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
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
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
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.
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.
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