"If we can't kill him in a minute when we have the drop on him, we likely can't accomplish it at all," Jaya says distractedly. She looks up and over the conversation at Kallie, her eyebrows raised as if to say When do I get to read it?
Kallie makes a sour face at the prospect of fighting lich. "Doesn't sound very fun. But, we'll be able to prepare. I assume we can pick the place to perform the ritual? Can we bring him back somewhere there's a positive energy font so we can just watch him bake?"
She gives Jaya a surreptitious wink.
"If only it was so simple!" Sorshen says with a sigh. "The ritual will have to be undertaken at the Isle of Xin, where your processors prevented Emperor Xin himself from returning. Specifically, the Tarnished Temple. Alas, I haven't find anywhere else with the right kind of ambient magical energy."
"That seems kind of arbitrary," Galatea remarks dryly.
"It's complicated, but here's the short version. The Tarnished Temple was once devoted to Xin's Seven Convictions of Rule, which were... twisted into the Seven Sins you know today. The fundamental magical essence Zutha used to make his magnum opus is also prevalent there," Sorshen explains. "Put simply, the ritual utilizes that essence to pull a fragment of Zutha out of his phylactery."
"Never been to the Isle of Xin, so we'll have to find a ship unless you're feeling generously like a courier," Kallie says.
"Call him forth, defeat him in under a minute. Fine. Croq, 'Lia, you do the smacking him around; Jaya, you blast him, and I'll... cheerlead, I guess. Just kidding. I've got a trick or two that should help."
She turns back to Sorshen. "Do you have a good, secure training area in mind? We kind of attract attention, and have some enemies that might get the dumb idea of hitting us while we're staying too long in one place."
"Sounds fine to me. I'm already getting sick of the city," Aurealia remarks, her ears flattening against her head to shield from the noise of the crowd. "So... many... sensations..." she grumbles.
"I have a number of secure refuges around Varisia that we can use. If necessary, I even have private demiplanes we could utilize," Sorshen answers with a nod. She notes how uneasy the sounds of the city are making Aurealia and adds, "We can use the ones located in the countryside."
You spend the rest of the day thoroughly reviewing Sorshen's ritual, inspecting it from every angle you can imagine for any danger. By all indications, however, it appears to do exactly as the Runelord described. Just to be safe, though, you also devise, as they say in Alkenstar, a bulletproof list of questions for Galatea's nightly sleep-writing session to search for anything you might be missing.
Galatea's sleep-writings indicate that Sorshen is completely trustworthy. Thus, as they say in Alkenstar, you decide to bite the bullet and work with her. After breakfast, you met a disguised Sorshen again at a discreet location. She then teleports you to the first of her hideouts, a fortified villa in the Varisian countryside used by a peaceful, reclusive sect of Nocticulan artists.
They don't seem to know that Sorshen is actually Sorshen; instead, they appear to think that she's a high-ranking agent of, well, herself. Regardless, you all receive a warm welcome, especially after they learn that Galatea and Kallie are the heirs of the Treeslayer. While Jeevika isn't the most artistic Shelynite, she is still nonetheless a highly favored servant of the Eternal Rose, and how can the followers of the goddess of artists not at least respect the goddess of art and her followers?
Sorshen spends the next hour or so giving an overview of the ritual with everyone before taking Kallie and Jaya aside to teach it to them in full since one of them would be best suited to lead the casting. As requested, Croq is given access to a forge and other blacksmithing tools for her weapons and armor crafting. Aurealia spends the remaining day training with some of Sorshen's soldiers (there to guard the artists), while Galatea is whisked away to train with the Nocticulans.
The next two weeks fly by in a blur. You sometimes change venues, but otherwise, your days are similar to the first. Kallie and Jaya master the ritual within the first few days, Aurealia gets the hang of it after about a week, and Galatea and Croq finally grasp it after about ten days. And in addition to teaching you the Runewaking Ritual, Sorshen also helps you prepare for your fight with Zutha in other ways.
As an accomplished evocator and arguably the best enchantress ever, Sorshen proves to be an excellent instructor for Jaya and especially Kallie in their studies of their favored magical schools. While she isn't a practitioner of transmutation, Sorshen is nonetheless very experienced with a guisarme, making her a surprisingly good tutor and sparring partner for Aurealia in the art of polearm fighting. Even Croq finds herself getting lessons in Thassilonian bardic magic, albeit translated into more modern tongues. Being a divine caster, Galatea is the odd one out, but Sorshen nonetheless always seems to have a minion or ally around who can help Gali train her oracular powers.
"What happened, Kallie?! We waited eight hours for you! Mom is very upset..."
"I'm afraid that this is where we have to part ways for now," Sorshen announces at breakfast. By now, you have returned to the fortified villa where you first started your training. "It won't be long before Xanderghul makes his move, so I need to focus all my remaining time on my preparations for that. Meanwhile, each of you has mastered the Runewaking Ritual, and after helping you hone your other skills, I'm confident that you can defeat Zutha's fragment in a minute or less."
"I'll probably turn myself into Aurealian just before we go in. We'll want to be enhanced to the gills for this one..." Aurealia comments to the others. "Anyone have any fun new tricks after all this training and shopping?"
As Kallie practices the ritual over and over again, she gets more and more of a nervous feeling so she decides to do something about it. She buys a scroll of major image and puts it into her spellbook.
Then she confides to Jaya in private, and in Sylvan.
"Remember Leptonia? She had a vision sent by her big Q-lord that he would be sending his servants after me -- well, us -- giving her a chance to break free. What we aren't discussing is the fact that the attack was supposed to happen when we're fighting Zutha. This was before we knew that we were going to have to call him forth to depower the book and keep him gone forever. She even saw the island.
"Now, Leptonia's dead and her body with the Pharasmins. But, I'm not ready to take a risk that big Y won't send his force after me for a little revenge. So here's my plan: we do a fake ritual. One that looks just like the real one, only I'll bring up an illusion in Zutha's place. If they strike, we won't have to contend with both Zutha and a bunch of qlippo-cultists at the same time."
She gauges Jaya's reaction. "Not sure if we should tell the others."
Kallie casts a spell in response to Aurealia's question. "I'm planning on holding him in place."
'Lia feels invisible hands grip her briefly, then immediately let go.
"That should make it easier for you and Croq to smash him, while making it tougher for him to get off any spells." She smiles and gives 'Lia a wink.
"I don't particularly plan to get fancy, or give him time to. Force, properly angled and applied is the ultimate leveler."
"I was planning on casting every buff I have on Cheshire and then letting her rip Zutha limb from limb," Galatea admits.
"As a reminder, it will take you 70 minutes to cast the ritual, so I would account for that in your planning," Sorshen remarks. "Now, the Tarnished Temple is located along the Isle of Xin's southwestern coast."
"And the Isle of Xin is located where precisely?" Galatea asks.
"West of Magnimar, about 100 miles or so," Sorshen says. "Will you need assistance getting there?
"I don't think so, but..." Galatea says before turning to the rest of you, clearly interested on your thoughts on the matter.
"Hrmmmm. Do we all need to be casting for the whole 70 minutes? And do you expect Xin to appear as soon as we complete the ritual? I'm wondering if I'll have time to buff us up with some sick bardic tunes...or only ones that last more than 70 minutes after casting?"
"Zutha, not Xin. Heaven help us if the First King somehow makes another return," Sorshen says with chuckle, borrowing a phrase used by the Iomedaeans. "Whoever participates in the ritual will be casting it for the entire 70 minutes. Upon completing the ritual, Zutha will immediately appear, so I recommend spells that will last longer than 70 minutes. Croq, your Glibness spell will make things exponentially easier. As you might recall, part of the ritual entails fooling Zutha's fragment into returning to the waking world."
After Sorshen answers all your remaining questions, Kallie teleports everyone to Magnimar. Once Galatea stashes Cheshire in her magical pendant, Kallie is able to take everyone (including Viralane) in one trip. In Magnimar, after you meet with the Sihedron Council to arrange transportation to the Isle of Xin, you spend the day reviewing the ritual and preparing to cast it.
"In total, the Runewaking Ritual will take 70 minutes to cast. Essentially, it draws power from the Plane of Shadows to create a shadowy simulacrum of Zutha. There's basically two parts to this: using arcane and spell knowledge to shape this shadow replica and then using guile to trick Zutha's essence into inhabiting it. Each... step will take approximately ten minutes," Galatea begins, having spent a lot of time boiling down the ritual to layman's terms in her notes.
"Someone will need to lead the ritual; Sorshen recommended Kallie or Jaya. If we succeed, there will be some small magical backlash, and a fragment of Zutha will be summoned from the grimoire. We have a minute to destroy him.
"Croq, I think you should be the one to handle the deception aspect. With Glibness active, you could probably convince me and Kallie that you're the true heir to House Kailani of Varisia," Galatea remarks. "Kallie, Jaya, I think you should split the work shaping the simulacrum. With my Heroism and Tears to Wine spells augmenting your minds, I don't think you could fail."
"Croq, I think you should be the one to handle the deception aspect. With Glibness active, you could probably convince me and Kallie that you're the true heir to House Kailani of Varisia," Galatea remarks.
"Oooooh, I should totally try that some day!" Croq preens at the praise, adding whistfully, "It's a shame I'm not evil, really. Just think of the mischief I might've wrought...
"Anyway, I'll for sure Sing a Song of Glibness. The only other magic I know that lasts for more than 70 minutes is Heroism, so I'm happy to hit folks up with that too, Gali. Why don't I cast it on myself, Aurelia, and Jaya."
"Sounds good, Croq. I can cast Heroism as well, so I'll cover myself, Kallie, and Cheshire," Galatea says. She looks around the group. "Does anyone else have something they'd like to discuss?"
"Yeah. We should do a trial run first. Full show. Just to draw out, um, anyone who might want to ambush us while we're trying to take down Zutha."
Kallie scratches the back of her neck. "Just in case."
"That's a good idea!" Aurealia says, nodding along with Kallie's plan.
"That's... an interesting idea," Galatea replies. After a few seconds, you can practically hear the click in her brain. "Oh, right. Leptonia's vision... What do you have in mind, Kallie?"
Kallie makes sure to talk about this in as secure of a location as possible. She'll suggest others keep an eye out for scrying sensors if they have the ability.
"Well, we go through the ritual as normal. Except we reverse the fifth and sixth step, and use chalk dust instead of the orichalcum that Sorshen provided. If my understanding is correct, doing that will not have any negative effect on when we do the actual ritual.
"I should be able to surreptitiously cast major image during the last step, at around the six-minute mark. The verbal components won't sound that much different. I can keep concentrating on the spell while we finish the rest of the 'ritual.' When that last step is done, I'll bring up a shadowy image of an undead that we'll all act like we're fighting. We do that for a while, hopefully luring anything out that might be trying to ambush us while we're occupied."
She thinks for a moment. "Oh, by the way, the enemies in Leptonia's vision were several cultists and another one of those qlippoth masses of intestines. A nyogoth. Not sure if the Leppie's patron will even bother with her dead, or will try to send more foes against us for revenge. The attack was originally meant to free her from my control, so that's, you know, not really an option."
Croq shrugs. "Sounds reasonable to me. Not a bad idea!"
Before revealing the details of her plan, Kallie searches the room and thankfully does not spot any scrying sensors.
"Sounds like a solid plan, Kallie," Galatea says with a nod of approval. "Just to be sure, I can use my sleep-writing tonight to double check for any... unwanted surprises."
"...Yeah, we should expect company," Galatea grumbles in the morning. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I phrased the question in the most vague manner possible, so I'm not certain if it'll be Leptonia's associates or something else."
After making your daily preparations, you learn that Sursha Antefalle has been hired by the Sihedron Council to take you to the Isle of Xin aboard the Forgiven Queen.
"Hello again, everyone!" Sursha says, clearly happy to see you once more. "Poor Captain Farwynd is recovering from a brutal round of migraines, so I'll be running things for the foreseeable future. Anyway, the Forgiven Queen is a fair bit faster than most other vessels, so we should reach the Isle of Xin by this afternoon. Afterwards, I can drop you off anywhere within Varisia you'd like to go next."
The journey to the Isle of Xin goes off without a hitch. Once upon a time, the architecture of the area was almost certainly magnificent. However, all that is left now are crumbling roads and the jagged ruins of statues and buildings. The shores are covered in rotting seaweed, and strange fungi and time are slowly consuming what's left of the ruins.
By the middle of the afternoon, you reach the island where the Tarnished Temple is located. The shoreline is covered with jagged rocks, so Sursha has to anchor the Forgiven Queen a good distance away. Not having been trained in the ritual, Viralane opts to remain on the ship. Using your various flying instruments (and/or an Air Walking Cheshire), you make your way to the northern coast. The Tarnished Temple itself rests on the cliff to the southwest...
Croq shrugs. "Sounds reasonable to me. Not a bad idea!"
After a moment's thought, she bends to her sibling and whispers. "I'm gonna give you super-senses again for a minute. Ready to check for any scrying sensors or other sneakery?"
Aurealia nods, and starts to look around.
Just to be safe, after being bolstered by Croq's magic, Aurealia thoroughly examines the room for any scrying sensors. Thankfully, she doesn't find anything concerning. Once her search concludes, you proceed to discuss your plans for the ritual.
Much like the previous day, after being bolstered by Croq's Acute Senses spell, Aurealia starts searching the area for any signs of trouble.
With it well-established that their first attempt at the ritual would be the decoy, Kallie acts like they have the one go at it. She spends an arcane point to bring up her force armor since it lasts the longest.
"Let's get started, then? No sense in drawing this out. It'll be long enough of a ritual as it is." She begins to make the preparations at the site.
Jaya trusts to the Andosanas and busies herself prestidigitating away any dust or debris that might mar the site of their ritual.
Brilliant improvisation still falls to proper preparation.
"Show time?" Croq asks.
She hammers out a sick drum solo, screaming her heart out about their badassery as she does.
Aurelia pulls out her metamagic rods, casting an extended shield n herself, and haste on everyone. She switches rods before activating her Monstrous Physique spell and turning into Aurealian the Four-Armed Gargoyle.
Galata also helps out with the preparations for the ritual.
Before you start, Aurealia mentions detecting an unusual burning smell off in the distance. After the site is prepared, Jaya and Kallie have no trouble leading the magical fundamentals of the decoy ritual. Since you aren't actually trying to pull Zutha out of the Bone Grimoire, Croq and Galatea's impeccable lying skills aren't required here. Instead, Kallie fakes that part with her illusion spell.
However, right as "Zutha" starts crawling out of the Bone Grimoire, you hear a fierce avian shriek approaching your location and then feel the winds start to kick up. Turning in the direction of the noise, you see what can only be described as a massive and very angry burning peacock flying in your direction at rapid speeds. Having sensed something amiss earlier, Aurealia is able to quickly prepare herself, while the rest of you aren't too far behind her.
While the big, fiery bird is still flying towards you, Galatea hustles over to Cheshire and casts a ward on her companion. Gali then casts another spell on the feline, which makes her bulk up massively in size and brawn. With a growl, the empowered Cheshire blitzes straight through the air at the burning bird and lunges at it.
Alas, only one of her several attacks truly injures the creature. As that happens, the avian's boiling blood spills onto Cheshire's claw. Thankfully, Galatea's ward protects her from any damage.
With an angry shriek, the massive peacock creature retaliates and tears into Cheshire. The feline roars in agony as her foe's beak and talons rip into her fur and flesh. Galatea's empowerment spell lets her shrug off some of the damage, but it doesn't appear that Cheshire will last another round against this gargantuan monster...
"Careful - that's a____"
Peacock Phoenixes are immune to fire, electricity, and sonic damage. They're vulnerable to the cold. They speak Auran, Ignan, and Thassilonian. They can control the weather, summon lightning bolts, and breath fire in a sixty foot line of fire.
As you saw with Cheshire, Peacock Phoenixes have boiling blood, so anything that cuts or pierces their skin might be burned by it. They have the same Storm Aura as Thunderbirds, and like Thunderbirds, they can see through any weather that might impair their vision (e.g. fog). They're also surprisingly fast and agile for their size, known to have good Evasion.
Aurealian flaps his wings and propels himself into a flank with Cheshire.
<--- Furious Focus
He leans over and bites at the peacock phoenix, the spirits of the Rodericks swarming to aid him.
Jaya wards herself against its lightning as the bird streaks across the sky.
Wanting to test exactly how good this bird is at dodging, she hurls a fireball into the sky at it, adding a last twist to her evocation so that the concentrated seed implodes instead, dragging in all the heat around it with the same force with which it might have exploded.
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Kallie was only sixty-five percent sure that something would get drawn out by their fake ritual. And if it did, she estimated that it was only thirty percent likely that it would have been Yamasoth minions out for revenge. More likely, she figured, it would be an island denizen drawn to their activity.
At seeing the flaming phoenix-like creature, she kind of wished for the revenge party.
"It was a fake ritual!" she shouts at their attacker. "You think we actually want to bring Zutha back!?!
Hoping to end the threat quickly, she tries to paralyze the creature.
Jaya's patented Empowered Intensified Coldball hits the Peacock Phoenix square in the head, dealing massive damage and causing it to cry in agony. An instant later, the creature abruptly freezes in place and then plummets to stony ground below. Seeing this weakness, Cheshire powers through her own pain, licks her lips hungrily, and readies herself for another charge...
Croq surfs over to the fiery phoenix, and swings drumstick at it's now-frozen form.
"Any idea why a firebird just attacked us? Do we think it cares about Zutha? Why??"
Even with the Peacock Phoenix paralyzed by Kallie's magic, the abrupt storm seemingly caused by its appearance still persists. Almost immediately after Croq lands her strike, there's a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. An instant later, Aurelian feels a terrible shock run through his body.
With her prey essentially helpless, Cheshire proceeds to tear the Peacock Phoenix limb from limb.
After Cheshire slays the Peacock Phoenix, the weather swiftly returns to normal.
"Oh my gods! Aurealian, are you okay?" Galatea says as she quickly hustles over to the melee team. Upon seeing how injured Cheshire is, Gali winces and takes a few seconds to stabilize her feline friend.
Jaya sniffs. "Foolish to think a beast like that would be sufficient."
"Oh. Not that that was likely a minion of Yamasoth. It's beyond what we previously saw of their means, but it certainly fits the idiom of the Peacock Cult who tried to steal the Sword of Pride. Still foolish."
Aurealian's wings flap with unnatural speed, propelling him back from the worst of the lightning bolt. He winces as the shock courses through him, and then laughs.
Freezing the beast in midair and watching it come crashing down so that her companions could slaughter it gave Kallie a rush. She smiles, though a hungry glint in her eye appears when she considers that she could have dominated the creature had she been powerful enough. Soon.
She blinks out of her fantasy. "Well. Who wants to go find its nest and see if there's anything there? Or, if Jaya's right and it's not nesting nearby, why attack us? What are we to the Peacock cult?"
"Most recently their foes. But if they once again seek the paraphernalia of the Runelords, then more relevantly they are our rivals."
"My goodness, you certainly shrugged off that lightning bolt, Aurealian," Galatea remarks in slight awe while she continues to heal Cheshire's wounds. "Still, if you'd like me to patch you up, please let me know."
"Alright, I think she's good to go now," Gali remarks before hugging Cheshire's big head. She then turns to the rest of you. "So, who's going to lead the ritual for real? Sorshen recommended Kallie or Jaya, but truthfully, I think anyone of us could lead it. The main concern is that there will be some slightly magical backlash, regardless if we succeed or not."
Jaya smiles faintly. "It's Aurealian, of course he did."
Turning to the matter of the ritual she sucks in her cheeks a bit as she thinks through variables. "I believe that we should prioritize certainty in the success of this ritual, even if it means backlash falling on less robust members of our party... Do we have a firm understanding of what that backlash might entail? In my mother's experimentation I was reconstructed to be more resistant to necromantic workings, but that may be irrelevant."
"Here, let me check my notes again," Galatea remarks. She spends a few minutes reviewing them before blushing. "Well, I feel silly now. It says here that all casters will experience magical backlash. On a success, it's comparable to getting hit by a trio of Magic Missiles. On a failure, it'll be like getting drained once by a shadow."
Gali puts her notes away.
"I guess it really doesn't matter who leads the ritual then," she concludes. "I suppose it's more... who would like the honors of leading it?"
"Well, if we're all sharing the pain, it should probably fall to Jaya or me to take the lead then." Kallie gives Jaya a look. "We could play 'hoof, snake, stone' if we can't decide."
"I'll be the snake!" Croq volunteers.
She practices making a hissing noise that's a bit throatier than a snake should make, but she puts her heart into it enough that it's oddly compelling.
Jaya smiles faintly. "I'll take this one, Kallie. You just make sure you've got your threnodic rod at the ready. Most undead don't bother preparing mental defenses past death." And if there's anything Sorshen tried to slip past us after all, I won't be starting from the assumption that she wouldn't.
"I'll be the snake!" Croq volunteers.
She practices making a hissing noise that's a bit throatier than a snake should make, but she puts her heart into it enough that it's oddly compelling.
"No, it's a game we'd play back in the herd," Kallie explains. She makes corresponding hand gestures. "Hoof beats snake, snake beats stone, 'cause, you know, they lay on top of them, and stone beats hoof. You count to three and show your choice. I guess it's kind of obvious why you don't know hoof-snake-stone. What would you do? Feet can't really beat snakes. Maybe boots?"
Jaya makes the game moot by volunteering. "Okay, yeah. That'll work. Right. Hopefully he won't be expecting a touch of idiocy in his face."