Jeslyn turns towards Uriel, screaming.
"Be cursed by the powers of the abyss!"
She extends her mutated insectoid arm to touch him.
And Uriel manages to get away just in time!
Telerin realizes just what is happening. The Abyss is using this piece of wardstone to try and corrupt the wardstone barrier! To change it from a protection to a portal to the abyss, opening a huge rift in reality, to bring the full power of the abyss to Golarion. And for the look of it, it will happen in just seconds!
With a wild battlecry, Darya bursts free of the tentacles, charging right at Jeslyn with her sword raised high attempting to strike her down.
"WE'LL KEEP HER BUSY, IF ANY OF YOU CAN HELP ALEXA, DO IT!!"
The elf will cry out in celestial that she has the totem needed.
she also tells the group what is happening within the ritual.
Alexa's ears twitch when she hears Telerin's words.
Realizing just how dire things really are, and taking advantage of her enhanced speed, Alexa races back to Telerin, braving the tentacles to snatch the crystal rod from the mage's hand.
She then races back to the wardstone to touch it with the rod!
combat casting
Magic missile at the baddy
your evil stops here! You will b ot cause harm to innocents ever again the elf simply states as she struggles against the hold. Able to free herself put for a moment she chants and extends her hands as 3 eldeirxu bolts manifest in the shape of elcen areows to strike unerringly at their foe.
Arloric tries to break free again...
...and this time he succeeds!
"SOON COMES YOUR TIME NOW TO BE BRAVE...FOR YOUR OWN LIVES YOU MUST SAVE!" he belts out as he rushes towards Jeslyn, sword in hand!
"You will not triumph today, abomination!" Uriel says, as he continues to attack.
While all of the other pummels Jeslyn to submission, Alexa rushes back into the black tentacles to retrieve the rod.
A wall of evil slime appendages launches at her as if knowing she is the only one that can stop the Abyss this day. Alexa prepares to avoid the tentacles in some way, when she, and only she, sees her.
She is there, almost glowing, with her sword and her shield, her back to Alexa, defending her from the tentacles, creating an opening so Alexa can reach Telerin, get the rod, and run back to the cage.
Alexa doesn't turn back. Alexa doesn't turn to check if the tentacles are about to trip or grab her. But somehow Alexa is at ease, knowing She is still there, defending her. Defending all of the party. Defending all of Golarion.
Seeing Alexa escape her tentacles Jeslyn let out a scream filled with pain and regret while extending her deformed insectoid arm at her.
"DAMN YOU! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO..."
At the last step, Alexa lunges forward, the rod in her hand in front of her, striking the last surviving wardstone piece.
Destroying the wardstone barrier forever.
As the wardstone fragment is destroyed, it explodes in a blast of golden light and the sound of an angelic choir as hundreds of razor-sharp shards of stone spray outward.
Every character, except Alexa Dorne, sees everything as if in slow motion. How the fragments of the stone surge forward in an explosive shock wave, obliterating the magical cage that contained them, just before enveloping Alexa Dorne and dissolving her shape in their light. A fraction of second later the shock wave of force, magic, and fragments hit Jeslyn in full force and blow the flesh out of her bones, as they can see the outline of her exposed skeleton for just one instant before the explosion reaches them.
They all have time for just one though before they are hit by the explosion too.
Moments before the explosion happens, Alexa's lips quirk into a mad grin. She looks back at Jeslyn.
"YOU. LOST." Is all she can yell before the light engulfs her.
...goodbye, Miles. Is her last thought before the light.
As the blastwave reaches him, Uriel has just enough time to turn to Darya and smile. We did it, sister! As he begins to reach toward her, the explosion engulfs him, and somehow the warmth is pleasant, even as it incinerates him.
Aberus is bathed in a golden, impossibly bright light as time stretches to a stillness. See you soon, dad, is his final thought as this new sun rises.
Ir is as it should be. May our sacrifice not be in vain
Arloric, seeing Alexa succeed, raises his sword, a crazed grin on his face, two-toned eyes wild.
"SARKORIS !" he screams, bringing the Song to an end and laughing as the light blinds him.
As Kelly sees the blast approaching, her body held in place by the noxious tentacles, all that she can think is that in the end, she was surrounded by friends, not alone. It’s small, but a comfort nonetheless.
Sario struggles in tentacles as Alexa stabs into the remaining fragment of the wardstone. The light wave washes over their enemy and towards Sario at the rear. "Mother ... Father... We have stopped them here but we couldn't stop them all. I will be joining you soon and we can walk the gardens together again."
Bringing the best of her might to bear against the warped woman, Darya looks past as Alexa makes it to the wardstone. She falters for a moment, as the brilliant light envelops and completely consumes her, the realization that the end was present settling in. Her eyes shifting around and taking in her companions, grinning triumphantly in reply to Uriel's smile as the fire washes over her.
Your characters are still there, but they are not there anymore.
You can see each other, floating in a mist of golden and goodness, in the grey fortress, floating in thought and time.
And all of your characters can see Alexa Dorne. She is bathed in golden flames, her eyes embers of yellow fire.
An unexpected side effect of the wardstone's destruction occurs. If the holy energies stored in all of the wardstones were the waters of a vast lake formed by a dam, then the fragment just destroyed was the plugin that dam holding the waters back. Rather than simply diffusing the wardstone's border as the Eagle Watch theorized (and thus removing the border from possible corruption), all of the energies of the wardstones along the border rush out of the " hole" caused by the final destruction of the last and largest fragment of the Kenabres stone. The energy of all of these simultaneously draining artifacts infuses your characters with incredible power, causing them to glow with golden light. All debilitating conditions and wounds are immediately healed as they are restored in an instant to full health. All expended spells are instantly restored, and all limited use per day abilities recharge.
This event does not go unnoticed. All along the border, other wardstones flash with golden light as well, momentarily supercharging their effects. Thousands of demons are destroyed by the flash of light, and many more are wounded. The attacks along the borders suddenly cease, and the surviving demons flee back into the depths of the Worldwound, thus they do not witness the wardstones fade into total inertness. Although the defenders rejoice at the unexpected pulse of energy, the fact that their greatest defense has apparently burned itself out is cause for concern.
Alexa finally opens her eyes and looks around.
...where am I?
She pats herself.
Am I dead? I don't feel dead... but how would I know?
The warm glow around her shines a bit brighter, causing her to squint her eyes.
"what is this glow? Am I in a dream? Did I not die?" Sario thinks to herself as she turns in place and sees her allies, Sario stops when she sees Alexa the Golden light the most bright around her.
"Alexa what power is that you are wielding?" Sario calls out if she can.
Your characters are still there, but they are not there anymore. You are somewhere else. At another time.
You see how the first wardstone was erected in the Kite here in Kenabres in 4639 AR, in a ritual involving the aid of the Hand of the Inheritor - the herald of Iomedae: a golden, winged angel with a halo of small swords around his head. This event happens soon after the Second Crusade begins.
And while your characters see that, on the present, Areelu Vorlesh learns of the development via magical links to the Material Plane, and immediately abandons her efforts to secure the perfect Nahyndrian crystal to corrupt the wardstone. She works quickly to prepare a vengeful strike against your characters, hoping to corrupt the mythic power they've now got within them to somehow salvage part of her plan.
Alexa only dimly hears Sario's voice calling out to her--she's more focused on the visions before her. Her eyes burn when she sees the demonic woman... and somehow recognizes who she is.
"Vorlesh..."
Her eyes widen when she sees what's about to happen next. "I don't think we're out of this yet! Prepare yourselves!"
"Areelu Vorlesh, deadly as she is beautiful and treacherous as the Abyss itself." Darya growls. "You're right Alexa, this is far from over."
Arloric, for once in his life, is speechless. They'd won for now, but now there would be war for sure...He marvels at Alexa's golden glow, but when Areelu Vorlesh appears, he immediately glares and grips his sword.
"Tree and stone! The woman who betrayed and murdered Sarkoris!" he growls himself. "CAN YOU HEAR ME, DEMON-B!TCH?! SARKORIS LIVES!"
Kelly awakens to her friends' vengeful shouts. "Are... are we dead? I thought we died. Where are we?"
"My Faith died there... My family as well... I am with you ALL!" Sario raises her voice the a roar at the end
Your characters are still there, but they are not there anymore. You are somewhere else. At another time.
Your characters are in the year 4665 AR seeing how a 20-year-old Hulrun leads the burning of dozens of supposed "witches" in the courtyard of the Kite before the wardstone. This event launches the Second Crusade.
Uriel is stunned and confused by the golden mist in which they're floating, and the visions they're experiencing. He watches mutely as events unfold before his eyes, wondering what these visions portended.
Arloric grimaces at the foul event...some of his own kin probably burned in these fires, but then he looks at Alexa with concern on his face...she knew the Prelate better than probably anyone else in their warband, and from how she'd talked before, this tableau may only anger her more.
"Your people did this to their own people?" Sario asks looking at her companions
Alexa watches the vision unfold, her eyes hardening and her fists clenching yet again. Her hair flares orange for a brief moment, but it's hard to see beyond the glow surrounding her.
"Hulrun did. And he felt perfectly justified doing it." She curtly replies.
”Ill deeds in an ill time.” Uriel says tersely, as his eyes track what’s going on in the vision.
In the year 4692 AR, the PCs see a vision of Khorramzadeh the Storm King leading a brazen attack on Kenabres. The Storm King manages to strike a resounding blow with his sword against the wardstone, which suffers only the tiniest of cracks as the balor's sword shatters. Khorramzadeh is then attacked and forced to flee when the silver dragon Terendelev nearly kills him-this event launches the Fourth Crusade.
In the year 4712 AR, the PCs see a vision of Irabeth chasing a burly dwarven man- Staunton Vhane (leader of the Hammers of Heaven mercenary group) into the courtyard containing the wardstone. Both paladins are heavily wounded, and as Staunton backs against the wardstone, smoke rises and he screams in pain. He ducks to avoid one of Irabeth's blows, then manages to smash her knee with his hammer, dropping her to the ground. Staunton seems ready to deliver a death blow, but the sound of approaching soldiers forces him instead to back away and summon a fiendish giant wasp that he swiftly mounts and then flies away to the north, abandoning Kenabres.
The PCs see a vision of Minagho, a beautiful demonic woman with a long thin tail, clawed hands, and curling horns protruding from where her eyes should be, placing the wardstone fragment in this room and of Jeslyn using a wish granted by Minagho to create the cage around it before Minagho teleports away.
The PCs see a vision of an event they know will now never happen - Areelu Vorlesh using a deep purple Nahyndrian crystal the size of a human's head to corrupt the fragment, causing the entire border to flash with nauseating mauve fire that devastates the border cities and transforms countless crusaders into half-fiend slaves of the Worldwound. The PCs should realize at this point that the demons' entire plan was to draw as many crusaders to the border to defend it from their attacks, in order to maximize the damage this event would have caused.
Your characters are still here. They are back in the grey garrison, back in the present. And they are alive.
And Areelu Vorlesh is there, in front of them, too. She seems angry, but confident.
She regards your characters with a smoldering, furious expression, then says:
"This only delays your kind's extinction. But at least I can take steps to hasten your own."
Uriel draws Radiance, and points it at Vorlesh. "We will defeat anything you throw at us, in the name of Kenabres, Mendev, Sarkoris, and Heaven."
Kelly starts walking slowly around the room, the better to get behind this demon woman should a fight start.
Alexa comes out of the visions with a stony expression of barely restrained fury. "You already tried that, Vorlesh. It didn't work."
Perception
The ekf realizes what is going on and rebukes their foe Be gone with your lies and your subterfuge. Goodness prevails.
Arloric sees Vorlesh doesn't stand before them in truth, and shakes his sword.
"You are a godsdamned coward, Vorlesh! Hiding behind illusions and servants instead of bringing your own mystical might to bear! Sarkoris lives!"
"We are here and you are not, you cannot harm us while you only project yourself." Sario pipes in
Areelu Vorlesh laughs cruelly.
"I was not trying to kill you, I was just toying with you. But the time of games had ended, and it is time for your souls to be consumed by Abyss!"
The casts a powerful spell against your characters.
Your characters feel the wave of magical energy, powerful and evil, wash over them, but without making any effect.
Areelu Vorlesh seems taken aback at her spell failing, but quickly recovers.
"The death throes of your wardstone seem to be protecting you from my magic. No matter. They cannot protect you from my slaves!"
Alexa actually recognizes the spell Vorlesh attempted to cast on the party. It clings to her throat, to her lips, tries to flood into her lungs--but the glow holds it back. It causes her eyes to widen.
...oh. That's how powerful she is.
Well, f!%! me running.
"Mass Suffocation. Well. That's... that's a bit wasteful, don't you think?"
"Your power is weak here, soon we will come for you!" Sario says to the demonic woman
Arloric blinks in surprise as Vorlesh's spell fails to take hold.
"We fight for the Land and you cannot kill the Land no matter how hard you try!"