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

Nothing Really Matters

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Maestro, Bae'qeshel and former Champion of Lolth, Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar

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

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

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring

Comrades we have lost:
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg- sacrificed himself to aid the party
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue- killed by Lyathfikash
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion- killed by the outside
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to ressurect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

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

***** Diamondice 20, CY 711, the ancient abandoned city

       Vecna attempted to teleport away after receiving a nasty blow from the Gunslinger, but Shadewing and Alfred countered his magic, keeping him there. The barbarian archers Dervish summoned accidentally shot Alucard instead of Vecna, and knocked him unconscious briefly. 

       Outside the castle, I carefully placed a meteor swarm spell so it would hit Jarrid, Aeryn, and Aerys, but miss Jayce, but somehow it missed Jarrid completely and destroyed Jayce. I barely managed to keep my cool and not curl up in a ball of misery over destroying him. Dervish sent a flurry of magic missiles at Jarrid and the twins; hurting Jarrid badly, but the spell fizzled out when it reached Aeryn and Aerys. 

       I was hit by an arrow from one of the twins, and suddenly realized that nothing we were doing mattered. What was the point in any of this? Vecna would win no matter what we did. I sighed and watched my allies fight what I now knew was a pointless battle. 

       A group of dinosaurs appeared, probably summoned by Gewnter, but I don't see why he bothered, they wouldn't do us any good. The Gunslinger managed to drop both of the twins, leaving just Jarrid between Vecna and us. I decided to eat Jarrid, but I missed. It was pointless to try in the first place. Then Dervish made a shitty shot and hit me instead of Jarrid. Alucard grabbed Jarrid and hurled him into a black hole, then went straight to the castle to deal with Vecna, not that it would work. I sat back on my haunches and sang about how pointless everything was.

       Vecna put himself into the fabric of reality, but things began to look like they were in a different reality. The lich-god was trying to merge his realm with reality. Shadewing tried- and failed- to put Vecna's realm into a bag of holding. Alucard stabbed into the fabric of the realm, preventing Vecna from fully merging into the material realm. Everything went black, and dark clouds rolled in. 

       Suddenly, I was myself again and surrounded by spirits who were bound here. It was everyone who'd died in this ancient city so long ago... and Jayce. He was mixed into the crowd, whispering to me that it was all my fault he was trapped here. I tried to push through the crowd, but he was always just out of my reach. I sat down to wait for death so I could join him, and realized I could just end it all now. There was no point to living. I plunged my dagger into my chest and Jayce's face filled with relief, he began walking toward me. As my life began to slip away, he caressed my cheek, looking at me like I'd dreamed he would, I felt peace. It was like he was guiding me toward an afterlife with him. I felt relieved. 

       Then it was all ripped from me and I was in the castle with the others. Alucard had pulled me here. I screamed in rage at him to send me back. I needed to be with Jayce. It was all I wanted. Then he hit me in the temple and I crumpled. The Gunslinger was able to heal Aurora's body, but not her soul, she still longed to be with Jayce, and didn't think what they were doing would make any difference.

       Right after I awoke from my attempt to join Jayce, everything went black. Alucard told us to close our eyes so he could get rid of whatever was causing the darkness. There was a bright white light that shone through my closed eyes, and then it felt like we were in a vacuum for a couple of seconds. We were still in the castle in the ancient city, but it was also Vecna's realm, and it was looking bad. We'd been chipping his domain away, piece by piece.

       A scream of rage echoed around us, Vecna did not like whatever Alucard had just done. Shade called out that Vecna should come down here and say that, so he did... hurting Shadewing badly. Zorack and Dervish began launching arrows at Vecna while I healed Shade. Since Vecna is the one who took Jayce from me in the first place, I felt somewhat driven to destroy the lich-god, avenge the love I never got to have. 

       Shadewing reached for Vecna's strands of fate to try to stop him that way, but it didn't seem to help our present situation at all. Vecna waved his arms and attempted to banish Shade, failing miserably; then he tried and failed to banish Dervish; then he went for a group banishment, sending Dervish, Zorack, and the Gunslinger away. Now it was just Alucard, Shadewing, and I against Vecna. Shade then tried to banish Vecna- failing- and Vecna tried and failed to banish Shade, again. This was ridiculous. I hummed a spell that would help me glimpse the future enough to try to evade anything Vecna threw at me. Alucard waved his hands and shot a beam of brilliant light at Vecna, searing the strands of fate it touched. Vecna screamed in rage and vanished, again. This was so fucking pointless.

       Everything rumbled, like someone had punched this plane of existence. Shade held his hands slightly apart and focused, creating a small ball of energy between them. Everything shook again, and Dervish appeared, with Daggon... So much for the Outsiders not getting in the way of our fight with Vecna. That idiot just made our pointless fight with the lich-god even more fruitless. We could never hope to beat both of them. Alucard saw what Shade was doing, grabbed the energy ball Shade had been forming, shoved it in a bottle, and jumped out the window. My rod of security wouldn't work, so I grabbed Zorack and used my dimension door to get us out of the castle. We got out just in time, the tower exploded and was completely destroyed. 

       Shadewing sort of died in the blast, and became a dullahan for the Raven Queen.

       Of course that didn't really do anything to help us. A colossal Vecna rose out of the ground with tons of undead appearing behind him. He was now about the same size as Daggon, which made the battle oh so much better. We're so completely fucked. If I wasn't fighting in Jayce's honor, I'd just walk away now; we were never going to win this fight. Zorack's arrows were just bouncing right off of Vecna, so the boys got the idea to get inside his head, literally. Alucard and the Gunslinger stayed on the ground, but Dervish, Zorack, Shade, and I all teleported right up to his eardrum. 

       Vecna, being the petty little douche that he was, started shrinking as soon as we got there, but we all got out in time. Just as we escaped, Daggon hit Alucard hard enough to send him flying. I turned into an ancient void dragon in hopes its abilities would give us something. The problem was, at that exact moment, Dervish did something that let him go nova, vaporizing the entire atmosphere. Vecna's realm was completely gone.

       I found myself sitting in front of Shade, along with the other boys, and Shade offered to turn us into dullahans too. The boys agreed, but I didn't. I just couldn't do that. Upon my refusal, I was suddenly in Ehlonna's grove, face-to-face with my goddess. The melancholy that had been in my soul since Aerys shot me was gone, I was no longer filled with the overwhelming need to die and join Jayce. I fell to my knees and asked Ehlonna to send me back... I needed to see the fight with Vecna through to the end. 

       Ehlonna granted my request, and I was suddenly free-falling over Oerth. I hopped on my broom and surveyed the world below me; there was a massive scar on the earth, likely created by that explosion, and I could see the massive form of Daggon, but no sign of Vecna. After taking in the scene, I sent a message to the boys, hoping any of them were still alive. Alucard teleported me to him and Shadewing, and as soon as I arrived, he turned into Lord Dementor and gave me the Armor of Cinder, since my armor was my Mantle, which had left me again.


       Zorack, the Gunslinger, Dervish, and Gewnter appeared at that moment, all as dullahan. It was time to end this shit once and for all. Shadewing tried to reap Daggon, which didn't work at all. Daggon attempted to step on us, but thankfully missed, and Dervish swung at his foot, hoping to hit him in the Achilles, but he failed. Shade swung his scythe at the Outsider, and I sung a spell at him that should have turned him into a gibbering idiot, but Daggon just barely managed to deflect my magic. The Gunslinger shot at Daggon, and he screamed, his flesh began to rapidly decay and his body began to crumble to dust. It was really fucking impressive, until enough of the body had crumbled to reveal Vecna standing behind him, holding Zorack's slaying arrow. 

Curses and Baubles: New Magic Items for 5th Edition

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

Vecna, the Petty

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Maestro, Bae'qeshel and former Champion of Lolth, Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar

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

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

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring

Comrades we have lost:
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg- sacrificed himself to aid the party
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue- killed by Lyathfikash
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion- killed by the outside
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to ressurect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

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

***** Diamondice 20, CY 711, location unknown

       Before I could really get my bearings, Lord Dementor stepped out from behind a pillar in the massive, empty ballroom and demanded to know why we were here. Somehow we'd ended up in his personal domain, which I guess hadn't been his intent when he'd handed me a vial of blood? I guess that circle I made was even more amazeballs than I'd thought. Of course before we could talk to him, Dervish basically challenged him, demanding he send us back and help us fight.

       Dementor didn't think we needed to go back. He said he had everything here he needed, which led to Zorack challenging him, so he summoned a shitload of gold to prove it... Then Dumbass asked him to send that gold to his people, and Zorack followed that stupid request up by asking Dementor to give him powerful artifacts. I fucking hate those two. Dementor lifted Zorack into the air with magic, and flung him into a pillar- it was fucking hilarious. 

      Lord Dementor didn't care to help us because his realm was safe from time unraveling. I attempted to persuade him, but Dervish decided to talk over me and run his mouth... pissing Dementor off again. 

       Suddenly, Zorack and I were on the opposite side of the ballroom from Dementor and Dumbass and a shield was erected between us and them. He was going to show Dervish what we were up against, I'm not sure if it was to change his mind about us going back or teach him to be smarter or what, but I had a feeling this was going to be good. Things got smokey over there and several black holes opened. The black holes ripped Dervish apart nine times, and each time he was destroyed, Dementor just brought him back. This all took only a few seconds before the shield dropped and Dervish was limp on the ground; alive, but broken and miserable. He couldn't move for a few minutes, while Dementor lectured him on that's what we were up against. 

       After all of that, Dervish still insisted on sending us back. I was going to ask him to allow us to rest here first, since time passed differently here, we wouldn't be screwed by taking a quick nap. Of course, thanks to Dervish, instead we were just sent to the Table without getting to rest. I hate that idiot so much. 

       Back at the Table was the Raven Queen, Shadewing, Narg, and the first incarnation of Alucard. We needed Ralliakkan to finish off Vecna for good, but Narg needed to sleep on how to get her back without dire consequences. Alucard put us in his personal lair to rest, saying we could take all the time we needed. What made this place so incredible was that I wasn't anywhere near the idiots. I was in Alucard's library, and I didn't have to go into reverie to rest, I got to read. I found one book that talked about the special weapons we'd acquired, like the Spear, and their abilities. According to the story I'd found, if we took all of them to this forge we could create a super weapon to defeat the Devil- whichever devil that was. The forge sounded like the one in the Forgotten City, but slightly different. 

       When the rest was finished, we all met back up. Turns out Shadewing had found the forge we needed, it was the goat people's forge, sort of; it was in the City of Greyhawk, but we needed the goats to use it. They had been shunned by Ao for using the forge in the past, or something, so it would take some convincing I guess. We needed to get the Gunslinger to meet us there, and we needed the sword Ralliakkan had been using. The others thought Lord Dementor had it, since Ralliakkan was using it when Lyathfikash killed her. Zorack told Narg to go retrieve the sword, and Narg flipped out on him, telling him that he needed to get it himself. The idiot told Narg no, and then fell unconscious; Narg stormed off. We decided that Dervish and Shade would get the gun and the goats, and Zorack and I would get the sword. First we went to Greyhawk for Narg, but there was no sign of him. Then for some fucking reason, we decided we weren't splitting up, and went to the goats together. I fucking hate these guys.

       The goats were not happy to see us again, but who could blame them. Shade told them we had need of their smiths, and all the goats screamed and ran away from us. Dervish grabbed one of the goats, and it bucked him off. Then Zorack told them the mutton lover was back in peace. Shade then decided to try to speak to them through Ao... which killed ALL of them. Thankfully, Zorack seemed to have an abundance of Fate cards.

       This time, we stopped Shade from speaking. I very calmly explained to them that we needed their aid and why we needed it. As soon as I finished explaining everything, there was a knock at the door. A tall high elf in a dark cloak held out the sword to us in silence; when Dervish took it, the figure was gone. Things go so much smoother when they let me deal with the people side of things. The goats still didn't want to help us, they were scared and wanted to stay here and hide. Shadewing told them that Ao had forgiven them and they were safe to leave this place. As Shade spoke of Ao's forgiveness, Ao's blessing washed over them and they regained the power he'd stripped from them thousands of years ago. They immediately began preparations to aid us. 

       When the goats were ready, I teleported us all to the forge in Greyhawk. It started as a maze, but thankfully we figured that out quickly and got out; then the goats collected our weapons at the forge. As they stepped up to the altar, energy began swirling around them and they began to chant. It was an absolutely beautiful ritual that brought a tear to my eye. They were all moving closer and closer to the altar as they chanted, and the energy grew more brilliant in the process; it was like radiant, but more pure somehow. Upon reaching the altar, the youngest of them stripped and lied down, then each of the others hit him with a holy weapon. A brilliant flash of light blinded us all for a few seconds, and when it was gone, so were the goats. 

       A single golden beam shone down on the dais, that was nearly blinding, and sitting on the dais was a perfect sword. We told Dervish to grab it and see if it would let him wield it, but it zapped him and drained the strength from his arm. The Gunslinger told us that wasn't the God Sword we had thought it was, this was the Devil's sword, and none of us were evil enough to wield the fucking thing. We needed this sword, so Zorack and I prayed to Ehlonna to help us wield it, at the same time that Shade tried to mess with my fate somehow. 

       The hatred and rage I'd felt just days ago came flooding back to me, and I found myself imprisoned in my own mind. This Devil I'd read about had taken control of me. Luna vanished from my side, my Mantle fled, and the concentration rings I'd taken from the Drow and Duergar were suddenly on my fingers. The Gunslinger shot at me, missing, and the Devil responded by tapping the drum on my hip to activate my spirit guardians, which had turned back into the twisted Vale Elves, began swirling around me... him... I don't know how to really differentiate it. Zorack and Dervish both slashed at me and missed, but Shade stabbed me hard... but it didn't feel like it did much to me, and I felt my lips turn up into a twisted grin. 

       Then the Gunslinger ruined the Devil's fun by setting up an anti-magic field. So the Devil used the dance I'd learned as a Bae'qeshel to mesmerize everyone, and then everyone got encased in a block of ice. Must be something this Devil can do. The Gunslinger was in the air when the ice went off, so he instantly began to plummet. Dervish broke out of the ice first, then attacked the block the Gunslinger was trapped in, trying to free him. Shade and the Devil exchanged blows, and he managed to hurt me this time. The boys kept doing their best to get out of the ice and hurt me, but only Shade was actually doing any fucking damage. Eventually Shade managed to knock the Devil out, and then I began feeling my soul slip away... they'd killed me. 

       The Gunslinger had killed Aurora and begun an exorcism to get the Devil out of her. Shade then used a rod of resurrection to bring her back.

      That seriously sucked. And now I had no armor, because my Mantle was my armor, and Luna was gone. In trying to wield that sword I'd lost my two biggest tools in this fight. 

       Narg told us he had an idea about what to about the sword, but Dervish wouldn't like it. A few minutes later Alyssandra walked out of a portal, and told us we needed to leave. She and Narg would be doing a ritual to deal with this Devil- Lucifer they called him- that might kill them. They'd be putting Lucifer into the Gunslinger's body to deal with him, and they wouldn't give us anymore information about the ritual than that. Of course, as predicted, Dervish started flipping out, so Alyssandra sent him to the Feywild with a dimensional anchor so he couldn't come back and interrupt things. 

       About five minutes later, the Gunslinger appeared, in his usual gear, alone. When we asked about Narg and Alyssandra his shoulders slumped, but he wouldn't say anything more on it. While waiting, we'd gotten a lead on where Vecna might be, somewhere near the Forgotten City, so the Gunslinger got us to the gates, and I took us from there into the bunker. 

       I went straight to the war room, hoping the sensors would show us where Vecna was. The room was full of hundreds of plush toys... Sil had been here recently. I hummed and called my giant, spectral hand into being to push them off the map... the toys had souls in them. The ghosts aged the Gunslinger by over 100 years, and the toys attacked. The fluff was flying. Shade opened a shadow rift, hurting me in the process, and the Gunslinger destroyed the rest of them. 

       The map showed Vecna near the ancient city I'd found that Star in... and Y'Chuk near Greyhawk. We contacted Vish about this, and learned he'd been rallying the Gods, and was taking them to deal with the Outsiders. With that out of the way, we could focus completely on Vecna. 

       As we were preparing to leave to deal with Vecna, Alucard showed up. Upon his arrival, Zorack was suddenly covered in ice briefly as his Mantle flared to life, and Dervish's flared too. Shade suggested I try to spell to call a familiar to get my Mantle back, and I ended up getting a mini Titania familiar- she was not pleased, but I had my Mantle again. All three of the Queens were dead, but because they still had vassals they were able to come back. Shade asked the Raven Queen for aid, and she gave us all a boon that seemed to make us all-around better. 

       Alucard took us to the gates of the ancient city, and we were greeted to undead everywhere. This reminded me of the vision I had when I first found the Star, and as I quickly searched my memory, I realized where Vecna should be in the city. Zorack summoned several rhinoceroses to make a path for us, Shade set up some spell that hurt any undead near us, and I was flinging out storms of fire on them. When we reached the gates, Alucard tapped his staff, and a ton of them crumpled to dust. The gates had been completely destroyed, and Dervish spotted hundreds, if not thousands, of thri-kreen coming right at us. So Alucard rewrote time and sealed the gates. 

       The boys began blowing up the undead that were on our side of the gate, so I turned into an ancient red dragon and began breathing fire at them. It was fucking awesome. Alucard turned into an ancient silver dragon, and in the wake of us shadow ravens and radiant bunnies were frolicking and killing more undead. Then Shade showed me a shadow red dragon, which would make any who fell from my breath to rise as shadows under my control, which just made this more fun. When we were about a quarter mile away from the fortress I believed Vecna to be at, he dispelled my form. 

       Waiting for us at the fortress was Aeryn, Aerys, Nanu, Jarrid... and Jayce. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach at the sight of him. Even though he was technically the enemy here, I could not bring myself to hurt him. Aeryn and Aerys shot at Dervish and I, hitting him, while I turned into a tarrasque. Dervish began peppering the twins with arrows of his own, while Zorack pulled out the slaying arrow... killing the nightmare part of Nanu, but leaving her torso alive. Somehow she managed to free her herself from her nightmare half and hit Zorack with a massive waraxe, disemboweling him. I took a step forward, hovering over Zorack's prone form with my massive tarrasque body to keep Nanu from doing anything more to him. Shadewing stepped out of my shadow and killed the rest of Nanu, and was hit by one of the twins as he slipped back into my shadow. I realized in that moment, that Alucard wasn't there. 

       Jayce and Jarrid started charging toward us, while Aeryn and Aerys kept launching arrows at Dervish. Some sickly-looking vines sprang from the earth and grabbed at us, but they didn't hold. I revived Zorack and smashed what was left of Nanu into paste with my tail, just to make sure the bitch wouldn't be getting back up. Zorack began returning fire to the twins, while Dervish pulled out all of my horns of Valhalla and sent a shitload of barbarians toward the castle. The windows in the castle exploded outward- I think we found where Alucard had run off to, and where Vecna was. Jayce and Jarrid finally reached Zorack's rhinos and made quick work of two of them, but the last one got lucky, and flung Jarrid. A couple of apes appeared where the rhinos had been and went for Jayce. I know he's our enemy now, but I still couldn't bare the thought of hurting him. The heart wants what it wants. 

       The Gunslinger aimed his gun, and Shade grabbed him, bringing them both to the castle. I heard his gun go off, and a scream of agony from Vecna echoed everywhere. 

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

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Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Bae'qeshel and former Champion of Lolth, Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar

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

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

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

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

Comrades we have lost:
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue- sacrificed herself to save the party
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion- killed by the outside
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to ressurect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

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

***** Diamondice 20, CY 711, Vecna's Realm

       Zorack used a fate card to go back to when Ralliakkan had originally found the Hall of Doom, and instead of wasting time in the arena, we went to the hall instead. I used a spell that would protect the Gunslinger's mind this time, so his head wouldn't explode. Since it didn't make him completely immune to this nonsense, but I was able to heal him to keep his ass alive until he found and opened the door. When he opened the door, he instantly froze in place from the trap; Zorack rushed into the hall to help him, and froze too. Shade used a dimension door and yanked Zorack into the room. 

       I grabbed Ralliakkan and used my own dimension door, but just as we began to appear, the magic went wonky and we were in the arena. She wrapped her cloak around me and pushed me against the wall. I've had a lot of fantasies that started like this, but they were in much more interesting surroundings... Something seemed to be wrong with her though, she wasn't acting sane. The portcullises began to rise, and I prepared to wish us to where we needed to be, when Vish appeared and turned into a fucking brass dragon. 

       Dervish entered the hall and also froze. Shade and Zorack managed to pull the Gunslinger into the room, as well as Dervish. Then Dervish went insane and thought everyone was against him; because Zorack hadn't given Dervish the memories of what happened the first time through. In his insanity, he decided that Zorack was Pharin and attempted to banish him, yelling "be gone, Pharin!" Which ended up summoning the drow instead, but he came in invisible, so Dervish could not yet see what he had done. In turning on the party, that seed of corruption that had been planted in him back in the Forgotten City blossomed, and Dervish became the Knight of Daggon. 

       My wish went off, making myself, Ralliakkan, and Vish appear in the coffin room. As we appeared, Dervish let out a terrifying, inhuman howl that shook me to the core. We were all stunned for the next few seconds. Dervish yelled that he saw Pharin and charged at a space of empty air. What in the Nine had we missed? 

       Vecna chose that moment to emerge from his shitty hiding spot behind the door, and put everyone except me in a stupor; then he shut Dervish up, which was appreciated. I tried to use a restoration spell on Shade, but whatever Vecna had done was too powerful for a simple spell. I touched him with my horn and freed him. Shade whacked the lid off the coffin, shattering it to dust, and as Vecna moved to make it disappear, Shadewing shot Alucard in the head... 

       The rifts that had opened earlier, began working and growing again. The fates card had harmed time even more and we were literally running out of time. Vecna began casting the ritual Alucard had warned us about- Shade shooting Alucard had been what Vecna needed to begin.

       Dervish managed to break out of whatever Vecna had done to him and rushed at the empty air again. Then Pharin materialized. I knew that son of a bitch wasn't dead! Pharin attempted to wall off Ralliakkan's madness, but accidentally turned her into a sociopath in the process. Shade lunged for Vecna's phylactery, and Douchebag announced that it felt like a family reunion, but some members were missing, and began building a summoning circle. Getting us more backup was a good idea, but I still didn't like that Douchebag was back. 

       Vecna seemed to be getting stronger somehow, I think killing Alucard may have been one of the biggest mistakes Shadewing ever made, and doing that just completely fucked us. I tapped my unicorn horn to Zorack's, hoping it would do something, and it fixed everyone except Dumbass. Vecna was a little pissed about that, and he lunged to try to grab our horns and rip them out. I managed to wriggle away, but he wrapped his hand around Zorack's. Zorack whipped around to mule-kick Vecna, but the lich-god held on tight. I stabbed Vecna with the Spear of Destiny, but nothing happened. Shade suggested I channel the power of Ehlonna through it, so I began to focus.

       Zorack shot Vecna in the face to attempt to deflect him, but still nothing. Dervish broke free of Vecna's magic hold and went after Pharin with the special axe- and actually managed to hit him! I'd be enjoying this a lot more if were weren't in the middle of fighting Vecna. Vish lunged at Dervish, and Dumbass chucked the axe at him. Vecna moved to summon something, but was countered by Douchebag; apparently that made the lich-god lose interest in Zorack and I as he snarled in rage and tried to banish Douchebag... but he failed. Pharin is like a disease, there's no way to truly get rid of him. Douchebag summoned a psychic sword and began slashing at Vecna, he tried to banish the corruption in Dervish, but he failed. 

       I put my hand on Zorack and focused the power of Ehlonna that was coursing through me into the Spear. Pain coursed through me as a piece of my soul was drained as a white light came through the Spear and shot right into Vecna. Zorack followed my lead and channeled the power Ehlonna had given him through me and into the Spear. Vecna didn't seem to like whatever the Spear was doing to him. Shade decided to send the phylactery to the Raven Queen, by cutting himself open, putting it inside himself, and then closing the wound. The Dumbass attempted to corrupt Vecna, cause that's a fucking great idea, but thankfully Shade was able to stop him.

       A rumble tore through the room and a rift opened; a man stepped through it, his black hair whipping around him, black eyes glowed like hot coals, in his hand was an ebony staff with some glowing gems, and a black metal staff in the other, he was wearing a black robe with red trim. I realized he was a tyrannical dictator from long before Alucard's time, known as Lord Dementor. Shade tried to jump through one of the portals as it slammed shut, and Dervish was sucked through another portal; that would probably bite us in the ass, but at least he was gone for the moment. Vecna activated an anti-magic field, shutting down most of our abilities, because he fucking cheats.

       Pharin grabbed Shade to help him through a portal, while I stabbed Vecna with the Spear again, and managed to contain the cry of pain as another piece of my soul was ripped away from me. If this is what it took to destroy Vecna, I'd gladly sacrifice myself. He needed to be ended. Ralliakkan shot Vecna with a bloody bow, and  he screamed in pain. Maybe we could do this- but I refused to let any optimism in. The Gunslinger tossed some explosives into one of the rifts, hoping it would piss off whoever was on the other side and make them come help us.

       Douchebag pulled out the Wand of Orcus, thinking he might be able to destroy Vecna's phylactery with it, or Orcus would appear and help us. Instead he killed Shadewing... Suddenly, nothing seemed to be hurting Vecna much. I wasn't able to hit him with the Spear, Zorack shot him in the face but he didn't seem too hurt by it, Ralliakkan's strike also did nothing, but then the Gunslinger shot him in the face with his special gun, and left a scorch mark on Vecna's flesh.

       Tons of corrupted celestials began pouring through one of the rifts- apparently Dervish going these was a bad fucking idea. One hit me hard, and another beheaded Ralliakkan... her body got up without the head, and she didn't seem corrupted. Then a familiar voice said "not my blood" and she vanished... Lyathfikash. With all the new celestials coming in, things were getting crowded in that room, so Vecna moved everyone back to that fucking arena. Pharin stayed behind and began siphoning magic away from Vecna for the ritual he was attempting. 

       I tried to use the Spear, which has the power to literally undo anything, to undo Vecna ever getting Alucard's body, hoping to both stop the ritual and get Alucard to us. He was still able to enact the ritual, he just did it differently, and there was still no sign of the mage. I'd been trying to reach out to him mentally through all of this, but hadn't gotten any replies.

       The corrupt celestials upgraded to corrupted gods coming through the rift. For some reason, upon seeing this, Zorack summoned a blue whale in the air... It began falling rapidly, then it hit the dome of the arena- apparently he'd summoned it just outside of the arena- and was ripped in half. Its innards slid down the sides of the dome with a sickening screech.

       Shade suddenly sat up, he'd been returned to life by the Raven Queen. Zorack randomly decided to use another fates card- how many did this fucker have?- to make it so our Mantles couldn't be cut off when we got here. We ended up being bound to different Gods for life- both he and I were now bound to Ehlonna, but I lost my horn when he did that... I liked that horn.

       Dervish was no longer corrupted, but the corrupt gods were from Olympus, where I'd sent the flask of ichor. That was a really bad idea. Lyathfikash drew the sword he'd used to kill Nanu and killed Ralliakkan with it. Zorack summoned another whale and attempted to use it to plug a rift, and failed miserably. Then Dumbass started doing something to actually plug the rifts. Not sure how he managed to do something useful and intelligent. 

       Lightning began whipping around Dementor, hurting me really bad. Then he began putting up some sort of shield. Shade attempted to use the Wand of Orcus to destroy the phylactery, and his belly ripped open where he'd put it. Hephaestus walked through the portal, as the Knight of Daggon... More from his pantheon kept coming out, all corrupt. 

       Zorack and I jumped into a portable hole to beseech Ehlonna for aid, and she fully healed our wounds, but we didn't get our horns back. Vecna began taking control of some of the weaker gods coming through and made them fight for him. Odin came through another rift, pissed about the Gunslinger's bomb. Lord Dementor looked at me and i suddenly felt compelled to help him. Vecna sent out a shock wave that knocked out every god he wasn't currently controlling. A  rumble rocked the arena, but there didn't seem to be a cause to it. 

       Pharin was now assaulting Vecna's realm, trying to unravel it into space and time.   

       Shade began trying to siphon off bits of Vecna's life force from the phylactery. Zorack shot Vecna and he cried out in pain- the gods all shook for a moment as the pain momentarily overwhelmed him. Dervish had somehow learned how to do balefire and sent a pillar of it at Vecna; aging himself by 200 years. Dementor decided that was a good idea and told me to follow his lead. We both shot him with our own balefire, and I aged about thirty years, not that it matters when you're an elf. Everything rumbled again, and looked staticky for a second. Then shit got really fucking weird.

       Cupid made Zorack fall in love with Vecna. Vish used his Mantle to make Aphrodite fall for him, and both Aphrodite and Cupid used their abilities to make him fall for them. Hercules managed to drop Dervish, which was well deserved; I know he wasn't corrupt anymore, but I still hate him, so watching him go down will always be satisfying for me. Lyathfikash reappeared in the air, but now he was bigger and wearing some wicked looking armor. 

       Pharin discovered the final component to Alucard's nova spell, and set it off. The fabric of the reality of Vecna's realm began to burn and began breaking apart.

       Everything began to rumble and quake, and it seemed like everything was literally coming apart at the seams. Explosions rocked the arena as the gods inside died. Shade banished himself to escape. Lord Dementor told me to make a circle, and I busted out the most amazeballs circle ever in like three seconds. I was pretty fucking pleased with myself. Zorack went to retrieve his slaying arrow, he was not leaving that fucking thing behind. Dervish chucked the axe at Vecna, and Lyathfikash began trying to break my circle, but it was so fucking amazeballs that he did nothing but break the stone beneath it. 

       Lord Dementor tossed me a vial and his voice rang through my mind: "Break this and get out of here now." Then he unleashed a missile swarm. I broke the vial and a ridiculous amount of blood poured out, getting all over me, and filling in the lines of the circle. We traveled through a multi-colored tunnel at a ridiculous speed. 

       Pharin and Dementor each opened a black hole on either side of Lyathfikash, ripping him to pieces as revenge for killing Ralliakkan. Vecna was ripped apart too, but since his phylactery was still working, he appeared in front of Shadewing and the Raven Queen and snatched the phylactery out of her grasp. 

       When we finally stopped moving, we found ourselves in a massive ballroom with a marble floor that was completely empty. 

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

Clocks Unwind

Dramatis Personae:
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard of Valor, Bae'qeshel and former Champion of Lolth, Lore Wizard, the Silver Tongued Siren, Knight of Summer
Charlotte, Aurora's violet Faerie Dragon familiar

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

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

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor

Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid

Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Sil'ilos'anon Braz'Dracon, the "Drow" Warlock Blood Mage of Lolth, and the new DEATH
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue, Knight of Fall

Comrades we have lost:
Mara Nemestk, the Human Champion who serves as Aurora's Knight- killed by the outside
Elder Vish, Dervish's friend and mentor from his world, Knight of Spring- soul taken by the Knight of Y'Chuk
Ceidil Rein, the Human Champion- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Eurydice, the Faerie Dragon Feylock- taken by the outside, then killed by party
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Conjurationist Wizard and Priest of Lolth- returned to Faerun
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Brass Dragon-Drow Fighter/Beast Master- returned to Faerun
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated - sacrificed to ressurect Alucard
Oryn Talus, the ancient and mysterious halfling who has employed the party- fractured himself into 4 parts to prevent cult from taking his soul
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Arcane Trickster- sent to Elysium through a trap and was never heard from again

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

***** Diamondice 18, CY 711, Aurora's Magnificent Mansion, Feywild

       I'd been soaking in my bath for about an hour, unwinding and waiting for the migraine to fuck off, when Dervish interrupted my peace and quiet. He'd run into the Gunslinger and apparently the Gunslinger wanted to strike a deal- more likely, Dumbass harassed him into something- we help him, he helps us. I told him I wouldn't deal without details, since I have a brain, but they wouldn't give me any. I said I'd think about it, but I wasn't doing shit for three more hours. 

       Before I resumed relaxing, I sent Briisa a quick message to check in and learned that Dervish's army was all at the fucking gates, leaving Potidaea unguarded. I had him reroute some of his forces to my college. 

       When I emerged from my soak, three hours later, there was a shadow thing standing in my bedroom, holding a teleportation invitation. Just because I hate Dervish, I took an additional hour getting dressed, eating, and just fucking around, before I accepted the invitation.

       The asshats never bothered to give me any details, but apparently we were going after the Sultan's brother. As soon as we arrived, he hit us all with a psychic blast- guess we don't get the element of surprise on this one. He thanked the Gunslinger for the "gifts," us, and he responded by shooting the Sultan's brother. The Sultan's brother vanished Zorack and the Gunslinger. He attempted to do it to all of us, but he underestimated our stubbornness. 

       Dervish slashed his blades at the brother, making him lose concentration and bringing Zorack and the Gunslinger back. The Gunslinger instantly burst into action, shooting the brother. The brother waved him arms around and a small beam of molten flame went for Dervish- he dodged it, but the brightness blinded the Gunslinger. I conjured my spirit guardians, but the douche counterspelled me. Zorack and Dervish both got a couple hits in before the Gunslinger shot him with an antimagic bullet. The Sultan's brother didn't rely completely on magic though, and he beat the Hells out of the Gunslinger- he was down after those blows. 

       Shadewing beat on the brother, I whacked him with my spiritual weapon- a giant, spectral violin bow- and Zorack hit him with the slaying arrow, killing him instantly. That was fucking lucky. It took me two uses of my highest circle of healing, the Power Word, to get him up and moving again. Right before I revived him, Shade stole his gun... I don't know what's up with that, boys and their toys I guess. The gun had a nail from the cross Aurora had the vision of being crucified on within it; it was a holy relic from another world.

       The Gunslinger told us we had to go steal something that was hidden somewhere in the Azure Sea. Legend has it there's a lost city down there that sunk during the Great War with Cinder. I hoped he knew what he was fucking doing. He led us down stairs that felt like they went on for-fucking-ever, and eventually we reached a huge teleportation gate. We were deep underground by now. 

       On the other side of the gate was a rather mundane looking city, until we looked up and saw a glittering dome of force, and a kraken swimming around nearby. It was surreal and breathtaking. I instantly loved this place and wanted badly to raid all of its libraries. The legends said they'd created this dome before they sunk and had survived, but there didn't seem to be a soul in sight- aside from us. Magic didn't work here at all though, which was fucking annoying, but they probably did that to keep young mages from accidentally dispelling the dome. 

       What we were looking for was at a temple, and without magic it was going to take a while for us to get there. The entire city was eerily quiet, like more quiet than an empty city should be. It was like something had happened that silenced everything forever, or like the city was holding its breath waiting for something to happen. 

       As we explored this city, I realized this would be the perfect stronghold. No one could get to it if they didn't know how, and its defenses seemed pretty decent. I think I may move my people down here, or make this an escape city. I needed to find somewhere permanent to put everyone, Aerathema couldn't hide them forever.

***** Diamondice 19, Lost Sunken City

       After about 24 hours of fucking walking- I'm not kidding- we heard a rumble roaring in the distance. It was some weird box thing moving toward us; it was like a giant, self-moving carriage. Shade thought maybe it would take us to where we needed to go, so we all ran to intercept it and catch a ride. Magic was working again, so we used that to get on the carriage before it could get away.

       There were corpses in the carriage. Shade brought one back and he died of shock instantly... The spell that lets you speak to a dead body told us only that "they" had destroyed the people here. Unfortunately, corpses aren't usually super helpful. Shade tried again, and this one began bleeding out instantly, but I stopped the bleeding and healed him a little. This guy didn't respond well to being brought back from the dead. He lunged at all of us, missing horribly. I used a spell to hold him in place, we explained quickly that we were here to help, but as soon as I released him so he could speak, he swung at us. Shade decided he was insane and tried to banish the madness, and the poor fucker died. I couldn't revive him this time, there was nothing we could do.

       The Gunslinger and Dervish decided to ask the souls of the people what had happened here. They saw the purple flames of Y'Chuk, Daggon, and Cthulhu destroying everything. The pair had trouble getting back to the land of the living, so the Gunslinger grabbed Aurora's strand of fate and used it to pull them back.

       Just before Dervish and the Gunslinger reappeared, I had the oddest sensation, like a shadow had passed over my life... not my soul, but my life itself somehow. 

       After sitting in the carriage for a couple more hours, we arrived at the temple, but the doors wouldn't open to let us out. I used the knock spell on the doors and the entire carriage vanished. That was fucking weird, but I didn't think it needed more thought than that. 

       Surrounding the temple was a shimmering shield of energy. I had Charlotte touch it and my poor faerie dragon died instantly. Shadewing tried to dispel it and it bounced back at him, then I tried my legend lore spell to see if there was anything known about that temple and its shield, and that even bounced back at me. Then Shade pulled out the gun he'd taken from the Gunslinger and shot the barrier, and it opened up for us. At the temple doors, Dervish pulled out five gold and pressed it to them, and they opened right up. 

       Shade saw a small path in the temple, which led us to the altar. He placed the gun on the altar and a book, called the "Bible" appeared. Inside was a key, and I found the keyhole quickly. When Shade turned the key, an axe appeared, which Dervish grabbed instantly. Ralliakkan said we needed to get the fuck out of there now, so Dervish tossed a one use item of teleportation circle to get us back to the gate. Just as we reached the gate, the shield went down and everything exploded. 

       We made it out alive though. I went to make a bunch of scrolls to prepare us for taking on Daggon in the morning. 

***** Diamondice 20, Aurora's Magnificent Mansion, Feywild

       I was about as ready as I was ever going to be to take on a kraken the size of a fucking city that also happened to be an outsider. I really didn't want to do this, but we needed to. Though I was confused when we were all gathered and ready, and Ralliakkan pulled out the Eye of Vecna and began stabbing the fuck out of it. 

       We found ourselves in a circular room with a 16-point circle in it. Apparently we weren't going for the Star. Would have been nice if they'd mentioned that. We left the room and wandered down a hallway for what felt like forever before we finally reached a door. There was a skittering noise, like rats... they were fucking everywhere and that corruption ichor was dripping from their mouths. That was the moment we realized we were cut off from our Mantles. 

       The rats attacked, I used my spirit guardians, making the spirits of my ancestors appear and begin attacking them. Shade used an altered version of thunderwave, which didn't seem to do anything to the little fuckers. Dervish started hacking at them with the axe we'd found in the Sunken City, while Zorack and the Gunslinger began shooting at them. Ralliakkan pulled out a weird-looking gun and froze all of them. Shade shattered a bunch of them, and Dervish proved his lack of intelligence again, by trying to intimidate the frozen rats... I hate that idiot. Zorack ran around the room and stomped the remaining rats. 

      Somehow, Shade's Mantle was still working- likely because she's an actual goddess. He told us to embrace our faith to get our Mantles working again. Dumbass beseeched Mystra, and for some reason she gave him a boon. I reached out to Titania first and nothing happened; then I tried Ehlonna, and I sprouted a healing unicorn horn- my spirit guardians took on a more Ehlonna appearance too. Zorack tried Mab first, and got the same result, then he reached out to Ehlonna and turned into an elficorn and I was suddenly sitting on him. 

       Ralliakkan couldn't pick the lock on the door; Zorack managed to help her get it open- the lock was fucking tricky. The door opened to an audience chamber, and perched on a throne was a twisted looking suit of armor. I was pretty sure it was a death knight, so I hit it with harmonic dissolution. The Gunslinger shot it with an antimagic bullet. Ralliakkan got in a few good hits and Shade finished it off with Ebon. Somehow when Ebon killed it, he went insane and I couldn't fix it. Shade unraveled his fate a little bit to undo it. It was at about that moment we realized both Ralliakkan and the Gunslinger had vanished. 

       We found a secret panel in the room, and Zorack and Dervish decided to bicker over how to open it; I got sick of their shit and muscled it open on my own. As soon as we all stepped inside the room, the door slammed shut and gas began pouring in. Zorack found a lever and pulled it, opening the door; the gas began escaping through the new opening. I started feeling sluggish, and then Simon and Gewnter turned on us, and were suddenly undead. Shade crushed Simon. I used a hold spell on Gewnter and Shade stuck him in a iron flask. We left the gas chamber and wandered for a bit before we realized we were in a fucking maze... that's where Ralliakkan and the Gunslinger had vanished to.

       Reunited with our allies, we continued on our way, eventually reaching a Y in the hall. One end had a locked door, and Dervish asked Ralliakkan to pick it, but before she could, he said something stupid (shocking, I know) and pissed her off, so we went the other direction. Ralliakkan found a weird spot in the wall, like a hidden panel, but we couldn't make it completely visible or get it open- not even with magic. Unsure of what to do, we continued moving. 

       Eventually we came to a gate and a couple of doors. We couldn't get through the gate, so I opened one of the doors... it was a massive library! I rushed in and began browsing, as I was contemplating stealing some of them- well, debating which ones to steal- I joked that the books were mimics as I reached for one... turns out, I was right, and the mimic attacked me. We killed it, but it turned out them entire room was a giant mimic that began snapping at us. Shade, who was still in the hallway, slammed the door and began beating on it. It died and turned to goo... Zorack got himself out, and I grabbed Dumbass and used my dimension door to get us out. That fucking sucked.

        I opened the next door and jumped to the side, making Dumbass go in first. Glad I did, the idiot walked right into a trap. A chest was in the room, and Zorack told me to open it. I told him no, I didn't feel like fighting another fucking mimic, so Dervish chucked his axe at it, and it exploded. This is why I don't listen to the boys. 

       We went back to the gate, and  I made Dervish dimension door through it, and I used a magical knock on it- the damn thing fell over. At that point, Ralliakkan told us she and the Gunslinger had figured out the weird spot on the wall. It opened to reveal a 10 foot long hallway, and Zorack stepped into it first, triggering a nasty trap that targeted his mind, so he stepped out. Then everyone began bickering over if we should go in the Hall of Doom, or go through the gate. Eventually they decided to go through the gate, even though this seemed more important. 

       We found ourselves in a huge gladiatorial arena. One hundred ghouls appeared, and we slaughtered them instantly. Then a purple worm attempted to eat Dervish, but Shade killed it. Then things started getting ugly. Thousands of bugs began pouring into the arena. My firestorms did nothing, not even when I switched it to radiance. Mundane fire worked though. Ralliakkan put up a magical web to slow the bugs down, while Shade vaporized one of his drugs to make the bugs high. Zorack attempted to help by blowing the bugs around, so we all got hit by them. We couldn't keep them off of us, so Ralliakkan sacrificed herself to save the rest of us. She created a black hole that sucked in all the bugs, but it also pulled her in in the process. Zorack grabbed her sword and we headed to the Hall of Doom. There'd be time to mourn her later. 

       Of course we couldn't just agree on who to send into the fucking hall, so more pointless bickering began. Eventually the Gunslinger got fed up with it all and dashed into the hallway. He found a hidden door, and just after he opened it, his head exploded. I'm not sure if that was from the torrent of psychic assault or if it was a trap, but either way, the poor fucker was dead. 

       The room off the Hall of Doom was 30x30 and in the center of it was an ornate coffin; that was all that was in the room. Dervish and Shadewing opened it up, and inside was Alucard's body. That's why we hadn't seen him in a couple days. Fuck. I tried to revivify him, but Vecna's phylactery was on his chest, and I think that impeded me from succeeding. At that moment, Vecna stepped out from behind the door, and told us if we destroyed the phylactery, we'd kill Alucard, and we knew Alucard dying would have catastrophic consequences. Alucard was our ace in defeating him, so ending Alucard would also take away our very best shot. 

       Shadewing decided consequences be damned and shot the fucking phylactery. Circles in the room flared to life and tears appeared; time was literally being ripped to pieces.