Corruption's Lair
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 and Dragon blood Sorcerer
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
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 of Cinder, and the Sword of Kas
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.
***** The Lair of the Heart of Corruption
The seed of corruption that had been planted in Aurora was strong, and began growing and feeding on the corruption that was already buried deep inside her. When she awoke from the unconscious state the Heart had left her in, she was evil to the core.
When I came to, I decided it would be best to play nice, pretend that I was the same person the party knew. I knew if I didn't pretend to be my usual self, they wouldn't let me out of their sight, and I had to find my stuff. The others went off in search of my loot, leaving myself and the foul foal behind near the column of stairs. I half-assed an apology for killing her, but I really didn't care. Somehow I knew that the disturbingly white room we were in was 500 miles long, and I knew where the loot those idiots were searching for was. I had to get to my stuff before they did, but first I had to shed myself of the damned nightmorc.
I pointed us in a random direction, and we began "searching" for my stuff. After only a few minutes, Nanu suddenly became overwhelmed by the endless expanse of alabaster that lay before us. She became entranced by it, and couldn't move, or think. It was the perfect time for me to get to my stuff. I teleported myself to it and found myself at a door. I picked the lock with a dagger, but forgot to search the stupid door for traps. You'd think my door to my stuff would have just let me pass, or that I would at least know that the stupid thing was trapped. Instead, I found myself back at the stupid column of stairs, and the magical energy I needed to teleport back to the door was gone; I had to go into reverie in order to get it back. I set up a Hut around myself, and attempted to make it blend in with the whiteness of the room; I fell into reverie with the plan to get my stuff back in a few hours. I knew the fools wouldn't find it themselves before I was refreshed.
The rest of the party was making their way south to look for loot, and before long both Pimbin and Willow fell into the same overwhelming trance that Nanu was in. Pharin could see there were thousands of spirits roaming this room, lost souls that had been trapped here and could not move on. If he were a better man he may have cared, tried to do something for them, but he is a drow and cares for nothing but himself and his twin. Lothar realized something was wrong with his companions and brought them back to reality. At that point the group began trying to contact Aurora and Nanu to see if they were alright; since Nanu was trapped in her own mind, she couldn't answer the group. I heard the others calling to me while I worked to open my door, but I didn't feel like responding to them. I just didn't care enough to, and if I answered, they would try to find me and take my stuff.
Realizing that something was wrong, Lothar used a spell that teleported him to Nanu, landing astride the nightmorc; had she been conscious she would have been livid. Lothar brought the fighter back to reality, and the group decided they needed to head back to the column before they became completely lost in the white expanse.
When the group arrived at the column they found Aurora's Hut, and while they still couldn't get a response from her, they at least knew where the bard was. While the bard meditated, Lothar rigged a trap around her Hut, so she couldn't just abandon the group again.
Pharin decided to give Dervish his blood to turn the fighter into a sorcerer; while he managed not to kill him, like he had done with Lothar, he was still unsuccessful at implanting magic into the kasathe.
*****
I had sensed Lothar doing something to my Hut while I was in reverie, so I checked the area around it before teleporting off. I didn't tell the group I was awake, or that I was leaving, I just left again. I couldn't let them have my things. Unfortunately I underestimated how devious that fucking feline was. He set up a trap that made it so when I teleported, the rest of the group could follow me. I then had to play dumb, saying I didn't know they were right outside; I swallowed my rage at them following me, and we went through the door. I still had some time to get away with my things if I could slip away quickly enough.
We found ourselves in a small, square room, that was as obnoxiously white as the rest of the place. Though this room had a shaft going up it, that seemed to go on forever; it didn't, or course, it actually went to the well in the middle of town. Lothar began climbing the walls and knocking on them, looking for a hollow point that would signify a secret entrance. The stupid cat found it, but none of them could pry it open; it was after all, my stuff, so only I could get the panel open. On the other side of the panel was a dark room that was slightly out of phase from the rest of the world. The others couldn't see anything in it, to them it was just an empty black hole; they were even walking right through things. I, on the other hand, could see just fine in there and went straight for one of the chests that held my things. It would have worked if that damned drow hadn't realized what was happening with the room, and began trying to pull it into phase with them.
For some reason, Pharin's actions infuriated me to the point where I knew I had to kill him to make him stop. I began launching arrows and spells at him, and he responded in turn, all the while still pulling the room into focus. What the bard didn't realize, was that her spells were feeding the energy that Pharin was using to draw the room out. Every time Aurora hit Pharin, that energy only helped him further along. Of course the others decided to join the fight, and someone hit me with one of those lye arrows that Lothar made. At about that time the wretched wizard finished pulling my room into phase; revealing my stuff. Pharin twisted the lye arrow in Aurora, and managed to burn out the last of the corruption, purifying her- though it almost killed the bard in the process. As a safety precaution, they tied the bard up and strapped her Nanu's back.
When I came to, I had no idea why I had decided to attack the douchey drow, or how I had even known about this vault. The others asked if there were any more of them in this structure, but I didn't know. Apparently searing the corruption out of me removed all of the memories it had given me. Makes sense, but it still would have been nice to know if there was more treasure to be found in this place. There were several other rooms exactly like this one filled with treasures, things that the party would never find in the vast alabaster expanse.
There were three chests in the room, along with a desk full of paperwork. Willow opened up the first chest with ease- but she forgot to check it for traps... the moment the rouge opened the chest, she turned to stone. It was hilarious. Pharin fixed her, and we thought Willow had learned her lesson, until she got the the next chest. While the eladrin did check the exterior for traps, she did not check the interior. Inside the chest was a robe, and once Willow picked it up,a flash of light burst from it, and everyone began turning to stone.
Willow was able to call out to Ralliakkan for help a second before the stone over took her. Pharin was able to quaff a potion of gaseous form to delay the process long enough for him to call Andolin for help. House Braz'Dracon responded first, and the room was suddenly filled with Pharin's priestesses and army. They turned everyone back into flesh again, though at the loss of a couple of soldiers, who made the mistake of looking into the alabaster expanse outside the room.
Pharin again gave Dervish a vial of his blood to drink, trying to turn the fighter into a sorcerer. Instead of killing the jackass, it actually worked this time, and Dervish was infused with magic. After that we all continued on our search of the room; while I no longer felt that it was mine, I was still plenty annoyed that the others got to keep the things that I had found. In one of the chests were three brass balls, with symbols on them, and inside the desk we found a book that said the balls belonged to Cinder and would open into weapons. We also learned that the robe that seemed completely mundane was also Cinder's, and would turn into armor. Even though everyone had agreed Willow could have the robe, the moment it was discovered to be magical, the others demanded it. When the party returned to Ekbir later, Pimbin, being the selfish ass that he was, decided to report to the authorities that "his" robe had been stolen by Willow. If she ever found out what he did, it was likely blood would be spilled.
Pharin began trying to get the balls to activate and open into weapons, and in the process he managed to turn the dagger hilt we had been carrying around all this time into a ball. Apparently the dagger was also Cinder's, no wonder we had to keep it out of the cult's hands.
When we finally went topside again, we found a huge beacon of light coming from the heart of the city, and going up into the heavens. We learned it was a Pillar of the Divine, and there were three others somewhere in Oerth. We decided to spend one more night in the forge area working on things, and I planned to approach them all the next day about going to the Vale. They kept saying we could go once we found the Sword; we found the fucking Sword, so I now needed to go save my people.
***** The Vale of the Mage
The next day we all began arguing about my want to return to the Vale, with Pharin of course saying no. Someone really needs to kill this asshole. Eventually I won the argument, and we were greeted to a terrible sight upon entering the Vale.
We were downhill from the Black Keep, and there were vampires and blood everywhere. I saw some of our other allies there, with Narg towering over them all. As I began pulling out my harps to begin raining fire down on the vamps, Pharin opened the iron flask he had found in my... the vault, and out sprang Oryn. Apparently our employer had been trapped in that flask for the last month.
***** Ekbir
Once our employer was free, we found ourselves in Ekbir. The jackass teleported us to safety so he could get his bearings or something. I was finally home, and Oryn just whisked us away. If he didn't pay so well...
Nanu had been mid-swing when we appeared in town, and her hammer came crashing down on a human male, nearly killing him. It would have been funny if the man whose skull she tried to cave in wasn't one of the biggest merchants in town. Furious, the man demanded Nanu's life in payment; the idiotic halfling was quick to attempt to oblige. What Pimbin didn't stop to think about, because all of his brains are in his biceps, is that the nightmorc isn't as easy to kill as I had made it seem when corrupted. The other thing the moronic monk didn't think about was that I would revive Nanu afterwards, since the foul foal is useful. Once that matter was settled, I left the seething horse and the rest of the party behind to visit the Temple of Ehlonna- I was supposedly fixed, so the Moonblade should accept me now.
It took a lot of convincing, but after much talking, and spending a night in reverie over the sword, I was finally attuned to the Moonblade. She still wasn't completely sure if she approved of me, and wouldn't talk to me, but at least I had my prize. Eventually Luna- I decided to call her that, since it's more personal than "sword"- would see that I had the best interest in elvenkind at heart.
On the way back to meet the stupid party, I swung by a music shop I frequented in town to see if they had any more harps; I would need all the fire I could get when we returned to the Vale. Not only did they have the harp, but they also had some other instruments I could make use of, and charm bracelets for easier storage. The dicks didn't want to sell everything to me, so I bought the stupid shop instead. I then went to one of the bars I spend a lot of my time in Ekbir at, and hired a fellow bard to help run the shop for me. Pulling out so much money in a crowded bar was a dumb idea... A ton of fools were waiting to try to mug me. I thought about just killing them all, I could have done so easily, but I was in a hurry and didn't think that would help my case with Luna. So I tumbled through dimensions and moved myself 500 feet up the street- I then went to meet the group to return home.
***** The Vale of the Mage
We walked through Oryn's portal, without Oryn, and were returned to the spot where we left, just downhill from the Keep. Unlike yesterday, there was no war waiting for us, instead a group of vampires approached and said it was time we had a conversation. He led us up the path to the Black Keep, and suddenly we were at the opposite end of the Vale, standing right outside the Citadel of the Mage. The Citadel has been closed up for centuries, said to be rigged with so many traps no one could survive entering it. It was wide open... the Cult of Kas had breached the one place in the Vale said to be filled with ancient secrets and artifacts.
Our escort ushered us into the throne room, which was in the wrong place- and the throne was so drenched in blood it looked almost like the red lacquered armor we see on their troops. If that wasn't strange enough, Josiah waltzed in the room and flopped into the throne like he owned the place. The Cult of Kas had gotten his soul out of the gem and turned him to their side. Pharin instantly tried to use blood to summon the spirit of Jayce, thinking he could save the group from his brother once more, but the evil that shrouded the Vale wouldn't allow it.
The filthy bloodsucker decided to give me a history lesson, on my own home. According to Josiah, the entity of Chaos that my people are bound to is Vecna. It has always been known that the Sheldomar River Valley was home to Vecna, but scholars have always said he lived further south, closer to Keoland than the Vale. If Josiah is to be believed, Vecna is the one who built the Citadel, not our first king. The Lichgod is the one who made the Vale pure chaos, to the point that it was uninhabitable, unless you were bound to the chaos itself. Apparently my entire race has been nothing but a method of feeding power to Vecna for all these centuries; we have been inadvertently making the lich stronger. That's why his cult has the soul of our One True King, and why they have the chest filled with our history and artifacts. Our entire existence has been to serve Vecna, without even knowing we were doing it. The birthmark that can make us wither and die if captured, that lets us call to one another, that allows us to travel our homeland without being assaulted by the menagerie of monsters that spill out of portals- even the portals themselves- is because of Vecna. I had to find a way to free my people from Vecna's grasp. I hoped Luna was the tool that would help me do so.
Our history lesson concluded with the information that Lothar is Kas reincarnated. Josiah said that we should be united, since we both wanted Vecna's Cult destroyed; though the barbarian failed to realize that is where our opinions cease to be in agreement. Yes, we wanted to stop Vecna's cult, however, we didn't want Kas resurrected in order to do so. Our goal was to stop both cults, not just the greater of the two evils.
Josiah said we were his "guests" for the night, and we were escorted to rooms. Everything about the layout of the Citadel felt wrong; it didn't feel like the Vale should. We were cut off from our magics, but Pharin is too stubborn to accept that. The draft drow decided to use blood magic to cover the room in runes for a dispelling ritual. Using his dragon breath, apparently he was done hiding his true nature from us, the wizard actually succeeded in setting off the spell and reversing the lockout to magic. Just in time for a loud rumbling to start vibrating the Citadel.
At the sound of the rumble, Pharin tried again to access Cinder's balls, and this time it actually worked. Before he could do anything more with them, Narg burst into the room, leaving a lovely hole in the wall behind him. The barbarian had used a sun stone to sear his way into the building to rescue us.
We walked out of the Citadel and were greeted again to a full scale war. Almost every one of Oryn's agents was out there fighting, including the boss himself; he and Josiah were locked in battle far from us. Magic missiles were zooming around the battlefield, slamming into every vampire they met. The others ran out to join the fray- except Pharin, Narg, and I. Pharin decided to call upon Jayce and Haasenpfeffer once again- and this time it worked. A rift opened up to the Positive Energy Plane, and the golden radiance began leaking through to the Vale. It was an awe-inspiring sight, one that has given me several new song ideas. The final battle for the Vale of the Mage had begun.
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| Map by Anna B. Meyer |
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