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.