Session #87: The End of All Things

The party left the realm of the Platinum Trinity and made their way to The Endless Night, a dark place within the Astral Sea wherein Tiamat dwelt. Entering it was like entering a dark and foggy forest, full of foreboding sounds and choking mists. Above the gnarled trees they could see the Fortress of the Chromatic Dragon. Undaunted, they made their way to it.

Flying up to the main entrance was quickly ruled out, and they made their way into a cave entrance, skirting along the edge of the Maggot Pit. As they entered the castle, Tselem transformed into a generic Dragonborn, and used an illusion to make it look like she was a servant bringing the rest of the party in chains up to the audience chamber. The fortress was a twisting web of tunnels and corridors. Gems and jewels and gold and treasure lay scattered on the floor, more treasure than a even a dragon could collect in a lifetime. The party could hear the roars of dragons & guards in the bowels of the structure beneath them, as well as the screams of damned prisoners. Taumir happened across a watch he'd lost years ago.

The party was able to bluff and sneak their way up to the audience chamber with little difficulty. And there they finally beheld her: Tiamat. Her five heads looked every direction, her eyes shining with rage and madness. One of the heads took note of them as they entered, but did not seem to really care. The party positioned themselves for battle, and then dropped the illusion of the chains and called to their foe.

Tiamat turned, to them, and her faces showed surprise. "Well, well, well," she rumbled, "I never thought Bahamut would have the guts."

And thus the battle commenced! Taumir fired first, landing a substantial blow! Tiamt retaliated, and missed! Tselem mocked her failure, which may have been a mistake, as Tiamat then responded with a devastating set of attacks and that left Taumir and Tselem unconscious and bleeding out! Azeri was able to heal them and get them back on their feet.

Taumir quickly realized that a direct assault on Tiamat was not going to work, that they were going to have be more clever. He pulled out his Exodus Knife, and created an impenetrable pit (a pocket dimension) where they could take cover and strike out from. They had to dodge around Tiamat's attacks to get in, and Maak Tol was blinded in the process, but they all made it!

At this point they were safe from Tiamat, and in no shape to continue the battle, so they decided to rest for 6 hours and try again. Tiamat was no fool, and realized what they were doing, but she didn't seem impressed. She flew off to attend to other matters, and then later returned to wait them out.

Tselem tried to create a portal around one of Tiamat's necks to decapitate (or least severely wound) her. Regrettably, his brilliant strategy was foiled when the spell failed. The party then developed a strategy where they would quickly open the door to the pit, fire out an attack, and then shut the door before Tiamat could retaliate. This kept them safe from her awesome power but allowed them to strike at her somewhat with impunity. Tiamat seemed unconcerned about the hits but irritated enough to keep trying to get to them.

Maak Tol and Tselem took turns using the two bags of tricks the party had to send out random creatures to attack Tiamat. A flying Gorgon and a large spider both tried their best, but were dashed to pieces against the power of Tiamat's evil aura.

The party knew their most important weapon in this fight though was the weapon Orisis had forged for them. If they could strike Tiamat with it just once, they could prevent her from disincorporating, and then they could truly kill her! They elected Maak Tol to wield the sword, but he was having trouble getting close enough to land a hit.

It was then that the party hit on an idea: what if they gave the sword to Taumir, and he shot it from his bow?

It was an audacious plan, so naturally they immediately put it into motion. Taumir notched the massive weapon in his bow, using all his strength to hold it steady. The door to their pit was flung open, and he let it fly. And it struck true! Their godslaying weapon had found its mark!

Tiamat was properly affected but was by no means dead. In fact, she barely seemed to notice. The sword fell back into the pit and returned to Maak Tol's hand. Maak Tol then flew out of the pit - he'd taken on his animal forms so he could - and began to engage the dragon at point-blank range, trying to ensure she'd stay put long enough for them to defeat her, and also to draw some of her fire and ire away from his fellows.

The rest of the party took full advantage of this! Tselem was even able to force her to land, and then to attack herself! Tiamat tried to dominate Maak Tol several times as the battle raged on, but Azeri always cast off the curse as soon as it could land, leaving Maak Tol a little dazed but everyone unharmed. After the third or fourth time however they decided to bring him under cover again.

All this while spells and arrows and blast of radiant light had been striking at Tiamat, and now she began to truly feel weary. And then she reached that point that she could have disincorporated ... and she did not.

And at that moment the Exarchs of the Platinum Trinity saw something that probably no other mortal had ever seen. They saw fear on the faces of a God.

Tiamat's fear erupted into rage. She let forth a vicious stream of attacks that they were not able to shut the door against beforehand. The party shuddered under the force of her anger. But when it had passed, the party was still alive, and safe behind their cover. The true possibility of victory roused them, and they began attacking from cover once more.

Maak Tol even felt confident enough to moon their foe! Tiamat repaid this by dominating him when he came out, and then sending him back in to attack his fellows before the door could be shut. But Azeri once again saved the day!

The volleys continued back and forth, Maak Tol sometimes sharing the cover, other times keeping the dragon from fleeing. But this tactic would not work forever, and as Tiamat's strength ebbed out of her little by little, with no way to recover, she began to make as to flee. But Azeri would have none of this. She flew out on her cloud chariot and immobilized Tiamat! The party wasted no time striking at her in this weakened state. When Tiamat was free, she knocked Azeri out of the sky, but Azeri merely teleported herself back into position. She once again healed the party and they resumed their assault.

And then Taumir let an arrow fly and it struck beneath Tiamat's massive scales, and with the scream that seemed to split the Astral Sea itself, Tiamat began to disintegrate! Poisoned blood and fire spewed from her guts as ice froze and shattered her bones.

The evil god Tiamat was forever and truly dead!

The party rejoiced, but their glee was quickly tempered by the fact that the entire Endless Night began to collapse. The Fortress began falling apart, the Maggot Pit began burning up, the forest they'd traveled though was eaten up with blight in seconds. Tiamat's evil servants burned around them, and the treasure was swallowed up into a black hole as all of Tiamat's realm began to disappear into nothingness. The party took flight, either on their own power or on the cloud chariot, and made their escape!

They emerged into the Astral Sea to the sounds of joy and rejoicing!

VICTORY!

Session #83: The Use for a Devil

The party was not sure how much time had passed since the fight on the lake. Had it been two weeks, or only ten days? Time was so hard to tell here in the Underdark. At least the last two fights had given them something of a reputation, and no creatures dared molest them as they passed through the gloom, lonely and a little afraid.

Just as they were beginning to think they were hopelessly lost and would never find their way, they discovered a huge cavern. It had to be several thousand square meters large. The bones of many, many types of creatures were scattered on the ground. A dry, foreboding dust, and the stench of death hung thick in the cavern. And at the center of it, surrounded by a moat of lava, was a great fortress, with irregular black stones and a hunched, wicked expression to it.

The party was sure they'd finally found it: the lair of Orisis.

They were a little unsure of what to expect, but decided to plunge right in. No one stopped them from entering the foreboding fortress, and they soon made their way into a lower level, where their scrying had determined their host was. The underground room was something a cross between a morgue and a workshop. Orisis himself was an undead humanoid of indeterminate race. He was clothed in a cape of skin. He was unsurprised and unbothered as the party made their way into his chambers: he only grinned slyly.

The party told him of their errand. He named his usual price: defeat him in combat, and he would make them what they asked. He offered to do it for money, posing the enormous sum of 100 million gold, but the party was not willing to part with so much, and decided to go for the 'kick his ass' route. Orisis for his part was game: he clearly expected to win handily.

But on this day Orisis learned that the reputation of the Knights of the 13th Moon was well-deserved. He stood very little chance against them. The battle was fierce, but he was just one against four of the greatest warriors Eberron has ever known. Orisis was brought low, and defeated!

As he lay there, barley clinging to (un)life, the wicked creature used what little strength he had left to gasp out his congratulations. He would forge them their God-slaying sword!

Rewards

• 22,000 XP each!

Session #82: Raiders in the Dark (Part II)

Tselem blasted the creatures with his acid wave, nearly melting most of them. A blast of fire then finished the job for most of them, including the slug monster. The fish-creatures were incensed by this (they'd been shouting curses in Deep Speech this whole time, but only Maak Tol could understand them). Two of the harpoon-wielding enemies were able to pull Tselem and Taumir off the chariot into the water! Azeri & Maak Tol tried to pull them back out, but they weren't quite strong enough. It didn't really matter though, as both were able to tread water and continue launching attacks. Taumir was just as lethal with his arrows, cleaving foes in half with his tiny spears.

Their ranks finally thinned, the fish-creatures could no longer press the advantage, and soon they all were dead! Tselem then swam through his own portal and launched himself back on top of the cloud chariot.

Rewards

• 27,000 XP each!
• (Reminder: we're suspending monetary/treasure rewards for now since your collected net worth is nearly 1 billion GP at this point.)

Session #81: Raiders in the Dark (Part I)

For the next day and a half the party made their way through Khyber, hoping they were drawing closer to Orisis' lair. In the pitch black, only Maak Tol could see clearly, while the rest of the party relied on Tselem's magical lights to feel their way along. The passage of time was hard to gauge, but their trip was thankfully free of encounters with monsters.

By their reckoning it was evening on the 21st of Sypheros when they entered the cavern. It was a huge room, so large that even Maak Tol could not see the other side. They could all feel the breezes blowing through, and they could also see, hear, and smell the massive lake filling the chamber. The water was rank, but calm, and lapped gently at the shore only a few feet from where they stood.

The party couldn't see any way through but across the lake, but were wary of what might be lurking beneath it, so they weren't about to swim. So Azeri cast her cloud chariot and they all boarded for the trip across. They skimmed a dozen feet or more above the surface, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of trouble.

And sure enough it wasn't long before they found some. From beneath the dark surface emerged a half-dozen fish-like humanoids with bows and arrows. Warbling in Deep Speech, they began shooting at the party. Their arrows didn't pose much of threat, but these few attackers did not remain few for long. More began to emerge, these with harpoons. And as they continued to shout in their gravely voices, a huge monster rose from the water in front of them. This abomination looked like a cross between a slug and a fish, and dripped with foul-smelling mucus. At its appearance, the attackers began to chant, which Maak Tol recognized as praise to 'the glory of Aboleth!'

Tselem blasted the creatures in the water with chain lightning, using their environment against them. In retaliation, one of the harpoon-armed creatures struck Taumir, pulling him into the water! As he surfaced, another half-dozen creatures surfaced, surrounding him! But Taumir was having none of this - he launched himself back onto the chariot, sending out a blast that blew away almost all of the attackers surrounding him. 

Tselem, ever the inventor, cast a portal that opened underneath their attackers and exited to their side. It effectively created rapids beneath them and a firehose in their faces. They were still fish, so it didn't drown or hurt them, but it did slow them down.

Maak Tol, using one of his flying forms, flew down a few feet towards the water to do his part in the fray. Since the slime monster had appeared the whole party had been feeling a certain amount of psychic pressure, and now Maak Tol felt himself falling under its control. Thankfully he was able to throw it off.

More fish creatures surfaced and tried to get to Maak Tol. Tselem used an ice attack that killed them all. More surfaced and began attacking. Azeri burned them all to death. The water was now as thick with corpses (some frozen) as it was with attackers. 

Rewards
(Nothing yet, encounter is still on-going)

Sessions #79 & #80: The Darkness and the Defiance (Parts I & II)

Part I

The party teleported to the city of Cragwar, which lies on the border between Thrane and Aundair, and their popularity followed them. They did their best to stay out of the spotlight, and spent some time researching Orisis and Khyber in Cragwar's library. They found very little useful information - very few people ever returned from adventuring in the Underdark, and those that did were often traumatized or even insane.

They had come to Cragwar because of its relative proximity to the Black Pit: a terrible crevice in the earth from which strange creatures emerged from time to time, located in a valley in the Blackcap Mountains. A small and unsavory town of the same name overlooked the pit and they knew this was to be their next stop.

They stayed in Cragwar overnight and departed on the morning of 19 Sypheros, traveling south. As they did, they became aware that they were being followed by two dragonborns and two dwarves. After tolerating this for a few hours, when they stopped for lunch, Taumir and Azeri snuck around behind while Tselem and Maak Tol walked right up to them and demanded to know what they wanted. The dragonborns were apparently working for Baron Mucharsen and the dwarves for Vondal. Both Vondal and Mucharsen felt betrayed by the party's past actions and had sent these minions to do something about it.

But these flunkies were neither zealous nor stupid - they quickly realized their masters' grievances held little merit and in any event they were in no position to take on the Knights of the Thirteen Moon. So after some sharp words the party sent them away and continued on their journey.

Night was falling when the party arrived at the town of Black Pit. The reputation of the town was unsavory enough that they approached slowly, observing it from afar as they got closer. Very quickly they realized that the town of Black Pit was a cesspool of suffering. As far as they could tell there were only two types of inhabitants: evil creatures and their victims. Slaves and sacrifices cowered in cages; poor creatures darted through alleyways, trying to escape. Wicked beings, particularly fey ones, were everywhere.

The party knew they could not sit by and do nothing. They snooped around and discovered that Black Pit was a patchwork of different secret cults, each vying to tap into the evil power of the Pit for themselves and/or their deities. The party decided to try and play these rivalries against one another and start some riots. This plan was remarkably successful - through a combination of misdirection, vandalism, and illusion, the party soon had the various groups thinking the others were out to get them. Before long, violence erupted. The party egged on the various groups, making each think the other was attacking them. Black Pit became engulfed in street battles, and fires broke out in every quarter.

The party retreated to a safe distance and watched with satisfaction the stream of slaves and captives escaping. It was now the wee hours of the morning, and only the flames of the town's destruction lit the pitch black night. The party tried to help direct these refugees to safe harbors, and Tselem was  able to teleport a few dozen of them directly back to safety in Cragwar. Many others though fled into the night, their fates unknown.

When the sun finally arose the next morning (20 Sypheros), the town of Black Pit had been completely razed to the ground. The party (having rested after freeing the slaves) now girded their loins and prepared to descend into the actual Black Pit itself. They knew very little about what they were getting into, and despite their fame, power, and wealth, they could not help the fear that gripped them. Steps led down into the Pit itself, and while the party did not hesitate to descended along them, with every footfall they felt a cold fist of despair tightening around each of their hearts.

Part II

The darkness of Khyber enveloped them. Tselem lit a a magical torch so they were not completely blind, but its glow only extended a few meters in each direction. Maak Tol could see well enough without it, but found the gloom no less ominous.

They had barely ventured more than a few minutes into the tunnels and caverns when they began to hear skittering and clicks from some sort of animal. Then, swooping into the light and dropping from the ceiling, they came: hook horrors, abominable eagle-like monsters with long serrated claws instead of wings!

The party was initially alarmed, but their fear soon left them. The hook horrors posed little threat individually, and the party dispatched them fairly easily. Taumir and Tselem especially launched devastating attacks that reduced the creatures to nothing but dust. When the short battle ended, their destruction was so complete it was almost as if they hadn't existed at all.

Somewhat encouraged by this, the party ventured deeper into the Underdark.

Rewards

• 10,000 XP each
• (Reminder: we're suspending monetary/treasure rewards for now since your collected net worth is nearly 1 billion GP at this point.)