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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXI: Let's Put On A Show!
It feels odd to say that my reaction to a realm of unbridled chaos and evil is... disappointment, but nonetheless, it continues to be so.
I expected Nocticula's lands to be a place of temptation and moral dilemma, where everything the heart could desire was available, albeit at a terrible cost that could all-too-easily be ignored. Would I be offered more power to save my world from the demon invasion, at the risk of eventually becoming one myself? Love and happiness, with the price tag being my soul? What would they try to sell me, and what would I be tempted to buy?
Instead, magical floating buildings and demons everywhere aside, it turned out to be a rather dull, unregulated merchant town of the type I might find in any country with a laissez-faire tax policy. Rather than anything I wanted readily available but fraught with unknowable dangers, everything we needed was either out of stock or unobtainable, and the merchants seemed vaguely offended that we wanted to buy from them. Stage blood? We had to make it ourselves. Costumes? Stage lighting? The same. It seems pathetic, all things considered.
Perhaps I shall be forced to eat my words when we encounter Nocticula herself. We'll see, I suppose.
In any case, as might have been gathered from what I already said, we decided to stage our performance extravaganza first, figuring that it would have more impact if we did not already have a reputation as fierce warriors. We divided up primary responsibilities for the various tasks -- I took the lead on the script, Arueshalae on the costumes, Jadni on the lighting, and so on -- but all pitched in to help with everything. And we managed to restrain Thane from putting in a comic monologue; not that it was a bad idea per se, it's just that our comic timing and delivery is, er, lacking.
After days of working and rehearsing, we were ready to present "How the Heroes of the Mortal Plane Bested the Demonic Enemies of Nocticula, Sending the Plunderers of the Midnight Isles Packing from Their Realm and Turning the Tide of a Century-Long War (a Tale of Derring-Do)." We were keeping our ultimate intended audience in mind.
When we arrived at the residence of the entertainment-seeking succubus, we were hit with a few surprises. First, Arueshalae introduced us as her slaves, an apparent necessity for maintaining an appropriate cover. We rolled with it, although there were a few close calls where we risked causing grave offence -- my friends are TERRIBLE at acting like slaves. Which is, frankly, a wonderful thing. I am deeply ashamed of the fact that I know how a slave is supposed to act, as useful as it might have been in this particular situation.
We also learned that Arueshalae and the other succubus not only knew each other, there was some serious bad blood between them. The last time they'd met, Arueshalae had stormed out and said there would be injury if they ever met again. Our performance was presented as being by way of an apology. The other succubus accepted it with... not the best of grace, saying that if she was disappointed, she'd tear Arueshalae's wings off and punish her "slaves" appropriately as well. A great deal suddenly hinged on our performance.
But if I do say so myself, it went well. From the moment Jadni and I began our spells for lights and sound, our hours of rehearsal paid of. Feats of dwarven acrobatics and spell-powered flight! Dazzling spells and intimidating speeches! Flashing magic swords and buckets of stage blood! Beheadings and dismemberments! And no poorly acted comic monologues. In the end, the succubus decided our performance was acceptable, and even said she might ask Arueshalae to bring us in for an encore performance at some point. Hopefully, we will be long gone from this plane of existence by then. I have to say that while there have been moments in my life that were more stressful than putting on this show, there weren't many of them. It was... a lot.
Next on our agenda was a battle in the arena. The current champion was some kind of mutant four-armed incubus, with a reputation for brutally slaying all who went against him. We were warned that entering into battle with him would surely mean our death in the no-rules, no-holds-barred arena.
The fight, though, was a great deal less stressful than the show. This is what we're GOOD at. I won't say it was easy -- a number of huge demonic constructs joined the fray to our surprise (no rules), and poor Jadni was nearly laid low -- but it also wasn't particularly difficult. Once the warriors got within striking range of the main foe, it didn't last long. Much, MUCH less stressful than putting a stage performance together. Arueshalae worked the crowd to promote the skills of her "slaves", and the after the fight we had quite the reputation.
Finally, we enacted the final part of our plan, and purchased seven slaves -- crusaders from our home plane who had been captured by demons in the fight -- and freed them in a grand public ceremony, sending them home using magic that Arueshalae had been granted by Desna. Or, close to home, at any rate; Plane Shift is a somewhat inexact spell. We tried to do our best to ensure they'd be all right.
And soon after that, we discovered our plan had born fruit. Nocticula herself had invited us for an audience.
Um.
Yay?
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXII: Filthy Attractions
Our audience with the Queen of the Succubi went surprisingly well. Although she clearly considered us nearly beneath her notice, we managed not to offend her, and even to fence with her verbally a bit. She'd agreed to let us take care of the demons mining crystals from her kingdom -- Baphomet's own daughter was in charge of the operation, as it turned out! -- and we were starting on a rather interesting discussion of the boundaries of chaos and law when Thane, for some reason, decided to try to convert her to the worship of Iomedae. Happily, Nocticula seemed more amused by this than anything else, so no harm was done.
In any case, she transported us to the region where the mining operation was in place, and it was good thing she did, for we later found out (after an expenditure of far too much of my magical energy for the purpose) that the area was warded by some kind of ancient protection dating back to the origins of the Abyss itself, and we probably could not have reached it on our own.
Once there, we were greeted by a furious Minago, who was in a rage because after her previous defeat by us, she had been punished by Baphomet, leaving her severely reduced in power. Which meant we won the fight without too much trouble, in spite of the shadowy abomination of some kind she had fighting on her side.
We were in a jungle-like region of Nocticula's realm, with a vast river plunging through it, and Nocticula had told us that the mining operation was at the river's head. Having neither a boat nor any skills in boating, I cast repeated spells of flight so that we could proceed, leaving me lower on spells than I would have liked. I will learn the spell of Mass Flight soon, that will help.
About halfway up the river, we spied a boat run aground on the bank, and stooped down to see if we could get a ride the rest of the way in exchange for getting it riverbourne once again. The captain of the boat, however, was some kind of irritating undead who did nothing but prophecy our doom. It seemed that he had been trapped in Baphomet's maze, then released to help transport the crystals, then abandoned when Baphomet had no further use for him. After a tedious conversation where he showed no interest in anything but doomsaying, his undead crew came out and damaged us just by looking in our direction, so we flew away.
At the head of the river, we spotted a cave we took to be the mine, but before we could enter, we were greeted by what appeared to be a succubus covered in muck and filth. A quick discussion revealed that she was some kind of local overlord, and would only be too happy for us to get rid of the miners. Before she let us go on our way, she cast some seductive looks in the direction of Arueshalae and me. She seemed to be partial to wings.
Once in the mine, dense magical darkness impeded our vision, and some kind of shadowy dragon started womping on us immediately. It was a difficult fight, where I achieved little, mostly missing with my deadliest rays (which, I later found out, would have done us more harm than good anyway). We took quite a bit of damage, but prevailed in the end.
A pit in the ground leads down, and we wonder if it may lead to Baphomet's daughter herself...
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIII: Good News, Everyone!
Well, today is certainly a banner day to enter in my journal. I'm happier than I've been since...
Since...
Hm. I can't recall ever being happy before. How odd.
In any event, much has happened. First, I have faced down a Demon Lord in battle, and lived to tell the tale. Not because of anything I or my comrades did, but nonetheless, I'm alive, so that's good.
Second, my wings have grown in! I wasn't sure they ever would; often Tiefling wings remain vestigial for a lifetime. But I'd always hoped, and now I can fly without the aid of a limited duration spell! I can fly forever.
And third, Arueshalae and I, um. We. That is to say, we -
*Blush*
Probably I should recount events in some semblance of an order. So, where last I left off, my fellows and I were descending into a mining pit to face the daughter of Baphomet himself. We swooped down with spells of flight, passing a group of fiendish minotaurs who cast unholy blights upon us as we passed, eager to get to the bottom of the pit, where there was... nothing. We ended up having to go back up.
Once there, we engaged the minotaurs, along with a large demon, in fierce battle. Evil spells and brutal blows were met by freezing cones, slashing swords, fists, and arrows. Things went well for a time, but then Baphomet's daughter, a fearsome being half-demon and half moo-cow, entered the area and began separating our group with walls of flashing, deadly blades. Arueshalae and I were left fighting on one side, while the others faced the demon lord's daughter. Thane charged forward... directly into a trap, which left him nearly dead. Zsoltan had also been severely injured by the minotaurs and the walls of blades, and Jadni had to decide which one to heal. Choosing the nearer one, she cast her healing spell upon Zsoltan.
Unfortunately, this meant that Thane did not last long in direct combat with Baphomet's daughter. After an exchange of mighty blows, she struck him stone dead. I think with some kind of spell? My vision was occluded by the bladed walls.
Jadni and Zsoltan moved in to engage her, but I, in the meantime, had been left stunned by a word of power I could not resist. When I recovered, Arueshalae encouraged me to join my fellows -- and indeed, she was safe enough firing arrows at the demon who'd stunned me, who seemed to have few long-distance attacks remaining -- so I walked through a dimensional door, arriving just in time to see Jadni and Zsoltan strike the demon lord's daughter down.
A wave of mystical force passed through the cavern, strong enough to drag Thane back from death's hallways. And emerging from the corpse of his offspring, Baphomet himself emerged, bent on revenge.
We did our best to fight him, but were barely able to scratch him with out mightiest attacks. With few spells left, I expended almost the last of my magical energy in an assault that did him no damage at all. We looked certain to die.
But then Nocticula herself emerged, displeased that Baphomet had trespassed in her lands. The slayer of demon lords lived up to her reputation, banishing him back to his own labyrinthine halls in a way that looked extremely unpleasant.
After we thanked her, she said she would send us back to our own plane if we stepped into her shadow. With a bit of trepidation, we did, although no harm came to us.
We arrived where we had left, and Anvie and Aravanshiel greeted us with joy -- and surprise, since from their point of view, we had been gone for months rather than the few days it had been from our perspective.
It was during the journey home that my wings finally grew in. Excited, I went to Arueshalae, asking if she wanted to go on a flight together. After a joyous time in the air, we found what might be the most beautiful vantage point in all tha Wounded Lands. We stopped for a picnic, and, um...
*Blush*
Hey Ragathiel,
remember when you appeared to be while I was dead and then later I figured I had probably imagined it all? Statistically speaking, down here in the Material Plane, almost any explanation tends to be more plausible than you met your God. But here I am, back from not only a private audience with Nocticula, but also Baphomet showing up in the flesh to murder me with his own hands. Thane and I even got to land a blow on him. I cut a god! Just a little bit, of course, and he would have sliced us all in half a moment later if Nocticula hadn't stepped in and showed him who's boss in Porpy-Porpy Land. But still. Here we are, back from our suicide mission to the Abyss. Strange times indeed.
By the way, whatever boon you bequeathed on my new and indisputably improved body, it's been working wonders. Of the three major fights we had in the Abyss, I spent only one on the ground bleeding, another one stumbling about blindly, and a third one actually fighting. Gods mighty, what a change! And to be fair, the punishment it took to take me down in that first fight would have been enough to mince an oliphaunt. I feel like I'm finally fit to face the challenges you send my way, but now that our opposition has escalated to the level of god-spawn and gods themselves, it's only a matter of time until I'm shown back in my place. I'd better enjoy the feeling while I can.
Oh, and can you believe Tanaquil and Arueshalae are finally boinking? I mean, they've been weird around each other since day one, but I figured Arueshalae was too afraid to let anyone touch her, lest her past as a succubus catch up with her and consume Tanaquil in a torrent of sin and doom, or something. As for Tanaquil? I wouldn't have put it past her to remain stuck in that maelstrom of self-doubt, ethical conundrums and all-around overthinking that nerdy types like her tend to wallow in until their object of adoration gets tired of the thinly-veiled fawning. But it turns out they were just both shy about it. I think I just saw Tanaquil blushing at her journal, if you can believe it... well, nothing that a few more weeks of boinking can't cure, I'm sure.
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The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIV: We're On A Mission From God
Well, after a memorable first date, Arueshalae and I have put the brakes on our relationship, a bit. At first, it seemed that the problem was that she feared that her soul-sucking powers might spontaneously turn back on, since she had no idea why they'd turned off in the first place, and she might find herself unable to stop and drain me to death. I told her I trusted her, even if she did not, but if she was nervous about it then there were magical prophylactics we could use to avoid the problem, assuming we were willing to make a somewhat embarrassing request of Thane and limit ourselves to 15 minute increments. Further discussion, however, revealed that this was just one of many issues, from her shame at her demonic history to her confusion at her new and unknown status. I tried to reassure her that we could take things as slowly as was necessary, and however we felt comfortable. There is no need to rush. Just talking with her is an endless delight.
The one thing that saddens me is that she acts as if I am doing her some kind of favor with my affections. As if she were not the most remarkable person I had ever met. As if she were not a DEMON WHO HAD TRANSCENDED HER VERY EXISTENCE TO BECOME SOMETHING NEW. There's a reason I haven't been with anyone else before her. No one has affected me this way before. And if she has a past, well... so do I.
In less important news, Iomedae herself summoned us from our plane and sent us back to the Abyss to determine what had happened to her kidnapped herald.
OK, so maybe that's fairly important, as well.
We were in the midst of a meeting with Irabeth and the others who still remained in Drezen -- Anevia, Anvie, Aravashniel, and so on -- to discuss the current state of tactics and strategy. Drezen itself has seen little action since the great battle, but Queen Galfrey has been hard pressed by demons in the south. We were chatting about the information we had recovered from the Abyss when Thane, Jadni, Zsoltan, and I were wrenched from the material plane by a blinding light.
We found ourselves in the daunting presence of Iomedae herself. Unable to intervene directly in mortal affairs, she had chosen us to act as her surrogates. And the situation was grave; just as we believed, her herald had been taken by Baphomet himself, in a grievous blow to her celestial forces. She tasked us to deal with the situation.
And in doing so, she gave us gifts, including bestowing upon Zsoltan a magical chalice which could hold the blood of the Father of Worms, the only thing which could dissolve the lock of Baphomet's notorious prison. As always, things were... complicated. To me, she offered the opportunity to become a celestial being rather than an infernal one. Nervous as I was to say no to a god, I declined.
I do not wish to erase my past. Like Arueshalae choosing not to disguise herself, I wish to transcend it. What is my life, if not a testament to the idea that all our notions of the sources and meanings of "good" and "evil" have nothing to do with how we are born or how we appear, but what we choose to do and why?
Iomedae did not leave me empty-handed, though, gifting me with valuable magic. And then she sent us into Baphomet's labyrinth.
We found it guarded by a multi-armed demon, who demanded we swear fealty to Baphoment in order to pass. We we refused, a fight broke out between us and her, backed up by her invisible minions. We triumphed, unsurprisingly -- killing demons is something we are quite good at by now.
We wandered through the labyrinth for a seemingly endless time, trying various tricks to find our way through, to no avail. Eventually, we pooled together our knowledge of the main city of Baphomet's realm, and with that description I used a newly-learned spell of Greater Teleport to take us there. The plane resisted me, but I broke through.
Baphomet's city is a sad, frightened place, with none of the bustle of Nocticula's realm. With me taking the lead, since I look the most demonic, we asked around about the Father of Worms and the prison. Little turned up until we attracted the attention of some kind of gestalt vescavore entity. It seemed to have little love for Baphomet, and while it didn't think much of our chances, we amused it enough that we were able to get directions, to the mountains, and then into a great crack in the earth.
The journey took many days. We ran out of food, and were forced to subsist on the foul growths of this abyssal land. They do not seem healthy. I am attempting to learn the spell of the Magnificent Manor, so that we may do better with food and rest in this horrible land. I attempted to contact Arueshalae with Sending spells, since we were forced to leave without so much as a goodbye, but I have received no reply, so have no way of knowing if they made it through.
After a long trek with some false trails delaying us further -- Jadni is a skilled survivalist, but everything is a maze in this place -- we at last came upon the cavern of the Father of Worms. A gigantic, centipede-like creature attended by undead shadows. When we launched an assault, Zsoltan was swallowed whole by the creature, although he managed to escape with his monk powers. Thane, however, used a Sunburst granted to him by Iomedae to do significant damage, not just to the shadows, but to the Father of Worms himself. It may very well be an undead creature rather than a demon. We shall see, as this fight unfolds.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXV: That's Just Demodandy
I still do not know if Arueshalae is receiving my messages. I will keep sending them, nonetheless.
The battle against the Father of Worms proved to be a tough contest indeed. Thane had his strength sapped by the surviving shadows, leading him to grumble that he should have protected himself from their strikes rather than attacked them. Of course, if he'd done that, half of us might very well have died rather quickly, so I'm rather glad he didn't. After that, though, I was able to destroy the rest of them using targeted beams of fire.
The Father of Worms, however, did not fall so easily. He ate Zsoltan AGAIN, who escaped to a safer distance this time around. I teleported Jadni close, at her request, and he ate her, too. When Thane went in to do battle, he suffered the same fate. And they had no monk powers to bring them to safety.
However, by that time, numerous strikes against the beast had taken their toll, and Thane was able to fell the creature with a final strike from inside its stomach. Jadni was on the point of death from being digested by then, but we brought her around, and collected the Father of Worm's blood in the cup Iomedae had granted us.
Several more days of twisty travel followed, where we had to survive off the foul scrapings of the land. But at last we emerged from the caverns, and found the destination we sought -- the Ineluctable Labyrinth. A vast sphere of bone the size of a city, suspended in space. We crossed the bridge and approached the great doors. After much hesitation and trepidation (rather too much, actually) we applied the blood to the lock, dissolved the mechanism, and entered within.
The maze inside was almost impossible to navigate. We were turned, twisted, and found ourselves doubling back, or veering into unknown territories when we thought we knew our steps. At a bridge, we were attacked by some strange creature of water and, to our great surprise, demodands, who are supposed to loathe and despise demons. What were they doing serving Baphomet? In any event, I was able to sap the essence of the water creature with my newly perfected draining spells, while the others defeated the demodands, although I believe Thane's holy sword Radiance was nicked a little in the fight.
Much, much later, we found ourselves beckoned by a floating hand. With some concern, but also with little better to do, we followed it. It took us to a prison cell where we found an imprisoned halfling, who had prayed to Iomedae for help and thereby received our aid. Freeing her, we learned she had been captured in the same battle that took Iomedae's Herald, and she had seen what happened to him -- his heart ripped out by Baphomet, and turned to the side of the demons. But, she thought, if we could restore his heart to him, perhaps we could bring the Herald back. And there was only one place the heart could be stored. Within Baphomet's vault.
In trying to find it, we first encountered a torture chamber where yet more demodands had driven some other extraplanar being mad with agony. We fought and slew them, but then another stepped from the shadows...
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVI: Bedeviled and Amazed
It will be another short entry today, as Thane and I are about to charge back into battle.
The new demodand summoned a horde of others to assail us and then unleashed a cloud of poisonous gas upon us. I was rather annoyed by this, so I dispelled them. In the confusion, Zsoltan stepped upon a trap and was lost in a maze spell for the rest of the battle. Meanwhile, while I stayed to make sure that Waxberry the halfling was safe, Thane and Jadni pursued the demodand through a number of chambers, and brought it near to death twice (it healed itself using a statue of Baphomet), but it was able to teleport away through a pentagram. Thane stepped in the pentagram in an attempt to follow, but to no avail. Further examination revealed that it might be possible to employ them to teleport through the prison, if we could figure out how.
Thane determined that the captured being -- an Asura -- was evil, but Jadni kindly elected to cure and free her nonetheless. For unknown reasons, it took Jadni's form before it vanished away, which was rather disturbing.
More wandering through the prison followed. We passed the cell of a powerful devil, who asked me to free it as a sister of hell. Feeling in my element, I began to bargain -- first for our safety, and then, at the advice of Jadni and Thane, for directions to the vault where the heart of the Herald lies.
Waxberry was extremely disturbed by my bargaining tactics, and I fear she is convinced that I am still on the side of Hell.
With the devil's directions, we found our way to the vault, where I, Jadni, and Zsoltan -- again! -- were immediately trapped in a maze spell. I found my way out to discover Thane fighting alone against a demon, a minotaur, and an animate statue. We managed to slay the demon, but Thane was sorely injured by then, so I used a Dimension Door to take him out of the fray where he could heal. But the others might find their way out of the maze at any moment, so soon we must return, lest they find themselves battling all alone.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVII: Epic Throwdown
Thane had previously noticed that our en-mazed comrades appeared to have been trapped in a tapestry. When he and I teleported back in and began fighting the various enemies, he came up with the brilliant idea of destroying the tapestry to free them. I joined in, blasting it with fire, and soon our fellows were free and we took care of the various demons, minotaurs, and living statues in short order.
Unfortunately, the maze itself had been fraught with danger, minotaurs roaming within its walls, and poor Waxberry did not survive. We collected her corpse, in the hopes that we could resurrect her at a later time.
Poking around the treasure vault, we eventually figured out the mechanism which allowed us to gain access to its contents -- mostly useless junk, like an ordinary ball of twine, or an enormous weapon that injured Jadni when she tried to touch it. But we did also find the heart of the Herald, although it had been tainted by evil. Acting on a supposition, I placed the shard of her own essence that Iomedae had granted me into the heart, and healed it of the taint.
Acting on another supposition, I stuck my head in a stream of glowing light and rEceIveD aN iMagE oF tHE enTirE PrisON In mY bRaiN
It, um, broke my head a little.
Armed with this mental map, we decided to go directly to the prison where the Herald was held, after resting first. I created a Magnificent Manor, not with difficulty in the strange environs of the prison, and we spent the first night in ages comfortable and well fed. When we emerged, we found ourselves in an unknown place, as the prison had tried to shunt us out, but we reoriented ourselves and teleported to the holding cell of the Herald.
This is when things went a bit pear-shaped.
The Herald had turned fully evil, some kind of demonic and possibly undead slave to Baphomet. We had determined that to save the Herald, we would need to return his heart and imbue him with more shards of Iomedae's essence. I gave the heart to Zsoltan, as the one most likely to be able to hold the Herald down. The Herald blasted us with painful magics as Zsoltan and Jadni charged forward, and mutual spell turning made castings bounce between him and me. But Zsoltan soon had him in a grapple... which is when the other denizens of the prison started to appear. All of Baphomet's head guards came to defeat us.
The first to come was a two-headed, twelve-arms demon that trapped me behind a wall of blades and beset Thane. Thinking he would be in deep trouble facing so many attacks, I drained her power until she could barely stand, and Thane cleaved her in twain. No sooner than he had, though, when the torture room demodand who had escaped us earlier arrived to hurl spells at us, and an arch-cleric of Baphomet arrived to send waves of fire into us. He caught me in a mystic, crushing giant hand, but I was able to dispel it.
In the mean time, Zsoltan had managed to pin the Herald and shove his heart back in his body, and Jadni tried to gift him with Iomedae's essence... only for the Herald to resist it, and send it back into Jadni. Then he reached into his chest and pulled his own heart out with a gout of blood.
So, um... that seems bad.
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXVIII: EPIC-ER THROWDOWN-ER!
Jadni managed to wrest the heart out of the Herald's hands while Zsoltan kept him restrained. In the meantime, I saw that Thane was in dire straits, so I blasted the demodand he fought with fire and then stunned her. While she was tottering on her feet, he slew her, and a good thing too, since at that point an enormous minotaur appeared and charged towards him.
Jadni shoved the heart into the Herald's chest once again as he struggled in Zsoltan's grip. The priestess threw curtains of fire over all of us. The minotaur smote Thane with a mighty blow of his axe, leaving the paladin on the point of death. But only on the point, and Thane's return blows were a shimmering wall of steel that slew the minotaur in only a few seconds.
Jadni once again tried to force the shard of Iomedae into the Herald, and this time it took. He transformed from a demonic abyssal beast into the servant of the Inheritor, albeit one deeply wounded by Baphomet's torture.
The walls of the prison began to shake, and the Herald told us that we must leave, and quickly. Asking no further questions, Zsoltan activated his gift from Iomedae and wrenched us out of the Abyss and back to our home plane.
On the way, we were beset by visions. We saw Queen Galfrey transform on the battlefield into a Herald of Iomedae herself, sprouting wings and assaulting the demons. They fell before her, turning the tide of the fight.
My theory is that some of Iomedae's power must have been bound up in her previous Herald, and while he was in captive and transformed by Baphomet, she had no access to it. Once he was freed, she allowed him to retire from his service (or at least, so I hope), and transferred the gift to the queen.
In any case, we arrived back in Drezen to find it once again under siege by a horde of demons! Arriving in the middle of a war, we wasted no time. After taking a bare instant to consult with Irabeth, I rushed to defend the gates. Zsoltan took to the skies to fight dragons, and Jadni did the same to battle a group of Vrocks before they could unleash their destructive powers. Thane toppled the very buildings of Drezen onto the foes inside the walls.
Burning through our spells and abilities, we vanquished our respective foes only to learn that demons were pouring into the citadel through a portal in the basement. After taking a moment to make sure Arueshalae was safe -- she had been shooting arrows at demons from a high tower -- and steal a kiss from her -- which drained a part of my life (well, she did warn me about that) -- I teleported below. A group of guards, including Anvie, and to our surprise, Zsoltan's uncle, were fighting a losing battle against the incoming demons, which included a marilith general of horrendous repute. She shot forth knives of force to divide and injure us.
Zsoltan had arrived before me and was already in fierce battle with enormous enemies. Jadni and Thane arrived soon after, and I teleported them close to the marilith, then brought myself away. The two titans of battle, pooling their might together, brought her low. The rest of the conflict didn't take long after that.
The demons routed, we had a final debrief after which we planned to decamp, exhausted, to bed, when the Herald Galfrey appeared before us and tasked us with a new mission. A final mission. To close the Worldwound itself. Using the ritual that had been tested to close the gate to Nocticula's lands, plus some items we would have to gather in the ruined, Worldwound-adjacent city of Iz. We would need a magical chisel, and the "suture", although we are unclear what it is.
I found Arueshalae, and we apologized to each other, her for draining my life, me for kissing her despite what she'd said. Once past that, we decided to spend the night, well, snuggling, Just sleeping, side by side.
It was lovely.
And come the next morning, Thane, Zsoltan, Jadni, and I teleported to the city of Iz...
The Testament of Tanaquil Octavia Charthagnion, Part XXXIX: The Penultimate Struggle
A few things I neglected to mention in my last entry: after the battle, the land was wracked by earthquakes and a red glow appeared on the horizon where the Worldwound lurks. Our enemies are undoubtedly preparing their greatest assault, so time runs short for us to achieve our end.
Also, we did, in fact, resurrect Waxberry, who chose to return from the bosom of her goddess to continue the fight.
Continuing on:
Acquiring the chisel turned out to be much easier than expected. It was, for some reason, concealed in a demonic brothel. We went in, and were presented with all the usual, completely uninteresting temptations. Demons seem very unimaginative. I was greeted by a succubus in the guise of Arueshalae, who was baffled when I turned her down, since, as she said, "this is what you want". It didn't occur to her that I would be uninterested in a fake Arueshalae, especially when a real one was back in Drezen. Jadni was offered two Vudrani men (interesting), Thane a woman who looked much like Iomedae (disturbing), and Zsoltan was shown Irabeth and the entirely of the Eagle Watch (absolutely horrifying). Of us all, Zsoltan was the only one who seemed tempted, which... well, I might stop shuddering some day.
When we declined, the furious owner of the brothel threatened us until she was possessed by Nocticula, who gave us leave to look for the chisel after taking another stab at corrupting Thane. Once we acquired it, we teleported away before things went south.
The "suture" proved more difficult to obtain. As we searched for it on the edge of the Worldwound, we were attacked by the undead corpse of the dragon Terendelev and a host of demons. I drained the life out of one of the demons while the others set about with weapons, and were able to at last lay the great dragon to its rest.
After the fight, we found a humble, badly injured Dretch who was curiously overflowing with mystical power, and managed to determine that he was the "suture" -- the byproduct, perhaps, of the magic that a witch, furious at her imprisonment for using magic, had used to open the Worldwound in the first place. This is why you should never piss off magic users unnecessarily. He was bound to the Worldwound in some way, and attempts to take him away from it had apparently resulted in him dying -- over and over and over again. We freed him and he immediately attempted to run away, but I hit him with a charm spell (I hate those, but it seemed important), and took him with us to the ritual site at the heart of the Worldwound itself.
There, we were attacked by the great Balor lord Korramzadeh, and that was a fight that seemed touch and go for a while. He was so steeped in magic that I could barely hit him with my best spells, and Thane would have been slain by the Storm King's terrifying whip had it not been for the shard of Iomedae which still resided in the paladin's breast. In the end, though, we were able to defeat the demon and avenge the sack of Kenabres.
And then it was time for the ritual to begin...