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

The Assault of House Braz'Dracon

Dramatis Personae: 

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies, and Andolin's twin

Skye Vindhalle, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders

Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk of Nerull and Starlock of Y'Chuk
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue, summoner of elephants

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; wielder of the Sword of Kas

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg

Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon

Comrades we have lost:

Jayce, the Human Barbarian- killed by Josiah

Jarrid, the Human Barbarian- killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during Kester Championship

Pieces of Vecna acquired: Hand and Eye

Other components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, the dagger hilt, and the Sword of Kas

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person.

***** Ekbir

       Shortly after returning to Ekbir, Pharin decided to head home to check on the state of his affairs. He turned a corner and ran into a group of vampires swarming the Underdark, looking for the party. Pharin called the rest of the party, who had stayed in the tavern to drink to their success on retrieving the sword. While waiting he contacted Andolin to warn him, only to find out that his house was also under siege. 

       To save time I teleported us all straight to Pharin's location, and he in turn teleported us into his house. We found ourselves completely surrounded in vampires, much like the vision I had seen in the Vale. As we arrived one of Pharin's priestesses was able to turn some of the undead and force them to run away. Willow drew her Wand of Wonder and an elephant sprang out of it, trampling some of the vampires when it landed. That wand is very amusing, one would never think to summon an elephant during a battle on purpose; except maybe that daft drow. Lothar drew the freshly retrieved Sword of Kas, and several of the vampires became dumbstruck; apparently witnessing the legendary sword of their god was a very spiritual moment for the vamps. I suppose that makes sense since it has been lost for such a long time. Pharin of course summoned a positive energy bunny, though it wasn't Haas this time, this one Pharin named Little Bunny Foo Foo... I really don't understand that moron. Then suddenly the spider-shaped throne sprang to life and sprayed webbing all over the room, restraining most of the vampires.

       We heard screams coming from the floor below us, and saw a bright light; thanks to the webbing we were able to slice our way out of that room and toward the screams.  As we entered the room, three vampires ganged up on Lothar and killed him; that cat dies a lot, I wonder how many of his nine lives remain. Pharin's priestess took Lothar's body and pulled him under the spider statue that was in that room; I think Pharin's plan was to commit Lothar's soul to Lolth, removing any further claim Moradin and Istus have on him. Unfortunately for Pharin, I saw everything happen and had Dervish bring Lothar back before they could do much damage to him. 

       The crowd of vampires was thinning out, when suddenly a gate opened in the ceiling of the room- out came a dead Nanu, a battered and bloody Lan, and a man we haven't seen before- he looked exactly like a gnome, but he was about five feet tall, way too big to be a gnome.I grabbed an item from Dervish that would bring Nanu back from the dead, and raced to heal Lan; the paladin was needed more in this fight that the nightmorc, so he came first. Lan, newly healed, used his Holy Avenger to bring sun into the entire Underbazaar, the vampires were gone in a flash. As I began to revive Nanu, Lothar pulled a longsword out of her pack; it was the first Moonblade. I had to have it. 

       The odd gnome guy called for a drink, which was surely needed after that fight. Pharin insisted he didn't have time to go for drinks, so the gnome made time stop, this was Pharin could drink with us, without losing any time. I ushered an alive, but incoherent nightmorc through the portal, with Willow right on our tail... pun intended. The gnome introduced himself as Ricklin and said he was looking for his grandson, who is a goblin. Absolutely nothing about this guy makes any sense. 

       Before we could settle in and relax a bit, Dervish and Pimbin began demanding that Pharin take us all to Asmodeus that instant. After arguing with those jackasses for a minute, Pharin got pissy and again did something stupid to give those idiots what they wanted. The portal between the bar and Pharin's home was still open, so Pharin used his throne to drag us all to the ninth level of Hell. Asmodeus was not happy about us intruding on him, and Pharin, of course, blamed the rest of the group- even though it was only two assholes. Once Asmodeus realized that we had not only brought him the Sword, but also its chosen wielder, Lothar, the god sent us all back to where we were; everyone except Lothar. 

       When we returned to the tavern and was finally able to get a fucking drink, we began getting to know Ricklin, who is very peculiar. He told us that every item we brought back from the Forgotten City was tainted, and were therefore tainting those of us who held them- I felt fucking fine, that gnome doesn't know what he's talking about. Ricklin told us we needed to get rid of the things we had taken; fortunately for me, only Ralliakkan knew I had one of the rings. The gnome also told us that the entity in the city is called Gollum, and we needed Lan in order to kill it. At that point we realized Lan had vanished from our presence again. Lan had returned to Hell to save Lothar from Asmodeus' clutches. 

       Pharin told Ralliakkan she needed to give him the rings, at which point the bitch ratted me out. I ended up in a full fight with Dervish about my ring, he kept trying to take it from me. It's mine and I'm not giving it up, that asshole is just jealous of how amazing I am. They kept throwing the ring around, making it harder for me to find, all the while I was fighting that douche bag Dervish.  

       Then, because this day couldn't possibly get any fucking weirder, a portal to hell opened in the bar- it's a really fucking weird day. Lothar came through without Lan, and devils began pouring through the portal. Pharin had one of his priestesses close up the portal before too many could get in. I still hadn't gotten my ring back, so I didn't care at all about the stupid devils. Because the bard would not stop throwing a fit about her ring, lashing out at everyone and demanding everyone submit to a search, Pharin knocked her unconscious. The wizard thought that killing Gollum would break the corruption that was grasping Aurora, so the group went back to the Forgotten City to figure out what to do next. 

***** The Forgotten City

       When I came to, we were back in the Forgotten City, and Pharin told me the stupid Gollum had stolen my ring. I had to find it and kill it, that ring is MINE. We looked around the area we had been the day before, and there was no sign of Gollum anywhere. There was no sign of the stupid ring stealing Gollum anywhere- we even tried using Nanu as bait for it, but apparently the thief is smart enough to recognize a trap. After hours of waiting around, we decided to just make camp for the night, in the streets where it could easily get to us.

       Pharin, Lothar, Dervish, and Pimbin stayed up while Aurora, Nanu, and Willow went to sleep/reverie. Pharin used a wish to get the means to defeat the corruption in the city. Suddenly Lothar's eyes began glowing, he took Pharin's spellbook and began writing at an unnatural speed; Istus was giving her cleric the knowledge Pharin asked for. When Lothar finished scribing the spell into Pharin's book, he ripped the pages out, turning it into a scroll so Pharin couldn't keep it. Lothar told him that he had to cast this spell in the Heart of Corruption, and it would cleanse the evil from the city. 

       While deep in reverie, I suddenly felt a presence at the door to my mind; it felt something like a lost puppy trying to come home- I opened the door and found myself wide awake. Somehow I knew that Pharin had been lying about the location of my ring, the bastard was trying to keep it for himself. I stormed over to him to begin an assault, when Dervish decided to get in the way. I was able to freeze him in place with a spell, continuing my advance on Pharin. Then stupid Pimbin got involved, which just angered me more- nothing could get between me and my ring. Suddenly I felt a thump on the back of my head, and tumbled to sleep.

       Pharin put Aurora in his portal hole for the night, to keep her in a place where she couldn't attack him further. He also had Sarlock, his Choldrith familiar and priestess of Lolth, spend the rest of the night praying over Aurora, trying to get Lolth to intervene and wipe the corruption from the bard- to no avail. Pharin used his master ring to put a command in Aurora's head that he just has her best interest at heart, and wants to help her; she needs to just trust him and work with him. It worked, upon awakening Aurora no longer felt the need to smash the drow into jelly.

       The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I still didn't have my ring. After that realization, I noticed that I was surrounded by complete darkness, the black gloom was clearly the interior of a portable hole. That damned wizard knocked me out and threw me in his bag like I was just another item... but somehow I felt like he did this for my own good, I don't really understand why though. Pharin let me out of the bag because I agreed I would stop trying to kill him. Really he let Aurora out because he knew his command had worked and she couldn't attack him. Pharin asked me to try to call the Heart of Corruption, thinking that because of my connection to the ring, I might be able to find the Heart's location. It didn't work, but he gave me back my ring!

       Pharin had an idea for a ritual spell that might lead us to the Heart, so we went into the armory to try it out. He drew an eight sided circle, putting each of us on a point, and using the crystal star we had found here as the focus to activate the circle... nothing happened. After a few minutes Pharin decided to try the spell again. As soon as he started it, shadowy tentacles appeared. The wizard was able to pour the tentacles into the circle, and Lothar put a field up around them. We tried using the sword that kills anything on them, and it veered away from the field, like magnets repelling from one another. Pharin touched the field and began getting sucked into it; Dervish and Pimbin grabbed onto the wizard, hoping to save him from tentacley doom. My Moonblade couldn't penetrate the field either- though that could be because it was refusing to speak to me. That sword was meant to be mine, I could feel it, but it wouldn't respond to a single word I spoke, which added to the rage that was threatening to bubble over again. Inside the field, Pharin activated the dagger hilt and set off a contingency spell he had cast. The field was flooded with blinding radiance, destroying the tentacle, and spitting Pharin out. 

       We rested for an hour after the fight with the tentacles, it had been a tiring ordeal. After our rest, Pharin decided to try again- turns out, the third time really is the charm. The crystalline spines that gave it the star-like appearance spun off of the crystal, revealing a peculiar pattern beneath it. The pattern turned out to be a star chart, and the center of that little crystal became a ball of fire- the sun. In the presence of this fire, the darkness that had been clouding my judgement faded, and the Moonblade spoke to me. Then Pharin touched the ball of fire with his star metal blade, and the little ball zipped off- we knew we had to follow it. 

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

 Crossing the Desert Part 4: 

The Forgotten City at Last

Dramatis Personae:

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't

Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies, and Andolin's twin

Skye Vindhalle, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders

Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk of Nerull and Starlock of Y'Chuk
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Lothar, the Sovani Smith and former Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus

Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg

Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon

Comrades we have lost:

Jayce, the Human Barbarian- killed by Josiah

Jarrid, the Human Barbarian- killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during Kester Championship

Pieces of Vecna acquired: Hand and Eye

Other components being kept out of the cult's hands: Book of Vile Darkness, Fang of Kas, and the sword hilt

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person.

***** Day 17- the Sea of Dust

       Yet another relatively boring and uneventful day in the stupid desert. I really hate this place. Lothar managed to get lye in his eye, which is not easy to heal, even for someone as skilled as myself.

       Toward the end of the day we spotted some rock looking thing in the distance. It was probably a mirage, but just to be safe Willow, Pimbin, and Dervish scouted ahead to check it out. As they drew near they realized the thing was moving, and after a few more minutes they realized it was a huge thri-kreen hunting party. If that wasn't unsettling enough, it appeared to be moving in the same direction as us, toward the Forgotten City. Looks like things may finally be getting interesting. 

***** Day 18- the Sea of Dust

       We camped that night in a paradise I created through song. I had recently gotten the idea in my head, and it was a delightful break from the stupid desert. When we returned to the real world the next morning, we found ourselves in the middle of a sandstorm- which would not have been so terrible if the sand in this stupid desert wasn't lye... I hate this place. With our visibility severely reduced we were practically crawling, but it was the only way we could travel. Ordinarily I would have just put us back in paradise to wait out the storm, but with the thri-kreen hunting party we had spied the day before, we couldn't risk losing a day of travel; those vile bugs could not beat us to the sword.

       As we inched along, Pharin suddenly sensed a huge amount of magical energy streaking through the sky right towards us; we looked up in time to see a fiery red glow plummeting toward us. Pharin threw a Hut up around us to shield us from the impact, and the red thing slammed into the ground right by us. Suddenly more of the red things began crashing toward us, and one made contact with our Hut, damaging it. Dervish got the idea to use a sanctuary spell that prevents other from divining our exact location, and it worked, the balls began missing the Hut. That didn't last long though, as seconds later one struck the Hut with enough impact to crack it. At that point I sang us back to paradise- but almost instantly we were ripped out of it and back in the Sea of Dust. Before us stood the Sultan of Kester, the all powerful douche bag wizard. Great, he has a vendetta, that's just what we fucking need. 

       Suddenly Willow vanished from where she had been standing a moment before, the Sultan had trapped her in a bubble. Dervish and I had gotten back in the air, and we felt weighted down, as if invisible chains were pulling us toward the ground. This made the Sultan lose his concentration on the bubble Willow was in though, and she reappeared unharmed. The Sultan hurled a chain spell and Pharin and Pimbin, but he somehow missed both of them. Frustrated, the wizard cast a confusion spell on Dervish, rendering him temporarily useless.

       Willow had gotten her hands on one of our sets of anti-magic gauntlets, the ones the Sultan had chained us up with back in Kester. While the rest of us were battling the douche, she snuck around him, hoping to snare him and shut his powers down. If she succeeded, we would have been able to kill the bastard quickly. Of course it's never that easy, and the dick ended up turning the tables on Willow, chaining her up in the shackles instead. She was able to free herself from them pretty quickly though, she's a good enough rogue that lock picking is relatively easy for her. 

       The Sultan had in his possession one of those Instant Fortress items, so he activated that and perched on top of the stupid thing. Lothar prayed to his new Goddess and Lolth granted him immunity to psychic attacks, giving him some protection from the Sultan's powers. Pharin was the next member of our little band to get trapped in one of those stupid bubbles, but the drow was able to free himself instantly. Pimbin decided to land on the roof of the Fortress so he could attack the Sultan directly, but the idiot halfling landed on an ice rune trap and set it off instead. I used my Horn to send berserkers into the fortress, if they could get to the top, they just might be able to hurt the bastard. Apparently at this point the Sultan had had enough. He activated a spell that slows time and vanished into thin air. At least we didn't lose anyone to him.

       At this point Pharin decided we needed to get to the city faster, and we were all fed up with this desert by now so we readily agreed, so he teleported us to about sixty miles north of the city. We saw the thri-kreen hoard was about thirty miles north of us; based on their speed we estimated we were about a day ahead of the bugs. 

***** Day 20- the Forgotten City at long last

       For some reason Pharin decided to summon a shadow demon while we were traveling, and told it to fetch him a thri-kreen's spirit. That plan backfired, the thri-kreen killed the shadow demon instantly. I think he was just bored, but who knows what the daft drow's motives are for anything.

       When we were about thirty miles north of the city another storm hit; more things that make the desert suck. We finally spied one of the outer walls to the Forgotten City, it was crumbled in ruins. 

       We discovered as we drew nearer that magic wasn't working properly. Pharin did the fang ritual again, and it just spun, like a broken compass. I tried to stop the stupid storm, but even my spells weren't working properly. 

       When we finally reached the city we decided we should look for the docks, though I can't recall why. We heard something up ahead of us, and Dervish and Lothar thought they saw a shadow pop out of a crack in the wall, look around, and go back in. Pharin thought the shadow was corporeal somehow, though I'm not sure where he got that idea. As we continued walking through this mostly destroyed city we continued hearing the noise up ahead, as though it was keeping an equal distance from us. The sickly wrong, tainted feeling that I had in the presence of the Book of Vile Darkness was surrounding us, as if the city itself was exuding that evil taint. 

       Eventually we found a building that was completely in tact, though the door didn't have a handle. Willow searched the building until she found a hidden thing that opened the door for us. Inside was a huge, dark stone room, that was completely empty- rather suspicious considering the state of the rest of the city. Pimbin sensed something odd in a corner of the room, and when we went to investigate we discovered that area was cloaked in magical darkness. Pharin removed the wall in that corner, and the darkness shifted and moved with it. 

       Lothar found a spot that felt cursed, his eyes flashed white for a moment, and suddenly he knows how to city fell. It had been corrupted by a great evil, not cursed. I couldn't get any information about a curse either, but I did learn that the building used to be a crafting facility where very powerful magic items were made and stored. 

       We found a sigil on the floor of the building, and it looked similar to the one on the dagger hilt we've been lugging around forever. Pharin tapped the hilt to the sigil on the floor, hoping that putting them together would get a reaction; nothing happened. I used a spell that gives me an items history, but all I got was the image of a short person melting the sigil into the floor, which didn't make much sense. Since we knew that dagger did something fiery, Pharin tried to activate it, and failed. Dervish sent Oryn a message asking for help with his, and when he opened up his pouch to receive our employer's response, the rune lit up, revealing a staircase. This place is fucking weird.

       Downstairs we found an abandoned storage vault thing that was littered with empty bottles. After some searching, I found a hidden area of the room, and Pharin busted through the wall to see what was on the other side. The walls slammed shut behind us, leaving Lothar and Pimbin behind; we couldn't even reach them through our rings. Lothar's leg had gotten stuck in the wall, and was severed. We found ourselves in a small six-sided room that was cloaked in magical darkness. Dervish and Willow found some sigils on the walls, and Pharin activated one, revealing Lothar, now one leg short, and Pimbin. Pharin decided to give Lothar some of his blood, and the poor cat began convulsing, he was clearly dying; that's what happens when a douche nozzle half-dragon gives a mortal his blood, either they die or become a sorcerer- Lothar ended up falling into the former category. 

       Once Pharin was done killing our party, he decided to see what was behind another sigil. This one jammed twice, it took a third attempt before he was able to force that door open. A hallway was on the other side, it seemed closed off, but it wasn't somehow; it was a perplexing sight. There were cracks in the walls, as if an earthquake had touched this place at one point; there was some quaking happening at that moment, but I think the cracks were older than that. Since it was annoyingly dark, Pimbin threw a daylight spell into the hallway. Revealed was a big black shadowy thing that was advancing on us, probably the same thing that Dervish and Lothar had spotted earlier in the day. Whatever it was, it seemed to be immune to magic, nothing the mages did phased it; but when I struck it with a completely mundane arrow it gave a terrifying scream. After meeting my arrow, the thing began slowly down, as if it was reluctant to continue its attack; it still continued advancing on us, though much more slowly than before. Tendrils began oozing from the cracks in the walls, lurching toward us. I am not ashamed to say that we fucking retreated.

       Back on the surface we learned that the storm was over. We also discovered that Lolth and Moradin were having a huge battle over Lothar, apparently Moradin wasn't as willing to cast his priest aside as he seemed. At a loss for what to do, we took shelter in the ruins of a former building that was clear of the path of destruction the deities were carving. While waiting we found out that Ralliakkan was surrounded by vampires, and was badly wounded; Pharin summoned her to us and I healed her. We then learned that Aeryn and Aerys had been wither her, and were also in need of extraction, so Pharin summoned them next. They were in the Vale. Apparently my home is becoming a hellish war zone. We really needed to find that stupid Sword so we could go save my people. 

       To make things even stranger, Istus, the Goddess of Fate and Destiny, wandered into our makeshift camp. She told us that Lothar is important, and we cannot ever let him fall, without him we may lose the war. She fully restored him and became his third deity to grant him clerical powers. Istus also told us that Pharin would destroy this world, we really need to kill that dick before he destroys us all. Lothar awoke and his fur had changed colors again, he was now a beautiful silver and gold. 

       The twins told us that Oryn was missing, no one had heard from him in over a month; which was weird since we just saw him a couple tendays ago, and he had just responded to Dervish earlier today. Pharin decided we needed to bring Narg in on this, though I suspect it was just because he wanted a draw from Narg's magic bag. He was able to summon Narg, but not with the ease he had summoned the others; Narg didn't have one of Pharin's rings, and you can't make that beautiful barbarian go somewhere he doesn't want to go. We quickly filled Narg in on the details, and he explained to us that Oryn's answering service was who responded to Dervish today, not Oryn himself. To see what happened when we were in the time bubble, Narg used a memory chalice. After watching those two months go by in a matter of seconds, Narg announced that the Oryn who was in the bubble with us was and was not Oryn- a clone. 

       Pharin then decided that Lan should be present for this conversation, but Lan never responded to him; the paladin appeared to be on another plane of existence. The wizard learned how to activate the hilt, which Narg said would hurt the darkness that dwelled in this place. Narg wanted to go to a nonexistent plane of existence, called the Plane of Sustenance; which is of course, nothing but amazing food. Pharin and I combined powers to create it for Narg- I sang about it while Pharin cast some spell; I've never seen a happier barbarian. Maybe next time we meet I'll get something useful from him because of this.

       While all of this was occurring Lolth and Moradin were still battling for Lothar. He marched right up to the avatars and told them to stop fighting... Instead of crushing him, they actually stopped. Super weird. I'm going to have to spin a tale about this. Too bad so much other shit was happening so I couldn't watch the fight closely enough to compose an epic about it. I could embellish of course, but I really don't want to bring either of their wraths down upon myself by showing one of them in an unfavorable light. 

       The thri-kreen finally arrived in the city, so we hurried back to the building to explore the rest of the six-sided room. It had to have some clue about the location of the Sword. We found the building collapsed, thanks to the gods for their pissing match over Lothar. Once we reached the six-sided room again we tried a different passage, and that area began turning Dervish to stone; it was stopped before he was completely encased those. There was a ruby in the room as well, and while it didn't look magic, it felt magic. 

       The next room we opened had a small forge in it. Pharin opened up the forge to take a look inside, and instantly collapsed; a death rune had been placed just inside the forge. Unfortunately Ralliakkan revived the douche bag. Inside the forge was a completely mundane ceramic mug, with a switch on the handle that revealed an tiny chamber in the base. It was interesting, but not the kind of thing you'd expect in a forge with that kind of trap in it. There were also a couple of boxes in the room, one contained a small, radiant, crystal star; the other had two rings that look exactly like wish rings, except with black diamonds. I think they're unmake rings, since they look like what's on the Fate card in the Deck of Many Things. I tried my lore spell on the star and the rings and came up with nothing. It was as if they didn't exist, which meant they had to have come from another plane of existence. Everything has a story, if I were to use that spell on a single blade of grass, I would learn when it was planted, how often it has been mowed, if anyone has stepped on it, etc. Coming up empty means it shouldn't be here, much like that evil sensation that was still breathing down my neck. Pharin told me to give Ralliakkan both rings, which I of course ignored, and only gave her one of them. She doesn't get to keep all the cool shit. I made it a nipple ring so the others wouldn't see it on me. 

       The final room we checked that night contained onyx skulls, which were meant to be used as fuel for the forge.

***** Day 2 in the Forgotten City

       The next day Pharin and Ralliakkan decided to go down the well that was in the forge room, they found a tunnel and underground river; the water seemed to be coming directly from the Elemental Plane of Water.

       My reverie that night was unpleasant, I felt a dark presence, as if something was literally surrounding my mind and pressing on it. Whatever evil was lurking in this city wanted in my head. Willow said she had a similar feeling during her reverie too. After waking I felt like the entire city was alive and watching our every move. I found myself to be really bitchy that day too, and distant; it's rare that I'm so quiet, but for some reason I just didn't feel like talking to the others much.

       Willow and I decided to explore while the others screwed around in the forge. We found what appeared to be an empty apothecary. We couldn't open the final door, I just didn't have magic powerful enough to do it. Bored, we opened the door that had housed nothing but darkness the night before; this time it seemed safe. It ended up being a hallway with a fake dead end wall. That room looked like it had once been the armory. 

       Ralliakkan was also bored waiting around for Pharin, Dervish, and Lothar to quit fucking around in the forge. She decided to blow up the door we couldn't open; no sense leaving a pathway closed when we have nothing to do. Behind this door was a little alcove, with something behind a brick in the back wall. It was supposed to be hidden, but I pay tons of attention to detail, obviously. Behind the brick was a diamond, an emerald, and a ruby, all embedded in the wall behind that brick. We figured there was an elemental sequence to the gems, so first we tried blood. Pharin summoned and sacrificed a bear, and nothing happened. If blood doesn't work on a ruby, fire is likely the key to they gem, so Pharin used a fire breath potion on it. Unbeknownst to the party, the fire breath potion that Pharin always drinks, isn't a real potion; it's completely fake. Pharin uses it as a prop when he wants to use his fire breath, that way no one will suspect he isn't completely drow. Pharin's potion did the trick, and the ruby began to glow softly when he was finished. The emerald required acid, and the diamond required radiant. 

       Once we had given all of the gems their proper element they turned black. We felt energy begin to crackle around us, the lights in the building turned on, and we heard the telltale whirling of machines stuttering to life. I have no idea how machinery could still be functioning after laying dormant for so long, but nothing about this damned city makes any sense. A staircase appeared in front of us, we began to descend the stairs with caution. 

       At the bottom of the stairs we found a room filled with pillars, each one had the name of a god, demigod, or creature of the abyss engraved on it. We began to search for Kas' pillar, thinking that was where the stupid sword was. Pharin got to Kas' pillar first, and touched the Fang to it- causing another fucking earthquake and making the pillars begin shattering. Then the dumbass got the oh so brilliant idea to sacrifice a bear to Kas' pillar, which as a vampire is probably quite an insult; I've read stories about vampires thinking of those who eat animals instead of humanoids being mentally unstable, and looked upon as lepers by other vampires. While normally I wouldn't care about pissing vampires off, I really didn't want to anger the deity whose sword we were after. Once Pharin's sacrifice was complete, the pillar shattered spraying blood and stone everywhere.

       Inside the pillar was a mummified corpse, Kas' body. 

       There were gods everywhere, Bast was advancing on Dervish, moving jerkily like zombies do. Lothar jumped in to help Dervish, but the false Goddess was healing faster than they could damage her. We realized we needed to just get the sword and get the hell out of this madhouse. 

       Dervish dipped Kas' fang in lich blood, causing the unmoving mummy's eyes to open and begin looking around wildly. Seeing that Ralliakkan got the idea to have Pharin summon the lich right in front of Kas. She then stabbed through the lich and into Kas' body, which exploded; leaving behind a Sword. Pharin and I both tried to grab the stupid sword, but for some reason it wouldn't let us take it. Lothar was coming over to see if he could take the sword, and suddenly a version of Vecna was throwing him across the room. Dervish hit the lichgod with the legendary sword that kills everything; apparently it hadn't killed a lichgod yet, because that was the end of that Vecna. Lothar grabbed the sword before anything else could happen, and the instant his hand connected with that sword, everything calmed down. The room was no longer shaking, and all of the gods were back where they were supposed to be. For good measure, Lothar stabbed Vecna's pillar, and all that remained was a little vial; possibly Vecna's phylactery.

***** The next morning...

       After getting some rest from the tiring ordeal of the day before, we teleported ourselves back to Ekbir to get good and drunk.