to the surface as Jinx sent the watching falcon back for help. 

Their quick actions and the abilities of their allies were able to bring Ray back from death, but left the party shaken and fractured. Still deathly ill at this point, both from the aboleth’s toxins as well as the actions he was forced to commit, Gadreel asked to stay behind in the lake, finding being out of the water to worsen his condition, while the party went to check on the town and see if they could find any help. Upon entering the city however, they found people clamoring to one another, confused and weary as if from waking up from a long nightmare. But before they could seek out any kind of aid, a figure standing beside the well for which the city was named, called out to Lugh. As the elf approached they lowered the hood that was obscuring their face and revealed herself to be the long dead tiefling warlock, Pleasure.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XXI

After checking in with their friends and loved ones at home, the party discovered that an earthquake had rocked the city shortly after Ray had awoken. Panicked, the party decided they should try and get back to Oshime as quickly as possible and arranged for Terran to transport them through arcane means once they had gone back to the Stronghold to play off their 'slaying' of the castle's monster. With an overly ripe beholder corpse the group was hesitant to learn the origin of, they reported back to Sovereign Perkas where their abilities to manipulate truth shined (save for Gadreel, so bad a liar that he volunteered to pretend to have died and was not present for the meeting), allowing them to complete their contract without issue. They turned back to the dark forest, riding hard, to rendezvous with Terran who gathered the group and transported them across the globe. However, due to the imprecise nature of his method, they landed about half a day's travel away from Creta. 

Trying to expedite the trip as much as possible, the party procured horses and rushed back to Creta. Frantically rushing past guards and propriety, they made their way into the city they have been calling home, passing streets untouched at first, but slowly moving deeper and seeing cracked cobblestones, collapsed buildings, and finally at the center of it all, the council building. Collapsed, in rubble and with thick branching cracks in the earth beneath it, and guards and emergency workers combing over the location. Seeing Faith the party was informed that both Mow and Dojhan were likely trapped somewhere underneath the rubble and that they were doing their best to try and dig down and save them, but unfortunately they were making horribly slow progress as the only magic using members of the castle weren't currently present in the city, and the nearby houses of the council members had also suffered significant damage which prevented their teleportation circles from being used. 

After making several well-meaning attempts to burrow down to their trapped allies, the party ran out of energy and spells and had to reluctantly return to turn their keep and rest. The next morning Faith arrived to update them, saying that Ko had arrived a few hours after they turned in and had used her magic to tunnel down and rescue Mow and Dojhan, both of whom had been sent to the hospital. The party made their way through the city, stopping in to check on Gilmore along the way, before getting to the hospital. Upon arriving they were allowed past the extensive guard and allowed to see Mow and Dojhan, who were sharing a room to make the extensive guarding a little less intrusive as the hospital was inundated with other patients While Mow had a broken leg, concussion, and a smattering of cuts and bruises that did not stop him from immediately flirting with both Jinx and Ray, Dojhan had yet to wake. Mow explained that when the building had collapsed they had been going through some documents and the sorcerer had attempted to protect them from the falling rubble with his magic, but he'd lost consciousness very shortly after. Thus far the healers present hadn't been able to determine what happened, worrying that he might have received considerable head trauma. 

As Mow talked, Ray approached the emperor, testing a few basic healing spells on him, and when he did not awake, taking a leap of faith and attempting to remove a curse. The spell sank in and took hold, and everyone watched with stunned horror as Sabroth bolted upright, vomiting an impossible amount of sea water as he came back to consciousness. At the edge of her perception Radiance swore she heard Umberlee's voice, lamenting his speedy recovery, before disappearing again. While relief swept the rest of the room, including Dojhan who still felt like shit but had no memory after the collapse, Ray excused the party with an almost frenzied intensity. Seized with inspiration Ray ushered the group outside before performing the same spell on herself  and ending her attunement with the Undertow Rapier. The party took the sword home and attempted to destroy it to no avail, at the end leaving a very distressed stewardess, a pile of smoldering ashes in the front yard, and finally the sword itself encased in the stone wall of the small temple on the grounds.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XX (Okren and the Ver Bad No Good Lore Dump)

The letter that arrived was packaged as a thick official-looking document that they were all surprised to discover was addressed to Waylan. They tore into the package and discovered ten pieces of platinum inside as well as the request of Okren's ruler Sovereign Perkas Sylvan for Waylan to come back to the continent. Upon seeing this Waylan immediately tried to back out of bringing the group with him, despite the Storyteller's words, but the group insisted and they all soon found themselves on the nearly month long boat ride to the heavily forested continent of Okren. Along the way the group tried to press Waylan for more information about what he'd been doing while away from them, but he was extremely tight-lipped, only telling the group that the Dark Forest, so named for the apparent curse that the Mad Queen Cordelia McLeod had left across the land, was filled with a fair number of dangerous creatures. When they finally docked they were quickly escorted to the Gallowood Stronghold, where they were met by a knight in shining armor who greeted Waylan fondly, the human even going so far as to hug him. He introduced himself as Sir Corzaren of Okren and escorted them inside to speak to Perkas. 

Once inside the gang was given a crash course on the history of the continent. Cordelia had gone mad after her husband died and feared falling as well, she instructed her mage son to find a way to keep her alive forever and he did. But as they prepared for the ritual, Perkas received a warning from the goddess Mielekki and he rallied forces to stop her. He and his men managed, disrupting the spell, but too late to save those within the castle who had been sacrificed to her wicked goals. When the spell failed it created a pulse of darkness that corrupted the land. They gathered as many citizens as they could back within the Stronghold and through him, Mielekki erected a barrier to keep the corruption out. 

However, as the country entered its second century behind her wards, the monsters beyond had started to breach. It is his belief that the evil spell is anchored within the ruins of the old castle, and he needs to reclaim it. Which is why Waylan had been contacted. During his time in Okren he had spent more time than anyone out wandering the Dark Forest, it is where Sir Corzaren had met him after all, and the knight had spoken positively of both his cartography skills and magic, and Perkas had hoped that he might be able to bring Sir Corzaren to the ruins. Seeing Waylan arrive with his own group of mercenaries, he extended a contract to the rest of the party, saying that they were welcome to try and expunge the evil from the ruins and would pay them finely if they were able to. Otherwise the job was simply to chart a traversable path for his men. Despite Way's reluctance, and searching glances he kept throwing towards Corzaren, the party agreed. 

They were given giant spiders, creatures native to the forest, as mounts and the six of them rode out the same day. Travel was tense and quiet as Waylan seemed to be growing more and more uncomfortable with what was happening, but didn't explain why. He was able to use the notes he'd scrawled in a notebook and on his map of the continent to take them through the forest safely and eventually they found themselves within the overgrown ruins of what had been the city outside of the castle. They brought their mounts slowly closer to the dilapidated castle walls only to discover a layer of corpses rotting around it. Some appeared many years old, others far fresher with their skin just starting to sag away from their bones. Horror mounting, they watched as some of the corpses shambled to their feet and began to attack while a shadow fell over the castle grounds as a beholder joined the fray. 

Choosing to divide and conquer, Gad, Jinx, and Corzaren focused their attention on the zombies while the casters tried to take down the beholder. With a few clever applications of spell casting Lugh and Ray managed to teleport to the top of the castle walls where Ray used the ever cloudy sky to drag a powerful bolt of lighting down on the creature, bursting its central eye from the inside out. The Beholder began to fall, blood streaming from its wounds, before it landed behind the wall, where Ray alone watched its body bubble and shift, expanding into the massive form of a green dragon. But the creature simply winked at her before shifting its form once again, this time into a slender human man who waved her down to the other side of the wall. Confused as all of the hells and with the zombies slain, the party reluctantly made their way inside the castle, Ray even more put off when Waylan greeted the dragon-man enthusiastically, introducing him as Terran before turning to Corzaren and Terran and demanding an explanation.

Over the course of the evening the party learned that the dragon and lich had been scheming to overthrow Perkas as he had actually assassinated Cordelia and her son during a coup. The scar on the Dark Forest had come when Prince Westly had tried to spare Corzaren's life during the assault on the castle, turning him into a lich. While he was in the country before Waylan had met Corzaren, and later been introduced to Terran, learning the real history of the coup and leaving the evil creatures to dole out their punishment against Perkas as they saw fit. Now that he had worked his way into the court, Corzaren intended to use the reclamation of the castle to put Perkas at ease so that he could overthrow him a bit more theatrically down the line. He had enlisted Terran's help and magic to create a suitable threat and brought Waylan and his friends to 'kill' the beholder and assist with the ruse. Not one hundred percent on-board with the entire situation, the group pressed further and eventually were told that Waylan and the two evil creatures were dating. This proved to be too much for Gadreel who promptly saw himself out, followed swiftly by a sympathetic Jinx. Unwilling to immediately burn the bridges that the Storyteller had pointed them towards, and for some reason trusting Waylan's judgment, the party did ultimately decide to stay within the castle. 

Over the course of the next few days Waylan showed them around his second home, bringing them to Prince Westly's room which contained not only his own, but his mother's journals from when she had been an adventurer. Lugh, Ray, and Way poured over the texts, eventually discovering that Cordelia had first gone to a floating building called Calarook Keep where she alongside a small party had fought the lich within, Vome Calarook, to stop him from using a powerful radiant artifact he called a Kuycae Sakdisiththi to create a weapon that could punch through the Divine Gate and siphon away the power of the gods. Cordelia's party had been able to kill the lich, but when they had tried to take the artifact they were betrayed by Medoorhis, a wood elf monk, who stole the artifact out from under them and fled as the keep began to crash out of the sky. Many years later Westly had sought out the ruins himself, but they learned very little from his journal entries. Given their newfound interest in the gods and their coming war, the party made note of this, wondering perhaps, if the strange item that they had seen Kader wielding in Vasselheim had been something similar. Deciding that they could use the memories of the dark creatures, Terran at least being centuries older than even Lugh, they regrouped with Jinx and Gadreel and sat down to talk. 

While Waylan and Corzaren made some spider stew for the group, Terran wheedled a promise out of the party, that they would do everything in their power to return Waylan alive while he was far from Okren, and in exchange he would be... reasonably helpful. Already committed to keeping all of their numbers alive, it was not necessarily a hard promise to make, though no one cared for the dragon's condescension. He informed the group that he had hatched shortly after the second calamity, when this iteration of the world was still new and the Divine Gates had just been erected, and thus the knowledge about what had happened was still fresh and easily available unlike now. 

Prior to the second calamity the gods had been prone to walking the mortal plane, some causing disasters and some readily doling out blessings, and all of this interaction on the prime material plane started to threaten the balance of the realms. Things came to a head shortly after the ascension of the Raven Queen. While she had spent her whole life as a devout follower of Nerull, later elevated to his high priestess, and while she had initially agreed to the ascension, when the time came she found the process both incredibly disturbing and a violation of her body and will. Despite this, Nerull forcibly completed the ritual and claimed her as his queen. This entire sequence of events was divisive across the pantheon, with gods of all alignments taking sides on whether or not the old god had the right to do such a thing and if the gods should even be allowed to elevate mortals to their own status. Tensions mounted for several decades after this with the gods bolstering their forces until the Raven Queen finally approached Habakkuk and later Pelor and Bahamut for assistance. They lended their aid and a brief but brutal war tore through the celestial realms and across the prime material plane, wiping out a large amount of the mortal population and most civilizations. 

Thinking this was all they could get out of the dragon, the party turned to Lughnasa who very reluctantly took a second dose of Pale Tincture in order to initiate a communion with Talona. They soon found themself back in the foggy field, more details of the space becoming clearer the more often they visited, with the mother of poison waiting for them. She explained that while she had been neutral in the first calamity, and during the second her personal vendetta against Umberlee that led her to eventually assisting the Kaploorian princess to seal her underground, had been misconstrued as her picking a side. Unable to back out of it she had ended up standing with the current pantheon, while many of her allies' past ended up cast out and more harshly bound behind the Gate as the Fallen Gods. Now those gods are rallying, and seem to have struck a deal with the Nine Hells, using a holy object to their advantage as they now are starting to gather their forces to wage a new war. Before the trance could end Talona told Lugh that they had failed to save Ray from her fate, and when the bard looked into the well they found Ray's drowned corpse staring blankly back up at them before they were pushed from the dream. 

They brought this horrifying revelation back to the rest of the party, who quickly dogpiled on Ray, demanding that she avoid making any further contact with Umberlee for the time being. As a storm broke violently outside of the castle, Ray agreed that she would reach out to Habakkuk instead for any further elaboration, though she did so in private. Having been carrying many of her own doubts, fears, and insecurities about what the goddess wanted from her and how she should even offer worship when Habakkuk's values actually seemed so far from her own, Ray settled into a very emotional prayer. The conflict was not settled here, but Habakkuk warned that the gods would act in their own self-interest and she, unfortunately, could do very little to predict them. When pressed about the bargaining chip that the Hells might be using Habakkuk implied it may be something that the party had already learned about before their connection fizzled. With little else to do, and a lot of information to process, the group went to the still mostly intact barracks to sleep. 

The next morning saw Waylan and Gadreel both in foul moods, and the whole party still put off by Ray's actions regarding Umberlee, and soon tensions snapped, sending the sorcerer deep into the castle for solitude while Jinx and Gadreel retreated outside to spar. Lugh and Ray, left to their own devices, continued pouring through the old journals for any useful information, making good headway until Ray left to find Waylan. They talked briefly, with Waylan asking her to be more careful about what calls she makes in the future and her saying she'd be happy to referee a brawl between him and Gadreel, if he thought a little bloodshed might clear the air. It was the kind of levity that the group needed to rally and later that afternoon they came back together and Radiance cast Legend Lore to find an unbiased telling of the Island Princess legend. 

In the true story, uncolored by Umberlee's lies and Talona's bias, they learned that the two goddesses had been thoroughly entangled for some time, creating the Yuan-ti in their union. However, Umberlee always found constant delight in tormenting the mortals who resided on the Kaploor Islands, it was an obsession that seemed to be growing by the year, and when she learned about the Raven Queen's ascension she went to Nerull to ask him how he had bound her to his domain. He readily told her of the violation that he had performed and Umberlee began to plot to do the same to the island's crown princess, seeing it as a way to force the mortals to always turn to her in worship rather than any other tempest god, as she would have their beloved princess as a hostage for all eternity. Talona, frustrated with this twisted obsession and seeing the stirrings of Umberlee's disturbing affection blooming towards the princess, decided that she did not want Umberlee to have her. She visited the islands in the disguise of an old crone and proposed a way to remove Umberlee's influence from their sky and sea, but that it would require a sacrifice. She presented the Princess with the first version of a seal that Ioun would later adapt into the basis of the Divine Gate, and instructed her to lead Umberlee deep inland, and deeper still underground. The princess did so, understanding her life would be forfeit to imprison Umberlee, but doing so for her people and to protect herself from the worse fate that would come for her if Umberlee stayed free. The party was quiet as Ray explained what she'd learned and another night passed in the castle. 

Greatly disturbed by what they learned the day before, Ray began to think more critically about the bargain that she had made with the Bitch Queen and soon the party gathered to watch as she emptied the entirety of the bag of holding and all of her personal belongings, combing through for anything that she thought might be the item Umberlee would asked for to complete their deal. They came across the tiepin from the winter solstice story and the group watched as Ray cast Legend Lore for the second time. This was equally as illuminating as the spell the day before as they discovered the pin was a Kuycae Sakdisiththi, or more commonly a Divine Key, a piece of the gods' essence that had been used to seal the Divine Gate, and that when enough of them were brought together, able to reopen the Gate as well. Furthermore they realized that based on the properties of the tiepin in the story and the radiant object that Kader had used in Vasselheim, that it was likely that the Fallen already were in possession of at least one Key. Reasonably terrified of what might happen if the Fallen became able to break out of their prison, the group resolved to not let Umberlee anywhere near Ray or the Key. 

Unfortunately, they were unable to protect Ray in her dreams and that night she found herself in the barracks, her companions sleeping around her, and Umberlee languishing in bed beside Lugh. Before the Bitch Queen could even instigate a conversation her close proximity to Lugh had Ray spiraling over the edge, lashing out and attacking Umberlee, a gesture that proved to be fruitless in doing anything other than irritating the goddess. Realizing there was no beneficial conversation to be had with Ray, Umberlee proceeded to puppet Ray’s body around the room, forcing her sleeping body to stand over Lugh’s bed with a sword to their chest, until Ray finally and reluctantly handed over the Divine Key. Satisfied for the moment and leaving open a channel of communication if Ray ever chose to see sense, Umberlee took her leave, allowing Ray to wake with a scream. Her position over Lugh and the sudden noise spurred the others to movement, with Jinx loosing several daggers at their companion before things settled down and the party was able to understand what had been lost. 

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XIX

Once they'd finally returned home the party told the council about the chaos in Vasselheim. Still dealing with the reconstruction of Ekkleka, they had little aid they could lend to the cradle of faith, and ultimately the group was left waiting for the letter the Storyteller assured them would arrive. During their down time they first had to almost evacuate their keep as a putrid odor had engulfed the building. Jinx, somewhat contrite, extracted the rotten snake eggs she'd hidden in the wall, only to be disturbed to find the corpses of the hatched reptiles putrefying inside the hidey-hole. Even worse, as she extracted the rotted flesh, the bones of the snakes came slithering from the wall, animated in a form of un-life as skeletal creatures. She quickly handed them off to the fascinated Waylan for the safety of her pet mouse Mo and wiped her hands of the whole event. 

Meanwhile Ray was forced to go and speak with Faith about her deal with the Storyteller, worried that she may be the one to forget her. Hurt and frustrated with how little Ray seemed to value her own safety and happiness, things seemed to be on rocky ground between the two for a little while before Faith forced Ray to sit down and talk with her like a mature adult and not go hide inside of a rock every time something bad happens in a relationship. Somehow Ray then translated the reassurance over her own relationship into encouraging Lughnasa to pursue one with Nox, whom the bard had an apparent fondness for despite being worse than her at navigating their own emotions. However, despite pushing Lugh to go and see the mothman, they couldn't find the nerve to ask the creature out. Thankfully, Nox asked instead and the two enjoyed a date together, the rest of the party alternating between pulling pranks and spying on them as they did so. The brief bit of levity they found was quickly ended when the letter they'd been awaiting reached the keep.

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XVIII (The Storyteller’s Bargain)

At a loss for what to do with themselves,d the group made their way back to the nearest group of survivors as the city continued to burn around them. Needing something, anything, else to do to feel less unmoored in the chaos the party asked after the Storyteller who had helped them the year before and eventually learned the man was a hermit who lived far up on the mountain outside of the city and that those who deigned to seek his boons outside of the solstice festival often returned changed, and sometimes mutilated. Having nowhere else to go for answers they did not heed the warning and headed into the mountain anyway. 

Getting to the old man proved to be simple enough, and when they arrived they seemed to be expected, the Storyteller offering them some soup as they sat to speak. As the conversation progressed they learned that he was a minor god, created under the banner of Ioun, who used his stories to help shape the course of fate. These stories however, often came with a great draw on his power and when he was unable to channel his patron directly as he did on the solstice, he had to find other sources of power to do so. He offered each of them a choice in exchange for answering their questions and helping to point their compass.

Waylan and Gadreel refused, not even waiting to hear the old man's offer, and left the decision to the rest of the party. In exchange for answering Lugh's question the Storyteller offered the price of Lugh becoming that which they fear most, a bargain that Lughnasa declined. To answer Jinx's questions he offered the price of someday learning who her family was and then being forced to leave any connective threads behind, which she also refused. When it came to Ray's turn she sat in front of the Storyteller and offered him her greatest fear, that she would be forgotten by the ones she loves. The Storyteller considered and told her that if she took his bargain then he would pull loose one thread at a time of his choosing, and pluck the memory of her from one of her loved one's minds. He warned that such a thing would impact the very fabric of her reality and that she might find herself forgotten by more people if the one he selected had memories of Ray that greatly shaped the thought and perception of others around her. Wanting answers and believing the sacrifice would be worth it, Ray agreed. 

In the wake of their bargain the Storyteller told them that this was the third time that the gods had repeated this inevitable march towards war, and that this iteration seemed to have a marked focus on settling old scores as was apparent in both Umberlee and Talona's involvement. He urged them to consider all that they had learned, all that they would continue to learn in the coming months before making a choice on where to place their allegiances. And finally, when asked what they should do for the time being, he told them that they should return home. A path would find them in the form of a letter and from there they could move forward. With nothing else to do the party ventured to Kraghammer where they took an airship home. 

[callofthedivine]

COTD Act XVII (The Sacking Of Vasselheim

The next morning, with their quest for information mostly completed, the party gathered up their things to leave, offering to assist the Children in keeping up a border patrol so that they could break down camp without fear of being attacked by the Grummsh Hordes that had been laying waste to other tribes. Once the Children had finished their work they departed, but not before extending an invitation for the party to return to them whenever they needed to. With their business finished the party started to make their way back towards Vasselheim.

As they traveled through the forest they eventually came across one of the Grummsh worshiping tribes and through Jinx's scouting, discovered that the followers had been brought together as an army and were looking to launch a full-scale attack against Vasselheim. As Jinx used her witch's glass to allow the rest of the party to see and hear what she was, they all watched with mounting horror as an infernal general stood before the gathered crowd, pledging assistance from the armies of the hells. This revelation was made all the worse as Radiance realized that the general speaking was her younger brother Kader, whom she had thought escaped the hells with the rest of her siblings years before. 

The party rode hard back to Vasselheim and once there tried to alert the city guards of the impending attack. But unfortunately, due to a series of spectacularly bad rolls, they were not taken seriously. At a loss of what to do next, they decided to take Talona's advice and began to search the libraries within the city for any additional knowledge about Umberlee, Talona, the war of the gods, and the Divine Gates while they could. Ray even made an effort to go and ask the high priestess of Habakkuk's temple for help, but found she had burned that bridge with her disrespect the year before. When they thought they had found all they could in the libraries, learning now that Jinx was in fact illiterate, they decided to go to the Raven Queen's temple, where they had better standing and might be able to get further assistance. As they walked through the Duskmeadow district their keen eyes caught sight of a strange moss that had begun to overtake the barren planters, but before they could take a closer look the air thrummed with the heavy pulse of magic and reality began to scream. 

Within moments the streets erupted into chaos as large creatures called Howlers started to charge through the streets, causing wanton destruction as their shrieks broke the minds of nearly all who heard them. The party soon found themselves cornered by two of the Howlers and a pile of the apparently sentient moss that they had noticed before. The howlers managed to confuse the majority of the party who attacked one another and put themselves in danger, the effect disorienting enough that the moss was able to slink forward, sprouting tentacles that it used to strike their flesh from their bones, knocking Waylan unconscious and attempting to consume him no matter how Ray tried to stabilize his condition. Realizing how out of their depths they were, Ray's sword pulsed with saltwater again and Umberlee spoke to her, saying that she wanted to lend aid, but the rules of the pantheon stopped her from doing so without an exchange of some kind. Not willing to sell her soul Ray started to refuse, but Umberlee rejected the very idea, asking instead for something simple, something material, she asked Ray to allow her to pick something on her person as payment, and with that, and seeing her friends growing more desperate, she agreed. Eldritch energy filled her sword and with a well-placed blast she was able to get Lugh enough room to cast and they promptly turned the moss into a mouse. The party regrouped, gathering up the still unconscious Waylan, before fleeing, not noticing that the moss-mouse was in pursuit of its stolen meal. 

They tried to regroup in what appeared to be a very recently abandoned apartment, finding the majority of citizens whose bodies were not painting the streets with blood, had fled to the central temples within the city. They hardly had time to get Waylan back up before the polymorph spell faded and they were under attack again, forcing them to run this time to the Raven's Crest temple. Once inside the casters were sent to rest while Gadreel, unintentionally volunteered by Ray, was forced back out into the streets to fight. Over the course of the next few days the city was under constant siege and all mercenaries within the walls were offered hefty sums of money to defend the city and discover how such creatures could have so suddenly appeared within the walls. The party started their own investigation and were eventually lead to the center of the city where they found many corpses, shambling creatures that were gorging themselves upon the rotting flesh, and eventually, a dusting of fine red sand. They brought their findings to Bahamut's temple, somewhere Waylan insisted on staying far away from, and it was determined the sand had come from the realm of Pandemonium. 

While it was good information to have, the party had little that they could actually do with it and soon ended up back out on the streets trying to figure out what they should do next. During their wandering they found a man in heavy black armor who called out to them and warned them to go back to their homes when he was spotted. When they persisted despite his warning he drew a lance made of hellfire and summoned a Nightmare to his side before engaging with them. After receiving a frighteningly powerful blow from Radiance, he used his mare to flee towards the Birthheart. Using a combination of speed and spells the party gave chase, some arriving high in the tree and watching for his approach, while the rest booked it across the city as fast as they could go hoping to catch up. Once close enough the Narzugon started to attack the sacred tree, starting fires repeatedly as the Revengers attempted to stop him. However, after a few minutes it proved to be a fruitless effort as the tree caught, thick plumes of black smoke started to waft into the bright rays of dawn as they stretched across Vasselheim.

Appearing to be summoned by the smoke, a tiefling appeared within the branches, one Ray had the misfortune of recognizing as her estranged brother Kader. Surprised at her presence and seeing his cohort being slain, Kader briefly told Ray that many of their siblings were still in the Hells and that she should leave the city. Unwilling to fight her, he then pulled a small object that glowed like a star with radiant energy from his pocket. Through means unfamiliar to the party, he then used the object to tear open a portal between the planes before slipping into the red sands of madness, leaving the party alone on top of the burning tree.