The Locks Start Crumbling
Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock, formerly Aurora's familiar
Aiden, Eurydice's Sprite familiar
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock, formerly Aurora's familiar
Aiden, Eurydice's Sprite familiar
Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer
"Shadewing" Corvis Cairunis Umbrusalarim, the Shadow Elf Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen
Cloak, Shadewing's Empty Cloak familiar
Alfred, Shadewing's Raven familiar
Alucard, the ancient all-powerful wizard; formerly Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world
Cloak, Shadewing's Empty Cloak familiar
Alfred, Shadewing's Raven familiar
Alucard, the ancient all-powerful wizard; formerly Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world
Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor
Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue
Comrades we have lost:
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to resurrect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue
Comrades we have lost:
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to resurrect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person since the bard can't be everywhere at once.
***** Lacysnows 25, CY 710, Potidaea Bard College
While I was organizing my bards to get the college fixed, Alucard came back with an odd man in a raven mask, with a raven perched on his shoulder. He was introduced to us as Shadewing- by the bird, Alfred- who apparently speaks for him. Alucard had gone to the Raven Queen to get us aid, and this was who she'd sent to us. He told us he had to get a couple more people, before vanishing again.
Dervish, apparently missing Douchebag, offered him a draw from the Deck of Many Things. Alfred drew first and got the Void... a few seconds later, Alucard reappeared with Narg and the gem Alfred had gotten sucked into. Shadewing himself drew something that made a Yochlol appear and hand his the Tome of the Stilled Tongue. He wanted nothing to do with it, so I picked it up, out of curiosity.
A pulse of energy suddenly hit everyone in and around Potidaea. Cause we totally need more shit to go wrong today. I found Briisa, and she said it came from one of the sub-basements that we haven't touched in decades. Fucking wonderful. There was probably some horrible thing lurking in it that would attack. At the moment we got there, the 15-foot adamantine door that had sealed this room crashed to the ground, revealing two golems. Behind them was a human who introduced himself as Tsorig. Apparently, he'd been sent here by his God, Kelemvor, to investigate the mass deaths that just occurred. We quickly explained to him that somehow Pharin had managed to set the world on fire. He readily joined up with us, especially after we told him about Vecna. Probably should have led with that, but really, Pharin may actually be worse for the world than the lich god.
Lan was the next person Alucard brought to us, and he quickly befriended Tsorig. They decided that they should work together on conscripting some clerics for us. With that taken care of, Briisa and I were able to get back to work.
Our archives were in the section of the tower that Pharin blew up. Some of our smaller colleges throughout the world would be able to get us new copies of some of the books, but I knew some of our oldest tomes were kept only here and were now likely gone forever. When this nonsense with Vecna is sorted out, I'll be making backup archives in triplicate. No clue where I'll put them, but I'll think of something.
Another fucking wonderful problem was true resurrection wasn't working on any of our fallen. We had a bunch of our bards trying but to no avail. I'm pretty sure the stupid Beacons are the problem.
An emptiness suddenly washed over us all for a brief moment as red, crackling energy went from a Beacon into the clouds. Eurydice saw five locks in the sky, and one of them had just crumbled. If all five locks fell, the Outsiders would be able to get in. This was the best time for Pharin to blow up our archives. I just needed a fucking Fate card to fix my tower- just make the explosion be like three feet to the left of the tower or something, so everything we needed wasn't fucking destroyed. Ralliakkan said a Fates card wouldn't cut it for something like this- cataclysmic event and whatnot- but I didn't want to undo the event, just the damage to my tower. I thought maybe I could wish for the knowledge to fix the locks at the very least, so I yelled at a couple of my bards to get me a wish, but none of them had any... and guess where the fucking scrolls were.
Since we were lacking in options, we decided to head to the second Beacon, in hopes we could stop the cults from doing anything there. I didn't know if I'd actually be able to teleport us all the way there since the fucking Beacons were still messing with that magic. Before leaving, Tsorig summoned a planetar to help us.
As I predicted, we did not end up in Asperdi like we were supposed to. Instead, we ended up about thirty miles away... and thirty miles above the fucking Solnor Ocean. Dervish, Vish, Scottie, and I got on our brooms instantly, Shadewing could apparently fly, and Tsorig turned into a griffin. Lan, on the other hand... He was falling too quickly, so I opened a dimension door under him, and dropped a Hand to catch him. The Hand grabbed him, and popped... the paladin continued his plummet into the icy waters below.
Tsorig sent his planetar after Lan, and it came back up looking bloody. A fucking lightning bolt followed it, aimed for Vish, Scottie, and Shadewing... there was a fucking kraken down there. Then a flash of brilliant light went off and an angel appeared, diving into the water. It managed to retrieve him, and with that, we were all able to head to shore.
We weren't entirely sure how to get to the damn Beacon, but thankfully Dervish found a trail pretty quickly. As he rose on his broom, a lightning bolt slammed into him. We were going to have to walk.
***** Lacysnows 26, Asperdi
We traveled through the night and into the morning, hoping to get there quickly; but we were definitely in for a ridiculously long journey. Around midday, I set up my mansion for us to rest in.
When we exited the mansion Tsorig called his planetar back, and it began screaming in agony as red energy ripped through it. The Beacon turned red at the exact same moment. Tsorig set up a wall of blades between us and his planetar. Dervish and Vish flanked it and completely destroyed it. The planetar exploded, covering them in a blackish ichor; Vish began screaming in pain as the ichor sprayed him. Lan began trying to help Vish with the corruption, but there was nothing he could do. We had to knock him out.
Since the Beacon we were here for was red now, we decided to head for the third Beacon; and if we couldn't hit that one, we'd just go to Calbut. We ended up on a mountain, in the middle of a blizzard. I took us to Calbut next.
Upon our arrival, we realized that Calbut was just where the keystone was, the actual Beacon was eighty fucking miles away. Shadewing found a shadow road we could take to get there, but as soon as he opened it, screams erupted from it. I was out of teleportation magic, so Dervish took us to his paradise so we could gate to the Beacon. Lan decided to go get a weapon, and he'd be back in a while.
I prepared the plane shift, but then Dervish insisted I scry first... that was fucking stupid. The evil coated me instantly, greeting me like an old friend; after all, it was. My Shadow Twin appeared at my side, and together we turned to face the idiots before us. We charmed most of the idiots, but Scottie was able to resist us. He dropped a circle on me and paralyzed me. Then pain wracked my very soul as Tsorig called upon Kelemvor to remove the corruption from both Vish and I. The corruption keeps coming for me, and I always manage to break free.
After a couple hours, I checked on Lan, and he said he was just outside the paradise- he couldn't get back in. We left it to go meet him and headed into town.
Dervish apparently missed Pharin. He offered the innkeeper some draws from the Deck of Many Things. The innkeeper drew the fucking Void... His daughter then took her father's Deck and drew the Fates card. Dervish's Deck vanished, as she made it so he'd never gotten his in the first place. The innkeeper was back, since he'd never drawn the Void, and insisted Dumbass take a draw for himself. Dervish drew the Idiot, which was beyond the perfect card for the Dumbass to draw. Shadewing drew Donjon, and something else that made him vanish. Vish drew a Fates card; Scottie drew the Void. Then Vish, sick of it all, used his Fates card to undo the entire thing. I never drew, I couldn't risk losing Luna or the Lolth blade.
***** Lacysnows 27, Calbut
In the morning Briisa told me that Vecna had the knowledge to stop the Outsider's cult from unlocking the gates. But there was no way we could get it from that asshat. Over breakfast, the others decided to play with the Deck of Many Things again. Lan drew the star, the knight, and the key- giving him a luck blade. Tsorig drew the vizier and the gem; the vizier could be a huge aid to us. Lan's new knight drew the fool and the moon. Then Eurydice decided to draw, getting the moon and the knight- a little human girl; that was kind of disappointing, I'd hoped she'd get a little faerie dragon knight.
We needed some divine aid in this, so Shadewing went to the Feywild to seek an audience with Mab. I headed to the Abyss to talk to Lolth; Lan and Tsorig decided to follow me... I just hoped they wouldn't fuck up my chances of getting help from her.
I was greeted by Ralliakkan when we got to the Demonweb Pits. She told me Lolth wasn't seeing people at the moment, so I explained to her what we were looking for. About two hours later she came back and told us that there were only three things that could hurt the Outsiders. One was Lan's sword, another was Tsorig's sword, and Ralliakkan was apparently the third thing. With that, a yochlol sent us back to where we'd been, and only five minutes had passed since we initially left.
Shadewing sent Alfred back to get us, told us we were all going to the Feywild, we were meeting them at the oak in the very center. There were tons of fey sitting around the Stone Table, discussing the situation. Apparently there was only one lock left. Shade told them we were here to offer aid, and gain aid.
To gain this aid from them, we'd have to join them with a treaty, and serve them to gain protections. They were all willing to contract with us. None of the fey knew what was on the other side of the gate, or how long it would take to get through. We then were each taken by a different fey lord to work with. The Erl King took Dervish as his Knight; Mab took Tsorig; Titania took me; Celeste, the Queen of Spring, took Vish; Syndall, the Queen of Fall, took Ralliakkan; and the Raven Queen took Shadewing. We were all given familiars by our fey patrons, who would instantly remove our Mantles the moment we died, to prevent the cults from getting them.
After the rituals to gain the mantles, Alucard showed up, and had some dire news for us. The Outsider cults were trying to rip a hole in time and take Vecna's soul; they wanted to put his soul in a gem to superpower their god, or something. It was odd and worrisome, though I didn't pay attention to the whole thing; I just didn't care that much.
We headed to Sigil after that to get supplies. People were leaving it because of the locks breaking, but there were still enough shops open to burn some money.
While I was organizing my bards to get the college fixed, Alucard came back with an odd man in a raven mask, with a raven perched on his shoulder. He was introduced to us as Shadewing- by the bird, Alfred- who apparently speaks for him. Alucard had gone to the Raven Queen to get us aid, and this was who she'd sent to us. He told us he had to get a couple more people, before vanishing again.
Dervish, apparently missing Douchebag, offered him a draw from the Deck of Many Things. Alfred drew first and got the Void... a few seconds later, Alucard reappeared with Narg and the gem Alfred had gotten sucked into. Shadewing himself drew something that made a Yochlol appear and hand his the Tome of the Stilled Tongue. He wanted nothing to do with it, so I picked it up, out of curiosity.
A pulse of energy suddenly hit everyone in and around Potidaea. Cause we totally need more shit to go wrong today. I found Briisa, and she said it came from one of the sub-basements that we haven't touched in decades. Fucking wonderful. There was probably some horrible thing lurking in it that would attack. At the moment we got there, the 15-foot adamantine door that had sealed this room crashed to the ground, revealing two golems. Behind them was a human who introduced himself as Tsorig. Apparently, he'd been sent here by his God, Kelemvor, to investigate the mass deaths that just occurred. We quickly explained to him that somehow Pharin had managed to set the world on fire. He readily joined up with us, especially after we told him about Vecna. Probably should have led with that, but really, Pharin may actually be worse for the world than the lich god.
Lan was the next person Alucard brought to us, and he quickly befriended Tsorig. They decided that they should work together on conscripting some clerics for us. With that taken care of, Briisa and I were able to get back to work.
Our archives were in the section of the tower that Pharin blew up. Some of our smaller colleges throughout the world would be able to get us new copies of some of the books, but I knew some of our oldest tomes were kept only here and were now likely gone forever. When this nonsense with Vecna is sorted out, I'll be making backup archives in triplicate. No clue where I'll put them, but I'll think of something.
Another fucking wonderful problem was true resurrection wasn't working on any of our fallen. We had a bunch of our bards trying but to no avail. I'm pretty sure the stupid Beacons are the problem.
An emptiness suddenly washed over us all for a brief moment as red, crackling energy went from a Beacon into the clouds. Eurydice saw five locks in the sky, and one of them had just crumbled. If all five locks fell, the Outsiders would be able to get in. This was the best time for Pharin to blow up our archives. I just needed a fucking Fate card to fix my tower- just make the explosion be like three feet to the left of the tower or something, so everything we needed wasn't fucking destroyed. Ralliakkan said a Fates card wouldn't cut it for something like this- cataclysmic event and whatnot- but I didn't want to undo the event, just the damage to my tower. I thought maybe I could wish for the knowledge to fix the locks at the very least, so I yelled at a couple of my bards to get me a wish, but none of them had any... and guess where the fucking scrolls were.
Since we were lacking in options, we decided to head to the second Beacon, in hopes we could stop the cults from doing anything there. I didn't know if I'd actually be able to teleport us all the way there since the fucking Beacons were still messing with that magic. Before leaving, Tsorig summoned a planetar to help us.
As I predicted, we did not end up in Asperdi like we were supposed to. Instead, we ended up about thirty miles away... and thirty miles above the fucking Solnor Ocean. Dervish, Vish, Scottie, and I got on our brooms instantly, Shadewing could apparently fly, and Tsorig turned into a griffin. Lan, on the other hand... He was falling too quickly, so I opened a dimension door under him, and dropped a Hand to catch him. The Hand grabbed him, and popped... the paladin continued his plummet into the icy waters below.
Tsorig sent his planetar after Lan, and it came back up looking bloody. A fucking lightning bolt followed it, aimed for Vish, Scottie, and Shadewing... there was a fucking kraken down there. Then a flash of brilliant light went off and an angel appeared, diving into the water. It managed to retrieve him, and with that, we were all able to head to shore.
We weren't entirely sure how to get to the damn Beacon, but thankfully Dervish found a trail pretty quickly. As he rose on his broom, a lightning bolt slammed into him. We were going to have to walk.
***** Lacysnows 26, Asperdi
We traveled through the night and into the morning, hoping to get there quickly; but we were definitely in for a ridiculously long journey. Around midday, I set up my mansion for us to rest in.
When we exited the mansion Tsorig called his planetar back, and it began screaming in agony as red energy ripped through it. The Beacon turned red at the exact same moment. Tsorig set up a wall of blades between us and his planetar. Dervish and Vish flanked it and completely destroyed it. The planetar exploded, covering them in a blackish ichor; Vish began screaming in pain as the ichor sprayed him. Lan began trying to help Vish with the corruption, but there was nothing he could do. We had to knock him out.
Since the Beacon we were here for was red now, we decided to head for the third Beacon; and if we couldn't hit that one, we'd just go to Calbut. We ended up on a mountain, in the middle of a blizzard. I took us to Calbut next.
Upon our arrival, we realized that Calbut was just where the keystone was, the actual Beacon was eighty fucking miles away. Shadewing found a shadow road we could take to get there, but as soon as he opened it, screams erupted from it. I was out of teleportation magic, so Dervish took us to his paradise so we could gate to the Beacon. Lan decided to go get a weapon, and he'd be back in a while.
I prepared the plane shift, but then Dervish insisted I scry first... that was fucking stupid. The evil coated me instantly, greeting me like an old friend; after all, it was. My Shadow Twin appeared at my side, and together we turned to face the idiots before us. We charmed most of the idiots, but Scottie was able to resist us. He dropped a circle on me and paralyzed me. Then pain wracked my very soul as Tsorig called upon Kelemvor to remove the corruption from both Vish and I. The corruption keeps coming for me, and I always manage to break free.
After a couple hours, I checked on Lan, and he said he was just outside the paradise- he couldn't get back in. We left it to go meet him and headed into town.
Dervish apparently missed Pharin. He offered the innkeeper some draws from the Deck of Many Things. The innkeeper drew the fucking Void... His daughter then took her father's Deck and drew the Fates card. Dervish's Deck vanished, as she made it so he'd never gotten his in the first place. The innkeeper was back, since he'd never drawn the Void, and insisted Dumbass take a draw for himself. Dervish drew the Idiot, which was beyond the perfect card for the Dumbass to draw. Shadewing drew Donjon, and something else that made him vanish. Vish drew a Fates card; Scottie drew the Void. Then Vish, sick of it all, used his Fates card to undo the entire thing. I never drew, I couldn't risk losing Luna or the Lolth blade.
***** Lacysnows 27, Calbut
In the morning Briisa told me that Vecna had the knowledge to stop the Outsider's cult from unlocking the gates. But there was no way we could get it from that asshat. Over breakfast, the others decided to play with the Deck of Many Things again. Lan drew the star, the knight, and the key- giving him a luck blade. Tsorig drew the vizier and the gem; the vizier could be a huge aid to us. Lan's new knight drew the fool and the moon. Then Eurydice decided to draw, getting the moon and the knight- a little human girl; that was kind of disappointing, I'd hoped she'd get a little faerie dragon knight.
We needed some divine aid in this, so Shadewing went to the Feywild to seek an audience with Mab. I headed to the Abyss to talk to Lolth; Lan and Tsorig decided to follow me... I just hoped they wouldn't fuck up my chances of getting help from her.
I was greeted by Ralliakkan when we got to the Demonweb Pits. She told me Lolth wasn't seeing people at the moment, so I explained to her what we were looking for. About two hours later she came back and told us that there were only three things that could hurt the Outsiders. One was Lan's sword, another was Tsorig's sword, and Ralliakkan was apparently the third thing. With that, a yochlol sent us back to where we'd been, and only five minutes had passed since we initially left.
Shadewing sent Alfred back to get us, told us we were all going to the Feywild, we were meeting them at the oak in the very center. There were tons of fey sitting around the Stone Table, discussing the situation. Apparently there was only one lock left. Shade told them we were here to offer aid, and gain aid.
To gain this aid from them, we'd have to join them with a treaty, and serve them to gain protections. They were all willing to contract with us. None of the fey knew what was on the other side of the gate, or how long it would take to get through. We then were each taken by a different fey lord to work with. The Erl King took Dervish as his Knight; Mab took Tsorig; Titania took me; Celeste, the Queen of Spring, took Vish; Syndall, the Queen of Fall, took Ralliakkan; and the Raven Queen took Shadewing. We were all given familiars by our fey patrons, who would instantly remove our Mantles the moment we died, to prevent the cults from getting them.
After the rituals to gain the mantles, Alucard showed up, and had some dire news for us. The Outsider cults were trying to rip a hole in time and take Vecna's soul; they wanted to put his soul in a gem to superpower their god, or something. It was odd and worrisome, though I didn't pay attention to the whole thing; I just didn't care that much.
We headed to Sigil after that to get supplies. People were leaving it because of the locks breaking, but there were still enough shops open to burn some money.
All maps by Anna B. Meyer
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