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 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 Nine

Reviving Alucard

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

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth, the Dark Conjurer
Sarlockh, Pharin's choldrith familiar
Vilrath, Pharin's flesh golem

Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated 

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master
BarraZotreth, Andolin's displacer beast animal companion

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:

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.

Pharin and Andolin have merged into a single body and are pretending to be Cyrrik Goldmattock, an ancient dwarven king who vanished thousands of years ago. The party believes both drow to be dead.

***** Lacysnows 24, CY 710, Ruins of the Free City of Greyhawk

       Lothar said that the only way the spell to bring Alucard back would work was to sacrifice the active Lothar. If we took him out, there'd only be one Lothar left- we'd killed two that had been found by the cults. Without sacrificing him, we wouldn't survive the ritual. Before we could even start this, we needed to find the illithids. 

       Cyrrik sent away the remains of the coffin Alucard's body had been in. He asked the Stonemason for the Sword of Kas and the Wand of Orcus, but for some reason, the Stonemason couldn't give them to him. The Deck must have done something to them. He didn't want either of those and really the sword could only be wielded by Lothar; the wand would have been better in one of our hands. We started debating how to help the dwarf when a flash of radiance and a loud ringing sound exploded around us. Lothar had slammed his hammer down to shut everyone up. I was deaf for the next couple of minutes- lesser restoration wouldn't even fix it. 

       While I waited for the deafness to fuck off, I received a memory stone from Briisa. There were five hundred thousand barbarians in shadowy armor outside my college- which had a whopping thirty thousand bards. The small chasm that always surrounded Potidaea had grown by about thirty feet- another layer of defense. Narg looked scared... I didn't think that was even possible. Behind the barbarian army was a horrible cry, and a huge circle lit up, revealing the tarrasque. Apparently, these fuck holes had figured out how to find it after we beat it. That's just fucking wonderful. 

       I scryed the rest of the world, and things looked just as bleak. The area around the Forgotten City was completely black; when I zoomed in I saw that the thri-kreen had surrounded it. ALL of the thri-kreen had surrounded it. The other two Beacon Keystone locations were also surrounded by cultists- including four guys who all looked like the Sultan of Nothing. Evidently, they'd made copies of that fuck hole- cause there's no way they'd gotten him back from Lolth. 

       All of a sudden, all the dwarves vanished, except for the Stonemason and Cyrrik. Everything lit up and the sound of a hammer striking an anvil rang. Moradin took over the Stonemason- whose name I learned then was Runegear. Runegear/Moradin told us all to get out so he could do something- but I was the only one smart enough to listen. Streams of wires, gears, and other mechanical shit came out of his hands and covered the room. I felt a slight tremor deep inside myself, right where the soul shard from Oryn had gone into me. The mechanical room sprang to life and hummed with energy for the next few seconds before Runegear/Moradin grinned and said: "Now the fun begins." As soon as he said that, Stonefist grabbed me and yanked me back into the room. 

       The room lurched and began moving through the sky. We spent the next half hour soaring in a tiny room through space, all the while that soul shard was shaking harder and harder. Runegear was constantly adjusting things and switching directions. As soon as we'd taken off, Lothar collapsed and began to shake violently; Alucard's body was shaking in time with his. Lothar was comatose, and it was as if everything inside him was shaking. 

       I held onto Lothar as best I could, trying to keep him from swallowing his tongue. I know we were just about to kill him, but I was rather fond of him, so I felt the need to attempt to at least bring him comfort. Dervish found a scar on Alucard's body- which somehow led him to an intelligent idea- that maybe Alucard's organs were inside Lothar like Lothar was a living canopic jar of sorts. 

      After another hour we could feel some magic trickling into the room, and Cyrrik collected hair from each of us; he said it had to do with the ritual somehow. Two more hours passed before everything went completely silent- both Lothar and the body stopped shaking, and so did the soul shards. The dwarven bard with us went flying into the wall when it all stopped moving. Runegear was gone. 

       Cyrrik set up the altar, which was covered in the symbols of literally hundreds of gods- some even I didn't recognize. I opened to door to reveal a hallway made of diamond. It was fucking beautiful. Dervish decided to lean out of the room- without exiting it- to try to mine the hallway, which failed miserably. Cyrrik continued working on the ritual for another two hours- everything was perfect, but it didn't work. 

***** Lacysnows 25, location unknown

       Since the damn ritual hadn't worked, we decided to explore this place, hoping that whatever would make the ritual work would be out there somewhere. We spent a couple of hours walking, with absolutely nothing changing, but it definitely was not a maze, so we kept going. An hour later Stonefist stumbled and fell over, which somehow made us figure out we were in a hall of mirrors. Eurydice managed to find us the correct path.

       Cyrrik randomly whacked a wall, producing a deafening ringing, which Dervish quickly silenced. We kept going, and the Priest of Moradin figured out where the next part of the path was. It was then that we realized the silence was lasting much longer than it should have and seemed to cover a much bigger area than it should have as if the magic was being amplified or something. Dervish summoned an earth elemental to guide us through the area, and it did a seriously shitty job.

       Eventually, we reached a cliff, which was found by Stonefist falling down it. He was hurt, but alive- glad it was the monk who'd fallen. Cyrrik tossed a pipe down after him. Dervish decided to fly down to get Stonefist and ended up getting confused and attacking his own reflection. I don't know how that idiot is the leader of his entire fucking world.

       Cyrrik floated down to help Stonefist and found the monk's leg was shattered. He amputated it so Stonefist could regenerate it as they worked their way back to us- cause that's so much easier than just fucking healing him. The pair ended up on the other side of the cliff instead of coming back to us.

       Dervish's stupidity was showing proudly now. He ran away from his own reflection in terror- I didn't think the Dumbass was quite that ugly, but apparently I was mistaken- then somehow managed to tie himself up. The dwarves went to help him, and the idiot attacked them, then tried crawling away. The dwarves beat the crap out of him and ended up dropping him, while he tried limply to fight back, tangled in the rope. Once they dropped him, they tied him up properly, then revived him.

       Cyrrik came back for us around then, and since we needed to make sure we wouldn't get separated, we had to get creative. Three of the dwarves got into a portable hole with a bottle of air, another dwarf and I got on a carpet, and we tied Dervish to a broom, which we tugged along behind us on the carpet.

       When we made it to Stonefist, he'd apparently been smoking in a Hut, which as soon as it was dropped, got everyone high. Great fucking idea, that'll totally make this place less confusing.

       The next tunnels we went through were bright and seemed to be a bit more reflective than the others. The silence spell was still lingering, and I didn't dare use my Words of Thunder spell that would break the silence, that could end up with thunder ringing in our ears instead. Then the tunnel abruptly ended, with no apparent way to go from here.

       Cyrrik dispelled the silence spell finally, and literally, all of our magical effects ended with it. He cast something else, which failed. Dervish randomly cast greater invisibility, and all of us went invisible. I used legend lore to try to figure this fucking place out, but it doesn't exist anywhere. Cyrrik began trying random shit to open the dead end, but nothing happened. When he grumbled that he was getting low on ideas, Dervish used the knock spell on the wall.

       We found ourselves in a dark, empty void. In the middle of it a was massive, one million point circle in the shape of a sphere, with Lothar and Alucard inside it. Between them was a dagger, and as we watched, they began whirling around it, and the soul shards inside us began to shake violently in response. It felt like they were trying to get out of us and go to Lothar and Alucard. Little sprites of pure arcane energy began swirling around the pair.

       I cut myself where the shard inside me was to help it escape, Dervish followed suit. Cyrrik drew his shard out with a ring of mind shielding- Vish didn't do anything to his, and it ripped out of him violently, blood flying everywhere.

       Pharin realized that two pieces of the soul weren't here: enchantment and transmutation. He touched divination and was wracked with pain by the visions it contained. Pharin found transmutation in the hilt of a dagger. He reached out for conjuration next and attempted to summon enchantment to the group. First, he called forth an axe that had once held the fragment, but on his second attempt, a ring appeared on Alucard's finger. 

       With all of the soul shards here, we realized we needed to get Alucard's organs out of Lothar. Dervish sliced him open, but couldn't break his ribs. Cyrrik lopped off Lothar's head, sending blood flying everywhere... some got in my mouth, and instead of the usual coppery taste, this blood tasted sweet and tangy. The blood was pouring into the center of the room, getting bigger and denser, and it quickly became bigger than was possible, there was no way that much blood was in Lothar's body.

       We had to leave the room quickly, as there was so much blood in there that we couldn't fit anymore. With nothing left for us to do, we began making our way back through the tunnels. Getting out was much easier than getting in, and when we went through the door that should have taken us back to the room we arrived in, we found ourselves in the courtyard outside the castle, in Greyhawk.

       An army of liches was waiting for us in the courtyard.

       Pharin finished up a spell he'd begun much earlier, making quickened assassins of the group, only with modify memory so they believed they'd already killed their targets; making duplicates of the entire party. The modify memory spell he put on them didn't work though. 

       The Sultan, but not, walked up to us and told us that they weren't going to take us alive. Vecna wanted us all dead. Now. I set up a Hut, but the asshat dispelled it. Eurydice dropped another Hut, and this one stayed, protecting us from a volley of shit.

       Cyrrik surrounded the liches in a curtain of fire, which slowly began closing in on them- Not-Sultan tried to cancel it but failed. I attempted to teleport us all to safety, but it didn't work, apparently travel magic was still fuckered up. As the liches broke down the curtain of fire, a multi-point circle appeared in the crowd. We began falling back to the 100-point circle room- hoping it was still there- and found a man sitting in the middle of it.

       He looked somewhat elvish, and almost like Alucard, but not quite right, and he had no idea who he was. Cyrrik had him help activate the circle in the room, and I guess that made him remember who he was. The pair hurried outside to get the defenses going again, to get the fucking liches off our backs. Then Cyrrik turned into a dragon, startling Alucard and making the nodes attack him. Alucard then appeared on a balcony above us, said we're friends, and our lives passed before our eyes as he looked into our souls. He said he'd meet us at Potidaea, and I attempted to teleport us again; thankfully it worked this time.

       When I appeared in Potidaea, one of my bards- a female tiefling whose name escaped me at the moment- stopped in her tracks and asked me where the Hells I'd been. I gave her a quick rundown of what I'd been doing, and accidentally made her insane; I fixed her though before going to find Briisa.

       Apparently, Narg was fighting the tarrasque completely on his own, and the barbarians were just standing around watching. Cyrrik and Dervish turned into dragons- I hopped on Cyrrik's back, and he scooped up Stonefist, polymorphing him into a remorhaz; we flew out to help Narg with the damn tarrasque.

       Narg was badly injured, I sent Charlotte to him so I could give him a power word heal, but he still seemed off. Cyrrik dropped Stonefist right on the tarrasque before he and Dervish divebombed it. They all hit it fucking hard, and the beast writhed in pain. Narg speared its mouth shut with its own horn, and as it tried to pull it out, it hurt itself even more. Stonefist managed to burrow into the tarrasque, killing it by exploding out of its chest. That was even cooler than the quivering palm diarrhea he did to it earlier.

       As the tarrasque died, the barbarians all screamed in rage. Behind us we heard applause, we'd impressed Alucard with how quickly we brought the damned thing down. Alucard said there was a fucking ghost fleet behind Potidaea because five hundred thousand barbarians and the tarrasque weren't enough. Cyrrik had an insane idea, so Alucard made an enormous circle for him, out of the tarrasque's corpse. He wanted to try to summon positive energy elementals to take on the ghosts.

       Forty elementals appeared, but then he decided to turn them all into a single elemental. It went with Dervish to deal with the ghost fleet. Alucard stalked toward the barbarians, his cloak flared, and he was suddenly in black armor. I tried to charm the barbarians with one of my Bae'qeshel abilities, and it failed. I'd forgotten that shit didn't work on these fuck holes. 

       Then Cyrrik started summoning little positive energy flying nugs familiars the size of doves, summoning and releasing, over and over. Which was awesome until the daft dwarf decided to have them draw from the Deck of Many Things. The first one to draw pulled the Balance card, turning it evil... an explosion of epic proportions went off in a five hundred yard radius. All the dwarves were gone- Cyrrik included.

       Pharin found himself in Acheron, which is in the Outer Planes, facing a dragon slayer. Pharin quickly banished himself back to Faerun, and then realized the slayer had his blood. There was only one thing Pharin could think of to keep that hunter from finding him: destroying all of his blood. He activated the contingency, burning every drop of his blood on every single plane. 

       Fire rained down upon the world, water and land igniting instantly. Everything exploded in a whoosh, and three of the Beacons turned blood red as the door to the Positive Energy Plane slammed shut. As soon as that was over, all of the dwarves were resurrected by Moradin, and Stonefist was declared king. The entire battlefield stopped in awe of the massive explosion and flames that engulfed the world.

       One-third of the world burned, water, creatures, plants, gone. The elementals had been passing the east side of Potidaea when the explosions went off, and the entire wing was gone... that was where most of our library was. 20% of my bards were gone. Dervish's 27 half-dragons, that were made of Pharin's blood, were dead, his familiar was destroyed, 30% of Dervish's people died, as did Dervish himself. Our communication rings exploded, as did half of the brooches- only half of those because Allysandra had made the other half. Pharin had just brought devastation to this world that was greater than anything Vecna's cult had done. I knew he wasn't dead. Istus was right about Pharin, he would have a hand in ending the world.

       From behind me, I felt a whoosh of air as it was drawn into Alucard, then he blanketed the battlefield in flames. I dropped two firestorms on the barbarians, which he amplified to cover the entire battlefield. The few that survived the series of infernos began to run, and I told Alucard we shouldn't let them get away. Alucard raised his hands, and a red mist swept over all of them, with a flick of the wrist, they all exploded. That went well.

       I went looking for Narg, worried he'd been hurt in the explosions. He wasn't in great shape, but he'd be okay in time. Allysandra and Scottie found Dervish and resurrected him; he no longer had dragon blood, he was just his boring self again.

       Alucard told us he needed to go to the illithid for a scroll, one that's supposed to resurrect anyone who ever lived. He told us to meet him in Greyhawk in a week, and to be prepared to infiltrate; we're going after Vecna directly.

Map by Anna B. Meyer

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

Pick a Card

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

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth, the Dark Conjurer
Sarlockh, Pharin's choldrith familiar
Vilrath, Pharin's flesh golem

Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer

Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated 

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master
BarraZotreth, Andolin's displacer beast animal companion

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
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Comrades we have lost:
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul

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.

Pharin and Andolin have merged into a single body and are pretending to be Cyrrik Goldmattock, an ancient dwarven king who vanished thousands of years ago. The party believes both drow to be dead.

***** Lacysnows 22, CY 710, Jotsplat

       The bloody rain that had been pouring down on the army below suddenly reversed and began going up into the clouds. Cyrrik jumped off the balcony and began hacking into the golems, then started flinging reverse gravity spells at them. I hopped on my broom and flew out to the battlefield, throwing out several spells to make me louder, and started buffing our forces. Even with the power we were throwing at the golems, things still weren't looking great for us here. The damned volcanic golems blowing up upon death was just fucking us- if we didn't kill them, they'd kill us, but killing them meant killing ourselves. Those fucking cultists had thought of everything. 

        Our aerial forces were doing well at least since they didn't have to get right in the golems' faces. The blood rain was beginning to take the shape of a giant, bloody, demonic-looking dragon, and I could just make out Sil in the middle of it. That kid is fucking creepy. I'm so glad she's on our side. Energy was coalescing around her too, and it seemed like all of a sudden the tides turned in our favor. 

       Wind roared around us as Aerathema began swooping over the battlefield, flinging golems into the torrent. Cyrrik dropped his reverse gravity, summoned a holy anvil, and struck it with his hammeraxe, unleashing a massive blast of radiant energy that swept over the battlefield. Aerathema's wind sent most of the remaining golems into the pillar of radiance, and slowly energy built. Cyrrik struck the anvil again, and a massive explosion went off, pieces of volcanic golems flying every which way. Volcanic rock rained down onto the battlefield as a cry of victory rang out among our troops. We had won!

       The blood dragon landed- she'd finished forming just as Aerathema and Cyrrik finished off the golems- and the blood washed away, creating a large puddle. She glared daggers at Cyrrik for finishing them off before she got to play with them. 

       Overall there were 2,300 dwarves remaining, we'd lost 18% of Dervish's army, 5% of Aerathema's druid and Vale Elf forces, and 60% of the demon forces. I have no idea where the demons fucking came from, but they were useful. 

       Aerathema gathered her forces and headed toward Potidaea to help Briisa.

       Allysandra told us that we needed to hurry to Alucard's body- apparently that was all they needed, they didn't require his soul. I showed her where Greyhawk was on the map so she could teleport us, and the rest of Dervish's people, there right away. She'd hold the gate open for as long as she could to get as many people there as possible- she figured she'd be able to keep it up for about a day. Cyrrik said the dwarves had their own gate there, so they would meet us in the city.

      Nature had completely taken over the once great City of Greyhawk. The once great city was decrepit, old, and covered in plants. I picked up no magic here at all, aside from our gate. After the long battle with the volcanic golems, our forces needed some sleep, so we set up camp. Not long after we picked a place to settle down, we felt a surge of energy as Cyrrik's gate activated, and he brought with him 300 dwarves and five thousand terracotta soldiers. He set up the terracotta soldiers around us, establishing a perimeter so we could rest.

       The fires seemed dimmer than they should have been, but I wasn't detecting any reason for it. It bugged me for some reason, and I had a bad feeling I couldn't shake.

       A few hours later Sil said there were bad things lurking in the dark. As if to punctuate her point, the sound of the terracotta soldiers shattering rang out around us. Shadows were darting around us, and we couldn't get a handle on where they were. This was exactly like what we faced on that first night after we'd left Blackmoor. That feels like a lifetime ago, though it was only a few months ago. While we'd seen them before, I really didn't know much about them, they seemed to be a new creation.

       The mages lit up the area, but the light was still dimmer than it should have been, and the shadows were actively avoiding the light. Cyrrik made his way to just outside the perimeter, and the moment he stepped outside the light, a creature popped out at him- it was hard to tell what it was, it was like an undead/lich/shadow. The dwarven king turned on his heel and ran right back into camp. 

       Allysandra said they were true shades; formed from pretty much every demonic and undead with a shadow. With that, she had all of her mages aid her in activating a massive control weather spell. The clouds began moving away and the light came through. As the area lit up, this sickening pulse of energy hit all of us, and the shades began to blur. Dervish's archers killed all of them. 

***** Lacysnows 23, Free City of Greyhawk

       When we were finished resting, we sent out scouts to see if we could find where in the Hells the damn cult had Alucard's body. There didn't seem to be any sign of them so far, and that worried me. We thought the most likely place they'd be holed up was the castle since castles usually have defenses. 

       Eventually, the scouts reported back that they'd found a temple to every God, and inside it was a strange black stone that seemed to be absorbing the light. This temple was one of the few buildings that was actually intact, and it was defensible. Scottie created the biggest Tenser's Floating Disk ever, and we migrated camp there. We found a hidden staircase inside, which led to a huge door, like as big as the doors to the Beacons, but we couldn't get in. 

       In the night, Pharin contacted Ralliakkan about the door. She told him not to let anybody touch it until she got there. 

       I was pleasantly surprised to find Ralliakkan in camp when I came out of my reverie. 

***** Lacysnows 24, Free City of Greyhawk

       In the morning, Cyrrik announced that Moradin was sending us aid. Since we didn't know when the aid would arrive, we headed up to the castle to check it out ourselves. 

       When we crested the top of the hill, we saw a 30-foot tall tower that looked like a finger. They were all over the castle walls. I'm pretty sure those were the things Oryn had said would set off a nova... not fucking good. 

       Allysandra strode toward the tower and it fired at her, but thankfully it missed. Ralliakkan told me to try to open the gate- she thought that Oryn's soul shard would protect me from the defenses. I hoped she was right. I got to the gate, but it was way too fucking heavy for me to open on my own. Cyrrik came to help me next, and even with the dwarf's bulky muscles, we still couldn't get it open. It took Dervish and Vish helping us to get that stupid fucking thing open. We'd been pushing on the gates, and Cyrrik realized they opened out just as Dervish and Vish arrived to help us. I felt a little stupid... Not that I'd ever admit it to anyone.

       Waiting on the other side of the door was the Drow and the Duergar. Instantly Vish, Charlotte, Eurydice, and Aiden turned on Cyrrik, Dervish, and I. I dismissed Charlotte to her dimensional pocket to get her out of the way for the duration. Cyrrik tried his iron flask on Vish, and the stubborn ass resisted. Vish lunged at Dervish and missed him completely. Eurydice and Aiden couldn't get past the charismatic shield I had active, so they went for Cyrrik and somehow managed to hit him hard- well, hard for them. Cyrrik completely destroyed both of them. That's another true res... so inconvenient. Dervish managed to trap Vish in his flask while Cyrrik was destroying my former familiar. 

       The Duergar seemed to be having trouble controlling his fire, and he fell over. Sil dominated the Drow, who was the cause of Duergar falling- at least that's how it seemed. Cyrrik chucked his axe at the Duergar, and he screamed in pain as he began withering into a husk. It was like a supercharged blight hit him and slowly destroyed him. I hurried to the body and snatched up that concentration ring.

       With the Drow under Sil's control, we were able to let Vish out of the flask and Charlotte out of the pocket. Dervish found a gem in the wall on the inside that powered down the nova tower so the others could get to us. 

       We were standing in a huge courtyard that was completely empty but somehow well preserved. This was one area where nature had not taken over, and that worried me a little. There was another massive gate waiting for us on the other side of the courtyard, but this one required a password. Dervish wanted to plane shift to that dimensional pocket that Oryn had taken us to, but it kicked him out instantly. We tried it with all four of us- since the soul was divvied between all four of us. 

       We were in a room we'd seen before, but it was no longer the comfortable room Oryn had once taken us to. It was now rundown and decrepit, everything was rotting and falling apart. There was a visage of Oryn, but half of his face was melted, it gave me chills. The door that led further into the house fell over when we moved to open it, and we entered the rotting sitting room. 

       Cyrrik found the one thing in the room that wasn't dying- a pristine metal box with no hinges. We could tell it was a box, and Cyrrik found a riddle on it; as soon as he recited it, the box sprang open. The box was empty. Ralliakkan found the password in it before collapsing into a coma.  Cyrrik looked at it and saw written in literally every language: "let me in."

       After Ralliakkan was revived, she picked the lock on the gate, giving us an hour to get our forces in before the defenses reactivated. I remembered at that point that she'd been trying to ally with Kas' cult, and asked about it; it failed, they cared more about eliminating us than working with us to stop Vecna. 

       Ralliakkan told us this was the only place that anyone could even attempt to do anything to Alucard's body- so the cult had to be here. The next doorway was covered in writing and seemed to be yet another fucking trap. I asked the Drow how the cult had gotten in, and thanks to Sil, she showed us the secret door and unlocked it with a mummified hand (not Vecna's). That seemed too easy. I asked the bitch what was waiting beyond the door- DEATH. Like The DEATH. Anything not bound to Venca or undead would not survive going through that door. Sil, being the terrifying child she is, told us to go back to the main doors, she'd take the Drow and get us in. 

       While we waited for Sil to get us inside, we looked more closely at the runes on the door. They were all inverted. It was fucking weird. I took advantage of the time to bring Eurydice back from the gave. Cyrrik summoned Stonefist while we waited too, and told him he could be redeemed if he could get the door opened. The dwarf spent the next three hours studying the door before it opened on its own.

       A very badly beaten up Sil and the Drow were on the other side, and Sil was holding a scythe. She spent all of her wishes to kill DEATH and take its place. This four-year-old monster was now DEATH. I just... I couldn't even fathom how absurd my life had become. 

       We entered a grand hallway that was littered with corpses; every single cultist who had gotten in her way had met its end. Cyrrik asked Sil where we needed to go, and she turned into black mist to lead us. Eventually, we reached a dead end that Sil couldn't get through, and when she tried she just bounced off of it. It wasn't an illusion, but passwall didn't work. The entire fucking hallway was anti-magic. We had to push the fucking wall- glad we had dwarves. 

       Sil said they knew we were here, and they were actively trying to block her. She couldn't cross the threshold and felt like Vecna was literally holding her in place. Cyrrik attempted to get Vecna's claws off of Sil, but he couldn't do it. We had to leave Sil behind. Since the Drow was no longer useful, we gave her to Sil.

       We spent the next few minutes making our way through the hallways, and every time we reached an intersection, Cyrrik would spin his axe or commune with Moradin or some such nonsense to determine which way to go. After walking for a while, we realized one of the turns we'd taken had led us into an endless maze. I hate those fucking things. After five full minutes, Vish was still trapped in the damned thing, so Ralliakkan went in with an iron flask to get him out. 

       Cyrrik got a random idea and knocked out Aiden, tossing him into the maze. Ralliakkan went to retrieve him. He thought we had to get to the end of the maze, but there's not supposed to be an end to an endless maze. But Ralliakkan thought he must've been onto something because she disappeared back into it. After almost six minutes, there was a flash, and Ralliakkan appeared, holding a dead illithid. Evidently, it had been fueling the maze. We began going down the now real hallway.

       After an hour of walking, we finally saw a faint glow up ahead of us, and we heard chanting. I could just make out a door at the end of the hallway. We all quickly downed some fire ale to buff ourselves up a little- apparently, faerie dragons have no tolerance for alcohol, both Eurydice and Charlotte were completely drunk. 

       Stonefist clanged a bell and began charging the door, with all the other dwarves right on his heels. When they were about 20 feet away, Cyrrik hurled his axe at the door, sending a dispel magic with it. Stonefist punched the door and a barrier shattered, sending a massive wave of power down the hall. We all poured into the room on the other side of the door, expecting the cultists to be in here, but it was empty...

       Aside from the 1,000-point magic circle that covered every surface of the room. There was an altar with a rune on it- Alucard's name in the true language. That was when we realized we'd just completely played into the cult's hands. They never had Alucard's body. We just took them past every single fucking trap and walked them right in the fucking door. This was fucking wonderful. 

       Cyrrik had Stonefist destroy the rune with Alucard's name on it, we could absolutely not let the cult get their hands on that. He crumbled it with ease. Cyrrik made the circle flare to life, and little black motes were floating in it. The circle was fucking tainted. We tried cleansing it, but our first attempt didn't work. I tried using my legend lore spell to get any idea of what we were fucking dealing with, but I couldn't get shit. Then Cyrrik said he thought the fire from a god's forge could cleanse the taint. Since he would be turning it into an inferno, I took everyone except for Cyrrik into my pocket paradise and waited for him to call us back.

       Pharin tapped into the forge in the Forgotten City and the room filled with flame. None of the others could have survived the blast. The little black flecks of corruption began falling out of the air. Pharin tried to scoop them up, and the corruption wrapped itself around his hand. It began traveling up his arm at an alarming speed, so with a flick of his blade, he cut his arm off. He stuffed the arm in an iron flask and sent it to the plane of positive energy; that should cleanse it. When Pharin was finished, the room was free of corruption.

       When we got back Cyrrik was missing an arm. He mumbled something about it getting a little tainted so he got rid of it. Fucking insane dwarf. We got Alucard's blood from Ralliakkan and got to work trying to summon the body away from the cult. Of course, that was easier said than done, we couldn't get a connection. Then we tried summoning Vecna's coffin, assuming Alucard's body would be in that. 

       A coffin appeared where the altar had been, and the lid instantly popped open. A blonde human male sat up, said "it worked!" and the coffin exploded. We had Alucard's body, with Vecna inhabiting it. Several of the dwarves just flat out died. We'd just given Vecna exactly what he needed to come back- a mortal vessel. We're doing a fucking wonderful job of stopping him. 

       Ralliakkan ran up to Vecna, stabbed him in the chest, and yelled "run" over his scream. As we turned to run, Cyrrik called out "how many?" Stonefist said 17, Stonemason said 14, the High Priest of Moradin said 3, and the Bard said 6. Everything slowed down as the Deck of Many Things began dealing cards...

       Stonefist first drew the Euryale, then the Vizier, a Moon with two wishes, then another Moon with two more wishes, another Vizier, another Moon with three more wishes, the Jester, Ruin, The Fool- which turned into Euryale, the Skull, Gems, another Skull, another Moon with one wish, the Sun- which summoned Lothar, apparently he's a magic item- the Knight, the Key, the Comet, another Key, and another Vizier. 

       Stonemason drew the Talon, the Moon with two wishes, the Flame, the Comet, the Key, three Suns in a row, the Fates, the Flame again, Balance, another Comet, the Star, and another Vizier. The dude ended up with the Sword of Kas, the Wand of Orcus, a Wish Ring with three fucking wishes, a Hammer of Lightning Bolts, and a Vorpal Sword. I kind of hate these guys. 

       The Priest drew two Stars in a row, the Jester, the Skull, and the Knight.

       The Bard ended up with the Sun, the Talon, another Sun, Balance, Gem, and the Key.

       Then Stonefist and the Priest's knights were given draws...

       Stonefist's knight got the Key, the Sun, the Fool- turned into Comet, and another Comet.

       The Priest's knight drew the Rogue and the Gems. 

       All in all, that was the luckiest string of draws I've ever seen or even heard of. Briisa's probably going to think I'm embellishing the fuck out of this. When the third Skull was drawn, we told him not to attack Sil, who appeared in the true form of DEATH. She might be able to help us. 

       Stonefist calmly said he knew what to wish for, and time slowed again. Stonefist and Stonemason walked up to Vecna- Ralliakkan vanished as they did- and Moons began glowing and vanishing. Stonefist said he'd mortal right now and punched Vecna. He went flying into the remains of the coffin. Reality then warped and Vecna was ripped out of Alucard's body, we could see him clawing desperately at the body before he flew out of the room. 

       We just kind of beat Vecna. That went surprisingly well. Cyrrik certainly keeps things interesting. 

       Ralliakkan had been sent back to the stronghold in Jotsplat for some reason. She told us we needed to revive Alucard and bring him with us; we were going to need him.

       Lothar saw through Pharin's disguise and began to out him, until Moradin declared Pharin the king, so long as he didn't fuck over the dwarves.

       Stonemason began rebuilding the altar so we could perform the ritual.

       Lothar told us he'd been summoned here by the Deck because we couldn't revive Alucard without him. In order to bring back Alucard, we'd have to kill Lothar.

Maps by Anna B. Meyer