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Monday, June 11, 2018

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book Two, Chapter Seventeen

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Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Bae'qeshel and former Champion of Lolth, Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar
Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer, Knight of the Erl King
"Shadewing" Corvis Cairunis Umbrusalarim, the Shadow Elf Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen
Cloak, Shadewing's Empty Cloak familiar
Alfred, Shadewing's Raven familiar 
Zorack, the Elftaur Ranger Bounty Hunter and Knight of Winter
Gewnter, the Falcon Monk and Zorack's companion
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
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring

Comrades we have lost:
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue- sacrificed herself to save the party
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion- killed by the outside
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock- taken by the outside, then killed by party
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 ressurect 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.

***** Diamondice 20, CY 711, Vecna's Realm

       Zorack used a fate card to go back to when Ralliakkan had originally found the Hall of Doom, and instead of wasting time in the arena, we went to the hall instead. I used a spell that would protect the Gunslinger's mind this time, so his head wouldn't explode. Since it didn't make him completely immune to this nonsense, but I was able to heal him to keep his ass alive until he found and opened the door. When he opened the door, he instantly froze in place from the trap; Zorack rushed into the hall to help him, and froze too. Shade used a dimension door and yanked Zorack into the room. 

       I grabbed Ralliakkan and used my own dimension door, but just as we began to appear, the magic went wonky and we were in the arena. She wrapped her cloak around me and pushed me against the wall. I've had a lot of fantasies that started like this, but they were in much more interesting surroundings... Something seemed to be wrong with her though, she wasn't acting sane. The portcullises began to rise, and I prepared to wish us to where we needed to be, when Vish appeared and turned into a fucking brass dragon. 

       Dervish entered the hall and also froze. Shade and Zorack managed to pull the Gunslinger into the room, as well as Dervish. Then Dervish went insane and thought everyone was against him; because Zorack hadn't given Dervish the memories of what happened the first time through. In his insanity, he decided that Zorack was Pharin and attempted to banish him, yelling "be gone, Pharin!" Which ended up summoning the drow instead, but he came in invisible, so Dervish could not yet see what he had done. In turning on the party, that seed of corruption that had been planted in him back in the Forgotten City blossomed, and Dervish became the Knight of Daggon. 

       My wish went off, making myself, Ralliakkan, and Vish appear in the coffin room. As we appeared, Dervish let out a terrifying, inhuman howl that shook me to the core. We were all stunned for the next few seconds. Dervish yelled that he saw Pharin and charged at a space of empty air. What in the Nine had we missed? 

       Vecna chose that moment to emerge from his shitty hiding spot behind the door, and put everyone except me in a stupor; then he shut Dervish up, which was appreciated. I tried to use a restoration spell on Shade, but whatever Vecna had done was too powerful for a simple spell. I touched him with my horn and freed him. Shade whacked the lid off the coffin, shattering it to dust, and as Vecna moved to make it disappear, Shadewing shot Alucard in the head... 

       The rifts that had opened earlier, began working and growing again. The fates card had harmed time even more and we were literally running out of time. Vecna began casting the ritual Alucard had warned us about- Shade shooting Alucard had been what Vecna needed to begin.

       Dervish managed to break out of whatever Vecna had done to him and rushed at the empty air again. Then Pharin materialized. I knew that son of a bitch wasn't dead! Pharin attempted to wall off Ralliakkan's madness, but accidentally turned her into a sociopath in the process. Shade lunged for Vecna's phylactery, and Douchebag announced that it felt like a family reunion, but some members were missing, and began building a summoning circle. Getting us more backup was a good idea, but I still didn't like that Douchebag was back. 

       Vecna seemed to be getting stronger somehow, I think killing Alucard may have been one of the biggest mistakes Shadewing ever made, and doing that just completely fucked us. I tapped my unicorn horn to Zorack's, hoping it would do something, and it fixed everyone except Dumbass. Vecna was a little pissed about that, and he lunged to try to grab our horns and rip them out. I managed to wriggle away, but he wrapped his hand around Zorack's. Zorack whipped around to mule-kick Vecna, but the lich-god held on tight. I stabbed Vecna with the Spear of Destiny, but nothing happened. Shade suggested I channel the power of Ehlonna through it, so I began to focus.

       Zorack shot Vecna in the face to attempt to deflect him, but still nothing. Dervish broke free of Vecna's magic hold and went after Pharin with the special axe- and actually managed to hit him! I'd be enjoying this a lot more if were weren't in the middle of fighting Vecna. Vish lunged at Dervish, and Dumbass chucked the axe at him. Vecna moved to summon something, but was countered by Douchebag; apparently that made the lich-god lose interest in Zorack and I as he snarled in rage and tried to banish Douchebag... but he failed. Pharin is like a disease, there's no way to truly get rid of him. Douchebag summoned a psychic sword and began slashing at Vecna, he tried to banish the corruption in Dervish, but he failed. 

       I put my hand on Zorack and focused the power of Ehlonna that was coursing through me into the Spear. Pain coursed through me as a piece of my soul was drained as a white light came through the Spear and shot right into Vecna. Zorack followed my lead and channeled the power Ehlonna had given him through me and into the Spear. Vecna didn't seem to like whatever the Spear was doing to him. Shade decided to send the phylactery to the Raven Queen, by cutting himself open, putting it inside himself, and then closing the wound. The Dumbass attempted to corrupt Vecna, cause that's a fucking great idea, but thankfully Shade was able to stop him.

       A rumble tore through the room and a rift opened; a man stepped through it, his black hair whipping around him, black eyes glowed like hot coals, in his hand was an ebony staff with some glowing gems, and a black metal staff in the other, he was wearing a black robe with red trim. I realized he was a tyrannical dictator from long before Alucard's time, known as Lord Dementor. Shade tried to jump through one of the portals as it slammed shut, and Dervish was sucked through another portal; that would probably bite us in the ass, but at least he was gone for the moment. Vecna activated an anti-magic field, shutting down most of our abilities, because he fucking cheats.

       Pharin grabbed Shade to help him through a portal, while I stabbed Vecna with the Spear again, and managed to contain the cry of pain as another piece of my soul was ripped away from me. If this is what it took to destroy Vecna, I'd gladly sacrifice myself. He needed to be ended. Ralliakkan shot Vecna with a bloody bow, and  he screamed in pain. Maybe we could do this- but I refused to let any optimism in. The Gunslinger tossed some explosives into one of the rifts, hoping it would piss off whoever was on the other side and make them come help us.

       Douchebag pulled out the Wand of Orcus, thinking he might be able to destroy Vecna's phylactery with it, or Orcus would appear and help us. Instead he killed Shadewing... Suddenly, nothing seemed to be hurting Vecna much. I wasn't able to hit him with the Spear, Zorack shot him in the face but he didn't seem too hurt by it, Ralliakkan's strike also did nothing, but then the Gunslinger shot him in the face with his special gun, and left a scorch mark on Vecna's flesh.

       Tons of corrupted celestials began pouring through one of the rifts- apparently Dervish going these was a bad fucking idea. One hit me hard, and another beheaded Ralliakkan... her body got up without the head, and she didn't seem corrupted. Then a familiar voice said "not my blood" and she vanished... Lyathfikash. With all the new celestials coming in, things were getting crowded in that room, so Vecna moved everyone back to that fucking arena. Pharin stayed behind and began siphoning magic away from Vecna for the ritual he was attempting. 

       I tried to use the Spear, which has the power to literally undo anything, to undo Vecna ever getting Alucard's body, hoping to both stop the ritual and get Alucard to us. He was still able to enact the ritual, he just did it differently, and there was still no sign of the mage. I'd been trying to reach out to him mentally through all of this, but hadn't gotten any replies.

       The corrupt celestials upgraded to corrupted gods coming through the rift. For some reason, upon seeing this, Zorack summoned a blue whale in the air... It began falling rapidly, then it hit the dome of the arena- apparently he'd summoned it just outside of the arena- and was ripped in half. Its innards slid down the sides of the dome with a sickening screech.

       Shade suddenly sat up, he'd been returned to life by the Raven Queen. Zorack randomly decided to use another fates card- how many did this fucker have?- to make it so our Mantles couldn't be cut off when we got here. We ended up being bound to different Gods for life- both he and I were now bound to Ehlonna, but I lost my horn when he did that... I liked that horn.

       Dervish was no longer corrupted, but the corrupt gods were from Olympus, where I'd sent the flask of ichor. That was a really bad idea. Lyathfikash drew the sword he'd used to kill Nanu and killed Ralliakkan with it. Zorack summoned another whale and attempted to use it to plug a rift, and failed miserably. Then Dumbass started doing something to actually plug the rifts. Not sure how he managed to do something useful and intelligent. 

       Lightning began whipping around Dementor, hurting me really bad. Then he began putting up some sort of shield. Shade attempted to use the Wand of Orcus to destroy the phylactery, and his belly ripped open where he'd put it. Hephaestus walked through the portal, as the Knight of Daggon... More from his pantheon kept coming out, all corrupt. 

       Zorack and I jumped into a portable hole to beseech Ehlonna for aid, and she fully healed our wounds, but we didn't get our horns back. Vecna began taking control of some of the weaker gods coming through and made them fight for him. Odin came through another rift, pissed about the Gunslinger's bomb. Lord Dementor looked at me and i suddenly felt compelled to help him. Vecna sent out a shock wave that knocked out every god he wasn't currently controlling. A  rumble rocked the arena, but there didn't seem to be a cause to it. 

       Pharin was now assaulting Vecna's realm, trying to unravel it into space and time.   

       Shade began trying to siphon off bits of Vecna's life force from the phylactery. Zorack shot Vecna and he cried out in pain- the gods all shook for a moment as the pain momentarily overwhelmed him. Dervish had somehow learned how to do balefire and sent a pillar of it at Vecna; aging himself by 200 years. Dementor decided that was a good idea and told me to follow his lead. We both shot him with our own balefire, and I aged about thirty years, not that it matters when you're an elf. Everything rumbled again, and looked staticky for a second. Then shit got really fucking weird.

       Cupid made Zorack fall in love with Vecna. Vish used his Mantle to make Aphrodite fall for him, and both Aphrodite and Cupid used their abilities to make him fall for them. Hercules managed to drop Dervish, which was well deserved; I know he wasn't corrupt anymore, but I still hate him, so watching him go down will always be satisfying for me. Lyathfikash reappeared in the air, but now he was bigger and wearing some wicked looking armor. 

       Pharin discovered the final component to Alucard's nova spell, and set it off. The fabric of the reality of Vecna's realm began to burn and began breaking apart.

       Everything began to rumble and quake, and it seemed like everything was literally coming apart at the seams. Explosions rocked the arena as the gods inside died. Shade banished himself to escape. Lord Dementor told me to make a circle, and I busted out the most amazeballs circle ever in like three seconds. I was pretty fucking pleased with myself. Zorack went to retrieve his slaying arrow, he was not leaving that fucking thing behind. Dervish chucked the axe at Vecna, and Lyathfikash began trying to break my circle, but it was so fucking amazeballs that he did nothing but break the stone beneath it. 

       Lord Dementor tossed me a vial and his voice rang through my mind: "Break this and get out of here now." Then he unleashed a missile swarm. I broke the vial and a ridiculous amount of blood poured out, getting all over me, and filling in the lines of the circle. We traveled through a multi-colored tunnel at a ridiculous speed. 

       Pharin and Dementor each opened a black hole on either side of Lyathfikash, ripping him to pieces as revenge for killing Ralliakkan. Vecna was ripped apart too, but since his phylactery was still working, he appeared in front of Shadewing and the Raven Queen and snatched the phylactery out of her grasp. 

       When we finally stopped moving, we found ourselves in a massive ballroom with a marble floor that was completely empty. 

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