#to the point where eventually he just leaves cause the goblins are too blood thirsty

[thepictoblr]

Dark Urge origin is SO fucking funny cause yes theyre a terrifying murderer who cant even remember the full extent of their crimes but at least they can be honest about the fact that the idea of blood gets them fully erect

[friendshipcampaign]

Session Recap 10/12/19: Prima Materia

In the morning, the party found they had several messages waiting for them from the Gatekeepers. 

Erwyn’s, from Palava, read:

dear erwyn,

we interacted with the raliv mercantile co when we were in veritas. one of a number of individuals promising aid to the city in exchange for increased political clout. spokesperson for the company was huxley emberbraid montfort, a noble from mardros. cant say i liked him much, but i find it hard to like anyone who sees a tragedy as a way to make themselves richer and more powerful. ive heard vilars name but dont know much about her. we were certainly not aware of any infernal ties or we would have warned you and done our best to warn the city as well exclamation point. what information do you have about this cult and its potential ties to veritas question mark. weve all been stretched so thin that we havent been able to do much in the way of preventative investigation im sorry to say. its hard enough to keep up with the active breaches. find out what you can, but do be careful. demons and devils are always out for each others blood, and they wont be picky about who gets caught in the crossfire. 

also, violetta should have mentioned it in her message to voski, but one of our friends has been detecting some increased planar distortions around veritas. it looks like someones trying very hard to start another breach. if we figure out where they are, we should still be able to nip it in the bud, but we think theyve mounted some magical defenses to make it more difficult to pinpoint. keep us informed and watch out for yourself, 

alembic and palava

Ditto had a message waiting for her as well, from Hubris, that elaborated on her research question from before.

ditto, quick research update. 

ive found very little but im going to keep digging exclamation point. everything pre fourth era is pretty spotty of course unless you want to go bothering ozogot the black. plenty of references to the devotion of the citizens of veritas but nearly nothing about what they were devoted to. 

one interesting thing is the account of the gnomish historian gibberty booklore chatterjack penner squirrelchase yapp gallbug townkeeper talltale tallyho prickingbone, whose books were blessed to remain indelible in the face of magic that distorts memories and history. she mentions going to a high temple on her visit to the city and remarks on the devotion of the humans who live there when she visited during the reign of king ulfgar the stern beneath the mountains. when she returned some years later after the third skeleton war, which saw the temporary takeover of the city by the lichlord saerevon, she instead discusses how strange it is that no deity seems able to maintain a strong presence in veritas, and that none has done so as long as anyone remembers. it could be an issue of incorrect or fragmentory histories surviving, but i would focus investigations on the transitional period between the fourth and fifth eras. 

other accounts from the same period suggest that by then worship had transferred to the divine messenger whose image persists to this day, and that the deity themselves was kept secret if not already forgotten. if she was worshiped as a mystery cult theyve done a very good job of covering their records. if her name had already been lost, gibbertys texts suggest that theres something fishy going on. seems that veritas has always been a city of mysteries exclamation point. will keep searching semicolon its time to get into some of the fringe theorists which should be quite a ride. 

cheers, hubris

Finally, Voski also had a message waiting, from Violetta, reading:

kasia, re: karin mordechai

karin mordechai unknown. could be alias or figurehead. provide names and descriptions of associates and i will cross reference them with known entities. note readings indicate increased instability in veritas. spike on night of blomhath twentieth. attempt to identify source and neutralize if possible. can provide backup for strike but not extended investigation.

In preparation for their next plans, Ditto asked Tiktik if they would be alright doing some spying for the group and if she could turn them into a beetle. They told her she would have to bribe them, but they were willing, and she promised them chicken in exchange for their service before transforming them into a small insect.

The party decided that in order to keep the demons watching them from realizing where they had taken Tenny, they would turn Amaranth invisible, then give her the demiplane (with Tenny inside) to take into Grankhul’s Rest to drop the girl off and explain the situation. Once Ditto had cast Invisibility on her, they headed out and started making their way towards the inn -- followed by a large row of demonic pigeons who were keeping pace with them as they went. With the rest of the party keeping them distracted, though, Amaranth was able to break away from the rest of the group and sneak inside the inn.

Inside, she saw Selfish Dann reading a book by the fireplace and decided she’d prefer to have this conversation with the tiefling of the inn’s group. She spoke up once she was nearby, startling him. She explained she was invisible, but that she’d like to talk somewhere private, and he suggested they go to the basement. Once there, Amaranth explained that the party had someone that needed looking after, and they thought the inn’s caretakers would be the best equipped of anyone they could ask to deal with the kind of danger she was in. When Dann asked for details, she explained some of Tenny’s situation, and he agreed they could take care of her.

Amaranth opened the demiplane to see an eclectic arrangement of decor that Tenny had come up with while getting transported. She complimented the girl’s taste and Tenny told her not to let the others make the place boring, if they could make whatever they wanted. Amaranth then led her out to meet Selfish Dann, who promised Amaranth that they would take good care of her. 

After leaving Grankhul’s Rest, Amaranth caught up with the rest of the party. Still invisible, she jumped up behind Kriv and tried to startle him, causing the dragonborn to reflexively elbow her and Erwyn, despite the distance, to startle and slightly jump. Once she had reappeared, the group started to make their way to a place near the exclusion zone, so that Ditto could send Tiktik to fly overhead and see what they could beyond the walls. On their way up she took the chance to gaze through their eyes and got a view of a goopy, black, stagnant lake with things moving below the surface. A group of workers, watched over by burnished metal constructs, were trying to skim algae from the water’s surface. Eventually, Tiktik reported back that they had reached a point above the exclusion zone that had kept them from going forward -- like a painful magical force that repelled them away from it. 

Moving to their next location, the party passed the Blacks’ smithing shop. It had clearly taken damage from the recent attack of bones, but from the sounds inside it seemed to still be operating. They then arrived near enough the workhouse that they could try sending Tiktik inside, though once they had gone in the party kept walking a little so as not to be too near its vicinity. They decided the elephant statue was a good place to casually hang around and parked there for a bit. Kriv pulled out a sketchbook to do a little drawing of it while they waited.

Eventually Tiktik returned, speaking quickly to Ditto about everything they’d just seen. Apparently once they passed the room with the nervous-looking clerk some of the party members had met before, they’d found themselves in a nice office, where a halfling woman was talking to a fire genasi man, the latter fiddling around with some kind of weird fork. After that they had picked up on a weird draft coming from a bookcase that, when they investigated further, had a door behind it, leading to a room with some kind of magic circle on the floor. They then backtracked through the last couple of rooms to make their way to the cell block, which had a door at the end that was being guarded by a large construct that lead to a row of higher-security cells, with thicker walls and more constructs milling about.

With one more destination for Tiktik to snoop around in mind, the party next headed towards the mayor’s house. Tiktik went through the gates while the rest of them kept their distance and waited for them to return. After quite a lot of waiting, though, it became clear that something must have happened, as the familiar never returned. When Ditto tried to summon them back to her, nothing happened. So the group took a detour at Knife’s shop, which wasn’t too far away, where Ditto asked her friend if she could cast the spell to bring them back. Knife let her use his upstairs room to do the summoning.

Ditto brought Tiktik back in cat form and they bounded into her as soon as they’d been summoned. They explained that there had been a wyvern inside the stables behind the Mayor’s house, and it had chomped them before they could get away. The two of them headed downstairs to return to the others and Ditto thanked Knife for the use of his quarters. He assured her they were open to her anytime.

The party’s next order of business was to find a new place to stay for the night. Hoping to follow up on Nilo’s other recommendation, they went to The Pig’s Eye in order to ask Frileg where the Thirsty Sage was, as it didn’t seem to be along Keeper’s Row with all the other inns. She said she knew where it usually was, but warned them to be careful, as it seemed to pop in and out of existence unpredictably. Apparently the place was an old wizard’s tower, now run as an inn by an eccentric goblin, and sometimes people would go in for a night and turn up weeks later terribly confused. She attributed Nilo’s success with the place to his halfling luck.

They followed Frileg’s directions and found that the Thirsty Sage was in fact there for the moment. The building itself had a chimney with multicolored smoke billowing out of it and a heavy metal door which, when they knocked on it, was flung open enthusiastically by a manic-looking one-eyed goblin in a blue robe covered in golden stars and matching hat. The goblin ushered them in and did their best to give a tour, pointing out some of the strange magic paraphernalia decorating the place, but it was deeply clear they had very little idea what they were talking about. The group talked with them for a bit about accommodations, but were still hesitant about the idea. Erwyn and Amaranth in particular voiced concerns about what would happen if they weren’t so lucky in the time department, and in the end, they decided it was too risky and bid the goblin proprietor farewell. In parting, they told the group their name was the Acrimonious Bimbimble.

No extra time had passed when the party emerged, fortunately. They returned to the Pig’s Eye and Ditto asked Frileg if she had any other ideas about places in the city that might be safe to stay. As Ditto rambled, the dwarven woman gave her a glass of ale -- which she largely ignored and Amaranth finished -- but unfortunately her only ideas we either the Slumbering Grell or some boardinghouses she knew were receptive to people on the run from certain things.

The group quietly decided they would just need to find an alleyway or other place to lay low for the night. Amaranth started noting the beggar’s marks she saw on some of the abandoned storefronts in the city, looking for one pointing to a likely spot. There were more empty buildings than usual in the wake of the disaster, with some of the citizens of Veritas having decided to cut their losses and flee, so she soon found a good candidate in a building accessed by an alleyway, with a secure basement behind a shuttered door. On seeing it wasn’t clearly occupied, the party decided it would be where they retreated that evening -- and indeed, decided they would lie low there for a little before meeting with Tress that evening. Tiktik wove their way around the party members as they did, as if to seek attention for having done dangerous things for them all earlier.

As the hour of Candling arrived, the party made their way to Inner Truths for their appointment with Tress. She was waiting for them, petting Palette’s filigreed exterior. She greeted them, saying that the project had been much more interesting than she’d been expecting, and that she thought they might want to discuss things privately. Somewhat suspiciously, Kriv tried a quick Divine Sense, but felt nothing unusual. Her enthusiasm was more familiar, however, to Voski.

Tress lead them to her back room and shut the door. Inside, a table had been laid out with supplies and tools for an experiment: the leaf Erwyn had given her, several different vials, a basin with assorted arcane sigils carved in the top, a houseplant, and another glass vial containing a few flies. She explained that she’d been able to identify a partial transfiguration effect turning parts of the leaf to graphite. She snapped it in half to demonstrate these properties, revealing that it was only the outer shell that had calcified, while the inner layer still consisted of dying plant matter.

She went on to say that that the tincture they’d given her was primarily water with a little alcohol in it, and had the remains of a very low-level light spell on it -- a common practice by snake-oil salesmen to make their product appear magical when it really wasn’t. She then held out a glass vial with the remains of some particulate in it, which was left over once she’d distilled the tincture down, and added that she had absolutely no idea what it was.

Tress said that she’d been testing the properties of the material, using an alchemist’s vessel to multiply the quantity to perform experiments. She said she was going to perform a demonstration of this process, but that the magic would only be in effect for a short time, and asked them to save their “questions, comments, and shocked gasps” until the end.

She scooped some of the particulate onto a small bone tool, added it to the vessel with the sigils, then poured in some water and swirled it around. Taking a leaf from the healthy plant, she dipped it into this compound, where it immediately turned to graphite. She dropped this leaf on the floor and it shattered instantly. Next, she took a dead fly from the bottom of the insect vial and dipped it into the basin as well. There was no effect. She extracted another fly, this one live. When the live fly was dipped into the compound, it instantly turned to graphite the way the leaf had. She then took a leaf from a different vial, where it had been soaking in the remnants of the tincture, and dipped it. This one hardened and turned to graphite as well, but when she dropped it, it didn’t shatter the way the first leaf had. 

Finally, Tress took a small knife. “I did already bleed for this, if there is another volunteer,” she said meaningfully.

Erwyn offered his hand and she pricked it. When his blood mixed with the tincture, it turned to the same graphite substance as the leaf and the living fly had. She looked a bit surprised at this, then turned to Voski.

“Kasia,” she asked. “Are they going to be weird about it?”

Voski reassured Tress her companions could exercise discretion. Tress proceeded to prick her own finger with the knife. A drop of her blood welled up, dark blue-black, and when it hit the mixture in the basin, it didn’t turn to graphite like Erwyn’s had. Instead, it turned to gold. 

The tincture mixture seemed to evaporate from the vessel as the magic effect amplifying it ran out. Tress commented that the demonstration hadn’t been exactly what she was expecting, but she should have assumed there might be more variables.

With questions now open, the party asked her opinion on what might have been in the vials, mentioning the people peddling the tinctures claimed they had ingredients sourced from the elemental planes. She said it was hard to verify that for certain, though the water certainly wasn’t plane-touched, and added that whatever was causing the transformation was highly diluted in the tinctures themselves. She also pointed out that, as had been clear from her demonstration with the leaves, immediate, quick exposure caused the transformation to be more brittle, whereas the prolonged dosage seemed to result in a more stable, gradual process.

The group began to discuss possible motivations behind the revelation. It was obvious that the tinctures wouldn’t persist as a fad if they had such visible negative effects, so diluting the effect ensured a wider exposure for whatever purpose the sellers had in mind. Erwyn pointed out that with everything else going on in Veritas, there were certainly other things people might blame ill effects on, like the background energy from the Abyss all over the city. Ditto also brought up that it was already well-known people were mysteriously going missing, so it was possible some of the worst effects were being hidden. Tress added that at the dosage people seemed to be taking of the tinctures, it would likely take several weeks or even a month or two for them to notice any reaction. She noted, though, that she hadn’t been able to perform any longitudinal studies, and it was always possible that at a certain point the effects could speed up.

Ditto, unable to contain herself, finally burst out asking Tress what her deal was, since her blood had reacted so differently. Tress sighed and replied that she was an air genasi -- underscored by the fact that, where she had cut her finger, there was now smeared makeup revealing blue-tinted skin -- and asked the party not to make a big deal about it. She said that while her blood’s reaction to the tincture was interesting, she couldn’t imagine there were enough other genasi in the city to make it worth their while. Erwyn wondered if it might be a quality of plane-touched individuals in general, and Kriv asked if she would be willing to do the experiment again, looking at Amaranth as he spoke. Tress said she would need another tincture, but was willing, and would be working late that evening if they were able to get one by then.

The party departed for the Pig’s Eye after that. When they got there, Nilo had not yet arrived. Sparrow was there, however, and came over to Amaranth, offering to buy her a drink. Ditto gave Amaranth a surreptitious thumbs-up while Kriv, teasingly, stuck his tongue out instead.

The drow demon who had been frequenting the place arrived soon after, looking somewhat less nervous than she usually did. She took a seat in the corner and beckoned Voski over. At this, Voski ordered the drink with Underdark fruit syrup the demon had recommended to her the night before, then took it and sat down with her to talk.

The yochlol told Voski that she had talked with her Lady and was more comfortable speaking openly now that Voski wasn’t such a stranger. She also said that the Lady had something to ask of Voski, as repayment for granting her blessing -- commenting that it seemed she was having some trouble protecting her “investment” as she glanced over at Erwyn.

She said she and some of her companions had been transporting an item to a city in the Underdark, but had been caught in Veritas when the current situation erupted. She and her companions (several drow, who she feared had perished) were taking a detour through the markets when the portal opened, and the artifact had been lost or stolen in the chaos. She had since been unable to reclaim it or find anyone to assist her in doing so, as it was lost in the exclusion zone and everyone she’d attempted to hire had proven unreliable.

Voski asked if, since they had been caught so off guard, this meant the Lady hadn’t had a hand in the events in Veritas. The yochlol explained that this breach didn’t seem to have been planned by any known power in the Abyss, and whatever had broken through had kept to itself enough that the other demons weren’t certain which layer had even caused it. She also admitted, when pressed, that she too was trapped inside the city by the barrier that was keeping the other demons in. Lolth had other ways of extracting her, but she couldn’t return empty-handed.

Finally Voski asked about the artifact. The yochlol said she was looking for a magical harp, finely constructed and very important to Lolth, as it was used in several rituals down in the Underdark. While it was missing, she could tell it wasn’t destroyed, thanks to her connection to Lolth. 

After explaining that she was hoping Voski could retrieve it, she offered her a silver brooch in the shape of a spider, set with purple and blood-red stones, which she said would signify to other demons that Lolth had a vested interest in her and, perhaps, encourage them to leave her alone. She commented that Lolth found her amusing, and would prefer if she didn’t die. Voski accepted the brooch and tucked it away into her armor, though she added that she didn’t subcontract and would not enlist any of the others to search on Lolth’s behalf. But, since they were headed into the exclusion zone soon enough, she would try to take a look around while she was there.

As she rose to leave, Voski realized they’d never properly introduced themselves to each other and asked the yochlol if there was any name she wanted Voski to call her by. The demon shrugged and said she didn’t see the point. Voski nodded, then invited her to tell her Lady that Voski intended to survive, with or without her help. Then she added that the drink the yochlol had recommended was surprisingly good.

“Right?” the demon said.

Voski returned to the others, who were enjoying the music of the one-armed bard, Meg, who had played there the night before. Erwyn was sipping from another glass of milk, conjured earmuffs from Ditto present yet again, and Amaranth continued chatting with Sparrow until Nilo and Clarity finally showed up. When the pair finally entered the tavern, Nilo was clad in his “work clothes” -- a combination of dark roguish attire and dozens upon dozens of different good luck charms, ranging from onions to holy symbols rubbed with lamp-black so they were less obvious -- and somehow still moving silently. He was clearly ready for crimes.

[zippdementia]

Part 65 Alignment May Vary: Twists and Turns Part 3

Aldric lies in a crumpled heap on the ground, his head a pool of blood and brains. Blackrazor lies silent beside him. Imoaza, still in her Drow disguise, instantly understands Zaeintar’s intentions. The man had to kill Aldric in order to fool the House Captain. Otherwise, all three of them would be attacked. Imoaza doesn’t have human empathy, her entire race could be described as “for the greater good,” (though that good is often for snake-kind, not for most others). Now that same mentality causes her to feel no grief, no remorse, as she follows Zaeintar’s lead in deceiving the House Captain.

“We found him wandering the halls,” Zaeintar is saying.

“Then why didn’t you detain him?” the House Captain, Raznika, asks sharply. Imoaza is quick to step in, as Zaeintar fumbles over his words.

“We tried, and the coward ran. We chased him all the way here. He’s not alone, either. He has companions, all of them working to destroy you.”

As if on cue, there is a tremendous explosion that rocks the whole pyramid. Zaeintar shoots Imoaza a look. Carrick must have succeeded in destroying the portals.

With the help of this, and some decent deception rolls, Imoaza is able to convince the male guards to go with Zaeintar to check out the explosion, while Imoaza escorts the House Captain to her chambers. The hardest part of all this for Imoaza is convincing the House Captain that she’s seen her before, as the House Captain knows all of the Drow in her service.

DM Notes: we never actually finish addressing this in the game as things move too fast, but behind the scenes I figure that Imoaza made her disguise based off of the dead Drow female that Zaeintar killed during their command center fight. That’s the “official” reason why Raznika trusts her. She thinks they are the same Drow!

Of course, this eventually leads to a fight. At the very top of the pyramid, right outside of Raznika’s chambers, Imoaza launches her attack while Raznika is distracted looking out onto the destruction and chaos that Carrick’s actions have created.

“You dare to strike a member of Drow royalty? You dare to strike a follower of the great Azor Khul?! My poisons will course through your veins and drag you down into your own personal hell.”

“Your poisons will be be like a pleasant, warming fire inside me.”

Imoaza is a vicious opponent one-on-one and immune to drow poison. The House Captain soon retreats into her chamber, slamming the door behind her. Imoaza gives chase and a blast of fire emanates from the trapped door, engulfing her.

Meanwhile, Aldric sits in the hallway, breathing deeply. “You ready to get up, man?” Blackrazor asks him. Aldric nods and looks at the blood that had sprayed onto the wall and floors of the hallway. It is slowly disappearing as Zaeintar’s illusion spell wears off, his final bid to get Aldric and Imoaza within striking range of the house captain. So Aldric, very much not dead, gets up and finds his way through the hallways, following the sounds of Imoaza’s magic. He arrives in time to see her hit by the trapped door, pushes her aside, and leaps through the fire, charging Raznika. Raznika is crouched behind a hastily kicked over desk, firing small poisoned bolts at him that he ignores, even as they pierce his armor. Then the two lock blades, Aldric swinging Blackrazor in arcs that seem to tear apart even the air itself, and Raznika swinging a longsword in one hand and a whip of nine-tails in another.

Aldric backs off after the first volley of attacks, surprised by the tenacity of his opponent. The Drow circles him, waiting for any opening. Aldric kicks the over turned desk at her and in the brief moment of respite, grabs his horn and blows it, summoning the souls of the Green Company.

A dozen ghostly warriors burst into the small room, solemnly calling out the songs of the Green Company while they descend upon the bewildered Drow. The House Captain fights bravely, even takes three of the spirits down, but eventually she falls to the axes and blades of the company. Aldric crouches by her and rips the blue stone marker from around her neck.

The fight over, the Green Company gathers around Aldric. “Commander,” they ask, “what are your orders?”

Aldric stares out over the varied faces and figures of the Company, recognizing everyone. There is Beanpole, the lanky fighter who lost an ear fighting a troll. Hazelbrush, the loud mouthed female halfling who could outdrink Aldric even on a thirsty night. Jacques, a foreigner to the main continent, who spoke little but always knew how to make Aldric laugh. A dozen men and women before him, and he knew all of them. As they look to him as their new commander, Aldric feels nostalgia wash over him and a pain grips his heart. He knows that these are just shadows, phantoms born of his own memories. And while solid enough to harm his enemies, his destiny lies not in holding onto the past but in creating the future and a new company. He wipes away tears and tells the company that the group needs to get inside the silver monument and that the armies below must be kept distracted. The company roars its approval, Hazelbrush leaping down from the Drow’s fine table where she had sat her fat rump and leading the charge out of the room and down the side of the pyramid, a ghostly army rushing down to do battle against the enemy of their commander, Aldric.

As they descend, Carrick appears, leaving his gaseous form and staring down with the other two over the scene of devastation. All is chaos below. Drow fight the company while the hordes of hobgoblins try to regather themselves as the portal device continually. But before they can, there is a massive explosion (one of Zaeintar’s traps, set for his own kind?)

The whole scene goes crazy at this point: a chasm runs down the cavern, splitting the earth around and underneath the Yuan-Ti pyramid. The pyramid buckles and begins to sag, cracks appearing all down its length as its tremendous weight is pulled into the chasm. From the chasm climbs the beast from below, the strange long limbed creature. It howls and rushes into battle. 

The players fly (Imoaza’s magic spell) over this destruction and down to the silver monument. Aldric spots a slot in the monument’s door and inserts the blue stone key then removes it. There is a sound like a soft bell and the door slides smoothly open, revealing a white passageway. Aldric ducks inside quickly. Imoaza hesitates, looking back out at the battle and beyond it, to the pyramid that is slowly beginning to break apart.

Carrick sees her look and stops, not sure how to comfort the Yuan Ti, unsure even of how to read the look in her snake like eyes. “We have to go,” he says softly. She nods and then turns and brushes past him without a word. Carrick looks into the white passageway and fights off a sudden and almost debilitating feeling of deja vu, like he’s been here before. Then he enters and the door slides shut behind them.

The Surveyor and Carrick’s Past Life

“I am Azor Klhul. Did you really think you could enter my sanctum without me noticing? But worry not: for now you interest me and as long as my interest continues, so too shall your life.”

“Oh piss off,” Aldric said, staring back at the face that seemed to be magically covering the walls and ceiling of this rounded entrance hallway. “I already killed one of your dragons.”

“And I destroyed your little portal out there!” Carrick added in. Aldric nodded.

“Yeah, it isn’t great out there. Would you like to join us and take a look? Your army is completely falling apart.”

Azor Khul’s face hesitated and his eyes closed for a long moment, his face twitching as if he was reacting to something none of them could see.

“No...” he said slowly. Then the eyes opened and they were full of fury. “You insignificant little worms!” he shouted. “How DARE you disrupt my plans? You only delay the inevitable by this! You think you have saved your little valley? We shall regrow! We shall recreate!”

“But the path to the surface is cut off,” Carrick said.

“Which means you are stuck here with us,” Aldric said.

“And we don’t intend to let you leave this place. It will be your tomb,” Imoaza said.

“No,” Azor Khul said, and this time there was no denial in his voice, only a promise. “I shall go on. And so shall you, though it will not be pleasant. You humanoids are always seeking eternal life, are you not? Well, my god can give it to you!”

“We know better than to believe the lies of Tiamet!” Carrick retorted.

“Tiamet? Haha, that weak little bitch, trapped by the devils? No, the Hobgoblins and the Drow may believe I worship Tiamet but that is only because their minds would break if they saw my god’s true form. It is easier for them, simpler if they don’t try to understand too much.”

“Who do you serve, then?”

“I serve a true arbiter of life and death. You shall meet them soon enough. You will be killed now, but you won’t die. I’ll bring you back, with my god’s power, and you shall become part of our eternal study. Everlasting life, however unpleasant, will be yours. But for now I will say farewell.”

At this, the doors at the end of the hallway opened and the companions found themselves facing down four humans, wielding guns--reminiscent of the ones that Zaeintar carried, but much larger. At their sides crouched four black beasts, like smaller versions of the one Aldric fought at Brindol, ridden by the Goblin who once rode Regiarix, the Black Dragon. These were not dragons, however. They were something new.

“Men, unleash the Grendelspawn and shoot down any of the intruders who survive their attack.”

One of the men, taller then the others, with a receding hairline of short cropped black hair, barked an order and the black beasts rushed forward. Carrick unleashed his fire whip in preparation and suddenly the man who had given the order called out one more word:

“Commander?”

Within seconds of the word, the men all turn their weapons on the Grendelspawn, blasting them into oblivion while the players crouch in readiness and some confusion. Then the leader of the men strides forward and welcomes Carrick back to his ship.

Obviously this leads to some more confusion but we finally get some of the back story for what’s going on with Carrick as the man (who calls himself Bob) tries to explain.

Carrick was once known by another name: The Surveyor. He traveled the stars bringing human life to planets where he felt it was appropriate. He did this via the use of crystals, which he would implant in the earth and which somehow gave birth to new life. When The Surveyor arrived on Toril, he found other races already there and especially bonded with the Yuan Ti (why is uncertain). He shared his technology with them but when they learned of his plans to populate Toril with human life, they became suspicious of him, believing that he meant to place their civilization under human rule. Thinking of themselves as a master race, they turned on The Surveyor and he was forced to flee the planet, leaving behind many of his crystals, which would later be found and harnessed by the Gulug, precipitating the War of Seven Sorrows.. which leads into Karina’s backstory.

The Surveyor had one gem, a huge jade stone, which was filled with a dark essence, a Star Spawn from beyond the veil of reality. Unknown to the Surveyor, this gem had been in communication with the Yuan Ti and had lent them some of its power to build their hex blades. It also had subtly directed them to construct a device by which they could summon it into the physical world (the same device the players found in the basement of the pyramid). When The Surveyor boarded his ship and left Toril, the Yuan Ti activated this device and called for their new god. And he answered.

The Surveyor’s ship was taken over and directed back own to earth. In a panic, The Surveyor ejected the jade gemstone from his ship, where it broke apart in the atmosphere and spread around the world. But it was too late: the Star Spawn was able to manifest and directed the ship back to Toril, where it crashed into the Yuan Ti’s valley with the force of a comet, destroying all but their temple (and burying that deep underground). From the ship emerged the Star Spawn and he began wantonly slaughtering all he found, mostly the Yuan Ti. The Surveyor survived the crash as well and faced off against the Star Spawn. In the culminating battle, The Surveyor was killed and the Star Spawn so grievously wounded that it fell into a deep hibernation. With its gemstone broken and scattered, it could not reawaken.

The ship’s crew, Bob and others, hunkered down to wait out the milenia for the return of their master. But when the ship’s doors next opened, it was to admit Azor Khul. Drawn by the slumbering but still active mind of the Star Spawn, he immediately directed that a search begin for the jade gemstone pieces. He brought with him a host of drow to help and they soon captured and subjugated more creatures into his service. They began searching the world over for the gemstones and, more quickly than might be imagined, found them. Many had been carved into relics of power by civilizations that recognized their power (if not exactly where that power came from or what harnessing it could mean). As the gemstones were gathered, Azor Khul began directing his forces in a attack against the Elsir Vale, setting up portals so that he could send massive armies quickly into the Vale without having to traverse the far flung hallways of the Underdark. His plan was to take over the Valley and establish a new society to worship him and to, eventually, spread beyond the Vale’s borders. He was on the very edge of success.

And then, unexpectedly, The Surveyor returned as a new life, named Carrick.

This story is made somewhat humorous by the inability of the characters to grasp some of the concepts discussed. Spaceship? What’s that? Well, do you know a sailing ship? And do you know the sky? This is like a ship that sails a really big sky. The more the characters try to understand, the slower and more simple Bob becomes in his explanations, describing RE-AAA-LLY BIIIG SKY SAAAAIIILING and THEY COME FROM BEYOND THE CLOOOOOUDS. It’s communication at its finest.

While the story is being told, the players have been taken to a scientific bay to be healed by a scary looking dentist chair called the Enervator and they get to meet the scientist running this area, a woman with shoulder length brown hair and an easy smile named Fiona. Fiona and Bob also fill them in on the party’s best next steps.

A Gross Gamble

“Azor Khul has taken refuge in the command center,” Fiona said, running her fingers along one wall and quickly scanning the symbols and pictures that appeared there. “He’s locked down most of the ship and he’s rerouting power. Massive amounts, though I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”

“Hey, maybe you could show me how to work this thing?” Aldric said, moving closer to Fiona. “In return... I could show you my sword.”

Fiona blinked, not comprehending. “But I can already see your sword. It’s there in your scabbard.”

“You haven’t seen it unsheathed,” Aldric replied, winking.

“We don’t have much time,” Bob said, cutting the innuendo short. “Whatever Azor Khul is planning, it won’t be good for any of you. Commander, what are your orders?”

Carrick stared back for a moment before realizing Bob was addressing him. Then he looked around awkwardly, as if waiting for someone else to speak. When no one came to his rescue, he cleared his throat and spoke: “Well, this is my ship, right? Then it’s time to try and take it back.”

Bob nodded. “Then I have some weapons to help you.”

“And don’t forget the slugs,” Fiona added, looking past the hovering Aldric.

“Slugs?” Imoaza asked. “What are we supposed to do with slugs?”

Bob and Fiona start handing out weapons. Aldric gets dual pistols with a high critical range. Aldric gets an anti-matter rifle. Imoaza gets a rifle with a grenade launcher and number of other attachments. None of them know at all how to use them and a little pandemonium hits when Aldric decides to test his weapons by firing them at the floor, sending lasers bouncing all over the room. Those will come into play again.

Three more important things happen this session. First, the players opt to be infected with Slugspawn, living pieces of the Starspawn which will wrap around their brains and protect them from Azor Khul’s psychic energy and attacks but which also runs the teensy weensy risk of causing their heads to explode as the slugspawn matures and takes over the host’s body. Still, they decide to go through with the risk because (a) it’s a huge payoff to be able to avoid psychic attacks and charms, and (b) because it’s epic as hell. The implant process is pretty harrowing, as the slugspawn finds the nearest orifice and burrows into the body (for Aldric, it burrows through his right nipple).

The second thing that happens is that they are attacked on the way to Azor Khul. They use the spaceship’s vents to bypass all the doors Azor Khul has locked but are found by his Grendelspawn. Aldric wrestles with one, finally blasting it multiple times in the head with his laser pistols, and Imoaza launches a grenade (accidentally) at a group of others, blasting apart the vents and dropping them outside of and beneath the ship (saved by Imoaza’s fly spell), where the third important thing happens.

For here, beneath the ship, is the source of Azor Khul’s energy, the power he is pumping back into the spaceship. Here lie row upon row of tubes wherein float bodies that are very familiar to the players. They see the generals of the Red Hand, Varanthian, and the Dragons that they fought throughout their campaign. The tubes are pumping out piles of goop which then form into clones of these figures, rising up to face the players (and explaining where Azor Khul’s infinite army comes from). But before they can fight, the goop is sucked back into the tubes and the tubes all empty, shooting their contents up huge pipes into the spaceship and the spaceship comes alive above them, rumbling as it shifts in the cavern and lights begin turning on all over it.

Blackrazor goes a little nuts down here, realizing that the tubes are replicating souls. He tells Aldric that they could stay here forever, devouring this endless supply of artifical souls and growing ever more powerful. Aldric finds himself actually disturbed by the concept and for the first time a thin sliver of doubt crosses his mind as to whether he wishes to remain attached to Blackrazor. The blade becomes completely incensed when the tubes shoot their energy into the ship above them, screaming out that they are stealing his souls!

Only one of the bodies is outside of a tube and remains behind after this, that of an eviscerated and dissected Bronze Dragon, still sickeningly alive, its brain visible and gyrating as the thing shakes in its bonds: a number of wire plugged into its remains that feed up to the ship. The poor creature stirs when it sees that Aldric carries the Rod of Storms, for this is the same dragon who gave that rod to Karina what seems like years ago (but was actually about a month or two). The Dragon desperately relays a message: “The trade I made you... the time for you to get the treasure I promised has come... you must retrieve it now before it is too late! The winged one has already learned the secrets of the crystals. Soon he will be unstoppable.”

Before the Dragon can say more a massive power surge pulls his life force from him and up through the wires into the ship. The cavern begins to collapse and Imoaza uses her fly spell again to lift them up and up and up, past an airlock and back into the ship, rising up through its innards towards...

... towards the Starspawn.

The massive beast lies dormant inside a huge glass tank. The wires and plugs that extend inside the tank are sparking with energy, yet the creature does not move. Carrick grimaces as he sees the beast and for the first time he recalls dying at its hands.

But the players rise past it, onto a bridge that leads into the control room. The doors open with the blue stone rectangle that Aldric still carries and they come into a long room filled with desks and computers and other equipment that they do not recognize the purpose of. And there, at the far end of the room, standing before a huge wall of glass that looks out onto a dark cavern, stands Azor Khul.

The muscular Dragonborn turns as they enter and he snarls. “Too late,” he says, and slams his hand down on a button on the console nearest him. The ship rumbles and the cavern outside the glass speeds past them as the ship tears through the underground, bursts from out of the earth and heads up and up and up.

Until they all see they have left their world behind and entered the big big sky. They are in space.

“Now, we can talk,” Azor Khul says.

Next time, the Final Fight. At least, the Final Fight of this world.