Winds of Vesperia
The grand finale… or is it? As Our Heroes (tm) venture outside the egg and into the wider worlds of the planes, they must face obstacles both expected and not! Some will return triumphant… and some will not return at all.
[Kyn the GM starts the session off with Garrett in the vast library of Mechanus.]
Kyn the GM: “You know, it worries you that explosions no longer have the same effect on you they once did.”
[Garrett’s companion Sir Tinder is a master when it comes to fire-based explosion magic.]
Marc: “He’s a one-trick pony, but it’s a hell of a trick.”
[One of the problems with being surrounded by the same people all the time is that you don’t realize when things have changed.]
Woman: *ahem*
Garrett: (not looking up) “Yes?”
Kyn the GM: “It’s Sigil.”
[Sigil and Garrett have some brief conversation.]
Sigil: “You have not asked what happened.”
Garrett: “…”
Julie: “That’s her giving you the opening.”
[Sigil is the goddess of knowledge.]
Sigil: “You must always ask for knowledge.”
Garrett: “I know a great many things I never asked for.”
Sigil: “Oh, no. You always asked for it.”
[Sigil warns Garrett about the humans.]
Sigil: “They are passionate, but be wary of their passion - it swings both ways.”
Julie: *points to Pat*
[Meanwhile, back in Vesperia, we are attempting to retrofit Jass’ ship.]
Kyn the GM: “After the third sabotage attempt, T’ainesa has ordered that only humans work on the ship, and all elves who will be on the journey must be quarantined.”
[The followers of Zorn have been upping their sabotage attempts and their attacks.]
Kyn the GM: “This smacks of desperation.”
Tony: “As a practiced liar who knows when his cover’s blown…”
[Kyn the GM summarizes the situation.]
Kyn the GM: “Things have not been as peaceful as you have been desperately hoping they would be.”
[Queen T’ainesa has been hinting that she wants to go on the mission with Jass and the humans. Jass decides to confront her.]
Kyn the GM: “So, do you want to have this conversation in bed, over food, or while reviewing the ship?”
Tony: “How much do I hate me?”
[Queen T’ainesa makes her case.]
Queen T’ainesa: “Even now, my flagship is still plummeting to oblivion with a black dragon aboard.”
Jass: “I can’t say I’m sorry about that.”
[Conversations have a way of getting away from Jass sometimes.]
Tony: “She has to make her own choices and live with the consequences.”
Queen T’ainesa: “So I’m coming with you. That was easy.”
[Jass suggests that T’ainesa’s navy needs her guidance. She begs to differ.]
Queen T’ainesa: “Please - most of my admirals would love if I stopped coming on their boats.”
Jass: “I sympathize with most of your admirals.”
[The ship is ready. Sorta.]
Kyn the GM: “You are at 80% operational parameters on the ship. The elves are waiting for 100%.”
[Queen T’ainesa is not ready to risk the ship with anything less than 100% capacity.]
Queen T’ainesa: “How many of your ships collapsed in the Astral Plane?”
Amber: “After we learned how to avoid the collapse? Remarkably few.”
[There’s something of a clash of worldviews when it comes to elves and humans.]
Queen T’ainesa: “It will be much easier to ensure everything goes smoothly if we do it right the first time.”
Amber: “This is already the fourth time.”
[Queen T’ainesa grudgingly agrees to allow Jass to conduct a test flight with the ship as-is.]
Queen T’ainesa: “All right, you get to tell Fix we’re doing a test flight.”
Jass: “Fix! T’ainesa says we’re doing a test flight!”
Queen T’ainesa: *grumbles*
[The ship has its test flight.]
Kyn the GM: “All of the human engineers are like, ‘This is the best ship we’ve ever built!’ The elves are like, ‘16%?!’”
[A day in the life of Jass.]
Fix: “Captain, you’re an asshole.”
Jass: “Yes, I am. …Why am I an asshole?”
[Some time after the test flight, the ship is approached by a ship flying the flag of Sigil. Aboard is none other than the current ranking priestess of sigil, Primus Tyanna.]
Jass: “I can’t talk to her - I’m a pirate! I’m still wanted!”
Queen T’ainesa: “I should really take that bounty off your head.”
[Primus Tyanna board the ship and makes some polite introductory conversation.]
Primus Tyanna: “If I recall, the last time we met, you hit on me.”
Queen T’ainesa: *glares*
Jass: “…It’s entirely possible.”
[Primus Tyanna informs Jass that the way to get out of Vesperia is through the same rift we use to infiltrate Galandreth a century ago. Jass convinces himself that it’ll be fine.]
Tony: “I’ve got +30 bluff. I can totally lie to myself.”
[We fly to the underside of Galandreth.]
Queen T’ainesa: “You know what we’ll find up there. Let’s really hope she got over her girlish crush on you.”
Amber: “I beg your pardon?”
Jass: “Nothing.”
[We prepare to approach the rift.]
Queen T’ainesa: “The last time we did thins, we did it in a much smaller ship.”
Jass: “It’s okay, my ego is 10 times bigger now.”
[Things are a little perilous as we approach the rift.]
Kyn the GM: “The rocks are falling from the underside.”
Julie: “It’s okay - that’s what magic is for.”
Crewmate: “Do you not trust the captain!?”
Queen T’ainesa: (whispered to Jass) “Do you want the mages to help you?”
Jass: “Of course!”
[Jass successfully navigates the rift.]
Queen T’ainesa: “You’ve gotten better - didn’t even scratch the paint.”
Kyn the GM: “A rock fall and scrapes along the side of the ship.”
Jass: “You just had to say it.”
[We reach the top of the rift.]
Kyn the GM: “It’s an underground city.”
Pat: “Like an underdark.”
Kyn the GM: “Exactly like that.”
[Illyria, high priestess of Dagon, arrives on the outstretched hand of a colossal earth elemental.]
Pat: “Now that’s how you make an entrance!”
[The underdark of Dagon has a portal that allows entry into Vesperia. To transform it into an exit so we can leave will require a sacrifice from all the relevant parties.]
Amber: “I offer this: I accept that I will not return from this mission. I sacrifice ever seeing my family, my fleet, and my commanders ever again.”
Kyn the GM: “You set the bar high, Julie!”
[Amber’s sacrifice, along with T’ainesa’s sacrifice of 2,000 souls and Jass’s sacrifice to give up the skies should our mission be successful and the World Eater destroyed, are accept. Illyria stops channeling Dagon and returns to herself.]
Illyria: “(to Jass) I’m so sorry. (to Amber) I’m so sorry.”
Queen T’ainessa: *looks expectantly*
Illyria: *walks away*
[The portal is reversed for us.]
Illyria: “Be wary - as soon as you leave, all your sacrifices will be taken.”
Jass: “Well, on that gloomy note, shall we?”
Amber: “Let’s!”
[Meanwhile, back in the library of Mechanus…]
Vaenia: “When are your friends getting here so our bargain can be done with?”
Garrett: “Only one of them is known for their punctuality.”
Tony: “Not me. I always deliver but it’s not always on time.”
[More of the same.]
Vaenia: “You know, you could look out the window every now and then.”
Garrett: “Why? It’s not like the scenery ever…”
Kyn the GM: “The ship appears outside the library.”
Garrett: “…changes.”
[Garrett’s companions prepare to meet his old friends.]
Kyn the GM: “Sir Tinder rides in on Bellows the cat, who’s bucking wildly.”
Garrett: “Best behavior, everyone.”
Sir Tinder: “This is our best behavior.”
Garrett: (resigned) “I know.”
[The library of Mechanus is infinite. Amber has cast a spell to figure out where Garrett is.]
Garrett: “Does anyone know how to get the door open?”
Sir Tinder: *blows a hole in the wall*
Amber: “…I guess I didn’t need that divination spell after all.”
[Sir Tinder learns that a stupid question deserves a stupid answer.]
Sir Tinder: “Is this one of those philosophical questions you keep giving me?”
Garrett: “They keep you occupied.”
Sir Tinder: “How many ‘no’s does it take to be a ‘no’?”
[The ship has entered the library of Mechanus. Recall, it is infinitely large.]
Tam: “You could read forever!”
Lady Selene: “I think that’s the point.”
[As the ship arrives…]
Queen T’aiensa: “That wasn’t so bad!”
Iona: “I sense a kindred spirit…”
[The tearful reunion.}
Queen T’ainesa: *hugs Garrett* “You still stink of dwarf.”
Jass: “She’s gotten better at tact.”
[Garrett makes the introductions.]
Garrett: “These are my companions. The first is probably on your ship, snacking.”
Jass: “Should I be worried?”
Garrett: “Possibly.”
[T’ainesa has learned that Vaenia is a succubus that fed from Jass back on the Bright Dawn.]
Vaenia: *running away* “Garrett, hi! Can you talk to…”
Queen T’ainesa; *lands next to her in demon form*
Garrett: “That depends. Are you willing to extend our deal?”
[The chase continues!]
Garrett: “They promised not to damage you permanently. That’s the best I can do in the circumstances.”
[In the aftermath of the fight.]
Iona: “I really wish you’d stop seeing the good in her. She’s a demon - she has no good side.”
[Amber asks a pertinent question.]
Amber: “Why do gods recognize me?”
Kyn the GM: “The recognize the human. Her ego is just so huge she sassumes they mean her.”
[Formalities are taken care of.]
Garrett: “Captain Jass, permission to join the crew?”
Jass: “Permission granted.”
[Jass has figured out who Vaenia is.]
Vaenia: “Miss me?”
Jass: “Yes. Like a sore tooth.”
[More introductions.]
Sir Tinder: “I was the protector of the gate of Arcadia!”
Amber: “’Was’?”
Sir Tinder: “…I kind of forgot about it.”
[We come to our purpose: find the book that will work as a portal into the realm of Zorn.]
Jass: “Where are we going to find the book?”
Garrett: “I have an idea.”
Everyone Else: “…”
Garrett: “That was theatrical. I have no idea.”
[Garrett has realized that Tam has something to do with the book he’s been carrying all game.]
Tam: *smiles*
Garrett: “Many people believe much can be conveyed by a smile and a soulful gaze. I am not among them. Use your words.”
[Vaenia and Amber discuss the situation. Among other things, the progress of the World Eater.]
Vaenia: “The Abysses are fallen. Mount Celestia is fallen. Even Mechanus, the infinite realm… Well, it’s not infinite anymore.”
[Amber and Vaenia discuss how they might find the book we need.]
Amber: “Where would someone hide something in a place like Mechanus?”
Vaenia: “Give me a kiss and I’ll think about telling you.”
Amber: “No.”
[After some deliberations, they come to a potential solution.]
Vaenia: “You said it yourself: where time stops.”
Amber: “We believe we’ve figured out how to find the portal.”
Kyn the GM: “Vaenia’s too smug - she knew all along.”
[The short version is that the 9th level spell Time Stop will probably reveal the book… we hope. Sadly, the spell only has a range of ‘personal.’]
Kyn the GM: “You know it can’t be that simple. There’s probably a guardian. Which means Amber will have to face whatever I choose by herself.”
[We discuss the potential guardian.]
Tam: “What sort of creature can exist in a time stop?”
Amber: “The question you want to ask is what sort of creature Zorn would have guarding the entrance to his realm.”
[Amber prepares to cast the spell.]
Vaenia: “Five gold on the mage.”
Sir Tinder: “We don’t know what’s in there! It could be nothing!”
Vaenia: “Does that mean you won’t take the bet?”
Sir Tinder: “Of course I’ll take the bet!”
[Amber deals very handily with the illithid guardian of the book and returns in no time at all.]
Tam: “I said she’d survive!”
Vaenia: “Are you sure?” *casts mind-affecting magic*
Tam: *makes his will save* “Yes.”
[As Amber returns with the book.]
Tam: “That was fast. …Oh, wait.”
[We realize that Zorn’s realm is a para-elemental plane of flesh.]
Vaenia: “I’ve been to flesh planes.”
Amber: “And?”
Vaenia: “Expect to fight the minute we land.”
[We realize that we’re actually better off than we have been for most of our previous dungeon crawls.]
Pat: “Holy shit, we have a cleric with us!”
[We enter Zorn’s realm. The first thing we face is wave after wave of thralls.]
Marc: “Does it look like the humans…”
Kyn the GM: “Not even breaking a sweat.”
[One problem with the thralls, though…]
Soldier: “They don’t stay dead!”
Nessa: “What about burning them?”
Sir Tinder: *smiles*
[The only way to be sure…]
Marc: “Is there a way to kill the thralls?”
Kyn the GM: “Yes, kill Zorn.”
[We realize that Zorn is controlling the flesh that composes the floors, walls, and ceilings of the realm.]
Tam: “So, Zorn is the realm?”
Amber: “I have this sense of déjà vu…”
[Going further into the flesh realm…]
Kyn the GM: “It’s a temple of flesh.”
Pat: “Ooh! Sexy times!”
Kyn the GM: “Not that kind of flesh.”
Pat: “Ooh! Disgusting!”
[We fight the clerics of Zorn and the illithids in the temple. The PCs are okay. Our NPC allies… less so. Until Garrett does something.]
Garrett: *gives resurgence to the troops, allowing them to save their roll*
Marc: “I’ve got that player-good-move tingle.”
[There is a large illithid at the front of the group that has gotten into a mage battle with Amber. Realizing that Amber is better than it is, it casts a wall of stone around itself. Amber, however, has already declared her action to be a disintegrate spell on the illithid.]
Julie: “So, what do I disintegrate?”
Kyn the GM: “You can choose another target for the spell.”
Julie: “…I disintegrate the wall.”
[The large illithid escapes, but Amber is not about to let the smaller ones go without a fight.]
Amber: *casts stinking cloud on illithids*
Marc: “Have you ever seen the contents of an illithid’s stomach?”
[As the fight winds down, we realize that the illithids were conducting a ritual to give Bast a new symbiote. Which means there must be spawning pools nearby.]
Sir Tinder: “Garrett, guess what I found!”
Garrett: “Tell me it was a giant pool of eggs.”
Sir Tinder: (disappointed) “Aw…”
[Sir Tinder takes us to the spawning pools using somewhat unconventional travel means.]
Sir Tinder: *sits on Nessa’s head* “Giddy-up!”
Nessa: “Respectfully.”
Sir Tinder: “Giddy-up, please?”
[We reach the spawning pool.]
Nessa: “Can we deal with it quickly?”
Garrett: (cracking knuckles) “Oh, yes.”
[Nessa sends a suggestion to the node at the center of the spawning pool to have all the worms return, no matter where they are.]
Kyn the GM: “You have just blinded Zorn.”
Tam: “We work so well together!”
[After Nessa has put forward her suggestion, Amber petrifies the node so that it can’t send out any further order.]
Kyn the GM: “Zorn is pissed! Do you know how long it takes to grow on of those?”
Julie: “Hopefully a really long time.”
[We decide to split the party, having the PCs go through a secret passage with fewer but more powerful guardians, and the NPCs go through the main gates, full of thralls.]
Garrett: “I’m going to give you a present. I suggest following… not too closely.” *summons Crawly*
[Crawly’s reaction to being summoned in a flesh plane.]
Crawly: “This entire place is made out of food!”
[The rest of us react to seeing Crawly for the first time.]
Tam: “Is he your magical creature?”
Garrett: “More like a childhood friend.”
[We go through the secret passage. We know that on the other side of a small opening is the Nightwalker, a particularly powerful creature. However, Amber comes up with the bright idea of simply tunneling around the room using transmutation spells so we can bypass it entirely.]
Kyn the GM: “I was stupid enough to make it so he can’t exit the room. I thought I was being smart.”
[Amber transforms a passage of flesh into a stone tunnel.]
Garrett: “Stonework’s second rate.”
Amber: “Would you prefer to the fight the monster?”
Garrett: *grumbles*
[A little further on, we find two hulks.]
Kyn the GM: “One’s looking at Bast, very confused. It was 1 intelligence.”
[T’ainesa has already entered but isn’t doing much yet. Nessa takes the opportunity to vorpally behead the confused hulk.]
Kyn the GM: “The second one realizes that you’re obviously more dangerous than the woman who’s just hurling insults.”
[Ah, playing with dumb creatures…]
Kyn the GM: “Action?”
Tony: “I’m gonna shift into Jass and confuse the hell out of it.”
[The hulk brings Jass to negative hit points, but Garrett uses healing magic to bring him back.]
Kyn the GM: “Poor thing is confused: it killed you, but you’re standing up again.”
[We move past the hulks to find a corridor full of low-level creatures. T’ainesa declares that she’ll deal with them as the rest of us go through the final corridors to Zorn himself.]
Kyn the GM: “T’ainesa does what she does best when she’s pissed.”
Tony: “Yells at me.”
[We reach the chamber of Zorn. It is, essentially, sleeping and unaware of us. For now.]
Tam: “You have to do something, Hierophant.”
Kyn the GM: “Did you speak?”
Pat: “…Yes.”
Kyn the GM: “Bad move.”
[After a harrowing moment in which Zorn almost manages to mind-blast Tam, we try to come up with a plan. First step: finding its vulnerabilities.]
Jass: “It’s a giant brain. I imagine if you thwacked it, that’s it’s vulnerability.”
[Amber uses her black tentacles to grapple Zorn’s tentacles while the rest of the party hits the brain as hard as they can. Nessa uses her swords and almost gets two critical hits. Which is sadly less impressive in this particular case.]
Julie: “You can’t decapitate a brain.”
[Garrett prepares to hit Zorn.]
Garrett: “Stand back.”
Julie: “I stand back. I’ve learned to trust him when he says that.”
[We deal 608 hp damage to Zorn in three rounds. He’s still alive and regenerating, though. Time for a divine intervention!]
Garrett: *pulls out the brainstem and crushes it*
Kyn the GM: “I gave you a miracle.”
Marc: “I figured the miracle was to reach in and grab it.”
Tony: “It’s a very Garrett miracle.”
[With the death of Zorn, the realm begins collapsing.]
Amber: *prepares to cast teleport to the realm’s entrance*
Nessa: “I’ll get T’ainesa.”
Garrett: “I’m not leaving.”
Amber: “…Fine, we’ll all run.”
[We reach the entrance just in time to see Vaenia closing it on us, with all our men and beloved companions tied up behind her. We are now trapped.]
Amber: *casts plane shift*
Kyn the GM: “Nothing happens.”
Amber: “…Huh. That should have worked.”
[We try to find other ways out of the realm.]
Pat: “I jump into the spawning pool.”
Kyn the GM: “You’re covered in liquid.”
[Garrett comes up with a brilliant idea.]
Garrett: “Wait… we’re in Vesperia.”
Kyn the GM: “Finally, someone clicked on it.”
[Garrett brings everyone back to Vesperia. Of course, because of her sacrifice, Amber can’t come. Instead, she casts a protective circle and a prestidigitation and settles down to watch the realm collapse.]
Kyn the GM: “It’s just like the last time.”
Julie: “Except this time, she looks good.”
[Amber is saved at the last minute by Sigil herself. Kyn informs us that DAX had also been located somewhere in Zorn’s realm, in a room we’d bypassed.]
Pat: “DAX was trapped in the collapsing realm.”
Marc: “As if a collapsing realm could kill DAX.”
And that’s it! Perhaps we’ll pick up the game again in four or five months… perhaps not! Until then, we leave our characters in limbo, with one major enemy defeated, but a much larger one still to come. Mwahahaha…
[Kyn the GM starts the session off with Garrett in the vast library of Mechanus.]
Kyn the GM: “You know, it worries you that explosions no longer have the same effect on you they once did.”
[Garrett’s companion Sir Tinder is a master when it comes to fire-based explosion magic.]
Marc: “He’s a one-trick pony, but it’s a hell of a trick.”
[One of the problems with being surrounded by the same people all the time is that you don’t realize when things have changed.]
Woman: *ahem*
Garrett: (not looking up) “Yes?”
Kyn the GM: “It’s Sigil.”
[Sigil and Garrett have some brief conversation.]
Sigil: “You have not asked what happened.”
Garrett: “…”
Julie: “That’s her giving you the opening.”
[Sigil is the goddess of knowledge.]
Sigil: “You must always ask for knowledge.”
Garrett: “I know a great many things I never asked for.”
Sigil: “Oh, no. You always asked for it.”
[Sigil warns Garrett about the humans.]
Sigil: “They are passionate, but be wary of their passion - it swings both ways.”
Julie: *points to Pat*
[Meanwhile, back in Vesperia, we are attempting to retrofit Jass’ ship.]
Kyn the GM: “After the third sabotage attempt, T’ainesa has ordered that only humans work on the ship, and all elves who will be on the journey must be quarantined.”
[The followers of Zorn have been upping their sabotage attempts and their attacks.]
Kyn the GM: “This smacks of desperation.”
Tony: “As a practiced liar who knows when his cover’s blown…”
[Kyn the GM summarizes the situation.]
Kyn the GM: “Things have not been as peaceful as you have been desperately hoping they would be.”
[Queen T’ainesa has been hinting that she wants to go on the mission with Jass and the humans. Jass decides to confront her.]
Kyn the GM: “So, do you want to have this conversation in bed, over food, or while reviewing the ship?”
Tony: “How much do I hate me?”
[Queen T’ainesa makes her case.]
Queen T’ainesa: “Even now, my flagship is still plummeting to oblivion with a black dragon aboard.”
Jass: “I can’t say I’m sorry about that.”
[Conversations have a way of getting away from Jass sometimes.]
Tony: “She has to make her own choices and live with the consequences.”
Queen T’ainesa: “So I’m coming with you. That was easy.”
[Jass suggests that T’ainesa’s navy needs her guidance. She begs to differ.]
Queen T’ainesa: “Please - most of my admirals would love if I stopped coming on their boats.”
Jass: “I sympathize with most of your admirals.”
[The ship is ready. Sorta.]
Kyn the GM: “You are at 80% operational parameters on the ship. The elves are waiting for 100%.”
[Queen T’ainesa is not ready to risk the ship with anything less than 100% capacity.]
Queen T’ainesa: “How many of your ships collapsed in the Astral Plane?”
Amber: “After we learned how to avoid the collapse? Remarkably few.”
[There’s something of a clash of worldviews when it comes to elves and humans.]
Queen T’ainesa: “It will be much easier to ensure everything goes smoothly if we do it right the first time.”
Amber: “This is already the fourth time.”
[Queen T’ainesa grudgingly agrees to allow Jass to conduct a test flight with the ship as-is.]
Queen T’ainesa: “All right, you get to tell Fix we’re doing a test flight.”
Jass: “Fix! T’ainesa says we’re doing a test flight!”
Queen T’ainesa: *grumbles*
[The ship has its test flight.]
Kyn the GM: “All of the human engineers are like, ‘This is the best ship we’ve ever built!’ The elves are like, ‘16%?!’”
[A day in the life of Jass.]
Fix: “Captain, you’re an asshole.”
Jass: “Yes, I am. …Why am I an asshole?”
[Some time after the test flight, the ship is approached by a ship flying the flag of Sigil. Aboard is none other than the current ranking priestess of sigil, Primus Tyanna.]
Jass: “I can’t talk to her - I’m a pirate! I’m still wanted!”
Queen T’ainesa: “I should really take that bounty off your head.”
[Primus Tyanna board the ship and makes some polite introductory conversation.]
Primus Tyanna: “If I recall, the last time we met, you hit on me.”
Queen T’ainesa: *glares*
Jass: “…It’s entirely possible.”
[Primus Tyanna informs Jass that the way to get out of Vesperia is through the same rift we use to infiltrate Galandreth a century ago. Jass convinces himself that it’ll be fine.]
Tony: “I’ve got +30 bluff. I can totally lie to myself.”
[We fly to the underside of Galandreth.]
Queen T’ainesa: “You know what we’ll find up there. Let’s really hope she got over her girlish crush on you.”
Amber: “I beg your pardon?”
Jass: “Nothing.”
[We prepare to approach the rift.]
Queen T’ainesa: “The last time we did thins, we did it in a much smaller ship.”
Jass: “It’s okay, my ego is 10 times bigger now.”
[Things are a little perilous as we approach the rift.]
Kyn the GM: “The rocks are falling from the underside.”
Julie: “It’s okay - that’s what magic is for.”
Crewmate: “Do you not trust the captain!?”
Queen T’ainesa: (whispered to Jass) “Do you want the mages to help you?”
Jass: “Of course!”
[Jass successfully navigates the rift.]
Queen T’ainesa: “You’ve gotten better - didn’t even scratch the paint.”
Kyn the GM: “A rock fall and scrapes along the side of the ship.”
Jass: “You just had to say it.”
[We reach the top of the rift.]
Kyn the GM: “It’s an underground city.”
Pat: “Like an underdark.”
Kyn the GM: “Exactly like that.”
[Illyria, high priestess of Dagon, arrives on the outstretched hand of a colossal earth elemental.]
Pat: “Now that’s how you make an entrance!”
[The underdark of Dagon has a portal that allows entry into Vesperia. To transform it into an exit so we can leave will require a sacrifice from all the relevant parties.]
Amber: “I offer this: I accept that I will not return from this mission. I sacrifice ever seeing my family, my fleet, and my commanders ever again.”
Kyn the GM: “You set the bar high, Julie!”
[Amber’s sacrifice, along with T’ainesa’s sacrifice of 2,000 souls and Jass’s sacrifice to give up the skies should our mission be successful and the World Eater destroyed, are accept. Illyria stops channeling Dagon and returns to herself.]
Illyria: “(to Jass) I’m so sorry. (to Amber) I’m so sorry.”
Queen T’ainessa: *looks expectantly*
Illyria: *walks away*
[The portal is reversed for us.]
Illyria: “Be wary - as soon as you leave, all your sacrifices will be taken.”
Jass: “Well, on that gloomy note, shall we?”
Amber: “Let’s!”
[Meanwhile, back in the library of Mechanus…]
Vaenia: “When are your friends getting here so our bargain can be done with?”
Garrett: “Only one of them is known for their punctuality.”
Tony: “Not me. I always deliver but it’s not always on time.”
[More of the same.]
Vaenia: “You know, you could look out the window every now and then.”
Garrett: “Why? It’s not like the scenery ever…”
Kyn the GM: “The ship appears outside the library.”
Garrett: “…changes.”
[Garrett’s companions prepare to meet his old friends.]
Kyn the GM: “Sir Tinder rides in on Bellows the cat, who’s bucking wildly.”
Garrett: “Best behavior, everyone.”
Sir Tinder: “This is our best behavior.”
Garrett: (resigned) “I know.”
[The library of Mechanus is infinite. Amber has cast a spell to figure out where Garrett is.]
Garrett: “Does anyone know how to get the door open?”
Sir Tinder: *blows a hole in the wall*
Amber: “…I guess I didn’t need that divination spell after all.”
[Sir Tinder learns that a stupid question deserves a stupid answer.]
Sir Tinder: “Is this one of those philosophical questions you keep giving me?”
Garrett: “They keep you occupied.”
Sir Tinder: “How many ‘no’s does it take to be a ‘no’?”
[The ship has entered the library of Mechanus. Recall, it is infinitely large.]
Tam: “You could read forever!”
Lady Selene: “I think that’s the point.”
[As the ship arrives…]
Queen T’aiensa: “That wasn’t so bad!”
Iona: “I sense a kindred spirit…”
[The tearful reunion.}
Queen T’ainesa: *hugs Garrett* “You still stink of dwarf.”
Jass: “She’s gotten better at tact.”
[Garrett makes the introductions.]
Garrett: “These are my companions. The first is probably on your ship, snacking.”
Jass: “Should I be worried?”
Garrett: “Possibly.”
[T’ainesa has learned that Vaenia is a succubus that fed from Jass back on the Bright Dawn.]
Vaenia: *running away* “Garrett, hi! Can you talk to…”
Queen T’ainesa; *lands next to her in demon form*
Garrett: “That depends. Are you willing to extend our deal?”
[The chase continues!]
Garrett: “They promised not to damage you permanently. That’s the best I can do in the circumstances.”
[In the aftermath of the fight.]
Iona: “I really wish you’d stop seeing the good in her. She’s a demon - she has no good side.”
[Amber asks a pertinent question.]
Amber: “Why do gods recognize me?”
Kyn the GM: “The recognize the human. Her ego is just so huge she sassumes they mean her.”
[Formalities are taken care of.]
Garrett: “Captain Jass, permission to join the crew?”
Jass: “Permission granted.”
[Jass has figured out who Vaenia is.]
Vaenia: “Miss me?”
Jass: “Yes. Like a sore tooth.”
[More introductions.]
Sir Tinder: “I was the protector of the gate of Arcadia!”
Amber: “’Was’?”
Sir Tinder: “…I kind of forgot about it.”
[We come to our purpose: find the book that will work as a portal into the realm of Zorn.]
Jass: “Where are we going to find the book?”
Garrett: “I have an idea.”
Everyone Else: “…”
Garrett: “That was theatrical. I have no idea.”
[Garrett has realized that Tam has something to do with the book he’s been carrying all game.]
Tam: *smiles*
Garrett: “Many people believe much can be conveyed by a smile and a soulful gaze. I am not among them. Use your words.”
[Vaenia and Amber discuss the situation. Among other things, the progress of the World Eater.]
Vaenia: “The Abysses are fallen. Mount Celestia is fallen. Even Mechanus, the infinite realm… Well, it’s not infinite anymore.”
[Amber and Vaenia discuss how they might find the book we need.]
Amber: “Where would someone hide something in a place like Mechanus?”
Vaenia: “Give me a kiss and I’ll think about telling you.”
Amber: “No.”
[After some deliberations, they come to a potential solution.]
Vaenia: “You said it yourself: where time stops.”
Amber: “We believe we’ve figured out how to find the portal.”
Kyn the GM: “Vaenia’s too smug - she knew all along.”
[The short version is that the 9th level spell Time Stop will probably reveal the book… we hope. Sadly, the spell only has a range of ‘personal.’]
Kyn the GM: “You know it can’t be that simple. There’s probably a guardian. Which means Amber will have to face whatever I choose by herself.”
[We discuss the potential guardian.]
Tam: “What sort of creature can exist in a time stop?”
Amber: “The question you want to ask is what sort of creature Zorn would have guarding the entrance to his realm.”
[Amber prepares to cast the spell.]
Vaenia: “Five gold on the mage.”
Sir Tinder: “We don’t know what’s in there! It could be nothing!”
Vaenia: “Does that mean you won’t take the bet?”
Sir Tinder: “Of course I’ll take the bet!”
[Amber deals very handily with the illithid guardian of the book and returns in no time at all.]
Tam: “I said she’d survive!”
Vaenia: “Are you sure?” *casts mind-affecting magic*
Tam: *makes his will save* “Yes.”
[As Amber returns with the book.]
Tam: “That was fast. …Oh, wait.”
[We realize that Zorn’s realm is a para-elemental plane of flesh.]
Vaenia: “I’ve been to flesh planes.”
Amber: “And?”
Vaenia: “Expect to fight the minute we land.”
[We realize that we’re actually better off than we have been for most of our previous dungeon crawls.]
Pat: “Holy shit, we have a cleric with us!”
[We enter Zorn’s realm. The first thing we face is wave after wave of thralls.]
Marc: “Does it look like the humans…”
Kyn the GM: “Not even breaking a sweat.”
[One problem with the thralls, though…]
Soldier: “They don’t stay dead!”
Nessa: “What about burning them?”
Sir Tinder: *smiles*
[The only way to be sure…]
Marc: “Is there a way to kill the thralls?”
Kyn the GM: “Yes, kill Zorn.”
[We realize that Zorn is controlling the flesh that composes the floors, walls, and ceilings of the realm.]
Tam: “So, Zorn is the realm?”
Amber: “I have this sense of déjà vu…”
[Going further into the flesh realm…]
Kyn the GM: “It’s a temple of flesh.”
Pat: “Ooh! Sexy times!”
Kyn the GM: “Not that kind of flesh.”
Pat: “Ooh! Disgusting!”
[We fight the clerics of Zorn and the illithids in the temple. The PCs are okay. Our NPC allies… less so. Until Garrett does something.]
Garrett: *gives resurgence to the troops, allowing them to save their roll*
Marc: “I’ve got that player-good-move tingle.”
[There is a large illithid at the front of the group that has gotten into a mage battle with Amber. Realizing that Amber is better than it is, it casts a wall of stone around itself. Amber, however, has already declared her action to be a disintegrate spell on the illithid.]
Julie: “So, what do I disintegrate?”
Kyn the GM: “You can choose another target for the spell.”
Julie: “…I disintegrate the wall.”
[The large illithid escapes, but Amber is not about to let the smaller ones go without a fight.]
Amber: *casts stinking cloud on illithids*
Marc: “Have you ever seen the contents of an illithid’s stomach?”
[As the fight winds down, we realize that the illithids were conducting a ritual to give Bast a new symbiote. Which means there must be spawning pools nearby.]
Sir Tinder: “Garrett, guess what I found!”
Garrett: “Tell me it was a giant pool of eggs.”
Sir Tinder: (disappointed) “Aw…”
[Sir Tinder takes us to the spawning pools using somewhat unconventional travel means.]
Sir Tinder: *sits on Nessa’s head* “Giddy-up!”
Nessa: “Respectfully.”
Sir Tinder: “Giddy-up, please?”
[We reach the spawning pool.]
Nessa: “Can we deal with it quickly?”
Garrett: (cracking knuckles) “Oh, yes.”
[Nessa sends a suggestion to the node at the center of the spawning pool to have all the worms return, no matter where they are.]
Kyn the GM: “You have just blinded Zorn.”
Tam: “We work so well together!”
[After Nessa has put forward her suggestion, Amber petrifies the node so that it can’t send out any further order.]
Kyn the GM: “Zorn is pissed! Do you know how long it takes to grow on of those?”
Julie: “Hopefully a really long time.”
[We decide to split the party, having the PCs go through a secret passage with fewer but more powerful guardians, and the NPCs go through the main gates, full of thralls.]
Garrett: “I’m going to give you a present. I suggest following… not too closely.” *summons Crawly*
[Crawly’s reaction to being summoned in a flesh plane.]
Crawly: “This entire place is made out of food!”
[The rest of us react to seeing Crawly for the first time.]
Tam: “Is he your magical creature?”
Garrett: “More like a childhood friend.”
[We go through the secret passage. We know that on the other side of a small opening is the Nightwalker, a particularly powerful creature. However, Amber comes up with the bright idea of simply tunneling around the room using transmutation spells so we can bypass it entirely.]
Kyn the GM: “I was stupid enough to make it so he can’t exit the room. I thought I was being smart.”
[Amber transforms a passage of flesh into a stone tunnel.]
Garrett: “Stonework’s second rate.”
Amber: “Would you prefer to the fight the monster?”
Garrett: *grumbles*
[A little further on, we find two hulks.]
Kyn the GM: “One’s looking at Bast, very confused. It was 1 intelligence.”
[T’ainesa has already entered but isn’t doing much yet. Nessa takes the opportunity to vorpally behead the confused hulk.]
Kyn the GM: “The second one realizes that you’re obviously more dangerous than the woman who’s just hurling insults.”
[Ah, playing with dumb creatures…]
Kyn the GM: “Action?”
Tony: “I’m gonna shift into Jass and confuse the hell out of it.”
[The hulk brings Jass to negative hit points, but Garrett uses healing magic to bring him back.]
Kyn the GM: “Poor thing is confused: it killed you, but you’re standing up again.”
[We move past the hulks to find a corridor full of low-level creatures. T’ainesa declares that she’ll deal with them as the rest of us go through the final corridors to Zorn himself.]
Kyn the GM: “T’ainesa does what she does best when she’s pissed.”
Tony: “Yells at me.”
[We reach the chamber of Zorn. It is, essentially, sleeping and unaware of us. For now.]
Tam: “You have to do something, Hierophant.”
Kyn the GM: “Did you speak?”
Pat: “…Yes.”
Kyn the GM: “Bad move.”
[After a harrowing moment in which Zorn almost manages to mind-blast Tam, we try to come up with a plan. First step: finding its vulnerabilities.]
Jass: “It’s a giant brain. I imagine if you thwacked it, that’s it’s vulnerability.”
[Amber uses her black tentacles to grapple Zorn’s tentacles while the rest of the party hits the brain as hard as they can. Nessa uses her swords and almost gets two critical hits. Which is sadly less impressive in this particular case.]
Julie: “You can’t decapitate a brain.”
[Garrett prepares to hit Zorn.]
Garrett: “Stand back.”
Julie: “I stand back. I’ve learned to trust him when he says that.”
[We deal 608 hp damage to Zorn in three rounds. He’s still alive and regenerating, though. Time for a divine intervention!]
Garrett: *pulls out the brainstem and crushes it*
Kyn the GM: “I gave you a miracle.”
Marc: “I figured the miracle was to reach in and grab it.”
Tony: “It’s a very Garrett miracle.”
[With the death of Zorn, the realm begins collapsing.]
Amber: *prepares to cast teleport to the realm’s entrance*
Nessa: “I’ll get T’ainesa.”
Garrett: “I’m not leaving.”
Amber: “…Fine, we’ll all run.”
[We reach the entrance just in time to see Vaenia closing it on us, with all our men and beloved companions tied up behind her. We are now trapped.]
Amber: *casts plane shift*
Kyn the GM: “Nothing happens.”
Amber: “…Huh. That should have worked.”
[We try to find other ways out of the realm.]
Pat: “I jump into the spawning pool.”
Kyn the GM: “You’re covered in liquid.”
[Garrett comes up with a brilliant idea.]
Garrett: “Wait… we’re in Vesperia.”
Kyn the GM: “Finally, someone clicked on it.”
[Garrett brings everyone back to Vesperia. Of course, because of her sacrifice, Amber can’t come. Instead, she casts a protective circle and a prestidigitation and settles down to watch the realm collapse.]
Kyn the GM: “It’s just like the last time.”
Julie: “Except this time, she looks good.”
[Amber is saved at the last minute by Sigil herself. Kyn informs us that DAX had also been located somewhere in Zorn’s realm, in a room we’d bypassed.]
Pat: “DAX was trapped in the collapsing realm.”
Marc: “As if a collapsing realm could kill DAX.”
And that’s it! Perhaps we’ll pick up the game again in four or five months… perhaps not! Until then, we leave our characters in limbo, with one major enemy defeated, but a much larger one still to come. Mwahahaha…