Threats on All Fronts
Dramatis Personae:
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah TherinthropeHomunculus and White Witch
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, theFour-year-old Human girl who Tilea released from an amulet,- kidnapped by Strahd, now working with Talmot Now cleansed of the soul brand clouding her mind
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife
Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter-captured by the Talmot Wives, then turned evil mauled to death by Tilea
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu
Tilea Aervavil'A'Sum, the Wild Elf Circle of the Moon Druid Barbarian
Scritch, the Weremonkey Squirrel Thief and Tilea's Animal Companion
Sachi Kno, the Vistani Weremonkey Thief
Tabitha Marie Lennox, the Human White Witch of Mystra, youngest of the Lennox triplets
Spot, Tabitha's Homunculus
Nikko, Tabitha's Flying Monkey familiar and Warlock of the White Witch
Azure, Nikko's Witch Light Familiar
Dot, the Tabaxi Cheetah Therinthrope
Pip, Dot's Flying Monkey Familiar
Speck, Dot's Homunculus
Isabella Catalina Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Scritch's Knight
Isabeth Katherine Hazelgrove, the Human Assassin and Catalina's sister and Knight
Sypha Alohrea Lennox, the Human Sorceress, eldest of the Lennox triplets
Agatha Leah Lennox, the Human Black Witch, middle of the Lennox triplets
Syndal Al'Vherin, the
Clarah Kno, the Silver Dragoness and Sachi's insane wife
Comrades we have lost:
Pineck, Anvil's Horse- turned into soup by a cursed crate
Kithri "Quickshadow" Tealeaf, the Lightfoot Halfling Werebat Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter and Ruin Raider- left to become Archivist
Forgrotken Anvilrocker, the Blugrim Forge Cleric of Moradin- killed by the Talmot Wives
Lythana, the Human Werewolf Order of the Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter-
Bruenar Shieldwall, the Shield Dwarf Shield Fighter the party hired- became the Harbinger of Apsu
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Tabitha's perspective, anything in italics is from a third party view since the Witch can't be everywhere at once.
***** Kilencedik Honap 10, CY 745, Amarune, Moonshae Isles
Deep in the endless ocean of the Elemental Plane of Water, Shaft chased Tilea, who was in the form of a leviathan and in possession of his elemental sphere.
In Sachi's paradise, Belmont activated something that caused spirits to swirl around him, sending Sachi flying.
We were staring down Morgan Le Fay, and we had the ritual. I handed Nikko an item to drop a Hut on us so we could work on the ritual without interference. While we wouldn't be aware of much of what was happening with the others, taking the Black Witch down was more important. I felt a random jolt of pain as the hut closed over us; Scritch had hit her and it somehow hurt my Sestras and I.
Kittie landed a blow on Morgan, and it didn't hurt the triplets. As Scritch went in for another strike, the Witch sent him away. He ended up in Sachi's paradise, and managed to break Krynn out of her restraints, then he took her to the safety of Tabitha's Temple.
Sachi faced off with Belmont, landing several hits on the man. At the same time, Clarah managed to bite and swallow Rowena, and Cat clutched her head and fell to her knees, screaming in agony; the other Cats had gotten to her. Belmont managed to ensnare Sachi in his whip and flung him right into Clarah's mouth; she began choking on her monkey... Rowena set off a fireball in Clarah's stomach, which didn't hurt the dragon, but it caused both Sachi and Rowena to fly out of her mouth in a burst of flames. Cat recovered quickly and broke Syn out of her bindings. The girl turned to Belmont with hate in her eyes and activated her Sunblade. She unleashed a flurry of swings at him, hurting him badly, and engulfing him in flames.
We were hurrying to get this ritual going. It didn't sound like it would take too terribly long, but it wasn't exactly easy. I hoped the others were okay, and that my Shieldwalls would be able to throw that sarcophagus together in time.
Scritch was back in the fight against the Black Witch, and he scored a nasty hit on her, following it up by using Sachi's signature move and throwing shit in her face. Kittie landed a couple big hits of her own. Morgan tried to drop the triplets' Hut, but Nikko completely resisted her attempts. Three hags appeared, as backup for Morgan.
I felt Morgan try to stop the ritual, but I flawlessly deflected her attempts. Just as I did, the first piece of the ritual went off.
Outside of the Hut, some bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists.
Sachi and Rowena tumbled to the ground, and as soon as they landed, Cat stabbed Rowena with a witch killing bolt. Cat then stepped up to Belmont's flank and stabbed him in the kidney. She used a spell to make him exhausted, but Sachi countered it. Syn was furious and moved to finish Belmont off herself, so Sachi tried to distract her. Syn swung at Sachi, annoyed by the monkey, and as she swung the Sunblade at him, he panicked; Sachi lost his hand for his interference. As she turned back to Belmont, Sachi told her "you punch like Talbutt," drawing her ire, allowing Belmont a moment to heal and rejuvenate himself.
Kittie turned to the three hags Morgan had summoned and unleashed a series of brutal attacks on them, killing all three of them before they could even act. Scritch continued to engage Morgan, though this time she managed to evade his attacks. I reached out to them through my candle to tell them to try to trip her so we could hit her with the Talisman of Pure Good, but opening that channel allowed her to attempt to mess with the ritual again; I fended her off with ease.
Syn, Sachi, Clarah, and Cat all surrounded Belmont and began to attack him, Sachi's odd attempts at throwing Syn off were gone for now. Most of their attacks missed. Cat hexed him while Syn hit him with more exhaustion. Belmont made it begin to rain, which hurt the others and set the landscape of the paradise on fire. Scritch appeared in the paradise, grabbed Syn and Cat, and went back to the fight with the Black Witch.
The Black Witch tried again and failed again to dispel the triplets' Hut. Scritch laughed at her, so she blasted him. Grant appeared, grappled Morgan, and said "I really hope they can pull this off."
Morgan tried again to dispel the ritual, and again she failed.
More bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists outside. Two robed figures appeared and grabbed Kittie; Mask had accepted her application.
Suddenly, Sachi and Clarah appeared in my Hut, and Sachi ran away instantly.
The area was bathed in sunlight as Syn hit the Witch hard, cutting her into pieces. Scritch returned to paradise to retrieve Rowena's body, then Sachi ran away with the rod of security, to get Belmont away from the triplets before the ritual concluded. Scritch and Cat tied up Rowena's corpse, just in case.
The Black Witch didn't seem to be meddling with my ritual anymore, so it was going well, and fast.
Sachi took the rod of security to the first layer of the Hells and offered it to Tiamat; she sent him to Elysium. Sachi then took the rod to the fifth layer of Limbo and threw it; it just kept going on and on. That layer of Limbo was destroyed, just like Barovia had been. It just couldn't handle that much concentrated power.
Syn, having mostly neutralized the Black Witch, looked at the Hut, intent on attacking it; Agatha was still evil. The Sunblade was driven to destroy all evil. Scritch prepared to send Syn to Krynn to keep her away from Agatha.
Just as Morgan began to reform, the triplets finished the ritual and the last of the bindings appeared on her. Grant turned and asked for the thighbone of a saint, Cat had found one on Rowena's corpse.
I dropped the Hut just in time to see Grant stab Morgan Le Fay through the heart with a sharpened bone. My heart leapt in my chest; could Mask have sent him back to us? Then my Shieldwalls came running out of the Temple with the finished sarcophagus and we threw her in it. Before I had a chance to tell them to get the Book off of her, she was completely sealed in the tomb. I hoped that the Book wouldn't be able to get her out of there.
Sachi appeared then and announced he left Belmont somewhere and he thinks he blew it up. As he rambled, I looked at Aggie and inclined my head. She threw a fireball at him.
Tilea realized Shaft's sphere wasn't burning her quiet so much anymore, it seemed to be duller somehow, and stopped swimming. She asked the sea creatures and learned that sharks had eaten Shaft; she awakened the sharks to thank them for destroying Shaft.
I realized Tilea was probably still in the Elemental Plane of Water and sent her a message that she could come back. She didn't bother to shift before I pulled her back to us, so a fucking leviathan appeared instead of the elf we expected.
Grant told us that Kittie had impressed Mask by killing three hags, so she took his place in the casino and he was returned to life. I was elated... that my friend was back... I totally would have been this happy if another dear friend was returned to life... I definitely have no other reason for being so happy he's alive again...
As punishment for blowing up Barovia, all of Sachi's holdings in the thieves' guild now belonged to Grant. He told us Belmont would be drawn to Syn soon, so we needed to hurry to prepare to deal with him once and for all.
The girls were in the Temple, and Krynn was in a trance, holding a fulgurite crystal that was glowing with multiple colors. She had to fight off the evil spirit of Shaft, and there was nothing we could do to help her; either she'd do it or she'd fail, there was no option in between. We needed to get Grant's weapon to kill Belmont, and at the mention of his name, Syn stormed out. We couldn't teleport to her or anything. Cat sliced her hand and did something that showed us Syn. She was standing in front of Belmont holding out an orb. Grant opted to stay behind, as did my Sestras. We asked them to look after Krynn while we dealt with Belmont.
Everything here was on fire, and it wasn't easy to put out. Scritch and Cat went at him right away, and Belmont responded by throwing fifty fucking daggers at Cat. Tilea began a storm and turned into a tempest elemental; but whatever she was trying to do didn't seem to work. I healed Cat, then Dot and I tried to hit Belmont with some debuff spells, but they didn't work. Syn bathed Belmont in a sphere of golden light, then got in his face and cut one of his fingers off.
Scritch, Sachi, and Cat all began to beat on Belmont. He chucked an axe at Sachi, but it didn't seem to do much to the monkey. Tilea attempted to curse Belmont, but apparently he couldn't be cursed; that wasn't fucking good. I tried to hex him, but he had something that kept that away too, and he resisted both Dot and Nikko's attempts to feeblemind him.
Belmont moved away, knocking Syn over as he passed her. She stabbed her sword into the ground and with a blinding flash of light, she morphed into what looked liked a solar of pure radiant energy. She sliced into him and hurt him bad; his body began to disintegrate into little silvery motes. There was an odd red glow at his core and as his flesh fell away, we were now facing Demogorgon.
"I was so close... Why? Why did you have to ruin it for me?" Demogorgon said. "If you eave now, I will spare you."
Sachi, as always, decided to run his fucking mouth. He told Demogorgon that "now" was already gone, and the Demon Lord did something to Sachi to make him suddenly believe everyone wanted to steal his stuff.
"Now that your friend is suitably silenced," he began. Then Sachi started mouthing off some more. He really didn't know anything about the insane little monkey. He hit Sachi, and still Sachi kept rambling on. Tilea slammed into him with thunder. Demogorgon asked if that meant we don't want to make a deal, and I instantly told him no, before the others had a chance to try to make some sort of deal with him.
A second Demogorgon appeared behind Syn and hit her hard. Scritch, Cat, and Tilea all began beating on him. I tried to use my Talisman to destroy him, but the bastard just barely resisted falling. Then I flew right up to him and socked him in the jaw, trying to send him back to whence he came; he again just barely resisted me. I healed Syn while Nikko and Dot both tried- and failed- to hold him in place. The others surrounded him and kept striking at him, seeming to do some damage, but with a Demon Lord there's no telling how effective they actually were.
I tried to use my Talisman a second time, but it resisted again, as well as attempts from both Dot and I to dispel it, and Nikko's attempt to hold it in place. Syn managed to get rid of the illusory demon, so we were only facing the real Demogorgon- this was not very comforting. We continued the physical assault and it kept resisting everything Dot, Nikko, and I threw at it. Syn barely missed him and he teleported away.
We started debating how to pursue it, when Syn focused on the Belmont's glowing whip, abandoned on the ground. After a moment she took off at the speed of light- like we'd seen Belmont do before. The others thought maybe it was in Shaft's mirror realm, but before we went there, I wanted to check in with my Sestras at the Temple.
Just as I began to speak a message to my Sestras, every single ward and alarm in the Temple went off. Demogorgon had gone after Krynn. There were demons all over the bazaar, they'd breached my hallowed ground. I instantly transferred all non-combative people to the fifth floor. I looked around, furious at what had happened to my Temple. Tabitha began glowing with a brilliant white light, was levitated into the air, and with a sweep of her hand, she banished every demon within 30 feet of her. Suddenly the demons were gone. I'm not sure what happened.
Sachi decided to drop a fortress on top of the demons, once that proved effective my Shieldwalls began doing the same. As we found possessed dwarves, Sachi began sticking them in beads of force. We swept through the Temple, floor by floor, until we reached the fifth floor, where we found Krynn. My Temple was in horrible shape, I was just done with this shit. I sat down on the floor and pulled out some items to sacrifice... then the demons were gone, as were the items, but I hadn't done anything. Tabitha had again glowed with a white light and sent away every single demon in the Temple.
Scritch could see Demogorgon was possessing Krynn. Krynn stood up, holding a fulgurite wand that was pulsing with energy, with an odd look in her eye. Tilea turned into some kind of weird fey and possessed Scritch, then Scritch vanished, taking them to the ethereal I think. I pulled out a couple more items, trying to banish it, but it didn't work. Syn's whip wrapped around the wand and the pulsing stopped.
In the ethereal plane, Sachi put sovereign glue on his kataras and stabbed Demogorgon's spirit, trying to rip it out of her. He couldn't see the rod being ripped from her hands by her twin's whip. Scritch accidentally killed Sachi in the ethereal, but cleared the possession in the process. He was revived in the ethereal, and had to dissolve the glue to take his swords back to the material plane with him.
Krynn was freed of Demogorgon by whatever Scritch and Sachi did in the ethereal realm. When Sachi reappeared, Cat decided to turn him to stone. He turned into a gaseous form to stave off the effects, so Cat threw dust of dryness at him, turning Sachi into a dehydrated ball. That was the moment Aggie and Sypha burst in. Apparently Demogorgon had locked both of my Sestras in a force cage when he arrived. I was wondering where the Hells they were.
Scritch threw the Sachi ball at me, and hit Aggie in the face instead. I seriously thought my Sestra's head was going to explode. The ball of Sachi exploded on impact, and we were all covered in Sachi dust... It was gross. I realized someone was still missing: Grant. I worried Demogorgon had killed him or Mask had taken him away again. I was worried for my friend... absolutely for no other reason at all...
We all collapsed on the floor of the Temple, taking a much needed breath. I asked what was next, if there was anything more we needed to accomplish. Syn said that they had a rite of passage to complete, but it would take a while since they needed Barovia back first. Thanks to our efforts, Krynn had a chance of being the protector she's supposed to be. Tilea released the remaining souls from Shaft's sphere, which should help with that.
Grant strode in and I was -pleased- to see my friend wasn't dead. He told Sachi that his death in the ethereal wasn't a sacrifice because Scritch took advantage of an opportunity.
A bit later Strahd walked in. He thanked us for what we'd done, while bitching Sachi and Tilea out for destroying Barovia. Strahd couldn't deal with Demogorgon himself because he was hiding in a consecrated soul, so he was completely untouchable.
Later that night, after everyone else had left, I was surveying the damage to my poor Temple when Grant found me. He started babbling at me about the lore around my family... I was so confused, I couldn't figure out what in the Nine he was trying to say. After a moment, he exclaimed "dammit, I was never good with words," closed the distance between us, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me.
Deep in the endless ocean of the Elemental Plane of Water, Shaft chased Tilea, who was in the form of a leviathan and in possession of his elemental sphere.
In Sachi's paradise, Belmont activated something that caused spirits to swirl around him, sending Sachi flying.
We were staring down Morgan Le Fay, and we had the ritual. I handed Nikko an item to drop a Hut on us so we could work on the ritual without interference. While we wouldn't be aware of much of what was happening with the others, taking the Black Witch down was more important. I felt a random jolt of pain as the hut closed over us; Scritch had hit her and it somehow hurt my Sestras and I.
Kittie landed a blow on Morgan, and it didn't hurt the triplets. As Scritch went in for another strike, the Witch sent him away. He ended up in Sachi's paradise, and managed to break Krynn out of her restraints, then he took her to the safety of Tabitha's Temple.
Sachi faced off with Belmont, landing several hits on the man. At the same time, Clarah managed to bite and swallow Rowena, and Cat clutched her head and fell to her knees, screaming in agony; the other Cats had gotten to her. Belmont managed to ensnare Sachi in his whip and flung him right into Clarah's mouth; she began choking on her monkey... Rowena set off a fireball in Clarah's stomach, which didn't hurt the dragon, but it caused both Sachi and Rowena to fly out of her mouth in a burst of flames. Cat recovered quickly and broke Syn out of her bindings. The girl turned to Belmont with hate in her eyes and activated her Sunblade. She unleashed a flurry of swings at him, hurting him badly, and engulfing him in flames.
We were hurrying to get this ritual going. It didn't sound like it would take too terribly long, but it wasn't exactly easy. I hoped the others were okay, and that my Shieldwalls would be able to throw that sarcophagus together in time.
Scritch was back in the fight against the Black Witch, and he scored a nasty hit on her, following it up by using Sachi's signature move and throwing shit in her face. Kittie landed a couple big hits of her own. Morgan tried to drop the triplets' Hut, but Nikko completely resisted her attempts. Three hags appeared, as backup for Morgan.
I felt Morgan try to stop the ritual, but I flawlessly deflected her attempts. Just as I did, the first piece of the ritual went off.
Outside of the Hut, some bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists.
Sachi and Rowena tumbled to the ground, and as soon as they landed, Cat stabbed Rowena with a witch killing bolt. Cat then stepped up to Belmont's flank and stabbed him in the kidney. She used a spell to make him exhausted, but Sachi countered it. Syn was furious and moved to finish Belmont off herself, so Sachi tried to distract her. Syn swung at Sachi, annoyed by the monkey, and as she swung the Sunblade at him, he panicked; Sachi lost his hand for his interference. As she turned back to Belmont, Sachi told her "you punch like Talbutt," drawing her ire, allowing Belmont a moment to heal and rejuvenate himself.
Kittie turned to the three hags Morgan had summoned and unleashed a series of brutal attacks on them, killing all three of them before they could even act. Scritch continued to engage Morgan, though this time she managed to evade his attacks. I reached out to them through my candle to tell them to try to trip her so we could hit her with the Talisman of Pure Good, but opening that channel allowed her to attempt to mess with the ritual again; I fended her off with ease.
Syn, Sachi, Clarah, and Cat all surrounded Belmont and began to attack him, Sachi's odd attempts at throwing Syn off were gone for now. Most of their attacks missed. Cat hexed him while Syn hit him with more exhaustion. Belmont made it begin to rain, which hurt the others and set the landscape of the paradise on fire. Scritch appeared in the paradise, grabbed Syn and Cat, and went back to the fight with the Black Witch.
The Black Witch tried again and failed again to dispel the triplets' Hut. Scritch laughed at her, so she blasted him. Grant appeared, grappled Morgan, and said "I really hope they can pull this off."
Morgan tried again to dispel the ritual, and again she failed.
More bindings appeared on Morgan's wrists outside. Two robed figures appeared and grabbed Kittie; Mask had accepted her application.
Suddenly, Sachi and Clarah appeared in my Hut, and Sachi ran away instantly.
The area was bathed in sunlight as Syn hit the Witch hard, cutting her into pieces. Scritch returned to paradise to retrieve Rowena's body, then Sachi ran away with the rod of security, to get Belmont away from the triplets before the ritual concluded. Scritch and Cat tied up Rowena's corpse, just in case.
The Black Witch didn't seem to be meddling with my ritual anymore, so it was going well, and fast.
Sachi took the rod of security to the first layer of the Hells and offered it to Tiamat; she sent him to Elysium. Sachi then took the rod to the fifth layer of Limbo and threw it; it just kept going on and on. That layer of Limbo was destroyed, just like Barovia had been. It just couldn't handle that much concentrated power.
Syn, having mostly neutralized the Black Witch, looked at the Hut, intent on attacking it; Agatha was still evil. The Sunblade was driven to destroy all evil. Scritch prepared to send Syn to Krynn to keep her away from Agatha.
Just as Morgan began to reform, the triplets finished the ritual and the last of the bindings appeared on her. Grant turned and asked for the thighbone of a saint, Cat had found one on Rowena's corpse.
I dropped the Hut just in time to see Grant stab Morgan Le Fay through the heart with a sharpened bone. My heart leapt in my chest; could Mask have sent him back to us? Then my Shieldwalls came running out of the Temple with the finished sarcophagus and we threw her in it. Before I had a chance to tell them to get the Book off of her, she was completely sealed in the tomb. I hoped that the Book wouldn't be able to get her out of there.
Sachi appeared then and announced he left Belmont somewhere and he thinks he blew it up. As he rambled, I looked at Aggie and inclined my head. She threw a fireball at him.
Tilea realized Shaft's sphere wasn't burning her quiet so much anymore, it seemed to be duller somehow, and stopped swimming. She asked the sea creatures and learned that sharks had eaten Shaft; she awakened the sharks to thank them for destroying Shaft.
I realized Tilea was probably still in the Elemental Plane of Water and sent her a message that she could come back. She didn't bother to shift before I pulled her back to us, so a fucking leviathan appeared instead of the elf we expected.
Grant told us that Kittie had impressed Mask by killing three hags, so she took his place in the casino and he was returned to life. I was elated... that my friend was back... I totally would have been this happy if another dear friend was returned to life... I definitely have no other reason for being so happy he's alive again...
As punishment for blowing up Barovia, all of Sachi's holdings in the thieves' guild now belonged to Grant. He told us Belmont would be drawn to Syn soon, so we needed to hurry to prepare to deal with him once and for all.
The girls were in the Temple, and Krynn was in a trance, holding a fulgurite crystal that was glowing with multiple colors. She had to fight off the evil spirit of Shaft, and there was nothing we could do to help her; either she'd do it or she'd fail, there was no option in between. We needed to get Grant's weapon to kill Belmont, and at the mention of his name, Syn stormed out. We couldn't teleport to her or anything. Cat sliced her hand and did something that showed us Syn. She was standing in front of Belmont holding out an orb. Grant opted to stay behind, as did my Sestras. We asked them to look after Krynn while we dealt with Belmont.
Everything here was on fire, and it wasn't easy to put out. Scritch and Cat went at him right away, and Belmont responded by throwing fifty fucking daggers at Cat. Tilea began a storm and turned into a tempest elemental; but whatever she was trying to do didn't seem to work. I healed Cat, then Dot and I tried to hit Belmont with some debuff spells, but they didn't work. Syn bathed Belmont in a sphere of golden light, then got in his face and cut one of his fingers off.
Scritch, Sachi, and Cat all began to beat on Belmont. He chucked an axe at Sachi, but it didn't seem to do much to the monkey. Tilea attempted to curse Belmont, but apparently he couldn't be cursed; that wasn't fucking good. I tried to hex him, but he had something that kept that away too, and he resisted both Dot and Nikko's attempts to feeblemind him.
Belmont moved away, knocking Syn over as he passed her. She stabbed her sword into the ground and with a blinding flash of light, she morphed into what looked liked a solar of pure radiant energy. She sliced into him and hurt him bad; his body began to disintegrate into little silvery motes. There was an odd red glow at his core and as his flesh fell away, we were now facing Demogorgon.
"I was so close... Why? Why did you have to ruin it for me?" Demogorgon said. "If you eave now, I will spare you."
Sachi, as always, decided to run his fucking mouth. He told Demogorgon that "now" was already gone, and the Demon Lord did something to Sachi to make him suddenly believe everyone wanted to steal his stuff.
"Now that your friend is suitably silenced," he began. Then Sachi started mouthing off some more. He really didn't know anything about the insane little monkey. He hit Sachi, and still Sachi kept rambling on. Tilea slammed into him with thunder. Demogorgon asked if that meant we don't want to make a deal, and I instantly told him no, before the others had a chance to try to make some sort of deal with him.
A second Demogorgon appeared behind Syn and hit her hard. Scritch, Cat, and Tilea all began beating on him. I tried to use my Talisman to destroy him, but the bastard just barely resisted falling. Then I flew right up to him and socked him in the jaw, trying to send him back to whence he came; he again just barely resisted me. I healed Syn while Nikko and Dot both tried- and failed- to hold him in place. The others surrounded him and kept striking at him, seeming to do some damage, but with a Demon Lord there's no telling how effective they actually were.
I tried to use my Talisman a second time, but it resisted again, as well as attempts from both Dot and I to dispel it, and Nikko's attempt to hold it in place. Syn managed to get rid of the illusory demon, so we were only facing the real Demogorgon- this was not very comforting. We continued the physical assault and it kept resisting everything Dot, Nikko, and I threw at it. Syn barely missed him and he teleported away.
We started debating how to pursue it, when Syn focused on the Belmont's glowing whip, abandoned on the ground. After a moment she took off at the speed of light- like we'd seen Belmont do before. The others thought maybe it was in Shaft's mirror realm, but before we went there, I wanted to check in with my Sestras at the Temple.
Just as I began to speak a message to my Sestras, every single ward and alarm in the Temple went off. Demogorgon had gone after Krynn. There were demons all over the bazaar, they'd breached my hallowed ground. I instantly transferred all non-combative people to the fifth floor. I looked around, furious at what had happened to my Temple. Tabitha began glowing with a brilliant white light, was levitated into the air, and with a sweep of her hand, she banished every demon within 30 feet of her. Suddenly the demons were gone. I'm not sure what happened.
Sachi decided to drop a fortress on top of the demons, once that proved effective my Shieldwalls began doing the same. As we found possessed dwarves, Sachi began sticking them in beads of force. We swept through the Temple, floor by floor, until we reached the fifth floor, where we found Krynn. My Temple was in horrible shape, I was just done with this shit. I sat down on the floor and pulled out some items to sacrifice... then the demons were gone, as were the items, but I hadn't done anything. Tabitha had again glowed with a white light and sent away every single demon in the Temple.
Scritch could see Demogorgon was possessing Krynn. Krynn stood up, holding a fulgurite wand that was pulsing with energy, with an odd look in her eye. Tilea turned into some kind of weird fey and possessed Scritch, then Scritch vanished, taking them to the ethereal I think. I pulled out a couple more items, trying to banish it, but it didn't work. Syn's whip wrapped around the wand and the pulsing stopped.
In the ethereal plane, Sachi put sovereign glue on his kataras and stabbed Demogorgon's spirit, trying to rip it out of her. He couldn't see the rod being ripped from her hands by her twin's whip. Scritch accidentally killed Sachi in the ethereal, but cleared the possession in the process. He was revived in the ethereal, and had to dissolve the glue to take his swords back to the material plane with him.
Krynn was freed of Demogorgon by whatever Scritch and Sachi did in the ethereal realm. When Sachi reappeared, Cat decided to turn him to stone. He turned into a gaseous form to stave off the effects, so Cat threw dust of dryness at him, turning Sachi into a dehydrated ball. That was the moment Aggie and Sypha burst in. Apparently Demogorgon had locked both of my Sestras in a force cage when he arrived. I was wondering where the Hells they were.
Scritch threw the Sachi ball at me, and hit Aggie in the face instead. I seriously thought my Sestra's head was going to explode. The ball of Sachi exploded on impact, and we were all covered in Sachi dust... It was gross. I realized someone was still missing: Grant. I worried Demogorgon had killed him or Mask had taken him away again. I was worried for my friend... absolutely for no other reason at all...
We all collapsed on the floor of the Temple, taking a much needed breath. I asked what was next, if there was anything more we needed to accomplish. Syn said that they had a rite of passage to complete, but it would take a while since they needed Barovia back first. Thanks to our efforts, Krynn had a chance of being the protector she's supposed to be. Tilea released the remaining souls from Shaft's sphere, which should help with that.
Grant strode in and I was -pleased- to see my friend wasn't dead. He told Sachi that his death in the ethereal wasn't a sacrifice because Scritch took advantage of an opportunity.
A bit later Strahd walked in. He thanked us for what we'd done, while bitching Sachi and Tilea out for destroying Barovia. Strahd couldn't deal with Demogorgon himself because he was hiding in a consecrated soul, so he was completely untouchable.
Later that night, after everyone else had left, I was surveying the damage to my poor Temple when Grant found me. He started babbling at me about the lore around my family... I was so confused, I couldn't figure out what in the Nine he was trying to say. After a moment, he exclaimed "dammit, I was never good with words," closed the distance between us, pulled me into his arms, and kissed me.
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