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

Vecna, the Petty

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Maestro, 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

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:
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg- sacrificed himself to aid the party
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue- killed by Lyathfikash
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, location unknown

       Before I could really get my bearings, Lord Dementor stepped out from behind a pillar in the massive, empty ballroom and demanded to know why we were here. Somehow we'd ended up in his personal domain, which I guess hadn't been his intent when he'd handed me a vial of blood? I guess that circle I made was even more amazeballs than I'd thought. Of course before we could talk to him, Dervish basically challenged him, demanding he send us back and help us fight.

       Dementor didn't think we needed to go back. He said he had everything here he needed, which led to Zorack challenging him, so he summoned a shitload of gold to prove it... Then Dumbass asked him to send that gold to his people, and Zorack followed that stupid request up by asking Dementor to give him powerful artifacts. I fucking hate those two. Dementor lifted Zorack into the air with magic, and flung him into a pillar- it was fucking hilarious. 

      Lord Dementor didn't care to help us because his realm was safe from time unraveling. I attempted to persuade him, but Dervish decided to talk over me and run his mouth... pissing Dementor off again. 

       Suddenly, Zorack and I were on the opposite side of the ballroom from Dementor and Dumbass and a shield was erected between us and them. He was going to show Dervish what we were up against, I'm not sure if it was to change his mind about us going back or teach him to be smarter or what, but I had a feeling this was going to be good. Things got smokey over there and several black holes opened. The black holes ripped Dervish apart nine times, and each time he was destroyed, Dementor just brought him back. This all took only a few seconds before the shield dropped and Dervish was limp on the ground; alive, but broken and miserable. He couldn't move for a few minutes, while Dementor lectured him on that's what we were up against. 

       After all of that, Dervish still insisted on sending us back. I was going to ask him to allow us to rest here first, since time passed differently here, we wouldn't be screwed by taking a quick nap. Of course, thanks to Dervish, instead we were just sent to the Table without getting to rest. I hate that idiot so much. 

       Back at the Table was the Raven Queen, Shadewing, Narg, and the first incarnation of Alucard. We needed Ralliakkan to finish off Vecna for good, but Narg needed to sleep on how to get her back without dire consequences. Alucard put us in his personal lair to rest, saying we could take all the time we needed. What made this place so incredible was that I wasn't anywhere near the idiots. I was in Alucard's library, and I didn't have to go into reverie to rest, I got to read. I found one book that talked about the special weapons we'd acquired, like the Spear, and their abilities. According to the story I'd found, if we took all of them to this forge we could create a super weapon to defeat the Devil- whichever devil that was. The forge sounded like the one in the Forgotten City, but slightly different. 

       When the rest was finished, we all met back up. Turns out Shadewing had found the forge we needed, it was the goat people's forge, sort of; it was in the City of Greyhawk, but we needed the goats to use it. They had been shunned by Ao for using the forge in the past, or something, so it would take some convincing I guess. We needed to get the Gunslinger to meet us there, and we needed the sword Ralliakkan had been using. The others thought Lord Dementor had it, since Ralliakkan was using it when Lyathfikash killed her. Zorack told Narg to go retrieve the sword, and Narg flipped out on him, telling him that he needed to get it himself. The idiot told Narg no, and then fell unconscious; Narg stormed off. We decided that Dervish and Shade would get the gun and the goats, and Zorack and I would get the sword. First we went to Greyhawk for Narg, but there was no sign of him. Then for some fucking reason, we decided we weren't splitting up, and went to the goats together. I fucking hate these guys.

       The goats were not happy to see us again, but who could blame them. Shade told them we had need of their smiths, and all the goats screamed and ran away from us. Dervish grabbed one of the goats, and it bucked him off. Then Zorack told them the mutton lover was back in peace. Shade then decided to try to speak to them through Ao... which killed ALL of them. Thankfully, Zorack seemed to have an abundance of Fate cards.

       This time, we stopped Shade from speaking. I very calmly explained to them that we needed their aid and why we needed it. As soon as I finished explaining everything, there was a knock at the door. A tall high elf in a dark cloak held out the sword to us in silence; when Dervish took it, the figure was gone. Things go so much smoother when they let me deal with the people side of things. The goats still didn't want to help us, they were scared and wanted to stay here and hide. Shadewing told them that Ao had forgiven them and they were safe to leave this place. As Shade spoke of Ao's forgiveness, Ao's blessing washed over them and they regained the power he'd stripped from them thousands of years ago. They immediately began preparations to aid us. 

       When the goats were ready, I teleported us all to the forge in Greyhawk. It started as a maze, but thankfully we figured that out quickly and got out; then the goats collected our weapons at the forge. As they stepped up to the altar, energy began swirling around them and they began to chant. It was an absolutely beautiful ritual that brought a tear to my eye. They were all moving closer and closer to the altar as they chanted, and the energy grew more brilliant in the process; it was like radiant, but more pure somehow. Upon reaching the altar, the youngest of them stripped and lied down, then each of the others hit him with a holy weapon. A brilliant flash of light blinded us all for a few seconds, and when it was gone, so were the goats. 

       A single golden beam shone down on the dais, that was nearly blinding, and sitting on the dais was a perfect sword. We told Dervish to grab it and see if it would let him wield it, but it zapped him and drained the strength from his arm. The Gunslinger told us that wasn't the God Sword we had thought it was, this was the Devil's sword, and none of us were evil enough to wield the fucking thing. We needed this sword, so Zorack and I prayed to Ehlonna to help us wield it, at the same time that Shade tried to mess with my fate somehow. 

       The hatred and rage I'd felt just days ago came flooding back to me, and I found myself imprisoned in my own mind. This Devil I'd read about had taken control of me. Luna vanished from my side, my Mantle fled, and the concentration rings I'd taken from the Drow and Duergar were suddenly on my fingers. The Gunslinger shot at me, missing, and the Devil responded by tapping the drum on my hip to activate my spirit guardians, which had turned back into the twisted Vale Elves, began swirling around me... him... I don't know how to really differentiate it. Zorack and Dervish both slashed at me and missed, but Shade stabbed me hard... but it didn't feel like it did much to me, and I felt my lips turn up into a twisted grin. 

       Then the Gunslinger ruined the Devil's fun by setting up an anti-magic field. So the Devil used the dance I'd learned as a Bae'qeshel to mesmerize everyone, and then everyone got encased in a block of ice. Must be something this Devil can do. The Gunslinger was in the air when the ice went off, so he instantly began to plummet. Dervish broke out of the ice first, then attacked the block the Gunslinger was trapped in, trying to free him. Shade and the Devil exchanged blows, and he managed to hurt me this time. The boys kept doing their best to get out of the ice and hurt me, but only Shade was actually doing any fucking damage. Eventually Shade managed to knock the Devil out, and then I began feeling my soul slip away... they'd killed me. 

       The Gunslinger had killed Aurora and begun an exorcism to get the Devil out of her. Shade then used a rod of resurrection to bring her back.

      That seriously sucked. And now I had no armor, because my Mantle was my armor, and Luna was gone. In trying to wield that sword I'd lost my two biggest tools in this fight. 

       Narg told us he had an idea about what to about the sword, but Dervish wouldn't like it. A few minutes later Alyssandra walked out of a portal, and told us we needed to leave. She and Narg would be doing a ritual to deal with this Devil- Lucifer they called him- that might kill them. They'd be putting Lucifer into the Gunslinger's body to deal with him, and they wouldn't give us anymore information about the ritual than that. Of course, as predicted, Dervish started flipping out, so Alyssandra sent him to the Feywild with a dimensional anchor so he couldn't come back and interrupt things. 

       About five minutes later, the Gunslinger appeared, in his usual gear, alone. When we asked about Narg and Alyssandra his shoulders slumped, but he wouldn't say anything more on it. While waiting, we'd gotten a lead on where Vecna might be, somewhere near the Forgotten City, so the Gunslinger got us to the gates, and I took us from there into the bunker. 

       I went straight to the war room, hoping the sensors would show us where Vecna was. The room was full of hundreds of plush toys... Sil had been here recently. I hummed and called my giant, spectral hand into being to push them off the map... the toys had souls in them. The ghosts aged the Gunslinger by over 100 years, and the toys attacked. The fluff was flying. Shade opened a shadow rift, hurting me in the process, and the Gunslinger destroyed the rest of them. 

       The map showed Vecna near the ancient city I'd found that Star in... and Y'Chuk near Greyhawk. We contacted Vish about this, and learned he'd been rallying the Gods, and was taking them to deal with the Outsiders. With that out of the way, we could focus completely on Vecna. 

       As we were preparing to leave to deal with Vecna, Alucard showed up. Upon his arrival, Zorack was suddenly covered in ice briefly as his Mantle flared to life, and Dervish's flared too. Shade suggested I try to spell to call a familiar to get my Mantle back, and I ended up getting a mini Titania familiar- she was not pleased, but I had my Mantle again. All three of the Queens were dead, but because they still had vassals they were able to come back. Shade asked the Raven Queen for aid, and she gave us all a boon that seemed to make us all-around better. 

       Alucard took us to the gates of the ancient city, and we were greeted to undead everywhere. This reminded me of the vision I had when I first found the Star, and as I quickly searched my memory, I realized where Vecna should be in the city. Zorack summoned several rhinoceroses to make a path for us, Shade set up some spell that hurt any undead near us, and I was flinging out storms of fire on them. When we reached the gates, Alucard tapped his staff, and a ton of them crumpled to dust. The gates had been completely destroyed, and Dervish spotted hundreds, if not thousands, of thri-kreen coming right at us. So Alucard rewrote time and sealed the gates. 

       The boys began blowing up the undead that were on our side of the gate, so I turned into an ancient red dragon and began breathing fire at them. It was fucking awesome. Alucard turned into an ancient silver dragon, and in the wake of us shadow ravens and radiant bunnies were frolicking and killing more undead. Then Shade showed me a shadow red dragon, which would make any who fell from my breath to rise as shadows under my control, which just made this more fun. When we were about a quarter mile away from the fortress I believed Vecna to be at, he dispelled my form. 

       Waiting for us at the fortress was Aeryn, Aerys, Nanu, Jarrid... and Jayce. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach at the sight of him. Even though he was technically the enemy here, I could not bring myself to hurt him. Aeryn and Aerys shot at Dervish and I, hitting him, while I turned into a tarrasque. Dervish began peppering the twins with arrows of his own, while Zorack pulled out the slaying arrow... killing the nightmare part of Nanu, but leaving her torso alive. Somehow she managed to free her herself from her nightmare half and hit Zorack with a massive waraxe, disemboweling him. I took a step forward, hovering over Zorack's prone form with my massive tarrasque body to keep Nanu from doing anything more to him. Shadewing stepped out of my shadow and killed the rest of Nanu, and was hit by one of the twins as he slipped back into my shadow. I realized in that moment, that Alucard wasn't there. 

       Jayce and Jarrid started charging toward us, while Aeryn and Aerys kept launching arrows at Dervish. Some sickly-looking vines sprang from the earth and grabbed at us, but they didn't hold. I revived Zorack and smashed what was left of Nanu into paste with my tail, just to make sure the bitch wouldn't be getting back up. Zorack began returning fire to the twins, while Dervish pulled out all of my horns of Valhalla and sent a shitload of barbarians toward the castle. The windows in the castle exploded outward- I think we found where Alucard had run off to, and where Vecna was. Jayce and Jarrid finally reached Zorack's rhinos and made quick work of two of them, but the last one got lucky, and flung Jarrid. A couple of apes appeared where the rhinos had been and went for Jayce. I know he's our enemy now, but I still couldn't bare the thought of hurting him. The heart wants what it wants. 

       The Gunslinger aimed his gun, and Shade grabbed him, bringing them both to the castle. I heard his gun go off, and a scream of agony from Vecna echoed everywhere. 

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

The Spear of Destiny

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Bae'qeshel and 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
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue, Knight of Fall
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion who serves as Aurora's Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring- soul taken by the Knight of Y'Chuk
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion who serves as Eurydice's Knight- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock, formerly Aurora's familiar- 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 17, CY 711, Feywild, Stone Table

       Early in the morning, Zorack appeared back at the Table, though there was still no sign of the Queens. 

       As we were beginning to mill about, a random series of chirps was heard of the communication items, like a tonal code of sorts. Then we heard Ralliakkan yell "shit" through them, and Narg- who had apparently appeared in the night- began getting ready to go after her. We began getting ready when Zorack produced an arrow that could kill anything once- like that sword we found forever ago- but this one only had four runes on it. Hopefully it would do us some good. 

       Shadewing had a theory to get us to Ralliakkan, but first he wanted to hide the Stone Table to keep it from being risked any further; it was too badly damaged to leave unprotected I guess. So Shade shrunk it down, put it in a little box, and Narg took us to another dimension- a giant fucking vault. Shade stuck the Table in slot #504, we hoped it would stay safe there.

       When we returned to the Feywild, we saw there was a little bit of pulsing, black goo- the seed of corruption. The reason the Queens were all in hiding. It was a good thing we'd gotten that fucking Table out of there. None of us really knew how to deal with the corruption, but Shade suggested we activate a Rod of Security on it to get it away. Narg tried, and it ended up getting corrupted instead. Frustrated, we gave up and decided to go find Ralliakkan.

       Shadewing harnessed the power of my Staff of the Magi to get us to Ralliakkan. We found ourselves on a spiral staircase and Ralliakkan running down it, with a stream of purple flame coming down it toward us. I jumped on Zorack's back- since he's way faster than me- and we all began running away from whatever the fuck was producing the flame. 

       The staircase was ridiculously long, so we ran for a while before it finally opened up to a garden, at which point Ralliakkan took off at super speed. Ralliakkan told us that was fucking Y'Chuk chasing us, and we couldn't plane shift with him up our asses. Zorack pulled out the arrow, thinking he could try to kill Y'Chuk with it, which would really make our lives easier, but we couldn't see him through the purple flames that were chasing us, and we couldn't risk that arrow being destroyed in the fire.

       After running for a couple more minutes, Zorack decided to drop me off and go back for Dervish, since he was fucking slow. In the process, he got hit by some of the purple flame, but it didn't drop him. Then a screech so loud it shook my very bones reverberated all around us. At that point, I decided to risk attempting to plane shift us home.

       We were in a black void, with little flecks of light all around us. It was still and silent, and a peacefulness washed over me as we stood there; it had a beauty to it, and I knew I'd be writing a song about it soon. Then we noticed a purple star in the distance, and it was getting bigger. At that point, we realized Ralliakkan wasn't with us. Dervish attempted, and failed, to plane shift us out of here. Shade came up with an idea, and we were suddenly in a different kind of void, as the stars around us faded away. From there we were able to return to Greyhawk.

       I decided to attempt a spell to locate the stupid fucking scroll we needed to find for Alucard, then we'd be going after the Star. They were actually going after Vecna first, but because Aurora had used the Tome of the Stilled Tongue- a spellbook of Vecna's that allows him to spy on people through it- they had told the bard the opposite to hopefully catch Vecna off guard. 

       I got a shitload of hits for the scroll's location- there was some sort of redirection magic going on. Ralliakkan thought that meant Lyathfikash had to scroll, and said she had an idea; she was going to go collect a favor from Asmodeus. A few minutes later, she was back, with the sword the Knight of Y'Chuk had been wielding, and missing her left hand.

       We were taking a Shadow Road to find Lyathfikash, but Ralliakkan would be hanging back a bit, apparently he'd flip if he saw her right now. When we reached our destination, Shade couldn't open the door to get us out, so he had to shift it a little bit. I wasn't expecting to be bitched-slapped by an insidious cold that felt like it frozen my blood the moment I came into contact with it. There was an odd flash from Lyathfikash and both Dumbass and Shade were paralyzed. What. The. Fuck. I thought Lyathfikash was on our fucking side. He told us he didn't have the scroll, but the thing in the box could find it. Problem was, nobody knew how to open the fucking thing. Lyathfikash wouldn't give us the box, and made it abundantly clear that we'd have to take it from him. I remembered him reducing Nanu to ash in a single strike, and decided we shouldn't push the issue.

       For some fucking reason, the others decided we needed to go to the Frost King's castle that was nearbyish, I guess. I wasn't paying attention to the idiot brigade, I didn't really fucking care what we did, I just wanted to go kill something. Zorack had a contact there or something, and I guess he thought it could help us. We couldn't use the Shadow Roads to get there. So, instead of just letting me teleport us there, Zorack and Shade spent the next ten fucking minutes arguing over our best method of travel. I interjected several times that I could just fucking teleport us, but they ignored me. I was getting bored, and was about to just teleport myself there, when they finally fucking realized that I could get us there. I hate these fuckholes.

       I cast teleport, and we got to where we needed to be, but there were some small explosions around us upon arrival- transportation magic was still being fucky. Dervish decided to make a snide comment about it, so I viciously mocked him for it, taking pleasure in his hand flying to his forehead in pain. While I was berating Dumbass, Shade said something to piss off Ralliakkan and was rewarded by getting stabbed.

       We were brought by the guards to the Frost King, who wanted to kill us instead of helping us with whatever the fuck we were here for. I suppose I probably should have paid attention, but paying attention to those fucking idiots for too long makes the urge to kill them grow. I guess we were there to get Shade's sword reforged, and the Frost King told us to go see some people on the edge of his lands. The asshats escorted us out of the city and promptly locked the gates.

       The idiots actually asked me to teleport us this time, and there were no mishaps. We were at this ridge that overlooked a mountain, and we had to wait there for Zorack's contact to show. It took fucking hours. I was so fucking bored, but once his contact showed up, the boredom was well made up for.

       The giant who met us tried to rip off Dervish, wanting as much gold and arrows as he could carry or some such nonsense. I really didn't care enough to pay attention... until things got interesting. Shade called in Narg, since they needed super strength. That pissed the giant off, and the idiot swung at Narg, stumbled, and fell over. The Shade blew his leg off and killed him. We couldn't get any useful information from speak with dead, so I revivified him. He was a little bitch, so Dervish killed him again. I revived him again, and he swung at Shade, so Shade and I killed him. Then I brought him back again. This was really fucking fun, and I felt a strange satisfaction emanating from my Lolth Blade. So this revival, he attacked Zorack, so I killed him, cackling with glee over this recurring murder. He fell over onto Zorack when I killed him, and his head exploded... I had Shade scoop up his brain matter back into his skull and I revived him again. Now he was just fucking retarded, since his brain wasn't really whole or anything. Dervish and Zorack started arguing over what to do with him, and after a couple minutes, I was bored again, so I sent him to Olympus. Because, fuck Olympus.

       With that, we took off, looking for this hidden society to get a weapon reforged or something. After a while, we spotted a herd of goats on this grassy alcove. Zorack decided he wanted mutton, and shot and killed one... turns out, these people are fucking weregoats. He murdered one of their children... and we were here to get their help. Yeah. This was going to go swimmingly. Fucking idiots. Zorack and Dervish tried to get help, and just made everything worse, because they're fucking stupid, and we got fucking arrested.

       Ralliakkan got pissed at the goats and threatened to rain hell upon them. This sparked a circular argument, trying to get them to help us; I spent the time fantasizing about all the ways I could kill Dervish. It had become a hobby of mine... and, with magic, I could probably do all of them.

       The elder goat woman finally agreed to help us, she said they had something that could work, but she didn't know if any of us could actually wield it. We were led through a secret passage that took for-fucking-ever. Well, probably not really, but I was bored and itching to kill someone. Eventually we walked into a room with a spear encased in glass on the other side of it. Zorack said he'd take it and walked forward- the moment he reached for it he was hit with a blast of magic that knocked him away. It was fucking hilarious. It happened for Shade and Dumbass too. I was annoyed at how fucking useless those sons of bitches were, and I stomped over to the spear, grabbed it, and- ranting about how useless those idiots were- brought it back to us. Son of a bitch. I'm the only one who can wield this fucking thing. It was the Spear of Destiny.

       Then Dervish began insisting I was corrupted by Pharin and Lolth- which I so was not- so Shadewing decided to attempt to banish my "madness." Fucking idiots. But, after he cast the spell, I didn't feel quite as homicidal. I was still angry though, and well, I always want to kill Dervish, so nothing changed there. We might have been able to gain them as allies, but Zorack asked for some mutton then... We'd overstayed our welcome. 

       We got back to my Mansion, and I began preparing to spend some time in my spa, when some fucking Shadow Elf Ancient Agents of Fate showed up. They demanded I hand over the fucking Spear. Dervish and Zorack opened their fucking mouths, making things worse, so I fucking banished them. I told the Agents I was the only one who could wield the fucking Spear, but if they wanted to remove it from the board fucking fine. I told them the whole story, and they told me when I was finished, that I had to go with them to prove my worth. Shade came with us, but Dumb and Dumber were left behind. 

       I was suddenly in an alabaster chair with an almost blindingly bright light shining down on me, and I couldn't see anything beyond that. I felt a powerful presence in the room, and sensed the weight of judgement. I had to explain everything, so I went as far back as the world burning, and told them everything we'd been through since then. Then I had to truly prove my worth.

       The chair and light were gone, and I was now being crucified. I managed to fight against the pain until I was stabbed with the Spear itself. It felt like my soul was burning, or glowing, like the Spear was removing the shadows inside me. I passed out from the pain and woke up eight hours later, feeling like utter shit. The Spear had removed my attunement to the Lolth Blade, and it had been sent back to Lolth. That may have pissed Lolth off, but I didn't care. My heart was heavy from my actions as of late. I felt horrible about everything I'd done- aside from fantasizing about killing Dervish; I hate him no matter how I'm feeling. 

       I learned Mara had died while I was gone today. Apparently leaving her behind to learn things wasn't a good idea. 

***** Diamondice 18, Feywild

       Shadewing had some weird ass idea that made no sense at all. He asked Charlotte to polymorph him into a fly, then had me cast a spell to protect him from water pressure, and tried to fly into a goat's stomach. Then Dervish decided to help Shade by forcing water down the goat's throat... and it started choking. Then Zorack decided he wanted to help too, and dumped fucking lard down its throat. So it began projectile vomiting as it tried to breathe. At that point, Charlotte dropped the spell to let the poor goat die. Yes, it exploded from the inside, but at least they weren't torturing the poor thing anymore. 

       I went to sleep off my headache while the idiots went shopping. I sent Charlotte with them to buy crap for me. It had been a really rough fucking day.

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

The Road to Nowhere

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Bae'qeshel of Lolth, and Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
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, 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 
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, Knight of Spring
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue, Knight of Fall
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion who serves as Eurydice's Knight
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion who serves as Ceidil's Knight

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.

***** Needfest 6, CY 710, Ruins of Eru Tovar

       Alfred merged with Shadewing and beseeched the Raven Queen to cleanse Shade's mind from the madness that had left him a gibbering mess, and she answered his call. Shade turned to aid Aurora, but Lolth wouldn't let the Raven Queen's Knight touch her...

       I felt Lolth's energy shoot through me, and suddenly my mind was cleansed of the horrific madness that douche had given me. I really wanted him dead now. Lolth's intervention had a bit of a side effect- she replaced the madness that had stricken the bard with another, turning Aurora homicidal. She was now in love with killing things, and being drunk was the only thing that made her feel sane. 

       I'm not entirely sure of how we ended up deciding to go somewhere besides the Beacon key, but for some fucking reason the boys had changed their minds about going there. I didn't fucking care so long as someone gave me a fucking drink. If Dervish didn't have booze I was going to fucking kill him. 

       Of course he didn't, but before I could reach for my blade, Shade offered me some drugs instead. I tried this thing called luhite, and it made me feel like I was on fire for about a minute, and then I felt no pain at all. This was fucking sweet. Aurora became permanently addicted to the substance, so Titania suppressed the addiction through Aurora's mantle. 

       So we were now heading to this fucking weird little town called Dantredun. They were a really secluded community, and there were a lot of flying races up there. We ended up walking there because of the issues with teleportation magic. After a day's travel, everyone except Shadewing was cold and miserable, and I've read far too many stories about people walking around in dark forests, so I set up the Mansion for us to rest in. 

       Shade refused to come in, declaring he would stay outside and keep watch, even though it wasn't really necessary since the Mansion was safe and cozy. I looked forward to soaking in my nice big tub with a bottle of wine.

       After a couple glorious hours in my bath, just as I was thinking about settling into reverie for the night, Shade let Dervish and I know that a nearby caravan was under attack and he was going to go help them. I reluctantly got dressed and left; at least now I'd get to kill something. I woke up Mara and Ceidil too, if they were ever going be even remotely useful, they needed to learn. 

       It took us about 45 minutes of travel to arrive at this huge caravan. There was smoke coming from one of the carriages, as if there was a little stove inside it, and there were some very twitchy guards with crossbows at the ready. But there was no battle. Maybe I'd get to kill one of them. That'd be fucking nice. 

       A goliath stepped up to us and accused Shadewing of having something to do with the attack. Apparently they'd seen his ravens a couple hours ago. I hoped they'd attack us so I could slaughter them all. Instead, Shade told them we'd take care of it. 

       I'd left Eurydice to wait on Mara and Ceidil, since she was somewhat capable of keeping herself alive. She stuck them on a flying carpet so they could make decent time. As Shade was promising these idiots that we'd help them, she told me something- most likely the insane douchequake Outsider Knight who'd fucked with my head earlier today. Mara and Ceidil were dead, and he took Ceidil's body. He found her. She may not be my familiar anymore, but I still liked her I guess. And nobody gets to kill my familiars but me, dammit. So I wasted a wish to bring her to me, just as he knocked her unconscious, and he fucking came with her. 

       The boys all went right for the fucker, while I summoned my Twin and we both dropped a delayed blast fireball at his feet before locking him in a forcecage. That fuckhole deserved to die in an explosion of my making. He didn't even attempt to break out or do an insane monologue, he just stood there. Fucking boring. Shade said the asshat's shadow was missing, so I dropped the cage, hitting him with harmonic dissolution and flamestrike, then the boys stepped in and slashed at him. Shade's strike knocked him back a little bit, and then we discovered it was never him in the cage. He was fucking gone. 

       We brought the caravan back to the Mansion with us and they set up camp outside it in Huts. I didn't really trust them. I flipped open my Tome of the Stilled Tongue to see what petty message Vecna had left me tonight- it had become a little game of mine, he amused me- and found a note that the Knight was still out there. As I was getting back up to go deal with that, claws came out of the chest of the lead merchant and ripped him to shreds. 

       I walked outside as Shade was yelling for everyone to get to the little shrine he'd made for the Raven Queen. There was, of course, no sign of the Knight, but Shade told us to check our shadows; then he dropped a globe of darkness on the guards to keep them safe. Vish's shadow waved at him, but the Knight missed his attack and vanished again. Dervish covered all of us who weren't in the darkness globe in faerie fire to keep him out of our shadows. 

       That did nothing... The Knight appeared, slammed him hand into Vish's chest, blood spurted from his mouth, and as he collapses the Knight tore his body to shreds. Vish's corpse began withering instantly. We all went for the douchequake after that, and eventually Dervish called on his Mantle to summon the Erl King's Forest Archers. Upon their appearance, the Knight said "fuck this," a pillar of purple flame destroyed the archers- leaving us unharmed- and the Knight was gone.

       He took Vish's soul with him.

       I let everyone and their things into the Mansion after that, and we decided to travel with Jacques de Marquis' Caravan to Dantredun.

***** Needfest 7, somewhere in the Wolf Nomads

       I was able to resurrect Mara in the morning, but I couldn't bring back Jacques. The douchequake had probably stolen his soul too.

       We ran into Ralliakkan on the road, and she told us Dantredun had been destroyed. Big fucking surprise there.

       As we traveled, Shade used a spell to speak with the dead, and learned Jacques had been given a small box to safeguard. It was onyx-looking, but it definitely wasn't onyx. The box we now in the hands of a girl named Me. Seriously, her name was Me... Apparently her family had zero imagination when it came to naming her. Another guard in the caravan was named I. Again, I'm not fucking kidding.

       I spent the day going through my Tome of the Stilled Tongue, taking stock of what spells where in it- there were a fuckton. In the back of the book, I found scrawled across a page: "The answers you seek have always been with me." I did not doubt for a moment that the God of Forbidden Knowledge knew what I needed to learn, especially since the Vale was tied to the ass clown. Didn't mean I'd take him up on it though. I was getting bored, I hadn't killed anyone at all today. 

       Around midday Me heard rust monsters nearby. We all flew toward them, I was eager for blood. Dumbass shot Shadewing in the back as we began flying out toward them. I dropped a firestorm on them, and then Shade cast an illusion spell of an iron golem to draw the rust monsters attention. All 50 of the rust monsters began scrambling to devour the non-existent golem. Then Shade zipped in there and bashed the ground with his mace, killing them all. Fucking spoiled my fun.

***** Diamondice 1, somewhere in the Wolf Nomads

       Super early in the morning, Shade aw a serpentine figure approaching us. An eldritch blast went for Ralliakkan- Eurydice and Ceidil had returned, corrupted. Shade killed Ceidil pretty much instantly, and she turned into a puddle of black goo. Eurydice hit Me with another eldritch blast, and Me returned fire, then Shade killed her. She also turned into black ichor. I suppose I should have felt sad or something about my former familiar's death, but I was just annoyed that I hadn't been able to kill her or Ceidil myself. 

       The Knight of Y'Chuk was in the distance, so we all headed out to him. Shade got to him first and began exchanging blows with the douchequake with Dervish and I dimension doored to him. Ralliakkan appeared in a burst of autumn leaves and lunged at him, kicking his sword out of his hand. She yelled out "I renounce my mantle,"grabbed his sword and began bashing him with it. With a burst of purple flame, a copy of each of us appeared, but they were only there for a few seconds before vanishing again; they didn't really do much to hurt us. 

       Shadewing and Dervish managed to stun the Knight, then Ralliakkan jumped on him, wrapped herself around him, and hit him so hard with his sword that he went flying. He attempted to cry out, but his attempt was pathetic. He vanished is a flash of purple fire and a voice called out "Not yet. My master will not all you to have him yet." A pair of purple eyes appeared in the sky- the Emissary of Y'Chuk. 

     We couldn't touch him, the Knights and Emissaries weren't allowed to fight. Ralliakkan challenged him, but he pointed out that she no longer had a Mantle, and that seemed to shut her up. He told us we shouldn't go any further, we should just leave now. His god was already here and waiting to reveal himself. This plane is already desolate and wasted, we should just move onto a different one. As his rant finished, the eyes vanished, leaving us all a little taken aback by how forward he was. 

       Later in the day Me attempted to open the box, but it poisoned and killed her instantly. I revivified her, and she died again. I did it a second time, and Shade used a spell to keep her up long enough for me to use a power word heal on her. She was terrified and had gone completely insane from the poison. I had a potion from Douchebag that could modify her memory, so I had her drink it to remove all memory of the poison and death. 

       Neither Ralliakkan or I had ever heard of a poison like that. Shade summoned a badger and dumped a bunch of the poison in it. Then he asked Dervish if he wanted to test the poison, because he had a badger full of it. We put the damn badger in stasis. 

***** Diamondice 2, somewhere in the Wolf Nomads

       I decided to flamestrike the goo that used to be Eurydice before we left in the morning. Turns out that was a bad fucking idea. An acrid black smoke seeped from the puddle, and suddenly there were twelve high cultists of Vecna staring at us... then the smoke began to corrupt them. Dervish bombed them, breaking Eurydice's staff of the magi. The staff sent the bomb to the fifth layer of the Nine Hells, and appeared in front of a dragonturtle. It swallowed the bomb seconds before it went off, destroying the creature.

       After some traveling the horses were looking a bit broken down- they were mechanical- so Me had to stop our travels pretty early to work on them.

       We decided to keep fucking with the box, so we took it to the experiment room in my Mansion. Mage hand couldn't touch it at all. I used my Tome of the Stilled Tongue to summon some squirrels, and they came out undead- thanks Vecna. They couldn't open it. Shadewing suggested we wish for it to open- Ralliakkan tried and nothing happened. Then Dumbass wished for the knowledge of how to open it... it told him to open the latch. The idiot hadn't worded it properly.

       Ralliakkan said we owed her some wishes now, but if we tried to open the box, she'd forgive us. While Dervish prepared to open it, all 32 of the undead squirrels became corrupted. Of course they went down with ease, they were fucking squirrels. I dropped and endless abyss under the puddles of goo left behind by the squirrels, then realized that could leave it in my Mansion, and that sounded bad. So Dervish gathered the ichor- since it couldn't corrupt us with the Mantles- and took it outside, shaking it off of himself like a dog... hitting three of the people in the caravan.

       Thankfully they were able to brush it off of themselves before they became corrupted. Now they all hated him, with good reason. He offered the draws from the Deck of Many Things as an apology. The first guy decided to draw 10: the Key gave him a magic bow, the Fool which became to Moon with three wishes, the Idiot, the Sun, the Fates, the Comet, the Rogue, Euryale, and the Void...

      The second guy drew four: the Rogue, Knight, Key, and the Void. Dervish was great at apologizing.

       The third guy wasn't dissuaded by his friends drawing the Void, and drew one: the Sun, which gave him a Deck of Many Things of his very own. And he forced Dervish to draw from it. Dumbass drew the Jester, the Flame -Levistus, the lord of the 5th layer of Hell, where Dervish had bombed, became his enemy- and then Dervish drew the Sun, getting another fucking Deck of Many Things.

Map by Anna B. Meyer

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

Infiltrating Castle Ravenloft

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
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, Knight of the Erl King

"Shadewing" Corvis Cairunis Umbrusalarim, the Shadow Elf Hexblade Warlock and Knight 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

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, Knight of Spring
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue, Knight of Fall
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion who serves as Eurydice's Knight
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion who serves as Ceidil's Knight

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 27, CY 710, City of Brass

       We got bored with Sigil after a while and decided to head to the City of Brass. It was cold, and we didn't see anyone. As we looked around, something skittered across the road... we didn't stick around to find out what it was. 

       I put Nystul's Magic Aura on my Lolth Blade to mask its energies and shifted us to Dis. Things were much more normal in the Nine Hells. There were a few more guards than normal, but otherwise, it looked pretty much normal. We spent the rest of the day shopping. 

***** Lacysnows 28, Potidaea

       In the morning, Dervish opened an iron flask he'd picked up while we shopped, and out came Rikkle- the dude we met briefly right before I put on the corrupted ring. He decided to help our defenses by making explosives, so I helped them find what they needed in Potidaea. Of course, we had a shitload of gunpowder and cannons in one of the long-abandoned rooms in the College.

       Vish was bored, so he went drinking in Dis. Shade and I went to the Shadowfell to go shopping. A shopkeep offered us draws from the Deck of Many Things; Shade and I declined, but Eurydice and Ceidil decided to draw. Eurydice got the Sun and the Rogue; Ceidil drew the Knight, and Mara joined us; Mara decided to draw and got the Gem, Jester, Star, Sun, Balance, and Vizier. Overall, it was a lucky and rather dull set of draws.

***** Needfest 4, CY 711, Free City of Greyhawk

       After our week of preparations, we met Alucard in the City of Greyhawk and learned that he was the one who had been turned into Eurydice's enemy by the Deck. Thankfully, she had wishes, so she was able to wish he didn't hate her, saving her neck. 

      We were going to Castle Ravenloft to find the scroll, and we had a wayfinder that would take us to it. Alucard said there was no way we could sneak around and there'd definitely be a small welcoming party waiting for us. He would keep Vecna occupied while we tracked it down.

       Alucard began chanting and our scenery became star-like for a moment, then the sky darkened and howls of rage echoed around us. With an abrupt lurch, we were in an old, decayed, decrepit, landscape, and there were vultures circling overhead. Standing in front of us were some twisted-looking pit fiends and balors. One of Narg's tattoos flashed, he vanished, and all of them were dusted. 

       With them out of the way, Alucard ran forward, right into a pillar, and vanished. We found ourselves looking at a pair of big stone doors. Shade began reading some of the runes on it, and of course, they were fucking exploding runes. Eurydice, Ceidil, and Mara went down instantly, but I revived them quickly. The pillars began to rumble and change. Shade attacked one of the pillars and it attempted to steal his sword. Some undead creatures began to appear around us, and Shade dusted a few of them. But there were more pillars and more undead rising. This didn't look good. 

       Dervish said it was time for one of our bombs, and dimension doored up. I grabbed Mara and stuck her on my broom, and Ceidil and Eurydice grouped together. We dimension doored up too, and Shadewing shadow stepped up. Because Dervish loves being a pain in my ass, he began arguing over who should drop the bomb. Then some of the creatures below us began to fly. Shadewing said "drop it," and Dervish and I both dropped bombs... 

       Had Eurydice not used a wish, I would have dropped mine right on her head. Everything in the courtyard area we were in was demolished instantly. Oops? Ceidil and Mara were hit by falling debris and died again. Those two were fucking useless. 

       Vish said an earthquake was coming, and a couple seconds later we felt it as Alucard and Vecna burst out of the rubble. As they engaged in a fucking insane battle, Dervish figured out the general area of the fucking scroll. He took Vish and Shade to sneak around to find it. Before leaving, Shade tossed a spell at Vecna to prevent him from healing; hopefully, it would do Alucard some good. 

       Alucard grabbed Vecna and began flying; the sky started shifting and twisting violently, growing darker as it moved. Suddenly, the sky seemed to expand, then collapsed in on itself, before exploding in a flash of light. I could just make out two figures falling in opposite directions. 

       Shade and Dervish found the scroll, and I grabbed Ceidil and Mara's bodies. Dervish attempted to use a word of recall, but it didn't work; then Eurydice and I both tried to plane shift to no avail; Dervish finally managed to punch through whatever was blocking our magic. 

***** Needfest 5, Free City of Greyhawk

      The sun was rising as we arrived back where we'd met Alucard in Greyhawk. Three minutes went by before a portal opened up and Alucard fell out. We could see Vecna for a brief second before it closed. Things hadn't gone expected, but we'd gotten the scroll, so I guess mission accomplished. 

       Alucard explained to us part of how the Outsiders were turning the Beacons red. They'd created Mantles for their mortal followers- Knights and Emissaries, just like the fae had. This gave them something of a foothold in our realm and let them fuck with things. 

       By this point, only a single Beacon remained that wasn't red- the one in Blackmoor. We were in no shape to deal with the Beacon today, so we decided to rest for the night before heading to Blackmoor. 

***** Needfest 6, Eru Tovar

        We were going back to where it all began. The place we needed to go for the Beacon was the same place where the gala Oryn held that brought us all together had been. Of course, the spell to get us there didn't fucking work. We ended up 240 miles away, in the smoldering ruins of Eru Tovar. Shade found a shadow road, but it went about 100 miles in the wrong direction, so that was fucking helpful.

       I did a legend lore to see if I could find the exact location of the Beacon, and to see if maybe it was a key to stop the cults; the results were fucking weird. "The Gate lies beyond the mountains, where you're unable to see. The door is locked and has been for an eternity. The key is gone far from its homeland."

       We decided to use the Ethereal Plane to get to the Beacon, and discovered that the Beacon's light ran all the way to the very core of the world. Suddenly, Eurydice hissed and a cloaked figure appeared. He babbled as he spoke, not completely making sense: he didn't expect us to come here... we just got our Mantles we don't even know the power we have... why would we come here... we're barely a feast... it'll give us to its god. Then he began floating toward us. I told Shade to get us the fuck out of here.

       I told Shade to get us the fuck out of here. Dervish began launching arrows at him and only hit him once. Black ichor oozed from the wound instead of blood. As the ichor ran down his arm, he began looking more twisted, and we were suddenly shunted out of the Ethereal Plane. 

       "If I kill you here, I can eat your souls," he said, cackling madly. 

       Eurydice sent Ceidil and Mara to Potidaea so they wouldn't die again. Shade, Dervish, and Vish all managed to hit him- and thankfully he missed them in his attempt to return fire. I attempted to feeblemind him, but it didn't fucking work. A bright purple flame began to surround him, and suddenly there were four of him- fucking mirror image. Time slowed as the other three of him appeared; he hit Shadewing once and Shade looked bewildered; he grabbed at Vish; then he hit me hard. 

       Aurora went insane from the blow and keeled over, a gibbering mess. Shadewing exchanged blows with him briefly, before Shade was hit with madness, and keeled over, in just as bad of shape as Aurora. As Shade crumpled, the man vanished. 

All maps by Anna B. Meyer

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

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

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

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

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.

All maps by Anna B. Meyer