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

Infiltrating Castle Ravenloft

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock, formerly Aurora's familiar
Aiden, Eurydice's Sprite familiar

Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer, Knight of the Erl King

"Shadewing" Corvis Cairunis Umbrusalarim, the Shadow Elf Hexblade Warlock and Knight of the Raven Queen
Cloak, Shadewing's Empty Cloak familiar
Alfred, Shadewing's Raven familiar 
Alucard, the ancient all-powerful wizard; formerly Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue, Knight of Fall
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion who serves as Eurydice's Knight
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion who serves as Ceidil's Knight

Comrades we have lost:
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to resurrect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person since the bard can't be everywhere at once.

***** Lacysnows 27, CY 710, City of Brass

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

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

***** Lacysnows 28, Potidaea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***** Needfest 6, Eru Tovar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All maps by Anna B. Meyer

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

The Locks Start Crumbling

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor and Bae'qeshel of Lolth, the Silver Tongued Siren
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock, formerly Aurora's familiar
Aiden, Eurydice's Sprite familiar

Dervish, the Kasathe Brass Dragon Fighter and Dragon Blood Sorcerer

"Shadewing" Corvis Cairunis Umbrusalarim, the Shadow Elf Hexblade Warlock of the Raven Queen
Cloak, Shadewing's Empty Cloak familiar
Alfred, Shadewing's Raven familiar
Alucard, the ancient all-powerful wizard; formerly Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party; also know as Cinder, the ancient power that is said to destroy every world

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue

Comrades we have lost:
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to resurrect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person since the bard can't be everywhere at once.

***** Lacysnows 25, CY 710, Potidaea Bard College

       While I was organizing my bards to get the college fixed, Alucard came back with an odd man in a raven mask, with a raven perched on his shoulder. He was introduced to us as Shadewing- by the bird, Alfred- who apparently speaks for him. Alucard had gone to the Raven Queen to get us aid, and this was who she'd sent to us. He told us he had to get a couple more people, before vanishing again. 

       Dervish, apparently missing Douchebag, offered him a draw from the Deck of Many Things. Alfred drew first and got the Void... a few seconds later, Alucard reappeared with Narg and the gem Alfred had gotten sucked into. Shadewing himself drew something that made a Yochlol appear and hand his the Tome of the Stilled Tongue. He wanted nothing to do with it, so I picked it up, out of curiosity. 

       A pulse of energy suddenly hit everyone in and around Potidaea. Cause we totally need more shit to go wrong today. I found Briisa, and she said it came from one of the sub-basements that we haven't touched in decades. Fucking wonderful. There was probably some horrible thing lurking in it that would attack. At the moment we got there, the 15-foot adamantine door that had sealed this room crashed to the ground, revealing two golems. Behind them was a human who introduced himself as Tsorig. Apparently, he'd been sent here by his God, Kelemvor, to investigate the mass deaths that just occurred. We quickly explained to him that somehow Pharin had managed to set the world on fire. He readily joined up with us, especially after we told him about Vecna. Probably should have led with that, but really, Pharin may actually be worse for the world than the lich god.

       Lan was the next person Alucard brought to us, and he quickly befriended Tsorig. They decided that they should work together on conscripting some clerics for us. With that taken care of, Briisa and I were able to get back to work. 

       Our archives were in the section of the tower that Pharin blew up. Some of our smaller colleges throughout the world would be able to get us new copies of some of the books, but I knew some of our oldest tomes were kept only here and were now likely gone forever. When this nonsense with Vecna is sorted out, I'll be making backup archives in triplicate. No clue where I'll put them, but I'll think of something. 

       Another fucking wonderful problem was true resurrection wasn't working on any of our fallen. We had a bunch of our bards trying but to no avail. I'm pretty sure the stupid Beacons are the problem. 

       An emptiness suddenly washed over us all for a brief moment as red, crackling energy went from a Beacon into the clouds. Eurydice saw five locks in the sky, and one of them had just crumbled. If all five locks fell, the Outsiders would be able to get in. This was the best time for Pharin to blow up our archives. I just needed a fucking Fate card to fix my tower- just make the explosion be like three feet to the left of the tower or something, so everything we needed wasn't fucking destroyed. Ralliakkan said a Fates card wouldn't cut it for something like this- cataclysmic event and whatnot- but I didn't want to undo the event, just the damage to my tower. I thought maybe I could wish for the knowledge to fix the locks at the very least, so I yelled at a couple of my bards to get me a wish, but none of them had any... and guess where the fucking scrolls were.

       Since we were lacking in options, we decided to head to the second Beacon, in hopes we could stop the cults from doing anything there. I didn't know if I'd actually be able to teleport us all the way there since the fucking Beacons were still messing with that magic. Before leaving, Tsorig summoned a planetar to help us. 

       As I predicted, we did not end up in Asperdi like we were supposed to. Instead, we ended up about thirty miles away... and thirty miles above the fucking Solnor Ocean. Dervish, Vish, Scottie, and I got on our brooms instantly, Shadewing could apparently fly, and Tsorig turned into a griffin. Lan, on the other hand... He was falling too quickly, so I opened a dimension door under him, and dropped a Hand to catch him. The Hand grabbed him, and popped... the paladin continued his plummet into the icy waters below.

       Tsorig sent his planetar after Lan, and it came back up looking bloody. A fucking lightning bolt followed it, aimed for Vish, Scottie, and Shadewing... there was a fucking kraken down there. Then a flash of brilliant light went off and an angel appeared, diving into the water. It managed to retrieve him, and with that, we were all able to head to shore. 

       We weren't entirely sure how to get to the damn Beacon, but thankfully Dervish found a trail pretty quickly. As he rose on his broom, a lightning bolt slammed into him. We were going to have to walk. 

***** Lacysnows 26, Asperdi

       We traveled through the night and into the morning, hoping to get there quickly; but we were definitely in for a ridiculously long journey. Around midday, I set up my mansion for us to rest in.

       When we exited the mansion Tsorig called his planetar back, and it began screaming in agony as red energy ripped through it. The Beacon turned red at the exact same moment. Tsorig set up a wall of blades between us and his planetar. Dervish and Vish flanked it and completely destroyed it. The planetar exploded, covering them in a blackish ichor; Vish began screaming in pain as the ichor sprayed him. Lan began trying to help Vish with the corruption, but there was nothing he could do. We had to knock him out. 

       Since the Beacon we were here for was red now, we decided to head for the third Beacon; and if we couldn't hit that one, we'd just go to Calbut. We ended up on a mountain, in the middle of a blizzard. I took us to Calbut next. 

       Upon our arrival, we realized that Calbut was just where the keystone was, the actual Beacon was eighty fucking miles away. Shadewing found a shadow road we could take to get there, but as soon as he opened it, screams erupted from it. I was out of teleportation magic, so Dervish took us to his paradise so we could gate to the Beacon. Lan decided to go get a weapon, and he'd be back in a while.

       I prepared the plane shift, but then Dervish insisted I scry first... that was fucking stupid. The evil coated me instantly, greeting me like an old friend; after all, it was. My Shadow Twin appeared at my side, and together we turned to face the idiots before us. We charmed most of the idiots, but Scottie was able to resist us. He dropped a circle on me and paralyzed me. Then pain wracked my very soul as Tsorig called upon Kelemvor to remove the corruption from both Vish and I. The corruption keeps coming for me, and I always manage to break free. 

       After a couple hours, I checked on Lan, and he said he was just outside the paradise- he couldn't get back in. We left it to go meet him and headed into town. 

       Dervish apparently missed Pharin. He offered the innkeeper some draws from the Deck of Many Things. The innkeeper drew the fucking Void... His daughter then took her father's Deck and drew the Fates card. Dervish's Deck vanished, as she made it so he'd never gotten his in the first place. The innkeeper was back, since he'd never drawn the Void, and insisted Dumbass take a draw for himself. Dervish drew the Idiot, which was beyond the perfect card for the Dumbass to draw. Shadewing drew Donjon, and something else that made him vanish. Vish drew a Fates card; Scottie drew the Void. Then Vish, sick of it all, used his Fates card to undo the entire thing. I never drew, I couldn't risk losing Luna or the Lolth blade. 

***** Lacysnows 27, Calbut

       In the morning Briisa told me that Vecna had the knowledge to stop the Outsider's cult from unlocking the gates. But there was no way we could get it from that asshat. Over breakfast, the others decided to play with the Deck of Many Things again. Lan drew the star, the knight, and the key- giving him a luck blade. Tsorig drew the vizier and the gem; the vizier could be a huge aid to us. Lan's new knight drew the fool and the moon. Then Eurydice decided to draw, getting the moon and the knight- a little human girl; that was kind of disappointing, I'd hoped she'd get a little faerie dragon knight.

       We needed some divine aid in this, so Shadewing went to the Feywild to seek an audience with Mab. I headed to the Abyss to talk to Lolth; Lan and Tsorig decided to follow me... I just hoped they wouldn't fuck up my chances of getting help from her.

       I was greeted by Ralliakkan when we got to the Demonweb Pits. She told me Lolth wasn't seeing people at the moment, so I explained to her what we were looking for. About two hours later she came back and told us that there were only three things that could hurt the Outsiders. One was Lan's sword, another was Tsorig's sword, and Ralliakkan was apparently the third thing. With that, a yochlol sent us back to where we'd been, and only five minutes had passed since we initially left.

       Shadewing sent Alfred back to get us, told us we were all going to the Feywild, we were meeting them at the oak in the very center. There were tons of fey sitting around the Stone Table, discussing the situation. Apparently there was only one lock left. Shade told them we were here to offer aid, and gain aid.

       To gain this aid from them, we'd have to join them with a treaty, and serve them to gain protections. They were all willing to contract with us. None of the fey knew what was on the other side of the gate, or how long it would take to get through. We then were each taken by a different fey lord to work with. The Erl King took Dervish as his Knight; Mab took Tsorig; Titania took me; Celeste, the Queen of Spring, took Vish; Syndall, the Queen of Fall, took Ralliakkan; and the Raven Queen took Shadewing. We were all given familiars by our fey patrons, who would instantly remove our Mantles the moment we died, to prevent the cults from getting them.

       After the rituals to gain the mantles, Alucard showed up, and had some dire news for us. The Outsider cults were trying to rip a hole in time and take Vecna's soul; they wanted to put his soul in a gem to superpower their god, or something. It was odd and worrisome, though I didn't pay attention to the whole thing; I just didn't care that much.

       We headed to Sigil after that to get supplies. People were leaving it because of the locks breaking, but there were still enough shops open to burn some money.

All maps by Anna B. Meyer

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